Episode 33: Have you experienced the unseen other?

This is Episode 33 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Have you ever had the feeling that there was someone – or something – nearby? Perhaps you were in bed falling asleep when you suddenly became convinced that a person was standing next to you, even though you couldn't actually 'see' or 'hear' anyone at all. Or maybe you were out in the wilderness, with no-one for miles around, and couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following you.

In this episode, Dr Jon Sutton, editor of The Psychologist magazine, talks to Dr Ben Alderson-Day, Associate Professor at Durham University, about the phenomenon of the 'felt presence' – that often eerie sensation that someone is near us. Jon and Ben's wide-ranging discussion touches on everything from Shackleton's unusual experiences in Antarctica, to the frightening yet common phenomenon of sleep paralysis and the modern practice of 'tulpamancy'.

Read a transcript of the interview at The Psychologist.

Ben's book will be released in March and is available to pre-order here.

Episode credits:

Presented and produced by Jon Sutton, with additional content from Matthew Warren.

Mixing and editing by Jeff Knowler.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology are giving PsychCrunch listeners the chance to discover even more ground-breaking research: free access to5 articles of your choosing from over 4.5 million at tandfonline.com, plus a 20% discount on books at routledge.com.