Sign 5: Feelings of Being Watched and Physical Sensations
This is perhaps the most personal and least quantifiable sign of a haunting. It is the unshakable feeling of a presence in an empty room, the prickling sensation on the back of your neck that tells you you are not alone. It can also manifest as a physical sensation, such as a cold touch on the arm, a gentle push, or the feeling of cobwebs on your face when there are none.
For those who experience it, this feeling is profoundly real and can be more frightening than any noise or moving object. Paranormal investigators take these personal experiences very seriously, as they often form the emotional core of a haunting. They believe these sensations are the result of a spirit’s energy field interacting with a living person’s own bio-electromagnetic field. The feeling of being touched, they theorize, is a direct attempt at contact.
Because these experiences are entirely subjective, they cannot be recorded or measured by any known equipment. Investigators rely on witness testimony and look for correlations. If multiple people, at different times, report the same feeling of being watched in the exact same spot, it is considered more significant than a single, isolated incident.
Science offers a fascinating potential explanation for these eerie feelings: infrasound. This is sound at a frequency below the range of normal human hearing (typically below 20 hertz). While we cannot hear it, our bodies can still feel its vibrations. Research, notably by British engineer Vic Tandy in the 1990s, has shown that exposure to infrasound can cause a range of physiological and psychological effects, including feelings of anxiety, dread, chills, and even the illusion of movement in peripheral vision. Infrasound can be generated by a variety of mundane sources, such as wind turbines, weather patterns, and even faulty ventilation fans.
The feeling of being touched can be attributed to minor drafts or changes in air pressure that we do not consciously register. A small build-up of static electricity in a room can cause the hairs on your arm to stand on end, mimicking the sensation of a light touch. And, as always, the power of suggestion and the human brain’s hyper-awareness in a state of fear can amplify these small, natural sensations into something that feels intentional and otherworldly.
