Ghosts and the devices designed to detect them

[PerditaPickle]

Had an interesting conversation with a relative last night about ghosts - we've both experienced them, but he believes devices designed to 'detect' them (such as the EMF meters, spirit boxes and so on, used on TV shows that I like - Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted) are only picking up stray signals from modern appliances etc.

Anyone have any views on this, or any interesting anecdotes to share?

Edited for typo

[Aisling]

Had an interesting conversation with a relative last night about ghosts - we've both experienced them, but he believes devices designed to 'detect' them (such as the EMF meters, spirit boxes and so on, used on TV shows that I like - Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted) are only picking up stray signals from modern appliances etc.

Anyone have any views on this, or any interesting anecdotes to share?

The bulk of my spiritual work is with the dead and dying, so I'm coming at this from the point of view of someone who firmly believes in the existence of ghosts.  However, I'm skeptical about ghost hunting as portrayed in pop culture.

My view on the use of devices like EMF meters is that they are a less-than-ideal and extremely imprecise ways of measuring paranormal activity.  It does make for dramatic tv viewing to show someone getting excited by a meter spike or a static-y sound on a digital recorder.  Without tearing apart walls and floors, it's hard to know if there are other causes for the meter readings and sounds like old wiring, pipes, etc.  The same applies to the use of less technical tools like dowsing rods (I've had great luck finding water pipes this way, zero luck in locating anything paranormal).

Is it possible these tools might be used to detect the presence of ghosts?  I do think so, but no more than any other object that a spirit could affect. IMO, use of those devices are meant to give scientific credibility to the ghost hunting community... and fails miserably because we don't know what ghosts are and therefore, don't know how to record or measure their existence with any precision (e.g. are they the residual energy of a dead person, a disembodied soul, the echos of memories within our brains, etc).

For me, as a practitioner who works with spirits, there generally isn't a lot in the experience that's readily quantifiable, recordable or measurable. That's what makes it problematic from a scientific point of view. I've had the opportunity to go on a 'ghost hunt' that used EMF and K2 meters, along with video and digital recording.  The results were mixed at best.  My experience was that they were three spirits in the house - two from the 1860's and the third from the 1930's).  There were several EMF spikes but these were in places that could have been caused by wiring and weren't in response to any noticeable activity on the part of the spirits. The K2 only light up once, but again, didn't seem to be related to any identifiable activity.  On the other hand, we did get an audio recording that sounded faintly like a child crying. The team decided the evidence inconclusive that there were any ghosts; the two of us that the team deemed as 'sensitives' independently concluded that there were three spirits active and were in agreement on gender, approximate ages, and time periods (we were separated during the investigation, wrote down our impressions, and then met to compare notes afterward as a way of independently verifying the info).  So, not exactly a win for the equipment gurus.

[ehbowen]

Had an interesting conversation with a relative last night about ghosts - we've both experienced them, but he believes devices designed to 'detect' them (such as the EMF meters, spirit boxes and so on, used on TV shows that I like - Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted) are only picking up stray signals from modern appliances etc.

Anyone have any views on this, or any interesting anecdotes to share?

My own view is that the physical universe which we see when we look around us is an "average" of billions upon billions of individual timelines. Physical objects and people in physical bodies occupy such a large number of congruent timelines that they are relatively simple to detect both with human senses and with mechanical aids. However, while as a Christian I must agree that disembodied spirits exist, my own working theory is that they occupy only a bare handful of that multitude of dimensions and timelines. For you to perceive them, what I call your "core personality" must be within that narrow range of timelines in which they are operating.

I see it as akin to catching lightning in a bottle. Now, there are many more stories of such encounters than the base of my theory would anticipate...but I feel that in most if not (almost) all of those situations some other spiritual personality is acting as a go-between or "amplifier". The problem, again from my Christian perspective, is that I have a Scriptural warning to not seek out such encounters, which leads me to believe that there are vastly more malevolent "go-betweens" active than benevolent ones. Really, can you be absolutely sure that you're speaking to Aunt Martha as opposed to some entity with ultimately nefarious designs who spent a lifetime patiently observing Aunt Martha, knows her and her experiences and mannerisms intimately, and is acting either as a "man in the middle" if not an outright fraud to take advantage of you?

It would appear to me that, at present, the spiritual battle around us is very real and it also appears that one of the "rules" of that conflict is that, for the present, neither side is permitted what the Carl Sagans amongst us would consider hard "proof". Going back to the subject of your original post, even if there is no malevolent interference can you be certain that the mechanical device in your hand (camera, recorder, Ghostbusters PKE meter) is seeing the exact same portion of the timelines as is your own core personality at any moment? Again, for big stuff...physical objects and the like...it doesn't matter; the presence is so "broad" that you and the camera are virtually (but not completely!) certain to be seeing an average which is close enough not to matter. But at the fringes of existence...I think, not so much.

[TheGreenWizard]

Had an interesting conversation with a relative last night about ghosts - we've both experienced them, but he believes devices designed to 'detect' them (such as the EMF meters, spirit boxes and so on, used on TV shows that I like - Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted) are only picking up stray signals from modern appliances etc.

Anyone have any views on this, or any interesting anecdotes to share?

Edited for typo

Oooh!!! Good topic!

I'm coming at this from both a scientific background and someone who has had some weird experiences (I still can't decide if they were spirits, ghosts, or something entirely different). That said, here's my two cents:

As much as I love the ghost hunting community trying to become more credible with their research/investigations and using the scientific method, I agree with @Aisling that using EMF readers, thermal imaging (though, this is a mixed bag), and other various equipment, can be a crap shoot because we don't know exactly what ghosts, spirits, etc are and how to accurately measure their presence. EMF readers are always spiking because we have background electromagnetism in our modern world; to counteract that, we'd need to turn off ALL electrical circuits in the area, including the equipment that is used for video or audio recording. Or, at least measure what the EM is from those equipment and keep that in mind during readings.

Now, as someone who is sorta sensitive (I honestly haven't dared to explore or train this further given my general fear of dealing with spirits I know nothing about), I know they exist. My mother and myself have had our share of experiences - both with spirits and the dying - that we can't deny happened. For her, she was in her best friend's basement getting a mop and bucket when she turned around and saw that there was a little girl with raven black hair. Little girl wanted to play, and (if I remember the story correctly) my mom said for her to come up and they'll play. But when my mom got to the bottom of the stairs to go back up, and looked back, the girl was gone. Mom found out that the house was very old and had partially burned down... with one victim, the little girl. And also found out that others had seen her as well.

My own encounters deal with spirits - one in the forest, and two I met in my dreams. In both cases, I either physically felt someone touch me (that was the forest spirit), OR, I woke up and there were scratches on my arm... when I don't have cats and my nails were non-existent at the time. I've also felt the presence of my grandmother near me when she died... which I'd rather not get into at the moment.