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Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by . The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has confirmed the existence of ghosts. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, science writers and skeptics. Science historian Brian Regal described ghost hunting as "an unorganized exercise in futility".
Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect "evidence" supporting the existence of paranormal. Ghost hunters also refer to themselves as paranormal investigators. Ghost hunters use a variety of electronic devices, including , digital , both handheld and static digital camera , including thermographic and night vision, night vision goggles, and digital audio recorders. Other more traditional techniques are also used, such as conducting interviews and researching the history of allegedly haunted sites. Dowsing and Ouija boards are other traditional techniques.
Ghost hunting was popularized in the 2000s by television series such as Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, combined with the increasing availability of high-tech equipment. The Atlantic Paranormal Society reported a doubling in their membership in the late 2000s, attributing this to the television programs. Despite its lack of acceptance in academic circles, the popularity of ghost-hunting reality TV shows has influenced a number of individuals to take up the pursuit.
Small businesses offering ghost-hunting equipment and paranormal investigation services increased in the early 2000s. Many offer electromagnetic field (EMF) EMF meter, infrared motion sensors and devices billed as "ghost detectors". The paranormal boom is such that some small ghost-hunting related businesses are enjoying increased profits through podcast and website advertising, books, , videos and other commercial enterprises. Scaring Up Paranormal Profits
One ghost-hunting group called "A Midwest Haunting" based in Macomb, Illinois, reported that the number of people taking its tours had tripled, jumping from about 600 in 2006 to 1,800 in 2008. Others, such as Marie Cuff of "Idaho Spirit Seekers" pointed to increased traffic on their websites and message boards as an indication that ghost hunting was becoming more accepted. Participants report that ghost hunting allows them to enjoy the friendship of like-minded people and actively pursue their interest in the paranormal. According to Jim Willis of "Ghosts of Ohio", his group's membership had doubled, growing to 30 members since it was founded in 1999 and includes both true believers and total skeptics. Willis says his group is "looking for answers, one way or another" and that skepticism is a prerequisite for those who desire to be "taken seriously in this field."
Author John Potts says that the present day pursuit of "amateur ghost hunting" can be traced back to the spiritualist era and early organizations founded to investigate paranormal phenomena, like London's The Ghost Club and the Society for Psychical Research, but that modern investigations are unrelated to academic parapsychology. Potts writes that modern ghost hunting groups ignore the scientific method, instead following a form of "techno-mysticism".
The popularity of ghost hunting has led to some injuries. Unaware that a "spooky home" in Worthington, Ohio, was occupied, a group of teenagers stepped on the edge of the property to explore. The homeowner fired on the teenagers' automobile as they were leaving, seriously injuring one. A woman hunting for ghosts was killed in a fall from a University of Toronto building.
An offshoot of ghost hunting is the commercial ghost tour conducted by a local guide or tour operator who is often a member of a local ghost-hunting or paranormal investigation group. Since both the tour operators and owners of the reportedly haunted properties share profits of such enterprises (admissions vary depending on the location, length and other aspects of the tour), some believe the claims of hauntings are exaggerated or fabricated in order to increase attendance. The city of Savannah, Georgia, is said to be the American city with the most ghost tours, having more than 31 as of 2003.
Price joined the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1920, and used his knowledge of stage magic to debunk fraudulent mediums.Paul Tabori. (1974). Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghosthunter. Sphere Books. pp. 43–48. In 1922, he exposed the "spirit" photographer William Hope. Leaves from a Psychist's Case Book by Harry Price, Page 213.Hall (1978) p. 222 In the same year he traveled to Germany with Eric Dingwall and investigated Willi Schneider at the home of Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing in Munich.Hall (1978) pp. 136–153 In 1923, Price exposed the medium Jan Guzyk.Harry Price. (1942). Search for truth: My Life for Psychical Research. Collins p. 206
Price wrote that the photographs depicting the ectoplasm of the medium Eva Carrière taken with Schrenck-Notzing looked artificial and two-dimensional, made from cardboard and newspaper portraits and that there were no scientific controls as both her hands were free. In 1920 Carrière was investigated by psychical researchers in London. An analysis of her ectoplasm revealed it to be made of chewed paper. She was also investigated in 1922 and the result of the tests were negative.Harry Price. (1939). Fifty Years of Psychical Research. Longmans, Green & Co. In 1925, Price investigated Maria Silbert and caught her using her feet and toes to move objects in the séance room.Lewis Spence. (1991). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale Research Company. p. 1522 He also investigated the "direct voice" mediumship of George Valiantine in London. In the séance Valiantine claimed to have contacted the "spirit" of the composer Luigi Arditi, speaking in Italian language. Price wrote down every word that was attributed to Arditi and they were found to be word-for-word matches in an Italian phrase-book.Harry Price. (1942). Search For Truth: My Life For Psychical Research. Collins. p. 203
In 1926, Price formed the National Laboratory of Psychical Research as a rival to the SPR.Rene Kollar. (2000). Searching for Raymond. Lexington Books. p. 79. Price made a formal offer to the University of London to equip and endow a Department of Psychical Research, and to loan the equipment of the National Laboratory and its library. In 1936, he transferred his equipment to the University of London Board of Studies in Psychology.
Price had a number of public disputes with the SPR, most notably regarding professed medium Rudi Schneider.James Houran. (2004). From Shaman to Scientist: Essays on Humanity's Search for Spirits. Scarecrow Press. p. 169. Jenny Hazelgrove. (2000). Spiritualism and British Society Between the Wars. Manchester University Press. p. 206. Price exposed Frederick Tansley Munnings, who claimed to produce the independent "spirit" voices of Julius Caesar, Dan Leno, Hawley Harvey Crippen and King Henry VIII. Price also invented and used a piece of apparatus known as a "voice control recorder" and proved that all the voices were those of Munnings. In 1928, Munnings admitted fraud and sold his confessions to a Sunday newspaper.Paul Tabori. (1966). Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghosthunter. Living Books. p. 125
In 1933, Frank Decker was investigated by Price at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research.Paul Tabori. (1966). Harry Price: The Biography of a Ghosthunter. Living Books. p. 132 Under strict scientific controls that Price contrived, Decker failed to produce any phenomena at all.Stuart Holroyd. (1976). Minds Without Boundaries. Aldus Books. p. 49 Price's psychical research continued with investigations into Karachi's Indian rope trick and the Firewalking abilities of Kuda Bux. In 1936, Price broadcast from a supposedly haunted manor house in Meopham, Kent for the BBC and published The Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter and The Haunting of Cashen's Gap. This year also saw the transfer of Price's library on permanent loan to the University of London (see external links), followed shortly by the laboratory and investigative equipment. In 1937, he conducted further televised experiments into fire-walking with Ahmed Hussain at Carshalton and Alexandra Palace, and also rented Borley Rectory for one year. The following year, Price re-established the Ghost Club, with himself as chairman, modernizing it and changing it from a spiritualist association to a group of more or less open-minded skeptics that gathered to discuss paranormal topics. He was also the first to admit women to the club. Price drafted a bill for the regulation of psychic practitioners, and in 1939, he organized a national telepathic test in the periodical John O'London's Weekly. During the 1940s, Price concentrated on writing and the works The Most Haunted House in England, Poltergeist Over England and The End of Borley Rectory were all published.
Price's friends included other debunkers of fraudulent mediums such as Harry Houdini and the journalist Ernest Palmer.Harry Houdini. (2011 reprint edition). Originally published in 1924. A Magician Among the Spirits. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. Alfred Douglas. (1982). Extra-Sensory Powers: A Century of Psychical Research. Overlook Press. p. 201.
The Warrens are best known for their involvement in the 1976 Amityville Horror case in which New York couple George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their house was haunted by a violent, presence so intense that it eventually drove them out of their home. The Amityville Horror Conspiracy authors Stephen and Roxanne Kaplan characterized the case as a "hoax". Lorraine Warren told a reporter for The Express-Times newspaper that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax. The reported haunting was the basis for the 1977 book The Amityville Horror, which was adapted into the 1979 and 2005 movies of the same name, while also serving as inspiration for the film series that followed. The Warrens' version of events is partially adapted and portrayed in the opening sequence of The Conjuring 2 (2016). According to Benjamin Radford, the story was "refuted by eyewitnesses, investigations and forensic evidence". In 1979, lawyer William Weber reportedly stated that he, Jay Anson, and the occupants "invented" the horror story "over many bottles of wine".
Ed and Lorraine Warren were among the most prominent figures in modern ghost hunting and paranormal investigation. As described by Michael Dale, the Warrens helped popularize ghost hunting through their high-profile investigations, lectures, and extensive media appearances.Dale, Michael (2012). Ed and Lorraine Warren: Demonologists, Paranormal Investigators, and Ghost Hunters. BookCaps Study Guides. ISBN 978-1-62315-006-3. They claimed to have investigated thousands of hauntings, including famous cases such as the Amityville Horror and the Perron family haunting depicted in The Conjuring film series. While celebrated by many within paranormal circles, the Warrens' work has also been criticized for a lack of empirical evidence and allegations of embellishment.
General criticism of the Warrens include those by skeptics Perry DeAngelis and Steven Novella, who investigated the Warrens' evidence and described it as "blarney". Skeptical investigators Joe Nickell and Benjamin Radford also concluded that the more famous hauntings, such as Amityville and the Snedeker family haunting, did not happen and had been invented.
Stories of ghosts and hauntings popularized by the Warrens have been adapted as or have indirectly inspired dozens of films, television series and documentaries, including 17 films in the Amityville Horror series and six films in The Conjuring Universe including Annabelle, , and Annabelle Comes Home, spin-off prequels of The Conjuring.
In 2002, the National Science Foundation identified haunted houses, ghosts, and Mediumship among Pseudoscience beliefs.
According to investigator Benjamin Radford, most ghost-hunting groups, including The Atlantic Paranormal Society, make many methodological mistakes. According to Radford, "after watching episodes of Ghost Hunters and other similar programs, it quickly becomes clear to anyone with a background in science that the methods used are both illogical and unscientific". Anyone can be a ghost investigator, "failing to consider alternative explanations for anomalous… phenomena", considering emotions and feelings as "evidence of ghostly encounters". "Improper and unscientific investigation methods" for example "using unproven tools and equipment", "sampling errors", "ineffectively using recording devices" and "focusing on the history of the location... and not the phenomena". In his article for Skeptical Inquirer Radford concludes that ghost hunters should care about doing a truly scientific investigation: "I believe that if ghosts exist, they are important and deserve to be taken seriously. Most of the efforts to investigate ghosts so far have been badly flawed and unscientific – and, not surprisingly, fruitless."
Although some ghost hunters believe orbs are of supernatural origin, skeptic Brian Dunning says that they are usually particles of dust that are reflected by light when a picture is taken, sometimes it may be bugs or water droplets. He contends that "there are no plausible hypotheses that describe the mechanism by which a person who dies will become a hovering ball of light that appears on film but is invisible to the eye." He does not believe there is any science behind these beliefs; if there were, then there would be some kind of discussion of who, what and why this can happen. In his investigations he can not find any "plausible hypothesis" that orbs are anything paranormal.
Science writer Sharon Hill reviewed over 1,000 "amateur research and investigation groups" (ARIGs), writing that "879 identified with the category of 'ghosts. Hill reports that many groups used the terms "science" or "scientific" when describing themselves; however they overwhelmingly display neither understanding of nor adherence to scientific norms. Hill writes:
Hill sees the supernatural bias of such groups as an indication of how "far removed ARIG participants really are from the established scientific community".
In Hill's 2017 book Scientifical Americans, reviewed by historian Brian Regal for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, Regal notes that the book is particularly timely, as it addresses an era when many people question the authority of science. Regal wonders why believers think that "untutored amateurs know more (and are more trustworthy) than professional scholars". He also asks why there is little discussion on "philosophical and theological aspects of their work". For instance, theoretical questions such as "What is a ghost?" and "Does one's religion in life determine if they can become a ghost in death?" are left underexplored. Additionally, Hill gives a historiography of the field of "modern paranormal interest: , UFOs, and ghosts." Hill does not insult or ridicule the people she writes about, but explains their stories through case studies. Regal feels that this book will not deter believers in the paranormal, but it is an important part of a "growing literature on amateur paranormal research". Regal states that paranormal researchers are not engaging in scientific discovery but rather in "blithely in confirmation bias, selective evidence compiling, and the backfire effect while all the time complaining that it is the other side doing it… They, like all of us, are ultimately not searching for ghosts… they are looking for themselves."
Kenny Biddle is the Chief Investigator for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and writes a column for Skeptical Inquirer called A Closer Look (2018–present), on his use of scientific skepticism to investigate paranormal claims, which include ghost photography, ghost hunting equipment and psychic ability. Biddle is a former ghost hunter turned scientific skeptic. In May 2018, Kenny Biddle, a skeptical investigator of paranormal claims, spent a night in the White Hill Mansion in Fieldsboro, New Jersey, along with a group of fellow skeptics. The mansion, built in 1757, has traditionally been visited by many ghost hunting teams who claim to have experienced paranormal activity and communicate with spirits via EVPs while there. According to Biddle, many of the ghost hunters claimed that the EVPs they obtained "were not just random responses; they were direct, intelligent responses to specific questions". To challenge these claims, Biddle's group conducted a controlled experiment: the group recorded audio while asking any spirits in the Mansion to help them in locating a small foam toy hidden somewhere on the premises by a third party. They asked direct questions, but no responses were detected during review of the audio. Biddle subsequently reset the experiment and has offered a prize to ghost hunters for proof of their claim that they can obtain direct answers from spirits via EVP.
Biddle has also criticized what he calls "paranormal gadgets" that are popular with ghost hunters, such as the Ovilus, a device designed to respond to electromagnetic field variations with words from a pre-programmed dictionary, which, according to Popular Mechanics resemble a "demonic Speak & Spell" whose "phrases often sound like they were cherry picked from a John Carpenter flick".
Ghost hunters may employ the assistance of , mediumship, or . Trance mediums and other "sensitive" individuals are thought to have the ability to identify and make contact with spiritual entities. , , and clergy may be brought in to say , give , or perform rituals for the purpose of cleansing a location of alleged , , , or "negative energy".
Hunters may also collect local testimony and accounts about alleged hauntings, and research the history behind the site being investigated.
Media representations have played a significant role in shaping public perceptions of ghost hunting. According to media scholar Annette Hill, ghost hunting television shows and online media foster a participatory culture where audiences often blur the lines between entertainment and belief in the paranormal.Hill, Annette (2010). Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits and Magic in Popular Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-43188-1. Hill argues that ghost hunting programs combine dramatic storytelling with the appearance of scientific investigation, encouraging viewers to engage emotionally and intellectually with paranormal phenomena. Viewers often participate through fan communities, social media, and amateur investigations, contributing to a feedback loop that reinforces the popularity and legitimacy of ghost hunting as both entertainment and a form of experiential belief. Hill also notes that media depictions tend to downplay skepticism, emphasizing mystery and suspense to maintain audience interest.
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