The poltergeist (German “noisy ghost”) phenomenon seems to be a common one. Most cultures have a tradition of them. Since tape recorders have been around for 70 years, has anyone actually recorded the noises made by one?
It ought to be a simple matter, has it been done? And , if so, has anyone explained the sounds recorded (as a natural phenomena)? Are they caused by mice/rats, or just the normal sounds of a settling house?
Since there is no scientific evidence for the existence of Poltergeists (Poltergeisten?), I don’t see how it should be a “simple matter”. I guess it’s a simple matter in the same sense that it should be simple to make a recording of Leprechauns.
There have been a lot of things for which there was “no scientific evidence” until advancing technology made it “a simple matter” for researchers to examine phenomena in more detail. Like bacteria, DNA, etc. If we had clumped them all together like Leprechauns, we wouldn’t have gotten very far.
Did you google “poltergeist recordings” before making this thread?
Similar question, with the fact that almost every adult in the western world carrying an HD video camera on their person during every waking hour, has anyone filmed a credible clear video of [insert name of myth here].
- Bigfoot
- Nessie
- Space alien
- Flying saucer
- Boggie creek monster
- Chupacabre
- insert your own
Oh, there’s TONS of videos of THAT!
Bravo!
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen recordings of insertables somewhere on the net.
I’d say even ancient people would have realized phenomenon like spoiled food or putrid water could cause sickness or that siblings resembled each other and their parents.
There was evidence for some causative agent or mechanism, even if there was no knowledge of bacteria or DNA or the formal scientific method.
There was the concept of “the unit of inheritance” that was scientifically studied before it was shown to reside in DNA.
We still haven’t found poltergeists or leprechauns and there is no more increasing evidence of their existence as a function of time, unlike, say, bacteria.
The reason there is no scientific evidence is not for lack of trying.
The facts of reality, and our knowledge of them, are inter-related and non-contradictory. No fact of reality contradicts all the other facts we already know. If it did, we’d have to go back and re-examine our accepted knowledge, to discover where our error occurred. The discoveries of bacteria and DNA added to our knowledge, without contradicting the knowledge we already had. Our discovery of black holes doesn’t contradict our understanding of planets, stars and galaxies; it augments that understanding. The existence of leprechauns, however, would entail some very basic contradictions with what we already understand. If a leprechaun were discovered to actually exist, we’d have to revise our understanding of physics, human anatomy, causality, etc.
Whether we’ve “gotten very far” depends on where we choose to go.
Sometimes things refuse to exist no matter how hard and how long you look for them.
This is an exceptionally pointless statement, since it can be made about virtually anything.
Do you really think future scientific advances will demonstrate the existence of leprechauns? If no, why?
There are tons of recordings, audio and video of…something. The debate would be in what they are recordings of. I doubt any of them couldn’t be explained by something natural, though of course if you are of a woo mindset then such explanations would not be acceptable.
Not sure what you are looking for in this question in GQ. The best overall explanation I’ve seen for ghosts are very low wavelength sub-audible sound waves that have the effect of disquieting people subconsciously, though IIRC when the Mythbusters tested this they weren’t able to get a result confirming the effect, and instead pretty much confirmed that the power of suggestion was more a factor…if people THINK there are ghosts then ghosts there be. 
I have recorded poltergeists. They sound like creaking timbers, dogs barking, cats yowling, kids playing, firecrackers, the wind, a dog farting, crickets chirping, trucks rumbling on highways, people snoring, street lights buzzing, among many other things. The sounds of poltergeists are so common and abundant that it requires an soundproof room to make a recording where they are not heard, and that doesn’t even work all the time. I can’t imagine what use can be made of such recordings.
Right. You have a tape recorder. You record a noise. You play back the noise to scientists, and say “This noise was made by a poltergeist”. It sounds like a floorboard creaking.
How is that recording of a random noise evidence that the noise was created by a poltergeist? Other than you stating that it was created by a poltergeist?
That recording has the exact same evidentiary value as you simply stating that you heard a poltergeist and it made a sound like a floorboard creaking.
I believe I once recorded Poltergeist on a VHS tape in the late 80’s.
… and a partridge in a pear tree! 
Tangina, I wish I’d done that.