Ghosts, busted: The Science Behind Ghostly Encounters - Livestream

In far-flung parts of the United States, people share similar ghostly tales involving ghosts who wander along railroad tracks in remote areas, searching for the remains of a loved one who perished in a gruesome railroad accident.  Enduring lore describes one such ghost in the Charleston, South Carolina, area.  These ghost stories are clustered in the Summerville area, where the 1886 Charleston earthquake, estimated magnitude 7, was centered.  A consideration of ghostly lore leads to the conclusion that the local Summerville Ghost - along with some of the ghosts in other areas - can be explained by earthquake phenomena including earthquake lights.

Speaker: Susan Hough, US Geological Survey

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