My opinion of Ghost Box Apps (Parapsychology related)
My opinion of Ghost Box Apps:
Disclaimer: I write this with the given assumption that those reading it already believe in ghosts. This is a post specifically for believers or skeptics willing to humor hypothetical scenarios of if spirits definitely exist.
I am going to sound like an old fart here. Imagine me shaking a cane in the air as I bark “Back in my day!” Okay, here’s the thing. I studied parapsychology academically with The Stratford Career Institute (SCI) back in 2007 / 2008. The course provided six text books including Parapsychology 101. None of those books addressed ghost hunting phone apps because… They simply didn’t exist yet. I studied parapsychology nearly twenty-years-ago...
The first Ghost Box Apps were released in 2011. At that point I had already completed my course of study a good three-years-earlier. So my initial assumption was that Ghost Box apps produced a white noise, like static on an old television set on a dead channel (when the screen is covered in static snow and you get that consist fizz / hiss sound). That was the sort of Ghost Box I was already familiar with.
In general white noise is a constant din of some kind, whether the static of an old radio, or the rushing of water in a creek or down a waterfall. The more precise meaning of “White Noise” is a sound containing all frequencies at once, like how white light contains all the colors of the visible spectrum. The parapsychology theory about the use of white noise is that spirits may be able to break down the frequencies to form a means of communication. This is true when it’s a din of babble or static as well.
Note: Some Insomniacs and sleep specialists insist the sound of white noise or a white noise din like water or static helps them to sleep but that’s neither here nor there.
Frank Sumption invented the first white noise based ghost box in 2002. So it was still a relatively new invention (only about five-years-old) at the time that I took my parapsychology course. Frank Sumption specialized in my own usual field of research, EVP (electronic voice phenomena) analysis. He claimed that spirits, themselves, instructed him on how to make a ghost box. His version mostly used AM radio signals and spanned through frequencies, catching fragments of noise and sometimes voices saying words or sentences. The theory was that spirits might use these to communicate by manipulating the white noise static and the bits of audio the device caught on radio signals.
There’s a lot of skepticism toward Ghost Boxes. I, personally, think they have the potential of functionality and once accidentally used an old baby monitor as an impromptu ghost box.
For centuries humans have believed that spirits could communicate through what we today call white noise. The sounds of a babbling brook, or rushing creek, the patter of rain, or the whisper of reeds in the wind. People have claimed to have heard spirit voices in these innocuous white noise sounds. One superstition is that you could hear gargoyle statues “talking” when water ran through their spouts.
One flaw with Ghost Boxes is the human mind’s predisposition to form patterns that might not actually be there, or to hear what you want or expect to hear in the din.
I was surprised when I learned that Ghost box cell phone apps have variations more than just white noise and radio frequency hopping scanners. One Ghost Box app that I am, personally, VERY skeptical of, is the so-called Random Word Generator Ghost Box app that picks words at random from a dictionary-wide selection. Supposedly the ghosts might be picking the words that spring up and it’s up to us to interpret the meaning behind them. This is where the flaw of the earlier Ghost Box comes in, the human predisposition to see patterns that aren’t necessarily actually there.
Someone who had been deceived into thinking that a particular associate was a thief had insisted to me that they used such an app and the ghosts kept saying “Stole!” and that this other person (supposedly gave the name) stole from them. (I wonder if that particular person ever figured out that it was her own mother who tricked her and there was no thief). But at the time, she was convinced the spirits were telling her who was a thief. It was a confirmation bias based on what her own mother already had her believing.
I am very, very, very doubtful of the random word generator Ghost Box apps. The Random Word generator Ghost Box app is one that I think should be taken with a grain of salt.
It’s one thing to believe a ghost might influence radio signal static but it’s another to believe they’re playing with a “random word generator” app in your Android phone. It’s true spirits have been believed to mess with electronics but I have my doubts when it comes to a downloaded random word generator app. You might as well say a ghost is manipulating your dice roller app. To me it’s too subjective and easily manipulated by personal bias. Also how would the ghost be able to select the random word? How tech savvy do you think the spirits are? Catching sounds on audio frequencies is one thing. Picking out words on a giant dice roller is another all matter together.
Cell phones produce EMF (Electromagnetic fields) formerly known as EMR (Electromagnetic radiation) in early mid-twentieth century parapsychology. Do not use or carry a cellphone when attempting an EMF reading. Most modern electronics produce EMF, which makes a lot of ghost hunting shows laughable when they don’t do a reading of their own equipment and how it may influence the scene. You need a base-line reading and to know how much EMF your own equipment is poducing. But I digress.
Cell phones contain RF (Radio Frequency) energy. It’s a non-ionizing radiation to send and receive signals. Though a ghost could manipulate that, being precise enough to pick specific words in a phone app would probably be a little trickier than catching bits of sound in static noise. Not only that but the EMF of the phone might clash with the hypothetical and less-understood psychokinetic energy induced electromagnetic field of a spirit. In other words, ghosts are not surgeons or technicians (usually). They are entities that manipulate similar energies (in theory) as to what your cell phone uses. This means that though manipulation is possible, it’s not likely to be precise. Think of it as the difference between using a careful set of pliars vs. using a sledgehammer.
So, yes, and no. I am open minded about white noise ghost boxes but I am very skeptical of random word generator ghost box apps for cell phones. I think they likely are just random and we self-deceive with confirmation bias, subliminal cold readings, and transcendent temptation.
There. There are my thoughts on Ghost Boxes, and Ghost Box Apps, particularly the random word generator apps.
