The First Law

In conducting research for my book, Florida Frights: Ghosts of the Keys, I stumbled upon an interesting statistic; over half of the adult population in the United States believes in ghosts. Why do so many of us believe in the paranormal? Does it bring us comfort to think that the human soul can survive after death making us in some way immortal? Does this belief have roots in science? Yes, there is science to back up this claim. The first law of thermodynamics, also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. This law has always begged the question that if humans are comprised of energy, where does this energy go after we die? Is it merely absorbed into our surroundings? Or, does it stay in tact, enabling us to recall thoughts and memories from multiple lifetimes? Can human energy become trapped, resulting in what is commonly referred to as spirits, or ghosts?

How Many Believe? 

According to a recent poll conducted by Youpoll.com at the end of October 2019, a partisan divide in the US emerges when it comes to the belief in things that go bump in the night. The poll found:

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe in supernatural entities of all kinds, particularly demons. Over half (54%) of Republicans say that they believe in demons, while far fewer (37%) Democrats say the same. Similarly, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe in ghosts (46% vs 41%), vampires (14% vs 8%) and other supernatural beings (50% vs 41%).
With 45 percent of Americans expressing a belief in ghosts, perhaps it’s unsurprising that many Americans also believe that ghosts and spirits can come back to haunt certain places on Earth. About four in 10 (43%) US adults say they think ghosts can come back and haunt people or places. Women (51%) are more likely than men (35%) to hold this belief.
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say that they have personally felt the presence of a spirit or ghost. Once again, women (41%) are more likely than men (31%) to say that this has happened to them. Just over one in ten (13%) Americans say that they have communicated directly with a ghost or spirit of someone who has died.

While modern science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of ghosts, one thing is certain, there are strange phenomena that exist in our universe that cannot be explained and warrant further examination.

Searching for Answers


Many have made it their life’s work to explore claims of the paranormal. I have interviewed many of these “ghost hunters” and have uncovered some interesting theories based on their paranormal research. For example, spirits no longer possess a physical body therefore these entities don’t require food or sleep to exist in our universe. What do they need? Energy. If a ghost or a spirit is pure energy and stands next to a piece of equipment that monitors changes in energy then perhaps it is possible to communicate with these entities using such devices. Many ghost hunters have experienced fluctuations in energy fields during the course of their investigations. It has been my experience that spirits aren’t that different from the living. Some are mischievous, some angry and there are those who may not even know they’re dead, bound to this plain out of an eternal sense of duty. Haunted location fascinate me and are beacons when I travel. It isn’t hard to imagine that the energy of earthbound spirits remains in many of the locations I have visited. From the dark energy surrounding the doll known as Robert (for details on that haunt check out the blog post, “Oh that Voodoo that You Do”), to the peaceful energy surrounding the ghost of Helen. One thing’s certain; things do go bump in the night that can’t be explained.