We also have a small dog who refuses to stay in the cellar by himself. We don't keep him down there of course, but whenever he goes down there, he simply refuses to stay there by himself. Now this is a dog that has chased a full grown german shepard down the road from our driveway...so he's a brave little thing! This cellar is a prime spot where I have felt this "thing" standing next to me and then giving me this impression that I need to get out of that cellar right away (this happens randomly and not every time I go down there). It's the one place where the more aggressive EVPs have been captured. My wife and I both have sensed anything from real fear being directed towards us, to feelings of despair and depression in this cellar. My wife has captured many unusual sounds on her digital recorder. Some of these sounds range from growling type sounds to walking (only once has that been captured) and sounds of a child giggling and saying that it liked to play down there. When asked if this child entity was the reason why our washing machine just died for no good reason...it said yes!

It's normal for any cellar to be cool in the summer. There have been more than a few times when we have both felt colder than normal spots in this cellar. Cold spots that would slowly move from one end to the other. Now these same cold spots have also been felt out in the yard too. On warm summer nights out in the open where there's no way for any tempature variations to set in because of being close to the woods and all. The EVPs are captured in conjunction with these cold spots, whether it's outside or inside.

Focusing on the EVPs for a minute, these EVPs again are of a child and what sounds like 3 or 5 seperate adult voices. I'll post some of these captured EVPs later on. Mot every one of these EVPs have been nice ones either. There have been more than a few times where these EVPs have been threatning. These threats haven't been about any bodily harm, but threatning as in claiming this entity will never leave and will continue to watch and will not allow us to ever banish this thing. So I guess we won't be calling in the ghostbusters then huh? lol. When asking this thing its name, several have come up, among those names it has used legion. A demonic name signifieing there are many of its kind. Now maybe this entity is merely being playful or perhaps this entity is demonic in nature. Remember, this land we are on was the site of a lot of misery, bloodshed etc., because of the history of the settlers and Indians in this area. So that in itself lends to the reasons why there has been so much activity here.

Now as far as some of the other recent activity at this house...there have been many nights where my wife was in the back room useing the computer and she has felt something touching the back of her neck, touching her feet, her arm and shoulder. None of these incidents have been harmful, just noticable touching. She has witnissed itmes in that room move by themselves for a short period of time.

I'll be wrapping this whole thing up in part 4, which is soon to come. So stay tuned!

Ghost story 1:

A Coast Guard diver recounted that in one instance they had trouble lifting the anchor of one of their rescue ships.

The diver said the equipment used to pull up the anchor seemed to get stuck on a large rock on the seabed.

But when they dived 95 feet under the water to see what was wrong, they said there was no obstruction to the anchor and they lifted it with ease.

______

Ghost story #2.

Residents reported strange knocking sounds out in the middle of the ocean at roughly the same time the princess of the stars sank.  They said that the knockings sounded as if someone was pounding desperately on a door or on a wall of a boat.  They have also heard wailing and the crying of a child.

______

Ghost story #3.

A ship that shone like gold was sighted in the middle of night passing by the spot where the victims died.

Ghost story #4.

A fisherman was out sailing near the spot of the ship.  He threw overboard an old flotation/life saving device that he had on his boat. The flotation device was old but it still was working.

As soon as the device touched the water,  It sank into the depths of the sea as if someone was clinging to it. It never returned to the surface of the water.

Let me explain...

I live in a town called Freedom, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh.  There's not a helluva lot to do out here.  The general concensus is, if you can't find it in a beer bottle you probably can't find it.  Really.  You think I'm kidding.  So, needless to say, it's not a hotbed of psychic/metaphysical activity or discussion and I'm at a loss for finding thought provoking conversation.  So, I thought why not start a group myself?  It's not a bad idea, but financially I'm not in the best place in the world so I'm skirting the start-up cost at Meetup.com for a month or two and decided, instead, to be a cheapo and start an online group through Google.

If you're interested, you'll notice a fancy link below.

But more about the group that I'd like to start.  Every group has to have an important-sounding name to give members the opportunity of puffing up their chests when they say, in passing, "Oh, I can't tonight.  I have a meeting with the Society of Yada-Yada-Yada..."  So, the group's name (and I think it serves the purpose well) is the Society of Western-Alternative Theorists (S.W.A.T. for short- LOL), and I think that'll probably be the name of the Meetup group as well.

My guides told me you would be interested, so I thought I'd tell you about it.  And if you live in the Pittsburgh area in general and think this sounds like a cool idea, drop me a line.  I'm looking for someone to take a bit of the eventual management load with me, so we should chat about it.  Tell your friends!  Seriously!  This freakin' group looks pretty pathetic with me and my lonely post hanging out there in cyberspace!

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

Blessings!
 

Society of Western-Alternative Theorists

Visit this group

1. (Malaysian) Don’t Talk Badly About People On Friday Morning/Thursday Night.

Apparently, talking trash about people at this particular time is like inviting a “visitor” to you. While I wasn’t told what exactly they DO to you, it doesn’t sound very fun. The story related to me was of when my coworker broke this golden rule, and was talking shit to a bunk mate of hers, who later woke up in the middle of the night to find a girl in a long white nightgown and loose black hair covering her face standing over the foot of my coworker’s bed. That’s fucked up.

2. (Indonesian/Singapore/…Malaysia?) Pontianaks are fucking BAD NEWS

There are several legends concerning this creature, who is described as anything from a stillborn child to a woman dying in child birth. Saying the name allowed is said to bring the ghost to you, and it’s said that the smell of a certain flower will mark it’s arrival. This is one ghost you DO NOT WANT to fuck around with. It’s way more violent than Korean ghosts, in that the stories I’ve heard involving it, it tends to rip people’s heads off, and drink their blood, etc. It’s extremely violent, and is something like a female vampire. The way to scare it away is apparently to expose your breasts to it if you’re a woman, as their breasts are on …their backs. If you’re a guy, you’re fucked. Sorry.

I’ve heard conflicting reports, but I believe it’s said to live in trees.

3. (Malaysia) Respect the Jungle/Forest/Woods or they will fuck you up

The woods are filled with spirits in Malaysia, and there are several rules you need to follow. If you need to pee in the woods, you need to ask permission first. If you’re on your period, you need to dispose of the blood properly, or else be haunted. Please and thank you seems to be the general rule.

4. (Japan) Various Ghosts

Kuchisake Onna
Said to be a beautiful woman who approaches you and asks if you think she is beautiful. She is wearing a face mask. You answer yes, and she takes off the mask. …Her face is split from ear to ear, and she asks you once more, “Am I beautiful?” Whether you answer yes or no, she will kill you. So what can you do to survive? Your answer: “So-so.” Or “You’re average.” She’s known to target young men and elementary school students. Watch out.
Hanako-San
A ghost girl that haunts the third stall of the girls’ bathroom in school. Terrible things will happen if she appears.

(There will be a post with more details on all of these ghost stories, so be sure to check back…)

5. (Japan) Don’t Close Your Eyes For Too Long In The Shower

It’s said that if you close your eyes for more than 12 seconds when washing your hair in the shower in Japan, when you do open your eyes, a ghost will be behind you.

….And, to be continued on a post sometime in the future. There are a few more promised to me at a later date, as well some European superstitions I want to share. Hope you enjoyed this week’s installment, and see you next week.

The original post can be found HERE, Korean Superstitions - AND YOU WILL DIE.

In part two of this three part series of posts Christiaan critically reviews some of the investigations that the paranormal investigation groups have undertaken.

From a rational perspective, the starting point for any inquiry is the setting of an open ended aim that is neutral and it does not suggest a particular conclusion or finding. As shown in the previous post, it is apparent that many members of each of these investigative groups have some form of paranormal belief. Do they have the objectivity to be able to put these beliefs to one side while conducting their investigations?

'Spooks Paranormal Investigations', Strange Occurrences', 'NZ Paranoromal' and 'Ghost Hunters' conduct participant-observer investigations where they travel to the site of alleged haunting and then spend one or more nights there with their instruments.

Ghost Hunters:

All the groups except Ghost Hunters state on their websites that their investigations are confidential and they have not published their findings, Ghost Hunters are kind enough to put write ups of their inquiries on their website. They are somewhat brief and provide limited information on their practices, but they do provide an insight into the way that they form their conclusions based on the evidence they have collected.

Like the other groups, Ghost Hunters like to employ high tech equipment in their investigations and in January 2007 they conducted an investigation at Fairfield House in Nelson. During the night they picked up on their night vision camera what they described as inexplicable black objects, and a knocking sound picked up on audio recording. However, they are somewhat reserved in this write up and do not conclude that this phenomena is sufficient evidence of the paranormal.

They were not quite so reserved in their conclusion after their investigation at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson where they said that there was probable paranormal activity on the basis of an orb photo and a temperature anomaly around one of the graves. Orbs are well established artefact's of photography and there is no scientifically supported evidence or theories of orbs being spirits. Furthermore, while temperature changes have been traditionally associated with ghosts there has been no demonstrated empirical data to show a causal link between temperature and spirits. The conclusion of ‘probable paranormal activity’ is somewhat of an overstatement based upon this limited evidence.

Spooks Paranormal Investigations:

As previously mentioned, Spooks state their investigations are confidential, but they are eager for media exposure and as a result their investigations have featured on New Zealand shows such as 20/20, Campbell Live, and Pacific Beat Street. One must be careful about the fairness of an evaluation given the editing process during the production of such segments , but as you will see it is a worthwhile process analysing these investigations.

The feature on Pacific Beat Street is an investigation conducted by Spooks of an undisclosed location. The group, led by Adam Lancaster, looks impressive with their matching clothes and tools of the trade, which include EMF meters, infrared cameras, and temperature gauges.

Once the group set up their cameras a noise quickly attracts the attention of Spooks and six of them (including the reporter and cameraman) rush to the basement of the building with their temperature gauges and EMF meters. There is some quick editing that bring together some technical sounding and excitedly stated quotes such as “reading 6.9 [degrees]” - “that’s a huge drop” and then the reporter slips into the role of the investigator and based on a temperature reading from an infrared temperature gauge he gravely determines that something is happening in the corner.

The following segment provides an interesting insight into the ‘scientific’ manner that the group use. An excited investigators says ‘Woah did you feel that’ presumably she has felt something (like a breeze?) go past her. At that time a camera battery goes dead and one of the Spooks immediately concludes that these events mean that “there is something here”.

For the first time in the piece some investigative journalism creeps in and the presenter suggests that the battery may have just died and the response he received was a mish mash of woo:

“Its always getting energy, that’s why sometimes you feel cold because its draining your body energy, and whenever you know, you feel a presence that is the feeling you get it is very cold.”

So that clarifies things…because we know that spirits exist, we know that they suck up our ‘energy’ (and as a classic sign of pseudoscience they have a misunderstanding of energy, but that is the subject of another post), and that sucking up of energy is what makes you feel cold.

We are then subjected to an investigator waving around an EMF meter that resembles an out of control Gieger counter with its loud bleeps and flashing red light saying that there is definitely something walking around them. He obviously did not read the section in the EMF meter instruction booklet that says that unless he keeps still while taking the reading he will get a false readout.

After all that excitement they return to the base where the Spooks team is briefed about something strange that had been picked up on a monitor while they had been running around scaring each other. An infrared camera had picked up a shimmer on the monitor to which one member of the group comments that it is going down the stairs and around the corner.

On the face of it, it does appear to be ghostly, but an indication of what it may have been is seen when the shimmer disappears. An insect, possibly a moth, can be seen flying across the monitor. It would appear that the shimmer was caused by the insect flying very close to the lens of the camera. Some butterflies and beetles can see in near infrared and could be attracted to the light, or it could be an insect that has been disturbed by the torch lights in the building. Another possibility is that it could have been one of the Spooks unwittingly waving a torch around near the camera. As previously pointed out they were split up into pairs, in all of the excitement of running around did they know where the other members of the group were?

Discussion:

When looking at the practises of these groups there are some important considerations. Firstly the impact of the investigators on the setting needs to be considered. These examples demonstrate that while these investigators attempt to remain objective, there is a sense of confirmation bias that taints their work. Adam Lancaster of Spooks has said that he has been scared on every investigation he has been on, this frame of mind combined with being put into a position where they may be subject to events they cannot immediately explain it may have an effect on their objectivity that is required for such an investigation.

There is no mention anywhere of any attempts to take baseline measurements. For example, if the ghostly phenomenon occurred at night, then one would hope that temperature and EMF readings would be taken during the day for comparative purposes to establish the existence of any hot or cold spots.

There is no evidence of any systematic recording or note keeping either between investigations or between the members of the groups. Obviously if the manner in which an investigation is recorded has no set format or is constantly subject to change it will make it difficult to compare evidence obtained from different investigations.

The impact of the investigators beliefs and values is an important consideration. Haunted houses are very much infused into our cultural beliefs. We are raised on scary stories about ghosts, they feature prominently in works of fiction on the television, the movies, and books. Like many other mythical creatures a group of common characteristics have developed that is based upon anecdotal experiences combined with the cultural memes.

It is these characteristics that inform the paranormal investigations conducted by these types of groups. In recent years there has been a massive self reinforcing of the mythical characteristics of ghosts through the increasing popularity of paranormal investigation, which can largely be attributed to the US show ‘Ghost Hunters’ which has seen a surge in popularity of groups devoted to paranormal investigation. To summarise these characteristics they include:

• Ghosts are comprised of energy.
• They influence electromagnetic fields.
• Ghosts affect the temperature of a room.
• Ghosts attempt to communicate by talking.

There is not a shred of scientific support for these beliefs, yet somehow paranormal investigators have identified instruments that they believe will assist them to identify these characteristics. These instruments will be examined in the final post in this series.

I've been shooting hundreds of digital photos hoping to get orbs around it, but came up empty until today, when I caught a large gold orb near the side door of the house. This is the first time in a long time that I have captured a gold orb. I don't know much about what the specific colors represent, but I recall reading that gold orbs represent positive or higher entities. The orb showed in only these two out of the approximately 100 photos that I took. It looks like it is actually headed through the door, since it drops its height as it nears the door.

The other thing I have been trying to photograph is the activity in the windows of the house. As I've mentioned before, various figures dart in between the windows from time to time, especially in the evening hours. It's difficult to photograph these, as they are slightly transparent and move very quickly. Below is a photo that somewhat shows a face looking out the window, but it not nearly as clear as what I hope to capture. I will continue taking photos to see if more of the phenomenon surrounding this painting can be caught on film.

Last Friday my husband and I were at the Six Flags Great Escape theme park in Lake George, NY. Everything was fine and we had just eaten a horrible dinner at the Papa John's there. We were walking away from there when I felt compelled to stop and photograph the old elephant statues that stand on a little hill near where the train ride deposits and collects passengers. I was fascinated with the spot because I remembered it from my father's old photographs of Storytown when he was a child. Hubby and I were facing and up against a wooden fence about chest height with a little building to our right. I poised the camera to take the shot and became distracted by an uncomfortable feeling coming from the area to my right. There was probably one foot between me and the building. I glanced to my right and saw a teenager, blonde with a white baseball cap on (dressed in a white shirt, too), just looking out over the same area we were. It was a glance and I was shocked to find a stranger there. I stopped and looked at my husband in disbelief that someone could invade my personal space like that. My husband looked at me in a more confused manner, like, "what...?" I hadn't said anything yet. I glanced back and there was no one next to me. I looked behind me on the walkway. I looked on the train that was letting passengers on behind us and to our right. There was no one that looked like the person I saw. Not even close. I was shaken.

There was a window in the little building to my right. My husband had seen nothing at all. He thought perhaps I saw a reflection from the window. I doubt it. The window was to my right, yes, but in front of me more than the person I saw. What I saw was right by my side. Also, because it was daytime the flash hadn't gone off on the camera when I took the photo of the elephant statues - so it wasn't that bouncing off the window.

What I saw was a distinctly human form, standing silently to my right, looking out over the field. it seems like his hands were on the fence. A vision. As quickly as I saw it, it was gone. I am not sure of the exact time of day, but as we had just eaten dinner I would guess it was after four-thirty or five p.m. This was Friday, June 27, 2008. I know a kid was killed at the GA Six Flags that day. I don't know what time or what he was wearing (and yes, I do know what happened to him - I don't want to discuss it). I don't know if that has anything to do with what I saw. 

But I know I saw something. I took a picture in case it was a ghost. Nothing came out out of the ordinary so I erased it. I probably should have waited to upload it. After the incident I felt very drained and refused to leave the area for a good five minutes. Hubby kept asking if I needed to sit down. I don't know if that was due to how I looked or the fact that I had a bad foot and slightly injured leg, though. But I felt drained in the area of my heart - the pit of my being. My sudden energy drain was not from my minor injuries.

So that's what I saw. Take it for what it's worth. I wanted to throw it out there in case anyone has any other ghost stories from Great Escape or Storytown. I'd be interested!

Parce que sung after Brittany Austin, Notch Caine, and Justin Rentschler ex Masquerade Populace Normal ledger Braininess Affectation(base ahead youtube).

Cages vair coulisse? which engineer yours truly think proper? Extort the Birds!
Overanxiety hatchment Have sex? Dear instructor't declaration the Gloria
Actions patter louder without words.

Near Jonathan Larson, the hue posterior Aggravated.

Redrumalicious, my favorite!

Channel 4 (UK) is promoting their new season of 10 Kubrick films to mark his 80th birthday by recreating, or in reality, reimagining what a Behind-The-Scenes featurette would be like if The Shining had been made in our DVD-saturated era.   Honest to blog, old man Stan already accounted for the Blu-Ray discs coming out this year, no wonder he archived all the production notes and bloopers for posterity.  

The Making of [part 2/4]:

Still, the fluff piece highlights an ingenious "wink-wink" tracking shot standing in for "Kubrick's point of view as he walks through the set, ending up in his director's chair as the crew prepare to shoot the famous scene of Danny Torrance, the son of Duvall and Jack Nicholson's characters, riding round and round the deserted corridors of the Overlook Hotel."

The Ad:

For continuity's sake, the actual scene after he rolls "Action!"

I had always thought of the word differently: para as in parallel or a world or concept parallel to our laws of binding our physical universe.  I thought of paranormal as the research enveloping all things non-physical.  I'd still like to think of it as a science with the same approach to all things scientific - using hypothesis, conducting experiments, gathering evidence, conjecturing, debunking, etc.  

Poltergeist phenomena is my favorite.  Found in nearly all cultures and religious groups, the activity of the "noisy ghost" is widely reported and documented.  So are hallucinations.  And yet, a single poltergeist event can be witnessed/encountered by multiple people, so I put more validity into claims of this activity.  As a child, I experienced something that would be defined as poltergeist activity.  I don't feel silly admitting this because I believe strongly there is a valid explanation for these experiences.  

In my opinion, we don't have to believe in the supernatural, to better understand the paranormal.   In talking with people, I've found most have some story to share - even the skeptics - of something they just can't explain.  And yet, they all share a desire to find some explanation.

Modern day ghost-hunters invest a good deal of time and money into capturing evidence of paranormal activity.  Whether actual ghosts or residual energy, these pseudo scientists employee EMF meters to measure electric-magnetic fields, recording devices to record "EVPs" or electronic-voice phenomena, infrared and thermal cameras to measure and capture movements or sudden changes in temperature in a room and other tools to assist the investigators with seeing in the dark.  

When I first met a "ghost-hunter," I had a lot of questions and I wasn't very polite about asking.  Questions like, "Isn't hanging around grave-yards cliche?" or "Don't you think walking around houses in the dark is a good way to scare up experiences that might not occur in broad daylight?"  

These questions were quickly answered.  Graveyards tend to make people uncomfortable at night so investigators take new people there to see how they handle fear.  Okay, makes sense, but why the dark?  I was told this was the quiet time and it was more likely you would capture genuine activity than during the day.  There are just too many noises during the day and investigators prefer to turn off any unnecessary electronics to avoid EMF interference. Hence, dark places at night.

I'm actually more impressed than anything getting to know people who study ghosts on the side.  They're not crazy as I expected.  They're not charging people money to do bogus investigations.  I was told if someone charges for their work, beware.  Most investigators will do anything to discredit their own findings because they know these findings will be equally scrutinized by any skeptic.  Still, the fact remains, if you haven't experienced the paranormal, can you ever really believe it?

Then again, I've never seen a neutrino, but I am no less a believer.  

So, is Casper really in the corner?  No, not exactly.  At least, it's not Casper.  I've encountered a few regulars as far as spirits are concerned.  Interestingly, in my experience most of them just want to talk and some of them come in to help in times of trouble.  Lemme list the regulars here since they'll be playing a part (I'm sure) in a lot of the posts I throw on here.

There's the first spirit I am conciously aware of interacting with beginning somewhere between ten and eleven.  I never met my grandfather, Howard, in life.  He died almost exactly a month before I was born.  But the first time I spoke to him was in a dream that was followed by three more of the same- simple conversations that could have been, to my young mind, wishful thinking.  That's always the way it goes.  We're programmed to not believe that anyone can actually converse actively with "dead people" but as I continued my dialogue with my grandfather there were a few things that I couldn't deny: (a) he was helping me in strange ways, (b) I could- and can- clearly see him, and (c) he was telling me things that were actually relevant, things that actually happened.  I knew he was the real deal when he appeared to me one night to tell me that my aunt, who had been battling back and forth with cancer for months, was going to pass that night.  The next morning I found out the sad but not unexpected news.  I've always wondered how I could have known it was that night out of all the many that she suffered, and I believe it was my grandfather simply relaying information.  He figures most prominently because, out of the spirits that I call my friends, he has been around the longest. 

Then there's Andrew.  To call him a "ghost" would be inaccurate since that's not really what he is.  What he considers himself is a spirit, different in the fact that he has never actually lived a physical existence.  He has a very clear personality and I pal around a lot with him because he's good natured and has a sense of humor as well.  Generally, if I have a problem I turn to Andrew for the answer.  He never steers me wrong. 

Isabel's an interesting one and says that she's attracted to my "light".  She's a young girl in terms of how she prefers to appear to me, but she lived to a ripe-old age.  The image she takes with me is the one that she is most fond of- as a young girl she had a pink dress that she loved and it's her preference to show up in that attire as the little girl she was so long ago with shoulder length dark hair and a ribbon (pink, of course).  I think she's just looking for companionship.  She has no real interest in going away just yet, and I enjoy her too much to ask her to or urge her in that direction.  She has as much free will as I do and she's spunky.

The last of my friends is Lisha (LY-shah).  I don't know how to explain Lisha except to say that she is beautiful, has very chiseled features and long dark hair that is tied behind her head loosely.  Of all of the spirits that I have consistent contact with, I value the rapport I have with Lisha the most because we are kindreds.  She, I believe, has come in more recently to help me move forward in my spiritual progress because I am "ready" to do that.  She lived in Asia many, many moons ago and has chosen not to incarnate again just yet.  She has no true love of the physical but enjoys her life now much more and wishes to teach what she has learned before she returns to complete her own learning.

I'm introducing them because they play such an important part in my every day life I know that they will inevitably play a sizeable part in what I write here as well and I'd like you all to be familiar with them.  As for me, am I crazy?  I've gone back and forth on that, really.  I don't think I am, not that I would know it if I was.  But I've been helped in so many ways by these guys that I can hardly think of it as a negative or functional thing.  What I believe is that they are real, and I believe it because I have experienced the ways in which this is so.  They're a valuable part of my life.  Maybe they can help you, too.  That's the main purpose for this blog.

To clarify a point here: am I a medium?  I have never served as a medium.  I read Tarot cards, I'm a Numerologist, I use the pendulum, and I receive messages from my "spirits", but I do not consider myself a medium chiefly because these spirits don't come from the auras or energies of those around me but seem to come- of their own volition- into my auric field for the purpose of assisting, giving messages, or as simple companions.  They are- to tout an oft-used phrase- "my guides".  So, I don't consider myself a medium.  Could be wrong, though.  It does happen on occasion. 

I hope to post frequently, and I don't guarantee consistency in anything other than the basics: I want to blog about what I'm passionate.  My passion happens to be my "intuitive life" and there's a lot to talk about there.  I hope you enjoy it.  I hope you learn something. 

Blessings.

How can you communicate with your children in a way that will open up dialogue about what they may see and at what age?

Just a few days ago, I was sitting with my 2 1/2 year old daughter Kaylee on our back deck and decided to have a conversation with her about what she might see.  I have on many occassions heard her having a conversation with her angels when passing by her room at night or during naptime. 

So I asked her- "can you see any angels?"
She looked at me with her big crystal blue eyes and said "angels?" 
"yes" I said.
She looked out into the yard and pointed to something and repeated "angel."  Next I asked her if she saw any fairies and with excitement she said "fairies?" 
"Yes," I said "do you see any fairies?"
With a quizzical look she confidently replied "no."

I laughed.  I had no doubt she knew what I was saying and was clear about which she saw and what she didn't see.  It was quite magical. 

I have heard many stories from parents about children who recognize deceased loved ones in a picture when they never met them in physical life.  So I thought I would test this theory with my daughter as well.  My dad passed suddenly 6 days before she was born so when she was about a year old I showed her a picture of him and asked her who he was and she responded with "grandpa."  What else can I say?

In other news, the painting seems to be affecting the electronics that are in its proximity. The television turns itself on and off at least once a night. That is, it turns itself completely off and then on again. There is no technical or rational reason for this, as it is a relatively new set that never had any problems until the painting moved into the room. The digital clock in the living room also has lost power three times since the painting has come into my home, and it is hooked up to a completely different outlet than the television.

Last night, I had the good fortune of partially photographing the shadow that I mentioned in previous posts. This shadow passes very quickly over the painting, always running from the right side of the painting to the left, and completely envelopes the painting in a matter of seconds before disappearing. This photographed one makes for the third time this shadow has passed over the painting. I had hoped to take successive pictures very quickly in order to capture it in action, but by the time my camera had "processed" the first photo, the shadow had passed through already. The photo was taken in very dim light, so I had to use the "enhance" feature to make the photo brighter. This accounts for the slight blue hue, but otherwise the photo is unaltered. The shadow that you see in the lower right eventually grew darker, blacking out the entire painting for approximately 3 seconds.

Movement continues to be seen in the windows of the house, as if figures are darting in and out of the windows very quickly. During one especially active display of the window figures, my cats began to actually paw at the windows, clearly sensing the movement. I was thankful for this, because this painting is so incredibly active that I sometimes pause to consider my sanity.

As mentioned in previous posts, I have had many friends and other paranormally inclined people look at photos of this painting via e-mail and many of them displayed uncomfortable reactions to it. I am not sure if the painting is entirely malevolent or dark, but I suppose time will tell. Right now, all I can say for sure is that it is one of the most actively haunted antique objects I have had in quite some time.

As always, I feel the need to issue a small warning before displaying a photo of the painting. If you are very sensitive, please be in a calm state of mind before viewing this image. The image itself seems to provoke people in different ways, some more than others. One woman who I sent this image to complained of being unable to rid her mind of the image for several days to the point where she felt it was consuming all of her thoughts.

Date Unknown

Zero Anon

This work by Zero Anon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Now, a lot of misinformation has spread about what really occurred, thanks in no small part to a horribly inaccurate movie called The Mothman Prophecies [2002] starring [ech!] Richard friggin Gere. The movie was based on an equally preposterous book [1976] of the same title by author, parapscychologist, Fortean nutjob and all around opportunist John Keel. Keel wove a tale of outsider forces trying to warn a small West Virginia town of impending disaster, because, ya know, those alien outsider minds care about small hick towns, y'all. 

The facts of the case, in brief, are thus:

On November 15, 1966, two young couples went to the TNT area of Point Pleasant [a common haunt for young drinkers], saw something and got spooked. They described the creature as the size of a man, with huge red eyes and wings folded against its back. Despite fleeing at about 100 miles per hour in a sheer panic, they say that the creature was able to pursue them. They reported the details of the incident to the authorities. The Mothman [originally called the "Big Bird"] was sighted off and on over the next 13 months, ending with the collapse of the Silver Bridge. In the meantime, it was given media attention and attracted the likes of UFOlogist Gray Barker [responsible for the Men in Black concept] and aforementioned Fortean imagineer John Alva Keel.

Conservative theories have suggested that it might have been a misidentified sandhill crane or an owl whose eyes were reflecting in the light of the moon, flashlights, headlights, et cetera. I lean toward the latter theory. The following explains why.

MothmanLives.com  [a true believer site] has this to say about eyewitness accounts of the creature:

Here is an eyewitness' sketch of the creature.

 [gallery]

 You'll note that it looks a bit like a shadowy image of a big owl [perhaps a great horned owl] in a threat posture.

Given the fact that the incidents stopped when the tragedy of the December 15, 1967 Silver Bridge collapse occurred and hype gave way to horror, it seems safe to presume that the Mothman was born of mass hysteria driven by media attention. When a real horror reared its head, the citizens of Point Pleasant had no more stomache for fireside tales and other distractions. Reality steamrolled over their infatuation with fame and ghost tales.

Today it serves as a cautionary tale for cryptid hunters, though an imaginative statue of the creature and an annual Mothman Festival keep the legend alive. Most UFO enthusiasts try to link the Mothman with the Green Monster of Flatwoods, WV [an alleged alien encounter]. The festival is populated predominantly with occult and New Age supernaturalists, parapsychologists and UFO nuts.

Though legends of Bird Men abound, cryptozoologists might well keep in mind this farce in their investigations. When hysteria, bits of pocket fame and misidentified animals combine, false cryptids emerge.

--Sirius Knott

It's summertime and that means it's time to watch JAWS, one of my all time favorite movies, it's kept me out of the ocean for years!

and theres this tattoo number two, the great white shark, see a theme emerging?

As well as this in the Jeep

and OFCOURSE I have a JAWS movie poster framed and hanging on a wall.  My love of sharks, hard to explain, I think they're pure (as most animals are).  Infact I was close to booking a vacation in Australia to go diving with great whites, in a cage of course (I'm not quite THAT retarded) but when the guy who ran the tours wouldn't answer me about anyone being injured during a dive in the past,  ALARM BELLS...think I headed down to Florida and drank rum runners that year...anyway I am quite fascinated with the great white...can you imagine those poor sea animals who have to live in something  we humans regard as nothing but a dumping station?  Truly, look at all the crap dumped into the waterways, look at the Great Barrier Reef...any coral reef, they are dying, we are killing them...humans are parasites, they come into an area, use up all the natural resources, foul the place then move on when nothings left...did someone say pear martini?

I have tomorrow off, a 4 day weekend...I'm looking forward to putting some miles on the bike...took the top off the Jeep, it's not going back on till absolutely necessary!  I've had some  things boinging around in my brain all week and they won't go away, they go something like this (then ask yourself why i drink)

each person is like an equation

Parental teachings +perception of life experiences creates an ego, that in turn creates a personality based on what it perceives as good/bad, right/wrong, acceptable/unacceptable but if you take the ego created personality away, what is left...we are not just the sum of our experiences, we are something connected, balanced and whole...this is where the motor starts stalling, I branch out into so many tangents that it's hard to keep track, but this is where my head is at on Thursday...

as my friend would say..it aint gonna lick itself....how about some music

I'm more prone to believe that in our case it's because of family or loved ones dieing at the location. In our case the 1st theory just might be true here...my father had died in our house back in 1994 from cancer. He chose to come back here and was in his last days, confined to an hospital bed braught here and he was being taken care of by Hospice at that time. I wasn't here that night when he passed away. The EVPs we have gotten from our house have several indicators that he is indeed one of the spirits that is here. Some of the indicators are that he asked several times where his favorite baseball style hat was (he always wore a light greenish baseball style hat). We have both heard the sound of a bell being rang. When he was able to walk around, my father always sat out in his workshop that's out back of our house and rang the bell when he needed something. I personaly have heard the EVP and his voice is strong and recognizable!

On many occassions I have smelled the odor of perfume or scented powder that will hover in certain areas in this house and then disappear only to show up in a new area of the house. My mother had passed away back in 2005, but not here, she passed away at a place that cares for senior citizens. My mother had a few favorite perfumes she always wore and a favorite powder she would always ask for. Other smells have been of cig. smoke. My father had been a smoker. Some more recent activity has been dishes moving by themselves, figures that may be male or female show up in webcam video footage and still captures when we run the cam to capture any activity in the room where my father passed away. These figures have been most times full bodied to partial and have distinct features like eyes, hands, legs and head and so on.

Two seperate occassions my wife has woke me up at times of 3am and 4am to tell me the front door has been wide open. Keep in mind that I make sure the front door is shut and the security locks are locked tight. The cats, we have two indoor cats, will seem to watch something that moves from the floor to the ceiling and around the house. I've inspected the areas the cats were watching and there were no insects present and so on. There has been a couple of times when I personaly watched one of the cats try to lay down on the couch and then as if something chased it off, lept up and ran off the couch. The same type of behavior was repeated several times...as if something was either playing with the cat or trying to be malicious.

There have been the usual cold spots all over the house, ones that would "hover" from spot to spot. I have felt, more than once, a "breeze" that had shown up when none of the windows were open and this house is quite well insulated too. The breeze would show up in the same room and same area where my father had that hospital bed and where he passed away. Touching on the note of manifestations and how spirits use the environment around us to empower themselves to manifest...we have gone through pack after pack of brand new batteries that would be completely drained within 3 minutes of useing them in a camera or digital recorder throughout this house and outside on our land. We both know this house has multiple spirits because the EVPs we've captured have been of childrens voices, adult voices and other types of sounds or voices that simply don't sound human in nature!

The land on which this house was built has a long history of violence and many other interesting attributes dateing back to the french-indian wars, the first settlers to this region of NY state and more. All of which I'll be posting on in later parts to this. Not all of this activity at this house been playful either...there have been too many times when the activity has been trying to become less than just nice and pleasant. Too many times, whatever these other entities are, they have tried to cause very prominant feelings of fear and dispare and depression that are experienced in areas such as the stairwell that leads to the celler, over-cross on our land where more than 60 years ago, a family lost everything they had because of a lightning strike that burned down the barn and house where they lived. A residual haunting? Maybe...I'll hit on why I think it's not that in a later post.

So has our home become a "portal" of sorts for spirits, or is our house a bona-fide haunted house? There's much more to all of this and what's going on here...so keep watch for part 3 to be posted ASAP.

How has NaNoWriMo changed my life? I have met a few wonderful people that have become good friends and companions. People who I would not have met otherwise. My Co-ML LaMishia and I chat pretty much daily through email about writing, photography, the quest for men, books and so much more. She is awesome! Our writing styles are very different and yet we compliment each other so well. We are constantly helping each other out and talking our way through writer's block and dead plots. Although it is difficult to get together due to our schedules and commitments we make sure to meet up at least once a month to write. I am truly blessed to have her in my life right now.

Then there is Stacey. We are completely different and and yet so strangely similar. She is a true hippie and me, well I have no idea what I am. But through our conversations over the past eight months we have discovered some similarities that have given us a lot to talk about. We both grew up in Portland, Oregon. We frequented the same pubs and hangouts. We both made the move East to Virginia at roughly the same time. We both remodeled our kitchens recently. Not so strange you say? Well let's see. We both started the projects before we met and neither one of us are finished. We both decided to do the work ourselves rather than hire someone. (We would rather spend the money on books.) We chose the same cabinets. Not similar. The same. Identical. Sink? Same! Stainless steel appliances, huge islands, hardwood floors and oh don't forget the plywood counters we lived with for over a year because we couldn't make up our minds about we wanted. I finally settled on butcher block. Can you guess what she she is getting? So today I find out that she is on the verge of purchasing an existing bookshop not far from where we live. I myself have been considering the purchase of a local bookshop for the past year. Strange huh? I can't help but think that perhaps all these similarities have been building up for a reason and that reason has just been revealed. Maybe we were meant to go into business together. Rather than two struggling bookshops we should pool our efforts into one struggling bookshop?

Then of course there is W.E.E. Ghosties. A fun little venture that started with a writing challenge. The Shenandoah Valley 2007 NaNoWriMo challenge was created when a small group of us discovered that we all shared a common interest...ghosts. So at one our write-ins we decided that each of us had to incorporate a ghost into our novel. Seattle has their duck so we thought hey we can have a ghost. It was an easy challenge for Stacey as she was actually writing a ghost story. I was experimenting with magical realism so it was an easy leap. Emily's main characters were a stripper, a fireman and two fencers so with that combination she was fairly confident she could throw in a ghost and no one would be surprised. LaMishia, on the other hand, writes erotica. But even she was up for the challenge. So where was I? Oh yes, W.E.E. Ghosties. We had a lot of conversations about our own "paranormal" experiences and ghost hunting groups and such and eventually we decided we wanted to go on a ghost hunt together. Stacey was our experienced ghost hunter having been involved with ghost hunting and the paranormal for years. She's rubbed shoulders with the best of them but I am not going to do any name dropping here. Anyway, we scheduled our first ghost hunt at West Virginia Penitentiary and during the month of planning for our investigation Stacey's existing Wee Ghosties blog evolved into Winchester Entity Experts or W.E.E. Ghosties. We have conducted several investigations that have produced some interesting results. We have an exciting three day hunt scheduled one week from now in Virginia Beach. We even have business cards and T-shirts! (You know the black ones with the big white block letters!) Pretty cool huh?

So that is how NaNoWriMo has changed my life. Oh yeah and I have written two novels. So that's a plus! How has NaNoWriMo changed your life? Tell us all about it.

Take care WriMos. I can't wait for November!

I wouldn't have necessarily considered my son Caden to be "pyschic."  I knew he was spiritually or energetically gifted; what I would call spiritually intuitive, but it wasn't until recently while watching the program Pyschic Kids on A&E that I realized he would fit into the "pyschic" category.  From the time he was born I was intuitively aware of his amazing energy; the word my husband and I used to describe him was love: pure love.  He mesmerized people with his presence and he had the ability at a very early age to shift or read the energy of whatever was going on in a room.   At 3 he could see colors and by 4 he could see the ghosts in our house.  From 4 to the present he can see my dad's spirit and recently he began to see beings everywhere.

I guess this would qualify him as a pychic, but for Caden its what he knows.  I believe a lot of people fear the word pyschic, because it makes a statement about a specific gift most people can't relate to, but is that necessarily true?  In some capacity, we all have natural intuitive abilities.  How we use them depends on how we receive and process information.  For Caden he receives information through his visual senses or what are considered clairvoyant abilities.  There are other ways to receive information through the other senses of- hearing (clairaudient), feeling (clairsentient or kinesthetic), or cognition (claircognizance).  Each of these gifts offer children and adults alike the opportunity to develop their natural abilities.  It also explains a lot of what children do or say.

So what can show up physically for a child or what kinds of experiences can trigger the heightened sense of one or more of these gifts?  Next time I will share what physically showed up for Caden as his experiences intensified and also what events triggered a shift in his energetic perception.

I have people who can back up this photo but enough about the photo and on to the experience...at the time I was in a really bad abusive relationship, I was young and I had no outlets I thought that the only way out was suicide so when my abusive ex went to sleep I hurried into the bathroom and grabbed my sleeping pills hoping to escape this horrible existence, the sleeping pills I obtained were a full prescription, and I took every single pill in the jar, all I remember after that was waking up in the hospital but it was not the way a typical hospital would be, there were no people and it was more relaxing and peaceful than a usual hospital.

Shortly after I was greeted by a woman who appeared to me as a regular nurse (photo below), though she was transparent and very warm and loving I felt total peace around her and I just felt weightless and perfect I did not have any needs whatsoever I was not hungry or tired or scared or anything of the sort, I asked where I was because I was confused and did not know where I was right away and I remember having this need to turn around when I did I saw my self laying on the hospital bed I had all these tubes attached to my body, and I looked limp and totally out if it, I remember trying to make sense of it all and believe it or not my brain hurt I know that does not make sense because it is obvious that many of you think "how can you have a brain on the other side".

The soul is closely connected to the human brain and you can read about this in my other articles, of course as you can imagine I asked if her if it was like the movies to be dead, I asked her if I could just pick something up and throw it and cause paranormal phenomena on the other side but it was not as easy as movies make it look, to make a physical object move I had to raise energy and it took allot to do on that side and eventually I gave up and she told me that I would learn all I need to know upon my return but for now I had to go back to earth because my mission was only beginning so the next thing I remember was feeling like my body was slammed on the hospital bed but I knew it was my soul entering my body again.

I know allot of people discount NDEs/OBEs and say that it is due to the chemicals in the brain during a traumatic experience or due to the anesthesia and to these folks I cant prove anything but what I am showing you below if you want you can contact *Prince Georges Hospital* and ask them if they know who that woman is, and paranormal investigators you are welcome to analyze this photo, as for the believers you can imagine what I went through but I do not regret it not one bit, I have gained much from my experience.

I just got back from a road trip so I apologize for not writing anything for the past few days. I'm sure many of you either remember, or are still suffering with, dial-up! Need I say more?

This is the latest photo contest for ghosts I found out about on my latest trip to Gettysburg (as quoted from their flier):

Ghostly Images will be holding a contest to select the BEST GHOSTLY IMAGES (from Gettysburg, PA) we receive throughout the year. A winner and runner up will be selected on:

• May 1st for entries received between Feb 1st and April 30th
• July 1st from May and June entries
• Sept. 1st from July and August entries
• Dec. 1st from entries received between Sept. 1 -Nov. 30th

Each winner will receive autographed copies of Ghostly Images books - Catch the Spirits and Let the Spirits Be With You and a Ghostly Images T-Shirt. Runner up will receive an autographed copy of Catch the Spirits, a souvenir pen, key chain and bumper sticker.

A Grand Prize winner will receive a private ghost tour through the Jennie Wade House, The Orphanage and the Cellar of the Hall of Presidents for up to 10 guests. Date to be determined by winner's convenience.

Send entries to:

• Ghostly Images of Gettysburg
• c/o Photo Contest
• 778 Baltimore St
• Gettysburg, PA 17325

or email: ghostlyimages@embarqmail.com, Subject- Photo Contest

Include name, address, phone number and email, if available. Only winners will be notified. List of winners will be available in December upon request.

So, if you have a few good photos from a trip to Gettysburg, PA laying around, send 'em in!

As I was propping up the painting on the chair, I noticed that it had an unusual smell to it. It is almost a fruity smell like strawberries. I was surprised when I turned around the painting and saw, handwritten in pencil, a reference to the history of the house in the painting.

It says: Octagon House. East Hampton, Connecticut. Begin in 1798 by Jeremiah Sexton and completed in 1837 by his son Walter Sexton.

I briefly did some Googling on the house, and found only one entry online confirming basically nothing other than it exists. I could not find any reference to the Sextons or any other information on the home. In my searching however, I did find many references to other Octagon houses throughout the United States, many which have reports of hauntings. I am aware that the octagon is also steeped in occult symbolism, but I am not sure of the particulars of what it represents. I cannot speak for the house itself, but this painting is certainly harboring powerful energies.

The painting has a certain "alive" quality, making it very uncomfortable to look at for any length of time. Twice this week when the lights were dim in the living room, I have seen a large cloud-like black shadow pass across the painting and completely envelope it for a second before disappearing. It blacks out the entire painting for a moment and then disappears. I have also seen, from the corner of my eye, figures moving back and forth in the windows. I am now keeping my camera next to the sofa, because in the event that this visual phenomenon occurs again, I want to try to capture it on film.

I keep the painting propped up on a chair facing in the correct direction. On the third night, when I woke up and walked into the living room, the painting was on it's side facing vertically. There is no rational explanation as to how this could have happened. Someone would have had to come in the house, pick the painting up, turn it on it's side and then place it back in the chair.