The Forensics of Horror Part IV: Ghosts

"It said: 'I am the invisible nonentity. I have affinities and am subtle. I am electric, magnetic, and spiritualistic. I am the great ethereal sigh-heaver. I kill dogs. Mortal, wilt thou choose me?'" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Stories of ghosts are observed in every culture. Every child has pretended to be one. Countless stories and movies have starred them, and now the trend is to hunt them with scientific equipment, because if we use scientific equipment then we must be doing science!

Now, I won't say whether I believe in ghosts or not. I've known many people who swear they've encountered ghosts. Even Vermont's own police academy is said to be haunted and many say they've dealt with Mary during their overnight visits. Whether we believe or not is really not the point. The point is could we prove they exist or do not exist in a court of law? Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a house is haunted?

Proving something does not exist or did not happen is nearly impossible so we'll eliminate that aspect. Indeed, even our legal system has been changed so that the defendant does not have to prove that they did not do something, because how is that possible? How do you prove a negative?

Instead, let's talk about proving their existence. There are several wildly popular shows using "science" to investigate the paranormal. They have their scientific tools and they use these to profess that what they are doing is science. However, just as holding a scalpel does not make you a surgeon, holding an EMF recorder does not make you a scientist. In fact, Ghost Hunting Kits are sold in many places. For $160 dollars you too can be an expert paranormal investigator!

Ghost Hunting tend to focus on several measurements, they look for fluctuation in electromagnetic fields, changes in temperature, strange drafts or breezes and abnormal photographic or phonic recordings. Why? Because places that have stories of hauntings have these variations. Therefore these variations must mean there are ghosts present. There's a problem with this logic.

Let's try a hypothesis, shall we? I have been to resorts in Mexico. At these resorts many people exhibited signs of impairment including euphoric behavior, fine motor skill impairment, slurred speech etc. Therefore, Mexican resorts cause impairment. If I go to a house and see this same behavior then I know that I am in a Mexican resort. Tada!

This is very similar to the observations and measurements made by Ghost Hunters. First off, the Ghost Hunters lack a control group. Measurements of the same nature should be made in houses which have not shown any signs of haunting. Do these same EMF fluctuations exist? Are there cold spots? Strange drafts? I live in an old farm house that I have never, ever observed paranormal activity in, and I can tell you, we have cold spots and drafts. If these same measurements exist in the control group then they are not linked directly to ghostly activity and should be discounted as indicators. Just as signs of impairment should  not be used as an indicator that we are at a Mexican Resort.

Control groups are always used in any credible scientific study. In terms of impairment the control group is typically the same group of individuals before they have been administered an impairing substance. Therefore you isolate the number of variables at any one time.

Ok, so there is no control group, do the Ghost Hunters reduce the number of variables? Well, they use the same equipment and presumably the same people to do the measurements so there is no variable there. Of course this leads to a new problem which we will discuss in a moment. However, they move to new locations each time. Each location is different. Are measurements done throughout a long extended period under a variety of factors? No. Is the non-paranormal edge looked at? Is a home inspector brought in?

As Sherlock Holmes said: 

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" Of course, they're not trying to eliminate the other reasons. As opposed to trying to prove that something is not correlated as scientific procedure dictates, Ghost Hunters are looking to prove that there is a correlation and this is much simpler to do. Anything you find can be evidence because you say it is so.

Now, as for our new problem. By using the same equipment and the same people the Ghost Hunters are adding a new problem. Reproducibility. Are their measurements reproducible by an independent group as is required in any scientifically valid study? No, of course not. That would not be good tv.

I could go on, but for the sake of brevity let's leave it at this: The evidence of ghosts obtained by shows like "Ghost Hunters" would not be sufficient to prove ghostly existence in a court of law. Scientific procedure is not followed and as of yet I would say there is no scientifically or legally valid proof that ghosts exist.

However, I would be interested in seeing someone do just that.

Four Loko: I'm sensing a theme...

And Four Loko again, this time at Central Washington University.

I'm very big on people taking responsibility for their actions, but in this instance this applies more to the manufacturer of Four Loko then anyone else. Packaging a drink like this in 24 ounce pop tops, implies that it is one serving. When you're talking calories, fine. Worst case scenario someone gains weight. When you're talking alcohol, that's just dangerous and irresponsible.



Put it this way: What do you think the uproar would be if they packaged oxycodone in over-sized packages and then said it's up to the people taking them to take them responsibly?

Six ounce bottles people, I'm telling you. That's the way to fix this.

The Forensics of Horror Part III: Zombies

There is an excellent article in the very theme we have been focusing on this month over at Cracked. The 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Would Fail. Although the article doesn't entirely focus on forensics it is a very science based approach to discussing a zombie apocalypse. They don't tie their discussion to forensics, but indeed their article does have those ties.

Maggot development is often used to date a decomposing body. The Tennessee Body Farm has extensive information on timing bodies through maggots. The maggot lifespan is very clearly documented and by knowing what stage of life the maggots are in, one can date the age of the decomposing body. Flies typically lay eggs on a dead body within 30 hours. I don't know about you, but that in itself would make me want to be found quick!

Bloat and dessication are affected greatly by temperature and can be used as well on the timing of death. Cold is a little trickier. We're all just meat when it comes down to it. If you leave a steak in the freezer for a very long period of time your meat will be ruined for eating, true, but it won't be decomposed. The same is true for a body frozen shortly after death. Stories of finding frozen "cavemen" have shown examples where bodies have been preserved by freezing for millenia. This obviously can make it tricky to know how long the body has been there. At that point missing person reports would be helpful and for very long periods of time dates (such as on a drivers license) on any identification would be helpful and even the style of clothes can aid in timing the death.

One aspect of zombies that I have also seen tied to forensics: identifying victims from the pool of blood. Zombies are pretty much land sharks without the reproductive drive. Eat, Eat, EAT! This typically results in enormous pools of blood splattered everywhere. Now, assuming society hasn't completely collapsed, occasionally people will try to identify the victims by the blood. DNA right? CSI says we can do that, so we can!

Here's the problem. You have an enormous pool of blood made up of multiple victims. Where do you sample from? Liquids mix together. The blood of the victims won't stay in their distinct spots which means the DNA sample you have will be completed contaminated. Large pool of blood with multiple victims? You might as well not have any blood at all! A sample can be contaminated to the point of ruin. We've all heard stories of DNA evidence being thrown out of court because of contamination and that's in the real world.

DNA evidence in a zombie apocalypse? Forget we ever had the capability.

Four Loko: STILL a very bad idea.

Forgive this brief interruption in our Forensics of Horror series, but "Four Loko" has hit the news again. This time a New Jersey college is calling for a ban on all alcohol containing energy drinks and singles out "Four Loko" by name after a dozen students have been hospitalized with alcohol poisoning.

There is a very easy fix to the drink beyond simply not drinking it. The manufacturer should be called upon to simply repackage the drink into six ounce bottles. By making that change a 140 pound female would gain a 0.046 BAC per bottle rather than the 0.183 BAC they gain by the current packaging. Although I guess making this change would make the "Loko" part of the name less applicable.

Say it with me people:   

                     Good Crazy = Dyeing your hair purple.

                  
                  Bad Crazy = Killing yourself with Four Loko

The Forensics of Horror, Part II: Jekyll & Hyde

"I hesitated long before I put this theory to the test of practice. I knew well that I risked death; for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity, might, by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition, utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change. But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm."

-The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ...

In our last post we discussed how the science of temperature change can be used to determine the time of death on a cooling body. In this post we move back to my realm of expertise, toxicology. Now, the way toxicology is applied in forensics changes drastically with whether the subject is alive or dead. When the concern is postmortem, then what we tend to be most interested in are the effects that the drug had on the body. What was the cause of death? How did the drugs/poisons interact with one another? What effect did the drug/poison have on the heart, the brain, etc.

When the subject is alive what we tend to be interested in is how the drug/poison effected their behavior. Did the drug cause the subject to behave in an unusual manner? With alcohol, this could be impairment as we discuss in DUI cases, but it could also be in terms of decision making or memories. For instance, did the alcohol make the subject unable to consent to sexual intercourse? Is it possible the subject has no memory of an assault?

Most know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; the case of a mild mannered doctor who uses himself as a lab rat with a drug of his own mixture and releases the murderous personality of Mr. Hyde. There are several drugs we could attribute this change in Dr. Jekyll to. Many drugs including alcohol lower inhibitions. Perhaps Dr. Jekyll wasn't as mild mannered as he appeared. Perhaps the murderous rage was simply being held in check when he was sober and the reduced inhibitions let it free.

We can probably safely say that it wasn't marijuana and probably not an opiate either. The sedative effects of those drugs should have helped quell Mr. Hyde's rage if not simply reduce his motivation to seek out victims. They are also not associated with personality changes.

We can probably also eliminate cocaine from the list of possibilities. There are extremely rare cases where cocaine does cause paranoia in people taking it, but it's rare so let's assume Dr. Jekyll does not fall into this category. Certainly Mr. Hyde would still have the energy to seek out and act on his desires, but if we believe that Dr. Jekyll really was mild mannered then we would not expect cocaine to change his personality so drastically. Perhaps Dr. Jekyll would simply spend more time in his research without the need to sleep?

LSD is known to cause drastic changes in perception and we would certainly expect a change in personality to occur. LSD users tripping together have been known to kill each other in one delusion or another. Homicide and suicide are the most common causes of death attributed to LSD so is it possible that LSD was Dr. Jekyll's drug? Possible. However, Mr. Hyde's personality when it does appear seems to be very consistent and methodical, which is probably not what we would expect with LSD. Trips from LSD are known to differ wildly in the same person based on environment and mood. Would it be possible for Dr. Jekyll to always revert to Mr. Hyde regardless of mood or environment? Possible, but improbable.

I believe our most likely culprit would be PCP which is known to induce delusional, paranoid and violent behavior in it's users and those are the reasons the drug was pulled from approved human usage. Additionally PCP users have been known to exhibit "strength" and "endurance" beyond what is expected from an average person. This is primarily due to the fact that users simply do not register the pain and will continue on despite the fact that serious injury is occurring. Additionally, at low doses, some of the symptoms are consistent with alcohol which, as we mentioned before, result in reduced inhibitions.

So, we assume that Dr. Jekyll does have some part of his personality that encompasses the rage and homicidal desire of Mr. Hyde, but is buried within his consciousness. His drug (PCP) reduces the inhibition holding this desire back and adds in the paranoia and violence to truly let Mr. Hyde free.

Though we are discussing literature and not an actual case, this is not a far fetched hypothesis. Indeed one real life horror, Charles Manson, used drugs to help induce the right frame of mind in his followers to commit horrible murders.

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The Forensics of Horror Part I: Vampires

In honor of October, this month's posts will focus on the forensics of horror. Never underestimate a scientist's ability to find science everywhere!

The other night I was watching a truly terrible vampire movie. It was truly bad. Tears from laughing, bad.

Anyways, at one point the vampire hunter "hero" (I put hero in quotes because I love vampires, I always root for them in the movie) sits next to a girl in a bar who starts talking to him almost immediately. Soon...she says something that sounds very suspicious. This alerts our "hero" that something is up. He excuses himself and from the corner, starts scanning the bar with his infrared scope. Person after person shows red with a temperature reading of 98 until we reach our girl at the bar...who shows BLUE with 41 as her temp!

No. No. NO!

There are two problems with this scenario. One I can forgive and one I can't.

#1: Every single human shows 98F. Without exception. 

98.6F is the average human temperature. As anyone who has looked at statistics with any amount of attention will tell you, there is always some variability to an average. With human body temperature there is actually very little variability. It's not as if some people have a 50F temperature and another has a 147F temperature, and the average is 98F. No, humans are around 98F because there is a very small range that allow a human to survive and function. Even still, some healthy people have temperatures of 97F (yours truly) and others of 99F and that is fine. Ok, we'll forgive the movie this one. Perhaps his scope doesn't have the greatest sensitivity to differentiate that.

#2: The vampire is 41F.

NO! I should point out at this point that our characters are in New Mexico. They are wearing t-shirts and light jackets so we can safely assume ambient temperature is around 70F or so, but the vampire is so cold, she may have walked out of a fridge. Unforgivable!

Unfortunately, this error is repeated time and time again in any story where vampires are present. Movies, books; even the very, very popular Twilight series makes this error throughout the series. The couple even go to a tropical island where our vampire lover acts as a type of air conditioner for his human wife. No, No, NO!

Let me explain: The theory behind this is that vampires are dead and corpses are "cold" so vampires are cold, thus 41F is acceptable. Scientifically speaking, that doesn't fly. (Yes, I realize we're arguing science in fantasy, but we're going to do it anyway.)

The reason a corpse is cold to the touch of a living person, is that, as stated above, our temperature runs around 98F. Anything cooler than 98F feels cold to the touch. Don't believe me? Touch a part of our desk that you're not touching right now. Cool to the touch right? A dead body is one in which all metabolic processes has ceased (or are as close to stopped that they might as well be). The body is no longer producing heat and so begins to cool to ambient temperature. If the room is 65F and a person dies in it, they will begin to cool from their 98F starting point to room temperature.

This is important because in forensics, time is very important. It doesn't matter if it's a DUI, a sexual assault or an overdose. When it happened matters. We must have a time-line to the best of our ability. One of the ways to tell how long a person has been dead, is their body temperature. Bodies cool at a certain rate. This rate of cooling can be affected by several factors including ambient temperature and their condition prior to death. Even with those factors, an examiner can use body temperature (assuming it is above ambient) to provide a window for the time of death.

The important point are these words: "the rate of cooling." Cooling. The body is cooling from 98F to ambient temperature because it is no longer producing heat. This lack of heat production means the body cools. The body is not producing cold. The morgue is cold (parts of it) because the bodies are refrigerated, it is not because the corpses are producing the cold to air condition the place. That's just silly.

If a corpse was being examined and it's body temperature was 41F we would have to assume that either it was found outside in winter or the body has been refrigerated. (Or perhaps the body was frozen and now it is warming to room temperature.)

So, if vampires are corpses and that is why they are cold then why is our vampire 41F in New Mexico? She wouldn't be. She would be ambient temperature if we assume that vampires do not produce their own heat. Our movie could have done the same scene and shown the vampire blue with a temperature of 70F and our "hero" still could have been suspicious without destroying any scientific integrity.

Now, to continue the logic that the vampire does not produce heat and will be ambient temperature means that they will also be warm at times. If it were summer time in New Mexico as opposed to winter, our  "hero" could have looked through the scope and seen our vampire at 105F. Not as dramatic, but it could be true. In that case, our southern vampires of the "True Blood" series should be fairly warm in most cases and may even be warmer than the humans, since humans have the ability to cool our temperature as part of our regulation so we don't overheat. Can you fry an egg off a vampire in Death Valley? Maybe. This would also pose some problems for the "30 Days of Night" vampires in Alaska since they would be frozen.

Anyways, I digress. If we are to assume that vampires are cold because they are corpses and corpses are cold, then we must focus on the science. Dead bodies will cool to ambient temperature, but they will not produce cold. Therefore, the movie in this case, and the Twilight series has it plain wrong. Our vamps would be more like 65F (though we wouldn't be able to estimate their time of death.)

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