I ran across
this article in Wired Magazine which talks about an experiment conducted by London's Goldsmith College. In the experiment a room was designed in such a way as to produce high EMF levels and prove that hauntings are nothing than the result of EMF sickness.
I'm torn on this experiment, those conducting it are very skeptical and only created it in order to debunk ALL paranormal activity. Obviously the logic is flawed, to say that all paranormal activity is the result of high EMF levels is not much better than saying that because Hollywood can create the appearance of the same activity then all videos are fake. The other flaw in their results is that they were inconclusive. They were hoping to find proof that the EMF levels would generate the same experiences for all those who entered the appropriate areas. This did not happen and some noted these feelings in areas where the EMF generating devices were turned off. Their conclusion and I'm paraphrasing
our experiment did not yield the results we hoped for so obviously its because of the power of suggestion. Yes they claim that because their experiment failed that it must be because the power of suggestion is so strong and this proves that ghosts don't exist.
I do believe that the power of suggestion is strong with some people and that it can cause them to experience things that are not there. I also believe that a lot of paranormal groups do not take this into account when conducting their experiments. Luckily PPS has a rule that removes that factor to an extent, obviously it will be in all investigator's heads that something is going on or we wouldn't be investigating. We only tell our investigators what they need to know and not all claims, the leads will know all about the property and maybe a select few of the other team members. Doing this allows our team to NOT focus on a single area but on the entire location as a whole. If someone on our team reports an experience in a location that has a claim then it gives more support for that claim. We also don't want our team to be focusing on one spot while some kind of activity is happening somewhere else.
Now the reason I'm torn on this article is that I think it could be a great experiment if done properly. The individuals who conducted it had an agenda and skewed the results to mean what they wanted it to mean. I would be interested to see what the results would be if they used several different groups of people, those who were told that paranormal activity happened and those who were told to simply note everything they observed. I also think it would be interesting to see at what levels people started to feel the effects of the EMF levels.
Maybe PPS will conduct a similar experiment in the future.
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