Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction

Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction: Encyclopedia II - Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction

Out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, extrasensory perception, ghosts, demonic encounters, poltergeists, as well as sightings of UFOs and reports of alien abductions are phenomena, most of which are not widely accepted as real by mainstream scientists, some of whom go as far as calling the study of them pseudoscience. Sometimes the phenomenon is acknowledged as being real, but then the way it ...

Anomalous phenomenon, Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction, Anomalous phenomenon - Written works, Alien Abduction, Abominable Snowman, Agartha, Ball Lightning, Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, Conspiracy theory, Cryptids (category), Cryptozoology, Delusion, Hessdalen light, Hollow Earth, Legendary creatures (category), Levitation, List of magazines of anomalous phenomena, Loch Ness Monster, The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, Marfa light, Medical oddities, Men in Black, Min Min light, Mind Control, Mystery Spot, Occultism (category), Orbs, Oregon vortex, Out-of-body experience, Paradoxography, Parapsychology, Patapsychology, Perinormal phenomenon, Psionics, Psychic detective, Skunk Ape, Society for Psychical Research, Spiritual Possession, Spiritualism, Spontaneous Human Combustion, Spooklight, Invisible Master, Spring Heeled Jack, Synchronicity, Teleportation, Time Travel, Unidentified flying object

Anomalous phenomenon: Encyclopedia II - Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction

Anomalous phenomenon - Introduction

As the body of knowledge available expands, some anomalies are incorporated into an explanatory framework and lose their standing as unexplained phenomena. For instance, while the idea of stones falling from the sky was long ridiculed, meteorites are now acknowledged and well understood.

Often used as a synonym, but actually a subclass, are the paranormal phenomena studied by parapsychology.

Paranormal phenomena can be divided into three main classes:

Mental phenomena: unusual mental states or abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition

Physical phenomena: unusual physical occurrences that may be controlled by a consciousness, such as psychokinesis, poltergeists, stigmata or materializations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs)