HAUNTING HUNT

 

 

Ghost hunting though increasingly popular, is not a modern phenomenon. It dates as far back as 100 AD when one ‘Pliny the Younger’, a lawyer, author and a natural philosopher in ancient Rome recounted a story of a ghost hunt in Athens, by another philosopher named Athenodoros Cananites.

Since time immemorial, sages and saints the world over have spoken of reincarnation and life after death. In the early part of the 20th century, Kaliprasad Chandra who went by the name of Swami Abhedananda to the world and ‘Kali Tapaswi’ to fellow disciples, in his book Life Beyond Death: A Critical Study of Spiritualism, takes a critical look at psychic phenomena.

But just as is the case with everything else, ghost hunting has become mechanised. Today there are groups, clubs and organisations in every part of the globe organising meets and events that dwell into investigating paranormal activity and occurrences. In fact, ghost hunters today use scientific methods (electronic equipment, digital thermometers, night vision and infrared cameras, audio recorders etc.) to capture what’s invisible to the naked eye. The likes of Joshua P Warren, the founder L.E.M.U.R (the League of Energy Materialisation and Unexplained phenomena Research) give credence to the paranornal. In his book How to Hunt Ghosts, he explores the phenomena (ghosts), their interaction with the human world and ways in which one can detect their presence etc.