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Ghost hunter to speak at my school

CACTUSJACKmankin

Critical Thinker
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Jan 13, 2006
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I go to RIT, Rochester Institute of Technology, and on friday (the 13th), there is going to be a ghost hunter speaking. Apparantly this guy, Chris Moon, is going to talk about experiences, possibly show some equipment. It is being billed as "Technology and science meet the paranormal in Ghost Investigator Chris Moon's presentation where you can hear of his personal ghost, apparition and paranormal experiences! Learn about the tools of the trade, terms, techniques and theories followed with an actual ghost hunt around RIT!!"

Anybody know who this guy is or have suggestions of questions i could ask to expose this guy or how else to handle it?
 
Show him my video and ask him what he thinks. It's only four minutes long. Lemme know what you think.

I started a thread a few days agos, as a friend of mine is going to have "ghost hunters" at his pub on Halowe'en, and I wanted to find out how to expose them as frauds.

Some suggestions that were given to me were to bring the handset from a cordless phone (to monkey with their EMF meters) and an IR remote control (To monkey with their IR cameras).

Good luck, and let us know what happens.
 
CactusJack, the best idea would be to point out that there is zero science involved in ghosthunting.

Depending upon what equipment he brings, I can advise a tad.

If he has a Trifield Meter (EMF Detector) point out that there is no reason on the planet why a spirit should manifest itself as an electromagnetic field. Also point out that those meters are calibrated to measure the fields of household appliances, so unless he has the spirit of a Mr. Coffee, it isn't going to read.

Also recommend that he turn the Trifield Meter on and point it at his forehead. Be sure to ask why exactly the needle doesn't move. And, since it doesn't move when it's pointed at an actual human being that still has the "spirit" inside it, why would it when the spirit is removed from the body?

Add also that the only thing electromagnetic fields have to do with science so far is the Persinger experiment which is working to prove that some types of electromagnetic fields cause hallucinations (including feelings of being watched).

Then, if he brings out an Infrared Thermometer, you can also say that those do not measure air temperature (ghosthunters use them to measure cold spots). Suggest that he point it at you. When it reads your surface temperature at around ninety degrees, offer to step aside and have him measure the same piece of air he was supposedly measuring before. If he points the thermometer at the same spot, he will actually read the wall behind where you were standing. The temperatures will be different. Tell him this should be impossible if he was measuring the air temperature.

If he brings in dowsing rods, suggest that you cover two opaque glasses, one of which contains water and one does not. Have him dowse for the one with water at least twenty times. If he is not right every single time, then dowsing rods are not scientific instruments and do not work.

If he brings in EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) ask him to play a clip without telling the audience what it is supposed to say. Ask him to allow the audience time to write down what they believe it is saying without discussing it. If they get multiple answers, then the ghostly voice is not saying something definite. If it's not saying something definite then there is no way to get meaning from it.

If he shows an orb photo, talk about dust particles, shutter times, the effect of flash...

Above all, point out that since there is no proof that ghosts exist at all, gathering evidence of them makes no sense. The first step is to prove their existence. Only after that can any tests be done on what they can do.

Here is some stuff from when SAPS talked to the DFW Ghost Hunters group...

http://skepticalanalysis.com/id90.html
 
Offer him a chance to win the JREF prize, although you probably know the answer you'll receive.
 
Also recommend that he turn the Trifield Meter on and point it at his forehead. Be sure to ask why exactly the needle doesn't move. And, since it doesn't move when it's pointed at an actual human being that still has the "spirit" inside it, why would it when the spirit is removed from the body?
Click to expand...

I have asked that question of ghost hunter types before and all I could get is some vague mumbling about the ghost "draining camera batteries to gain enough electromagnetic energy to manifest". So it seems the ghost has some sort of AC/DC power supply charging and regulation circuit. I guess you get an instruction manual for it after you die?
 
I recommend just sitting in the audience and laughing uproariously as though you are at a comedy improv.
 
oh come on.....

you guys are RIT. You should be able to totally debunk his EVP and all that other electronic stuff they claim shows ghosts are around. (being an art major I'm going, I think it's an EVP...you know it shows some sort of electronic activity).

Use your skills dude!
 
If he claims that he saw some anamolous readings from his equipment in the field (ie, saw evidence that there was a ghosty), then you could ask ...

Did he do before-and-after readings?
If not, how can he claim them to be anamolous readings?

You see I can point my ghostmeter at all sorts of things and claim that it is detecting a ghosty.
Unless I have a baseline to compare the reading against, I am blowing air.
 
Messing with his stuff with unannounced emf sources is kind of rude...but encouraging people to bring emf sources (any old cell phones? CB radios?) and asking him to see if his gear picks them up is a good idea.

As for orb photos, bring your own. They're easy to make. Digital flash photos of tossed corn starch or wheat flour against a dark background are excellent.

You can also make your own "vortex" by photographing dental floss dangling from the camera in a dark room with flash. I have an excellent "haunted kitty litter box" photo. Human hair across the lense can give a "moving orb" effect because of the way the scales on the hair shaft reflect the flash. "ecto" of course can be replicated with cigarette smoke, incense smoke, or water vapor in cold air; cool the air with dry ice.

Nice streaks of power show up in photos with a "dark vision" setting that is done computationally: use led's as light sources and take photos without flash. The camera software will adjust the streaks created by movement but for osme reason often does not correct streaks by bright light sources such as reflections or led's. I propped an ouija board on my computer and and have some lovely power streaks emanating from it.

The orb chasers usually are extremely ignorant of what their cameras can do, because they only take photos in haunted locations. Digital cameras do so much in-camera photo processing that they could easily wipe out any photos of parnormal light sources if they did exist! Ask him about RAW format, shutter speed, what he knows about the light intensity of flashes and how they have changed in say, the last ten years.

If he is with a group that uses psychics, ask how the psychics have done on tests. Psychics can easily self-test on gotpsi.org, why not have them perform such tests before witnesses before accepting what they say?
 
So this guy had two parts, a lecture and a ghost hunt. I was impressed by the way passed himself off as scientific, but he wasn't even close to being scientific. His two strongest pieces of evidence were orbs and EVP. The orbs he captured during the hunt weren't dust on the lens, they came from light sources. I wear glsses and get those "orbs" all the time. The EVP demonstration was very sad. The guy used a box, called Frank's Box which was basically a radio sweeper. The guy interpereted almost everything that came out of the box as a ghost word. BTW Frank's Box was built to the specs of ghost engineers. The EMF detector was flailing and the reading could be easily manipulated, I doubt it was calibrated. That was about it, he fooled a lot of people who were there.
 
CACTUSJACKmankin said:
The guy used a box, called Frank's Box which was basically a radio sweeper.
Click to expand...

Here's Frank and his box. This guy claims he saw the face on Mars in his shower curtain and hears voices telling him he's "chosen".



BTW, if I were you I'd complain to the school administration for wasting valuable funds on this crap.
 
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