Research Projects

I have always loved James Bond films, particularly the colourful names they gave to movies such as No Time to Die, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, and You Only Live Twice. Little did I know when I watched these great movies that the latter title would become especially relevant in my work as a paranormal researcher. This is because I recognised the parallel between the movie title and certain research and gleefully nicknamed it "Project Half-Life: You Only Die Twice.”

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I have been researching paranormal phenomena, including UAPs, for over 50 years, and as time passed, I began to notice an increasingly common pattern emerging. This pattern was not just a result of my own research work, but also from information about the broader reports of famous ghosts worldwide. Eventually, many years after having my first passing thoughts about it, I began what would become a decade of dedicated research into the phenomenon I called Project Half-Life. Note that this had nothing to do with the half-life of radioactive decay.

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I noticed that famous ghosts in once-notably haunted locations were being seen increasingly infrequently, and some had not been seen in many years. Most importantly, these were all reportedly sentient ghosts who could interact with observers in real-time.

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Therefore, Project Half-Life suggests that sentient ghosts, if proven to exist, could have a limited lifespan, just like living humans, before being forced to conform to the Second Law of Thermodynamics and either ‘die’ or transition again to another plane of existence. This is how I became well-known in paranormal research circles for saying, “You Only Die Twice,” in homage to the James Bond movies I love.

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Supporting my hypothesis, I also noticed that famously reported ghost sightings where the entity observed has never interacted with observers remained unaffected and still appear occasionally, indicating a difference.

An excellent example of this is the famous sighting of Roman soldiers, first reported by Harry Martindale in February 1953 at the Treasurer's House in York. During his time there, Martindale reported an extraordinary sighting - he claimed to have seen a Roman Legion marching through the basement walls of the building. Martindale's encounter at the Treasurer's House is widely known and often cited as one of the most famous examples supporting the Stone Tape Theory. This theory posits that events can be somehow imprinted on the environment, a little like a video recording, and past events can subsequently be "played back" under certain circumstances. In this case, the intense emotional activities of the Roman Legion during their time in York might have left a residual imprint on the building's structure.

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When I began researching and collating data for Project Half-Life, to gain a more accurate perspective of what I suspected, I asked trusted science-based paranormal research colleagues to contribute, who, interestingly, had also been thinking similarly. Crucially, I included thought leaders Dr Adrian Lee in Minnesota, USA, and fellow core Paranormal Rescue team members Kelly Curtis, PhD, Researcher and Parapsychologist at Manchester Metropolitan University.

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What I was looking for, in particular, was the reported ages of ghosts that paranormal researchers have documented communicating with. Crucially, to be part of my research, these ghosts must appear sentient and capable of interacting with observers.

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I was primarily interested in the information about researchers conversing with ghosts using a device known as a Spirit Box. This type of device simultaneously scans up to two different radio frequencies, depending on the model used, one scanning forward and the other in reverse. This means that the chances of a word being clearly detected are remote, and it is virtually impossible to detect a word or words that answer an investigator's question.

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Over a 10-year period in both the UK and the USA, the collated research data from a sample of 100 interactions with sentient ghosts revealed that the ages of most were less than 100 Years of Age (YOA). Fewer ghosts report being between 100 and 150 years old, with even fewer between 150 and 200 years old, and there are rarely any older than 200 years old. None in this category that we currently know of are older than 250 Years of Age. The precise breakdown of data was as follows.

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• Ghosts 100 years of age or less – 51%

• Ghosts 100 years of age to 150 YOA – 27%

• Ghosts 150 years of age to 200 YOA – 17%

• Ghosts 200 years of age to 250 YOA – 4%

• Ghosts above 250 years of age – 1%

 

Since this is a small but telling research data sample, we continue to collect our own data, along with data from other reputable, objective, science-based paranormal research teams in the UK, Europe, and North America, as part of our regular work and research at Paranormal Rescue. Eventually, this much broader data sample should enable us to construct a more accurate Project Half-Life model, which should either disprove or further validate my hypothesis.

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Naturally, the Project Half-Life hypothesis raises many questions in and of itself. For example, on occasions where sentient ghosts reported being older than 250 years of age, explanations for this could include whether they can have their energy artificially amplified in some way. There is also the possibility that some ghosts can somehow ‘feed’ from energy sources, and if so, then what type/s might sustain them, where/how can these energy sources be found, and perhaps the most obvious, what kind of energy/energies do ghosts comprise? Additionally, many important questions must be asked about time. Since we know that time is not fixed, how is this construct relevant to a ghost? For example, is a year of time the same for a ghost as it is for living humans? Is there an average lifespan of a ghost? What comprises an afterlife for ghosts? How many times can we and our ghosts die? Is there a limit, or might it be infinite? When a ghost dies, is it reincarnated into human form?

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It is interesting to note that Professor Brian Cox believes ghosts cannot exist because, if they were composed of energy, then, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, they would inevitably lose energy over time and decay. In simple terms, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that energy disperses and degrades over time, resulting in a net increase in disorder and a loss of usable energy. An excellent example of this is your hot cup of tea or coffee gradually cooling as it loses energy.

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The Project Half-Life theory supports part of Cox's hypothesis, except that my hypothesis also supports the possibility that ghosts could exist. I argue that to say ghosts cannot exist because, if they did, they must eventually conform to the Second Law of Thermodynamics is like saying that, in theory, a hot cup of coffee cannot exist because it must eventually comply with the Second Law of Thermodynamics and become cool. Similarly, it suggests that human beings cannot exist because they, too, must eventually run out of energy and be unable to replicate on a cellular level, which does happen. Additionally, if there is a spirit realm, does the Second Law of Thermodynamics apply there as a physical constant? 

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