What Are Ghosts, Really?

Last time I just blogged, I asked if anyone believed in ghosts.  I tried to give any reader an idea of the philosophical and religious connections we have with ghosts.  This time I'd like to be less philosophical and more scientific, even though that isn't exactly what will happen - I'll warn you now.

First, let me say that most of us use the term "ghost" to describe a large variety of different paranormal anomalies; we kind of lump it all under one big term.  However, there are lots of separate pieces of action going on here!  Let me show you just a few of the different definitions you'll find in various paranormal glossaries which most of the population In the USA generally categorizes as GHOST:

APPARITION:  A visual appearance or hallucination, often of a person or scene, generally experienced in a waking or hypnagogic / hypnopompic state.

BANSHEE:  An omen spirit of Scotland and Ireland; supposedly when its scream is heard by someone that person shall die soon.

DAEMON:  A guardian spirit who communicates inspiration and advice.

DEMONS:  A malevolent, or inhuman essence that is said to have the ability to enter your home via various behavior, it is claimed that in such cases a demon/daemon will attach itself to an individual and not the home and therefore will follow where ever that person goes, similar too but not to be confused with possession. 

DISCARNATE ENTITY:  A spirit or non-material entity.  Often used to refer to the personality of a deceased individual.  See also channeling, communication, mediumship, possession, survival.

DISEMBODIED VOICE:  A voice heard that comes from no physical body. Can also be captured as EVP.

ECTO-MIST; ECTOPLASMIC MIST:  A cloudy substance caught on film but usually not seen at the time it is filmed; it normally look like a fog.  The term is popularly used to describe anomalous manifestations which appear as a light mist, inexplicable smoke, or a dense fog which may take on apparitional form.

EVP:  Electronic voice phenomena. Voices captured on audio tape when no one is present. It is believed that these voices are from spirits attempting to communicate with living people.

GHOST:  Generic term to describe a deceased person or image appearing to the living.  Animals and even inanimate objects, like buildings, can also be ghosts.

GUIDE; SPIRIT GUIDE:  A spirit who is believed to assist a person's spiritual journey.

PHANTOM:  An apparition or a spectre, existing only as an energy form.

POLTERGEIST:  A German word for "Noisy or mischievous ghost".  A destructive spirit or energy able to move objects (through PK, telportaion, or an unknown direct exertion).

RESIDUAL; RESIDUAL HAUNTING:  Believed to be a psychic imprint of scene upon the objects and materials of the scene.  This form keeps repeating itself and does not interact or react with those who observe it.

SPIRIT:  An entity or energy believed to exist in an invisible realm that may only be seen under certain circumstances or by persons with advanced psychic abilities.


There are more to the list than these, but this will give you an idea of the scope of material that is covered by the generic terms GHOST and HAUNTED.  While we're looking at the list, however, you will see that there is a common theme running through most of the terms and definitions.


For the most part a ghost is apparently anything that may no longer be living but has a probability of having once been alive.  The exceptions to this appear to be anything that could be explained as the result of Psychokinetic (PK) energy from a living source, non-living entities of unknown origin and energy capabilities such as demons, elementals, angels, etc., aliens from other dimensions (don't laugh!), and god- or godlike beings.  So, with this almost infinite possible selection where is the truth?  Is there a truth?

The scientific method requires research, observation, detailed analysis, and the creation of a hypothesis in order to design and observe experimentation within a controlled environment to determine the validity of the hypothesis.  If sufficient information presents itself, the hypothesis then becomes a theory and undergoes further continuing study and scrutiny.  In other words, if ghosts exist and are a real part of our universe, then they must follow some known laws of this universe which can be observed or implied through indirect observation, measured, or manipulated with measurable sources of energy or matter interactions.
 
Ghost Hunters use some of this method: they attempt to capture EVP, photograph anomalies such as orbs, mist, streaks, apparent vortexes, apparitions, and other anomalies; they also take readings of the temperature, note the weather conditions, humidity and time of day; they test for abnormal areas of electromagnetic energy, radioactivity, and geological abnormalities such as magnetic areas which might affect the observers.  Then they take this evidence and, if they are serious, try to analyze it by determining what is most probably not paranormal (voices in another part of a building, car lights through a curtain causing moving shadows in a room, cold drafts from a poorly sealed window, electrical wiring with insufficient shielding, dust or smoke reflected and lit by the camera flash, and so on.  Then they compile and examine the remaining data that could not be discarded.  This is what they base their final field analysis on and determine the possible "Hauntedness" of any given location.

To my knowledge there has never been any successful research done under controlled conditions.  If anyone has ever heard of such, please let me know!  Parapsychologists have researched some things which fall close to the paranormal GHOST such as PK, but I have never heard of controlled testing for EVP

So, now unfortunately it boils down to belief again.  Are you a skeptic or a believer?  Do you delve into Philosophy, Religion, Metaphysics, Psychology, or hard core Science? That in and of itself can skew your results because of the wonderful worlds of quantum.  But that is another story.