From Shakespeare to primetime television, supernatural beings pervade human culture, tantalizing us with questions of the afterlife. For some, however, ghosts are more than just a scary campfire tale. One-third of those who recently took part in an Associated Press poll believe in the existence of ghosts, and one in four claimed to have seen or been in the presence of a supernatural spirit.
Ghost-hunting clubs and paranormal research organizations have been around since the late 1800s, yet it is American psychologist William James to whom present-day ghost hunters, or paranormal investigators, are the most indebted. James’s contribution lay in applying the scientific method to these studies. His small number of followers, including British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace and British philosopher Henry Sidgwick, founded the Society for Psychical Research to gather evidence about claims of paranormal activity through case studies and tests. Despite attempting to keep their findings scientific by applying statistics to their results—they were apparently unsatisfied with small sample sizes—as skeptics claimed the society performed nothing more than pseudoscience.
Lack of proper equipment and reliable methods for identifying ghosts are the main reasons why some scientists distrust ghost hunting evidence. Now more than ever, ghost hunters are using technology to detect the presence of spirits. One of the most popular pieces of equipment is the electromagnetic field meter, commonly used by physicists to detect changes in electromagnetic radiation. Ghost hunters who use this instrument believe that ghosts emit an electromagnetic field that can be detected in the spirit’s vicinity by higher levels of electromagnetic radiation. Other signs that paranormal investigators believe accompany a ghost’s presence are cold spots, ectoplasm, an excess of negative ions, orbs or bright spheres found in photographs, and electronic voice phenomena (speech-like sounds that are only audible upon playback of a recording). Many skeptics challenge these claims, arguing that none of these signs have been shown to accompany a ghost’s presence, and that no equipment is manufactured specifically for ghost-detection. Ghost hunters improvise by using scientific instruments designed for other purposes.
Despite the large number of people studying paranormal phenomena, there has yet to be irrefutable evidence of ghost detection. Claims are often debunked as fakes, especially in the case of video or audio “evidence”. This is the most popular criticism of television programs such as SciFi Channel’s Ghost Hunters. However, not all ghost hunters are out to trick you. Most are just hobbyists who enjoy the hunt and the idea of finding something supernatural. Besides, if ghost hunting was truly about finding scientific evidence to support the existence of paranormal entities, wouldn’t that take all of the fun out of it?
