Cold Spots

WHAT ARE COLD SPOTS?

It is believed that a ghost / spirit requires energy to manifest itself, and sources for this energy include electrical items and people, but the most common type of energy is heat.

If this heat was absorbed by a ghost / spirit it would naturally create a cold spot which is often reported and associated with paranormal activity.

If an energy transference like that was to occur, that energy would take on the natural shape of a sphere or orb, which is also associated to paranormal activity.

Today’s paranormal investigators use special hand held infra-red thermometers to detect and track these cold spots as and when they occur.

Also used are room thermometers which are placed in various locations under investigation to alert the investigator to any rapid change in temperature.

In a reportedly haunted location, many people may report an area that is specifically cold – more so than the surrounding area. Some cold spots will appear in the same place continuously (which may indicate a breeze of some sort), whilst some will appear randomly throughout the building – sometimes it appears that an area can become colder in response to questioning!

However, when these cold spots are measured with thermometers, they regularly fail to record any significant difference in temperature. What’s more, certain people seem to be able to feel the cold spot more than others.

Some cold spots can immediately be related to draughts coming from various gaps, windows, holes in the structure of the building, whilst others can be harder to locate.

Within a room, air is constantly on the move, even when doors and windows are closed. This is because different objects are different temperatures. For example, wood has a higher core temperature than a steel object (without a heat source). Therefore, heat is exchanged between objects to try and equalise the temperature. This is achieved through convection of air flows (warm air rises, whilst cool air falls).

Windows, doors, fireplaces etc can all provide cool air flows into a room, therefore making the temperature ‘unstable’.

How do investigators tell there is a temperature difference? Well, moving air is generally felt to be cold when it comes into contact with the skin (this is known as the wind-chill factor) and is noticeable, as the moving air removes heat from the skin as it passes, the following flow of air is then more noticeable to the skin.

Humidity can also have an effect on cold spots, as moisture evaporates from the skin, it leaves you feeling cool and clammy, even though you may be in warm air conditions with relatively low humidity.

NGRIT’s advice is not to say to the group that you feel cold. This is because more people will then say they can feel it. Note down that you feel cold and ask if anyone else in the group can ‘feel anything’ and then wait until you have finished within the area and compare notes afterwards.