Will anyone ever be able to prove there is a such thing as ghosts?

Answer 1

Assuming there is such a thing as ghosts.....
I would say its highly doubtful if they havent proven it yet.
Think about the fact that with no sophistocated instruments, they were able to prove that light not only had motion, but what the speed of light was.
You would think scientic minds that could pull that off, would have no problem with the spiritual world.
I would say one of two things can be concluded, and you have to decide.
With all the scientific equipment we have today, if substantial proof does not exist for ghosts we can conclude one of the following is the case.
1) Ghosts are not provable because they don't exist.
2) Proof exists, but its passed off as a hoax.
3) Someone wants the spiritual world to remain invisible, despite efforts to contact us. (God/Satan or deity of your choice)

Answer 2

I've experienced this kind of stuff for 20 years now. I wanted to deny the existence of paranormal phenomenon for 3 years, but after a rude awakening at the age of 13, I cannot deny it.
Now, after 20 years of experience, it doesn't frighten me at all, merely fascinates.

As for proof, many people are bent on the quest of proving either ghosts exist or debunking such phenomenon. Several paranormal investigatorshas been bent on debunking, but have collected evidence that there is the possibility that spirits exist. Will everyone turn in their evidence and can definetely say they exist or not? There won't be enough evidence for either side anytime soon, if ever. When it comes to belief, it depends on each person. Nobody but the person can say to him or herself that ghosts exist.

Answer 3

I think what Gypsy said is true. You can't directly measure, weigh, or otherwise quantify the supernatural. You can't even observe it since, as paranormal believers often say, it's not consistent and ghosts apparently don't respond on command. Further, we don't have anything like a valid scientific theory which would distinguish ghost activity from leprechaun activity or invisible pink unicorn activity -- there is no way to know it was a ghost. As long as this is the case, scientific investigations will continue to conclude that there is insufficient evidence to hypothesize the existence of ghosts.

The best that paranormalists can hope for is that scientific investigation reveals something unexplained regarding a purported ghost event. "Unexplained" isn't equivalent to "ghost did it", however. "Unexplained" is not equivalent to "paranormal", either. There are, theoretically, an infinite number of explanations possible for the unexplained, including natural explanations not yet considered. But it would throw a bone to the ghost hunters and still be scientifically consistent.

Answer 4

First let's correct the wrong answers:

Witches: Yes, Wicca and such practices exist even today.

Zombies: Yes. Read the book "The Serpent and the
Rainbow"

Vampires: There are people today that consume blood
and some deer hunters still drink the blood of
the first deer they kill. So it depends on how you
define vampire.

Ghosts: It is already established that people see and
experience ghosts. So, they are real at least in the
same way love and anger are real (try proving
those). What ghosts are remains an open question
not their reality.

Michael John Weaver, M.S., Director
New Mexico Anomaly Society
http://nmas.freeservers.com

Answer 5

The answer is "No."
This is because they are not real. They are hallucinations, illusions, delusions, hoaxes, etc.

If they were real, everyone would know about them by now - they would be easy to verify - you would just need to have legitimate, scientific evidence that could be repeated, tested, and independently verified by others. This has never happened.

Many people claim to have pictures or videos of "ghosts" but these claims always turn out to be hoaxes - otherwise these observations would be published in mainstream, peer-reviewed scientific literature. They would surely still be viewed with skepticism, but coming up with a testable and disprovable ghost hypothesis based on repeatable observations would be a necessary first step in giving any credibility at all to ghost stories.

As for the previous poster:
New Mexico Anomaly Society? Are you kidding? What kind of a joke credential is that? An image of a painting of a woman on your website - is that supposed to convince anyone that she is a ghost?

Allow me to correct your misconceptions and logical fallacies:
You are playing the, “that depends on your definition of …” word games

There may be people who call themselves witches and who practice the wicca "religion." They may even think they have supernatural powers, but they don't. Such claims have never been verified. So you are not talking about witches as the popular media or most people think of them. Same thing with zombies: you are changing the definition of zombie from “the walking dead” to people who are alive, but catatonic under the influence of chemical substances. "The Serpent and the Rainbow" doesn't support the existence of zombies as most people think of them.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention t he source of vampire myths: vampire bats - species of bats that feed on blood and live in central and south America. Any moron can drink the blood of another animal, but it doesn't make them a vampire in the mythical sense.

As for ghosts, what IS well-established is that people THINK they see and experience ghosts. However, being able to imagine something does not make it real (e.g. A flying spaghetti monster).
Abstract concepts like ghosts and supernatural beings are also different from human emotions, even though they originate from the same place, the human brain – they are different psychological phenomena.

The only interesting open question here is: why to people believe such nonsense?

Answer 6

Well from taking two years of psychology, I would say that there are such a thing as spirits, energy, and entities. But as for old jim bob rattling chains and stealing reeces pieces, no.

Answer 7

Try MY theory for a change.
To believe in ghosts is to believe in the "spirit" world, or in things "spiritual".
If life cannot be created BY matter, then it follows that life (a spiritual force) created matter (the physical universe). If that is true then Life preceded the physical universe AND exists separate from the physical universe.
The physical universe is made up of energy, space, time and of course, matter. (Note that time only exists if there is a physical universe. Therefore, the life force itself is NOT affected by time.)
All these physical elements can be detected and measured, but what happens to the life force at the moment of death?
You can't measure that.
Why?
Because it isn't part of the physical universe.
I believe that MOST of the time, at the point of death, that "spirit" or life force leaves this physical universe. But does it have to leave?
If that force is not attached (by whatever controlling mechanisms are used) to a body, it has a tough time making its presence known, and can't be detected.
It may be possible that in RARE cases, that life force finds ways to create effects in this physical universe and at those moments it may be detectable.
Very hard to prove, but I won't discount the possibility. There are people that seem to be attuned to such entities.
Personally, I have never knowingly had contact with one, but know people who claim they have. I have to discount their theories as being too strange to fit into the frame work of my personal logic patterns.

Answer 8

The answer requires a person to asume one of 2 possible realities.

1. Ghosts Exist
If ghosts exist (and one has to wonder how 5 different cultures on 6 continents "made up" the same stories) then they would be beings of energy.... Since an atom is 99.5% empty space or "energy that acts as a solid" it would mean that a ghost would be the removal of only 0.5% of existance...the question would then be what technology would we need to create in order to PROVE they exist.
another route would be the "soul" route where the "soul" is an as yet undiscovered energy that inhabits living creatures that has become seperated from it's flesh yet somehow maintains it's cohesion (at least sporatically)... again the question is what technology would we need to create in order to PROVE they exist.

2. GHOSTS DON'T EXIST
The question is what technology would we need to create inorder to PROVE they exist... Photographers in early days of photography used Double Exposure to PROVE that ghosts exist, before that there were phycotropic drugs used in the same maner (Native americans went on vision quest where they comune with the spirit world where the history books state that they fasted and only drank tea they were drinking a catus called Payotee [not sure of spelling] that is one of the MOST potent forms of acid know to exist in the natural world)

Every so often someone will come up with "prof" of the existance of ghosts then later someone will debunk it.

The true answer to your question is therfore YES there will always be proof of both the existance and non-existance of ghosts... the real question is DO YOU BELIEVE!

Answer 9

I have seen many pictures and have had many personal experiences that prove to me that there are indeed ghosts. I think that the proof is out there but it is up to the individual to interpret the information in their own way.

Answer 10

Proving is very difficult because the spirit world cannot be eighed and measured. Its really impossible. Millions of people world wide have had experiences of the spirit world or after life. They can relate stories but they are individual stories and they are difficult to weigh or measure and there fore prove. People on this forum often share stories about their spiritual encounters or the confusion and disbelief their spiritual encounters have caused but again they can't be weighed or measured and there for proven.

How many people have spoken about loved ones visiting them in dreams? How many people have spoken about seeing shadow people or hearing noises or sensing things? ow many people have felt a presence at the end of their bed or atually seen the outline of a deceased person? And what about intutition? I myself have had many intutitive experiences but as to proving them well I dont think that can be done. More and more people are slowly beginning to believe in the after life and there fore the spirit world, but again to people who want it weighed and measured I doubt whether this will ever be possible. I for one believe and have had lots of spiritual experiences and i have to be content with the fact that these spiritual experiences are real for me but for the rest of the world they will have to develop their own views!!

its interesting that there are some people who are skeptics and I believe no proof is possible for them. So your question will possibly never find an answer unless of course deceased persons souls are willing to present themselves for a scientific study!!