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Manifesting Spirits: Paranormal Investigation and the Narrative Development of a Haunting
Abstract
Using a paranormal investigation of a reportedly haunted hotel as a model, I propose a five-phase narrative development process that integrates media representations of ghosts, place-based tales of hauntings, and accounts that emerge through processes of interactive interpretation. By attending to both preexisting and emergent supernatural stories, the model illustrates how idiocultures function as mediating structures between established narratives and accounts that result from shared experiences. The narrative account of a haunting is thus a product of interpretive processes in which established ghost stories serve as resources for the collective co-construction of an account that both resonates with external expectations and supports idiocultural authority structures. Ultimately, idiocultural factors have greater influence upon the final narrative than folklore, media, or place-based supernatural tales.
... Haunted places are generally considered to have a dark, uncanny, or morbid connection. As Eaton (2019) considers, our understanding of haunted spaces emerges from pre-existing cultural representations in folklore and the media. Traditionally, these narratives affirm that hauntings occur in places of "war, slavery, untimely death, criminal activities, or burial" (p3) and may occur due to "improper burial, traumatic or sudden death, unfinished business, revenge, and attachment to material objects, among other causes" (p2). ...
... As Edwards (2019) observes, paranormal media plays a considerable role in transforming our understanding of ghosts and the places that they inhabit. Landscapes may be transmogrified by folklore narratives, visitor interaction, and contemporary media practices (Inglis & Holmes, 2003;Houran et al., 2020), which may lend credibility and authenticity to their haunted reputation (Eaton, 2019). ...
... This may be particularly true for ghost hunting investigations where visitors are motivated to interact with the dead in the locations associated with their deaths. In some cases, this may be very locale-specific such as a specific room, object, or piece of furniture linked to the death of the individual (Eaton, 2019). Death is, then, part of the terroir of ghost tourism, contributing to the sensuous and affective environment, as well as the perceived authenticity of ghostly narratives and experience. ...
Paranormal tourism is a lucrative market offering visitors the opportunity to engage with enchanting experiences and stories in destinations around the world. Specifically, ghost tourism connects people to the dead (and death) through dark narratives, supernatural legends, and participatory experiences. Previous scholarship has suggested that ghost tourism exhibits characteristics of dark tourism (by visiting dark places) and spiritual tourism (by engaging in spiritual practices); however, this relationship has not been fully explored. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to consider where the experiential and motivational characteristics of dark, spiritual, and paranormal tourism converge, and to consider whether this convergence produces a dark spiritual experience for consumers. Three dimensions are identified as contributing towards the degree of dark experience offered by ghost tourism: place, promotion and production, and participation. To conclude, a Dark Spiritual Experience Spectrum is proposed, illustrating the characteristics of each dimension and their influence on the degree of dark spiritual experience offered to consumers. It is argued that these dimensions have the potential to impact the tourist experience, influence visitor motivations, and, consequently, drive an evolving paranormal market.
... Previous authors have described ghostly episodes as a phenomenon rooted in environmentperson interactions (or enactive processes) (e.g., Childs & Murray, 2010;Drinkwater et al., 2019;Eaton, 2019;Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2019Lange & Houran, 2001). However, direct empirical evidence for this idea was perhaps offered first by Houran and Lange (2009, pp. ...
... Accordingly, idiosyncrasies in symptom perception are expected to follow partly from the social dynamics and normative influences operating at the time of the anomalous experiences (cf. Childs & Murray, 2010;Eaton, 2019) or during occasions when experients document or socialize their experiences (cf. Boothby et al., 2014;Cooney et al., 2014). ...
... For example, we anticipate that significant differences in total scores on the SSE or "item shifts" within Houran et al.'s (2019b) Rasch hierarchy of discrete S/O perceptions will follow from (a) Belief in the Paranormal, (b) Religious Ideology, (c) Ideological Practice, (d) Social Desirability, (e) Latency, and (f) Environmental Setting. On this point, research designs are needed to explore whether narrative formation in HP-S follows a linear process that adheres to a predictable set of functions, e.g., Detection → Attribution (Interpretation) → Reaction → Report → Recall (for related discussions, see Drinkwater et al., 2019;Eaton, 2019). Alternatively, some researchers have found nonlinear relationships among the components of meaning-making in anomalous experiences (e.g., Lange et al., -2001. ...
Evidence suggests that subjective and objective anomalies associated with ghostly episodes form a unidimensional Rasch scale and that these interconnected “signs or symptoms” arguably describe a syndrome model. This view predicts that symptom perception—that is, the phenomenology of these anomalous episodes—can be markedly skewed by an experient’s psychological set. This is impacted, in turn, by psychosocial variables that affect attentional, perceptual, and interpretational processes. Therefore, we present an overview that discusses how (a) Belief in the Paranormal, (b) Religious Ideology, (c) Ideological Practice, (d) Social Desirability, (e) Latency, and (f) Environmental Setting ostensibly influence the contents or interpretations of accounts. These experiential details are similarly expected to reveal insights into the psychodynamics being expressed or contextualized via these narratives. Future research in this area should help to validate and clarify the proposed syndrome model, as well as explore which nuances in the phenomenology of ghostly episodes reflect idiosyncrasies of experients’ psychological set versus the nature of the core phenomenon itself.
... Researchers in parapsychology and anomalistic psychology have likewise implicitly or explicitly documented empirical gaslighting-type effects. Consistent with the VAPUS model, considerable evidence suggests that both paranormal beliefs and percipient accounts are "narrativemalleable" constructs (e.g., Drinkwater, Dagnall, & Bate, 2013;Eaton, 2019;Ramsey, Venette, & Rabalais, 2011). More precisely, the contents of ghostly episodes seem to be shaped or mediated by (i) contextual variables available to percipients during their experiences (Caputo, 2014;Harte, 2000;Houran, 2000), and (ii) high-levels of transliminality or an otherwise thin mental boundary structure (Kumar & Pekala, 2001;Laythe et al., 2018;Parra, 2018). ...
... This concurs with Davis and Ernst's (2017) research in political science, which reimaged gaslighting as a mechanism that creates or maintains perceptions, and extrapolating to the current domain, also perhaps narratives of the paranormal. Explicitly, the prevailing views of believers and skeptics rely on the production of narratives that are intended to promote or dismiss the existence of ghosts (Eaton, 2019;Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2019Pollio, 2017). Therefore, we next present representative evidence that substantiates the notion of negative and positive forms of gaslighting. ...
... Other empirical models of belief-narrative formation (or decisionmaking) should also be recognized and contemplated here (e.g., the Knowledge-Conditional Model: Fazio, Brashier, Payne, & Marsh, 2015, or the two-stage model of psychosis symptomatology: Garety et al., 2001) especially those that pointedly deal with paranormal themes (e.g., see Eaton, 2019;Irwin, 1992;Langston & Hubbard, 2019;Lawrence et al., 1995). However, Figure 1's depiction of gaslighting (and Trickster-type effects in general) draws added inspiration from one of the most successful, well-validated models of decision-making in volitional actions, namely the Theory of Reasoned Action (THORA: Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and its later extension called the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985(Ajzen, , 1991. ...
The VAPUS model (Hill et al., 2018, 2019) characterizes the powerful "brand personality" of ghost narratives in terms of their Versatility, Adaptability, Participatory Nature, Universality, and Scalability. This suggests that these narratives act as cultural memes that partly reflect interpersonal or group dynamics. We use these themes in a review and conceptual synthesis of key literature to address the phenomenon of "gaslighting," which denotes the determined efforts of an influencer to alter the perceptions of a targeted individual. Modelling ghost narratives as psychosocial constructions implies malleability via attitudinal and normative influences. Accordingly, we specify and discuss two apparent manifestations of this narrative plasticity, i.e., "positive (reinforcing) gaslighting" (i.e., confirmation biases) or "negative (rejecting) gaslighting" (i.e., second-guessing or self-doubt). These ideas clarify some Trickster-type effects and imply that all ghost narratives likely involve gaslighting to an extent.
... In the context of design, other factors affect this process. Specifically, in order to define spaces people draw upon cultural knowledge and previous personal experience (Eaton, 2018). With reference to hauntings, they often access pre-existing anomalous representations. ...
... This illustrates how traditional exemplifications can shape phenomenological interpretation of space (Blomberg & Thiering, 2017). Thus, haunt-like experiences frequently index traumatic histories (Eaton, 2018). Concomitantly, liminal spaces (i.e., attics, corridors, stairways and basements) also become conceivable dwellings for paranormal activity. ...
... The area is susceptible also to reverberations from the building below, particularly via the staircase, which is the principal point of ingress. This notion is congruent with Eaton (2018), who notes that people often perceive liminal spaces, such as attics as plausible places for anomalous activity. ...
Ordsall Hall is a historical building with a reputation for being haunted. Drawing upon the principles of para-design this paper examined participants' perceptions of locations within the Hall. The building alongside renovated spaces contains period architectural features. These combine to produce a rich setting in which to investigate the interaction between the physical environment and perceptions of the anomalous. Participants, in small groups, undertook a guided tour of the building. To determine whether certain areas generated 'ghost-evoking' perceptions participants visited supposedly haunted locations and control sites. Within each location, participants recorded feelings/sensations and noted anomalous/paranormal experiences. Analysis revealed that sensations/feelings related to Temperature, Presence, Dizziness, Emotion, and Uneasiness were higher in the haunted (vs. control) locations. Generally, participants anticipated higher levels of unusual phenomena in haunted locations, but there was no difference in the tendency to attribute these phenomena to spirits/ghosts. Additionally, as reporting of sensations increased so did belief in the paranormal (general and haunting) and the inclination to detect anomalies and attribute paranormal causation to environmental stimuli. Finally, regression analysis revealed that sense of presence best predicted the perception of spirits/ghosts across all locations. Findings were consistent with contemporary design research, which has established associations between environmental cues and anomalous/paranormal perceptions (i.e., staged haunted experiential scenarios). Although, the authors recommend cautious interpretation of findings and acknowledge the need for further research, this paper is important because it provides vital insights into the effects of experience and perception on the appreciation of location and place. Furthermore, the results suggest ways that experiential perceptual experiences can shape and 'tune' paranormal interpretations. In this context, findings suggest prototypes, which inform creation and comprehension of 'paranormal' spaces.
... Additionally, in the context of design, other factors affect this process. Specifically, in order to define spaces people draw upon cultural knowledge and previous personal experiences (Eaton, 2018). With reference to hauntings, this often draws upon pre-existing cultural representations. ...
... This illustrates how cultural representations can shape phenomenological interpretation of space (Garret & Cutting, 2017). Thus, haunt-like experiences frequently index traumatic histories (Eaton, 2018). Concomitantly, liminal spaces (i.e., attics, corridors, stairways and basements) also become conceivable dwellings for paranormal activity. ...
... This notion is congruent with Eaton (2018), who notes that people often perceive liminal spaces, such as attics as plausible places for anomalous activity. ...
Ordsall Hall is a historical building with a reputation for being haunted. Drawing upon the principles of para-design this paper examined participants' perceptions of key locations within the Hall. The building alongside renovated spaces contains period features and architecture. These combine to produce a rich environment in which to investigate the interaction between the physical environment and perceptions of the anomalous and paranormal. Participants, in small groups, undertook a guided tour of the building. To determine whether certain areas generated 'ghost-evoking' perceptions participants visited supposedly haunted locations and control sites. Within each location, participants recorded feelings/sensations and noted anomalous/paranormal experiences. Analysis revealed that sensations/feelings related to Temperature, Presence, Dizziness, Emotion, and Uneasiness were higher in the haunted (vs. control) locations. Generally, participants anticipated higher levels of unusual phenomena in haunted locations but there was no difference in the tendency to attribute these phenomena to spirits/ghosts. Additionally, as reporting of sensations increased so did belief in the paranormal (general and haunting) and the inclination to detect anomalies and attribute paranormal causation to environmental stimuli. Finally, regression analysis revealed that sense of presence best predicted the perception of spirits/ghosts across all locations. Findings were consistent with contemporary design research, which has established associations between anomalous/paranormal perceptions and environmental features (i.e., staged haunted experiential scenarios). Although, the authors recommend cautious interpretation of findings and acknowledge the need for further research, this paper is important because it provides vital insights into the effects of experience and perception on the appreciation of location and place. Furthermore, the results suggest ways that paranormal interpretations can shape and 'tune' experiential perceptual experiences. In this context, findings suggest prototypes, which inform creation and comprehension of 'paranormal' spaces.
... The research generated paranormal narratives of specific experiences (Harmonia, Utrecht and the Panopticon, Arnhem), in line with Eaton, (2018) who developed place based meanings from specific interpretation of percipients cultural knowledge, and Wiseman et al. (2002) who explored haunting at Hampton Court Palace. In this context, place based meanings or personal experiences from within unusual or unfamiliar places generated interpretations of phenomena triggered by sensory cues (Eaton, 2018). The current study examined pre-existing cultural representations/perceptions that influence interpretation of specific haunt-like experiences i.e., the door creaking, unusual smells, unfamiliar sounds/acoustics, sensed presence etc. (French, Haque, Bunton-Stasyshyn, & David, 2009;Davies, 2007). ...
... In translating this study it is important to bear in mind there are different ways to make sense of knowledge through different approaches, both scientific and sensitive (Eaton, 2018). The scientific generally looking for a rational explanation to phenomena to be able to explain with a degree of certainty what was the cause of the paranormal experience (French et al., 2009). ...
An investigative workshop entitled 'para-design' (paranormal design-thinking beyond or outside of 'normal' design scenarios) explores new territory for design practices. Through examining the degree to which parapsychological belief influences perception of the designed environment, research brought together the anomalous with product design in order to explore design applications. In this context, the term paranormal refers to the conceptualization of paranormality as a phenomenon that violates the fundamental scientifically founded principles of nature. Specifically, Product Design students investigated paranormal perception. Students explored locations and appraised environmental conditions/unusual experiences. A self-report measure included feelings, experience and perception questions. Following investigation, respondents completed questions assessing belief and perception in each location. Typically, locations contained many classic paranormal settings i.e., cold spots, dark/claustrophobic, damp, drafts/chills etc. Specific high perceptual scores were associated with an increased level of perceived haunting and an increase in paranormal belief. Findings suggest that practice based studies through 'para-design' shapes intention, where paranormal belief influences perception of the designed environment. Field-testing generated design proposals to produce paranormal products. These became the centrepiece of an exhibition where interaction with each product revealed how to investigate the anomalous. Specifically, the combination of para-psychology and concept of para-design revealed how design can elicit, engineer and channel perceptive experiences of the paranormal. This research outlines the significance of para-design. Through the translation of subjective and analytical responses, new opportunities for design were investigated that explore personal perceptions to enable the design of tools that facilitate and respond to paranormal phenomena.
... For example, Eaton (2018), proposed a five-phase development process of the narrative accounts specifically using a paranormal investigation as a model. Within this narrative account, he argued, the legitimacy of a ghost narrative "was evaluated on the basis of its contribution to status reinforcement within the idiocultural group" (p. ...
... 23). This means the basis for dismissal of the account was whether the narrator was within the group or a marginal member, even if there were significant other reasons to accept the account as legitimate (Eaton, 2018). Thus, within the overarching VAPUS model, "participatory" represents the inherent tendency of ghost narratives to form groups and organizations via Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), and the inevitable conflict that results from group formation. ...
A review of nearly 20 years of sociocultural research and trends on "ghostly episodes" (ghosts, haunted houses, and poltergeists) suggests that personal accounts, group investigations, and popular depictions of anomalous experiences function as active, meaningful, and potent cultural memes. These, in part, reflect interpersonal or group dynamics grounded in Durkheimian models, as well as Social Identity and Conflict theories. Expanding on and integrating these themes, this paper provides a general framework that explains the enduring popularity of ghost narratives in terms of their versatility, adaptability, participatory nature, universality, and scalability (VAPUS model). This perspective implies that ghostly episodes, as experiences and narratives, embody and exemplify the marketing concepts of "brand personality" and consumer engagement. Accordingly, social and cultural influences are discussed as important and inherent contextual variables that help to produce, promote, shape, and sustain these narratives.
... For example, Eaton (2018), proposed a five-phase development process of the narrative accounts specifically using a paranormal investigation as a model. Within this narrative account, he argued, the legitimacy of a ghost narrative "was evaluated on the basis of its contribution to status reinforcement within the idiocultural group" (p. ...
... 23). This means the basis for dismissal of the account was whether the narrator was within the group or a marginal member, even if there were significant other reasons to accept the account as legitimate (Eaton, 2018). Thus, within the overarching VAPUS model, "participatory" represents the inherent tendency of ghost narratives to form groups and organizations via Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), and the inevitable conflict that results from group formation. ...
A review of nearly 20 years of sociocultural research and
trends on “ghostly episodes” (ghosts, haunted houses, and poltergeists)
suggests that personal accounts, group investigations, and popular
depictions of anomalous experiences function as active, meaningful,
and potent cultural memes. These, in part, reflect interpersonal or
group dynamics grounded in Durkheimian models, as well as Social
Identity and Conflict theories. Expanding on and integrating these
themes, this paper provides a general framework that explains the
enduring popularity of ghost narratives in terms of their versatility,
adaptability, participatory nature, universality, and scalability
(VAPUS model). This perspective implies that ghostly episodes, as
experiences and narratives, embody and exemplify the marketing
concepts of “brand personality” and consumer engagement.
Accordingly, social and cultural influences are discussed as important
and inherent contextual variables that help to produce, promote,
shape, and sustain these narratives.
... The narrative development of the four accounts further involved a common sequence that could either be unique to Nell or a general artifact of Sharf's (2000, p. 11) proposed "rhetoric of experience," i.e., the notion that individuals construct and convey their experiences through storytelling, which notably applies to paranormal-type events (Drinkwater et al., 2017Hill et al., 2018). On this point, readers should know that the plot construction and evolution of EHE content is itself a fascinating and unresolved issue ripe for future research (e.g., Brouwer et al., 2024;Brown, 2000;Drinkwater et al., 2022;Eaton, 2019;Houran, 2013). ...
Follow-up with the ostensible focus person from a published ghostly episode revealed ongoing displays of various subjective and objective anomalies, which now included four examples of a phenomenon described here as 'dimensional-slips,' i.e., instances where the percipient felt physically transported to other temporal or spatial realms to interact with deceased loved ones, mystical figures, or uncanny locations. These novel events (occurring from January to July in 2024) were allegedly documented soon after they happened. Independent thematic analyses explored the contents and features of the written narratives against five alternative hypotheses involving increasingly esoteric sources or mechanisms: (a) conscious fabrication, (b) mental time travel, (c) clinical dissociation, (d) shamanic-type journeying, or (e) psi activity like remote viewing. The AI-language program ChatGPT-4 computed fit indices for each hypothesis, which content experts then reviewed and amended as appropriate. The phenomenology of the anomalous experiences showed mixed characteristics that were judged as most strongly aligned to conscious fabrication, clinical dissociation, and shamanic journeying. We thus conclude from the available evidence that the dimensional-slips were some type of spontaneous and self-generated dissociative or hypnotic states, involving projections of deep-seated fears, desires, or unresolved conflicts and perhaps further confounded by imaginative elaborations. These accounts nonetheless imply the possibility that transformative 'magic flights' can sometimes manifest in secular contexts to thin-boundary individuals without deliberate cultivation or ritual training.
... Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition (JAEX) manifest. This suggests that encounter experiences are partly narrative constructions that are actively shaped by both attitudinal and normative influences (e. g., Childs & Murray, 2010;Drinkwater et al., 2019;Eaton, 2019;Hill et al., 2018;Ironside & Wooffitt, 2022). ...
Objective: We used the ChatGPT-3.5 artificial intelligence (AI)-based language program to compare twelve types of mystical, supernatural, or otherwise anomalous entity encounter narratives constructed from material in the publicly available corpus of information, and compared their details to the phenomenology of spontaneous accounts via the Survey of Strange Events (SSE) and the grounded theory of Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S). Methods: Structured content analysis by two independent and masked raters explored whether the composite AI-narratives would: (a) cover each encounter type, (b) map to the SSE's Rasch hierarchy of anomalous perceptions, (c) show an average SSE score, and (d) reference the five recognition patterns of HP-S. Results: We found moderate evidence of a core encounter phenomenon underlying the AI-narratives. Every encounter type was represented by an AI-generated description that readily mapped to the SSE, albeit their contents showed only fair believability and low but generally positive correlations with each other. The narratives also corresponded to below-average SSE scores and referenced at least one HP-S recognition pattern. Conclusions: Prototypical depictions of entity encounter experiences based on popular source material certainly approximate, yet not fully match, the phenomenology of their real-life counterparts. We discuss the implications of these outcomes for future studies.
... Yet previous studies highlight the importance of social influences on paranormal belief and experience Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2019Markovsky & Thye, 2001;Wilson & French, 2014), as well as immersive experiences more broadly (Kyrlitsias et al., 2020). Thus, social interaction can affect how people construct and make sense of alteredanomalous events (Childs & Murray, 2010;Drinkwater et al., 2019;Eaton, 2018;Ironside, 2017;Ironside & Wooffitt, 2022). As discussed by Ironside and Wooffitt (2022), the body plays a fundamental role in establishing the uncanny status of events through interaction with space, objects, and other bodies. ...
We conducted two preliminary studies to test the hypothesis that 'haunted, sacred, or enchanted' spaces are characterized by certain environmental Gestalt variables that define their space syntax or architectural phenomenology and thus help to consciously or non-consciously shape people's associated impressions or perceptions. Study 1 involved the development of a pilot Visitor Experience Questionnaire (VEQ: 18 items) to quantify Gestalt effects. Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution defined by a setting's capacity for Affordance, Ambiguity, Presence, and Sentimentality. Study 2 used this new tool with three participants exhibiting disparate encounter-proneness, who participated in an immersive experience at a 'haunted' historic house museum. The experimentally-blinded participants spent 10 minutes alone in nine different rooms and then completed the VEQ and the Survey of Strange Events (SSE) measure of subjective and objective ghostly anomalies. Results showed that the participants' anomalous experiences had good levels of congruency across their contents and locations of occurrence. Further, Gestalt ratings significantly correlated with both the participants' SSE reporting patterns and independent 'hauntedness' ratings of the test rooms based on prior witness accounts. These findings support the idea that altered-anomalous experiences in enchanted (i.e., sacred or haunted) spaces represent an interactionist phenomenon that is partly mediated or moderated by principles of environmental psychology. The uncanny arises out of the supposedly and necessarily empty character of the supernatural as a category; it is not so much that the uncanny fills this category (with ghosts, revenants etc.)-though it may do this readily enough-as that it suggests a fundamental indecision, an obscurity or uncertainty, at the heart of our ontology, our sense of time, place, and history, both personal and cultural.
... Although Houran et al. (2019aHouran et al. ( , 2019b presented evidence that the contents of encounter experiences are consistently structured across percipients, their particular attribution or interpretation ostensibly follows from the sociocultural context in which the experience occurs (Evans, 1987;Hess, 1991;Houran, 2000). This tendency dovetails with characterizations of ghostly episodes as narrative constructions that are actively shaped by attitudinal and normative influences (Childs & Murray, 2010;Eaton, 2019;Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2019. Thus, non-paranormal contexts are expected to skew the interpretation of encounter experiences towards more natural versus supernatural explanations. ...
... Similar to pre-registered studies, this tactic aimed to control for undisclosed flexibility that can lead to revisionist or false discoveries (Nosek et al., 2018). Qualitative studies are popular in the psychological literature on anomalous experiences (e.g., Childs and Murray, 2010;Drinkwater et al., 2013;Eaton, 2019), but some researchers may dismiss such findings as anecdotal information in the absence of rigorous scientific controls and numerical data. In contrast, quantitative research minimizes subjectivity in favor of objectivity by deductively forming a hypothesis derived from theory. ...
Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) denotes individuals who recurrently report various “supernatural” encounters in everyday settings ostensibly due to heightened somatic-sensory sensitivities to dis-ease states (e.g., marked but sub-clinical levels of distress), which are contextualized by paranormal beliefs and reinforced by perceptual contagion effects. This view helps to explain why these anomalous experiences often appear to be idioms of stress or trauma. We tested the validity and practical utility of the HP-S concept in an empirical study of an active and reportedly intense ghostly episode that was a clinical referral. The case centered on the life story of the primary percipient, a retired female healthcare worker. Secondary percipients included her husband and adult daughter, all of whom reported an array of benign and threatening anomalies (psychological and physical in nature) across five successive residences. Guided by prior research, we administered the family online measures of transliminality, sensory-processing sensitivity, paranormal belief, locus of control, desirability for control, and a standardized checklist of haunt-type phenomena. The primary percipient also completed a measure of adverse childhood events and supplied an event diary of her anomalous experiences. We found reasonably consistent support for HP-S from a set of quantitative observations that compared five proposed syndrome features against the family members’ psychometric profiles and the structure and contents of their anomalous experiences. Specifically, the reported anomalies both correlated with the family’s scores on transliminality and paranormal belief, as well as elicited attributions and reaction patterns aligned with threat (agency) detection. There was also some evidence of perceptual congruency among the family members’ anomalous experiences. Putative psi cannot be ruled out, but we conclude that the family’s ordeal fundamentally involved the symptoms and manifestations of thin (or “permeable”) mental boundary functioning in the face of unfavorable circumstances or overstimulating environments and subsequently acerbated by poor emotion regulation, histrionic and catastrophizing reactions, and active confirmation biases.
... The preceding ideas and interpretations are corroborated by authors who have explained the allure of ghostly experiences and paranormal tourism as promoting feelings of enchantment (Herrmann, 2014;Holloway, 2006Holloway, , 2010Schneider, 1993). Truly, ghost and haunt narratives involve enactive processes Eaton, 2019;Hill et al., 2018Hill et al., , 2019 and can help people to develop otherworldly relationships (MacKian, 2011), or encounter a magical modernity involving stimuli outside their conventional experience Jenkins, 2000). Thus, "sacred, enchanted, mystical, or supernatural" settings promote more than appeal, engagement, or attachment. ...
Tourism-hospitality businesses sometimes market consumer experiences in terms of “enchantment,” although this phrase is often used vaguely or variously. Therefore, we approached the issue conceptually by examining prior research on the experience economy, extraordinary architectural experiences, and accounts of paranormal tourism. Our critical overview suggests that we are dealing with a phenomenon rooted in environment-person bidirectional (or enactive) effects. We subsequently argue for the term “situational-enchantment” to denote a distinct and progressive arousal state characterized by dis-ease or dissonance that facilitates a sense of connection or oneness with a “transcendent agency, ultimate reality, or Other.” An iterative Content Category Dictionary exercise based on target literature specifically mapped this hypothesized state in terms of five competing features: (a) Emotional, (b) Sensorial, (c) Timeless, (d) Rational, and (e) Transformative. We frame this phenomenology within Funder’s Realistic Accuracy Model, which we propose drives an epiphanic process involving attentional, perceptual, attributional, and social mechanisms. Our synthesis of the multidisciplinary literature in this domain helps to clarify the nature and relevance of enchantment as an individual difference that varies across people and is subject to a variety of contextual influences. Accordingly, we discuss how this hypothesized state can be manipulated to an extent within certain people by creating or reinforcing conditions that spur experiential and rational engagement with ambiguous or unexpected stimuli.
... Rather, the social science literature contains many studies based on data from participants in ghost tours, legend-tripping, or related excursions. In this way, researchers have been able to explore various orthodox issues such as belief formation and maintenance or the quality of immersive visitor experiences within ecologically valid settings (e.g., Eaton, 2019;Langston & Hubbard, 2019;Pharino et al., 2018). ...
Situational-enchantment is a hypothesized arousal state encompassing a potent sense of connection or oneness with a “transcendent power or ultimate reality.” Qualitative research previously suggested that this individual difference involves dissonance around ideations with competing “Emotional, Sensorial, Timeless, Rational, and Transformative” themes. We tested this presumed phenomenology via an online convenience sample of 79 men and 101 women who reported memorable ghostly experiences during a paranormal tour within the last 12 months. Respondents provided a global enchantment rating of their anomalous experiences, as well as selected specific descriptors from a set of 30 items on an adjective checklist (ACL). Analyses revealed that 21 items on the Enchantment-ACL formed a Rasch hierarchy of generally “pleasant” themes that was free of response biases related to age, sex, and latency (time since the “enchanting” experience). This structured sequence contained all five experiential themes, and the resulting Enchantment-ACL measure of this phenomenon showed good internal reliability (Rasch reliability = .82) and a positive correlation with global enchantment ratings ( r = .51, p < .001). The other nine items formed a separate factor containing overtly “unpleasant” ideations. We discuss the results within a cognitive dissonance framework for situational-enchantment, although future research must explore potential nuances related to the construct’s dimensionality and the specific role of pleasant versus unpleasant ideations.
... This is because the dominant "frames" (Goffman 1974) of science and organized religion have the "cultural authority" (Hufford 1995) to classify the supernatural as operating outside of accepted systems (Baker et al. 2016;Berger [1967Berger [ ] 1990Force 2018). This marginalization of "outsider" spiritual groups fosters them to create their own "idiocultures" (Baker et al. 2016;Eaton 2019;Fine 1979), and to have their own "plausibility structures" (Berger [1967(Berger [ ] 1990 to assign meaning in their communities and to clarify in-group membership. ...
In the following article, I explore how tarot card readers (and other spiritualist workers) “control the future” to heal and empower their clients, emphasizing the porous roles of therapy and advocacy that assorted “psychics” perform. I examine how these workers navigate interactional trials, including misassigned identity, ethical challenges, and interactional boundaries in readings at psychic fairs and in private practice. Tarot card readers and other “psychics” are independent contractors and (self)help workers that are cast aside from both science and religion, labor outside of conventional credentialing systems, and are reputationally marginalized. I argue that this cultural and structural marginalization allows these “libertarian spiritualist” workers to construct amalgamate identities, exercising role flexibility as readers and querents, and healers and survivors.
... Lastly, my own work argues that many participants in paranormal investigation gain or strengthen a spiritual worldview through their engagement with the practice. In other publications, I also highlight some of the same themes explored in this book, such as the scientifc/sensitive divide within the subculture ) and the construction of narrative accounts of what "really" happened during an investigation (Eaton 2019). This body of research has signifcantly grown over the past decade and holds great promise as a means of better understanding why people believe in ghosts, why and how they get involved in paranormal investigation, the methods they use to search for evidence of ghosts, and what, ultimately, they get out of their participation. ...
... Skeptical readers should not trivialize these anomalous experiences because they can affect several facets of people's lives. Fundamentally, belief in ghosts informs an individual's religio-cultural worldview (Dyne, 2010;Eaton, 2015Eaton, , 2019Hill et al., 2018). One journalist detailed an interesting and practical example of this during the COVID-19 pandemic (Purwanto, 2020). ...
This paper contains a narrative overview of the past 20-years of environmental research on anomalous experiences attributed to “haunted house.” This exercise served as a much-needed update to an anthology of noteworthy overviews on ghosts, haunts, and poltergeists (Houran and Lange, 2001b). We also considered whether new studies had incorporated certain recommendations made in this anthology. Our search revealed a relative paucity of studies (n = 66) on environmental factors that ostensibly stimulate haunt-type experiences. This literature was diverse and often lacked methodological consistency and adherence to the prior suggestions. However, critical consideration of the content revealed a recurring focus on six ambient variables: embedded (static) cues, lighting levels, air quality, temperature, infrasound, and electromagnetic fields. Their relation to the onset or structure of witness reports showed mostly null, though sometimes inconsistent or weak outcomes. However, such research as related to haunts is arguably in its infancy and new designs are needed to account better for environmental and architectural phenomenology. Future studies should therefore address four areas: (i) more consistent and precise measurements of discrete ambient variables; (ii) the potential role of “Gestalt influences” that involve holistic environment-person interactions; (iii) individual differences in attentional or perceptual sensitivities of percipients to environmental variables; and (iv) the role of attitudinal and normative influences in the interpretation of environmental stimuli. Focused scrutiny on these issues should clarify the explanatory power of evolutionary-environmental models for these and related anomalous experiences.
... Stated These perspectives fundamentally argue that haunt experiences and their underlying narratives are best viewed through the lens of "systems (ecosystem or biopsychosocial) theory"; i.e., environment-person bidirectional influences (e.g., Mash, 1989). We acknowledge that other researchers have drawn on similar premises in conceptualizing ghost narratives as (i) broad sociocultural constructs (see Baker & Bader, 2014;Eaton, 2018), and (ii) having features which promote experiential engagement (i.e., Annett et al., 2016). However, to our knowledge, our VAPUS model is more robust and comprehensive in that it uniquely characterizes the cumulative branding power of these narratives as an interplay among five specific features, as we explore next. ...
We continue our integrative review of nearly 20 years of sociocultural research and popular trends on ghosts, haunted houses, and poltergeists (collectively termed "ghostly episodes") that commenced in Part I (Hill, O'Keeffe, Laythe, Dagnall, Drinkwater, Ventola, & Houran, 2018). That analysis characterized the powerful brand personality of ghost narratives in terms of their Versatility, Adaptability, Participatory nature, Universality, and Scalability. This VAPUS model emphasizes that these narratives serve as cultural memes which, in part, reflect interpersonal or group dynamics. We illustrate these themes via three analyses that explore the role of the media, the use of technology to legitimatize amateur organizations, and the resulting conflict between popularized ghost-hunting groups, skeptic organizations, and parapsychology. Optimistically, we expect the VAPUS model can guide the development of new means or methods that aim to delineate and even bridge some of the competing social forces that shape or sustain these narratives in the popular culture and thereby constructively advance research in this domain.
The contemporary “paranormal turn”, that is the fascination with mystery and occult in contemporary popular imaginary gave cultural relevance to the figure of ghost. An example of this trend is the practice of ghost hunting, the investigation conducted by amateur groups in alleged haunted places. This paper focuses on an ethnography carried out within Italian ghost hunter teams aimed at studying the ways in which the liminal experience of encountering ghosts is realized. The analysis shows how such an encounter is not reducible to spiritual beliefs, but is the outcome of a process of construction of a dimension that eludes the five-sense perception through strategies implemented in the social interaction by which human actors confer agency to non-human entities, defining two forms of the presence of ghosts in the field: “acted” and “agent” presence.
Ghost hunting events are a popular leisure activity providing visitors with an immersive dark experience, connecting them with the dark heritage and supernatural legends of a place. This research note aims to conceptualize the role of storytelling in the promotion, production, and participatory aspects of ghost hunting events. In doing so, the article argues that ghost hunting events draw upon coproductive and experiential forms of storytelling, and proposes a cyclical model to illustrate an ongoing, iterative process of narrative construction. As this research note suggests, preexisting narratives framed by the dark history and supernatural legends of a place help to frame promotional discourse and the production of events. However, extraordinary personal experiences, mediumistic intuition, and the collective interpretation of unusual activity shape and transform existing narratives. As such, this research note concludes that ghost hunting events are shaped by, and shape, storytelling through interactive and interpretative processes.
This paper explores the new forms assumed by ghost apparitions, through the screens of new communication and information technologies. It analyses the diversity of the manifestations and the channels through which these new ghosts circulate. It opens up a reflection on the continuities and ruptures of the relationships between technologies and spectres. Moreover, the paper ends up in a discussion on the status of the "spectre" in the context of hyper-mediatised societies. keywords: ghosts ; screens ; hauntologie ; spectrality ; ontology C'est un fait déjà bien établi et documenté que le développement extrêmement rapide des technologies de la communication et de l'information a généré une réorganisation plus ou moins profonde, toutefois, des systèmes de pensée et d'action sur le monde qu'en anthropologie il est coutume d'appeler "cultures" (Escobar 1994). Dans un monde où les écrans ont colonisé les agencements matériels dans lesquels vivent et s'expriment les humains, où les formes culturelles sont recalibrées par la multitude des technologies qui opèrent désormais dans tous les compartiments de l'existence au point qu'on a évoqué la révolution numérique comme une rupture anthropologique majeure pour l'humanité (Rieffel 2014). Laissant ici de côté l'immense domaine des transformations enregistrées et étudiées dans le domaine de l'impact de ce processus sur les formes culturelles, l'organisation économique ou les dynamiques sociales, c'est sous l'angle de l'anthropologie toutefois qu'il sera ici question d'un domaine en pleine effervescence et émergent: celui des rapports entre technologies digitales et apparitions spectrales-aussi intégré dans le paradigme de l'hauntology. Que les avancées technologiques ont donné lieu à des adaptations dans le domaine des religions établies, le fait est désormais bien documenté et continue de l'être: les grandes organisations religieuses comme les nouvelles mouvances spirituelles ou "ectaires" se sont en effet largement approprié la vaste gamme de technologies d'information et les nouveaux circuits médiatiques. Les ajustements, mutatis mutandis, à ces nouvelles contraintes matérielles et communicationnelles forment un domaine d'étude assez bien documenté à ce jour (voir les volumineux travaux de Heidi Campbell, aux Etats-Unis). De la même manière, mais avec une étape supplémentaire vers ce qui fera le coeur de cet article, les formes les plus évanescentes cependant particulièrement signifiantes en contexte de digitalisation avancée comme le sont nos sociétés, la magie (surnaturelle) sous ses différentes formes (traditionnelle ou réinventée) a aussi trouvé sa voie (ambivalente, car elle peut être véhiculée par les technologies ou générée par elles…) au sein de l'écosystème des médias et des technologies digitales (Obadia 2020). Pour autant, dans la multitude des images qui se déploient dans cet écosystème sociotechnique, il en est certaines qui intéressent anthropologues et technologues, pour des raisons identiques, qui relèvent également d'une certaine approche par les croyances, mais qui s'inscrivent dans un univers de perceptions et de conceptions encore plus nébuleux: cet univers se construit autour des images "fantômes" (ghost images) qui sont autant d'apparitions fugaces, troubles et troublantes, parce qu'elles ne ressortissent pas à l'idée d'une mécanique bien huilée des technologies digitales, dont sont vantées l'efficacité et les ouvrent la voie à des processus de
Fieldwork studies of "haunted houses" can offer ecologically valid insights for model-building or theory-formation in consciousness studies from parapsychological and conventional perspectives. The interactionist hypothesis asserts that these anomalous episodes are a phenomenon rooted in environment-person bidirectional influences. Although prior research has examined the role of various physical factors in some haunt cases, relatively recent findings in environmental psychology suggest the potential involvement of six "Gestalt influences" that transcend discrete variables as conscious-or unconscious-stimulants of witness experiences. These meta-patterns in the psychology of spaces or settings involve: (i) affordance, (ii) atmosphere, (iii) ambiguity and threat anticipatory processes, (iv) immersion and presence, (v) legibility, and (vi) percipient memory and associations. Thus, haunted houses might be variants of "enchanted spaces or extraordinary architectural experiences." New research designs are thus recommended to scrutinise the presence and impact of Gestalt influences and enactive processes in parapsychological contexts.
In this article I look at Chilean paranormal investigators in the capital—Santiago—and their apparatuses. I argue that these recording devices appear somehow as “vibrant” things, but they work in conjunction with others creating articulate living worlds. The first argument is that these articulations are made salient through sonic atmospheres—universes of sound that envelope a particular temporal moment, and that escape any single person’s volition or control. These atmospheres create sonic reverberations, in effect, momentary cosmologies, that bend, curve, and extend into the lives of the investigators that engage with them. My second argument is that these sonic atmospheres create worlds that are not taken for granted but subject to controversy, varying interpretations and sometimes, stabilizing concordances, and that need to be “transduced”.
Crop circles, which are intricate geometric patterns cut in fields of grain, have taken on spiritual significance for thousands of people across the globe. Based on field work in southwest England and interviews with believers, I analyze the socially constructed bases of this form of “New Age” spirituality. Using a symbolic interactionist framework, I illustrate how believers define crop circles as spiritual using subjective and normative rationality. Crop circle culture furthers this construction by providing a normative foundation with which to understand and experience the circles, as well as a basis of legitimizing this intersubjective reality to skeptical outsiders. In these ways, and others, spiritual experience is constructed, maintained, and defended by the individual in a subcultural context.
Although belief in ghosts or analogous concepts is prevalent cross-culturally, including in contemporary Western cultures, social scientific treatments of spirit belief and experience often dismiss such views as superstitious, or overlook this dimension of culture completely. Using mixed methods, we examine ghost belief, experience, and media consumption, as well as the practice of 'ghost hunting' in the United States. Results from a national survey demonstrate that these beliefs and practices are common and concentrated strongly among younger generations of Americans, especially moderately religious 'dabblers.' Fieldwork with multiple groups centered on 'hunting' ghosts reveals several notable themes, including rhetorical appeals to both science and religion, magical rites, the extensive use of technology to mediate evidence and experiences of ghosts, and the narrative construction of hauntings. We argue that the inherent liminality of spirits as cultural constructs accounts for their persistence, power, and continual recurrence. Résumé Bien que la croyance liée aux fantômes ou à des concepts analogues est courante dans de nombreuses cultures, y compris les cultures occidentales contemporaines, les traitements sociaux et scientifiques qui lui sont réservés la relèguent au rang de
The need for an integrated social constructivist approach towards the study of science and technology is outlined. Within such a programme both scientific facts and technological artefacts are to be understood as social constructs. Literature on the sociology of science, the science-technology relationship, and technology studies is reviewed. The empirical programme of relativism within the sociology of scientific knowledge and a recent study of the social construction of technological artefacts are combined to produce the new approach. The concepts of `interpretative flexibility' and `closure mechanism', and the notion of `social group' are developed and illustrated by reference to a study of solar physics and a study of the development of the bicycle. The paper concludes by setting out some of the terrain to be explored in future studies.
In the 1980s research on men shifted from studying the "male sex role" and masculinity as a singular trait to studying how men enact diverse masculinities. This research has examined men's behavior as gendered beings in many contexts, from intimate relationships to the workplace to global politics. We consider the strengths and weaknesses of the multiple masculinities approach, proposing that further insights into the social construction of gender and the dynamics of male domination can be gained by focusing analytic attention on manhood acts and how they elicit deference from others. We interpret the literature in terms of what it tells us about how males learn to perform manhood acts, about how and why such acts vary, and about how manhood acts reproduce gender inequality. We end with suggestions for further research on the practices and processes through which males construct the category "men" and themselves as its members.
While the sociological analysis of personal stories is becoming more sophisticated, it would benefit from a refined appreciation for narrative practice. The theme of this article is that the coherence of stories and the experiences they convey are reflexively related to the manifold activities and the increasingly diverse conditions of storytelling. Drawing on ethnographically assembled story material, we offer an empirically sensitizing vocabulary to illustrate how practice constitutes coherence through the interplay of narrative composition and the local conditions of storytelling. The vocabulary high-lights the growing need to think of personal stories and their coherence as an active ensemble of narrative practice, now “owned” as much by the diverse auspices of story-telling as by the storyteller (Alasuutari 1997).
Ghosts and the supernatural appear throughout modern culture, in any number of entertainment, commercial, and other contexts. Popular media's commodified representations of ghosts can be quite different from what people believe about them, based on tradition or direct experience. Belief and tradition and the popular or commercial nevertheless continually feed off each other. They frequently share space in how people think about the supernatural.In Haunting Experiences, three well-known folklorists broaden the discussion of ghost lore by examining it from multiple angles in various modern contexts. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas take ghosts seriously. They draw on contemporary scholarship that emphasizes the basis of belief in experience and the usefulness of ghost stories. And they look closely at the narrative role of such lore in matters such as socialization and gender. Together, they unravel the complex mix of mass media, commodification, and popular culture that today puts old spirits into new contexts.
LivingTV's flagship series, Most Haunted, has been haunting the satellite network since 2002. The set-up of the series is straightforward: a team of investigators, including a historian, a parapsychologist, and “spiritualist medium” Derek Acorah, “legend-trip,” spending the night at some location within the United Kingdom that is reputed to be haunted, with the hopes of catching on video concrete proof of the existence of ghosts. However, unlike other reality television or true-life supernatural television shows, Most Haunted includes and addresses the audience less as a spectator and more as an active participant in the ghost hunt. Watching Most Haunted, we are directed not so much to accept or reject the evidence provided, as to engage in the debate over the evidence's veracity. Like legend-telling in its oral form, belief in or rejection of the truth-claims of the story are less central than the possibility of the narrative's truth—a position that invites debates about those truth-claims. This paper argues that Most Haunted, in its premise and structure, not only depicts or represents legend texts (here ghost stories), but engages the audience in the debates about the status of its truth-claims, thereby bringing this mass-mediated popular culture text closer to the folkloristic, legend-telling dynamic than other similar shows.
The demarcation of science from other intellectual activities-long an analytic problem for philosophers and sociologists-is here examined as a practical problem for scientists. Construction of a boundary between science and varieties of non-science is useful for scientists' pursuit of professional goals: acquisition of intellectual authority and career opportunities; denial of these resources to "pseudoscientists"; and protection of the autonomy of scientific research from political interference. "Boundary-work" describes an ideological style found in scientists' attempts to create a public image for science by contrasting it favorably to non-scientific intellectual or technical activities. Alternative sets of characteristics available for ideological attribution to science reflect ambivalences or strains within the institution: science can be made to look empirical or theoretical, pure or applied. However, selection of one or another description depends on which characteristics best achieve the demarcation in a way that justifies scientists' claims to authority or resources. Thus, "science" is no single thing: its boundaries are drawn and redrawn inflexible, historically changing and sometimes ambiguous ways.
Following interactionist theory, this study argues that cultural creation and usage can be examined by conceptualizing cultural forms as originating in a small-group context. Those cultural elements which characterize an interacting group are termed the idioculture of the group. This approach focuses on the content of small-group interaction, and suggests that the meanings of cultural items in a small group must be considered in order to comprehend their continued existence as communication. Five characteristics of cultural items affect which items will become part of a group culture. Cultural forms may be created and continue to be utilized in situations if they are known to members of the interacting group, usable in the course of group interaction, functional in supporting group goals and individual needs, appropriate in supporting the status hierarchy of the group, and triggered by events which occur in group interaction. These elements have impact only through the interpretations of group members of their situations. Support for this approach is drawn from a participant observation study of Little League baseball teams.
This paper introduces, defines, and discusses a new concept, the disclaimer. The disclaimer is an interactional tactic employed by actors faced with upcoming events or acts which threaten to disrupt emergent meanings or discredit cathected situational identities. Its function is to predefine such problematic events for others in a manner which reduces their salience as interactional cues. Like "accounts" and "quasi-theories," the disclaimer belongs to a class of events, here called "aligning actions," which routinely serve to preserve situational definitions in the face of disruptive lines of conduct. At a broader level, it is suggested that cultural continuity rests in large part upon such aligning actions.
Scientists give conflicting interpretations about scientific work - drawing alternatively from the contingent repertoire and the empiricist repertoire (both discourses). Contingent, which is more common in interviews and informal talk, calls attention to the personal battles, mistakes, disagreements of scientific work and is very flexible, vague, and imprecise. Empiricist, which is more common in articles and publications, emphasizes the impersonality of scientific work. Discourse is context-dependant.
The ethnographic study performed by Bruno Latour engaged him in the world of the scientific laboratory to develop an understanding of scientific culture through observations of their daily interactions and processes. Latour assumed a scientific perspective in his study; observing his participants with the "same cold, unblinking eye" that they use in their daily research activities. He familiarized himself with the laboratory by intense focus on "literary inscription", noting that the writing process drives every activity in the laboratory. He unpacked the structure of scientific literature to uncover its importance to scientists (factual knowledge), how scientists communicate, and the processes involved with generating scientific knowledge (use of assays, instrumentation, documentation). The introduction by Jonas Salk stated that Latour's study could increase public understanding of scientists, thereby decreasing the expectations laid on them, and the general fear toward them. [Teri, STS 901-Fall; only read Ch. 2]
In this paper we address Hasting and Manning’s (2004) call for analysis of relational aspects of the performance and production of social identity, and in particular acknowledgement of the role of the other, or alterity, in identity work. Drawing from methods in the micro sociological study of social interaction, we examine a corpus of video recordings of stage demonstrations of mediumship. These video clips were posted on the internet by the participating mediums. Our analyses focus on various communicative practices in the setting of the demonstration by which a particular other – in this case, the spirits – are invoked, and the rhetorical and inferential consequences that follow for the mediums’ claims to authenticity and authority.
21st century television and the Internet are awash in content regarding amateur paranormal investigators and research groups. These groups proliferated after reality investigation programs appeared on television. Exactly how many groups are active in the U.S. at any time is not known. The Internet provides an ideal means for people with niche interests to find each other and organize activities. This study collected information from 1000 websites of amateur research and investigation groups (ARIGs) to determine their location, area of inquiry, methodology and, particularly, to determine if they state that they use science as part of their mission, methods or goals. 57.3% of the ARIGs examined specifically noted or suggested use of science as part of the groups' approach to investigation and research. Even when not explicit, ARIGs often used science-like language, symbols and methods to describe their groups' views or activities. Yet, non-scientific and subjective methods were described as employed in conjunction with objective methods. Furthermore, what were considered scientific processes by ARIGs did not match with established methods and the ethos of the scientific research community or scientific processes of investigation. ARIGs failed to display fundamental understanding regarding objectivity, methodological naturalism, peer review, critical thought and theoretical plausibility. The processes of science appear to be mimicked to present a serious and credible reputation to the non-scientific public. These processes are also actively promoted in the media and directly to the local public as "scientific". These results highlight the gap between the scientific community and the lay public regarding the understanding of what it means to do science and what criteria are necessary to establish reliable knowledge about the world.
The paper analyses an interview describing how K came to be defined by her friends as mentally ill. The method of analysis assumes that the structure of the conceptual scheme `mental illness' which the reader uses in recognizing `mental illness' is isomorphic with that organizing the text and hence is discoverable `in' it. The full text of the interview is presented as the data. The analysis explicates the interpretation of the text as a method of reading. The text is found to provide instructions for its interpretation and for the authorization of its facticity. K's mental illness is to be located in the collection of instances of K's behaviour which the interview records. How is behaviour to be described as `mentally ill type' behaviour? It is suggested that the interview as a whole organizes a `cutting-out' procedure whereby K's behaviour is presented as making sense neither to her friends nor to the reader of the text. The procedure involves showing for each instance of her behaviour as well as for the collection as a whole that K's behaviour is not properly provided for by relevant social rules or definitions of the situation. To be recognizable as `mentally ill type' behaviour examples of K's actions must be constituted as anomalies rather than as deviations from a norm or rule.
The scientific literature can be used to construct facts or to deconstruct them. The formal journals construct by presenting maximally `demodalized' accounts of experiment. The more popular journals are licensed to present more than this, but usually, where they do provide contingent details of scientists' work, these are details of life away from the laboratory bench. Sometimes, popular journals use their license to present contingent details of work at the laboratory bench, and this has a deconstructing effect on the scientific results presented. This analysis emerges from a consideration of the role of the literature from an active `construction of scientific knowledge' perspective. The work of the `Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Claims of the Paranormal' and its journal are then analyzed with these themes in mind. The Committee sometimes presents itself as revealing the results of its own experiments, and sometimes uses its journal to deconstruct others' work. The cases of `Remote Viewing' and the astrological `Mars Effect' are discussed. The analysis bears out the `active' view as regards the scientific literature. Also, members of the Committee are seen to take up the active view as their experience of controversial science grows.
This article reports some findings from a study of verbal interaction from sittings between members of the public and mediums: people who claim to be able to talk to the dead on behalf of the living. Instead of trying to debunk the ontological status of the mediums' claimed powers and the existence of the afterlife, the article examines mediums' discourse as a form of institutional interaction. It focuses on instances in which mediums report the words of their spirit contacts in their sittings with clients. It is argued that this is a key practice by which mediums establish the basis of a favourable assessment of the authenticity of their powers. The analysis examines the recurrent organizational properties of utterances in which the spirits' words are introduced into the sitting, and describes some of the inferential or rhetorical tasks addressed by these reports.
In this article, the author presents findings based on her research on BlueSky, an online interactive textbased forum. She discusses BlueSky participants' online performances of gendered and raced identities. Participants interpret their own and others' identities within the context of expectations and assumptions derived from offline U.S. culture, as well as from their membership in various computer-related subcultures. Given the predominance of white men on BlueSky, such identity interpretations also rely on expectations concerning masculinity and whiteness. The author explores BlueSky participants' understandings of themselves as “nerds” and considers the implications of this nerd identity for their relationship to hegemonic masculinity, especially to expectations of heterosexuality. Analyzing online identity performances in this way provides information pertaining not just to online interaction but to a better understanding of the social construction of gendered and raced identities more generally.
Recently I presented, with others, a general statement of the sequence of social and intellectual processes which characterize the emergence, growth and final decline of specific areas of scientific endeavour. A central concern of my own research has been to examine the extent to which scientific activity in one particular area, that associated with research into the pulsar phenomenon, corresponds to the sequence of processes described in the theoretical statement. An obvious preliminary objective of my research was to write an outline history of the intellectual development of the pulsar area. Although many of the methodological problems relating to the investigation of the social development of scientific specialties have already been examined it is less widely realized that methodological problems of equal difficulty occur in the analysis of the intellectual development of specialties, even though much of the basic data can be obtained without intervention in the on-going social process. In this paper I report my
attempt to describe the intellectual history of pulsar astronomy. When I began this part of my study I was unaware of any special methodological problems. As I progressed, I not only became acutely aware that there were such problems, but I also realized they would prevent me from carrying out
my original intention of providing a straightforward chronological history of this particular intellectual
development.
Using data from participant observations, shelter documents, and intake interviews, this article examines the social construction of service-worthy clients at an emergency shelter for the homeless. The concepts of narrative editing and client work are applied to underscore how staff-client interactions lead to organizationally useful accounts of homelessness. Analysis of the data reveals four narrative editing styles: collaborative, directive, confrontational, and dismissive. These findings empirically demonstrate variations in how service worthiness is achieved, or denied. It is argued that the homeless profile is not unilaterally and uniformly dictated by institutional agents. Rather, under the organizational auspices of the shelter, clients and staff are jointly involved in constructing the local relevance of homelessness.
Sociological studies sensitive to the issue of place are rarely labeled thus, and at the same time there are far too many of them to fit in this review. It may be a good thing that this research is seldom gathered up as a “sociology of place,” for that could ghettoize the subject as something of interest only to geographers, architects, or environmental historians. The point of this review is to indicate that sociologists have a stake in place no matter what they analyze, or how: The works cited below emplace inequality, difference, power, politics, interaction, community, social movements, deviance, crime, life course, science, identity, memory, history. After a prologue of definitions and methodological ruminations, I ask: How do places come to be the way they are, and how do places matter for social practices and historical change?
This is a study of the verbal accounts of paranormal investigators. The focus of analysis is upon the rhetorical organization of event descriptions in ways that establish the factual status of reports in order to highlight the inherent problems associated with current understandings of reports of spontaneous cases. Drawing upon a corpus of interviews conducted with six investigation group members, analysis was conducted using discursive psychology, in particular the rhetorical approach, with an examination of the ways in which accounts were presented and the interactional consequences of describing events in particular ways. Analysis revealed how speakers worked to imply the paranormal status of events while avoiding explicitly labelling experiences as “paranormal.” By focussing upon the production of event descriptions, the construction of intersubjectivity and the importance of the context in which accounts are elicited, the current work has implications for the way in which parapsychologists currently utilize and understand accounts of spontaneous cases.
The personal narratives told by a North Carolina woman contribute to our understanding of both the relationship of personal narratives to the overall speech economy of an area and gender‐specific narrative technique. Reported speech provides the means for this narrator to bring local speech practices into her stories where they support her claims for individual worth and the value of women's work without directly contravening local prohibitions against self‐promotion. Bessie Eldreth's narrative style displays features previously attributed to both male and female narrators in Anglo‐American culture, suggesting how she works strategically within the formal and moral structures available to her. By combining a performance approach and a close analysis of narrative structure with an understanding of cultural background, this analysis reveals that the relation between community norms and the individual goals of a teller of personal narratives may be more problematic than usually described and that reported speech is a powerful tool for negotiating such conflicts.
ABSTRACT Sociology requires a robust theory of how local circumstances create social order. When we analyze social structures not recognizing that they depend on groups with collective pasts and futures that are spatially situated and that are based on personal relations, we avoid a core sociological dimension: the importance of local context in constituting social worlds. Too often this has been the sociological stance, both in micro-sociological studies that examine interaction as untethered from local traditions and in research that treats culture as autonomous from action and choice. Building on theories of action, group dynamics, and micro-cultures, I argue that a sociology of the local solves critical theoretical problems. The local is a stage on which social order gets produced and a lens for understanding how particular forms of action are selected. Treating ethnographic studies as readings of ongoing cultures, I examine how the continuing and referential features of group life (spatial arenas, relations, shared pasts) generate action and argue that local practices provide the basis for cultural extension, influencing societal expectations through the linkages among groups.
Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation
- R C Finucane
Alas, Poor Ghost!”: Traditions of Belief in Story and Discourse
- Gillian Bennett