TECH SAVVY SPIRITS

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the very first email being sent. But how have advances in technology affected our ability to connect with Spirit?

Could Zoom help you talk to ghosts?

As with many other aspects of our lives, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend for accessing spiritual guidance or connection online.

There are now mobile phone apps for everything from astrology and numerology to palm reading. Witches covens ‘meet up’ over videoconferencing services such as Zoom, Instagram is bursting with posts tagged #spirituality and you can access psychic or tarot readings on Facebook or YouTube at the click of a mouse. But have advances in communication technology really improved our ability to connect with Spirit?

Elaine Kelly is the founder and lead investigator of ghost hunting group Spectre Detectors. The amount of technology she uses on investigations has steadily increased over the years.

‘My very first investigation back in 2011 was at a former miners’ community centre in County Durham,’ she recalls. ‘We left the camcorder running while we were out of the room and captured the sound of a man groaning.

‘It was one small moment in a very long recording, but it was enough to get me hooked.

‘We went on to get REM-PODS and a spirit box after that. But I’ve also had a female spirit talk to me through an ordinary walkie talkie. She obviously just saw an opportunity. They do use electricals any way they can.’

So are all spirits keen to take advantage of modern technology to make contact?

‘It depends which kind of spirit you’re talking to,’ says Elaine. ‘Going right back they’re a bit wary of tech. It’s like, what’s that?! Someone from the Victorian era obviously wouldn’t know what a mobile phone was... I often say to them, don’t be wary of this. It won’t hurt you.’

For Elaine, mixing traditional skills and tools with modern equipment works well.

‘I’ve taken Victorian dolls on hunts as gifts. I say to any spirits

present if you move that doll

I’ll leave it here for you. You can have it. Where tech comes in is that if you point a camera at the doll, you can then film it moving.’

So, if you think you might have encountered a spirit, is it worth leaving your voice recorder running on your mobile to try and capture evidence? Elaine sounds a note of caution.

‘I know people who’ve gone into hotel rooms and thought, “it’s creepy in here,” so they’ve left their mobile phone running and they have caught things.

But then they scare themselves when they hear it. If you’re in your hotel room or your own house and you capture something... are you going to be comfortable staying there afterwards? Never ask for anything you’re not prepared to listen to. I don’t personally do anything in my own house.

Only because I’ve seen some pretty hairy things in the past.’

For Elaine, who is also a medium, the major benefit of using technology to connect with Spirit is the ability to share experiences – and evidence – with others.

‘On investigations we quite often get touched. Spirit children in particular will tug on your clothes. Or you might enter a room and start to get a violent headache, a pain in the neck or in the knees as a spirit puts their ailment on to you.

‘I could tell you I’ve spoken to Mary Queen of Scots, Jack the Ripper and had Stan Laurel come through to me on investigations, which I have. But thanks to modern technology it’s not just me telling you what I’ve experienced. They’re all on recordings. People can actually listen to all those connections on our YouTube channel.’