Have you ever seen a ghost?

Do you know someone who has been haunted? Do you believe that ghosts actually exist?

The definition of a ghost is an apparition of a dead person that is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image. Throughout history, there have been sightings of ghosts, apparitions, and paranormal activity, but definite proof of their existence has yet to be provided.

There are many different beliefs that date back to the first century A.D., leaving everyone in fear of life after death. The belief of ghosts stems from fear of a punishment-inflicted life after death. Many people try to chase the idea of paranormal activity, such as the popular T.V. show "Ghost Hunters," Catholic priests who specialize in exorcisms, and horror movie creators like "The Blair Witch Project."

The idea of ghosts is dramatized in modern media to scare the general population and give the viewer a thrill, usually fictional tales. To add to the scare factor, some stories are modelled after true stories.

Ghosts are believed to have many different abilities, including, but not limited to invisibility, flight, intangibility, and spectral body manipulation. There are various theories surrounding whether these beings exist or not.

Since 38% of the world believes in ghosts (“If ghosts exist”) one of these theories is that the electromagnetic field and weird sounds affect our hearing and eyesight and produce the impression of a "ghost."

Our mental stability can also be affected by the toxic chemicals to which we are exposed to in modern society. Ghosts are more likely a result of peoples fears rather than a nebulous image or apparition of a dead person.

Throughout history, sightings of ghosts have been reported consistently. There have been many such sightings dating all the way back to the pilgrims in our history. They used to tell stories of the ghosts who would haunt the grounds of deserted colonies. Indians told their own stories as well, and still, do to this day, but they call theirs the ancestors’ spirits and their purpose is to protect the land, not haunt other people.

An example of a famous ghost from history would be in the Rose Room of the White House, where Andrew Jackson’s ghost visits. Dating all the way back to 1848, twenty years after Jackson's death, Mary Lincoln, Abe Lincoln’s wife, claimed to have heard Jackson’s voice echoing down the corridors of the White House, swearing and stomping.

Instances like these are prime examples of multiple misconceptions. Not only was this over 200 years ago and many stories can be exaggerated over time or even made up, there is no solid proof about him. Secondly, the date should give hints at how old and unstable things around them were in this time period. All wood creaks, all people stomp, and no electricity makes everything much easier to hear.

There could very well have been another person in the hallway that sounded like Jackson. Mary Lincoln was also mentally unstable at the time also. The Pilgrims did not know about the previous occupation of the land. They moved into the grounds of the Indians and invaded the tribal grounds of their ancestors.

Consequently, things went missing, things were moved around, or strange noises were made late at night, it could very easily be the people whose land they invaded.

Ghosts themselves and ghost stories always seem much more frightening in the movies, shows, and books. A light could simply flicker in someone’s room and the automatic assumption would be is that a ghost is now trying to speak to, warn, or scare that person.

First, the ghost does not have to be malignant, violent, or vicious? Why can’t the ghost be a lot like Casper; a friendly ghost.

Media in the modern world dramatized the idea of spectral beings and combined it with a fear factor. People are drawn to things like sex and thrill because we as humans run on adrenaline rushes for entertainment, furthermore, so they will pay for this feeling, which is obtained through books, shows, movies, and even the holiday of Halloween.

People also like feelings they can't experience in their daily lives like fearing for their lives, in our society, or things that are supposedly taboo, like sex or violence. For example, the famous movie "The Shining" is an example of a movie that is not only known for its pleasing cinematography but its ability to make viewers sit on the edge of their seats. According to the magazine article titled "In Colorado, Switchbacks and 'The Shining,'" written by Amy Thomas for the New York Times, Thomas visited The Stanley Hotel where the movie was filmed.

Even though the movie and book were fictional stories and were not based on actual events, the hotel still has many tourists because people believe there are hauntings there. “As if on cue, the door suddenly closed before us,” Thomas wrote.

She had been listening to one of her friends speak about how sometimes things in life happen unexpectedly, and people can misunderstand coincidences as ghosts or spectral beings. When the door before her slammed, she immediately attributed it to the presence of a ghost as she expected something ominous like that would happen over nothing or something unrelated, they become terrified and tell the story as a terrifying experience. Coincidences are often the explanation for a ghost.

When a claim is made about paranormal activity, the first thing scientists do is evaluate the person from whom the story is coming from. They look into the mental stability of the person who thinks they’ve witnessed activity from the great beyond. This is for two reasons. First, we as people are curious to no end about the things we cannot comprehend, such as the afterlife. Second, not everyone is mentally in check, so they need to be evaluated. Sometimes people that are schizophrenic and do not realize they have the genes for it. They can go their whole life without knowing they have it until something snaps within them. One of the symptoms is seeing or hearing things that are not tangible or present.

When evaluated, these people are asked what time it occurred, where, and what they were doing at the time. If the location and setting are not as they have been described, then this is the first sign that the story might be faulty. If their actions do not make sense or the situation seems too far out of the realm of possibilities, then the ideas are dismissed and never researched.

This is only one of the many different scenarios in which mental stability is tested. Hearing, seeing, or interacting with beings or objects that are not there is a sign that should be looked into.

In very few cases are the people with these issues likely to harm someone else, but this is also why they need to be evaluated faster. In Devonshire, England, in the year 2012, over 57 cases of paranormal activity were reported, and almost all were maliciously connotated. The idea of something else out there is presented under such a negative light.

We as people are afraid of the unknown, or afraid of a power/being greater than ourselves and this projects onto the unexplainable actions or events in our everyday lives that we cannot explain. This is the base of why all ghost sightings are pushed so far into the spotlight; unnecessarily dramatized for the entertainment of modern minds.

Everyone, no matter who you are, gets scared.

When you get scared, your brain can lay tricks on you, and make you imagine the worst. The tree branch against the window isn’t Freddy Krueger. The door that closed on its own wasn’t Casper the Friendly Ghost, either.

All gossip comes from somewhere, so always make sure to back check the source. Not everyone who tells a ghost tail is a reliable source, and even when they are mentally and physically sane, the mind can play all sorts of tricks on us.