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Across the Great Divide

R. Wolf Baldassarro March, 2010

divide Across the Great Divide

Spiritual Work and Paranormal Investigations

With the popularity of ghost hunting shows offered today it is difficult for many to look at ghost hunting as little more than a hobby or fad.  Parapsychology is a science comprised of a complex set of theories and terminology that has been around for 100 years.  I attempt through this column to show both the skeptical and the believable sides of parapsychology and to teach ghost hunting techniques and tips in a manner that most can understand and enjoy while learning about the subject.  Some of these terms and concepts are a bit confusing and hard to swallow but I have faith in the intellect and integrity of my readers.  Ghost hunting is a passion but it must also be respected.

Spiritual work in paranormal research is subject to intense debate.  It’s tendency to be dangerous and a matter of faith makes it controversial and its subjective results often questionable.  This is the first of a three part series exploring this area of research. Part one will touch on some basic concepts and practices of spirit communication that can aid in paranormal investigations.  Some topics such as soul rescues, possession, atavism, and exorcisms are particularly complex and hazardous.  These will be covered in part two.  Part three will conclude the series by looking at dream analysis and spirit contact through dreams and other trance states.

As a species, regardless of culture, we have a tendency to anthropomorphize events.  This is the human-centric trend of imposing human perceptions and qualities upon spirits and other-worldly creatures or forces, assuming that all consciousness must be similar to humanity on some basic level.  Nevertheless, if it is an explainable natural event or the presence of an intelligent and free-willed entity- good or evil- it must be dealt with accordingly.  The risks to ghost hunters are not just physical due to any environmental conditions, but are also dangerous to their emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being as well.

True hauntings have an impact on us in many ways.  For instance we begin to either question our faith or strengthen our beliefs.  When we are confronted by things that can not be fought through logic or physical intervention we are left feeling afraid, vulnerable, and fragile.  An old saying is that “the dead can not hurt you, only the living can”.  But fear can cut far deeper, and leave a scar that no mere band-aid can heal.

Sometimes an area of investigation already has the entity present and active but often we’ve seen that members of a group may attempt to provoke or agitate the entity into reaction by harsh language or insults.  The idea here is that if the entity gets emotionally charged enough it can draw on the energy to manifest itself for purposes of the team to document it.

This practice is foolhardy and dangerous for an adept spiritual worker to try, let alone your average person.  Those who spend their lives studying theology, whether via academia or as a practicing member of clergy, follow a very simple rule: Don’t call up anything that you can’t send back!

Most shamans study for their entire lives and their knowledge of their particular craft or realm is second to none.  Their knowledge has been passed down to a highly selective group for generations and most have known for thousands of years what science is only beginning to understand.  Shaman and scientist alike both see the same thing but through different terminology and cultural understanding.

There are many objects associated with religious, spiritual, and psychic work.  Varying cultural aspects obviously come into play here but we will focus on some of the more well-known and most-often-used of these terms and objects.

An amulet is a symbol with magickal significance worn as a pendant or ring.  Examples of these are religious insignia such as the Cross, the Star of David, and pentacles.  A talisman, specifically, is a drawing or inscription that is worn or carried for the purpose of summoning strength, power, protection, or the aid of spirits.  Runes are ancient characters inscribed upon a stone or clay tablet, signifying some virtue or property, and used for divination.  The most well-known pre-Christian runes are of Norse origin and continue to be used to this day by followers of that region’s old religion, known as Asatru.  An oracle can be a prophet, seer and visionary.  Moses was an oracle by receiving and relaying information from God.  An oracle can also be a special device or place which aids in prognostication, such as a crystal ball.  The Oracle at Delphi is a famous example from Greek mythology.

Many Native American and other shamanic cultures make reference to totems.  These are animal, plant, or natural objects that serve as a crest of a clan or family and sometimes revered as its founder, ancestor, or guardian.  A totem can also be the personal guardian or guide of an individual while they walk through life and provide spiritual centering and counsel.  A fetish is a shamanistic tool most commonly found in the form of a figurine, animal part, or a pouch containing items with magickal associations.

There are several spirit beings associated with matters of the afterlife; the first such being is called a psychic construct.  It has been theorized, and experimentation has been conducted to support this premise, that through directed psychic energies a responsive spirit-like entity can be created, continuing for a time to exist independently.  A doppelganger, German for “double-goer.”, may be seen as an example of a psychic construct or perhaps originating from some other place, person, or factor.

Elementals are beings in magickal tradition and ceremony which are spirits that govern over the four corners of the Earth and are associated with, or reside within, the four basic elements. They are called sylphs (the east, air), salamanders (the south, fire), undines (the west, water), and gnomes (the north, earth).

Guardians are spirits who return to warn family members of imminent danger. These may be deceased relatives who offer messages or aid during moments of distress to their loved ones.  Similarly, a harbinger is a ghost of the future that brings warning of impending events.

An influence is an invisible entity of undetermined nature, affecting the inhabitants of a dwelling. This may initially manifest as an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness, then be followed by more definite signs which reveal a haunting.

There are a number of events and skills through which direct and subjective contact can occur with the spiritual realm.  The person through whom a spirit communicates is known as a channeler; this is a modern term for ‘medium’.

The etheric body is a layer of the physical body, mimicking its design, but composed entirely of energy.  This etheric body is similar in many respects to the aura, an all-encompassing invisible and colorful energy field surrounding the outer bodies of all living things.  The aura-world is a reflection of our own sphere of existence, composed of the electromagnetic emanations of physical matter, and most likely influenced by thought and emotion.  It is another dimensional plane proceeding from one in which we exist.  This is directly tied to the phenomenon of the Out of Body Experience.  The current terms for OBEs are astral projection or astral travel.  When out-of-body you are said to be traveling on the astral plane- the Earth’s body double which vibrates faster than the physical planet and penetrates to its core.  While in this realm or dimension you have an astral body which is an ethereal duplicate of the physical body, remaining connected by what is called the “silver cord,” and experience things in other locations, time frames, or dimensional planes.   The energies involved in this practice build up over time resulting in the need for Aura cleansing, a metaphysical ritual that clears an aura of all negative energies which may attract negative spirits.

Previously referred to as ESP, or “extrasensory perception”, clairvoyance is the ability to obtain knowledge based on an unexplainable intuition or vision beyond the normal range of human perception about people, things, places or events before they appear or happen.  There are some specific subsets of ability associated with a clairvoyant’s knowledge or skill.

Clairaudience is the ability to hear spirit communications or noises.  Clairsentience is the ability to feel tactile sensations of a spirit’s presence, similar to psychometry in many respects but the difference is in that with clairsentience you are sensing the actual real-time presence of an entity, whereas in psychometry you are seeing reflections of the past whether visually or emotionally.

Where clairvoyance offers psychic communication more associated with the five physical senses, an empath is an individual who is particularly sensitive to the psychic and emotional emanations of his or her surroundings.

Some paranormal investigators have attempted automatic writing sessions on various occasions and it’s an interesting technique to use when conducting an investigation.  This is the process of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer and is believed to be direct spiritual contact.  Believers say that the writer’s hand forms the statement, with the person being unaware of what will be written. Usually done by people in a trance state; other times the writer is mentally aware of their surroundings but not of the actions of their writing hand.

John B. Newbrough, a New York dentist, claimed that he wrote the book “Oahspe” by the process of automatic writing on the newly invented typewriter during 1882.   Rosemary Brown, an English housewife, claimed to compose music automatically.  She could play the piano, though not very well, and felt that great composers were writing through her.  Elsa Barker published a collection of letters during 1914 that she said that she had produced by automatic writing. She said the letters came from the deceased Judge David Patterson Hatch.  Her book was reprinted in 2004 as “Letters from the Afterlife: A Guide to the Other Side”.  I, myself, took part in a past life regression many years ago.  I began writing with my left hand (I am entirely right handed) and signed the name John, claiming to be a colonial farmer in 1762.

Skeptics such as James Randi note that there is little evidence distinguishing automatic writing claimed to be of supernatural origins from a parlor game that is little more than sparks of creativity in the minds of the participants. The Encyclopedia Britannica article on Spiritualism notes that “…one by one, the mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers.”

Skeptics assert that it is nothing more than the subconscious of those performing the writing influencing their actions and that there is no evidence that messages are coming from anywhere other than the minds of the person holding the pencil.  This is yet another example of the ideomotor effect. A 1998 article in Psychological Science described a series of experiments designed to determine people who believed in the ideomotor effect could be shown that it was not true. The paper indicated that “our attempt to introduce doubt about the validity of automatic writing did not succeed.” The paper noted that “including information about the controversy surrounding facilitated communication did not affect self-efficacy ratings, nor did it affect the number of responses that were produced. In this sense, illusory facilitation appears to be a very robust phenomenon, not unlike illusory correlation, which is not reversed by warning participants about the phenomenon.”

Even considering the authorship as really belonging to a spirit, automatic writing does not guarantee the literary merit of the works produced, which can range from good to atrocious depending on many circumstances.

Attempts at spirit communication are done most commonly through meditation or hypnosis.  Unlike meditation, which is an act of introspective relaxation done for and by the self, hypnosis is a state of profound mental focus that is self-induced although through an external agent, or “hypnotist”, who acts as the catalyst for the subject entering this state.  As concerns paranormal investigation, hypnosis is sometimes used as a vehicle for past life regression and memory restoration.

The following meditation can be used to facilitate a spiritual journey and communicate with spirits.  I want to stress again that mediation and spiritual work takes a lot of patience, practice, and caution.  Use the following at your own will and note that your experiences will vary.  There are a great many books for learning meditation techniques such as Meditation for Starters by Swami Kriyananda.  I would suggest you start by doing introspective exercises many, many times before attempting to use these on an investigation to contact spirits.

Sit down and relax.  Begin to breathe deeply and slowly.  In through the nose, hold it, count to 3, and slowly release through the mouth, allowing yourself to relax.  Repeat this several times until you are completely relaxed.  Once you are relaxed visualize, feel, and sense yourself walking through a beautiful forest.  You can hear the birds singing in the trees; you can smell the freshness of the forest; you can see the spotted sunlight filter through the leaves.  As you walk you are looking for a special tree, a tree that is so large that its branches reach the sky, a tree whose roots are so big that they seem to grow to the center of the Earth.  And now, in the distance, you see this Tree of Life.  You approach the tree and realize that there is an opening, a small hollow doorway at the base of the trunk.  You enter the tree and see that you can climb down the hollow roots into the realm of spirits.  You begin to journey down, down… deep down… into the heart of Earth Mother.

When you arrive in the realm, look around and familiarize yourself with this world.  If you meet any animals, plants or other spirit beings, greet them and speak to them.  Listen for their answer in return.  Their answer might come in words or in actions.  Speak to them and notice what they say or do in response. Then ask how you might serve them and all of nature.  When you are through, thank any beings you saw or interacted with, and return the way you came.

To see spirits, I have also used a specific herbal mixture by combining aloe, pepper, musk, vervain, and saffron and burning it in a smudge pot.  A mixture of sweet grass and tobacco can also be used.  Use this on the anniversary of the death of an individual if it is a specific person you wish to contact.
Repeat this incantation to encourage the spirit’s presence:

“Spirits (or specific name) hear my plea, come forth and speak to me.  Come join me in this place, and show yourself in this sacred space.”
Repeat the request three times and then wait quietly for indications of a presence.  Signs include the scent of flowers or cologne, a cool wind, movement of curtains, and candles going out or twitching erratically.  Check equipment to see if anything is reading activity.
Once you feel sure the spirit is with you, do not make it stay long.  Take care of your business, say farewell, and thank them for their assistance.

Whether invoking or communing with spirits, dealing with demons or other malicious entities, or meditating to develop keener psychic skills, keep in mind that you must seek out experts and masters of the crafts, conduct extensive study, practice, and attempt all things in moderation.  You are solely responsible for your safety, physically as well as mentally, and ultimately your success.

As always, keep your senses sharp, your minds open, your objectivity alert, and your heart, body, and mind healthy.  I hope your ghost hunting and spiritual activities continue to grow and encourage you to seek higher levels of understanding and enlightenment.

For further reading on the topics covered you can visit http://dfps.deepforestproductions.com/phenomena.html for a glossary of common terms and topics.  I would also suggest Speak with the Dead: Seven Methods for Spirit Communication by Konstantinos and How to Communicate with Spirits by Elizabeth Owens.

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Greetings from Afar

James Choron March, 2010

Buzzard The Burying Man

In Memory of Dr. John Thomas Bailey

(South Louisiana Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1866)

We’ve all of us heard o’ the Queen o’ the West

In the summer o’ forty-five.

And how they desp’ratly clung t’ the boats

When she took her final dive.

We’ve all of us heard of the boilin’ sun.

And the hunger And tharst bearin’ down

For twenty-nine days on the rolling sea

And prayin’ for to drown.

Some says they ate their shipmates

So as to stay alive.

Ninety-eight souls in two little boats

And ended with thirty-five.

And we’ve all of us heard o’ Doctor Death

And his pickin’ who lived and who died.

And maybe it’s true and maybe it ain’t

But the women and children survived.

But when it was over and when they was found

The doctor, his life was done.

He lived but he died in that terrible ride

Of twenty-nine days in the sun.

They called him a killer. They called him a fiend.

They called him a murderin’ lout.

He crawled in a bottle of whiskey.

Crawled in… and didn’t crawl out.

He gave up on healing. He gave up on life.

He took for to death as a trade.

He cleaned ‘em and dressed ‘em And buried ‘em

And he wept and he drank and he prayed.

He drifted around to hide from his shame

Through the years that the tale would span.

How Doctor John became Doctor Death

Then, “Buzzard” the Buryin’ Man.

For ten long years he ran from his past

Then finally settled down

As the funny old drunk with the measuring tape

That laid people down in the ground.

In a tiny town where nobody knew

And nobody seemed to care

That the village drunk and buryin’ man

Was more than it would appear.

In time he built a life, of sorts

But not like the one he knew.

And sodden drunk and sombre

He watched as his business grew.

Sodden drunk And sombre

And dressed in his black frock coat

He’d  clean ‘em And dress ‘em and plant ‘em

And remember those days in the boat.

He dwelled at society’s bottom.

Humanity’s lowest place.

He hid behind his bottle

And his sombre buryin’ face.

Then a horror came to the little town

Worse than those days at sea.

When Yellow Jack stalked the village

Taking one out of three.

And wagons rolled in with the dying,

And the hospital beds were full.

And the moans of the sick and suffering

Gave the Buryin’ Man’s heart a pull.

Three wagons came in, in the morning

Thirty souls who were at deathes door.

Thirty desperate, suffering people

The poorest of the poor.

And the Burryin’ Man, he saw it,

And he knew what had to be done,

And he knew there was no one to do it.

And he went to them at a run.

And they laughed when they saw ‘im comin’

With his battered old bag in his hand.

Sodden drunk and sombre,

Old “Buzzard” the Burryin’ Man.

But he didn’t come for the dyin’

He came for to make ‘em live.

And in he dove with a mighty shove

And gave all he had to give.

For four long days he stood there,

With his measure around his neck

But in his mind he wasn’t there.

He was back on that pitching deck.

Back then they’d called him “killer” and “fiend”

And called ‘im a “murdering lout”.

But whatever they’d thought of “Doctor Death”

The women and children got out.

Now the sodden drunk old Burying Man

Looked to the work to be done,

He stayed on his feet through the tormented days

And he never lost a one!

And the whiskey vapors left him.

And ‘is mind began to clear.

An’ th’ man that they’d called a murderin’ fiend

Felt somebody standing near.

And when it was over and when it was done,

He silently went away.

As if it had never happened,

With not a word to say.

Nobody noticed his going.

Nobody noticed he came.

Except for the sick and the dyin’

Who prayerfully uttered his name.

Sodden drunk and sombre,

Dressed in his old frock coat.

He slaved o’er the sick and the dyin’,

The same as he had in the boat.

And sodden drunk and sombre

With his battered old bag at his side,

T’was sodden “Old Buzzard the Burying Man”

As kept us all alive.

No matter how other folks seen him;

For those to whom he came

T’was th’ angel o’ God’s own mercy,

And “Buzzard” was his name.

NOTE: Dr. Bailey was essentially accused of implementing a system of “triage”, assisting only those who he estimated had a chance for survival. This was considered unethical for a physician at the time. There were accusations of “cannibalism” made by the press although there were still supplies in the lifeboats when the victims were recovered. None of those charges were ever substantiated and he was acquitted in a public trial of any wrongdoing. None of the survivors of the shipwreck would testify against him. This however did not prevent his license to practice medicine revoked or his being denied a further licence to practice medicine.

© 2010 by J. Lee. Choron; all rights reserved unless specifically granted in writing by the author.

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Musings of a Massachusetts Witch

CricketSong March, 2010

This is the second part in an ongoing experience titled – Entity

The latest experience I’ve had with our entity was early December 2009. I had awoken on a snowy Sunday morning with a headache and a general ill feeling. After feeding the family lunch and setting up a DVD in the living room for the children I returned upstairs to rest hoping to take a short nap and rid myself of the headache. I requested that my husband wake me in an hour as dinner still needed to be prepared before it was put in the oven. He agreed to wake me but lay with me for a short time until I drifted off to sleep. He hadn’t planned on napping as he had some things he wanted to get done that afternoon.

I was startled awake by the sensation of a presence in the room after only a few minutes. I thought that it was my husband getting out of bed so I gently rolled over expecting to find him there but his spot was vacant. I fell back to sleep. A short while later I awoke again. I felt as though someone was walking across the room towards the foot of the bed. I lay awake but with my eyes closed assuming once more that it was my husband coming to wake me as I had asked him. Or perhaps Alchemy had gotten in the room and was coming to curl up next to me as he did numerous times prior. Neither occurred. I turned to check the digital clock that sat on the night table and found that I had only slept for about 20 minutes. I sat up and noted that the door to the bedroom was shut. There was no way the cat could have gotten into the room.

I wasn’t the only person to encounter our entity. My nephew, who is 17 years old, spent the month of December living with us in our home. He slept on a cot in our son’s bedroom. He told me about a dream he had a few days after the above experience. He explained that in his dream he was sitting on the sofa in our living room. A girl around his age dressed in light colors – white or beige – descended the stairs while having a conversation with him. It was as if they had known each other for years. He wasn’t afraid though he didn’t recognize her. He couldn’t make out her features. Her name began with the letter S but he couldn’t remember what it was. Sally? Susan? Sandy? Sharon? But he thought perhaps it might be – Sarah.

The last week of December my nephew had an additional incident while in my son’s bedroom. The boys were getting ready for bed for the night. My nephew was arranging his blankets on the cot trying to pull them up so that they would reach over his shoulders but they seemed to be stuck. He explained that “it was if someone was sitting on the bed stopping me from pulling them up.” He yanked on them a few times. Finally “it felt as if something had rolled off the bed releasing the blankets.” Both boys were unnerved by the incident.

Compiling these occurrences lead me to believe that perhaps the entity was Nana, around Samhain, but that some other presence was and is with us now. I think that perhaps my nephew’s dream was more of a message for us. Perhaps from our entity. Could our visitor be a young woman named Sarah? Why is she here? Is there something she desires from us? Could it be my Spirit Guide manifesting in our home? So many questions and no answers.

My husband and I decided that we would begin researching the history of our historic home. Perhaps discovering who had lived here would uncover clues that might lead us to a better understanding of what we were experiencing in the home. Maybe there was a Sarah who dwelled here years ago. Our search might uncover nothing of importance but I knew it would be interesting at the least. Our first visit would be to the library archives where they kept historical records. We would begin the following week.

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Across the Great Divide

R. Wolf Baldassarro February, 2010

divide Across the Great Divide

Do You See What I See: Spirit Photography

Last month we dealt with capturing audio evidence so this time around it seemed logical to continue by exploring spirit photography.  I was honored to chat with Paul Michael Kane in preparation of this article.  Paul is a professional photographer and has experience in paranormal investigations.  During an enjoyable and humorous chat many topics were discussed.

Many of us have taken a picture from time to time that had strange exposures, lighting effects, or unknown properties and stood there in awe wondering what it was.  Paul just about made me fall out of my chair in laughter over what he calls “chimping”.  This is when someone takes a random picture while out with friends or when part of an actual ghost hunt and stands there mimicking a chimpanzee jumping up and down shouting “OOOH!!  OOH!! Lookie what I got!!” because they believe that bright splotch on the tiny LCD screen is a ghost, when in fact it’s nothing more than a bug or other explainable source.

Spirit photography is the practice of finding images of paranormal anomalies or spirits on film and is also referred to as psychic photography.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be night time to get a ghost picture as many photographs of ghostly anomalies have been taken during broad daylight at various, seemingly innocent locations, proving yet again that ghosts or spirits are around during the day just as much as they are at night.

Light exists within the universe in a spectrum consisting of infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light.  Without getting too technical, humans experience the physical world through the visible spectrum but parallel to this are infrared and ultraviolet.  Infrared, or “night vision”, is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths greater than visible light and shorter than microwaves; ultraviolet consists of electromagnetic waves with frequencies higher than those that humans identify as the color violet.  It is within the boundaries of these wavelengths that spirits make there presence known when they cross over, however briefly, into the visible spectrum and our awaiting eyes.

Just as with EVP, spirit photography has been around since the camera was invented with photographers using many types of film and cameras.  For example, Semyon Kirlian discovered in 1939 that when an organic or nonliving object is placed upon a photographic plate and subjected to a high electric current, a glowing “aura” forms around the object and is imprinted on the film.  It is more accurate to say that rather than revealing a natural aura, this process produces such.  Some effects thought to be paranormal disappeared under more stringent controls, leaving research of Kirlian photography at a dead-end.  However, fluctuations in the magnetic fields surrounding the subjects can be detected in this way and Kirlian photography has recently come into use as a medical diagnostic device.  It also has a popular market at psychic fairs as a sort of high-tech, more expansive version of the mood ring.

The use of digital cameras has become the rage in recent years, in part due to falling prices, ease of use, and the ability to view results immediately on location.  Many ghost hunters take hundreds of digital photos at random, using nothing else during their investigation but the camera, and then present the images as absolute proof of the paranormal and by doing so make a sham out of the field.

The issues researchers had with digital cameras have dramatically improved in recent years.  The problem was with older models and how they operated in low-light conditions.  Truth be told, even well-lit day conditions were often grainy, pixilated, and with questionable results.  Referred to as the “orb factor”, many ghost hunters would take shot after shot of locations and point to the numerous orbs in the resulting photographs and present it as proof of spiritual activity.  These were simply a result of the camera’s inability to interpret data correctly, light reflecting off of insects and dust, and areas of the file where the pixels failed to fill in completely leaving blank areas or misinterpreted and warped data.  Newer models have all but removed this incompatibility.

Another issue was that a digital image’s authenticity would come into question and often pictures were doctored or manipulated in such a way to support a group’s claim.  To be able to analyze a photo and determine its legitimacy, two things have been needed- a print of the photo and its negative.  It has been argued that a digital camera could not provide this and since electronic images could be easily altered, it was impossible to prove they were authentic.  To begin with, photographs have been manipulated and staged since the camera was first in use.  Manipulation occurred within the camera itself and afterwards during the development process, thus tainting the almighty film negative.  Technology has changed and now it is not only possible to authenticate digital images but, depending on the camera, it can be used as the primary photographic instrument in an investigation.

It is now within the financial means of investigators to purchase high-quality point-and-shoot digital cameras that not only offer clean and crisp images that do not have the problems with false orbs but some models also offer night-shot modes.  These next generation cameras also offer a way to authenticate the images that is as trustworthy as a negative.  One option of a higher-quality camera is access to what are called Raw Data or Meta Data files. These files are uncompressed and unprocessed and an anomalous image that is examined using this option can actually be authenticated with often more detail than in a photographic negative.  In addition, the newer cameras also offer access to the information about the images that are photographed.  This data is embedded into the image once it is taken containing everything about the camera that took the image including camera settings, date and time the image was taken, if flash was used, the ISO settings, f-stop and aperture settings, and more.  If anyone attempts to manipulate the image, the changes are marked as well.  In this way, a person trying to analyze a digital image will be able to see if it has been manipulated or not.  If anyone attempts to alter the data, it will destroy the image.  In this way, it becomes a “digital negative” of every picture that is taken.

Video cameras are another important instrument for any investigation.  Unlike still cameras, they provide constant visual and audio surveillance for review and observation.

Due to most investigations being conducted in absolute darkness, video cameras equipped with infrared capability are a necessity due to normal cameras needing a light source bright enough to capture.  Many of today’s handheld digital camcorders can be fitted with an optional infrared module for night vision recording and are fairly cheap via aftermarket outlets.

With video any phenomena occurring can be documented in its entirety.  This will show the length of time the phenomena occurs, what is happening, the conditions surrounding the phenomena, and possibly even the cause of the phenomena; also widely used are infrared wireless security cameras for the unattended stationary recording of various locations within an investigation area.  Paired with a 4 to 8 channel Digital Video Recorder system this is a must have for any investigation covering a large area.

When working with video it’s best to set your camera up on a tripod during recording to keep the image or video steady.  Don’t drag the camera around trying to get something on film- let the spirits come to it.  Set the camera up somewhere and just let it run, then view the footage later on.  Set your camera to manual focus and keep it focused on something nearby.  If it’s on auto focus and something unusual comes into view it will spend a lot of wasted time trying to focus in on it, and it usually won’t be able to in time, so you won’t see what really went by.

Try using external infrared lights to increase the viewing range.  When using a night vision camera, the laser dot will appear as a white glowing point, so don’t confuse it for something it’s not.  These can be fitted to a digital photo camera as well so there will be less need for flashes during an investigation.  There are Do It Yourself kits but you’re best option is to have a professional install it.

The holy grail of paranormal research equipment is the thermal imaging scanner.  This device is a fusion of the digital video/still camera and the infrared thermometer that allows users to see and record on video what an IR thermometer detects.  A deviation of plus or minus 10 degrees is significant for investigation purposes.  Should there be a cold spot or hot spot, this infrared technology makes it possible to see the shape and size of the temperature change.  These remain perhaps the most expensive items to date costing anywhere from $1500 to $10,000- second only to the new full-spectrum cameras which can run up to $30,000!

The results of this device are often glorified by groups like TAPS and GHI, but for every paranormal incident that the device shows, there are several that TAPS is able to debunk because of it.

A recent addition to the camera class is the full-spectrum model.  Not only can these highly-expensive cameras capture everything in the visible spectrum, but simultaneously in the ultraviolet and infrared as well; the resulting images are black & white with some color hues.

So what exactly should you look for in a digital camera to do ghost hunting with?  Make sure it has a good flash and the ISO settings can range from 100 to 1600.  By using cameras that range from 8 to 13 megapixels and taking advantage of all of the options available to us, we can actually gather significant evidence with our digital camera that is comparable to that of a 35 mm camera.  The Nikon P6000 is a great camera for ghost hunting purposes.

If the camera has a preprogrammed night-shot setting, which is a very slow shutter speed, you may want to invest in a monopod which can cost as little as $14 and easily portable on an investigation.  With this type of setting any hand held shot will come out blurry.  Some digital cameras will not take a picture if it thinks the area is too dark as well because they require something for light to bounce off of, like a gravestone.  Also use high capacity media cards- anything from 512 MB to 1 GB will have plenty of storage space for investigations.

A major issue that needs to be dealt with in detail when working with photography is the matrixing effect.  “Matrixing” is a general term for the natural tendency of the human mind to interpret sensory input, what is perceived visually, audibly or tactilely, as something familiar or more easily understood and accepted, in effect mentally “filling in the blanks.”

d1 Across the Great Divide

I was initially convinced I caught something wild when I took this photo.  It turned out to be the camera’s wrist strap.

d2 Across the Great Divide

In this example several of the rain drops looked like faces to me.

So, there you are, on location chimping away at your camera screen and exciting your fellow investigators because something looks paranormal on the LCD but later when the photo is analyzed in larger detail it turns out to be the reflection of a butterfly’s wings or the way the shadows of trees merged together to look like a figure standing in the field.  Of the hundred of pictures that are taken maybe 1 or 2 percent actually produce worthwhile results.  Is this to say that cameras are a waste of time?  No.  When something of merit is discovered it is usually of great importance to paranormal research.  Just be sure of what you have before releasing your findings.

A few groups take a conventional camera and shoot away in the hope that something will appear on the processed film.  From time to time distortions and anomalies result during development.  It should be noted that all such images are well-known an understood effects of photography and of cameras.  They happen every day and have nothing to do with paranormal phenomena.  Sometimes what may seem like a ghost or other paranormal occurrence in a photograph is the result of matrixing or physical factors within the camera itself.

orb Across the Great Divide

We must also discuss the infamous “orb factor” in more detail.  The parapsychological meaning of substantiated orbs are floating circular balls of light with color or brightness seen in areas of high paranormal activity and are believed to contain the soul, personality, and emotions of a deceased person or animal. These may be visible to the naked eye or invisible until caught on film. They may also have streaking tails of ectoplasm or glowing energy; most orbs are widely debunked by paranormal researchers as evidence of paranormal activity.  True orbs produce their own inner light, so would it not seem likely that a true orb will be seen with the naked eye before being caught on camera?  After all, a light bulb doesn’t just show itself when a picture of it is taken.  The example above left of four ‘orbs’ surrounding a grave is particularly interesting.  While I know it’s most likely dust, the formation around the marker- as if standing guard- was very peculiar.

orb2 Across the Great Divide

orb3 Across the Great Divide

The two examples above show how some orbs are captured.  The example on the top does seem like it’s glowing of its own accord but keep in mind that the closer it is to the flash, the brighter it will be.  The example on the bottom is leaving a tail as it moves upward.  Dust will generally move very slowly and in an erratic pattern due to wind factors so the cause of this photo is open for interpretation.

There are several examples that Paul suggested as the cause of the majority orbs.  The infrared lights from video cameras or teammates camcorders could be reflecting in.  I once was analyzing some video footage of pulsating lights and it turned out that it was the handheld Mini DV of an investigator and a stationary camera’s IR modules reflecting into each other thus causing the phenomenon.

There is a term within professional photography known as Bokeh (bo-kah), meaning “out of focus”.  Many mists are the result of a portion of the lens being out of focus or the operator’s finger is over the lens causing condensation.  Also keep your fingers away from the flash and remove the wrist strap.

Sensor dust occurs in DSLR cameras when metal shavings from the detachable lenses stick to the sensor inputs of the camera and cause unwanted effects.  Sometimes there can also be issues with the shutter sync.

With great jealousy I listened to stories from Paul when he had an opportunity to document a pictorial of a paranormal investigation into Eastern State Penitentiary.  Over the course of the event, and during other investigations, he has gathered some great advice for investigators when documenting photographic evidence of the paranormal.

Pull out that camera from time to time and take a few shots.  Don’t just take a picture in front of you but also over your shoulder while walking.  While looking in one direction, quickly snap a photo in the opposite direction.  This method of capturing something on film is usually quite effective.  Trust your feelings.  If you feel something or someone else does, take a picture.  If you think you saw something, take a picture.

Take more than one consecutive picture.  Rather than taking a quick shot of a stairwell and moving on to the next room, take two or three quick shots keeping the camera in the same position.  Most of your typical point-and-shoot models have a sport or burst mode that will ratchet off three to five frames at once.  In this way, if you caught something you can have before-and-after shots to help track its movement.

Go with your instincts, but if you’ve captured something try to debunk it by recreating it.  Have someone stand in the same position to see if it was just a reflection or light effect as often it’s just our imagination impacting our perception of events.  Try to remove as much human element from your photographs as you can.  Be aware of reflective objects in the room; with dust and debris the closer it is to the flash the brighter it will be in the picture.  Also be aware of where other team members are and what they are doing.  If they are in the hallway taking a picture and you simultaneously take one in a connecting room the flashes will interfere with each other.  Control light sources as much as possible and try putting the camera down regularly and set the timer.

Many common settings on the camera can also improve your results.  Read the manual that came with your model thoroughly and know how to adjust the settings.  Turn off red eye reduction, set the camera for aperture priority, and most importantly turn off the auto image preview.  This feature slows down your picture taking because many cameras do not reset for another shot if the screen is active.  This also removes any possibility of chimping (I love this term) and if you’re too busy staring at the screen all night you’ll miss something.  Leave the in-depth review of your pictures for the analysis phase.

With photos you’ll want to import them into a computer and view them on a large screen.  Just like with EVP, you’ll want to work with copies only and leave the originals safely stored away.  You can also zoom in and out of the image to help clarify objects.  Be aware of the matrixing effect and go through each one to look for differences in lighting, shades, and shadows consistent with a vortex or apparition.  Using the tools available in programs like Photoshop, increase levels and clear up the image as best you can by adjusting for light, contrast, and color balance.  The most important thing is to differentiate between reflections and objects that are emitting their own light.  Look at how lights and shadows are affected by the objects in question and their positions three dimensionally.   Light bends around objects; it does not hover in mid air.

plasma1 Across the Great Divide

plasma2 Across the Great Divide

Two of my most treasured photographs (above) were taken at Goodrich Cemetery where a lone marker was hidden in a back alcove; these were taken in succession mere seconds apart. This is an example of a vortex, known in environmental science as plasma lights.  There is no satisfactory explanation as to their origin.

So there you have it, a brief but concise introduction to spirit photography.  As with many aspects of ghost hunting, try different techniques and experiments.  Remember to try and recreate or debunk any anomalies you encounter and strive toward truth rather than the exciting.  I hope Across the Great Divide continues to be informative and enjoyable for you and your comments are well-received and always appreciated.  As always, and until next time, keep those cameras rolling and always exploring the great unknown.

For more information on the photography of Paul Michael Kane and his pictorial book about Eastern State Penitentiary, please visit his website at www.paulmichaelkane.com

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Paranormal Path

Mamie M. February, 2010

Are Talking Boards “Just Toys”

ouija board Paranormal Path

Talking Boards, also known as Witch Boards or more commonly Ouija Boards have always been a controversial subject among almost everyone.  Can these boards really be used to communicate with the other side, and if so, why are a lot of these boards sold through toy stores as “games” or novelty items?   How did such things end up being marketed to young children and teens that are often inexperienced with the paranormal?   In fact, a lot of people credit their first paranormal experience to the use of these boards.  A few of these questions are answered in the history of the Talking Board.

The Ouija board was not the first tool used in attempt to communicate with spirits.  In fact the Planchette, the object used to point to the letters and numbers on these boards, was once used all by itself.  The word Planchette translates to “Little Plank” in French and was once used with pencils attached to the legs by mediums for automatic writing.  The idea behind automatic writing was to have the spirit “take over” the medium and write out messages for friends or family that eagerly awaited answers or just simply needed closure.  The actual board came from E.C. Reiche, a cabinet and coffin maker from Maryland who made a wooden tray with letters and numbers.  The Planchette was then modified to be used without the pencils so it could be moved easily around the board.  The word Ouija comes from combining the French and German words for “yes”, oui and ja.   Reiche later sold the invention to Charles Kennard who founded the Kennard Novelty Co   He and William H. A. Maupin filed for the first patent on these boards on May 28, 1890.  This is where the better known name in Ouija comes into the picture, William Fuld, who was the shop manager at the time, decided to go into business for himself and changed the name to the Ouija Novelty Co.  This company was later sold to Parker Brothers© in 1966.  This is how these boards ended up in toy store aisles.

Today these boards come in many different styles with the same basic idea, there is even a pink Ouija board made especially for girls, but the question remains, is this really something to “play” with?  There are hundreds of cautionary tales about using these boards. We have all heard the stories of one being used at a teen party for fun, and then weird things begin to happen.  The candles that were lit are blown out, there are scratching sounds on the wall, whispering noises and so on.  Some believe these boards are an easy way to open a gateway.  You are not only openly inviting spirits into your home but allowing it to manipulate your own movements by guiding the plachette to reveal messages.  There is even the belief that those using these boards open themselves up for possession by demons or inhuman entities, that once a gateway is opened there is no guarantee of who or what you’re getting.  Another theory is the board is a simple divination tool like tarot cards or the pendulum..  Our subconscious is really the one guiding the planchette to the letters or numbers and there is no spirit involvement what so ever.

The answer may never be completely clear on the subject of how the board actually works, but the one thing most agree on is the mystery surrounding it is what has kept it selling for well over a century.  There are books on Ouija, collectors of Ouija, and even an online Ouija board!  This little invention is everywhere and in many forms.  We will continue to see them make appearances at parties and in movies as long as there are people who are intrigued by the unknown and enjoy feeling a little scared, after all it’s just a game, right?

References Used:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/ouija.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija

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Musings of a Massachusetts Witch

CricketSong February, 2010

This is the first part in an ongoing experience:

My children, spouse and I have been renting the house will currently reside in since July 1, 2008. We discovered that the two story dwelling was built around 1883 by checking the New Bedford’s city assessors’ website. The house has three bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, dining room and kitchen. We have an attic which is currently full of our landlady’s things that she left behind and a basement which accommodates the boiler, hot water heater and a washer and drier. Off the kitchen we have a deck which leads to a small backyard where we often hold Esbat and Sabbat rituals. It’s the perfect house for us. The moment I stepped over the threshold I felt peaceful and happy. I still feel this way even though I now hold the belief that we are not the only beings to inhabit the home.

The first occurrence I had with the entity was a few weeks prior to Samhain 2008. I would often catch a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of my eye. In the beginning this would occur while the children were in bed for the evening and I was up waiting for my husband to return home from work but then I began to notice the shadow during the day. Whenever I would see and feel this presence, I never felt afraid so I attributed it to Nana (my paternal grandmother) whom we invite into our home every Samhain for our Ancestral Dinner. I stopped seeing the shadow and feeling the presence a few days following the Sabbat so I felt validated in this belief.

The next manifestation occurred this past year (2009) – again just a few weeks prior to Samhain. My sister and I discussed how it seemed to be occurring around the same time which again validated my certainty that it was Nana. There were no shadows this year – instead I smelled burning cigarettes. Nana smoked Winston cigarettes while she was alive on this physical plane and I have always associated that scent, as well as, Vaseline Hand Lotion and Dentyne gum with her. When I noticed the smell I would check to see if I had left incense burning on the altar but I hadn’t. I even checked the downstairs windows to see if I had left any one of them opened. Perhaps someone was smoking outside? But every window was secured. This scent manifestation occurred twice – once before Samhain and once a few days after.

It had to be Nana? Right. There was no other conclusion that I could come to. I felt comforted that she was making a habit to visit us this time each year. But my comfort was not long lasting.

About a week after the occurrence with the cigarette smoke, I was alone in the house with our cat, Alchemy. He was napping on the back of the sofa next to the computer desk where I sat diligently typing a post for my blog. Except for the clicking of the keyboard, the room was silent until I heard the creaking of our upstairs bedroom floorboards. It sounded as if someone was walking across them. Being as the house was built in 1883, many of the floor boards creak and since we had been living there for over a year I had learned how to interpret the sounds. Each morning I usually awoke with the children making sure they were off to school on time and I used the creaky floorboards as a way to determine when my husband was out of bed. This time, however, I knew it wasn’t my spouse. The children were at school and my husband was already at work. I decided to be brave and go investigate. As I climbed the staircase I spoke aloud to Nana but there was no response. I wasn’t even sure what I would have done if I had received one. Screamed maybe? When I entered our bedroom I glanced around. Nothing was out of place. Nothing felt different. And I didn’t feel as if there were any presence in the room with me.

My next encounter was a few nights later. My husband and I were retiring for the evening. I had used the bathroom, which is downstairs, and headed up to our bedroom before him. He would use the bathroom, shut down the computer, shut off all the lights and check that the front door was locked before joining me. This was our bedtime routine. Well, this particular November night I was especially tired and started drifting off to sleep before my husband even found his way upstairs. I was lying on my left side with my back to the opened door of our bedroom, when I felt something sit on the bed near my feet. I was certain that our cat, Alchemy had jumped on the bed with me so, with my eyes still closed I called out to him patting the empty spot next to me. He didn’t respond as he usually did. No meowing – no walking over me to rub his head on my face. So I called him again patting the bed. I slowly opened my eyes as I realized that Alchemy wasn’t in the room.

My heart began to thud. I took a deep breath and lay still – waiting. What was I waiting for? I don’t know. For something to happen, I suppose. I felt like time didn’t exist as if someone had pushed the pause button on their DVD player. The weight slowly lift off the bed as I heard my husband climb the stairs. As he walked through the door, Alchemy jumped up on the bed and sauntered over to where I lay. I rolled over onto my back and stared at my husband. I relayed my experience to him and he confirmed that the cat had been with him the entire time.

Since that evening I occasionally feel that I am not alone in the house and sometimes I catch movements out of the corner of my eye but none of it makes me fearful. I don’t feel threatened by this entity though it can sometimes be unnerving. I suppose what bothers me most is that I don’t know what this presence is doing here. Perhaps I’m missing a message I’m meant to receive?

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Across the Great Divide

R. Wolf Baldassarro January, 2010

divide Across the Great Divide

Experimenting with Electronic Voice Phenomena

Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP, is the observation of disembodied voices or sounds captured on audio equipment that were not present or heard by the observer at the time of recording and are attributed to communication with spirits; this is also related to Electronic Video Phenomena.  The concept of EVP has had an impact on popular culture as its popularity in entertainment, in ghost hunting, and as a means of dealing with grief has influenced literature, radio, film and television.

evp session Across the Great Divide

EVP Session

Various explanations have been put forward for EVP by those who believe it to be an example of paranormal phenomenon.  These include discarnate entities, such as spirits, communicating on recording media, living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis, nature energies, or beings from other dimensions.

Mainstream science has generally ignored EVP, finding them less than credible, and sites a percentage of recordings that turn out to be hoaxes created by frauds or pranksters.  Many also regard the examples put forward by proponents as simply misinterpretations of natural phenomena.  These explanations include a variety of known psychological and physical phenomena.  The tendency of the human brain to recognize patterns in random stimuli and radio interference are respective examples.

Many Spiritualists believe that communication with the dead is a scientifically proven fact, and experiment with a variety of techniques for spirit communication which they believe provides evidence of the continuation of life.  According to the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, “An important modern-day development in mediumship is spirit communications via an electronic device”.  An informal survey by the organization’s Department Of Phenomenal Evidence cites that a third of churches conduct sessions in which participants seek to communicate with spirit entities using EVP.

The origins of the formal study of EVP dates back to a period between the 1840’s and the 1920’s with the Spiritualist religious movement.  New technologies of the era including photography could be employed in an effort to demonstrate contact with the spirit world.  So popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits.  He replied that if the spirits were only capable of subtle influences, a sensitive recording device would provide a better chance of spirit communication than the table tipping and Ouija boards mediums employed at the time.   However, there is no indication that Edison ever designed or constructed a device for such a purpose.

microphone Across the Great Divide

Microphone

As sound recording became widespread, despite the decline of Spiritualism through the latter part of the 20th century, attempts to use portable recording devices and modern digital technologies to demonstrate life after death continued to be promoted in popular culture and by a handful of dedicated believers.

Some EVP enthusiasts describe hearing the words in EVP samples as an ability, much like learning a new language.  As my own experience with analyzing audio has increased, so has my ability to differentiate between true voices and just simple noise.

Instrumental transcommunication (ITC) is a more general paranormal term than EVP and refers to communication between spirits or other discarnate entities and the living, through any sort of electronic device such as tape recorders, fax machines, television sets or computers.  ITC include visual and other anomalies, rather than only auditory effects.  The term was coined by physicist professor Ernst Senkowski, of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Mainz, Germany.  Instrumental transcommunication has gained no notability within the scientific community, and is not accepted within science.

The modern research model dates back to 1976 with paranormal researcher Sarah Estep.  In 1982, Sarah Estep founded the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AAEVP) in Maryland, a nonprofit organization with the purpose of increasing awareness of EVP, and of teaching standardized methods for capturing it.  Estep says she has made hundreds of recorded messages from deceased friends and relatives, to other individuals, including Konstantin Raudive, Beethoven, a lamplighter from 18th century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and extraterrestrials whom she speculated originated from other planets or dimensions.

In 1997, Imants Barušs, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Western Ontario, conducted a series of experiments using the methods of EVP investigator Konstantin Raudive as a guide.  A radio was tuned to an empty frequency and over 81 sessions more than 60 hours of recordings were collected.  During recordings, a person either sat in silence or attempted to make verbal contact with potential sources of EVP.  Barušs stated that he did record several events that sounded like voices, but they were too few and too random to represent viable data and too open to interpretation to be described definitively as EVP.  He concluded: “While we did replicate EVP in the weak sense of finding voices on audio tapes, none of the phenomena found in our study was clearly anomalous, let alone attributable to discarnate beings.  Hence we have failed to replicate EVP in the strong sense.”  The findings were published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration in 2001, and include a literature review.

nero wave editor Across the Great Divide

Nero Wave Editor

In 2005 the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research published a report by paranormal investigator Alexander MacRae who conducted recording sessions using a device of his own design that generated EVP.  In an attempt to demonstrate that different individuals would interpret EVP in the recordings the same way, MacRae asked seven people to compare some selections to a list of five phrases he provided, and to choose the best match. MacRae said the results of the listening panels indicated that the selections were of paranormal origin.

Skeptics such as David Federlein, Chris French, Terrence Hines and Michael Shermer say that EVP are usually recorded by raising the “noise floor”- the electrical noise created by all electrical devices- in order to create white noise.  When this noise is filtered, it can be made to produce noises which sound like speech.  Federlein says that this is no different from using a wah pedal on a guitar, which is a focused sweep filter that moves around the spectrum and creates open vowel sounds.  This, according to Federlein, sounds exactly like some EVP.  This, in combination with such things as cross modulation of radio stations or faulty ground loops can cause the impression of paranormal voices.  The human brain evolved to recognize patterns, and if a person listens to enough noise the brain will detect words, even when there is no intelligent source for them.  Expectation also plays an important part in making people believe they are hearing voices in random noise.  It is interesting to note that a common practice in EVP techniques is to have some manner of white noise in the background.  Older cassette recorders require the use of white noise generators for the purpose of capturing EVP while the modern digital recorders are capable of producing their own white noise.

Interference, for example, is seen in certain EVP recordings, especially those recorded on devices which contain RLC circuitry. These cases represent radio signals of voices or other sounds from broadcast sources.  Interference from CB radio transmissions and wireless baby monitors, or anomalies generated though cross modulation from other electronic devices, are all documented phenomena.  It is even possible for circuits to resonate without any internal power source by means of radio reception.  Such interference is commonly observed in home speaker systems which pick up the transmissions of nearby CB radios and transmit the sound through the speakers generally scaring the socks off of home owners, especially if they are home alone at the time.

Capture errors are anomalies created by the method used to capture audio signals, such as noise generated through the over-amplification of a signal at the point of recording.

    • Art

    • ifacts created during attempts to boost the clarity of an existing recording might explain some EVP.  Methods include re-sampling, frequency isolation, and noise reduction or enhancement, which can cause recordings to take on qualities significantly different from those that were present in the original recording.  In many ghost hunting groups audio software like Nero Wave Editor is utilized to filter EVP samples in order to “clean up” the sample and aid in clarifying the sounds for analysis and presentation.  This software also helps by displaying a graphical representation of the audio sample in which you can observe a visual modulation of the sound source.  I have used this application myself when conducting examination of sound recordings from investigations.  Sometimes the software does help clarify the samples as not belonging to a group member or to shed light on the exact words or phrases captured; other times it has the opposite effect of distorting the sounds.  It is for this reason that I keep the original raw data files I collect from investigations unaltered on a separate folder or network drive and work exclusively with a copy.  In this way if a question arises that the noise reduction or filtering techniques employed are what created the sample, then the original file is available for independent analysis.

    Pareidolia and Apophenia are the basis of arguments against the legitimacy of EVP.   Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns.  In the case of EVP it could result in an observer interpreting random noise on an audio recording as being the familiar sound of a human voice.  The propensity for an apparent voice heard in white noise recordings to be in a language understood well by those researching it, rather than in an unfamiliar language, has been cited as evidence of this, and a broad class of phenomena referred to by author Joe Banks as Rorschach Audio has been described as a global explanation for all manifestations of EVP.

    Apophenia is related to, but distinct from pareidolia.  Apophenia is defined as “the spontaneous finding of connections or meaning in things which are random, unconnected or meaningless”, and has been put forward as a possible explanation.

    If an English-speaking group such as Ghost Hunters International is in Germany on an investigation would it not seem logical that any samples recorded be in German rather than English?  If a group’s members are walking around an Italian castle asking questions in English how do they expect any possible spirit to understand the question, let alone respond in English?  When they analyze the audio are they listening for both English and Italian words or perhaps another language entirely?

    I have developed a theory that attempts to explain Rorschach Audio.  As with many things, everything about life or about magick I learned from watching Star Trek.  Ever wonder how the intrepid crew of the Enterprise can travel the galaxy and always find alien cultures who speak perfect English?  Well, they have an ingenious little device called a universal translator that puts the spoken words through a sound algorithm that searches for patterns and then correlates them to the correct English vernacular.  Neat trick, I think.  In Jungian psychology there is a belief in a part of the unconscious mind that is common to a group, a society, or all of humanity, which is the product of all the ancestral experiences of a people and shared by all termed the Collective Unconscious.  Based on this model, if, as many cultures believe, we are all related, and taking into account the scientific theory that we revert to pure energy after the death of the physical body, then it stands to reason that as we pass from the material world into the realm of pure energy we have access to all of the knowledge of our fellow man.  Therefore, if one was Russian in physical life, then such a being would have knowledge of the English language after death and thus would be able to communicate freely and fluently with an English-speaking researcher conducting an EVP session.

    omnimic Across the Great Divide

    Omnimic

    All this history and scientific theory is informative, but the true fun and exploration comes when you can put that knowledge into practice.  Below are some common techniques and some tips and tricks of the trade that I’ve picked up over the years while conducting my own EVP sessions.

    In addition to deceased spirits, various paranormal investigators say that EVP could be due to psychic echoes from the past and psychokinesis unconsciously produced by living people.  In this respect I would suggest that you go into an EVP session with plenty of rest, a clear and positive frame of mind, and an objective viewpoint.  Some people like to ‘provoke’ or antagonize the spirits into manifesting or communicating.  First of all this is dangerous and should only be done with careful and proper training.  This is such a hot-button issue that I will talk about this at a later date in a discussion of its own.

    According to parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, who popularized the idea, EVP are typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase.  Don’t expect complete conversations or lengthy narratives.

    Conventional audio cassette or digital voice recorders are used in experiments with EVP.  The claim is that ghosts can talk perfectly well but can only be heard on an electronic recording.  This means that recording gear has the ability to convert inaudible frequencies into audible ones, which may seem contradictory since they were created specifically for the capture of audible signals!

    Recorders are also useful in recording notes, member movements, report anomalies or mention things for the analyzing team to pay close attention to when reviewing data.  The type of tape that is most often recommended is high bias tapes or metal tapes.

    Your browser may not support display of this image. Your browser may not support display of this image. You have to use an external microphone when recording.  The internal microphone will also be recording the internal gears and motors and this will make your tape worthless.  Any sound you hear on the tape could not be used as evidence because of this.  Digital recorders may not have any moving parts but still require the use of an external microphone.  It is highly recommended to use an omni-directional microphone (pictured right) that can be purchased at most electronics stores.  These provide full-area 360° coverage.  Also, remember that the older tape recorders need the addition of white-noise devices; digital recorders create their own white noise.

    When recording investigators names it would be wise to have each individual present state their own names, which will make it easier for distinction amongst voices heard on the tape during review.

    Skeptics of the paranormal attribute the voice-like aspect of the sounds to the aforementioned apophenia, auditory pareidolia, artifacts due to low-quality equipment, and simple hoaxes.  Likewise some reported EVP can be attributed to radio interference or other well-documented phenomena.  This viewpoint is similar to the matrixing effect in still photography, which coincidentally I’ll be covering next month.

    Portable digital voice recorders are currently the technology of choice for EVP investigators.  Since these devices are very susceptible to Radio Frequency contamination, EVP enthusiasts sometimes try to record EVP in RF- and sound-screened rooms.  Nevertheless, in order to record EVP there has to be noise in the audio circuits of the device used to produce the EVP.  For this reason, those who attempt to record EVP often use two recorders that have differing audio circuitry quality and rely on noise heard from the poorer quality instrument to generate EVP.

    Your browser may not support display of this image. Each individual will have their own style of gathering evidence.  Some groups walk around repeating the same questions monotonously- “Is anyone here?” “What’s your name?” and so forth over and over again… *snore…  Personally I like to start with these but then turn to a more conversational style like you would when chatting with a friend or small talk amongst strangers.  Start with simple, broad questions, and then push for more personal information especially if you know who the spirit may be or if you have some knowledge as to the history of the location.  It is also important to never whisper.  Always keep your voice in a quiet but constant conversational tone and volume.  This will help differentiate your voice or those of your fellow investigators from any anomalous source.

    When asking questions or when making requests always pause for at least 3 to 5 seconds between statements in order to give an entity time to respond.  An EVP is much more discernible when it’s not under the rushed sound of your own voice.  Have you ever tried to converse with someone who’s speaking a mile a minute or not allowing you a chance to respond?  You wouldn’t like it if it were done to you, so just imagine how frustrating it must be for someone who can’t as easily make their discomfort known.

    When conducting EVP sessions make note of environmental and astronomical factors.  Many of the best EVP recordings and other strong evidence for hauntings occur near streams or in close proximity to groundwater. Early studies suggest that running water may generate a frequency that renders some people more sensitive to psychic phenomena.  There is also room for speculation about lunar cycles and increased paranormal activity, or perhaps more awareness of it.  With any activity that involves environmental, psychological, or spiritual factors please keep in mind that you do so of your own free will and risk.

    As with any research, a lot of it is trial and error.  Mix and match, see what works best for you and fits into your comfort level.  Also keep in mind that just because a technique has worked well for you, don’t immediately discount someone else’s technique or be afraid to try something new.  Not everyone likes to be talked to in the same way.  I like to treat any possible entity as an intelligent and mature adult and speak to them accordingly, but if it is a child or otherwise, I will try to speak to them on their level.  This may provide far better results.

    Various examples of EVP can be found online that you can download and listen to.  Most reputable ghost hunting groups post their finding on their websites and you are invited to listen and make your own judgment.  For some examples that I have caught personally while investigating sites you can go to http://prism.deepforestproductions.com/library.htm.

    Happy hunting and until next time keep your minds sharp, your spirits high, and always looking with an open mind toward the great unknown.

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    Paranormal Path

    Mamie M. January, 2010

    Residual Haunting VS Intelligent Haunting

    There are quite a few different types of haunting, but I wanted to discuss two that are often misunderstood by those who are not in the field of paranormal research. Let’s look into the differences between a residual haunting and an intelligent haunting.

    A residual haunting can be best described as a recording, a moment in time that will continue to play out over and over again.. For example a person dealing with a residual haunting may mention they notice the same sound of a woman crying or the same smell of a cigar at a specific time every day. Nothing ever changes with this activity and some believe that these are not even spirits but imprints in time.. With a residual haunting there is no way to interact during a investigation. Even if a full bodied apparition is seen with this activity, it is not aware of our presence. What causes a residual haunting is still up for debate, but a common theory is that it is left over energy that has somehow become part of the surrounding area. A very important, life changing, or traumatic event that was so significant it is now timeless and runs on a continuous loop.


    An intelligent haunting is one that we can interact with. This involves a spirit or entity that can somehow communicate with us as we ask questions or request actions. This type of haunting does not follow a specific pattern or routine. This may be a spirit of a human who had a sudden or traumatic death and may not realize they have passed away, or in some extreme cases, a non human entity. While investigating an intelligent haunting is definitely rewarding to experience, it does not offer a guarantee. The spirit or entity may not always be cooperative or friendly. There is definitely more of a risk when investigating an intelligent haunting.

    As always, timing is everything. While doing an investigation always research what type of haunting is taking place. A residual haunting can occur at the same time every day, a few times a month or just on a specific anniversary once a year. An intelligent haunting is something that occurs more randomly. During any investigation it is important to keep all of your senses sharp. When investigating an intelligent haunting make sure you are aware of the spirit activity involved, whether it is human, non human, passive or aggressive. This will not only help to keep you safe but also allows for the best preparation.

    If you have the opportunity to experience either type of haunting you are very lucky. To experience a residual haunting, you have the chance to witness something so intense it was permanently absorbed into and continues to bleed through time itself. To experience an intelligent haunting you have the ability to attempt contact and receive answers to age old questions of the afterlife. Paranormal investigating equipment is improving rapidly which enables us to acquire the proof we so desperately need, and to continue our education of the paranormal.

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    Greetings from Afar

    James Choron January, 2010

    The Old Guard Dies… Or Do They

    There are two roads that lead from Mamontovka to Moscow. One of them is the M-8… a modern, four lane highway that is part of the North-South National Highewy System. It is soothe, well maintained and usually crowded. The other… the old, original Moscow-Yaroslavl road, is small, narrow and empty most of the time. Called the “Payanee Doroga” or “Drunken Road”, it twists and curves it’s way through switchback after switchback, as it meanders seemingly through every tiny village and hamlet in the North-eastern end of Moskovski Oblast. In the summer, it is a pleasant drive, if you have the time, and even though it is about ten miles farther, it is usually faster to follow the Dunken Road to Moscow than to contend with traffic on the M-8. In the winter, it is a suicidal fools errand to attempt passage, except when motivated by the most dire of emergencies, or unless you happen to live in one of the villages that it passes through.

    One of the redeeming qualities of the old road is the fact that it passes through one of the most historic sites in Russia… in fact… in Europe. The site is marked only by a tiny roadsign giving the name of the village. No historical marker is necessary. Every Russian knows the name by heart… Borodino. It was on the fields of Borodino that Napoleon Bonaparte met disaster over two years before he met Wellington at Waterloo. It was Borodino… the valor of the Russian soldier and the fierceness of the Russian winter… led by a crochety, obnoxious, one-eyed old General named Kutuzov… that broke the might of France, and literally decimated what was then considered to be the finest army that ever marched across the face of Europe. Napoleon never recovered. His army died at Borodino. When he met the Duke of Wellington, it was with a force devoid of the hardened veterans who had swept him and the French Eagles across the face continent.

    They say that there is a company of French Guards that still haunt the field of Borodino. They say that in the stillness of the night, you can see them rise from the mist around the little church that they once fought valiently to hold… a rear guard… a forlorn hope… buying time with their lives… allowing their Emperor time to make his escape. If you are quiet and do not disturb them, you may watch as they take up their injured comrades and as the lone officer, on horseback, sits like a statue in the frozen, empty night.

    Drive down the Payanee Doroga, and park just off of the bridge on the outskirts of the village, just in sight of the tiny, shell scared church that sits alone in the midst of the silent field. Make the trip in the dead of winter, when the snow is deep and the air still and cold. If you sit there long enough… if you can fight off the chill and stay awake, you might see them. Many have. You might just see them as they form their tattered, forlorne little column and start the torturous march across the three thousand miles of frozen Hell that led the battered survivors back to France…. And in the morning… before the fresh snow falls, you will certainly see the bloody, frozen footprints that they left in the snow as they truged grimly toward the West. They’ve been doing it every night for over one hundred and eighty years, now.

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    The House on Nikitski Pereulic

    James Choron December, 2009

    *Since some of the people in this particular story are, at the moment, still in their country’s service, all family names have been omitted at their request.

    It is one of the oddities of paranormal investigation in Russia that amazingly few hauntings or encounters with spirit entities spring directly from events surrounding what is known as the “Great Terror”. That is the time, extending roughly from 1926 to 1953, and varying in intensity, in which Josef Stalin and his various heads of state security, presided over the murder of thousands… tens of thousands… possibly hundreds of thousands… no one knows for sure… of the Russian people. Strangely, encounters with these multitudes of nameless dead and their murderers are absent from the annals of paranormal investigation here. There are very few such encounters, and practically none with what have to have been the most evil men ever to draw breath… those who were responsible for these horrendous deeds. When such a report does come to the surface, it bears immediate investigation. The house on Nikitski Pereulic is one such case.

    Nikitski Pereulic is a tiny side street that leads away from Tvrskaya about two blocks North of the Kremlin. It is a quiet, residential street, surprisingly isolated from the hustle and bustle of one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares, lined with beautiful old houses and apartment buildings, most of which date to the end of the last century. At one time, it was an “elite” section of town, whose dwellings were reserved for high ranking Party Officials. Today, it is still considered to be one of the most beautiful and most expensive residential areas in the central district of Moscow.

    Today, just as it has been for over a century, the most prominent building on the street is the old Tunisian Embassy. Built in the late 1880’s, it was once the private home of the mistress of the (in)famous Count Orloff. Seized by the State in the wake of Orloff’s execution in the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, it then became the residence of a number of prominent Party bosses from a multitude of Departments and Commissions. Finally, in the late 1950’s, it was given over to the newly independent Tunisia for use as an embassy compound and residence.

    Nothing of note happened for years. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about the stately old house except it’s elaborate architecture and somewhat unusual semi-gothic Victorian design. The Embassy of Tunisia went about its normal, everyday business. Personnel came and went, and a series of Ambassadors returned to their native land with wonderful stories of this ornate house with it’s oak paneling, rich, deep carpet, gold plated toilet fixtures, walk in closets and bath tub, and solid mahogany Victorian Era furniture. Uncounted diplomats told of how they strolled the lush grounds behind the mansion, protected from the outside world by the ten foot brick fence, and enjoyed the quiet and serene evenings so peacefully, yet so close to the heart of the city.

    All of this stopped abruptly in the early spring of 1998, when, all of a sudden the house became plagued by not one apparition, but several, and of the most astounding and disturbing kind. It all seemed to begin when a work crew from the City of Moscow arrived to make repairs to the hot water line leading into the building. Now, for those of you who do not understand, in Moscow, hot water is provided to each building from a central plant which services an entire block. It is carried to the buildings by insulated pipes which are laid approximately seven feet underground in a sealed, cement lined conduit placed in twenty-foot long interlocking segments. The entire length of these massive pipes is not routinely serviced. It is possible, if one knows where a problem lies, to open a single segment of the conduit for repair work. In some cases it is many years before a particular segment must be unearthed and opened. The pipes that carry water into residential buildings are subjected to a pressure check twice annually by forcing compressed air into them, and if a leak, or loss of pressure shows, only then are they dug up and repaired. Such was the case in May of 1998, when a leak was discovered in the hot water main line leading into the Tunisian Embassy. The leak was located within Embassy grounds, in a section of pipe that had not been disturbed since it was laid in the summer of 1949. Since the work crew did not know exactly where the leak was located, they began at the compound wall, and started digging toward the building, checking each segment of conduit and the pipes within it as they went. The problems began almost the moment they sunk their first spade.

    That night, the Ambassador’s  wife was startled out of her senses as she left her room on her way to the second floor toilet adjoining the Ambassador’s suite. As in many older buildings in Russia, such facilities are not accessible from within individual rooms. Just as she entered the hallway, she stopped cold. Running down the hall toward her, she saw a naked young girl, eyes wide with fright, screaming silently as she ran headlong down the hallway toward her. The girl, a young teen, was seemingly oblivious to her unclothed state; a look of stark unimaginable  terror on her face. Needless to say, the Ambassador’s wife, a devout Moslem, was shocked, startled, offended, and scared out of her wits as she watched the figure simply vanish at the end of the hall, after running past her, and she said later, possibly through her, with a bone-chilling blast of cold air.

    She promptly forgot all about the toilet and returned shakily to her bedroom. She did not sleep. The next morning, as soon as it was light, she entered the adjoining bedroom and told her husband of the startling event. While the apparition that she had seen was semi-transparent, it did have some substance. The girl, it seemed, was blond, very pretty, and about fourteen to fifteen years of age. She had long hair, which reached almost to her waist, and was done in the traditional-style Russian braids, She was totally naked, and glaringly so. The Ambassador took the story in with somber consideration, and decided that his wife had simply had a nightmare.

    The next night, in a completely different part of the house, the Military Adjutant, Colonel Mohamed Fisal B—–, encountered a similar apparition while walking down a first floor corridor, in route to his office to do some late-night book work. This twenty-five year career soldier also was startled by what he saw. This apparition was also a young girl, probably about the same age as the other, and also completely naked. This young woman also ran screaming, quite silently, down the corridor, but this time toward the front of the house, disappearing just as she reached the foyer leading to the front door. The girl was a brunette, with short, wavy hair, and, the Colonel admitted later, once he had gotten over his initial shock, quite attractive.

    Over the space of the next three nights there were four other such occurrences spread throughout different parts of the building. Wailing, moaning and pitiful cries for help were heard by all in the embassy and seemed to emanate from the basement beneath the building. During the daytime hours, one or two brave souls, including Captain Karim S—–, Deputy Military Adjutant, made the trip into the dark, unused subterranean rooms to find… nothing… only to have the phenomenon resume the following night at a higher pitch and volume.

    The embassy cook, a Russian employee of the Tunisian Ambassador named Elena Medvedova managed to encounter two naked girls at one time, as she made her way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. These apparitions, like the others, ran silently screaming from the open door of the kitchen, through the dining room and into the embassy’s rear foyer before finally disappearing just before reaching the building’s back door. They were also witnessed by Sargent Pavel Krishkov, a Moscow Militia (police) guard who was assigned to the embassy at the time, and was just returning from a tour of the walled garden at the rear of the compound. Sargent Krishkov, who has since retired from the Militia, reported that the two apparitions seemed to be in their early teens, not quite solidly manifested but translucent in appearance, with one relatively short, having short blond hair in what could be described as a “pageboy” cut, while the other taller girl had brownish hair arranged into braids. Krishkov noted that while both were completely naked and seemingly oblivious to the fact, both appeared to have something dangling from their wrists and ankles. He was unable, in the short time that he saw the apparitions, to determine exactly what that was, but noted that it resembled a thin rope or some sort of elastic tie-down material such as the kind used to hold baggage to a luggage rack mounted atop a car attached to a fairly wide and heavy looking “bracelet” of some sort.

    No sooner than the apparitions began to be noticed, moaning and crying began to be heard throughout the house at night, along with faint but obviously pleading female voices crying for mercy and for God to help them. Some called out for their mothers. The sounds of crying were particularly disturbing to Doctor Valentina Stalnova, a Russian physician who was retained by the embassy and lived on the premises. Doctor Stalnova reported investigating sounds of crying coming from three separate and widely spaced rooms in the embassy over a period of four nights. The sounds varied in intensity, but were, in the doctors opinion, were all the voices of young females. Although Dr. Stalnova repeatedly searched for them, no source for the sounds was ever discovered.

    Needless to say, the entire Embassy was in an uproar. Local employees refused to report in for work. Tunisian employees began to go on “extended holidays” in the country. Several went on furlough back to Tunisia for extended visits. The Ambassador and several other senior employees… and their wives… devout Moslems all, began to drink rather heavily. One such occurrence could possibly be written off as too much rich food followed by a bad dream. This was six of them within a span of less than a week. Word was spreading, and the Embassy was beginning to receive a certain amount of telephone calls and, even worse, the curious were beginning to gather on the sidewalks outside and gawk at the building. It was only the direct intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that kept the press at bay, and even so, some elements of the press, such as the Moscow Times, did, in fact, get word of the strange happenings at the embassy and publish short stories speculating about the events.

    Meanwhile, the City Water Department carried out its task. The five-man crew showed up for work each morning at seven o’clock am…. right on schedule. In five days of digging, they still had not uncovered the leak that the City of Moscow was convinced existed. Still, the meters at the central water heating plant registered low for the Tunisian Embassy, and a leak had to exist. There was only one more section to dig up, and that was the twenty foot segment leading directly into the house.

    On the morning of May 16th, 1998, the work crew removed the cement cover of the last segment and found their leak. It was a hairline fracture of the pipe, about ten inches long which was spraying water at a steady, even rate into the floor of the conduit. In order to repair the leak, the conduit had to be pumped dry. It was in doing this that the city water crew also found the cause for the apparitions in the Embassy. Laid out along either side of the hot water pipe, and covered with a substance that medical examiners later called a “caustic substance, most likely lye” were six sets of human remains. They were, according to the medical experts called in by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, those of young girls, approximately between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Each had been shot once through the base of the skull, and they were, judging from the lack of artifacts found accompanying the bodies, completely naked at the time of interment. On two sets of remains, both wrists and ankles were wrapped in what appeared to be heavy leather cuffs with brass eyelets. No identifying articles were found. The medical examiners estimated that the remains had been placed alongside the conduit at the time it was laid, in the summer of 1949.

    At the time the conduit was laid, the house on Nikitski Pererulic had been the official residence of Lavrenti P. Beria, then Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs, and Director of the infamous NKVD (Secret Police), predecessor to the KGB. Beria… a name that, for over twenty years, struck fear into the hearts of anyone who heard it. A short, fat, balding little man little round glasses who looked for the world like “everyone’s favorite uncle”. Beria… the man with no soul… the “most evil man alive”. It was Lavrenti P. Beria who presided grimly over Stalin’s infamous Gulag from his plush, fourth floor balconied office in the equally infamous Lubyanka Prison. Beria… Prince Regent of what Alexander Solsynitsin called “Hell’s Inner Circle”…

    No one involved was terribly surprised by the find at the house on Nikitski Pereulic. Rumors had circulated for years, even when he was alive, that Beria, who was himself the victim of a bullet soon after the death of his master Stalin, was a notorious pedophile who cruised the city in his custom made black ZiS sedan, escorted by motorcycle outriders, “arresting” young girls to whom he took a fancy. None of them were ever to be seen or heard from again…

    The remains, which to this day remain unidentified, were removed and given a decent burial at the prestigious Novi Davichi Convent Cemetery. Their tombstones, provided by the Russian government, simply bear the inscription that they are “nameless victims of the Great Terror”and bear the single date 1949. Somewhere in Russia, maybe still in Moscow, there are six families whose daughters finally rest. That they do not know this simply places them among hundreds, possibly thousands more who will never know the fate of their loved ones at the hands of Lavrenti P. Beria. For them, the spirits will never rest.

    The leak was repaired and the conduit replaced. The beautiful garden returned to cover the scars of digging. No further reports of sightings at this location have been forthcoming. But… on the other hand, that is quite understandable. The Tunisian Embassy moved into it’s new home, located on the other side of Moscow, approximately one month after the bodies were discovered. The beautiful house on Nikitski Pereulic is currently, and has been for some six  and one-half years, unoccupied.

    NOTE: As of October 2009 this building is still vacant and no potential buyers/renters have shown the least interest in the location.

    © 2009 Dr. J. Lee Choron. All rights reserved unless specifically granted by the author in writing.

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