A Brief History of Ghost Hunting Part III

By Steve Parsons

Technology Takes Over

Following WW2, Ghost hunting progressed slowly. The SPR took little interest in the active investigation of hauntings and apparitions. However a number of SPR members did undertake ghost hunting. Their methods were still in the main 'experience' orientated with little attempt to obtain objective information to support the claims. Leading ghost hunter of the time, Peter Underwood visited and investigated many locations including Borley and like Price wrote and broadcast extensively on the subject of his investigations. Others within the SPR sought to develop a more objective approach to ghost investigations. Researchers including Tony Cornell & Alan Gauld developed 'SPIDER' (Spontaneous Psychological Incident recorder). SPIDER consisted of a linked series of sensors and recorders that could be triggered remotely or automatically. It was portable (just) and many cases were monitored, photographically and electronically, using this equipment over more than 20 years. SPIDER failed to obtain the hoped-for definitive objective proof of paranormal phenomena but a number of inexplicable events were documented over the years.

The SPR meanwhile shifted its emphasis toward a much more psychologically orientated study of psychical phenomena although Cornell and Gauld, together with a small number of its members did concentrate on trying to objectively investigate and document haunted locations. Maurice Grosse, along with Guy Lyon Playfair, was responsible for the detailed investigation of the Enfield Poltergeist case in 1977, one of the most interesting cases ever presented by the SPR. Extensive use of sound recording and photography; together with the pioneering use of video recording equipment at Enfield meant that many of the phenomena associated with Poltergeist manifestations were for the first time properly recorded and made available for in-depth analysis. The objective information meticulously collected by Playfair and Grosse remain as a thorn in the side of the sceptics and demonstrate the importance of properly gathered objective information.

Founded in 1981, ASSAP – the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
set itself the challenge of investigating a broad range of paranormal subjects including Ghosts but also UFO's, Earth Mysteries and Crytozoology. ASSAP focussed on the use of equipment in support of its ghost hunts and investigations. It also established a methodology still widely used by today's ghost hunters. Set periods – typically of 45 minutes investigation followed by a break of equal duration and relocation for each successive session. Notes of personal experiences were maintained and compared but a strong emphasis was placed upon the information obtained by mechanical and electrical means. ASSAP also provided the first training and accreditation for investigators and members could participate in organised training and investigation events.
Alongside the SPR and ASSAP there were a handful of amateur ghost hunting groups throughout the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Many undertook investigations of haunted properties and revisited former sites including Borley.

Ghost Hunting in the 21st Century
In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of people and groups who are investigating ghostly goings on. Driven by the media and by the internet, the number of ghost investigation groups has soared from a few tens in the 1970's to more than 2,000 in 2010. Spurred on by TV programmes such as Most Haunted in the UK and Ghost Hunters in the USA, thousands of people now devote their weekends to visiting and investigating haunted locations around the Country. Sadly, many of these willing amateurs are led by a poor understanding and knowledge of the subject – usually gained only from the media or from misunderstood theories. Rather than adopting a scientific approach many prefer to use an odd mix of pseudo-science and séance room methods to support their investigations.

The modern ghost hunter has adopted a range of equipment for the task, frequently with no substantive knowledge of why or what the equipment is actually measuring. Theories abound and increasingly bizarre claims for what the gadgets can achieve are being made – we now have meters that apparently can measure the energy emitted by ghosts and can also be utilised by the dead to communicate with the living by manipulating the ambient electromagnetic fields, radios that have been modified for the same purpose. Digital photography allows ghostly energies to be photographed and recorded on video and by simply placing a cheap digital sound recorder in a haunted location the voices of the deceased can be recorded and analysed. The celebrity ghost hunter too has survived from the days of Harry Price and Peter Underwood although they have largely been supplanted by media personalities instead of men of scientific understanding. Mainstream science has once again largely turned its back on Ghosts and instead concentrates its efforts into areas of psychologically based study although a bare handful of academic researchers do have an active interest in hauntings and apparitions.

Mediums who traditionally confined themselves to conducting their activities within the séance room and Spiritualist churches have moved extensively into ghost investigations, many apparently promoting their sceptical viewpoint, but in reality using the ghost hunt as a means of promoting their own survivalist and assorted new age beliefs.
Modern ghost hunting is mired by poorly informed amateurs and commercially driven ghost event companies who cater for a market more intent upon having a Spooky Night Out than truly investigating and trying to understand what ghosts might truly represent. Ghost hunting has become mass entertainment rather than an intriguing new branch of science.....

SILENT VOICES

SILENT VOICES

Spiritual, Paranormal & Metaphysical Magazine

A Brief History of Ghost Hunting Part III

By Steve Parsons

Technology Takes Over