The better the tools, the better the evidence. And MGCParanormal is lucky enough to have a few new tools added to their equipment!
Terry and Chris are the equipment researchers. When they talk techie it can make the eyes of an avid electronics enthusiast glaze over. Since it's above our level of understanding most of the rest of the group just nod at what we hope are appropriate times and make agreeing noises.
The initial improvement they made when we first formed our group was in acquiring a high grade DVR system capable of recording video AND audio. That meant we were able to finally add high end infrared video cameras....with audio! Now we have the capability of capturing multiple forms of evidence in real time. The guys procured heavy duty shielded cables to prevent electrical interference with video signal to ensure evidence wasn't compromised.
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| One of our DVR's |
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| Video and audio connections |
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| Laser grid pen and tripod. Throws multiple laser patterns on walls or open spaces to clearly delineate shadows or figures moving in the area. Small piece of equipment but extremely effective for capturing evidence! |
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| Example of our infrared video cameras. We currently have 16+. |
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| Hand held video camera with self-contained Infrared flood light. Great for indoors or outdoors! |
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| Small, yet powerful, Infrared lights for working in rooms, attics, or basements. |
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| Dowsing rods; a simple piece of equipment, yet they have been used for centuries to find water and lost items, and now employed by paranormal investigators to acquire answers to questions during EVP and EVA sessions. |
We all have and use full spectrum POV'S, great hands-free video/audio cameras that capture things as they happen when used with head or chest harness. Benefit of full spectrum GoPro-like's is these cameras record the full spectrum of light...gives us a much wider range for video evidence; we can record in daylight and full darkness with portable infrared lights. The infrared floodlights we employ allow for large areas to be illuminated with infrared light (invisible to human eye in darkness). We have enough of them to light up to a length of 800 feet. The POV's have added real depth to our investigations as well as multiple reactions and perspectives. It makes a huge difference in appeal when we can add personal interaction to our evidence videos. We also employ Trail Cameras. Motion activated, self-illuminating with Infrared flood lights, these units capture videos of up to three minutes or still photographs. Invaluable tools in ceneteries, remote areas, or on large properties such as plantations!
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| Full Spectrum GoPro-like POV's with head strap |
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| Examples of our Infrared flood lights for full IR illumination of outdoor areas. |
We invested in a super quiet generator (Sorry, no pic!) with an all important inverter -- the inverter is necessary to protect sensitive electronic equipment. The generator allows us to not only use high power IR flood lights to illuminate unexplored areas or sites rarely traversed, but to also record entire investigations in those extremely remote areas--like on our Bigfoot hunts! We also utilize a military grade night vision monocular, great for remote areas, or for large properties.
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| Military grade night vision monocular. Great spotting tool while sweeping an area! |
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| Here are two of our three Trail Cameras. Motion activated and self-illuminated with infrared flood lights, we're able to set to them acquire individual photos or videos of up to three minutes. We use these in cemeteries, along remote trails, or on large properties such as plantations. |
But here are a few really cool new toys, uh, I mean tools that have recently been added thanks to Terry, his wife Deb, Chris, and Bobbie.
We now have a FLIR! (Thank you, Terry!) There should be multiple exclamation points if you consider the credibility this one tool adds to evidence collection. It's a handheld thermal imaging unit that videos, or takes still frame photos. We used it during a Bigfoot hunt in north Mississippi, and it was amazing. (No, we didn't get a video of Bigfoot, though we did get audio of whoops and wood knocks. Even though the FLIR wasn't initially purchased for such duty, it did help us avoid a vicious, better than 400 pound wild boar we'd been warned about in the area. Having a few capable marksmen in the group--in the event we'd been charged by it in the dark--made us all feel safer. We'll be headed out for another hunt there soon!) Love the fact this FLIR unit can be set to "read" the levels of heat and cold in your surroundings in gray scale or in color. Even minute changes in temperature are easily discerned. Evidence with this lovely item is irrefutable! It was expensive, so much so that I got nervous holding it. (Both times I did I found myself spending more time worrying about tripping, planning how I could fling my body between the FLIR and the ground so it wouldn't get damaged, than watching the screen for evidence. Good thing that baby records! LOL) We also employ a second thermal recording device called a SEEK unit, similar to the FLIR. Small and extremely portable it's a great tool.
How well does it work? We captured evidence in a local museum with it! Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfO5irk0x2A
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| FLIR unit and laptop for recording |
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| Example of FLIR in action |
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| The SEEK. Our second thermal unit is extremely portable...and accurate while recording! |
The guys then studied audio techniques, and Chris added some new audio recording technology that uses actual sound waves, rather than digital. Much clearer EVA's and EVP's with these units. Sorry I don't have a pic. Will add one later! I do have a sample of the multi-directional recorders we use.
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| Examples of some of our recorders. Note multi-directional microphone to fully capture EVA's and EVP's. |
Deb, Terry's wife, recently added three MEL Meters to the groups tools. These units collect and display EMF levels and temperature simultaneously, and being more sensitive, do so much more accurately. Flux in electromagnetic fields can be measured in particularly fine increments with this tool, and helps us see the building increase or ebbing decrease as it happens. Much more credible to document changes with. Added bonus? It frees us of having to juggle multiple tools to get necessary readings. We still use K-II's on occasion. The lights are convenient for recording video, and kids love to use them! Again, I think it's something about the lights. They're inexpensive enough we can let them handle them to their hearts' content! Nurturing future paranormal investigators is important to MGCParanormal.
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| MEL meter--GREAT step up from K-II's! |
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| K-II unit--not nearly as accurate for measuring EMF's, but the lights really pop on video and lend to great visual effects. |
I admit it. I begged, bugged, pleaded, even became downright obnoxious in my appeals to Terry to research REM-PODS. He drug his heels in, hard, so I brought out the big guns.... I sicced his wife on him. LOL He liked what he learned about them, so he added a REM-POD to our equipment! (Terry texted it had arrived, and my Hubby accused him of turning me into a kangaroo. We all show our enthusiasm differently, right? Right!) We now have a single piece of equipment that can be placed in the area of suspected paranormal activity, that detects changes in its immediate surroundings, and can visually and audibly signal those changes. It measures increase or decrease in air temp, EMF flux, vibrations, shadows...then produces a unique light or audio signal to alert us of a particular change. The beauty of this tool is it allows us to record any such changes on video and audio as they occur.
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| REM-POD. Wonderful in action! Allows us to leave a room (or not!) and be able to record any activity. |
Bobbie has been wanting an effective "trigger item" for child spirits. (A trigger item is an item relevant to a spirit's age or era. If we suspect an old mariner is haunting a place, we will set out a sextant and dumpy level, tools of his trade, to make him comfortable and entice him near.) Bobbie found the Boo Buddy, a paranormal investigation tool disguised as a teddy bear, and purchased him. This plush teddy bear would appeal to any child, and has built in sensors that alert by his saying things like "Oh, I'm a little cold!" if there is a temperature drop. He also lights up when there is a measurable change in EMF's surrounding him. He's already affectionately been dubbed "B3PO". To demonstrate how excited Bobbie was about trying him out, when he was delivered she instructed Terry to "Test him! Stick him in the refrigerator and see if he says anything!"
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| Never fear, Boo Buddy is here! |
We're constantly studying new and better technology to see what else we need to add to do the best paranormal investigating possible. Okay, Terry and Chris are. But they have added so many amazing and effective tools that the rest of us are going to keep on nodding and making agreeing noises!
Here's haunting you until next time!
The entire MGCParanormal Crew
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