Are Ghosts Real?
The short answer
Nobody has ever proved a ghost is real. But one haunting has a known cause. From November 1912 into January 1913, a whole household saw and heard ghosts. An old furnace was pouring carbon monoxide into their rooms. We know because the mother wrote it all down, and an eye doctor published her account in 1921.
Carbon monoxide has no smell and no color. It keeps oxygen from reaching the brain, and a brain short of oxygen can see things.
What the family reported
The family moved in on 15 November 1912. On their second day the old furnace, built thirty years or more before, broke down. New parts had to be made in Syracuse, and after 25 November it ran on a temporary repair.
The husband woke to a bell ringing and found no one at either door. One night he heard the fire department dashing up the street, went to the window and found the street quiet and deserted. Three times the mother saw a strange woman in black coming toward her. Each time the woman vanished, and the mother saw her own reflection in a mirror. She laughed at herself for it. Her four year old son, B., cried, "Don't let that big fat man touch me." The children's nurse woke to see a man and a woman sitting on the foot of her bed, and she could not move. The people who rented the house before them had seen visions in purple and white.
How the cause was found
The husband's brother remembered an article about a family poisoned by gas. On 18 January 1913 a professor's assistant came and examined the house from top to bottom. He found the furnace in very bad condition. Its fumes were not going up the chimney. They were pouring carbon monoxide into the family's rooms. He warned that if the children slept there one more night, one of them might never wake again. Their own doctor agreed.
William Wilmer, an eye doctor, later treated B., the one family member with lasting harm: his field of vision had narrowed. Wilmer followed him from 1917 to 1920 and published the mother's account in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 1921.
Can carbon monoxide make you see things?
Sometimes. Carbon monoxide forms carboxyhemoglobin in the blood, which keeps the blood from taking up oxygen. Toxicology notes list rising confusion, and sometimes hallucinations, once 40 to 50% of the blood's hemoglobin is tied up this way. A toxicologist on This American Life says it can cause all manner of hallucinations, including bells ringing. The CDC, EPA and NHS list confusion, but none of them lists hallucinations. So it can happen, but not every time.
Key numbers
| What | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Day the family moved in | 15 November 1912 | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Day the expert checked the house | 18 January 1913 | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Time from moving in to the expert's visit | 64 days (about 9 weeks) | Our arithmetic from Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Age of the furnace | thirty years or more | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| When the furnace first broke down | the family's second day in the house | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Age of B. during the haunting | 4 years old | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Years Wilmer followed B.'s eyes | 1917 to 1920 | Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology |
| Blood level where hallucinations are sometimes reported | 40 to 50% carboxyhemoglobin | Consultox, Carbon monoxide notes |
| What a home carbon monoxide alarm may allow before sounding | 30 parts per million for up to 30 days; 400 parts per million for up to 15 minutes | Bailes, GreenBuildingAdvisor, 2013 |
| People who applied for a $1 million prize for proving a paranormal power, 1964 to 2015 | over 1,000, none successful | Wikipedia, One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge |
What the film simplifies
- Some spoken lines are shortened, and every one reaches us through the mother's written account. The nurse's line is a short version of a longer passage, and the expert's two lines are her report of what he found and what he warned, put in his mouth. The paper does not give his field.
- "This whole house started seeing and hearing ghosts" is collective. The mother, the boy and the nurse saw things; the husband, the governess and the servants only heard or felt things.
- The film's "quick repair" was a temporary one. New parts had to be made in Syracuse, and the furnace ran on a patch after 25 November.
- "They got out" is true, but the paper never says when they left. We only know B. was out of the house by early 1913.
- "A cheap alarm can catch these" is true of carbon monoxide in general. Home alarms are built to stay quiet at long, low levels, and nobody measured this house, so we can't say an alarm would have gone off for this family.
- The furnace's face and its brag that it heats the whole place, the ghosts in the vents, the modern alarm on a 1912 wall and the ghosts staying with the furnace are cartoon. In the paper only part of the broken furnace could be used, and the paper says nothing about the house afterward.
At a glance
Runtime 1 minute 2 seconds · Topics: Carbon monoxide, Ghost stories, The brain and oxygen, Home safety · Captions on YouTube · Full script below
Test yourself
Carbon monoxide has no smell and no color. Why does that make it more dangerous than a gas you can smell?
Answer
Nobody in the house could notice it, so the family lived with it for weeks without knowing. A carbon monoxide alarm can detect it, and the CDC says to put one near every sleeping area.
How can a gas from a furnace make people see and hear things that aren't there?
Answer
Carbon monoxide keeps the blood from taking up oxygen, and a brain short of oxygen can see things. Hallucinations are reported sometimes, at high levels, not every time.
The film ends with a cheap alarm catching the ghosts. Can we be sure an alarm would have warned this family?
Answer
No. Home alarms may stay quiet at low levels, for example 30 parts per million for up to 30 days, and nobody measured the air in the house.
The script
Host: In 1912, this whole house started seeing and hearing ghosts.
Host: We know because the mother wrote it all down.
The Furnace: Thirty years old, and I still heat the whole place!
Host: On their second day, the furnace broke down. A quick repair, and back to work.
Host: Her husband heard doorbells, and fire engines on an empty street.
The Mother: A strange woman, dressed in black, came toward me.
The Mother: And in her place I saw a reflection of myself.
Her Son: Don't let that big fat man touch me!
The Nurse: A man and a woman sat on my bed, and I could not move.
Host: Then an expert checked the house.
The Expert: This furnace is pouring gas into your rooms.
Host: Carbon monoxide. No smell, no color.
Host: It starves your brain of oxygen, and a starving brain can see things.
The Expert: One more night here, and someone might never wake up.
Host: They got out.
Host: The ghosts stayed with the furnace.
The Furnace: Who am I supposed to heat now?
Host: Science never caught a ghost. But a cheap alarm can catch these.
The Furnace: Snitch.
Sources
- The family's account, November 1912 to January 1913: the furnace, the sightings and sounds, the expert, the warning, B.'s later eye harm, and Wilmer publishing the account.Wilmer 1921, American Journal of Ophthalmology
- A toxicologist on carbon monoxide causing hallucinations, including bells ringing.This American Life 319, transcript
- Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless; put detectors near every sleeping area.CDC, Carbon monoxide
- Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless; carboxyhemoglobin blocks oxygen intake.EPA, Carbon Monoxide's Impact on Indoor Air Quality
- Carbon monoxide is colourless and does not smell.NHS, Carbon monoxide poisoning
- At 40 to 50% carboxyhemoglobin: increasing confusion, sometimes hallucinations.Consultox, Carbon monoxide notes
- UL listed home alarms may stay silent at 30 ppm for up to 30 days and 400 ppm for up to 15 minutes.Bailes, GreenBuildingAdvisor, 2013
- The evidence for ghosts is no better than it was a century ago.Radford, Are Ghosts Real? Science Says No, 2013
- Over a thousand people applied for the paranormal challenge, 1964 to 2015, and none succeeded.Wikipedia, One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge