Lady Diana?
A tourist videotaping the inside of a church in Glasgow, Scotland, believes he might have captured the ghostly image of Lady Diana in a stained glass window. Is it really a ghost or just an optical illusion?
Stephen Wagner from ABOUT.Com: Paranormal has this to say..
Yes, there’s a vague resemblance of the image in the window to portraits we’ve seen of Lady Diana Spencer. In this pose, it looks as though the Princess is wearing a tiara.
But that’s about as far as this video goes. The image doesn’t move, as you might expect a ghost would do in a video. We do not get a clear, sharp, close shot of that part of the window, so we don’t really know what the image in the glass really is. It could be the image of a woman, such as the Madonna or a female saint. Or it could be some other image that in this instance just happens to take on the appearance of a woman’s head. (If anyone can find a photograph of what this window really looks like in close-up, please send it along.)
As it is, however, I think we have to judge this one as pure pareidolia — an optical illusion — and not a ghost.
I would agree with Mr. Wagner. However, I’d like to know what you think.
To find more about the paranormal go to Paranormal.About.Com
Ghostly communication?
I recently was part of a team of investigators that spent a night in a haunted mansion. Most of the night was slow and boring. The only thing I got was this video clip of possibly communication with a spirit. This clip is about 14 minutes long.
Flashlight from Ghostly Times on Vimeo.
At the time I thought the light was responding to questions asked. Watching it now, I’m not so sure. However, the light does turn on and off on command several times. The light could not be lit by shaking the flashlight or stomping on the floor. We tried afterwards.
This segment was taken with a full spectrum camcorder under IR light supplied by another ir camera.
What is your opinion? Was it ghostly communication or just ????
Ghost Hunter Casting Call
Do you watch Ghost Hunters Academy or Ghost Hunters International? Have you ever wanted to work alongside one of your favorite paranormal investigators on these SyFy shows? Well, you just might have that chance.
Pilgrim Studios, the largest reality television production company in Los Angeles, is looking for paranormal investigators, researchers, team leaders and tech experts in a nationwide search. You don’t need to reside in Rhode Island where many TAPS members reside. You can reside in any state.
You’ve watched Jason, Grant and the rest of the TAPS family investigate the paranormal from Rhode Island to Romania. Now YOU have a chance to join one of our Ghost Hunters teams!
The SYFY network and Pilgrim Films and Television invite you to apply for a position as an investigator, researcher, team leader or tech expert on one of our Ghost Hunters franchises. You have knowledge and experience that could make you the perfect ghost hunter. So contact producers now!
Clickety here for Casting Call
Was it a miracle?
The following story was found at Paranormal Phenomena at About.Com
“This experience took place on Christmas Eve, 1976, in Gresham, Oregon,” says Jason Q. “Although this story may seem ‘beyond belief’, I assure you, it is very true. It is proof (to me, anyway) that miracles do still occur. When I was five years old, I witnessed what I believe to be a miracle one Christmas Eve. My dad had just taken a job in Grants Pass, Oregon, which left my mom and me alone for the first time on Christmas. It was difficult not having my dad there that Christmas, as we had always been together for the previous Christmases.
“I was sleeping in my mom’s room that Christmas Eve when we heard something out on the roof. Of course, being a young boy at that time, I thought it was Santa, but my mom thought it may be a burglar. She told me to stay in bed as she got up and cautiously went to the window. I was both excited and a little afraid, since she was so afraid. Although I thought it could be Santa, I also knew that it may be an intruder. My mom just stood there and stared, not saying anything. I asked her what was out there, and she just stared out the window. As she came back to the bed with a mesmerized look on her face, I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. What I saw was Santa, his sleigh and reindeer flying off our roof into the sky – just like you’d see on a Christmas card.
“My mom and I didn’t talk about that night or what either of us saw. I thought it was normal, and she thought she was ‘losing it’. She called her dad that night and told him what we had seen, and he told her that my dad leaving must have caused her to be hitting the bottle. He really thought she was losing it. He was really concerned for her sanity.
“Years later, when I was in high school, we had to tell a Christmas story in our German class. I told the one that I just shared with you. My friends laughed at me, not believing my story. I never heard the end of it after I told them I was serious. They really didn’t know what to think of me after that.
“It gets even stranger. When I was leaving the classroom that day, a kid (who I didn’t know) came up to me and said, ‘You know, that was a great Christmas story. If one trulybelieves, he may at one time in his life experience what you experienced.’ That kid then left, and I never saw him again. Who was he? An angel? A messenger? I don’t know. Anyway, when I got home that day, I had to ask my mom what she had seen that Christmas Eve. Again, we had never talked about it, so I didn’t really know what she saw that night. I knew what I saw, but I didn’t know what she saw. All I could remember was how quiet she was that night, and how mesmerized she was. I wanted to know what she saw, to in fact see if I had imagined everything, as so many young kids do.
“My mom went on to tell me that it was a very difficult Christmas not having my dad around, but a miraculous one with what had occurred. When I asked my mom what she had seen that evening, she just kind of looked down almost in embarrassment. She then looked at me and said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m nuts, but I saw Santa’s sleigh and reindeer leaving our roof, taking off up into the sky. The snow-covered roof had animal prints and disturbed snow, where the sleigh had been sitting.’ She smiled, and asked what I saw that evening, with tears in her eyes. I told her that I saw the sleigh and reindeer up in the sky. The timing of what we saw fits perfectly. I got up from the bed just as she was leaving the window. She saw the sleigh and reindeer taking off up into the sky, just before I saw what I saw. I even heard bells in the sky that night, and my mom told me that she did as well. We heard and saw the exact same thing, which was truly a Christmas miracle that year, when we really needed one!
“So, was it really Santa that night that my mom and I saw? Or was it a miracle that God had sent us, for us to see, especially due to how difficult that Christmas was? I believe it was both – a miracle and Santa. I truly believe that the God who created the universe and its billions of planets has absolutely no limitations, and therefore would have no problem giving to us that miracle that evening. He also hears our prayers. Like that kid in my German class told me, ‘If you believe, you may experience this very miracle.’ Or you may experience a miracle that is very personal to only you, which only God and you know. Keep on believing! Miracles do happen if one believes in them.”
Was it a miracle or an over active imagination? Was it a shared dream? This world needs a few more “happy” miracles. I believe in miracles.. do you?
Strange happenings haunt homeowner
I wonder. Maybe my house is haunted!
I’m not just referring to the strange sounds a house makes – the creaks and squeaks and moans and groans. My house is old. So am I. The walls within the house, like the bones within my body, could simply be voicing the stress and strains of aging. I, too, creak and squeak and moan and groan at times.
But also, every now and again, when I’ve been completely alone in my house, I’ve felt a soft touch on my arm or shoulder or even what felt like a pat on the back from an invisible source. It hasn’t been particularly scary. It’s more like a greeting or a reassurance that things are fine. Skeptics would pass it off by calling it “muscle spasms” or maybe “twitching nerves.” Skeptics always have logical answers.
Then there’s the disappearing things. This seems to be a common occurrence in many households. My house is no exception. The fact that the items vanish and then reappear later makes it easy to put the blame on faulty memory.
Read the full story here.
Note: While we were on “vacation” we field tested some new full spectrum equipment. Well, investigating was more like it. We have over 30 hours of video tape and over 24 hours of audio recordings to examine.It takes time, so please forgive some sparse posting until we are finished.
Selling your Haunted House
There’s an infamous court case often cited when it comes to disclosure law, Stambovsky v. Ackley, that revolves around a haunted house.
Helen Ackley owned a big old Victorian home in Nyack, New York. The town sits about 30 miles north of New York City on the west bank of the Hudson River, in an area known for many haunted places, including the legendary Sleepy Hollow. Mrs. Ackley was well aware that her house was supposedly haunted. In fact, she claims to have seen several ghosts herself, including one that gave her approval for a new paint color in the living room and several dressed in colonial-era clothing. She described her home’s ghosts for the local newspaper and Reader’s Digest and even got the house featured on a “haunted house” walking tour of Nyack. When she decided to put the house up for sale and retire to Florida, though, Mrs. Ackley suddenly got very shy about the ghosts.
Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky wanted to buy the house and agreed to Ackley’s asking price of $650,000. It wasn’t until after the couple gave Ackley a $32,500 down payment that they were talking to a local about their purchase and were asked, “Oh, you’re buying the haunted house?”
The Stambovskys were not exactly thrilled to learn about the alleged haunting of their new home and attempted to back out of the sale. Ackley would neither admit any wrongdoing nor cancel the sale and return the deposit, so the Stambovskys took her to court.
They lost the case, with the court citing their caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) responsibility to uncover the property’s defects before committing to a sale. They appealed and the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled in their favor in a 3-2 decision.
The court found that, regardless of whether or not ghosts are real and the house was truly haunted, the fact that the house had been widely reported as haunted affected its value. Ackley “had deliberately fostered the belief that her home was possessed by ghosts” in the past and was therefore at fault for not disclosing this attribute of the house to the buyers, who, not being locals, could not readily learn about the defect on their own. On that note, one of the justices joked, “Who you gonna call?… Applying the strict rule of caveat emptor to a contract involving a house possessed by poltergeists conjures up visions of a psychic or medium routinely accompanying the structural engineers and Terminix man on an inspection of every home subject to a contract of sale.”
The Stambovskys eventually got their money back and Ackley eventually sold the house despite, or maybe because of, the fact that she had to disclose her supposed ghosts.
Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/105356#ixzz1d2QftcmQ
–brought to you by mental_floss!
I’m back!
The wife and I took a breakcation to Florida! While we were enjoying the sunshine and warm weather I did some field testing of some new equipment. While I get my thoughts together and write up the filed tests I’ll post this video. It was run this past Friday on WGN-TV news.
Orbs?
Many investigators into the paranormal generally discount video and photographic evidence of orbs as being light being reflected off of a flying bug or dust particles. I would have to agree that in most cases it is. Let me show you a video of what was originally thought to be a dust particle using an infrared camera using infrared light.
Orb Behavior Watseka 10-30-10 from paranormalIllinois on Vimeo.
There are actually 2 orbs/dust particles that act in an odd way. the first one is at the 3 second mark. It comes in from the right and makes a sharp turn and exits either downwards or towards the camera. At the 5 second mark, the second orb/dust particle enters from the right and makes a quick turn and exits towards the camera. If you watch the whole segment you can see other dust particles float through the room. They don’t exhibit the odd behavior of the other 2.
The second video it happens very quick. The bottom right corner of the video is a desk. At about the 3 second mark something appears on the desk edge and follows the edge off screen. The video was taken with a full spectrum camcorder using infrared light.
Untitled from Ghostly Times on Vimeo.
We can only speculate to what these may be. Are they spirits, ball lightning or dust particles. I want to keep looking until I find out.
