| Have you ever seen a ghost? Or have you ever | | | | experience. If we can catch phenomena through |
| heard or felt something that felt creepy to you? | | | | technology, that validates our experience. |
| Ghosts are very popular subjects these days. About | | | | 3 Angels or demons. People of a particular religious |
| half the American people admit to believing in them, | | | | background who laugh at the idea of ghosts may be |
| and there are ghost beliefs in nearly every culture in | | | | much more willing to believe that something unknown is |
| the world. People have told ghost stories and reported | | | | either supernaturally good or supernaturally evil. In most |
| ghostly encounters for all of recorded history. Today, | | | | cases of haunting, there is little evidence of either |
| paranormal investigators are compiling film and audio | | | | extreme. |
| evidence, and experimenting with changes in | | | | 4. Creatures from outer space- though why they |
| electromagnetic fields and temperature in allegedly | | | | would take forms from throughout history or hang |
| haunted places to try to determine if there is objective | | | | about in places that are often empty for most of the |
| evidence for the existence of something we might | | | | time (such as abandoned jails and hospitals) is hard to |
| identify as a ghost. Growing evidence indicates that | | | | understand. |
| there is, indeed,some unexplained phenomena that can, | | | | 5. Glimpses into another dimension- String theory is |
| for lack of a better word, be identified as a ghost or | | | | responsible for the new popularity of this theory. In |
| spirit. | | | | string theory, one conjecture is that there are many, |
| But what, exactly, is a ghost? In folklore, a ghost is the | | | | many dimensions, and not just the ones we are familiar |
| manifestation of a dead person, and many people | | | | with. Some people theorize that there may be other |
| belief this is so. But what are other theories of what a | | | | beings inhabiting parallel dimensions, going about their |
| ghost might be? | | | | lives in similar fashion to our own, and once in a while |
| Here are some popular ideas: | | | | some circumstance will create a break between the |
| 1. A recapturing of some violent or deeply emotional | | | | dimensions, and we catch sight of one another. This |
| event in the past. This is what is called a "residual" | | | | would explain why apparitions who do appear to have |
| haunting, and appears to be the most common kind. | | | | intelligence and emotion sometimes seem so surprised |
| The apparitions that are seen in these cases are | | | | to see us. |
| always in the same place, doing the same thing, and | | | | None of these theories, which do not include the |
| show no awareness of their actual surroundings or of | | | | possibility of intelligent interaction between the spirits of |
| living beings who are present. These ghosts would | | | | the dead and the living, explain why ghosts often seem |
| have no personality or substance, but would be the | | | | to be emotionally involved with the place where they |
| psychic equivalent of holograms replaying one small bit | | | | are or with people in the place. It seems from my |
| of history. An example of this might be the well-known | | | | research that much more often than a ghost seems |
| ghost of Alice, at the Hermitage near Myrtle Beach, | | | | angry or dangerous, the entity will seem lonely or |
| SC. | | | | concerned about someone or some place left behind. |
| 2. A projection of our own thoughts. We use only a | | | | This is especially true in EVP work (electronic voice |
| small part of our brains; some people theorize that | | | | phenomena, where voices are captured on tape that |
| certain circumstances combined with a certain frame | | | | could not have come from anyone present in the |
| of mind will trigger an extremely vividvision that | | | | room.) In EVPs, it is not unknown for unseen entitites to |
| appears to be real in every way. Anyone who has | | | | actually address people by name or refer to items in |
| ever experienced a hallucinogenic drug will concur that | | | | the room or the building. |
| reality can often be a tricky thing. It is not explained | | | | Of course, it is all just theoretical, and no one can say |
| how such a manifestation might be caught on film or | | | | for sure what causes ghostly phenomena. However, it |
| tape, however. One of the reasons that paranormal | | | | seems difficult to explain away all evidence that in a |
| research is so intriguing is that we do have to take into | | | | small number of cases, there is intelligence, and at least |
| account that we usually are in a haunted place | | | | a shadow of recognition and emotion, attached to |
| because we either really do or really don't want to see | | | | what we choose to call ghosts. |
| something unexplained, and that can bias our | | | | |