Leland Teschler – Executive Editor
lteschler@wtwhmedia.com
On Twitter @DW_LeeTeschler
WE’D like to think that the average viewer who tunes into a TV show on the SciFy channel called Ghost Hunters might get a laugh out watching investigators prowl around places that are reported to be haunted. But the show participants seem to be completely serious and unconcerned about the fact they find essentially nothing week after week.
Our own impression of the show is that the producers are quite lucky that average TV viewers don’t
understand the workings of either gauss meters or RF power meters.
Unsurprisingly, not much happens on Ghost Hunters. Investigators set up electronic equipment in what are supposedly paranormal hotspots. They then spend several hours taking electromagnetic field and temperature readings, recording audio, and filming with digital video cameras.
Perhaps to make up for the lack of action, show investigators have tended toward instrumentation that provides more audiovisual interest than just numbers on a display. They have used an EMF meter on which LEDs, rather than a number on an LCD, give a measure of field strength. They’ve also employed a custom-made geophone (normally used for detecting seismic disturbances) which flashes LEDs in proportion to the intensity of vibrations. Another EMF detector they use buzzes when it detects an electromagnetic field.
The fact that Ghost Hunters uses EMF detectors in any capacity might lead the average viewer to think that “ghosts” are somehow expected to generate electromagnetic energy. But a better grasp of the origin of this idea could pour even more cold water on the proceedings in the show.
The connection between supernatural appearances and EMFs was theorized by Michael Persinger, a neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Canada. In one of his studies, he describes the experiences of a teenager who in 1996 claimed to get nocturnal visits from the Holy Spirit.
Persinger’s group found that an electric clock near the 17-year-old’s bed generated electromagnetic pulses with waveforms resembling those found to trigger epileptic seizures. Removing the clock stopped the girl’s visions. Persinger theorized that the clock, in combination with mild brain damage that the girl had sustained at birth, were likely contributing to the perceived ghostly apparitions.
Persinger has done a lot of research on how electromagnetic stimulation of the frontal lobes of the brain can induce feelings of a “sensed presence.” However, the field levels involved must be pretty high and are usually generated by having a subject wear special headgear sometimes dubbed a God helmet.
Experiments with lower levels of EM stimulation, as might arise when someone wanders around a room, have been somewhat controversial. Research groups have mostly been unable to see any “ghostly” hallucinations under such circumstances though Persinger claims some success in this area.
Getting back to Ghost Hunters, investigators on the show seem to act as though fluctuations on their gauss meters may indicate a ghostly presence. If Persinger is correct, a noteworthy reading on a gauss meter is more likely an indication of hallucinations rather than any spiritual activity.
And there’s no reason spirit hunters on the show need special instruments to see magnetic fields. There are some pretty nifty apps for the iPhone that will use the phone’s Hall sensors to read out not only the magnitude but also the direction of magnetic fields on the order of 25 to 65 mT range as created by the earth.
Of course, waving around an iPhone rather than a gauss meter probably doesn’t look particularly convincing if you are playing to an audience hoping to see evidence of ghosts.
Ahhh, the rise of the clueless and the hanger ons who believe every outrageous claim regurgitated to them. They must be on the same train as those who believe that they hear better fidelity from their mp3’s when they are copied to a gold plated CD.
I’m surprised they aren’t using a gyroscope to sense ghosts … look here, every time I move around I detect the ghosts but as soon as I stop moving the ghosts go back into hiding … they are a clever bunch of spirits aren’t they
Well i thought apparitions need energy, whether it’s from electronics or leeching energy off of us, so couldn’t that be a possibility if you have other variables to coincide with it ?
I have been taught that spirit uses energy pulled from us to manifest. If this is a possibility then yes, going along with that thought you should be able to detect spirit using this means. It all depends on your beliefs but to openly say we are clueless to believe is rather close minded. Maybe a night alone with one of these entities would help open your minds a wee bit although I personally wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Fantastic claims demand fantastic proof. Where’s your proof of “spirits?”
As you and all naysayers are aware, it’s incredibly difficult to aquire “fantastic proof”. I’ve been seeing, hearing and communicating since I was wee. I’ve seen things with full groups of people who saw the same things I have. I’ve had two very old coins drop out of the air at me in front of 4 witnesses and I’ve dealt with many very frightening things to help remove them from people’s lives. Incase you decide to call me out for making money off of people’s fear, i do not ever charge for anything I do. I simply want to help because I know how very scary it can be and how negatively this can impact your life. I’m in no way asking you or anyone else who doesn’t believe to miraculously start. I am only requesting that people who don’t believe stop throwing insults at those of us who do. You wouldn’t call out someone of a different religion and make fun of them. This is who I am and what i believe, not something to throw jokes around about. It’s just simple respect. I appreciate the fact that you took the time to respond, thank you
so, if gauss meter cant, then what will?
I am curious. For the record, I am a believer based on personal experience, but what I want to know, is can an emf detector or even a rem pod be rigged or reworked to go off at will, like, on que?
(A particular group I am watching, it almost completely makes sense that the equipment has been rigged so only when the lead guy wants it to, it responds. ) he is 100% shady, keeps rest of group 109% in the dark, until he decides to (TADAAA!!) reveal his prank…yet I am of the opinion that he is not revealing a vast majority of his fakery. He just really gets off on being the one in the know.
This is an interesting perspective regarding the effectiveness of an EMF meter in finding spirits or indicating the presence of such. I’ve often wondered about this myself. Being a paranormal investigator, I am racking up a number of ghost hunts each year that I participate. I rarely find any ghostly activity or see “scientific” evidence of the presence of spirits. I am treated to, a myriad of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) recordings, however, and an equal amount of personal experiences by other investigators. There is one thing though, in using the EMF detectors, we often get what seems like intelligent responses by spirits to questions we ask. They answer by either lighting up the LED’s all at once or using them singularly for no and twice for yes. I can’t explain this. Any thoughts?
Yes. A statistician would say you are making a type one error. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
Please explain how the meter registered when used out in the open away from any magnetic fields any where,also how three different model show alerts at the same time.
Easy. If your cell phone has reception, then you are not “away from any magnetic fields.” You are in an environment characterized by a variety of RF signals that together constitute EMI noise. Random constructive and destructive interference takes place among these noise signals continuously, occasionally causing a brief rise in signal level that will register on EMI detection equipment.
Not only can I testify that EMF detectors work but I can show proof, https://youtu.be/l5uE0DDKUug
As pointed out here https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/11/the-broken-technology-of-ghost-hunting/506627/ EMF detectors are easily manipulated. The 5 milligauss max readings they occasionally get can easily be produced by household appliances or even by the battery pack powering the light in this video. This video may prove something to you but it doesn’t prove anything to me.
I know a cell phone can set off an EMF detector if it’s not set to airplane mode. Walkie Talkies can also drive EMF detectors crazy.
Question: Is there something that could set off an EMF detector from miles away?
Will the Aurora Borealis set of an EMF detector?
The Aurora Borealis happens at least 60 miles above the earth, so probably not. I haven’t tried this, but I suspect a commercial AM or FM broadcasting antenna might set it off some distance away, under the right conditions.
I own a ghost tour and I recently started leading the tours myself. I have seen unexplained entities in the past, but I don’t’ really believe in the nonsense of using EMF meter, or some fancy app that makes noise or spirit voice boxes. I believe the power of the human mind, to imagine the suggested; is what is behind most of the visions or voices. I use the meters to help the guest involve themselves in the experience. But I have discovered the EMF meters will go off without any logical pattern. Sometimes, it will appear as if people are being followed, while other times, it seems to attach to an object. On some occasions they go off in one area and on other occasions they are 500 meters from the first area. It is a secure area underground building and I am the only one who has access to the area. Is it possible for people to carry magnetic energy to the extent that it would cause a meter to go off? What about the objects and it even changing from one to another?
You might check to see if your guests are carrying cell phones or wireless Bluetooth appliances. These are the more likely culprits for what you noticed than personal “magnetic energy.”
They do work. I’ve been to buildings without any power at all left ann electronics in the car parked down the drive way an have had emf spikes. No electricity or anything around at all. An it would happen right after a question was asked.
I don’t really know that much about the supernatural plane or about electromagnetic waves. With that said, what are your thoughts on ghost hunters using Einstein’s theory on the conservation of energy to explain paranormal phenomena?
While I do not believe something just because I heard it or read it, I also do not dismiss anything outright that cannot be proven because the world once could not prove a great many things that we now can.