A Proposed Scientific Framework For
Paranormal Activity
By Wayne Harris-Wyrick
Many paranormal researchers—and skeptics—believe that you
can’t claim paranormal activity such as ghosts without
some understood mechanism that allows a dead, chemically
inert body to interact with living biologically and
chemically active humans. Skeptics claim that since a
given phenomena is not repeatable under controlled
conditions, one can make no claims beyond anecdotal and
unsupported evidence. Believers counter with the
assertion that one can’t actually create a fully
controlled paranormal environment and the since phenomena
involved are not directed by the same cause-and-effect
rules of physics, it is impossible to duplicate any given
paranormal event. One must use statistical analysis to
determine if the broad range of types, and sheer number,
of reported phenomena and events follow some kind of
discernable pattern.
It could be said that the science of stellar astrophysics, the study of the birth, evolution and death of stars, suffers from the same problems. No human or study group, nor indeed the entirety of humanity, has been able to study the complete lifecycle of even a single star, yet by the statistical analysis of many seemingly unrelated observations, scientists accept a detailed and unquestioned picture of the lifecycle of all stars, regardless of variations based on mass, chemical composition, birth environment and many other potentially disparate conditions. The common stellar classification system is a case in point. Stars were originally classified by letters based on certain features of their spectra. The original scheme included some 22 categories through the letter V, but later refinements in equipment and theory reduced that via redundancies and lack of physical significance to 7 stellar classes: OBAFGKM, learned by generations of astronomy students via the mnemonic “Oh, be a fine girl/guy), kiss me.”
But unlike astrophysics, there is no single, widely accepted theory underlying paranormal activity. Like the early days of the beginning phases in the collections of observations of animals in unique environments and fossilized bones that led to the modern understanding of evolution, there are almost as many theories and variations of theories as there are paranormal researchers. I propose the following ideas based on modern scientific principals. Central Oklahoma Paranormal Studies is dedicated to experimental validation of paranormal hypotheses as time and funding permit, but this may be beyond any immediate experimental protocol.
The actual activity in the human brain is chemo-electric in nature. The electric fields powered by chemical activity can be easily read and interpreted by trained researchers via an electroencephalogram (EEG) and other devices that use transducers to measure and record the electrical activity of the brain. I propose that this electrical activity forms a very complex soliton, a self-reinforcing wave that maintains its shape through changes in space (location) and time. Such a wave phenomenon was first described and by John Russell in Scotland who noticed water waves that travel very long distances without damping out in the Union Canal in Scotland. Alex Kasman of the College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C. describes a soliton on his web page thus:
It could be said that the science of stellar astrophysics, the study of the birth, evolution and death of stars, suffers from the same problems. No human or study group, nor indeed the entirety of humanity, has been able to study the complete lifecycle of even a single star, yet by the statistical analysis of many seemingly unrelated observations, scientists accept a detailed and unquestioned picture of the lifecycle of all stars, regardless of variations based on mass, chemical composition, birth environment and many other potentially disparate conditions. The common stellar classification system is a case in point. Stars were originally classified by letters based on certain features of their spectra. The original scheme included some 22 categories through the letter V, but later refinements in equipment and theory reduced that via redundancies and lack of physical significance to 7 stellar classes: OBAFGKM, learned by generations of astronomy students via the mnemonic “Oh, be a fine girl/guy), kiss me.”
But unlike astrophysics, there is no single, widely accepted theory underlying paranormal activity. Like the early days of the beginning phases in the collections of observations of animals in unique environments and fossilized bones that led to the modern understanding of evolution, there are almost as many theories and variations of theories as there are paranormal researchers. I propose the following ideas based on modern scientific principals. Central Oklahoma Paranormal Studies is dedicated to experimental validation of paranormal hypotheses as time and funding permit, but this may be beyond any immediate experimental protocol.
The actual activity in the human brain is chemo-electric in nature. The electric fields powered by chemical activity can be easily read and interpreted by trained researchers via an electroencephalogram (EEG) and other devices that use transducers to measure and record the electrical activity of the brain. I propose that this electrical activity forms a very complex soliton, a self-reinforcing wave that maintains its shape through changes in space (location) and time. Such a wave phenomenon was first described and by John Russell in Scotland who noticed water waves that travel very long distances without damping out in the Union Canal in Scotland. Alex Kasman of the College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C. describes a soliton on his web page thus:
"Technically, a soliton is "a permanent localized disturbance in a non-linear wave". To put it in terms that may be easier to understand, solitons are waves that act like particles. It is interesting that such things exist at all. People once doubted their existence. However, the mathematical theory of solitons is now a well developed "science". Solitons have practical applications and they are also interesting subjects of theoretical study."1
There is an everyday analogy to this that most drivers in
a large urban or suburban setting experience. Picture
this scenario: you are driving your car along an
interstate highway or a similarly designed, limited
access road with no stop light or signs or other traffic
devices that would stop or slow traffic. As you drive
along, you come to a large number of cars that are
bunched up and moving well under the average roadway
speed. You assume there is an accident farther up, but
after some amount of time and distance in this traffic
condition, you pass out of the clump, roadway speed
resumes and the vehicles disperse. There was no accident,
no lane closure, no logical explanation for the event.
Yet it occurred and it maintains itself for a prolonged
period of time due to the combination of traffic speed
and density. At some point in the recent past a driver
may have suddenly slowed down at this spot. Perhaps a dog
ran onto the roadway, or someone was distracted by a cell
phone call. Perhaps one very slow driver caused drivers
in one lane to have to slow down and merge into adjoining
lanes to get around the slow driver. Whatever the initial
cause, it maintains itself until incoming traffic
conditions change. This is a self-perpetuating traffic
“particle”, a highway soliton.
A soliton is self-reinforcing—it doesn’t dissipate as would be expected of a wave phenomenon. It acts like a solid particle, as Kasman states. I propose that part of what makes human consciousness is a soliton-like ordering of the brain’s electric fields. The non-linear complexity of such a field, driven by the billions of neurons in the human brain, would be nearly impossible to solve mathematically. As a soliton, it could exist independent of the chemical activity that created it. That is to say, it could continue after the end of such chemical activity, after the death of the individual who created it. This is not meant to equate to a religious equivalent of a “soul.” Such comparisons are perhaps inevitable, but are not the intent of this author. I refer to such a “solitonic” spirit as a solispirit.
Accept for the moment that this concept is valid and follow that idea through to a logical conclusion. A person dies, but under some circumstances (not as yet identified) the electrical activity of the brain continues to exist as a soliton, now independent of the chemical activity or the body that created it. It could move, or not, depending upon the details of non-linear function that defines the soliton. This could account for the frustrating, non-repeatability of “ghostly” activity.
Paranormal investigators believe that spirits often attach to people, locations, structures or objects that carry significant emotional or psychological meaning to the person when alive. That connection includes both positive and negative significance. Many researchers believe that if a person dies under stressful conditions, e.g. murder or sudden or violent accident, or the person suffered significant, long-term and extreme stress, e.g. physical, sexual or psychological/emotional abuse or waiting for some expected significant event that never occurred during their lifetime, they could attach to places, people or objects that represent a comfort to them or an “unfinished” business that the living person strongly felt need to be completed. A strong, positive emotional connection, e.g. caring for a dependant child or parent, may also create such attachments. Researchers generally refer to such “hauntings” as residual in nature. They often draw an analogy between a residual haunting and a tape recorder playing itself over and over at certain triggers (time, date, temperature, etc), regardless of the presence or absence of investigators or other observers. A solispirit could readily account for such activity.
Many paranormal investigation protocols presuppose a different kind of haunting, an “intelligent” haunt. The process of asking questions or provoking to obtain a response, be it an electronic voice phenomena (EVP), disembodied voice, knocks, unexplained Electromagnetic Field (EMF) activity, vibrations, physical contact with investigators, to name a few, has as an underlying assumption that a spirit can hear, see and/or understand your intent and “consciously” create some form of manifestation or manipulation of the physical environment. Can the concept of solispirit explain an intelligent haunt?
At first glance, this sounds implausible. Without the chemical activity contained within a body’s brain, it appears difficult to explain intelligent interaction. The soliton doesn’t change its shape upon the request of an investigator. The wave in the canal just keeps going by, regardless of pleas to reverse its course. But quantum mechanics, specifically the concept of entanglement, may provide a basis for intelligent hauntings.
Entanglement causes two subatomic particles, pairs of electrons or photons for instance, to become connected in such a way that each “knows” the others condition instantly, even if separated by cosmological distances. According to quantum physics, the exact state of, say, an electron can’t be precisely known. More than that, an electron is in no precise state, or more accurately in all possible states at the same time. Until, that is, one performs some action to check the state—measure its polarization, spin orientation, momentum, etc.—then not only does that specific characteristic of the electron become known, it becomes locked to that state. And its entangled partner instantly switches to the opposite state.
This is a well established phenomenon that has been experimentally verified in numerous different ways. It is commonly accepted wisdom that such quantum effects only occur in the microscopic world, the realm of electrons, photons and such. In fact, quantum effects happen in all scales, but the quantum effects of any one electron or atomic nucleus is totally washed out by the innumerable such subatomic particles that make up any macroscopic objet. It’s like trying to hear a single person at a rock concert in a venue filled with 100,000 screaming individuals. The signal is lost in the noise. This is perhaps better explained in an article in the November 2009 Scientific American magazine.
A soliton is self-reinforcing—it doesn’t dissipate as would be expected of a wave phenomenon. It acts like a solid particle, as Kasman states. I propose that part of what makes human consciousness is a soliton-like ordering of the brain’s electric fields. The non-linear complexity of such a field, driven by the billions of neurons in the human brain, would be nearly impossible to solve mathematically. As a soliton, it could exist independent of the chemical activity that created it. That is to say, it could continue after the end of such chemical activity, after the death of the individual who created it. This is not meant to equate to a religious equivalent of a “soul.” Such comparisons are perhaps inevitable, but are not the intent of this author. I refer to such a “solitonic” spirit as a solispirit.
Accept for the moment that this concept is valid and follow that idea through to a logical conclusion. A person dies, but under some circumstances (not as yet identified) the electrical activity of the brain continues to exist as a soliton, now independent of the chemical activity or the body that created it. It could move, or not, depending upon the details of non-linear function that defines the soliton. This could account for the frustrating, non-repeatability of “ghostly” activity.
Paranormal investigators believe that spirits often attach to people, locations, structures or objects that carry significant emotional or psychological meaning to the person when alive. That connection includes both positive and negative significance. Many researchers believe that if a person dies under stressful conditions, e.g. murder or sudden or violent accident, or the person suffered significant, long-term and extreme stress, e.g. physical, sexual or psychological/emotional abuse or waiting for some expected significant event that never occurred during their lifetime, they could attach to places, people or objects that represent a comfort to them or an “unfinished” business that the living person strongly felt need to be completed. A strong, positive emotional connection, e.g. caring for a dependant child or parent, may also create such attachments. Researchers generally refer to such “hauntings” as residual in nature. They often draw an analogy between a residual haunting and a tape recorder playing itself over and over at certain triggers (time, date, temperature, etc), regardless of the presence or absence of investigators or other observers. A solispirit could readily account for such activity.
Many paranormal investigation protocols presuppose a different kind of haunting, an “intelligent” haunt. The process of asking questions or provoking to obtain a response, be it an electronic voice phenomena (EVP), disembodied voice, knocks, unexplained Electromagnetic Field (EMF) activity, vibrations, physical contact with investigators, to name a few, has as an underlying assumption that a spirit can hear, see and/or understand your intent and “consciously” create some form of manifestation or manipulation of the physical environment. Can the concept of solispirit explain an intelligent haunt?
At first glance, this sounds implausible. Without the chemical activity contained within a body’s brain, it appears difficult to explain intelligent interaction. The soliton doesn’t change its shape upon the request of an investigator. The wave in the canal just keeps going by, regardless of pleas to reverse its course. But quantum mechanics, specifically the concept of entanglement, may provide a basis for intelligent hauntings.
Entanglement causes two subatomic particles, pairs of electrons or photons for instance, to become connected in such a way that each “knows” the others condition instantly, even if separated by cosmological distances. According to quantum physics, the exact state of, say, an electron can’t be precisely known. More than that, an electron is in no precise state, or more accurately in all possible states at the same time. Until, that is, one performs some action to check the state—measure its polarization, spin orientation, momentum, etc.—then not only does that specific characteristic of the electron become known, it becomes locked to that state. And its entangled partner instantly switches to the opposite state.
This is a well established phenomenon that has been experimentally verified in numerous different ways. It is commonly accepted wisdom that such quantum effects only occur in the microscopic world, the realm of electrons, photons and such. In fact, quantum effects happen in all scales, but the quantum effects of any one electron or atomic nucleus is totally washed out by the innumerable such subatomic particles that make up any macroscopic objet. It’s like trying to hear a single person at a rock concert in a venue filled with 100,000 screaming individuals. The signal is lost in the noise. This is perhaps better explained in an article in the November 2009 Scientific American magazine.
"In the most distinctive such (quantum) effect, called entanglement, two electrons establish a kind of telepathic link that transcends space and time. And not just electrons: you, too, retain a quantum bond with your loved ones that endures no matter how far apart you may be. If that sounds hopelessly romantic, the flip side is that particles are incurably promiscuous, hooking up with every other particle they meet. So you also retain a quantum bond with every loser who ever bumped into you on the street and every air molecule that ever brushed your skin. The bonds you want are overwhelmed by those you don’t. Entanglement thus foils entanglement, a process known as decoherence."2
But perhaps not so overwhelmed as to explain intelligent
solispirit activity. Since the solispirit has no mass,
only energy, it may be better able to “quantumly connect”
with entangled entities, as there would be less noise in
a massless energy state. Or perhaps, the electric field
of a living human may resonate with the quantum state of
the solispirit, an intelligent interaction could occur.
Perhaps there is a sort of quantum “6 degrees of freedom”
so that on some level, every object, particle or energy
field is entangled with every other one.
Experimental verification of this hypothesis may be impossible given the current state of technology. In the meantime, we paranormal investigators do what astronomers since the time of Tycho Brahe have done: collect data, observe and keep an open mind for vital connections that may provide the path to the reality behind paranormal activity.
Experimental verification of this hypothesis may be impossible given the current state of technology. In the meantime, we paranormal investigators do what astronomers since the time of Tycho Brahe have done: collect data, observe and keep an open mind for vital connections that may provide the path to the reality behind paranormal activity.
1Alex Kasman, College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C. http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/SOLITONPICS/index.html
2Scientific American Magazine, November 2009, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=easy-go-easy-come