Ghost hunters and the secret power of storytelling | Jacquelyn Benson | TEDxPiscataquaRiver

How do you change a skeptic into a believer? From the social lives of paranormal investigators to our emotional attachments to fictional characters, author and anthropologist Jacquelyn Benson explores the power that storytellers have to change the way we think - and the responsibility that goes along with weilding that power in today's culture. Jacquelyn Benson is a writer, thinker, feminist and adventurer. She holds an MA in Anthropology from Queen’s University of Belfast, where she specialized in how cognition shapes culture and wrote a thesis on the social lives of paranormal investigators. As a novelist, she writes high-stakes, page-turning thrillers featuring strong-minded women. Her debut novel, The Smoke Hunter, was nominated for Best Historical Fiction of 2016 by RT Book Reviews. Jacquelyn is a New Hampshire native and mother of two. Learn more about her at JacquelynBenson.com. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@markbrandus]

Enjoyed your ethical perspective on writing stories.

[@80sOGRE]

Her section on the power of story telling was good but she would have been better not bringing up paranormal research, clearly she is no expert. Getting quiet sick and tire of these self proclaimed experts with their inability to sleep at night without having an answer for everything. I find this arrogance seriously offensive and it isn't good science.

[@Joxman2k]

While she does have a point about paranormal groups, and the conformity that it can bring, she does not address the possibility that the phenomena is real, and skeptics believe in it after they experience it.
I personally believe that the phenomena exists, but do not believe that all of it is by the same mechanism. It, if it exists, is natural. It could be that solar flares and magma beneath the surface interact with certain geological formations like quartz, magnetite or water, and it produces these environmental anomalies. Ghost groups have a pre-existing belief that it is caused by spirits or other supernatural beings. This belief will lead you away from reality, but culturally you will bond with other people who share similar beliefs. You will adopt some of their beliefs, and they will adopt some of yours. It is really fascinating :)