With Halloween just around the corner, a new survey says half of Canadians believe in ghosts and spirits.
Online gambling company PlayOJO surveyed 1,417 Canadians over the age of 21. This was carried out between October 16-18, by online research platform Prolific.
The survey looked at how many Canadians are ghost believers, the most common types of eerie encounters and most popular paranormal preventative measures.
According to the survey, 34 per cent of Canadians were skeptical when it came to supernatural spirits and 17 per cent of residents said they contemplated its existence.
“In Calgary, 54 per cent of residents admitted they believed in ghosts and spirits which was higher than any other major city in Canada. Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton, and Montreal were the other major cities who also had half or more than half of their residents being believers. On the other hand, Ottawa was the most skeptical city. Only 41 per cent of Ottawans agreed that the paranormal is real,” PlayOJO said in its report released on Friday.
The data also revealed that women tend to believe in ghosts more than men, as six in ten female respondents said they believed in spirits and ghosts and just four in 10 male participants said they did.
In terms of which generation holds the most believers, Gen-Z came out on top with a whopping 53 per cent of those born between 1995-2002 revealing their belief in the paranormal. Whereas, boomers, those born between 1946-1964 were most skeptical. Despite this, the survey found that 47 per cent said they believed in ghosts and spirits.
MOST COMMON TYPES OF EERIE ENCOUNTERS
In Canada, one in five residents admit haunting manifestation is the most common paranormal encounter. This includes weird noises, moving objects, or feeling the presence of spirits.
“An unlucky 13 per cent of Canadians admitted to seeing a ghost or poltergeist and one in 10 experienced manifestation of the living, which is seeing or hearing a person that is not actually in said location,” the survey said.
Additionally, due to historical superstitions, Hollywood movies and its association with witches, people also view black cats as bad luck, with 16 per cent of Canadians saying they have spotted one.
Believe it or not, the survey says one in 10 residents have seen a UFO, seven Canadians who were surveyed said they have spotted a dragon, four people have encountered a vampire and lastly, four people have witnessed a werewolf.
MOST POPULAR PARANORMAL PREVENTATIVE MEASURES
With spooky encounters comes paranormal preventative measures to be taken, and Canadians have their ways.
The survey reveals keeping the lights on was the most popular preventative measure with four in ten Canadians using this method to keep ghosts away.
Meanwhile, 19 per cent of ghost believers say they have used holy water or other religious imagery/symbols as a preventative measure and 18 per cent of people have also burned sage or lavender.
