In the first half, host Connie Willis (email) welcomed author and paranormal investigator Jason McLeod for a discussion on his research into ghosts and hauntings as well as his book Dark Siege which tells the tale of a Connecticut family plagued by an evil apparition. He recalled how this particular case began when a family passed by a cemetery and a spirit seemingly attached itself to a young girl who possessed clairvoyant abilities. After a subsequent series of unsettling events happened in their home, the family's teenage son tried to expel the entity by using a Ouija Board. However, McLeod lamented, this only exacerbated the situation, since it opened a portal to demonic entities and allowed them to also enter the home. Dark Siege proved to be such a powerful documentation of demonic infestation that the book has become required reading for Bishop James Long's demonology course.
Sharing insights into his decades of paranormal research, McLeod contended that there are two factors at work which prevent people from seeing ghosts. The first, he said, is simply sociological conditioning, where adults tell children that such phenomena are not real and, thus, "they close the veil" and cease being able to perceive these entities. Beyond that, he claimed that the prevalence of fluoride causes the calcification of the pineal gland, which shuts down the proverbial "sixth sense." Stressing that spirits are merely deceased humans that have shed their Earthly container, McLeod argued against the popular idea of 'ghost hunting' in favor of a more positive approach to these ethereal entities. "I much prefer the term 'ghost helper,'" he mused, since the purpose of interacting with ghosts should be to facilitate their transition to a peaceful afterlife rather than pester them for proof of their existence.
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In the latter half, researcher Anthony Sanchez talked about his work developing apps for paranormal research using technologies such as motion detection, radio scanning, and audio analysis. He explained that the inspiration for designing his programs came from the realization that the vast majority of paranormal apps are either used to generate pranks or rely on randomness rather than mathematics or scientific principals. Beyond that, Sanchez observed, none of the apps were "leveraging the intrinsic technology that's embedded in the devices." As such, he drew on his extensive history as a software engineer and realized that Bluetooth technology could be used as a radio scanner which would pick up ultrahigh frequencies and also detect electromagnetic interference. This subsequently led to the development of nearly ten different apps which can be used for various forms of paranormal research.
One such app, called the Spirit Communications Device, allows users to scan internet radio and pick up EVPs in a way that is similar to the popular ghost hunting tool known as 'Frank's Box.' Sanchez has also designed an app called 'Ghost Cam Pro' which uses "military-grade motion detection algorithms," which can, amongst other uses, recognize thermal changes and prompt a photograph to be taken at that very moment. Another feature of the app, he said, is an audio spectrogram that allows users to see the sounds that are occurring in the room, including those that are normally imperceptible to the human ear. Sanchez stressed that, unlike other app developers who refuse to divulge their design methods, he reveals exactly how his programs were created so that others can help refine the technology and continue to improve how paranormal research is conducted.