Monday, December 7, 2015

Joan Wester Anderson on Angel Encounters

 - guideposts.org
guideposts.org

People around the world attest that they have had unexplained, personal encounters with beings they believe to be angels. Best-selling author Joan Wester Anderson offers her view

JOAN WESTER ANDERSON is one of the most prolific American authors on the subject of human experiences with angels - a vocation that was inspired by her son's own personal encounter (see page 2). Her many books, including Angels, Miracles, and Heaven on EarthAngels and Wonders: True Stories of Heaven on Earth and An Angel to Watch Over Me True Stories of Children's Encounters with Angels, have been national best-sellers. In this interview, Joan provides her view on the nature of angels, their purpose and relationship with human beings, and some astonishing experiences.

What's your definition of angels? Are they spirit entities unto themselves or are they people who have passed on?

Although it is commonly believed that angels are the spirits of people who have died, this is not true. All Western religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – teach that angels are a separate creation, never to be human, although they can take on the guise of humans when and if God needs them to do so.

When humans die, according to these same faiths, they become like angels – that is, spirits without bodies. The proper term for this group is "saint."

What is the relationship between angels and the human race?

They have been given to mankind as messengers (the word "angel" means "messenger" in Hebrew and Greek) and guardians. Some schools of thought believe that each person is given his/her own angel at the time of creation, and that angel stays with his charge until death. In other teachings, angels are not one-on-one, but come in great glorious groups at special times.

Your books present some pretty amazing stories. How common do you think such experiences are?

I believe they are very common.

According to Gallup, over 75% of Americans believe in angels – even more than attend church regularly. This says to me that many people are looking back at the coincidences in their lives and are beginning to see something else – perhaps a certain protection or comfort coming at just the right time.

It isn't easy to convince people if they haven't had an experience. Hence, my own belief is that these things happen regularly, and many people simply choose not to go public with their stories.

Next page: Why angels help some and not others

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One thing that has always bothered me about many angel stories is that angels come to the aid of people in sometimes relatively mundane circumstance, such as a stalled car in a snowstorm. Obviously, there are many people in much graver need of help. Why do you think some people are aided by angels and others are not?

I don't think it has to do at all with one's "worthiness" or "saintliness." I've heard plenty of stories from people who were actually angry at God or estranged from him when an angel came.

But I do believe that prayer can change things. People who regularly ask angels for protection, who try to live good lives and help one another, etc., seem to feel confident of angelic help, and perhaps that's why they receive it.

But we must remember that bad things do happen to good people; angels will not always be able to keep such things from happening, because angels do not and cannot interfere with our own free will, or the results of others' free will (most of the time).

But they will be with us to comfort us when suffering is inevitable.

Will you relate one of your favorite angel stories -- one you think is compelling?

My son's story is my favorite, of course. He and two friends were traveling across country on a terribly cold night. Their car broke down in a deserted cornfield and they would probably have frozen to death there (some people did that night). But a tow truck driver appeared, hitched them up, took them to safety and when they got out of the car and turned around to pay him, he was gone, and so was his truck.

This is compelling because:

  • there was more than one person seeing the same thing
  • it was a state of emergency and no rescue vehicles were then on the road
  • there were no tracks left in the snow by the truck
  • it was my son!

I have also loved the story of the two pilots in a very small plane flying in fog, and unable to land. A voice came over the speaker and talked them down into a small airport, where they landed safely. They discovered as they got out of the plane that the airport was closed, and no one was on duty.

Further, they were so off course that no other airport could have contacted them.

The author of many angels books, Joan has also written Forever Young, the life story of actress Loretta Young, published by Thomas More Publishers in November, 2000. The actress had read the angel series, and requested Anderson as her biographer.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

What You Need to Know About... Telekinesis

Businessman holding crystal ball, face reflecting on ball - Bambu Productions/Iconica/Getty Images
Bambu Productions/Iconica/Getty Images

What it is, how it might work, and how you can test and develop your powers

Whoever believes in psychokinesis, please raise my hand.

Psychokinesis (PK) - sometimes referred to as telekinesis or mind over matter - is the ability to move things or otherwise affect the property of things with the power of the mind. Of psychic abilities, true psychokinesis is one of the rarest. Few have been able to demonstrate this ability, and even those demonstrations are highly contested by the skeptics.

Do people have psychokinetic powers? Do you? Is there a way you can test and develop your PK abilities?

CASE STUDIES

Here are brief outlines of some people who have demonstrated remarkable PK abilities:

Nina Kulagina. One of the most celebrated and scrutinized psychics to claim psychokinetic powers was Nina Kulagina, a Russian woman who discovered her abilities while attempting to develop other psychic powers.

Reportedly, she has demonstrated her powers by mentally moving a wide range of nonmagnetic objects, including matches, bread, large crystal bowls, clock pendulums, a cigar tube and a salt shaker among other things. Some of these demonstrations have been captured on film. The skeptics contend, of course, that her abilities would not stand up to scientific testing, and that she may be nothing more that a clever magician.

Stanislawa Tomczyk. Born in Poland, Tomczyk came to the attention of investigators when it was reported that startling poltergeist-like activity occurred spontaneously around her. She could control some telekinetic feats, but only under hypnosis. In this hypnotic state, Tomczyk took on a personality that called itself "Little Stasia" who could levitate small objects when Tomczyk placed her hands on either side of them.

In the early 1900s, one investigator, Julien Ochorowicz, watched these levitations at very close range and observed something like fine threads emanating from her palms and fingers, although they were examined carefully before the experiment. And it didn't seem to be a trick. "When the medium separates her hands," Ochorowicz observed, "the thread gets thinner and disappears; it gives the same sensation as a spider's web.

If it is cut with scissors, its continuity is immediately restored." In 1910, Tomczyk was tested by a group of scientists at the Physical Laboratory in Warsaw where she produced remarkable physical phenomena under strict test conditions.

Uri Geller. Geller is one of the most well-known "psychics" who has publicly demonstrated feats of psychokinesis: spoon and key bending have become almost synonymous with Geller's name. Although many skeptics and magicians consider his metal-bending performances nothing more than adroit sleight-of-hand, Geller has allegedly shown that he can manifest the effects over great distances and in multiple locations. On a British radio show in 1973, after demonstrating key bending to the astonishment of the host, Geller invited the listening audience to participate. Just minutes later, phone calls began pouring into the radio station from listeners all over the UK reporting that knives, forks, spoons, keys and nails began to bend and twist spontaneously. Watches and clocks that had not run in years began to work. It was an event whose success surprised even Geller and thrust him into the spotlight.

Some magicians may be able to duplicate some of these effects, but there may be legitimacy to this telekinetic phenomenon. In April, 2001, University of Arizona psychology professor Gary Schwartz conducted a "spoon-bending party" at which about 60 students were able to bend spoons and forks, with varying degrees of success, seemingly with the power of their minds. (Do you want to try it yourself? Here's How to Host a Spoon-Bending Party.)

POLTERGEIST ACTIVITY

Some researchers contend that the most common form of psychokinesis is one that is not consciously intended. Poltergeist activity, they suggest, might be caused by the subconscious of people under stress, emotional turmoil or even hormonal peaks. Without conscious effort, these people cause china to fly off shelves, objects to break or loud rappings to emanate from their houses' walls, among other effects.

In the same way, PK might also be responsible for phenomena experienced at séances. Table tilting, knockings and levitation might not be caused by contact with spirits, but by the minds of the participants. And, yes, many, many séances have been hoaxed over the years, but if you think the paranormal phenomena documented at some séances is not real, read the article How To Create a Ghost.

Next page: How You Can Test Your Powers of Telekinesis

Telekinesis - Photodisc / Getty Images
Spoon-bending parties can be a way to test psychokinetic abilities.  Photodisc / Getty Images
< Continued from page 1

HOW DOES IT WORK?

How psychokinesis works is unknown for certain, but many parapsychologists think that it is a demonstration of the physical influence of a person's brain on the physical world.

Robert L. Shacklett at Speculations about PK says that laboratory tests demonstrate that "the release of relatively large amounts of physical energy can be triggered by thought power." And this power can move or influence things, essentially, because cosmologically we are all connected to everything else.

"'Thought' takes place at a different level than the physical (call it 'mind') but interacts with the physical through a weak coupling between physical energy and a more subtle energy form," he says. "The physical level operates in accordance with natural law except at the times when thought interacts with it.

"

How remains the puzzle. But there are theories:

  • Some researchers suspect there might be a quantum connection. Unpredictable, often bizarre effects have been documented in the world of subatomic particles, ruled by the perplexing laws of quantum mechanics. Are our minds capable of directing subatomic particles and energies in a way that results in PK phenomena?
  • One theory is that psychokinesis is the manipulation of a sort of human "magnetic field" around the body, which can be concentrated in a specific area. For this to work, they say, you must be able to relax completely and focus your attention without distraction.
  • Another speculation is that mediums or participants in a séance are able to coalesce sound or heat waves within a room to form coherent energy which can then be directed at an object, such as a table, causing it to move.

    Although the "how" of PK remains unknown, research and experimentation on this fascinating phenomenon continues in respected research labs around the world. (Go here for a brief history of psychokinetic research.)

    DEVELOPING AND TESTING YOUR PSYCHOKINETIC POWERS

    Can anyone have powers of telekinesis?

    "Everyone has the potential to be able to be telekinetic," says Deja Allison at Telekinesis on Crystalinks.

    "Telekinesis is created by higher levels of consciousness. It cannot be created by 'wishing it' to happen on the physical level. The energy to move or bend an object is created by a person's thoughts created by their subconscious mind."

    Several websites suggest ways that you might be able to develop or strengthen powers of psychokinesis. Using Psychological Telekinesis says meditation and a kind of chanting, which they provide, can help train your mind for the task, even though they offer no proof of any kind that it really works.

    Mario Varvoglis, Ph.D., author of PSI Explorer, suggests that the best way to begin testing psychokinetic powers is not by trying to move a table or even a matchbook. Varvoglis says it's much better to see if you can influence movement on a microscopic level - micro-PK. Micro-PK has been tested for years with such devices as random number generators, in which the subject tries to influence the random outcome of the machine in a way that is much greater than chance. Some of the most interesting tests of this kind were conducted at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Laboratory (PEAR) laboratory at Princeton University - and their results show that some people really can influence the computerized random number generators with the power of their minds.

    Spirit Online offers this seven-step method of improving your PK:

    1. Meditate daily for half an hour, 15 minutes if your schedule is too busy.
    2. Attempt PK at least once a day, twice if possible. Give yourself a good 30-60 minutes to try it.
    3. Focus on one method for at least a week; if it shows no results, switch methods.
    4. Be at ease; instead of taking it too seriously, think of it as an experiment, a game. If you try too hard you'll just end up frustrating yourself and you'll get nowhere.
    5. Don't give up.
    6. Don't tell yourself you can't do it, because you can.
    7. BELIEVE!

    This site also provides instructions for a few tests you can set up and conduct at home.

    There are a few online experiments where you can test your psychokinetic abilities:

    • RetroPsychoKinesis Experiments Online offers three tests: the same bell curve test as above, a clock face that you try to manipulate, and a pendulum whose swing you try to influence. If you succeed at demonstrating psychokinesis, be sure to let me know.

    The Poltergeist Phenomenon

     - New Page Books
    New Page Books

    An interview with Michael Clarkson, author of The Poltergeist Phenomenon

    The poltergeist phenomenon is one of the most intriguing and baffling areas of paranormal research, in great part because there are physical manifestations: objects being moved (even thrown) about; electrical devices going on and off by themselves, or malfunctioning without cause; loud bangs and raps; water dripping from ceilings from seemingly no source.

    Many hundreds of cases have been documented over the years, and although the effects were once attributed to ghosts (poltergeist means "noisy spirit"), it is now thought to be the unconscious product of human agents.

    In his book, The Poltergeist Phenomenon: An In-Depth Investigation into Floating Beds, Smashing Glass, and Other Unexplained Disturbances, award-winning investigative reporter Michael Clarkson reviews 75 notable cases and talks to the victims and eyewitnesses to the perplexing, often unnerving disturbances in an effort to bring us closer to an understanding -- or at least an acceptance of the reality -- of the phenomenon.

    Following is an interview with Mr. Clarkson.

    Q: Many paranormal researchers suspect that poltergeist activity is not caused by a ghost or other outside entity, but by living individuals. Has your research led you to the same theory?

    Clarkson: Yes. My research suggests we are dealing with haunted people, not spirits or buildings. Poltergeist energy (recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis or RSPK) usually revolves around a person in the room, most often a young person going through puberty. In only about 5 percent of the 75 cases I reviewed, a spirit was reportedly involved and perhaps acting through a young person to move objects.

    For RSPK, it seems, a number of components must come together for a "perfect psychic storm," and that's one reason RSPK is rare.

    There is usually stress or repression in a house and the poltergeist agents seem frustrated and have no other way of expressing themselves. As well, the agents often have unusual brains and the ability to tap into nearby energy sources to move things unconsciously with their minds.

    Q: Obviously, a great deal of energy is required to move some of the very heavy objects documented in some poltergeist cases. If this energy is indeed coming from the minds of people, what do you think is the physical mechanism involved? How do we work this out scientifically, if we can?

    Clarkson: Somehow they temporarily suspend gravity - this is called zero point theory -- to allow the objects to move. And then they subconsciously tap into energy sources such as household electricity, geomagnetic storms, magnetic fields in the area, or even electrical energy from the human mind-body. This is hard to reproduce in a lab because RSPK usually occurs in a stressed family environment. If we try to copycat this, ethical issues are involved.

    Q: I was very intrigued by one of the cases you describe in your book, that of "Popper the Poltergeist," which at first involved only the unstopping and spilling of bottles. To me, it is most peculiar that this case had such very specific, directed targets. Do you have any thoughts on the "why" of this?

    Clarkson: Parapsychologist William Roll suspected that the young boy who seemed to be the poltergeist agent was unconsciously causing the events through mind over matter, partly because he was going into puberty and partly because of his attitude towards his father. After interviewing family members, Roll came to the conclusion the boy was angry at his father and that he vented this through his unusual mental powers at objects, particularly those he associated with his parents. Because many of the incidents involved bottles which might be associated with a woman, they may have reflected "unmet dependency needs" that Jimmy had with both his parents, Roll said.

    Next page: The Amazing Randi; future study

    < Continued from page 1

    Q: The Tina Resch case, also cited in your book, has come under some criticism because she was caught, in some instances, "cheating" -- that is, caught creating some of the effects. Do you think there was some legitimacy to this case?

    Clarkson: Possibly. There were many eyewitnesses to earlier events -- movements of objects and electrical devices, including lights, going on and off by themselves while Tina was in the room.

    As well, a telephone flew across her lap and was recorded by a photographer. Witnesses swore she did not throw it.

    However, when she was later caught cheating, it made headlines around the world. I call this the When the Circus Comes to Town Syndrome. Because we are dealing with mainly young people, they like attention and when the legitimate RSPK dissipates, as it usually does, they try to maintain attention through trickery, and that casts doubt on preceding events.

    Q: You include a brief profile of arch-skeptic James "The Amazing" Randi in one chapter. Do you think he, as a magician, is at a disadvantage in his view of poltergeist phenomena? In other words, because he is a magician, he assumes that such fantastic things must be tricks.

    Clarkson: That's one good way of looking at it. Another issue is that he seems to be a professional skeptic, or, rather, a professional cynic. He wouldn't give me a proper interview for my book because he thought poltergeists were bunk - and yet he claims to keep an open mind! Unfortunately, Randi gets a lot of publicity and his is often the last word the public hears in the media about a reported paranormal event. Unless Randi sees things happen, they didn't happen.

    Q: It continues to astonish me that skeptics dismiss poltergeist phenomena despite the testimony from many hundreds of eyewitnesses, including dozens of investigating police officers. Do these skeptics have an agenda or are they simply in denial?

    Clarkson: Hard to tell. There could be different reasons for different folks.

    I agree that eyewitness accounts are the weakest part of evidence in any incident, but police officers are not normal witnesses -- they are trained to capture details when the action is fast and furious, they tend to be skeptical and they closely watch a person around whom the activity revolves. Some skeptics may have cultural bias, others are turned off by cases of trickery -- of which there are many.

    Q: Do you have any thoughts on how we might come to really understand poltergeist phenomena? Do you think we ever will?

    Clarkson: Unfortunately, tests for psychokinesis (PK) are often inconclusive, but it's even harder to prove poltergeist energy exists because it is so fleeting and because families are often embarrassed and don't let parapsychologists into their homes, or they do so when the energy is decreasing. Research funds for PK seem to be waning in recent years as some university labs have closed.

    We might understand it better if there is an intense case which is researched properly, gets scientific study and good press, and is followed up by PK research as the poltergeist agent gets older. There is an on-going case right now in Canada, but the woman does not want her name used because of the stigma attached to poltergeists by the mainstream media, mainstream science and, often, the mainstream public. Until it becomes more accepted, we won't get to second base.

    Michael Clarkson is the author of six psychology books, including Intelligent Fear and The Secret Life of Glenn Gould, and has won many newspaper awards for his investigative writing, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his article about reclusive author J.D. Salinger.

    Monday, November 16, 2015

    Spookiest Shadow People Encounters

     - Illustration by Dana Augustine

    Illustration by Dana Augustine

    Readers tell of their strange, often terrifying encounters with the dark, mysterious entities known as the Shadow People

    Is it just because they are talked about more and more in paranormal circles, or are people really experiencing encounters with shadow people in increasing numbers? Or have these entities always been around? To be objective, we also have to consider that these experiences might be strictly illusions or psychological disturbances. However, you'd have a hard time convincing the people who offer the following stories that what they saw and felt - and what terrified them -- wasn't real.
    MIRROR MAN
    When I was younger, there was a "man" at the top of my stairs. I used to go to the bathroom every night between about 12 and 3 and he would always be there! He was a shadow on a mirror. I was only about four or five, but other people saw him, too. He even tried to push one of them down the stairs!
    Since moving into the house across the road, though, I haven't seen or heard from him. I can't go in my old house upstairs, because there's a very unwelcome and hostile feeling to it. I still can't work out who he is. I've also seen him in my friends' houses, and he just stands there... looking at me, although there's no face, just a shadow. -- Lauren
    TERRIFYING VISITS
    As a child of between 8 and 10, I had regular but always terrifying visits from what I always described as a tall shadow of a man in a cloak and a top hat. All black, very tall. Once he was carrying a cane and once a briefcase. He spoke to me one time in a loud, booming voice. He would disappear through the wall at will and return the same way.
    They were experiences that I would recall to friends throughout my life, and I have always described him as the "shadow man". He has not returned since I worked up the courage to run past him and out of my room. -- Sandy
    UNABLE TO LEAVE
    I was only about 10 or 11 when I went to this house. It was daytime and the building was well lit.
    I looked into a few rooms and saw nothing out of the ordinary... until I turned into a hallway. It was at the other end of the hall, looking at me. Although it had no eyes, the feeling was undeniable. The shadow person and I watched each other for some time. I didn't think it was real, but then it started walking toward me slowly.
    I turned and ran. I looked over my shoulder and it had traveled about 7 meters in the split second I looked away, but when I had my eyes on it, it moved slowly. I got out of the house and looked at it again. It had stopped at the door, almost like it was unable to leave the house. It turned and walked back into the house. -- Courtney
    DRIVING ME INSANE
    I'm in my teens and from New Zealand. Half a year ago, I would lie on my bed and casually surf the net. From the corner of my eye I would see a dark mass on top of my wardrobe facing towards me. But when I finally turned to it, it shrank to nothing -- quite fast. At night the black mass would be by my bedside or at the doorway. I would hide under the covers and curl up in a ball. I just wanted to cry for help. -- Amie
    < Continued from page 1
    KIDS' EXPERIENCES
    I have two sons who talk often about what they call "The Shadow Man". The latest experience was when I had buckled both of them in the car and had forgotten something in my house. I went back in to get the item. I heard my five year old screaming. I went running back out. My son was in shock, screaming, "Did you see it?! Did you see it?!" I said, "See what?" Then my six year old said calmly, "The Shadow Man." They both said he was standing right there on the deck.
    My six year old says that the black and the white shadow follows my five year old. They say they talk to them all the time. -- Diane
    SCARED SKEPTIC
    When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, we saw one in the house we were renting. I had just gotten off the graveyard shift. We were chatting before going to bed and my wife said she saw "something" in the back room.
    Our cat was on watch, perched on my wife's belly, occasionally growling. I was a big skeptic: Aw, that's a bunch of b.s., etc.
    That morning I started toward the back room with that attitude... and stopped in my tracks when both of us saw the hunched black shape move and turn to look at us with those horrible red eyes. I honestly wish I could say I didn't see what I did, but I sure as hell did. Still freaks me out. -- Dath
    DAUGHTER'S EXPERIENCE
    Starting at four or five years old, when we moved into our house, my daughter has been afraid of our basement. She said that she could hear children laughing, weird sounds, and that "the dark man" lived down there. She also said that she had a ghost friend she called Bradley staying upstairs and that Bradley keeps the dark man away from the top floor.
    When she was around 15, she was home with a friend, sitting on the couch watching a movie. Both she and her friend saw a dark shadow in the shape of an adult upper torso hovering by the front door. Within seconds of seeing the shape, it "flew" toward them and then straight down the stairs. My daughter said it was scary, but she's been more accustomed to bizarre happenings.
    The friend never came over again. -- Lisalu68
    SCARED SHADOW
    About four years ago, I was lying in my bed wide awake in the middle of the day. The windows in my house were at least 10 feet off the ground, so it could not have been someone's shadow from outside. No one else was home at the time. I looked up in my hallway and at first I didn't see anything... but it saw me, apparently, because I guess I frightened it. I looked directly at it. It was transparent and of gray color and had the shape of a man. When this entity saw me see it, it got scared because it shook like a person would and then it took off down the hallway. -- Amy
    I WAS BITTEN!
    I know this sounds crazy, but I swear it's true. Years ago I was visited by what I now know is a shadow person. I was lying on my sofa and fully awake. It was approximately 10 p.m. and I remember thinking, I'll go bed shortly. Then I saw this tall dark figure come from my front door. It was male, all black, long coat and a hat. I asked, "Who are you? How did you get in?"
    He walked over and I felt drowsy and unable to move, yet not afraid. He leaned over me and breathed on me. I watched him disappear into the wall. With that I looked at the clock... and it hadn't changed! The next morning I woke up and my left arm was sore. I looked and saw a red, tent-shaped mark on the top of my arm. I've even shown the mark to a relative just to confirm it. -- Donna
    I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS
    This started happening to me about a year and a half ago. One of my friends and I were walking to a friend's house and we were taking a shortcut. Then out of nowhere there was a shadow figure about as tall as me, which is 6'3". It had a tail like a wolf and was all black. When I first started seeing it, it had eyes about the size of two pennies. But as time went on they got bigger and bigger. The last time I saw it, its eyes where about the same size as a lime. Not only that, they changed color.
    What scares me the most is the fact that the last time I saw it was about two months ago. It used to show up a few times a week, and its eyes where crimson, which is the aura color of hatred. I've been attacked by it before: painful ear ringing, nausea, and dizziness. It might have gone away, but I think it might be planning something. Nothing has happened yet... just waiting for it to show up again, then I'm going to banish it as best as I can. -- Cameron

    Saturday, November 14, 2015

    On the Trail of the Chupacabras

     - ryan burke / DigitalVision Vectors / Getty Images
    ryan burke / DigitalVision Vectors / Getty Images

    It attacks in the night, sucking the blood from its helpless victims. Let's follow the bloody trail of the elusive "goat sucker" -- chupacabras -- over the years

    Their first known attacks were in March of 1995 in Puerto Rico. Eight sheep were discovered dead, each completely drained of blood. Investigators found three strange puncture wounds in the chests of the animals. Despite the odd circumstances, authorities could only attribute the killings to a known predator -- a fox, perhaps.

    Others, however, recognized the similarities in these deaths to the enigmatic cattle mutilations which had been taking place in the American southwest with increasing regularity. Was there a connection?

    Five months later, however, the attacks intensified and became more bizarre than any cattle mutilation.

    In August, 1995, as many as 150 farm animals and pets were killed by a mysterious predator in and around the Puerto Rican town of Canóvanas. In most cases, like the sheep, the animals were drained of blood through small holes. A definite pattern of unexplained killing had developed. Several of the animal victims were goats, which inspired the locals to christen the killer, el chupacabras -- the "goat sucker." To this day, its rampage of gruesome slayings has continued and spread to many parts of the world, including the United States, Mexico, even as far away as Australia.

    After hundreds of killings over decades, chupacabras has eluded capture. Several sightings have been claimed, and its description fits no biological classification -- and its killing methods puzzle forensic experts.

    If eyewitnesses can be believed, and until the experts can deliver a plausible explanation for the bizarre deaths, chupacabras remains a real modern mystery.

    THE DESCRIPTION

    In Canóvanas, about 30 citizens claimed to have seen the chupacabras, swearing that it had swooped down from the sky and leapt over treetops.

    It wasn't until November, 19, 1995 that a detailed description of chupacabras came from an eyewitness. On that autumn night in Puerto Rico, the creature struck again. Farmers awoke to a horrifying scene: dozens of turkeys, rabbits, goats, cats, dogs, horses and cows... dead, with no explainable cause. Just the mysterious markings left by the blood-drinking chupacabras.

    But in the north-central city of Caguas, a startled homeowner caught the world's first fleeting glimpse of the goat sucker. Described as having huge red eyes and hairy arms, the creature allegedly broke into the bedroom of the house through a window, tore apart a child's stuffed Teddy bear, and left a puddle of slime and a single piece of rancid meat on the windowsill before disappearing.

    Through the end of 1995, chupacabras had been blamed for more than 1,000 mysterious animals deaths -- all resulting from blood loss through one or more puncture wounds. In that time, several more eyewitnesses came forward, consistently describing the the creature as being monkey-like, but having no tail. They characterized it has having large oval red eyes that sometimes glowed, gray skin, a long snake-like tongue, fangs, and long spinal quills that may double as wings. Those who saw it say chupacabras stands between four and five feet tall, hops like a kangaroo, and leaves a foul, sulfur-like stench. At the site of some deaths, unidentified three-toed tracks were found. Zoologists could think of no known animal that adequately fits this strange portrait.

    Was the chupacabras the figment of agitated imaginations? Could the witnesses have mistaken a fox or a panther for this weird creature? Was it, after all, just a superstition? In any case, the killings continued.

    In March, 1996, chupacabras struck for the first time in the United States. It had somehow crossed the Caribbean and slain 40 animals in a rural area northwest of Miami, Florida. On May 2, a report came from the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas: a six-year-old pet goat was found dead with the unmistakable puncture wounds of chupacabras. On that same day, the creature appeared further south in Juarez, Mexico, where it preyed on dogs and other small mammals. More witnesses verified chupacabras' description: the row of spikes or feather-like projections running down its spine; the way it stands upright on three-toed feet with its forearms suspended at chest level, not unlike a kangaroo; its large sometimes glowing eyes.

    The next day, May 3, in northern Mexico, the village of Calderon is terrorized by a giant "bat-like" creature that feasted on the blood of several goats. Like a scene out of Frankenstein, farmers formed vigilante groups to try and stop the monster, but without success. Throughout May, reports came in from all over Mexico where chupacabras left dead cows, sheep, and rams in its bloody wake.

    Next page: Theories and Attacks

    < Continued from page 1

    THEORIES

    Although the eyewitness accounts make it extremely difficult to categorize the creature as any known predator, some authorities have ventured that chupacabras may actually be a large vampire bat. The world's three species of blood-sucking bats live predominantly in the warm climates of Latin America where most of the attacks have occurred. But vampire bats do not directly kill their victims; they stealthily creep up on their sleeping prey, make painless incisions, and lap up the dripping blood.

    Although they can infect their victims with rabies, they by no means drain even small animals of all their blood.

    Other proffered theories for the chupacabras include that is an extraterrestrial, a demon, a living dinosaur of some kind, some weird vampire kangaroo, or a genetic mutation that has somehow escaped from a secret government laboratory experiment.

    They're pretty far-out ideas, but no stranger than the thing itself. The idea receiving the most credence from authorities is that the attacks are made by hungry, stray dogs. Yet it's an odd hungry dog indeed that doesn't eat its victims, but merely lacerates them with its canine teeth and drinks their blood.

    STILL ON THE PROWL

    Whatever it is, chupacabras' appetite for blood has not been satisfied. Reports of their ghastly attacks continue to make their way into the press. Sightings were made in the Dominican Republic, Tucson, Arizona, and continued on the island of Puerto Rico. Hardly a month goes by without an assault on some helpless animals by the chupacabras:

    • In November, 1996, a Mexican rancher near San Antonio, Texas, claimed to have captured the chupacabras with a coyote trap -- and produced the photographs to prove it. (This story and photos used to be online, but have sinced become unavailable.) The rancher had set the trap to capture whatever was killing his goats, chickens, and a donkey. What he caught was something he could not recognize. Allegedly, the body of the strange creature was taken to a major Texas university for identification, although this cannot be verified.
    • In November, 1997, chupacabras was back in its original stomping grounds where it killed two goats, bled another dry, and made off with a small kid from a small farm near Loíza, Puerto Rico. Investigating police believe that attack took place around 2 a.m., about the time a farm hand heard the "flutter of wings" and saw frightened horses and cows running "as if the devil were in pursuit."
    • On the night of November 12, 1997, near Perth, Australia, two friends investigating what sounded like the squealing of a wild pig, encountered a creature with large, piercing red eyes, a body covered with stringy matted hair, large teeth, and a distinctive sulfur-like odor. "It was about three feet high when on all fours," said the witness, "and about five feet when trying to stand up. In its mouth was part of a kangaroo. Within a split second, it leapt straight up -- dinner and all -- as if it had springs for legs."
    • Thirty-four hogs were found dead with the trademark puncture marks on November 17, 1997, near Aricibo, Puerto Rico. The pigs were being raised by inmates of the Sabana Hoyos prison who had planned to feast on the animals for Christmas dinner.
    • Near Hesperia in Southern California, a creature matching the description of the "goat sucker" attacked another pig in December, 1997. "I encountered something trying to get to my pig that was unbelievable," said the owner. "When I came around the corner, it stopped and looked up at me. My dogs seemed to be afraid of it. It then disappeared into the bushes."

    There have been many more reported attacks right up to the present day.

    It would be easier to discount the all of these accounts as peculiar attacks by a variety of different predators if it weren't for the consistent eyewitness descriptions of the chupacabras. Is it just possible that this is some kind of creature, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, that has not yet been classified by science? Or is it just another myth perpetuated by fanciful human imagination? Whatever it is, I'll continue to bring you updates on this ongoing and bloody mystery.

    Wednesday, November 11, 2015

    The Incredible Powers of D. D. Home

     - Archiwum
    Archiwum

    Daniel Dunglas Home was the most celebrated medium of the 19th century. Although his name is not very well known today, he astonished audiences, friends, heads of state, and the rich and famous with startling paranormal feats and levitation. His seemingly impossible powers bewildered those who witnessed them, including many respected scientists and journalists.

    Did D. D. Home truly possess extraordinary paranormal abilities?

    Or was he a gifted magician, far ahead of his time, who was able to fool even the closest of observers with slight of hand and magician's illusions? Although there were certainly many skeptics among his contemporaries who denounced him as a clever fraud, they could never really prove how he accomplished his many incredible demonstrations.

    To this day, there is much mystery surrounding Home.

    A CHARMING PRODIGY

    Home (pronounced "Hume") was born in 1833 in Currie, Scotland. Like many people who seek the public spotlight or a presence in "show business," Home seems to have exaggerated or fabricated details of his early life and heritage. For example, he was baptized as Daniel Home and seems to have adopted the middle name of Dunglas. Although he claimed to that his father was the bastard son of the tenth earl of Scotland, his father was actually an ordinary laborer and, by some accounts, an abusive drunk. As a baby, he was adopted by an aunt and at age nine was brought to America where his new family settled in Connecticut.

    Home may also have created some myths about his childhood.

    He said that as an adolescent he began to experience premonitions. At age 17, poltergeist activity would occur when he entered a room: mysterious raps would be heard and furniture would move by itself. Were these stories Home made up to enhance his mystical persona, or were they early signs of unexplained abilities that Home would later be able to control?

    Although he had little formal education, as an adult Home could converse intelligently on a number of subjects, could play the piano, and developed an easy wit and charm that facilitated his profession as a "professional house guest." It was at this time that his remarkable abilities came to prominence. His early reputation as a medium was made by his séances, which participants declared as uncanny, and his apparent powers of clairvoyance and healing.

    AMAZING FEATS

    Over his controversial career, these are just some of the feats D. D. Home was seen to perform around the world:

    • In a well-lit room before Professor David Wells of Harvard and three other spiritualist investigators, Home caused a table to move all about, even though he stood nowhere near it. It took all the strength of two of the witnesses to restrain the table. Upon its release, the table levitated completely off the floor for several seconds. When Wells and two others sat on the table, it continued to rock. They could find no scientific explanation for the experience.

    Next page: Levitations, manifestations and more

    < Continued from page 1
    • In 1852, Home first demonstrated self-levitation. Witnesses watched in astonishment as he rose a foot or more above the floor. When they tried to hold him down, they too were lifted off the ground.
    • During séances, he was able to make phantom hands appear, which sitters were able to feel. In 1857, he held a séance in Paris with Napolean III and his empress, Eugénie. The empress held a spirit hand that she recognized as her dead father's -- because of the characteristic deformity of one finger.
    • He was able to elongate his body by as much as 11 inches.
    • In a July, 1868 séance in a normally lit room of the home of a client, the host's elderly mother was levitated in the chair in which she sat.
    • In December, 1868, Home gave what is perhaps his most famous performance. At his apartment in London, Home conducted a séance for three respected gentlemen. After some "conventional" spirit apparitions, Home began to walk around the room. His body elongated, according to the witnesses, then Home rose off the ground. Returning to the floor he then went into an adjoining room. The men heard a window open in that room and shortly after saw Home apparently floating in midair outside their window. The apartment was three stories up. Home opened the window from the outside, then "glided into the room feet foremost and sat down."
    • In 1871, Home was tested by William Crookes, a respected physicist and fellow of the Royal Society. With a contraption of weights he had devised, Crookes sought to measure the "power, force or influence, proceeding from his hand." Crookes measured a force equal to about three-quarters of a pound, and was at a complete loss to explain it. Crookes was also witness to Home's levitation, which, he wrote, challenged his "most firmly rooted articles of scientific belief."
    • In a demonstration he did many times, Home could hold white-hot embers in his bare hands. He was even seen to plunge his hands and his face into a hearth fire, "moving it about as though bathing it in water." His skin showed no signs of injury whatsoever.

      CHALLENGED BY HOUDINI

      Home astonished many, but not all. Harry Houdini, known for his debunking of spiritualists and séances, denounced Home as a fraud and claimed to be able to duplicate his feats of levitation... although he never did. And while many skeptics were sure Home's demonstrations were only trickery, Home was not once -- in any of his 1,500 séances -- caught in any kind of deception or exposed in perpetrating a hoax.

      This fact alone earned him his great reputation.

      So, while reason says that Home was an extremely gifted magician and illusionist -- on a par, perhaps, with some of the great illusionists working today -- such legerdemain was never proved. And because many of his feats were accomplished in broad daylight in full view and inspection of witnesses, Home must be regarded either as one of the greatest magicians of all time... or a true medium with extraordinary, unexplained powers.

      That brings about an interesting point, if one takes the position that Home's abilities were not supernatural: If Home had presented himself as a magician rather than a medium, he might be regarded and remembered today with greater awe than the legendary Houdini.

      I Think She's Dead... Lift Up the Body...

       - Photo: Henrik Sorensen / Stone / Getty Images
      Photo: Henrik Sorensen / Stone / Getty Images

      An "innocent" teen game turns scary -- and inexplicable

      In my article "The Scariest Games," I include a game or trick called "Light as a feather, stiff as a board." Often attempted by teens at parties and sleepovers, the objective is to levitate someone as he or she lies on the floor using only a few fingers placed beneath the person. Normally, this would not be possible – or very difficult – but it is said to work by some unknown means.

      The game has other names and variations. In this case, Rose C. remembers that it was called "I think she's dead" – a decidedly more morbid slant on the trick. It also turned out to be much scarier for Rose and her friends. This is Rose's story....

      THIS HAPPENED IN Los Angeles in 1973 when I was 10 years old.

      I have a sister named Lizzy, who is seven years older than I, and she and her teenage friends decided they wanted to try levitation – on me!

      There was a girl in the neighborhood named Diane who everyone said was a witch, but she was 17, really nice, pretty, and blonde, so we kids were never afraid of her. On this day, Diane, my sister, and about six of their friends came to our house. My sister Lizzie and I shared a bedroom, and we all gathered to try the "trick" that Diane was going to show us. They chose me because at 10 years old I was a skinny little girl and probably weighed all of 70 pounds soaking wet... but weight would turn out to be irrelevant.

      THE "WITCH" INSTRUCTS

      Diane asked me to lie on the ground face up in the center of the room.

      She was squatting on the floor behind my head, so I was looking right up at her face as I lay there. Lizzy was squatting at my feet and the six other people were paired up at my sides – two at my shoulders, two at my waist, and two at my calves.

      Diane's first instructions were that they place their entire hands underneath my body; they would try to lift me first to see how difficult it would be.

      Despite my petite size, it was like trying to lift a sack of potatoes and we all laughed as the group flailed about trying to get me off the ground.

      Next, Diane said we would make the first real attempt. She instructed me to think the words "I'm dead" over and over again once they started the trick. When I agreed, everyone resumed their places, except this time they were allowed to place only two fingers (middle and index) underneath my body at their corresponding points.

      THE CHANT

      The lights went off. In the pitch darkness, Diane started a chant and asked everyone to repeat after her, one at a time, starting with the first person on her right, then continuing around my body until it came back to her, and on to the next verse. The chant was four verses:

      "I think she's dead (all repeat in turn)... I know she's dead (repeat)... She is dead (repeat)... Lift up the body!"

      The last statement, "lift up the body," was not repeated, but was everyone's cue to lift me. Again, they tried, but with only two fingers each. I didn't budge. Everyone laughed, the lights went on, and they were all disappointed that the trick didn't work.

      However, at that point Diane took me aside and said, "You didn't think what I asked you to think, did you?" And the truth is, I didn't. The words to her chant scared me and I remember trying to think of anything but "I'm dead."

      Next page: They try again

      < Continued from page 1

      THEY TRY AGAIN

      Then she said, "If you don't think what I asked you to think, it won't work. So, do you want to try again or should we just forget it?" I didn't want to be a party pooper, so I said I'd try again. This time I did exactly as she asked, and as soon as the lights went out, I began to repeat the words "I'm dead..." over and over again in my head.

      They started the chant, which I was not paying attention to, and the next thing I knew I felt as if I were lying flat on a stretcher and being lifted towards the ceiling – fast!

      So fast, in fact, that I felt a rush on my way up. I was lifted to about adult shoulder level, then something shoved me forward and I landed square on my feet.

      Someone turned on the lights and I found I had landed right in front of the mirror, so I was staring at my own shocked, white face. I started to cry.

      My mother rushed in asking angrily, "What did you do to Rosie?" But I was beyond comfort.

      UNEXPLAINED FORCE

      Everyone said that as soon as the words "lift up the body" left Diane's lips, my body started to rise – fast! They didn't have to do any lifting at all. In fact, Lizzy remembers having to get to her feet quickly to keep up with me. Apparently, Diane knew that, and that's why everyone started at the squatting position, to make it easy to quickly get to their feet.

      When I got to chest level, they told me, they felt my upper body fly forward – the force shoving them backward a bit, and that was when I landed on my feet.

      My sister and I still tell this story and it still brings chills in remembering the events.

      For months after that incident, I was afraid of being in my bedroom by myself and I refused to step on the spot where I was levitated. Since then, I have experienced numerous unexplained phenomena and I feel that this event somehow opened a window, allowing me to peer into another realm, and perhaps allowing the inhabitants of that realm to peer into mine....

      Monday, November 9, 2015

      Dime Aports from Beyond

      Today I Saw the Black-Eyed Devil

      Black Cloud Spirit

      Encounter with the Soul Eater

      Rotting Cemetery Ghoul

      Psychic Knowing of Daughter's Danger

      While 100 miles away, Mick gets a powerful psychic impression that his daughter is in danger

      Richmond, California. My daughter was two years old in the summer of 1979. I spent the day away from our home near Sacramento crewing on a sailboat in a race on San Francisco Bay. The boat returned to the dock as the sun was going down and I was 100 miles from home.

      I suddenly had a terrific urge to call home and tell my wife to check on our daughter.

      I knew for sure that something was wrong, but I didn't have any idea what. There was no pay phone anywhere in the area. There were no cell phones in those days and I knew I had to find a phone at all costs.

      There was new housing construction in the area of the marina, so I tried to break into an empty house, hoping there would be a functioning phone.

      No luck. I was a school teacher, not a burglar. I don't break into houses.

      This was a true panic attack like I've never had before or since and I would have done anything to make a call home at that moment. All I could do was jump in the car and drive until I could find a phone.

      On the road the evening turned to darkness and suddenly my panic attack disappeared. When I got home I quickly went in my daughter's room and saw that she was sleeping soundly and nothing appeared to be wrong.

      In the morning, though, I discovered that while playing she had draped the curtain over top of a lamp. I'd had my panic attack while her lamp was on in the early evening. The lamp had scorched a big hole through the curtain, which was almost certainly ready to burst into flames.

      Then my wife shut off the lamp from the wall switch at my daughter's bed time. That would synchronize with the end of my panic attack.

      Somehow, 100 miles away, I knew that my little girl was in danger. And then I knew when she wasn't. How? Needless to say, those curtains were gone that day, and I've never had a panic attack again.

      Previous story | Next story

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      Playful Ghost Hid the Screws

      Denis was just fixing an office computer when some trickster spirit decides to hide the screws he needs

      This took place between 1992 and 1995. During this time I was working as a computer technician in Burlington, Vermont. I was servicing a desktop PC at a psychiatrist's office. The desk this PC was on was on the other side of the office and no one else was in the vicinity.

      I pulled the cover off the PC and set the screws on the right hand side of the desk where they would be out of the way but in plain sight.

      After finishing work on the PC I put the cover back on and reached for the screws. They were nowhere to be found.

      No one else had been near the desk except for me. I moved things around and looked everywhere around the desk, including the floor, but I could not find the screws. The office manger even came over to help me look.

      Then she proceeded to tell me that the office was haunted and the resident ghost would often hide things on people. Since the original screws could not be found, I rummaged around in my tool kit for some spares and finished closing up the PC.

      After that I looked to my right and there were the screws... right where I had left them!

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      Ghost of the Haunted Maze

      Horse Witch of Evergreen Cemetery

      2015 True Ghost and Paranormal Stories

      Ghost Walkers of Bull Creek

      Children's Encounters with the Unknown

      Children sense the unknown - Photo: ImagesBazaar / Getty Images
      Photo: ImagesBazaar / Getty Images

      They see and experience extraordinary things that many adults cannot

      ARE CHILDREN MORE attuned to the supernatural? Many researchers suspect that children, from the youngest ages and into early teens, are more likely to experience paranormal phenomena because they have not yet developed the prejudices that many adults have against such far-out, "unscientific" ideas. Perhaps they have not yet created their own filters for feelings and experiences that most of society consider irrational or abnormal.

      Or it could be that young brains or minds are, for whatever reason, physically more receptive to such phenomena as ghosts, near-death experiences, past-life recall and premonitions.

      Whatever the reason, here are several true stories from readers that seem to confirm that children can be extraordinarily tuned in to the strange and the unexplained:

      THE MYSTERY MAN

      Years ago while in my teens, my mom took me with her to pick up one of her elderly friends to give her a ride to our church. We weren't going that night, but my mom was always helpful to the senior citizens at our church. When we got to my mom's friend's house, mom asked me to go to the door to tell her that we were outside waiting on her.

      I rang the doorbell and the elderly lady opened the door, said "hello" and left me standing in the doorway for a few minutes while she finished getting ready. The couch in the elderly lady's living room was partially shielded by the door, but I could see a man sitting on her couch in front of her TV, which was turned on. He never moved or spoke to me as I stood there.

      I was very shy and didn't attempt to speak to him either. I distinctly remember he had on a white shirt, black pinstriped pants, black nylon socks and shiny black shoes. His hands rested on his knees. I remember that his hand was wrinkled and appeared to be that of an elderly, very dark, African-American man, but I was positioned in a way that I could not see his face.

      After a few minutes, the elderly lady grabbed her coat and walked out the door locking it behind her. She left the man sitting on her couch watching television, but she hadn't said anything to him when she left. I thought that it was rather strange, but said nothing about it to her.

      After we dropped the elderly lady off at church, I said, "Mom, Mrs. McClain left a man in her house, but she didn't say bye to him when we left." I also told her that he was sitting on her couch in front of the TV. She asked me what he looked like because Mrs. McClain's landlord came to visit her from time to time. I described what I saw to my mom, but told her that I didn't see his face. My mom said that the description that I gave did not match that of her landlord, because he was a very pale-skinned man.

      My mom was very concerned, so she called Mrs. McClain at church and, in order not to alarm her, asked, "Did you have some company? My daughter said that you left your TV on." Mrs. McClain told mom she didn't have any company that day and that she leaves her TV on whenever she goes out because she wants people to think that someone is home, so that no one will break in.

      Hearing this really frightened my mom, and I guess the elderly lady could hear the fright in my mom's voice and she started screaming out, asking my Mom, "What did your daughter see? Please tell me, what did your daughter see? You are scaring me. I can't go back there. What did she see?" I remember my mom having to talk to her for quite awhile to calm her down. My mom finally convinced her that we were just wondering why she had left the television on.

      When my mom finally got off of the phone, we were both very shaken. I was crying and extremely afraid that I would see this man again because at this point we knew it had to be a ghost. I kept repeating, "I am so glad that I didn't try to see his face." My mom comforted me by saying that it was probably Mrs. McClain's husband, who had passed away, watching out for her because she was all alone. I never saw the man again and we never told Mrs. McClain what I had really seen that evening in her house. -- H. Holmes

      WHAT DID BABY BROTHER SEE?

      When my little brother was a baby, maybe nine months old, we lived with my grandma. My grandpa had just died. My mom was sitting in the living room around midnight trying to get my brother to sleep, but he wouldn't stop crying. Suddenly, out of nowhere he stopped crying, sat straight up and said, "Hi, grandpa." There was no one else in the room at all. The weird thing is, he said those words so clearly, and he had never spoken before, not even to say "mom"! -- Beth B.

      ANDY PANDY COMES TO PLAY

      Many of your UK readers between the ages of 45 and 55 will probably remember a TV show called Watch with Mother. The show was on the BBC in the 1950s and featured a string puppet named "Andy Pandy", and he had a sidekick named "Loopy Lou or Looby Lou".

      One day my brother and sister where playing upstairs in our front bedroom. This room was about 12 ft. x 12 ft. and had a cupboard in the corner, which was directly over the stairs. My sister and brother, both now in their late 40s, swear to this day that Andy Pandy came out of that cupboard in the corner and spent the next hour playing with them both. This Andy Pandy, however, was about four feet high and had no strings attached. I have questioned both of them over the years and still their story remains the same. - Mike C.

      Next page: More experiences

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      SHADOW PEOPLE ENCOUNTERS

      When I was seven years old, one weekend I planned to stay up late downstairs playing video games and then sleep on the pull-out bed. I was preparing to go to bed when, for some reason, I got the impression that something was watching me. I got scared enough to run back upstairs, and while I was running, I could see very short (no larger than two feet tall) and squat figures darting after me.

       They were very indistinct in features, and appeared as nothing more than inky-black silhouettes.

      Also, when my aunt was young, she was sleeping over at a friend's house at the end of the street when she said that a "shadow man" appeared at the foot of the bed and began to call out her friend's name.

      She screamed and said that it disappeared into the floor.

      ACCIDENT PREMONITION

      My mother's family (parents and siblings) lived in Binghamton, New York. My dad was in the Navy and my parents, my sister and I lived in Patuxent River, Maryland. I was six years old at the time. Even though we lived in Maryland, I knew most of my mother's family because we would visit them quite often in Binghamton, and during the summer they all came to visit us. At the time, my cousin, Marylou, who lived in Binghamton, was 11 years old.

      I got home from school one day and asked my mother why Marylou was crying. She didn't understand what I was talking about. I told her that I heard her crying. She was quite puzzled by my statement and had no explanation.

      Within a few hours, the phone rang. It was my grandmother calling to say that my cousin had been hit by a car walking home from school -- about the same time I told my mother I could hear her crying. I have had a few other premonitions, but this is the one I remember most. -- Nancy T.

      CHANTING MEN IN WHITE

      I was 13 and it was quite some time after my little brother had passed away. I had wanted to be with him because I thought it would be better with him than at home. One night I was sleeping in my bed and I had felt this warm sensation. I saw this large hand come on my legs. It was so warm I had to wake up. To my surprise, there were some men standing around my bed, which was up against the wall. They were dressed in white and chanting in some language I never heard. One looked at me and then they all did and stopped chanting. Then, all in a single file, they walked out of the room.

      I crawled to the end of my bed and peeked out the door to the living room. There we had a dim light on. They were gone. I was a little scared and crawled under the covers and started to pray. Then my other brother asked me if I was awake. I said yes. He asked me to come to his room. I said, "No way. You come." But I did manage to get to his room, just to find out that my brother had gone through the exact same thing as I did. We were both scared. -- Ruby

      THE IMAGINARY FRIEND

      When my cousin was little, she would always say that she was visited by "a friend." My family thought this was an imaginary friend. One day while looking through a photo album, my cousin saw a picture of her grandfather who had died only a few years before she was born. She had never seen this picture before. She said that the man in the picture (her grandfather) was the friend who visited her regularly. This is interesting because my grandfather adored his grandchildren, and I could envision him wanting to meet the one who was born after he died. -- Dennis and Heather S.

      SHIRLEY SAVES HER BROTHER

      My mom told me this story, and she still cries when she tells it. It has never been explained. My sister, Shirley (the firstborn), died of Down Syndrome at the age of two in 1961. She had holes in her heart. Almost two years later, my mother had a baby boy, my brother, Steven.

      One day in 1962, my mom was up in the attic doing some work, and my dad was in the basement in his workshop. Steven (age one) was supposedly napping in a playpen in the den. My mom heard, clear as day, Shirley's voice saying, "Dadda! Dadda!" ... and it was as though she were right there next to her in the attic. Clear as day. My dad heard the SAME THING down in his workshop. "Dadda! Dadda!" They both say it was distinctly Shirley's voice -- loud and clear.

      Dad ran up to tell mom; mom ran to tell dad. They both ran into the den, and there was baby Steven with plastic dry cleaner's sheeting that he had reached for on the couch -- and he was suffocating! Mom and dad both told us later on that it could not have been Steven calling them; he called my dad, "daddy" not "dadda," and it was not his voice. They are convinced to this day that it was Shirley warning them that her brother was suffocating. -- Donna B.

      Time Warp on Long Island

      Weird Skeletons in Mankind's Closet

       - (c) 1995, Robert Connolly
      (c) 1995, Robert Connolly

      From 9-ft. giants to tiny mummies, these human remains are puzzling

      In 2004, scientists were stunned by the discovery of skeletons of what are thought to be an ancient race of people that stood about 3½ feet tall -- about the height of a modern three-year-old. Found on the remote island of Indonesia, these pygmies were named Homo floresiensis and nicknamed "hobbits" because of their small size (their heads were no bigger than a grapefruit).

      The scientists believe this diminutive race died out about 13,000 years ago, although modern natives reported knowledge of a tiny race of people currently or recently living in isolated areas of the jungle.

      These are not the first or only strange skeletons unearthed around the world - including the U.S.

      Whether you believe humans are the descendants of Adam and Eve, the result of millions of years of evolution or the genetic creations of the Annunaki, there are many puzzling specimens of skeletons, skulls and other human (or human-like) remains that can truly make one wonder about mankind's past.

      Here's a bare-bones look at some of the more intriguing cases:

      Horny Devils
      Within an ancient burial mound near the town of Sayre in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, skeletons measuring approximately 7 feet in length were discovered in the 1800s. But the most remarkable feature of these tall skeletons was not their height, but the strange horn-like protrusions above the brow region on their skulls. It was estimated that they were buried around 1200 AD.

      According to some sources, the skeletons were sent to the American Investigating Museum in Philadelphia... and vanished.

      All the Better to Eat You With, My Dear
      In 1888, seven skeletons, which had been placed in a sitting position, were uncovered from a burial mound near Clearwater, Minnesota. The highly unusual skulls of these beings had double rows of teeth in both the upper and lower jaws.

      It was also noted that the foreheads were low and sloping, compared to "normal" human skulls, and had distinctly prominent brows.

      Copper Man
      The December 17, 1891 issue of the respected journal Nature reported the discovery of a giant man buried 14 feet within the center of one of Ohio's mysterious burial mounds. The enormous man's arms, jaw, arms, chest and stomach were all clad in copper. Wooden antlers, also covered with copper, rested on either side of his head. His mouth was filled with large pearls, and a pearl-studded necklace of bear teeth hung around his neck. Who this man was, or to which race of people he belonged, is unknown.

      The Mica Giant
      In 1879, a burial mound in Brewersville, Indiana yielded another giant skeleton, according to the November, 1975 edition of The Indianapolis News. This one reached 9 feet 8 inches tall! It wore a necklace of mica stone, and a crude human effigy of clay was found standing at his feet. The giant skeleton was examined by scientists from Indiana and New York, and it remained in the possession of Mr. Robinson, who owned the land on which the mound stood. Unfortunately, the curious bones were washed away in a flood in 1937.

      Coneheads
      Researcher Robert Connolly photographed this strange elongated skull in 1995. It was found in South America and is estimated to be tens of thousands of years old. Apart from its obvious abnormalities, it also exhibits characteristics of both Neanderthal and human skulls -- impossible in itself, according to anthropology texts, since Neanderthals did not exist in South America. Some believe that the unusual shape of the skulls might be the result of a primitive practice known as "skull binding" in which a person's head is tightly bound with cloth or leather straps throughout his lifetime, causing the skull to grow in this dramatic way. The skull-binding theory is contested, however, for this and other cone-shaped skulls, and you can read about them in more detail at Anomalous Skulls.

      Next page: Skull of an alien hybrid?

      Pedro Mountain Mummy -
      The Pedro Mountain Mummy. 
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      Small Wonders
      Near Coshocton, Ohio in 1837, several fully developed adult skeletons were found buried in tiny wooden coffins. Why tiny coffins? Because these adult skeletons were only 3 to 4½ feet tall. No artifacts were found with the remains that might give clues as to who these small people were, but there were so many of them that researchers believed they could have been the residents of a small city.

      Pedro Mountain Mummy
      "Pedro," as he has been nicknamed, is one of the most famous enigmatic human remains ever found. He was discovered by gold prospectors in 1932 when they were dynamiting through the canyons of the Pedro Mountains, which rise about 60 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming. There he was, sitting cross-legged on a ledge with his hands resting serenely in his lap.

      (See photo.) He was completely mummified. What's astonishing, however, is that this middle-aged-looking man appeared to be only 14 inches tall! But it might not have been an adult at all. Although the mummy has been lost, X-rays survive and one modern analysis concluded that Pedro was actually an infant, or even a fetus, that might have been afflicted with the disease anencephaly.

      Red Giants
      In 1911, miners were digging out layers of guano from a cave located about 22 miles southwest of Lovelock, Nevada when they happened upon the mummified remains of an individual who must have stood 6½ feet tall when alive. A tall Native American, perhaps? Probably not, since the mummy was still crowned with "distinctly red" hair.

      Amazingly, the ancient legends of the local Paiute Indians described a race of red-haired giants -- called Si-te-cahs -- who were the enemies of many Indian tribes of the region.

      The Starchild Skull
      Lloyd Pye, author of Everything You Know Is Wrong, has taken it upon himself to discover the identity of an unusual skull he has dubbed "The Starchild Skull." The skull, which was found in a mine shaft near Chihuahua, Mexico around 1930, is unusually wide at the back and exhibits larger than normal eye sockets.

      Although he says the origin of the skull is uncertain, Pye speculates on whether or not it could be of alien origin - or at least belonging to a human-alien hybrid. While some contend that the skull was merely that of a deformed human child, Pye wanted definitive proof and so, in late 1999, subjected the skull to DNA testing. The results of the test indicated that the skull was from a human being, but Pye points out that the lab could not extract sufficient strands of DNA to make a definitive conclusion, and therefore the question still remains open.

      Fatheads
      Robert Connolly has photographed a similar, more complete skulls. (See photos.) In most respects it appears to be that of a human, except that it has an extraordinarily large cranium and eye sockets. The eye sockets are about 15 percent larger than a modern human's. The age and date of the skull are unknown. Similar skulls appear in photos by Karen Scheidt of remains found in a Mexican cave. Could they all be genetic mutations, some unknown species of creature or something not of this world?

      Visions of Unfortunate Future Events

      Friday, October 30, 2015

      6 Terrifying Tales of Halloween

      halloween-dark.jpg - Photo: Michael L Kaser / Getty Images
      Photo: Michael L Kaser / Getty Images

      For many, the holiday is a time when real ghosts make themselves known

      IS HALLOWEEN just a delightful holiday for dressing up, parties and candy? Or is it really a time when restless spirits are allowed to roam more freely among the living? Is the veil that separates our world from the world of the dead more transparent at this time of year? People report paranormal phenomena at all times of the year, of course.

      But there's something about Halloween night that heightens the senses and, perhaps, connects us more readily to forces unexplained. Consider these seven chilling true stories of Halloween frights.

      EVIL IN THE ATTIC

      Attics can be scary places... maybe even more so around Halloween time. Take it from Eve, who as a young girl ventured into her attic alone in search of costumes.

      "My mum and sister went to my neighbor's house, leaving me alone in the house," says Eve. "It was about 4:30 and already beginning to get dark. I took that opportunity to sneak upstairs into the attic to try on some Halloween stuff. I quickly ran up the steps, knowing that if my mum came back and caught me, I would be in deep trouble. Although all the windows were shut, I felt a cold breeze pass through me, but I thought nothing of it at first because I had had no past experiences of paranormal phenomena."

      Eve rummaged through the bag of Halloween costumes and pulled out a witch's hat, which she tried on for size. Almost immediately, some unseen force hit the hat. She dropped the bag and quickly turned around, but found nothing against which she could have knocked the hat.

      "As I bent down to pick up the bag, I saw the handle to the bathroom door turn and the door rapidly opened," Eve says. "I walked cautiously into the bathroom, wondering what had caused the door to open in such a way. I had a feeling that there was another presence in the room. I looked out of the window to check if my mother and sister were still outside, and sure enough they were.

      Just as I was about to turn away form the window, I saw the reflection of the cupboard door sliding open. I turned around hastily to try and see what was causing these incidents, but I wasn't quick enough to catch whatever it was."

      Terrified, Eve threw the bag back into the cardboard box and ran downstairs and out into the front garden, waiting anxiously for her mum to return home. "That night, I had a nightmare about what might have followed if I had stayed up there any longer," Eve says. "Evil, gleaming red eyes stared at me from the bathroom cupboard, locking me in the toilet and causing complete havoc all around the house. Several unexplainable things have happened up there since then, including 'self-breaking' objects."

      What was it, beside her own equilibrium, that Eve disturbed in that attic that evening?

      THE PHANTOM'S CAR

      It was Halloween evening 1995 when Pamela and her brother were heading home on a country road near Greenbelt, Maryland. As it was darkening, Pamela reckons that they were moving at about 25-30 mph on the two-lane road, with her brother at the wheel.

      Suddenly appearing behind them, and approaching quickly, was a black vehicle with two large, round and glaringly bright headlights. Almost as quickly, the car was beside them on the left, as if trying to pass. But, Pamela says, it seemed that the old black car was floating rather than riding the pavement. "This old car was in the path of head-on traffic," Pamela recalls. "It seemed like those other cars kept going without interruption. My brother and I looked over inside the car and there were four young teenagers, two young men and two young ladies."

      Strangely, they looked to be dressed in farm clothing from the 1930s or 1940s – and they all looked as white as ghosts. The young lady in the front passenger turned her head slowly to Pamela and her brother and smiled, then turned back. The two people in the back seat just stared. Then, inexplicably, the car floated past them... and vanished into thin air.

      But that's not the end of this ghost story. "In 1997, my brother and I were on the same road, around the same time, again coming home," Pamela says, "and the same spirits appeared and repeated the same scene! In 1998, my brother was alone driving home on this road and the same ghosts appeared again, repeating the same scenario.

      "Maybe these teens were going out on Halloween and got into some terrible accident. They are clearly stuck on this road driving! God rest their souls."

      Next page: The Voice in Blood Cemetery

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      THE VOICE IN BLOOD CEMETERY

      At Halloween, many people test their bravery by venturing into dark cemeteries. Sarah and her husband, who had always been fascinated by the unknown, decided to do just that on the Halloween night of 2002. It was an experience, she says, that changed her life.

      "We chose Blood Cemetery in Mukwanago, Wisconsin," Sarah tells us. "I think it goes by a different name now, but the Blood family was the first African American family in that town, and they are buried in that cemetery near a statue of a book on a pillar."

      Sarah's husband used to live in that town and often heard tales of supernatural events occurring in the cemetery. This got Sarah's juices flowing, so armed with a camera, two flashlights, and an audio recording device, they headed into the tiny cemetery.

      "We headed for the Blood monument first," she says.

      "After waiting around in vain for the Blood family to show themselves, we did a little walking around. We were about 48 feet away from the Blood monument when something made me turn around and look back at it. I saw what appeared to be a giant blue orb. It was about the size and shape of a human head, and about that far off the ground. I didn't look long enough to make out a face, so I cannot tell you if it was truly a face or not."

      That's all it took for Sarah and her husband to run out of the cemetery at a speed they never imagined they could attain. Although the ground was dry, they both stumbled and tripped as they ran. Her husband said he felt as though he was being sucked into the ground, but Sarah swore it felt more like hands grabbing at her ankles and pants.

      At the outer edge of the cemetery, they caught their breath and gathered their courage for one more short walk around the gravestones with the audio recorder and camera. "I tried to open myself up a little and I was lured to a random area of the cemetery," says Sarah.

      "We stood there for about 10 seconds...

      until I felt the sudden urge to run. I said, 'Oh my God! We have to go!' I started running with all my might. My husband followed. I turned and I snapped a picture of the spot we were standing. When we got back to the car, we listened to the audio. This is what we heard: the shuffling of our feet in the leaves and then it stops. 'Grrr…. Get out!'"

      "The voice was obviously not human, but not quite animal," Sarah is certain. "It was a demon. The picture showed a whole lot of nothing... except for two little red eyes."

      THE HOODED FIGURE

      High schoolers and even college students seem to love Halloween as much as little kids do. It's an opportunity to challenge their fears of the unknown and to indulge in scary pranks. Chris will never forget the Halloween of 1981, when he was enrolled at a college in his hometown.

      Chris and five or six of his friends decided to check out a small cemetery at the edge of campus. A rusty, worn, chain-link fence encircled the few graves of past college faculty and their relatives. "It wasn't long before I felt... 'something'," Chris remembers. "A few minutes later, I heard the crunch and rhythm of footsteps shuffling through the leaves on the ground. Some of the others heard it, too, and we all looked in the direction of the footsteps, and when we didn't see anyone, we assumed it was another friend trying to scare us."

      They all laughed it off, at first, but the sound of the footsteps continued. Every couple of minutes, Chris would look down the length of the fence. He squinted his eyes, trying to find the prankster in the dark, but he couldn't see anyone, even as the crunch of leaves got louder... and closer.

      Then, to the left of his vision, coming from the dark edge of the woods, Chris saw it. "Vague in shape, it was definitely cloaked in black head to foot," Chris says. "It seemed to move in spurts of speed, and then, as though time fast-forwarded, it would be ahead of my speed of sight -- closer to me than before until it stopped at the corner post of the fence."

      The figure changed shape from a thin, tall form as it turned to its left and faced the students. It was cloaked and hooded, although Chris could make out no arms nor eyes to look at for familiarity. There was no shape of feet, even though the hem of its cloak floated inches above the leaves and grass. Scared, Chris wheeled away from the whole affair, and without saying a word to his friends, ran uphill to the first lighted building he could find.

      "I felt someone running beside me," he says. "I was relieved when I saw one of my friends. We stopped running and asked each other what we saw, and we both said the same words, saw the same vision. Since that night, I have seen my friend often. Except for one occasion a couple of years after that Halloween, we have never talked about what we saw that night."

      Next page: Ouija Attacks Dogs

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      OUIJA ATTACK DOGS

      Halloween often inspires people to break out their Ouija boards, even if the "talking board" has been sitting gathering dust on a shelf the rest of the year. Bea and her friends Ingrid, Anna, Lara and May decided to experiment with the board one Halloween night some years ago in Bea's large house in Australia.

      Bea's parents were away on business, and her brother and sister were visiting an uncle in South Australia, so she and her friends had the house to themselves for a sleepover.

      Naturally, sleep was the last thing on their minds. Anna, who was really into séances and the paranormal, suggested playing with the board, which she brought with her.

      "I have two Pomeranian dogs, Muffy (tan) and Shadow (black)," says Bea, "and my friend Ingrid has a white Pomeranian called Hayley. Muffy, Shadow and Hayley, along with Anna's dog, Ernie and Lara's two dogs, Archie and Rosie, were all in the backyard and we hadn't heard a peep out of them for about an hour."

      Upstairs in Bea's bedroom, the girls arranged themselves in a circle with Anna's Ouija board in the center. They each placed two fingers on the planchette. Anna started by asking the board, "Is anybody there?" The board moved to YES. Then Ingrid asked, "Who?" and the board spelled out: GAIL.

      "Who are you?" another girls asked. Again the board spelled out only: GAIL.

      "More detail," another requested. But the board only replied: GAIL.

      "What's going to happen tonight?" Bea asked. DOGS, the board spelled.

      "What are you going to do to our dogs?" YOU'LL SEE, replied the Ouija.

      Bea pushed the board aside and the girls just sat there staring at each other. The silence was soon broken by a piercing whimper from the backyard.

      The five girls jumped up and raced down the stairs, fearing for their dogs. "We flung the back door open and raced out," says Bea. "We soon discovered Lara's dog Archie whimpering in a corner. We didn't even take a second glance at any of them. We simply picked up our dogs (all of them were small ones) and ran them inside up to my room.

      Once we had them upstairs, we fussed around inspecting every inch of them. Lara screamed and we rushed over to see her holding Archie, who had a burn mark on his left side in the shape of a pentagram in a circle (the symbol for witchcraft).

      "We spent the whole night with the dogs in our arms and vowed to burn the board the next morning."

      SUICIDE GHOST

      "This experience is very dear to me, though it grows blurry with time," Satori tells us. "Memories fade like breath upon a mirror... especially ones that were dim to begin with. But this is what I remember, I do not know exactly what I saw, but I do know it changed me."

      Satori's experience took place at an all-girl's Catholic college she attended where, it was rumored, there was a particular bathroom that was haunted. The girls frequently talked about the icy air in this room, and of hearing and seeing strange things, and a feeling of being watched. Satori dismissed them as tall tales.

      One Halloween, however, Satori and her friend decided to go and "talk" to this spirit. They went into one of the bathroom stalls that had a bathtub, because it was said to be the center of the haunting energy. "My friend got into the tub and started feeling around," Satori says. "I did, too... and I felt the most amazing feeling -- a tingling, like electric current, coming from the walls and the faucets. I was stunned but, oddly enough, not afraid. Elated was more the word.

      "We got out of the tub and that's when I saw it: the pale image of a young girl with dark hair and deep, sad eyes. She was wearing some kind of slip. Her wrists were cut and her blood was dripping down the drain. She looked like me! Again, I did not feel fear, only sympathy.

      "'I think she put the razor in the soap dish,' I said to my friend. 'I know,' she answered. Suddenly, I felt this presence, this tingling warm feeling inside... like the way your arms prickle before a storm. I said to it, 'Come out. Don't be afraid.' And the feeling got stronger. Then I said, 'It's okay. We understand. You can go back.' And the feeling seemed to move upward in my body until it disappeared. Then there was no more energy."

      When the girls stood to leave, however, Satori was stricken with an overwhelming feeling of sadness and loneliness. "I knew she did not want us to leave," Satori says. "I said to her gently, 'I'm so sorry, but we can't help you. You need to go back now.' Then I felt the sadness lift and the room grew lighter. I felt her leave. She never returned and no one spoke of her again. But I will never forget her. She taught me a lesson: compassion heals all wounds, whether alive or dead."