It's that time of year again: Halloween, the creepiest holiday of them all.
To celebrate, we reached out to Judy Knuckles, leader of Cincinnati Research and Paranormal Studies. The 13-year-old establishment was organized by a group of friends who all found themselves interested in the paranormal, and since then has investigated claims in 20 states across the country.
"Our mission is to capture physical evidence through the use of audio, video, photography, and other additional data-measuring/recording equipment in order to explain, disprove or validate reports of paranormal activity," the group writes on its website.
At first blush, paranormal researchers and their work might not seem to fit into Cincy Inno's world, the group's emphasis on technology, its hearty entrepreneurial spirit and its focus on innovating in the field made them a natural fit for our coverage.
Ready to get spooky?
- Cincy Inno: You’ve been researching in Cincinnati as a group since 2005. What does that research entail? What kind of technology do you employ? Knuckles: It involved looking at the history of a location and the surrounding neighborhood and what was on the site prior. We use a lot of online resources to look at the history of locations in Cincinnati, like the Cincinnati Public Library website, newspapers.com (a historical newspaper archive), the Cincinnati History Museum and the archives at Union Terminal.
- CI: Have there been any recent innovations in ghost hunting tech, from a group or industry-wide perspective? Knuckles: The ghost hunting community is very creative in the hunt for tech that can help prove the existence of ghosts or spirits. One of the newest innovations is using Xbox technology to create a camera that may have the capability of detecting anomalies that you can't see with the naked eye. It uses an RGB camera with depth sensor and infrared light projector, as well as a monochrome CMOS sensor. This sensor sees everything not as a flat image, but as dots arranged in a 3D environment.These thousands of infrared dots allow the camera to “see” depth and detail like a sonar. The installed software can recognize people by distinguishing body parts, joints and movements. If it shows a person-shaped object on the screen that you cannot see with the naked eye, then there is something there (anomalies) that the infrared is detecting and the programming is recognizing as a human shape — based on body parts and joints together. [Editor's Note: Knuckles recommends reading more on this technology here.]
- CI: The app store is filled with ghost-hunting apps for novices. Do they work? What recommendations do you have for people interested in “off-roading” and exploring the paranormal on their own? Knuckles: I guess that would depend on if there is solid science behind the app. There are FLIR camera apps (FLIR is "forward-looking infrared") and I think those are valid, but some of the other ones that claim to be "ghost radar." I really don't believe your phone can determine that there is a ghost in the area. Most of the apps you see also say for recreational purposes only, which means you need to take it all with a grain of salt.I think apps and devices are pretty much all experimental, as is the whole field of ghost hunting. No one has ever been able to get a spirit, ghost or apparition to go to a controlled environment, like a laboratory, so experiments can be performed and results can be qualified. I always recommend you start with a digital audio recorder and do EVP work. EVP stands for "electronic voice phenomenon," which are voices you capture on an audio recorder. You don't hear the voice when you are asking questions, but when you play back the audio you hear it.
- CI: What are some of the most "haunted" spots in Cincy? Knuckles: There are several places in the Cincinnati area that have claims of paranormal activity: The Golden Lamb in Lebanon, Ohio; Chateau Laroche in Loveland, Ohio; the Eden Park gazebo in Cincinnati; Arnold's Bar and Grill in Cincinnati; and the Cincinnati Music Hall are just a few.
- CI: How can folks interact with your organization? Knuckles: We have a website and a Facebook page (at Cincinnati Research and Paranormal Studies), and our email is info@cincyghosthunters.com.
- CI: Do you think tech will ever be able to definitively prove the existence of ghosts? Knuckles: I do not know if there will ever be irrefutable proof that ghosts exist. I would like to think that someday, somehow, we will be able to prove the existence of ghosts, especially with all the advancement in technology. But who knows? I once read a quote that pretty much sums it up as far as I am concerned: "For those who believe, no proof is necessary; for those who don't, no proof will ever be enough."
Editor's Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
