Paranormal – A New Reality . . . Or Is It?

If you can believe Wikipedia, Paranormal is:

“A general term (coined ca. 1915–1920) that designates experiences that lie outside the range of normal experience or scientific explanation or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science’s current ability to explain or measure.

Thousands of stories relating to paranormal phenomena are found in popular culture, folklore, and the recollections of individual subjects.  In contrast, the scientific community maintains that scientific evidence does not support a variety of beliefs that have been characterized as paranormal.”

Hmm . . .  It would seem paranormal phenomena exist and can be experienced (but apparently, not by scientists.)   Are they real?

Everything Old Is New Again

Paranormal . . . found in popular culture.  It’s embedded in the hot new genres: Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Mysteries, Paranormal Investigation.  It floods  the media and entertainment fields with hits like The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer, considered Paranormal Romance.  Yet when Bram Stoker, the father of modern vampire stories, published Dracula in 1897, it was considered Gothic Horror.

Oh, that’s right, “paranormal” didn’t exist yet.

It didn’t exist for Edgar Allan Poe either—more like horror & mystery incorporating the supernatural.

Hmm . . .  It would seem paranormal was invented out of thin air.  Couldn’t possibly be real.

The Big Time

Then there’s the superstars, people like: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub.  Many of their works easily fall under the guise of paranormal.  In other words, plain old-fashion Horror.

More Than Just Another Horror Show

Whether evil entities, ghouls, ghosts, vampires and zombies are making love, waging war, fulfilling a curse or exacting revenge, paranormal encompasses them all, far exceeding the boundaries of any one horrific element.

Then there’s the pedestrian stuff (old hat in this super-powered fang-banging day and age), scientifically inexplicable phenomena such as run-of-the-mill ESP, telekinesis, psychic abilities, spiritualism, predicting the future, etc.  The list goes on . . .

Hmm . . .  All just wild imagination?  But then, what is the raw stuff of reality, if not illusory?  After all, isn’t reality perception?  Best not to inspect the fabric of reality too closely.

Paranormal and the Murder Mystery

As a mystery writer it’s important not to violate my readers’ reality.  And when you want to know what mystery readers want to see in their mystery stories, you ask them.  By survey, readers told us a protagonist with paranormal abilities would enhance mystery books, if done believably.

So it came to be that Lance Underphal, the reluctant psychic in Dark Side of Sunset Pointe, added a paranormal twist to my “Noir Nouveau” murder mystery series.

I hope you find the paranormal aspect entertaining.

As for whether it’s real or not?

You’ll have to let me know.

Your paranormal comments are most welcome.

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Michael Allan Scott and a clickable link back to this page.

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