Proving the Existence of Ghosts

I am 29 years old. Up until fairly recently I used to believe in the existence of Ghosts. This post is not to debate the existence of ghosts, but rather to question the methods that ghost hunters use. I used to believe I grew up in a haunted house. Now that I think back on things I believe it was more likely a result of an over active imagination. I would also like to say that I am in no way trying to discredit anyone else's claims of paranormal experiences. The path that I have followed in my life has led me to a point where logically, with the current evidence available, I cannot believe in the existence of ghosts. I used to read anything I could find on spirits. I still possess countless books on hauntings and the paranormal. I watched every unsolved mysteries, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Ghost anything. Like I said my switch in belief happened fairly recently. What I'm trying to get at is that I feel of all the supposed "ghost knowledge" that exists I feel as though I am pretty informed. One thing always bothered me though. I know that if I was in the business of proving the existence of something the best way for me to do so would be to take the most scientific and controlled route as possible. To me it seems only logical that an extremely "haunted" if not the most "haunted" place in the world should be chosen. Why stop with just one, lets do the top three haunted places just to mix it up. Next these places should be cleaned, sealed, and sound proofed in order to eliminate any potential outside interference. That way dust, insects, car lights, exterior sounds, anything that could be confused for paranormal in certain circumstances should be eliminated. The place should then be wired for audio recording, and every spectrum of camera they can possible get. They should monitor everything: temperature, pressure, EMF, radioactivity, light levels, everything. They should have all of the power come from an external source to make sure an accurate base reading of all these conditions could be measured. Then they should do this for months or years even, depending on the level of dedication brought to the project. It just seems to me that the current method of proving the existence of ghosts is ridiculous at best. I know not everyone trying to do this has the funds or time to set up that level of investigation, but even if they didn't take all those steps, wouldn't it be fair to say that even the televised paranormal groups could benefit by having more control over their investigations? Going to a spooky, unfamiliar place in the middle of the night to prove something you can't physically see 99% of the time seems foolish to me. Why not investigate during the day? Why not set up cameras in a location for a week instead of 4 hours? The key to verification is the ability to repeatedly receive the same results without doubt. I also realize that the television shows are for entertainment purposes and most likely their "evidence" would always be looked upon as skeptical anyways. I also do not think they totally represent people who are serious about finding evidence of spirits, but from what I can tell their methods are not far from actuality. Also for anyone that has had a compelling paranormal experience and would like to share below is welcome to. I am just curious about the opinion of anyone else who may read this regarding my ideas toward proper verification.

I used to believe I grew up in a haunted house. Now that I think back on things I believe it was more likely a result of an over active imagination

I use to believe it was my imagination that my old house was haunted. Then in my 20s and 30s, my tenants use to complain about the noises late nights. We all weren't imagining the same noises, they were real and frequent. Some nights my 3 family house was noisier than a NYC subway station.

My house was built by the Borden family, of Lizzie Borden fame, and it was/ still is 100% haunted.
I wish I would have recorded strange events and noises when I lived there, the people who live there now don't know what's going on at 3-4AM, and I didn't tell them anything as I was selling it.

I live in a much older home now, and it is completely quiet here compared to there.
Hauntings are real, but I too question these mainstream methods of recording proof positive of apparitions. I believe these hauntings are echos of the past intervening on present time/space. I'm no expert, just my guess from all my experiences with them.

reply to post by XTTIOTX


I wish they would do it that way. Agree fully.
The shows are more for entertainment, so they embellish and don't seem all that serious. It also keeps their costs down this way,for them it has nothing to do with science as much as ratings.
Not that the guys on TAPS aren't probably really trying, but they seem very limited.
I would love to see someone with a lot of money do some sort of really serious paranormal investigation and document it.

lol me and friend saw a ghost yesterday, both of us. you know like when you think you see someone in the side of your eye? well we both saw that and when we both turned to look back it was still there lol

Ha-ha, people actually watch Ghost Hunters?

With all the sightings, you would think that there would be at least one ghost who wasn’t afraid to come out and say hi to everyone. How come they never do that?

reply to post by JibbyJedi


That's funny about your house being built by the Bordens'. I actually live in Massachusetts so the Lizzy Borden case has always been interesting to me! I totally believe that you may have had some seriously crazy things happen to you in your house. I believe people who have paranormal experiences. I am merely trying to say that with the current evidence we have there is no way of knowing whether these events are the consciousness of the deceased causing trouble in our world or some type of other phenomenon we just don't yet understand. It could be another dimension overlapping with us, we just don't know. I'm just throwing caution to the wind now with ideas, but with the current level of evidence I cannot say without reasonable doubt that these events are the souls of deceased humans.

Originally posted by Propulsion
Ha-ha, people actually watch Ghost Hunters?

With all the sightings, you would think that there would be at least one ghost who wasn’t afraid to come out and say hi to everyone. How come they never do that?

people have been seeing ghost for thousands of years...

reply to post by Darkblade71


The problem is I don't think many actual scientists are jumping in line to risk their reputations on ghost hunting. I think its probably something the real egg heads would ridicule.

I have done my own auditory experiments, have gone on ghost tours, read books, seen/felt things, much like yourself. However, through all that and as much as our human instincts drive us to want to understand the unexplained, we should truly focus on our time here.

If there is anything to the paranormal/spiritual world, it will be made privy to us in due course. I have not lost an interest in the subject mind you, but I am of the notion that it's hidden from our everyday view for a reason imo. Relish the time you have in the body that you inhabit, I truly believe we should focus on living and not worry about what comes after until our time comes.

Originally posted by biggmoneyme

Originally posted by Propulsion
Ha-ha, people actually watch Ghost Hunters?

With all the sightings, you would think that there would be at least one ghost who wasn’t afraid to come out and say hi to everyone. How come they never do that?

people have been seeing ghost for thousands of years...

How come they never come out to say hi to anyone?

reply to post by biggmoneyme



That does not prove that they exist nor that they are anything more than imagination or a misunderstood natural phenomenon. Think of all the natural events that used to be attributed to gods, spirits, and demons. At some point everything that happened, happened because of some type of spirit. Then science came along and shaved away a little confusion. We have been doing that ever since and as we progress we continue to shave off bits of confusion here and there. We will continue to do that until we cease to exist. I can say with certainty that humans will never "know it all", but we can keep trying. In all the years that we have been discovering new things do you know how many have been proven to have been caused by paranormal phenomenon? NONE.

reply to post by Propulsion


Because they are ghosts. They are not quite the same as a spirit. A spirit is free and not bound, where as a ghost for whatever reason is stuck.

Or at least that is how I see it.

reply to post by Propulsion


You missed the best ever episode of ghost hunters then...

It was an episode that was just made about 3 weeks ago or so.. season 8 episode 10 "haunted by heroes" (onboard an old naval vessel)

They caught footage on a video thermal imager using black and white mode.. You can clearly see a sailor standing against a wall and just looking at them.. Then it seems to realize they can see it and it slides right out of the view and ducks behind a hallway opening..

It is the best footage I have ever seen..

It has just enough slight variation in temperature as the ambient room temp to reveal the image of this spirit.

Definitely not faked, but people will believe what they wish..

reply to post by Darkblade71

where as a ghost for whatever reason is stuck.

Some of which (sightings) have been suggested to be residual energy e.g. civil war ghosts.

reply to post by UberL33t


I agree with you about valuing the time we have and not worrying about the afterlife. The concept of ghosts is intriguing to me though. I just think if your going to do something you should do it right and I was just venting my frustration toward the lack of effort there is in ghost hunting toward even attempting to be scientific. Its not just ghost hunting that frustrates me with its quackery though. UFO hunters, Bigfoot hunters, Loch Ness hunters, they carry about the same way doing this half assed and calling it science. We all look up from our lives with slight interest and then just laugh when we realize their methods are a joke. People are crying wolf on something that, if taken seriously, could be extremely beneficial for us to find out. I have an interest in these subjects primarily because I like to think that we don't have it all figured out now and the potential for a new great discovery is still waiting for us. Think if they did prove ghosts were 100% without a doubt, like the Earth revolves around the Sun fact, authentic. That would change the world. We would be able to confirm and afterlife and well, hopefully things would get better. Maybe they could tell us things that would stop all silly religious wars, who knows.

reply to post by UberL33t


There is that too.
I was thinking more the aware type.
Residual ones I would think would be the easiest to document.
Cause they would happen regardless of who and what is there.

Have they found a ghost yet on Ghosthunters?

reply to post by Propulsion


Havn't you ever seen Casper? He was a friendly ghost and look at the reaction he got all the time! I wouldn;t say Hi if I scared people to death doing it!

reply to post by satron


I saw an episode once where they did film something at the top of a lighthouse.
That was pretty impressive I thought.

reply to post by XTTIOTX

It could be another dimension overlapping with us, we just don't know.

Like radio frequencies splashing nearby stations. In Massachusetts, it would be like 94HJY is splashing on 92 ProFM, in some locations we can hear both stations on the same channel.

I think this could be what we are dealing with concerning many hauntings. Like you said, other dimensions splashing our frequency in certain locations, perhaps locations charged by strong negative/positive emotions over long periods of time. My former old house was definitely charged negatively.