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Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, Ufo Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, And Other Curiosities In Religion And CultureStock informationGeneral Fields
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DescriptionA significant number of Americans spend their weekends at UFO conventions hearing whispers of government cover-ups, at New Age gatherings learning the keys to enlightenment, or ambling around historical downtowns learning about resident ghosts in tourist-targeted "ghost walks". They have been fed a steady diet of fictional shows with paranormal themes such as The X-Files, Supernatural, and Medium, shows that may seek to simply entertain, but also serve to disseminate paranormal beliefs. The public hunger for the paranormal seems insatiable. Paranormal America provides the definitive portrait of Americans who believe in or have experienced such phenomena as ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs, psychic phenomena, astrology, and the power of mediums. However, unlike many books on the paranormal, this volume does not focus on proving or disproving the paranormal, but rather on understanding the people who believe and how those beliefs shape their lives. Promotion infoThe definitive portrait of Americans who believe in or have experienced such phenomena as ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs, psychic phenomena, astrology, and the power of mediums Author descriptionChristopher D. Bader is Associate Professor of Sociology at Baylor University. With F. Carson Mencken, he is Principal Investigator on the Baylor Religion Survey Project. F. Carson Mencken is Professor of Sociology at Baylor University. Joseph O. Baker is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at East Tennessee State University and a senior research associate for the Association of Religion Data Archives. Table of contentsAcknowledgments 1 Th e House of 150 Ghosts 2 Th e Truth Is Within 3 Th e Truth Is Out There: Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences 4 Round Trip to Hell in a Flying Saucer? 5 Paranormal Subcultures 6 Paranormal People 7 Darkness and Light 8 Out on a Limb Appendix Notes References Index About the Authors |