by Jason Stroming
Is it true that animals are more sensitive to the paranormal than humans are?
This is a tricky question, because again, there isn’t much that is known to be “fact” when you are dealing with the paranormal, only theories.
On the one hand, people cite certain things like animals being able to predict earthquakes and storms as being “proof” that they are also more sensitive to the paranormal. This isn’t necessarily the case. Many animals, especially family pets like dogs and cats, have vision and heariung that is outside the realm of human capability, and therefore they can possibly detect earthquakes and storms before we can because they can hear vibrations that we can’t. That doesn’t make them psychic or sensitive. It just means that their senses can pick up things that ours can’t.
But by the same argument, some people say that because animals can hear and see and smell in ranges that humans can’t, that perhaps they can indeed percieve things that are paranormal. This may be true, but there is no way to prove it. When an animal stares at nothing, or barks at a door when nobody is there, does it mean that there is a ghost there? or maybe they can just hear normal, rational things that we can’t, and so we attribute it to the paranormal? Hopefully someday we will know the answer.
If you have a question about the paranormal or ghost hunting that you’d like answered, send it to jason@epicparanormal.com
Tags: animals, debunking, ghost, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunting, thoughts
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by Jason Stroming
I apologize for not having any questions up the past few weeks. Between the Super Bowl and some other things going on right now, I haven’t been able to focus on it. But I’m back, so let’s get to this week’s question.
Have you (or anyone in EPIC) ever seen a ghost?
This is a tough question to answer. I think everyone in EPIC has had some sort of experience that they couldn’t explain. And I think the reason why we all joined EPIC was to search for anwers, because even though we couldn’t explain what we saw, we could never say that what we saw were “ghosts.” And most of us haven’t actually seen things, just heard things. But i thik it’s safe to say we’d all like to see a ghost!
As for me personally, I have seen 3 things in my life that I could consider apparitions, or what appeared to be apparitions, forms of humanoid form that were somewhat transparent and disappeared quickly. And ironically, only one of these sightings was on an actual EPIC investigation! The others took place years before I joined EPIC.
If you have a question about the paranormal or ghost hunting that you’d like answered, send it to jason@epicparanormal.com
Tags: apparition, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, paranormal, people, supernatural, thoughts
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by Laura Pennace
Why isn’t the U.S. doing this? Or are they? Although I am SURE that even though Britain is releasing a new series of government files on UFOs, we are never going to see ALL the files. For all we know, these could be mostly made up, released to the public to make it seem as though the government is being open. Mmmmmmm conspiracies. Yummy.
London, England (CNN) — A hovering Toblerone and a silky-white residue join near-misses and strange lights in the British government’s latest release of its files on UFO sightings.
Made public Thursday, the files are the fifth collection of records about unidentified flying objects to be released by the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives as part of a project to open the files up to a wider audience.
Thursday’s release is the largest so far, totaling more than 6,000 pages of material from 1994 to 2000.
The files include a sighting by a man in Birmingham, England, in March 1997. He said he came home from work at 4 a.m. to see a large blue triangle-shaped craft hovering over his back garden.
It was silent but caused dogs in the neighborhood to bark, the report said. It “shot off and disappeared” after about three minutes, the report said, leaving behind a “silky-white substance” on the treetops, some of which he saved in a jar.
Hmmm. This paraticular story REALLY makes me wonder……….(insert a series of bad jokes here).
Tags: aliens, conspiracies, conspiracy, england, ufo, ufos, UK
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by Laura Pennace
If you aren’t tan enough to be Snooki, or skilled enough to be a Survivor, but you DO see dead people….then MTV’s True Life is looking for you! If you are desperate to become a reality TV star (if only for one episode) but your only talent is in dealing with the paranormal…then please, answer this casting call.
Casting Call Information
City: Any City
State: National
| Posted On: |
01/25/2010 |
|
| Closing On: |
02/12/2010 |
| Company: |
MTV News & Docs |
Do you have ESP or a sixth sense? Are you clairvoyant? Are you a medium? Are you psychic?
True Life wants to delve into what life is like when you are blessed (or cursed) with a paranormal ability. We want to understand the intricacies of the ability, and the emotional and social challenges that come along with having it.
I can’t wait to see what comes of this…
Tags: clairvoyant, ESP, mtv, paranormal, psychic, reality tv, snooki, survivor, true life
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by Jason Stroming
Why does a location become haunted?
This is a question we as paranormal investigators are hoping to be able to answer some day. It’s one of the reasons why we investigate claims of the paranormal. The simple answer to this question is: nobody knows. Nobody quite knows what hauntings are, and therefore it’s hard to say why they happen. But there are a number of theories.
One popular theory is that some sort of traumatic or highly emotional event took place in the location. For example, a murder occuring in the house causes it to be haunted by the murder victim. Or someone who committed suicide cannot move on to the other plane. Or perhaps a woman waiting for her husband to come home from a war, waiting at a window every day for years, casues people in the present to still see her. Whether these are the actual souls of the deceased or just the energy captured and played back by the earth remains to be seen. But most hauntings seem to be accompanied by some sort of highly emotional event.
Other hauntings appear (in theory) to be simply the souls of the departed who have some unfinished business here amongst the living. Theory goes that perhaps they are trying to tell a loved one goodbye, or something specific about their life. Perhaps they died without knowing answers to questions they had, and they seek those answers from the living. In cases like this, we often see people haunted by ghosts that they recognize, or at least sounds, smells, or actions that they recognize or have specific meaning to them.
There are also reports of objects being haunted, and bringing such objects into your home or business can cause the location to seem haunted, even though the haunt is tied to the object. Think of a Civil War rifle that someone has purchased. Perhaps the original owner of the rifle felt some sort of attachment to it and followed the rifle to its new home, hoping to retrieve it? Or maybe once again, the energy of a traumatic event (war) was imprinted on the gun, and that residual energy follows the gun around, no matter where it goes or who owns it.
Again, these are all theories, since nobody really knows what hauntings are or what causes them. All we can do at this point is record correlations and relationships, and hope that they point us in the right direction, so we can someday answer these questions scientifically.
If you have a question about the paranormal or ghost hunting that you’d like answered, send it to jason@epicparanormal.com
Tags: ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, News, paranormal, people, supernatural, thoughts, types of hauntings
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by Laura Pennace
The first rule of being a paranormal investigator is to make sure you are doing everything legally (i.e., not trespassing)! Though this particular case seems to be more about choosing the wrong kinds of team members. (Although, interestingly, the person arrested is also the founder of the group…)
ENFIELD, Conn. – A Connecticut-based paranormal investigator charged with felony theft denies that he failed to return a $2,200 thermal imaging camera he used during investigations to its owner.
Twenty-seven-year-old Matthew Kondracki of Enfield is scheduled to appear in Superior Court next Tuesday on a third-degree larceny charge, which carries one to five years in prison upon conviction.
The Journal Inquirer newspaper reported Thursday that Kondracki, an investigator with the Enfield Paranormal Society, was arrested Monday after a woman, whom police didn’t identify, complained to authorities.
Kondracki told The Associated Press the woman was the organization’s manager and bought the camera for the group. He says she was the last person to see it before it disappeared in November.
Thermal imagers are so hot right now. HA! Get it?? What a hot mess this situation is. (DOUBLE HA!)
Tags: arrested, connecticut, Enfield Paranormal Society, felony, ghost hunters, paranormal, people, theft, thermal, thermal imager, thoughts, whoops
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by Laura Pennace
Did you have an imaginary friend when you were a child? Did you know that there is a theory that the imaginary friend isn’t imaginary at all, but instead a ghost? Which is what makes this study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry so potentially interesting…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Nearly 1 in 10 seven- to eight-year-olds hears voices that aren’t really there, according to a new study.
But most children who hear voices don’t find them troubling or disruptive to their thinking, the study team found. “These voices in general have a limited impact in daily life,” Agna A. Bartels-Velthuis of University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
And parents whose children hear voices should not be overly concerned, she added. “In most cases the voices will just disappear. I would advise them to reassure their child and to watch him or her closely.”
Up to 16 percent of mentally healthy children and teens may hear voices, the researchers note in the British Journal of Psychiatry. While hearing voices can signal a heightened risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in later life, they add, the “great majority” of young people who have these experiences never become mentally ill.
To further investigate how common these “auditory vocal hallucinations” are and whether they are associated with developmental and behavioral factors, the researchers looked at 3,870 Groningen primary schoolers. All were asked whether they had heard “one or more voices that only you and no one else could hear” in the past year.
Nine percent of the children answered yes. Only 15 percent of these children said the voices caused them serious suffering, and 19 percent said the voices interfered with their thinking. Boys and girls were equally likely to report hearing voices, but girls were more likely to report suffering and anxiety due to the voices.
While past studies have linked complications in the womb or during early infancy with the likelihood of hearing voices, Bartels-Velthuis and her team found no such relationship. The researcher said that she and her colleagues had expected that hearing voices would be more common among urban children than among their rural peers, “but to our surprise, the contrary was the case in our sample. We have no explanation for this finding.”
Tags: children, paranormal, people, thoughts, voices
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by Laura Pennace
If you’ve voted in one Romanian election, you’ve voted in them all. Can you imagine this happening in the United States? Obama vs. McCain and a parapsychologist sending bad vibes all over the place. I think the lesson here is clear: never trust a man with a beard.
Aliodor Manolea (left, with beard), a parapsychologist, was seen next to Romania’s President Traian Basescu (right) at an event last month. Manolea’s specialties include deep mind control. (Associated Press via Octav Ganea/ Gandul Daily)
BUCHAREST, Romania – Was a top contender for the Romanian presidency zapped out of the race by a shadowy parapsychologist enlisted by his rival?
The claim might be dismissed as preposterous in most other European Union countries. But here in Romania, home of Dracula and other occult traditions, Mircea Geoana’s assertion that a “negative energy attack’’ led to his narrow loss to reelected President Traian Basescu has been the talk of the nation.
Like most former Soviet bloc nations, Romania is used to rough and tumble politics and the first claims and counterclaims after Basescu’s narrow Dec. 6 runoff victory were nothing out of the ordinary, with Geoana’s people complaining of massive fraud.
Then came the startling allegation: Geoana, in media interviews last week, asserted that he was targeted by waves of negative energy during a key debate just before the runoff that was won by Basescu.
“People who were working for Basescu in this domain were present to the right of the camera,’’ Geoana told Antena 3 Television. His wife, Mihaela said Geoana “was very badly attacked, he couldn’t concentrate.’’
At first Romanians mocked their former foreign minister saying he was a bad loser. Basescu himself jokingly dismissed the allegations. But the recent publication of photos showing well-known parapsychologist Aliodor Manolea close to Basescu during the campaign has caused Romanians to wonder whether the president really did put a hex on his rival.
The photos show Manolea, a slightly built, bearded man with a round face and cropped receding hair, walking yards behind Basescu ahead of the debate. Manolea’s specialties include deep mind control, clairvoyance, and hypnotic trance, according to the Romanian Association of Transpersonal Psychology.
I kind of am enjoying this. Imagine “negative energy” being used as an excuse for…well, everything. I did poorly in math in high school because someone was sending me negative energy. I overslept because of negative energy. I lost my job because of negative energy. I killed that guy because of negative energy! I swear it’s a valid excuse!
Tags: clairvoyance, dracula, election, hypnotism, mind control, Mircea Geoana, negative energy, paranormal, parapsychologist, politics, presidential election, romania, Traian Basescu
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by Laura Pennace
I’m not surprised this Dear Abby question is coming from Massachusetts (and I’m allowed to say that because I’m from there!). Children, beware.
Dear Abby: My mother is a spry, 75-year-old woman who has expressed an unusual request. She has told us “kids” that when she is called by the angels, she wants to be dressed in an aqua nightgown or PJs, and to be lying on her side. She says she will be sleeping for a long time, and she wants to make sure she’s comfortable. She also says if we don’t carry out her wishes, she will come back and haunt us.
I have attended many wakes, but I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this done before. What do you think?
- Wants to Do Right By Mama in Massachusetts
Dear Wants To Do Right: I think it’s wonderful that your mother is discussing this now — and I hope your letter will encourage more readers to begin this kind of important conversation with their loved ones.
Because the alternative is to be “haunted” to eternity, you should honor your mother’s wishes. But because laws vary from state to state, readers who want to find out what the law is in their state should visit www.funerals.org and view the Personal Preference page.
What can I even say that would do justice to this post? Nothing. Nothing at all. Just enjoy it folks, and always respect your elders. Or else.
Tags: dear abby, death, ghosts, haunted, massachusetts, mothers, paranormal, parents, watch out
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by Laura Pennace
If people can become ghosts, why can’t animals? That is the pretext for Animal Planet’s new show, The Haunted, which is arguably one of the better paranormal shows on TV right now. It’s casting light on what many consider to be a very real phenomenon: animal ghosts. Is believing your deceased pet still with you a way of a coping, or an actual occurrence? This article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette attempts to delve into this issue by consulting psychiatrists, physics, and religious officials.
Matters of the mind
Dr. Mark D. Miller, an associate professor of psychiatry at UPMC’s Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, said his profession generally views reports of pet spirit encounters as nonpathological, grief-related hallucinations.
It’s very common for people to have friendly hallucinations of deceased relatives, he said. About 50 percent to 80 percent have them at least once in the first year after a death.
“It’s on an unconscious level. We really think it’s a phenomenon where the critical thinking part of your brain is suspended, because you want to believe so much that, yes, maybe they are coming back, maybe they aren’t really dead,” he said.
Matters of spirit
Renee Takacs, of Mars, who calls herself an animal communicator, said a pet spirit can feel its owner’s grief after its death, and can come back to ease their owner’s pain. It doesn’t return because it misses its owner, she said.
“In my experience, when an animal crosses over into spirit, there’s usually such a sense of relief and freedom that only love exists then,” she said. “They will come back from the spirit realm to visit their person because of the loving connection, not because of a lower vibrational emotion like sadness.”
Matters of faith
It’s a complicated subject that’s not at the forefront of religious discussions, said the Rev. Kimberly A. Rapczak, one of several local clergy who host pet remembrance services at Animal Friends, the no-kill shelter in Ohio Township.
There are people who would believe in the existence of animal souls and their survival beyond death, but not all of those people would believe that an animal’s spirit could come back to visit, she said.
For example, Joe Hirsch, chairman of the Hearts and Paws Ministry at Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park, said he believes animals have souls, but he doesn’t believe in the paranormal. In his view, a belief in pet spirits comes from grief and a memory connection.
He said he thinks about his recently deceased cat, Miracle, all the time. It’s a fresh wound, and sometimes at night, he reaches out next to his pillow to pet her. “That’s not a paranormal experience. It’s just my looking for what is missing, similar to people who lose a limb and still feel it’s there, that kind of thing.”
Undoubtedly losing a pet can be a very traumatic experience for any loving pet owner. In this type of case, I think whatever the individual person wants to believe is going to be what’s true for them. There are few things in life that can get in the way of a person and their pet.
Tags: belief, debunking, ghost pet, ghost pets, ghosts, haunted, paranormal, pets, pittsburgh
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