Sunday, December 22, 2013
Thank you!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Beware of Ouija boards!
Since I started this blog, I've been watching and reading tons of paranormal TV shows and books, and I've noticed quite a few instances where paranormal activity began after someone in the household used a Ouija board. Anyone who has seen The Exorcist is probably afraid to use a Ouija board, and they should be...here are some stories I found online where people have claimed that hauntings or demonic possession occurred as a result of a Ouija board:
-In a house in Kentucky, a man and his girlfriend's family used a Ouija board, which spelled out that the spirit of a 16-year-old boy named Dan was communicating with them. Dan said that he was in the bedroom of the girlfriend's younger brother, then scratching and creaking noises could be heard coming from the dark room. Their dog began playing with something in the room, and when the family entered the room after being urged to by Dan, they saw a "small black shadow," and on the bed, "something unseen sat beside [them] and the pillow sank down where it sat." They used the Ouija board a few more times, and things kept escalating...it's an interesting story, and you can read the whole thing here:
http://ouijaboardky.tripod.com/ouijastitions/id10.html
-In Winnipeg, Canada, a woman named Danielle converted from Christianity to Satanism and bought a Ouija board to help her summon demons. During one session, she made contact with something that said it was bad and might hurt someone; she asked how many spirits were there, and the demon said there were three of them and that their names were Belial, Malphas, and Legion. Danielle decided to end the session and heard hissing when she tried to leave. Her friend took her to a church, and Danielle "kept seeing orange auras" on the way there. Danielle doesn't remember entering the church, but recalls being inside and choking, feeling like "something was trying to come out of [her]." An exorcism was performed, but Danielle says that only Malphas left her body' Belial and Legion are still there.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/demonsandexorcism/a/Possessed-By-Three-Demons.htm
-In Middleton, Idaho, 17-year-old Derek let his friends bring a Ouija board to his house, and after they used it, Derek began experiencing his "bed moving, scratching on walls, waking up with heaviness on [his] chest and not being able to move or speak and even seeing a very tall dark cloaked figure that physically attacked [him]."
http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=8934
If I had ever thought about using a Ouija board (I haven't), these stories would definitely scare me out of it...and there are a few dozen more stories on this website:
http://www.yourghoststories.com/ghost-stories-categories.php?category=13&page=1
In conclusion, there's really no good reason to use a Ouija board unless you really want to be possessed or haunted...and who wants that?
-In a house in Kentucky, a man and his girlfriend's family used a Ouija board, which spelled out that the spirit of a 16-year-old boy named Dan was communicating with them. Dan said that he was in the bedroom of the girlfriend's younger brother, then scratching and creaking noises could be heard coming from the dark room. Their dog began playing with something in the room, and when the family entered the room after being urged to by Dan, they saw a "small black shadow," and on the bed, "something unseen sat beside [them] and the pillow sank down where it sat." They used the Ouija board a few more times, and things kept escalating...it's an interesting story, and you can read the whole thing here:
http://ouijaboardky.tripod.com/ouijastitions/id10.html
-In Winnipeg, Canada, a woman named Danielle converted from Christianity to Satanism and bought a Ouija board to help her summon demons. During one session, she made contact with something that said it was bad and might hurt someone; she asked how many spirits were there, and the demon said there were three of them and that their names were Belial, Malphas, and Legion. Danielle decided to end the session and heard hissing when she tried to leave. Her friend took her to a church, and Danielle "kept seeing orange auras" on the way there. Danielle doesn't remember entering the church, but recalls being inside and choking, feeling like "something was trying to come out of [her]." An exorcism was performed, but Danielle says that only Malphas left her body' Belial and Legion are still there.
http://paranormal.about.com/od/demonsandexorcism/a/Possessed-By-Three-Demons.htm
-In Middleton, Idaho, 17-year-old Derek let his friends bring a Ouija board to his house, and after they used it, Derek began experiencing his "bed moving, scratching on walls, waking up with heaviness on [his] chest and not being able to move or speak and even seeing a very tall dark cloaked figure that physically attacked [him]."
http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=8934
If I had ever thought about using a Ouija board (I haven't), these stories would definitely scare me out of it...and there are a few dozen more stories on this website:
http://www.yourghoststories.com/ghost-stories-categories.php?category=13&page=1
In conclusion, there's really no good reason to use a Ouija board unless you really want to be possessed or haunted...and who wants that?
Friday, December 13, 2013
Movie Spotlight: R.I.P.D.
R.I.P.D. is a 2013 movie starring Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Mary Louise Parker, Kevin Bacon, Stephanie Szostak, James Hong, and Marisa Miller. Boston police officer Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds) is murdered by his partner (Kevin Bacon) and joins the R.I.P.D. (Rest in Peace Department) to help protect the world from the dead. His partner is Roy Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), a former U.S. Marshall who lived in the 1800s.
R.I.P.D. got mostly negative reviews, but if you watch movies just to be entertained, you should check it out. That's why I watch movies, and I enjoyed it...the concept of the movie (which was based on a comic book) is really interesting and different, and all of the actors were great, especially Jeff Bridges. Fun fact: Zach Galifianakis was originally offered the role of Roy Pulsipher, but he ended up dropping out of the movie because of scheduling conflicts; I love Zach, so I would've liked to see him in that role. : )
http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/ripd/
R.I.P.D. got mostly negative reviews, but if you watch movies just to be entertained, you should check it out. That's why I watch movies, and I enjoyed it...the concept of the movie (which was based on a comic book) is really interesting and different, and all of the actors were great, especially Jeff Bridges. Fun fact: Zach Galifianakis was originally offered the role of Roy Pulsipher, but he ended up dropping out of the movie because of scheduling conflicts; I love Zach, so I would've liked to see him in that role. : )
http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/ripd/
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Dead Files: Hotel Nowhere
I watched my first episode of the Travel Channel's The Dead Files a few days ago; the episode was called "Hotel Nowhere" and aired in May 2013. The show stars Amy Allan, a psychic medium who communicates with the dead, and Steve Dischiavi, a former homicide detective who researches the history of the haunted location. Amy and Steve never speak to each other during an investigation, only at the end. In this episode, Amy and Steve meet Todd, a single father who bought a California mansion that he planned on turning into a hotel. Todd says that he’s heard footsteps, and people have been touched when no one is near them. He has turned the house into a haunted attraction eight years in a row, and over 30,000 people have come through, so he’s afraid that he’s “stirred things up.” Laura, one of Todd’s haunted attraction employees, says she was standing in a closet and something grabbed her and pulled her farther into the closest; when she got out and shone her flashlight in there, there was no one there. She quit that night.
Todd once saw a black entity in the bedroom, and it rushed at him; Todd screamed and it disappeared. He tells Steve that the house used to be a sanitarium. Over the past few years, Todd has had about 100 groups come in and investigate the house. While Todd and Steve talk, Amy walks through the mansion and senses mentally ill and sick presences. Glenda, Todd’s sister, feels uneasy in the house and “gets the shakes” every time she goes there; she says her friend got really ill, like she was having a heart attack, when she visited the house and ended up in the hospital for 3 days…and no one could ever figure out what was wrong with her. Glenda also says that something touches her every time she’s in the house; she thinks that Todd should bulldoze the house and says she would never spend the night alone there. In the basement, Amy says the spirits hang out there, and she senses people banging on the walls, trying to get out. The dead are telling her that they’re fed up “with the living antagonizing them.”
Steve meets with David Hadden, the county coroner, to learn more about the sanitarium. Hadden says it originally took in tuberculosis patients, and dead bodies were kept in the basement until the mortician could get them. After tuberculosis died down, the sanitarium began accepting mental patients and did not treat them well; “they’d chain them to toilets and sinks, they’d have them lying nude in the hallway, some did electroshock therapy and lobotomies, or they’d over-medicate them.” In the library, Steve finds an article saying a man named Tony Andrews bought the property, but lost it in foreclosure; Tony died of cirrhosis at age 36. Outside Amy senses a spirit who says he “rules the roost” and was forced to get rid of the property; she says he thought it was great when he had it and is not happy about what it turned into, and Amy has a bad feeling about him.
After Amy and Steve complete their separate investigations, Amy tells Todd that she sensed spirits of mentally ill people“ crawling on the ceiling and down the side of the stairs” and that saw someone throwing up; Todd says that people have come to the house and suddenly vomited. Amy also tells Todd that she saw mistreatment, such as a woman “who was being held down and beaten” and “a patient having his head beat in." Todd says that when he had the structure torn down that used to house mental patients, the paranormal activity increased. Amy says that she saw a man and a woman who kept saying “We did a good job,” and Steve tells her that a woman used to own the sanitarium and sold it to Orrell Lamoreaux, who later died in the house. Todd wants to advertise his future hotel as a haunted one, but Amy advises Todd to provide counseling for the spirits (using a transpersonal psychologist) and to have an exorcism to get rid of the spirits who don’t respond to counseling. Amy says the spirits are aggressive, and Todd could be putting his guests’ lives in danger. Todd has not contacted a transpersonal psychologist and is still planning to turn the mansion into a hotel.
The Dead Files was an interesting show, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other paranormal shows I've watched, such as Ghost Bait or When Ghosts Attack. Once Todd opens his haunted hotel, I hope no one is actually dumb enough to stay there...that sounds like a really bad idea.
My rating: 7/10
Monday, December 9, 2013
Free book: Dying to Forget by Trish Marie Dawson
Dying to Forget by Trish Marie Dawson is free today! Here's the Amazon description:
"Sometimes the day you die is only the beginning of a new job.
Piper Willow dies the summer after her high school graduation and finds herself in a spiritual terminal called the Station. She's given only two choices: Move on to the unknown where she'll be faced to spend an eternity in her own personal hell or be trained as a Volunteer and return to Earth as the subconscious for a person in need of outside assistance. Does Piper have what it takes to save a life, to be the nagging voice inside another person's head? Or will she fail and end up lost and tormented...forever?"
Sounds like a good one...I just got my copy!
http://www.amazon.com/Dying-To-Forget-The-Station-ebook/dp/B008S2RKAU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1386610332&sr=8-4&keywords=trish+marie+dawson
"Sometimes the day you die is only the beginning of a new job.
Piper Willow dies the summer after her high school graduation and finds herself in a spiritual terminal called the Station. She's given only two choices: Move on to the unknown where she'll be faced to spend an eternity in her own personal hell or be trained as a Volunteer and return to Earth as the subconscious for a person in need of outside assistance. Does Piper have what it takes to save a life, to be the nagging voice inside another person's head? Or will she fail and end up lost and tormented...forever?"
Sounds like a good one...I just got my copy!
http://www.amazon.com/Dying-To-Forget-The-Station-ebook/dp/B008S2RKAU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1386610332&sr=8-4&keywords=trish+marie+dawson
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Book award
It's time to vote for the Turning the Pages Book of the Year, and Never Trust an Angel and Other Plays is in the running! You can vote for it in the general voting area as well as the comedy and drama categories...For I Am Zeus won the comedy category last year, and I'd love to win it again this year! It only takes a minute to vote, and I'll be so grateful to everyone who does it. Thank you! : )
http://turningthepagesbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/book-of-year-2013-is-now-open.html?spref=tw
http://turningthepagesbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/book-of-year-2013-is-now-open.html?spref=tw
Friday, December 6, 2013
Things I've Learned from ALF
1. Malmacians live for 100 years.
2. ALF stands for Alien Life Form.
3. Melmac has a purple sun.
4. ALF doesn’t get Sesame Street on Melmac and doesn’t “get” it
here either.
5. Melmac no longer exists because it exploded.
6. If the Army takes ALF to a lab, they’ll see how he reacts to
extreme cold, heat, poke him with needles, and dissect him.
7. ALF’s real name is Gordon Shumway.
8. ALF uses a blender to make peanut butter sandwiches.
9. ALF is 98% hair.
10. It’s against the law to shoot anteaters.
11. A family is like a crescent wrench.
12. The 3 C’s are “cooperation, courtesy, and respect.”
13. Nuclear disasters are “no picnic.”
14. The reason that Melmac exploded was not because “everyone plugged their hair
dryers in at the same time.”
15. ALF likes cats “with a side of fries.”
16. Hamsters taste just like rats.
17. Cats can be hypnotized.
18. There’s a family of “cucumber people” on Mars.
19. Decorating involves posters and paint, and that’s it.
20. Gold is worthless on Melmac, but foam is worth a lot.
21. It’s pretty easy for an alien to write a soap opera script
and get it on the air almost immediately.
22. On Melmac, the postage rates were “first class, second
class, fish, and ham.”
23. Everyone on Melmac could communicate with the dead.
24. There are two planets next to Pluto called Dave and Alvin.
25. It would take two hours to pull the hair out of Alf’s body.
26.If you spray a Melmacian roach with bug spray, it will grow
to be the size of a door and can be killed with perfume (and it will be horrifying).
27. Cats are delicious.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Book Review: Help for the Haunted by John Searles
Help for the Haunted by John Searles was published in September 2013 and is about Sylvie and Rose Mason, sisters whose paranormal investigator parents (Sylvester and Rose) were murdered in a church while young Sylvie waited for them in the car. I really enjoyed this novel, and as I was reading it, I couldn't help but think of famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (who were portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring)...Help for the Haunted's Sylvester and Rose even have a creepy doll come into their possession! On the Amazon page for this book, Searles mentions in an interview with Gillian Flynn that he grew up in the same town as The Warrens, so it makes sense that The Masons have some similarities to The Warrens.
Here's the Amazon description:
"John Searles’s Help for the Haunted is an unforgettable story of a most unusual family, their deep secrets, their harrowing tragedy, and ultimately, a daughter’s discovery of a dark and unexpected mystery.
Here's the Amazon description:
"John Searles’s Help for the Haunted is an unforgettable story of a most unusual family, their deep secrets, their harrowing tragedy, and ultimately, a daughter’s discovery of a dark and unexpected mystery.
Sylvie Mason’s parents have an
unusual occupation—helping “haunted souls” find peace. After receiving a
strange phone call one winter’s night, they leave the house and are
later murdered in an old church in a horrifying act of violence.
A year later, Sylvie is living in the care of her older sister, who may be to blame for what happened to their parents. Now, the inquisitive teenager pursues the mystery, moving closer to the knowledge of what occurred that night—and to the truth about her family’s past and the secrets that have haunted them for years.
Capturing the vivid eeriness of Stephen King’s works with the compelling quirkiness of John Irving’s beloved novels, Help for the Haunted is that rare story that brings to life a richly imagined and wholly original world."
I recommend Help for the Haunted to anyone who is interested in the paranormal or anyone who just wants to read a great novel. I really felt for Sylvie and wanted to her to solve the mystery of her parents' deaths (and the mystery of her parents in general)...and when she found out the truth, I did not see it coming at all!
My rating: 8/10
A year later, Sylvie is living in the care of her older sister, who may be to blame for what happened to their parents. Now, the inquisitive teenager pursues the mystery, moving closer to the knowledge of what occurred that night—and to the truth about her family’s past and the secrets that have haunted them for years.
Capturing the vivid eeriness of Stephen King’s works with the compelling quirkiness of John Irving’s beloved novels, Help for the Haunted is that rare story that brings to life a richly imagined and wholly original world."
I recommend Help for the Haunted to anyone who is interested in the paranormal or anyone who just wants to read a great novel. I really felt for Sylvie and wanted to her to solve the mystery of her parents' deaths (and the mystery of her parents in general)...and when she found out the truth, I did not see it coming at all!
My rating: 8/10
Friday, November 29, 2013
Book Review: Chasing Spirits by Nick Groff
I’ve only watched one episode of Ghost Adventures (which
stars paranormal investigators Nick Groff, Zak Bagans, and Aaron Goodwin), but
when I saw that the library had a book written by Nick Groff (with Jeff
Belanger), I decided to read Chasing Spirits: The Building of the Ghost
Adventures Crew to find out more about how the show came into
existence. Nick has had paranormal experiences
since childhood; he had a near-death experience when he was eight years old and
saw his first ghost at age ten, so it’s not too surprising that he made a
documentary about ghost hunting years later and that it led to Nick, Zak, and
Aaron getting a show on the Travel Channel. The book was very interesting, and I enjoyed reading about Nick's life. My favorite chapters were "Possession in Savannah," where Nick talks about an entity attaching itself to him (causing him to have thoughts that weren't his own about killing Zak and Aaron) when the Ghost Adventures crew was investigating the Moon River Brewery in Savannah, Georgia, and "Linda Vista Hospital: The Game Changer," in which Nick recounts the scariest moment of his life...locking eyes with a woman in a hospital gown, who, of course, was a spirit. Near the end of the book, Nick said something that I really agree with: "It's always bothered me that when you think the paranormal exists, it's called belief and subject to ridicule and mockery. But when you buy into religion unabashedly, it's called faith, and that's perfectly acceptable" (page 219). This has always bothered me too...more people have seen paranormal entities than God, so I've never understood why it's seen as normal to believe in God, but people will act like someone's crazy if they say they've seen a ghost or an alien.
I really enjoyed Chasing Ghosts, and it made me want to watch more episodes of Ghost Adventures. I'm excited to watch the two that are on my DVR (especially the one that takes place at the old jail in my hometown of Charleston, SC) and I'll definitely watch even more of them!
My rating: 8/10
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Cool Website of the Week: Ghost Village
Today's Cool Website of the Week is ghostvillage.com, which is described as "the web's most popular paranormal destination." Check out the "Encounters" section if you want to be creeped out!
http://ghostvillage.com
http://ghostvillage.com
Saturday, November 23, 2013
UFOs Crashed My Vacation
The 2013 Travel Channel show UFOs Crashed My Vacation tells the stories of "six vacations that didn't go as planned." The first vacation-gone-wrong is the trip Chuck Rak, Charlie Foltz, and Jack and John Weiner took in Allagash, Maine in 1976. The Boston art students were planning on a few relaxing days of camping and fishing, but that all changed once Charlie spotted something red glowing in the sky. A few nights later, the men went fishing in a canoe and saw the object hovering above them, so Charlie signaled the UFO with a light; it started moving toward them, then a beam of light came out of the bottom onto the water. The men found themselves on the shore with no recollection of how they got there. Jack had nightmares for the next twelve years, so he underwent hypnosis to try to remember what happened; the other three also did it, and Jack, Jim, and Charlie all recalled being painfully examined by aliens. Charlie doesn't believe that they were abducted and thinks the UFO left them alone.
In July 1994 in San Francisco Bay, Ruben Uriante was meditating when he heard a voice say "You're going to England." He went to Wiltshire County to see crop circles with a tour group, and later that night, they heard that a new crop circle had appeared, so they went to check it out. Ruben attempted to communicate telepathically with whoever told him he was going to England, saying he would be thankful if it appeared to him; a few minutes later, a ball of light appeared and began descending, followed by two more. They disappeared as soon as someone took out a video camera.
In Denver, Colorado in August 1982, Denise and Ed Stoner were on the road when they spotted two bright red lights moving toward them; she asked Ed to slow down, but he was in a trance. The next thing they knew, it was three hours later and they had traveled forty miles with no recollection of doing it. A few years later, Denise underwent hypnosis to remember that night; while under hypnosis, she drew a UFO and remembered two "entities" taking her out of the car and implanting a tracking device in her foot when she was on the UFO.
In July 1975 in Mount Rainer, Washington, newlyweds Bob and Laurel Gilge were looking for a campsite when they saw a sign for a UFO convention. They decided to go, and when they tried to leave, the conference leader said they couldn't go because the group was about to do a ceremony just for them. Someone began speaking in tongues, and the leader drew crosses on Bob and Laurel's foreheads with oil. Back at their campsite, Bob and Laurel heard a hum that kept getting louder, then saw a UFO and started screaming at it that they wouldn't get on it. The UFO disappeared.
In southern California in July 1990, supernatural enthusiasts Melinda Leslie and her friends Steve and Mike decided to take a trip to a place in the San Bernadino Mountains that was known for UFO sightings. On the two-hour drive, Steve stuck his search light out of the window to attract a UFO, and a few minutes later, strange lights appeared in the sky. The search light died, their police scanner began malfunctioning, their walkie-talkies started making noise, and they saw three flashes of light in the car. Their next memory was of driving on the road and being extremely thirsty; they looked at the clock and realized that it was three hours later than they thought it would be. Three days later, Melinda started remembering things, such as the car stopping and being approached by extraterrestrials, walking up a ramp into a UFO, and having needles stuck in her; she thinks that the aliens may have taken eggs from her as well.
In December 2000, Juan Cardenas and his family (wife Patricia and sons Jesus and Jonathan) were on a road trip from Pasco, Washington to Mexico when they spotted a bright light moving in the sky over southwest Texas. Patricia began filming it, and the kids eventually convinced Juan to pull over so they could get out and look at the object. The light started changing color, and Juan decided it was time to leave; the light followed them for awhile, then it disappeared. Juan did not believe in UFOs before that night, but he's convinced that's what his family encountered.
I'm not sure if UFOs Crashed My Vacation is going to be a regular show or if it was just a special, but I hope they do some more of these. It was a different take on the UFO show since it only focused on people who were on vacation, and I'm sure there are plenty more stories they could share.
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/ufos-crashed-my-vacation
In July 1994 in San Francisco Bay, Ruben Uriante was meditating when he heard a voice say "You're going to England." He went to Wiltshire County to see crop circles with a tour group, and later that night, they heard that a new crop circle had appeared, so they went to check it out. Ruben attempted to communicate telepathically with whoever told him he was going to England, saying he would be thankful if it appeared to him; a few minutes later, a ball of light appeared and began descending, followed by two more. They disappeared as soon as someone took out a video camera.
In Denver, Colorado in August 1982, Denise and Ed Stoner were on the road when they spotted two bright red lights moving toward them; she asked Ed to slow down, but he was in a trance. The next thing they knew, it was three hours later and they had traveled forty miles with no recollection of doing it. A few years later, Denise underwent hypnosis to remember that night; while under hypnosis, she drew a UFO and remembered two "entities" taking her out of the car and implanting a tracking device in her foot when she was on the UFO.
In July 1975 in Mount Rainer, Washington, newlyweds Bob and Laurel Gilge were looking for a campsite when they saw a sign for a UFO convention. They decided to go, and when they tried to leave, the conference leader said they couldn't go because the group was about to do a ceremony just for them. Someone began speaking in tongues, and the leader drew crosses on Bob and Laurel's foreheads with oil. Back at their campsite, Bob and Laurel heard a hum that kept getting louder, then saw a UFO and started screaming at it that they wouldn't get on it. The UFO disappeared.
In southern California in July 1990, supernatural enthusiasts Melinda Leslie and her friends Steve and Mike decided to take a trip to a place in the San Bernadino Mountains that was known for UFO sightings. On the two-hour drive, Steve stuck his search light out of the window to attract a UFO, and a few minutes later, strange lights appeared in the sky. The search light died, their police scanner began malfunctioning, their walkie-talkies started making noise, and they saw three flashes of light in the car. Their next memory was of driving on the road and being extremely thirsty; they looked at the clock and realized that it was three hours later than they thought it would be. Three days later, Melinda started remembering things, such as the car stopping and being approached by extraterrestrials, walking up a ramp into a UFO, and having needles stuck in her; she thinks that the aliens may have taken eggs from her as well.
In December 2000, Juan Cardenas and his family (wife Patricia and sons Jesus and Jonathan) were on a road trip from Pasco, Washington to Mexico when they spotted a bright light moving in the sky over southwest Texas. Patricia began filming it, and the kids eventually convinced Juan to pull over so they could get out and look at the object. The light started changing color, and Juan decided it was time to leave; the light followed them for awhile, then it disappeared. Juan did not believe in UFOs before that night, but he's convinced that's what his family encountered.
I'm not sure if UFOs Crashed My Vacation is going to be a regular show or if it was just a special, but I hope they do some more of these. It was a different take on the UFO show since it only focused on people who were on vacation, and I'm sure there are plenty more stories they could share.
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/ufos-crashed-my-vacation
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Unsealed: Alien Files: Alien Hot Spots
I recently watched the half-hour show Unsealed: Alien Files, which is hosted by John Wells. This episode was called "Alien Hot Spots," and it focused on areas that are known for having a great deal of UFO activity. These are the four hot spots the show focused on:
-Los Angeles, California: Hundreds of UFOs were seen in Topanga Canyon on June 14, 1992. The "Battle Over Los Angeles" occurred on February 24, 1942 when the U.S. Army tried to shoot a UFO down, but it got away...the next day, the Secretary of the Navy said it was a weather balloon. (You can find more about L.A.'s numerous UFO sightings here: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_flyingobjects54.htm.
-Texas: There have been hundreds of UFO sightings here since the 1800s. It is said that in 1897, an alien was buried in Aurora after its UFO crashed. Mysterious glowing lights (the Marfa Lights) have been spotted multiple times a year in Marfa since the 1950s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa_lights). A UFO was once spotted heading toward Corpus Christi at 2500 miles per hour.
-London, England: There have been 12,000 UFO sightings in London in the past sixty years, as well as several reports of airplanes almost colliding with UFOs. In Rendlesham Forest in late 1980, strange lights came from a triangular UFO that was sitting on the ground
(http://www.therendleshamforestincident.com/Home.htm).
-China: There have been reports of a flaming UFO (http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc476.htm) and a mass UFO sighting.
Unsealed: Alien Files is an interesting show, but I wish it were an hour instead of thirty minutes because I would've liked to hear more details about each of the incidents mentioned on the show. Despite this, I will definitely watch more episodes.
My rating: 7/10
http://www.unsealedfiles.com/the-alien-files
-Los Angeles, California: Hundreds of UFOs were seen in Topanga Canyon on June 14, 1992. The "Battle Over Los Angeles" occurred on February 24, 1942 when the U.S. Army tried to shoot a UFO down, but it got away...the next day, the Secretary of the Navy said it was a weather balloon. (You can find more about L.A.'s numerous UFO sightings here: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_flyingobjects54.htm.
-Texas: There have been hundreds of UFO sightings here since the 1800s. It is said that in 1897, an alien was buried in Aurora after its UFO crashed. Mysterious glowing lights (the Marfa Lights) have been spotted multiple times a year in Marfa since the 1950s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfa_lights). A UFO was once spotted heading toward Corpus Christi at 2500 miles per hour.
-London, England: There have been 12,000 UFO sightings in London in the past sixty years, as well as several reports of airplanes almost colliding with UFOs. In Rendlesham Forest in late 1980, strange lights came from a triangular UFO that was sitting on the ground
(http://www.therendleshamforestincident.com/Home.htm).
-China: There have been reports of a flaming UFO (http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc476.htm) and a mass UFO sighting.
Unsealed: Alien Files is an interesting show, but I wish it were an hour instead of thirty minutes because I would've liked to hear more details about each of the incidents mentioned on the show. Despite this, I will definitely watch more episodes.
My rating: 7/10
http://www.unsealedfiles.com/the-alien-files
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Book Review: Messages by Stan Romanek
Messages: The World's Most Documented Extraterrestrial Contact Story by Stan Romanek with J. Allen Danelek tells the story of a man's repeated contact with extraterrestrials, and it's the most fascinating book I've ever read. In fact, it's so fascinating that I went on Amazon and bought another of Stan's books and one written by his wife Lisa before I was even finished with Messages. Stan Romanek is a former UFO skeptic who became a believer after catching a UFO on film on the way to Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado in late 2000. He saw his second UFO seven months later near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border; two passengers in Stan's car also witnessed it, and Stan got this sighting on film as well. In September 2001, Stan was abducted for the first time, and he would be abducted many more times over the next few years. In many cases, he would wake up outside his home with no way to get back inside and with no memory of what had happened, but he remembered what happened during the abductions when he underwent hypnosis.
The fact that I run a paranormal blog should make it pretty obvious that I already believe in aliens, but if I didn't, I think this book would've made me a believer. Stan's story is compelling, and the photographs in the book back up his story. There are pictures of marks Stan found on his body after his first abduction (which glowed under a black light) and of marks he found next to his knee after a later abduction where he came back with a completely healed ACL and hamstring, which had been hurting him so badly that he'd been planning on having surgery a few days later. There are also pictures of aliens that look pretty damn real to me; in one part of the book, Stan talks about how his digital camera went missing, and a few days later, Lisa found it hanging from the ceiling fan with a few extra pictures on it. When I turned the page and saw the picture Stan included, I actually gasped out loud at the extraterrestrial face I saw staring back at me. I'm sure there are many people out there who think Stan's story is a hoax, just like there are people who think a weather balloon crashed in Roswell in 1947. Some people wouldn't believe in extraterrestrials even if they met one because they just don't want to believe that they exist, and I don't understand why so many people think Earth is the only planet with life on it. We live in a huge universe...why would ours be the only planet that gets to have life? I recommend Messages to anyone who wants to read a fascinating story...if you already believe in aliens, this book will make your belief even stronger, and if you're a skeptic, this book just might turn you into a believer. Stan Romanek was very brave to share his story, and I'm grateful to him for doing it.
http://www.stanromanek.com/
My rating: 10/10
The fact that I run a paranormal blog should make it pretty obvious that I already believe in aliens, but if I didn't, I think this book would've made me a believer. Stan's story is compelling, and the photographs in the book back up his story. There are pictures of marks Stan found on his body after his first abduction (which glowed under a black light) and of marks he found next to his knee after a later abduction where he came back with a completely healed ACL and hamstring, which had been hurting him so badly that he'd been planning on having surgery a few days later. There are also pictures of aliens that look pretty damn real to me; in one part of the book, Stan talks about how his digital camera went missing, and a few days later, Lisa found it hanging from the ceiling fan with a few extra pictures on it. When I turned the page and saw the picture Stan included, I actually gasped out loud at the extraterrestrial face I saw staring back at me. I'm sure there are many people out there who think Stan's story is a hoax, just like there are people who think a weather balloon crashed in Roswell in 1947. Some people wouldn't believe in extraterrestrials even if they met one because they just don't want to believe that they exist, and I don't understand why so many people think Earth is the only planet with life on it. We live in a huge universe...why would ours be the only planet that gets to have life? I recommend Messages to anyone who wants to read a fascinating story...if you already believe in aliens, this book will make your belief even stronger, and if you're a skeptic, this book just might turn you into a believer. Stan Romanek was very brave to share his story, and I'm grateful to him for doing it.
http://www.stanromanek.com/
My rating: 10/10
Friday, November 15, 2013
Haunted Dolls on Ebay
The haunted doll in The Conjuring made me wonder about how many haunted dolls people are trying to sell on Ebay, so I looked it up and was shocked to see more than 800 listings. Some of them are for dolls that are sold by Halloween stores to use as decorations, but the majority are for dolls that the sellers claim are haunted. Here's a link to Ebay's haunted doll listings:
"Poe is a 40 year old spoiled brat. She demands attention. Hard to tell when she is being honest. Very immature and feels entitled. Death at her own hand, but was an accident. Meant to get attention. She likes to goad me. She likes bright lights and can sometimes be helpful. Does not like to be in her box. She is going to be upset when I am gone."
"Some of the things Stephanie is capable of doing is singing at night, saying hello,shows energy in the form of a ball, rings telephone and cell phones, levitates, clicks her feet together, says no no no no."
"Whoever or whatever is attached to this thing hates me and hates my house."
"Things we have experienced with this doll are: complete power failure on all circuit breakers to where they have to be flipped several times before they come back on (our electrical has been tested and no issues with it were found), shadow figures not only from the corner of your eyes but full on, spirit orbs have been photographed surrounding her many times as well as light rods of energy. Door handles will turn as if being jiggled along with scratching and knocking sounds on the walls."
"All four dolls have been in my home for two weeks now and are hanging out in my attic. So far I have heard people walking around up there- it's sealed so there is no way an animal could get in there- as well as seen faces looking back at me through the living room window. Very round, very pale faces with black eyes. This is probably the most freaky thing I've seen in awhile and now we have much thicker curtains."
In conclusion, do not buy any of these dolls...they'll kill you in your sleep! ; )
Here are some of the most disturbing descriptions of the haunted dolls:
"She has told us she is 20 years old and lost her life in an accidental shooting. We have witnessed a translucent misty cloud when communicating with her and we believe that she is trying to manifest herself. She has grown stronger and stronger each time."
"From what we have learned in communication sessions, Maureen is a 12 year old girl who died sometime in the early 50's from pertussis . We have heard her making that whooping type cough during our sessions and at other times as well."
"Poe is a 40 year old spoiled brat. She demands attention. Hard to tell when she is being honest. Very immature and feels entitled. Death at her own hand, but was an accident. Meant to get attention. She likes to goad me. She likes bright lights and can sometimes be helpful. Does not like to be in her box. She is going to be upset when I am gone."
"Some of the things Stephanie is capable of doing is singing at night, saying hello,shows energy in the form of a ball, rings telephone and cell phones, levitates, clicks her feet together, says no no no no."
"Whoever or whatever is attached to this thing hates me and hates my house."
"Things we have experienced with this doll are: complete power failure on all circuit breakers to where they have to be flipped several times before they come back on (our electrical has been tested and no issues with it were found), shadow figures not only from the corner of your eyes but full on, spirit orbs have been photographed surrounding her many times as well as light rods of energy. Door handles will turn as if being jiggled along with scratching and knocking sounds on the walls."
"All four dolls have been in my home for two weeks now and are hanging out in my attic. So far I have heard people walking around up there- it's sealed so there is no way an animal could get in there- as well as seen faces looking back at me through the living room window. Very round, very pale faces with black eyes. This is probably the most freaky thing I've seen in awhile and now we have much thicker curtains."
In conclusion, do not buy any of these dolls...they'll kill you in your sleep! ; )
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Movie Spotlight: The Conjuring
The Conjuring is a 2013 movie starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, and Ron Livingston. It is based on a true story involving clairvoyant Lorraine (Farmiga) and demonologist Ed (Wilson) Warren and the haunted house of the Perron family. The movie begins in 1968 with The Warrens being consulted about a possessed doll...one thing I've noticed about supposedly haunted or possessed dolls is that the dolls are usually pretty creepy-looking and kind of look like they would be haunted (I'm so glad my family never gave me any old, horrifying dolls). Luckily, the scary doll isn't in the movie too much since I was already creeped-out five minutes into the movie because of that thing.
The movie skips ahead to 1971, when Roger (Livingston) and Carolyn (Taylor) Perron and their five daughters move into a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Their dog refuses to go inside the house, which should've been a pretty big clue that something is off with the place, and paranormal activity starts occurring almost immediately. After one of the daughters sees a spirit in her sister's room, Carolyn contacts Lorraine and Ed for help.
I won't say too much about the movie because I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that The Conjuring is one of the scariest movies I've seen in awhile, and the fact that it's based on a true story makes it even scarier. If you'd like to know more about the fascinating story that inspired the movie, you can find out about the Perron haunting here:
http://altereddimensions.net/2013/harrisville-haunting-perron-warren-family-conjuring-movie
My rating: 8.5/10
http://theconjuring.warnerbros.com/index.html
The movie skips ahead to 1971, when Roger (Livingston) and Carolyn (Taylor) Perron and their five daughters move into a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Their dog refuses to go inside the house, which should've been a pretty big clue that something is off with the place, and paranormal activity starts occurring almost immediately. After one of the daughters sees a spirit in her sister's room, Carolyn contacts Lorraine and Ed for help.
I won't say too much about the movie because I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that The Conjuring is one of the scariest movies I've seen in awhile, and the fact that it's based on a true story makes it even scarier. If you'd like to know more about the fascinating story that inspired the movie, you can find out about the Perron haunting here:
http://altereddimensions.net/2013/harrisville-haunting-perron-warren-family-conjuring-movie
My rating: 8.5/10
http://theconjuring.warnerbros.com/index.html
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
My book is on sale today and tomorrow!
Never Trust an Angel and Other Plays is on sale for 99 cents today and tomorrow (November 12th and 13th)...check it out if you want to read some twisted plays that will make you laugh. It's not exactly paranormal, but there are dead people and an angel in it. ; )
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
Monday, November 11, 2013
So You Want to be a Ghost Hunter...
On Sunday, November 10th, I attended a convention called ATOMACON (All Types of Media Arts Convention), which was a three-day convention in Charleston, SC devoted to sci-fi, fantasy, and science. I attended the Ghost Hunting Tech panel (led by the Carolina Ghostbusters) because I thought it would be a great thing to write about for the blog; paranormal investigators Chuck Carte, Cheralyn Lambeth, M. Doc Geressy, and Tally Johnson talked about the different types of equipment they use on investigations, so if you want to be a ghost hunter, here are some of the things you'll need:
-EMF detector/K-2 meter: measures electromagnetic fields
-flashlight with 3 settings: regular, blacklight, and laser pointer
-temperature gun: measures the temperature using a laser pointer
-video and audio recording devices
-seismograph: measures vibrations
-laser grid: detects shadows and other visual disturbances
-Geiger counter: measures radiation
The Carolina Ghostbusters also offered some ghost hunting tips:
-Always research the place you're investigating in the daylight, so you can identify environmental factors (animals in the attic, etc.) before you walk into a dark house at night.
-Before you begin investigating, walk around the house/building with the EMF meter to see what sets it off; almost anything electrical can cause the EMF detector to go off, so this will prevent you from getting false readings.
-If you want to use a ghost box in your investigations, you can make one yourself with a radio instead of paying a lot for one you find online (and this website tells you how to do it:
http://angelsghosts.com/ghost_box_how_to_make)
-A "ghost camera" is the same thing as a regular camera, so don't be fooled by ads for expensive cameras claiming to be specifically for ghost hunting.
Ghost Hunting Tech was a very interesting panel, and though I don't want to do any paranormal investigating myself (I get creeped out enough just watching paranormal TV shows), I'm glad I learned more about it from the very informative and entertaining Carolina Ghostbusters. If you think your house might be haunted or you just want to know more about the Carolina Ghostbusters, check out their website!
http://carolinaghostbusters.com/
-EMF detector/K-2 meter: measures electromagnetic fields
-flashlight with 3 settings: regular, blacklight, and laser pointer
-temperature gun: measures the temperature using a laser pointer
-video and audio recording devices
-seismograph: measures vibrations
-laser grid: detects shadows and other visual disturbances
-Geiger counter: measures radiation
The Carolina Ghostbusters also offered some ghost hunting tips:
-Always research the place you're investigating in the daylight, so you can identify environmental factors (animals in the attic, etc.) before you walk into a dark house at night.
-Before you begin investigating, walk around the house/building with the EMF meter to see what sets it off; almost anything electrical can cause the EMF detector to go off, so this will prevent you from getting false readings.
-If you want to use a ghost box in your investigations, you can make one yourself with a radio instead of paying a lot for one you find online (and this website tells you how to do it:
http://angelsghosts.com/ghost_box_how_to_make)
-A "ghost camera" is the same thing as a regular camera, so don't be fooled by ads for expensive cameras claiming to be specifically for ghost hunting.
Ghost Hunting Tech was a very interesting panel, and though I don't want to do any paranormal investigating myself (I get creeped out enough just watching paranormal TV shows), I'm glad I learned more about it from the very informative and entertaining Carolina Ghostbusters. If you think your house might be haunted or you just want to know more about the Carolina Ghostbusters, check out their website!
http://carolinaghostbusters.com/
Sunday, November 10, 2013
When Ghosts Attack: There's No Place Like Hell
There's a new show on Destination America called When Ghosts Attack, and I'm not going to watch too many episodes because it's one of the scariest paranormal shows I've seen. I purposely watched it in the afternoon because I knew it would creep me out too much if I watched it at night, yet that still didn't stop me from looking over my shoulder every few minutes! I watched the first episode, "There's No Place Like Hell," and the first part of the show focuses on the Settle family (Lori, Donny, and Kaitlyn, who is Lori's daughter and Donny's stepdaughter) and what happened to them when they moved into a new house in Fayetteville, West Virginia in September 2002. Not long after the family moved in, Lori says that she felt like she was always being watched; Kaitlyn also experienced this and felt like something that wasn’t human was watching her.
Lori felt like she was not welcome in the basement, like she was
“invading someone else’s space.” She discovered flies in the corner of the basement, and nothing she tried ever made them go away. A few weeks after they moved in, Lori finished cleaning the kitchen and walked out of the room for no longer than a minute; when she came
back, all of the drawers and cabinets were open. On December 7th, Lori and Donny went to sleep and woke up to the sound of heavy
footsteps (like boots) on the stairs.
Kaitlyn came in and said that there was a man in her room, standing at
the foot of her bed. Lori told Kaitlyn she was imagining it and took her back
to her room and plugged a night light in; after she shut the door, the night light exploded.
On January 14, 2003, Lori was home alone when she saw a child standing in the hallway, “fists clenched, head down, no facial expression.” When the child looked at Lori, she had no eyes, and Lori ran out of the room. (I wouldn't have just left the room...I would've left the house and never returned!) Less than a month later, Lori and Kaitlyn were asleep in Lori’s bed when Lori was awoken by a hand pushing her down into the mattress; a few minutes later, it pushed her so hard she fell out of bed. Lori and Kaitlyn ran out of the room, and when Donny was comforting Lori, they heard a loud cackle. Lori’s mother, Beverly Settle, suggested she do some research about the house, and Lori found out that a man named William Bennett lived there in the 1940s. He had a wife and child, and the wife left him because he was too overbearing, and the daughter died at a young age; William was so depressed that he shot himself in the basement (in the corner where the flies gather).
On January 14, 2003, Lori was home alone when she saw a child standing in the hallway, “fists clenched, head down, no facial expression.” When the child looked at Lori, she had no eyes, and Lori ran out of the room. (I wouldn't have just left the room...I would've left the house and never returned!) Less than a month later, Lori and Kaitlyn were asleep in Lori’s bed when Lori was awoken by a hand pushing her down into the mattress; a few minutes later, it pushed her so hard she fell out of bed. Lori and Kaitlyn ran out of the room, and when Donny was comforting Lori, they heard a loud cackle. Lori’s mother, Beverly Settle, suggested she do some research about the house, and Lori found out that a man named William Bennett lived there in the 1940s. He had a wife and child, and the wife left him because he was too overbearing, and the daughter died at a young age; William was so depressed that he shot himself in the basement (in the corner where the flies gather).
Beverly says
that Donny began to change, that he “became distant from Lori, he didn’t talk
much, and then it seemed like he started to go into a depression.” Lori says he often seemed angry and agitated. On April 29th, Lori and Kaitlyn went out, and Lori dropped Kaitlyn off at Beverly’s
house before she came home; when she walked in the house, she couldn’t find
Donny and he wasn’t answering when she called his name. Lori soon discovered blood in the hallway and followed the trail to find Donny sitting dead on the bathroom floor, which was completely covered in blood. The autopsy said that Donny died of an aortic
rupture, but since he was only 42 and in good health, Lori thinks the house had
something to do with it.
June 27,
2003 was the final straw. Lori was going to the basement when something pushed her down the stairs, and she decided it was time to get out of the house. Beverly came over to help Lori and Kaitlyn get their things together, and she felt
cold air in the house, even though it wasn’t cold that day. Something unseen
hit Lori in the face and left claw marks, and they all ran out of the house,
leaving their belongings. Beverly
believes that Lori and Kaitlyn would’ve been killed if they’d kept living
there. Lori did not believe in the paranormal before living in that house, but her experiences there led to her becoming a paranormal investigator.
The second part of the show is about single mother Marsha Eden and her daughters Katrina and McKenzie. In September 2010, they moved into a house in central New Jersey that Marsha's boyfriend, Raymond Griffis, found for them. The house was old, but everything inside was new. The house was
across from an old mill, which Katrina says was as “bad
as having a graveyard in front of your house.” McKenzie says that the house was okay during the day, but creepy at
night. The girls started hearing hissing
noises and feeling like they were being watched not long after they moved
in. Marsha says she would see shadows
that would disappear into another room or into the wall.
On September 21,
2010, Marsha came home from work early because she had a migraine; she went to
sleep and woke up to a loud noise from the bathroom. When she went in there, the shower door was
shattered and glass was all over the floor. Two weeks later, Marsha was fixing dinner and felt a cold spot around her; she suddenly
dropped the silverware she was holding, and something she could not see attacked her. She asked
Raymond to spend the night, and they later “woke up from a dead sleep,” heard a
creak, then the door opened, and it got really cold in the room. Marsha felt
the cold on her feet, then it traveled up her legs and got heavier until it
overpowered her, and she saw a man’s face right in front of her. After that disturbing incident, they decided to do some internet research and
discovered that the house used to be a boarding house for the employees of the
mill and that many people died there as a result of accidents that had happened
at the mill.
On October 19th, McKenzie says that she felt cold all around her and Katrina felt a sudden burning sensation on her back as she walked into the room; Marsha and McKenzie examined Katrina's back and found a red
welt. Marsha and the girls ran and locked themselves in a bedroom, and Marsha called Raymond. The walls started shaking, and they heard moans
coming from outside the bedroom.
McKenzie found scratches on her thighs after feeling a burning
sensation. Raymond came to help them, and everything calmed down once he showed
up; he took a picture of Marsha, Katrina, and McKenzie in the bedroom, and there was a glow
behind them in the picture. Marsha
decided that they weren’t going to live there anymore. The
apartment is currently being rented by someone else, and there have been no
reports of paranormal activity.
If you like scary paranormal shows, you should check out When Ghosts Attack...this might be the scariest one I've watched so far!
My rating: 9/10
Friday, November 8, 2013
Ancient Aliens: Alien Devastations
Last night I watched a December 2010 episode of Ancient Aliens called "Alien Devastations," which focuses on natural disasters and other catastrophes throughout history and ponders whether extraterrestrials may have been involved. Here are some of the events that were discussed on the show:
The ruins of a Maya city lie in Tortuguero, Mexico. The ancient city existed from 250-900 A.D., and Maya hieroglyphics were found in the ruins. Some theorists think that the Maya calendar is proof of their contact with ancient aliens-the calendar starts on August 11, 3114 B.C., which the Chilam Balam (a book that consists of 17th and 18th-century Maya manuscripts) says is the day that gods came from outer space to Earth.
In 1947, in a cave above the Judean desert, archaeologists found hundreds of documents that are believed to have been written in the time of Jesus. They came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and some of them told of a future war between "the forces of light and dark."
The Toba volcano in Indonesia erupted 75,000 years ago and caused a "climate change that nearly obliterated mankind."
Author/journalist Philip Coppens thinks that since in The Bible, Noah knew something about the future no one else did and had blueprints for the ark, he may have had contact with aliens (which proves my theory that believing in aliens is no stranger than believing in God). At this point, a drawing of dead dinosaurs lying near Noah's Ark popped up on the TV screen, and I kind of wanted to throw something at the TV. Dinosaurs and humans did not exist at the same time...just because it happened on The Flintstones doesn't mean it happened in real life, and you should know that, History Channel!
An Indonesian tsunami killed 230,000 people in 2004; it was caused by movement of tectonic plates, and there were many reports of UFO sightings before the tsunami.
In 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted for the first time in almost two hundred years; a news station got footage of a V-shaped object flying near the volcano.
On April 14, 1561 in Nuremberg, Germany, several UFOs appeared and released colored discs into the sky; "tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared, and the objects began to fight each other." The fighting went on for an hour, then they caught on fire, fell out of the sky, and turned into steam.
During the Black Plague, several UFOs were seen dispensing some kind of mist before large numbers of people started dying.
I don't really see much evidence of alien involvement in some of the things mentioned on the show (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Toba volcano, and Noah's Ark), but I think it could be possible in the rest of the things they talked about since there were UFO sightings around those events. One question the show asked is whether aliens were involved in these events as a way of controlling the population, and it's an interesting theory, but I don't know why aliens would be so interested in controlling the population of Earth since they don't live here. Either way, I enjoyed the episode, and it was really thought-provoking.
http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens
My rating: 7.5/10
The ruins of a Maya city lie in Tortuguero, Mexico. The ancient city existed from 250-900 A.D., and Maya hieroglyphics were found in the ruins. Some theorists think that the Maya calendar is proof of their contact with ancient aliens-the calendar starts on August 11, 3114 B.C., which the Chilam Balam (a book that consists of 17th and 18th-century Maya manuscripts) says is the day that gods came from outer space to Earth.
In 1947, in a cave above the Judean desert, archaeologists found hundreds of documents that are believed to have been written in the time of Jesus. They came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and some of them told of a future war between "the forces of light and dark."
The Toba volcano in Indonesia erupted 75,000 years ago and caused a "climate change that nearly obliterated mankind."
Author/journalist Philip Coppens thinks that since in The Bible, Noah knew something about the future no one else did and had blueprints for the ark, he may have had contact with aliens (which proves my theory that believing in aliens is no stranger than believing in God). At this point, a drawing of dead dinosaurs lying near Noah's Ark popped up on the TV screen, and I kind of wanted to throw something at the TV. Dinosaurs and humans did not exist at the same time...just because it happened on The Flintstones doesn't mean it happened in real life, and you should know that, History Channel!
An Indonesian tsunami killed 230,000 people in 2004; it was caused by movement of tectonic plates, and there were many reports of UFO sightings before the tsunami.
In 2010, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland erupted for the first time in almost two hundred years; a news station got footage of a V-shaped object flying near the volcano.
On April 14, 1561 in Nuremberg, Germany, several UFOs appeared and released colored discs into the sky; "tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared, and the objects began to fight each other." The fighting went on for an hour, then they caught on fire, fell out of the sky, and turned into steam.
During the Black Plague, several UFOs were seen dispensing some kind of mist before large numbers of people started dying.
I don't really see much evidence of alien involvement in some of the things mentioned on the show (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Toba volcano, and Noah's Ark), but I think it could be possible in the rest of the things they talked about since there were UFO sightings around those events. One question the show asked is whether aliens were involved in these events as a way of controlling the population, and it's an interesting theory, but I don't know why aliens would be so interested in controlling the population of Earth since they don't live here. Either way, I enjoyed the episode, and it was really thought-provoking.
http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens
My rating: 7.5/10
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Ghost Bait: Farm House
I discovered the Bio channel show Ghost Bait a few weeks ago
and wrote about the first episode on the blog, so now it’s time to write about another
episode, which is entitled “Farm House.”
I really wish there were more episodes of this, but so far there are
only three, and my DVR would never let me download the second one. : ( “Farm House” aired in September and focuses
on a 250-year-old farm house in eastern Pennsylvania. The ParaCORE team (team leader Bob Magill,
lead investigator Aimee, tech supervisor Mallie, and researcher Bill) meets
with Lindsey and Chris, the residents of the farm house, and Lindsey tells them
that a “dark shadowy figure” has been seen there ever since she was a child. She also says that she has heard voices
upstairs and that she saw a “black shadow man coming down the steps” of the
basement with red eyes and an axe or
knife. Lindsey's brother says that when playing outside as children, they could see "glowing red eyes" in the upstairs windows.
In the third floor bedroom, the cameraman feels something touch him; Bill and Amy check out the room, and when they ask if there's a shadow man there, something hits Bill on the side of his face and leaves a scratch. The team calls in psychic medium Karyn Reece (and her psychic cat Rosie...how exactly would you know that a cat is psychic?), who says that there is an evil male presence there, that she sees him in the doorway, and that he says he's coming for Bob and her. In the basement, Karyn senses witchcraft and a manuscript. A historian tells Bob that in the 1920s a man named Nelson Ryemeyer was murdered by John Rhymer, who wanted his Book of Shadows because he thought Nelson was hexing him; the book has never been found, but it's rumored to be on the property.
Now it's time to reel the ghost in with some human bait! Bob puts a hood over Lindsey's head and sends her to the third floor after telling her to ask the spirit questions. After Lindsey asks why the spirit is there, she hears a noise and thinks something is there; she hears another noise, so she follows it. Bob asks her to go to the basement, so Lindsey does and asks the spirit if it wants the book, and something jumps at her. On the thermal video, a figure appears behind Lindsey when she asks about the book (creepy!). Karyn senses that the Book of Shadows is still on the property, but isn't sure where, so Bob decides to try to find another copy. He succeeds and has Lindsey place the book in a circle of stones; the Shadow Man has not been seen on the property since that day.
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.biography.com/tv/ghost-bait
In the third floor bedroom, the cameraman feels something touch him; Bill and Amy check out the room, and when they ask if there's a shadow man there, something hits Bill on the side of his face and leaves a scratch. The team calls in psychic medium Karyn Reece (and her psychic cat Rosie...how exactly would you know that a cat is psychic?), who says that there is an evil male presence there, that she sees him in the doorway, and that he says he's coming for Bob and her. In the basement, Karyn senses witchcraft and a manuscript. A historian tells Bob that in the 1920s a man named Nelson Ryemeyer was murdered by John Rhymer, who wanted his Book of Shadows because he thought Nelson was hexing him; the book has never been found, but it's rumored to be on the property.
Now it's time to reel the ghost in with some human bait! Bob puts a hood over Lindsey's head and sends her to the third floor after telling her to ask the spirit questions. After Lindsey asks why the spirit is there, she hears a noise and thinks something is there; she hears another noise, so she follows it. Bob asks her to go to the basement, so Lindsey does and asks the spirit if it wants the book, and something jumps at her. On the thermal video, a figure appears behind Lindsey when she asks about the book (creepy!). Karyn senses that the Book of Shadows is still on the property, but isn't sure where, so Bob decides to try to find another copy. He succeeds and has Lindsey place the book in a circle of stones; the Shadow Man has not been seen on the property since that day.
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.biography.com/tv/ghost-bait
Monday, November 4, 2013
Cool Website of the Week: Your State's Weirdest Unexplained Phenomenon
My friend Brandi Clevinger shared this website with me, and I just had to make it my Cool Website of the Week. It's called Your State's Weirdest Unexplained Phenomenon, and it's pretty fascinating...it lists the states in alphabetical order, so it's really easy to find your state and see what strange thing might be going on near you. I will definitely do my best to avoid the North Carolina Poop Monster when I go there at the end of the year...I hope that thing stays in the sewer where it belongs! ; )
http://funkypickens.com/your-states-weirdest-unexplained-phenomenon/
http://funkypickens.com/your-states-weirdest-unexplained-phenomenon/
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Possessed Possessions
Yesterday I watched a 2005 TLC special called Possessed Possessions (which the Destination America channel re-aired a few weeks ago). It was hosted by James van Praagh and his impressive mustache, and on the show, people brought objects they believed to be haunted to the Queen Mary, where experts would examine them without knowing anything about them in advance. The "experts" were psychic/clairvoyant Karyn Reece, psychic/angel medium (I didn't know that was a thing, but apparently it involves communicating with guardian angels and deceased loved ones) Laura Lee, historian/professor Ed Okonowicz, and scientist/ghost hunter Joshua P.Warren. Here are some of the haunted objects that were featured on the show:
-Antique surgical instruments: These were used
in a prison in the 1800s, and the owner says that the instruments move to different shelves
when no one has been in the room. Karyn feels like someone who did autopsies
used to own the tools and senses a baby, saying that perhaps the owner did autopsies on infants. The owner decides to sell the surgical instruments, and I don't blame him...because, really, who needs surgical instruments with a mind of their own lying around the house?
-Musical cake dish that plays by itself: The dish used to belong to the owner’s great-grandmother,
and she says that she never winds it up to make it play. Karyn senses an old
man (grandfather) attached to the dish and twinkling (musical notes, for
example).
-Skeleton: This is a strange thing for someone to own, which could be why the owner sent his sister to get it checked out instead of being on national TV himself. The skeleton was found near a Mayan temple around 600 A.D., and Karyn senses a male and
something ritualistic. The owner told his sister that sometimes the
object gives off a smell like old blood, and Ed says that maybe it needs to be put
to rest.
-Marionettes from Brazil: These were given to the owner as a child, and he says he feels like the female marionette guides him and watches
over him. Laura says that the maker made the marionettes out of love and joy and that
the energy is inspiring Nicholas, who reveals that he is hoping to be a toy
designer.
-World War I bayonet: The bayonet still has
bloodstains on it; Laura senses Irish lineage and a past life, saying that maybe the owner
has been reunited with this bayonet. The owner says that she keeps the bayonet in
the bedroom, and that everyone who goes in there gets an uneasy feeling; she also says that a few days before, she was in there alone and heard a male voice right next
to her.
- Perfume set from the mid-1800s: The owner bought the set on Ebay and started
having strange dreams the day it arrived; she dreamt about a well-to-do woman from
the mid-1900s who was upset that her brother had died in a car accident and
that she had to break the news to his girlfriend. The next day, she felt a
presence behind her in the kitchen, which was where the perfume set was sitting.
Laura senses that there was only one owner before and that it was given as a
gift and she didn’t use it (the owner wonders if it was a gift from the brother
of the woman in her dream), and the owner decides to get rid of the set.
-Antique mirror: The owner's husband brought the mirror when
he moved in with her after his house caught on fire; she felt like she was
being watched, so she took it down, and when it was on the floor, an alarm
clock flew across the room and a hat drifted from the couch to the floor. Laura
asks if the owner has seen other people in the mirror, and when she says she has,
Laura says those are all the people that have come in contact with it; she sees
a huge house, which the owner says is her husband’s former house. Laura suggests that the owner keep the mirror on the wall because she doesn’t feel any negative energy associated with it
-Plaster cast of Bigfoot’s footprint: This was
made by the owner's archeologist father in Oregon in the late 1970s; the family had
strange dreams (and his brother started sleepwalking) that his father traced to
the plaster cast, so he put it away. The owner picked the cast up in Oregon the
day before he met with the show and spent the night at his girlfriend’s house,
where they both had strange dreams; Laura feels like it is genuine and that the
owner of the footprint is still alive.
-Painting of a little girl: This painting used to be at
Hank’s Hotel and now hangs at the photo studio at Calico Ghost Town in
California; people have felt a child hold their hands or hug them in that room. A psychic was holding a reading on the painting when a flame from a lit candle
started moving across the room by itself; the psychic said that the girl had
been run over and killed. Ed asks if this is a painting over a photograph and
the owner says it is; Ed wonders it if’s a “mourning picture” that may have been
displayed at the little girl’s funeral. James says there is a chill next to the
painting; Karyn says there’s an aura around the painting, and she senses an
older woman who has an odd relationship with the girl. Karyn and James also
agree that the girl didn’t want to die when she did (duh).
-Vanity mirror: One Christmas after her father and aunt had died, the owner asked them to show her a
sign that they were still with her...after she took a shower, she turned the
blowdryer on the mirror to unfog it, and a man’s handprint and a drawing of a
rose (which was her aunt’s name) appeared. Ed says that mirrors are considered “a
portal to the other side” and thinks that the owner communicated with her dead
relatives through the mirror. Karyn senses the face of a deceased woman showing
up in the mirror; she also senses palm trees and Florida, and the owner says that
her father was a professional dancer and used to go to Florida frequently.
-Doll from the 1930s: This creepy-ass doll was sold
on the Queen Mary, and the owner bought it for $1 on Ebay, but it made her feel uneasy, so
she took it to work. Her coworkers told her that the doll’s eyes moved and that the doll itself moved
on its own, so she has been keeping it in storage. Laura feels like the doll may
be associated with someone in the military and that it has sentimental value
for someone; she gets a warm feeling from the doll, so the owner decides to display
it instead of keeping it in storage. (Is she crazy? The doll MOVES ON ITS OWN...has she never seen Child's Play?!)
-1980 Cadillac hearse: The owner bought the hearse from a
funeral director and says that after he dropped off some friends once, he started
hearing a whistling in the back of the hearse when he was alone. Joshua detected
some electromagnetic waves and pulsating sounds, and Laura tells the owner that when he
drives it alone, he isn’t really alone.
-Japanese teacup: The teacup was given to the owner by
her great-grandmother; she feels negative energy from the cup and says that the teacup makes people uneasy and friends don't want to be near it when they visit. Laura says the great-grandmother’s presence is in the teacup. (Don't drink from it! You'll have an old lady ghost inside you!)
-Typewriter: This typewriter was bought online, and the listing said it was haunted. “Scary” is the only word that is
legible when typed; Karyn
senses headaches and a strange energy, and James recommends that the owner get rid of it.
-African tribal mask: The owner tried to buy the mask in
Africa, but the original owner refused to sell it; a few years later, it ended up in his
mailbox, and he found out the owner had died, but he still doesn’t know how it got
there. Since he has been in possession of the mask, thirty people close to him have died, and the owner
has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. (Get rid of the mask...IT KILLS PEOPLE!) Karyn senses a spirit associated
with the mask and that the mask wants to talk to her; she also senses a death connotation.
Unlike most of the paranormal shows I've watched, Possessed Possessions wasn't scary at all...it was kind of like Antiques Roadshow. I'm not sure how accurate the psychics were, but I will say that Karyn was more believable and specific than Laura, and it was annoying how
Laura kept asking “Do you understand?” or “Does this make sense?” every time
she did a reading. The owners of each of the objects talked about how great
the readings went, even though the psychics basically told them nothing they didn’t
already know.
My rating: 6.5/10
Friday, November 1, 2013
Happy Halloween, bitch!
I know this isn't paranormal, but I wanted to share our Breaking Bad Halloween costumes...here's me dressed as Jesse Pinkman and Kyle, my husband, dressed as Walter White (and yes, I did make my own Hello Kitty phone cover and manage to find a sweet "Yeah Bitch, Magnets" t-shirt). : )
Thursday, October 31, 2013
The Ghost Speaks: The Ghost of Murder Hill/The Sailor’s Secret
I recently discovered a creepy Bio channel show called The Ghost Speaks, and I hope they show more episodes because I really liked it and had to keep looking overmy shoulder to make sure a ghost wasn’t sneaking up behind me. ; ) . On the show, we hear from real people who have had paranormal experiences, and, in a move that sets this show apart from the countless other paranormal shows out there, we also hear the ghost’s point of view (which is of course totally made up, but that doesn’t stop it from being creepy).
The first half of the show was called “The Ghost of Murder Hill,” and the incidents discussed took place in La Porte, Indiana in 2001. Mike and Laury Render bought a house that sat on property that was formerly owned by serial killer Belle Gunness. After moving in, they noticed their son talking to a ghost by the woods; young Devincalled it “The Killer Ghost.” Ghosts inside the house told Devin about how and where they died, and a ghost in the family’s car was a silhouette of a man who told Devin that he would hurt Laury if anything happened to him (I don’t know what the ghost thought could possibly happen to him since he’d already been murdered). Historian Bruce Johnson says that Belle Gunness murdered and buried at least thirteen people on the property and that she may have murdered as many as twenty-two, so that’s a lot of potential ghosts! Belle also set her house on fire with her four poisoned children and a servant (who she decapitated in order to fool people into thinking the body was hers) in the basement because she wanted to get away and couldn’t take the children with her. Neighbor Diana Yerbey, who has lived in her house for sixty years and has seen the ghost of Belle, believes that the neighborhood is cursed. Sometime after the Renders moved into their house on the haunted property, a fire started in the basement, and it was ruled spontaneous combustion…but I have a feeling that a certain evil spirit had something to do with it.
The second half of the episode was called “The Sailor’s Secret,” and it dealt with a single mother named Jackie Hernandez who was stalked by a ghost in San Pedro, California in 1987. The ghostly stalker was a sailor, Herman Hendrickson, who drowned in 1930 after being hit with a rock. It all started with Jackie feeling something watching her in her house and hearing noises…and she even saw the figure of a man with evil eyes sitting on her son’s bed. One night Jackie woke up feeling like something was on top of her; she couldn’t breathe and saw lights moving around the room, so she decided to call paranormal investigator Dr. Barry Taff. While investigating this incident, Taff’s photographer, Jeff Wheatcraft, ended up with a noose around his neck in the attic and believed that it was put there by the possessive ghost. Jackie wanted out of the house, so she got in her car and drove to a trailer park near Bakersfield, but the paranormal activity did not end. She heard banging on her shed all night, so Jeff, along with cameraman Barry Conrad, arrived shortly after and set a camera up and pointed it at the shed; they were all watching when the camera turned around on the tripod and pointed at them. Jeff and Barry went to Barry’s apartment to review the footage, and strange things started happening, such as chairs ending up on top of the tables. They decided to try to contact the spirit with a Ouija board, and they learned the ghost’s name and how he died. They asked if the spirit had any enemies, and he spelled “JEFF” right before Jeff was knocked out by a sudden gust of air.
These stories were interesting and creepy, but since the show is only an hour, of course they had to leave some things out. I can’t find much online about the Murder Hill hauntings, but I’ll leave you with a link to a more detailed account aboutthe Jackie Hernandez case.
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/02/07/the-haunting-of-jackie-hernandez-a-haunting-in-san-pedro-ca
My rating: 8.5/10
The first half of the show was called “The Ghost of Murder Hill,” and the incidents discussed took place in La Porte, Indiana in 2001. Mike and Laury Render bought a house that sat on property that was formerly owned by serial killer Belle Gunness. After moving in, they noticed their son talking to a ghost by the woods; young Devincalled it “The Killer Ghost.” Ghosts inside the house told Devin about how and where they died, and a ghost in the family’s car was a silhouette of a man who told Devin that he would hurt Laury if anything happened to him (I don’t know what the ghost thought could possibly happen to him since he’d already been murdered). Historian Bruce Johnson says that Belle Gunness murdered and buried at least thirteen people on the property and that she may have murdered as many as twenty-two, so that’s a lot of potential ghosts! Belle also set her house on fire with her four poisoned children and a servant (who she decapitated in order to fool people into thinking the body was hers) in the basement because she wanted to get away and couldn’t take the children with her. Neighbor Diana Yerbey, who has lived in her house for sixty years and has seen the ghost of Belle, believes that the neighborhood is cursed. Sometime after the Renders moved into their house on the haunted property, a fire started in the basement, and it was ruled spontaneous combustion…but I have a feeling that a certain evil spirit had something to do with it.
The second half of the episode was called “The Sailor’s Secret,” and it dealt with a single mother named Jackie Hernandez who was stalked by a ghost in San Pedro, California in 1987. The ghostly stalker was a sailor, Herman Hendrickson, who drowned in 1930 after being hit with a rock. It all started with Jackie feeling something watching her in her house and hearing noises…and she even saw the figure of a man with evil eyes sitting on her son’s bed. One night Jackie woke up feeling like something was on top of her; she couldn’t breathe and saw lights moving around the room, so she decided to call paranormal investigator Dr. Barry Taff. While investigating this incident, Taff’s photographer, Jeff Wheatcraft, ended up with a noose around his neck in the attic and believed that it was put there by the possessive ghost. Jackie wanted out of the house, so she got in her car and drove to a trailer park near Bakersfield, but the paranormal activity did not end. She heard banging on her shed all night, so Jeff, along with cameraman Barry Conrad, arrived shortly after and set a camera up and pointed it at the shed; they were all watching when the camera turned around on the tripod and pointed at them. Jeff and Barry went to Barry’s apartment to review the footage, and strange things started happening, such as chairs ending up on top of the tables. They decided to try to contact the spirit with a Ouija board, and they learned the ghost’s name and how he died. They asked if the spirit had any enemies, and he spelled “JEFF” right before Jeff was knocked out by a sudden gust of air.
These stories were interesting and creepy, but since the show is only an hour, of course they had to leave some things out. I can’t find much online about the Murder Hill hauntings, but I’ll leave you with a link to a more detailed account aboutthe Jackie Hernandez case.
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/02/07/the-haunting-of-jackie-hernandez-a-haunting-in-san-pedro-ca
My rating: 8.5/10
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Paranormal book giveaway
Want to win some paranormal books? Head over to Paranormal Books R Us, and enter to win! The contest ends in two days, so you'd better hurry if you want to win some cool stuff. : )
https://www.facebook.com/ParanormalBooksRUs/app_228910107186452
https://www.facebook.com/ParanormalBooksRUs/app_228910107186452
Monday, October 28, 2013
Seven Haunted Cities
Yesterday on the flight home from L.A., I read an interesting article in Family Circle...it was about the seven most haunted cities in the United States, and since it's almost Halloween, I thought I should post a link to the article here. Of course my hometown, Charleston, is on the list, and so are Gettysburg, Salem, Portland, San Francisco, Tombstone, and New Orleans.
http://www.familycircle.com/family-fun/travel/top-haunted-cities-in-country/
http://www.familycircle.com/family-fun/travel/top-haunted-cities-in-country/
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Paranormal Paparazzi: Family UFO Abduction
A few days ago I watched Paranormal Paparazzi (which airs on the Travel Channel) for the first time, and it reminded me of TMZ, but with ghosts and aliens instead of celebrities. The show is hosted by professor/journalist Aaron Sagers, and the Paranormal Paparazzi reporters travel around the country and report on paranormal stories. This episode was entitled "Family UFO Abduction," and in the show's first segment, reporter Branden Wellington travels to Knoxville, Tennessee to interview Tom Reed, a man who claims that he was abducted by aliens, as well as his brother, mother, and grandmother. Tom tells Branden that his family had a farm in Massachusetts in the early 1960s and that, along with his brother, he saw and boarded a UFO while living there. Branden talks to Jimmy Morris, who had given Tom a polygraph test years ago; he said that he remembers that Tom passed the test and was telling the truth about what happened in the 1960s. Back at Paranormal Paparazzi headquarters, Branden says that after talking to Jimmy and looking at the evidence (medical tests, etc.), he believes that Tom is telling the truth.
Scott Gruenwald travels to the Mogollan Rim, Arizona in search of the Mogollon Monster, which is described as a "Bigfoot-like creature." Bigfoot Hunters Jerry Waite, Mitchell Waite, and Alex Hearn take Scott into the woods, and they find a giant footprint. Could it belong to the Mogollan Monster? Later in the show, Scott goes to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas, where owner Dennis Hof says there are two haunted rooms, one of which belonged to a woman who was murdered while she was away on vacation. This room was also where Andy Kaufmann spent most of his time whenever he visited the ranch. Residents/employees Candy and Kim go into the room with Scott and are startled when a door moves by itself; they also note that the room has gotten very cold, but that could just be because they're only wearing lingerie. ; )
Rachel Fine goes to Torrington, Connecticut to spend the night at the haunted Yankee Peddler Inn, which has been around since 1890 and was the inspiration for the 2011 movie The Innkeepers. Robert Persachino, who owns the hotel's restaurant, tells Rachel about a guest who said a rocking chair in his room would start rocking every time he went to bed; he had to put the chair out in the hall so he could get some sleep. Rachel stays in room 353, where the inn's former owner allegedly died; current owner Sanjay Patel says that the maids refuse to clean that room by themselves because they're afraid. Rachel is hoping to detect some paranormal activity, but she tries an E.V.P. session and a K-II meter, and nothing happens.
I enjoyed Paranormal Paparazzi and will definitely try to catch more episodes. I have one on my DVR that is about Will Ferrell's haunted trailer, and he's one of my favorite people, so I'm excited to watch that episode. : )
My rating: 8/10
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/paranormal-paparazzi
Scott Gruenwald travels to the Mogollan Rim, Arizona in search of the Mogollon Monster, which is described as a "Bigfoot-like creature." Bigfoot Hunters Jerry Waite, Mitchell Waite, and Alex Hearn take Scott into the woods, and they find a giant footprint. Could it belong to the Mogollan Monster? Later in the show, Scott goes to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas, where owner Dennis Hof says there are two haunted rooms, one of which belonged to a woman who was murdered while she was away on vacation. This room was also where Andy Kaufmann spent most of his time whenever he visited the ranch. Residents/employees Candy and Kim go into the room with Scott and are startled when a door moves by itself; they also note that the room has gotten very cold, but that could just be because they're only wearing lingerie. ; )
Rachel Fine goes to Torrington, Connecticut to spend the night at the haunted Yankee Peddler Inn, which has been around since 1890 and was the inspiration for the 2011 movie The Innkeepers. Robert Persachino, who owns the hotel's restaurant, tells Rachel about a guest who said a rocking chair in his room would start rocking every time he went to bed; he had to put the chair out in the hall so he could get some sleep. Rachel stays in room 353, where the inn's former owner allegedly died; current owner Sanjay Patel says that the maids refuse to clean that room by themselves because they're afraid. Rachel is hoping to detect some paranormal activity, but she tries an E.V.P. session and a K-II meter, and nothing happens.
I enjoyed Paranormal Paparazzi and will definitely try to catch more episodes. I have one on my DVR that is about Will Ferrell's haunted trailer, and he's one of my favorite people, so I'm excited to watch that episode. : )
My rating: 8/10
http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/paranormal-paparazzi
Friday, October 18, 2013
Haunted History: Hollywood
Today I'm going to Los Angeles for the fourth time, and I decided to watch the "Hollywood" episode of Haunted History on the H2 channel before I go, so I'll know which places to avoid. ; ) These are the haunted places they talked about on the show:
-The Roosevelt Hotel: This hotel is said to be haunted by quite a few ghosts, including Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. Marilyn's apparition has been seen by the pool (which is where she had her first paying acting job) and in the lobby as a reflection in a mirror that used to be in her favorite suite. Montgomery lived in room 928 while filming a movie and used to practice the trumpet in his room; his spirit has been seen on the ninth floor and has been heard playing the trumpet (still practicing in death...that's dedication!)
http://www.thompsonhotels.com/hotels/la/hollywood-roosevelt
-Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The tomb of Rudolph Valentino ("the silver screen's first male sex symbol," who died at age 31) is haunted by a "Lady in Black." After his death, this woman left flowers at his tomb every day, and decades later, many people have claimed to have seen visions of her there. Also, Clifton Webb haunts the corridor near his crypt, and the ghost of Virginia Rappe (who died mysteriously at a party, and Fatty Arbuckle was accused of raping Virginia and crushing her to death) has been spotted crying next to her grave.
http://www.hollywoodforever.com/
-The Knickerbocker Hotel: Cups rattle in the cabinets, books move by themselves, and the ghosts of Rudolph Valentino and Marilyn Monroe (who spent her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio at the hotel) have been seen there. Most of the hotel's paranormal activity occurs in the bathroom, which has got to be the worst place to see a ghost. Houdini's widow held a seance at the hotel every year on the anniversary of Harry's death, but never managed to contact him.
-Raleigh Studios: An electrician fell to his death there in 1932, and it has been haunted ever since. Other ghosts include a lady dressed in white walking through the cantina and a man dressed like a stagehand.
http://www.raleighstudios.com/hollywood
-The Georgian Hotel: Ghosts are said to play tricks on people in the hotel restaurant; employees have heard voices, seen ghosts, and witnessed objects moving on their own.
http://www.georgianhotel.com/
This was an interesting show, and I'm glad I watched it...I would love to see some Haunted History episodes about other cities too. : )
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.history.com/shows/haunted-history
-The Roosevelt Hotel: This hotel is said to be haunted by quite a few ghosts, including Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. Marilyn's apparition has been seen by the pool (which is where she had her first paying acting job) and in the lobby as a reflection in a mirror that used to be in her favorite suite. Montgomery lived in room 928 while filming a movie and used to practice the trumpet in his room; his spirit has been seen on the ninth floor and has been heard playing the trumpet (still practicing in death...that's dedication!)
http://www.thompsonhotels.com/hotels/la/hollywood-roosevelt
-Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The tomb of Rudolph Valentino ("the silver screen's first male sex symbol," who died at age 31) is haunted by a "Lady in Black." After his death, this woman left flowers at his tomb every day, and decades later, many people have claimed to have seen visions of her there. Also, Clifton Webb haunts the corridor near his crypt, and the ghost of Virginia Rappe (who died mysteriously at a party, and Fatty Arbuckle was accused of raping Virginia and crushing her to death) has been spotted crying next to her grave.
http://www.hollywoodforever.com/
-The Knickerbocker Hotel: Cups rattle in the cabinets, books move by themselves, and the ghosts of Rudolph Valentino and Marilyn Monroe (who spent her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio at the hotel) have been seen there. Most of the hotel's paranormal activity occurs in the bathroom, which has got to be the worst place to see a ghost. Houdini's widow held a seance at the hotel every year on the anniversary of Harry's death, but never managed to contact him.
-Raleigh Studios: An electrician fell to his death there in 1932, and it has been haunted ever since. Other ghosts include a lady dressed in white walking through the cantina and a man dressed like a stagehand.
http://www.raleighstudios.com/hollywood
-The Georgian Hotel: Ghosts are said to play tricks on people in the hotel restaurant; employees have heard voices, seen ghosts, and witnessed objects moving on their own.
http://www.georgianhotel.com/
This was an interesting show, and I'm glad I watched it...I would love to see some Haunted History episodes about other cities too. : )
My rating: 8.5/10
http://www.history.com/shows/haunted-history
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Halloween Craziest
I recently watched a 2013 special on the Travel Channel called Halloween Craziest, and it showcased some of the scariest Halloween attractions in North America. Here's a list of the attractions and a little information about each one:
-McKamey Manor (San Diego): Owner Russ McKamey has spent
about $500,000 converting his home into a terrifying haunted house using
animatronics, cgi, and special effects. He also handcuffs people and covers their heads
with hoods and says that some people have gotten so scared they’ve passed out. Russ does 8 shows
every weekend in September and October and uses neighborhood kids as some of
his 15 actors.
-Zombie Crawl (Denver, Colorado): This event hosts 15,000 "zombies" every
October and includes something called the Organ Trail scavenger hunt, which founder Danny Newman describes as
“clue-solving scavenger hunt all around downtown Denver.” Some of the
challenges include crime scene investigation and eating live worms. There is also a sack
race in which zombies have to hop to a drinking station, drink some “zombie juice,” and
hop back to their starting point.
-Fearshire Farms (Angelton, Texas): Owners Rodney and Cindy
Davis transform their farm into the haunted Fearshire Farm (which includes a haunted corn maze) at night; it
is believed that the farmhouse is haunted by a family who lived and died there
in the 1800s. It is not uncommon for visitors to Fearshire Farm to soil
themselves out of fear.
-Delusion: The Blood Rite (Los Angeles): This is an
“interactive horror play” where the audience members have
to act as former patients of a dead psychiatrist who they want to resurrect. Writer/director Jon Braver is a stuntman who has made sure that his play has
“movie-quality stunt work.”
-Skin City Body Painting (Las Vegas): People go here to have
their costumes painted on; the work is very impressive, but the customers are basically naked, and the body painting costs way more than an actual costume does.
-Zombie Paintball Hayride (Fenton, Missouri): This attraction debuted in
2012; Creepyworld creator Larry Kirchner says the hayride “takes people through
an Old West town, and then everywhere you turn, there’s a creepy zombie ready
to eat you.”
-Lemp Brewery (St. Louis, MO): The brewery was shut down by
prohibition in 1919, and 5 members of the Lemp family died in the mansion that
was connected to the brewery over the next 30 years; at least 3 of these deaths were
suicides. For $20, you can go into the caves and caverns underneath the brewery
and walk through 10 scary scenes; some of the actors believe that the brewery really
is haunted.
-Statesville Haunted Prison (Crest Hill, Illinois): Mastermind John LaFlamboy says the idea of the prison is that these prisoners
were too evil for regular jail and ended up taking over the prison. This attraction has 150
inmates, 23 rooms, live roaches, spiders, and snakes (including an 8-foot boa
constrictor), and a “Clown Room.”
-Hell’s Gate Pumpkin Drop (Hope, British Columbia): People
drop pumpkins from airtrams that are 500 feet in the air.
-Zip of Terror (Boyne Falls, Michigan): This is a haunted zipline that
people have to do in the dark; when they walk through the woods to get from one
zipline to another, scary things jump out at them.
-Blackout Haunted House (New York, NY): Visitors to the “twelve
scenarios of psychological torment” must be over 18 and go by themselves with only a flashlight and a protective mask. Don’t go if you’re not willing to be groped.
-Coffin Race (Manitou Springs, Colorado): This race honors Emma
Crawford, who was buried on top of Red
Mountain and whose casket sped down the mountain after a storm. Each homemade
coffin has 1 person inside and 4 pushers (or pallbearers); the race is 195 yards with 50 teams
running 2 by 2.
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