On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Painted Lady Bed and Brewery hosted a ghostology class with paranormal expert Cody Polston. The class delved deep into the science and history of ghost hunting, then allowed attendees to experiment with various equipment and go on ghost hunts of their own on the Painted Lady Grounds.
Cody Polston, an author and paranormal expert, has been investigating ghost sightings since 1985 with his group the Southwest Ghost Hunters association. The presentation covered the science and history of ghost hunting, the traits of compelling evidence of ghosts as well as the various kinds of ghosts.
As Polston explained, ghostology has a long history. Ghostology has its roots in spiritualism, he said, which is the belief that when you die, you become a spirit with supernatural powers, including communication beyond the grave.
“It really kicked off during the Civil War. The reason is, you have lots of people dying, and the families don’t have closure. So, they’re going to spiritualists to have seances and contact their loved ones,” said Polston.
Early spiritualism had issues, however, with people lying about contacting the dead in order to make a profit. The desire to lessen fraudulent practices within spiritualism led to a desire to study ghosts scientifically, which inspired the creation of the Ghost Club in 1862, as Polston explained. Members of the Ghost Club included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens.
Polston covered the most famous and compelling evidence of ghosts, such as the case of the Morton House, wherein multiple witnesses all purported seeing the same spirit at the same time, and the “Patience Worth” ghost case, wherein a medium of allegedly averaged intelligence named Pearl Lenore Curranproduced high volumes of quality novel and poetry. Curran alleged that the works were created by a spirit named Patience Worth, who was communicating through Curran. The works also referenced places and events Curran would have had no way of knowing.
Polston said that the Ghost Club would later become the Society for Psychical Research. A rift quickly formed between spiritualists and the SPR.
“The big problem is: How are you going to coexist? One is a belief system like a religion and the other is a science. Science and religion don’t mix.”
The basics of the science of ghost hunting begins with the witnesses. In order for members of the SPR to take a ghost encounter seriously enough to investigate, they had to be awake and of sound mind. Preferably, there would be more than one witness. Polston explained that modern ghost-hunters use similar criteria.
Polston explained various theories of what ghosts are, including the theory of “Veridical Hallucinations” – collective, non-drug induced hallucinations.
“It’s some kind of energy. What it’s doing is piping that energy into your brain, making you perceive it.”
Polston explained that the Veridical Hallucination theory explains some questions skeptics have about ghost encounters.
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“Big question: Why do ghosts wear clothes? If I die, is my shirt going to become a ghost shirt? How do ghosts have swords? Canes? Those things don’t have life energy,” Polston asked the audience to consider, before elaborating. “The perception of it is in your head… [ghosts] can appear anyway they want.”
He continued, saying that as time passed, ghost-hunting and the SPR began to morph into the field of parapsychology especially as the Veridical Hallucination theory gained popularity.
“Our science guys are already convinced that it’s happening in the brain. Thus, parapsychology is born.”
According to Polston, parapsychology used to be a respected field. Some top universities still offer programs in parapsychology, such as Duke and the University of Virginia.
In his discussion of parapsychology, Polston discussed the “God Helmet”, an experiment done by Stanley Koren and Michael Persinger, wherein scientists stimulate the brain with electro-magnetic waves, causing the participant to have paranormal experiences. Though many scientific journals have disregarded the experiment due to failures to replicate it, the experiment has remained in the mind of ghost hunters, according to Polston, especially as it relates to using electromagnetic field detectors as a ghost hunting tool.
Polston tied in another theory about the brain, ghosts, and electromagnetic fields – the CEMI Field theory by Johnjoe McFadden.
Polston summarized McFadden's works: “He said that our consciousness is an electro-magnetic field surrounding our brain. Where ghost hunting comes into play is if that could somehow survive death, you could have an electro-magnetic field floating around and that is what’s sending out the signal causing me to perceive it.”
EMF readers, Polston explained, pick up these fields , or “ghosts” making them valuable tools for investigators.
Polston took special care to emphasize the importances of skepticism when it comes to the supernatural. He explained that the skeptic method was important to paranormal research, as a science, because the more one tries and fails to explain a phenomenon “normally” the more credible a paranormal explanation becomes.
“When you see people being skeptical, understand they’re not bad guys. They’re not disbelievers. They’re actually trying to use science to figure things out. But, we also have pseudo-skeptics. Pseudo-skeptics are just people who don’t believe. They say they’re skeptical, but they’re not,” said Polston. “A skeptic means you’re open-minded.”
After the class, attendees were provided with EMF readers and app recommendations and allowed to explore the property looking for supernatural activity while listening to stories of ghost encounters on the property.
One student, Elvira Benavidez said that the talk was unique and informative and appreciated the ghost hunt that concluded the class, “It went well with the night. I liked it, it was entertaining.”
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
