Student Spotlight: Noah Todachiny  

Noah Todachiny, a student in Professor Jeannie Thomas’ Introduction to Folklore class, recently created “Ghost Hunters of Old Main,” a short film celebrated by his classmates for its creative and engaging content. Noah’s project represents the many excellent hands-on learning experiences Folklore students regularly engage in.  

On the importance of Folklore projects such as this, Jeannie says, “The purpose of the ghost hunting exercise is to teach students to analyze the media’s use of the supernatural. The students are asked to apply the following analytical tools to their ghost hunting exercise: Occam’s razor, confirmation bias, pareidolia, and the ideomotor effect.”  

Jeannie goes on to say, “We also overtly recognize the purpose of ghost hunting—which often is fun and entertainment—which is okay. Noah’s video certainly shows how much fun ghost hunting can be! However, we keep in mind that a fun-and-entertainment approach is usually separate from an evidence-based one. This exercise also shows the power of folk narrative (ghost stories) in creating entertaining mass media. Assignments that ask students to apply concepts to real-world settings—and that are engaging like this one is—are common in Folklore classes.” 

You can view “Ghost Hunters of Old Main” here.