Paranormal Phenomena

     I have always seemed to have a liking towards the paranormal and supernatural aspects. This is odd, seeing how frightened these things make me, but that doesn't stop me from watching movies of the sort. I thought it would be interesting to look up data on paranormal phenomena, and I found many different things related to paranormal life. The information I have learned has made me quite skeptic on the subject; Is paranormal phenomena real? Or is it really just a myth?

     Based on various websites, I have come up with results on the matter. It seems that here, in America, many citizens have had experience with things related to the paranormal. 71% of them have confessed to having an unexplained paranormal experience, with odd stories ranging from doors opening by themselves to odd dark shadows lurking through their house. 34% believe in the existence of ghosts. 37% of people believe that houses can be haunted. 56% believe that ghosts are indeed spirits of the dead. The thing that really got to me, was the fact that 3 out of 4 Americans believe in the existence of paranormal phenomena. I know many, many people who think that ghosts are only a myth, that there is no such thing as ghosts or demons. Some people think that the movies related to the supernatural, such as The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Rite, etc., are not scary in any sense, and that these movies are just made up to freak people out. What people do not know is that people in this world do claim to have had a similar thing happen to them. They don't know why places in the world are said to be haunted, or why people have unexplained deaths. The definition of paranormal is "events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding". Paranormal aspects are things that can not be explained; hence the prefix 'para' meaning above or beyond, and 'normal', meaning usual, or typical. People seem to think that "because scientists do not have knowledge on the subject, the supernatural is nonexistent". The thing they don't realize is that it is actually something so complex and non-explainable that scientists have yet to come to a conclusion about it. Even the most famous of scientists do not know. How can you explain these weird things happening to people in the world? You can't. There is as good a chance of paranormal things existing as them not existing.

     In my opinion, I do not think people should give a say in the existence of paranormal phenomena without proper knowledge on the subject. Like I said in the previous paragraph, "71% of citizens have confessed to having an unexplained paranormal experience". Myself, and the other 29% of people in America are very blessed to not have had one of these experiences, but how can you explain the 71% of people who claim to have had one? In conclusion, there is no way to say if paranormal/supernatural aspects are in fact true or false. But, based on research, there is a possibility that it is not just a myth after all.

Keenan Coffey is a 16 year old Junior in high school, born on June 27th in 1997, at Newton Hospital. Today I interviewed Keenan, and I learned many interesting things about him and his life. I learned that he has a 14 year old brother, is active in basketball, baseball, and DECA, and is interested in sports and writing. He says his favorite band would have to be Sublime, and his favorite song is Amber by 311. His favorite subjects are Biology and Business Law, and his biggest pet peeve is people who talk without knowledge of the subject. Out of all the things I learned about Keenan, there was one thing that seemed the most interesting to me. I has asked him, that if he was laying on his death bed, what his final wish would be. Almost expecting a self-related response like most people would probably respond with, he responded the exact opposite. "I would wish for my children to have a good life," He responded. "-if i had kids. If it was now, I would wish for my brother to have a good life." Those were some of the interesting facts I discovered about Keenan Coffey.