Weekly News Round-up 11/30/11

The paranormal community has been pretty quiet this week with the Thanksgiving holiday, but I did manage to find a couple of stories:


BBC News posted an article on the biggest zombie walk around ever. You can read about it here.

Huffington post has an article on the first anual Woman's UFO Symposium. The article discusses the idea that most UFO researchers are men and encourages more participation from women. Do you think women should be more involved in studying UFOs?

5 Things I've Learned about Ghosts

When I first started ghost hunting several years ago most of my knowledge about ghosts was limited to the stuff I picked up watching scary movies. I’ve come a long way since then and thought I would share some of the information I’ve figured out over the years.

1. It doesn’t have to be dark for a ghost to appear. Or Halloween. Or Friday the 13^th. The truth is, I’ve actually encountered more paranormal activity in the middle of the afternoon. For me, it seems like ghosts appear at completely random times. You will have a hard time convincing me there’s any real evidence to support all those theories about ghosts being more active after dark.
2. Ghosts aren’t out to get us. Do people sometimes get injured by things they can’t see? Of course. But in my experience, most of those interactions are either accidents or the result of someone provoking an entity to do something. If you ask a ghost to hurt you and it does, the only one you can blame is yourself.
3. There’s usually a reason ghosts are hanging around. Many of the EVP’s our team has captured are voices asking for help or telling us to get out of their space. Even though I can’t completely understand it, I’ve come to the conclusion that ghosts stick around because they either want to accomplish something or don’t want to leave behind a place or person they cared about.
4. Ghosts seem to be able to see us. And hear us. At least some of the time. I’m not sure if they just catch glimpses of us or if they always know we’re around, but they definitely acknowledged us. I’ve heard EVP’s responding to things our team has done, heard my team member’s names called by disembodied voices and I’ve seen objects move on request. I think they want to interact with us as much as we want to interact with them.
5. Ghosts are everywhere. And I don’t mean that in a creepy ‘they’re all around us’ sense. What I mean is that just about every culture in the world has some sort of belief in a spirit world. When people in almost every part of the world claim to be seeing the same sort of thing, it certainly makes you question what’s really happening.

I want to keep studying ghosts because I want to understand them better. For every bit of knowledge we learn about them, a hundred more questions are raised. Maybe someday we will really know what is happening but for now we just have to keep searching.

Weekly News Round-up 11/23/11

 Huffington post has an article claiming that evidence found during a heavily advertised Yeti hunt last month was all fabricated.

A councillor who blamed a cursing stone for several natural disasters has passes away after trying to remove the stone. You can read about it here.

Phantoms and Monsters posted an article about how people in Hong Kong used 'haunted' houses as a way to sell real estate.

Can Animals See Ghosts?

Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more about people using animals to try and detect the presence of ghosts. It’s an interesting theory and it kind of makes sense. Animals are intelligent and often demonstrate intuitions and instincts that humans don’t always appear to have.

 Animals have detected earthquake and disasters hours or even days before they occurred and some species have travelled impressive distances to be reunited with lost family members. If they have these incredible abilities, it seems quite possible that they could potentially be able to interact with ghosts or other paranormal entities.

I have two cats and sometimes they stare intensely at things I can’t see. My boyfriend swears he caught one of them once acting as if it were being petted by someone when no one was there. I’ve seen friends dogs respond to unseen things as well, growling or barking at thin air. While it’s possible they are just responding to distant sounds or figments of their imagination, it certainly makes you question whether or not they can see something you can’t.

We will probably never really know if our pets can see and interact with spirits but it is fun to imagine that they can. A world where our furry companions can interact with lost loved ones or visiting strangers sounds like a fun place to be.

 Do you think animals can sense the paranormal?

Weekly News Round-up 11/16/11

A 7 year old girl has baffled doctors by weeping stones for several weeks. You can read the full article here.

ZeeNews.com has an article claiming that people have found nests that may have been created by the Yeti.

News Weird Magazine posted a piece debating whether strange events near the Bermuda Triage were really paranormal in nature. You can read it here.

Book Review: The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena

I’ve wanted to start doing book reviews for awhile now, so I thought I would post one today. I have quite a few paranormal reference books on my bookshelf. The one I pulled off to review was “The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena (2^nd Edition)” by Bob Rickard and John Michell.

This book is a collection of articles about all kinds of paranormal phenomena. Overall, I think this is a great book. There are very few topics that go uncovered here. Everything from UFOs, unknown animals, psychic abilities, weird natural occurrences, and everything in between are in this book. Some of the topics covered in this aren’t so much paranormal, but interesting animal/human behavior pieces (a man eating tree, a cat with wings ect...) The book relies a lot on witness testimonies, old news paper reports and a bit of story telling to make each section interesting. There are also a lot of photos and illustrations that make flipping through this book fun and easy.

I do believe that skeptics will have a hard time accepting many of the stories in this book, and most likely can find natural explanations for much of what’s covered. The articles are also on the short side, which makes the book read quickly but limits the depth covered on every topic. The book is over 400 pages long, though, so there’s plenty to read. It would make a great starter book for someone interesting in learning about the paranormal. Overall I give this book 4 out of 5 ghosts.

Weekly News Round-up 11/9/11

The curse of Tutankhamun may have not been paranormal in nature, The Telegraph claims, but the act of satanist Aleister Crowley. You can read about it here.

The White House put out a statement claiming that they've found no evidence of Extralife. Hufterrestrial fington Post posted an article about it here.


I also came across this video of news footage of a boy claiming to be attacked by a ghost. What do you think?

Rods

Today I’m going to talk about a phenomenon known as rods (sometimes called skyfish.) These are objects captured on video cameras around the world. Some people believe they are a form of alien life, undiscovered animals, or strange spiritual beings (see video below.) The truth, however is much less exciting.

In reality, rods are nothing more than insects or birds flying past a camera. While traveling at high speed, their bodies are blurred by the camera. Because they move so quickly, each frame captures multiple wing beats. This speed creates an optical illusion that gives the insect the look of having multiple sets of wings and a flat, rod shaped body. Numerous researchers have actually been able to prove that fast-moving flying insects, when filmed, share the same physical properties and appearance as rods.

Have you ever captured a rod on camera?

Weekly News Round-up 11/2/11

This week ghosts were all over the news. Must have something to do with that whole Halloween thing.

A paranormal team is investigating sightings of a black ghost dog on an RAF base. The Telegraph has the full story here.

Huffington Post posted an article about a woman in Ohio who claims to have taken a picture of two ghosts having sex. You can read about it here.

Mirror has a brief article about a ghost that people claim has been smashing bottles of wine when they aren't to his liking.