Welcome to the Spooky Paradigm

This will be an outlet and archive for my thoughts and writings on what I think of as the Spooky Paradigm. This term refers to the beliefs, ideas, and communities that are not mainstream religion or science or conventional wisdom (though in some cases these ideas may have more adherents than acceptable notions. While there aren't necessarily content-logical reasons why hidden beasts (cryptozoology), UFOs, ghost stories, cutting edge or fringe science, and political conspiracy theories should be related to each other, experience tells us that they are. Looking at these topics, they do not form a coherent unified belief system shared by most interested in them, but rather are part of a way at looking at the world.

In this blog, I intend to explore some of these topics, to relate to them to each other, to other cultural phenomenon, and comment on them as I can. I will post longer essays from time to time. I will also try to comment, on a regular basis, on new stories involving these topics.

This is not a skeptic blog, though I am sure many would call it that. As an anthropologist, I don't go out of my way to disprove the beliefs of the people past or present that I am studying. It is a skeptical blog, but not one dedicated to debunking. That is not my mission.

I've started it up to coincide with the Halloween season, but the Spooky Paradigm has its own calendar as I hope to show over the coming years. So sit back and enjoy the ride.