Origin of Halloween

Perhaps the most misunderstood of holidays, Halloween has grown into a major commercial holiday. Outsold only by Christmas in the United States, Halloween now supports its own seasonal stores that cash in on the massive public interest. A few years ago a wrote a book explaining the holidays for teens/tweens. The book was never published, and I’ve been putting excerpts on this blog on appropriate occasions. For the full story of Halloween, please check out the Full Essays page (link above).

Accusations of a demonic origin may fit in with the popular creatures of the holiday, but they are far from the truth of the matter. A cross-quarter day, Halloween comes in the opposite side of the year from May Day (remember Walpurgis Night) when spirits make their way back into the mortal world. It represents the passing of fall into winter and the shades of death that accompany it. How much more religious can you get?

From ancient times people have been aware of how weak our control over our lives really is. We depend on the sun and the weather to cooperate for our crops. We fear the darkness when our eyes can’t compete with those of our predators. As the year descends into longer and longer nights, we secretly fear that eventually night will not end. The dark time of the year belonged to the spirits.

Just as all ancient people celebrated the vernal equinox (if you missed it, check out the Passover-Easter Complex for more), they marked the autumnal equinox with festivals. Although Halloween is six weeks after the equinox, it seems to have inherited some of the ancient associations of that season. One of the ancient feasts of the equinox was for Pomona, the Roman goddess associated with fruits and seeds. There is more of Thanksgiving than Halloween in this festival, however.

Halloween, as we have come to know it, is usually traced to the same people who gave us St. Patrick’s Day – the Celts. The Irish calendar was divided into four quarters, marked between the solstices and equinoxes by the cross-quarter days. The fall cross-quarter day was Samhain (in case you don’t speak Gaelic, this is pronounced “sow-win”). Samhain can be understood as “summer’s end” and it was the traditional marking of the onset of winter; it actually comes just a month before meteorological winter.

The Celts, as well as other ancient peoples, believed that spirits of the dead were active as the trees lost their leaves, the grass began to dry and, and the world itself seemed to be dying. Huge bonfires were lit to ward off evil spirits, and perhaps bloody sacrifices were made to ensure the safety of the living.

No matter what modern Halloween critics may say, the Celts did not worship Satan and the origins of the holiday are not satanic. Pagan, maybe, but who isn’t somebody else’s pagan? The idea was to fend off evil, not worship it. The shamans, or “medicine men” of the Celts were a class of priests called Druids. Samhain would have been one of the festivals overseen by the Druids. These guys were priests of a religion that focused on nature, not the Devil. They did play a little rough though. They seem to have practiced human sacrifice once in a while, but Samhain was more often about killing off livestock before the winter. Either you can keep your animals alive and they will eat the little food you have, or you can butcher them and add to the little food you have. After all, not much grows in winter.

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The Scariest Games (For Halloween)

By Stephen Wagner, About.com Guide

Here are some of the scariest games for your paranormal parties. Some are so frightening, they shouldn't be played at all.

WE DON'T USUALLY think of games when we consider the paranormal. The paranormal is something to be investigated, researched and taken seriously, not trifled with in something as frivolous as what we'd consider a "game."

We're not talking about the harmless games children play at Halloween or even the various paranormal-themed action and role-playing computer games available. We're talking about the games that are played in the dark of night that truly can be paranormal in nature and have unexpected, even terrifying results.

Games such as "Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board," the Ouija board, "Bloody Mary" and spoon bending seem to be favorites of teenagers particularly. At parties, sleepovers and when the opportunity arises to sneak into an abandoned or rumored-to-be-haunted building, these games are very often played. Teens like them not only because they challenge the unknown, but also for the same reason they love horror and slasher movies - they like to be scared.

Adults and paranormal researchers usually discourage such games - particularly the Ouija and Bloody Mary - because of the negative psychological impact they can have on the participants. Whether the game players are merely scaring themselves or they really are tapping into negative realms, many researchers advise that these "games" are best left alone. And for that reason, we cannot recommend their practice. Light as a Feather and spoon bending are more harmless and may have a scientific basis, but some argue that any game that has elements of the unknown should be avoided.

People play them at their own risk.

LIGHT AS A FEATHER, STIFF AS A BOARD

This levitation game has been around for decades. I recall my sister telling me that she and her friends tried it at a teen party - and it worked.

The most common version of this "trick" requires at least five people. One person, the victim, lies relaxed on the floor with eyes closed. The other four participants surround her, one on each side, one at the head and one at the feet. Each of the participants places two fingers of each hand beneath the victim. With their eyes closed, they begin to chant, "Light as a feather… stiff as a board…" over and over. With just the slightest effort, the participants are able to raise the victim off the floor in what appears to be the defiance of gravity.

Does it work? In addition to my sister, I've heard from a number of other people who attest that it does. I have never witnessed it personally. Some contend that it can work with just three people, which would be even more astounding. There are also variations on this levitation trick involving a chair.

OUIJA BOARD

The Ouija is undoubtedly the most well-known paranormal game in the world, mainly because it can be found in just about any mainstream toy store. It's the commercial version of the "talking board," which may date back centuries.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Ouija is a game board on which are printed the letters of the alphabet and the words "yes," "no" and "goodbye." Two players place their fingers lightly on a planchette or pointer, then ask questions. The pointer then seems to magically slide around the board, spelling out answers.

While some contend that the movement of the pointer is just the result of unconscious effort by the participants, or the "ideomotor effect," (see the article, "Ouija: How Does It Work?"), members of various religious groups are joined by many paranormal researchers in warning that the Ouija may indeed be opening a door to the spirit realm. Dark and sinister forces, they say, can enter our dimension through this door, sometimes with chillingly negative consequences. (See "Tales of the Ouija" for some of these experiences from readers.)

Because of this possible negative impact, many researchers advise that the Ouija should not be used under any circumstances. Others say that it can be used safely if a proper "cleansing" is done before and after its use, or if used under the guidance of an experienced medium.

BLOODY MARY

The conjuring of Bloody Mary has been a favorite way for teenagers, girls in particular, to scare themselves silly. The appearance of the Bloody Mary spirit has become the stuff of urban legend, yet many have testified that she really does appear.

Basically, the ritual goes like this: stand in a darkened or lightless room where there is a mirror. Stare into the mirror and chant "Bloody Mary" 13 times. The gruesome spirit of Bloody Mary will appear behind you in the mirror.

There are many variations on the ritual, any of which a brave teenage girl will try, usually on a dare. Sometimes a lighted candle is required in the dark room. You must chant the name three times, six times, nine times - even up to 100 times, depending on whom you ask. Another variation is that you must spin slowly in place while you chant Bloody Mary's name, glancing in the mirror with each turn.

An excellent article by Patty A. Wilson in the June 2005 issue of FATE magazine gives the complete history of the Bloody Mary legend, saying that the most likely origin is the life of Mary Stuart. Also known as Mary Queen of Scots in 16th century England, she was involved in many plots, intrigues and murder. She was executed in 1587, and it is her bloody corpse that appears in the mirror when beckoned.

Yet another tradition says that the evil spirit is none other than Satan's spouse. (I didn't even know he was seeing anyone!)

Although the biggest worry with Bloody Mary is that the participant will succeed in scaring herself into hysterics, we occasionally hear stories about people who really did see Bloody Mary in the mirror. Usually these tales come through a friend of a friend and are, of course, impossible to verify.

SPOON BENDING

Psychic Uri Geller is most often credited with the phenomenon of spoon bending. While skeptics claim this feat is nothing more than magician's sleight of hand, others say that it is a psychic phenomenon that just about anyone can accomplish.

It's so easily done that spoon-bending parties have been held. On these occasions, the host brings a load of spoons and forks (forks are probably used more often than spoons because it's more dramatic to get the tines all twisted), usually bought cheap from a thrift store. The party goers are asked to choose a utensil they believe will bend, and sometime during the course of the event, most of the spoons and forks indeed do bend and twist, seemingly in defiance of all logic and the laws of physics.

In short, the method goes like this: Invite people to the party that you know and like. Create a relaxed atmosphere of fun and laughter. Ask each participant to choose a utensil that they believe "wants" to bend. (They don't all want to bend.) It's even suggested that you ask the fork, "Will you bend for me?" Then hold the fork vertically and shout, "Bend! Bend!" Rub it gently with your fingers.

If the utensil does not begin to bend, divert your attention. Focus your attention on something else. Some even say that this inattention to the utensil is vital in getting it to bend. When it succeeds, the fork or spoon will bend easily. Contrary to popular belief, the utensil will not just start twisting of its own accord (although this has happened on rare occasions). Rather, the utensil becomes so malleable that it is quite easily bent and twisted with the hands using almost no effort - as if it were made of the softest metal.

Although I've never had any luck with bending spoons or forks (I've always tried it alone and not at a festive party), my wife was able to easily twist several forks into impossible shapes, as the photo on this page shows.

Have fun and don't take this stuff too seriously.

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The Bloody Mary Illusion Explained

If you light a candle in a dark room, look in the mirror, and say “Bloody Mary” five times (if you dare), Bloody Mary will appear. And if she believes you’re taunting her, she will reach through the mirror and slash your face or break the mirror to cut you. She may even pull you into the mirror, and you will never be seen again…

If you have dared to try looking in the mirror in the candle light, you might have noticed a face staring back at you. You might even have thought it was Bloody Mary herself. Well, calm your fears, because new research from University of Urbino researcher Giovanni B Caputo finds that you have nothing to worry about (maybe)!

Caputo had 50 participants look in the mirror for 10 minutes in a dimly lit room and describe what they saw (none of them knew what they were supposed to see).

Surprisingly (or perhaps not), two-thirds of participant said they saw huge deformations of their own face. Nearly half of the participants even reported seeing “fantastical” or “monstrous” beings! A few participants also reported seeing faces of parents, ancestors, and strangers, including women and children. ALL the participants saw someone or something in the mirror other than themselves! Many participants also reported feeling that the other someone was watching them. Some even got scared if the face in the mirror looked angry.

The fact that EVERYONE saw something in the mirror indicates that the cause of this phenomenon is in our perception, not somebody in the mirror – although you never know….

Caputo speculates it might have something to do with the Troxler effect. Stare at the + in the below demonstration for 20-30 seconds.


Did you see the purple dots disappear? If not, try it again

Caputo believes the appearance of a new face in the mirror might be due to an incomplete Troxeler effect. Since there is no fixation point (like the + ) in the mirror, it might be that only some parts of our face disappear (like the nose or eyes, for example), but not all of them.

It might also be that when our face disappears, our brain imagines another face there since we’re expecting to see a face there. Or it might be some other fun mind trick our brain likes to play on us.

Have you ever tried conjuring the Bloody Mary? Did it work?

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Real Life Paranormal Activity: Are Ghosts Real?

by Benjamin Radford

The new horror film "Paranormal Activity 3" features another set of amateur ghost hunters trying to document evidence of paranormal activity through the use of home video cameras.

The twitchy, grainy video images of demons and ghosts have scared up hundreds of millions of dollars in box office gold in two previous installments of the low-budget franchise.

It's all good fun for spooky cinematic scares. But what about in the real world?

Between one-third and one-half of Americans believe in ghosts, and that belief motivates many to look for evidence of the paranormal. Researcher Sharon Hill of the Doubtful Newsblog counted about 2,000 active amateur ghost hunting groups in the United States. Almost all of them are patterned directly after the hit SyFy TV show "Ghost Hunters," which is now in its eighth season of failing to find good evidence of ghosts.

Despite the efforts of thousands of real-life ghost hunters over the past decade, the evidence for ghosts has not improved. Typically, the types of evidence offered for the paranormal fall into a few categories:

1) Personal Experiences

Ghost hunters often report personal feelings and experiences like, "I felt we were being watched," or "I felt like something didn't want us there." They also describe, for example, getting goose bumps upon entering a room or panicking at some unseen presence. There's nothing wrong with personal experiences, but they are not evidence of anything other than that people scare themselves in dark, spooky places.

2) Orbs

Many ghost hunters and books on hauntings claim that ghosts can be photographed, appearing as round or oval white shapes called orbs in the images. Many things can create orbs, including insects, dust and flash reflections. Orbs may seem otherworldly because they appear only in photographs and are usually invisible to the naked eye. To those unaware of the real explanations, they can be spooky, but there is nothing paranormal about them.

3) Ghost Equipment Results

Ghost investigators often use unscientific and unproven equipment and techniques in their search for spirits. Some use psychics to try and communicate with ghosts. Others use dowsing rods, which have never been scientifically proven to find anything (including water and restless spirits). Still others, striving for some semblance of science, use high-tech devices such as electromagnetic field detectors and infrared cameras.

VIDEO: A History of Vampires

These devices are commonly sold as ghost hunting gear, but there is no logical or scientific reason to use this equipment when looking for the paranormal. EMF detectors measure electromagnetic fields, not ghosts; infrared cameras reveal the infrared spectrum, not ghosts. There is no evidence that ghosts have anything to do with electromagnetic fields, infrared images, ions, temperature drops, etc.

4) Electronic Voice Phenomena

Most ghost hunters, including the "Ghost Hunters" team, use handheld voice recorders in an attempt to capture a supposed ghost voice, or EVP. Often an investigator will hold the recorder while standing in the middle of a room and addressing the supposed spirit, or while walking around. He will later go back and review the recordings at high volume, listening for any faint murmurs, sounds or noises, which may be interpreted as ghost voices. For example, a ghost hunter may ask out-loud, "If there's a spirit here, what's your name?"

Often the investigator will get no answer at all; other times, if the ghost hunters wait long enough they'll hear some random sound that could be interpreted as a faint, mumbled name: "Mary." (Or maybe Terry, Kerry, Larry or Barry -- never mind the fact that, as disembodied spirits, ghosts presumably do not have vocal cords, a tongue or a mouth that would allow them to speak.)

The problem is that microphones are very sensitive and may record anything from someone whispering in the next room, to wind blowing, to ordinary random sounds from the environment, or even sounds from the ghost hunters themselves. There's no mystery about what causes EVPs, and it has nothing to do with ghosts. EVPs are created by a well-understood psychological process called apophenia, which causes people to "hear" distinct sounds in random white noise patterns such as the background static in an audio recording (like hearing the doorbell or the telephone while one is in the shower).

In the same way that the human brain allows us to "recognize" random patterns, like faces in clouds, our brains allow us to hear words and phrases in random sounds that aren't really there. In fact, EVPs can be easily heard and induced in laboratory experiments; no ghosts required.

So why is the evidence for ghosts so unimpressive? One possibility is that ghosts do exist, but that ghost hunters are simply not investigating the right way, using pseudoscience instead of real science and critical thinking. Another possibility is that ghosts and the paranormal do not exist, and that the evidence collected for them is simply the result of hoaxes, honest mistakes, misperceptions and misunderstandings.

In case you're wondering what my expertise is, I have personally investigated -- and solved -- several hauntings and videos where ghosts were supposedly seen on film. One of my most famous cases involved a mysterious ghostly image captured on a courthouse surveillance camera in Santa Fe, N.M, that made national news in 2007. I've also written a book on scientific paranormal investigation.

Of course, the fact that ghost hunters have a spotless track record of complete failure does not mean that ghosts don't exist, or that evidence for paranormal activity might not be found tomorrow, on Halloween, or next year. You don't know if you don't look. Science is open to the possibility of ghosts, the paranormal or anything else -- but good evidence is needed. Until then, the only place ghost hunters are guaranteed to find the paranormal is in movie theaters.

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Fireballs Recorded from Japan – Oct 19, 2011

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Temple medium: I'm commissioned to sell iPhone in netherworld

PENANG: A local temple medium, who held a religious ritual so that Apple founder Steve Jobs could be reincarnated, claimed that Jobs has authorised Pulau Jerejak as the general agent of iPhone in the netherworld. The iPhone, with the suggested price of RM1.80, would be officially launched in the Qingming Festival next year.

Although the so-called reincarnation ritual requiring followers to take a bite from an apple, just like the Apple trademark, and observe three minutes of silence before throwing the apple into the sea was greatly criticised by the Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia and several other Buddhist groups, it was still joined by about 40 people.

It was found that most participants had only little knowledge about Jobs. Some called him "the one producing Apple" and some remembered his name wrongly as "Steven Josh".

Only a few people knew that the ritual was meant to hasten Jobs' reincarnation while the remaining others were there just to enjoy a day trip to Penang or to pray for good fortune.

Apple ritual for Jobs
Take a bite from an apple equals to express your love for Jobs?

Led by temple medium Wong Sao Tian, a congregation of worshipers boarded a boat at 9 o'clock in the morning at Jeti Batu Maung to Pulau Jerejak, where the statue of Mazu, Chinese deity of the sea, was located.

After some worship rituals, Wong distributed leaflets printed with a portrait of Jobs and the trademark of Apple, so that the participants could take a bite from the apple they were holding to make it look like the Apple trademark.

He said that taking a bite from the apple meant saying "I love you" to Jobs.

However, some participants had taken more than a bite or even finished half of the fruit before throwing it into the sea as it was very sweet.

The ritual ended and Wong issued them a "participation certificate" each.

He then made an announcement saying that Jobs had been contacted and he had authorised Wong to sell iPhone in the netherworld. He said that Yama, the God of Death, would later use iPad to access to the Book of Living and Dying.

"Does it mean that a telecommunications company has to be built in the netherworld to provide services for iPhone users?" Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia president Tan Hoe Chieow ridiculed.

Through a telephone interview, Tan said that from the Taoism point of view, deceased loved ones could receive items burnt for them but Taoist believers burned only traditional items like houses and maids.

Tan did not think that the reincarnation ritual could bring a great impact. However, he called worshipers to avoid superstitious.

Building a Steve Jobs statue
Meanwhile, Wong said that a Steve Jobs statue and a Loh Boon Siew statue would be built in a glass temple located near the Mazu statue.

In his opinion, the development plan does not require the state government's approval and he needs only to inform state Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng after the temple is completed.

--Translated by Soong Phui Jee, Sin Chew Daily

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2 Russian Babies Switch at Birth and Truth Discovered 12 Years Later ( 2 Россия коммутатор младенцев при рождении и Истина обнаружена 12 лет спустя )

In a Siberian town, a Christian baby and a Muslim baby were swapped at birth. Twelve years later, the families discovered the truth.

Both mothers saw the babies, and should have remembered them.

All Yulia Beliayeva remembers of the night she gave birth, Dec. 17, 1998, was the cursing of the doctors. “The doctors and nurses scolded us for our cries; they gave us humiliating names,” she says.

Who was to blame for the dramatic mix-up that took place at the Kopeisk birth clinic that night, troubling even by the standards of Russian medicine? Ira was born at 2:20 a.m., 15 minutes before Anya. Their mothers were still teenagers; Beliayeva was 18 at the time she gave birth to Anya, and Ira’s biological mother was 16 years old. “I am not excluding the possibility that they swapped our babies on purpose,” Beliayeva says, out of irritation with their cries. Today, the heartbroken parents say they would like the doctors to take full responsibility and go to jail.


But their story of swapped babies in Siberia was discovered two years too late for the criminal law to take force. Both mothers want to keep the child they raised, as one family is Muslim, the other Christian. So all the parents count on now is a possible damage award of $330,000. The court hearing is expected next week.

For 12 years, Beliayeva did not have a shadow of a doubt that her eldest, deeply beloved daughter, Ira, was her real child. The blonde, blue-eyed mother thought that her dark-eyed girl with coal-black hair inherited those features from her grandmother. Ira had her mother’s powerful voice and outgoing character. Ira yelled commands at the boys in the courtyard. This made the young mother feel proud: “She has my leader’s spirit,” Beliayeva says
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Saudi divers find 22 'magic' items under water

Saudi divers involved a government clean-up campaign at the Gulf Kingdom’s beaches tumbled across 22 talismans and other magic items, which were handed to the religious police for destruction.

Nearly 100 divers took part in the campaign, which resulted in the removal of more than four tonnes of waste along the beach and the sea bed in the northwestern town of Tabuk, newspapers said.

The waste included 22 talismans and other items involving magic spells and were handed to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” the Arabic language daily Sabq said.

“The anti-magic committee examined the items and found that some of them are still active and that they have been dumped there for magic work….all those items were neutralized and destroyed by the committee.”

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Taiwanese woman finds out she has testicles

(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Sin Chew Daily reported that a Taiwanese woman was shocked when a gynaecologist told her that she had testicles.

The woman, 34, decided to consult a specialist after experiencing pain in her genital area.

It was her first time seeking treatment from a gynaecologist although she had never experienced menstruation in her life.

The check-up also showed that the woman did not have a uterus. When asked why she had not sought treatment or medical advice about her menstrual problem, the woman was lost for an answer.

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Steve Jobs Stalled Life-Saving Cancer Surgery to Visit Psychic Healer

By Alastair Stevenson | October 21, 2011 9:47 AM GMT

Walter Isaacson's forthcoming biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs reveals that the tech tycoon stalled his surgery, believing alternative treatments could cure his cancer.

According to the new authorized biography Jobs, against doctors' recommendations, after being diagnosed with cancer in October 2003 delayed surgery for nine months.

The biography goes on to describe how Jobs tried to combat the cancer using a number of "alternative" treatments. These included a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and even, most bizarrely, consulting a psychic. According to the biography after having the surgery in July 2004, Jobs regretted his decision to wait so long.

"'I really didn't want them to open up my body, so I tried to see if a few other things would work,' he told me years later with a hint of regret," Isaacson writes.

Isaacson's biography is set to hit stores Monday. The book was originally scheduled to be released much later in the year, but production was pushed forward following Jobs' untimely death.
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After hell tours, medium sets up 'heavenly trips'

[Medium claims to bring participants to Hell and back]

GEORGE TOWN - A private space tour with Virgin Galactic will set you back by US$200,000 (S$260,480) but for a tiny fraction of the price, you can instead make a trip to "heaven".

A spiritual master, who conducted a tour to hell during the recent Hungry Ghosts Festival, is organising the celestial tour where he claimed participants could bump into deities, angels and their relatives.

Tze Bei Guan Yin Centre leader Master Kek Eng Seng said participants would be charged RM150 (S$61) each for the three-hour tour on Oct 23.

However, both tours have been criticised by Buddhist groups as well as religious and cultural proponents.

World Fellowship of Buddhists (Penang Regional Centre) chairman Datuk Dr Loh Hock Hun said such tours were not part of Buddhism.

"There is no such thing as visiting hell or heaven. Do good and chant prayers so that you can earn merit and lessen your suffering," he said.

Geocosmic Centre of Yijing Metascience Research Malaysia academic consultant Dr Chuah Chong Cheng said such opportunistic tours were akin to "soul laundering".

"If you cannot excel in this earthly life, don't bother about the netherworld or the celestial heavens because these utopias cannot be reached," he said.

Kek, meanwhile, defended the tour, saying it was not something superstitious.

"We do not promote superstition. This is a long-lost tradition which was only brought to light in

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How birth order and the zodiac can affect your job

Do you ever feel like you were just born to do your job?

According to a recent study conducted by CareerBuilder, there just might be some truth into that.

The survey, which was conducted between May 18 and June 8, 2011, among 5,708 workers compared workers in terms of chosen profession, title and salary compared workers based on birth order, astrological sign and sibling status.

Some of the interesting findings of the study is that Virgo, Aries and Scorpio signs are the most likely to earn six figures. Capricorn and Leo signs are the most likely to hold an upper management position (VP and above) with more Capricorns in C-level jobs.

People who were born under the Aries sign are most likely to work in middle management while Aquarius is the most likely to hold an entry-level job.

The study found that while workers will fall into different job levels, earning brackets and many different types of professions, there are certain job types that appear to attract some segments more than others.

Take a look at the gallery below to see more of the findings of their study.


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Woman disturbed by female spirit

Source: China Press

A woman, who was said to be disturbed by a female spirit, threw her baby on the bed before attempting to kill herself and the child in Ipoh last week, China Press reported.

The woman's mother, suspecting something amiss, quickly took the baby away when the woman went to the kitchen to take a knife, it reported.

The woman, 19, ran amok and attacked her mother when she found out the baby was no longer in the room.

She then broke all the plates in the kitchen before locking herself in the bedroom.

The family called a medium to “negotiate” with the spirit but the spirit did not show up to “talk” to the medium.

According to the woman's father, the house was haunted by two ghosts, but they could not afford to move out as they had nowhere else to go.

“Who wants to stay in a haunted house? I will move out with my family as soon as I can afford to,” he said.

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Thailand's Flood Predicted by a Monk?

Thais can be a superstitious bunch of people. Whether it’s amulets or tattoos, many just do not want to take any chances. When it comes to political fortune telling, much attention is paid to the men, who have gained such wisdom to give a prophecy about how the balance of power will play out in the future. Some of them are (intentionally) cryptic, some are more concrete (but yet wrong) – nevertheless, such things regularly make the headlines in Thailand, as seen recently when former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was surveying the flooding situation in Sing Buri province:

(ที่มา ข่าวสดออนไลน์)

(…) นายอภิสิทธิ์ได้เข้านมัสการพระธรรมสิงหบุราจารย์ (หรือหลวงปู่จรัญ ฐิตธมฺโม) ที่วัดอัมพวัน (…) พร้อมกับสนทนาขอข้อมูลและคำแนะนำถึงการแก้ไขสถานการณ์น้ำท่วม (…)

ในระหว่างการสนทนาหลวงพ่อจรัญ กล่าวกับนายอภิสิทธิ์และกลุ่มสื่อมวลชน (…) เคยได้อ่านคำทำนายของหลวงพ่อฤาษีลิงดำกันหรือยัง (…) ถ้าประเทศไทยมีนายกฯ เป็นผู้หญิงจะทำให้บ้านเมืองเสียหาย มีปัญหา จึงขอให้นายอภิสิทธิ์รักษาเนื้อ รักษาตัวให้ดี เพราะจะได้กลับมาเป็นนายกฯ อีกครั้งหนึ่งแน่ (…)

(via Khao Sod Online)

(…) Abhisit paid respect to Phra Dharma Singha Bhurajarn (also known as Luang Pho Jaran) at Wat Amphawan (…) and to discuss the flood situation.

During the the discussion, Luang Pho Jaran asked if Abhisit or members of the press (…) have read the prophecies by Luang Pho Ruesi Ling Dam. (…) “If Thailand has a female prime minister, the country will take damage and have problems.” Thus, [Luang Pho Jaran told] Mr. Abhisit should take good care of himself, since he will surely be prime minister a second time. (…)

““หลวงปู่จรัญ” ยกคำทำนายฤาษีลิงดำทัก “มาร์ค” นั่งนายกฯรอบ2 เหตุผู้นำหญิงทำบ้านเมืองเสียหาย“, Matichon, September 16, 2011, translation by me


Now that sounds very concrete and something that Abhisit and like-minded people probably love to hear at the moment. But if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When you look at another Thai newspaper, things kind of start to appear not the same way as they did at the beginning. Thai Rath ran the headline “Double premiership awaits, Mark rejoices, Ruesi Ling Dam predicts” and wrote in their subheader:

หลวงพ่อจรัญ ยกคำทำนายเกจิดังหลวงพ่อฤษีลิงดำ ทัก”มาร์ค”จะได้รีเทิร์นนายกรัฐมนตรีรอบสอง แนะรักษาเนื้อรักษาตัวให้ดี เพื่อจะได้กลับมาดูแลทุกข์สุขของประชาชน…

Luang Pho Jaran cites prophecy by Luang Pho Ruesi Ling Dam that “Mark” [Abhisit's nickname] will return as prime minister for a second time, advises him to take good care of himself in order to take care of the people again…

“ได้เบิ้ลนายกฯ มาร์คปลื้ม ฤษีลิงดำทำนาย“, Thai Rath, September 16, 2011


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Ritual held to enable Jobs to be reincarnated

ABOUT 40 people took part in a ritual in Pulau Jerejak, Penang, so that Apple founder Steve Jobs could be reincarnated.

Sin Chew Daily reported that Sunday's ceremony, which was organised by a medium from Rawang, Selangor, was criticised by the Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia and several Buddhist associations, calling it “ridiculous and superstitious”.

The daily reported that most of the medium's followers did not know who Jobs was and many took part in the ceremony to enjoy a day trip to Penang and to pray for good fortune.

Followers were asked to take a bite from an apple and observe three minutes of silence before throwing the fruit into the sea but some had finished half of the fruit before doing so as it was very sweet.

According to an earlier report, followers had to pay between RM50 and RM75 to take part in the ceremony.

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Water spout spotted heading towards Tuas

Picture is (C) copyright to STOMP

A water spout was seen over the waters near Johor Baru.

It seemed to be moving in the direction of Tuas, said a witness.

The netizen, Mr Lim, sent in photos of the sight to citizen journalism site Stomp.

He said the water spout took around five minutes to move.

A water spout is a funnel-shaped vortex over water.

It is connected to a cloud and is usually weaker than its land counterparts such as tornadoes.

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Strange Facts: How to report paranormal activity

by Roger Marsh, Paranormal News Examiner

Reporting paranormal activity is a touchy subject in an evolving society where some folks want the experiences to just go away and some seem to enjoy the intrusion and actually promote its continuation.

The paranormal is never black or white - but the two extremes might be a family who has encountered odd circumstances in a new residence and have actually become afraid of the events - to a more public venue like a restaurant or hotel which seems to draw patrons who choose to get up close to those seemingly otherworldly events.

There is also a fine line between paranormal activity perceived as either good or evil. One family may be fighting off a perceived evil force while another site claims feelings of intense calming and good.

Look beyond those glitzy network shows as you have to think - what are the chances my case will be investigated? And do you really want the entire world stepping inside your living room for a look around?

Just about every region in the country has one or more paranormal investigation groups - generally an all-volunteer army - who will consider your case. Most do not charge for their services. Having talked to many of these groups, there will be differences between them on exactly what kind of cases they will take on or how far they will travel. If you're an open-to-the-public business who wants documentation that your site is actually haunted - sometimes openly for promotional purchases - there are plenty of groups who will fulfill your every wish. But some groups will only investigate if you have a paranormal situation you want resolved - pardon the language - but, dead and gone.

The following Strange Facts list is geared toward either side as you make decisions on exactly who will investigate and what you want accomplished.

If any type of activity is causing harm or you feel there is potential harm - dial 911 - and allow local authorities to step inside for a look. Rule out anything related to human intervention or from Mother Nature.

Google is an excellent web tool to search for paranormal investigators near you. Trying simple searches like: Denver paranormal investigators - obviously substituting your town or region or state for "Denver."

You may want to interview several groups by telephone - or peruse their web site - to attempt to understand their style of investigation - to review their past cases - or talk to references.

Keep track of the paranormal activity you are experiencing - consider keeping a running computer-based log, or a written diary of events and feelings.

How long as the activity been going on?

What type of activity are you experiencing? Be prepared to describe each type or style of event.

Is the paranormal activity being experienced by just one person, or multiple people or members of the family?

Have you been able to record or photograph the activity?

Consider taking photographs or video of any visual evidence left behind following paranormal activity.

Use video or sound recording devices to document ongoing activity.

Remember that some types of experiences - though they may look and feel like something otherworldly - may be caused by something manmade or natural. Be open to this as your case or situation is investigated.

Many paranormal groups write about or discuss their cases with the public or with media. Make sure you consider your personal situation in advance and make it clear to investigators what information you are willing to have released that may allow your identify or location to be known.

Some paranormal activity at sites seems to be traced to past events or people who once lived at or visited your site. Research your site through public ownership records, newspapers, and other ways to develop an understanding of the past. If you live in a 200-year-old former stage coach stop - it's obvious you have a history at that location that might be tapped for background. But don't sit back on your research if your home is brand new - perhaps it was once a sacred burial ground or housed a structure long torn down.

If you feel comfortable with the idea, talk to neighbors to see if any of the same activity might be happening at nearby locations.

Most paranormal investigators will warn against the use Ouija Boards or other similar games or devices that purport to facilitate communicating with the spirit world. While the jury is still out on this subject, it may be suggested to you that you not dwell on the phenomena or attempt to "invite" spiritual visitors to your site.

Consider meeting with your local clergy or ask for a site visit for a blessing or other religious ritual in line with your beliefs to put a positive bent on the site and what is happening.

Remember always that you are in control of yourself and your site - and whether real or somehow imagined - you may overcome some paranormal activity with a positive attitude and a personal insistence that what you are experiencing is not permitted.

Local psychics or spiritualists may be able to offer insight into exactly what is affecting your site. Treat this group the same as the paranormal investigators - interview and talk to references first - and decide in advance if you are willing to pay for services or are only looking for volunteers. While there are many good people in this field, beware that the industry is also filled with hoaxers only looking for dollars.




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What are ghosts?

by Malcolm Robinson

“There is a tendency in 20th century science to forget that there will be a 21st century science, and indeed a 30th century science, from which vantage points our knowledge of the universe may appear quite different.” Dr J. Allen Hynek.

.......................................

First and foremost dear reader, what constitutes proof? That’s a plain and simple question. What you might consider a fact or proof in regards to answering the ghostly question may to others not be proof at all.

What I mean by this is, you could get ten witnesses who see a car crash and you may get ten different versions of how that crash occurred. Then there are those close minded people, sceptics who just won’t look at the good proof of ghosts, they refuse to believe whatever you show them - don’t rock ‘their boat’!

Then you have the debunkers, these are people who no matter what fantastic evidence you put in front of their eyes, they just won’t believe it. They are pre-set in their minds not to believe and nothing you will do will change their mind. Sceptics I can handle as I was once one myself, but debunkers, well that’s another matter.

This situation will never change; you’ll always have the sceptics and the debunkers. Don’t get me wrong, for me there is still a place for these people in regards to the paranormal.

They keep researchers like me on their toes and ensure that we question everything we do (which is only right). That’s fine... it’s the downright debunkers who get me I’ll never understand their closed mind syndrome I really won’t.

At the end of the day science and technology is always progressing... mankind has come so far in the last 100 years it really is unbelievable.

So is the answer to explain ghosts an easy one? No is the quick answer to that one.

To try and put this in perspective, in a way that you the reader can see how things can change, look at it like this.

We used to think that the world was flat, we know now that it is not. It was the Greek Pythagoras who first stated that the world was not flat but round. It wasn’t until around 300 years or so later that another Greek scientist Eratosthenes came up with a mathematical theory to prove that the Earth was round. And when Magellan and his crew sailed round the world in 1522 and charted his journey it was realised that the Earth was indeed round.

Now that’s all very well, but that was all done in the ‘observable universe.’ When we talk about ghosts we are talking about a different set of rules and probably mathematics and structure. The ball park is much different. The invention of the microscope in 1830 by Joseph Jackson Lister showed us that there was a whole invisible world out there for us to explore. Things that couldn’t normally be seen were now brought into clarity for the very first time.

Our radio and television sets pick up and utilise signals and turn those signals into observable pictures or sounds... some would say that that is exactly what a psychic medium does, picks up psychic signals from ‘elsewhere’ and fine tunes them, understands them and delivers them to their recipient.

.......................................

The inventor of Spiricom George Meek had this to say about the matter:

“The material world and our physical bodies are not the solid matter we think we see and touch.

“All matter, the chair you sit on, the building in which you find yourself in at this moment, the ‘solid’ foundation on which the building rests consist almost entirely of ‘empty space’.

“That is why your vision can pass through ‘solid’ glass several inches thick.

“That is why hundreds of radio and TV signals carrying speech, music and pictures are at this moment travelling right through the ‘solid’ walls of your room and your ‘solid’ body.

“Only if you can comprehend the above concept, can you begin to realise that it is possible that two or more things can occupy the SAME SPACE at the SAME TIME.

“Your physical body is being experienced in our common everyday three dimensional world of space and time.

“Your mind and soul are living in another space time system which interpenetrates your physical body and occupies substantially the same space as your physical body.

“Hence the ‘next world’ is one in which your mind and soul will CONTINUE TO LIVE when you shed your worn out physical body, you will be aware of the surroundings in which your mind and soul are living, ‘The Astral Planes’.”

George Meek.

.......................................

In the coming weeks I will be looking at the many variations of what we call ghosts, believe me, they are not all the same. Stay tuned.

Do remember, if you have what you believe to be a strange UFO or paranormal experience, do let me know as I would be most interested to hear from you. Everything will be in confidence.

Till next time,

Malcolm Robinson.

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Young woman mysteriously ages overnight

Nguyen Thi Phuong from Vietnam is only 26, but you would be forgiven for mistaking her as an old woman.

After suffering an allergic reaction in 2008 and taking a variety of medications prescribed for it, Phuong's skin on her face, neck and hands rapidly wrinkled and became saggy, giving her the appearance of a 70-year-old granny.

It all began when the young lady from Giong Trom district of Ben Tre province ate some seafood.

It made her face break out into an itchy rash so bad, that she used to scratch her face even in sleep, Phuong told Tuoi Tre, a major Vietnamese daily newspaper where the news first broke.

To alleviate the symptoms, she ate some medication her husband, Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, 34, bought her.

The medications did not work. She then visited a local doctor, who prescribed her pills for dermatitis.

However, the pills made her face swell up and hives erupt on her skin. She stopped taking them after a week, and turned to some traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in town.

She was given some medication that reduced the swelling, but also made her put on weight. However, the medication was expensive, costing VND30,000 (S$1.88) a day, and did not do much to improve her condition.

Phuong soon began wearing a face mask whenever she went out. After her husband quit his job in 2009 to take care of her, they ran out of money and she stopped taking all medications.

She then decided it as a fate decreed by God and the couple stopped trying to cure her condition, Phuong told local news outlets.

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Nu Vibe: The X Factor house is haunted

The X Factor live shows start this weekend, and all the contestants are getting excited about performing live each week for the judges.

This year will see the finalists being filmed inside the X Factor house, and Tulisa has been getting hands on with the hopefuls and has turned up at the house to cook several times, much to Nu Vibe’s appreciation since they don’t normally cook!

The band, made up of Richard Jeynes-Milford, Ashford Campbell, Stefan Romer, Bradley Johnson and Jordan Higo, have been getting a lot of female attention, and it’s taking some getting used to. Stefan said:

“Yesterday when we went outside all the school children were crammed up against the fence next to the garden screaming our names and trying to get our pictures and get our signatures. It was just the most amazing experience.”

Stefan also admitted that he’s been scared in the house after a spooky incident that has left him convinced the place is haunted! He explained:

“The other night it was just me, Craig and Jonjo in the house. It was 2 o’clock at night so really dark, and our security guard saw a paparazzo hiding in the trees, and he was walking around trying to see him again and he left the door open.

“When we walked back [to the house] about half an hour later we looked up on our balcony, and the sensored lights that only turn on when someone goes up there turned on and then turned back on again.

“We thought it was really spooky so we went upstairs and we heard this huge crash. We thought it was the front door but all the doors were locked and Craig had to sleep with me and Rich that night because we were so frigging scared.”

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Sorcery in Cambodia (ARB the Cambodian Vampire)

by Oregon Chang

At daytime she is a normal person. At night she is a strange, scary creature: half-ghost and half-human.

Shortly after midnight, when all the village people are sound asleep, she would pull her head and all her internal organs out of her body and slip out through the window of her house, leaving behind her empty figure that is separated from the neck down. She would fly from house to house, sometimes from rice paddy to rice paddy, looking for some dirty and unpleasant stuff to feed herself. A villager-if he’s not yet asleep- could spot her easily since there is a bright green light emanating occasionally from her lungs as she goes from place to place.

Perhaps you haven’t heard of this kind of grotesque creature before. Ask any Cambodian what it is called.

Everyone knows it is called Arb, although I believe not many would claim to have seen Arb in real life, except in TV series or in movies. I’ve heard stories of people seeing Arb in my hometown a few times while I was a kid. But I have never been lucky enough to meet and talk to those people.

Usually, in Khmer, the word Arb is followed by the word Thmob. We say Arb-Thmob, meaning witchcraft or sorcery. A Guru Arb-Thmob (a witch) is believed to possess evil power that can cause harm, disease, bad luck or even sudden death to anyone he or she dislikes.

P.S. : It is an South East Asian Vampire basically known differently.
         Arb = Cambodia Malevolent Spirit
         Krasue in Thailand
        Phi-Kasu or Kasu in Laos
        Ma Lai in Vietnam
        Penanggalan or Hantu Penanggal in Malaysia & Indonesia
        Manananggal in Philippines

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Scientists '95 Percent' Certain They've Found Elusive Siberian Yeti

Has it finally happened? Did scientists find real evidence of the existence of a hairy bipedal creature known as the Siberian Snowman or Siberian Yeti?

Researchers are claiming they are 95 percent sure that the fabled Russian version of the Abominable Snowman or Bigfoot lives in the Kemerovo region of Siberia.

Last week, a group of international scientists met in Moscow and then set out to the remote mountainous area in search of the elusive creature (depicted below).

It didn't take very long for them to issue a statement on the official Kemerovo website stating they had found "footprints, a probable den and various markers that Yetis mark their territory with."

An English translation (from translate.google.com) of the original Russian news report added that the conference researchers "collected irrefutable evidence of the existence of the Yeti in Mountainous Shoria" (the southern part of Kemerovo).

They concluded that the artifacts gave them 95-percent proof of the existence of Yeti in the Kemerovo region, the press release stated.

Some possible Yeti hair samples reportedly found in the region by Russian scientist Anatoly Fokin will be studied in a laboratory to determine their origin.

"This does not seem to be any more than what you hear about from weekend excursions in North America that go out, discovering some hair of undetermined origin, calling it 'Bigfoot hair,' then locating some broken branches and piled trees, saying it was made by Bigfoot, and finding footprints that look like Sasquatch tracks," said Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

"These are not 'proof' that would hold up, zoologically," Coleman told The Huffington Post.

It's not the first time this year that alleged Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch) "evidence" has come under scrutiny.

Back in June, creature researchers in California held a press conference soliciting help to get a DNA test that might determine if Bigfoot left physical impressions on the windows of a pickup truck in the Sierra National Forest.

So far, the jury is still out on that case.

Skeptics point out that the area of Siberia that's allegedly home to the local Yeti legend helps promote tourism. In fact, opening day of the ski season there is known as Day of the Yeti -- an attempt to sell many Yeti-related souvenirs and bring in more skiers to the region.

While scientific researchers continue hunting for signs of a Yeti lair in Kemerovo, let's hope they don't discover a cave that contains a set of recently purchased touristy Yeti beverage mugs.

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What happens to hotel rooms with gory past?

Though most hotels contacted were unwilling to say if they had such practices, industry insiders said these procedures are common when a death, either natural or unnatural, occurs.

According to Mr Kellvin Ong, general manager of Rendezvous Hotel, the period that the room will be kept unused will depend on how much cleaning is required and also the demand for rooms.

Religious cleansing rites are carried out 'to give our staff peace of mind', he said. The rites, coupled with room cleaning, could last from a few days to a week.

There are currently no sealed rooms in the hotel and there have been no cases of suicide or murder in the hotel's history, he added.

In Geylang's budget Diamond Hotel, where the naked, bloodied body of a murdered Indian woman was found under the queen-size bed of a fourth-floor room last September, it is also business as usual.

'We will try to assign other rooms before that one, unless the hotel is fully booked,' said an employee who declined to give her name. She recalled that a Taoist priest was called in immediately after the murder and all the room's furniture was replaced.

She added: 'Some customers who remember the news specifically ask not to have that room, and we will accommodate such requests. But we've had no complaints from those who have stayed there so far.'

Diamond Hotel is not the only hotel that has a room with a history.

In 1995, Briton John Martin, a former convict trained in butchery, bludgeoned South African tourist Gerard George Lowe to death with a hammer in a River View Hotel room and dissected the body in the bathtub.

Martin then scattered the body parts, sealed in black plastic bags, into the Singapore River. Mr Lowe's head and arms were never found.

In 1994, Japanese tourist Fujii Isae died in her ninth-floor room at the Oriental Hotel, now known as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, in Marina Bay.

Two Singaporean men had tailed her and her companion to their room with the intention of robbing them, but Madam Isae choked to death during the attack.

Both hotels did not respond to queries from The Sunday Times.

At the Hilton Singapore hotel in 1974, Mrs Linda Culley was famously killed and chopped up into 13 parts by her husband, Michael Charles Culley, who then sealed her severed body up in a trunk and transferred it to a Cairnhill flat.

The hotel's rooms have undergone revamps twice since the incident, said its spokesman.

A staff member in a five-star hotel chain here revealed that most hotels have a Chinese altar in their basement carparks or in a discreet room in the hotel.

During the seventh lunar month every year, when spirits are free to roam the earth according to traditional Chinese belief, it is common practice for hotels to conduct prayers to 'cleanse' their rooms.

Prayers and cleansing rituals are also held in new hotels before their rooms are opened for occupancy.

Mr Robin Goh, assistant vice-president of communications of Resorts World at Sentosa, said: 'All reputable hotel chains should have such plans in place for all sorts of accidents, from drownings to murders, robberies, assaults and fires.'

He declined to comment on what the integrated resort - which will open early next year - plans to do in the case of such events, as plans are still being firmed up.

As most hotels claim to adopt the 'honesty is the best policy' mantra when it comes to hotel rooms with a history, you can ask before checking yourself into any.

'I believe in being upfront with our guests and letting them be the judge. No point in hiding facts from them as that will only fuel unnecessary speculation,' said Rendezvous Hotel's Mr Ong.

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Ghost master: Women more prone to seeing ghosts

By Beh Yuen Hui

Women are more prone to seeing ghosts than men, according to Master Szeto Fat-ching, a famous exorcist and Feng Shui guru from Hong Kong.

He said based on the Yin and Yang philosophy, women come under the Yin category - just like ghosts - and so it is easier for them to 'click' with each other.

"There's nothing to be scared of because the ghosts are more afraid of human beings than we are of them. Most of them are harmless," said Master Szeto, who has been dubbed the "Ghost King of Macau".

Szeto is currently in Malaysia as a guest deejay for Chinese radio station 988, to talk about ghost-related topics in conjunction with the month-long Hungry Ghost Festival, which began on July 31.

On Wednesday night, Master Szeto and his "ghost-searching" partner Ben Kwok - shared their stories and exchanged views with more than 300 fans of the supernatural at an event in Kuala Lumpur.

They showed several photographs of "spirits" to the audience. Several people from the crowd also shared their paranormal experiences and ghostly encounters.

Szeto said ghosts were actually a "group of frequencies" and how they look like varies depending on the person who sees them.

"The same spirit may seem to be a woman or man to some, or just an imageless shadow to others."

Many Hong Kong ghost movies are now basing their storylines on events in South East Asian countries especially Malaysia and Thailand.

So, is Malaysia more haunted than other places?

"No. Ghosts are everywhere, but it's just that Malaysia is made up of more multi-racial communities that have their own religions and taboos. With many tales and legends, it gives the impression that there are more ghosts here."

Szeto said one of his most dangerous ghost-searching missions took place in Sabah.

"When I reached home, my back hurt and I couldn't walk for three months. I saw many doctors but none of them could tell me why."

It happened in 2006, when the master and his team were in virgin forest near Kota Kinabalu to exorcise a tree demon.

Szeto said while he was trying to help a crew member, who had slipped and fallen, he accidentally cut his hand and some blood dripped onto the tree.

He knew something bad was about to happen and ordered everyone to leave immediately.

"While I was walking on a single-plank bridge across a deep ravine, I felt something pulling my shirt from the back."

"I immediately chanted a prayer and threw a bamboo stick behind me," he said, adding that the group returned home safely.

On the Hungry Ghosts month, Szeto advised people against cutting their hair, shaving, going out or hanging clothes outside at night.

He said although ghosts were around during the daytime, they were more active at night.

"Keep away from walls because ghosts love sticking to them," he said, adding that shifting house and buying new vehicles were also not advisable as chances of bumping into ghosts were higher during the period.

He also warned the public not to take touch offerings served to "homeless spirits".

"Believe but don't be too obsessed," Szeto said, adding that this has always been his principle.

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Malaysian 'Oily Man' Phenomena

The The Orang Minyak is one of a number of supposed ghosts in Malay culture. Orang Minyak means 'oily man' in Malay.

There exist several different versions of the legend and the creature. According to one legend, popularised in the 1956 film Sumpah Orang Minyak (The Curse of the Oily Man) directed by and starring P. Ramlee, the orang minyak was a man who in an attempt to win back his love with magic was cursed. In this version, the devil offered to help the creature and give him powers of the black arts, but only if the orang minyak worshipped the devil and raped 21 virgins within a week.

In another version it is under control of an evil bomoh or witch doctor. Another movie based on Orang Minyak was produced in 2007, showing this theme remain popular until now. As at 24 November 2006, a burglar was arrested, stark naked and covered with oil, reminiscient of orang minyak in Malaysia.

In the 1960s, the orang minyak supposedly lived around several Malaysian towns raping young women. The orang minyak of the 1960s was described as human, having a naked body covered with oil to make it difficult to catch. However, there were also stories of the orang minyak where it was supposedly supernatural in origin, or invisible to non-virgins (possibly from the oil) or both.

The mass panic has also led to unmarried women, typically in student dormitories, borrowing sweaty clothes to give the impression to the orang minyak that they are with a man. Other defences supposedly include biting its left thumb and covering it in batik.

In short, the orang minyak is a supernatural serial rapist that is hard to see and hard to catch. Some have speculated that the orang minyak is a regular criminal who uses black grease as a night-time camouflage. Due to the use of black grease, it makes the orang minyak hard to catch, as pursuers would not be able to hold on to him. However, in some encounters with the orang minyak, the situation is not explainable from a non-supernatural angle.

It is possible that different versions of the legend were used as a cover for things other than actual rapes. Reputed sightings of the orang minyak, or events later ascribed to it, have continued with reduced frequency into the 2000s.

In 2005, there have been cases of rapists covered in oil roaming around, armed with knives.

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Bedok Reservoir Cursed?

by Oregon Chang

Do You Believe In Curses?

Bedok Reservoir

Coming back today as in year 2011, we will talk about Bedok Reservoir which people are beginning to wonder if this place is cursed?

So what has caused people to ponder about this? Let us take a look at the recent happenings concerning Bedok reservoir.

Case 1

Let us begin with the first case (Tan Sze Sze, 32, was cradling her toddler, Jerald Chin)

This first case is a very typical Chinese Ghost in red incident like many ancient Chinese traditional legends. Ghost in Red are said to be Ghosts of vengeance. You may read up at the link below.

http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5360743
http://asiaparanormal.blogspot.com/2011/09/mother-son-found-dead-in-singapores.html

If you would like to know more about ghost in red, feel free to read the links below

http://asiaparanormal.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinese-ghost-in-red.html
http://asiaparanormal.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinese-ghost-in-red-method.html

Speaking about ghost returning back to visit the living, there is also a follow up incident! The footprint of the dead was found.

Read more at this link
http://news.insing.com/tabloid/bedok-reservoir-deaths-footprints-of-deceased-s-spirit-discovered/id-f3bf3e00

Case 2
Next, we shall proceed on the second case (Mr Lin Xiao, 23 a China National)

In this case, only partial of his body was found at Bedok reservoir.

You can read up more in the link below
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_689730.html

Case 3

Now comes to the third ( A Singaporean man in his 50s), now this man is really lucky to be alive. He was close to be dead.

more can be read at this link
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20111011-304374.html

Case 4

But however this is still not the end of the story. There is still another! This time it is a 33-year-old Indian construction worker Raman Selvam.

more can be read at this link
http://news.insing.com/tabloid/corpse-spotted-floating-on-reservoir-waters/id-7bd63e00

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The Art of Thoughtography: Creating Visual Impressions with the Mind

by Micah Hanks

The mind is perhaps the most wonderful, mysterious element to our human existence. Like a disembodied cosmic centrifuge, its workings dictate not only our actions, attitudes, and interaction with others, spreading our intentions and ideas throughout the world around us, but also functions a great deal in terms of shaping our very reality on an individual basis.

From within its many mysterious alcoves, subtle hints at even greater hidden powers that may exist within the mind have can be glimpsed as well. For centuries, psychics and mentalists have claimed to be able to access some of these clandestine abilities; a few individuals even claim to be able close their eyes, focus on a particular event or occurrence in their lives, and manifest aspects of it physically.

This sort of thought-projection can occur in a variety of ways. In the Hindu tradition, the notion of a tulpa involves physical manifestations–even supernatural beings–whose manifestation erupts from the intense, focused meditation of the yogi initiate. However, another attempt at manifesting the thoughts of others had its genesis a little further East during the early part of the twentieth century.

In 1910, Tokyo University psychology Professor Tomokichi Fukarai began an odd series of experiments with various women claiming to have clairvoyant abilities, in which attempts were made at recording their mental images directly onto film. The first of these women (barring a series of failed experiments with an earlier subject) was Ikuko Nagao, and the two undertook attempts at developing what Fukarai called nensha, meaning “spirit photography.”

Poor Nagao’s fate would end up turning for the worst, however. Soon after she and the Professor had undertaken their experiments, she began to develop a fever, which would eventually take her life. It was speculated at the time that pressure from the skeptical public, among which were a number of individuals accusing her of being a fraud, may have contributed to her declining health.

Nonetheless, with her passage, Tomokichi remained vigilant in his belief that direct transfer of thought onto film could be achieved; within a few months, he had begun to seek other psychics by whom his work might be supplemented. By 1913, he had become acquainted with psychics Sadako Takahashi and Mita Koichi, which resulted in the publication of a book detailing his findings, titled simply Clairvoyance and Thoughtography.

In years since, a number of other alleged “thoughtographers” have come and gone, among them famous mentalist Uri Gellar, who claimed to have procured his unique achievements by pressing the lens of a camera, with cap closed over the aperture, against his forehead and “projecting” the images forth onto the film within the camera (and of course, Gellar’s claims, admittedly rather outrageous, were decried profusely by skeptics).

Is it indeed possible to project “images” that stem solely from within the mind onto the photographic medium? If so, how exactly might this occur? One theory put forth by researcher John Joe McFadden of the University of Surrey, UK, deals with the idea that consciousness itself may in fact exist within an electromagnetic field produced by the brain.

Sense traditional film cameras work by allowing light through an aperture onto photosensitive paper, and light is one portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, the notion that electromagnetism may have something to do with such claims–especially in terms of conscious thought projections being focused and imprinted onto film–might at least garner some consideration, though speculation along these lines still does little to explain exactly how it might occur.

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Nagareyama UFO sighting

Posters comments: It can be seen in the sky in the city of Chiba Nagareyama an unidentified flying object on September 25 2011.The video was recorded at 18:00 local time. This object was in the direction of Mount Fuji and was filming from the balcony of a house near Central Park Nagareyama Station. As we know a plane in the evening could create this optical illusion but the curious thing about this video is the shape of the wake behind the object and the object is like a nosedive. That this object also fell one day before the meteorite in Argentina. Are we in the presence of a meteorite? Is it some kind of UFO? Or simply the illusion of a plane?

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12-year-old 2-faced cat is world's oldest

Reuters
Friday, Sep 30, 2011

US - Frank and Louie, a gray feline with two mouths, two noses and three eyes, just turned 12 years old and is the world's oldest, living two-faced cat.

Sara Wilcox, a Guinness World Records spokeswoman said he is the "longest surviving Janus cat," referring to the name coined by British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker, based on the two-faced Roman god of transitions, gates and doorways.

Frank and Louie has craniofacial duplication, an extremely rare congenital condition. The disorder, also known as diprosopia, can cause part or all of an individual's face to be duplicated on its head.

It has been recorded multiple times in the domestic cat, but few two-faced kittens survive into adulthood, Wilcox said.

Frank and Louie was born on September 8, 1999. His remarkable life will be commemorated in Guinness World Records' new 2012 edition, Wilcox said.

The cat's owner, a woman only identified as Marty, lives near Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a veterinary technician in 1999 when a day-old, two-faced kitten about the size of her thumb was brought into her clinic to be euthanized.

The life expectancy for a two-faced cat is about four days because they usually suffer from other disorders.

"When he was first born, every day was a blessing," Marty told a local radio station on Tuesday.

She immediately adopted Frank and Louie. The cat has one brain so both faces act in unison. Two of his eyes -- the outermost ones -- are normal, while the middle eye is larger but doesn't function.

The cat eats on the right side, using Frank's face, which is connected to his esophagus, while Louie's nose twitches at the same time, his owner said.

Marty told the local radio station that the cat is more like a dog because it walks on a leash and loves car rides."

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10 Ancient Mysteries of Asia (Part 2)

by Joan Seth (joanseth77@gmail.com)

Part 2 of the article.

1. Mahram Bilqis, Yemen

This mysterious ruin is found in Yemen and is almost entirely covered with sand. According to legends, this holy site is attributed to the Biblical Queen of Sheba. The temple is surrounded by a wall of 260 metres length which is about 3-5 metres thick and may have once reached about 16 metres.

In the hall of the temple there are still a few of the 32 pillars that once supported the roof. The 8 monumental pillars that seem to watch the site as fierce guards look like as they have been casted as concrete.

Archaeologists have dated the site to 1500 – 1200 BC and possible older, definitely older than the times of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.



[The Queen of Sheba]

2. Masuda boulder, Japan

This mysterious boulder is found near Masuka Lake in Japan. It seems to have been thrown from heaven. It is strange because of its unusual shape: it contains two large square holes. The boulder is about 11 meters in length, 8 meters wide and about 4.7 meters high. The upper surface is smooth and some lower parts show signs of possible carving techniques.

The location and purpose of this boulder remains a mystery. The squares have flat surfaces and sharp corners, the construction of which requires the same technological abilities used in Egypt or South-America.

This Masuda boulder is another example of inimitable technology: applied in an inaccessible remote place, and apparently without any clear purpose.



[The Mystery of Masuda]

3. Marayoor Dolmens, India

Numerous dolmens can be found in Marayoor, India. The dolmens usually consist of 4 standing stones and a cap stone on top of them. All dolmens are made of hard granite.

Some of the stones are so neatly dressed that it is believed that they originate from the Iron Age while the less sophisticated worked stones are believed to be from the Stone Age.

During the Stone Age, the same types of dolmens were built in very remote regions like Western Europe, the Caucasus, Korea and India. Did the inhabitants of these regions invent the same idea, or did they have mutual contacts?



[Marayur dolmens losing the battle with time]

4. Nan Madol, New Guinea

Strange ruins of basalt pillars are to be found on the island of Pohnpei which is located at about 2000 km to the north-east of New Guinea. Some of the constructions are positioned in the water and an underwater tunnel connects a building with the sea which indicates that the site much be extremely old. According to historians, the site was erected around 1250 AD.

250 million tons of basalt logs were estimated to have been used to construct the whole city. The exact details of how this was done remain unknown. Each basalt log could have weighed around 50 tons. Furthermore, all of these were done on water.



[The Mystery Behind the Ancient Stone City of Nan Madol]

5. Petra, Jordan

Petra is a city in Jordan without houses but made up of only temples and tombs which all have been hewn from the rocks. It is not easy to reach this city since its access is very narrow. The light from the afternoon sun gives the red sand stone a unique appearance. The city was supposedly founded by the Nabateans, hundreds of years before Christ.

The top of this mountain was carved and cut by at least 7 metres, resulting in two remarkably tapering pillars. The purpose of building these pillars and their functions remain a mystery till today.



[The Ancient City of Petra in Jordan]

6. Yonaguni, Japan

Yonaguni is an underwater ziggurat type of construction, about 30 meters beneath the water surface. Yonaguni is a Japanese island near Okinawa and Taiwan.

It is a 5 layer platform hewn out of the bedrock, having straight planes and precisely defined sharp angles. It is about 200 meter wide and 30 meter high. Since it is 30 meters below sea level it is at least 10000 years old since in that time the sea level was - because of the melting of the icecaps at the end of the ice age; at a lower level than now.

This means that the structure is one of the oldest buildings in the world - together with the Sphinx in Egypt and Tihuanacu in Bolivia. Its exact purpose and origins still remains a mystery.



[The Mystery at Yonaguni]

7. Marib Dam, Yemen

The Marib Dam is in the north of Yemen, about 120 km to the east of Sana’a. Archaeologists have discovered that the first dam started back in 2000 BC, though many repairs and rebuilding occurred in later times.


Today, only the north side and south side, together with spillway channels and sluices remains. The dam has a width of about 580 meters, was originally 4 meters and later 16 meters in height, which initiated the irrigation of a wide area.
The ancient peoples manage to build a massive dam strong enough to withstand the enormous water mass without cement. Till date, how this was achieved remains a mystery.



[Marib Dam - Yemen]


8. The Plain of Jars, Laos

This mysterious plain found in Laos contains thousands of megalithic jars. These stone jars appear in clusters, ranging from a single or a few to several hundred jars at lower foothills surrounding the central plain and upland valleys.

Till today, their exact purpose and origins are still unknown. Local legends tell of an ancient king who defeated a race of giants. To celebrate his victory, he ordered the jars created to brew and store large amounts of Lao wine.



[Ancient Mystery of Plain of Jars]


9. Mehrgarh, Pakistan

This ancient ruined city was discovered in 1921 in Pakistan. It is estimated to date back to the 7th to 8th millennium BC, making it almost 9000 years old. If this was accurate, the entire concept of the Indus Civilization will be changed.

The city consists of a great public bath, upstairs bathrooms in houses and covered sewers. Such technological advances were near impossible to replicate during such ancient times.



[Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Discovery of a 9000-Year-Old Civilized Settlement]

10. Piri Reis Map, Turkey

This map was discovered in 1929 in Turkey, and was determined to be created by Ottoman-Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1513.

The remaining half of the map that survived shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the eastern coast of Brazil with surprising accuracy. Various Atlantic islands including the Azores and Canary Islands are also depicted. Some claim that the map also depicts Japan.

Some claims this map supports a theory of global exploration by a pre-classical undiscovered civilization, supported by the amazing accuracy of this map. Others claim that this map was merely created by combining a set of different maps.



[The Piri Reis Map]

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