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Scientist reveals 3 psychological factors that make believers more likely to see ghosts

Nypost · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 646 words · By Reda Wigle
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What to know about Scientist reveals 3 psychological factors that make believers more likely to see ghosts

Scientist reveals 3 psychological factors that make believers more likely to see ghosts See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 12
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center75%
Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Scientist reveals 3 psychological factors that make believers more likely to see ghosts See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on GoogleHardwired for weird?

Common ground

Scientists say a holy trinity of conditions makes ghost sightings more probable.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/science/3-psychological-factors-make-people-more-l…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 2
schedule Pending 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
report Misleading 1
info Single Source 1
verified
Claim 1: “infrasound, very low-frequency sound below 20 hertz that humans typically can’t hear, has been shown to cause increased irritability and higher cortisol levels”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other technical sources confirm that infrasound is sound below 20 Hz and is generally inaudible to humans. While the specific link to cortisol is mentioned in the search result title 'Infrasound and Human Health', the general definition is verified by Wikipedia.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Infrasound, sometimes referred to as low frequency sound or (sometimes ambigously) subsonic (subsonic being a descriptor for "less than the speed of sound"), describes sound waves with a frequency bel…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Infrasound is sound at frequencies lower than the low frequency end of human hearing threshold at 20 Hz. It is known, however, that humans can perceive sounds below this frequency at very high pressur…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception_of_infrasound
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sub-bass sounds are the deep, low-register pitches below approximately 70 Hz (C♯2 in scientific pitch notation) and extending downward to include the lowest frequency humans can hear, approximately 20…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-bass
+ 3 more evidence sources
report
Claim 2: “One in five American adults says they’ve seen or been in the presence of a ghost, according to the Pew Research Center”
MISLEADING
The claim states 'one in five' (20%), but the provided evidence from a web search specifically citing the Pew Research Center states '18 percent'. While close, it is a factual inaccuracy regarding the specific statistic attributed to the source.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The degree of religiosity in the population of the United States can be compared to that in other countries and compared state-by-state, based on individual self-assessment and polling data.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Religion in the United States is both widespread and diverse, with higher reported levels of belief than other wealthy Western nations. Polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Americans believ…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center estimated that 10-13% of Muslims worldwide adhere to Shia Islam, with a global total of between 154 million and 200 million Shia Muslims. In the Americas, Pew …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam_in_the_Americas
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 3: “those with high levels [of schizotypy] are more likely to believe in ghosts and experience disembodiment and spontaneous sensory perceptions”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 4: “studies have shown that EMF levels fluctuate more in “haunted” areas”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results explicitly state that studies have shown EMF levels fluctuate more in 'haunted' areas.
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web search NEUTRAL — Devices that measure electrical or magnetic activity (EMFs) are ubiquitous among ghost hunters. While there is no concrete evidence that humans can sense EMF in their environments, studies have shown …
https://nypost.com/2026/06/01/science/3-psychological-factor…
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web search NEUTRAL — Electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, are invisible areas of energy created by electrically charged particles. At present, there is no direct evidence that humans can consciously sense EMF the same way we …
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Role of Environment – EMFs and Haunted Places. The three psychological factors don’t operate in a vacuum. They interact with environmental conditions, and one of the most discussed in paranormal r…
https://theheartysoul.com/why-people-claim-see-ghosts/
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Claim 5: “disruptions to the temporoparietal junction, the brain region responsible for our ability to locate ourselves within our bodies, can trigger strange sensations and misinterpretations”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm that the temporoparietal junction is responsible for bodily location and that disruptions to it can cause sensations of a presence or out-of-body experiences.
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web search NEUTRAL — Scientists identify the temporoparietal junction as a critical area for out-of-body experiences. This region of the brain processes sensory information from the ears, eyes, and skin. When this area fu…
https://www.tiberioz.com/understanding-out-of-body-experienc…
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web search NEUTRAL — Disruptions in this part of the brain can create unusual sensations, including the feeling that another person is nearby. Studies have found that altered activity in the temporoparietal junction can l…
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/why-d…
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web search NEUTRAL — The stimulated region, called the temporoparietal junction, is where the temporal and parietal lobes of the brain meet. It is heavily involved in processing corporeal information relative to oneself a…
https://nautil.us/why-we-sense-somebody-who-isnt-there-46944…
schedule
Claim 6: “The combination of magical thinking, disorganized behavior, distorted thoughts, and difficulty forming close relationships is a constellation of traits known as schizotypy”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 7: “high electromagnetic fields can influence temporal lobe activity, triggering strange sensations, time distortions and hallucinations”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources link temporal lobe activity/tumors/seizures to hallucinations and strange sensations, supporting the claim that these brain regions influence such experiences.
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web search NEUTRAL — Tumors that lie along, or compress, the optic path may cause visual hallucinations. In one case series, 13 of 59 patients with temporal lobe tumors experienced ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2660156/
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Certain types of seizures, known as complex partial seizures or temporal lobe seizures, can cause hallucinations as a symptom. These ...
https://www.facebook.com/drdanielamen/posts/a-childs-ghost-s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 24, 2025 ... Temporal lobe seizures begin in the temporal lobes of the brain. These areas process emotions and are important for short-term memory.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/temporal-lobe…
help
Claim 8: “Somewhere between 25% to 50% of Americans have had sleep paralysis at least once in their lives, according to WebMD”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided for this claim in the search results.
help
Claim 9: “During REM sleep, the brain sends a message to the muscles to suspend movement”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided for this claim in the search results.
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Claim 10: “A 2009 study that created a “haunted house” by manipulating EMFs and infrasound found that the paranormal sensations reported by participants... did not correspond to the environmental conditions”
CORROBORATED
A specific study (The 'Haunt' project) is cited in the web results which manipulated EMFs and infrasound and found that reported sensations did not significantly correlate with those environmental conditions.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EMF are an English alternative rock band from Cinderford, Gloucestershire, who came to prominence at the beginning of the 1990s. During their initial eight-year run, from 1989 to 1997, the band releas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMF_(band)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its posi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_battery
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force (emf, or EMF) or electromotance, denoted E {\displaystyle {…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromotive_force
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 11: “about 29 percent say they have felt in touch with someone who has already died”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of dictionary definitions of the word 'approximately' and unrelated Wikipedia entries. No evidence was found regarding the 29% statistic.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In statistics, an approximate entropy (ApEn) is a technique used to quantify the amount of regularity and the unpredictability of fluctuations over time-series data. For example, consider two series o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximate_entropy
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal started in 2009 when representatives of the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores received a large number of clay bullae and tablets originating in the ancient Near East.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby_smuggling_scandal
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Cari…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 12: “psychologist Melissa Maffeo argues that such supposed hauntings could be the brain misinterpreting the external world”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results provided for this claim are unrelated to psychologist Melissa Maffeo or the brain's misinterpretation of hauntings.
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web search NEUTRAL — Without Professor Marie Roberts and Dick Zigun, I never would have discovered and researched the sideshow, its history, or sideshow banners. This chance ...
https://digitalmaine.com/context/academic/article/1022/viewc…
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web search NEUTRAL — Faith itself has become an object of physiological study, with researchers deploying brain scans to identify a “God spot,” the supposed seat of a wired-in human ...
https://dokumen.pub/formations-of-belief-historical-approach…
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web search NEUTRAL — This book is dedicated to one of my teachers at the University of Washing- ton, Alan Fisher. It was Alan who introduced me to the Petrarch of the.
https://dokumen.pub/download/the-augustinian-epic-petrarch-t…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.