Monday, September 30, 2013

Paranormal Objects on eBay

I may have found a new hobby…

A friend recently commented on the entertainment value of browsing through eBay’s Paranormal section in search of haunted objects. Not to bid on said items, but for the entertainment value of seeing what people are trying to sell, and if people are actually willing to bid on it, “Please pay to take my ghost problem.”

Some items and stories seem to be of decent quality, like this recently sold item supposedly contains the spirit of a little boy. The old owner claims the doll needs attention or the attached ghost will start misbehaving:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PARANORMAL-HAUNTED-DOLL-POSSESSED-BY-9-YR-OLD-BOY-MICHAEL-/231063914110?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35cc7b867e#ht_310wt_1200 


Supposedly haunted dolls seem to be a popular listing (some of which are clearly not as old as the current owner claims them to be, do some research when buying antiques, haunted or otherwise), as does tacking the phrase ‘witch owned’ onto such dolls. There’s apparently a Wicca belief that dolls can contain protective spirits, but how many of these dolls are just labeled this way to boost sales? It might seem like a lot of work, but if a super short story could get you another ten bucks, would you write it?

Some people just tack Haunted and other Tags onto their items to get as many hits as possible. This doll was also listed as Steampunk, and I assure you, it’s not:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Antique-Doll-Head-Creepy-Gothic-Haunted-Halloween-Steampunk-Zombie-Torso-/300977569489?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4613a93ed1#ht_101wt_1170

Some items seem to hold legal problems, such as the supposed human remains contained in this item. Depending on circumstance selling human remains may be illegal. Were the police ever notified that these remains were found?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GHOST-BOX-CONTAINING-BONES-AND-DOLL-FROM-STANLEY-HOTEL-SITE-OF-THE-SHINING-/161115395054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item258339d3ee#ht_326wt_1170

And some seem just to be for giggles. Like these paper boxes the poster claims contain ghosts with 2-dimesional personalities, as indicated by the ribbons on the boxes:
 http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Ghost-Box-Own-your-own-ghost-/121172825396?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c36769534#ht_994wt_1170 

Others are hilariously dubious, like these cheap mass-produced earrings that the poster claims will allow you to see ghosts:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Haunted-10kt-Gold-Stud-Earrings-/181229333220?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a321c2ae4#ht_158wt_1170

Of course I caution anyone greatly if they are considering an item that may be possessed or cursed:
1) Obviously, first off, there’s a lot of scams, people selling cheap replicas of antiques with a creepy story tacked on to boost sales.
2) If it is real, the current owners are trying to get rid of it for a reason. You don’t really know what you’re trying to bring into your home.
3) If you live with other people, it’s not fair to them to bring a possessed/cursed item into your home, even if you think you can handle it.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Unlucky and Cursed Numbers

Magical numbers, divine numbers, unlucky numbers, cursed numbers, most every culture and religion has numbers that they believe to have power. And many people even have numbers that they believe to be lucky or unlucky for themselves.

Here’s some of the most unlucky and cursed numbers:

In western culture the number 13 has long been considered unlucky, and buildings are still being built ‘without’ a 13th floor:
MSN Real Estate News: http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/post--buildings-still-cater-to-the-superstitious-by-skipping-the-13th-floor

BTW, the floor is still there, they just call it the 14th floor. It gets funnier, no, really, it does:

"…a 2007 Gallup poll found that 13 percent of Americans would be bothered by staying on the 13th floor of a hotel…"
- Stuart Vyse, professor of psychology at Connecticut College.
LiveScience: http://www.livescience.com/39566-friday-the-13th-superstitions.html

Additionally Friday is considered unlucky in Christianity, as the day of the week Christ died, so Friday the 13th is considered particularly unlucky.

Other cultures have selected different unlucky numbers. In some parts of Africa 12 is particularly unlucky. A old folktale tells of a man with 12 sons. One day, while measuring out a portion of grain for each of them, a lion leapt out of the bush and killed the 12th son.

In China 4 is unlucky because it sounds like Death (0, 5, 6 are also unlucky, but not to the same degree). And in Japan both 4 and 9 are unlucky because they sound like Death and Suffering. By the way, 4 + 9 = 13, so while 13 isn’t strictly unlucky, it’s sometimes considered unlucky by proxy.

Furthermore, some numbers are believed to be cursed! In Christianity, there’s the infamous mark of the beast, the dreaded triple 6s. A section of highway running between Colorado and New Mexico, now renamed Route 191, once bore this number and is still believed to be cursed, earning the nickname The Devil’s Highway.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Ghost Animals

I’ve heard a few accounts of people encountering ghosts of pets and other domesticated animals, as well as wild animals or animals that may never have been animals to start with, including some tales of family guardians/totems.

Sometimes these stories get debunked as with the woman who thought her cat had returned, because sand being dragged in from a nearby lot where her cat had liked to go, but found it was only falling of her granddaughter’s stuffed toy.

For myself, I’ve had a possible experience with ghost animals. This happened sometime between 1999 and 2003. I was staying the night at a friend’s house, and they had two dogs; a corgi with a cropped tail, and a lab. The corgi slept with my friend and the lab slept with the parents.

During the night, curled up in my sleeping bag, I felt a dog step over me and it’s tail smacking me. I figured it was the lab (since the corgi had very little tail) and just went back to sleep whenever it happened. I looked around once, but didn’t see anything, so I assumed the dog had gone back downstairs. In the morning I told my friend the lab had been coming up and bugging me. The parents however kept the door closed (as they later confirmed), therefore lab couldn’t have left their room.

However, my friend then explained to me that the room we’d been sleeping in had once been used to breed dogs. The former owner apparently was not very good about this, and several of the dogs had died in that room. So obviously, my friend figured, it may have been the spirit of one of these dogs that I’d encountered. 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Lightning

We’ve had a lot of thunder storms lately. Some people claim natural phenomenon, like extreme weather such as lightning, and geological formations such as quartz in the bedrock, can give strength to spiritual activity.

Some even claim that ball lightning may be manifestation of spirits. These spheres pop in and out of existence as quickly as ghost orbs. Of course the vast majority of recorded ghost orbs appear to be dust, but that’s not so say all orbs are.

Last night was exceptionally fascinating, with sideways cloud to cloud lightning. Normally all we get here is thin single vertical bolts. It’s funny how different locations seem to get different types of lightning. The lightning I saw in Montana was really thick, and the lightning I saw in Florida (accompanied by 15 minutes of rain each time) was the beautiful upside-down tree shaped sort of lightning. 

So far I haven’t experienced anything particularly paranormal in relation to lightning, but that probably okay.