Hi Hollow,
Sounds like an interesting book--one that encourages critical thinking. When I was a lad, I probably read just about every (supposedly) non-fiction book I could find in our local library about the paranormal. Read a few ghost stories and was transfixed by them. Like others have mentioned, things that activate one's sense of wonder. As an adult, although also like others, I'm not willing to say with 100% certainty certain things do not exist (indeed it's impossible, or difficult, to prove a negative), I now love reading about cons, hoaxes, the artistry of deception, and recent neuroscience / psychology of paranormal belief. To me, it's more fascinating than what's supposedly real (and most of the public believes in). Many people have many experiences that are tough to explain away. Although there are many explanations the general public doesn't know about. To name one:
* Being visited by a ghost in the night--feeling paralyzed in bed and seeing strange things. Typically known as Sleep Paralysis where the body is immobile (so you don't hurt yourself acting our your dreams physically) but the mind is awake. Can occur during hypnogogic or hypnopompic sleep (the states between falling asleep and dreaming and dreaming to becoming awake).
I've never been to a paid reading. But had a friend do a Tarot spread for me once. It was from him that I got the idea that the smarter and more creative the person, the more inventive he or she will be in making the cards fit his or her personal situation. Humans are pattern-seeking critters and often make great meaning out of random noise. We're also notoriously bad at calculating probabilities (and so ascribe lots of significance to events that, statistically speaking, would be bizarre if they did not occur from time to time). Like the probability of two people in a room of 20 or so people having the same birthday is actually quite high.
I'd be very cautious about ever visiting one of those roadside house psychics. Too many documented (e.g. in the news) stories of them creating dependency in their clients, and bilking them of their money. I'm sure there are plenty of genuine "shut eye" readers who aren't out to con people. Not sure how to tell who is who. So proceed with caution.
One of my favorite books when I was younger was Richard Peck's "The Ghost Who Belonged to Me." If you aren't familiar, it's about a young girl who has legitimate powers of 'future sight' and has visions that come true. She actually ruins the act of a Hoax/Con man and his partner during her various adventures. I have always wanted to visit and palm reader, or a spiritualist, or someone who claims they have powers to see your future. I do not know if anyone really has powers, but it would be super fun to do so- esp around Halloween.
AAAPRN:
I would be in the same school of thought as you, Mikeerdas. For my husband and I, Halloween is more about art, expression and exaggeration. I don't believe in the supernatural. I don't believe in extraterrestrial sightings. I don't believe in ghosts. That said, I also don't believe they don't exist . (That's a double negative, which I find confusing..so) I mean to say, I do believe in their possibility, just not their probability. I believe that whole world of the supernatural is exploited....to make a buck, to gain notoriety, for whatever reasons people have. I care not. I also don't criticize too much, because I do recognize that my position is somewhat hypocritical. I'm ok with that. For me, I'm most attracted to folklore and history and superstitions connected to that time of year. That time of harvest. Most folklore is based on grains of truth. Truths that become exaggerated and bigger than their origin, but ingrained in people's life tales. Halloween gives us a time to blow those ideas up. Exaggerate and do it in an artistic and social way.
I'm with you aaaprn. I can't prove a negative. And would never declare it's all bunk. I'd have to do an exhaustive search of all peoples' experiences everywhere, have died and come back from the grave, etc. Incidentally, I've read some very cool studies of inducing Out of Body Experiences in a psych lab environment. Has something to do with Mirror Neurons. These experiences are very real, and deeply moving, to people. But so far as I know, no one has ever conclusively passed a test showing that the experience was linked to the world outside their own consciousness, e.g. one test is for an OOBEr to report back a 5 digit number placed somewhere that only a "ghost" floating about could see. So far, no test subject has ever reported the number correctly. Is there a soul? Are ghosts real? Not sure I'll ever know.
It's a bit like faith and religious experience. Something's going on. Many people have many personally convincing experiences. But they're often described or experiencing in the context of conflicting truth claims. I think the truth of the matter is that our brains, in all cultures and times, have been wired to for "agenticity" and "patternicity" by evolution. Michael Shermer in The Believing Brain says we are more likely to See Things That Aren't There than not. For example: is that rustling in bushes a tiger that could eat us? Or just wind? Better to falsely believe it is wind and flee, to live another day. Humans insufficiently scared often didn't live long enough to reproduce. And so we are wired to see lots of things that probably aren't really there--just in case. That's one recent theory anyway. One I find that would explain a lot if true. Humans are very good at filtering experiences through beliefs and self-preservation.
Yeah, I think there is certainly exploitation. But also People Helping People make it through life, providing perhaps shakey answers to questions that may be unanswerable. I'm interested in the history and folklore like you--though I don't know all that much about it. Any good book suggestions? I'm more informed, relatively speaking, about the psychology and anthropology of belief. And I love the art and atmosphere and fun of Halloween.
ChuckB:
I have to say when planning out props and scenes for Halloween I never think of the supernatural aspect of it. It is just an art of creating an overall feeling of wonder like when I was young on Halloween night. I love the reaction of the tots, the screams and the laughter. That being said I have seen things in my life that could not be rationalized not once but twice. It was life changing and made me realize that there is something else going on whether I believe so or not. But as far as Halloween I never have associated it with that, it's just one fun night of entertainment.
Hear, hear. I am 100% with you on creating a feeling of wonder for trick or treaters. It's a great tradition. And a great way to Give Back for the fun I had as a trick or treater myself. It's such a thrill to hear or see a kid point, "wow, that's cooool!" Or have parents thank me for setting up my yard haunt. Especially since I live in an area mostly dominated by biblical literalist evangelical and fundamentalist Christians. People who really take the demons and spirits thing seriously. They are some of the most superstitious people I've ever encountered, to be honest. It's easy for a yard haunt to be a great success in an area where there's little competition.
I can't compete at Christmas. That's when people here Go All Out. But with my 3 projectors, and possibly the acquisition of a DJ Snow Machine--and maybe a synchronized light/sound show--I will eventually hold my own.
No one, so far, is doing Light-o-Rama type stuff. I'm not going to do something that costs thousands of bucks and many hundreds of dollars each season in additional utility bills. But even with my tiny Gemmy Light and Sound show, that's more than what's out there. I think most people just put up as many blow-ups and other stuff for Christmas without giving any real thought to properly lighting or creating scenes and atmospheres. It shows Spirit but often lacks Creativity. Generally speaking, sometimes Less is More (effective). And goodness knows it's a lot cheaper.
I know people have experiences they can't explain. And it sure isn't my intent to try to explain away each and every one. But I am interested in the anomalous experiences folks have that *can* be explained. What are the circumstances and mechanisms involved, etc. Interesting stuff. Always looking for good books that rationally explain particular instances for spooky phenomena. For example, for pendulums and ouija boards--just google "ideomotor response". May not explain everything. But probably accounts for a lot of it.
I like tempering my reading of skeptical / rationalist books with ones by authors like the late Robert Anton Wilson. He's great at steering a course between Dismiss All Things Paranormal Out of Hand (he really hated "anti-paranormal" groups like CSICOP / Center for Inquiry, etc--although I'd strongly disagree that all or most skeptics operate that way) and credulous, uncritical belief in the paranormal. I can't imagine many Official Skeptics read the works of Robert Anton Wilson (Prometheus Rising is very mind expanding for example). But they should take a look. Many of the concepts they'd likely agree with. That there's so much sensory data out there in the world, that the human brain by necessity filters most of it out. And what's left gets filtered by Belief Systems. I find Robert Anton Wilson's concept of a Reality Tunnel to have a lot of explanatory power. We all experience the world a bit differently. Part of that is cultural and historical. Part of it is personal to our own brains/minds.
I've really been wanting, incidentally, to add floating Tarot Cards or a Haunted Ouija Board to my haunt. But I'm thinking in this part of the country I might start getting nasty grams from Evangelical neighbors...
