Ghost Hunters Tech Guide: Visual
Visual technology for spotting a glimpse of the afterlife comes in many forms. Whether its a shadowy figure captured in a photo or a burst of movement on infrared video, some of the most intriguing evidence of life after death is visual. Who can forget the entity that leaned over a railing and peered down at the Ghost Hunters in the St. Augustine Lighthouse?
Here are a few of the visual devices used by the Ghost Hunters team.
1Electron Multiplying Camera
Brandon, Tech Specialist: "The Electron Multiplying Camera is a very sensitive, scientific piece of equipment that is typically used by the digital imaging scientific community to record photon events. The theory is, if ghosts and entities are manifesting, and they are in our world, it is happening through photon events. We've adapted that to our research and had some really successful results with it."
Daryl, Co-Lead Investigator: "It's such an amazing piece of equipment and, thanks to Brandon reaching out to the field and getting it for the show, it takes investigations to another level."
Mustafa, Researcher/Historian: "We had the Electron Multiplying Camera in the boarding house in Arizona, and then right beside it was a 4K resolution standard digital camera. And this phenomenon was going on at the same time as the cameras were there. What showed up on the Electron Multiplying Camera was basically the generation of light. Light was being generated from somewhere—it was an energy source, but it wasn't being picked up on the digital camera. If you put that footage side-by-side with what we had from the 4K camera, one camera shows something, one doesn't. It's truly remarkable."
Brandon, Tech Specialist: "This device is giving us a very scientific look into the possible mechanics of how ghosts are manifesting. I think that's a very important point to make."
2Data Logger
Brandon, Tech Specialist: "Data loggers are special devices that we use to document and record all environmental conditions of the areas we are investigating. The data logger records electromagnetic fields (EMF), temperature, humidity, pressure and vibration. When we document a change in the environment we try and correlate that with any unexplainable data collected visually or audibly."
Kristen, Co-Lead Investigator: "The data logger is amazing because it records temperature changes, humidity changes, vibration, and EMF. This helps us to detect what was going on in the environment during a possible encounter"
Grant, Team Leader: "These devices record environmental data including temperature, air pressure, humidity, EMF, and motion. These allow us to get environmental baseline readings of a location so we can more easily recognize anomalous interactions. Then, we can potentially use these anomalous interactions to try to communicate with an entity."
3 Tri-Field Natural EMF Detector
Kristen: "The Tri-field is one of the most sensitive devices out there that picks up a change or fluctuation in the electromagnetic field of an area."
Grant: "This device is useful because, like many of these devices, it can be used to help find potential entities, but also to disprove claims of paranormal activity. The human body produces magnetic fields 5000 times per cell, per second. If we are looking for essentially disembodied human personalities, that EMF process should continue. In theory, EMF detectors can find anomalous EMFs that can support claims and use them to interact with an intelligent entity. On the flipside, known man-made high EMFs can cause people to feel anxious, agitated, or just creeped out. Using this device to search for those high EMFs can disprove claims of paranormal activity."
4 4K Infrared Cameras
Kristen: "The IR video camera allows us to perhaps see and record an entity that may not be able to be seen by the naked eye."
Grant: "Many reports are visual. An infrared (IR) camera can see in very low light conditions. The anomalies we are typically looking for are either a dark shadow or a faint light. The best way to increase your chances of catching either one is to turn off as many lights as possible and use infrared. That way you can still see the dark shadows and the faint lights will be brighter than normal."