Weekly News Round-up 3/29/13

MailOnline posted an article about a woman spotting some sort of primate at a park in Dorset.

Some people in London are raising funds to set up a UFO museum. Read about it here.

A man claims to see an image of Jesus on a drop cloth he was using. Check it out here.

Vortexes

Something that comes up from time to time in ghost hunting is the mention of vortexes. The idea is that there are areas that have unusual energy levels and that can be turned into portals or doorways into the spiritual world. People who believe in them often think that spirits enter this world through the doorways created by vortexes. You can’t see or touch a vortex, but people with psychic abilities often claim to be able to sense when they are near one. I’ve been on numerous ghost hunts where the property owners claimed vortexes existed.

I’m personally pretty skeptical of the concept. Most of the photos I’ve seen that claim to be images of vortexes are clearly camera straps that have fallen in front of the lens. While there are certainly areas that seem to have higher levels of paranormal activity, I’m not convinced that it is because doorways exist in those locations. I could be totally wrong though, but proving something invisible exists is pretty challenging.

Do you believe the possibility of vortexes? If you believe in ghosts, do you think spirits need to enter through a gateway to our world?

Weekly News Round-up 3/21/13

The Province posted an article on giant squids, which discusses how they were often the basis for sea monster myths and stories.

A video is going around on Youtube claiming that an alien might be guarding President Obama. The whole thing is pretty silly to me, but you can check it out here if you are curious.

A cloud shaped like an angel had people coming up with all sorts of theories about what it could mean. Check it out here.

Ghost Hunting Terminology

This is just a quick post to let you know I've added a list of ghost hunting terms and their definintions to the blog. You can find it by clicking the tab at the top of the page. I'm hoping to add a few more pages in the next few months.

Weekly News Round-up 3/14/13

Need some anti-zombie perfume for the zombie apocalypse? Check it out here.

Someone in Brazil has been leaving gift wrapped human skulls around town, possibly as part of some sort of ritual. The article is here.

There's a push to make black magic a crime in Indonesia. Read about it here.

Tragedy and Ghosts

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about ghosts and hauntings, it’s that there seems to be some sort of link between tragedy and the spirit world. This connection occurs in stories, movies and in many real life accounts of ghosts. For whatever reason, when someone is murdered or dies in a horrific accident, there seems to be a good possibility that that person doesn’t completely move on.

I’ve often wondered if this is because the person is hoping to remedy the situation somehow, or if they are just confused about what happened. It’s nice to think that by somehow solving the details of a death or accident, we may be able to help a lost spirit find its way, but it is also possible that they don’t really want to move on anyways, and enjoy spending time in this world.

Either way, I think it’s important for investigators to research the history of the places they visit, so they can use the knowledge from the past in their investigations. A bit of lost information could potentially help someone stuck in a spiritual limbo or even help educate modern day residents of a property about the history of a building. Tragedies happen, but I think there’s a lot we can learn from them.

Weekly News Round-up 3/7/13

Tricities.com posted an article on some Bigfoot sightings that occurred in Bristol. Read about it here.

Express posted an article about dog's perceived psychic abilities.

A new book is out discussing the possibility of bringing someone back from death. Read about it here.

Aliens

So I went to see Dark Skies last night with a friend of mine. If you’re not familiar with the movie it’s basically about **small spoiler alert** aliens. It was a decent movie and I had a lot of fun afterward talking about aliens and space theory type stuff with my friend. She is convinced that because the universe is so big, that there has to be more life than what’s found on our planet.

I think it’s a pretty valid theory. The universe is enormous, and there’s just so much we don’t understand about it. I tend to want to see evidence of things, though, and I haven’t seen enough convincing evidence to sway me to believe some sort of alien life form exists. It’s not that I don’t believe, just that the verdict is still out for me on aliens. I would love to hear that there is more than just us in the universe, but I’m still waiting to see some solid proof. Right now all I’ve seen/heard are some first person accounts and some blurry Youtube videos.

Have any of you heard or seen something to make you think aliens might be a reality?

Weekly News Round-up 3/1/13

The Conversation posted an article on the issues with funding in Cryptozoology. You can read it here.

A stash of old reports about a lake monster called Morag have been discovered. Read more about it here.

New Scientist Life has a video and article on a study done on telepathic rats.