Page 66 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August/September 2017

66 10 Scientific Explanations for Ghosts

10 Scientific Explanations

for Famous Ghostly

Phenomena

by Nolan Moore

According to a 2005 Gallup poll, 37 percent of
Americans believe in haunted houses, and
according to a 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll, 45
percent believe in ghosts. These are surprising
numbers, but the next time you hear a spooky
sound, don't call the Ghostbusters—get a
scientist instead. Behind every shadow,
poltergeist, and disembodied voice, there's a
perfectly rational explanation.

10. Electric Stimulation of the Brain

Frightened witnesses all over the world have
seen the shadow people. These dark beings are
glimpsed out of the corner of the eye only to encounters frauds? Renowned physicist that weren't really there. When Tandy turned off
vanish when confronted. Many believe them to Michael Faraday wanted to find out. Through the fan, presto: no more ghost.
be demons, some think they're astral bodies, and clever experimentation, Faraday discovered that Similarly, Dr. Wiseman believes these
some say they're time travelers, here for a the tables were often moving thanks to the vibrations are responsible for paranormal
second and gone. However, some researchers ideomotor effect. This is when the power of activity in "haunted" locations. For example,
have a more shocking theory. suggestion causes our muscles to move when investigating two underground sites, he
When Swiss scientists electrically unconsciously. People expected a table to move discovered evidence of infrasound coming from
stimulated an epileptic patient's brain, things got so they unintentionally moved it. A similar the traffic overhead. Wiseman thinks this
really spooky. The patient reported a shadow event took place in 1853 when four doctors held explains the ghostly figures and creepy
person sitting behind her, copying her every an experimental séance. When they secretly told footsteps in these areas, proving there's nothing
move. When she sat up, it also sat up. When she half the participants the table would move to the good about these vibrations.
bent forward and grabbed her knees, it reached right and half it would move left, the table didn't
around her body and held her. The doctors then budge. But when they told everyone it would 7. Automatism
told her to read a card, but the shadow person move in one direction, the ideomotor effect
tried to take it out of her hand. struck again! This same principle applies to the What do witch doctors and Shirley MacLaine
What happened was the scientists had Ouija board. It's our own muscles that are doing have in common? They're all big into
stimulated the left temporoparietal junction, the the spelling, not the spirits. channeling! Channeling is one of mankind's
part of the brain that defines the idea of self. By
oldest attempts to reach the spirit world. The
interfering with the area that helps us tell the 8. Infrasound idea is to clear the mind, connect with some sort
difference between ourselves and others, the
of cosmic consciousness and let a centuries-old
doctors screwed up the brain's ability to
After seeing a gray ghost near his desk, spirit possess your body, which doesn't sound
understand its own body, thus leading to the
researcher Vic Tandy was worried his laboratory creepy at all. The shamans of ancient religions
creation of a copycat shadow person.
might be haunted. But the next day, Tandy made were believed to channel the dead, TV psychic
Researchers are hoping this is the key to
an interesting discovery. While preparing for a John Edward says he can speak to those who've
understanding why so many people, both
fencing match, Tandy placed his sword in a vise. crossed over, and medium J.Z. Knight claims
schizophrenic and healthy, encounter shadow
He then noticed the blade was vibrating on its she channels a spirit named Ramtha, a 35,000-
beings and other creatures like aliens.
own. All of a sudden, everything clicked. He year-old spirit from Atlantis. Obviously, there
realized the force causing his sword to shake are quite a few frauds in the channeling
9. Ideomotor Effect
was the same force haunting his lab. Vic Tandy community, but what about the people who
was dealing with infrasound. sincerely believe in what they're doing?
The Spiritualist movement was pretty big in the Humans can hear sounds up to 20,000 The answer is automatism, an "altered
1840s and 1850s. It provided a way for people Hertz, but we're unable to detect anything lower state of consciousness" where people say things
to talk to their dead loved ones. One method of than 20 Hz. These "silent" noises are called and think things they're not aware of. So when a
communication was the Ouija board. Still infrasound, and while we can't hear them, we psychic clears his mind, he starts searching for
popular today, the board was covered in letters, can feel them in the form of vibrations. Dr. a friendly spirit guide. The spirit guide is
numbers, and simple words (like "yes" or "no"). Richard Wiseman says we can feel these waves, supposed to enter his body and then provide
People would then place their hands on a especially in our stomachs, and this can create secret knowledge about the universe. When the
wooden piece called a planchette and ask the either a positive feeling (such as awe) or a psychic clears his mind, random ideas and
spirits a question. A ghost would respond by negative feeling (such as unease). In the right images start popping up in his head, and the
moving the planchette from letter to letter, surroundings (see "creepy house"), this might medium assumes these thoughts are coming
spelling out a response (or unleashing Captain create a sense of panic. from another entity. However, these ideas are
Howdy). Infrasound can be produced by storms, just coming from his mind. Our brains are
Another creepy method for interacting wind, weather patterns, and even everyday capable of coming up with all kinds of crazy
with spirits was table tilting. During a séance, appliances. Returning to Vic Tandy, after stuff without any conscious effort on our part.
people would gather round a table and place witnessing his wobbling sword, he learned that How many times has something inspired you
their hands on the tabletop. To everyone's a new fan had been installed in his laboratory, out of the blue? How many times have you had
surprise, the table would start moving by itself. and sure enough, it was issuing vibrations of totally bizarre nightmares or daydreams? That's
It might tilt up on one leg, levitate off the about 19 Hz. Since our eyeballs have a resonant not the work of an otherworldly guide. That's
ground or scoot around the room. frequency around 20 Hz, the infrasound was your brain, working overtime all the time.
Con men were definitely involved in vibrating Tandy's eyeballs and creating images
some of these incidents, but were all these (Continued on Page 67)