Gnome Talk

Ghosts & Hauntings: Evidence, Science, and the Afterlife


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Are ghosts real—or are we just very good at feeling what memory leaves behind?

In this episode, we walk straight into one of humanity’s oldest conversations: ghosts. From clay tablets and cathedral walls to deathbed visions and midnight hallways, we explore why so many people across eras and cultures have said, “Someone is here.”

We’re not here to stage a courtroom. We’re here to look—carefully and kindly—at the experiences, the science, and the meaning:

Why every culture has language for the lingering dead (ancestors, hungry ghosts, yūrei, shades).

Evidence & testimony: the “presence,” footsteps, scents, apparitions, EVPs, and multi-witness moments.

The science of ghosts: sleep paralysis, infrasound, pareidolia, EMF, carbon monoxide—and what remains after the drafts are sealed.

Theories: earthbound spirits, residual hauntings (recordings), ancestor visits, purgatory/bardo, and modern ideas (consciousness as energy, layered time).

The two faces of ghosts: tender visitations that comfort—and hauntings that demand boundaries.

What ghosts may say about life after death: continuity, responsibility, and the possibility that the veil is a hinge, not a wall.

✨ You’ll hear about:

Visitation dreams vs. fear-weather dreams

Residual hauntings and “place memory” (why some rooms won’t become ordinary)

How to hold mystery with reverence without credulity and curiosity without contempt

...more
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Gnome TalkBy Brett Larsen

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