Story · Ajahn Brahm
No real ghost has ever hurt a human
Content note: paranormal; named public researcher
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
And I remember one of the guys I knew in that society, you can actually get him on uh the internet if you want. Dr. Tony Cornell. He was a another good friend of ours. And I remember he would give this this uh business card which was a beautiful business card to have. It was legitimate, but the head ghost hunter of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And I remember sometimes, if there was any ghost stories in the Sunday newspapers, he'd be the one who wrote it. He was real. He was a real ghost hunter. But, one of the things he'd always say, he'd always go to these supposedly hauntings with a professional music uh professional magician. Cuz magicians just knew how you could deceive people. And he wanted to make sure that what he actually saw was real. And many times there were real occurrences of like hauntings. But, first thing that no ghost has ever in all of the history of hauntings in UK, no real story of a ghost has ever hurt a human being. And he told me that sometimes in some of these rooms, the things were flying all over the place and crashing into the wall. But, they would never crash into a human. They would always miss you. Always. And that's over 100 years of research. So, first of all, there's no need to feel afraid if you hear anything which is a little bit strange.
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 24:25 (to 26:21)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Ajahn Brahm's ghost-hunter friend Tony Cornell always brought a magician to expose tricks. In genuine cases objects might fly about, he found, but never hit a person. Whatever you believe, fear isn't needed. A strange noise needn't own your night. Stay calm and curious.
In brief (our summary)
Cambridge/London Psychic Research friend Dr Tony Cornell — 'head ghost hunter of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' — always took a professional magician to supposed hauntings. His finding over a century of cases: genuine poltergeist objects may fly and crash, but they never hit a human.
Teaching point
In Buddhist cosmology humans rank above ghosts; fear is unnecessary.
When this story may help
- fear of the paranormal
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in Buddhism and Ghosts | Ajahn Brahm | 10 March 2023 · 2023-03-10 · ▶ watch from 24:25 to 26:21 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.
The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version