Do Ghosts Exist?

by Alex Bradshaw

Many people believe that ghosts are just a childish fear, or a figment of our imaginations. However I believe that, despite much scientific evidence to the contrary, they do exist.

The study of paranormal and psychic phenomena including telepathy, near-death and apparitional experiences is collectively termed the science of parapsychology. It is identified as a pseudoscience by a vast majority of mainstream scientists such as Professor Brian Cox. Professor Cox has spent much time studying ghost energy levels in order to confirm their existence and uses the large Hadron collider at CERN to support his research. On the basis of this and significant further research, five prominent theories have emerged regarding the existence of ghosts.

The first, and the one everybody knows about is the classic theory. “Somebody dies and their spirit lives on.” This is where people get the phrase “haunted” from, as the spirits, like humans, settle down and live somewhere where they are occasionally seen. Many religions argue over where the spirit goes after death, and some religions believe that a spirit only leaves to the “afterlife” when they have finished serving their purpose on the earth. So, in effect, the classic theory suggests that ghosts are spirits of dead people completing unfinished activities on the earth.

The second is that ghosts are inter-dimensional beings. Personally, I believe in the existence of aliens and I think that there are definitely other forms of life out somewhere in space. However what if they were already here? We think of aliens as green and tall with large eyes, but actually we have no idea, they could be timid, semi-transparent people who roam the earth, occasionally being seen. It's a wild theory, but not totally unsupported by science. Mankind does not yet understand the full extent of the universe and it is entirely possible that ghosts are super technologically advanced aliens who have populated the earth since before our time.

The third theory is that ghosts are not ghosts at all but are in fact demons or angels manifesting themselves in a way that is understandable to humans. The ghost sitting beside your bed at night, might actually be a guardian angel looking down on you, making sure you are safe. Clearly, this theory relies on a belief in the reality of angels and demons which, in itself, is another topic of discussion. The point is that this theory rejects the concept of the ghost and replaces it instead with other more religious ideas.

The fourth theory, or mine, at least I believed it was mine until I started to research deeper into ghosts, is that ghost sightings can be explained by past events somehow recording themselves into the environment. What we recognise as a ghost is really just history playing back. There is no spirit present at all. It is like watching a movie. For paranormal investigators, this is what they would call a residual haunting. Parapsychologists speculate that some rocks, elements or open bodies of water, such as the Bermuda Triangle, are conducive to residual haunting, just like a piece of iron is conducive to being magnetised. It’s a fascinating idea, and it might console people who fear that their home is haunted however it is a new theory and one that is currently being researched further.

Finally, the fifth theory is that ghosts are a function of activity in the brain. However, it isn’t really that simple and we do not yet understand enough about how the brain functions to assess whether or not this theory could be credible. There are two potential variants on this idea. The first is that ghosts are hallucinations either being created by a collection of subconscious thoughts being projected into our daily lives or by a simple virus that has yet to be identified. Hallucinations are a scientifically proven concept so it is not hard to imagine that these could be the source of ghost ‘sightings’. Secondly, it may be that the brain has the power to see into the past so that we are able to see images from historical events in the location that we are observing. This is a far more advanced idea, suggesting that the brain is far more advanced than currently thought.

To conclude, the existence of ghosts is a very easy idea to dismiss. However, the reality is that thousands of people every year believe that they have seen a ghost and, unless they are all lying, the possibility that ghosts exist deserves much greater thought.

The five prominent theories that I have outlined each present, to a greater or lesser degree, a credible theory explaining why these people might have seen a ghost. I firmly believe that ghosts exist. I agree that firm proof is hard to find but I think we can all agree that there are too many unanswered questions with regard to space, the mind and reality as we know it to be able to discount their existence entirely. The thousands of ghost sightings each year simply cannot be discarded.