Countless sightings of ghosts and spirits have been described by credible, famous and prominent individuals and groups in all parts of the world since records began. Such sightings provide immense circumstantial evidence that ghosts or spirits exist.
According to a legal definition, circumstantial evidence in Law is,
"Information and testimony that permits conclusions that indirectly establish the existence of a fact."
On the internet, credible witnesses, photos and videos, provide an immense body of circumstantial and physical evidence - shouldn't we all now simply accept ghosts and spirits exist?
The problem is that science says there is no evidence for the existence of ghosts or spirits (despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary). Perhaps that's why, even if a person's friend or family member says they've seen a ghost, unless that person sees a ghost too, they won't believe it?
But believers are increasing globally.
USA
Between 1996 to 2009, the percentage of Americans who claim to have experienced a ghost rose from 9% to 18%. 48% of Americans now believe in ghosts, or that the dead can return to certain places, or for certain reasons.
Sweden
This year, Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, published a Sifo polling firm article showing 21% of Swedes experienced a ghost. A Dalarna University professor of religious studies Liselotte Frisk stated, "the country is in the midst of a supernatural renaissance."
United Kingdom
25 per cent of the UK adult population – or around 11m people - have experienced a ghost, according to spectre expert Professor Richard Wiseman's research. (It was 7% in the 1950s, 14% in the 1990s, and 19% in 2003.)
Utah, USA
Professional ghost hunter and spirit rescue worker Kim Terry says percentages of believers is higher in localised areas. For example, in Utah, USA, 70 percent believe, and up to 50 per cent have had an experience.
Two questions in a nationwide USA poll in 2005...
Q1. DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?
Yes - 78%
No - 14%
Q2. WILL SCIENCE EVER PROVE IF AN AFTERLIFE EXISTS?
Yes - 8%
No - 87%
It can be seen from the answers to these two questions that science is totally at odds with the general population.
As mentioned, the problem is science. Scientists don't have a machine to categorically state readings are from a ghost or spirit (and nothing else!) - and they unscientifically ignore the other aspect of science, circumstantial evidence.
Yet how many times has science projected an "absolute truth" only to be found later that their "truth" was not true at all?
Perhaps it's time for rationally-minded humans to stand up and say, we don't believe in science in regard to ghosts or the spirit world, we believe in our personal experience, we believe in the CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE of the majority...