With the return of the X-Files and the new Ghostbusters film, there is likely to be a surge in reports of ghosts and other paranormal activity in Ipswich in coming weeks.
But psychologist and sceptic Dr Krissy Wilson, who has recently joined the faculty at UCS on Ipswich Waterfront, has vowed to seek out the truth behind Suffolk’s ghost stories and legends of UFO landings.
Dr Wilson has been living in Australia for the past eight years, working as a teacher and spending time investigating the unexplained.
Now she hopes to continue that work here in Suffolk where our collection of historic homes offer a wealth of unexplained phenomenon. And we even have tales of aliens landing in Rendlesham Forest.
She said: “The truth is out there, but it is not always the truth that people want to hear.
“People are susceptible; some more than others. People want to believe these things.”
Dr Wilson continued: “I have examined many phenomenon and I have never really found any that I couldn’t explain with a scientific explanation.
“The media has a lot to answer for,” she laughed.
She believes that reports of unusual sightings and things that go bump in the night will spike as the X-Files returns to our screens this month and the new Ghostbusters film is released in the summer.
She said: “I am very excited about all this.
“I want to hear from local people about their experiences of ghosts. I am interested in finding out about local stories and about local myths and legends.”
The stars of the new Ghostbusters movie are all women, but sadly Dr Wilson didn’t make the cut.
“Sadly they didn’t ask me to be in it,” she laughed. “They are all para-psychologists, which is very similar to me.
“It is more about science, and an interest in the psychology of belief.”
Urging people to contact her with their stories of unexplained activity, she said: “I would love to get local people involved, and to come to the uni to take part in controlled experiments.
“For example, I would love to get a group of people together, in a local haunted house one of these nights, and record their experiences.”
“I took part in UFO watches many years ago. It was a beautiful summer evening but we didn’t get any aliens, we just had a good night out.”
Her own specialist area is Anomalistic Psychology and she has been involved in lots of research, as well as teaching.
During her time in Australia, along with the Australian Sceptics Association, they organised a competition - with a $110,000 prize, to test whether water divining was a science that could work.
“Around 35 diviners had three or four goes each. No-one won the prize.”
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