The world of hoaxes can be filled with malicious pranksters or simply a gullible public.  Hoaxes of perception, while perhaps not malicious in their execution, fall into the latter category of the gullible. Ghost hoaxes occupy a large and diverse chapter in the book of fraud.

There are many hoaxes of perception, especially in the world of the paranormal. In an effort to answer the aged question “are ghosts real?” many methods have been used.  A prime favorite these days is called electronic voice phenomena.  This is nothing more than recording ambient sounds and listening to the playback, attempting to draw coherence from the white noise recorded.  This is a perception issue, and it is a current favorite among ghost hunters (as opposed to “paranormal investigators”, fundamentally the same thing, although the title is loftier).  The ghost hunter has the power of suggestion on his side.  He may listen to a tape of a “ghost voice”, claim he hears his own name (or a message for another party) in the random noises, and it’s a sure bet someone else in the room will hear the exact same thing.  Bear in mind, the investigator is probably sincere in what he believes he hears; his conclusions simply cannot be borne out objectively.

Some hoaxes are accidental.  A prime example of this is the Cottingley Fairies Hoax.  This occurred in the early 20th Century; no less a personage than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was duped by it.  Two young female cousins photographed cutouts of fairies as a prank on the one girl’s mother.  The photos were made public, however, and because of media hype and proclamations from learned sources that the fairies in the pictures were real, the girls could not admit the hoax from embarrassment.  Doyle endorsed the images as real, as well.  So, too, a gullible modern public will always have ac convenient ghost hunter or paranormal investigator to dupe them.