Selecting the right equipment for the right job is key to any endeavor, whether it be driving a nail, trying to figure out if there’s fish in the water below the boat you’re in, or trying to establish any truth to the paranormal when it comes to the dogma or simply what is. You certainly wouldn’t play baseball by using a golf club, and you certainly won’t find the temperature of the air by using a non-contact IR thermometer or thermal imaging camera.

So the first thing that must be done is to figure out what you are trying to establish. In this case we are going to look at magnetic fields and test the dogma of whether or not magnetic fields are related to paranormal experiences. Typically I would stress the need to shield from RF propagation (Radio Waves), but in this case it is not necessary since we are simply asking the question, “Do magnetic fields relate to paranormal experiences?” And since we want to study the environment in the conditions that occur during the reported events, shielding would actually be detrimental in this case since it would screen out a source that is there when past reports were made. Now if we collect data that suggest this is the case and we want to get to the bottom of what type of magnetic field influences our test then we would need to start screening out man made influences. But for new we want to see if there is a correlation and to screen any magnetic influence would be counter productive at this time.

In our case we need a way to measure magnetic fields. Many investigators will suggest various devices to measure EMF (varying magnetic fields), but in our case we are looking at magnetic fields as a whole; both varying and static. In this case an EMF detector is worthless since it does not measure static magnetic fields. In our case we need a magnetometer. This will not only record varying magnetic fields (EMF) but natural or static fields as well. To do so, we could choose from a number of commercial products available on the market, but the cost would be huge since we need more than one meter. In our case we will be using a custom design and build (schematics to follow soon).

Cost is most often the issue when it comes to equipment, and is often why investigators are often inadequately equipped to do much in the way of providing meaningful data. In the case of EMF, investigators often have a meter or two, and usually a single pole/field meter at that. The main reason for this is cost, though several Para-TV shows have also made one of the worst meters on the market the most popular: the K-II.

While we’ll save the rest of this discussion for another article, the point with what has been discussed is to show how to go about selecting equipment, and that you don’t want to simply buy a piece of equipment because that is what everyone else is using, or you just want to play around with it. Equipment selection should be based upon what you plan to achieve with the equipment. In the case we discuss above the plan is to establish whether or not magnetic fields have anything to do with paranormal experiences. Notice how we don’t simply grab an EMF detector and rush to our chosen location and simply wave it around looking for spikes in EMF that could be caused by a number of sources. We actually look at what we want to prove/disprove and examine equipment to suite our needs.

Let’s look at another topic real quick, just to re-enforce this concept. Let’s say we want to examine the concept of cold spots. First off, we’ll need to measure air temperature since that’s what we want to examine. To do this we first look at non-contact surface thermometers, but in doing so we find out that they are not capable of measuring air temperature and can only measure the temperature of solid object. Well, that’s not going to help us out one bit. We want to measure air temperature. So, we look at digital thermometers that employ a fast acting thermal couple and find that it will suit our needs as it will measure air temperature and it can provide a relatively quick response in doing so. We could have gone on with a trend that I hope is dying and gone with the crowd and bought the non-contact IR thermometer, which would have been a total waste of money if our goal is to measure air temperature, but since we first examined the capabilities of those devices we found that they were in-adequate and found a device that would perform as our needs dictated. By doing so we not only kept from wasting money on equipment that didn’t suit our needs, but we also found the right equipment to do the job.

I’ve observed how several groups employ the use of EMF detectors, as well as how they are used on a few television shows and they always make me ask, “Do these guys not understand how these things work?”

Much of the time what I see is they employ them like they are “paranormal detectors,” and at other times they seem to use them to search out EMF sources that may be causing people to experience paranormal type symptoms.  While the first use is highly questionable, especially since nobody has done the diligence to establish a connection between the paranormal and EMF, the second still raises questions.  In both cases I have seen leaps to conclusions without true justification.  With those employing them as “paranormal detectors”, the leap is apparent since as already mentioned the ground work of establishing a relationship between EMF and the paranormal has yet to be done, but in the second case there seems to be another leap being made, and that is that just because a high EMF source has been located that experiences were a direct result of that source.  I’m not arguing that this is not the case, but when I see an investigator locate a high EMF source, let’s say 100mg, and that source is 15 feet from the location where “paranormal feelings” have occurred and EMF readings are measuring one to two mg, I’d have to say a leap was made.

Another thing I’ve noticed is how many investigators hold and rotate the detector while taking measurements.  This may or may not be an issue depending on the EMF detector.  If it’s a single pole detector then it becomes a major issue, which the majority of EMF detectors being employed are of this type.  The reason it’s such an issue is that single pole detectors are polarized, therefore changing orientation of the meter can change it’s ability to accurately measure the strength of an EM field. &;This can lead to the false conclusion that a field has died off when in reality the field hasn’t changed strength at all.  I would say this is the biggest problem that investigators run into without even knowing there is an issue.

Another thing that many investigators fail to realize is that typical EMF detectors are designed to measure alternating or varying magnetic fields.  They do not measure static magnetic fields, if the meter is stationary.  They will see a static field if the meter is moved around, simulating a varying field, which can also lead to a false conclusion on the part of the investigator.  This is something that an investigator needs to be aware of when they wave their EMF detector around searching for fields.

One last thing that investigators should take note of is the effect that appliances can have on EMF detectors.  Things like refrigerators, hot water tanks, or other appliances that cycle power can create temporary increases in the fields they generate.  I once watched an investigator who became excited as he watched a magnetic field appear, disappear, then appear again at the same time an EVP was recorded.  To me, the EVP didn’t even sound like a voice, but because it coincided with the EMF meter producing a ten milligauss spike, they were certain that it was paranormal activity.  After looking at the map of the location, I could see that what he was measuring on the EMF detector was being created by the refrigerator on the other side of the wall, and was later confirmed on a follow up investigation as well as the EVP, which was nothing more than the sound of the refrigerator turning on and distorted by the cheap recorder involved.  So, to all the investigators out there who are using EMF detectors, I highly encourage you to throw the main breaker in the house to help avoid this type of thing happening to you.

So far, I have yet to see anyone truly put these devices to any sort of test that has any type of control.  Personally, from what details I can gather, they are nothing more that an electronic Ouija board that uses random EMF spikes to generate a message instead of the ideomotor effect of a person.  Many claim to have had good results, but since nobody posts an entire episode it is hard to tell if they indeed are having success or not, since there isn’t any way to get an accurate hit or miss ratio.

One experiment I’d like to see is to take five devices, let’s say Speakjet, and see if they all come up with the same thing.  Now this won’t prove anything as far as spirits go, but the result should be they all come up with the same thing if they are all exposed to the same stimulus.  If they don’t then there becomes an even greater issue with the device and the device then shows how polluted it can be when it comes to presenting data.  Funny how nobody ever seems to do the littlest things that can shed light onto the reliability of a device, but there are times that I think investigators want to be fooled, and devices such as these are good at deception.

Another thing that investigators seem to ignore is the science, or I should say pseudoscience that many of these devices are based upon.  Why on earth would an investigator even consider a device that is based upon false science/logic?  To me it makes absolutely no sense and further becomes compounded when they don’t construct any tests that have any sort of control in them, and then simply go about deluding themselves with such devices.

While it does disappoint me to see logic thrown out the window, it does not surprise me.  While reading a message board of a group on the east coast I stumbled across a couple of experiments/investigations they were discussing.  One of these experiments involved Olivus in which they were trying to document the hit/miss ratio.  While looking at their numbers it did seem somewhat impressive until I dug further.  Instead of counting a non-reply as a miss they simply ignored it, which greatly skewed the numbers.  If they had indeed counted those valid misses, the device had a 13% success rate.  That’s not very impressive at all, and when I question them on it they replied that it was not a miss and that it was because the ghost did not have enough energy to respond at that time.  Hmmm… and they know that for fact?  Not wanting to get wrapped up in that debate because I had other questions, I then asked them about a couple of other responses that didn’t add up; the most prevalent being ones that didn’t seem to fit.  Here’s a few examples:

Do you know you’re dead? Response:  Upstairs
  Believe it or not this was counted as a hit because the person they believe to haunt the house had died upstairs and this was they’re way of telling them yes.
Did you live in this house?  Response:  chair, female, room
  This too was counted as a hit because it mentioned room and the investigators associated that with the upstairs hit they claimed just before this and associated the “room” response by saying that room referred to the upstairs bedroom.  Funny thing is even if room could have been considered a hit, they completely ignored the two misses of “chair” and “female”.

This is the only question that seemed to be a hit:

Are you a man or a woman?  Response:  female.

Here’s how they were looking at their numbers. First, they only counted those questions where the device responded (sorry, it doesn’t work that way).  Second, some of their “hits” were quite a stretch and should have been misses.  So, according to them out of the seven responses they had only two were misses, which computes out to about a 71% hit rate.  Not bad if the numbers were good, but even when using the seven responses their numbers fall apart if you dismiss the “leap of faith” hits they counted, and it computes out to 14%.  Now when you look at the total picture like they should have it comes out far worse and they only had a 3% success rate.

I think the worse thing about the whole discussion I had with them is that they did they usual calling of names, saying I didn’t know what I was talking about, banned me from their board and deleted the thread, once again demonstrating that the “open minded” crowd are not as open minded as they think they are.

One other experiment that they were discussing is doing a baseline experiment with EVPs.  In this experiment they took two recorders and placed one in a bedroom at one investigators house and the other in a bedroom of the second investigators house.  They then began recording at the same time and vacated both premises.  Now what they were trying to establish by doing this I’m not certain at all considering the acoustic differences between the two location were not mentioned, and can only be considered to be quite different.  But this is not where the experiment ended.  They then set up one recorder in one of the bedrooms as before, but they also set one up in a ‘haunted’ location and ran both of them.  For some reason the investigators felt that if the recorder at the haunted location recorded an EVP and the one at the house didn’t then that gave the EVP more credibility.  That leap of logic still has me confused and I’m not sure how they figure that, especially since it could be heard that the two locations were vastly different as far as acoustics went.  But that is the leap that was being made and when questioned about it they once again said that I didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about because they had a friend who was a soundman in a band and he was amazed by their experiment and the EVPs they collected.  Well who could argue with logic like that?    Nobody, to tell the truth.  You can’t argue logically when the rules of logic have been replaced with unrelated subject and the normal rules of logic are replaced with the fantasy world of unsubstantiated theories and dogma.

But back to the devices.  With those I urge investigators to do the diligence of properly testing them and to make sure that they count ALL the misses and make sure to be objective with the hits and not follow the example I told of above.  Doing anything other than that is once more heading down the trail of self delusion, which will never help in discovering the paranormal but will do more damage by perpetuating the cloak of obscurity that shrouds so much of what is suppose to be know as paranormal investigation; and that just make the field more ripe for all the con men that feed from it.

I have heard that there are investigators who still believe that the K-II Safe Range EMF Detector, is still a worth while piece of equipment.  While I can understand why an investigator may use this to detect man made EMF, and if it’s their only piece of equipment, but only then.  If a better meter is available, it should be used because of the very benefits laid out in the article: K-II Safe Range EMF Detector.

Now some will say “We’re just experimenting with it”, I ask “To what purpose?”  If it’s for “spirit communication”, any serious and professional investigator would dismiss all the results because of the random spikes the unit receives.  Any investigator worth their salt would know that data collected from this device is useless, regardless of coincidence.  Coincidental data is subjective, and subjective evidence does not provide measureable results, therefore, cannot be used to provide logical, specific conclusions.

On the otherhand, if you want a good party gimmick, or you wish to fool anyone who does not understand the ease with which this device can be manipulated, then pull out one of these things and have fun.  The only other use I can think of is if you wish to fool the audience of a television show, where the flashy lights mesmorize the masses.  It’s always amazed me how people love those little LED lights, and how those lights seem to lead them to believe a device is “high tech”, when in all actuality, what it really says is the device is cheap, especially if those little lights are used to display a numerical readout.  Having been in the electronic business for 30 years, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the reason a device such as the K-II uses 5 LEDs, instead of an LCD readout is because of cutting corners on cost of the unit.

One thing that I see happening with experimenting with this device is that investigators are wasting research time and that by doing so they may miss the opportunity to collect some valuable data.  There is also the risk that they will be lead down a path of irrational logic that does nothing to help advance paranormal research, and more than likely will result in taking the field backwards, especially if the are part of a larger organization that influences many other groups.

Other equipment that I’ve seen used is the Thermal Imaging Camera.  This too has become an instrument employed by the paranormal TV shows, and has been represented in a way that is far from scientific.  It’s primary use on TV is to get the best anomalous result as possible so the viewer has no idea what they are truly seeing.  And in the case of one TV show, it has been used to pass off a thermal reflection as the apparition of a Civil War Era soldier.  Because of how they have the cameras settings adjusted, the device produces some very anomalous displays.  If they wanted to really see something with the device they would first learn how to adjust those settings to get clearer images, which would help rule out normal objects and show that much of what is captured is nothing more than people, reflections for things such as lights, and things suchs as rodents.  But that would take away the ‘wow’ factor from the show, so I doubt the viewers will ever see anything along those lines.

One thing I urge investigators to do is before considering any piece of equipment that will be used in investigating, is to take the time to research the device, the physics behind the device, and learn how to properly setup the device to collect the clearest and most concise data that can be gathered.  If an investigator does not know these things about devices that they are using then how can they honestly interpret data?

This has to be the worst meter an investigator can add to their arsenal of equipment, but has received great attention and enthusiasm because of its use on the Ghost Hunters TV series, where they use it for “Spirit” communication. Unfortunately all the show has done is to set the world of paranormal research back to the stone-age.

The K-II was designed at the height of the EM scare in the early 90’s, and is designed to pick up EM noise. The readout only has four LEDs (the fifth is always lit) to display a reading, which gives it very poor resolution and supplies the user with very little information about the strength of the signal. That in itself should raise major concerns about the usefulness of this product, but it gets even worse from here.

Because the meter uses LEDs, which are very quick to respond with a readout, any little spike in EM will generate a response. While some may think this is a good thing, it is actually not desirable because there are such spikes generated by know sources all the time. The sun, beginning and ending radio transmissions, electrical appliances switching on and off, and a number of other man made and natural influences.

Another thing that makes this meter undesirable is that it is has a single pole detector.  What this means is that it is polarized and simply turning the meter on any axis will greatly affect the strength of the reading.  This again adds to the confusion and influence that random noise will have on the meter.

Now when it comes to spirit communication, I think people need to reign in on their emotions and think about this logically. The K-II is not the first EMF meter, nor is it the only one. The only difference between it and a number of others on the market is the LED readout. As I mentioned earlier, this is a bad thing, and if you were to hook up an LCD display to this device, you would find that it would produce similar results to a Sperry Meter. In other words, if it works with the K-II, it should work with any meter out there, but investigative teams such as T.A.P.S. would have us believe that it is special and unique to this ability to communicate with spirits.

Here’s another interesting observation that people should be aware of and consider: When the K-II meter was first used by TAPS on the show Ghost Hunters, with Chris Fleming as a guest, they used the cheap on off button that comes stock on the meter. This is a momentary switch that only stays engaged as long as you hold the button down. Another interesting thing about the K-II is that it swings full scale when first powered on, then half scale, then sits idle with the first LED lit. Exactly like it did during the communication episode on Ghost Hunters, when they were in Dave Oman’s house. In fact, if you watch that episode, you can see the first LED wink out momentarily, indicating they let off the power button momentarily. This happens each and every time they get a response. Now some have suggested that maybe it is like a Ouija board and that it’s subconscious, but I say hogwash to that. To do this requires to much conscious effort to trigger it with as little power interruption as is seen on the show. In other words, it’s all staged, and if you notice that after being called into question about it, they ceased using the meter in such a fashion.

Now what Ghost Hunters does is to jam a quarter in the power button. This is the keep the switch engaged, but as a side effect it also makes it more susceptible to influence from things such as family band radios. This influence can easily be seem by anyone who momentarily pushes the talk button and releases it. It can also be seen by simply holding the talk button down and simply moving the radio side to side in any direction or pivoting it in a twisting motion, which is how I believe they are rigging their responses now.

In short, because of all the drawbacks of this meter, the results are highly questionable and should be ignored. Because of all its flaws, the K-II is more toy than a useful piece of equipment for paranormal investigation. Those who think otherwise are encouraged to open up a few books on electronics, scientific methodology, and examine the schematic for the K-II.

In closing, I’d like to present a couple of video clips I shot with the K-II. The first is using the same method TAPS used in the Manson Murders episode. The second is using a family band radio.

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