Parapsychologist discusses ghosts and hauntings

By Carleen Boyer

Writer

Dr. Rich Robbins, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, gave a presentation entitled “Ghosts and Hauntings: Decide for Yourself,” aiming to provide an unbiased opinion of why hauntings and other phenomena occur, this past Monday, Oct. 24.

Robbins, a certified parapsychologist, began his presentation by giving a historical background  of hauntings and ghosts. According to Robbins, the word “ghosts” comes from the Old English word “gast,” which literally translates to “life force.”

“Unfortunately, most of what we know about ghosts is from sensationalized media,” Robbins said.

The presentation contained of a number of photos that captured various ghost-like apparitions and Robbins told the history and legend of each photograph.

“The old pictures with images of potential ghosts were just plain spooky.  There was nobody altering the photos back then, the technology was not there.  I don’t know what else could explain the clearly defined, ghostly images,” Matt Cohen ’12 said.

In one particular photograph, a group of airmen posed for a photograph. One of the men in the squadron, Freddy Jackson, had been killed just two days prior. When examined closely, observers could see the ghostly face of a man that looked like Freddy Jackson standing behind one of the men.

Robbins also distinguished hauntings from ghosts. A haunting, he said, is “the idea that there has been an imprint on the environment, and that such an emotional event occurred that it’s somehow recorded by the environment.” The environment then “plays back” this “recording.” Robbins gave Gettysburg, PA as an example of a haunting.

Another phenomenon associated with ghosts is known as the electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). This occurs when recordings are taken at haunted places, and in later listening, a ghostly voice appears in the sound file. To some audience members, the EVP seemed to provide proof of the existence of ghost.

“Some of the EVPs make me think that it might possibly be real. Maybe the ghosts talk quietly in these recordings because they think that some of us might understand them,” said audience member Casey Donahoe, age 12.

In order to present both sides of the story, Robbins gave naturalist explanations of hauntings. Using his background in psychology and other fields, Robbins used examples such as sleep paralysis, blind spots, motion illusions and psychological projections to explain ghost-related phenomena.

Robbins used psychological reasoning as well as things such as electromagnetic fields and infrasound that could explain such phenomena. He spoke of a team of researchers that consisted of engineers, physicists, architects and other professionals that scientifically analyzed Eastern State Penitentiary, which is considered one of the most haunted places in Philadelphia. Using a naturalist lens, the researchers explained many of the phenomena that occur there scientifically.

To conclude the presentation, Robbins gave a list of haunted places on campus, including Hunt Hall and Roberts Hall. He urged those in the audience interested in conducting ghost hunts to be as scientific as possible.

“The results are only as good as the researchers conducting the experiments,” Robbins said.

“Being able to see the science behind a lot of the theories allowed me to decide which theories of hauntings seemed plausible, and which ones didn’t,” Jeff Finegan ’14 said.
By presenting both the scientifically explained and the unexplained, Robbins encouraged those present to decide for themselves about ghosts and hauntings.

The Bucknellian’s Q&A with Dr. Robbins

Q: What initially sparked your interest in hauntings and ghosts?
A: It was my experiences growing up when I was a kid; my parents moved into a house in Bloomsburg. I think I was two or three, but lived there until I was 15. The local urban legend story was that a gentleman hanged himself in the basement and was haunting the house. We had strange things happening in the house. For instance, my brother claims to have heard a conversation in the corner of his room, and my father said he saw a figure walk behind him in the mirror. The TV would randomly change channels as we were watching. Going through high school, I thought that I wanted to be a ghost hunter. When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, I started looking around for grad programs and wrote to the big names in parapsychology. They told me to pursue a “legitimate” area, get a degree, get a job and do this on the side, so that’s what I did. I got a master’s [degree] in experimental psychology and a Ph.D. in social psychology, but as I was doing everything, I continued to keep up on books and journals in the area of parapsychology. I took a course in the APRF and they “certified” me as a parapsychologist.

Q: How has your background in psychology helped you to look at hauntings from a naturalist perspective?
A: I have a very strong background and training in experimental methods and in experimental psychology but then also social science research in general. I know about the effects that medications and drugs have on our perception. I know about things like the need for conformity, the need to belong to a group, the power of suggestion. I think all of these things combine from psychology, social psychology, physiological psychology and research methodology. It allows me to be more of a scientist looking at the phenomenon than a believer going in and looking at the phenomenon.