Developing the 21^st Century Ouija Board

The Evolution of the EMF Meter, K-II and Ultra Meter Devices

ASUP about to begin a K-II/EMF Session in a client's home

No single device has entered the Ghost Hunting market with more comment than the K-II meter, which is now widely in use all over the United States. This simple device, basically an EMF meter, is either the center of love or angst universally, which prompted the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon (ASUP, Inc.) to purchase a dozen and begin a nine month period of testing, both in the lab and the field.

 For those who have been hibernating for the last year, the K-II is a small, handheld EMF meter with a series of light emitting diodes displayed across the top of the device that coincide with the range of the milligauss (mG) readings from zero to plus 20. The device is made in the United States by K-II Enterprises of Camillus, New York (www.kiienterprises.com) and has a list price of $49.95. It might also be noted here, the device was never intended to be used for paranormal investigations and the manufacturer makes no claims in that regard, it was produced as a relatively inexpensive home tool to monitor electromagnetic fields from common household appliances, power transformers and even overhead power lines, which are believed to be dangerous to your health.

 How the K-II entered the field of the paranormal seems the center of some folklore in the making, but it is reasonable to assume someone recognized the device as an inexpensive alternative to the more expensive EMF meters currently available. So how does that make the K-II so important that a group like the ASUP, Inc. would dedicate time and resources to study it?  Because today, the K-II is being widely used as a communications device with the spirit world and is getting a good bit of exposure in the media!

 In order to use the K-II you have to hold down a square button on the top of the device to activate the power to the circuitry. This might indeed be the reason that there are some anomalous readings being attributed to the unit. Simply put, the operators finger begins to tire or becomes painful, causing a momentary break in the circuit.  Some users then began wedging a coin into the switch plate to keep the meter operational, but die hard users claim this somehow breaks the continuity of the man/machine link. Some theorize that being hand held, the unit somehow utilizes the users connection as a grounding circuit, but the ASUP’s initial testing ruled out that premise, noting that the device is enclosed in a thick plastic case, thus insulating it from any outside contact with the circuitry.  

When compared with the more common EMF meters in the field, such as the Sperry, ASUP found that the more expensive devices utilize basic sampling circuits, which stabilizes, but also slows down the readings to the digital display panel. There appears to be no such circuit on the K-II board, making it both more responsive and less stable, but this was not the intention of the manufacturers, they were aiming for a meter that basically would tell the consumer if their computer monitor screen was emitting dangerous levels of EMF.

 Braving the concept of voiding their warrantee, the ASUP tech team took apart several of the devices for testing; they then began modifying them as a second team took the meters into the field for some real world testing. Basic complaints from field investigators were that the unit could not stand on its own and had to be hand held and that the square power switch was a pain to use, it also faced several power failures because the original design was not for continuous use and the battery would die in a relatively short period of time if you rigged the unit for continuous operation.

 What the field team requested was that the unit be able to stand up on a table with the power on and last at least 10 hours of continuous operation.  In fact they intended to prop up a meter in a reportedly psychically active room with a 12 hour DVD video camera showing both the device and the surrounding area. In theory, if something paranormal happened in the room, even unattended, the meter would react and it would be caught on film, along with any other anomalous behaviors.

 After gaining this insight from the field teams, the techs began to modify several units. First they remounted the circuit board into a new plastic enclosure, installed a miniature toggle switch to power up the unit and created a new power source with multiple batteries that would last at least as long as one of the teams HD-DVD recorders in the field, approximately 12 hours. The light emitting diode (LED) display was used as before. The team then did some basic tests to note at what range the LEDs could be recognized by the video camera.  The Ultra K-II, as the ASUP tech team now calls it, was now ready for testing in the field.

 To this point you will note, nothing has been said about the ability of the K-II to act as a communications device to “the other side,” so we will give you a case history to consider. As noted earlier, the ASUP now had more than a dozen K-IIs in use in the bags of certified field investigators. Those units have not been modified to date and were being tested as they came from the factory. While the teams sent feedback to the tech team on improvements to consider, the original K-IIs were used in a variety of environments.

 In August, 2007 a team of eight trained investigators invaded the home of a young woman who reported all sorts of paranormal activity; she was convinced that her home was “haunted.” In all, three video cameras were placed static in the house on tripods; the team also brought along a variety of other tools, from digital voice recorders to still cameras, the trustworthy Sperry EMF meters, portable weather detection equipment, and every other device conceivable to man in the search for the unexplained.  The team was split into pairs for room to room investigating and then they entered the house as a group.

 The next phase of the investigation is not commonly used by ASUP; the group sat in the most active room in the house, K-IIs in hand and the group leader instructed the investigators to begin asking questions that would require a simple “yes” or “no” answer, as if the source of the disturbance was sitting among them. This technique is sometimes referred to as the 21^st Centuries equivalent to using the K-II as a Ouija Board, which is frowned upon in some circles, but is fair game to the ASUP’s high tech approach to the field.

 At this test, there were five K-IIs operating in the room, plus a modified K-II with a toggle switch to make it operational without holding it, which was placed among the group on a table in the center of the room.  During the questioning, only three investigators were successful in getting answers, the other two seemed to just pick up random responses, but the three who were getting responses, were getting identical responses, one burst for “no,” two or more for “yes.”  There seemed to be on disagreement between users and at one point the lead investigator called for each member to randomly hand off their device to another member, but the new devices acted as before with the members who had been getting strong results previously and the same scattered results or none, from the ones who had been unsuccessful earlier.  In all a quick headcount suggested that more than 90 percent of the answers received were conclusively in agreement from one operator/device and another, of the three that were actively responding.

 Interestingly, the modified K-II that was not being held by anyone, gave very “Shallow” responses, but did respond, usually with only one or two dim LEDs lighting, but they were in concert with the handheld devices that were active. This was certainly not a scientific test, but some observations seemed obvious.  The K-II was more active, regardless of the individual unit, in some people’s hands than in others. The ASUP does not consciously recognize any field investigator as “psychic” but they do admit that some seem to be more sensitive to their environment, although that is not a criteria in their work. The fact that the devices seemed to respond to some users more than others was still definitely of interest.

 Were the responses accurate?  Well, that is what some might call a loaded question, however the responses were considered impressive. Purely as an example, if you are limited to simple yes or no responses, you can’t ask in depth questions, but you can ascertain the age of the sender, “Are you over 20 years old?” YES,  “Over 30 years old?” YES, “Over forty years old?” NO. 

 Likewise, you can ask a question that the target would know and others would not.  Because ASUP follows a strict set of guidelines, the Director of Research and her deputies, do their due diligence before any field investigation has begun.  In this case, the name of the original land owner was found in the public record from over 100 years ago. The team could ask if the man’s name was Schwartz and he would respond NO, “Is your last name Jones?” NO! “Is your last name Kelly?” YES…. “Do you spell that KELLEY?”  NO!

  This is obviously not foolproof but it works for the purpose of the study. The K-II is being successfully used to gather information that can be confirmed from the public record, which makes it very interesting. As long as you can get several meters to act together you can rule out the possibility of manipulation by a single operator who could momentarily lift their finger off the meter’s push button to signal an anomalous response. While this study is still in its infancy, it raises some very interesting questions.

 And what about the newly modified K-IIs that ASUP has created. How are they doing in field testing?  According to both Ron Ricketts of the tech team and Joy Maner, the Director of Research, the group is still looking for a good case to test them on. “The meters are ready,” Ricketts explained.

 Why is ASUP undertaking this technological challenge? According to Ricketts, the group has always been involved in technology, in fact the Texas based organization has a considerable number of Amateur Radio Operators licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and is in the process of training more. “It is not research in a vacuum,” Ricketts notes. “They are conversant in both communications and the technology and can rationally take that knowledge and apply it to what we are studying. Ham radio, especially in Texas has one other advantage, this area has more electrical engineers and technicians east of Silicone Valley, so when we come up with a question we can’t answer in the electronics field, we go on the radio and ask someone for help. We probably have more engineers at our disposal than NASA.”

 ASUP is very interested in other paranormal communications gear, but tech director Allen Slaughter admits that some devices often whispered about at conferences are not available for further study. “The K-II is commercially available, so we can buy them, take them apart, modify them or drop them under a steam roller. Other devices are talked about and sometimes we get to see them under controlled conditions, but for whatever reason the designer is not willing to give us the device for in depth study…. That is their right!”

 Slaughter offers the final word on that subject.  “We are an educational and research organization, not a manufacturer, wholesaler or vendor.  If we come up with modifications to the K-II that we think could be worthwhile, we will make those suggestions to the manufacturer for future incorporation into their product. That is our philosophy, we want to learn and frankly we all wish that everyone shared that approach in our field. There are a lot of bright people out here that might have something to offer, if we had the chance. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we are doing!”

© 2007 ASUP, Inc.  The contents of this blog may be reproduced in whole as long as proper credit is given.