GHOST HUNTERS

Kicking off the zombie weekend and the release of our book "Zombie Housewives of the Apocalypse," I'm sharing zombie-themed posts today and a big giveaway tomorrow you don't want to miss. Come on, haven't you ever wondered if it's scientifically feasible to create a zombie? In some magic-based practices, the process of making a zombie is taken as fact. With the right mix of ingredients, a person can ingest the concoction and go into a kind of stasis ( think SciFi long-distance space travel ). The body’s systems would shut down to almost a halt, maintaining just enough to keep and element of life present ( yeah, like a glowing pilot light on a gas heater ). There is no doubt this is possible. Every time we undergo anesthesia for a surgery, we are quieting down conscious brain function, but maintaining autonomic function so our hearts still beat and we still breathe. With anesthesia comes a dulling of pain senses and the creation of amnesia when it is over. Of c...

Strange glowing waves have been seen the world over. Is it supernatural? Is it toxic? Nope . It's actually bioluminescence. It's created by phytoplankton in the ocean and creates a natural blue glow. It's not dangerous, but it is damn romantic!

"Hotel California" (Eagles) done by Sungha Jung brilliantly.   Tonight, Zak and the boyz are going to National Hotel in Nevada City, CA. This registered historic place was built in the 1850s and supposedly has some lingering ghosts in the windows and at the bar. Tonight's drinking game: 1.  Stay home. 2.  Take a sip for every "bro," "dude," "man," every time Zak thinks he was touched by a ghost and every time Aaron's mouth drops open in horror. Tonight's drink? A California drink - Sierra Nevada Porter. Have fun! I know I'll be laughing up a storm.

You might think it's the fact that flight attendants are freaking out in front of passengers and pulling the emergency chute and dropping out, or maybe that even pilots are cracking under the pressure, but this is not why I hate flying. In fact, I consider it on-plane entertainment and I didn't have to pay for the headphones. It could be the fact that I have airline disaster premonition dreams that always accurately come true. In fact, I've been in over a dozen plane crashes to the end and had to witness them in the dreams as a sort of invisible passenger. But, that's no why I hate flying. Perhaps it's that it shouldn't be called air travel, it should be called hostage transport because once those doors shut, you are at their mercy, whether it's sitting on the tarmac or having to wait to use the restroom. From the minute you book your ticket and find out you can't get assigned seats or not seats together, to the moment you have to arrive 2 hours early t...

The first documented haunting in America--covered by media and studied by experts, was the Hermann Poltergeist case in 1958 in Long Island. In fact, it was interesting enough to inspire the movie "Poltergeist."   Huffington Post : In February 1958 when small pieces of furniture and her brother's globe began flying around the house. "All of a sudden, you'd hear this loud noise, like a popping bottle sound, and you'd look around and find a bottle that was 12 feet away from where it was supposed to be and all the contents were missing and the bottle was hot to the touch," Hermann said. At first, Hermann said her parents tried to keep things "as normal as possible when you have flying objects in your house," but eventually her father decided to call the police. The case received nationwide attention and made the cover of Life magazine, and is credited with popularizing the term "poltergeist," but there was never any explanation for the...

A thriller centered on an institutionalized young woman who becomes terrorized by a ghost.

There is a casting call for anyone trying to sell eerie, creepy, or haunted real estate for a new reality show on cable. New reality television show on major cable network about haunted real estate! Does your house have an eerie history that you just can’t live with? Perhaps you’re sharing your home with forces from the spirit world? Maybe a grueling murder took place there years ago and the story still haunts you? If you’re trying to sell your haunted house, we want to talk to you! We are looking for haunted, notorious, or just plain spooky homes that are up for sale. Please email us if you own or would like to own, or someone you know owns, a haunted house on the market. Please include your name, contact information, city/state in which you reside, what makes your house haunted, notorious or spooky, any news articles relating to the haunted house and a current photo of your house and family. Go HERE if you want to submit a place.

Is there anything more scary than fighting childhood demons? "Intruders" is a movie that involves a small boy (Izán Corchero) and his mother (Pilar López de Ayala) in Spain and a 12-year-old girl (Ella Purnell) and her father (Clive Owen) in England who are terrorized - years apart - by the same featureless specter dubbed "Hollowface." It is a horror thriller in which the relationships between the parents and their children loom as large as the monster that terrorizes them all. It comes to theaters tomorrow- hurray!

  Update on my insanity - April is going to be intense! Remember, I still have a full-time job, a blog, ghost hunting, and writing 3 books at one time and now promoting a book! I put up on the right-hand sidebar my upcoming engagements in case you ever want to listen into a radio program or go to an event I'm going to be at. I still have yet to coordinate the book signings and more. April 1: The release of "Zombie Housewives of the Apocalypse" in print. The most beautiful book I have ever seen in my entire life. Oh, and the content is a zombie-lovers delight! It is being unveiled at the World Horror Convention this weekend. Julie and I will be busy at an awesome Bigfoot lecture from some awesome investigators from New Mexico discussing evidence, Bigfoot and skinwalkers. We will go to a celebration supper at a Hawaiian fusion restaurant and will share that with you.   Be sure to come onto the blog April 1st "April Ghoul's Day" because there will be a great g...

  A Japanese ship that lost its mooring during the tsunami and went adrift was spotted in Canada. The tsunami occurred one year ago and so far this is the largest vessel of millions of debris that went adrift that has been spotted. They believe in about 50 days, it will make land as it drifts south of the west coast of Canada. On a scarier note, in March 2014, the major mass of debris is believed to reach the west coast of the US.   

I am insulted by CGI in every single way. If I a know a movie relies on it, I make the decision to avoid it or to just simply see it for the genre it is, which is comedy. No matter how good we get at CGI use, it has several issues that make it crude at best, like those old stop-motion dinosaur movies. We have yet to learn how to integrate the biologic with the computer-generated. There is no in between, the lines are cut and dry and so something as organic as Will Smith below in the same scene with something so ridiculously CGI like the robot is hilarious. Believability goes out the window. Another issue is that by using CGI, we have the old fashioned backdrop issue. Oh, you know those delightful old movies where the characters would speak but the background was an obviously painted screen. We know the divides. We are not fooled by artistry, no matter how well it is done because it cannot truly interact with the actors, only "at" each other. I vowed to myself that under no ci...

Did you know that "Ghost" was made into a musical?   The show that's thrilling London is coming to Broadway. GHOST is a new musical adapted from the hit film by its Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Tony Award® winner Matthew Warchus (God of Carnage, The Norman Conquests). The original score is by multiple Grammy® Award winners Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard, and includes the emblematic "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers. GHOST is a timeless fantasy about the power of love.  The story follows Sam and Molly, a young couple whose connection takes a shocking turn after Sam's untimely death. Trapped between two worlds as a ghost, Sam refuses to leave Molly when he learns she is in grave danger. Desperate to communicate with her, he turns to a storefront psychic, Oda Mae, who helps him protect Molly and avenge his death. Learn more here . 

  Want to search for Atlantis??? I have a buddy doing this trip (below) and I will interview him when he gets back... Be part of a once in a lifetime adventure as we journey in search of the lost city of Atlantis! We will follow the trail of The Edgar Cayce Foundation, The Doc. Brown Expedition and National Geographic as we visit and explore underwater ruins, that may be the remnants of a sunken lost city, including the Bimini Road, The Fallen Megaliths, The Labyrinth, and the Great Temple Pyramid. Y ou will be traveling on the private luxury sailing yacht, Sail-La-Vie. Unlike many other trips where you are only granted a few hours out on the water, here we will fully immerse you in a truly aquatic adventure. You will live eat and sleep on board.      We will supplement this great quest for the secrets of Atlantis with daily meditative exercises using the powerful Hemi-Sync® technology, that will help you to reach deep, altered states of consciousness...

I have friends who lament about finding their soulmate . I'm not sure I believe in the concept of one fated lover made just for me, perfectly compatible. Here's how I see it; at any time, we meet someone and it could be either a person we work with, someone from an online single's site, a family member hooks us up, or we just become buddies in a hiking club and start dating. We date what's near us, what's convenient. But, in this huge world, there could be many thousands of others who would be equally easy to fall in love with and create a life with, simply because of logistics, laziness or desperation, we just take the one we fell in love with who is most easily accessible. Anyone can be a soulmate. Real love means taking what you have and appreciating the special and unique aspects of it. For each person you could end up with it's some special aspect of that person that makes him your soulmate. It might be the way Henry always opens doors and says "please...

In a soon to be demolished mall in England, they are putting on a once in a lifetime fun experience--a zombie apocalypse scenario to work your skills of handling a horde in a real-life enactment event. In this spectacular ‘full immersion’ experience, you’ll be briefed and armed by the Police Special Zombie Bashing Unit. They’ll fill you in on the full, unfolding, undead apocalypse that is going down in Reading town. An apocalypse that, for once, you didn’t cause, but will have to try and fix. Then you’ll hit the spooky, deserted shopping mall, but you won’t be shopping for that lovely little Pashmina you saw in Littlewoods. Instead, you and your team will be depleting the zombie population with full Bronson-style perspicacity. Using state of the art special effects and large, blood-inducing props you’ll tackle a series of computer game like missions in a full-on 'run and gun' gore fest. Learn more here.

It's hard to believe, but the deepest dive in the ocean, into the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench off of Guam was done in 1960! The Bathyscaphe Trieste ship was manned by two; Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh. They descended 7 miles down to the deepest known part of the ocean. Now, that was in 1960s and no one has done it since. Well, until 52 years later! The US Navy Museum now houses that record-breaking vehicle. James Cameron, director of such amazing movies as "Titanic," "Terminator," "Rambo," "True Lies," "Aliens" and "Avatar" is going to do something no man has done since 1960, take a 7-mile lunge to the bottom of the ocean by himself in a craft.   The deep sea craft is called Deepsea Challenger and was by Cameron. It took 8 years to make it and it carries special lights, cameras including 3D IMAX camera so that he can chronicle the explorations. I admit, I have not been this excited since Jacques Cousteau...

Y'all know that I adore Bigfoot Evidence . I'm not only commenting on there a lot, but I do live blogging when "Finding Bigfoot" season is running. Other than North American Bigfoot (Cliff Barackman's Blog), it is my prime place for BF info. Now, they've done something awesome--started a Bigfoot Podcast called " The Extinct " with awesome voices in the Bigfoot world including my monster crush, SnowWalkerPrime. I hope you pick it up and listen in. It's beautifully done and you will get so caught up in it, you won't realized that time just flew by you. You'll be wanting more!

I am always a HUGE supporter of all things creative and awesome. I adore Yeti and writers and artists who want to get backing for projects to make our world Indie awesome! Here's your chance to help this project. Contribute a few bucks and make this book happen! "Yeti Leaves Home” is a self-published, hand-illustrated storybook. It is a book for kids, adult versions of kids, and parents to read to their kids. At some point in our lives, the place and people we grew up with are not ours to call home anymore. “Yeti Leaves Home” tells the tale of one young Yeti's travels, as he sets out to make a new home for himself. The book also relates to those moments in children’s lives when the act of growing up requires their independence and confidence. Join Yeti through his many trials and triumphs and share the joy of all the friends he meets along the way. Will Yeti find a place to call his own?   I'm excited about this and the ingenuity of the younger population of arti...

Everyone has those theme songs that the lyrics "sing" to you and describe something you're going through. Here's a few that seems to represent where I am now. What are yours? I want to hear! Taylor Swift "Mean" Incubus "Drive"   Shania Twain "Man! I Feel Like a Woman"

(Start at 2:38) Wikipedia: The case of the Rosenheim Poltergeist is that of a poltergeist haunting in Rosenheim in southern Bavaria (Germany) in the later 1960s. Equipment in the office of the lawyer Sigmund Adam allegedly operated itself from summer 1967 to January 1968,[1] which was investigated by local journalists, police, physicists, and engineers. The parapsychologist Hans Bender tied the events to the presence of the secretary Annemarie Schneider. The phenomenon's media coverage did little to settle allegations that the paranormal activity was faked, as no clear proof was offered either way. Phenomena reported during the incidents: The lights in the office are reported to have turned themselves off and on again and swung the longer the stronger (i. e. under the influence of a power-input, telephones to have rung without anybody apparently calling (i. e. under the influence of a silent caller), photocopiers to have spilled their copier fluid, and desk drawers to have opened ...

  This photo above is considered one of the top ghost pics of all time. It was taken in 1925 from an oil tanker and the faces of two dead sailors are supposedly seen. A fantastic article about this can be found here . Ultimately, it was discovered to be a fake. There were a lot of fake spirit photos back then and the concept that sailor's faces were seen in the sea and photographed with a 1925-era camera is just about as impossible as it sounds. Ironically, it had been tucked away into lots of archives of the best ghost photos ever taken.  I will be honest about ghost photography--I do not think it's possible. I think there are a lot of things that can go wrong taking a photo and also those who will play with photos. I do not see cameras as capable of capturing phenomena because the fact that it is extremely a rare occurrence that a photo cannot be explained. Between pareidolia (thinking you see shapes in photographed items, like faces in orbs) and the issues with pixelation, ...

Mining towns are exceptional places for abandoned cities. They play out and then die off. These ghost towns in modern times leave some huge infrastructure. Case in point, look at Ordos China. This was built 20 years ago for the Mongolian mining rush, but even China is not exempt from the bursting bubble. The buildings, many not even used, still sit empty. They tried to grow the city too big for a coal mining land and are now left with these bleak (and for those of us who love URBEX, beautiful) buildings.

    Taylor Swift "Mean"  Zak and the Boyz are hitting my state tonight on Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures." They are going to the Copper Queen Hotel and the Oliver House. I have to admit, that Copper Queen has activity, but I'm not sure how they got a lockdown there--the hotel is fairly large and filled with guests. I'm curious to see how this goes down. Drinking Game Rules: 1. Stay home. 2. Take a sip for every "bro," "dude," "man," every time Zak thinks he was touched by a ghost and every time Aaron's mouth becomes unhinged in horror.   This is going to be so fun!

It's that time again, my dearies - quiz time! Count your a's, b's, c's and d's and see what horror movie you would love to see. 1.  I like to read - a.  Stories about nature/outdoors/survival. b.  Stories about real life/school/work. c.  Fantasy/Scifi/space d.  Romance/atmospheric/gothic. 2.  I like this movie best ... a.  Wizard of Oz b.  I Know What You Did Last Summer c.  Pitch Black d.  Reign of Fire 3.  My favorite part of grade school.... a.  Recess/PE b.  Classroom and class friends c.  Science d.  Reading 4.  In horror, I like bad things that.... a.  Are novel monsters I haven't seen before. b.  Are people capable of evil. c.  Are from other planets. d.  Are folklore creatures 5. I tend to like movies filmed in... a.  Outdoors. b.  In buildings. c.  In space. d.  In castles. Okay, see what you have the most of, a's, b's, c's or d's and scroll down to find out w...

<p><p><a href="http://video.heraldsun.com.au/2210230761/Exclusive-Ghosts-haunt-the-IGA">VIDEO: Exclusive: Ghosts haunt the IGA?</a></p></p>  In a South Australia store in Brompton, they captured what looks like poltergeist activity. Supposedly, previous shop owners warned the new owners that the shop was haunted. What do you think?

Yeah, I know what you're thinking; where has Dale been? I realize that you readers are really just here for me and not The Human. I apologize for making you have to read her drivel, but it was worth the wait. I have been coasting around the habitat learning the in's and out's of human behavior so I can better mask my exploits. When I got the flipcam and made this little film below, I was a newbie at understanding how to hide my antics. Now, I'm evolving. Expect to learn how a smarter-than-human ventriloquist doll makes The Human oblivious to his dealings...   Don't let The Human give you the impression that I'm her sidekick. It's the other way around. I am smarter than the human. Case in point - The Human needs coffee to wake up in the morning. I am always alert.   The Human must eat food or go weak. I don't need food. The Human has to work for a living. I don't do a damn thing . The human likes male companionship. I most certainly do not. Hence, ...

When I was a kid, summer was about 3 months of swimming, sunshine, and no school work. Nowadays, it just means great escapes in a cool theater for some awesome horror movies. This summer is giving us a great assortment. You know how some summers it's a zillion movies all like "Final Destination" and not so creative? This summer -  great variety! This one " Chernobyl Diaries " is one I am VERY EXCITED about! " Piranha 3D " " Prometheus " " Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter "

My new favorite blog is Attention Earthlings  blog . I'm seriously in love with the 50s SciFi and older movies with suspense, drama, darkness, mood and atmosphere, not to mention the wah-wah sound effects. This blog is awesome. Not only does it share classics like this one , but puts the full-length up for you to watch at your leisure. As a girl who is lonely almost every night of the week, it's my new boyfriend.

"Forbidden Werewolf" Tonight on Syfy's " Monster Man ." (10 pm EST/9 C) The show has some cool new web-based applications allowing users to create their own monsters. Check it out . Cleve’s Greatest Hits : A top 10-style feature highlighting Cleve’s work in the movie effects field, which includes his work in Metalstorm, Re-Animator, Ghoulies and more! Concept to Creation - Feature Gallery : A gallery showcasing Cleve’s creations from sketch to construction to finished product. See what it takes when Hall is asked to create a two-headed shark.

Where do us paranormal geeks ( please contact me if you want to be in my book by that name ) find our mates? I am a geek at heart, though I have also been a bit of a glamour girl, so the ironies were not pleasant in high school. I hung with both groups, on the short flag twirling team and modeling, hanging with the pretty girls and also the outcast nerds who got my intelligence and sense of humor, but neither one wanted to claim me as an attendant. So, where do us paranormal lovers go to find our mates? Oh, boy, do I have your possibilities --  Singles sites online: Geek 2 Geek Sweet on Geeks Soul Geek Nerd Passions Places you are likely to find paranormal types: Starbucks at Barnes and Noble on a Friday or Saturday night & paranormal book section City ghost tours Tours of haunted locales such as Eastern State Penn Haunted B&B   LepreCon List of other conventions for each month ScareFest ComicCon Activities: Meetup groups can be found for every interest Local ghost hu...

Vampire Bat Warthog Turkey Vulture Blob Fish Aye Aye Mole Rat Chinese Crested Dog Sphinx Cat Sea Pigs Star Nosed Mole

There's a good deal of speculation about just where it is that Bigfoot hides himself; how he gets around with so little detection. Some say that he's a skinwalker, interdimensional being or even UFO occupant, and others believe he follows bears because their diet is identical.  I've got my own theory about it. If you spend a little time imaging yourself living in the wild and growing up and being raised by others who teach you the ways, it would make most sense that a humanoid in the woods would choose to follow the wild cats. If a relationship of symbiosis could be attained with wild cats, BF would be in a sweet spot protectively. Man lives with guard dogs. BF lives with wild cats .  "Mountain Lions are also known to scavenge; therefore, signs of a Mountain Lion on a carcass do not automatically mean a Mountain Lion attack caused the animal's death.  A more detailed examination (e.g., broken neck, punctured skull, etc.) is needed to determine the cause of t...

Yeah, we're all sitting and waiting for the new season to start up soon on Syfy. I personally love it for lots of reasons--I love virtually going on adventures into the unknown in insane places no man ever goes in search of creatures of folklore and joking around to relieve the stress with a tall cute man--so I am completely devoted to it. Plus, Josh looks fine in Khakis. I also really love the series I do during the season with my tween-aged musings about a crush on Josh in my journal and a really bad but appropriate photoshopped pic of him. Part of the charm is my photoshopped challenged ways, especially when I try to insert myself into a photo with him as Tarzan and Jane... Yes, I'm stoked for the new season and I did hear they are going back to the Romanian Forest where one of the team members was tossed in the giant tree-less circle. I will keep you up to date the minute Syfy announces the date and hopefully jump onto a phone interview and find out what the big beautiful f...

On "Navajo Cops" on National Geographic Channel tonight, they have an episode entitled "Eyes of the Howler." Navajo Police Officers mount a new hunt for The Howler a mysterious creature believed to have killed dogs and livestock. Some of the elders in the community suspect it might be a Skinwalker, while others insist that its the Navajo version of Bigfoot. As they sweep through a remote canyon, the heavily-armed cops actually hear the chilling sound caught on tape and they think its coming from a cave high in the cliffs.   Have they finally tracked down the elusive Howler? I am not missing this one!

You think the flu season is bad this year? Well, it's nothing compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918. That pandemic claimed 50 million to 100 million people - the single deadliest disaster in human history. Strangely, this killer claimed more young and healthy people because their immune systems were strong and when they kicked into overdrive, it killed them. Ten to 20 percent of those with that flu strain died from it. In fact, if you go to older cemeteries, you can often find simple wood crosses. We have several here in Arizona that have whole sections where itinerant workers who died of the Spanish Flu were buried in mass grave areas. The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by influenza, but the virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung. Just keep it in perspective. The usual flu strain, only 0.1% die. So, it's not that miserable for a healthy person, just damn debilitating.

Hey, it's the peak of flu season and I know that those of you who did not get your flu shot in the fall can testify to that. Let's get down with the sickness--movies based on epidemic themes. Hey, why be sick alone? Not enough? Another Flu Post is going up after this one. I'm calling it "Flu Day"- The Andromeda Strain:  A group of scientists investigate a deadly new alien virus before it can spread. Carriers: Four friends fleeing a viral pandemic soon learn they are more dangerous than any virus. Cabin Fever: A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals. Outbreak:  Extreme measures are necessary to contain an epidemic of a deadly airborne virus. But how extreme, exactly? Quarantine:  A television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which tur...

Okay, so here's how the book will look--isn't it freaking gorgeous? You haven't even seen the inside yet! I know, I'm a tease ....

Like the news of flight attendants losing it on flights and shouting, causing scenes and scaring passengers isn't enough, or the threat of shoe bombers and more hasn't made us shell-shocked, along with rising costs, security issues, and general frustration with small tight seating and no meals for free, flying is a horror. But, we must have always known that because there are some killer horror movies based on flying... Airport Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved. Snakes on a Plane An FBI agent takes on a plane full of deadly and poisonous snakes, deliberately released to kill a witness being flown from Honolulu to Los Angeles to testify against a mob boss. Cast Away A FedEx executive must transform himself physically and emotionally to survive a crash landing on a deserted island. Alive Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the snow swept Andes are forced to use desperate measures t...

I was getting a bit frustrated going through the usual modern-day horror movies to get into the Halloween mood. It dawned on me, some of the classic creepy ones are the ones I cut my teeth on and were allowed to watch as a kid. Some of them have more mood and atmosphere than 10 modern movies. Enjoy these classics and consider them part of your Halloween collection henceforth so you're satisfied with quality-- JACK THE RIPPER THEME: "Time After Time" (1979) PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: Phantom of the Opera" (1943) THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1956) KING KONG: "King Kong" (1933) GODZILLA: "Godzilla" (1954) THE WOLF MAN: "The Wolf Man" (1941) THE MUMMY: "The Mummy" (1932) DRACULA: "Dracula" (1931) THE FLY: "The Fly" (1958) Others to add: Psycho Rear Window The Birds Village of the Damned Frankenstein

I have to admit that when I was a kid I was a tomboy and competitive with the boys in sports. I preferred their walkie talkies and Hot Wheels, that they could shoot baskets almost as good as I could and could give me a game of tennis that kept me running. I wanted to talk about what they were talking about and I wanted to build tree forts with them and at the same time, I wanted to kiss them senseless. Men are exciting. It's not just the physical, but the way they think and their attitude. They are quick to take credit when they do something right. They enjoy the sense of control in their lives and the ambitious drive to see what they are capable of. They want to top themselves at tasks they undertake. They can be in the moment when it comes to sex and intimacy in a way that women often cannot when they are preoccupied with how their "rolls of fat" look, if the kids can hear them, or what they have to do on their chore list the next day.  Men live in the moment.  I m...