As this fall's spooky season was beginning, a new YouGov poll asked Americans about their paranormal experiences. Most Americans say they’ve had at least one paranormal experience, and many believe that they personally have a paranormal ability.
60% of Americans say they have had at least one of 13 paranormal experiences, down slightly from 67% in October 2022. The most common paranormal events Americans say they have experienced — among the 13 asked about — are feeling a presence or unknown energy (35%), smelling an unexplained odor (32%), hearing an unexplained sound or music (31%), hearing the voice of someone who wasn’t there (26%), and feeling an unexplained change in temperature (26%).
Not many Americans say they have seen a demon (7%), seen unexplained smoke (9%), or seen an angel (10%).
18% of Americans say they have lived in a house that they thought was haunted. People who believe they have lived in a haunted house are more likely than those who haven’t to say they’ve had a variety of paranormal encounters. Majorities of Americans who have lived in a house that they think was haunted say they’ve felt a presence or unknown energy (71%), heard an unexplained sound or music (62%), smelled an unexplained odor (58%), heard the voice of someone who wasn’t there (56%), and felt an unexplained change in temperature (56%).
Do Americans believe their paranormal encounters are truly supernatural? Among those who have experienced something paranormal, 33% think it’s more likely that their experience has a scientific explanation they aren’t aware of. About as many (35%) think it’s more likely that these occurrences were otherworldly or supernatural. Among people who say they have experienced the paranormal, men are more likely than women to say their paranormal experience likely had a scientific explanation (38% vs. 28%).
43% of Americans believe that demons exist; about the same share (41%) believe that psychics exist. 38% believe that ghosts exist and 36% believe other supernatural beings exist. Far less Americans believe that vampires (6%) and werewolves (6%) exist.
Women are more likely than men to believe in the existence of psychics (47% vs. 36%) and ghosts (42% vs. 33%).
Half (50%) of Americans believe that there are some people who have paranormal abilities. Women are more likely than men to believe there are people who have paranormal abilities (55% vs. 44%).
29% of Americans believe they personally have a paranormal ability. Around one-quarter (23%) say they have the ability to psychically sense others’ emotions or auras. 10% say they have the ability to psychically see events in the future; similar shares say they have the ability to hear voices or sounds from spirits or ghosts (9%) and the ability to psychically see events in the past (9%).
Among people who have ever seen a spirit or ghost, 20% say it’s only happened once. 18% have seen a spirit or ghost twice, 17% have seen one three times, and 4% have seen a ghost four times. 22% of people who have ever seen a spirit or ghost say this has happened to them at least five times.
30% of Americans who have ever seen a spirit or ghost believe they’ve seen someone they personally knew at one point, such as the ghost of a deceased family member, and also the ghost of someone they did not know personally. 23% have seen only someone they knew and 30% only someone they didn't.
Among Americans who have ever seen a spirit or ghost, far more believe the entities they’ve seen have been good rather than evil (31% vs. 8%). 24% think the ghosts or spirits they’ve seen have been neutral and 21% say they’ve seen a mix of good, evil, and neutral spirits.
15% of Americans believe that spirits or ghosts are generally good, while only 4% believe they’re generally evil. About one in five (19%) think spirits or ghosts are generally neutral and more than half (54%) think they’re usually a mix of good, evil, and neutral.
If a home were affordable and met all of their requirements, 26% of Americans say they would be willing to buy it even if they learned the previous homeowners had been murdered in it. 43% would not buy it in this scenario. Women are more likely than men to say they would not buy a house the previous owners had been murdered in (49% vs. 36%).
About three-quarters (77%) of Americans say that if a murder took place in a house in the past, the homeowner should be legally required to disclose this when selling the house. Women are more likely than men to say this should be legally required (82% vs. 71%).
About half (51%) of Americans say that if a homeowner believes their house is haunted, they should be legally required to disclose this when selling it. Women are more likely than men to say this should be legally required (58% vs. 44%).
Related:
- Two-thirds of Americans say they've had a paranormal encounter
- Do Americans actually like Halloween?
- Many Americans believe ghosts and demons exist
See the results for this YouGov survey
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on October 1 - 6, 2025 among 1,136 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty
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