Spooky feelings in old houses may be caused by boiler sounds, study suggests
Inaudible infrasound from old pipes and ventilation systems may affect how people feel, research indicates
For believers in the paranormal, unsettling sensations brought on by old buildings can be a sinister hint of loitering spirits. But new research points to a more mundane explanation: inaudible sounds from aged pipes and boilers.
Scientists investigated the impact of infrasound on a group of volunteers and found that even though it was beyond the range of human hearing, people were more irritable and levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, rose when the sound was switched on.