Infrasound Detector

Infrasound is the Next Big Thing in regards to investigating the paranormal. Infrasound is the lowest end of sound frequency, from 0.001Hz up to around 40Hz. These sounds are much too low for the ear to register but that does not say that they don't exist. You know how you feel when you're hit by a loud sound that you can hear, well infrasound, at the same volume is just as loud, but at a frequency that the ear cannot detect.

Infrasound being attributed to paranormal phenomena is believed to have originated from Vic Tandy who was a lecturer at Coventry University. Ony day, whilst working late one night in a supposedly haunted laboratory, he continually felt like he was being watched and kept seeing a grey blob out of the corner of his eye that, when he turned to look at it, was not there. After seeing a piece of foilpaper reacting wildly to an unseen force the next day Vic discovered that the ceiling fan above him was emitting a frequency of 18.98Hz - extremely close to other research which concluded that infrasound frequencies of 19Hz was the 'optimum frequency' for people to believe that they were being watched, and also very close to 18Hz which was the natural resonant frequency of the eye. This would, he concluded, explain why he was seeing the grey blob out of the corner of his eye - it was an optical illusion caused by his eyeballs resonating.

So what exactly does infrasound do? Well, as mentioned above, infrasound can be extremely loud but because the ears cannot hear it we assume that it is silent. These ultra low frequencies can make you feel all sorts of things under prolonged exposure such as anxiety, uneasiness, extreme sorrow, nervous feelings of revulsion or fear and chills down the spine - basically what many, many people report at locations that're allegedly haunted. If this infrasound frequency is around the 18Hz range - the natural resonant frequency of the eye - then people can also experience seeing shapes and objects at the corner of their peripheral vision that disappear when they look directly at them.

Infrasound can be caused by a number of innocent looking objects. As we heard above, Vic Tandy was affected by the infrasound being given off by the ceiling fan above him. Anything that can create a low rumble can emit very loud infrasound waves such as a train passing by, particular if it's going under a tunnel at the time. The running of water through an underground stream could, on occasion, create infrasound as it rumbles on by. Vehicles such as lorries create it such as other methods of transport such as flying. Some household appliances, such as freezers, can give off a low hum that can sink into the infrasound range.

Basically they're anywhere and everywhere but, unlike EMF, are not a product of modern living. It is always important to see if infrasound is in abundance at haunted locations (especially if whoever is experiencing the haunting is being really frightened by it) so that it can be explained and minds can be put at rest. If someone is feeling uneasy, like they're being watched, touched, seeing things out of the corner of their eye etc then it's always worth doing a preliminary study to see what could be causing such frequencies. Are they near to a busy road? Are they near a trainline or have a train tunnel running underneath or nearby them? Are they under a flightpath? Then check each area where these feelings are being felt to see if anything registers on screen. If it does then there's your likely culprit.

Commerical infrasound detectors are extremely expensive to buy and are very difficult to get ahold of outside the scientific community. Saying that however, they can be built if you have the right electronic know-how and the right tools and equipment. Our infrasound detector is home-made and works perfectly (as you can see with the above photo). Instructions on how to build one can be found at the following website: An Experimental Infrasound Detector. The program that we're using, as shown in the above photo, is called Spectrogram, a small, free program that is used through your PC / laptops Mic Input socket. This program is perfect for it seperates the sound it's receiving into frequencies, so even if you're talking or there's background noise you can still see if there are infrasound waves registering. The program can be downloaded for free at the following website: Spectrogram Version 5.0

Links about Infrasound
The Wikipedia Entry
More detail about Vic Tandy's experience and eventual paper 'Ghost in the Machine'
Build your own Infrasound Detector