Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Ghosts & the 5 Senses

Well, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a ghost is "a disembodied soul; especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness."

It's that whole "bodily likeness" part that gets people so excited. Everyone wants to see one, not realizing there are others ways they can be experienced. Yes, I know this isn't very scientific, but they can be a sensory experience. The thing is to consider these experiences in addition to your data.

Here are my top 5:
  1. Touch: Yes, some folks have reported being touched. It doesn't seem to be an uncommon experience. I know of times where it has felt like the touch of a solid person, and I also know of it feeling as if you've stepped into static: all prickles and tingles around you.
  2. Smell: One reason not to wear fragranced products while on investigation is that sometimes they--ghosts--can be smelled. Cigar smoke, flowers, perfume, gunpowder--all of these things have been reported before.
  3. Feel: Whether by temperature (sudden temperature drop, or the opposite--warmth), or that funny "thick" feeling some people get where they can become woozy or short of breath.
  4. Hearing: Footsteps, voices, and other unusual sounds that are not being naturally caused.
  5. Sight: Shadows, balls of light, sudden "mists" that are not fog, full or partial apparitions

Apparitions are rare things. You're more likely to have 1-4, or variations of 5 happen instead. If you go into this hoping for your stereotypical ghost, you're going to be one disappointed person.

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