Dusty whiskey bottles line warped shelves. Dog-eared hymnals rest in church pews. Framed black-and-white photos, veiled in spider webs, hang on crooked nails. The haunted ghost towns of the American West recall a desperate era. Located on high plains and open deserts, where sand storms and cold winter nights have embalmed any semblance of life, these towns still whisper their legends to anyone willing to drive through and listen.

Pull over and step outside, and you'll hear the stories of the men, the women and the children who abandoned their homes and gave up their claims so fast that they seem to have vanished mid-stride and mid-sentence. As Halloween nears, they seem more than eager to speak.

Perched on a rock, she could be waiting for a bus. But if so, she could be in for an awfully long wait. This photo of what looks remarkably like a female figure with her arm outstretched, was taken on Mars. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has set the Internet abuzz with claims that there really is life on the red planet.

Others may well feel that it is simply an optical illusion caused by a landscape. The image was among many sent back to Earth by Spirit, Nasa's Mars explorer vehicle which landed there four years ago. Initial inspections revealed nothing unusual, but closer examination by amateur astronomers has thrown up this intriguing picture.

As one enthusiast put it on a website: "These pictures are amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars." Another, dismissing cynicism about the somewhat stony look of the "alien", wrote: "If you show me another rock in another photo from Mars, or Earth, that naturally looks like that, I will reconsider.

" A third contributor, who might have come closer to the majority view, said: "Ah, the human eye can be tricked so easily."

Whatever the people says but it seems real.

When we think of monsters we automatically think of Dragons, of maybe King Kong, or perhaps the Loch Ness Monster. Through myth, media or mystery, such monsters almost become part of our psyche. However, there is another category of monster – creatures, or even strange people, who seem to invade the world briefly, and then disappear, becoming nothing but a puzzle at the extremities of paranormal literature. Let’s have a few examples.

DEMON AND GASSER

One night in April 1977 a teenager was driving near Dover, Massachusetts, when he saw an entity with large head, protruding eyes, long, thin limbs and peach-coloured skin. Two hours later, another teenager saw the same entity. The following night, what became known as the Dover Demon was seen by another teenager for one last time. Researchers subsequently matched the entity to the pygmy Mannegishi, a mythological creature believed in by the nearby Cree Native Americans. Several decades earlier, in September 1944, the residents of Mattoon, Illinois, were terrorised for nearly a fortnight by a Mad Gasser, a tall, dark-clad man with a tight-fitting hat. First seen as a shadowy figure outside houses, the gasser eventually squirted something into people’s bedrooms, resulting in temporary paralysis.

MOTHMAN

The Mothman terrorised Point Pleasant in West Virginia for several years in the 1960s. A grey, tall creature with wings, no head, human legs and red eyes in its chest, it was seen on over a hundred occasions. Some researchers associated it with ‘Big-hoot’, a Native American legendary monster, whilst journalist John Keel, who investigated it in the 1970s, associated it with the UFO phenomenon. So engrossed in the case was Keel that he began hearing voices, and all kinds of phenomena exploded around him.

SPRING HEELED JACK

Perhaps the most famous such entity was Spring Heeled Jack, who terrorized Britain from 1837 to 1904. Described as a cloaked figure with red eyes, pointed ears and talons, he could breathe fire and jump over houses. Usually attacking young women, clawing at them and breathing fire into their faces, it is interesting that such savage attacks didn’t leave permanent injuries.

MY METHODOLOGY

The nature of the above manifestations can be adequately explained by a concoction of hallucination and hysteria. Even the paralysis involved with the Mad Gasser can be put down to sleep paralysis, a phenomenon where the body reacts to the mind at the borders of sleep. Of course, you may disagree with that brief analysis, but the point I want to explore in this essay is not so much the ‘mechanics’ of the incidents, but what causes them in the first place. To do so, please accept, for the moment, my above explanation. Also, I want you to imagine that the ‘entities’ experienced came from a common thread of experience, made different only by the culture involved in the experience.

WHAT IS CULTURE?

When we do this, a possible explanation can be found, which also ties in with the more obvious ‘entity’ manifestations such as aliens, vampires and a host more. And it all revolves around what we class as ‘culture’. In one sense, culture is the collective input of artists, musicians and storytellers, enriching a society and giving it meaning. However, could it also be that culture is a social force in its own right, not only giving meaning, but representation of experience? In this sense, we can see culture as a kind of ‘over mind’, directing, from above the individual, his thoughts, beliefs and experiences. Hence, life becomes a tug-of-war of ideals born from the individual AND culture.

AN INVASIVE MEDIA

Into this dual form of experience and meaning we can place ‘media’. In effect, media is that form of cultural transmission throughout a culture of current news, ideals and symbols to guide, entertain and inform. Much of this media outpouring is of no consequence, and is forgotten, but occasionally a ‘story’ arises that continues to fascinate, and can even become part of the overall culture in itself. Of course, ‘media’, in this sense, is more than newpapers, television, etc. It is also the transmission of gossip, beliefs and stories, which may, or may not be true, but nonetheless can take on a life of their own.

ANGELS OF MONS

Just how fundamental can be this expression of media within culture? The famed Angels of Mons can offer insight. Appearing when the British Expeditionary Force fought to bring the German onslaught to a halt during World War One, a typical case was that of a Lt Col who reported a retreat during the night, escorted by a column of ghostly cavalry. Most researchers answer the mystery by way of a short story, The Bowmen, by Arthur Machen. Appearing in the Evening Standard on 29 September 1914, it tells a tale of the British being helped by the appearance of Agincourt archers.

The angels thus become simple battlefield hallucinations common during such campaigns, made more stark by a story upon which to focus. However, as the campaign progressed, stories began to emerge of an even more fundamental nature, removing them from simple hallucinations. However, as to their validity, we must introduce characters such as Phyllis Campbell, a patriotic nurse at a Mons dressing station. Hearing stories of angels from injured soldiers, she was one of many who went on to embellish the stories in an attempt to prove God was on the side of the British.

GETTING UNDER THE SKIN

We can see, in the above, how a ‘culture’ can be interpreted by ‘media’, leading to the manifestation of phenomena. Normal psychological ideosyncracies are enforced, giving character to what is seen in terms of cultural hopes, fears and desires. This can work in society as a whole. For instance, if we take the Mad Gasser, fears were high throughout America at the time of attacks from Nazi Germany, including gas attacks.

It was inevitable that, somewhere, sometime, such a phenomenon as the Mad Gasser would appear. But why Mattoon? The city has associations with war in its culture due to the future President Grant taking his first post there during the Civil War. A high spiritual element exists in their culture by being beside an Amish community. Still in their consciousness was a fear of disaster following some 100 deaths during a tornado there in 1917. And the town was, at that time, undergoing an oil boom, complete with fears of gas leaks from the field.

EXPECTATION

We can see, in Mattoon, influences that make it a perfect location for the hallucinated expression of a fear within the society of the United States at that time. Basically, it had to happen somewhere, and Mattoon fitted the cultural bill A similar scenario exists with Spring Heeled Jack. He attacked young women at just the time when society decreed, through an increasingly militant feminism, that they didn’t automatically have to be chaperoned at night. Indeed, attacks in London increased when the Mayor spoke in public of the dangers of such attacks. As for the Dover Demon and Mothman, they appeared at just the time that America had a growing New Age movement which pricked the conscience of America as to its treatment of Native Americans. Indeed, their mythological ‘beings’ were popping up all over the place, the most famous being Sasquatch, or Bigfoot.

A POPULARITY CONTEST

It is here that we can see the importance of studying these ‘monsters’ at the edge of paranormal literature. Caused by cultural expression leading to phenomena, Sasquatch shows their future progression if they capture culture’s imagination in a big way. They become, in effect, national, or even global, phenomena, and continue to be sighted. With this information, their importance is equally enlarged. Consider the idea that the UFO phenomenon could be a cultural expression arising at the time that we dreamt of going into space. The present UFO flap began in 1947, and the sighting by Kenneth Arnold that produced global headlines. And within ten days, a flying saucer ‘crashed’ near Roswell, New Mexico. How relevant is the fact that the area contained the only atomic bomb squadron in the world? Where else could it have manifested other than by the leading edge scientific and military unit on the globe?

A CULTURAL DIRECTOR

Paranormal phenomena and cultural expression go hand in hand, with culture the director of what will be manifested, as well as when and where. It is as if an ‘over mind’ above us decides what we will experience. Even Spiritualism can fall into line with this idea. After all, it is no coincidence that the seminal incident of Spiritualism concerned the two Fox sisters communicating with a ‘dead pedlar’ in New York State in 1848. Spiritualism gave a new ‘occupation’ to the housewife, with mediums being predominantly women and gaining financial and cultural independence from the practice. How strange that the central moment of the rise of feminism was born from the first feminist conference - in New York State in 1848.

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Occasionally, paranormal literature throws up a case so incredible that we either dismiss it as fantasy, or edge towards the idea that demons and possessions are a reality. The facts are just so fantastic, rational inquiry is often forgotten. But are we right to either dismiss or accept? Or is it possible that rational explanations can be placed upon the subject within an overall cultural explanation of phenomena? I opt for this middle ground.

ANNA ECKLUND

Consider the case of Anna Ecklund, born into a religious family from the American Midwest about 1882. Believed to have been abused by her father, at fourteen, she showed signs of possession involving acute sexual fantasies. A monk from Wisconsin was called in, who exorcised her in 1912, claiming she was possessed by the Devil. Failing, she reverted, being possessed until age forty six. Eventually being taken in once more by monks, she threw a fit and for over three weeks swayed between unconsciousness and erotic behaviour, including copious vomiting, levitating and speaking in strange voices. Eventually her body went rigid and the possession was over.

ROBBIE MANNHEIM

Robbie Mannheim - the believed influence behind The Exorcist - was similar. Just before an aunt died, she and Robbie tried to contact spirits on a Ouija board. After her death, his behaviour changed, the boy swearing incessantly. Strange disturbances then began in the house, and cuts appeared on his body. His parents called in a priest who said he was possessed. Exorcisms were attempted, but each time Robbie got worse, attacking one priest with a bedspring, resulting in a hundred stitches. On Easter Monday 1949, Robbie woke up and his demon was gone.

THEORIES ON ENTITIES

The idea that entities can possess the person was accepted as fact through most of human history. In 1917 teacher Max Freedom Long began a study of the Huna of Hawaii. His work confirmed the belief. The Huna believe that, rather than being an individual, man has three separate selves; the low, middle and high self. Long identified these as the unconscious, conscious and superconscious mind, the latter being the region of possession. Canadian psychiatrist Dr Adam Crabtree would see it differently. During therapy he would create entities. Typical was depressive Sarah Worthington. During therapy Crabtree asked if she ever heard voices. Saying she had, he asked her to recall them. Her persona then changed, becoming confident and she had a different voice. Crabtree asked who this possession was. It turned out to be her grandmother, who seemed to have problems of her own. Using this form of psychodrama, Crabtree treated Sarah by psychoanalyzing her grandmother.

MIDDLE GROUND

In the above we have two separate and distinct ideas upon possession. In the former, we see the possibility of the human mind having higher levels of consciousness, whilst in the latter, we see the possibility of entities being ‘split-off’ aspects of mind. This aspect is seen in the phenomenon of multiple personality, where the mind can seem to fragment into a number of different ‘personalities’, taking it in turn to inhabit the host. Could an amalgamation of multiple personality and the possibility of higher consciousness be merged to produce a credible theory of possessions such as Ecklund and Mannheim?

EMOTIONAL INFECTION

One well accepted theory of multiple personality is that it does not exist, as such. Rather, we have a chaotic mind coming upon a therapist, or idea, that it exists. Hence, a form of role-play comes into being, the patient playing to the therapist. In this way, a form of transference has occurred, with the therapist validating something that comes into being purely because of his validation. But what, exactly, is involved in such role-play? What part of the mind does the therapist’s bidding? It is interesting that each personality displayed seems to exhibit a particular emotion of the host. Hence, could it be that, in multiple personality, the role-play revolves around specific emotional traits within the mind?

COMMUNAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Emotions tend to be chaotic things. But more than this, whilst an emotion may be expressed for a variety of ‘personal’ reasons, the actual nature of various ‘emotions’ seem to be identical in all people. Hence, could emotions be of the ‘species’ rather than the person? If so, then we can see a ‘communal’ element of mind being tapped in multiple personality, suggesting that its similarity to possession is greater than we think, with an actual ‘outside’ entity being manifested. Carl Jung gave us a similar concept in his ‘collective unconscious’ – a mind below the ‘personal’ with ‘communal’ traits. And these traits included ‘archetypes’, or shared personality types such as the Child, Sage, Trickster and Hero. Could we therefore argue that, in multiple personality/possession, we are dealing with an archetype as entity?

A SUGGESTIVE CULTURE

Jung’s archetypes also include all manner of symbols, and together with the personality archetypes, we can see the collective unconscious expressed in mythology and society. It is almost as if ‘culture’ itself is an expression of this communal aspect of mind, but within the world we experience. Culture can, of course, come in many forms. An on-going culture can be built-up over millennia, as the ideas and communal symbols are passed down from generation to generation. Such a cultural form can be suggestive in the extreme. After all, if it is an outside expression of the inner mind, it would be, as one would be in sympathy with the other. And possibly so, too, with the ‘archetypes’ that transcend both.

THE DEMON LET LOOSE

If we return to the above cases we can ask what would be the reaction, in terms of culture, of a suggestive, possibly disturbed person being told that they were being possessed? Bearing in mind the cultural legacy inherent in the suggestion, combined with the authority of the priests who are enforcing the concept, can we imagine this person being very good and, as in the role-play involved in multiple personality, exhibiting the behaviour expected of him? And as the cultural expression increases, reinforcing the displayed entity’s existence, we can imagine an emotional archetype out of control, and a ‘possession’ in existence that is ‘communal’, in that it is ‘other’ than the personal mind. And as its ferocity increases, and the patient is further reinforced towards ‘possessed’ behaviour, we can also imagine the priests being similarly infected by the role-play suggested by the possession. And in such a cultural feed-back loop, the exorcists see what they think they’ll see.

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A wise seasoned parapsychologist used to say, 'some of my best friends are ghosts!' 'Really?" I thought to myself. That is quite a statement and one showing bravery and understanding of the unknown. To have come to a point in one's investigative and curious life to feel that way, must have an underlying hidden meaning.

Perhaps this individual, as many others, may also feel that ghosts are better to 'hang around' then some humans. I wouldn't doubt it as I wouldn't doubt anything in the occult and paranormal. Oh there are topics I snicker at because that's my opinion, but on the whole I don't joke about the dead and beyond. I don't joke about what happens when we pass also known as crossing over.

I believe Jon Edwards really coined that term when his show was picked up. Something magical happens when the soul detaches from the body and whisks off into an invisible realm where it can eventually go back and forth between Earth and the Afterlife world. Those are spirits who were lucky enough to peacefully leave their once human existence to go on and continue another way of living. However, for those trapped by terrible causes of death, causes whether they created them or not, become the walking dead!

These pour souls are the ghosts I speak of. Society is very wrapped up in the notion of 'well, if you can't see it then it doesn't exist!' Just like if we don't look at the car accident as were driving by, it didn't happen and there will not be a terrible impression made upon us. Unfortunately life does not work that way. You have to look at some point and you may not like what you see. How an individual deals with a difficult situation depends on many factors and everyone has to do it their own way. So, when one comes across a ghost or a haunting which always leads to a ghost, there are many questions and openings to be explained and answered.

Paranormal investigators are also called PIs, parapsychologists, scientists, ghost hunters, ghost chasers call them what you will, all aim for the same goal. They are all after the same thing...ghosts, ghosts and more ghosts. With today's technology in the ghost hunting business, it certainly has paved an easier path for those forming their own societies, groups and organizations to document real material of the existence of ghosts. This material is evidence that is coming in the form of EVPs, photography and video, motion detectors, temperature readings and digital everything. But, the one thing that any ghost hunter and medium will come across, is something that no piece of equipment could ever pick up on.

The sensation is a feeling and uneasiness that something or someone is in the room with you. A dense space of cold thick air surrounds your entire being and you can't breath. You can't move and you don't know how to react. Somehow your thankful you're not alone on your hunting because this feeling regardless of your experience and gadgets is very personal and can be very dangerous. There are evils that do exist as well as good. When you purposely walk into an environment where you know there is an entity waiting, perhaps more then one, be prepared to feel.

Brace yourself as you acknowledge the reality of this ghost who was once one of the living. Knowing what it was like to be a person now stuck between their old world and a place where they can't call home. Some ghosts just don't want to go and therefore will roam the Earth forever never at peace. Some ghosts are not ghosts at all and the evil I speak of. And some ghosts are happy to move along with your assistance, as they were waiting for your arrival to release them.

Can you begin to imagine what these lost souls must even experience? Stop for a moment with all the investigative research and think, is it possible they feel but differently then when once alive? There's anger when you hear some EVP recordings, as there is kindness in messages in EVP recordings. Based on that theory, I would have to lean in the direction of yes, they feel. So, going on that then imagine what torture it must be like to linger confused, disoriented and stuck in a rut.

For those ghosts that experience this, they are the saddest ones of all. For the evil that purposely wants to stay in our environment, they must go because no good can come of their roaming. Ghosts are what I feel most of us do not want to become when we cross over. But, we can't be in charge of our destinies in the 'how to die well department,' unless we bring that on ourselves. And even then, I feel that was predestined as well.

If you believe there is a God or a higher source at work, then you'll understand we have free will and accept that we must accept our fated paths. That is why it is crucial to live each and every day to the fullest and be kind to your family, friends, children, pets and communities'. Let the person in front of you pass while driving to the store. Don't be pushy in line and wait your turn, even if the person ahead of you maybe 1000 years old. You'll get there eventually. We all get there eventually; it just depends on what is meant to be for each of us. And I hope none of you including myself become ghosts, trapped here bidding a time which ticks and tocks forever. Always be well-Alexandra Holzer.

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Napoleon interpreted his dreams and he liked to tell ghost stories. He firmly believed in a Little Red Man of Destiny who foretold his future, and let this belief influence his decisions. A thoughtful historical look at Napoleon should include his superstitions and folklore beliefs, and an assessment of how much they influenced his actions.

The Little Red Man of Destiny was a legendary ghost who had appeared at the Tuileries Palace, a royal place that stood on the right bank of the River Seine in Paris until 1871. Since the time of Catherine de Medici, every time that an important event was going to happen to one of the inhabitants of the Tuileries, legend has it that the Little Red Man of Destiny appeared. Henri IV supposedly saw him on the morning of the day that Francois Ravaillac assassinated him. Anne d’ Autriche saw him a few days before the Fronde began. Marie Antoinette saw him in the corridor the day before August 10, 1792, when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace and ended the monarchy.

According to legend, the ghost known as “the little red man,” appeared to some of the nation’s most notable personalities for more than 260 years, garnering a reputation as a harbinger of tragedy. The ghost seemed to center its activity in Paris, at the Louvre and Tuileries palaces. It is mentioned in scores of books, official records, and even Napoleon’s diaries.

Catherine de Medici is said to have been the first person to have confronted the apparition. It was in 1564, during the construction of the Tuileries, that de Medici came face to face with a gnome-like creature dressed completely in scarlet. It soon became apparent to haughty Catherine that her unannounced companion was not a man of flesh and blood, and she interpreted the strange visit as an omen of bad luck. As Catherine had already begun to foment trouble between Roman Catholics and Protestants in France, and she induced the king to order the terrible St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots, scarlet was an appropriate color for the ghost to have worn.

In 1610 the little red man appeared to Henry IV just before the monarch was assassinated by an insane School Teacher.

In 1792 startled chambermaids discovered the scarlet-clad gnome in the bed of Louis XVI when the threatened king was making a futile attempt to escape the machinations of the French revolutionaries. A few months later, guards claimed to have seen the little red ghost in the prison where Louis and Marie Antoinette awaited their turn with the guillotine.

In 1798 the red-hued entity first appeared to Napoleon, during the military leader’s Egyptian campaign. The spirit is said to have materialized before Napoleon and to have made a bargain with the ambitious officer. According to the terms of the contract, Napoleon was to enjoy victory and triumph on the battlefields of Europe for a decade.

The Little Red Man seemed to follow Napoleon through all of his campaigns and provided a rough map of some of the events of Napoleon’s life. People at the Tuilieries were familiar with stories of The Little Red Man of Destiny appearing to Napoleon while he stayed at the palace.

The strange visitor said that he had advised the rulers of France in the past and declared that he had appeared to Napoleon in order to counsel him as well. The ghostly advisor told the military genius that he had been at his side since he had been a schoolboy. “I know you better than you know yourself,” the spirit chided him. The entity told Napoleon that his orders to the French fleet had not been obeyed. While the Egyptian campaign had begun on a note of triumph with the Pyramids, the ghost told him that the enterprise would fail; Napoleon would return to France and find her closed in by England, Russia, Turkey, and an allied Europe.

As the scarlet ghost predicted, the Egyptian campaign failed. In 1809, after the Battle of Wagram, Napoleon made his headquarters at Schonbrunn, and his mysterious advisor once again appeared to him. Napoleon had conducted 10 years of successful campaigning, and he asked his supernatural advisor for five more years of guaranteed triumph. The ghost granted his request with the admonition that the greedy conqueror should not launch a campaign that would take him on Russian soil. Napoleon ignored the warning and met with a disaster that proved to be more significant than the physical defeat he suffered at Waterloo.

The red ghost made his third and final appearance before Napoleon on the morning of January 1, 1814, shortly before the emperor was forced to abdicate. The gnome first appeared to Counsellor of State Molé and demanded that he allowed to see the emperor on matters of urgent importance. Molé had been given strict orders that the emperor was not to be disturbed, but when he told Napoleon that a red man wanted to speak with him, the emperor asked for the mysterious stranger to be granted immediate entrance.

It is said that Napoleon beseeched the ghost for time to complete the execution of certain proposals, but the prophetic messenger gave him only three months to achieve general peace or it would all be over for him. Rather than attempting to bring peace to Europe, Napoleon desperately tried to launch a new eastern campaign. Such a move left Paris to fall into the hands of the allies; and on April 1, three months after the red man’s final visit to the emperor, Talleyrand and the senate called for Napoleon’s abdication.

In 1824 the ghost’s last reported appearance occurred, when Louis XVIII lay dying in Tuileries Palace. The mysterious, gnome-like apparition has, however, earned itself a strange but secure position in French history.

Science and Ghost Hunting When scientists debunk ghosts their first statement is usually, "there is no scientific proof of the existence of ghosts." This is wrong. There is scientific proof. Science even has theories that explain something must be happening beyond what we know and what we can see.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Time Magazine's Man of the Century and one of the greatest minds the world has known, taught us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be changed from one form of energy into another form of energy. This means that no matter what is done energy cannot be destroyed.

Human beings have both electrical and chemical energy in our bodies. We are organically designed to carry our electrically charged brain and nervous systems. When we die our chemical bodies begin to break down and decompose. The organic side returns to wear it came from - energy changing into a different form of energy as Einstein's law says. So what happens to the electrical energy that flows through our brain? It can't simply disappear or fade away out of existence. That would break the laws of science. That energy has to still be somewhere only now it has changed into a different form of energy. What happens to the energy is really determined by personal faith. No one knows exactly what waits beyond this life. What we do know, thanks to science, is that the electrical pulse energy in each human being will always exist because as a rule it cannot be destroyed.

Another great scientist who believed in life after death was Thomas Edison, (1847-1931). Edison was a genius ahead of his time. He invented the light bulb, phonograph, typewriter, electric motor, stock ticker, and 1093 other patented inventions. One of the inventions that he worked on at the end of his career was a secret project, a machine that would let the living see and communicate with the souls of the dead.

Edison believed that that the soul was made up of what he referred to as life units. These microscopic particles or life units could rearrange into any form. They retained full memory, personality and were indestructible. Edison's machine would detect these life units in the environment and allow living individual to communicate with the dead. He put many years of hard work into his new creation, but sadly, he died before it was finished. Some called Edison crazy. Others thought that he was onto something bigger than the idea of the light bulb. They believed that if he would have had a little more time, we might all today be living in a very different world.

It's been found that in almost every ghost haunting and poltergeist that there are certain electrical elements at work. Using EMF detectors ghost hunters can monitor these electrical forces. These devices can examine and record even the smallest fluctuation in the surrounding electromagnetic field. Everything gives off some kind of electromagnetic field, even our own bodies. Electrical appliances, like television sets and computers give off higher distortions than a lamp or a toaster would. When ghosts are present there are higher levels of electromagnetic distortions. Many times the distortions are so high that they interfere with the working abilities of computers systems and audio/video equipment. High levels of static electricity are also detectable.

Recording temperature changes is another scientific way of detecting the presence of ghosts. Fluctuations of more than 10 degrees have been recorded in small areas of rooms with constant temperatures. It's a scientific fact that there has to be some form of energy present to alter the temperature. Temperature does not change unless "something" is affecting it one way or the other. In many ghost sightings witnesses report feeling a cold spot. This could be caused by the fact that light does not seem to reflect correctly off of most ghosts, which also gives them a dark form. The light seems to be absorbed into the ghost. The theory is that ghosts absorb both light and heat energy causing the general area around that ghost to be several degrees cooler. There are also hot spots recorded, which could be just the reverse affect occurring. Instead of soaking up the light and heat the ghost is reflecting it back, causing the area to be warmer.

These unexplainable electromagnetic fluctuations and temperature changes are scientific evidence that something is happening. Ghosts are real.

Dead people

The traditional view of ghosts is that they are the spirits of dead people that for some reason are "stuck" between this plane of existence and the next, often as a result of some tragedy or trauma. Many ghost hunters and psychics believe that such earth-bound spirits don't know they are dead.

Veteran ghost hunter Hans Holzer says, "A ghost is a human being who has passed out of the physical body, usually in a traumatic state and is not aware usually of his true condition. We are all spirits encased in a physical body. At the time of passing, our spirit body continues into the next dimension. A ghost, on the other hand, due to trauma, is stuck in our physical world and needs to be released to go on." Ghosts exist in a kind of limbo in which they haunt the scenes of their deaths or locations that were pleasant to them in life. Very often, these types of ghosts are able to interact with the living.

They are, on some level, aware of the living and react to being seen on the occasions that they materialize. Some psychics claim to be able to communicate with them. And when they do, they often try to help these spirits to understand that they are dead and to move on to the next stage of their existence.