It Begins...

What happens when you die?

Do you join the choir invisible, descend the circles to Hades or just blink out of existence?

We can only know the answer when we have shuffled off this mortal coil and find ourselves wherever we end up. – so where do ghosts come into this?

From our earliest collective human memory there has been the normal and the paranormal. The real and the mystical. The atheist and the believer (whilst not forgetting the agnostic). Our ability to understand some of these phenomena has grown as we as a race have developed and improved our critical thinking and ability to examine. But there still remains much that we cannot comprehend.

We have all heard stories of hauntings and happenings. The phantom horsemen and hitchhikers, disembodied knocks and of course free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparitions. Are these stories just something to be told around a campfire or to immerse yourself in in a dark cinema with a bucket of popcorn? Or is there some truth to these tales of the strange and wonderful? – When you die you can return as a ghost?

It would make sense, as science tells us that energy cannot be destroyed, only converted. And that is all we are – energy – electricity contained within a meat suit. Is this what our souls are? The final spark that leaves the shell behind like a hermit crab, moving on to hopefully a better existence.

But if we cannot move on, do we just remain to interrupt, assist or just plain terrify the living or is there something more ancient and sinister lurking in the shadows and under the bed? Or is it simply a yes to both?

I feel that I have to choose a camp. Am I Team Believer or Team Sceptic? Right now I think I can be both. I believe that ghosts are a possibility but I am sceptical of the evidence that supports that belief.

The supporting evidence is purely subjective and our brain and imagination are working against us. We are very good at making sense of chaos, pictures in the clouds or hooded monks in the shadows. We crave order and will naturally try to rationalise what we see and hear. This is called pareidolia and something I am sure will come up in future posts – mostly because it is difficult to say (and type). Our imagination can also latch on to what other people tell us they are feeling - much like the contagious yawn – if they say they are feeling colder then you are more likely to feel colder too.

Our brain can ally with our muscles to betray us as well, a well establish sceptical response to the Ouija Board is the ideomotor effect where the player non-consciously gives responses from the other side. But questions over the tools of the trade are nothing compared to the vast abundance of fakes, lies and special effects that plague this paranormal realm. Fraud and the paranormal is something we will look at later. 

So you have got this far and probably wondering “what’s the point?” 

In this blog I will be documenting my quest to obtain some evidence of spirit. Giving my personal account of experiences, looking at famous cases and giving my honest opinion of what I find on my way.

So now it is time to leave the Shire and start on the rough and potholed road – I just hope you have had second breakfast.