Author Archives: Hayley

Why the Mr Ghost iPhone gadget wont live up to its name

mr ghost unit

Mr Ghost device

The Mr Ghost EMF Detection device was crowd founded on Kickstarter in late 2012 with the title ‘Mr Ghost: iPhone EMF Detector - Fancy yourself a ghost hunter? Mr.Ghost plugs directly into your mic port to detect electromagnetic radiation sources.‘ The project, launched by Aaron Rasmussen, is basically an EMF detector that plugs directly into the headphone jack of your iPhone and once you’ve downloaded the associated Mr Ghost iPhone App it will allow you to start reading the Electromagnetic Fields around you.

What does this have to do with fancying yourself as a ghost hunter? There’s a wide-held belief within ghost hunting communities that ghosts either emit Electro Magnetic Fields of their own, or cause the Electro Magnetic Field around you to fluctuate when they manifest. With this in mind many ghost hunters will use Electro Magnetic Field Meters to read the Electro Magnetic Field in a location to try and detect any fluctuations that they can pin on a supernatural cause. This is something that Rasmussen touches on in his video for Kickstarter.

ghost hunting with mr ghost

A video still in which Rasmussen goes into ‘ghost hunter mode’

“Or maybe you know what an EMF detector is because you’re a ghost hunter, in which case you can go and check out your scary attic. Since we’re hunting unknown sources we’re going to be using the “gyro mode”. Oh whas’s that? There’s something under here. It’s just my alarm clock, but seriously though, that thing freaks me out.”

Typically the ghost hunter will take a base reading of the location when they arrive that they can compare later readings to throughout the time spent there. If the reading from the Electro Magnetic Field Meter is 8 milligauss(mg) at 9pm when at 4pm it was 5mg and it continues to rise or fall then this might be associated with a ghost being present.

Of course, the main problem with this lays with that base line reading that everything relies on. Unless you take your base line readings over a course of days, weeks or months then you’ll never truly know what a normal EMF reading in a certain room or area is going to be. The EMF in a room might naturally fluctuate from 5mg to 8mg over an afternoon and you wont know that unless you’ve taken a much more detailed reading of a location over a prolonged period of time. Even if you have though, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea that an unaccounted fluctuation in the EMF is caused by ghosts.

Magnetic fields are physical fields produced by electrically charged objects. The electric field is produced by stationary charges and the magnetic field by moving charges – or currents. EMF is often described as being a static field that does not charge or fluctuate over time whereas, in fact, it does change over time – just very slowly. When fluctuations in the EMF are detected at locations that are reputed to be haunted it is more likely and probable that the fluctuation is caused by items in the building that are electronic or things that are electrically or magnetically charged – rather than the spirits of the deceased. There is no evidence that demonstrates how spirits could manipulate the EMF.

With this in mind, the Mr Ghost device for your iPhone will be useful to see what levels of EMF occur in different areas of your home, but it isn’t going to help you to detect ghosts any time soon. It’s probably also wise to state right now that EMF radiation does not cause cancer despite a casual link being thrown around by many. In fact, even in the Kickstarter video for Mr Ghost we see Aaron Rasmussen measuring high EMF around his alarm clock and moving it away from his bed as a result, as though realising his alarm clock is now dangerous. The Skeptics Dictionary says

Many people fear that EMFs cause cancer; however, a causal connection between EMFs and cancer has not been established. The National Research Council (NRC) spent more than three years reviewing more than 500 scientific studies that had been conducted over a 20-year period and found “no conclusive and consistent evidence” that electromagnetic fields harm humans. The chairman of the NRC panel, neurobiologist Dr. Charles F. Stevens, said that “Research has not shown in any convincing way that electromagnetic fields common in homes can cause health problems, and extensive laboratory tests have not shown that EMFs can damage the cell in a way that is harmful to human health.”*

So, although this product seems to be a bit of fun with a cheeky sales pitch thrown in, the misinformation hinted at in the video and elsewhere has real implications for those who believe it so I’m skeptical. I used to collect EMF meters when I believed they could detect ghostly energy, and this just seems like the latest fad in a long line of EMF detection fads… but hey, what do I know?

You can read an article by me on the use of iPhone Apps by ghost hunters in the latest issue of The Skeptic magazine. Subscribe now. 

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James May & the shark that never was

James May should be in my bad books right now, but the fact that he is responsible for the Skegness Sea Monster is both baffling and beautiful at the same time. You couldn’t make it up… unless you are May, in which case you probably already have. James May is best known for his presenting role on the Television Show ‘Top Gear’, but he also hosts a show called ‘Man Lab’ in which he ‘helps modern man relearn some vital skills that are in danger of being lost.‘ Such as faking Lake Monsters. What? Bear with me…

In August of 2012 many news sources reported on video footage (which you can view below) that was captured from Skegness beach by alleged tourists. Many – including me – concluded that it was a basking shark, because that seemed the most sensible option. The Daily Mail quoted Senior biologist Marcus Williams from the National Aquarium in Portsmouth as suggesting it could be two sharks feeding together.

He was wrong however, as during this weeks episode of ‘Man Lab’ James May revealed that it was a hoax perpetrated by the cast and crew of the show in a bid to boost the resort’s economy by giving it a monster to rival Loch Ness’ Nessie. A hoax that they didn’t think had worked after things went wrong and the fake monster lost its head. May said

“It was a devastating turn of events [when Susan’s head fell off]. With Susan lost to Davy Jones our hopes of a monster-led Skegness-related economic miracle seemed sunk without trace. And that seemed to be the end of that; but actually, it wasn’t, you see, in a heart-felt tribute to our tragically lost monster one of our beach crew decided to upload the only existing footage we had of Susan in action; shortly before her head fell off. The crew weren’t prepared and, as a result, the footage was shaky, blurry and indistinct. In short, it was perfect. Slowly views started to increase and before we knew it was well into the hundreds… and then we hit the headlines. The local Skegness paper picked up on the story and suddenly Susan was front-page news. The views leaped into the thousands.”

He added that other websites started linking to their video of Susan and, after the nationals picked up on the story, the monster went global, with news organisations and websites across the planet covering the tale.

“What we had just about written off as a colossal failure had somehow become one of the biggest successes we have had on Man Lab,” [source]

So we were wrong and it wasn’t basking sharks at all, but instead a headless fake monster. Is it bad that the majority of people reached the wrong conclusion? I don’t think so. It’s how a rational mind should work because the logical solution to the question of ‘what is that?’ in this case is that it’s either something misplaced in the later (a log, for example) or it’s an animal you’d expect to see in the water – such as a basking shark. To not cry “HOAX!” when there’s no evidence of a hoax is a good thing, I think.

So James May isn’t quite in my bad books yet because I think this is a lovely monster story, however if it turns out he’s been anywhere near Windermere with his sodding fake monster then things might change…

head of skeggy

The monster used by the show being tested in a pool

h/t to Mike Hall & Shaun Sellars for this story.

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Taking care of business one ghost at a time

Having a ghost can be profitable. Most people know that since the rise in the popularity of ghost hunting television shows and similar brands, the notion of being haunted can be quite a lucrative bonus for any business or organisation. From running ghost tours and over-night ghost hunting events, to selling and featuring in ghost merchandise and Folklore books, it can all help to balance the books. I used to be of the opinion that it was wrong to cash in on alleged hauntings that had no evidence to back them up – as though anyone who did so was being intellectually dishonest, but in recent years I have changed my mind quite a bit.

There will, of course, be occasions where a reputedly haunted venue will cross the line when it comes to the ‘being haunted’ game. False evidence, hoaxes and allowing credulous ghost hunters to tell ridiculous stories of what they’ve found. When that happens then those locations ought to expect people to criticise them for it, they’re opening themselves up to it. I remember my encounter in 2007 with the landlord of Wiltshire’s allegedly ‘most haunted’ pub (one of many) who tried to con me and my fellow investigators into thinking he had a poltergeist by throwing a glass tumbler across an empty room and then hiding behind the door in the hope that we wouldn’t find him, and I think that venues that try to con people into thinking they’re haunted deserve to have their trickery and dishonesty exposed.

Yet these charlatans are not an example of every location to peddle a ghost story and I think to treat everyone with the same level of skepticism is quite unfair. Last year I spoke for the Brighton Skeptics in the Pub group, and during my visit to Brighton they arranged a private tour for me of the nearby Preston Manor which features heavily within British ghost folklore. The woman who led me around the venue is the same person that deals with the ghost tours and the overnight ghost hunting events, and I was pleasantly surprised when she sat me and the friend accompanying me down before the tour for a cup of tea and a chat about the ethics of being a haunted venue.

Yes. She’d worked out for herself that harm could come from hosting ghost hunting events at the venue, and she wanted to limit it as much as she could and sought my opinion. I emailed her a rough code of ethics a ghost hunting team might use, and she signed up as a member of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP) who run workshops on investigating the paranormal in an ethical manner. Here was a venue using their haunted heritage to their benefit without tricking anybody, while also being very careful about how they went about it. Other venues who use being haunted to their advantage often have rules in place about who can and cannot take part in ghost hunting events, and although staff or residents may have had experiences that convince them that the location is haunted I have often had pleasant experiences where the location didn’t attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of participants and, although they may not have agreed with my skeptical opinion, were fair and friendly.

I guess it can be easy to think that anyone cheekily suggesting a ghost story might be true is an enemy of reason and to question their motives, but I prefer to keep my scrutiny for those who mislead people rather than those who might genuinely believe they’ve got a ghost, or those who are harmlessly letting a ghost folklore story live a little. There’s something quite charming about locations who are enthusiastic about their ghosts. Fear not though, if they ever start lying, I’ll join you in your criticisms.

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Thoughts from QEDcon ’13

Last weekend was QEDcon. Hundreds of skeptics, scientists and geeks of all types converged to celebrate reason and critical thinking in good company in the city of Manchester. I attended with my brother who didn’t identify as a skeptic or an atheist – it was his first conference of this kind and I was excited to see what he would make of it. He loved it and has now plundered my bookcase of many skeptical books. Thank you to everyone who made him feel welcomed and inspired him. You can follow him on Twitter @charlies91.

Lots of people have written very good summaries of the weekend but I’m not very good at those sorts of things because I find it difficult to take away decent summaries of everything that I saw that involves more than ‘wow’ or ‘woah‘. There were a lot of great and inspiring talks covering a whole range of subjects and I felt lucky to be present for the whole event – especially the Saturday evening entertainment that made me weep with laughter.

No, instead of writing my thoughts on the event I’m going to do something else. I’m going to write my thoughts on the people – or more specifically, the people who inspired and touched me (in a non physical manner) during the weekend.

For that is what QEDcon was for me, reader. QEDcon was people. It was people power, positive people, people who make a difference in the increasingly bleak world around us. Inspiring people. These people came together for one weekend as organisers, speakers, or audience members and taught each other new things, engaged one another with ideas, and motivated one another with battle scars, passion and success stories. There was this overwhelming sense at QEDcon that everyone can make a difference if they want to – and that they’re allowed to because there are no barriers. For me QEDcon was people, and what a bunch of inspirational folk they were.

I was inspired by…

Carrie Poppie, and the honesty in her talk about being scared that her house was haunted, and her compassion for those she encounters who believe in weird ideas. I was a fan before, but I’m an even bigger fan now.

Steven Colgan, who told us how commonality was the solution to fractured communities, causing lots of people to realise that commonality is what we as atheists, skeptics and non-believers should focus on too. His talk also demonstrated how sometimes the solutions to big problems are simple (so let’s not over think them).

Richard Dawkins, who during his interview with Robin Ince told such a beautiful story about the death of his friend that it reminded me that there is beauty in death, just as there is in life and its origins. My life has been quite full of the death of wonderful people this last year or so, and as Richard spoke I felt a calmness wash through me and I know many were moved to tears.

Michael Marshall, and his defense of the little guys during the Skeptical Activism panel – us regular folk who aren’t professional skeptics and do our doubtful outreach in our spare time. His advice to ’cause mischief’ struck a chord. There are many people out there deserving of mischief, so let’s organise!

Simon Singh for recognising that we all work in different ways, for kindly name checking me and Project Barnum during the Activism panel, and for having the courage to ask Sally Morgan in person whether she would undertake testing and, when she flew off the handle, for staying calm and engaging with her fans in the most admirable of ways. That really inspired me a lot.

Rose Shapiro, who told us how when she wanted to write ‘Suckers – how alt med makes fools of us all’ she was told nobody wanted that book, but she pushed on, wrote it, and provided vital information to the population when it would have been easier to cave in the demands of publishers. Thank you, Rose.

Josephine Jones, Alan Henness, Sandra Prow, Keir Liddle, Paul Morgan & co. for putting so much effort into defending reason on a daily basis against the likes of Burzynski. There are many names I haven’t mentioned because I don’t know them. Sorry.

Considered Creative, the folks who created the beautiful opening video sequence for each day of QEDcon. When it played it make me shiver.

Author, because despite peoples outrage this guy continues to make valid criticisms against religions and the religious through the use of the Jesus & Mo comics. It was such a pleasure to meet you!

Richard Saunders whose talk about Paranormal Research made the audience interested in something that is often dismissed as ‘not important’.

Laurence Krauss, not only for an inspirational talk (which I had seen in Zurich before) but also for being so approachable, friendly, and for his ‘Fictional Character’ t-shirt and Golden Converse shoes. Amazing.

Andy Lewis who apologised for beating my blog to the ‘best blog’ Ockhams award, despite deserving it so much more!

Mitch Benn who spoke openly and frankly about his criticism of Atheism+ when many people are scared to do so because of the backlash they fear they’ll experience.

Hayley and Mitch Benn on stgae

I collected an Ockham Award for ‘Best Podcast’ on behalf of Kylie Sturgess from Mitch Benn. Photo by Robert McDermott [source]

You, the readers of my blog for nominating Hayley is a Ghost for the ‘best blog‘ Ockham’s award from The Skeptic Magazine completely unprompted.  I didn’t win, but being shortlisted for the prize meant a lot. Knowing that there are people out there who believe this blog that I started when I was a 19-year-old Ghost Hunter who had started to doubt things is considered worthy of such a prize was humbling. Thank you.

and finally…

Everyone who came to speak to me, to tell me they liked my blog, Project Barnum or my podcasts. Strangers who weren’t scared to ask questions they knew I could answer, and wanted to learn more about paranormal research. This is why I love QEDcon – it reminds me that I am part of a scene within the UK that rocks, and despite the occasional infighting and setbacks, despite those times when reason fails and nonsense wins, I came away from QEDcon feeling hopeful for the future.

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