Page 23 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 3

But however relentlessly science strives to And not everyone in contemporary cultures
ignore the evidence for ghosts or to deny the believes in ghosts, but polls and surveys con-
existence of a life after death, the more popular tinue to indicate that a good many do.
ghost stories seem to become among the gener- A Gallup Poll done in May 2001 found
al public. The more that science seeks to that 38 percent of Americans surveyed were
demystify the world, the more that average convinced that ghosts exist, a 13 percent
people wish to retain a sense of mystery and increase from a survey conducted in 1990.
wonder through belief in ghosts and the super- While the current era is considered the age of
natural. In such works as Leaps of Faith: Science, science, the image of the traditional ghost
Miracles, and the Search for Supernatural Conso- appears to be as compelling and awesome as
lation (1999), psychologist Nicholas Humphrey ever. Perhaps this is because science can never
insists that science will never be able to explain explain the Big Questions or reassure the
the world and reassure men and women that human psyche as completely as can belief in
there is meaning to life as completely as can the supernatural.
belief in the supernatural or the divine.
The famous psychoanalyst Dr. Carl Jung
M Delving Deeper (1875–1961) described a personal encounter
Associated Press. “Haunted Experiences Draw Skepti- with a ghost in Fanny Moser’s book Spuk
cal Society Together.” Boston Globe, July 22, 2001. (1950). In 1920, Jung was spending a weekend
[Online] http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/203/ at an English country house a friend had rent-
metro/Haunted_experiences_draw_skeptical_ socie. ed. The nights afforded no rest, however, for
Denning, Hazel M. True Hauntings. St. Paul, Minn.: the house was subject to the complete reper-
Llewellyn Publications, 1996. toire of a full-scale haunting. There were raps
Murphy, Gardner. The Challenge of Psychical Research. on the walls, noxious odors, and the mysteri-
New York: Harper & Row, 1970. ous dripping of liquid. Jung always experi-
“Spooky! We’re Still Haunted by Ghosts.” Sydney enced a sensation of incapacity whenever the
Morning Herald, July 23, 2001. [Online] http:// phenomena would begin, and cold perspira-
www.smh.com.au/news/0107/23entertainment/ tion would bead his forehead.
entertain2.html
Steinour, Harold. Exploring the Unseen World. New
York: Citadel Press, 1959.
Sullivan, Lawrence E., ed. Death, Afterlife, and the PSYCHOANALYST Dr. Carl Jung
Soul. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1989.
Tyrrell, G. N. M. Apparitions. New York: Collier claimed to have a personal encounter with a ghost.
Books, 1963.

The climax of the haunting occurred when
Ghostly Beings the head of a woman materialized on the pillow
of Jung’s bed about 16 inches from his own. The
here is not a single culture on planet
ghostly head had one eye open, and it stared at
Earth that does not have its ghost sto-
the astonished psychoanalyst. Jung managed to
T ries. While individuals around the
light a candle, and the frightening specter disap-
world may argue politics, religion, and philos-
peared. He later learned from the villagers that
ophy from the perspective of their own cultur-
all previous tenants of the country house had
al biases, if there is a single unifying factor in
terminated their occupancy in short order after
the arena of the unknown and the unex-
a night or two in the haunted house.
plained, it is the manifestation of ghostly enti-
ties. Of course not everyone who believes in In the jargon of parapsychology—the
ghosts agrees on what exactly a ghost is. Some branch of behavioral science that undertakes to
insist that the appearance of ghosts proves sur- examine such phenomena—a ghost is usually a
vival after death. Others state that such phe- stranger to the one who perceives it while an
nomena represent other dimensions of reality. apparition is well known by the one who sees it

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