Monsters, Demons and Psychopaths: Psychiatry and Horror Film by Fernando Espi Forcen

Author:Fernando Espi Forcen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CRC Press

CHAPTER 9

Ghost Hunting and the Paranormal

PARAPSYCHOLOGY IS THE FIELD in psychology that focuses on the study of unexplained phenomena such as telepathy, telekinesis, mind reading, near death experiences, spirit manifestations and apparitions. In the ambit of psychiatry and orthodox psychology, parapsychology has generally been referred to as a pseudo-science. While scientific reproducibility of these phenomena is still yet to be proven, some respected scholars still propose to continue exploring the science behind the paranormal. After all, the world we perceive is limited by our senses.

The paranormal has been long influenced by spiritism, a doctrine founded by Allan Kardec in France during the nineteenth century. In his 1857 book Le Livre Des Espirits (The Spirits’ Book), he argues that wandering souls and spirits exist and can interact with living people in a positive or in a negative manner depending on whether they are good or bad spirits. With the expansion of spiritism or spiritualism as a religion in England and the United States, a number of people claimed to have special talents that allowed them to communicate with the spirits. These people were known as mediums and soon gained popularity. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was common for séances to be held in the houses of aristocrats and society’s upper classes. These sessions usually involved the participation of a medium who would serve as a mediator between the spirits of the deceased and the assistants.

In 1890, Elijah Bond designed a talking board with the alphabet, numbers and the words “yes” and “no” as a tool to facilitate séances. In fact, “ouija” is a made up word from the French oui (yes) and German ja (yes). The Ouija board became very successful and soon spread. It helped democratize the practice of spiritism among all social classes throughout the twentieth century.

In the field of parapsychology, investigators have more recently used other sophisticated tools for the detection of ghosts, forces and spirits. For example, electromagnetic field meters (EMF meters) can help detect electromagnetic field frequency variations resulting from gamma rays, X-rays, radio waves, ultraviolet rays and so on. Some parapsychologists believe that the measurement of EMF frequencies can help the detection of ghosts. Night vision glasses, audio recorders for the detection of psychophonies (spirits’ voices), and thermographic cameras that detect temperature variations can hypothetically suggest the presence of a ghost or spirit in a haunted place. The ability to move objects with the mind (telekinesis) and the ability to perceive different realms in psychosis, and psychedelic themes are other examples of paranormal phenomena.

British cinema features two of the first and most important horror film classics that concern ghosts and the paranormal: The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963). The first was directed by Jack Clayton and is set in Victorian England. It concerns the story of Miss Giddens as the governess of two apparently lovely children, Miles and Flora. In the first scene, Miss Giddens is hired despite her lack of experience by the children’s wealthy uncle as the new governess of the house.

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