Sometimes, the things that people believe in make little sense to others. Scientists have difficulty understanding how certain people could possibly believe that the world could have been created in 7 days. Conversely, many Christians simply don't understand how so many people in the world are blind to the truth, “how is it possible that all the proof is there, but people just don't see it?”, is a common question heard from both sides of the spectrum. One of the things that most of the people I have ever talked to about this topic claim to believe in is; the existence of ghosts. All over the internet there is “proof” of ghosts existing, which causes scientists to bang their head up against the wall and again ask the question, “Why do people believe it?” Indeed, why do people believe strange, off the wall things?
According to the Skeptics Dictionary, “a ghost is an alleged disembodied spirit of a dead person. Ghosts are often depicted as inhabiting haunted houses, especially houses where murders have occurred.” One explanation as to why people like to believe in ghosts is; they like to think that there is an afterlife, so when they die it isn't the end, and they aren't just a body rotting in the ground. Also, they like to believe that it is possible to see or maybe even interact with loved ones they have lost. Those are both very powerful reasons to believe in ghosts, and therefore it is quite difficult for skeptics to refute those professed beliefs and the arguments that go along with them. When someone “knows” that death isn't the end, they are going to defend that belief with everything they have, even if their argument doesn't make much sense.
It is quite difficult for skeptics to refute the existence of ghosts simply because of ghosts' nature. For instance, ghosts like to do their work during the night, because it is difficult, if not impossible for people to see them during the day because of their physical makeup. Also, ghosts don't like to work in conditions where people might see them, because they want to retain the mysteriousness that makes them so scary. Now, reading this someone might say, “what?” That makes no sense, if they didn't want to be seen why would they only work in the nighttime, when they were most likely to be seen? Indeed, that is the skeptic's question, and another reason why the argument on the side of the believer makes little sense.
Scientists have basically disproved the existence of ghosts by doing scientific studies and other research. In one particular study which was detailed by BBC News, researchers took a group of people in to a place that they had studied before hand, and had found environmental reasons for “ghosts”. These reasons were draftiness in certain areas of the room; strange noises caused by the way the air moved and other such things. Nearly all the people reported the existence of ghosts in the certain areas that the scientists had previously researched. This leads them to believe that one of the major causes for people reportedly feeling or seeing ghosts is environmental.
Because of that theory, researchers also believe that mediums, or people who claim to interact with the dead, are simply people who are more sensitive than others to environmental factors. So those people were more likely to have feelings of being haunted then others, because they could feel draftiness and hear strange noises better than other people who were placed in the same situation.
When talking about ghosts, one particular incident comes to mind for me. I was driving home with my boyfriend up in the mountains, because I live in Squaw Valley. Anyone who has driven in the mountains knows that the roads are rather curvy, and there is very little traffic. So, we were driving and we hadn't encountered another vehicle for quite some time, when suddenly we went around a curve and another car was sitting there getting ready to turn on to the road we were on, so it was at a “T” to us. At the point where our headlights met it looked like there was someone standing there wearing blue pants, but nothing else. We both saw this “phenomena”, and at closer inspection it was clear that there was no one there.
Now, my first reaction was, “Isn't it crazy how the light can play tricks on our eyes like that?” My boyfriend's response was “That was no trick of the light, it was obviously a ghost”. I didn't respond at that point, but I was thinking how coincidental it was that a ghost just happened to be standing right at the point where our headlights and another car's headlights met. Also, I thought it was pretty odd that a ghost would be wearing just a pair of blue pants and nothing else. And, when I thought about it more, all I saw was the “blue pants”, so it kind of looked like they were floating in the air. I wonder who killed those pants, and why they wanted to come back and haunt people.
Anther incident that is clear in my mind related to ghosts is something that happened with my cousin. We were all sitting around telling ghost stories, like kids do and he told this story about how he saw a ghost standing about 5 feet in front of him. He just stood there and looked at it, and it looked at him and then it vanished. He said he was very certain it was a ghost, because it was looking right at him. We were all in awe by this story, because it was the best one we had ever heard.
A few years later my cousin got baptized as a Christian, and somehow we got on to the topic of ghosts again. He said that ghosts simply did not exist, God brought everyone to heaven or sent them to hell, and no spirits remained here on earth. I asked about the story he had told us a few years ago, and he responded with “it was merely a trick of the light. I didn't actually see a ghost”. And I asked if he was sure about that, and he responded with the same amount of certainty as when we asked him if he was sure about seeing it before. In his mind he rationalized the situation, and it completely changed for him. That particular incident helped me to understand the power our minds have, even when we are 100 percent sure about something.
All throughout the world, in every culture people have come up with theories related to ghosts or other spirits that remain here on earth after death. There are many reasons for that, some of which I have already mentioned. People want to believe that there is life after death, inexplicable environmental factors cause people to blame “spirits” because they don't know the true cause, and of course, people are afraid of the dark and what could loom there. Perhaps someday people won't be so quick to link things they can't explain to ghosts, and they will simply say “I don't know how that happened”. But people don't like not knowing things, so it isn't very likely to happen soon, or ever for that matter.
