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ABSTRACT. Previous research in electromagnetic and geomagnetic fields (EMF and GMF) and their relationship to paranormal phenomena has been performed under the theoretical assumptions of hallucination due to GMF fields. The current study tests the possibility that nonhallucinatory paranormal phenomena are also associated with EMF/GMF fields. EMF and GMF perturbations were examined in context of collected potential phenomena with data logging equipment at a haunted site with no electricity. Overall results indicate that EMF and GMF fields were significantly greater in both magnitude and variability inside-the-location compared to outside-the-location baseline measurements. Differences in GMF magnitude were small compared to EMF. Through correlation, EMF/GMF fields were demonstrated to change in range and location throughout the duration of the investigation. Results involving individual reviewed phenomena indicate that phenomena are strongly and significantly associated with serial EMF and GMF spikes, that both increases and decreases in EMF/GMF fields are not differentially predictive of phenomena, and that increases in the number (i.e., duration) of serial spikes do not differentially predict phenomena.
Keywords: anomalous phenomena, electromagnetic fields, haunting
Although electromagnetic and geomagnetic field detectors (i.e., EMF and GMF) are commonly used within ghost-hunting organizations, field research on the ability of EMF to predict haunting activity is very limited. This lack of research is troublesome, as the assumption that variation in EMF activity predicts anomalous phenomena is commonly accepted within amateur field research. Even more, research examining any relationship between EMF and haunting phenomena has been based on individually per- ceived and sensed internal events that occur in a haunted locale. Indeed, the literature dedicated to EMF and anomalous phenomena has theoretically assumed that variation in EMF/GMF fields must induce hal- lucinations that are interpreted as anomalous phenomena (Booth, Koren, & Persinger, 2005; Gearhart & Persinger, 1986; Persinger, 2003; St. Pierre & Persinger, 2006; Roll, Persinger, Webster, Tiller, & Cook, 2002; Tsang, Koren, & Persinger, 2004). Whereas a "hallucination" explanation seems viable when ac- counting for subjective or personal experiences, it cannot logically account for anomalous phenomena that are captured with external recording devices. While literature exists that addresses EMF/GMF with internal psychological perception, there is little work examining EMF/GMF with phenomena that occur as observable external events. As such, there is a neglected avenue of research in field parapsychology,...