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Ghost 'sightings,' as explained by science


Eldorado

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"“Ghosts are real” is an extremely common belief — one held by more than one in three (34%) of Brits, according to a YouGov poll.

"But what about the rest of the country? That would be the sceptics, in varying degrees.

"Yahoo Lifestyle turned to several, with backgrounds in psychology and an interest in the paranormal, to find some reasonable explanations for when people say they see, hear, feel or otherwise experience hauntings."

Full article at Yahoo Lifestyle: https://news.yahoo.com/ghost-sightings-as-explained-by-science-095550862.html?

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Well I believe that people experience things that they describe as ghosts.  But that doesn't mean I believe any given definition for what a "ghost" is ;)  

Same as I am 100% certain that people see UFOs and the "Loch Ness Monster".

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Quote

The power of context and belief

“The two most powerful psychological factors implicated in hauntings are context and belief,” Christopher French, a professor of psychology and head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at the University of London, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Meaning, simply, if a person expects a place to be haunted, then they’ll more likely see it that way.

“Studies show that if people are told that a location is haunted, they report more anomalous experiencers — sense of presence, shivers down the spine, changes in temperature, etc. — than if that suggestion is not given to them,” he says, adding that “believers in the paranormal are more susceptible to such suggestions than skeptics.”

I've said this I don't know how many times around here. 

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That was quite a read only to find out nothing we didn't really know all ready thats 10 minutes of my life I won't get back....... unless just maybe ....

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I think a fair number of ghost encounters can have normal explanations like those mentioned in the article but a large number can not be satisfactorily explained away as normal phenomena.

Papameter  33% Ghost Encounters are Natural     67% Paranormal

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The idea that being told about being haunted makes people experience some aspect of haunted is known as priming.

Priming helps people to understand white noise as words. This is what happens with EVPs. Priming helps us see UFOs in the sky. Priming is important in all sorts of human activities.

There are really no cases of ghost encounters that cannot be explained except those that are so poorly reported that the story is just a story of no value.

The idea that a large number of of cases " can not be satisfactorily explained away as normal phenomena " is horse puckey. If that were the case the people would be easily able to give copious examples. Instead they rely on faking it by claiming large numbers.

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