Supernatural stirrings in dark, abandoned places…. Stories of this type are very familiar to us from books, movies, and television shows. The idea that some places can be “haunted” by spirits of the dead may seem hair-raisingly spooky. Or, perhaps it strikes you as silly and sort of old fashioned—an idea from an earlier, more superstitious time. Sure, ghosts linger on in scary storytelling. But we’ve all also heard, “There’s no such thing as ghosts!” Didn’t society leave ghost beliefs behind when we outgrew fears of warlocks and werewolves? Or do some people today still feel there are places that are haunted by phantoms?
It turns out that, yes, many millions of modern Americans believe in ghosts and haunted houses! Haunting is one of the most common kinds of paranormal belief in the U.S. and around the world.