Orbs And EMF

Orbs and EMF

Many paranormal investigation teams out in the field are finding a surprising number of orbs, rods, etc. in their pictures, and then immediately declare them Paranormal. Another thing I’ve seen a lot of as well is using an EMF meter as a Ghost Detector. Now, I am no expert, by any means, in the fields of physics, photography, or audio analysis, but I can dismiss most evidence as being very normal, rather than paranormal.

Body

Orbs. Jason Hawes from The Atlantic Paranormal Society hates them. Jack Porter from Erie County Paranormal Association debunks most them. Troy Taylor from the American Ghost Society wrote an article dismissing them.[1] I can name others in the field who can’t stand to see another picture.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t take every picture of an orb passed to me and toss it. I give it the same thorough analysis. The orbs I am speaking about are the globes that are non-self illuminating, and semi transparent. Visual globes of light that are visible to the naked eye should still be studied very much so. But , I usually end up tossing orb pictures. Why? You may ask. Well, the explanation for the vast majority of orbs has been explained a number of times. They are normally dust that happens to end up in the correct focal point where they reflect light, and also appear out of focus.[2] And, it happens with digital cameras much more often than film for a very simple reason. Flash placement. With the majority of digital cameras, the flash lies along the same axis as the lens’ focus point. With film cameras, the flash is much more off line from the lens' focal axis. Result, less flash collected by dust, in turn reflected back into the lens.

An orb worth studying a little more at depth.

Another reason digital cameras detect so many orbs. Construction of the sensor. The sensor is made up of many pixels that detect light, normally arranged with alternating color. Like this: red pixel, blue pixel, green pixel. When a spec of dust creates the reflection, it may or may not light up all of these pixels. Camera manufacturers know this. So, they made some nifty software tricks to make up for this. It works great when you are photographing a normal subject in normal lighting. It falls short in areas of low light, etc. So, the camera turns a very tiny spec of light into a very large anomaly. This in turn tends to look like an Orb. Interesting, huh? Maybe the camera is haunted.

One we can safely dismiss as dust.

One way to reduce the number of dust/rain/snow orbs is rather simple. Either of two methods I cover would work, especially when combined. The first is to use only a SLR type camera. This type of camera allows the photographer to view exactly what would be photographed, at a much higher resolution than what is obtainable on an LCD. SLR cameras use a series of mirrors that move out of the way right before the image is snapped. The other method is employing the use of a dust shield, that was designed by JDF at GhostGadgets.com. What is does is eliminate the flash/dust area where out of focus dust reflects light back. So, it serves to eliminate one non-paranormal cause of orbs and mists.

Another item is the Electro Magnetic Field meter, or EMF meter. People run around with these things thinking that the higher the number is, the closer you are to a ghost. The original reason for the EMF meter being used was to determine a reason for feelings of unease, paranoia, or nausea in an area. Not to “chase a ghost.” Seems like people sit there and say, “I have a 4 on the EMF meter! Must be a ghost!” Well, I take issue with this as should any serious researcher. If I take my EMF meter and place it next to my TV, guess what? I peg my meter out! But, if I am taking measurements, find an area of 1.5 microteslas that is in the center of a hallway, and no power being applied to any thing in the room, worth investigating more. Based on the original method, it would appear my TV is haunted. But, using the latter methodology, the TV isn't. It's traceable to a quite mundane source. Another issue with an unqualified statement such as the first example: A 4 what? Micro teslas, milligauss, gauss, Tesla, mW/mm^2? And at what frequency? All of these matter when taking a measurement, as well as the axis the measurement was taken on.

Just so people are aware. The international standard for electromagnetic radiation measurement is the microteslsa. Not henry or gauss. So, in reality, in order for the measurements to be accepted by a scientific body, conversions must be performed. But again, a 0.2 microtesla field with no frequency if useless information. It comes under being an unqualified measurement. The same as saying, “It’s warm in here.”

So, am I saying that if you are on an investigation and note a reading of 4mGauss then dismiss it? Yes, unless you can find no other source for this reading, and you see a dramatic shift. Dramatic being somewhat of an unqualified statement, and you will need to lean on experience to dictate what is dramatic. Case in point being, if you are getting no reading (0.0 – 0.1 microtesla) throughout the investigation, and suddenly, you get a 0.9-1.2 microtesla, then this would be considered a big shift. Due for further investigation. Again, experience will dictate.

Another thing to keep in mind. Most EMF meters are single axis units.[3] I'll explain. Magnetic fields are three dimensional, and constructed more or less as “shells” around a globe (the object creating the field). With a single meter, it only measures the “thickness” (strength) or the shell at one angle. In order to make a solid measurement, you must take a reading at all 3 axis. Then, you can calculate the true strength of the field at that point in space.

Now, there are some common used meters that are 3 axis meters, which do this legwork for you. The Extech company has one that also eliminates the 50-60Hz spread for you.[4] This is rather handy. But, don't rely on it. There is a thing called harmonics which will make a 50-60Hz field read as something much lower or higher.

And, one last note. Only the higher end meters will read standing fields. These are fields that stay rather constant without much fluctuation. An example of this is geo-magnetic fields. They have the range of 0.01Hz-1.3Hz, at 30 - 60 microteslas. Again, the Extech company has a model that will do such, as well as.

The big point to take home is this. Nothing, not any huge meter reading, not the most amazing picture, or the worlds most clear EVP can stand on it's own. It needs to be taken as part of a big picture. This is what makes a great piece of evidence:

So, you are getting to the last room of a rather nondescript investigation. The minute you enter this room, the hairs stand up on you neck, and your EMF meter goes from 0.2 microteslsa to 1.2 microtesla. So, your team mate snaps a picture with his camera that has a DEVA attached to it. And, you start recording for an EVP session.

So, after going through evidence, in the photo for that room, there is a real interesting mist-like substance. From your temperature readings, you know that it can't be breath, and no one was smoking. And, during the audio, you get a great EVP.

What you did is corroborated multiple pieces of evidence together to make one really great thing to show for. It would be really hard for a skeptic to dismiss either the photo or the EVP. Now, you answered one thing we're looking for: Is is paranormal. Yes, can't be explained by anything normally occurring. Now we can move on to the next question: Was it ghostly? Well, we're still reaching for that answer.

Conclusion

So, to close up, what everyone in the field needs to do is this: Know the pros and cons, as well as the proper usage of your equipment. Know what it does and what it can’t do, and how to prevent evidence contamination. For example, my Cell Sensor EMF meter could never measure a field at 10 Hz. In fact, I know its sweet spot is between 50-60 Hz, and only works on a single axis. My digital video recorder setup with over five cameras becomes next to useless due to frame rate drop. My Olympus WS-300M will never record a sound under 20 Hz. Just know your equipment. Also, we need to be very critical of any evidence we find. If there is ANY possible explanation for something, it needs to be tossed. To include orb photos. We can only further the explanations for the unknown once we raise the bar for ourselves.

Bibliography

Contributors

Author: Corey Reichle
Other Contributors: None