This week, we have…

• Announcement: Trainwreck Teachers

• A fun fact inspired by Fictogram

• Answers to last week's games

• Reader survey

The science behind Ghostbusters 

Do you believe in ghosts? In the 1984 supernatural comedy Ghostbusters, Dr. Peter Venkman (Fictogram answer #411) is a professor of parapsychology who establishes a business investigating and capturing ghosts. In the world of Ghostbusters, ghosts are real - but have you ever wondered how our belief in ghosts came to be? 

Ghost mythology has developed around the world in almost every culture, as a way for humans to process and cope with uncertainty around death, the afterlife, and inexplicable happenings. In pre-modern times, when mortality was high, ghosts were a fixture of everyday life. Ghosts were feared, welcomed as ancestors, worshipped, or occasionally captured to do one’s bidding. Many societies had funeral rituals to prevent ghosts from haunting the living. 

Nowadays, lots of scientific explanations exist for various ghost sightings. For instance, sleep paralysis, in which people can find themselves dreaming, aware and immobile, may explain a percentage of ghostly hallucinations experienced at night. Mold exposure in a home could lead to feelings of fear, and seeing dark shapes cross your vision. One study even found a significant association between the presence of mold in homes and reportings of hauntings. Even just a prior belief in ghosts existing, such as being told a house is haunted, makes you more likely to pick up on strange noises or temperature changes and attribute them to something paranormal. These psychological and environmental factors may be responsible for many ghostly encounters.

The ghosts of Ghostbusters were in part inspired by writer Dan Aykroyd’s family history of paranormal investigation. Aykroyd’s great-grandfather was a psychic investigator who conducted seances, and his grandfather allegedly created a radio he claimed could contact the spirit world. In an interview, he said that his “whole family was sort of steeped in this kind of just accepted fact that spirits do exist.” If that’s a spooky thought - we know exactly who you should call!

Learn more: BBC Three, Britannica, TIME, Looper, Intro to Global Studies.

Trivia

Answers to last week's games

Monday, December 30 to Sunday, January 5.

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

• #322 before → aftermath → effecting → enabling → enable

• #323 strengthen → muscle → alcohol → wine

• #324 correct → valid → legal → attorney

• #325 too → additionally → excess → overgrown → undergrowth → tree

• #326 fashion → practical → practically → nearly

• #327 actually → actuality → reality → environment → weather

• #328 learning → winning → award → nomination

• #329 Play now!

Forgeous

Play Forgeous for Jan 6