Awesome Paranormal

Curated archives, open datasets, research bodies and tools for studying anomalous phenomena.

Reports of ghosts, sleep paralysis, unidentified craft and cryptids are scattered across government archives, university departments, volunteer databases and independent collections. This list gathers the primary sources — the places where raw case material actually lives — along with the research organisations and skeptical resources that examine it.

Contents

• Case Archives
• Sighting Databases
• Government and Historical Records
• Research Organisations
• Academic Journals
• Sleep Paralysis
• Skeptical Resources
• Folklore and Reference
• Podcasts
• News and Magazines
• Tools
• Communities

Case Archives

Collections of first-hand accounts submitted by witnesses.

• Your Ghost Stories - Long-running archive of reader-submitted ghost accounts, organised by country and region.
• Swear It Happened - Archive of true scary stories covering ghosts, sleep paralysis, haunted houses, UFO and alien encounters, cryptids and unexplained events.
• The Shadowlands Haunted Places Index - One of the oldest online indexes of reportedly haunted locations, listed by US state and country.

Sighting Databases

Structured, searchable records rather than narrative collections.

• National UFO Reporting Center - Continuously updated database of US sighting reports, searchable by date, state and shape.
• MUFON Case Management System - Volunteer investigator network with a public case database and standardised report forms.
• Panicd - Database of reportedly haunted locations with coordinates and historical background.

Government and Historical Records

Public domain primary sources, suitable for research and text mining.

• Project Blue Book Archive - Scanned US Air Force UFO investigation files covering 1947 to 1969.
• Project Blue Book at the National Archives - Official record group for the Air Force investigation, including finding aids.
• The Black Vault - Large repository of documents released under the US Freedom of Information Act.
• Chronicling America - Library of Congress newspaper archive, useful for tracing historical accounts of hauntings and strange phenomena.

Research Organisations

• Rhine Research Center - Independent institute continuing the parapsychology programme founded at Duke University.
• Society for Psychical Research - British organisation founded in 1882, with an extensive published archive of case investigations.
• Parapsychological Association - International professional body affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• International Association for Near-Death Studies - Collects and studies near-death experience accounts.

Academic Journals

• Journal of Scientific Exploration - Peer-reviewed journal covering anomalous phenomena and fringe science.
• Journal of Parapsychology - Peer-reviewed publication of experimental and theoretical parapsychology.

Sleep Paralysis

The most commonly reported anomalous experience, and the best studied.

• Sleep Paralysis on PubMed - Clinical and psychological literature, including cross-cultural studies of hallucination content.
• American Academy of Sleep Medicine - Diagnostic criteria and clinical guidance for parasomnias.

Skeptical Resources

Balanced research requires the counter-arguments.

• Skeptical Inquirer - Magazine of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, covering investigations of paranormal claims.
• The Skeptic's Dictionary - Reference work of critical analyses of paranormal and pseudoscientific concepts.

Folklore and Reference

• Internet Sacred Text Archive - Public domain texts on mythology, folklore and esoteric tradition.
• American Folklore Society - Professional body for folklore scholarship, with directories of archives and collections.
• International Cryptozoology Museum - Physical museum and reference collection on cryptid reports.

Podcasts

• Astonishing Legends - Long-form research episodes on unexplained cases, with extensive source notes.
• Lore - Historical folklore and the real events behind enduring legends.
• Jim Harold's Campfire - Listener-submitted first-hand accounts, told by the witnesses themselves.
• Weird Darkness - True paranormal and unexplained stories, with sources credited per episode.
• Unexplained - Narrative episodes examining strange events and the people affected by them.

News and Magazines

• The Anomalist - Daily aggregator of news on unexplained phenomena.
• Fortean Times - Long-established magazine covering strange phenomena in the Fortean tradition.
• Mysterious Universe - Daily articles and podcast on anomalous topics.
• The Daily Grail - News and essays on the fringes of science and history.
• Phantoms and Monsters - Witness reports and encounter accounts published as received.
• Anomalien - News site covering paranormal research and historical mysteries.

Tools

• Audacity - Free audio editor, widely used for reviewing field recordings.
• Sonic Visualiser - Spectrogram and waveform analysis for detailed inspection of audio.
• QGIS - Open source GIS, useful for mapping sighting clusters against terrain and population data.

Communities

• r/Paranormal - General discussion and first-hand accounts.
• r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix - Reality anomaly reports.
• r/LetsNotMeet - Accounts of frightening real-world encounters.
• r/HighStrangeness - Wide-ranging discussion of anomalous phenomena.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read the contribution guidelines first.