By J.E. Warren
Contributing Writer
Halloween isn't the only time when ghosts are found to be lurking. Such inexplicable phenomena have been at the heart of cultural belief systems for thousands of years.
However, it began to become obvious to surveyors during the early twentieth century that fresh tales of ghostly encounters were dwindling with the use of modern technology.
There have been some explanations offered for this decline, however. In the late 1980s, Dr. Ian Stevenson, head of the Division of Personality Studies at the University of Virginia Medical School, offered some theories.
He cited the obvious maturity among more educated and technology embraced people. He also wondered whether such people might be less willing to come forth publicly with their accounts, for fear of ridicule possible of harming personal or professional interests, like their reputations.
Ghostly appearances have been pushed more and more out of existence in the wake of technology, like so many other things of the past. But some experts think public interest has recently been on the rise again.
Burgeoning interest in psychical research, most often referred to as parapsychology, has led more than a few reputable researchers into the fringe of science; researchers such as Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir William Barret, both late great physicists who helped organize England's Society for Psychical Research in 1882 in order to investigate apparitional experiences.
Their common suspicion was that advances in modern physics may provide an intellectual framework of understanding. In other words, the early ghost hunters were going to take the magic out of the subject.
Modern ghost hunters are still going after the same ideal. Generally, this far frontier of science is as well respected now as it was over a hundred years ago. It's the roach-motel of science. Prominent researchers may go in, but they usually do not come back out with their professional reputations fully intact.
There have been exceptions to the rule, however. Carl Sagan, who is a household name for today's scientists and science readers, was a founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), along with hard science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, and other modern writers and researchers. The organization has a website, csicop.org, and publishes Skeptical Inquirer magazine.
Dr. Bob Agnew, dean of North Lake College's Math/Natural Sciences/Sports Sciences Division, questions the value of psychical research efforts, but does not altogether dismiss them.
Even though Agnew is only familiar with issues of hard science, he has had the occasion to meet other researchers or read reports in the field of parapsychology.
"It's obvious that there are people out there having unexplainable experiences," he said. "But the question is, 'are the apparitions really there, or are we dealing with purely psychological influences?'"
Agnew feels the mental health of individuals having weird experiences should first be explored before other conclusions are drawn.
"The individual's mind can have a great deal of influence over their physiology," he explained. "One example is the cases of people making themselves sick. That sort of thing is actually well-documented."
Agnew also spoke of amputees "feeling" their limbs long after they had been removed, of waking up at night with an aching arm or leg that was no longer there. He agreed that an accurate similarity might be drawn in the cases of people sorely missing recently departed family members or friends — of waking up at night "feeling" or "seeing" them in the room.
Although belief in the paranormal isn't what it used to be, Gallup polls taken in 1978 and 1990 show an apparent increase in the belief of certain phenomena.
A 1997 Yankelovich Partners poll gives further support to the notion that belief in the paranormal has been on the rise again. CSICOP receives one or two dozen reports from apparition witnesses per average year.
Maria Miller, Director of Client Services for Yankelovich Partners, feels that much of the heightened interest is media-driven, as a result of books, movies and television shows like Fox Network's popular X-Files, which draws between 17-25 million viewers.
It's also believed that pre-millennium religious tensions may have contributed to the renewed interest in spiritual matters, like ghosts and other things associated with the afterlife.
Tensions appear to be a key factor, thinks Dr. Gary Swaim, philosophy instructor and director of North Lake College's Community Center for Writers. Swaim used to be a professional counselor and family therapist. He does not think ghosts are real, and doesn't consider research of ghosts a priority. He's open to possibilities, but says that, "Skepticism is the root of good science.
"Cases where patients thought they were being haunted or something of the like were really rare," said Swaim. "But these experiences were typically rooted in the patients' various fears, and not a result of something externally real."
However, Swaim acknowledges that good things can come out of any sort of research, no matter how farfetched it might be.
"Universities like UCLA and Emory University in Atlanta have taken on studies in such inexplicable areas as telekinesis and [remote] viewing," he said.
"The studies have produced nothing with any real finality to them. They might need something more significant in the way of research."
Proof, like ghosts, remains invisible to researchers. But who knows? In the words of British novelist and poet Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960):
"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
