Damn, That's Interesting: The Haunted House Effect 🏚

Ever been in a place that just felt downright eerie?  Maybe you couldn't quite explain it--there was a sense of being watched or taunted by an invisible presence & it left you feeling deeply afraid & maybe a little sick?  Or perhaps unexplainable events kept happening in said place.  If numerous people have experienced these things in the same setting, there's likely a totally natural, worldly yet potentially deadly explanation: carbon monoxide.  And that's not all...  

The currently unwatchable "Ghost Hunters" series apparently started out as guys going around DEBUNKING alleged "hauntings," finding the real causes of things like furniture moving around apartments, strange sounds & other "supernatural" phenomena.  Several episodes featured dangerous fumes or other toxins as the cause.  At some juncture the SYFY network decided that the "fi" was more important than the "sci" and they turned it into the annoying shitshow it is today.  👻💩

In addition to CO toxicity, other natural phenomena like infrasound (noise below 20 Hz) can create this creepy, vaguely threatening sensation by vibrating the hairs in the inner ear, causing feelings of nausea & discomfort for some.  Not everyone experiences these sensations when exposed to triggers like infrasound, which is also created by large predators like rhinos, tigers & alligators (oh my!).  I've shared my experience with standing in a field of wind turbines and feeling like I was gonna puke due to infrasound, though I didn't know that's what it was at the time.  Unlike CO, infrasound isn't physically dangerous to humans, but its link to large predatory animals explains why it would cause a "creeped tf out" sensation.

Not your imagination:  Wind turbines do create nausea-inducing infrasound.

This Reddit thread shows just how fucked up CO can make an otherwise sane person.  The poster asks /r/legaladvice what can be done about his landlord leaving Post-It notes all over his apartment while he's not looking only to be told his post makes no sense and maybe he should check the CO levels in his apartment.  Lo and behold, he plugs in his CO detector and it turns out he is being gassed.  He had no memory of leaving the notes himself & likely would've died if not for posting that now-viral thread.

It's the gas lamp, bro!  

Apparently pesticides and formaldehyde can create a similar effect, as can toxic mold when a person is chronically exposed.  The rise of ghost stories during the Victorian Era has been linked to the prevalence of gas lamps, which increased the rate of carbon monoxide exposure exponentially.  Toxicologist Albert Donnay states that hauntings have been linked to CO poisoning since at least the 1920s.  Here are two real-life "haunting" stories (one from the 1920s case referenced above) that turned out to be carbon monoxide poisoning: that of  Mrs. H and journalist Carrie Poppy.

My mother once told me in serious, hushed tones about an "alien encounter" (while pregnant with me, of course) during which she was completely paralyzed in bed and could hear strange sounds coming from afar, like the ducks quacking waaay down at the pond, yet they sounded horribly distorted.  I informed her about sleep paralysis and hypnogogic hallucinations, which was a shock to her.  She didn't believe me at first but a quick Google search proved me right.  Therein lies the lesson:  The vast majority of unexplained phenomena, no matter how seemingly strange, have very boring scientific explanations, though "boring" doesn't necessarily mean benign. 



Moral of the (Horror) Story?

Boo!

If you're experiencing strong negative feelings of illness or unease in a given setting, don't sit around convincing yourself ghosts aren't real so you have nothing to worry about.  Get it checked out by professionals--your physical space, your symptoms, everything.  Symptoms like nausea, dizziness, heaviness in your chest, nervousness & headaches should never be ignored if they set in suddenly, are severe or persist beyond a week or two.  (Also:  ghosts AREN'T real so if you're experiencing these symptoms, don't chalk it up to a haunting or other paranormal cause). 

Keep a carbon monoxide detector on each floor of your home near bedrooms and sleeping areas.  Place them in areas with fuel-burning appliances like water heaters at least 15 feet away from these appliances and about 5 ft. above the floor.  Also remember that CO poisoning can happen in your vehicle if the tailpipe becomes submerged in mud or blocked by other things.  This is how the star of MTV's Buckwild, Shain Gandee & 2 others died:  while "muddin'" in their Ford Bronco.  This is a popular pastime among rural countryfolk where I live so I was shocked to learn of this.

Yet another bullshit invention that should be banned.

The website at NCOAA.us contains everything you could ever want to know about this toxic gas, which is odorless and tasteless.  Apparently gas cooking stoves emit other toxic fumes like nitrogen dioxide, a known asthma trigger, and benzene, a Group 1 carcinogen.  So be sure to ventilate your home well when using these appliances, especially if you have kids.  Apparently these deathtraps are the reason so many more Black kids have asthma than white kids, because gas stoves are far more common in low-income and project housing.  🤬

Ever had an unexplained, creepy or paranormal experience?  Or a close encounter with environmental poisoning like the kind described here?  Love to hear about it in the comments!