Published Research on the Paranormal
Peer-Reviewed Academic Research
I.S.R.A.E. is proud to collaborate with an international team of scientists to tackle the big questions about hauntings, poltergeists, and general “high strangeness”. Below you will find a list of scholarly research articles where I.S.R.A.E. directly provided research data or worked with other scientists to further the goal of honest and accurate science when it comes to paranormal studies and investigations. When possible, we provide direct links to our collaborative works.
Research below is provided by topic, with a brief summary of the work. Research with a DOI link can be directly assessed from here. If you wish to read a paper for which a link does not exist, feel free to write us and we will try to send you a pdf. copy.
The Role of People’s Beliefs in Interpreting and Understanding Anomalous Experience (A Data-Driven Interactionist Theory of Hauntings)
These papers deal with existing psychological and parapsychological theories to demonstrate that hauntings and paranormal experiences have two core components. First, there is the core kind and type of paranormal phenomena that people experience, and second, the process in which the person or group interprets and explains the phenomena they experience.
Houran, J., & Lange, R. (1996). Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes as a confluence of conventional phenomena: a general hypothesis. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 1307-1316. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.83.3f.1307
Lange, R., & Houran, J. (2001). Ambiguous stimuli brought to life: the psychological dynamics of hauntings and poltergeists. In J. Houran and R. Lange (Eds.), Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 280-306). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Hill, S. A., O’Keeffe, C., Laythe, B., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., Ventola, A., & Houran, J. (2018). “Meme-spirited”: I. A VAPUS model for understanding the prevalence and potency of ghost narratives. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 18, 117-152.
Hill, S. A., Laythe, B., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., O’Keeffe, C., Ventola, A., & Houran, J. (2019). “Meme-spirited”: II. Illustrations of the VAPUS model for ghost narratives. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 19, 5-43.
Drinkwater, K., Laythe, B., Houran, J., Dagnall, N., O’Keeffe, C., & Hill, S. A. (2019). Exploring gaslighting effects via the VAPUS model for ghost narratives. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 19, 143-179.
Houran, J., Hill, S. A., Haynes, E. D., & Bielski, U. A. (2020). Paranormal tourism – Market study of a novel and interactive approach to space activation and monetization. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 61, 287-311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520909094
Laythe, B., Houran, J., Dagnall, N., & Drinkwater, K. (2021). Conceptual and clinical implications of a “haunted people syndrome.” Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 8, 195–214. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000251
Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S): A Method for Evaluating The Mental, Social, and Potentially Paranormal Aspects of Long-Term Hauntings
HP-S is a broad-scale diagnostic model which highlights several common psychological and social factors common to people who experience paranormal phenomena over an extended period of time. It provides social and psychological predictors of those who have paranormal experiences and can be used to profile hauntings regardless if a person does or does not ‘believe’ in paranormal phenomena.
Houran, J., & Laythe, B. (2022). Case study of recognition patterns in haunted people syndrome. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 879163. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.879163
Houran, J., Little, C., Laythe, B., & Ritson, D. W. (2022). Uncharted features and dynamics of the South Shields Poltergeist. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. 86, 129-164.
Houran, J., & Laythe, B. (2023). Phenomenology of AI-generated “entity encounter” narratives. Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition, 3, 335-368. https://doi.org/10.31156/jaex.25124
Houran, J., Laythe, B., Little, C., & Houran, D. J. (2023). Rethinking a ghostly episode in the legacy literature. Journal of Anomalistics, 23, 77-102.
Laythe, B., Houran, J., Dagnall, N., & Drinkwater, K. (2021). Conceptual and clinical implications of a “Haunted People Syndrome”. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 8(3), 195 – 214.
Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) Applied to Gang-Stalking and Childhood Imaginary Friends
Here we successfully apply HP-S criteria and SSE haunt phenomena to the phenomena of ‘gang stalking’ and childhood ‘imaginary friends’ showing that core paranormal phenomena can be re-interpreted based on the context and beliefs of the person experiencing it.
O’Keeffe, C., Houran, J., Houran, D. J., Drinkwater, K., Dagnall, N., & Laythe, B. (2019). The Dr. John Hall story: A case study of putative “haunted people syndrome.” Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 22, 910-929. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2019.1674795
Lange, R., Houran, J., Sheridan, L., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., O’Keeffe, C., & Laythe, B. (2020). Haunted people syndrome revisited: Empirical parallels between subjective paranormal episodes and putative accounts of group-stalking. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 23, 532-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1767552
Laythe, B., Houran, J., & Little, C. (2021). The ghostly character of childhood imaginary companions: An empirical study of online accounts. Journal of Parapsychology, 85, 54-74. https://doi.org/10.30891/jopar.2021.01.07
Little, C., Laythe, B., & Houran, J. (2021). Quali-quantitative comparison of childhood imaginary companions and ghostly episodes. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 85, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.30891/jopar.2021.01.07
Transliminality (Thin-Boundary Functioning), and Traits Predicting Haunting Experience
A deep dive into understanding transliminality (a trait by which a person is more sensitive to their unconscious and the environment they are around) and how transliminality affects well-being and the experience of paranormal phenomena.
Houran, J., & Thalbourne, M. A. (2001). Theoretical refinements on transliminality and entity encounter experiences. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 65, 241-256.
Houran, J., & Thalbourne, M. A. (2001). Further study and speculation on the psychology of "entity encounter experiences." Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 65(862), 26–37.
Houran, J., Kumar, V. K., Thalbourne, M. A., & Lavertue, N. E. (2002). Haunted by somatic tendencies: Spirit infestation as psychogenic illness. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 5, 119-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674670210141061
Houran, J., Wiseman, R., & Thalbourne, M. A. (2002). Perceptual-personality characteristics associated with naturalistic haunt experiences. European Journal of Parapsychology, 17, 17-44.
Houran, J., Ashe, D. D., & Thalbourne, M. A. (2003). Encounter experiences in the context of mental boundaries and bilaterality. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 67, 260-280.
Laythe, B., Houran, J., & Ventola, A. (2018). A split-sample psychometric study of haunters. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 82, 193-218.
Evans, J., Lange, R., Houran, J., & Lynn, S. J. (2019). Further psychometric exploration of the transliminality construct. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6, 417-438. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000163
Lange, R., Houran, J., Evans, J, & Lynn, S. J. (2019). A review and re-evaluation of the Revised Transliminality Scale. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and Practice, 6, 67-89. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000153
Ventola, A., Houran, J., Laythe, B., Storm, L., Parra, A., Dixon, J., & Kruth, J. G. (2019). A transliminal ‘dis-ease’ model of poltergeist ‘agents.’ Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 83, 144-171.
Drinkwater, K., Dagnall, N., Houran, J., Denovan, A., & O’Keeffe, C. (2022). Structural relationships among mental boundaries, childhood imaginary companions, and anomalous experiences. Psychological Reports. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221123235 .
The Effects of Groups and Beliefs on Paranormal Experiences (Perceptual-Social Contagion Effects)
Papers that examine how people’s beliefs, and their peers’ beliefs, affect how they interpret, explain, and make sense of perceived anomalous phenomena.
Houran, J., & Lange, R. (1996). Diary of events in a thoroughly unhaunted house. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 499-502. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.83.2.499
Houran, J., & Lange, R. (1996). Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes as a confluence of conventional phenomena: a general hypothesis. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 83, 1307-1316. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.83.3f.1307
Lange, R., & Houran, J. (2001). Ambiguous stimuli brought to life: the psychological dynamics of hauntings and poltergeists. In J. Houran and R. Lange (Eds.), Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 280-306). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Lange, R., & Houran, J. (2001). Power laws and autoregressive catastrophes: the dynamic properties of poltergeist episodes. Technical report to the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (IGPP), Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
Houran, J., Little, C., Laythe, B., & Ritson, D. W. (2022). Uncharted features and dynamics of the South Shields Poltergeist. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. 86, 129-164.
Subjective (Internally Felt) and Objective (Externally Measurable) Paranormal Phenomena
Papers that address subjective and objective haunting phenomena, their relationship to each other, and their relationship to environmental, trait, and social factors.
Dixon, J., Storm, L., & Houran, J. (2018). Exploring ostensible poltergeist vs. haunt phenomena via a reassessment of spontaneous case data. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 18, 7-22. 1111
Lange, R., Ross, R. M., Dagnall, N., Irwin, H. J., Houran, J., & Drinkwater, K. (2019). Anomalous experiences and paranormal attributions: Psychometric challenges in studying their measurement and relationship. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 6, 346-358. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000187
Drinkwater, K., Dagnall, N., & Houran, J. (2021). A conceptual matrix for mapping encounter experiences. Academia Letters, November:3955. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3955
Houran, J., Laythe, B., Lange, R. Dagnall, N., O’Keeffe, C., & Drinkwater, K. (2021). Ghostly episodes in modern psychometric perspective. Mindfield: Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association, 13(2), 30-40.
Measuring Paranormal Phenomena Scientifically (The Survey of Strange Events)
Two studies which use data and advanced analysis to comprise a reliable and mathematically validated scale of 34 items that assess core haunting experiences.
Houran, J., Lange, R., Laythe, B., Dagnall, N., & Drinkwater, K., & O’Keeffe, C. (2019). Quantifying the phenomenology of ghostly episodes – Part II: A Rasch model of spontaneous accounts. Journal of Parapsychology, 83, 168-192. https://doi.org/10.30891/jopar.2019.01.03
Houran, J., Laythe, B., O’Keeffe, C., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., & Lange, R. (2019). Quantifying the phenomenology of ghostly episodes – Part I: Need for a standard operationalization. Journal of Parapsychology, 83, 25-46. https://doi.org/10.30891/jopar.2019.01.03
Environmental Factors and Paranormal Phenomena
These papers examine the location, decoration, and general environment and how the environment of haunted houses and anomalous sites in general relate to paranormal experiences.
Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., O’Keeffe, C., Ventola, A., Laythe, B., Jawer, M. A., Massullo, B., Caputo, G. B., & Houran, J., (2020). Things that go bump in the literature: An environmental appraisal of “haunted houses.” Frontiers in Psychology, 11:1328. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01328
Jawer, M. A., Massullo, B., Laythe, B., & Houran, J. (2020). Environmental “Gestalt influences” pertinent to the study of haunted houses. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 84, 65-92.
Escolà-Gascón, A., & Houran, J. (2021). Paradoxical effects of exposure to nature in "haunted" places: Implications for stress reduction theory. Landscape and Urban Planning, 214:104183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104183
Houran, J., Laythe, B., Lange, R., Hanks, M., & Ironside, R. (2023). Immersive study of Gestalt variables in uncanny geographies. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 87, 65-100.
Electro-Magnetic Fields and Paranormal Phenomena
A series of three papers, two in purportedly haunted environments, and a sustained laboratory séance study which shows significant relationships between EMF and GMF expansion and contraction and both subjective and objective haunting phenomena.
Laythe, B., & Owen, K. (2013). A critical test of the EMF-paranormal phenomena theory: Evidence from a haunted site without electricity-generating fields. The Journal of Parapsychology, 77(2),.212-236.
Laythe, B., Laythe, E.C., & Woodward, L. (2017). A test of an occult-themed séance: Examining anomalous events, psychosomatic symptoms, transliminality, and electromagnetic fields. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 31, 572-624.
Laythe, B., & Houran, J. (2019). Concomitant object movements and EMF-spikes at a purported haunt. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 83, 212-229.
The Relationship Between Paranormal Environments, Transliminality, and Extra Sensory Perception
Studies show that the right environment (enchanted) and the right type of people (transliminals) alter how people perform on ESP tasks.
Laythe, B. R., & Roberts, N. (2023). A Four Element-Themed Self-Selecting Mobile Application for ESP Testing. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 36(4), 682-691. https://doi.org/10.31275/20222789
Magical (Occult) Practice, Transliminality, and Extra-Sensory Perception
The first broad-scale examination of traits, beliefs, and esoteric practice of magical practitioners and their relationship to significant ESP scoring.
Laythe, B., Roberts, R. White, G., & Houran, D. (2024). Trained transliminals: Exploring anomalous experiences and psi in magical practitioners. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 38, 2, 233-257.
Large Models Showing How Skeptical Explanations Alone Do Not Explain Adequately Account For Paranormal Phenomena.
A series of papers that examine environmental effects, contagion, and other common explanations of haunting phenomena. Large-scale mathematics shows that these factors can not explain approximately 40% of anomalous phenomena even when using heavily skewed analysis in favor of skepticism.
Laythe, B., & Houran, J. (2022). Adversarial collaboration on a Drake-S Equation for the survival question. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 36(1), 130-160.
Rock, A. J., Houran, J., Tressoldi, P. E., & Laythe, B. (2023). Is biological death final? Recomputing the Drake-S equation for postmortem survival of consciousness. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 42 9-26.. https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2023.42.1.9
Houran, J., Rock, A. J., Laythe, B., & Tressoldi, P. E. (2023). Dead Reckoning: A Multiteam System Approach to Commentaries -on the Drake-S Equation for Survival. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 42(1), 80-105.