LitLinks: Fact or fiction? Practice media literacy with spooky science

GUEST BLOGGER KATHRYN HULICK

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Happy Halloween! Many young people love ghosts, zombies, and other scary things. While Halloween monsters are just pretend, I wrote about actual science and history that led to most monster myths in my first book: Strange But True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained. Unfortunately, the internet makes some monsters and ghost stories seem all too real. This happens when content creators intentionally create hoaxes or clickbait stories meant to attract attention rather than educate. It also happens when people don’t do thorough research. Young people must develop media literacy skills to navigate online information and separate fact from fiction.

For this activity, I’ve selected five spooky “facts.” The trick is that only three of them are true. The other two are false. Your classroom’s job is to identify which is which. Your students can do independent research online, but they should also check out some of the resources I have created that cover these facts:

• My book: Strange But True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained
• A blog post I wrote: Top 7 Spooky Science Facts for Halloween
• The following YouTube video I made:

Which two “facts” are false?

Only three of the following “facts” are true. Which ones? Scroll to the end for the answers.

1. You can easily turn any house into a haunted one.
2. The real kraken is as big as an entire island.
3. Mummy unwrapping parties actually happened.
4. In mythology, salt frees zombies.
5. Sleep paralysis brings people face to face with real ghosts.

 Sample media literacy lesson

• Ask your students whether they think “You can easily turn any house into a haunted one” might be true or false. Remind them that it’s OK not to be sure yet. In fact, it’s an important media literacy skill to doubt a strange statement like this! You need to do some research to check it out.
• Read pages 30-31 of my book, Strange But True: 10 of the world’s greatest mysteries explained, with your students. Pay special attention to Christopher French’s haunted room project.
• Show students the scientific paper for French’s research. This is an original source – a very important type source of information when trying to determine whether something is true.
• Ask students what they think about the statement now. It turns out to be true – but not in the way you might think!
• Assign students to small groups and give each group one of the remaining four statements. Their task is to decide if it’s probably fact or fiction, and to explain their decision. Give them access to resources they can use to investigate.

Answer key

1. You can easily turn any house into a haunted one.

TRUE! All you have to do is tell a story about why the house is haunted, and some people will start blaming anything weird or unusual that happens inside that house on ghosts. This doesn’t mean that ghosts are real, though!

• The real kraken is as big as an entire island.

FALSE! Kraken myths told of a massive sea monster. The real giant squid inspired these stories. It can grow extremely large, but not as big as an island.

• Mummy unwrapping parties actually happened.

TRUE! This was a bizarre but real trend in Victorian high society in the 19^th century.

• In mythology, salt frees zombies.

TRUE! Zombie mythology from Haiti contains stories in which tasting salt frees a zombie’s spirit from captivity.

• Sleep paralysis brings people face to face with real ghosts.

FALSE! Sleep paralysis is a type of dream that seems real. People who experience it may feel like they have encountered ghosts or aliens, but these are hallucinations.

Featured image credit: Gordy Wright

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Kathryn Hulick is author of many books about science for young people, including WELCOME TO THE FUTURE: Robot Friends, Fusion Energy, Pet Dinosaurs, and More (Quarto, 2021). She writes regularly for Science News Explores, Muse magazine, and Front Vision. She has covered topics ranging from video games and artificial intelligence to energy technology and dinosaurs. In addition to writing, Hulick enjoys hiking, painting, reading, and caring for her numerous house plants. Hulick lives in Massachusetts with her husband, son and dog. You can reach her at http://kathrynhulick.com/ on X @khulick and on Instagram or TikTok @kathryn_hulick

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