The history of paranormal research has been a very winding trail. There have been some brilliant researchers such as William James who pioneered the field allowing us to continue decades later with newer technology than he ever would have dreamed.
Indeed, many of these instruments were not intended for use by parapsychologists or paranormal investigators; however, along the way it was, of course, discovered that they could serve a dual purpose. Now many investigators are devising their own equipment to meet all of our more precise needs, as well, thankfully.
How does this all jive; however, when many psychologists think that we are all insane to begin with, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy when we go to a location to investigate it? They even think we are either imagining our EVP's, that they are extraneous noise that we are all matrixing, and even perhaps created on the sly (fabricated)!
It is a very tricky problem for us. Do we just ignore them in total, doing "our own thing", or do we at least try to keep it as scientific as possible knowing that they will still think there is a more "logical" explanation for it all?
Where ever we go to investigate, we try our very best not to have any preconceived ideas as to whether the location is haunted -- or not. We go in fresh not really expecting to find anything, but if we do, of course, we feel gratified that we are definitely on to something!
One reason that we go in in teams of two only is because of all the resistance we receive from the scientific community who insist that if more than two go in together at a time, it more or less becomes a party instead of a investigative team, and that the people will feed off each other as to every creak, pop, and other noise that they hear! I believe that our group is mostly comprised of very logical, mature people; however, to maintain our integrity in the community, we do always have watch out for these sorts of opinions and detractors.
I can tell you that personally I have discovered so much more than I ever envisioned since I began with ASUP. Some of the phenomena I have personally experienced along with my team members will remain with me for the rest of my life. This makes me understandably somewhat exasperated with both the scientific as well as the religious communities. The scientific community says that it does not exist at all. The religious community feels that it does indeed exist, but we as human beings are not supposed to delve into it AT ALL. They find it frightening, demonic, and dangerous.
The truth is a lot more gray. Something does indeed exist "out there" because we do have just too much proof of it to discount all of it. The vast majority of paranormal phenomena is not dangerous at all. In fact a mugger on the street is much more dangerous than any ghostly activity, and yet no one says we should no go out and about doing what we need and wish to do outside in the world!
Perhaps some day, there will truly be some sort of new device or equipment that can measure everything, differentiating between all other possible explanations. Until that time though, those of us who truly love this work, will continue to hold the line, offering our evidence and improving techniques and equipment, until that day comes!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The History of the EVP
In this training paper located at: http://www.asup-inc.org/evp.htm , Rick Moran spoke of the entire history of the EVP (electronic voice phenomena) as it has evolved over the decades into what we practice today during paranormal investigations.
Since this time, we have now evolved into testing the new P-SB7 box instead of the Mini-Box which we started with. Gary Galka from DAS Distribution was working on a new box to try to communicate with his deceased daughter Melanie. (This is why the Mel-Meter was named this after his daughter in fact.) Regardless, we continue on as best we can with the technology at hand at the moment. There is a new box out as well from DAS that we will be testing soon.
At first we were not sure that the PSB-7 would meet our needs in any "real world" manner. It is an understatement to say that everything is so "iffy" in the paranormal world as far as spirit communications go. However, on the case in Cumby, Texas, recently, this device performed admirably with both the voices on the box matching what we thought it said both in "real time" and afterward listening to the recordings from the H2 Handy Recorder! Yes, it was an exciting evening for us, and although the client was not sure it was her deceased husband's voice as it was understandably distorted coming through the device, she acknowledged upon hearing the clips that the answers fit the facts and his personality!
During our last Spirit Comm. session, we also got a few words from it that appeared to have meaning. When using the Ouija Board and pendulums, it appeared at least as if Rick Moran, himself, was trying to tell us that not only was it difficult to project the words into the box and although the technology is still in its infancy, perhaps we can expect better versions in the future that will somehow allow us all to communicate with loved ones after they have passed over.
Although as I write this, it seems incredible or even incredulous even to me, I still look forward to any new innovations that may answer more questions for us all during our pursuit to prove the existence of human consciousness after death!
Since this time, we have now evolved into testing the new P-SB7 box instead of the Mini-Box which we started with. Gary Galka from DAS Distribution was working on a new box to try to communicate with his deceased daughter Melanie. (This is why the Mel-Meter was named this after his daughter in fact.) Regardless, we continue on as best we can with the technology at hand at the moment. There is a new box out as well from DAS that we will be testing soon.
At first we were not sure that the PSB-7 would meet our needs in any "real world" manner. It is an understatement to say that everything is so "iffy" in the paranormal world as far as spirit communications go. However, on the case in Cumby, Texas, recently, this device performed admirably with both the voices on the box matching what we thought it said both in "real time" and afterward listening to the recordings from the H2 Handy Recorder! Yes, it was an exciting evening for us, and although the client was not sure it was her deceased husband's voice as it was understandably distorted coming through the device, she acknowledged upon hearing the clips that the answers fit the facts and his personality!
During our last Spirit Comm. session, we also got a few words from it that appeared to have meaning. When using the Ouija Board and pendulums, it appeared at least as if Rick Moran, himself, was trying to tell us that not only was it difficult to project the words into the box and although the technology is still in its infancy, perhaps we can expect better versions in the future that will somehow allow us all to communicate with loved ones after they have passed over.
Although as I write this, it seems incredible or even incredulous even to me, I still look forward to any new innovations that may answer more questions for us all during our pursuit to prove the existence of human consciousness after death!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Ghost Animals
This particular lesson by Rick Moran was well received by most of our investigators last year. Who doesn't love their dear pet friends?
http://www.asup-inc.org/ghostlyanimals.htm
The dog "Midget" mentioned in this lesson was my mom and dad's dear little dog. She was a small black Schnauzer, but she resembled an Affenpinscher more as she was not the best specimen!
But she was extremely smart, protective of both them and my daughter Amanda, and I think she loved the "Dog Ranch" very much because she was rescued by my dad after she had been dumped on FM Road 47 with her two pups. They got along very well, and she was the kind of dog that you don't know if they are "coming or going" from being a human she was so intelligent and knew what you were saying all the time!
We also experienced what appeared to be a possible cat haunting at a house in Garland, there are old reports of a cat haunting The Pride House by the previous owners, as well as a loud dog bark which did not match the current small pup's at the Dallas Condo case caught on an EVP that our group captured there. That dog's name was Austin who had passed away 6 months before we came, and his owner had treated like his son as he had no children.
There is also a documented case at a house in the Pocano's of spider monkeys haunting the residence/turned candle shop. Apparently, a doctor had lived there with his daughter in the early part of the 20th century. He was working on a cure for polio. He unfortunately used the monkeys to experiment on for a cure. His daughter treated them all like pets however, and a couple who were her personal pets. So now the owners can hear some of them galloping through the building at all hours (even before they knew the history of the house).
So apparently, when we treat an animal as a human, many times, they act more human through love, and stay in familiar surroundings just like human spirits!
http://www.asup-inc.org/ghostlyanimals.htm
The dog "Midget" mentioned in this lesson was my mom and dad's dear little dog. She was a small black Schnauzer, but she resembled an Affenpinscher more as she was not the best specimen!
But she was extremely smart, protective of both them and my daughter Amanda, and I think she loved the "Dog Ranch" very much because she was rescued by my dad after she had been dumped on FM Road 47 with her two pups. They got along very well, and she was the kind of dog that you don't know if they are "coming or going" from being a human she was so intelligent and knew what you were saying all the time!
We also experienced what appeared to be a possible cat haunting at a house in Garland, there are old reports of a cat haunting The Pride House by the previous owners, as well as a loud dog bark which did not match the current small pup's at the Dallas Condo case caught on an EVP that our group captured there. That dog's name was Austin who had passed away 6 months before we came, and his owner had treated like his son as he had no children.
There is also a documented case at a house in the Pocano's of spider monkeys haunting the residence/turned candle shop. Apparently, a doctor had lived there with his daughter in the early part of the 20th century. He was working on a cure for polio. He unfortunately used the monkeys to experiment on for a cure. His daughter treated them all like pets however, and a couple who were her personal pets. So now the owners can hear some of them galloping through the building at all hours (even before they knew the history of the house).
So apparently, when we treat an animal as a human, many times, they act more human through love, and stay in familiar surroundings just like human spirits!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
ALCOHOL AND THE PARANORMAL
Recently someone contacted us and said something like, "We have a ghost in the house now. It's black and has red eyes! It used to only be in the front yard, but my friend Tracy called it in one night while he was drunk! He went out into the yard and said, 'Come in! I dare ya.' And it did! Now the ghost acts up EVERY TIME Tracy is drunk!" Oh my.
My first reaction was like the psychologist who when the patient says, "I bite my fingernails. What can I do?" And the droll psychologist simply says, "Stop biting them!"
The psychological community would of course suspect that everyone in the household is drinking or on drugs, and that is the only time they see the black ghost with the red eyes!
Even as a paranormal investigator I might concur in this particular case! This could have been a complete ruse for their own enjoyment; however, they man reporting this seemed to be genuinely concerned.
We had a case early in 2009 where we captured quite a bit of real evidence over three visits -- where there do appear to be spirits haunting the original farmland that this house now sits upon in a residential area. Most of the activity was centered around one particular house guest; however, who had relapsed heavily into illegal drugs, and was acting in a very erratic manner quite suddenly after having lived there for some months prior.
The findings were that these spirits who had lived in the last century on this land were very old-fashioned, and to put it lightly they did not approve of the behavior! Therefore, they became extremely active in this house until the man finally was forced to move out by the homeowner.
On last report, the homeowner knows they are still around him at times, but now it is a much more gentle encounter, and they appear to be cohabitating very well at this point now that he understands what exactly was happening and why.
Not drinking in general, but ABUSE of alcohol and drugs do not mix well with spirits! People can either draw in spirits who like the wild life and cause havoc because of that, or they protest vehemently because it is "our house" or property, and they will not tolerate it! So just remember that the next time you "tie one on"! :)
My first reaction was like the psychologist who when the patient says, "I bite my fingernails. What can I do?" And the droll psychologist simply says, "Stop biting them!"
The psychological community would of course suspect that everyone in the household is drinking or on drugs, and that is the only time they see the black ghost with the red eyes!
Even as a paranormal investigator I might concur in this particular case! This could have been a complete ruse for their own enjoyment; however, they man reporting this seemed to be genuinely concerned.
We had a case early in 2009 where we captured quite a bit of real evidence over three visits -- where there do appear to be spirits haunting the original farmland that this house now sits upon in a residential area. Most of the activity was centered around one particular house guest; however, who had relapsed heavily into illegal drugs, and was acting in a very erratic manner quite suddenly after having lived there for some months prior.
The findings were that these spirits who had lived in the last century on this land were very old-fashioned, and to put it lightly they did not approve of the behavior! Therefore, they became extremely active in this house until the man finally was forced to move out by the homeowner.
On last report, the homeowner knows they are still around him at times, but now it is a much more gentle encounter, and they appear to be cohabitating very well at this point now that he understands what exactly was happening and why.
Not drinking in general, but ABUSE of alcohol and drugs do not mix well with spirits! People can either draw in spirits who like the wild life and cause havoc because of that, or they protest vehemently because it is "our house" or property, and they will not tolerate it! So just remember that the next time you "tie one on"! :)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Tulpa or Thoughtform
There is a phenomenon known as Thoughtforms or the Tulpa that I wish to address today. These seemingly innocuous beings (if-you-will) appear at first glance to be the merely fantasy or folklore to most people if they have even heard of them before.
In fact most people have no idea that the concept exists in the first place! Others -- even most paranormal investigators, speak of them as an abstract idea that is said to exist, but they can give no examples. Nor do they claim to ever have encountered one in their travels or investigations.
When I first joined ASUP, I myself, had no idea that it is possible for them to be created. I was in for a rude awakening the first time we encountered one on a case. I felt as if I was tracking something small, wary, and yet determined to stay in the house. In fact, ASUP has had occasion to actually study them a hand full of times over the years.
Those in the group who are “sensitives” have described them as darting and flitting around in the environment -- watching and yet running away defensively from the investigators when approached. A couple of them have actually hung onto the walls and watched from the ceiling area, moving away quickly when approached! Something is definitely there in other words, but it either has the mentality of a young child or even a pet dog or cat. They can cause mischief, annoyance, pain, or downright terror for some individuals who do not understand what is there – or why it is present in the first place – if that person is the intended target!
Tulpas are usually created intentionally by self-proclaimed witches (not Wiccans who advocate the three fold law -- but those who are more hardcore and cast spells to intentionally harm with no regard for another human being’s welfare) in the West although it is apparently relatively common in the East among Yogi’s as a manifestation of worship for themselves or for their villagers. A Tulpa can, however, also be created accidentally by someone who feels threatened or has been hurt, but who feels helpless to retaliate outwardly against someone they think has wronged them. Occasionally, they can even be produced for protection for themselves to follow the originator around or even sit on their shoulder throughout their own lives.
The “creature” will lash out against anyone it senses – rightly or wrongly – is trying to harm its master. The object of the warning would at first feel some kind of apprehension or warning not to cross the other person in any way, such as the hair raising up on his or her neck, but they most likely would not know why they are feeling that way. The person carrying the Tulpa around with them “looks” all right, even attractive, but there is just “something” off that does not appear to be imitating from the person, themselves.
Regardless of all of this, much thought or “intent” has to be projected against another human being for hours, days, weeks –- even months -- in order to produce a separate, shadowy life form of their own design. All attributes can be envisioned as far as size, sex, countenance, clothing, etc., in order to hang on to the object of their hatred -- tormenting them endlessly, until they either succumb with illness or even self-harm, or learn somehow to soldier on “ignoring” their little “irritant”.
Obviously, most of mankind cannot sustain this deep level of commitment to hurt another human being! We lose interest, move on, and eventually forget about the person who caused us pain. However, some individuals apparently harbor the kind of deep-seated anger and hurt that propels them on to do this kind of “work” – as it is most certainly time consuming and completely ALL consuming for them to exact some sort of revenge or make themselves feel stronger against their perceived enemies.
Some people reading this may actually LIKE the idea and want to learn more about it in order to create a little protector or antagonist of their very own! However, like all concepts that at first appear to be good, it follows, “If it looks too good to be true, it usually is!” The problem with expending so much energy to create some kind of little agent to do your bidding is that eventually the life form takes on a “life” of its very own! They do the bidding of their creator; however, just like a cyborg in science fiction, eventually, they do evolve and become self-protective!
Long after the originator has lost his or her desire for revenge or protection, the “little” Tulpa strives to survive and continue to carry out its original missive. Why would it stop? It has been programmed to carry out a certain function, and if it stops, it will have no reason to “be” unless it is given a new mission by its creator. If it is banished, where would it go? What would it do? It would have no purpose to exist, and it simply cannot have that.
If the rare person beleaguered by such an entity finally realizes that this is what is occurring, there are ways -- undertaken only by someone with great knowledge and with great resolve -- to banish it or even send it back to the originator. These remedies are not to be taken lightly as there is always some sort of repercussion or “cause and effect” associated with such methods. However, if attempted and accomplished, the bottom line is that the originator of a Tulpa may find that there is a double-edged sword involved in such activities!
In fact most people have no idea that the concept exists in the first place! Others -- even most paranormal investigators, speak of them as an abstract idea that is said to exist, but they can give no examples. Nor do they claim to ever have encountered one in their travels or investigations.
When I first joined ASUP, I myself, had no idea that it is possible for them to be created. I was in for a rude awakening the first time we encountered one on a case. I felt as if I was tracking something small, wary, and yet determined to stay in the house. In fact, ASUP has had occasion to actually study them a hand full of times over the years.
Those in the group who are “sensitives” have described them as darting and flitting around in the environment -- watching and yet running away defensively from the investigators when approached. A couple of them have actually hung onto the walls and watched from the ceiling area, moving away quickly when approached! Something is definitely there in other words, but it either has the mentality of a young child or even a pet dog or cat. They can cause mischief, annoyance, pain, or downright terror for some individuals who do not understand what is there – or why it is present in the first place – if that person is the intended target!
Tulpas are usually created intentionally by self-proclaimed witches (not Wiccans who advocate the three fold law -- but those who are more hardcore and cast spells to intentionally harm with no regard for another human being’s welfare) in the West although it is apparently relatively common in the East among Yogi’s as a manifestation of worship for themselves or for their villagers. A Tulpa can, however, also be created accidentally by someone who feels threatened or has been hurt, but who feels helpless to retaliate outwardly against someone they think has wronged them. Occasionally, they can even be produced for protection for themselves to follow the originator around or even sit on their shoulder throughout their own lives.
The “creature” will lash out against anyone it senses – rightly or wrongly – is trying to harm its master. The object of the warning would at first feel some kind of apprehension or warning not to cross the other person in any way, such as the hair raising up on his or her neck, but they most likely would not know why they are feeling that way. The person carrying the Tulpa around with them “looks” all right, even attractive, but there is just “something” off that does not appear to be imitating from the person, themselves.
Regardless of all of this, much thought or “intent” has to be projected against another human being for hours, days, weeks –- even months -- in order to produce a separate, shadowy life form of their own design. All attributes can be envisioned as far as size, sex, countenance, clothing, etc., in order to hang on to the object of their hatred -- tormenting them endlessly, until they either succumb with illness or even self-harm, or learn somehow to soldier on “ignoring” their little “irritant”.
Obviously, most of mankind cannot sustain this deep level of commitment to hurt another human being! We lose interest, move on, and eventually forget about the person who caused us pain. However, some individuals apparently harbor the kind of deep-seated anger and hurt that propels them on to do this kind of “work” – as it is most certainly time consuming and completely ALL consuming for them to exact some sort of revenge or make themselves feel stronger against their perceived enemies.
Some people reading this may actually LIKE the idea and want to learn more about it in order to create a little protector or antagonist of their very own! However, like all concepts that at first appear to be good, it follows, “If it looks too good to be true, it usually is!” The problem with expending so much energy to create some kind of little agent to do your bidding is that eventually the life form takes on a “life” of its very own! They do the bidding of their creator; however, just like a cyborg in science fiction, eventually, they do evolve and become self-protective!
Long after the originator has lost his or her desire for revenge or protection, the “little” Tulpa strives to survive and continue to carry out its original missive. Why would it stop? It has been programmed to carry out a certain function, and if it stops, it will have no reason to “be” unless it is given a new mission by its creator. If it is banished, where would it go? What would it do? It would have no purpose to exist, and it simply cannot have that.
If the rare person beleaguered by such an entity finally realizes that this is what is occurring, there are ways -- undertaken only by someone with great knowledge and with great resolve -- to banish it or even send it back to the originator. These remedies are not to be taken lightly as there is always some sort of repercussion or “cause and effect” associated with such methods. However, if attempted and accomplished, the bottom line is that the originator of a Tulpa may find that there is a double-edged sword involved in such activities!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Soulmates
We had a recent case in which a story was told to us that has stuck with me for some time now:
It seems that 40 some-odd years ago, when our client was a very young child, she lived with her parents and several brothers and sisters in a small Texas town. Her father was a long-distance trucker, and her mother a stay-at-home mom.
They had grown quite used to this lifestyle since it paid the bills, and the family was fairly secure financially. Sometimes it was difficult however to be apart because this man and woman were quite possibly “soulmates”.
They had known each other since they were young teenagers, and they loved each other with a deep abiding love that is seldom seem today. Yet, of course, they endured the separations for the sake of their family!
One night in winter time, when it was just mildly chilly in Texas (and yet could become bitterly cold in the Northern states), the man became stranded in his truck during an intense sudden blizzard as he drove back home after hauling cargo cross-country.
His wife had no idea of what was happening to her husband because the weather had changed drastically where he had been driving and had caught him completely by surprise. In fact, he had no real protection against the sudden intense cold weather other than just his clothing and a light quilted jacket. He had no choice though but to pull over to wait it all out since the road had become impassible.
Sometime during the deep night, the wife began to have a dream about her husband. During the dream, she could tell that he was in some kind of trouble. It all seemed very vague, and yet she felt the panic and fear that he must have been feeling during that long night. In this dream state, she remembered that she placed a blanket around him to protect him, but from what she did not really know at the time.
The dream stuck with her and haunted her the next morning, but since this was in the days before cell phones, she could not just call him to check on his safety. She had no choice but to wait.
Sometime the next day, she began to feel better about him, but again she really did not know why. It just seemed as if the danger had passed in some way. She hoped he would stop and call, but somehow she sensed that he was all right.
He was at least about a day and a half late in getting there from his normal “run”and about three days since she'd had the disturbing dream, but once again, she told herself: Sometimes things would happen with his loads that made him late from time to time.
Then suddenly he arrived at their home. As he walked into the house, she looked up and saw a pink blanket in his hands! She was shocked by the sight, knew she didn't recognize the blanket, but thought surely there was a logical explanation for it.
After she ran to him and hugged and kisses him in relief, she, of course, asked him about the blanket. He confessed to her that he had gotten stuck in the blizzard that one night. Of course, it turned out to be the same night that she had had the nightmare about him!
He told her quietly that he had been extremely cold and he was trying to keep warm and stay awake throughout the night in the cab of his truck. Finally, at one point, however, he had unwittingly dozed off. When he awoke a little while later, he was covered with the pink blanket! Neither one of them had ever owned a pink blanket, and he was certain that it had not been in his truck before he went to sleep!
In the paranormal world, this phenomenon is called to “apport” and is quite “simply” the transfer of an object from one place to another by the power of the mind or by a spirit. As fantastic as that concept is alone, in this case, it still begs the questions: Where did the blanket come from originally since neither of them admitted to having owned a pink blanket before? Did the wife conjure up a blanket from thin air or did she somehow managed to procure a brand new one from another location?
Not only that, but since she remembered covering him with the blanket personally, did she have an out-of-body experience? No one will ever really know. But the blanket remained at the end of their bed from that point forward as a reminder to them both about something they both considered to be quite literally a “miracle”.
Can they prove their story? No.
Can ASUP just accept the story as truth for our research since it happened 40 years ago, and there is no evidence of it having occurred? Absolutely not. It was, is, and unfortunately must remain purely anecdotal!
You must admit though that it's a very compelling subject!. This narrative was told to the couple's children and now to their children. It has become a family legend – a gift or part of an inheritance if you will – about the power of love – to be told and retold in their family for generation after generation!
Sometimes this concept alone can be more powerful than the actual event!
It seems that 40 some-odd years ago, when our client was a very young child, she lived with her parents and several brothers and sisters in a small Texas town. Her father was a long-distance trucker, and her mother a stay-at-home mom.
They had grown quite used to this lifestyle since it paid the bills, and the family was fairly secure financially. Sometimes it was difficult however to be apart because this man and woman were quite possibly “soulmates”.
They had known each other since they were young teenagers, and they loved each other with a deep abiding love that is seldom seem today. Yet, of course, they endured the separations for the sake of their family!
One night in winter time, when it was just mildly chilly in Texas (and yet could become bitterly cold in the Northern states), the man became stranded in his truck during an intense sudden blizzard as he drove back home after hauling cargo cross-country.
His wife had no idea of what was happening to her husband because the weather had changed drastically where he had been driving and had caught him completely by surprise. In fact, he had no real protection against the sudden intense cold weather other than just his clothing and a light quilted jacket. He had no choice though but to pull over to wait it all out since the road had become impassible.
Sometime during the deep night, the wife began to have a dream about her husband. During the dream, she could tell that he was in some kind of trouble. It all seemed very vague, and yet she felt the panic and fear that he must have been feeling during that long night. In this dream state, she remembered that she placed a blanket around him to protect him, but from what she did not really know at the time.
The dream stuck with her and haunted her the next morning, but since this was in the days before cell phones, she could not just call him to check on his safety. She had no choice but to wait.
Sometime the next day, she began to feel better about him, but again she really did not know why. It just seemed as if the danger had passed in some way. She hoped he would stop and call, but somehow she sensed that he was all right.
He was at least about a day and a half late in getting there from his normal “run”and about three days since she'd had the disturbing dream, but once again, she told herself: Sometimes things would happen with his loads that made him late from time to time.
Then suddenly he arrived at their home. As he walked into the house, she looked up and saw a pink blanket in his hands! She was shocked by the sight, knew she didn't recognize the blanket, but thought surely there was a logical explanation for it.
After she ran to him and hugged and kisses him in relief, she, of course, asked him about the blanket. He confessed to her that he had gotten stuck in the blizzard that one night. Of course, it turned out to be the same night that she had had the nightmare about him!
He told her quietly that he had been extremely cold and he was trying to keep warm and stay awake throughout the night in the cab of his truck. Finally, at one point, however, he had unwittingly dozed off. When he awoke a little while later, he was covered with the pink blanket! Neither one of them had ever owned a pink blanket, and he was certain that it had not been in his truck before he went to sleep!
In the paranormal world, this phenomenon is called to “apport” and is quite “simply” the transfer of an object from one place to another by the power of the mind or by a spirit. As fantastic as that concept is alone, in this case, it still begs the questions: Where did the blanket come from originally since neither of them admitted to having owned a pink blanket before? Did the wife conjure up a blanket from thin air or did she somehow managed to procure a brand new one from another location?
Not only that, but since she remembered covering him with the blanket personally, did she have an out-of-body experience? No one will ever really know. But the blanket remained at the end of their bed from that point forward as a reminder to them both about something they both considered to be quite literally a “miracle”.
Can they prove their story? No.
Can ASUP just accept the story as truth for our research since it happened 40 years ago, and there is no evidence of it having occurred? Absolutely not. It was, is, and unfortunately must remain purely anecdotal!
You must admit though that it's a very compelling subject!. This narrative was told to the couple's children and now to their children. It has become a family legend – a gift or part of an inheritance if you will – about the power of love – to be told and retold in their family for generation after generation!
Sometimes this concept alone can be more powerful than the actual event!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Autobiography
When I was a very young child, my paternal grandmother Laura Davis White (who was a staunch Baptist and attended church regularly) took me aside one weekend and forced me to learn John 3:16. She said it was the single most important verse in the entire Bible, and that no granddaughter of hers would go through life not knowing it.
After she chased me around her home in Carrollton, Texas, for hours (literally) repeating it and forcing me to say it aloud back to her until I could do it without mistakes, she finally left me alone! "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life." Whew! Finally, I got it.
After that, I escaped to the backyard to play. As I walked around pondering, questions began to surface. Was there really a God AND a Devil? And if I did not believe wholeheartedly in Jesus as my personal savior, would the Devil come to get me?
I stepped back into the kitchen with those questions. "Yes!"she assured me. Satan most certainly would come to tempt me, claim me for his own, and prevent me from salvation, and I would burn forever down below the earth's (somewhere?) surface! I gulped literally. That was a lot of scary information for a young girl to assimilate. I asked her how could I prevent him from coming to tempt me. She told me that anytime I felt strange or odd or scared as if "something" was close to me that wasn't "good", it might be the Devil, and I should say, "Get away from me Satan!" lol! So for good measure, I walked back out in the back yard and said out loud stomping my little sneakered feet. "Get away from me you Devil! Go back down to hell where you belong!" I was always dramatic even then I suppose.
My mother's family was also Christian, but a LOT more laid back about things like this. They knew I was way too young to need to be concerned with things like this and so they all loved me, spoiled me, and protected me from things that they knew I was way too young to understand.
My great-grandmother Mary Jarosh Blasingame in fact was a Bohemian immigrant. They always said Bohemian instead of Czech because they insisted there was a distinction between the two. This woman was a midwife and also read tea leaves for people. She knew all about herbs and wild greens and so the outdoors was a literal feast with which to fill her salad bowl as well as things to take for healing.
She belonged to The Rosicrucian Order and took their courses by mail, and no she did not regularly attend church even back in the old days. She was very psychic, as was my grandmother Stella Blasingame Livesay, and my mother Mariann Livesay White as well.
My grandmother always knew when her children were ill even in the days when there was no telephone installed in the farmhouse. Once as a child, she dreamt where her little gold ring had been lost on exactly which row and stalk in the garden where she'd been hoeing the day before.
My mother was not only psychic about her loved ones, both living and deceased, she also had the ability to communicate with animals. She knew when they were sick and also if they were lost, which direction to begin to walk to find them!
I have inherited the farm where my mother and my grandmother both grew up. The house is haunted with my family members and who knows who else from before them who used to live in the area before 1903 when they moved there. Things just "go on" there occasionally for which there is no explanation. Even when I was small, my grandmother, aunt, and cousin would say that at times they could all hear voices talking in the living room area or just right outside the living room window. But whenever they would go to look, of course no one was there!
My 9 year old cousin Billy, accidentally (apparently) hung himself with a rope as he played "cowboys and Indians" one afternoon by himself when I was only 3 months old. The rope had been used to tie back some limbs that had been scraping against the roof on that side of the house. He untied it and then retied it around his waist to jump from the tree to "pretend" that he was a bad guy being lynched. Ever since that time, his dog would run by "nothing" jumping up and down and playing with somebody who was not there all the way from the road to the back of the house where my cousin used to put his bicycle up inside the old storm cellar. I once saw this with my own eyes when I was about 11 years old which stunned me even though I knew all about the stories concerning this phenomenon.
My mother was always doing or saying something that would come true. I would just stare at her and blink when I was very young, not really understanding what was happening -- not WANTING to understand what was occurring -- because when I was young, I, of course, just did not want to be "different" in any way -- nor did I want my mom to be!
Alas, even the neighborhood children began to notice and even say that our house in Garland was haunted as well. My dad didn't help matters much when he declared after the kids in the neighborhood claimed to hear noises coming out of the house while we were on vacation one year that his granddad haunted that house even though he had never lived there!
It was something that just "was" though, and very soon I learned that not only was my mother different, but so was I. Not only, was I beginning to experience paranormal phenomena as far as spirits were concerned, but then I also did see the UFO when I was 14 (across the road from the same property). Officially, now -- not only was I different, but I was "hooked".
I began to go to our local library every week, especially during the summer, reading every paranormal book on the shelves. We were lucky that back in the mid-1970's thing were very progressive, and even OUR library had about 5 shelves full of every kind of "occult" subject from cryptids, to ESP, to "ghosts" to UFO's. I devoured every one of them and then after that I began ordering books through the mail.
I also had a subscription to Fate Magazine that I used to pay for with my weekly allowance. Finally, when I graduated, I went to work, and temporarily suspended my self-education. In 1978; however, a friend suggested that I go down the local grocery store and pick up a copy of the latest Fate Magazine because some guy named Rick Moran had written an article about the Amityville Horror.
I wasn't that interested in the Amityville Horror personally because I firmly believed it was all a bunch of nonsense; however, here in Texas at the time, since there were a lot of fundamentalists, folks actually took it all very seriously! So, I went down to the store, and found that it was being taken off the shelf because the latest issue had come in. The magazine stocker found it for me in his cart and just handed me a free copy luckily!
After I read it, I was thinking, "Oh thank goodness!" Somebody had actually investigated it, and declared it for what it was -- mostly a publicity stunt which unfortunately effectively overshadowed a VERY tragic family massacre.
I remember showing it to my other friends, as well as a few family members who tended to believe in a very "black and white" world as far as good and evil go. Most of them were stunned, but a few said, "Well, yeah, but the Devil still exists even if he isn't haunting a house in Amityville, New York!" lol!
I have to say that Rick believed in an evil force on a very high up spiritual level due to his "Jesuit education" as he used to say. It was just that he believed that the truly demonic forces rarely if EVER bother with mere human beings on a personal level. If they ever become involved in human affairs it is with a very spiritually evolved person whether it be a Priest, Rabbi, or any other true religion in order to torment one of them even if it is through another innocent person.
The article did stick with me for a long time even as changed jobs, got married (twice), had a child, and all of those other life events. Now fast forward to 2005 when Rick Moran put an a free ad into various paranormal discussion boards asking for a "few good men and women" to become paranormal investigators for his group ASUP that he was starting back up from New York to Texas where he and his wife Joi had moved to several years before.
I pondered for days whether to answer. I knew that I had always wanted to become a real paranormal investigator, not just read about it (I had even dreamed at one time of becoming a parapsychologist by attending UCLA at Berkley at one time). I had always wanted to investigate to find out -- not if it was real -- but if it was really happening at a particular location, and if so -- why? I just knew I wanted to experience it more than just in a personal way through my family connections and our familial property, but I suppose you could say that I was a little bit afraid as to whether I could really "cut it".
Finally, I decided to take the plunge, and THEN and only then did Rick wrote to the few of us who had responded at first, telling us exactly who HE was. I was astounded. I can tell you that! I remember just sitting back in my office chair with my mouth open.
He taught me so much during the past four years, and I did relate to him some of the experiences I had had earlier in my life. I think that he more or less accepted it though he didn't say very much; however, in late 2007, he and Joi decided to rent the farm house from me after my dad had passed away.
I said nothing about the property per se. I wanted to see if they experienced anything at all after they had moved in as I knew that Rick was pretty much the authority of paranormal phenomena, and -- well -- a picture is worth a thousand words after all.
After about two months, Rick called me on the phone one days and said, "Hey! I guess you know your farm is HAUNTED!" lol! I just about fell out of my chair laughing! What vindication! I replied, "Yes, I knew it. I was just waiting to see what YOU experienced!"
He eventually likened it to a "Mini Skinwalker Ranch" and began to feel that there was some reason that actually attracted odd occurrences. This is something I cannot really confirm although I know the land has iron rocks, sulfur, sea water, and even uranium pockets really deep in the soil -- but no quartz. But for whatever reasons, I still cannot help but think that in the vast scheme of things, Rick Moran was supposed to live on my little 50 acre plot of land to declare once and for all that just as we always suspected, it is really haunted!
I have found that my paternal grandmother's advice about Satan does still apply sometimes regardless of what you may call negative entities. During some of our investigations, we have found that if the home owner is very afraid of whatever is happening in their home, it tends to get worse and worse. If they take "the bull by the horns" so-to-speak and talk aloud to their ghost and say word to the effect of "Leave me alone!" it is a lot more effective as far as the haunting goes to at least fight back and make some of the activity subside -- at least temporarily.
So perhaps, in her own way, she really did help to educate me early on in my life regardless as we deal with all sorts of spirits who haunt certain locations and like to throw their weight around!
After she chased me around her home in Carrollton, Texas, for hours (literally) repeating it and forcing me to say it aloud back to her until I could do it without mistakes, she finally left me alone! "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life." Whew! Finally, I got it.
After that, I escaped to the backyard to play. As I walked around pondering, questions began to surface. Was there really a God AND a Devil? And if I did not believe wholeheartedly in Jesus as my personal savior, would the Devil come to get me?
I stepped back into the kitchen with those questions. "Yes!"she assured me. Satan most certainly would come to tempt me, claim me for his own, and prevent me from salvation, and I would burn forever down below the earth's (somewhere?) surface! I gulped literally. That was a lot of scary information for a young girl to assimilate. I asked her how could I prevent him from coming to tempt me. She told me that anytime I felt strange or odd or scared as if "something" was close to me that wasn't "good", it might be the Devil, and I should say, "Get away from me Satan!" lol! So for good measure, I walked back out in the back yard and said out loud stomping my little sneakered feet. "Get away from me you Devil! Go back down to hell where you belong!" I was always dramatic even then I suppose.
My mother's family was also Christian, but a LOT more laid back about things like this. They knew I was way too young to need to be concerned with things like this and so they all loved me, spoiled me, and protected me from things that they knew I was way too young to understand.
My great-grandmother Mary Jarosh Blasingame in fact was a Bohemian immigrant. They always said Bohemian instead of Czech because they insisted there was a distinction between the two. This woman was a midwife and also read tea leaves for people. She knew all about herbs and wild greens and so the outdoors was a literal feast with which to fill her salad bowl as well as things to take for healing.
She belonged to The Rosicrucian Order and took their courses by mail, and no she did not regularly attend church even back in the old days. She was very psychic, as was my grandmother Stella Blasingame Livesay, and my mother Mariann Livesay White as well.
My grandmother always knew when her children were ill even in the days when there was no telephone installed in the farmhouse. Once as a child, she dreamt where her little gold ring had been lost on exactly which row and stalk in the garden where she'd been hoeing the day before.
My mother was not only psychic about her loved ones, both living and deceased, she also had the ability to communicate with animals. She knew when they were sick and also if they were lost, which direction to begin to walk to find them!
I have inherited the farm where my mother and my grandmother both grew up. The house is haunted with my family members and who knows who else from before them who used to live in the area before 1903 when they moved there. Things just "go on" there occasionally for which there is no explanation. Even when I was small, my grandmother, aunt, and cousin would say that at times they could all hear voices talking in the living room area or just right outside the living room window. But whenever they would go to look, of course no one was there!
My 9 year old cousin Billy, accidentally (apparently) hung himself with a rope as he played "cowboys and Indians" one afternoon by himself when I was only 3 months old. The rope had been used to tie back some limbs that had been scraping against the roof on that side of the house. He untied it and then retied it around his waist to jump from the tree to "pretend" that he was a bad guy being lynched. Ever since that time, his dog would run by "nothing" jumping up and down and playing with somebody who was not there all the way from the road to the back of the house where my cousin used to put his bicycle up inside the old storm cellar. I once saw this with my own eyes when I was about 11 years old which stunned me even though I knew all about the stories concerning this phenomenon.
My mother was always doing or saying something that would come true. I would just stare at her and blink when I was very young, not really understanding what was happening -- not WANTING to understand what was occurring -- because when I was young, I, of course, just did not want to be "different" in any way -- nor did I want my mom to be!
Alas, even the neighborhood children began to notice and even say that our house in Garland was haunted as well. My dad didn't help matters much when he declared after the kids in the neighborhood claimed to hear noises coming out of the house while we were on vacation one year that his granddad haunted that house even though he had never lived there!
It was something that just "was" though, and very soon I learned that not only was my mother different, but so was I. Not only, was I beginning to experience paranormal phenomena as far as spirits were concerned, but then I also did see the UFO when I was 14 (across the road from the same property). Officially, now -- not only was I different, but I was "hooked".
I began to go to our local library every week, especially during the summer, reading every paranormal book on the shelves. We were lucky that back in the mid-1970's thing were very progressive, and even OUR library had about 5 shelves full of every kind of "occult" subject from cryptids, to ESP, to "ghosts" to UFO's. I devoured every one of them and then after that I began ordering books through the mail.
I also had a subscription to Fate Magazine that I used to pay for with my weekly allowance. Finally, when I graduated, I went to work, and temporarily suspended my self-education. In 1978; however, a friend suggested that I go down the local grocery store and pick up a copy of the latest Fate Magazine because some guy named Rick Moran had written an article about the Amityville Horror.
I wasn't that interested in the Amityville Horror personally because I firmly believed it was all a bunch of nonsense; however, here in Texas at the time, since there were a lot of fundamentalists, folks actually took it all very seriously! So, I went down to the store, and found that it was being taken off the shelf because the latest issue had come in. The magazine stocker found it for me in his cart and just handed me a free copy luckily!
After I read it, I was thinking, "Oh thank goodness!" Somebody had actually investigated it, and declared it for what it was -- mostly a publicity stunt which unfortunately effectively overshadowed a VERY tragic family massacre.
I remember showing it to my other friends, as well as a few family members who tended to believe in a very "black and white" world as far as good and evil go. Most of them were stunned, but a few said, "Well, yeah, but the Devil still exists even if he isn't haunting a house in Amityville, New York!" lol!
I have to say that Rick believed in an evil force on a very high up spiritual level due to his "Jesuit education" as he used to say. It was just that he believed that the truly demonic forces rarely if EVER bother with mere human beings on a personal level. If they ever become involved in human affairs it is with a very spiritually evolved person whether it be a Priest, Rabbi, or any other true religion in order to torment one of them even if it is through another innocent person.
The article did stick with me for a long time even as changed jobs, got married (twice), had a child, and all of those other life events. Now fast forward to 2005 when Rick Moran put an a free ad into various paranormal discussion boards asking for a "few good men and women" to become paranormal investigators for his group ASUP that he was starting back up from New York to Texas where he and his wife Joi had moved to several years before.
I pondered for days whether to answer. I knew that I had always wanted to become a real paranormal investigator, not just read about it (I had even dreamed at one time of becoming a parapsychologist by attending UCLA at Berkley at one time). I had always wanted to investigate to find out -- not if it was real -- but if it was really happening at a particular location, and if so -- why? I just knew I wanted to experience it more than just in a personal way through my family connections and our familial property, but I suppose you could say that I was a little bit afraid as to whether I could really "cut it".
Finally, I decided to take the plunge, and THEN and only then did Rick wrote to the few of us who had responded at first, telling us exactly who HE was. I was astounded. I can tell you that! I remember just sitting back in my office chair with my mouth open.
He taught me so much during the past four years, and I did relate to him some of the experiences I had had earlier in my life. I think that he more or less accepted it though he didn't say very much; however, in late 2007, he and Joi decided to rent the farm house from me after my dad had passed away.
I said nothing about the property per se. I wanted to see if they experienced anything at all after they had moved in as I knew that Rick was pretty much the authority of paranormal phenomena, and -- well -- a picture is worth a thousand words after all.
After about two months, Rick called me on the phone one days and said, "Hey! I guess you know your farm is HAUNTED!" lol! I just about fell out of my chair laughing! What vindication! I replied, "Yes, I knew it. I was just waiting to see what YOU experienced!"
He eventually likened it to a "Mini Skinwalker Ranch" and began to feel that there was some reason that actually attracted odd occurrences. This is something I cannot really confirm although I know the land has iron rocks, sulfur, sea water, and even uranium pockets really deep in the soil -- but no quartz. But for whatever reasons, I still cannot help but think that in the vast scheme of things, Rick Moran was supposed to live on my little 50 acre plot of land to declare once and for all that just as we always suspected, it is really haunted!
I have found that my paternal grandmother's advice about Satan does still apply sometimes regardless of what you may call negative entities. During some of our investigations, we have found that if the home owner is very afraid of whatever is happening in their home, it tends to get worse and worse. If they take "the bull by the horns" so-to-speak and talk aloud to their ghost and say word to the effect of "Leave me alone!" it is a lot more effective as far as the haunting goes to at least fight back and make some of the activity subside -- at least temporarily.
So perhaps, in her own way, she really did help to educate me early on in my life regardless as we deal with all sorts of spirits who haunt certain locations and like to throw their weight around!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Television Shows vs. Paranormal "Experts"
This week I have a pet peeve to air out:
In what universe was it decided that if you have a paranormal television show, you are an instant "expert" in all things paranormal? Granted, there have been a few excellent television shows that sprang from very experienced paranormal investigators, such as Jason and Grant, not to mention Barry Fitzgerald -- but unfortunately they are now fewer and far between as the trend has continued.
Unfortunately, there have been many more very well-educated, experienced paranormal investigators, such as our late founder Rick Moran, -- and a few others who probably SHOULD have had a television show, but realized that the production would never be done correctly to document the "real world" of how it is done and what kinds of phenomena one can and does experience in the field.
Now days, it seems that any wet-behind-the-ears beefcake out there can have an interest in the paranormal, pitch the show, and instantly become a new "star" and "expert". It doesn't matter if they get their facts wrong, such as when Ryan Buell from Paranormal State claimed that there was an actual stained-glass window built into the structure which was a "demonic symbol" in the warden's quarters of a well-known haunted penitentiary. (The window was actually structured into a Masonic symbol by the designers of the building!) I think that this is completely irresponsible to mislead the public this way, as well as not having conducted more research into the history of the building and what these symbols actually mean.
Not only that, but where are the women out there who have been investigating cases for years on their own dime because they had a calling to do it? Why don't they have their own show if in fact that is the criteria for being an "expert"?
Statistically, it seems to me that there are actually more women in the paranormal field than men. However, since "sex sells", producers want a young, hot male with followers, and one really good looking female who doesn't say much at all, but wears very tight jeans at the very least and is put into precarious positions in the field by herself so that next we can hear her scream and be "rescued" by the men in the group.
Please, people! The women I know in the paranormal field are experienced, serious women of all shapes, ages and sizes, are likely to be in the front of the group walking into goodness knows what, sizing it all up in a few minutes, and directing their teams if their well-trained members don't already know exactly what to do (some of which of course include men), on what to do next! In the groups with a male leader (which I realize there are many) are very likely to have several women in the group in higher positions whether that be evidence, technical, or computer geek.
Not only that, but when a woman does "run the show" such as Yvette Fielding, on the popular British television show "Most Haunted", she routinely contradicts the only true paranormal investigator on the show, Dr. Ciaran O'Keefe! Poor Ciaran. It must be quite frustrating for him to know that he knows how to conduct a real paranormal investigation, only to be relegated to the back end of everything most of the time on that show.
Case in point: Recently on the show, the cast hears a loud noise. Of course, they all start and jump, and scream. Dr. O'Keefe says, "That noise came from the next room," because he wants them to move slowly to the next room to investigate it, and because he actually was standing closest to the door and could hear it the best. Yvette cut him a look out of the corner of her eyes that told him to basically shut up, and then says, "No, the noise came from beneath us. It's from the basement! Let's all go to the basement!" (or words to that effect) BECAUSE she obviously needed a segway to move the action to the basement! Sigh.
Why can't we see instead someone like Amy Bruni for instance who is truly an excellent paranormal investigator in her own right who had her own group in California before joining the Ghost Hunters show. She is both young, beautiful, and experienced. It would be delightful to see her have her own show, along with Donna Lacroix. Both of them have had years of experience and should also fulfill the "sex appeal" requirement that producers demand. Kris Williams has now come a long way since we first saw her, and she has a very keen interest in research and genealogy in her background which truly helps when conducting a professional paranormal investigation.
Instead of screaming, most of the women I know usually try to get even closer to the phenomenon in order to understand it better. In fact, recently, I received my first bruise from a paranormal source on a case in which I felt as if somebody was running their thumb across my hip. I did not jump and run from it, I just looked around to see if anyone was there. Later on I actually felt rewarded that I had received a bruise on the scene because it added to the evidence in the case! I say this not to toot my own horn, but to give an example of our mindset.
However, just fyi: Whenever there is a paranormal occurrence at a site, you should not -- I repeat not -- run toward it like a heard of buffalo like some we have all seen! You should walk toward it calmly, quietly, to try to observe it before it runs it course, lest you actually frighten off the spirit causing it. (Yes, as strange as it seems, sometimes it does run both ways. They can actually be frightened of the people investigating them, stop, and leave the area.)
All right, I digress . . . . Now in conclusion, it would be refreshing for once to see REAL investigators in the field of all shapes, sizes, and ages and see what a real paranormal investigator does, how they do it, and the demeanor most of them have in common with each other in order to actually further the field, get more young people interested in it for a career, open up more college courses in parapsychology, much less as a "major", and more grant money to fund it because this is something that is occurring daily in the "natural world" in which we live under natural laws of the universe. It is not just something "out there" to be frightened of or to tell girl and boy scouts around a campfire at night to scare them to death.
In what universe was it decided that if you have a paranormal television show, you are an instant "expert" in all things paranormal? Granted, there have been a few excellent television shows that sprang from very experienced paranormal investigators, such as Jason and Grant, not to mention Barry Fitzgerald -- but unfortunately they are now fewer and far between as the trend has continued.
Unfortunately, there have been many more very well-educated, experienced paranormal investigators, such as our late founder Rick Moran, -- and a few others who probably SHOULD have had a television show, but realized that the production would never be done correctly to document the "real world" of how it is done and what kinds of phenomena one can and does experience in the field.
Now days, it seems that any wet-behind-the-ears beefcake out there can have an interest in the paranormal, pitch the show, and instantly become a new "star" and "expert". It doesn't matter if they get their facts wrong, such as when Ryan Buell from Paranormal State claimed that there was an actual stained-glass window built into the structure which was a "demonic symbol" in the warden's quarters of a well-known haunted penitentiary. (The window was actually structured into a Masonic symbol by the designers of the building!) I think that this is completely irresponsible to mislead the public this way, as well as not having conducted more research into the history of the building and what these symbols actually mean.
Not only that, but where are the women out there who have been investigating cases for years on their own dime because they had a calling to do it? Why don't they have their own show if in fact that is the criteria for being an "expert"?
Statistically, it seems to me that there are actually more women in the paranormal field than men. However, since "sex sells", producers want a young, hot male with followers, and one really good looking female who doesn't say much at all, but wears very tight jeans at the very least and is put into precarious positions in the field by herself so that next we can hear her scream and be "rescued" by the men in the group.
Please, people! The women I know in the paranormal field are experienced, serious women of all shapes, ages and sizes, are likely to be in the front of the group walking into goodness knows what, sizing it all up in a few minutes, and directing their teams if their well-trained members don't already know exactly what to do (some of which of course include men), on what to do next! In the groups with a male leader (which I realize there are many) are very likely to have several women in the group in higher positions whether that be evidence, technical, or computer geek.
Not only that, but when a woman does "run the show" such as Yvette Fielding, on the popular British television show "Most Haunted", she routinely contradicts the only true paranormal investigator on the show, Dr. Ciaran O'Keefe! Poor Ciaran. It must be quite frustrating for him to know that he knows how to conduct a real paranormal investigation, only to be relegated to the back end of everything most of the time on that show.
Case in point: Recently on the show, the cast hears a loud noise. Of course, they all start and jump, and scream. Dr. O'Keefe says, "That noise came from the next room," because he wants them to move slowly to the next room to investigate it, and because he actually was standing closest to the door and could hear it the best. Yvette cut him a look out of the corner of her eyes that told him to basically shut up, and then says, "No, the noise came from beneath us. It's from the basement! Let's all go to the basement!" (or words to that effect) BECAUSE she obviously needed a segway to move the action to the basement! Sigh.
Why can't we see instead someone like Amy Bruni for instance who is truly an excellent paranormal investigator in her own right who had her own group in California before joining the Ghost Hunters show. She is both young, beautiful, and experienced. It would be delightful to see her have her own show, along with Donna Lacroix. Both of them have had years of experience and should also fulfill the "sex appeal" requirement that producers demand. Kris Williams has now come a long way since we first saw her, and she has a very keen interest in research and genealogy in her background which truly helps when conducting a professional paranormal investigation.
Instead of screaming, most of the women I know usually try to get even closer to the phenomenon in order to understand it better. In fact, recently, I received my first bruise from a paranormal source on a case in which I felt as if somebody was running their thumb across my hip. I did not jump and run from it, I just looked around to see if anyone was there. Later on I actually felt rewarded that I had received a bruise on the scene because it added to the evidence in the case! I say this not to toot my own horn, but to give an example of our mindset.
However, just fyi: Whenever there is a paranormal occurrence at a site, you should not -- I repeat not -- run toward it like a heard of buffalo like some we have all seen! You should walk toward it calmly, quietly, to try to observe it before it runs it course, lest you actually frighten off the spirit causing it. (Yes, as strange as it seems, sometimes it does run both ways. They can actually be frightened of the people investigating them, stop, and leave the area.)
All right, I digress . . . . Now in conclusion, it would be refreshing for once to see REAL investigators in the field of all shapes, sizes, and ages and see what a real paranormal investigator does, how they do it, and the demeanor most of them have in common with each other in order to actually further the field, get more young people interested in it for a career, open up more college courses in parapsychology, much less as a "major", and more grant money to fund it because this is something that is occurring daily in the "natural world" in which we live under natural laws of the universe. It is not just something "out there" to be frightened of or to tell girl and boy scouts around a campfire at night to scare them to death.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Are There UFO's Among Us?
Ever since the new Discovery series "Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking" began last week, there has been a lot of "buzz" about his statements concerning alien life. For those who do not know, Stephen Hawking is a brilliant British theoretical physicist and author from Oxford, England, who is stricken with a rare form of ALS which has enabled him to live for decades instead of years with the completely debilitating disorder that has made him almost completely immobilized in a wheelchair. He must use a special speech synthesizer with which to "speak" aloud.
During last week's installment, he said that he believed there was alien life out there somewhere, although it is far far away from earth as the planets scientists know about closer to us surely could not sustain life as we know it. In other words there are no mammals much less human-like beings with opposable thumbs who could actually build ships capable of traveling thousands of light-years to reach our solar system. He summed it all up by saying we should stop trying to contact them saying that it is very possible that they do exist somewhere, "They are likely to be more advanced than us . . . " and "So if aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."
Next the Larry King Show televised a show dedicated just to these statements about alien life and invited Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, another famous physicist and author, David Brin, an astronomer, Seth Shostak, Director of the Seti Institute, and actor and commediene Dan Ackroid who is a believer in UFO's and is a member of Mufon to give their views on the subject.
Dr. Michio Kaku is a brilliant man whom Rick Moran had spoken to on the telephone and written a training page on several months ago, and he commented that he disagrees with his colleague Stephen Hawking and believes that if they ever do show up here, they will be "benevolent" because they are thousands of years ahead of us if they could make it here and thus have learned lessons with which we as a species are still struggling.
David Brin and Seth Shostak believe that intelligent species do exist, but they again are much to far away from earth. Shostak, of course, wanting the Seti Insitute to continue to receive NASA grants and public donations, states unequivacably that if they are out there, their special radios would have picked up their signal (except that after 25 years of training the antennas to the skies, there has only been one odd signal that could not be identified decades ago that never repeated itself)! (Of course, he said they need more money and more time to reach farther and farther into deep space, and someday, they still hope to make radio contact with an intelligent species!)
Dan Ackroid says that they are already here, and that they have been here for a long, long time, but that the truth of the matter is that they don't really want to socialize with human beings on a grand scale because "We are not so nice." I have to chuckle at this because from all appearances on a global scale, that could be true.
The bottom line is, however, what about the credible people such as military, pilots, police officers, etc., since the 1940's who have seen "something" but to this day have no idea what they have seen because they have never seen it before that sighting or since?
In fact, more importantly, what about me, who along with my cousin, saw "something" when we were teenagers that neither one of us will ever forget for as long as we continue to live on this planet? In fact, the following sighting I'm going to write about is one of the reasons I became interested in paranormal phenomena and UFO's from that time to this day.
When I was 14 years old, I was staying at my grandmother's home in East Texas for a few weeks in the summer. (This is the same land that Rick Moran lived on when he died and where his wife Joi still resides and that he affectionately dubbed "The Dog Ranch"). My cousin Mick was also staying over that night. My grandmother had just gone to sleep approximately 30 minutes before, and we were still up watching television. Soon, whatever it was that was on became boring to my cousin so he stood up and walked out to the screened front porch to get some fresh air.
Within just a few moments, he excitedly and fearfully called my name. "Joy! Joy! Come out here quick!", he yelled. I immediately shushed him because I didn't want him to awaken our grandmother who I knew would come out to fuss at us if we disturbed her sleep since she had so many aches and pains, her slumber was hard won and thus was very important to her.
Again, he called my name, telling me that he was not joking and that I should come out there NOW! So I got up, rolling my eyes, walked out to the porch, and he pointed to the night sky across the road above a pasture. Immediately I lost my frustration with him and became both fascinated and terrified at the same time, and yet I could not move or look away from my spot.
Suspended in the air about 100 yards above the field, was a oval shaped object that I estimate was about 25 feet long which then literally began darting up and down, back and forth above the ground, wildly, and quickly -- one second it would be located in one spot and the next it simply was about 10 or 20 feet over in another spot. It did not travel through the air in a smooth path to the new spot; it was simply THERE!
The craft moved much faster than a helicopter ever could in that decade (the 1970's) or for that matter than any are now. In fact although my father was not a pilot, he did work for Braniff Airways, and I had already traveled to several states on airplanes, seen aircraft and helicopters take off, fly and land at Love Field Airport, etc. for years as he often took me there to watch them.
What we were also observing was a strobe-like light effect shine across the body of the object from right to left as the color of the object changed from white to blue to green to red and then back to white.
We were almost frozen to the spot in shock while we watched it in relative safety from behind the latched screen door. One more thing that we both noted was that the locusts had stopped making noise. In fact everything became extremely quiet outside -- no dogs barked, no wolves howled which seemed odd since it was almost 10:00 p.m. and in the middle of the hot summer time in Texas when it seemed that the animals and insects were their most loud. There was no noise at all outside except for a tiny beep that emitted from the object which almost sounded like the noise that a submarine makes under water which sounded off once every eight seconds because I actually began to count off between the sounds.
Finally, the object stopped moving, and I have to admit that I was afraid that somebody or something had noticed us and it would come even closer into the yard. But in a moment, the object starting traveling straight UP! I simply could not resist: I unlocked the door latch, and walked down the front steps and onto the stone path. I stood in the middle of the yard and watched the object as it ascended. I thought surely it would change directions and finally fly away across the sky horizontally, but it never did. It rose up until it became a pin-point of light and then simply winked out of sight. After the UFO was out of sight, the locusts began croaking again, and I heard a dog barking way off in the distance from another farm close by.
I walked back inside with my cousin quiet and stunned. I thought before I re-entered the house that it had only been about 5 minutes, but the local news show was well underway, and that is when I realized it had been at least 20 minutes between the time Mick called me outside and when we walked back into the house.
Now all these years later, every time a new series or special comes to television about UFO's, I ask myself again, "What did we see all those years ago before all of this powerful equipment was in place and before satellites were launched into space?" Was it some secret military device they were testing way out in the country so that others in more heavily populated areas would not notice? If so, how "on earth" in the mid-1970's could it travel straight up the way it did and look like a tiny star before it got so far away that the human eye could not see the lights on it any longer? Something that profound should eventually have made its way into regular use, and Americans should have eventually been made aware of it after it was declassified because I can tell you this: It looked like it was a very effective surveillance aircraft to us if it could hover, dart around, and then retreat into outer space!
Rick Moran hypothesized that if our scientists claim that aliens could not possibly be visiting the earth, then the only thing that still fits is alternate dimensions that sometimes "touch" right here on earth or even time travel. However, most of our current physicists say that that too is something that just cannot happen -- at least not in a way that lets us occasionally get a peak at a creature that does not "fit" here or a craft that simply cannot exist! So my questions remain, and although I hope we gain some insight eventually, they may never be answered in my lifetime. Some of us keep trying to find answers or something that just "makes sense" to us -- even in the face of ridicule or scoffing -- all because of a life changing event in our pasts that simply will never completely let us go.
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
During last week's installment, he said that he believed there was alien life out there somewhere, although it is far far away from earth as the planets scientists know about closer to us surely could not sustain life as we know it. In other words there are no mammals much less human-like beings with opposable thumbs who could actually build ships capable of traveling thousands of light-years to reach our solar system. He summed it all up by saying we should stop trying to contact them saying that it is very possible that they do exist somewhere, "They are likely to be more advanced than us . . . " and "So if aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."
Next the Larry King Show televised a show dedicated just to these statements about alien life and invited Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, another famous physicist and author, David Brin, an astronomer, Seth Shostak, Director of the Seti Institute, and actor and commediene Dan Ackroid who is a believer in UFO's and is a member of Mufon to give their views on the subject.
Dr. Michio Kaku is a brilliant man whom Rick Moran had spoken to on the telephone and written a training page on several months ago, and he commented that he disagrees with his colleague Stephen Hawking and believes that if they ever do show up here, they will be "benevolent" because they are thousands of years ahead of us if they could make it here and thus have learned lessons with which we as a species are still struggling.
David Brin and Seth Shostak believe that intelligent species do exist, but they again are much to far away from earth. Shostak, of course, wanting the Seti Insitute to continue to receive NASA grants and public donations, states unequivacably that if they are out there, their special radios would have picked up their signal (except that after 25 years of training the antennas to the skies, there has only been one odd signal that could not be identified decades ago that never repeated itself)! (Of course, he said they need more money and more time to reach farther and farther into deep space, and someday, they still hope to make radio contact with an intelligent species!)
Dan Ackroid says that they are already here, and that they have been here for a long, long time, but that the truth of the matter is that they don't really want to socialize with human beings on a grand scale because "We are not so nice." I have to chuckle at this because from all appearances on a global scale, that could be true.
The bottom line is, however, what about the credible people such as military, pilots, police officers, etc., since the 1940's who have seen "something" but to this day have no idea what they have seen because they have never seen it before that sighting or since?
In fact, more importantly, what about me, who along with my cousin, saw "something" when we were teenagers that neither one of us will ever forget for as long as we continue to live on this planet? In fact, the following sighting I'm going to write about is one of the reasons I became interested in paranormal phenomena and UFO's from that time to this day.
When I was 14 years old, I was staying at my grandmother's home in East Texas for a few weeks in the summer. (This is the same land that Rick Moran lived on when he died and where his wife Joi still resides and that he affectionately dubbed "The Dog Ranch"). My cousin Mick was also staying over that night. My grandmother had just gone to sleep approximately 30 minutes before, and we were still up watching television. Soon, whatever it was that was on became boring to my cousin so he stood up and walked out to the screened front porch to get some fresh air.
Within just a few moments, he excitedly and fearfully called my name. "Joy! Joy! Come out here quick!", he yelled. I immediately shushed him because I didn't want him to awaken our grandmother who I knew would come out to fuss at us if we disturbed her sleep since she had so many aches and pains, her slumber was hard won and thus was very important to her.
Again, he called my name, telling me that he was not joking and that I should come out there NOW! So I got up, rolling my eyes, walked out to the porch, and he pointed to the night sky across the road above a pasture. Immediately I lost my frustration with him and became both fascinated and terrified at the same time, and yet I could not move or look away from my spot.
Suspended in the air about 100 yards above the field, was a oval shaped object that I estimate was about 25 feet long which then literally began darting up and down, back and forth above the ground, wildly, and quickly -- one second it would be located in one spot and the next it simply was about 10 or 20 feet over in another spot. It did not travel through the air in a smooth path to the new spot; it was simply THERE!
The craft moved much faster than a helicopter ever could in that decade (the 1970's) or for that matter than any are now. In fact although my father was not a pilot, he did work for Braniff Airways, and I had already traveled to several states on airplanes, seen aircraft and helicopters take off, fly and land at Love Field Airport, etc. for years as he often took me there to watch them.
What we were also observing was a strobe-like light effect shine across the body of the object from right to left as the color of the object changed from white to blue to green to red and then back to white.
We were almost frozen to the spot in shock while we watched it in relative safety from behind the latched screen door. One more thing that we both noted was that the locusts had stopped making noise. In fact everything became extremely quiet outside -- no dogs barked, no wolves howled which seemed odd since it was almost 10:00 p.m. and in the middle of the hot summer time in Texas when it seemed that the animals and insects were their most loud. There was no noise at all outside except for a tiny beep that emitted from the object which almost sounded like the noise that a submarine makes under water which sounded off once every eight seconds because I actually began to count off between the sounds.
Finally, the object stopped moving, and I have to admit that I was afraid that somebody or something had noticed us and it would come even closer into the yard. But in a moment, the object starting traveling straight UP! I simply could not resist: I unlocked the door latch, and walked down the front steps and onto the stone path. I stood in the middle of the yard and watched the object as it ascended. I thought surely it would change directions and finally fly away across the sky horizontally, but it never did. It rose up until it became a pin-point of light and then simply winked out of sight. After the UFO was out of sight, the locusts began croaking again, and I heard a dog barking way off in the distance from another farm close by.
I walked back inside with my cousin quiet and stunned. I thought before I re-entered the house that it had only been about 5 minutes, but the local news show was well underway, and that is when I realized it had been at least 20 minutes between the time Mick called me outside and when we walked back into the house.
Now all these years later, every time a new series or special comes to television about UFO's, I ask myself again, "What did we see all those years ago before all of this powerful equipment was in place and before satellites were launched into space?" Was it some secret military device they were testing way out in the country so that others in more heavily populated areas would not notice? If so, how "on earth" in the mid-1970's could it travel straight up the way it did and look like a tiny star before it got so far away that the human eye could not see the lights on it any longer? Something that profound should eventually have made its way into regular use, and Americans should have eventually been made aware of it after it was declassified because I can tell you this: It looked like it was a very effective surveillance aircraft to us if it could hover, dart around, and then retreat into outer space!
Rick Moran hypothesized that if our scientists claim that aliens could not possibly be visiting the earth, then the only thing that still fits is alternate dimensions that sometimes "touch" right here on earth or even time travel. However, most of our current physicists say that that too is something that just cannot happen -- at least not in a way that lets us occasionally get a peak at a creature that does not "fit" here or a craft that simply cannot exist! So my questions remain, and although I hope we gain some insight eventually, they may never be answered in my lifetime. Some of us keep trying to find answers or something that just "makes sense" to us -- even in the face of ridicule or scoffing -- all because of a life changing event in our pasts that simply will never completely let us go.
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Busy Busy!
I haven't posted in a few weeks because we've been so busy. We've been working on two very interesting and involved cases, one in East Texas and one in Dallas.
Sometimes, if a paranormal investigation group is doing a thorough job, they just cannot get in and out in one visit! Occasionally, there are just too many layers and intricacies at the location.
This really makes a "P.I's" day generally speaking to be sleuthing everything out to everyone's satisfaction. At times, these cases will be on-going. At other times, the client finally comes to some of their own conclusions and begin to finally feel "safe" in their own homes.
The goal is not generally to make anything leave. The main goal is to figure out what exactly is going on at the site, and to more or less counsel the clients, and even help them learn to communicate with whatever is there! It becomes somewhat of a negotiation or a marriage between the living and the dead!
Hope everyone has a great week! Now I'm going back to our cases . . . .
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
Sometimes, if a paranormal investigation group is doing a thorough job, they just cannot get in and out in one visit! Occasionally, there are just too many layers and intricacies at the location.
This really makes a "P.I's" day generally speaking to be sleuthing everything out to everyone's satisfaction. At times, these cases will be on-going. At other times, the client finally comes to some of their own conclusions and begin to finally feel "safe" in their own homes.
The goal is not generally to make anything leave. The main goal is to figure out what exactly is going on at the site, and to more or less counsel the clients, and even help them learn to communicate with whatever is there! It becomes somewhat of a negotiation or a marriage between the living and the dead!
Hope everyone has a great week! Now I'm going back to our cases . . . .
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Case of Synchronicity
Rick Moran, the Founder and Coordinator of ASUP spoke a lot about the synchronicity in all of our lives.
According to Wikipedia.com, "Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance."
So on this, the one-month anniversary of Rick's passing, I find that I am once again reminded and can no longer keep quiet about just what happened in the days before and at his funeral.
You see, Rick was Scottish on one side of the family and Irish on the other. He was raised very much in those traditions by his mother and his "Sainted Grandmother". He was also raised a Catholic, was the "product of a Jesuit education" as he was fond of saying, and in fact was a Deacon of a large church in Manhattan at one time. As many people do, he strayed this way and then that way during the course of his life investigating several religious traditions, but once again came back to at least the core beliefs of the Catholic faith. He and his wife Joi used to attend a parish church at one time in The Colony, but they had moved to Wills Point three years ago, and had not attended regularly since that time.
Rick passed over unexpectedly that day on March 13, 2010. He did have a known heart condition, but he had been doing so well recently, that it was truly a shock when he collapsed.
However, even this situation was interesting. Rick had had a WONDERFUL day full of accomplishments in regard to a new hoop house being set up on the ranch. He and I were just about to leave on yet another investigation together (his first love besides Joi). My husband Joe had been with him earlier that day, I had talked to him on the phone before driving over there, and he and Joi had had a lovely lunch. We all commented that he was happier than we had seen him in weeks.
Joi and I were luckily right there with him in the room when he began to go down. He got dizzy, reached out for me, and I know at that moment we both thought he would be fine if he just sat down in a chair. When that did not work out quite as planned, I eased him down as best as I could so he would not hit his head on the floor.
Joi began monitoring him right away as she used to be a Fire Department Captain in New York and is a trained EMT. I called 911 immediately. Everything that COULD be done was in fact done which I can tell everyone makes a HUGE difference when dealing with the "what-if's" of life and death!
Afterward, we were all devastated of course, and although in shock, funeral arrangements were made in a timely and efficient manner. However, to the family members it was VERY important that a priest at least officiate even if he could not do full mass at the funeral!
That afternoon and the next day, calls were made. The only two priests in the immediate area were tied up with other things with their own parish members, and as Rick was not a member, they could not rearrange their schedules. Other Catholic churches within 30 miles, as well as the Dallas and Tyler Dioceses, both 50 miles away, were called by his family, but to no avail!
Finally, one of our Directors, Sheryl Baird, contacted me on Tuesday evening and simply asked in general (not knowing yet about the dilemma), "Is there ANYTHING I can do?" I quipped in complete irony, "Can you find a Priest???!!!" Surprisingly, Sheryl said (because she's just this way), "I'll do what I can!"
Wednesday morning, bright and early, Sheryl began to call. She called anybody and everybody she could think of in the entire Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Finally, a very nice Priest, a Fr. Michael in Mesquite said, "I'll find you a priest!"
Two and a half hours later, a very nice man with a lilting accent called Sheryl back. He said that he was the Priest over a small Catholic church in -- are you ready for this name -- Gun Barrel City -- a VERY small town near a recreational lake about an hour Southwest from Wills Point. She couldn't place the accent, but something about this priest was different. He asked, "Why on EARTH would ya schedule a funeral WITHOUT a Priest?" lol! He said he would rearrange his schedule and be there although he could not perform full Mass without permission from the Diocese. She told him that was all right. We just needed a Priest to officiate for the family. Whew! What a relief.
He called the funeral home right away to get the details. The funeral was spectacular -- a celebration -- as his wife Joi has since commented. His daughter Nichole arranged for a man wearing a traditional kilt to play the bagpipes, and led the family into the chapel. One of the songs played during the funeral was a traditional Irish prayer. The Masons came and conducted a brief ceremony as well since Rick was "Legacy Mason".
When we looked down at the funeral program, we were astonished to find the name "Fr. Francis Dowd". A chill went over those of us in the "know". Francis Dowd is an IRISH name -- of course!
It seems that Father Francis came straight from Ireland several years ago to Texas, and has a wonderful first generation accent. He performed an incredible service in English, Latin AND in Gaellic (which Rick was fluent in)! During the ceremony, he commented, "I knew this man!" A small gasp went through the family members and close friends. Understandably, everyone at this point were even more surprised and shocked to say the least!
After the service, he walked up to Joi and said, "I used to see Rick at the Knights of Columbus meetings several years ago in Rockwall." Rick and Joi had lived in Rockwall back in the 90's when they first moved from New York to Texas, and Rockwall is about another hour away from Wills Point in the opposite direction.
Now perhaps reading all of this, you think that this is ALL just a coincidence, but those of us who knew Rick well do not think so. We like to look at it as one final lesson from a man who taught us all so much about all the possibilities in life!
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
According to Wikipedia.com, "Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance."
So on this, the one-month anniversary of Rick's passing, I find that I am once again reminded and can no longer keep quiet about just what happened in the days before and at his funeral.
You see, Rick was Scottish on one side of the family and Irish on the other. He was raised very much in those traditions by his mother and his "Sainted Grandmother". He was also raised a Catholic, was the "product of a Jesuit education" as he was fond of saying, and in fact was a Deacon of a large church in Manhattan at one time. As many people do, he strayed this way and then that way during the course of his life investigating several religious traditions, but once again came back to at least the core beliefs of the Catholic faith. He and his wife Joi used to attend a parish church at one time in The Colony, but they had moved to Wills Point three years ago, and had not attended regularly since that time.
Rick passed over unexpectedly that day on March 13, 2010. He did have a known heart condition, but he had been doing so well recently, that it was truly a shock when he collapsed.
However, even this situation was interesting. Rick had had a WONDERFUL day full of accomplishments in regard to a new hoop house being set up on the ranch. He and I were just about to leave on yet another investigation together (his first love besides Joi). My husband Joe had been with him earlier that day, I had talked to him on the phone before driving over there, and he and Joi had had a lovely lunch. We all commented that he was happier than we had seen him in weeks.
Joi and I were luckily right there with him in the room when he began to go down. He got dizzy, reached out for me, and I know at that moment we both thought he would be fine if he just sat down in a chair. When that did not work out quite as planned, I eased him down as best as I could so he would not hit his head on the floor.
Joi began monitoring him right away as she used to be a Fire Department Captain in New York and is a trained EMT. I called 911 immediately. Everything that COULD be done was in fact done which I can tell everyone makes a HUGE difference when dealing with the "what-if's" of life and death!
Afterward, we were all devastated of course, and although in shock, funeral arrangements were made in a timely and efficient manner. However, to the family members it was VERY important that a priest at least officiate even if he could not do full mass at the funeral!
That afternoon and the next day, calls were made. The only two priests in the immediate area were tied up with other things with their own parish members, and as Rick was not a member, they could not rearrange their schedules. Other Catholic churches within 30 miles, as well as the Dallas and Tyler Dioceses, both 50 miles away, were called by his family, but to no avail!
Finally, one of our Directors, Sheryl Baird, contacted me on Tuesday evening and simply asked in general (not knowing yet about the dilemma), "Is there ANYTHING I can do?" I quipped in complete irony, "Can you find a Priest???!!!" Surprisingly, Sheryl said (because she's just this way), "I'll do what I can!"
Wednesday morning, bright and early, Sheryl began to call. She called anybody and everybody she could think of in the entire Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Finally, a very nice Priest, a Fr. Michael in Mesquite said, "I'll find you a priest!"
Two and a half hours later, a very nice man with a lilting accent called Sheryl back. He said that he was the Priest over a small Catholic church in -- are you ready for this name -- Gun Barrel City -- a VERY small town near a recreational lake about an hour Southwest from Wills Point. She couldn't place the accent, but something about this priest was different. He asked, "Why on EARTH would ya schedule a funeral WITHOUT a Priest?" lol! He said he would rearrange his schedule and be there although he could not perform full Mass without permission from the Diocese. She told him that was all right. We just needed a Priest to officiate for the family. Whew! What a relief.
He called the funeral home right away to get the details. The funeral was spectacular -- a celebration -- as his wife Joi has since commented. His daughter Nichole arranged for a man wearing a traditional kilt to play the bagpipes, and led the family into the chapel. One of the songs played during the funeral was a traditional Irish prayer. The Masons came and conducted a brief ceremony as well since Rick was "Legacy Mason".
When we looked down at the funeral program, we were astonished to find the name "Fr. Francis Dowd". A chill went over those of us in the "know". Francis Dowd is an IRISH name -- of course!
It seems that Father Francis came straight from Ireland several years ago to Texas, and has a wonderful first generation accent. He performed an incredible service in English, Latin AND in Gaellic (which Rick was fluent in)! During the ceremony, he commented, "I knew this man!" A small gasp went through the family members and close friends. Understandably, everyone at this point were even more surprised and shocked to say the least!
After the service, he walked up to Joi and said, "I used to see Rick at the Knights of Columbus meetings several years ago in Rockwall." Rick and Joi had lived in Rockwall back in the 90's when they first moved from New York to Texas, and Rockwall is about another hour away from Wills Point in the opposite direction.
Now perhaps reading all of this, you think that this is ALL just a coincidence, but those of us who knew Rick well do not think so. We like to look at it as one final lesson from a man who taught us all so much about all the possibilities in life!
Copyright © 2010, The ASUP, Inc.
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