Sometimes I just like to rummage around on the Internet. There are a few interesting things among the general mess of information out there.
I came across a forum where people discuss experiences, and methods of communicating with the dead.
In there, you'll find cases of self-deception, some potentially real events, and a few very convincing ones. I did not find anyone on that forum to be obviously fraudulent, which is a refreshing change.
I didn't join, because I had the impression that more than a few would not welcome a logical discussion, or an alternative explanation for their experiences. I don't have time to play at flame wars, or to soothe bruised egos.
What concerned me were the comments from some who claim to be experienced. One poster mentioned, as though it were a revelation, that 'some spirit entities communicate more easily after repeated visits', and that 'spirit entities seem to have differing personalities'.
Now, aside from the fact that I personally hate the term 'spirit entity' (and if anyone calls me that after I'm dead, I'll spit ectoplasm in their eye), I wondered why the poster seemed surprised to discover this.
Ghosts are dead people. People are different. We don't go through a 'homogenisation machine' at death, that turns us all into standard, sheet-wearing spooks.
This kind of thinking is a direct result of clever-sounding jargon such as 'spirit entity' or 'presence'. That dehumanises the ghost--and yes, he or she is still human. The body dies, but the spirit retains the personality of the original person. Plus a few new feelings, mostly confusion and fear. Some get over that, come to terms with their new condition and actually enjoy life as a ghost. Some don't.
Either way, they will not appreciate being referred to as 'it', the 'entity', or the 'presence'.
That's just insulting. Many ghost hunters report voices telling them to 'get out'. I wonder why? Try barging into my house and referring to me as 'it'. You'll get more than a voice. I still have physical fists.
Anyway, to finish on a less violent note:
There are several methods described on that site for communicating with the dead. All you need, really, is an open mind. Relaxation helps, as does clearing your thoughts of the daily nonsense that clutters them up. If you find that candlelight, staring into a mirror or murmuring a mantra helps with that, then use those things. Eventually you'll find you won't need them.
One piece of advice I'd give is this: Don't attempt to force the connection. If the ghost isn't there, you won't get an answer. They are not omnipresent. Sometimes--probably, most times--there's nobody there. Once in a while, one will happen along who wants a chat. It might not be who you expect.
Calling up specific dead people is called necromancy, and that can only end badly. Stay away from there.
9 comments:
I looked at the Memphis site. They say they don't charge for investigations. I guess the $250 is for one of these Halloween night-out trips?
I wouldn't hold out too much hope of success from a trip like that. Too many people. Any ghost will feel intimidated. That's not to say you won't find anything, but it's lowering your chances.
I'll have to sort out some of my 'best' photos and scan them, since I prefer real film over digital. I don't have anything too brilliant or it would already be on the web ;) Some interesting ones, although no absolute proof yet. I'll see what I can bear to show.
Necromancy deserves a post of its own. I'll try to do that today but there's a 'scheduled outage' listed at 4 pm today so that might catch me out.
I checked on the outage. It's 4 pm Pacific time, which will be around 11 pm here in the UK. So I had plenty of time after all.
There's a lot of talk of 'we must help these ghosts into the light'. It should, really, be preceded by asking the ghost if they want to leave. A few are here because they like it. Their feelings on being forced into the afterlife are similar to how we'd feel on being bundled into a van with blacked-out windows. The influence of the politically correct meddler reaches beyond the grave, sometimes.
So maybe the ghosts on this night out actually enjoy watching people scream and run. It seems a high price to find out though, especially since the principal actors don't need to be paid.
Magnolia Manor has its own website here:
http://www.magnoliamanorbolivartn.com/
It's an upmarket place - rooms are around $125 a night without the ghosts. Looking at the pictures of the rooms, I'd say that's a fair price.
Although 'bed and breakfast' isn't really fair, since you'd be up all night. Perhaps it should be 'dead and breakfast'?
Thanks for the information, Steve.
In the UK, we have too many 'halloween night out' style events, where a horde of people troop through some disused jail, old castle or underground tunnels. A guide shouts out descriptions of the history of the place. At least half the 'customers' are there for a joke, and a few are drunk. That's been my experience of halloween events, which is why my lip automatically curls at the mention of them. Needless to say, I stay well clear.
Yours, however, has a small, controllable group of serious people and is much more likely to succeed. I wish you the best of luck.
I agree with you on the graveyards. It's surprising how many people think they are haunted, even though it's the one place in town where nobody actually died.
Thanks again for the detail of your event. If ever I'm in Memphis, I'll call in and say hello.
These days I prefer to work alone, or with one assistant. That way I don't have to worry about where everyone is, what they're doing and, most importantly, what they're falling over.
I started by exposing fake mediums, but after seeing a few things I had to admit that for years I missed an important point.
Fakers, whether they are copying DVD's, making Rolex clones, or pretending to contact the dead, have no imagination. If they had, they wouldn't copy, they'd make things their own way. So a faker is copying something, and that something is real. For every thousand fake Rolexes out there, there's a real Rolex.
So for every thousand fake mediums, there's likely to be a real one. Following this logic through (scientific training is hard to break;)), if there are real mediums, there are real ghosts.
So I started looking. Initially, I worked within university constraints, but the devious, manipulative nature of academia became too much to bother with. So now I'm independent.
I have seen enough to convince me of the reality of ghosts and of other things that are not-ghosts but are not visible. I say not-ghosts because I'm not sure what they are, but they aren't the spirits of dead people. I'm not religious so terms like 'demon' don't sit easily with me.
One thing has become very clear; ghosts are rare, but mediums are rarer still. At least, they have proved very hard to find.
So I've seen ghosts, I've communicated, but I have no absolute proof that I've done so. My early work is a particular disadvantage.
I know the tricks of the fakes. I know cold reading, I know misdirection, I know how to wheedle information out of someone in an informal chat and relay it back to them in a 'sitting'.
I know how to fake a ghost photo, although I lack the skill to actually do it in any way that would not be easily discovered.
Therefore, unless I can produce absolute, unshakeable proof, nobody is going to believe me. I've studied the fakers, and I know how to fake it, after all.
It's both a disadvantage and an advantage. It makes it more difficult for me to present evidence, but it also makes me very, very fussy over what I will present. Even when I see something I know wasn't faked, I immediately start to think of how it could have been faked. Or how it could be a misinterpretation. In short, I look for the ways the fundamentalist sceptic would shoot that information down.
What I hope to get is a photograph of someone who is identifiable from an old photograph or painting, and from an angle that is not represented in any image of that person. That would be difficult for the sceptic to discount.
Unfortunately, apparitions are amazingly camera-shy.
Anyway, I hope the book doesn't annoy you too much. Personally, I don't agree with infrared as a tool, although I am trying out an ultraviolet lamp. Those digital cameras apparently react to ultraviolet also, and it hasn't been tried, so...
Here I am. The friend in question. Thank you so much for having such an interesting blog to visit Professor. I, too, have rooms available and that southern cooking thing stands here too :).
Memphisghosthunters.com is a favorite... haunt of mine. Haha. Glad I could send some friends to visit.
Good to see you've found a psychic who's impressive - and that you intend to test her abilities nonetheless. That's a good scientific approach. I hope you get some excellent results.
I've never had much luck with EVP's, but I keep trying.
Southern Writer - I'm not allergic to cats, so one day, you never know, I might come knocking on your door. Every day, the UK gives me another reason to run away across the sea, so it might just happen.
If I leave it too late, I'll tap on your tables instead. Although with two offers of Southern cooking, I'll put some effort into visiting in this life.
One thing - when you say half bed, do you mean length or width?
I have problems getting MP3's to load sometimes. I don't know why; I freely admit to being a dunce with computers.
I couldn't load the long EVP, but I did get a few of the others. I think the one where you had a recorder on a broken headstone is a plaintive 'Don't go'. There's one called 'yes. we're coming' which I hear as 'Hathaway's coming'. They're very clear. Are they digital?
The internet is not the best medium for such things though. You'll have a better idea of what they say, since you can hear the original files. Transmission over such distances does affect quality, no matter what the computer-gurus say.
You don't need (and might not even want) my 'approval' :). I'm on the other side of the world, and I keep my activities quiet so few people have even have heard of me. I think you're doing a great job, if my opinion means anything at all.
I've had enough accusations of 'promoting the devil's work' to know it's easier to keep quiet (Yes, we have those over here too). At least until I have definitive proof.
As you say, there are no experts because nobody has (yet) found absolute and unchallengeable proof. We're not alone though. Astronomers have admitted they can't see around 90% of the matter in the Universe. They refer to the rest as 'dark matter'. Yet when we refer to things that can't be seen, these same scientists will ridicule us. So it's best to keep quiet when scientists are around, as well as the religious.
It's very late here, and I'm in danger of getting onto one of my rants - if you don't hear from me for a while, I'm not ignoring you. I'm asleep.
Professor, it's a twin bed. You know what those are don't you? Is that what they're called in the UK, too? And don't listen to Leary. She can't cook. That's why she eats out all the time. ; )
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