In search of rational explanations for 'ghostly' happenings

28 August 2016 - 02:00 By TANYA FARBER

Marc Leitao stood on the staircase of the majestic old The Glen Lodge, but he was not there as a guest. He was there to investigate paranormal activity - ghostly happenings that have kept the lodge on Cape Town's "most haunted" list for decades.By day, Leitao, founder of Cape Town Paranormal Investigations, is busy with his full-time job. But three or four nights a week he and seven other volunteers take their loads of equipment to investigate reports of paranormal activity, at no charge."We want to test if there is a scientific explanation for what people are experiencing. Most times, there is. But sometimes there are things we literally cannot explain," he said.Earlier this year, the lodge was between owners and in disrepair."A good thing was that there was no electricity to serve the rooms. This meant no interference on our tech devices," said Leitao.block_quotes_start Aggenbach found the heads of five porcelain dolls in the sand, and believes former dwellers buried them in rituals to ward off spirits block_quotes_endFor years, there were reports of voices, footsteps and an apparition of a mother and her little boy in period costume.It was said that nearly 70 years ago the owner of the house found that his wife was having an affair with a baker. In a fit of rage, according to Leitao, he pushed her and their son down the staircase, killing them."We got intelligent responses regarding the names of the people, and we called the guy out for being a coward and for killing his wife and child. There was one very cold spot - which can often be explained by an air duct, but in this case, it couldn't."Leitao's team conducted major research on the history of the house, looking for records at the nearby naval base and tracking down family graves.They tested every possible theory of what was causing the activity, but still have no explanation.Another client, Andre Aggenbach, who owns Antebellum Wine Estate near Riebeek-Kasteel, won't enter the old farmhouse alone.His family bought the land in 2014 after the farmhouse had been abandoned for decades.full_story_image_hleft1"It was stripped for renovation, and I believe this stirred up energy," said Aggenbach."It began subtly - images in our peripheral vision, disembodied voices and apparitions. Then it intensified."He said a client staying overnight told of an invisible force that kept pulling his blankets off. And a ficus tree, as tall as the farmhouse, "whispers names" when you walk under it.Aggenbach found the heads of five porcelain dolls in the sand, and believes former dwellers buried them in rituals to ward off spirits."I keep the porcelain heads in jars on my mantelpiece now," he said.In one case, a man living near Brackenfell was on the verge on a nervous breakdown after constantly seeing weird images moving across his security system's CCTV footage.After an in-depth investigation, the team found interference was caused by the reflections of headlights of passing cars on a nearby road that were bouncing off various walls and mirrors. This explanation reassured the man."We don't ever say we have evidence that this place is haunted," said Leitao."All we can say after an investigation is that we have or haven't found a scientific explanation. We also don't advise people on rituals or blessings or cleansings. That would be delving into the occult and people's belief systems, so we stay well away."Dr Kobus Jonker, former head of the now disbanded SAPS occult crime unit, said: "The occult is made up of people believing in the devil doing or making them do evil things, so it has a supernatural component."Paranormal activities are things which can't be explained - so they both have a supernatural element, which is why people get confused, and didn't always understand that we only investigated occult-related crimes."sub_head_start Why we 'see' things sub_head_endScientists and psychologists who say there is no such thing as paranormal activity have come up with various theories over the years on why people (most of whom are perfectly sane and honestly believe they have seen things) claim ghostly sightings:• Your belief system predisposes people to see something others may not. For example, if you believe in Big Foot, you are much likelier to interpret an image you see as being Big Foot than somebody who doesn't believe in it.• Certain psychological conditions (even mild and not requiring medical attention) can cause people to "witness" the paranormal more easily than others. These include ADHD, depression and dissociation.• When people are missing loved ones deeply their desire to be in their company is strong enough to make them think they sense a presence while they are really just experiencing a powerful longing.• Fatigue, stress, hunger, fear and other factors that bring our defences down make us more vulnerable to tricks of the mind.• Popular culture, and the popular supernatural genre in films and literature have created "prepackaged" images that could lead to people concluding that they are actually seeing ghostly phenomena in real life...

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