Terms of Service

Effective date: April 3, 2026

1. Agreement to Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of paranormalobserver.com and all related services operated by Paranormal Observer ("we," "our," or "us"). By accessing or using the site in any way — including browsing, creating an account, submitting a report, or purchasing an Observer+ subscription — you agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the site. We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time; please review Section 14 for details on how we communicate changes.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years of age to create an account or use the interactive features of paranormalobserver.com. By creating an account, you represent and warrant that you are 13 years of age or older. If you are under the age of 18, you represent that you have your parent's or guardian's permission to use the service. We reserve the right to terminate any account we believe is held by a person under the age of 13.

3. Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to use a strong, unique password and to keep it secure. You must notify us immediately at privacy@paranormalobserver.com if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account or any other security breach.

Each person may hold only one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent suspensions, moderation decisions, or platform limits is prohibited and may result in permanent termination of all associated accounts.

4. Acceptable Use

Paranormal Observer is a community platform for good-faith documentation and discussion of paranormal phenomena. You agree not to:

• Submit reports or content that you know to be fabricated, fraudulent, or deliberately misleading. Honest uncertainty is fine; deliberate hoaxing is not.
• Harass, threaten, doxx, or target any individual — including other users, investigators, witnesses named in reports, or Paranormal Observer staff.
• Upload, post, or transmit content that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, or that infringes the intellectual property or privacy rights of any third party.
• Use automated tools, bots, or scripts to scrape, crawl, or harvest content from the platform without prior written authorization from Paranormal Observer. See our API documentation for programmatic access options.
• Impersonate any person, entity, investigator, or staff member, or misrepresent your affiliation with Paranormal Observer.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the platform, other users' accounts, or our infrastructure.
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the platform or its related systems.

We reserve the right to review, remove, or restrict any content that violates these standards, and to suspend or permanently terminate accounts responsible for such violations, at our sole discretion. We are not obligated to provide advance notice before taking action on content that violates these Terms.

5. User Content

You retain ownership of all content you create and submit to paranormalobserver.com, including sighting reports, comments, and written articles. By submitting content to the platform, you grant Paranormal Observer a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to display, distribute, reproduce, and archive that content in connection with operating the platform and providing the service to our community. This license exists for as long as your content remains on the platform.

You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to grant the above license, and that your content does not infringe the rights of any third party. You are solely responsible for the accuracy of information you submit and for the consequences of sharing it.

6. Evidence Media License

When you upload evidence media (photos, video, or audio recordings) as part of a report, you may choose whether to grant display consent for that media. The terms differ based on your choice:

With display consent:By checking the display consent box, you confirm that you own the media or hold all rights necessary to license it. You grant Paranormal Observer a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to display that media on the platform, in case files, and in Paranormal Observer's own marketing and promotional materials (such as social media, editorial features, and news coverage about the platform). We will not license your media to unaffiliated third parties for their independent commercial use.

Without display consent: Media uploaded without display consent is stored privately in our secure storage. It is accessible only to you and, where your report has been escalated to an active investigation, to the authorized investigator assigned to the case. It is not displayed publicly and is not used in marketing.

7. Reports and Case Escalation

Sighting reports you submit are associated with your account and may be deleted by deleting your account, subject to the exception below. You retain authorship credit for any report you submit.

When a report is formally escalated into an active investigation case — defined as the moment a credentialed investigator is assigned to the report or a dedicated case page is created — that case file becomes the property of Paranormal Observer. This policy exists to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, the work and safety of investigators who have committed their time to the case, and the community members following the investigation. Account deletion after escalation will not trigger deletion of the associated case file.

If you wish to have personally identifying information (such as your name, contact details, or other identifying details) removed from a case file, you may submit a request to privacy@paranormalobserver.com. We will redact such information from the case file without triggering deletion of the case itself.

8. Observer+ Subscription

Observer+ is a premium subscription tier that provides additional platform features. Observer+ is offered as a recurring subscription billed either monthly at $4.99 per month or annually at $39 per year. Prices are in US dollars and are exclusive of any applicable taxes.

Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period. By subscribing, you authorize Paranormal Observer (through Stripe) to charge your payment method on a recurring basis. You may cancel your subscription at any time from your Billing page at paranormalobserver.com/billing. Upon cancellation, your Observer+ access continues through the end of your current paid billing period. You will not be charged for the following period.

We reserve the right to change subscription pricing with 30 days' advance notice to subscribers. For our refund policy, see paranormalobserver.com/refunds.

9. Contributor and Investigator Roles

Paranormal Observer accepts applications from individuals who wish to serve as contributors (correspondents who write news, investigations, or field reports) or investigators (credentialed field investigators who are assigned to active cases). Both roles require an application and editorial review.

Approved contributors and investigators are subject to additional terms and guidelines communicated at the time of role approval. These include editorial standards and fact-checking obligations for contributors, and field protocols and communication requirements for investigators. Violation of role-specific guidelines may result in removal of the role and, in serious cases, account suspension.

10. Intellectual Property

The Paranormal Observer name, logo, site design, editorial content produced by Paranormal Observer staff, and all associated trademarks and service marks are the exclusive property of Paranormal Observer. Nothing in these Terms grants you a license to use our trademarks, name, or branding. You may not reproduce, copy, or distribute Paranormal Observer's proprietary content or branding without prior written permission.

User-submitted content (reports, comments, media) remains the property of the respective submitter, subject to the licenses granted in Sections 5, 6, and 7.

11. Disclaimer of Warranties

The paranormalobserver.com platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Paranormal Observer expressly disclaims all warranties, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or authenticity of any user-submitted content, including sighting reports, evidence media, or investigative findings. Paranormal Observer is a community documentation platform; the presence of a report does not constitute endorsement or verification of its contents.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Paranormal Observer and its owners, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or in connection with your use of the platform, including but not limited to loss of data, loss of revenue, or harm to reputation.

In any case where Paranormal Observer is found liable, our total liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to the platform or these Terms shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total amount you paid to Paranormal Observer during the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred US dollars ($100).

13. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms and any disputes arising out of or related to the platform or these Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Wyoming, United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

You agree that any legal action or proceeding relating to these Terms or your use of the platform shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Wyoming, and you consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

14. Changes to These Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time. For material changes — changes that significantly affect your rights or obligations — we will provide at least 30 days' advance notice to all registered users by email. The updated Terms will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. If you continue to use the platform after the new Terms take effect, you accept the revised Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the platform and may delete your account.

15. Contact

For questions or concerns about these Terms, contact us at: privacy@paranormalobserver.com