Exploration of Ghost-like Phenomena

L O N D O N, April 20, 2001 -- Headless drummers, a phantom piper, and a little girl with her dog …

These are just some of the ghosts rumored to haunt the dungeons, vaults and underground tunnels around Scotland's Edinburgh Castle and the South Bridge, a nearby 18th-century structure. The popular tourist district used to house prisoners before their executions.

A team of scientists has just finished what it calls the largest and most technologically advanced experiment ever conducted in the investigation of paranormal activities.

Creepy Dungeons, Deep Breathing

A group of 250 volunteers recruited through newspaper ads endured creepy black dungeons and cold chills for 10 days this month. Among their observations: eerie flashes of light, whispering, apparitions, the sound of deep breathing and rapid temperature changes.

British psychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in England led the “ghost-buster” team of researchers, joined by U.S. psychologist James Houran from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Wiseman says he is skeptical of the paranormal, but at this week’s Edinburgh International Science Festival he said the study results showed “a definite mystery that needs further investigating.”

The study found that 51 percent of the volunteers reported having “experiences” when in one of five vaults identified as “haunted.” Only 35 percent of people who went into vaults called “ghost-free” reported any unusual experience.

Mercat Tours, which organizes viewing of the vaults, identified the “haunted” and “ghost-free” vaults for the scientists based on reports from people who had gone on the tours.

“For five years we have logged paranormal experiences of people who have visited certain vaults,” Mercat's Fran Hollinrake told ABCNEWS.com. “The sheer number of people that have seen things has resulted in the reputation developing of specific areas being haunted.”

This knowledge was kept secret from the researchers and the volunteers to ensure none was prejudiced in reporting or compiling results.

Heavy Breathing, Whispered Name

For the study, the volunteers, members of the general public whose identities were not revealed, were instructed to slowly walk through the underground vaults and tunnels, then relay their experiences to the scientists.

During an overnight session in one of the haunted vaults, a volunteer said she heard breathing sounds that kept getting louder and saw a flashing light in the darkest corner. She said she refused to investigate further because she was too afraid. Her experience was recorded on camera.

Another volunteer claimed he heard someone whispering his name in his ear, and yet when he swung around there was nobody there.

A few people reported feeling as if they were being continually watched, although they could not make out any figures. Others felt that their clothing was pulled and touched, and a few people claimed to have experienced burning and tugging sensations on and around them.

Photos With a Green Blob

Other forms of evidence, the researchers said, include some photographs with unexplained irregularities. Three individual photos showed a green spot, a green blob and a white patch in the center of the image.

“When you take a lot of photographs you expect a lot of anomalies,” Wiseman told ABCNEWS.com. “The fact that they happened in allegedly haunted places makes me think that there’s something going on. What is interesting is that those three photos were taken in the two most haunted vaults.”

Wiseman also suspects that the psychological impact of being alone in a dark dungeon may have influenced the volunteers.

“When it was darker outside in the corridor, people reported far more experiences inside the vault. So there’s obviously a sense of not knowing what is going on outside the corridor, and that’s leading to people perhaps being more anxious,” he said.

The dimensions of the vaults may have also had an effect on some volunteers, he said.

“The haunted vaults had twice as much floor space, and they were about one-third higher. That either means ghosts like large spaces to live in, or these physical measurements are having an impact on people’s psychology.”

Nevertheless, Wiseman does believe that something is afoot.

“Whatever the explanation, it means there is something going because otherwise we would expect the distribution of experiences to have been more random.”