We do need to remember that there is a lot that was considered crazy before science caught up with it - the existence of germs for example.
So we should keep an open mind. We are not at a point in our evolution/civilisation where we can say we know it all now and can decide what is woo and what is not.
That really is not a valid comparison. Germ theory was first propounded in the 16th century but was largely discounted because most physicians held to the miasma theory. There was evidence for it from a fairly early stage by virtue of the fact that micro-organisms could be detected using microscopes. However, it was increasing in credibility by the end of the 19th century, not least because of the success of things like smallpox vaccinations and the work of people like Semmelweiss, and was not ridiculed amongst credible scientists.
Ultimately it was accepted as proved as more and more hard evidence came to light.
By contrast, the belief in ghosts, woo, NDE etc has been around from several centuries before the 16th century but despite many, many efforts to prove their existence, no-one has ever come up with anything approaching proof.
To say that there is a direct correlation involves basic logical favour. Essentially you are saying:
- There are some things that at one point were not believed but which eventually were proved to be true.
- X is a thing which is not believed.
- Therefore X will be proved to be true.
It just doesn't work. There simply are some things that are mythical, and which it is reasonable to believe will remain mythical, simply because so many people have been trying so hard and so long to prove them but have not succeeded.