One-eighth of American adults, according to the Pew Research Center, claim to have witnessed or been in the presence of a ghost. One in five of you has had a ghostly encounter, according to the results of a survey conducted in 2015 that surveyed more than 2,000 people.
Despite the fact that these experiences are interpreted differently by different groups of people and cultures, they are nearly universal in nature. There are a variety of processes taking place in your brain and body that lead to the experience of seeing, hearing, or sensing an extraterrestrial presence, but they all stem from one primary process: the brain’s ability (or inability) to distinguish between internal and external stimuli.
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Power of suggestion
A paranormal experience are more likely to occur when you enter a house, hotel, or bookstore if you believe in the paranormal and someone tells you that it is haunted. That does make sense, to be honest. That it’s true doesn’t really need a study to confirm it, but alas, here we are with one.
Twenty-two people were ushered into a dark theatre by researchers in 1997 and told to observe. In the experiment, half the subjects were told that the theatre was haunted, while the other half were told that it was currently under renovation. More intense perceptual experiences were reported by those who thought they were in a haunted theatre, which is presumably science-speak for seeing or sensing something out of this world.
This suggests that people have a predisposition to seek out paranormal experiences due to popular culture’s emphasis on the possibility. This is classic paranoia, to put it another way.
Cold spots
The term “cold spots” is frequently used by paranormal investigators, but the majority of so-called haunted homes and buildings are in fact old and draughty. You haven’t necessarily violated a spirit’s personal space just because you walked through a cold spot.
When scientists look for a cause for a temperature change, they usually discover that a chimney or a draughty window are to blame. People had more paranormal encounters in rooms that had a reputation for being haunted, as opposed to those where no one had ever reported seeing or hearing anything paranormal. The paranormal experiences that people have had in these locations may have something to do with the natural phenomena such as magnetic fields and lighting levels that occur there.
Stress
A study found that people who have had paranormal experiences are more open to the idea of spiritual experiences in general as well as having “thinner mental boundaries” and “higher empathy levels.” Non-religious paranormal experiences are more common in people who live in “threatening and ambiguous environments,” according to the study. A stressed-out individual might see a shadow figure or a full-bodied apparition.
Other studies have confirmed the validity of this hypothesis, including one that examined whether stress might be a factor in women’s reports of paranormal experiences. Research on women in central eastern Turkey found that those who had experienced trauma as a child or post-traumatic stress disorder were more likely to report having had experiences like possession, precognition, and extra-sensory perception.
Brain disorder
Pew Research Center estimates that 18% of Americans claim to have seen a ghost, so if this theory is correct, then about 1 in 5 of us suffer from a malfunctioning brain.
At the beginning of 2006, Swiss neurologists were trying to pinpoint the exact location in a woman’s brain that was responsible for her seizures, but they came across an unusual phenomenon. A mysterious, shadowy figure appeared behind her when he applied current to a specific area of her brain. As if that wasn’t creepy enough, the shadow person was imitating her movements. Some researchers believe they were simply stimulating the part of the brain that gives you the creepy sensation of being watched or being followed by something that isn’t really there, according to these scholars.
People can be artificially made to feel as if there is a ghostly presence in a room using a device called “the God helmet,” which sends magnetic signals directly to the wearer’s head.
Sleep paralysis
Approximately 8 percent of us have experienced sleep paralysis at some point in our lives, and for some, it’s a regular occurrence. The sensation of a ghost at the foot of your bed is a common side effect of sleep paralysis, and it’s nothing to worry about. The fact that you’re not paralysed by the presence of a shadowy figure at the foot of your bed can be comforting for those who deal with this on a regular basis.
Exploding head syndrome
Exploding head syndrome occurs while you’re sleeping, much like sleep paralysis. When you’re nodding off and suddenly hear what sounds like a huge explosion or a huge crash somewhere in your house, you’re convinced you’ve just heard it, but when you wake up, there’s no physical evidence of it. What’s going on? Is it possible that you’re hearing the echoes of a terrible event that occurred in the past? Or it could just be a case of exploding heads.
It is the result of some sort of sync error in the brain. Your muscles, eyes, and ears begin to shut down as you drift off to sleep. It’s possible that the part of your brain in charge of shutting down all those functions gets a little confused and instead of shutting down all the auditory neurons fires them all at once when you hear a phantom “bang” during this procedure.
A coping strategy
People who have lost a close family member are more likely to report having paranormal experiences in the early stages of their grief. Many people report having vivid dreams of being greeted by their deceased loved ones, or feeling as if they are being watched, or even seeing a glimpse of their deceased loved one. Scientists believe that these experiences can be explained by the grieving brain’s “coping strategies.” According to the theory, it’s easier to deal with the death of a loved one if you believe that the person is still alive in some form. Grief can be lessened by imagining one’s own spiritual encounters with a loved one who has passed away.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
The house itself or you could be to blame if your once-peaceful home suddenly seems to be haunted. In fact, it could be something extremely dangerous, such as a broken furnace. You should check your carbon monoxide alarms before calling an exorcist, and if they’re not working, get out and leave until your utility company tells you it’s safe to return.
The strange case of a couple who believed they were residing in a haunted house was documented in the Journal of Ophthalmology in the 1920s. Despite there being no one else around, the woman reported hearing footsteps and the sound of someone moving furniture. Additionally, she awoke to see two apparitions at the foot of her bed one night, and felt as though she was being followed. A carbon monoxide leak in the furnace was bad enough to cause hallucinations but not fatal enough for the couple to seek the help of doctors. It was only after they hired experts to examine the house that they discovered the true source of the haunting.
Toxic mould in the house
There may be a correlation between the mould that grows in dark, creepy places and people’s claims of paranormal experiences. According to a study, mould can cause delirium, movement disorders, and problems with balance and coordination. This leads us to believe that mould may also cause the kinds of hallucinations that lead people to believe they are witnessing ghosts.
Low-frequency sounds
Ghosts may be the result of low frequency “standing waves,” according to ProSoundWeb. According to the author of the ProSoundWeb article, he had an experience with a fencing sword and a fan that made the sword vibrate and made him feel watched at the same time. Furthermore, he also witnessed an apparition.
Feelings of dread can be caused by infrasound, which is a sound that falls outside the range of human hearing. Fans aren’t the only sources of infrasound; ocean waves, vibrating pipes, and even some animals like whales and elephants also contribute. Infrasound can also cause the eyes to twitch, which is why some people who hear it think they’ve seen a ghost when it occurs at just the right frequency.
It’s fun
Believing in ghosts is just for fun. Like going on a roller coaster or watching a scary movie, it’s a good time. For us, the idea that ghosts are real is so deeply ingrained that it makes it difficult for us to accept scientific reasoning.
Another benefit of believing in ghosts is that it helps us face our own mortality. In addition to giving us a good time, the presence of ghosts in an old house or hotel helps us hold on to the belief that there is life after death. A belief in ghosts makes us believe that we can glimpse an afterlife that we are all afraid might not exist.