A study of the Paranormal By Chris McMinn

A Study of the Paranormal

Where did the belief in ghosts begin? It is thought that the existence of ghosts is from a belief that there is something else after death, namely some sort of afterlife. “In history and prehistory, ghosts were an integral part of religious belief. Religion carried the promise of immortality, which meant that spirits of the dead had to be taken into consideration.” (Man, Myth and Magic 1001) Ancestor worship was a form of “religious awareness”, so a belief in some kind of afterlife and a worship of the dead was important.

Demonology is the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons… It is the branch of theology relating to superhuman beings who are not gods.” (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonology) They include benevolent (good) and malevolent (bad) beings. When demons are viewed as spirits, they may belong to either class of spirits known by primitive animal like creatures. These beings can be that of a human or non-human beings and separable souls or out of body spirits that never had a body. Demonology, though often referred to with negative association, was not always seen as evil or devilish as the term would have one believe. According to some societies, all the aspects of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each controlling a certain “element” or even an object, and themselves ruled by a greater spirit. (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonology)

I am most familiar with the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, which occurred between February of 1692 and May of 1693. The belief in witches and witchcraft goes further back. “In England, the term ‘witch’ was not used exclusively to describe malevolent magicians, but could also indicate cunning folk. ‘There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, white, good or unbinding witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however cunning man and wise man were most frequent.” (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft) Witches were not always thought of in evil terms

In the 18th century, Friedrich (Franz) Anton Mesmer was born May 23, 1734. He was a physician and astrologist that studied magnetism and invented what he called animal magnetism and other spiritual forces that came to be known as mesmerism. He lived in Germany and studied medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759. In 1766 he published a doctoral dissertation that discussed the effects of the moon and the planets on the human body and on disease. Mesmer focused more on certain tides in the human body that might be accounted for by the movements of the sun and moon.

He believed that the sun and moon had influences on the human body and diseases in humans. He thought that the human body had tides, and he had created an “artificial tide” in a female patient by having her swallow something containing iron; he then attached magnets to her body. This, along with his belief in animal magnetism cured her of her illness. (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Mesmer) Mesmer believed that a form of hypnotism could be used to “induce trances and cause subjects to report contact with supernatural beings.” (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism)

“Spiritualism is a monotheistic belief system or religion, postulating a belief in God, but with a distinguishing feature of belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world can be contacted by ‘mediums’ who can then provide information about the afterlife.” (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism) Belief in spiritualism in the US ranged from the 1840s to the 1920s, although many people today believe in the ability to get information from someone who had “passed”. During this time in the 19th century a household in 1848 in Hydesville New York was home of to girls names Katie and Maggie Fox who claimed that they could here “rapping” noises in their old house. They blamed it on ghosts but there parents didn’t believe them but over time as the noises continued and with no evidence of how the noises were being made by the girls, they began to believe. Locals of Hydesville went to see the girls and their ghosts, which the girls began to perform shows of communicating with the dead. They would have someone with them and ask questions that responded in a number of taps or yes or no questions.

Back then people believed that believers of the paranormal were psychologically dysfunctional in being psychotic, neurotic, and depressive.
In 1995 three people named Thalbourne, Dunbar, and Delin had used a sample of 169 first-year psychology students, and they had found a positive association between dogmatism and Traditional Religious Belief, Witchcraft, and overall Paranormal Belief Score.

In 1998-1999, two people named Heard and Vyse had found a positive relationship between authoritarianism and belief in the paranormal when using the Authoritarianism-Rebellion Scale. However, no relationship between rebelliousness and paranormal belief was found.
On a Personality Form test, high believers scored significantly higher in Aggression and Defendence.
Neuroticism has been found to be significantly correlated with an overall paranormal Belief Scale Score, Traditional Religious Belief, Psi, Witchcraft, as well as with the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale, which addresses belief in and personal experience of ESP, telepathy, precognition, and life after death.