French described the so-called paranormal phenomenon as “a sincere misinterpretation of things that have a natural explanation.” According to him, the fact that we cannot explain this or that event does not mean that its source is otherworldly forces, according to the LiveScience article.

Description of ghosts

French is a skeptic who investigates non-paranormal explanations for ghostly encounters. These descriptions include: hallucinations, cases of false memories, pareidolia (tendency to see faces in random inanimate objects and patterns) and others.

The human brain tends to miss things and misremember events, and can jump to conclusions when trying to make sense of vague experiences it has not yet encountered. This is especially true when one wants to believe that one sees a ghost or other mystical creature.

There are also some medical conditions that increase the likelihood of imaginary encounters with ghosts. One of French’s areas of research is a disease called sleep paralysis, in which people think they are fully awake but cannot move, often perceiving or observing the presence of another person in the room.

It’s like your mind is waking up but your body isn’t. You have an interesting mixture of normal waking consciousness and dream consciousness. The content of the dream permeates waking consciousness and the consequences can be absolutely terrifying.
– He says in French.

The scientist notes that if a person experiences sleep paralysis without prior knowledge of this disorder, they can assume that it is some kind of supernatural experience. Often when people are in the power of their dreams, they see a shadowy figure somewhere in the room or next to them.

In movies, ghosts are depicted as full-bodied, translucent people, but such cases make up only a small minority of all reports of paranormal events. Johannes Dillinger, professor of early modern history at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, is trying to understand what kinds of ghosts people have believed in over the centuries in Western society and culture. According to him, The most common type of ghost is the invisible ghost.

Over the centuries, many ghosts were just ghosts, that is, they remained invisible. We think they only exist because we hear strange noises at night that are hard to explain.
Dillinger said:

He discovered that before 1800, people believed that ghosts had important, unfinished business, but in a much more literal sense than we might imagine today: For example, they often wanted people to find their treasures and find a good use for them. Since then, concepts of ghosts have become more personal. For example, in the 19th century, as you know, beliefs changed from ghosts that focused on living things to ghosts that could give comfort and consolation to those who were not yet dead in special spirituality sessions.

But despite all this, Ghosts remained primarily an explanation that people willingly accepted for strange noises in the dark. And to summarize, ghost “sightings” depend largely on the culture’s perception of the spirit on the day. Simply put, people “see” exactly what they expect to see under the influence of various cultural idiosyncrasies, such as movies, literature, or loved ones’ beliefs that depict the paranormal in a particular way.