Boo!
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Halloween 2009 is expected to be a $4.75 billion
retail event in the United States. And while that's down
about a billion from last year due to the
economy, it still gives
retailers hope. Why is Halloween on the rise as a popular
American celebration? Researchers think this is due to a
greater interest among young adults in the
paranormal and
supernatural.
According to recent Gallup polls, belief in aliens is up, as is
belief in ghosts and in paranormal activity. There are now
seven reality programs on television about ghost hunting.
Researcher Lynn Schofield Clark says, "At its heart, this
interest in the paranormal and supernatural is about coming
to terms with the fact that we have less control over things
than we thought we did. And with the fact that maybe we
know less than we thought we did, too."
Clark finds it interesting that in many of today's ghost hunter
television programs and tourist excursions, young people are
encouraged to use
scientific instruments to track what we used to think
of as the spiritual realm. She says, "It's fun, but it's also
significant that's it's happening at a time when there's a loss
of faith in the abilities of religion or science to tell us what is
real. There's a decline in the clout of traditional religious and
scientific institutions. And there's a rise in our own sense that
we should question
what we
think we know as real, too."
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