The existence of ghosts and poltergeists are a phenomenon that scientists cannot confirm or deny. Ghosts are described as spirit that roams on Earth even after a person’s death. A poltergeist is a ghost that can cause unexplained physical disturbances like loud noises or objects moving.
Since early ancient history the sightings and experiences of ghosts has been passed down through the tales of folklore. The earliest recorded sighting of a ghost was by a Roman author who claimed that there was a ghost of an old man that was haunting his house, according to History.
Since then there have been more and more accounts of ghosts and poltergeist experiences throughout history. Now there are ghost hunters that try to prove the existence of these two entities and even have made TV series to do so. A well known one of the many TV series is titled Ghost Hunters. It has a team who investigate and give the history of certain landmarks that are known to be haunted.
However, science has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of these spirits because the lack of technology advancements to do so. But there are some scientific theories as to why they may not exist.
‘Some psychological factors that play into why people think that ghosts are real has to deal with a constant sense of paranoia that people get from watching a lot of scary movies,” Angela Guerrero, a sophomore psychology major, said. [It fills] their head with terror [and] if you start looking at something or start to believe it’s real then it becomes a reality.”
According to The Conversation, neuroscientist Michael Persinger led an experiment where he applied various electromagnetic fields to the temporal lobe which produces a haunting experience. So places that are landmarked as being haunted produce a certain electromagnetic field which makes people feel uneasy.
Along with this, there is a factor that is called toxic hallucinations. These hallucinations of ghosts sightings is due to someone’s exposure to toxic substances. A team of researchers performed an experiment at Clarkson University to see the similarities between paranormal sightings and specifically fungal spores. It is a factor of why older buildings are perceived as haunted because it can have a lack of ventilation and air quality and can cause these hallucinations, according to the Conversation.
Due to scientific experiments focusing on other forms of research the existence of ghosts being looked into is very small. This lack of research makes it impossible for science to confirm or deny the existence of spirits.
Because there is no confirmation of spirits, many are skeptical in their belief that they are real.
“I think that regardless of scientific evidence not everyone will jump on the bandwagon to believe in ghosts unless they experience it themselves,” Guerrero said. “The case for most people is they have to see it to believe it.”
Graphic: Mars Hogue/ The Johnsonian
