Equipment!

Love it or hate it, there's no getting away from the fact there is lot's of equipment being used for paranormal investigations! Some of which is useful, some of which, to be frank is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

I shall endevour to lead you through the plethora of gadgets and gizmo's, old and new.

May sound a bit daft, but you can't go wrong! You don't need to replace batteries, you don't need to be a technical wizzard! just need to be able to write down what ever information you are finding. Sometimes it's good to use nothing else and just write everything down (and I mean everything!). Using watches to record the time of your 'tweets', they can be compared with other members experiences in the group afterwards. But keep it to yourself and don't tell everyone else what you heard/saw/felt, till the end of the investigation/vigil.

Yes, a bit James Bond, but synchronize watches at start of investigation.

Vital for moving around in the dark! There are many types, however, my bug-bear is 'normal' torches! Please!!! If I get you to change one thing  during an invest it would be this; please please invest in a red lens or red LED or filter! for your torch, It means you don't get blinded by white light in your face by the person who always forgets to keep their torch pointing at the ground. There is also the very practical point in that it take your eyes roughly 20 mins to adjust to the dark, everytime someone turns on a bright torch, there goes your time spent adjusting!

My personal favourites are a head torch, however in the interests of not looking a complete dork (technical term!) instead of putting it on my head, I wear it on my upper arm, you can then still use the beam to see where your walking and it's easy to find! My second favourite is my trusty maglite with red filter. (other brands of torches are available).

As as a side note, there is no reason not to do investigations during daylight. In fact more 'ghost sightings' are reported during people's normal daily activities but it's not as much fun in the daylight and thats why Ghost Hunts are carried out at night as its more atmospheric and there is less noise polution. 

These can vary and range from a cross that can be drawn round on a piece of paper and left in a controlled environment (in a room on its own) to see if it moves on its own.  We use an abacus as the beads are easy to move, marbles, toy cars, balls or dolls and teddys.  Once you have these basic pieces of equipment then your ready to start investigating.  There are lots of new equipment coming onto the market all the time and you can spend alot of money on them, but this is something you buy once your sure this is a hobby you want to continue in.  A warning though!!  GHOST HUNTING IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE.

Mobile phones are a fantastic aid to you and are a vital piece of equipment. Thry are small. lightweight and instantly accessible as a torch or camera and for filming and recording.  Please note:- use them on flight mode only. 

Electromagnetic Field Meter.  We use K2's as they are lioghtweight and easy to use.  They are used to detect electromagnetic energywhich can be produced naturally or in the manmade world. Its believed that that have a close association with the spirit world and that they can detect them. Always do a sweep of the building your investigating before you begin and record your findings and then you have something to compare against during the evening. 

Structured Light Sensitive Camera is a fabulous addition to the ghost hunters tool kit.  It identifies human shape forms in the dark and shows them by a stick man image that is displayed on screen.  There are varying views in the ghosthunting world over this piece of equipment. 

These shed a 3 dimensional light onto the walls or ceilings in the form of dots or grids forming patterns across the room.  If something was to interrupt that lazer grid it would show up as distorted hence something unusual like spirit may cause that to happen.

Electronic Voice Phenomenon Recorder is a vital part of your kit.  The Recorder records highly sensitive sounds that the human ear does not hear.  Keep that with you at all times, as some of the best spirit voices have been caught on these machines. 

A small piece of equipment with a mini aerial and it can radiate its own electromagnetic field all around itself and any spirit that goes close, it will light up any of its 4 lights on the top which vary in colour from green, blue, amber or red according to how close the spirit it to the Rem pod and it emits a high pitch alarm too. Its great to have a few of them and line them up and ask to the spirit to walk towards you and see them all light up as it does. 

This is a radio wave scanner and recorder this scans the radio waves FM and AM (white noise) for spirit voices.  Any voices that come through many consider to be spirit.

This can be used to detect EMF frequencies and anbient temperature and uses a mini telescopic antenna to radiate its own electromagantic field around itself. If the temperature lowers it emits a lower tone alarm and if the temperature goes up the the tone goes up too.

Dowsing Rods are used to detect water but can also detect spirit in the same way.

It is always advisable to have quite a few of these and leave them in places where you may not be investigating i.e a cellar, a doorway into a room or down a long corridor as they emit a loud sharp sound if they are triggerd.

Always good to have more than one camera and night vision is essential for your viewing and editing afterwards. Oh and always good to have some good camera people who dont mind watching the whole night through a camera lens. 

These are just a few items I have listed as there are many many more out there.