Halloween All the Time

Want to hear a spooky story? According to a new AP-IPSOS poll, a third of Americans believe in ghosts.

34% of adults polled said they were OK with the idea of spooks drifting in from the beyond, while 23% believed they'd seen one or been in contact with some otherworldly presence. That roughly two-to-one ratio of people having at least some anecdotal evidence is better than for U.F.O.'s. 34% of respondents believed in extra-terrestrial visitors, even though only 14% claim to have seen one.

Possibly the biggest surprise is that 48% said they believed in extra-sensory perception. Actually, scratch that: a bigger shock may come from the fact that one in 20 people think they've seen a monster in their closet. Chronic doubts they mean the Pixar/Disney Monsters. Inc. cuddly kind.

To put that all into context, there's about as many people who believe the spirits of the dead still walk the earth as think President Bush is doing a good job.