Paranormal

The term "paranormal" refers to any unusual event, being, or other phenomena that is neither confirmed by conventional science nor is explainable through the scientific method. The paranormal is associated within the realm of the supernatural that some speculate exists in addition to and alongside the physical world and that interacts with and impinges upon it. Paranormal is a broad category and includes a wide range of distinct phenomena, including special beings (such as ghosts, extraterrestrials, and demons); unconventional occurrences (such as reincarnation and mediums who claim to be able to speak to the spirit world); mysterious powers, abilities, and forces (including out-of-body experiences, accurately predicting the future, mind reading, telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, and extrasensory perception or ESP, and cryptozoology (belief in the existence of legendary creatures). Sometimes the term "occult" is used to refer to efforts aimed at acquiring knowledge, information, or special powers through paranormal means, such as using an Ouija board to attempt to communicate with the dead. The paranormal continues to play a major role in American social life and pop culture and remains the subject of numerous horror and science fiction books, websites, and motion pictures.

Background

Belief in the paranormal is present in many cultures and civilizations, with myths, legends, and stories passed down from generation to generation. For example, the concept of ghosts and spirits interacting with humans is seen in numerous European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Australian Aboriginal, and Native American legends, oral traditions, and literature. Furthermore, anthropologists, scholars, and historians have studied ancient examples of artwork and legends depicting what today is regarded as extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In October 1492, Christopher Columbus documented seeing bright lights glowing and moving in an up and down direction in the distance as he crossed an area in the Atlantic Ocean now known as the Bermuda Triangle, and many have interpreted this as evidence that Columbus saw a UFO that then guided him to the new world. Others claim that Renaissance artwork, such as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Madonna with Saint Giovannino, incorporates explicit or hidden images of UFOs and extraterrestrial beings

Impact Today

The investigation of paranormal phenomenon is known as parapsychology. Despite the efforts of parapsychologists to establish their research as legitimate scientific inquiry, many regard parapsychology as a pseudoscience and a presentation of the outrageous as legitimate. Parapsychologists and believers in the paranormal often describe their studies as an alternative science rather than a pseudoscience. Opponents believe, however, that parapsychology must present rigorous scientific data to support its claims. Believers in the paranormal counter that the paranormal is not necessarily tangible, physical, or measurable, and is thus not easily proven by conventional scientific methods.

American artist Budd Hopkins (1931–2011) is noted as the father of the alien-abduction movement and authored several books on the subject. He was perhaps best-known for his hypnosis-based interviews with alleged victims of alien abductions. Hopkins claimed the interviews provided information about a phenomenon known as "missing time," which was significant gaps of time in the interviewees’ memory. Hopkins believed that victims of missing time shared repressed memories of being abducted by extraterrestrials and subjected to medical experiments before being returned to earth. Critics of his technique and findings noted that Hopkins was not a trained therapist, academic, or scientist and believed that he relied on suggesting ideas and leading the interviewees in order to plant false memories during hypnosis.

Belief in the paranormal is not unpopular in Americans twenty-first culture. An August 2009 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 18 percent of Americans believe in ghosts, and 29 percent of Americans claim to have experienced some form of contact or communication with the spirit world. The survey was based on a random sample of 2,003 individuals and noted that belief in ghosts was slightly higher among African Americans and Latinos (20 percent) than whites (17 percent), while African Americans (41 percent) were more likely to report having experienced contact with a spirit than either Latinos (30 percent) or whites (29 percent) were.

In 1967, psychiatrist Ian Stevenson founded the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine in order to study scientific and verifiable evidence of paranormal phenomena such as ESP, near-death experiences, past lives, and communication with the dead. A 2015 research study conducted by French scholars at the University of Toulouse found that belief in the paranormal is strongly correlated with a certain type of cognitive thinking. Distinguishing between reflective thinkers and intuitive thinkers, the researchers noted that after experiencing a bizarre or unusual event, reflective thinkers are more likely to simply acknowledge that they cannot explain the event, while intuitive thinkers are much more likely to desire an explanation for the event and thus attribute it to the supernatural or paranormal realm.

Bibliography

Cardin, Matt, ed. Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2015. Print.

Davis, Robert. The UFO Phenomenon: Should I Believe? Atglen: Schiffer, 2015. Print.

Flanagin, Jake. "There Is a Paranormal Activity Lab at the University of Virginia." Atlantic. Atlantic Monthly Group, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Aug. 2016.

Fox, Margalit. "Budd Hopkins, Abstract Expressionist and UFO Author, Dies at 80." New York Times. New York Times, 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Aug. 2016.

Hopkins, Budd. Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions. New York: Ballantine, 1988. Print.

Lipka, Michael. "18% of Americans Say They’ve Seen a Ghost." Pew Research. Pew Research Center, 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2016.

Neimark, Jill. "The Harvard Professor and the UFOs." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 9 June 2016. Web. 9 Aug. 2016.

Van der Linden, Sander. "How Come Some People Believe in the Paranormal?" Scientific American. Nature America, 1 Sept. 2015. Web. 9 Aug. 2016.