We now know that microorganisms can leave behind an electromagnetic
trace, so why not people? Here’s the new science of ghosts.”
Michael Jawer, Anatomy of A Haunting,
Spirituality and Health, January 27, 2012
Paranormal experiences are a
regular part of many survivors' stories. By 'paranormal experiences,' I am
referring to everything involving our human senses. Unusual Sights, sounds, smells, dreams, and
the like are often experienced in the aftermath of the death of a loved one. These experiences often bring a sense of
peace that advances healing like nothing I have seen. Similarly, primary
survivors (those who live through trauma) frequently report experiences that
provide them a sense of peace that can last a lifetime.
In the late eighties and early
nineties, when I was conducting interviews for my doctoral degree, I used a
lengthy interview that evaluated symptoms for the five disorders associated
with trauma. While this information was very useful in determining how
employees and other responders influenced the survivors psychologically, it was
the personal stories that fascinated me. After the diagnostic symptoms were
identified, my favorite question in the interview was, “Did anything unusual
happen in your experience?”
There was never a time when I
needed to explain what I meant by the question. The answers came quickly and
without restraint. Without hesitation, stories of passengers appearing on
flights, who were never seen again, rescuers who could not be located after the
rescue phase ended, deceased family members who appeared at critical times in
the person’s survival and vanished, and so on.
A recent discussion in the
Foundation’s annual Care Team training caused me to recommend a book that
provides an explanation of a classic paranormal story captured in a popular
book and movie, The Ghost of Flight 401. In the 2019 fall issue of the
Foundation’s newsletter, Sharing the Journey, I briefly
introduced the book, The Anatomy of Emotion by Michael
Jawer and Marc Micozzi. The authors used the famous L-1011 story as an example
of the paranormal phenomenon. Michael Jawer later wrote an article in the
magazine, Spirituality and Health, using the account to explain newer
research that he saw as related to the science behind apparitions.
The Ghosts of Eastern
Flight 401
Eastern Airlines was one of the
first airlines to fly the Lockheed L-1011 in the early seventies. On December 29, 1972, Flight 401, the late
flight between JFK and MIA, crashed on approach into the Florida Everglades.
The death toll quickly climbed to 99, including 2 of the eight working flight
attendants and the three pilots.
During 1973 and 1974, passengers
and crew members reported sightings of Captain Bob Loft and Engineer Don Repo,
on multiple
L-1011s. The flight attendants, pilots, flight engineers, and
passengers said the “ghosts” would disappear right in front of their eyes. As an emergency response trainer for flight
attendants, I heard countless stories in recurrent training about sightings.
One of my friends, Kay was the manager of the three New York flight attendant bases,
including JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark, NJ, where a large percentage of our 5500
flight attendants were domiciled—and many were L-1011 crew members. One week,
while at JFK and training her crew members, I asked about the
sightings.
Kay’s response caught me off guard.
“The stories are true,” she said and continued to provide details. “One Sunday
night a few months back, it was snowing and very cold. Late in the evening, I
received a call from crew scheduling telling me that I should come to JFK for
the arrival of the
L-1011 returning from San Juan, Puerto Rico. They told me
there had been a sighting.” Kay declined, due to lateness of the evening and
the weather conditions.
“When they told me the names of the
crew, I told them I was putting my coat on and would indeed meet the flight.” When she shared with me the names of the
flight attendants, I never questioned the stories again. These men and women
were among the elite who we trained to work with new hires as the last phase of
their training before receiving their wings. These dedicated professionals
would never do or say anything to harm the reputation of the airline.
In 1976, when the book was
released, The Miami Herald published a story announcing when the book
would be available for the public. The night before the book was to be released
in bookstores; I saw a neighbor who happened to be Eastern’s Vice President of
Public Affairs. I asked him the airline’s official position on the book. Bob
took an extended drag on his cigarette, and his response surprised me as the NY
Base Manager’s had. “We will not be commenting on the book. The pilots and
flight attendants are too credible to dispute, and we certainly won’t insult
our passengers who have taken the time to tell us about their experiences.”
A Summary of the
Science Behind the Ghosts
About 18 months before Jawer’s
article appeared in Spirituality and Health magazine, Luc Antoine Montagnier, a
French virologist and Nobel laureate for work identifying the HIV virus, found
that some supposedly sterile solutions which were carefully filtered to remove
pathogenic bacteria, turned out to have bacteria colonies after two or three
weeks of incubation. The holes in the filters were much too small to allow any
of the bacteria to get through, yet somehow the bacteria reappeared. Montagnier
then diluted some newly filtered solutions in water and found something
odd—extremely high dilutions of the "sterile" solution carried
electromagnetic traces of the bacteria. These electromagnetic traces contain
genetic information that Montagnier is now using to detect minute traces of
disease, but this work raises more significant implications. If bacteria leave
behind measurable energetic trace evidence, why not people?
Jawer believes that intense emotion
can cause energetic traces of some people to become amplified and therefore
detectable, as in apparitions. There was great emotion expressed post-crash by Captain Bob Loft and engineer
Don Repo, it was evident in the details of their rescue. In the aftermath of the
crash, both men were found to be critically injured. Captain Loft, in his
shocked state struggled as if trying to escape, as he was being rescued. He was
lucid enough to tell the responders, “I am going to die!” He died an hour
later. Engineer Repo was found in the watery compartment beneath the cockpit
floor. He was heard calling out that he did not want to drown. Rescuers
reported that he seemed to be very angry. He was flown to the hospital where he died 30 hours later.
Jawer suggests the reader consider
that both men lived beyond the impact and were conscious of their dire
situation. It is most plausible that both men experienced a combination of
pain, intense fear and anguish over what had happened to them, their plane, and
their passengers. Both men had a notable stake in their profession. Captain
Loft was fiftieth in seniority of Eastern’s 4,000 pilots and was known as being
conscientious and a perfectionist. Don Repo worked his way up to Flight
Engineer from being a mechanic. Other engineers and pilots knew his affinity
for the
L-1011.
Both men would have felt
responsible for what had happened, but due to their injuries, were unable to do
anything about it. The author explains the dilemma of not being able to act on
a concern or preoccupation amidst a threat to physical safety that summons
tremendous fear or anger, and can be considered a "flashpoint" for the
creation of apparitions. In the case of both pilots, their distress level had
to create an enormous amount of energy to "do something" but neither
were able to do anything to help themselves, their crew, or the passengers. This
energy is in effect, held in abeyance with no outlet for its extreme
urgency.
We now return to
the original question raised by researchers—"What can cause energetic traces of some people to become amplified to
become detectable, as in apparitions?” Jawer believes this question can be
answered by the intense emotions felt by these two pilots. Another interesting
point that provides credence to the theory of the pilots returning for a period
of two years pertains to the fact that the sightings ceased when Eastern no
longer used parts of the crashed airliner in the repair of other L-1011s.
