Paranormal Activity || 1 Introduction “I only created Jinn and man to worship Me”, Allah said in Holy Qur’an. (Sura Adh-Dhariat,56). As Jinns are made out of fire; they are invisible to human but they share the same world. If any person encounters any activity of jinn, it would seem like a paranormal activity to him. There are so many other ways to define paranormal activity from religious views. According to parapsychologists, the term paranormal describes, “any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific assumptions. This includes extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis , and survival of consciousness after death; parapsychologists call these phenomena psi , a neutral term non-suggestive of what causes the phenomena or experiences” (Thouless, 1942). Parapsychologists are also involving qualitative and quantitative methodologies to prove their presence. However, by conventional theory of science paranormal phenomenon is still beyond and unexplained. Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are found in popular culture and
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Paranormal Activity || 1
Introduction
“I only created Jinn and man to worship Me”, Allah said in Holy Qur’an. (Sura Adh-Dhariat,56).
As Jinns are made out of fire; they are invisible to human but they share the same world. If any
person encounters any activity of jinn, it would seem like a paranormal activity to him. There are
so many other ways to define paranormal activity from religious views. According to
parapsychologists, the term paranormal describes, “any phenomenon that in one or more respects
exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific
assumptions. This includes extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, and survival of
consciousness after death; parapsychologists call these phenomena psi, a neutral term non-
suggestive of what causes the phenomena or experiences” (Thouless, 1942). Parapsychologists
are also involving qualitative and quantitative methodologies to prove their presence. However,
by conventional theory of science paranormal phenomenon is still beyond and unexplained.
Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are found in popular culture and folklore, but the scientific
community, as referenced in statements made by organization such as the United States National Science
Foundation, contends that scientific evidence does not support paranormal beliefs.
Paranormal phenomena are .those, which, if genuine, would violate basic limiting principles of
science. (Tobacyk, 1988, p. 3), and paranormal belief is belief in paranormal phenomena. The
research on paranormal belief can be traced back to the interest on investigating the concept of
superstition. For example, Scheibe and Sarbin (1965) tried to conceptualize superstition
theoretically, and the variables correlated with superstition/supernatural belief such as
In my research, I plan to investigate the people’s belief in the paranormal activities and to
what extent these paranormal activities affect their life. Therefore, to conduct my research I will
be addressing the research questionnaire similar to the following questions:
What do people think about paranormal activity?
Are there any variations of belief in paranormal activity between the genders?
Are there any correlation between paranormal belief and religiosity of any
person?
Do their beliefs in paranormal activity varies with age?
Did they ever experience any unusual phenomena?
If they have experienced any then was it physical, visual, or auditory?
If they do not believe in paranormal phenomena, then why?
Paranormal Activity || 16
Hypothesis
Approaching the paranormal from a research perspective is often difficult because of the
lack of acceptance of the physical reality of most of the supposed phenomena. By definition, the
paranormal does not conform to conventional expectations of the natural. Despite this challenge,
researchers all from various disciplines periodically conduct studies on the paranormal. Some
researchers study just the beliefs in the paranormal regardless of whether the phenomena are
considered to objectively exist.
In my analysis, the paranormal phenomena have a significant effect on most of the
people’s life. I am expecting that majority of the people especially female will agree that there
something which is unknown or beyond our knowledge. I also expect that those people who do
not believe in paranormal activity may agree that in some point of their life they have
experienced something unusual or weird.
Paranormal Activity || 17
Research Methodology
For my primary research, I have conducted a survey of a representative sample of 40
people in Dhaka city on their views on “Paranormal Activity”. I have questioned both male and
female aged from four different generation (16-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46 & above) to get a
representative sample which has helped me to convey my research.
For my secondary research, I have used the religious books such as AL-Quran, Bible, etc.
I have also studied the research conveyed on the paranormal activities around the world and I
have also used the Wikipedia, and Google to find a lot of relevant information to support my
research.
Paranormal Activity || 18
Date Analysis & Presentation: Paranormal Activity
Age Group: 16 – 25 26 – 35 37 – 45 Above 45
16 to25 26 to 35 36 t0 45 above 45
Series1 15 10 8 7
159
13
Age
Nu
mb
er
of
pe
op
le
Gender: Male Female
Male ; 18Female; 22
What best describes your religious affiliation?
___highly religious
___religious
___spiritual but non-denominational
___I don’t have any religious affiliation (non-religious)
highly reli-gious
religious spiritual but non-denomi-
national
I don’t have any religious
affiliation (non-religious)
Series1 14 22 4 0
2.512.522.5
Religious Affiliation
Axis Title
Paranormal Activity || 19
1. Do you believe in any kind of paranormal phenomena? Such as spirit, ghost, angel.___strongly believe___yes___not sure___no
strongly believe yes not sure no
Male 3 7 4 4
Female 5 9 6 2
0.52.54.56.58.5
Belief in Paranormal
For my first question from my questionnaire, I asked randomly everybody that whether they believe in
paranormal activity. Out of eighteen male only 16.77%, strongly believe in paranormal activity. For
female 22.72% out of 22 candidates strongly believe in paranormal. Most of the candidates both male
and female believe in paranormal activity (38.9% & 40.91% for male and female respectively). 22.2%
male do not believe and 27.2 % of female are not sure about their belief. However, 22.3% male do not
believe in paranormal and 9% o female don’t believe in the paranormal activity.
Out of 40 candidates, 20% strongly believe and 40% believe in paranormal activity whereas only 15% do
not believe in paranormal activity.
It astonished me as well as surprised that so many people believes in the paranormal activity and most
of the people who believes in paranormal activity are women.
Paranormal Activity || 20
2. Which do you believe true about ghost? They are___spirits of dead___energy imprints___hallucination___no such thing
spirits of dead energy imprints hallucination no such thing
Male 5 8 6 3
Female 9 4 4 1
0.5
2.5
4.5
6.5
8.5
Ghost Are
My second objective was to find what people think a ghost is?. Out of 18 male 27.78% male thinks that
ghost are spirits of the dead, 44.44% thinks that ghosts are energy imprints, 33.33% thinks that it is a
hallucination and only 16.67% think it does not exist. On the contrary out of 22 female 40.9% thinks
that are spirits of dead, 18.18% each for both energy imprints & hallucinations and only 4.5% thinks that
it do not exist.
35% of the total sample thinks that ghosts are the spirits of dead and only 10% thinks that there are no
such things.
Most people believe that ghosts are something, which used be among us. Only small number of people
thinks that ghosts do not exist at all. The reason for this may be the culture influence or the stories that
we have been hearing since we were young.
Paranormal Activity || 21
3. Have you ever experienced poltergeist activity, objects moving, doors slamming, weird sound etc?___yes ___yes but I did not care___not sure ___no
yes yes but I did not care
not sure no
Male 7 3 4 4
Female 9 5 6 2
0.52.54.56.58.5
Paranormal Experience
My third question is to figure out whether people have experience any paranormal activities. Here more
than 40.% of female out of 22 said that they have experienced paranormal phenomena and only 9.1%
said they did not experience any. Out of 18 male 38.9% said they have faced the paranormal activity
whereas only 22.2% said they did not.
Among the whole group majority, (40%) said, they have experienced paranormal activity but only 15%
said they have never experienced any kind of unnatural phenomena.
The answer for this question was quite expected where majority of the people said that they have
experienced something unnatural, which is also supported on my secondary research.
Paranormal Activity || 22
4. Are you sensitive towards paranormal activity?___yes highly sensitive___yes___no___do not care about paranormal activity
yes highly sensi-tive
yes no do not care about paranor-
mal activity
Male 2 6 8 3
Female 6 10 4 1
13579
11
Sensitivity
In this question, I was trying to find out how sensitive people are towards the paranormal activity. For
the 22 female sample most of them (45.5%) said they are sensitive towards paranormal activity and
27.2% said they are highly sensitive towards it. In contrast, only 33.33% male out of 18 said they are
sensitive towards the paranormal and only 11.1% are highly sensitive.
Overall 40% of the total people said that they are sensitive and 30% said they are not sensitive towards
it.
With the answer I have found out that female tends to be more sensitive towards paranormal
phenomena than the male. The reasons behind this differences may be because women are
sensitive than man on every other things.
Paranormal Activity || 23
5. What is about the paranormal activity that makes you sensitive towards it?___phobia ___afraid of unknown or unseen___unexplainable___not sensitive.
phobia afraid of un-known or un-
seen
unexplainable not sensitive.
Male 4 7 5 3
Female 6 9 3 3
0.52.54.56.58.5
Sensitivity reasons
I prepared this question to find out why people are sensitive towards the paranormal phenomena. More
than 40% of female said that they are afraid of unknown or unseen and only 13.6% said it is something
unexplainable. Similarly, almost 39% of male also said they are afraid of unknown or unseen and only
27.8% said it could not be explained.
When I asked this question to the candidates, I was sure that the entire candidate would say
unexplainable as an answer. However, my findings made my thinking wrong. After the survey, I have
found out that people were more sensitive because they were afraid of unknown or unseen rather than
phobia or something unexplainable
Paranormal Activity || 24
6. Have you heard voices, singing or music and no one was there?___yes I regularly do___yes sometimes___did not worry about it___never
My next question to the people was, did they ever hear something strange or unnatural. Most of
the female (45.5%) said that they sometime hear something odd, whereas only 9% said that they
never heard any kind of strange or unnatural sounds. Following closely 44.4% of male also said
that they sometime hear something unnatural. However, only few (22.22%) have also said that
they have never heard anything strange or weird.
Here the answer was obvious as per my expectations. From the above question, I found that more
people have heard something odd or something weird, whereas only a small number of people can
claim that they have never heard something strange, which is also supported in m secondary research.
yes I regularly do yes sometimes did not worry about it
never
Male 2 8 4 4
Female 8 10 2 2
13579
11
Weird Sound
Paranormal Activity || 25
7. Do you ever have the feeling of being watched?___yes___yes when I am alone or sleeping alone___not sure___never
yes yes when I am alone or sleep-
ing alone
not sure never
Male 4 2 12 4
Female 6 6 3 2
13579
1113
Feeling of Being Watched
With this question I wanted to find out whether people ever feel that they are being watched.
After analaysing the answers I have found that most (54.5%) of the female said yes or yes when
they are alone or sleeping alone. Whereas only 22.7% of the female said they are not sure or they
never have experienced such kind of things. In contrast only 33.3% of male said yes and majority
(66.6%) of them said they are not sure or never.
This questions clarify that majority of the women feel that they are being watched, but it is
completly opposite case for the male candidates who are not sure or never feel such kind of
things.
Paranormal Activity || 26
8. What is your opinion about the paranormal activity? ___it is real & it exist___it may exist___ do not have any opinion___it is a man-made thing (doesn’t exist)
it is real & it exist it may exist do not have any opinion
it is a man-made thing (doesn’t exist)
Male 7 4 3 4
Female 9 6 2 1
0.51.52.53.54.55.56.57.58.59.5
Opinion
In my last question, I wanted to know people’s opinion about the paranormal activity. After
analyzing the question, I have found that majority of both male (38.9%) and female (40.9%)
feels that it is real & it exist. Only 25% of both male and female feels, that paranormal activity is
a fabricated thing or they do not have any opinion about it.
This last answer is perfectly correlated with my hypothesis that most of the people believe in the
paranormal activity whereas on a few people do not believe in the paranormal activity. This answer is
also supported in my secondary research.
Paranormal Activity || 27
Summary of the Findings
After conducting the survey on the belief in the paranormal activity, I have found out many
important issues that supports my hypothesis.
From my first question, I have found out that most of the people both male and female believe in
the supernatural phenomena. Hence I can easily conclude that people in our society believes in
something that is unknown or mysterious to them.
Secondly, I have concluded that maximum number of female in our society thinks that ghost is
the spirits of the dead, whereas only a few male supports this ideology. Most of the male feels
that ghosts are just energy imprints, which cannot be classified by the science.
Then from my another question, I have established that majority of the people indifferent of the
gender said that they have experienced some kind of paranormal phenomena at some point of
their lives. Since most of the people agreed, I can easily conclude people actually believe in the
paranormal activity.
After that, I have found that women in our society are unusually more sensitive towards the
paranormal phenomena than men. Majority of female who said they are sensitive towards the
supernatural also said that they sensitive because they are afraid of the unknown.
With the final question, I have concluded most of the people irrespective of the sexes feel that
paranormal activity is real & it exist. Therefore it is easy for me to conclude that people in our
society actually believes in the paranormal activity.
Paranormal Activity || 28
Therefore the answers to my research questionnaire are:
1. What do people think about paranormal activity?
People in our society think paranormal or supernatural is very much real and it needs to
be addressed more seriously and sincerely.
2. Are there any variations of belief in paranormal activity between the genders?
Women usually show stronger belief than men in our society, especially ghosts, spirits or
demons. Women also show stronger belief in superstitions, haunting stories, and
traditional religious concepts.
3. Are there any correlation between paranormal belief and religiosity of any person?
Since from my primary research I have not found any candidate who is a non-believer or
non-religious, so the results are inconsistent with the hypothesis. From the secondary
research I have found out that religious people tend to believe more in the paranormal
activity then the non-believers.
4. Do their beliefs in paranormal activity vary with age?
Although distribution of the survey questionnaire was not equal, but the findings it can be
concluded that people with the age group 16 to 25 and 46 above believe more in the
paranormal phenomena.
Paranormal Activity || 29
5. Did they ever experience any unusual phenomena?
Majority of the people on which the survey was conducted claims at some point of their
lives they have experienced some kind of supernatural or paranormal phenomena.
6. If they do not believe in paranormal phenomena, then why?
The non-believer in the paranormal activity feels that it is just a hallucination or an
imagination of the people’s mind. They also want scientific proof to believe in such kind
of things.
Paranormal Activity || 30
Recommendations
Paranormal believers’ evident belief in an external locus of control may index the salience for
these people of uncontrollable life events, and thus their appeal to paranormal beliefs may be in
part an attempt to engender an assurance that at least some life events either might be subject to
direct (paranormal) intervention or can be mastered at an intellectual level. There clearly is much
empirical work yet to be done on this topic. The formulation of the above research is intended to
be not so much a definitive statement on the nature of paranormal belief but rather a means of
providing thrust and direction for future research efforts. Further investigation might consider the
efficacy and the detailed operation of the research for individual dimensions of paranormal
belief. The scope of paranormal belief also calls for scrutiny. For example, given the breadth of
some of the proposed conceptions of paranormal belief, it would be legitimate to explore the
religious like belief of scientism in this context. The skeptical view that irrational paranormal
beliefs can be eliminated by a sound program of science of paranormal beliefs in our society and
the evident impact of these beliefs upon the individual’s life signal the importance of pursuing a
better understanding of the functions and origins of paranormal belief.
Paranormal Activity || 31
Conclusion
Ghosts, Jinns, Angels, and Spirits whatever we say have somehow proven their presence in this
world. Though we live in an era of modern science and science does not always approve their
existence, still we are intentionally or unintentionally believe something unknown is there. This
unknown entities are unexplainable, weird and beyond our imagination. Even science first
assumes that there are ghost entities and then they try to explain why and how. This fact actually
states that science too somehow believes in paranormal phenomena. However, scientist’s duty is
to give clarification of whatever happens in this world by following their theories. Moreover, the
existing theories of science are just not enough to manipulate people’s thought. So people
believe in such supernatural entities. In addition, for the non-believers and scientists it is not the
fact if they deny everything or not, it is all about if they are ready to accept it or not.