I often times hear people balking at stories of Bigfoot in the woods, flying saucers, chupacabra, and ghostly hauntings. The focus of what we consider paranormal is not rigid, it’s dynamic. What was paranormal to man long ago becomes science to man in the future. Such is the dilemma with the phenomenon that we witness in our world and can’t explain. It’s not truly paranormal in the sense of being something not dictated by science but is, in fact, science not yet documented.
Thousands of years ago…
A man and woman would mate, nine months later a baby would be born, but how that baby got to be inside of her would remain a mystery to them both.
When the moon blocked the sun, the world had to be coming to an end.
When they gathered nuts and berries, they had no idea how they grew, they simply knew that when they no longer found more, they had to move on to a new location.
Burying a person in the right manner with the right items ensured their safe spiritual travel.
A thousand years ago…
Man farmed. He felt inclined to pray for crops. If it rained, he could thank his God(s) and if it didn’t, he would feel punished.
If someone spread germs, they died a slow death painful death, never knowing it was not Divine intervention but bacteria from unwashed hands that caused it.
When someone has a seizure, devils, witchcraft, and demons had taken him over.
The earth was flat and man would drop off it if he traveled in his ship too far.
A hundred years ago…
Man performed séances and used mediums to try and talk to dead loved ones.
Disease could be handled by leeches sucking the “bad” blood out of a patient.
When he gazed at the moon, man was certain there were little men living there gazing back.
A person born with a birthmark was marked by the Devil.
Present day…
Man sees silver disks moving strangely in the sky, he’s certain he’s being visited by beings with craft that’s better than his own.
Wandering into the woods, a hunter sees a tall man-like creature covered in black fur. It doesn’t fit a bear’s behavior, it must be a man-ape.
A book flies off the shelf while a man is reading a book. It has to be an angry ghost.
Having heard of recent animal killings and finding a hairless gray creature on a rancher’s property, the assumption is a creature that sucks blood, a chupacabra.
Today’s paranormal becomes tomorrow’s science.
Do you ever wonder just how far off the mark we’ll be in our assumptions in 2009 from what we find in, say, 2025?