11m Brit adults ‘have seen ghost’
March 4th, 2011 - 4:11 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 4 (ANI): A quarter of British adults - more than 11million people - claim to have had an experience with a ghost, according to a new survey.
In the 1950s, the figure was just 7 percent, rising to 14 percent in the 1990s and 19 percent in 2003, reports the Sun.
The survey by leading psychologist and paranormal investigator Prof Richard Wiseman also showed that more women (31 percent) than men (18 percent) claimed to have experienced a ghost.
Wiseman, who does not believe in ghosts, thinks that the large number of reports of apparitions, bumps in the night, and eerie sounds may be more to do with TV and a decline in religious faith than psychic activity.
“It’s a surprisingly high figure, and it’s interesting that the proportion of people who say they believe in ghosts has remained the same as it has been for many years, which is about a third,” he said.
“Because there have been a lot of ghost shows on TV, people may just be more likely to attribute certain experiences, like hearing creaky floorboards, to ghosts. All these shows are feeding off the perception that these things actually exist and not looking at the psychological perspective,” he added.
A total of 2,400 adults across the country took part in the poll conducted by YouGov.
Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire and author of ‘Paranormality’, has investigated some of the most haunted places in the UK, including Hampton Court Palace and Edinburgh’s underground vaults. (ANI)
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