Ghosts and Cell Phones

[The Old Swede]

I dont know if this has been posted before, as I read up on it only hours ago.
Tony Cornell, a British expert on the paranormal, is claiming a whole lot less ghost sightings taking place over the last 15 years, due to the proliferation of cellular telephones. Supposedly the electronic schmutz that emanates from cell phones, towers etc are enough to scramble a spirit's electromagnetic essence to the point where the old boy cannot appear, walk down the stairs and go "boo" anymore.
I have always sneered at researchers whose cameras and audio recording devices "fail" just at the moment of coalescence, yet these same cameras work just fine with a cellphone nearby. Wouldn't it be safe to assume that a phone capable of turning a ghost into an omelette would cripple a camera; especially a camera capable of being crippled by said spirit?
T.O.S.

 

[nick]

I dont know if this has been posted before, as I read up on it only hours ago.
Tony Cornell, a British expert on the paranormal, is claiming a whole lot less ghost sightings taking place over the last 15 years, due to the proliferation of cellular telephones. Supposedly the electronic schmutz that emanates from cell phones, towers etc are enough to scramble a spirit's electromagnetic essence to the point where the old boy cannot appear, walk down the stairs and go "boo" anymore.
I have always sneered at researchers whose cameras and audio recording devices "fail" just at the moment of coalescence, yet these same cameras work just fine with a cellphone nearby. Wouldn't it be safe to assume that a phone capable of turning a ghost into an omelette would cripple a camera; especially a camera capable of being crippled by said spirit?
T.O.S.

Not if you claim that the ghost is incredibly sensitive. Although of course you then shoot yourself in the foot, because by making the ghost sensitive to real-world electromagnetic radiation, you are attributing it finite parameters; for example, how much energy screws it up (a 2-watt phone at 10 metres, a 1 watt phone at 7 metres, etc), and that is tantamount to claiming that you've done measurements and all that other messy scientific stuff.

I blame the airlines. Quite how a plane's electronics can be susceptible to the signal from a tiny Nokia phone with a 20-gramme battery compared to the millions of transistors in a 15-inch laptop is beyond me. Wouldn't have anything to do with their need to sell us Airfone time, of course.

I also "read somewhere", which is an anecdote and therefore makes it true , that if you do make a cellphone call from a plane, it will probably not only get through, but the company won't be able to bill you - something to do with making out exactly where you were, if the data is unclear they play safe and drop the call from the bill, or something. In which case, the cell operators have an equal interest in not letting you use the phone on a plane.

And of course, according to the aura seekers, digital cameras do work in the presence of spirits - in fact, better than the human eye. It's nothing to do with the limitation of CCDs at all.

 

[tracer]

Tony Cornell, a British expert on the paranormal, is claiming a whole lot less ghost sightings taking place over the last 15 years, due to the proliferation of cellular telephones. Supposedly the electronic schmutz that emanates from cell phones, towers etc are enough to scramble a spirit's electromagnetic essence to the point where the old boy cannot appear, walk down the stairs and go "boo" anymore.

However, these same ghosts previously had no problems whasoever dealing with all the conventional radio and TV broadcasting antennas around, which put out even more radio energy than cellular transceiver towers do.

 

[Nucular]

Problems with ghosts?

Who ya gonna call?

Anyone at all, presumably, and the ghost will go.

Pity these people 'plagued' by poltergeists and such didn't have anything like a tv or microwave in their houses.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

It's not the cell phone per se, but the specific frequencies at which it operates. That's why the problem started only recently. Once we all switch to satellite phones, the ghosts will come back.

~~ Paul

 

[Zep]

I dont know if this has been posted before, as I read up on it only hours ago.
Tony Cornell, a British expert on the paranormal, is claiming a whole lot less ghost sightings taking place over the last 15 years, ... {snip}

Next time, PLEASE put quotes around the word expert to indicate that it is not actually indicative of any genuine expertise as such.

tks

 

[ImpyTimpy]

You know what, one wonders how it is that an expert in paranormal may be named. Is there some super central certifying body that grants the title of expert upon complesion of intensive studies in the world of the paranormal? Or is it just that some kook simply calls himself/herself an expert just because... Surely not the latter...

 

[dharlow]

Cornell says he was quoted out of context, which is very probably correct given his views on the subject (I believe he said he was making a joke and the reporter took it literally).

While its very true that there seem to be a number of so-called experts on the paranormal (many of which I've never heard of), Cornell knows his stuff. He's been researching the subject since at least the 1950s I believe, and has written or co-written a couple of books which are quite above the level of scholarship seen in any public bookstore (at least in America). His latest book, Investigating the Paranormal, is a solid work (albeit pricey) detailing investigations into hauntings, poltergeists, and mediums, and examining various normal factors that may be involved.

 

[Ratman_tf]

So between my skeptical disbelief powars and my trusty Cell-Phone proton accelerator I'm not only immune to ghosts but I can zap 'em back to ghostland too?

Kick!

Ass!

 

[pupdog]

Do cell phones also interfere with dowsing? Perhaps only when a skeptic is watching?

 

[mstricky]

Impy
The government here gave grants to Leeds University some years back for the study of the paranormal, so I expect that one can qualify in the subject