Imaginary Friends or Friendly Haunts?

Did you ever wonder why Casper befriended the young Wendy?  Or why in movies like Paranormal Activity 3, the children are the main victims of paranormal entities?  I, for one, have wondered this, and so i decided to do some research about why children seem to be more prone to paranormal experiences than adults are.  I found that recently, a study was conducted to help answered this exact question.

The study was conducted through an e-mail survey, in which the researchers asked specific

questions of the subjects and their parents.  The questions asked included information about the child, such as age, whether the child has had a near death experience, and where and how often the child sees the ghost.  The questions also include ones relating to the child's experience with the ghosts, such as the content of the interaction - if the ghost asked favors of the child, if anybody else in the family had seen the ghosts, and if the child felt threatened or was told not to tell their parents about the visits.  The final set of questions asked about the appearance of the ghosts.  Each set of questions asked subjects to elaborate on each answer, in order to fully understand the child's ability and experiences. 

The study concluded that the for the most part, a child's ability to see, hear, and speak to ghosts peaks anywhere between 6 months and 4 years of age.  This seems to be because this is the age before children are told that what they are seeing is a ghost, and to them it is as normal as interacting with the living. After the children become aware of this, or told that ghosts are just "in their imagination," they tend to ignore their ghosts and lose their abilities.  This tends to happen between the ages of 5 and 11 years old. 

The study also concluded that, according to descriptions by children and family, children are more than likely visited by family member that passed away long before they were even born.  The children tend to see these ghosts in full body apparition form, and are therefore able to fully describe the figure to family.  It is believed that these family members are simply watching over the children until they feel that the child no longer needs their protection (take a look at "Why They Hang Around" to find out more about this, and other reasons ghosts stay in the living world).  This would also explain why most children lose their abilities between the ages of 5 and 11, for this is the age that children begin going to school and learning more about right and wrong.  They are better able to take care and look after themselves.

The study includes several examples of answered surveys from several subjects, as well as photos submitted by subjects.  One mother filling out the questionnaire notes that her 3 year old sees her grandfather that had been deceased for 13 years.  The 3 year old tells her parent that "he keeps her safe."

It is a simple conclusion.  Babies and children are not the only people who see ghosts.  They are simply the only people who admit it.  They have not been told that ghosts aren't real, and are therefore open to seeing and speaking to apparitions. 

Sorry Skeptics . . . This One's Real

One major problem skeptics seem to have with investigative evidence is that fact that some videos and photos appear to have been tampered with.  While it is impossible to say that every video documenting the existence of paranormal entities is legitimate, it would also be incorrect to say that none of them are. 

In an earlier post, The Proof Is In The Tapes, I showed a video clip from an episode of ghost hunters.  In the clip, a brick goes flying across a room after the TAPS investigative team asks for proof that there is an entity present.  If you read the comments on the video, many skeptics claim that the video had to have been tampered with.  Here is the video, again:

In this next video, a professional video analyst takes a look at the clip to see if it had been edited in any way.  After investigating several theories, the analyst give his opinion that the video WAS NOT tampered with in any way.  The analyst provides further explanation in the video:

There you have it, the video was not tampered with, and the brick was, in fact, thrown by something unexplainable. 

Many times, pictures of ghosts are also said to be photoshopped or edited.  This website is extremely helpful in this matter.  It has two categories of pictures - one in which there is no explanation for the orbs or figures in the photo, and one for which there is.  There is also an explanation of how the picture was edited, and how to tell whether a figure in a photo is a result of dust on the lens or if it is an actual entity.

This one photo, in particular, caught my eye.  It was in the real column on the website.  If you look closely, you are actually able to see a face in the figure.

Check out some of the other pictures for yourself, and read the explanations of how the pictures couldn't have been tampered with. 

Haunting Statistics

Just how many people out there actually believe in ghosts?  Are most of them men or women?  Does belief in ghosts and hauntings change with age?  What about from country to country?  I find that these are questions that many believers find themselves wondering. After doing some research, I found several interesting articles on the subjects of who, exactly, believes.  And, well, for the skeptics, statistics just don't lie.


Over the years, many polls have been taken to answer many of society's most pressing questions.  The belief in ghosts is one of these.  This article from MSNBC reports that in 2007 1 in 3 people in America believe in the existence of ghosts.  That's one third of Americans - the same amount of Americans that say they are baseball fans.  Even more staggering than that is that 23% of Americans actually have SEEN or HEARD a ghost themselves.  3 in 10 Americans have reported waking up in the middle of the night sensing a strange presence in their rooms (check out my earlier post, Haunted . . . that's 3 people right there!). 

In this article,  CBS news breaks down these statistics further.  They report that two years later, in 2009 up to 48% of Americans reported to believe in ghosts.  Of all the people that believe, 56% were women, and 54% were under the age of 45. 

Take a look at the breakdown of believers for yourself:

                             All

                                  48%

                                  Men

                                  38%

                                  Women

                                   56%

                                  Under 45

                                   54%

                                  45 and over

                                   41%

Now, I think it is interesting to compare American results to the results from another part of the world.  This poll was taken in the UK.  It reports that 57% of people believed in ghosts.  That number is staggering compared to the American statistics.  I'm not sure as to why the numbers would be so different, but, according to the survey author of the UK poll, Jan Walsh, "the minds of the British public are open to all kinds of other-worldly phenomenon." 

This poll shows that in Canada, nearly 50% of people believe in ghosts.  Again, this is higher than the American results, although only 18% of Canadians say that they have actually had an experience with an entity.  Similarly to America, about half of the believers are women. 

The differences between the paranormal beliefs of Americans versus the beliefs of other countries around the world are interesting.  But, it appears that of the people that believe, most tend to be women and young in age.  Check out the poll over on my side bar and let me know if you belief in ghosts or other paranormal entities!

Almost Science

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.

Why They Hang Around

Many people find it difficult to understand why a spirit would not simply "move on" after death.  According to this article, there are many reasons for this, and often times it is necessary to understand a spirits reason for lingering before it is possible to figure out why they are inhabiting a particular place.

Often times, spirits can move back and forth between their world and the living world.  They tend to make their presence known in times of stress, in hopes of comforting the ones they left behind.  They don't want to see their loved ones in despair, so they try to send signs and surround us with love.  These ghosts choose to stay behind, but for others, the choice is not theirs.  They simply can't move on to the other side. 

So, here are 10 reasons spirits may choose to "hang around":

1. Trauma: If a person dies suddenly, it may be difficult for the spirit to accept the fact that it is no longer living.  It may not understand that it is no longer connected to its human body. 

2. Skepticism and Atheism: WATCH OUT SKEPTICS!! A lack of a belief system tends to make it difficult for a spirit to move on.  Since skeptics and atheists spend their living lives believing that there is nothing for them after death, they have trouble dealing with the fact that they are, in fact still around and aware of what is happening in the living world.

3. Unfinished Business: Sometimes, spirits need to finish something before they can move on.  The desire to send a message to a loved one left behind is one of the most powerful reasons for lingering. 

4. Protection:A spirit may feel that a loved on earth needs protection from something.  Think about a parent who passes and wants to make sure no harm comes to his or her children.

5. Love: A spirit may be unwilling to leave behind a strong bond with a living person.  When they feel that they are able to leave the bond behind, they can move on. Hello!! - take a look at the final scene with Sam and Molly in the movie "Ghost."

6. Hate: A spirit holding onto resentment, anger, and hatred may find it difficult to move past the living world.

7. Fear: People who lived a life with a rigid belief system may be fearful of judgement and punishment, and will therefore not cross over.

8. Familiarity: A spirit may not feel the need to move on simply because it feels comfortable with its loved ones on earth.  A spirit like this will hang around for a few years before it is finally able to leave.

9. Curiosity: Some spirits stick around to know what happens.  They're interested in what will happen at their funeral - who will come? what will they say?  These are the people that were very involved in earthly activities and are just not willing to give it up. 

10.  Revenge: A spirit may want to seek revenge on the person responsible for their death or someone who had cheated them in their life- who wouldn't want to see their murderer get punished?!  Some may simply be envious of those still living and wish to seek revenge on them for not being the ones who passed. 

Whatever the reason for a spirit to stay in the living world, it is important to understand that the decision to move on is the spirit's alone.  They must choose when it is their time to "go towards the light."  No living person can make a spirit choose to leave, and attempting to do so may be dangerous. 

Haunted

While doing some research, I came across a page from a website called Ghost Source where every day people can go and post the stories of their personal experiences with ghosts and other entities.  This story in particular caught my eye because it reminded me of an experience I had at a family gathering a few weeks ago. 

We were at my aunts house celebrating my grandfather's 80th birthday, when my grandma told him to tell the family about the experience he had a few nights earlier.  As he began to tell his story, I noticed my dad and aunt glimpse at each other, as if they knew exactly where my grandfather was headed.  My grandpa wasn't more than a few seconds into his story before the two of them began finishing his sentences.

He said that he had woken up in the middle of the night, with the feeling that somebody was in his bedroom.  He glimpsed down at the foot of the bed and there was a shadow sitting there.  He said that the presence was so strong that he felt as if he needed to move his feet over to make room for the figure.  It sat on the foot of his bed for no longer than a minute, got up and left his room.  The next morning, he asked my grandmother if she had come into his room that night (they don't sleep in the same room because my grandpa's snoring keeps my grandma awake).  When she said she hadn't they both became worried that somebody, or something, else had been in the house with them. 

As I stated earlier, as my grandpa was retelling the events of that night, my dad and aunt were finishing his sentences, as if they had heard the story before.  They hadn't heard it before. They had lived it.  My dad began to explain that when they were younger, the same thing happened to he and my aunt at least one night a week.  They never told my grandparents about it, in fear that they would think that their children were crazy.  My father and aunt agreed that they would see three figures walking up the stairs (the way the bedrooms are situated, you can easily see the stair case from their beds).  They would stand at the landing at the top of the stairs, and look as if they were contemplating who would enter each of the rooms.  Then one of them would go into my aunt's room. It would hover at the top of the bed by her heads for a few moments, go and sit on the foot of the bed, and then leave and go do the same routine in my father's room.  It would then go back out into the landing and the figures would head back down the stairs.

My grandmother is the only person that has lived in that house and not had this experience.  When my grandfather slept in the same room as her, he did not have this experience either.  Now, he is staying in the room my dad had while he was living there, and this has happened to him three nights since he told us his story. 

We don't know who these figures are - or were - but we do know that they have some connection to my grandparent's house, and particularly the two children's bedrooms.