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There is much controversy over the existence of ghosts and the afterlife.

Sam Imlay, Reporter

Over the years I have experienced groundbreaking proof of the paranormal.

These situations and events (which have yet to be debunked) have only driven my belief that when we die, it is not the end.

According to the Huffington Post, I am not the only one; their study showed that around 45% of the adult population believes in spirits/ghosts.

The truth is, no one for sure knows what happens after death.

Although, many people have different philosophies about death. These philosophies often come from personal experience and collectively there is mounting proof of an afterlife.

“I think when people pass their spiritual being stays on earth,” Alton High School student Liz Crites said. “I do not think it’s possible for one to just die and that be the end of it.”

Crites’s ideology is fairly common, which may be why so many people in spirits. Among these believers is Palatine High School student Makayla Cooper.

“I have seen, heard stories, and even had a few experiences with [ghosts] myself,” Cooper said. “At my old childhood house, I had numerous experiences.”

Cooper’s experiences include an old doll, which she believes moved on its own.

“My grandpa gave me a very nice antique doll, which I kept on the top of my shelf, facing my bed. One night I noticed that the dolls eyes were kind of staring at me in my bed, and it was making me kind of uneasy, so I got up and faced the doll to the wall,” Cooper said. “I left my room and when I came back the doll was facing me, the eyes trained on me like they were before.”

There was no one else who could have moved the doll, as Cooper’s whole family was asleep at the time.

Therefore, this story is unable to be debunked.

However there are many people, such as Palatine High School freshman Amber Domanus, who does not believe in afterlife.

“I don’t believe in spirits because I have never seen any completely true science of them,” Domanus said. “So I have no reason to believe in them.”

This lack of belief is stemmed from not having personal experience; Domanus and nonbelievers alike are not able to fully disprove that spirits exist. Unlike Domanus, Crites has had personal experience, that I was a witness to.

“We met in a coffee shop that was said to be haunted,” Crites said. “This coffee shop is in the old Milton School and one of the janitors hung himself in the hallway outside of the girls bathroom. We were sitting in the hall right next to a bookshelf. The subject of suicide came up. Not even seconds after Sam said the word “suicide” a shelf full of books fell off the shelf. I would say they landed about a foot from where the shelf was. All the books were facing down except for one large orange book with a noose on the cover. When we saw this book facing up we immediately thought of the janitor that hung himself.”

When this happened there was no wind or A/C in the hallway, it was very hot and the air was still. Also, no one was near the bookshelf. Despite being unable to debunk this experience, neuroscientist Michael Persinger told mentalfloss.com he has an explanation.

“[M]agnetic fields…can make people feel as if there is a ‘presence’ in the room with them by causing unusual activity patterns in the brain’s temporal lobes,” Persinger said.

Persinger has studied people in his lab wearing a “God Helmet,” finding that certain patterns of weak magnetic fields over someone’s head for 15 to 30 minutes can create the perception that there’s an invisible presence in the room.

Although good in theory, Persinger’s study does not explain Cooper’s or Crites’s paranormal experiences.

In conclusion, there are things in this world we will never fully understand, which is why we shouldn’t be quick to judge those who have different existential beliefs from our own.