The Creepy Scientific Explanation Behind Ghost Sightings

[SilentLoner]

There is simply no evidence that dead people wander aimlessly around old houses, and no known scientific principle that would make it possible. But a lot of people have seen ghosts. A lot. There are certain spots and buildings where separate, unrelated witnesses have reported ghosts independently, without having talked to each other or being aware of the area being "haunted."

 

It appears that science has stumbled across the reason for it. It has nothing to do with the supernatural, but the answer is almost as weird.

 

 

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html#ixzz2YQJzFT6m

[florduh]

I know what I seen. The ship hoovered over the trailer park, and them little aliens...uh...no, that was my alien encounter. Never mind.

 

Seriously, I did see the haunted building debunked on TV. Extremely low frequencies have a weird effect on the human brain, and it's testable and repeatable. I do think, if we even need an evolutionary reason, the susceptibility to low frequencies was helpful to early humans as a warning of seismic activity. Unfortunately, the fact that we can now understand how unusual brain activity can be induced and cause spooky visions and feelings will have no impact on the true believer.

[JamesG]

hmmm my wife believes in ghosts time to experiment MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA 18.9hrz here I come!!!!!!!!

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly. Especially, my own experiences. While I never saw a ghost, certain places just rubbed me the wrong way being in or going through them, and this could explain why. Instantly making me feel paranoid.

 

Anyone know of a culture that didn't believe in ghosts?

 

Also, the part about the tiger was interesting, the fact that they make that noise. It just goes to suggest what many already suspect, they used to be among our natural predators.

[Thurisaz]

Silent I think it's time now for me to officially welcome you to the society of cracked.com addicts

[SciWalker]

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

[florduh]

Please refer to my previous post (#2). 

 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/believing-bull/201106/why-do-people-believe-in-invisible-beings

 

http://www.michaelshermer.com/weird-things/

[SciWalker]

Please refer to my previous post (#2). 

 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/believing-bull/201106/why-do-people-believe-in-invisible-beings

 

http://www.michaelshermer.com/weird-things/

 

This is old hat, and these Oxford psychology professors will be suitably rebuffed -- just tell them that all scientists believe in something invisible, namely the electron, and the former reality of their great-great-great grandparents. It's patronising crap.

 

I really think that the dozen or so members of this MB that spend their whole day (well, it can't be far short of that) going round all the forums agreeing with and applauding everything mainstream and dissing everything that isn't aren't humans, but  bots. They certainly have that aura about them.

[florduh]

applauding everything mainstream

 

And some dismiss anything "mainstream" solely due to the fact that it is mainstream. Just have to be different, to know better than the unwashed masses, to have the REAL facts to wave at the mainstream dullards. It's like a fucking religious belief.

 

Mainstream science is predominant because virtually every scientist has arrived at the same result and conclusion when doing the same study. Errors are constantly corrected, and views change, but a new view - particularly a radically different one - must pass the real world tests or else it's just a crackpot theory unworthy of serious consideration. If an idea is not testable, don't expect science to embrace it; that notion lies outside of science and in the realm of faith and religious belief.

[SciWalker]

 

applauding everything mainstream

 

And some dismiss anything "mainstream" solely due to the fact that it is mainstream. Just have to be different, to know better than the unwashed masses, to have the REAL facts to wave at the mainstream dullards. It's like a fucking religious belief.

 

Mainstream science is predominant because virtually every scientist has arrived at the same result and conclusion when doing the same study. Errors are constantly corrected, and views change, but a new view - particularly a radically different one - must pass the real world tests or else it's just a crackpot theory unworthy of serious consideration. If an idea is not testable, don't expect science to embrace it; that notion lies outside of science and in the realm of faith and religious belief.

 

 

See what I mean?

I am not going to go down the route of quizzing you about your experiences/scientific studies of the strange phenonemon of academics toeing the line, as I am too much of a sceptic to believe that you have any testable hypotheses or repeatable experiments to be worth considering, let alone publishing in a peer-reviewed journal.

[JamesG]

queue the music DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!!!!!

 

sciwalker is invading your computer screens. He is a force of quantum particles that have assembled to obfuscate the truth of science. The collective quantum particles of the known universe feel that it is in its best interest to keep humanity from becoming intelligent.

 

/puts on tin foil hat plugs ears and screams LALALALALALALALALALA

 

don't try it Florduh he is a troll!!!! run away

[florduh]

I know. Just proving a point for others.

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

 

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

 

I've actually read so many I've actually lost count. Believe it or not. Even better! My brother and I have seen plenty of ghosts in our time, and neither of us seen blurry audio-visual strangeness. No, even better.

 

My older brother has seen far more ghosts than I have, but at least 2 were caused by me scaring him while we were out "ghost hunting" in a particular patch of woods. And at least one other our cousin caused my older brother to see. Thing is, he's mildly schizophrenic, so he's more hallucination prone.

 

Me? Well... I'm not schizophrenic, nor do I normally hallucinate (well... neither does my older brother usually visually). I've seen at least 2 women standing over my bed when I was waking up from sleep, it was scarier than hell. I've seen ghosts in the woods. I've always been a spiritual person, which was why I was so susceptible to religious fundamentalism. Then, there's the added part of Bipolar. So, needless to say, I don't need anyone else's anecedotes. Besides, most of them are probably making it up. The rest are hallucinating it, or imagining it (Oh... trust me, I know first hand how far overactive imaginations can go).

 

I also know how the brain works. I also know that you don't have to be mentally ill nor on drugs to hallucinate. Aside from missing sleep, though rare, your brain could anomaliously make you hallucinate. You just wouldn't necessarily notice that it was what you were doing.

 

Trust me, I've done alot of studying on this. I used to believe in spirits and gods, and for a little while ghosts. Especially after my own experiences. I've just since realized how powerful the brain is.

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

queue the music DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!!!!!

 

sciwalker is invading your computer screens. He is a force of quantum particles that have assembled to obfuscate the truth of science. The collective quantum particles of the known universe feel that it is in its best interest to keep humanity from becoming intelligent.

 

/puts on tin foil hat plugs ears and screams LALALALALALALALALALA

 

don't try it Florduh he is a troll!!!! run away

Yeah... I probably should've figured that before responding to him.

[Fweethawt]

Anybody ever see any naked ghosts?

 

You know -- as opposed to the ones lucky enough to find a spiritual Walmart and use their spiritual money to buy spiritual clothes made by spiritual kids in spiritual third - otherworld countries...

 

Oh, I could go on. But in think the point has been made.

 

There's obviously much MUCH more to the sightings than we think. Right? There just HAS to be...

 

*end sarcasm mode* NEVAH!!!!

[Astreja]

When I was very young, I was fucking terrified of pipe organs -- So much so that I flat-out refused to go into the church where My little brother was being christened.  This article provides the how and why of it all, after 50+ years of wondering.

 

BTW, I eventually developed a love for keyboards and overcame the fear of organ music, but now I'm wondering if this has anything to do with a dislike for certain types of movies.  In particular I steer clear of most action-adventure films because I find them overwhelming, especially in theatres running monster sound systems.

 

 

[SciWalker]

 

 

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

 

I've actually read so many I've actually lost count. Believe it or not. Even better! My brother and I have seen plenty of ghosts in our time, and neither of us seen blurry audio-visual strangeness. No, even better.

 

My older brother has seen far more ghosts than I have, but at least 2 were caused by me scaring him while we were out "ghost hunting" in a particular patch of woods. And at least one other our cousin caused my older brother to see. Thing is, he's mildly schizophrenic, so he's more hallucination prone.

 

Me? Well... I'm not schizophrenic, nor do I normally hallucinate (well... neither does my older brother usually visually). I've seen at least 2 women standing over my bed when I was waking up from sleep, it was scarier than hell. I've seen ghosts in the woods. I've always been a spiritual person, which was why I was so susceptible to religious fundamentalism. Then, there's the added part of Bipolar. So, needless to say, I don't need anyone else's anecedotes. Besides, most of them are probably making it up. The rest are hallucinating it, or imagining it (Oh... trust me, I know first hand how far overactive imaginations can go).

 

I also know how the brain works. I also know that you don't have to be mentally ill nor on drugs to hallucinate. Aside from missing sleep, though rare, your brain could anomaliously make you hallucinate. You just wouldn't necessarily notice that it was what you were doing.

 

Trust me, I've done alot of studying on this. I used to believe in spirits and gods, and for a little while ghosts. Especially after my own experiences. I've just since realized how powerful the brain is.

 

 

 

Now go and speak to someone with an EVP meter, O Spiritual One.

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

 

 

 

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

 

I've actually read so many I've actually lost count. Believe it or not. Even better! My brother and I have seen plenty of ghosts in our time, and neither of us seen blurry audio-visual strangeness. No, even better.

 

My older brother has seen far more ghosts than I have, but at least 2 were caused by me scaring him while we were out "ghost hunting" in a particular patch of woods. And at least one other our cousin caused my older brother to see. Thing is, he's mildly schizophrenic, so he's more hallucination prone.

 

Me? Well... I'm not schizophrenic, nor do I normally hallucinate (well... neither does my older brother usually visually). I've seen at least 2 women standing over my bed when I was waking up from sleep, it was scarier than hell. I've seen ghosts in the woods. I've always been a spiritual person, which was why I was so susceptible to religious fundamentalism. Then, there's the added part of Bipolar. So, needless to say, I don't need anyone else's anecedotes. Besides, most of them are probably making it up. The rest are hallucinating it, or imagining it (Oh... trust me, I know first hand how far overactive imaginations can go).

 

I also know how the brain works. I also know that you don't have to be mentally ill nor on drugs to hallucinate. Aside from missing sleep, though rare, your brain could anomaliously make you hallucinate. You just wouldn't necessarily notice that it was what you were doing.

 

Trust me, I've done alot of studying on this. I used to believe in spirits and gods, and for a little while ghosts. Especially after my own experiences. I've just since realized how powerful the brain is.

 

 

 

Now go and speak to someone with an EVP meter, O Spiritual One.

 

You're the one who believes in invisible living dead people without bodies walking around everywhere.

[SciWalker]

 

 

 

 

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

 

I've actually read so many I've actually lost count. Believe it or not. Even better! My brother and I have seen plenty of ghosts in our time, and neither of us seen blurry audio-visual strangeness. No, even better.

 

My older brother has seen far more ghosts than I have, but at least 2 were caused by me scaring him while we were out "ghost hunting" in a particular patch of woods. And at least one other our cousin caused my older brother to see. Thing is, he's mildly schizophrenic, so he's more hallucination prone.

 

Me? Well... I'm not schizophrenic, nor do I normally hallucinate (well... neither does my older brother usually visually). I've seen at least 2 women standing over my bed when I was waking up from sleep, it was scarier than hell. I've seen ghosts in the woods. I've always been a spiritual person, which was why I was so susceptible to religious fundamentalism. Then, there's the added part of Bipolar. So, needless to say, I don't need anyone else's anecedotes. Besides, most of them are probably making it up. The rest are hallucinating it, or imagining it (Oh... trust me, I know first hand how far overactive imaginations can go).

 

I also know how the brain works. I also know that you don't have to be mentally ill nor on drugs to hallucinate. Aside from missing sleep, though rare, your brain could anomaliously make you hallucinate. You just wouldn't necessarily notice that it was what you were doing.

 

Trust me, I've done alot of studying on this. I used to believe in spirits and gods, and for a little while ghosts. Especially after my own experiences. I've just since realized how powerful the brain is.

 

 

 

Now go and speak to someone with an EVP meter, O Spiritual One.

 

You're the one who believes in invisible living dead people without bodies walking around everywhere.

 

 

You're evidently the one who a) makes unfounded assumptions and can't, in any case, express them in any such way as to form a cogent argument.

[florduh]

You're evidently the one who a) makes unfounded assumptions and  can't, in any case, express them in any such way as to form a cogent argument.

 

I think the best thing about trolls is their flair for irony.

[Vigile]

I always found that odd and hard to explain

Humans, like most animals, are pattern seekers. IMHO, it's this that best explains why so many believe in ghosts. We also tend to attach intent to random events and we are susceptible to phenomena such as sleep paralysis. I once experienced sleep paralysis where I saw two large green eyes spaced about 9 inches apart at a level above my bed that would have been about 7-8 feet tall. It seemed very real at the time. It was only years later when I learned about the phenomena that it all made sense. At the time I was an xian and thought it was a demon.

[Vigile]

 

This explains why almost virtually every culture, even atheistic ones like the piraha, believe in ghosts of some form. I always found that odd and hard to explain, but this explains it perfectly.

 

Perfectly?? How many ghost experiences have you read about? You do realise that there is a lot more to them than just blurred vision and nausea/depressive feelings, don't you? There are specific details -- tactile, auditory and visual -- and some of which are caught on film (and not necessarily digitally, either -- negatives can be inspected for signs of tampering).

 

But - oh - there is always the 'It's Evolution!' explanation....

 

Oh do please post some videos. We could use some entertainment.

[SciWalker]

 

I always found that odd and hard to explain

Humans, like most animals, are pattern seekers. IMHO, it's this that best explains why so many believe in ghosts. We also tend to attach intent to random events and we are susceptible to phenomena such as sleep paralysis. I once experienced sleep paralysis where I saw two large green eyes spaced about 9 inches apart at a level above my bed that would have been about 7-8 feet tall. It seemed very real at the time. It was only years later when I learned about the phenomena that it all made sense. At the time I was an xian and thought it was a demon.

 

 

Well when you put it in those terms, everything we see, believe and understand could be sleep paralysis. Don't you ever think to apply some kind of criteria to distinguish between what is purely in the mind and what is not?

[florduh]

Don't you ever think to apply some kind of criteria to distinguish between what is purely in the mind and what is not?

 

There's that irony again. A true master.

[Vigile]

 

 

I always found that odd and hard to explain

Humans, like most animals, are pattern seekers. IMHO, it's this that best explains why so many believe in ghosts. We also tend to attach intent to random events and we are susceptible to phenomena such as sleep paralysis. I once experienced sleep paralysis where I saw two large green eyes spaced about 9 inches apart at a level above my bed that would have been about 7-8 feet tall. It seemed very real at the time. It was only years later when I learned about the phenomena that it all made sense. At the time I was an xian and thought it was a demon.

 

 

Well when you put it in those terms, everything we see, believe and understand could be sleep paralysis. Don't you ever think to apply some kind of criteria to distinguish between what is purely in the mind and what is not?

 

I tend to think when I'm not in the state of semi conscious sleep and I see commonplace phenomena that it might just perhaps be commonplace phenomena. Call me crazy, but I don't demand extraordinary evidence for ordinary experiences.