When J.B. Rhine promoted the term "parapsychology" during his early studies, he had meant to draw a division between laboratory studies of psi phenomena, such as ESP and PK, and anecdotal psi phenomena, such as hauntings, poltergeists, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, and near death experiences. However, as the years passed, such topics, previously left to psychical researchers, were brought under the heading of parapsychology. ²

Despite popular belief, formal parapsychological research into phenomena such as hauntings is relatively scarce. The reason for this is mainly because such research is highly inefficient. With haunting investigations especially, the researcher must devote a lot of time and energy into the investigation, and despite walking away with "a meticulously documented story with numerous reliable witnesses and...audio or film recordings," the researcher will still have just another story to tell. Critics will, upon confronting the evidence collected, "challenge the credibility of the testimony and the authenticity of the recordings." ²

In the end, parapsychology as a science will not have advanced very far, and researchers will still not have the necessary information to understand the causes of such phenomena.

However, there are a few parapsychologists, psychical researchers, and interested individuals who continue to investigate phenomena such as hauntings, believing that such phenomena is genuine and worthy of study in order to obtain a greater knowledge of the world. ²

Because many people often confuse the terms apparitions, hauntings, and poltergeists, we will begin with brief descriptions of these phenomena.

Many apparitions are simply one-time apparitions, often considered hallucinations, or some form of ESP-induced crisis apparition. What is popularly referred to as a ghost, however, is a recurrent localized apparition. This typically consist of different people at different times viewing the same form in roughly the same place. Another branch of this type of apparition is the collective apparition, which is seem by several people at the same time.

To account for the occurrence of recurrent apparitions, theories have been put forward regarding "super-ESP." These theories basically state that a prior, often terrible, event leaves some sort of psychic residue in the place of the occurrence, and that later visitors are somehow able to perceive this residue through ESP. ²

Others speculate that the apparition is caused by some physical aspect that survives the body after death, such as a soul, spirit, or some type of consciousness. This theory is called the discarnate-entity theory.

Some characteristics of recurrent apparitions that researchers have noted include: the apparition appearing to be performing the same actions each time it is viewed, for example, pacing up and down a hallway; the apparition rarely interacts with observers or even acknowledges their presence; and the apparition is typically viewed in the same relative location. Reports of such apparitions can continue for years or even decades. ²

Hauntings fall in between apparitions and poltergeist activity. Hauntings are usually centered around a place and include recurrent visual apparitions, as with ghosts. However, like poltergeists, they also include poorly-defined sounds (such as thumps, bumps, or rappings), well-defined sounds (such as footsteps, the opening of doors, crockery breaking, human voices, or groaning), and movement of objects (such as doors opening and closing or clothes being tugged at). ²

While parapsychologists do not yet have the information necessary to make any valid or scientific conjectures as to what causes hauntings, several theories have been put forward.

One theory applies the assumptions regarding psychometry to hauntings. The original explanation for psychometry was that the information conveyed through the object was somehow recorded onto those objects by the people previously associated with them. ³ Transferred to hauntings, the explanation would then become that the memories of an emotional event would be held by its surroundings, such as a building, and the surroundings would then replay those memories as hauntings.

The English philosopher Henry Price built upon this theory by expressing his belief in a "psychic ether which existed beyond space and time." This "ether" would then record emotional events and store their existence in a timeless dimension. ³

Tom Lethbridge, in 1963, added his own theories to this explanation. He suggested that nature generates fields of static electricity and that these fields are capable of recording the feelings of people. "As every person also has an electric field, if someone enters a natural field (called a 'ghoul'), the feelings could be transferred to the newcomer." ³

This theory was tested by Dr. Robert Morris in an experiment in which he took a dog, a cat, a rat, and a rattlesnake into a room in which a murder had been committed. "The dog snarled and refused to go in. The cat leapt up on to its owner's shoulder. The rat didn't seem to mind that much, but the rattlesnake immediately adopted its attack posture." ³

As with psychometry, clairvoyance has also been offered as an explanation for hauntings. These theorists believe that the source of information that comprises a haunting comes directly into the mind and manifests itself as a hallucination. The location in which the hallucination occurs is simply a trigger that serves to stimulate the clairvoyant.