Since he was a child, University of Delaware communication professor Paul Brewer has been fascinated by unidentified flying objects (UFOs), ghosts, haunted houses and the like.

Yes, Brewer was a fan of the 1990s television hit “The X Files,” and he does admit to watching a Ghostbusters movie or two — he even has a pint-sized replica of the film’s famous ghost-fighting ambulance, the Ectomobile, in his office.

But what Brewer finds most intriguing is how media messages might influence people's belief in paranormal topics, and what we can learn from this in terms of how individuals perceive other messaging that may sit at the fringes of mainstream belief.

An expanding media landscape

During the 1990s, a big wave of research erupted on how media messages might influence people's belief in paranormal topics with popular television shows like “Alien Autopsy” and “Crossing Over with John Edwards.” A second wave of research occurred in the mid-2000s in response to cable television series such as “Ghost Hunters” and “Finding Big Foot.” 

Brewer’s early research on this topic found that consuming paranormal television media was linked to believing in the paranormal, such as UFOs. His later work demonstrated that specific media messages can boost or reduce belief in paranormal phenomena, depending on the content of the message.

Since then, the media landscape has evolved beyond traditional outlets like print, television and radio to include multimedia, such as YouTube, TikTok and other platforms. In his latest work, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, Brewer looked beyond consuming paranormal television to include the use of social media, especially YouTube. 

“If you think about the paranormal, YouTube is a platform that seems like an especially plausible candidate to shape people's beliefs because seeing is believing—and it is a very visual storytelling medium,” said Brewer. 

Undergraduate students in Brewer’s Comm 424 Media Message Analysis class participated in the work, along with graduate students Holly Wright and Erin Oittinen, who co-authored the paper with Brewer. 

The goal was to understand how popular YouTube videos present reported paranormal phenomena, like UFOs and ghosts, and to measure whether more YouTube use is linked to increased belief in these things. 

Spoiler alert: Yes, it is.

The research team used two methodological approaches to tease this apart. A content analysis was used to determine how YouTube videos present information. Then the team used survey research to assess whether consumption of media is linked to belief in things. The research team built in layers of rigor to remove supposition and individual bias, while improving consistency.

“It’s not just a fun, kooky idea to study. About half the public believes in UFOs and almost half the public believes in ghosts and haunted houses, even though these phenomena aren't recognized by mainstream science. At least that's what they tell survey researchers,” said Brewer. 

“Broadly, there is a lot of concern about pseudoscience and misinformation out there in the media, and by understanding the processes by which people turn media messages into beliefs about stuff like UFOs and ghosts, we might also understand how they form beliefs about other things.”

By way of example, Brewer pointed to a fictional documentary-style show that claimed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) knew about mermaids and was hiding evidence for them, including real video footage. The show included disclaimers, but viewers ignored them, revealing an important detail about the power of belief.

“It sounds ridiculous but, as one marine scientist pointed out, if you believe that NOAA is hiding evidence for mermaids, then why would you trust NOAA when it talks about climate change or hurricanes?” said Brewer.

Back to the current paper, where they discuss ghosts.

The researchers looked at 25 videos about UFOs and 25 videos about ghosts and specifically asked whether each video included a paranormal claim, that is, some sort of claim that the phenomenon was real. The researchers found that an overwhelming majority, 94% of the videos, included a paranormal claim. This finding was generally consistent across both UFOs and ghosts.

Keep in mind that a claim is not a fact. It’s just a claim and, in fact, a third of the videos also included skeptical claims.

“The bottom line here is that if you go looking for YouTube content about UFOs or ghosts, you're likely to find videos that feature claims that paranormal phenomena are real,” said Brewer.

The research team also considered whether the videos included video footage or audio of paranormal phenomena that the YouTube video presented as evidence for a UFO or a ghost. About 75% of the videos about ghosts included footage. and over half of the posted videos about UFOs had footage. So, roughly two-thirds of the videos included footage that was professed to be real.

According to Brewer, this goes to the point that seeing is believing.

Finally, the team studied whether the videos used scientific sources and government sources to lend an air of legitimacy to a claim. 

Among the 25 YouTube videos discussing the presence of ghosts, no scientific sources were cited and very few government sources were cited. The 25 YouTube videos on UFOs included few scientific sources, but a fair amount of government sources. These government sources, however, weren’t necessarily confirming the existence of ghosts or UFOs — it might just be a federal agency, say the Department of Defense, confirming that the footage shown is actual footage.

The research team built on the study of YouTube videos by conducting a survey of the public to explore how YouTube use and other forms of media consumption are linked to belief in the paranormal. The survey responses showed that watching YouTube was linked to believing, even after taking into account other media habits and background factors.

“Interestingly enough, when people watch a lot of YouTube, they also tend to believe in these other things more intensely. So, the more someone watches YouTube, the more likely they are to believe in ghosts or UFOs as a real thing,” said Brewer. 

“We're not saying that YouTube is the only thing that is shaping people's beliefs about this. But it is something worth looking at if you care about whether people believe in fringe or pseudoscientific claims,” he continued. “Ultimately, if you want to influence what the public is thinking about ideas and popular claims that scientists don't endorse, you might want to pay attention to YouTube.”

Asked if he is a believer, Brewer’s response might surprise you: “I have not seen any evidence that has persuaded me to believe.”

That said, he is curious about why it is that other people do believe.

In a sequel study, the research team is exploring the differences between paranormal videos on YouTube, which often originate from mainstream popular media sources viewers consider legitimate, such as “60 Minutes” or the History Channel, versus TikTok, where content is developed and disseminated by individual users most people have never heard of, but who are producing videos that collectively have been viewed tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of times.