The Surprising Tools Used To Find Ghosts On Ghost Hunters

All right, guys. Light up your proton packs and fire a positronic stream of ionized energy at that class 4 specter! Lay the trap! Check the EKG meter! Wait, is that Gozer?? Yes, 1984's Ghostbusters is a pretty sweet movie, full of quotable lines, memorable characters, massive dollops of marshmallow raining from the sky, Sigourney Weaver trapped in a dog statue, and of course: the triumph of science over the supernatural. Awwwww yeah.

Naturally, it must be rad to be a ghost hunter in real life, right? It isn't just some folks being filmed in nightvision while saying "copy that" over walkie-talkies as they point at shadows that may or may not have moved, right? Surely, they use science guns to totally fire up those ghosty mcnasties, and they don't just hang some paper and see if it flutters when an intangible entity passes through it, right? And we're definitely not talking about that crimped, crummy, super thin, dollar-store crepe paper used for streamers at backyard, budget kids' parties, right?

Um, no. Real ghostbusters — sorry, "ghost hunters" — stay within budget and don't filch the petty cash while phantasmagorically engaged. These ghost hunters, on their show Ghost Hunters, use some pretty low-tech tech to measure the movements of the unliving. Let's take a quick stroll over to A&E TV, home of the network who in 2019 renewed Ghost Hunters for some more outings, and take a look at their sweet, sweet gear.

We already know that spirits are suckers for crepe paper, right? Well, that's tool #1 on your ghost hunting list, peeps. Try JoAnn's Fabric, maybe Party Depot, and have yourself a spooky night taping that stuff to your lintel. And while you're at it, grab some balloons. Oh, and a tank of helium. Reason being, when apparitions settle nearby, the air gets extra cold, which causes helium balloons to sink. Hey science, it's a good thing my third grade teacher taught me about you!

After your house is full of hanging paper and somewhat flaccid balloons, head to the bathroom and snag some baby powder and start throwing it on the floor. That way, when a noncorporeal entity steps in it, it'll leave a footprint that definitely isn't you trying to avoid all the baby powder you just tossed on the ground. But you know what might help at that point? A compass. Except, spooks disrupt nearby electromagnetic fields (thank you, Star Trek, for technobabble lessons) and the compass might go haywire.

And when all is said and done, you've got one more tool left in your arsenal: yourself. Wait, I have one of those! And that's right: you do, too.

Or you could just shell out hundreds of bucks on Ghost Hunters Equipment for things that look like props from an '80s movie. Just don't go over budget.