Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

A Few Thoughts on Ghosts
by Redoubt

Before this gets underway, it must be said that aside from various forms of evidence, from those who have experienced NDEs, and that which comes from photo record and EVP recordings, there is no indisputable proof of life after physical death. Even today, in what is arguably a scientifically advanced culture, this age old mystery is still so much left to faith and religion to try and explain. Moreover, ninety-nine percent of all life-after-death study is considered ‘paranormal’ or ‘supernatural’ and is generally a hands-off subject for mainstream research. And though this fact may be regrettable, or even foolish, it is not the intent of this author to pass judgment on the scientific community.

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Proof, Truth and Nature

Someone once said… ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.’

Now, on the surface of this brief statement, is a certain ring of logic. It makes sense to us, at first anyway, that the weight of a claim should be counterbalanced by an equally weighty bit of proof. But then you may begin to think about it in depth and if you do, you realize what a completely ridiculous notion it really is.

First of all, truth is proof… and it is a stand-alone item that does not require props or assistance for support. Once something is proven, the deed is done. Period. There is no need to prove it again and again simply because the truth the proof represents is contemporarily unpopular.

One simple bit of truth is that nothing unreal exists. If something does exist in fact, it is entirely real. One step further, we can say that nothing that is in fact real is also unnatural. Everything that exists,exists as a natural part of this, our grand universe.

So, we now know that if something is real, then it exists and, so too, it is natural. Anything that is real, exists, and anything that exists, no matter how unlikely, is neither paranormal or super natural. Magic, per se, goes out the window.

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The God Quantum

If humanity had the know-how to manipulate matter and energy at will, then we might be able to understand the most basic principles of the existence God. And for just a moment, we’ll allow for His existence too… but not as a supernatural entity.

Albert Einstein once said: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." In the case of God, though, the simplest form He takes is of a creature of superior skill and intellect. But to then transform Him into a deity that is somehow separate from or above the universe He is said to have created, is to make Him simpler than He is just for the sake of the simplest human minds to conceive. So, while our creator He may well be, he is still natural, still quite real. From this point on, God becomes the greatest scientist in the universe and what He does is no more unnatural than what any one of several billion humans could (and most likely, would) do if any one of those several billion humans had the know-how.

God is great. God, in his magnificent laboratory, created everything and all of us for reasons we still don’t understand.

God is good. He could have easily made a mess of this little planet at any time but has allowed humanity to go on its merry way, mostly unmolested, towards… well, whatever ends it should someday reach.

God is no longer supernatural. God, in whatever form and with whatever name you care to attach, is no more surreal than you or I.

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I Sing The Spirit Electric

If we could prove that man had a soul, or spirit… or whatever that survived after physical death, then proving that they sometimes loiter about in the hereafter would become a mere technicality. So, it is that proof of the soul or spirit that we need.

The Christian Bible tells us that God created us in His own image. Does that mean that God has ten toes, eight fingers and two opposable thumbs? No one knows for sure but the better odds exist in that we, and He, are something more than that. Of either flesh or spirit, it appears that the latter is more survivable, if not perhaps even approaching eternal.

A spirit that is us, would necessarily have to reside in us, perhaps akin to how an operating system resides on the hard drive of your computer. The difference would be that when our bodies, or biologic motherboards, die, the program goes on independent of the previous, physical host.

How would this be possible?

Well, we are not as smart as God and so our computers reflect that lack of expertise in design. But assuming for one minute that it could be done, the most natural answer would be in some form of electricity, or energy. And one thing we can be sure of is that energy can be neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change form. One step further, since we know the human brain uses electricity as a form of connectivity within itself and to the human machine for both thought and active intention, we might then so too wonder where all those electrical impulses go when the physical body expires.

Where indeed.

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The Apparition

I have personally seen quite a number of photos that purport to show a visible or semi visible ‘ghost’ or spirit. Since the advent of the internet, these things are now just everywhere for anyone to look at and… of course, judge. And since the arrival of some very good image manipulation programs like, Photoshop and its many, many kin, there are now a growing number of clever people applying their talents with this software to create what are often quite startling picture subjects.

It has finally reached the point where being able to tell the difference between the genuine article and a clever contrivance, is nearly impossible.

Now, for another moment, let’s make the leap and assume that at least some portion of this category of photos, represent a real event. Simplified, it is accepting that the surviving spirit of a former flesh and blood human being has some means of manifesting itself into a visible form, perhaps in some degree that also reflects of its former, physical appearance.

How is it done?

Again, we know that energy and heat are one in the same, merely in different forms. If a spirit could tap the heat in the air of any given location, it might then be capable of rendering that energy into a form that reflects visible light. This would, perhaps, explain the ‘cold spots’ so often reported along with ghost/spirit events. The spirit/entity extracts the energy needed for the manifestation from the heat in the air, thus leaving that cold spot in its wake. It may even be theorized that ghosts actually feed from various sources of energy, in much the same way our bodies get the same from the food we eat.

So, without some form of energy, would the spirit die of starvation?

Following a direct line of logic, one might think that entirely possible. And since most ‘cold spot’ events do take place either inside a structure or at night, is it beyond the realm of possibility that light, as a form of energy, could also be a source of ghostly nutrition? Outdoors in the broad daylight, there is so much energy being transferred from the sun, we can use solar panels to collect it and transform it into electricity and heat.

Why couldn’t a spirit?

Speaking strictly for myself, I do not believe I have ever heard of a cold spot occurring in daylight, in a warm climate. One reason may be that sun source abundance… so that any extraction by the spirit would be negligible to the whole being available, that we wouldn’t even notice it.

Oh, it also helps to bear in mind that even in those coldest of Earthly climates, there is still far more heat than one finds when approaching the levels of absolute zero.

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Where Beauty Lies

One other thing that demands some explanation is the strange appearance that some ghostly figures take. There is an ethereal look to them, as if they are being presented to us through a piece of thick glass, full of distortions. The resulting view from this end can often be quite frightening.

The most likely explanation is that the spirit/entity is merely projecting its own image, as he or she recalls it.

If we assume that the spirit taps ready sources of energy to present a visual form, it may be that anything less than a full supply of that same energy might skew the end result. And if our spirit/entity has any choice of what we see, then strange might be a result of choice. We see light being reflected from a field that is generated to do so in the semblance of the projector… when it was still holding skin upon bones. And since memory is not nearly perfect, what we would see could be a likeness of an imperfect recollection.

The spectral image may be constantly changing as memory, imagination and external stimuli interact to create something that is never the same from moment to moment and perhaps, not even at all resembling what any one of the singular memories represents, in any coherency.

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Eternally yours

You may take with you your emotions, your likes and dislikes, your desires and yes, your loves. But from the other side, you are no wiser and no greater than you ever were here in flesh & blood.

In fact, you may finally come to realize that… it is tough being a ghost.

NOTE: Thanks to reader and wiki member Redoubt for forwarding this article. If you would like to submit an experience, anecdote or opinion piece for publication consideration, please send to my email...Lon

The Ghost Next Door:True Stories of Paranormal Encounters from Everyday People

Tales Of Ghostly Horror: Real-Life Encounters With The Supernatural

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Readers' Paranormal Experiences

I thought I would tell you about an experience my sister had many years ago.

She was around 15 or so and was at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her and a few other friends decided to play with a Ouija board in their garage. Her friend's mother was at work and her father was in bed, so they had no supervision. While playing with the board they asked if anyone who wanted to speak to them. They got a YES, they asked for a name. They got MOM, they asked for a message. They got UNDR BRIDG. They did not understand the message at the time.

Later, after they had gone on to bed, there was a knock at the front door. It was the local sheriff who had come to the house to tell the girl's father that his wife had been killed in a car accident on her way home from work that night. Her car was found submerged in water under a bridge just a few miles from their home.

To this day, my sister will not go near or even discuss the subject of Ouija boards.
______________________

In 1974, I made a trip to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, an Indian Reservation. A friend was showing me around the reservation on a March evening at about 4PM in the afternoon. He noticed something in the sky which, at first, he thought was a plane making a bank and called my attention to it.

As it turned out, it was not a plane. It was a round object that stopped abruptly about 1000 feet above the tree line. To this day, I do not know if the whole craft was spinning or if the lights around the edge of the craft were spinning, exhibiting white, green and red lights. We watched the object (which was huge) until 4 o'clock in the morning. From time to time, brightly lit orbs would come out of the bottom of the craft, would stop just below the craft like it was awaiting orders, then would streak off in the night sky and disappear. The sighting was never reported, but was seen by several people in the town of Pawhuska.

In 1985, I saw another object in Graham, Young County, Texas. It was a huge, matte object of a distinct gray with a black trim in the middle of the circle. There were no lights. No sound. Just a gentle whoosh as it passed just over the tree tops; flying low.

Since then, I have seen many "blinkers". I call them that because they appear and if you blink, they disappear. Most of these have been a daylight sighting and the craft have been small and a bright, silver color. These sightings took place in various times and places from 1985 through 2001. All in Young County, Texas. I moved to South Carolina in 2001 and have not seen any since then.
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There are a few things that have happened in our home and one, when I was in Italy as a child. I will start from the most recent to the earliest.

About three years ago, I was in my bathroom and was just finishing dressing. I was thinking to myself that I felt I was putting on weight and that I should go on a diet. Then all of a sudden something smacked me on the backside. I turned and looked and nothing was there. I told my kids, my husband and my friends and no one had an answer. Then about six years ago, my daughter and I were in the kitchen. My daughter’s birthday was coming up, family and friends were sending her birthday cards and I usually display them on the counter above the dishwasher. There were about five cards facing front. We started to talk about where she wanted to go for her birthday and all of a sudden my daughter said "Mom, look!" All the birthday cards were facing back towards the back splash. Well, needless to say, we were scared out of our minds. I told my daughter that maybe it was my mother who passed on. She probably said nobody’s card would be as important as mine, only because she adored my daughter and spent much time with her when she was alive.

Now, going back ten years ago. My son was six and he had just lost his tooth. He came running down to the kitchen to show me and said, "Mom I just lost my tooth", and I, of course, made a big thing about it and said "OK we have to give it to the tooth fairy tonight." My son and I were at the kitchen table and he was sitting across from me. I went to put it in this silver antique tooth fairy box that someone had given my son as a baby gift when he was born. All of a sudden, the tooth went straight up about two feet from the table and made a left about five feet and then dropped to the floor and broke. I think my son, at first, was so scared he couldn’t even talk. We just looked at each other. All my son could say is "what was that?" I just said I didn't know, but don’t worry, the tooth fairy will still take it. I put in the box. Yes, the tooth fairy still came and yes I still have the broken tooth.

My earliest experience was when I lived in Italy at age four. I was sick and I was in my parent's bed. The bedroom was in a loft and I was about 20 feet away from the balcony. I woke up and I noticed a ball of fire that kept spinning around in place by the balcony. I couldn’t take my eyes away from it. Suddenly, it changed to a hand that came towards me very quickly and I put the sheets over my head and started to scream. My parents woke up and I told my mother and she said it’s probably because you don’t feel well. Well, 42 years later and I still haven’t forgotten it.

Ghost Story aka Circle of Fear: The Complete First Season

The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories

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What's Unusual? A Paranormal Recollection

"What's unusual?"

"I ask the question because I feel that so-called paranormal experiences become normal if you treat them as being normal.

I don't really know where to start as this is the first time I've tried to put things on paper as a timeline. I guess I'll start with my first experience.

When I was 8 or 9 living on a farm in Hunua, South Auckland, NZ, I was walking down the gravel road that ran alongside the farm with a friend. It was just after dark when we both stopped and witnessed a cigar shaped object in the sky in front of us. It didn't make a sound and was moving away from us slowly. It was hard to tell how big or how far away it was since it was dark and the object was totally black. The only way we could see it was the fact that the stars were disappearing behind it.

A couple of years later I had another sighting, or at least I think it was. I was 11, we'd moved to a place called Paparimu. It's just south of Hunua but still in the Hunua rangers. At the back of the house was a farm that had some hills. Some were quite steep. One in particular was very steep and almost perfectly round and had a commanding view. One day while sitting on top admiring the view, I saw an airplane flying in a valley below me. The funny thing is it was a 747. I had just finished reading a book on new aircraft and one of them was a 747. I didn't think much of it at the time, just a plane flying around in a valley. But as time went by and the more I thought about it, there's no way a small aircraft, let alone a passenger jet, could have been flying around in that valley. As I said, I think it was a UFO.

Years later, I saw another one. I had moved to Motueka, on the western side of Nelson Bay in the South Island. I was managing a dairy farm at the time. It was early one morning about 4-4:30 am and I was getting the cows in for the morning milking. Following them on the track sitting on my ATV looking up at the stars, I noticed a bright light amongst the stars. It was as bright as a welding light, purple, orange and yellow. At first it didn't move but after a couple of minutes, it started to zigzag up and down and side to side at great speed then it shot away, out of sight in a split second. I only told the farm owner about what I'd seen, no one else knew.

That afternoon my niece came to stay with my family for a couple of days. She had traveled up from Reefton which is about 200 km south of Mot. That night she told me how her and the rest of her family were outside the night before and had seen a bright light, like a welding light in the sky that moved very fast.

A couple of years later I had another experience. My wife was a paramedic and attended all sorts of situations. One night she was called out to an old ladie's home but by the time she got there the woman had passed on. My wife helped her by tidying her up and resting her in her bed. The next night I woke up and could smell a very strong perfume in the room. I woke my wife and she informed me that it was the ladies perfume from the night before??? The following night I woke again only this time she was there on the bed beside me, laying beside me. I panicked. I wish I hadn't.

Later I had moved to Western Australia. I met a woman who was very special. I was staying at her house for the weekend. She had new neighbors who had moved in that Friday. We welcomed them to the neighborhood and they invited us over to their place the next afternoon. We were sitting, having a drink and a chat when my friend, out of the blue, asked the woman about her father and if she minded talking about the barrier that was between them. The woman was both shocked and amazed by the question but she also seemed relieved to be asked. The conversation went on for a while between the two with my friend talking mainly about the woman's childhood and different parts of her life. There were tears and laughter, from both of them, and more importantly there was an understanding between them. Sadly my friend passed on not long afterwords, she is missed dearly.

People who think the same and feel the same are drawn together and see these things not as unusual but as normal.

This is the first time I've sat and thought about things all at once, it's only a small part of my experiences and I'm sitting here shaking like a leaf."

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