# Is obeah supernatural? I really need to know

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obeah-supernatural-i-really-need-to-know/343771>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 10, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obeah-supernatural-i-really-need-to-know/343771 "2006-02-10T00:08:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![April](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@April](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obeah-supernatural-i-really-need-to-know/343771/21 "2006-02-16T19:59:51Z")

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I was just wondering if there were people out there who actually have psychic powers. I’m not talking about quacks who want to make money. Just like how we have hunches or bad vibes, can some people have it a lot stronger? And what about dreams? A lot of people say dreams can tell the future but I think that dreams are just thoughts mixed up in our heads. But what if you dream something and it actually happens? Could it be a coincidence? Or is it that you were anticipating it all along? I dreamt that when I opened a newspaper I saw only obituaries and eulogies on page 2, the next day the archbishop died. I guess that is just an example of coincidence. But just say that someone actually dreamt the archbishop died? And I have a lot more examples of “dreams coming true”.  
Someone told me the other night in an unexpected conversation that God and the Devil exist and there are people who try to reach the devil to perform their black magic or whatever but the devil can’t help them because he is powerless, therefore, their “magic” can’t work. To tell you the truth I am not an atheist but I am just not sure about God and the Devil. Sometimes I wish I could just stop thinking about all these things and forget everything because the more you find out the more you feel you don’t know. Sometimes we just can’t help it. It’s annoying. 🙂

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-obeah-supernatural-i-really-need-to-know/343771/22 "2006-02-16T20:12:58Z")

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> [@April](#):
>
> I was just wondering if there were people out there who actually have psychic powers.

Short answer: Probably not, because there is no hard scientific evidence, yet, of the existence of any paranormal abilities, and not for lack of searching.

For more in-depth discussion, see:

> **[Extrasensory perception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra-sensory_perception#Ongoing_debates_about_the_existence_of_ESP)**
>
> Reportedly haunted locations:
> Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, includes claimed reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition.
> Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, whereby a person perc...

> **[Parapsychology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology#How_science_views_the_field)**
>
> Reportedly haunted locations:
> Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, a.k.a. telekinesis, and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example related to near-death experiences, synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. It is considered to be pseudoscience and is rejected by a vast majority of mainstream scientists.
> Parapsychology research almost never appears in mainstream scientific journ...

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