As most of my blog readers are already aware, I gather much of my inspiration for my novels from my deep interest in the paranormal. I have been fascinated by the concept of life-after-death, spirits and hauntings for as long as I can remember.

I confess that although I always try to keep an open mind, and search for all possible answers to supposed paranormal phenomena, I do lean towards believing. I think this is because of a number of different reasons: mainly because I have had some unnatural/inexplicable occurrences myself, and also because I believe there is enough documentation/evidence/studies to prove that there is at least SOMETHING that exists beyond our natural understanding.

Sceptics will naturally ask where the proof lies. If you make such a big statement- that the paranormal exists (E.G, ghosts, hauntings etc) – then there should by now be enough evidence to show the world. My answer to this is quite simple – I feel that the clues are out there already, but much depends on ones interpretation and personal bias.

This is where the difficulty lies. I have come across accounts/photos/documentation of paranormal phenomena and when the evidence seems to suggest that it very well could be a result of something other-worldly, people are quick to find any other reason to discount the persons claims. Sometimes, it seems people will go to great lengths to come up with an alternative explanation – even if that sounds just as outlandish as the paranormal claim.

Can the paranormal really ever been proven? I took a look at one dictionary definition of ‘Proof’ and found this:

So is there evidence? Can anyone be right in trusting that ghosts or hauntings exist, or be justified in saying it is true? One thing that sticks in my mind is this: There have been hundreds of thousands of accounts of paranormal experiences from people the world over…If people of that amount were claiming witness to anything else, like a psychological issue or witnessing crimes, we would trust it. The sheer amount of people willing to attest to such things occurring would naturally convince us that there was indeed some truth to their claims. Yet because it is of a paranormal nature, we try to seek many ways to disprove, undermine or find alternate reasons to why people are seeing and hearing ghosts.

Can anything be used as evidence for the paranormal? Those who seek to study this subject seriously use a number of ways to gather proof. Anomalies caught on camera, EVP data which include full answers and speech from disembodied voices, electrical spikes/draining with no apparent cause, serious studies from both psychologists and parapsychologists using state of the art sound, visual and recording equipment, physicists, physical movements caught on devices using ‘trigger’ objects and let’s not forget the value of witness testimony from people the world over. Search through data of any well respected paranormal case or paranormal group, and you will find evidence of this kind in multitudes. In truth, though, some studying this would not find any of it convincing. One cannot tie a ghost down and interview it in a science lab.

I cannot convince anyone that spirits/hauntings are real. Neither is it my job to. I don’t have the answers myself. However, I would say that there is too much  available evidence to simply allow people to disregard those who have encountered the paranormal as simply “over-imaginative.”

Can the paranormal ever be ultimately proven? I hope so, one day.