PARANORMAL INFORMATION

Out-of-body experiences, near-death
experiences, extrasensory perception, ghosts, demonic encounters, poltergeists,
as well as sightings of UFOs and reports of alien abductions are phenomena, most
of which are not widely accepted as real by mainstream scientists, some of whom
go as far as calling the study of them pseudoscience. Sometimes the phenomenon
is acknowledged as being real, but then the way it should be interpreted is what
makes the controversy.
As the body of knowledge available expands, some anomalies are incorporated into
an explanatory framework and lose their standing as unexplained phenomena. For
instance, while the idea of stones falling from the sky was long ridiculed,
meteorites are now acknowledged and well understood.
Often used as a synonym, but actually a subclass, are the paranormal phenomena
studied by parapsychology.
Paranormal phenomena can be divided into three main classes:
Mental phenomena: unusual mental states or abilities, such as telepathy,
clairvoyance and precognition
Physical phenomena: unusual physical occurrences that may be controlled by a
consciousness, such as psychokinesis, poltergeists, stigmata or materializations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs)
Classical
civilization included unique signs and prodigies of nature in works of
paradoxography such as The Phaenomena (240 BC) by Aratus of Soli.
Inoue Enryo, a Japanese educator and philosopher, authored the six-volume The
Study of Yōkai. As a result, he was best known as Dr. Ghost or Dr.
Yōkai.
Charles Fort, in his four works on anomalies, lambasted and ridiculed the
scientists of his day for their shortsightedness. Some of the anomalies listed
in his work have been explained and incorporated into modern science (e.g.
meteors), while others continue to be unexplained.
William R. Corliss' Science Frontiers has covered reports in the scientific
literature regarding anomalies for years. He, through his Sourcebook Project,
has published a large body of reports collected in many of the scientific
disciplines.
Leonard George, a psychologist who specializes in anomalous phenomena, compiled
an authoritative encyclopedia of unusual experiences, activities, and beliefs in
his 1995 book Alternative Realities.
Fortean Times, a British monthly magazine, continues in the spirit of Fort's
work by publishing reports of anomalous phenomena and longer investigative
articles.
The Anomalist, edited by Patrick Huyghe and Dennis Stacy, is another
magazine/journal devoted to the study of anomalies (which may be called
anomalistics).
The Paranormal Magazine, an online magazine exploring paranormal phenomena and
the unexplained, including ghosts, psychic phenomena, UFOs, earth mysteries, and
many more bizarre occurrences.
Strange Magazine is another magazine devoted to the study of anomalies in the
spirit of Fort's work.
Adventures Unlimited, edited by The World Explorer's Club, is another magazine
dedicated to exotic travel, lost cities, ancient mysteries and other anomalous
phenomena.
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