A parapsychologist has explained how to tell if your house is haunted, while stressing that unusual events should first be investigated for ordinary explanations.
Evelyn Hollow, an author and television personality known for her work on the BBC’s Uncanny podcast and TV series, discussed the warning signs during an appearance on ITV’s This Morning.
She said experiences such as feeling an unexplained presence could have physiological or mental causes, and should not immediately be regarded as evidence of a ghost.
“Lots of things that will happen are every day things,” Ms Hollow said. “There are things that people will experience lots in their life.”
It was only when incidents happened repeatedly, sometimes in a precise sequence, and all other explanations had been exhausted that she would consider the paranormal, she said.
Unexplained noises were among the signs she described. She suggested checking whether sounds could be caused by rats, mice or squirrels in the attic before drawing any conclusions.
Ms Hollow said some cases involved increasingly disturbing sounds, such as furniture being smashed or somebody running through a house. In some instances, residents had called the police, only for officers to find nobody there.
She said certain cases could continue for years, adding that she had worked on investigations spanning a decade.
Another reported sign was the apparent movement of objects, including items that seemed to appear and disappear without explanation.
Ms Hollow referred to this as “apporting and disapporting”, describing it as an object seemingly appearing from nowhere and then vanishing.
She acknowledged that such an event would appear to contradict the laws of thermodynamics, but said particles were known to behave in that way in physics. The difference, she added, was that the phenomenon should not occur on a larger scale, such as with a cushion or mug.
