Have you ever had a dream that later came true? Or had a feeling something was going to happen – and then it did? What’s going on here? Some people claim the answer is ESP, extrasensory perception. In other words, a sixth sense beyond our senses of sight, touch, scent, hearing, and taste. ESP happens primarily with our thoughts and feelings. But is it real? You decide.
Fun Facts
- ESP is generally divided into five categories: telepathy, the ability to read someone’s thoughts; clairvoyance, the ability to see events happening elsewhere; precognition, the ability to see the future; retro cognition, the ability to see the past; and psychometry, the ability to know things about a person or place by touching an object.
- People have believed in ESP, or special mental powers, for thousands of years, but J.B. Rhine, a professor at Duke University, was the first person to study the subject scientifically in an academic setting. He came up with the term ESP in 1934.
- Most people who believe in ESP believe that it cannot be explained through our current scientific knowledge. In other words, if it really happens, we can’t currently explain why.
- Parapsychologists are scientists that study paranormal activity, or activity outside the realm of what we can explain. They have documented many odd experiences. Unfortunately most of these experiences happen outside a controlled research environment.
- Here’s one such experience: in 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote a book called Futility about a large ship that hit an iceberg while traveling on a foggy night. In the book, the ship sunk. Hundreds of passengers died because the ship didn’t have enough life boats. Fourteen years later, the Titanic sunk, under eerily similar conditions. Could Morgan Robertson predict the future? Or perhaps because he was an experienced seaman, he understood ships and the potential dangers they faced.
Vocabulary
- Dealing with the mind
- Eerie: creepy
Learn More
One thing is certain: we still have much to learn about the human brain. However, current scientific research shows no proof that ESP actually exists. Learn more.
