I have something that I am going to try. I am going to a location that is reputedly haunted. Strange things have been seen by multiple witnesses at the same time.

I've had some experience with battery drain in previous investigations. In all sorts of equipments. Digital recorders, camcorders, cameras. So I am going to try something.

I purchased two of those squarish lantern batteries – I believe Jim said they were like six volt or five volt or something. I am taking them to this haunted place. Once I uncap one, I will test it on camera with a digital multimeter to read the charge. Then, I will leave it and go about my business. I will occasionally retest with the digital multimeter. If the battery drains when it isn't attached to anything (and a multimeter won't drain the battery – apparently it has high impedance or something like that) – then something caused the brand new battery to drain.

What do you think? Could this provide an interesting finding or is it irrelevant?

NoWhammies,

Wouldn't you test the batteries in a non haunted or non draining environment first?

Also I believe humidity and the natural discharge rate of the lantern battery should be established.

The amount of humidity provides an air gap contact that can discharge the batteries slowly over time ie

the more humidity the better the contact in the air gap. Just some things to ponder before lugging

30 pounds of batteries to your investigation.

PooPerDooPer /wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

Yep – this is the type of stuff I need to consider – thanks. I will test one of the batteries in my house, which is most decidedly not even considered haunted. Would humidity cause drain over a 12 hour period??

I lug 30 lbs of batteries anyway because of my experiences with battery drain. Don't want to be caught without batteries and useless equipment! /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' />

I agree with doing an experiment with having a control battery as well. First I'd get one and test it at your house or someplace and see if there is any battery drain. This will be very time consuming. Then while on the investigation place one battery in the room to look for drainage and have another outside or nearby for the same amount of time, then see what happens.

I've never experience battery drain, just noticed that some batteries were warmer when freshly removed from the charger. This caused the low battery symbol on the camera to come on. Once the battery cooled down they were fine. Also did the same when using the camera a lot.

Well – I have a couple of the batteries – so I could do this.

The place I am going is a place with little kid ghosts (allegedly), so I am going to put some toys by the battery – the theory being that there would be energy required to play with the toys.

We had to look around awhile to find a digital voltmeter with high enough resolution and accuracy to really see any drain occurring. Most of the low-cost ones out there are crap, and we needed something with near lab-grade accuracy but with field ruggedness and portability. Settled on an Extech EX530 from Sears for a little under $200.

When he says "we" he means him. I have no clue what to look for in a digital multi-meter. I'm guessing I'm going to get a quick lesson in how to use one.

Hey guys – check out Dreamsinger's blogs on battery drain as evidence of the paranormal.

Part 1

Part 2

Very good blogs and very insightful. I always wondered why ,if this were the case,

( battery drain ) Why wouldn't an entity hang around a wall switch, light receptacle

or a fuse panel and establish a great source of electrical energy for themselves.

I think this pretty much concludes the assumption that battery drain equals an

entities presence.

I think that if there is battery drain, it is most likely not the direct result of an "entity" – mainly because of what you just mentioned….but I also wonder if there are environmental conditions common to locations believed to be haunted that may, in part, contribute to battery drain. I've had it happen more than once where batteries have functioned differently in a "haunted" location than away from one. That being said, if there is something in the environment that is causing battery drain (and we plan to test environmental factors), there should be a noticeable difference from readings taken on a digital multimeter at different points in the progression of time. This experiment would have to be repeated in a control location multiple times and then in "haunted" locations. According to JD, the more repetition and the more data collected, the more likely we would be to find correlations in the data.

So if we found a common environmental condition that did correlate to battery drain and only in reportedly haunted locations, then we would have a piece of data we didn't have before. Not that haunted = battery drain or that battery drain = haunted, but at the very least we would know that a) a certain environmental condition correlated with increased battery drain and b ) that same environmental condition seemed to be uniquely present in locations reported as haunted. That wouldn't mean a haunting caused that condition – or that condition caused the experience of haunting. It would just be one piece of data that could ultimately be part of a larger picture.

As I've said before, I'm not a scientist. So there are probably likely flaws in my logic, reasoning and application of science in the above statement. So please, point them out to me. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Nowhammies,

I am no scientist either but the factors mentioned in the blog seem to be temperature, humidity, condition of batteries

chemicals, operating parameters of the tested equipment, charging results for each battery every time and probably alot of

things I can't even imagine. The multi-meter attached to a verifiable constant unwavering power source would probably be a better

approach….maybe? This sounds like a job for Mr. NoWhammies? However my multi-meter runs off of a 6 volt battery……..

and it doesn't work when I need it to, half the time, until it gets a good smackin! I'm sure if anyone could figure it out it would be the Jybian.

/laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Yep – he's on it. Being married to an engineer absolves me of having to figure out techie stuff myself. Thank goodness since I am the opposite of techie.

Valid question about the wall switch, but a battery is basically like a charged capacitor – all electrostatic field, and one-directional. Wall current is almost always alternating (changing direction of flow/polarity), at a rate of either 50 (Europe) or 60 (N.America) times per second. That makes it very efficient for transmission, but the constantly changing magnetic field might be tough for an "entity" to handle. Since we have no idea of the electromagnetic fields involved with ghosts, I have no idea if that is truly the case. Just throwing out an idea based on one major difference between batteries and house current.

*sigh* I love it when you talk all techie. It's hot.

Something else you should consider. And, this has occurred many times to me. I have been visiting areas of the battlefield with a flashlight in hand (there are no lights on the battlefield) complete with new-fully charged batteries. Inexplicably, the flashlight will totally die out. No amount of shaking, etc. will get it to work. Putting in new batteries, the flashlight will once again work. So, it isn't the flashlight.

Then, after leaving the area, I will put those other batteries back into the flashlight and it works fine. This has happened so many times, in so many different areas of the battlefield, that I don't even bother bringing a flashlight anymore.

This has also happened with my camera once. I was in an infamous area known for this occurrence on the battlefield (Triangular Field). My camera totally died. I knew it was a fully-charged battery and was not happy that the boys were pulling this with me! I walked out of that area and up to the road. "Come on boys, this isn't funny." My camera came right back on and worked perfectly the rest of the night.

So, I have had experiences where it appeared the batteries were totally drained, but worked after leaving the area where this happened.

Spirits are capable of many extraordinary feats. I am constantly amazed at what I personally witness almost on a weekly and sometimes daily basis at the hotel where I work. I know I'm in a unique position and am not chastising in any way. The last thing I would want to do is offend anyone here. I also realize you are approaching this from a scientific standpoint. Just please try not to put limits on what you think they may or may not be able to do.

Carolyn

So here's my question….

Do you think we should leave the multimeter on the battery with a camera on it to watch for draw?

Here's what I am thinking – tell me what you think.

I think I mentioned – this is a place with "kid ghosts" supposedly. So – I have some toys – jacks and balls – that the kid ghosts would recognize from the time in which they were allegedly alive. This location has had things happen that have, anecdotally, been witnessed by a large number of people at the same time.

I have a number of things that I want to do to see if I can get more than one piece of evidence occurring simultaneously. So, that being said….place toys on a table with motion sensors pointing at the toys. Place battery in the area of the toys. Point a game camera (which takes motion activated pictures) pointing at the toys, as well. Also place an audio recording device in the area of the toys. Invite kids to play with the toys. Test the battery and walk away. See what happens. If the motion detectors go off, will the camera take a picture? Will there be evidence of battery drain?

Now here's the question. I think there is a better chance that the toys would be "played" with if I am not sitting there watching and waiting. I have no idea why – this is just an idea that is sticking in my head. So do I run over and test the battery as soon as a motion detector goes off (if it does)? Or do I just leave a multimeter attached and have a static video camera watching the levels? Should I also have a thermometer and a barometer right there with the camera trained on them, as well?

Or do I scrap the whole battery drain thing because it is a moot point?