The Haunted History of Doorways

My mom always told me that if I forgot something, I should walk back through a doorway. I'll admit it—I thought she was a little crazy.

The strange thing is...it usually seems to work!

I still do it.

Years later, I discovered psychologists actually have a name for it: the "doorway effect." But long before science tried to explain it, cultures around the world had already decided there was something special about crossing a threshold. But that got me wondering...

Why have people always believed there was something special about doorways?"

Limerick, Ireland, 2009

1. Doorways are thresholds.

They're neither one place nor another.

You're leaving one world...

...and entering another.

Anthropologists call these liminal spaces—or places of transition where you're not quite in one space or world, nor quite in the other.

2. Ancient cultures protected them.

Throughout history, people decorated doorways with symbols to keep evil away.

• Horseshoes

• Protective carvings

• Mezuzahs in Jewish homes

• Threshold blessings

• Salt at entrances

• Wreaths and greenery

The doorway wasn't just an entrance.

It was protection.

3. Spirits and thresholds

Many traditions believed spirits couldn't simply wander anywhere.

They crossed thresholds.

Or they were prevented from crossing them.

Even vampire folklore is built around this idea.

The vampire can't enter until invited.

That's a doorway story.

Spiritualists refer to death as a "transition," or "threshold."

4. Why investigators notice them

Ask almost any paranormal investigator where strange things often happen.

Hallways.

Stairways.

Doorways.

People report:

• shadows crossing entrances

• footsteps stopping at doors

• temperature changes

• feelings of being watched

Does that prove anything?

No.

But it's interesting that people have reported similar experiences for generations.

5. Then bring in psychology.

Today psychologists say that crossing into a new room changes context.

Sometimes your brain literally leaves the thought behind.

So...

Are doorways haunted?

Maybe that's the wrong question.

Perhaps the better question is...

Why have humans, for thousands of years, believed that crossing a doorway means crossing more than just a room?

As I finished writing this, I laughed.

The photograph at the beginning was taken in Ireland in 2009.

That trip marked another threshold in my own life—I had just turned 50.

Apparently, I wasn't just photographing doorways...

I was walking through one.

Funny how life works. Sometimes you don't recognize the significance of a doorway until years after you've crossed it.

History.

Mystery.

Discovery."