When you start ghost hunting, don’t break the bank on equipment. There’s only a few gadgets you need. Get the scoop on them after the jump.

Equipment Tips For New Ghost Hunters

Don’t let the ghost hunting show lead you astray: You don’t need all the whizz-bang gear. But you do need to cover off on different types of ghostly activity.

That means you have to get something to collect evidence of ghost manifestations. In that regard, you’d want to buy gear that captures these things:

• Audio for EVP (ghost voices on tape)
• Visual for apparitions (physical appearance of a ghost)
• Environmental (changes to temperature or electromagnetic energy)

These are the core components of a ghost’s manifestation. When a spirit starts to manifest, they may all happen or you only get 1 bit of ghostly evidence. In most cases, you’ll only capture 1 kind.

Ghost Hunting Gear Picks For Beginners

Here are the 3 kinds of gear I’d recommend for newbie investigators.

Audio Collection For EVP

My recommendation is the Sony ICD-PX370 voice recorder. For $45, this is a go-to for new ghost hunters. It does a decent job picking up those whisper-like EVPs you may capture. However, it picks up your handling noise (the rustling from holding it in your hands), so put it down on a table when you conduct your EVP sessions. Also, it comes with a USB port, so you can easily move files to your computer and analyze the audio.

Visual Evidence For Apparitions

There’s a few gadgets out there for this. First, I want to debunk a myth: You really don’t need an infrared or full-spectrum camera. Sure, they help you see in the dark, but most great evidence was captured with a regular camera or camcorder (and you don’t need to ghost hunt in the dark, either).

So, my personal favorite is a Canon Vixia HF R800. They sell for under $200 and you can also use it in your everyday life. You can use your phone but your memory will get used fast. Another option is to use a DSLR like a Canon Coolpix. I like Canon cameras because they do well in low-light places. Other cameras are catching up, so keep checking on features. Sony has a lot of nice night vision cameras if you want to spend more.

Don’t forget you can get good action cams like GoPros and their knock-offs. Body cams could be a good choice, too.

Environmental Evidence Gadgets

For this piece, I do have a recommendation for a gadget, the Meterk MK54 EMF meter. It gives you a digital readout for precision measurement while providing temperature readings. I bought mine for about $35.

A lot of investigators use K2 meters, but it doesn’t have a digital readout. It provides ranges, and some of those ranges are wide. It has 1.5mG, 2.5mG, 10 mG, and 25mG. That’s too broad for this ghost hunter. Plus, the K2 sells for over $60.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, you could get all the gear you need to start ghost hunting for less than $300. Don’t go for the expensive stuff you see on the ghost hunting shows until you’ve mastered the equipment you’ve got.

Now, you still have to analyze the files. To do that, you can use free programs. For audio, that’s Audacity. For video, use what you have on your computer. Windows has Movie Maker and Macs have iMovie.

As for editing skills, you just need to learn how to crop audio and video files down to the activity. Audio editing can have a higher learning curve. You have to experiment with things like EQ and noise reduction to make the EVP audible. That just takes a little practice. Those are posts for another day.

Now go forth and catch some ghosts.

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Note: Jake bought all the gear mentioned in this article with his own money, so there’s no expectation of a recommendation for the manufacturers.

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