Scientifical Americans
Page 7
Not much has changed regarding psychics and paranormal phenomena as several proponents remain convinced and the scientific community in general is not. The SPR and ASPR still exist today, though the latter is basically defunct. The Journal of the SPR is still active, largely a legacy of the early intellectual branch of psychical research, almost entirely separate from TV-type ghost hunters (Jenzen & Munt 2013). There is a small cadre of academic researchers that still study extraordinary claims though it is not comparable to the process of ARIG’s ghost investigations. (See Maher 2013.)
The majority of ghost/ARIGs are not familiar with the groundwork that has already been established by professional psychologists, historians, magicians, and physicists of The Ghost Club, the SPR, and ASPR. They obtain their foundation from modern media, not journals or historic sources.
Parapsychology
As the study of interactions between living things and the external environment that appear to operate outside of the known physical laws of nature, parapsychology remains as an academic science decidedly on the fringe. Once embraced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, publisher of Science journal), parapsychology has dwindled in size, influence, and credibility but coursework is still offered by dozens of genuine academic institutions. In the latest review of the state of the science, Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, Cardeña et al. (2015) admit that parapsychology is considered a “borderline” area of scientific research. Academic parapsychology encompasses areas of anomalous cognition including telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition, psychokinesis (mind interacting with matter at a distance), as well as the concept of survival of consciousness after physical death.1 In contrast to the efforts of ghost/ARIGs to prove ghosts and hauntings are genuine, parapsychology as a discipline produces quantitative, experimental results published in scientific journals. Von Lucadou and Wald (2014) state that parapsychology (a term coined by Max Dessoir in 1889) has been devalued due to the “quacks and charlatans” enabled by the media who claim to be parapsychologists. Again, we see further support for the explanation that high level of belief in ghosts and hauntings resulted in a niche for self-styled consultants of the paranormal. The non-academic ARIGs use simple methods that provide immediate answers in contrast to the laboratory testing and statistical results of parapsychology.
Ghost World paranormal conference in 2007, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Photograph by Kenny Biddle.
From the start, parapsychology emphasized laboratory-centered experiments. Investigation of “spontaneous cases,” those that happen in everyday life such as reports of hauntings and poltergeists, were not pursued as much. Louisa Rhine, the parapsychologist wife of Dr. J.B. Rhine who is considered the pioneer in the field, thought that spontaneous cases were too difficult due to errors in witness testimony. Weak subjective evidence was inferior to hard data obtained in the lab. The Rhines developed controlled experiments attempting to address the questions that arose from spontaneous cases (Williams et al. 2015). Spontaneous cases, if documented well, can reveal a pattern and suggest lines of further inquiry but no useful standards to investigate them has filtered down to all types of ARIGs who do not document their cases well enough for others to use in any meaningful way.
Researchers today still remain curious about the hypothesis of survival of consciousness after death and several institutions continue experiments. The Rhine research center (Institute of Parapsychology in North Carolina) is still active. Three other parapsychology research institutions that conduct experimentation include the privately-funded Windbridge Institute, the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies, and the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh University in Scotland. Forty-three universities offer some form of formal education in parapsychology or anomalistic psychology. Thirty offer degree programs. The Parapsychological Association2 and the Parapsychology Foundation, Inc.3 are professional societies that provide grants and support scientific exploration of psychical research. These institutions have high research standards and maintain published works and databases of experimental results. I found no obvious cooperation between these institutes and ARIGs, though individual scholars may be involved with some ARIG cases.
Outspoken skeptics of parapsychology have had a profound influence on the field which took criticism seriously, enacting changes in procedures, and collaborating with mainstream psychologists for experiments and analysis. Today, results of experiments to test anomalous cognition are statistics-intensive. The general conclusion is that the psychic effect (or psi) is small, but real. However, the effects have not been demonstrated to be related to any paranormal cause. There remains no comprehensive agreement or model for what psi is and how it works, no ideas acceptable to explain hauntings, and no irrefutable evidence of ghosts (McCue 2002; Maher 2015). Speculative ideas about quantum effects, electromagnetic fields, tectonic strain, and stored psychic “energy” in materials with roots in academic parapsychology (or its precursor, psychical research) have been picked up by amateur paranormal researchers. Revealed in Cardeña et al. (2015) is the contrast between academic parapsychology and ARIG activity. The amateurs embrace EMF meters, consider electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) to be a primary form of evidence, and attempt to capture visuals of apparitions, whereas parapsychologists downplay these activities. They even chastise amateurs for their enthusiasm in evoking quantum mechanics as explanations for ghosts as this branch of physics is not amenable to amateur research (Miller 2015). The ghost/ARIGs’ ideas about moon phases, solar influence, and space weather (geomagnetic storms) are not considered reputable by parapsychologists. Chapter 25 in Cardeña et al. (Maher 2015) provides the parapsychology view of ghost science, which is not subscription to the stone or water tape ideas of environmental recording so popular with modern ghost hunters today. Parapsychologists are uninterested in the amateurs’ methods. The disconnect is stark between scientists studying seemingly paranormal activity and amateurs who say they experience it. Yet, there are those paranormal researchers who, regardless of any formal training, consider themselves lay parapsychologists (Childs & Murray 2010).
Harry Price
Most of those in the new wave of ghost/ARIG participants are not familiar with the substantial intellectual history of psychical research and the critical exposés by professional psychologists, historians, physicists, and magicians. The first media-savvy “ghost hunter” was Harry Price (1881–1948). Price was the “ghost showman” in the 1930s British press and the author of Confessions of a Ghost Hunter, a compilation of his adventures. A man of many interests, including science and technology, drama, and stage magic, eventually becoming a paranormal investigator, he joined the SPR in 1920 and participated in restructuring The Ghost Club as more of a social group. Price tested mediums, exposed spirit photographers as frauds, and discovered the secret of making ghostly ectoplasm from egg whites. The debunking angle took a back seat as Price developed the first ghost hunter’s kit consisting of flashlights, candles, notebook, and brandy (for nerves). He was not beloved by other experts but was popular with the media, placing himself as the investigator at the center of the story and making live radio broadcasts from “haunted houses” (Clarke 2012). Price, independently wealthy and free to indulge his interests, popularized ghost hunting as a form of entertainment and was influential in investigators’ use of apparatus on an investigation (Clarke 2012). His most famous investigation, which he published, was of Borley Rectory, the “most haunted house in England.” Price has been accused of omitting and suppressing information, of contradictions and inconsistencies, and possibly even hoaxing, in shameless promotion of himself (Davies 2007; Wiseman 2011) and Borley (Hines 2003). Strict British libel laws made such criticisms difficult during Price’s life and ultimately limited exposure of skeptical suspicion. Alan Murdie, currently of The Ghost Club, admits Price had a hot temper and big ego and was a publicity hound.4
Scant few of today’s amateur paranormalists know much about The Ghost Club, SPR,
ASPR, or the popularity and techniques of Harry Price and other famous ghost hunters and busters of that era. They are oddly oblivious to the long history of serious scientific consideration of paranormal activity and the parade of personalities that took on the claims of evidence. There is a mother lode of written investigations and case studies from this time in the U.K. and U.S., stored in the archives of the SPR and ASPR, when psychical research was serious work for a few intrepid scientists.
The phase of modern ghost hunting began its rise in popularity in the 1970s. A very early organization was the Ghost Research Society (1977) that is still around today led by Loyd Auerbach. As of 2016, the Ghost Research Society website is typical of ARIG websites with auto-play music, a special ghost cursor to track your mouse movements, a black background festooned with advertisements.5
What Do Ghost/ARIGs Do?
Ghost “hunting” is a controversial term. It not only implies that there are ghosts to find, but it suggests a dispatching of the quarry at the end. Many ghost/ARIGs reject the term due to the inevitable association with the television ghost hunters and generally are more amenable to the term “paranormal investigators.”
We have no working definition of ghosts. Ghosts themselves have changed appearances with the times (Finucane 1996). So “What is a ghost?” is a fundamental concept to consider. As ghosts are not recognized to exist other than as human constructs by most of mainstream science, seeking ghosts will differ from typical forms of research and investigation. Investigators who do not believe in the literal existence of ghosts will likely approach them from a literary, historical, cultural, or psychological perspective, as ideas or metaphors. For those who accept ghosts to be more tangible than a metaphor, they are assumed to be “remnant energy” of a dead person (or animal). Or are they souls? An electromagnetic recording of past events? A demon or the devil himself? Such ambiguity about what they are results in confused and unsettled plans for collecting data regarding ghosts. Ghost/ARIGs display this sense of impreciseness in their research, resorting to the use of dozens of widely varying techniques to assemble evidence.
Ghost/ARIGs most often investigate private residences by request, old buildings, historic structures, and places where deaths have occurred such as accident scenes, murder locations, hospitals, prisons, and military landmarks. Surprisingly, they still occasionally like to tiptoe around cemeteries—a location for investigation which remains a bit confusing to me. Why would ghosts haunt a location where no one died? Was it because graveyards are morbid places, oozing with the atmosphere of despair and sadness? Cemeteries have long been destinations for legend trippers and teens to display bravado in confronting scary claims. Atmosphere is crucial, as any good storyteller knows. Some people insist that cemeteries are portals to the afterlife and thus ghosts will be found wandering through as if it was a train station.6 Famous ghost-storyteller Hanz Holzer popularized the idea that native burial grounds were a source of hauntings and believed that ghosts were a surviving emotional memory (Clarke 2012).
Historic sites, including cemeteries, in constant need of funds for maintenance, will rent out facilities for a night to paranormal investigation groups or allow special tours and events. Though considered more a “fun” event than a serious investigation, the sites (such as Fort Mifflin described in the Introduction) are recognized by many in the paranormal research community to be genuinely haunted. Investigators will try out new equipment, compare notes, and bring in guests or new people for the first time in these designated paranormal spaces.
Mayer (2013) cites three factors in the rise of ghost hunting organizations—television, the Internet, and the ease of obtaining equipment. He says that today’s ghosts are akin to a problem with your plumbing: you notice it, call in the “experts” who learned on the job to investigate the issue, and then fix it with their tools. He notes that this idea of ghost “hunters” as a “service sector job” is being adopted by other countries, namely Germany, and it is popular in Italy (Molle & Bader 2013). In the survey of ghost-focused groups by Duffy (2012), information from up to 113 different groups was incorporated. Responses regarding training and education showed that no specific requirements were set for members to have before joining. If training was done at all, it was through the group itself. Having experience in science and research methods was cited for less than 5 percent of the groups. Also revealed in this survey were some demographics—most groups start out with about four members and build to a median of eight; the age range is generally between 20 and 40 years old. They conduct most of their investigations (about two per month) at private residences after they are contacted by the owners regarding possible paranormal issues. About half the time they say they find “paranormal activity” is occurring, but, contradictorily, consider it somewhat rare. About half the groups say that they have encountered a client who probably needs psychiatric help, and only a small percentage of groups will go as far as to consider an exorcism. Only about a quarter of groups say they registered as a non-profit or a business. And, they consider their group function as mainly investigation and research (62%) but also to help people (58%) and to educate (31%). They will officially state that the main goals of their group are helping people and conducting research (94% of the time both goals were identified), but 72% say the goal is related to their own personal questions about the paranormal; 44% say the social aspect and fun of the activity is a main goal. Some 21% state their goal as getting a TV appearance, which is appreciable and bears remarking upon as distinct from the stated function of the activity. Eighteen percent have a goal of turning this group into a full business. While this is a small sample, these characterizations were consistent with my observations as well and, in my opinion, they present an accurate cross-section of ghost/ARIGs motivation.
As Seen on TV
The popularity of the 21st century ghost hunter can be directly linked to two television programs—Most Haunted in the U.K. (2002) and Ghost Hunters in the U.S. (2004). These shows were unique at the time and massively popular. There were antecedents: many ARIG participants have cited shows like In Search Of… (1976) and Unsolved Mysteries (1987) (both U.S.) as inspiring or influential in their interest in the unknown. The 2000s saw an explosion of available channels and paranormal programing. Ghost Hunters was the catalyst for the exponential growth of both paranormal TV and of ARIGs in the U.S. (Brown 2008; Krulos 2015). They solidified the methodology widely adopted by ARIGs consisting of visiting people’s houses, setting up equipment, and staying into the night recording anomalies. Even though paranormal investigation groups decry the TAPS methods and sell-out attitude, the number of these groups would not be in the thousands around the world if not for Grant and Jason, the Roto-Rooter plumbers-turned-celebrity-ghost hunters. They represent the “everyman hero.” This same narrative resonates with those who become “monster hunters” and spot UFOs. Portrayed as “real life” situations on television, paranormal investigators dissolved the barrier between stories of the paranormal and actual experiences of the paranormal (Sconce 2000).
Women’s interests in paranormal topics were not neglected by television producers. Most Haunted had a female host and was apparently developed specifically for a female audience. According to Hill (A. Hill 2010), a British network executive noticed that women’s magazines had articles about the paranormal, specifically, psychic claims. For some of the audience, this show is sheer entertainment. For others, it rings true, emphasizing intuition and psychic sense. The viewer is left to decide, with very little help from the content, what to take away from the depiction. Several popular paranormal-themed shows today feature women, usually as the psychic-medium, a role often assumed by women since the days of Spiritualism.
The popular show Paranormal State (2006), aimed at young adults, was based on a group of collegians who formed their own investigation club at Pennsylvania State University. The travel-oriented Ghost Adventures (2008) featured a young, hip male host who made urban exploring sound like a fun time with your �
�bros.” The parade of paranormal reality TV shows at times aimed directly at specific audiences including women, kids, celebrity-seekers, Latinos and African Americans.7 The emphasis on appealing to specific audiences instead of on the nature or results of investigations, suggests how importance social interaction and identity formation is as part of ARIG participation. Clarke (2012) considers today’s paranormal TV explosion as a modern day Victorian-era ghost hunting flash mob (p. 179). We all gather to see and collectively share in the real-life drama. Witness’ accounts used to create and justify media stories and TV shows feed ARIGs’ belief that “there must be something to it.” But not many dig into the details to see if the core claims and evidence have merit, they just accept them, as does the public audience. Thanks to the proliferation of these stories, there appears to be an awful lot of “smoke” that leads people to conclude “fire.” Instead, a cultural interpretation makes a lot more sense but is far more complicated and less TV-friendly; the truth is not a single entity or monster, but a complex interaction of perception, reaction, and cultural ideas that keeps changing and spreading through society (Loxton & Prothero 2013).
ARIGs unequivocally present a media-driven model of science. They admit they are inspired by these TV shows of “people making discoveries about spirits” (Ghost Hunters Guild) and that they “amassed great arsenal of equipment and run our team like the professionals you can see on the ghost hunter TV shows” (Wisconsin Area Ghost Investigation Society). They admit to the practice of taking notes from TV shows (Southern Spooks) and state they follow TAPS and Paranormal State TV shows in their procedures (Virginia Paranormal Organization of Research—VAPOR). Their idea of an investigation is “where you go to a location that is already haunted and set up equipment to search for results” (Mohawk Valley Ghost Hunters). Many use the term “reveal” as used on Ghost Hunters, to describe a quasi-formal discussion of evidence with the client. There is no doubt that ghost-hunting TV shows were the impetus for investigation into hauntings as serious leisure in the U.S.