Post by founder on Jun 20, 2008 17:18:46 GMT -5
I have spent the last month working hard at study and investigation. I have even watched the "Shows" that I have seen 100 times before. This time I looked at them with a different motive. I wanted to know how many dead ends we are being sent on as investigators.
The first inkling I had that something was wrong was when I started evaluating EVP with different sample rates. I have found that a lower sample rate will give EVP some visual human voice quality. Do ghosts have vocal chords? This started me thinking.
The second incident was watching a show with the FLIR. The Forward Looking Infrared Camera is used by only one show. Last night I watched them use it. Cold spots are supposed to show up black. Hot spots are white. During the episode, I saw an "apparition" on the FLIR that had a white face. If this was a spirit, why would the face show heat? I also saw a show where they claimed no one had been sitting on a wooden bench. There was a big red pressed ham (butt cheeks) on the FLIR. So, are ghosts supposed to be cold or hot? Is the FLIR even worth while?
Lets talk about EMF. These electro-magnetic field meters are supposed to indicate a spirit. All I see them indicate are electrical outlets. We are supposed to take these invisible spirits for granted since this piece of "scientific" equipment has confirmed it. There is no cross corroboration by temperature or photographs.
Infrared thermometers are another issue. Supposedly, there is no reason for these to show spikes and fluctuations as we see them on TV. Yet no one has yet to explain tht these instruments have a field that widens with distance. Some have a 10:1 ratio. This mean for every 10 feet from the target, the instrument will read one foot of area. Some have an 8:1 ratio. I have even seen 1:1 ratios. Everyone thinks the spirit must be right in front of them when they get a fluctuation. Yet, these instruments can read from very far away. They also must have an object to focus on. If the spirit is right in front of them, then the only explanation is that the infrared beam is bouncing off the spirit. To not accept that premise would mean that the use of a thermometer is of no use. Do we have the courage to accept that?
Photography. I see many people trying to confuse us with fakes. However, if we use certain software, we can see what programs were used on the picture, even if downloaded. We can see if they were "faked" by use of Photoshop or other video software to create a possible apparation. If I see a picture with photoshop tag on it, I discount it. Yet we need some sort of software to bring out the highlights and appartions hidden in the shadows. Video is not much different to me. I do believe in photography and video. It is just hard to trust.
EVP is really no different than the others. EVP by it's very nature must almost always be "enhanced" to erase noise and other distractions. This is manipulation of evidence. Except for Class A which is rare, every EVP must be manipulated in some way to understand it.
Ghost Boxes. These are becoming the fad. I still see a lot of room for error with the boxes as they work today. Phonemes, which are the smallest part of a word that can be understood, get in the way of understanding the EVP. Until we get boxes that work on frequencies either above or below normal RF frequencies, I can't trust them too much either. We need boxes with meters that will indicate empty RF bands from which to search more efficiently. The one thing we have going for us here is that we have professionals working to better them. I think they will and I think this may be the future of ghost hunting. My thanks to the pioneers here.
I think it's time to put away the toys and investigate with our minds and not our hearts. Nitewing
The first inkling I had that something was wrong was when I started evaluating EVP with different sample rates. I have found that a lower sample rate will give EVP some visual human voice quality. Do ghosts have vocal chords? This started me thinking.
The second incident was watching a show with the FLIR. The Forward Looking Infrared Camera is used by only one show. Last night I watched them use it. Cold spots are supposed to show up black. Hot spots are white. During the episode, I saw an "apparition" on the FLIR that had a white face. If this was a spirit, why would the face show heat? I also saw a show where they claimed no one had been sitting on a wooden bench. There was a big red pressed ham (butt cheeks) on the FLIR. So, are ghosts supposed to be cold or hot? Is the FLIR even worth while?
Lets talk about EMF. These electro-magnetic field meters are supposed to indicate a spirit. All I see them indicate are electrical outlets. We are supposed to take these invisible spirits for granted since this piece of "scientific" equipment has confirmed it. There is no cross corroboration by temperature or photographs.
Infrared thermometers are another issue. Supposedly, there is no reason for these to show spikes and fluctuations as we see them on TV. Yet no one has yet to explain tht these instruments have a field that widens with distance. Some have a 10:1 ratio. This mean for every 10 feet from the target, the instrument will read one foot of area. Some have an 8:1 ratio. I have even seen 1:1 ratios. Everyone thinks the spirit must be right in front of them when they get a fluctuation. Yet, these instruments can read from very far away. They also must have an object to focus on. If the spirit is right in front of them, then the only explanation is that the infrared beam is bouncing off the spirit. To not accept that premise would mean that the use of a thermometer is of no use. Do we have the courage to accept that?
Photography. I see many people trying to confuse us with fakes. However, if we use certain software, we can see what programs were used on the picture, even if downloaded. We can see if they were "faked" by use of Photoshop or other video software to create a possible apparation. If I see a picture with photoshop tag on it, I discount it. Yet we need some sort of software to bring out the highlights and appartions hidden in the shadows. Video is not much different to me. I do believe in photography and video. It is just hard to trust.
EVP is really no different than the others. EVP by it's very nature must almost always be "enhanced" to erase noise and other distractions. This is manipulation of evidence. Except for Class A which is rare, every EVP must be manipulated in some way to understand it.
Ghost Boxes. These are becoming the fad. I still see a lot of room for error with the boxes as they work today. Phonemes, which are the smallest part of a word that can be understood, get in the way of understanding the EVP. Until we get boxes that work on frequencies either above or below normal RF frequencies, I can't trust them too much either. We need boxes with meters that will indicate empty RF bands from which to search more efficiently. The one thing we have going for us here is that we have professionals working to better them. I think they will and I think this may be the future of ghost hunting. My thanks to the pioneers here.
I think it's time to put away the toys and investigate with our minds and not our hearts. Nitewing
