I began hunting down ghosts since I was the age of nine. At the time, it was a world full of mystery, excitement, and eerie encounters. As I grew older I had to come to terms with the facts that sometimes we are our own worst enemies, especially while dealing with confrontation or possible evidence of the paranormal. Such as not using our vision as a tool.
The human eye works hand in hand with the brain. What most people don’t understand is that the eye catches different levels of light, shapes, and color and sends those messages to a certain part of the brain. It is in this part of the brain where the interpretation comes into effect. What our eyes view, our brain comprehends. So how reliable is the interpretation?
Seeing an object head on within direct view is, obviously, more accurate in detail. That is what the retina functions for, but then we have peripheral vision.
Peripheral vision is when you are staring straight ahead and you see something move at the corner of your eye. That is because the rods that make up the peripheral vision only detect movement, but no detail. Reports of spirits being seen out of the corner of one’s eye is often described as be accounted for the sensitivity of human peripheral vision. Peripheral vision can easily mislead when the brain is distracted, over-stressed, tired; and may lead to misinterpret sights.
Many who investigate the paranormal often times report seeing movement and spirits out of the corner of their eyes. There are many reasons for this. Most commonly, one reason is because with most groups, investigations are often done at night, when vision is impaired due to the lack of clarity while viewing objects in the dark. But the rods in our eyes that are in our peripheral vision still work to detect movement.
Most of the military and a variety of pilots are often trained to trust the detection of movement in their peripheral vision. However, only as movement and to not rely on eyewitness accounts as anything factual.
Peripheral vision has always been recognized as weak in humans. Distinguishing colors and shapes are often difficult. The receptor cells on the retina are greater at the center and lowest at the edges. And as stated above, peripheral sight is good at detecting movement but not clarity as the retina can.
Also when investigating the paranormal, one has to keep in mind other issues with trusting one’s eyes. Pareidolia is a psychological effect that involves a blurry and unreliable image that is being perceived by the brain as being, indeed, factual. Seeing faces in different shades of light and darkness, grains of wood, clouds, etc.; are often signs of pareidolia.
Apophenia is identifying patterns out of random and meaningless images. A good example of this is when one is investigating at night and the picture comes out dark but when the picture is enhanced the brain determines that you see faces in the shadows. Or that “orbs” have faces.
Heirophony which is a manifestation of the sacred. What this means is that when one believes that what the brain is deciphering as real, then it must indeed be real. Because the one who is suffering from Limitations of human perception and ordinary explanations can account for seeing ghosts.
Sudden changes in air pressure can make that door, cabinet door, or floor to move or creek. Lights from a passing car reflecting through a window can often cause one to believe they saw something move in their peripheral sight and cause the brain to interpret the image as a person. These are just examples, but when investigating, you have to learn to take everything that is witnessed by the human body with a grain of salt and not accurate.
Becoming a dedicated paranormal investigator requires one to understand that to clearly catch evidence that can be used or compared to anything remotely scientific in nature; that person has to step outside of themselves and rely on technology to catch evidence. And not to take that evidence lightly. All evidence has to be examined, compared, and withstood to reason and eventually become anything factual.
Bumps in the night may still give any one of us a start; shadows gliding across a wall make still make the hairs stand up on one’s arm; but for the die-hard investigator you have to remove all your senses from the investigation.