Ep 33: Have you experienced the unseen other?

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