Movie Review: The Conjuring

So I had a chance to see The Conjuring this week and thought I would share my thoughts on it. It's was a fun scary movie, with decent acting. It had a few good moments but overall was a little predictable and didn't have any major twists that hadn't seen used in other similar stories. I liked that's it featured actors who portrayed The Warren, a pretty well known and controversial couple in the paranormal community. If your looking for a simple scary movie this summer, you will probably enjoy this one.

I'm giving it 4 out of 5 ghosts.

Weekly News Round-up 7/26/13

Scientific American posted an article discussing the possibility of a Bigfoot language. Read about it here.

A scientist received the funding to start searching for alien spaceships. Read the details here.

Huffpost has an article debating whether aliens would be susceptible to human conditions like mental disorders and addictions.

Accepting Guest Posts!

I've decided to do a week or so of guest posts in the near future. If you have something to say about the paranormal (good,bad, or in between) e-mail me at paranormalpursuits (at) yahoo.com with a topic you would like to guest post about. I may be limited on how many I can accept so it will probably be on a first come first serve basis. I'll happily post a link to your website, blog or published work so this can be a great way to increase traffic to your site. Happy writing!

Weekly News Round-up 7/19/13

People are trying to change their fortunes by having surgery on their palms. Read about it here.

Hundreds of dead stingrays have washed up on a beach in Mexico. Read the details here.

A Florida man woke up only speaking Swedish and no one seemed to know why. Details are here.

Approaching the Paranormal with Caution

Ghosts have become a big business. Lately, everywhere you turn places are offering ghost walks, ghost hunts or haunted events. While it's nice seeing the paranornal get exposure, the down side is that many places have started fabricating hauntings to bring in tourism money.

This isn't a new concept. People have been faking ghosts for hundreds of years. Psychics would hold pretend seances, photographers made fake ghost images and people easily fell for their schemes.

Nowadays, people will set up speakers to create fakes noises, ghost hunting teams fake evidence, and people do all kinds of thins with photoshop.

It's become incredibly important for people to be vigilant about what they believe. I always assume evidence could be fake when it's coming from someone I don't completely trust, until I've had time to study and understand it better. If you're interested in the paranormal, approach everything through the eyes of a skeptic, but be open to the possibility that there could be more out there. You might even find something that surprises you.

Weekly News Round-up 7/11/13

A man was burned by a rock that spontaenously combusted. Read about it here.

Mirror has an article about a group of kids who like to talk to ghosts.

The editor of a fashion magazine called in a shaman to cleanse the new offices. Read about it here.

Technology and the Paranormal

A friend of mine had my laptop last week (sorry there weren't any posts!) and it got me thinking about how technology has changed the way we interact and communicate about the paranormal. Not long ago, the only real interaction people had with paranormal happenings came strictly from personal experiences and stories told by people they knew.

Things are different now. There are books and movies and TV shows dedicated to understanding the unknown. There are thousands of images available online that people believe show evidence of ghosts or strange creatures. It's incredibly easy to engage with others in discussions about the paranormal in general.

It's a wonderul position to be in because we have access to so much information, but it also puts us in a position of relying on other people, often strangers, for news and information, and not everyone is exactly trustworthy. But I think that knowing there are places available to research and discuss strange phenomenon benefits a lot of people, simply because they have somewhere to go if they experience something they don't fully understand.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the advances in technology continue to help people who are looking for answers. Do you think advances in technology will continue to help the paranormal community? Or do you think they are doing a disservice?