Andrew Nichols

Who is Andrew Nichols?

Andrew Nichols, PsyD, PhD, is an American psychologist and parapsychologist specializing in the psychology of superstitions, paranormal beliefs and experiences, and is an investigator of apparitions, haunted houses, and other purportedly paranormal phenomena.

He has published more than 50 articles, scientific papers and book chapters and has authored or edited 3 books. Nichols has investigated several hundred cases of alleged ghosts, hauntings and poltergeists, and conducted studies on paranormal dream experiences. In addition to academic activities such as conference presentations, he frequently appears on radio and television dealing with a wide range of alleged paranormal experiences, UFO abductions, ghosts, demonic possession, past life regressions, and so on.

Nichols is a vocal skeptic of the majority of paranormal claims. He is also skeptical of most of the purported ‘evidence’ regarded by many as proof of the existence of ghosts and spirits. His analysis of thousands of alleged ‘ghost photographs’ and video and audio tape recorded ‘paranormal voices’ suggest that apparitions are subjective experiences, seen only in the ‘mind’s eye’, and that ghosts cannot be photographed or recorded. Nichols does believe that extra-sensory perception is possibly involved in some cases of apparitions and haunts, which accounts for the fact that witnesses sometimes acquire information from such experiences which they could not have known beforehand or inferred. However, most ghostly experiences can be explained by psychological factors such as grief, stress, or a predisposition to fantasy and suggestion.