By Russell White
P.I.T.T. / Paranormal Investigation Team of Tulsa

This article originally appeared in the March, 2004 online issue of Ghost Magazine in the Spirited Science: Mainstream Science Meets Paranormal Studies column. Posted with permission of Russell White.

The idea of science being used to study and/or validate paranormal phenomenon seems at first glance to be heretical in nature to both camps. The two worlds seem to mesh like water and gasoline.

One world is filled with white lab coats, scholarly elitists, books, journals and papers. This world uses terms like quantitative analysis, scientific method, replication, quantum physics and statistical validation.

The other world is filled with regular, everyday people of varying socio-economic and intellectual status charging about the countryside waving every conceivable type of camera, video equipment, audio recording devices, and more electronic gadgetry than both NASA and the CIA combined have at their disposal. These gadgets measure light, sound, humidity, electro-magnetic fields, the distance of the moon, the curvature of the earth and anything imaginable. This world is rife with unscientific terms such as orb, ectoplasm, apparition, plasmoid, residual and intelligent haunting.

Scientists look down their nose at the very idea of an “orb pic” being presented as evidence of the afterlife. They sneer at the very thought that a self-proclaimed psychic can indeed validate an alleged haunting. The very thought that electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) is NOT a radio transmission, but instead are voices from beyond the grave is enough to make them choke on their coffee.

Conversely, if one tries to explain the concept behind quantum mechanics versus astrophysics to a “ghost hunter” one had better be ready for, at the very least a blank, an uncomprehending stare, and at worst a screaming retreat. Most “ghost hunters” have no concept of the different aspects of the scientific method, to them their gadgets equal science. Discussing quantification or replication will get you a quick nod while they grab their digital camera and show you a dandy fine orb that was captured in a local cemetery.

The simple fact of the matter is that without employing the scientific method, and without striving to use known scientific law, the paranormal community will be forever the bastard step child that lives under the porch. Science has been around for centuries, while paranormal research, as a legitimate field of study has yet to emerge.

Since the species of man became self-aware there has been a desire to find out what happens after the death of our biological shells. To date, science holds that once our cardiac and neuro-biological activity comes to a halt, we basically just cease to exist. Most religions hold a different view, claiming anything from the dead ascending to streets of gold and continuing to exist in a utopian society, to the human soul being “recycled” as it were and coming back to live life again and rectify any mistakes or to continue the learning process. So which is it?

Ironically, since science as a discipline has been a part of our society and culture learned men have pondered the question: “Does the human consciousness survive the death of our biological shells?” Yet time and time again findings and results have been discarded as flights of fancy. However, one has to merely ask 5 people for ghost stories passed down in their families and then stand back and prepare to be regaled with many stories of the afterlife. Nearly every person alive has such stories to pass on; it makes you think of the old adage, “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

At no time in history has technology been available to the masses, as it is in today’s society. Personal computers, digital video and photography equipment are all readily available to the general public. The average computer age person has the equivalent of a scientific laboratory in their living rooms and dens. So the big question is Why is the field of paranormal research still looked down upon by the scientific community?

There are several obstacles hindering any serious paranormal researcher in the field today. Science looks down from its lofty perch and sees lack of organization and cohesiveness. It sees pictures claiming to be orbs, ectoplasm and ecto-mist that are actually lens flares, cigarette smoke and digital processing errors. It sees competition and jealousy over abandoned buildings. It sees technology being mistaken for science. It sees teams proclaiming an area is haunted because of psychic validation. Psychic phenomena to date remains unproven right along with the survival of the human consciousness. So how do we get all our hard work formally recognized? The answer seems almost too easy.

Enthusiasts of this field need to stop being “ghost hunters” and become instead paranormal researchers. They need to stop shouting ghost at every lens flare and dust orb and seek to determine whether or not the human soul dies with the human body. Researchers need to study and educate themselves on the scientific method. Researchers need to study and educate themselves with known scientific law and widely accepted theories that could aid them in their quest.

That is the purpose of this series of articles: education, information and instruction. I will attempt to outline several aspects of the scientific community that parallel our own work. There are aspects of physics, for instance, that actually uphold the belief and possibility of life after death, these thoughts and ideas were brought forth by people such as Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, just to name a few. Over the next several months this column will seek to discuss and evaluate in depth the scientific method, to look at some of these laws of physics along with some widely supported theories that support the possibility of surviving human consciousness, and to look at what constitutes science and what constitutes technology.

You cannot change the truth, but the truth can change you — Unknown