Exploring Folklore
Encyclopedia of the Strange and Unusual

Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)

After more than 15 years of paranormal media, Western culture is all-too-familiar with Electromagnetic Fields—or EMF—and their connection to the manifestation of ghosts and paranormal activity. Because almost every episode of every ghost hunting show mentions this connection, it has become common knowledge. While the connection between the paranormal and EMF is well documented, and it is often referred to as a fact, we don’t have a solid understanding of what EMF is or what effects it has.

What is EMF?

EMF are a type of energy associated with electrical devices, but can also be naturally occurring. There are two basic types of EMF: Non-Ionizing—which is generally considered to be safe to humans—that include radio frequencies, microwaves, and visible light and Ionizing—which can potentially cause cellular or DNA damage—like x-rays and UV light (NIH 2020). Everything from our cell phones, microwaves, and household electronics all the way to the Sun and our planet produce EMF in various forms. It is a fact of life for us that it exists and we encounter it every day.

The Connection Between EMF and the Paranormal

Since the premier of Ghost Hunters in 2004, EMF and the paranormal have gone hand-in-hand in popular culture. Due to this connection we know that the presence of EMF signifies that paranormal activity is likely, either as the energy produced as a result of spirits manifesting or the energy collected by spirits in order to manifest. There is another aspect of EMF’s paranormal role, also explained quite often during the early seasons of Ghost Hunters: the presence of high-level environmental EMF in a person’s home can contribute to feelings of unease, dizziness, and nausea—and in some cases, it has been claimed to cause hallucinations or the experience of a haunting.

How EMF is used in Paranormal Investigation

With the consensus among paranormal investigators that sudden, high-level EMF readings, or “spikes”, are evidence of spirits manifesting or the presence of spirits, that would mean that the presence of spirits is measurable using devices colloquially termed EMF “detectors”.

Based on equipment used for testing and measuring electrical equipment (or simply being this equipment), EMF “detectors” both help locate and measure the strength of EMF in a location. By being able to locate and measure EMF, paranormal investigators use these devices to perform a few different functions.

Measuring the Environment

One function of the EMF detector is to take initial or baseline readings of a location’s EMF. The purpose of this is to determine what the standard environmental levels of EMF are for a location. This gives the investigators a standard to measure EMF levels recorded during the investigation against. This way, if they measurements are found to be different than the baseline, something has changed within the environment and it can be inferred that something has changed and paranormal phenomena may be present.

In addition to taking baseline readings, another use for measuring the environment is to locate areas where abnormally high EMF levels are present. These measurements can do two things:

  1. Locate areas where the environmental EMF is high enough to potentially cause the sensations of paranormal activity and other negative effects. Part of this includes determining if there are mechanical sources of abnormal EMF. Often, when high EMF levels are found associated with electrical devices or wiring, it’s suggested to the property owner that these issues should be remedied, and by doing so may reduce or eliminate the perceived paranormal phenomena.
  2. Locate areas where paranormal activity may be the most likely to occur (or is occurring) due to the elevated levels of EMF.

Detecting conditions for paranormal activity

One of the hypotheses regarding EMF and paranormal activity is that high EMF provides a condition favorable to spirits manifesting. The hypothesis is that spirits can use EMF to manifest and interact with the physical world. In addition to high levels of EMF, spirits are thought to be able to drain power from electronic devices and batteries and use this electrical energy to help them manifest, speak to us, or move objects. Under this hypothesis, when high EMF readings are present, the likelihood of paranormal activity increases and investigators or ghost hunters will focus their attention on these locations.

Detecting spiritual presence

Similar to detecting favorable conditions, another hypothesis is that paranormal activity causes increases EMF in the environment. In this circumstance, when an investigator detects elevated EMF in a location, this is due to the presence of a ghost or spirit who has manifested. In these cases, investigators will use devices like EMF detectors or REM Pods to both detect the presence and interact with the spirit. Just like when a human gets close to one of these devices and the readings change, a spirit getting close to them also affects these devices. The measurements are then associated with the presence of a spirit or entity itself.

Communication with spirits

Based on the hypothesis that a spirit presence can be detected by measuring changes in EMF readings, another use for measuring EMF is utilizing the measurements as a method of communication. When high or abnormal EMF is detected, the EMF-measuring devices—with their lights or sounds—allows for yes/no questions to be asked and answered by asking the entity to light up the device or cause it to make a sound by using the EMF they generate to interact with the devices.

Devices that measure EMF

A wide variety fo devices exist for measuring EMF. Many new devices have been developed as ghost hunting and paranormal investigation have grown in popularity and general acceptance. Even so, there were a number of EMF measuring devices that existed well before as a variety of industries and occupations require the ability to detect and measure EMF.

K-II meter

The K-II meter is the industry standard for ghost hunting. Featured in almost every paranormal investigation show and mentioned by name, it is one of the most iconic pieces of ghost hunting equipment. Produced my K-II Enterprises, the K-II meter is a relatively simple EMF measuring device. The device itself is handheld and has five LED lights that each correspond to a different range of EMF. As the meter detects EMF the different LEDs light up, from green (lowest) to red (highest).

REM Pod

The REM Pod is an interesting product. Not only does it measure the presence of EMF, causing different color LED lights to glow, but it also has the ability to measure proximity to an antenna and sound a tone or alarm, similar to how a theremin makes sound. These are often used to detect activity throughout a location as well as interacting directly with spirits.

Mel Meter

Created by Gary Galka, the Mel Meter measures both EMF and ambient temperature (another metric used by ghost hunters and paranormal investigators). Named after his teenage daughter who died in a car accident, Galka’s Mel Meter also comes in a number of versions with other devices attached, including SB–7 spirit boxes, AM/FM tuners, and REM Pods.

The Science of Ghosts & EMF

The link between EMF and ghosts has been made numerous times within the paranormal community and repeated countless times on ghost hunting TV shows like Ghost Hunters. The EMF detector is one of the most common devices used by ghost hunters (Radford 2006), but whether the EMF detector used for ghost hunting came first or the belief that EMF is related to ghostly activity is hard to say.

Part of what makes the connection between EMF and paranormal activity so compelling is the fact that reportedly haunted locations often have erratic or fluctuating EMF readings (Radford 2006). Even so, there is no understanding of why this is the case and due to a lack of testability and repeatability, this link is limited to being a hypothesis rather than a theory (Radford 2006).

Another aspect of EMF that paranormal investigators discuss is that EMF can cause feelings of unease, hallucinations, and even the experience of a haunting (Radford 2017). It has been found, at least in clinical settings, that high-level spikes in EMF and low-level sound (infrasound) are capable of causing apparitions—or the experiences thereof (Marcus 2008).

In a study published in 2001 in Perceptual and Motor Skills, Michael Persinger—neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada—discusses a 1996 case of a teenage girl who believed she was receiving visits from the Holy Spirit (Marcus 2008). In this case, it was found that she slept near an electric clock that gave off “electromagnetic waveforms similar to those that have been found to trigger epileptic seizures in rats and humans.” (Marcus 2008). Persinger found that after removing the clock from the room, the girl’s visions stopped (Marcus 2008).

Persinger has also shown a correlation between exposing the brain to weak complex magnetic fields pulsed over their brain and feelings of unease, sensing another presence, or fear (Persinger and Healey 2002). Their findings suggest that exposure to these electromagnetic fields produce the sense that the subjects are receiving thoughts or information from another entity or source or the feeling of being watched (Persinger and Healey 2002), which coincides with the experiences reported by people who claim to have experienced hauntings.

Published in 2004, another researcher—Christopher French—conducted an experiment where he and his team created a “haunted room” where they could expose participants to EMF pulses and infrasound in a more realistic setting and observe the effects (Marcus 2008). They reported that some of their participants claimed to feel “odd sensations”, dizziness, another presence, and even terror, however based on the experiment they were unable to pinpoint any of these feelings as being caused by EMF specifically (Marcus 2008).

The main issue with the existing studies of the affects of EMF on the human brain are that they have taken place in controlled, experimental conditions. The conclusions of these studies can only be applied hesitantly to the experiences people have in their homes or other purportedly haunted locations. While it can be suggested that exposure to high levels of EMF outside of a clinical setting can produce these feelings and experiences, this is still only a hypothesis and is not conclusive.

Conclusion

EMF and paranormal research have gone hand-in-hand for a long time, especially in popular media, however EMF is not strictly in the realm of the paranormal, but is part of our everyday life. While there is some scientific evidence that EMF can impact how we perceive the world around us, there has yet to be any scientific evidence of EMF’s role in the paranormal. This lack of evidence doesn’t mean that there is no connection, but it does mean that we should not take this connection for granted.

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