Trickster-Like Experiences While Documenting the Paranormal: Rasch Analysis of an Initial Survey

Anomalous events resembling trickster behavior—such as missing files, device malfunctions, unusual dreams, and emotional shifts—were reported by researchers writing about ghostly episodes. In a sample of 167 participants (7 credentialed frontier scientists and 160 amateur paranormal investigators), subjective experiences occurred 1.6 times more often than objective events, with endorsement rates from 7% to 30%. Rasch analysis showed a unidimensional hierarchy of 14 coherent items with strong internal consistency (KR-20 = .87) and minimal gender bias. While psychological mechanisms like memory reconstruction or cognitive load may explain many anomalies, their clustering and symbolic framing suggest deeper epistemological vulnerabilities, termed a “trickster chain,” in paranormal-themed writing. The findings may extend to other emotionally charged or liminal writing contexts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This online study explored anomalous, trickster-like events reported by researchers while writing about ghostly episodes. A convenience sample of 167 participants (seven credentialed frontier scientists and 160 amateur paranormal investigators) retrospectively endorsed 15 items spanning both subjective experiences (e.g., unusual dreams, emotional shifts) and objective events (e.g., missing files, device malfunctions). Subjective experiences occurred 1.6 times more often than objective events, with endorsement rates ranging from 7% to 30%. Rasch analysis revealed a unidimensional hierarchy of 14 coherent items with strong internal consistency (KR-20 = .87) and minimal gender-related response bias. The reported anomalies could largely reflect psychological mechanisms such as memory reconstruction, source-monitoring errors, or cognitive load, but their clustering and symbolic framing suggest deeper epistemological vulnerabilities—what we call a “trickster chain”—when preparing paranormal themed works. These findings may generalize to other emotionally charged or liminal writing contexts where narrative coherence is vulnerable to psychological or transpersonal disruptions, offering a novel lens on how altered states, symbolic processes, and creativity intersect in scholarly work. Our novel “Trickster-Like Experiences Inventory” therefore offers a promising tool for metascientific inquiry and invites further research into both conventional and parapsychological interpretations of anomalies or disruptions in academic contexts.