Paranormal Personal History is a new course offered at Citrus this semester.
Only five colleges offer a paranormal course.
The course teaches understanding of different paranormal things such as angels, demons, ghosts, telekinesis, telepathy and remote viewing.
The purpose of the class is to help students share their stories in a safe environment and figure out why they had these experiences.
The course is taught by History professor Bruce Solheim. Guest speakers talk about their leading psychic research.
“I was kinda surprised that the college let me do it because there’s never been anything like this here,” Solheim said. “I was pretty lucky. I think it was almost paranormal in itself that we even got to do the course.”
For their final eight-week class meeting, they will meet at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse in San Dimas. Solheim said he chose the steakhouse because it is known to be haunted.
Solheim said the guests include a San Dimas paranormal group who has investigated the area. He said restaurant staff and the owner claimed to have had supernatural experiences there.
“Originally, I call it a ghost lecture instead of a guest lecture,” Solheim said. “I thought it’d be more appropriate to have on the day before Halloween —more exciting and more chances of seeing ghosts.”
In Solheim’s book “Timeless,” he shares his paranormal experiences, which led to the course’s creation.
“I’ve just always thought that it was not paranormal— that it was normal,” Solheim said. “I thought it was normal that you hear people that have passed on and you see angels.”
Solheim said he wanted to start the course a while ago, but he was afraid of the community response.
“I realized that there is nothing to be afraid of,” Solheim said. “I didn’t have to worry about my peers, or the college trying to get rid of me, or whatever.”
The course is structured differently from a traditional class at Citrus. Solheim directs students to a website that tests their sight abilities since there are no tests or papers due.
“We do experiments in the class, like the experiment of being stared at and a telepathic experiment,” Solheim said.
Paranormal Personal History class had 35 students enrolled, exceeding the professor’s expectations.
The class became popular fast.
“I could’ve probably had a hundred students, because there’s a lot of people on the waiting list too,” Solheim said.
Students have different reasons why they decided to take the paranormal course. Solheim said some are skeptical, professional psychics or curious.
Solheim said he tries to create a theoretical framework and space to share their stories.
Esther Jenkins, age 83, returned to Citrus to take Solheim’s course. She started having paranormal experiences when she was 20 years old. She said the class would not be acceptable when she first attended.
“You wouldn’t talk about this anywhere,” Jenkins said. “Nevermind the school. It’s amazing that this class is even being taught on the paranormal. That blew me away.”
Jenkins said she had no expectations in the class.
“It’s very interesting hearing about all the other different phenomena that everybody is experiencing, and sharing my own experiences which I’ve had as well,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins expects paranormal talk to be normal in the future.
“Bringing this out in the open is really important,” Jenkins said. “He’s opening a door to make it possible for people to be acceptable talking about this.”
Paranormal Personal History will continue to be taught every semester by Solheim, who hopes to conduct an open online class.
“The online class would be open to anybody, theoretically in the world, who want to take it,” Solheim said. “I feel we could fill it up pretty easily.”
