“Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?”

So Agent Fox Mulder asked Agent Dana Scully in the first episode of The X-Files, which aired a little over 31 years ago. Much further back than that—millennia—human beings have been fascinated and repelled by the supernatural: from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, which offered spells to ward off evil spirits, to Dante’s Inferno which depicted the nine circles of Hell, all the way to recent cinematic interpretations of meeting alien life, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, and Star Trek: First Contact.

But why are people so interested in “spooky” things that terrify them—ghosts, aliens, witches, and the paranormal?

The answer lies in the depths of our own anxieties. According to researcher and psychologist Clay Routledge, belief in the supernatural acts as an antidote to fears about our own mortality.

“In a lot of ways, supernatural beliefs are a form of psychological medicine in that they help us deal with some of the difficulties in life, and our need to grapple with the big existential questions,” he explains in a video for The Well.

In other words, being open to supernatural possibilities provides hope and helps us make sense of a chaotic world; it allows us to feel like we are part of something bigger than ourselves, possibly even providing a better sense of meaning and purpose.

Which brings me back to The X-Files. When answering Mulder’s question about whether she believes in aliens, Scully (a medical doctor and scientist) responds: “Logically, I’d have to say no. Given the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space, the energy requirements would exceed—”

Mulder cuts her off. She’s just giving conventional wisdom, he says. “When convention and science offer no answers, might we not consider the fantastic as a plausibility?” he asks.

Perhaps Mulder was on to something.

To learn more about supernatural beliefs, watch this video from The Well featuring Clay Routledge: