Every summer Contactees -- people who believe they have communicated with god-like space people -- flock to the Rocky Mountain Conference on UFO Investigation, held on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. All these people have remarkable stories to tell: stories of personal transformation that sound like classic religious experiences in Space Age guise.
One of the stories is told by Merry Lynn Noble, by her own admission once "one of the leading call girls in the western United States." She was also an alcohol and drug addict seeking to change her life through spiritual studies. In February 1982, exhausted and depressed, she visited her parents in Montana. One evening, as they were driving in the country, a flying saucer appeared, bathing the car in light.
Noble's parents, who "were just frozen there," seemed unaware of the UFO's presence. Meanwhile, Merry Lynn in her astral body was being drawn into the craft, where she felt "absolute ecstasy, total peace, womblike warmth. . . . 'I'm so glad to leave that body,' I thought." She communicated telepathically with a "presence" who gave her a "new soul, with new energy, new humility." The next thing she knew, she was jolted back into her physical body.
From that moment her life began to change for the better. She found a good job and joined Alcoholics Anonymous, where she met the man whom she would marry. Her psychic contact with the extraterrestrial she met aboard the saucer continues, and she has written an unpublished autobiography, Sex, God and UFOs.
On the evening of September 19, 1961, while driving home to Portsmouth through rural New Hampshire, Barney and Betty Hill sighted a pancake-shaped UFO with a double row of windows. At one point they stopped their car, and Barney got out for a better look. As the UFO tilted in his direction, he saw six uniformed beings inside. Suddenly frightened, the Hills sped away, but soon a series of beeps sounded, their vehicle started to vibrate, and they felt drowsy. The next thing they knew, they were hearing beeps again. The UFO was gone. When they arrived home, it was two hours later than they expected; somehow, the Hills had lost two hours.
A series of disturbing dreams and other problems led the Hills to seek psychiatric help. Between January and June 1964, under hypnosis, they recounted the landing of the UFO, the emergence of its occupants, their abduction into the craft, and separately experienced medical examinations. In 1965 a Boston newspaper reported the story, which in 1967 became the subject of a best-selling book, John G. Fuller's The Interrupted Journey. On October 20, 1975, NBC television broadcast a docudrama, The UFO Incident, about the experience.
Most everyone has heard of the UFO abduction of the Hills. At the time it shocked even hard-core ufologists. Nothing quite like it had ever been recorded. Ufologists did know of a bizarre December 1954 incident from Venezuela: Four hairy UFO beings allegedly tried to drag a hunter into their craft, only to be discouraged when his companion struck one of them on the head with the butt of his gun. In any case, ufologists traditionally viewed with suspicion claims of on-board encounters with UFO crews. Those kinds of stories were associated with "contactees," who were regarded, with good reason, as charlatans who peddled long-winded tales of meetings with godlike "Space Brothers." The Hills, however, had a sterling personal reputation, and they returned from their experience with no messages of cosmic uplift.
The late comedian Jackie Gleason's second wife Beverly tells a strange story that she swears is true. One evening in 1973, she writes in an unpublished book on their marriage, Gleason returned to her Florida home badly shaken. After first refusing to tell her why he was so upset, Gleason confided that earlier in the day his friend President Richard Nixon had arranged for him to visit Homestead Air Force Base in Florida.
Upon his arrival armed guards took Gleason to a building at a remote location on the site. There, Gleason, who harbored an intense interest in UFOs, saw the embalmed bodies of four alien beings, two feet long, with small bald heads and big ears. He was told nothing about the circumstances of their recovery. He swore his wife to secrecy, but after their divorce Beverly freely discussed the story.
In the mid-1980s, when ufologist Larry Bryant sued the U.S. government to get it to reveal its UFO secrets, he tried without success to subpoena Gleason.
One night in 1974, from a Cessna Citation aircraft, one of America's most famous citizens saw a UFO.
There were four persons aboard the plane: pilot Bill Paynter, two security guards, and the governor of California, Ronald Reagan. As the airplane approached Bakersfield, California, the passengers called Paynter's attention to a strange object to their rear. "It appeared to be several hundred yards away," Paynter recalled. "It was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate. Then it appeared to elongate. Then the light took off. It went up at a 45-degree angle-at a high rate of speed. Everyone on the plane was surprised. . . . The UFO went from a normal cruise speed to a fantastic speed instantly. If you give an airplane power, it will accelerate-but not like a hot rod, and that's what this was like."
A week later Reagan recounted the sighting to Norman C. Miller, then Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. Reagan told Miller, "We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light. We followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens." When Miller expressed some doubt, a "look of horror came over [Reagan]. It suddenly dawned on him . . . that he was talking to a reporter." Immediately afterward, according to Miller, Reagan "clammed up."
Reagan has not discussed the incident publicly since.
"Have We Visitors from Space?" Life magazine asked in an article in its April 7, 1952, issue. It was a question people all over the world were asking in wonder or fear or both. What, short of intruders from other worlds, could explain the presence in the Earth's atmosphere of objects that looked like structured craft but which performed in ways unimaginably beyond the capacity of earthly rockets and airplanes?
photo of j. allen hynek
Intercontinental U.F.O. Galactic Spacecraft Research and Analytic Network Archives
The pioneering UFO work of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, now deceased, is carried on by many ufologists hoping to uncover the secret of Roswell and other UFO encounters.
Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh -- who had discovered the planet Pluto in 1930 -- was numbered among those who had seen flying saucers. On the evening of August 20, 1949, he, his wife, and his mother-in-law saw a "geometrical group of faint bluish-green rectangles of light" apparently attached to a larger "structure." He said of the experience, "I have done thousands of hours of night sky watching, but never saw a sight so strange as this."
In 1952, in an informal survey of 44 of his fellow astronomers, J. Allen Hynek of Project Blue Book learned that five had seen UFOs. "A higher percentage than among the public at large," Professor Hynek noted in an internal Air Force memorandum. Fear of ridicule kept most scientists silent about their sightings, however. In a 1976 survey of members of the American Astronomical Society, 62 admitted to having had UFO experiences; only one of the scientists made a public report of his sighting.
One astronomer more than any other would be associated with the UFO phenomenon: Professor Hynek. In 1948 the Air Force asked Hynek -- as a faculty member at Ohio State University, he was the astronomer closest to Dayton, Ohio, the location of the UFO project's headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) -- to look at the UFO reports it was gathering to determine which of them resulted from misidentification of astronomical phenomena such as meteors, comets, planets, and stars.
To the extent he had given the subject any thought, Hynek was deeply skeptical of flying saucers. Yet four years later, he confessed in a lecture to colleagues that some reports were indeed "puzzling." The "steady flow of reports, often made in concert by reliable observers," merited scientific attention, not ridicule. "Ridicule is not a part of the scientific method," Hynek said, "and the public should not be taught that it is."
Dead" Physicist Explains Communication Difficulties
During a recent segment of the Lisa Williams show ("Talking with the Dead") on the Lifetime channel, two sisters and a brother appeared to be receiving a very evidential reading from Williams as their mother communicated through Williams' clairvoyance. The three were affirming nearly everything Williams said and the two women were in tears. When Williams said she was losing contact with their mother, one of the sisters asked if she had given her name. Williams paused and then said she had not.
No doubt the skeptics watching the program had a good laugh, asking how Williams could get so much evidential information and not get a simple name. Probably few of them stopped to think that the fact she didn't get the name works against both the fraud and telepathy theories. Certainly if she or her staff had done some research beforehand, as the skeptics allege, she would at least have the mother's name. And it is likely that the sister who asked the question had her mother's name in mind for Williams to telepathically receive, if that is the way she gets her information.
At times, Williams does get names; at other times she doesn't. The problem with getting names was discussed in a previous blog (see "Why John Edward Struggles with Names" listed under at right; click on "popular"). However, I recently came upon another credible source. It confirms and adds to the previous discussion.
Beginning July 26, 1925, Lady Barrett, otherwise known as Dr. Florence Barrett, dean of the London School of Medicine for Women, began receiving messages from her late husband, Sir William Barrett, who had died on May 26, 1925 at age 80, through the mediumship of Gladys Osborne Leonard, the renowned London medium. Sir William had spent nearly 40 years as a professor of physics in the Royal College of Science at Dublin and was knighted in 1912 for his scientific work, which included developing a silicon-iron alloy known as stalloy, used in the commercial development of the telephone and transformers, and also doing pioneering research on entoptic vision, leading to the invention of the entoptiscope and a new optometer. Sir William was also a psychical researcher when alive and was instrumental in the formation of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882.
Lady Barrett was not a gullible grieving widow. She went to see Mrs. Leonard only after a member of the SPR told her that her husband had communicated at a recent sitting with Mrs. Leonard. While Lady Barrett was well aware of Mrs. Leonard's reputation as a credible medium, she proceeded cautiously. As a respected obstetrician and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, she had her own reputation to protect. At that first sitting on July 26, Lady Barrett received some very evidential information - information which she was certain could not have been known to Mrs. Leonard or researched - including details of Sir William's last moments in his physical shell and mention of a leg problem he had been experiencing just before his death. Over the next 11 years, Lady Barrett sat with Mrs. Leonard every few months, and in a 1937 book, Personality Survives Death, she published some of the transcripts of her sittings.
"Sometimes I lose some memory of things from coming here," Sir William told her in a February 8, 1927 sitting. "I know it in my own state but not here." He went on to liken it to having a dream in the physical state and to explain that when he goes back to the spirit world after a sitting he realizes that he did not get everything through that he wanted to. He further explained that when we die, the subconscious and the conscious join up, making a complete mind that knows and remembers everything. However, when he has to lower his vibration to communicate with her, he leaves the subconscious behind and must rely on what was his conscious memory. He said the subconscious is housed within the etheric body.
"There are two lives here: one I can tell you about and you can understand, and one I cannot tell you about till you come over," Sir William told his widow. She asked him which life was higher and he replied that it was the life he could not tell her about. "I cannot come with and as my whole self, I cannot," he added, saying that he cannot make his fourth dimensional self the same as the third dimensional self. "It is like measuring a third dimension by its square feet instead of by its cubic feet."
Lady Barrett occasionally visited mediums other than Mrs. Leonard. At one sitting, apparently with a clairvoyant, Sir William identified himself as "William" rather than "Will," as she knew him. This made her suspicious that it was not him. At a sitting with Mrs. Leonard on November 5, 1929 Lady Barrett asked him about this. Sir William explained the problem. "If you go to a medium that is new to us, I can make myself known by giving you through that medium an impression of my character and personality, my work on earth and so forth," he related. "Those can all be suggested by thought impressions, ideas; but if I want to say, ‘I am Will,' I find that is much more difficult than giving you a long comprehensive study of my personality. ‘I am Will' sounds so simple, but you understand that in this case the word ‘Will' becomes a detached word. If I wanted to express an idea of my scientific interests I could do it in twenty different ways. I should probably begin by showing books, then giving impressions of the nature of the book and so on, till I had built up a character impression of myself, but ‘I am Will' presents difficulties."
The same problem presented itself with her name when he called her "Florrie" at one sitting, whereas he had called her only "Flo" when alive. Sir William explained that he couldn't get "Flo" through the medium's mind.
In a 1931 sitting, Sir William could get only the letter "B" through to describe her brother from Bristol who had recently passed over (his actual name is not stated in the book, so it is unclear as to whether "B" stands for his name, brother, or Bristol). He told her that he was helping her brother adjust to his new reality, mentioning that her brother kept saying "But you are dead, you are dead, you are dead," and assumed he was dreaming. It was not until several other "dead" relatives and friends greeted him that he began to realize that he had "died."
On another occasion, Sir William tried to explain that a message would reach his widow from Leonora Piper of America. However, he could only get "P" from "oversea" through the medium's mind. It was not until the message was delivered from Mrs. Piper in Boston that Lady Barrett understood the reference. "The actual phrasing, therefore, in some places cannot be regarded word for word as that of the communicator himself, but as that of the control operating through the medium," Lady Barrett explained in the Introduction to the book.
All the while, Sir William was able to get bits of personal information through to Lady Barrett so that she would know it was him For example, at one sitting, he told her that he saw her take down a picture from the wall a few days earlier. There was much personal information that came through, but Lady Barrett did not feel it should go in the book.
Sir William explained that the ability to communicate between planes depended upon the ability of the spirit communicator to lower his vibration and for the "living" person on earth to raise her or his vibration. Some people can raise their vibrations better than others and some of them are called mediums. On the subject of vibration, Sir William said that he now understood the so-called physical resurrection of Christ. "Through living in the most spiritual vibration, He was able to raise the vibrations of the physical so that there was no body to dispose of at His death - or as we prefer to say, at His transition," he explained.
Most of the communication came through Feda, Mrs. Leonard spirit control, as Sir William often struggled to lower his vibrations, and it was necessary for Feda to act as a go-between. Occasionally, however, Sir William was able to lower his vibrations and directly control Mrs. Leonard. At those time, Feda's high-pitched voice, which was nothing like Mrs. Leonard's, gave way to Sir William's deeper voice. On several occasions, when it appeared that Sir William was very emotional, he broke through in the direct voice (his actual voice emanating from outside the medium's body). On one such occasion, Lady Barrett recorded him as saying, "Life is far more wonderful than I can ever tell you, beyond anything I ever hoped for; it exceeds all my expectations."
Several years ago, I stayed in a small apartment adjoining an old cabin. The property was far from city lights, and on clear nights, the shadows could be a little spooky. Sometimes, especially in the dark evenings of the fall and early winter, I had the uncanny sense that I wasn't alone.One night, while I was in the apartment, I heard a muffled thump that seemed to come from inside the cabin. Ordinarily, I would have dismissed the sound as the settling of the century-old building. But it was an eerily still night, and I already found the terrain around the cabin unnerving after dark. After hearing the sound several times, I started to wonder whether something supernatural was at work, but I hesitated to investigate.
In the morning, I heard the sound again while I was outside. When I turned to see what it was, I saw an apple rolling across the grass. Testing a theory, I picked up the apple and dropped it. The sound was identical to the one that had frightened me the night before.
In daylight, looking at the fallen apples under a tree, the idea that the cabin could be haunted seemed silly. But dark nights and old buildings can cause even the most skeptical people to wonder about the existence of ghosts. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, more than a third of Americans believe that houses can be haunted, and about 32 percent believe specifically in ghosts [Source: The Gallup Poll News Service].
According to believers, a ghost is the spirit of a dead person that either has not moved on to the afterlife or has returned from it. The definition of "spirit" can vary. Some describe it as a person's soul, while others believe it is an energetic imprint that a person leaves on the world.
Humans have believed in -- or been skeptical about -- ghosts for thousands of years. They're even mentioned in the oldest known written work of literature, "The Epic of Gilgamesh." Ghost stories are part of most cultures' folklore, although the details vary considerably from region to region.
The Death of Ghosts?
Reports of ghosts bearing the news of deaths or disasters were frequent in the Victorian era, but they seem to be less common today. Researchers have offered a couple of possible explanations for this drop-off in supernatural messengers:
* People no longer report seeing the spirits of loved ones for fear of appearing crazy.
* Improvements in communication, like telephones and e-mail, have made it unnecessary for ghosts to intervene in human communication.
Ghostly Encounters
People describe ghostly encounters in lots of different ways. People see apparitions or strange lights, sense a presence in a room, hear noises or feel a sudden drop in temperature. They smell a deceased relative's favorite breakfast cooking in the kitchen or hear a favorite song playing while the stereo is off. Objects fall from shelves and doors open and close on their own. The electricity goes haywire, causing lights to flicker or televisions to turn on and off by themselves. Sometimes, people don't experience anything unusual at all, but they notice strange apparitions or shapes when they look at pictures they've taken.
Some ghost stories involve visible apparitions that are bound to specific locations or families. These ghosts often appear as a warning that someone is going to die. They aren't always human -- some take the form of animals. Similarly, some reports of ghosts involve apparitions that inform friends or family members of recent deaths or impending crises. Some paranormal researchers classify this as a form of telepathy rather than an actual ghost.
Other ghosts are reported to be the spirits of people who died violently or suddenly; they may re-enact their deaths or try to seek vengeance. For example, some people believe that North Carolina's Brown Mountain Lights -- flickering lights that appear on the slope of the mountain -- are the spirits of Native Americans who died in battle. Sometimes, ghostly reproductions of inanimate objects, like sunken ships or crashed cars, reappear after accidents or tragedies.
Then, there are the ghosts who are simply sticking around, either unwilling or unable to leave the Earth. Paranormal researchers often refer to these ghosts as earthbound spirits. An earthbound ghost may haunt a specific location, like its home, its favorite place to visit or the place that it died. It may be trying to pass a message to friends or loved ones, to complete a task that it started while alive or to hold on to its home or possessions. Some researchers and mediums claim to be able to encourage these sprits to let go of their ties to the Earth and move on to a spiritual realm.
For a lot of people, seeing, hearing or sensing a ghost is enough to prove their existence. But researchers have found several possible explanations for the phenomena most often attributed to ghosts. We'll look at them in the next section.
Orb Photography
Some paranormal researchers believe that photographs containing orbs, or unexplained spots of light, are signs of ghostly activity. Some describe orbs as a specific step in a ghost's manifestation [Source: Utah Ghost Research & Investigation]. Orbs are visible in pictures but invisible to the naked eye because the spirits react to infrared light from the automatic focus. Skeptics, however, think orbs have a physical cause, such as:
* The camera's flash reflecting off of dust particles or moisture in the air
* Water spots on the camera's lens
* Defects in digital cameras' sensors
* Developing or printing errors
Ghosts and Electrical Fields
In some haunted locations, researchers have measured magnetic fields that are stronger than normal or which exhibit unusual fluctuations. These may be localized phenomena that stem from electronic equipment or geological formations, or they may be part of the Earth's magnetic field.
Some paranormal investigators think of this as proof of a supernatural presence -- the ghosts create the field. Others suggest that these fields can interact with the human brain, causing hallucinations, dizziness or other neurological symptoms. Some researchers have theorized that this is one of the reasons people report more ghostly activity at night. Because of the way the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere, the planet's magnetic field stretches out on the side that's in darkness. Some researchers hypothesize that this expanded field interacts more strongly with people's brains.
Medical researchers have also studied the effects of electrical fields on people's brains. Electrical stimulation to the angular gyrus of the brain, for example, can cause the sensation of someone behind you mimicking your movements. Electrical stimulation to different parts of the brain has also caused people to hallucinate or seem to have near-death experiences.
Temperature
Cold spots are a common phenomenon in buildings that are thought to be haunted. People describe sudden drops in temperature or localized cold areas in an otherwise warm room. Often, researchers can trace the cold spot to a specific source, like a drafty window or a chimney. The sensation of a lower temperature can also come from reduced humidity. In Wiseman's study at Mary King's Close, the locations reported to be haunted were significantly less humid than those that were not.
Low-frequency Sound Waves
Several experiments have demonstrated that low-frequency sound waves, known as infrasound, can cause phenomena that people typically associate with ghosts. This includes feelings of nervousness and discomfort as well as a sense of a presence in the room. The sound waves may also vibrate the human eye, causing people to see things that are not there. Usually, these waves have frequencies of less than 20 Hz, so they are too low-pitched for people to actually perceive. Rather than noticing the sound itself, people notice its effects.
Sometimes, researchers can locate the source of the sound. The article "The Ghost in the Machine" by Vic Tandy and Tony Lawrence describes a low-frequency standing wave originating from a fan. The sound wave disappeared after the researchers modified the fan's housing. When the wave dissipated, so did the symptoms of haunting in the building. You can learn more about infrasound at the Infrasonic site.
The most skeptical researchers believe that all ghostly phenomena have rational explanations. Those who try to prove the existence of ghosts, however, claim that while some events have rational explanations, others can only be supernatural in origin. Regardless of whether ghosts are real, many people find them fascinating. This fascination has a number of likely causes, from curiosity about what happens to people after death to the comforting idea that deceased loved ones are still nearby. Ghost stories, like urban legends, can also express people's fears about the unknown and caution people about the consequences of actions.
On the other hand, in its Science and Engineering Indicators report, the National Science Board (NSB) asserts that belief in the paranormal can be dangerous. According to the NSB, belief in the paranormal is a sign of reduced critical thinking skills and a reduced ability to make day-to-day decisions. However, since it's virtually impossible to prove that something does not exist, people will probably continue to believe in ghosts and haunted houses, especially since unexplained events aren't likely to go away anytime soon.
Below i am giving you a short description of Ghosts, Poltergeists, Haunted Places
Though ghost sightings and ghost pictures are often dismissed by scientists, ghost stories date back thousands of years and span numerous cultures. In fact, one of the first documented ghost sightings occurred in Athens, Greece, around 50 A.D.
Ghost sightings have also been documented in religious texts. For instance, the Bible and the Hebrew Torah both contain references to ghosts.
In this section, we'll discuss ghosts. We'll take an in-depth look at haunted houses, apparitions and poltergeists. Our articles will also examine the history of ghosts and provide information on ghost skeptics.
Haunted Houses
When ghosts are said to inhabit houses, the houses are referred to as haunted houses. Always popular attractions during Halloween celebrations, haunted houses are considered by many to be real and potentially threatening.
Some believers in the paranormal content that apparitions can often be seen in locations that they frequented when they were alive. Thus, it would make sense that a ghost would choose to visit his former home. Often, such tragic events as murders and suicides have occurred in haunted houses. Accidental deaths have also been associated with haunted houses.
Unexplained incidents, such as the unaided movement of objects or the slamming of doors, are often said to occur in haunted houses. Some of the scariest ghost pictures are also taken in haunted houses.
The house located at 112 Ocean Ave. in Amityville, New York, is one of the many famous haunted houses.
Apparitions
To many people, a ghost and an apparition are the same thing. However, for others, the term "ghost" refers to a disembodied soul, which may be revealed as a mist or a cloud, while the term "apparition" refers to a supernatural spirit that most often appears in human form.
Thus, an apparition of a deceased person will likely look much like the person did when he was alive.
Interestingly, though many people associate apparitions with the deceased, apparitions may also take the form of people who are still currently living.
Poltergeist
When people hear the term "poltergeist," many immediately think of the scary movie trilogy of the same name. However, the word "poltergeist" refers to a spirit that is generally mischievous and occasionally malicious.
The word, which comes from the German words "poltern" (to knock) and "geist" (spirit), refers to the spirits' tendency to make noise. Poltergeist activity often includes throwing and moving objects.
Essentially, a haunted house is a place in which ghost sightings or ghost activities have been reported. Ghost activity includes an extremely wide range of paranormal events, from noises such as speaking, screaming and footsteps to poltergeist activity during which doors slam shut, objects move and people think they see ghosts.
For a house or building to gain a reputation for being haunted, all it requires are tales of ghostly goings-on. In fact, a haunted house rarely receives any scientific corroboration. Like urban myths, haunted house legends are typically spread through tales and stories told from one person to another.
Famous Haunted Houses in the U.S.
Athens, Ohio has been called one of the most haunted towns in the world by the British Physical Society. Athens boasts a vast number of ghost stories. There are five cemeteries in Athens, and, when connected by a line, they form a pentagon (an occult symbol representing magic and power) with Ohio University in its center.
Ohio University itself is reportedly one of the most haunted college campuses in the United States. The University owns most of the land around the building that used to be the state hospital, a building with many ghost accounts. Athens is said to be a haven for Satanists and occult followers. In the 1850s, the town was home to a large number of spiritualists.
Haunted Andleberry Estate
One of the more famous haunted houses in pop culture is the Andleberry Estate, in Clovis, California. This mansion is reportedly haunted by residents of the sanitarium, of which the mansion used to be a part. The owner says he has heard ghost activity and has felt ghosts breathing on him.
Many different groups, including paranormal investigators, LiveSciFi.TV and a local news station have all visited the mansion. In total, paranormal investigators at the site have recorded:
* doors that slam by themselves
* electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), a paranormal event recorded by some form of electronic media, like a tape recorder
* over 22 different spirits.
For many people, EVPs are proof that ghost activity is real and not fabricated legend.
Haunted Everything Else
Alcatraz, located on an island in San Francisco Bay, no longer operates as a maximum-security prison but is open to visitors interested in its history. Many visitors report hearing screams, cell doors slamming, footsteps and other ghostly activity.
Hotel Chelsea, in Manhattan, is one of New York’s more infamous landmarks due to its rich history of deaths and reports of ghost activity. Guests tell tales of seeing the ghost of Sex Pistols band member, Sid Vicious, in the elevator. Sid was suspected of brutally murdering his girlfriend in the hotel and later died of a heroin overdose.
Sid’s friend, Dee Dee Ramone, recounts a feeling of unease in the hotel after Sid’s death. Other Hotel Chelsea ghosts include the writer Thomas Wolfe and poet Dylan Thomas. One wonders how they get on with Sid.
Visiting Haunted Houses
A number of different Web sites list the details and locations of supposedly haunted houses (and haunted everything else, for that matter). Those interested in haunted houses across the United States and throughout the world can see haunted house pictures on the Internet. The Internet provides a great alternative to the high expense of traveling to different sites. And, it just might be safer too.
vThe word conjuration (from Latin 'conjure', 'conjurare', to swear together) can be interpreted in several different ways: as an invocation or evocation (the latter in the sense of binding by a vow); as an exorcism; or as an act of illusionism. The word is often used synonymously with "invocation", although the two are not synonyms. One who performs conjurations is called a conjurer or conjuror.
The conjuration of the ghosts or souls of the dead for the purpose of divination is called necromancy.
When it is said that a person is calling upon or conjuring misfortune or disease, it is due to the ancient belief that personified diseases and misfortune as evil deities, spirits or demons that could enter a human or animal body; see demon possession.
Conjuration is a very common mystic practice in the Middle East, most commonly found in Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Many practice it to settle personal grudges or for healing, personal enhancement, or foretelling the future. There are also those who will sell their services as conjurers to others.
Islam strongly forbids the use of conjuration, because it is seen as an unholy procedure, and therefore to perform it is to give an insult to God. It is also considered to, in the end, harm people more than help them: those who regularly contact demons are believed to go mad through overdosing on power, or being possessed (since demons are thought to be short-tempered beings, and given the opportunity might overpower and enslave the one who summoned them).
Conjuration is such a widespread phenomenon in these regions that special television shows and satellite channels have started broadcasting about it. People will phone in to these shows to ask the resident conjurers to aid them in some way -- by showing them how to make charms, for example, or how to conjure by themselves. Though it is obvious that what is going on is conjuration, the conjurers tend to portray themselves as men of religion to add an air of respectability.
Islam has strongly forbidden this new development, with many imams stating that it is more dangerous than going to a conjurer to get service, because it teaches people how to conjure, and by the time the Dajjal arrives at the end of days people will not be able to differentiate between him and Isa, as the Dajjal would impose himself as Isa and trick those who are weak in belief.
True recurring dreams are noted to have the same scenes or are at
least nearly identical. Nightmares are similar to recurring dreams
with the exception that nightmares may contain different storylines
while maintaining the same theme.
Each of these dream types hold the same function, however.
Recurring dreams attempt to alert each of us to specific "signs" in
our lives and continue to do so until we actually receive and
understand its purpose. Once we accept what the dream is trying toconvey and acknowledge its true meaning, the recurring dreams will
cease. Please note that if similar life issues arise, in the future,
the recurring dream may replay itself to aid in that instance as well.
Below are some examples of questions one can ask him/herself when
faced with a recurring dream.
1. Are my recurring dreams manifesting from a desire in waking life?
If so, am I acknowledging the desire or repressing it? Is there a way
to bring it to fruition, to obtain results to my wish?
2. Are my dreams linked to emotions such as anxiety or fear? Can I
uncover the emotion's source?
3. Do any symbols stick out in my mind? If so, what do I think those
symbols mean?
4. Does anything in my dream resemble waking life? If so, what
specifically does it seem to mirror?
5. What are my reactions and feelings when I wake up? Why might this be, and is there anything specifically in the dream that may be
causing this?
These dreams may appear as frustrating because they do recur, however one must know that it is for the betterment of his/her own well-being.
So please heed these statements: Pay close attention to the themes and individual symbols and see how it relates to waking life. Do not look upon the recurring dream lightly for the subconscious is only trying to strengthen the person as a whole. Furthermore, it is best not to ignore these dreams because they will only get worse.
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha or pentangle or, more formally, as a star pentagon) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".
Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice Neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus, and it also has associations within Freemasonry.
The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus, and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is also associated with the Roman word lucifer, which was a term used for Venus as the Morning Star, associated with the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the zodiac every eight years.
The word "pentacle" is sometimes used synonymously with "pentagram", although their technical usages are different, and their etymologies may be unrelated.
The first known uses of the pentagram are found in Mesopotamian writings dating to about 3000 BC. The Sumerian pentagrams served as pictograms for the word "UB," meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall," suggesting something very similar to the pentemychos (see below on the Pythagorean use for what pentemychos means). In René Labat's index system of Sumerian hieroglyphs/pictograms it is shown with two points up.In the Babylonian context, the edges of the pentagram were probably orientations: forward, backward, left, right, and "above".[citation needed] These directions also had an astrological meaning, representing the five planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus as the "Queen of Heaven" (Ishtar) above.[citation needed]
Pythagoreans
he Pythagoreans called the pentagram ύγιεια Hygieia ("health"; also the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia), and saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection (see Geometry section below).
The five vertices were also used by the medieval neo-pythagoreans (whom one could argue were not pythagoreans at all) to represent the five classical elements:
* ύδωρ, Hydor, water
* Γαια, Gaia earth
* ίδέα, Idea or ίερόν, Hieron "a divine thing"
* έιλή, Heile, heat (fire)
* άήρ, Aer, air
The vertices were labeled in the letters of υ-γ-ι-ει-α. The ordering (clockwise or counter-clockwise) and starting vertex varied.
The ancient Pythagorean pentagram was drawn with two points up and represented the doctrine of Pentemychos. Pentemychos means "five recesses" or "five chambers", also known as the pentagonas — the five-angle, and was the title of a work written by Pythagoras's teacher and friend Pherecydes of Syros. It was also the "place" where the first pre-cosmic offspring had to be put in order for the ordered cosmos to appear. The pentemychos is in Tartaros, also known as "The Gates of Hell".[citation needed]
In very early Greek thought, Tartaros (or Chaos, according to Hesiod) was the primordial Darkness from which the cosmos is born. While it was locked away after the emergence and ordering of the cosmos, it still continued to have an influence. In fact, it was known as "the subduer of both gods and men" (Homer), and it was from this that the world got its "psyche" (soul) and its "daimon". The Boundless Darkness held influence through Mychos or Krater. Apart from being the gateway from "there" to "here" it was also a way in the opposite direction, from "here" to "there", as is evident in the many tales about how Greek heroes, philosophers and mystics descended through Krater to Tartaros/Hades (the distinction between the two was very optional back then) in quest for Wisdom. The Underworld as the source of wisdom was the rule.
Tartaros was also later seen as the "chthonic realm" where all the enemies of the cosmic order were locked away, also called the "prison-house" of Zeus. It was said to lay outside of the aither over which Zeus had lordship; what we today would call space, back then called "Zeus' defense-wall," yet it was also beneath the earth. Plato (in Cratylus) said that the aither had a penetrating power that permeates the whole world, and he found it both inside and outside of our bodies. The pentemychos is outside, or in-side, of the aither.
In the play Medea by Euripides, the sorceress Medea calls upon Hecate with the words, "By that dread queen whom I revere before all others and have chosen to share my task, by Hecate who dwells within my inmost chamber, not one of them shall wound my heart and rue it not." Note that she speaks of the Heart. The inmost chamber is the Mychos. Normally, Hecate and Persephone are portrayed solely as the rulers of the Underworld. In Medea, however, Hecate is called the Lady of Tartaros, Phulada (Guardian), Propulaia (Before the Gates), Kleidophoros (Key-bearer) and Kleidoukhos (Key-holder, Priestess). This Underworld of the Greeks and Pythagoreans is also the "inmost chamber" and the Core of Inner Being.
European occultism
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and others perpetuated the popularity of the pentagram as a magic symbol, keeping the Pythagorean attributions of elements to the five points. By the mid-19th century a further distinction had developed amongst occultists regarding the pentagram's orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted spirit presiding over the four elements of matter, and was essentially "good". However the other way up was considered evil.
"A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates."
"Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result
The pentagram was used as a Christian symbol for the five senses,and if the letters S, A, L, V, and S are inscribed in the points, it can be taken as a symbol of health (from Latin salus).
Medieval Christians believed it to symbolise the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram was believed to protect against witches and demons.
The pentagram figured in a heavily symbolic Arthurian romance: it appears on the shield of Sir Gawain in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As the poet explains, the five points of the star each have five meanings: they represent the five senses, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ
he five joys that Mary had of Jesus (the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Assumption), and the five virtues of knighthood which Gawain hopes to embody: noble generosity, fellowship, purity, courtesy, and compassion.
Probably due to misinterpretation of symbols used by ceremonial magicians, it later became associated with Satanism and subsequently rejected by most of Christianity sometime in the twentieth century
Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of a goat inside the pentagram. This is referred to as the Sigil of Baphomet. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros literally translates from Greek as a "Pit" or "Void" in Christian terminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The Pythagorean Greek letters are most often replaced by the Hebrew letters לויתן forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric LaVeyan Satanists use it as a sign of rebellion or religious identification, the three downward points symbolising rejection of the holy Trinity.
Many Neopagans, especially Wiccans, use the pentagram as a symbol of faith similar to the Christian cross or the Jewish Star of David. It is not, however, a universal symbol for Neopaganism, and is rarely used by Reconstructionists. Its religious symbolism is commonly explained by reference to the neo-Pythagorean understanding that the five vertices of the pentagram represent the four elements with the addition of Spirit as the uppermost point. As a representation of the elements, the pentagram is involved in the Wiccan practice of summoning the elemental spirits of the four directions at the beginning of a ritual.
The outer circle of the circumscribed pentagram is sometimes interpreted as binding the elements together or bringing them into harmony. The Neopagan pentagram is generally displayed with one point up, partly because of the "inverted" goat's head pentagram's association with Satanism; however, within traditional forms of Wicca a pentagram with two points up is associated with the Second Degree Initiation and in this context has no relation to Satanism.
Because of a perceived association with Satanism and also because of negative societal attitudes towards Neopagan religions and the "occult", many United States schools have sought to prevent students from displaying the pentagram on clothing or jewelryIn public schools, such actions by administrators have been determined to be in violation of students' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
The pentagram is the official symbol of the Bahá'í Faith.
In the Bahá'í Faith, the pentagram is known as the Haykal (Arabic: "temple"), and it was initiated and established by the Báb. Both Báb and Bahá'u'lláh wrote various works in the form of a pentagram.
Thelema
Aleister Crowley also made use of the pentagram and in his Thelemic system of magick: an adverse or inverted pentagram represents the descent of spirit into matter, not the triumph over matter which was considered evil as taught by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Samael Aun Weor
Samael Aun Weor used the Pentagram to represent man's Atman, or Internal Christ. When a man's limbs are outstretched thus that his feet are planted on the ground while his head is situated atop his body it creates the omnipotent symbol of the pentagram. Through the Mantra "Klim, Krishna, Govindaya, Gopijana, Vallebayah, Swahah" one's inner being is said to be awakened and come to the initiate's aid. Aun Weor stated that no demon could resist the power of this mantra, since one's Logos cannot be overcome by a demon of any stature.
In contrast to representing one's Logos, the inverted pentagram represents one's Umbral Guardian, the malignant antithesis of the divine father. When the pentagram's inferior rays point upwards, it represents Satan. This symbol is therefore shown above as the goat of the Witches' Sabbath, which serves as a call to the vast columns of demons.
While a solid five-pointed star is found on many flags, the pentagram is relatively rare. It appears on two national flags, those of Ethiopia and Morocco and in some coats of arms.
According to Ivan Sache, on the Moroccan flags, the pentagram represents the link between God and the nation.It is also possible that both flags use the pentagram as a symbol of King Solomon (see Seal of Solomon), the archetypal wise king of Jewish, Christian and Muslim lore.
Order of the Eastern Star
The Order of the Eastern Star, a fraternal organization associated with Freemasonry, has employed a point-down pentagram as its symbol, with the five isosceles triangles of the points colored red, blue, yellow, white and green. This is an older form of the order's emblem and it is now more commonly depicted with the central pentagon rotated 36° so that it is no longer strictly a pentagram.
pentagram is the simplest regular star polygon. The pentagram contains ten points (the five points of the star, and the five vertices of the inner pentagon) and fifteen line segments. It is represented by the Schläfli symbol {5/2}. Like a regular pentagon, and a regular pentagon with a pentagram constructed inside it, the regular pentagram has as its symmetry group the dihedral group of order 10
Palmistry (palm reading) is known by the Greek word, chiromancy, which is defined as foretelling the future through the study of the palm. The practice of palmistry was practiced as far back as 5000 years ago, and is traced back to Indian or Hindu roots. It then spread to China, Greece, Egypt, Persia, and Tibet as well as to other parts of Europe.
It originally began as a method of counseling, and personality assessment through the reading of one’s palm to obtain information such as emotional tendencies, fears, blockages, and strengths. Palmistry is used to help get in touch with the mind-body connection and to know the patterns set up for negative or positive thinking. The idea is to know what patterns are set up within the person that are negative and to replace those to a more positive way of thinking.
The practice has been considered as a pseudoscience which means a system of theories, assumptions, and methods erroneously regarded as scientific, according to the definition of Webster. At one time, the practice was taught in schools of higher learning because it was considered a science.
Palmistry – How is palm reading used?
Palmistry teaches that the hands are the road map of our lives. Every part of the hand contains markers to points on the map which the nervous system has created. There is an astrological reading related to each of our fingers. Through readings, the palm reader tells us even to the size of our Saturn finger how responsible you are. When these astrological signs are found, it is possible to understand yourself and others by simple observations of thumb size, length, lines, and skin color.
Palmistry – What are the spiritual concerns?
The practice of palmistry is a form of divination or part of the occult, and is directly associated with astrology and not science. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says, "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you."
If practiced, there are dangers in its use -- physical, psychological, and spiritual damage.
In addition, risks include false medical diagnosis and predictions of disaster or death based on what the palmist supposedly sees in the hands. It has been noted that it is not good practice for a palm reader to predict death or serious illnesses from reading your palm yet it is done just the same. Much unwarranted anxiety is caused by false predictions.
Are you struggling with a big decision or wondering how your future will play out? Why not talk to the God of the universe? Ask God to show you what to do. He says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).
Earth Gnomes
The nature spirits of the Earth are called Gnomes.
Subgroups:
Brownies
Dryads
Durdalis
Earth Spirits
Elves
Hamadryads
Pans
Pygmies
Sylvestres
Satyrs
Fire: Salamanders
The salamanders are the spirit of fire. Without these beings, fire
cannot exist. You cannot light a match without a salamander's being
present. There are many families of salamanders, differing in size,
appearance, and dignity. Some people have seen them as small balls of
light, but most commonly they are perceived as being lizard-like in
shape and about a foot or more in length.
The salamanders are considered the strongest and most powerful of all
the elementals. Their ruler is a magnificent flaming being called
Djin. Those who have seen him say that he is terrible, yet
awe-inspiring in appearance.
Salamanders have the ability to extend their size or diminish it, as
needed. If you ever need to light a campfire in the wilderness, call
to the salamanders and they will help you.
It has also been said that salamanders (and the other elemental
beings) can be mischievous at times. For example, a fiery temper and
inharmonious conditions in a person's home can cause these beings to
make trouble. They are like children in that they don't fully
understand the results of their actions. They are greatly affected, as
are all nature spirits, by human humankind's thinking.
Air: Sylphs
The sylphs are the air spirits. Their element has the highest
vibratory rate of the four (beside earth, fire, water). They live
hundreds of years, often reaching one thousand and never seeming to
get old. They are said to live on the tops of mountains. The leader of
the sylphs is a being called Paralda who is said to dwell on the
highest mountain of Earth.
Sylphs often assume human form but only for short periods of time. The
vary in size from being as large as a human to being much smaller.
They are volatile and changeable. The winds are their particular
vehicle. The work through the gases and ethers of the Earth and are
kindly toward humans.
They are usually seen with wings, looking like cherubs or fairies.
Because of their connection to air, which is associated with the
mental aspect, one of their functions is to help humans receive
inspiration. The sylphs are drawn to those who use their minds,
particularly those on creative arts.
Water: Undines
The undines are the elemental beings that compose water. They are able
to control, to a great degree, the course and function of the water
element.
Etheric in nature, they exist within the water itself and this is why
they can't be seen with the normal physical vision. These beings are
beautiful to look at and are very graceful.
They are often seen riding the waves of the ocean. They can also be
found in rocky pools and in marshlands. They are clothed in a shimmery
substance looking like water but shinning with all the colors of the
sea, with green predominating. The concept of the mermaid is connected
with these elemental beings.
The undines also work with the plants that grow under the water and
with the motion of water. Some undines inhabit waterfalls, others live
in rivers and lakes. Every fountain has its nymph. Every ocean has its
oceanids.
The undines closely resemble humans in appearance and size, except for
those inhabiting smaller streams and ponds. The undines often live in
coral caves under the ocean or on the shores of lakes or banks of
rivers. Smaller undines live under lily pads.
The undines work with the vital essences and liquids of plants,
animals, and human beings. They are present in everything containing
water. There are many families of undines, as the chart indicates.
The ruler of the undines is a called Necksa. The undines love, serve,
and honor her unceasingly. They are emotional beings, very friendly
and open to being of service to human beings.
The smaller undines are often seen as winged beings that people have
mistakenly called fairies. Those winged beings are seen near flowers
that grow in watery areas. They have gossamer wings and gossamer
clothing.
Court Case Work
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