What the study found
The study found no effect of site history on the five preregistered outcomes. A narrative, whether truthful or fabricated, modestly reduced comfort, while anxiety, attachment, moral gravity, and paranormal sensations did not change.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that any environment-based "haunting" appears negligible and that unease is located in suggestion rather than setting. They also say ghost criminology would need clear observations and thresholds that could count against it if they fail.
What the researchers tested
The researcher ran a preregistered 2 × 2 field experiment with 319 participants at two architecturally matched university buildings. One building had a documented Civil War-era history involving enslaved labor, mass amputations, and temporary corpse storage; the other had no violent history. Participants visited one of the sites and read either a truthful, a falsely assigned, or a neutral description before rating comfort, state anxiety, place attachment, moral gravity, and paranormal sensations.
What worked and what didn't
Across the five preregistered outcomes, site history did not affect responses. Narratives lowered comfort modestly whether they described the real history or falsely assigned it to the other building, but there were no changes in anxiety, attachment, moral gravity, or anomalous sensations.
What to keep in mind
The abstract does not describe additional limitations beyond the authors' point that ghost criminology lacks specified failure conditions. The findings are limited to the tested buildings, participants, narratives, and the measured outcomes.
Key points
- The experiment found no measurable effect of building history on five preregistered outcomes.
- Comfort decreased modestly after reading a narrative, whether the history was true or fabricated.
- State anxiety, place attachment, moral gravity, and paranormal sensations did not change.
- The authors say any environment-based haunting was negligible and suggestion mattered more than setting.
- The abstract says ghost criminology would need clear observations and failure thresholds to remain explanatory.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Narrative, not site history, shaped discomfort in the experiment
- Authors:
- Ian T. Adams
- Institutions:
- University of South Carolina
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-02
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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