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Subscribe to RSSSeeing ghosts? Richard Wiseman, a psychologist and professor at the University of Hertfordshire, says don’t worry: There’s no such thing -- and you're not the only one who's seeing spooky sights. In his latest book, "Paranormality: Why We See What Isn’t There," Wiseman, a former magician, looks at psychic phenomena through the prism of science.
Arman Zhenikeyev / Featurepics
Q: What is it about humans that make us want to believe in the paranormal?
A: I think there a few things going on. First, I think it’s comforting. If you’re sick, and there’s a psychic healer who says she can help you, or if you lost someone you love, but a medium says she can contact that person, both of those things provide some solace. Second, many people claim to have had paranormal experiences, and that’s very attractive to certain groups.
Q: Is it more acceptable to believe in the paranormal in London than, say, Chicago?
A: Actually, it’s hardwired into our brain, so it’s a worldwide phenomenon. About 40 to 50 percent of people in the U.K. claim to have had a paranormal experience. In the U.S. it’s about 80 to 90 percent. That’s a terrifying statistic, but it’s not surprising with all the psychic hotlines and (paranormal) television shows there. We couldn’t even get the book published in the U.S. because it takes a skeptical look at the paranormal. Publishers said there would be no interest.
Q: We’ve all seen stories about rooms that are unusually cold. Even the family pet won’t go in them. What’s going on?
A: We’ve run quite a lot of experiments on so-called haunted places. Sometimes it’s not actually colder in those rooms. It’s just thermal patterns or low frequency sound waves from traffic or wind. Animals detect that better than humans.
Q: So when the family cat starts acting weird, you’re saying we don’t need to run from the room screaming like little girls, right?
A: You can do whatever you want in your own home. But being afraid is perfectly normal. In terms of evolution, we got cues from animals. If an animal was afraid of something or seemed vigilant, that was a cue for humans to be more watchful.
Q: Sometimes people say they feel a scary presence while asleep. Then they wake up and can’t move.
A: It’s called sleep paralysis, and it’s really well established. When you dream, the body is very sophisticated and paralyzes you so you don’t act out a dream. But sometimes there’s confusion between waking and dreaming that can cause some bizarre imagery. Once people understand that, it’s not so terrifying.
Leave a comment telling us about your last encounter with the paranormal.
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This is some footage from my security cameras. When I work late at night in the garage, I sometimes hear footsteps coming up my driveway. I sort of just figured it was racoons or cats in the dead leaves.
Something opened my gate, I doubt it was the wind, the gate weighs 150 lbs and none of the trees or shadows move.
Ghost Hunter said:
Amazon.co.uk says:
I think Professor Wiseman is doing just fine selling his book, but thank you for your good luck wishes.
By the way, one of those sales on the Amazon UK site was mine. I ordered it internationally when it was released in the UK because I was too impatient to wait for it to hit America. Now I'm really glad I didn't wait, since US publishers would rather cater to the "believers" than to the scientific/skeptical/psychology-minded.
I have spent my life looking for the spiritual and the miraculous. I have had many unusual experiences, including sleep paralysis and dreams of abduction. I saw figures enter my bedroom as a child. I wanted this all to be true as it assuaged my fear of mortality.
I have since examined a whole lot of evidence. There is not one jot of actual proof that ghosts exist. They may still exist, but I highly doubt it.
Richard Wiseman is a seeker of truth, not a debunker of nonsense, although this distinction might be lost on some people. A scientist is always prepared to question everything and accepts nothing without hard evidence.
For those who think he sits at his desk: well, nothing could be further from the truth. He has taken many opportunities to visit (and spend the night in) some of the most 'haunted' places in the world. Edinburgh is widely recognised as having some of the most 'haunted' buildings in Europe. He has investigated many with an open mind (as all good scientists should) and found nothing. Zip. Nada.
A faith-based perspective is the opposite of a scientific perspective. Having faith means that you think you have all the answers and questions are unnecessary.
If you base your sense of identity and self-esteem on being right all the time, you might find it hard to accept evidence that goes against what you believe.
I challenge you believers to actually question what you believe. The world is full of wonder and life is a true miracle. You do not need God, ghosts, an afterlife or any other made up human invention to give life meaning. 'Meaning' and 'purpose' are human concepts. The universe existed fine without us and will go on without us when we are gone. We are tiny, insignificant, but also incredibly beautiful. The world is wonderful and mysterious enough without filling it with the delusions of the mind. Look for the wonder that is there... it is enough for a million lifetimes.
Love and peace to all, believers or not. x
There are plenty of past "scientific fact" we now know to be false. I understand that controlled experiments can help us understand the world around us, however science should never try to prove a negative. It's just bad science.
"This article doesn't explain..."
"Why doesn't he mention..."
"This article doesn't prove anything..."
PEOPLE! This is a FIVE QUESTION interview; it was obviously never going to try to address those points or prove anything. If you bothered to read Professor Wiseman's book, Paranormality, you'd find that he DOES address a lot of the things you're complaining the "article" doesn't address.
Do a bit of research before you make claims or dismiss his information. That's what Wiseman did: a LOT of research, in point of fact.
Wow. Just wow. Reading through these comments makes me fear for the future of civilization. So much ignorance, so much fear and superstition. Scientific literacy is probably lower today than it was in the 19th century. How terribly depressing.
Seriously people, ghosts? Are you five? You may want to sit down, I have bad news concerning Santa for you...
LOL like we don't already know that he had a heart attack 50 years ago, and was transformed into a cyborg by the technician elves, making him 200% more efficient at delivering presents to an expanding and demanding population....
*facepalm*
Oh good freaking lord...seriously. Please just stop commenting at all.
I was sitting on the commode about 3 am the other morning in my little travel trailer. I thought as I was sitting there what is the scarriest thing that could happen at that time. The answer: Someone knocks on the bathroom door!
Also helps you finish up quickly and get back to bed...lol
Sorry, posted this much earlier, but didn't tag it onto the end of the discussion properly! Anyway, here it is again for anyone who's interested...
Has anyone here actually read this book? There seems to be a lot of strong opinion that Wiseman's talking rubbish, but from what I can make out - and I haven't read all of the posts - people are rejecting his arguments/findings before they've read them? Saying "Yeah, but how does he explain [this weird thing that happened to me and my mates]??" isn't the most robust of arguments?
Do people know where they were on the day of the challenger disaster (or JFK's assassination or 9/11)? A fascinating study interviewed people in the days following the event, and asked them where they were/what they were doing. They then followed up as many as they could a year or so later, and asked the same question. I forget the exact stats, but a significant proportion gave a different account of their whereabouts that day. I recall some were shocked, and (probably responsibly) trusted their initial version; but a proportion again, in effect, responded "No, I was mistaken a couple of days after the tragedy, I know now, a year later, that I was definitely somewhere else!" (I think the researcher was called Neisser?)
Of course, we all know that we'd never misremember the past, embellish our memories, or subconsciously model the past to fit with our preconceptions or a more satisfying version of events. None of us are social animals who subtly conspire with fellow human beings to construct/protect interesting stories that deviate from reality ...And damn those scientists for trying to account for such variables - at the end of the day, some of us just know our memories and personalities are infallible!
Ta.
Frustrato
There are two questions I'd like every believer in the paranormal to answer. 1) What is more plausible ... that the laws of physics are just pretend, or that maybe your brain was fooled or you were dreaming or hallucinating when you experienced that profound experience? 2) What is the physical mechanism behind what you think you experienced? Ok, you saw a spirit. What made the spirit move? What make the spirit speak or make a sound? OK, you saw aliens. How did they get here given the speed of light and the great distances involved? OK, you saw a bigfoot or nessie. How does the creature mate if it's the only one? Where is the poop? Think it through. Don't just say, "It's a mystery." That's bull@!$%#.
Who knows what people are REALLY seeing? Just because they rationalize the experiences by calling them ghosts, spirits or demons, doesn't mean that the phenomenon had to occur within the mind.
It was only three hundred years ago that people didn't know (or want to believe) that germs existed.
Although I'd like to believe the sceptics, I cannot.
After living in a house with weird goings on (that were witnessed by four people in seperate incidents who compared stories at a later date), and then finding out that the previous owners and the owners who came after us all experienced similar incidents, I'm convinced that there is more to the mystery than just human preception and emotion.
Ghosts are real. I believe ghosts appear to the living for a reason. I also believe, though rare, that a ghost can be captured in a photograph. How arrogant we are to think that we can explain away things not of this world, as "just our imagination." Most people who do not believe in ghosts are atheist.
What is a spirit?
I mean, really. There is no afterlife, life isn't a mysterious force or energy, it keeps itself going, we all are alive, we all know what we need to do to stay alive, we all do it, we are not "empty" shells filled with ghosts.
etc
and why does nobody ever see a ghost plant or ghost cow? A ghost of a nonsentient thing even?
Just because you believe it, doesn't mean its true, no matter how hard you want to believe it. You may strongly believe that the Universe was sneezed out of the nose of a being known as the Great Green Arkelsieger, living in fear of the Coming of the Great White Handkerchief, but does that make it true?
Even if you can vividly remember a "ghost" telling you or having a vision of it?
Seriously, strange beliefs are strange.
God is all loving, so we are not judged by "God", but he gives us free will to choose our own path, be it right or wrong.
We judge ourselves, and we are our own worst critics of ourselves.
We are all here to love and help one another & treat others as we would treat ourselves with love & kindness.
The "other side" is all about love, peace & happiness & further learning to reach the highest of spirituality and "pure love".
There is a God or presence of light & love in the after life, so I have been told by others that are there & those who had a near death experience.
So....let's love one another with peace & happiness & do good for others, so when you judge yourself, you will not be so regretful of you our doings.
Peace & Love. : )
I heard a bump in the night. It was my neighbor's dog.
Buncha sheep out here ripping on the rational explanation. It's not ghosts we should fear...it's the people on this site who believe in all that doohicky. Really guys?
Life is a mystery consisting of many unexplainable things! Logic does not always prevail.Therefore,who is to say what is real and what is imagined?
No, none of you had paranormal experiences despite how "real" it felt. And those of you who are actually hearing voices ("like being in a theater" one person said), need to seek help--that's not normal and it ISN'T ghosts.
The inanity in this thread is really depressing. There's no hope for this country.
I can see that most of the ignorant imbeciles that have posted comments on here are either too stupid to read Richards book, or, simply oblivious to the facts!
LOOK! Just because you think/know you saw aunt Ethel wondering around the living room does NOT mean ghosts exist!!!!
99% of cases are simple to explain, and the 1% that aren’t, people can't be bothered!
It's time you all grow up, throw away your silly imaginary friends and EDUCATE yourselves!!
Jamie!
What an Idiot, psychology has only been around for about a 100 years and ghosts have been seen and believed in for over 2000 years. Just love when the only thing he can support his belief with is by making stupid comments to sound like he is an expert on this. He is not. A skeptic when it comes to ghosts, is just someone who has not seen one yet. You cannot explain a collective experience, nor collective data. When an evp, an experience and an anomaly are captured on two different sources of equipment and they coincide. Psychologists nor scientists are not experts on the paranormal, they don't study the paranormal nor do research in the field. Belief is not research. You can't fit a square in a circle or star, but they will do the best they can by making the circle as small as possible so it will fit into anything they tell you. Ridiculous. It is the ghost hunters and the ITC researchers who are the real pioneers and scientists when it comes to the paranormal.
As for sleep paralysis, yeah it exists, but they tend to use it out of context. It does not and cannot explain levitation, voices heard by not just the person frozen with fear or energies taking over, but other people in the room, it cannot explain figures or anomalies captured in the room or seen by others nor can it explain scratches or out of body experiences that relay information that cannot be seen from the room or in the area while the body is laying there. His opinion is about as valuable on ghosts a counterfeit bill. It will only go so far until someone questions or inspects what the heck he said.
What a waste of an education, blabbing about something he has no clue on.
This is where experience is everything and education doesn't cover @!$%# on this subject.
-Chris Fleming