Its Halloween, so gather round and I'll tell you tale so frightening it will make you... no wait, this is a science blog and we don't believe in that sort of thing. Instead for this night of ghouls and ghosties I shall offer some reassurance: neuroscientists say there are NO SUCH THING AS GHOSTS- and they have the data to prove it.
The occurrence and frequency of paranormal experiences seem to be associated with altered levels of activity in the the temporal lobe of the brain and some people's temporal lobes are more sensitive than others. The key to it all seems to be global geomagnetic activity (and no I don't know what that is either)- it has been emprirically associated with reports of seeing dead relatives soon after they have,well... died.
It also explains why its the things that go bump in the night that scare us- disruption of normal sleeping patterns seems to be a key element in the witnessing of apparitions and the majority of paranormal experiences occur between 2:00 and 4:00am.
These clever neuroscientists (specifically Persinger and crew) worked out that only specific complex magnetic fields interfered with the temporal lobe and then went a bit Frankenstein and decided to see if they could recreate the resulting experiences by subjecting people to such a magnetic field. When they tried it they found that most normal people experienced a 'sensed presence', feeling interact with their thinking and move in space.
Persinger et al. however are not only ghost-makers but also ghostBUSTERS, solving the problems of people who 'see dead people.' One example given was of a teenage girl who thought she was chosen because she had seen and experienced an apparition and sensed the outline of a baby over her left shoulder. The experiences usually occurred between 2:00 and 4:00am and her medical records showed a frontal injury in childhood.
The psychic ghostbusters measured the magnetism in her bedroom and discovered the existence of a pulsed magnetic field similar to the one they used to create apparitions. Turns out it was coming from her alarm clock, which was too close to the head of her bed and was disrupting her sleep- and leading to her 'visions'.
By now, I expect you are sitting back and breathing a sigh of relief, maybe even thinking of going to sleep without your nightlight. However, Persinger et al. have one last spooky surprise up their sleeve: not content with their own creations, they decided to test two well-known psychics- medium and a remote viewer. Complex tests were set up for both and in each case, the psychic seemed to know things that they shouldn't be able to. Also when engaged in the tests, their brains showed activity patterns that were anomalous for the situations... outside help perhaps?
So it appears even the rigourous neuroscientist ghostbusters cannot completely disprove the existence of the paranormal.
The truth...is out there.
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