Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Not Ancient Aliens: Rethinking the Origins Of Ancient Mysteries


As a psychic, when I instruct people on how to read objects, I advise them to forget what you intellectually know the object to be - color, quality, purpose, etc. Simply act as though this is an unknown thing of unknown origins. Let the object tell you what it is.

For this post, I will be asking you to give up everything you've been told about the world and how it was settled and when you let that go - the world suddenly makes sense for the first time ever! 

No more fitting intellectual square pegs into out-of-place-finds' round circles.

We get lots of out of "place/out of time" finds and "primitive" looking human remains that confuse and confound archaeologists. Some people, trying hard to fit these finds into our history will attribute it to visitation by advanced civilizations from outer space. They are partly right (advanced civilizations).

What if we were never visited by ancient aliens - but were visited by other civilizations that lived and evolved here long before homo sapiens?


Wisconsin, Peru and Nevada?

Let me begin with something you may not see coming - Wisconsin, Peru and Nevada and their similarities-

Wisconsin is an ancient copper mining site.  The Menomonie Indians of north Wisconsin possess a legend that speaks about the ancient mines. They described the mines as being worked by “light-skinned men," who were able to identify the mines by throwing magical stones on the ground, which made the ores that contained copper ring like a bell. This practice closely resembles a similar practice that was used in Europe during the Bronze Age. Bronze with a high concentration of tin indeed resonates when a stone is thrown against it. The legend might have confused the start of the process with the result of the process. Even so, S.A. Barnett, the first archaeologist who studied Aztalan, a site near the mines, believed that the miners originated from Europe. His conclusion was largely based on the type of tools that had been used, tools which were not used by the local people. 


Wisconsin is also a state of an enormous amount of animal effigies on the ground at burial mounds.  As well, Wisconsin coincidentally has had plenty of ancient giants - found at burial mounds.  

The dig site at Lake Delavan was overseen by Beloit College and it included more than 200 effigy mounds that proved to be classic examples of 8th century Woodland Culture (*a culture that adopted what it knew from a previous culture?). But the enormous size of the skeletons and elongated skulls found in May 1912 did not fit very neatly into anyone's concept of a textbook standard.  First reported in the 4 May 1912 issue of the New York Times, the 18 skeletons found by the Peterson brothers on Lake Lawn Farm in southwest Wisconsin exhibited several strange and freakish features.  Their heights ranged between seven and nine feet and their skulls "presumably those of men, are much larger than the heads of any race which inhabit America to-day.Above the eye sockets, "the head slopes straight back and the nasal bones protrude far above the cheek bones. The jaw bones are long and pointed, bearing a minute resemblance to the head of the monkey. The teeth in the front of the jaw are regular molars." On 10 August 1891, the New York Times reported that scientists from the Smithsonian Institution had discovered several large "pyramidal monuments" on Lake Mills, near Madison, Wisconsin. "Madison was in ancient days the centre of a teeming population numbering not less than 200,000," the Times said. The excavators found an elaborate system of defensive works which they named Fort Aztalan.

So, Wisconsin has - lots of animal effigies, burial mounds with slope-skulled tall skeletons, ancient mining of copper by "people before the Natives" and legends by the local Natives of the "others.

Let's move on through the Americas -  


Peru is a copper mining area, with findings of ancient giants (Peruvian red-haired, elongated skull people), local legends by Natives of ancient giants being there (red-haired, white-skinned giants who arrived by boats), and animal effigies (Nazca) -



Nevada has copper mining. It also has 14,800 year old petroglyphs (so far the oldest in America), finds of ancient red-haired giants, and legends by the Paiutes of their giant existence and torment in the region. 




Glyphs:  ("National Geographic" link) The carbonate ages, combined with an analysis of sediment cores taken from neighboring Pyramid Lake, suggest that the boulders were exposed to air—and thus accessible for carving by humans—between about 14,800 to 13,100 years ago, and again from about 11,300 to 10,500 years ago. In between the two time periods, the boulders were submerged, the scientists say.  Scientists say they have found genetic evidence that a first wave of migrants (*interestingly chosen term "migrants") crossed into the Americas from Asia about 15,000 to 18,000 years ago by slowly creeping down the continent's coasts.  A few thousand years later, according to the study, a second wave of humans (*now they differentiate with the term  "humans") entered North America, this time by slipping across the Bering Strait into Alaska and then crossing through an ice-free corridor into Canada.  

***BING! BING! BING! - Ancient giants from Asia headed by SEA much earlier in first migration, but "humans" later came by Behring Strait*** (remember that first wave of migrants with sloped heads? Later migration of what would become Native Americans?--see my prior posts on the right hand side regarding giants)

*NOTE:  If you look closely enough at the actual very carefully worded works of archaeologists and paleontologists, you start to note interesting and cautious wording that masks these "does-not-compute" finds. 

Whose Language Is It?


"Egyptian tomb in the Grand Canyon," 
"Viking Runes in Wisconsin," 
"Ogham writing in Arizona."

These comments are coming from the mindset of other countries visiting America before we thought they did, but this might very well be wrong.  

Technologies and languages "out of place" also line up with slope-skulled giants who cannot be explained. The one commonality in all of our cultures is giants. 

If we had pyramids in China and South America and Egypt, we had hieroglyphs and runes, stone buildings, mining, and seafaring, it wasn't being designed separately in isolated pockets around the world, it was being visited by the "originators" who spread it and it was eventually adopted by the locals who made it their own.

I propose that the giant culture spread its influence of technology and language around the world as it moved about and languages from other cultures were fashioned from the "original" language.  What we are finding in America is not out of place - for the original settlers - the giants.  This is not otherworldly, but to some it's more of a threat because it means that man cannot take credit for originality, but taking an innovation and running with it.


Perhaps "Runestones" of America is the wrong terminology. Perhaps the Norse were utilizing language they learned from the giants, as were Aztecs, Egyptians and others who started their languages based on the "leap in knowledge" the ancient giants afforded them.  Those languages were a reflection of giants' original hieroglyphics and so there are similarities depending on how much the culture retained the giants' own symbols.






Is it easier to believe that Vikings might have arrived with some off-style rune language and left it on rocks around American a thousand years ago up to almost 15,000 years ago? 

Or is it a much easier task to believe that a people who settled here before us were writing upon the rocks in the regions where they settled where there was water, copper, and ideal living conditions for what they sought? 

These white-skinned, red-haired, giants with rune-looking language are dismissed as "possibly Vikings showed up randomly in the Middle Ages." But, did Vikings stay and mine copper?  Were they truly 7-9 feet tall? Did the make civilizations around the Americas and have sloping skulls?





(ABOVE - Heavener Stone - Oklahoma)




(ABOVE - Bourne Stone - Massachusetts)




(ABOVE - Kensington Stone - Minnesota)


(ABOVE - Newberry Stone - Michigan)



(ABOVE - Spirit Pond Stone - Maine)




(ABOVE - Narragansett Stone - Rhode Island) 




(ABOVE - Shawnee Runestone - Oklahoma)


(ABOVE - Poteau Runestone - Oklahoma)





Who Built That?


Sacsayhuam


Stone buildings of immense size, stone walls one cannot put a blade between. These are the mysteries that haunt locations known for ancient slope-headed giants finds. Although archaeologists have to accredit any finds to the local Natives, they also readily admit, these building techniques did not jive with knowledge at the time the buildings were built, and that others, such as the Incans, imitated these earlier finds.  Interestingly, these finds were within what would later become the Incan territory in the area of Cusco, Peru.




At the museum in Cusco, Peru, experts reviewed this mummy and proclaimed, "Although the assessment was superficial, it is obvious that its features do not correspond to any ethnic group in the world."

Note:  Amazing stone structures built before man was supposedly advanced enough to make such massive and precise things happen and ancient giant skeletons in the same region??? 



Pumapunku 




This complex is beside the Tiwanaku site in Bolivia.  This is also the area of ancient giants finds - 




Based upon detailed petrographic and chemical analyses of samples from both individual stones and known quarry sites, archaeologists concluded that these and other red sandstone blocks were transported up a steep incline from a quarry near Lake Titicaca roughly 10 km away. Smaller andesite blocks that were used for stone facing and carvings came from quarries within the Copacabana Peninsula about 90 km away from and across Lake Titicaca from the Pumapunku and the rest of the Tiwanaku Site.


One last note is that Native legends around the world speak of ancient giants, they also speak of those who are more powerful gods who have knowledge. Quetzalcoatl is a great example.

 
Quetzalcoatl was related to gods of the wind, of Venus, of the dawn, of merchants and of arts, crafts and knowledge. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and knowledge. This serpent god was
part of a triad of agricultural deities.

NOTE:  If someone brought you the knowledge to set up a civilization, build buildings and farm the land, would this all-knowledgeable person be a deity?  
Did man in his relatively short evolutionary period since Mitochondrial Eve and the departure from Africa (about 100,000 to 200,000 years ago) manage to discover - 

seafaring? 
agriculture?
art?
religion?
language?
hieroglyphs?
tools? 
mining?
architecture?
sculpting? 

Or did we imitate them from the "gods?" Those highly advanced evolutionary specimens that were giant-sized, had left Africa up to 600,000 years earlier than we, and on their path of discovery to new places, learned new ways of conquering the earth and adapting to climates, seas, and spiritual expression?

We know that homo sapiens stole tools from their predecessors, Heidelbergensis in Africa, who had made them much earlier.  We know that Neanderthal had a bigger brain than homo sapiens and his ancestor, Heidelbergensis left Africa around 800,000 years ago, but all of us modern day homo sapiens who came from Mitochondrial Eve left around 200,000 years ago. For a perspective, imagine how it was 1000 years ago compared to now as far as civilization and technology - now imagine that times 600!  That would be the difference in advancement between their descendents and Mitochondrial Eve's. 

These concepts may be unsettling, but much less so than some all-powerful aliens attacking our planet. It's quite obvious by now that homo sapiens own the planet and the technologies that we  were able to evolve at a mentally more rapid pace having rudimentary skills offered early on. This is like teaching a child to read at 5 years of age and then having him able to drink in books for years and years rather than having him try to figure out how to read and take many years to get to that point. 

We had mentors and examples that took care of the simple skills for us, so we could take it and run. Some people might think this threatens man's place on the planet and takes away credit for ancient sites from "Native People," "Vikings" or others, but it means that native people knew to take a concept and run with it and make it their own over time, from religions to language, technology to architecture.

With this point of reference I am proposing, all the "out of place" and "out of time" finds now suddenly make perfect sense. We were halfway there to explaining it when science accepted earlier migrations and Otamid skull types. Let's quite pussyfooting around researchers, and say what we all really know to be true -  there were giants upon the earth and they were our predecessors, teachers, mentors, and to earliest man - gods.

***Tomorrow, I'm very excited to have a guest poster, Sasquatch Researcher Karl Sup, on here.  He will be presenting his theoretical proposal for Sasquatch eye shine. This is a brilliant and perfectly feasible explanation.**


 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Paranormal Geeks Radio Tonight!


Tonight on Paranormal Geeks Radio - special guests, Alexandra Holzer (daughter of Hans Holzer) and spiritual medium, Janice Carlson.

This is going to be a great show!

It'll be on 9 pm EST/8 pm Central/6 pm Pacific.




Abandoned Victorian Homes


Considering the beauty of Victorian Era homes, it's hard to believe that anyone leaves them abandoned and abused. I see them, and I imagine pastel paint, fresh decorative gingerbread trim, and deep wraparound porches. I also imagine going inside the abandoned building and poking around in the dark eerie rooms in its once beautiful splendor now rotting and moldy, creaking and haunted feeling.


Source:  Born during the Industrial Revolution, they embraced new materials and technologies to create houses like no one had ever seen before. Mass-production and mass-transit made ornamental parts affordable. Victorian architects and builders applied decoration liberally, combining features borrowed from many different eras with flourishes from their own imaginations.


  



Valspar paints actually offer you paint selections for interior and exterior based on historic Victorian color palette.  Soft muted pastel tones ruled the colors of Victorian era, as well as some deep dramatic colors like eggplant purple and rich red, as well as bright Easter Egg tones.




 

And, some Victorian homes come with ghosts. Many people around the turn of the century passed on in their homes, not hospitals. That was the common way. As well, these homes often had Civil War histories and lots of occupants over the years.

Here's some interiors - 





What about the Victorian no one wants?  - 



 This mansion (above) in Cheshire has sat empty since 2005. No one wants it. Can you believe it? Well, it has a history -  Lawyer Christopher Lumsden knifed his  53-year-old wife Alison around 30 times after she announced she was leaving him for a family friend. He slashed her face and neck so many times that a pathologist could not count the precise number of blows. No one wants the place and so it has sat abandoned.



Interested in purchasing an old Victorian? How about an 1804 one in St. Augustine, Texas for 84K?  


How about an 1848 Greek Revival with huge acreage in Huntsville, Missouri for 195K?


On the registry of historic homes, built in 1879 in Hamilton, North Carolina going for 92K.

Finding old homes? Check this site for ones for sale around the nation. 

***Tomorrow on the blog, a break in Victorian Gothic Ghosts to bring you an important post "Not Ancient Aliens: Rethinking the Origins of Ancient Mysteries."** 


Ghost-Themed Movies Divided By Category



This post is all about making it easy to decide what kind of ghost movie to watch or add to your collection and I'm doing it by the way I choose movies - what sort of ghost movie am I in the mood for?  So, I've categorized and helped you find the perfect fit for your mood and some of the titles fit into a couple categories, as well, which makes it a no-brainer to decide what to watch if you're in the mood for a couple categories and they contain a common movie or two.





"Oh Crap! My House Is Haunted"
The Amityville Horror:  A stepfather and his new family move into the home of their dreams to find out it is their nightmare.
The Changeling: A widower rents a beautiful old historic home and discovers it's haunted by an unsolved murder decades ago.
The Conjuring:  A couple of paranormal investigators/spiritual helpers assist a family with a haunted farmhouse.
The Entity:  A single mother is tormented by an evil demon that abuses her.
The Evil:  A couple buy a big old place to renovate and when their friends come to help, they are trapped within the murderous home.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: A widow chooses to raise he daughter at an isolated seaside cottage that has the spirit of a crusty sea captain inhabiting it.
Ghost Ship: A team goes on board an abandoned ship to salvage it only to find it's haunted. 
Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive:  A family is tormented in their suburban home by ghosts.
The Innocents:  A woman goes to a country estate in England to be a nanny to two unusual children only to wonder what is haunting the place.
Insidious:  A family moves into a very troubled haunted home.
The Others:  A woman and her children in a lonely estate begin to wonder if they might be haunted.
The Orphanage:  A woman moves her children into an old children's orphanage building and her son begins to interact with something.
Paranormal Activity:  A couple starts to be taunted by some paranormal activity in their home and decide to film it.
Poltergeist:  A family in a new suburban home are tormented by the other side.
The Ring:  A woman investigating a mysterious videotape's origins gets involved a haunting terror.
The Shining:   A husband, wife, and child become caretakers at a huge hotel in the snowy mountains for winter where the husband begins to act strangely. 
Something Evil:  A family moves into a country home and the wife begins to experience the unexplained.
Thirteen Ghosts:  A family inherits an awesome home only to find it holds 13 ghosts within.
The Uninvited:  A brother and sister get a home on the British coastline only to find it haunted by someone from the past.
What Lies Beneath:  A wife thinks her home is haunted as her husband terrorizes her.




"Not Too Scary"
Beetlejuice:  A couple who pass on and haunt their home, want the new owners out.
Ghost:  A man dies and comes back to haunt the love of his life. 
Ghostbusters:  A ragtag team of researchers starts ghost busting and then the town becomes attacked by spirit forms right and left.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken:  The village fraidy cat wants to be a reporter and has to spend a night in a haunted house.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir:  A widow chooses to raise he daughter at an isolated seaside cottage that has the spirit of a crusty sea captain inhabiting it.
The Haunting (1963):  A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area.
The House On Haunted Hill:  An eccentric wealthy man and his estranged wife have a party at a haunted mansion, offering the guests money to stay the night.
The Innocents:   A woman goes to a country estate in England to be a nanny to two unusual children only to wonder what is haunting the place.
The Others:  A woman and her children in a lonely estate begin to wonder if they might be haunted.
The Stone Tape:  A group of researchers renting an old historic building to run experiments, end up experimenting with an interesting concept on how ghosts haunt.
The Uninvited:  A brother and sister get a home on the British coastline only to find it haunted by someone from the past.
The Woman In Black:  A lawyer travels to an old abandoned estate where he finds out the villagers are being tormented by spirits.





"Paranormal Investigations"
The Awakening:  A post WWI woman goes around proving ghosts don't exist until she runs into one on an historic old boy's school.
Death of a Ghost Hunter:  A team of  ghost hunters run into more than they bargained for.
The Entity:  A single mother is tormented by an evil demon that abuses her.
Ghostbusters:  A ragtag team of researchers starts ghost busting and then the town becomes attacked by spirit forms right and left.
The Haunting (1963):  A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area.
Knocking On Death's Door:  A married couple ghost hunts in a haunted home and run into a mystery.
The Legend of Hell House:  A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area. 
Prince of Darkness:  A university team comes to a church basement to examine something evil.
Poltergeist:  A family in a new suburban home are tormented by the other side.
The Stone Tape:  A group of researchers renting an old historic building to run experiments, end up experimenting with an interesting concept on how ghosts haunt.
Thirteen Ghosts:  A family inherits an awesome home only to find it holds 13 ghosts within.



"Gothic/Romantic/Atmospheric"
The Awakening: A post WWI woman goes around proving ghosts don't exist until she runs into one on an historic old boy's school.
Dead Silence:  A man's wife dies after he receives a ventriloquist doll in the mail, now he must go find out how she was murdered and if the doll was involved somehow.
Death Watch:  Soldiers hide out in the enemy's abandoned fort, or is it abandoned?
The Fog:  A fog rolls into a beach community and the ghosts of the past want vengeance.
Ghost:  A man dies and comes back to haunt the love of his life.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: A widow chooses to raise he daughter at an isolated seaside cottage that has the spirit of a crusty sea captain inhabiting it.
Ghost Story:  Friends sharing a 50-year-old secret reunite and a ghost wants retribution.
Gothika:  A psychiatrist awakens at the mental hospital she worked at, but as a patient.
The Haunting (1963): A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area.
The Innocents: A woman goes to a country estate in England to be a nanny to two unusual children only to wonder what is haunting the place.
The Orphanage: A woman moves her children into an old children's orphanage building and her son begins to interact with something.
The Others:  A woman and her children in a lonely estate begin to wonder if they might be haunted.
The Stone Tape: A group of researchers renting an old historic building to run experiments, end up experimenting with an interesting concept on how ghosts haunt.
Trick R Treat:  A series of stories, one of which involves the ghosts of some mentally challenged children who drowned when their bus was driven over a cliff into a lake.
The Uninvited:  A brother and sister get a home on the British coastline only to find it haunted by someone from the past.
The Woman In Black:  A lawyer travels to an old abandoned estate where he finds out the villagers are being tormented by spirits.






 "Evil/Possession/Demons"
Burnt Offerings:  A family moves into a beautiful idyllic home in the countryside, but have to take care of the remaining resident.
The Conjuring:  A couple of paranormal investigators/spiritual helpers assist a family with a haunted farmhouse.
Dead Silence:  A man's wife dies after he receives a ventriloquist doll in the mail, now he must go find out how she was murdered and if the doll was involved somehow.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose:  When a young woman starts having fits ad doing things that appear possessed, a family wants an exorcism.
The Exorcist:  An adolescent girl becomes possessed and needs an exorcism.
Insidious:  A family moves into a very troubled haunted home.
The Legend of Hell House:  A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area. 
Night of the Scarecrow:  A vengeful possessed scarecrow has it in for a town's top citizens.
A Nightmare on Elm Street:  A creepy dead murderer terrorizes the youth in their dreams.
Prince of Darkness:  A university team comes to a church basement to examine something evil.
The Sentinel:  A model moves into a charming old apartment building with quirky residents who have a little something wrong.
The Shining:  A husband, wife, and child become caretakers at a huge hotel in the snowy mountains for winter where the husband begins to act strangely. 

Thirteen Ghosts:  A family inherits an awesome home only to find it holds 13 ghosts within.
Wake Wood:  A husband and wife grieve the loss of their child and find a way to bring her back.




"Am I Insane Or Is This A Ghost?/Psychological"
Chernobyl Diaries:  A group of thrillseeking friends take a tour of Chernobyl and get stranded with something else present there.
Death Watch:  Soldiers hide out in the enemy's abandoned fort, or is it abandoned?
The Exorcism of Emily Rose:  When a young woman starts having fits ad doing things that appear possessed, a family wants an exorcism.
Gothika:  A psychiatrist awakens at the mental hospital she worked at, but as a patient.
Halflight:  A grieving author goes to an isolated UK getaway cottage to write as she processes the death of her son but soon wonders if she's insane or visiting a ghost at a lighthouse island nearby.
Let's Scare Jessica To Death:  A woman leaves an asylum and goes to a country home where she begins to wonder if she's losing her mind again.
A Nightmare on Elm Street:  A creepy dead murderer terrorizes the youth in their dreams.
Session 9:  An asbestos cleaning crew sent to an abandoned asylum starts having weird things happen.
The Shining:  A husband, wife, and child become caretakers at a huge hotel in the snowy mountains for winter where the husband begins to act strangely.
The Sixth Sense:  A man tries to help a kid with the sixth sense to see dead people only to begin to wonder at his own life.
Stir Of Echoes:  Following being hypnotized, a man starts experiencing visions and is driven to solve a murder from the past in his home.
What Lies Beneath:  A wife thinks her home is haunted as her husband terrorizes her.




"1970s Classics"

The Amityville Horror:  A stepfather and his new family move into the home of their dreams to find out it is their nightmare.
Burnt Offerings:  A family moves into a beautiful idyllic home in the countryside, but have to take care of the remaining resident.
The Exorcist:  An adolescent girl becomes possessed and needs an exorcism.
The Fog:  A fog rolls into a beach community and the ghosts of the past want vengeance.
Ghost Story:  Friends sharing a 50-year-old secret reunite and a ghost wants retribution.
The Legend of Hell House:  A team is put together by a parapsychologist to check out the most haunted home in the area. 
The Sentinel:  A model moves into a charming old apartment building with quirky residents who have a little something wrong.
The Shining:  A husband, wife, and child become caretakers at a huge hotel in the snowy mountains for winter where the husband begins to act strangely.
Something Evil:  A family moves into a country home and the wife begins to experience the unexplained.


And here's an upcoming ghost movie that looks wickedly awesome - "The Quiet Ones"





***In a while the second post of the day will be about abandoned Victorian homes***



Monday, April 28, 2014

Cassadaga Florida: Victorian Era Spiritualist Community


In the heyday of the spiritualist movement of the Victorian Era, a man named George Colby wandered into the Florida glades, guided by a spirit guide, to found a homestead that incorporated in 1894 and called Cassadaga. It was said he had TB when he arrived and was looking for a healing.  He turned the area into a spiritualists' camp and the wealthy would come and get readings and connect with the dead. For a time, the place was considered the psychic capital of the world. By 1922, it had become the hub of spiritual retreats and had the biggest concentration of spiritualists in one area. Eventually the compound was ridiculed by preachers who admonished their flocks to avoid that "devil work."



Today, spiritualists are trained there and it gives all kinds of gatherings, musicals and a bookstore.




The place ended up in one of my favorite book series "Weird USA."  One group of religious fanatics marched to Cassadaga’s Temple during services and stood outside protesting Spiritualism. On another occasion, some guy came dragging a cross down the street. “We’ve always had problems at Halloween,” remarked Gates who grew up in the area. “They come here thinking they’re going to see ghosts, they believe that something evil is going on. One time they started a rumor that the devil was in the temple because they could see a glowing, red candle in the window. What they were talking about was the red exit lights inside the church. Then there are the stories about how we’ve dumped bodies into Spirit Pond or why there are no children in Cassadaga.” Gates says that all these stories originate from people’s ignorance about Spiritualism, “If they understood it, or could see it, they wouldn’t fear it…there’s nothing evil about it.” 

I live in Arizona and here we have Sedona and it is a totally over-the-top spiritualist center and, between supposedly 4 energy vortexes, tons of UFOs being sighted, and the amazingly spiritually moving red rock, it really is an ideal Southwest Cassadaga.




Aura Photos


**Tomorrow's post is a comprehensive listing of ghost movies broken down by category, so if you're in the mood for "oh-no-my-house-is-haunted or romantic-atmospheric, not-so-scary," and others, you can easily find the movie to fit your mood, and a post about a look into creepy abandoned Victorian homes.***


Creepy Victorian Era Photographs

(My Steampunk Ghost costume)


What was up with the Victorian Era? The period from the late 1800s to early 1900s were fraught with very dark, death-and-spirit-oriented artistic expression in their photography. It was morose and at the same time, carried a good deal of humor and magic. Queen Victoria set the pace with a 40-year mourning period for her lost love, wearing black, and setting extensive mourning practices for the people of the time by setting a trend to basically fear and never get over death or let those who died truly pass on.  Mourning etiquette was laid out officially to know how to mourn depending on the relationship. Funerals and memorials were elaborate and the wearing of mourning clothing could last for extensive amounts of time depending on who had passed on.

 Let's look at some of the weird trends -

Headless pics - this was a preoccupation with photography tricks. 






The Victorians also enjoyed humor and costumes in their photos - they were extremely eccentric and quirky and sometimes had a very creepy effect -









They were also archivists of their dead. Sometimes, the only time a person in this new era of photography got a photo done was when they were dead - the last way for the family to remember them.






They were preoccupied with death in every way and also the excitement of the age of "enlightenment" and spirituality. Ghost photography was the rage and capturing apparitions and "ectoplasm" were the trend, especially when wanting to sucker in those who wanted to believe or pay to see proof. With photography not being common among the masses, many did not understand the kind of trickery that could occur. They saw something in a photo and believed it must have actually been there.