Ghostbusters, PKE Meter

replica movie prop

The PKE Meter is a piece of equipment created at the Paranormal Lab at Columbia University . It was used to track ghosts and give readings of Psycho Kinetic Energy. The PKE Meter is what helped Egon to develop the theory of catching ghosts. It has antennas with lights that raise up and down tracing the level of PKE (Psycho Kinetic Energy).

The original prop used in the films was a rented piece supplied by a company by the name of Modern Props. It had been discovered that the main shell of the prop was in fact a hand held Iona Shoe Polisher, an SP-1 model more specifically, that was gutted and redressed with lights and other electronics to give the prop better effects. Iona shoe polishers tend to pop up on eBay sparsely due to their rare nature and vintage quality.

The Mattel PKE Meter functions much like the prop used in the movies. The wings can be put in lowered, fully-raised, and halfway-raised positions. The screen features a green light moving across it, and can be set to two different settings, in addition to the blank screen mode. The lights on the screen and the wings can be slowed down or sped up with the use of a roller on the back of the handle, located where the user's forefinger sets. This also changes the speed of a beeping sound on the meter, which is about the only thing about this product that differs from the movie prop. The light patterns can be changed from Ghostbusters to Ghostbuster II mode, and back again. The patterns only subtly change, but it's a cool little detail to have.

The PKE meter was also seen as prop in other movies. "Suburban Commando" offered a much better view of what the PKE Meter's face plate and wings looked like. It also appeared in the movie "They Live", an episode of The Fall Guy, and a few episodes of Knight Rider. It can also be seen in an animated form in the Family Guy episode of "Spies Reminiscent of Us" which also guest starred Dan Aykroyd, who also had a cameo appearance in “Casper”.

The real Pke holster is made out of a vintage measure tape holster.