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Ghost Existence

      A woman wakes up in the middle of the night.  She hears somebody walking in the hallway outside of her bedroom.  Her children are at a sleepover and her husband is working late; she knows that she is the only one home.  She gets up out of bed and sucks in a deep breath.  She slowly opens the bedroom door, unsure of what she will find on the other side.  As she peaks out, she hears a whisper down the hall.  She runs to it, desperate to find the source.  She follows the whispers down the stairs to the kitchen.  The light is on, even though she is sure that she turned it off before going up to bed.  She checks the windows and doors--they are all locked.  She searches the house but finds nobody.  Who is responsible for the noises? Who turned the kitchen light on? Perhaps a better question is what was responsible?  There is nobody else in the house, so there is only one other explanation; ghosts.

     

       The existence of ghosts and other paranormal entities has been, and continues to be, a much debated topic by people all over the world.  For as long as we have known, there have been unexplained occurrences and activities.  While skeptics do not believe in the existence of ghosts, they do not have valid explanation for many of these events.  While it is often difficult to find conclusive evidence of existence, it is certainly out there.  By looking at this monumental debate from various angles, it is impossible to deny that ghosts exist.  There are three arguments that I will make in support of my position.  These include scientific evidence, documentation of ghost hauntings in history, and investigative evidence collected by paranormal research societies. 

      Until fairly recently, there has been no conclusive scientific evidence of the existence of ghosts.  In 2010, a scientist by the name of Dr. Barrie Colvin conducted and published research on the topic.  In his article, "The Acoustic Properties of Unexplained Rapping Sounds," Dr. Colvin, who said he does not believe in paranormal entities 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 and animals heard during everyday life (Colvin, 65).

      As stated above, Dr. Colvin is a scientist, as well as a skeptic.  He was expecting the wavelengths to appear identical.  Instead 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 were completely dumbfounded (Colvin, 65-93).

      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" (Colvin, 87).

      When looking through history, it is impossible to deny the role that ghosts and ghost stories have played in many cultures.  Humans have believed that a spirit can remain on earth after the body has died since the time of the ancient Egyptians.  According to the Discovery Channel, the first poltergeist activity was recorded in 856 AD in a farmhouse in Germany.  It is said that the evil spirit haunted the family's home by throwing stones and banging on walls.  One of the first records of a ghost encounter was dated in the first century AD in a house in Athens.  In this house a ghost would rattle chains and make full body apparitions, in the form of a white, transparent shadow. 

      Many times when we hear of ghosts in history, we are told of historical sites, such as battlefields and old houses, schools, and jails that are haunted.  In his book series, The Ghosts of Williamsburg, of which there are two volumes, journalist L.B. Taylor Jr. writes about ghost sightings at historically haunted sites in the colonial colonies, particularly Virginia.  One story in particular proves to be quite interesting.  This is one of many ghost encounters emanating from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.  The story says that a ghost, "Lucinda," haunts the building housing the campus theater.  She has been seen and heard mainly in the lighting booth and around the stage manager's stations for close to fifty years now (Taylor, 53).  One student recalls an encounter he had while rehearsing piano one night.  When he finished rehearsal and prepared to leave, he heard a female's voice say "oh, don't stop" (Taylor, 54).  After searching around the theater, he found nobody. 

      Much research has been done on this "Lucinda," however, little definitive evidence has been found.  During one seance held in the theater, the students came across the name of L. Battey, and after doing research found that this was the name of a female student that was very active in the theater program.  She was killed in a farming accident during a school break.  Determined to find out more about this strange spirit, a few students chose to stage a sit-in of sorts.  One night, after rehearsals had ended, they turned out all of the theater lights and sat at the edge of the stage, waiting.  In their words, "something flew out of the pit towards [them] . . . a rush of air, almost transparent, weird and cold" (Taylor, 56).  The spirit seemed to have chased them as they ran out of the theater.

      While it is true that ghosts have been prominent in much of our history as a people, and scientific evidence has begun to push the limits on what skeptics believe to be untrue, the best evidence of ghost existence are the encounters and findings of paranormal investigative societies.  TAPS, or The Atlantic Paranormal Society, is one of the largest paranormal research organizations and the group behind the hit show Ghost Hunters ("The Taps Mentality").  One of the most memorable moment of any TAPS investigations occurred during an investigation at the Goldfield Hotel.  When the team asked if there was a spirit present, a brick was hurled across the room, with no explanation.  The video was later examined by an expert, and it was concluded that the video was not tampered with and that the brick was moves by an unknown source ("Ghost Hunters").

      Manchester Paranormal Investigations is another research group based out of Connecticut.  In July of 2011, the team conducted an investigation at the Shanley Hotel in New York.  It was built in 1845, and in its prime it was considered one of the most luxurious hotels in the country.  There were several tragedies that occurred at the hotel, ranging from people dying or natural causes to suicide and murder.  There have been many reports of ghost encounters in the hotel, including doors opening and closing, strange smells, sounds of whistling and footsteps, furniture bring moves, and even full body apparitions ("History of the Shanley Hotel").

      During the investigation, team members slept in the hotel, in hopes of gaining first-hand insight into the hauntings.  Upon entering the site, one of the investigators felt a brush against his neck.  The team was able to gather multiple EVP recordings, which are simply recordings of spirit's communication with our world.  These recordings were taking in each of the investigator's rooms.  They asked the spirits in each room if they should leave, and the answers ranged from "die" to "maybe."  There were also several pictures taken by the investigators, a few of which shower some unexplainable shadows or forms.  In the conclusion of their investigation, the team admits that even they were skeptical about this case at first, but after collecting evidence, they concluded that there are active spirits at the hotel ("History of the Shanley Hotel"). 

      Unfortunately, it is extremely easy for skeptics to debunk and undermine stories and collected evidence supporting ghost existence.  They say that pictures are photo shopped, video and voice recordings are tampered with, and stories are simply made up.  While in some cases this is true, there are so many legitimate pieces of evidence with no explanations.  As stated earlier, it has been proven that many videos and pictures have not been tampered with or edited.  As for the stories, again, some are fabricated, but there are many that come from credible sources, and are consistent with other accounts of hauntings at the same locations.  If someone were to say they saw a ghost it is, in fact up to the listener to trust what the person is telling them.  Investigative    teams devote their lives to collecting and providing evidence of these entities and, as stated above, science is coming close to conclusively providing the same.  To dismiss all pieces of evidence based on the falsity of a few would be naive. 

      It is often said that for the believer, no proof is necessary, and for the non-believer, no proof is possible.  This is not true.  Believers need the proof to reassure their certainties, and non-believers need proof to understand what they cannot see.  From the day we are born, society tells us not to pay attention to silly ghost stories; that they are a waste of time, or for children.  We are conformed to a culture where things are monotonous and normal.  Then, something happens; a cabinet slams shut, a light turns off.  The believer accepts this as evidence of what he has known all along, but the non-believer cannot, because it shatters all that he has been taught.  Maybe a ghostly brush on the shoulder, the sound of unknown footsteps down the hall, or the blurry image of someone gone before us is all that it takes to turn a skeptic into a believer; to prove that ghosts do, indeed, exist.

Works Cited

Colvin, Barrie G. "The Acoustic Properties of Unexplained Rapping Sounds." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 73.2 (2010): 65-93. Paraphysics Research Group. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. <http://www.poltergeist.org.uk/>.

"Ghost History." The Discovery Channel. Discovery Communications, Inc., 2010. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. <http://www.yourdiscovery.com/paranormal/spirit_world/history/index.shtml>.

"Ghost Hunters." Ghost Hunters. Syfy. Web. 7 Apr. 2012. <http://www.syfy.com/ghosthunters/about>.

"History of the Shanley Hotel." MPI. Manchester Paranormal Investigations, 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2012. <http://www.manchesterparanormal.org/Shanley-Hotel-2011.php>.

"The TAPS Mentality." TAPS. The Atlantic Paranormal Society. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. <http://the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/about-taps/taps-mentality>.

Taylor, L.B. The Ghosts of Williamsburg. Vol. 2. USA: Progress Printing, 2001. Print.