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

This article originally appeared in the January, 2005 online issue of Ghost Magazine in the Spirited Science: Mainstream Science Meets Paranormal Studies column. Posted with permission of Russell White.

The team moved quietly through the abandoned mental institution. The only sounds are their footsteps, the sing-song digital noise from their cameras, and the occasional spoken “I'm in,” signaling to others that they are snapping a picture. Suddenly one of them stiffens and begins to look around wildly.

“What is it?” whispers one of the other team members.

“I thought I saw someone or something move across the hallway up ahead,” she whispers back. The team continues down the hallway.

This time one of the other researchers snaps their head around and stares intently behind them down the hallway.

“What’s the matter?” asks one of his partners.

“I could have sworn I heard someone run up behind us and laugh,” he says in bewilderment.

In both instances none of the others in the group heard or saw anything. These people aren't your average weekend “ghost hunters”, but paranormal researchers with countless hours in field. But what exactly did they see or hear? How is it possible that only two of them saw or heard anything while standing in a group? Is it their imagination or are they being pinpointed by some type of external energy? Are they just in the right place at the right time?

It is my firm belief that the phenomena we seek are mainly temporal in nature. Now, by temporal I don’t necessarily mean it is fabricated by our minds, or just our imagination. But rather some type of anomalous energy is somehow triggering the biological responses that we feel in these situations. I believe this can include what could be termed by science and medicine as aural, tactile and visual hallucinations.

Now again I am not saying these things are merely products of our brains, but I DO however feel that the key to unlocking these mysteries lies within our skulls. Here’s an example: An epileptic has a disorder of the right temporal lobe (usually) causing involuntary, random and violent synaptical firings which usually affect the entire body; this is called a grand mal seizure. This is also a disease of the brain wholly within itself, all the activity and reaction takes place within the brain. Now it will spread and affect every muscle in the body but the activity is all originating in the brain. But an epileptic seizure can also be brought on by an external source such as a flashing strobe light, or certain frequencies of sound. Do you see the correlation here?