Teks Fenomena Paranormal

AUSSIES

‘EMBRALE THE PARANORMAL’

By Judy Skatssoon

February 24, 2004

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WOMEN see dead people but blokes are more likely to believe in aliens, according to a poll suggesting Australians are wiling to accept the paranormal.

Most of us believe in ESP, haunted houses and the afterlife, and we have a voracious appetite for reading horoscope and watching television shows with paranormal content. But whether we believe in it or not, the supernatural evokes a strong response. Those who do not passionately believe are equally passionate about it being a load of baloney, according to a Reader’s Digest survey to be released this week.

The survey of 1000 people found eight in 10 Australians believe there are people who posses’ psychic powers. At least seven in 10 believe in the afterlife and in haunted houses. Women are more ready than men to accept other-worldly help, with half saying they had sought the advice of a psychic or astrologer, compared with just 20 per cent of men.

Sixty-three per cent of women believe it is possible to communicate with dead people, compared with 38 per cent of men. And 17 per cent more women than men believe in psychic powers or ESP. Men outranked women on only one question in the survey – 65 per cent believe that extraterrestrial beings have visited earth at some time, compared with 60 per cent of women.

“People are absolutely passionate about this subject, whether they believe in ‘out-of-this-world’ phenomena or not,” Reader’s Digest executive editor Sue Carney said. One in four Australians say they have become more interested in the paranormal in the past two years while only six per cent say their interest has dwindled.

“Since the surge of popular entertainment focusing in supernatural phenomena in recent years, people are certainly taking more notice,” Ms Carney said. “People referred to The X Files, Star Trek and (TV psychic) John Edward over and over again in this survey.”

Also, most people – 78 per cent – will read their horoscopes, but only half believe that there is any substance to them.