"Ball Lightning, Negative Ions, and Ghosts" by Brannon Osborne

While culling around in the deep recesses of my mind, a few random thoughts popped into being, that could have some impact on the paranormal community.

Earlier on, I had questioned how an electrical charge, being the main theory of what a spirit is composed of, could stay suspended in air, and actually move. It made me think of a phenomenon known as ball lightning. Although not completely understood, many experiments over the last 3 decades have shed a tremendous amount of light on what causes these balls of electrical energy to appear, hover and move. The catalyst appears to be an initial lightning strike, even though experiments have shown that it isn't a set requirement. Originally, the hot plasma left from the strike was believed to be the culprit of the phenomenon, but it didn't answer why the ball didn't dissipate or just rise due to the heat. Current theories add the possibility of a particle aerosol being included in the plasma. The particulate matter mostly coming from vaporized silicon dioxide, found in soil, reacting with carbon compounds to form pure silicone droplets. These particles are sized in the nanometers, extremely small, but seem to allow for the plasma to hold charge and shape. For reference, 1 micrometer is the same as 1/1000th of a millimeter. A nanometer is 1/1000th of a micrometer.

What does that have to do with ghosts? What if the same principles were at work during spirit visualization? The initial lightning strike and hot plasma would have to be ruled out of the equation, as would the aerosol material. Substitute in a spirit's energy and an undetermined aerosol, and a similar instance might occur.

How can this be quantified? The first step would be to measure air particle concentration in an area reported to have spectral activity. Most air particle detectors deal with samples that range in size from 0.3 micrometers up to 10 micrometers. There are some specialized devices that can detect down to the nanometer level, but this is far beyond the budget and resources for field research. The idea is to take air readings during times of no paranormal activity, and then as well as during a spectral event or as immediately after as possible. The comparison will be on particulate concentration differences between the sampling periods. This data will be extremely valuable if it was collected during an episode where a specter took shape.

The second step of collecting data will be to measure the latent electrical charges present during the same sampling periods. This needs to be done by a different method than negative ion detection. I'll explain more later on in this article. The goal is to find out if there are increases in electrical charges and aerosol material during a reported apparition.

The final areas of this process will be to deduce why these things are happening, if that is what the data supports. How does the energy get there? The particles? Is a visible ghost a random occurrence when those two items meet naturally, or is there some type of control mechanism that allows the spirit to manipulate the environment at its will?

On the issue of negative ions, I've had some questions come to mind about its true relevance to the paranormal community. By nature, a negative ion is a atom that carries an extra electron in it shell, and vice versa for a positive ion. Negative ion detection has been used in the investigative field due to a theory that there is an increase of those ions in the presence of a ghost. Let's ponder this. Air ionizers, which create an influx of negative ions, clean the air by utilizing the fact that opposite charges attract. Most allergens and particles in the air either have a neutral or positive ionic charge. The negative ions generated by the ionizer attach themselves to the positively charged particles, and make them heavy enough for gravity to have an effect on them. That is how they are eliminated from the air; they just fall to the ground. In that sense, if there was an influx of negative ions due to a spirit, would those ions not be bound by the same law and therefore be attracted to the pollen and dirt in the air? If so, wouldn't the best way to "cleanse" a haunted house be to pump in a bunch of positively charged dust? Imagine if your child didn't want to clean their room because "the dust keeps the boogieman away". Don't get me wrong, I am in no way trying to suggest that spirits are not comprised of some sort of energy. I just am not sure about the current method being utilized in an attempt to detect spectral phenomenon.