Editing Ghost (section)

===Scientific view===
{{See also|Paranormal}}
The physician [[John Ferriar]] wrote "An Essay Towards a Theory of Apparitions" in 1813 in which he argued that sightings of ghosts were the result of [[optical illusion]]s. Later the French physician [[Alexandre Jacques François Brière de Boismont]] published ''On Hallucinations: Or, the Rational History of Apparitions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism'' in 1845 in which he claimed sightings of ghosts were the result of [[hallucinations]].<ref>McCorristine, Shane ''Spectres of the Self: Thinking About Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750–1920'' 2010, {{ISBN|1-139-78882-5}} pp. 44–56</ref><ref>Gelder, Ken ''The horror reader'' 2000, {{ISBN|0-415-21356-8}} pp. 43–44</ref>

[[File:Ball lightning.png|thumb|A 1901 depiction of [[ball lightning]]]]

David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested that [[ball lightning]] could cause inanimate objects to move erratically.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Muir |first=Hazel |title=Ball lightning scientists remain in the dark |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1720 |magazine=New Scientist |date=2001-12-20 |access-date=2011-01-15 |archive-date=2018-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917143403/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1720-ball-lightning-scientists-remain-in-the-dark/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Joe Nickell]] of the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] wrote that there was no credible [[scientific evidence]] that any location was inhabited by spirits of the dead.<ref name = "CSICOP">{{cite web |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/haunted_inns_tales_of_spectral_guest |title=Haunted Inns Tales of Spectral Guests |last=Nickell |first=Joe |author-link=Joe Nickell |date=Sep–Oct 2000 |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] |access-date=2009-12-19 |archive-date=2010-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117150357/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/haunted_inns_tales_of_spectral_guest |url-status=live }}</ref> Limitations of [[perception|human perception]] and ordinary physical explanations can account for ghost sightings; for example, [[air pressure]] changes in a home causing doors to slam, humidity changes causing boards to creak, [[Failure of electronic components|condensation in electrical connections]] causing intermittent behavior, or lights from a passing car reflected through a window at night. [[Pareidolia]], an innate tendency to recognize patterns in random perceptions, is what some skeptics believe causes people to believe that they have 'seen ghosts'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://skepdic.com/pareidol.html |title=pareidolia |last=Carroll |first=Robert Todd |date=June 2001 |website=skepdic.com |access-date=2007-09-19 |archive-date=2007-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904011810/http://skepdic.com/pareidol.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Reports of ghosts "seen out of the corner of the eye" may be accounted for by the sensitivity of human [[peripheral vision]]. According to Nickell, peripheral vision can easily mislead, especially late at night when the brain is tired and more likely to misinterpret sights and sounds.<ref name=visit>{{cite web |url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/paranormal_visit/ |title=The Paranormal Visit |last=Weinstein |first=Larry |date=June 2001 |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |access-date=2010-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316131532/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/paranormal_visit/ |archive-date=2010-03-16 }}
: "Once the idea of a ghost appears in a household ... no longer is an object merely mislaid .... There gets to be a dynamic in a place where the idea that it's haunted takes on a life of its own. One-of-a-kind quirks that could never be repeated all become further evidence of the haunting."</ref> Nickell further states, "science cannot substantiate the existence of a 'life energy' that could survive death without dissipating or function at all without a brain... why would... clothes survive?'" He asks, if ghosts glide, then why do people claim to hear them with "heavy footfalls"? Nickell says that ghosts act the same way as "dreams, memories, and imaginings, because they too are mental creations. They are evidence – not of another world, but of this real and natural one."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nickell|first1=Joe|author-link=Joe Nickell|title=Hawking 'Ghosts' in Old Louisville|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=2018|volume=42|issue=2|pages=26–29}}</ref>

[[Benjamin Radford]] from the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] and author of the 2017 book ''Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits'' writes that "ghost hunting is the world's most popular paranormal pursuit" yet, to date, ghost hunters cannot agree on what a ghost is, or offer proof that they exist; "it's all speculation and guesswork". He writes that it would be "useful and important to distinguish between types of spirits and apparitions. Until then it's merely a parlor game distracting amateur ghost hunters from the task at hand."<ref name="Radford 2018">{{cite journal|last1=Radford|first1=Ben|author-link=Ben Radford|title=The Curious Question of Ghost Taxonomy|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=2018|volume=42|issue=3|pages=47–49}}</ref>

According to research in [[anomalistic psychology]] visions of ghosts may arise from [[hypnagogia|hypnagogic]] hallucinations ("waking dreams" experienced in the transitional states to and from sleep).<ref>{{cite journal|author=Klemperer, Frances|year=1992|title=Ghosts, Visions, and Voices: Sometimes Simply Perceptual Mistakes|journal= British Medical Journal |volume= 305|issue=6868 |pages=1518–1519|jstor=29717993|doi=10.1136/bmj.305.6868.1518|pmid=1286367|pmc=1884722}}</ref> In a study of two experiments into alleged [[hauntings]] (Wiseman ''et al.''. 2003) came to the conclusion "that people consistently report unusual experiences in 'haunted' areas because of environmental factors, which may differ across locations." Some of these factors included "the variance of local magnetic fields, size of location and lighting level stimuli of which witnesses may not be consciously aware".<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Wiseman, R. |author2=Watt, C. |author3=Stevens, P. |year=2003 |url=http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/BJP-hauntings.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829021019/http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/BJP-hauntings.pdf |archive-date=2008-08-29 |url-status=live |title=An investigation into alleged "hauntings" |journal=The British Journal of Psychology |volume=94 |pages=195–211 |doi=10.1348/000712603321661886 |pmid=12803815 |issue=2 |display-authors=etal |citeseerx=10.1.1.537.2406 }}</ref>

Some researchers, such as [[Michael Persinger]] of [[Laurentian University]], Canada, have speculated that changes in [[geomagnetic]] fields (created, e.g., by tectonic stresses in the Earth's crust or [[solar variation|solar activity]]) could stimulate the brain's [[temporal lobe]]s and produce many of the experiences associated with hauntings.<ref>[http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/ghosts.html Richard Wiseman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830042118/http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/ghosts.html |date=2007-08-30 }}. Retrieved September 25, 2007.</ref> Sound is thought to be another cause of supposed sightings. Richard Lord and [[Richard Wiseman]] have concluded that [[infrasound]] can cause humans to experience bizarre feelings in a room, such as anxiety, extreme sorrow, a feeling of being watched, or even the chills.<ref name=sound>{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/08/1062901994082.html?oneclick=true |title=Sounds like terror in the air |date=2003-09-09 |website=Reuters |publisher=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=2007-09-19 |archive-date=2007-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022151033/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/08/1062901994082.html?oneclick=true |url-status=live }}</ref> [[carbon monoxide poisoning#Haunted houses|Carbon monoxide poisoning]], which can cause changes in perception of the visual and auditory systems,<ref name="pmid11410684">{{cite journal|author=Choi IS|title=Carbon monoxide poisoning: systemic manifestations and complications|journal=J. Korean Med. Sci.|volume=16|issue=3|pages=253–61|year=2001|pmid=11410684|doi=10.3346/jkms.2001.16.3.253|pmc=3054741}}</ref> was speculated upon as a possible explanation for [[haunted house]]s as early as 1921.

People who experience [[sleep paralysis]] often report seeing ghosts during their experiences. Neuroscientists Baland Jalal and [[Vilayanur S. Ramachandran|V.S. Ramachandran]] have recently proposed neurological theories for why people hallucinate ghosts during sleep paralysis. Their theories emphasize the role of the [[parietal lobe]] and [[mirror neuron]]s in triggering such ghostly hallucinations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jalal|first1=Baland|last2=Romanelli|first2=Andrea|last3=Hinton|first3=Devon E.|date=2015-12-01|title=Cultural Explanations of Sleep Paralysis in Italy: The Pandafeche Attack and Associated Supernatural Beliefs|journal=Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry|language=en|volume=39|issue=4|pages=651–664|doi=10.1007/s11013-015-9442-y|pmid=25802016|s2cid=46090345|issn=0165-005X}}</ref>