Talk:Paranormal

I'm curious, it says that ghosts may be replicated by minor hallucinations induced in labs, anyone know what experiment this is referring to? WashionalRiki (talk) 18:50, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
 * A scientist and some of his students had this experience working in a lab filled with infrasound from the ventilation system. The sound waves are so low that they actually make your eye resonate, creating weird flashes and eerie perceptions in your peripheral vision. They wrote a book about it called The Ghost in the Machine, I think. Olefiance (talk) 19:00, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Ah thanks. Seems a bit of a massive generalisation, but oh well WashionalRiki (talk) 19:04, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
 * There were further tests where they gathered large groups and played these sounds to them. It seems to be good at making people feel disturbed and uneasy. I think these are the only tests where ghosts have been "replicated." Most of it is just people seeing what they want and other people who are willing to sell it to 'em. Olefiance (talk) 19:34, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

Some 'ghosts' will be caused by 'natural or manmade phenomena' (ground movements/water flowing through pipes, electric equipment producing sounds; peculiar/chance reflections and optical illusions etc) and there will be cases of 'expecting to see a ghost and one is found' (Man with a hammer sees nails everywhere'). However there do appear to be some things which 'do not appear to have presently explicable causes.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the Other Side. 171.33.222.26 (talk) 16:45, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * "However there do appear to be some things which 'do not appear to have presently explicable causes." Like what? AtomicPlayboy (talk) 19:20, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Why we like cats (and why they choose to stay with humans), sunsets, even 'shiny blue flies'.
 * I like my cats because their big eyes seem to elicit some kind of paternal endearment, also they're fluffy. They stay with me because I feed them, take care of their crap, and have a warm house. The sunset thing... you got me there. I think they're a magic spell by some guy called Rayleigh. AtomicPlayboy (talk) 18:02, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

There are many stories of 'strange things encountered' - and the statement describes a lot of things. 171.33.222.26 (talk) 17:22, 26 September 2013 (UTC)
 * This is implicit in the article, but if can make it implicit in an elegant way, go for it? AtomicPlayboy (talk) 18:02, 26 September 2013 (UTC)
 * 'There are more things in heaven and Earth...'? 171.33.222.26 (talk) 18:08, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

...and cats do 'see ghosts.'

There is no biological reason why we should like sunsets (prelude to night 'and the creatures thereof', shiny blue flies, peacock tails, or do more than find cats useful (once the contract with them has been negotiated) etc etc but we do.

A certain proportion of 'weird things' do have 'actual explanations which have not yet been deduced' (eg, historically, many diseases) or 'it can be assumed someone is negotiating a research grant on the subject'; some we are likely to put down to 'some sort of peculiar optical/auditory illusion', or 'cultural and other expectations' (In the book The Air Loom Gang about the author states that this was the first recorded case of a 'technological cause' rather than a 'demonological cause' being presented as an explanation) etc).

There are, however, things which seem to have no present explanation ('all the stories of ghosts, Bigfoot and other creatures', the noises off of etc) and so on. 171.33.222.26 (talk) 16:04, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Links
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26503412/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23933505/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-015-0563-x

https://theconversation.com/hearing-ghost-voices-relies-on-pseudoscience-and-fallibility-of-human-perception-48160

08:28, 5 December 2020 (UTC)