From: "Scott Hill" <frontiersciences@s...>
Date: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:33 pm
Subject: magnetism and ghosts?


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I have mentioned Dr. Persinger's work before. He is also mentioned in
my book "cycles of heaven". Discovery Science has had several
programs lately on bio-EMF stuff, including Dr. Persinger's work.
This article from the BBC site is only one of many .....

Scott@f...

Ghostly magnetism explained
By Arran Frood

British psychologists have published research findings which they
believe go some way towards explaining why people think they see or
feel ghosts.

The study - in which hundreds of volunteers were taken around two
allegedly haunted locations - found that people reported having more
unusual experiences in the specific places at each location which are
considered most haunted.
The researchers think this can be explained by the way people react
to environmental cues, such as subtle drafts, and in particular
visual factors, like low lighting.

The research also threw up evidence suggesting a link between
magnetic fields and ghostly sightings.

At both Hampton Court Palace, in Surrey, and the South Bridge Vaults
in Edinburgh, the variance in local magnetic fields was highest in
the areas thought to be most haunted, and lowest in areas where
people typically did not record experiencing ghostly phenomena.

The variations in magnetic fields were incredibly small - about 100
times less than you get from sitting about a metre away from your TV -
but the researchers think the findings are significant.

"The correlations between ghostly activity and magnetic variance were
relatively large and tie in with laboratory findings that suggest
varying magnetic fields have a measurable effect on human
physiology," said Dr Paul Stevens, of the Koestler Parapsychology
Unit at Edinburgh University, who obtained the magnetic field
measurements at both sites.

Trial and error

Some studies have previously shown that variation in normal
electromagnetic (EM) fields, when applied to certain parts of the
brain like the temporal lobes, can result in experiences from the
physical, like being touched, to the metaphysical, such as feeling
close to God.



DO GHOSTS EXIST?
People do have consistent experiences in consistent places, but I
think that this is driven by visual factors mainly, and perhaps some
other environmental cues
Dr Richard Wiseman

"When the shapes of these magnetic fields are reproduced in the
laboratory and generated across the brains of volunteers 'the sensed
presence', fear, and other experiences are reported," said Dr Michael
Persinger, of the Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada.
"However, both in the field and in the lab, the details of the
experiences are strongly affected by the expectations of the subject
as well as their sensitivity to the EM fields."

A professor of neuroscience, Persinger's results are very similar to
those just revealed in the UK by Dr Wiseman and his colleagues.

"When we measure houses where pervasive haunts occur, the place where
the occupants find they can sleep, by trial and error, has the most
consistent and normal field strengths," said Dr Persinger.

"The high-density haunt areas, usually not more than about one or two
metres in diameter, are very electromagnetically noisy."

Further research

So does this mean that ghosts don't exist at all?

"A likely explanation is that the 'ghost' component is primarily
derived from the direct effects of the stimulation of the natural
physical events upon the observer's brain," said Dr Persinger.

"However, science is the pursuit of the unknown. There may be stimuli
present we still have to measure."


Not everyone is so easily convinced, and they point out that the
magnetic field variation results do not explain every ghostly
phenomenon.
How for instance, can groups of people perceive the same ghost or
feel the same presence, when hallucinatory experiences are typically
individual and very subjective?

Tony Cornell, author and a paranormal researcher for over 50 years,
thinks there is some way to go.

Open mind

"Since 1852, science has been trying to find an easy answer, and it
would be nice if we had a simple answer but we do not; the magnetic
wave theory is too simple."

A vice president of the Society for Psychical Research, based in
London, he points out that the same apparitions revisit many haunted
sites - something not predicted or explained by the magnetic wave
theory.

"I'm not going to say they haven't got the answers, but these
experiments seem to be one-offs," Tony Cornell said.

"We need more repeatable answers. Scientists can switch lights on and
off, but can they switch the ghosts on and off? No they can't."

His own experiments on magnetic fields have yielded mixed results,
though he remains optimistic that the answers are coming.

"We persevere. The answer will come eventually. An open mind is what
is always needed."

The research conducted at Hampton Court Palace and the South Bridge
Vaults is reported in the British Journal of Psychology by Dr Richard
Wiseman and colleagues.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3046179.stm

Published: 2003/05/21 09:28:19 GMT

© BBC MMIV