Susan Henneberg - Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World

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First Edition

Britannica Educational Publishing

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Rosen Publishing

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Henneberg, Susan, author.

Investigating ghosts and the spirit world/Susan Henneberg.First edition.

pages cm.(Understanding the paranormal)

Audience: Grades 5 to 8.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-6227-5870-8 (eBook)

1. GhostsJuvenile literature. 2. ParapsychologyJuvenile literature. I. Title.

BF1461.H45 2015

133.1dc23

2014021039

Cover, p. 1 Tom Tom/Shutterstock.com; pp. 4-5 Print Collector/Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images; p. 7 LOOK-foto/SuperStock; p. 8 Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getty Images; p. 9 North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy; p. 12 siouxsinner/Shutterstock.com; p. 13 iStockphoto.com/Renphoto; pp. 16, 17 Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy; p. 18 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; p. 19 Henk Paul/Shutterstock.com; p. 21 Danish Siddiqui/Reuters/Landov; p. 23 Archive Photos/Moviepix/Getty Images; p. 24 Charles Walker/TopFoto/The Image Works; p. 26 Orlando Sentinel/McClatchy-Tribune/Getty Images; p. 29 AP Images; p. 30 Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images; p. 32 The British Library; p. 35 Everett Collection; p. 36 Wendy Carlson/ Syfy/Courtesy Everett Collection; p. 38 iStockphoto.com/ibusca; interior pages background images iStockphoto.com/Kivilvim Pinar, iStockphoto.com/mitja2.

CONTENTS

A ccording to several recent surveys, belief in the existence of ghosts is widespreadin fact, nearly half of all Americans believe that ghosts are real, a sentiment that is shared by a similar proportion of people living in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Many people believe that ghosts are the souls or spirits of those who have died, and places that are said to be haunted are often thought to be associated by a haunting spirit with some strong emotion of the pastremorse, fear, or the terror of a violent death. Of course, other people believe that ghosts exist only in our imaginations. Whatever you believe, ghost stories have been told for thousands of years, in almost every culture.

Paranormal investigators, popularly known as ghost hunters, look for proof that ghosts are real or for rational explanations for ghostly activity. Some use high-tech instruments to try to record the sounds of ghosts and take pictures of them. Sometimes these photos show shadowy shapes next to living people. Some of their videos show objects that appear to be moving by themselves.

Though most scientists are skeptical that ghosts exist, haunted houses, spooky stories, and ghost-hunting reality TV shows all reflect our continuing fascination with ghosts. There is a whole world of unexplained events ready to explore.

History, literature, and folklore are filled with stories about the appearances of ghosts and apparitions.

I t was just another night on the job for the staff of Everyday Paranormal. First, the ghost hunters set up their equipment. Then they spread out. On this night, they were investigating the Myrtles Plantation. This large mansion in Louisiana was built before the Civil War. Caretakers and visitors reported seeing ghosts. Some said they heard sounds of children crying. Some thought they felt hands tugging on their pants legs.

Nothing happened until 2:00 AM . Then ghost hunter Barry Klinge, waiting in the dark in the main house, felt a big drop in temperature. A cold spot moved over him. His instruments showed a drop of almost 40 degrees. He smelled cigar smoke and perfume. He was startled when a rock skittered across the floor and bumped into a wall. Brad Klinge, Barrys brother, waited in the old slave quarters on the property. Brad suddenly felt a hard strike on his back. When he turned around, no one was there.

Ghost hunters believe that the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana is one of the most haunted houses in America.

The team members of Everyday Paranormal first look for scientific explanations for the spooky events that happen during their investigations. Open windows can cause cold spots. Curtains can hold smells for decades. Voices can carry in the stillness of night. The Klinge brothers carefully reviewed the data they collected that night. They found that most of the events could not be explained. They deduced that there were ghosts at the Myrtles Plantation.

Paranormal investigators use talcum powder as a trap to capture evidence of ghostly footprints.

TYPES OF GHOSTS

People who believe in ghosts say that they are the souls of dead persons that appear in some form to the living. Many societies perform funeral rites to help souls travel to the afterlife so they will not return to haunt the living. Ghosts are considered to be paranormal beings. This means that they are outside the range of normal experience or scientific explanation. For hundreds of years, believers and nonbelievers have debated whether or not ghosts exist. Those who think that all ghostly events can be explained by science are called skeptics.

According to descriptions or depictions provided by believers, there are several kinds of ghosts. A human-looking figure that can be seen is called an apparition. For instance, some visitors to the White House have seen a hazy Abraham Lincoln in the bedroom named after him. One such visitor was Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. She was visiting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942. Reports say that she fainted after she answered a knock on the bedroom door. She said she saw Lincoln in his top hat and dark suit. According to ghost believers, apparitions most often haunt places to which they had strong emotional ties. These may be places where they lived, worked, or died.

Apparitions are human-looking figures that appear to be dead people coming back to haunt the living.

Another type of ghost is a poltergeist. The word comes from two German words, polter