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PARANORMAL NEWS: Psychic SOS, Billy the Kid EVP, Sting’s Ghost originally appeared on About.com Paranormal Phenomena on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 22:49:47.

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Here’s one for the “scientists jump to a very unscientific conclusion” department. Our recent news coverage noted an item from Wired magazine titled, “Scientifically Haunted House Suggests You’re a Sucker.” In an effort to debunk all ghost sightings, researchers at London’s Goldsmith College constructed a room into which high electromagnetic fields and waves of infrasound were generated. Test subjects who were in the room reported sensations of “dizziness, tingling, disembodiment, dream-remembrance and ‘a presence’.”

And this is supposed to prove that the ghost phenomenon isn’t real? It’s an absurd conclusion — or even suggestion. Yes, they were able so make some of the effects (sort of) that some people experience with a haunting. But that’s like saying the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland disproves ghosts because they are able to effectively make the illusion of transparent, dancing ghosts right before your eyes. Simulating something doesn’t mean that the real experience isn’t real. It’s worth noting, too, that no one in the Goldsmith experiment reported seeing an apparition.

Moreover, it’s well known in paranormal research that electromagnetic fields can screw with your brain and can even cause hallucinations. Excellent investigators always look for sources of EMF to account for certain reports and rule them out. So, this experiment only proves what paranormal investigators have known for a long time, and adds absolutely nothing to the knowledge base of genuine paranormal phenomena. They have not proved or disproved anything new.

COMMENT ON THE NEWS: “Scientifically Haunted House Suggests You’re a Sucker” originally appeared on About.com Paranormal Phenomena on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 22:03:10.

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