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Taking a slight detour from our usual "ghostly" fare, I wanted to report on the new movie titled The Day the Earth Stood Still - featuring Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Helen Benson, and Kathy Bates as Regina Jackson.
The Day The Earth Stood Still - All It's Cracked Up to Be?
If this new movie is any indication, 2009 may turn out to be the year that movies made from fiction become popular, especially if the hit movie Twilight is any indication. This new movie with Keanu Reeves, in particular, is based on the 1951 hit movie The Day the Earth Stood Still
That 92 minute film mesmerized audiences as Klaatu, an alien on a peace mission to earth, and Gort, his robot, land in Washington in order to alert the world of impending doom. This theme is not only reminiscent of this 1950's sci-fi film, but it is also a reflection of the many themes you can find throughout Ufology and the many abduction stories you'll find throughout the literature. There are always aliens coming to alert the earth of impending doom - doom from nuclear holocaust, but more recently abductees report in stories and novels (and sometimes under hypnosis) that the warnings are about our environmental crisis and things like global warming.
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Alien Warning - The Day the Earth Stood Still
Real Guardian Angels - Are They Just Ghosts?
Whenever I read stories about encounters with angels, alien abductions, and nightly visits by shadow people or demons, I'm always struck by the obvious parallels between angel encounters, and encounters with other entities. As time goes on, I'm starting to appreciate the extreme psychological nature of these events. The problem, of course, is the fact that the psychological aspect only explains that people are misinterpreting things. The fact remains that physical and anecdotal evidence proves something very real, and sometimes very disturbing, is taking place. The question is - what is it?
Encounters with Guardian Angels
This week we're going to focus on a unique aspect of experiences with guardian angels, because so few websites out there cover this material from a paranormal investigator's standpoint. Unfortunately, on the flip side, most investigators also ignore the alien abduction phenomenon and encounters with angels. But that only makes sense, because they are concerned primarily with those experiences that more closely match what they believe these entities are - ghosts. Unfortunately, that leaves too many other experiences, like those with angels, unexplored.
So, in order to fill the gap, I'm going to cover three impressive stories that I found from readers who reported their own experience on the Internet. Most of the angel-based websites take the religious angle when covering these stories - but from a unique "paranormal scientist" standpoint, your can to review these stories with a whole new perspective. As you read these stories, look for clues regarding the characteristics of these entities that could tell us more about who or what they are. Let's get started.
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Demons and Haunted Houses
Ghost hunters around the world investigate cases that involve what appear to be real ghosts, hoaxed phenomenon, and also misunderstood circumstances or events. Unfortunately, it's very difficult for ghost hunters to remain on the fence regarding the reality of the spiritual realm. Some investigators see so much overwhelming evidence that they start to believe every little creaky staircase is a ghost. On the flip side, other investigators come across so much silliness that they get hardened to even those cases where authentic phenomena shows it's face. How do you proceed with both skepticism and an open mind?
Research the cases where the evidence calls into question everything you've come to base your reality on.
Examine Only Cases of Real Hauntings With Excellent Evidence
"Hauntings" are those cases where objects, the environment, or even people themselves start to become manipulated by unseen forces. It's the most difficult predicament for a scientist, because there are so many unknowns. It's a black box with something inside, and you need to determine what that "something" is without touching, smelling, nudging, or otherwise manipulating the box. That's the difficulty every scientist faces within the paranormal field. This is why you need to dive into the thickest, ugliest, and most difficult cases of paranormal activity. That's why, this week, I'll be examining cases of possession and it's place within the environment of a haunted home.
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Is My Haunting a Real Ghost or a Demon?
One of the questions that I often come across when reading through the accounts of homeowners who are afflicted with real ghosts and paranormal phenomenon in their home is this - is my haunting a real ghost or a demon? Are these unseen forces that making knocking noises and move objects nothing more than docile ghosts, or are they deceitful demons? The answer to that question is made all the more elusive by the fact that it's an unanswerable question.
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NY-SPI Is Like Ghost Hunters for UFO Phenomenon
This is good news, if you like the ghost hunters of the Sci Fi channel, the New York Strange Phenomena Investigations (NY-SPI) are releasing a "director's cut" version that allegedly has "never-before-shown scenes so shocking, the other channel was unwilling to broadcast them."
Shocking Paranormal Phenomenon Like on Ghost Hunters?
According to a press release issued to researchers and investigators, these original UFO Hunters of the Sci Fi channel were forced to go to Investigation Discovery (ID)
because the "other channel," obviously a reference to the Sci Fi channel, wouldn't release the episode.
It isn't clear exactly how the program has been "uniquely modified," for ID, but according to the release the new take has footage shocking enough that the other channel turned it down. Now, in this day and age of television, with Sci Fi showing plenty of shocking footage on Ghost Hunters, or A&E providing a lot of spooky moments on Paranormal State, it's hard to believe that anything could be so shocking in the field of the paranormal, whether it's ghosts or UFOs. This episode of NY-SPI INVESTIGATES is going to be broadcast Saturday, December 13 at 10 PM EST, so if you get Investigation Discovery, please review the episode and report back here via comment or email what you thought of it.
What is NY-SPI and Information Discovery?
I'm a huge fan of Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State. While I like Paranormal State because of how open-minded Ryan, the Director, can be in his investigations, I like 
Ghost Hunters just a little more because they are more scientific than Paranormal State. For one thing, they'd never use a psychic to "sense" whether there's a presence. While I believe in the reality of psychic ability, there's no evidence of it's strength or ability in sensing ghosts, aliens, or other paranormal activity. It makes no sense to use a tool that you don't understand in order to investigate a phenomenon that you don't understand.
This is why I like NY-SPI. Yes, they're dealing with those goofy-looking aliens and the UFO phenomenon, but most researchers and investigators of paranormal phenomenon are starting to recognize that the two experiences are extremely similar. And as far as "strange phenomenon" goes - an alien abduction experience is extremely similar to many scary demonic entity experiences.
NY-SPI is one of those special investigative teams that assumes nothing. They make the best use of science to investigate what they call "otherworldly experiences." While they may be talking about other physical worlds, ghost hunters around the world recognize that sometimes "otherworldly" has a whole other meaning. NY-SPI was co-founded by Oliver Kemenczky and Ted Davis, and in this particular episode, they bring along researcher/investigator Dennis Anderson.
What's Investigation Discovery (ID)?
For investigators who appreciate good, solid science in every investigation, ID is a very good sign of the times. Investigation Discovery is a Discovery network that, according to its website, is "focused on fact-based investigative content about culture, history and the human condition."
Given the condition that so much non fact-based investigation has created for the field of UFO hunting and ghost hunting, such a network channel is a very good sign for the future of paranormal investigations. Media, such as Twilight, the movie, are encouraging a greater public interest in things that are paranormal and supernatural. Episodes on television, based on using science in an appropriate way, to uncover the secrets behind all of this strange phenomenon that surrounds us in this world of ours, will encourage future generations of ghost hunters and UFO hunters to take the same approach. It will encourage kids to do well in science so that, one day, they might be the one to make that breakthrough that explains the secrets of the unseen world around us.
Twilight The Movie - A New Generation of Vampires
For those of you who have caught the ''Twilight'' fever, Twilight the move and Twilight the book are sweeping the nation like a phenomenon as large and sweeping as ''Harry Potter''.
The Twilight Movie Introduces Vampires to a New Generation
Bram Stoker's horrifying publication of ''Dracula'', in 1897, introduced the world to a character based on a cultural myth as old as time. Stoker's Dracula, a terrifying, undead creature has captured the imagination of multitudes and has terrified generations. 
Over a hundred years later, movies, video games, and books have been based around the creature known as a "Vampire" - a beautiful beast that is more evil and more insatiable than any that ever came before it. Each generation of vampire literature has followed the basic architecture of what each culture has established is a "Vampire." That is, until ''Vampire'' the movie came along.
What's Twilight the Movie?
Stephenie Meyer provides readers with a wonderful description about how her brilliant novel was born. According to her website, it was based primarily on a short, vivid dream she had one night. She describes it as follows:I woke up (on that June 2nd [2003]) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately. For what is essentially a transcript of my dream, please see Chapter 13 ("Confessions") of the book.
The following months left Stephenie, one of the best new writers of this generation, struggling with months of an obsessive-compulsive literary fugue. The characters of Edward and Bella had introduced themselves to Stephenie, and she was captured by the terrible beauty of their relationship. She couldn't stop writing her novel just as readers, now, are not able to put the Twilight the book down. Speaking of which, don't forget to order your copy:
- Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
- New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
- Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
What Is a Vampire?
Bram Stoker's character, Count Dracula, was based on the Hungarian ruler known as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad "Dracul-a".
He was also known as Vlad the Impaler because he became famous for torturing people by impaling them on stakes and letting them die slowly as they bled to death from their injuries. Rumors spread that Vlad even killed children by drinking their blood and forced the parents to watch, or reducing the surplus poor population by locking them in a building and burning them alive. The Vampire Legend Spreads
Just as with werewolves, though the idea of vampires came from such a legend, the following centuries brought a multitude of very real sightings of blood-sucking creatures which became known as "vampires."
A famous example was that of Arnold Paole, who was reported to have been bitten by a vampire while he was serving in the Army. He returned as a farmer, and life was supposedly fine until he died in a tragic accident while cutting hay. Immediately following his death, people in the same area began dying from blood loss, leading the locals to believe that a vampire was on the loose.
Since Arnold had just died, speculation started that he was really the vampire. Several witnesses soon reported seeing Arnold alive, confirming suspicions that he really was the undead creature sucking blood from victims. Locals believed that he was the culprit so strongly that they unburied his corpse and, according to their accounts, found him in his grave without decay, and with fresh blood on his lips. Following cultural believes regarding vampires at the time, they hammered a stake through his heart, and allegedly heard the creature scream in agony from the attack. Once they'd killed the beast, they cut off his head and burned the body. Afterwards, no further blood-sucking murders occurred, and belief in vampires was strengthened.
Twilight the Movie
I have personally never had an interest in Vampires. I avoid Vampire novels and Vampire movies. But Twilight the book has changed all of that. Stephenie has transformed the old stereotypical character of the evil and vicious vampire into one that is beautiful, has heart, and is capable of an undying and painful love so deep that it consumes him even as he struggles not to consume her (and to protect her from others who wouldn't hesitate to kill her.) This novel is a one-of-a-kind story that comes along very rarely in ones lifetime. I will certainly see this movie, that much is certain.
Haunted University of Southern Maine
Having a family member in the Haunted University of Maine Theater Department of USM is a lot of fun. We get to see lots of wonderful plays, hear about the backstage plunders, and best of all...we get to hear about the many experiences that staff have with the restless spirits that haunt the University of Southern Maine Theater Department.
Exploring the Haunted University of Southern Maine
USM is a charming college campus located in Gorham, Maine, located just 15 minutes west of Portland, Maine. There are a number of alleged paranormal "hot spots" on this campus, located just 30 minutes East of where we live.
After watching a recent theater production at USM, my sister, who was in the play, told me about a number of ghost legends on campus. A few of the residential halls are known to have fascinating cases of hauntings, but one of the most intriguing locations on campus for ghostly activity is Russell Hall, the current USM Theater building.
Russell Hall, as shown here, is a wonderfully old brick building situated at the very heart of campus. The building has seen its share of the student population, and as rumor has it, possible deaths as well.
One particular story surrounding Russell Hall is based on the recent experience of one Theater student who decided to creep into the hall one night during after hours. Nervous already, because students aren't allowed into the Hall after the doors are closed, this particular student set to work on his tech project.
The Real Ghost Experience
As the student worked silently up in the loft with the tech equipment, at about 4 a.m., he suddenly heard the sound of someone climbing up the ladder to the catwalk near the loft. The student instantly felt panic fill his chest. As the knelt there, frozen, he could hear the slow and steady climb of shoes and hands on the ladder. Then, the heard the footsteps of someone walking across the catwalk. From his vantage point, he could see the lower part of the catwalk. Expecting to see the uniform pants of a USM security guard, he was shocked to see the plaid covered legs and white shirt of what appeared to be a student. The student slowly walked to the center of the catwalk, turned, jumped off and then promptly disappeared.
Obviously shocked, the student scrambled down from the loft and ran out of the building the way he had come in. He swore, to everyone he told the story to later, that he would never allow himself to be alone in the Theater ever again.
The Investigation
The first step in this investigation is to research the history of this building, and determine whether or not there are any records of a death or suicide inside this building since it was built. The next step will be to contact USM and obtain permission to spend a night in the Theater with equipment, including sound, video, and digital stills. If any local paranormal society is interested in assisting with this investigation, please contact me before the end of January!
The U.S. Air Force, The CIA, Aliens and Ghosts
Where did the last post go?
Please check out the new blog - "Top Secret - Truth or Fiction?"
You can get to it here.
This blog, Invisible Articles, will be used exclusively for paranormal stories, interviews, video and research. Please bookmark and visit often!
Ghosts - The Search for Answers
Welcome to the first, ever, science-based ghost blog. "First, ever?" you ask. Yes, that's presumptuous of me. But honestly, have you been able to find a single paranormal investigator anywhere on the internet who has been able to examine the spiritual side of this world without falling into one of two categories:
Believer - The writer/investigator who starts out trying to remain critical and unbiased, but after a few personal paranormal experiences, he or she starts to lose grasp of all reality. Some begin studying how to "improve" their psychic abilities in order to communicate with spirits, while others become convinced that the CIA is doing experiments on their dog. Think I'm joking? Hang around...in the coming weeks I'll show you a few examples.
Skeptics - These are the ones who, if you tell them you were born in October of 1978, they won't believe you unless you provide a birth certificate. If you say up, they say down. If you say the grass is green, they'll say prove it. They are natural devil's advocates to the point where they deny their own perception of reality. A good quality for anyone examining paranormal phenomenon - but a bad quality for anyone examining an unknown, poorly-understood phenomenon. The believers are the scientists who can't see the forest for the trees. But the skeptics are the scientists who walk around with blinders on, and walk through the forest, ignoring everything happening around them.
What's better? Neither. With this blog, I'm going to provide a place for level-headed skeptics and believers to come and examine the world...without limits. Those of you who live in a haunted home, experience strange ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon in your home, hang around. I'm going to share interviews, live investigations (including real ghost pictures and real ghost video) from local and national investigations.
We are going to assume nothing. We are going to believe nothing. But we are going to uncover everything. We'll do it together, you and I...loyal reader. Stay tuned.