2 posts from February 2008

By Patricia Bradley-Bates

About  EMF Meters -- Do They Really Register Ghostly Activity?

Q. MY FRIENDS AND I ARE USING AN EMF METER TO HUNT GHOSTS. I KNOW THEY ARE USED TO TELL IF THERE'S A GHOST AROUND. BUT HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE EMF METER IS NOT JUST PICKING UP MY ENERGY TOO?

A. This is a good question. But first, let's discuss the idea that EMF meters will tell if there is a ghost around. We can only say that there is no certainty that it will. The only thing that an EMF meter (electromagnetic frequency meter) will indicate, is the level of EMF energy in a specific location. However, most common EMF detectors are capable of measuring a range of EMF energy that is fairly limited compared to the entire range of EMF radiation in the universe.

Electromagnetic energy is simply a wastebasket term for any radiation that the universe emits to a measurable degree. This means any visible or non-visible radiation. By radiation, we mean energy that is emitted in the form of waves (light) or particles (photons). For instance, a light bulb will emit radiation that is visible. This is the light that we use to read. However, a microwave emits radiation that is not visible when it cooks our popcorn.

According to the NASA site, Imagine the Universe, the Universe itself is the biggest generator of radiation. However, the human brain also generates radiation, or EMFs, even if at an extra-low rate or frequency.

So, if human beings generate EMFs and an EMF meter is meant to pick up that sort of energy, then how do we know if our EMF meters are not really just picking up our energy? The answer is we don't. Run your own test with your EMF meter and pass it over your own body without standing in proximity to any high EMF energy spike areas. This will require you to conduct a quick location baseline scan first to make sure you are not standing next to a wall filled with electric conduits or a microwave.

Another little problem to be brought up is this one: how do we even know ghosts produce EMFs? Just because living people produce a little bit of EMF energy doesn't mean that dead people also produce EMFs. Also, if ghosts do produce EMFs, they may not be producing EMFs that are measurable on modern ghost hunter's EMF meter, which has a limited range. (Note: Look at the LINKS on this site for a good article on this dilemma under "EMFs.")

Q. I AM VERY INTERESTED IN DOING SOME GHOST HUNTING BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START. I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY AND I SEE GHOST HUNTERS ON TV WITH SOME PRETTY EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT. WHAT DO I NEED? IS IT POSSIBLE TO BECOME A GHOST HUNTER WITHOUT SPENDING ALOT OF MONEY?

A. Let's hope so! A lot of us don't have the money to buy the kind of expensive equipment used by ghost hunters like TAPS on TV. The high-tech equipment that TAPS and others use has earned respect and interest from those who are empirically minded in our society - and proper and balanced use of such equipment has advanced the field of paranormal.

However, using costly, high-tech equipment has also set an expectation that this is the only acceptable standard in the field of ghost hunting. Nothing could be further from the truth! Ghost hunting has been around since mankind has walked the earth. In more modern times of the 20th century, some of the best pieces of paranormal evidence has been picked up by someone's phone answering machine, an old camera, or a a handheld cassette tape recorder. Many successful ghost hunters get started this way. Finally, don't forget that the MOST important tool of all in ghost hunting is the human element: YOU! The use of your brain and gut instinct are priceless. They are the most valuable tools of all, and you already are the owner of them!

By Patricia Bradley Bates

GhostHouse

Ghost hunting is extremely popular these days. It is one of America's fastest growing hobbies. This interest can be seen in the popularity of shows like Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters and the Travel channel's Most Haunted, as well as Ghost Whisperer and Medium. Websites to radio programs such as Coast to Coast host daily features of fans' strangest ghost photos. People are lugging their EMF meters, IC recorders and digital cameras along to houses, cemeteries and family funerals at record numbers in the hope of getting evidence of life after death. There hasn't been this much interest in the paranormal since the séance days of Madame Blavatsky in the 19th century.

Provocation is a current technique being used in ghost hunting. Some investigators think that provocation gets spirits stirred up and irked so that they will get mad and react out of anger. When angry, spirits are thought to produce the kind of phenomena that makes good evidence, such as a clear recording of a spirit uttering words (EVP, electronic voice phenomena) or visual manifestations on camera (apparitions, shadow, lights, orbs, objects that move). The thinking goes: if someone came barging into your house with a lot of equipment and called you names, you might scream and yell too. Well, yes, you would. You might even call the cops.

Ghost hunters can get nasty. Provocation can include name calling, insults, rude joking, accusing spirits of committing certain crimes when they were alive, telling them they are cowards if they don't show themselves or speak to the hunters. Ghost hunters claim this works to give a payoff for the ghost hunters by providing quality sound and visual evidence that helps a ghost hunting team build a reputation in the paranormal field. This can lead to books, TV shows, radio interviews, selling of merchandise. It is true: ghosts are becoming big business!

Let's remember that this provocation goes on in places where human beings once lived, loved, gave birth, raised their families, suffered, died and now - haunt. Ghosts are thought to haunt places where they still have unfinished business, where their loved ones might live, or because they are simply not wanting to leave their family home or place of greatest emotional attachment. If a haunted house exists, it is probably haunted with the former human residents of that house who are human spirits, just like you or me. In other words, ghosts are people too.

How less justified we are, then, when we provoke? After all, we wouldn't barge into a stranger's house and begin to call them names while we hold out our cameras and recorders in the hopes of getting a reaction to go on the news that night. That is, unless we were the paparazzi.

This is a call to ghost hunters to try to remember that one of the top reasons we ghost hunt is to prove the existence of life after death. If there is, there is a spiritual realm that is mostly unknown. This is a realm we will approach when our bodies die. Humans who become ghosts are no different in essence from you or me. We are connected to them - we are all of the human family. Connectedness is the key - respect of the spiritual realm leads out from that.