Abstract

Discusses the need for independent control sites in haunting and poltergeist field research. Findings of field investigations of haunting and poltergeist studies are of limited value because they are not compared to the results from independent control sites, a necessary requirement for determining whether the type and frequency of anomalies have predictive validity in being specific to the target sites. Anecdotal examples and formal demonstrations reveal that freak occurrences may be more common than previously thought, and can be large in scale and complex in nature.