May On Ghost Hunting Theories: Paranormal In the Sea Month!

May is the month of swim season beginning for most. For us in the desert, it starts in early spring. I thought that I would spend the entire month with the water - showing all the paranormal events, legends, horrors, and more that involve the sea, lakes, ocean, and storms! 

Expect to see a wide array of water-related paranormal, horror, monsters, ghosts, and tragedies.

Tomorrow's post is a deliciously creepy and awesome one about Lake Baikal in Siberia and the humanoids, dogmen and UFOs associated with it. 

Alien Crash 1897!

Most people have heard about the Roswell supposed alien UFO crash of 1947, and the majority would say that was the first crash. Not so. There was a reported crash, a few years before the Wright Brothers even started the first flight. The 1897 alien crash defies what we thought we knew about man's flight-oriented way of seeing alien visitation. These folks were not used to anyone ever being up in the air except the occasional dirigible in big cities for special occasions. And, what the citizens reported was very vivid an a bit chilling when compared with Roswell.

It begins like this - in the 1896-1897 time frame around the US, various cigar-shaped craft were reported in the air. One report came in 1897 from the small rural farming town of Aurora, Texas where one of these airships was said to of crashed into a windmill. It was reported an alien being was found dead. The crash wreckage was said to have been dumped down a nearby well and the alien buried in a graveyard with a "Christian" burial. 

Some say it was a hoax performed by a member of the town who saw that, due to a lot of bad incidents, the town was dying and he wanted to keep it alive and remembered. 

But, in 1935, a man bought the property and opened up the well and removed the trash and then came down with a cripple and unusual case of arthritis supposedly caused by the contaminated well.  

For all the very good shows that have tried to uncover information at the site, there have been roadblocks from getting no permission to dig in the graveyard where ground-penetrating radar found a grave, to a supposed makeshift headstone being removed and more. 

So, did this crash really occur? I'd have to say something hit that windmill, something was dumped into the well, and people there seemed to be a bit excited about what it was, so either the stories got changed along the way in a town where there weren't big occurrences, or something truly unexplained confused them all. 

Isolated Tribe Versus the Giants

The Waorani (aka Huaorani) tribe of the Amazon in Ecuador is not related to any other Amerindian Tribes. They were a highly mobile, nomadic, hunter-gatherer, horticulturist group. It was apparent in the studies of them that they had been quite isolated, as their language was unrelated to others and their genetics appear to show isolation. 

"Waorani" means "the true human people." In fact, their isolationism might be a reflection of their attitude about their type being somehow "pure" or "unaltered. 

There were only a few times they had contact with outsiders. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a rubber boom that sent workers into their area in search of goods. In the 1940s, there was early oil exploration there. In the 1950s the missionaries had a go at converting people in the region. Another oil boom in the 1970s during the oil crisis sent more people into their territory. 

Here's where it gets VERY interesting. It was estimated that before the 1950s when missionaries came, 17% of deaths among the Waorani were caused from disputes with "Cohouri" (or Kowodi) who were considered to be "nonhuman predators and cannibals who surrounded them and preyed upon them."

These warring people were intolerant of outsiders. They killed Shell Oil workers and drove the company out of the area and killed a bunch of missionaries too. The government allowed groups, including an oil company, to relocate the Waorani people in the 1970s. There were only several hundred tribe members relegated to a small area of land, no longer nomadic, sedentary, and then to top it off, a polio outbreak. It was believed almost half the deaths among the people were from homicide within and the missionaries intervention. 

Source: The Waorani identify deeply with the jaguar, an important and majestic predator in the Amazon Rainforest. According to myth, the Huaorani were the descendants of a mating between a jaguar and an eagle. Elders became shamans by metaphorically adopting “jaguar sons” whose spirits communicate medical and spiritual knowledge. In the Huaorani belief system, jaguar shamans are able “to become a jaguar, and so to travel great distances telepathically and communicate with other Huaorani..Plants, especially trees, continue to hold a complex and important interest for the Huaorani. Their store an extensive of botanical knowledge, ranging from materials to poisons, hallucinogens or medicines. They also relate plants to their own experiences, particularly that of growing. Among trees, certain kinds are auspicious. Canopy trees, with their distinctly colored young leaves and striking transformation as they mature to towering giants, are “admired for their solitary character … as well as for their profuse entanglement” with other plants. Other significant trees are the pioneer species of the peach palm (used for making spears and blowguns, as well as for fruit), and fast-growing balsa wood, used for ceremonial purposes. Peach palm trees are associated with past settlements and the ancestors who live there.

It has been popularly assumed that "Cohouri" are any outsiders, as the Waorani believe they were the true people. But, what outsiders surrounded and preyed up and cannibalized their people? That is the most intriguing question. 

More info:
More details about tribe and their enemies

Para Geek Socializing

Okay my nerd, dork, geek, spaz friends, let's talk about the ever-present issue of proper socializing. This is just the first step before we talk about how to make connections.

First, I'd like to show you some of the social mistakes us nerds can make.

"Intellectual snobbery"

Your complaint: "People react so violently to me that they are afraid of how smart I am. They are stupid."

Truth: Unsolicited knowledge in a social setting is not going to be received well. The implication to the person being corrected and educated is that they feel put down and belittled.

Here's how this anti-social behavior plays out.
Someone mentions: "I just love to eat sushi."
Intellectual snob: "Are you talking about real sushi or sashimi? There's a difference, ya know. Sashimi is what most people mistakenly call sushi."

Conversation falls flat.

The cues you are being an intellectual snob:  You feel the need to correct people, often times on the very first communication with that person. Even if you think you are educating a person, you are really putting them down and embarrassing them with unsolicited knowledge.

Correction: Key to making these interactions better - ask yourself why you feel the need to correct or educate someone, especially someone you don't know. If it's ego, put that aside. Instead, agree that sushi is or isn't tasty and keep your knowledge to yourself. 

The exception - if the person says "I love sushi, but not the stuff with the raw fish."
Your reply might be, "yeah, I learned to not ask for sashimi or I would get raw fish." Your knowledge now enlightened them and they feel less stupid because you too learned the knowledge. You also offered a kinship. 

Here's the key - people are not really looking for someone to enlighten them when they voice an opinion. "I love sushi" is a social way of saying "join in the conversation, I'm trying to bring up a subject." This is your cue to reply with a "do you have a favorite sushi place?" That is engaging the person into the conversation they began. 

"Para field tunnel vision"

Your complaint:  Other fields of study are stupid. People are wasting their time in them.

Truth: Since no one has actually been able to weigh, measure or prove anything in the para realm, everyone should be circumspect in how they handle themselves. At some point, one field might get the edge and anyone who thumbed their noses at will be eating crow. Humble helps all the fields of study.

Here's how it might play out -

Someone mentions: Our team is going out on a ghost investigation tonight and I am stoked. The place is supposedly really haunted.

Para field tunnel vision: You ghost people think everything is a ghost, every building is haunted (rolling eyes and sighing).

The person defends their belief in ghosts and then turns ridicule onto your love of Bigfoot research.

Humility is critical among all fields of paranormal research. To boast that yours is the only true study since it involves "biological life forms" is to cut yourself off from critical other areas of study that may be either related to or give rise to technology to help your field, or be proven before your own field. Whatever floats your boat, whatever floats other people's boats; that is all that matters. Before you turn down a field of study, ask questions, learn more from these researchers and witnesses to see why there is such an avid interest in that realm.

Correction:  When the person admits their excitement about their ghost investigation, you can agree that you know how they feel every time you get to go out in the woods. 

None of the etiquette for geeks means giving up your own personal beliefs, knowledge, or stand on issues. It means picking your fights. Here are incidents in which you asserting knowledge or belief is inappropriate and when it is appropriate.

Person: I have been camping all my life and never ran into a Bigfoot. It's absolutely ridiculous to believe there are apes running around our woods unaccounted for. 

APPROPRIATE - You can actually interject knowledge without putting down their study. 

You: Actually, until you've seen one, they do seem like an impossibility, but just know that you have likely never seen a weasel in the woods, but they are certainly there. 

Person:  I wonder why there are northern lights? 

APPROPRIATE - The person posed a quandary/question you can relate insight on.

You: I believe it's because of geomagnetic pulses from solar flares as they strike our atmosphere. 

Person: I have five sisters and I swear if mother has a seventh daughter, she will be the bad seed. (laugh)

INAPPROPRIATE  - There is no need to explain why such superstitions are silly. The person laughed, was obviously making fun of the situation. Continue with the mirth. 

You: Hopefully not something like that 13th kid in the Leeds family that later became known as the Jersey Devil, although it might be fun to have a flying sibling. (laugh)

Person: I had a crappy day. My car broke down and I was late for work and got chewed out. I am ready for a beer.

INAPPROPRIATE: You may want to give advice or asking car details to solve the problem. The person is venting. They aren't asking for advice, only voicing an emotional state. The best tactic is to let them know you heard and understand.

You: I might crack open a beer and join you on that one. 

Social Media

My last advice on the matter of socializing and communication among para geeks is this - we all have different goals. Some people are in the field because it seems sexy and interesting and makes them unique, they are rebels or thrillseekers, whereas others seek answers to strange things they have encountered, and more still are hoping for an industry or TV show. The reasons are vast and vary from ego to personal understanding. So, when dealing with others in the fields of research, remember that your priorities are not theirs and their priorities are not yours. When you understand this, you can save yourself a lot of distress in your expectations.

There are plenty of opportunities (listed at the bottom of this post) for finding groups, but sometimes your best connections come from social networking including boards and forums in areas of interest, but they are often fraught with trolls and lack of monitoring. Some of the more satisfying sites might include LinkedIn, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and others. 

You will want to establish yourself in groups and page affiliations on Facebook, but you also want to spend some time watching the postings and interactions on the sites before joining. Issues will show up early on, either in the form of only one person posting, or members being allowed to attack people for simple questions or observations without the admin handling the reins. 

There are behaviors you will begin to notice in the field that will help you to determine if someone is a good connection or a bad one. The truth is, your reputation depends on the folks you hang with. If you hang with the popular but controversial folks, you will lose respect by the real minds in the field, easily considered one of the lemmings. Find out who the real minds in the field are and see how they deal with others. Some folks are obviously making maneuvers to get attention, adoration, a TV show, or believe in some weird way they can make an industry in their avocation. 

Are discussions on the page intelligent? Allow for outside the box views? Given credit and appreciation by members? Don't just jump on Facebook and join every ghost page or group without the research. You are wasting a good deal of your time and affiliating with some folks that you do not want your name associated with.

Be sure you understand your own motives for entering your field of study. If it makes you cool by association or you are hoping to make money off of it or get a show, I won't try to discourage that dream, but I will not support it either. You have ahead of you a world of hurt, backstabbing, financial burden, and great distress. Making associations for these motivations will be superficial and no one will ever truly support you except few hangers-on who would likely dump you in a second if things turn against you. Social media is your best ally for your 15 minutes of fame and a YouTube channel is essential for audience. Your evidence will be criticized greatly and jealousy will cause lots of angry comments. You must toughen up a good deal if this is your goal. 

If you are in the field of study for curiosity, experiences that left you with questions, or a desire to seek knowledge in a field not fully understood, then you are looking for minds in the field, not publicity. You will know the minds when you find them, as they post poignant information, have respected books and sites start stimulating conversations, and eagerly ask questions and wish to learn alongside of you.

Conclusion

Ultimately, para geeks can get very overzealous about their subjects and often highly competitive in online social groups and in competing teams. Egos aside, if you are allowed to let people be either "stupid and unenlightened" or "seeking their own course," then you will get along just fine. If you feel the need to change people or set them straight, you will have issues. It's pretty straightforward. 

As you get to know someone and become friends or associates, it's much easier to voice your opinions without putting them off and they will even come to seek your opinion, but always be certain to state things as "from what I understand" or "from what I've studied" instead of speaking in absolutes such as "Bigfoot IS an ape in the forest." Conversation is easier to get initiated when one doesn't act as if he/she knows everything in the para realm in absolutes. There are no absolutes, not even proof of it existing yet. 

Be humble, ask questions, offer info when asked. 

Socializing opportunities for Para Geeks 

UFO Cons
Horror Cons 
Bigfoot Cons 
Haunted Cons 
Cemetery Association meetings/committees (look for your state online)
Scarefest
Meetup Groups locally for any subject of interest
MUFON meetings 
Geek2Geek dating site
Info about working in haunted attractions




Here's some good para pages on Facebook to check out and blogs with great info - 

Phantoms and Monsters - perhaps the single best archived para stories of every variety on one site. Just amazing! 

Facebook's Anomalous Universe is my favorite info source for unexplained. It is a closed group, so you ask for admittance and when they accept you, you get amazing up to the minute sources of info being published everywhere online. The feed is always inspiring on my news feed. 

Frontiers of Anthropology is a closed group on Facebook that is great if you are into all things ancient and man's place in evolution and civilization.

North American Fortean Society is a great closed group on Facebook that talks about all things unexplained, strange, and quietly spoken about in science and anthropology.

Ghost File Investigations is an open Facebook group that posts lots of info. 

Aliens and UFOs in the Bible is an open group on Facebook that ponders the correlations.

UFOs on Earth is a great open group on Facebook that stays atop of all things UFO. In fact, they are right now looking for some volunteer editors for their growing site.

And, I'm proud to announce that Julie Ferguson and I will be re-releasing our Paranormal Geeks book with new info and interviews and tons of info for all para geeks to feel they found their tribe. Our goal is release on Memorial Day weekend. More on the blog when that occurs. Enjoy also Paranormal Geeks Radio with the amazing host, Jim Heater, on Para-X Radio on Saturdays 6 pm EST/5 pm Central/3 pm Pacific. 

If you want to show your love for being a paranormal geek, enjoy Julie Ferguson's shop online for hundreds of items that show it off. 

Washington State: Native People Capture Vikings in 1010 AD

(this is NOT the stone being talked about below)

There is a legend that in 1010 AD, there was a skirmish between a Spokane Washington Native Tribe and the Vikings!

All of this began with a boulder that was 50 feet long and 15 feet wide with inscriptions on it.  A professor read that it was dated 1010 AD and described a fight between 24 men and 7 women Vikings and the Natives. It reported that half the men and one woman died and were buried there. The ones who wrote the inscription and survived supposedly swam the Columbia River to escape. The inscription alone wasn't all, there was also a carving of the Norse Goddess, Freya, in a style that was used in Scandinavia. It was said that the Natives took the remaining women. 

Interestingly, the Mandan Tribe in North Dakota was found by early explorers and they had blue eyes. It was obvious they had bred with people of European background. Should the tribe have taken the women back in 1010 AD, in hundreds of years, that tribe's could have relocated, moved around, displaced the blue-eyed offspring, or some other variation, but it might have explained the Mandan's unusual characteristic.

This legend is pretty extraordinary and I have yet to find anything that leads to the truth. The hard part about researching extraordinary claims is finding true ties to real people and real places. I haven't yet found the supposed Northern Royal Museum of Denmark where the boulder is said to reside or the supposed runic expert, Margarette Amundson Reynolds who transcribed the symbols. The article that is repeated all around the Internet, speaks of Philip Howell of the tribe who says that there are blonds among his people and that is proof. Of course, a thousand years have occurred since then, so at any point when Europeans entered, the blond could have been introduced. This man, however, does appear to be real, so far the only verifiable person mentioned.

Did this extraordinary event really happen? Well, without verifiable locations and people associated with it and no enormous boulder to prove it, it's rather hard to swallow. 

LINKS
More info on a professor supposedly asking for translation

A 260-Million-Year-Old Footprint in America?

The Zapata Track

In 1987, paleontologist, Jerry MacDonald, found this very human-looking footprint in the rock. The only problem is, the rock dates to 260 million years ago! The fossilized findings of birds and other animals were found in the stone.

So, what's up with that?

Pangaea is the name used for when the continents were all connected into one supercontinent. It did not start breaking up until 150-140 million years ago. This stone came to be during the One-Continent-Earth period. If one wants to believe this was a true find and legitimately that old, it would have been planted on the continent of Pangaea long before it broke apart.

There reportedly was an intervention when a group was allowed by the Bureau of Land Management to go document the prints in that area. The team was chased off at gunpoint by an angry landowner, supposedly. The story remains poorly documented yet highly interesting.

What if these findings proved that hundreds of millions of years ago, there were all types of man, prototypes that would become Homo sapiens, and others that might have progressed in their evolution before us? My concepts on ancient giants are along those lines, that they had an evolutionary jump on us as we branched off to create men like Heidelbergensis, Neanderthal and Denisovans. Did this man have perfect footprints and did he exist on Pangaea? Well, let's consider this - at that time 290 million years ago, mammals were supposedly just showing up and no human ancestors yet. 

Of course, we also know that every year, updates on ancient man are made, pushing us into previously unconsidered territories. It was only in recent years we realized we carry Neanderthal and that Neanderthal was not an idiot, but quite advanced in that time period and possessing the FOXP2 gene for spoken language. In fact, we also discovered Denisovans, another early man that mated with Homo sapiens and left their DNA in a certain degree of our population. 



More info HERE 

Proper Psychic Conduct

I have a pretty strong opinion about proper conduct for psychics.

This is because I work my skills and I take it very seriously. I do not make a living at psychic readings, but that does not stop me from realizing the value of psychics and the cautions consumers must have. If I do a reading for a friend or acquaintance, I take it as a great responsibility. Here's my advice - 

Every wording is critical.

And you don't just info dump on people and then walk away.

You are 50% intuitive, 50% counselor.

You give info and insight and then you counsel how to absorb that info and frame it.

You don't reveal something about the person and then await a pat on the back, you let them know you see these things about them and the struggles inside, that you can point out examples that show their efficacy as a human trying to do the right thing.

Reaffirm their soul.

They should leave a reading feeling they truly saw their own soul mirrored.

I part company with many supposed psychics who use questions and baiting, reading a client's expressions to work more as a mentalist than a true psychic. I personally prefer to not see the person, not hear them, just rattle off all that I obtain without any nuance from the person that might lead me following info down a dead-end path. 

There are many ways a psychic can bait a client. Here is an example:

"You have been feeling guilty about something that you need to let go." (If this doesn't apply to 80% of the public, I don't know what does. It is a "fortune cookie" broad sweeping bait)

"You lost someone close to you recently." (pretty good assumption, as the majority of people seeking psychics either lost a job, lost a relationship or lost a loved one). 

"You said your mother died when you were young. Were you close?" (why not let the client just do the read, huh?)

"Your father sends his love and wants you to know he's very proud of you." (who doesn't want that message?)

My attitude toward paying for a psychic's services is that it can be a very soul-satisfying one when there are proper boundaries on both sides. I have long considered the role of "intuitive counsel" rather than the culturally accepted "psychic reading" role as a potential avenue I might like to explore some day, as I offer such things for friends regularly with great satisfaction. An ideal situation is a psychic who is part intuitive, part reframing, and part life coach.

Setting the boundaries with the client for future relationships is key and letting them know what to expect, that you will not make their decisions, push for information out of your ability to obtain, or speak for the dead if you are not experienced in mediumship. The expectations between psychic and client can be quite realistic and unbelievably fulfilling when coming from a place of compassion. 

One thing true psychics have in our favor is that our compassion is pretty extensive, as we know every way humans can experience this physical realm and realize none of them are right or wrong, simply personal evolution.

The reason psychics are so very sought after by people is the same reason that counselors are helpful, one feels that they are being understood and heard by a compassionate and wise person. This is an important relationship for both the client and the psychic, when it is done with ethics, a goal for independence, and enlightenment. 

Paranormal Clusters

(Me - above - getting a tour of South Mountain Park and the petroglyphs that portray supposed aliens in the same location as the "Phoenix Lights")

You get a case of a potential Bigfoot raiding an apple orchard that faces some woods. Pretty standard stuff until you get there and talk to the owner of the property. He tells a story of some strange orange lights in the sky that evening and the next day finding the trees bared when they have never had someone pilfer their orchard before. The youngest child won't go out in the backyard anymore. And, the neighbor in the farm next door has missing animals. 

What is going on? 

I advise investigators of any paranormal phenomena, from cryptids to UFOs to ghosts, to consider opening up your study horizons a bit. If you are studying a haunted cemetery, find out about any UFOs in the area, spooklights reports, cryptid sightings, and history of the area that might be rather unusual. 

Why would you care if there are spooklights in Bigfoot investigations or UFOs in ghost investigations? We cannot possibly understand the phenomena without knowing all the components, from history to geology, seismic activity to missing persons. There is much to learn about phenomena overall including when clusters of events occur or if these things occur often together. 

Say you know that there have been strange lights in an area and then Bigfoot was seen for the first time - might be a correlation or could even give you future knowledge, such as asking a witness who had a UFO sighting if they have seen signs of anything else unexplained in the area like strange screams in the woods or spooklights. 

Removing tunnel vision on investigations helps to make new knowledge and insights in the field. 

Begin with some simple searches online. Let's say for example that you are studying a Bigfoot sighting in a town called Acme, Nevada. Do searches for things like "Acme Nevada missing persons," "Acme Nevada UFO sighting," "Acme Nevada spooklights," "Acme Nevada strange lights," "Acme Nevada Bigfoot sightings," "Acme Nevada alien abduction," "Acme Nevada cattle mutilation." Then, move on to do town searches for haunted locations. You can also punch in the address of the location or the street name followed by words like "missing," "killed," "died," "witness," and see if there are published reports about things that happened there. Start looking for correlations. Check into the geology of the area, find out what is under the ground.

What if the very thing that makes it possible for a ghost to show itself or a spooklight to appear also helps fuel flying machines or draws in sensitive beings called Bigfoot? We don't know how all these factors work, but by broadening our investigations and speaking with other paranormal researchers in other fields, we will make amazing leaps in our understanding and finding correlations. 

Suggested reading - 

Hunt For the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher, PhD and George Knapp

See also - my series "Stalker Between the Worlds" here on the blog

The Bennington Triangle in Vermont

The Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts

Must See Para TV Tonight!

Tonight on The History Channel, they are showing "Ancient Alien" episodes followed by my favorite UFO show, "Hangar 1."  The episodes of Hangar 1 include Men in Black and Underwater UFOs (USOs).

On Discovery's Science Channel tonight you can find my favorite Bigfoot show, "Survivorman: Bigfoot" with Les Stroud, an episode entitled "Giants of the Forest." 

This is a popcorn night and beer night!

Unbreakable: Human Lightning Rods

There's a few outcomes to a lightning strike. One can be benign when it can flash about the person's clothing and strike the ground. Other times, it strikes the person, creating Lichtenberg figures (as seen in these photos throughout). These are thought to be caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin. The person might pass out or have cardiac arrest. 

The strike is also up to five times hotter than the sun. This heat can cause permanent damage to lungs. 

Concussions and hearing loss can often result from a direct hit. 

The nervous system, lungs, and circulatory system are very vulnerable to strikes. For some, the brainstem is affected and so breathing ceases. 

Long-term issues can include dizziness, loss of hearing, cataracts, seizures, chronic pain, and more. 

Some tips for staying safe during a lightning storm: Find a sturdy building or car to go inside of. Stay away from power lines, bodies of water, fences, or any tall objects. Never hide under a tree - they are vulnerable to hits and that is how most people take a lightning blast - from the blow to the tree. 

Inside, stay off of corded phones, computers, electrical equipment.  Avoid plumbing, sinks, tubs and showers. Stay away from open windows and doors. 

And, don't go back outside until the thunder has been gone a half hour. Lightning strikes can occur from distant storms to where you. 

Urban Exploration: Desert Updates

Julie and I wrote the book "Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories (Desert Edition)" and these three locations were in the book. I did a psychic read of the past from each location and a moment in time and an individual I tapped into. We recently went to revisit them and photograph. 

Here is the abandoned motel - 

Below are shots of the abandoned trailers in the desert. I have been photographing these since 2009. It has been interesting to see it deteriorate. Now, it all obliterated, but trash litters the desert - 

The entire desert around the old trailer frames is littered. It's even more creepy because someone went through there and segregated things into piles - wood, doors, children's things, suitcases, plastic bottles.... But, why? Who?

Then, there was the burned out house in the middle of the desert. In a place that was a nowhere dirt road, we actually had two people approach us while we were photographing, both of them curious about who owned the place.

We discovered, when we spoke to locals, that the area where the burned out house and trailer park area were, are right in the middle of a path taken often by the illegal entrants to the US and they set up camp in abandoned buildings. The house had been filled with candles.

Of course, while in Gila Bend, Julie and I had to stop at our favorite spot to eat - the UFO Cafe. 

And, I had to take home this shot glass with a little alien inside.