Part III - A Spirited Debate: What are Ghosts Anyway?

By Robin M. Strom-Mackey

 Included in Part III are the opinions of Brad Steiger, Author, and Michael Persinger, Ph.D.in Neuroscience, Laurentian University.

Few questions are like to elicit a stronger response than the question, “do you believe in ghosts?” The naysayers will quickly and adamantly deny any such possibility and call you a fool for asking. The non-commital’s will shrug and move on to another, more comfortable topic. And the dabblers and the believers will expound for long minutes recalling odd experiences they have had.

Truthfully, few topics are as divisive as this one. Those who deny the possibility often do so from vehement religious beliefs.  And, make no mistake, science became the religion of the 20^th century, with its scriptures as dogmatically adhered to by its followers as any religious zealot.  Proponents of science vehemently defend the notion of science being able to answer all questions with a rationale answer. The world around us, they tell us, is the only reality, and anything unexplained simply a riddle not yet solved. 

On the other hand, those who believe in the paranormal have a vested interest and will fight to support their beliefs just as strongly.  After all, a belief in spirits is a belief that the soul survives death. And that is a very attractive notion.

Whether you’re a believer, fence sitter or fierce non-believer it is undeniable that people have been seeing (and hearing, and smelling) ghosts since the dawn of mankind.  Not every person among them is a fool, charlatan or notoriety seeker. Indeed most people who experience something paranormal are absolutely normal. Many are reluctant to even talk about their experience, afraid of being ridiculed.  The paranormal knows no class bounds. Emperors and peasants, politicians, and garbage collectors, a paranormal experience can happen (and has) to anyone.  (See my series on famous people and the paranormal to find out what the many of the greatest minds thought on the subject.)

So what is the explanation for these odd events?  There are as many answers to that question as there are people who have experiences.  Compiled here are the opinions of many experts both within and without the field. These are the words of writers, thinkers, scientists, college professors and lifelong investigators.  This is what they have to say about the possibility of ghosts. 

Pros

No Justification Necessary

Brad Steiger, author and co-author of some 150 books on the subject of the paranormal, says, “After researching the paranormal for more than 50 years, I spend little time these days theorizing about what ghosts may be. I accept the reality that within each of us there is a spiritual essence that is imperishable and eternal. I completely accept the existence of spirit phenomena, and I contend that it is extremely multifaceted. While I believe it may be difficult to separate ghostly manifestations into definitions of type and purpose that are truly distinct from one another, I submit that real ghosts and restless spirits often fit into the following categories: spirit residue, spirits of the dead, poltergeists, spirit parasites and spirit masqueraders (Steiger, 2003).”

 What They Are

However, Steiger presents a theory for ghostly activity that he borrows from his colleague Brian A. Schill of the American Society for Paranormal Research and investigation and author of the book entitled The DNA of Ghosts.  Schill attempts to explain the existence of ghosts in scientific terms.  The body, Schill explains, has a “bioelectric cycle” functioning at 60 Hz. This cycle allows our nervous system, brain, heart and organ to both function and communicate with each other within the organism itself.   If one considers the first law of thermodynamics which states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed, “we are able to recognize that two-thirds of our total existence is in the form of intangible energy (Steiger, 2003).” What then happens to this energy (which cannot be destroyed but only transformed) when we die?

Schill says that when we die the bioelectric energy is released out of the body into the environment, where one of two things happens.  This “unconscious energy” may disperse freely into the environment and cause no manifestation thereafter. Or the energy may, “through covalent bonding” attach itself to an object or building to which the person was attached and remain in the environment. This covalent bonding can occur anywhere, according to Schill, that has an “electron deficit” which Steiger contends is the reason for repeat hauntings. This is likely to occur when the energy is quickly released (as in an accidental or tragic death). The energy “coagulates” within, “’the local environment over a short period of time, maybe only a couple of minutes or so, and amass to such a degree that the greater portion that was originally in the body has now become self-aware outside of the body.’ Psychological forces of conscious will may also trigger this type of reaction.  When self-awareness occurs, there is generally a degree of confusion because of the new form that the person is in, one of pure energy rather than a physically manifested body (Schill, Steiger, 2003).”

Steiger suggests that there are three striking similarities that paranormal investigators have documented over the years that rather verify Schill’s theory.  First, most haunting phenomena involve low-level electromagnetic field disruptions, generally falling within 3 to 100 mill gauss (Mg).  The low-level disturbances are caused, according to Steiger, by the “intangible bio-magnetic field that makes up the ghost (Steiger, 2003).” He also contends that this bio-magnetic field causes hiccups and malfunctioning of electric devices within the environment.

A second similarity is the occurrence of “cold spots.”  Steiger suggests that air temperature drops somewhere between 10 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit during paranormal activity.  These drops are thought to be due to the “unintentional attraction and condensation of free electrons in an environment.  The condensing of an energy field leaves a momentary void of heat in the area (Steiger, 2003).”

And the third similarity is that many ghostly phenomena is caught using devices that measure in the infrared spectrum  a lower level energy spectrum – which lies just below the visible spectrum of energy and light which we can see with the naked eye.  This lower level of electromagnetic energy seems to be the area of the spectrum, “where the greatest number of manifestations take place (Steiger, 2003).”  Because this lower spectrum borders the lower portion of the visible spectrum where we see red, orange and yellow, he feels that is might explain why entities are often caught only with our peripheral vision versus our “direct line of sight.” “Manifestations seen with peripheral vision also attract the attention of our unburdened subconscious rather than our conscious mind, which bears the fears of social restriction and repression when we experience something that is out of the ordinary (Steiger, 2003).”

Brad Steiger
Author

 Cons

 

Geophysical Forces

Neuroscientist, Michael Persinger suggests a more natural explanation for feelings associated with a haunting. He suggests geophysical forces cause the feelings of a haunt. “’When you have geophysical forces focused, even small ones, even tiny ones in the view of geophysical forces, and you focus them into a small space for a brief time, you can get tremendous magnetic fields generated. If that takes place you can get fluorescent and light thresholds generated much like the will-o-the-wisp or electro-static discharges.  And if they are above the illumino-static threshold you can photograph them just like any other electrostatic phenomena.”

 Persinger goes on to say that these geophysical anomalies occur at many supposedly haunted locations, often intersecting with the brainwaves of those in the area.  He has tested this theory in his laboratory with some success “Many of the kinds of patterns of fields that are generated of haunted areas that we have found are very complicated, brief transient fields of erratic forces. If these forces stimulate the brain you can have feelings of a presence, sounds of footsteps or movements or voices, and of course that ever-present feeling that there is something looking at you (Persinger, 1997).” He concludes that highly creative individuals are more sensitive to these electrostatic forces, which causes them to report more haunting phenomena (Hauntings, 1997).”

Michael Persinger, Ph.D.
Neuroscientist, Laurentian University

Resources

Auerbach, Loyd (2005) A Paranormal Casebook; Ghost Hunting in the New Millennium. Atriad Press, LLC. Dallas, Texas.

Documentary Produced by The History Channel (1997) The Unexplained: Hauntings.

 Conover, Rob. A former private investigator turned paranormal Investigator http://robconover.net/default.aspx

Steiger, Brad (2003) Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places. Visible Ink Press. Canton, MI.

Taylor, Troy (2007)  Ghost Hunter’s Guidebook: The Essential Guide to Investigating Ghosts & Hauntings. American Ghost Society. White Chapel Press: Dark Haven Entertainment. Decatur, Illinois.

Haunting at the Old Town Hall

Haunting at the Old Town Hall

By Robin M. Strom-Mackey

In May of 2009 my ghost hunting group was contacted by Sarah Ferguson, Town Clerk at the Felton Town Hall, regarding strange activity in the building. Felton is a small town and the Town Hall houses not only offices, but a meeting room, summer library and police department. The building itself is an older home renovated for the purpose, with offices located in prior bedrooms and the conference table situated in the former parlor. Having stood in the middle of this tiny town for so long, the building has seen many such changes. In the 1800’s it was owned by a doctor who used the building for office visits. Later it was used as a nursing home, and later still it was a bank. In between its business uses, it was a home. A couple owned and lived in the building as late as the 1970’s.

Ferguson and Town Manager, Rebecca Greene, are in accord that there appear to be residents of the old building that haven’t left quite yet. The building was purchased from the bank in 2001, and nearly as soon as the deed was signed, the former residents made their presence known to the newest owners. The bank clerks had already informed the town employees of the unaccountable disturbances in the building– unexplained banging and knocking noises. The very evening of the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Town Hall, one of the Town Councilmen jokingly dared the haunts to do something to prove their existence. Almost at the moment the gentleman laid down his dare, the alarm system at the building went off. The alarm company came to turn off the alarm. Later they notified the Town that they had no explanation for the disturbance.

Activity in the building appears to be centered upstairs, namely in the hallway, bedroom, and on the lovely old staircase –one of the few remaining focal points. In particular, the spirits seem to love discomfiting the police officers. Burly and commanding, Police Chief, Levi Brown doesn’t appear to be an individual easily swayed by ghost stories. However, Brown told our team that he had occasionally been alone in the building on weekends, and had on more than one occasion heard noises for which he could not account. His first floor office lies under a portion of the upstairs hallway and the bathroom. The Chief reported that he would be working at his computer when he would hear what he described as the sounds of feet running, banging and knocking sounds, and what he distinctly said sounded like drawers in a wooden desk being pulled open and closed. When he went upstairs to investigate, invariably he found himself alone. A study of the space directly over the Chief’s office showed that the only set of drawers was in the bathroom. We attempted to manufacture the sound by pulling the drawers open and closed, only to find that the sound wasn’t audible in the office downstairs.

Town employee Michelle Schlimer recounted that her husband, Corporal Joe Schlimer refuses to come into the building at night when he is on duty alone, preferring to do his reports on the long, lonely nights from the relative safety of his squad car. Corporal Joe Schlimer admits that he, like Chief Brown, has heard footsteps in the building overhead and the sound, again, of drawers opening and closing. He admitted he only heard these sounds when he was downstairs, and only when he was alone in the building. A search of the upstairs always turned up the same results, there was no one else in the building. Schlimer also reports that he has had the uncomfortable experience of hearing footfalls following him down the stairs.

When not harassing police officers, the spirits often turn their attention on the office employees. Town Manager, Rebecca Greene, has her office on the second floor across the hall from one of the former bedrooms in the building, a room which seems to be the center of much activity. Greene told us that she hears the sound of a squeaky office chair at least once a week. She described the sound as an old spring chair such as a doctor might have used.

Greene admitted that she had also heard and seen some oddly unexplainable things in the building from time to time. Her office has the building’s security cameras routed to a computer and monitor sitting on her desk. Greene explained how on occasion she had witnessed strange lights in the IR cameras. She spoke of a reddish tinted light she had witnessed in the parking lot a couple of times. And one evening in particular, she was in her office after a Town Hall meeting when she saw a strange light in one of the downstairs rooms. She asked one of the Councilmen to go down to the office to take a look. The councilman stood in the same office with the light, which Green says was still visible on the screen in her office, but said he could see nothing. The unexplainable light lasted for a few minutes more, and has not been seen again.

The staunch Greene seems to take the strange occurrences in stride, finding the odd events more fascinating than frightening, even when one of the spirits decided to play a trick on her. Greene reports that after the initial investigation, activity in the building seemed to increase for awhile, as if someone were agitated by the interest. One evening she was coming downstairs when she distinctly heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs behind her. She turned around to see who was there and saw no one, though the footfalls followed her all the way down the stairs.

Investigation Results

The initial investigation of the Old Town Hall yielded some interesting result. In particular investigators in the upstairs “bedroom” reported several odd temperature fluctuations throughout the evening. It was a hot summer night, and yet several times during the evening the temperature in the room went down – even with the AC unit turned off. During one session an investigator managed to get the temperature to go down incrementally with voice commands, from 77 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit at which time the AC unit kicked on!

Looking for the noise of the squeaky chair that Greene had reported didn’t render any results. Upon examination of the room we found no such chair, nor any chair in the room that seemed to duplicate that same spring sound. Greene admitted that she hears this sound a few times a week, leading me to wonder if it isn’t actually something left in the walls that perhaps contracts and expands with the changing temperature conditions in the building thus creating the sound. During the investigation of the building we neither heard nor recorded this sound.

While the team heard no chair sound, they did hear and capture a faint sound like a door opening and closing, in the second floor hallway. Upon questioning it was determined that no investigators were present in the hallway when the sound occurred.

The Town Hall folk feel that at least one of the spirits is a remnant of the building’s nursing home days. It is believed that an elderly woman was simply dropped off at the nursing home, abandoned there when her care became too much for her family. The team caught an EVP that seems to suggest this may be the case. During questioning one of the investigators asked, “Were you so sick that they couldn’t keep any longer?” On the recorder a “yes” response is heard. An EVP is a recording on some type of audio device that wasn’t heard at the time of the questioning, but is audible on the final recording. The “yes” response was not heard by the investigators at the time of the investigation. Not only does it appear to be a legitimate EVP, but it also seems to be in direct response to a question, which is suggestive of an intelligent haunt.

While the investigation did not produce enough evidence to prove or disprove a haunting at the location, it was sufficiently intriguing enough to justify another investigation which the Town Hall will sponsor this winter.