Ghostbusting gizmo goes on sale - but watch out for the gremlins

[emad]

April 22, 2005

Times
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo



DOES the rattling of chains keep you awake at night? Do the wraiths of long-dead relatives join you for family gatherings? If so, a Japanese gadget company has designed the very thing for you — the world’s first portable ghost radar.

The device, which fits neatly into a pocket, promises to alert its owners to the presence of eight different types of spectre, from “lost souls” to “evil spirits”.

Using a variety of carefully calibrated sensors — one of which claims to detect human fear — the machine will then inform users whether the ghost is malevolent or benign.

The ghost radar hits Japanese stores next week and will be available in Britain from next month for about £45. The timing of its release is critical: the Japanese ghost-spotting season is fast approaching, and, says its inventor, no summer campfire gathering will be complete without the detector. It also arrives at a time when belief in the supernatural is soaring in Japan, with growing numbers of people visiting fortune-tellers and snapping up guides to the paranormal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1579765,00.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. How I wish I had these guy's nerve

£45 for a useless gadget! If there is a sucker born every minute, that's about £65,000 gross a day - say the box and electronics cost you a five, even with marketing you'd still make £50,000 a day.