Paranormal

The term "paranormal" refers to any unusual event, being, or other phenomenon that is neither confirmed by conventional science nor explainable through the scientific method. The paranormal is associated with 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 a 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, Aboriginal Australian, and American Indian legends, oral traditions, and literature. Furthermore, anthropologists, scholars, and historians have studied ancient examples of artwork and legends depicting what 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, 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 phenomena is known as parapsychology. Despite the efforts of parapsychologists to establish their research as a 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 referred to significant gaps of time in the interviewees’ memories. 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 remained popular in America into the twenty-first century. According to a Pew Research Center study published in 2023, 83 percent of all Americans believed that people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical bodies. In addition to 74 percent of Americans who believed that there are some things that science cannot explain, 45 percent said they had experienced a feeling of connection with something from beyond this world. Another 30 percent of Americans stated that they had personally encountered a spirit or unseen force.

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 Jean-François Bonnefon 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

Alper, Becka A. et al. "Spirituality Among Americans." Pew Research Center, 7 Dec. 2023, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/12/07/spirituality-among-americans/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.

Bonnefon, Jean-François, and Romain Bouvet. “Non-Reflective Thinkers are Predisposed to Attribute Supernatural Causation to Uncanny Experiences.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 7, July 2015, pp. 955–61, jfbonnefon.github.io/publication/pspb15/pspb15.pdf. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.

Cardin, Matt, editor. Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies. ABC-CLIO, 2015.

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

Flanagin, Jake. "There is a Paranormal Activity Lab at the University of Virginia." The Atlantic, 10 Feb. 2014. www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/02/there-is-a-paranormal-activity-lab-at-the-university-of-virginia/283584/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.

Fox, Margalit. "Budd Hopkins, Abstract Expressionist and UFO Author, Dies at 80." New York Times, 24 Aug. 2011. www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/arts/design/budd-hopkins-abstract-artist-and-ufo-author-dies-at-80.html. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.

Hopkins, Budd. Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions. Ballantine Books, 1988.

Neimark, Jill. "The Harvard Professor & the UFOs." Psychology Today, 4 June 2025, www.psychologytoday.com/gb/articles/199403/the-harvard-professor-the-ufos. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.

Van der Linden, Sander. "How Come Some People Believe in the Paranormal?" Scientific American, 1 Sept. 2015, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-come-some-people-believe-in-the-paranormal/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.