This season in television and films may be spookier and more out of this world than any in recent history. The big and small screens are alive with psychics (Medium), ghosts (Ghostwhisperer), extraterrestrials (Invasion), the walking dead (Just Like Heaven), demons (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and otherworldly creatures (Surface) (see list).

And why not? According to a recent Gallup Poll, about 75 percent of Americans hold some form of belief in the paranormal – extrasensory perception, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communicating with the dead, witches, reincarnation or channeling. And though Hollywood executives are more likely to pay attention to the success of last year’s television shows Lost and Medium, some scholars say they are not surprised that the most religious country on Earth should also be the most superstitious. Most religions, they explain, are based on some sort of magical thinking – talking to God on mountaintops, a resurrection, the intervention of divine messengers. Meanwhile, psychics, mediums and paranormal investigators say the high rate of belief in the supernatural confirms what they have seen on the job. Margaret Poloma, a Pentecostal Christian and an expert on that faith, says Hollywood is merely reflecting what she sees in the pews – people, including herself, whose religious faith includes belief in the supernatural powers associated with the divine.

Why it Matters
All religions are connected to belief in supernatural forces. Entertainment media influence the way people think and the framework through which they view reality.

Questions for reporters
• Is there a link between people’s willingness and ability to believe in the paranormal and their ability to believe in a particular faith?
• Why are so many religions based upon supernatural events – the raising of the dead, the turning of water into wine, the intervention of angels and saints?
• What differences do people of faith see between miracles and supernatural or paranormal phenomena?
• How does religious faith coexist with belief in the supernatural?
• Can belief in the supernatural activities of God fuel belief in secular supernatural events?

National sources

• Dr. Margaret Poloma is a professor of religion at the University of Akron who wrote about miracles as supernatural/ paranormal phenomenon in Main Street Mystics: The Toronto Blessing and Reviving Pentecostalism (Alta Mira Press, 2003). She says one reason for the Gallup Poll’s results is that religious people regularly experience the supernatural and the paranormal, two things she says form the basis of religious belief. She describes herself as a Pentecostal Christian who has experienced paranormal phenomena within the framework of her religion. Contact 330-972-6837 or 330-328-7860 (cell), mpoloma@uakron.edu.
• Glenn Sparks, a communications professor at Purdue University in Indiana, says the fall TV lineup may influence what people believe about the supernatural. Read a Sept. 6, 2005, university news release. He studied how television in the 1990s influences people’s belief in UFOs and alien abductions. Contact 765-494-3316, gsparks@purdue.edu.
• Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. An evangelical Christian, he wrote about how Harry Potter’s magic fits with faith in a January 2000 essay in First Things. Contact 630-752-5784, Alan.Jacobs@wheaton.edu.
• William Dinges is a professor of religious studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and an expert on American Catholicism. He says the growing divide between what is “religious” and what is “spiritual” has resulted in spirituality that lends itself easily to supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Contact 202-319-6890, dinges@cua.edu.
• Lynn Schofield Clark is an assistant research professor at the Center for Mass Media research at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the author of From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural (Oxford University Press, 2003) and can discuss how media, including television and film, influence belief in the supernatural. She says that the current fascination with the supernatural speaks to the uncertainty of the times and that stories of the paranormal offer a mystical way of resolving discomfort with that uncertainty. She also says there is a trend toward the “normalization” of psychic powers and mystical experiences reflected in the current crop of television shows and movies. Contact 303-492-5007, lynn.clark@colorado.edu.
• Christine Wicker is the author of two books on the supernatural and paranormal, Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead and Not in Kansas Anymore: The Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America (both Harper Collins, 2003 and 2005 respectively). She says there is more “magical thinking,” in part, because people are more skeptical of science and because theories of the “so-called new physics” support various religious, spiritual and magical ideas. She can also discuss the history of “Christo-magic,” the magical thinking of different types of Christians throughout American history. Contact via Donna Gould, publicist, 732-441-1519, donnagould@sprintmail.com or Christine@christinewicker.com.
• Wendy Martin is a professor in the department of classics and religious studies at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. In 2004, she presented a paper on how television shows depicting the supernatural influence people’s belief systems. Contact wendymartin@yahoo.com.
• Mary Roach is the author of Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (W.W. Norton, 2005), in which she investigates claims of life after death and attempts to understand why people believe in reincarnation despite a lack of “proof.” Contact via Norton publicity, publicity@wwnorton.com.
• Leonard Norman Primiano is an associate professor of religious studies at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. He contributed a chapter on the supernatural on television in God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture, edited by Eric Mazur (Routledge, 2000). Contact 610-902-8330, leonard.primiano@cabrini.edu.
• Alexander Seinfeld is a rabbi and an expert on Judaism and the supernatural and has given talks on the subject of Judaism and ghosts, necromancy and astronomy. He is based in Baltimore. Contact 650-799-5564 or info@jsli.org.
• The Rev. Lesley A. Northup, associate professor of religion and culture at Florida International University, is an expert on the subject of religion and broadcasting. He says that the television shows in general confirm some of the more simplistic ideas rampant in religion, for example, that miracles will happen if you are good. Contact 305-348-2956, Northupl@fiu.edu.
• Melissa Caldwell, is research director of the Parents Television Council in Los Angeles, which tries to bring more family oriented programming to television and monitors network programming. Contact Kelly Oliver, 703-683-5004.

PARANORMAL PROPONENTS
• Jeff Belanger is the founder of Ghostvillage.com, an Internet community dedicated to the supernatural, and the author of several books on ghosts and the dead. Contact via Linda Reinecker, New Page Books, 201-848-0310 ext. 513, Lrienecker@careerpress.com.
• Rick Hayes is a paranormal communications expert. He was raised as a Christian and established LifesGift. He says that he sees no conflict between his Christian beliefs and his ability to relay messages from the dead, and that this gift makes him feel more blessed. He is based in Evansville, Ind. Contact via mediarelations@lifesgift.com.

SKEPTICS
• James Randi is one of the foremost skeptics of all things paranormal. He is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about fraudulent paranormal claims. It is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He says one reason people believe in the supernatural is because it is comforting – there is life after death, their loved ones are still with them, etc. Contact via Linda Shallenberger, 954-467-1112, linda@randi.org.
Paul Kurtz is chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Contact 716-636-7571 ext. 202, paulkurtz@aol.com.
• Robert Todd Carroll is the author of The Skeptics Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions (John Wiley & Sons, 2003) and maintains a web site of the same name. He is a philosophy professor at Sacramento City College in California. Contact via email only, media@skepdic.com.

Background

CURRENT TV AND FILM
• Invasion (ABC) – Aliens invade during a hurricane.
• Ghostwhisperer (CBS) – About a woman who communicates with ghosts. The show’s web site contains a blog by a psychic who advises the writers and directors.
• Lost (ABC) – Strange things happen to a group of castaways on a mysterious island. The web site contains message boards on which fans share theories about the show that include numerology, UFOs, ghosts, etc.
• Medium (NBC) – A woman receives messages from the dead.
• Surface (NBC) – Mysterious underwater creatures disrupt the planet.
• Supernatural (WB) – Two brothers crisscross the country to carry out on their missing father’s quest to seek out and silence the supernatural forces responsible for their mother’s murder 20 years ago.
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Sony Pictures) – Theatrical film about a girl possessed by demons.
• Just Like Heaven (DreamWorks) – A mysterious woman shows up in a man’s apartment with supernatural abilities to appear and disappear at will.
• Stay (Fox) – Takes place “between the world of the living and the dead.”

DEFINITIONS
Supernatural – attributable to a power that goes beyond or violates natural forces.
Paranormal – an event or perception that involves forces outside the realm of scientific explanation.
Ghost – the disembodied spirit of a dead person.
Extrasensory perception – perception that occurs beyond the usual senses.
Spiritualism – the belief that the human personality survives death and can communicate with the living, usually through the use of a medium; sometimes called spiritism.
Clairvoyance – the ability to see things out of the range of normal vision.
Astrology – a type of divination based on the movement of the planets and stars.
Channeling – the occupation of one person’s body by another’s spirit.

ON THE INTERNET
• Haunted Times is a members’ clearinghouse for all things paranormal, especially ghosts.
• MAJDA Paranormal Research Society is an international organization of people seeking explanations for paranormal phenomena. It is based in Alliance, Ohio.
• Ghostvillage.com is an online community of people interested in the supernatural

ARTICLES
• A June 2005 Gallup Poll found that three in four Americans express belief in at least one paranormal belief. The most popular were extrasensory perception and haunted houses. Read the news release.
• The Sept. 8, 2005, USA Today fall TV preview says that a third of the new TV dramas have a supernatural element.
• The Catholic Encyclopedia, in defining “religion,” says that, “In every form of religion is implied the conviction that the mysterious, supernatural Being (or beings) has control over the lives and destinies of men.”
• Read an excerpt of a chapter written by Bret E. Carroll about the history of Spiritualism in America in Cassadaga: The South’s Oldest Spiritualist Community (University Press of Florida, 2000) as posted on Beliefnet.com.

Regional sources

STATE BY STATE
• For experts on mysticism and Christianity, Judaism and Islam, see the regional sources for a 2003 ReligionLink issue on “Mysticism Molds the Mainstream.”
• For experts on miracles in different religions, see a 2003 ReligionLink issue on miracles portrayed on television.
• The National Spiritualist Association of Churches maintains a state-by-state list of Spiritualist churches across the United States.
• The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal maintains a listing of local skeptic organizations by state.
• MAJDA Paranormal Research Society maintains a listing of members by state.
• The American Ghost Society maintains a listing of members by state.

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Paul Eno is an author and speaker on the subject of the supernatural and paranormal. He says belief in the supernatural and paranormal rises when the economy is struggling, and Hollywood is quick to pick up on the trend. Additionally, he believes human beings are wired to believe in the unexplainable. He is based in Woonsocket, R.I. Contact 401-356-1109, pauleno@cox.net.
• Eugene Gallagher is a professor of religious studies at Connecticut College in New London. He has written about belief in sorcery and new religious movements. Contact 860-439-2169, evgal@conncoll.edu.
• Michael Brown is a professor of anthropology and Latin American studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. He has written about belief in magic and in channeling. Contact 413-597-2256, Michael.f.brown@williams.edu.
• Members of the Atlantic Paranormal Society investigate paranormal phenomena, including ghosts, in the north Atlantic states. Contact media@the-atlantic-paranorla-society.com.
• David Roozen, professor of religion and society and director of the Hartford Seminary Institute For Religion Research, has written about religious television. Contact 860-509-9546, roozen@hartsem.edu.

IN THE EAST
• Laura Donaldson is an associate professor of English at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She has written about women’s beliefs in the New Age movement, which includes belief in many supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Contact 607-255-9312, ld49@cornell.edu.
• Terrence Hines is a professor of psychology at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y., and the author of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Prometheus Books, 2003). He says the uncritical presentation of the supernatural and paranormal in the media leads to Gallup’s high belief ratings. But he also thinks the human brain may be constructed to believe in “cognitive illusions,” such as the belief that prayer brought on a cure as opposed to chance. Contact 914-773-3659, THines@pace.edu.
• William Ellis is an associate professor of English and American studies at Pennsylvania State University, Hazleton. He is the author of Aliens, Ghosts and Cults: Legends We Live (University Press of Mississippi, 2001). Contact 570-450-3026, wce2@psu.edu.
• Yvonne Chireau is an associate professor of religion at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and the author of numerous books and articles on the supernatural and African-American religion, including Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition (University of California Press, 2003). Contact 610-543-8041, ychirea1@swarthmore.edu.
• Jose C. Nieto is a professor of religion and history at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. He is an expert on mysticism and wrote the book Religious Experience and Mysticism: Otherness as Experience of Transcendence (University Press of America, 1997). Contact 814-641-3000, nieto@juniata.edu.
• John B. Buescher is chief of the Tibetan Broadcast Service of the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., and author of The Other Side of Salvation: Spiritualism and the Nineteenth Century Religious Experience (Skinner House Books, 2004). He also runs spirithistory, a web site about Spiritualism. Contact jbb@spirithistory.com.
• Laurel Kearns is an associate professor of the sociology of religion and environmental studies at Drew University in Madison, N.J. She has written about Spiritualism and women. Contact 973-408-3009, lkearns@drew.edu.
• Leonard Norman Primiano, associate professor of religious studies at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa., has written about negotiating the supernatural on American television. He thinks Americans right now cannot get enough answers to popularly generated religious questions and mysteries concerning the Bible and the life of Jesus, for example. Commercial television, he believes, rarely offers nuanced discussion of belief and practice. Contact 610-902-8330, Leonard.Primiano@Cabrini.edu.
• Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, has written about the depiction of religion in television. Contact 315-443-4077, rthompso@syr.edu.
• James. W. Carey, CBS professor of international journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, has written about the history of mass media and popular culture and on television and the press. He has taught courses on religion and the media at Union Theological Seminary, where he holds a courtesy appointment. Contact 212-854-3852, jwc11@columbia.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Christine Rodriguez is the founder of East Coast Hauntings Organization, a nonprofit paranormal scientific investigation group in Washington, N.C. She is in the office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact 252-948-0006, investigations@ghostecho.com.
• Phillip Charles Lucas is an associate professor of religious studies at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. He is the co-editor of Cassadaga: The South’s Oldest Spiritualist Community (University Press of Florida, 2000) and general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. Contact 386-822-8894, plucas@stetson.edu.
• Spirit Investigations is an organization of investigators into the paranormal based in Jacksonville, Fla. Contact spirit@spiritinvestigations.net.
• Julie Ingersoll is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and can discuss religion and popular culture. Contact 904-620-1330, jingerso@unf.edu.
• Vinson Synan is dean of the School of Divinity Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., and an expert on the Pentecostal movement and its history. Contact 757-226-4414, vinssyn@regent.edu.
• Marshall W. Fishwick is professor emeritus of interdisciplinary studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. He has written on popular culture and religion, including the book Great Awakenings: Popular Religion and Popular Culture (Haworth Press, 1995). Contact 540-231-5033, mfishwic@vt.edu.
• Gary Laderman, an associate professor of American religious history and culture at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and director of the university’s graduate division of religion, often comments on religion and popular culture. He is co-editor of Religion and American Cultures: An Encyclopedia of Traditions, Diversity and Popular Expressions (ABC-Clio, 2003), which explores the interactions between religion, ethnicity, gender, regionalism and popular culture, including TV. Contact 404-727-4641, gladerm@emory.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• Alan Brown is a professor of English at the University of West Alabama and author of Haunted Places in the American South (University Press of Mississippi, 2002) He specializes in oral Southern ghost stories. Contact 205-652-3521, ab@uwa.edu.
• John Ferre, the Leroy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of communication at the University of Louisville, is the editor of Channels of Belief: Religion and American Commercial Television (Iowa State University Press, 1990). He says “Joan of Arcadia” was cancelled because it attracted an audience with a large percentage of older woman, a demographic that didn’t excite programmers at CBS. Contact 502-852-6976, jpferr01@gwise.louisville.edu.
• Charles Lippy, professor of religious studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, is the author of Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2000). Contact 423-425-4340, charles-lippy@utc.edu.
• Mark Hulsether, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, has written extensively on religion and popular culture, including an article on religion in Madonna videos. Contact 865-974-2128, mhulseth@utk.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Paul Allen Williams is an assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religion at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and editor of the Journal of Religion and Film. Contact 402-554-6016, pwilliams@mail.unomaha.edu.
• Troy Taylor specializes in Midwestern ghosts and paranormal phenomena. He is also the founder and president of the American Ghost Society. He is based in the Chicago area. Contact ttaylor@prairieghosts.com.
• Echo Bodine is a Minnesota-based psychic who serves as a consultant on numerous television shows about the supernatural. In January, she will appear in the Sci-Fi channel’s show The Gift. Contact 612-827-7277, jill@echobodine.com.
• James Lewis is a lecturer in religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has written extensively on new religious movements and their adherents’ beliefs in the supernatural and paranormal. Contact 715-346-3803, jlewis@uwsp.edu.
• Selena Fox is a high priestess and senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church and pagan resource center near Mount Horeb, Wis. Wicca is a neo-pagan faith that relies heavily on nature and a belief in some forms of magic and the supernatural. Contact 608-924-2216, selena@circlesanctuary.org.
• William Romanowski, professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., is the author of Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture (Brazos Press, 2001). Contact 616-526-8527, romw@calvin.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Guillermo Fuentes is the executive director of San Antonio Paranormal Investigations, which investigates ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon throughout Texas and the Southwest. Contact sapi2020@yahoo.com.
• John Hannah is a professor of historical theology at Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas. He has written about the Toronto Blessing and other mystical phenomena in the Pentecostal tradition. Contact 800-992-0998, john_hannah@dts.edu.
• Steven Wolff directs The South Texas Ghost Hunters Alliance, a nonprofit group of paranormal investigators who hunt ghosts in the San Antonio area. Contact mail@gersca.com.
• Reg Grant is a professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas. He serves on the advisory boards of NestFamily Entertainment and Visual Entertainment Incorporated. An actor with TV and film credits, Grant frequently comments on film, TV and spirituality. Contact reggrant@comcast.net or through Giles Hudson at A. Larry Ross Communications, 972-267-1111 ext. 223.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Bret Carroll is an assistant professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus, and author of Spiritualism in Antebellum America (Indiana University Press, 1997). Contact 209-667-3564, bcarroll@athena.csustan.edu.
• Catherine Albanese is a professor of religious studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and author of Nature Religion in America: From the Algonkian Indians to New Age (University of Chicago Press, 1991). Contact 805-893-3564, Albanese@religion.ucsb.edu.
• Charles Tart is a professor at The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif., and the author of numerous articles and books on psychology and parapsychology. He edited Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality (Hampton Roads, 1997). He says one reason belief in the supernatural and paranormal runs so high is because many people feel they have experienced such phenomena personally. The media interest, he says, is secondary and is driven by the public’s interest. Contact 510-526-2591, cttart@ucdavis.edu.
• Craig Detweiler, professor of mass communication at Biola University in Los Angeles, is co-author of A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture (Baker Academic, 2003). Contact 310-497-7204 (cell), craig.detweiler@biola.edu.
• Jonathan Bok, is president of Grace Hill Media in Studio City, Calif., a public relations firm that markets films to religious audiences on behalf of major movie studios. Contact 818-762-0000, or e-mail his assistant at mkazarian@gracehillmedia.com.