T-arc Blog

I’ve researched paranormal events, specifically ghost related events, for over a decade now. I, and other investigators, have noticed certain patterns emerging from collected data and documented experiences. One in particular relates to the “residual” haunting. Many of us have observed that most purported hauntings in close proximity to large, dense objects, either man-made or natural, tend to be residual in nature. The classification of a residual haunting is one in which a ghostly event occurs repeatedly, with the same action performed over and over. It’s sort of like watching a movie scene, and often occurs at regular intervals. There is no interaction. If an apparition is seen, it is unaware of the observers presence, and simply repeats its “chore” exactly the same each time. If the paranormal event is a sound, or something being moved, it is the same sound (or set of sounds), and same object moved in the same way time after time.

A theory in which I first started milling around in my head years ago is now being embraced by many of us ghost hunting types. The theory, in a nutshell, is that dense objects, be it a stone house, castle, building, rock quarry, mountain, or what have you, somehow records certain events that occur. It’s pure speculation as to what is actually recorded. A couple of suspects are emotionally charged events or actions that were performed over and over that became “burned into” the area. Under the right conditions, a person can perceive this “recording”. The real mystery is what are the “right conditions”?

As for how events become recorded, that doesn’t take to much of a stretch for me. In this day and age, we are well aware of magnetic media that reliably records information. Without it, you couldn’t have a computer, cell phone, or even a credit card. Every bit of data in the world boils down to two things; a “1″ or a “0″. On, or off. These series of 1′s and 0′s, in the right order, read by the right device, retains cohesive programs that, well, you are obviously using right now. Little ticks of “on or off” are made magnetically. Magnetism has the nature of being transmittable in nature. Take a magnet, take a needle. By simply rubbing the magnet against the needle, you’ve created another magnet. So how does this relate to solid structures and hauntings?

For this theory to hold water, you need some recording media. Enter the dense matter. We’ve already show a noticed correlation of residual hauntings to dense objects. So, for argument sake, let’s say that in some way, dense matter is able to become a recording device under the right circumstances. We have our hypothetical hard drive. Now, we just need a device that can record to that media. It is my impression this is fulfilled by the human mind itself. Our brainwaves are indeed physically existing, record-able elements. Ever had an EEG? The military is even experimenting with devices that allow pilots to operate aircraft by thought alone. Wow, all of a sudden, I’m not sounding as far-fetched as I thought I would. The question arises that, if this is possible, and mental activity can be recorded in some way by something that has enough of the right material and mass, why aren’t we seeing “movies” of ourselves when walking around downtown amidst all the concrete and iron of our modern urban jungles? I would venture to guess this is something akin to why your computer doesn’t read a CD when it’s obviously in the CD player, loaded with data that is just not being accessed. The instructions, or a certain chain of events, must transpire in order for you to access the information in a usable way. We tend to think this is a simple matter with all of our DVDs, Ipods, and mini-DVs of the modern age, but this is really a complex method that has been perfected over much trial and error. It seems simple to us. Just put your USB drive in the computer, and up pops your spreadsheet! As a computer professional, I know that it is much more complicated than it appears. This also goes for writing the information to media.

I think there are two key ways the human mind can record events into it environment. One – emotions. My belief is that emotionally charged life events, especially of loss and death, are “strong” enough (for lack of a better term) to imprint events into the atmosphere. This is further supported that most residual type activity is related to tragic events in human life. Finding the love of your life is thrilling, but losing the love of your life is a traumatic event that sends the mind into a spiral of overwhelming confusion and despair, and manifests some of our species strongest emotions. Two – repetitive events. In a residual haunting, many witnesses describe scenes in which an apparition walks through a door that is no longer there over and over; a woman walking through the same stretch of yard. It does make sense that, if trauma is strong enough to imprint into the environment, repetitive action could do the same thing over time. It is my theory that is it not the physical action of, say, a man kneeling at an alter, that becomes ingrained, but rather the emotional state of the person at the time. If Aunt Edna really enjoyed walking in the garden, and repeated this act many times during her life, the emotions, although not traumatic, could “burn” the event into the “dense memory” of the vicinity.

Now, all we need is a player to view the movie. Let’s see, my hard drives head recorded this sentence. My hard drives head also retrieved it for reading. So did yours. All we need to view our environmental movie is a similar device that recorded is in the first place; another human mind. Under the right circumstances, it seems that at least certain humans can detect and perceive these recorded past events. The not-so-obvious part: What determines the right circumstances for a human, or and electronic device, to review such episodes? Talk about an all new meaning to the term “re-run”.

Care to give your two cents? Post a reply. I’d love to hear your ideas.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 12:38 am and is filed under Hauntings, Rants, Theories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.