Ever had that feeling that you are being watched?

Most people have had the feeling at some point - that feeling of being watched. Mostly it comes about when there really seems to be nobody about. We write it off as paranoia or imagination.

But is it?

Is it possible that we are being watched - by someone?

Consider the case of 'shadow people'. This is an experience where strange shadow-like people are often observed, usually in the peripheral vision. There is no-one there - at least no one physical - and we often pass it off as ..... imagination.

But is it?

Could these two phenomenon actually be just the two sides of the same coin?

There is a theory (and only that) which is sometimes used to support the multi-verse theory in quantum physics. It is the interference effect.

I wont bore you with the details but the canned version is that under a certain set of conditions, light should pass through a slit and produce a uniform illumination but in reality produces bars - lines if you like - of shadow and light. One theory says that light from a different universe interferes with the light from ours and causes this.

Perhaps all those shadow people are actually IN some other quantum universe.

Perhaps when we get that feeling of being watched, we are actually subconsciously picking up photons of light from a different universe and realizing that they are seeing us - their own 'shadow people'.

Or perhaps it is just paranoia. Or imaginations.

Perhaps.

You decide.

Comment on RACV article - The True non-believer

A recent article in the Australian RACV magazine presents a kind of interview with 'Victoria's head skeptic' Terry Kelly.

In defense of those with either an open mind or the power of deeper thought, I thought that I might make some interesting observations on the article and, more specifically, on 'skeptics'.

Firstly, there is the obvious problem relating to the classification of a paranormal event as 'bunkum'. This I call the 'one road theory'. It goes like this:

If I can get to Melbourne via the Geelong Freeway then the ONLY way to Melbourne is via the Geelong Freeway.

The 'theory' is based on the premise that all paranormal experiences are imaginary or faked because the same results can be obtained through non-paranormal means. A classic example is the spoon-bender. Nobody can bend spoons through the power of their minds because a magician can bend one through trickery.

This should give us plenty to think about and a good opportunity to revise testing and so forth in terms of measuring, detecting and classifying paranormal activity because it allows the creation of tests and tools to detect fakery. But it does not prove that all spoon-bending is a trick. That is not a logical assumption.

There are, in fact, many roads to Melbourne.

A look at real scientists will show, in fact, that there are many phenomenon which cannot be proved or whose criteria for occurrence cannot be identified. But scientists - real scientists that is - do not discount them as fakery. Quantum physics is a good example of this. But probably Mr Terry Kelly thinks Quantum physics is just 'bunkum' too I expect.

The second and much more important thing that comes to mind is that while skeptics deride those that they (correctly) term 'true believers', they are actually no different themselves.

True-believers believe without evidence.

Skeptics dis-believe without evidence.

Proving the non-existence of many or most paranormal phenomenon is impossible. We measure and value phenomenon using physical tools. By its nature, the paranormal must be non-physical - at least in part. So it cannot be measured. At best if can be implied or heuristically 'proven'.

You cannot, for example, prove the existence of a God who by definition must exist beyond our current limited physical definition of the universe. You might say that this God did not create the 'big bang' (Hawking) but you cannot disprove God's existence. You are free, at least in this country, to make up your own mind though.

But skeptics, such as Terry Kelly, decide that things don't exist - they believe that they don't exist - yet have no evidence to support their beliefs. Just like the true believer, they hold a view as truth without any evidence at all.

That is the biggest problem I have with skeptics. They are simply true believers who choose to believe something different.

They are not 'more logical' or 'more intelligent'.
They are not 'informed' or 'rational'.

They are religious zealots whose religion is denial.

In fact, they are the True Believers.

Sunny Days Ahead

There is, apparently, a solar storm approaching which will hit with the force of 100 million hydrogen bombs.

While not exactly a paranormal event - it's actually nothing new although our current dependency on technology makes this a greater threat than ever before - this does have some interesting facets.

Firstly, the projected time for this is 2012. Ah, the Mayan's were right. They correctly predicted it. Well, no. Even if this did cause the end of civilization as we know it, the Mayans did not predict it.

The Mayan calendar runs on cycles and 2012 is just the end of one cycle - the cycle restarts in 2012. They in no way, shape or form, predicted anything anymore than December marks the end of our year.

And, of course, for them to have really predicted it, they would have to have predicted our current dependency on technology, satellites, the integrated circuit and the iGeneration. Nowhere in Mayan artifacts is anything remotely similar to an iPod.

Secondly, the experts involved are warning that communications could be very badly affected. There is no doubt that, given a large enough event, our communications could be knocked out. Completely knocked out.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

It may be that all technology will be affected, not just communications. Imagine for a minute a world without technology.

You will have no phones - mobile or otherwise.
You will have no electricity.
You will have no water.
You will have no sewerage.
You will have no transport.

Should this event be as big as some are predicting, the impact could be very threatening indeed. Rather than five to ten years to recover, there might never be recovery.

With the loss of the above, comes the loss of information - the more dependent we are on i-solutions rather than old-fashioned paper-based information, the harder it will be to recover. With an oil-based society (petrol, plastics etc) there will be a difficult recovery when the whole oil-processing business is put out of action.

Where will the food come from? Crops will still grow but how will they be harvested? How will the food be transported into the citys?

It's an 'end of the world' scenario and - hopefully - one that will not come to be. But until we have weathered these storms..... who knows?

Beware of Witches or rather Bitches!

There are many witches in the world and very few of them wear black hats and ride broomsticks. Most of the witches I know are actually very nice people.

But then there's the famous Geelong Cop-dragging Witch.

Let me firstly say that all earthly witches ARE subject to earthly rules and laws. This particular woman's argument that she is not is pure bunkum. She obeys the laws of physics by driving a car therefore she is also subject to the laws of the land. The fact that the officer received injuries rather than turning into a frog probably illustrates that fact rather well.

Most interestingly is her claim that she has a 'universal' name which incongruously is not recognized here on planet Earth.

Witches everywhere will be bristling with anger. Here's this rather pathetic woman claiming to be one of them and yet without the simple intelligence to realize that a 'universal' name must be recognized everywhere - otherwise it is hardly universal!

Words fail me.

Still, perhaps she was just suffering from PNT. Paranormal Tension!

Paranormal Investigators - NOT.

Many people would like to investigate the paranormal. Some want to prove it real - others to prove it false. That's OK. Chances are, proof either way will not come easily.

But for many young adventurers there are pitfalls - and not only the moaning chain-rattling type.

You might just take a moment to read about the Ghost Hunters and the Cliff.

There are two big problems with the immature and inexperienced setting off on their big Ghost Hunting Adventure.

Firstly, they are unlikely to gain appropriate permission of entry. Trespass is trespass and it's illegal for a number of reasons, not least because you can be very badly injured when you invade a property that you do not know well. Often it is in a state of disrepair and apart from obvious dangers such as walls and roof falls, holes in the floor, exposed nails, broken glass etc... there are other less visible dangers. Such as asbestos.

If you enter a property illegally and are badly injured, don't expect the landowner's insurance to cover you. It might. Or it might not.

Of course, there is the other problem. It might seem fun - getting a little group together for a spot of Ghostbusting, but if the physical dangers don't get you, then there are other things. Depending on the individual situation you could be walking into a psychic mine field. It might be that you subconsciously open up to suppressed thoughts and emotions that cannot be dealt with in your conscious state. Or it might be that something very nasty might get a hold of you. Don't worry about which argument is right - the Skeptics and the True Believers have one thing in common - you will be putting yourself at risk.

Before indulging in any 'harmless fun' it really pays to make sure that you know what you are doing, take precautions and ensure that others know where you are going. It's common sense really.

Best option is to find a ghost tour. Or locate a group of experienced investigators with an ultimate view to becoming one of them.

What ever you do - it's not worth taking risks.

Is your ghost legal?

Big changes in the air - or perhaps I should say 'big changes in the Ether'!

Do the big decision makers read Too Haunted? It seems that they might. After we published our 3Bdrm, Mast ES,WIR,ModKitch, ERng, GHWS, DBGRG, ST(DEC) blog concerning the sale of properties that might contain residual paranormal phenomena, a change to the law in Australia has occured which can result in big fines for Real Estate agents who do not advise prospective buyers of a property's negative history.

This actually is quite a landmark decision. While it is easy for the non-believer to sit back, have a good laugh and decry such such "stupidity", there are many who have inadvertently purchased property only to discover that there are things that go bump in the night and that they are often unpleasant or even quite dangerous.

Read All About It Here

Of course, Agents can still pretend ignorance and, in many cases, they might not be in full possession (sic) of the facts, but at least when they are called on to sell a property known to them to have a dark past of some sort, they are under legal obligation to make that past known.

Are there really ghosts of murdered victims a-wailing and a-moaning at their site of their deaths? Clearly there can be residual effects at times and equally as clearly, some people are more sensitive than others.

It is, therefore, your right to know. At least, it is now. In Australia.

Bamboo Saucer

In the late sixties there was a film set in China concerning a flying saucer. The film was entitled The Bamboo Saucer.

It wasn't one of the world's best UFO films because really, the plot revolved more around the groups traveling to the site of the UFO and tensions between Russia, China and the U.S. But having said that, it was an interesting movies because the UFO - from the audience perspective - is treated almost as an every-day thing with the film concentrating on power games, struggles, conflict and so forth.

Apparently, a Chinese airport was recently closed after a UFO appearance.

Of course, the whole thing is ridiculed and the event is described as sunlight reflecting off conventional aircraft.

America, Australia, Russia - almost every country has reports of UFOs and many are explainable. But there are those which defy explanation.

Given the limited ability to get truth out of a country which has a history of genocide and atrocities, it is hard to imagine how this story could ever have gotten to the world press. At least, it is hard to imagine if it was a simple case of 'sunlight reflecting off conventional aircraft'. But if it wasn't.....

Many airports have stray or unexpected aircraft violating airspace. But they don't usually close the airport. Of course, China might be different.

It is important to realize, though, that Tibet and China (different countries by the way guys) both have a history of UFO phenomenon. Proven or otherwise, they are both significant locations in terms of alleged (i.e. neither proven nor dis-proven) extraterrestrial activity.

Is this recent sighting just sunlight? Or is it more interesting?

I guess you have to make your own mind up about that.