What is infrasound?

15th October 2017. Reading Time: 5 minutes General, Stuff paranormal investigators need to know. 3645 page views. 3 comments.

Infrasound is yet another phenomenon that can cause us to believe we are having a paranormal experience. Having an understanding of how it works is actually beneficial to investigators not only to help us debunk hauntings, but we can use it to aid our experiments as well.

Infrasound is a term you have probably heard thrown about by investigators, and you have a bit of an idea of what it is, but maybe not a full understanding. Did you know that certain levels of infrasound can make a person think that they are having a paranormal experience? Did you know that paranormal investigators actually use infrasound for experiments? It is a mixed bag and can be helpful if you know how it works so you can use it to your advantage. So let’s learn all about infrasound!

What is infrasound

You will know from my previous posts regarding EVP’s that the human ear can hear sound from 20-20000hz. Basically infrasound is a sound that is below 20hz. A Hz stands for hertz and 1 Hz is the equivalent to 1 vibration per second. Quite a lot of people can hear well below 20hz so to some it may be inaudible and not to others depending how low the frequency is and what your personal threshold is. It is actually thought some people can hear as low as 12Hz. In a nutshell though, infrasound is a very low frequency sound. Animals such as Giraffes and Elephants use it to communicate across their large herds over long distances. Before natural disasters, animals seem to flee the area before the disasters hits. It is believed that they are picking up on the infrasound causing them to become fearful and flee. Volcanos emit infrasound when they erupt and meteors also give off infrasound while travelling through space. Infrasound can be detected by a microphone so scientists use it to track animals, monitor volcanos and follow the flight paths of meteors in spaces. It doesn't just stop there!

How does infrasound cause a person to have a ‘paranormal experience’?

Whilst it is a frequency that the human ear may not be hearing, our bodies are certainly feeling it. It is in fact nicknamed the fear frequency. Scientific testing has shown us that when exposed to infrasound, people have reported feeling anxiety, extreme levels of sorrow, chills, fear, blurry vision, hallucinations and people have spotted what they describe as apparitions. Infrasound itself causes the eyes to vibrate which causes this disturbance in our vision. There is a very famous article ‘The Ghost in the Machine’ published in the Journal for The Society of Physical Research which covers the story of Vic Tandy who worked in a college labratory. Workers in lab including Tandy reported paranormal activity and the lab itself gained a reputation as being haunted. Anxiety, hair standing up on the back of the neck and shadows seen out of the corner of the eye was common activity reported amongst staff. By sheer luck one day, Tandy realised that the foil on a metal blade was vibrating. After lots of investigation and tests it was found that there was a fan transmitting infrasound at around 19Hz. When this fan was turned off, all activity stopped completely. There have been a lot of studies where people have been subjected to infrasound at different frequencys and the effects on the body were documented. A common side effect seemed to be that the person felt they were in the presence of something paranormal or felt fear of something that they could not see.

Does this explain all personal paranormal experiences?

While some could argue that infrasound could be the basis for all paranormal activity, I do not believe this to be the case. We know that infrasound and also EMF have effects on our bodies, but if we didn’t believe we were having genuine paranormal experiences, we probably would not be investigating the paranormal. It can certainly be a factor, but I don't think it explains every single paranormal experience. It is important however to be aware of infrasound even just it’s basics as it can prove to be a very useful debunking tool. Perhaps there is a certain room that people all experience the same thing. Maybe they all feel a sense of dread and see a shadow out of the corner of their eye. Look for anything in the room that could be causing vibrations. What is the source? If you turn off a fan or a fridge for example, does the sensation lift? Can you feel vibrations going through your body? Is there a very low humming noise. These are all signs there could be infrasound at play. Here is a fun fact .... composers use infrasound frequencies in horror movie soundtracks to help evoke the feeling of dread and pure fear while watching a horror movie! It is even said to be used as a method of torture because of the adverse effect it has on the body.

How can I use this to my advantage?

A lot of paranormal investigators, myself included, like to experiment with infrasound. I personally connect it to the Stonetape theory. Can residual energy that is potentially stored within rocks be released by hitting the right frequency? Does the vibrations from infrasound ‘shake’ the energy out of the rock? What is important however when experimenting with infrasound is to understand that personal experiences have to be thrown out the window as we know that our bodies are affected by it and cause us to believe that we are experiencing something. We need to instead measure data, atmospheric changes, do some evp’s and use equipment to validate if in fact the sound has a connection in releasing this energy. What frequency gets the most results? Is it the lower the better? I am working on this at the moment and will let you know my findings in the new year.

So yet another natural phenomenon to be aware of when you are investigating. So now I want to hear from you! Do you use infrasound? What experiments have you done and have they been successful? Have you debunked a case with infrasound? Tell me your experiences.

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Comments

  • Gemma Tredwin 6 years ago

    I find this blog absolutely fascinating. I haven't used infrasound in any of our investigations, however I am always mindful of how the environment around a location can affect us in terms of sound, emf etc. A location I investigate regularly, has a large cheese processing factory right next door. The surrounding area has a constant "hum" & have always wondered whether this could be playing a part in activating (stone tape) or causing phenomena. I'm now going to look into what kinds of equipment I could purchase as part of my kit.
    I'm also thinking about an upcoming investigation, I may use infrasound with part of the team, (unknowingly), withdraw the infrasound & observe the results!
    Thank you Sarah.

    • Living Life In Full spectrum 6 years ago

      Fantastic I’m glad you got something from it!

  • K. L. Gibson 6 years ago

    Fascinating article. I was unaware there was so many sources for infrasound. Have been reading there may be some connection between infrasound and the Bigfoot phenomenon, but more so that “they” may use it as a form of communication, or to trigger the observer’s mind into not being able to see them, and so explaining their ability to seemingly disappear. Your article however seems to imply that perhaps “they” are a product of infrasound and not a user of.
    Again great article, and I look forward to further reading your work.