Naomi, I think we have had this conversation before.
Your question of //No, the question is why do so many - thousands and thousands across all cultures - at the risk of ridicule and derision, insist that they have unexplained - and currently inexplicable experiences? All liars? All deluded? A combination of both? Or perhaps not.//
Could be applied word for word to any religion too. If something is unexplained, someone comes up with a theory, others follow. Even millions of claims aren't proof. Of course things happen that we don't understand or can't explain, but the leap to putting the answer down to an unproven, supernatural spirit is just as irrational. We can say we don't know, without claiming we know the answer. And for many, a ghost "is" the answer. So it is fair to ask where the proof is.