PerceptualandMotor Skills,1997,84,1455-1458.

0 Perceptual and Motor SkLUs 1997

CONTEXT-INDUCED PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES: SUPPORT

FOR HOURAN AND LANGE'S MODEL OF HAUNTING
PHENOMENA '

RENSE LANGE AND JAMES HOURAN

University of Illinois at Springtield

Sz,rnmaty.-Houran and Lange's psychological model of haunting phenomena

predicts that contextual variables alone are sufficient to induce poltergeist-like percep-
tions. 22 subjects individually visited five areas of a performance theater and were
asked to notice the environment. 11 subjects in an informed condition were instructed
that the location was haunted, while 11 in the control condition were told that the
building was simply under renovation. Subjects' perceptions in both condtions were
recorded via Green, et al.'s 1992 experiential questionnaire which contains 10 sub-
scales related ro psychological and physiological perceptions. Analysis yielded signifi-
cantly more intense perceptual experiences on nine of the ten subscales in the inform-
ed condition, indicating that demand characteristics alone can stimulate paranormal-
type experiences.

The authors (Houran & Lange, 1996a) advanced a model of haunting

and poltergeist-hke episodes which argued that contextual cues could stimu-
late perceptions following the logic Persinger used for electromagnetic fields
(1988, 1993; Persinger & Cameron, 1986). Orne (1962) demonstrated that
the mere suggestion that a particular environment is associated with unusual
experiences can induce ~hysicalcomplaints, physiological alterations, and hal-
lucinations Similarly, our model prehcts that demand characteristics such as
the mere suggestion that a location is haunted are also sufficient to induce
poltergeist-ke perceptions such as reports of a "sensed presence," appari-
tions, or other anomalous sensations.
Twenty-two self-selected participants (M,,, = 3 1 yr., SD = 10.35) attend-
ed an experiment conducted at an in-door ~erformancetheater normally
closed to the public. Although this self-selection process might have biased
the sample with indviduals who may have high fantasy proneness, the sub-
jects were given no details concerning the study prior to their arrival at the
theater. Upon arrival they were randomly assigned to one of two condtions:
an informed condition (n = 11) or a control condtion (n = 11). The subjects
were seated in one of two separate waiting rooms, dependmg on their condi-
tion and were called from each room in an alternating fashion on a "first
come, first served" bias. In the informed condition, the subjects were told

'The authors thank the authorities of the Lincoln Theater in Decatur, Illinois for permission to
conduct this study. Address correspondence to J. Houran at 301 University Court West,
Springfield, IL 62703.
1456 R. LANGE & J. HOURAN

that the research concerned an investigation of reports of paranormal activity

at the theater. Subjects were then instructed to notice and report any para-
normal experiences, i.e., any perception that might be seen, .felt, heard, or
sensed and that is interpreted as odd or unusual. By contrast, the subjects in
the control condition were told that the premises were currently under reno-
vation and that the research concerned -people's - reactions to such environ-
ments. These subjects were then instructed to notice and report how com-
fortable, uncomfortable, pleasant, or unpleasant their reactions were to vari-
ous areas of the theater. Subjects in both conditions visited the same five
main areas of the theater guided by a second researcher who was b h d only
to the subjects' condition.
During the tour, subjects were asked to record their perceptions on an
experiential questionnaire (Green, Parks, Green, Guyer, Fahrion, & Coyne,
1992, pp. 72-78; used with permission). This questionnaire contains 10 sub-
scales, i.e., physical characteristics, physical contents, emotional characteris-
tics, emotional contents, mental characteristics, mental contents, extraper-
sonal characteristics, extrapersonal contents, transpersonal characteristics,
and transpersonal contents, which are based on an imagery classification sys-
tem originally proposed by Wallach and Kogan (1965). "Characteristic"
scales refer to the general nature of the experience, e.g., "sleepy," whereas
"content" scales refer to the expression of the experience, e.g., "floating."
This measure elicits subjects' creative and hypnagogic imagery as well as ex-
trapersonal (psychic) and transpersonal (spiritual) perceptions. The question-
naire contains a total of 411 items to be rated on a 5-point scale anchored
by 0, "Not at all" and 4, "Very Much." Thus, the subscale scores reflected
the intensity of the subjects' perceptions. To facihtate comparisons ratings
on the subscales were averaged over the number of items per scale.
The two conditions were compared via multivariate analyses of variance
over aIl 10 subscales listed earlier. As expected, a significant over-all differ-
ence was obtained (Hotelling's T,o=2.73, p < .05) due to the higher rated
average intensity of perception for all 10 variables in the informed condition.
As is shown in Table 1, all of the differences between the two conditions
were statistically significant with the exception of mental characteristics ( p <
.07, 2-sided). The same pattern of findings was obtained when the nonpara-
metric Mann-Whitney U test was used.
Notice that the two conditions ddfered both in terms of the nature of
the perceptions and in terms of the contents of these sensations. Thus, the
cognitive manipulation (instructions) did not just stimulate vague experi-
ences, but it also induced specific expressions thereof. Further, although our
instructions elicited a considerable number of physical, extrapersonal, men-
tal, and transpersonal experiences, they were most effective in &citing more
intense emotional characteristics. This finding is consistent with our earlier
 CONTEXT-INDUCED PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE 1457

TABLE 1
MEANS AND STANDAUI
DEVU\TIONS
OF THEINTENSITY
RATINGS
FORALL SUBSCALES
BY GROUP

Control Informed Fi,20 P

M SD M SD
Physical Events
Characteristics 0.20 0.25 1.30 0.84 17.49 <.001
Contents 0.02 0.03 0.79 0.65 15.11 < ,001
Mental Events
Characteristics 0.22 0.19 0.78 0.94 3.78
Contents 0.04 0.10 0.52 0.64 6.19 < .05
Emotional Events
Characteristics 0.10 0.12 0.94 0.74 13.97 < ,001
Contents 0.00 0.00 0.91 0.46 13.49 <.01
Extrapersonal Events
Characteristics 0.01 0.04 0.61 0.70 8.31 <.01
Contents 0.01 0.02 0.55 0.73 6.04 < .05
Transpersonal Events
Characteristics 0.00 0.00 0.43 0.66 4.76 < .05
Contents 0.01 0.18 0.33 2.83 6.09 <.05

research (Houran & Lange, 1996a; Houran & Lange, in press). Since stirnu-
lation of the temporal lobe has consistently elicited similar emotional re-
sponses (Heath, 1975; Weingarten, Cherlow, & Holmgren, 1977; Vdenstein
& Heilrnan, 1979), the present findings strongly support our hypothesis
(Houran & Lange, 1996a) that context effects alone can be sufficiently pow-
erful to stimulate the temporal lobe in a manner similar to stimulation by
electromagnetic fields.
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Accepted May 1, 1997.