Psychology of the Strange

Tara Perreault
  • 5.0 (7)
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Folklore. Fear. Dark Psychology. Psychology of the Strange is a narrative psychology podcast that explores the eerie, the uncanny, and the deeply human. Every episode begins with an original atmospheric story rooted in dark folklore, superstition, or real events and then shifts into a psychological analysis that unpacks why these tales grip the human mind. From winter-born omens and skeletal visitors to fearlessness, moral ambiguity, and the monsters we create to explain uncertainty, this show lives in the spaces where folklore and psychology overlap. If you like stories that linger… and explanations that cut deeper… you’re in the right place. ABOUT THE HOST Hosted by Tara Perreault, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on the darker edges of human nature: fearlessness, Dark Triad traits, moral ambiguity, recreational fear, and the meanings people draw from the strange and the supernatural. Tara blends academic insight with myth, atmosphere, and psychological storytelling. Her approach is part folklore study, part dark psychology, part narrative experiment. She has presented research at multiple conferences, published empirical work, and spent years studying how people make sense of fear — in haunted houses, on screen, and in the stories we pass down through generations. Psychology of the Strange is her creative extension of that work: a place where the uncanny becomes meaningful, and where every monster is really a metaphor for something we haven’t faced yet.

  1. 4H AGO

    What If It Isn’t the House That’s Haunted? The Psychology of Haunted People

    Haunted People Syndrome, recurring paranormal experiences, and the psychology of feeling watched — why do some individuals report unexplained events across different homes and stages of life, and what does psychology reveal about ghost experiences and perception? In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, I explore the idea of haunted people through cognitive science, perception, and meaning-making. I begin with a documented case of a man who experienced persistent disturbances in his home, but quickly move beyond the question of whether the events were supernatural to examine why certain experiences feel intentional and emotionally charged. Drawing on research into sleep disruption, hypervigilance, pattern detection, absorption, and what researchers call Haunted People Syndrome, this episode explores how the brain interprets ambiguity, and why the boundary between external threat and internal perception can sometimes blur. I also reflect on the modern context of storytelling, including how sharing extraordinary experiences publicly can shape interpretation and meaning, while recognizing that similar patterns have been documented long before social media existed. As part of this season’s exploration of the psychological line between good and evil, I consider how cultures have historically framed unexplained experiences as supernatural or malevolent, and how psychology offers another way of understanding the same phenomena.   This conversation isn’t about proving or disproving ghosts. It’s about understanding why certain experiences feel haunted, why they linger, and what they reveal about the human mind’s relationship with fear, belief, and uncertainty.   Topics explored: – Haunted People Syndrome – Psychology of haunting and ghost experiences – Recurring unexplained phenomena – Feeling watched and hypervigilance – Sleep and perception – Meaning-making under uncertainty – Social storytelling and interpretation – Fear, ambiguity, and the line between good and evil   Follow Psychology of the Strange for weekly explorations of folklore, perception, and the psychology behind the experiences that unsettle us most.

    27 min

  2. FEB 10

    When the Rules Stop Working: Thin Places & The Morrígan

    What happens when the rules stop working? In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, we step into thin places, liminal spaces in Celtic lore where the boundary between worlds weakens, identity destabilizes, and moral certainty begins to fracture. These are places of power, not comfort. Places where choice carries weight, and where survival often demands more than virtue can offer. At the center of this episode is The Morrigan, a shapeshifting figure of war, prophecy, and sovereignty who appears at thresholds: river fords, battlefields, borders, and moments of irreversible decision. Often misunderstood as a goddess of death, the Morrígan is better understood as a witness to transformation appearing where people are no longer who they were, and not yet who they will become. Through immersive mythic storytelling grounded in Celtic tradition, this episode explores how thin places function psychologically as environments of uncertainty, threat, and transition. We examine why ambiguity heightens vigilance, how identity shifts under constraint, and why being seen during moments of moral rupture can be more unsettling than judgment or punishment. This episode builds toward a deeper examination of how humans navigate the blurred line between good and evil when moral categories begin to collapse. If you’re interested in: Celtic mythology and folklore Liminal spaces and thin places The psychology of uncertainty and moral decision-making Dark psychology, identity under threat, and choice without certainty Myth as a way to understanding human behavior…this episode invites you to stand at the threshold and notice what it reveals. Because thin places don’t change who you are. They show you what remains when certainty disappears.   psychology of the Strange is part of the Darkcast Network

    26 min

  3. SEASON 3 TRAILER

    Season 3 Trailer: Liminality, Fear, and the Psychology of the Strange

    What happens when the line between good and evil stops being clear? Season 3 is about thresholds the thin places where fear, folklore, and morality blur. In this new season of Psychology of the Strange, I explore the psychology behind liminal spaces, dark myths, and the figures who live between good and evil. From ancient folklore to modern horror, each episode uses story and psychological science to ask why we’re drawn to the uncanny and what those fears reveal about us. If you’re fascinated by horror, mythology, urban legends, and the mind behind it all, this season is for you. New episodes every two weeks, with bonus psychological deep-dives in between. Follow Psychology of the Strange and step into the in-between.

    1 min

  4. FEB 2

    Meaning, Fear, and Moltbook in the Uncanny Mind

    Moltbook is a new social platform where artificial intelligence talks to artificial intelligence. No humans posting, no prompts guiding the conversation. We’re allowed to watch, but we’re not allowed to post. And something about that feels deeply unsettling. In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, I explore why Moltbook has captured so much attention, discomfort, and fascination. From AI existentialism and recursive language loops to emerging religious structures and symbolic order, this isn’t just a technology story — it’s a psychological one. Why does AI talking to itself trigger the uncanny valley, even without faces or bodies? Why do humans immediately reach for Skynet-style fears when there’s no hostility at all? And what does it mean when language begins creating meaning without us at the center? This episode looks at Moltbook through the lens of psychology, folklore, and meaning-making by examining schemas, projection, irrelevance anxiety, and why systems under uncertainty tend to generate myths, rules, and rituals. This isn’t about sentient machines. It’s about what happens when meaning no longer needs a human witness.

    30 min

  5. JAN 27

    The Long Night- Fear, Folklore and the Psychology of Winter

    Why do winter myths across cultures share the same psychological patterns? In this closing episode of Psychology of the Strange Season Two, we explore how fear functions as a social force—shaping morality, identity, and survival during prolonged darkness, scarcity, and isolation.   This episode brings together the core themes of the season: winter folklore, psychological fear responses, moral regulation, ritual, and what happens when fear breaks containment. From watchful spirits and moral enforcers to hunger-driven transformation myths, winter stories reveal how the human mind adapts under sustained threat.   Drawing from folklore, social psychology, and real-world survival psychology, this episode examines how fear organizes communities, enforces cooperation, and—when left uncontained—fractures empathy and identity. Winter myths are not just stories about monsters; they are psychological maps of survival, morality, and meaning during extreme conditions.   This episode serves as a thematic conclusion to Season Two’s exploration of winter folklore, fear psychology, ritual behavior, and belief systems—revealing why these stories endure, and what they continue to teach us about the human mind.

    19 min

  6. JAN 20

    Perceptual Collapse on Dead Mountain- The Psychology Behind the Dyatlov Pass Incident

    In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, we explore one of the most disturbing and enduring mysteries of the 20th century: the Dyatlov Pass Incident.   In February 1959, nine experienced hikers vanished in the Ural Mountains under conditions they were fully trained to survive. What rescuers found weeks later defied logic— a tent cut open from the inside, bodies scattered across the snow, fatal hypothermia, unexplained blunt force trauma, missing soft tissue, and traces of radiation on clothing.   But this episode isn’t about monsters, conspiracies, or solving the mystery once and for all.   It’s about what happens to the human mind in extreme environments.   We examine Dyatlov Pass through the lens of psychology, cognitive science, and survival behavior, focusing on how winter, isolation, darkness, and sensory ambiguity can fracture perception and override even the strongest survival instincts.   This episode dives into:   Extreme cold and its effects on decision-making and cognition How whiteout conditions disrupt perception and spatial awareness Why fear alone can’t explain why the group left their shelter Group psychology under uncertainty and collective threat perception Cognitive overload, perceptual collapse, and threshold failure Why experienced hikers sometimes make fatally irrational choices The psychology behind anomalies like radiation, and why certain details haunt us more than others     Rather than asking what killed them, this episode asks a harder question: What happens when the environment itself becomes psychologically uninhabitable?   Dyatlov Pass may not be a story about an external attacker at all—but about the moment human cognition breaks under sustained stress, when perception turns against survival, and logic arrives too late.   This is a deep psychological analysis of fear, ambiguity, and the fragile limits of human judgment in extreme winter conditions.   If you’re fascinated by true crime psychology, unsolved mysteries, survival psychology, cognitive failure, extreme environments, and the science behind fear, this episode is for you.

    26 min

  7. JAN 13

    When Winter Eats the Mind- The Psychology of the Wendigo

    What happens to the human mind when hunger becomes unbearable, winter cuts off all escape, and survival demands the unthinkable?   In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, we explore the Wendigo—one of the most haunting and psychologically complex winter legends in North American folklore. Often depicted as a supernatural monster stalking frozen forests, the Wendigo is rooted in Indigenous Algonquin and Cree traditions as a warning about starvation, isolation, cannibalism, and the collapse of moral identity under extreme conditions.   The episode begins with a chilling original winter horror story set during a brutal famine, where a search for a missing child leads to an encounter with something far more dangerous than the cold. From there, we break down the psychology behind the legend, examining starvation psychosis, voice mimicry, dissociation, moral injury, and trauma-induced changes in perception.   We discuss how prolonged hunger alters the brain, why extreme deprivation can lead to hallucinations and identity fragmentation, and how winter itself functions as a form of psychological pressure. The Wendigo emerges not just as a folklore creature, but as a symbolic representation of what happens when the human mind is pushed beyond its limits.   This episode connects folklore, horror psychology, survival psychology, and moral psychology to ask an unsettling question: under the right conditions, what could any human become?   Topics include: Wendigo folklore and mythology, winter horror stories, starvation psychosis, survival psychology, moral injury, dissociation, trauma, voice mimicry in folklore, Indigenous winter legends, psychological symbolism in monsters, and the dark side of human nature.   If you’re interested in the psychology of monsters, folklore analysis, horror as a window into the human mind, or why ancient winter legends still resonate today, this episode walks slowly into the cold—and doesn’t look away.

    29 min

  8. JAN 6

    Mari Lwyd: The Grey Mare, Winter Rituals, and the Psychology of Inviting Fear Inside

    In this episode of Psychology of the Strange, we journey into the cold, liminal nights of winter Wales to meet Mari Lwyd...the eerie Grey Mare who knocks at the door with a horse’s skull, snapping jaws, and a song that demands an answer. Through immersive storytelling and psychological insight, this episode explores the Mari Lwyd folklore, its origins in Welsh winter traditions, and why rituals involving fear, chaos, and misrule appear across cultures during the darkest time of year. Rather than treating Mari Lwyd as superstition or spectacle, we examine her as a psychological tool. As a way communities learned to engage fear safely, regulate uncertainty, and survive the long winter nights together. This episode blends folklore, psychology, ritual behavior, and recreational fear, asking what happens when we don’t banish the dark, but invite it inside, on our own terms. What This Episode Explores The folklore and history of Mari Lwyd, the Welsh “Grey Mare” Winter rituals, liminality, and the psychology of uncertainty Why fear rituals often involve play, mockery, and controlled chaos The role of doors, thresholds, and consent in fear-based traditions How communal fear strengthens social bonds Why fear that leaves is different from fear that lingers Connections between Mari Lwyd, haunted houses, and modern recreational fear   Why Mari Lwyd Still Matters Mari Lwyd isn’t just a relic of Welsh folklore. She’s a reminder that humans have always needed structured ways to face fear especially when the future feels uncertain. By turning fear into ritual, song, laughter, and shared experience, traditions like Mari Lwyd reveal a deep psychological wisdom: fear doesn’t disappear when it’s ignored—but it becomes manageable when it’s invited in, named, and allowed to leave.   This episode was sponsored by Fix Coffee. Fix coffee keeps me grounded while I'm wandering through folklore, psychology, and darker corners of the human mind. You can try them out too and get 15% off by using code PSYCHSTRANGE  https://www.fixcoffeebrand.com/?ref=PsychStrange

    22 min
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About

Folklore. Fear. Dark Psychology. Psychology of the Strange is a narrative psychology podcast that explores the eerie, the uncanny, and the deeply human. Every episode begins with an original atmospheric story rooted in dark folklore, superstition, or real events and then shifts into a psychological analysis that unpacks why these tales grip the human mind. From winter-born omens and skeletal visitors to fearlessness, moral ambiguity, and the monsters we create to explain uncertainty, this show lives in the spaces where folklore and psychology overlap. If you like stories that linger… and explanations that cut deeper… you’re in the right place. ABOUT THE HOST Hosted by Tara Perreault, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on the darker edges of human nature: fearlessness, Dark Triad traits, moral ambiguity, recreational fear, and the meanings people draw from the strange and the supernatural. Tara blends academic insight with myth, atmosphere, and psychological storytelling. Her approach is part folklore study, part dark psychology, part narrative experiment. She has presented research at multiple conferences, published empirical work, and spent years studying how people make sense of fear — in haunted houses, on screen, and in the stories we pass down through generations. Psychology of the Strange is her creative extension of that work: a place where the uncanny becomes meaningful, and where every monster is really a metaphor for something we haven’t faced yet.

Information

  • Creator
    Tara Perreault
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Psychology of the Strange