Obviously, we don t really know. If we rule out residual images in many sightings, as we can do since many sightings occur to people who actually knew the spirit when the spirit was among the living, then we are still left with a large number of unexplained encounters. Throughout the history of ghostlore, we have heard stories of everyday people s encounters with the spirits of the dead. In many cases, the ghosts are even recognizable as a person who the living witness once knew. These spirits often have an intelligence and interact with the witness, making it impossible for them to be merely a residual image.
Many researchers feel that ghosts are made up of electromagnetic energy.
This energy, inside of the body, forms what we call our spirit, soul, or personality. Now, science cannot prove this energy, or personality, actually exists, yet we know it does. If it can exist inside of our bodies, in spite of the fact there is no proof that it exists, then why can t it exist outside of the body, once the body itself stops functioning. It s possible that it does and that this electromagnetic energy contains our personality and is what we think of as our spirit. Now, going with the idea that this energy can be photographed, this still doesn t explain how it can also appear looking like it did when it was contained by a human body, but I do have a suggestion as to how this might work.