Cruel experiment: Killing 15 dogs to prove ghosts are real, the results obtained became a laughing stock for the scientific community

Are ghosts real or not? People who believe in ghosts often share stories that are tinged with spirituality and are somewhat fictional. But conversely, non-believers cannot prove that ghosts are not real. Turns out, this question has actually been controversial for many years, including with the scientific community.

Human history also has many conflicting views on this issue. In ancient Greece, the philosopher Pythagoras believed that the human soul was of divine origin and existed only in the time before and after death, while in Hinduism, the 'atman' (aka 'atman') 'breath' or 'soul') is the universal, eternal being.

On April 10, 1901, in Dorchester, Massachusetts (USA), a doctor named Duncan MacDougall believed so deeply in the existence of the human soul that he tried. to weigh it. This belief led to the "21 grams theory" which is still controversial and harshly criticized to this day.

Scottish physician Duncan MacDougall from Haverhill, Massachusetts is one of those who believe in the existence of spirits. So in 1907, he decided to try and prove ghosts were real. All he needed was someone. willing to die in front of him, and a few dogs.

MacDougal's ideas were simple: he believed that the soul, if it were a being, must have mass, and must be measurable. According to his theory, part of the soul will leave the body at death to go somewhere else, but it would be impractical if that mass was large enough to be weighed.

So, the only (and best) way to prove his hypothesis correct is to weigh a person at the exact moment before death and shortly after. The difference in data then will help us determine the mass of the ghost.

Searching for the dying

The dying volunteer will immediately be placed on the bed to determine the mass of the ghost.

MacDougall was looking for volunteers willing to go under his supervision. He needed them to leave quietly, without shaking the scale and rendering the data worthless.

Of course, such a special job could not be for ordinary people. He chose people with terminal illness - usually patients with tuberculosis or similar diseases, because they were so exhausted that they couldn't react too strongly.

To perform the experiment, he arranged a bed to be firmly placed on an industrial scale, with a sensitivity of about 5.6g. The dying volunteer will immediately be placed on this bed.

Some rumors suggest that MacDougall forced the volunteers to . seal all the excretory holes to prevent the fluid from spilling out, falsifying the results. However, this is not accurate. MacDougall himself had taken this into account, but essentially any secretions would remain in the bed, so it shouldn't affect the overall results.

Unexpected results from a controversial experiment

That's the theory, but the process of doing the experiment was not as expected.

"Unfortunately, our scale is not sophisticated enough and there are some obstacles from observers," MacDougall wrote in a report of the failed experiment. In another case, the patient died before the scale was prepared.

However, there was one case that actually lost part of the weight at the time of death, with the specific figure being 21.3g. Another case lost 14g shortly before death was confirmed, then another 42.5g lost. The third case just got lighter and then got worse right after that (although the step change was not as much as the two cases above).

The experimental process did not meet MacDougall's expectations.

Many people who come here might think that what MacDougall discovered was simply because of. weighing errors. But in general, the doctor still believes that he has indeed proved the existence of souls.

But it's not over yet. As a scientist, MacDougall knew he needed to conduct a controlled experiment, and this time he chose dogs as subjects. He selected 15 healthy dogs for the experiment, and since dogs are hard to stay still, he decided. to take action himself.

"I'm also not lucky enough to have a few dogs that are dying of illness," - quoted in the MacDougall report.

The idea of ​​this experiment is that animals don't have souls, so they don't lose mass when they die. But just imagining 15 dogs being killed to prove that they have no souls is truly infuriating. And in the end, according to MacDougall's report, the total number of dogs used in the experiment did not change at all.

But are ghosts real?

Honestly. no, we don't know yet, because MacDougall's experiment doesn't say anything.

No matter how tired a dying person is, they won't lie still, so the results won't be completely accurate

MacDougall's results are considered by experts to have a lot of errors, because his data collection method is not transparent. The doctor himself admits that determining the exact time of death is very difficult. Furthermore, any change in the experiment's too small sample size could come from temperature changes that cause more sweating. Meanwhile, dogs don't have sweat glands, which means it's harder for them to lose weight.

Moreover, the dying person, no matter how tired they are, is not necessarily still lying down, so the results obtained will not be completely accurate. And overall, MacDougall's work then became the laughing stock of his colleagues for the next several months.