Ghosts in the news!

6th

Things that go bump in the night
By Raeanne Nightingale

Ghost hunters will be paying a visit to Littlecote Tudor Manor House on Saturday to see if things really go bump in the night there.

The study is being carried out by Swindon-based research unit Paranormal Site Investigators (PSI) and this is the first time in recent years that the Elizabethan country house turned Warner hotel will have been investigated.

The ancient home is steeped in history, including being a courting place for Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and is said to be haunted following heinous crimes which took place there in the 16th Century.

A man called William Darrell was the lord of the house in Elizabethan times. He summoned a midwife who was brought blindfolded to Littlecote Manor in 1545.

She was offered a lot of money to deliver a baby if the mother should live and was led into a room where she delivered the baby of a masked woman.

The identity of the mother remains a mystery. It is thought the pregnancy may have been as a result of incest.
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When the baby was born she took it through to Darrell, who instead of holding the newborn infant, instead threw it onto the fire, where it was held down and burned alive.

The midwife reported the murder to the authorities, but Darrell bribed a judge for his release when the case came to court and was freed.

Soon after, while out riding on the estate, a ghostly figure of a baby boy in flames appeared to William Darrell.

His horse shied and threw him to the ground, breaking his neck. It is said the crying of a baby has been heard in the house and the twisted body of William Darrell has been seen prowling the corridors.

At the weekend ten trained investigators will formally investigate the site to try and pick up any trace of these malingering spirits using a wide range of monitoring equipment to ascertain if there really is anything out there.

PSI spokeswoman Nicky Sewell said: "We are pleased to be working with Littlecote in this research project.

"The appeal of Littlecote is not just its famed legendary hauntings but its ongoing accounts of alleged paranormal activity to this day.

"This includes sightings by guests and staff alike, including figures seen in the library, bright flashes of light and the action of being pushed on the stairs."

Dave Wood, who is organising the investigation, added: "PSI is a scientific investigation group that works with researchers at universities across the UK.

"Our approach is sceptical in the open-minded sense of the word. We gather evidence to try to find natural causes for hauntings.

"After misattributed accounts have been discounted it is the remaining evidence that is of interest."

PSI recently launched a Haunted Swindon project in collaboration with the borough council to carry out similar studies in council-owned buildings in the town.

Keep visiting www.gazetteandherald.co.uk for regular PSI updates on any ghostly goings-on.

Article HERE

6th

he Bigfoot population of Lamar County may have to run for cover March 28-31.

That is when The Granite State Paranormal Society’s team of scientists bring their “special technologies” to the Paris area for a Bigfoot expedition designed to listen to the big creature, hunt him and trap him.

The hunt for Bigfoot is scheduled to take place in a swampy area “that looks prehistoric” somewhere in the vicinity of Pat Mayse Lake.

Even before it arrives, the Bigfoot team’s hunt has been seeped in controversy.

Bigfoot explorer C. Thomas Biscardi, founder of Searching For Bigfoot Inc. headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., will lead the expedition, that is open to the public and journalists on a “fee basis.”

Dozens of Bigfoot believers and organizations have questioned Biscardi’s past discoveries and methods in hunting the big creature.

Biscardi insists, however, that Bigfoot is alive and well and some are living or at least passing through Lamar County.

That conclusion is based on the many sightings through the years by residents and passers-by who have reported seeing large, red, hairy creatures cross the roads or rush into the nearby trees.

Some have even reported missing chickens, sheep, pigs and other farm animals after a night of scary sounds nearby.

Bigfoot has never been captured, however, and investigations made after the “sightings” have turned up little or no evidence the creature was ever there.

Now, Biscardi and the scientific team of Bigfoot hunters have added some new angles in the search.

Searching for Bigfoot Inc., in association with Big Cat Productions, plans to develop a new reality TV series, “Capturing Bigfoot,” based on the searches here and other expeditions throughout the nation.

The team is bringing with it new high-tech equipment Biscardi says will help locate, capture and contain Bigfoot.

The search, according to Biscardi, will be made along Bigfoot’s “known migratory routes.”

“The key to capturing a Bigfoot is knowing where to look and how to catch one,” Biscardi said. “After all our expeditions over the past two years, we think we know where the best places are to look for one, and now we have this new technology that will help us locate, capture and contain this elusive creature.”

Other Bigfoot organizations are not so sure this expedition is not just a move toward entertainment and big bucks.

Biscardi’s claims and “finds” throughout the years have been studied and questioned thoroughly.

In a guest blog for Cryptomundo, Kathy Strain of the Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers has offered her professional opinion of a skeleton that Biscardi earlier said may be Bigfoot.

Strain believes Biscardi may have found a human skeleton.

The technical equipment Biscardi and the scientific team will use in the Paris search was developed by Dr. Ron Milione of Huntington, NY. It uses a special infrared camera system that uses an infrared ray that will project out to a long distance. The device is built into a special helmet system to be worn by searchers out in the field. It also will be mounted near possible trails and watering holes and other locations where “footprints” have been found.

Milione also developed an “extremely low frequency” receiver system designed to monitor very low frequency sound waves and look for possible Bigfoot communication patterns.

Many Bigfoot believers are shying away from the Biscardi searches, contending the Biscardi finds are questionable.

Whatever their contention, the scientific Bigfoot hunter team is expected in Paris March 28, to begin its newest expedition “in search of Bigfoot.”

Article HERE

6th

Old prison turned dark theme park

Sunday, March 18, 2007

By JILL SCHENSUL
STAFF WRITER


Why do I always do this, I thought, a bead of sweat shuddering down my neck. It sounded like fun, a ghost-hunting weekend in Jim Thorpe, Pa., run by real ghost hunters. A chance to see how they do it, and no doubt hear some creepy stories, too.

But now I remembered, as I cringed from the dreadful darkness: The idea of ghost-hunting never coincides with the reality.

Especially when reality is a cold, Gothic prison with creaky floorboards, a gallows and the handprint of a prisoner on a wall -- a handprint that, despite a century of scrubbing, painting and even gouging out, won't go away.

Now the ghost hunt has begun, and I cannot move. I want someone to turn on the lights.

But the others are already roaming, with heat sensors and electromagnetic meters and other detection devices. They don't seem to be finding anything.

Cautiously, I put the night-vision scope to my eye. The room comes alive in a crepuscular, green-black haze -- just as in "Silence of the Lambs." I walk slowly toward a wall lined with empty cells. I pause before one metal door, then, on tiptoe, peer in through the bars with my scope.

A scream -- yes, bloodcurdling -- fills the emptiness. Again and again, and I realize it is mine.

The weekend hadn't started creepily -- though it had been a dark and stormy October night. Our base of operations, The Inn at Jim Thorpe, is supposedly haunted, but Friday night passed without incident. On Saturday morning, our group of about 50 or so gathered at the Mauch Chunk Museum for an introduction to paranormal investigation.

Lew Gerew, president of the Philadelphia Ghost Hunters Alliance, which ran the weekend, was talking about orbs when I walked in. What are orbs? They're the little floaty things ghost hunters sometimes find in their cemetery photos.

"Most of these orbs they think are spirits, they're probably just dust," Gerew said. "You can't differentiate between a piece of dust and an orb.

"People like to believe what they see is real. In our early stages, we believed it. I consider myself a victim. We used to be in awe. We'd watch the TV and say, 'That's so cool.' Soon our awe turned to laughter, then aggravation. It's ruined the experience." Well, all this skepticism was beginning to ruin the experience for me.

"Skepticism is what has led us to researching the paranormal," said Gerew, a radiation technician in his day job. "We incorporate it into every investigation because we want and have to."

We moved on to audio recordings of ghost voices. Electronic voice phenomena, or EVPs.

"We're not the seance type," he said. "We don't ask the spirits to possess us. But when we do a recording session, we ask everyone to get together with all kinds of recorders, and one person asks a question."

Sometimes there's an answer. You don't hear the answer in real time, Gerew explained. But when you play the tape back, voilà, spirit-speak.

"Cool!" I thought.

The first tape was a simple answer to "Are you married?" The hissing of dead air, then "Yep," a man's voice said. I jumped.

"We're not afraid of ghosts," Gerew said, "but every once in a while we scare the crap out of each other."

At an investigation at a penitentiary, the response to a question about a man's crime was a whispered "It's OK now."

"Everyone who's come to the ghost-hunting table had a personal experience" of a supernatural kind, Gerew said. For Gerew it began when his girlfriend Sharon (now his wife) was walking past his house one afternoon; she noticed a woman waving from an upstairs window. Assuming it was his mother, she waved back, then decided to stop in and say hello.

But when she knocked at the door, no one answered, and she finally left, figuring his mom either didn't hear her or wanted her to go away. That night, Gerew's mother told them she hadn't been home all afternoon.

A few months later, he and Sharon were walking to his house, and both of them saw a woman in the window, waving. Once again, no one was home. "We both saw it," Gerew said. "That's one thing I cannot explain. Something like that boggles your mind."

#

I spent the afternoon reacquainting myself with Jim Thorpe -- not the athlete, the town that adopted him and his name in 1954 as a means of gaining publicity.

The name change, from Mauch Chunk, didn't have the desired effect. But in the past couple of years, the locals have restored many of the beautiful Victorian homes and opened new shops and restaurants, and Jim Thorpe is becoming a cool little outpost of tourism once again.

The beautiful homes on Broadway and Race Street and the big mansions on the hill are the heritage of Mauch Chunk's heyday as the seat of Carbon County and the center of transportation for the region's booming anthracite coal industry. At first the coal was sent eastward via the Lehigh River; later entrepreneurs such as Asa Packer made their millions establishing railroads to send out the coal and bring in the tourists who were attracted to this "Switzerland of America" for its surrounding hills and views.

But when petroleum replaced coal as a source of energy and cars replaced railroads as the way to go on vacation, Mauch Chunk began its slow but steady decline.

Mauch Chunk was also notorious at the time for labor unrest. In the 1860s and '70s, the Irish immigrants who had come here to work rebelled against poor working conditions and discrimination. The Molly McGuires, as they were called -- after a famed widow said to have led anti-landlord resistance -- led the protests and sometimes turned to violence and murder. The prisoners were held at the Carbon County Jail. In the end, 20 men were convicted, and seven of them were hanged at the jail.

One of them was on his way to the gallows when he pressed his dirty hand on the wall and announced that the print would remain there as long as the jail stood, as a sign of his innocence. It remains to this day.

The prison was closed in the 1970s, and Betty Lou and Thomas McBride, local shop owners, bought it and opened it as a museum in 1996. Copies of the handprint are sold at the gift shop. On Halloween, it's the ultimate haunted house.

#

As a warm-up for our ghost hunt, we took a ghost tour Saturday evening. Our guide, Monique Everett, met us at The Inn at Jim Thorpe, where, once outside, she told us about the star-crossed lovers who just missed each other at the inn. The story, of course, ends in tragedy and restless spirits.

Ghosts turn up all over town, it seems. One (or more) throws silverware, smokes cigars and whispers at the Zen-like Origins Cafe. Sometimes the Otis elevator that Mary Packer Cummings, Asa Packer's daughter, bought for St. Mark's Episcopal Church ascends on its own.And, of course, there's that jail ...

#

... where, at about 11 p.m., I had begun screaming with fright at the shock of seeing ... a person ... in one of the jail cells. Someone staring back at me.

Eventually, Sharon Gerew calmed me down and assured me mine was not the loudest scream she'd ever heard. Shining a flashlight into the cell once again, we ascertained that the occupant was a cardboard cutout of a person. Two dimensions. Solid.

The hunting continued. We fanned out in the basement, the dungeon, really, where Gerew said on a previous investigation they had caught a moving ball of blue light on video. I hunted about with a thermal scope, looking for cold spots in the room. The whole room was cold, uniformly around 65 degrees. No blue light, or traveling light of any kind, appeared.

Finally, we gathered around to do some EVP hunting. We sat silent, not moving (any brushing of fabric or squeak of a chair might be caught and misinterpreted on tape), as an alliance member asked questions of whatever spirit might be hovering: "What's your name?" "Were you a prisoner?" "Are you married?" "What was your crime?" That kind of thing. Then he asked us whether we had any questions we'd like to ask. No one spoke.

"Oh, come on now," said the man next to me, softly. I turned to smile at him. But no one was there.

E-mail: schensul@northjersey.com
* * *

IF YOU GO

GHOST WEEKENDS: The Philadelphia Ghost Hunters Alliance has another ghost-hunting weekend scheduled for April 20-22 at the Inn at Jim Thorpe. Packages start at $199 per person and include two nights, dinner for two on Saturday, ghost-hunting seminars, ghost tour, continental breakfast, all taxes and gratuities.

If murder is your thing, there's a Murder Mystery Weekend March 30 through April 1.

GETTING THERE: Take Route 80 into Pennsylvania. Take Exit 284, and turn left onto Route 115; go south for about three miles to Route 903 south; take that about 18 miles into Jim Thorpe. Go across the bridge at the first light and make a left turn. Continue straight past the second light; the inn is the third building on the right, 24 Broadway.

MORE INFORMATION: Philadelphia Ghost Hunters Alliance: members .aol.com/Rayd8em/index.html.

Inn at Jim Thorpe: 800-329-2599, innjt.com.

Jim Thorpe Area Council: 800-JIM THORPE (546-8467) or jimthorpe .org.

Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau: 800-POCONOS (762-6667) or 800poconos.com.

-- Jill Schensul
* * *

GHOST-BUSTING 101

Tools of the trade:

# 35 mm camera: Used with high-speed film such as Kodak Gold 400.

# Audio recorder: Voice-activated digital recorders are recommended.

# Motion detectors.

# Electromagnetic field detector (EMF): These meters detect electromagnetic fields thought to be generated by ghosts.

# Thermometer: Cold spots are a frequent phenomenon; a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer can document temperature drops.

# Thermal scanner: More sophisticated temperature sensor, using infrared to detect temperature differences from a distance.

# Thermal imaging scopes: Scanners detect and display the forms of cold spots.

# Night-vision scope/night-vision video camera: Makes visible light that would otherwise be unseen by the naked eye.

Talk of the trade

# EVP: Electronic voice phenomenon is thought to be a communication, through a form of energy, that can be captured on tape, even if not heard by the human ear.

# ITC : Instrumental transcommunication uses televisions to capture images of those who have passed away.

# Apparition: The visual appearance of any spirit, ghost or unusual phenomenon that doesn't necessarily take on the shape of a human form nor does it show signs of intelligence or personality.

# Ghost: A visual manifestation of a spirit or life force that does not communicate or interact with the physical world.

# Orbs: Circular blobs that show up on photographs. Some believe they are a form of energy associated with the paranormal.

# Poltergeist: A German term, translating as noisy ghost -- which it is. And it moves objects.

# Spirit: Also a ghost that communicates with the physical world, taking forms such as orbs, mists, vortexes or shadows.

Article HERE

6th

Matter Over Mind
BY RICH HERSCHLAG
03.27.2007 | CULTURE

Last month, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory closed its doors forever. Founded in 1979, P.E.A.R. was basically a lab for testing extrasensory perception and telekinesis. I know what you’re thinking. Why was a renowned institution of higher learning reallocating resources from fusion research and Middle East policy conferences to dabble in areas best left for the Sci-Fi Channel?

Before you send out any negative thought patterns to central New Jersey, you should know that twenty-eight years of having subjects stare at random number generators and think "seven" was not entirely in vain. P.E.A.R. appears to have proven that human telekinesis is, in fact, real. The measurable telekinetic effect was consistently in the range of two or three outcomes in ten thousand.

While the results are conclusive, they are just not consequential enough for profit-driven corporate America. Nor for criminal America, who are very busy people as well and still prefer picking locks and hacking into checking accounts. Two or three in ten thousand are not good enough odds for insurgents detonating roadside bombs, nor even for professional card counters and craps players looking for an edge.

But shutting down the lab sends the wrong message to a country that has largely given up mind over matter for matter over mind. Matter over mind favors plastic over earnings and plastic surgery over meditation. It prefers designer labels to warmth and square feet to square meals. It opts for test scores over comprehension. Matter over mind is sticking the Earth looking for oil and sending kids to die in Iraq. If the materialists have their way, the sixth sense will soon be dissed and dismissed like the ex-planet Pluto.

If we’re really looking for anomalies, why don’t we start with those scientists who find it painful to concede the human brain possesses at least one ten-thousandth the power of a cheap AM radio? No extrasensory perception? That is an insult to anyone who has ever heard Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp ringing in his head, gotten into the car, turned on the classic rock station, and promptly heard Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp. It is a slap in the face to those of us who knew Aunt Sadie’s distinct telephone ring decades before there was caller ID.

No mindreading? Tell that to the hookers in Tijuana. Mental telepathy is at the core of any real relationship, and any husband worth his weight in make-up flowers knows when he’s in trouble long before he gets home. And it’s not just a straight thing. Gaydar is real, too. Twenty million homosexuals can’t be wrong.

The history of telekinesis in sports is a long and proud one. Any Tuesday night bowler will tell you an extra twist of the butt while the ball rolls down the alley could well be the difference between a strike and a 7-10 split. Any player in a pickup basketball game at the Y will confirm an extra flick of the wrist has a discernable effect when a jump shot is in mid-arc.

Group phenomena in sports are not only real, they are legendary. Try telling any Red Sox fan Carlton Fisk’s body English during the flight of his Game Six, twelfth-inning homerun didn’t cause the ball to veer an inch or two to the right. Millions of Mets fans know for a fact they had a little something to do with the ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs in the sixth game of the 1986 World Series. The nation’s top sports network is called ESPN for a reason.

Not that matter over mind is all in the mind. Lots of it matters. The sixth sense is real, but it’s primarily the other five that can kill you, dismember you, and clean out your safe deposit box. While psychics diddle around with visions of the color magenta and the last two digits of a zip code, GPS can locate your fox terrier. Wishing ill is no match for anthrax.

Individuals with paranormal abilities impress some and are marginalized by others. Joseph of the Old Testament, Rasputin, and Edgar Cayce were all more or less legit but were not born at the right time to get their own cable shows. Uri Geller can bend a spoon with his brain, but my eight-year-old can do it with her hands. Criss Angel Mindfreak can light a cigarette with his vision, but there is this thing called a match.

In the end, even with Ivy League lab results available for peer review, most believers believe, while most non-believers do not. Those still sitting on the fence are fewer than independents waiting to see how the war turns out. Who are you? Are you one of the half-million kids at Woodstock who chanted "No rain!"? Or are you the parent who tells your kid to go to bed and stop praying for a snow day?

Ironically, the closing of the P.E.A.R. lab is especially personal to yours truly. During my years as a Princeton undergraduate from 1980 to 1984, I ran some telekinesis experiments of my own. Intense mental focusing and creative visualization had no apparent effect on my ability to hook up with a variety of attractive coeds. However, actually asking them out was even less effective.

I did my fair share of praying for exams to be cancelled, postponed, or easy, but ultimately I had to fall back on timeworn, conventional approaches such as doing the problem sets and pulling all-nighters. Most disheartening, my sorry brain waves failed to make even a dent in tuition. Which is not to say there was no extrasensory perception at Princeton. People played mind games all the time.

Article HERE

6th

UNIVERSITY researchers need help to discover if telephone telepathy really exists.

If you have ever known who the unexpected caller was before you picked up the phone, Dr Rupert Sheldrake and Professor Christopher French want to hear from you.

The pair are conducting the study at Goldsmiths University in New Cross, to discover if there is truth in what 80 per cent of adults believe they have experienced.

Dr Sheldrake, a biologist of 30 years, fully believes the phenomena exists.

He claims through telepathy, animals can predict earthquakes and mothers instinctively know when their babies need them.

Professor French, who is more sceptical, believes telephone telepathy is a psychological response.
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The pair need volunteers of all ages and nationalities to take part in a two-hour test.

Volunteers will need four friends to take part in the research and all participants will be paid £10 each.

The test involves predicting which of the volunteer's four friends, picked randomly by one of the professor, will be the one to call.

Dr Sheldrake said: "I've done tests like this before.

"If it was down to chance, only 25 per cent of people would know who was calling.

"But usually 40 per cent know, which is above the level of chance.

"If we can prove it exists, we can take a scientific approach to look at why it happens, how it could benefit us and how we relate to each other."

He added: "I don't think it is paranormal; more a way of connecting with each other."

Professor French, 51, said: "I'm sceptical about this; it may be psychological.

"It is possible a person who has not been in touch calls because there has been a trigger like a television programme both people have seen which makes them think of each other and one makes the call.

"But I am open to what the research will show."

For more information, visit sheldrake.org or email Mark Williams at telephonetelepathy@gold.ac.uk to take part.

Article HERE

6th

A Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Meir Fahima, who was convicted of rape and fraud, to 22 years in jail.

Fahima lured his victims by claiming to have paranormal abilities, promising them he would cast off spells and return old loves. In two instances, he persuaded women to give him tens of thousands of shekels in order to rid them of the "evil eye."

"This is a shocking and cruel a series of rape and fraud combinations, carried out over a number of years by the defendant against the complainants, exploiting their mental and sentimental distress in order to profit and gratify his sexual needs," the Tel Aviv District Court Judge wrote.

One of Fahima's victims, a mentally ill woman, was robbed of NIS 340,000 and ownership of an apartment. He also raped her on a number of occasions claiming it was part of her "therapy."

On another occasion, Fahima raped a woman he had promised to help revive her relationship with an ex-boyfriend.

In addition to the prison sentence, Fahima was fined NIS 300,000 and given a four-year suspended prison sentence.

Article HERE

j2u

Deleted User wrote:

I can't find any footage as of yet, but does anyone remember a few years ago there was a CCTV camera footage of a supposed ghost making its way around a carpark?

I think that made it on to the news.. if I find anything I'll let ye know.

I know the one u r on about and its a complete fake,i saw it being proved asa fake o tv ,the ghost is actually a toy soldier ona string,i think there might have been more things used to fake it but thats basically it its a complete fake.on the telly the re constucted the whole thing and it looked almost identical

6th

j2u wrote:

I know the one u r on about and its a complete fake,i saw it being proved asa fake o tv ,the ghost is actually a toy soldier ona string,i think there might have been more things used to fake it but thats basically it its a complete fake.on the telly the re constucted the whole thing and it looked almost identical

Just because you can recreate somethng that does not mean the original is a fake does it?

I havent seen that clip in years so I'll hold judgement but do you think that because I could recreate an event (lets say the moon landing) that no one ever did it irl?

6th

Robbie Williams is claiming that his paranormal powers enabled him to contact rat-packer Frank Sinatra when recording a swing album.

Robbie believes that Frank helped him to record his 2001 album, ‘Swing When Your Winning’.

“I like to play [‘Swing When Your Winning’] when I’m at home and Frank approves. He was there when I made it,” says the troubled singer.

When he’s not hanging around LA cemeteries, Robbie is reportedly studying black magic to help hone his abilities.

“I think I do have powers. I’ve seen things. My sister’s dog jumping at her feet, when it had passed away years before. Green lights coming in at my window, too.”

Shame his powers couldn’t make 'Rudebox' a hit.

Article HERE.

6th

LostinBlanch

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2086293,00.html

A fortune teller told the Earl of Shaftesbury that happiness lay ahead of him less than 24 hours before his death, a court heard today.

Martine Dupre-Cordier said Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 10th earl, had visited her near Cannes to ask for advice on his troubled love life on November 4 2004.

The peer was in the process of divorcing his third wife, Jamila M'Barek - who is accused of plotting his murder, along with her brother Mohammed - and was having an affair with another woman.

His badly-decomposed body was found in a remote ravine in the foothills of the Alps in April 2005, five months after he had gone missing from his £130-a-night hotel on the French Riviera.

Ms Dupre-Cordier, from Cannes, told the court in Nice, in the south of France: "The lord told me he wanted to divorce his wife. He said he was very much in love with Nadia, and wanted to have a child with her.

"At this point, Nadia called him, and he put her on to me. I could tell from her voice that she was not pregnant."

The fortune teller, who was paid €50 (£35) for the private consultation with the 66-year-old, said she told the earl his divorce would go smoothly and that happiness lay ahead of him.

Philippe Soussi, the lawyer for the Ashley-Cooper family, asked Ms Dupre-Cordier: "Did you predict his death?" She replied: "No."

Ms M'Barek, 45, and her 43-year-old brother both deny murdering the earl at her flat in Cannes on November 5 2004.

Mr M'Barek has admitted killing the earl in a drunken row, but maintains it was an accident. In court yesterday, he publicly asked forgiveness from the Ashley-Cooper family and said he "loved" his brother-in-law.

The prosecution claims Ms M'Barek paid her brother to murder her estranged husband so he could not divorce her and deny her the chance to inherit valuable properties in France and Ireland.

Yesterday, the court heard that, in the weeks after the earl's death, Ms M'Barek transferred €150,000 to her brother's account.

Alain Brunache, the commander of the judicial police in Nice, said he believed this money was the "price of the contract" on Lord Shaftesbury's life.

6th

Paranormal's £1m afterlife gamble

A paranormal investigator claimed today he is in line to win £1 million after betting he could prove the existence of an afterlife.

Ross Hemsworth, 49, from Glastonbury, has placed a £100 bet with odds of 10,000/1, that he will provide evidence of an afterworld beyond reasonable doubt.

If the self titled "scientific investigator of anomalous phenomena" is proved correct not only will he bag the money but will also become one of the most famous men in modern history.

Mr Hemsworth denied his scheme was crackpot and said a team of scientists and doctors were working around the clock to prove existence of the after life.

He could not provide details of the evidence he is set to produce as it was being kept "under wraps".

The evidence must be provided and accepted by bookmakers William Hill before the end of the year or the business entrepreneur would lose his bet.

He said: "There is something out there trying to make contact.

"With the evidence we have got we are not a million miles away from proving it.

"The whole point of the project is to prove that there is something there.

"More and more people are coming away from religion, there are more and more wars.

"If we can prove this we hope it will make some difference to peoples' lives."

He added that voice communication, video and photography would be among the evidence he would produce.

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said of the unusual bet: "We are used to taking bets on matters as bizarre as the existence of the Loch Ness Monster; whether Elvis Presley is still alive and when UFOs may land, even on whether ghosts exist.

"But this is the first time we have ever taken a bet that conclusive proof of the existence of the after-life will be forthcoming.

"I've no idea what that evidence may be, but if Ross produces it before the end of the year, we will be paying him £1 million."

Article HERE

Stoner

I guess for a £100 bet , he has gotten himself a lot of press, I'm sure the same bet is open to everyone.

6th

Scientists reveal levitation secrets

Tue, 07 Aug 2007

British scientists have discovered a ground-breaking way of levitating ultra small objects, which may revolutionise the design of micro-machines, a new report says.

Physicists said they can create "incredible levitation effects" by manipulating so-called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force.

The phenomenon could be used to improve the performances of everyday devices ranging from car airbags to computer chips, say Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin from Saint Andrews University.

Casimir force — discovered in 1948 and first measured in 1997 — can be seen in a gecko's ability to stick to a surface with just one toe.

Now the British scientists say they can reverse the Casimir force to cause an object to repel rather than attract another in a vacuum.

"The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano world, in particular in some micro-electromechanical systems," said Leonhardt, writing in the August issue of New Journal of Physics.

"Micro or nano machines could run smoother and with less or no friction at all if one can manipulate the force," he added.

"In order to reduce friction in the nanoworld, turning nature's stickiness into repulsion could be the ultimate remedy. Instead of sticking together, parts of micromachinery would levitate."

Leonhardt stressed that the practise is possible only for micro-objects. But he underlined that, although in principle it may one day be possible to levitate humans, that day is a long way off.

"At the moment, in practice it is only going to be possible for micro-objects with the current technology, since this quantum force is small and acts only at short ranges," he said.

"For now, human levitation remains the subject of cartoons, fairytales and tales of the paranormal."

Their research was to be published in the New Journal of Physics.

Article HERE

6th

IRISH SUN 09/08/07: (click thumbnails for larger view)

monkeyfudge

From the Independent

Burnt body found in 'house of horror'

Murder probe under way after blood-spattered man walks into local Garda station

By Eugene Moloney
Friday August 10 2007

A MURDER investigation was under way last night after a man's badly burned body was discovered in a boarded-up €7.5m mansion, dubbed by locals the 'Hammer house of horror'.

The remains of the man, thought to be in his 40s, were discovered by gardai in the downstairs kitchen of the large ornate Victorian house in Clontarf, on Dublin's northside. The boarded-up Redcourt House is situated on Seafield Road East.

The grim discovery came just a few hours before mourners gathered for the removal at nearby St Gabriel's church of Clontarf teenager Joseph Wall who drowned earlier this week in Lahinch Co Clare.

Gardai believe the dead man may have been one of a group of three men aged in their 30s to mid 40s, who had been drinking in the unoccupied house during the night and that a row developed, followed by a fire.

The victim has not yet been named but is believed to be from the Raheny area. He is understood to have had a partner and also a number of children.Gardai were alerted when a 38-year-old man covered in blood walked into Raheny station shortly after 3am yesterday.

The man is understood to have told gardai about the fire and there being a body in the house. Supt Conneely said it was mid-afternoon yesterday when gardai searching inside the house found the body of man.

"We have no positive identification yet and so far there is nothing to indicate how he died."

Local teenagers said they would regularly see a group of men gaining access to the house from the back of the building. "We believe three people may have been drinking there last night," said Supt Nicky Conneely from Raheny Garda Station, who is heading up the investigation.

t his death.

The indications at this stage are that the man died before the fire.

The body remained at the scene overnight and a full post-mortem examination will be carried out today.

As uniformed members of the gardai sealed off the entrance yesterday, local people told reporters of how for generations, tales had been told that the house and its extensive grounds were haunted.

John Carey (35) of Carey Avenue, Clontarf recalled being warned as a child that ghosts appeared on the front balcony of the house after dark, and that sometimes a horse and carriage could be heard rushing through the gates and along Seafield Road.

In local folklore, the house has long been linked to heartbreak. A son of the previous owners, the Hardy family, died in a tragic accident while on holiday .

And in the 1980s, a man was battered to death at the rear of the house.

I'm currently looking into this house as a location for a possible investigation.

6th

Count me in you P.I.G.! (mods please note "injoke" not "insult")

6th

Click on thumbnail to view hi-res artical:

Dave!

Nice opportunity for psychic Barber to get some publicity off the back of a tragedy. I wonder what odds the bookies give on him not giving any information that is of use to the police.

6th

Beware the boggyman!
By Jess Bauldry

Workers at a sewage plant in Sussex claim they are being haunted by visitors from the spirit world.

Hushed voices whispering in empty corridors, shadowy figures and orbs or balls of electromagnetic energy have all been spotted at the Eastbourne waste water treatment works in Prince William Parade.

Staff were so concerned by the strange visitations they called in a spirit expert and parapsychologist.

Treatment worker Mark Wey, who has worked at the centre for seven years, said: "People feel uneasy when they enter the building and the hairs on the back of your neck go up.

"A lot of people do not like going in there."

Mr Wey, who has had an interest in the paranormal for several years, claims to have seen a ghostly figure walk into the room out of the corner of his eye.

On another occasion he saw the heavy doors to the control room swing open on their own.

Another worker complained of the sensation of being watched when working in a chemical room.

When he looked up, he said he saw the shadow of a figure.

Desperate for answers, Mr Wey approached parapsychologist and medium Mike Kingscote to investigate.

After one night at the relatively new building at Langney Point, the pair claim to have photographic and audio evidence to prove the ghostly visitations.

Mr Kingscote said: "I'm prepared to say there's a higher than average amount of paranormal activity at the site.

"We have pictorial evidence that you can't dispute.

"You can clearly see facial features and shadowy figures."

Most of the site was built during the 1980s, with the oldest parts dating back to 1969.

The clairvoyant said the plant has higher than average levels of electromagnetic energy because of the water and energy passing through it.

He believes this acts as a magnet for paranormal activity from the surrounding area rather than from the site itself. He said: "It's the council houses and modern living places where there's most paranormal activity.

"I gather someone was murdered on the beach in the 1920s and someone drowned on site in the old part of the building. None of the presences are bad though."

A Southern Water spokesperson said: "Mark has a personal interest in the afterlife and found our underground site at Eastbourne somewhat spooky."

Article HERE

6th

Please excuse the blank posts in this thread by me. I was hosting news article scans but recently moved things around on the server.

Apologies.

lunster

You put this info as THE HOUSE OF HORRORS. please get your facts right.

First: Jimmy Wall was murdered behind Dollymount Park and then brought to a building behind Redcourt. His murderer later committed suicide in prison. His family had to leave Clontarf because of the murderer after Jimmy's death as they were frightened.

Second: Michael Hardy died in the US after a swimming accident.

Third: There are NO Ghosts with this estate, I stayed many times in the house.

Finally the Hardy family that lived at this estate were lovely people, let them rest in peace.

Riamfada

This thread should rest in peace.