America's most haunted: A fifth of people claim to have seen a ghostwhile 29% 'have made contact with the dead'

Fear not if you believe in terrifying things that go bump in the night -  you are not alone. 

A poll released on Wednesday revealed that 18 per cent of Americans say they have seen a ghost.

Some 29 per cent of people also claim to have been in touch with the dead, according to the Pew Research Center.

More than 2,000 people took part in the spooky survey in time for Halloween. It revealed that women are more likely to have seen ghostly apparitions than men. 

A separate YouGuv poll of 1,000 adults last year found that 45 per cent of adults believed in ghosts. 32 per cent of people also believed that ghosts could also interact or harm living people.

Loyd Auerbach, who has investigated the paranormal for 30 years, told discovery.com that the vast majority of sightings can be explained by science.

Many apparent hauntings also depend on the individual's psychological state.

Mr Auerbach said: 'It's often because people are predisposed - they've been watching too many TV shows, or something bad is going on in their lives.

'Sometimes people are psychologically disturbed, but most of the time I find it's people making mistakes because they're already in a sensitized state due to something else entirely.'

Source: dailymail