EMF Meters and Snipe Hunting

My question is...Who started the idea that spirits emit Electro-Magnetic Fields?

Was it someone who misunderstood some concept, or someone with a product to sell?

The biggest selling item in everyone's "ghost hunting kits" are these EMF Meters that someone somewhere said can find spirit energy. There are various kinds out there for sale, ranging in prices from cheap ($19.99) to the absurd ($80.00 to $200.00).

Folks walk around and discover "strange readings" or "jumps" on their machines and get all excited, and start snapping away with their digital cameras..."Oooooo, Orbs!! These things really work!!"...They don't feel as though they've fallen for a con, they got "results", they're happy.

There is No Scientific Proof Anywhere, that these will, do, or even can detect a spirit energy...yet people continue to use them with a false sense of security and hope.

I suppose that these people think that walking around with one, makes them appear to look like they know what they're doing...

Yes, I did some more work here, and here's what I found out about Electro-Magnetic Fields.

The claims again, are bogus. There are EMFs in the environment, wherever you go. The Earth itself is a big ol' magnet, and the field extends 30,000 miles above the surface.

Some will debate that, "We were out in the middle of nowhere, and the readings jumped for no reason." Ok, think about this for a second, other than their own equipment setting it off...Out in the middle of nowhere (or anywhere for that matter), how many times do you think the area was hit by lighting over the course of a few millennia? If there are ore deposits under the ground, it will become magnetized to some degree. Hence we now went from the middle of nowhere, to the middle of Sleepy Hollow, and the Headless Horseman is breathing down our necks!!

Again, add a digital camera to the equation and the bugs, breath, pollen, and dust seem to back-up the EMFs "readings".

Gullibility runs rampant among the beginners (and some "veterans") in the field. Just remember:

Don't let your enthusiasm distort your perception.

The mega-buck meters that claim to be able to differentiate between "natural and man-made" electro-magnetic fields is a total false claim!!!

A magnetic field is a magnetic field by any other name.

Be it a natural magnet (lodestone), a ceramic magnet, or an electro-magnet, they all produce the same magnetic field. Remember doing the experiment with the iron filings in Jr. High Science class?

There is no difference, not even on the atomic level... its all the same field, same strengths, same weaknesses, same patterns, and same properties.

The sales pitch claim is, that a "spirit energy" will produce readings ranging from 2.0 to 7.5 on the meter. How did someone come up with that, and what did they do to actually prove it?

You have to admit, that's a pretty big window to work with, so I took an EMF meter (a good laboratory grade one) and went about a search of my own home along with testing it on various types of magnets. During this experiment, I had to keep the EMF meter about three feet away from the florescent lamp on my desk...the meter registered that also.

Here is the list along with the numerical reading:

Ceramic Magnet........................................................22.6 (at peak)

Iron Bar Magnet.........................................................28.5 (at peak)

Lodestone (natural magnet).......................................140.3 (at peak)

Plastic Fridge Magnet...............................................00.1 (with a variance)

9v battery w/wire and nail (actual electro-magnet)...5.9

Now, on to "Ghost Hunting Tools":

Micro-cassette Recorder (recording)...00.8

Digital Camera......................................2.2

IR Thermometer...................................00.1

Video Camera Battery..........................2.4

Video Camera (recording)....................2.1

Another EMF Meter...............................00.3

Full Size Cassette Recorder................5.1

Digital Voice Recorder..........................1.7

Cell Phone (inactive).............................2.3 - 3.8

(again, add the digital camera dust. no wonder there so many "results" on the net)

Household Appliances:

Television..................Off - 00.4...On - 24.5

VCR..........................Off or On....3.1

Micro-wave Oven......Off - 4.5...On - 117.4

Stereo.......................Off - 2.0...On - 1.9 (don't know how that happened)

DVD Player...............Off - 3.2...On - 5.0

Computer..................Off - 00.0...On - 00.3 (they're shielded)

Monitor......................Off - 00.1...On - 6.5

Printer.......................Off - 00.1... On - 00.2...Printing - 1.3

TV Remote................00.1

Refrigerator...............4.3

Ceiling Fan (low speed)...32.0 - 40.0

Box Fan (low speed)........16.0 - 23.0

Desk Fan..........................Off the chart!!!

Does temperature affect magnetic field readings?

Let's find out, shall we...I used a ceramic magnet to test this one.

Out of the freezer, temp. 36 degrees...21.6

Heated, temp. 116 degrees..................22.6

The readings fluctuated just a tad as the magnet cooled and warmed back up, but it still pretty much maintained a steady reading as room temprature.

Try this one. I was amazed at the result...Stand at your kitchen sink with the meter a couple of inches from the faucet. Mine (the good lab grade one) read 00.4...Now turn on the sink and "sweep" around the faucet. It read from 00.4 to 00.7. Yes, even running water can produce an emf when there is no direct electricity involved. The minute field is produced by the running water.

So ok, what have we noticed here?

The "accepted variance" for ghost readings according to the information on the net, is 2.0 to 7.5, right?

Have you noticed that those readings are mostly coming from the other "Ghost Hunting Tools"?

Hmmmmm...

So my conclusion, with all these readings is, either my house is crawling with demons, or these things are just plain useless...

In talking with one "hardcore" ghost hunter, to get a "good reading", you have to stick the EMF Meter into the "spirit energy". You have to find it first, don't you? By the time you're finished walking around trying to sweep every square inch of a room, the spookie could've left. If you leave it sit and wait for the spookie to trip over it and the alert to go off, you might be in for a looooong night...

I'd love to sic the IRS on the salesmen of these gimmicks.

Don't get too excited about wanting one because you saw it was so cool on a cheezy TV show. Save your money...

Speaking of cheezy TV shows... I saw one of the Travel Channel's ghost shows, where a "noted" husband and wife team went to check out a slightly famous haunting. The lady that lived in the house currently, didn't know what the people were talking about, and had reservations about letting them (and the camera crew) into her home. She finally agreed, but said they weren't to go any farther than the living room.

The "wife" started all her "psychic drama" and said she felt something "over there", and went to go into another room. The owner of the house blocked her path with her body and firmly told her to stay out of the rest of the house. The "wife" hesitated for a few seconds, then all of a sudden "felt something" in the same room they were in (conveniently). She told the "husband" to "Point your geezer-meter over there near the TV set, that's where I feel it is."

Well gee...the meter twitched and his digital camera went off, and low and behold...an "orb".

The lady of the house almost laughed out loud. She said she's never encountered anything since she's been there, and politely told them to leave.

I guess the "wife" had to try to save face for the TV camera, and point the "husband" in a direction where the EMF would read something. I think they still looked like idiots no matter how hard they tried to save themselves.

I was working with a crew from the Cleveland Film Commission at the currently favorite haunt spot of Ohio. One of the Producer girls told me she was talking with "another ghost hunter" and he told her that sometimes "living people" would give off EMF readings. He "wanded" her and the meter went off. I asked if she had a cell phone in her pocket, and when she stopped laughing, she said she did.

There's been some controversy over my saying that some building material, such as Sandstone, will have an effect on EMF meters due to the Sandstone containing Quartz. We know that quartz has the natural property of absorbing and retaining electricity...Examples are your wristwatch, and those old AM crystal radio kits. Some are saying that even if there WAS any energy stored in sandstone, that it would be so minute, it wouldn't matter and have no effect on the EMF meter.

Step into my laboratory...Let me show you something.

(Photos were taken a safe distance away, so the camera wouldn't influence the meter. They were cropped and enlarged to show the details)

Here we have your basic, run of the mill, sandstone rock. It's a small one, just large enough to sit on top of a paper cup. I got it from the parking lot at work.

Just for grins and giggles, lets set an EMF meter next to it. (the good laboratory grade one)

 Well, looky there!!

Next, I drilled some holes in both ends. Not all the way through, just shallow enough to hold a couple of small nails to use as electrodes, and to see if the current from a 6-volt battery would travel through it, or not...Let's pretend the rock is a building, and the battery current would be say, house wiring.

 Hmmmm....that's within the 2.0 to 7.5 range...

After removing the battery and electrodes...Our little friend here seems to have absorbed and retained a little bit. It went from a 00.2 reading to 00.3 after electrical current was applied. Nothing major, but it did...

And now, just to show that the battery itself (or anything else) didn't influence the EMF meter...

 
'Nuff said...

Sandstone DOES store natural electrical energy, and no matter how hard they try to defend them, make excuses or dress up EMF meters, the bottom line is...THEY DO NOT WORK!!!!

Lets just leave these things for the Power Company Lineman and the Cell Phone Tower Technicians...that's who these things were designed and made for, not Ghost Hunters...

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." ~ Dr. Richard Feynman.

 ~~~copyright 2004 Dr. Ken

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