Did your door peak open with no one on the other side pushing it? Or did you hear foot steps from upstairs, but you’re the only one home? No matter what it be, we have all had some rather creepy and unexplained things happen to us. Is it a ghost that causes these weird phenomanas?  Or is there more rational reasoning?

While the hunt for proof of ghosts is a large one, at the moment most ghost research is based off of assumptions. For example, researchers will assume something like ghosts can show themselves in the form of dark shadows, and then try to prove that point. While that is one way to go about trying to prove something, it is not exactly the most scientific. Assuming theories about ghosts has not lead to any earth shattering breakthroughs. As we learned in class, the proper way to test a hypthosisies is by going through the scientific method. It is necessary to collect data and evidence, conduct tests, and use your results to draw a conclusion.

Below is a table from assap.ac.uk , which gives examples of different assumption based experiments that have been conducted throughout the years:

While these assumptions may or may not hold truth, it is not scientifically proven. Many methods people consider “evidence” like Ouija boards, orbs, and those who claim to be able to communicate dead, can be conducted at any point, which makes the conclusion open to a number of third variables that have not be considered. The problem is that these studies can be conducted in a haunted area, or a not haunted are, but the results can end up being exactly the same regardless of the scene. With that being said, many places have a history that would lead the average person to believe ghosts reside there, the readings in an EMF meter can be different in any given building, and a vigil could given off the same results no matter where you are. The research just simply is not scientific.

What’s the right approach?

The scientific method is an investigation based on evidence. To begin, there is no room to assume anything about ghosts within the study. You must consider all prior experiences a strange event, that could be connected to anything, not just ghosts.  Start off looking for witnesses, one who witnessed an unusual event unexpectedly. If you can find two or more people have the same stories, it is pretty reasonable to begin a study. After a site to conduct your study is established, it is time to explain the witnesses’s stories. Possible explanations for every scenario, not just ghost related ones, should be throughly tested. While you may want to believe the stories are connected to ghosts, is it possible they were all just a series of unconnected events. If a study is conducted based on evidence, you result is more likely to be accurate. Unlike assumption based studies, evidence based studies explain observations from witnesses that were not expecting any signs of a haunting. Going off that, it is more likely that the observers have more accurate and real answers, as they were not looking for anything to begin with.

Findings and ghost theories

Many people based their opinions on ghosts on their personal experience, rather than what’s important: scientific findings. Some people think ghosts are spirits that have died and have trouble “crossing” to the other side, and some think they are simply a configuration of the mind. They different types of ghosts range from the following:

• Poltergeists
• Residual 
• Shadow people
• Intelligent spirits

While these are thought to be the different “types”, it can vary and more can be added to the list at any time. Many people believe in ghosts because what they see on TV or hear from other people. It is not hard evidence that leads them to believe in ghosts. Another thing that tripped a lot of ghosts believers up is Albert Einstein’s law that energy cannot be destroyed or created, which is why many people in ghosts. While this does sound reasonable, physics does not support this theory. After death, our energy is turned into heated. The animals who eat our bodies (bacteria, bugs, plants, etc) receive this energy. Our bodies do not transform into orbs that float around and show up later in people’s family photos  (or at least there is no proof of that).

With all this being said, there is no scientific evidence that ghosts exist. There are one of two options, and those are that ghosts simply do not exists, or that ghost hunters aren’t quite up to par yet. Ghost hunting is not the way to prove ghosts exists. Certainly it creates memories and funny stories to share with your family around the camp fire, but when it comes down to it, ghosts can only be explained by scientific experiments that are tested through the scientific method.