The answer to this age-old question is still, at best, a scientific guess. We do know that there are and were many well-known scientists, inventors and other respected people who believe or believed in life after death.

Thomas Edison made the comment moments before he died, "It's beautiful over there." He also stated beforehand, "If our personality survives, it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect and other facilities." Now these comments do not prove an existence in the hereafter, but they do suggest the possibility of it by one of the most brilliant minds of all time.

What can be said is that science teaches that energy cannot be created nor destroyed -- it simply changes form. Keeping the aforementioned in mind, it is logical and observed that every living thing has an energy field which encompasses it. When a living organism dies, the field is greatly decreased or in most cases completely diminishes. This energy field is known in parapsychology as an "aura" and can be photographed with Kirlian Photography. The aura changes color with moods, emotions, or conditions such as imbalance or disturbance. The energy field can also be measured with the right equipment to further establish its existence.

The common belief among parapsychologists and paranormal investigators is that, at the time of death, the aura leaves the body along with the personality to form what most would term a "ghost" or "spirit." The energy field once held in the body in a somewhat lesser form is then more pronounced and appears to create some electromagnetic disturbances in the environment when "ghosts" are present. There are other claims that ghosts are associated with temperature changes, and one theory is that manifestation draws energy from the area, resulting in lowered temperatures.

No-one can say for sure what ghosts are or how they are created. Science is not at this time able to monitor the process of the creation of ghosts or prove or disprove the existence of ghosts. Until the process is proven one way or the other, PROS and others will continue to study and research "ghosts." Perhaps one day people will no longer say  "It's only your imagination."