What if understanding a haunting means looking beyond the ghost?
A shadow glimpsed in an empty room. An object moving without explanation. A sudden sensation that someone, or something, is watching. For centuries, experiences like these have inspired ghost stories, fuelled investigations and divided opinion. But what actually makes an experience a haunting? Is it something within the environment, something about the person experiencing it, or an interaction between the two?
And perhaps just as importantly, how do we begin to separate what happened from what we believe happened?
In this episode of Haunted History Chronicles, I'm joined by Dr Brian Laythe, forensic psychologist, paranormal researcher and co-author of Ghosted!
Together, we explore Haunted People Syndrome, the significance of transliminality, the influence of belief and expectation, and what research into electromagnetic fields might actually tell us about unusual experiences. We also consider the challenges of investigating hauntings scientifically, the limitations of popular ghost-hunting technology, and why understanding the people involved may be every bit as important as studying the places themselves.
Because behind every haunting is an experience. Behind every experience is a person trying to make sense of it. And somewhere between the evidence, the interpretation and the unexplained lies a far more complicated story than simply asking whether ghosts are real.
My Special Guest:
Dr Brian Laythe is a social psychologist, forensic psychologist and researcher whose work explores the fascinating intersections between psychology, religion, belief and paranormal experience. He is the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Religious and Anomalous Experience in Indiana and a partner at Iudicium, a forensic psychology consultancy.
His research spans social and forensic psychology, the psychology of religion and ideology, and anomalistic psychology, with a particular interest in hauntings and extraordinary human experiences. In 2022, he co-authored Ghosted! Exploring the Haunted Reality of Paranormal Encounters.
Brian's wider research includes studies of magical practitioners, the relationship between belief and anomalous experiences, and investigations into reported poltergeist activity, including the South Shields Poltergeist case.
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/35886023?utm_source=youtube
