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Well now, that's the big question,
ain't it? What is a ghost? The Random House dictionary
I have on my book shelf defines a ghost
as "the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined
as wondering
among or haunting living persons. A spiritual being." Imagined?
That would be the
quick answer from many die-hard cynics will claim. They'll say that all this paranormal stuff
is just
made up of a bunch of overactive imaginations or by someone craving
attention. Skeptics will require
credible proof, which in this day and age... will not be easy to present. Those
that would be considered
"Believers", will be convinced that what they see in photos, hear on
recordings and watch in videos... is the real deal.
So, what is the answer?
Honestly, there is no "All-In-One" answer. Although I feel
the majority of activity reported is explainable,
there are a few experiences that have held up to my scrutiny over the years.
Personal experiences are the "Limbo"
of the Paranormal Investigation; they cannot be proven or disproven to a witness
who is convince of what they
saw, heard, or felt. So the Personal Experience hangs out there for all to see,
but never knowing if it really happened.
However, in the basic interest I have
in this topic, I offer my own, personal opinion of what a ghost might be.
Please understand that this is only an opinion - it is not fact. So, take it as
you want... it's just what I think.
I see a ghost as the energy source that
once powered the physical bodies. Essentially, we are all ghosts riding
around
in a body, much like we ride around in a car. We are all made up of energy,
and according to modern
science, energy cannot be destroyed (a line that has been repeated over, and
over, and over by ghost hunters
all over the world). Energy can only
change it's form. Therefore,
I must accept the fact that after the physical body
dies, what many would describe as our "soul", has to
go somewhere - be it Heaven, Hell, another form of existence or
maybe we just
stay behind for a while and hang out. Perhaps we live in another dimension, side by
side with our own.
Personal experiences have reported that ghosts have shown the same personality traits and
habits as the living - such
as emotions, the need to interact and conscience
thought.
Allow me to use the metaphor of the
car; We drive around in a car to get somewhere. When we get there we
get
out of the car and go about our business. What if something happens along
the way? What if we get lost?
Then things get confused, and we wonder around
lost, looking for a way home or someone to give us directions.
What if it's
a car accident? Then we're stuck somewhere until somebody can pick us up. In
many cases, an accident
happens so fast, and so unexpected, that we can't recall what happened. We
suddenly find ourselves
hurt with a banged up vehicle.
We can apply this same train of thought to the idea of ghosts. When a person dies, they may
become confused.
The events that transpire when one dies are probably a little
intimidating at first, so we may choose to hide
or run at first. We get lost
and wonder around, looking for someone to help us find a way home. The problem
is... no
one
can hear us or see us. We are doomed to roam around, lost and confused without
any human interaction. This type
of isolation has driven men (and women) crazy, in the truest sense of the
word.
Of course, this theory isn't true for
all ghosts. Some are said to be guardian angels, protecting us or warning
us of
something. Some believe that ghosts are actually demons drawing attention
away from God. Still many will
say that it's just a bunch of silly stories.
To be honest, some are just that - stories. Each case should be
looked
over carefully and not accepted at face value. Be careful.
Below is a short list of the most common forms
in which people "see" ghosts. Be warned, there are a ton of explanations
for how these images can be captured, which has nothing to do with ghosts,
spirits, angels, demons or any other spooky entity
you can imagine (Buy my book "Orbs or Dust?" for more
information).
The First and Most Common Type Is An Orb.
Orbs show up as transparent or solid balls of light that
are floating in the air. It is believed that these
orbs represent the soul
of someone who passed on. The Japanese call these orbs "hito dama", meaning
person-globe. The vast majority of Orbs can be attributed to many things that are
not paranormal (Dust particles,
moisture, bugs, rain, snow, sleet, lens flare, etc.). As of this moment,
P.I.R.A. does not endorse ANY Orb photographs,
or video clips.
The Second Type - Ectoplasmic Mist, or Just Plain Ecto.
This is not the green goop
in the movie Ghostbusters. It is a vapor form that resembles cigarette smoke.
Ecto usually appears up close to the lens, which is why it is highly
important that no one is smoking during
an investigation. In many photos
of ecto, orbs can be seen through the mist. Be careful...Frozen Breath,
Cigarette Smoke, Fog, Mist, etc. are all natural explanations for these
images.
A Third Type - Streaks.
These streaks appear yellow or blue in color, and look
very much like bolts of lightning. They appear to
be short, about 1 to 3 meters in length, and sometimes light up the surrounding area within a foot or two.
These have been photographed but as far as I know, no one has actually witnessed
one. Through photography
experiments, we have determined that the vast majority
of these types are not ghosts, or a paranormal
phenomenon at all. They are a
product of a long exposure/slow shutter speed.
The Forth Type
- Vortice
or Vortex (Depending on who you're talking to).
Vortexes are long streaks
of light that are usually solid. These are similar to Streaks but are thought
to be
an orb moving at a very high speed, thus appearing as a solid white
line. Many pictures show this streak of
light reversing its course and going
back the way it came. I, personally do not consider vortexes a paranormal
phenomena. So far, every picture with the claim of being a vortex has looked
more like a camera strap then
anything else. About 95 % of these photos show
the same thing, a white streak from the right side( or top if
the camera
was turned on its side) and usually looping back to the same point it entered
the picture. A camera
strap around the wrist can easily make its way in front
of the lens. When the flash hits it, no matter what color
the strap is, it
gets bleached white. Be careful when taking pictures. The other 5% can usually
be attributed
to Hair, Reflections, Wires, etc.
The Final Type - The Apparition.
These are the pictures every ghost hunter wants. P.I.R.A. has only obtained
two photos of
apparitions in the many years we've been investigating.
Other groups haven't been that lucky, even though they
claim otherwise. An apparition is the solid or -the
more commonly seen- transparent figure... or part of a
figure. Most of the pictures
containing partial figure usually show the head and shoulders. Sometimes
the figure is seen from the waist up. Only rarely is the figure positively
identifiable. The majority of images
containing apparitions are a product of a slow shutter speed. This allows people
(and investigators) to become
the ghosts they are looking for.
These are just the way people have
seen ghosts. For explanations on the
many theories on why they stay behind,
please visit our
Theories
page!
What
is a ghost?