Loyd Auerbach (Weinberg ’78) became interested in parapsychology, the study of psychic, ghostly and mediumistic experiences, at age 12, when he discovered books about the topic in his hometown library, he said.
As an anthropology major at Northwestern, Auerbach said he learned about supernatural beliefs and historic witch crazes, building a foundation for his graduate work in parapsychology.
He most recently wrote the foreword for “Haunted World: 101 Ghostly Places and Encounters,” a new book by author Theresa Cheung that offers readers an introduction into the world of parapsychology.
Released in September, the book was not written for academics or serious parapsychologists, according to Cheung. The author said she wants to engage those new to parapsychology — a field she said dates back to the late 1800s — by showcasing well-reported hauntings and dispelling myths around them.
She said she hopes her work will encourage people to become “citizen parapsychologists” who can later learn from people like Auerbach, whom she calls her “walking encyclopedia of the psychic world.”
In the book’s foreword, Auerbach discusses how ghost hunting TV shows have inspired interest in “paranormal tourism.” However, he emphasizes these TV shows don’t reflect the reality of field investigations.
Parapsychological information gathered over the last 140 years shows that experiences with ghosts are not scary, typically happen in the daytime and are rarely captured on camera, Auerbach said.
Weinberg sophomore Kenneth Stewart grew up watching “Paranormal Activity,” a found footage horror film, at his dad’s house. Stewart said “Paranormal Activity,” among other ghostly TV shows and films, may stray from the realities of hauntings and field investigations because paranormal experiences are easy to “dramatize” and “make profitable.”
“It’s really easy to tap into people’s desire for something more paranormal and more extreme than what reality might suggest,” he said.
Auerbach said he wishes more people knew the content in ghost hunting TV shows still falls under the realm of parapsychology, even if these TV shows overlook the facts of field investigations to prioritize entertainment.
Parapsychology encompasses anything dealing with consciousness surviving death, including extrasensory perception, ghosts, apparitions and poltergeists, Auerbach said. He added that ghost stories are part of humans’ DNA.
“Humans have been telling ghost stories, probably around campfires and other places since we could tell stories,” he said. “There’s a great oral tradition in so many different cultures and certainly a written tradition as well.”
“Haunted World” features Chicago-area cemeteries with ghost stories of their own: Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery has the Madonna, who is often seen walking through the cemetery with a baby. Resurrection Mary, who was killed alongside Archer Avenue in her dancing shoes, not only haunts Resurrection Cemetery but has been spotted at a nearby ballroom as well.
Cheung said it’s often the tragic stories of the people themselves, rather than the ghostly figures, that are the real haunting.
“A cemetery is always going to have these stories and these tragedies and rumors going around it, because just the very nature of a haunting, very nature of a cemetery, is evocative of life after death,” Cheung said.
Despite “Haunted World’s” focus on paranormal activity in public places, Auerbach said most parapsychologists study hauntings in residential spaces. The second edition of “A Paranormal Casebook,” released in March, delves into his own residential cases.
Auerbach said many parapsychologists, himself included, don’t do the “tourism thing” like TV ghost hunters. Instead, they focus on helping people in distress from possibly paranormal experiences.
“Our perspective is to try to help people, either through education or explanation, whether it’s paranormal, or normal, or sort of normal,” he said.
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