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April 25, 2008
Rare events and paranormal experiences
As adults most of the time we go about our lives following a fairly regular routine. It isn't often that we encounter something that really needs explanation.
Here in Indiana we have had two such events recently.
As described below a military jet accidentally broke the sound barrier over a populated area where supersonic flight is not normally allowed.
In addition we also experienced a magnitude 5.2 earthquake and its associated aftershocks.
This resulted in several articles where residents who experienced the quake initially misidentified it as the work of a ghost. [1], [2], [3]
An earthquake of that magnitude is an exceedingly rare event here in Indiana. It probably will happen less than half a dozen times in a typical human lifetime. Because it is so rare our brains are not able to understand it immediately. Strange paranormal ideas sometimes jump in and try to fill this gap between strange phenomena and our understanding.
I am not the type of cynic who thinks people who experience strange things are crazy. Strange and very rare events do indeed occur in our world. Things even more rare than earthquakes in the Midwest are possible. The important thing is that these strange events need to be evaluated using the scientific method. It is the most powerful tool we have for getting real explanations for strange events.
The paranormal ideas that may leap to mind when our day-to-day routine is interrupted by a very strange event may seem mysterious and interesting at first. However, much like junk food filled with empty calories paranormal explanations ultimately don't do us any good or increase our knowledge of the universe.
Posted by nolandda at April 25, 2008 05:50 PM