Dr. Andrew Nichols is an American psychologist, parapsychologist and well-known investigator of apparitions, haunted houses, and other purportedly paranormal phenomena¹. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the professional Parapsychological Association, and is the founder and Executive Director of the American Institute of Parapsychology. Over more than three decades of research, Nichols has investigated several hundred cases of alleged ghosts, hauntings and poltergeists, and conducted extensive studies on paranormal dream experiences². Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The American Psychological Association (APA) is a professional organization representing psychology in the US. It has around 150,000 members and an annual budget of around $70m. ... The Parapsychological Association was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by J.B. Rhine. ...

Although his research has focused primarily upon investigations of alleged haunted houses and poltergeists, Nichols is regarded as a skeptical parapsychologist, and does not believe in life after death due to insufficient persuasive evidence. He is also skeptical of most of the purported ‘evidence’ regarded by many as proof of the (objective) existence of ghosts and spirits. His analysis of thousands of alleged ‘ghost photographs’ and video and audio tape recorded ‘paranormal voices’ (EVP) has convinced him that apparitions are subjective experiences, seen only in the ‘mind’s eye’, and that ghosts cannot be photographed or recorded. Nichols does believe that extra-sensory perception (ESP) is involved in some cases of apparitions and haunts, which accounts for the fact that witnesses sometimes acquire information from such experiences which they could not have known beforehand or inferred. Nichols' assessment of the personality structure of paranormal experiencers suggests that most ghostly experiences can be explained by psychological factors such as grief, stress, or a predisposition to fantasy and suggestion³. Extra-sensory perception (ESP) is defined in parapsychology as the ability to aquire information by paranormal means. ...

Under a research grant from the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology at the University of Freiburg, Germany, Nichols was able to prove that some purportedly haunted houses are located in proximity to natural or artificial sources of unusual magnetic fields, and that these fields can trigger experiences such as sightings of ghosts, audible voices and other sounds, and a ‘sense of presence’ as well as other typical haunting-type phenomena. These unusual magnetic fields may be caused by geological features such as seismic faults or underground water sources, or by artificial factors such as proximity to high-voltage power lines. According to Nichols, such houses are essentially ‘hatcheries for ghosts’, inducing dream-like experiences which originate in the subconscious mind of the witness, but are perceived as external 'real' events.⁴

Some individuals’ brains are more sensitive to these unusual magnetic fields, which accounts for the fact that not everyone who visits or occupies a ‘haunted’ location has paranormal-type experiences. Nichols also believes that extended exposure to such fields can sensitize certain individuals so that they may begin to experience anomalous occurrences which were not noticed before. He also cautions that extended exposure to these unusual magnetic fields can have detrimental effects on the human brain and nervous system, leading to anxiety, depression, and aggressive behaviors, and on rare occasions even suicide or homicide⁵.

Nichols has also reported some success in ‘de-haunting’ houses. In one case (Roll & Nichols, 1999) on a US military base, Nichols and his team were able to de-activate a particularly disturbing haunting by shielding the occupants from anomalous magnetic fields using sheets of Mu metal, a nickel-iron alloy⁶. Mu-metal is a nickel-iron alloy (77% nickel, 15% iron, plus copper and molybdenum) that is very efficient for screening magnetic fields. ...

References:

American Institute of Parapsychology website: [1]

1. Auerbach, Loyd. Hauntings and Poltergeists. Ronin Publishing co. Oakland CA, 2004.

2. Rich, Jason. The Everything Ghost Book. Adams Media Corporation, 2001.

3. Nichols, Andrew. Psychological and Electromagnetic Aspects of Haunts. (with William Roll) Presented paper, Annual Conference of the Parapsychological Association, Freiburg, Germany. August 2000.

4. Nichols, Andrew. A Water Poltergeist in Florida: Neuropsychological and Electromagnetic Aspects. International Journal of Parapsychology, 2001

5. Nichols, Andrew. Discovery of Electromagnetic Anomalies at Two Reputedly Haunted Castles in Scandinavia. (with William Roll) Proceedings of Presented Papers, The Parapsychological Association, 1999.

6. Nichols, Andrew. A Haunting at an Army Post. (with William Roll) Proceedings of Presented Papers, The Parapsychological Association, 1999