What is a Ghost (Really)?
- Dr Iain M Lightfoot
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
An Interdisciplinary Examination of Apparitions, Energy, Perception, and Memory
I wanted to continue the thinking behind what a ghost is... Ghosts occupy a unique position at the intersection of folklore, psychology, neuroscience, physics, and lived human experience. While belief in ghosts is often dismissed as superstition by sceptics, the persistence and cross-cultural consistency of reported encounters suggests that the phenomenon, whatever its ultimate explanation, deserves serious examination rather than outright rejection.
This article does not attempt to prove the existence of ghosts as conscious entities. Instead, it asks a more precise question: What mechanisms might plausibly account for the range of experiences people attribute to ghosts? In doing so, it challenges popular imagery, integrates contemporary scientific theory, and explores whether a single explanation is sufficient, or whether “ghost” is an umbrella term for multiple phenomena.
Historical Definitions and Cultural Persistence
Historically, a ghost has been understood as the surviving essence of a deceased human capable of interacting with the living world. Anthropological research confirms that belief in post-death manifestations exists in virtually all human societies, from ancestor spirits in East Asia to revenants in medieval Europe (Davies, 2007).
Importantly, early ghost traditions often framed apparitions as functional, appearing for warning, correction, remembrance, or unresolved obligation, rather than purely frightening. This suggests that haunting narratives may reflect deeper human concerns about memory, morality, identity, and continuity rather than simple fear of death.
What People Actually Report Seeing
Empirical surveys and case studies indicate that most ghost encounters are ambiguous, fragmentary, and fleeting, rather than dramatic visual spectacles. Commonly reported elements include:
A sensed presence without visual confirmation
Peripheral movement or shadow-like forms
Repetitive sounds (footsteps, knocks, voices)
Sudden emotional or physiological changes
Apparitions that repeat actions without interaction
These reports are remarkably consistent across time and culture, even in populations with limited exposure to paranormal media (Hufford, 1982).
The Victorian Apparition Myth
The now-iconic image of the translucent, full-bodied ghost owes much to 19th-century spirit photography (read more here). Scholars have demonstrated that these images relied heavily on double exposure, long exposure times, and deliberate photographic manipulation (Nickell, 2011). Despite being exposed as fraudulent, these images permanently shaped public expectation and even today are believed as images of spirits i.e. Ghosts!.
This matters scientifically because expectation strongly influences perception. Research in cognitive psychology shows that ambiguous sensory input is interpreted through existing belief frameworks, particularly under low-light or emotionally charged conditions (Frith, 2007).
Neuroscience and the Ghost Experience
Modern neuroscience provides several mechanisms that can generate convincing paranormal experiences without external agents.
1. Presence Hallucinations
Studies of neurological patients show that disruption to the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) can create a powerful sensation of another being nearby, even when no one is present (Blanke et al., 2002). This phenomenon has been reproduced experimentally.
2. Pattern Completion
The human brain evolved to detect agency rapidly, an adaptive survival trait. Under uncertainty, it fills perceptual gaps using memory and expectation, sometimes producing vivid but inaccurate interpretations (Clark, 2013).
Environmental and Physical Factors
Environmental science contributes further explanatory power.
Infrasound
Low-frequency sound below the threshold of conscious hearing has been shown to induce anxiety, dread, nausea, and visual distortion. Tandy and Lawrence (1998) famously linked infrasound at 19 Hz to reports of ghost sightings in a laboratory environment.
Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs)
Persinger’s work demonstrated that weak, complex EM fields can stimulate the temporal lobes, producing sensed presences, emotional intensity, and religious or paranormal experiences (Persinger, 1983). While controversial, these findings have been independently replicated in modified form.
Residual Haunting and Time-Based Models
One of the most compelling non-spiritual explanations for hauntings is the residual or “stone tape” model, first proposed in the 1970s. This theory suggests that environments may store information from emotionally intense events, which can later be replayed under specific conditions (Broughton, 1991).
While no known physical mechanism currently explains how buildings could store such data, the model aligns intriguingly with modern physics, particularly:
Block universe theory, which treats time as a dimension rather than a flow (Barbour, 1999)
Quantum entanglement, where information persists non-locally (Rovelli, 2018)
These frameworks do not prove hauntings, but they challenge the assumption that past events are necessarily erased.
Conscious Agency and Post-Death Survival
More controversial are accounts of interactive hauntings, where apparitions appear responsive or intelligent. Science currently lacks tools to verify whether such experiences represent external consciousness, internal cognition, or a complex interaction between the two.
Importantly, consciousness itself remains poorly understood. Even mainstream neuroscience acknowledges that subjective experience cannot yet be fully reduced to neural activity alone (Chalmers, 1996). This leaves open, though does not confirm, the possibility that consciousness may not be entirely dependent on biological-structure.
One Phenomenon or Many?
The strongest emerging position within academic paranormal studies is that “ghosts” are not a single phenomenon. Instead, the term appears to group together the following:
Neurological experiences
Environmental effects
Psychological patterning
Cultural symbolism
Possible non-human intelligences
Hypothetical post-human consciousness
Treating all of these as one category creates confusion and false certainty.
Provisional Position; What is a Ghost?
At this stage, the most intellectually defensible position appears to be this:
Many ghost experiences appear to be real events but are not necessarily always evidence of surviving human souls. Some are likely neurological, some environmental, some psychological, and some potentially represent phenomena that science has not yet adequately modelled, particularly where time, memory, and consciousness intersect. Yet, within the investigations that Barry and I have conducted, there seems to be an emerging theme, that there is no-one answer as to what is happening in 'haunted' locations. There is both intelligent and non-responsive phenomena, and also appears to be a hierarchy and rules which provides evidence of greater consciousness. There is much more work to be done in ascertaining answers as to what is happening.
This position avoids both naïve belief and premature dismissal. It acknowledges experience without overstating explanation. What do you think that a ghost is? Thank you for reading. Please subscribe and share, and if you’d like to keep us fuelled through those long nights of investigation, you can support our work by joining the:
Midnight coffee Club at buymeacoffee believe me, every cup is enjoyed (and needed at times)!
References
Barbour, J. (1999). The End of Time. Oxford University Press.
Blanke, O., Ortigue, S., Landis, T., & Seeck, M. (2002). Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions. Nature, 419, 269–270.
Broughton, R. (1991). Parapsychology: The Controversial Science. Ballantine Books.
Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The Conscious Mind. Oxford University Press.
Clark, A. (2013). Whatever Next? Predictive Brains, Situated Agents, and the Future of Cognitive Science. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 36(3).
Davies, O. (2007). The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts. Palgrave Macmillan.
Frith, C. (2007). Making Up the Mind. Blackwell Publishing.
Hufford, D. J. (1982). The Terror That Comes in the Night. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nickell, J. (2011). The Science of Ghosts. Prometheus Books.
Persinger, M. A. (1983). Religious and mystical experiences as artefacts of temporal lobe function. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 57(3).
Rovelli, C. (2018). The Order of Time. Penguin.
Tandy, V., & Lawrence, T. (1998). The ghost in the machine. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 62.
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