I want to be a paranormal investigator but what do I need to become one ?

You have everything you could ever need right now. You're not going to do this as a career, because (unless you become a fraud artist) nobody pays paranormal investigators. It's a hobby, not a profession. I've met several such researchers myself, and they really do come from all walks of life. From a crazy old hippie lady who had conversations with trees (cool girl, but totally nuts), to a retired cop and his wife, to a Catholic priest, and that's just the ones I can remember. The only 'professional' researcher I met was a psych professor from some university out in Wisconsin or Wyoming (I forget) who was doing a side-project on a private grant. But he was a university prof for a living. There are no official qualifications for doing it, you just do it. And you don't need any equipment really, because no special equipment has been developed for finding or communicating with ghosts. They haven't even been proven to exist scientifically, so knowing the details about them is out of the question. The only thing you really need is a lot of patience, and I mean a lot. It's not like those clowns on TV make it look like. If you're a real paranormal researcher, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting and waiting and then waiting some more. You'll probably go years without seeing anything ghostly at all. The TV guys always find "proof" of ghost activity at every location they visit, usually on the first night. My my, what incredible luck. That's not how it happens in reality though.

First I would remind you that being a paranormal investigator is now, and for the foreseeable future, not a means of earning a living unless you portray one for television. Now if you still want to engage in paranormal investigations, probably the best single field of study would be consciousness studies. But be warned, this is often described as the intersection of quantum physic, psychiatry/psychology and neurology. It is currently an inexact field because at present no one knows just what is being looked for nor quite where to look. But that also leaves it open to anyone who has a hypothesis that they can figure out how to test to try and find the answers that so many scientists are looking for. And for those who know that this is a waste of time, please remember that at one point in time it was well known to science that rocks could not fall from the sky, and that all such claims were fraudulent. However today we recognize rocks falling from the sky as meteorites, and consider them of great worth to study. Whether or not that will also come to pass with particular parts of today's paranormal remains to be seen.

the very FIRST thing you need to be is a educated "skeptic" meaning, you can not believe every story is "supposedly" trustworthy and true!! 99% of all "ghost stories" are just a bunch of BS, if you read a reportedly "true story" of a haunting and no red flags go off in your head about said story then don`t bother w/ paranormal investigating just because most things that "go bump in the night" are natural reoccurring events due to environmental changes like humidity, can cause all sorts of creepy noises and if your not aware of that fact your going to swear your being haunted when it`s just wood expanding or contracting!! now if your into ghost stories that's fine just remember that they`r JUST STORIES, and even if "they" say it`s true doesn`t make it so unless you see it first hand, ok? if you ask a preist about this they will say to stay away, but I think they say that just so they keep money coming in, their faith is contingent upon unfounded fear and well oiled greed!! if your going mythical there`s a hoard of mystisms out there, I would "suggest" the wiccan theory only because they are a religious order founded by the earthly realm and not from zombies returning from the dead(j.c.)!!!! hope that helped you out, Good Luck!!

To be a successful investigator, you need to learn how to become a good con artist. Supposed paranormal phenomena is really smoke and mirrors.