History Main / ElectromagneticGhosts

* In ''Film/TheWitchFiles'', the casting of spells causes recording devices to glitch slightly.

* Many of the powers in ''VideoGame/GhostMaster'' are electrical in nature such as blow fuse,blackout, wild and crazy and strange behaviour. Technology is also one the 'fetters' or places ghosts [[HauntedTechnology can be anchored]].

* Happens in ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'', complete with gadgets to track what happens. Two examples center around a TV in the master bedroom. At one point, a camera in the room shows a ball of white light coming out of the TV and morphing into a key, dropping itself into a drawer. Then, if you actually use the TV, it shows a creepy POV shot of someone running through the house, screaming and eventually coming up the stairs and knocking you out.

When they're not tormenting humans or scaring pets, ghosts are interfering with technology, appearing on video screens, making radios and [=TVs=] crackle and playing with the lights. Alongside [[GhostlyChill cold spots]], EM interference is one of the "recognized" signs of a haunting. One variation, known as EVP (electronic voice phenomena), specifically involves anomalous voices or other sounds on electronic audio recordings. The trope is also about ghosts appearing on camcorder screens, night vision cameras, and of course, infrared cameras.

Please note that this often happens in worlds that do not have 'magic' as such but still have ghosts.

** In his trilogy that consists of ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', and ''Literature/EarthquakeWeather'', ghosts can call people up on phones and appear on TV talk shows (at least, on the version being watched by the person they're haunting).

* The eponymous, half-ghost main character of ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'' and her mother both do [[https://tapas.io/episode/261879 this]]

* Creator/AnthonyHorowitz's short story ''The Phone Goes Dead'' has a woman struck by lightning and killed while using her mobile phone. The phone's next owner, a teenage boy, soon starts receiving calls on it from beyond the grave.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', [https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Electromagnetic_Interference ghosts and other supernatural beings can cause electromagnetic interference by flickering lights and making them explode].

* The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Chainsawsuit}}'' plays with this in one of their panels, where the ghost in question is the ghost of an old bunny-eared TV set spouting static.

* An episode of ''Series/DeadtimeStories'' has the ghost of a young girl contact a preteen on her cell phone, in the form of a video that suddenly appears on the screen.

* Of a sort in ''Series/GhostWars'' in that the ghosts in question are warded off by electricity of any sort

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' allows characters to do this using the Arcanos Inhabit, which allows possession and control of inanimate objects; it also allows them to detect if other wraiths are doing this to something electronic.

[[folder:Theater]]
* Depending on the production, the ending of ''Theatre/BlitheSpirit'' as ghosts Elvira and Ruth destroy the house.
[[/folder]]

* Rotom from the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** In one episode, Bender the robot inherits a castle that turns out to haunted by robot ghosts because their graves are inadequately grounded.
--->'''Ghost:''' Come with us Bender. You'll like being ''dead''!\\
'''Bender:''' That's what they said about being ''alive''!
** In a later episode, Bender dies and becomes a ghost in the digital cloud. Nobody can see or hear him (except the Robot Devil, and some cows) but he can possess electronic devices and annoy his friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had Technus, a ghost who interferes with technology like electronic devices.

* ''Film/TheFrighteners'': When the ghosts haunt a house, light flickers and objects move by themselves.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' normally invisible ghosts show up on camcorder screens and the EMF detectors used by ghost hunters.

* In a movie adaptation of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' when Marge tells Harry his parents died in a car crash, insulting them, he made lights flicker, a glass cup break á la ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' and he inflated her.

When they're not tormenting humans or scaring pets, ghosts are interfering with technology, appearing on video screens, making radios and [=TVs=] crackle and playing with the lights. Alongside [[GhostlyChill cold spots]], EM interference is one of the "recognized" signs of a haunting. One variation, known as EVP (electronic voice phenomena), specifically involves anomalous voices or other sounds on electronic audio recordings.

* Creator/TimPowers is fond of this trope. In his trilogy that consists of ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', and ''Literature/EarthquakeWeather'', ghosts can call people up on phones and appear on TV talk shows (at least, on the version being watched by the person they're haunting).

* In ''Film/TheGhostdancers'', the presence of the ghosts in the mansion causes the lights to surge and dim wildly.

* In the Latin-American horror novel ''Literature/GhostRadio'', the protagonist Joaquin runs a radio station where people can call in and describe [[GhostStory ghost stories]] on the air. His dead friend Gabriel gets to him mid-broadcast through one of these calls, and messes with him in general by [[EvilPhone hijacking phone lines]], making televisions [[TheTelevisionTalksBack show him strange imagery]], and eventually causes him to visually hallucinate what Joaquin's callers are describing, all out of spite for how Joaquin survived multiple near-fatal accidents that Gabriel did not. Gabriel comments at one point that radio is a major conduit for spirits to reach the human world.

* Creator/TimPowers is fond of this trope. In his trilogy that consists of ''Literature/LastCall'', ''Literature/ExpirationDate'', and ''Earthquake Weather'', ghosts can call people up on phones and appear on TV talk shows (at least, on the version being watched by the person they're haunting).

* In ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS3E7E8TheEternityTrap The Eternity Trap]]'', this is exploited to detect the presence of ghosts more scientifically, and prove the house really is haunted. Although - as Sarah Jane is quick to point out - [[DoingInTheWizard they aren't technically ghosts.]] (Or at least, that's how it seems until [[RealAfterAll the final moments of the episode]]...)
* Of a sort in Series/GhostWars in that the ghosts in question are warded off by electricity of any sort

* The Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} of their self-titled franchise use a device that measures electromagnetic disruption to locate ghosts.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Graveyard Shift", Squidward tells SpongeBob the story of the Hash Slinging Slasher to scare him. He tells him that there are three signs heralding the arrival of the Slasher, and the first one is the lights turning on and off. Later, the lights at the Krusty Krab do start to turning on and off, which Squidward at first dismisses as cheap wiring, but then the other two signs occur, and a mysterious figure approaches the door. Fortunately, it's just the night fry cook Krabs had just hired, but that didn't explain the lights. Then they see the real culprit: Film/{{Nosferatu}}.