Gadgets! Gadgets! Gadgets!

 (or..."Buyer Beware")

Please don't take this as insulting or demeaning, but I have watched this very scene unfold before my very eyes at the Mansfield Reformatory many many times, by many many people, on many many occasions...

A "team" of ghost hunters, each one with a specific task assigned to them, (just like on TV) were checking out an area. The EMF man was sweeping the room, while the Video man was capturing everything with the Nite-Shot on. The Film Camera Operator, The Digital Camera Operator, and the IR Thermometer person waited patiently for the EMF man to find something.

As the Videographer moves about, suddenly the EMF Detector goes wild.

"We have something over here, and its close!" shouts the EMF man.

The rest of the team rush in...stirring up dust.

"Wow...look at all the activity!!!" beams the Video man watching the plethora of orbs materialize in his little screen as he tries to get in closer to record the activity, and the readings of the EMF Detector at the same time. The EMF Detector sounding its alarm more frequently as the Video man nears.

"The spirit must be pissed."

The Still Photographers, digital and film, blaze away like paparazzi... flashes everywhere!

The digital person jumps for joy at the orbs showing up on the LCD screen.

The IR Thermometer person shoots a quick reading to find the temperature much colder....on the window across the room they weren't paying attention to as they were focused on the digital read out on the back of the thermometer.

High Fives all around, It's Miller Time!!...Another job well done...all of the equipment jived up to find something.

The EMF Detector found the Video Camera, The Video Camera with the Nite-Shot found the dust stirred up in all the excitement, The Digital Camera supported the video dust, and the IR Thermometer determined the windows aren't insulated...So, to find out later that the Film Camera didn't yield the same results as the other things, then hence... Digital rocks, Film sucks....

Ahhh, the wonders of technology...

They don't want to hear rational explanations though, they paid big bucks for this stuff...it works dammit! (deny, deny)

Sorry folks, somebody somewhere lied...and they're making a fortune off of other's naivete, and making them feel as though their money was well spent.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm all for Free Enterprise and all, but to blatantly rip off unsuspecting or unknowledgeable people just goes against everything I hold as ethical, and just plain burns my ass. I have actually witnessed people walking around the Mansfield Reformatory with STUD FINDERS, that they bought online masquerading as EMF Detectors. They would hand it to me, and ask, "Do these really work?" and I'd answer, "Sure, if you want to hang a picture."...needless to say they were very angry, and even more so when they went to contact the site to complain, and found the site no longer existed.

Just be careful out there folks. There are far too many Ghost Hunter websites out there, that are more concerned about your check clearing than actual research.

 There are other simpler, cheaper methods of finding spirit energy than fooling around with toys...

 A lot of today's Ghost Hunters feel the need to keep abreast of technology, and employ the "newest tools".

These include Digital Cameras, EMF Detectors, IR Thermometers, Night Vision devices such as army surplus goggles, or Video Cameras with Infra-Red capabilities, Thermal Imaging Cameras, and the latest rage, Motion Sensors.

Sure, they'll get something, but 99% of the time, it can be explained.

I guess this can fall into the "psychology of parapsychology" category, because most of the people that buy this stuff are male...and you know how we are about gadgets...

"He who dies with the most toys, wins."...or more aptly, "still dies"...

Everybody wants to be James Bond, or "scientific", but all the hardware in the world won't make that happen. If you decide to use this equipment, you'd better be a real scientist, and be ready to answer all the questions from your client about the inner workings and properties of electro-magnetics, thermal dynamics, optics, and architectural structural design. I don't think the average joe is quite ready for that yet.

Spirits come and go as they please. There are no guarantees that these things will produce results, and make you "get one every time". Even if it did, then what are you going to do with it?...Kind of like that dog that likes to chase cars, what would he do if he ever caught one?

The scenario described earlier is a perfect example. The "team" was under the impression that they were successful because all of their gear said so...but, they still lacked an important piece of the puzzle...Who was it?

A whole semi truck full of electronics won't be able to answer that.

Here is a list of the newest toys out there for sale that claim to make you a better ghost hunter, and why they are unreliable, and only waste of your money...

I have personally spent many hours testing, experimenting with, and using these devices to determine if they were all they're supposed to be cracked up to be, and have only found rational explanations for their readings...

Remember the first rule of Ghost Hunting:

Find the explanation first...

You just can't "Oooo and Ahhh" over a needle jumping, a light flashing, a beeper beeping, or an immediate image.

You're there to find answers, not put on a show or bolster your ego...Oh sure, all that stuff looks good on the TV shows, but have you ever noticed on those shows, whenever someone with an EMF Meter gets a "spike", its always near a telephone line, or The Cameraman is close by?

Digital Cameras

We've gone over this in the Photography section, but just as a preview, let's go over it again...

The Con's of Digital Photography far out weigh the Pro's for ghost hunting. Too many glitches occur due to lighting or environment ,will show things on the image that are too quickly accepted as spirit energy.

For instance, if you are shooting down a dark hallway, and have a light to your back, "orbs" will show up every time. These are the "low light" orbs that are caused by the bleeding over of pixels or better known as Anti-Alignment caused by the Image Sensor's inability to compensate for certain lighting conditions.

I have a few friends that are professional photographers by trade, who sometimes work in the digital medium. They have told me about how an otherwise beautiful shot was spoiled "By those damn white spots." A slight adjustment of the background light, and the "spots" vanished.

An Anti-Alignment filter will totally due away with those accidental "damn white spots". It is a chip that has to be installed in the camera, for $2300. An attachable filter is available for $300, which is more than some models of digital cameras actually cost...

Dust is another very common mistake made when trying to identify anomalies.

A "dust orb" will be misshapen and have a brighter edge or ring around it. We've also identified this occurrence in film cameras as well, but not as much so as in digital cameras.

The main culprit here, is the Image Sensor....

Electronics are far more sensitive than mechanics in the comparison of digital vs. film cameras.

The Image Sensor will detect everything and anything, including impurities in the air such as dust, and record it in the memory as part of the natural scene being photographed.

Add being lit up by the flash, and you have instant "ghost picture". Try taking the same photo without the flash, and you'll have a clear picture....darker of course, but there won't be any trophy orbs...

Now matter how well a person can clean their house, there will always be dust in the air, be it from the carpet or clothing, it can and will show up in digital images. There is no such thing as a dust-free house...

The price range of digital cameras is anywhere from $250 to $1000's

EMF Detectors

These are probably the most popular gizmos on the rip-off market today.

They were originally designed for use for power companies to detect electro-magnetic fields around the power lines to record safe working ranges.

I can just imagine someone sitting around one day, after watching "Ghostbusters" one too many times, and wanting to emulate Egon's PK Meter....So the marketing boom begins.

Fact of the matter is, with these EMF Meter's, you will find more TV's, VCR's, Microwave Oven's, Dishwashers, Ceiling Fan's, Telephone Wire's, Computer's, Printer's, and...even the rest of your own ghost hunting equipment, such as Tape Recorder's, Video Camera's, and Digital Camera's.

These devices will "spike" near anything that produces a magnetic field...which generally is anything electronic.

My own personal experiments with EMF Detectors have proven all of the above to be true.

Many recorded instances of spirits interfering with electronic devices, such as stereo's, TV's, and telephones automatically tell us that nothing is impervious to spirit energy. So what makes these little gems infallible? They can be tampered with, and have the batteries sucked dry just like anything else. We've had flashlights, motor driven cameras, and video equipment fail on us for no reason, only to "come back to life" when we left a particular area.

In talking with other Ghost hunters, who were the "hardcore" type, and used every device known to man, they have told me that in order to effectively get a "good reading", that you have to actually stick the EMF meter into the spirit energy. Well, you have to find it first, don't you?

You have to sweep the entire room to find a space where the little needle will twitch. By the time all that takes place, the energy could have left the room and went somewhere else, leaving you in the room all by yourself wasting time....but dowsing rods will take you right to an energy and cross when you're in it...

EMF Meters range in price from $19.95 to $200+...

Experiment #1....Walking through the house, not watching where I was going, only following the signal from the EMF meter....

*beep beep beep*,VCR.....

*beep beep beep*,Microwave....

*beep beep beep*,Ceiling Fan....

Experiment #2....Following one of my cohort's advice, I went down and threw the breaker box off...no power in the house...

*beep beep beep*, TV....

*beep beep beep*, Radio....

*beep beep beep*, Telephone...

*beep beep beep*, Refrigerator...

Then I had to go reset all of my damn clocks...

You see, the CRT or the picture tube of a television will retain a charge of up to 30,000 volts even after being unplugged. Radios have speakers containing powerful magnets, and Refrigerators have magnets around the doors, and also hold their charge.

There are a 1001 variables that will make an EMF Detector "spike", such as environment, or geographic location. Power lines, Ley Lines, Ore Deposits, or even building materials such as Sandstone will emit minute magnetic fields.

Sandstone has a high content of Quartz. We all know that a distinct property of quartz, is its ability to hold and to reverberate energy...that's how your wrist watch works. Remember the old "Crystal Radio Kits"?

Try this one...Hold your EMF Detector on your quartz wrist watch. The needle with twitch with every movement of the second hand.

IR Thermometers

One of the newest toys going around today...everybody just has to have one!!

The problem with these is, they only record surface temperatures...like on the floor or far wall. They will not record temperature changes associated with "cold spots" in mid-air.

These were made for use by Mechanics, Computer Repair Technicians, Window Installers, and Heating & Air Conditioning guys...so unless you are one of the above, don't waste your hard earned cash.

These have no business in Ghost Hunting...

It's just another gimmick...or a $100 cat toy. (they love the laser)

If you already have one try this, you'll see what I mean....

Light a candle or a lighter, and aim the laser into the flame. You'll get a heat reading...Now aim the laser over the flame where the heat is rising (like cold spots in mid-air)...you'll get the temperature of the far wall in the room.

If these were supposed to detect cold spots like the claims, they would also detect the heat, right?....Save your money.

The accuracy of these are + or - 2% of the reading, or 4 degrees F/2 C whichever is greater.

(ya call that being precise?)

These things range in price from Radio Shack's $49.95 to the more expensive $119 models, and they all work the same way...

Experiment #1....This may have been a little extreme, but it got the result I suspected.

I turned on one of the front burners on my stove, and shot the laser directly at it, it registered 284 degrees F....next, I shot the laser over the burner, and it only registered 77 degrees, room temperature...of the wall.

Experiment #2....I filled a big glass measuring cup with water, and added a half of a tray of ice cubes. The laser registered 33 degrees when put directly onto the ice. I took the reading from the wall behind the measuring cup, 64 degrees.

Shooting the laser through the clear glass cup, it registered 60 degrees.

Thinking I didn't give the water enough time to cool, I waited a few minutes. The next reading was 62 degrees...

(there's that + or - 4 degree variable)

Experiment #3....Before taking a nice hot shower, I measured the bathroom wall temperature at 66 degrees. I took my shower with the door closed to contain the heat and steam. Immediately after getting out, I measured the room while it was still hot and steamy. I could see the laser's beam in the steam, but it still registered 66 degrees on the wall....

Experiment  #4....Turn on a fan, any kind will do from a box fan to a desktop model. Turn it on "high", you can feel the cool area of the wind, and the warmer area around it. (like a cold spot)

Turn off the fan, and take a temperature reading of the wall. Now turn the fan back on and wait a few seconds for the air to cool down. Feel inside the wind tunnel, then the area around it. You'll feel the difference in temperature with your hands. Take another reading with the thermometer through the wind tunnel, and you'll get the same wall temperature as before, or the + or - variable depending on where your heating ducts are located in the walls.

Night-Vision

Some video camera's have a Nite-Shot option that allows you to "see" in total darkness. This is only true if you want to see a few feet in front you...in total darkness. The range is limited by the distance the Infra-Red beam is able to travel, without being absorbed by the darkness. To "see" in total darkness, you'll still have to use the camera's lamp, which will drain the battery quickly, or use a flashlight, which kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Night Vision works on the exact same principle as digital camera's do. They have an image sensor that does the recording and storing, and will also pick up the same impurities floating around in the air due to the IR beam reflecting off of dust or pollen particles the majority of the time.

Now, I'm not saying Nite-Shot is completely useless. It has picked up some anomalies, but you have to be able to discern the difference between a dust storm, and a spirit energy. Look at the beam of your flashlight, or better yet the camera's lamp...if you see dust in the beam, that's what you are recording, so make note of it...

Army Surplus Night-Vision Goggles?...you're kidding, right?

Once again, straight out of "Ghostbusters"...Ray Stantz, Dan Aykroyd's character, used them all the time. It's just a movie!

Not only are these things extremely expensive, but they make you look silly too.

Plus, as an after thought, have you ever bought anything that was army surplus that actually worked?

Thermal Imaging Cameras

To be honest, I've never used one, but I want one. I've read up on how they work, and it seems like something actually useful....but....

If you can afford the $11,000 price tag for a "basic" model, can I hit you up for a grant?

Motion Sensors

These are starting to pop up in the website "toy departments" everywhere on the net. Be careful if you want to try these out. They're the same Home Security devices found in your local D.Y.I., Loew's, or Sears Hardware stores. The salesmen buy the inexpensive models, double the price, hype it up, then try to pawn it off to the novice ghost hunter.

If you're really that curious about them, just go to the store...don't finance someone's trip to Hawaii...

I rigged up a portable model using a battery powered motion sensor and clamp-on work light. It was fairly inexpensive to build, around 30 bucks, give or take, total...

The motion sensor unit is an adaptor that turns any light or lamp into an alarm. It screws into the light socket, then the bulb goes into the adapter's socket, and there's a wire that plugs into the sensor unit.

All in all, it works fine for entering a dark room at night, but not for picking up any form of spirit-type energy.

Motion Sensor's work by detecting changes in the environment, such as body heat, movement, or ultra-sonic sound. It works by emitting a signal that bounces around the room and returns to the unit. The unit turns on when it detects a change or disruption in the returning signal...kind of like radar or sonar, just to give you an idea...

The one that I have works on body heat and movement.

I've tried to re-create conditions such as temperature changes and light & shadowy effects in the attempt to trigger the the device, but so far the only thing that has worked was holding a lighter up close to it. The lighter didn't trip the signal at a reasonable distance...like across the room.

If an object is too small, or moves too fast, it won't trigger the sensor.

The detection field is 120 degrees X 50', so it covers a pretty large area, but it doesn't go through walls or other objects that may block the signal.

"The Box Experiment"

I found a large cardboard box, about 5 feet long, two feet high, and about a foot and a half wide, and cut "windows" and a small hole in the end. I placed the Sensor unit into the end hole, so the box now acted as a "room", while blocking the signal from my movement.

I covered the "windows" at different times, to vary the amount of light entering the box. Tests with light, light direction, or movement of light did not trip the Sensor at all. I even went as far as to blow smoke into the box, making the beam of a flashlight physically visible, still no reaction to the movement. I tried different kinds of light i.e., florescent, incandescent, ambient, and even tried a black light...nope, light or movement of light has nothing to do with it. I went as far as firing up my magnetic generator to see if the sensor would pick up the pulsation of the emitted magnetic waves. That didn't work either. So they won't detect electro-magnetic fields...

I swung an empty pop can, on a thread, in front of the window on the far end of the box...no reaction.

What did work however, was filling the can with hot water. The can itself became hot, and tripped the sensor, both in a stationary position, and swinging it passed the window. O.k., so it detected heat...the next step was to see if it would find a "cold spot".

Starting out with extreme measures, and winding down from there is always best. That way you can tell if the slowing down of a process will work during a "normal" condition.

I placed a small space heater in one of the boxes windows, and let it run for a few minutes. The temperature inside the box rose to 105 degrees.

The night before, I half filled a pop can with water and put it in the freezer.

Taking the nice cold can out, and tying a thread to it, I slowly lowered it into the hot environment of the box. The sensor did not trip while the can remained still, but it did trip when I swung the can. So in that aspect, it found the movement of the "cold spot".

I turned off the space heater, and let the interior of the box cool down, while re-testing the can at intervals, a few minutes at a time, until the box became room temperature.

The sensor tripped when the ice cold can moved in room temperature.

I also got to thinking about humidity, and wondered if that played a key role also. I fired up the space heater again, and placed a small bowl of water inside the box, under the window the heater was in. After about 20 minutes, the duct tape on the box started to melt, so I removed the cover of the top window. The air that came out felt almost tropical, like a mini-sauna. The sensor tripped when I lowered the can inside.

All-righty then...we got the motion sensor to react to a "cold spot" in a controlled environment, the ultimate test will be in practical field testing.

So far so good on this one, but...its a double-edged sword...it might work, but it's just more stuff to tote around, pack and unpack, and clutter up the place with a mile of extension cords...

**2-08-02...We got the opportunity to do some field testing.

Conclusion...Total Bust!!

We were given permission to check out a reputed haunting at a resturaunt. Since it was a public place and not a person's home, I saw it as the perfect chance to experiment a little.

We set up the Motion Sensor in the corner of the most active room, and sat there waiting for it to trip. It went off when we moved...but not when our auto-focuses and dowsing rods were going ape-shit, and we actually felt a "cold spot" moving around the room...

Live and learn. You'll never know about something for sure, unless you work with it yourself...now we know. Actually doing, and not assuming something will work, is the only way to get results.

All these gadgets, gizmos, toys and playthings are mostly just for show...and take a safari team to carry around with you. Numbers, lights, and sound effects mean absolutely nothing.

Keep it simple and travel light.....Everything I need to do a private residence investigation fits into a small camera bag.

You have to remember, you're going into someone's home. Don't clutter it up with unnecessary junk. It doesn't impress anyone, and only appears intimidating to the resident. They have enough problems with "intruders", you're there to comfort them...not add to it.

If you want to take pictures, stick to film....400 ASA is best.

If you want to look for magnetic fields, use a compass...

If you find a cold spot, just stick your hand in it, then around the outside of it. Remember, numbers mean absolutely nothing...and bare in mind, Thermal Drafts.

Learn how to Dowse...after you've gotten the hang of doing it correctly and accurately, it will heighten your own natural ability. After a while of practice, you won't even need the rods anymore, you can point to energies with your finger....

So here's a quick run down:

Digital Camera: $200+

Cheapy Point-n-Shoot: $40... roll of 36 exp.: $4... Processing: $7

EMF Meter: $ 200+

Compass: $2

IR Thermometer: $100+

Hand: Free

Brass rod stock to make your own Dowsing Rods: $1.89

Gadgets and gizmos.... Total: $500+

Simple Things............... Total: $50+

You do the math...

Now some hard-core individuals will want to argue with these findings. Try the afore mentioned experiments in your own home so you'll see I'm not just blowing smoke. The results just might surprise you.

In all seriousness...The choice is your's to buy these things or not, but if this stuff actually worked, I'd use it myself.

~~~copyright 2006 Dr. Ken

None of this material may be used without
the written consent of Dr. Ken