Nosfer said:

What, exactly, am I talking about? Well, I'm glad you asked. This episodes airs on 13 April. This, in a fashion similar to America's First Zoo, coincides very nicely with the dress rehearsal of the new Castle Quest gallery on 16 April which then has it's Grand Opening about three weeks later. Coincidence? Yep…and I've got some land for sale, too.

I am interested in the land for sale.  Oh…wait…

*Puts his glass of kool-aid down and hangs his head low*

The one cold chain moving was interesting. Not sure what to make of that.

Post edited 11:52 am – April 14, 2011 by Revenant
Post edited 11:52 am – April 14, 2011 by Revenant

Nosfer said:

And originally, the medium upon which they were imprinted was key, ie magnetic tape.  That one has gone out the window, too, with solid state recording devices.

 

That's one of my all time favorite "magical abilities" of ghosts…the ability to literally change the way that they communicate to keep up with advancements in technology.  Quite brilliant those ghosts are.

Eric…you stated that you are a "beginning investigator."  If you're serious about getting answers and challenging the "conventional wisdom" in the paranormal community…here's a few experiments to consider:

1) High end sound equipment.  Yes, it's expensive.  Yet…one must consider the source of these EVP's…insanely bad and cheap audio recorders.  I seriously do not understand why more people aren't questioning this aspect.  Many people seem content on straining to hear "get out" or whatever and don't even care about the equipment. 

2) At least two pieces of audio equipment in the same room to verify these EVP's.  It's literally as simple as it sounds…but it's never done.  Why?  Because it doesn't work?  And if it doesn't work…then why?

3) And a nice little spin on the two pieces of audio equipment…go both digital and old school tape.  Why? Why not?  The history of EVP's began with tape.  Have the ghosts completely stopped communicating in that fashion?  Or is it just cheaper and easier to use digital?  If that is the case…well, not very scientific is it?  And just think about this experiment for a moment.  If you did find a voice on both audio and digital….the same voice, the same words…then it becomes interesting, doesn't it?  As a skeptic, I would take notice of something like that (as long as I could rule out obvious hoaxing…blah, blah, blah).

Hmmm…I guess it just depends on what paranormal investigators are going for.  If the intent is just television ratings…then keep doing the same things over and over.  If "amateur investigators" just want to have a little fun…as long as you have permission to investigate at the location, then have at it.  But if paranormal investigators really intend to break some new ground and maybe find a couple of answers…then they need to build from the ground up and design infinitely better experiments and techniques.

Actually some of the team do use what I would consider good audio equipment. The Zoom H4N is no piece of junk. But I don't think every team member uses one.

It wouldn't matter what they use anyway. You could give them broadcast quality equipment (which the invisible cameraman should have) and they would wind the volume all the way up into the noise and misinterpret what they hear. I never heard a voice in this episode. I heard sounds that was "voice like" but I think the origin was in the environment. When you wind up the mic gain or start looking at noise we all fall victims to audio pareidolia, something that "sounds like" a human voice but it isn't.

I'm still chasing that elusive night bird in the bush with my super sensitive mic. I have so much gain a simple drip of dew falling onto the shed roof sounds like a canon going off! In fact the whole audio environment becomes totally unfamiliar to me because it's completely out of proportion to what I normally hear. I swear I've hear what sounds like footsteps, doors opening and closing and voices. Some of them are pareidolia and some are the neighbours 100 metres down the road!

If you go into an investigation with the mindset that every bump is made by a ghost you will surely find some, except they will be ghosts of the living.

Buffy said:

…..but who wants a real scientific approach anyways.

RE: The FLIR. I think Adam had it. See
here's another problem with all their little toys and with their
methodology. Like Ghost Adventures they use one or at the most two
devices at a time, as if using 3 or more is too taxing for their brain.
If you have recording/measuring instruments should they not all be used
at once? This one at a time business is rot.

Here's why. The
Bumblebee GMS spectrum analyzer Steve used SHOULD be used if they are
going to break out the K-II meter. A lot of K-II hits are in the GMS
bands from man made origin and this would help sort these out. But no.
They prefer to hunt blind.

They love to investigate without
knowing what they are doing. And they teach the viewing audience how to
make the same mistakes which is why all their fans run around with EMF
meters finding lots of "ghosts".