Tag Archives: research

The Coldness of Ghosts

A sudden drop in temperature is often associated with hauntings. The question is why? We also look at Mary King’s Close.

Ghostly Force Fields

How come ghosts are associated with high EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies)? Do the EMFs provide the “ghosts” or do the ghosts cause higher EMFs? Let’s investigate…

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Why do we tell stories and how are archetypes used in literature and marketing?

Archetypes and the patterns of humanity

Unconscious (or subconscious) patterns have been discovered about the human mind, including archetypes. But whereabouts in the body do they come from?

Ghosts and Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious

Whilst I was ferreting about in a graveyard testing Ghost-hunting apps on my phone last week, one of the apps mentioned that ghosts may be part of Carl Jung’s “Collective Unconscious”. So… who was Carl Jung, and what had he got to say about ghosts? Read on to find out. Carl Jung This fellow wasContinue reading “Ghosts and Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious”

Testing Ghost-Hunting Apps

Last time I posted, I covered old-fashioned and modern tools that paranormal investigators use when visiting supposedly haunted locations. As I said I would, I have trialled a few iPhone apps that claim to detect presences and enable the layperson to communicate with entities from the “other side.” To start with I used the appsContinue reading “Testing Ghost-Hunting Apps”

Analog and Digital Ghost Hunting

Comparing old-fashioned and modern methods of capturing spirit phenomena. While the Spiritualism movement was at its peak in the 19th century and early 20th, mediums and other folks looking to contact the dead or otherwise prove the existence of ghosts used a few different tools: Spirit boards or Ouija boards Originally sold as a typeContinue reading “Analog and Digital Ghost Hunting”

Adventures in Automatic Writing

otherwise known as Psychography Automatic writing is claimed to be a method of communicating with spirits, or the subconscious, using writing implements and often a trance state. The belief is that spirits take control of the medium’s writing-hand to put words and marks on paper, sometimes in a foreign language or in a strange alphabet.Continue reading “Adventures in Automatic Writing”

Fun with Aura-reading Apps

Last week we delved into the scientific process of Kirlian photography / electrophotography and how pseudoscience has adapted it into a method of “reading people’s auras” — guessing their emotions, thoughts and health according to the colours shown around them. I decided to experiment with different aura photography apps available on the iOS app store,Continue reading “Fun with Aura-reading Apps”

Is it Kirlian or Aura Photography?

Back in 1939, Semyon Kirlian, (a Soviet electrical engineer and scientist) and his wife Valentina discovered a bizarre photographic phenomenon. Someone in Krasnodar Hospital was receiving a treatment which involved a high-frequency electrical generator. Semyon and Valentina noticed that whenever the electrodes were near the patient’s skin, there was a glowing light similar to theContinue reading “Is it Kirlian or Aura Photography?”

Fireships and Ghostlights

Last week we covered some different versions of will-o-the-wisps from various corners of the Earth, some well-known, others almost unheard of (by those in the Western world, that is). What follows are some extra ghostly oojamaflicks that didn’t make it into that post, including a phantom fireship. The Fireship of Baie des Chaleurs Otherwise calledContinue reading “Fireships and Ghostlights”

Ignes Fatui Around the World

Latin – English translation: “Foolish Flames.” Known in the UK as hinkypunks, friar’s lanterns, or jack-o-lanterns, ignes fatui or ghostlights / will-o-the-wisps appear in certain areas and are believed to lead travellers astray in folklore (or, sometimes, to show them the correct route to take if they are already lost). Last week’s post covered theContinue reading “Ignes Fatui Around the World”

Shedding a light on Ghostlights

Atmospheric ghostlights (will-o-the-wisps or hinkypunks, to use some older terms) are strange lights that appear in the air / sky at a distance (even close to the ground) without an exact logical explanation for their existence. We’ve all probably heard folktales or stories concerning distant lights in swamps or marshes that lure unwary travellers intoContinue reading “Shedding a light on Ghostlights”

Serendipitous Ghost Photography

Last week I blathered on about photographic methods for faking images of ghosts. This time we will be taking a look at how ghosts appear in photographs by chance. Accidental spirit photography usually falls into two categories: orbs and faint figures (often consisting of faces or head-and-upper body forms, though there are exceptions.) Orbs: TheseContinue reading “Serendipitous Ghost Photography”

Ghost Photography Techniques, Past and Present

In the late 19th century, during the advent of photography, the way to “photograph ghosts” was stumbled upon accidentally through the usage of long exposure. Sir David Brewster decided this method could be utilised to create deliberate ghostly photographs in 1856, prompting the London Stereoscopic Company to make a series of images known as TheContinue reading “Ghost Photography Techniques, Past and Present”

Conversing with the Dead

The term “seance” comes from the French word meaning “session,” (from Old French seoir, meaning “to sit”). These days, practically everyone knows a seance involves meeting with a group of like-minded people (or curious sceptics) in a dimly-lit or darkened room to try to communicate with the deceased or other denizens from the “spirit world.”Continue reading “Conversing with the Dead”