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Melissa Galka |
In 2004, 17-year-old Melissa Galka, a senior at Granby Memorial High School, died after the car she was driving hit a tree in town.
Within days of her death, her father said, she begin communicating with her family.
"She started doing things like ringing the doorbell, changing TV channels, turning lights on and off," Gary Galka said Monday. "Then one time she came into my room and I felt her sit on the edge of the bed."
Now Galka has a thriving trade in paranormal detection devices, launched as a result of those eery events.
Galka, an electrical engineer who owns a firm that distributes test instruments, began developing hand-held devices that purportedly can detect unusual vibrations in a room, temperature variations — "hot and cold spots" — and other effects associated with the paranormal. Galka also created a voice recorder, the "spirit box," that he says can record responses from any "spirits" that might be present.
He said he has sold thousands of the devices, which range in price from $79 to $350. "I've created over 30 different products for paranormal research. No one was making products for these people," Galka said.
This past weekend the family was featured on "Ghost Adventures," a Travel Channel TV program that explores paranormal phenomena. Through one of the devices, a voice is heard on the show saying, "Hi Daddy, I love you."
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Gary Galka |
The Galkas insist Melissa's presence around them is absolutely real, and that Gary Galka's instruments show it. When she was sitting on the bed, he said, "I felt her lay her head on my chest."
Galka's wife, Cindy, and his two daughters, Jennifer and Heather, have also experienced similar phenomena, either seeing Melissa or hearing her voice.
"I've never seen Melissa," said Galka, "but my younger daughter Heather has seen her three times."
The crew of "Ghost Adventures" used several of Galka's devices in the show, including the Mel-Meter and the SB7 Spirit Box. They also use the devices in other episodes.
"With his devices, he's captured voices of her. His family, even people that aren't related to him, have seen her at the house," Zak Bagans, the show's host, said on the Travel channel's website. "Gary is a very, very talented electrical engineer and he's helped companies, massive companies, in that aspect in order to do things better."
The paranormal devices are sold through Galka's company, D.A.S. Distribution Inc. in East Granby, which has six employees and makes the equipment in-house. The company sells sound meters, humidity and temperature meters and lasers to medical and aerospace companies. The paranormal devices are a small portion of the business. Galka did not give exact figures.
Galka, 57, was raised Catholic, and said he believes in God and the afterlife, although he said he does not attend church. He donates one-third of the profits from the sale of paranormal devices to bereavement groups, including The Cove Center for Grieving Children in Wallingford and Mary's Place, A Center For Grieving Children in Windsor, both of which help children deal with the death of a brother or sister.
Galka's most recent invention is a device that he says can detect shadows in the dark.
According to the D.A.S. website, http://www.pro-measure.com, the Mel meters, which can pick up electromagnetic field activity, are specifically designed for paranormal investigators.
As for skeptics, Galka says he hopes that his family's experiences and the devices he has created will help people who don't believe in the afterlife to "take a better position."
"I feel compelled to help other bereaved parents … to show these parents that they can live beyond the grief and be comforted knowing their child is in a good place — to show them they can have hope."
Melissa Galka was a member of the school's gymnastics team and was preparing to study interior design and business management when she got to college. Students at Granby Memorial High School erected a permanent memorial on the school's campus after her death.
In 2004, 17-year-old Melissa Galka, a senior at Granby Memorial High School, died after the car she was driving hit a tree in town.
Within days of her death, her father said, she begin communicating with her family.
"She started doing things like ringing the doorbell, changing TV channels, turning lights on and off," Gary Galka said Monday. "Then one time she came into my room and I felt her sit on the edge of the bed."
Now Galka has a thriving trade in paranormal detection devices, launched as a result of those eery events.
Galka, an electrical engineer who owns a firm that distributes test instruments, began developing hand-held devices that purportedly can detect unusual vibrations in a room, temperature variations — "hot and cold spots" — and other effects associated with the paranormal. Galka also created a voice recorder, the "spirit box," that he says can record responses from any "spirits" that might be present.
He said he has sold thousands of the devices, which range in price from $79 to $350. "I've created over 30 different products for paranormal research. No one was making products for these people," Galka said.
This past weekend the family was featured on "Ghost Adventures," a Travel Channel TV program that explores paranormal phenomena. Through one of the devices, a voice is heard on the show saying, "Hi Daddy, I love you."
The Galkas insist Melissa's presence around them is absolutely real, and that Gary Galka's instruments show it. When she was sitting on the bed, he said, "I felt her lay her head on my chest."
Galka's wife, Cindy, and his two daughters, Jennifer and Heather, have also experienced similar phenomena, either seeing Melissa or hearing her voice.
"I've never seen Melissa," said Galka, "but my younger daughter Heather has seen her three times."
The crew of "Ghost Adventures" used several of Galka's devices in the show, including the Mel-Meter and the SB7 Spirit Box. They also use the devices in other episides.
"With his devices, he's captured voices of her. His family, even people that aren't related to him, have seen her at the house," Zak Bagans, the show's host, said on the Travel channel's website. "Gary is a very, very talented electrical engineer and he's helped companies, massive companies, in that aspect in order to do things better."
The paranormal devices are sold through Galka's company, D.A.S. Distribution Inc. in East Granby, which has six employees and makes the equipment in-house. The company sells sound meters, humidity and temperature meters and lasers to medical and aerospace companies. The paranormal devices are a small portion of the business. Galka did not give exact figures.
Galka, 57, was raised Catholic, and said he believes in God and the afterlife, although he said he does not attend church. He donates one-third of the profits from the sale of paranormal devices to bereavement groups, including The Cove Center for Grieving Children in Wallingford and Mary's Place, A Center For Grieving Children in Windsor, both of which help children deal with the death of a brother or sister.
Galka's most recent invention is a device that he says can detect shadows in the dark.
According to the D.A.S. website, http://www.pro-measure.com, the Mel meters, which can pick up electromagnetic field activity, are specifically designed for paranormal investigators.
As for skeptics, Galka says he hopes that his family's experiences and the devices he has created will help people who don't believe in the afterlife to "take a better position."
"I feel compelled to help other bereaved parents … to show these parents that they can live beyond the grief and be comforted knowing their child is in a good place — to show them they can have hope."
Melissa Galka was a member of the school's gymnastics team and was preparing to study interior design and business management when she got to college. Students at Granby Memorial High School erected a permanent memorial on the school's campus after her death.
Source:
Courant.com
My view: I can admire this family`s devotion to their lost daughter, and the tragedy of emotion they must have suffered.
But the devices he is promoting - like all electronic aids to the paranormal are an unproven theory.
There does not exist any evidence to show that these devices are a guaranteed means of contacting spirit. Also these devices rotate heavily around E.M.F`s (Electro Magenetic Field) being an indicator of paranormal activity. Science has disproven that notion.
And yes, I`ve received messages from buyer`s of these devices who will swear to god that they work because they got a response to a question, or spirit spoke to them. But I stand by my viewpoint. I have tested some devices including ghost boxes, and when activity has occurred these devices haven`t, and of course vice-versa.
However, it does not stop the flood of these devices on the `paranormal market`, and amateurs are kitting themselves out with these devices as `scientific test equipment`. They are clearly not, and in any investigation I have performed I have relied on my own `spirit sensors` to sense this energy, and any e.v.p is recorded to cam.
If spirit was so keen on contacting you, they would regardless of how many devices and ghost boxes you own.
I would advise any potential purchaser to seriously evaluate the real effectiveness of these devices, and not rely on comments from paranormal sites, TV shows and re-seller`s because there are no empirical statements from anyone that show beyond any reasonable doubt that these devices are proven to connect with spiritual anomalies. Just like me, only opinions.