Michigan's Otherside Paranormal Forums

**lostzac** · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 592 Location: Lowell

I found this topic, and I have used compass in the past, it is a great tool for the groups who are limited on budget or just starting out.

Can a common, inexpensive hiking compass be a better ghost hunting tool than a $150 EMF meter?

Until recently, we didn't think so.

However, a series of tests with a sturdy $10 hiking compass surprised us. Even $5 compasses seem to work well. Now, we often use a hiking compass instead of EMF meters when we're ghost hunting.

Here's the report of one member of Hollow Hill:

I was a Girl Scout leader for years. I'm very familiar with compasses. They're like gravity: Almost 100% reliable with no surprises, as long as you aren't near something magnetic, a large electrical engine, or major power lines.

Late in 1999, I brought my compass to Gilson Road Cemetery in Nashua, NH, to make notes about which geographical corners had the most ghost activity.

When our ghost hunting team arrived, I placed the compass on top of Hannah Robbins' headstone at the northern end of the cemetery. Her stone aligned in a NNE direction.

This was what I expected to see, so I didn't think about it again.

However, while I was comparing photos with grave locations, Alan--another Hollow Hill ghost hunter--checked other parts of the cemetery with the compass.

North seemed to move.

In the southern half of the cemetery, the compass showed north in one direction. As Alan walked towards the northern half of the cemetery, the needle swung about 30 degrees and stayed there.

We tested this repeatedly, and the results were consistent.

At the time, this was a very rural location, before a housing development moved in across the street. In 1999, there were no nearby generators or significant power lines. EMF radiation occurs naturally only in proximity to electrical activity and magnets.

We don't know if ghosts cause EMF radiation. But, where hauntings occur, we also find slightly higher EMF readings.

Since the southern half of Gilson Road Cemetery is profoundly haunted, it should not surprise me that my sturdy, non-nonsense compass reacted to energy there. But it did.

Since then, day or night, we've had success with anomalous compass readings at Gilson Road Cemetery and most other "haunted" locations.

Now, we highly recommend a compass in your basic ghost hunting kit, for fun if nothing else.

Guidelines for compass use in "haunted" locations, and during ghost hunts:

* Use only compasses with free-swinging needles. If the needle tends to get stuck pointing in one direction, it's not helpful.

* Before you start walking, line up North so the red part (or point) of the needle is over the arrow painted on the compass.

* Learn to use the compass in a not haunted site, first. Your backyard is a good place, if there are no electrical wires nearby (underground and overhead, too).

* The first time you try this, walk in as straight a line as possible, directly towards North or towards South.

* Expect the needle to bob and bounce as you walk. This is normal. However, when you pause, it will always return to North.

* Keep the compass as flat as possible. If you hold it an an angle, your reading may not be accurate and/or the needle may become stuck.

* If North seems to move, pause. Check how you're holding the compass. North NEVER changes direction!

* Eliminate interference from magnetic deposits (a metal detector can help) and from electrical sources, including power lines. They will "attract" the compass' needle.

* Remember: North NEVER changes its location. Even a slight 10-degree shift is an anomaly, if you've eliminated all other influences. Profoundly haunted sites have shown needle-swings of up to 90 degrees.

* If you think you have an anomaly, retrace your steps and see if it repeats. Usually, it will... but only for awhile.

* Check again, another day. Unfortunately for documentation purposes, a true haunting usually does not repeat the compass anomalies in the same places, day after day. A repeating "anomaly" is usually the result of electrical or magnetic interference with the compass' action. (Article by Hollow Hill)

Now based on my own experience I will first say this will not point in the direction nor find a Ghost for you, so do not run out to buy one if that is what you are thinking it will do for you. A fancy Tri Meter, or EMF Detector will not find a ghost for you either.

What these tools do is measure electromagnetic forces around you, they are linked to Ghost Hunting, as it is theorized that spirits give off a electro magnetic field, these fields are random, and I hope some day there will be enough data gathered to pin point a spirits exact emf readings. A compass will do the same thing, it will let you know there is a abnormal with in the Electro Magnetic Frequency, the only difference is you will not be able to get a measurement, but you can gauge strength and estimate by how far the needle changes.

I may in the future chart this out, by using a EMF Detector to take a measurement, and then match it up with a compass to see how far it moved.

That would be an interesting test.
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"There are things that go bump in the night, we are the one's who bump back"

Irishsentry · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

I think this is a great idea but I can tell you from experience it will not always work. Like you said, power lines, etc can effect it but also what is under your feet can.

I have seen woods (one I can show you) where a compass is never right. A local metal detector told me that woods is full of iron deposits.

It probably would be accurate, especially the "rare earth magnet" type as they seem very sensitive.

Nothing ALWAYS works or we would have a lot more solid proof in this world for skeptics. Certainly not dogging you man, you know that. Just wanted to point out one more thing that can be debunked due to anomalies in the earth itself.

I say go for it as a trial, and I think it would be great to back up EMF readings....BUT used alone it can be debunked easily if a person wants to bad enough.

The only thing you could do would be go back to the place in the daytime with a metal detector and see what you pick up....and those are more money than a good EMF.

Just my humble opinion from something I have seen with my own two eyes.
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