One part of paranormal investigating is debunking things. One aspect of debunking is about disproving something that someone sees in a design or background. We do that when others do not see the image and / or there are no temperature changes, electrical discharges, or a medium doesn't sense anything. There has to be some back up. What's interesting is that when you look at something, and someone tells you what they've seen, you can also envision the object there. Does that mean it's there? No. It's likely Paredolia. Today's blog provides insight into that.
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| man on horseback? |
What's Paredolia? It's a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.
Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the "man in the moon", the "moon rabbit", and hidden messages within recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds.
My friend Scott in Ohio found an article and photo of a graveyard, where a person said he sees a man on a horse. I didn't see it until I read the headline, and then I could "kind of" see it. I was making out an outline of what I think a man on a horse looks like in my mind while looking at the photo. So, no, I don't think there was a ghost in the photo. (Link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/ghost-on-horseback-captured-in-chilling-graveyard-104358862.html?nf=1)
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| Seeing a face in a bathtub |
However, that doesn't mean that ghosts don't appear in photos. We have lots of proof that they do- both in visible pictures and infrared pictures.
So, next time you look up in the sky and you see an "elephant" in the clouds, it's not the ghost of an elephant, but paredolia. Just use discretion!
