Succession: Brian Cox stars in season three trailer
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Since ancient times, ghost stories – tales of those who return from the dead and haunt the living – have been prominent in the folklore of cultures the world over. As such, a rich category of ghosts and spirits exists; from queens to politicians, writers and gangsters, many of whom died early or of mysterious circumstances. Also known as a specter, a ghost is based on the idea that a person’s spirit exists separately from his or her body, and could well continue to exist after that person dies.
In order to navigate this issue, many societies began holding funerals as a way to ensure the dead would not return to “haunt” the living.
While the existence of ghosts was once likely considered an irrefutable fact, modern science has consistently denied the possibility of such a reality, even deploying experiments to disprove the idea of a person’s “spirit” living on.
Brian Cox, the physicist and populariser of space science, once shut down Lorraine Kelly’s question about whether ghosts could exist during an appearance on her show for Halloween in 2018.
The scientist has become known for picking apart questions and deftly answering them, taking all possibilities into consideration before coming to a conclusion.
Yet, here, Cox was less methodical, and, when asked how he stood on the idea of spirits, replied: “No, sadly, I think”, before awkwardly laughing.
He continued: “But, it’s interesting; it’s about our perception – we’re making so many measurements of the world and seeing things, processing all this stuff in our brains – and sometimes, something doesn’t go to plan, something strange happens, and we attach a great deal of weight to those things.
“So, I think as far as we can tell, as far as we understand the science, and we understand science very well… no!”
Cox added: “But I wouldn’t want to ruin Halloween – it’s great fun!”
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Many people have claimed to momentarily enter a state which could be described as becoming a ghost or spirit, through so-called near-death experiences (NDEs).
NDEs, which typically occur during moments of intense trauma like cardiac arrest, often involve seeing bright lights or hearing voices ‘from the other side’.
Some cases have seen people describe being transported to another world where they encounter angelic beings or visions of hell.
Many scientists have attributed the visions and memories to heightened brain activity, with further studies having suggested NDEs are often influenced by the person’s cultural practices.
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Bill Nye, 65, the science communicator best known for his 1993 to 1998 TV series Bill Nye the Science Guy, discussed the life after death issue in a Big Think video alongside physicist Michio Kaku, science writer Michael Shermer and former pastor and author Rob Bell.
He said most people imagine life after death involves our spirits taking on an idealised version of ourselves from our past.
Yet, he argued this is highly improbable because most people tend to die at an old age, making it unusual for the spirit to not resemble us at the moment of our death.
He said: “Everybody is going to die. I have never met anyone who is not going to die.
“I’ve never met anyone who is of a certain age who’s not already dead. It sucks!
“Now here’s the evidence for why I don’t believe in an afterlife.”
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