Will A Spirit Box For Ghost Hunting Work on a Cruise Ship?

Does a Spirit Box Work on a Cruise Ship? My Paranormal Test at Sea.

 Hey spooky cats! 🐾 I just got back from a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas, and while most people were there for the sunshine and unlimited food, I had a different mission in mind—testing whether a spirit box works in the middle of the ocean.

Why a cruise ship? Well, I wanted a control location. A place where radio waves would never reach my spirit box. Would I still receive spooky voices telling me to get out with no radio towers nearby, or would I be greeted by static? My hypothesis? I theorized I would get nothing but static, but secretly hoped for something more, something spooky to happen.

Tragedies at Sea

First, a little background. This ship may be a floating luxury city, but that doesn’t mean it’s free from tragedy. Over the years, passengers have passed away onboard, including:

• A 72-year-old man who died while swimming at Trunk Bay during a shore excursion.

• A passenger overboard in 2019—sadly, a common type of cruise incident.

• And in March 2024, a 56-year-old man had to be medically evacuated due to stroke-like symptoms.

So yes, people have died on this ship. Yet, Symphony of the Seas is not considered haunted, but it could be haunted, which makes it perfect for testing the effectiveness of ghost-hunting equipment in a neutral environment.

The Spirit Box Test

My biggest curiosity was how the spirit box would perform far out at sea, away from any land-based radio towers. If you’re new to this, the spirit box is a tool that rapidly scans through radio frequencies, and ghost hunters believe spirits can use it to speak through the white noise and fragments of stations.

But here's the thing—in the middle of the ocean, there are no radio stations to bleed through. So what happens when you turn on a spirit box miles from land?

Exactly what I expected: static. Nothing. Not a single voice or blip that could be misinterpreted as paranormal.

And honestly? That proves my point. Ghosts are not talking through the spirit box, radio stations are, and non-scientific ghost hunters are trying to convince you it is a ghost to keep you watching. 

What This Tells Us

Spirit boxes rely heavily on existing radio signals. In most places, especially urban ones, there’s so much radio traffic that it’s hard to tell if you're hearing a ghost… or a DJ from a classic rock station.

But out at sea, with no radio towers around, the spirit box gave us pure silence—or rather, uninterrupted static. No voices. No messages. No hits of potential ghostly contact.

If spirit boxes truly worked through paranormal means, wouldn’t they work even better in the quiet of open water, free from interference?

You might say, but the Symphony of the Seas isn't haunted. That's why no voices came through. And you might be right. That's why I will continue to test the spirit box, hopefully on a reportedly haunted cruise ship like Enchantment of the Seas, and see if that makes a difference. So stay tuned for that!

Still Open-Minded

Now, does this mean I’m done with the spirit box? Not quite. I’m still curious, and I want to keep testing it in a variety of environments—both haunted and not. Maybe it’s not just about radio waves. Maybe there’s more going on we don’t understand yet. But so far, the results suggest that spirit boxes might just be fancy noise machines unless there’s a radio station nearby.

Even though the ship wasn’t reportedly haunted and we received no responses, this experiment remained important. Debunking is part of paranormal investigation. And a good control location like Symphony of the Seas helps us figure out what’s real and what’s just tech picking up noise.

So don’t worry, spooky cats. I’m not giving up. I’ll keep testing, experimenting, and searching for the truth—one allegedly haunted (or totally normal) location at a time.

We made another investigation video using Symphony of the Seas as a control location—diving into the deaths that have happened on board and questioning why no hauntings have ever been reported. If you’re interested in the bigger picture of our investigation, be sure to check that one out too!

Until next time—stay skeptical, stay curious, and most of all... stay spooky! 👻