Chris French, professor emeritus of psychology at Goldsmiths College, is a leading authority on, well, weird shit. His previous books on anomalistic psychology were written for an academic audience, and now he has a new book for the masses titled The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal. I’ve been influenced and inspired by French for a long time, so I was delighted to learn of this new book. I jumped at the chance to ask him a few questions.
SH: Before you found skepticism, what fascinated you the most about the paranormal?
CF: Looking back, I think there were a lot of factors. As a child, I was terrified by the idea of ghosts. I am not sure whether I in fact believed in ghosts or not, but the idea that they might be real was enough for me to need a night light for a lot longer than most kids!