What Would Happen If Ghosts Were Real?

Introduction

How would the world change if ghosts were real?What would happen if we had absolute proof if ghosts were real? In this thought experiment, I bring up the real life implications and reactions if we had solid proof ghosts were real.

The Ways the World Would Change If Ghosts Were Real

Everyone who says they came back from the death with various visions is now subject to scientific scrutiny while being treated seriously.
Christianity would face a conflict with religious texts that say ghosts do not exist and should not be conjured, though it has the solution of exorcisms. We’d see an increase in religious exorcisms through various churches as a result. On the other hand, belief in the Holy Ghost and possession would skyrocket because we now had real proof of souls independent of the body. Atheism would certainly decline.
At least several heirs would use mediums in an attempt to contact the ghosts to ask where various pieces of property are located.
Ghosts who attempt to keep new owners from taking possession of property would be charged taxes or risk exorcism.
Courts would be inundated with requests to alter the disposition of estates citing the revealed will of the deceased.
The Day of the Dead would become even more popular than it is today and adopted across culture.
The worship of Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte would spread outside of violent gangs.
The disposal of the dead body would now be determined by either the reading of the will or what the medium says they want. No one would go forward with a cremation until confirmed.
Books about 1800s mediums would become the new best sellers.
The movie “Ghost” would be reclassified from fiction to pseudo-documentary. Someone would try to ask the ghost Patrick Swayze what he thinks of the movie now that he’s a ghost.
The show “Ghost Hunters” either sees a dozen reality TV show rivals or goes off the air as obsolete.

• Haunted house tours would become mundane until they stop unless the ghosts have unusual abilities or are particularly famous. For example, Graceland could become a major tourist attraction again if Elvis actually starts showing up.
• We would have proof of an afterlife of some kind, and atheism would have to adjust.
• If ghosts indicate the afterlife is great, we’d see a spike in suicides, euthanasia and murder. If they say the afterlife is bad, we’d see a wholesale investment in life extension treatments.
• Possession by demons and ghosts would reappear as defenses in court.
• Claiming knowledge came from a ghost would become a defensible stance in court, and it would be used by witnesses and police who lack any other evidence.
• English professors would try to solve questions about Shakespeare’s plagiarism by asking him and others who’ve passed on.
• Historians would start using mediums instead of archeology and old books as original sources.
• Succubus would replace vampires as the new paranormal romance genre.
• Mental illness would have to be redefined since seeing dead people and unexplained visions would have a new definition. Proving someone is schizophrenic versus psychic becomes harder.
• Physicists would have a new potential answer for the missing matter in the universe.
• Ghosts’ rights groups would appear, and they’d rival environmentalists as reasons to prevent redevelopment of a property or building in a new area.
• Political candidates would fight over getting the endorsements of dead politicians.
• At least one dead politician would be put on the ballot, and anyone who died during the election would see his or her party try to submit a proxy who would vote as their ghost says.
• Treasure hunters would fight over artifacts that could lure ghosts they could ask where buried treasure is located.
• Actual safety would improve since we’d be able to tell which properties with odd sounds and lights are unsafe and which house a host of ghosts.
• Architecture would change to remove any elements that cause ghosts to linger except in families that want to keep such spirits around.

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© 2017 Tamara Wilhite