American adults may act amusingly scared tonight when ghosts and goblins and kids dressed like Kim Kardashian ring their doorbells. But earlier this year, when a team of sociology students and professors from Chapman University in Orange, Calif., asked people what frightened them, they gave up the goods, and no costumed boogeymen made the list.

The recently released, third annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears secured the opinions of more than 1,500 adults throughout the country. “The 2016 survey data shows us the top fears have shifted from last year’s, which were heavily based in economic and ‘big brother’ type issues to include more health and financial fears this year,” Christopher Bader, Ph.D., told EurekaAlert.org. The Chapman professor of sociology, who topped the project, added, “People often fear what they cannot control, and we find continued evidence of that in our top fears.”

One thing that has not changed from a year earlier is the No. 1 fear among Americans: Corruption of government officials. Other real-world frights for 2016 include terrorist attacks, not having enough money for the future and the death of a loved one. Additionally, identity theft and Obamacare both made the list as things that are frightworthy.

Adding another level on the fear survey, Bader and his crew gauged the degree to which Americans buy into fears that go beyond pure reality. “We found clear evidence that the United States is a strongly conspiratorial society,” said Bader,.who included questions about the JFK assassination, 9/11 coverups and extra-terrestrials (40 percent of those questioned believe that the government keeps details on aliens under wraps). “We see a degree of paranoia in the responses.”

To truly measure the level of paranoia — and the degree to which that response is completely knee-jerk — Bader asked respondents to opine on the North Dakota crash. He provided details of the crash, and nearly one-third of respondents believed it to be covered up by the government. That was before they realized that the North Dakota crash was completely fabricated.

That breadth of that response — and the high number of people so quick to brand the fake event a conspiracy — provides the peaceful and rational among us with something to truly fear. As related by Professor Bader: “Conspiracy theorists tend to be more pessimistic about the near future, fearful of government, less trusting of other people in their lives and more likely to engage in actions due to their fears, such as purchasing a gun.”