Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. An evangelical Christian, he wrote about how Harry Potter’s magic fits with faith in an essay in First Things. He is the author The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 2005).

Glenn Sparks, a communications professor at Purdue University in Indiana, says television shows may influence what people believe about the supernatural. He studied how television in the 1990s influenced people’s belief in UFOs and alien abductions.

Dr. Margaret Poloma is Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Akron in Ohio. She wrote about miracles as supernatural/ paranormal phenomenon in Main Street Mystics: The Toronto Blessing and Reviving Pentecostalism (Alta Mira Press, 2003). She describes herself as a Pentecostal Christian who has experienced paranormal phenomena within the framework of her religion.

A June 2005 Gallup Poll found that three in four Americans express belief in at least one paranormal belief. The most popular were extrasensory perception and haunted houses.

Read an excerpt of a chapter written by Bret E. Carroll about the history of Spiritualism in America in Cassadaga: The South’s Oldest Spiritualist Community (University Press of Florida, 2000) as posted on Beliefnet.com.

TopParanormalSites.com lists some of the most popular paranormal themed websites.

Weird U.S. is a book, and series of individual state books, that document local legends, ghost stories and paranormal occurrences.

Ghostvillage.com is an online community of people interested in the supernatural.

Randy Frazee wrote Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships (Zondervan, 2004). He is senior pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. Ask him about the spiritual value of relationships in the quest for rest and peace.