GHOST HUNTERS

( I thought I'd share with ya'all another short story. I just found out about a contest for a zombie short story that had an end date of January first and since today is my day off, I sat down this morning and put this together. Once I knew the premise, I understood the theme. I had a lot of fun with it because I adore zombie stories and wanted to write one more about the poignancy of the flesh eaters. I hope you enjoy this entry submission. Wish me luck! ) Only four hours had passed and yet Donna McClintock’s life had changed in a way that was irreparable. She stood at the foot of the bed watching her Cousin Joe struggling in the damp sheets. For the past two hours, his body drenched in sweat, he contorted with seizure-like movements, making sounds that were completely inhuman, his breathing coming in short fast pants like a dog on a hot summer day. She turned away, feeling guilty. It would almost be humane if the last breath came soon and the room turned to silence rather th...

Trying my hand at a short story based on the urban legend of “the hook. ” Barbara Roeder was finally getting her first date with Cliff Matheson and nothing in the world was going to stop it from happening. The fates had already made them miss two opportunities to go out and even if her appendix was rupturing, Barbara was getting into his Camaro and spending the evening with the most popular and handsome boy at Springfield High. This is going to be my lucky night! Although her mother nagged her to finish her research for her term paper and her father asked her a million questions about her date, Barbara somehow managed to get dressed in an outfit Cliff hadn’t seen at school, did her hair silky straight and her makeup just the right amount to make her eyes look huge and her lips full and plump. With a sigh, she internally patted herself on the back for managing the task while her little brother taunted her in the mirror the whole time. “I don’t feel good about this at all.” Her father sh...

I find anything posted on YouTube dubious, but admittedly the features of this film were so remarkably close to the poltergeist experiences I witnessed as a kid, including the very distinct dog-hiding, cat hissing features, and random timing, strange things being thrown around... Gave me chills even if it is a hoax. Thought you might enjoy seeing what it's like to live with such a phenomenon--this is a very good portrayal.

Although this black-and-white gem might be “lame” by most scary movie standards today, it is probably the most realistic haunted house movie ever made. You want to know what it’s like to stay in a haunted house? Watch this movie . Better yet, add it to your collection. I guarantee it’s as authentic as they get. This movie very closely mimics the book “The Haunting of Hills House” by Shirley Jackson for which it is based. I won’t get into the book on this post because this is really about the movie’s portrayal and all the senses involved. The book, however, is probably one of the finest scary novels of all time and also should be on your shelf. I snuck and watched this movie on a little black-and-white TV in our big old spooky house when I was a kid. It so frightened me with its authenticity that I had a great deal of difficulty sleeping that night. I lied there in bed, studying the patterns in the flowered wallpaper and pulling my feet and hands into the blanket and away from the edge ...

Psychokinesis is a broad term for the ability to affect objects with the mind. Telekinesis is under that umbrella as the ability to move and manipulate objects with the mind. Other forms of psychokinesis can include the ability to bend metals, teleporting objects from one location to another, creating images and words in another’s mind, changing matter, passing through matter, levitating, swapping bodies, and poltergeist phenomenon. Interestingly, there is no actual irrefutable evidence of psychokinesis existing and yet it is perhaps one of the most studied psychic abilities in hopes of capturing mind control. As you can imagine, the military (especially former Soviet Union) found this concept worth pursuing extensively. There have been a great deal of “magician” types who’ve come forward to say they have these abilities. Their sleight of hand and breathing techniques can appear to make items move. One demonstration showed a debunking of a “psychic” who used techniques of letting out b...

Well, my friends, I'm exhausted and kind of sad. I helped move my son out to an apartment with his girlfriend about a mile away--not far at all, but definitely feeling the empty nest. It will be a very hard adjustment. It's like missing a limb. He has the same interests, same sense of humor, finished my sentences. I'm so thrilled for him to be making this exciting step in his life, but my routine and habits and priorities will be undergoing change. I expect to transform through the process with new hobbies, activities, and goals. I watch him starting his adult life with everything open to him and the future a big question mark. I'm not sure when life turns into a period instead of a question mark, but I do hope to use his example and no longer limit myself about what I can do and how I can be. He has been my very best mentor. In fact, my nickname for him is "Coach." He taught me everything I know about how to be a loving person who puts someone else before her...

The advent of digital cameras not only made it possible for people to take photos who were reluctant to sit and wait at the drugstore for the prints, but also changed the field of ghost hunting. However, now it's easier than ever to get phenomena in photos. For years, there was a huge debate about orbs. Eventually, it became quite apparent how easy orbs were to get in photos and to conversely note that on dusty or rainy nights, we got more orbs, as well as inside of dusty old mansions and museums. The flash being so close to the lens, it makes it possible to illuminate particles and create truly gorgeous orbs. Admittedly, I dismiss all orbs, but I do collect some photos of them for examples of windy nights or spring pollen conditions or drizzle or snow. However, upon occasion I get one that is so amazing because it is perhaps obscured by something in the distance or has a clear tail to it, that I keep it to ponder how it occurred. I've put in some photos here taken by various p...

For this auspicious holiday, I thought I’d leave you with a thought about ghosts and their potential role in our lives. My favorite part of ghost hunting ( besides getting evidence and being in scary dark places ) is helping people reframe their interpretation of the phenomenon they’ve encountered. It can actually be a testing ground for a family and its coping skills. Sometimes, however, it is a sample of a much deeper problem. There’s a phenomenon I personally call the “Christmas Carol Syndrome.” This occurs when a family dynamic is so dysfunctional that the ghost becomes the scapegoat for everything that’s wrong. The family looks to the unseen to blame for their fear, anxiety, sleeplessness. It’s not the father that drinks too much or the mother who is absent or the siblings who are depressed, it’s the ghost. The unexpected sounds, feelings of being watched, hair pulling, and visitations at the bedside become an obsession. There was a family on “Ghost Hunters” show ( probably more t...

Hope everyone has a super happy holiday, whatever spirited event you participate in. This is my little gift to ya'all. Enjoy!

I wouldn’t be much of a ghost hunter or ghost hunting theories blogger if I didn’t talk about the entertainment world of ghost hunting ( notice I don’t say the research world ). Palemother asked if I’d reviewed some of the shows and I realized I’ve never really set them up against each other. I’m going to do it here. Haunt Jaunts did this brilliant post about the impending death of ghost hunting shows. When I’m done, hopefully you’ll know exactly what’s worth tuning into and what’s not. Show lineup ( as of this minute ) “Ghost Lab” Discovery Channel “The Haunted” Animal Planet Channel “Paranormal State” A&E channel “Ghost Hunting” SyFy “Ghost Hunters International” SyFy “Ghost Academy” SyFy “Ghost Intervention” TLC “Ghost Adventures” Travel Channel “Most Haunted” (British import) Travel Channel “Psychic Kids: Paranormal Children” A&E channel Jeez, I’m sure there’s more but, let’s just take them on one at a time: “Ghost Lab” ( Team rolls into town with decked out trailer and...

Tonight’s paranormal TV lineup: A&E has their “ Paranormal State ” ( or as we like to call it “Paranoid State” ) show on with a new episode about: “ Church of the Damned ” An abandoned Kansas church a family is renovating. This is followed by a repeat episode previously aired. Following that on the same A&E channel is “ Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal ” About Mother and daughter psychics team up with teenage sisters to try to solve the puzzle of a mysterious girl ghost at an inn that dates back to the Revolutionary War. This is followed by more repeat episodes of “Paranormal State.” In you want to avoid the repeats of “Paranormal State,” switch over to Discovery and watch “ Ghost Lab ” ( or as we like to call it “Ghost Rehab.”) Tonight’s episode is about The USS Lexington, an allegedly haunted WWII carrier, is probed. Also: the team investigates the Ye Kendall Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas. Happy viewing!

In an earlier post, I discussed whether neutrinos (particles that can go through things) were part of the paranormal “broth” that helps to facilitate ghostly activity and psychic abilities. In my SciFi novel I’ve been writing, my concept was that dark matter was the “broth” that carried psychic information. Interestingly, an exciting new article just came out discussing how some dark matter might have been detected in…( get this ) a defunct mine! Sound like theories are linking together here? The question for me has always been geology in relation to ghostly activity, but also mines. From the article: In a series of coordinated announcements at several US laboratories, researchers said they believed they had captured dark matter in a defunct iron ore mine (Minnesta) half a mile underground. The claim, if confirmed next year, will rank as one the most spectacular discoveries in physics in the past century. Dark matter is what created the structure of the universe and is essentially w...

I’m an absolute nut for Scandinavian horror movies ever since I discovered my favorite vampire movie of all time, “Let the Right One In.” I watch them and feel immediately at home, as if my soul recalls my ancestors living there. If there is DNA memory, mine is activated by scenes from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Lapland. This time of year, these are two "cold" movies to watch, but "Sauna" is by far one of the best I've ever seen. That says a great deal, too! This weekend, I curled up in the dark with a “woobie” ( my protective blanket, of course! ) and watched these two choices: “ Frostbiten ” is a fantastic Swedish movie about a doctor and her daughter who move to a town up in the northern Lapland region (where my grandma was from) . It’s dark there because of the sun being in the south and it’s snowy and cold. Life is strange in the darkness going to and from work and school in it. But, the darkness also holds other secrets—vampires! I’d put this ...

"Techno Viking" This is just the most bad-ass totally cool video. It was taken on the street in Germany during a celebration. I can't explain why I'm fascinated with it, but I just am! It was one of those moments in time that everything came together to make a story and entertainment at the same time.

Are you kidding? Here’s only a tiny handful for 2009: Over 4 million years old, the most ancient relative of humans was found, named “Ardi.” ( I probably would have called him “Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle Ardi” ) The Hadron Collider, a 17-mile long particle accelerator, turned on in September ( and we were not sucked into a black hole--yet ). In rainforests of Papua, New Guinea a team of scientists found a new fish, rat, bat, and several frogs ( and probably 80 new species of bugs that ate them alive ). 40 light years away, a planet much like earth is discovered and it contains lots of water ( see my posts in the year 3013 to see what happens when we finally land there ). Upon crashing a bomb into the moon, we discovered it had a significant amount of ice ( so when did the moon start developing weapons of mass destruction and become a threat? ) A new ring around Saturn was discovered. ( Perhaps we should consult with Elin, ...

Continuing my series of writer's workshop, this time I want to talk about characters and their development. Most people assume that character development is probably the easiest part of writing, after all, we live with characters all around us. The fine line is taking such characters as the homeless preacher on the street corner and not turning him into a stereotype. Once we think we can classify someone, we put them away in our brain and don’t look at them again. When they have an unusual quirk that is incongruous, they suddenly are intriguing: A Harvard-educated day laborer in East LA? Remember, people can have tic’s, nervous habits, phrases they use over and over again, rituals, obsessions, addictions, mental issues. We are the sum of what we’ve been through. Your character wasn’t just born on your pages. He had a life until this moment you’re writing about. It’s all those things that he went though which lend him his maturity level and explanatory style and convictions. A perso...

(Wikipedia) The "uncanny valley" hypothesis holds that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's life-likeness. This hypothesis was created by a robot-maker, Masahiro Mori. Basically, it is the point at which a person observing the creature or object in question sees something that is nearly human, but just enough off-kilter to seem eerie or disquieting. Have you ever seen a wax museum figure of say, Princess Di, but there’s something just a little bit off about the proportions of expression that makes it just wrong. Have you seen those awful commercials where they use actors but the “cartoon” them up just slightly? Does it give you the shivers? Ever see a video game where the animated characters are so human like, you have to study them closely to r...

This post is for the holiday season when many of us mourn the “idyllic” Christmas, become frustrated the season isn’t like we imagined it should be, and those who just pine for Santa again. In other words, anyone fighting change… I was in line at Target store getting items checked out. The old man working the counter rolled his eyes when a little girl nearby screamed out. ( The girl’s hair was caught in the cart when her mother pushed it forward—understandable scream ). He sighed wearily and said, “I miss the old days when children didn’t run crazy and showed respect.” Usually, I’m a very compassionate person, understanding everything is within a person’s context or the kind of day he’s having, but I couldn’t stop my mouth from blurting out to the sour old man. “Oh, you mean the good old days when we didn’t have antibiotics to cure TB and simple infections? Or the good old days where a lady like her ( nod to the woman with child ) had no options to get out of an abusive marriage? Or ma...