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Here are a few demonstrations of just how easy it is to fool the sophisticated perception devices that our so-called big brains use to interpret and reconcile the enormous amounts of conceptual data we experience every day of our lives.  Both figures one and two are common and well known optical illusions, though are they really optical?  And are they really illusions?

Few would doubt that either is just a simple confusing of spatial geometry and/or language norms, but is this really the fault of our optic systems, or is it more indicative of a problem seated deeper inside our minds?

Figure 3.

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS…

In the above passage, the letter “f” is used a specific number of times, though almost without fail, when one tries to count them out, the outcome is wrong.[1]  Even when the reader is familiar with the word play, they will still end up with the wrong number more often then not.  Is this because people are inherently dim?  Is it because they lack a certain level of attention to detail?  Or is it simply another trick of perception brought on by our brain’s ability to filter information?

Figure 4.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

The above jumbled paragraph (figure 4.) is actually a part of a Doctoral Thesis from Nottingham University in 1976, by Graham Rawlinson Ph.D.[2]  Dr. Rawlinson found, through a series of cognitive experiments intended to shed some light on the process by which we, as a species, learn to read, that letter placement within a word is largely irrelevant to both the word’s meaning, and to our ability to quickly decipher the word against the backdrop of a complete sentence.

If a word is jumbled on its own, that is without the context of supporting words in a sentence or paragraph, then our ability to discern its meaning is drastically reduced or completely eliminated, but within the context of a sentence, our ability to understand the sentiment of the language is completely unaffected by the placement of the letters.

Contrary to what some may be thinking, this does not mean that we are all linguistically psychic, what it means is that our brains rely more on context than on detail.  We derive meaning from patterns, such as language, by interrelating common characteristics and applying them to previous experience, resulting in unique interpretation of characteristics that may be historically similar, but are contextually independent.  But in the case of language, we have cause to find meaningful patterns in what may sometimes seem like complete chaos.  Language is, by definition a static pattern of visual, auditory and (most importantly) conceptual characters.

What this demonstrates, though somewhat clumsily, is that our cognitive powerhouse brains are specifically evolved to do exactly what many in the paranormal research field claim will be our downfall (myself included).  Quite often we use large, generalising terms to describe what is ultimately, a biological necessity for our existence; confirmation bias, belief building, tunnel vision, autosubscription and even to some extent autodebunking.[3]

There are two specific psychological processes that are normally to blame for a great deal of both the autodebunking and autosubscription going on within the paranormal community; Apophenia and Pareidolia.  Either idea, while seemingly similar in definition, is responsible (at least in some part) for a large percentage of paranormal phenomena; from hauntings, to poltergeist, to EVP and to orb photography, and to religious and pseudoscientific ideologies.

Apophenia is often considered a symptom of schizophrenia and autistic spectrum disorders, though we all suffer from apophenic influences on a much more regular basis than a great many people would be comfortable with.[4]  Pareidolia on the other hand, is probably the most underrated and oft lamented ability our brains hold.[5]  Together, these ideas are the foundation of the cognitive interpretation of what you and I might call…reality.  Without these two concepts, or moreover, the processes underlying these concepts, we would not be able to perceive our world.

Here though is the important idea to consider; the underlying processes, of Apophenia and/or Pareidolia are really just symptoms of a larger condition.  A condition, as I call it for lack of a better term, whose main function is to make sense of this strange thing called life.  The mind is continually bombarded with information throughout the day and night, no matter our state of consciousness, no matter our level of attention and no matter our personal propensity for intellectualism or ignorance.  We are bound to a life of sensory overload, or at least we would be had we not developed the ability to make sense of the things we see, hear, feel and well…sense, in a much more efficient way.

While you sit, reading this paper, wherever you might be and in whatever environment you find yourself, there is an almost unfathomable amount of sensory information being presented to you, millisecond by millisecond.  Somehow, through the miracle of cognitive interpretation, you are able to make sense out of that macrocosm, by way of consciously selecting what information is important and what is irrelevant.  At least, you may think it’s a conscious process.

The human mind, as a computational device, has been studied by many in terms of its memory capacity, in comparison to the basic software requirements for cognition.  Some early studies have given us numbers correlated to computer bytes, suggesting that the human brain is capable of retaining up to 10²⁰ bytes of information, though later estimates have reduced that number to a range between 10⁹ and 10¹³ bytes, which is little more than a few hundred megabytes.[6]  If you can quell that rising sense of righteous indignation for a moment, you can see how poignant that earlier idea of prioritising the perceptual information we’re inundated with really is.

So, this perceptual trickery is really a symptom, or rather a feature, of the efficient nature of our brains.  Subconsciously, our cerebral cortex processes all of the countless bytes of information we encounter over the course of a day.  But our reality is finite, we haven’t the time or the ability to consider, consciously, every piece of sensory information we perceive. We must, in as efficient a manner as possible, discover what is important and what is not, and consequently, we must subconsciously consider the context of all that data in order to determine what is important.

If we cannot consider all of the information we perceive, but we must discern what is relevant, then we must develop a process, a set of rules about what information to consider and what to disregard.

Herein lies the problem however; during that process of enacting, applying and adapting perceptual rules, our environment changes.  It changes drastically, requiring that we adapt and change and understand those changes, and it is this process of adaptation that gives us this unendingly unique ability to see pattern, where pattern doesn’t necessarily exist.

From a survivalist’s perspective, in a world filled with threats to that survival, it will always be a better thing to err on the side of caution.  To see threat where it may or may not exists, rather than to not see threat where it surely does exist.  For this reason, our brains are hardwired (so to speak) to scan the information we perceive quickly, applying it to the various sorting rules we’ve evolved, and whenever a set of environmental conditions fits, even remotely, to any previously experienced situation, we automatically accept it as a fact of reality, whether it truly is or not.

And it is the above idea that brings this discussion full circle and applies it to the world of paranormal research.  The processes or concepts involved in Apophenia and Pareidolia are often blamed for the misidentification and misinterpretation of some of the strangest phenomenon we can encounter in our world, but really, these ideas are just a symptom of a larger perceptual problem.  What we see, hear and feel, are not always to be trusted.  What we know to be true through deduction and reason can, more often than not, trump what we think we see and hear.

Everywhere in our world, our eyes and ears are tricking us, and more so when we delve deep into the mysterious things of our world; we cannot trust the things we know by sight and sound alone, we must quantify and verify the ideas we come to accept and know for certain; we must ensure that those ideas have not been corrupted by perception.  Those common ideas of paranormal pseudo-fact (EVP, apparitions, ghost photography just to name a few) remain unquantifiable and completely unverified, and in so much as they may be caused by unseen and unknown energies, until such time as human fallibility of perception can be eliminated as a cause, caution should be used wherever possible, in the labelling, interpretation and dissemination of these ideas.

In short, beware what your eyes and ears tell you, for they are known to be liars.

 

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[1] Believe it or not, there are six F’s in the passage

[2] See Dr. Rawlinson’s Thesis here: http://opentype.info/static/Letter-Position-in-Word-Recognition.html

[3] Autodebunking is a term coined by Matthew Didier of the Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada group to describe those who dismiss out-of-hand any evidence to support new and untested theories regarding typically paranormal topics without due attention, and simply based on prejudices of belief alone. In the case of autosubscription, I have simply expanded the above idea to include what might be considered the antithesis of Mr. Didier’s term.

[4] For an easy to understand explanation of Apophenia, see the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia

[5] A simple explanation of Pareidolia can also be found via Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

[6] One of many studies completed on this issue is nicely summated by Ralph C. Merkle: http://www.merkle.com/humanMemory.html

“All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours.” – Aldous Huxley

Once considered to be the leader of modern thought, and widely regarded as an intellectual of the highest calibre, Aldous Huxley gave us a glimpse of his theistic genius in the above quote, but the one flaw in that statement, to my mind, is the omission of an entire class of deistic entities, a corpus of religious manipulation that may hold the power to destroy mankind. [1] That omission may have been innocent, it may have been deliberate, or more likely it was the same simple oversight that the majority of those who think about such ideas commits in their earnest attempt to decipher the riddles of human theistic invention.

Why does God command such attention, when there are much more dangerous ideas lain beside him?

Perhaps he said it better here:

“Most human beings have an absolute and infinite capacity for taking things for granted” –Aldous Huxley

He was not talking about stopping to smell the roses; he was not talking about spending more time with family, and in point of fact, what he was talking about is almost irrelevant.  Those words are more poignant in religious discussion than under any other principle.  What we take for granted are simple facts, simple ideas and simple connections.  We collectively gravitate toward the complex, fanciful and altogether ridiculous ideas of dogma, and only when convenient or trendy do we consider other ideas.

As the title suggests, this is set to be a discussion of the History of Demonology, and it is my research in this regard that brings me to offer such an aggressive opening to the subject.

Demonology is, as defined by the Encarta (North American) Dictionary: (noun) the study of demons, especially those that are frequent in the folklore of some societies.  This definition, however, is an injustice to the trade of Demonology, it speaks only of the common misconception that demons are an external force, to be sought out, vanquished, exorcised and banished from the eyes of all mankind.  But we forget all too easily, either that or we accept pabulum much too willingly.

“All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few.” –Stendhal [2]

With any capable research into the topic, one can find, with some effort, that the origins of Demonology are rooted in the labelling of humanistic traits of real people, as deemed evil by the early church, though much later than most would have you think.  In approximately the year 590AD, give or take a decade, the church (meaning the very early Catholic hierarchy) began to compile an anthology of demon characteristics and in a painstaking process that is reminiscent of choosing baby names for imaginary children, proceeded to assign ranks and names to various “classes” of demons.[3]

Some of you may find that assertion to be a bit confusing, as did I when I went looking for answers.  But the more I read, the more I’ve come to understand the problem with all this information available about demons.

The history of Demonology, as the concept is known today, is born entirely out of Christian religious doctrine that has been developed and adapted over the last 2000 years or so.  Talmudic teachings speak of demons and of a Jewish classification of demons in various post-exilic concepts that seem to have been influenced by Zoroastrianism, but it should be understood that the Talmudic definition of the term Demon encompasses everything from Spirits to Vampires to certain living people who were, for lack of a better term, disliked.  So, in any literal sense, since Christian demonology is derived from the Jewish theology of demons, the history of Demonology is essentially a blacklisting of people, ideas and things that were out of favour with rabbinic traditions.

I suspect that this will be less than satisfying to those looking for a real answer though.  So, an examination of the vehicle that brought demonology to its current state is called for.

The idea that Demons are a tangible, malevolent force in some unseen landscape of satanic despotism is, as was stated earlier, an entirely Christian institution, Catholic to be precise.  It is founded on the adversarial nature of Christian theology; the good vs. evil notion.  As mentioned, around the turn of the 5^th century AD, Papal officials began to take an accounting of the evil forces at work in their world; a great deal of what they classified as evil and thusly gave demonic identity to, were simple concepts, ten commandment sorts of things.  But in the grand tradition of the Papacy, there were more voices to be heard than there were books to be written, so a great many people -priests, bishops, etc. – were allowed to impart their own versions of various evils.

It’s important to remember what was happening at this time in our history; throughout Europe Christianisation was taking place at an incredible rate, but much of that religious conversion was not voluntary, nor was it particularly effective.  To those tasked with converting old world pagans to the new faith, the obstacles were many, including shamanistic and completely incompatible belief systems.  So, the logical course of action was to demonize those elements of the pagan cultures that were posing the most significant threat to continued Christianisation, and with a little religious slight of hand, the few managed to fool the many into believing that those things they had previously worshiped were evil.

This of course is not to say that all demonic iconography is misidentified pagan ritual, just a large part of it.  There is however that small percentage of demonic lore that was passed along through Old Testament books, many of which are not included in the New Testament Bible, that is based on something entirely more sinister.

But a cold and hard fact remains, there are few who understand the true nature of that small percentage, and even fewer who understand its reach.  As with any cultural meme, there is a grain of truth to all theology; in every group of outlaws, there are those who live the life and those who are just along for the ride, and in any thorough study of Demonology one eventually finds a few tried and true outlaws.  The problem comes from a mixing of so much misinformation passed on through the many years since the inception of Demonology, with what may actually be something beyond our reality.

It makes a certain amount of sense, in anthropological terms, for a predevelopment culture to vilify encounters with powers or entities that are not readily explained, and ultimately for a theology to be built around that villainy.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Demons aren’t dangerous, or even evil as defined by our current cultural standards.  It does seem to mean however, that Demonology is much more of an academic pursuit of the truth in our own history, than a superhero’s quest to save the world from evil.

In the end, we are faced with two truths about the History of Demonology: 1) Not all demons are real, and 2) Not all fairytales are harmless.

I would endeavour to propose here that Demons do not exist, but that would be an erroneous statement.  Demons do exist, in-so-far as the definition for the word and the study of the subject provides examples of people, ideas and things that are deemed to be Demons, though according only to the Catholic Church and to Hermetic writings, but these are not the same idea the masses speak of when they whisper the word demon in the face of unexplained events.  What I can say with unerring impunity is that the Hollywood demon, the Paranormal State demon and the oft lamented torturous and petty demon of modern pop-culture does not exist.

Snarling fangs, supernatural powers, common possession and the pure evil of the devil incarnate are nothing more than the fantastic product of some powerful imaginations.

To close, I’ll offer you an incredulous rant if I may; I find it to be somewhat hypocritical, in this society of ours where every man and woman takes it upon his or herself to define what it is that God and spirituality means to them.  The masses tend to take bits and pieces of various religious theologies, personal experiences, cultural prejudices, and fashionable ideas, and they construct a personal theology that fits with their own belief system.  At the same time, they most often take for granted the dogmatic ideas of demons, evil and the darker side of reality, with little more than a whimper and a secret fear of the unknown.  The assertion that one believes in God, tends to automatically imply that they also believe in Demons, at least in-so-far as their religious leadership warns of demonic influence, but the assertion that one does not believe in God doesn’t come with the same automatic disclaimer.

The popularity of Demonology of late seems to be the product of our Hollywood culture and nothing more, as big budget films and documentary style television strives to tear demonic lore from the hallowed pages of the Good Book, and parade them around as a pet on a leash, but let there be no mistake, Demonology is a religious pursuit, one that should be revered for its discipline and its hold on the past.  We may not agree with the ideas held therein, but we should, as a species doomed to repeat terrible mistakes, at least take an interest in the truth, for truths sake, and not for the sake of a passing fancy.

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[1] Aldous Huxley (26 July, 1894 – 22 November, 1963) Author of Brave New World

[2] Stendhal (The pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle 1783-1842) was a renowned French author and is considered to be one of the earliest known and foremost practitioners of realism in his writings.

[3] Source: David G. Scott, Religious Demonologist http://www.nademonicparanormal.com/history.html

There has been a bit of Demonic sensationalising going on in popular culture of late, ghost hunting television shows have exposed some so-called instances of demonic possession and influence. Some have even named the beastly entities in question, and drawn correlation between various cases to single entities across great distances.

Demonology is a well known discipline of parapsychology and theology, though few people have really done their homework.  The true nature of demons, their purpose and their origin eludes us as a species, and even our own academic ranks are divided among various schools of thought on the very existence of demons. Amid all this scepticism, conjecture and misinformation, the demonic are left to amuse themselves at the expense of the weaker minded.

What follows is a look at the most dangerous demons known to the realm of Demonology (though is not to be taken as a literal listing of real entities, each description is meant as a theological metaphor intended to vilify a certain idea, tradition or prejudice…demons do not exist).

Top 10 Most Dangerous Demons (in alphabetical order):

Amy – The Presiding Demon of Hell

Despite a rather benign name, Amy is an extremely high ranking Demon in Christian theology; he is considered to be the ruling President of Hell. It is said that he appears in flame, but upon taking human form he used his demonic wiles to entrap familiars, to master human sciences and to manipulate the politics of the church. He is bent on taking the thrown of Hell and we are warned that he will use whatever means are possible to do so. Amy may be preoccupied with the political structure of various planes of existence, but he remains capable of commanding legions and waging war on humanity.

Asmodeus – (aka Abaddon) is “The Destroyer”

Mentioned in the Book of Tobias (Deuteronomy), Asmodeus is not your typical all around demon, he is considered to be one of the Princes of Hell, though other sources cite him as one of the King’s of Hell, a distinction that may not be all that important. Among other things, Asmodeus is responsible for the lust component of the famed Seven Deadly Sins, and it is said that those who submit to his sexual manipulation will be doomed to an eternity in the second level of Hell.

Astaroth – one of the Chief Devils

Astaroth is a powerful demon indeed, one of the original 72 to be named in The Lesser Key of Solomon, and this is one to watch out for.  He will use temptation to lure and guide humans to their unending torture; he again, takes a role in the list of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Azazel

Holds the distinction of being the most mysterious extrahuman character in Jewish sacred literature, his presence has been felt throughout the ages, but little is known about his origin or even his affiliation. He is a peddler of influence and knowledge, and popular culture has exploited his reputation and possibly given rise to his recent popularity.

Baal – The Christian King of Hell (also given as Baalim and Bael)

Baal may be the worst demon there is, he is said to be the ruling King of hell. His role as that of the right hand of Satan, and as the leader of sixty-six legions of lesser demons, makes him possibly the most dangerous entity ever conceived. His high rank and responsibility may make him less of a threat to the average living human, though ruthlessness and an all out passion for satanic power make him humanity’s worst nightmare.

Beelzebub – One of the Kings of Hell

Beelzebub may actually be the incarnate identity of Satan himself, though there is doubt in demonology circles. He may be an alternate incarnation of Baal or Bael, or he may be the original fallen angel (with the distinction that Satan was not the original). In any event, Beelzebub is largely regarded as the most powerful and dangerous demon there is. Of the available demons, Baal Zebub (as he is also known), is attributed to not one but two deadly sins, pride and gluttony, though there is some argument about this point.

One point that is seldom argued is Beezebub’s role as one of the three most prominent fallen angels, in the company of Lucifer and Leviathan. He is a force among the ruling echelon of Hell and aside his kin, is a plague on humanity and the heavens.

Byleth – one of the Kings of Hell.

Beleth (one of the many spelling variations is yet another King of Hell, some believe he is a separate incarnation of either Baal or Beelzebub, and as is the case with the demonic, deception and disguise are par for the course. Regardless of his connection to the other Kings of Hell, he is one of the most powerful there is, commanding eighty-eight legions of lesser demons, he is said to be one to offer prize and assistance to those who request it, but usually has an alterior motive.The story of Beleth may be responsible for the “selling your soul to the devil” idiom.

Leviathan

Leviathan, uncommonly not known by any other name, is said to be Satan himself, though argument exists. Typically represented as an enormous sea monster or serpent, it is believed that Leviathan was the serpent to have corrupted Adam and Eve. He stands next to Beelzebub and the famed Lucifer, and rules Hell as one third the almighty triad of Kings.

Lucifer – “Light-bearer”

Lucifer, once translated from the term meaning ‘Morning Star’, is the fallen archangel. He is the ambitious and power hungry Satan and was the subject of God’s wrath as he was cast out of heaven with his band of angels in tow. Some believe that Satan is in fact a representation of Lucifer, Leviathan and Beezebub, and that Hell hath only one King, and his name is Satan. He commands all in the realm of Hell and is the one demon all humanity agrees is most powerful and most dangerous.

Mephistopheles, the original Faustian

Mephisto is commonly held as the originator of the Legend of Faust, wherein the scholar wagers his soul against the devil being able to make Faust wish to live, even for a moment; using circular logic to trick Mephistopheles. He is often portrayed as Satan, though is it likely just his image that has been confused among the theology. He is known as a prince of Hell, and therefore may be considered one of the many hands of Satan

We’re all familiar with the popular Hollywood stories of the dashing American hero, run amuck of the French Foreign Legion in Egypt, and faced with a mercenary charter from a beautiful British woman.  The two narrowly escape capture, only to find themselves swept up in an adventure to save the world from the evil agenda of a mummy and its followers.

As is typically the case in Hollywood, facts sometimes get muddled in the creative process, and what we’ve come to know of the legend of the Book of the Dead, may be less accurate than you think.

It is true that ancient Egyptians made use of a document, now known as ‘The Book of the Dead’, though it is far less dubious than the name suggests.  The name of the book, coined by German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius, was an unfortunate failure of translation from ancient Egyptian, to Arabic, to German and then to English.  Something was definitely lost in that translation.

What archaeology knows as the Book of the Dead was long believed to be the Egyptian Bible, though that belief was replaced with the understanding that the text contains more ritualistic hymns, prayers and incantations, than it does religious doctrine, and was intended to aid the deceased in passing through obstructions in the afterlife (basically a how-to manual for surviving in the hereafter).  It was commonly placed inside the inside the coffin or burial chamber, along with the many other items of spiritual power and wealth.

So, if the Book of the Dead was simply a set of post funeral instructions, where did the mummy legend come from?  This point is up for debate, though some theories have been postulated.

The famed American horror author H.P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) may be to blame for more that just a few nightmares.

Lovecraft was, in his own time, a little known and under appreciated author of cult stories and strange horror fiction.  His tastes were not aligned with the temperament of his audience at the time, though his work has gained world renown since his death.  Author/Film Maker Stephen King attributes his own sick sense of gore and suspense to Lovecraft (among others).

There is a wide belief that Lovecraft’s most famous work, ‘Cthulhu Mythos’, which has garnered the most attention and influenced more writers worldwide than any other, may actually be a partial plagiarism from the infamous Arabic tome, the Necronomicon.

According to some experts in the study of ancient texts, namely Justin Geoffry in his book ‘The Book of the Arab’, The Necronomicon is shrouded in its own mysteries and misunderstandings.  History had largely accounted the Necronomicon as a collection of evil, as a grimoire or sorcerers handbook, but as is often the case with such fantastic claims, scholars have discovered something very different.

Study of the ancient languages has lead scholars to the correct translation of the books title: ‘Book of Dead Names’.  The Necronomicon was originally written in Damascus in 730ad, by a man who is described by some as a wandering mad poet, Abdul Alhazred.  Little is known about Alhazred, but much speculation has taken place and many believe that he was a well read nomad born of the Yemen province of Sanaa.

What is known is that the Necronomicon was an incoherent literary rambling of a man who has been compared to Madam Blavatsky, famed author of ‘The Secret Doctrine’.  It is believed that the actual purpose of the book was an historical accounting of traditions, languages and important people who had passed on, though Alhazred was less talented as a writer, than he was as a historian.

As a result of his tendency to spin in tangent mid sentence and to marry odd concepts together with little logic or meaning, superstitious readers of the book became convinced that the book itself held supernatural powers, bestowed upon it by the raving madman.

So where does Lovecraft fit into all this?

Well, poet and magician Aleister Crowley is known to have studied various copies of the actual Necronomicon texts (of which there are variations due to banning, destruction and selective editing) as a part of research for his own ‘Book of the Law’, and as it turns out, Crowley’s love interest and later wife, Sonia Greene, was an influential acquaintance of Lovecraft, and had both opportunity and cause to share her suitors work and ideas with the weirdly charismatic horror author.

This is all well and good, and provides some food for thought, but there’s still no connection between the modern mummy legends and Lovecraft, let alone the Necronomicon.

The leap from Lovecraft to modern Hollywood is no real stretch; after all, so many writers and directors are vociferous in their love of Lovecraft.  It’s not hard to see how the fundamentals of the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ leeched its way into popular culture.  The one piece of evidence that is compelling in all this is the fact that no other book or script in the history of mankind has been so vehemently regarded as an ancient grimoire for raising and controlling the dead.  The Necronomicon is such a book, and the superstition surrounding this script is virtually identical in foundation to the very adventures our hero and his heroine face on the silver screen.

Believe what you may, but know that behind every great adventure story is a grain of truth, though that truth may come from somewhere completely surprising.

In living rooms, basements, offices and bedrooms the world over; on desktops, laptops, PC’s and Mac’s; people across the globe are drawing battle lines, making plans for a veritable war, a war whose casualties will be words and ideas and traditions.  Sides must be chosen, alliances must be formed and enemies must be scouted, for we are on the eve of a revolution of thought.

In reality, this is a silent war that’s been waging for decades, between believers and doubters, between sceptics and followers, between those who choose to shout from their roof top “they are here, and I believe!” and those who respond with gruff sarcasm “and I believe I’ll wait for proof.”

This conflict between those of hard faith and those of hard fact is actually an ancient tradition; whole hierarchical systems of authority have been built on the idea that those who think they know what’s what, want to be sure those who might think otherwise are silent on the subject.  This is an old problem, one for which the pendulum of favour swings far in the direction of either side.  The issue rarely matters: religion, politics, science, art…no matter the subject, as long as there is a public discourse on the topic, there will be a delineation of sides, and more often than not, those sides will be entirely unbalanced.

In the 6^th century BCE, our greatest scholars knew, as sure as they knew their own names, that the Earth was a flat disk, floating on a great sea at the center of the universe.  It was the truth, it was undoubtedly certain and indisputable; until the sceptical voice of dissent began to criticise the so-called facts.  They began to analyse and evaluate what was known, comparing the facts to other known facts, and low and behold, they found some incredible discrepancies.

As we all know, by the 3^rd century BCE, and with the establishment of Hellenistic Astronomy, the questions became too much for the antiquated facts to bear, and our collective understanding shifted in favour of the Spherical Earth concept.  Whole reputations were smashed, belief systems toppled, faith in deistic traditions was shaken, but, and this is the important part, the truth was found.

The battle between truth and convenient assumption is an ongoing theatre of logical manoeuvres, and it revolves around public debate of the issues faced by any one era of social development.  The importance of that debate has never been so severe as today, and as was outlined by American Politician Al Gore in his book The Assault on Reason, the public conversation is currently in jeopardy of being lost to the one sided, biased and entirely ill-equipped monologue of television, and by proxy, the big money businesses that support television programming.

There are few sectors of modern society that are freely debated and examined by the public at large, for the most part, popular views on the topics with which we, as the people, are concerned, are force fed to us by news anchors and correspondents.  Rarely are we given opportunity to respond, to criticise, or even to agree with the status quo, as manufactured by network news; but one subject is now, as it has been for the last three decades at least, a shining example of the public conversation at it’s most diverse.

That subject is the paranormal, and all that fits under that broadly defined term.

It has long been fascinating to me, the amount of information, educated opinion and free flowing conversation that takes place under the auspices of paranormal research.  In no other arena of academia, spirituality and entertainment has there been such an outpouring of social connection between people in all walks of life, in all economic circumstances and at nearly all levels of formal education.  To some, the community representing paranormal interests is unorganised, unfocused and unmotivated, but to others, it is a vast sea of debate, exploration, investigation and, ultimately, one of the largest unstructured information sharing projects the world has ever known.

Though the paranormal community discussion has its share of problems too; as with any social debate, the various camps of belief involved have their zealots, their fundamentalists, their moderates, their academics, their thrill seekers and their dogmatists, each struggling in their own way to be heard, to be validated and in some cases to be praised.  Each has their own points to make, and each believes their position to be more or less justified than the next.

In the subculture of paranormal research, which is an enormous venue to be sure, we are faced with a changing of the guard, if you will.  What was once the refuge of quackery and hocus-pocus, is quickly becoming a stage for sceptical inquiry, for rational discussion and a transparency in research like never seen before.  Every splintered genre of paranormality is represented in growing numbers by pioneering scholars and passionate researchers, and while there remains a grandfathered theology to much of what is being discussed, no stone is being left unturned in this steady march toward the truth.

In amongst this vast public conversation, fuelled by the internet, powered by curiosity and funded by enthusiasm, there is a social revolution brewing.  Much like the decidedly one dimensional thinking of the ruling social class of the 6^th through 3^rd centuries BCE, some old notions about what is real and what is truth are about to be tipped on their head.  It may not come as a brain splitting epiphany, and it may not be completely obvious to the masses at first, but this revolution of thinking is underway, and there are three concepts which give it speed; critical examination, passionate exploration and unquenchable curiosity.

Of course, this is not a road paved with gold and shouldered with roses; there are barriers and detours ahead.  Those of us with an eye toward the future can see where our path may diverge from that of our less committed brethren.  We can see where old thinking and ignorant perspectives are going to get in the way, and some of those barriers will come from places least expected.  Authority arguments based on intangible and incredible sources, uncritical collection of data, inter-political posturing, and worst of all, a propensity to throw common sense out the window.

At the end of the day, when all the ghost hunting gear is put away, all the UFO reports have been filed and the Bigfoot photos have been scanned, each and every one of us is human; we are prone to pangs of ego, influenced by greed, affected by ridicule and ultimately, are in imminent danger of complete and total failure.  There are great things ahead for those who are willing to endure and to participate in the debate with honesty and integrity.  For those who are looking to exploit the vast mysteries in this particular debate to selfish and unscrupulous ends, I’m sorry to say, you will be left in the cold by those of us with enough sense to see past your flim-flam show, and to move beyond it in search of the truth.

This need not be a campfire song cliché, we needn’t hold hands and commune in order to reap the benefits of this transformation…all we need do is open our eyes and keep doing what we’ve been doing.  The discussion will get louder, more voices will be heard, and in the end, we will all be richer for the experience.

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.” – Bertrand Russell

Within the paranormal community, there are ample opportunities for opinions, as widely held as any religious dogma, to be taken for granted, and all with no more critical examination than that of a toddler accepting the erroneous advice of his older siblings.  The very purpose of this paranormal community is to seek the truth; at least it is on the surface.  Unfortunately, there is a preponderance of unqualified and wholly incorrect assumption being spread around as pseudo-fact with regard to some of the more common paranormal ideas.

What is a ghost?  How does EVP and orb phenomenon relate to ghosts? And how does demonology fit into the mix?

These are the common questions that most paranormal researchers endeavour to answer, though in contrast to their ‘ghost hunting’ colleagues, whose goal seems to be rooted in the same ideology as the California gold rush of 1848, the researcher tends to be more interested in what the phenomenon means, rather than what it looks or sounds like.

To dispel some of the unfortunate myths about ghosts and their paranormal companions the following is offered; no one on the planet, now or in the past, has any concrete idea of exactly what a ghost is.  The evidence is, at its very best, entirely inconclusive.  I’m sure many will read that and question with conviction the idea that no one knows what a ghost is, but I assure you, if there were verifiable information that demonstrated exactly what these mysterious and fleeting entities are, the world would have heard about it, and loudly I might add.

As the venerable Bertrand Russell so eloquently pointed out, the fact that a great many people believe a thing, by no means makes it the truth; and this applies perfectly to the idea that ghosts are the ethereal manifestation of human souls in some sort of intersecting afterlife.  While a comfortable idea, and one that has become perhaps the widest held incorrect assumption in the paranormal community at large, there is no evidence to make that claim a fact.

But, as I’m sure a great many readers are now preparing to rebut, very few people are claiming that idea to be fact.  They tend to be quite careful, when pressed, to admit that there is no certainty, while at the same time many use that idea, almost exclusively, as the basis of their methodology and focus in seeking out evidence of ghosts.

Case number one in that point, is the orb photo.  Only in the amateur paranormal enthusiast arena could such an easily explained and common photographic issue become so closely tied to the existence of ghosts.  Though most in the community already dismiss such notions as the fancy of those who know little about either phenomenon, but even in the case of the occasional orb photo that defies explanation, what do we really have?  When reduced to its common denominators, the idea of an anomalous artefact showing up in a photograph, while interesting, is not indicative of any other phenomenon; meaning, an orb is just an orb.

This same logic can and should be applied to the mystery of Electronic Voice Phenomenon.  EVP is an especially interesting subject of study and in recent years has actually become its own discipline within the realm of paranormal research.  It holds many secrets and is equally worthy of study along side any other paranormal subject, however…as with orbs, there is no cause to connect EVP with ghosts.

It seems though, that an uncomfortable majority of paranormal enthusiast accept these ideas as, well, gospel.  What is a ghost?  We don’t have an everlovin’ clue!  What are orbs?  The world be damned if we know!  What causes the eerie voices on EVP results? Your guess is as good as mine!

And that’s the point of it all.  We, meaning the collective knowledge of the entire world, don’t know what these things are.  There are those of us who hold pet theories as to what they might be, and some of those theories are more easily reconciled than others, but the sad fact that so many otherwise learned and credible people fall prey to these erroneous assumptions, is growing more and more troubling.

The issue of mediums bolstering the idea that ghosts are human souls, in some form of purgatory or otherwise trapped state, aside from being entirely anecdotal and dependent on the credibility of the medium in question, is not evidence for or against that theory or any like it; especially since ESP, clairvoyance and telepathy are, in and of themselves, entirely mysterious as well.  I’ve often said, you can’t solve one mystery, by placing another mystery on top of it.

In the end, where do we stand?  No further ahead and no further behind, but we have clarified a few things, though I suspect this one paper will do little to dispel the various assumptions and accepted myths that litter the paranormal community.  Hopefully though, it will cause a few people to ask ‘why’ a little louder.

I have been told for many reasons that I am different.  Most of which are because of my sarcastic sense of humour, however we’ll talk about that later!

I remember my childhood very clearly, and from a very early age.  I can remember being in my crib before my first birthday, being given baths, and the sound of my Poppa (grandfather’s) voice.  I remember my mother being pregnant with my sister who was born 22 months after me. I remember the time while my mother was at the hospital and my Grandma stayed with me, until mom and my new a baby sister came home.  I was so mad she left me for 2 nights; I hid when she came in the back door!

I have very vivid recollection…and remember that autumn that I fell into the pool with all my clothes, coat and shoes on.  My father scaled the deck fencing, jumped in and pulled me out of the cold water, but I was fine.  I remember it like I was there watching, but also saw him jumping in from the bottom of the pool, it was odd.  Thinking back, I cannot recall if the people started before then…but it was after then that I remember them.  Some say it is a near death experience that starts the visits, but I can’t say for sure.  Sometimes I speculate, but I don’t have the answer to that and don’t consider myself an authority on the subject…I am learning every day too.

We lived in an old house.   It was a semi, and my grandparents and aunt lived in the other half of the semi.  My Poppa told me that when they first built that house it was used as a rooming house.  Was it? I don’t really know, but from my perspective it was a busy place!  I had a “visitor”, who would sit in the chair at the end of my room, and he would laugh for hours.  He was an elderly man, thin, partly bald, and sort of…emaciated.  He didn’t look scary, but his laugh combined with how he made me feel, was.  Some say that that wouldn’t be scary…but I was 4 and it was scary!  I didn’t talk much about this man to my Mom; I just went to her room a lot at night saying I had bad dreams.  I got the impression (although it was never discussed), that my “visitors” was not something that everyone was going to like…so it became my private thing.

The “people” came intermittently…the old man in my chair was almost always there, even after I moved the chair; the person in the dark that would tickle me, till I almost peed, and the one who used to look in on me when it was nearly daylight.  I didn’t sleep much, for I always had the feeling of missing something if I closed my eyes for too long!  I acted up/out during my childhood, I guess I was more confused about the subject than I thought at the time, and gravitated towards older people in general as a comfort.  The majority of the “visitors” at the age I was then were older people.  They seemed like older family members in a way.  This began my fascination with elderly people…and I still think they are amazing.  I went to the nursing home with my Poppa a lot, to see my Great Grandma, and would keep all the other people in the hallways amused while my Poppa visited his mom.

Maybe that is why I had such an insurgence of elderly “visitors”, I don’t know.  They all wanted to see me when they “visited”, and sometimes they talked to me, but none of it was a scary thing, and none of them seemed to need help, like the popular TV shows.  I sometimes wonder if what I have came in stages or not…or if I just didn’t understand enough then.

When I was about 6, there was a motorcycle accident out in front of our house, and the rider was thrown quite a distance from where he was hit.  He was hurt pretty badly, but he didn’t die; I could feel the death trying to take him.  The feeling of what I saw and felt gave me nightmares for a while after that, but I came to understand what it had meant for him, and I saw a difference in the people who came to “visit” me versus the regular people around me.  Something that is more of a feeling from the “visitors” than regular people….they seemed much more concentrated.  It made figuring out regular people sort of difficult for me at the beginning…but reading or figuring out the feelings that regular people give me now is much easier to interpret, it is just more subtle.  I think the “visitors” don’t care anymore, so it’s all out there, but the real people hide it and you have to concentrate a little harder for it.

I had dreams, as a child, dreams that still haunt me to this day.  Some not so much bad as upsetting, like the one of my Great Grandpa passing away, and hearing about it from my parents the next day. I responded with “I know” when I was told, and from the look I got, I didn’t say things like that any more.   I dreamt of my Aunt Lolly the same way, to the same result from my parents the next day after her passing too.  This concludes the majority of what I have told my parents over the years.  I was perceptive in their reactions and saw that they had a lot going on in their lives…I didn’t bother them with much if I could help it.

Nightmares for kids that see the dead are a little more like an adults scary movie…so as you get older scary movies hold more reality than thrill.  I get scared more I think because I know how possible some of the things are.  Poltergeist was the first one for me…a little too close to home I think.

Spell casting, divination, telekinesis, clairvoyance and maybe even riding brooms in pointy hats; I could find a position behind nearly any of those.

Alright, well maybe not all of them -telekinesis is a little far fetched if you ask me- but of the countless variations, afflictions and gifts in the psychic realm of possibilities, astral projection is the one so-called ability I have to draw the line on.

Let’s all gather ‘round the glowing computer screen and learn a little something about this fraud of the absentee kind.

Specifically defined, Astral Projection is out-of-body travel in unfolding environments other than the physical world, hence the “astral” part of the term, and is also commonly known as an Out-of-Body Experience.

Most commonly, this phenomena (and I use that word lightly, since I’m hardly convinced it isn’t an imaginary figment) is experienced during or as a result of near death experiences.  This in and of itself should be an automatic flag on the play; the chemical processes, or lack thereof, going on inside the body and more specifically inside the brain during a near death experience can be seriously disruptive, damaging and in the very least are a-typical of normal brain function.  Some would use this fact as ammunition for the other side of this argument, but unfortunately for them, that round is a blank!

The very fact that most out-of-body experiences are so closely related to periods of neural stress, indicates less of a likelihood for actual ethereal projection beyond the confines of the body and lends a great deal of weight to the correcthypothesis…hallucination.

And here’s where the slope gets slippery.

New age metaphysical trends support, not only the possibility of astral projection, but also advise on intentional methods for inducing out-of-body experiences.  I have a problem with this for one simple reason; it is entirely unquantifiable.  No matter how profound and convincing the experience is for the one involved, the only evidence that can be presented for the case is anecdotal at best.

Meditation, guided visualization and, in some extreme cases, narcotic assistance are used to achieve this so-called astral projection intentionally, but what is more likely happening, is an intense dream state brought on by almost overuse of the subconscious imagination.

Coincidence, subliminal observation and deductive reasoning can easily account for the claims of knowledge of things that occurred during the persons “away time”, and in the face of passionate rebuttal, no such reasoning will be accepted by the astral projector.

I realise that my view is more on the sceptical side of things, and that by voicing this opinion I elicit the criticism of those who practice and or experience astral projects, and to those persons, I further invite accounts of your experience to prove that this phenomena is real, though I warn you, I will examine your evidence critically and without clemency.

As is the trend in much of my other commentary, I will not be offering you a how-to guide for astral projection; as such a guide coming from me would likely resemble the following:

Step 1) Lay head on pillow

Step 2) Close eyes

Step 3) Fall asleep

Step 4) Dream

Instead, feel free to browse the information posted at About.com, I’m certain they will be more accommodating than I on this subject.

Happy dreams!

As I got to school age, I got a little more social, with real people.  I learned from one or two small comments from neighbourhood kids and a classmate that nobody else saw the “visitors”.  My sister and I talked about it a little (I did mention her in the first of my chronicles), but she and I never got too into it, as I didn’t really want to get found out by my parents.  She was the golden child, who was never in trouble for anything, so if she said something they would have listened.

I saw some kids at school from all walks of life and religions, I later learned, and none of them ever mentioned seeing anything I saw.  I felt sort of alone.  But sort of special…I liked to have this secret.  (I had a lot of things I couldn’t tell people so I guess this is why I am so bad with secrets now)

My Grade 2 teacher had a lady that followed her all the time and she smelled like a flower I still can’t put a name to.  She was sweet, and I think it would have made her sad if I told her.  I also made a friend the first grade who had a man that came once in a while, to look in on her you might call it, he wasn’t there all the time.  I found out about a year or two later that her dad committed suicide when she was 3, but she didn’t remember him.

I stayed over at that friend’s house occasionally…and sometimes he was there, but mostly not.  We became very close, and I asked her about him once or twice, but she didn’t really know very much about him, since she was very small when he left them.  Her family of course barely mentioned him, and her mother was on husband # 2 and had no time for questions like that.

He was sad about what he’d done and though he never spoke directly to me, I always heard the words in my head: “I’m sorry for what I did to your mother; I know it will make your life hard”, and years later, I came to know what he meant.  Her mother was pretty messed up, and shut my friend out of her life for being too much like her father, though that would never be the reason she’d admit to.  It of course made little sense when I was that age, but I still remember it all.  Ask me what I learned IN school?  Not a clue.  But the other stuff stayed with me.

I got bigger and my sister stayed cute and small, and the neighbourhood kids I played with gradually became interested in other things.

When I was in grade 5 or so, the elderly man who lived down the street passed away. (I mentioned being taken with the elderly before.)  He used to let my sister and I in his yard…he yelled at all the other kids in the neighbourhood, because they behaved badly, but we were not like them he said.

He used to let me help him take care of his roses, and he got me to pull out the thorns he always seemed to have in his hands…his daughter made us tapioca pudding when she visited, and we brought him strawberries and green & yellow beans from our garden.  He treated us as though we were his own grandchildren, played his violin for us, and on one occasion he actually gave me some his late wife’s jewellery.  I knew my mom would think it was too much, but she actually let me keep it.  I still have it, though I can’t bring myself to wear it, it still holds a feeling that I’m unable to bear for any length of time.

Back to his passing, he had been in the hospital for some time, and we wrote him letters and sent him a Valentines Day card, and I heard from him a short while after that.  He came to visit me after school when I was doing my homework in my room…and told me thank you for the letters, they made him remember his roses, and his house, and my sister and I.  He said that he was with his wife and how he’d missed her all this time…and that he hoped we stayed well, and that my mom was a special soul for letting us visit him the last few years.  I knew he was gone and a day or so later his daughter called to let my mom know.

The next year…I discovered how much I liked boys my own age.

About my height, and aloof…he walked with the look of someone that was at school because he was forced to be, but still managed to have an air of dare-me-to-punch-you-in-the-head-ness; I was in awe.

His hair was a little too long to be called short, and he wore tight jeans.  He had on biker boots and a black hooded sweatshirt.  He was alone, at his locker and doing his thing, but he looked like I felt; lonely, like no one understood anything that he was going through.  I longed to talk to him, and wondered if this attraction was just the result of my high school girl hormones, or if this feeling of instant connection was real.  And with that thought he was gone around the end of the hall, and I realised I had been standing stock still in the middle of the hallway, as though I had lost the ability to move.  This had never happened to me before.  I had other thoughts as I began to remember how to use my legs and moved along to class, but the one that stuck out the most was the feeling of already knowing him.  This was sort of new for me with the living, as opposed to those already passed on.  I mean, you can know someone and how they are, and then they pass away.  For most people it ends there, but for me, when I’d see them again they can appear younger or “changed”, appearing as they internally envisioned themselves, or sometimes they look the way they did in the time they felt happiest.  But I know them, personal and familiar…and that is how it felt, watching this high school guy from afar.

I was compelled to look for this guy again as often as I had time.  I wouldn’t say I was a stalker or anything, though most stalkers would deny that accusation too, but I began to take notice of who his friends were, and if our classes were near one another`s.  I learned he was a grade above me, and that he skipped class occasionally to play cards in the school cafeteria with a loud and harder looking crowd that I will admit, scared me a little.  I was still in the 9^th grade and was a bit of a dork admittedly, and he and his friends seemed much older and intimidating.  However different he appeared compared to the crowd of friends I hung around with, I had this pull to be near him, to talk to him.

An impetuous friend of mine, who was outspoken and boy crazy herself was with me in the hall one day his path crossed ours, and since she knew I was a little ga-ga over him, but had never even approached him, she took it upon herself to call out to him and asked him to come over.  She loudly introduced me to him and explained my interest in him, in the only terms she could relate to.  She was somewhat insistent that he give an answer at that very moment.  As my jaw was on the floor and I prayed that the earth would swallow me up and end the humiliation, but in that instant, he looked at me in a different way, and responded with “I don’t really know her…and I’m not really awake right now, can I give you an answer tomorrow?”

As I found the question pointed at me, I said “sure”, and then quickly walked away to my locker and proceeded to chew out the friend who had humiliated me and, so I thought, had killed off any possibility of ever knowing this guy for real.  Despite my deep desire to run home and lock myself in my closet, I went to class for the rest of the afternoon, and I happened to see this guy later on as he walked to the front of the school.  He waved to me as he got on a yellow school bus, and I went home to bury my humiliation in my room

The next day came as I had hoped it wouldn’t and I was forced to go to school hoping all the while he would think it was a big joke, and that I wouldn’t see him, though my hopes were futile in the end.

I saw him at lunch that day; he walked right up to me in the hall at my locker and said that he would “go out” with me.  Knock me over with a feather.  I went to lunch in the cafeteria with him and I started to get a sense of how popular he really was, everyone knew him, and they all seemed to like him.  The people I knew gave me looks of confusion and bewilderment.  It was a weird sensation.

I knew nothing about this person, and he knew nothing about me.  He apologised for being “rude” the day before and said he had been up most of the night working for a farmer in his area, catching chickens as a part time job.  I had no idea if he was serious, about the chickens or about being rude…since he knew nothing about me at all and owed me no explanations.  I thought this whole situation to be weird and awkward and felt very bad for having him be on the spot like that, but he did say yes and there we were.

That feeling of knowing him already, the connection, grew quickly the closer I was to him and this was interesting.

So I did the one thing I had been training myself to avoid, I had tried so hard to ignore and block the visitors, and for a brief moment I let myself feel and see them right there in the cafeteria.  Keeping a straight face, while I focused on my new boyfriend and not former student who had been killed in a drinking and driving accident 25 years ago was not as easy as I had hoped for.  I wanted to see if there was anything the visitors had to add to this boy in front of me, but to my surprise, they had nothing to say; it wasn’t them…it was just HIM.  This was even more interesting.