Ghost Hunting in the 2020s
During Blogstonishing, the listeners take hold of what kind of content gets covered on the blog. Unsurprisingly, sometimes I get some unique requests for stories I’ve never heard or, in this case, something I never thought about writing about. Kathryn P. suggested I review ghost hunting in 2021 - how has it changed, what has been updated, and what is to come? Although I’ve covered various ghost hunting tech on the blog, both old and new, consider this the 2021 update.
One of the most interesting recent innovations in ghost hunting is the Estes Method, which if you’ve listened to our Stanley Hotel episode, read our blog on it, or checked out Hellier, you might find that familiar. I think the Estes Method is a great place to start when it comes to checking in on the state of ghost hunting in 2021.
Why? Well, the Estes Method is an experiment with controls. It allows you to test the one practicing it and allows for a way to review and assess the results...instead of the more random-chance EVP and recorded conversations ghost hunting is used to.
For a quick summary of what happens in an Estes Method session: The hope of the Estes Method is to further isolate and concentrate on the random radio feed being used to communicate. One must have the SB7 Spirit Box tapped into soundproof headphones (so they cannot hear the questions being asked) and be blindfolded (so they cannot guess/read lips at what is being asked). Once this has been established, the other investigators in the room (not the person listening) ask questions and see if the radio snippet of the human receiver match. The human receiver says out loud any words or phrases they can make out. It basically removes group bias and adds a little science and a way to ‘check the work’, so to speak.
Speaking of technology, let's talk a little bit about cell phones. Our cellphones have been a jack-of-all-trades item when it comes to ghost hunting. This is unsurprising - with a flashlight, recorder, camera, video camera, and more it is no surprise that most people ghost hunting, professional or not, tend to arm themselves with their phones. However, now it isn't just about the phones...it's about the apps. The app store is host to a huge amount of alleged ghost hunting tools, from spirit boxes to EVP recorders. But can these items really 'work', or do they harm ghost hunting more than they help?
First, I'd like to say that with ANY app - whether it be for 'normal' uses or ghost usage, if it seems too good it probably is. There are dozens of free apps in the app store based on ghost hunting needs...but that are crammed with ads, borderline unusable, or are very clearly using the most basic AI to generate responses based on, well, nothing or something the app creators themselves wrote.
However, there are some apps that may actually help - like radio scanners (based off similar tech to spirit boxes) and other apps that use things like camera to detect incorrect or aberrant forms (although, sometimes there are terrestrial explanations for these aberrations). Overall, I am quite skeptical of 95% of apps, but, there are a few that have intrigued me over the years.
But, what are people googling? Fiona Broome noticed an interesting pattern on her blog regarding Paranormal Research/Ghost Hunting. Since 2016, searches for ghost hunting have increased BUT searches for paranormal research have declined. You’d think the two topics would go hand-in-hand, but it seems that perhaps some people are just in it for the thrill. What could this mean? Well, a few things. More people are generally interested (or perhaps have experienced or heard experiences) ghosts and want to investigate for themselves - perhaps they aren’t interested in the research because they have the experience.
Finally, one of the most interesting items is an article published in the journal of Western Folklore by Tok Thompson who, much resembling our Vertical Plane series, suggests that we may be on the verge of a new type of ghosts: tech ghosts. Specifically, android ghosts.
As many may be familiar, some believe that ghosts are the spirits of deceased humans. But what happens when AI dies?
While teaching a class on folklore and ghost stories, he noticed something about the ghost stories his students collected for the Digital Folklore Archives - they increasingly included things like hacked Facebook messages from the dead, text messages, and impossible phone calls. As of 2017, 34% of ALL new story submissions were what Tok classifies as 'cyber-ghost' stories.
This is a wildly important concept because as our ghost stories change (and where one can find ghosts change), there is no doubt that there will be some major changes to how (and where) we ghost hunt.
Of course, this blog is hardly capable of covering ALL of the innovations and changes in ghost hunting in the last few years, but I hope this gives you an updated view of major concepts. And remember, click the links at the top, and throughout, this post to explore my sources!
Thanks to Kathryn P for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The blog image Colorful software or web code on a computer monitor. This image is from Unsplash and was published prior to 5 June 2017 under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.