R. Wolf Baldassarro October, 2011

Harvests and Hauntings- Autumn in Michigan

It’s autumn again. Breathe it in. The cool air rushes in; and a patchwork of colors dot the landscape, making the world look like an open box of crayons ready to be played with. The pungent smell of dried leaves and wood fires fill the air; and our memories are pulled back to childhood images of candy corn and apples.

With the changing season also comes that carefree holiday that brings excitement and chills to child and adult alike.

Call it what you will- All Hallows Eve, Samhain, Halloween- it is nevertheless a magickal time of year when the veil between worlds is thinnest. That isn’t just a philosophical point, but one of natural science; the Autumnal Equinox that ushers in the arrival of fall is marked by an equal 12 hours of day and night as the fruits of the summer harvest give way to the slumber of winter. This is the halfway point wherein we can look out across the great divide between the world of nature and the world of the paranormal.

Let’s grab our hiking boots and gather our senses as we walk together through the bustling piles of leaves on a journey among Michigan’s most haunted places.

Starting off in Detroit, the General Motors plant is said to be haunted by the spirit of a man who was crushed to death in 1944; one incident recalls a worker who was saved from a similar fate by unseen forces.

Meanwhile, over at the Detroit Coca-Cola plant, a hard lined supervisor, shot by a disgruntled worker in the 1950’s, is sometimes seen or heard yelling to keep the line running when no one from management is around. So much for the mice playing when the cat’s away.

Downriver from there, in Wyandotte, sits the Fifteenth Street House, where reports center on the apparition of a young girl who appears in the front window. As the story goes, there was a man who would leave for work at the same time every day, and so every day his daughter would eagerly wave to him from that window. But one day she was not there, and thinking she just overslept, he went to leave. Upon backing his car out of the driveway he heard a scream. In an unfortunate tragedy, she was running his lunch out to him and was struck by the car.

The Randall’s of Grand Rapids met their end through a series of incidents in 1910 that culminated in a famous murder-suicide. The home immediately played host to unexplained events before being abandoned a few years later. It was eventually torn down and the Michigan Bell phone company built their office on the land in 1924. Workers would soon share tales of apparitions, noises, and doors opening and closing. The residents of Grand Rapids have endured decades of odd late-night phone calls that, when traced, were found to originate from inside the Michigan Bell building.

In Flint, the Cornwall family’s home is now an office but they continue to walk the halls of the building that still carries the family’s name. Witnesses have seen them in the old office window facing 3^rd Street.

What’s a story about haunted places without at least one psychiatric facility on the list?

So the next stop is the Southwest Michigan Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Kalamazoo, which has benefited from a long history of stories associated with it. The abandoned hospital had tales of red lights seen filling the hallways; unexplained noises; and even writing on the walls appearing in empty rooms. Locals claim that different things happen every night including various apparitions in the windows and report hearing muffled screams and cries coming from the buildings at night. All that remains now of the sprawling $2.5-million complex is one building, with its 1895 Queen Anne water tower serving as a 175-foot tombstone for the souls who roam the grounds.

The Battenfield House in Fife Lake was the residence of one of Michigan’s most well-known mass murderers. She loved to attend social events; and to that end she poisoned several family members, using the funerals as a means of providing the social contact she so craved. The reported paranormal goings-on include burning flames seen on a stairwell post, but no burn marks or heat result from the activity.

In a little-known place located at the northeastern tip of the Upper Peninsula, a few miles north of Paradise, Michigan is the town of Sheldrake. It is a ghost town today, figuratively and literally. It’s so small you won’t even find it on a map, and the few people who still reside there do not discuss the hauntings.

The town has suffered an inordinate amount of unexplained fires and boating accidents since being founded in the 1800’s. The last one, in 1926, destroyed the town and today only a few buildings remain.

A visit to here wields results before one even arrives. An old sea captain, wearing a cape and holding a pipe, allegedly appears on the dock when boats pass by. He is first seen from the lake and as boats approach the shore, he slowly fades from the view of passengers.

The Palmer House reportedly has lights that turn on independently and shades open in empty rooms. The Hopkins House involves a glowing apparition walking through at night. A logger with heavy beard and overalls is sometimes seen on the furniture or in the doorways of the Smith House.

The most active building is the Biehl House, the people who owned the main manufacturing plant and most of Sheldrake. Voices are heard and many different apparitions have been sighted on the property, most notably a woman in a blue veil who has been known to walk beside visitors. Pictures will fall off walls, and faucets will turn on by themselves but these can be easily explained in houses so old.

Every State, and nearly every town across America, has similar stories; the locations and events are as numerous as the fallen leaves that speckle the landscape. So as you return from our journey to your quiet, comfortable home town, ask around. It, too, has its own stories to share of forgotten, unseen residents.

As you or your children head out to enjoy hayrides at cider mills and take in the serene settings of the season, look behind you and in between the shedding trees. That chill going down your spine might not be a cool autumn wind, but the hint that you just might not be alone.

© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Tags: autumn, fall, ghosts, paranormal

• Articles

Mike Gleason September, 2011

The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts  by Raymond Buckland

© 2009

Weiser   ISBN:  978-1578634512

Paperback        192 pages

$14.95 (U.S.)

There are field guide and there are field guides.  Weiser is, apparently, planning to produce a series of field guides on a variety of topics.  This is the second one I have reviewed (see The Weiser Field Guide to Vampires previously).  My only comment on the series, so far, is that it is somewhat inconsistent.  Vampires didn’t really seem to fit the category (although it was technically well-written and interesting), whereas this volume is truer to the format.  Oh, it ranges a bit afield – monsters and vampires being technically beyond the scope of the book – but it concentrates on the various forms of ghosts and what may inspire their appearance.

The book is broken down loosely into types of ghosts, although there is a degree of overlap, as is to be expected.  There are personal anecdotes as well as “official” accounts (newspaper articles, etc.).  The types of ghosts run the gamut from Ancestral to Warning with numerous other divisions along the way.  Mr. Buckland does his best, and that is saying quite a bit, to show the differences between the various types and to explain the origins (both known and conjectured) of the spirits.

Given the current interest in “ghost hunting” (just check your local cable channels for numerous examples) it was inevitable that the author would include a section on practical ghost hunting.  In this chapter he helps you to understand the equipment which will help you in your searches as well as giving you a rough idea of the cost of such equipment.

Considering Mr. Buckland’s lengthy exposure to paranormal phenomena, and his ability to communicate information clearly and without condescension, it would be extremely difficult to do anything other than recommend this book to those interested in apparitions, ghosts, spirits, or whatever other term you would like to use to describe the apparent reappearance of those who have crossed over to the other side of the river Styx.

No doubt in my mind – if the topic of ghosts interests you and you want  more than just a collection of ghost stories, this is the book for you.

Tags: ghosts, hunting, paranormal, Raymond Buckland

• Interviews & Reviews

James Choron September, 2011

The Old Soviet Man

First of all, let me say that I am an American, living in Moscow. I am an executive with a major U.S./Multinational company, dealing with imaging technology. I hold a PhD in European History, and am a decorated veteran (officer), and active in my religion. I have lived in the Russian Federation for over ten years, and have lived in my current appartment for that entire time. I am married, and have four children, one of whom is currently “at home”. My wife is Russian, as are our two youngest kids. I say this to establish the fact that I am not prone to exageration, or flights of fancy.

The building that we live in has a “guardian”. Everyone in the building has seen him. He manifests himself as an old man, wearing “workers” clothes, the kind that were worn in the very early days of the century (collarles, belted tunic that pulls over his head and has only three buttons and baggy pants tucked into the tops of his boots, which are the large, heavy looking felt boots that are still common to older, working class people. He has a little visored cap… we’d call it a car cap that he usually carries stuffed in his hip pocket along with a large rag, and he sometimes is seen with a toolbox, broom, mop or some other “implament of destruction”. He looks to be about seventy years old, and his features are quite distinct, even though he is transparent, or almost so. He’s bald on top of his head, and has a van dyke beard and moustashe. His movements are slow and deliberate, just like those of an old person, and he always has a somewhat concerned look on his face. He usually has a home-rolled cigarette dangling from his mouth, and is followed by the smell of the old-fashioned, cheap, black Mikorka tobacco… the kind that hasn’t been sold, in most places, in fifty years or more.  He looks, as my wife says, like the typical “Old Soviet Man”… a phrase that is usually used to describe someone who is “slightly” behind the times… a “lovable eccentric”.

Our building was built in the early 1900′s, around 1905, and it is interesting to note that when it was built, it only had five stories… two upper stories were added in the 1940′s. Our “guardian” is never seen above the fifth floor. It is as though he does not know that the other two stories are there. Ours was one of the first private buildings in the city to have an electric lift, wihch is ome of the most common places to run into our “guardian”. The “Old” lift, which is still working, is one of the open cage variety… a steel cage with an accordion like door, and it is, to say the least, a bit tempermental. Now, getting out of it, when it stops, is easy. You just open the door from the inside and climb or drop to the next floor. It is not wired for a phone or alarm. Still, when it stops, the alarms go off on whichever floor it’s on, in the new lift, which is across the hall. At one time or another, everyone in the building has seen the old man walking away from the lift (the working one) just as the alarm goes off.

Usually, when he is seen, he is “fixing something”, or making an “inspection tour” of the building. It happens both at night and in the daytime. He does not seem to notice people around him, as if he does not see them. Most of us now believe that he was once “Nachalnik”, which is a Russian word for a cross between a building superintendet and maintaince man, and that he is still trying to carry out his job.

Even though he ignores us most of the time, he DOES know that there are people in the building, The old man is truly our “guardian”. On several occassions, the building has been in danger, twice by fire and once with a gas leak, and the alarms went off, well before the danger was noticible to the automatic system, with no one around to trigger them, manually. On one of these occassions, it happened three times before anyone noticed a smoldering fire in our garbage chute, on another, a fire in a nearby dumpster was climbing up a tree which overhung several of our balconies. Gas had filled the sub-basement, and was working it’s way toward the, basement level, furnace, but was still unnoticible to those of us in the ground level, and above floors, when the alarms sounded, and an inspection found the problem.

Children seem to see him more often than adults, although every adult in the building HAS seen him, at least once. Once, a group of us followed him, to see where he was going. He led us to a little room in the basement, near the furnace. The room is now used for storeage, but when the building was originally constructed, it was an appartment for the Nachalnik.

Over the years (I’ve lived in this building since I came to Russia in the mid-eighties) we have all taken to greeting him when we see him and calling him “Tavarich Nachalnik”, which means, “Comarade Building Superintendent”. He seems to appreciate it., and when something happens that no one can explain, or there is a noise that seems to have no detectable source… like banging on pipes in the middle of the night, or an unexpected power surge that doesn’t effect the other buildings in our block, the common comment is “it must be the Tovarich Nachalnik at work”. While I bacame aware of him about ten years ago, many of the residents of our building have lived here their entire lives, and cannot remember a time when he was not present.

On one occassion, about six months ago, I was wakened at three in the morning by someone shaking me (I was alone in the flat) and got up to find a broken water pipe flooding my kitchen. On another occassion, my neighbor, Savanov, was wakened the same way to find his stove still burning… he had forgotten to turn it off, and the wallpaper behind it was hot to the touch. Like I said, everyone in the building has had some sort of experience with him, and he has, in one way or another, helped us all out. Every kid in the building will tell you about seeing him at the door, watching them come in from school. They say he counts them to see that they are all there, and if one is not on time, he stays “on patrol” until the missing kid shows up, or until it’s obvious that they won’t. Anyone who is badly ill can count on several silent, unobtrusive visits a night until the illness passes. Everyone in the building has some story relating to the “Toverich Nachalnik”. The Fabrishnikov children’s missing cat was found locked in the coal bunker when someone pounded on the door… from the inside the densly packed sub-cellar… wifh a hammer or some other kind of heavy object.

We have all tried to find out exactly who the old man is. So far, we have two possibillties. One was a man named Petrov who was Nachalnik of our building in the early 1920′s. He died fighting a fire in the basement. The other is another former Nachalnik named Fabrishnikov (no relationship to the current occupants. It’s a common name, here… He died in 1919, during the great Spanish Influenza epidemic while tending to sick tennants.

Whichever one of them it is, we’re proud of him. We wouldn’t trade our “haunted” building for any other building in Moscow. Our “Nachalnik” is the best. Whether it is a sense of duty of some kind that keeps him on the job, or just the fact that he doesn’t realize he’s dead (which some of us suspect), we’re glad to have him with us. There is much to be said about the “Old Soviet Man”… not all of it is bad.

© 2000/2011 by Dr. J. Lee Choron. All rights reserved unless  granted specifically by the author in writing.

Tags: ghosts, paranormal

• Articles

R. Wolf Baldassarro September, 2011

The Ghostly Side of Michigan State University

To most folks Michigan State University represents many things: a top-rated education, a sports Mecca, even a party school. But there’s another side of the hallowed college campus that few ever see; and of those who have, most wish they hadn’t.

Michigan may be the 26^th State to enter the Union, but it’s in the top 10 for the most haunted.

Stroll with me as I explore the ghostly side of Michigan State University.

The first stop on our tour takes us to Fairchild Auditorium, which is rumored to be haunted by a young boy wandering around the stage and seats. Some report the sound of a boy laughing and the bouncing of a ball; he is often accompanied by other unidentifiable noises coming from the stage area such as loud creaks when no one is on the stage.

The stories are popular and plentiful enough that “Haunted Auditorium” fundraisers have been held in the past with tours of the building and its purported paranormal history.

Next up, we have Holmes Hall, which just might have a permanent resident of unknown identity or origin on its sixth floor. Many students over the years have reported seeing a man entering the elevator, but he is never seen inside it, or anywhere else within the building.

A former student sent in an email account of Yakely-Gilchrist. In the summer of 1995, well after midnight, she awoke to the sound of ‘someone’ pounding on her door. Looking out under the door she could see no one standing in front of the door, yet the pounding continued. Two security staff were called and they could hear the racket. They ran down the hall to stand in front of her door watching it rattle in its frame, with the handle ratcheting back and forth. It stopped after about five minutes.

Residents of Mason hall tell tales of the Oak Room, where a figure is often seen sitting in a chair but then gone upon second glance.

The campus green area by Beaumont Tower is known for images of couples in old-fashioned dress holding hands and walking slowly by on foggy mornings; and glimpses of a man in tails and a stovepipe hat on particularly dark nights.

Perhaps the most talked about incidents center on Mayo Hall.

The story goes that the ghost of Mary Mayo, for whom the building is named, may wander its halls; and the building is equipped with a secret fourth floor “Red Room” reportedly once used for devil worship.

Located on the college’s section known as “West Circle,” alongside other historical buildings, it is the oldest residential hall on campus and was built in 1931 as a standalone women’s dormitory.

Mayo had progressive ideas about women’s education which led to the first female professor of Domestic Economy and Household Science at the college. She fought for expanding the education of women and rallied for a women’s dormitory on campus until her death in 1903. Rumors spread that it was murder or suicide, which have helped elevate the spooky tale to legendary status, but the truth is she died of an illness. It should be noted that she never once set foot in the building that bears her name. So what, if any, ethereal connection she has to the building remains a mystery. (photo of Mary Mayo from the Michigan State University Archives)

No one has ever officially died in the house, but there is some merit to the stories of satanic rituals that took place on the fourth floor, but these have no connection to Mayo herself and the floor has been locked for years.

Many personal anecdotes, nevertheless, pepper the internet of alumni experiences in Mayo Hall including one from a sophomore who was told stories of various apparitions walking the halls and of the lobby piano that reportedly played itself, making her sheepish about sitting at its bench.

These were supported, though, by the student who reported the incident at Yakely-Gilchrist. She recounted a similar story of how she and a small group heard the piano playing a Back minuet when no one was in the room.

A resident once woke up in the middle of the night and the overhead lamp in her dorm room was on. Her roommate was asleep and the girl just assumed the other had forgotten to turn it off and went back to sleep.
When they got up the next morning for class, her roommate asked if the other had gotten up during the night, to which she responded in the negative.
She said that she woke up in the middle of the night and the light was on and the door was unlocked. Her roommate affirmed that she’d turned it off because she couldn’t sleep with the lights on.

Whatever the truth of these reports may be, one thing is certain- Michigan State University has a rich and vibrant history. Countless individuals have walked its grounds creating more memories than there are stars in the sky. Whether in a crowded lecture hall or alone in a dark library corner, its history is shaped by each new student. Its alumni know with fondness that they are part of its history; and be it figuratively or literally, the next time a chill goes down your spine as you cram for that big exam, you just might not be as alone with your studies as you might think.

If anyone has other stories from their time at Michigan State, please feel free to share them in the comments. Until then, happy hunting.

© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Tags: ghost, hunting, michigan state university, paranormal

• Articles

Mamie M. September, 2011

The Stanley Hotel

Redrum, redrum!  Horror movie fans will remember those words vividly from Stephen King’s The Shining, a story about a man who slowly loses his sanity as the caretaker of a large hotel, The Overlook. Did such a place really exist?  A hotel filled with spirits and ghostly activity? Actually King was partially inspired for the story while staying at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado. King even reports an encounter with the ghost of a distressed young boy calling for his nanny.

The Stanley Hotel was constructed after F.O Stanley was diagnosed with tuberculosis.  His Dr advised him to take in the clean mountain air though he had a grim diagnosis of 6 months to live.  F.O Stanley and his wife stayed in a friend’s cabin in Estes Park and fell in love with the area. Soon his health even started to improve.  The Stanley’s built a home for themselves in the mountains and 3 years later bought the land the Stanley Hotel sits upon.  Construction was completed in 1909.  Word traveled fast of this extravagant and isolated hotel and soon celebrities and even royalty were making reservations. The hotel holds 138 guest rooms.

Mr. Stanley passed away in 1940 but he is just one of the many spirits reported at the hotel.  He has been seen in the lobby and billiard room, he has even been seen casually strolling through the bar area.  There have been reports of the employees attempting to stop the apparition before he heads to the kitchen area but he simply disappears.

F.O’s wife Flora is also seen.  She often enjoyed playing the piano and guests report seeing the keys to her beloved piano moving with no one playing them.  The faint sound of music can be heard at times with no apparent source.  The couple can also be seen together, walking through the corridors or engaging in guest activities.

Room 418 seems to get the most reports of paranormal activity.  Cleaning crews have reported strange noises coming from the room.  There have been imprints seen on the bed as if someone is sitting though no one is there and the most frequent reports are of the sounds of children in the halls.  Guests have reported hearing children laughing, running, playing and even rolling a ball all throughout the night.  Once a couple checked out early and complained the children kept them awake all night.  Upon inspection the guests were assured that no children were staying on that floor at the time.

Lord Dunraven, who owned the property prior to the Stanley’s purchase, is believed to haunt room 407.  He has been seen standing in the corner and often turns the lights off and on.  There have also been reports of him opening and closing the windows when he isn’t busy peering through them when the room isn’t occupied.

My favorite known ghost of this hotel is Elizabeth Wilson.  She was a maid at the Stanley many years ago.  In the year 1917 she was attending to her usual rounds on the second floor. She was lighting the gas lamps as was her usual duty.  She was unaware of a gas leak and when she arrived to light the lamp at room 217 there was a large explosion and the room was quickly engulfed in flames.  The heat caused the floor to cave and she fell through.  She survived and Mrs. Stanley did everything to make her comfortable after the incident.  She gave the maid a promotion, a raise, and free rent at the Stanley.  Elizabeth continued to do what she loved at the hotel, even after her death.  Earlier I stated that Stephen King stayed at this hotel, well during his visit, shortly after checking in he left his suitcases on the bed and went to dinner.  When king returned he noticed his bags had been unpacked and his clothes were folded and placed in drawers or hung in the closet.  King was assured that no one had been in the room at any point while he was gone.  Stephen King’s room number was 217.

Sources

http://www.haunted-places-to-go.com/stanley-hotel.html http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/hauntedhotels/Stanley/

Tags: ghosts, paranormal, stanley hotel

• Articles

Porphyry August, 2011

Weisser Field Guide to the Paranormal

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Weiser (December 1, 2010)
• Author: Judith Joyce

A Paranormal Spectacular [Fail]

Last month I got to review an absolutely amazing book, The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon as edited by Joseph Peterson.  While that was an interesting and illuminating experience, its far more fun to take on a popular book where I don’t have to worry about dusting off 18th century references and doing what passes for fact checking in my columns.  Fortunately I’ll have none of those tasks this month as I’m reviewing the Weisser Field Guide to the Paranormal [1].

The short review:  don’t buy this book.  Don’t even buy books that resemble it to make sure you don’t buy it accidentally.  Now you can go read another column and be free from the screed that follows.  You are welcome.

Still with me?  On with the fun!   First, the book in question is called a “field guide to the paranormal.”  Which begs the question, what is the paranormal, and where exactly in the field would you need a guide to assist you?  If you guessed, um…nowhere? You might find a lot of self-satisfaction in your cynicism, but I would disagree.  Field guides seem to my untrained eyes to involve a disposition on the nature of the subject and then a detailed set of reference material detailing either how to identify them, or some other useful information one would need in the field [2].  There are many paranormal and occult things encountered accidentally or deliberately out in fields, and a detailed guide might just provide good armchair, or even practical, reading.

The idea of a field guide is that it might be actually used in the field.  Thus they are smallish books, and often printing on robust paper designed to survive being chucked into and out of a backpack under gritty, damp, conditions.  My Peterson’s Guide to the Atlantic Seashore [3] follows the general pattern of a field guide perfectly, its small, sort of waterproof, and has a broad and interesting introduction to seashore related stuff in the front (intertidal zonation anyone?).  With plates in the middle (who would not want at least another page on the brown seaweed “sausage weed”?), worms in the back, and an extensive bibliography to ensure that you know that it was written by real serious scientists with the intent of walking you through the complex muddle that is the Atlantic seashore it is both interesting to read and somewhat useful in the field.  And it’s written in type and layout designed for 30 year olds (field guides are too serious for 20′s and apparently not read by those over 50 without glasses).  And it contains an information density resembling a well-written encyclopedia on the Atlantic Seashore.  This is pretty much what I expect when I pick up a field guide.

Now, given all this, what, exactly, should a Field Guide to the Paranormal cover?  First we have to decide what we mean by “paranormal.”  The most obvious definition would be “not normal” but then many of our co-workers and relatives would need to be included.   Generally “paranormal” means things that are not easily explained by science, but could be explained if we could either catch them in a net or try a little harder with our experiments.  This differs from the occult in that it is not just dealing with hidden, secret, or mystical knowledge, but tangible things that exist in the world.  Overall the basic cut seems to be that cryptids (Bigfoot) and UFOs are included in the paranormal while they are excluded (by most circles) from the Occult.

This means that a field guide to the paranormal must encompass a huge range of subjects.  The key ones would be ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, strange events (spontaneous combustion), strange places (ley lines), and magic to name a few.  Ghosts could have a field guide all their own.  But life at the seashore is no small topic, so it should be possible to organize a book that helps people deal with paranormal events in the field.  In general it should cover the key topics, and it should do so in detail.  Ghosts, for example, would require a section on various ghost hunting procedures and technologies, an identification guide, and likely locations where they might be seen.  Bigfoot would have illustrations of the different types and a chart showing their worldwide distribution.  In color [4].  The same thing should apply to UFOs, other cryptids, and strange places or people.

At least that is how I would write and organize such a book.  It would be what it says:  a guide for people dealing with this stuff in the field.  For believers.

So lets see how this guide compares.

Weiser’s field guide is organized like an encyclopedia or dictionary, not a field guide.

Entries are listed alphabetically, with little regard for whether they are related.  Looking up Ghosts (under “G”), for example, gives a five and a half page write up that indicates paranormal investigators look for EVP and EMF readings.  But it neither explains what they are, nor indicates that by looking under “E” the reader will be able to cross reference those entries into the field guide.  Poltergeist and Stone Tape Theory [5] are called out in the entry under Ghosts, but residual haunting does not appear as an entry in the guide.

What all this means is that the “field guide” reads as a bathroom book.  A dictionary or encyclopedia would have cross-references to other articles that allowed the reader to follow related topics.  This book seems to assume you are reading it from front to back.  And cross-references would be easy in an encyclopedia dealing with a narrow subject like the paranormal.  This book is one of those generic encyclopedias of the occult/witchcraft/magic/whatever that we find taking up shelf space in the new age or paranormal section of the bookstore.

The writing is both skeptical, and colloquial.

Remember I said that field guides go a long way toward establishing scientific decorum with references and neat little line figures and whatnot.  Here the author seems to take the opposite approach.  Many entries begin with a breezy question:  “Does the human soul survive death?” is the opening line for Ghosts while the entry for Ghost Club [6] references Harry Potter and Casper in the first sentence.  This style would be fine for a bathroom book, but just looks odd in a field guide.

Even worse, in many of the entries the author comes across as skeptical.  While the author is clearly not a skeptic in the classical sense, she is also not writing as if the existence of these phenomena is a given and all we need to do is experience them.  Many times she comes across as winking at the reader, implying something along the lines of “look at all this stilly stuff that scientists don’t believe in.” Which is not what I would expect from a book that takes seriously the subject it was discussing.  For example, on ghosts:  “Modern science-oriented societies, however, ridicule this belief in ghosts.  Paranormal societies, thus, focus on providing the existence of ghosts in a scientific manner.”  While this is certainly true, the emphasis and focus here and throughout the book is more balanced than would be the case for a normal field guide.

There are too many extraneous entries.

This is a field guide, so why would you include entries that have nothing to do with what goes on in the field.  The biographical entries (Thomas Edison, Eddy Brothers, Sir hur Conan Doyle to name a few) are puzzling because I’m unlikely to run into them in the field, except perhaps on a ghost hunt.  The information contained under their entries could easily go elsewhere.   Or the space could be devoted to more detail on the relevant entries.

But, seriously, this isn’t a field guide.

Instead it is yet another example of the endless number of regurgitated encyclopedias and dictionaries on the occult thrown up by publishers.  The reason why publishers publish this stuff in such volume totally escapes me.   The sheer number of them means that if someone even does manage to poop out a good one, it will be lost in the hundreds of bad ones.   And this one wasn’t good at all.

The crappy layout and aesthetics of the book are obvious indicators it was done on the cheap.  It is double-spaced.  Let me repeat that.  It is double-spaced.  Lots of white space to makes your reading easier, but I suspect its there because it fills out the page count.  The figures are black and white clip art that meagerly illustrate their subjects and do nothing to enhance the book aesthetically or pedagogically.   Go to any bookstore, or even your own shelf, look at a real field guide, they are far from double-spaced, and are lavishly illustrated.

This whole project looks like someone had a gap in the schedule for a printing press and had to throw something on the schedule to make sure the down time was not wasted.  “Hey, lets get a lesser-known writer experienced in the occult to poop out some text, throw in some clip art, double space it and cut it down and hey, we’ve got something that we can sell as a field guide.  That will keep old Betsy the printing press working over the holidays.  And those crazy investigatin’ kids will like the idea of a field guide.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.”

I am being hard on this book for a reason.  While this book is about the paranormal, and I don’t care a lot about the paranormal, it too much resembles other books occupying shelf space on subjects I do care about.  I care deeply about Paganism, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult beliefs.  And there are too many of these silly dictionary/encyclopedia/survey books churned out about them.  We need fewer of these sorts of books because they hurt our religion.  Let me repeat, they hurt our religion, and our reputations.   And we need to ask publishers to stop putting so many of them on store shelves and start putting more books of substance and vision on the shelves.  And we need to be writing more visionary and substantive works.

How many kids or curious adults pick up these books thinking they will learn something serious about the craft or our religion or even the paranormal and instead find dreck?  Too many do, and too many walk away because of it.  Many start with an interest in the paranormal and find their way to Paganism.  Many starting on their journey don’t know the difference, particularly kids.  A really good book on the paranormal, like Colin Wilson’s book, might just capture their imaginations, might just cause them to seek deeper truths.  These naive readers are exactly who this book is most likely targeted at.  Given that you are reading this column means you would look at this book and probably never even pick it up.  But someone who knew little or nothing about the paranormal just might.  And that makes me sad.

Perhaps some who have the true voice of the Goddess talking to them will persevere despite this crap.  We can tell ourselves that.  But in this economy, when the kid is from a family that has a tight budget, even buying books like this at a yard sale wastes something more precious than money.  It wastes a life that could be transformed by the Goddess.  And that’s why I really don’t like this book.

[1]  Judith Joyce, The Weisser Field Guide to the Paranormal, Weisser, 2011.  Interestingly Judith Joyce is a pseudonym.  The author is Judika Illes, an aromatherapist and scholar of many things occult.  http://www.judikailles.com/.  She seems like a sensible and nice person who writes professionally.

[2] The books I pulled off the shelf are all about seashells and the North American seashore, including one Peterson Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore.  This stems from my inherent dislike of going to the beach with my family.  As a skin cancer victim I see it more as a slow motion death chamber than a vacation.  Thus I tend to wear big hats and try to remain interested by pestering the wildlife.  And, yes, I grew up a block from the beach in Florida.

[3]  Kenneth L. Gosner, Atlantic Seashore (Peterson Field Guides), Houghton-Mifflin, 1978

[4]  Bigfoot/Sasquatch are not topics in the book.  Let me repeat.  Not.  Even. Topics. But cryptids and chupacabra and Charles Fort are topics.  Thump, thump, thump, that’s the sound of the obvious hitting the table over and over again.  As yet another aside, I find it remarkable that Bigfoot was left out given the sasquatchploitation bandwagon we are currently on.  I just love it when they call them ‘squatch on Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot show.  Sounds like a particularly dirty kind of squat.  (http://animal.discovery.com/tv/finding-bigfoot/).  And yes, I come by all my paranormal creds honestly, by watching TV.

[5] An interesting theory that I have never heard of that means “residual haunting.”  Why the author has an entry under “stone tape theory” and not “residual haunting” escapes me.

[6] Some sort of United Kingdom ghost club claiming to be the oldest in the UK.  Ok, fair enough, but if you put in a page about this organization, why nothing about The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) and the US ghostploitation movement it has spawned?

Tags: book, judith joyce, paranormal

• Interviews & Reviews

James Choron August, 2011

The Face in the Window

Tatyana Andrevna is not a beautiful woman… she does not have the “face that launched a thousand ships”… in fact, it is safe to say, that on the “traditional” one to ten scale, that is crassly used, worldwide, to rate beauty in women and good looks in men, she would rate about a one. Getting a zero rating is impossible… Tatyans’s looks are legendary in Mamontovka… As a child, she was burned horribly when a kerosene heater in her parent’s flat exploded and showered her with the burning liquid. Ever after, she was undeniably the most recognizable person in the village. Her scars didn’t matter… Her late husband would simply smile when someone mentioned them… Then he would state a simple truth… Tatyana is beautiful… physical beauty is not everything… It is not Tatyana’s face that makes her beautiful… it is her soul. You see, everyone in Mamontovka loves Tatyana Andrevna… She has a beautiful spirit…

For years, she was the community “welcome wagon”. She took it upon herself to greet every new person and family moving into the Mamontovka area… armed with the traditional Russian offering of bread and salt… and the warm smile of an angel. In rain, snow or summer heat, Tatyana was always there.

Four generations of children played under her watchful eye as their parents went about their daily tasks… Since she did not work, it was “the least that she could do”. In times of sickness and times of mourning, Tatyana was there… always with a word of comfort and some small offerning… home baked bread… a bottle of home made wine… cakes… She was there… Tatyana with the beautiful soul…

In time, age, and artheritis… the fragile bones that come with eighty-odd years… took their toll, and Tatyana Andrevna could no longer carry out her self-appointed duties. Still, even now, when weather permits she sits in her wheelchair, on the balcony of her little third floor flat on Kuznetski Most Avenue, and watches the people pass, waving to each, and smiling brightly. When the weather is foul, as it often is in Russia in the fall and winter, she sits by her kitchen window and watches the street below. Everyone in knows her. Everyone waves and smiles when they see her face in the window…

But… no one ever goes to her flat… No one ever goes to see Tatyana… For her, there are no gifts of “bread and salt”… no cakes and wine… For her, there is only the balcony and the window… and the smiling faces below. She doesn’t seem to mind. The smiles of passersby seem to be enough for her.

Now, after all the years that Tatyana Andrevna spent making people welcome, after all the sleepless nights she spent sitting with the sick and watching over the bodies of the departed, you would think that those people would be kinder. She might not be a beauty, but she does, in fact, have a beautiful soul… The thing is, you see, the little flat is locked. If you look closely, when the light is just right, you will see that the wheelchair on the balcony is a rusting relic. Tatyana died almost ten years ago… The entire community mourned the passing of their “welcome wagon”. It was one of the largest funerals in the history of the village. Everyone turned out. They even let out school in her honor… It is Tatyana Andrevna’s beautiful soul… her spirit… that greets people from the window… with the warm smile of an angel…

Tags: ghosts, paranormal

• Articles

R. Wolf Baldassarro August, 2011

Environmental Factors of Ghost Hunting: The Sun

“Morning Glory” (photo taken by R. Wolf Baldassarro)

The Sun can provide several states which affect a paranormal investigation, and these must be taken into account when conducting a serious analysis of parapsychological case studies.

The Earth is not the only body in our solar system to create a magnetic field; the Sun creates its own magnetic field that is dynamic, and can change location and intensity over time. The Sun also emits X-Rays, which are relatively high-energy photons. A stream of these photons has a very effective penetrating power.

When looking for paranormal activity, we know that the relationship between magnetism and electricity is explored through the use of an EMF detector to look for unexplainable spikes in the fields surrounding an area.

The first step to how these relate to solar flares is to look at what a sunspot is.

A sunspot is an area of the Sun that is cooler than the surrounding area due to a stronger magnetic field which doesn’t allow for the transfer of heat. This magnetic field forms below the surface, and extends out to the corona of the Sun appearing as a darker colored spot on the surface of the Sun.

During a sunspot, a solar flare can occur when plasma interacts with the magnetic fields of the sunspot and bursts outward. During these flares energetic particles, x-rays, and magnetic fields affect Earth as a geomagnetic storm.

The Earth’s magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, acts as a protective shield for the planet from stray magnetic fields and energetic particles. During the solar flares, when the plasma that is emitted from the Sun comes into contact with the magnetosphere, the plasma disturbs it, and is displayed as auroras- such as the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Astralis; otherwise known as the Northern and Southern lights.

During the bombardment of these fields, radio transmissions and power grids may be affected- usually as surges in energy. The extra magnetic forces at the disposal of paranormal entities may now allow for increased activity.

Sunspots are also noted to run in a cycle of frequency of visibility increasing and decreasing over time. These cycles run an average 10.8 years.

This may have a relationship to places of paranormal activity that seem to fade. If these places were fueled by increased magnetic fields from sunspot activity, it is possible that as the cycle decreases, then the catalyst for the paranormal activity decreases as well. This would mean that an area of high paranormal activity may die off and then return at a later time.

Fortunately, most of these particles are blocked by the magnetosphere and filtered by the atmosphere. It is theorized that ghosts and spirits might be able to use this constant shower of high energy particles as an energy source to manifest themselves.

Solar activity isn’t constant. The Sun has periods of higher intensity emissions at certain times more than others. Scientists have determined the Sun goes through a 20-year period of generally high solar activity, and then 20 years of relatively lower activity, then the cycle starts again. The Earth is currently in the middle of a 20 year up-cycle in solar activity.

When solar X-rays are in flux it is referred to as an Active burst. Scientists classify these according to their x-ray brightness. There are 3 categories: C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth; M-class flares are medium-sized and can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s Polar Regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare; X-class flares are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. Each category has nine subdivisions ranging from C1 to C9, M1 to M9, and X1 to X9 respectively.

A Mega Flare describes when an unprecedented solar x-ray event has occurred.

Solar X-ray Status Monitor is the scientific monitoring of solar x-ray activities on the sun.

A Solar Terrestrial Activity Report is a graphed comparison chart documenting solar cycles. The report includes info on sunspot numbers, solar fluctuations, and indexing for Earth’s geomagnetic fields. Increases in paranormal phenomena can be checked against this report to confirm if geomagnetic fields have increased. The figure below shows a series of solar flares recorded by NOAA satellites in July 2000:

There is an awesome freeware program I use, called Ghost Weather Station, which easily and effectively collects a lot of this data for quick recording while on site; by Jonathan Moore, it is available for download at wvghosts.com- so don’t get tricked by sites that ask for payment! This tiny program provides (with a working internet connection) the current lunar and weather conditions including the Moon phases. It will present Moon angle, percent of lumination, Julian Days, and lunation number; as well as the current Solar X-Ray and Geomagnetic Field status of the area after inputting the zip code.

For a free program this can’t be beat. I strongly suggest making a donation and downloading the program.

So, to sum it up- by noting solar activity during investigations we can determine whether or not there is, in fact, a clear correlation between increases in paranormal activity and solar activity.

Combining all of this information, along with the previous two installments on the Moon and other factors, we can clearly see that there is a wealth of accepted mainstream scientific fact that can be applied to paranormal research. It isn’t all just smoke and mirrors, or capturing anomalies on film or audio.

By taking these factors into account when you conduct your investigations, you not only have a means of backing up your findings with irrefutable science, but you bring a level of respect and class to yourselves and the field, thus setting yourself apart from the thrill seekers and amateurs.

Happy Hunting. See you next month when I give a run down of a couple local legends.

© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Tags: ghosts, paranormal

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R. Wolf Baldassarro July, 2011

Environmental Factors of Ghost Hunting: The Moon

We left off last month discussing some of the mainstream scientific and environmental factors that contribute to paranormal research and ghost hunting. I touched on many of those topics as best I could and ended with a mention of how the Moon affects investigations. We’ve got a whole new month and column to stretch out our minds and comfortably talk about this important aspect of our otherworldly stroll.

The Moon has played an important role in spiritual and psychological matters for as long as there’s been recorded history; many modern terms, such as lunacy, derive from the effects that the Moon is claimed to have on our psyches.

As the lunar cycle waxes to full, incidents of psychotic behavior, violence, and crime seem to escalate; the phase of the New Moon also seems correlated to a rash of abnormal behavior. Current understanding of human psychology and physiology supports the observation that the Moon can exert significant influence on the human mind.

But is there really any scientific support for such claims?

Well, it so happens that this pattern has been proven in a variety of studies. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (1978); a 1987 survey; and at the University of New Orleans (1995) are a few examples.

Statistically, the studies found that psychiatric admissions actually drop at the New Moon, but that they increase during the first quarter; homicides, suicides, aggravated assaults, and fatal traffic accidents all increasing as the Full Moon arrives.

As a professional in the psychology field, I find this interesting. If the Full Moon exerts an influence on rising ocean tides and also an increase in erratic human behavior, and psychiatric admissions drop at New Moons, that supports a hypothesis that the gravitational pull of the Full Moon is counteracted by the equal but opposite effect of the New Moon having an adverse effect on the chemical imbalance in the brain, perhaps due to a reduction in the gravitational pressure exerted on the fluids within the body.

It is well established in science that the Moon’s gravity is the cause of the ocean tides and affects many different phenomena in weather and nature. The Earth is mostly water; but the human body is also made up of mostly water to the same percentages. So if the Moon affects the planet due to its abundance of water, why not the creatures on the planet made up of the same materials?

As long as we’re discussing the Moon’s effect on water, it may be interesting to note that sites with poltergeist activity report unexplained drops or small puddles of water in the room, and in general more poltergeist activity is reported near water; many poltergeist reports involve kitchens. Several of the best EVP recordings and other captured evidence for hauntings occur near streams or in close proximity to groundwater. Early studies suggested that running water may generate a frequency that renders some people more sensitive to psychic phenomena.

Some scientists argue that the lunar effect on gravitational forces doesn’t just affect the tides, but are linked to earthquakes as well. A study of 2000 earthquakes demonstrated that they occurred when tidal forces where over the epicenter of the earthquake. The study showed that there seems to be a lunar trigger. Another study in 1978 found that the Moon triggers particle flow, which disturbs the Earth’s magnetic field.
Eclipses are known to have an effect on the conductivity of the atmosphere, especially the E-region, which in turn affects the Earth’s geomagnetic field- the largest effects occurring in the morning around the time of equinoxes. A 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Japan occurred on the same day of the joint winter solstice/eclipse on December 21, 2010.

So if a major parapsychological theory contends that paranormal activity is tied to fluctuations in the geomagnetic field of the planet, then it stands to reason that investigations can benefit from close association with lunar events to produce effective results.

Activity often increases on the anniversary of death, especially if the Moon was full or new on the date that the person died. A possible cause of this is due to the gravitational forces being increased and therefore providing additional energy to bridge the gap between the different planes of existence. Whether or not the person’s death correlates to a Full or New Moon, it’s wise to check for increased activity on those nights each month, or on whichever moon phase was nearest the time of death.

Paranormal activity is often easily influenced by subtle factors so it’s possible that the Moon has a greater effect on them now that they exist in the non-physical realms.

Some researchers have noticed slightly better statistical results during investigations held during the New or Full Moon.

In addition to the effects of the Moon on spirits, researchers can have greater psychic sensitivity during the Full and/or New Moons. The Full Moon has been shown to affect the physical body, including menstrual cycles (which in turn affects the body mentally and physically); whereas the New Moon is related to increased influence on mental states.

There is definitely a lot of room for speculation about lunar cycles and increased paranormal activity, or perhaps more awareness of it.

So, have any of you noticed an increase or decrease in activity during certain Moon phases? Is there any credit to these theories, or is it all just lunacy? Let me know what you think. The floor is yours.

© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions

Tags: ghost hunting, moon, paranormal

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James Choron July, 2011

Sverdlov’s Ghost

My first paranormal experience in Russia began, literally, the first day I arrived. This story is not about a ghost that I have seen, but rather, one that I very much want to see. I shared a suite with him the first week that I was in Moscow, but he stayed to himself that week, and I never saw him. I’m still trying…

When I first came to Russia, in the fall of 1987, I was with a major international company which had decided to take advantage of the newly “open” Russian Market. I was one of three foreigners to come over in the “first” wave and open an office in Moscow. I arrived in Moscow on 5 November, 1987 with high hopes, a knowledge of the Russian Language taught to me by the U.S. Military, and a lot of misconceptions. The company, in conjunction with the (then) Soviet Government, had arranged for an apartment for me, but, of course, it wasn’t quite ready when I arrived. This is Russia, you know.

Now, most people know that in the “bad” old days, 7 November was a very big holiday in Russia. It was “Revolution Day”, marking the anniversary of the “Great October Revolution” (a calendar change made it a November date). Next to New Years Day, it was the biggest holiday of the year. Of course, since my flat wasn’t ready for me to move into, the company had to put me up in a hotel until it was ready, and since it was Revolution Day, every hotel room in Moscow was full… what to do?

Well, to everyone’s surprise, the company found me a room. It was in the Hotel Metropol, the most exclusive and, needless to say, most expensive hotel in Moscow at that time. I not only had a room, I had a three room, corner suite on the top floor that overlooked Red Square… a perfect vantage point from which to watch the Revolution Day Parade without standing in the freezing slush of one of the foulest autumns in recorded Russian history.

Upon moving in, I noticed immediately that this suite must have cost the company a fortune… at least $500.00 an night, which at that time, was an unbelievable sum. Later, in 1991, when I came back to Russia permanently, in the era of Yeltsinite banditism, it would be nothing, but this was 1987. In any case, the Metropol is the oldest hotel in Moscow, and at that time, it was the only Five Star Hotel in the city. The suite that I moved into was decorated in turn of the century style, with heavy green carpeting, genuine oak paneling, and had elaborate carved ceiling with hanging cut crystal chandeliers in each room. It consisted of three rooms… a master bedroom, a sitting room, and a smaller bedroom that had been converted at some time into a rather ornately decorated (by turn of the century standards) office. The shelves in this office were filled with books in at least six languages, the desk was well stocked, as was a liquor cabinet behind the desk. The furniture, throughout the suite was heavy, leather upholstered and comfortable in an almost decadent way. The bathroom was huge, with a tiled floor, and an elaborate mural inlayed into the tiles that made up the wall. It had one of those fine old porcelain bathtubs that would make Caligula proud… large enough for an entire family. On one wall of the master bedroom was a small plaque which read “On this spot, died Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov, People’s Kommissar, President of the Russian Republic and First Deputy to V. I. Lenin. 18 March, 1919”. Now I was enthused. The suite was not only beautiful and comfortable, it had a history.

Being the warm, trusting and loyal company official that I was, only one thought went through my mind as I began to unpack my things. Something had to be wrong. There was no conceivable reason for a suite this nice to be empty two days before a major holiday, and… the company would never shell out the kind of money that this suite represented if it had any choice, at all. Don Martin, the man who was in charge of our “overseas operations” was the Scotsman who gave all other Scotsmen their reputation for “thrift”. I decided to make another, slightly more thorough tour of the suite.

Upon looking around more carefully, I was even more confused. The heat worked, the carpet was dry (no leaks) and everything in the bathroom was in working order. As I was looking around, I heard the key turn in the lock, and saw the door into the hallway open. A maid stepped in. She looked around for a moment, and was seemingly quite shocked to see me in the room, and my things scattered on the bed.

The woman silently went about her work, straightening the linens, placing new towels, and dusting. Every once and a while, she would look over toward me, and stare at me as though I had two heads. Finally, I asked her what was wrong. Her response was to ask me, quite quizzically, if I liked the suite.

I told her that it was beautiful, that I was lucky to get it, and that I couldn’t understand why it had stood empty just before the holiday. I went into detail about how well it was furnished, and how comfortable it was. Then, pointing at the little plaque on the wall, said… “This suite even has history…”

The woman looked over toward me, smiled a sweet, smile, and pointing to the same plaque said… “It also has a ghost…”

Now, I never saw Yakov Mikhailovich while I was there. I stayed in the suite for three days, and honestly, I really looked for him. Sverdlov had been Lenin’s deputy. He was Lenin’s hand-picked successor, and by all reports, one of the most intelligent and best informed men in the original cadre of the Bolshevik Party. Had he not died in the great worldwide Influenza Epidemic, he would have followed Lenin to power, and the Soviet Union would never have been subjected to Stalin, whom Lenin did not care for, and who actually forged his way into power over an ailing Lenin’s signature. I had a couple of questions for Comrade Sverdlov if I saw him… the first one was… “Why in Hell didn’t you wear your overcoat and take a little better care of yourself?”

I have stayed in the Metropol several times since that day, and have visited there on numerous occasions. In all those times, I have not seen him. I’m still looking. On behalf of 32 million dead, we have some serious matters to discuss.

©2011 by Dr. J. Lee Choron, all rights reserved unless granted by the author in writing.

Tags: ghost, paranormal

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