Parapsychology
This term describes the supposed ability to read another person’s thoughts.
What is telepathy?
This Southern state claims the Skunk Ape, a swamp-dwelling relative of Bigfoot known for its terrible smell.
What is Florida?
When someone believes their horoscope is spot-on, it’s often because the statement is so general that it could fit anyone.
What is the Barnum effect?
A phone begins playing music at 3 a.m. often caused by this setting that triggers routines automatically.
What is scheduled automation?
In this endangered tropical rainforest, locals have reported glowing lights and strange sounds believed to be spirits guarding the habitat.
What is the Amazon Rainforest?
J.B. Rhine, considered the founder of modern parapsychology, conducted famous experiments at this U.S. university.
What is Duke University?
This New Jersey region is said to harbor a winged, hoofed creature born in the Pine Barrens.
What is the Jersey Devil?
A “psychic” might claim to read minds, but this type of nonverbal communication is what they’re really picking up on.
What is body language?
Smart speakers sometimes wake and talk unprompted when this voice-trigger system mishears background noise.
What is a false wake word activation?
This endangered cave system in Vietnam is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of ancient explorers and indigenous peoples.
What is Son Doong Cave?
This type of card deck, with symbols like stars and wavy lines, was designed to test ESP.
What are Zener cards?
This Appalachian state is home to the glowing-eyed creature known as Mothman, first reported in Point Pleasant in 1966.
What is West Virginia?
Believing a ghost knocked something over because you wanted to see proof is an example of this mental bias.
What is confirmation bias?
Lights flicker even when bulbs are new; the culprit is usually this electrical issue, not a haunting.
What is a loose connection?
In the declining wetlands of Louisiana, some researchers claim to have seen ghostly figures and unexplained apparitions believed to be spirits of the lost Cajun culture.
What are the Louisiana Bayous?
The alleged ability to move objects with the mind is known by this name.
What is psychokinesis (or telekinesis)?
This snowy northern state is the traditional home of the Wendigo from Algonquian folklore.
What is Minnesota?
People who say they can predict the future are using this term for their “ability.”
What is clairvoyance?
A TV powers on and off by itself.
What is infrared signal interference?
This endangered mountain range in Asia is said to be haunted by the spirits of monks and hermits, with reports of mysterious lights and sounds.
What is the Himalayas?
Parapsychology is often criticized for lacking this quality, meaning its results cannot be consistently reproduced.
What is replicability?
This legendary aquatic beast is said to inhabit Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada, resembling a serpent or plesiosaur.
What is the Ogopogo?
This technique is used by “psychics” to seem accurate by making high-probability guesses based on clues from their audience.
What is cold reading?
Security cameras produce eerie shadow figures when low-light compression distorts movement.
What is motion-compression artifacting?
In the critically endangered forests of Madagascar, villagers speak of encounters with mysterious ghost animals and strange noises.
What are the Madagascar rainforests?