Spiritualism and the Paranormal

The more you want something, the sooner it becomes a reality as the saying goes. Think of the genie in the bottle who grants you only three wishes. If you're not careful, however, what arrives most of the time isn't what you had in mind. Such can be the case with the spirit world. In this story, a group of young adults drive around late into the night looking for a thrill and get the fright of their lives. Aerial view of West Seattle and Alki beach. A short bridge in West Seattle spans over a narrow, but deep, ravine popular for suicides near the Admiral Theater and Alki Beach. Rumor has it that passers-by would see the figure of one of the many pitiful souls who took their own lives by jumping off the span landing onto the pavement below. They say that it stares at people at the beach near the scene of his death. Along side him is his dog who followed his master into the afterlife. Like many teenagers, Mike, a relative of his and a couple of friends, knowing of this tal...

I drove home that early morning going over the events that had taken place within the past hour (“ The Uninvited Passenger ”). I mentally reviewed Tina's story – her ability, her history with her mother, the strong scent of perfume, the hairs standing on end at the back of my neck. I no longer felt scared, but I had a sense of validation that these phenomena existed. The further I got from Tina's, the more curious I became of her abilities. I wanted to know more. Over next few days, Tina and I talked about her ability to see spirits and about the spirit that followed her that night in great detail. Tina had tried to ignore the spirit one day, she said, and in retaliation, the spirit unleashed the most foul stench that lingered for days. It was the smell of death, of decomposition, of putrefaction. It was so bad that it didn't escape the noses of the people whom she lived with. They searched the house for any small animals that might have snuck into the house and had die...

When I mentioned to a friend about this blog, he shared with me a few experiences that he had while he shared a house in the Central district of Seattle. The following is one of his experiences during his five-year stay. Before living at this house, Evan was a complete skeptic when it came to the paranormal. He believed that everyone who had a ghost story was trying to get attention. Since living at the house, he has become a believer. Last I heard he had moved out several years ago. When I asked him to tell me one of his stories, he didn’t know where to begin because he had so many experiences. Because it was October at the time I asked, he decided to start with his first encounter. You could tell from the manner in which related the story that it was genuine. One night in October of 2009 Evan was in his bedroom when he heard someone wrapping on his window. He found it strange since his room was on the second floor! How could any one reach it? He rationalized it away as one hi...

I’ve watched almost if not all of the episodes of Celebrity Ghost Stories . Some of the stories are from famous people that are well know and others that are not as well known. Some of the stories I’ve watched were entire bores while many are ones I like watching over and over again. In the end, it goes to show that the paranormal touches people from all walks of life. Nonetheless, one celebrity that I haven’t seen on the show is singer, song-write and actress Cher (born: Cherilyn Sarkisian). Cher is said to be a “hard core believer”. When asked if she was afraid of ghosts on Reddit , she replied she believes that the ghost of her late ex-husband and former mayor of Palm Springs, CA, Sonny Bono, plays pranks on her. “…Absolutely not!!! I love ghosts. I actually think that Sonny makes a light go on. I have a beautiful chandelier that he makes the light go on when it is impossible, there is no power on. I love ghosts, I prefer ghosts to some people…” Since this story is out, I doub...

“…He heard the footsteps make their nightly path up the stairs. This time the footsteps stopped just short of his door. Instead of following their usual route, he heard angry stomping and screaming as they descended into the basement…” In the late 1990s, Wilmer moved into a duplex in Eastern Washington state with his friend and her daughter. “Just around the time when the movie ‘ The Blair Witch Project ’ hit the theaters,” he told me.   The first months after moving in were peaceful. But after two, he started to hear heavy footsteps, made by boots that only a man would wear, come from the basement. They would continue up to the first level and go further up to the upper floor where the bedrooms were. The footsteps would come up to his door, when it would open, and continue to the adjacent room where his roommate’s daughter slept.   At first he thought that his roommate was checking up on her daughter since her schedule had her...

A short story from yet another friend of mine who recounted the passing of his uncle. We Remember Him While Andrew sat on the stoop of his relative’s house, he and his cousins caught up on on their day-to-day lives. Andrew was there to celebrate the life of his uncle who had just passed away. As they chatted, one of them mentioned the uncle’s name and how the uncle had helped them during their formative years. They were very grateful. At this time, all of Andrew’s cousins and him were well into their chat, when a sudden gust of of wind blew over all of them. The weather was calm that night. They were unnerved as they felt as if they were in the presence of their uncle. Andrew said, “It was as if he came by to say ‘good bye’ one last time.”

For years Albert rented a house where he never felt anything out of the ordinary. One night became the exception when he found out that an old friend made a few attempts to bid farewell. After coming home from work one summer Friday evening, Albert glimpsed at a black figure walking across the doorway opposite him. Oddly enough, he did not feel threatened. “There seemed to be some familiarity about it,” he said. He eventually convinced himself that it was because of the long day at work and that hunger induced this “hallucination”, as he put it, since it was several hours since he had lunch. The following night, Saturday, Albert entered the living room. This time, however, we was horrified to see the figure of a what looked like a man again. It was possibly the same that had visited him the night before, this time sitting in his recliner as if it waiting for him. While he watched, the figure stood up in front of the recliner and vanished. The following Sunday, Albert received ...

The Huffington Post spotlighted a country store in New Hampshire where there are reports of paranormal phenomena . In the video, a glass object moves from the center of the counter to the edge and onto the floor… All on its own! Another example of activity in the store is a man whistling. In a video clip from WMUR-TV Brian Cano , associated with the series Haunted Collector featuring John Zaffis, appears with psychic and medium Karen Tatro . Karen feels that the energy is centered around the area where the glass object fell. The owners deny that it’s is a publicity stunt to drum up business. They claim that it is genuine paranormal activity. All they want is answers to the mysterious goings on. Library of Most Controversial Files

Pat Robertson, the host (and spiritual leader) of the 700 Club , is noted from the many things that he has said on his show about non-Christians as “termites” and about Islam, Hinduism, feminism, abortion and homosexuality. But, his suggestion to a viewer’s pleas for help on how to deal with a haunting in her home is relevant for a post. “…I would burn the house down and move on…” In the show’s online Q&A segment, a woman tells Pat of the goings-on in her home: voices, electronics turning off and on on their own, psi phenomenon and apparitions. She asks what to do. Pat laughs and suggests to burn the house down! Pat continues on stating his disbelief in spirits of people who have past and that the Bible does not support such, but he asserts the existence of disembodied spirits such as demons and angels. He goes on to assess that the home owner has demons, instead. Oh, silly Pat! We don’t have a diamond mine so we can build another house. In the documentary, Mission Congo , it is...

Although the date of the introductory rate has passed, I’d like to take the opportunity to get some evidence. Several years ago EVP’s were recorded by the “ Ghost Soldiers ” team. http://www.examiner.com/article/haldeman-mansion-lancaster-pa-offers-special-introductory-rates I wonder if it’s any more creepy around this time of year. Do you want to know if you’ll get some tonight? Or, maybe just a peck on the cheek? Or, a hug? Is there any potential with that guy or girl that you had a date with? How will that job interview go? Will you get the job? Do you want the job? Should you keep looking? Scroll down to find out how to get the answers you need… Get insight into these and more questions now! Get The YiJing Oracle to gain insight from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes , the Yi Jing (I Ching) all on your Android phone or device.

Saw this in my Facebook stream. It is a captioned image from The Meta Picture . http://themetapicture.com/the-little-girl-on-the-window/ The caption is self-explanatory: A man takes a picture of the window that his cat is hissing at to find the ghostly image of a little girl once he uploaded the image onto his computer. I doesn’t look like the image had been edited. But, I’m skeptical. What are your thoughts? [UPDATE] A keen-eyed member of one the paranormal groups that I belong to on Facebook, has debunked the photo. He recognized the “little girl” from an iPhone app called “ Ghosts Don’t Exist ”. Fakes like this are “fun”, but they hurt paranormal investigators’ genuine efforts. I’ll keep in mind the images from the app that users can use when going over photos like the one above. Thank you, R. Sumner!

Evan had never believed much in the existence of the paranormal until he moved into the house where he stayed for a few years in the Central district of Seattle. He had several experiences there from dancing Native Americans , to whirlwinds inside his own bedroom. This particular night was no exception. He was fast asleep when he was woken up by what he said was “…someone jumping on the bed.” He decided that it must have been his imagination, so he fell asleep. He was woken up again with the same, but this time he heard a voice tell him, “You are going to die.” He promptly got out of his bed and turned on the light to his room. Scared he called Jeb. Evan had never mentioned the experiences to Jeb, fearing that Jeb would think him insane. But, after having had shared experiences at the house, Jeb became the person he could turn to for support. After Evan finished telling Jeb about the latest episode of activity, Jeb tried his best to calm Evan down. As Evan’s mother had ...

Winter in Seattle I interviewed Evan previously about his experiences while he shared a house in the Central district of Seattle a while back.  In his first account (“ The Dancing Trespassers ”), he encountered the paranormal history of the house. He witnessed a group of phantasmal Native Americans dancing around a tree in the front yard. After he told me about that encounter, he promised to tell me more because according to him, “there were many” at that house.   Here is another experience that Evan had at the same house. Because he did not witness the events alone, Evan felt some solace that he was not loosing his sanity.     All names are fictitious to protect the identities of those involved.   Winters in the Seattle a rarely severe compared to many northern cities in the US. On occasion it snows, but rarely. Usually if anything it snows no more than a few hours. The next day,...

[ The following story is a first-hand, cautionary account about the Ouija board and does not promote it’s casual use. It is NOT a game. It is NOT a toy. If you decide to use the board, please take spiritual precautions such as saying a prayer before use. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! All names are fictitious to protect the identities of those mentioned in the story. ] English Spirit Board In a previous post ( Part 1 ) I mention how my cousin Wilma and I began using the Ouija board one summer. This is a continuation of those events. We make contact… We came in contact with several “spirits”, but none as memorable as what we found out was a female spirit named “Ya-Ya ___”. I’ve left out her name because after that summer, we agreed to never mention her complete name. Even as I write I’m a bit anxious. One night back at Auntie Pat’s, we were in the room Wilma shared with a couple of other female cousins of ours. We asked a few questions, again, they were typical of teen-agers. We never ...

The following link is an article from the Examiner. Ghost attack caught on security camera (Photos) It shows security camera footage of a man walking down a hallway who is knocked down by a shadowy figure that drags him down the hall for several feet.

In the early 80s, I lived with my aunt and grandmother on a small, 5 acre berry farm in Port Orchard, Washington . I moved in with them to fulfill a promise that I had made with my late uncle. He asked if I would like to live with my aunt if something were to happen to him. Being a child of three or four I didn’t know what death was, so I agreed. One rainy day he was tending to the berries and caught cold. He died of pneumonia a few weeks later. Living there, I always had an uneasy feeling going to the bottom floor of that split-level house. It was my uncle’s refuge, his “man cave” as they could call it now, where he spent much of his free time in his recliner watching basketball games on his large Zenith TV when he wasn’t tending to the berries. After his death, my aunt had the TV moved up to the living room on the upper floor sometime after I starting living with them. A small jar of Vick's VapoRub One night my aunt and I were watching...

I started watching Celebrity Ghost Stories when its first season aired on the Biography Channel a few years ago. And, since then I have tried to watch each new episode because most have caught my attention in one way or another. The show is a reality-base where celebrities narrate a paranormal event that they had experienced. Celebrities include actors, Corbin Bernsen ( L.A. Law ), Joan Collins ( Dynasty , The Colbys ) and Christopher Knight ( The Brady Bunch );  musicians, Vince Neil ( Motley Crue ), Marilyn Manson ( Marilyn Manson ) and Jermaine Jackson ( Jackson Five );  sports stars, Sugar Ray Leonard (Olympic Boxer); and other personalities, the late Phyllis Diller (Comedienne), Paul Shaffer ( Late Night with David Letterman ) and Margaret Cho (Comedienne). In each hour-long episode, each celebrity segment lasts between 15 to 20 minutes. The only exceptions have been the “Scariest Moments” episode where they show the most frightening scenes from previous episo...

"... The first thing to hit me was the strong scent of vanilla. I commented to Mike about the vanilla scent asking if it were a new car freshener. That's when Mike just came out with it: He had an attachment!" In this story, a friend had a paranormal experience in his early twenties under a bridge known for suicides. Fast forward years later, he wants to experience the same "thrill" of having a paranormal encounter, but this time he makes a serious mistake and the spirit attaches to him. Another Trip to the Bridge Last year, I hosted a small impromptu dinner of a few friends. It was October with Halloween drawing near. Our discussions around the table centered around ideas of what costumes we were going to wear on the 31st, if we were going watch the latest Paranormal Activity movie and the retelling of ghost stories. As usual for this time of year I told the story of the uninvited passenger to my guests, and how it was the closest encounter with the p...