Ghosts
Have you ever heard strange creaks or groans that you can't seem to explain? Have lights flick on or off without anyone touching a switch? Maybe you've felt cold blasts of air even when all the windows were shut, or your dog suddenly starts barking for no apparent reason. If any of these things have happened then there could be reason to believe that ghosts are part of the situation. Billions of people report ghost visitations every year, and to not accept the fact that there might be other beings in the world is extremely ignorant of mankind. Included in this paper are the types of ghosts, information on them, why they are here and why non-believers will always have a reason not to believe.
Ghosts are departed souls who have lived and died on this earth, but for some reason have elected or been forced to remain on this earth after death. They can take place in many forms. "The technical names for these forms are ectoplasms, orbs, swirls, poltergeists, vortexes, and globulars." (Ichiro 31) Ectoplasms are forms of spirit energy that appear either as long white swirls or as a vapor or cloud like apparition usually captured on film in cemeteries and in homes. This configuration appears to be unorganized and resembles swirls of smoke. Another version of ectoplasm is a solid ray of white or purple like color that lies at an angle to the photograph.
An Orb could be described as a ball of light that can move at times and look like a streamer. These are the most commonly seen among people because it is the most well known. Orbs are often mistaken for lights seen out of the corner of the eye.
Swirls may be from two different configurations. The first is a ball of light that is moving very fast creating a blurry...
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...hey are camera flaws, this has not yet been proven otherwise and it is getting harder to prove that these beings exist when more and more people around the world are taking fake pictures and making up pretend stories. Maybe these people are hungry for attention or just want to believe that they live in a haunted area. No one knows for sure but all there is to know is that the answers are there, within us all; we have to just to reach out to access them.
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Guiley, Rosemary.The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts ON File, Inc, 1992
Ronald Desantis (certified "ghost hunter") April 27 2001
Ichiro, Robert. The Unexplainable. New York: Hollinger International, Inc, 1968
American Ghost Society March 23 2001 http://www.prairieghosts.com
International Ghost Hunters society May 8 2001 http://ighs.com
St. Albans Sanatorium is a destination known by serious paranormal investigators as a place where they can seek answers to the mysteries of what lies beyond death. Some of these investigators were able to find resolutions for themselves to a number of these age old riddles through their experiences at the sanatorium. The frightening and true stories found within the pages of this book are about these inquisitive investigators’ encounters with The Ghosts of St. Albans Sanatorium.
Chinese culture has many interpretations ghosts. One way they are seen as is people who have disgraced their family or country. An example of this in the novel is Maxine's aunt. She is considered a ghost because she disgraced her family by having a baby outside of marriage. They call her "Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You have never been born." (Kinston 14) She drowns herself in the well to become one of the most feared ghost, the Shui Gui or watery ghost. These ghosts are said to be waiting for their victims, to pull them into the water to take the drowned ones place. In the novel another example of what the Chinese consider ghosts are American people. Sometimes they feel haunted by this unfamiliar culture, just as a ghost would haunt. "But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts." (Kong 96) These examples are American people of any ethnicity. They are called ghosts because the Chinese are not familiar with the culture. Another example of the unfamiliarity is when, "Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car wind...
The article “Cinema Fiction vs. Physics Reality: Ghosts, Vampires, and Zombies”, written by Costas J. Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi. The authors try to explain or prove that ghosts, vampires and zombies do not exist through scientific methods and explanations. The authors main argument to show that these claim are false, they say” we point out inconsistencies associated with the ghost, vampire, and zombie mythologies as portrayed in popular films and folklore and give practical explanations to some of their features” (Efthimiou and Gandhi “Cinema Fiction vs. Physics Reality: Ghosts, Vampires, and Zombies”) Their argument is obvious that they will point out the
Hauntings are sometimes believed to be a contributing factor of people acting insane. The spirits could control what the person's mind thinks and hear and make them appear to be crazy. Haunting may make people appear to be crazy but this presence is actually there. It is real and could interact with you. Physical evidence, and others who believe could help prove a ghost is there. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Jane, the narrator, becomes infatuated with her yellow wallpaper. Jane is being haunted because of the things she saw in the wallpaper, like the dark figure, which becomes a woman and the fact that her husband John and Jennie, the housemade are well aware of the mysterious factors of
There are many theories as to how someone or something becomes a ghost. This is called Paranormal which means beyond normal and scientific name is parapsychology, which means study of interactions between living organisms and their external environment that seem to transcend the known physical laws of nature (Britannica, 147). In 1920, Dr. William McDougall was the first scientific psychical who research about Paranormal Activity (Stefanik, 2000). According to Stefanik, Paranormal experiences often seem weird, uncanny, or unnatural. Typically they are quite rare but there are a few exceptional "stars" such as who have regular paranormal experiences and may show seemingly consistent paranormal ability (Daniel, 2004). Different types of scientists who researched about paranormal activity was spiritualists. The scientists accepted paranormal to be real. There are believers and nonbelievers about the paranormal phenomenon. Discussion about parapsychological phenomena has assumed emotional overtones, unsuitable to scientific discipline, and outspoken but contradictory opinions are still voiced (Cauz, 2010, p.147)
A ghost is a soul that appears as a dead person or is against a living person. Most people still believe in ghosts even though they have not seen one. The first sightings of ghosts date back to 856 A.D (Stories, 2014). Ghosts mostly make loud noises and disturbances to let people know that they are in the midst. In the first century A.D., the great Roman author and statesman Pliny the Younger recorded one of the first seen ghost stories in his letters, which became noticeable for their bright story of life during the peak of the Roman Empire. The world around us has become more technical with the findings and history of ghosts not cited correctly (Stories, 2014)). The place ghosts come from or occupy varies depending on their spiritual abilities. Ghosts feel more comfortable in a place that is unrestrained and enables them to move freely (Zamora, 2014).
Envision yourself as encircled by strange, yet terrifying and evil spirits that trouble you in your worst nightmares. The spirits could desire something from you. In fact, they could aid you in locale of frightening you. Should you attend to them? What do you contemplate they are trying to notify you? In one of the inquiries above, notice the ironical use of the word “fact” that endeavors to obscure the fictitious nature of ghosts. It displays that the meaning of the word “ghost” is equivocal. In supplementary words, the word “ghost” is multivalued, that way that ghosts can purpose in extra than one way.
Paranormal Activity is similar to pseudoscience and involves experiences outside of science (Hines, 2003). However, there is another side to these strange occurrences which includes UFOs, alien contact, and the appearance of unusual creatures. According to Imbrogno (2008) “No matter how skeptical you are, there are three things that cannot be denied: that reports of paranormal experiences exist, that they persist, and they are increasingly occurring on a global scale” (pg.16). According to Hines (2003) “Paranormal phenomena includes extrasensory perception (ESP), telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, and so forth” (pg.20). The term UFOs, unidentified flying objects, is the reported sighting of any object or arrangement of lights that do not have a logical or natural explanation. The first reported incident in America occurred in 1947, when an amateur pilot, Kenneth Arnold, made claims of a sighting while flying his small plane near Mount Rainier in Washington which caused the U.S. government to begin searching for extraterrestrials (Stephey, 2009). Moreover, Chinese texts from the 4th century make claims of a “moon boat” that visited once every 12 years hovering above the country to become the earliest sighting in recorded history (Stephey, 2009). Although issues such as speed, shape, and size continues to differs, the U.S. Air Force commissioned Project Blue Book, an official record of sights that occurred in the U.S. from 1952 to 1969 logging over 12,000 sightings or events involving UFOs.
As long as one can remember, paranormal beliefs have always existed in human society. They are living in every man’s childhood and in every corner of human’s life. From the burning belief about Santa Claus’s gifts under a Christmas’s tree in the morning to a scary game about Bloody Mary and her coming back from the dead, it seems that people cannot help but draw themselves to these stories. Even when these beliefs fade, there would be a new one that eventually shows up. No matter how much science has progressed, the belief in paranormal phenomena still remains in society. Eventually, the question about paranormal phenomena seems pale in comparison to the human’s undying belief about such things. It is really hard to pinpoint an exact cause for human’s belief in the paranormal for only one cause is not enough; however, it is sure that psychological, sociological, and biological factors play an enormous role that contributes to this belief.
Ghosts, as with any other misunderstood group or people, have been preyed upon by others without understanding. The lack of knowledge about ghosts and haunting activity has led people astray as to what they really are. What Hollywood and television portrays is very inaccurate and cannot be relied upon as truthful. They show these spirits of the dead as being evil in nature, filled with malice and harmful intent. But that this is not the case. The field of paranormal activity is amazing. It has caught the imagination of people from every walk of life. It has always interested me and has influenced me to pick this as the topic for my research. Through this research I wish to uncover the truth about the existence of ghosts. I also wish to correct the wrong notions that people have about ghosts and enlighten non-believers.
Are ghosts real? That is the question that most of society deliberates day after day. The true definition of a ghost is a soul or spirit of a deceased individual that can appear in visible form or other manifestations to the living. Ghosts are of the most common paranormal belief in the world. Most people believe in ghosts because of a personal experience, whether that was seeing or sensing an unexplained presence. Who wouldn’t want to believe that our beloved family members are looking for us?
For many years, people have debated whether or not spirits are real. Some people get scared at the fact that there might be something unknown lurking in their house in the middle of the night making their footsteps known to everyone in it. Maybe that person feels watched upon or feel some kind of presence in their home, or even sees shadows moving their way through rooms. Different people around the world have their own opinions based on religion and experiences when talking about angels, demons, and the spirits that have life after death. New technology is getting closer to detecting these energies happening in the world today. The history of haunting dates back many years, and more people want to get involved because of the new technology.
'What the heck was that?!?' is a very familiar phrase to many. Was it just the house settling? Maybe it was a friend playing a prank. Or could it possibly have been a ghost? The latter choice is normally ruled out fairly quickly. But for some, it is very plausible. To prove or disprove the possibility of an apparition, a surprisingly scientific and frequently detailed investigation is carried out.
An optical illusion can be a picture that appears to be an elephant with four legs, but when looking closer, a person is unable to count the legs, due to irregular lines. Another example of an optical illusion is the Hermann Grid Illusion, in which a grid with black boxes and gray lines appears to have black dots on the white circles. It does not, in reality,
Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore. Ed. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2007.