I’ve often said that the paranormal is usually defined by our cultural expectation. And looking back over the last 200 years or so, we can perhaps see this in action. Mass culture has placed various definitions upon us, especially through literature.

When we think of the archetypal ghost, for instance, this has more to do with Gothic literature than we believe. Prior to its arrival, most ghosts formed part of a morality tale, the encounter being what you can expect if you are not moral.

With the Gothic, the ghost changed.

It appeared as part of a personal transition in the viewer, and, interestingly, became frightening. How much did this reclassification have to do with our increasing belief in the individual?

Such a change also included a new adaptation of the vampire, best described in Dracula. And again, this was very much an individualistic interpretation, emphasizing the ability of man to be a monster.

Predictably, sightings of ghosts and vampires changed in kind.

And as the 19th century became more and more disturbing to live in, eventually leading to the Great War early in the 20th, our popular paranormality reflected this.

We know this because of the arrival of Spiritualism, the ghost changing to the spirit guide, allowing communication between medium and the dead. With so many dying, and an increasing atheism saying there was nothing upon death, this cultural change was inevitable – a cultural expression that there was more, and it was comforting.

From the mid-20th century, research became king.

This allowed the rise of the parapsychologist, moving into the laboratory to understand the paranormal. The result was an outpouring of popular books seeking explanation of the unexplained, and everyone had a telepathic experience to recount.

Alongside this, our interest in space led to the popular UFO, which, I’m convinced, is just another cultural expression of paranormality. A third factor here was the popular spread of New Age ideas, pushing the unexplained to new heights of popularity.

This all happened as the world seemed to become affluent.

People had money to spare, and could indulge their whims. One aspect of this is that the popular research book disappeared from the shelves, relegated to the enthusiast community alone.

I suspect this was for a specific reason. Business had realized the importance of a new wishy-washy spirituality to make people feel better about their excess. The guardian angel was king, always absolving you of responsibility, and in such a cultural climate, the last thing people wanted was explanation.

And so to today.

The popular conception of the paranormal is two-fold. On the one hand, lack of popular research media allowed the sceptic to confirm the paranormal as rubbish; whilst the more spiritual-based mass media see it as a guide to life, the universe and everything – two extreme positions, with nothing popular inbetween.

With signals in the economy that an economic down-turn is on the way, will this affect what we see as the paranormal? Certainly, when we appear affluent and comfortable, there is little desire to question.

But once people’s lives are turned upside down, questions become paramount. And if so, maybe our cultural expectation of the paranormal will also change. If the down-turn comes, I, for one, will be watching our popular culture closely – and seeing what new paranormal experiences are born.

© Anthony North, April 2008