Most people in the paranormal world are starting to think some ghosts could be this STONE TAPE THEORY; One that ghost hunters like to look at, and some really do believe this may be the answer to most hauntings, is the Stone Tape Theory. The Stone Tape theory is the speculation that ghosts and hauntings are analogous to tape recordings, and that emotional or traumatic events can some how be stored in rock and other items and replayed under certain conditions. The idea was first proposed by British archaeologist turned parapsychologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge in 1961. Lethbridge believed ghosts were not spirits but simply non-interactive recordings similar to a movie. This then when you hit play (if you could find the play button) would be played back to the person. Which would mean that if no one is there to view it would still happen, or would it. It is like the question “does a tree make the sound when it falls and you are not there to hear it?,”. Richard Wiseman has written there is no scientific evidence for the stone tape theory of ghosts. According to Wiseman the idea is completely implausible – as far as we know, there is no way that information about events can be stored in the fabric of a building. Many serious paranormal researchers accept that some ghosts behave like recordings (sometimes called the stone tape theory after Thomas Lethbridge). They show no knowledge of their surroundings and repeat the same actions whenever seen. They even sometimes appear to follow different room layouts from the existing ones. The case for a recording mechanism of some kind seems good. As we find with battle field ghosts or that of armies marching across a field or road. They seem to walk on land that is no longer used or even there. It is generally agreed by most researchers, in to the world of the Paranormal. That there is more than one type of ghost. Suggested types include crisis apparitions, recording ghosts, anniversary ghosts, road ghosts and sentient ghosts. Given their different characteristics, it is likely that these different types of apparition have different explanations. There may even be sub-types of, say, ‘recording ghosts with different explanations. One of the problems with trying to explain ghosts is that many people, usually those who havent studied the subject in depth, tend to think there is just one kind of ghost requiring just one explanation. Whenever someone suggests a novel explanation for ghosts it inevitably does not fit all the cases. Thus the explanation is generally rejected and we are back at square one. The person seeing the ghost, has to find away of explaining what they see. So sometimes fit it in to what their mind can understand. That or what they think will be easy for other people to understand. If we accept that there are different kinds of ghost, with different explanations, the whole subject can start to move forward. One of the least contentious kinds of ghost, seemingly, is the ‘recording type. We all know cases where the same kind of phenomena recur at the same places time after time. Some people have hypothesised that the phenomenon is, in fact, a real recording of a past event, somehow imprinted onto the local surroundings. An important first step in looking for any explanation of ghosts is to get beyond the common idea that it is a single, monolithic phenomenon. We have to start believing that there must be more than one kind of ghost. Just as there is more than one kind of monster, or even one kind of witch. If we look to the world of UFOs. There is a parallel with UFOs. Most serious ufologists will readily concede that the term UFO covers many different phenomena with differing explanations (such as weather balloons, planes, clouds, planets, laser light shows, earthquake lights, etc). What unites these diverse phenomena into a single one, at least in the popular imagination, is the idea that they are alien spacecraft. This idea has been hammered deep into popular culture by films, books and video games. Ufologists will tell you that a huge percentage of UFOs have natural explanations but there is a small residue of unexplained real UFOs. Whether consciously or not, many ufologists still search for a single explanation for these real UFOs, in spite of their experience with the ‘explained portion. A similar situation exists with ghosts. What unites the various phenomena that we describe as hauntings in the popular imagination is the idea that they are returning spirits. But what do we find, as researchers, in real-life cases of haunting (as opposed to fictional ones)? There are odd noises, unexplained lights, object movements, smells and occasionally human figures. As with UFOs, these phenomena could all have different, in many cases mundane, explanations both within and between cases. How did we arrive at the idea that such unusual occurrences were returning spirits? The answer, of course, is popular culture. We want to see that there is more after death, that we do not simple rot away but come back some how to carry on as before. So how would you look at the stone tape theory or any other type of haunting. Well best look back at what has happened before. If there is reports going back years, then this is more likely to be a stone tape haunting. If people have been seeing the same thing at the same site, hearing the same sounds. Then you can view this as different to other hauntings. If however the phenomena may only have started, or at least been noticed, recently. The investigators and you will usually have had access to the original witnesses, been able to examine the site while things are still taking place and perhaps held vigils there. Generally, the facts of the case will not be widely known to the public. This is great for you as the haunting will, not have the chance to grow arms and legs. Be changed to fit another’s mind, or even change what they think they viewed that day/night. A person who says they have seen a ghost. Can have their mind changed by others. Or even may be their own mind puts normal thoughts to what it seen. The faster you get to a new site. The more information you can get. No doubt there are readers who will have personally investigated where apparitions have been witnessed performing repeatedly. What they have found may be different from what you find, everyone sees what they wish to see. That is why if you see the same thing at nearly the same time on the same road it may well be a tape recording of a ghost. Particularly in accounts of ‘classic cases, that apparitions represent an identifiable person, usually a former inhabitant of the haunted site. However, look more closely at the original reports and often all you will find is accounts of the apparition may be dressing the same as the person, they could be following what the person did when they were alive. It may even be that the person doing the looking wants to see that person, as they have heard about them being there. But it all accounts to somebody apparently jumping to the wrong conclusions on the flimsiest of evidence. Once these identifications are made, they become part of the facts surrounding the case, repeated endlessly by the media without question. It is possible to imagine a scenario where someone, perfectly innocently, mistakes a random shadow on a wall for a human figure and decides it is a ghost. The local newspaper interviews the witness, and an article appears declaring it to be the ghost of who ever lived, worked or died there. Add a few years and mentions in popular books and you have a classic case. Of the haunting being more than it is. You are now chasing the shadows believing all you see is that person. Stone tape gives you the chance to look at all the past data, then study it for you to make up your own mind if what you are seeing is that, person, or is the sounds of that battle. Recorded in to the ground, to be played back for years to come. The reason why many of the ‘classic ghosts are no longer seen (not in recent vigils anyway) is said to be that they fade away, like an aging recording wearing out. To be replaced with the new ones. The more people go in to an area, of an old ghost story. The more they leave of themselves behind. The ghost is over written with what we do. There is an alternative, rather cynical, explanation. Maybe the ghost, identified as whoever you wish it to be, is still seen but simply doesnt really look much like them any more! Another, even more cynical, possibility is that the original ghost was merely a legend in the first place. The most impressive pillar on which the case for a recording theory sits is the idea that apparitions repeat themselves. In classic cases, as well as in fiction, the ghost is often said to be re-enacting some tragic part of their lives or trying to right some wrong done to them. Or it may even be that they wish just to be left alone for ever to carry with them what they try to hide. But consider the following. Two people, on different occasions, see an apparition at the same place doing the same thing. If the second person is aware of the first sighting, then clearly suggestion is a possibility. But what if the sightings are completely independent? A researcher will collect the two accounts and immediately notice the similarities. This is perfectly sensible and leads to the entirely reasonable conclusion that the two people have witnessed the same thing. After all, what are the odds against two similar ghosts doing the same thing in the same place? As humans we have an inbuilt tendency to look for patterns and coincidences, which usually serves us well. But suppose there are slight differences in the description of the apparition and what it did. Many researchers would no doubt put these down to differences between the witnesses and the circumstances of their observation. Why? Because many researchers think they know what ghosts do. They know that ghosts repeat. In fact, the two witnesses may have seen something similar, but how do we know it was exactly the same? Suppose they both see a figure appear in a room and walk into a wall. How do we know it was the same figure and that it walked precisely the same route? It is a crucial point. A recording, as we know from video tapes, is always precisely the same. If the sightings are different in the slightest detail, it isnt a recording! At least not a physical one existing outside the witnesss brain. If the apparition does similar, but not identical, things, there are two possibilities. It could be a recording that plays only in the witnesses brain and so might vary, according to differences between individual brains. Alternatively, there may be an environmental stimulus in the place where the apparition is seen, affecting both brains and producing similar, though not identical, results. An example of a stimulus might be lights moving across a wall at night, produced by distant car headlights through a window. The stimulus is the same. Most people would probably work out it was car headlights through a window, reflecting off a wall. However, some people, particularly visitors seeing them for the first time, might see them as ghostly lights tracking across a wall and mysteriously disappearing (the new house effect). If two visitors reported the same thing, a researcher might decide, comparing the two accounts, that it was a genuine ghost. It is known that certain low-frequency magnetic fields can induce ghostly hallucinations in susceptible people in lab experiments. One objection to applying this in the field is that, at first sight, it might seem unlikely that suitable magnetic fields would be exceedingly rare in the environment. This is not the case due to high voltage cables and or underground sub stations, electricity cables form magnetic fields around them. This can affect a person, and their thoughts. If the field is close to the surface, or in an area that is small that people go in to, this can multiply the field around them. So affecting the person more and what they see. Another obvious objection to applying this idea in the field is that different people would experience different hallucinations from the same field due to differences in their brains. That is probably true. Any given magnetic field might produce any one of a number of different hallucinations in different people. Now, suppose there was a quite specific complex magnetic field present at our hypothetical haunted location. It could invoke similar, though not identical, responses in different people. The basic features: a dark figure walking about, say, might be provided by the magnetic field hallucination. The details: clothing, colours, facial features, could be filled in by the witnesss brain (and so would differ between witnesses). We are all familiar, from optical illusions, with the brains ability to make sense of things and add nonexistent detail when necessary. We humans are notoriously good at seeing ‘faces and human figures in random shapes. Another possibility is a combination of specific local stimuli. Thus, a low-frequency magnetic field with a specific signature might be combined with other particular local stimuli (eg. sound of the wind, reflections from a window, etc). The two together may make a characteristic apparition with the non-stimulus (sound, reflection) shaping the form of the hallucination induced by the magnetic field. There would, thus, be strong similarities between sightings, but differences in detail. Alternatively, the magnetic field may sensitize the witness to an otherwise normal stimulus and make it appear strange, out of place and ghostly. My main point is that with repeated, seemingly identical, reports of a particular phenomena in hauntings, recordings are not the only possible answer. Another possibility is environmental stimuli, either constantly or intermittently, present. They may produce similar, though not identical, reports. It is not easy to eliminate environmental stimuli. One way might be to remove or change the object or magnetic field you think may be causing the phenomenon. If the phenomenon ceases or changes, it is likely to be the cause. To verify it you could put the supposed cause back to see if the phenomenon returns. This may not be the case where it is a sub station below ground. Here it would be better to look at the maps of power lines and stations if there is one close by, you may take this as an out side help. with what the brain is seeing. While the stone tape theory may be questionable, it is certainly the case that witnesses tend to report the same phenomena repeatedly in certain locations with haunted sites. However, this may be accounted for by misperception. What they have read about the site, what they have got from any wittiness, what they themselves hope to find. As this now involves the witnesses misperceiving objects as something else, such as a poorly seen tree on a dark night being seen as a human figure The recording (or stone tape) theory is not a theory in a scientific sense. It is really a paranormal theory which is more of a speculation based on casual observation.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:48:13 +0000
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