Why do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

By M.E. Brines

After explaining the difference between magical thinking and the scientific method, the author employs the scientific method to shed light on the paranormal. Beginning with a concise history of spiritualism and séances, the author employs logic and careful experimental evidence to answer questions like: What is spiritualism? What are ghosts? And, of course, why do ghosts wear clothes? The bulk of this work is a thorough re-examination of the three-year study of the medium Leonora Piper by the Society for Psychical Research, of which the author is a member. He concisely summarizes the investigators’ 255-page report and uses the evidence to demonstrate the true nature of the Spirit Realm and its inhabitants. Why do Ghosts Wear Clothes is a must read for paranormal investigators or anyone interested in the occult. And while you may not agree with his conclusions, you can’t fault the method he uses to arrive there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.E. Brines
• Release date: Jun 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476335278

M.E. Brines

M.E. Brines spent the Cold War assembling atomic artillery shells and preparing to unleash the Apocalypse (and has a medal to prove it.) But when peace broke out, he turned his fevered, paranoid imagination to other pursuits. He spends his spare time scribbling another steampunk romance occult adventure novel, which despite certain rumors absolutely DOES NOT involve time-traveling Nazi vampires! A former member of the British Society for Psychical Research, he is the author of three dozen books, e-books, chapbooks and pamphlets on esoteric subjects such as alien abduction, alien hybrids, astrology, the Bible, biblical prophecy, Christian discipleship, conspiracies, esoteric Nazism, the Falun Gong, Knights Templar, magick, and UFOs, his work has also appeared in Challenge magazine, Weird Tales, The Outer Darkness, Tales of the Talisman, and Empirical magazine.

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Why do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

By M.E. Brines

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 by M.E. Brines

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Unless otherwise attributed, the information used to write this paper came from one of the sources below:

Blum, Deborah, GHOST HUNTERS – William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, Penguin Books, 2006.

Brines, M. E. Babylonian and Egyptian Astrology

Brines, M. E. Science vs. Magick: Are They Compatible?

Brines, M. E. Vril – A Force to Reckon With

Frazer, James G., THE GOLDEN BOUGH, the roots of religion and folklore, Avenel Books, 1890

Myers, Frederic et al. A RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS OF CERTAIN PHENOMENA OF TRANCE, Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research number 6,1889-90, pp. 436-660.

Table of Contents

Why do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

Spiritualism

Scientific Investigation of Spiritualism

The Curious Case of Leonora Piper

Conclusion

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud. - C. G. Jung

Why Do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

Over the years literally thousands of people have claimed to have seen ghosts. And while sometimes they are described as shimmering beings of light or disembodied presences, they are more often described wearing old-fashioned garb appropriate to the time they died. For example, Civil War soldiers in period uniform, Victorian maidens in hoop skirts, and wealthy matrons in fur coats and pearls.

But why would ghosts wear clothes? If they are, as spiritualists claim, the souls of the dearly departed, now beings from the Spirit World, why are they still wearing the clothes they died in? Are there no proper haberdashers in the afterlife? Or, more seriously, if they are merely beings of ectoplasm, where do they get clothes of the same material?

After all, living humans are beings of flesh and blood. Our clothes are not intrinsic to our bodies. They are just as much artifacts of this world as our houses and tools. Every human born into the World of the Living starts off naked until clothing is provided, and since the conventional wisdom is you can’t take it with you, it would seem the same in the Spirit Realm – so where do ghosts get their clothes?

One theory is that ghosts resemble what the observer expects to see. It’s the ghost of a Civil War soldier, so of course he’s wearing a Confederate uniform. But in many cases the observer reporting the sighting knows nothing about the circumstances of the death of the person, or sometimes even if what he’s seeing is a ghost. There are many cases on record of people describing an encounter and only later do investigators link the ghost with a specific death, often through the period clothing described by the witness, who had no idea who the ghost was supposed to be.

Another theory is that ghosts materialize through the force of their personality and their appearance is based on the will of the dead spirit. They remember what they were wearing and thus appear to observers in a manner consistent with that.

But a person’s appearance changes over time. I don’t look like I did when I was nine. Does that mean the appearance of my spirit changes too? But why should your spirit form look anything like your physical appearance? I have a burn scar on my elbow. Does my spirit form? If so, how did it get burned? Can a chance encounter with an oven door scar your very