The Absurd Superstition of the Paranormal

Belief in the "paranormal" or "supernatural" is a confusion which any competent fiction reader somehow avoids. The man grounded in reality might read a Harry Potter book and understand that the magic and the storyline in it are fantasies, whereas the analysis of human nature is a facet that J. K. Rowling at least intends to have application to our lives. The believer in the "paranormal" might, on the contrary, think that the magic and storyline in the books are real, whereas the ideas are a fantasy.

There is nothing wrong with liking a good ghost story, or even an interesting work of fiction about Elvis coming back from the dead. However, the mark of the rational man is the ability to see the conspicuously clear line between truth and fantasy, whereas the believer in the "paranormal" lacks this insight. Why is it that the vast majority of even intellectually mediocre individuals can quite unambiguously note whether or not a given belief is at least feasible via the real methods to knowledge (elementary sensory observation, philosophy, praxeology, mathematics, and the hard sciences), and, when referred to ideas such as UFOs, communication with the dead, ghosts, fairies, or unicorns, instantly dismiss them as not only fictitious, but fictitious without doubt? And why is it that others, all lack of evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, continue to believe these fictions?