By John von Radowitz
LONDON, May 19 - A scientific ghost hunt in Edinburgh has yielded reports of apparitions, phantom footsteps, unexplained cold spots and unseen hands, it was revealed today.
Professor Richard Wiseman, who led the study at an underground network of streets beneath the city’s Royal Mile, admitted: ``Something quite odd was going on.’’
But he does not believe any of the experiences of 200 members of the public were paranormal.
He is convinced hauntings are caused by a combination of environmental and psychological factors.
The investigation focused on Mary King’s Close - a warren of streets that were sealed off from the outside world more than 200 years ago.
Today the site is maze of dark narrow alleys and remains of houses.
Mary King’s Close became entombed when Edinburgh’s Royal Exchange - now the City Chambers - was built in 1753. The top floors of the houses were demolished and the lower floors incorporated into its foundations.
The rooms of many houses still exist, and according to some reports, so do a number of their former residents.
Professor Wisemen sent groups of volunteers to four locations, without telling them that only two sites had a strong reputation for being haunted.
The aim was to compare reports from the different sites.
About 70 per cent of those visiting the haunted locations reported unusual phenomena. In contrast, 48 per cent of people exploring the locations not reputed to be haunted had spooky experiences.
At the most haunted site, where a sinister figure in black has been repeatedly seen, something strange happened to more than 80 per cent of the volunteers.
``There was a massive difference between the locations,’’ said Professor Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire.
``Sometimes people just felt very cold, but there were some quite extreme experiences - feelings of being watched, being touched and having clothing pulled, apparitions of people and animals, and footsteps. I was really surprised at the extent of the experiences.’’
Probably the strangest report was from a volunteer who complained about being stared at by a member of Professor Wiseman’s team from the end of a corridor. But no-one was there.
Experiments by the researchers showed that the two ``haunted’’ locations were significantly less humid than the other sites. This can generate a feeling of coldness, said Professor Wiseman.
There was also evidence of ``infrasound’’ - low frequency sound waves which are too deep for the human ear to pick up, but are known to produce feelings of unease.
In the most haunted site there was a continuous infrasound rumble, which may have been due to traffic overhead.
A psychological test also found that people rated photos of the haunted locations as significantly more ``ghostly’’ and sinister than the other sites, without knowing their reputation.
This suggested that subtle visual features, such as shape, lighting, or the presence of doorways, may be eliciting a sense of fear.
Professor Wiseman said: ``It could be that the ghosts were down there, but I think the explanation is primarily psychological.’’
He added that the findings from this and other ghost investigations may shed light on ``sick building’’ syndrome - unexplained feelings of uneasiness or sickness associated with certain buildings.
The results of the research will be submitted to the British Journal of Psychology, which has already published two previous ghost papers by Professor Wiseman.