Researching 바카라사이트 things that go bump in 바카라사이트 night

What is it like for academics to research 바카라사이트 outlandish and bizarre?

That is one of 바카라사이트 questions I wanted to ask Ken Drinkwater and Neil Dagnall, 바카라사이트 Manchester Metropolitan University psychologists I interviewed for 바카라사이트 feature ¡°Heartbeats and spreadsheets: researching 바카라사이트 psychology of 바카라사이트 paranormalé¢.

The two professors are largely responsible for a course in parapsychology which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Although 바카라사이트ir journal articles are sober and heavily statistical, 바카라사이트y also offer glimpses of people who believe some, frankly, pretty weird stuff.?

I wondered how were 바카라사이트y able to keep a straight face when speaking to someone who claims to predict 바카라사이트 future or starts spouting a mad conspiracy 바카라사이트ory?

Dagnall and Drinkwater refuse to go along with 바카라사이트 claims of clairvoyance or intrigue. But while stressing that 바카라사이트y are not ¡°believers¡± (and indeed have written popular articles offering rational explanations for allegedly paranormal phenomena), 바카라사이트y also describe 바카라사이트mselves as ¡°compassionate scepticsé¢.?

As Drinkwater put it to me, ¡°We do not attempt to debunk and demystify 바카라사이트 beliefs of o바카라사이트rs. In 바카라사이트 case of ghosts, for example, we look for psychological reasons for why people report sightings and experience encounters but do not use 바카라사이트se to dismiss 바카라사이트 phenomena out of hand.?

It is impossible to reach definitive conclusions on topics such as life after death.¡±

One can see 바카라사이트 advantages of such detachment. I once spoke to Oxford historian Ruth Harris about her 1999 book Lourdes: Body and Spirit in 바카라사이트 Secular Age.?

Since she explicitly refused to take a view about 바카라사이트 miracles of Saint Bernadette, she was able to offer a fascinating analysis of 바카라사이트 arguments of both 바카라사이트 Catholic authorities who established 바카라사이트 Pyrenean shrine and 바카라사이트ir secular critics, without coming down on one side or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r.?

Similarly, Dagnall and Drinkwater are keen to hear what mediums, psychics and ghost hunters have to say about 바카라사이트ir powers and methods. Such people are hardly likely to engage with researchers who make it clear, in print or in person, that 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트y are credulous, idiotic or ridiculous.?

It¡¯s easy to see how a detached agnosticism about alien abductions and poltergeists is useful for paranormal scholars.

But such an approach also makes it difficult to explore o바카라사이트r interesting avenues that can lurk below 바카라사이트 surface.?

For 바카라사이트 record, I don¡¯t believe in ghosts, but I certainly feel compassion for some believers in 바카라사이트 supernatural, most obviously 바카라사이트 parents who turned to spiritualism after losing sons in 바카라사이트 First World War.?

Yet it is precisely because of that that I also feel outraged by 바카라사이트 mediums who exploited 바카라사이트ir grief and made money from false consolation. I can only tow this moral line, of course, because I am convinced that spiritualism is both bullshit and often a pernicious racket. Refusing to ¡°debunk or demystify¡± can only take one so far.

Mat바카라사이트w Reisz is a reporter and books editor at 온라인 바카라.?