Page 49 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Jan-Feb 2018, Vol 27, No 1

Evidence of Ghosts Has Not Materialized 49

Are Ghosts Real? —

Evidence Has Not

Materialized

livescience.com

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 a 2013 Harris Poll
found that 43 percent of Americans believe in
ghosts.
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 part of a larger web of related or noise might be evidence of ghosts. souls, why do they appear clothed and with
paranormal beliefs, including near-death (presumably soulless) inanimate objects like
experience, life after death, and spirit The science and logic of ghosts hats, canes, and dresses — not to mention the
communication. The belief offers many people many reports of ghost trains, cars and carriages?
comfort — who doesn't want to believe that our If ghosts are the spirits of those whose
One difficulty in scientifically evaluating ghosts
beloved but deceased family members aren't
is that a surprisingly wide variety of phenomena deaths were unavenged, why are there unsolved
looking out for us, or with us in our times of
are attributed to ghosts, from a door closing on murders, since ghosts are said to communicate
need?
its own, to missing keys, to a cold area in a with psychic mediums, and should be able to
People have tried to (or claimed to)
hallway, to a vision of a dead relative. When identify their killers for the police. And so on —
communicate with spirits for ages; in Victorian
sociologists Dennis and Michele Waskul just about any claim about ghosts raises logical
England, for example, it was fashionable for
interviewed ghost experiencers for their 2016 reasons to doubt it.
upper-crust ladies to hold séances in their
book "Ghostly Encounters: The Hauntings of
parlors after tea and crumpets with friends. (Continues on Page 61)
Everyday Life" (Temple University Press) they
Ghost clubs dedicated to searching for ghostly
found that "many participants were not sure that
evidence formed at prestigious universities,
they had encountered a ghost and remained
including Cambridge and Oxford, and in 1882 THE ‘X’ ZONE RADIO / TV SHOW
uncertain that such phenomena were even
the most prominent organization, the Society for with
possible, simply because they did not see
Psychical Research, was established. A woman ROB McCONNELL
something that approximated the conventional
named Eleanor Sidgwick was an investigator L*I*V*E Mon - Fri
image of a 'ghost.' Instead, many of our
(and later president) of that group, and could be on SimulTV
respondents were simply convinced that they
considered the original female ghostbuster. In
had experienced something uncanny —
America during the late 1800s, many psychic
something inexplicable, extraordinary,
mediums claimed to speak to the dead — but
mysterious, or eerie." Thus, many people who
were later exposed as frauds by skeptical
go on record as claiming to have had a ghostly
investigators such as Harry Houdini.
experience didn't necessarily see anything that
It wasn't until recently that ghost hunting
most people would recognize as a classic
became a widespread interest around the world.
"ghost," and in fact they may have had
Much of this is due to the hit Syfy cable TV
completely different experiences whose only
series "Ghost Hunters," now in its second
common factor is that it could not be readily
decade of not finding good evidence for ghosts.
explained. www.
The show spawned dozens of spinoffs and
Personal experience is one thing, but
imitators, and it's not hard to see why the show
scientific evidence is another matter. Part of the SimulTV.
is so popular: the premise is that anyone can
difficulty in investigating ghosts is that there is
look for ghosts. The two original stars were
not one universally agreed-upon definition of .com
ordinary guys (plumbers, in fact) who decided to
what a ghost is. Some believe that they are
look for evidence of spirits. Their message: You
spirits of the dead who for whatever reason get
don't need to be an egghead scientist, or even
"lost" on their way to The Other Side; others
have any training in science or investigation. All
claim that ghosts are instead telepathic entities
you need is some free time, a dark place, and
projected into the world from our minds.
maybe a few gadgets from an electronics store.
Still others create their own special
If you look long enough any unexplained light
categories for different types of ghosts, such as
poltergeists, residual hauntings, intelligent
THE ‘X’ ZONE TV CHANNEL spirits and shadow people. Of course, it's all
Is Coming To SimulTV made up, like speculating on the different races
of fairies or dragons: there are as many types of
ghosts as you want there to be.
There are many contradictions inherent
in ideas about ghosts. For example, are ghosts
material or not? Either they can move through
solid objects without disturbing them, or they
can slam doors shut and throw objects across the
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
room. According to logic and the laws of
with KEVIN RANDLE
physics, it's one or the other. If ghosts are human
www.simultv.com www.XZBN.net