For those of us interested in the paranormal, nothing is more frustrating than scientific dogma. Unexplained phenomena remain unexplained simply because they have been ignored by Science. Scientists have no right to sneer at what they have made no attempt to understand – but sneer they will.

There is a danger, however, that we might fall into the same trap ourselves, by creating a paranormal dogma.

Two of the absorbing articles in this issue consider Bigfoot, the hairy beast-man encountered for decades in the United States and, more recently, in Britain, too. With the recent discovery of an alleged Bigfoot body in a forest in Georgia, USA, the case for Bigfoot as a living animal may now seem assured. The press conference on this find, including DNA analysis results, was due to be held just as we were going to press, so as I write this I do not know how convincing this ‘body of evidence’ is.

Whatever the results, however, you’ll learn from Ape or apparition? by Janet Bord and Bigfoot in Britain by Nick Redfern, that many encounters with this enigmatic ‘manimal’ defy a natural explanation. Neither an ape nor an ape-man is likely to have glowing red eyes or be impervious to bullets, for example. And although the idea of such a creature living undetected in the mountainous wilds of North America may now be credible, it surely stretches credibility too far to imagine one living in the ‘milds’ of Middle England.

Many Bigfoot devotees would dismiss such accounts out of hand. They would assume anyone claiming to have been menaced by a glowing-eyed monster was making it up, and treat their story with the same scorn as a dogmatic zoologist would have treated their own belief in a North American ape.

Then there are the Black Dogs – cow-sized spectral dogs which also boast glowing eyes. They fit no modern paranormal belief system: they can’t be considered ghosts of previously living dogs nor an undiscovered species of natural animal. And yet they have been regularly reported by credible witnesses into the present day.

Many more ‘inexplicables’ appear in this issue of Paranormal Magazine. Jenny Randles introduces us to The House on Alien Moor, where a down-to-earth woman took in her stride a series of apparent ghosts, time slips and visits by aliens; Familiar spirits discusses an enigmatic entity which may have been a ghost, or a fairy or an animal that learned to speak; and Michael Hallowell asks whether children’s imaginary friends are as imaginary as we think, in Paranormal playmates.

On the other side of the coin, researchers Para.Science present a detailed and convincing argument as to why so-called ‘Orbs’ captured on digital and night vision cameras, and held by many ghost hunters as evidence of paranormal activity, are actually just tricks of the light.

Personally, I find Orbs unconvincing. But I don’t wish to be dogmatic about it: one or two may be a capture of something unexplained. But I’d be more interested if the ‘ghost light’ had been seen first by an observer and then photographed.

Orb photos aside, then, I am still keen to receive reports from special interest groups and paranormal investigation teams. Please keep me updated on your activities and successes.

Readers’ own experiences with the supernatural are also very welcome. In this issue you will find many personal accounts of brushes with the paranormal to encourage you. You can feel confident I will not exercise any dogma in regards to what you tell me is true.

When the Rev St John Seymour compiled his classic True Ghost Stories in 1914, he stated: ‘For myself, I cannot guarantee the genuineness of a single incident in this book – how could I, as none of them are my own personal experience? This at least I can vouch for, that the majority of the stories were sent to me as first or second-hand experiences by ladies and gentlemen whose statement on an ordinary matter of fact would be accepted without question.’

I feel the same sense of trust in my own readers and contributors. Contact details for submitting your stories can be found at the bottom of the page. I look forward to your contributions with great interest.

Richard Holland

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