Is Sleepwalking Paranormal?

I am increasingly interested in the ways that entrepreneurs seem to be trying to commercialize paranormal happenings.  As I mentioned in class, two examples of this phenomenon are the Phoenix Lights Festival in Arizona and the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. When extraterrestrials give you lemons, I guess you should make lemonade--and then open up a stand to sell it.  A weirder example of capitalizing on the paranormal might be the bizarre sleepwalking videos of Celina Myers, which have gone viral according to the article "Move over Paranormal Activity, it's time for sleepwalker TikTok."

Of course, sleepwalking has been known at least since Lady Macbeth kept yelling "out damn spot" in her sleep.  It features in the early American gothic story Somnambulism by Charles Brockden Brown, who also made it a major theme in his novel Edgar Huntly.  Parapsychologist Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach (1788–1869) attributed sleepwalking to what he called the "Odic force," which sounds like a rather spooky explanation.  But I think Myers is the first to turn it into a sort of reality TV.

"Heaven's Gate" UFO Suicide Cult Discussed on NPR's "Snap Judgment"

 

The National Public Radio program "Snap Judgment" presents a fascinating history of the "Heaven's Gate" cult that began in 1972 and gained international notoriety in 1997 when 39 of its members committed suicide in a San Diego mansion, with the expectation that they would be carried into another dimension by extraterrestrials.  The nearly hour-long program covers the history of the cult, its beliefs, and the cultural influences that encouraged so many to join.  One of its major cultural influences was Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods, as discussed by Benjamin Zeller in his book Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (also available from the Rutgers Libraries).  Worth a listen, and definitely a viable topic for this class.

The Phenomenon

I always like to include a documentary film among the class readings in the Research in the Disciplines course. Fortunately, there is a first-rate film this year called "The Phenomenon" -- about unidentified flying objects. You can rent the film for less than $4-$5 at various streaming sites, as listed on the main website for the film.