What is a ghost? I know, that sounds like a simple and rather dumb question but it is one we should ask. According to the dictionary, a ghost is “an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image”. Cool. I think that is what most people think of when you say the word “ghost” but what if that isn’t the entire truth? Let’s take some time to explore the many ideas of what may create paranormal phenomena labeled as “ghosts”. 

• Dead People – This is the general idea that when we die, something of ourselves can remain and manifest in a location. This could be a visual or auditory manifestation. Some believe that our consciousness may remain after death or that our spirit can come back to visit our loved ones or the places we enjoyed in life. For most, it is comforting to believe that we go on and death is not final. This is the most popular theory. 
• Imprints/Stone Tape Theory – This idea suggests that certain materials, particularly stone, can act as recorders for past events. These recordings can then be triggered to replay at irregular intervals. Proponents of this theory often state that strong emotion is tied to these recordings and thus is the reason why hauntings are found more often in places of tragedy or high emotion (hospitals and theaters). These “ghosts” do not interact with investigators but instead go along with their regular recorded loop. 
• Time Slips – There are theories that what we are encountering during a paranormal event is actually a window into another time. We typically experience time as proceeding in one direction, from past to future. But scientists focused on quantum systems have found that time may not be inherently directional. This means time could theoretically flow both forward and backward. When we see a “ghost”, this may be due to some change in how we perceive time and we are experiencing people from the past or future. I know, crazy! 
• Alternate Dimensions – This idea proposes the existence of dimensions beyond our own, potentially with different laws of physics, pasts, and futures. One way of thinking of this is to imagine every decision you make having a path. In this reality, you chose one thing but what if you had chosen something different? That alternate decision created a new reality. Now imagine the millions of decisions you make every year. While some of these realities would look similar to the one we currently reside in, other realities would be vastly different. In this theory, there are moments when we can see into alternate realities or dimensions (sometimes referred to as soft spots or portals). The people we see are not dead but exist somewhere other than where we exist. 
• Thought Forms/Egregores – This theory suggests that a group of people focused on an idea can manifest that idea. The Phillip Experiment conducted in Canada is a great example of a thought form. The group created a fictional person and after spending time focused on the details of this “person” they were able to perceive paranormal phenomena that responded as if it was this “person”. This would mean that the efforts of thousands of investigators every year thinking about, talking to, and researching the stories of a location could potentially create the haunting that they are imagining. 
• Aliens – Yes, I said aliens. It is just as plausible as most of the ideas I have written here. This theory suggests that we are interacting with beings different from ourselves. Whether they come from another planet is often debated. Nonetheless, devices for Instrumental Trans-Communication (ITC) have been utilized to communicate with creatures not of this world in addition to its use in ghost hunting. So who is to say that the voice coming from your spirit box is a soldier from 1865 or an alien flying past the planet?  
• Elementals – Similar to aliens, elementals are non-human creatures that are not recognized as part of the animal kingdom. Elementals are often associated with the magical element classifications of earth, water, air, and fire. Further, creatures such as gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders are considered elementals. Occasionally, paranormal encounters are attributed to elemental spirits. 
• We are the Ghosts – This theory is a mix of several different ideas including stone tape, time slips, and alternate dimensions. The idea is that we are actually encountering ourselves when we investigate a location. Many of us visit the same location multiple times and it is possible that we make an imprint on a location just by being there. OR these locations have a tendency to be more permeable to time so we interact with ourselves from different visits. OR that we interact with ourselves from different realities. This one kind of hurts my head but I’m sure you get the point. We could be the ghosts! 

I could probably go on with other ideas, but I think you get the point. We have no idea what ghosts may or may not be. That is why we keep looking and asking questions. Some ideas are more comforting than others but that doesn’t make them any more plausible. We must try our best to focus on the elements present during a “ghost” encounter to help us better understand the mechanisms that make these events possible. The more we know about the specific physical and mental variables surrounding phenomena, the more likely we are to be able to determine what the phenomena may actually be. We can’t answer the “what” without the “how”. 

We also have to accept that we may not get answers in our lifetime. That shouldn’t stop us from working together to form a clearer picture of how this phenomena manifests and how we may or may not interact with it. Every piece of data collected is like a puzzle piece and we need every piece to see the bigger picture. 

With that, I hope your brain isn’t too muddled by all of the possibilities and you are excited to keep searching for answers. 

Until next time, I wish you deep thoughts and Happy Hunting!