Do you ever wonder why you need the tools like thermometer, tape recorder, EMF meter to experience ghost?

Question

Okay I know many will answer claiming those tools are to scientifically document ghosts, but honestly in all my years of paranormal research I have not seen one true peice of evidence that can prove ghosts. that is after all the reason behind most investigators suppossedly but when I meet these people in person, they are actually true believers out to have fun and for a scare..

I have seen many who go get no so called scientific evidence then declare that place is not haunted because we did not get any evidence so since we are the professionals it is not haunted because we say so.

Okay using that way of thinking you go to my house. Knock on my door take pictures get no readings on your EMF meter so therefore you go out and say No one lives there because we did not get any scientific evidense, but little do you know I was home I just ignored you.

Answer 1

Those people who call the paranormal investigators out to help them didn't have any tools when they saw the ghost etc. that they  need help with . So, I don't know why  they would need tools..unless the ghosts are playing hide and seek.

Wiccan..been a long time! Glad to hear from you. Missed you !

Answer 2

I'm not an investigator or believer myself, but I don't think you need those tools to experience a ghost, if indeed ghosts can be experienced. After all, there isn't any theory which gives us any mechanism as to how ghosts interact with EM fields. We have no theories, no mechanisms, and no equations relating observed and verified ghost activity to any of the assorted ghost hunter tools or paraphernalia, so I don't think they can add much to a ghost experience. Ghost hunter gadgets are just lore at this point and probably always will be.

I think that if ghosts are to be experienced, the most compelling way they could be experienced is by the natural senses -- seeing and hearing, or any other sense by which a ghost could communicate.

Answer 3

Good points. I've never needed tools; I just didn't lose most of that little child belief that things other than me exist around me.  Blame my family, because they fostered this in me from a young age, and I believe that several actually believe that to be true.

I am in my first non haunted house ever - and it is kinda wierd.  it's a newer house in which everyone who has ever lived here - a whole 4 families before us - is still alive, still healthy, not a lot of angst. Only residual thing we did find was a lot of pet urine in the carpets - and we removed all of those the first week.  IT's taken until recently for anything to start coming around - 6 months.

It's different, cause I've never lived in a place that didn't have something going on almost daily in it - lots of older houses, houses with lots of past tenants, etc.

I suppose I'll get used to it in time, or finally break down this spring and start inviting things in again.

Answer 4

Sound reasoning.

Answer 5

The answer is, it's all for show.Otherwise. how would we have known of ghosts before they're invention.

Answer 6

For experiencing and believing in ghosts, no equipment is needed at all. Like you said, the instruments are an attempt to gather scientific data.

I think if someone came up with some method of measuring or finding ghosts using such instruments and it could be demonstrated in a repeatable experiement that such instuments were measuring ghosts and not for example, cell phone signals, electical wiring, drafts, then we would be able to use that method to search (even if we not find them all the time).

Popular beliefs about ghosts include tempurature change, electro-magnetic disturbances, and EVP, so these are the common tools used. I agree they are not getting the field very far and new concepts need to be explored if researchers really want to pull the vail off of  the spirit world.

Answer 7

I agree that many people are what I call thrill seekers. Many of these people join investigating group (I had one for many years) and when they don't experience ghosts (or at least a creepy environment) they usually drop out very quickly.

On the other hand there are serious scientist (and amateurs in the field) that want to study this phenomena.

Most investigators (not all) realize the slim chance of something occurring that they can document as proof or even evidence.

However, some sciences take a different approach than (let's capture it on film) and study the experience. For instance most ghosts sightings are experienced less than 6 feet away. That information tells us that a person has reasonable time to catch any real person dressed up as a ghost (as opposed to being a football field away).

Also environmental conditions can be measured. Are ghost sightings more frequent in humid weather, where high EM fields are present. This does not prove ghost but it does provide correlations between environmental factors and the human experience of seeing a ghost and may allow us to predict what locations would be most likely to give someone the experience of seeing a ghost. Then we can study those people's reported experiences. With that information we can attempt to replicate those conditions in a controlled lab setting and see if people (and the same people would be great to have for testing) experience seeing a ghost (or other reported phenomena).

So, you don't need tools to have an experience you need them to document information (environmental conditions) to help form hypothesis for testing.

Unfortunately thrill seekers have no desire to do this actual work they just want to see the ghost.

Psi

Answer 8

I have no experience investigating ghosts - never done it. But I have watched quite a few of the shows on television that use the equipment you are talking about and I have wondered the same thing. My assumption has been that somebody(s) came up with these theories about how ghosts can manifest and they ways in which they manifest and the equipment is an attempt to back up some of the personal experiences. I'm much more impressed by a personal experience of someone who seems to be fairly "with it" than I am by a spike in an EMF meter. I am also rarely awed by the one incomprehensible word they claim they've captured on their tape recorder. I've had some bizarre experiences in my life, I'm not willing to say that I believe 100% in ghosts, but I think we make a mistake when we expect paranormal activity to bend to the rules of science. I understand why people think it should though. Maybe I've just grown skeptical from too many episodes of Ghost Hunters and wondering why if a spirit can say "yes" it can't say a full sentence of give them something fun like "I'm Sam Smith, I lived here in the 1920's and was the son of Glenda and Robert Smith, behind the fireplace in the living room you'll find my old tennis racket. Take it, it's yours."

Answer 9

Good question. It would be scientific if there was hard data compiled into a guide book. But all we hear about from the tv guys is there is a baseline and a spike in the reading would mean there is a spirit or some sort of activity going on. Electrical shorts and powerboxes notwithstanding (which the tv hunters debunked themselves) there could be other natural reasons a meter spikes (don't you notice they bring television camera crews with them - what is the baseline for the broadcast equipment?) and what is the baseline reading for human activity?

The more questions brought up by sound reasoning make it harder to believe that these pieces of equipment are necessary at all.

Answer 10

All i know is that a ghost will cause the surrounding air to cool down. Sometimes, ghost will make a noise we con't hear, so tha is why a tape recorder is needed.

Answer 11

Those items are used for 1.  Scientific purposes & 2. for our own purposes to study what we have found.

I personally love using a tape recorder.  I have been fortunate enough to record a few voices & unearthly sounds.  

The Thermometer & Emf I don't have, as I can "feel" changes in the tempature myself.  When I go on a search, if a homeowner tells me there is more activity somewhere particular, I look for all possiblities that may cause this.  Such as, gas lines, electrical boxes, windows, ect.

There are a few people that will go on their instincts.  You can still obtain the same scientifical results with just the bare minumum.  

This is what I use for isntance, tape recorder, video camera & flash light.  Sometimes less is better.