About Sean & Beth Campbell Expertise As a certified paranormal investigators, my wife & I would like to help by answering questions related to paranormal activity (read: ghosts & hauntings) and the investigation of it. We can provide expertise based on current literature, information from attending lectures by authors of the subject and several years (and counting) of personal investigative experience, most recently with our own team C.P.I.
My wife and I tend to investigate from the standpoint of providing our clients with a true explanation of what they are experiencing...we do not go into any investigation expecting a house/area to be haunted.
Experience
Past/Present clients Various local clients as well as attending conferences held by published paranormal investigators.
Expert: Sean & Beth Campbell Date: 7/1/2008 Subject: Science vs. Faith
Question Hi Sean and Beth
I have always had an interest in the paranormal and have had several experiances myself, but I also struggle with my faith which teaches that we should not try to communicate with the dead.
As a Catholic,I was taught that there is a place called purgatory-could this be the plane where spirits dwell?
I also believe that there could be a scientific explanation for the paranormal,and a hundred years from now we will except it,just like a hundred years ago the idea of the internet,cell phones ,rockets.etc.seemed 'paranormal'!
I guess I have three views.You seem to be intelligent and open minded so I would like to hear your views.
I know if I asked a religious person or sceptic I would get conflicting answers.
Call me a seeker of the truth.
Thanks!
Answer Thanks for trusting us with such a complex question, Bud!
First of all we should say from the get-go we DO believe ghosts exist, just not to the frequency the general public and story-tellers would have us all believe. As far as the nature of ghosts? That's where things start getting a little fuzzy and part of the reason we're in this hobby.
Of the two "types" of ghosts, residual or sentient, it seems that residual are the easiest to accept and understand. The basic thinking on residual spirits (the kind that perform the same actions over and over) is that they are simply an energy impression that occasionally flashes itself into existence. I have read a few things regarding the science of residual energy (most of it too complicated for me to completely understand), and it seems plausible that the energy from an oft-repeated human activity could store itself and loop like a film.
Now, sentient spirits are another matter entirely. Setting religious beliefs aside, we simply don't know why some spirits have been able to come across and why others do not. I know one theory is that a quick or violent death could cause the person to continue to haunt a place because they don't accept or believe they are dead. But, unfortunately, there are just too many violent deaths and not enough frequency of documentable sightings to allow that to be a complete scenario...Why wouldn't ALL those that die that way show up somewhere as ghosts. The same logic could be applied to the other theories such as the ghost having an important message to deliver to survivors...Again, I'm sure MANY people have died with important things left unsaid, all those people do not come back as ghosts.
The tie-in seems to be energy...Strong storms, solar flares, or other sources of increased ambient energy. Oftentimes it seems increased energy resources increases spirit activity; at least that's what the initial findings show. I would not be surprised, as you alluded to future discoveries, that someday we discover certain conditions are favorable to creating for lack of a better term...A Rift...That allows spiritual energy (i.e. a ghost) to pass through from their plane of existence to ours.
Ghosts exist, we really feel they do. People exist, we know they do. I think the question isn't "Why do ghosts appear?", rather it's, "How do they get from where all the other ghosts are to us?"
Until we can actually interview a sentient ghost, THAT is going to be a tougher question!
Thanks again for letting us ramble on the theory, Bud.
