Paranormal Activity

Paranormal activity is a phenomenon described in popular culture, folks, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose understanding is beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. A few examples of paranormal beliefs are ghost hunting, exorcism, spiritualism, telepathy, etc.

The term exists in the English language since the 1920s. It means the scientific explanation of the world around is normal, and anything above, or beyond that is ‘para’.

Paranormal activity can be thought of as a subset of pseudoscience, however, the beliefs like witches, ghost hunting, UFOs, etc., set it apart from pseudoscience. Faith healing, human energy shields, are some of the topics discussed as psychic forces and have a dedicated community on the internet.

Paranormal activities involve many subjects, and the discussion can go on for a long time, but I have discussed the major and most interesting topics:

Ghost hunting

Ghost hunting is defined as investigating the places that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost hunting team will collect evidence, in support of the paranormal activity. Ghost hunters might use a variety of electronic devices like EMF meters, digital thermometers, video cameras, night-vision goggles, and audio recorders. Sometimes, they might prefer traditional techniques like interviewing or researching the haunted site.

Ufology

Ufology is defined as the study of unidentified flying objects, which are believed to contain extraterrestrial life or alien species. There have been many governments, private investigations on UFOs, but ufology has been termed as an example of pseudoscience. Area 51 is one of the greatest examples of aliens.

Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology is defined as the study of folk legends like Bigfoot, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, they are known as cryptids, coined by the subculture. It is neither a branch of zoology nor folklore studies, it was founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. Cryptozoology like ghost hunting and ufology has been noted parallels in pseudoscience.

Paranormal myths

Paranormal myths can be defined as false ideas about the existence of a particular phenomenon, creature, or supernatural being. These are called “myths” as they originate from a very true event, but are converted to paranormal events by the normal human being.

Controlling the myths

People have been believing in myths for a long time, and it’s not easier to tell that it’s all wrong. However, we can put a control on the extent they believe. We cannot just tell people that their beliefs are baseless, but we can tell them to believe based on proof. For example, tourism earns a huge amount by selling haunted stories. And privileged sections of society are lured by these offers. Many times, gangs spread the rumor of an old building being haunted, but have you questioned, why are only old buildings haunted? why new buildings can’t be haunted. We, personally feel you cannot ask people to stop believing but, using valid points and proofs we can show them the truth.