Page 76 - July - August 2019 - v3_june_july_2009_Neat

76 Shady Science of Ghost Hunting

The Shady Science of

Ghost Hunting

by Benjamin Radford

Ghosts are big business. For entities that may or
may not exist, they seem to be everywhere,
especially during Halloween.
They are in books and on television
shows, such as CBS's "The Ghost Whisperer"
and NBC's "Medium." Dozens of "ghost hunter"
organizations exist across North America, small
groups of self-styled ghost buffs who lurk
around reputedly haunted places, hoping to
glimpse or photograph a spirit.
The most famous ghost hunters are two
plumbers who moonlight as paranormal
investigators, seen in the popular Sci-Fi Channel
reality show/soap opera series "Ghost Hunters."
They go to haunted places and find "evidence"
of ghosts such as cold spots, photographic
anomalies called orbs, and other such Virtually all ghost hunter groups claim to The uncomfortable reality that ghost hunters
spookiness. be scientific, and most give that appearance carefully avoid—the elephant in the tiny,
The two featured investigators, Jason because they use high-tech scientific equipment haunted room—is of course that no one has ever
Hawes and Grant Wilson, are proudly blue- such as Geiger counters, Electromagnetic Field shown that any of this equipment actually
collar workers, not egghead Ph.D. scientists, (EMF) detectors, ion detectors, and infrared detects ghosts.
which adds to their strong "regular guy" appeal. cameras [and sensitive microphones]. Yet the The supposed links between ghosts and
equipment is only as scientific as the person electromagnetic fields, low temperatures,

Where are the ghosts? using it; you may own the world's most radiation, odd photographic images, and so on
sophisticated thermometer, but if you are using are based on nothing more than guesses,
it as a barometer, your measurements are unproven theories, and wild conjecture. If a
While one doesn't need to be a scientist to search
worthless. device could reliably determine the presence or
for ghosts, the pair (like most ghost hunters)
Just as using a calculator doesn't make absence of ghosts, then by definition, ghosts
could benefit greatly from a little critical
you a mathematician, using a scientific would be proven to exist. I own an EMF meter,
thinking. They claim to be skeptics but are very
instrument doesn't make you a scientist. but since it's useless for ghost investigations—it
credulous and seem to have no real
finds not spirits but red herrings—I use it in my
understanding of scientific methods or real
Devices that don't work lectures and seminars as an example of
investigation. (Audiences don't seem to wonder
pseudoscience. The most important tools in this
why these "expert" ghost hunters always fail:
Even after two seasons and over ten years of In a few years aago, while I was investigating a or any investigation are a questioning mind and
a solid understanding of scientific principles.
research, they still have yet to prove that ghosts haunted house in Buffalo, New York, the owner
exist!) of the house asked me what equipment I planned The ghost hunters' anti-scientific illogic
Though most ghost investigators' worst to use. He had glanced in my duffel bag, which is clear: if one area of a home is colder than
crime is wasting time, sometimes they make contained two cameras, a tape recorder, another, that may indicate a ghost; if an EMF
nuisances of themselves and even break the law. notebooks, a tape measure, a flashlight, and a meter detects a field, that too may be a ghost; if
In October 2005, three ghost hunters in few other items. Perhaps he was expecting to see dowsing rods cross, that might be a ghost. Just
Salem, Massachusetts, were arrested for a Negative Ionizer Ghost Containment backpack about any "anomaly," anything that anyone
trespassing on private property in search of like the kind Bill Murray wore in Ghostbusters. considers odd for any reason, from an
ghosts. They had entered an abandoned hospital An EMF meter is among the most undetermined sound to a "bad feeling" to a
blurry photo, can be (and has been) considered
reputed to be haunted. The group was so busy common devices used by ghost hunters today. I
looking for spirits they failed to notice the police spoke to Tom Cook, of TomsGadgets.com, a evidence of ghosts.
station across the street; all three were arrested, British purveyor of "scientific" paranormal kits I was even at one investigation where a
fined, and sent home. Trespassing or vandalizing for the enterprising (and gullible) investigator. ghost supposedly caused a person's mild
ghost hunters have also been arrested in Starter kits begin at £105 (US$180) and reach up headache. Because the standard of evidence is
cemeteries in Illinois, Connecticut, and other to £500 (US$850) for a custom ghost-hunting so low, it's little wonder that ghost hunters often
states. kit. (Negative Ionizer Ghost Containment packs find "evidence" (but never proof) of ghosts.
were not listed.)
I asked Cook what, exactly, the scientific Reality check
Ghost detectors
rationale was behind the equipment he sold.
"At a haunted location," Cook said, The whole idea of ghosts runs into trouble as
When it comes to searching for ghosts, you'd
"strong, erratic fluctuating EMFs are commonly soon as a little logic is applied.
think that only the most reliable methods would
found. It seems these energy fields have some There's not even agreement on what
be used in an attempt to get solid evidence for
something as mysterious and elusive as a spirit. definite connection to the presence of ghosts. ghosts are—or might be. A common claim is
The exact nature of that connection is still a that ghosts are spirits of the dead who have been
Yet in ghost hunting, often the less scientific the
mystery. However, the anomalous fields are easy wronged or murdered. Let's inject some real-
methods and equipment, the more likely a
to find. Whenever you locate one, a ghost might world statistics into that assumption and see
researcher is to find "evidence" for ghosts.
be present.... any erratic EMF fluctuations you what we get.
Ghost hunters use a variety of creative—
may detect may indicate ghostly activity." If murder victims whose killings remains
and dubious—methods to detect their quarry's
In the final analysis, Cook admitted, unsolved are truly destined to walk the earth and
presence, including psychics. Psychics not only
"there exists no device that can conclusively haunt the living, then we should expect to
claim to locate ghosts but also to communicate
detect ghosts." encounter ghosts nearly everywhere.
with the spirits, who unfortunately don't provide
any useful or verifiable information from the
Uncomfortable reality (Continued on Page 78)
afterlife [see a séance].