HOME-MADE ELECTROSCOPES
This month I want to discuss an instrument that you can make to monitor the environment around you. An electroscope is a device that was used early on in the scientific revolution to detect an electric charge. What use is this in a paranormal investigation, you may ask? Well, I have been using electroscopes for about two years and have found that if you make a bunch of these and set them in every room in view of your DVR cameras, you can monitor whether or not the environment changes in the room. What I have observed is if someone comes into a room, the electric charge of their body will trigger the electroscope LED to either dim or become brighter depending on their charge. The most interesting thing I have observed was in a very old building in a remote ghost town in California where I had several of these set up during an investigation. During the review of DVR video and audio, I noticed sometimes the LED would dim and go out for a few minutes then return on. This was happening when I was hearing voices and noises in the room. It was almost as if something had moved past the electroscope and changed the surrounding electro-static field. So I plan on going back there soon and taking more of these electroscopes with me to see if I can setup a grid around my camera and microphone to capture movement in the room. Will it work? Who knows - but it’s a step in the right direction to improve observations during an investigation.
So, how do you build one of these electroscopes and how much does it cost? Well, the good news is less than $10, and you can get the parts from Radio Shack if you’re in a hurry, or otherwise, I recommend hitting eBay and doing some shopping. I stumbled upon the plans to build an electroscope when I discovered a paper written by William J. Beaty in which he outlined how to build and use an electroscope. His article, titled “RIDICULOUSLY SENSITIVE ELECTRIC CHARGE DETECTOR”, was written in 1987 and the original can be found here: http://www.amasci.com/emotor/chargdet.html. I highly recommend you go there and read it all and explore the ideas he has on many subjects.
Jonathon Vanover