Ghosts in the news!

6th

Throughout history, individuals who rebelled against accepted scientific dogma have endured ridicule, hostility and professional ostracism. That grand tradition remains unchanged today, as evidenced in a recent article titled “‘Professor Bigfoot’ Draws Critics.” The article discussed Dr. Jeff Meldrum, an anatomy professor at Idaho State University who has become involved in Bigfoot/Sasquatch research.

The article quoted several of his colleagues at Idaho State who want to see Meldrum’s tenure revoked strictly because of his interest in Bigfoot.

The same tactics have been applied for decades to ridicule credentialed scientists into remaining silent on controversial topics, from Bigfoot to UFOs to the antiquity of man. In the Bigfoot arena, scientists who have become involved find themselves cheated out of tenure (like the late Grover Krantz), or objects of disdain and ridicule.

What never gets mentioned in news reports like the Meldrum story is that such outright hostility and refusal to examine the facts contradicts the scientist’s credo of unbiased, open-minded research. Scientists today worship theories.

Just like religious zealots who ignore and/or attack anything that contradicts their ideology, most scientists must resort to ridicule in order to preserve their cherished theories.

The tactics employed by these so-called professionals make them look like spoiled children jealous of a classmate who’s gotten more attention from the teacher.

As founder of the Michigan Upper Peninsula Bigfoot Organization, I have encountered the same kind of ridicule filter. I’ve done radio interviews where the host apologized to me off-air for having to crack jokes about the whole thing, explaining that the station manager wouldn’t let “paranormal” topics on air if the discussion were treated seriously.

I’ve encountered people in the media who know nothing about Bigfoot, yet insist to me the famous Patterson film must’ve been faked — didn’t some guy confess on his deathbed? Never mind that no evidence has ever emerged to support such claims.

It’s hard to defend yourself against ignorance and ridicule. Researchers who fight back against the tyranny of academia deserve our respect and thanks. They’ve taken a truly scientific approach to controversial topics — choosing to examine the evidence before reaching a conclusion. The so-called “skeptics” have no need for pesky things like research — they already know they’re right.

Their sanctified theories say so.

Article HERE

6th

So is there any proof that the Spirit World exists? Some folks want positive evidence, and many scientists are skeptical of the possibility of life after death. But, look out! This attitude may soon change as new technology is creating equipment which can do amazing things. Already available is equipment which can read air temperature changes. Is this the next miracle about to be revealed? It’s hard to believe, but Nexus New Times and Reuters reports that scientists are developing mind-reading technology in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So far the implications are that mind-reading computers offer endless potential when used in science, but what about when they are used to link into spirits? Now that’s an interesting thought, and opens up a whole new spectrum!

We humans already fall into three very separate categories:

a) Those of us who believe in the world of spirit, life after death and reincarnation.

b) The folks who have an open mind but no firm conviction.

c) Those who are adamant that death is the end and will remain so until they are shown solid proof.

So will this computer be able to link into a spirit presence in a building? Yes, it sounds very far-fetched, but remember the mind lives on after death and so do our senses.

So, if this nifty gadget can link into human senses, then technically it should also be able to link into the senses of a deceased spirit. An "emotionally aware" computer is expected to read human thoughts by analyzing a range of facial movements and has been designed to diagnose a person’s mental state.

This new technology is designed as a tool to aid reaction, online teaching and tailored advertising. Now that this new line of thought has opened up, perhaps it won't be too long before the potential is recognized and a "spirit detecting model" is on sale!

Remember, we are all energy and after death we are still energy, so could this computer give proof of life after death and detect the presence of spirits?

Will we also soon be able to hail "nanotechnology" as a field of science to give us the illusive proof of continuance of life? Nanotechnology is a science which works with minute particles. When I say minute, I really mean it as one nanometer is one billionth of a meter. There is a distinct possibility that in the not too distant future research on this latest field of technology will excel itself, as research has been carried out at the University of Michigan where United States border security officers have sponsored the development of a sensor which detects gaseous material.

At this university’s Center for Wireless Integrated Micro Systems, work is progressing on a micro powered environmental wrist watch sized monitor which will be able to analyze gaseous material at minute levels of 100 parts per trillion. Many folks who have felt a spirit presence have reported smelling perfume, fresh baked bread or pipe tobacco (see Spirit Rescue for details of spirit sounds and smells ). This raises the question, "will this minute monitor detect the gaseous energy of spirits?" Confirmation would bring peace to so many bereaved folks.

Convincing Proof

We all need proof that death is not the end, and some of us are fortunate to have received proof from the spirit world. But, for those in doubt, the following cases of past live experiences will help to confirm we do live further lives after death.

A convincing form of confirmation that we live more than one life is demonstrated by those who’ve experienced past lives. The details are documented in many countries, and the authenticity of many of these examples cannot be disputed or an alternative explanation offered.

How can science possibly explain some of the very convincing proof of past lives? In the case reported by Dr Morris Netherton (www.victorzammit.com), an eleven-year-old boy who when under hypnosis was taped speaking in an ancient Chinese dialect. This astonishing tape was taken to a Professor at the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of California, where it was found to be a recitation from a forbidden religion of ancient China. (Fisher 1986:202.)

Equally convincing is another case which proves past life experience. This is the story of a little ten-year-old boy, an Igorat Indian who lived in a remote Cagayon Valley in the Philippines. Under trance conditions, he communicated freely in Zulu language. The fact that this child had never heard Zulu language spoken is surely proof for the most skeptical mind. Author Lyall Watson, who lived in Africa as a child, recognized the language and reported this interesting case detailed in A Lawyer Presents a Case for the Afterlife (victorzammit.com). So how could this boy, while living in a remote village, possibly learn to speak fluent Zulu? The only rational explanation is that he lived as a Zulu in a past life.

Perhaps the most mind-boggling example of proof of past lives comes from those folks who can, when under hypnosis or trance, speak a number of languages without having any knowledge of them. American medium George Valentine conducted séances in trance speaking in Russian, German, Spanish and Welsh. Carlos Mirabelli, a Brazilian medium, gave even more indisputable proof of previous lives when he wrote long technical documents in more than thirty languages, which included Syrian and Japanese. This exercise was no fluke, as the work was carried out in the presence of scientists, and on some occasions crowds of up to 5,000 witnessed this amazing feat. (Lazarus 1993:84.)

Do you ever wonder if you’ve had a past life in a certain place because it feels comfortable and familiar? Or wonder if you’ve met a certain person in a previous life because you seem to know their mannerisms and have an unexplainable bond?

Like the cases mentioned above, there are so many instances reported where children tell of past lives and when these facts have been checked, they’ve been found to be true. A great many children are psychic until around five years of age, and they can easily tune into situations.

If you look in the library or on the internet you will find that there is an astronomical amount of well documented evidence available which seems to confirm that we do indeed live many lives. What other explanation could account for the ability to speak in an ancient language, or like Mozart, compose a concerto at the age of four years, when barely able to read or write?

Dr Mark Pitstick (www.soulproof.com) reports the truly amazing case of twin baby boys born in the United States who were heard conversing with each other in a strange, unrecognizable language. The babies were taken to Columbia University’s language department in the hope that the language could be identified. Fortunately a professor of ancient languages identified that the babies were speaking Aramaic, a language used at the time of Christ.

How do scientists explain this example of what is almost certainly a past life? It is remarkable for babies to speak any language when so young, and if they spoke a modern day language like French, Italian or Spanish, skeptics could argue they learned it from a member of their family or an au pair girl. So how do skeptics explain these babies speaking a language which only experts in ancient languages would recognize? Do you agree this is proof of past life experiences?

Dr. Ian Stevenson, a world famous psychiatrist, has studied over 250 cases involving children who have told details of past lives. Most of these were found to be very accurate. It is impossible to explain a child’s ability to tell where he lived in a previous life and where his relatives lived, or where the family treasure was buried before he was born. In Spirit Rescue you’ll find answers to many questions about past lives and details of regression. Don’t be too surprised to find that past life cases like these are very common, and once you raise the subject of past lives, you will find many folks have a tale to tell and can relate to the subject.

Can Spirits Help the Police Solve Crimes?

Yet another example of the existence of the spirit world is the ability of certain mediums to communicate with spirits to help find criminals. It may sound a bit theatrical, but it does happen. Some police forces use the assistance of psychics in criminal investigations.

Psychics do have their uses, and no matter what skeptics may say about those gifted mediums, many have helped the police to solve crimes. In fact this outside help is now becoming so accepted that a second edition of the book Psychic Criminology: A Guide for Using Psychics in Investigations has been published. (C.C.Thomas ISBN 0398072892.)

It is hardly surprising that senior police officers are hesitant to admit they have enlisted the assistance of a psychic detective or medium to find a missing person, but it appears that their help is requested more often than we realize. This also applies to dowsers, as many dowsers have been used by police to find missing bodies, bombs and mines.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s Maggie Newhouse (www.pittsburghlive.com) reported in July 2006 the story of an experienced psychic who has assisted the police in more than 550 cases. Would the police continue to request the services of this lady if she had not previously proved her skills could assist the police in solving difficult cases?.

In one case a medium drew a map of the district and pinpointed the area where the body of a missing elderly man would be found. Many well-known mediums in the UK have worked with the police, and although this assistance does not often reach the media, it goes on quietly behind the scenes. Mediums are able to link into their guides and helpers for answers, and often a deceased relative of the person concerned will communicate to give helpful comments and details. This again confirms we live on after death.

The Court TV program Psychic Detective gives more confirmation that psychics can help police. This program profiles true cases where psychics have been enlisted to resolve baffling cases. The program describes how a medium helped police by directing them to the site where she saw the body of a missing man. She saw his body in his truck, which had crashed and catapulted down a quarry. (www.courttv.com)

So, surely this is more proof that we can communicate with the dead.

Do Transplanted Organs Live On?

Transplant surgery has come a long way since the news hit the headlines that cardiac surgeon Dr Christian Barnard and his team in South Africa successfully transplanted the first human heart four decades ago. Little did we realize then the scale of this new surgery, which has now been carried out on roughly half a million patients.

Who could have foreseen that there could be unexpected side effects in the form of a personality change, altered tastes in food, or the patient would acquire an unexplained gift in music or art? How can these unaccountable changes occur? Does the donor’s organs carry cellular memory of the donor’s life? If you take on some of the characteristics of the deceased organ donor, this surely means the deceased’s energy lives on, confirming everything does not die on physical death.

Psychic News reports that Professor Gary Schwartz, an expert on this subject, has interviewed over 70 transplant recipients who have taken on various personality traits of their donor. This professor believes that one in ten transplants experience elements of their donor’s personality. Cellular memory carries information and energy stored in organs and this is passed to the recipient, so although the body dies at death, the mind and memory live on, and I believe many memories and skills are taken to the next incarnation.

There will probably always be controversy over the subject of life after death, but whatever your viewpoint or belief, death is inevitable. The Big Question is, "What Happens After Death?" Do we live another life on this planet or on another planet? And will we meet our family and friends when we get there? Souls move in groups, so you will meet loved ones again, but in a different situation. You will find facts about your soul and soul groups in Spirit Rescue, which will help to reassure you that life is eternal.

More proof of after-death communications comes from The After Death Communications Project when they interviewed 3,300 people in the USA and Canada who received first hand accounts from people who were convinced they had been contacted by a loved one. (The Psychic Times, www,thepsychictimes.com.) Yes, skeptics will say "it’s all in the mind," but this in-depth research was highly-organized. Surely a high percentage of those folks interviewed had received proof that they had in fact felt the presence of a loved one, or heard a voice, or experienced other proof.

It is so easy to sweep aside the fact that every year hundreds of thousands of people have received messages from the spirit world, giving information which the medium could not possibly have known.

Perhaps this accounts for the results of a recent Gallup Survey which showed three in every four adults in the USA claim to believe in at least one section of the paranormal (www.after-death.com).

Psychic News reports that the Gay Community’s Pink Paper found results of a survey showed 55% of their readers believed in ghosts and spirits. Is this figure below the national average?

Attitudes are changing, but very slowly. To say there is bias in the UK against Spiritualism is an understatement. Is only very recently that the Broadcasting Act has lifted the barrier on talking about reincarnation in a scientific manner. Sadly, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) still restricts what information on this fascinating subject the public are allowed to receive (www.psychicfairy.com).

In the words of the late James Hyslop, Professor of Logic and Ethics at Columbia University in New York, "I regard the existence of discarnate spirits as scientifically proven – any man who does not accept the existence of discarnate spirits and the proof of it is either ignorant or a moral coward." Wow! Well said! (Life After Death, 1918, www.survivalafterdeath.org).

At Last the Paranormal Is Becoming Acceptable?!

We all assume that every subject taught on the curriculum at universities is considered respectable and necessary, so the report from Simon Forsyth at The Psychic Times (www.thepsychictimes.com) that the Paranormal now has a chair at Edinburgh University in Scotland, Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and Lund University in Sweden is encouraging news. Does this mean that at last the subject of the paranormal has gained respectability? The fact that this controversial subject is being taught at universities is a big step forward to improve the credibility of this much-maligned subject.

Another example that there is an increasing demand for information on the spirit world is demonstrated in London at Harrods, which is one of the world’s most famous and well respected stores. They now offer psychic sittings, reports Psychic News (August 5, 2006). Many folks will find it hard to believe that Harrods has opened its doors to the world of spirit, but it appears to be a very lucrative business. One session costs more than £120, and there is already a three-month-long waiting list.

It wont be too long before we see shops in local high streets offering sittings. Selfridges, one of London’s top department stores, now has six psychics offering sittings. Mediums can give great comfort to the bereaved with words of comfort and confirmation that their loved ones are near them, so it’s not surprising that so many people today are hungry for more information about the spirit world.

If you would like to explore the existence of the spirit world or learn how to develop your psychic ability, you will find many answers in Spirit Rescue to help guide you on your journey.

Article HERE.

6th

Dozens of books with titles like "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates" affirm what 43 percent of Americans believe: pets go to heaven.

While it sounds like a whimsical topic, the question of pet heaven actually offers a window into modern Americans' urban lifestyles and to their views on God and death, says John Ferre, a University of Louisville communications professor.

"There are a lot of people who say, 'If my dog or my cat isn't in heaven, I don't want to go,' " Ferre told an audience last night at the Louisville Gardens during the weeklong Festival of Faiths, which ends today.

Ferre said he's not a theologian and can't answer whether there's pet heaven. But he said it's an important question for many.

Most Americans own pets, and many consider them part of the family.

"A lot of times for children in America, their first experience with death is with the death of a pet," Ferre said, who began studying the topic after learning of the hundreds of grief-stricken letters to the creator of the comic strip "For Better or For Worse" after the death of the dog Farley in 1995.

Many pet-heaven books are written to console children and help their parents cope with grief -- or to console adult owners.

Others grapple with the question on a theological level, with one even warning the reader to get right with God or risk going to hell while the pet enjoys heaven. "The point is not to be with God or be united with Jesus or be united with your ancestors. It's to be reunited with your animal," Ferre said.

He added that there are "horror stories" of people who trace the loss of their faith as children to their ministers' brusque replies when they asked if their dead pet was in heaven.

Ferre said people who do believe in pet heaven cite certain Bible passages, such as a verse saying that "every creature" on Earth and in the sea will join in praise of God. Others cite paranormal sensations that their pet is still living.

He said theologians in the past dealt with animal souls only in passing, sometimes whimsically. The Christian author C.S. Lewis speculated that heaven for mosquitoes and hell for humans might be the same place.

Once people start believing pets have souls, however, it raises other questions about animal rights, said audience member Bob Stenger, a U of L law professor.

For example: Is it ethical to induce cancer or spinal deformities in laboratory animals for experiments -- "raising the question, who are you to prioritize life?" he said.

Belief in pet heaven is part of Americans' tendency to deny death, but Ferre said that's a positive thing.

"Death denial is an expression of American hopefulness, (that) death is not the last word."

Article HERE.

Stoner

I think the story on ghostvillage was about ghost pets last night, this sounds like a topic for TJ-Music.com

6th

Company gets its money's worth, even out of ghosts
November 17, 2006

When a company called Ghost Expeditions was shown a supposedly haunted building in Little Tokyo, did it bust the ghosts? Nope. It rented office space there. Now the team offers three-hour tours of the edifice, the century-old Sperl Building on 1st Street. The price: $75 a head (preferably not the disembodied type).

"It's sort of a paranormal boot camp," explained expedition boss Larry Montz. "We teach people how to communicate with the entities [spirits] with scientific equipment as well as through their own psychic abilities."

They won't encounter things that go bump in the night, however. "It's not scary, like in the movies; this is the real world," Montz said, though he added that the spirits can answer yes and no questions by causing rods held by the customers to move.

One of the resident ghosts is the great-grandmother of the owner. "This building was last used as a video store," Montz said. "Guys who would come in to buy or rent porn tapes said they would see a ghost, this very small elderly woman. She would be glaring at them as if to say, 'Get the hell out of here.' "

Article HERE.

6th

There was "something kinda ooooh" spooking Girls Aloud when the pop princesses spent the night in two of the UK's allegedly most haunted buildings.

Four of the fearless five-piece, who overcame their nerves to win Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, took on their scariest challenge to date when they went ghost hunting with TV presenter Yvette Fielding for a one-off television show.

The programme didn't go as planned, with Northern Irish beauty Nadine Coyle refusing to take part while bandmate Nicola Roberts walked off set before filming had completed.

Two other members of the band, Cheryl Cole and Kimberley Walsh, ended up in tears.

A spokesman for the programme said Nadine featured early on in the show, with presenter Yvette Fielding going to the singer's house to try to entice her to take part.

But the Londonderry lass proved too hard to persuade and refused to help out with the ghost hunting, telling Yvette she found the prospect too terrifying.

The other four girls did agree to go ahead with filming but were freaked out after taking part in ouija sessions at a disused hospital morgue in Cheshire and the 17th-century mansion Plas Teg in Pontblyddyn, north Wales.

Cheryl Cole said she had been reduced to tears during the show.

"It was terrible. I yelled the place down and burst into tears when something touched my arm," she said.

Kimberley Walsh said she had cried when a stone had gone flying at her.

During filming, the pop singers were accompanied by Big Brother psychologist Professor Geoffrey Beattie, who observed their actions via specially rigged cameras.

Afterwards, the singers said they were all firm believers in the supernatural.

Kimberley said: "I was the most cynical out of us all but I do believe in it now."

But Nadine said she had no regrets about not taking part.

"I am just petrified about all this kind of stuff," she said.

"I am just so scared, just the thought of doing it. I don't want to be mixing with that kind of thing. Now after hearing about the girls' stories, I know I made the right decision.

"I have no regrets that I didn't take part."

Ghost Hunting with Girls Aloud will be screened on Tuesday, December 12 on ITV2 at 9pm.

Article HERE.

6th

On most days, I am the consummate realist, that annoyingly logical type of person who will always play the devil’s advocate; will always argue the side of rationale and common sense and will shun and shush any talk of superstition, conspiracy and other such flights of fancy.

And yet, despite all that informed reasoning, I categorically refuse to leave my house without wrapping a small blue eye around my neck, supposedly to ward off any evil or harm coming my way without once questioning how irrational that decision may be. For people who rely on a cause and effect model to life, an empirical, equational approach to things, how do we account for that additional element of the unknown and uncontrollable?

“I’ve worn a blue eye since the day I was born. I’ve seen pictures of myself only days old with an eye pinned to my baby chest,” says Tamara, a 30 year old HR executive who has stuck to that habit, consciously or not. “If it’s not the eye, then I will try to add some blue jewelry - a pendant, bracelet or earrings because the turquoise blue colour is said to have the same kind of protective qualities,” she continues, unaware of how silly that statement might sound to many sceptics out there. In a day and age where science rules and reigns king, can anyone (besides New Age devotees) really believe in the power of intangible objects, like colours?

For centuries, people from across the world have invested their stock in the power of the blue eye, with several variations on the same theme coming out of different cultures. In this region, the reliance on the blue eye to ward off evil has become intrinsically linked to faith and religion, although it is in no way an Islamic custom or doctrine per se.

Muslims are quick to follow up any complimentary comments given and received with a verbal ‘Masha Allah’, which translates into ‘What God has willed’, a blanket protective statement that is believed to be more effective than adorning oneself with a blue eye. That said however, many homes across this part of the world will have a hand with a blue eye in its centre (in glass, porcelain, ceramic etc) known as the Hand of Fatima, hanging at their entrance to ward off any intentional or unintentional harm and evil from entering. In Jewish folklore, it is known as the Hand of Miriam.

All this however, begs the question, are some people inherently evil, capable of inflicting bad luck, disease and for some, even death? For Tamara, the evil eye is not intentional but more like a side effect of envy. “I would hate to believe that there are people out there actively hoping for misfortune to befall someone, but I do think that anything that could cause envy - beauty, good luck, and wealth - may result in unintended harm, a curse of some kind,” she says.

Children are believed to be the most susceptible to the effects of the evil eye, in need of the most protection. And despite the lack of scientific or even a concrete faith-based interpretation, people continue to believe in the supernatural power of amulets, bracelets, pins and pendants. Oddly enough, you will be hard pressed to find men accessorising with blue eyes.

For anyone who has traveled to Greece, Turkey and practically every country in the Middle East, the purchase of any bits and baubles will almost always include a blue eye, a souvenir buy that might double as a protective measure. For Sandra, a die-hard fashionista constantly on the prowl for the latest trends in the fashion world, the evil eye is more a conscious style embellishment than anything else. “Wearing a blue eye around your neck, hanging from an earring or as a charm on a bracelet can give any outfit the final touch, and if it happens to bring good luck or deflect bad luck, then that’s just an added benefit,” she says, citing her favourite local boutique S*uce as her style inspiration where she has her eye on their latest blue eye accessory, evening clutches with sequined blue eyes embroidered on them from Lebanese designers Mag&Mal.

Whether you believe in intentional harm, the evil eye, curses, witch’s spell or any other supernatural force that may result in unfortunate events, there’s no avoiding the blue eye staring back at you. And for all the rationale and logic I believe myself to espouse, I always have a backup blue stone lying in the inside pocket of my handbag.

Just for good luck.

Evil Eyes around the world

In Arabic: Ayn Zarqa’
In Hebrew: Ayin Ha’ra
In Italian: Mal Occhio
In Spanish: Mal Ojo
In Sicily: Jettatore
In Farsi: Bla Band
In Greek: Matiasma

In old British and Scottish folklore, it is the equivalent of ‘overlooking’, which is a gaze that lasts too long upon a coveted person, item or object.

Article HERE.

6th

It has been branded "deadly" and "frustrating" and last week was closed by floods, landslides and a bomb scare.

But now the A9's notoriety has a supernatural edge after the Highland stretch appears on a list of Britain's top 10 spookiest roads.

The main trunk route is mentioned twice at numbers two and eight.

Building materials supplier Tarmac produced the list. The M6 comes first after reported sightings of Roman soldiers and a ghostly woman.

Tarmac put the A9 in the Highlands as the second most haunted after a family reported seeing an ornate coach and horses, along with bewigged footmen.

The road appears again at number eight following a sighting of a Victorian-clad man on a horse at The Mound between Dornoch and Golspie.

Last week, the A9 in the Highlands was severely affected by flooding which also uncovered four unexploded bombs on a riverside leading to the road being closed temporarily at Alness.

A study commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise found businesses labelled the route frustrating, while over the years politicians have called for it to be upgraded to a dual carriageway.

The M6 tops Tarmac's list - timed for Halloween - with its reports of phantom Roman soldiers, a ghostly woman and lorry driving against the flow of traffic.

Other incidents reported included eyes looking out from bushes in Platt Lane, Leigh, Manchester - the scene of a mining disaster years previously.

There were reports of a phantom dog on Great Yarmouth High Street and ghostly children playing in Gloucester Road, Finsbury Park, north London.

A guardian angel voice allegedly alerted a woman driver of an out-of-control car on the B4293 in Devauden in Wales and a lady in Victorian dress was reportedly spotted on the B3314 near Tintagel in Cornwall.

Tony Simmons, sightings co-ordinator for Tarmac, said: "We compiled the top 10 on the basis of the clarity of sightings rather than just the number of spooky experiences.

"At this time of year it's easy to mistake swirling mist for something more sinister and we wanted to make sure we were listing truly spooky sightings."

SPOOKY ROADS
1 The M6
2 The A9 in the Highlands
3 Platt Lane, Leigh, Manchester
4 High Street and Suffield Road in Great Yarmouth
5 Gloucester Drive, Finsbury Park, north London
6 The B4293 at Devauden, Wales
7 The B3314 near Tintagel, Cornwall
8 The Mound, on the A9 near Dornoch
9 The B1403 near Doncaster, South Yorkshire
10 Drews Lane, Ward End, Birmingham

BBC article HERE.

6th

Israeli Psychic Starts Paranormal Fad

When the young Uri Geller packed his spoons and self-styled supernatural powers to seek fortune abroad, no one could have predicted he would return to his native Israel in triumph 35 years later as a reality TV star — no one, presumably, except Uri Geller.

The premise of Geller's new show, "The Successor" — which has received smash ratings here and started something of a paranormal fad — is that the psychic celebrity, now approaching his 60th birthday, has come home to choose an heir.

On recent episodes of the live show, the nine contestants aspiring to succeed Geller read the minds of audience members and made them imagine different tastes in their mouths on command. One contestant stopped his heartbeat for several seconds, leading an unfortunate 10-year-old in northern Israel to try the same trick at school — and pass out briefly.

Geller, who gained fame bending spoons using what he says are psychic powers, also performs on every show. In one episode, he drew a copy of a picture that had just been drawn by a pilot flying an El Al jet 30,000 feet above the Sinai desert. (It was a fish.)

In an interview with The Associated Press, Geller attributed the show's success to Israel's Jewish mystical traditions. "People here have roots in positive mysticism carried through the centuries by the Kabbalah," he said, referring to the ancient mystical work that has won non-Jewish enthusiasts, most famously Madonna.

While the show's content — illusion, sleight of hand and the supernatural — might stretch a picky viewer's definition of a reality program, its format sticks close to the staples of the genre: judges, manufactured drama, celebrity cameos and viewer participation. Contestants show off their powers over 10 episodes, and the winner gets fame and fortune as Geller's anointed successor, along with a secret prize, though one can assume the contestants have guessed what it is.

For Geller, his new success in his homeland brings him full circle.

Before Geller became perhaps the world's best known psychic entertainer and an intimate of Salvador Dali's and Michael Jackson's, he was an unknown Israeli from Tel Aviv. His biography — in his telling, at least — reads like the plot of a spy novel.

At 10, his parents divorced and he left Tel Aviv for Cyprus, where his stepfather ran a hotel that was a front for Israel's Mossad spy agency, and he ran errands for agents.

He served in the Israeli paratroops, was wounded in 1967's Six-Day War, became a male model, began to showcase his psychic powers at parties, was accused of being a fraud, and went to the U.S. There, he was humiliated by a dubious Johnny Carson when his powers failed him, so he moved to Britain, where he spoon-bent his way to international stardom.

Geller has always been popular both among the credulous, who fill his shows and made him a multimillionaire, and the skeptical, who have made him a top target for debunking.

But none doubt his supernatural powers of self-promotion. Beginning with little but his trademark trick, Geller turned himself into a major entertainment enterprise, becoming a self-help guru, a TV personality, a sought-after motivational speaker and the author of 16 books. Today he lives in a mansion outside London.

Geller immediately shook things up when he arrived in Israel several weeks ago and pronounced himself able to wake up Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister who has been in a coma since January. He hasn't done so, he said, because Sharon's sons told him they weren't interested. When a serial rapist escaped police custody in Tel Aviv, throwing the country into a panic, Geller again appeared, offering to use his powers to get the man to turn himself in.

Geller's return has sparked something of a paranormal revival. A popular political talk show briefly abandoned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to devote an episode to the supernatural. Another channel now has a show featuring a young entertainer who claims an abnormally developed sixth sense and who has mastered a smoldering and distinctly Gelleresque gaze.

The success of Geller's show might be due to the country's current atmosphere of disillusionment following the costly and inconclusive Lebanon war this summer, said Tom Segev, a prominent historian and journalist. "This atmosphere leads people to look for escape in things that can't be explained and to turn to people like Geller," Segev said.

Geller put it differently: "There is a tension in the psychic atmosphere here."

Yossi Elias, the show's chief editor, had a more prosaic explanation: It's entertaining.

"It's fun sometimes not to be able to explain everything," Elias said. "Uri is very charismatic, and it's fun for Israelis to get their rich and successful uncle back from abroad. The combination makes for good television."

Article HERE

6th

The ghostly goings on at the McOrville pub in Elwick, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, attracted the attentions of the experts.
Peterlee medium Peter Crawford met with other professional ghost hunters to find out more - and they were not disappointed.
Creepy occurrences included moving tables, contact with a young male ghost, and spirit 'orbs' captured on film.
Paranormal Magazine joined the the ghosthunters in the investigation that started at 12pm and didn't end until 6am on Sunday.
Peter has been a medium investigating paranormal activity for 18 years.
He was joined by six other mediums including Ralf Keeton, who has worked with the Most Haunted team on television.
Other mediums included Noel Sorbie from Newcastle, Nikki Austwicke from Hartlepool, Irene Wilson from Horden and Freda Robinson from Easington.
There were also several villagers there to watch the strange events.
Landlord Darren Holmes, 35, has always believed in the supernatural world and set up the event with old Shotton Hall school pal Peter.
He said: "It was all quite interesting to see and it was nice to feel the energy."
Darren, who lives at the pub with his partner Trudy Barker, 37, twin girls Ellie and Eve Holmes, 22 months and Trudy's daughter Holly Barker, 10, explained more about the young spirit.
He said: "We made contact with a five-year-old boy named Gus who says he died here around 67 years ago.
"There was a feeling that he was probably killed by a horse.
"But we will have to confirm all that through research to see how true it all is."

Article HERE

6th

British medium shoots for fame in U.S.



The ghost hunter was on the phone from England.

Not surprisingly, Derek Acorah confirmed he's a spirit medium with panache.

"I suppose I have been classified as being slightly flamboyant," he said. "But that's my personality, and I'm not gonna change."

There are many, of course, who scoff at notions that the Brit is a pipeline to the afterlife.

"I don't worry about skeptical minds," Acorah assured during the recent transatlantic interview.

The dapper channeler was at a West London hotel in the Kensington district.

Acorah and his wife, Gwen, happened to have some nearby business to attend to the same day.

They were the subjects of a photo shoot for Hello! -- a gossipy, celebrity-news magazine that's popular in the United Kingdom.

Americans know the medium as part of the ghost-hunting team on the Travel Channel's "Most Haunted," a television series that purports to take viewers inside haunted spots around Europe.

TV, books and personal appearances have spelled international success for Acorah, even though he doesn't have the man-of-mystery appeal that, say, David Copperfield has in the United States.

As it turns out, Acorah has a name-recognition shortfall that presents a stumbling block in America.

In fact, he was on the phone to promote an appearance this autumn at Merrillville's Star Plaza Theatre.

Messages from beyond the grave were supposed to be the attraction.

However, the show was nixed shortly after Acorah gave the interview.

According to a news release, the producers of the show felt he "was not widely recognized in the United States, although he is an icon in his field in England."

The release went on to say that "an extensive national marketing campaign is being planned" for 2007.

As the spectral sleuth retools his image for Yankee tastes, the Star Plaza Theatre would like to book him for next year.

Known for music, comedy and kids shows, the Star Plaza Theatre would be shaking things up with an Acorah appearance.

"It's different, and I think there is a demand for that type of show," said Charlie Blum, president and chief executive officer of the Star Plaza Theatre.

Despite the novelty of what Acorah does, the American population still needs more exposure to him -- and Acorah's representatives know it.

"What they've found is, he has not taken off yet in the States, so what they decided to do is to wait until there's more publicity available," Blum explained. "I think once he does take off, it could be huge."

As it stands now, Acorah's stage show doesn't resemble high-tech, Vegas-style illusion.

But the medium said he generally has a large screen up on the stage.

He also incorporates music in his other-worldly presentation.

"It's not disrespectful to the audience. It's certainly not disrespectful to the spirit people," Acorah said. "I like to call it healing music.

"I believe that my work shouldn't be under the shroud of mysticism or a shroud of morbidity."

Far from ordinary

Acorah's agent is Stuart Hobday, a fellow Brit who thinks his client is a different kind of psychic.

"Most mediums, or the ones I've certainly seen, can be quite deep and dark and morose," Hobday said. "They wear dark suits and they can be quite dull and boring -- and Derek's not. He was a professional footballer in the U.K., so he's a bit like one of the lads. He's very animated. He gets very excited about what he's doing."

It's easy to see why.

When Acorah performs shows, his job is to communicate with those who have passed on.

"This is what I do, and I've been doing this now for 27 years," Acorah, 56, said. "I will talk to the spirit person and ask if they know whether their loved ones are in the audience. I would ask them very kindly could they point out where they are in the audience."

Acorah ends up being a go-between who attempts to relay ethereal information to the earthbound.

"It can be quite uplifting for the person to receive that loving, caring message," the medium said.

Hollywood beckons

Acorah has taken his psychically sensitive gifts to Los Angeles to participate in paranormal investigations.

One stop was the Vogue, a theater on Hollywood Boulevard said to be peppered with a ghostly presence.

Some of Tinsel Town's famous names were in attendance for Acorah's appearance.

At another Hollywood site, Acorah allegedly communicated with a deceased Sean Flynn, son of roguish actor Errol Flynn.

Far from the glitz, Acorah lives in Scarisbrick, a village in northwest England.

However, Acorah grew up in Liverpool, England -- home of the Beatles.

When he speaks, the Liverpudlian lilt is still noticeable.

His first supernatural experience occurred as a child when the spirit of his late grandfather visited him.

At least that's what biographical material claims.

Low-key kid

As an adolescent, Acorah was not high-profile.

"I was a quiet child, not the brilliant student or scholar -- average," he related. "All I ever wanted to do when I was a child was play sports. All I ever wanted to be was a footballer."

And play soccer he did.

There was talent there.

He said he had signed as "a full-time professional" by the age of 17.

"I didn't really want to be a medium," the Englishman said.

But when he hit his mid-20s, the kid from Liverpool saw athletic dreams float away: "I had a terrible, terrible knee injury which retired me out of the game."

Article HERE

6th

About time I started throwing some stories in here again!

If anyone sees a story here where they'd like to discuss it or the subject its about please start a new thread and quote the article.

6th

Does telepathy exist? The majority of mainstream scientists believe that the paranormal acquisition of information concerning the thoughts, feelings or activity of another person is a lot of poppycock.

But it doesn't really matter because the majority of mainstream scientists also believe telepathy's going to exist in the future, thanks to technology.

According to one World Future Society forecast, wireless technology will be incorporated into our thought processing by 2030.

In the next 25 years, we'll learn how to augment our 100 trillion relatively slow inter-neuronal connections with high-speed virtual connections via nanorobotics.

This will allow us to greatly boost our pattern-recognition abilities, memories, and overall thinking capacity, as well as to directly interface with powerful forms of computer intelligence and with each other.

Which means we'll also be able to move beyond the brain's present performance capacity. Researchers have already demonstrated that with the help of wired implants it's possible for a person to move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it.
How long before such developments become non-invasive and wireless and the inter-face involves two or more human beings communicating by thought alone?

Instead of telepathy, they're calling it "techlepathy" and, initially, first generation devices will be unidirectional.

That is, the neural patterns of unspoken words would be transmitted to the other person before receiving the other person's transmission in return, much like how walkie-talkies work.

Later, the pre-speech thought patterns themselves would be transmitted. Ultimately, the transference will become seamlessly bi-directional and would include other non-verbal signals such as consciousness and emotions.

By then it could also involve one or more persons or, indeed, as many as possible like an Internet of connected minds.

Some experts in fact believe techno-enabled telepathy will become the sole or at least the primary form of human communication in the future and everybody will make use of it for economic and social reasons once it becomes available to all.

Also, being technology driven and not some spooky psychic phenomenon, privacy issues would not be a problem as personal firewalls could be created to restrict any unwanted intrusion.

Yes, there'll be hackers going in-mind from time to time and mind-bloggers going openly public but, in general, techlepathy should be as safe as having a mobile phone inside one's head.

Article HERE

6th

MADISON, Wisconsin: When scientists wrote in a recent issue of the journal Nature that they could induce phantom effects — the sensation of being haunted by a shadowy figure — by stimulating the brain with electricity, it made perfect neurological sense.

One could even argue that the existence of such sensations explains away the so-called supernatural. In fact, as The New York Times reported, the researchers promptly concluded that ghosts are mere "bodily delusions" — electrical misfirings and nothing more.

The report does look like a kind of proof — albeit very small proof, as this was a study of two people — if one happens already to believe that ghosts are no more than biological quirks. But to those inclined to believe as much, it can also look like proof that ghosts are real entities.

Scientific study of the supernatural began in the late 19th century, in synchrony with the age of energy. As traditional science began to reveal the hidden potential of nature's powers — magnetic fields, radiation, radio waves, electrical currents — paranormal researchers began to suggest that the occult operated in similar ways.

A fair number of these occult explorers were scientists who studied nature's highly charged circuits. Marie Curie, who did some of the first research into radioactive elements like uranium, attended séances to assess the powers of mediums. So did John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, who won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with atmospheric gases.

Rayleigh would later become president of the British Society for Psychical Research. He would be joined in that organization by other physicists, including the wireless radio pioneer Oliver Lodge, who proposed that both telepathy and ghostly appearances were achieved through energy transmissions connecting living minds to one another and perhaps even to the dead.

Lodge argued that the human brain could function as a kind of receiver, picking up signals at a subconscious level. Along the same lines, he thought it possible that a spirit's appearance was really just its specific energy signal stimulating a response from the receiver's brain.

The theories developed by Lodge and his colleagues dovetail rather neatly with the electricity-produced hauntings that Olaf Blanke, a Swiss neuroscientist, reports in Nature. For example, he used an implanted electrode to send a current into a region of the brain called the angular gyrus.

The test was focused on language processing, but as a side effect one of the test subjects nervously reported sensing another person in bed with her, silent and shadowy. Her creepy companion came and went with the ebb and flow of current.

Blanke believes that even this one subject's experience serves as an example of how we may mistake errant signals in the brain for something more. Humans tend to seek explanation, he points out; to impose meaning on events that may have none.

The pure rationalists among us suggest that our need to add meaning to a basic, biological existence easily accounts for the way we organize religions and find evidence of otherworldly powers in the stuff of everyday life.

The nonpurists suggest a different conclusion: willful scientific blindness. There's no reason Blanke's study can't support their theories of the paranormal. Perhaps his experimental electric current simply mimics the work of an equally powerful spirit.

Much of the psychical research done today applies similar principles: brain- imaging machines highlight parts of the brain that respond to psychic phenomena.

The American psychologist and philosopher William James, also a leader in the Victorian paranormal research movement, remarked even then on the culture clash: "How often has 'Science' killed off all spook philosophy, and laid ghosts and raps and 'telepathy' underground as so much popular delusion?" he wrote in 1909. And how often, James wondered rhetorically, had such efforts stopped people from seeing ghosts and believing in supernatural powers? Because in the end, of course, the conclusion has nothing to do with science at all and everything to do with how one sees the world.

I suspect that we'll dwell forever in the haunted landscape of our beliefs. To many people it's a world more interesting — bigger, stranger, more mysterious — than the one offered by science. Why choose instead to be creatures of chemical impulse and electrical twitch? We would rather gamble on even a tiny, electrical spark of a chance that we are something more.

Deborah Blum, a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin, is the author of "Ghost Hunters: William James and the Scientific Search for Life After Death."

Article HERE

6th

25 years after women died, psychics shed a little light

By DEEDEE CORRELL THE GAZETTE

Homicide investigator Charlie McCormick had his doubts.

Two psychics wanted to come to Park County, visit the spots where two young women were killed 25 years ago and possibly shed some paranormal light on the unsolved double homicide — all with television cameras rolling for a new Discovery Channel program called “Sensing Murder.”

“I was skeptical,” said Mc-Cormick, a member of the task force investigating the 1982 deaths of Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer and Annette Schnee.

But he and other investigators also were willing. When it comes to cases gone cold years ago, publicity never hurts. National exposure, he figured,
might shake loose someone’s memory or conscience.

The unusual collaboration produced a half-dozen leads and new suspects in the case whose resolution has long eluded the mountain community spanning Park and Summit counties. The show first aired last fall and has rerun a couple of times.

“They came up with a number of things we’d be remiss not to follow up on, regardless of the source,” McCormick said.

Oberholtzer, 29, and Schnee, 21, disappeared a quarter of a century ago today — Jan. 6, 1982 — from the Breckenridge area as they hitchhiked separately. Oberholtzer’s body was found the next day on Hoosier Pass. She had been shot twice, apparently as she tried to flee.

Schnee’s body was found six months later near Fairplay. She, too, had been shot, and investigators think she may have been raped.

Their deaths weren’t linked until then. An orange bootie on Schnee’s foot matched one found at the Oberholtzer crime scene.

It was a tough case from the beginning, said McCormick, a retired Denver detective, although investigators had no dearth of leads.

Two suspects, men living in the area at the time, have since been convicted of murder in other cases. But the DNA taken from blood on Oberholtzer’s glove did not belong to either of them.

In 2006, Discovery Channel producers said they wanted to feature the case on a new program in which two psychics seek to help solve old cases.

While psychics often volunteer their services for victims’ families, law enforcement officials don’t generally seek them out. But McCormick and other task force members were willing to give it a shot, and the families approved.

“Anything will help,” said Eileen Franklin, Schnee’s mother, who lives in Florida.

While some criticize psychics as giving families false hope, she says she disagrees. “They’re not hurting me any. I believe in them to some extent,” she said.

Jeff Oberholtzer, Bobbie Jo’s widower, took a pragmatic view of the matter.

“Any exposure is important,” he said. “It gets colder and colder as time goes by.”

When psychics Laurie Campbell and Pam Coronado arrived in May, they had no information about the case, Coronado said.

Coronado met with McCormick while Campbell spoke with former Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Jim Hardtke. “We just asked them to give us their impressions,” McCormick said.

Both intuited that a young woman was shot in a remote area, although Coronado felt the weather was warm. “It was 22 below,” McCormick said. “She was way off on that.”

Taken to where Schnee was found, both women felt she didn’t die there. Coronado led investigators to an area three miles away where she felt the shooting occurred. Investigators later dug at the site, but found nothing.

The psychics don’t claim they’ll be able to produce a name or address, she said, just their impressions.

“I read the energy of a crime scene,” Coronado said. Even years later, that energy remains, she said.

Coronado said she sensed that Oberholtzer was familiar with her killer. “I went into great detail about how Bobbie Jo was found and some of the things that transpired in her last moments,” she said, without elaborating.

McCormick said one of those details astounded him. He said it was a fact only the killer and those at the crime scene would have known and which has not been publicized.

While it’s possible that the show’s staff tracked down people who were at the scene, Mc-Cormick said that was unlikely. “We’d probably hear about it,” he said. “It’s a small community.”

The psychics also came up separately with the same name for a suspect. The name has come up before, McCormick said, but has not been publicized.

All in all, he said, the show led to a fresh list of about six suspects — new people and people who were previously investigated.

“There are leads that are viable,” he said. “Any investigator would be remiss not to follow up on them.”

McCormick said that over the years, other psychics have volunteered their take on what happened. But this encounter, he said, left him with a positive impression of the pair.

“These women were totally different,” he said. “These two women are good.”

Changing detectives’ minds is “the most rewarding thing about the show,” Coronado said.

“The detectives sign on because they’re thinking about the national exposure,” she said. “It’s fun to get their attention. They turn around and start paying attention.”

She said their involvement has produced some new leads in other cases featured on the show. “Sensing Murder” did a segment on the 1997 slaying of University of Colorado student Susannah Chase; Coronado said police invited her to return and consult on that case and possibly the JonBenet Ramsey case.

Franklin and Jeff Oberholtzer said they just hope the new leads bring the arrest they’ve awaited for 25 years.

“I can always be hopeful,” said Jeff Oberholtzer, who still lives in Alma. “Over time, I’ve become numb to a lot of different things, but I’ll never stop hoping.”

Article HERE

6th

The Winchester Mystery House

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Take a trip through the proverbial rabbit hole and into the fanciful world of Mrs. Sarah Winchester at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Many visitors on a recent tour commented on parallels between the mansion and Disneyland, particularly connected to the Haunted Mansion ride and Alice in Wonderland.

Certainly, there's a creepy air of world-turned-upside-down freakishness about the house, made even more bizarre by the fact that this isn't an amusement park ride - it was someone's real home.

Mrs. Winchester was married to William Wirt Winchester, the second president of the Winchester Rifle empire, who died in 1881. After his death, Mrs. Winchester started having nightly seances. A psychic told her she must start adding onto her home - an old farmhouse - and never stop construction.

Mrs. Winchester began drawing up plans for the house, though she didn't know anything about architecture. Construction began in 1884 and it didn't end for 38 years. No one knows where the original rooms of the farmhouse were because they've been remodeled an estimated 600 times.

There are two theories about why the house features oddities such as stairs leading into the ceiling, a door on the second floor that leads outside and a cabinet with just a half-inch of storage space.

The first is that a psychic told her she must build the house in a way to confuse the spirits of all those killed by Winchester rifles who would try to haunt her. The second theory is that, with a fortune of $20 million - that's an "income" of $1,000 a day - Mrs. Winchester could afford to do whatever she wanted with her house.

But despite Mrs. Winchester's eccentricities, she was also brilliant in many ways. In the kitchens, counters were built at a slant with grooves cut into them so water would drain easily into the sink. This water, as well as water from the conservatory, drained through pipes into the gardens to water Mrs. Winchester's many plants. The house is also equipped with a sprinkler system, running water and some electricity, putting Mrs. Winchester at the cutting edge of the day's technology.

In recent years, the house has been featured on countless television shows about paranormal activity. Features such as the seance room, complete with a one-way door - it only has a handle on one side and opens out - and a door that leads to an 8-foot drop into a kitchen sink below clearly lend themselves to the eerie atmosphere.

Located just blocks from Santana Row, the Winchester Mystery House is a great day trip for the family. Stop saying, "I've always wanted to go," and take the plunge into the fascinating world Mrs. Winchester created for herself.

Article HERE

6th

Being in touch with the realm of the dead can lead a beautiful girl to be a haunted, unhappy medium

May I speak to Saddam, please?

"Pardon me?" The medium frowns.

Saddam Hussein. Lion of Babylon. Beast of Baghdad, bereft of life. Despot, deceased. Big, bad, bloke on a rope.

Must be one helluva spirit.

Jacob Marley thought he had problems.

"I don't want to tap into Saddam," the medium tells me. "Not with that kind of energy, all the pain he caused.

"I wouldn't want to communicate with Adolf Hitler, either."

Samantha Mullaney wrinkles her nose. She is drop-dead gorgeous, pardon the expression.

The accent is Edinburgh, fresh off the boat. Her hair is moonless midnight, eyes ghostly green, skin alabaster.

'IN LIMBO'

So, no line on Saddam, Sam?

"I feel he's in a kind of limbo and will probably have to come back to learn from what he has done. Perhaps in a simpler form."

I will tell George W. to keep his eyes peeled.

Any word on Jerry Ford?

"A very powerful presence."

James "I Feel Good" Brown? The Godfather of Souls?

"I feel good energy, but just a little bit, coming through all the other energy out there. It feels like he's dancing. Happy."

We're in the living room of a mansion off Lake Shore Blvd. W., home of master showman Scott McClelland, 42.

Against the far wall rests a stuffed, two-headed calf.

In your house or mine, it would stand out.

MACABRE

But Scott's place is wall-to-wall skulls, skeletons, snake skins, preserved monstrosities and other macabre miscellany.

I bet your mantel does not have a poison puffer fish used in zombie ceremonies.

Edgar Allan Poe glares from over the fireplace.

Place gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Samantha feels it, too, only more so. Too many spirits, so much energy to drain that she has been ill and tired since she arrived in November.

Constant shocks, too. Her contact with the departed is electric.

"I have to tune myself out, or I'd be a nervous wreck," she tells me.

I last saw Scott at his CNE freak exhibit, Carnival Diablo, World of Wonders.

His latest work, The Paranormal Show, opens at Passe Muraille Theatre on Friday. (See paranormalshow.net)

Samantha is the star.

Scott found her in Scotland, though it is her stage debut.

"This has always been a private thing, but I'm 34 and it's time to share it, to get it out there."

After each show, she will be totally spent.

Next stop is a stage in Timmins. Say hello to Bill Barilko's spirit.

Samantha wants to move to Canada. I wonder how many points Immigration gives if you are a channeler.

For Friday's finale, she will revive the old "spirit cabinet" of the 19th century. This is a sort of gathering place for ghosts.

I won't spoil the show. Let's just say, bells on bob tails ring, making spirits bright.

But do not ask to talk to your Aunt Bea.

"I'm not going down that road," says Samantha, who has been seeing and hearing things since she was a little girl.

But you do see dead people?

"With energy, you can never see just one person.

"What I get is an overwhelming feeling that's a mixture of things that happened in the past."

Bad things, mostly. The mansion is alive with bad vibes.

Says Scott: "The original owner in the 1940s died of a stroke, right here." In front of the fireplace. Sometimes you can smell his cigar smoke.

Shiver. The music is otherworldly. The incense is nag champa. The afternoon light shifts and fades.

Worse, says Scott, a paranormal expert found traces of a water demon, up from nearby Lake Ontario. It is bossing around the other spirits.

Scott hands me a toy monkey. It lolls in my arms.

Samantha gazes into my eyes. Is that a trance?

She touches my arm. It tingles.

The monkey comes alive. Clicking and clattering.

Saddam, is that you?

Article HERE

6th

Paranormal researcher talks about girl’s hair spontaneously combusting
17:27' 11/01/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Phuc Giac Hai, who has spent years researching special human abilities, said that this was a rare phenomenon and could not be explained by science.



The hair of a girl caught fire three times within two days. How can you comment about this as a scientist?


There are people who can burn themselves. With their special power, they can influence surrounding things. Some people have discovered their bodies, or parts of their bodies blazing, but the footwear, clothes and surrounding things remain untouched. These people are burning themselves; the fires are not caused by outside factors.



Some people, who practise yoga, can create a source of heat which comes from their bodies. Many of them can sit on ice for several hours. The heat from those people is so strong that it can burn their bodies and make them crazy if they cannot control it. To date, the phenomenon is still beyond the knowledge of scientists.



In other cases, telepaths can also launch a very strong electronic current. Sometimes, strands of hair themselves twist into each other and cannot be separated even with a comb. In this case, those people may suffer a kind of mental disease.



The phenomenon when people catch fire themselves was seen in the last century. Several tens of cases of burning people have been recorded since the beginning of this century. However, scientists still cannot give concrete explanations of the strange phenomenon.



I think that it is a very rare phenomenon, when the hair of a girl catches fire. Vietnam has several times witnessed people burning themselves. Most recently, in 2006, a boy could create fire, which would burn nearby things like straw and clothes.


How have scientists explained the strange phenomenon?
If you want a trustworthy and scientifically methodical explanation, I must say that there has been no such explanation given.


Is it possible that the girl wears a pullover, and her hair caught fire as a result of an electrical charge as it is cold and dry?
There is not a link between the pullover and felt-made clothes and the burning. The hair of the girl burnt three times within two days, and after that she got the headache. She should be supervised so as to find out under which conditions she gets burnt. I mean to find out if there are any unusual things happening before the burnings.

How prevent the burnings?

No exact reasons have been found; therefore, it is very difficult to say what to do. I think there might be a link to epilepsy. As far as I know, some places in the world can train dogs to sense strange things occurring within humans. When people are about to experience strange phenomena, the dogs will bark.

Article HERE

6th

Article HERE

f you're an undiscovered psychic, soothsayer, dowser or medium, time may be running out for you to put your supernatural powers to the test and claim a million dollar prize.

But you already knew that, didn't you?

Ten years after stage magician and avowed skeptic James Randi first offered a seven-figure payday to anyone capable of demonstrating paranormal phenomenon under scientific scrutiny, the 79-year-old clear-eyed curmudgeon is revising the rules of his nonprofit foundation's Million Dollar Challenge to better target high-profile charlatans, and spend less time on unknown psychics, who too often turn out to be delusional instead of deceptive.

"We can't waste the hundreds of hours that we spend every year on the nutcases out there -- people who say they can fly by flapping their arms," says Randi. "We have three file drawers jam-packed with those collections.... There are over 300 claims that we have handled in detail."

A skeptic since his teen years, Randi launched his challenge in 1964, after growing outraged with fake mediums and fortunetellers using simple conjurers' tricks to prey on the public. A challenge was an efficient alternative to trying to prove a negative: Instead of traveling the world investigating and debunking miracle workers one-by-one, an unclaimed cash prize stands as a fact on the ground -- an immovable obstacle around which anyone purporting supernatural powers must eventually navigate.

The challenge started small. Randi initially offered $1,000 of his own money to anyone who could read a mind or bend a spoon under controlled conditions. He later upped the ante to $10,000, but still didn't get a lot of takers. "There wasn't much interest in $10,000, and frankly I couldn't afford more than that," he says.

Then in 1996, an unnamed donor contributed a million dollars to the cause. Today the James Randi Education Foundation has an office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a small staff to keep pace with a steady stream of applicants, all supported by member contributions, grants and the interest off the million bucks, which remains unclaimed.

Currently, claiming the money takes a few steps: An initiate first has to submit a notarized application, agree with the foundation on a test protocol, then pass a preliminary test administered by independent local investigators. Should the would-be psychic pass the first test, under the agreed-upon rules, all that remains is to repeat his or her success in front of Randi -- then, poof, a psychic millionaire is born.

In 10 years, though, nobody's passed the preliminary exam. The most recent one was administered in Stockholm in October, when Swedish medium Carina Landin tried to identify the gender of the authors of 20 diaries by touching the covers. She got 12 right; 16 was the agreed-upon threshold for success. (The foundation plans to re-administer Landin's test following revelations that several of the diaries were older than stipulated in the protocol.)

Before that, the last preliminary test was in July 2005, when a Hawaiian psychic named Achau Nguyen traveled to Los Angeles to demonstrate he could mentally transmit his thoughts to a friend in another room. Under the watchful eyes of paranormal investigators, a video camera and a small audience, Nguyen selected 20 index cards from a deck of 30 and focused on the words written on each of them in turn -- while one floor below his "receiver" wrote down the wrong word, 20 out of 20 times.

These tests, however unsuccessful, represent the cream of the crop for the Million Dollar Challenge -- polite, sincere applicants able to agree to a reasonable testing protocol. The vast majority of the people applying for the money don't get that far.

A Nevada man legally named "The Prophet Yahweh" planned to seize the prize for charity by summoning two spaceships to a Las Vegas park last year, but negotiations broke down when he announced he was bringing several armed guards to the demonstration in case any "negative personalities" showed up. An inventor who claimed to have built a device that could sense the psychic distress of an egg about to be dropped into a pot of boiling water recently abandoned his application when the foundation suggested the egg be threatened by a hammer instead, in case the invention was really just detecting steam.

"One a week gets as far as a protocol negotiation, and then drops off," says Jeff Wagg, who administers the challenge.



Those are the easy ones. In some of the applications, perhaps most of them, the foundation has to deal with the thorny dilemma of where to draw the line between upholding its commitment, and potentially exploiting or feeding someone's mental illness. The demarcation is inherently tricky, since the entire theatre of paranormal testing is located in the realm of extra-rational belief.

A San Francisco woman, for example, was determined to prove that she wasn't human. She had trouble articulating why she believed that, but somehow the Secret Service was involved. In a more recent application, a New York state man claimed that he could summon the appearance of small objects while walking down a road. "The results are plain to see and obviously appear by themselves, in various random arrangements," he wrote the foundation. "I will these phenomenon into being, and/or they happen because of my physical presence alone, therefore I claim to have these powers."

What a psychiatrist might interpret as a warning sign for schizophrenia, the James Randi Educational Foundation is obliged to take seriously. After all, who's to say that random objects teleporting into existence is any more unlikely than Uri Geller telekinetically bending a spoon? But at some point, the process becomes distasteful.

"If we get them to go to a challenge and they lose, we're exposing someone who had serious mental illness," says Wagg. "That doesn't do us any good, and it doesn't do them any good. It doesn't prove anything."

Culling these applications from the process is a major goal of the revamped rules, which take effect April 1st.

Starting then, the challenge will be closed to undiscovered psychic talent; to submit an application, the aspirant will have to demonstrate a "media profile" -- television reports, newspaper articles or a reference in a book that chronicles his or her extraordinary abilities.

"We're not going to deal with unknown people who have silly claims," says Wagg. "Let's say, somebody claims they can walk on water. We'll say, prove it to somebody else first. Get on the local news. Then bring it to us."

The applicant has to back up those press clippings with validation from the hallowed halls of academia. "They have to get some academic to endorse their claims," says Randi. "And that academic is not the local chiropractor or some such thing." The academic also has to stand behind the endorsement when contacted by the skeptics.

With the new criteria in place, the foundation will, at its option, dispense with the preliminary test and move right to the money game.

Using resources freed up by dropping unknown and mentally ill applicants, Randi hopes to make things uncomfortable for his real prey: the high-profile psychics who make their living off a credulous public, and who so far won't touch the Million Dollar Challenge with a 10-foot dowsing rod.

Randi says he'll start actively investigating professional mind-readers and mediums for proof of criminal fraud, or opportunities for civil lawsuits. Like Elliot Ness stalking Al Capone, he's not above busting a psychic for tangential infractions like tax code violations or an SEC matter.

At the same time, the foundation will choose six to eight high-profile targets each year, meticulously outline their claims, and then call them out one-by-one.

"Were going to pick people every year and hammer on them," says Wagg. "We're going to send certified mail, we're going to do advertising. We're going to pick a few people and say, we are actively challenging you. We may advertise in The New York Times. This will make the challenge a better tool, to be what it is supposed to be."

The foundation will launch this public-shaming initiative with a list of four targets, including self-proclaimed medium John Edward, and daytime talk show darling Sylvia Browne, who claims she can tell the future and see angels.

Browne is one of the United States' best known psychics, a best-selling author who frequently appears on Montel Williams and CNN's Larry King Live. In a 2001 appearance on Larry King, goaded by Randi, she seemed to agree to take the Million Dollar Challenge. She later backed away in an open letter to Randi on her website.

"As the saying goes, my self worth is completely unrelated to your opinion of me, and I've worked far too hard for far too many years, and have far too much left to do, to jump through hoops in the hope of proving something you've staked your reputations on mocking," she wrote. "I have no interest in your $1 million or any intention of pursuing it."

That's a disappointment, because if Browne's claims were ever to stand up to a scientific test in an adversarial process, it would be an unprecedented event in modern history, potentially changing our scientific understanding of the universe. Instead, you can buy a psychic phone call with her for $700.

Unlike Browne, Edward has never flip-flopped on the Randi test. He won't do it. In an appearance on CNN Headline News last October, he dismissed the notion with a quip. "Would I allow myself to be tested by somebody's whose got an adjective as a first name?" he said -- a reference to Randi's stage name, "The Amazing Randi."

CNN host Glenn Beck didn't press Edward for a serious answer. Instead he asked Edward about the time he contacted his mother beyond the grave -- "What was that like?" -- then opened the phones to callers looking for psychic advice. Edward specializes in passing messages between bereaved family members and their deceased loved ones; he told the first caller that someone in his family has cancer.

Edward didn't respond to an e-mail query for this story; Browne didn't return a phone call, and neither responded to several minutes of intense concentration. The other two psychics in Randi's fantastic four are Israeli spoon-bender Uri Geller and James Van Praagh, co-executive producer of CBS' Ghost Whisperer.

The media's lightweight treatment of professional psychics is a deadly serious matter to Randi. "People like Sylvia Browne have a very high profile, and she's always going to be on Montel Williams and she's going to be on Larry King," he says. "And they know what's going on, they're smart people. They know what's going on and they don't care."

Riled by clips like Edward's Headline News appearance, Randi's made media skepticism the theme of the 5th annual The Amazing Meeting in Las Vegas, a four-day skepticism conference kicking off Jan. 18 at the Riviera, where the full details of the revamped Million Dollar Challenge will be revealed to 800 attendees without the gift of prophecy.

6th

LEOMINSTER -- From all appearances yesterday, Shannon Sylvia might have been any homeowner giving a visitor a guided tour. That is, until she paused by a large porcelain vase just outside a bathroom and said: "That's the vase that moved." It did so, she insisted, without anyone touching it. In the same area, Sylvia said, she sometimes hears faint voices in the condo when no one is talking. Pointing to the bathroom, she contended that its light bulbs often unscrew themselves.

A few feet away was the kitchen, where her husband, Jeff, said he felt three taps on the shoulder by unseen hands one day, and where Sylvia swears a package of hot dogs simply disappeared one time, vanishing into thin air while the couple stood nearby. And then there's the bedroom, where Sylvia says the door blew open one day so hard that the doorknob punched a hole in the wall.

"It's not normal," Sylvia said, shaking her head. "It's just not normal."

In her view, it's paranormal. Her sleek condominium does not look like your prototypical haunted house, but Sylvia believes it is inhabited by spirits all the same. It is a belief, she acknowledged, that has earned her plenty of derision in this north Central Massachusetts community, where Sylvia works as a graphic designer.

"Everyone in town thought I was nuts," she said. But, she added, "If they catch evidence, I'm not nuts."

By "they," she meant a team of students from the Paranormal Research Society, an organization based at Pennsylvania State University that today will wrap up three days of investigation inside the Sylvias' condo. Headed by 24-year-old graduate student Ryan Buell, the team is being filmed by a crew from "Paranormal U," a new series slated to air this summer on the A&E television network.

The Penn State team has set up infrared cameras and tape recorders that are on around the clock in the condo. According to Buell, on the first night one tape recorder captured some strange and inexplicable sounds, including a voice that appeared to be saying "Katie" and some labored breathing whose source could not be identified. "I'm not ready to say it's a spirit, but it's definitely suspicious," said Buell.

This is the sort of thing that makes skeptics roll their eyes. Ghost stories have long been a staple of Hollywood: Think "The Sixth Sense," "Poltergeist," "The Others," "Ghostbusters," and innumerable other movies and television shows. But in the real world, a belief in the paranormal is not exactly a mainstream position.

"The only thing I can tell them is, 'Wait till it happens to you,' " said Shannon Sylvia.

Alan LaGarde, coexecutive producer of "Paranormal U," said he has always been a skeptic on the question of the paranormal. But he said he has been impressed by the thoroughness and professionalism of the Penn State students, and touched by the sincerity of Sylvia and others who have been filmed for the series. "When you see these people, they're not whackos or anything," said LaGarde. "They believe ghosts are affecting their lives, to the point that they're willing to allow people to help them, and to be on TV."

Which raises the question: Is publicity-seeking a motivating factor? Sylvia insisted that in her case, it is not. "I'm not looking for fame, I want to make that clear," she said. What she is looking for, she said, is "validation" of her beliefs and an answer to these questions: "Who are they? Why are they here?"

The red-brick condominium building where the Sylvias live was formerly a school. Shannon Sylvia, who belongs to a New England organization that investigates paranormal occurrences, says she and others have recorded voices that she believes to be those of the spirits of children. When asked why they don't move, given all of the things they say have occurred, Sylvia replied: "It's not a scary thing to live there. We love it there. It's a beautiful place."

Her husband couldn't resist a joke: "They don't eat much."

Added Shannon Sylvia: "They don't help out with the rent much, either."

Article HERE

6th

'Spirit seekers' take plea
By Michelle Durand

Three young men who broke into a Pacifica elementary school on Thanksgiving in search of ghostly spirits were each charged a $241 fine after pleading no contest to trespassing.

Sharif Farris Adam, Burban Husseini and Kenji Ananda Snow, all 18, agreed to the infraction instead of beginning their trial as scheduled yesterday on misdemeanor charges of attempted second-degree burglary, vandalism causing less than $400 in damage and possessing tools used for breaking and entering.

They have been free from custody on supervised own recognizance.

On Nov. 23, the trio allegedly ripped the door off of Fairmont School, an abandoned elementary school in Pacifica, and were apprehended as they tried entering the premises.

After their arrest, the trio reportedly told Pacifica police they belong to the Idaho Spirit Seekers and had information about ghosts at the school, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The Idaho Spirit Seekers investigates suspected paranormal activity in Idaho, Oregon and Montana, according to its Web site.

Neither Adam nor Husseini belong to the organization, Executive Director Marie Cuff said previously.

Snow attended one meeting and one investigation of a commercial property but was not asked to become an investigator, Cuff added shortly after the defendant’s first court appearance.

She said the organization only performs investigations on property where there is explicit permission granted.

Article HERE

6th

A servant is thought to be haunting Maison Dieu House, built in 1665

Mystery door slams and doorbell chimes have led a Kent town council to allow a ghostwatch team into its offices.

The alleged paranormal presence at Maison Dieu House is thought to be a servant called Mary who lived there and died in the 1688 revolution.

Dover town clerk Mike Webb said he had never encountered a ghost before he met Mary in his first week at work.

"The door closed and I realised it couldn't have been any member of staff because I was locked in on my own."

He said he had been working on his own late one night when it happened, and added: "If you feel the weight of the door, it cannot close on its own.

Town mayor Jan Tranter said Mary ringing the doorbell when nobody else was around was "quite a common" way for her to make her presence felt to staff and councillors.

And she said sometimes pictures came off walls in the building, built in 1665 and thought to be the oldest domestic property in the town.

The store room on the top floor that was probably Mary's living quarters was very cold and creepy, she added.

"I remember coming up here with one of the girls once and they said we don't want to stay up here too long - we don't like it."

Thanet Ghostwatch is set to spend a night in the building next month, when two teams will observe activity and only compare notes after the investigation to work out whether they have the same or different findings.

Cameraman Keith Campbell said the group would be equipped with cameras, thermometers, voice recorders and meters to measure electromagnetic flux.

He said: "Believers will always believe and doubters will always doubt."

But he said the aim was to have real physical evidence - that "ever elusive full-bodied apparition" captured on film.

Article HERE

6th

Robert G. Jahn founded a Princeton laboratory that is closing after almost 30 years of disputed research on telekinesis and the ability of the mind to influence machines. Brenda Dunne is the laboratory’s manager.

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 6 — Over almost three decades, a small laboratory at Princeton University managed to embarrass university administrators, outrage Nobel laureates, entice the support of philanthropists and make headlines around the world with its efforts to prove that thoughts can alter the course of events.

But at the end of the month, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory, or PEAR, will close, not because of controversy but because, its founder says, it is time.

The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in the basement of the university’s engineering building since 1979. Its equipment is aging, its finances dwindling.

“For 28 years, we’ve done what we wanted to do, and there’s no reason to stay and generate more of the same data,” said the laboratory’s founder, Robert G. Jahn, 76, former dean of Princeton’s engineering school and an emeritus professor. “If people don’t believe us after all the results we’ve produced, then they never will.”

Princeton made no official comment.

The closing will end one of the strangest tales in modern science, or science fiction, depending on one’s point of view. The laboratory has long had a strained relationship with the university. Many scientists have been openly dismissive of it.

“It’s been an embarrassment to science, and I think an embarrassment for Princeton,” said Robert L. Park, a University of Maryland physicist who is the author of “Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud.” “Science has a substantial amount of credibility, but this is the kind of thing that squanders it.”

PEAR has been an anomaly from the start, a ghost in the machine room of physical science that was never acknowledged as substantial and yet never entirely banished. Its longevity illustrates the strength and limitations of scientific peer review, the process by which researchers appraise one another’s work.

“We know people have ideas beyond the mainstream,” said the sociologist Harriet Zuckerman, author of “Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States” and senior vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ”but if they want funds for research they have to go through peer review, and the system is going to be very skeptical of ideas that are inconsistent with what is already known.”

Dr. Jahn, one of the world’s foremost experts on jet propulsion, defied the system. He relied not on university or government money but on private donations — more than $10 million over the years, he estimated. The first and most generous donor was his friend James S. McDonnell, a founder of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

Those gifts paid for a small staff and a gallery of random-motion machines, including a pendulum with a lighted crystal at the end; a giant, wall-mounted pachinko-like machine with a cascade of bouncing balls; and a variety of electronic boxes with digital number displays.

In one of PEAR’s standard experiments, the study participant would sit in front of an electronic box the size of a toaster oven, which flashed a random series of numbers just above and just below 100. Staff members instructed the person to simply “think high” or “think low” and watch the display. After thousands of repetitions — the equivalent of coin flips — the researchers looked for differences between the machine’s output and random chance.

Analyzing data from such trials, the PEAR team concluded that people could alter the behavior of these machines very slightly, changing about 2 or 3 flips out of 10,000. If the human mind could alter the behavior of such a machine, Dr. Jahn argued, then thought could bring about changes in many other areas of life — helping to heal disease, for instance, in oneself and others.

This kind of talk fascinated the public and attracted the curiosity of dozens of students, at Princeton and elsewhere. But it left most scientists cold. A physics Ph.D. and an electrical engineer joined Dr. Jahn’s project, but none of the university’s 700 or so professors did. Prominent research journals declined to accept papers from PEAR. One editor famously told Dr. Jahn that he would consider a paper “if you can telepathically communicate it to me.”

Brenda Dunne, a developmental psychologist, has managed the laboratory since it opened and has been a co-author of many of its study papers. “We submitted our data for review to very good journals,” Ms. Dunne said, “but no one would review it. We have been very open with our data. But how do you get peer review when you don’t have peers?”

Several expert panels examined PEAR’s methods over the years, looking for irregularities, but did not find sufficient reasons to interrupt the work. In the 1980s and 1990s, PEAR published more than 60 research reports, most appearing in the journal of the Society for Scientific Exploration, a group devoted to the study of topics outside the scientific mainstream. Dr. Jahn and Ms. Dunne are officers in the society.

News of the Princeton group’s experiments spread quickly worldwide, among people interested in paranormal phenomena, including telekinesis and what people call extrasensory perception. Notable figures from Europe and Asia stopped by. . Keith Jarrett, the jazz pianist, paid a visit. For a time, the philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller visited regularly and donated money for research.

And many people, in and out of science, joined what Ms. Dunne called the PEAR Tree, a kind of secret society of people interested in the paranormal, she said. Many PEAR Tree members who are science faculty members will not reveal themselves publicly, Ms. Dunne said.

The culture of science, at its purest, is one of freedom in which any idea can be tested regardless of how far-fetched it might seem.

“I don’t believe in anything Bob is doing, but I support his right to do it,” said Will Happer, a professor of physics at Princeton.

Other top-flight scientists have taken chances. At the end of his career, Linus Pauling, the Nobel laureate, came to believe that vitamin C supplements could prevent and treat cancer, heart disease and other ailments. Dr. Pauling had some outside financing, too, and conducted research and had plenty of media coverage. But in the end he did not sway many of his colleagues, Dr. Zuckerman said.

At the PEAR offices this week, the staff worked amid boxes, piles of paper and a roll of bubble wrap as big as an oil drum. The random-event machines are headed for storage.

The study of telekinesis and related phenomena, Dr. Jahn said, will carry on.

“It’s time for a new era,” he said, “for someone to figure out what the implications of our results are for human culture, for future study, and — if the findings are correct — what they say about our basic scientific attitude.”

Article HERE

6th

A new Belgian carrier, Brussels Airlines, has been forced to change its logo following complaints from superstitious passengers.
The 13 dots making up the stylised 'b' brought a flood of complaints about the "unlucky" design.

The airline, which formally launches on 25 March, said it was taken aback by the strength of feeling and felt obliged to respond.

It has now altered the design to incorporate an additional dot.

Brussels Airlines was formed from the merger of SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express.

Brussels Airlines spokesman Geert Sciot said: "They [passengers] said they were not pleased with an aircraft with a logo with 13 balls because they think it brings them bad luck.

"We are never surprised by reactions - but that it was that bad? It really took us aback," he said.

6th

One of the UK’s top mediums, Gordon Smith, impressed a sceptical audience at Liverpool Hope University when he met with psychology students as part of their Level ‘H’ final year programme ‘Perspectives on Anomalous Experience’.

Gordon gave a talk about his apparent abilities to communicate with spirits of the dead and his thoughts about life after death.

Students had a rare opportunity to ask questions about his abilities and experiences as a medium.

Gordon Smith – also known as the ‘Psychic Barber’ hence his day job as a barber - is an astoundingly accurate medium, renowned for his ability to give exact names of people, places and even streets.

The seventh son of a seventh son, Gordon travels around the world to appear before audiences, read for celebrities and demonstrate his abilities, but his feet have remained firmly on the ground.

Gordon’s extraordinary skills have attracted the attention of university scientists researching the paranormal and countless numbers of journalists and documentary makers.

Gordon’s outstanding abilities as a medium or messenger from the spirit world have brought comfort and healing to thousands of people worldwide.

Gordon Smith was hailed by the Daily Mail as ‘the UK’s most accurate Medium’.

Gordon is the accomplished author of four books including Stories from the Other Side, Through My Eyes, The Unbelievable Truth and Spirit Messenger which have been published to critical acclaim.

Dr Matthew Smith, Associate Professor in Psychology at Liverpool Hope University and one-time resident 'sceptic' on Living TV's Most Haunted invited Gordon to give the talk.

He said: "Gordon Smith is the most impressive medium I have seen peform. I am delighted that he has agreed to meet with our students to talk about his work.

"It's not often that academics and psychics talk to each other, so this is a rare opportunity!"

Article here: http://www.24dash.com/education/17104.htm

Stoner

I heard in the news yeaterday that Irish Psychics are not allowed to advertise on RTE anymore as they dont like the way they do business.
It's news just not about ghosts.

6th

Sure half the stuff I put in isnt about ghosts ... not that anyone reads it.

imprezza

Anyone hear about the paranormal bit thats going to be on RTE1 Tv tomorrow, it's a real psychic investigation by experienced paranormal investigators and should be good to see the Irish experts at work. Its an afternnon program I think it starts about 4ish the they repeat the programme next week too as far as I know.

monkeyfudge

imprezza wrote:

Anyone hear about the paranormal bit thats going to be on RTE1 Tv tomorrow, it's a real psychic investigation by experienced paranormal investigators and should be good to see the Irish experts at work. Its an afternnon program I think it starts about 4ish the they repeat the programme next week too as far as I know.

Ha... I wouldn't be too sure about their experts. RTÉ asked me to get involved in that and I'm an idiot.

imprezza

monkeyfudge wrote:

Ha... I wouldn't be too sure about their experts. RTÉ asked me to get involved in that and I'm an idiot.

Well you've never come across like an idiot to me, so I won't tell them if you don't