Sundary October 25th, 2009 Ghosts

At Halloween the ghouls, goblins and trick or treaters will be out looking for snacks to score, but do you believe in ghosts? Evidence is what separates belief from non-belief, but they are really two sides of the same coin. A believer needs little (or no) evidence and a non-believer needs scads of evidence (and even then might doubt).

A believer might read Premonitions and Psychic Warnings: Real Stories of Haunting Predictions by Edrick Thay (2005), a collection of personal accounts of omens, signs and premonitions and be quite satisfied. A non-believer might cast such a book aside as hogwash. Likewise for The Paranormal Caught on Film: Amazing Photographs of Ghosts, Poltergeists and Other Strange Phenomena by Dr. Melvyn Willin (2008). While the photographic evidence may seem dubious to skeptic, it is asserted that the photographs in this book have been examined by qualified experts such as Dr. Vernon Harrison, a specialist in forgery detection.

For both believers and non-believers, The Ghost Files by Jeff Belanger (2007) would be a good read. Belanger argues for not being rigid in your belief system, whether that system allows for ghosts or vehemently denies the possibility. To simply dismiss without evidence is unscientific, and to believe without evidence can lead to gullibility and superstition.

That being said, what evidence is there for ghosts and the paranormal? Truthfully, a lot. Since the rise of empiricism it is often thought that there has been a resultant fall in superstition, mysticism, and paranormal occurrences, but this is not quite true. Within the last few years, there have been many publications citing up-to-date and intriguing research into ghosts and psychic phenomenon. It seems that ghosts and psychic phenomenon are perhaps related, like electro-magnetism and quantum entanglement.

Like paranormal phenomena, psychic phenomena are split into camps of believers and non-believers, investigators and skeptics. Some bona fide scientific researchers, however, like Gary Schwartz, PhD leave the question of PSI phenomena open ended. The results of his research are incredibly exciting. In his book The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death, increasingly stringent controls were applied to psychic readings. For some trials the subject wasn’t even allowed to speak to the psychic, and yet the results of accurate readings were upwards of 90%, well beyond chance or guessing.
Interestingly, while watching a DVD called The Brain, directed by Richard Vagg (2008), Schwartz and his experimental results were reported on in a segment on ESP. Other segments in The Brain focused how knowledge of the brain is applied in sports psychology and Navy SEALS training. To have Schwartz’s investigation into psychic readings included amongst such pragmatic avenues of thought might leave you wondering, What capabilities exist on the peripheries of consciousness?

This is where psychic phenomenon and paranormal phenomenon seem to overlap, although there is still doubt to the veracity of psychic ability and the paranormal. Richard Wiseman, PhD, for instance, in his book Deception & Self-Deception: Investigating Psychics (1997), states that evidence for authentic paranormal activity is lacking. He leaves the door open to the possibility of PSI, but says he has yet to find decisive proof. I wonder how he might regard Psychic Warrior: Inside the Stargate Program: the True Story of a Soldier’s Espionage and Awakening by David Morehouse (1996). Would he consider the evidence amassed by the CIA and the Stanford Research Institute in remote viewing (telepathic espionage) as decisive proof? Or does a skeptic need to personally experience ghosts, goblins, and separate realities before he or she believes?

If you want to do some of your own research into the science of psychic phenomena, check out the virtual library collection (it’s okay, don’t be scared!).

Chris Waite, Public Services Assistant