Paranormal Writing Contest

Ok I've decided to go ahead with the contest! It's open to short stories and poetry.

Here are the official rules:

Submissions need to be 2,500 words or less.
They also need to have some paranormal element. It can be something small or a major theme .
Please proof read before submitting.
By sending me your entry you are giving me permission to post your piece on the blog if it's selected.

Submissions are due April 1st, 2011 and the winner will be announced April 15.
E-mail them to paranormalpursuits@yahoo.com
Type submission into the subject line.
Please put your entry directly into the e-mail. I won't open attatchments.

The winner gets their piece posted on the blog, a little virtual badge they can post wherever they want, a link back to their site (if desired) and of course bragging rights!

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!

Any questions?

Creature Feature: The Horsemen of the Apocalypse

With all the attention from the horseman video this week, I thought I’d take the to chance to feature the four horsemen as this week’s creature(s.) If you aren’t familiar with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, they are basically four beings described in the Bible in the book of Revelation and bring all kinds of problems to the world. They appear following the opening of some of the seven seals. The Bible doesn’t actually refer to them as men, but creatures. One of the horsemen is described talking, which gives the impression that they are human-like. Each one of their horses is given a unique physical appearance and they are each thought to represent something different.

The first horseman is usually referred to as Conquest, though some people refer to him as Pestilence.  The rider is described as having a bow and a crown and is often depicted as riding a white horse. It isn’t clear whether the first horseman is good or evil, unlike the others who clearly bring suffering with them.

The second horseman is described as riding a fiery red horse and is believed to represent war. He carries a sword and has the power to take peace from the earth. His red horse may represent spilled blood.

The third horseman, sometimes referred to as famine, rides a black horse and carried a set of scales used for weighing food. He is the only horsemen who talks in the biblical description. His phrase, “A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” has several possible interpretations but clearly represents a limit of food.

The fourth horseman, Death, rides a pale horse that is thought by some to be green or spotted. He isn’t described as carrying a weapon but is followed by hell.

The four horsemen are thought to bring a large amount of suffering to the world though scholars don’t agree if they appear during an earlier historical period or during the end times of the world. Either way, you probably don’t want to run into one of these guys. So if you see one coming, you might want to get out of the way.

Weekly News Round-up 2/23/11

It was a busy week for paranormal news!

 A strange figure appeared in some news footage from Egypt this week. The figure resembles a man on a horse and some people are claiming it is one of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. I think it's probably just a reflection, but it is a bit strange looking. Check it out here and let me know what you think!


AOL News has several paranormal stories posted this week including a collection of well known paranormal images, an article on the UFO Congress, and an article about Zombie Jerky (in case you're feeling hungry.)


More big cat sightings are popping up inear New Orleans. NOLA.com has the article here. This trend seems to be occuring all over the place.


A photo was snapped by someone in England who claims it is some sort of lake monster. The Sun posted the picture online with a short article comparing the monster to Nessie. You can find it here.

Umm...Writing Contest???

So I've been noticing that many of my readers are writers (very cool) and kicking around the idea of doing some sort of paranormal writing contest on here. But before I make an official decision to do a contest I want to make sure there's actually an interest out there. I'm thinking it would be for short stories or poems with some sort of paranormal element. The prize (or prizes) will mostly be bragging rights and maybe some sort of virtual ribbon the winners can put wherever they like. Some of the winners will have their entries featured on the blog as well.

I think it would be a lot of fun to read what everybody is writing. So let me know if you would be interested in seeing some reader submitted stories or even in sending in material. If there's enough interest, I'll give it the green light and post the actual rules and submission info. And if there's not much interest, I'll just carry on blogging! What do you think? Want to get in on the fun? Leave a comment (or e-mail) and let me know!

Creature Feature: Changelings

Changeling legends were popular in Europe, especially during medieval times. Fairies, trolls or other strange creatures would steal the offspring of humans and exchange them for their own children or an object enchanted to look like a human child. The new child, or changeling, would then be cared for by the unsuspecting parents. The creatures could then take the human baby back to their world where they could raise it as their own child, exploit it, or feed on it. Male children tended to be taken more frequently than female ones, and babies with blond hair and blue eyes were thought to be the most desirable to the fairy world.

Some people believe that the changeling legend was actually started during invasions when people would steal healthy children in exchange for sick ones. People strongly believed in the concept of changelings and often children with birth defects, high levels of intelligence, or strange habits were thought to be changelings.

 Some children suspected to be changelings were abused, killed, or left to die by their parents. Many cultures had rituals that were intended to expose a changeling, such as boiling beer in an egg shell or suspending the child over fire. This was thought to cause the changeling to expose itself or run back to its own world. The changeling legend, like so many others, was a way for people to explain something they couldn’t understand.

Have you ever heard any stories about changelings?

Weekly News Round-up 2/16/11

Phantoms and Monsters posted pictures of another 'Montauk Monster.' If you haven't been following the story, several strange looking creatures have washed ashore in New York  over the last two years. The creatures look like a cross between a turtle and some sort of mammal but no one seems to have real answers. The new one looks a bit different, you can check it out here.

In Salisbury, North Carolina, hundreds of people mounted an organized search for big foot for a show that's going to air on Animal Planet. The Salisbury Post posted the article here.

Unexplainable.net has an article about some of the artifacts stolen in Egypt and their possible connection to extra terrestrials. What do you think?

Interview: Michael Clark

 

Today I've got an interview with Michael Clark from Ghost Guys. He was nice enough to answer a few questions for me. If you haven't had a chance to check them out be sure to click the links at the bottom! Here's the interview.

 

 

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

 

My name is Michael Clark. I am Co-host and Executive Producer of Ghost Guys and Ghost Guys LIVE. I’ve had a fascination with the paranormal since I was a kid, which has only been equaled by my fascination with science. It was only natural for me to put the two together.

 

 How did you get interested in ghosts?

 

I had an experience with the Ouija board when I was a kid. My mother and I were using the board when my brother showed up with some friends of his and they began asking questions about their relatives and some of their other friends. They knew that neither my mother or I knew the answers to these questions. The Ouija board gave them the answers. They immediately wanted to know how my mother and I were doing it, as if we were performing some sort of magic trick. Only it wasn’t a trick. My mother and I had no idea how the board had come up with the answers. Ever since then I have been interested in ghosts and the paranormal.

 

Have you ever seen a ghost?

 

Up until very recently I had never actually seen a ghost. I didn’t know if I ever would. Then we decided to study the phenomena of attachment haunting. We called it the Haunted Doll Project. I didn’t think we were ever going to find an authentic haunted doll until one day a woman from Florida named Raeanne sent us an Egyptian camel doll with an Arab rider. The doll originated from Egypt and is well over 50 years old. I received the doll on December 17, 2010. The first few weeks the only activity was an Arabic EVP that I captured while filming on the day that the doll arrived. Since then the activity has ramped up and has been well documented in our latest episode, RIVER HOUSE: An American Haunting. Immediately following the filming of that episode I saw a shadow person in my kitchen. It moved quickly from one end of the kitchen to the other and then it was gone. It couldn’t have been more than a few feet tall.

 

What made you decide to become a ghost hunter?

 

I got a taste of the reality of the paranormal and I got hooked. I became an aviation electronics technician in the U.S. Coast Guard and my love for science, technology and gadgetry was born. I now had a way to test and measure the validity of paranormal activity. It was quite some time before I came to a full realization of this fact, but once I did, I knew that I had finally crossed onto the path of my destiny. I simply took the next logical step and became a ghost hunter.

 

How did Ghost Guys get started?

 

Ghost Guys started as Nervous TV and was going to be a network of paranormal shows. Nervous TV asked the question, “What makes YOU nervous?” We were carrying the Jack & Laura Ghost Series out of South Wales . We had scheduled Ghost Ops and the US Ghost Academy to launch in the spring. Ghost Guys was a show we were producing for Nervous TV but all of a sudden the attention of our fans was focused on Ghost Guys and it began to grow in popularity very quickly. We soon realized that we were going to have focus on Ghost Guys as well and give it every opportunity to be the huge success we know it is destined to become.

 

What makes the Ghost Guys different from other ghost hunting groups?

 

Ghost Guys has a vision that I believe makes us unique among the ghost hunting groups that are in the paranormal field today. First of all, we have a strong commitment to a new scientific understanding of the paranormal. I talked about some of my scientific theories on Paranormal Radio out of Virginia and I wrote a blog article on AEVP, or Accelerated Electronic Voice Phenomena, that deals with photon rate of oscillation and wavelength compression. I believe this will revolutionize the field of EVP technology.

 

We have the SHEET method of investigation that will soon include a strategy of environmental triggering in which the entire environment of the target spirit or spirits is recreated in order to stimulate a response. This would include setting, trigger objects, period dress and so forth.

 

We are also at the cutting edge of social media and our fans are deeply involved in all of our ghost hunting activities. Ghost Guys is their show. We are seeking a partnership with GoPro to bring ghost hunting into the future. Ghost Guys LIVE events will be streamed from static cameras, mobile cameras and head-mounted GoPro cameras. Live chat rooms will also be available. Our ultimate goal is to bring a fully-interactive experience to the VIP viewer of Ghost Guys. An experience that would allow the VIP user to ghost hunt anywhere in the world vicariously through Jim and I as we are live on location. The selected VIP will be a “buddy” of either myself or Jim and will see what we see and discuss with us in real-time the actions to take, the questions to ask during EVP sessions and much more.

  

Has something ever frightened you during an investigation?

 

Jim and I just recently completed RIVER HOUSE: An American Haunting. Something occurred during this investigation that shook us to the core. I remember asking Jim, “How do we manage this? Where do we go from here?” I did not have a ready answer for those questions but Jim and I are committed to move forward and continue in our journey to discover evidence that there is truly something on the other side.

 

What is your most memorable investigation so far?

 

While RIVER HOUSE was our most frightening investigation, GHOST RAILS INN was definitely our most memorable. It was the first time we had ever captured evidence of object manipulation. The realization was shocking. We were also enamored by the hospitality of Innkeepers Thom & Grace Garrett and their interviews were revealing and captivating.

 

What location would you most like to investigate?

 

While there are many fascinating locations throughout the United States and the world, one of the most compelling locations in my mind is the Bell Witch in Tennessee . We are currently in contact with a direct descendent of the Bell family who has been video-taped being slapped and having her hair pulled by the Bell Witch. She has agreed to join us in a lockdown if we can secure permission to investigate the Bell Witch.

 

What can people look forward to seeing from the Ghost Guys in the future?

 

The future of Ghost Guys will bring GoPro technology and interactive ghost hunting to the home computers of paranormal enthusiasts around the world. We will be on the cutting edge of science and technology and will always be pushing the envelope, looking for new ways to stimulate activity and capture it on film. Ghost Guys will soon begin U. S. and International tours. VIPs will be invited to lockdown with the Ghost Guys at haunted locations and join us on Skype conference calls. And as always, you can interact with me directly on Facebook and Twitter.

 

You can find out more about Ghost Guys below!

 

http://youtube.com/user/TheGhostGuys

 

http://GhostGuys.com

 

http://twitter.com/GhostGuysHPS

 

http://facebook.com/mclarkhamilton

 

 

Happy Valentines Day everybody! <3

 

Creature Feature: Gnomes

Pretty much everyone, at one time or another, has seen one of those little plastic garden gnomes. They hang out in gardens, star in television commercials and movies, and seem to constantly be getting into trouble. But where did they come from? I wasn’t really sure myself so I attempted to do some research. Unfortunately the information I found was somewhat limited. It appears that no one knows exactly where the Gnome legend comes from or how far back it dates.

It’s believed that gnomes were a part of European folklore in the 1800’s. They are mentioned in an earlier work by Paracelsus and in Grimm’s Fairy Tales and their popularity has spread all over the world.

Gnomes are thought to live underground, have a love for gardening and working the earth and like to hoard treasures and gems. Some people consider them elementals and believe they have some magical abilities. Male Gnomes are usually portrayed with long white beards.

Recently a number of people in Argentina have been claiming to have spotted Gnomes running the streets at night and there are several videos on the internet of the Argentina Gnome sightings. While these videos are most likely faked, they are pretty interesting. Here are some links to the videos.  Gnome Video 1.  Video 2. Video 3.

So I’m curious if anyone has ever spotted something that looked like a Gnome? Do you have one of those little plastic Gnomes in your garden?

Clute, John and Clute, Grant. “Elemental.” The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York. St. Martins Griffin.

Paracelsus. (1566.)  Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus. Nissae Silesiorum.

Grimm Brothers. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1944

Weekly News Round-up 2/9/11

 AOL News has an article about a man who wants to build a pyramid on Pikes Peak... to attract UFOS. You can find the article here.

WAToday posted an article about big cat sightings around Australia.

Sadly, a church in Quebec has been damaged by vandals and people out looking for ghosts. CBC News has the article here. Please remember if you want to go ghost hunting to get permission from the building owners before entering. People like this give ghost hunters a bad name.

Ghost theory has an article about an incident where rocks fell from the sky. You can find it here.

Ghost Hunting 101: Research

Anyone interesting in ghost hunting should know a little bit about doing research. It’s important to know what you’re dealing with and the history of a location can give you clues into understanding your evidence. Some people prefer to wait until after an investigation to do their research while others start weeks before. Either way is ok. It’s all about finding what works for you. But many people get lost during the research stage because they don’t know where to start.

One of the easiest ways to do research is right in front of you. Yep. It’s the internet. It’s an entire world of knowledge at your fingertips. You just have to use discernment in finding reputable information. Many newspapers and libraries offer online databases of articles. You may be able to find good information there. Many states also have online cemetery databases that can help you research birth and death dates (if you know where someone is buried.)

Even though many libraries provide online information, there is nothing quite like going in and talking to someone in person. Some libraries have their own archives that can be accessed simply by making an appointment. Try and make friends with the librarians and they may take some extra time to help point you in the right direction.

One of the best sources of information you can find is located at historical societies. They often collect old publications, maps, and letters. The people that work there are usually incredibly knowledgeable about the history of an area and most of them love having an opportunity to share their knowledge.

If you can’t find information about a specific person online, sometimes a visit to a cemetery can be useful. It is time consuming, but headstones can provide you with all sorts of information. As strange as it sounds, I’ve actually met people at cemeteries while doing research that were more than willing to share helpful information. You might be surprised at how many history nuts, archivists, and genealogists hang around old cemeteries.

Sometimes the best source of information is simply asking questions to the business or home owners where you are investigating. I try and interview as many people as possible before an investigation to find out as much as I can. Things like ‘who used to live there?’ ‘Did anyone die there?” or just “what do you know about that place?” can be great conversation starters.

When it comes to doing research you can’t be afraid to get your hands a little dirty. You’re sure to come out with a wealth of information and maybe even some new friends!

Do you have any techniques you use when doing research?

Creature Feature: Melon Heads

Awhile back I was riding in a car with a friend of mine on our way to Cleveland. When we got to Wisnor Rd he said something along the lines of “hey this is the street with the Melon Heads!” I had no idea what he was talking about. When I asked him what he meant, he told me this strange crazy sounding story about these ghost/monster children with misshapen heads that are supposed to run across the street at night. The story sounded so bizarre that I was convinced he was trying to pull my chain. When I got home I jumped on the computer to check it out. Turns out he wasn’t making it up. Apparently it’s a bit of a local legend. There are several versions of the story and Ohio isn’t the only place that has them. It’s actually a pretty interesting story, so I’ve decided to share the version he told me with you. Here is the story he told me:

Many years ago there was a doctor who lived out in the woods. He was lonely and had a lot of money so he decided to adopt a large number of children. Everyone thought it was great that he was helping so many kids. But no one knew what he was actually doing with the adopted children.

He began running experiments on the children and injected their heads with all kinds of fluids. Their heads became misshapen and deformed. The doctor began keeping them locked indoors so that no one would be able to see what happened to them.

One day the house caught on fire. The doctor was killed in the fire and everyone thought the children perished as well but some people believe that a few of the kids escaped into the woods, where they lived and could be seen. The kids would run away when spotted. They were supposed to be living in the woods for many years, hidden from the eyes of almost everyone. Eventually the children living in the woods died but their ghosts could still be seen running through the forest at night, trying to escape from the evil doctor.

Today people still visit the area in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the Melon Heads.

Do you have any strange local legends?

Weekly News Round-up 2/2/11

Lots of strange sightings reported this week!

Another big cat was spotted in the UK in clear view during the day. The Independent posted a full report.

The Mothman was seen near Cincinnati, Ohio. Phantoms and Monsters posted an eye witness report of the sighting here.

AOL News has an article and video about some strange lights seen over Utah that appear to be dropping something. You can find the article here. Anybody have any idea of what could be causing the lights?