Haunt sites - Dragsholm Castle, Engso Castle, Edinburgh Vaults
(endnote 38) from The Hidden Whisper
Is there something special with the environment at haunt sites?
Often with haunted buildings, one particular room might get a reputation for being especially ‘active’. This has led to research examining whether there’s something tangibly different about that room compared to others, and one line of consideration has been to ask whether there are particularly unusual/strong electromagnetic or geomagnetic fields present.
It has been found that many older building have stonework with high iron content in the walls, and if the iron becomes magnetised, it can lead to a pretty decent localised electromagnetic field effect. In much the same vein as the explanation given in endnote 34, it has been suggested that when a person stands within certain electromagnetic fields, there may be some sort of ‘influence’ over neuronal firing that causes visions.
Two venues that have been investigated for such electromagnetic effects were Dragsholm Castle, Denmark and Engso Castle, Sweden (Nichols & Roll, 1999). By focusing on areas in each building where staff and visitors had reported anomalous experiences previously, some support was found for the electromagnetic field explanation. Interestingly, at Dragsholm Castle, Nichols was standing in an area associated with ghost sightings when he reported seeing a figure pass by.
It may be that anomalous electromagnetic fields do not need to interact solely with visual systems to create paranormal experiences. Stevens (2001), has shown in the laboratory how exposure to such fields (at levels similar to those found in allegedly haunted venues) can prompt physiological and psychological changes. It may be that ‘a sense of unease’ is generated by these fields, which is then attributed to some sort of paranormal source in certain places, or under certain circumstances.
One study conducted in April 2001 (see Wiseman, Watt, Stevens, Greening & O’Keeffe, 2003) tried to examine whether environmental factors such as localised electromagnetic fields or air temperature correlated with areas where people reported ‘haunt’ (i.e. paranormal) experiences. The researchers asked over 200 participants to spend time alone in various rooms of Edinburgh’s underground vaults (subterranean rooms with limited artificial lighting), and note whether they had any unusual experiences (e.g. the feeling of being watched, seeing strange phenomena, etc) in particular spaces.
Edinburgh’s vaults are a tourist attraction, and the tour company responsible for guiding visitors has kept historical records of the times and places when tourists have encountered unusual experiences. The experimenters were thus able to rank the rooms in order of how haunted they were perceived to be. (Participants who knew which rooms were regarded as haunted were not included in the data analysis).
The researchers found a significant correlation between the historical records of haunted-ness, and the number of mean experiences the experimental participants had. In other words, there was consistency across time that certain areas within the vaults saw higher numbers of experiences than others. However, analysis of the environmental factors failed to confirm that the venue’s electromagnetic fields, air temperature, or air flows were correlated with unusual experiences. Instead the best predictors as to whether any particular room would prompt an experience were: the existence of a dimly lit doorway off the room, a high ceiling and a large floor space. It may be that an individual’s sense of vulnerability is heightened by these ‘exaggerated’ environmental factors.
