{"id":955,"date":"2016-06-17T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=955"},"modified":"2016-09-14T09:39:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:39:48","slug":"the-point-of-unicorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2016\/06\/17\/the-point-of-unicorns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Point of Unicorns"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_956\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-956\" style=\"width: 286px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/6mghmy\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-956\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-956\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2016\/06\/3511095456_52e632c0ef_z.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Helen Cassidy, Flickr. https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/6mghmy\" width=\"286\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2016\/06\/3511095456_52e632c0ef_z.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2016\/06\/3511095456_52e632c0ef_z-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2016\/06\/3511095456_52e632c0ef_z-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 286px) 100vw, 286px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-956\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Helen Cassidy, Flickr. https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/6mghmy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In case you missed it, new fossil evidence suggests that a creature known as the \u201cSiberian Unicorn\u201d may have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2016\/mar\/29\/siberian-unicorn-extinct-humans-fossil-kazakhstan\">lived alongside humans<\/a> some 29,000 years ago. Perhaps that eccentric fellow you\u2019ve seen in the aluminum-foil hat wasn\u2019t so eccentric. In fact, research suggests an openness to phenomena like UFOs, unicorns, and elves is downright normal.<\/p>\n<h5>Consider how Scott Draper and Joseph O. Baker describe a wide <em>variety<\/em> of people across different religious subgroups who all believe in angels. Folklore-phenomena can provide people with emotional comfort and compelling stories.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.collegeofidaho.edu\/directory\/scott-draper-phd\">Scott Draper<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.etsu.edu\/bakerjo\/research.htm\">Joseph O. Baker<\/a> (2011), \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/j.1573-7861.2011.01265.x\/abstract;jsessionid=BAF203B5C75C6C73F730B401AECBA6B5.f03t04?userIsAuthenticated=false&amp;deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=\">Angelic Belief as American Folk Religion<\/a>.\u201d <em>Sociological Forum<\/em> 26(3), 623-643.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Such narratives can be transposed across many belief systems and subcultures. Quite a few people believe chasing spirits is a <em>spiritual experience<\/em>, as discussed by Marc Eaton in his examination of ghost hunters and \u201cparanormal investigators.\u201d Other research looks at the popular pursuits of Bigfoot and alien crash sites.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chapman.edu\/research-and-institutions\/institute-religion-economics-society\/bader-christopher.aspx\">Christopher Bader<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baylor.edu\/sociology\/index.php?id=67932\">F. Carson Mencken<\/a> &amp; Joseph O. Baker (2011).\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nyupress.org\/books\/9780814791356\/\"><em>Paranormal America: Ghost encounters, UFO sightings, Bigfoot hunts, and other curiosities in religion and culture<\/em>.<\/a> NYU Press.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ripon.edu\/faculty\/eatonm\/\">Marc A. Eaton<\/a> (2015). &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/socrel.oxfordjournals.org\/content\/early\/2015\/07\/30\/socrel.srv031.abstract\">\u201cGive us a Sign of Your Presence\u201d: Paranormal Investigation as a Spiritual Practice<\/a>.&#8221; <em>Sociology of Religion.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Sociology has always shown how belief in the paranormal, the fantastical, or the spiritual is a <em>social <\/em>process (consider founding father Durkheim\u2019s pivotal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/41360\/41360-h\/41360-h.htm\"><em>Elementary Forms of Religious Life<\/em><\/a>). Influential scholars, such as Percy Cohen, who tackled the sociology of myth from a functionalist view, and Richard C. Crepeau, who describes how sport myths and \u201cheroes\u201d help sharpen a society\u2019s moral and aesthetic values, show that the paranormal isn&#8217;t losing popularity.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Percy S. Cohen (1969). \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2798111?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\">Theories of Myth.\u201d<\/a> <em>Man.<\/em> 4(3): 337-353<\/li>\n<li>Richard C. Crepeau (1981). <a href=\"http:\/\/jss.sagepub.com\/content\/5\/1\/23.abstract\">\u201cSport, Heroes and Myth.\u201d<\/a><em> Journal of Sport &amp; Social Issues<\/em>. 5(1). 23-31<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In case you missed it, new fossil evidence suggests that a creature known as the \u201cSiberian Unicorn\u201d may have lived alongside humans some 29,000 years ago. Perhaps that eccentric fellow you\u2019ve seen in the aluminum-foil hat wasn\u2019t so eccentric. In fact, research suggests an openness to phenomena like UFOs, unicorns, and elves is downright normal. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2027,"featured_media":956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40802,38543,40801,42,6078,40800],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-belief","tag-culture","tag-paranormal","tag-religion","tag-ritual","tag-theres-research-on-that"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2016\/06\/3511095456_52e632c0ef_z.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2027"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":960,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}