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WE'RE BACK!

October 2025 lilbrary presentations return for another season of lively multi-media presentatioins on "ghost hunting" with from a skeptical viewpoint, including high-tech pseudoscience, skeptical inquiry, critical and thinking pitfalls like cognitive biases. Free admission and open to the pubic. Note: Portions of this presentation may not be suitable for very young audiences.

When and where?

Oct. 21, 6-8pm

Kensington Branch Library

4121 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA 92116

Oct. 28, 5:30-7:30pm

Paradise Hills Branch Library

5922 Rancho Hills Dr, San Diego, CA 92139

honoring the heroes of

skeptical inquiry

Haunting: In common parlance, when a location exhibits a pattern and a personality of paranormal activity, it is said to be "haunted." As a rule, PPI does use this word, nor do we enter into any investigation assuming that a haunting is occurring; rather, it assumes that paranormal activity is not occurring and, instead, looks for practical reasons or causes. If our findings cannot be explained, we prefer instead to classify a case as "unexplained." Phenomena associated with classic "haunting" are generally identified as Intelligent or Residual. Claims of an "intelligent haunting" are characterized by a sentience who is "attached" to the premises and interacts with it and its living occupants. Characteristics typical of a so-called "residual haunting" are rote and absentminded, as if caught in a repeating loop. A third classification, Poltergeist, remains controversial; although it resembles a haunting, it is thought by many to be a manifestation of a living mind; in consequence, it has more in common with possession, with which it suffers from similar lack of credibility. 

click for team bios

Paranormal Pursuit

The theater was truly dark, a dark so thick it oozed over three members of the team like a viscous oil. Three lights were visible: a demonic lens blinking like a red beacon from afar, a blue power signal, property of a digital night vision camera and the ghoulish green from the screen of an electromagnetic field (EMF) detector....

PPI Podcast #6: Whaley House June Reading Interview #1

Travel back in time through the PPI audio archives for the first of a series of a special interviews with June Reading, Director and Curator of the Whaley House Museum in Old Town San Diego. June Reading and Anita Kerwin share their personal experiences at the Whaley House with PPI Investigator Brian Miller during a busy winter afternoon at the museum.

Recorded January 7, 1982

Length: 00:25:34