Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

The following was submitted by one of our readers and it's also one of the rare stories we put online that doesn't exactly fit our criteria for online submissions but it's a good report with great detail and covered a few things interesting to many people that look into ghosts and hauntings. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Clarkson Ontario - Private Residence

"I would like to submit an experience I had as a child. This happened twenty-six years ago in the home of my very close friend. I was nine years old at the time and her and I had become close friends since we both were new to the neighbourhood and starting the new school together.

Her mother lived in a townhouse complex in Clarkson, Ontario.

I lived just down the way from her so we would spend practically all of our time together, joined at the hips so to speak.

Her house was closer to our school so for lunch we would go there during the non winter seasons. What I remember is that we would essentially open the door quickly, run up the stairs to the kitchen, hurriedly make a sandwich, grab a drink and then immediately take these to the front step to eat. We would not spend a great deal of time in the house. There was no noises or anything that would have spooked us , it just seemed that we should not spend time in the house. Oddly enough, we never spoke of it either.

Weekends were normally sleepovers. We never had anything happen before this incident or after it.

Being that we were only nine years old, we did not talk of anything other than current tv crushes and the "yucky" boys at school and normal nine-year-old girl banter. Paranormal things were not on our minds.

That evening, her brother was staying at a friends house and her mother had retired to bed. We were in her room going over all the important worldly things around us such as the raised prices of candy bars and how much we enjoyed the Bob and Doug Mackenzie album, when we decided to go downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink.

The stairs that descended to the kitchen were split in half with a landing , as we were on the landing and me being the first one with my foot on the first or second step to the second set of risers, a gust of cold air seemed to pass through us, I know that I had been frozen to a stop and since Melissa did not bump into me I could only assume the same of her. As soon as the cold gust went through I saw the vague shape, like a mist, run down the stairs in front and then make its way down the next set of stairs leading to the main floor.

Without any words we both turned around and scurried up the stairs into her room, closed the door behind us and jumped into her bed pulling the covers up to our chin. We wound up facing each other and laying there quietly listening for any noise that may suggest that whatever had passed us on the stairs was outside of the room.

Nothing happened after that, and we both must have just drifted off to sleep.

What is most odd is that neither of us talked of the incident. We continued to do sleepovers, although I know that we never left the bedroom at night alone, including bathroom visits.

The first time that we ever talked about it was almost twenty years after it had happened. I had moved to Niagara Falls and she had been in Windsor completing her law degree.

We were on the back deck of my home when she suddenly asked me if I remembered what happened when we were at her house so many years ago. Both of us had some laughs over it, not that we discounted what had happened but mostly because we seemed to have never talked of it. We both came to the conclusion that we must have collectively thought that if we just don't talk about it , it won't happen again.

That was one of the first paranormal experiences I had. It is the one that stands out so clearly even though all of the years passed since that night."

Our thanks to the witnesses for sharing this report with us.

The writer of this report is interested if anyone else had a report from the same area or preferably, the same house. For obvious anonymity reasons, we don't want to divulge the exact address or location of the townhome but we do have it. As is usual for us, if you think you have had an experience in the same house, you can send it to us and we will be happy to "confirm" or "deny" if it is indeed possibly the same entity.



Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

Kefalonia is a breathtaking, and somewhat mysterious island in western Greece. It takes it's name from the mythological figure Cephalus, and there have been several intriguing archaeological digs there! Some of their finds may be viewed at their Archaeological Museum located in the capital.

The island itself is dotted with tiny villages, surrounded by majestic mountains, and beautiful beaches. Definitely a wonderful destination for the historically minded.

HolidayHyperMarket.co.uk offers flights to Kefalonia at terrific discounts along with hotel, and other types of vacation rental bookings.

Have a look at their travel guide by clicking on the link, and view some of the spectacular videos for this hot destination. The site is easy to use, and navigate, and offers thousands of vacation plans for destinations around the world.

Enjoy!

Thank you to the sponsor.

Over the past two weeks both Matthew, and I have had several inquiries via email regarding last year's seminar program on ghost investigation. These were a lot of fun for us to do, and were quite successful! Generally, we are being asked if we will be offering them again this summer. The answer is unfortunately no. While the seminars were well attended, and we enjoyed meeting with other ghost enthusiasts, the subject as a whole has limited appeal from an investigative standpoint, therefore we thought that doing them every couple of years would be better not only for us, but for those interested in serious study.

In the coming days I will be listing my favourite ghost tours from around the province here on the blog, including info on who to contact.

In other news Robin had a FANTASTIC time at the Waverley Asylum in Kentucky, USA on a press junket, and even brought me back a souvenir from the old morgue with staff permission of course. The team got some interesting footage, and further details will hopefully be posted shortly. Due to an unfortunate car wreck Robin (she is more or less physically ok) has been unable to provide a written report just yet.

Finally, Matthew has written up a wonderful, but very dark (you've been warned) This could ALMOST go on the Paranormal Blog... entry on cemeteries, grave robbers etc for our history blog. Click on the link to have a read.

Cheers!
Sue

For the month of June, historian Chris Laursen takes us to different locales in East Asia to reveal the colourful and fantastical ghostlore that comes from that region. In his last instalment in this series, a Filipino woman (who lives in Toronto, Canada) tells Chris about her recent experience clearing her husband's house in Manila of its ghosts.

Throw a fistful of salt, smash a glass of gin
by Chris Laursen

A few months ago, I ran into a couple of friends in a local bakery, and in conversation told them about the historical research I've been doing on the paranormal. One of my friends told me that her mother had gone to the Philippines (where her father currently lives), and was clearing his house of its ghosts. I was really curious about this, and some weeks later had an opportunity to sit down with my friend's mother, who likes to go by the nickname Mama, to talk to her about the experience.

In the late 1990s, Mama's mother-in-law died, and her husband returned to the Philippines to take care of the family property. He moved into her house in Manila, and ever since, strange things have been happening in the house. Many people have sensed a presence there, while others have reported apparitions, the regular sound of someone walking up the stairs, doors closing on their own and electric fans turning on by themselves.

Several years ago, my friend went to visit her father in Manila and had a strange experience of her own. "My Dad let me stay in his room while he stayed in the other room," she told me. "One night, I was in his room and he was watching TV in the other room. I thought I heard him calling out to me. I peeked out my door and I saw what I thought was him with white stockings on his feet, running from the hall into the room, which is weird because he doesn't wear socks around the house." She went to his room to ask what he wanted. He was just relaxing in his bed, barefoot as usual. "I asked him what he needed and he said he didn't call me. I told him what I saw, and he said, 'You know I don't wear socks in the house.'" She added that she really doesn't want to know about the haunting there because it makes her feel a bit paranoid.

But Mama was eager to tell me all about it. She told me of how, being a Roman Catholic family, the house had been blessed on a few occasions. But soon after each blessing, the ghostly incidents would resume. Late last year, her husband had hired a cook to work in the restaurant he owns. The cook and his wife came from another village about two hours from Manila and they needed a place to stay until they got settled in the city. Mama's husband offered them a room for a few weeks.

The bustling city of Manila, Philippines.

One night, when her husband was out, the couple heard someone in the kitchen. There was the sound of dishes as if they were being cleaned. They went downstairs to greet Mama's husband, who they thought had just returned home. But there was no one there. The next day, they asked Mama's husband if he had been in the kitchen at this time, but he said he hadn't returned home yet. The couple were unnerved by the experience.

Mama's husband decided to call in an older woman who believed in the supernatural and could perform a ceremony to rid the house of its unwanted and unseen guests. When she entered the house, she told Mama's husband that she saw a lady sitting at the dining room table, her head bowed. The woman did a rite involving a chicken, gin and candles, and for a while all was quiet. But soon, the haunting resumed. Mama's husband told Mama of this when he came to visit her in Toronto, Canada last January.

In Toronto, Mama has a friend originally from Jamaica. Her friend had told Mama about how her home in Jamaica had been haunted, and she had learned a procedure to get rid of the ghosts. With many strange, often frightening reports, Mama was willing to try something new to clear family home in Manila of its ghosts.

The procedure would take nine days to complete and would have to be performed on each of those days just before sunrise. In early April, Mama was visiting her husband and decided to undergo the process her Jamaican friend had advised her to try. It was around midnight, and Mama had to get up in a few hours to do the lengthy initial procedure to exorcise the house. "I woke up, and by our window, it sounded like birds were coming. They were so loud, but I couldn't see anything because it was dark," she told me. No one else had heard the strange sounds. She wondered if it was a sign that someone knew Mama was going to try to rid the house of its spirits.

Filipinos have a long-standing, rich mythology, and continue to experience apparitions and ghostly activities within the context of traditional beliefs. A recent news story featured video captures of alleged "multos" (the Tagalag word for ghosts). Interestingly, they seem to share the girl with long dark hair wearing a nightgown or dress as has often been captured on videos since the popular movie "The Ring" was released. The link for the video is at the bottom of this article.

In the early hours of the morning, Mama and the housekeeper started the process of clearing the house. They had many different items her Jamaican friend recommended she use: salt, hot chillies, chayote, green lemons, red candles, gin and so on. Outside of the house, she filled a glass with gin and took a fistful of salt, and threw them both to the ground. "My friend told me to say, 'Go away! Don't come back!' like you're really mad! So I did that," said Mama. The two women went through the entire property with frankincense, spreading the various items around to repel whatever spirits were haunting the home. The initial procedure was completed before sunrise. On each of the nine days, before the sun rose, Mama read a prayer from the Bible, Psalm 97, while facing to the east.

But on the ninth day, Mama wondered if all of her prayers had been in vain. She stood in a room reading the prayer one last time when she felt a breeze. She looked and saw that the electric fan was on. It was very strange that the fan would be on so early in the morning, for it was always left off during the night. As Mama told me the story, she rationalized the maybe the fan had been left on, but she was quite certain it was not, and that it turned on by itself while she was reading the prayer. Her husband further verified this when told her he had not turned on the fan before going to bed. "I thought to myself, 'Oh shoot!' What was going on?" she said. "This was the ninth day! But you cannot fear. You have to be strong. This is my house."

To Mama's knowledge, all has been quiet in her husband's house in Manila since she did the procedure. But things have always been quiet after blessings have been made, leaving one to wonder if the ghosts might return. Mama hopes they don't.

Further reading:

The Philippines has a rich mythology passed on from the many tribes who lived there before the Spanish brought Catholicism to the islands. Among the tales you will read about are tree spirits, including fairies, dwarves and giants, all of whom live in or around the trees in the forests. This rich folklore still lives on today, as Mama told me about how there is a tree on her husband's property that is thought to have spirits. One person reported seeing a kapre (a tall, dark giant) in the tree coming to the house one night. To ensure the tree spirits are happy, people leave offerings at the tree.

Some further details on mythological creatures in the Philippines can be found at:
http://www.answers.com/topic/philippine-mythology

Not only does the Philippines have incredible folklore, it also has a lot of ghosts! People have written about their own accounts of their paranormal encounters on several websites:

Your Ghost Stories - Personal paranormal encounters
http://www.yourghoststories.com/ghost-stories-countries.php?country=PH&page=1

A list of haunted places in the Philippines:
http://theshadowlands.net/places/philippines.htm

An article by Doris Trinidad in the Philippine Post Magazine from October 2001 on ghosts:
http://www.philpost.com/1001pages/insight1001.html

Last, but not least, check out this Filipino television segment which includes several video captures (see above picture) of what are said to be apparitions. Judge for yourself, and be sure to have someone close by to grab onto if you get scared:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL4j-Wsp-EI

Necromancy is defined as the raising of the images of the dead, considered in antiquity and by modern occultists as a practice of Black Magic. Not to be entertained lightly!

Edward Kelly a magician reportedly worked with the famed alchemist John Dee.

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Image Credit: From Old Books.org

Toronto Ontario - June 23rd 2007 Approx. 3am

UFO Details Report: "I was a participant at the Canadian Cancer Society - Relay for Life on June 22, 2007 (7PM) until June 23, 2007 (7AM). The event I joined was held at Toronto-Central location - Forest Hill Memorial Park (near Eglinton & Bathurst). Around 3AM (? not sure, because I didn't have a watch on me), I was walking towards the portable washrooms with my gf and I suddenly looked up in the early morning sky as I quickly saw a white-blueish/purpleish ball of light (5mm diameter from my view) flew across the sky quickly before vanishing(?) or disappearing(?) into a very small patch of clouds. I'm not even sure if it went right into or it was above it. It certainly did not come back out. It could have been a meteorite shower(?) but I doubt it would have been that big...or if the colour would be whiteish-blue. (Shouldn't it be something like orange...because it's burning up in the atmosphere?) But anyway, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I really want to know what I saw (I'm thinking, if it was my mind that tricked me, because I've been up since 6:55am from the previous day)."

We would appreciate hearing from anyone else who may have attended this event, and has seen something similar. Your confidentiality, and privacy are always assured with us. You may contact us via this blog or email us directly.

Our thanks to the witness for this report.

I found the following news item of while surfing around the net this past weekend. Here is a snippet:

A paranormal investigator claimed today he is in line to win £1 million after betting he could prove the existence of an afterlife.

Ross Hemsworth, 49, from Glastonbury, has placed a £100 bet with odds of 10,000/1, that he will provide evidence of an afterworld beyond reasonable doubt.

If the self titled "scientific investigator of anomalous phenomena" is proved correct not only will he bag the money but will also become one of the most famous men in modern history.

Full Article Here

Naturally this caught my attention, and I intend to keep an eye on it for further developments. The question of course is what does he think he has got???? Should be interesting no matter how it turns out.

When the above video first popped up on YouTube we had serious doubts in regards to it. In reaction to the numerous emails we received we posted the following to the PSICAN Forums:

I'm sorry, but we doubt this video very much.

First of all, it's odd this person is only using an infra-red night-vision video for a light source. Most people would have a flashlight.

Next, most people on seeing what seems to be a "solid" child in the home, would not run from it without making a noise, but would most likely assume a child was in the home and then pursue the child to find out why they were there and how they got there...

I could be wrong, because without being there, it's impossible to say, but the lack of realistic behaviour/reaction from the witness and the lack of a proper light source (which is "unnatural") make me highly suspicious of the validity of this video.

That, and it's a "dead ringer" (forgive the pun) for a video released on YouTube about six months ago in the states.

Sorry we can't be more "positive", but it seems to be very "problematic" in our eyes...

We further expanded on the probability of a hoax with this:

Granted there could be an epidemic of little girl ghosts caught on video ... n'yeah .... forgive us our cynicism ... We mentioned one other almost identical video (note none are ever submitted to anyone for analysis just uploaded to YouTube) but I can think of a few that feature little girl ghosts.

For the most part human nature is very predictable and that is what is really missing in these videos. Unless they knew they were in a haunted house, inhabited by a ghost girl, that they were already frightened of seeing. ... the reaction appears staged ...

I don't buy it ...

Think about what makes a really good horror film ... the actors are believable in their roles.

Well guess what???? A YouTube user going by "ghostevidence" did an analysis of the above video, and ultimately said they found out this was a viral video to promote a TV series called Scream Team.

UGH!

Yet, we are not surprised at all.

We had been contacted not only by our readers, but by media in regards to this utter waste of time as well when it was first released.

Not only is this type of hoaxery a mockery of our study, but a waste of people's time, and energy as well.

Please do remember gentle readers if it looks too good to be true it probably is. And be sure to boycott Scream Team if or when it should ever see the light of day.

I found this interesting news item yesterday on Ananova. My concern with this sort of thing is that people will now start blaming the "aliens" for antisocial or criminal behaviour. This will cast a darker shadow over all who claim this experience including those who have otherwise committed no criminal acts, nor suffer from diagnosed mental illness. There is no way to prove that "aliens" are to blame here, so I would think that this would be a waste of the court's time, and money. Read on:

A lawyer who landed an out-of-this-world job defending people who have suffered at the hands of aliens has started his first major case.

Former industrial law specialist Jens Lorek announced last year he would defend those whose close encounters with outer space visitors left them physically and mentally shattered.

Now he has his first client - hotel chef Paul Hoffmann, 23, who claims he was kidnapped by aliens and has never been the same since.

Hoffmann said: "About two years ago a cross-shaped space ship sucked me up and took me to space. When I came around, it was daylight again."

He does not remember the aliens' looks, but only that he had been "manipulated" and was sent back to earth as an "apprentice shaman".

"I was supposed to bless the city for the arrival of further aliens," he said.

The chef closed his bank account, squatted in an empty property in Dresden and bathed nude - "as ordered by the aliens" - in a municipal fountain. When police caught him naked on a bike, he was sent to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital.

Lorek thinks that police acted wrongly and is demanding his client's release. He has brought a lawsuit against the city in which he places the blame for his client's behaviour on "things unknown".

"There are no legal grounds to put somebody in a psychiatric hospital because he was a victim of aliens," said Lorek.

"The state is socially responsible, even for alien shamans, if they cannot protect them from abduction."

He went on: "Aliens stick needles in their victims' genitals and interfere with their organs. Since 1961 there have been tens of thousands of alien abductions."

Full Article On Ananova

What are your thoughts? Is this a good or bad thing?

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Ghosts Of Gibson House Museum - Toronto, Ontario Canada

Gibson House is a museum in the North York Centre neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This historic property was built in 1851 by David Gibson, a Scottish immigrant, land surveyor and participant of the Rebellion of 1837. For his activities in the Rebellion, his house was destroyed and he was banished from Upper Canada, so he fled to nearby western New York, settling with his family in Lockport. Though he was threatened with losing his land, he continued to own the property in what was then York County, near Toronto. His wife was not banished, and she was able to travel between Lockport and Toronto to collect rents and profits on the farmstead.

By 1848, David Gibson was pardoned, along with many who took part in the Rebellion. He returned with his family to York County, and built this house in 1851. Its style reflects a prosperous man, and some of its furniture and engravings reflect his U.S. residence in motif.

The following report was sent in by one of our readers:

"The Gibson house was very different. People talked a lot about a man standing at the window at the front of the house, my aunt who used to live on that same street ( when there was houses there) said that a man would look in their windows at night, he had a big top hat on. My cousins who used to live there remember him! They said that he was very scary looking. I always had the feeling of being watched when I would have to get dressed into my costume in the staff room, which at the
time was located in the basement (cellar).

Apparently the house had burned down and was rebuilt at some point. I think during the rebellion. I always felt welcome in the front parlour and in the kitchen, but when I went into the cellar or upstairs I always felt unnerved. Also there were cold spots in many different places upstairs but mostly in the parlor..where Mrs Gibson used to sit.

No matter how warm it was ( because it was right next to the fireplace) it was always Cold! Now this was YEARS ago, I must have been 13 or so when I was working there as a volunteer. It would be interesting if someone did an investigation on this house, I'm about 90% positive
that you would find something! I'm not sure if they still have volunteers there...If they do, I'm sure some stories would arise."

Our thanks to the witnesses for sharing this report with us.

Further Reading: Wiki Entry

Image Credit: OntarioPlaques.com

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

For the month of June, historian Chris Laursen takes us to different locales in East Asia to reveal the colourful and fantastical ghostlore that comes from that region. This week, he looks at a Dutch explorer who encountered poltergeist phenomenon on the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia in 1903.

Rock the house
by Chris Laursen

Late one night in September 1903, W. G. Grotten-dieck awoke to the sound of something falling on the floor near his head. "They were black stones from an eighth to three-quarters of an inch long. I got out of the [mosquito] curtain and turned up the kerosene lamp that was standing on the floor at the foot of my bed. I saw then that the stones were falling through the roof in a parabolic line. They fell on the floor close to my head-pillow," he reported to the British Society of Psychical Research some years later.

The Dutch explorer had been travelling extensively through the jungles of Sumatra (in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia) with 50 Javanese coolies searching for oil. Upon his return, he wrote, "I found my home had been occupied by somebody else and I had to put up my bed in another house that was not yet ready, and had just been erected from wooden poles and... kadjang," a type of dry, broad leaf measuring two by three feet in size and commonly used as roofing on Sumatran homes at the time. The leaves, he explained, were arranged overlapping each other and could stop anything from penetrating through, most importantly rains. Imagine his surprise to wake up just past one to find the small black rocks falling onto the floor near his pillow.

He woke up a Malay-Pelembang boy, one of his servants sleeping in the next room, and asked him to check for the source of the falling stones that continued to fall mysterious from the ceiling. Mr. Grotten-dieck remained in the room where he had set up his bed as the boy checked the surrounding jungle and kitchen, finding nothing. "I knelt down near [the head of my bed] and tried to catch the stones while they were falling through the air towards me, but I could never catch them," the explorer wrote in a letter to the British SPR, published in their Journal in May 1906. "It seemed to me that they changed their direction in the air as soon as I tried to get hold of them. I could not catch any of them before they fell on the floor."

Mr. Grotten-dieck inspected the kadjang roof closely where the stones were flying. "They came right through the kadjang, but there were not holes in the kadjang," he wrote, explaining in further correspondence that nothing could penetrate the kadjang leaves without making a hole. "When I tried to catch them at the very spot of coming out, I also failed," he added.

In true explorer style, Mr. Grotten-dieck wasn't one to mess around. If someone was playing a practical joke on him, he was going to make sure they got the message that he was not impressed. "I took my Mauser rifle and fired five sharp cartridges into the jungle" from the window of the boy's room. "But the stones, far from stopping, fell even more abundantly after my shots than before."

The boy was terrified. He blamed Satan for the falling rocks and ran off into the jungle, never to be seen by Mr. Grotten-dieck again. The Dutchman picked up the stones and was intrigued to find that they were warmer than usual. The warmth of the object would later become a trademark of poltergeist cases. In such cases, when objects are flung about rooms by unseen hands, often at angles, speeds and in trajectories that defy the known laws of physics, they are found to be quite warm to the touch. Additionally, Mr. Grotten-dieck reported that the stones seemed to be falling slower than they should, another interesting trademark of such cases. "The sound they made in falling down on the floor was also abnormal," the explorer wrote, "because considering their slow motion the bang was much too loud." Yet another hallmark of the poltergeist phenomena.

Mr. Grotten-dieck shared a far bit of correspondence with the SPR in 1906 to thoroughly examine the case to determine if it may have had any other causes, which is quiet interesting considering it had happened three years prior and could not be investigated beyond the witness's testimony. Throughout this scrutiny, Mr. Grotten-dieck remained adamant that there was no trickery or natural explanation for the fall of stones inside of the Sumantran house. Could the Malay boy have been connected to this at all, as many poltergeist events seem to have a human agent at the center of it? That we will never know.

This strange type of materialization has been repeated in many different cases around the world where stones and other objects have mysteriously appeared out of nowhere, quite literally falling from the ceiling as if they were transported from another dimension.
In the Scole Experiment of the 1990s, objects "apported" themselves (or mysteriously appeared) in a controlled environment (a closed off cellar) from nowhere, often landing with a significant thud. These objects included a crystal cluster, coins, dated newspapers from 50 years previous in authentically new condition, jewellery, ashes, water, spoons and so on.

Is there a connection between objects that randomly appear from nowhere, apparently through solid surfaces or from mid-air inside buildings in poltergeist cases, such as Mr. Grotten-dieck's experience, and controlled experiments such as those led by the Scole Experimental Group? Is it merely psychokinesis brought on subconsciously by someone? Or are these objects being materialized by means beyond our current comprehension? Whatever the case, Mr. Grotten-dieck's experience remains one of the many fascinating reports of this type.

Image credits:

"A Plantation House in Sumatra" by W. Bell and J.G. Stadler and "A Malay Boy, Native of Bencoolen" by T. Heaphy and A. Cardon from The History of Sumatra written and published by William Marsden, 1811. Although not connected to this particular case, they are interesting prints depicting Sumatran housing and a Malay boy in early nineteenth century clothes.

Further reading:

Sacheverall Sitwell. Poltergeists: An Introduction and Examination Followed by Chosen Instances. New York: University Books, 1959.

William Roll. The Poltergeist. With a foreword by J.B. Rhine. Re-released by Paraview Books, 2004.

Grant & Jane Solomon. The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death. http://www.thescoleexperiment.com/

The above photo was sent to us by my dear friend Dr Charles Lietzau. It was most fittingly taken at a UFO conference a few years back. The orb effect was created by tossing some salt, and pepper in the air, and snapping the shot. It's a good illustration of how airborne particles such as dust will appear when caught in a camera's flash.

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Where do the ghosts go when their "haunt" is torn down? Often according to our stats they remain behind even after the last bit of brick has been hauled away. Recently 590 Jarvis Street, former police headquarters in Toronto, Canada was torn down to make room for condos (ew!). It will be interesting to note if we soon receive reports from the condo dwellers.

Here is one report we received in regards to 590 Jarvis street:

"I used to work out of the old Police Headquarters at 590 Jarvis St. and although I have never seen anything unusual, several of staff reported unusual events.

The story begins a few decades ago. It seems that on the 6th floor of the building where the Police Commissioner had his decadent office, were his private kitchen, bathroom and a small office for his assistant. Story is that one day a young detective went into the private bathroom and committed suicide.

As the Police out grew the building and moved out, the building was first used by Metro Social Services for one of their welfare offices and specialized units. The Commissioner's office was converted to a boardroom and the whole building was accessible to staff except for the private bathroom. It is unclear if the cleaning staff kept it locked by their own decision to do so, because they claimed sitings of a ghost or because its a decision made by the police out of respect for the young deceased detective, but that door was always locked with only cleaners having a key.

However several staff reported hearing footsteps and doors opening and closing but when they investigated often found no one there. A number of staff reported things on the 6th floor being moved around, such as chairs and drawer contents moved elsewhere when desks were locked overnight. A couple even reported seeing something move by quickly when they followed the sound of footsteps and sometimes (myself included) found the private bathroom door unlocked and wide open in the middle of the day when no cleaners were on site with the keys.

A number of Police officers I spoke to about this legend while working in the building tell me that they also have heard from police staff that worked there that they had also told of the same unusual sitings and sounds too. The cleaners said that at night when the building was almost empty of staff, they could hear unexplainable sounds and didn't go to the 6th floor after dark as a rule because they couldn't explain it and feared it. "

Our thanks to our reader for the above!

When I was much younger I used to love to play bingo along with my Mom. I have some fond memories of the game, and it can be a lot of fun to play!

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OTTAWA (CP) - A UFO researcher who offered to brief Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on the presence of extraterrestrials is putting an optimistic spin on the pro-forma response he received from her office.

Victor Viggiani of Exopolitics Toronto, admits that the perfunctory reply could be seen as a polite brush off, but he's taking it as more than that.

The letter from the Governor General's office says Viggiani's concerns "would be best addressed by the Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."

"You may wish to contact these organizations."

Said Viggiani: "You could interpret it in one way as a standard response. But we're interpreting it, I guess, in a positive way that we now have the Governor General's OK to pursue this thing in the Canadian security service . . . with her support.

"She's giving us sort of, quote unquote, her permission, consent, tacit permission to go forward with this."

Full Article Here

So what are your thoughts? Do you think this is a victory for Exopolitics Toronto? Do you believe there is an alien presence here on earth? And if so, is there an active world government cover-up? We'd like to hear you our reader's thoughts on this either positive, negative or indifferent.

Wishing all of our readers that are Dads a very Happy Father's Day! Our usual Sunday Smackdown will be returning with a big, fat, smack next week. And please do return tomorrow for more ghosties, ghoulies, ufoish, and crypto rants, raves, and info.

Cheers!

Sue & Matthew

Could this be a case of telepathy between spouses? Something to consider when reading this interesting news article from the BBC. Here is a snippet:

Expectant fathers can suffer from pregnancy symptoms, UK research shows.

Morning sickness, cramps, back pain and swollen stomachs were all reported by men whose partners were pregnant.

Researchers at St George's University, London, who carried out the study of 282 Dads-to-be said the phenomenon was known as "Couvade syndrome".

Experts said it was not clear why some men had similar symptoms to their partners but it could be related to anxiety over the pregnancy.

Full BBC Article Here

With Father's Day just a few hours away I thought this would make for an interesting topic. What are your thoughts? And if you are a Dad that is reading this, did you go through anything similar?

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Todmorden Mills, which has been through several incarnations (mill, riding stables, and now historical site), houses a theatre for which I volunteered. While I never experienced anything unusual, several people who work there swear that it's haunted. There are two stories that I know of.

The first is of an old woman, who seems quite harmless and friendly. She's been seen by a couple of people, walking about the theatre late at night.

The other is less pleasant, but certainly not threatening. Loud noises like moving furniture or props can be heard from the loft spaces late at night when no one is around, and people working in the sound booth above the audience have seen a grey form flash past the windows overlooking the stage (the windows are about 20' above the ground).

The following was sent in by one of our readers:

"I read the submission on Todmorden Mills. I was a volunteer tour guide and historical interpreter there from age 8 to 14. The report I read on your site interested me. Here is my story:

One of the houses on the site (the Helliwell house) is haunted. I believe it is the female entity that the author referred to.

The lady of the house died in childbirth. Two years later the son that she gave birth to died in a mill accident (fell into the machinery, very messy) or so the story goes. This could explain the other haunting in the theater (which was the mill).

When I was about 12, I was volunteering at close one night. The curator sent me to the house to get a broom. It was getting dark. As I approached the house my flash light died (ironic, no?) I was able to unlock the door and I stepped into the kitchen, reaching for the broom.

As I did this I heard up the maid's staircase (from the master bedroom) the soft voice of a woman speaking. It sounded like she was speaking to a child. I couldn't make out what she was saying though. I froze, I've never been more terrified, I also remember it being very, unusually, cold. The research that I have done on the topic since explained this.

Anyway, I ran out of the house and back to the main building. I haven't been in the building since.

Several years later a friend of mine was at Todmorden Mills with a boyfriend. This was a popular place for drinking and making out, etc. Anyway, she looked up while arguing with her boyfriend and saw the figure of a women in one of the windows. This story obviously caught my attention. So, I took her there and asked her to point out the window. It was the same room where I heard the voice, the master bedroom."

The flashlight occurrence is fairly common but the fact that this individual ended up backing up her own experience with that of a friend AND it was already on our site makes this story particularly interesting. The author of this report is also now helping us out with historical checks into other "haunts" so we truly appreciate the feedback.

Of note, October of 2000 brought two people who said that they also experienced the ghosts of Todmorden Mills, (one of whom thought that one of her stories was the one we'd published! Interestingly enough, it wasn't proving that the one woman has been seen in the same situation more than once!)

While discussing ghosts with a person working in another of Toronto's "haunted" historical structures, she had mentioned that although the location we were at (in Downtown,) had never yielded much to her (she is not really a ghost enthusiast,) she had worked at Todmorden and THAT, she said, seemed to be haunted just by the way it felt.

Our thanks to the witnesses for sharing this report with us.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

TITLE: Footprints in the Snow: Tales of Haunted Russia
AUTHOR: James L. Choron
PUBLISHER: Zumaya Publications LLC
GENRE: Body/Mind/Spirit/Parapsychology/General
FORMAT: Trade paperback, perfect-bound, 260 ppl, $14.99 USD, Trim Size 5 X 8; ebook, $6.99
ISBN: 978-1-934135-06-8, paperback; 978-1-934135-07-5, ebook

This book is definitely on my hot summer reading list! Books on this subject coming out of the former USSR are fascinating, and sadly rare. This one in particular promises to be a gem, and I am looking forward to it!

Here is a bit about the book to whet your own appetite:

She is Mother Russia, the largest nation in the world, and her turbulent history has left her filled with restless spirits. Footprints in the Snow is a collection of true and documented stories of the paranormal from Russia and Eastern Europe. Excerpts, in shorter and less detailed form, have been published in numerous Russian and English language publications, primarily through the Illya Resink Library Collection and in various local magazines and newspapers along with such prestigious US and UK publications such as "Fate" and "Phenomenon" Magazines..

Footprints in the Snow: True Stories of Haunted Russia is a reporter's view of documentable paranormal incidents. The stories are told through the eyes of a professional skeptic, one who does not “see ghosts behind every tree.” Statistically, more than 96% of all such stories turn out to be quite natural in origin. There are exceptions.

The stories in this collection have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. These are not the high profile cases you hear about all the time. Most of them are little known outside their immediate area and only by the people immediately involved. You will not find "Ivan the Terrible" or "the lost Princess Anastasia" in these pages. Those cases have been treated frequently enough already. What you will find are some documented and verifiable accounts of paranormal activity in this country that have, so far, defied any rational or normal explanation. They are interesting and informative reading and entertaining. These are true reports of actual happenings presented in a way that leaves it to the reader to decide the cause of these "footprints in the snow."

EXERPT:

My apartment building is located just across the street from an elementary school and kindergarten that have served our community for more than seventy years. Here in Russia, this isn’t unusual. The school was part of Lenin’s first Five-Year Plan, and was one of the more successful parts.

Late at night, long after the school is closed and completely empty, we can hear children laughing and playing in the playground. It lasts for about five minutes—a relatively long time; but when you look out the window you see nothing. There are no children there.

Everyone in the building is used to this. It happens several times a year, and it’s gone on for decade—at least fifty years— So has what follows.

After about five minutes, there is a high-pitched, screeching sound, followed by an explosion. Then sound of children playing turns to screams, and then stops.

Welcome to Russia, arguably the most haunted land on earth...

The stories that you are about to read in “Footprints in the Snow” have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. These are not the “high profile” cases that you hear about all the time. Most of them are little known outside their immediate area and by the people immediately involved. You will not find “Ivan the Terrible” or “The lost Princess Anastasia” in these pages. Those cases have been treated frequently enough already. What you will find are some documented and verifiable accounts of paranormal activity in this country that have, so far, defied any “rational” or “normal” explanation. I trust that you will also find this to be interesting and informative reading. Hopefully, it will also be entertaining.

Attend a quiet family picnic in the forest where a soldier of the Second World War lies in an in an unmarked grave and ill-repose – and cries out to a little child to find him. Stand in shock and awe as a tomb is opened after seventy-six years and the horrible cause of a woman’s nightmares is found. Watch as a little girl plays at the feet of her aging parents – half a century after her death and smile at the continuing presence of – in spirit – of “The Countess”, a little grey cat that never knew she was a cat. March stalwartly across the length of Russia – in the heart of winter – with the rag-tag but undefeated soldiers of the “Legion of the Damned”, as they try to shepherd their families to safety across the wild Ural Mountains – every winter for more than 175 years. These accounts are all -- each and every one -- true reports of actual happenings. It is up to the reader to decide the cause of these “footprints in the snow.”

Nineteen years is a long time to spend in any country not one's own. In that time, Dr. Choron has learned a lot about life and living in Russia, especially about the Paranormal. In these pages the reader can literally hear the staccato notes played by the “Drummer Boy of Taratovka” as he warns his loved ones of fire – year after year after year. These pages take you on a visit the office and the home of one of the most blatantly evil men the world has ever seen where his presence is still felt half a century and more after his death and into the bowels of the most notorious prison that the world has ever seen – a place that Alexander Solsinitsyn called the “inner circle of hell.” Here, in “Footprints in the Snow” the reader can go along to the barricades during the “August Revolt” of 1991 and stand beside a man who has come there to fight for freedom for the second time in 100 years. He or she can know that love lasts forever as they walk down a quiet village street, smile and wave at the pretty little girl in the garden who will always and forever be a child or as you hear the story of the little boy who will never – ever – leave his mother and the teenage girl who is known as the “Angel of the Mourning.” Stand in a tiny cemetery and watch the little girl that a whole town calls “Our Little Hero” play at the feet of her parents… alongside her sixty-five year old grave – seen by all but those who love her most…

Enjoy your stay in paranormal Russia – live in buildings alongside men, women and children that have resided in the same apartment for five generations – and more -- and in some cases for centuries. Enjoy your stay in a hotel in which room service is provided by a pretty young maid – who was murdered ten years before your arrival and look out the window and see the young woman who has been standing on the platform waiting for the train – since a cold and windy night in the winter of 1972. Ask the neighbors about their daughter’s “invisible playmate”.

The reader can ride along with a young policeman as he follows a running ten-year-old child down the darkened streets of a small town in a desperate attempt to save an orphanage from fire – for the second time in fifty years. Visit the teachers of the “world’s oldest straight-A student.” Go on investigations with Major Maslov, the police prefect who is constantly called on when a case is “just a bit odd.” Or -- they can follow along as all of Russia watches on television, reads the papers and listens on the radio about the heroic trek of “the Legion of the Damned” as leave their bloody footprints indelibly imprinted in the snows of the Siberian wastes – year after year -- just as they have for almost two centuries…

Dr. J. Lee Choron is not a “parapsychologist, nor does his professional degree represent any paranormal pursuit or study. He is a PhD optical engineer and has spent a lifetime as a photo analyst, reporter and journalist. He is a “professional skeptic”. He is not a man who “sees ghosts” behind every tree or around every corner. He does not believe that everything that goes “bump” in the night is from “beyond”. He has investigated and documented these accounts thoroughly. The stories within the pages of “Footprints in the Snow” are taken from literally hundreds of stories concerning “hauntings” and “sightings” from all over the great land of the Tsars. They are largely unknown in the west, but they are the best – of the best. Dr. Choron is a collector of facts. He makes no judgment and no assumptions as to the causes of these incidents. The facts are here. It up to the reader to decide for themselves why there are so many “Footprints in the Snow.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. James L. Choron is a journalist and writer living in Mamontovka, a suburb of Moscow. He has resided in the Russian Federation for more than sixteen years, and is a former senior executive with the Eastman Kodak Company. He is a decorated veteran of the United States Military, a Master Mason, an 32* Scotish Rite Mason and the Presiding Bishop of EGnU (Eclesia Gnostica Universialis) for Mowcow and Western Russia. He is currently owner and Chief Executive Officer of Old Guard Productions, a company dealing in motion picture and television logistics and properties, and American Business Training, a company which deals with sales and customer service training for Russian companies seeking to introduce Western business practices and standards. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the small East Texas town of Center, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Stephen F. Austin State University and a masters and PhD from Moscow State University in the same subject as well as a graduate degree in optical engineering. A working journalist for slightly more than thirty-five years, he has columns in numerous publications in both Russia and the United States. He has numerous hobbies, primarily related to paranormal and historical research, both of which he has been involved for over twenty years. He has published a number of independent articles on paranormal encounters and activities and on historical topics, and is a staff member on several online publications and forums dealing with history and the paranormal. Dr. Choron is also a lifelong natural "sensitive" who has, since birth, been aware of the presence of Spirit Entities.

For the month of June, historian Chris Laursen takes us to different locales in East Asia to reveal the colourful and fantastical ghostlore that comes from that region. This week, he looks at the research done by Charles and Chee Lee Emmons in 1980-81, polling 3,600 Hong Kong residents on their beliefs and experiences with respect to ghosts.

Haunted Hong Kong
by Chris Laursen

From June 1980 to January 1981, Dr. Charles F. Emmons, a sociologist from Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, and his wife Chee Lee embarked on a seven-month project to poll Hong Kong residents on their beliefs and experiences in regards to ghosts. Influenced by similar large-scale surveys conducted by the Society for Psychical Research in the late nineteenth century of 17,000 Britons, Charles and Chee did extensive telephone polls of over 1,500 people and distributed nearly 2,000 questionnaires to secondary school students, asking about their views on the topic. Emmons’ academic colleagues were far from encouraging, telling him that Chinese people would not wish to speak on the subject, especially to a Westerner. But one sociologist Emmons spoke with had done a small-scale survey in Hong Kong using Chinese student interviewers and only encountered no more than 15% refusal from those asked to participate.

With that single vote of confidence, the academic couple pushed forth, and found Hong Kong’s residents quite receptive to the question, “Do you believe in ghosts?” “My wife, Chee, a native speaker of Cantonese and a sociologist, single-handedly called 1,668 telephone numbers over a four-month period,” Emmons wrote in his book on the survey, Chinese Ghosts and ESP: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences. “I was pleasantly astonished when she achieved a 90% completion rate, with only 7% refusals and 3% disconnected or never-answering numbers.”

The incredible survey was documented in Emmons’ book, and contains a wide range of Chinese ghost experiences. He wrote that the survey revealed the universal nature of paranormal phenomena including ghosts, ESP and reincarnation, but it also was “entwined with mysteries of Chinese culture: ghost fear, ancestor worship, and lore about tree spirits.” Tree spirits I will write about in an upcoming instalment of this series on Far East Phantoms from the Philippines, but let’s consider the ideas of ghost fear and ancestor worship among Hong Kong residents in the early 1980s. Emmons wrote that his hugest challenge was how to “disentwine the nature (or supernatural!) from the cultural and social.”

For example, in many of the experiences relayed by Hong Kong residents, they expressed deep fear over what had happened. The sight of a ghost of a relative, for example, could be considered an omen. In one case (G002, Harvest Homecoming), an apparition of a man in a white robe was seen by many people late at night entering the house in which he once resided. “My aunt yelled, ‘Look who’s here!’ and we all saw him walk from one side of the patio to the other and go in the house. We went into the house and asked the woman who lived there who had come in. She was asleep inside, hadn’t seen him, and said that nobody had come in,” the witness reported. But the people recognized the man as her husband who had died in the house. The witness continued, “My aunt was immediately afraid when she realized that she had been the first to see the ghost. She got very sick one week later, and died a month later.” The mere sight of the ghost instilled a great sense of fear in the witnesses, and the death of the aunt was seen as resulting from it. Emmons wondered what part culture and psychology played in the case.

Similar fear was struck when Boy Scouts witnessed something strange in 1973 (Case G008, Boy Scout Picnic). One of the witnesses, who was 15 at the time, described marching in the evening with his troop and leader. Two white lights approached, “self-lit, like two spotlights.” As they came closer, it was apparent they were an elderly couple. The witness recalled, “They had no expression on their faces, and were not looking at anybody. Both of them were wearing white robes. Their hair was old-fashioned and parted and short.” There was something strange in the way they walked, swinging their arms in synchronization, and then jumping, both at the same time before continuing their odd walk. Five or six of the Boy Scouts saw the strange apparitions, but no one else did. “I was very scared, and turned around to look at them again when they passed by, but they were gone,” the witness said. “I’m very sure of what I saw.”

Those who participated in the survey also recalled experiences from before they moved to Hong Kong. One 27-year-old man recalled a story from when he had lived in Canton in the early 1970s (Case G042, The Floating Tenant). A commerative tablet had been kept on an altar in memory of a woman tenant who had lived in his building. He described seeing her float by the altar. “Her face was green and horrible. Otherwise, she looked normal. She didn’t look at anybody and disappeared instantly after a couple of seconds. She had been dead for a month,” the witness said. In many of the cases reported, apparitions floated, many were shadowy in nature and many wore white robes.

Just as with any ghostly experiences from any part of the world, the types of stories collected by the Emmons were varied and had universal themes, including animal ghosts (such as the chilling tale of a witness hearing the sound of screaming pigs after a slaughterhouse had been shut down), phantom footsteps, poltergeist activity, partial apparitions, Buddhist exorcisms, even the old hag.

Like most psychical researchers, Emmons pondered if the reports could be trusted. “It is my distinct impression,” he wrote, “that very few of the respondents in this study were fabricating or significantly distorting their reports of their own firsthand experiences. On the contrary, there was often either a ‘relectance to report’ (citing Allan Hynek) or a stated desire for anonymity,” a condition that is prevalent for psychical researchers worldwide.

Emmons’ book on Chinese Ghosts and ESP is often cited as a valuable source by psychical researchers. Such surveys do indeed help put numbers on ghostly experiences, and when you put these surveys side by side, there are many commonalities. Most recently, Erlendur Haraldsson released statistics related to a long-term survey he conducted over 25 years ago in Iceland, the results of which were discussed at the Gwen Tate Memorial Lecture in London last April. Like Frederick Myers of the SPR, the 1978 Gallup poll on paranormal beliefs in the United States and Emmons’ work, Haraldsson put together an array of figures that help researchers understand the types of reports found among a large group of those who have had firsthand paranormal experiences. Alan Murdie writes about the Icelandic ghost survey’s results in Fortean Times Issue 224, August 2007.

As Emmons says, there is certainly universality in paranormal experience as can be seen in the examples cited above. However, cultural differences account for unique perceptions of what ghosts are, how people react to them and how tradition seeps through into contemporary life.

Ponder this, gentle readers…

Have you ever encountered a ghost or interesting ghost story while travelling overseas?

Further reading:

Charles F. Emmons. Chinese Ghosts and ESP: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences, 1982.

Agence-France Presse (AFP) article on the 2005 Hungry Ghosts Festival in Hong Kong by Chitra Panjabi: http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/3435

Long rumoured to be haunted Mackenzie House is a historic home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was the last home to the city's first mayor William Lyon Mackenzie. Mackenzie House is supposedly haunted by William Mackenzie, allegedly seen working his printing press. If the house is indeed haunted it is highly doubtful that the ghost/s can be attributed to the Mackenzie family at all to read more you can have a look at the article I wrote on this historic home entitled: Mackenzie House - Haunted, Hoax, Or Wishful Thinking.....

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

An animal skeleton dangling from an iceberg that drifted by Newfoundland's northeast coast is proving a mystery for scientists.

I've seen funny things come out of ice in the past … but we've never seen a skeleton hanging halfway out of an iceberg," Garry Stenson, a St. John's-based scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Photographs taken in May in Bonavista Bay show a skeleton partly embedded in a small iceberg and dangling close to the water.

Stenson, who received photographs via e-mail, has forwarded them to colleagues internationally with an appeal for help.

Stenson said it appears likely the skeleton came from a marine mammal, but determining what it was and, more interestingly, how it got in the middle of an iceberg may remain a mystery.

"The skeleton itself doesn't appear to be a [whale]," Stenson told CBC News Monday. "It doesn't have the same bone structure that you would have with a whale."

Then, Stenson said, the question is determining what type of ice was observed off communities like Brookfield. The berg has since drifted away and substantially melted.

"If it's an iceberg that cast off a glacier in Greenland, then the question becomes: How did [the mammal] get into it?" said Stenson, adding it would be "highly unlikely" for an animal to have become trapped that way.

"If, on the other hand, this is multi-year ice, then it could be a walrus or seal that was pushed up and rafted and is now starting to come out again," he said.

Stenson noted that some of the photographs showed what could be connective tissue on the skeleton. In that case, he said, the animal may have perished within a matter of years, although he said he "couldn't hazard to guess" how long.

Dr. Peter Whitridge, an associate professor of anthropology, said he could only speculate but suggested that a seal may have been dragged up on ice by a polar bear.

Source: Farshores

Sometimes these smacks are such a slam dunk we do not even have to say a word. I read the following, and just had to shake my head. Is it any wonder why "ghost hunters" are looked upon by so many with derision????

Read on:

In what may be the single greatest mobile application of all time, the Discovery Channel is offering downloads of a ghost detection program for compatible cell phones. The download is free, as long as you sign up for a subscription to its Most Haunted website.

As any self-respecting ghost buster knows, paranormal investigators say that fluctuations in Electro Magnetic Fields (E.M.F.) are the indicators for paranormal activity. Apparently, this application works by measuring variations in data transmission times to and from your mobile phone, which it takes from fluctuations in the local electromagnetic field.

It's at this point in the post that we're supposed to make a joke about 'Ghostbusters' and the phrase, "Who you gonna call?" -- but we'll spare you.

Source: Find Ghosts With Your Mobile By Evan Shamoon

Don't mistake me here. It is definitely not the author of the above that I have a problem with. What I do have a problem with is Discovery Channel for buying into this nonsense, and further perpetuating the silliness that has flooded actual life after-death research, and the real scientific approach to hauntings with yet more absurdity.

Ghostbusters indeed ... ;)

Is this a photo of a sea monster? Nope, it is actually a load of old barnacles. However, it managed to freak out a few New Zealanders earlier this week. And can you blame them, that thing looks positively icky!

Read on:

Nightmarish sea monster or natural wonder?
A 14-metre, tentacle-covered mass has horrified and fascinated Waikanae beachgoers this week.

However, Conservation Department community relations programme manager Stacy Moore said it was actually a lot of goose barnacles (Lepas anatifera), each about 30 centimetres long with a shell attached to each long pinkish tube. They were stuck to a piece of wood or rope.

Goose barnacles were carried on driftwood, rope or the bottom of ships. Timber cast ashore was often completely covered with the barnacles.

The barnacles prompted one of Britain's strangest ancient animal beliefs. The heart- shaped shell was believed to resemble the head of the barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis.

Because the geese rarely nested in Britain, no one saw the eggs or nests, prompting the belief that the geese grew up on the planks of ships and emerged clothed in feathers and flew away.

Ms Moore expected the mass on Waikanae Beach to remain just north of the Waimea Stream mouth till a storm surge swept it back out to sea.

Full Article Source

I can only imagine the hoopla if something similar washed up on Lake Ontario's shores. Eek!

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Last week we blogged about some Peterborough Ontario Ghost Stories. This week we bring you yet another. This time the reported haunting is current, and ongoing at a private residence.

Private Residence - Peterborough, Ontario Canada

"For most of my life, I have experienced different things that could be considered 'paranormal' in many different homes.

Most recently, they have occurred in the home I am living in now over the last year and a half in Peterborough Ontario with my cousin.

She and I have lived together for 14 years, and many of the experiences I have witnessed have actually happened to both of us - so either we are both delusional, or they have been very strong/obvious occurrences.

In the house we live in now, both of us have witnessed things happening, some at the same time, and some separately.

One particular evening, I was downstairs in the laundry room, facing the wall, looking up towards the ceiling. My cousin & I were talking, and she was at the other end of the room facing towards me.

About six inches from the wall or so, I had seen a glowing ball. I am not a huge supporter of the thought of 'orbs', but I don't know how else to describe it.

It was a small circle of light, a few inches round, I'd say. It wasn't blinding bright, but it looked as though that small area of the room was illuminated by a much brighter light bulb, or something. As I turned my head, I could see this light lengthening - it seemed like it was growing, as I was moving/turning around.

I would have dismissed it as a figment of my imagination had my cousin not commented on seeing this, also. To her, it was a bit different, as she was standing at a different angle. I let her explain what she had seen before I did.

Apparently, from what she could see, it seemed to grow as I was moving, into a line that sort of zig zagged around. She had seen it disappear when it reached the back of my head.

On many occasions, I have felt like I have not been alone. The worst feelings seem to be (for both of us) when we are in the basement. It is a finished basement that is currently being used as a daycare.

I have often seen what appears to be a cat (but it could be another small animal), dark in colour, that disappears when I try and get a good look at it. I have even felt this image across my leg - I know 100% certain that it is not one of my own cats.

On another occasion, as I was getting ready for work one morning at approximately 5am, I had went down into the basement to get some laundry, find the cat, etc., and I had heard a VERY clear, distinctive female voice that said 'What are you...', and trailed off, seemingly in mid-question.

I have also seen on at least two occasions that I can clearly recall, images of what looks to be my cousin when she is not there. It's always the same type of appearance - she looks fuzzy or wavy, wearing her hair up, and is smiling at me, but strangely.

Usually, it's when I blink, or turn my head to get a better look that the image goes away.

We have both also experienced strange temperature differences in the home, and have once witnessed our fax machine/telephone ring a strange tone when the phone line was unplugged approximately 8 - 10 rings.

My cousin has told me she has experienced the sound of someone playing with the daycare toys in the basement while no one was down there, and I was not home. Another time recently, she believed to have seen me standing downstairs when she was in the laundry area. She looked up from bending down to get some clothing, and seen someone standing there, and assumed it was me, which it wasn't. She didn't see any facial features or anything, more like she could just tell someone was there, and I was the only other person around. She looked up twice and seen this figure - the third time, it wasn't there.

Finally, the most disturbing thing happened at about 5:10am on a Tuesday morning, when I was standing outside waiting for a taxi on our front porch by the door. I know this is going to sound stereotypical, but I'll describe it best by saying I could hear the soft sound of moaning from behind the door. I tried looking through the shears on the door to see if there was a cat. Nothing. Then I assumed it was just my imagination, but the moaning sound continued. It sounded like someone had very bad stomach pains, and sometimes like it could be a crying type of moan. Seemingly, the more aware I became of the noise, the louder it became. First it sounded like it was behind the door, then maybe the kitchen suddenly (the kitchen wall is the outside of the house, not too far behind the front porch), then back to behind the door again. I was very disturbed by the sound, so I picked up my bag, and went down the driveway to wait by the street for the cab. I could still hear the noise at this point, but very faintly.

I have went to three different people who I would consider to be 'gifted' in the sense that they can pick up on paranormal activity to hopefully get some sort of explanation of what is going on. All three people have given me a very similar name of a person they see associated with the home, that I have no knowledge of. Two of the people associated children to the disturbances.

Thank you so much for your time; I hope that maybe it may be some help/interest to your colleague focusing on strange occurrences in the Peterborough area."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report with us.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

One of the latest tools that some ghost investigators have been utilising in the field is thermal imaging equipment along with other cool "toys" like night vision goggles. And on occasion these gadgets do produce some interesting results at reportedly haunted locations.

UFO, and Crypto enthusiasts too may benefit from night vision binoculars, and/or spotting scopes.

None of these gadgets come cheaply, therefore an enthusiast who wants to save as much money as possible on hobby related expenses should check out OpticsPlanet. They offer terrific deals on all the top brand names for night vision equipment, thermal imaging, heatseekers, flashlights, even tactical and military gear.

They also offer free UPS & APO shipping!

Our thanks to our sponsor!

It is always wonderful to find out that your writing has either inspired discussion or thought, or entertained, and hopefully has done both.

This week we were bestowed with awards from not one, but two of our readers, friends, and fellow bloggers!

How cool is this!!!!! From Kuanyin in gorgeous Hawaii!!!! Thank you some much this was a very pleasant surprise!

And just today a terrific nod via:

Bestowed upon us by our fave brew master of the Spicy Cauldron, Andy! He has forgotten I think that we nominated him for this very award back in March LOL!

This is now the third time we have received this award see here, and here.

And this means just as much to us now as it did the first two times around, because again it has come from a writer that we in turn both respect, and admire!

Cheers!
Sue

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Our thanks to our sponsor!

For the month of June, historian Chris Laursen takes us to different locales in East Asia to reveal the colourful and fantastical ghostlore that comes from that region.

On the first Weird Wednesday of each month, Chris Laursen reviews exceptional films, television series, visual arts and music that have imaginative paranormal themes. In this instalment and to kick of 'Far East Phantoms,' he looks at how the Japanese yokai (spooks) have been portrayed in the country's movies.

Haunting Visions | June 2007
Japanese Yokai On-Screen: Pom Poko, The Great Yokai War & Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
by Chris Laursen

Japanese folklore is filled with kwaidan - ghost stories - and there is no lack of intriguing characters that populate these tales: half human, half animal beings; mischievous shapeshifters (henge); giant ogres; inanimate objects coming to life; masked spirits; and many more. Often, these fantastical beings are visually depicted in old Japanese block prints, but they also have come to life on the big screen in recent years.

For those not well versed in Japanese folklore, it can be tricky to follow these films, but after awhile, you start to see some common characters, storylines and themes. A bit of reading up on the various yokai online is good preparation to understanding some key characters and the stories behind them. Many of the characters actually originate in Chinese folklore, and were adopted in Japanese storytelling. See below links for some good online English-language sources!

The spooks are active and eager in Pom Poko (twin girl spirits and giant skeleton) and the Great Yokai War (sunekosuri, hamster-like magical creatures which are not so prominent in Japanese folklore, but very prominent in this movie).

The first film worth checking out was released by the great Studio Ghibli in 1994. The animated Pom Poko is the wonderfully entertaining, often sad ecological story of tanuki, raccoon-like creatures that dwell in Japanese forests who are pushed off of their land by human development. The cunning but lazy creatures plot to use their shapeshifting abilities to scare the humans out of construction zones and renew respect for the various Japanese spirits, flora and animals that inhabit the woods. They are depicted in natural tanuki form, a cartoonish variation of the tanuki based on traditional Japanese sculptures (complete with pot bellies and over-exaggerated scrotums - explain that one to the kids!), and their various sneaky transformations. Ultimately, after a series of small-scale scares, the tanuki resolve to push the humans over the edge by staging a massive yokai festival on the streets, which features many spooks and references to Japanese ghost stories. Like many Studio Ghibli works, Pom Poko is rather mind-blowing, and contains a lot of deep, potent messages about how we treat the natural world and how humans have drifted away from respecting its mysteries.

"I have no face!" One of the humourous and twisted yokai depicted in both Pom Poko (top) and The Great Yokai War.

Similar in theme but different in plot is the live-action 2005 fantasy film directed by Takahashi Miike, The Great Yokai War (Yokai daisenso). Like Pom Poko, this is quite a visual delight, especially since the edgy director has chosen to bring yokai to life using a combination of computer graphics, fantastic stop motion animation and cheesy B-movie styled effects. The mixture of tack and high-tech action sequences works really well for this. Although it seems to be a film for kids, it features a great deal of gore, scary scenes and violence. It's rated for the 13-plus crowd, but has a lot of elements that seem more like a children's fantasy film, along the lines of Wolfgang Peterson's The NeverEnding Story (1984). It is the story of young Tadashi who is chosen in a festival to climb a great mountain next to his village to obtain a sword and protect humanity from evil yokai who are planning on taking their revenge on humanity for - well, doing all of the bad things humanity does, such as polluting, making too much waste and pretty much messing up the planet. Ryunosuke Kamiki is really excellent as Tadashi, bringing to life a shy, introverted character who has no choice but to become a warrior with a ragtag gang of forest spirits. The plotline is often outrageous, but so are the tales that inspired this movie. The movie climaxes with a huge yokai festival that gathers to celebrate the conquering of the humans.

Stunning and artful scenes from Akira Kurosawa's Dreams.

The most artful of these films is Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990). It is a quiet, challenging film based on the famed director's own night visions, including a fox wedding procession, Yuki-Onna (a dangerous female winter spirit seen by those lost in blizzards), musical spirits of peach trees that were cut down, and a village filled with watermills that exists harmoniously with nature and spirits. It's truly beautiful, colourful and poetic, but it certainly won't be for all movie audiences. Some might find it plodding. Kurosawa has always been one to take filmmaking to a new level; he has brought traditional and satirical Japanese tales to life in Rashômon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Ran (1985) and the wonderfully told commentary on the post-Hiroshima generation, Rhapsody in August (1991).

The Japanese kitsune (fox), one of the most famous yokai known for their intelligence and magical powers, are depicted in (from top) Pom Poko, The Great Yokai War and Dreams.

It is wonderful to see old tales being brought to new generations via these movies, and they are all well worth watching especially to gain a different cultural perspective on the world of ghosts. In many ways, these Japanese filmmakers are light years ahead of where we are, putting out amazing films with deep environmental messages at times when the popular environmental movement lagged, bringing dreams to life in live action form and pushing the very bounds of the kinds of stories we are used to seeing made into movies.

Ponder this, gentle readers...

What is your favourite Japanese yokai?

Further reading:

Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan by Richard Gordon Smith, 1918.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/atfj/index.htm

Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn, 1904.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kwaidan/index.htm

Encyclopedia Mythica entries on Japanese mythology:
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/asia/japanese/articles.html

There is no special story behind the WW image this week. I just liked it, and thought it would lend itself well to a spooky atmosphere. Perhaps you can just let your own imagination run a bit wild with it!

I've also added in our peace globe!

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

"How come you guys don't take this seriously?"

"Humour is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility."
James Thurber

Mr. Thurber could have been discussing some of our on-site investigations, but then he wouldn't bother about the part 'remembered in tranquillity' because sometimes we find humour and laughter in the oddest of moments.

I've often explain our "laughing" behaviour to people in these terms...

"If I took you, locked you in the dark, cold basement that's reported to be haunted by a VERY nasty ghost, you'd develop a sense of humour REAL quick!"

Doing "ghost research" is a serious business. It's also a realm of study ripe for comedy. Many times, giggling fits happen as people start realizing how weird it is to be sitting waiting and watching for paranormal activity in a strange setting. Imagine, if you've never done this, sitting in a dark room in an old house with a parabolic microphone and a camera at 3am in the morning on several cups of coffee... Needless to say, it's easy to "get the giggles".

This doesn't mean that the subject isn't being taken seriously, nothing could be farther from the truth! It's truly a combination of nerves and stress (hey, the place IS haunted!) and occasionally, the realization of how silly one looks with big headphones and a dish mounted on a pistol-grip unit in your hand or maybe you have a noisy EMF detector and probed lab thermometer being thrust forward in your hands towards the invisible.

This past Summer, I heard someone telling me about being on an investigation with a group where the sense of humour was completely lacking. I offered the description of a "funeral director at work" which the gentleman telling me about it agreed was an apt description.

Now I know that the study of ghosts and hauntings is essentially the study of possible survival of bodily death and in many situations, a careful and professional attitude will go further than a "joking" one, but one must also remember, it shouldn't be "work". It should always contain an element of "fun" and I find that investigative groups work better when everyone is on very friendly and enjoyable terms.

There is a time for sincere and honest clinical behaviour and a time to realize that nothing is worth taking so seriously that you can't enjoy doing it.

If things are busy or a witness is on hand who is quite shaken up, it is imperative to put on a professional face and deal with things in a professional and serious way, but remember, if someone cracks one joke or someone gets in a situation that's funny, it's quite all right to take a moment to laugh.

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Our thanks to our sponsor!

There are four more public dates in which you can participate in the Psychometry Experiment led by social historian Chris Laursen and supported by PSICAN. All dates are in Toronto, including the Beaches (June 9), North York (June 19), Parkdale (June 24) and the Danforth (June 30). Full details of these dates are below.

WHAT IS THE PSYCHOMETRY EXPERIMENT?

What if you could derive specific facts about the history of an object simply by touching it? You will have a chance to find out if they have this uncanny ability in the Psychometry Experiment, being held at locations in the greater Toronto area until June 30.

This is part of research social historian Chris Laursen is conducting on psychometry. Psychometry, or "token-object reading," is when you touch an object that belongs to someone you do not know, and you get specific and accurate impressions about the object and/or object owner's history.

WHAT WOULD I DO?

It's very simple. You would participate at one of the public dates below by pre-booking (via e-mail).

Participation will take 45 to 60 minutes of your time. You will have four boxes in front of you, and you can open them one by one in the order you please. You have half an hour, and should take your time to get mental impressions from each objects, giving them to Chris in as much detail as possible. It is okay if you can't get through all four objects. It is much preferred that you spend the time you need with one or two objects than rush through all four.

You can either give your impressions verbally (audio is recorded) or by writing them down/drawing them (pen and paper provided). The impressions you get can be anything: images, sounds, emotions, words. These things may seem random to you, but trust your instincts and give absolutely every impression that comes to you.

Your identity is confidential and will not be released in any reports made on this project.

DO I GET TO FIND OUT THE RESULTS?

Not immediately. Chris will be correlating all results through until the early autumn, at which point he will e-mail you summaries of the objects you looked at and if any of your impressions accurately pertained to the actual history of the objects and their owners. Chris will also be writing about and speaking on this project and the history of psychometry, and will notify you of any articles published or public engagements.

You never know. What you perceive may accurately be the history of the object and its owner! The only way you can find out is by trying.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

We invite you to participate, find out what's inside of the boxes and give your impressions of the objects! Check the official website, http://psychometry.psican.org, for full details on how to participate. You must pre-book a time (as per below dates) to guarantee that you can participate.

LOCATIONS

* BEACHES DATE *

Saturday, June 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Toronto Public Library, Beaches Branch
2161 Queen St. East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Very easy access by car (with lots of free street parking) or by streetcar.

++++++++

* NORTH YORK DATE *

Tuesday, June 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Seneca College @ York University (Keele Campus)
Stephen E. Quinlan Building
70 The Pond Road (close to York Blvd. and Keele)
Toronto (North York), Ontario, Canada

This is a very accessible site right on the York University Keele campus with tons of bus service!

++++++++

* PARKDALE DATE *

Sunday, June 24 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Conspiracy Culture Bookstore
1696 Queen Street West
(near Roncesvalles cross street)
Toronto, Ontario

Very easy access by car or streetcar.

* Please note that this date has a variable from the other dates. Participants will only write down their impressions behind a blind in the store as opposed to in a private room, where they can verbalize or write down impressions.

++++++++

* DANFORTH DATE *

Saturday, June 30 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lucsculpture School & Studios
663 Greenwood Avenue
- 2 buildings north of Danforth
- 1 block from Greenwood Subway Station
Toronto, Ontario

This is a very accessible site right on the TTC subway line!

Check out the Psychometry Experiment website!

Yesterday, The Toronto Star published an article about the old Mimico Asylum also known as the Former Lakeshore Psychiatric Facility. They used this sensationalistic headline: Tortured in life, forgotten in death

While the latter is sadly true, the former is absolutely incorrect.

Built during the late 1880's, the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital (now operated by Humber College) is located in Etobicoke Ontario. Despite the college's take over of the site, the design of the original hospital structures remain intact.

While words such as "asylum" tend to conjure unpleasant images in most of our minds, in reality the original hospital and surrounding grounds were a source of pride to it's designers and administrators. It provided the optimum in late 19th century therapeutic care. Postcards (archives of Canadian Psychiatry and Mental Health Services) from the early 20th century show a "village-like" complex, surrounded by trees and flower beds. It is obvious from descriptions that the patients were given the best care available during that particular era, despite the fact that some of these treatments are considered wholly unacceptable by us now.

The following is a quote from a former patient:

"In terms of meaningful activities and personal relationships, I had lived better when I was a patient (six months in 1968) at the Lake Shore Psychiatric Hospital in Toronto. In the hospital, an attendant made sure that I got up every morning, went to bed at night, took several showers a week, and had three meals a day. In the institution, I also participated in group therapy, attended a daily workshop, and went to the weekly bingos, dances, and movies (run by the hospital). The hospital also had a gymnasium for basketball and volleyball. My stay at the hospital was in the active treatment ward, but even the long term patients on the other two wards seemed to live a more meaningful and productive life than I did when living on my own in the community between 1972 and 1979. Their quality of life was better than that of many chronically ill psychiatric patients who are living in the community today."

Source: John Martin B.A., M.T.S., M.A. Schizophrenia Digest, April 1995

Headlines such as the one The Toronto Star chose to use are designed to sell papers, but are wholly inaccurate.

People were not tortured there, they did receive care via practises that are (thankfully) not in use today, but that does not mean they were wilfully subjected to torture, by cruel and awful caregivers as is so often implied. To state otherwise is to unfairly smear the character of former staff members.

Let us hope that this poor choice of words does not further undermine the dignity of former patients, and continue to perpetuate myths.

Have a look at the following video clip from a Scottish News broadcast, and you be the judge. This latest "Nessie" footage has made international news. The following is from the CBC:

Loch Ness monster aficionados say new video among the finest taken

Published: Thursday, May 31, 2007 | 4:02 PM ET
Canadian Press: BEN MCCONVILLE

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) - She's as much an emblem - and a tourist draw - as tartan, bagpipes, and shortbread.

And now Nessie's back. An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake.

Lab technician Gordon Holmes took the video last Saturday.

He says he saw a jet-black object about 15 metres long moving fast in the water, and thought it could be a very big eel with serpent-like features.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," he says.

The object was moving at about 10 km-h and keeping a fairly straight course, said Holmes, a 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire.

Full CBC Article Here

Nessie or not, the beloved legend of the Loch Ness Monster lives on, and I personally would love to be a part of a Nessie research team!

Our thanks to Matt for giving us the heads up on this news item!

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, Hauntings, UFO's, and other strange events that may be considered Fortean, from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Peterborough, Ontario, Canada Near The Otonabee River

The following was submitted to us by one of our readers. Please note that this area is rich in Native Canadian folklore, and legends.

"I don't know if this falls into the category of a ghost story, but it is true and it did happen to me.

In 1989 I was 13 years old. My friend and I would each day go to the woods by our house, and play and build forts. The wooded area was just off highway 115 in Peterborough Ontario next to Kennedy rd, and on the Otonabee river. It was also right next to the water treatment plant.

Nothing strange ever happened to us until one day my friend found a patch of large tomatoes growing along the fence line of the water treatment plant. I could not understand why and how they got there, but we started picking all the big red ones. They had to be and still are the biggest tomatoes I have ever seen!

As we filled our shirts I heard singing, and thinking it was coming from the highway I kept on picking. It was hot and sunny, and daylight, so the thought of ghosts was never a problem, nor even entered my mind. Then the singing started again, but this time it came from the tops of the trees, and seemingly all around us! It was loud, and sounded like older women singing together, something you might here in a church.

Well that did it for us, we dropped our tomatoes, and booked it down the path to get home!

The path had grass about 4-5 feet tall on each side, and we kept hearing it move like someone was shaking it or running through it. I was scared, so scared I was crying!

We got to the end of the trail on Kennedy rd, and stopped. We were tried to figure out what had just happened to us.

Five years later I was watching a TV show about witches. And in the tv show the witches sang the very same song while standing in a circle for one of their dead.

It took only a few months before I went back to the woods. and still today I never heard a thing like we had heard that day.

As a side note to this story a few years ago I was told by someone that a mother had killed her little girls in a house that once stood years ago..which makes sense to me since a lot of bricks, and parts of an old white picket fence are still there. They called that part of the woods Diamonds Run."

We also received another couple of interesting reports as a result of this one:

"That's a really interesting experience. In some ways it reminds me of something that happened to me when I was younger, that was explained to me as being The Trickster (or The Old Man of the Woods). He plays tricks on people; singing or voices talking, the rustles in the grass like someone is after you or is trying to scare you, but he would never hurt anyone; that was how one Aunt explained it. (Of course my Uncle said it was the Windigo and I couldn't sleep for three days...) Given the Native history angle, that was what occurred to me. I really am looking forward to a follow up!"

And another:

"Up north of Peterborough...we (hubby and I) were snowmobiling years ago, and he and a friend decided to go across the lake to an island and see what's there. My hubby said that they were exploring the wooded area of the island when they realized the trees looked really old and gnarled, like old fruit trees, so they stopped and took off their helmets to look around.

That's when my hubby said they could hear a gentle noise, like voices from far away, that got closer and louder as the wind picked up in the trees around them. Just as it got loud enough that you might make out what was being said, the hair stood up on the back of his neck, and he motioned to his friend to start up and get out of there. I was watching from across the lake, and there was no one walking or cross country skiing anywhere near the island. During the summer the island is occupied, and we haven't been back in the winter since."

A third report of a current, and active haunting in the region is too lengthy to add here, and deserving of a future entry of it's own.

Our thanks to the witnesses for sharing these reports with us. Our investigator from Durham Region is following up, and we may update these reports in the near future.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

Often this little hobby of ours takes us on the road, in fact right now our Robin is off to Kentucky to spend the night with a film crew at Waverley Sanatorium. Details on that little adventure will be posted when she gets back.

Since travel is often part of chasing down the "paranormal" you might want to have a look at this handy Travel & Leisure online reference.

For example say you are planning a trek to Scotland (Loch Ness, and Edinburgh Castle are big draws for the paranormal enthusiast) you might want to access this entry on the A 71 in Scotland, which is a major road over there, and familiarise yourself with the location, in order to better plan your trip.

Remember my motto "Scientia Et Potentia" or "knowledge Is Power." Utilising a reference guide such as this user-friendly one, will give you an edge on your own travelling adventures!

Our thanks to our sponsor!