Ghosts: Vince Wilson's Theory

[heathyr]

Vince Wilson has a theory about ghosts: They're a misunderstood part of the natural environment, phenomena that can be discerned and explained through the careful application of science.

Which is why he's wheeling several thousand dollars' worth of homemade ghost-detection equipment into the Westminster Presbyterian Church and Cemetery in downtown Baltimore. "Even ghosts would have to obey the fundamental laws of physics," Wilson says.

His quarry are like the giant squid, he insists, creatures that scientists once derided as folklore but whose existence has since been proven. The 32-year-old Wilson is perhaps the foremost expert on the technology of ghost hunting in the US.

He has written two books – Ghost Tech: The Essential Guide to Paranormal Investigation Equipment, published last year, and Ghost Science: The Essential Guide for the Scientific Study of Ghosts, Hauntings, and Research in Parapsychology, released earlier this year. Twice a month he and the other members of the Baltimore Society for Paranormal Research head out on a hunt.

"I've never seen a ghost," Wilson says as he passes not far from Edgar Allan Poe's grave. "I've never seen an apparition walk through a wall. But I've seen strange things. I've heard noises." And he has built some cool tools. In his car sits a tank-treaded prototype for a Robo-Cam. A kind of Mars rover for ghost hunting, it's designed to explore spaces too small or too dangerous for a human investigator. Wilson also constructed a Blimp-Cam, a floating, remote-controlled video camera, to film a ghost said to haunt the second story of a local building.

The arsenal of poltergeek gear doesn't end there. Wilson also sets up still cameras, videocams, and tape recorders to capture wispy figures and spooky sounds. He travels with an array of electromagnetic field detectors, ready to gauge the EMF changes that he believes occur when ghosts are nearby. Wilson has strapped a biofeedback device to my wrist; he hopes to determine whether the reported feelings of dread and fright in the presence of ghosts are accompanied by physiological changes.

And please don't call what he does "ghostbusting." Yes, his ringtone is the theme from that movie, but Wilson says his research is genuine, nothing like the facile fantasy of the 1984 blockbuster. "There is no such thing as a PKE meter," he declares, falling into Ghostbusters-speak. "None of these devices can detect ghosts, but we do believe we are detecting the influence of ghosts on the environment."

As we wander through the church's catacombs, my pulse and blood pressure remain normal. None of Wilson's devices pick up any unusual readings. But all is not lost. As we're about to leave, Wilson scoops up some dirt and pours it into a plastic tube that he labels MINERAL SAMPLE, WESTMINSTER CATACOMBS. He's gathering materials for an experiment to find out whether matter is affected by paranormal activity. But before he can analyze the soil, he needs to build a pressurized chamber. "Right now, that's a couple of months off," Wilson says. "All the parts are available at Home Depot. I just have to put it together."

[coldethyl]

Well I wish it expanded on his theory a bit more.

[LadyHay]

Thanks for that, Heathyr (cute av btw)

His quarry are like the giant squid, he insists, creatures that scientists once derided as folklore but whose existence has since been proven. The 32-year-old Wilson is perhaps the foremost expert on the technology of ghost hunting in the US.

Expert, eh? I hate when they say that, because there are no standards for this as of yet. And I agree, I wish there was more on his theory.

Vince Wilson has a theory about ghosts: They're a misunderstood part of the natural environment, phenomena that can be discerned and explained through the careful application of science.

Not much of a theory IMHO

I could just as easily say as a theory, "Ghosts are scary to some, but we should be able to explain them one day"

[~Onyx~]

It's an interesting article, thank you for posting it. I had my own theory about communication with spirits that concerned transmitting a message on a frequency that cannot be heard by you and I, since animals can hear frequencies that we can't and are capable of sensing paranormal phenomenon when we can't.

Humans can only pick up frequencies up to 20,000 Hz (20MHz), and that's as babies, as we age the range we're capable of "receiving" decreases visible frequencies are radio waves converted to visual light, radio and television fall into the 30-3000MHz range, lower frequencies are used also for submarine communication

So since we can pick up ghosts on radio but not hear it in person I would theorize that they exist in the >30MHz range...just a theory though.

[Invader Skoodge]

Vince Wilson has a theory about ghosts: They're a misunderstood part of the natural environment, phenomena that can be discerned and explained through the careful application of science.

Since he gives neither a definition of what a ghost is nor a statement of how they can be explaiend, his theory is just:

There exists some part of the natural world which can be explained by application of science but which is not understood yet.

I tend to agree about that.

Furthermore he defines:

That part of the natural world is called ghosts.

I would not use this term but if he wishes to...

he hopes to determine whether the reported feelings of dread and fright in the presence of ghosts are accompanied by physiological changes.

Feelings of dread and fright are always accompanied by physiological changes. If he finds something which causes a purely mental fear, that would be astonishing, wouldn't it.

[bLu3 de 3n3rgy]

In a way ghosts are natural causing if natural materials are connected to residual energy.

Edited December 13, 2006 by Anvil