More than any other field of study, the paranormal field gets scoffed. When I tell people that I write for a paranormal website I often get bombarded with comments like “do you actually believe in that stuff?” and half hearted “Oh, that’s cool. I guess”. But I believe that there is merit in studying the paranormal. By paranormal I mean the study of Extraterrestrials or UFOs, cryptozoology, and ghosts, though I will also be the first to admit that there are major flaws in how some areas of the field are researched.
Many in the scientific community call many of the methods used in cryptozoology and ghost hunting pseudoscience and often times it is. For example, there are several Internet websites that use cryptozoology and what are known as “misplaced fossils” to push their agenda of removing Darwin’s theory of evolution from school curriculums. This is definitely using the field as a pseudoscience. First of all let’s say a living dinosaur is discovered, this does not prove the theory of evolution wrong it simply means that one animal has, through out history, remained relatively unchanged because it simply did not need to change, much like turtles have.
On the subject of “misplaced fossils”: Most misplaced fossils are hoaxes or fossils that simply are not what they appear to be. Other “misplaced fossils” like the Baghdad Battery or the Baigong Pipes (info on which can be found here, are truly remarkable in that it makes us rethink what ancient humans were capable of and forces us to theorize on how they were capable of such feats. It does not make us rethink evolution, which has now been tested to such a degree that it is more of a scientific law than a theory. So if you are using the field to push some illogical crusade you have against conventional science then your practices can be considered pseudoscience.
Supposed footprint over a Trilobite fossil. In reality we simply see a shoe because that is the shape is closely related to what we perceive as a shoe when it simply could have been a leaf or rock that caused the shape or just the rock formation itself.
Second, ghost hunters are often rightfully accused of practicing pseudoscience. Every paranormal investigating show on television pushes the idea that what they are doing is scientific and they are not just running around in the dark, when in reality the latter is more true. First of all there is absolutely no scientific proof of ghosts existence. Do not get me wrong there are countless of eyewitness accounts that make the field too important to laugh off, but calling the research done on ghosts science is just plain wrong. Also, these shows will often use K-2 meters and EMF detectors to track ghosts, but the fact is using these devices to hunt ghosts makes about as much scientific sense as using a calculator to measure the acidic levels in a body of water. In other words, there is no evidence that suggests that K-2 meters or EMF detectors can help find ghosts.
In these last examples I illustrated how some of the people involved in the paranormal field of study absolutely deserve the harsh criticism they get from skeptics, but others in the field, myself included, do not deserve the harsh treatment we get from skeptics, hell I even consider myself a skeptic, but I do see merit in investigating the paranormal.
First of all the study of UFOs (ufology) should not be considered a ridiculous field. UFOs are a very real phenomenon and at this point their existence is undeniable. What they are is certainly up for debate, but we will never discover what they are unless someone is researching them. Also there are several government funded and independently funded programs that look for signs of intelligent life in space. Intelligent life is also more statistically probable than no other intelligent life in the universe (do a Google search of the Drake Equation).
To me the cryptozoological field has the second most potential to being an actual science, when it is done with skepticism, landing only behind the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. If a large number of people see some strange, possibly undiscovered animal it makes more sense to do an investigation than to not do one. Most of these investigations will probably end up being a case of a misidentified animal thought to be paranormal or a hoax, but there is always a chance that while investigating these claims you might stumble upon an actual new species.
I must admit that I do not have much respect for the research of ghosts as a science. I do not have respect for it as a science, because it is simply not a science at all. I have, however, still written on the subject several times before; presenting ghost stories, ghost pictures, and historical legends of ghosts, but I feel comfortable doing this. I believe that the merit in investigating ghosts lies in folklore. Collecting these stories and retelling these stories or discussing supposed photographs of ghosts is tremendously important as each story or discussion has pieces of our culture in it forever preserved. I also find the psychological and sociological reasons for why ghost sightings and stories, a phenomenon that is prevalent in all human societies, exists at all.
This is not to say that I have not done any in the field investigating on ghosts. Ghost hunting is a very fun activity and I have done it on several occasions, but I do not try and pretend that what I am doing is scientific. It is more of a social function than anything else, and needless to say all my ghost adventures have only resulted, at best, in me being needlessly scared.
Every time I hear or read about someone unfairly criticizing someone who studies the paranormal I am left scratching my head. If someone else wants to investigate the existence of Bigfoot or ghosts why should it bother anyone else so much? It is their lives and if they have the time and the resources let them Bigfoot hunt or ghost hunt their little hearts out. It is not your time or your money they are wasting or using, and they may even uncover something genuinely paranormal.
Author: Jonathan Kaulay Copyrighted © paranormalhaze.com
