The Ghosts of Christmas Past.
When I first saw “The Christmas Carol” it scared the Dicken’s out of me. (ha ha) The book, “A Christmas Carol”, was written back in 1843 by Charles Dickens and of course features three spirits, one from Christmas past, present, and yet to come. The visitation of the spirits transforms Scrooge from a cold hearted miser who hated Christmas, into a much better man who is generous, kind, and loves Christmas.
But what if a real ghost visits you, how would you handle it, and how would you go about capturing evidence that you haven’t lost your mind? Well there are tools out there that will help you confirm something is visiting you, but you have to know at least what works, what doesn’t, and how to use the tools properly. TV today is saturated with ghost investigative shows because most people can relate to them. Everyone has a ghost story to tell, so that concept is an easy sell compared to UFO shows.
The one major problem I see on TV now pertaining to paranormal shows are; the viewers today have become desensitized over the years wanting to see more evidence on every episode. To accommodate the viewers, more shows are manipulating and faking evidence to please their specific target audience. The reality of doing investigations is, sometimes you get evidence and sometimes you don’t, but it appears viewers really don’t care if the evidence is manipulated or fake, they just want to be entertained.
Well, now you may have ghosts, so you’ll probably take some tips from the ghost shows you’ve seen on TV to help you with your conundrum. So let’s look at some of the things they do on TV, that may or may not work.
Using Cell Phones for Investigations:
First, any ghost show on TV in which investigators use their cell phones as cameras or use cell phone apps for EMF meters, just “turn-the-channel! Cell phones themselves emit EMF while being used, as a matter of fact, even if you put a smart phone on “Airplane” mode while running an investigation, it’s still communicating with the tower and using GPS.
IT NEEDS TO BE TURNED OFF!
Second, cell phone cameras suck if used for investigations. I’m not going to go into the difference between using a cell phone camera compared to an actual camera on an investigation because I wrote a blog about it, so here’s the link to that blog if you want to learn more:
https://www.ufonut.com/cell-phone-cameras-dslr-cameras-and-ufos/
Third, using the cell phone microphone to run an EVP sessions may not capture evidence. The microphones themselves are tiny compared to good digital audio recorders, and cell phone software manipulation can actually block EVPs. (Electronic Voice Phenomena’s)
Try to use proper equipment.
Using an Ovilus in an investigation.
The Ovilus is an electronic tool that converts environmental readings into words. Basically it looks at a combination of EMF, Temperature, and Barometer readings and based on these specific readings, will respond with a word. It cannot create a word, but only uses words that are saved in its memory.
This does not work and here’s the idiocy of this device.
The investigator asks a question, if the spirit wants to answer the question correctly, it must alter the surrounding electromagnetic field, temperature and barometer to pick a certain word for its answer out of a pre-loaded database microchip.
In other words, the spirit must master binary coding first to determine what words are stored in memory, then when the spirit picks a word it wants to say, it then must reverse engineer the binary code through software analysis to determine how it needs to manipulate the environment to get the answer it wants to give. Then the spirit has to manipulate the actual environment to get the word they want from the database. Basically they have to be able to alter the weather, indoors!
Ok, the Ovilus is a charlatan tool.
Charlatan: A person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud!
Now I’m not saying every ghost investigator that uses an Ovilus is a “Charlatan” majority just don’t understand the technology, but those TV shows in which investigators are still using Ovilus’s are really faking evidence. If a word pops up that is significant to their question or investigation, it’s merely a word by association. In other words, what ever word pops up, it can be associated to the investigation. Now if the investigative team has their own tech guy who designed the Ovilus, then, ah ha, the tech guy could download specific words into memory associated with each investigation they film, and most likely will download the names of the investigators too! A basic Ovilus’s you can buy will have 500 or so pre-loaded common words which will pertain to a ghost investigation like, dead, kill, stabbed, grave, and common names like, Robert which can also be Bob, Katherine which can also be Kate, and so on.
Now if you have an Ovilus answering specific words and communicating with you on an investigation, then it’s not a ghost you’re talking to, it’s an alien that can manipulate the technology. Now you have a much bigger problem!
Using a Kinect X BOX 360 for investigations:
This system is a motion sensing device built by Microsoft for gaming. The device contains RGB cameras and infrared projectors and detectors that through calculations, can detect the gamer’s body movement in real time as a skeletal detection.
For ghost investigation, the Kinect system is altered so when it’s pointed in an area where there could be a spirit and the spirit moves, like a gamer would move, a skeletal image appears on a screen, thus the investigator is capturing the presence of a ghost.
The problem with this?
First, for it to work properly, the infrared detectors need to reflect back to the camera to create the skeletal image. That means the spirit must have some mass to be able to reflect.
Second, and this is important! The device must be stationary! I can not stress this enough. The X-BOX Kinect system was designed to be stationary to work properly with the gamer standing in front of the cameras. The device’s algorithms are designed for this, meaning the Kinect system cannot be carried around to detect ghosts. For a ghost hunt, the Kinect system must be placed on a table or somewhere stationary and if something walks in front of it, a skeletal image will appear on the screen.
I have one of these devices not for ghost hunting but for UFO investigations. Why? Because there could be an instance where I may want to capture a solid figure in the dark. Setting up a stationary Kinect system will detect a solid mass in the dark if it walks towards me.
As ghost hunters on TV carry the devices around and see skeletal images, the software isn’t smart enough to know the Kinect system is moving, and the investigators are not smart enough to know how to use it. The system thinks it’s stationary, so the infrared will reflect back to the camera off a stationary object it now thinks is moving.
This creates false skeletal images that dance around due to the investigators slight hand movement while holding the unit. That’s all it is.
EMF Meters for investigations:
EMF: Electromagnetic radiation is energy that surrounds us daily. It’s radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays, and also sunlight. Spirits are detected using an EMF meter because it appears spirits are made up of an electromagnetic force. The stronger the spirit, the higher the EMF meter reads when they are nearby.
For EMF (electro-magnetic-field) meters to work properly, the investigator must be aware of all power sources in the area they are investigating. If you are investigating a house, the ideal situation is to turn off the main circuit breaker eliminating all power sources so you don’t get false readings. Majority of the time you can’t do that, so the investigator needs to sweep the house first with their meters and mark those areas that have electrical current fields emanating from them, like power boxes, appliances, and so forth. Also turn off your cell phones and WIFI systems, because it saturates the structure with high frequency EMF. (ie, radiation)
For older structures, be aware of their electrical wiring. Newer structures have upgraded wiring with better insulation thus having less EMF dissipation from the insulation. Older structures wiring systems will light up an EMF meter, so investigators need to be aware of that.
EMF Contact:
Where a lot of TV ghost investigators don’t understand and freak out is when a spirit happens to touch them. How many shows have you seen where an investigator gets touched, their skin turns red in spots or even shown as fingers or hand prints, and they start panicking. “OMG! OMG! I JUST GOT ATTACKED! Amateurs. They don’t even understand what happened. Did they really get attacked? Most of the time, no.
A spirit consists of EMF which is basically radiation and when it touches you, it’s their energy interacting with your energy on your skin. You and I are all walking energy sources or capacitors. We store energy.
Extreme Electronics: extremeelectronics.co.uk
The human body’s capacitance is around 100-200 pF, which correlates to an impedance of about 13 megohms at 60 Hz, which corresponds to a minimum of 9 uA at 120 VAC to ground. This is enough to be sensed and used for capacitively operated light dimmers. (ie: Lamps that turn on when you touch them.)
The inside of your body can be considered a conductor, and thus if you place your hand flat on a metal plate, you will form a capacitor with an area of perhaps 15 square inches, with a thin (maybe 0.005”) insulating layer of dry skin, which will form a capacitor much higher in value than the 200 pF stated above.
So human bodies are capacitors which can conduct electricity. Don’t believe me? Remember when you were a kid and shuffled your feet across the carpet and touched a sister or brother with your finger. Zap! Not only did a spark appear, but a red mark was left on your sibling. Most people get shocked on a windy day just by touching a door handle. This is considered “static” electricity. Common static shocks are usually around 500 volts and can get up to 21,000 volts! But volts don’t kill people amperes due, and most human static shocks are about 1 milliamp. (.001 amps)
Do you see where I’m going with this?
When a spirit which consists of energy touches a human who is a conductor, an energy signature will be left. (ie; finger or hand prints on the skin.) Is the spirit trying to harm you or just touch you? Are these ghost investigators screaming at a demon, or are they screaming at a mother, grandmother, or child spirit who simply wants to touch and communicate with a living person?
Ask yourself this the next time you see a ghost investigator on TV flip out when they’re touched. Do they really think they’re getting attacked or is this just a ploy for show, you know, ratings. Either way, they’re not very good investigators if they don’t understand what just happened and what they’re really investigating.
Structures investigators are investigating in: Know and understand the structure you’re in.
This is the one thing that creates the majority of false evidence that is seen on TV. Hello, every structure creeks and makes noise, escpecially a structure that is generally empty and now has investigators and a camera crew moving around in it. Newer structures may be on a concreate foundation or built on top of a basement, but older structures may be on a gravel foundation or even dirt. The older structures may creak more especially if the temperature was dry during the day, then wet at night. Wood has a tendency to swell a bit and make some noise.
Now you’re watching these ghost shows on TV and getting tips from them for you’re own possible investigation, one thing you need to do is:
Research the investigators you like:
If you like a particular TV show, take some time to research the investigators on line. If the information about the investigator falls within the same time-line the TV show began, then most likely those investigators are amateur’s only picked for TV ratings or for a specific target market. For those people who are more genuine and have paid their dues by funding their own investigations, buying their own equipment, and making personal sacrifices, you’ll be able to find a history of them on the Internet.
As an experienced investigator it’s really hard to watch some of these TV shows especially when the investigators really don’t know what their doing and don’t understand their own equipment. I get it, everyone deserves an opportunity to be on camera, but the reality is, some people deserve it more than others. One show I was on, one of the investigators who interviewed me was nothing more than the executive producers daughter, that’s all. Another show I was on, two of the investigators were actors, one pretending to be an investigator, the other pretending to be documenting the investigation. So sad to see this especially when good experienced people are out there that can be used instead.
Remember you’re spending your valuable time watching these people, so you don’t want to be disrespected with lousy evidence due to inexperience. But if you like to be entertained by a bunch of Gilligans running around screaming and yelling, then go for it, but remember, all their evidence may not be real.
One way you can tell a real Paranormal investigator if it be ghosts or UFOs is:
A real investigator runs towards the unknown, and not away from it.
Blog info:
Extreme Electronics: https://www.extremeelectronics.co.uk/capacitance-of-a-human-body/
Category: The Z-Files
