The "evidence" of Ritual

[Nephew Twiddleton]

A big problem I have with so much of this;

"...in Victorian Era clothing....."

I guess ghosts can only come from that era.

From the scientific explanation, it's because it's a fairly recent era that can easily be identified, plus it has an extra spooky quality. It's easier to imagine a ghost from that era.

From a spiritual perspective, since they are recent ghosts, they probably are still lingering because they haven't passed over yet. It would interesting to see if there are Italian accounts of dudes in togas.

I like your approach, falsifying is an important part of rational inquiry.

Probably more appropriate to your other thread where I mentioned my grandparents' house, but I just remembered that my step-father says he woke up once when he was growing up to see a British soldier standing above him. He grew up in Charlestown, which is where the Battle of Bunker Hill occured. He remains agnostic about it, since he describes himself as an agnostic atheist (though disbelief in gods doesn't necessarily mean disbelief in the soul).

[Adios]

I am at the point that if I don't collect my own findings from field work then I have nothing to work with.

There are also a LOT of reports from various locations about White Ladies.

Another pit fall, if I were on a civil war battlefield my brain would expect to see civil war soldiers.

This is going to be tougher than I thought.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I am at the point that if I don't collect my own findings from field work then I have nothing to work with.

There are also a LOT of reports from various locations about White Ladies.

Another pit fall, if I were on a civil war battlefield my brain would expect to see civil war soldiers.

This is going to be tougher than I thought.

Well, this might actually be a strength in your research. If you're in Charlestown or Lexington or Montreal, you'll see ghosts from the Continental Army or the Regular Army. If you're on Gettysburg you'll see Conferates and Federals. You can then take details of those ghost accounts and discount certain details as inaccurate or false. It might take some digging but, say if a ghost identifies with a particular name, you can check to see if there was a Confederate named Sullivan Biddle (X Files reference). If there wasn't, debunked. If the British ghost says, "I AM A REDCOAT!" you know it's automatically false because no one called them redcoats at the time.

Or for example if there is a haunted house, do the research on the details presented. Inconsistencies may creep in on further scrutiny.

You might have to take a couple of sample cases and investigate them to get an idea of what methods you'll be using. Simple ones like me hearing the footsteps and slamming doors should be ignored. There is nothing testable there. Ones of repeat visits that have detail to them are more promising.

[Adios]

This could be a lot of fun.

[Cramulus]

this might be a good read: Prehistoric Religion and Burial Practices

[Adios]

this might be a good read: Prehistoric Religion and Burial Practices

Bookmarked. That looks pretty good and unbiased. When head clears I will read.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You also mentioned that another avenue you were pursuing was the wekening of the barrier of time thing. You should check to see if there are any accounts of ghosts that don't fit in with any historical details. They might not be as common, but it would be interesting in checking in on the ghosts-from-the-future aspect. It might imply that there is some sort of poorly understood bending of time involved here.

Or, simultaneously, say you have a hypothetical test case where someone in Victorian Era Clothing is haunting a place. On further research, you find that this Victorian era inhabitant committed suicide. The ghost that remained haunting the house was told by a previous ghost hunter to move on and go towards the light. The ghost is never heard from again. Extra digging turns up this woman's diary in which she describes ghosts with strange clothing and magical devices urging her to move on and go towards the light, which she interprets as needing to commit suicide.

Whoops. 

[Adios]

You also mentioned that another avenue you were pursuing was the wekening of the barrier of time thing. You should check to see if there are any accounts of ghosts that don't fit in with any historical details. They might not be as common, but it would be interesting in checking in on the ghosts-from-the-future aspect. It might imply that there is some sort of poorly understood bending of time involved here.

Or, simultaneously, say you have a hypothetical test case where someone in Victorian Era Clothing is haunting a place. On further research, you find that this Victorian era inhabitant committed suicide. The ghost that remained haunting the house was told by a previous ghost hunter to move on and go towards the light. The ghost is never heard from again. Extra digging turns up this woman's diary in which she describes ghosts with strange clothing and magical devices urging her to move on and go towards the light, which she interprets as needing to commit suicide.

Whoops. 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You also mentioned that another avenue you were pursuing was the wekening of the barrier of time thing. You should check to see if there are any accounts of ghosts that don't fit in with any historical details. They might not be as common, but it would be interesting in checking in on the ghosts-from-the-future aspect. It might imply that there is some sort of poorly understood bending of time involved here.

Or, simultaneously, say you have a hypothetical test case where someone in Victorian Era Clothing is haunting a place. On further research, you find that this Victorian era inhabitant committed suicide. The ghost that remained haunting the house was told by a previous ghost hunter to move on and go towards the light. The ghost is never heard from again. Extra digging turns up this woman's diary in which she describes ghosts with strange clothing and magical devices urging her to move on and go towards the light, which she interprets as needing to commit suicide.

Whoops. 

Well, ghosts are usually shrieking something like, "get out of my house!" Maybe from when they're standing, it still is their house and you're the ghost.

Twid,
Has a boner for time-travel and related topics

[Adios]

Ghost Hunters is on tonight. I like the show, but there are a few issues with it.

Regardless of when the sightings are, they hunt at night. They only hunt for one night. What? Buy a ticket, see a ghost?

They listen to the reports, then they will ask, "Are you Sally", for instance, thereby contaminating any findings.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Ghost Hunters is on tonight. I like the show, but there are a few issues with it.

Regardless of when the sightings are, they hunt at night. They only hunt for one night. What? Buy a ticket, see a ghost?

They listen to the reports, then they will ask, "Are you Sally", for instance, thereby contaminating any findings.

That's one of the problems when dealing with a topic usually relegated to fringe science- the people who generally do the research are usually hobbyists who are probably looking more for confirmation than finding out what's going on.

Say there is a spirit, as is understood by common definition, and you ask, "Are you Sally?" as you said.
"Um... yep! I'm Sally!"
"I knew it!"

I like the topic of UFOs, but that's an equally difficult topic to sort through the nonsense, if not more so.

[Adios]

I think open ended questions are the way to go.

Are you here?

Who/what are you?

Can you see me?

Why are you here?

Are you wondering why I am here?

Is there anything you want to tell me?

Is there anything you want me to tell you?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I think open ended questions are the way to go.

Are you here?

Who/what are you?

Can you see me?

Why are you here?

Are you wondering why I am here?

Is there anything you want to tell me?

Is there anything you want me to tell you?

Those are pretty good. No bias to them, very neutral questions.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Is this for the second book?

[Telarus]

I think it would be fruitful to investigate the Ainu people (northern Japan), as they are one of the only people with a "animist" spiritual practice that goes back to pre-history that still exist today.

Who are the Ainu people?

The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group of people who live in Hokkaido in Japan today as well as in Russia (the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin). In the 19th Century, Japanese people called the northern island of Hokkaido "Ezochi" which means "Land of the Ainu". The term Ainu generally referred to the fair-skinned, long-haired hunter-gatherer-fishering people with animistic beliefs who had lived there for hundreds of years.

Getting into the Ainu headspace is about as close as we can come to prehistoric spiritual practices (genetic tests have shown relation to Australian Aborigines and some Native American tribes). The Ainu believe that everything in this world has "spirit", and don't even dispose of fish-bones without a ritual. Souls weren't unique to humans, but were found among plants, animals, mountains, water, and fire.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/ainu/

Here is a description of an Ainu Ghost Trap, used near fresh graves.