The strange case of the self-tidying shed
Imagine the scene; you visit your shed and notice the plastic clips you placed on the side bench have been collected up and put into a tub of peanuts for the birds. You empty the ice cream tub. Next morning everything has been placed back in the tub, alongside screws, nuts and bolts. Must be a ghost, right?
This happened to Steve Mckears, a pensioner from Severn Beach, near Bristol. Wondering whether his shed was now home to a tidy ghost, he left a camera out to investigate the phenomenon. It turned out a house-proud mouse was coming out at night and putting the items back into the tub.
In our podcast episode ‘Spooktacular Science’ we discussed the psychology of ghostly experiences with Professor Chris French, who explained there are many factors which come into play when someone has had a paranormal experience. He highlighted the obvious point that just because we don’t think we can find a reason for something happening doesn’t mean there isn’t one. With the difference between believers and non-believers in the paranormal merely being whether they are willing to accept that there is a rational explanation that they maybe haven’t found yet.