Scientific Atmospheric Data Collection for Paranormal Investigation

Projects General Guidance
1

I'm new to this Arduino but feeling excited about the possibilities. I have electronic repair experience and understand Object Oriented Programming so I feel comfortable building stuff.

I need help with this project or projects. I have a theory that I can prove the existence of ghosts. I want to prove it because I've seen ghosts before but I can't prove it to others. I need to create the tools to do it. To buy them outright is so expensive that it's not feasable. This may turn the tables and allow me to further my research. I have a master degree and friends with several computer scientists if I get stuck. That being said, here's what I'm trying to do:

Sensors to detect movement in empty rooms - probably air pressure changes much like a sensor for a burglar alarm. Temperature, humidity, barometer, vibration, EMF, an infrared camera and a thermo camera, audio recording. The ability to record the collected data and a way to transmit it to a remote location. The unit would need a servo to rotate towards the shadow or movement detection.

All assistance is greatly appreciated. It may be easier for me to approach it using several smaller projects and I'll place them on a remote control toy truck frame. Everyone will get credit on my site and in my paper that I will write (and hopefully) publish. I am serious about the scince side of it because I have to be able to reproduce the results (empirical evidence). These tools will help me do that.

Last question: anyone know how to make an Ovullus. Here's the manual with technical details. Can anyone create a project for this? http://www.digitaldowsing.com/ovilus-iii-manual.html

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I'm sorry I have to say this, but "scientific" and "paranormal investigation" is hard to swallow in the same sentence.
Now that you know that I think that you are wasting your time trying to find ghosts I will try help you.

First of all, forget about video and audio processing in the Arduino. You will need something a lot more powerful (a proper PC or at least something like Raspberry Pi).
The busy part of the burglar alarms is usually a PIR sensors, not a barometer (air pressure sensor). Plenty of PIR code examples out there.
Temperature and humidity is easy. There are countless little boards like this one out there that have those sensors. There are also plenty of tutorials for it as well, such as the one on the playground.
Barometer? Sure, same thing.
Vibration is a bit trickier. There are gyros and accelerometers. I've never used them though.
What kind of EMF are we talking about? You'll have to specify the type and bandwidth you are interested in.
IR and thermal camera, just like audio recording, like I said previously are not going to happen inside the Arduino. You can trigger them easily, though and process the data with some other device, or just record it for your later inspection.
Controlling a servo motor is usually trivial. Plenty of tutorials out there.
Detecting a shadow, on the other hand is going to be challenging. Perhaps a sudden change in light levels? But then what if a cloud passes over? Yeah... I'm not sure about this one.
Detecting movement? Sure. Laser tripwires or ultrasound distance sensors are cheap. Detecting movements of ghosts? Well... You'll have to figure that one out yourself.

You want to reproduce the results? You can certainly do that. But can you reproduce the cause? I can demolish a house, but I can not reproduce an earthquake. Saying that me bulldozing a house is the same thing as an earthquake destroying it is not really proper science, even though the result is the same. Can you make a ghost do your bidding and parade in front of your sensors so you can calibrate them?

I skimmed over that Ovilus thing and the first thing I read is:

Disclaimers and Licensing
The OVILUS III is sold as an entertainment device only. We make no claim to the validity of the data received by this device.

Not really reassuring, but the more interesting part is this:

Remember the odds of this device saying a word that is contextually correct is 1 in 2047
And in the units with phonetic speech the odds are only 1 in 71.

This means that the device has a few floating inputs and it matches their values with a very limited dictionary filled with (I would presume) words that are likely to be interpreted to be in context (how did the creator of the device link the "energy levels" with the dictionary entries is beyond me, though). So no matter how benevolent a ghost there may be around, all you'll hear is "death", "kill", "torture" or similar crap. The device will never "channel" Mother Theresa or Gandhi, because you are looking for ghosts and ghosts are supposed to be spooky. You want to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck, your blood chilled and scream like a little girl.
You will throw away the device if it starts to talk about dandelions and world peace.

3

Shpaget:
not a barometer (air pressure sensor).

Ignoring the original concept for the moment (as one does), a pressure sensor can be surprisingly useful.

A project many (20? 30?) years ago which is no less valid, detected the opening of any door in a building using an electret microphone - the current baro-sensors are even better. A door is a huge piston; I can and often do slam the door in one of my interconnected office rooms - despite the air-conditioning vents - by opening one the another room.

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Yes Paul, I've noticed the same effect doors can have, especially on car doors. It is significantly easier to close the car doors (on a modern car with well fitting "gaskets") when one of the windows is rolled down at least a bit. When all the windows and the rest of the doors are shut more force is required.
Also some of the doors in my house do the clinky noise when some other door is opened or closed, however the effect goes away when a window in the room is opened.
Also when the wind draft shuts a window or a door there is a perceivable spike in the air pressure at the moment of closing.
All that can (will) cause false positives in a ghost detecting device.

BTW, why is everybody, including me, shouting? I can read lower case just fine. It's annoying.
How are we supposed to use camelcase now?
It would make more sense to make the letters darker and not this washed out gray.

[pitchforks and torches]

Edit:
By the time I went to the moaning board to complain it got itself, or by somebody else, fixed.... I'll put away the pitchfork now.

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Note: I am just reading this thread being amused by the absurdity of it all. I mean, before you detect a "ghost", you have to at least a hypothesis of what a ghost is, how it came about, why it came about, why they exist, etc - just to have a concept or clue as to how to detect one.

You should also be aware that the mind and the brain are very complex, and can be easily fooled, either from within or from without. When fooled, and without extreme sceptical prejudice and contemplation (and sometimes, not even then!) - the mind will make up narratives to fill in the blanks and make sense of the situation.

In short, memories are nothing more than imperfect models of what has been sensed in the "real world". Numerous research studies have shown this to be true, thus far. Such insights are being used for therapy (such as mirror therapy for amputees with phantom limb pain).

I can almost guarantee you that you have not seen a ghost; what you saw was either an optical illusion or some other trick played upon your eyes, or some sort of hallucination - either something random your mind made up, or potentially something caused by a medical issue.

If this "ghost" hallucination was real enough (and/or you have had other symptoms - flashes of "light", dizzyness, slurred speech, hearing noises, etc), you might want to first be checked out to make sure you don't have some form of tumor, unknown aneurysm, or some other condition that is causing a problem.

Shpaget:
BTW, why is everybody, including me, shouting?

Nobody is shouting that I can see:

  1. THIS IS SHOUTING.
  2. This is writing in a normal "tone" of voice.
  3. this is just being lazy
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cr0sh:
Nobody is shouting that I can see:

For a period everything was in caps, and I was unable to write in lower case.

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cr0sh:
If this "ghost" hallucination was real enough (and/or you have had other symptoms - flashes of "light", dizzyness, slurred speech, hearing noises, etc), you might want to first be checked out to make sure you don't have some form of tumour, unknown aneurysm, or some other condition that is causing a problem.

But most commonly, a migraine aura.

Shpaget:
For a period everything was in caps, and I was unable to write in lower case.

Apparently more than one person reported this. Curious. Didn't affect me.

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just a bit off the electronical topic, but when I was a lad, if anyone suggested there was life on another planet, they could be fitted with a straight jacket and sent to the loony bin.

the first Mars probes were intentionally created without any method to detect life. the one test at the time was shelved without comment.

when my great-great-great grandfather came over on the Mayflower, if you suggested a person could fly, you might get burned at the stake.

on the other hand, scientific investigation is supposed to start with a premise and then testing and then evaluation of the results.
It is a very sad state of affairs when the conclusion is drawn and then the tests are created to prove the conclusion. it is MUCH harder to create tests to prove something exists than to 'prove' it does not exist.

as for this project, I would offer that there are sensors that could detect things well beyond the human senses. if you are over 40 years of age, google mosquito ring tone.

microphones, VERY fast temperature changes.

my best wishes that you get results !

9

Since this is a pet-peeve of mine: Infrared will only detect if there is an actual heat emitting body nearby. Also, it can detect reflections, much like pointing a camera at a mirror. And materials that will either pass or reflect IR can be vastly different than for visible light. It will not detect warm or cold 'spots' in air, since air is transparent to IR. It may be more worthwhile to just scatter a few hundred temperature sensors suspended about the room rather than use an IR camera.

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This is going to be detailed because I want to respond to everyone that has posted and will post later on. Be patient and understanding.

Okay, just for the record: The "ghost" if you want to call her that was a solid woman that looked similar to my wife, walking down the hall to the kitchen two steps in front of me. This occurred at around 4:00 p.m. on a mild summer afternoon.

I wasn't paranormal investigating at the time, I was going to the kitchen to make something to eat. I thought I was talking to my wife until the woman disappeared in front of me. That's how solid the "ghost" was. As this happened in 2006, I can assure you I have no mental issues or tumors, wasn't taking medication and frankly never, ever expected to see a "ghost", especially in the middle of summertime. Imagine my surprise as I follow my wife into the kitchen and she disappears in front of me and then have my wife walk out of the bedroom some fifty feet behind me asking me who the heck I was talking to?

So on this subject, literally seeing is believing - until you experience it for yourself, you can't understand it but my faith is restored that there is "something" after this life. I'm a retired police investigator and not prone to jumping to wild conclusions - in fact, just the opposite. I hold an M.S. in criminal justice and am working on a second in education/ special education. I'm fairly intelligent - or would like to think I am. This disappearing woman was such a profound experience that I want to know what the heck I saw. My son (17), whom I passed in the hallway, saw the woman too and thought it was his mom. I might have had a hallucination but he certainly didn't have the same one I did...

I want to place the sensors in a secured location that is reported to have "ghosts" so that there is no human contamination. The location is controlled and monitored from offsite so it isn't contaminated even by me.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate all of the comments, the satire, cynacism and good natured ribbing and willingness to assist even though you don't believe. The best part is, you don't have to. This is my journey and exploration. Your suggestions, ideas and guidance are welcomed as long as they is sincere. Thank you and please feel free to post any projects that you think might help me.

For my disbelievers... Here is the breakdown of my methodology. Keep in mind this is purely academic for me. Einstein was wrong the first time he published his theories too. Making mistakes is how we learn. If there is something there, I want to know and learn about it. I need data.

The Arduino projects are built on an invention and exploration foundation. What could be more in the "spirit" (no pun intended) than to pursue such an experiment?

For anyone not sure they should take my posting seriously, I'm posting the methodology below.

The Scientific Method is an organized way of figuring something out. There are usually seven parts to it.

Purpose/Question- What do you want to learn? I want to know if I can control and change atmospheric conditions to a point to cause an apparition to be seen on a repetitive basis. To determine if there are spirits among us.

Research- Find out as much as I can through data collection. I have read information in books, on the internet, and by talking with professors, geologists, sismologists, psychologists and environmental scientists to get the most information possible. I've spoke with people (the public answering calls as a cop) about strange things happening in their home and investigated. I've even had strange things happen while on duty but only once have I seen an apparition.

Theories: It seems that areas with running water, quartz and limestone have higher numbers of reported phenomena than areas that don't. - Question: Do the minerals attract people more willing to report the phenomena or just attract the spirits? Theory: Does climate, moon cycle, EMF, ultra-low frequency (can cause hallucinations) negative or positive ions, areas with cold, dry climates have higher reported phenomena than areas that are humid and warm and sans the other items?. Is there a correlation between people, the climate and environmental conditions? Can a location be manipulated and controlled enough to make microchanges to the environment?

Hypothesis- After doing research, I'll try to develop an answer to the question and provide evidence to support that answer.(I believe there is a substantial correlation between the atmospheric conditions and paranormal (beyond normal) phenomena).

Experiment- The fun part! I'LL design a test or procedure to find out if my hypothesis is correct. The experiment would monitor a location remotely using data collection. The location wouldn't have human interaction. Then I would change the environmental conditions while no human interaction occurred. Next I would add human interaction to the cold dry climate and again to the warm and humid environment. In each case, the data would be monitored and modelled to narrow down enough information until a testable hypothesis could be created and further experiments could be conducted. Then my analysis occurs.

Analysis- Record what happened during the experiment. Also known as 'data'.

Conclusion- Review the data and check to see if your hypothesis was correct. If the grass under the green light bulb grew faster, then you proved your hypothesis, if not, your hypothesis was wrong. It is not "bad" if your hypothesis was wrong, because you still discovered something!
A few other terms you may need to know:

Independent Variable
This is the part of my experiment that I will test (vary) to answer my hypothesis. In the example above, the independent variable would be changing the environment and adding people.

Dependent Variable
This is what occurs in response to the changing independent variable. In my example the Dependent Variable is if we see paranormal activity after the changes or before the changes. Test under the same conditions and see if the results are the same.

Control
The control is the part of the experiment where I do not include the Independent Variable. In my example, changing the environment and adding people and then returning the temperature, humidity et al and removing the people would be my control items. The control lets me compare my results in the experiment.

Now that I have this experiment laid out for my friends here, hopefully, you will not consider me a crackpot... now let's proceed upon the great adventure. :slight_smile: Who's in?