Page 69 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

Are Ghosts Real? 69

Are Ghosts Real?

By Benjamin Radford

If you believe in ghosts, you're not alone.
Cultures all around the world believe in spirits
that survive death to live in another realm. In
fact, ghosts are among the most widely believed
of paranormal phenomenon: Millions of people
are interested in ghosts, and thousands read
ghost stories on Reddit every day. It's more than
mere entertainment; A 2019 Ipsos poll found
that 46% of Americans say they truly believe in
ghosts. (The nation is discerning in its undead
beliefs; only 7% of respondents said they
believe in vampires).

The idea that the dead remain with us in spirit is
an ancient one, appearing in countless stories,
from the Bible to "Macbeth." It even spawned a
folklore genre: ghost stories. Belief in ghosts is is that a surprisingly wide variety of phenomena room. According to logic and the laws of
part of a larger web of related paranormal
are attributed to ghosts, from a door closing on physics, it's one or the other. If ghosts are human
beliefs, including near-death experience, life
its own, to missing keys, to a cold area in a souls, why do they appear clothed and with
after death, and spirit communication. The belief
hallway, to a vision of a dead relative. (presumably soulless) inanimate objects like
offers many people comfort — who doesn't want
hats, canes, and dresses — not to mention the
to believe that our beloved but deceased family When sociologists Dennis and Michele Waskul many reports of ghost trains, cars and carriages?
members aren't looking out for us, or with us in
interviewed ghost experiencers for their 2016
our times of need?
book "Ghostly Encounters: The Hauntings of If ghosts are the spirits of those whose deaths
Everyday Life" (Temple University Press) they were unavenged, why are there unsolved
People have tried to (or claimed to)
found that "many participants were not sure that murders, since ghosts are said to communicate
communicate with spirits for ages; in Victorian they had encountered a ghost and remained with psychic mediums, and should be able to
England, for example, it was fashionable for
uncertain that such phenomena were even identify their killers for the police? The
upper-crust ladies to hold séances in their
possible, simply because they did not see questions go on and on — just about any claim
parlors after tea and crumpets with friends.
something that approximated the conventional about ghosts raises logical reasons to doubt it.
Ghost clubs dedicated to searching for ghostly
image of a 'ghost.' Instead, many of our
evidence formed at prestigious universities, respondents were simply convinced that they Ghost hunters use many creative (and dubious)
including Cambridge and Oxford, and in 1882
had experienced something uncanny — methods to detect the spirits' presences, often
the most prominent organization, the Society for
something inexplicable, extraordinary, including psychics. Virtually all ghost hunters
Psychical Research, was established. A woman
mysterious, or eerie." claim to be scientific, and most give that
named Eleanor Sidgwick was an investigator
appearance because they use high-tech scientific
(and later president) of that group, and could be Thus, many people who go on record as equipment such as Geiger counters,
considered the original female ghostbuster. In
claiming to have had a ghostly experience didn't Electromagnetic Field (EMF) detectors, ion
America during the late 1800s, many psychic
necessarily see anything that most people would detectors, infrared cameras and sensitive
mediums claimed to speak to the dead — but
recognize as a classic "ghost," and in fact they microphones. Yet none of this equipment has
were later exposed as frauds by skeptical
may have had completely different experiences ever been shown to actually detect ghosts. For
investigators such as Harry Houdini. whose only common factor is that it could not be centuries, people believed that flames turned
readily explained. blue in the presence of ghosts. Today, few
It wasn't until recently that ghost hunting
people accept that bit of lore, but it's likely that
became a widespread interest around the world.
Personal experience is one thing, but scientific many of the signs taken as evidence by today's
Much of this is due to the hit Syfy cable TV
evidence is another matter. Part of the difficulty ghost hunters will be seen as just as wrong and
series "Ghost Hunters," which aired 230 in investigating ghosts is that there is not one antiquated centuries from now.
episodes and found no good evidence for ghosts.
universally agreed-upon definition of what a
ghost is. Some believe that they are spirits of the Other researchers claim that the reason ghosts
The show spawned dozens of spinoffs and
dead who for whatever reason get "lost" on their haven't been proven to exist is that we simply
imitators, and it's not hard to see why the show
way to The Other Side; others claim that ghosts don't have the right technology to find or detect
is so popular: the premise is that anyone can are instead telepathic entities projected into the the spirit world. But this, too, can't be correct:
look for ghosts. The two original stars were
world from our minds. Either ghosts exist and appear in our ordinary
ordinary guys (plumbers, in fact) who decided to
physical world (and can therefore be detected
look for evidence of spirits. Their message: You
Still others create their own special categories and recorded in photographs, film, video and
don't need to be an egghead scientist, or even
for different types of ghosts, such as audio recordings), or they don't. If ghosts exist
have any training in science or investigation. All poltergeists, residual hauntings, intelligent and can be scientifically detected or recorded,
you need is some free time, a dark place, and
spirits and shadow people. Of course, it's all then we should find hard evidence of that — yet
maybe a few gadgets from an electronics store.
made up, like speculating on the different races we don't. If ghosts exist but cannot be
If you look long enough any unexplained light
of fairies or dragons: there are as many types of scientifically detected or recorded, then all the
or noise might be evidence of ghosts.
ghosts as you want there to be. photos, videos, audio and other recordings
claimed to be evidence of ghosts cannot be
That vague criteria for ghostly happenings is
There are many contradictions inherent in ideas ghosts.
part of the reason why myths about the afterlife
about ghosts. For example, are ghosts material
are more alive than ever.
or not? Either they can move through solid
objects without disturbing them, or they can (Continued on Page 70)
One difficulty in scientifically evaluating ghosts slam doors shut and throw objects across the