Paranormal Phenomena/Graveyards…

The Spirit of the Dead Keeps Watch via Wikipedia

The topic of Ghosts and the paranormal seems to be hot right now. Maybe it’s a way to keep the winter blues away. Or maybe….

In any case, here’s another Q&A at AllExperts.com, where I really enjoy doing volunteer work:

• Paranormal Phenomena/Graveyards…

Related Articles

• Paranormal Phenomena/My child says our house is “dark” (mclark.wordpress.com)
• Armchair skeptics (cubiksrube.wordpress.com)
• Somber and (Occasionally) Sober (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Disneyland Is Basically A Giant Graveyard (thefrisky.com)
• An amnesiac zombie teams up with a hyperactive paranormal detective [Webcomics] (io9.com)
• “Men Hate to Die” (chessiesphotos.wordpress.com)
• Glastonbury Tor UFO Caught On Camera? (purestrange.wordpress.com)
• Intelligent vs Residual Hauntings: A Way to Tell the Difference (epages.wordpress.com)
• Paranormal Activities and Ghosts. Do You Believe? (socyberty.com)
• Investigate the Paranormal at the Pumpkin Morgue (dreadcentral.com)

Review – Real Ghosts U.K., DVDs 2 & 3: Scotland’s Haunted Bunker & The Guy Fawkes Inn

Image courtesy Reality Entertainment

This review also appears at Earthpages.org

Title: Real Ghosts UK: Ghosts Aren’t Real? – Think Again!
Genre: Documentary, Paranormal
Production Company: Reality Entertainment

Real Ghosts U.K. is a 3 DVD set bound to astonish ghost hunters and anyone wanting to believe that there’s more to life than meets the eye.

Because there’s a lot of material here, I reviewed these discs over the span of a few weeks. Disc 1, The Mermaid Inn, is fully reviewed here.

Disc 2, Scotland’s Haunted Bunker, takes us deep underground into an actual Scottish bunker, built to preserve government leaders in case of a massive military attack.

This is interesting footage. We see old radio equipment and other electronic gear, designed, I guess, to enable the rulers to broadcast an SOS.

Soon we learn that the place is known to be haunted. So two paranormal researchers lead us through some supernatural accounts and, as in disc 1, the alleged medium Patrick McNamara heads a physical circle.

What’s a physical circle?

For the uninitiated, it’s a group of people, seated in a circle, interested in becoming attuned with supposed spiritual presences and ethereal vibrations. Some call it a magic circle, an idea roundly denounced in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917 but treated more academically in the 2003 version.

Much like in disc 1, I found this part of the program slightly less compelling than the opening segment. The main shortcoming here, as I see it, is that the cameras can’t pick up the spirits and other anomalies which participants in the circle seem to confront. So we’ve got to go on blind faith.

For me, however, seeing is believing.

Still, ardent spiritualists and the merely curious will enjoy watching participants seeming to encounter all sorts of odd things.

Disc 3, The Guy Fawkes Inn, begins by showing us the enchanting Guy Fawkes Inn, along with a smattering of related history and provocative questions. Patrick McNamara returns again, this time telling us about a panoply of spirits and spiritual presences that are said to haunt the inn.

This DVD tends to emphasize, even more than the previous two, the idea that spiritual presences of the dead can draw energy away from the living.

McNamara also suggests that a physically hot kitchen can feel spiritually chilly, and that he smells spiritual odors – some pleasant, some sickening – that the ordinary senses can’t pick up.

Employees are guided through another physical circle, and all sorts of fantastic things seem to happen–to include, no less, the appearance of Michael Jackson’s face. As with the first two discs, however, we can’t really see most of the strange claims. So many do sound a bit strange.

But we should keep an open mind. I suspect that if I panned this part of the DVD I’d probably start seeing something weird just like the stuff described in this video. It’s easy to close off the mind and accept a materialistic paradigm. It takes a bit more insight and, perhaps, imagination to consider that there just might be more to this world than green eggs and ham.

Green eggs and ham? Whaaaa?

Just checking to make sure you’re reading carefully…

But seriously, we all know about radio waves going through the air, quite invisibly. So it’s not such a huge stretch to suppose that some gifted individuals can inwardly “see” other types of energy and presence that most of us cannot. The ability may be genetic, possibly spiritual or, perhaps, some combination.

I have no problem with that. And furthermore, the employees at the Guy Fawkes Inn give a final wrap up of the experiment, seeming to verify their experiences, even though we can’t witness them via the infrared camera.

Altogether, the three discs of Real Ghosts UK should please ghost hunters and those wanting more coverage of all things paranormal. Although we don’t literally see most of the alleged supernatural phenomena, this 3 DVD set opens a forum for discussion, which is always better than close-minded nay saying.

–MC

Disc 1 is reviewed here!

Related Articles

• A Reputation For Being Haunted (ourstrangeworld.net)
• Bisbee Journal: A Hotel Where Some Guests Have Been Dead for Years (nytimes.com)
• Exorcise an Emotional Haunting (lifescript.com)
• Watercooler: Ghost Hunters Catch the Creepy on Camera (seattlepi.com)
• Ghosts of California: A Paranormal Documentary (brighthub.com)
• On The Haunt (ourstrangeworld.net)
• Haunted Cemeteries of New England (neustravel.suite101.com)
• Paranormal Investigations, A Modern Day Seance? (chicagonow.com)
• More Haunted New England Sites (neustravel.suite101.com)
• Haunted Houses in America (socyberty.com)

Review – Walking Between Worlds Belonging to None (DVD)

Reality Films

This review also appears at Earthpages.org

Written and produced by Steve Mitchell, this film tells the story of Jason, a British man who claims to have been repeatedly taken by extraterrestrials (ETs) during childhood.

Jason says he doesn’t use the term “abducted” to describe his unusual experiences because once he got past the fear factor he simply wanted to learn from his encounters.

This attitudinal shift, he says, opened a door that enhanced his appreciation of not only ETs but of life itself.

In fact, what makes Jason’s account fascinating is his complete willingness to discuss the entire ET phenomenon in an open-minded but balanced way.

Jason offers insights and alternative opinions not found in the vast majority of ET literature, TV documentaries and DVDs.

Topics range from psi and healing abilities, the meaning of life, the variety of alleged ET species, and the possibility of top secret government UFO projects within the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD).

To add to the overall credibility of his account, Jason’s mother is interviewed. Here we find an intelligent woman who has explored all possibilities as to her son’s remarkable experiences and abilities, coming to the conclusion that “he’s telling the truth.”

This video is a must see for anyone wishing to enrich their understanding of the mysterious yet increasingly sought after notion that we are not alone.

–MC

Review – The Wildman of Kentucky: The Mystery of Panther Rock (DVD)

Title: The Wildman of Kentucky, the Mystery of Panther Rock
Genre: Bigfoot, Supernatural, History
Production Company: Reality Entertainment

Is Bigfoot real?

This is the question that The Wildman of Kentucky† asks, featuring on-site interviews and an investigative team’s foray into the night woods in search of the unknown.

Some might think Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch) is just a North American myth but, as the song goes, it ‘aint necessarily so.

Cultures around the world have reported sightings, recorded hairy giants in folklore and shared stories about attacks and abductions at remote camps. Some paranormal investigators even link the Bigfoot phenomenon with UFOs, Atlantis, and who knows what.

So where does this leave us? Is Bigfoot just a lot of Big Bunk? Or is there something more to the story?

It’s easy to dismiss Bigfoot as a product of wishful thinking, overactive imagination or hallucination. I might have done so a few decades ago.

But let me tell my own true story.

While driving from Toronto to Ottawa I saw a man hitchhiking on the side of the highway. I rarely if ever pick up hitchhikers but this one seemed different so I stopped to give him a ride.

The hitchhiker and I started talking. I was a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies and he, for all intents and purposes, was a homeless wayfarer.

After a few minutes of conversation, I quickly realized that he was an intelligent, God-fearing man.

Our talk drifted to matters of religion and spirituality and I asked why he left society for the life of a traveling man. At that point he told me he’d seen a Sasquatch in a forest.

What really “did it” for him, he said, was seeing the large beast running straight through the trees–not around but right through them.

Bigfoot skeptics note that no actual specimen, living or dead, has ever been produced, despite a $100,000 reward offered by a Canadian publishing house in 1973.

The paranormal researchers John and Anne Spencer admit that some reported cases may be true but believe most are an “American myth” (The Encyclopedia of the World’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries, Headline, 1995: 55).

The Spencers say that if Bigfoot were as widespread as many claim, we’d no longer have a mystery but a well documented phenomenon with lots of hard evidence.

That might sound good to hardheaded debunkers who just can’t envision the world beyond todays’ acceptable paradigms. But is the universe really that simple?

If the story I heard from the hitchhiker was as genuine as it seemed, it’s possible Bigfoot-like beings might reside somewhere between this and another world. An alternate reality?

This might sound strange. But considering we’re smack dab in the middle of a great mystery called life, it would be arrogant to dismiss all Bigfoot accounts without first considering alternatives.

And that’ s exactly what The Wildman does–consider alternatives without getting hooked on any particular one.

–MC

† This film now comes in a Two DVD set: BIGFOOT IS REAL!: Sasquatch to the Abominable Snowman.

The belief in spiritual warfare: some complexities for 2010

Stomp: follow777 / Milan Klusacek

This article also appears at Earthpages.org

When one hears the term ‘spiritual warfare’ images of uncompromising religious fundamentalists and TV preachers may come to mind.

The idea of battling demons is nothing new. Hindus have been familiar with it for centuries. As have Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Jews, Moslems, Shamans and Amerindians, among others.

However, not all persons see spiritual warfare in the same way. One historical example is found with the prominent Hindu philosopher, Sankara (c. 700 – 750 CE).

Put simply, Sankara characterizes the Buddha as an evil avatar–that is, a demon in the flesh. For Sankara all Buddhist distinctions between good and evil deities are misguided.

A similar problem arises when we compare Christian and Hindu spiritualities. For some Christians the entire pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses are demonic; meanwhile Hinduism itself distinguishes among helpful, harmful and sort of trickster-like deities that may seem ethically ambiguous to some.

Confusing? Yeah, a little. At least, it can be if all we have to rely on is a pile of books or Wikipedia.

This kind of riddle is probably insolvable through reading alone. Arguably we have to experience how different spiritual pathways make us feel–and not just think or, even worse, uncritically adopt a politically correct position.

I’ve developed my own criteria to discern what’s right and not so right for me. It’s not a rigid checklist but an ongoing investigation, subject to change according to my experience and reflection. And perhaps everyone who cares about spirituality should develop their own criteria.

Another interesting wrinkle within the idea of spiritual warfare is found in the psychiatric perspective.

Psychiatry is a more or less unified worldview as to what’s right and wrong with people’s heads and their related behavior. The science of psychiatry has developed dramatically over the past few decades and enjoys a high degree of ideological influence, legitimacy and power, these powers differing somewhat according to local policies and laws.

Anti-psychiatry figures usually point out that homosexuality was a disorder in the 1960s and early 70s before the American Psychiatric Association (APA) declassified it as a mental disorder in 1973.

One can view this fact negatively or positively. Anti-psychiatry figures tend to uphold it as alleged evidence that psychiatry is a sham. Meanwhile, supporters of psychiatry argue that science is always changing and evolving. And the fact that the APA made this positive change is evidence of its scientific credibility.

I tend to embrace the latter view, hoping that psychiatry will continue to grow and recognize not only spiritualities linked to major, established religions but also to those prayerful wildflowers, if you will, who are healthy, beautiful and doing good works but not adhering to any major religious group.

We need pioneers of the spirit who can see through all the varnish, hoopla and hypocrisy of organized religion. Otherwise there might not be any significant spiritual evolution for mankind.

With this in mind, the other day I saw a PBS article about an alleged psychiatric emergency in India. Something about the article struck me as incomplete but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

• Psychiatric Demands Jump as India Battles Mental Illness | PBS NewsHour | Dec. 29, 2009 | PBS: http://bit.ly/8wBbKb

Read and decide for yourself if perhaps the article is a bit hegemonic about the (implied) wonders of 21st century medical science and its associated worldview.

I just wanted to spell out some of the complexities around the oft misunderstood notion of spiritual warfare. There’s no unanimous agreement. For some, gods are demons while others say those very demons are gods.

And atheists might write off the whole gamut of religious deities as some kind of man-made security blanket or possibly hallucinations to be fixed with psychotropic medication, no matter how harmful the short or long term side effects of those medications may be.

This much said, I’d like to direct the reader to the article, Spiritual Warfare Study: Truth Cries Out. Please recall that Earthapages is about dialogue. This piece represents just one perspective among many in this largely unsolved yet important area of debate.

–MC