Running Your Own Ghost Investigation?

Quirkz writes "I am a skeptic, but have friends and family who swear by their ghost stories. I have access to a supposedly haunted house and been tempted to run a proper scientific investigation. My first question is what sorts of tools or measurements would make for sensible metrics to test during a hunt? Temperature change seems to be a common one, but the other devices you'll see ghost hunters use seem pretty random. The second question is what kinds of results would it take to be 'interesting'? Baseline readings at several presumably non-haunted locations seem to be obvious requirements for comparison. Once you have those, what kinds of results would it take to convince a skeptic there's something unusual going on, or demonstrate that there's not? I don't have much hope of changing the minds of those who believe, but it would be satisfying to at least be scientific about it."

Comments

An easier and cheaper idea

[Platinum Dragon]

Get your relatives copies of Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World".

Re:You've got to be kidding me

[Quirkz]

Honestly, I thought it sounded like a fun way to spend a night with some friends, and figured I should do something more than sit in the dark asking "What's that noise?" every few seconds. I'm a geek at heart, so why not take some readings, record some data, and find out what kinds of things (weird temperature pockets, magnetic fields) are all around us that we just don't notice most of the time?

- Less of a nut job than you think

Re:Burden of proof.

[smbell]

From what I've read (Google finds some stuff) infrasonic vibrations cause feelings of fear and 'of being watched'. They can also affect vision to cause blurs or 'ghostly images'. I don't have any direct experience, but it's been the explanation that seems to make the most sense to me.