Ghost is Real or Not?
-by Ishita Mondal
–Reading Time – 8 min Approx
–Edited by – Srishti Bhattacharyya
Since early childhood, spooky horror stories with ghosts playing versatile characters have been some of our favorite pastimes. Even after we grew up, the eerie horror stories mostly feed our love for ghost stories. The passion, however, often gets entangled with our logical self. Our minds try to find out the truth behind the existence of ghosts. Ghost is real or not? Such questions come to our minds every time we switch on a ghost movie or turn over the pages of a ghost story. So what is the answer to this?
Let’s know more.
The belief in ghosts is a controversial matter. Some believe in the real presence of ghosts, while some deny it entirely, making it a hot topic for debate in drawing room gossips on lazy Sundays. The age-old belief in ghosts often leads to multiple other paranormal practices. For example, people often try to communicate with the spirits through planchette. Some perform holy rituals to keep the unsatisfied spirits away. With all those practices and beliefs, the fundamental question still hovers around our minds – ghost is real or not?
Experiencing paranormal activities is not uncommon. Many people have experienced spooky things in life. From closing the door automatically to a sudden chilliness in the air, various unusual experiences take place. The believers in ghosts associate these bizarre experiences with the existence of ghosts. Paranormal activists are researching these factors to find out the truth. Till now, a handful of books, articles, and journals have been published focusing on this topic, but no concrete answer has been found yet. However, as per most of the scientific researches, it is said that ghost is not real. There is still no firm scientific evidence for the existence of ghosts.
But all scientific inventions and discoveries are, after all, based on proposed hypotheses. So who knows, someday we may get some positive response in favor of the existence of ghosts.
Here, in this article, we have tried to shed light on the detailed explanation for questions like do ghosts exist? Also, you will get to know how the researchers have been trying for ages to define the science of ghosts.
Ghost is Real or Not? – The Definition and Origin of the Concept:
As per the traditional belief, a soul or spirit is indestructible. It has no beginning or end. The concept of ghosts arose depending on this belief. It is said that spirits with unfulfilled desires remain on earth even after death, hovering invisibly around the mortal world. They live with the mortal beings in everyday life without revealing themselves. Sometimes, they might also transform themselves into hazy, translucent shapes from the invisible existence.
Dating back to our ancestral days, the concept of a ghost was quite prevalent with a firm belief in the afterlife. That was also portrayed in literature. Gradually, the concept got modified and emerged in a new way in modern literature. From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S. T. Coleridge, the concept has come down a long way to the modern-day Harry Potter series. However, the basic concept of spirit and spooky activities remains the same.
The Hunt Continues:
The concept of ghosts is one of those most-discussed topics for ages. So the hunt for finding its existence is nothing new. The history of paranormal researches or ghost hunting can be traced back to the 18th century. With the activities of organizations like the Society of Psychical Research, the hunt for ghosts began. The societies were dedicated to research extensively on topics like telepathy, apparitions, paranormal experiences, and the existence of ghosts. With in-depth research, they try to find out the answers to the questions like ghost is real or not? Though frauds are everywhere, some organizations put their genuine effort into seeking the truth about ghosts.
Later, ghost hunting became more popularized when exciting shows and movies were released. As being entertaining, they create an eerie yet enjoyable environment with their spine-chilling story lines and plots. Also, some books and journals developed the concept of the ghost in new ways. Here, we have listed down some of the path-breaking shows and books that are significant for the history of ghost hunting or paranormal research.
The Shows:
- Most Haunted – British paranormal reality TV series, aired on Living TV from 2002 to 2010.
- Ghost Hunters – American paranormal and documentary reality TV series, aired on Syfy from 2004 to 2016.
- Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters – British paranormal reality TV series, aired on Living TV from 2004 to 2006.
- Ghost Adventures – American paranormal documentary and reality television series, premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel.
- Kindred Spirits – American paranormal reality series aired on Destination Americaand TLC, from 2016 to 2018.
- Scared! – American paranormal public-access TV series premiered on September 12, 2002, on Staten Island Community Television.
- Ghost Nation – American reality television series premiered on the Travel Channelon October 11, 2019.
- Ghost Hunters Academy – A paranormal reality television series that premiered on November 11, 2009, on the Syfy.
The Books
- Paranormal Investigation: The Black Book of Scientific Ghost Hunting and How to Investigate Paranormal Phenomena (2018) – by Helen Renee Wuorio.
- Seeking Spirits: The Lost Cases of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (2009) by Jason Hawes, Michael Jan Friedman, Grant Wilson.
- Ghostly Encounters: The Hauntings of Everyday Life (2016) by Dennis and Michele Waskul.
- Missing 411: Off the Grid (2014) by David Paulides.
So, these are the major shows and books that contributed much to paranormal research. They are the rich sources to seek answers for the questions like ghost is real or not.
The Scientific Explanations:
Some questions like “do ghosts really exist?” often arise. To find answers, many passionate researchers spend a significant amount of time in their lives. As we mentioned earlier, you can see how extensive research paved the way for further studies. But what is the outcome? The science of ghosts might be able to give us an answer. The science of ghosts incorporates the expert’s explanation on why some people experience ghostly presence.
There is an interesting fact revealed by Dennis and Michele Waskul, the authors of Ghostly Encounters: The Hauntings of Everyday Life (2016) during their interviews with the ghost experiencers. Most people with paranormal experience say that they “were not sure that they had encountered a ghost and remained uncertain that such phenomena were even possible, simply because they did not see something that approximated the conventional image of a ‘ghost’ ”.
So, with such experiments, the researchers have tried to explain the science of ghosts. Let’s have a detailed discussion on that. This may give you a concrete answer for “do ghosts really exist?”
Science needs evidence – this is the main challenge to discuss the science of ghosts. Till now, there are no concrete factors that define ghosts. As a result, no evidence is formed. Personal experiences vary from one person to another. Therefore, it is hard to get a universally accepted definition or set of characteristics for ghosts. Thus, the research also becomes tougher without any firm, established base of hypotheses. Still, people have been trying to find some logical explanations for the existence of spirits. Scientists have now given a possible logical explanation that the ghostly experiences may be the results of some psychological conditions.
Possible Reasons behind the Ghostly Experiences – Few Psychological Conditions:
One of the most common psychological conditions that bring in ghostly experiences is Sleep Paralysis. If you are here to know whether a ghost is real or not, you might have heard about it. This happens when your brain is stuck between the state of being awake and sleeping. In this condition an individual dreams with their eyes wide open.
Usually, our body gets numb and our eyes move within the closed eyelid when we dream in sleep. In this state, we cannot move our bodies or react to the dream. The numbness goes away when we wake up. But in sleep paralysis, this thing continues even when you wake up. Due to this condition, people dream of spooky things like unusual screaming, creatures moving around, etc.
Another state of mind responsible for ghostly experiences is Inattentional Blindness. Often, we are so focused on some given tasks that we miss seeing many things around us. As a result, when some unusual sounds occur due to somebody’s activity, we hear the sound only without watching the person behind it. And, thus, we tend to name it a ghostly experience.
Hallucination is a frequently seen mental condition where people see unusual things. Sometimes they see faces in a flash, while occasionally, they experience activities around them. We all have hallucinations several times. For example, hearing the doorbell sound while actually it didn’t ring, or hearing someone call us while nobody is calling.
As per the specialists, such misconceptions occur when our brain perceives signals from the surrounding even when it should not. In reality, then, our brains put things together from a previous memory and get a signal out of it. Such hallucinations occur for many reasons, including chronic diseases, severe pain in the body, excessive mental stress or trauma, etc.
These conditions often raise different arguments, which have led to paranormal research falling under the pseudoscience category.
Before Pulling the Curtain Down – That Spooky Sensation:
Even if science has not found any evidence in favor of the presence of ghosts, one cannot ignore the eerie sensations that people often feel for no reason. As Shakespeare had said, “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Hamlet, William Shakespeare). Someday we may find some logical reasoning in favor of the existence of ghosts. Till then, let us continue the research while enjoying the ghost stories and horror movies.
Let’s feel and enjoy the spooky sensation in the air!
-by Ishita Mondal
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