GHOSTS: A SKEPTICAL PERSPECTIVE
With Halloween coming up, keep this definition (from The Skeptic’s Dictionary) in mind as the increased suggestion of ghosts makes their existence “feel” more real…
ghost
A ghost is an alleged disembodied spirit of a dead person. Ghosts are often depicted as inhabiting haunted houses, especially houses where murders have occurred. Why some murder victims would stick around for eternity to haunt a place while others seem to evaporate is one of the great mysteries of the spirit world.
Many people report physical changes in haunted places, especially a feeling of a presence accompanied by temperature drop and hearing unaccountable sounds. They are not imagining things. Most hauntings occur in old buildings, which tend to be drafty. Scientists who have investigated haunted places account for both the temperature changes and the sounds by finding physical sources of the drafts, such as empty spaces behind walls or currents set in motion by low frequency sound waves (infrasound) produced by such mundane objects as extraction fans. Some think that electromagnetic fields are inducing the haunting experience.*
Some ghost experiences may be attributed to sleep paralysis. For example, the description given by Geoff Hutchison, a miner turned medium, is typical of sleep paralysis. He says he had his first paranormal experience while he was in the Army during the 1960s when he saw a figure: “It was just a man with a big black coat and a big wide-brimmed hat. He just stood there bent over me. I couldn’t move my arms or legs and had to lie there.”
As I note in my entries on poltergeists and haunted houses:
Even if I provided plausible physical explanations for a million poltergeists [or ghosts] in a million different places at a million different times, there is always the possibility that the next one that pops up will be the real thing. So, those who believe in poltergeists, ghosts, and haunted houses can always take refuge in the fact that nobody ever has enough information to debunk every ghost story, and even if they did, the next one might prove the debunkers wrong!
As a skeptic, all I can say with confidence is that when one considers the requirements for a ghost story to be true, the most reasonable position is that there is a naturalistic explanation for all these stories, but we often do not or cannot have all the details necessary to provide that explanation. We must rely on anecdotal evidence, which is always incomplete and selective, and which is often passed on by interested, inexperienced, superstitious parties who are ignorant of basic physical laws. Thus, there will always be stories like the “Bell Witch” story that attract much attention, especially when made into movies, that will lead many people to think that maybe there is something to this one, even if all the other ghost stories are false. The “Bell Witch” is alleged to be “a sinister entity that tormented a family on Tennessee’s frontier between the years of 1817 and 1821.”* The likelihood that we don’t have all the evidence in this case is proportionate to the number of years that have passed since the events allegedly took place.
If one is selective enough, one can confirm just about any hypothesis. And, as the history of research into psychic phenomena has shown, the brighter one is the easier it is to rationalize and find reasons to support one’s beliefs. Witness Debra Blum’s latest book, The Ghost Hunters. This former science writer provides a selective history of psychical research to support the view that maybe some of these stories are for real. After all, we can’t prove they’re not.
It is said that ghosts like to work in the dark because it’s harder for people to see them than in broad daylight where their invisibility is more visible. It’s also easier to deceive and scare people at night because they can’t see what’s going on. It’s usually cooler and breezier at night, too, and both those elements assist the ghost in producing scary sounds and movements. Ghosts don’t like to work in conditions where people can easily see what they are doing because then people would see them for what they are rather than for what they imagine them to be. By appearing only in the dark they can maintain their mysteriousness better. Besides, ghosts have found that many people are afraid of the dark and that fear makes their work much easier.
There are numerous groups of paranormal investigators that spend their spare time investigating allegedly haunted places. They arrive with coffee pots, flashlights, tape recorders, EMF detectors, video cameras with night vision, metal detectors, and other devices that were not designed to detect ghosts and therefore have no instructions on how to use them for that purpose. (I know. There is no equipment designed for this purpose. How could there be?) The equipment looks scientific, but does that make the investigation scientific? I’d say you’re about as likely to detect a ghost with a Sony camcorder as you are to get the truth out of a house plant by hooking it up to a polygraph.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
i agree with Bryan because there are so many ghost stories that thay cant all be lies. There are so many stories and they most of them have logical explinations. many ghost sighting have been witnessed by many people and for the fact that there are this many people is crazy to think that they are all lies.
As much as I would like to believe that ghosts are real, I don’t. I mean, I love hearing ghost stories just as much as anybody, but because there is no evidence to prove that ghosts exist, how does anyone know that their experiences did in fact include a “ghost” or that the thrill was genuine? How do we know anything about “ghosts” when no one has any proof that there has ever been one?
I have actually expierienced the raise and fall of tempeture inside a steel building where a murder took place. I am not sure if this was because it was haunted or not, but I promise you I had the expierience. Thanks for your post.
John, thanks for the post. Temperatures fluxuate in many old buildings where insulation is poor. My fairly new home is well insulated and temperatures still fluxuate considerably. This does not scientifically disprove your experience, but it offers a logical possible explanation. Bryan
To Bryan Farha, at ocu. Recently at ocu childrens theatre to see Bah Hum Bug. While videoing with my phone I saw a blue light wander across the screen. I have this on video, I can send you. I know they have blue lights on ceiling, they were on but none were being moved that I could tell. This blue light seemed to come out of nowhere or perphaps the wall, went across the screen then off screen and was gone. I saw the disapperance but I did not capture the disappearance. If you wish me to send this to your e-malil let me know please. Thank you for your time. Elaine Yearby.
Elaine,
While sitting in my chair last night, I heard a noise in the front yard. Should I conclude that it was an alien visitor? I realize this sounds sarcastic, but my point is this–what CONCLUSIONS can we draw based on the available evidence? I hold open the possibility–albeit remote–that an alien visited me last night. But what are the other possibilities for the noise I heard? And I hold open the possibility that your camera picked up a ghost, but what are the other possibilities? I appreciate you offering to send me the video, but I have no problem believing a blue light moved across the screen (like the dozens–or hundreds–of others I’ve seen). So, while you’re welcome to send me the video, ask yourself this question: what would you conclude if I sent you a clear tape of the noise I heard last night?
Bryan
I too, was and still am a skeptic, that is actually the role I play in the paranormal group I have joined to see for myself what’s going on. I believe there is no conclusive proof that there are ghosts and yet I have seen
things that are unexplainable. Ours and many other groups
do not use all those little devices to prove there are ghosts but to try and find a scientific reason for what the person who called is is experiencing. EMF could be high electrical problems that can cause many feelings that can be perceived as paranormal. We do walk throughs in the light to find drafts, weird lights & sounds, pipes that make sounds etc. But, as of yet I cannot explain away the
EVP’s that have actual answers that anyone can understand not just the “trained” investigator. Or the conversation
I had with something, where there were a series of questions I asked and the “whatever” responded by turning
on a flashlight with one flash for no and two flashes for yes. This went on for 30 minutes, with no regular pattern to the flashes and they came within seconds of my question. The best part was there were no responses to my husbands questions. Most of our investigations are in normal homes of normal people and rarely have we not been able to find
explanations and possibilities for their issues that were not paranormal. So is it real or fake, I know I haven’t faked anything, but I cannot conclusively say ghosts are real, just there are many unexplainable things out there.
I really enjoy looking through on this internet site, it has got great content. “Never fight an inanimate object.” by P. J. O’Rourke.
The other day, while I was at work, my cousin stole my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a 25 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
I simply could not leave your website before suggesting that I really enjoyed the usual info an individual provide to your guests? Is going to be again frequently in order to check out new posts.
Hey there, You’ve done an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this web site.
Terrific post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Kudos!
Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
I’m delighted that I’ve noticed this weblog. Finally something not a junk, which we undergo incredibly frequently. The website is lovingly serviced and kept up to date. So it must be, thanks for sharing this with us.
Admiring the hard work you put into your site and detailed information you present. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
I agree with Bryan as it is very hard to have the straight forward facts that ghosts do exist. If someone claims to have proof, this proof could be altered or set up to make it appear that there is a ghost actually there. I think people look for ghosts because they need something new and exciting in their lives. Many of these sightings stories or whatever have been made up in their minds because they spend so much time and effort that there mind lets them see what they want rather than what is there. And when put into situations where it is dark and cold and scary of course any sound or breeze that goes by will appear to be a ghost or a sign, because you want this to so badly happen it seems like it does. Now i’m not sure if ghosts exists or not but as long as we keep an open mind, who knows what we may discover.