The use of audio recorders to capture spirit voices, known as EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena) can be traced back to the late 1950s when Friedrich Jürgenson used his cassette recorder to record the sounds of birds in his garden. Upon re-playing the audio, he heard voices that he didn't remember hearing at the time, believing them to be voices of the dead. (Others who reviewed similar audio believe he may have been mistaking bird calls for human voices and words.)
Regardless of what it was that he heard, a new field of spirit communication was born, but by no means was this a new concept: in the 1920s, Thomas Edison himself dabbled with a device he called the Spirit Phone, although it never led to anything conclusive, and the failed experiment wasn't shared much publicly. Today, ghost hunters remain on the hunt for methods to talk to the dead.
EMF - The Energy of Spirits
Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are produced by anything that is passing electricity, and is present all around us in our day-to-day lives: from Wifi routers to poorly-insulated wiring, to our own cell phones and computers. Even our own bodies emit EMF from the electrical impulses in our brains, granted it is too low to measure on a standard EMF meter.
It is believed by many paranormal investigators that we maintain a level of EMF in spirit form. This energy can grow as the spirit "feeds", for lack of a better word, on other energy sources. This heightened spirit energy can then, theoretically, be detected by the living via devices that measure EMF.
EMF Meters
Devices used to measure EMF are used by electricians to look for electrical issues, but ghost hunters adopted the use of these tools when it was theorized that they can detect spirits.
The most common EMF meter used by ghost hunters today is the K-II EMF meter, which features a row of different colored lights that tell you the strength of EMF that may be present. This is important because studies have shown that certain levels of EMF can have an effect on our brain, causing haunting-like symptoms such as paranoia/that feeling of being watched, headaches, and more. This makes the K-II Meter great not only for debunking high EMF as a source of a "haunting", but it can also be used to ask spirits to interact with and trigger the lights on the device. You can do this by looking for intelligent responses by repeatedly getting the same answers to questions, or look for other signs of intelligence. For example, you might ask a spirit to light up a KII meter to the color yellow. If it does, you can ask for them to light it up to red and so forth.
One theory as to how spirits can do this is based on the idea that our soul or spirit maintains some level of the EMF that our living brain already has. In spirit form, they could "feed" on other electronic sources, increasing the spirits EMF and their ability to interact with us. This could also explain other common phenomena that ghost hunters encounter, including batteries draining quickly, lights flickering, and other issues with electronics.
Pro tip: Be mindful when using an EMF meter that it is nearly impossible to rule out any/all naturally occurring EMF. (As in EMF being emitted by non-spirits.) Our cell phones are always emitting EMF, so it is crucial that all people present on a ghost hunt put their phones on airplane mode or turn them off completely when actively using these tools. In cities, it is difficult to rule out other stray radio-waves or interference that will trigger an EMF meter. If there is a storm nearby, lightening can also trigger these devices.
Digital Voice Recorder
Digital voice recorders record sound and then store it on the device as a file which can be replayed instantly or uploaded to another device, like a computer. In the world of ghost hunting, these are used to not only verbally document any activity that someone might experience, but they are also used as a means to communicate with spirits. This is typically done via a method known as burst EVP sessions: the ghost hunter will ask a series of questions out loud to any spirits that might be present, and then listen back to the audio for possible spirit responses. \
One theory as to how this could work can be explained through a study on sounds audible to us: humans can hear up to 20 kHz, with most microphones maxing out at 24 kHz, so not much of a difference. However, researchers during one study produced a sound inaudible to humans at 40 kHz+ that was still somehow audible to microphones. The sound was made using multiple tones which interacted with the microphone's mechanics, creating a "shadow" - a sound that the microphone could detect and that we could then play back and hear for ourselves. If this is possible, perhaps spirit voices interact with voice-recorder mechanics in a similar way...
Pareidolia can effect how we hear things. When talking about sounds, this is also called audio-matrixing. Think of the yanny and laurel audio that went viral, and how the word you think of is the words you hear because of your own perception. This phenomenon can greatly effect what we might perceive as spirit voices, but could actually be any number of sounds that our brain interpret as familiar words. Here are some more in-depth reads on the study of EVPs worth taking note of:
Spirit Box
A spirit box, also sometimes called a ghost box, is a device that rapidly scans AM and FM radio stations which produces a white noise effect. The SBox Ghost Box and the SB7 Spirit Box are two of the more popular versions on the market. It is theorized to work in a few different ways: some believe that spirits can more easily communicate with is using these radio wavelengths. Others believe that the energy produced by these devices can be used by said spirits to make communication easier. And lastly, some believe that spirits can pick from or influence the bits of words and sounds coming through the radio stations to form the message they want to get across.
Pareidolia can make using a spirit box tricky as you might hear what you want to hear. But paranormal investigators Karl Pfeiffer, Connor Randall, and Michelle Tate devised an experiment that would help to rule this out: while investigating at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, they isolated the noise of the spirit box by using noise canceling headphones. Someone externally would ask questions to any spirits that might want to communicate while the person listening to the spirit box verbally states any words or phrases they heard from the device, not knowing what is being asked. This usually results in one of two things: nonsense words being spoken by the listener that don't relate to any questions asked, or you can end up with quick and intelligent responses to the questions that you can feel confident in, knowing that the person listening to the spirit box did not know what was being asked. (I have personally had great success with this method and highly recommend it!)
Proximity Meters
Proximity meters usually work via an antenna that acts as a trigger to set off sounds or make a device light up. The REM Pod is a famous example that you will see on many paranormal television shows. REM Pods work by emitting their own electromagnetic field around the device via an antenna, and if anything disrupts this field they will light up and make noise to alert you that something might be present. They even come with different lights and pitches that will sound to tell you how close something was to the device. If something is farther away, the sound will be a lower pitch with only one or two lights going off; if it is closer, the pitch goes up and more lights will turn on.
The "REM" stands for "radiating electromagneticity" while "pod" comes from the general round, pod-like shape of the device. Like most devices covered so far, a lot of things can trigger this device that are hard to completely rule out. Two-way radios, which are used by many larger ghost hunting groups, can trigger a REM pod that is in the path of the radio waves. Issues with the antenna can also effect their accuracy (I accidentally bent the antenna on my own REM pod and began having issues with constant false positives.) I have also found that when they are low on battery, they will sometimes make sounds periodically until new batteries are put in.
Some REM pods on the market are built using Theremin instrument kits which are designed to be used by children who want to learn basic electronic and soldering skills, such as the MadLab Junior Theremin kit which will be slightly altered and fitted into a hard-plastic pod/case. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is something buyers should be aware of when investing in these devices, and how reliable and durable they might be.
Other interesting variations of these devices have been hitting the market in recent years, one such favorite being the BooBuddy from GhostStop. This device acts similar to a REM pod, in that it alerts you to movements and changes in the environment around it, including fluctuations in EMF. The perk to the design of this device is that no electronics can be seen, giving it a more inviting and approachable appearance. EDI (Environmental Detection Instrument) and Mel Meters also measure and detect a wide variety of things in the surrounding environment, including EMF.
Some of these items do come with hefty price tags, so keep in mind that they are not necessary to be a good ghost hunter. Basic EMF meters can suffice, and apps have been slowly popping up that can be downloaded on your own cell phone, turning it into your own EMF meter or REM pod. As with all apps, be wary of gimmicks and apps that are designed purely for entertainment.
Other ITC Devices
There are always new devices hitting the ghost hunting market to aid in spirit communication. Most of these are referred to as an ITC (Instrumental Trans-Communication) device, which is essentially any video or audio device that is used to try and communicate with the spirit world.
The Ovilus is popular example of an ITC device: it contains a word bank and produces words on the screen of the device that are generated and determined by fluctuations in the surrounding environment. This could be temperature changes, changes in EMF (electromagnetic fields), humidity, barometric pressure and more.
The Paranormal Puck is another device you might see on TV which functions similarly to the Ovilus. Note that these devices produce words regardless of whether a spirit is present, and that pre-loaded word-banks can sometimes be filled with the types of words you would expect to hear at a haunted location: words like death, spirit, grave, and they will have common names like John and Sara. This makes the device more likely to produce "relevant" words while being used at a haunted location. Use your best judgement, and look for other corresponding activity to help solidify your results.
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