Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

So, Northern Ireland now has two paranormal investigation groups. I was joined on today's Not the Nolan Show by two members of the newly formed . Michael Hirons and Barry Fitzgerald are keen enthusiasts without any scientific training and claim to have discovered evidence of paranormal activity using high-tech equipment.

Within seconds of talking, we had callers lining up to come on air and share their experiences of being thrown off chairs by invisible forces. One lady even told us about the day she drove past a pre-famine village in Donegal -- accompanied in the car by her husband and three children -- only to discover the next day that the village they clearly saw had vanished completely. Each of these experiences is fascinating and each merits investigation. But what kind of investigation? There is only one academic department in any UK university specialising in parapsychology -- the at Edinburgh University (established through money left in the wills of the writer Arthur Koestler and his wife Cynthia).

Why do (apparently) so many people describe bizarre experiences of these kinds? Are our minds playing tricks on us? Are we leaping to paranormal accounts of episodes best explained in terms of illusion, deception, or a psychological convulsion of sorts? Or is it possible that there is more at work in our world, and in our minds, that we at first realised? The same kinds of questions can be asked of apparently miracluous events. Which explanation makes more sense to us today?

In early August, the journalist Rageh Omar will be presenting a three-part TV series for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One examining some of the most famous biblical miracle stories and asking if they stand up to scrutiny today. On Sunday, I'll introduce a similar discussion featuring the Oxford philosopher , who has written one of the most important philosophical studies of in the past .