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There are many books debunking the beliefs of paranormal and strange stuff like UFOs, aliens, ghosts, ESP and others. Among them is Michael Shermer’s “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time”, “Don’t Get Fooled Again: The Skeptic’s Guide To Life” by Richard Wilson and “The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark” by Carl Sagan.

Then there is this interesting article by Roger Darlington on why some people insist in believing weird things or strange stuff. As Darlington himself does not accept to all non-rational ways of thought. He is sceptical of the validity of aura, shakra, reiki, clairvoyance, telepathy, psychokinesis, spirituality, astrology, cosmic ordering, crystals, feng shui, labyrinths, dowsing, horoscopes, prophecies, numerology, faith healing, complementary medicine, homeopathy, miracle cures, and conspiracy theories. So is the the idea of Holocaust denial.

Roger Darlington has interesting and simple way of explaining why do some people believe in such strange stuff or weird things.

According to him, surprisingly, many of these folks who strongly believe strange stuff are often intelligent and thoughtful. It is because they are good at defending beliefs, be it whatever outcome they derived. These believers of strange stuff usually hold these views with great sincerity and passion.

Here are just six of his many reasons why people believe in weird things:

1. It is strongly influenced by their personal upbringing and their societal culture.

2. In social science, it is called “homophily”. Similar to birds of feather. It is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others. These believers of strange stuff will seek out friends with those who share and therefore reinforce those views.

3. Then there is this pareidolia. It is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Popular example of pareidolia is people seeing a man’s face on the surface of the moon or an image of Christ in a piece of toast. It is just a personal perception of ones mind that has no independent validity.

4. Next is the narrative fallacy. There are people who believe in something which actually there is none. One good example, by rubbing, blowing or even kissing the dice, before one throws them, believing that it will bring luck.

5.There are who must seek answers and meanings even though there is none. For instance “what is the meaning of life and the universe?” They simply do not want to accept that there is non. So they resort to inventing their own which is usually related religion and the supreme being.

6. There are people who insist that there’s no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. For them, it is more than coincidence. People sometimes invoke more complicated explanations than is necessary or justified. Just because we are not sure how the Egyptians built the pyramids, so we have to invent a theory that they were constructed by visitors from outer space.