The Lost Meaning of Halloween

Christian Hummel reveals the lost meaning Halloween and how it evolved from Samhain (pronounced sah-win) to All Hallow's Eve.

All Hallow's Eve, Hallow E'en, Halloween, Day of the Dead, Samhain. By whatever name it has been called, this special night preceding All Hallows day (November 1st) has been considered for centuries as one of the most magical nights of the year. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest.

As ubiquitous as Halloween celebrations are throughout the world, few of us know that the true origin of Halloween is a ceremony of honoring our ancestors and the day of the dead. A time when the veils between the worlds were thinner, and so many could "see" the other side of life. A time in the year when the spiritual and material worlds touched for a moment, and a greater potential exists for magical creation. Read more

Spectrophilia: Sex with Ghosts

Tales of spirit lovers go back to the earliest days of storytelling. As author Rosemary Ellen Guily says in the article, some encounters can be explained by psychology, but not all. I know that my own couldn't be. And psychic Patty Negri's claim that you can fend off such encounters by just saying no, is the advice of someone who obviously has no personal experience with the phenomenon. If that works, the whole encounter was imaginary in the first place.

Halloween is without question the best of all possible holidays…there’s no family BS, no gift guilt, just tricks, treats and terror. But let’s face it…trying to squeeze something sexy out of it is like trying to take candy from Rosemary’s Baby.

Sure, you’ve got vampires and the standard hot pirate / gladiator costumes but very few real, old-fashioned ghost and monster stories are turn-ons. My standards are notoriously low but even I’m not aroused by rotting zombie flesh, Nosferatu’s rat face or the slow hand of Freddy Krueger. Unless you’re jumping into someone’s arms while watching one of these movies, sexiness and spookiness don’t often mix.

Unless, of course, you are having actual sex with an actual ghost.

It’s called spectrophilia and some experts say it not only happens, but tales of it go back to the earliest days of storytelling. Read more

Ghost Hunter Flashlight Phenomenon Explained? No

A YouTube video has surfaced claiming to debunk the flashlight phenomenon.

... The host on the "Viper Paranormal" YouTube video offered another explanation. In the video, he said the flashlight turning on and off is basically a short circuit that occurs at random. He said that many ghosthunters unscrew the backs of their flashlights to the point where the flashlight is teetering between staying on or off, then set it down to ask questions. He compares the effect to lights flickering on and off in a home.

"You're not getting enough voltage to that light and for a split second that light has no power. Well, it's the exact same thing with this flashlight. When this thing is unscrewed, it's teeter-tottering between having a connection. And basically you've got a short circuit, so sometimes this light's going to come on, and sometimes it's going to be off," said Mike St. Clair, the host of the Viper Paranormal YouTube series.

Theoretically, then, any vibration could cause the connection to be completed and the light to turn on.

This explanation would only satisfy the extremely gullible, or maybe someone who has never watched Ghost Hunters. On the show, the flashlight sits unlit and then slowly comes on in response to a question. Then it is turned off slowly at the request of an investigator. The flashlight does not flicker on and off.

This is quite typical of the paranormal "debunking" I've read: It either doesn't debunk what actually happens on the show or outright lies about what happens. None of us outsiders can know whether the show's producers and participants are honest, of course, Assuming no chicanery, however, this explanation doesn't debunk the flashlight phenomenon. Furthermore, Sabrina Wu did an experiment to test whether the explanation was even plausible. Read about the outcome

B-2 Stealth Bomber and Other Aircraft Mistaken for UFOs

The is a good example of why UFO investigators must thoroughly explore mundane explanations for events. Most UFOs are simply unidentified or misidentified.

People in Missouri have been scratching their heads this month over a rash of UFO sightings that has them wondering if it's alien visitors, small plane experimental flying teams, the B-2 stealth bomber or all of the above.

So far, eyewitnesses in the "Show Me" state have been entertained by aerial displays of lights or orbs in the night sky, with the majority of sightings centered around the Kansas City area.

"With all the sightings, we've had a description of a triangle-shaped craft with multicolored lights surrounding it," said Debbie Ziegelmeyer, state director for Missouri MUFON, a chapter of the International Mutual UFO Network.

"We have information that the nearby Whiteman Air Force Base, 50 miles east of Kansas City, is under a yellow alert with training mission activities of the B-2 stealth bombers around the area." Read more

Anderson Cooper Spooked by Mother's Mediumistic Messages

TV host Anderson Cooper is spooked by his mother's mediumistic messages.

Gloria Vanderbilt has spooked her son and even a professional psychic by being 'contacted by Marilyn Monroe' - and has revealed that she believes she is psychic herself.

The actress, socialite, artist and mother of TV presenter Anderson Cooper, met with psychic John Edward who revealed that Monroe had something to tell the veteran star.

On the host's daily talk show, Anderson, Mr Cooper spoke about his and his mother's unnerving experiences of visiting the medium. Read more

Air Force UFO Rules Vanish after HuffPost Inquiry

Was it just a coincidence that the Air Force deleted a UFO section from a personnel manual just days after a Huffington Post inquiry about it.

The military deleted a passage about unidentified flying objects from a 2008 Air Force personnel manual just days after The Huffington Post asked Pentagon officials about the purpose of the UFO section.

Before the recent revisions, the document -- Air Force Instruction 10-206 -- advised pilots, radar operators and other Air Force personnel on what to do when they encountered any unknown airborne objects. Now in the 2011 version, the reference to UFOs -- which simply means "unidentified flying objects," not necessarily spaceships with little green men -- has been eliminated.

What makes this so intriguing is that the U.S. government officially stopped investigating UFOs in 1969 with the termination of the Air Force's Project Blue Book. Read more

Exorcism Experiencing a Renaissance in American Catholicism

Exorcism is experiencing a renaissance in American Catholicism.

For more than a decade, Frank, a software consultant who lives near Silicon Valley, California, has been haunted by depression and rage. Searching for remedies to lift his dark mood, Frank, 52, tried pills, therapy, even channeling spirits. Nothing worked.

Three years ago, his wife handed him a book about demonic possession. Written by a former priest active in charismatic Catholic circles, the book presented scriptural arguments for the existence of demons and offered advice to questions such as “How do we know if an evil spirit is really present?” and “How do I pray for deliverance?” Desperate for relief, Frank decided, while he was jogging one night, to pray for deliverance.ed.

“If I had known what was going to happen, I would have picked a more private place,” Frank says. After reciting the recommended prayer, he doubled over, dry heaving, by the side of the road. His lungs felt like they were leaping out of his chest. Read more