Do you believe in ghosts? Several polls and surveys done by a variety of sources reveal that the majority of Americans do.
We are surrounded by a handful of television shows, one of which being Ghost Hunters, who make it their mission to explore the most haunted places in the nation. Another is the Conjuring Universe, sharing the stories inspired by the real tales of Ed and Lorraine Warren. And how could we forget about Sam and Colby, the YouTubers who investigate all the most haunted sites the country has to offer, garnering just over 10 million subscribers. When we take this into account, it is no shock why Americans love ghost stories.
In fact, Barry Markovsky explains in a University of South Carolina article that, “In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them. If they’re right, that’s more than 50 million spirit encounters in the U.S. alone.”
In “The Science of Ghosts,” Kathryn Hulick notes that, in a study done by Chapman University, 58 percent of pollers believe that haunted places exist. In another survey, Hulick adds, administered by the Pew Research Center, one in five Americans claim to have seen a ghost. This fascination with ghosts is solidified in American culture.
With a majority of Americans claiming to have seen or been around a ghost — how feasible is it that ghosts are real? Scientists find it not very.
There are a handful of explanations of Americans crediting spirits to things that actually come out to be very mundane and boring. Brit Trogen, a scientist and author, advises that anybody who sees a ghost should, “call the fire department because one common cause of perceived ghost sightings is carbon monoxide poisoning.” Other explanations, Trogen lists, include infrasound, Earth’s geomagnetic fields, and even “accidentally ingesting ergot, a fungal precursor of LSD.”
On the other hand, Hulick notes that some people experience hallucinations. The difference is that most people just ignore them; however, some turn to using ghosts as an explanation for them. It is part of human nature to search for reasoning.
Markovsky discredits the idea of ghosts entirely. Ghosts are supposed to have the ability to glow, throw around objects, or make strange noises, thus requiring matter. They cannot have matter, though, when they disappear without a trace of fly through walls. Markovsky argues, “Centuries of physics research have found nothing like this exists, which is why physicists say ghosts can’t exist.”
However, do these explanations placate the millions of ghost stories that circulate the nation? The works of Ed and Lorainne Warren and the cases of possession that they dealt with? The brutal illness-like symptoms suffered by people after taking a photograph of the Robert doll without asking him first? The strange ability of mediums to pinpoint exact relatives of yours and list unknowable facts without having met you before in their life? All of the evidence presented by a variety of professional ghost hunting equipment?
Maybe ghosts do exist. Maybe they don’t. What we do know is that ghost stories are fun. Go out and enjoy them this Halloween… and don’t worry too much because they’re all made up anyway, right?
Right?
Leave a Reply