Ghost Hunting – Making Contact with the Supernatural?

The aim of this research project was to (1) to obtain an overview of the current situation of the ghost hunting scene in Germany, the composition of ghost hunting groups (GHGs), the specific approach to paranormal investigations (PIs), and the extraordinary experiences (ExEs) made in the process, and (2) to better understand the people who pursue this time-consuming and resource-intensive leisure activity. Ghost hunting requires a high level of commitment. We wanted to know what kind of people are drawn to it and what individual motivations the individual ghost hunters have. We also wanted to obtain information about what kind of ExEs prevail and how strong paranormal and supernatural beliefs are among those involved. To this end, we created two questionnaires, the first addressed to entire ghost hunting teams and the second at individuals. In addition to the questionnaire items we created ourselves, the latter also included a questionnaire on extraordinary experiences (Fach, PExE-II) and a questionnaire on paranormal beliefs (Schofield et al., BitSS).

Results Study 1: In many respects, GHGs follow similar models and use techniques and methods familiar from early American and English role models. However, social networks have now largely replaced traditional websites and local television programs as a place to present their own PIs. Differences emerged primarily in the second step, namely data analysis and documentation. In addition, the groups varied greatly in terms of their size and the frequency of PIs per year.

Results of Study 2: As expected, ghost hunters report more ExEs than existing comparison groups and also have more pronounced paranormal beliefs (BitSS), which is understandable given their choice of hobby. Surprisingly, 85% believe in a connection between paranormal phenomena and deceased persons, although 30% describe themselves as atheists or agnostics.  This suggests that the belief that the spirits of deceased persons can make themselves known is not necessarily linked to religious belief in a god. Unlike the clientele of the IGPP counseling service, ExEs are generally not disturbing to ghost hunters, but rather arouse curiosity and a desire for further investigation. Almost two-thirds stated that previous ExEs were a significant motivation for taking up ghost hunting.

In addition to the entertainment aspect, the possibility of “real” contact with the paranormal plays an important role for many ghost hunters, something that cannot be found in the media offerings on this topic. Their motivation ranges from scientific interest to the desire to confirm or question their own beliefs.