American popular culture loves the paranormal and almost anything can
be lumped into that category and depicted for entertainment. But as much
as Americans love to imagine ghosts, clairvoyance, and supernatural
powers, most do not really believe in them. We are the opposite of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle and his fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Holmes
did not believe in anything beyond reason and sensory evidence. He was,
to all appearances, anyway, the ultimate modern man—a true naturalist
who sneered at the paranormal. On the other hand, Doyle, Holmes’s
creator, was a man of science (a medical doctor) who believed
passionately in the paranormal. He attended séances and funded
investigations into “garden fairies.” Holmes and Doyle, inseparably
linked in history and literature, were the ultimate odd couple.
Americans are, by and large, the opposite of Doyle and Holmes. We love
to read books, watch television shows, and view movies soaked in the
paranormal, but, for the most part, we don’t really believe in any of
that.
Source: Patheos
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