The Science of the Paranormal
Ghosts and Spirits
The terms "ghost" and "spirit" are generic names that we traditionally give to a variety of phenomena that seem to involve (usually) " human like entities" that are either directly observed or whose presence is "sensed" by their effects in one's environment. That they can "appear" and "disappear" seemingly at will, are often "transparent" and/or "amorphous" in form and may not be visible at all, suggest that these beings are of a nature NOT consistent with the known laws of our own universe.
As the phenomena has been observed since before the beginning of history, many traditions, superstitions and beliefs have been attached to "ghosts and spirits". The Ghost is supposedly the "disembodied soul" of a dead human. A Spirit may be a ghost or it may also be an "entity" from "the spirit world" (a parallel universe) who never lived as a human. the term "spirit" also includes "angels", "demons", and "gods" But are they real? Certainly hallucinations illusions (reflections, mirrages, etc) and trickery can explain SOME accounts. But there are many other accounts too, where several witnesses experienced the same thing and the possibility of illusions or hoaxes were eliminated. There are also REAL and measurable changes in the environment where the phenomena is observed. There are real temperature drops of up to 20 deg.F and magnetic fields in the range of 2 to 8 Milligauss, and sometimes, visible images. We can, therefore state with a good degree of certainty that the observed phenomena that WE CALL "ghosts and spirits" are real. But what are these things? Tradition tells us that "ghosts" are "Earth bound souls" of the dead. Perhaps this is true, some "ghosts" do look like people from another time and SOME actually are said to look like specific individuals. But tradition also can be wrong. Zeus was traditionally supposed to be the cause of lightning. Some people, because of this, will reject the entire idea of "ghosts" because they do not believe in the "Tradition" and superstitions associated with them. This is really too bad, because it fails to address the actual phenomena that is experienced that inspired the traditions in the first place . Rejecting a phenomena that people have witnessed, simply because one does not believe in the explanation is just as foolish as rejecting the reality of lightning because one does not believe in Zeus. What "ghosts" and "Spirits" actually are is unknown, but There are several theories. The "ghost" may simply be an electric phenomenon ,(similar to "ball lightning") that often might assume a columnar shape about six feet high--- auto suggestion , on the part of the witness, might then fill in the other details of the "apparition". Another theory is that the "ghost" is the "life energy" of a person who died under emotional circumstances. This energy becomes visible if the conditions in the environment are just right. Yet another theory is that the "ghost" may be an Image "from the past" as a result of a "time space fold" induced by the release of life energy at a given location or even a kind of "recording" imbedded into the environment.---This would also explain the images of inanimate objects such as "ghost trains" of "ghost cars". The final theory is that the "ghost" is the actual "soul" or "intelligent energy form" of a deceased person. This "soul" is also called a "spirit" which is actually what we would call ANY being who is composed of "matter" from a parallel universe. "spirits" MAY have lived on Earth before as "souls" in a human body, or some may be full time inhabitants of various parallel worlds. At Left is a detail from the Image at the top of the article. One can easily see the head and collar of what appears to be a little girl dressed in late 19th century clothing. If your screen is not too "contrast" you may also see that she is wearing a dark colored "drop waist" dress. Her right arm is seen hanging on her side, and her booted right leg and foot is clearly visible. Her left leg, in a walking position, can bee seen with some difficulty behind her right leg. The image is smaller than life--but this is not unusual for ghosts. The image was taken using my "random field" photography technique described below. It may surprise many people to find out that Ghosts can be photographed. Ghosts have been occasionally seen in photos for over 100 years. Sure, some were the result of errors, such as double exposures, light leaks, lens flares and chemical development processes. Some others were outright frauds. (and bad ones at that)---But a few, usually taken accidentally, seem to show actual "ghost like" phenomena captured on the film. Of course, anything can be "faked", so that is why it is important to take your own photographs, where barring error on your part or camera malfunction, you can be sure that what you photograph yourself is ,at least, not a deliberate "fake". The GhostWeb, (see link below) has over 4000 photos that were sent in by readers. Dave Oester, who runs the Web, tries to include only those photos which he deems "authentic"----although I would have a difference of opinion with him in several cases, just looking through the collection is an education in itself. Usually, the ghost cannot be seen by the photographer. It is only discovered when the pictures are developed. The reason for this is that film is also sensitive to light frequencies just above and just below the visual range.---Low Ultraviolet and High Infra Red, respectively. This might also explain why some people can "see" ghosts while others can't --owing to variations in visual sensitivity I have examined several "good" ghost photos taken in the last half century, and I have noticed that most are in front of a
"speckled" background--such as a hedge screen or a stone wall.--in other words, a natural "random field", not unlike I describe for scrying exercises in the ESP Amplifier section. It seems that a similar factor that permits us to see "retinal feedback" imagery also works for ghosts---To appear they only have to change parts of their image that do not correspond with the spots in their backgrounds---a potential savings of 50% "energy" used in "appearing"--if the background is sufficiently "randomized" enough. This could make all the difference, in the case of a "weaker" ghost as to if it could generate an image or not Upon realizing this, I loaded my 35mm camera with B&W 400 speed film-(--B&W film seems to work better because it is sensitive to UV radiation) and went to the "creepiest" felling part of the Old Biloxi (MS) Cemetery. I photographed areas, in daylight, where the trees and shrubs formed more or less uniform backgrounds near where I could feel "chills" and "spooky" feelings. The result was that I found "anomalies" on 4 of the 12 frames that I shot. These range from "Grey, fuzzy" spots to fairly good imagery, some of which I include here. Two of the photos contained multiple small anomalies.
Photographing Ghosts
ABOVE:--this image has several anomalies. One of the best (arrow) is blown up below. Note the profile of woman's head at the bottom of the white blob
Yes, at first glance it might appear that the images are simply "mental constructs" made of the elements of the trees---, but what are the odds of a tree reproducing the entire body of, for example, a little girl and in the correct costume of the period? Even the face above is too accurate to have happened by random chance alone--even the hairstyle is correct (late 19th century). Most of the other photos showed nothing, although the same pattern of trees was photographed.
Although it is not very visible on these images, most "random field" ghost images will show a "Grey misty area" or a slight distortion "field" around the "ghost"--This demonstrates that the ghost appears to be generating a "zone of influence" where it is attempting to appear. It WILL use as many background elements as possible in this zone--if they correspond to light and dark areas in the image. The ghost only has to suppress light spots and enhance dark spots in places where the image elements to not correspond with the background--This appears to save "effort" on the part of the ghost allowing it to present an image when it ,perhaps, could not, if it had to generate all the elements itself.
Latest Info on Ghost Photography, etc.It has been the latest new discovery in ghost hunting circles that strobes or flashing lights seem to "draw out" or "activate" ghosts in "haunted areas". I have heard of experiments with strobe lights in graveyards, and also of a very successful ghost hunter who "flashes" the camera flash several times in an area before taking pictures. We can speculate that the ghosts can use the light energy, from the flashes somehow to make themselves more "energetic" or "luminous". Already we know that they can convert the local heat energy of the surrounding atmosphere into their own electrical energy (hence the "cold spots") the bright strobes and flashes have energy too.
Digital cameras are being used now as there is no need to wait to process the film. The image can be seen immediately and the disks can be erased and used over if nothing is "captured". It seems that the current camera of choice is the Sony Maciva FD7. Its success in photographing ghosts is attributed to the fact that on the FD7 the flash fires an instant BEFORE the shutter opens--just the opposite of other such cameras. Thus the ghost gets "energized" sooner and is more likely to be photographed.
My NEXT experiment will involve taking pictures with 2 cameras tied together with the lenses about 3 inches apart. They must be "fired" simultaneously. The result will be a "stereo pair" of images. This will both eliminate the possibility of a "lens flare", water drop, etc. from being mistaken for a ghost, as only a real object will appear on both images. Also the phenomena will be able to be seen in 3D with its proper spatial relationships visible.----it would be very hard to fake too, so would be better evidence. I invite other researchers to attempt this experiment also and E-mail your results to me if you don’t mind
Ghost Photography: Classification of Ghost Images There are several different "species" or kinds of "ghosts" that show up on photography. By classifying them, we can thus get a "handle" on the different types of phenomena that we collectively call "ghosts". The on the GhostWeb (see link below) we can see examples of all of these. Dave Oester, on the GhostWeb, only has 4 categories " Vortexes", "Orbs", " Shields" and "Ectoplasims", but close examination of all the photos reveals something more. The "Ectoplasims", the more traditional "ghostlike" forms can be classified into several types.
HUMANOID: Ghostly form having an obvious human shape
DEMONOID: Human like, but definitely NOT human(not necessarily "evil" only not human)
NECROFORM:"Skeletons", "rotted corpses" or parts thereof. Usually the "scary ghost" of fiction or horror movies. Very rare--may not exist--not seen on any photos yet.
ENTITY: Other type of "creature" from a parallel world. May be totally "alien" in appearance---I don’t mean in the "Grey" sense, but a different biology altogether.
ORGANIC: Unrecognizable organic forms or appendages
SYMETRIC: Upon close examination, has an axis of symmetry. Corresponding parts can be seen on either side.
DENDRITE: Tree like form
PILLOW: Multiple blob like forms
SHEET: Fabric like form
DIFFUSE: Fuzzy area of light with no definite edges
STREAK: Streak of light or thread like form
HARD: definite edges to a form--also Very hard, etc.
SOFT: having "fuzzy" edges
AMORPHIC: Having no discernable shape
UNCLASSIFIED: Not fitting any of the above
We might also add Dave's
ORB: Hard edged sphere
VORTEX: Hard edge "white tornado" shape. often casts a shadow.
SHIELD: hard edge "shield" shaped form
Thus Images can be described in terms such as "a hard, symmetric, organic" or "a soft demonoid" or " a soft, symmetric pillow", etc.
This classification also permits specialized study such as "the DENDRITES" or "species of demonoids".
Here is a very good link to the "ghost web", perhaps the best "ghost page" on the web. It has stories and a gallery of over 4000 photos
Here is a link to the SHADOWLANDS ghost story page---Lots of good personal accounts of real ghosts --the best "story page"
Here is a link to a good UK. site Go to Ghosts and Hauntings, UK