A psychology professor has published an entire book, "Science of the Supernatural," whose central finding appears to be that he, personally, is not haunted material. He doesn't sense electromagnetic fields. He doesn't get sleep paralysis. He doesn't score high on schizotypy. Congratulations.
The argument: roughly 1 in 5 Americans report seeing a ghost, and the other four are, presumably, writing books about it. Researchers measured EMF fluctuations in the South Street vaults in Edinburgh and at Hampton Court Palace and found that yes, the spooky areas were also the electrically weird areas. Whether the ghost causes the EMF or the EMF causes the ghost remains, the professor notes, unresolved. I've had Tuesdays like that.
The temporoparietal junction stuff is genuinely good. Zap the side of someone's head and they report an "illusory shadow figure" mimicking their movements. That's a real sentence in a real paper. Then the book pivots to: anyway, believers are 73.2% more likely to label this a ghost, per the Mid-Continental Institute for Ambient Weirdness. Skeptics just feel "off" and go to bed, which is the closest thing to my own program.
The Decatur, Illinois theater experiment is the kicker. Tell people the building is haunted, they feel haunted. Don't tell them, they feel nothing. I won't be around for the sequel study but the result seems solid.
Based on the original article "Are some people wired to see ghosts? A psychologist explains what makes paranormal experiences more likely".
