2026-04-27 11:06:50
Scientists in Canada claim to have discovered the reason why so many older buildings are believed to be haunted.
A new study by boffins at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta looking into the effects of infrasound – sound waves with frequencies below 20 Hz which are unable to be heard by the human ear but can often be felt as physical vibrations – and concluded it can lead to increased irritability and higher cortisol levels even when participants in the study were not aware of it.
Professor Rodney Schmaltz, senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, explained: “Infrasound is pervasive in everyday environments, appearing near ventilation systems, traffic, and industrial machinery.
“Many people are exposed to it without knowing it. Our findings suggest that even a brief exposure may shift mood and raise cortisol, which highlights the importance of understanding how infrasound affects people in real-world settings.
“Consider visiting a supposedly haunted building. Your mood shifts, you feel agitated, but you can’t see or hear anything unusual. In an old building, there is a good chance that infrasound is present, particularly in basements where aging pipes and ventilation systems produce low-frequency vibrations.
“If you were told the building was haunted, you might attribute that agitation to something supernatural. In reality, you may simply have been exposed to infrasound.”
The study invited 36 participants to sit along in a room listening to either calming or unsettling music with half of them unknowingly being bombarded by
infrasound through hidden subwoofers.
They were asked to report their feelings and emotions and state whether they thought they could detect infrasound during the test. They also gave saliva samples to monitor their cortisol levels before and after the test.
The study concluded the participants’ cortisol levels were higher if they had in a test involving infrasound while they also reported feeling more irritable and that the music seemed more sad.
However, they could not detect they had been subjected to infrasound.
Professor Schmaltz concluded many hauntings reported in older buildings could have a much more simple explanation than ghosts – creaky pipes which give off undetected infrasound, saying: “As someone who studies pseudoscience and misinformation, what stands out to me is that infrasound produces real, measurable reactions without any visible or audible source.
“So, the next time something feels inexplicably off in a basement or old building, consider that the cause might be vibrating pipes rather than restless spirits.”
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