Spirit Halloween Superstore!

Okay, I admit that I’m one of those freakish people who goes shopping at the Spirit Halloween(notoriously up around Labor Day to just a day or two past Halloween) and actually buy for year-round there. I love the gargoyles and statues and especially the sexy clothing. The mesh stockings and garters and girdles are so sexy! It’s better than Frederick’s of Hollywood. I fondle the male masks and costumes, imaging an innovative guy willing to wear a Phantom of the Opera mask or a Viking costume in moments of intimacy….

For regular folks, this is purely a seasonal shop. They go not just once during the season, but several times as the big day approaches. I love to see the kids getting squeamish but my favorite part is watching the adults become kids again.

Every year they seem to have some new things I have never imagined before. Last year, they had a big bin filled with zombie babies! Yes, zombie babies! They were freaky unsettling. I tend to like rats and ravens, aged cheesecloth and gothic fencing, but I admit to nearly caving in and buying jello molds shaped like brains and huge wine goblets that were bejeweled.

The animated horrors are truly amazing. You can get crawling torsos and skeletons that talk to you, bats that fly overhead and life-sized monsters that move. It is always a treat to see the new line of innovations for the next year.

So, we’re getting near that time again and no doubt you have a Spirit Halloween shop preparing right now to open any day. Get your dark gothic, horror-loving side to come to the surface and express itself in the one store where you truly become a kid again and it’s perfectly acceptable.

Just try that in a bookstore!

As Halloween Draws Near....

As we get closer and closer to Halloween two months away, I have a lot of plans for the blog to draw you in, unsettle you, and make you want to look--but not want to look! Expect to see more videos and perhaps a few involving Dale.... Also, some scary short stories and giveaways will be happening, and surprise things. Every Sunday until Halloween, there will be an interview with a horror movie killer. These are really interesting and fun. This Sunday's is Michael Myers.

As I settle into my new phase of my life in my new place, I shall have lots of time to prepare for a better October than last year. I can hardly wait to lead you up to it through September and then hit you full-on for October.

This is my season, after all!

Empire State Building: Its Dark History

"He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody". (suicide note, woman above)

The Empire State Building is personally my favorite building in America, the most beloved to me; more so than the White House, Washington Monument or any other significantly recognizable structure. At 102 stories and 1,454 feet tall it is seriously impressive. My first time to the observation deck, all I could think about was whether a penny would kill someone. I was terrified one might fall out of my pockets, so I stood back (even though it’s not possibly for one to spill out a pocket to the crowd below). Movies like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “King Kong” romanticized this beautiful art deco styled edifice even more. It possesses what I consider to be the observation deck for America.

The next thing one thinks of up where the winds are howling is how freaking far down it is and what kind of state of mind people would have to be in to choose that way to die. Not only are they serious about dying, but in a symbolic way, liberating themselves as they fly for the first and last time.

Strange facts about the building: It was built with a mooring for blimps, but later nixed the idea as it was too unsafe (duh). In 1945, a small plane crashed into the 79th floor. The people on the plane were all killed. The building has colored light displays they show off during different holidays.

Suicide: More than 30 people have jumped to their death from the Empire State Building.

Most beautiful fall: 1947: 23-year-old Evelyn McHale jumped and landed on a United Nations Limousine (photo above) Andy Warhohl used the visual later for a piece of art entitled “Suicide.” This was just after the building opened and 5 more tried to jump within a 3-week period.

Most botched attempt: On December 2, 1979, Elvita Adams jumped from the 86th floor, only to be blown back onto the 85th floor and left with a broken hip.

Most surprising: 2007: A lawyer on the 69th floor was interviewing a client, then got up, opened the window and jumped.

Most recent: 2010: 21-year-old male Yale student jumped.

They ain’t just jumping: On February 24, 1997, a Palestinian gunman shot seven people on the observation deck, killing one, then fatally wounding himself.

Penny Myth: If you drop a penny off the Empire State Building, will it actually kill someone below? Nope! Busted on “Mythbusters.” Terminal velocity means that force exerted by air keeps the speed constant.

I remember being in the Empire State Building when they were still erecting the Twin Towers. I went back later once the towers were done and they made the Empire State Building seem like a dwarf and yet I never wanted to visit those sleek sharp-angled buildings for a better view. The Empire State Building always has had my heart and always will. It has made it into the list of American icons and a symbol of our fast growth in the 20th Century.

(**Tomorrow, beware! Dale is on the rampage and has made a video for ya'all, speaking to you face-to-face. This is just a harbinger of the upcoming Halloween season at GHT!**)

This Week in Horror Movies and Paranormal TV

MONDAY:
SyFy: Repeats of Ghost Whisperer

TUESDAY:
AMC: “The Mummy” movie

WEDNESDAY:
SyFy: “Ghost Hunters” Philadelphia Zoo

THURSDAY:
FX: “Final Destination” (movie)
SyFy: “The Langoliers” (movie)
History: “The Universe”

FRIDAY:
Travel Channel: “Ghost Adventures” (repeats)
SyFy: “The Tommyknockers” (movie)

Okay, not a thrilling week at all, but remember this—“Destination Truth,” “Beast Legends” and “Ghost Adventures” are starting their seasons VERY soon!

Oh, and you know those major changes I talked about in my post recently, well they’re happening sooner than I thought. This week will be insane for me and into Labor Day weekend when I will be moving to a new nest that is absolutely amazing. I hope to do a vlog from the new location when I’m settled in Labor Day weekend with a picturesque backdrop. Thereafter, without any indentured slavitude as a wife and homeowner, I will be putting amazing things into the blog, so expect it to evolve from after Labor Day going into Halloween season! In fact, tomorrow Dale has done a video talking directly to ya'all and I think something has changed in him, something dark and disturbing. Expect from now until Halloween to be full of creepy surprises from him and from the posts.

Interview: API team of Arizona!

I have to admit that I really enjoy being able to interview face-to-face. It makes the conversation flow and the questions can spring from the comfortable dialogue.

This interview was with Kyle McNatt (director) and James Kelly (investigator) from Arizona Paranormal Investigations; the most professional and forward-thinking ghost hunting team in the Southwest. I was thrilled they were willing to sit down with me and let me get them talking about paranormal investigations and their methodology.

I had seen James in action on hunts and his exceptional talent as an EVP collector impressed me a lot. He said when he started out he had been curious about EVPs and wanted to see if he could capture any. Over time, he learned more and more about how to control the EVP sessions for validity. His integrity is one thing that really caught my eye on hunts. He lines up recorders and then marks if they were near a window or door or where they were located. These sort of tagging techniques are critical when listening again, not only to know which recorder captured the voice, but to also consider if it was near a source of potential sound like a noisy street outside the window. He is now a believer in intelligent interactions with these voices in which a specific answer to a specific question can be obtained. He is curious by nature and, like me, open to lots of explanations for the paranormal. I made a mental note where James is concerned that he is the EVP expert I would want beside me on a critical hunt.

Kyle, the director and computer “techno-guy” explained to me that there is about a year-long training period for recruits. They try not to keep the team too large and they often get hounded by people wanting a spot when one opens, but on a team such as theirs, I understand they probably don’t lose members easily and that’s due to their standards and integrity. This logic-based approach to picking a team and getting a good mix is crucial and one reason why API is so sought after.

A majority of their cases involve private clients in homes and buildings with issues. They are so often approached that a method for weeding out the more critical cases has been designed. As well, businesses are interested in being evaluated and legitimized as a potential haunted spot. You can be certain that if this team has combed over a site and come to a conclusion, they are giving you a very well thought out and nonbiased answer.

When asked if they offer any cleansing techniques for clients, they said that they remain open-minded in working with clients; a combination of counseling and advisement along with any methods that apply to the clients’ belief systems are considered and applied.

I don’t know why I haven’t interviewed these bright boys before, but they impressed the hell out of me and in a field in which there are plenty of egos, boasting, territorial skirmishes and plain old nut cases, I was thrilled to find some hunters and a team that I would be proud to be associated with.

Now, that’s an Autumnforest Seal of Approval!

Versatile Blogger Award: 7 things you didn't know about me

Thank you, Soraya at Spellbound by Moonlight for this award.

I readily admit, I have won this one a few times and I have passed it on to many. I do enjoy the part where I tell 7 things you didn't know about me, but dammit! I'm always airing my secrets here. I will dig up some strange ones for you....

1. I don't like potato chips, popcorn or french fries. I know, I'm the only American who doesn't.

2. I have had so many nicknames in my lifetime, that I pretty much answer to anything and like Steve Martin's dog in "The Jerk," I even answer to "Shithead."

3. I will run out of my way to open a door for an elderly person or a woman with a baby stroller or a handicapped person. I've been known to help old ladies reach things on high shelves in the store, carry their groceries out, help wheelchair bound people load their chairs onto their carriers, rescue lost pacifiers and give them to mommies to clean off and even made phone calls and sat with a blind woman who was left at the wrong store until her family could come and show me proper ID before handing her over.

4. I love to grow organically and even had my own tea garden where I made curative teas for friends.

5. Given a choice of chocolate or sex, sex ALWAYS wins out. The feeling lasts long and you burn calories instead of ingesting them (well, maybe a few calories ingested).

6. Nothing gets me more childishly giddy than a new spiral notebook and a new pen. There's something about the promise of creating that gets me all worked up like the first day of school.

7. My favorite scents are cardamom, ginger and sandalwood.

Thanks Soraya. This is always a blast!

QUIZ: What Cryptid Do You Identify With?

It’s quiz time again, my pretties! Count your a’s, b’s, c’s and d’s and see which one you have the most of.

1. At a party, I tend to be the one who:
a. Hides in the back yard or other rooms, avoiding the crowd
b. Rile people up, get them partying
c. Lurk around the fringes watching everyone
d. Make charming conversation that gathers a crowd

2. As a kid, I tended to be:
a. Anonymous on the playground, a loner.
b. A bit ADD and spastic
c. Cautious, not trusting of others initially
d. The wise one and leader

3. In a work place situation, I tend to take the position of:
a. Not offering my 2 cents, would rather stay out of things
b. Fight for my projects and assert myself
c. I remove myself from any drama
d. Peacemaker and voice of reason

4. In my family of origin, my role was:
a. Stay under the radar, unnoticed
b. Confrontational, rebellious
c. Unapproachable, withdrawn
d. Everyone’s ear when they had problems

5. I’d rather live at:
a. The sea
b. Hot climate
c. The woods/mountains
d. Change locations, a little of everything.

Now, count your a’s, b’s, c’s and d’s and see which one you have the most of and that’s the cryptid creature you most identify with.


















a. Loch Ness Monster
b. Chupacabra
c. Bigfoot
d. Mothman

Are you Lonely on a Friday Night? Join us Here!

(Ask me about this picture)

It's time for a Friday night for blogger friends to come together and have a drink, watch a movie, listen to music, sit around and chat on here. Any subject is open, any flirting is allowed, any nonsensical comments are encouraged. Now, begin....

Let's Play Fact or Faked!

Season ended but it will be back. Now, instead of being distracted by reviewing the night before's episode, let's have a blast and play "Fact or Faked" on our own. I'm giving you three short videos; a ghost, a skunk ape and a UFO (used but not pursued by "Fact or Faked") Now, it's your turn to do arm chair debunking. Enjoy!

**DO NOT FORGET THAT AT 7 PM EST TONIGHT WE HAVE ANOTHER "ARE YOU LONELY ON A FRIDAY NIGHT" HERE--JOIN US TO CHAT**

Bizarre Phobias

Most people share common phobias such as public speaking, heights, flying, and closed places. There are, however, some very specialized and unusual phobias. Want to take a look at some? You might even have a few….

Chionophobia- Fear of snow
Coitophobia- Fear of coitus
Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body
Ephebiphobia- Fear of teenagers
Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news
Geniophobia- Fear of chins
Hedonophobia- Fear of feeling pleasure
Homichlophobia- Fear of fog
Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down
Linonophobia- Fear of string
Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection
Nelophobia- Fear of glass
Ommetaphobia or Ommatophobia- Fear of eyes
Parthenophobia- Fear of virgins or young girls
Phasmophobia- Fear of ghosts
Tremophobia- Fear of trembling
Venustraphobia- Fear of beautiful women

You know what amazes me the most about these listed phobias? That they had to come up with names for these which means they must happen relatively frequently. You don’t feel so bad about fearing the dark or crowds, huh?

"GHOST HUNTERS" SyFy New Season Tonight!

Dale the Doll: She's Leaving him For me!

Shh....don't say a word. Just hear me out. This is what I think is going on: The human has been taking me on her overnight ghost hunts, staying in hotel rooms with her. The human is letting me borrow the laptop and write posts. The human is leaving him, but I am going with her....

You add it up.

I'm not sure what I should be doing. Does this mean we're "living together?" Can I tell others that I'm her boyfriend? Which side of the bed do I get?

My mind is spinning. This is happening so fast. I mean, how does one find acceptance in a mixed species relationship? Will we be cast out? Will our friends understand? What will the dolls think of me for being a traitor?

Still, she is soft and she smells really good and her hair is all fluffy and she has an adorable giggle that makes my pants too tight....

I could really use your advice. How should I advance forward with this new change in our relationship? What do I do to make a human happy? How do I make this work?

Any advice would be greatly accepted.

Oh that Dale!

Be sure and check out the Dale bulletin at Julie's site.

Major Personal Announcement!

I believe that everything bad has something good. I started blogging to get through my recovery from an Achilles tendon repair. I found I had a lot of knowledge and opinions about the ghost realm. Others seemed to like what I had to say and how I liked to say it. Then, in October I wrote some short stories for the Halloween season and ya'all really enjoyed them. So, I started to feel more confident about my writing, something I had stopped doing years ago. So, I submitted a short story and won the contest, went on and submitted more short stories and got them published, then started seriously working on books. I was in a miserable marriage with no emotion about it and I had been eating and gaining some weight on my thin frame. I didn't feel like myself and lost all confidence. Ya'all thought I was pretty and sweet and smart and I realized I am worth more than I am asking in my marriage. So, I decided to get a divorce and lost weight rapidly.

It's an extremely amicable divorce and we are doing this with great dignity. We started out at at 16 and 17 as friends who tried to make it romantic but it just wasn't there. We didn't think of each other "that" way and we had almost nothing at all in common from interests to viewpoints. So, we are going through the divorce process now and I am getting an apartment in my son's apartment complex nearby and happily simplifying my life.

I am finishing up the manuscript for a book "Was That a Ghost?" about how to determine if something you encountered might be of a paranormal nature. Being on my own and having an apartment will make it possible to spend more of my free time writing. I am thrilled beyond belief! If I hadn't ruptured my achilles, if I hadn't started a blog.... Well, you get the picture.

My life is just beginning now and I can honestly say, it wouldn't have happened if ya'all hadn't been so inspiring and sharing your own trials and tribulations and letting me know that I'm fine just the way I am. I love you all! This is yet another reason why the Hug-A-Blogger project is so necessary! I know I'm not the only one whose life has changed because of the blogging community. Those of you who regularly email me (a lot of you) know that we affect change in each other all the time. I'm a big believer in recycling and so I hope to keep giving back some of the support I've received.

After all, we're all in this crazy human experiment together!

What Stalks You In Your Dreams?

Everyone has them, those horrible nightmares. Dreams and nightmares are a way of letting off steam, assimilating new realities in our lives and preparing us for how to handle situations. Sometimes, however, we have repeat nightmares.

Whenever I lose a loved one, I have a nightmare that my teeth are falling out. I try to put them back in, but they won’t stay. I’m frantic because I know these are permanent teeth and they will not be replaced. It’s rather symbolic of the loss of a loved one, someone irreplaceable and the change is permanent.

Whenever I have a streak of bad things happening to me, I have a repeat nightmare that tornadoes are chasing me purposefully and I try to hide, but they find the structure I’m hiding in. Over time, I have mastered this nightmare by lifting a manhole cover and crawling down below the street. This shows that in my mind, even though a load of bad luck has struck, I know that I can handle it. In the old days, I would run, cry, hide, and then run, cry, hide again and again.

As a child, I was stalked by King Kong and Godzilla. I would dispatch family members to go kill the beast for me as any child dependent on elders would. Other times in my life, invisible ghosts would throw things, pull my hair and generally torment me. Sometimes, I’ve had ones with a killer in the woods, chasing me with a knife.

A lot of people make a big deal about symbolism in dreams. We use whatever means something to us to represent issues, but they aren’t across the board the same for everyone. When I have a dream that involves me getting in touch with my inner diva, I put Erica Kane from “All My Children” in the role. Now, this character I haven’t seen since I was a kid, but at a tender age I equated this TV personality with demanding women who were self-assured. To another person, she might represent his mother who looked like Erica.

The key to dreams in which you’re being stalked isn’t so much on what or who is chasing you but in how you handle the situation; this shows a lot about how you feel you are dealing with your life. If you run and close your eyes, you are not ready to face things in your everyday life. If, however, you invent ways to outsmart your stalker, you are thinking on your feet and should be proud of your skills at dealing with things.

So, next time a dream stalkers chases after you, ask yourself how you handled it.

Where Do Apparitions go?

Did you ever wonder where that apparition hides when you’re not glimpsing it for all of the 4 seconds you saw it? What does it do with the other 23 hours, 59 minutes and 56 seconds of the day?

Here’s some options knocked around most commonly:

1. An apparition is a residual sighting of something that occurred in the past, not associated with a soul, but more like a video replaying under the right conditions (whatever they may be).
2. An apparition is a being in another dimension and under the proper conditions (whatever they may be) it is glimpsed. It might also be that it can glimpse us and wonder.
3. An apparition is a soul of a deceased person and this soul can come and go at will.
4. An apparition is always there, but only some people at the right times (whatever these may be) can glimpse it.
5. It takes an enormous amount of energy for an apparition to make itself visual on our plane and it will use any means to gather enough energy to show itself briefly.

Depending on what day it is, I’ll give you a different answer for what an apparition is and where it spends its time. I tended to think going into the field that they were a residual recording or visual memory in an environment. Eventually, I began to speculate that perhaps they were from another dimension or perhaps a dimension in which our time lines play out side by side and we see a bit of the past for a moment. My issues with the soul explanation had more to do with the concept of heaven in the traditional sense. It would seem ridiculous to have a resting place for eternity that allowed for souls to just wander the Earth. If that were so, why they hell weren’t they everywhere like zombies; trolling in the malls, wandering the family’s home and hanging out at their favorite hot dog stand?

Here’s another thing to consider: I do psychic readings. I touch objects, sometimes look at photos and I can tell amazingly detailed and strange things that I couldn’t otherwise know. I don’t know how this works technically, but I can tell you that the mind contains whatever contents we believe are the soul. So, if the body dies and the soul exits, the soul is no longer of physical matter, just like my psychic knowledge is not of a physical content. You can’t see a thought. You can’t see a soul. Perhaps, under the right conditions, like when I touch an object, I see images in my head as if they are memories, you can also have the right conditions in which in your head you see these images, but they are not actually in the room.

That’s something to think about.

Now, I’d like to hear your take on this because my posts are nothing more than a way to get you talking and you are a highly intelligent crowd and your viewpoints matter greatly to me.

This Week in Horror Movies and Paranormal TV

(*asterisk means I’m watching it)

MONDAY:
Nope

TUESDAY:
Discovery Channel: “The Colony” (reality series)
SyFy: Warehouse 13

WEDNESDAY:
AMC: “Ghost Ship” (movie)
*SyFy: “Ghost Hunters” NEW SEASON

THURSDAY:
History Channel: “The Universe”
SyFy: “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”

FRIDAY:
Travel Channel: “Ghost Adventures: The Beginning” the 2-hour documentary that started the series.

Never fear, more good stuff is coming including the new season of "Ghost Adventures" (can anyone say "drinking game?") The new season of my very favorite show "Destination Truth" (moved to Thursdays starting September 9) and accompanied by a new SyFy show called "Beast Legends" (more on that as the time gets closer)

**Instead, come and join us here on the blog on Friday night starting 7 pm EST for Are You Lonely Tonight to comment back and forth with others with nothing going on this Friday night.

Horror Scholarship!

Mike at StarCostumes told me about a scholarship they launched. They’re offering $1000 to assist students in the horror industry. Check it out here.

How Far Do You Take a parnanormal Explanation?

We see it on the ghost hunting shows, hunters busy debunking paranormal occurrences, finding logical explanations and looking for that which is unexplainable and tagging it “paranormal.” But, for the average person who runs into something unexplainable, how far do you take your explanation?

For example, you see something in the sky that does not in any way remind you of an airplane or a helicopter; it’s silent and it’s moving strangely. Here’s some ways people deal with these sort of events:

1. For some, they’d turn away, figuring they already know what’s in the sky—human controlled modes of transportation and birds, as well as balloons and flying debris. To them, there is nothing of note to stop and study.

2. Others study the object and wonder what it could be, going through the obvious considerations until they are left with a puzzle. Still, these people will stop and say to themselves, “it’s explainable, I just can’t seem to figure out what it is right now.”

3. There are some who would stop and study the object, their heartbeat quickening as they realize there is nothing familiar about this object or its movement. This is unexplainable and therefore paranormal. If it’s paranormal, it’s probably a UFO.

4. The last group will see something like this in the sky and immediately come to the conclusion it’s a UFO and it’s alien-operated.

Who is right? Let’s compare this with the ghost hunting shows, shall we?

1. This group of people who have no paranormal possibilities are very narrow-focused. They stop exploring, stop looking for answers and think they already know all the answers. These are debunkers who take it to a religious level of zealotry.

2. This explanatory style might be more like “Fact or Faked.” They believe that everything is explainable, but sometimes they come up with trouble finding ways to explain it. This is a good deal of the population, especially those who have not faced something paranormal.

3. This is your “Ghost Hunters” team. They debunk and then when they can’t debunk, it becomes paranormal and therefore a ghost.

4. This is your “Ghost Adventures” group. They assume it’s paranormal right off the back; every sound, every shadow, every shiver.

Surely in your lifetime you have met the unexplainable. What category did you fall into?

"Jaws" The Best Movie Ever Made

It never fails, every summer when it’s freaking miserable in the AZ desert, I get in the mood for something that is the opposite of this hellhole; the ocean. The swimming pool water is 92 and the nighttime low is the same temperature. The water coming out of the shower and sink is warm on the coldest setting. Even with the air-conditioner and fan on, I can’t seem to feel cool. Sometimes, to sleep well, I spray myself with a water bottle and let the fan cool me off. It works for all of 5 minutes.

That being said, it’s this time of year I reach for “Jaws” on DVD and pop it in and turn down the lights, turn up the fan, and spray myself a few times for good measure while I have a cold brew and watch the movie I consider to be the finest movie ever made.

Here’s some of the reasons I adore “Jaws.”

1. Primal fear. Swimmers always have the knowledge that as they cut through that murky water, they have no freaking idea what’s watching them and waiting. We’re in their territory and they are master predators and we are blind and utterly helpless.

2. Chief Brody. There’s nothing like the sheriff of an island community who is afraid of water. His desire to move his family to a safe quiet community away from the dangerous city sounded good in theory, but the stalker on an island is the shark that circles it….

3. Matt Hooper. You have to love a young upstart shark expert with lots of fun gear and gadgets and a kind of hero worship like a psychologist fascinated with serial killers. He’s eager, enthusiastic and seriously naïve.

4. Soundtrack. Freaking brilliant, just a couple notes on a tuba. Who’d have thunk it? It appears that the sawing sound of the tuba sounded like a water predator and it does! Brilliant!

5. Conflict. The island needs its summer visitors and dead bodies washing up on the beach is not good for business. Sheriff wants to protect people (they’re funny that way, oath and all…) Locals hoping to make some cash on bagging the shark. Just about the perfect storm for a fast-paced plot.

6. Quint. Honestly, my very favorite character in any movie EVER. A fisherman who continues to ride the ocean in spite of tackling sharks in some of the most heinous ways possible. It’s a personal vendetta for him and this shark hunt is the pinnacle of his obsession.

7. Effects. It’s hard to believe this was the mid 70s. The shark effects were so impressive. All I can say is, thankfully there was no CGI then.

8. Cinematography. The filming of the movie was fascinating from the beginning scene of the woman being attacked as she skinny dipped to the above the boat view of the shark making their craft look quite dwarf-like. Each scene was really thought out for the most dramatic effect including when Chief Brody was sitting on the beach and realized someone was getting eaten by a shark and a kind of Alfred Hitchcock rush of the camera on him showed the chaotic feelings as he tried to absorb the shock.

9. Tension. There was plenty of tension throughout the movie and sometimes it was played out wonderfully like when the mother of the dead child slapped the Chief and the men inside the boat went from having a fun time singing sea ditties to realizing they were being rammed by a shark.

10. Humor. Comedic relief is important. When the Chief and his son are sitting at the table and the boy mimics his father, it is adorable. When the men are in the boat comparing scars as they get drunk, it was endearing. This movie had a great balance of tension to humor.

11. Ending. Some directors really don’t get how to end a movie. They either think they need to set up a sequel or they make it super happy and tidy. It’s like sex; you have to know when to climax before you begin to become an unwelcome guest that stayed too long. The scene where Brody and Hooper are paddling towards the island was the perfect irony. You don’t need to see a hero’s welcome. You don’t need to see Brody blow up the shark and yell. You need a sense they’ll make it but leave us on that happy “it’s great to be alive” note as they laugh and kick in the water.

Every summer I’ll watch it. I’ll probably be 90 years old and my great-grandkids will think it’s hilarious, but it will always be my summer pleasure, along with skinny dipping, barbecuing and popsicles…

Are you lonely on a Friday night? Join us!

Although I gave us a little entertainment here, if any of ya'all want to take a video or a picture of yourself on our comment night and email it to me at psychic62@hotmail, I will be happy to use it for next week's post for Friday night. If we get enough of them, we can photoshop them together into a party pic....

It's that time again--lonely on a Friday night. Sit down, have a drink, play some music, kick back in your jammies or other unmentionables (although likely will be mentioned on here), and join us to chat away. Begin the comments now....

Review: Fact or Faked

(**Remember tonight at 7 pm EST/4pm PST, we have lonely on a Friday night on here. Join us with your drink in hand and comment away. It's a fun, flirty, silly, and bizarre night of visiting with other bloggers how had nothing planned. Oh, and tonight--ANOTHER BELLY DANCING SCARF VIDEO WILL BE POSTED**)

Today, let's talk about which videos you would have investigated. You might not have agreed with the ones they chose, so let's hear from you about which you wanted them to pursue.

Burned Out House in the Desert

Julie and I explored this yesterday, along with the abandoned trailer park (below).

Abandoned Trailer Park Revisited

Julie from Above-The-Norm (she has pics up at her site) and I had a blast last Wednesday checking out the desert and its offerings for video and pics. This place is so desolate and so intriguing. Nearby is a hobo encampment near the train tracks. It's strewn with possessions aging in the burning sunlight and monsoon rains. Wind howls through swinging boards on broken fences. It is truly an amazing and creepy feel. Enjoy!

"Fact or Faked" Sneak Peek

Tonight on SyFy!

Winner of the Book!

Congrat's Dan! You won the book "There's Something Under the Bed."

My Face!

I want to thank Max Evel profusely for taking my photo and turning it into the most wicked profile pic in all the universe! He is a talent that humbles me and I am so proud to now be one of his amazing designs. Perhaps some day I will get him to do an animated one of me. He does those too. I entrusted him with my face and he took it and went to town. Thanks Max! He's not just a little devil, he's an artist.

Why Does Horror Turn Us On?

ONE MONTH COUNTDOWN!! September 17th ya'all will see all of me, face and all nowadays--on the blog on my birthday!

You knew I’d have to ask this some day. We’re all horror fans, but why does it kind of…turn us on? Is it because we’re in the dark watching it, clutching the person next to us? Is it because we’re seeing something we shouldn’t be seeing, like walking in on mom and dad’s sex? Is it the creepy music and the dark scenes that made us think of making out? Maybe it’s the sexual symbolism, like a knife stabbing into flesh?

I review my own experiences with sex and horror by recalling the first time I was titillated by a horror movie. I was probably 8 or 9 when I saw on TV a movie called “The Shuttered Room” with Oliver Reed. I had a huge crush on him. Can’t say why the hell I did. For a young kid, I wasn’t into those baby faced Cassidy boys or the like. I was into Kirk Douglas and older, weathered, hardened men. Well, that’s for another post.

The movie involved this unsavory character played by Oliver Reed stalking the pretty woman who had come to the New England island to claim her inherited estate. There were some cat and mouse sexually tense scenes mixed in with the lightweight horror and suddenly this scenario of stalking and predator and prey had me hooked on horror and relating it to the process of procuring sex.

Later, it was the movie “Legend of Hell House” that got me really excited. The concept of a psychic medium parting her thighs and offering her body up to a ghost to satisfy his human needs so he can rest in the afterlife added a new dimension to interacting with the paranormal.

The slashers of the late 70s/early 80s like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” quickly equated sex with dying. Well, aren’t climaxes happily referred to as the “little death”? Cautionary tales aside, it seemed like having sex involved being so oblivious to the dude with the knife behind you that it put the killer in a kinky voyeur point of view and, once again, titillating.

I’ve said it before and it’s true; horror and sex—they’re both all about the climax. There’s something primitive and similar between the anticipation and breathlessness of being stalked and sexual encounters. You never quite know what the killer might do, or your lover. It could be fast and hard or slow and tormenting. You could be pleading and you could be screaming.

Hey, you wanted to read this post, I’m giving it to you!

It dawned on me how much I had subconsciously been aroused by horror when I began to get a mysterious 6’2” tall Michael Myers at my door each Halloween for years. He carried a pillowcase and the most authentic and worn costume possible. He was really and truly Michael. He was not a trick-or-treater. He was someone who seemed to either target my house or got turned on by scaring people. His pillowcase was empty when I put candy in it and since I live midway down the street, it seemed a strange place to start his trek. The thing is, he never said a word, just tilted his head, his huge knife gripped in his hand at his side. His size, his speechlessness, his tilted head and shining knife somehow make me giddy. I fantasized long after he’s gone about him stalking me down the street with the mask and the knife and only the sound of his heavy breathing….

So, what was the first horror movie that kind of turned you on? Come on, you know you have one....

Short Story: Nocturnal Appetite

Hope you like zombies. This one's pretty short. I wrote it recently. Enjoy!

He couldn’t bear to be in the same room with her for more than 10 minutes. Peggy studied the dinner plate as if it were the most interesting thing in the room, even though she pushed the food around it aimlessly. The only control the woman had in her entire life was her oral intake and she exercised that obsession without any intervention from Jason.

He got up and stretched and yawned. He was beat and would probably tinker in the home office, hopefully get a couple messages off to Candy and get his titillation for the evening. It was the only thing that kept him going any more. And, the woman was willing to wait which was a lot to ask since they had be playing this side game for four years now.

Peggy’s father had a stroke and it had slowed him down. Jason lurked on the sidelines waiting for the man to finally retire and let him own the business as he promised him upon marrying Milton’s daughter. Jason would be certain the man signed the business papers before he happily announced his divorce plans.

Like every evening, Peggy went to the TV, sat down and stared. He wasn’t even certain she knew what she was watching. That vacant look had become her usual expression. She pretended as if he wasn’t in the room and later he would go to bed, her body already firmly hugging the opposite side of the bed and not even a murmur of “good night.” It helped his conscience to know they’d grown this far apart. It would make filing for divorce seem like the obvious conclusion.

* * *


She looked like hell. He recalled her mentioning feeling poorly yesterday. Jason gave Peggy lots of room, steering clear of her, afraid that the dark circles under her eyes and red crusting on their rims was contagious. Her skin was pale, her hair dragging down without the usual manicured styling.

Her movements were mechanical as she walked to the back of the house. Jason looked around the kitchen. No dinner. Oh, he was in the dog house, all right. It was her subtle way of saying he hadn’t been paying her attention. He’d have to do his duty tonight. He couldn’t afford her divorcing him before he had the company in his legal rights. However, there was no way he was kissing those crusty lips. He shivered inwardly at that notion.

He wasn’t even certain why she would just lie there and let him use her body. The woman had deprived herself of all pleasures from laughter and wine to food and sex. She was only mimicking the living. He couldn’t imagine her ever becoming angry enough to throw something or yell at him, but damn he would have respected her for once!

There was no avoiding her any longer. He heard Peggy shuffle into the bedroom and plop down on the bed. He followed her in and dimmed the light. She liked it dark and whined about her imagined body fat, but he needed a visual for sex. He always got his own way. She had no will at all. It was attractive at first and now he just wished she’d show some spunk. It was impossible to respect a woman who was essentially dead inside.

Feeling his way under the sheet, he touched the edge of her tank top. He pulled on the strap, gliding it down the sharp angle of her shoulder. If he seduced her as if he wanted her, divorce would seem quite unbelievable. No, he should approach it clinically. It would be enough to show he was still a husband to her, but not enough to make her romanticize that he desired her.

Jason slid himself beside Peggy as she let out a low husky growl from her throat. He stopped for a second, thinking she was about to sneeze.

He pulled her onto her back. The hair covered her face and she made no motion to remove it. He lifted his hand; flicking back the over bleached hair. Her eyes looked strangely opaque and pale, the pupils enormous against them. God, he hoped it wasn’t contagious.

Jason held his breath and studied her pale skin and cracked bleeding lips. She seemed to be looking at him but not seeing him. He looked to the bedside table; secretly hoping this time she took too much medicine. He wasn’t the killing type, but if she was stupid enough to take too much of her sleeping pills or anxiety drugs, he wouldn’t feel bad about it.

Everything remained in place. He leaned over her, his hand reaching for her bottoms to ease them off her jutting hipbones when she jerked forward, wrapping her lean arms around him. Her mouth made contact with his shoulder, an aggressive move she had never done before.

With a loud chomp and a searing pain, Jason jerked and thrashed to get her loose as her teeth tore into his flesh. Desperately he shook at her frail body but her strength was unrelenting as she took another bite and another, blood oozing down in a hot trail to soak into the sheets around them. He screamed and pried wildly, his hands digging into her hair and working to yank her head back, but she was fixed on his shoulder.

The sound of tearing muscle followed numbness down the left side of his body and complete inability to use his arm to pry her loose. Helplessly, he fell to the side and she planted herself atop of him, mouth still affixed to him as the joint loosened from its socket and his shoulder fell limp and useless.

Barely conscious, Jason’s head lolled to the side and he moaned weakly as she tore into his biceps with a growl.

Before the numbness overtook him and the weakness from the lack of blood, Jason’s eyes focused on her tearing apart his arm into rubbery grisly bits like a ravenous freak.

In that fleeting moment, he oddly wondered as blackness engulfed him, if perhaps this was what she was starving for all along. A glimmer of respect shined in his glossy eyes as they became fixed and dilated.

This Week in Horror Movies and Paranormal TV

First, I want to thank everyone who showed up on Friday night for our lonely Friday live. It's fun commenting back and forth and I believe we had 128 comments on that one! We'll shoot for more this next Friday. You should get comfy, have a drink, sit back and be ready to be naughty and flirty.

NOTE: "Ghost Hunters" starts again on the 25th. I'm not sure if this is good news or not. Not only has the show become unbelievably stagnant, but SyFy got the bright idea to put the housewives of Atlanta on the show. WTF??? How is it possible SyFy can take something and completely "eff" it up? What the hell are they smoking in their offices? I want me some of that--it might make their shows look more interesting.

(*asterisk means I’m watching it)

MONDAY:
DISCOVERY: “The Colony” (reality series)

TUESDAY:
*HISTORY CHANNEL: “Gates of Hell” A 2-hour special about places around the earth said to be the openings to hell.

WEDNESDAY:
*SyFY: “Ghost Hunters” repeats and “Ghost Hunters International” (new) entitled “Pirates of the Caribbean”
HISTORY CHANNEL: “Chasing Mummies”

THURSDAY:
*SyFy: “Destination Truth” (repeat) “Fact or Faked” (new) A Civil War ghost and cattle mutilations. This is so great—no more loud-mouthed Mary and I get to see Josh and Ben—my TV crushes!
HISTORY CHANNEL: “The Universe”

FRIDAY:
TRAVEL CHANNEL: “Ghost Adventures” (repeats)—never fear, the new season starts in a few weeks. Can’t wait to start the drinking game again and put up the music vids.

I will be doing an interesting interview with a couple of awesome local hunters this week. As well, Julie from Above the Norm and co-author of the Hug-A-Blogger project is going to hopefully head out to the abandoned trailer park with me for an interesting photo and video shoot which no doubt will end up on here, as well. I promised to drag ya'all on crazy jaunts with me and this will be one of many. Come September, when I reveal my total self to everyone on my birthday, the 17th, henceforth expect some vlogs from me face-to-face or whatever body part (you never know with me)and more insanity on video. Keep your fingers crossed for the Hug-A-Blogger project that we pick up a publisher and can hit the roads. If we do so, it will be a totally insane online social media frenzy of videos, blogging, vlogging, Twitter, Facebook, roadside dares, and hopefully when we roll into towns across the US we can entice those nearby to come and meet us for supper. The road map will be drawn out on my body using my moles as the city markers and videotaped for this blog as well as the HaB blog, so expect that probably on Wednesday or Thursday. Honestly, you didn't think I'd go about this the normal route, did ya? This is Autumnforest we're talking about!

Totally Cool Photo Contest

My buddy Cullan Hudson from Strange State is putting on the coolest and funnest photo contest EVER and it totally aligns with this blog, so if you like GHT, then you'll love this contest. Oh, and Cullan is one of the bloggers on our list for Hug-A-Blogger interviewing on our road trip. Yeah, he's that interesting and talented.

Basically, you have from August 15th to October 15th to give him your best hoaxed paranormal photo; ghosts, sea monster, UFOs, you choose whatever. The prizes are awesome but the task is so very cool. I can't wait to see which of you enter and what you submit. Now, go for it my talented friends!

Book Review & Giveaway!

(Picture done of the book as I read it in the dark on the sofa with a book light. I did this because the sofa goes to the floor and nothing can hide beneath it - bwa ha ha)

This book was sent to me by the innovative publishing company, The Career Press, Inc.

"There's Something Under the Bed!" by Ursula Bielski is a book about children's experiences with the paranormal. When I heard this, my ears perked up. Not many kids had the amount of encounters I did with the paranormal and it certainly helped to form me into the person I am today. For some, it haunts them long after, others are ashamed, some let it go and refuse to look at it again. For me, it was just a fact of life like the sun coming up and rain coming down, or in other words "ghosts happen."

This book is laid out nicely and a really good read. The subjects are exciting from talking to animals to reincarnation to poltergeists, angels and demons. Children have extraordinary talents and the psychic and sensitive ones show up young. We seem to out grow them for the most part, though some of us with stronger psychic skills manage to keep those keen senses.

This book is a real keeper for adults who might have had experiences as a child they couldn't explain and those parents who have kids that tell them amazing stories or have extraordinary experiences. I wish this had been around when I was a kid and my mom thought my psychometry ability was an "adorably imaginative mind."

GIVEAWAY: I will be giving away this book. All you have to do is this:
1. Be one of my followers.
2. Leave a comment here on this post by Tuesday night 11 pm EST (one comment per person).
3. I will be having Dale pull the winner's name from a hat and post the winner on Wednesday morning.

Hug-A-Blogger Award

Hug-A-Blogger Award

This award is to be bestowed upon a blogger whom you are so appreciative of, you would like to meet and hug this person in real life. Perhaps their blog makes you smile, gives you great advice, or they are supportive, warm and welcoming hosts/hostesses to their visitors.

The recipient of this award is to:

1. Tell of their most memorable hug ever.
2. Explain who they want to give the award to and why they want to hug that person.

My most memorable hug ever was when I was about 11 years old. The old family dog died. His name was King. He was half german shepherd, half collie. The best damn dog in the universe. My father had been out in the pouring rainstorm digging his grave and putting up a 3-foot tall hunk of quartz for the headstone. He came inside and I looked over at him. My mother didn't like emotions so I was not going to cry in front of her. She walked out of the room and I raced into my dad's arms and cried with him. My father could cry. He could hug. He could laugh. All emotions were allowed. That hug to me said, "whatever you feel, it's valid."

I want to give this award to Max Evel because his blog is my favorite escape. I love the way he sees the world, arranges videos, animates things, puts wicked music to them, is rough around the edges and tough. The little devil makes me want to give him a hug for being something edgy I really need in my day to pump me up and make me feel bad ass. So, Max, this award is for you, you talented devil.

Dale the Doll: I'm Planning my Escape

So, I've been thinking about leaving the Human. Sure, we struck up a bargain and I can sometimes use the laptop at night if I promise not to leave dolly porn on it and she did put me in regular clothes instead of those baby's onesie pajamas and she did put my steamer trunks near the door again where I like to sit and watch the place, but the truth is...I'm confused about my feelings for the Human.

Sure, sure, I've tried to jostle her awake and scare her. I've upskirted her and posted it on the blog. I got drunk on a ghost hunt and went around a cemetery trying to hit on the angel statues, but other than that, I'm a model citizen around here. It doesn't seem to impress her. She is preoccupied with all her millions of activities and that freaking grueling workout regimen she's on. The smell of her sweat in the air makes me, well, confused again. Something gets all tight inside me. I can't explain it. I just know it's shameful for a ventriloquist doll to be content when his Human is in the room.

I'm a complete and total disgrace to my kind.

It's time I hit the road and put some distance between us. Sure, I'll probably be thinking about her goofy laugh and her fast chattering voice when she's excited, and trying not to laugh at her funny jokes and when she reads her LAUGH episodes out loud. I will try not to envision her in her little jammies as she types on her laptop on the sofa and mocks the TV shows like Joel McHale. I'll be better off without the smell of her cooking yummy things I can't eat and breezing past me with that scent she wears that smells like the forest and human skin heated up in some kind of autumn blast.

I even got used to her singing out songs and dancing in front of me in her exercise bra and short shorts, sweaty and ponytail bouncing, shaking her butt and singing along as she pounds herself to exhaustion. Okay, I admit I will miss that. Since I am limited in motion, seeing a person move is kind of a beautiful thing.

Oh God, I am becoming human, aren't I?

Any advice any of you followers can give me would be appreciated. If you can think of a way I can stay here and not feel these things inside, it would be really help. Otherwise, I'm going to have to hit the road, my friends.

Lonely on a Friday Night? Join us!

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH--If you're here, you're actually lucky.

Once again, tonight we're doing what we did last Friday and will probably continue to do so. I don't want to be the only lonely soul on a Friday night. You shouldn't be either. We're commenting back and forth. You can tell why your Friday is lonely or not. You might be bored between movies or TV shows. You might be in the house with someone else and still freaking lonely. You could be without a date or friends go to out with. You might just be sick and tired of going out on the weekends and spending your cash. Whatever your reason, we will chat, flirt, give advice, complain, make each other laugh...whatever comes, naturally. Maybe I will even divulge some dark secrets...

Now, begin...

LAUGH: Fact or Faked Testing Techniques

(It's Friday the 13th--there's only one blog to be at: Max Evel--enjoy--I totally did!--Freaking brilliant!)

BEN: Okay team, let’s go about finding a way to test this film. I’m excited about this Patterson-Gimlin footage. I think we can go about this in a logical and methodical manner eliminating the most obscure and working our way down to the most obvious.

JAEL: (raises her hand)

BEN: Yes?

JAEL: We could start out by proving that the weather was, in fact, clear that day. It appears as if the sun is shining. We can go through the weather records for that place and date and see if this was actually feasible to film sunshine on that day.

BEN: (Pauses) O-kay.

BILL: I’d like to find out the height of Patterson. The camera is jerked around and it points to the ground. I’d like to get a similar camera and get men of all heights to hold it and aim it at the ground and see just how tall this bastard was.

BEN: (Frowns) How tall Patterson was or Bigfoot?

BILL: Patterson, of course. We need to know if he actually filmed this. We’ll check with his wife how tall he was and see if it lines up.

BEN: (shrugs) O-kay.

(Later, after proving the sun was shining that day and the photographer was between 5-feet 8-inches and 6-feet 2-inches, they sat down for another plan of attack)

BEN: So, now that we know the sun was shining and the relative height of the photographer, can we move on to prove if this film is legitimate?

JAEL: (raises her hand)

BEN: Y-es?

JAEL: I think we need to figure out what animal this wasn’t.

BILL: (snaps his fingers) By golly, yes! We can rent a panther, a cockatoo, a dog and a pig.

JAEL: (shaking her head) Bill, I think we should consider something more like this creature.

BEN: (sighs) Thank you, Jael.

JAEL: I say we rent a Panda Bear.

BILL: Why a Panda Bear?

JAEL: They’re black, right? This creature was black, right?

BILL: She’s right. We probably should get something really hairy too.

BEN: Yes, please. How about a –

BILL: A Llama.

JAEL: And probably something as tall.

BEN: Yes, please. How about a –

JAEL: Giraffe!

BEN: (collapses into his chair, shaking his head)

BILL: Once we eliminate all the potential animals in the world, then we can say that this is not one of them, therefore it is unknown.

BEN: It seems an easier way to go about this would be to show if this could be faked by having a large guy in a monkey suit walk the same path and film it the same way.

JAEL: (laughs) Oh Ben, there you go being all logical and practical again. (waves her hand dismissively)

BILL: How about if I make a set of the location to scale?

JAEL: (rubs her hands together) Oh, that’s a great idea! Can I paint the bushes and the trees?

BILL: Sure!

JAEL: Oh goodie! Once we finish the little set, we can make a clay Bigfoot and put him in there and a little horse and Patterson and a little tiny camera and, oh, this is so cute!

BILL: We have our work cut out for us. Debunking is hard.

BEN: Team, ah, shouldn’t we get back to seeing if the film can be faked?

JAEL: I want to test this female Bigfoot’s voice and see if she’s lying or not.

BILL: Great idea. We can run it through our program and we’ll know how legitimate her testimony is.

BEN: (puts his hand in the air) Wait a minute! Bigfoot was not a witness. Gimlin is the only living witness.

JAEL: (pouts) Well, now we have to make another clay figure.

BILL: Yeah, and another horse.

JAEL: I get dibs on making the horses.

BEN: Wait, everyone, please just stop and listen to me. All we have to do is get a 6-foot 10-inch guy and a fur suit and let him walk along the same path and film it the same way that Patterson did. End of story.

JAEL: (shrugs and turns to Bill) How many steps did it take this Bigfoot to get across the clearing?

BILL: You know what this reminds me of?

BEN: (under his breath) Third grade show and tell?

BILL: That question; how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

JAEL: Oh yes! The owl! I saw those retro commercials online. I’ve always wondered about that. Do you think we could try that experiment?

BILL: (waves his arm) I’m sure we could get one of these anonymous peripheral characters around the room to try it out.

JAEL: (serious expression) But, do you think the cherry one might be easier to lick than the grape? Perhaps we should try each flavor.

BILL: This team is brilliant! I’ll get on that right away.

BEN: Excuse me, guys, but aren’t we supposed to be working on the Patterson-Gimlin film?

JAEL: Ben, how are we going to answer how many steps Bigfoot took if we don’t look at how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?

BEN: (runs a hand over his face and growls)

BILL: (takes Jael aside) I was thinking we should consider doing something a little more practical first.

BEN: (throws his hands in the air) Thank you!

BILL: We’ll get that clay you can bake in the oven and then it’ll harden and Bigfoot can be painted to look real. I love this job. It’s like every day is preschool!

JAEL: (nodding) Me too and you’re right Bill, we do need Bigfoot to look real. We wouldn’t want to make this project look amateurish

BEN: (Rolling his eyes) No, we certainly wouldn’t want that.

(Later on, after every animal had been eliminated and they studied the little miniature set of the Patterson-Gimlin film, had found out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop and haggled over who got to ride in a helicopter to look down on a clearing in some woods to count the amount of stones on the ground, Ben tossed down his mic and battery pack and walked off into the woods. Many days later he was found hitchhiking along a California back road babbling incoherently about an ex-FBI agent parenting a preschool)

Review: "Fact or Faked"

(Okay, that's me above--not the "guest breasts")

(**Do not forget-this evening I'm doing the "Lonely on a Friday Night" live commenting. Anyone with nothing to do, hang out and comment back and forth. It's a blast and it keeps us from feeling like we're the last people on earth while everyone else is partying. Tell friends if they want to join in too. The more the merrier. Starts at 7 pm EST and runs until us west coasters get tired.**)

One comment only: In the spirit of last night's episode tackling gravity hill, I just want to say that this picture above is the best answer to gravity hills--it's called Victoria's Secret. Perhaps the team should have headed to the mall first...

Today's review is going to be a bit different than the past ones. I'm encouraging folks who saw the show to write a comment about the kinds of testing, methods, or sequence you would have used if you took on the investigation yourself. I've said it before and it's worth repeating, but the show is chopped to hell for the masses, so we will never know what the true investigation went down like, but we love arm-chair reviews, so I'm totally game for that today. I do it every time I watch "Ghost Hunters" and I know my highly intelligent readers and ya'all definitely have very strong opinions on methods. So, have at it, my cuties, and let's see how you'd do it if you got to wear Ben's pants. (Man, I would so love to wear Ben's pants--if he's occupying them). Oh, and to Ben, I'm still totally digging you and Bill--I think a team like Jason and Grant with you two would be really exciting. I'm hoping the production company sees this winning combo and plays it up.

QUIZ: What unusual vehicle did they test the ghost kids to see if they could push it up the hill and over the railroad tracks?
Bulldozer
Pickup truck
School bus
Tractor

**Following this is another episode of LAUGH: FACT OR FAKED TESTING TECHNIQUES posting at 2 pm EST and tonight's 7 pm EST Lonely Hearts Club meeting here**

"Fact or Faked" Sneak Peek

Watch tonight on SyFy--I have an interesting review planned for tomorrow with reader participation strongly encouraged. As well, tomorrow at 2 pm EST I will have another episode of LAUGH up and at 7 pm EST the lonely hearts night on my blog for open commenting for those who are bored on a Friday night.

Shadow People: What are we talking about?

(*Don't forget Thursday is "Fact or Faked" on SyFy. Friday is review of "Fact or Faked," followed by another episode of LAUGH, followed by an evening for those who are lonely to post comments live back and forth as we did last Friday*)

I’ve covered shadow people on this blog several times (use the search bar on the right). For those who haven’t heard of them, shadow people are human-like shapes seen by people anywhere, any time. They are usually seen first in the peripheral vision and then when one turns his head, these figures disappear or disappear as soon as they realize they have been seen.

That’s what intrigues me the most about these figures; that there are signs of present-based intelligence. This is to say that these figures appear to be startled that they have been seen and then retreat. They are interactive in the present time. They are also quite intriguing because they can be seen in cemeteries (often) and people’s homes (modern homes without histories), outdoors and in hospitals.

I’ve interviewed people who have seen them often in cemeteries. I’ve even been with someone who saw them in a cemetery and he looked quite baffled by these dark moving figures. In fact, it was the same cemetery where I had witnessed one when I was alone there. It was inquisitive and actually poked its head out from behind a headstone. My son and his best friend had seen and had a lengthy encounter with one at a cemetery. That two people saw it at the same time verifies its efficacy at being visible and not in one’s imagination or a trick of the eye. I have also interviewed people who saw them in the hospital during a stay there. Many report seeing them in their homes, even recently built ones.

So, it would appear that we can assume these are not necessarily a haunting figure in the traditional sense. They aren’t sticking around the place of their death. In fact, their very size and shape shows something that is quite unusual. Most often, these are reported as small, about 3-4 feet in size with human appendages and looking human shaped. There is also another variation that appears to be tall, slender, with a top hat and possible cape.

As ludicrous as these descriptions sound, it gets even more eerie when people report that they are so black that they seem to suck the very light out of the spot in which they stand, as if they are solid. My son used the target light on his camera on one in the cemetery, expecting to be seeing a homeless person tucked in for the night. Instead, the light sat on the black figure and did not go through it. It appeared to have substance.

There is a device I spoke of recently on a post about whether Predator from the movies was possible with our technology. One of the things discussed was camouflage that allowed complete cloaking and invisibility. A possibility is that this “thing” has the ability to refract light in a way that makes it remain dark no matter what illumination is put upon it or what surroundings it stands in. Why would it be this way? Perhaps it’s not an alien design for invisibility. It could be a biological evolution for whatever environment it normally inhabits, like the fish at the bottom of the sea that are luminescent.

There are a lot of questions about why we’re seeing shadow people as more of a modern phenomenon. One theory that I find interesting is that our eyes are used to looking at screens that refresh at fast rates of speed and that perhaps we have retrained our vision to see things in the spectrum we didn’t see before. It’s a nice theory, but I work at a screen at least 12 hours a day between writing, work and blogging and correspondence and I have seen 4 shadow people which is not an impressive rate for someone who uses screens so often.

It would appear that the conditions that allow for the sighting of a shadow person are rare. Somehow, things come together to allow us a glimmer of a sighting and it is in those times that this “creature” that otherwise thought it was invisible gets startled and hides.

Someone asked me once if a shadow person watches us all the time and then is shocked when we see them finally. I don’t view it that way. I’ve often said that perhaps we are ghosts to ghosts. They walk along and pass by us and catch a glimpse or a sound or a scent and say “what was that?” I think that happens with this shadow person phenomenon. They are doing whatever it is they do and the conditions make it possible for both of us to be visible and both of us to be shocked and both of us to run and hide. It’s like someone turned on the light in a co-ed locker room and we’re all suddenly standing there naked and startled, intrigued and embarrassed, terrified and bashful.

If you’re interested in this subject, you might check out a shadow people archive online with stories written by people who experienced them. Look for commonalities and running threads in their stories. You will come to some of your own conclusions about the phenomenon.

My Mother's Douche Bag

Yeah, this post is sounding kinda creepy, huh? Not really. It’s about weird things we use for ghost hunting tools. Even creepier? Keep reading...

When I was a kid we would open the family bathroom medicine cabinet and there it was…unavoidably out of place amongst the bottles of mercurochrome and salves. Mom’s 1950s era douche bag, propped up, flopping a bit like a calf’s bladder, drew attention. I remember as a kid pondering it. The images in my mind were intriguing. Was it used for unplugging the sink? Perhaps to clean out ear wax? No one spoke of it. We pretended it…wasn’t there.

One time as a little kid who inhabited the tiny end bedroom, the truly disturbing room with the ice cold closet year-round and something that sounded like it was breathing raspy within, I decided it was time to do something about this ghost. I pondered what to do for someone who was having trouble breathing. I understood how they felt, nearly everyone around me smoked.

Then, one brilliant day while in the bathroom reaching for the St. Joseph’s aspirin, I saw it. I picked it up this time and examined the line and the bag. It reminded me of those Ambu masks on TV medical shows that helped aid breathing.

So, I brought it with me to my room and left it in the closet for the night just to see if the poor ghost might be able to resuscitate his poor breathing. I forgot the douche bag was in there. I never used the closet because it was cold and felt so nasty. I kept my clothing sprawled on the radiator.

But, I was in the bathroom one day and realized the douche bag wasn’t there. Oops!

I put it back in the medicine cabinet and lived with the rattling breather in the closet for another year until I could switch bedrooms.

Since that time, I have incorporated some strange items into ghost hunting, using a belly dancing scarf and windchimes as early warning devices to make noise. I’ve used a tap light for communication and powder for signs of a presence.

You know my last few ghost hunts were not too productive. Perhaps we need to pull out the old school tools. Can't you just see J&G holding up a Summer's Eve container and doing a little commercial and then proceeding to set it down on a chair and carry on a conversation with it like a KII meter... Hell, ratings may go up!

(Tomorrow's post is about shadow people--a favorite subject)