Ghost hunting… with a compass?

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.

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