The Future of Ghost Hunting


What can we expect in the future of ghost hunting? From séances, ouija boards and the parlor tricks of the turn-of-the-century, we moved into the era of voice recording and photography and onward to today’s ghost hunter who arms himself with a combination of recording equipment and electrician’s tools. In general, the tools of the trade are still extremely crude and mostly ineffective.

So, the future will have to bring with it more controlled studies and fewer free-form wanderings around old buildings. Experiments will need to be held with lots of controls, shielding from man-made radio waves and EMF transmissions. The goal will be to bring the ghosts to them, not go to the ghosts. Testing with different conditions to try to reproduce or attract hauntings will be a large part of the studies.

Recently an experiment was tested in a lab trying to create a haunted room with high levels of EMF to see if people in that part of the room felt it and perhaps experienced some of the sensations. The problem with studies so far are that they address just one aspect of hauntings, such as the sense of being watched in the experiment above. It will take some scientists with funding and open minds and so far the science community hasn’t shown an interest in the paranormal, although they’re fine with theories of alternate dimensions and universes.

The problem is, ghosts in the traditional sense are tagged onto the concept of paranormal and supernatural which scientists chalk up to belief systems and religious inspiration, therefore not science. The fact is, hauntings show themselves through sounds, sights, sensations and smells, so technically they are using our physical world to manifest and therefore should be dependent on the rules of physics and well within the realm of scientific inquiry. This change in point of view will definitely help to bring more minds onboard into research.

Another area of research will no doubt be testing psychically and through brain MRI imaging, the minds of the people who have experienced multiple ghostly encounters in search of what they might possess in their brain structures that makes them better able to perceive. As well, tests could be set up with observers wearing EEG electrode montages and having their brain frequencies measured as they run into activity in the field. We might consider taking people who have nightly visitations into sleep study labs to see what sorts of nighttime brain stimulation they have that could be attracting activity because they are receptive mentally or perhaps giving them input that they assume is a ghost when it’s really hypnogogic phenomenon. As well, caps made to measure electrical activity in people when they encounter phenomenon or psychics when they "communicate" with the dead, might be able to determine how to stimulate the brain to receive this information for longer periods of time, thus making it possible to keep the channel open and talk back and forth for hours at a time.

The immediate future of ghost hunting will more than likely involve it peaking with technology like the Bigfoot industry with field trap cameras and infrared beams to check for motion and drones filming from above. Ghost hunting will involve much more camera and audio coverage. Even with all of those recording devices, there will be people disputing what’s captured. When you believe something, you will see it. When you don’t want to believe something, you won’t see it. It’s pretty straightforward in human nature. In the case of ghosts, until you are in a situation in which something paranormal definitely happens and you witness it yourself, no evidence will influence you.

Ultimately, for all the trappings of our present-day ghost hunting, it is still the individual and his five known senses that are the best proof.

Comments

  1. We're in sync again, Sha' …. I only just found this site via another link linked to yet another site, Aries Ethernity Foundation. They're not specifically interested in ghosts as in the disembodied souls of dead people, but generally speaking all kinds of non-corporeal entities that surround us & whose dimensions interpenetrate our own. Please make a note of it. Have an excellent week ~ (•8-D

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  2. Hey Bror;
    I love the forward-thinking. So long as folks keep ghost phenomenon in the "spiritual" realm, we won't be able to catch them. We need to use scientific investigation, as whatever these are can interact with our physical world. Kind of like grabbing the hand of the kid trying to steal the pie cooling in the window, we have to figure out how to pull him inside and find out his identity. It certainly was no disembodied hand!

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  3. Here's to much better equipment that is put in these haunted places and less boring investigations. We miss out on the noises and shadows that the investigators see because the cameras are always pointing in another direction. They also need much better recording devices to hear the disembodied voices clearer. Very good post...

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  4. What interesting ideas. Wouldn't it be great if they could create the conditions that would draw ghosts/spirits into an area and those who are sensitive could interact and the results could be measured/observed?

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  5. If a ghost were the spirit of the deceased, he wouldn't have to be locked into any place, could be many places at one time or come to you. My studies in graveyards has shown that recent visitation brings activity which tells me that if you cry and talk to them, they will come. So, why not come to other locations if called---the seance idea, only perhaps using methods that enhance the conditions for them to appear.

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  6. Great post, Sharon! I had the opportunity to hunt Waverly Hills last week with the GAC crew (they're very nice in person, and not so D-baggy as on the episodes). They also had shot an episode that week for the next season. The activity at the end of the night blew my mind!

    The shadow and light show that I witnessed with the naked eye showed up as little to nothing on my infra-red camera. There have been some very exciting results happening with the use of full spectrum cameras, although it's tough to find such a thing on the open market....it requires hacking and modification to existing equipment right now, but I'm firmly convinced that there is more to "see" in the ultra-violet range of the spectrum.

    Also was able to play around with a device that seemed to allow us to hear evp in real time, had a virtual conversation with "somebody". :)

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  7. D;
    The use of headphones while doing EVP is exciting. I've always been a bit iffy about EVPs for the simple fact that a receiver has the potential to pick up signals from anywhere randomly and our minds can make us believe we are getting an answer, but I like to judge them purely on the basis of their classification and how timely and accurately a response was obtained. What a great experience to get to go on a hunt there! I have to admit, if I were to hunt with one of the TV teams, that would be the one I'd want to hunt with for the simple fact that I suspect I would add a chemistry to the team that is a missing element. I usually can pick these things up psychically, but I just know these guys and the thing that would activate their ghost magnet abilities. Waverly is definitely on my list. I'm working on a book right now on a haunted formula and Waverly is one of several places I'm focusing on intensely for refining the formula.

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  8. I can confirm that there is definitely "something there" at Waverly. My expectations were quite low, but it turned out to be a life changing experience. I am still trying to process in my mind just what I saw.

    We spent about an hour in the surgery room. One other person in our group had his arm contorted in what looked like a "policeman's arm lock", and while attending to him I was able to see an 8 inch scratch develop on his forearm. About 5 minutes later he developed 2 more scratches in the shape of an "X" right next to the first one. We reviewed the recorder that Zak was running, after he asks "did someone in this room just do that" we hear quite clearly "I gave him a scratch". Chills!!! :)

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  9. D;
    That's the kind of experience that is hard to integrate in your mind. I'm not sure what you've experienced in the past, but there's always one certain event, usually something physical or poltergeist, that tends to just throw you into a new level of curiosity and a bit of fear. I had such an event when I was a teen and it propelled me to want to experience it repeatedly to make sense of it and confirm that it wasn't a fluke, and then to go on and have other people experience it. No matter how much we try to record these things, until we understand what spectrum or frequency they're in, we can only capture them with human senses which are often times rather lame. I would like to see more people in optics and sound work on going further into the spectrums and also perhaps somethings with aeroelastic flutter, harmonic frequencies and other conditions in which briefly ghost phenomenon can make contact through things such as perhaps infrasound or other harmonics that can help resonate to just the right frequency. What we need is a lot of tech guys on board. In fact, perhaps we should all troll through the SciFi conventions and find some guys who like to throw themselves into a puzzle and do it to the max. I would love to hear more about your experience. You can always email me psychic62@hotmail.com

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  10. I did have the opportunity to talk to such a person at this event. Andy Coppock is an MIT graduate and build lasers for his "day job", but his own set of personal experiences have led him to work on exactly the type of equipment you are talking about.

    It was his "induction amplifier" that we were playing around with. He's captured some fascinating events with this device.

    During our discussion he addressed precisely what you are talking about, including manipulation of harmonics and frequencies.

    Yes, I would love to discuss more of this with you, will make contact through e-mail!

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  11. If it doesn't work ...a few extra dots ,and they can be in the next Avatar movie .
    Oh how I love CGI .

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  12. Jeez, DS; sure hope you don't actually love CGI!

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  13. I am into the digital art stuff .
    What can I say, I'm nerdy like that !
    ;-)

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  14. DS;
    This blog is basically a resting place for all us nerds of every flavor. Digital art--that's an awesome nerd condition!

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