For the earliest researchers in the Society for Psychical Research, Gurney and Myers made significant contributions to theories related to the appearance of ghosts, and their ideas are still valid today. They both believed that ghosts were simply hallucinations, that is, the product of the mental activity of the human brain and a phenomenon devoid of any physical reality. Gurney believed that this was the result of telepathy between the dead and the living, and that the ghost was simply "projected" by the mind of the percipient. Moreover, Gurney argued that collective ghosts are also a product of telepathy, but between living people, and the ghost, which they simultaneously observe, is a "projection" emanating from the brain of the primary percipient and transmitted to everyone else present. However,telepathy between living people does not quite adequately explain collective visions, when ghosts are observed by several percipients from different angles. There is evidence that different observers reported different details in such cases. If the ghost were a “projection” emanating from the brain of one person, then the same picture would appear before all percipients.
Myers, firmly convinced that there is life after death, questioned telepathic theory as early as 1885. He expressed his doubts in his book The Human Personality and Life After Physical Death, published in 1903 and left a noticeable mark. The main idea of this book, he put forward the postulate that ghosts are a kind of "phantasmogenic center" - a kind of geometric place of points where the energy generated by the agent comes, strong enough to change the characteristics of the space around the percipient. According to Myers theory, ghosts are the most mentally susceptible people or groups of people. This explains, for example, why this or that ghost is not recognized by the percipient, but is identified by another person based on the description given by the percipient.
Other researchers have put forward a number of theories according to which ghosts are:
- fictional pictures or ethereal images generated in the subconscious of a living person with or without an agent;
- the astral or etheric bodies of agents;
- a mixture of personal images, which, for example, in cases of ghosts visiting the same place, represent spatially limited tragic events in the "psychic ether" or "psi-field" in the given place;
- means, or "carriers", with the help of which the thinking consciousness finds expression in the form of temporarily emerging and visually perceived forms. Moreover, this consciousness can be perceived through these forms and even perform some actions with their help. Such "carriers" can take the image of both a living and a deceased person. They may or may not be endowed with "full" consciousness. And, finally, they can carry certain personality traits, perhaps in some way fictional or imaginary (as, for example, in the case of spirits that can be controlled by a medium).
- expressions of the unconscious needs of an individual: clothed in a concrete form of "projection" of a feeling of guilt or unconscious desire that has not found an outlet.
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For example, at the Royal Theater in London, Drury Lane, rehearsing actors tend to glance at the last seat in row D, hoping to see the ghost of the Man in Gray, presumably one of the eighteenth century theatergoers. Legend has it that the appearance of this ghost foreshadows the success of the rehearsal piece. In addition, some actors believe that the ghost helps to better determine the position of the characters on the stage and knows how to convey to them his opinion about what is happening;
- concentrated "projections", which are a reflection of thoughts;
- indeed the spirits of the dead, when it comes to ghosts that have the appearance of already dead people. Such spirits have intelligence and the ability to communicate with the living.
Research into phenomena such as the sense of detachment and the sensations experienced on the verge of death has made it possible to say that ghosts have certain physical properties, and are not just hallucinations generated by the imagination. Moreover, it should be said that the behavior of ghosts is "directed" by the mind or personality of a person. American parapsychologist Karlis Osis put forward the assumption that consciousness can become "autonomous and perceive external influences and perform some actions, being localized somewhere outside the human body."
The question of whether it is possible to talk about the animate nature of ghosts has different, including very contradictory answers. Those who do not believe in their animate nature support their point of view with various theories. Let's say that all ghosts are some kind of psychic "record" perceived by sensitive individuals, or that living people perceive ghosts only when they have a great desire for it or when it meets their own goals. According to Eastern mystical philosophy, the cosmos is permeated with a substance capable of absorbing and constantly storing information about all actions, thoughts, emotions and desires.
In Hinduism, this substance is called "akasha", and the expression "tablets of akasha" means all the information recorded since the creation of the world. Oxford philosopher H. H. Price coined the term "psychic ether" adopted by other researchers of the human psyche. If we agree on the existence of a "psychic ether", then it can be assumed that individual individuals who are in a kind of "psychic resonance" with one or another recording stored in the named ether may from time to time perceive this recording, as if turning on the "playback" mode … The idea of psychic ether allows one to give one of the possible explanations for the mysterious appearance of ghosts on photographic films.
Some researchers believe that ghosts are endowed with certain personal characteristics and therefore are an argument in favor of the existence of Life after death. Such researchers remind of those cases when ghosts reported information hitherto unknown to percipients, or in some way adapted to observers.
It is hardly possible to explain all occurrences of ghosts with the help of one single theory. It is possible that some of the ghosts are born of the living, that some of them have certain physical properties and are to some extent an objective reality, that in some cases it should be about hallucinations. Maybe some of the ghosts are "psychic records."
Andrew Mackenzie, a modern mental scientist, put forward the theory that the ability to hallucinate may be one of the functions of personality structure. Analyzing various cases of hallucinations, he found that about a third of them occurred during the time immediately after sleep or in front of it, or during those moments when the person who was observing the hallucinations woke up at night. Other sensations arose when the hallucinating person was in a relaxed state, doing routine work or focusing on some kind of activity (say, reading a book). At the same time, he was completely disconnected from the outside world, protective reflexes were weakened, thereby opening ways for the receipt of impressions that could arouse the subconscious. In some cases, these impressions take on a visual or sound form that resembles a ghost.
The connection between the state close to sleep and the appearance of ghosts was also noticed by the English physicist, mathematician and researcher of the human psyche Tszh. N. M. Tyrrell, who argued that there are two stages of ghost perception. During the first of them, the percipient unconsciously feels the ghost, and in the second stage, the information that entered the percipient's brain is processed and becomes conscious. These can be dreams or other sensations typical of the moment of awakening. All this resembles the usual process of cognition. Just like in a dream, ghosts are fully clothed and often accompanied by other objects - horses, carts, etc. According to Tyrrell, both clothing and various accompanying objects are as much the fruit of hallucinations as the ghost itself is present in visions,as prompted by the "motive" of a particular episode with the appearance of a ghost.
From the book: Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits