One quality of ghosts that makes them very difficult to evaluate is their form and behavior. Benjamin Radford writes in his article “Are Ghosts Real? - Evidence has not Materialized” “One difficulty in scientifically evaluating ghosts is that a surprisingly wide variety of phenomena are attributed to ghosts, from a door closing on its own, to missing keys, to a cold area in a hallway, to a vision of a dead relative” (N.p). Because so many different experiences are associated with the presence of spirits, it becomes more of a challenge to validate their legitimacy. Perhaps the door closing was just a coincidence, or that the cold area happened because an air vent blew cold air into that part of the hallway. Not everything needs to be attributed
The book “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction” was published in the year 2008 on the 12th of February by Knopf Canada. The author of this book is Dr. Gabor Mate who has worked for twelve years in the eastside Vancouver with patients suffering from addiction, mental illness and HIV. He is also a renowned speaker and a bestselling author. He also received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award for his work. (….)
The book ghosts from the nursery: tracing the roots of violence which had been written by Robin Kar-Morse and Meredith S Wiley. Meredith S Wiley provides the person who reads an in detail look at child abuse and neglect. Morse and Wiley both discuss in detail the effects of neglect and abuse, looking at specifically at violence in children. The detail of the book is it follows a young male who is of the age of 19 years old named Jeffery, who is given the sentence of death row due to committing a murder when he was of the age of 16 years old. Jeffery’s case was a beautiful case study for the authors and audience to analyse and relate theories to. By looking at cases such as Jeffery and looking at other children who are in similar situation, both authors start to look at the honesty about the subtle and crucial years of infancy and early childhood.
In Ghosts by Edwidge Danticat, the main character, Pascal, learns about how unjust the world is. After having his idea for a radio show stolen from him, one of his acquaintances, Tiye, ordered the shooting of the radio station which it aired on. Because of this, Pascal was blamed for the ordering of the shooting, and was beaten by the police for information on the gang that did it: the Baz Benin. Pascal learns that the world can be a truly unjust place to live in, and that people’s judgement of a situation will inevitably lead to injustice being served.
In the story “Listening to Ghosts” Malea Powell talks about the native Americans on challenges and educational practices. The story is about the native American living in America before the British came to ruin their lives. This effect caused the Native Americans to disappear for good and became shadows. Afterwards there were different theories about the beliefs such as white guy philosopher's theory and western culture theory.The white guy’s philosopher's theory states that the stories were special and central civilized.Western culture, people thought that they were “savages” and “civilized”.
Urban legends can be effective conveyors of entertainment and morals. We all have heard urban legends during our lives, whether it was in a dorm room, the dinner table, or around the campfire, but rarely do we take the time to fully appreciate the value of the stories. Urban legends have this rare ability to make us question reality. We have this feeling in our minds that says “Oh, this cannot possible be real,” but then our imagination questions that and reels us in and plants a lingering doubt. David Emery, a writer and follower of urban folklore, defines urban legends as “told [to be] true, and plausible enough to be believed.” Besides this lingering suspense, urban legends and similar folklore often have underlying morals that are hard to uncover, but when they are, the stories become clear. When collecting stories, the best and most unique one was a local story native to a town in New York State. I vividly remember how he told the story:
In fact, the southern community where Temple was raised is named for his great –grandfather, Temple. Fresh out of Nettleton High School, Temple hopped on a train in Corinth and headed to Washington D.C. to become a crime fighter.
Michael Ondaantje’s Anil’s Ghost is a story of Anil Tissera, a forensic anthropologist, who returns to her home country, Sri Lanka, after living fifteen years abroad. As a worker of the United Nations Human Rights Centre, Anil intends to investigate the skeletons buried deep; political murders, abductions and cases of silent missing . The novel is placed in the backdrop of an ailed and contravened Sri Lanka, repeating the assertion throughout that ‘The reason for war was war,’ (43) This clarifies why Ondaantje does not to delve into the question of why the country is locked in gruesome political dispute that involves daily disappearances, fear, mass killings and cover up murders. In the elusive background of war, Ondaatje plays with the aspect of healing; healing of the ever green Sri Lanka, its people and their lives. In this paper I will look at healing, which is harmoniously in synch with aspect nature and is a recurrent theme featured throughout the novel.
In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father is intended to be seen as a real ghost. Around 1600, when the play Hamlet was written, many people believed in mystical creatures like witches, monsters, and most importantly: ghosts. With so many people believing in these characters, it makes sense that Shakespeare portrays the ghost of Hamlet’s father as a real figure. Many examples support this, such as when the guards in Act I scene i see the ghost, which proves it’s not just in Hamlet’s imagination. But some people can not see the ghost, such as Hamlet’s mother in Act III scene iiiii. Hamlet sees the ghost but she can not. This could be used as evidence to say the ghost is not real though. Shakespeare shows us though this information, the high complications oh having ghosts in a story.
In their article, “Hannah Arendt’s Ghost: Reflections on the Disputable Path from Windhoek to Auschwitz,” Robert Gerwarth and Stephan Malinowski examine the relatively recent historical arguments concerning inherent German racism and potential direct continuity between Windhoek and Auschwitz. Similar to historians Pascal Grosse and Birthe Kundrus, Gerwarth and Malinowski reevaluate these new claims, first put forth by Jürgen Zimmerer, and discuss their legitimacy. The authors first argue that the colonial violence committed by the Germans, especially in 1904, was in fact in line with European colonial practices of the time, rather than unique to German colonizers. Second, Gerwarth and Malinowski argue that the race violence of the Third Reich
In conclusion, Ghosts should be taken seriously because they are among us in this world. Also they are interesting to investigate because it is nothing like humans. So I think ghosts are real and exciting to keep interested in.
There are many theories as to how someone or something becomes a ghost. This is called Paranormal which means beyond normal and scientific name is parapsychology, which means study of interactions between living organisms and their external environment that seem to transcend the known physical laws of nature (Britannica, 147). In 1920, Dr. William McDougall was the first scientific psychical who research about Paranormal Activity (Stefanik, 2000). According to Stefanik, Paranormal experiences often seem weird, uncanny, or unnatural. Typically they are quite rare but there are a few exceptional "stars" such as who have regular paranormal experiences and may show seemingly consistent paranormal ability (Daniel, 2004). Different types of scientists who researched about paranormal activity was spiritualists. The scientists accepted paranormal to be real. There are believers and nonbelievers about the paranormal phenomenon. Discussion about parapsychological phenomena has assumed emotional overtones, unsuitable to scientific discipline, and outspoken but contradictory opinions are still voiced (Cauz, 2010, p.147)
The Nelly Butler hauntings is referred to as the first recorded ghost story in American history (LiBrizzi 5), and possibly the most exciting hauntings to date as there are still many unsolved mysteries. The apparition appeared on more than 30 separate occasions to over 100 witnesses in Sullivan, Maine, just over fifteen years after the American Revolution (5-6). Although the Nelly Butler apparition is one of the most convincing ghosts of all time, it was subject to suspicions of fraud. These claims turn out to be groundless as the evidence reveals the ghost to be genuine.
Are ghosts real? That is the question that most of society deliberates day after day. The true definition of a ghost is a soul or spirit of a deceased individual that can appear in visible form or other manifestations to the living. Ghosts are of the most common paranormal belief in the world. Most people believe in ghosts because of a personal experience, whether that was seeing or sensing an unexplained presence. Who wouldn’t want to believe that our beloved family members are looking for us?
For many years, people have debated whether or not spirits are real. Some people get scared at the fact that there might be something unknown lurking in their house in the middle of the night making their footsteps known to everyone in it. Maybe that person feels watched upon or feel some kind of presence in their home, or even sees shadows moving their way through rooms. Different people around the world have their own opinions based on religion and experiences when talking about angels, demons, and the spirits that have life after death. New technology is getting closer to detecting these energies happening in the world today. The history of haunting dates back many years, and more people want to get involved because of the new technology.
The Dilemma of a Ghost is a short play written by the Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata Aidoo. The story is about a young Ghanaian man, Ato, currently studying in America. Here, he meets and falls in love with Eulalie; an African-American girl who lives in America. When he returns home with his new bride, Ato is torn between his family’s traditional custom against his wife’s western culture. His marriage and his wife’s behaviour become sources of great criticism from both family members and the Ghanaian community at large. The writer uses various scenarios to point out the difference between the African traditional culture and the modern western culture.