Oxford Scientists Create Working Ghost Trap From Floor Tiles

A team of scientists working out of the Oxford-based Preternatural Science Laboratories have created a working ghost trap with the highest storage capacity yet using nothing more than regular floor tiles.

The team re-examined thousands of historic ghost cases from allegedly haunted locations all around the world. Their aim was to look for patterns in the reported phenomenon to help them find a way to hold a ghost permanently. A tricky task when many of these historic reports contain accounts of ghosts walking through walls.

Project leader, Professor Sabrina "Spooky" Kasper, said "we searched through thousands of reports of ghosts looking for correlations in the descriptions of the reported activity. We were essentially searching for ghosts' 'kryptonite'."

The research team found that although some ghosts are said to float in midair, the reports agreed that the majority walk on the floor and even produce the distinct sound of footsteps as they go.

Professor Kasper explained, "we tested the early versions of our entrapment technology by constructing the all-important holding chamber out of various materials, including such impervious metals as lead, but they failed to contain the spirit's energy, but the haunting reports pointed us in the direction of flooring."

Based on the numerous and overwhelmingly common description of ghosts walking on flooring in the ghost reports, the scientists realised that ghosts can't pass through floor, so they constructed a new version of their ghost trap primarily using floor tiles.

Since ghosts are invisible and weigh nothing, the trap can comfortably imprison hundreds of unwanted ghosts and still be lightweight enough to carry around during ghost hunts.

When turned on a high-energy electromagnetic generator starts up, which oscillates at 18.98Hz - this is known as "the ghost frequency". Once up to full power, the top of the box opens allowing ghosts to sense the energy source. They are then lured into the box to feed off of this energy. At the moment the trap detects a drain in the EM field, the box's lid, which is also made from floor tiles, closes trapping the ghost inside.

Once the EM generator powers down, the ghost will quickly loose its energy allowing it to be easily transferred and held indefinitely in a custom-made, laser-containment storage facility.

Although the team now have a fully working version of their trap, it wasn't an easy journey. In 2015 the project was destroyed by a fire that sweep through their workspace. Prof. Kasper said, "we've now reduced the risk of fire spreading by wallpapering the lab with copies of the crying boy painting."