Back to the original study
Recent coverage has resurfaced a study carried out in 2000 and published in 2003. Visitors marked where they experienced unusual sensations in Hampton Court Palace’s Haunted Gallery and Georgian Rooms. Of 462 participants included in the published analysis, 215 reported at least one unusual experience. Roughly two-thirds of the reported experiences involved a perceived temperature change.
Where experiences clustered
Reports were more common than expected in areas with a history of similar accounts. The paper found no significant association between that clustering and how much visitors already knew about the specific locations. In a separate part of the experiment, telling people which broad area was more active appeared to have little effect on reports.
What the study measured
Visitors recorded sensations and their locations. The authors also explored local magnetic-field variation, which correlated with the number of reports in the areas measured. The study design leaves the cause of individual experiences open. The distinction between a reported sensation and its explanation matters whenever an unusual spot becomes famous.