If any of you are triggered by talk of the paranormal then please close this thread and go back to read something else.
I'm interested in finding how common it is for autistic people to be interested in the paranormal. By the paranormal I will use the Wikipedia definition:
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding
Back in my 20s I developed an intense interests in ghosts and poltergeists after a particularly eventful seance I attended at university.
At the time I was studying Applied Physics and took a fairly rigorous approach to proving the existance of ghosts and spent a lot of time reading and attending lectures on the subject, mostly from the Society For Psychical Reseasch.
More than a decade later I did not come across a single scientifically provable case and never had an "experience" which was not obviously explainable to other environmental factors or manipulation.
I covered loads more paranormal areas of interest back them, largely thanks the the magazine of Fortean Times which is still on the go today.
That was what brought about my interest and why it waned again once it could not be proved ofter 10 years.
I think my interest was because I was looking for answers beyond the humdrum of our existence, but in the end I think I was looking in the wrong place.
Do you have an interest in the paranormal?
Do you think this is related to your autism?
