Ep 49: Haunted People Syndrome and Other Studies with Prof. Brian Laythe

If you’re into haunted houses, real-life ghost research, Western occult history, psychic phenomena, or just want to know what serious scientists actually think about spirits, this is the episode you don’t skip. Step into one of the most mind-bending episodes of Splintered Spirits yet, as Gary and John sit down with Dr. Brian Laythe, social psychologist, parapsychologist, Director of the Institute for the Study of Religious and Anomalous Experience, and co-author of Ghosted!: Exploring the Haunting Reality of Paranormal Encounters. Brian has spent decades at the crossroads of science, magick, theology, and hauntings, studying everything from the Golden Dawn and Western esotericism to real-world ghost encounters, ESP, and possession cases. In this conversation, he reveals how he went from “in the closet” paranormal nerd to one of the leading researchers publishing haunting and ESP studies in mainstream scientific journals, and why psychology as a field is often more hostile to the paranormal than physics. If you’ve ever wondered whether ghost experiences are “all in your head” or genuinely supernatural, this episode is your rabbit hole. Brian breaks down his Survey of Strange Events: a mathematically built hierarchy of haunting phenomena that shows subjective feelings (“I felt a presence”) and objective events (voices, objects moving, apparitions) are not separate categories, but one backbone of paranormality that repeats across hauntings, gang-stalking accounts, and creepy imaginary friends. He then walks Gary and John through Haunted People Syndrome, his six-stage model explaining why some people are haunted everywhere they go, how high “transliminality” (thin psychic boundaries) supercharges paranormal encounters, and why belief systems and social contagion can turn one “oh crap” moment into a full-blown, life-shaping haunting. Along the way, you’ll hear jaw-dropping field stories from infamous locations like Black Moon Manor and Whispers Estate; sites where Brian’s team locked down environments, ran A++ level EMF and geomagnetic monitoring, and still captured anomalies that defy easy debunking. Don’t just dive into the conversation with this one, become a part of it. Visit splinteredspirits.com and be a part of our study with Prof. Brian Laythe by taking our “ARE YOU A GHOST MAGNET?” Survey! ‪@Santaparanormal‬