Why does that old house on 104th feel so wrong to you?
Honestly though, I’ve often wondered about certain places in this city. You know, like why some of those older walk-ups off Jasper Avenue, or even some of the houses down in Old Strathcona near the river, just feel…off. Not haunted, necessarily, but just a bit too quiet, or the air feels thick. Turns out, there’s a whole science to that uneasy feeling, and it’s being explored right here in Edmonton.
Professor Rodney Schmaltz, a psychology professor at MacEwan University, along with his colleagues, has been looking into why some people believe in the paranormal. Their research dives into the effect of infrasound on the body. For those of us who weren't English majors, infrasound is basically sound that's too low-frequency for human ears to pick up, but our bodies still register it. Think of it as the silent hum of the universe that might just be making you think you’re sharing your space with something… other.
### What This Means for Edmonton
* **Those creaky old houses:** If you live in one of the grand old dames in Glenora or Westmount, or a charming, slightly leaning bungalow in Highlands, that unsettling draft might not just be poor insulation. It could be infrasound from old pipes, shifting foundations, or even the subtle rumble of traffic on Wayne Gretzky Drive, creating those "creeps." * **The Fringe Festival Factor:** Imagine a performance at the Fringe in some tucked-away venue on Whyte Avenue. The setting is already primed for the unexpected. Add in some ambient infrasound, and suddenly that avant-garde piece about existential dread feels a lot more real, doesn't it? * **A New Kind of Character:** Edmonton doesn't need your approval. Never did. But if our city’s old buildings have a scientific reason for giving you the shivers, it just adds another layer to our character, doesn't it? It's not just the -40°C that makes you feel alive; it's the quiet hum of the unheard that keeps you on your toes.
It's a reminder that even in a city known for its prairie stoicism and the sheer practicality of winterizing absolutely everything, there are still mysteries. And sometimes, those mysteries are just physics playing tricks on our perception. So next time you're walking past a particularly quiet, shadowed alley downtown, or inside an old theatre, and you feel that little prickle on your neck, maybe it’s not a ghost. Or maybe it is, but now we know why it *feels* like one.
Darren Fedoruk, MiTL Sports Desk.
You know, the team on the morning show always has the best takes on this kind of thing — check them out live at mornings.live.