Perception
Why do some people experience apparitions while others see nothing?
According to recent discoveries in the scientific community, electromagnetism effects the human body (and mind) in various ways. At the current time, even the World Health Organization is conducting studies on the effects of “electro-smog” caused by cell phones, power lines etc. It would seem that dosed with high amounts of electromagnetic waves, hallucinations can occur.
According to studies humans have an almost 100% ability to detect the difference between abnormal levels of electromagnetism and placebo effects.
The levels used for these tests were at least 35 times normal (modern) background level, and 10 to 15 times higher than are usually found in an allegedly haunted location.
When a “haunting “ occurs, (I am referring to any paranormal event), there is usually a higher than average level of electromagnetism, measurable on a standard EMF meter. There are many theories as to why this is so. These will be examined in a later article.
One of the general effects of electromagnetism on the human body is similar to that of static electricity: a feeling of unease, goosebumps, even the hair standing on end. This may be all that some people experience. They may write it off as a “chill” or the feeling of being watched . Others, with a more fervent imagination may see things out of the corner of their eye, or even experience a full apparition with audio effects added.
Why the different reactions? It is best explained by a commonplace example:
Person A goes to the dentist, to get a cavity filled. During that time, he feels terrified, he breaks out in a cold sweat. During the procedure, he moans and is almost brought to tears by the “pain” he experiences. It seems to take forever, even though the whole event takes only 15 minutes.
Person B goes to the same dentist for the same procedure. Yet during his visit, he experiences nothing other than a slight discomfort, and even that doesn’t bother him much. It seems as if the dentist just gets started and he is finished, just like that.
Same stimulus.. different reaction. Same experience, yet if you were to ask them both, they would describe totally different events. So is the human mind and psyche.
In the event of a haunting, whether real or imagined, one will react with wonder and excitement, vividly recalling facts and impressions, while the other will react with horror and fear, embellishing events and adding so much that the actual event (maybe a light switching itself off) becomes a headless demon from hell chasing him through the home.
One of the major problems with this type of witness to an event is that they will tell the tale so often that they will begin to believe it themselves.. and in the passing of years the embellished event will become an actual memory, and the truth will fade from existence. It is a normal psychological reaction to “convince yourself” that an event occurred in a certain way. People who have done wrong often convince themselves that “it wasn’t my fault”. It’s a defensive measure built in to our psyche to relieve us of guilt and anxiety.
In the event of a haunting, a person may be looking for justification for his fear .. therefore the slight embellishment is only natural.
So at this point we have a stimulus (high EMF) and we have two responses. One perceives nothing and one perceives a “ghost”.
Yet there are other reasons one may see something and another may not.
In the event of an actual paranormal event, one may perceive while the other does not. Why would this be? Simple: It may not fit into the unbeliever’s world view.
I am sure all of you (at one time or another) have met the total skeptic. You can show him something mundane and everyday normal, but he denies the event happened or even the existence of evidence. An easy example to make is this: Back in my younger days, I was a semi-successful musician and I played with a lot of well known people. I recently shared some of my experiences with a fellow musician and he denied that I had ever done these things. I played him an audio tape. He said “That’s not you”. So I showed him photographs. His reaction, “you made those on your computer”. I showed him that they came from photomat (film developers in California) and that they were rather old. He still refused to believe. No loss. I presented evidence and it was denied. This person could see a full bodied apparition, have things fly around the room, and claim it was the cat. He wouldn’t see anything.
Denial is a powerful thing and repressing events that would upset us is another defensive method of the human mind.
The most interesting theory by far is that of sensitives.
There have been so many documented events of psychically or spiritually sensitive people that I am not sure where to begin. The best thing would be for you to go on the net and look for yourself. There are literally hundreds of cases wherein the police have used a sensitive person to help find a missing person or solve a murder.
I believe that everyone is sensitive to a degree. Some people are like antennas, picking up things that others never imagine, and others merely single channel receivers. What frequency is the human mind tuned to? I imagine that everyone is tuned to a slightly different wavelength, and therefore some will see what others do not. We do know that EMF effects the human mind. We know that EMF can be used as a broadcast medium to send pulses, waves etc. The science of studying EMF is still relatively in its infancy, And I wouldn’t be surprised to see some rather astounding discoveries in the next couple of decades.
In any case those are just a few theories on perception and hauntings. If you have anything to add, debate or discuss, all comments are welcome.
copyright2003 by the author(J.Harris) (used by permission)
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