Eight years ago, I was haunted by an evil spirit.
Hai oito anos, posuíume un espírito maligno.
I was 25 at the time, and I was living in a tiny house behind someone else's house in Los Angeles. It was this guest house, it had kind of been dilapidated, not taken care of for a long time. And one night, I was sitting there and I got this really spooky feeling, kind of the feeling like you're being watched. But no one was there except my two dogs, and they were just chewing their feet. And I looked around. No one was there. And I thought, OK, it's just my imagination. But the feeling just kept getting worse, and I started to feel this pressure in my chest, sort of like the feeling when you get bad news. But it started to sink lower and lower and almost hurt.
Daquela tiña 25, e vivía nunha pequena casa detrás da casa doutra persoa en Los Angeles. Era unha casa de hóspedes que estaba practicamente en ruínas, non coidada por moito tempo. E unha noite, estaba sentada alí e chegoume unha sensación arrepiante, o tipo de sensación coma se estiveses sendo observado. Porén non había ninguén a excepción dos meus dous cans, e simplemente estaban a se morder as patas. Mirei arredor. Ninguén estaba alí. E pensei, está ben, é só a miña imaxinación. Mais a sensación non facía máis que medrar, e comecei a sentir unha presión no peito, algo así como a sensación que tes cando recibes unha mala noticia. Mais esta fíxose cada vez máis fonda e case doía.
And over the course of that week, this feeling got worse and worse, and I started to become convinced that something was there in my little guest house, haunting me.
E ao longo de aquela semana, esta sensación non fixo máis que empeorar, e comecei a convencerme de que algo estaba alí na miña pequena casa, axexándome.
And I started to hear these sounds, this "whoosh," kind of whisper, like something passing through me. I called my best friend, Claire, and said, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but, um ... I think there's a ghost in my house, and I need to get rid of it." And she said -- she's very open-minded -- and she said, "I don't think you're crazy. I think you just need to do a cleansing ritual."
E comecei a ouvir uns sons, o murmurio do tipo "whoosh", coma se algo pasase a través de min. Chamei á miña mellor amiga, Claire, e díxenlle: "Sei que isto vai soar a loucura, mais, um... creo que hai unha pantasma na casa, e preciso desfacerme dela." E ela dixo -- ela ten unha mentalidade moi aberta -- e ela dixo, "Non penso que esteas tola. Creo que só necesitas facer un ritual de purificación"
(Laughter)
(Risas)
"So get some sage and burn it, and tell it to go away."
"Así que colle un pouco de xarxa e quéimaa, e dille que marche."
So I said, "OK," and I went and I bought sage. I had never done this before, so I set the sage on fire, waved it about, and said, "Go away! This is my house! I live here. You don't live here!" But the feeling stayed. Nothing got better. And then I started to think, OK, well now this thing is probably just laughing at me, because it hasn't left, and I probably just look like this impotent, powerless thing that couldn't get it to go away.
Así que dixen, "está ben," e fun mercar xarxa. Nunca fixera isto antes, así que lle prendín lume á xarxa, axiteina e dixen, "Vaite! Esta é a miña casa! Eu vivo aquí. Ti non vives aquí!" Porén, a sensación permaneceu. Nada foi a mellor. E logo comecei a pensar, Ben, é moi probable que esta cousa só está a se rir de min, porque non marchou, e de seguro lle parezo unha impotente e indefensa que non pode conseguir que marche.
So every day I'd come home and you guys, this feeling got so bad that -- I mean, I'm laughing at it now -- but I would sit there in bed and cry every night. And the feeling on my chest got worse and worse. It was physically painful. And I even went to a psychiatrist and tried to get her to prescribe me medicine, and she wouldn't just because I don't have schizophrenia, OK.
Así que cada día volvía a casa e sabedes, esta sensación volveuse tan insoportable que -- quero dicir, agora ríome -- mais naquel momento sentaba na cama e choraba todas as noites. E a sensación do meu peito volvíase cada vez peor. Era unha dor física. Incluso fun a un psiquiatra e tratei de que me prescribise medicación, e ela non o fixo só porque non tiña esquizofrenia.
(Laughter) So finally I got on the internet, and I Googled "hauntings." And I came upon this forum of ghost hunters. But these were a special kind of ghost hunters -- they were skeptics. They believed that every case of ghosts that they had investigated so far had been explained away by science. And I was like, "OK, smart guys, this is what's happening to me, and if you have an explanation for me, I would love to hear it."
(Risas) Así que finalmente fun a internet e busquei "aparicións". E atopei un foro de cazadores de espíritos. Mais eran un tipo especial de cazadores de espíritos -- eles eran escépticos. Crían que cada caso de pantasmas que investigaran ata o momento se podía explicar mediante a ciencia. E eu estaba como, "Moi ben, tipos listos, isto é o que me está a acontecer, e se tedes unha explicación que darme, encantaríame escoitala."
And one of them said, "OK. Um, have you heard of carbon monoxide poisoning?"
E un deles dixo, "Vale. Um, ouviches acerca da intoxicación por monóxido de carbono?"
And I said, "Yeah. Like, gas poisoning?"
E eu dixen, "Si. É algo así como a intoxicación por gas?"
Carbon monoxide poisoning is when you have a gas leak leaking into your home. I looked it up, and the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include a pressure on your chest, auditory hallucinations -- whoosh -- and an unexplained feeling of dread. So that night, I called the gas company. I said, "I have an emergency. I need you to come out. I don't want to get into the story now, but I need you to come out."
A intoxicación por monóxido de carbono é cando tes unha fuga de gas na túa casa. Busquei, e os síntomas de intoxicación por monóxido de carbono inclúen unha presión no peito, alucinacións auditivas -- whoosh -- e unha inexplicable sensación de temor. Así que esa noite chamei á compañía de gas. Dixen, "Teño unha emerxencia, necesito que veñades. Non quero darlles os detalles agora, mais necesito que veñades."
(Laughter)
(Risas)
They came out. I said, "I suspect a gas leak." They brought their carbon monoxide detector, and the man said, "It's a really good thing that you called us tonight, because you could have been dead very soon."
Viñeron. Eu dixen, "Sospeito que sexa unha fuga de gas". Eles trouxeron o seu detector de monóxido de carbono, e o home dixo, "Que ben que chamou esta noite, porque podería ter morto en calquera momento".
Thirty-seven percent of Americans believe in haunted houses, and I wonder how many of them have been in one and how many of them have been in danger.
O 37% dos americanos cren en casas enmeigadas, e pregúntome cantos deles estiveron nunha e cantos deles estiveron en perigo.
So that haunting story has led me to my job. I'm an investigator, and I'm an investigator in two senses: I'm an investigative journalist, and I'm also an investigator of the claims of the paranormal and claims of the spiritual. And that means a few things. Sometimes that means that I'm pretending to need an exorcism so I can get -- yes, that's right! -- so I can go to an exorcist and see if he's using gimmicks or psychological tricks to try to convince someone that they're possessed. Sometimes that means I'm going undercover in a fringe group which I report on for a podcast that I co-host. And I've done over 70 investigations like this with my co-host, Ross. I would love to tell you that nine times out of 10, science wins, saves the day, it's all explained. That's not true. The truth is, 10 times out of 10, science wins, it saves the day.
E foi aquela historia de pantasmas a que me levou ao meu traballo. Son investigadora, e sono en dous sentidos: Son unha xornalista de investigación, e, ademais, son unha investigadora do paranormal e espiritual. O que significa varias cousas. Ás veces isto significa que pretendo necesitar un exorcismo de xeito que poida contratar -si, iso é!- de xeito que poida ir a un exorcista e ver se está a empregar aparellos ou trucos psicolóxicos para tratar de convencer a alguén de que está posuído. Ás veces isto quere dicir que vou de incógnito a algún grupo marxinal e informo para unha emisión multimedia da que son coanfitrioa. Fixen máis de 70 investigacións coma esta co meu coanfitrión Ross. Encantaríame dicirvos que 9 de cada 10 casos, a ciencia gaña, salva o día, todo é explicado. Iso non é certo. A verdade é que, 10 de 10 veces, a ciencia gaña e salva o día.
(Applause)
(Aplauso)
And that doesn't mean there's no such thing as a mystery. Of course there are mysteries, but a mystery is a mystery. It is not a ghost.
E iso non quere dicir que non haxa misterios. Por suposto que hai misterios, mais un misterio é un misterio. Non é unha pantasma.
Now, I believe there are two kinds of truth, and it's taken me a while to get to this place, but I think this is right, so hear me out. I think there is outer truth and there's inner truth. So if you say to me, "There was a man named Jesus and he once existed," that's outer truth, right? And we can go and look at the historical record. We can determine whether that seems to be true. And I would argue, it does seem to be true. If you say, "Jesus rose from the dead," -- ooh, trickier.
Agora penso que existen dous tipos de verdade, e levoume un tempo chegar ata aquí, mais penso que está ben, así que escoitade. Penso que hai una verdade externa e unha verdade interna. De forma que se me dis, "Houbo un home chamado Xesús que unha vez existiu," é unha verdade externa, non? E podemos ir e mirar os documentos históricos. Podemos determinar se iso parece ser verdade. E diría que, efectivamente, parece selo. Se dis, "Xesús levantouse de entre os mortos", ooh, máis complicado.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
I would say that's an outer-truth claim, because he physically rose or he didn't. I'm not going to get into whether he rose or he didn't, but I would say that's an outer-truth claim. It happened or it didn't happen. But if you say, "I don't care whether he rose from the dead. It's symbolically important to me, and that metaphor is so meaningful, so purposeful to me, and I'm not going to try to persuade you of it," now you've moved it from outer truth to inner truth, from science to art. And I think we have a tendency to not be clear about this, to try to move our inner truths to outer truths, or to not be fair about it to each other, and when people are telling us their inner truths, to try to make them defend them by outer-truth standards.
Eu diría que iso é unha verdade externa, porque fisicamente, ergueuse ou non. Non entrarei no feito de se se ergueu ou non, mais diría que se trata dunha verdade externa. Sucedeu, ou non. Mais se ti dis, "Non me importa se se ergueu de entre os mortos. É simbolicamente importante para min, e esa metáfora é tan significativa, tan determinante para min, que non vou tratar de te convencer disto," pasaches dunha verdade externa a unha interna, da ciencia á arte. E penso que tendemos a non ser claros sobre isto, a tratar de facer as nosas verdades internas externas, a non ser xustos cos demais ao respecto, e cando a xente nos di as súas verdades internas, para tratar de defendelas mediante os estándares das verdades externas.
So I'm talking here about outer truth, about objective things. And there was an objective reality in my haunted house, right? Now that I've told you about the gas leak, I doubt a single person here would be like, "I still think there was a ghost, too" --
Así que estou a falar de verdades externas, acerca de cousas obxectivas. E había unha realidade obxectiva na miña casa encantada, verdade? Agora que vos falei acerca da fuga de gas, dubido que calquera persoa aquí diga: "Aínda así, sigo pensando que había pantasma"--
(Laughter)
(Risas)
because as soon as we have these scientific explanations, we know to give up the ghost. We use these things as stopgaps for things that we can't explain. We don't believe them because of evidence; we believe them because of a lack of evidence.
porque tan pronto tivemos esas explicacións científicas, descartamos a pantasma. Usamos estas cousas a modo de parches para o que non podemos explicar. Non cremos pola evidencia; cremos pola falta de evidencia.
So there is a group in Los Angeles called the Independent Investigations Group, or the IIG, and they do great work. They'll give a $10,000 prize to anyone who can show, under scientific conditions, that they have a paranormal ability. No one's done it yet, but they've had a couple people who claim that they were clairaudients, which means that they can hear voices either from the great beyond or they can read minds. And they had one person who was very sincere, who believed that he could read minds. So they set up a test with him, and this is the way it always works. The group says, "OK, we have a protocol, we have a way to scientifically test this. Do you agree with it?" The person says yes. Then they test it. It's very important that both sides agree. They did that, they tested him. They said, "OK, you know what? You weren't able to predict what Lisa was thinking. It matched up about the same as chance. Looks like you don't have the power."
Hai un grupo en Los Angeles chamado o Grupo de Investigacións Independente, ou o GII, e fai un gran traballo. Entrega un premio de 10.000 $ a calquera que poida probar baixo condicións científicas, que ten unha habilidade paranormal. Ninguén o fixo aínda, mais tiveron un par persoas que dicían ser clarividentes, o que quere dicir que poden ouvir voces do alén ou que poden ler mentes. E tiveron a unha persoa moi sincera, que pensaba que podía ler mentes. Prepararon unha proba con el, e así é como funciona. O grupo di, "Ben, temos un protocolo, temos unha forma científica de comprobar isto. Estás de acordo?" A persoa di que si. E eles compróbano. É moi importante o acordo das dúas partes. Eles fixérono, puxérono a proba. Dixeron, "Sabes que? Non fuches capaz de predicir o que Lisa pensaba. Foi máis ben casualidade. Parece que non tes ese poder."
And that gave them the opportunity to compassionately sit down with him and have a very difficult discussion, which basically amounted to, "Hey, we know you're sincere, and what that means is, you do hear something in your head."
E iso deulles a oportunidade de sentarse compasivamente con el e ter unha discusión complicada, que foi algo así como, "Mira, sabemos que es sincero, e o que iso quere dicir é que, en efecto, ti si oes algo na túa cabeza."
And that guy got to make the very difficult decision, but really the life-changing decision about whether to go get help. We're actually helping people to make these connections that maybe before seemed like otherworldly explanations, help draw us into reality and maybe change our lives for the better.
E ese home tivo que tomar a difícil mais a determinante decisión de buscar axuda. En realidade axudamos á xente a facer esas conexións que quizais antes semellaban explicacións fóra deste mundo, axudámoslles a volver á realidade tal vez cambiar as súas vidas positivamente.
Now, on the other hand, maybe one time it'll turn out to be true. Maybe we'll find out there are ghosts, and holy shit, it will be the best thing! And every time I do one of these investigations, I still get so excited, and I'm like 75 into them, and still I swear on number 76, I'm going to be like, "This is the one!"
Agora, por outra parte, pode ser que en algún momento resulte verdade. Talvez descubramos que hai pantasmas, e, carallo, iso sería o mellor! E cada vez que fago unha destas investigacións, sigo a emocionarme, e a pesar de que xa fixen como 75, xúrovos que na 76 vou estar, "Esta é a boa!"
(Laughter)
(Risas)
Maybe I'm just eternally optimistic, but I hope I never lose this hope, and I invite you to take this same attitude when people share their outer beliefs with you. When talking about testable claims, respect them enough to ask these good questions. Challenge and see how you can examine them together, because there's this idea that you can't respect a belief and still challenge it, but that's not true. When we jiggle the lock, when we test the claim, we're saying, OK, I respect you, I'm listening to what you're saying, I'm going to test it out with you. We've all had that experience where you're telling someone something, and they're like, "Oh, that's really interesting, yeah," you know you're being had. But when someone says, "Really? Huh. Sounds a little sketchy to me, but I'm listening," you at least know you're being engaged and respected. And that's the kind of attitude we should have with these claims. That's showing someone that you care what they're saying. That's respect.
Quizais só sexa unha eterna optimista mais espero non perder nunca esa esperanza e invítovos a adoptar esta mesma actitude cando a xente comparta as súas crenzas externas con vós. Cando faledes de verdades comprobables, respectádeas o suficiente como para facerlles esas preguntas. Desafiade e vede como examinar a situación xuntos, porque existe esta idea de que non podes respectar unha crenza e así mesmo desafiala, mais non é certa. Cando forzamos a pechadura, cando poñemos isto a proba, estamos a dicir, "Ben, respétote, escoito o que dis, vou comprobalo contigo." Todos tivemos a experiencia de estar a contarlle algo a alguén, e este dicir, "Oh, si, iso é moi interesante," mais sabemos que non nos están a tomar en serio. Mais cando alguén di, "De verdade? Mmmm. Soa un pouco estraño, mais seguirei escoitando," polo menos sabemos que nos están a tratar con respecto. E ese é o tipo de actitude que deberiamos tomar neses casos. Así demostramos que nos importa o que está a dicir. Iso é respecto.
Now, yes, most of these searches will come up empty, but that's how all of science works. Every cure for cancer so far has not panned out, but we don't stop looking, for two reasons. Because number one, the answer matters. Whether it's looking at the afterlife or the paranormal or the cure for cancer, it all amounts to the same question: How long will we be here?
Agora, si, moitas destas investigacións non achegan resultados, mais así funciona a ciencia. Cada cura contra o cáncer ata agora non deu resultado, mais non deixamos de buscar, por dúas razóns. Porque número un: a resposta importa. Xa se trate da vida despois da morte, do paranormal ou da cura contra o cáncer, todo queda resumido á mesma pregunta: Canto tempo estaremos aquí?
And two, because looking for the truth, being open-minded, and being willing to be wrong and to change your whole worldview is awe-inspiring.
E número dous: porque buscar a verdade, ter unha mente aberta, e estar disposto a equivocarse e a cambiar toda a túa visión do mundo é tremendamente inspirador.
I still get excited at ghost stories every single time. I still consider that every group I join might be right, and I hope I never lose that hope. Let's all never lose that hope, because searching for what's out there helps us understand what's in here. And also, please have a carbon monoxide detector in your home.
Aínda seguen a emocionarme as historias de pantasmas. E sigo a pensar que cada grupo a que me incorporo pode ter razón, e espero nunca perder esa esperanza. Non perdamos nunca esa esperanza, porque descubrir o que hai alá fóra axúdanos a entender que hai aquí dentro. E, ademais, facede o favor de ter un detector de monóxido de carbono na casa.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplauso)