| I used to work in a building that was haunted. There were six treatment rooms for acupuncture, massage, and reiki. The energy in one of the rooms was so scary that none of the therapists would work in it even if it were the only room available. It was said that there was a portal to the other side in one of the walls. It was my job to go in each evening and try to close the portal and clear the energy. I don’t know if this was because I was the newest employee, the last one out each night, or because I was the least scared–and I found it plenty creepy. One night, as I was setting the alarm, I bumped into someone. I said excuse me and then realized I was the only person in the building. Well, the only living person. I hurried out to my car, completely spooked. A study recently published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience says that the unsettling feeling we attribute to the presence of ghosts may be caused by acoustic frequencies below 20 hertz, known as infrasound. Humans can’t hear infrasound, but it raises our stress level and gives us that creepy feeling. It increases cortisol and irritability. It’s more common in older buildings with vibrating pipes and ventilation systems, as well as buildings near subway systems and traffic. We don’t hear these low frequencies, but we do respond to them. While this may provide a scientific explanation for what we experience as haunting, I’m not convinced that this is the only thing we’re responding to. As with most things, I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. After all, how does a low frequency in an old building explain my bumping into someone after everyone else had gone home?  |