The Paranormal: What is it really?

We call it paranormal…but what is it really?

I have had people ask me this question time and time again and I have to admit, I find it difficult to answer. It’s easy to fall back on the standard definition of the word…some thing or event that is above or beyond normal, but that simply does not cut it and explains nothing. There are so many sub categories under the umbrella of paranormal, that to just ask what the paranormal is can be impossible to answer. Are you asking about ghosts, hauntings, cryptids, aliens, psychic abilities, NDE’s…what? There is no one way to explain a thing that is fundamentally unexplainable.

I have been immersed in the world of the mysterious, ghostly, unknown and paranormal for as long as I can remember. As a child it was books and more books of haunting tales and then came the movies in my teen years and all through these years I had experienced things I absolutely knew were not what the general public thought of as normal. As a result, a lot of what I experienced I kept to myself knowing it would not be taken seriously. As I grew into adulthood the experiences continued as did the reading and such until finally in 2009 I decided to get serious about paranormal research after investigating a friend’s apartment that was extremely active with para events. The place was amazing and it sealed my future as a researcher and investigator. 

That brings us back to the question, what is the paranormal really? Well, it’s a matter of perspective. People have been researching the paranormal since time immemorial and we are no closer today to a solid answer. Whether you are using a notebook and pencil and possibly a voice recorder or a Mr. or Mrs. Gadget who goes in with all the latest ghost hunting tools, you are no closer to discovering what people have been searching for since forever. It boils down to this: if you are a believer in the paranormal and know without a doubt that it is real, then it is normal but just not satisfactorily explained but if you are a non believer then nothing anyone tells or shows you will ever convince you of the reality of paranormal experiences or events. It’s all about your perspective.

We really know nothing concrete about the why and how of it all, only that these things happen and have been happening for eons. Since we can’t seem to come up with anything that describes the paranormal conclusively then I say we are not supposed to know. If we really knew what the dynamics of various forms of “paranormal” were, then there would be no need for or desire to research it. Paranormal, supernatural, anomalous, fringe and other words are just poor blanket terms for things we really don’t understand and probably never will…at least not in this lifetime. The best we can do is to just keep forging ahead and learning as much as possible about what we know to be true but have no sure fire way of explaining.