Paranormal

### Cold Open

Jason Silva:"Have you ever seen a ghost or felt a strange presence in the room with you? Did you ever know something was going to happen before it happened? If so, you may share a link with the Paranormal, or it might just be your brain playing tricks on you. It's easy to get freaked out if you find yourself in a dark and scary place, Like the eastern state penitentiary. Your brain doesn't like things it can't explain and so it will assign paranormal, supernatural meaning to an eerie noise or a strange shadow or a glowing orb. It's kind of a way for it to stay in control. As you're about to find out, whether you're a skeptic or a believer, you'll be surprised to see how easily your brain can play tricks on you."

## Games

### Game #1: The Woman

Which way is the woman staring?

Result: Close up, it looks to the left, but to the right when zoomed out. Is this evidence of the paranormal, or your brain?

Why: The focus system which is so ingrained in your brain, your brain lept to a far-fetched conclusion.

### Game #2: Out of This World

Which of these four creatures are real?

Result: 3 of 4 of these exist, even though you could've mistaken them for monsters.

### Game #3: The Ouija Board

Will volunteers believe in the Ouija Board, or will it simply fail? And will any of them change their mind after the experiment after trying to reach the spirits?

Result: After correctly predicting that a relative died in a car accident, a skeptic started to believe in the Ouija board, and everyone says they didn't move the dial along with correctly predicting phantom of the opera.

But what will happen when we blindfold them, making it clear that they aren't moving the dial the way they want to.

#### Brain Booster

Why does your brain have a wrinkled appearance?

A. It's old

B. It's soaking in fluid.

C. It allows space more for more neural connections

The correct answer is C. Only one-third of the brain is visible, the other two-thirds are hidden folds and wrinkles.

Result: Even though with the blindfolds on they couldn't get anything to work, without the blindfolds, it worked perfectly. So what's going on? If everyone swears they didn't move the dial, what's happening?

Why: A common behavior the ideomotor effect which signals the muscles in your hands to move without you realizing which is why the volunteers spelled out things perfectly without the blindfolds, and vice versa. And without the ideomotor, you get nonsense. And even our volunteers couldn't believe it, and they had a confirmation bias that they establish that belief and support similar evidence.

### Game #4: Fingers

Interlock your fingers and hold your two index fingers around 1 inch apart. Then stare at them.

Result: Your fingers seem to get closer to each other, and have a mind of their own.

Why: It's the ideomotor effect again.

### Game #5: Sell a House

A house that's cheaper than it should be is for sale and it's a good deal. But what will happen when we let them in on the murder twist?

Result: They loved the home, until they were told about the fact that a murder happened, it didn't even matter. They walked out on the spot, despite the deal and good house, and some even had a physical reaction.

Why: Just like a hot stove-top transferring heat, your brain applies this to people and possessions. Magical contagion and why we cherish old family traditions or lucky charms.

After tweaking the experiment a bit to know what would happen if the death was from natural causes, no one walked out because of that reason.

So: You may not believe in the supernatural, but your brain begs to differ.