Page 14 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

xiv Introduction

humans was the same one that haunts man helped ease their fear and the feeling of help-
today: What happens when someone dies? lessness that arose from the precariousness of
But belief in the unknown may be more their existence. Others in the community who
than brain chemistry or a figment of our fears. took careful note of their behavior ritualized
Perhaps there is some spiritual reality that is the stories of those who had faced great dan-
outside of us, but with which one can some- gers and survived. In such rituals lies the ori-
how communicate? Perhaps the physical activ- gin of “superstition,” a belief that certain
ity of the brain or psychological state (the two repeated actions or words will bring the prac-
are of course related) may be only a precondi- titioner luck or ward off evil. Ancient super-
tion or a conduit to a transcendent world? The stitions survive today in such common prac-
central mystery may always remain. tices as tossing a pinch of salt over the shoul-
der or whispering a blessing after a sneeze to
assure good fortune.
The earliest traces of magical practices are
Ghostly Entities and found in the European caves of the Paleolithic
Urban Legends Age, c. 50,000 B.C.E. in which it seems clear
that early humans sought supernatural means
There is not a single known culture on plan- to placate the spirits of the animals they killed
et Earth that does not have its ghost stories, and for food, to dispel the restless spirits of the
one can determine from Paleolithic cave paint- humans they had slain, or to bring peace to
ings that the belief that there is something with- the spirits of their deceased tribal kin. It was at
in the human body that survives physical death this time that early humans began to believe
is at least 50,000 years old. If there is a single that there could be supernatural powers in a
unifying factor in the arena of the unknown and charm, a spell, or a ritual to work good or evil
the unexplained it is the universality of on their enemies. Practices, such as imitating
accounts of ghostly entities. Of course, not the animal of the hunt through preparatory
everyone agrees on the exact nature of ghosts. dance, cutting off a bit of an enemy’s hair or
Some insist that the appearance of ghosts prove clothing to be used in a charm against him, or
survival after death. Others state that such phe- invoking evil spirits to cause harm to others,
nomena represent other dimensions of reality.
eventually gained a higher level of sophistica-
And then there are the skeptics who group tion and evolved into more formal religious
most ghost stories in the category of “Urban practices.
Legends,” those unverifiable stories about out- As such beliefs developed, certain tribal
landish, humorous, frightening, or supernatur- members were elevated in status to shaman
al events. In some instances, the stories are and magician because of their ability to
based on actual occurrences that have in their communicate with the spirit worlds, to
telling and retelling been exaggerated or dis- influence the weather, to heal the sick, and
torted. Other urban legends have their origins to interpret dreams. Shamans entered a
in people misinterpreting or misunderstanding trance-like condition separating them from
stories that they have heard or read in the life’s mundane existence and allowing them
media or from actual witnesses of an event. to enter a state of heightened spiritual
There is usually some distance between the awareness. According to anthropologists,
narrator and his tale; all urban legends claim shamanic methods are remarkably similar
that the story always happened to someone throughout the world. In our own time,
else, most often “a friend of a friend.”
Spiritualist mediums who claim to be able
to communicate with the dead remain pop-
ular as guides for contemporary men and
The Roots of Superstition women, and such individuals as John
Edward, James Van Praagh, and Sylvia
Whatever their basis in reality, certain Browne issue advice from the Other Side on
beliefs and practices of primitive people syndicated television programs.

The Gale Enc y clopedia of the Unusu al and Unexplained