Thermal Cameras and How to Use Them for Investigating

Written by: Amber Atteberry

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Have you ever been investigating and felt a chill in your spine? Or perhaps you pass through a mysteriously cold spot in a known haunted location? It may not be your imagination. Spirits need energy to manifest, and oftentimes need to pull energy from their surrounding area to achieve this.  Sometimes the energy that ghosts draw in is in the form of heat in their immediate vicinity- thus creating a cold spot surrounding them. We, at GhoSt Augustine, are always on the hunt for proof of these mysterious occurrences. This is where a thermal imaging camera is a must have for any serious investigator. 

Thermal Camera vs Night Vision


Thermal imaging is not to be confused with night vision devices. While night vision devices magnify the amount of visible light to create an image that’s visible to the human eye, thermal imaging cameras detect the thermal energy radiated by an object- also known as the heat signature. Different areas and materials radiate energy in subtly different ways, and thermal imaging devices will detect and display these differences. 

Origin of Thermal Cameras

Originally developed for spotting areas of heat in firefighting, paranormal investigators quickly discovered the uses in detecting cold spots- a common occurrence in ghost hunting. While the human skin can detect very small differences in temperatures between two objects, we are unlikely to perceive slow temperature changes as they gradually happen. Add in layers of clothing, packs full of equipment and snacks, as well as the heat generated by the rest of your investigation team, and these temperature changes created by ghosts are lost and rarely detected. Thermal cameras will spot these cold areas for you. This camera will display temperature in real time where humans cannot detect it. With the state of the art thermal mapping, you can compare different temperatures in one area with both the temperature display readout and visual mapping, available in several different color schemes. The quick trigger button saves photos from the screen to the camera for easy downloading later. 

Using A Thermal Camera in INvestigation

Thermal Imaging Cameras are fantastic tools to detect spots of temperature change. You can visually view the temperatures in various colors on the screen of the camera. The warmer temps will show in shades of red and colder temps in blue. It is believed that entities invisible to the human eye can be seen on the display. These handheld thermal imager devices also help to corroborate suspected paranormal activity. Say that a device you have is being triggered for an unknown reason - maybe a K2 Meter, REM POD or a Spirit Box and you think it might be paranormal - if you at the same time can see that the device is blue on the camera screen then you have a drop in temperature around the equipment in use which means you have correlation. That is a drop in temperature and activity being picked up at the same time at the same spot. And to make it even better, you can film the entire thing and visually be able to show those who were not there that there were two things happening simultaneously - because they can see the cold spot and see or/and hear the piece of ghost hunting equipment going off.  

Where to get a Thermal Camera

We sell these devices! Are you curious about testing a thermal camera before adding one to your investigation kit? You’re in luck! GhoSt Augustine Para4ce Investigations just added a thermal camera to our toolkit! Come investigate a haunted building with a trained paranormal investigator and top of the line ghost hunting equipment! Book your investigation at ghostaugustine.com

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