Paranormal Activity

The concept of paranormal phenomena derives from the persistent controversy over beliefs that are widely held through the general population of a culture or within specific communities in that culture to be true and observable occurrences but cannot be verified through the scientific method or by comparison to the body of information already proven through science. Occurrences that might otherwise fall within the realm of supernatural or religious belief become prone to interpretation as paranormal activity when placed within the context of a culture that privileges the combination of empirical observation and thinking based on the precepts of the scientific method over other sources of information. From a historical perspective, the idea that certain kinds of knowledge could be defined as paranormal dates back the 1910s. The 19th century had seen an expansion in scientific thinking and the implementation of science to create technology and conduct natural research that was coupled with and perhaps responded to by an increased interest in occurrences that would now be defined as paranormal activity. In the 20th century, the scientific community began to respond to the interest of unproven or supernatural phenomena such as psychic powers for gathering information or in the existence of ghosts by formulating the paranormal category to place such things in a scientific context without giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The scientific community has long been exercised by the question of the existence of certain kinds of phenomena that cannot be currently proven through available sources of data or methodological tools, which nonetheless cannot be judged to constitute paranormal activity. These hypothesized ideas include dark matter and dark energy, which do not meet the definition of paranormal phenomena in the sense that proposals exist for reconciling them with currently known and recognized scientific facts. The phenomenon that are identified as paranormal activity, by contrast, are commonly derived not from the speculations that arise in the scientific community itself, but from urban myths or folkloric beliefs. Another common source for ideas that are classified as paranormal by researchers are those firmly asserted to be proven in incidents or anecdotes that are given by individual people but cannot be connected to or proven through subsequent data gathering or comparisons to already available data.
The members of the category generally defined as being paranormal which most strongly and aptly fit the requirements for meeting the definition that was introduced to make use of the term for the purposes of science are those that relate to claims made for the existence of ghosts and other manifestations claimed to exist or to be observable in the physical world which show the persistence of a deceased soul or spirit. Commonly observed varieties of paranormal activity are sounds, sights or even perceived feelings that are felt by the observer to be without any possible explanation other than that of the existence of ghosts. The belief in such paranormal activity is both widespread in the general community and considered unprovable by science.