Competition 1

Three CD albums by UFO band C.E. IV:

For more info and to enter this competition simply CLICK HERE and be ready to answer the question.

Competition 2

Two psychics’ autobiographies:

For more information and to enter this competition simply CLICK HERE and be ready to answer the question.

Competition 3

Two monster-hunting books:

For more information and to enter this competition simply CLICK HERE and be ready to answer the question.

]]> http://www.paranormalmagazine.co.uk/2009/06/29/competition-time/feed/ http://www.paranormalmagazine.co.uk/2009/06/26/new-issue/ http://www.paranormalmagazine.co.uk/2009/06/26/new-issue/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:59:33 +0000 fergusmcshane http://www.paranormalmagazine.co.uk/?p=1854 From the ancient past to the distant future…

The sarcophagus lid creaks open… an imposing figure wrapped in a shroud of bandages shuffles out… its limbs jerk creakily, arms outstretched to grab your throat…

That’s the corny image that comes to mind when we think of the supernatural in ancient Egypt. But Egyptologist Dr Bridget McDermott sheds fresh light on this fascinating subject in the August issue of Paranormal Magazine. Shuffling mummies might be the stuff of fiction but the truth of what this ancient civilization believed regarding the afterlife is no less strange. You’ll learn, for example, about spirits keeping watch on their families with wooden eyes; ‘the dangerous dead’ who come marauding from the desert; and demons with horrible names like ‘violent face’ and flesh-tearer’.

Another scientist, Dr James Lumsden, an expert parapsychologist, explains the techniques employed in the laboratory to try and prove the existence of ESP. Zoologist Dr Karl Shuker is back on board with an eerie article on giant bats and other leather-winged horrors.

Nick Redfern explores the endlessly intriguing phenomenon of time-slips, in which people suddenly have visions of the past, while Nigel Watson ponders the possibility of ‘aliens’ actually being visitors from our own future.

Another strong article takes us on a tour of Britain’s haunted battlefields; we discuss the mystery of the life-force known as ‘chi’; and an intrepid explorer guides us on his quest to find a ‘witch-cult’ in the remote jungles of Vietnam. Our chosen county this month is Weird Wiltshire.

This is just a selection of the absorbing and eyebrow-raising articles you’ll find in the packed pages of Paranormal Magazine issue 38. Together with the usual round-up of the unusual: the strangest news stories from around the globe; worldwide Sightings of UFOs, ghosts and monsters; and our readers’ extraordinary experiences and photographs, Paranormal 38 is another must-read from cover to cover.

To order Paranormal 38 online at the secure Jazz Publishing website, CLICK HERE

[Writers in Paranormal 38 include: Dr Bridgett McDermott, Dr James Lumsden, Dr Karl Shuker, Nick Redfern, Nigel Watson, Janet Bord, Philip Mantle, Mark Fraser and Dave Wood.]

The witnesses said the object suddenly disappeared for 5 to 6 seconds, then reappeared further away, split into two objects, then the two objects rejoined each other.

The following report and its headlines is unedited. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report index page.

NM, June 10, 2009 - Night time sphere like object disappears then reappers within seconds, splitting in two then rejoins again before vanishing near Roswell NM

While on a short sightseeing vacation trip to NM. from CA. from 9 Jun 2009 to 12 June 2009,on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 both my friend and I were traveling west leaving ROSWELL towards CHACO CANYON NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK via US 70.

We decided to follow a route via US 380 West towards SOCORRO, and see if we could find any available lodging on route. After securing a room at a local motel in the town of CAPITAN, we decided to go for a ride and check out the countryside and stars that night, since the skies had turned clear enough to do so. Somewhere around 8:00 pm(20:00 hrs)we found State 234 eastbound and headed towards ROSWELL (Lincoln County).

For those unfamiliar with, NM STATE 230 is a 2 way road which appears to be mostly used by local farmer traffic and apparently not a very busy road at night. Providing NO light pole illumination, night falls quickly after dusk(or sometime between 8:45 PM and 9:10 PM or 20:45 to 21:10 hrs this time of the year). I had to engage the vehicle’s high beam lights through out our entire ride, in order to better see the road’s contour reflectors/markers/signs and also to avoid hitting any of the local wild life. In the 2.5 hours that we’d traveled to & from on this road, no other vehicles were encountered (nor could be seen at a far distance in the mostly flat landscape)in either direction.

Sometime around 9:00 PM (21:00 hrs)we’d reached marker 41 on STATE 230 and after passing this marker, but before reaching 42, we decided that rather than continuing further in that direction, it was best to go trail back westbound for a spot to stop. So we turned the car around and parked just on the shoulder of the road by marker 41, before heading back west to CAPITAN. We turned off our vehicle’s engine & lights, and sat there inside the vehicle talking in total darkness, checking out the view and commenting on how dark it was for this chilly, clear and moonless starry night(up to that point…a full moon rose up later on round 10:00 or so PM (22:00 hrs).

At about 9:10 PM (21:10 hrs) and with the western skies providing just a bit more of lighter dusk shades on the horizon than the darker eastern skies, my friend and I both noticed an object, and although we couldn’t make out the outline of it’s fuselage, it had a very bright and steady glowing orange to reddish light. At first I thought it to be an aircraft traveling typically fast in a straight line, in a nor-east to east bound direction and at what seemed to me to be at a 30 degree angle above both the barely visible horizon, and the western mountain range.

Having served in both the USMC & the USCG, I am well familiar with many types of military aircraft, so it seemed somewhat odd to me that a craft traveling that fast at night, did not have any other type of fuselage lights “ON”, nor did it produce the familiar distant sounds of jet engines, or sound barrier blasts we’re all familiar with.

I was just about to say something to my friend when at that very same moment he burst out saying: “What is that?”…”do you see it?”

No sooner does he asks… when this the object suddenly disappears, vanishing for what we’d estimated to be 5-6 seconds, when it suddenly re-appears again further along on what seemed to me to be 2-3 clicks to the east (still traveling on a straight course)when suddenly IT SPLITS INTO TWO(2)lights(of same orangish-reddish color), which traveled parallel to each other at first, then separating/widening apart in an arc fashion, until just as quickly both lights seemed to REJOIN or “MELT” back into ONE single light- VANISHING immediately thereafter. There was absolutely no sound or echo whatsoever of a collision, nor was there any visibly “hot” falling debris falling into the desert landscape, nor did we see any smoke or “trails” in the sky or fire coming out of the desert landscape thereafter.

My friend and I sat there for about 5-10 minutes both perplexed and excited at what we’d seen. We asked ourselves a number of questions (i.e.: was it fireworks?…was it a satellite?…could it have been spotlights? but none of these questions seemed to have a rational answer as to what we’d witnessed on that night. The entire episode lasted approximately 30 seconds and although I had a digital camera with me, unfortunately I could not retrieve it and power it up quick enough to take pics of the event given how quickly it all happened.

[via examiner.com, Roger Marsh]

“We thought nothing of it and climbed up to a high point towards the top of the quarry.

“We sat down to look for birds of prey through our binoculars and spotted the animal further round the quarry.

“From the binoculars, we could see that it wasn’t a sheep, hare, dog or badger, but some type of large cat. It looked like it was trying to catch birds that were nesting on the cliff tops.”

Mr Kardzis, 34, is the second Flintshire resident to report a sighting of a large feline creature.

As the Evening Leader reported last week, Stedman Woolnough and his wife Eleanor-May, of Penyffordd, got a shock when they spotted what looked like a black puma outside their house on Hawarden Road.

Eleanor-May, 67, said the creature was the size of a large dog and was wandering in and out of the hedges near the road, before it disappeared into a field.

Mr Kardzis, who works at moneysupermarket.com in Ewloe, added: “I couldn’t get close enough to work out exactly what it was, but it did not seem like it was meant to be there.

“I have certainly never seen anything like it before – not outside a zoo anyway.”

A North Wales Police spokesman said the force had not received any reports of big cat sightings.

[via Evening Leader]

Why are there so many ghosts of the famous? That is a question that has been asked many times before. In Britain these celebrity ghosts tend to be defunct nobility: Lord This, Lady That, various kings and queens. Three different historic buildings claim to be the haunt of Anne Boleyn.

In addition we can boast the shades of a smattering of military heroes, such as Lawrence of Arabia; literary figures, such as George Bernard Shaw and the Bronte sisters; and stars of stage and screen, from Dan Leno to Sid James. John Stoker, who introduces us to Hollywood haunts this month, will be turning his attention to homegrown theatrical ghosts next month. There are even some celebrity pets – Dick Whittington’s cat, for example (see my Phantom Felines article).

Perhaps the strong personalities of such celebrated figures predispose them to some sort of ghostly survival. The dramatic, intense lives of the likes of Anne Boleyn might also be a factor in such survival.

Nevertheless, except in the cases of very distinctive, recognisable figures like Bernard Shaw or Marilyn Monroe, I think it’s more likely that most ‘famous’ ghosts are misidentifications of less prominent personages from the past.

A lady in Tudor costume glimpsed at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, for example, might be any upper crust lady from the 16th century, but because Boleyn was brought up there, it is presumed to be her.

The cult of celebrity – which seems to have reached fever pitch in the UK in recent years – is nothing new. Anyway, it’s an instinctive and forgivable tendency to add interest to a story, and a celebrated figure does add interest. Anne Boleyn is more interesting than ‘Lady X’.

The suggestion that dramatic, emotive incidents can generate ghosts is one that is now ingrained in the paranormal literature. Sightings of such arresting apparitions as screaming women, galloping horses and soldiers locked in combat certainly support such a hypothesis. But since there are so many more reports of ghostly figures quietly going about their business (whatever that is), it’s open to question.

After all, peaceful, pottering monks and nuns are just about the commonest apparitions on record. An acquaintance of mine is convinced that she saw the ghost of former Prime Minister W E Gladstone – quietly reading a book. Some years ago I received a letter from a chap who saw the ghost of what appeared to be an old farmer, in smock and floppy hat, nodding and dozing on an equally ghostly cart going slowly up a country lane.

Famous or unknown – what impetus can there be to create such peaceable spooks? What possible factor can lead to a play-back of such tranquil, commonplace incidents from the past?

Perhaps the law of averages dictates that some ghosts must be of famous people. But we have no other law to explain what causes ghosts nor why.
It’s still all a delightful mystery.

Richard Holland, Editor

Tell the editor about your own experience with the paranormal. Email: editor@paranormalmagazine.co.uk or write to Richard Holland, The Editor Paranormal Magazine, Jazz Publishing, The Old School, Higher Kinnerton, Chester CH4 9AJ. Or submit your story through the EXPERIENCES section on our website by clicking HERE

by Mark Greener

In 1636, the Dutch sailor Antonie Caen probably became the first European to see an Australian black swan (Cygnus atratus). Biologists in Europe dismissed his claims: everyone ‘knew’ swans were white. But 61 years later another Dutch explorer, Willem de Vlamingh, brought three C atratus back to Batavia (now Jakarta), proving that not all swans are white. Indeed, two of the seven species of swan are not pure white. The South American Cygnus melanocoryphus has a black neck and head. C atratus is, beak aside, totally black.

The black swan is the official state emblem of Western Australia – and I think it should be paranormalists’ totem animal. To understand why means delving into the philosophy of science.

Science usually advances slowly and steadily, as researchers build cautiously and gradually on previous findings. In many areas, basic science progresses with all the speed of a particularly lethargic snail after a heavy night out. The dramatic paradigm shifts that transform our understanding of nature almost overnight – such as Copernicus’ discovery that the Earth orbits the sun, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and quantum mechanics – are all too rare.

The philosopher Karl Popper argued, somewhat controversially, that science advances when anomalies falsify previous theories. So, he suggested, rather than trying to confirm their theories, scientists should aim to find evidence that contradicts previous findings. Importantly, just one compelling anomaly is enough to derail a theory. A single C atratus falsified the idea that all swans are white, no matter how many times biologists find white swans in different locations.

Critically, the new theory needs to make specific predictions that scientists can test – such as that all swans are either black or white. A species of naturally green swan would falsify that theory. Astrologers and other ‘soothsayers’, Popper argued, make vague interpretations and prophesies. This vagueness means they could explain away events that might refute their theory.

Popper’s concept of falsification is, I suspect, one reason why many scientists dislike the paranormal. It’s a real threat to their worldview. One verified case of reincarnation would falsify the idea that life can’t survive death. One verified crashed UFO would falsify the idea that we’re not being visited by ETs. One genetically verified corpse would prove the existence of unknown large hominids in North America, Siberia or the Himalayas.

Popper’s concept of testability is, I suspect, one reason why many paranormalists dislike hard science. To bridge the gap with science, paranormalists need to formulate testable theories. In some cases it’s easy: DNA analysis should determine whether a cryptid corpse is new to science. It’s harder for astrologers or crystal healers.

In his classic book A New Science of Life (just published in a third edition), biologist Rupert Sheldrake proposes a ‘hypothesis of formative causation’. It’s a radical theory that borders, for many scientists, on the paranormal. According to Sheldrake, memory is ‘inherent in nature’. He argues that ‘Animals and plants draw upon and contribute to a collective memory of their species’. Crystals, molecules, even cosmic evolution, ‘follow the habits of their kind’. Critically, Sheldrake suggests several experiments that could help test his hypothesis.

I can’t help feeling there are several black swans in the pages of Paranormal: anomalies that could bring fundamental new insights to our understanding of reality. But anyone interested in the paranormal needs to formulate ways to test the anomalies – scientists won’t do it for them. It’s only by testing paranormal anomalies that we’ll determine which are C atratus, which are slightly mucky white swans, and which are just dirty ducks.

Mark Greener is an award-winning freelance journalist, specialising in health and bioscience. Mark is a former research scientist who has written widely on his life long passion: cryptobiology. He’s the author of nine books and his features have appeared in magazines worldwide. He lives between Cambridge and Ely and keeps a sharp watch for the fen tiger but has sadly never seen even a footprint…

The shadowy spirit glides in between oblivious shoppers in the eerily clear video.

The 2ft tall floating phantom figure appears in the bottom right of the screen after a male shopper exits a room to the top left.

It makes its way across the busy concourse and seems to head for the same door the man has just passed through.

The amazing 36-second tape was taken in a shopping mall in Chile, South America, and surfaced on the internet today.

It is alleged that the tiny greyish phenomenon is the ghost of a small local boy.

[via thesun.co.uk, Vince Soodin]

Witnesses claimed to have seen up to 50 of the mystery bright beams at around 11.30pm in Huntingdon.

Scott Boswell, 37, a former pilot and soldier from nearby Hinchingbrooke, captured some of the lights on his camera.

Mr Boswell, a banker in the City of London, said: “I noticed three lights floating past our house, probably a couple of kilometres away, and thought nothing of it.

“But then I noticed a big long string of lights coming from the direction of Brampton and heading over the Stukeley Meadows direction. This was about 11.30pm and I got a couple of blurred shots. I’m pretty sure these weren’t aircraft.

“There was no noise, no navigation lights and their heading and height was relatively constant until they disappeared out of sight.”

The former solider said he did not think they were flares or weather balloons, the standard explanation for unusual objects in the sky.

Auberon and Suzi Hedgecoe, who run the Braywood Guest House in Huntingdon, saw around 50 orange lights in the sky.

Mr Hedgecoe said: “It was like an armada. There was no sound. They were travelling 15 at a time and every six minutes more seemed to be coming over the horizon.

“They were not planes. These were not balloons. Each one was the size of a building. If they had been balloons, then they would have had to have been huge and they looked weighty.”

He said the lights were no higher than 3,000ft.

Mr Hedgecoe said it was so extraordinary that the couple woke up their 10-year-old son Barney and his friend Zac, who was staying over, to see the spectacle.

Another witness said she had counted 35 lights in the sky.

[via telegraph.co.uk]

Mr Sandys, 30, was photographing at the reputedly haunted Edward Jenner Museum in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and captured the image on his camera.

The ghostly image appeared in an attic doorway in the museum

“It was a bizarre formation of light showing a mystery figure in a doorway,” he said. “I am sure it was not caused by sunlight or dust in the air.

“I checked again and looked in the doorway but I could see nothing.”

He went on: “As a BBC employee I wouldn’t dare doctor an image or I would lose my job.”

Mr Sandys, who works for BBC Gloucestershire’s website, was photographing in an attic never before opened to the public.

Museum director Sarah Parker said: “We are truly flabbergasted by the image.

“We have graffiti from soldiers previously billeted in the attic rooms from the 19th and 20th Century and perhaps this is one of them or even one of Jenner’s servants.

“We have always thought of the ‘ghosts’ as being metaphoric, but maybe we need to think again.”

The museum is dedicated to Dr Jenner, who lived in the house from 1785-1823.

It was from the Grade II listed building that he pioneered his world-changing vaccination against smallpox.

[via BBC news Gloucestershire]

The Cape Coral-based company is preparing for a summer of ghost-hunting in Bay area waters, with investigations of the Gunsmoke, a shrimp trawler that mysteriously sank with a cargo of marijuana 14 miles west of Egmont Key in 1977; the Blackthorn, a Coast Guard buoy tender that collided with a freighter in 1980, killing 23 seamen; and the waters beneath the old Sunshine Skyway, where 35 people died after a freighter rammed the bridge in ‘80.

“We pick a wreck that has some potentially haunted history and then we check it out,” says Lee Ehrlich, president of Ghost Pros Paranormal Inc.

The company films its search and sells the videos, which weave in the story of the site — fact and lore — and the Paranormal Divers’ experience.

“We look for the stories, the romance,” Ehrlich says. “We’re putting the ghost back in the ghost ship.”

At each site, the dive team first sets up sonar drones to record the underwater sounds. The recordings are analyzed “to determine what sounds you are not suppose to hear … possibly sounds of the paranormal,” Ehrlich says.

To capture the sights, Paranormal Divers has teamed with Tampa-based SeaViewer Underwater Video Systems, whose clients include The Discovery Channel, NOAA’s National Weather Service, The Army Engineers and ESPN. SeaViewer’s high-definition studio cameras were used to film scenes in the Russell Crowe movie “Master and Commander”.

Once all the recorded data is collected, Ghost Pros will plan a nighttime excursion. At the Gunsmoke, Ehrlich says, divers will thoroughly explore the wreckage.

“What makes the Gunsmoke compelling is nobody knows what happened,”he says.

The trawler was found abandoned and sinking in January 1977, according to news accounts. Ehrlich says two people disappeared.

“We want to go into that ship, really see what’s in there,” he says.

The divers will also watch for the telltale glow of bioluminescence light forms and listen for unusual sounds.

Ehrlich says he’s not trying to convince anyone of paranormal activity.

“We offer our evidence in good-faith for both Scientific (as applicable) and Entertainment value, and it is up to the viewer to believe what he or she feels is the truth,” according to a disclaimer at http://www.ghostpros.com.

But the sites Ghost Pros explores are rich in lore, and the explorations are fascinating, Ehrlich says.

“If you were to die in some strange setting,“ he says, “wouldn’t you want to know that someone was looking for you?”

[via scnow.com, by Gayle Guyardo]