Halloween is almost here! Are you curious about ghosts, zombies, and other scary monsters? When I was working on my book, Strange But True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained, I learned all sorts of fascinating and creepy facts. Here are seven of my favorites.
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Strange but True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained
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Illustrations by Gordy Wright
1. Salt frees zombies
The zombie monster has its roots in the Haitian voodoo religion. In this tradition, a “zonbi” is a person who has died and been returned to life — but without part of his or her spirit. A voodoo sorceror, called a bokor, keeps the spirit captive and controls that person. But if the zonbi tastes salt, he or she is freed. So if you’re worried about zombies, keep some salt handy.
Note: the history of the zombie/zonbi is closely tied to the history of slavery in Haiti. I strongly encourage learning more about this troubling history.
2. Everyone hallucinates
Hallucination is way more common than most people realize. You don’t have to have mental health issues or use illegal substances to see, hear, or feel things that aren’t actually there. This happens every night when you dream, and dream states can easily leak into your waking life, especially when you’re just waking up or falling asleep, or very tired, or very stressed.
Sleep paralysis is a special type of hallucination. It may occur just as you falls asleep or wake up — basically you wake up while still dreaming. You see and hear your real surroundings, while also seeing or hearing imaginary things. Meanwhile, your body can’t move and you can’t breathe deeply, because your body still thinks it’s dreaming. Sleep paralysis has been the real cause of many ghost, alien, demon, and other monster encounters throughout history.
3. The kraken really exists
It’s the giant squid. No, it’s not the size of an entire island (like the kraken of myth). But the real beast is way weirder than any story. It can grow as long as a four-story building is tall. It has three hearts, blue blood, color-changing skin, and tentacles lined with hundreds of suction cups, each lined with serrated teeth.
4. You can’t trust your memory
People who claim to have seen or experienced ghosts, aliens, bigfoot or other monsters usually aren’t lying. But that doesn’t mean any of these things really exist. See spooky fact #2 for one explanation. But there’s another culprit to consider. No matter what creepy thing a person experienced in the moment, their memory of the event probably isn’t what actually happened.
I explain this in my book: “Many people think that memory is like a video recording of an event. But unlike a video, a memory does not remain the same every time you think about it. Every time you remember something, the brain rebuilds the memory, often with new details. If someone suggests that something happened to you, even if it didn’t, you may begin to remember it happening.”
See the work of psychologist Elizabeth Loftus to learn more about how memory can be manipulated.
5. Mummy unwrapping parties actually happened
In the 19th century, Victorian high society was obsessed with ancient Egypt. Some people even held gatherings where they removed the wrappings from a real mummy in front of guests. Eventually, the idea that the relics (and remains) ofancient cultures should be preserved (and respected) put an end to this disturbing pastime.
6. You’ve experienced pareidolia
Paredolia (pair-eh-DOLE-ee-a) may sound like paranoia, but it’s not nearly as terrible. It’s the tendency to see or hear recognizable patterns in randomness. Examples include seeing faces or figures in the clouds, mistaking an odd-shaped shadow for a scary beast, or hearing words in static or random noise. Why does this happen? Because it’s super important for your brain to recognize faces, figures, and words. So sometimes it finds them when they’re not actually there. That mistake is usually better than missing them when they are there!
7. You can haunt a house
And you don’t have to die in a gruesome manner. All you have to do is tell a good story about some scary or creepy events that happened in the house. Then tell people that bad things are likely to happen to anyone who spends time there. When people expect creepy things to happen, they are much more likely to notice and experience creepy things.
Here’s why. If wind blows through an open window with a “whoosh” sound in a normal room, you don’t think twice about it. But if you hear that same sound in a room that’s supposed to be haunted, you’re much more likely to jump and worry about what it might mean. The stories people tell and the fears people hold are what actually haunt houses — not ghosts or ghouls.
Here’s a study in which researchers managed to haunt an empty room – just by telling people they might experience strange things inside.
Strange but True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained
Order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Indiebound