Review of SyFy's "Haunted Highways"

On Tuesday December 17th the SyFy Channel presented a brand new episode of their show “Haunted Highways”.  In this particular episode, the second segment had Jack Osborne and Dana Workman investigating the legends of hauntings surrounding “Shades of Death Road” (yes that is the real name of the road) in Warren County, NJ.

I admit to being a fan of the show since it first premiered last year, although I also admit to being a bit peeved that SyFy ripped off my own YouTube series of short documentary films entitled “Paranormal Highways”, where my team and I investigate strange roads and other exterior locations that are rumored to have paranormal activity.  With Haunted Highways, the show’s producers hired two teams of two investigators each, and follows the same basic concept of investigating strange outdoor locations across the country.  The “hook” for this show as that each team films the entire episode themselves with “no big camera crews following them around”.  Oh wait, that’s Ghost Adventures.  Still, the Haunted Highway teams do film the entire episode using their own cameras which are rigged to shoot both what is in front of the camera as well as another camera pointing back to capture their own facial reactions.  So far this season I’ve been enjoying the show as they have investigated some unusual areas, and some of the evidence of paranormal activity looks impressive at first glance.

But then there was this Tuesday’s episode, and my faith in this show has been torpedoed by the greedy, stupid and moronic producers and executives at SyFy who have proven once again that they can’t present a serious show on the paranormal without trying to twist facts and manipulate the outcome in order to present something that is not reality.

This past February I was contacted by the producers of Haunted Highways notifying me that they were going to shoot an episode on Shades of Death Road, and that they were looking for people who had paranormal experiences on the road.  My team and I, New Jersey Paranormal Research, had conducted an investigation of the road a couple of years prior (which ironically became an episode of my own Paranormal Highways series) and I agreed to be interviewed on their show.  So arrangements were made to meet up with Jack Osborne and Dana Workman in March at a specified location to shoot a brief interview with me, presumably before they would do their night time investigation. 

I arrived at the small deli where they wanted to shoot the interview to find several other people milling about, all waiting to be interviewed as well.  I found out that my friend Chris Nicolletti from SCREAM Paranormal was also shooting an interview with them earlier in the day, and Chris called to tell me they had finished with him and they were on their way.  Not long afterwards a black SUV pulled up with Jack and Dana, and following on their heels were several other vehicles including a motor home.  That’s when it hit me that the whole concept of having two investigators out in the middle of nowhere all alone with no back-up was a sham.  Jack and Dana are followed around by a large crew of about 15 people including producers, production assistants, and even a caterer!  They began shooting interviews with some of the other people while I patiently waited for my turn.  Having a background in film and television production I understood the process.  Finally Jack approached me and we started to do the interview, and I explained how my team and I had heard about the paranormal activity on Shades of Death Road and how we conducted our investigation.  I was about halfway through my story when this woman entered the deli holding a clip board and a walkie-talkie – obviously a producer – and stopped the interview.  She then asked me to tell the story again, but this time don’t mention that I was part of a paranormal team, but that I just happened to be there with some friends and experienced activity.  I was dumbfounded that she was asking me to change the facts of my story.  I told her that’s not how it happened, but she said that they can’t mention any other paranormal groups and I needed to tell the story as if I was just a witness, not an investigator.  I retold the story, and although I downplayed my group’s involvement, but it was still clear that I wasn’t just a witness but that I was there doing an investigation.  After the interview was over I got a photo of myself with Jack and Dana and I left while they shot more interviews.

It was when I drove away from the deli that I began to become angry and upset with myself.  In hind site I understood that I should have stuck to my full story, and if that wasn’t good enough for them then I should just walked away.  It was at that moment that I vowed I would never do another TV show unless I had 100% control over what I could say and how it was presented to the public.  Too many of these so-called “reality shows” are not reality at all.  They are scripted and manipulated in the editing room to portray whatever the producers or the network want to portray, whether it is real or not.  After my previous bad experience with Paranormal State I should have known better to trust working on any show that I have no control over.  I had also learned that the SyFy channel has a standing edict that they will not mention or promote any other paranormal research groups other than the ones on their own shows.  I learned this when I was approached by the producers of Haunted Collector and set them up with one of my cases to do for their show.  I was supposed to be interviewed by the cast, but an executive at SyFy wouldn’t allow it because I represented another paranormal group.  So in essence they reach out to other groups looking for cases for their shows, and once they get them they toss them aside.

After several months of waiting, I finally received an e-mail from the producers that the episode would air on Tuesday night.  So I told all my friends to tune in and see me on TV like most people would do.  I was very curious to see how the rest of the episode would play out and if Jack and Dana would capture any of the same evidence we encountered in our prior investigation of the area.  When the episode aired I quickly realized that I had been cut from the episode entirely.  To be honest I was relieved.  I would rather have my story not heard at all than to have it twisted around by these scumbag producers and executives to serve their own agenda.  As the rest of the episode unfolded I began to see how the network altered the footage to mislead the public, and how they may have faked some evidence.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the episode.  When Jack and Dana pass underneath the overpass they loose their external cameras.  I have no explanation of that phenomenon.  However, the tire on their vehicle blew and Jack had to change the tire while Dana walked back to the overpass to do an EVP session.  After seeing the large production crew following them, I can tell you right now that I do not believe for one second that Jack actually changed that tire by himself.  Remember that these investigators are followed everywhere by a large production crew.  Jack was diagnosed with MS, and they shot the new season during the colder weather as it wouldn’t affect him as badly.  So while they may have filmed a couple of shots of Jack looking like he changed the tire, the actual work was most likely done by one of the production staff.  When the tire was changed they drove further down the road until Dana saw what looked like a man standing next to a tree on the side of the road. They backed up the car to find that no one was standing there at all, and they were all excited to have seen an apparition.  But in my opinion there was nothing paranormal about it….it was a live person standing there, either one of their own crew members or someone who lives nearby (yes, people do live on the road). 

At this point Jack and Dana jump out of the car and start to explore the woods looking for the person. They find a run down shack and Jack captures what looks like the figure of a person quickly disappearing inside the shack on his thermal FLIR camera.  This figure was all black in the thermal camera indicating extreme cold.  I couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that the figure looks identical to other figures captured on the FLIR camera during several other investigations on the show.  In the past I was impressed with the thermal footage and thought they had captured real apparitions, but now I’m not so certain.  Since we can not see the menu on the screen that shows the levels of hot and cold, I have the feeling that SyFy is trying to pull another fast one on us by inverting the color palette.  So where a living person’s heat signature would normally look red or white, inverting it could make them appear black.  Apparitions are extremely rare and difficult to capture, and in this season alone the show has captured 3-4 similar black so-called apparitions on its thermal cameras.  As I have recently learned, when something appears too good to be true, it usually is.

When Jack and Dana leave the shack they walk through the woods and suddenly find themselves standing next to Ghost Lake.  I laughed at this bit of editing deception as the lake is surrounded by high cliffs on the side of the lake where they “appeared”, and the only way to reach is it to park their car in the nearby parking lot.  Jack stayed to investigate the shore while Dana hiked back to where a small cave used by the local Lenape Indians sits.  In the episode Jack mentions that the Indians used it for rituals and ceremonies, which is not true.  Archeologists feel the cave was used more as a rest stop for hunters and did not involve ceremonies.  The rest of the episode shows Dana doing an EVP session in the cave and encountering some possible activity in the form of disembodied voices, which is consistent with the activity my group and I encountered when we investigated the cave.  However, at one point Dana reacts to something brushing near her, and at the exact same time a shadow moves in front of the camera.  This seems to indicate that what she reacted to was related to the shadow, yet SyFy choose to completely ignore that piece of evidence and it wasn’t mentioned again in the episode.  Also, while Jack was standing on the shoreline he sees through the FLIR camera two large pillars form in the center of the lake.  He becomes excited as it seems to corroborate other witness testimony of people seeing two figures appearing on the lake.  Yet once again SyFy cut to commercial, and when they came back from break it was as if the incident never happened, and the footage was not seen again.  This type of poor editing and story telling seriously irritates me as SyFy is only concerned with showing something creepy, yet they have no intention of attempting to explain it, something real investigators would have done.  I got another chuckle when Jack says that the sun is coming up so they will have to go back to base camp to review their evidence, yet the clock in the corner of the frame says that it’s only 1:45 AM.  Seriously, the sun comes up at 1:45 in the morning in New Jersey?  Who’d have thunk it?

The final insult came in the last scene where Jack and Dana supposedly review their evidence the next morning and have a conversation with the other team members via Skype.  The insult comes from the fact that their car is parked in a forest, but it’s the wrong forest!  The camera shows them standing amongst a grove of California Redwood trees…something we don’t have here in New Jersey.  They are also not wearing jackets, showing that the scene was shot in warmer weather, weeks to months after the episode was actually filmed.  And most of the more interesting pieces of evidence from the investigation, including the shadow in the cave and the pillars on the lake, were completely ignored; while the figure of the very much alive person standing on the side of the road was the highlight of the investigation.

Let me say upfront that I don’t have a problem whatsoever with Jack Osborne or Dana Workman.  Meeting and talking to Jack I found him to be very pleasant and friendly.  Dana was more quiet and didn't say much to me, but that doesn’t mean anything negative against her as a person.  My issues are directed at the producers of these programs and at the executives at SyFy in particular!  Let this serve as a warning to all other investigators who are contacted by these shows to be careful and realize that when you work with these production companies you are working with the devil.  They don’t care about you, and they certainly don’t care about the truth.  They only want to sell their product and make money, and they will lie, cheat, and manipulate the facts in order to do it.  I will never, ever, do anything for the Syfy Channel again, not until they change their policy of not mentioning the other hard working paranormal groups out there who they contact for cases and give them credit where credit is due.  I won't play their game or put money into their pockets.  They don’t care about the paranormal, they only care that it’s popular at the moment and they can make money off of it. 

It's time for these TV shows to go away and to leave the investigating to real investigators.

An Important Announcement Regarding Cyber Bullying

This is to address the recent and false accusations made by former SRI Case Manager Mr. Lon Strickler where is has stated that SRI team members have been waging a campaign to have his Phantoms & Monsters Facebook page shut down, which is totally untrue.  He has also made personal attacks against specific SRI members, including Directors Irene Allen and Mark Johnson, all of which are also completely untrue. Mr. Strickler has used false accusations in order to manipulate his followers and supporters, and has openly requested a "call to action" against SRI.

This will be our final public response to Mr. Strickler’s attempts to attack and defame SRI and its members.  For the record, no member of SRI is engaged in any campaign to shut down websites run by Mr. Strickler.  SRI has no desire to engage in conflict with Mr. Strickler or any other group or individuals for any reason.  Our mission is to help people who are experiencing paranormal issues in their lives while also bringing a greater awareness of the paranormal and other concepts to the public in general, of which we will continue to do so.

We recognize that the paranormal community is no stranger to drama with many groups and individuals having had very public conflicts over the past several years.   It’s our opinion that this type of behavior does nothing but make the paranormal community look unprofessional, and we at SRI want no part of it.  However, Mr. Strickler has continued to wage public and private attacks against SRI and its members on both his Facebook pages (where SRI members have been banned from viewing or responding to his attacks), as well as his Phantoms & Monsters and Astral Perceptions blogs.  

In April of this year Mr. Strickler chose to leave SRI of his own free will when it was discovered that he was sending threatening messages to SRI founder Irene Allen under a false e-mail account on the SRI Guestbook Page. When the IP addresses were traced they led directly to Mr. Strickler’s front door. When confronted with this information during a telephone conversation between himself and SRI founder Irene Allen, Mr. Strickler admitted to posting the threats because he did not like the direction where SRI was heading, a direction that gave more responsibility to the SRI team as a whole and less to him personally.  Before the matter could be discussed further Mr. Strickler hung up on Irene and immediately and publicly posted his resignation for all to see on Facebook and his blog pages, as well as personally e-mailing clients of SRI.  Mr. Strickler then engaged in a scorched earth campaign of damaging all SRI related websites and media of which he held control over by deleting content in a fit of anger. He then blocked or banned SRI members from his Facebook pages in an attempt to prevent them from seeing his attacks. 

In the months that followed Mr. Strickler has repeatedly engaged in attacks on SRI and its members, both publicly on his websites and Facebook pages.  He has also continued to post threatening messages under false e-mail accounts on the SRI Guestbook page, as well as sending threatening e-mails to SRI Director Irene Block. Twice in the past few months Irene had reached out via telephone to Mr. Strickler asking for him to stop the attacks and for our two organizations to co-exist in peace.  During the first conversation Mr. Strickler agreed to the truce, yet soon afterward the attacks continued. When Irene contacted him a second time, Mr. Strickler was openly defiant and belligerent, and his behavior was witnessed by others present during the call.  Since that time the attacks have not only continued but have escalated.

This post is not intended to agitate Mr. Strickler to further attacks or to fuel a so-called “feud” between organizations. It is simply to present the truth to the public since Mr. Strickler’s false accusations have dominated the Internet for the past several months.

From this point forward SRI will no longer respond or react to further taunts and accusations from Mr. Strickler or his followers.  Any further attacks or false accusations from Mr. Strickler or his followers will be met with silence. Any transgressions from Mr. Strickler or his followers that break the law or are libelous/defamatory will be handled through the courts.  The decision to end this matter rests solely with Mr. Strickler and we hope that he would make the correct decision.
 

If anyone has any questions we ask that you contact SRI Directors Irene Allen or Mark Johnson directly via e-mail at mail@spiritrescueinternational.com.

Thank you and God bless.

Grieving Belgian woman sleeps next to the grisly remains of her dead husband for almost a year!

A grieving woman was so devastated by her husband’s death that she couldn’t bear to report it – and slept next to his corpse for almost a year.

The mummified remains of Marcel H, 79, lay undiscovered in a Brussels apartment.
It’s thought that he died of an asthma attack in November last year, but his beloved 69-year-old wife, who hasn’t been named, continued to sleep next to the grisly remains, despite the smell of decomposition.

Neighbours didn’t detect any unusual odours and the authorities in Belgium only became suspicious after the landlord claimed the couple had not paid their rent since 2012

When they entered the apartment they found the mummified remains of Marcel H.

Philippe Boxho, pathologist at the Forensic Center of Liege said: ‘A body can mummify in a dry, warm environment.

‘It takes at least a week to reach such a state. In this case the body had rotten in the bed and his internal organs had melted and liquefied.


‘This liquid would have spread and the bed would have been swarming with insects as the body rotted, this would have been a real shame.

‘Even though the smell of human decay is quite specific, many people equate that smell to the smell of garbage and once the body has become rotten the smell does decrease significantly.
‘This is not the first time I have made a discovery of this kind, I've been faced with two or three other occasions where people have continued to sleep with the corpse of their partner.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2510068/Grieving-Belgian-woman-sleeps-grisly-remains-dead-husband-year.html#ixzz2m349yRAq

California Ghost Town For Sale

California ghost town for sale, including liquor license: $225,000

Down a narrow dirt road in the Sierra Nevada lies a once-bustling gold mining ghost town — “the real McCoy” — complete with a gin mill and memories of an opium den.

And for $225,000, the Northern California town of Seneca could be yours, according to an ad posted on Craigslist.

Liquor license and all, the sleepy Plumas County town is for sale by its private owners, who are selling due to health issues, the ad states.

The remote property includes the bar, three run-down cabins and 9.8 acres through which the Feather River runs, the ad says. But you will need a generator — there are no utilities — and access depends on the weather.

The town sprung up after gold was found in 1851, according to a bronze plaque on a boulder near the bar. It had a dance hall, feed store, post office and a hotel with solar-heated showers, but the most famous spot was the Gin Mill, a bar run for decades by Marie Sabin, known as “the guardian angel of Seneca.”

Remnants of a mine where Chinese immigrants worked also remain, the ad states.  In the 1970s, owners Jerry Manpearl and Tim TenBrink held music festivals there, calling it “Woodstock West.” Now, the bar is the only draw, but even that has mostly dried up.

“You get weekend warriors, and folks who are panning or prospecting,” TenBrink told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But that’s about it.

The pair bought the town in 1975 when they visited the bar on a hunting trip, TenBrink’s nephew Jeff Potter told ABC News. 

The sketchy dirt road to get to the town is dangerous, with a 1,000-foot drop on the side, Potter wrote in a blog post. The cabins are run-down, but the liquor license is a draw, the ad says. It’s one of only a few in the county.

“Expand it into a unique getaway!” the ad states, cautioning that visitors should be acquainted with remote territory before visiting.

 

The Witch of Wookie Hole - UK

Introduction

Wookey Hole is a village close to Wells in Somerset, England. It is within the parish of St Cuthbert Out. The name Wookey is thought to come from the Old English wocig (an animal trap). The village of Wookey Hole is dominated by the Wookey Hole Caves. Wookey Hole cave was formed by the action of the River Axe on the limestone hills. 

Wookey Hole Caves have been inhabited for 35,000BC years, when they were explored by Neanderthal Man, in his search for a home offering shelter and security. Durring 600BC- 50AD the Celts used the caves and after them numerous travellers from the Romans onwards have made reference to the caves. This shows that even when vacated as a home for Iron Age people, they remained a place to visit and marvel at.  In 189 AD, the Roman diarist Clement of Alexandria relates to the "clashing of numerous cymbals", a known phenomenon where changes in air pressure produce extraordinary noises.

The Witch of Wookey Hole is a stalagmite in the first chamber of the caves and the central character in an old English legend. Because of the witch connection most of the caves are named after her. There is her kitchen, and her parlour, there is Hell's Ladder and The Lake of Gloom. As with most of England, there is not much information about Wookey Hole after the Romans left. However, there is one tale that is believed to date from these dark ages of history. The tale of the Witch of Wookey.

The Story

One version of the story tells of the "black witch who lived in the cave at the head of the Stream of Sorrow on the confines of Hell" who was slain by that most famous Monarch, Arthur, King of the Britons. However, it is likely that that story was made up in the eighteenth century in an effort to attract tourists. The real legend is much older and runs as follows:

During the Dark Ages  in the village of Wookey lived a beautiful young woman, her name is not known. What is known, however, is that she was devoted to her lover. This man, it turned out, was not as devoted to her, and late one night, when he failed to return from the local alehouse, she went out looking for him. To her horror she discovered him in a somewhat compromising position with one of the local wenches. Tearful and wailing, she fled from the scene, and ran out of the village towards the caves which the local preachers claimed lead to the caverns of Hell.

Once inside the caves, her sorrow turned quickly to anger, and, crying out, she called on the devil to curse the man who had betrayed her. That night, as she lay, shivering in the dark subterranean chambers, a diabolic vision appeared to her. The vision claimed that it was a demon from hell and that Lucifer himself had heard her calling and was offering her the chance to gain the power to curse her wayward lover. The price, of course, was her soul. Still in a rage about what had taken place, the woman accepted and was given the power of black magic. The next day the man woke up to discover that he was afflicted with a pox.

Though the New Witch took great pleasure in the man's suffering, it did not sate her appetite for revenge. A chagrined and disappointed woman, having been jilted herself she frequently spoilt budding relationships by using her merciless arts to blight girls' lives and keep them from the joys denied to herself.  One day upon spotting a couple venturing towards her cave, she cursed their relationship to fail. Sure enough, a few short days later the man and woman were arguing and only hours after that, the man stormed off to take holy orders, forsaking the love of women forever. Angered by this provocation of good works, (for the man became a good minister, much given to charitable works) the Witch vowed never to dabble in the relationships of others again.

The years passed and the Witch became increasingly bitter. She lived alone, with her dog and horrid familiars (her goat and its kid) deep in the dark caverns of Wookey Hole. The local people believed she was a witch  and everything that went wrong in the village was blamed on her.  She took her feelings out on the townspeople, causing their crops to fail, storms, drinking habits to change and their milk to turn sour, and even causing them to suffer terrible plagues of disease. In desperation they called for Father Bernard, the man whom the witch had caused to become a monk. Acknowledging their need, his superior, The Abbot of Glastonbury, obliged and appointed him to exorcise the Witch.

Father Bernard had particular skill in such matters, being deeply versed in the exorcising of necromancers and wizards. The villagers led the Father to the shadow of the cliff at the valleys end where his keen grey eyes rested on the entrance to the rock; then he looked up to the sky, as if in invocation. Father Bernard approached the entrance to the caves flanked by villagers, but as they drew closer, one by one they halted in their approach, too frightened to continue. Indeed, the priest himself must have felt some fear, unfastening the rosary and the crucifix about his neck, but, believing his God to be with him, he continued into the dark caverns and was swallowed up by the interior darkness of the hill.

For a time, with his arms stretched out before him, the monk groped blindly onwards, and already the tunnel he traversed appeared to be unending, when a point of feeble light shone through the blackness. He pressed on until he was within the threshold of the first cavern.

Something moved by the stone lamp set on the floor at the farther side. A crouching heap of rags stirred, heaved and then erected itself into the uncertain light from the wisp of flame. A peering form, gaunt and terrible, confronted the monk across the width of the cavern. The pale features of the stranger were barely visible in the gloom; the face of the Witch glared in full, misshapen relief above the flicker of yellow light.

There was a hissing intake of breath, a lean arm shot out towards the Benedictine, and a gloating chuckle sounded through the chamber. Then a voice, malignant and threatening, addressed him; "Rash beyond all reason, why comest thou to look on me? "

The beads were swiftly passing beneath the touch of Father Bernard's fingers, but his answer sounded high and calm in the quiet of the cave.

"It is Holy Mother Church that bids thee. Repent O misguided spirit, and leave thy wickedness ere judgment overtake thee. Thou troublest heaven with thy sorceries and thy mischiefs are abhorred of all mankind. Repent; put away the powers of evil, for thy spells shall not avail thee against the wrath that is to come."

The arm was gradually withdrawn, and behind the monk rose a sound of hoarse and laboured breathing. Father Bernard lifted up the crucifix and never turned his head. Ss he finished speaking he realised the Witch was muttering something into the pool, when she fell silent he tried again," Woman " he said solemnly, " I say once more, Repent; for thy wizardry can harm me not." An empty hush came down on the cave again, but for a moment only; then peal after peal of long-drawn laughter, beating on the ears and distracting the senses, ran round the gloomy void. 

A circle of livid light grew about the rock on which the Benedictine stood, and a thick haze interposed between the Witch and the hooded figure of the man.With his lips moving silently, and his eyes riveted on the obscuring outline of the Witch, the monk advanced. As he stepped beyond the confining ring of flame with unscorched robes, a rending crash shook the Cave, and a mass of rock, breaking out of the lofty roof, fell headlong over the place he had just forsaken. With a shriek of execration and anger, the hag sprang back towards the river, signing swiftly with her hand. She fled deeper into the cave down a narrow passageway called Hell’s Ladder. The brave monk followed her and they met again in the shadowy depths of an inner cavern.Father Bernard had raised his  hand. His gaze was relentless and fixed, and a stern and quelling authority showed in his aspect. 

The Witch checked, and halted suddenly immovable, while a shadow of fear flashed across her intent and baleful visage. In strong, unhurried tones the monk was speaking, and the sonorous Latin phrases rang with a hollow echo through the cavern. Quickly, Father Bernard scooped up a handful of water from the river, blessed it and threw it over the witch. The Witch of Wookey convulsively stiffened, as if held in an invisible grasp. The glare froze in her eyes, and her lips writhed back in an effort to frame a final malediction. Her evil figure subtly changed, appearing to solidify and straighten; the tattered garments seemed to sink in and merge with her aged flesh. A supreme tremor passed into an unbreathing, deathly rigour, and, as the monk's voice ceased, only a stony image reared itself by the unheeding river. She had turned instantly to stone and her frozen figure remains in this cavern - known as The Witch’s Kitchen - to this day.

Folding his black robe about him, Father Bernard turned towards the way he had come. As he gained the rocky passage, the oil in the lamp sent up a hovering tongue of flame and went out

http://oldcorpseroad.co.uk/index.php/legends/262-witch-of-wookey-hole

The Real 'Exorcist'

Jesuits Discuss 1949 Demon-Purging Ritual That Inspired Novel And Film

 

ST. LOUIS -- ST. LOUIS (AP) — Saint Louis University junior Zach Grummer-Strawn has never seen "The Exorcist," the 1973 horror film considered one of the finest examples of unadulterated cinematic terror. He's only vaguely familiar with the monthlong 1949 demon-purging ritual at his school on which the film and William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel were based.

But just in time for Halloween, Jesuit scholars have joined a whole new generation of horror buffs in St. Louis to recount the supernatural incident. The university hosted a panel discussion Tuesday on the exorcism, which involved the treatment of an unidentified suburban Washington, D.C., boy. About 500 people crammed into Pius XII Library, with some spilling into the library aisles, leaning against pillars or sitting on desks.

"I'd like to believe it's the real thing," said Grummer-Strawn, a theology and sociology student from Atlanta. "But you just can't know. That's part of why we're here. It's the pursuit of truth. And it's such a great story."

The university scholars and guest speaker Thomas Allen, author of a 1993 account of the events at the school's former Alexian Brothers Hospital, emphasized that definitive proof that the boy known only as "Robbie" was possessed by malevolent spirits is unattainable. Maybe he instead suffered from mental illness or sexual abuse — or fabricated the entire experience.

Like most of religion's basic tenets, it ultimately comes down to faith.

"If the devil can convince us he does not exist, then half the battle is won," said the Rev. Paul Stark, vice president for mission and ministry at the 195-year-old Catholic school. He opened the discussion with a prayer from the church's exorcism handbook, imploring God to "fill your servants with courage to fight that reprobate dragon."

Some of the non-students in the audience spoke of personal connections to an episode that has enthralled generations of St. Louis residents.

One man described living near the suburban St. Louis home where the 13-year-old boy arrived in the winter of 1949 (his Lutheran mother was a St. Louis native who married a Catholic). Another said she was a distant cousin of Father William Bowdern, who led the exorcism ritual after consulting with the archbishop of St. Louis but remained publicly silent about his experiences — though he did tell Allen it was "the real thing."

Bowdern died in 1983.

Bowdern was assisted by the Rev. Walter Halloran, who unlike his colleague spoke openly with Allen and expressed his skepticism about potential paranormal events before his death a decade ago.

"He talked more about the boy, and how much he suffered, and less about the rite," Allen said. "Here was a scared, confused boy caught up in something he didn't understand.

"He told me, 'I simply don't know,' and that is where I leave it," the author added. "I just don't know."

Allen zealously protects the anonymity of "Robbie," despite others' efforts to track him down to this day.

Gary Mackey, a 59-year-old accountant who left work early to attend the campus event, said he also is unsure whether "The Exorcist" was a work of fiction or instead a riveting real-life account of barely comprehensible forces.

He does know this: He cannot forget the movie that he saw with a buddy four decades ago. They drove 100 miles from their home in Louisville, Ky., to the nearest theater showing it across the state line in Cincinnati.

"I saw the movie when I was 19 years old and it scared me to death," Mackey said. "I think it's the scariest movie ever made."

Searching for Ghosts & Spirits

Written by Mark Johnson

Now that we're in the month of October, most people's thoughts go to Halloween.  This is my personal favorite time of year when all things ghostly and scary become commonplace in the public eye.  I love the colder weather, the leaves changing and falling, and the mystical quality in the air as we approach All Hollows Eve.

 

Of course my interest in this time of year also stems from the fact that I've been hunting ghosts and paranormal activity for 12 years now.  In that time I've had the opportunity to investigate numerous locations that include private homes, businesses and historical locations.  Each case has something different to offer, and I've found that my views and opinions of the paranormal phenomenon that I have encountered has altered over time.  Instead of believing all phenomenon is caused by the Ghosts of a deceased person, I've realized that there is a much larger phenomenon taking place that can't all be neatly packed into a single category.  Even the word "haunting" no longer holds the same meaning for me as I've learned about different realities, and as science continues to make new discoveries on the nature of our universe.

 

 

Many people consider ghosts to be the soul or spirit of someone who has died.  But there are new theories that have come into play that draw many of our former conclusions into question.  Here's one example of a classic haunting:

 

An unsuspecting witness enters a room in an old home and sees a woman dressed in Victorian clothing.  The woman goes about her tasks as if she were still alive, then vanishes.  In some cases witnesses have reported similar situations, but where the "ghost" turns and sees the person, and their reaction shows they are just as startled as the witness!

 

Physicists such as Dr. Imichio Kaku who discuss String Theory argue that there are multiple dimensions existing in the same physical space as our three-dimensional reality.  Not only are their multiple dimensions, but also alternate universes -- entire worlds that exist just inches past our outstretched fingers.  These realities could exist within our time-frame, or even be windows to past times and events playing out within these realities.  So what happens if these realities briefly cross over each other?  For instance, lets say a woman in Victorian times is busy cleaning her house, and when she looks up she sees a person standing in front of her wearing strange clothing such as shorts and T-shirt.  She is startled to see this apparition before her who also looks startled by her presence, and after a few seconds it vanishes.  She's just seen a ghost....or has she?  What if instead that the conditions were such that a brief window or portal opened up between two time periods, and people living in each of those periods are quite literally able to see each other for a brief moment?  Instead of a living person seeing the "ghost" of a dead person, we have two people very much alive in their perspective realities who are momentarily made aware of each other's presence.

 

 

Another popular theory amongst paranormal researchers is that of a "residual haunting".  These types of hauntings are considered to not be caused by ghosts or spirits, but are more akin to watching a television program of a past event play itself out over and over again.  An example of this would be observing the ghost of a person known to be dead who appears at the same time in a specific time period, say once a month on the same day and time.  The figure always performs the exact same actions and movements every time without deviation.  Current theories state that a residual haunting is the energy of a past event that has somehow imprinted itself onto a physical location, and plays itself out over and over again.  Some researchers feel that locations that have high amounts of granite or iron in the ground could be a conductor for such energy, or even a location near running water.  None of these theories have ever been proven scientifically, and in fact feel like nothing more than researchers version of folklore that is regurgitated to the public over and over without any basis in fact.

 

But again, if we look at this phenomenon through the perspective of multiple dimensions and realities, then it begins to look more feasible.  Instead of energy being imprinted on a location, there may actually be conditions present that allow a portal to open up in the space-time continuum to allow us to view a past event in real time!  And although time in our reality continues to move forward, the portal continues to show the same moment of the past over and over in a repeated loop.

 

 

Of course there is also still the phenomenon of dealing with what seems to be invisible intelligences that can interact with our physical environment.  In many cases investigators such as myself will experience the traditional cold spots, hearing disembodied sounds, and we capture this phenomenon using video and audio technology.  While it is important to document this phenomenon, many groups will only focus on what evidence they can capture with their cameras and audio recorders while ignoring other tools such as a trained and validated psychic that can connect with spiritual energies and shed light on exactly what types of forces are present and how they can be dealt with.

 

That is why I joined Spirit Rescue International.  After years of conducting only scientific research I became dissatisfied with the fact that purely scientific research does nothing to help clients who are in desperate need to reclaim their lives.  Most groups will do an investigation, show the client what they caught, then move on to the next investigation without providing any true resolution to their problems.  SRI uses both scientific and psychic tools to get to the bottom of each client's situation, find the cause, and work to bring a resolution to allow them to find peace in their lives.  If there is a ghost or spirit present and it's not just a residual or multidimensional phenomenon, the SRI team can help these spirits move on to where they need to be and bring peace to the living.