This season in
television and films may be spookier and more out of this world than any in
recent history. The big and small screens are alive with psychics (Medium),
ghosts (Ghostwhisperer), extraterrestrials (Invasion), the walking
dead (Just Like Heaven), demons (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and
otherworldly creatures (Surface) (see list).
And why not? According
to a recent Gallup Poll, about 75 percent of Americans hold some form of belief
in the paranormal - extrasensory perception, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance,
astrology, communicating with the dead, witches, reincarnation or channeling.
And though Hollywood executives are more likely to pay attention to the success
of last year's television shows Lost and Medium, some scholars say they are
not surprised that the most religious country on Earth should also be the most
superstitious. Most religions, they explain, are based on some sort of magical
thinking - talking to God on mountaintops, a resurrection, the intervention
of divine messengers. Meanwhile, psychics, mediums and paranormal investigators
say the high rate of belief in the supernatural confirms what they have seen
on the job. Margaret Poloma, a Pentecostal Christian and an expert on that faith,
says Hollywood is merely reflecting what she sees in the pews - people, including
herself, whose religious faith includes belief in the supernatural powers associated
with the divine.
Why it Matters
All religions are connected to belief in supernatural forces. Entertainment
media influence the way people think and the framework through which they view
reality.
Questions for
reporters
• Is
there a link between people's willingness and ability to believe in the paranormal
and their ability to believe in a particular faith?
• Why are so many religions based upon supernatural events - the raising
of the dead, the turning of water into wine, the intervention of angels and
saints?
• What differences do people of faith see between miracles and supernatural
or paranormal phenomena?
• How does religious faith coexist with belief in the supernatural?
• Can belief in the supernatural activities of God fuel belief in secular
supernatural events?
National
sources
Click
the map for interview sources
in your state and region
• Dr. Margaret
Poloma is a professor of religion at the University of Akron who wrote about miracles
as supernatural/ paranormal phenomenon in Main Street Mystics: The Toronto Blessing
and Reviving Pentecostalism (Alta Mira Press, 2003). She says one reason for
the Gallup Poll's results is that religious people regularly experience the supernatural
and the paranormal, two things she says form the basis of religious belief. She
describes herself as a Pentecostal Christian who has experienced paranormal phenomena
within the framework of her religion. Contact 330-972-6837 or 330-328-7860 (cell),
mpoloma@uakron.edu.
• Glenn Sparks, a communications professor at Purdue University in Indiana,
says the fall TV lineup may influence what people believe about the supernatural.
Read a Sept. 6, 2005, university news
release. He studied how television in the 1990s influences people's belief
in UFOs and alien abductions. Contact 765-494-3316, gsparks@purdue.edu.
• Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. An
evangelical Christian, he wrote about how Harry Potter's magic fits with faith
in a January
2000 essay in First Things. Contact 630-752-5784, Alan.Jacobs@wheaton.edu.
• William Dinges is a professor of religious studies at the Catholic University
of America in Washington, D.C., and an expert on American Catholicism. He says
the growing divide between what is "religious" and what is "spiritual" has resulted
in spirituality that lends itself easily to supernatural and paranormal phenomena.
Contact 202-319-6890, dinges@cua.edu.
• Lynn Schofield Clark is an assistant research professor at the Center for
Mass Media research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the author
of From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural (Oxford
University Press, 2003) and can discuss how media, including television and film,
influence belief in the supernatural. She says that the current fascination with
the supernatural speaks to the uncertainty of the times and that stories of the
paranormal offer a mystical way of resolving discomfort with that uncertainty.
She also says there is a trend toward the "normalization" of psychic powers and
mystical experiences reflected in the current crop of television shows and movies.
Contact 303-492-5007, lynn.clark@colorado.edu.
• Christine
Wicker is the author of two books on the supernatural and paranormal, Lily
Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead and Not in Kansas
Anymore: The Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America (both Harper
Collins, 2003 and 2005 respectively). She says there is more "magical thinking,"
in part, because people are more skeptical of science and because theories of
the "so-called new physics" support various religious, spiritual and magical ideas.
She can also discuss the history of "Christo-magic," the magical thinking of different
types of Christians throughout American history. Contact via Donna Gould, publicist,
732-441-1519, donnagould@sprintmail.com
or Christine@christinewicker.com.
• Wendy Martin is a professor in the department of classics and religious
studies at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. In 2004, she presented
a paper
on how television shows depicting the supernatural influence people's belief systems.
Contact wendymartin@yahoo.com.
• Mary Roach is the author of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
(W.W. Norton, 2005), in which she investigates claims of life after death and
attempts to understand why people believe in reincarnation despite a lack of "proof."
Contact via Norton publicity, publicity@wwnorton.com.
• Leonard Norman Primiano is an associate professor of religious studies
at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. He contributed a chapter on the supernatural
on television in God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture,
edited by Eric Mazur (Routledge, 2000). Contact 610-902-8330, leonard.primiano@cabrini.edu.
• Alexander Seinfeld is a rabbi and an expert on Judaism and the supernatural
and has given talks on the subject of Judaism and ghosts, necromancy and astronomy.
He is based in Baltimore. Contact 650-799-5564 or info@jsli.org.
• The
Rev. Lesley A. Northup, associate professor of religion and culture at Florida
International University, is an expert on the subject of religion and broadcasting.
He says that the television shows in general confirm some of the more simplistic
ideas rampant in religion, for example, that miracles will happen if you are good.
Contact 305-348-2956, Northupl@fiu.edu.
• Melissa Caldwell, is research director of the Parents Television Council
in Los Angeles, which tries to bring more family oriented programming to television
and monitors network programming. Contact Kelly Oliver, 703-683-5004.
PARANORMAL
PROPONENTS
• Jeff
Belanger is the founder of Ghostvillage.com,
an Internet community dedicated to the supernatural, and the author of several
books on ghosts and the dead. Contact via Linda Reinecker, New Page Books, 201-848-0310
ext. 513, Lrienecker@careerpress.com.
• Rick Hayes is a paranormal communications expert. He was raised as a
Christian and established LifesGift.
He says that he sees no conflict between his Christian beliefs and his ability
to relay messages from the dead, and that this gift makes him feel more blessed.
He is based in Evansville, Ind. Contact via mediarelations@lifesgift.com.
SKEPTICS
• James
Randi is one of the foremost skeptics of all things paranormal. He is the founder
of the James Randi Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated
to educating the public about fraudulent paranormal claims. It is based in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. He says one reason people believe in the supernatural is because
it is comforting - there is life after death, their loved ones are still with
them, etc. Contact via Linda Shallenberger, 954-467-1112, linda@randi.org.
Paul Kurtz is chairman of the Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Contact 716-636-7571
ext. 202, paulkurtz@aol.com.
• Robert
Todd Carroll is the author of The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange
Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions (John Wiley & Sons,
2003) and maintains a web site
of the same name. He is a philosophy professor at Sacramento City College in
California. Contact via email only, media@skepdic.com.
Background
CURRENT
TV AND FILM
• Invasion
(ABC) - Aliens invade during a hurricane.
• Ghostwhisperer
(CBS) - About a woman who communicates with ghosts. The show's web site contains
a blog by a psychic who advises the writers and directors.
• Lost (ABC) - Strange
things happen to a group of castaways on a mysterious island. The web site contains
message boards on which fans share theories about the show that include numerology,
UFOs, ghosts, etc.
• Medium
(NBC) - A woman receives messages from the dead.
• Surface (NBC) - Mysterious
underwater creatures disrupt the planet.
• Supernatural (WB)
- Two brothers crisscross the country to carry out on their missing father's
quest to seek out and silence the supernatural forces responsible for their
mother's murder 20 years ago.
• The
Exorcism of Emily Rose (Sony Pictures) - Theatrical film about a girl
possessed by demons.
• Just
Like Heaven (DreamWorks) - A mysterious woman shows up in a man's apartment
with supernatural abilities to appear and disappear at will.
• Stay
(Fox) - Takes place "between the world of the living and the dead."
DEFINITIONS Supernatural
- attributable to a power that goes beyond or violates natural forces. Paranormal - an event or perception that involves forces outside the
realm of scientific explanation. Ghost - the disembodied spirit of a dead person. Extrasensory perception - perception that occurs beyond the usual senses. Spiritualism - the belief that the human personality survives death and
can communicate with the living, usually through the use of a medium; sometimes
called spiritism. Clairvoyance - the ability to see things out of the range of normal vision. Astrology - a type of divination based on the movement of the planets
and stars. Channeling - the occupation of one person's body by another's spirit.
ON
THE INTERNET
• Haunted
Times is a members' clearinghouse for all things paranormal, especially
ghosts.
• MAJDA Paranormal
Research Society is an international organization of people seeking explanations
for paranormal phenomena. It is based in Alliance, Ohio.
• Ghostvillage.com
is an online community of people interested in the supernatural
ARTICLES
• A June 2005 Gallup Poll found that three in four Americans express belief
in at least one paranormal belief. The most popular were extrasensory perception
and haunted houses. Read the news
release.
• The Sept.
8, 2005, USA Today fall TV preview says that a third of the new TV
dramas have a supernatural element.
• The
Catholic Encyclopedia, in defining "religion," says that, "In
every form of religion is implied the conviction that the mysterious, supernatural
Being (or beings) has control over the lives and destinies of men."
• Read an excerpt
of a chapter written by Bret E. Carroll about the history of Spiritualism in
America in Cassadaga: The South's Oldest Spiritualist Community (University
Press of Florida, 2000) as posted on Beliefnet.com.
