Paranormal is a term describing phenomena, events, or experiences reported to fall outside the current explanatory reach of established science — including apparitions and hauntings, unidentified aerial phenomena, psychic ability, and a wide range of anomalous or unexplained occurrences. The word does not itself assert that such phenomena have a supernatural cause; it describes only that they have not been satisfactorily accounted for by conventional means.
Etymology
The word combines the Greek prefix para- ("beside" or "beyond") with normal, from the Latin normalis ("conforming to a rule or standard"). It entered English in 1905 as a loanword from French, appearing in L. I. Finch's translation of psychical researcher Joseph Maxwell's work.
History of the term
For several decades after its introduction, "paranormal" competed directly with "supernormal" — a term coined in 1885 by Frederic Myers, co-founder of the Society for Psychical Research, to describe psychical phenomena in a scientifically neutral register. The two terms were used largely interchangeably in the psychical research literature of the early 20th century. "Paranormal" gained clear dominance over "supernormal" around 1937–38, a shift that coincided with J. B. Rhine's growing prominence and his own preference for scientifically framed terminology such as "extra-sensory perception" over older psychical-research vocabulary.
Notably, several senses in which "paranormal" was used in earlier 20th-century literature were broader than its present usage, and are not fully captured by current dictionary definitions such as those in the Oxford English Dictionary — the term's scope has narrowed somewhat over time toward its now-familiar association with ghosts, psychic ability, and similar claims.
Distinction from related terms
"Paranormal" is often used alongside, but is distinct from, several related terms:
- Supernatural implies a cause operating outside or above the laws of nature entirely — typically with religious or metaphysical connotations — whereas "paranormal" makes no claim about ultimate cause, only that a phenomenon is currently unexplained.
- Occult historically refers to hidden or esoteric knowledge and practice, often with a specific tradition or system behind it (such as ceremonial magic or divination), rather than to anomalous phenomena generally.
- Parapsychology is the academic discipline that studies claimed paranormal phenomena using scientific method; the paranormal is its subject matter, not the field itself.
Scope of use
In contemporary usage, "paranormal" functions as a broad umbrella covering several distinct traditions that do not necessarily share common origins or mechanisms: ghost and haunting reports, ufology, cryptozoology, and claimed psychic ability each developed largely independently, with their own separate histories, before coming to be gathered together informally under the single umbrella term.
Scientific and sceptical perspective
No phenomenon commonly described as paranormal has been demonstrated to a standard accepted by mainstream science. Proposed explanations for individual paranormal reports vary by category, and are addressed in more detail on the pages for specific phenomena; common general explanations across categories include misperception, confirmation bias, hoax, and — particularly for reported hauntings — psychological and physiological factors such as sleep paralysis and other hallucinatory experiences.