There is a problem with how the word paranormal is used because it is often utilized in a way that is perhaps not consistent with the original intent.

While other teenagers were going to the mall and making out with one another, I was chatting it up with the witch at our local occult store about the best techniques for tarot card reading.

Dear Mr. Cowell: I recently learned that you believe your home contains negative energy, and that you invited a "house healer" to banish the foul feelings from your Los Angeles residence.

The next morning when I told my mom about my nighttime vision, she burst into tears. My grandpa had died just after midnight, perhaps an hour before he visited me.

One dark and early morning of late, when the fog horns signaled low in the distance and the view of shrouded Victorian rooftops outside my kitchen window seemed particularly haunting, the ghost again made its presence known.

The next day we were hanging in the kitchen with Halloween cookies in the oven and I was dutifully scooping mushy peas into my baby's mouth when I got the chills again. Big time.