The Monika Encounter: A Mixed Methods Study of a Techno-Based Ghostly Episode

Summary

A single case study of a 36-year-old man in France who reported ghostly encounters after playing the horror game Doki Doki Literature Club! tested the Haunted People Syndrome model, which describes such episodes as arising from people with heightened sensitivities, paranormal belief, and perceptual contagion. The participant showed slightly below-average haunt intensity, above-average recognition patterns for the syndrome, and scores indicating high transliminality, paranormal belief, and stress. His narrative aligned with the proposed process, and he experienced depersonalization, derealization, and dissociated identity, with aftereffects of situational enchantment. His understanding of the experiences evolved through active sense-making.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) characterizes recurrent ‘ghostly episodes’ as an interactionist phenomenon emerging from people with heightened somatic-sensory sensitivities that are stirred by dis-ease states, contextualized with paranormal belief, and reinforced via perceptual contagion and threat-agency detection. We tested the applicability of this psychological model via a three-part, quali-quantitative case study of a 36-year-old male in France, who self-reported successive encounter experiences seemingly triggered by the popular horror game and visual novel, Doki Doki Literature Club! The percipient completed several standardized measures that mapped the contents and context of his experiences, including indices of ‘deep’ imaginary companions, stigmata-like marks, and enchantment effects. We also conducted independent content analyses of his written account to compare the narrative’s development and descriptions to published sequences for HP-S and dissociative phenomena. This episode showed (a) slightly below-average ‘haunt intensity’ and a content structure that paralleled both fantasy and lifestyle-based accounts, (b) an above-average score on a screener for HP-S recognition patterns, which we corroborated with scores on separate measures of transliminality, paranormal belief, and stress levels, (c) a narrative sequence that aligns reasonably well to the posited process of HP-S, (d) clear indications of depersonalization, derealization, and dissociated identity, and (e) aftereffects of situational-enchantment. The percipient’s understanding of his experiences also evolved over time due to active sense-making activities. Our findings support prior research suggesting that embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognitions partly help to shape the phenomenology of these often transformative and clinically-relevant experiences.