Ghosts
EXPLAINED
About the Author A native Minnesotan who currently resides in Colorado, J. (Jeffrey) Allan Danelek has been working as a graphic artist and technical illustrator since leaving the Navy in 1984. An avid reader and careful researcher, he enjoys presenting alternative theories on increasingly popular subjects dealing with the strange and inexplicable world around us. Jeff is regularly featured at seminars and conferences around the country, speaking on the topics of ghosts, reincarnation, and UFOs. He has been published in FATE magazine and has been a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and the ‘X’ Zone with Rob McConnell. He has also been a guest on Dreamland with Whitley Strieber, the Hilly Rose Show, Erskine Overnight, and many popular podcasts. Jeff is also an instructor at Colorado Free University and operates a YouTube channel under the handle Our Curious World.
Ghosts
EXPLAINED AN OBJECTIVE LOOK AT THE
Paranormal J. Allan Danelek
Ghosts Explained: An Objective Look at the Paranormal Copyright © 2026 by J. Allan Danelek. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. First Edition First Printing, 2026 Portions of this book previously appeared in A Case for Ghosts © 2006 by J. Allan Danelek Cover design by Shira Atakpu Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Danelek, J. Allan, author Title: Ghosts explained : an objective look at the paranormal / J. Allan Danelek. Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Worldwide, [2026] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “Featuring case studies, hypotheses, and in-depth research, this book explores a wide variety of topics: the source of consciousness, the complex definitions of interactive and non-interactive manifestations, the psychology of ghosts, and the mechanics of a haunting”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2026020654 (print) | LCCN 2026020655 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738782966 trade paperback | ISBN 9780738783031 ebook Subjects: LCSH: Ghosts Classification: LCC BF1461 .D3753 2026 (print) | LCC BF1461 (ebook) LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2026020654 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2026020655 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America GPSR Representation: UPI-2M PLUS d.o.o., Meduli eva 20, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia matt.parsons@upi2mbooks.hr
Also by J. Allan Danelek 2012: Extinction or Utopia The Case for Reincarnation Friend of God: The Passion of Judas Iscariot The Great Airship of 1897 Mystery of Reincarnation Phantoms of the Skies UFOs: The Great Debate
Paul and Sarah Manhart Cryptozoological Adventures Serpente Gigante Nightman Dragon Soldiers
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction
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Chapter 1: The Case for Immortality Chapter 2: Defining a Ghost
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Chapter 3: Understanding the Psychology of Ghosts Chapter 4: The Mechanics of a Haunting
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Chapter 5: Examining the “Dark Side” of Ghosts Chapter 6: Dark Nonhuman Entities
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Chapter 7: Communicating with the Spirit Realm
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Chapter 8: The Tools of the Ghost Hunter’s Trade
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Chapter 9: The Trials and Tribulations of Ghost Hunting
Conclusion
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Bibliography
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Acknowledgments This work is a greatly expanded revision of a book I had published in 2006 under another title, and since I was fairly new to the subject then, I relied greatly upon the advice and knowledge of those in the ghost hunting community. At that time my main advisor was Bryan Bonner, head of the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society, who proved invaluable in helping work through the material and making it a better book than it would have been otherwise. Bryan has also been helpful in putting together this revision, especially in regard to the modern devices used by paranormal investigators not readily available twenty years ago and other valuable insights and comments. Since 2006, however, I’ve also had opportunities to work with other investigators, the best known among them being Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of the Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), whose comments about that earlier book proved most helpful. Others too numerous to list here have also proven invaluable in bringing this information up to date, and to each of them I owe a word of gratitude. Finally, I would be remiss not to thank my publisher, Llewellyn Worldwide, for giving me the opportunity to resurrect this work and give it a new life. Hopefully it will live up to their expectations and prove to be a solid resource for years to come. Thank you one and all.
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Introduction
Do you believe in ghosts? According to a 2021 YouGov poll, a whopping 41 percent of the adult population of the United States does, with 20 percent believing they have either personally seen a ghost or felt that they were in the presence of one.1 Clearly, then, the idea that the human soul not only survives death but can manifest itself to the still living is a part of the belief system of a substantial number of people. And this idea is not limited to the United States. The belief in ghosts is an international phenomenon as well as one that has been around from antiquity, so it’s not some kind of cultural aberration or fad. In fact, it has been an element of our globally shared mythology for a very long time and one that continues to be a major part of the human experience to this day. But why would otherwise levelheaded men and women come to imagine there exists something that is neither visible to the naked eye nor discernible to our other senses yet is as real and solid as any material object? More to the point, could the
1. Jamie Ballard, “Two in Five Americans Say Ghosts Exist—and One in Five Say They’ve Encountered One,” YouGov, October 21, 2021, https://today.yougov .com/entertainment/articles/38919-americans-say-ghosts-exist-seen-a-ghost.
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Introduction
belief in ghosts be nothing more a reflection of our fears about our own mortality, or could there be more to it? No doubt ghosts reflect some of our concerns about what happens to us after we die. After all, if there are ghosts, then it demonstrates that the human personality does survive death, giving all of us the hope of immortality. As such, and even while they may frequently terrify us, it seems we need ghosts, if only for our own personal sense of cosmic significance. However, if the belief in ghosts were nothing more than a byproduct of humankind’s fear of death and its ongoing quest for immortality, it should be easy to dismiss the entire subject as so much superstitious nonsense and move on. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. Ghosts appear to be something we believe in not so much on a rational, empirical level but on an intuitive or even emotional level. Like the belief in God, they are something we “feel” to be true even though most of us have never had a genuine paranormal experience. They speak to us of the mysteries of the universe and reinforce our inherent beliefs that there is much more to the cosmos than what tiny bit we can see from our limited vantage point. But is there room for ghosts in our supposedly materialistic, rationalistic world? Can the paranormal fit into this great mystery we call life, or must we jettison science and abandon critical thinking in order to consider the idea? Perhaps not. The universe is increasingly demonstrating itself to be a far more complex, mysterious, and wonderful place than we ever imagined. Whereas once we assumed we had a good understanding of what constituted reality, as we move further into the twenty-first century, the boundaries of what
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was once considered empirical truth are being constantly challenged. Quantum physics, for one, continues to demonstrate on an almost daily basis that we are still in our infancy in terms of understanding the very nature of time and matter itself, making it easier than ever to find room for the paranormal, the mysterious, and the apparently impossible to coexist alongside the proven, the testable, and the empirical. However, before either science or we ourselves can begin to seriously consider the question of postmortem existence in earnest, there remains one major obstacle to overcome: While millions of people believe in ghosts, very few know more than a few basic things about them. And, worse, most of what we have come to believe about the subject comes to us through sensationalized Hollywood movies based far more on stereotypical concepts of ghosts than on anything approaching cold, hard fact. While a handful of thoughtful movies have been produced, most of these epics pander to the lowest common denominator of gore and horror with little thought given to the true complexities of the subject. This has had the unfortunate consequence of preventing science—or most people, for that matter—from taking the issue of ghosts seriously. Thus, we turn to the purpose of this book. This is not an effort to either prove or disprove the existence of ghosts but an attempt to acquire a better perspective from which to seriously consider the issue and decide for ourselves whether it has anything to say to us. It is, after all, presumptuous to dismiss any concept without learning a few things about it first, and since the topic of life after death affects all of us in both subtle and significant ways, it would seem to deserve more than just a
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cursory hearing. With that in mind, what I have attempted to compile here is a brief compendium of theories and ideas held about ghosts that aims to walk the narrow path between fullblown belief and cynical skepticism. Further, I hope to do this from the perspective of one who is both entirely comfortable with the idea of ghosts as well as one who also recognizes how much fraud, foolishness, and nonsense has been a part of the paranormal trade over the years. Years of researching the subject and of working with various paranormal investigators have convinced me that it is a field that is as complex and mysterious as any phenomena I have studied and, as such, a subject worthy of being taken both seriously as well as with a grain of salt. Naturally, some will find this attempt to walk such a narrow line to be a contradiction; after all, how can one be both a believer and a skeptic at the same time and hope to do justice to either position? While an excellent question, it is also one that quickly evaporates once one understands that the term “skeptic” is not necessarily synonymous with “debunker.” A debunker is one whose mind is already made up and insists others see things as they do, making them incapable of approaching the subject with anything close to objectivity. In some cases, they may even tend toward full-blown cynicism and assume all who hold to positions they do not agree with to be stupid, be dishonest, or possess ulterior motives. The skeptic, on the other hand, is not burdened by such a need to be right and so is free to question the evidence, not in an effort to dismiss it, but in the hope of better understanding it. Unlike the cynic, the skeptic assumes people are generally honest and truthful in relating their experiences and so looks for natural explanations for the
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often extraordinary encounters they relate, rather than dismissing them out of hand as mere imagination or fantasy. That’s not to say they aren’t aware that there are people who possess fantasy-prone personalities or that there are hoaxers out there looking to have a little fun, but they are better equipped to handle both groups when they appear. It is the skeptic who, if they are honest, will look at the data with humility, recognizing that however unlikely the idea of ghosts may be, there is always the possibility that such a thing might, in fact, exist. As part of this quest, it will be necessary to take a brief look at the science behind ghost hunting as well as learn about the tools currently being used in paranormal investigations in an effort to better understand how those who consider themselves ghost hunters go about the task of uncovering evidence of the paranormal. Additionally, I will also explain how frighteningly easy it is to fake a ghost picture. Again, this is not done as a means of demonstrating how easily people can be fooled but is an effort to underline why the serious researcher must be careful about accepting even the best evidence at face value. Skepticism, as long as it remains open to the possibility that the supernatural exists, is a valuable and even priceless commodity in the ghost hunting game, for it can prevent one from being taken in by a cunning hoaxer. I will also endeavor to bring some consistency to a field of study that has been wrought with an often widely divergent terminology by introducing my own classification system. While many will reject my attempts to classify ghosts into various types or categories according to their scientific, spiritual, religious, and even psychological aspects as unnecessary or even simplistic,
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I think it important to lay such a foundation if for no other reason than to demonstrate the remarkable complexity the subject affords us. Doing so will also make it easier to answer such questions as why only some people seem to become ghosts while others do not and whether one becomes a ghost by choice or is essentially trapped here against their will. Finally, we will ponder the question of what eventually becomes of a ghost. Do they remain stuck between two worlds, or can they eventually move on, and if they can, where do they go? In addition, since I wanted to put together a book that dealt with the full range of potential paranormal activity, I am devoting a couple of chapters to theories having to do with malevolent spirits and what we popularly refer to as demons. This is an area of study I have rarely found addressed in any detail in books of this type, largely due, I think, to the discomfort most people feel when discussing the potentially darker side of the supernatural. However, such a topic needs to be examined as well, especially considering the potential danger such entities, if they indeed exist, could pose. Finally, we will look at some ideas having to do with the controversial subject of contacting and interacting not only with ghosts but with other supernatural entities such as spirit guides and angels. In doing so, we will explore the various forms of spirit communication available to us today, how mediumship supposedly works, whether things like Ouija boards and automatic writing could serve as legitimate conduits for spiritual communication, and how one might personally communicate with spiritual energies in a way that will not only be effective but possibly even beneficial.
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With these ground rules in place then, we are ready to embark upon our journey of discovery—a journey that I hope you will find to be both fascinating and thought-provoking and one that will instill in you a desire to more fully explore the mysteries that exist all around us. All it takes is an open mind and the recognition that none of us has a corner on understanding the vast intricacies of the universe; hopefully, that will be enough to make our quest an enjoyable one, and one that will bring us to a greater appreciation of the mysterious world we all share.
Chapter 1
The Case for Immortality
Before we can begin examining the subject of ghosts in earnest, it is first necessary to explore the premise that the human personality survives the death of the physical body that houses it, for if we cannot establish that as at least a theoretical possibility, any further discussion of ghosts—at least as a manifestation of noncorporeal human consciousness—is pointless. Of course, to a large degree the belief that the personality (that which we might call the soul or spirit of a human being) survives the demise of the physical body must remain an article of faith, but then so is the supposition that it does not. This is not simply a case of faith versus evidence but, to a large degree, a clear-cut challenge to the materialist assumption that death constitutes the end of existence, and since things such as ghosts, past-life memories (reincarnation), and near-death experiences (NDEs) all threaten that assumption, conflict is inevitable. It is nothing less than the very basic perception of what constitutes reality that is at stake here, with both sides having much to lose should the weight of evidence shift in their opponent’s favor.
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Since it is probably impossible to adequately demonstrate that the human personality survives the death of the brain to everyone’s satisfaction, however, I will not attempt to do so here. However, there are some basic ideas that can be presented that might at least induce the skeptic to consider the possibility that the human personality is immortal and how those who believe in life after death can hold to such an opinion on a rational basis, which is a good place to start.
Defining Consciousness It is generally assumed that what survives death and serves as the basis for a paranormal manifestation is what we call consciousness or, more precisely, a person’s individual personality. However, this is where it begins to get tricky, for the term consciousness can be rather loosely defined to mean different things to different people. For some, consciousness is broadly defined as the capacity for a brain to function on some level, to perceive and interact with our surroundings, and to sense and respond to our environment, which essentially makes almost all living organisms technically conscious. This also makes the term synonymous with life; to be conscious, then, is to be alive or, at the very least, an animate object. This definition, however, presents an immediate problem, for there are many things we would consider alive that do not possess consciousness, at least as we would define the term. Plants, for example, are alive, as are things like single-celled organisms and viruses, yet they would not normally be considered conscious. As such, where, precisely, basic life ends and consciousness begins can be difficult to pinpoint.
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Others, however, define consciousness in a much narrower context, with the term coming to be synonymous with our individual essence or, to put it in simpler terms, our sense of self, which is what makes us unique and distinct individuals. It is also what gives us the ability to look outside of ourselves and ponder our place in a much larger universe, and it is this capacity that some contend is capable of transcending the very brain that houses it and of even being able to survive apart from it. And here is where the battle lines are drawn, for the materialist will ask, quite rightly, why should this one aspect of the brain—or any element of it, for that matter—be capable of surviving its own demise? Why do we imagine that our rational processes, likes and dislikes, memories, raw intelligence, creativity, and even our sense of humor should survive when everything else the brain does in terms of keeping us alive and healthy clearly does not? In fact, if our personality remains a purely internalized biochemical byproduct of firing neurons, there is no reason to imagine it would have any more ability to survive death than would our libido. While admittedly such does appear to make a powerful case against the idea of postmortem existence, I wonder if it is really that simple.
Finding the Source of Personality It is no secret that one of the greatest debates raging in neurobiology today has to do with determining the source of consciousness. It has traditionally been assumed it originates from somewhere within the brain as a byproduct of the bioelectrical impulses that make it such a marvelous machine—or, more precisely, a biomechanical computer of unimaginable complexity.
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If so, however, that brings up an interesting question: How is it possible that something that is made up of nothing more than cells—around 170 billion of them, in fact, and which are not in and of themselves apparently capable of self-awareness— can collectively create that which is self-aware? In other words, where do the billions of individual cells that make up the brain acquire the consciousness that makes personality possible in the first place? Isn’t this a case of getting something from nothing? This problem is further compounded when we consider that on the subatomic level the atoms that make up our brain are not at all that different from those that make up every other thing that exists in the universe. For example, the brain and a diamond are very different objects, yet both are composed to some degree of carbon atoms. In fact, if you took a carbon atom from your brain and compared it to a carbon atom from a diamond drill bit, you would find no difference between them at all; they would both be fundamentally the same in terms of their atomic structure and properties. However, no one would claim that a diamond, despite being densely packed with carbon atoms, is alive or that it possesses a mind. Therefore, why do these same atoms, when encased within the cells of the human brain, appear to be not only self-aware and conscious, but capable of doing things like writing a book or playing a guitar? This is what is known in neurobiology as the hard problem of consciousness. The inability to determine where, precisely, the mind—or, more precisely, consciousness—resides within the brain opens the possibility that it originates elsewhere. While this is still being hotly debated today, it seems clear that there is more to the mind than the cumulative electrical
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impulses of trillions of atoms, and since we can find no evidence that atoms are inherently sentient in and of themselves, it suggests that consciousness must reside somewhere outside the brain. If true, however, this has profound implications, for in implying that consciousness lies outside us, it also suggests that the mind may not be so much the product of subatomic particles, but that subatomic particles are the stuff consciousness uses to bring itself into existence. In effect, could it be that consciousness creates a mechanism—the brain—to serve as the means by which that consciousness can manifest itself within the physical realm? In other words, could the brain be a product of the mind rather than the mind a product of the brain? For that matter, could the brain be not so much a transmitter of consciousness but a consciousness receiver?
The Brain as a Receiver Most people understand how a radio works: A transmission station beams a signal into space that is eventually picked up by a distant receiver set to the proper frequency. The receiver does not create the signal, of course, but merely intercepts it and amplifies it into a form that can be understood by our auditory senses. In the same way, then, just as a radio signal exists apart from the receiver that captures it, so too we might speculate that consciousness, playing the role of the invisible, formless radio wave, is captured and interpreted by the solid, material receiver we call the brain, which is what gives the signal its form and structure. If true, this has enormous repercussions. Foremost among them, it suggests that if consciousness might theoretically exist
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apart from a brain just as a radio wave exists apart from a receiver, consciousness may be ubiquitous throughout the universe. As such, just as a radio broadcast originating from a single studio is picked up by literally thousands of receivers simultaneously, consciousness itself might be broadcasting itself in all directions continually, waiting to be picked up by various receivers—of which our brain may be just one type—scattered throughout the universe. It is an interesting possibility that says much about how human personality might conceivably survive the demise of the very brain that gives it substance. It survives for the very simple reason that just as a radio transmitter is not dependent upon a receiver for its existence, the mind may not be dependent upon a brain for its existence. In essence, it is the brain that exists because of the mind, not the other way around. It also suggests that just as a radio signal from a far-off star system might be many decades or even centuries old by the time we hear it, so too might the consciousness that manifests itself within our brain have existed long before we were even born, which, if true, suggests that consciousness may not only be prevalent and universal but, most important of all, immortal. However, this idea does present us with one small dilemma: If we are all part of a single, universal consciousness, why do we not all possess identical personalities? After all, each radio receiver picks up and replays the same broadcast, so it stands to reason that each brain that manifests this larger consciousness should manifest the same personality as well. However, we see that this is not the case. Personalities are varied and rich in
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nuances, talents, perceptions, and abilities, so how can they all generate from the same source? One possible answer is that this universal consciousness is so vast that no single brain can manifest more than one tiny aspect of it. Additionally, as each person is subjected to widely divergent environments, experiences, and circumstances that shape their personality in various ways, each manifestation of universal consciousness is a unique and distinct experience for each receiver, despite finding its source in the same universal transmission.
Survival of the Personality Even if we are willing to consider the possibility that the source of consciousness lies outside ourselves and that our brain is simply a type of receiver capable of tuning into this greater universal personality, why should we imagine that the unique personality it manifests should remain intact once the brain dies? I submit because the emergent personality is something greater than the sum of its parts and as such is something unique and distinct and, as such, worth preserving. In effect, it is a sacred element of the whole that, having been forged by this universal field of consciousness, is now an integral and immortal part of it and, as such, continues to survive long after the atoms of the brain that housed it have been reclaimed by the universe. This computer I’m typing on is an excellent example of how this process may work. Consider how much of my computer’s memory is required simply to permit it to operate properly, without which I would be incapable of typing a single word.
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However, the words themselves do not originate with the computer but are a product of something outside itself—namely, me. Once I’ve completed a chapter, I can move that information onto a flash drive or send it to my printer, where it will be preserved as long as I wish. If I were to take it one step further and send my files into the cloud, where every bit of information will exist within the confines of a virtual environment, the words I write would be safe were something to happen to my computer. As such, even if my computer’s circuitry were to become fried by a power surge, the information that was a byproduct of that circuitry would live on and would continue to exist elsewhere in its entirety, completely independent of the machine that created it in the first place. It would theoretically exist forever—or at least as long as virtual cloud storage exists. In the same way, then, the personality needs a brain to bring it into being, but it does not require a brain to permanently maintain its existence after it has emerged. In effect, the brain is what launches one’s unique personality in much the same way a shipbuilder’s yard launches a new ship; once the vessel is launched, it has no need for the builder’s yard any longer. However, it is equally important to recognize that the ship could never be built without the required space, raw materials, and skills of the shipyard workers. It is a symbiotic relationship in which consciousness requires a brain to manifest and in which the manifested personality requires consciousness to achieve self-awareness.
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Conclusion If we work from the premise that consciousness and, with it, human personality, is capable of existing apart from the brain in the same way a radio wave can exist apart from a radio receiver, then we can only guess what capabilities consciousness might possess outside of the physical realm. In fact, consciousness itself may be responsible for the very existence of the physical realm, in which case its ability to manipulate matter and energy might well be a natural part of its essence. If that’s true, then if an individual personality, be it living or dead, is an element of the overall universal consciousness that keeps the physical realm intact, this same energy—perhaps existing in the form of an invisible cloud of pure thought after death—should be theoretically capable of manifesting itself within the realm of time and space at any point and in different ways. Why it would do so is another question, of course, but that it might at least be capable of choosing to manifest within the material realm seems a reasonable premise and one that, now equipped with a viable working hypothesis, we can explore in more depth.
Body, Mind & Spirit / Paranormal
Walk the Narrow Path Between Full-Blown Belief
AND CURIOUS SKEPTICISM The concept of and the belief in ghosts transcends every culture and tradition, leading one to suspect there may be some underlying fact behind the mythology. Rather than prove or disprove the existence of ghosts, J. Allan Danelek gives you a better perspective from which to consider the issue and decide for yourself. Featuring case studies, hypotheses, and in-depth research, this thoughtprovoking compendium explores a wide variety of topics, including: u
The Source of Consciousness u The Mechanics of a Haunting
u
Defining Interactive and Non-Interactive Manifestations u
Ghost Psychology u Tools of the Ghost Hunter’s Trade u
Spirit Communication Techniques
u
Protection Against Evil Entities
Danelek presents his research in a clear, balanced way, making it easier to confidently draw your own conclusions. As you journey from topic to topic, you’ll not only see the debate with new eyes, but also gain a greater appreciation of our mysterious world. J. Allan Danelek has been writing on subjects dealing with the paranormal since 2004 and is regularly featured at seminars and conferences around the United States. He has also been a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and the ‘X’ Zone with Rob McConnell, where he has spoken on the topics of ghosts, reincarnation, and other paranormal phenomena. Jeff currently resides in Lakewood, Colorado, with his wife, Carol, and one very opinionated Westie terrier named Pip. Facebook.com/LlewellynBooks X: @LlewellynBooks Instagram: @LlewellynBooks
www.Llewellyn.com
$17.99 US