Halloween is just days away, the spookiest night of the year when the veil to the ‘other side’ is said to be at its thinnest and reports of paranormal activity reach their peak. People around the globe claim to experience terrifying supernatural ordeals every year - but could it all just be a matter of psychology? Renowned paranormal expert and academic psychologist at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU), Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe, shares his expertise on the science behind ghostly phenomena.
With over 30 years’ experience in the field, Ciaran is one of the few parapsychologists (and applied psychologists) that study haunting experiences, leading to many appearances both on TV and broadcast, including the hit TV show Most Haunted and most recently, Uncanny, a popular podcast and limited TV series on BBC.
“I meet people all the time who are intensely curious about what they see as the unknown or the ‘dark side’” says Ciaran. “This curiosity can drive people to experience situations that are uncomfortable or scary. As a parapsychologist, I find there are lots of interesting psychological reasons for why this can happen.”
Specialising in both forensic psychology and parapsychology, Ciaran has worked at various universities internationally before joining BNU in 2012, where he stands as Head of School of Human and Social Sciences.
Recently, Ciaran visited the infamous Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe to explore natural and psychological factors that might contribute to the cave’s eerie reputation as one of the most haunted places in the UK. Excavated between 1748 and 1752, the 260m long caves have a dark history with many visitors reporting paranormal happenings over the past 70 years since it opened to the public. People have reported the feeling of being touched on the back of their neck to even having small stones thrown at them and hearing approaching footsteps in the cave’s narrow pathways.
Speaking on these experiences, Ciaran commented: “Psychology provides us with some good explanations for why people report haunting experiences in the Hellfire Caves. Simply knowing the location is haunted can be enough for suggestion to have an influence. If I tell you a place is haunted, you’re more likely to have a spooky experience than not. For example, in such an environment if you feel a breeze on the back of your neck then you might turnaround looking for a ghost. If you were in an office building and had the same experience you might turnaround and look for an open window or air-conditioning unit.
“The environment of the caves provides ample opportunity for misinterpreting of shadows and noises.” Ciaran adds. “The ambiguous shapes formed by shadows by other people (living), or as you turn a corner, can be perceived as ghosts. There are parts of the caves where dampness can cause dripping which could easily be misinterpreted as footsteps or stones being thrown. In a mysterious, spooky, ambiguous environment it is easy to see how psychology can play havoc with our perception (visual and auditory) and make us think we are having a ghostly experience when it is a perfectly natural occurrence.”
Paranormal experiences increase tenfold around Halloween, and Ciaran’s theory harks back to that in the caves – if we’re expecting a ghost, then we’re much more likely to interpret our experience as ghostly. But many maintain that the evidence to the contrary is much too strong to ignore.
A separate ghost hunting group were investigating the circular banqueting hall within the historic Caves - said to be one of the creepiest parts of the site, reportedly haunted by mischievous children - when a member of the group felt something stroke the back of their leg gently. When another member of the group went to question them on their experience, they themselves felt a hard pinch on the back of their leg in that same moment. Terrified, the group ran out of the caves and didn’t return out of sheer terror. The group maintain there is no logical reasoning for them to have had the shared spooky experience – does the mutuality of the ghost hunters’ paranormal encounter defy scientific explanation?
Both sides present strong cases, and this leaves us with the beguiling question of whether ghostly encounters are real or if they are fabricated illusions of the mind, forcing audiences to consider the ultimate question often referred to in Ciaran’s regular “haunt”, BBC’s Uncanny: are you team sceptic or team believer?
Meet Ciaran and explore opportunities to learn about the theories of psychology at Buckinghamshire New University.
Watch Ciaran in Uncanny Season 2, coming to BBC2 and iPlayer in early 2025.
