Exploring the supernatural in world religions: Inside 51��’s “Global Occult” class

An 51�� course taught by Brian Collins explores ghosts, demonology and the paranormal in world religions, growing from a small 2017 summer session into a popular fall class with hundreds of students drawn to its supernatural themes.

Samantha Pelham Kunz | October 28, 2025

In the midst of spooky season, one 51�� class is summoning more than just Halloween spirit, it’s examining ghosts, demonology and the paranormal in world religions. The course, taught by Brian Collins, began as a small summer session in 2017, originally created as a comparative religion offering focused on witchcraft, magic, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena across religious traditions.

Over time, the class proved so popular that Collins began offering it during the fall semester, expanding enrollment to 150–200 students and transitioning it online so more people could participate. It has since become a fall favorite among students eager to study the supernatural when it’s most in the air.

“I wanted to create a comparative religion class that looked at things like witchcraft, ghost beliefs, and magic, not in just one religion, but across the globe,” said Collins, the Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences. “It started as a summer course, but people really took to it. Eventually, I decided to expand it into a fall course that’s asynchronous to accommodate the amount of interest students had in it.”

A Global Look at the Supernatural

Each week, students explore a different theme from witch trials around the world to ghost gods in Southeast Asia. They engage with readings, films, asynchronous lectures and expert interviews featuring scholars, practitioners and even paranormal investigators.

“The course has had guest lecturers from the Mothman Museum, experts on witchcraft and magic from Cleveland and members of the Parapsychological Association,” said Collins. “One of the highlights has been interviews with the top witchcraft scholar in the world, based in England. It’s a great way of bringing these topics to life and giving students a broad view of occult beliefs and practices from around the world.”

The course examines how major world religions engage with supernatural forces. Students study exorcisms and spiritualism in Christianity, the role of the Jinn in Islam, Hindu and Buddhist ideas of ghosts and gods and Jewish mysticism in the Kabbalah.

“Exorcisms, spirit communication and fears of witchcraft appear across cultures and eras, revealing that encounters with the unseen are universal,” Collins explained. “Even today, witch hunts persist in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. Reminders that beliefs about magic remain deeply embedded in culture.”

Brian Collins at a haunted site in India — Brian Collins at a haunted ground in India reputed to be a site for black magic.

Not Your Average Religion Class

Unlike traditional theology courses, “The Global Occult” focuses specifically on the mystical, magical and marginal elements of religious life.

“We only look at certain parts of religion,” Collins explained. “All religions deal with the supernatural like exorcisms, hauntings and miracles, but this class zooms in on those encounters with the unknown.”

Collins also incorporates the study of modern paranormal beliefs and experiences like haunted houses, séances and UFO sightings, which he views as extensions of spiritual inquiry.

“While these practices may fall outside organized religion, they often fulfill the same human needs for meaning, transcendence and connection to something beyond,” he added. “Many people today pursue personalized spiritual paths through yoga, meditation or alternative healing, and that belief in ghosts or UFOs is far more common than most assume.”

Collins’s own favorite subject to teach is ritual magic, which he traces to the early modern period when Jewish mysticism, Neoplatonism and Christian traditions intertwined. He described that practitioners, often philosophers or scholars rather than self-described magicians, sought to summon angels and demons through prayer, fasting and ritual purification.

“You get these early modern magicians who drew from Neoplatonism and Jewish traditions, calling on angels and demons to achieve results. They weren’t seen as ‘black magicians.’ Many actually thought of themselves as philosophers or spiritual seekers.”

Witches, Satan, and Pop Culture

Perhaps the most anticipated week of the course is dedicated to witches in popular culture.

“Everyone loves the 90s witch stuff,” Collins said. “We look at films like “The Craft,” which really sparked a whole generation of young women to explore witchcraft and paganism. It shows how pop culture can have a lasting religious impact.”

Another popular section examines contemporary Satanism, not as devil-worship, but as an expression of protest, individuality and religious freedom.

“The Satanic Temple is doing some of the most interesting work, challenging people as examples of how pluralism and freedom of religion are tested in modern America,” Collins said. “These conversations help students think critically about how diverse belief systems coexist within a shared society.”

Ghost tree in India — A ghost tree in India, where according to Collins, ghosts are trapped with nails and coins. Photo by Collins.

Ghosts, Gods, and Guardian Spirits in India

As an expert in Indian religions, Collins also brings firsthand insight from fieldwork in India, where ghost gods and ancestral spirits still play vital roles in daily life. Nearly every village has its own guardian deity, often a goddess believed to watch over that place. For example, the city of Mumbai, takes its name from the local goddess Mumba.

Alongside these deities exists another, lesser-known but deeply rooted belief in “ghost gods” or divine or semi-divine beings that originate from the spirits of the dead.

According to Collins, a ghost god is often thought to be the spirit of a warrior or ancestor who died in battle.

“Rather than departing peacefully, these spirits are believed to remain near the boundaries of their villages, serving as both protectors and potential sources of danger,” he explained. “At night, they patrol the outskirts, guarding the community from harmful forces but sometimes attacking those who wander too far after dark, acting as spiritual sentinels much like fierce guard dogs standing between villagers and the unknown.”

In times of misfortune or when someone believes they’ve been cursed, it’s customary in some regions to consult the local guardian or ghost god. These deities are believed to command lesser spirits and can reveal who sent a curse and why. Villagers bring offerings, often food or flowers, to appease or seek counsel from the deity. In certain traditions, the consultation involves an oracle represented by a statue. Devotees pour grains of rice before the figure, interpreting how they fall, left or right, as a divine “yes” or “no.”

“For locals, these encounters aren’t a matter of belief or disbelief,” Collins said. “They’re part of lived experience, deeply woven into cultural and religious life.”

Oweynagat, the Irish entrance to the Underworld. Photo by Collins.

Halloween, the Underworld, and the Roots of the Occult

Collins also brings his expertise to the study of Halloween. He once taught a dedicated Halloween class and even traveled to Ireland to visit the sites where the festival originated, including Oweynagat, or the Cave of the Cats, which is considered the entrance to the underworld, and tied to the Celtic festival of Samhain, where Halloween is believed to have begun.

“It’s a place where the boundary between the human world and the spirit realm was believed to open on Samhain, the Celtic festival that inspired modern Halloween,” Collins said. “The cave still holds that spiritual weight, and I’ve been inside it. It’s wild to trace how our Halloween developed from these ancient traditions.”

Collins noted that while modern Halloween would be unrecognizable to its Celtic founders, its lineage shows how religions evolve over time, much like languages. He also points out that ghosts were once more closely associated with Christmas than Halloween.

“In England, Christmas was once the time for ghost stories,” Collins said. “You can even hear it in lyrics like, ‘There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories...’ from the song ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,’ or in stories like ‘A Christmas Carol.’ It’s a tradition we’ve largely forgotten in America.”

He connects Halloween to other traditions of honoring or fearing the dead, such as Mexico’s Día de los Muertos and European winter solstice rituals. In older European customs, the darkest time of year was associated with ghosts and ancestral spirits. Over time, Christmas became focused on light and family, while Halloween inherited the darker, fear-based side of those observances.

The Fascination with the Paranormal

Collins believes the popularity of the course reflects a growing desire for spiritual meaning outside traditional religion.

“There’s no academic field for the paranormal, but it clearly matters to people,” he said. “Whether it’s ghost hunting, attending séances, or just being fascinated by UFOs, people are looking for something beyond the ordinary. It can be spiritual. It can be personal.”

The class gives students space to explore that curiosity in a serious academic setting where their perspectives are welcomed.

“Everyone has something to say about these topics,” Collins said. “That’s part of what makes this class so fun. It’s accessible, personal, and endlessly strange.”

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