Interest Rises In Things That Go Bump In Night

October 8, 2000

In an article titled "Interest Rises In Things That Go Bump In The Night" in the Sunday, Ocotber 8th issue of The Detroit News and Free Press, author Joel Kurth qotes University of Mivhigan psychology professor Richard Mann, who says "...the ranks of phantasmal fans could rise as mainstream society inches ever closer to embracing phenomena that science can't answer". Yet neither the author nor Mr. Mann offer any evidence that this societal shift is taking place.

The article further quotes Scott Hattis, a member of Ghost Hunters of Southern Michigan, who says, "It used to be that people would never believe in it, but there's so much happening now, you can't help but have a revival".

This leaves the reader wondering so much what is happening? Is there a documented increase in the number of ghost sitings?

In an attempt to add the air of scientific authority to ghostly apparitions, the author states that "...respected academic publications such as the Journal of Scientific Exploration now treat the paranormal with as much respect and analysis as physics or the chaos theory."

By whom is this publication respected? In fact, I had never heard of The Journal of Scientific Exploration, but a quick check of journal articles from their web site finds not a single article dealing with ghosts or claims of hauntings. The Journal's web site states that "(t)he international Journal of Scientific Exploration was established in 1987 to provide a professional forum for the presentation, scrutiny and criticism of scientific research on topics outside the established disciplines of mainstream science".

This would actually exclude physics and chaos theory since both fields of study fall well within established disciplines of mainstream science.

The University of Michigan's Mann hints that other-worldly beings are targeting specific groups of individuals: "Once the province of cranks, brushes with UFOs or spirits now happen to credible sources".

Are we to believe that ghosts and aliens once made themselves apparent only to the mentally unstable, but have now shifted modes so that they come in contact with credible sources?

Referring to the lost souls said to haunt the grounds of Eloise Mental Hospital, Hattis claims, "They show up right away on photos". It sure would have been informative to include one of Mr. Hattis's ghostly photographs to accompany this article.

A minister whose church recently opened near a supposedly haunted cemetery says he doesn't believe in ghosts, yet feels that his church might be responsible for chasing them away. How can you claim credit for chasing away something you don't even believe in?

The author, referring to a supposedly haunted nearby cemetery, goes on to say that "pentagrams regularly appear on tombstones, as do hardened wax and talismans".

The source for this information is unclear. If this is another of Mr. Hattis's claims, I would treat it as skeptically as everything else he has to say.

Telling ghost stories is an entertaining pastime, especially at this time of year. I myself am currently reading Needful Things, a novel by horror master Stephen King. In none of Mr. King's books does he try and deceive his audience into believing that these things actually happened. They are strictly a product of his imagination, as are the ghosts and lost souls who inhabit this article. It would have been nice to balance the story with the views of a scientist who has done some research into the paranormal.

Feedback | Reverse links for this page | Translate this page