Paranormal investigators often use EMF meters during the course of an investigation. Exactly why they do, and what those meters are meant to confirm, is the subject of debate. Some investigators believe that disturbances in the local EMF field are a direct indication of ghost activity. Others are not so certain.
Taking EMF Baselines
Establishing the normal EMF background to a location (known as "taking baseline readings") is important if a team is intending to investigate whether the presence of EMF is a part of the local phenomena. The first steps involve identifying the sources of EMF present, and this can be done with most EMF meters. Typically, something like a domestic light switch will have a small EM field that may extend up to a few centimeters in every direction. More powerful sources, like speakers or a cable TV box, will produce a higher reading and may continue to produce results up to 30 centimeters from the source. Each of these should be measured and noted. It’s also worth checking the “live” areas of a room – the places where people commonly walk or sit – to see whether any EM fields are strong enough to produce a reading there.
Once completed, the baseline readings for a room can be rechecked at any point during the investigation and the readings taken can be compared to those captured earlier.
Investigating an EMF Spike
While an investigation is in progress some ghost hunters will recheck the baseline readings looking for new readings. Very occasionally, a reading may be taken that doesn’t have an obvious source or that cannot be linked to an already measured source. These are sometimes referred to as “spikes”. Some investigators claim that these are signs of ghostly manipulation of the local EM field. There is some debate over whether this is the case, but given the limitations of the commonly available equipment it is equally likely that these readings will have a natural cause that the investigator is unable to track down. Spikes tend to be transient and, without the right gear, they are just as likely to be caused by the Earth’s own magnetic field as any other possibility.
Fear Cages, EM Sensitivity and Health Concerns.
Paranormal investigators may subscribe to the hypothesis that high EM fields may cause paranoia, illness and even hallucinations. If this is the case they will be using EMF meters to track and pinpoint the source of any high readings. The World Health Organization has guidelines on the typical strengths of EMF fields generated by common household items and ghost hunters might use those as a guideline to how much EMF is safe or reasonable.
It should be noted that, despite this being a commonly investigated hypothesis, there are few scientific or medical studies that link the presence of EMF fields of any strength to any of the symptoms described. The presence of EMF, which is almost unavoidable in any residential property, does not seem to be linked either to ghost activity or health effects that might produce symptoms which might be mistaken for ghost activity. The concerns over EMF persist, however, and consequently ghost hunters continue to examine the sites of alleged hauntings with every tool available.
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