Scientists might have an explanation of why we see ghosts

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http://www.unilad.co.uk/creepy/scientists-may-have-found-an-explanation-for-ghosts/

What do the Kardashian’s ‘talent’ and ghosts have in common? There’s very little evidence that either exist, but despite this thousands of people across the planet believe in them anyway.

Interestingly though there may be a very good reason why people think they’ve been visited by a spirit from beyond the grave and it has nothing to do with people dying in your home, Ouija boards or demonic forces.


In fact the reason that people see ghosts or otherworldly apparitions is all down to something called ‘infrasound‘ a frequency of sound so low (20Hz to be precise) that the human ear can’t hear it but that doesn’t mean we can’t feel it.

http://www.unilad.co.uk/creepy/scientists-may-have-found-an-explanation-for-ghosts/
 
The "fear frequency" idea is fairly old, I remember it being mentioned as far back as the early 2000s. I remember that back then, the main counter-argument was that it could only account for blurry blob-like phenomena (shadowy figures and the like, caused by the effect in the eyes) accompanied by persecution delusion/anxiety and not all cases, in particular not the ones where people claim to be able to discern specific traits with clarity. I have no idea about more current arguments, but I'm not really into ghosts and have never seen one, so there's likely someone more informed here.

Actually, I'm curious if one of the users has actually seen a ghost...
 
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One difficulty is that the word 'ghost' is a generic term used to label all sorts of completely different phenomena. When offering an 'explanation', one first has to define the phenomena under consideration. That article mentions loosely, "a spirit from beyond the grave", and "pipes in your wall" and "a profound sense of dread, nausea and a general sense of unease".

On the rather unexciting occasion when I saw a ghost as a child, none of these necessarily applied. Certainly extensive plumbing was still an undreamed of luxury, we had an outside toilet and a cold-water tap in the kitchen. I felt no unease or dread. I wasn't sure, either then or now, whether what I saw was inhabited by a spirit, in the living, active sense, or was more of a visual echo more akin to a projected cinema image, devoid of life.

What I did see was a large lady who appeared somewhat stout in build, walk slowly from the bedroom doorway, around the bed and then disappear (someone lying down in bed might also visually disappear). When I asked my parents the following day who this lady was, they offered gentle ridicule and didn't take the report seriously. With hindsight, I'm not sure whether the 'stout build' might not have been a heavily pregnant young woman, though my feeling at the time was that she was closer to her fifties. (I was probably aged about six or seven at the time).
 
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One difficulty is that the word 'ghost' is a generic term used to label all sorts of completely different phenomena. When offering an 'explanation', one first has to define the phenomena under consideration. That article mentions loosely, "a spirit from beyond the grave", and "pipes in your wall" and "a profound sense of dread, nausea and a general sense of unease".

On the rather unexciting occasion when I saw a ghost as a child, none of these necessarily applied. Certainly extensive plumbing was still an undreamed of luxury, we had an outside toilet and a cold-water tap in the kitchen. I felt no unease or dread. I wasn't sure, either then or now, whether what I saw was inhabited by a spirit, in the living, active sense, or was more of a visual echo more akin to a projected cinema image, devoid of life.

What I did see was a large lady who appeared somewhat stout in build, walk slowly from the bedroom doorway, around the bed and then disappear (someone lying down in bed might also visually disappear). When I asked my parents the following day who this lady was, they offered gentle ridicule and didn't take the report seriously. With hindsight, I'm not sure whether the 'stout build' might not have been a heavily pregnant young woman, though my feeling at the time was that she was closer to her fifties. (I was probably aged about six or seven at the time).

Interesting. Did you take note of her features (for example, some distinct ethnic trait), clothing, etc.?
 
Interesting. Did you take note of her features, clothing, etc.?
Not really. I forgot to mention that this was at night-time, there was dim light creeping through the curtains from street-lighting, but not enough to discern either colour or detail. I think at that age it would have required an adult investigator to conduct an interview and record my answers, I certainly didn't write anything down until decades later.
 
As typoz says, depends what people mean by a ghost... I think I may have seen a classic haunting type apparition in 2007... gave me a real fright, and I had to sleep with a light on for a number of nights afterwards. The story is on my blog.

Infrasound... nice try.

True, non critical thinkers and social skeptics will be convinced by this simple explanation. Does novella have an explanation? ;)
 
Funny you should bring this up because I was just reading about infrasound about a week and a half ago or so on a different forum.

I think I’ve told this story before here, but when I was fourteen my mom and I moved back from another state to our former state as we’d relocated for a temporary job for my Dad’s employer. My dad was to join us later, but my parents had purchased a house, and my older brother was living in the house until we returned. He lived with us for awhile until sometime after my dad moved back.

My brother told me, when we moved in, that he thought the house might be haunted. He said that he heard strange noises in the night and that electronics would turn on and then off again. My brother had always been a bit of a prankster, so I didn’t take him too seriously, thinking he was just trying to scare me. Also, I didn’t believe in ghosts. My brother worked second shift, so I didn’t see him that much since he slept during the day and got home late at night, and I was, of course, in school.

One night, a few months after we moved in, only my mom and I were home. She tended to go to bed early, so this night I was alone in the living room. The lights were on, so it wasn’t dark in the room. I was fooling around as fourteen year olds do, and I was dancing around (badly — I couldn’t dance) when I got the distinct feeling that I was being watched. I whipped around and saw… I don’t know what… It looked like a shadow, the form seemed male, with no distinct face other than a huge grin. It was just an instant I saw it because it poofed within a second. I was shaken up and unsure of what I’d seen, and I remember saying, “Mom?” even though I knew that was ridiculous since that was definitely not my mother. I looked around the house, finding nothing.

That was the only time I saw anything strange in the house, and I never heard the noises my brother talked about or had problems with electronics. I asked him a long time later if he said all that to scare me, and he swore it was true.

Over the years, I’ve wondered if it was a ghost, some other kind of apparition, or just my imagination. That maybe the feeling of being watched was so strong, that when I turned around I EXPECTED to see something, and so I did. However, I was never prone to hallucinating things, and I haven’t seen a “ghost” since then.
 

He would probably say that they are only hallucinations, be they caused by infrasound (case in point) or...

The more recent "toxic mold"-induced idea. I can't comment much on that last one, not having read anything beyond the rash of articles traced back to a paper published by an university in NY.

But, it does seem convenient that these hallucinations would only manifest as apparitions and exclude all of the other types of visions/weirdness induced by psychoactive substances. I'm also not sure how this would account for sightings reported in open spaces, such as battlefields or graveyards.
 
He would probably say that they are only hallucinations, be they caused by infrasound (case in point) or...

The more recent "toxic mold"-induced idea. I can't comment much on that last one, not having read anything beyond the rash of articles traced back to a paper published by an university in NY.

But, it does seem convenient that these hallucinations would only manifest as apparitions and exclude all of the other types of visions/weirdness induced by psychoactive substances. I'm also not sure how this would account for sightings reported in open spaces, such as battlefields or graveyards.

I definitely agree.
 
Actually, I'm curious if one of the users has actually seen a ghost...

I think I did (for the first time in my life...probably) just two/three years ago. I was standing in the kitchen talking to my wife late at night. I was close to the doorway into the hall when I caught sight of a shadow or something. Something moved anyway, from the front door and proceeded up the stairs. I know my wife was aware of something to. I thought it was one of my sons but my wife said he wasn't back tonight so I immediately went to the knife drawer (which I shouldn't have done thinking back)

I gingerly mounted the stairs but after checking everywhere there was no one. I'm pretty certain I saw something, my wife (who is not interested in such matters) knew by the expression on my face that something had occurred but she quickly forgot about it. If it was a ghost then it was very unspectacular.

A friend of mine apparently can see the deceased and does do quite regularly (apparently). He claimed to have seen the long since deceased father of one of his friends in his bedroom when he was staying at his friends house. My friend had never seen his father but he described someone that fitted the bill. He's a very straightforward, down to earth type of guy with no reason to make something up like this. Of course it's of no value to anyone else really, these things really only convince the ones who've actually seen them.
 
I think I did (for the first time in my life...probably) just two/three years ago. I was standing in the kitchen talking to my wife late at night. I was close to the doorway into the hall when I caught sight of a shadow or something. Something moved anyway, from the front door and proceeded up the stairs. I know my wife was aware of something to. I thought it was one of my sons but my wife said he wasn't back tonight so I immediately went to the knife drawer (which I shouldn't have done thinking back)

I gingerly mounted the stairs but after checking everywhere there was no one. I'm pretty certain I saw something, my wife (who is not interested in such matters) knew by the expression on my face that something had occurred but she quickly forgot about it. If it was a ghost then it was very unspectacular.

A friend of mine apparently can see the deceased and does do quite regularly (apparently). He claimed to have seen the long since deceased father of one of his friends in his bedroom when he was staying at his friends house. My friend had never seen his father but he described someone that fitted the bill. He's a very straightforward, down to earth type of guy with no reason to make something up like this. Of course it's of no value to anyone else really, these things really only convince the ones who've actually seen them.

I had no idea that these were so common. But in you case, it's worthy to note that both of you were aware of 'something' and that she didn't seem to experience any panic or anxiety, which is a key symptom in both of these hypotheses.

I can't say that there's anyone 'gifted' close to me, but as a concept mediumship seems like one hell of a gift to me. Possessing full certainty is something that most of us will never experience.
 
I had no idea that these were so common. But in you case, it's worthy to note that both of you were aware of 'something' and that she didn't seem to experience any panic or anxiety, which is a key symptom in both of these hypotheses.

I can't say that there's anyone 'gifted' close to me, but as a concept mediumship seems like one hell of a gift to me. Possessing full certainty is something that most of us will never experience.
I'm not sure even most mediums have complete certainty of survival. I have only known one person personally able to support complete confidence based on their experience.
 
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