”Oooh...that’s a bit weird”: Attempting to rationalise the irrational and explain the unexplainable

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the publishers. " Oooh...that's a bit weird " 3 In this paper I aim to explore how people make sense of their anomalous experiences in contemporary society. Using data collected from unstructured interviews with six women I consider the ways in which these experiences are conveyed, articulated and constructed. Anomalous experiences can be conceived as 'uncommon experience[s]... [or encounters] that, although… experienced by a substantial amount of the population… [are] believed to deviate from ordinary experiences' (Cardeña et al, 2000: 4). Sometimes also called paranormal experiences, this label includes phenomena such as hallucinations, apparitions, out-of-body experiences, near death experiences, hypnagogia 1 and mystical or spiritual experiences. Experients often report dramatic or profound after-effects and sensations such as fear, elation, wonder and revelation. This profundity has led to them being perceived, by some, as 'exceptional human experiences' (White, 1995). However, it is difficult to speak collectively of anomalous experiences, as they are diverse and wide-ranging. Irwin (1999) has insightfully noted that 'paranormal' or 'anomalous' is often synonymous with 'as yet unexplained by science' and the diversity of category membership reflects this. Nonetheless, despite this diversity, it is useful shorthand, which allows me to group a sometimes indistinct variety of experiences that have had amazing, profound, strange, awe-inspiring and thought-provoking effects. It is important to consider the complex relationship between anomalous experiences and Western society. Paranormal phenomena are a source of fascination and an enduring part of popular culture in contemporary 1 Commonly refers to visions, sounds and images that occur during the phase of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness (Mavromatis, 1987) "Oooh…that's a bit weird " : Attempting to rationalise the irrational and explain the unexplainable Madeleine Castro television programmes such as 'Most Haunted'. However, whilst these phenomena are enjoyed as entertainment, they are not usually afforded significance by the 'cultural guardians of society' (Campbell & McIver, 1987: 44). In this sense, 'authorised' or 'official' culture is preserved, reinforced and maintains dominance through some formal institutions (e.g. education, political). This authorised culture does not tolerate or lend credence to paranormal phenomena or anomalous experiences. Thus, anomalous experiences are perceived to be of superficial importance to reality 2 and are not bestowed with a significant role in official culture. Increasingly, in secular societies, such as those of North Western Europe, …