Ghosts in Music Form: Fact or Fiction?

I can recall being at my grandmother's house in the country. I was in the back bedroom, daydreaming out the window for a few minutes when I heard strange music. It had the tinkling cadence of the tunes coming from an ice cream truck. Perhaps this is what initially caught my attention. But this was no musical preamble to a cool treat. And as I continued to listen, I started getting creeped out.

My grandmother's neighbors were not miles from each other. But enough space existed between the homes that sound from any electronics would be unheard. The music was somehow eerie, not just because I couldn't place the source. But rather, because of its style. My mother joined me at the window and also couldn't figure out what it was or from where it was coming-only that it was outside. Within a few minutes, the sounds ceased (or died away)-and the matter was dropped.

I recently recalled this incident when I ran across an episode of "A Haunting" (Discovery Channel.) The show, which dramatizes peoples' real encounters with ghosts, featured a woman who heard Gregorian chanting in the woods behind her home. Several other terrifying things happened to the family. But it was the chanting that caught my attention. I suddenly realized that the music I'd heard as a child, had similar undertones. Not chanting, exactly-but the same ethereal presence, nonetheless.

Paranormal specialists claim that ghosts are nothing but energy. It makes sense that in addition to creating orbs of light, shadows, and voices, that they could become entire symphonies of song. Our ears are conditioned to the 'white noise' of life. So how are we to know when the music we're hearing is coming from another world? I'm no expert. But based on my own experiences with the paranormal and on the accounts of others, here are some reasons why I believe the music I heard wasn't from this place:

First, the music was particularly difficult to identify. I couldn't seem to make out the melody or the exact instrumentation. This wasn't just a bad case of Don't Forget the Lyrics. The song just sounded "off." Second, the music had an "old" sound--as if it was being played through a vintage phonograph (though I didn't know what a phonograph was at the time.) But what really caught my attention was that the song's origin was difficult to pinpoint. To that effect, you might say that this omnipresent quality is what made the music so ghostly.

Others have reported ghostly music in other forms. Radio sounds when there is no radio in the room. Phantom piano playing, humming, whistling-all sorts of musical qualities have been ascribed to the presence of ghosts. While we know that ghosts can mimic, tease, and terrify, we don't really think of them as musical beings. It's evident that ghosts can play music. But can they actually be the music itself?

In 2006, a British researcher named Vic Tandy performed an intricate study involving infrasonic wave sounds which are capable of penetrating thick surfaces; he claimed that they are actually responsible for sounds such as howling and moaning, that people believe is spirit activity. His quite elaborate study doesn't exactly explain the music that I heard in my grandmother's backyard. But it does present an interesting theory as to why we're so quick to jump to paranormal conclusions.

When I think about the incident, I still feel strongly that I was hearing something ages away. There are simply too many things in this world than cannot be explained with scientific rationalization. Quite a few categories of hauntings exist. But ghosts as music is one category that hasn't been particularly explored. Do ghosts present themselves in music form? I'd say, absolutely.

What are your thoughts...?

SOURCES:

www.video.google.com
www.english.pravda.ru
www.ghoststudy.com