People believed in otherworldly forces from ancient times - in many cultures there are legends about spirits, ghosts, representing people who did not fall into the "afterlife". Millions of people are interested in these mysterious and mythical creatures, but no one can give an unambiguous answer whether ghosts really exist.
What is the ghost phenomenon?
“Ghosts are memories, and we cherish them so much because those we love do not leave this world,” writes the American writer Cassandra Clare about mystical creatures in her novel entitled “City of Heavenly Fire”. It is impossible to say exactly what exactly are ghosts. Whether they can be wild, but cute (or vice versa) or be just a game of human imagination is difficult to understand.
Many people in their lives had the opportunity to observe strange, inexplicable things from the point of view of science. Not everyone believed in representatives of the other world, and even after a personal "meeting" with a ghost, they attributed the incident to hallucinations, the effects of alcohol, stress, fright, nervous tension and so on. According to parapsychologists, ghosts are the lost souls of people who have not managed to find a place for themselves in another world. They can remain because of an unfulfilled debt, unfinished business, or because they were not ready for death, and sometimes even a tragic death. There is a version that a ghost is the last breath of a person who can last on Earth for decades, as if he were stuck between worlds.
Types of ghosts
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The mystics distinguish six types of these unusual "guests". The first type includes sedentary ghosts - they are periodically alive in one specific place, for example, in a house or in a cemetery. “Experts” explain this by the fact that the person was not properly buried or committed a terrible crime that prevents him from moving to the “other world”. Wandering ghosts are unpredictable, as they can be found in the most unexpected places. This species appears before the eyes of a stranger for a reason - he is trying to warn of an impending danger or transmit other important data. Wandering phantoms were often "noticed" in London, in the Tower of the castle.
There are also ghosts-phenomena leading a cyclical way of life; ghost messengers, warning of serious events; hallucinatory phantoms or "phantom ghosts"; and crisis ghosts. The latter can visit before a dangerous illness, accident or death, appearing in the form of a loved one.
Eyewitness accounts and other evidence of the existence of phantoms
Residents of Michigan (USA) 30-year-old Josh Higgins and his beloved 25-year-old Heather Browne told reporters about a supernatural phenomenon that occurred at their home in March 2019. The couple's little daughter was in her bed at night when a pale figure appeared in the darkness in the middle of the children's room. She woke up the one-year-old Lily, and she got up on the crib in fear, and the mysterious silhouette quickly moved to the side, leaving a light train behind. The anomaly disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.
The child's parents learned about the incident only the next day after watching the video received from the "baby monitor". Excited, Josh and Heather remembered that something suspicious had happened in their house before. More than once they heard in the evenings and at night someone's quiet steps along the corridor and the creak of floorboards, and at the beginning of this year they discovered that the lights in different rooms turned on and off by themselves. The couple, who did not believe in such "nonsense", found logical explanations for what was happening, but the video from Lily's room shocked them.
Another amazing phenomenon was captured by a resident of Malaysia using a video recorder in early July 2019. The motorist claims that the device's camera was able to "catch" a poltergeist standing on a night highway. The incident took place near the city of Kota Tinggi. On a video published on the Web by a witness, one can see how a car enthusiast drives along a dark road, where if a person will catch a car, it will be near a lamp in a lighted place or closer to the city. The video shows a bright figure with a raised hand in the darkest part of the track. The man thought: here not a single sane person will wait for a car, which means that this is probably the restless soul of some deceased driver.
The driver decided to stop the car, and then drove very carefully at the sight of an incomprehensible creature. Fear was stronger than curiosity, and the eyewitness was unable to return and see who was hiding under the guise of a hitchhiker ghost. A resident of Malaysia recalled that a similar thing happened in 2017 near Kuala Lumpur - journalist Aswan Yap, together with a friend, captured a ghost sitting on the road. Friends posted "facts" on the World Wide Web, but users called the correspondent an inventor and a coward.
A user of one of the English-language resources, who wished to remain incognito, admitted that his skeptical attitude towards the supernatural had changed dramatically after the mysterious incident. On the evening of May 16 this year, the surveillance camera in the hero's home captured something that is difficult to give a rational explanation. The man was frightened, but at the same moment, he was seriously intrigued by his discovery. In the frame of the device, a pale and vague silhouette, reminiscent of a human figure, floated several times. The "guest" was discovered by the owner of the house by accident, during a check of the security system.
In Accrington, Lancashire, UK, something strange happened to three ghostbusters in early August 2019. A group of paranormal lovers found themselves locked in one of the cells of a long-inactive police station. Desperate guys went to an abandoned building and entered an open cell, the keys to which were lost many years ago. Young people were very surprised when they found that the preliminary detention cell was closed, because there was no one else in this place.
Researchers say that such an act could have been done by a ghost, whose peace was disturbed by a visit from curious Englishmen. The hunters waited three hours while their cries for rescue reached the rescuers. The latter had to use cutting tools to free the "prisoners", because no one found the key. Fans of mysticism are sure that a phantom decided to joke over them. They were led to this thought by paranormal activity on the territory of the police station - the devices were able to record a strange energy entity that had moved to the cell doors, after which the hunters heard a click and ended up in a cage.
Scientists' opinions on the "spirits of the dead"
Many people believe in poltergeists and other mystical entities, starting from very real scientific research. So, some are based on the teachings of Einstein, who argued that energy does not disappear, but only changes. This assumption is not entirely correct - after the death of a person, the energy of his body leaves in the form of heat into the environment, and does not turn into a ghost. Explaining people's belief in ghosts, sociologist from the University of South Carolina (USA) Barry Markovsky, clarifies: in this way the human mind tries to create templates for gaining the meaning of incomprehensible information.
Most often, phantoms are "noticed" under ambiguous circumstances. A ghost has a higher chance of showing itself to a person in complete darkness or twilight, as well as when a person falls asleep or wakes up (during such periods, feelings are weakened). According to scientists, the one who "met" the ghosts, apparently, was very eager to see them. That is why "spirits" are shown in abandoned places, in cemeteries or where deceased relatives of a person often visited during their lifetime.
Belief in otherworldly beings, in particular in ghosts, is present in many cultures. It may be related to the attitude of people towards life after death, which is a general principle of major religions, believes Benjamin Radford, who is the deputy editor-in-chief of the Skeptical Inquire. Dutch researchers decided to test the opinion of an expert and conducted five experiments with believers and atheists. The subjects were shown a series of words related to mystical creatures (for example, "phantom", "demon", "ghost" and so on) in order to see if they could see "something" after that. Scientists have come to the following conclusion: words about the otherworldly influenced the "visions" of religious participants, and did not cause any reaction from atheists.
Author: Astakhova Valeria
