As I've said before, I'm a skeptical believer. Its not that I don't believe in the supernatural, especially in the existence of ghosts, but I am weary of other people's personal experiences. In fact, I'm even skeptical of my own. The most relevant examples of this skepticism is seeing shadows, smelling ghostly fragrances, the feeling of being touched, and hearing footsteps. Notice I am describing 4 of the 5 senses (ok, out of 6 if you consider psychic ability the 6th sense, sorry Chip!). In college, I took a course on cognitive psychology and loved it; in fact, I am considering retaking a similar class at the college I work for. It made a lot of sense (no pun intended! OK, maybe a little...) to me that we can easily be fooled by our sensory memory.
Have you ever heard your phone ringing and after it stopped, could hear it still ringing? Its a faint sound now but somehow still there. Or closed your eyes and could still see the shadow of something you were looking at? This is part of our short-term memory. The neurons in our brains are still firing even after we saw, smelled, touched, heard, or tasted something. It works the same for long-term memory, but not as frequently.
For example, has your mouth ever watered at just the thought of a certain sweet, sour, or salty food? Or smelled someone's perfume/cologne and instantly thought of a special person in your life? Our memory is awesome. We can remember precious memories through our senses, sometimes before we can even recall the memory of why we connect two things together.
Seeing shadows: I'm not talking about watching a clear shadow cross on the other side of the room. And the shadow figure I saw in the hallway of Fort Warren was definitely there. I'm talking about when people say that they saw a shadow out of the corner of their eye. They may have "seen" someone standing in the corner and when they turned to look, nothing was there. In these cases, I am convinced that our eyes play tricks on us and our memory tells us that what looked like a long shadow just had to be a person because that is most familiar. I think our eyes can see spots, especially in the corners of our eyes, which then look like shadows. I tried doing an internet search on this phenomenon but didn't turn out much other than serious eye conditions. I would love to conduct scientific experiments to study this (anyone want to fund a grant?) I just don't see the value in calling something paranormal when you don't see it for sure, only a glimpse for less than a second.
Smelling ghostly fragrances: I've seen this on shows like Ghost Hunters and have heard personal stories. But I think this phenomenon happens in one or both of two cases: sensory memory and/or power of suggestion. I've personally had this happen to me many times where I see something on TV, the computer, or a picture and can "almost smell" what I'm seeing. Think hard about popcorn...can you smell it? Perhaps you are investigating a supposed haunted location, your mind wonders, the surroundings remind you - for whatever reason - of your grandfather, who happened to smoke cigars. Suddenly you can smell cigars. You quickly get up to investigate where the smell is coming from and it disappears. Location --> Grandfather --> cigars --> smell --> reaction (focus on something else) --> no smell. Now add in: "I swore I could smell cigars!" --> recall of memory --> smell is in another location (where ever you moved). Now you think the smell is actually moving. Must be a ghost right? Can you see where I'm going with this?
Lets go back to the power of suggestion. You're on that same case and the client has told you that people have smelt cigar smoke there before. You're sitting, waiting for some communication and suddenly your memory flashes back to the story the client told you earlier and suddenly you can smell it. Or your partner tells you they can smell it and now you start to smell it too. Sensory memory.
Now, I'm not saying that it is always sensory memory. Maybe I'm wrong here and entities can actually leave a fragrance behind or that is their way of making communication. I'm just skeptical that every is experience is paranormal. And I think our minds and memory retrieval can work in the above situations without us even realizing it. I'm just saying we have to be careful and really consider other, more scientific, possibilities.
Feeling of being touched: When I visited the Stanley, I desperately wanted to experience the sensation of being touched by an unseen hand. This has to be a crazy experience! So forgive me for being skeptical if you have experienced this for yourself but I have a feeling that, again, some cases are not paranormal. And I'm not talking about people seeing depressions in their skin or having sudden cuts, scrapes, or reddened skin. I'm just providing a possible explanation for light brushes of "touch."
I often have muscle spasms and I can easily recognize these spasms because I am very aware of my body. These happen mostly on my legs, back, and arms and usually happens when I am tired or sore and usually when I am in a relaxed state. They are very subtle and happen quickly. I am also aware that it sometimes feels like someone just touched me and can easily see how someone might mistake these spasms for an experience. I'm not a ghost hunter (I've only been on one ghost hunt) but I imagine you can get very tired and in a relaxed state. Isn't it possible that these experiences are just muscle spasms?
Hearing footsteps: This phenomenon has frustrated me after watching shows like Ghost Hunters. (Sorry to pick on GH so much but I'm pretty sure it is, at least one of, the most popular ghost hunting shows out there and I really do love it!) There have been many examples of someone saying that they hear footsteps behind them and either stops at the same time they do or stops shortly after, as if they are being followed and mimicked. Sometimes its heard in another part of the room or above them. I have a few theories on this.
One theory is that softer surfaces (carpet and wood) can press down ever so slightly and "bounce" back up to create more than just a creaking sound but an actual footstep-like sound. When you are trying to be quiet and listen for any sounds, couldn't we just be hearing this? Another theory is that it is sound traveling - bouncing around - and we are hearing our own (or someone else's) footsteps after the initial sound has been created. Lastly, it goes back to sensory memory, this time our short-term memory. Sort of like the hearing of a phone after its stopped ringing (and softer than the original sound), we can still hear the sound of our own (or someone else's) footsteps just after we actually hear the sound.
The reason why this frustrates me is because it happens SO often. Almost every paranormal show I've ever watched. This has to be more explainable than a paranormal experience. What bugs me most is when that is the only personal or recorded experience that the team has had and they are ready to call it haunted.
Ok, I digress. Thank you for letting me rant a little. I have been wanting to share these thoughts countless times so thank you for taking the time to read. Hopefully some of you share these same view points or can see where I am coming from. I would love to hear your thoughts so please leave comments!
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side note...
here is a recent news cast from Hooper, CO in the San Luis Valley: http://www.9news.com/news/article/199678/188/Colo-town-famous-for-UFO-sightings
and from SLVUFO webpage:
http://www.slvufo.com/unexplained.html
as well as about the paranormal in the SLV:
http://www.slvufo.com/paranormal.html
Just found these interesting! Should have started my own research group when I lived there!
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