Chances are you know someone who claims to have had a ghost encounter. Maybe you even have your own story.
More than six in ten adults believe in ghosts, despite the fact that no one has been able to definitively prove that ghosts really exist.
So how is it that these unspeakable experiences feel so real, when science tells us they can’t be?
The answer lies in a combination of psychological, social and societal factors that have reinforced the idea that ghosts really exist, even in the absence of strong evidence, experts told DailyMail.com.
More than 60 percent of American adults believe in ghosts, despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that the spirits of the dead can walk among us
Aspects of human psychology have played an important role in shaping widespread belief in ghosts.
When people experience something unknown and inexplicable, it triggers a “primitive motivation” to seek an explanation, Barry Markovsky, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of South Carolina, told DailyMail.com.
The brain uses two systems to come up with that explanation: rational cognition and emotional response, he explained.
‘The first thing we can experience when we encounter an unknown, bizarre event is that emotional reaction.
“And unfortunately, the evidence seems to show that emotional responses dull cognitive analysis,” he said.
Fear is an emotion that has a particularly powerful effect on rational thinking. It’s an “incredibly powerful persuader and motivator,” Brian Cronk, professor of psychology at Buffalo State University, told DailyMail.com.
Additionally, the brain tends to draw conclusions based on the first piece of information that comes to mind, Cronk said.
This is called the availability heuristic. “It’s a shortcut the brain uses to come up with answers when it doesn’t have time for real analysis,” he explained.
The fact that our media is flooded with stories about ghosts, ghosts and possessions means that our minds are too.
Much of the “evidence” of ghosts – such as videos of floating orbs or recordings of disembodied voices – actually has perfectly normal explanations, Kenny Biddle told DailyMail.com.
So when something comes across at night, we can remember those stories and think that something similar must happen. Then fear could hinder our ability to come up with a more rational explanation.
These aspects of the brain may explain why “paranormal encounters” feel so real to people who claim to have experienced them.
And if they share the story of the incident with others, it can further entrench them in their beliefs, Markovsky said.
These stories have a “cool factor” that makes them intriguing and exciting, he explained. They attract people’s attention and in this way they can almost become a social currency.
This can tempt someone to stick with their story even if there is no evidence that it was really a paranormal experience, just so they can keep telling it.
Others may subconsciously want to believe in ghosts because it gives them a feeling of being connected to deceased loved ones, or eases their anxiety about what happens after we die, Markovsky said.
“We tend to adopt these kinds of beliefs mainly on emotional grounds,” he said. “There’s something very profound and satisfying about that kind of circumvention of rationality.”
If you find yourself looking for paranormal explanations for a strange occurrence, Biddle’s advice is to always be “skeptical.”
In addition, there is a lot of false “proof” of ghosts that can reinforce people’s beliefs.
But this evidence – such as videos of floating spheres or recordings of disembodied voices – almost always has a perfectly normal explanation, Kenny Biddle told DailyMail.com.
Biddle is principal investigator of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, a group of experts whose aim is to promote the use of reason in investigating paranormal claims.
“My job is to go in and look for a cause,” he said.
He has researched and debunked people’s ghost stories for over twenty years. But when he first started in his 20s, he was a believer, he said.
As a young ghost hunter, he used cameras, audio recorders, cassette tapes, and electromagnetic field readers (EMF) to find evidence of ghosts.
But the problem with using these gadgets is: ‘If you don’t put experimental control over your use, you’re not doing science. You’re doing pseudoscience,” he said.
Take an EMF reader for example. This device detects electromagnetic fields, which humans cannot see, hear or feel.
So if the reader sounds a warning, there’s no way to confirm whether a ghost activated it, or something completely benign. For example, EMF readers can be activated by radio waves or electrical equipment turning on and off, Biddle explains.
Cameras can also be misleading. People often attribute floating orbs captured in photos or videos to ghosts, but these are actually just dust, pollen, insects, or liquid droplets in the air catching the light, especially when the flash is used.
The Panasonic DR60 is another device often used by ghost hunters to record disembodied voices, moans or whispers.
This recorder is considered the “Holy Grail” of ghost hunting equipment, but it is “seriously flawed,” Biddle said.
The DR60 is highly sensitive and designed to start recording when it hears a sound. Even the researcher’s own breathing can cause recording to begin, he said.
It also generates noise internally due to disturbances and malfunctions, Biddle explains. In most cases, the sounds these recorders pick up do not come from external sources, but from the recorder itself.
This is where confirmation bias comes into play. When ghost hunters are actively looking for evidence of a ghost, they can interpret completely meaningless recordings as words, grunts or moans, he said.
Whatever the reason behind the belief, once it’s formed, it’s hard to let go, Cronk said. This is called persuasion perseverance – or the idea that our beliefs hold up even in the face of skepticism and scrutiny.
So it’s unlikely that people will stop believing in ghosts anytime soon. But if you find yourself looking for paranormal explanations for a strange occurrence, Biddle’s advice is to always be “skeptical.”
Ghost stories have been around for thousands of years and date back to ancient civilizations.
Once the scientific method was developed in the early 17th century, people finally had a way to actually investigate paranormal claims.