Alien Humor

Being a paranormal investigator with a main focus on ghosts and hauntings, I tend to blog about those subjects. But, I'm interested in ALL areas of the paranormal and unexplained and one of the areas I tend to neglect is ufology/extraterrestrials. So, today's Friday Night Funny is dedicated to the alien, lol. I specifically chose today to post this because every time I eat too much and get a bellyache, I feel exactly like this is what is going to happen to me. I hope YOU and yours had a happy Thanksgiving and didn't eat too much! 

Morphic Resonance

Have you ever visited a place for the first time, yet surprisingly found your new surroundings so familiar that you could swear you've been there before? Have you met someone new that you felt like you've known forever? Have you taken up a skill or hobby with such ease that its almost like you've been doing it for years? If so, you may be experiencing what proponents of reincarnation call "Morphic Resonance."

In her book, Past Lives of the Rich and Famous, the controversial psychic, Sylvia Browne, defines Morphic Resonance as what happens when "the spirit mind finds itself in a place so profoundly familiar from a past life that it experiences almost total recall and infuses the conscious mind with that same, seemingly inexplicable sense of familiarity." It is a result of cell memory, and is not necessarily limited to geographical locations. A place, a person, or even a circumstance from a past life can lead to the infusion of the conscious mind with a sense of familiarity.

I'm sure at one point or another in our lives, whether or not we really believe in reincarnation or not, we've all experienced a similar feeling. I know several years ago when I visited the town of Grafton, WV for the first time, I instantaneously knew my way around without even needing to read the street signs. I knew where to find specific buildings, and what other buildings were used for. When visiting Charleston, S.C. for the first time, I lacked a real clear familiarity in regards to finding my way around....but I felt such a connection for the area and the locals, that I actually felt stabs of homesickness when we had to leave. For the week we were there, I felt comfortable and at home. I've also met many people throughout my life that I had an instant bond with...and a few who I knew from the first time meeting them that they were not good people.

The term Morphic Resonance isn't, however, a product of Sylvia Browne herself. It was actually coined by Rupert Sheldrake in his 1981 book, A New Science of Life. According to the Skeptic's Dictionary, Sheldrake uses the term to '"refer to what he thinks is "the basis of memory in nature...the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and the collective memories within species."' He further clarifies that "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind."

There seem to be some stark contrasts between Browne's definition and Sheldrake's. Browne uses the term to explain how the memories from our past lives can leak through to our current incarnations. Sheldrake tends to take a more practical approach, albeit it still extremely controversial and unproven in the scientific community, by using morphic resonance to explain why living organisms act the way they do...why they seemingly are created with the collective knowledge of their species built in. If you're interested in learning more about Rupert Sheldrake's theories of morphic resonance, I've included an hour-long lecture on the subject below. 

Ghost Photo Analysis: Staircase Apparition

This photo was recently posted to a Facebook paranormal interest group to which I belong. The original poster did not post any accompanying information on the photo, and as of 16 hours after the original posting, had not returned to answer any questions or pose any type of clarification.

When I'm perusing Facebook groups, I tend not to focus too much on the ghost pictures submitted by others. Most often, its just not worth it, lol. That sounds harsh, but its true. Either there is just not enough information or photo clarity to give a good, accurate analysis....or the photo is a natural glitch. Sometimes, the photo is outright fraudulent. These I hate the most because I'm one of those who believe that people are inherently good. I don't think the majority of people posting ghost app photos and other fraudulent photos and/or information are doing so maliciously. Rather, I think people have a tendency to find something cool on the internet and want to share. Unfortunately, some are the victims of pranks by friends who realize their gullibility.

I tend to think this photo is just one of those, 'Hey, cool! Look what I found!' photos. When I first scrolled by and paused, what caught my attention was that I knew I had seen this image somewhere before. Further, while looking at the photo, it certainly didn't look like an image taken with a camera---it had that look of 'film,' like it was a still shot from a movie.  A simple reverse-image search later, and I had my answer.

This image IS a still shot, and it was probably taken directly from the documentary, The Best Ghost Cases Ever Caught on Tape, which aired as a Fox TV special in the early 2000s. This show specializes in taking film footage of alleged ghosts, and explaining or debunking them. While I highly recommend watching the whole thing, I want to bring your attention to the clip at hand. If you fast forward to 26:16, you'll see the clip in question....and the confession that it is the product of a student filmmaker! Oh, and what looks like a robot ghost is actually the mist pausing in front of the refrigerator, lol.

The Best Ghost Cases Ever Caught on Tape Documentary

Theresa's Travels: Flatwoods, WV

On Tuesday, November 7th, I went with my mom and my sister to Fairmont, WV to spend time with my nephew! Ryan is a Freshman at Fairmont State University, and thanks to early voting, we were able  to take Tuesday to drive up there, take him out to lunch between classes, and get a peek at his dorm. We also met a few of his fraternity brothers, who I was surprised to find were a very nice, polite group of young men....despite the fact that they apparently like dressing up as bananas and roaming the downtown district in their spare time, lol. A shout out for the wonderful restaurant we ate at: Muriale's in Fairmont was an awesome Italian place with great service and great food. If you take advantage of the lunch specials, it's especially affordable.

Anyway, as usual, I had to consult my own blog to see if there were any good ghost stories to explore while on campus. For some strange reason, despite the town of Fairmont being a pretty historical place, there aren't really any ghost stories of any substance that I found. I thought for sure the campus would be filled with the typical college urban legends, but nope. NADA. So, if you know of any Fairmont ghost stories or haunted buildings around the city, please please please comment below or send 'em to me at theresarhps@yahoo.com !

The trip wasn't a complete bust, though, paranormally speaking. Since we had to go through Flatwoods to return home to Putnam County, we decided to stop. My sister wanted to look around the Fiesta Outlet, and I saw a discount bookstore in the same shopping center. While I was walking over to the bookstore, I passed the Braxton County CVB office. I had heard about the display, and wasn't disappointed! One little area of the office was completely devoted to the Braxton County/Flatwoods Monster, complete with models, memorabilia, and two notebooks filled with documents and articles about the 1952 sighting.

There are a ton of great resources out there to consult for more information on the Braxton County Monster, but in short: In September of 1952, a group of kids playing football witnessed what appeared to be some sort of aircraft fly overhead and crash on a nearby mountain. They rushed to the home of one of the boys, where his mother and a neighbor accompanied the group up a mountain road to look for the crash site. What they found was a strange and creepy THING, that was later theorized to have been some sort of being in a spacesuit or smaller craft.



Seeing the display and knowing that over the past few years the city has really embraced its monster heritage was pretty awesome. However, we weren't done. The county also maintains five Monster Chairs in various locations throughout the area. While we were apparently quite close to two of the five, we went a tad out of our way to the Gassaway Dairy Queen and visited the first chair to be installed.

It was a fun and interesting way to end the day, and we already have plans to go back soon and track down ALL FIVE chairs! The Braxton County/Flatwoods Monster is an intriguing and important case in Ufology, and I'm proud that my little state is its home. Here's a documentary if you'd like to know more: Braxton County/Flatwoods Monster

Book Review for Ghost Hunting Kentucky

Title: Ghost Hunting Kentucky
Author: Patti Starr
Published: 2010 by Clerisy Press
Amazon Purchase Information

Ghost Hunting Kentucky, by the well-known author and ghost hunter, Patti Starr, is part of the 'America's Haunted Road Trip' group of books. Patti writes about 30 haunted places throughout the entire state of Kentucky that she has investigated---and that you most likely can as well!

I received this book in late September. My boyfriend travels throughout Eastern Kentucky and to Lexington quite a bit for work, and he's always on the lookout for local paranormal books for me. He happened across a signed copy of Ghost Hunting Kentucky and brought it home! Within a day or two, I had already read it, lol.

Patti Starr is somewhat of an old school ghost hunter, and while I don't necessarily agree wholeheartedly with all her paranormal ideology, I do love her and respect her work. Plus, she's visited some really interesting places throughout Kentucky and elsewhere! This was a really quick and fun read, featuring a great mix of stories from locations I'm quite familiar with and some I had never heard anything about. There's also a good mix of history, personal experiences, and investigation reports.

The book is broken down into geographical sections, with each haunted location given its own chapter. Most haunted locations featured in the book come from the central part of the state, but there's a great sampling from all over, including Frankfort's Buffalo Trace Distillery, Mammoth Cave, Ashland's Paramount Arts Center, Paducah's C.C. Cohen Restaurant, and Lexington's Kentucky Theater. Black and white photographs accompany each chapter, some taken during the investigations and believed to be of a paranormal nature.

Overall, this was a great collection of regional ghost stories, spiced up a tad by the fact that these were places that were actually investigated for paranormal activity. The best part, nearly all these locations are available for private and/or public investigation events, or at the very least are open to the public during normal business hours. I had a great time reading through the experiences of not only Patti, but the many, many employees, guests, and other visitors to these locations. It gave it quite a personal touch. I definitely recommend this book if YOU'RE looking for a quick, fun read on haunted places throughout Kentucky, but you don't have to be from Kentucky to appreciate these spooky tales.

*More Book Reviews*

ScareFest 2016 Recap

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I made the drive to Lexington, Ky to attend the tri-state's largest paranormal and horror convention----ScareFest! The festival/convention is hosted by ghost hunter and author Patti Starr, and features tons of vendors, paranormal lectures, celebrity panels, photo ops, autograph signings, costume contests/cosplay, and much, much more! 2016 marked a landmark event with ScareFest kicking off the first National Ghost Hunting Day by coordinating what may have been the world's largest ghost hunt.

I always have a really great time at ScareFest, although admittedly, this year's lineup of guests and celebrities just didn't seem as strong as it usually is. That may have been a blessing, though....the lines for celebrity meet and greets were actually quite short and for each lecture we attended, we were able to walk right in and get a good seat.

Since the lines were so short, I went ahead and got autographs from the Ghost Hunters, Jason Hawes and Steve Gonsalves. Tango was there, and I had my picture taken with him as well with the other two, but for some reason, his autograph was an extra $10 and I just didn't bother with it, lol. The woman taking the money for the autographs already thought that I hadn't paid for my other autographs, so I didn't want to confuse her any more than she already was, lol. I had met Grant before, but this was my first time meeting the other guys. They weren't rude or anything, but they weren't especially chatty or accommodating, either.

As for the lectures, we chose to go all paranormal this year. There were a few celebrity/movie panels, but nothing we were dying to see, so we went with:

1. Kyl T. Cobb: The Facts Behind the Exorcist---Kyl gave an impressive and really interesting account of the true story that inspired what many claim is the scariest movie of all time. Being a historical researcher myself, I found it very...satisfying...seeing how a little detective work resulted in finding the actual 'possessed' boy and the facts surrounding his case. The lecture included a brief discussion on demonic possession in general, with comparisons to demons in western vs. eastern cultures. The whole thing was very well done; Cobb was a great public speaker, has plenty of credentials, and shared some really interesting facts that I had never heard before.

2. Steve Kulls: Sasquatch: The Truth You've Been Told vs. Actuality---This was another great presentation on fact vs. fiction. The discussion included many aspects of Sasquatch lore, including a vocabulary lesson on where the terms 'Sasquatch' and 'Bigfoot' originated, but the main focus seemed to be on the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Digitally enhanced and stabilized footage was presented, as well as information about how the alleged confessions of a hoax didn't actually happen the way the media portrayed. Oddly enough, I had already seen most of the enhanced footage presented in a class I took last year, but it was still fun to watch.

3. Shannon Byers: How Not to be a Ghost Hunter---Known as the Paranormal Genealogist, Shannon Byers is one of my favorite researchers of the paranormal and we have eerily similar philosophies, lol. Seriously, almost every single thing she presented in this How Not to be a Ghost Hunter presentation was something that I've blogged about, have said in the past, or what I currently practice and preach, lol. So, unfortunately, I really didn't LEARN a whole lot, but it was very validating that others out there take the same approach as I do. Shannon had given a presentation on Friday, I believe, about the truth behind Pearl Bryan and the hauntings of Bobby Mackey's, and I'm REALLY disappointed that I missed that one---I've been preaching for years about all the misinformation that is spread about that place and our less-than-stellar investigation experience there back in 2007.

In addition to checking out the speakers, we spent plenty of time out in the vendors' area. I bought a stack of used books on the paranormal, a Ghostbusters t-shirt for my son, some novelty soap items, and even some items for mine and Aaron's Halloween costumes! It was fun walking around and seeing the way everyone was dressed...and there were plenty of people dressed as clowns. With the creepy clown panic going on throughout the tri-state area and down south, I thought that was pretty brave of them! We also got to enjoy a fairly good lunch in the Rupp food court. The best part was waiting in line for our Chinese food, and seeing Tom Savini waiting for HIS Chinese food, just like any other non-celebrity.

Overall, this wasn't the best year for ScareFest in terms of attendance or level of celebrity guests, but I still had a great time, and I'm glad that we concentrated on the paranormal lectures this time. As a paranormal investigator, I feel that it is REALLY important to attend educational events such as this in order to not only learn some new skills and learn what is currently happening in the field, but to also network with others. A paranormal investigator can never have too many resources to draw from, and ScareFest definitely provides an opportunity to meet and learn from some of the best in the field.

Monday Meme: Victorian Graves

Ugh!!!!!!!  I am so sick of seeing this posted on different paranormal-themed Facebook pages/groups. I'm even more concerned when I see scores of people who actually BELIEVE that this metal cage is actually intended to trap a reanimated corpse. Our Victorian ancestors were not stupid. What they were afraid of was much more terrifying than zombies and vampires.  These metal cages were not intended to keep the ghouls from getting OUT....they were intended to keep the monsters from getting IN.

The photo above depicts a device known as a mortsafe. It was used in protection against grave robbers. Back in Victorian England, a couple of things were happening....

Before that time, medical students could only dissect and otherwise use cadavers 'donated' by criminals who had been sentenced to death. And, just about any offense could lead to hanging, lol. However, during the mid to late 1800s, social justice reform was leading to less offenses being punishable by death, and thus creating a huge shortage of corpses available to medical students. Medical science was making great strides throughout this time period, so a good supply of fresh corpses was EXTREMELY important. To help meet the demand, 'ressurectionists' would steal the bodies of the newly buried and then sell them to medical schools, generally with no questions asked.

As the practice became more and more of a threat, mortsafes and other devices were invented as a way to safeguard the bodies against theft.