As Halloween nears, thoughts turn to ghosts and other paranormal beings. While some believe in them, others employ scientific methodology to research paranormal claims. The Amazing Fact about Unexplained Phenomena Explained.
Formula: Investigators equipped with cameras and ghost-detecting devices spend the night in an apparently haunted hotel, house, or warehouse; after returning home, they claim that they witnessed or contacted spirits.
Detectors
Paranormal investigations require the right equipment. In addition to using cameras (digital, night vision, and infrared), ghost hunters rely on EMF sensors to detect electromagnetic changes believed to be caused by spirits or supernatural entities.
As seen on late-night paranormal reality shows, boxy gadgets like these are ubiquitously recognized. Even for believers in ghosts or paranormal phenomena, however, understanding what information these devices pick up on can be dauntingly complex.
Example: At one of Texas’s most haunted places, a REM pod, which uses radio waves to detect energy, was activated. But is that evidence of supernatural activity or just normal fluctuations within the building? And how can you be sure if that orb on your camera really is a ghost? Some investigators consult psychics or clairvoyants while clergy perform cleansing rituals at locations suspected to be haunted sites.
Cameras
Ghost hunters frequently employ cameras as one of their go-to tools for investigating paranormal activity. The cameras may be set up ahead of an investigation and manipulated during it; this enables ghost hunters to record EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recordings as well as any lights that may manifest before their cameras.
YouTube searches for “paranormal investigations” yielded many different channels, with Sam and Colby (2014) having the most subscribers (at the time of collection, this figure exceeded 7.5 million). This research focused on amateur vloggers conducting paranormal investigations as opposed to professional media production companies with access to funding, writers, directors, etc. This genre of virtual dark tourism can be examined using Eaton’s (2019) narrative coalescence framework – hosts often share their conclusions on whether they were able to communicate with spirits or detect paranormal activity through narration by their hosts who typically narrate their conclusions as part of these videos narrating their findings on whether or not they had successfully communicated with spirits or detected paranormal activity by their hosts who generally share their conclusions on whether they had successfully been able to speak or detected paranormal activity or communicated.
EMF Sensors
Ghost hunters commonly utilize an EMF (electromagnetic field) sensor called the Safe Range EMF Meter from K-II Enterprises of Syracuse, New York, to measure potentially harmful EMF radiation emanating from household appliances and electrical wiring in walls. Furthermore, this handy gadget enables users to scan and record readings for up to one hour at a time, perfect for paranormal investigations!
Unfortunately, using EMF meters during paranormal investigations often consists of correlation rather than causation. This is because EMF reading spikes may be caused by anything from lousy home wiring to cell phones or even geomagnetic fluctuations causing spikes.
At their core, ghost-hunting devices remain popular because they are easy and affordable to use. Unfortunately, though, like Ouija boards and dowsing rods, ghost hunters generally rely on guesses about what ghosts may do rather than concrete evidence for proof. Obtain the Best information about Mysterious Artifacts Discovered.
Spirit Boxes
If you have ever watched a paranormal investigation show, chances are you have witnessed investigators setting down a spirit box—a cylindrical device with blinking lights and speakers that generate white noise through radio frequency sweeps to generate energy that spirits use to communicate through voice or sound with investigators. According to the theories behind its creation, spirits are believed to communicate this way.
Investigators sometimes utilize spirit boxes with various buttons that enable them to customize results, including tuning in on specific frequencies that might make paranormal activity more accessible to detect. Some even allow investigators to play back audio later using different modes, such as slowing or playing it backward.
However, a Phoenix-based paranormal investigator considers these techniques misleading at best and misleading at worst, calling it ghost-hunting theater and not providing accurate data from haunted sites.
Audio Recorders
EVP recorders are essential tools for ghost hunters. These digital audio recorders can record voices or sounds that cannot be detected with human ears and are believed to help spirits communicate with investigators. Not every sound captured on an EVP recording necessarily indicates paranormal activity – radio interference, background noises, and psychological interpretation may all play a part.
Ghost-hunting teams employ various equipment, such as electromagnetic field detectors, which may detect spirit energy. Thermal cameras also help them visualize changes in temperature.
North Arkansas Paranormal Detectives’ team utilizes other devices, including a K-2 meter that responds to yes-and-no questions posed to an assumed spirit entity in a room. When asking multiple questions in succession, however, investigators must avoid talking over any responses received, as otherwise, they could overhear and miss them altogether.
Video Recorders
Paranormal investigators know the video camera is one of the most essential tools in their toolbox for gathering evidence of paranormal activity. A video recorder can pick up on sounds, lights, and electromagnetic fields emitted from spirits that would otherwise go undetected by human eyes alone.
Electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, is another phenomenon video cameras can capture and is believed to be paranormal in origin. At Kempf House museum, for example, when asking spirits a question, they responded with Pauline as their name came through in response – suggesting there may have been paranormal activity present at that location.
Though Bagans remains skeptical about ghosts, he remains open to investigating them for signs of supernatural activity. But he cautions that newcomers to ghosthunting should understand its earthbound dangers, such as mental illness that can arise within haunted homes, the risk of being caught staging supernatural encounters, and, put, boredom from exploring empty buildings for several nights straight.
