The Paranormal – Building Science Nexus

Ghost Paranormal Building Science Iaq

ghost paranormal building science iaqHave you seen ghosts? Ever been in a haunted house? Do some homes just give you the paranormal heebie jeebies? The building science ghostbusters are hot on the trail, so you may be able to set your mind at ease.

Have you seen ghosts? Ever been in a haunted house? Do some homes just give you the paranormal heebie jeebies? The building science ghostbusters are hot on the trail, so you may be able to set your mind at ease.

Shane Rogers, an associate professor of engineering at Clarkson University in New York, is studying the connection between indoor air quality and psychosis for explanations of the mysterious events that occur at haunted places. As it turns out, some toxic molds may cause hallucination-inducing psychosis in people, so they’re looking for evidence of such fungi in houses alleged to be haunted.

“We are trying to determine whether some reported hauntings may be linked to specific pollutants found in indoor air,” he’s quoted as saying in a Clarkson news article. To that end, he and a group of undergraduates are taking indoor air quality samples in a number of haunted buildings this year and will publish their findings after analyzing the data.

The other connection, of course, is that mold problems generally result from moisture problems. Keep the materials dry by designing building assemblies that don’t get wet and then have the ability to dry out if they do get wet, and you’re not likely to have mold problems. You also have to make sure not to do stupid things like running unvented space heaters inside, which can put a lot of water into a home.

Building science will never have all the answers, and it may not have the answers to haunted houses. But we do know that indoor air quality doesn’t get nearly enough attention. If it takes ghost stories to do it, I’m all for it.

And who knows? Maybe even Lady Gaga will be able to ditch the ghostbuster machine she uses when she travels.

 

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The Haunted House-as-a-System Down the Street

8 Energy, HVAC, & Building Science Horrors to Scare You on Halloween

Are You Breathing Dead Possum? — Crawl Spaces, HVAC, & IAQ

 

Source for this article

Clarkson University Undergrads Research Link Between Hauntings & Indoor Air Quality

 

Photo of ghost by mattwi1s0n from flickr.com, used under a Creative Commons license.
 

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. I can appreciate this, but I
    I can appreciate this, but I also like to believe that there are things out there that we have no control over (world just too darned predictable sometimes). I am a fan of the Ghost Adventures tv show, but about half of their shows seem to be in the arid South West.&nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />But I entirely see how airborne mold spores could generate a hallucinogenic response – heck, larger mold growths (mushrooms) have been doing that for thousands of years. I think the theory has a very solid foundation.

  2. There’s a short novel called
    There’s a short novel called "The Shunned House" written by HP Lovecraft back in the 1920s. It’s about a haunted house, and based somewhat on an actual c.1763 home, still standing today in Providence, RI, that the author had been familiar with.&nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />The fictional house of the novel is described as causing the sickness and death of many of its occupants over the years, and as having "a foul smell and whitish, phosphorescent fungi growing in the cellar". &nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />The author also describes the investigators of the home as initially being overcome with hallucinatory effects, but in the end, this activity, of course, is finally attributed to supernatural causes.&nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />So there you go! Naturally, this story was the first thing that came to mind when reading your post this morning. I agree with Charles that the linking of poor IAQ to hallucinations in some people has merit and is probably worth investigating. &nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />But this theory still fails to explain how familiar spirits can manifest themselves as squirrels… ;-)&nbsp; <br />&nbsp; <br />~ John

  3. I can appreciate this, but I
    I can appreciate this, but I also like to believe that there are things out there that we have no control over (world just too darned predictable sometimes). I am a fan of the Ghost Adventures tv show, but about half of their shows seem to be in the arid South West. 
     
    But I entirely see how airborne mold spores could generate a hallucinogenic response – heck, larger mold growths (mushrooms) have been doing that for thousands of years. I think the theory has a very solid foundation.

  4. There’s a short novel called
    There’s a short novel called “The Shunned House” written by HP Lovecraft back in the 1920s. It’s about a haunted house, and based somewhat on an actual c.1763 home, still standing today in Providence, RI, that the author had been familiar with. 
     
    The fictional house of the novel is described as causing the sickness and death of many of its occupants over the years, and as having “a foul smell and whitish, phosphorescent fungi growing in the cellar”.  
     
    The author also describes the investigators of the home as initially being overcome with hallucinatory effects, but in the end, this activity, of course, is finally attributed to supernatural causes. 
     
    So there you go! Naturally, this story was the first thing that came to mind when reading your post this morning. I agree with Charles that the linking of poor IAQ to hallucinations in some people has merit and is probably worth investigating.  
     
    But this theory still fails to explain how familiar spirits can manifest themselves as squirrels… 😉 
     
    ~ John

  5. I cannot cite a source for
    I cannot cite a source for this but have heard tell that the Victorian England era phenomenon of paranormal activity curiously coincides with the introduction of gas lighting, which was capable of producing more light than its paraffin predecessors but also more carbon monoxide, and unlike the coal stove was not vented to the outside.

  6. I cannot cite a source for
    I cannot cite a source for this but have heard tell that the Victorian England era phenomenon of paranormal activity curiously coincides with the introduction of gas lighting, which was capable of producing more light than its paraffin predecessors but also more carbon monoxide, and unlike the coal stove was not vented to the outside.

  7. We have to be careful here.
    We have to be careful here. Yes, there are molds (particularly ergot on rye) that cause hallucinations when ingested. I know of no evidence to suggest that this can happen from airborne contamination. Several orders of magnitude difference in the amount of toxin in the bloodstream.

  8. We have to be careful here.
    We have to be careful here. Yes, there are molds (particularly ergot on rye) that cause hallucinations when ingested. I know of no evidence to suggest that this can happen from airborne contamination. Several orders of magnitude difference in the amount of toxin in the bloodstream.

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