‘Supernatural’ Archives
Paranormal Phenomena
Paranormal Phenomena Paranormal phenomena are events, circumstances, or things whose existence has not been proved by science. Such phenomena include psychic abilities like telepathy and precognition; experiences that suggest the spirit survives the body’s death, such as reincarnation and ghost sightings; encounters with unknown beasts such [...]
Monster
Monster A term derived from the Latin monstrum, whose original reference was to a kind of divine omen taking the form of a grossly deformed example of a plant or animal, usually manifest in the latter case as an inviable embryo. Within this narrow definition the study of monsters became the quasi-scientific discipline of teratology, but the [...]
SETI
SETI An acronym signifying the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It was coined in association with Project Ozma, established in 1960 by Frank Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Greenbank, Virginia, to scan G-type stars for radio signals that might be communications. The possibility that radio telescopes might pick [...]
ALIEN
ALIEN The term conventionally used in modern fiction to represent sentient extraterrestrial species. The history of the notion extends back far beyond the hypothetical science of *exobiology, originating in the context of the theological debate regarding the possible plurality of worlds. Although early participants in the debate took it for [...]
UFO
UFO A term popularised in the late 1940s, adopting a comparison made in Kenneth Arnold’s report of a mysterious group of flying objects near Mount Rainier, Washington State, in June 1947. It captured the popular imagination so thoroughly that it remained in use in media reportage long after the substitution of ‘‘unidentified flying [...]
The True Story of Loch Ness Monster
The True Story of Loch Ness Monster Loch Ness a beautiful but forbidding lake in the Scottish highlands. The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster goes all the way back to the 6th century, when an Irish monk was said to have chastised the vicious creature and ordered it back into the depths. But it wasn’t until a string of [...]
The Faust Legend
The Faust Legend In the early 16th century there sprang up in Germany tales of a magician, Dr. Johannes Faust, or Faustus, who was rumoured to be in league with the devil. With his aid, Faust could supposedly perform remarkable feats. There seems little doubt that a fortune-teller of this name really existed. He is said to have died in about [...]
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters Long after the regular visitors left the Old Cowtown Museum on Saturday, an odd group of detectives gathered in the employee parking lot and unloaded its high-tech gear. More than a dozen members of the Wichita Paranormal Research Society carried infrared cameras, thermal imagers and electromagnetic field data loggers into the [...]
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Do You Believe in Ghosts? Ghost stories have been with humankind for thousands of years. There are written accounts from the Chinese and Greeks, for example, which make up some of the earliest writings of hauntings. But do people in our modern, well-educated civilization actually believe in ghosts? In the United States, the answer seems to [...]
Ghosts
Ghosts A ghostly woman coming down the stairs. This image was fabricated, based on the descriptions given by people who claim to have seen ghosts. Ghostly face of a murderer or just rippled glass? This image is undoctored, and many claim it shows a ghost. Others, however, say it is an illusion caused by the way the light hits ripples in the [...]
