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For those people who've see "Ghostbusters," ectoplasm may be a familiar word. In the movie, it was used to describe the slimy green goo that ghosts slopped all over the three ghost-hunting heroes. But what is ectoplasm, really? And can it be explained by any other phenomena other than ghosts?
For the beginner, ectoplasm is the supposed residue left by spirits. This concept became especially famous in the time of Freud, and made up a large portion of the Spiritualist movement in the twentieth century. According to studies done during this movement, ectoplasm can take many forms, but is often seen as a yellow-green hue or ooze around a ghosts body. Ectoplasmic residue is often spotted in pictures, when a ghost interferes with a shot. It can also be spotted in the air and sometimes with a special flashlight or pair of goggles. At times, moving through ectoplasm has been "noted" to be the cause of illness or possession. Breathing or exuding it is a sign of being in contact with the supernatural world.
It is said that ectoplasm is the reason that ghosts can materialize. The reason that this residue is visible is because it gives spirits a physical link to the corporeal world. Many cases of ectoplasmic residue often mark a strange appearance or physical disturbance in a haunted area. For this reason, when ectoplasm is spotted, specialists in spirit divination and ghost tracking are called. Ectoplasm has also been known to come from the body of a "medium," or a person acting as a bridge to channel with the spirit world. Photographic pictures along these lines will include shadows or fog around a medium's stomach, heart, mouth ears or nose. In some cases, ectoplasm can even come from a living person, as can be seen in eighteenth-century photos.
For as many objets of "proof" that exist, there are also a great deal of shams. In the twentieth-century divining rooms that sprung up during the Spiritualist movement, seances were often held for members of the public. During these rituals, webs and pieces of gauzy fabric were covered with flourescent paint and glowing materials to create fake ectoplasm. Sometimes liquid was released in an effort to create tears or rain by spirits. Sometimes this cloth or liquid would be dropped from the ceiling, and pulled back up before the end of the seance. Visitors would be warned not to touch the "spirit residue," lest they come to grave harm. Since seances were often held in the dark, an unknowing public was awed and taken in by feats that they could not explain.
It is possible that the ectoplasmic residue left on some photographs is instead magnetic fields emanating from the earth. Research has been done in this area, but there is no conclusive evidence that strange auras and shadown really are simply antural phenomenon. Many mediums claim that ectoplasmic residue is the movement of spirits disturbing magnetic fields around the earth. Whatever the reason, certain photographs are still waiting to be explained.
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