On a ghost investigation, how does one know if an EMF meter or needle compass isn't picking up electricity ?

Question

From wiring in the walls or outlets.

Answer 1

I bought a little device at Lowe's or Home Depot which only measures electrical current.  You place it next to a source of power and it beeps.  It was about $10 - if I remember correctly.  It is a good way to check if electricity is flowing where you are getting the odd EMF readings.

Answer 2

Good question. It's actually impossible to show that you're not picking up a natural EM field unless you take measures to eliminate them. In a typical house full of wiring and appliances, the EMF is going to vary quite a bit from place to place. Some places you'll get less that 1 mG and other places may be 30 mG or more. Confusing things further is that as appliances are turned on or off (such as furnaces, AC, sump pumps, etc.) different circuits will pull more current and the EM field will change. A "hot spot" in one location may seem to move to another location.

To date, there isn't good evidence that correlates EMF readings to spirit activity, for the reasons above and because spirit activity is subjective with no base in scientific theory whatsoever. But if you're going to use a EMF detector on your investigations, why not do something very simple to eliminate the background noise -- go to the breaker box and flip all the circuits off. Then do your EMF reading. Taking EMF readings is the only time it makes sense to me to go "lights out", as the say.

Answer 3

they would check the areas where there could be wires and stuff.

Answer 4

  EMF's from AC current are constant,and found at the same places each time. Emf's from ghosts are "spikes", that is they rise and fall rapidly and /or pulsate for short durations.Sometimes a spike might be caused by the high startup current of a heavy load such as a heat or a/c unit.SPikes can be caused by arcing or malfunctioning equipment. Again they will be in exactly the same place each time ,if that is the case. In any case EMF's alone may not necessarily mean there is a ghost present. The nature of the EMF , and other evidence such as temperature drops ,noises or evp, or subjective experience should be taken together for a determination.........Also nearby lightning will make an emf spike similar to that emitted by a ghost.  I do wonder if an ESF

(electrostatic field ) indicator might be of some value in ghost investigation,but I have never heard of it. Maybe it has been ruled out long ago?

Answer 5

While I'm not entirely sure what your question references, I would assume that the "investigators" are trying to measure anomolous electro-STATIC or magnetic fields, which change relatively slowly.

Nearly all house wiring conducts alternating current, and has just about zero field strength a few feet away from the 2- or 3- conductor cable.  The fact that it is alternating current implies that it will not have an electro-static signature.  

The same is true of AC, magnetism and the compass.  A compass generally will not react to a 60 Hertz (cycles per second) current induced field.  It changes much to quickly for the needle to respond.

What a compass CAN react to is the presence of iron or steel in the house or fixtures - plumbing, bathtubes, sinks, refridgerators, rafter brackets, nails, computer cases, electrical conduit, etc.  Most houses have enough magnetic metals to give odd readings, without ghosts getting the blame.

Answer 6

You don't. Of course, ghost hunters aren't real scientists, so they

are only interested in positives, not negatives. They also are not

noted for error analysis. There is no "scientific theory of ghosts"

which makes predictions of what should be picked up. There is

lore, but that is about it.

Answer 7

Most EMF fields for electricity are stable. They stay in one space, even if they fluctuate.

Many investigators (myself included) have picked up EMF's that move around, typically in conjunction with high levels of unexplained activity. Therefore, it is conjectured that ghosts can generate or carry EMF's and an EMF detector can then pick up on these.

Also, wiring EMF's can be picked up and located to originate from a single area or direct source (typically junction boxes or fixtures), and this is a sign that the wiring was not done correctly.

If you pick up on these from a wiring source, it's generally advised to have a certified electrician correct these in order to alleviate many of the symptoms that those who are sensitive to EMF fields experience, including paranoia, hallucinations, nausea, feelings of uneasiness or super-alertness, and even skin irritations. In my experience, correcting these generally reduces reports of ghost activity (though in some cases it has no effect on, or even increases the frequency of, reports of ghost activity).

And, to the person who answered and doesn't understand what an EMF actually is, it's not an electrostatic field or a magnetic field, directly, but kind of a combination of both. It's a field that's naturally produced by electrically-charged objects, typically in the ELF frequency range. A link to Wikipedia appears in my sources for a more cogent and complete explanation of this effect.

EMF meters can detect improperly-wired J-boxes and fixtures, and have been shown to be able to detect where "hot spots" can occur, thus should be in every electrician's wiring kit as a measure for locating problem wiring areas. "Hot spots" can be either short circuits, improperly-wired splices which can allow micro-arcing, or other issues that might cause a fire at some point down the road.

The difference is that roving EMF's are not possible unless there is a roving object which carries an electrical charge (or a "Jacob's Ladder" effect of mirco-arcing along wiring conduits, which can be detected because these would repeat at regular intervals due to the nature of AC). It is therefore used in ghost-hunting as a means of both debunking and validation.

Answer 8

When you are using an EMF meter, you are looking for sources of high readings as well.  Unless a place is not wired at all for power, or if there is no current running to the place, then you should have a very small average reading.  That is why it is important to sweep the whole place you are investigating.  If there is a spike or a higher reading than was initially found, then you look around for its source.  If there is no source, then you can say that you may have paranormal activity on your hands.