Ghost !

[iNow]

John,

 

The long and short of it IMO is that when people see ghosts it's the same phenomenon as when people see the face of jesus in a piece of toast or the virgin mary on a toilet seat. It's not because they are actually there, but because we are humans and we are primed to perceive certain things, strongly biased toward facial recognition.

[JohnB]

To a great degree I agree with you. I just think that there are some instances where it's a bit more complex than that.

[insane_alien]

that and we are also primed to see what we expect to see under certain circumstances. not only that but we're good a retroactively editing our memories.

 

say someone is staying in a hotel and sees a 'ghost'. this person then learns that a woman died in that hotel near the location where he saw the ghost a century ago. now the ghost is in his memory as female and wearing outdated clothes.

 

there are many cases of a ghost story progressing like this over time.

[JohnB]

not only that but we're good a retroactively editing our memories.

Something exploited constantly by TV psychics and stage magicians.

[JillSwift]

Very exact, nice. However, it is biased to a viewpoint as it can be rephrased as "If I can't find a mundane explanation for it, it must be a hoax." As a definition, it can only confirm preconceived viewpoints as it precludes the possibility of being wrong.

 

I'm always cautious when a definition doesn't include the possibility that the definer is mistaken. (At least, in this type of discussion anyway.)

 

I do note your use of the caveat "thus far", however just because something can be explained by trickery, does not mean that it was done by trickery.

 

This photo from a bubble chamber can also be explained by trickery.

Does that mean it was produced by trickery? Of course not. (And fear of being dunked into a bubble chamber by a posse of irate physicists led by swansont has nothing to do with my opinion.)

Don't get hung up on the trickery bit - the majority of my listed explanations are likely the vast majority of the bad evidence: Misinterpretation.

 

Misinterpretation and trickery, however, are the simplest explanations that fit all the evidence and the scientific method prefers parsimony; unless the need for another entity arises, or is evidenced itself, don't include it.

 

I used the term "thus far" not because I'm cautious, but because that is also part of the scientific method. I can only conclude from the available evidence, and I've no way of knowing if that's all the applicable evidence that could be had. New evidence must be included and will modify the hypothesis as necessary.

 

That need for inclusiveness of evidence is another reason photographic evidence for ghosts is weak. It's a case of confirmation bias: For all the "hits" that are cool photos of apparitions and ghost orbs, etc there are hundreds of "misses" that are photos of empty rooms, dusty environments, and images of dolls on fishing leader and the like. This fact, along with a lack of corroborating evidence and repeatability of experiment, diminishes photographic evidence of ghosts.

 

Now, it's true that this does not disprove "ghosts" as an external phenomenon. But, disproof isn't the point of science. Proof is - or more accurately, evidence is. So, the rational conclusion is ghosts are a psychological phenomenon, because that's where the evidence leads us.

 

And good luck with that mob of really angry looking physicists coming over the hill. I hear they can be distracted with offers of Twinkies and coffee.

[insane_alien]

exactly.

 

i'm pretty sure thats who ghost sightings develop over time.

 

i've had something of a similar experience myself but on analyse the experience myself, it is more probable that it was a simple hallucination followed by my brain retroactively modify the memory.

 

i was half asleep at the time it occured which makes hallucination/residual dreaming likely. i was going to the kitchen, glanced along the hall and thought i seen a skeleton just standing there.

 

obviously there wasn't and there was a door with glass at the end with reflections so its possible my brain just recognized thereflections as being similar to a skeletal figure and my brain changed the memory so it was a full skeleton.

 

needless to say i was wide awake after that.