I recently watched a show on the Discovery channel about levitation and magnetism. The main subject was about human levitation, but it went into the different ways that man have attempted and/or succeeded in levitating objects. The show began with the old Indian rope trick in which a man could cause an ordinary section of rope to rise up into the air and stiffen enough to allow a small child to climb up to the top and then back down. Another segment profiles a man who found a way to use magnetism to propel a train. This train actually rides about 1 cm above a track and is propelled by electromagnets rapidly turning on and off, thus throwing the train forward. The last segment of the show is what really caught my attention. I watched as scientists used an extraordinary large magnet that uses about 20 megawatts of power to magnetize a 2-inch area. Because of the amount of power they were using in such a small area, they showed the viewer that almost anything could be magnetized. Among the items they showed were glass beads, water, a strawberry, a spider and a small frog. All of which were held in midair due to the magnetic field.

This is what got me thinking about ghosts, how they affect their environment and most of all, and their ability to move objects. Now, it's the common belief among ghost hunters that spirits can move objects up to about 5 pounds. The old saying is that there's an exception to every rule. In this case, it's accounts of beds shaking and/or levitating and other larger items that have been reported to move of their own accord. These items weigh far more the 5 pounds and many are hard to move by us "living" beings!

My theory is that spirits may have more control over more powerful magnetic fields then we originally thought. The large magnet I watched on this Discovery show used 20 megawatts of power-that's enough to power a small town! Now think about how all that power went into levitating very small objects that weighed less then a single pound. Imagine the power one would need or the magnetic field we would have to generate to move a bed or a couch or a chair. With the reports I've read and the interviews I've done, I have the idea the ghosts posses this kind of control, but for only a short time. Otherwise things might be flying all over the place all the time! I'm guessing here, but I think that such an effort taxes their strength to the point that they need rest, since we do not see this sort of thing all of the time. The lack of witnessed experiences (as in when someone leaves the room and finds things moved or change when they return) may be due to timing. Let me explain what I mean. Let's say a spirit wishes to move an object, it might need time to build up the energy need to do the act, much like a track runner or swimmer needs to warm up and stretch before they race. When the spirit builds up sufficient energy, they can release a magnetic field, "pushing" an object. The time it took to build up the energy may have been enough for a living person to get up and leave the room, thus unable to witness the event.

The shaking of objects, such as the classic shaking bed, could be the result of a spirit alternating the magnetic field, from positive to negative, or repelling and attracting an object. The same event could also be from a rapid pulsating of a magnetic field. By releasing short bursts of magnetic fields, a spirit may be able to lift an object and drop it, over and over quickly. This would simulate the bed "rocking" or "shaking" on it own.
The levitation of an object could be caused by a constantly energized magnetic field repelling the object enough to keep it up in the air for a short time. I would imagine this would take a lot of energy on the part of the ghost. Just moving an object would require a short burst, while holding an object steady would obviously require more energy. This is much like when we move things. For an example, let's use a regular bed. To move it, most of us need only to nudge it with a leg and it'll move a bit. Give it a push and we can move it around the room fairly easy. Now try to get under it and hold it off the ground for a few minutes. It's not as easy. I would guess that the same would hold true for our invisible friends.

Keep in mind that I have only a basic knowledge of magnetism and this pretty much just flowed out of my head after I saw the show, and as the title of this page says- it's a theory!

Cujo>>>>>>>>

Ghosts do not exist. You brought some interesting things to the table, but you lost me at ghosts.

Well, scientifically, everything is magnetic to a certain extent -- that being said, your theory starts with the assumptions that spirits do some how exist, your second assumption is that they interact with our realm / world, and third, even if your assumptions were true, think about what you're saying. Like you said, 20 megawatts is an incredible amount of energy -- using such amounts of energy comes with consequences...something would short circuit somewhere, your computer in your room would get messed up -- that monitor...pretty much everything.

Take ghosts to the religion section.

ghosts could exist if theyre traveling faster than the speed of light, since they dont have mass O.o

this is actually a good point

This post was edited by Potassium_LLD on Dec 10 2008 09:32pm