by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

As EVPs go, this one is pretty quiet. It’s a class B at best, most likely a class C. It’s a whisper, and I’m not fond of whispers unless they are very clear. Good headphones are suggested.

So why am I sharing it with you? For starters, I captured it just last night at Wellington. We spent the evening there with NWPIA and a team from West Coast Ghost Hunters. The guys from WCGH had never been to Wellington before, and it is always a joy to watch others discover what an amazing place Wellington is.

In the EVP, you will hear Jayme ask something about a child and then a whisper. The name that I hear in the whisper is one that has been captured more than once at Wellington – often in conjunction with kids. I’ll post my EVP from last night, and then I’ll post the other EVP I have with the name in it – actually the very first EVP I ever captured at Wellington.

So here’s the whisper from last night:
childname

First Wellington EVP I ever captured with the same name in it:

first

Do you hear the same name in both? Other investigators have also captured the same name in EVP.

Here’s my question. Did I hear that name in the EVP from last night because I’ve heard it before? Am I recognizing a pattern rather than actually hearing the name? Or is there something to it?

I’d love to hear what you guys think. As always, post your thoughts in comments.

Enjoy Karen’s evidence from Wellington? Check out her book Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington, which is available from Amazon.com.

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

Watch out, folks. There’s a new breed in town and they’re called para-jerks. Nope – I’m not talking about a new class of paranormal evidence like jacket tugs. I’m also not talking about ghosts, cryptids or aliens with attitude problems. Instead, I’m talking about those groups and individuals in the paranormal field who feel as if they must cast aspersions on everyone who is not them.

I spend a lot of my time meeting paranormal investigators from various groups and I’ve got to tell you – most of you are amazing people. Kind, open, friendly and passionate about what you do. You’re all eager to share your methodologies, hear what other people do, share stories and experiences, share evidence – all of it. Some of you are even screamingly funny – and there is a special place in my heart for people who can make me laugh so hard that I cry. Or wet myself. Perhaps I’ve shared too much…

What I’m trying to say to many, many, many of you wonderful paranormal investigators that I’ve met is this: I love you man! While I may not always agree with your theories and methods, while you may not always agree with mine, you are the salt of the earth – people after my own heart who have a passion for what it is that you do and a willingness to share it with a rather chunky paranormal reporter/neophyte investigator who never lost a three-year-old’s propensity for asking questions. You all have taught me so much by sharing your world with me, and I am eternally grateful.

Alas, this is not the feel good blog of the year. I’d love to end it there and I probably should, but I think I’ve got a little something to say.

There’s another type out there who I’ve deemed the para-jerks. Okay – that’s not quite true. In my head, the language is a little bit harsher, but this is a family website. These are the groups who seem to lack the confidence to stand on their own theories, beliefs, methods and accomplishments. Instead, in a rather misdirected attempt to make themselves look better, they spend a great deal of time slamming other groups and individuals. They do it on their websites. They do it in their investigations. They tell anyone who will listen how much everyone else sucks.

Hey – I understand marketing. I am a former marketing guru who spent nearly 20 years marketing people’s stuff. It’s perfectly okay to highlight what makes your group special and unique. It’s perfectly okay to show how great you are. It’s even okay to distinguish yourself from the pack. That’s marketing. But when your efforts to this end start to resemble political attack ads, then maybe, just maybe you might want to tone it down a little.

*Cue spooky music and snarkastic (it’s a word I made up combining snarky and sarcastic – like it??) man’s voice:*

*spoken quickly* Paid for by Citizens for Paranormal Association of South Southampton (Para-ASS).

I kid the para-jerks. Sort of.

Here’s the deal, folks. When we turn to petty infighting, when we slam others in the field in a misguided attempt to make ourselves look better, when we talk about how much everyone else sucks because they are not us, it diminishes all of us. And I’m not just talking about the people you are slamming. It diminishes you, as well. It diminishes the field as a whole and makes the entire paranormal community look like a bunch of squirrelly, mean-spirited a-pipes who can’t get our crap together. To outsiders, it looks like a train wreck – a paranormal version of the Jerry Springer show. Since a true passion for the paranormal is already considered a rather fringe belief anyway, is this the impression that we want to make on the world? That we’re all a bunch of backstabbing jerks? Let’s leave that to the politicians.

I get that I’m starting to sound a little negative here, so I have a challenge for everyone. Take a look at the information you’re putting out there into the world. Take a look at ALL of your communications. Your websites, your literature, your blogs, your tweets, your Facebook status updates, the way that you communicate about other groups when you are out in the world representing not only yourselves, but the paranormal community at large. Now ask yourself this: Are we talking ourselves up, or are we putting others down? The two are not necessarily conjoined twins. It’s very possible to share how terrific you are without ever once mentioning how much the other guys suck. And in doing so, you’ll be doing yourself and everyone else in the paranormal community a huge favor.

Paranormal research isn’t a competition. It is different things for different people: a hobby, a personal journey, a passion, a means of exploring the universe, a way to alleviate fears, a way to explore the unknown, a thrill ride. There are as many reasons for exploring the paranormal as their are people who explore it. I know because I’ve asked almost everyone I’ve met in this field why it is that they do what they do. I’ve never gotten the same answer twice. So whatever it is to you, it’s all good – but here’s what it doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t have to be a mean-spirited way to make yourself look better than everyone else. It doesn’t have to be the Springer-esque cat fight that diminishes everyone.

Take a step back. Look around. Are you contributing to progress, or are you contributing to drama? If the answer is drama, is that why you wanted to get into paranormal research in the first place? If it is, then carry on. If it isn’t, then you just might want to find a way to reconnect with that initial passion without the drama.

Here’s something that I love about the universe. There’s only one thing that we can control in this world, and it isn’t the other guy. So if we can’t control the other guy, why worry so much about what it is he’s doing? Instead, why not share your passion with the world? Let your light shine – because there is no doubt that there is something about you that is unique and amazing. In the end, the entire community (you included) will be better off for it.

If you enjoy Karen’s blogs, then check out her latest book Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington which is available from Amazon.com.

www.paranormalunderground.net

To order a printed copy of this issue, click the “Buy Now!” icon below:

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INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE:

Investigator Spotlights
–Scott Tepperman: The New GHI Guy
–Flying Monkey Paranormal Investigations: Spirit Chasers of California

Special Report
–Paranoia WIll Destroya: Five Strange Conspiracy Theories

Haunted Sites
–Stonehenge: The UK’s Mysterious Monoliths

Haunted History
–Aleister Crowley Was the Great Beast

Cryptids & Mythological Creatures
–Is the Loch Ness Monster a Shapeshifter?

Are We Alone?
–An Entombed Extraterrestrial

Personal Experiences
–Ghost Hunter Case Files: MCPRG Versus the Inhuman
–Family Ghost Story
–Heidi’s Haunted Hikes: Madame Sherri’s Castle & Forest

Fiction: Featured Author
–“Cthulhu Dawn” by Michael Kleen

Paranormal Fantasy Author Spotlight
–Stacey Kade

Also
–Equipment Update: The Phantom Lite
–TV Watch: Mary Knows Best and Fact or Fake: Paranormal Files
–Reader Profile: Andrew Selfridge
–Review of the Month: 2012: The Paranormal Cookbook
–Paranormal News
–Calendar of Events
–Ghost Hunter comic

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

I’ve always considered myself just a little bit of a Renaissance gal. I have a genuine enjoyment of many of the finer things in life. For instance, I have enough knowledge and appreciation of fine wines that I am a wine editor in one of my other jobs. I love to cook gourmet foods with ingredients like truffles and foie gras. I’ve read and enjoyed many of the classics. I write poetry. I have a genuine appreciation for the arts – classical music (I am a classical musician myself), opera, the theater and the visual arts. I love to decorate and my home is a nod to traditional styles of interior design. Some might suggest from these interests that I might even be the tiniest bit of a snob.

And yet…..

I also like redneck stuff. It’s its own kind of fun. For instance, I’m a sucker for a great demolition derby. I’ve recently discovered that I rather love to shoot guns. I’ve been known to enjoy less refined foods, as well – you know the kind – where the meat comes on the bone and the other main ingredients are white flour and salt. I have a profound love for cold Spaghetti-Os with sliced up franks that extends way back to college when I was broke and that was what I could afford. And now, we’ve got the latest redneck accoutrement. A giant, full-sized 4 x 4 with a quad cab.

It’s not our truck. Jim was involved in an accident in our Mitsubishi the other day with a student driver who apparently had a Jim shaped rubber stamp she was dying to use. She rounded a corner and sort of forgot to stop turning so that her 90 degree turn became a 120 degree turn straight into Jim. When we showed up to drop the Mitsubishi off for body work, the only vehicle in the stable was this big old American 4×4. Now I have the urge to adorn it with a gun rack, get dressed in a tube top, mini skirt and cowboy boots and drive through the streets of town shooting out the window and screaming, “Yeeeeeee Hawwwwww,” with a fried chicken drumstick in one hand and a beer between my knees.

This is the dichotomy that lives inside of me – Renaissance and redneck all at once. And I own it completely. Apparently who I am is a Renaissance redneck who enjoys not necessarily the finer things in life, but just life itself in all of its glorious variety. After all, who needs labels when we’ve got something even better – life – with all of its messy complexity. Maybe next I’ll discover I’m a little bit emo.

If you enjoy Karen’s blog, then check out her book Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington which is available for sale from Amazon.com.

www.paranormalunderground.net

This week’s Evidence of the Week comes from Wichita Paranormal Research Society (www.wichitaparanormal.com). This EVP was captured during an investigation of the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kansas.

This EVP was captured under “interesting” circumstances. The WPRS investigator left his recorder going while taking a bathroom break, and captured the following EVP after leaving the bathroom and going to change over the team’s DVD.

So, keep your recorders on folks! You never know what you might capture . . .

Let us know what you think of this EVP. At first you’ll hear footsteps of the investigators on the floor. But keep listening. What do you hear?

WPRS cowtown Class A EVP . . .

This year the intrepid traveler embarked on his early July jaunt south in the wee hours of the morning…the expressway traffic was light yet still spotted with cars and trucks as are all of the highways that skirt the Chicago periphery…despite the absence of congestion and aggravated commuters this early on, the alleviation of urban angst was every bit as tangible the farther from the metro core I drove… and the closer to the Illinois/Indiana border I motored, the greater the volume of “Krazy Kaplin’s Fireworks” roadside adverts I noticed especially so closely following the 4th of July where you always get “more bang for the buck” and “pyrotechnics for the price”…in addition to constant the roadside reminders of this fireworks emporium, there are the assorted salacious signs and lubricious billboards to also remind us that The Shangrila, Deja-Vu, Club O, Pole Katz, Showgirls and Atlantis gentlemen’s clubs were just an off ramp away and these prurient signposts continued well past Gary Indiana recurring only on the outskirts of Indy, Louisville and at times in close approximation to the larger truck plazas… the neighborhood homes along part of this economically challenged stretch of road was also the scene of a surrealistic two story house inferno that illuminated the surrounding night scape on the final leg of my journey home…

The seedier side of interstate travel advertisements was quickly annulled by the sprawling farmlands south of Merrillville, Indiana and replaced by a sense of tranquility and quietude that to some is the unequivocal panacea to the hypertensive stress of the daily grind only a drive in the country can provide…the wind generator farms that are now popping up along
the rural horizons do not detract from the heartland skylines as I feared, they actually broke the emerging, featureless monotony with a futuristic abstract surrealism as their enormous blades slowly turned in unison against the orange tinted, predawn glow of the eastern sky like the props of a giants sky ship or the propellers of a fleet of ocean liners that floating eerily above the patches of morning fog that blanketed the ground below….

The emergent mountain region that is always a such a spectacle to us Midwestern Flat-landers is probably taken for granted by those that see it every day much the way the city sky scrapers that define the Chicago skyline eventually fade from our notice but astounds Out-Of-Towners … even the iron rich, red dirt of the Appellations proved to be a renewed source of amazement to me when a freshly bulldozed plot of crimson colored, roadside property burned past my speed blurred periphery again invoking the equation of a Martian landscape …The composition of the soil in conjunction with the crystalline base of this mountain mantle has been theorized to be a catalyst for supernatural activity by many …

This trip included return visits to a couple of sites that yielded some interesting photos last time around in addition to several new locations that have raised the ire of the locals more sensitive or adept at detecting potential supernatural activity or spiritual presence…there were a couple of old houses that radiated a familiar resonance that regional or geographical diversity seldom diminishes or amplifies but at times can exude a distinct energy signature that is innate to certain areas …and this particular variable seems to be specifically engendered to distance as opposed to the history inherent to a certain site …perhaps this is related to the iron rich, crystal quarts abundant mountain base in this case …

One aspect of this excursion that deviated from my usual quixotic quests was the moral conflict I had to wrestle with in regard to chronicling the investigation of the crash site that claimed the life of a popular High School athlete as the result of apparent speeding and or reckless driving by the vehicle’s driver (whom survived the crash) and perhaps to a degree his own negligence as his failure to wear a seat contributed to his tragically premature death as the young man was ejected from the car … from the looks of the crash site, damage to the trees and Googled news photo of the car it was a horribly violent wreck… and apparently these abruptly curving and dipping mountain back roads have claimed many lives judging from the preponderance of makeshift memorials I noticed within the radius of this particular grid of notoriously dangerous cris-crossing roads …a grid that claimed 2 seniors from the same HS weeks apart and so close to graduation …

When I arrived at the site that has generated reports of strange, inexplicable activity in the wake of the accident, the first thing I noticed was the graffiti spray painted all over the street by classmates, family and friends…a permanent looking memorial was erected on the exact spot where the car came to rest complete with a cross and an accompanying inscribed stone…beyond the marker and bent or broken tree limbs was a medium sized tree trunk with a bark bare spot marked with a red X…a few feet below and away from the base, red spray paint was still visible despite the efforts of the amber colored earth sprinkled liberally over that specific spot to deliberately conceal the markings on the ground were this young man evidently perished after being thrown from the cartwheeling car…

The personal conflict I was experiencing over including photos and commentary was immediately replaced with a moment of clarity and the decision to include these photos in hopes of instilling a cautionary reminder of the consequences of reckless driving, drag racing, DUI or neglecting the simple snap of a seat belt that spared the driver albeit his flagrant carelessness and perhaps a momentary lapse in judgment that will haunt him and others for life…there is no mention of the specific circumstances that precipitated this tragedy only that a seat-belt may have saved the life of teen with so much promise. And as I decided to include the still shots of the crash site, I also decided not to analyze those photos for anomalous features….

There was always an attraction felt for a certain old house along one of the main stretches of road the last few times I made my way through this part of the mountains as it was perched so precariously atop a hill, irresistibly curious in all of it’s run down ruminations…across the street it’s yellow colored vacant counterpart must have finally succumbed to seeming uninhabitability as one of the back window was broken out and the previous occupant’s possessions were stacked haphazardly on the front porch and strewn about the front lawn as the probable result of rummaging looters… my passing observation of the two odd homesteads from the past year’s visit to this area included the presence of assorted vehicles parked in front and this to me was the initial deterrent from pulling off of the main thoroughfare for a closer look last time around and now none were to be found…

The gray, fading pallor of the old single story house may have instilled a sort of nostalgic charm if the stained imprint of generational oppression had not so inexorably permeated the very grain this of the structure itself and the hilltop for which it at one time was so majestically perched…a number of old rusty paint cans lined the railing of a front porch
that creaked with each step closer I took to the unhinging wooded screen door …the tinny twang of an old spring affixed to the inside of the door seemed to herald my final crossing of the threshold to the interior… the musty, dank air was to be expected as the ambiance of the dim light filtering through the dirt and dust opaqued windows confirmed the long absence of occupation…the creaking recrimination of the aging floorboards threatened to introduce me to the crawlspace below with each increasingly cautious footfall as if it was voicing in opposition for my non verbal expression of disdain for the state of disrepair the house looked to have been in prior to abandonment…

A lone Christmas wreath sat on an old folded up throw rug draped across a number of window screens leaning against the wall next to a window …the growing discomfort I was feeling intensified as the nascent nausea I experienced upon entry overwhelmed me with the added component of equilibrium instability and I knew I needed to get out of there as this was either a portal to hell or a bio hazardous, former meth lab (or both) but persevered the instinctual need to flee in favor of a few more photos …as I made my way to the partially opened window facing north and glanced outside through the frame of another screen door placed crookedly over it, I noticed a gleaming white Ford F250 “dualie” rolling down the gravel driveway from an impeccably neat ranch style homestead atop an even higher vantage point overlooking the two ramshackle shacks (and me) …fearing an unpleasant confrontation with a shotgun wielding
southern gentleman charged with the deed of overseeing the now vacant 2 homes that were already the objects of indiscriminate looting, I bolted for the front door and sprinted to my faithful Chevrolet steed, lighting up the tires in a hasty, cliche’d departure as the shining chrome grill of the white truck glinted in my rear view mirror rounding the turn from the steep driveway less than a half a block behind …the fortuitous lull in traffic at the intersection provided an ample window for me to jump on the main road and slam the accelerator to the floor forcing the powerful V-8 to lunge forward in a surge of unbridled exaltation…several darting mirror checks could not locate the pursuing pickup and I even mad a few fast head checks to be sure but there was no sign of Pale Horse to be found …in retrospection I couldn’t resist citing the symbolic equation of  my metaphoric Guardian Angel descending from above in a giant white pick-up to chase me out of that house on the hill…

The other house that I tracked down acting on a tip was even more dilapidated and in a state of perpetual collapse…rumor has it that shadowy figures milling around outside on front stoop, faint laughter and odd lights were spotted shining from the interior in the middle of the night and the vigilant neighbors would never be able to catch anyone inside or nearby…and based on it’s current state of structural instability that I observed, the thick overgrowth, boarded rear windows, and general inaccessibility, I find it highly unlikely the lights were in realty; mischievous neighborhood kids exploring the old spooky house …a litany of complaints and concern over a certain group of incorrigible local hooligans placed them at the top of the neighboring resident’s list as the culprits for the disturbances reported there considering that one of these hardened young delinquents had in the past committed the unconscionable act of riding his bicycle through his back yard (gasp )…A carefully plotted climb over everything (including a kitchen sink) from a bathtub, wooden cabinets, old tires, pallets and other miscellaneous debris permitted me a glimpse through the darkened front window and aside from a haphazard stack of old mattresses, boxed junk and assorted end tables, what I did notice was that the dust on the inside was extremely thick and undisturbed thus lessening the likelihood of the anomalous lights being the surreptitious shenanigans perpetrated by flashlight wielding whelps as theorized by the 2 sets of adjacent neighbors I interviewed …the rear of the house is completely overgrown and borders a vacant lot that incidentally ends at the rear of a small cemetery and church…pushing my way through a small opening in the thorned thicket to try a photo of a small window that looked to be nailed shut, covered from within and undisturbed proved to only further confirm my doubts that the anomalous night lights spotted by several witnesses were resultant of young explorers on yet another nocturnal adventure…as I backed out of the thatch heavy patch and admired the new scratches running up the length of both forearms while I surgically extracted the burrs now embedded in my shoelaces, I suddenly heard dogs barking off in the distance and many dogs at that …I imagined some old codger running behind a leashed team of bloodhounds searching for some lost hikers or worse; a suspicious, unadvised neighbor “releasing the hounds to chase away them trespassers”…the barking became louder and more frenzied as I rounded the front of the house and once again darted for the car …I expected my protégée to be semi panicked and already in the car waving at me to get in but seemed startled by my harried demeanor as I reached the front yard were she was nonchalantly admiring a twisted old oak tree …I realized then that I no longer heard the dogs and she claimed to have heard nothing ( we left anyway ) …

Another location that I considered a prospect for exploration was again related by word of mouth and involved an old building that was a combination antiques mall and storage facility…
reports of a full blown apparition milling about the store after hours has been reported by several witnesses (leaving a nearby drinking establishment) but the store owners themselves have complained of certain objects constantly falling from shelves or tables regardless of the concerted efforts made to keep them stationary or even locate them to different tables, shelves or display cases … I have not examined all of those photos yet either but again found myself enamored by the efforts made to preserved this area’s small town charm while the economically unaffected continuing growth of this region threatens this main street economy with obsolescence in the face of progress….

There was an new (old) Baptist Church/Cemetery added to the itinerary this time around and was well worth the added travel as I did in fact capture some very “interesting” night photos there …there has been mention on the net of supernatural activity associated with this location but I have elected to not name the site keeping with policy when I venture out of my own realm to visit less known or unknown locations nationally …the progressive additions and remodeling projects over the years did not seem to detract from quaintness of the church and grounds … the old original church stands in it’s revered pristine state and even looked to be the recent recipient of a fresh coat of white paint …the cemetery is very old and many of the monuments closest to the buildings either collapsed or are partially disintegrated …one of the more recent new additions looked almost like a residence or perhaps retreat housing and is literally mere feet from the closest tombstone in the rear of the structure …the cool, jeweled full moon peeking over the pine line where the property ends provided an added combined element of preternatural glow to the already strange jaded emerald colored streetlight that stood at the cemeteries edge…as I made my way over the small incline to the bordering shrubbery that separates the church from what looked to be the large backyard of a private residence, I was stopped in my tracks by a horrible moaning ”ooooooooooooooooooohhhhh”…then a second time “oooooooooooooooohhhhhhh”
it didn’t take long for me to realize that I was being “punked” by a valiant effort made by some kids in the yard next door that must have noticed the occasional intermittent shots I was taking with a flash and decided to try and spook us…I have to compliment the youngster making the moaning sounds as he exhibited almost operatic vibrato skills in the effort …

I was fortunate enough to make it to one return site with an encroaching thunderstorm rolling in from the west and could almost taste the ionic static charge in the air…the base photos alone from that afternoon are quite amazing really and I plan to afford all of the data collected from this trip extensive examination as some of my recent evidential analysis has been either hastened or distracted, but I have recently pledged to shift my focus back to the research and study of the sites from this trip or the ones I will be exploring in the future and the data acquired …I will no longer permit myself deviation from my objectives regardless of the morbid fascination I occasionally entertain with the devolution of  certain elements of the paranormal community ….b

Here are the unedited (compressed to 1 MB) photos from Road Trip 2010 (389 total)….b
http://s890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/HalfhandParanormalChicago/Road%20Trip%202010/

Be sure to visit the PUG forum for photo analysis updates of this topic -click here

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Posted by Chad Wilson
www.paranormalunderground.net

Waverly Evidence Video: CLICK HERE

This video shows about 1-1/2 minutes of my footage at Waverly Hill Sanatorium in August 2008. We are on the second floor videotaping a blue ball that we found in the hall. I had just set the camera down on the floor to make it easier to see the ball’s movement, which had been going on for at least a few minutes at that point.

I was at Waverly along with two women who invited me to tag along with them, Dacie Dale and her Aunt Roberta. We thought we were dealing with the little boy spirit named Timmy who is said to haunt Waverly. Dacie and her Aunt Roberta, who Dacie says is psychic, said it was actually two spirits, a male named Michael and a female named Sarah.

Why is the ball moving? I don’t know. The wind was not blowing at the time, but that does not rule out that particular explanation. It is possible a subtle breeze was blowing that we could not detect. What do you think?

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

I get a little cranky some days. It’s tough to be in the middle. People thinking fence sitting is easy, but I’m here to tell you different. It’s not. Having those fence posts poking you in the rump can be a real pain.

What on earth am I talking about, you ask? I try to withhold judgment. I try to evaluate each and every thing that comes my way on its own merits – free from any belief or lack of belief that I have in certain phenomena. I’ve made it very clear that I’m a never say never kind of a gal. We live in a huge universe where all sorts of things are possible. Certainly some are more unlikely than others, but let’s face it, unlikely does not mean impossible.

One of the problems with being a fence sitter is that I’ve never really fit into one crowd or another. I am widely panned by both “sides” of issues. The bottom line is this: I have come to believe in the existence of ghosts. 100% I believe that ghosts are not only possible, but that they exist and certain phenomena that I’ve experienced are indicative of this existence. Just because I believe that what we’ve labeled as ghosts exist, however, doesn’t mean I have a darn clue what they truly are. Interdimensional travelers? An imprint? An active soul from the past that exists in disembodied form? Who knows? Certainly not me.

And just because my personal experiences have led me to believe that ghosts do, indeed, exist doesn’t mean that every experience I have, every odd photo anomaly and ever odd blip on a digital recorder is evidence of a ghost. I apply critical thinking to each and every situation. When my critical thinking allows me to reach the conclusion that what I experienced had a natural, logical, non paranormal explanation, then I am accused of being the biggest cynic out there and refusing to see what is right before my eyes. I get lots of lectures that go something like this: “You need to keep an open mind. You just don’t know because you’ve never encountered a ghost. If you HAD, then you would realize that this is paranormal.”

I would?

Then there are the opposite times when I comb through everything, look at all of the circumstances and I arrive at an explanation that seems paranormal to me. Now I’m not a cynic. Instead, I’m an idiot for arriving at a paranormal explanation. Surely I’ve discounted science! In order to have reached the conclusion, “paranormal,” I would have no other choice but to do so. Yep – that’s me, the silly believer who follows the pack and believes anything and everything that goes bump in the night is paranormal.

Oh wait. No I don’t.

I’m a reasonably intelligent person. I read both paranormal stuff and scientific stuff. We have subscriptions to Scientific American and Discover magazines. I read them cover to cover every month. I get Google alerts for the paranormal every day. I read paranormal magazines and paranormal websites. I am well aware of the full spectrum of what is out there – both paranormally and scientifically. And just because I sometimes reach opposing conclusions for different situations doesn’t mean I am eschewing one in favor of the other.

That’s because I believe that it is possible for both to exist side by side. I’ll pause a moment to let that sink right in. Maybe, just maybe, the paranormal can be real and science can be valid. Perhaps God could exist and science wouldn’t have to overturn hundreds of years of research. Maybe even though I believe I’ve experienced ghosts, I still have a healthy respect for science.

Here’s the thing. In some cases, we have to just follow where the preponderance of evidence is pointing us, because the answers are almost never absolute. It’s relatively easy to compile the evidence and see in which direction it weighs more heavily. Juries in civil cases do it all of the time.

We don’t know everything. We’re still learning all sorts of sciency new things on a regular basis. And if that’s true, then it just seems to me that there are pockets of this universe that science has yet to catch up to.

I know there are people out there just like me. The non-extremists who realize that the world is nuanced and that new and unusual experiences need to be evaluated one at a time on their own merits. I’m not on a “side,” but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a point of view. I do and here it is. I respect science. I adore science. But I also respect the broad range of experiences we have. When science can explain those experiences, I’m all for it. But when it can’t, that doesn’t mean I have to toss it all out the window. I’m quite content to leave some experiences in my life in the realm of the unexplained.

This week’s evidence of the week comes from our good friends Bert and Jayme Coates at NWPIA. This is Jayme’s favorite EVP from Wellington. She and Bert were there alone and saying their good-byes to the spirits there when they captured this EVP.
Wait for ussss

For more of NWPIA’s evidence, visit their website at www.NWPIA.com.

Enjoy Wellington evidence? Check out Karen Frazier’s new book, Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington which is available from Amazon.com.

Seasonal highlights from world famous haunted location Resurrection Cemetery, the home of Chicago’s premiere spook: Resurrection Mary spanning 4 years of coverage…Part three includes inside shots of the famous Willow Brook Ballroom that harbors it’s own non corporeal residents. Courtesy of renowned paranormal pundit and supernatural journalist extraordinaire; Barek Halfhand

Resurrection Mary Cemetery-Willow Brook Ballroom Part One

Resurrection Mary Cemetery-Willow Brook Ballroom Part Two

Resurrection Mary Cemetery-Willow Brook Ballroom Part Three