Ley Lines,are they for real?

Ley Lines are phenomena most people have heard of but few really understand. Indeed it would be fair to say that no-one understands them fully as they remain unexplained in many ways. From what we do know, a Ley Line seems to be a straight line that has an altered form of the earth’s magnetic field however it is proving difficult to define that power even to this day. Whatever constitutes a ley line it is believed that birds, fish and animals use them as “compasses” helping them find direction back to breeding grounds and to warmer climates during winter months. It has been suggested in a New Scientist article (1987) that species as diverse as pigeons, whales, bees and even bacteria can navigate using the earths magnetic field. It is thought that a tissue containing a substance called magnetite is responsible for this. Magnetite enables living creatures to sense magnetic changes and has been found in human tissue linked to the Ethmoid bone in the front of the skull.So what defines a ley line ?Ley/Li/Lei : “The supposed straight line of a prehistoric track usually between hilltops” (Concise Oxford Dictionary)This is the general and most widely accepted description of a Ley Line, but why then are Ley Lines so important to the paranormal investigator? Maybe to begin to understand this we need to look at another description.“Alignments and patterns of powerful, invisible earth energy said to connect various sacred sites, such as churches, temples, stone circles, megaliths, holy wells, burial sites, and other locations of spiritual or magical importance”. (Harper’s Encyclopaedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience)So now we have a description that covers the types of building built on Ley Lines. And, as will be appreciated, they are the exactly the type of building paranormal groups love to visit. Add to this the fact that Ley Lines are believed to be the paths that many people in history followed on their quests and you find along them also old public houses, coaching inns and sometimes even castles. You then have the ideal locations for a nights investigating. What gives the Ley Lines their power? Scientifically, as previously explained, the belief is that they are areas of altered magnetic fields, the more spiritual and romantic belief is that they ooze back the energy from all the people who have trodden their mystical, religious paths that have drawn people to them since time began.We have now clarified how Ley Lines so often come into the work we do but in what way could they be relevant? For the believer I guess it could be said that these areas are likely to have more spirit activity steeped as they are in history of a religious, political and even mystical nature. It is even believed that UFO’s are drawn to these Ley Lines making them attractive to investigators of that particular phenomenon. It is true that more “paranormal” activity is evidenced in these areas however whether this is of the spirit type or paranormal in its true sense “unexplained” is still a topic of much debate.For the follower of the more scientific approach other explanations for the seemingly increased incidents of paranormal evidence are possible. Generally it is believed that Electro Magnetic Fields can affect the body and mind. Again this to some extent must be true if the affect of magnetic fields affect magnetite find in the human brain. But, other affects of this type of energy are said to include feelings of “tingling” on the skin and the hairs standing on end (rather like that of the affect of static electricity). Even though the energy cannot be heard, it is thought to produce vibrations on a frequency to low for that of the human ear, but enough to alter perceptions and give feelings of dizziness and unbalance. Even on occasions if the energy is strong enough it is thought to be able to cause feelings of nausea and headaches. As you will notice these symptoms mirror those often described by people who feel the presence of spirit. If electro magnetic fields caused by man made appliances and structures can cause these effects then could it also be possible that the earths own electro magnetic field (especially where it is altered as in the case of Ley Lines) could also affect us in this way ?A phenomenon often reported on investigations is that of technical equipment behaving erratically. Again we have to ask ourselves is this spirit based or could it be the affect of Electro Magnetic fields on the equipment we use. Could energy from the earth itself be tampering with our audio/visual devices causing interference in some way? For example is it possible that it is this that on occasions gives us strange incidents of EVP when we listen to recordings by changing the frequency of the evidence we are listening too. The weather is seen to influence investigations. “Hauntings” are often said to occur more during thunder storms for example. Maybe this is due to psychological reasons, as a result of horror films where there is always a storm as the evil spirit grows stronger. Or maybe it is because there is in fact more “paranormal” activity during a storm. Again this to the believer could be spirit getting energy from the power around it. To the scientist it could be the electricity linked with the storm causing natural phenomena that makes us feel something other than the “norm” is happening, or the electrical power around us affecting our senses and perceptions. Could it then be possible that Ley Lines, being an electrical field around the earth, attract more storms and specifically lightening? Could it be this that gives the result of more “paranormal” activity in these areas for whatever reason depending on your belief?As a paranormal investigator it is not my ambition to prove or disprove the existence of spirit. We as a team aim to use scientific methods in order to rule out (as much as is possible) logical explanation for reported incidents in the belief that we need to rule out all possible environmental reasons for evidence gathered, as only then can we truly call something “paranormal” in whichever sense of the word, depending on ones beliefs. This work will continue through experiments as we try to draw conclusions about the way Ley Lines can affect our investigations through the energy they deliver. It is unlikely a full understanding of Ley Lines will ever occur during our life times but hopefully through the work of us and many others the picture will get a little clearer.

Ghosts are the mind's way of interpreting how the body reacts to certain surroundings

Ghosts are the mind's way of interpreting how the body reacts to certain surroundings, say UK psychologists.
A chill in the air, low-light conditions and even magnetic fields may trigger feelings that "a presence" is in a room - but that is all they are, feelings.
This explanation of ghosts is the result of a large study in which researchers led hundreds of volunteers around two of the UK's supposedly most haunted locations - Hampton Court Palace, England, and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, and his colleagues say their work has thrown up some interesting data to suggest why so many people can be spooked in the same building but provides no evidence that ghosts are real.
Clustered experiences
In Hampton Court - alleged to contain the ghost of the executed Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII - the volunteers were asked to face their fear.
They had to record any unusual experiences, such as hearing footsteps, feeling cold or a presence in the room, as well as marking the location and intensity of the experience on a floor plan.
Before this, candidates were also asked to reveal any prior knowledge of hauntings at the site.
The researchers then examined the distribution of unusual experiences.
In a "normal" setting, you would expect the ghostly encounters to be evenly spaced, but in classic haunting, they would be clustered around certain places.
The results were striking: participants did record a higher number of unusual experiences in the most classically haunted places of Hampton Court, areas such as the Georgian rooms and the Haunted Gallery.
And in the Edinburgh vaults, the result was the same - the vaults considered most haunted were the locations where the most unusual encounters occurred during the study.
Environmental cues
The researchers interpret this as evidence that hauntings are a real phenomenon because they are concentrated in specific places over time.
Indeed, it is known for people from different cultures to consistently report similar experiences over perhaps hundreds of years.
"Hauntings exist, in the sense that places exist where people reliably have unusual experiences," Dr Richard Wiseman told BBC News Online. "The existence of ghosts is a way of explaining these experiences."
But are the ghosts real? Dr Wiseman and his colleagues are not so sure.
They claim, somewhat paradoxically, that the hauntings exist but the ghosts do not.
"People do have consistent experiences in consistent places, but I think that this is driven by visual factors mainly, and perhaps some other environmental cues," he said.
Sensitive people
Making detailed measurements at each place, such as temperature, light intensity and room space, Dr Wiseman thinks that people are responding unconsciously to environmental cues and the general "spookiness" of their surroundings.
He cites examples of mediums successfully indicating haunted areas of buildings with no prior knowledge of them.
Spiritualists interpret this as evidence that the ghosts are there, but another explanation is that the mediums are simply more sensitive to the environmental cues that result in haunted feelings - not sensitivity to the ghosts themselves.
Sceptics have long maintained that ghostly encounters are influenced by a person's knowledge of the place and its history, the "prior knowledge hypothesis".
But this study refutes that explanation, as the statistics showed that prior knowledge did not affect the areas in which strange experiences were recorded.
"We found little if no evidence that people's prior knowledge mattered," said Dr Wiseman. "If anything, it made them veer away from having experiences in the known haunted sites."
Dr Wiseman and colleagues report their data in the British Journal of Psychology
source http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3044607.stm