One problem many skeptics may have when it comes to the existence of ghosts and other spiritual entities is the lack of scientific evidence. While it is true that even the most definitive evidence collected by paranormal investigators may never be accepted by scientific communities, a scientist by the name of Dr. Barrie Colvin has spent the past five years studying paranormal sounds. His findings may not be "accepted" by the scientific community, but his research was, in fact, published. The article is titled, "The Acoustic Properties of Unexplained Rapping Sounds" and it appeared in in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, volume 73.2 pages 65-93, in 2010.
Dr. Colvin, who has said he did not believe in life after death, himself, has studied haunting noises recorded from various ghost hunts that were suspected, by the investigators that recorded them, to be poltergeist activity. By using high-tech, scientific equipment, Dr. Colvin measured the wavelengths of these recorded noises and compared them to similar sounds commonly made by people, animals, and other common noises heard during every day life.
As stated above, Dr. Colvin is a scientist, as well as a skeptic. He was expecting the wavelengths to appear identical. He found that, although the noises sounded the same, they "looked" completely different. For example, with a typical, human made "rapping" sound, the loudest part (or largest wavelength) occurs at the very beginning of the sound, and slowly fades out. In a poltergeist rapping sound, the longest wavelength is at the beginning, but not the very beginning. Instead, it starts off quietly, gets louder, and then softens again. When Dr. Colvin and his colleagues tried to come up with an explanation for this difference, they found themselves completely dumbfounded.
wavelength from human made rapping noise
wavelength from poltergeist cases rapping noise
In the conclusion of his article, Dr. Colvin writes, "there is no obvious reason as to why the raps occur or indeed how they occur. However, I do believe that the evidence for raps that are produced by currently unknown means is strong. Furthermore, the evidence supporting the notion that the raps can be used as a means of communication is also strong."
Dr. Barrie Colvin has now formed the Paraphysics Research Group, and is continuing to find scientific evidence of the existence of the paranormal.
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