Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

This weird looking creature is the rarely photographed Dumbo Octopus.

Scientists say that the waters off the Canadian east coast are just teeming with all sorts of exotic, and strange creatures. Who knows what else might be discovered within the north Atlantic's murky depths?

Check out this CTV article entitled:

"East Coast teems with new underwater species"

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

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

Chinese Lanterns

Apparently Chinese lanterns were to blame for the UFOs spotted over Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK and captured by numerous cell phones last week. Read on:

For the dozens of internet posters (some more serious than others) discussing recent mysterious lights in the skies, this photograph may go some way to unlocking the mystery.

The floating, circling UFOs seen last Saturday night were, it would appear, little more than Chinese lanterns released as part of a wedding celebration at the Bushey Police Club.

Robert Rosamond from the British UFO Research Organisation (BUFORA) confirmed residents weren't "seeing things" and that his organisation had received a great many similar reports in recent months.

He said: "Chinese lanterns or variations upon a similar theme are being sighted up and down the country at present.

"Common traits are flying in formation (due to the fact that they are more often than not tied together); that they are all apparently of a uniform colour and generally of equal brightness.

"Often one or two are observed to rotate around each other or perform some other kind of independent manoeuvre (the wind will obviously have different affects upon any single or number of lanterns in the group at any given time.)

"One or two or various of their numbers will and often do suddenly 'disappear' or even flare up and then disappear (depending upon the sequence of pre-launch candle lighting.)

Full Article Here

Our thanks to Chris for the tip!

I'm going to toss this one out to you gentle reader. What do you think of the image above? What kind of a creature may it be? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this one.

Here is a snippet from the article about the photo above:

Legend has it that a four-legged fiend with glowing eyes and a blood-curdling howl stalks this very spot.

Which makes these pictures of a mystery creature taken near Hound Tor on Dartmoor more intriguing than ever.

Seen only yards away from a party of schoolchildren, the animal has a thick, shaggy coat, rounded ears and large front limbs which would be powerful enough to tear human flesh.

Some say it is a wild dog or cat. More fanciful theories include wolverine or bear.

Whatever its identity, the Beast of Dartmoor is giving some farmers sleepless nights because they fear it will prey on their stock.

Falconer Martin Whitley, who photographed the creature, said: "It was walking along a path about 200 yards away from me.

"It was black and grey and comparable in size to a miniature pony. It had very thick shoulders, a long, thick tail with a blunt end and small round ears.

"Its movements appeared feline, then bear-like sprang to mind. There was a party climbing on the tor opposite making a racket but it ignored them completely."

A pack of spectral dogs known as the Whist Hounds or Hounds of Hell is said to roam the area according to local folklore, which inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The author is said to have been inspired by the legend of Squire Richard Cabell, a keen hunter from Brook Manor, Buckfastleigh.

The squire was rumoured to have sold his soul to the Devil and after he died on July 5, 1677, a phantom pack of black hunting dogs with glowing red eyes is said to have raced across Dartmoor on the night of his interment, breathing fire and howling at his tomb.

According to local legend, the demonic hounds have roamed the moor ever since and can often be seen around the anniversary of his death prowling around the grave trying to get the promised soul for the Devil.

The founder of the national research network Big Cats in Britain, Mark Fraser, said: "It looks like a wolverine or a bear in some shots and a big wild dog in others. It is a very strange animal."

Full Article Here

Our thanks go out to MsDemmie for sending this article our way.

Laying the Smacketh Down - An old target, but a new plea...

"We've read your site, we understand what you won't do, but we still are very interested in doing an article on your group!"

Y'know how many times we've heard this?

Y'know how many times we've been lied to?

Last week, I ranted about the "Ghost Hunting Community" and how I'd rather be tossed into a room full of arguing financial analysts discussing stock market volatility then spend any "quality" time within the community.

I mentioned that there's a lot of folks in this "community" that are media crack-whores that are not interested in doing anything unless it might get their face on camera or on the TV...

You'd be shocked at how many of these types there are... less interested in the study than in looking like the paranormal equivalent to Lindsay Lohan... with all the intelligence that this metaphor brings to the table.

Therefore, it's not unusual when the media contacts us and expects us to do JUST ABOUT anything to get their attention.

Got news for you... Unlike MANY in this so-called community, we ain't interested in being on TV or in the paper... we've been there, done that... and don't care.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, we're ACTUALLY interested in the study of paranormal phenomena, not in getting quality "face time" on ANY program.

Heck, if you have a chance, read the "Media FAQ" on the Torontoghosts website... it'll 'splain everything.

Using this, when a member of the media contacts us, we remind them in an "autoresponder" (an e-mail that's automatically sent out when we receive their e-mail,) about the FAQ...

Without fail, almost every time, we get an e-mail saying...

We read the FAQ and understand it... We're only interested in what you guys are doing and how you do it!

So, like lambs to the slaughter... or pigeons to the stool... we have said, "Okay! Great!" and then get together with the media folks...

...and it begins...

I want you to take me to a haunted house... one that NO ONE'S visited before! Maybe let me talk to the people who live there and get their story?

Um... great job reading, twit.

We OPENLY say that we WILL NOT DO THIS! The privacy of our witnesses is key AND because of that privacy, taking a REPORTER TO THEIR HOME is not conducive to offering assistance.

Nitwits.

On other occasions, we'll do what APPEARS to be a good, thoughtful interview... we'll discuss things like misconceptions about witnesses and phenomena, work with various instruments and what we've discovered through labs and papers about them, and our endeavours to further the understanding of reported phenomena...

What's the final result?

A headline that reads...

WHO YA GONNA CALL? GHOST HUNTERS GO SCARY BOO IN TORONTO!

No mention of the REAL meat of the interview... no mention on our papers, our efforts, or even those that we cited... nope...

Schlocky nonsense wins.

A PUBLIC PLEA TO THOSE WHO WISH TO USE US IN ANY FASHION FOR A DOCUMENTARY OR NEWS ARTICLE...

#1: Don't lie. If you READ our Media FAQ, understand it and work within it's frame.

#2: If you're going to pretend to be interested in our work, DON'T blow us off to do the same friggin' story that's been done a thousand times with mentions of "Scooby-Doo" and "The Ghostbusters".

#3: If you REALLY, HONESTLY believe that we're so freakin' egotistical and wish to be in your wonderful article, documentary, or whatever... that we will "feed" you a witness so you can write about their "horror" and "terror", my suggestion would be to go to your nearest bar, order a double-shot of scotch, down it rapidly, then walk into oncoming traffic... preferably high-speed traffic. If you can find a roadway with fast moving trucks (the larger, the better,) then we'd be grateful.

Basically, if you CAN'T understand that WE are serious and go MUCH further into this study than the average group of supposed "ghost hunters", then DON'T TALK TO US!

You're only wasting your time and ours.

Oh, and before I get the usual e-mails about a certain "television show" that features WONDERFUL "ghost hunters" that we, obviously, have modeled ourselves after...

TRUTH! - Though I'm certain it's (publicly) "not true" in their eyes - They modelled themselves after us.

Don't believe me? I have the e-mails from years ago to prove it.

Basically, that group entered the scene in and around 1999 and wrote to me saying that WE must become a MEMBER of THEM because they were the largest and bestest...

...despite their absolute belief in orbs photos, mist photos, vortex photos, etc.

We declined, politely, for two reasons... First, we were serious about the study... second, we were in Canada and were not interested in being a part of a American group that plainly labelled themselves as adhering to one area.

This was met with MUCH anger and threats...

However, over time, they adopted SOME of our stuff... without crediting us... and made some pretty horrific mistakes (like using internet-obtained doctorates, for example.)

Now, they are WAY better than they were... and have SLOWLY changed their ways... but have NEVER, EVER given ANYONE credit for anything... but themselves!

No mention of the Society for Psychical Research. No mention of any other investigators or researchers.

They are islands unto themselves.

Well, let me tell you something... THEY AREN'T.

I ain't sayin' we're "better"... and I ain't sayin' we DESERVE "credit" for their stuff... but their poop stinks... worse than most... and just because they more-or-less "borrowed" from others to make themselves appear better over time DOES NOT MAKE THEM THE END ALL OF BE ALLS.

Just once... ONCE... I'd like to see them cite someone OTHER than themselves... to show that there were people in the field OTHER than them...

For God sakes, a grade five student writing an essay shows their sources... why don't these people?

So, as stated, BEFORE anyone spouts off an e-mail to "show" me that the media is GREAT based on a TV show from The States... yeah, we know 'em... we knew 'em when they told us we would "vanish" and be "shut out" from the "paranormal community" in the late 1990's... we knew 'em when they THOUGHT they were "doctors"... and now, we're forced to hear our own words, our own studies, and our own thoughts parroted back to us poorly in reference to these people.

This isn't jealousy... HONEST... what spurred this extra comment is the fact that a LOT of people toss these folks "at us" to make points... that somehow, we will be "awed" by the fact that they are citing "The Television Stars"...

...well, if you were planning this, now you understand why this, for us, is the equivalent of arguing wave mechanics with Erwin Schrödinger using something that the professor from Gilligan's Island did as your source of data and argument.

Oh, this does NOT mean you shouldn't be a "fan" of the TV show... or that everything these folks do is dung... not at all... they made mistakes, have (hopefully) learned from them, and are doing better (I hope) work.

...but for the record, people have been PROPERLY examining claims of the paranormal for centuries... and they weren't all like the people I blasted last week... and it would be NICE to see these two acknowledge those who we HOPE they learned from... be that Fodor, Roll, Rogo, Price, Underwood, Spencer... or even Friedman (instrumental in the fight against "so-called-sceptics"), Maccabee (the scientist who really was the first to debunk orb photos), Lietzau (the scientist who's ongoing work into photographic anomalies is crucial), Philips (work with ghost lights), or any number of people.

...and these folks do NOT have to be able to do their TV show to be acknowledged in my eyes.

Wow... that's kinda TWO "Smackdowns" for the price of one!

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!

Private Residence - Sumach St, Toronto, Ontario

"My mother lived on Sumach St. in Cabbagetown about 40 years ago.

There were many strange happenings in the home, such as the front door opening on its own in the winter time, and a man was seen standing in the hallway, and then he had seemed to of vanished. My grandmother looked out the front door to see if she could see him there and she could not. She was also disturbed that there were not any footprints in the deep snow that the man would have made going up to the door.

Another time, my Mom and her siblings were running in a circle through their living and dining room doorways when my Mom ran through what she said was the apparition of a man standing in the doorway.

My mother also remembers that when they first moved into the house that they always heard a baby crying in the back room located off of the kitchen.

Later, my grandfather removed that room, making the kitchen larger and the baby was not heard again. I would be interested to hear if anyone else experienced strange happenings in this house."

Our thanks to our reader for the above report. Over the past ten years we have received many reports from Sumach street. In fact when pressed once about which location in the city was considered the most haunted, we actually determined that of all the neighbourhoods in Toronto or any one particular street for that matter, we have received the most reports by far from this wonderfully historic location. There is definitely something ghostly about Sumach street....

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.

A crowd of 100 stunned stargazers brought a town centre to a standstill when five mysterious UFOs were spotted hovering in the sky.

Drinkers spilled out of pubs, motorists stopped to gawp and camera phones were aimed upwards as the five orbs, in a seeming formation, hovered above Stratford-Upon-Avon for half an hour.

The unidentified flying objects lit up the otherwise clear night sky above Shakespeare's birthplace in Warwickshire on Saturday.

Full Article Here

Our thanks go out to MsDemmie for sending us the above news item.

Personally my jury is out as to what this may be. I think it is imperative that a trained UFO field investigator take a good look at this event. Currently the theories put forth so far are pure speculation, and some rather silly at that. Take a look at the commentary section of the link posted above, and you'll see what I mean.

“By feeling disillusioned, you risk giving up in regard to a course of action at a time when it is about to reach a breakthrough. It’s crucial to stay with your objectives. An attractive option is coming your way.”

- Capricorn horoscope for July 23
(from the Toronto Star, by Phil Booth)

Startling revelations about PSICAN!
by Chris Laursen

A year ago, I found myself in a place I never expected to be: in awe of some local paranormal enthusiasts. Their names are Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier (yes, the very same ones who put this blog together) and they have become a significant… actually a huge influence on my day-to-day life.

In May of last year, I connected two deep passions in my life: the paranormal and history. Inspired by the work I had done with my friend Sarah Kapoor on a radio pilot for CBC Radio about paranormal topics (the pilot was rejected, but that turned my attention to my passion for academics) and a university course I was taking to complete my history degree on the witch hunts in early modern Europe, I had a revelation that has affected the very course of my life. I can study the paranormal in historical context! I am happily ending a fruitful full-time career working in the media to become an academic historian and eventually a university professor. And not just your traditional historian either, but one who researches how people have related to the unexplained, especially in the past two hundred years of psychical research.

Sue and Matthew created Paranormal Studies & Investigations Canada (PSICAN) in 2005 as an umbrella to cover various affiliate organizations across the country who adhered to the high standards they have set in psychical research, including Sue’s ParaResearchers of Ontario (founded 2000) and Matthew’s Toronto Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society (founded 1997). ParaResearchers of Québec and the British Columbia Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society are also affiliates. I am honoured to be part of it!

But I wasn’t so sure a year ago. The last thing I ever, ever wanted to do was join some sort of “paranormal group.” For years, I had gritted my teeth over television programs that spread misinformation about what paranormal research is, and even worse, the plethora of Internet-based wannabe ghost hunters out there who take after these shows, horror movies and other imaginative but non-factual schlock. I had looked over the Toronto Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society website and, to tell you the truth, was rather sceptical about it (even though it had much more content than most websites). When Sue and Matthew were giving seminar tours of specific sites in the Toronto area last summer, I thought it very likely I would be witnessing ghost-hunting yahoos in action. And why would I think differently? That’s pretty much all you find on the Internet.

One evening, I took the ferry over to Toronto Island where Sue and Matthew were leading a seminar to the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. We all wandered over to an area where we could sit and listen to Matthew talk before proceeding to the lighthouse, and that turned out to be the highlight of the evening, even more interesting than exploring the haunted site itself. Matthew (being Matthew) laid down the law of paranormal investigation in a way I didn’t expect at all! He went through, point by point, the mandate of an organization which was deeply influenced by top notch research into the subject. He showed off all sorts of equipment typically used in haunting investigations, and proceeded to look at the strengths and weaknesses of them all, bluntly stating when there really was no evidence at all that certain pieces of equipment were even useful in such investigations. For about an hour, I was quite inspired by the dialogue between Matthew and Sue, stories of their investigations, and the historical and ghostly background of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. In the group, I met a lot of keen and interested people.

I walked away from that evening feeling like maybe there are local people who actually care about doing good research. So I signed up for the next walk, this one to the Old Mill on the Humber River, another source of many ghost reports. Matthew and Sue did much of the same in terms of speaking on PSICAN’s mandate, equipment and stories, and although Matthew did make a comment that he hoped he wasn’t boring those who’d heard his spiel before, it wasn’t boring at all. It fortified my view that these are smart people who care about the quality of research they are doing. I met other friendly PSICAN members that evening, and was encouraged to join the group by another long-time member. I read through the 100-plus page course book Matthew and Sue have refined over the years, and was impressed by the quality, thoroughness and standards they set forth in this document. Based on reading the document, I completed a written test, and was accepted into the PSICAN fold.

Over the past year, Sue, Matthew and the PSICAN gang have proven to me time and time again why the organization stands tall in international psychical research. Yes, standards compatible with long-standing, reputable international organizations! This is what has impressed me about them:

1. The best equipment for any investigation is reason, observation and attention to detail. Forget the EMF-toting, camera flash-happy tactics of amateurs who are desperate for a ghostly encounter. An open yet sceptical mind, a notepad and flashlight are far more essential than any technical gadgets. Experimenting with still cameras, video, audio and using scientific equipment (such as lab thermometers, not laser thermometers to measure temperature) is great, but has yet to prove anything. Human experience on the other hand has provided the most compelling evidence, and that is the key focus of PSICAN’s investigations.

Oh no, Matthew! Watch out for the orb attack! It’s usually easy to determine the cause of these circular shapes in digital pictures. Just hold the camera at chest level and look down at it as you take a picture and the flash fires. Often, you will see the particulate matter causing the “orb” image. In this case, pollen was having a free for all in the atmosphere at Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. (Photo: Chris Laursen)

2. There is no scientific basis that orbs are “paranormal.” Those circular blobs that you capture with your digital camera? What makes people think they’re spirits or ghosts? Yet, the majority of “ghost groups” out there have virtually concluded that they are. Now, visible points of light seen with the naked eye - that has been reported in many cases and are worth investigating. PSICAN supports exhaustive research that has shown that these blobs are in all likelihood particulate matter in the air. They’re not closed to any strong research that may suggest otherwise, but such research has yet to come along. Please read: http://www.torontoghosts.org/finalorb.htm

3. Experience is key. Matthew and Sue make every effort to spread the knowledge they have gained over the years and point people to good sources of information. They team up new investigators with those who are experienced. This makes for a very positive, mentor-based system of training.

4. Read, read, read. Hey, we all enjoy a bit of boob tube, film documentaries or scary movies. But these are predominantly to entertain and to give surface exposure to this intriguing topic. Depth can be found in articles and non-fiction books written by individuals with varying but compelling and intelligent views, among them Frederick Myers, Eleanor Sidgwick, Harry Price, Peter Underwood, Gary Schwartz, George Owen, Iris Owen, William Roll, Nandor Fodor, William James, the list goes on and on. No source of shared knowledge parallels the depth of the written word. How could any form of research be done without it? My professors have always told me that to gain knowledge, you “read, read, read” and there are some very well read people in PSICAN. It’s an inspiring place to find and discuss the best research.

5. An open, respectful forum for debate. PSICAN has a wonderful online message board where you can encounter many opinions and ideas. Among its members are people who are enjoy being challenged on their ideas, and I have many times been questioned on what I say. The huge difference is in the respect its members have for each other. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen discussions get pretty fiery - and Matthew and Sue are always quick to step in to remind of PSICAN’s mandate to respect other’s views when necessary.

6. High standards. I work very hard to achieve high standards in my own work, and I expect the same from those I work with. PSICAN is run by volunteers who all have lives, jobs and families, yet I experience the same high standards of work as I experience in university, working in the media and even volunteer work I’ve done in law enforcement. PSICAN puts its mandate into practice.

7. So you want to be a paranormal investigator? Well, you are unlikely to make a career of it, but it sure is a fascinating hobby. Like any job though, would you rather work for an established and respected organization, or try from scratch on your own? Let me tell you, there is a great value in being part of an established organization, especially one that provides training, resources and teamwork for those who wish to learn more about our mysterious world. You should be very critical and wary of what types of organizations you join. Sorry folks, but you cannot be a “certified” paranormal investigator unless you obtain a parapsychology degree from one of the few recognized institutions that offer it, of which there are none in Canada. But you can be who you are, offering your own strengths and personal interests to participate in team investigations. I’d recommend reading at least a few books by psychical researchers before joining any group. PSICAN’s course book is highly recommended and universal.

8. It’s about empathy. I volunteered for police victims services many years ago, and it was a huge influence on how I deal with people who have had traumatic experiences. For many people, inexplicable occurrences are quite unnerving. Witnesses come first at PSICAN, and confidentiality is held in high regard. It’s about documenting people’s experiences, seeing if a natural explanation can be found, and letting these people know that they are not alone in what they have experienced. This is highly rewarding and leads me to my next point.

9. Lasting friendships with like-minded people. Not only have I found friends in PSICAN, but in the people who call on PSICAN to help them understand the strange things they have experienced. A supportive circle forms over time.

10. It doesn’t just happen - it takes your own initiative. Woe is the person who waits for things to happen. You can’t just start a job and sit there waiting for something to happen. You have to actively participate. Yes, you have a wonderful supportive network in PSICAN, however you have to take your own interests and bring them to life. Over the past year, I have joined many very interesting investigations, counselled people, written this column for the Paranormal Blog, consulted with media, and so on. Matthew and Sue have offered my opportunities, but it is my own initiative that has made it happen. The more initiative you take, the more rewarding you will find this work!

There you have the joy that PSICAN has brought to my life over the past year. Thank you to Matthew, Sue and everyone I’ve met for the wonder you have added to my life!

Ponder this, gentle readers…

What is your personal interest in the paranormal?

Further reading:

For those who want to know about what the majority of “paranormal groups” out there do, go no further than…
Layeth the Smacketh Down - “We're all just one big happy community!”- THE HELL WE ARE! by Matthew Didier. Scroll down to the 7/22/07 entry in this blog.

PSICAN Course Book
http://www.torontoghosts.org/course/

PSICAN Message Board (registration required)
http://www.psican.org/messagecentre/

Toronto Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society (since 1997)
http://www.torontoghosts.org/

ParaResearchers of Ontario (since 2000)
http://www.pararesearchers.org/

Most Torontonians and 99% of University of Toronto alumni are familiar with the story of Ivan Reznikoff and Paul Diablos, whose fight managed to give U of T one of its most enduring legends and Toronto one of its favourite ghost stories.

Legend has it that during the construction of this gothic revival building, a Russian stone mason named Reznikoff was courting a young lady native to Toronto. Apparently, Mr. Diablos, a Greek mason, was seeing the maid on the side as well. Legend says that Diablos even carved two gargoyles that adorn the university, one an image of Reznikoff (see image above) and another of Diablos, laughing behind his back.

To read the full ghost story associated with this gargoyle please click here.

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

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

Please note that this is a vintage report.

Peterborough Ontario - September 1983

"On a farm in 1983 in the Peterborogh area. It was about 9-9:30pm and dark outside.

We were sitting in the living room when the cattle in the field began to bawl loudly.Being mostly farm or country kids,5 of us decided to check it out ,wondering if dogs or coyotes were bothering the cows and calves.

We had checked the fence line and walked amongst the cows,but couldn't see anything,the cattle were bunched up in the middle of the field and remained agitated,we thought that we check out the barn,but saw nothing there either.

We then stopped just outside the barn to talk and have a smoke before going back into the house.As we were talking the hairs on my head stood up and I had the desire to look up,as I looked up I noticed a large tear dropped shape object hovering about 200 meters over our heads.It was luminous and stationary and remained there for approximately another 30 seconds before it suddenly shot straight up and disappeared from view.

We immediately headed back to the house."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this experience with us. Peterborough has been the scene of both many UFO reports over the years including reports of cattle mutilations.

If you have had a similar experience please email us in confidence or leave a comment below.

The one thing I believe that everyone within the paranormal research community can absolutely agree on is that it can be a very expensive hobby, which is why I like to use coupon codes whenever possible on all of my online purchases.

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Thank you to my sponsor.

"At approximately 9:15 PM (I never actually checked my watch), on a crowded roof-top patio/bar in Toronto Ontario I noticed an object in the sky. The sky was perfectly clear, still blue as the sun was setting, it was warm and there was little if any breeze. Initially I was looking at a construction crane and saw a black object. I immediately thought it was nothing more than a black bag (garbage bag) blowing in the wind. I kept looking at it and realised it was very high up, it was not windy and the object was moving at a very steady pace in a straight direction. I immediately got the attention of the person I was with, they too had been watching, but had said nothing, we had both been fixed on it, trying to figure it out. I got the attention of a few other people, but for the most part no one took notice as it was a loud, busy party at a bar. A few people and I continued to watch the object move at a good pace (not too fast, but very steady and smooth). The object had no lights and had no visible wings. The shape is very difficult to describe, I hesitate to describe it as a "saucer" because it was not completely flat, nor completely round. We continued to watch it until we lost sight of it as it passed behind a tall office building. The total time of the sighting seemed like a long time, but could have only been a couple of minutes at the most. The object was moving from north to south (heading towards Lake Ontario) Whether the object made any noise is unknown as there was music and lots of noise on the patio, but I do not recall hearing anything out of the ordinary when I saw the object. Typically when planes and helicopters fly over the city you can hear them, they are pretty loud as the noise bounces between buildings. As far as the size of the object, it is really hard for me to say because I did not know how far I was from it, there was nothing for me to get reference from. I also could not tell how high up the object was because I could not get a view of the ground and the object at the same time. Again, this took place while the sky was still light in the middle of the city of Toronto! We could not have been the only people to see it, could we?!"

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone who thinks they may have seen something unusual over the skies of Toronto this past Saturday night. Please contact us via email or through the comments section of this blog.

THE HELL WE ARE!

Recently, one of our staffers at PSICAN has really made an effort to "reach out" and meet with the local "ghost groups" and whatnot... he would like to show that our group is "in touch" with the "community".

Ahhh... yes... The "Community" of ghost hunters.

Heck, we know 'em well! We've even been THREATENED by a couple of people that we would be shunned, forsaken, and generally ostracized by said "community" when we didn't want to jump up, scream, promote, and proclaim a particular business as a jenn-you-whine haunted location.

The way people look at these OTHER groups, you'd assume that there must be a "ghostly town hall" of some sort where everybody BUT US gets together to discuss the comings and goings of paranormal research.

OKAY, I'm going to say what I feel here... and it ain't gonna be nice...

Looking at the local groups, once you eliminate the "cemetery stompers",(those that incorrectly assume ALL cemeteries are haunted and are more about effect rather than substance,) the "thrill seekers", (those that break into any scary, creepy looking building hoping for a good scare,) the "media crack-whores", (those that are hoping they'll be on TV or the paper because they're just so damned cool,) and those who don't WANT to know their butt from their elbow, (still not looking into WHY they're using certain things and even WHAT they're looking for save A GHOST because reading is too difficult, apparently,) you are really left with precious few folks!

Most of our "other" local groups can't get along amongst themselves... like I've pointed out...

A GHOST IS...

• A spirit of a dead person that is unaware they have passed on.

• A spirit of a dead person that has unfinished business.

• Something else...

I've seen flame wars bigger than most based only on THIS question.

The REAL answer: No one knows... There is no proof of any of these different hypothesis... and there never will be so long as everyone is running about ignoring all the inconvenient facts because they are clinging to their own cherished belief.

Yup, that's the "community"!

Now, I am a legitimately altruistic guy... I'd love to see the "study" and those in the field gel into a greater whole...

...but I'm also a realist... and I know that 95% of our "community" aren't even on the same book, let alone the same page... or even near it.

So many refuse to read.

So many refuse to acknowledge that there has been literally centuries of legitimate work done before television was invented.

So many refuse to understand what legitimate "non-paranormal" work is being done in universities and labs that DOES directly affect their efforts.

...too many refuse to understand anything beyond what they "want" or what they "like".

Thus, they are not investigating... they are not researching...

They are thrill seeking, cherry-picking facts, and hoping for the prize at the bottom of the Cracker-Jack box without even opening the top.

It's pretty sad that I would HONESTLY say that 80% of my "colleagues" in this community don't know the names Fodor, Price, Roll, Rogo, Spencer, Underwood... or a long, LONG list of names...

...but can tell you the name of Britney Spears' latest boyfriend.

Hell, half of them don't know who Michael Shermer, James Randi, and CSICOP (now Crime Scene Investigators) are... and wait 'til THAT one bites 'em in the butt!

Hey, I'll be the FIRST person to say I'm a pompous, egotistical dinkus about things when talking about my study to those in the "community"... because, as an example, what's the POINT of talking to you about findings with an electro-magnetic field meter at a haunt if you don't understand how to take a mean reading, how to look for acceptable variances within controls and environmental standards, or even WHY you're using one of these things!

The realisation that MANY people are simply running about with "machines that go ping" hits hard... and you REALLY, REALLY wonder if you want to be anywhere NEAR this community.

They are not investigators... they are not researchers... they are not colleagues... they are NOT in the pursuit of knowledge and answers...

They are what they are... and my experience has shown me that the VAST majority of them are illiterate, thrill-seeking preachers of their own faith who are less than interested in the legitimate topics at hand...

"We went here, isn't that cool?"

"Look at our gadgets! Aren't they cool?"

"We're just like that TV show! Isn't that so cool?"

NO! IT ISN'T!

...at least, not to me.

I see ourselves as a respectable group that looks at ALL the information... we doubt everything and dismiss nothing without evidence... and we rarely start ANY project without actually understanding WHY we're doing it from any perspective.

...and it pains me that so many other's can not and WILL not do the same.

They are not adding one iota of information or help to a complex study they purport to be a part of.

Ergo: No. I am not interested in this "community".

We DO have friends and colleagues... We DO have people we respect...

...and that, as stated, is less than 5% of the people we've met, known about, or otherwise were "forced" to acknowledge in some fashion.

I once asked if you wanted the "Association of Spiritual Seekers" (or ASS) wandering around your home... yup, ASS people in your house with EMF detectors screaming about sudden jumps in levels when the microwave is turned on that it MUST be a ghost... ASS people showing you orb photos PROVING there's a ghost about... ASS members displaying the mist photos from where they had cigarettes outside showing the ghostly presence... ASS folks using laser thermometers showing four and five degree centigrade differences in temperature from the brick wall to the wood panelling... ASS people with a grasp of history matched only by their knowledge of the history of the television program Friends...

...and it's all about ASS.

...and this is our "community".

Want to be a part of it?

...or like us, would you ignore it, stick with friends and colleagues who you know have a clue, and move forward.

Guess which we're doing?

I'll say it... the paranormal "community" is full of idiots. Full of people unwilling to read and learn... and no, we really want no truck or trade with most of them.

My most frequent comment when having to discuss the majority of the "community" with people who I do respect...?

In our field, there's an awful lot of cow-pats.

So, hate me if you must for riding a high-horse and being a pompous, unfriendly, overly-educated git...

...because I am...

...so is MOST of the people we work with...

...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

For us, this is a serious study... a serious field of research... and we put a lot of work into it.

To have some nitwit from "Paranormal Investigators of South Swansea" (or PISS) start to tell us where our efforts are wrong based on their understanding of two television programs DOES NOT endear this "community" to our heart.

Sorry if that offends, but it's accurate.

Oh, and if you think this is harsh, it isn't... do a "Google" search under "paranormal" and read some of the gunk.

A great piece of advice was once given to me by a LEGITIMATE colleague... "Just Rise Above It."

...maybe this is why I'm so lofty.

...granted, after a decade of being compare to ASS, PISS, and numerous other mindless mouth-breathers, do you blame me?

The photo above has been making the rounds across the internet. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman had this to say about it:

Quote:

My first thoughts ran to that of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also called the desert mole rat or the sand puppy, but they are only found in East Africa, naturally. Naked mole-rats live in underground dwellings in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Why worry about al Qaeda, when the naked mole rat may be coming into our country?

BoingBoing states this photo was taken in Washington State, just outside Seattle.

One of our own regular readers Jim points out that it is most likely a Skinny Pig or Hairless Guinea Pig that was probably someone's pet that they released. It probably won't last long in the wild.

Here is the Wiki entry on Skinny Pigs including photos.

We agree with Jim's assessment.

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 sent in by one of our readers and struck us as very interesting...

Caribou Rd - Cursed Property?

"I know that I am supposed to explain the story briefly, but please indulge me. The story is a bit long, but it could prove to be of interest to the society.

It involves my aunt and her family, and the strange events that occurred some thirty years ago. My aunt at the time had already had one child, a son; and was expecting another when she and her husband (at the time) moved into a new house together.

The house was on a street called Caribou Rd. which I think is in the Downsview area of Toronto. About a month after they had settled into the house, my aunt started experiencing strange fits of behaviour and emotional swings. As I mentioned she was pregnant at the time, and she dismissed these feelings as a result of carrying her unborn child. As the days progressed, she would spend most of her time taking care of her baby boy and working around the house. She would often hear strange noises coming from the babies room when there should have been no one around and in the evening and for several nights she went through the same exercise of investigating the sounds. Each time she found nothing. She even asked her husband if he heard the sounds, but he thought that she was crazy, and said that he didn't hear anything. Eventually, the noises stopped and her feelings of unrest subsided. A few weeks after these strange happenings, my aunt gave birth to her second son. When she returned home from the hospital, she asked her husband to make an effort to finish the fireplace as it would make her feel happy. At least she could light a nice cozy fire and relax when her work was done and the kids were asleep.

Time went on, and her husband made little effort to finish the job. As a result my aunt became upset and discontented. It didn't help that she was the one working hard at home all day and looking after two young children. With her emotions once again charged as they were in the past, she began feeling eerie again. In addition, the sounds from her sons' room returned. One night she heard the banging and said that they did not belong there, and that if they stayed they would be in danger.

All of a sudden the voice stopped, and panic set in. They scooped up a few things, the kids and left the house that night. They went to my grandmother's house. The next day they went back, and called their realtor to put the house back up for sale. They got all of their things and moved out completely a week later. As I have been told, before the house was ever sold again, it mysteriously burned to the ground. It was subsequently rebuilt, and again it burned.

The structureless property was eventually sold to a religious Jewish family, when upon buying the land they had a rabbi bless the property. As it happens, they built their home on the land and so far nothing has happened to the building. The house that they built still stands on Caribou, I don't know if the religious family still lives there, but neither my aunt nor myself has heard of anything since. Anyhow, there you have it. I hope you have found it interesting."

ADDITIONS: From the same author...

"I found out some more about the Caribou Rd. story. Apparently, the property was owned by a couple in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The husband promised to build his wife a home. During construction she fell ill and died before he was able to complete the job. Seeing as his wife would not be able to enjoy the finished product; no one would. He subsequently burned himself and the house down. That is all I know of the story, I don't know exact dates and names, but I figure that the banging my aunt encountered was the spirit hammering or something?"

Our thanks to our reader for the above report! We have many stories online about seemingly cursed properties. This is an area that we are quite interested in so if you know of another home, cottage, business or property that seems to have it's share of bad luck, please let us know either privately through email or by leaving us a comment.

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.

This week, historian Chris Laursen takes a light-hearted look at the first haunted buildings he visited when he lived in Edmonton in his home province of Alberta, Canada in 1992.

There must be more to ghosts than this
by Chris Laursen

Fifteen years ago, I wrote my first ever article about the paranormal. At the time, I was a journalism student in Edmonton and was freelancing for the now-defunct arts and entertainment magazine the Edmonton Bullet. It wasn't the beginning of my interest in ghosts by any means, but it was the first time I had consciously stepped foot in places where ghostly things had allegedly occurred.

I ended up interviewing Ron Hlady, a preservation technician at the historic and haunted downtown McKay Avenue School. The school is now a museum and archives run by the Edmonton Public School Board. The building was actually the site of Alberta's first two legislative sessions in 1906 and 1907. The government rented the third floor assembly hall from the Protestant School Board for $400 per session, and it was in that room that politicians made the decision to make Edmonton Alberta's capital. After that, the young provincial government moved its sessions to cheaper digs until the current domed Legislature was built for it in 1911.

The Alberta Legislature that former Premier Ralph Klein will no doubt continue to haunt. (Photo: Legislative Assembly of Alberta)

At its peak, McKay Avenue School had 456 students in 1916, but that number declined steadily over time, leading to its closure in 1983 with only 53 students enrolled. Its Romanesque design, pillared entrance and brick façade - all unique to Alberta architecture - prompted the school to be designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1976, thus ensuring the building's survival in a rapidly expanding provincial capital where many of the old original buildings were torn down to make way for new development.

Hlady told me about how objects mysteriously moved around and strange noises were heard at the school. In the late 1980s, Hlady and a co-worker were setting up chairs on the top floor of the building. They both left the room for a few minutes and returned to find the chairs scattered about, although no one else was in the building at the time. Hlady also recalled how lights had been turned on and off mysteriously, water taps have been found running when they should have been turned off, and the alarms in the building have been triggered without reasonable explanation.

I recollect Hlady pulling a ouija board off a shelf in his office, and telling me that he had been experimenting with it, and communicating with a spirit who claimed to be a worker who had accidentally fallen off the roof of the building during its construction or a renovation. It is a well-known legend that this maintenance man is said to be one of the ghostly residents in the building, and I find it interesting that the legend may be rooted in Hlady's own ouija board sessions. I didn't mention this in the published article. Maybe it was just a figment of my imagination? Barbara Smith, author of Ghost Stories of Alberta, counted over a dozen spirits that are reputed to haunt the building. To this day, the McKay Avenue School is a prime destination for a local ghost walk.

The McKay Avenue School in Edmonton, Canada in 1912. (Photo: Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum)

One of the buildings I looked into never made it into my published article. I cannot recall why I decided that it shouldn't be, but I remember very well visiting this rather unusual haunted location. I won't mention the name of this place, although I will say it was one of the last drive-in fast food restaurants in Edmonton, a small, somewhat cheesy but historical site all the same. (May the record show that I have fond memories of visiting this fast food chain as a kid, and having a tray of frosty glass mug of root beer, a freshly grilled hamburger with greasy but delicious onion rings attached to the window of my parents' car for me to enjoy. Oh how the times have changed. Mind you, I'm not so old to remember servers on rollerskates!) This particular restaurant no longer stands, a victim to Edmonton's development and a changing fast food industry. Trendy downtown condos now stand in its place.

The employees had been reporting strange things. One day a fry cook was almost injured when the open lid of the fryer he was using slammed down. On several occasions, the combination safe in the office was found to have opened with no plausible explanation as to why. Everyone was talking about a ghost. They were a bit freaked out by this, but also fascinated. I can't remember getting much more detail beyond that, and maybe that's why it didn't make it into my published article.

After my first foray into allegedly haunted buildings, I remember feeling rather disappointed. By that time, I had read several books on ghosts and marvelled at the famous photographs of the Brown Lady or Tulip Staircase monks, was astonished by the spontaneous appearances of the faces of Belmez, the Enfield poltergeist, and the many adventures had by professional ghost hunter Peter Underwood in his books. I guess I had expected to hear reports of half-body apparitions floating through the halls and disappearing through closed doors, of eerie messages being scratched into walls, or at least get to hear some ghostly footsteps.

Someone had told me around that time that ghosts preferred wet and damp environments, which seemed to explain to me why rainy England was so haunted and arid Alberta was not.

Edmonton, I concluded at the time, barely had any ghosts, and the ghosts it did seem to have - well, I very much questioned whether they were ghosts at all. The maintenance man falling from the roof and then haunting the building sounded too fanciful to me, like an urban legend. And I thought there were just too many possible natural explanations for why these reported things happened.

In hindsight after reading a great deal about ghostly phenomenon, my view has shifted. I can say that the McKay Avenue School's domineering atmosphere made a definite impression on me. Now, when people tell me about a haunted school or institution, I think of its spacious rooms and tall windows that seem perfect for ghosts. And Ron Hlady was a very effective and kind guide who honestly felt there were probably spirits walking through the former school's halls.

With further investigation, no doubt natural causes could resolve some the mysteries that have been experienced in these haunted buildings I visited. But reading updated remarks of those of have since visited McKay Avenue School, I can definitely respect that there is something odd there - a sense of something unseen yet present. The fast food restaurant may no longer stand (my Dad suggested perhaps the new condos are haunted in its absence), but McKay Avenue School sits waiting at the corner of 99th Avenue and 105th Street, waiting for open yet sceptical minds to explore its space.

Further Reading:

Barbara Smith's Ghost Stories of Alberta which includes an account of McKay Avenue School (1993), More Ghost Stories of Alberta (1997) and Even More Ghost Stories of Alberta (2001) all delve into the tales that come out of the province, proving my initial impression of Alberta being not all that haunted quite wrong. They are available from Lone Pine Publishing.

A strange figure stands at the doorway of the burning Wem Town Hall. (Photo: Tony O’Rahilly / Fortean Photo Archives)

Last week our Weird Wednesday feature was an examination of the photo above. You can read that entry "In the doorway of a burning building" by clicking on the link provided.

Here is a close up of the figure:

The photo, and it's circumstances are certainly intriguing! There has been different explanations including that the figure above is nothing more than smoke, and debris. In my opinion the figure is a young girl, but why she appeared in the photo, and why no one saw her who knows?

Dr. Vernon Harrison, a former president of the Royal Photographic Society said in regards, “The negative is a straight forward piece of black-and-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with."

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

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

A new X-Files movie is being planned, and both original stars of the tv series David Duchovny, and Gillian Anderson are set to take part. Here is a snippet from the BBC:

A new film reviving the cult 1990s TV series The X-Files is moving closer to being made, according to reports.

David Duchovny, one of the show's stars, has told reporters he will receive a script next week.

Duchovny and co-star Gillian Anderson are both "on board" to reprise their roles as alien-hunting special agents Mulder and Scully, he said.

The script has been written by creator Chris Carter and writer Frank Spotnitz, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The pair co-wrote the first X-Files movie, which came out almost a decade ago. The original thriller series was a hit when it ran from 1993-2002, winning three Golden Globes for best TV drama.

Full BBC Article Here

I know that many UFOlogists grumble about the show particularly the character Fox Mulder who believed a little too much to ever be considered an objective investigator. Personally I did enjoy the show, and took it for what it was, a fun piece of fiction.

Firstly, and right off the top there is NO such thing as an accredited Ghost Hunter Certification! Therefore this news item caught my attention:

From The Enquirer:

Don't be scared - it's just ghostbusting school. The ParAcademy is hosting its first-ever Paranormal Retreat and Ghost Hunting Certification Weekend at General Butler State Park Sept. 28 and 29.

Starr and Jessi Chaney of PsyTech, a paranormal investigating team based in Nicholasville, launched the program to assist those wishing to become certified as ghost hunters.

Full Article Here

These two bill themselves as "the foremost Mother-Daughter Ghost Hunting team on the internet," and this is the first I have heard of them.

Frankly I have no problem with them hosting seminars, but "ghost hunting certification." Again there is no accredited certification for ghost research & investigation. In fact anyone can do it!

Before you open your wallets for a piece of paper that in reality most likely was printed from someone's home computer for about 25 cents please do your homework, and ask the hard questions such as what are, and where did they receive their qualifications? Remember they do not list themselves as obtaining degrees in parapsychology from the University of Edinburgh or the handful of other accredited institutions of higher education that do offer parapsychology as a major. And even if they had there is no process for an actual certification because it simply does not exist.

Yesterday we smacked a group that took to task a TV show personality, and launched an IRS investigation. Perhaps they would better serve the public by looking into those selling "Ghost Hunter Certification."

Don't worry about collateral damage! Launch the nukes!

No one has ever assumed that dealing with paranormal studies would be an easy, downhill ride.

All of us, good and bad, know that there are many detractors and vehement "non-believers" who will decry us, make lame excuses for why we're wasting our time, and generally say that everyone who believes in the paranormal is wonky and anyone who looks into the paranormal is the lead of the wonky-ites.

In fact, so brutal is this that the vehement "non-believers" are truly a church and religion unto themselves... the "cult of non-belief"... and are as passionate and nasty as any believer or "woo-woo"... and at times, far worse.

Now, enough pixels have been used to explain the difference between a "sceptic" and a "non-believer"... a sceptic doubts, but does not deny. A sceptic is waiting for better evidence to make a decision, not dismissing everything out-of-hand without dint of evidence or clinging to an even more ludicrous "explanation" for things when even less evidence supports the explanation than supports the initial report.

That said, the leaders of the cults of non-belief and poor science try to rally their faithful by telling them that they are the BASTIONS of education and without them, the human race would become a mass of mouth-breathing idiots duped by those of "us" who are out to soak them for their cash or willpower... interesting for groups that proclaim "science" as their mantra... but ignore the concept of the hypothesis...

Anyway... Here's one for ya... they are partially correct... but this would be the equivalent of saying I found a case of a bad policeman who is on the take! What!?! There's MORE THAN ONE!?! DISBAND ALL POLICE FORCES IMMEDIATELY!

I believe that a little review of some people within the field is a VERY good thing... and on occasion, through the lack of real peer review within these studies, "groups" and "people" do fall through the cracks and some really bad folks get a pulpit from which to preach their brand of poison...

For example, as a kid watching The Amazing Randi on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson perform "psychic surgery" did more to convince me of fraud, hoaxery, and trickery than almost anything else...

...that said, it's one thing to PROVE something to be a fraud... it's another thing to QUESTION something publicly and ask for better answers...

...but recently, it was taken WAY too far by the "Cult of Non-Believers"... it transcended to "hate".

A "group" in the states started a spoof-site about a popular "ghost" TV program... they spoofed the name and generally were SUPPOSED to find the problems and yes, "dirt" on the stars of said program.

This, again, is laudable and should be done.

...and then they found something... and then went too far...

The TV stars claimed to be "Non-Profit", but when an examination turned up that they hadn't registered as "Non-Profit" (and you can't call a group or organization non-profit without registration,) they went at 'em...

...which is fine...

Heck, we GENTLY went at the same folks long before their TV stardom for using "Dr." in front of their names... it was a non-accredited title, and made them and that's something we at PSICAN can't stand... you want to USE the word "doctor", EARN the degree, don't buy it online.

To their credit, they DID remove the phony accreditation from their site and names, and actually used our arguments against another group they had issues with... which we found kind of amusing, personally.

...but when we did find this ill-use of "doctoral" titles, we went after them gently... using facts... and that's all...

Sure, we had and have other issues with them, but that was the real humdinger for us.

Now, learning about this non-filed "Non-Profit" thing would be another issue for us as we're currently trying VERY hard to do our filing and get accepted as a charity in Canada... but we are VERY careful about the words and verbiage we use... and to find out that these "stars" use those words without taking the appropriate steps is irritating at the least... and we SHOULD be on board with the "spoof site"... until we found this out...

The spoof site gave the TV star's exact address, and phone number out publicly on their website.

I know that at least one of these TV "stars" has a family... a wife and child... and as much as this cult wanted to mock him and make him suffer, what right did they have to go that personal?

...apparently they did not as they were forced to remove the offending data.

Still, think about it... We believe these people are dishonest! We almost have proof and evidence! We're so adamant in our conviction we invite EVERY WEIRDO ONLINE to VISIT THEIR HOME and CHAT WITH THEIR FAMILY!

You lost me there...

When did the concept of investigative debate become drawing personal attention to a persons home and family? Do you believe this fellow's kid (or kids) were the ones that put the words "Non-Profit" on their website and documents?

What COULD have been a decent debate and possibly some relevant data and information that MIGHT have helped stop something bad became a ridiculous flame-war with The Cult of Non-Belief becoming bullies and, more-or-less, stalkers.

This SHREDDED their credibility with me personally... and many that I know both in sceptical organizations, and within the field of paranormal study.

It also doesn't help that their "spoof" site seems altogether "media friendly" with a somewhat "sexy" picture as their top logo... I know when I want the truth and good evidence, I look for the "babe" in the skimpy top as the logo graphic!

Far from being bastions of education, literacy, and with the "common good" in mind, these people have simply shown themselves to be nothing better than hate-filled wannabe media whores in our opinion, hoping for their fifteen minutes of nasty fame... and thus, despite any worthy data or arguments they bring to the field, their stupidity overshadows anything else.

Flame wars are pointless... and those masquerading as "educated" and "doing the right thing" that seem only interested in a scrap are worthy of this week's SMACKDOWN!

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 account was sent in by one of our readers...

Private residence - Georgetown, Ontario

"All my life, I have been interested in ghosts-however, I am a bit of a skeptic - thinking that there must be a logical explanation for certain instances - especially after hearing of the Amityville Hoax. I try not to look for things that may not be there, however I have felt as if there is something in each place where I have lived, since I have had some small unexplained occurances. The strongest being where I currently reside:

I live in a house in Georgetown where my late uncle and his late father lived for years. My grandfather died about 27 yrs ago-my uncle died the day after my 25th birthday in 1995 due to a lengthy illness of cancer.

He mentioned to me in his sickly state in the hospital, that he would like my husband and me to have or live in the house. (I was not entirley sure what he was getting at but that was the jist of it.)

He left the house to my Father. I moved into the house in 1996 and experienced a few instances. Prior to moving, my Aunt (his sister) was also interested into moving in the house, and my Father was going to give her the first choice of moving in. (Now my Aunt never got along well with my Uncle until a year or two before he died.)

One day she was checking out one particular room on the main level, while her husband and my father were outside. She was just standing there when a piece of paper on a big filing cabinet fell down to her feet. No windows were open, and all was very still. She felt very uneasy and decided right then and there she wouldn't be moving in.

Now my Aunt didn't tell me this story until I was living in the house for a year or so.

I have a wonderful relationship with her and there is no jealousy. I did mention to her that the paper incident could have been caused by the furnace vent - the air may have come on, however it would have been spring, and the temperature would have been kept low to keep costs low, and therefore I don't know what the possibilities are of that being the cause of the moving paper.

I was always leary of moving in, excited but nervous of being alone in the house. We always had the feeling that we were not alone and being watched, especially upstairs.

Things disappear from where I swear I have set them, only to reappear later on. (Granted, it could be my lack of memory or just missing it the 1st time).

When leaving the house to go to work, just as I would get to the door I felt as though I couldn't get out of the door fast enough, like someone was right behind me.

Our living room has an old stove pipe which has been covered up so maybe this can explain the cold gusts of air that enter my living room in waves on occasion. My husband never feels it, but I do, however, the drafts are in front of me - not behind where the pipe is located.

One day when eating breakfast in my kitchen alone, the bread bag that was sitting on the kitchen counter started to rustle on its own and there were no breezes nor were any windows open.

Things tapered down for a while, if there was anything in my house, it was leaving us alone so we no longer felt on edge, or creeped out until my 1st born arrived a few months ago.

One evening, my son and I were asleep in my room, my husband downstairs watching TV. My sons baby monitor was in the cradle, the sound piece behind the bumper in the cradle by his head the cord running along the outside of the cradle down to the plug. (It was Safely away from the baby and there was no way he could get to it.)

He started to stir so I listened and got up from my bed to check on him. I looked at the monitor which was moved right beside his head and the cord was now running along the inside of his crib, I went to the end where it plugs in, to find that it had been unplugged.

I did not unplug it and it is always plugged in. I then took the baby from his cradle, got my husband, and questioned him about it. He said he never unplugged it. We then went back to bed. I remained leary, but tried to chalk it up to lack of sleep, and maybe lack of memory.

A week later, again my husband was downstairs and I had fallen asleep, I awoke to a cold room and a restless baby. I waited for the familiar cry, however my baby just tossed and turned. All of a sudden I heard three loud bangs like gunshots. We live in the country, and our neighbors across the way have several dogs which are outside at all times. Our neighborhood is fairly quiet so this seemed extremely odd as I did not hear any dogs barking which I figured I would with all the noise (they bark at anything) and all of a sudden I felt uneasy. My room seemed suddenly colder but I chalked it up to it being the winter months, and the fact that its not all that insulated. I calmed down and tried to go back to sleep. I then thought I felt someone crawl into bed beside me. I turned on the light, but there was no one there. I then went with the baby downstairs to my husband, awoke him, and asked if heard any gunshots. He did not, and I know I had been fully awake at the time.

These 2 occurances were around the Christmas season. We have some friends who are into spiritualism a little, and did a blessing in our room-since then no more occurances.

On occasion my husband has thought he has heard me call his name, however I have not, but he swears it. At times when my husband is out, I swear I will hear his car pull into the driveway. When I check I find the driveway empty, however, 10 minutes later he actually does.

The house doesn't frighten me, and I have never seen an apparition, but there is the odd feeling of uneasiness that does come over us."

We would like to thank the witness for sharing this experience 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.

Larry King Live will present a special episode dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of Roswell. His special gusts will include: Stanton T Friedman, Jesse Marcel Jr., Buzz Aldrin, James Fox, George Noory and autodebunker Michael Shermer. Should be a very interesting show despite the appearance of Shermer .. ;)

Friday, July 13th 8 p.m., CDT, 9 p.m., EDT, and 8 p.m., PDT

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/

This should be a must-see for all UFO enthusiasts.

This week, historian Chris Laursen looks at the circumstances behind a famous photograph in which a ghostly girl appears in the doorway of the Wem Town Hall as it was burning down in November 1995.

In the doorway of a burning building
by Chris Laursen

A few weeks ago, the North Shropshire Chronicle reported on the controversies surrounding the closure of the municipal hall in Wem, a market town located near the Welsh border 100 kilometres southwest of Manchester, England. The century-old building was destroyed by a fire on November 19, 1995, but was later rebuilt for £1.8 million ($3.6 million US). The local councils decided to move out of the building two years ago, much to the despair of local residents who watched as the vacant building fell into disrepair which, as one local resident put it, made it “look like a dustbin with windows.” For the local councils, the closure was a decision between keeping the town hall or the local swimming pool open, and via a questionnaire, North Shropshire residents favoured the recreational facility.

All the same, it is sad for any town with such a rich history to see a landmark fall into disuse. Wem has been holding its weekly markets since 1202, and is the birthplace of sweet peas first crossbred by Henry Eckford in the 1880s. During the War of the Roses in the 15th century, the entire town was razed by the Yorkists. Then the townsfolk, under Colonel Mytton, fended off Lord Capel’s forces during the Civil War in 1643. The Wem Town Hall fire of 1995 was the second large fire to have afflicted the town. In 1677, most of the wooden structures in the town were destroyed when a teenaged girl, Jane Churm, accidentally dropped a candle. According to Wem’s official website, “the intense heat partly melted the church bells, which had to be recast.”

The Wem Town Hall burned on November 19, 1995. (Photo: Shropshire Star)

On that November night in 1995 when the Wem Town Hall caught fire, hundreds of townsfolk gathered to watch outside of a cordoned off area. Over 60 firefighters came to fight the flames, and although they managed to save much of the exterior of the building, the interior was gutted. The Shropshire Star reported that despite the massive fire, “a large plaque on the town hall entrance commemorating the Great Fire of 1677 had only suffered minor water damage.” Arson was ruled out, but no one was able to pinpoint the cause of the fire.

Standing across the street with his camera was local resident Tony O’Rahilly. He had a 200-mm zoom lens mounted on his camera, and was taking pictures of the scene of the fire from a safe vantage point.

Some time later, O’Rahilly had his black and white film developed and was astonished to find an unexpected image in one of the photographs. Standing in the doorway of the burning town hall is what appears to be the image of a young girl who O’Rahilly said he did not see when he was taking the photograph. This is a very unusual photograph indeed, notably haunting since the girl appears to be looking directly towards the camera, flames raging behind her inside of the town hall. No other picture with this image of a girl has surfaced. Who was this mysterious young woman?

A strange figure stands at the doorway of the burning Wem Town Hall. (Photo: Tony O’Rahilly / Fortean Photo Archives)

O’Rahilly immediately sent the image and negatives to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, who passed it to Dr. Vernon Harrison, a former president of the Royal Photographic Society. “The negative is a straight forward piece of black-and-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with,” the expert said. A BBC report on Dr. Harrison’s analysis added that “Dr. Harrison still considers himself something of a sceptic and suggested that the image of the girl may just be a convenient trick of the light - with smoke, flame and shadow creating an optical illusion at the moment the photographer took his picture.”

When the photograph surfaced publicly, many locals believed the girl in the photo to be the ghost of 14-year-old Jane Churm who had accidentally set fire to the town 318 years earlier. Stories of Jane returning to the scene of the Wem Town Hall fire out of guilt for what she had done spread widely. Some suggested that perhaps she was even responsible for the town hall fire.

With this publicity, local resident Richard Burnham carried the sceptical viewpoint further. He wrote: “Now, let me say that, as ghost pictures go, it’s a pretty good one. The figure stands out readily, and you don't need much of a leap of the imagination to see it…. It’s also not a clear fake, like the incompetent autopsy of the ‘Roswell alien’ or the ‘fairy pictures’ that deceived Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”

In his layman’s analysis of the photo as it has been posted online, Burnham suspected that the face would have to be positioned in front of the railings, which would “not be compatible with the position of the body.” He questioned if the “body” that appears below the face is even a body at all. “In a big fire, there is a lot of stuff in the air: smoke billowing around, creating patterns of light and shade, debris falling from ceilings or blowing about in the hot draughts, sealed containers exploding and so on,” he wrote. “My guess is that the photographer has been very lucky to catch some of these in an instantaneous configuration that the human eye and brain find very easy to interpret as a human figure.”

In the end, this picture remains yet another piece of the unexplained. Was the image of what appears to be a ghostly girl merely a spontaneous capture of something, such as smoke or light, creating what appears to us to be a human standing at the doorway? Although not witnessed by any of the many residents watching the fire, was a flesh and blood young woman standing there? Or could this be yet another example of an apparition caught on film, even though it was not spotted by the naked eye, which has been the case in so many inexplicable ghost photographs? It is likely we will never find out for certain, but we can view this photograph with fascination for the possibilities it presents to us.

Ponder this, gentle readers…

Do you think the explanation of Jane Churm being the girl in the picture accurately reflects historical fact or is it merely imaginative thinking?

Further reading:

Official Wem website:
http://www.wem.gov.uk/

Richard Burnham’s sceptical analysis of the Wem Town Hall photograph:
http://www.wisewords.demon.co.uk/shropshire/ghost.html

UPDATE MAY 2010:

It looks like the mystery of this particular photo may have been solved. Please see this article which describes how the image of the "ghostly girl" is identical to the image of a young girl in a recently discovered postcard that was stamped 1922.

Nosferatu is a silent masterpiece by director F.W. Murnau, and my favourite of all vampire films. "The earliest surviving screen adaptaion of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel has had a long and dangerous life of its own. Almost destroyed by Stoker's widow because of copyright infringement, this film has outlasted many others of the silent era. There are many new releases of Nosferatu and all this goes to show that, "You can't keep a good vampire down." Is it any wonder that my second favourite vampire film is Shadow of the Vampire? ;)

Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

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

Vampires from Beyond the Moon is a fascinating article, and read that has been posted to the Cabinet Of Wonders blog. The article takes a look at reports of alien beings that appeared to have exhibited "vampire-like" qualities, and lists its sources.

I particularly enjoy paranormal reading material that is willing to examine what on the surface appears to be two different events, yet upon closer look may have more in common than we at first believe. Similar to my thoughts on poltergeists or "noisy spirits" having much in common with many alien abduction reports.

It's definitely worth a read. Check it out!

You know it can be hard to get all riled up when the sun is shining, and the temps are glorious ... we almost figured there would be no smack this week, until .....

I came across some local meet-up/hook-up group with an unfortunate acronym that produces fits of giggles. On a message type forum they had listed Chris' Psychometry Experiment information with much apologies for listing another group's work, and efforts. Apologise?!

Firstly PSICAN is not, and never has been "another" meet-up, hook-up, nor dating site, or paranormal petting zoo for that matter.

ALL of our members/volunteers must understand our methods thoroughly, pass an exam, and go through a vigorous background screening for the safety, and protection of our witnesses, and other group members. We consider ourselves to be an educational, and research organisation.

However, on the PSICAN message forums we do provide for non-PSICAN groups an area where they can post their events etc, provided their information is not solely for profit such as an ad for a psychic for hire, and provides some free content to the reader.

This to me seems good form, and should we not be attempting to help one another out?

This apology for daring to mention our group in my mind is akin to the rant on those who refuse to list sources, as if they exist in a bubble, and there is no one else out there studying the paranormal besides themselves either in the past or currently.

Again comparing what they are doing with what we do is like a comparison of apples to a Buick ... we are completely different in what I can see, therefore whatever need there was to apologise seems silly in my own opinion, and is hopefully not a reflection on the site's administrators who did leave the post online.

MEA CULPA Sunday 11:50am ....

Ooops .... the post in question had nothing to do with Chris' experiment at all! Too much sun to the head this weekend perhaps ... BUT the sentiment in general is still accurate in my opinion.

Exciting news for Canadian paranormal enthusiasts, and those living abroad! Not only has a new book been released about Mother Barnes (please see our entry on The Witch Of Plum Hollow) by author Patti Miller, but the cabin owned by Mother Barnes has been refurbished and is having a grand opening on Sunday, July 15, 2007 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend! Patti's new book will be launched at the same time. How cool is that!

Here is some more info on the book:

Mother Barnes, The Witch of Plum Hollow – A Collected History (2007).

Published by local author. Patti Miller

Credited with solving a murder, locating the capital of our nation and many other wondrous acts, Mother Barnes is a character of legend and mystery, but she really did live in the tiny cabin with all those children. And many came to her door seeking to have their fortunes told. Sir John A. Macdonald is reputed to have visited her on at least two occasions.

Many articles written about Mother Barnes have been in the fairly recent past and are still protected by copyright. As such, these pieces have not been reproduced, but a list of books, magazines and newspaper articles has been provided for further reading. By in large, the later accounts draw heavily on the material collected from the public domain contained in this volume.

This is not a work of fiction. Mother Barnes was a minor character in the Ferryman’s Wife. She was also a woman that continues to garner fascination.

Mother Barnes – The Witch of Plum Hollow – A Collected History brings together for the first time the newspaper accounts of the Harter / Doxtater murder, trial and execution. It is said that Mother Barnes located the body of the young American allegedly murdered by his cousin.

Mother Barnes – The Witch of Plum Hollow – A Collected History also includes first hand reports of the story of the Dagg Poltergeist. It is said that George Dagg traveled to the small cabin of Mother Barnes, just outside Athens, Ontario from his home in Shawville, Quebec, to seek the help of Mother Barnes.

Grandson Roy Barnes prepared a leather-bound manuscript complete with blocked lettering and period sketches to celebrate the life of his famous grandmother. With the permission of his son Morley, it has been included in Mother Barnes – The Witch of Plum Hollow – A Collected History.

Shirley Gibson-Langille has drawn several pieces on the Mother Barnes theme and these too have been included alongside census records, the last will and testament of Jane Elizabeth Barnes and newspaper articles written at the time of her death in 1891.

Patti will be on hand for the opening of Mother Barnes’ cabin to the public on Sunday, July 15, 2007 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Patti Miller lives near Stratford, Ontario with her husband Dan, daughter Anne, cat Spyke and ever-so-lovable puppy Albert. She is currently indexing a series of books written by Vera McNichol, another famed fortune teller from Canada’s past.

Other Books by Patti Miller

The End of the Roman Line – The Story of Johannah Donnelly (2001)

The Ferryman’s Wife (2003) For more information please visit www.cyg.net/~miller

To order your copy of Mother Barnes, The Witch of Plum Hollow – A collected history, please send $19.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling to:

Patti Miller
RR#3
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
N5A 6S4

This book is definitely going on my summer must-read list!

Cheers!
Sue

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 account of a "vanishing lady" was submitted to us in November 2005. In the eyewitnesses' own words...

Private Residence - St. Clair Avenue East

"A few years ago I lived in an apartment building in downtown Toronto with a roommate. And one morning I was woken up by knocking at my front door. I got up and looked through the peek hole and saw that there was an old lady dressed in black. When I asked who it was, she said something about me making noise and that she lived beneath me. She looked small and harmless so I opened the door. She went on about living beneath me and that she hears me walking up and down with my shoes on all the time and at all hours of the day and especially late at night. And that it's very disturbing and that I should walk without shoes and lay down carpets and that her husband is laying dying of Cancer and is in pain all the time and needs it to be quiet. I told her that I don't walk around with my shoes on (because I didn't) and that maybe she has the wrong apartment. I was annoyed because she was accusing me of something I never did. I told her that I didn't know what to do, that I don't walk with shoes and that I'm sorry her husband is suffering, but that's not my fault. She wouldn't go away, so I said good bye and had to close the door.

Now at the time I didn't think anything strange about that situation until what happened another day. I was walking up the front walk of the apartment building one sunny afternoon and saw the same old lady standing in the lobby. She saw me coming and quickly turned around and opened the next set of double doors and hurried further into the building. I was rushing in hopes to catch the door before it closed so that I wouldn't have to unlock it with my keys. But I didn't catch it in time and had to fumble with my keys for a couple of seconds. I thought it was rude of her not to hold the door for me. But I figured she had something against me because she thought I was a noisy tenant above her. She quickly turned down the corridor that lead to the elevators. And again I rushed because I didn't want to get stuck with the slow elevator.

There were 3 elevators to this building. The one on the far right was labelled the possessed elevator by me and all my friends because it was very slow and often would get stuck on the 14th floor (that was actually the 13th floor re labelled the 14th floor!)... I know this sounds very cliched... but this is all true!... I lived on the 12th floor and a lot of times when my visiting friends or I would be riding the elevator... it would skip my floor even though the 12th floor button was pressed and it would go up to the next floor (the 13th floor labelled 14) and just stop. I would then start pressing the button for that floor and the "door open" button until the doors would open. Then I would quickly run down the flight of stairs to my floor and every time the elevator would already be at my floor and its doors would be open and remain opened until well after I'd get into my apartment. So we would eventually avoid even getting into that elevator. But for some reason in the lobby, if all 3 elevators were on the main floor, the possessed elevator on the far right would open first. So we'd press all the buttons to send it away and then take one of the normal ones. And when we'd arrive to my floor (the 12th floor)... every single time.... the possessed elevator would already be opened on my floor... even though it was a very very slow elevator and we pressed all the buttons. It used to freak us all out. I had friends that wouldn't even get into any of the elevators and walk up all 12 flights of stairs to come visit me. Because they refused to go into any of the elevators out of fear. I asked other tenants what they thought of the elevators and I found out that many tenants were threatening to withhold rent if the building's owners didn't fix it soon. I don't know if anyone had experienced it getting stuck on the 13th floor besides my friends and roommate. And I don't know how long all this had been going on before me. But I only lived there for less than a year before I moved out.

But any ways... back to the afternoon with the old lady in the lobby... so... I just wanted to explain why I was rushing after her when she hurried around the corner and to the elevators. Because I didn't want to get stuck with the possessed elevator. Most of the other tenants had manners and would wait and hold the lobby doors open for another tenant that would be approaching. And normally people would wait to see if anyone else might be coming to catch an elevator... especially because it was common knowledge that there was a very slow elevator. So I came around the corner just in time to see her rush into the possessed elevator. And I thought to myself... good, go in the possessed elevator cranky lady and I'll take one of the good ones.. so rush all you want!! When I got to the elevators, I looked up to see what floors all the elevators were on and the middle and far left ones were all up on high floors like 18 and 15 and the far right one that the old lady went into was still on the 1st floor. It had only been a couple of seconds from when she had first stepped into it (the hallway wasn't very long). And I thought she mustn't have pressed her floor as yet or maybe she forgot to press her floor. I snickered to myself about it and pressed the up button and of course, the far left/possessed elevator that the old lady had stepped into, opened because it was still on # 1.. and when the doors opened... it was empty!

I remember rubbing my eyes and looking around and looking up again at the other elevators and trying to make sense out of it... I do believe in ghosts and have had many other ghostly encounters before and after that... but none so vivid! I wasn't looking for a ghost... never talked much with the other tenants so I don't know if there is any story behind that building... but I totally wasn't expecting that! I moved out shortly after, not out of fear, but because it was too expensive for me after a while. But don't get me wrong... that did freak me out!

I revisited that building again for the first time a few weeks ago after having been moved for a couple of years now. I brought a friend of mine who was intrigued by my story and was hoping to see a ghost. But it turns out that the "possessed elevator" is permanently out of commission! I remembered they kept trying to fix it and kept posting notices stating that the elevator had been serviced and tested and that nothing was wrong with it, yet it still did what it did. So I guess they finally decided to lay it to rest for good! We took pictures around the elevator. And the only place we got orbs was on the 13th floor in front of the far left elevator's door. So who knows!?

I never understood why she knocked on my door and what the deal was with the 13th floor. Because if she was haunting the 13th floor because she died there or something... why would she knock on my door when I was on the 12th floor? One thing to note, she was dressed all in black and wearing the same outfit both times that I saw her. Her attire consisted of a very long dress or a skirt and top thing. It did look like a get up from a longer time ago. Almost like an old school teacher with her hair up in a bun."

We would like to thank the witness for sharing this experience with us.

Investigator's note: Older elevators can appear to act strangely due to mechanical issues and we do not accept "orb" photos as proof of the paranormal. However, unless the elevator used by the "old lady" was a service elevator with another door in the rear providing an alternative exit, this would seem a very strange encounter indeed!

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.

The BBC has published an interesting article to coincide with the 60th anniversary of what many consider was the dawn of the modern UFO age. They also ask the question, "six decades on from the first flying saucer, is the riddle solved?" And my own personal answer to this is no.

Here is a snippet from the BBC:

It's 60 years since the term flying saucer was coined and the most celebrated "extraterrestrial" episode - Roswell. Alien believers are dismissed as cranks, but even the earthly explanations of objects in the sky are fascinating.

Sixty years ago Kenneth Arnold saw something which changed his own life and the lives of millions of others, and impacted on popular culture like a shockwave.

Flying his plane near Mount Rainier in the US state of Washington, he observed a line of strange objects either crescent-shaped or disc-like, flying with the motion of a saucer skimming on water.

Arnold's sighting, quickly picked up by the press, was followed a fortnight later by the revelation of perhaps the most notorious episode in the history of UFOs, at Roswell in New Mexico.

Having announced it had recovered a "flying disk", the Army airfield backtracked and referred only to a weather balloon.

What followed was perhaps one of the greatest conspiracy theories of all time, involving post-mortem examinations of swollen-bellied grey aliens, the cloning of sophisticated extraterrestrial technology and an epic cover-up. Or not, as the case may be.

In the 60 years since 1947's first major wave of sightings, thousands of ordinary people have claimed to have seen inexplicable objects in the sky.

When the Ministry of Defence released papers on its own investigations into the phenomenon in 2006, it was revealed more than 10,000 eyewitness accounts had been collected.

And for every sceptic who prefers explanations of weather balloons and freak atmospheric conditions there is someone who genuinely believes intelligent life is visiting the planet.

Full BBC Article Here

So what are your thoughts, after sixty years are we any closer to understanding the true origin of UFOs, specifically those that defy any sort of seemingly rational explanation?

Dear Weird Wednesday readers:

I am taking the week to relax, but if you're looking for some wonderful weirdness, do not fret. Maybe you've missed out on some of the articles I have written in the past few months about some fascinating photographs that raise questions about cameras capturing the uncanny. In all of these cases, the figures that show up in the photos were not seen by the photographers or witnesses at the time the photograph was taken. Could it be an apparition caught only by the camera's lens, a psychical imprint of some sort, or something else? Enjoy - and I will return next week with an all new Weird Wednesday, this one about yet another inexplicable and controversial photograph. And Happy July 4th to our friends in the United States!

Tiptoe up the Tulip
The Queen's House, Greenwich, England, 1966

Bachelor's Grove seeks Single White Apparition
Chicago, Illinois, 1991

Photos and Survival of Bodily Death
Sheffield Park, England, 2004
Undisclosed location, 1997

The most famous "haunted" house in American history. Some still believe, others like myself are highly sceptical. However, because of it's infamy, and influence on American pop-culture in the horror genre I am including it here today in honour of our US readers. Happy Independence Day! We wish you a very happy, & safe Fourth of July!

Happy Wordless Wednesday, and thank you for stopping by!

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

ROSWELL OFFICER'S DEATHBED AFFIDAVIT

The Daily Mail in the UK has released the following story about a recent deathbed admission by a military public relations officer intricately involved in the Roswell crash story in July of 1947.

Exopolitics Toronto urges Canadian media outlets to vigorously pursue and investigate this storyline - as the only remaining authentic military and civilian witnesses involved in the crash incidents near Roswell New Mexico are now few in number and in their advanced years – yet many of them remain committed to talk about what they saw and experienced in 1947.

ROSWELL OFFICER'S AMAZING DEATHBED ADMISSION RAISES POSSIBILITY THAT ALIENS DID VISIT

By NICK POPE

"...Lieutenant Walter Haut was the public relations officer at the base in 1947, and was the man who issued the original and subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard.

Haut died last year, but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death.

Last week, the text was released and asserts that the weather balloon claim was a cover story, and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies.

He wasn't the first Roswell witness to talk about bodies. Local undertaker Glenn Dennis had long claimed that he was contacted by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized coffins."
Source: The Daily Mail 30 June 2007

VIEW THE ENTIRE STORY AT:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465276&in_page_id=1770

For the text of the Haut affidavit please use the contact information below.

Victor Viggiani B.A. M.Ed.

Director of Media Relations

Exopolitics Toronto

(905) 278-1238

zland@sympatico.ca

Today is Canada's 140th Birthday! It is a day for family, friends, BBQ, fireworks, and celebrating all the good things that being a Canadian is all about! Naturally we are in no mood for a smack, so instead we bring you a made in Canada ghost - the Philip experiments.

We'll be back with our usual "smack" next Sunday.

Enjoy!

The Philip Phenomenon - A Made In Canada Ghost

“Philip was an aristocratic Englishman living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the king and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighbouring nobleman. One day, when out riding on the boundaries of his estates, Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed, raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her.

He brought her back secretly to live in the gate-house near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home. For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and of stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Philip subsequently was stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. Finally one morning his body was found at the foot of the battlements where he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.”

This of course is a very tragic tale that contains many elements normally associated with reports of historical ghosts. It is however a complete fabrication.

The true story of ‘Philip’ is actually a remarkable experiment that was conducted in the early 1970’s by The Toronto Society Of Psychical Research. The purpose of the experiment was to see if a wholly fictious historical character - ghost could in fact manifest itself through the groups efforts of concentration on the bogus data.

Dr. A.R.G Owen, a member of the Department For Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto and psychic researcher who specialized in poltergeist cases was the group’s scientific advisor. He is quoted in the introduction to “Conjuring Up Phillip” as saying, “It was essential to their purpose that Philip be a totally fictious character. Not merely a figament of the imagination but clearly and obviously so, with a biography full of historical errors.”

The opening paragraph of this article is the basic storyline that was concocted by one of the group’s members named only as “Sue” - a former nurse with the Canadian Armed Forces. Further details including a sketch were added on as the group discussed and immersed themselves in Philip’s invented biographical data. Contradictions such as Philip being reincarnated several times yet also being seen walking the battlements of Diddington every century or so were carefully woven into the story. And while a Diddington Hall really does exist in Warckshire, England the group made sure that the real location’s history in no way resembled Philip’s home. In essence the group sought to create a “collective hallucination” of Philip through subscribing to a common mental picture of him and his surroundings.They meditated on his appearance, his food preferences, and mostly his ‘feelings’ towards his wife Dorothea and his gypsy lover Margo.

The experiment went on for months with absolutely no success. The group would sit around a table and merely concentrate - much like the spiritualists of the 19th century. And then one day it just happened. There was a knock on the table, which at first was felt more than heard. All of the group’s eight members felt the vibration. This was followed by a number of distinct knocks that were in fact heard and felt. Skeptical at first, the group felt that these knocks were perhaps inadvertently the result of one of the group’s participants. They quickly changed their minds when the table itself began to move around the room. When a startled member asked aloud, “I wonder whether Philip is doing this,” a loud knock was heard as if in response. Philip, a made in Canada ghost had finally arrived.

The group devised a plan in which one knock would signify a yes and two knocks would indicate a no. Soon after they began enjoying ‘spirited’ conversation with Philip. This ‘entity’ that they apparently conjured up “exhibited likes and dislikes, had strong views on some subjects and was hesitant on others.” They questioned ‘him’ on his personal life. And once when an apparently too personal question was asked in regards to ‘his’ wife Dorothea loud scratching sounds were heard.

It was noted that the ghostly sounds and movements of the table seemed closely related to the thoughts of the group. If they were in agreement to what an answer should be the resulting ‘yes’ knock was quick and loud. If there were doubts amongst the group’s members the result would be a corresponding hesitation in the sounds.

As their experiment progressed the participants would engage in teasing and joking with Philip. The table movements and knocks became more frequent and it was reported that the table would occasionally rush up as if in greeting to latecomers and even trap members in the corner of the room! Philip apparently was the cause of lights turning off and on by themselves and other strange anomalies as well.

The experiment captured the attention of local media with group and ‘ghost’ featured on the CBC television show “Man Alive” as well as other talk shows of the day.

A 16mm movie was produced by the group in 1974 entitled Philip: the Imaginary Ghost. It explains how the experiment was conceived, and what actually happened, showing tables movements and actual raps. Please see our note in regards below.

In conclusion the experimenters succeeded far beyond their wildest expectations. However, in the end they were never able to prove the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ behind Philip’s manifestation.Was Philip a direct result of the group’s collective subconscious or perhaps did they conjure an actual entity that simply latched onto the story? We may never be able to actually answer these questions in regards to this particular case. However, the Philip phenomenon remains not only a groundbreaking experiment, but an important historical account of para-reasearch efforts in Canada.

Footnotes:

Further experiments with a different group were carried out in 1974,.the story used with these was of a French Canadian girl by the name of Lilith who went to France during WWII and became a member of the French Resistance. She was however, caught and executed as a spy.

The Lilith experiments saw similar results to the Philip one in just 5 weeks. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the Owens were able to formulate shortcuts in method basde on the earlier experiments and the new group was able to sit in with the Philip group on an individual basis.

During the 1974 Christmas party held by the organization members of both the Philip and Lilith groups got together and in jest called out, “Is anybody there?” They received a knock in response and in further jest they asked, “Are you Father Christmas?” Reportedly a long conversation with Santa Claus ensued! According to the Owens this last episode “illustrates the wonderful child-like approach taken to the phenomena and the fact that in these situations you get what you expect.”

Sources:

Psychic Mysteries Of The North - A.R.G Owen (c) 1975

Conjuring Up Philip - Iris Owen and Margaret Sparrow (c) 1976

Into The Unknown - Will Bradbury (c) 1981

We at ParaResearchers Of Ontario will be carrying out similar experiments based on the Owens’ methodology. All results when available will be published to this website. We are currently (2007) in the planning stages with medium consultant Lynn Tucker.to put together a group, and Lynn has generously offered to donate space for the purpose of this experiment. We have set a two-year timetable for the project.

VHS or DVD copies of PHILIP THE IMAGINARY GHOST can be purchased from Raymond International at the following addresses:

Raymond.international@rogers.com

Raymond International

122-33 Hazelton Avenue

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M5R 2E3

416-485-3406