Sleep Paralysis

When I discuss with people their paranormal experiences, my mind is already trying to separate what can be rationally explained from what can’t. Often when discussing a haunting or alien encounter, people will describe an event that fits the profile of a scientifically explained phenomenon, Sleep Paralysis (aka. Bound in Metal).

They’ll be lying in bed. They may have just gone to bed, or it may be later on in the night and they will experience the inability to move. Then often, they will realize there is a presence in the room with them, a ghost, hag, alien, or demon. This creature may be stating at them, sitting on them, holding them down, harming them, and/or molesting them.

It’s a horrifying experience, then the victim wakes and the entity is gone, along with any evidence they were there. Because for all practical purposes, they weren’t. The victim has just experienced a level of semi-consciousness in which they were partially awake, but still dreaming and still paralyzed by the chemicals that keep us from acting out our dreams and hurting ourselves.

While it’s possible that the stress, and consequent sleep deprivation, from a haunting or encounter may have brought on the sleep paralysis, most people are comforted to know that it is not actually part of the haunting (or a true alien encounter).

Sleep Paralysis experiences often seem to linked to local culture. In Japan, ghosts are most commonly blamed, while people in most of the USA are more likely to experiences encounters with aliens. Europeans and people in the South Eastern USA are more likely to experience witches or hags. Some cultures are more likely to experience demons, such as that of Turkey.

(Incubus, 1870)

Demons, specifically Incubus and Succubus were the commonly blamed for Sleep Paralysis in medieval times... as well as any nighttime lusting.

Ammut

I tried to impress upon a couple of kids today that Ammut (aka: Ammt, Ammit and Ahemait) was one of the scariest monsters in Eygptian mythology.

I don’t feel like I was successful in the slightest. Sure they got that she was a chimera demon composed of Crocodile head, Lion front body, and Hippo rear body. But I don’t think at all that they appreciated that these were the three largest dangerous creatures known to Ancient Egyptians, who believed Hippos would in fact eat men (not just kill them). And sure, they got that she would eat the hearts or souls of deceased sinners (depending on the version). But I don’t think they appreciated how game over having your soul eaten is. That’s it, there’s no more, no afterlife for you sir (of course, this is pretty much what atheist believe, minus the she-demon, so there may be a cultural gap there). And even if it wasn’t soul death, having your heart eaten, leaving you wandering the earth as tormented and restless soul (similar to the Japanese yuurei, or hungry ghost) is hardly something to look forward too.

This should be horrifying! It eats souls! But I’ve heard it over and over again, kids (and adults) are totally desensitized nowadays. And nobody meditates on anything anymore either, smartphones and microwaves have made us impatient, and you have to think about it long enough to realize why it’s scary.

Maybe I think too much...

* (The image above created by Jeff Dahl, and obtained via wikipedia)

Dancing Chair

This is probably my most reliable paranormal story. It doesn’t involve having just woken up to a silvery figure or sleep paralysis, nor shadows seen from the corners of eyes, nor creepy feelings, nor UFOs to far away to properly identify.

No, this happened right in front of me! Very close to me… Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact date or any sort of evidence.

It was morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 am. I was a little tired, I’m not a morning person, but wide awake. I’d been awake for over an hour. I was making a sandwich for my lunch. I was in high school at the time and didn’t care for the hot lunches the cafeteria-less school sold.

Standing in the kitchen, I was facing the dinning room and could see the top 2/3 of the chairs and table. Suddenly, the chair at the end of the table (the one directly in front of me), started rocking around.

 It felt like a long time, but it was probably really less than a second, and then it stopped.

I stopped making my sandwich and went to look and see if one of the cats had jumped from the chair. Both our cats were in the chairs to either side of it, fast asleep.

Guess what I did then? Did I freak out? Did I run screaming from the house? Did I call my mom, crying? Did I try to exorcise the chair? Nope. I shrugged and went back to making my sandwich, only later realizing how significant of activity that was. Many paranormal investigators would give a limb to get that on camera.

Which I didn’t.
(Get it on camera, that is... I've never given a limb either, but that's another subject.)

Do Ghosts Really Prefer the Dark?

Sometimes, it seems like darkness is something of a necessity for ghosts. I read a book or article sometime ago, where the author stated something to the effect that they, did not believe in ghosts on sunny days, but on stormy nights it was hard not to believe in ghosts (if you think you know what book/article that was from, let me know… there’s probably more than one that says this). While some Paranormal Investigators believe ghosts are more active at certain times, 12:00am, 3:00am, 3:33am, etc (this used to be called the witching hour, some now refer to it as quite time), they generally all seem to agree that you’re more likely to encounter something at night. 

Furthermore, most of the locations where ghosts can be found seem to be dark, abandon, old, and/or rundown. Do these locations have ghosts by virtue of time, or does the deviated environment invite the spirits of the departed to linger? Or do these locations only seem haunted to their dilapidated condition? Old buildings creak and settle, have drafts and noisier heating systems, out of date wiring and rundown appliances, as well as history.

But do ghost actually prefer these conditions? Or is this just when and where we go looking for them? (Assuming of course, they exist.)

Several ghost photos at the Myrtle Plantation seem to have been taken during the day, such as the famous Chloe image, where the sky is light:
http://www.angelsghosts.com/famous_myrtles_plantation_ghost_picture.html

Or this figure captured at Gettysburg:
http://ghostsnghouls.com/2012/08/14/gettysburg-ghost-photo/

And there are several more examples of ghostly images taken during the day. So, what if paranormal investigators are missing out on some great activity by only doing their investigations at night?

If you’re at a supposedly haunted location during the day, go ahead and snap some pictures anyways. You just might catch something.

Paranormal Documentary/Docudrama TV Shows

When I stop to think about it, there’s actually a surprising number of paranormal documentary/docudrama shows on TV, which I watch upon occasion as you may have guessed. Quality, methodology, and believability vary greatly between these shows, and there doesn’t seem to be one that has it just right yet.

As far as providing relevant information, doing research, and following the scientific method goes, Ghost Hunters has been one of the better documentaries. However I’ve noticed a bit of a decline in science and skepticism with the departure of co-founder Grant. The official statement was that he was leaving for personal reasons, but the fact that what used to be called ‘definite paranormal activity’ is now ‘there are spirits here’ kind of makes me wonder.

The downside of this show is that they show you 15 minutes of investigation to every 5 minutes of evidence or lack of evidence. So the most exciting parts are the end of each investigation where they let you know if they found anything. Occasionally, there’s some debunking or questioning during the investigation, though that was more common in the older episodes. Ghost Hunters International seems to lean even further the scientific method.

Haunted Highways would also be high on my list as far as information and science are concerned, and it actually tends to be pretty entertaining, though some of the evidence they encounter is a little dubious.

Fact or Faked is another of the more scientific paranormal documentaries. Sometimes they don’t take their tests as far as I would like, but I get that they have a budget.

Going down the list we come to the in-between shows like Paranormal State and My Ghost Story: Caught on Camera. These shows present some science and so-called evidence, but lack information (or in the case of Caught on Camera move to fast for the viewer to follow the information). I’m mentioned before that I find Paranormal State to be rather basis and dramatic, but they do at least do some research.

After that, I’d class most the rest of the paranormal shows I’ve seen as simply docudramas, only rarely presenting evidence or information that would lead you to a possible haunted location. Obviously it’s important not to have amateur paranormal investigators flocking to residential areas, but it does little to aid in confirmation. Some shows in this category would include, My Celebrity Ghost Story, My Haunted House, A Haunting, and Paranormal Witness.

Blog Updates

I’ve made a couple of pages, the first for my Case Files, a simple alphabetical list to make them easy to find. The second is a longer list of Paranormal Phenomenon as found in popular culture and the media.

Hopefully the links at the top of the page are working right now.

Alchemy, or Don’t Try This at Home

I’ve long been fascinated with the concept and history of alchemy. For most people idea that you could turn scrap metal into valuable metal, like gold (chrysopoeia), is an alluring one, and the variations that include immortality are easily all the more desirable. For those that pretended to be capable of alchemy, it was a get rich quick scheme, and for those that believed they might actually be able to do it, it was get rich and live forever dream, that never panned out. Today we know how to turn lead into gold through nuclear fission, but the monetary costs are way beyond what the gold itself would be worth.

Did you know that Isaac Newton was an alchemist? The famous physicist that everybody learns about in grade school, yep, him. Even Pope Innocent VIII, who blamed ‘The Little Ice Age’ on witches was involved in this pseudo-science, which some believe to be derived from earlier magic  practices (have I mentioned that I love wikipedia yet today? I always find wonderful tidbits of information while fact checking... of course wikipedia isn’t perfect as many of it’s articles are open source, so feel free to double-check this).

Of course, anyone who knows anything about alchemy knows that the ultimate icon of alchemy is the creation of a Philosopher’s Stone (that’s the Sorcerer’s Stone for all you American Harry Potter Fans). In historical and modern works, the stone’s appearance varies greatly. It may be red, white, black, orange, or a transparent reddish-purple. It maybe also be solid, powder, or liquid.

And as for what it’s made of, that’s even harder to answer. Often the process of creation calls for refinement after refinement, each resulting in a new color and chemical state, but lacks the ingredients to be refined. Suggested ingredients range from harmless salts, to poisonous substances like mercury, and more sinister components like human blood.

So far, nothing is known to have worked, either in turning lead to gold or in making the alchemist immortal. On the contrary at least one person may have died from drinking his own variation of the Elixir of Life, Johann Conrad Dippel, who was a possible source of inspiration for the novel Frankenstein.

In short, Alchemy is a hazardous occupation that no one should engage in, but it makes for a great story.