Meet Miami U

Ask Miami University Professor Jeb Card’s students what they’ve done in anthropology this semester. They’ll tell you: “Every day gets weirder.”

On this specific weird day in class, ghost hunting was on the agenda for the Investigating the Paranormal course. 

Seeking Out The Paranormal Through Anthropology

Students had a collection of tools at their disposal for seeking out the paranormal using frequency, temperature, and proximity changes. This included spirit boxes, a radiometer, a REM-pod, electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors, and even cat toys used for motion detection. Ouija boards, dosing rods, a pendulum board, and tarot cards were also available for students to experiment with.  

“Oujia boards didn’t get their reputation until ‘The Exorcist’ movie. They were actually used as fun party ice breakers until then,” Card shared of the talking boards that are widely associated with evil and the paranormal. 

Why Are Students Taking a Class About The Paranormal?

The classroom itself was packed with dozens of students who signed up to investigate the paranormal. A popular and memorable course to be sure, as a couple of Card’s former students were there on ghost gadget day to help out.

Senior anthropology and biology major Ella Morales serves as the course’s undergraduate associate, helping Card run the class. Her UA role is one she covets, considering how she came into the job. 

“When I heard he was going to teach this again, I just begged him to somehow figure out how he needed assistance in this class,” Morales said. 

Morales isn’t the only one who couldn’t stay away from the course. Senior anthropology major Molly Hearsch took the class the same spring Morales did. Hearsch just happened to be walking through Upham Hall when Card commandeered her to lead a group of ghost hunters to the artifact room in the basement. 

“A lot of people take this class and they think they’re just going to hear stories of government conspiracies and stuff, and you get that, but you also get to look at the different creatures and mythologies from a cultural perspective,” Hearsch said. “You look at what was happening in the world at the time that these things were starting to pop up.” 

There’s More To This Anthropology Course Than Meets The Eye

There’s definitely more to the class than meets the eye, Card said. Yes, they talk about cryptids, UFOs, ghosts, cults, faeries, and more. But over the course of the semester, the students decipher the anthropological, cultural, and sociological impetus to paranormal phenomena.

“The secret is that these ideas of the paranormal – which the students will learn eventually – is that all of them belong to emergent technologies,” Card said. 

Creating Frankenstein’s monster involved everything electric. The emergence of radio brought along ideas of psychics. Card said it’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence is informing the theories of the supernatural. 

The evolution of the people’s perception of UFOs is a prime example of emerging technology, Card said. 

“UFOs looked steampunk in the 1890s, and then they looked like jets and then stealth fighters. They always look like something just on the cutting edge of aerial technology,” Card said. “And by the early 2000s, what did UFOs start to look like? Drones.” 

Putting Magic Back Into The Paranormal Landscape

A part of the paranormal frenzy too is the idea of “putting magic back into the landscape” after a period of disenchantment through industrialization and modern science, Card said. The idea of serious leisure – building community from the commitment to a hobby such as ghost hunting – informs more of the willingness to believe in the unbelievable. 

It’s a perspective that also shapes how Miami University students take away from his teachings. 

Students said they came into the class with many different notions of the paranormal – some love horror movies, others said they are fans of true crime, and some just really love Professor Card. With “weird” on the syllabus, they’ll leave with an understanding of just how normal, and very human, the paranormal is.