Page 70 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

70 Are Ghosts Real?

Are Ghosts Real?

Continued from Page 69

With so many basic contradictory theories —
and so little science brought to bear on the topic
— it's not surprising that despite the efforts of
thousands of ghost hunters on television and
elsewhere for decades, not a single piece of hard
evidence of ghosts has been found.
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And, of course, with the recent development of
"ghost apps" for smartphones, it's easier than
ever to create seemingly spooky images and
share them on social media, making separating
fact from fiction even more difficult for ghost
researchers.

Most people who believe in ghosts do so
because of some personal experience; they grew
hunters wandering around abandoned houses in
up in a home where the existence of (friendly)
the dark late at night with cameras and
spirits was taken for granted, for example, or
flashlights.
they had some unnerving experience on a ghost
tour or local haunt. However, many people
In the end (and despite mountains of ambiguous
believe that support for the existence of ghosts
photos, sounds, and videos) the evidence for
can be found in no less a hard science than
ghosts is no better today than it was a century
modern physics. It is widely claimed that Albert
ago. There are two possible reasons for the
Einstein suggested a scientific basis for the
failure of ghost hunters to find good evidence.
reality of ghosts, based on the First Law of
The first is that ghosts don't exist, and that
Thermodynamics: If energy cannot be created or
reports of ghosts can be explained by
destroyed but only change form, what happens
psychology, misperceptions, mistakes and
to our body's energy when we die? Could that
hoaxes. The second option is that ghosts do
somehow be manifested as a ghost?
exist, but that ghost hunters do not possess the
scientific tools or mindset to uncover any
It seems like a reasonable assumption — until
meaningful evidence.
you dig into the basic physics. The answer is
very simple, and not at all mysterious. After a
But ultimately, ghost hunting is not about the
person dies, the energy in his or her body goes
evidence at all (if it was, the search would have
where all organisms' energy goes after death:
been abandoned long ago). Instead, it's about
into the environment. The energy is released in
having fun with friends, telling stories, and the
the form of heat, and the body is transferred into
enjoyment of pretending to search the edge of
the animals that eat us (i.e., wild animals if we
the unknown. After all, everyone loves a good
are left unburied, or worms and bacteria if we
ghost story.
are interred), and the plants that absorb us. There
is no bodily "energy" that survives death to be
ABOUT BENJAMIN RADFORD: He covers
detected with popular ghost-hunting devices.
pseudoscience, psychology, urban legends and
the science behind "unexplained" or mysterious
While amateur ghost hunters like to imagine
phenomenon. Ben has a master's degree in
themselves on the cutting edge of ghost
education and a bachelor's degree in psychology.
research, they are really engaging in what
He is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science
folklorists call ostension or legend tripping. It's
magazine and has written, edited or contributed
basically a form of playacting in which people
to more than 20 books, including "Scientific
"act out" a legend, often involving ghosts or
Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve
supernatural elements. In his book "Aliens,
Unexplained Mysteries," "Tracking the
Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live"
Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction,
(University Press of Mississippi, 2003)
and Folklore" and “Investigating Ghosts: The
folklorist Bill Ellis points out that ghost hunters
Scientific Search for Spirits,” out in fall 2017.
themselves often take the search seriously and
His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com []
"venture out to challenge supernatural beings,
confront them in consciously dramatized form,
then return to safety. ... The stated purpose of THE
such activities is not entertainment but a sincere
effort to test and define boundaries of the 'real' ‘X’ ZONE
world." GHOST FILES

ARE
If ghosts are real, and are some sort of as-yet-
unknown energy or entity, then their existence AVAILABLE
will (like all other scientific discoveries) be AT
discovered and verified by scientists through XZONEUNIVERSE.COM
controlled experiments — not by weekend ghost