It's hard to say. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of historical supernatural beliefs came from some or another of delusions or schizophrenia or whatever else. Someone who would nowadays be dismissed as "mentally ill" for believing they were Jesus might have in the past been taken as a local prophet. Maybe some of the monsters and creatures people imagined came from something like sleep paralysis and the weird visions they had during it. See something weird in the forest and don't understand it? Obviously it's Bigfoot. After all no one else saw it, it must be an elusive beast hiding.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James included a couple passages of people testifying about religious experiences that were like textbook sleep paralysis. He also speculates a little bit on possible naturalistic explanations for certain types of experiences, overall its a fantastic book for understanding the value religion holds for people.
It's hard to say. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of historical supernatural beliefs came from some or another of delusions or schizophrenia or whatever else. Someone who would nowadays be dismissed as "mentally ill" for believing they were Jesus might have in the past been taken as a local prophet. Maybe some of the monsters and creatures people imagined came from something like sleep paralysis and the weird visions they had during it. See something weird in the forest and don't understand it? Obviously it's Bigfoot. After all no one else saw it, it must be an elusive beast hiding.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James included a couple passages of people testifying about religious experiences that were like textbook sleep paralysis. He also speculates a little bit on possible naturalistic explanations for certain types of experiences, overall its a fantastic book for understanding the value religion holds for people.