Please do Tim. I would love to see your meters.
And also build some more Spirit Telegraphs Please!
Spookier winter months are fast approaching!

Yes, yes, to both of Eddie Garland's suggestions! Please!

BTW, when I logged on I saw that "Our Newest User" is Cristo. I knew he'd show up sooner or later, but I didn't expect him to be Spanish.

Bill

Like Eddie - I am waiting for mine too

So Ghost Hunters had a "lie detector" type "ghost meter" that they used to communicate with spirits? WOW! I guess people are getting bored with the few fluctuations that they "reportedly" have had. I have only seen a few episodes and I noticed they were stating that the meter was fluctuating. Unfortunately, the camera did not get a shot of it when it was happening. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

I would like to know what this meter was that they used. Was it one of the "regular" ghost meters or something different?

Cocomax, are you a consultant for Ghost Hunters? Ha Ha

Jamie Salinas

I did a LOT of research today, and here's what I found to be ubiquitously plastered all over the Internet ghost sites:

For those that want to buy a budget model, most recommend the Gauss Master over the CellSensor meter - or even the newly popular K-II (LED only), or the tiny Electrosensor. For the really budget conscious, try an E.L.F.zone, at about $12.

The GaussMaster is the venerable old workhorse for beginners and the most recommended meter under $60. If you want to spend over $100, get what the Pros all use and get a Trifield, which is a triple axis detector.

Actually, the "pros" all use a myraid of different EMF meters, they don't use just one brand as an exclusive endorsement, but they usually tend to have 1 or two of the all the most popular ones. It doesn't mean a lot to say "Most Haunted" use this one, or "Ghost Hunters" use that one.. they use 'em all. (Same applies to infrared non contact thermometers, which is next on my list to buy.)

Nearly all of them use the Tri-Field and the Gauss-Master though, from what I can tell.
I just ordered a Gaussmaster tonight on eBay, for $29, brand new.

The Trifield and the Gaussmaster both use analog needle based meters, and as such, can be influenced by near magnetic fields (PK) - only I'd be worried about damaging the unit!

Jamie, how did you get a m****t to influence your EMF-200A, it's a digital readout!
Anyway, thanks for bringing this up, or maybe I should say that sarcastically, because now I have yet another hobby I want to take up, and I don't have the time now for the ones I already have.

Cool idea though.. I'd love to stage a Ghost Hunt for my Halloween parties. The ghosts could have a little help though.

Yep..in the end... the specs realize the ghosts are hunting them!

Mystician asked: Jamie, how did you get a m****t to influence your EMF-200A, it's a digital readout!
Anyway, thanks for bringing this up, or maybe I should say that sarcastically, because now I have yet another hobby I want to take up, and I don't have the time now for the ones I already have.

Answer: I have an AW Sperry EMF-200A with a digital readout. I have a wearable PK item that is small. The meter is registering at 0.1 to 0.3 in normal situations. When I cross the meter over the PK item, the meter jumps to over 50.0 plus. It does not stay constant but jumps around as I cross the area of the PK device. It is very natural for me to transfer the meter from one hand to the other to enter the area of the PK item and cause the meter to fluctuate. I would not do this very often as others my see a pattern of when the meter fluctuates. I plan on shooting a video soon (maybe this weekend) to hype the seance. I will post the video on youtube for you guys to see.

I will also take a small handheld digital voice recorder to see if I get any EVPs. I will keep you guys informed. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,

Jamie

Jamie,

Drop me a PM if you are interested in ways to give the EVPs a little help as well.

Combining a ghost hunt with a seance works really well. I had great fun with it last year and my do something similar this Halloween season.

Can't wait to see your video.

Dave

Yeah, this sounds really fun! I could get into this.
Throw some ghost photography in there too, with a modified Polaroid (that's gotta kill 'em!), and/or Andrew Maynes' ghost photo trick for digital cameras/camcorders.

You can use IR LEDs, invisible when they light to the naked eye, threaded across a room or two, or even suspended in balloons if outside, to create the most popular phenomenon, "Orbs". They'll show up on the camera, but not to the naked eye. It'd be really cool to have remote control over them so that you can turn them off before anyone gets too close.

Getting some unheard voices live onto a digital recorder for playback later, however, that sounds like a challenge.

Nah.... a small speaker built into the recorder should tackle that...

I dunno Doc, that depends on the size of the recorder.. the new generation of digital recorders, like the Sony ICD-B500 or the Olympus VN-4100 are tiny!

Not quite sure if van de graaff generator could affect EMF reading... but the van de graaff generator can cause a sensation of goosebumps when someone is close to the electric field of the generator. maybe the van de graaff can be disguised as a statue or other curiosities...

Well, you culd have a gimmicked vibrating pad to do the dirty work

Well, as Mystician recommended that cheap little EMF detector - I got it! It actually is very nice... and with a magentic field itnroduced goes bonkers.... only problem is that it doesn't shut off for 7 minutes....

It is great for spook hunting... but not great for doing an effect requiring speech... I can see the KII colour LED version working better there... althoough, if I work it right, I suppose creating a scene where everyone is to stay very very quiet and concentrate on summoning a [whatever] and let the EMF detector start increasing into shrill zone with some cameras IR trips going clikcity click and ending it all with a big PK boom (with the usual spoor (ectoplasm or a demon paw print) - that would be cool...

I have the floating Spirit Spelling Board now... that might be a good thing to mix in with a slam and ending of the screeching...

Makes one think about misdirection with sound using the EMF...

ooo boy, a lot of choreography goes into seance/spook routines, I tells ya

Cool, Doc! Isn't that thing neat?

Just bear in mind (your clientele needn't know this, however) that there is some controversy over EMF meters; the vast majority of EMF meters, such as ours, read only AC fields; very few can detect DC EMF, which, according to the argument, is what a "real" spook would probably generate. (If nothing else, the skeptics argue however, you can use AC EMF meters to detect "normal" manmade sources, which is good for debunking and elimination.) I think this argument is based on the average bio-electric field of living organisms such as humans; the tiny EMF field that people put out, for example, can be read by the TriField Natural EM, which goes for like $180. It can detect a person in an adjacent room!
http://www.trifieldmeter.com/
Frankly, I think, anything that sensitive is going to be problematic with false positives, at least, until one masters the unit.

I should mention that I've gotten whole hog into this scene now, dammit. More money down the drain. I had to go and buy an IR thermometer too, only to read and realize a few days later that IR therms aren't all that swift for reading ambient temperatures in the air -- they're designed for surface measurements! Still, everyone has one of the things, so a Raytek MT4 became part of my Ghost Hunting kit. Now I need to get a thermocouple type digital therm for accurate and speedy ambient temp measurements, and preferrably Type T, not Type K. Sheesh!

The most common tool/ghost detector of all however, is relatively mundane; the camcorder - particularly, Sonys, which feature "nightshot" for IR (infrared) recording. The lowly camera/camcorder is THE primary tool of ghost hunters, not some exotic meter that reads esoteric particles or something. But for theatre, it sure looks good to have the EMF meter and the IR therm.

Lastly, don't forget to look the part - most ghost hunters now wear pocketed vests to hold all the gadgets and spare batteries/flashlights. I found a killer vest at Harry's Army and Navy store, made by "Uncle Milty". Serious! It's a darn cool vest too.
http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Militys-Blac......p;sr=1-3

I figure in 3 years, ghost hunting will wane in popularity, and no one will hear of it anymore. Might as well ride the crest of the wave while the surf's up!

Heheh... great tips M!

Luckily, since I frame everything as a "recreation" or "simulation"... I don't worry too much about getting gadgets that must really do what they are supposed to do... once the "play" has begun, I often claim gadgets do things they can't anyway...the average spec I work on won't know the diff between DC and AC detection of life forces etc. as if they did, they won't want to go on a spook hunt but often a real hunt..or if they are skeptics, I might help pull them into the instant confederate zone for the experience

Ghost Hunting hasn't waned for 100+ years... it goes down and up a bit... but the interest in survival after death goes wayyyyyyy back - I'm sure your investments will pay off

Now, if you are going to buy an EMR reversor (ala HELL HOUSE) that might set you back a bit

Well.. if you want some spew to give your clients to lend some credibility to the whole thing, consider this:

Re-thinking that whole AC vs DC field EMF meter thing... I recently proposed an argument for AC meters on the T.A.P.S. fourm
( http://the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/ )

The argument for DC meters is that living tissue generates a DC field, but not an AC field, so AC fields should be relegated to man-made electronics and power sources. The problem with this is, "ghosts", the last time I checked, are not living tissue! They may "materialize" and look fairly solid, but they are most certainly not biological flesh and bone. So that kinda debunks that argument, methinks.
Add to that the phenomena of EVP, (electromagnetic voice phenomena) whereby voices are heard on a tape recorder, but were not heard "live" during the actual taping session. The theory is that the sound is directly imprinted onto the recording medium, be it tape, or flash memory in the case of the newer digital recorders. To that would require .. you guessed it.. an AC electromagnetic field, since both sound and it's analogous electronic medium are oscillations of air or particles, respectively.

Ain't this stuff fun?

Yep - but go read Richard Matheson's HELL HOUSE - it is great for a lot of scientific explanations - like, ectoplasm is created from the essence of the medium i.e. hair/tisse/dust etc. that is energized by the EMR from the spirit realm / or residual EMR residue... so, it is a EMR field of mentally directed energy that reforms matter....

Heh.. my definition of ectoplasm is luminous cheesecloth and bodily fluids (or worse!).
Actually, ectoplasm is not seen anymore, that was a staple of the age of spiritualism.
I guess it's passe' now.

I wonder if Loyd Auerbach posts on the Café? He's a famous parapsychologist who also moonlights in mentalism and magic.
He'd be a shoo-in here! He's written a few "bibles" of ghost hunting, and is credited as the man who discovered the use of EMF meters in the field.
I've love to pick his brain, not to mention - ask him where the other "L" in his first name got to .