by Newswire

About three in four Americans profess at least one paranormal belief, according to a recent Gallup survey. The most popular is extrasensory perception (ESP), mentioned by 41%, followed closely by belief in haunted houses (37%). The full list of items includes:

Believe in % Extrasensory perception, or ESP 41 That houses can be haunted 37 Ghosts/that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations 32 Telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses 31 Clairvoyance/the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future 26 Astrology, or that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives 25 That people can communicate mentally with someone who has died 21 Witches 21 Reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death 20 Channeling/allowing a 'spirit-being' to temporarily assume control of body 9

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A special analysis of the data shows that 73% of Americans believe in at least one of the 10 items listed above, while 27% believe in none of them.

A Gallup survey in 2001 provided similar results — 76% professed belief in at least one of the 10 items.

Number of paranormal items people believe in Percent Cumulative percent 10 1% 1% 9 2 3 8 3 6 7 3 9 6 6 15 5 7 22 4 10 32 3 11 43 2 14 57 1 16 73 None 27 100

More at the Gallup website