Voodoo is a religion Part 1

I find it irksome that people readily believe in the 'sky god' of Christianity & Judaism & Islam, yet are much too eager to dismiss Voodoo as 'black magic', 'negative', 'evil', and 'demonic', not a religion at all.  Is this a result of racism, bigotry, because Voodoo's adherents are largely African and Black American?

How come most American Blacks are repulsed by the very idea of Voodoo, a religion that was practiced by our ancestors hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years before the White man came along, helped to enslave us and then forced his own belief system upon us?  What is so despicable about Voodoo, why is it considered 'dark' or 'sinister'?

Stereotypes of Voodoo include the belief that followers use 'Voodoo dolls', are able to turn enemies into 'zombies', and that there must something 'wrong' with the followers of this belief system.  For instance, here is what Pat Robertson, a White supremacist/Christian Majority/Religious Right fanatic, stated about Haiti after the devastating earthquake of a few years ago, which underlines the feeling of many concerning this island nation:

Shortly after the earthquake, televangelist and religious-based bigot, Pat Robertson took the opportunity to do one of the things he does best and boasted his biased and uneducated prejudices concerning the spiritual reasons behind the earthquake. He rudely and ignorantly claimed that Haiti's suffering was due to a pact that was made between its founders and the devil more than 200 years ago, in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners.
Robertson also called the quake in Haiti a "blessing in disguise."
This raving lunatic not only displays his own ignorance as to what Vodou actually is, but that any religion which is not his own is simply devil worship.
Was a pact between the Haitians and the devil made in order to gain their freedom? Absolutely not. The truth is that Haitian Vodou has nothing to do with the concept of the Christian devil or Satan.
The only pact that WAS made was between the leaders of the revolt and that pact was that they would fight till the death and wouldn't give up no matter what. They agreed that they would rather die than live another day without freedom.
Voudo Roots

What I would like to say to Pat Robertson is: what makes Christianity, with its rituals, magic, supposed miracles, spiritualism, and belief in the Devil, so damned special, what makes it right, what makes its zealot followers The Chosen Few?  Of course, let's forget all the thousands tortured & killed as the early leaders of this religion forced it upon the masses in the Europe of old.

The fact that most of the adherents of Voodoo are dark-skinned people is the main reason it is so despised and looked down at by those who follow the blue-eyed Christ.  Voodoo has ONE GOD just like Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.  Its 'saints', borrowed from Roman Catholicism that was forced upon the slaves of Haiti and other Caribbean islands, became the 'loas' of this religion.  It is merely ancestor worship, something all of us are 'guilty' of. 

Voodoo

The Dead Files

One paranormal show that I have watched lately via YouTube is The Dead Files.  OMG, what a gaggle of giggles!  Steve the retired police detective does his thing whilst Amy the so-called psychic does her thing; then they get together to compare notes, such as it is.  Steve appears to be the more professional of the two.  Any is definitely more childish.  Even while she is going through a property supposedly chatting with these dead people, she makes inappropriate faces, snickers, uses foul language, and goofy gestures.  

The entire show seems scripted, even the people who are allegedly experiencing the activity seem to be following some sort of script.  They have a stern-faced guy with a camera filming Amy at the same time a camera team does, which hardly makes any sense.  Sometimes, the guy will ask Amy questions,  But hey, why do they need him AND another camera crew?  She's a psychic, why does she need anyone leading her with questions?

Steve's annoying New York accent aside, The Dead Files is pretty entertaining.  Amy's theatrics alone - not only does she often smile during her readings, but she gasps and curses and even laughs - can be funnier than watching an old Richard Pryor comedy (The Toy comes to mind).  Not only does Amy lack professionalism, but she doesn't come across - to me anyway - as a convincing psychic any more than Chip Coffey does.

Her statement that she 'talks to dead people' and 'they talk to her' sounds like something straight out of the Sixth Sense.  Hell, a lot of people talk to the dead - how many of you have spoken to deceased family members or friends when visiting their burial places?  Even those who speak to Jesus are speaking to a dead person!  I doubt very seriously that the dead are responding to Amy.  I don't believe in psychics and never will, and I can always spot their phoniness.  Trying to convince die-hard believers of this is an uphill battle, however, as I learned when I tried to convince my mother of Sylvia Browne's fakery on the Montel Williams Show. 

Steve seems more sincere but his facial expressions sometimes tell a different story.  Maybe he's the skeptic of this Dynamic Duo, I don't know.  But there are times when the people are telling their stories, that he gets a look on his face that shouts, I don't effing believe this!  Of course, he usually soothes the person as if he actually does fall for whatever tale they are telling...

In conclusion, I find The Dead Files to be as credible as any other paranormal show.  That is to state, that it is just as believable as an interview with Peter Cottontail, a mug shot of the Abominable Snowman, or a major slug-fest between King Kong and Big Foot caught on film. 

Haunted Encounters: Face to Face?

The Paranormal Syndicate has got to be one of the lamest paranormal research groups I have ever seen on television.  The quality of this show, or lack of, simply goes to prove the desperation TV producers exude in seeking the latest band of publicity-crazed ghost hunters.

How many shows I have seen where ghost hunters have investigated Eastern State Penitentiary, I can't even recall.  I do remember that the infamous Ghost Hunters was the first show I ever saw that investigated this supposedly haunted former prison.  Nothing happened during their visit there - if it did, they faked it (as usual).  I also know that Ghost Adventures went there, and I think either Paranormal State (the Paranormal Research Society) or Ghost Lab (Everyday Paranormal), but I know some other group with their own show visited that ex-prison.

At any rate, I don't believe that Eastern State is haunted.  I don't believe that any prison, mental institution, or hospital is haunted.  Cemeteries, either.

Watch this show.  It may be canceled by now - and if it's not, it should be - but this episode is worth a look.  Laugh aloud.  These ghost hunting shows are funnier than any sitcom or comedy film.  Grown people getting overly excited over EVPs that they claim are the voices of long-dead spirits...gasping at shadows...cringing at this noise...jumping at that noise.

Renowned psychic Chelsea.  Oh, really?  I have never heard of this woman - I never heard of Chip Coffey either, until I saw him on Paranormal State.  And they guy is simply a gay phony, a fake like all psychics.  If these people had any special powers that were real, one of them would have walked away with James Randi's million dollars by now.

A 'ripple in time'?  'Pandora's Box'?  Give me a freakin' break!  These people need to grow up and find real jobs...!!!

Paranormal Syndicate even has a dog they use for their investigations!  Can you imagine?!?  Come on, folks.  Let's give up on the ghost hunting and concentrate on something that is useful and can help mankind, such as defeating poverty, fighting to eradicate hunger, and bringing technology to the Third World.

But oh no, these ghost hunters are out seeking spirits...not to mention fame and fortune.  If not, they would stay off TV or better yet, go learn something rather than travel around the country visiting 'haunted' places that are just old buildings with maximum 'creep' appeal.

Haunted Encounters is lame.  Truly.  Watch this episode and giggle, but don't bother watching any others, if there are any.  Hell, Finding Big Foot is pretty lame too, but at least there's a chance such a creature could possibly exist.

Eastern State Penitentiary

In Defense of Cats

I am extremely pissed off - yes, I am going there - with the treatment cats have suffered over the years, which parallel the grotesque manner in which women have been treated by society.

Cats are considered 'evil', 'wicked', 'demonic', 'witchy', and so on.  Black cats are unlucky, except in Britain where they are considered lucky.  Gypsies think of cats and dogs as unclean, but will keep dogs because they are useful as guards.

Other unfair misconceptions about cats include the following:

Cats suck the breath from babies.
Cats will attack owners out of jealousy.
Cats are Witches' familiars.
Cats come from Hell.
Cats are not loyal creatures.

I have had pets nearly all my life, dogs as well as cats, and I will admit that my preference is towards cats.  They are more quiet, less troublesome, cleaner - despite what Gypsies believe - and far more intelligent than any dog I have ever encountered.  Cat owners are also more intelligent than dog owners, who tend to kiss, cuddle, and act towards their canine companions as though the four-legged creatures are their lovers more than their pets.

Cats do not suck the breath from babies.  Babies are killed by their own selfish, crazy parents, not cats.
Cats do not attack owners out of jealousy.  This might be dog behavior, however.
Cats are not Witches' familiars.  It's just that Wiccans tend to prefer felines are canines.
Cats do not come from Hell.  If any creature comes from Hell, it is humans.
Cats are loyal creatures.  In fact, cats can be more loyal than any dog - as are my Tigger and Tigress!

You don't have to walk cats.  You don't have to clean them much because they are self-cleaning.  They use a litter box rather than your carpet.  They don't keep you up nights the way dogs do, barking their fool heads off.  They don't take up as much of your time.  They are just better animals than dogs in MY opinion.

I cannot comprehend why Black people are so damn scared of cats.  It is almost laughable really because they run to Church more than any other race of people, yet are so freaking superstitious and ignorant.  (And no, I am not a racist because I happen to be a Black American.  Therefore, I feel free to pass judgment as I see fit.)  My late cousin was so afraid of cats that even when the kittens of feral cats were congregated on her mother's front porch, she would not step foot outside until they were gone.  My late aunt despised them.  Her daughter, who is very child-like, loathes cats.  My other aunt once poked a dead pregnant cat and has been wary of cats ever since.  Why, I don't know.  She has a male friend who states that he can't come to my place because I have cats - like I'd ever invite him!

I am a cat person.  I'm a cat woman.  I love cats.  My goal in life, after getting my screenplays sold and produced, is to start a haven for homeless cats.  I just wish that cats were as pampered, treated as royally, and coddled as dogs are in this society.  Even children are sometimes treated worse than dogs, and I know for a fact that there are rednecks out there who wouldn't hesitate to kill a non-white (especially a Black) but will lay in bed hugging a dog.  Look what happened to Michael Vick after all.

Cats are loving, loyal, sweet, happy-go-lucky, fun, beautiful, companionable, and awesome creatures.  I am so glad that I have two spoiled kitties for my friends!

Satan's Soldier?

There is an episode of Paranormal State called 'Satan's Soldier'.  The client supposedly worshiped Satan for decades; in exchange for bringing people, souls, to Satan, this guy apparently received his heart's desire.

I find the client's admission laughable.  If the devil really gave him all he wanted  - money, women, drugs - in exchange for bringing others to the devil, then why is the guy living in that crappy old house?  He does not look prosperous at all.  Then again, he no longer worships Satan.  Perhaps that is why he looks rather poor.

You would think that, if Satan actually existed and rewarded his followers with their hearts' desires, all those that claim to worship him would be the richest, most attractive, powerful, and hedonistic people on earth.  In my mind, there is no Satan just as there is no God.  Rules have always been enforced by those who wish to be in control, and what better way to control people than through religion?  (The Roman Catholic Church is one of the most powerful - and wealthiest - organizations in the world.)

I firmly believe that more people would worship the devil if they truly believed that he could give them what they want so desperately.  I know of at least one person who would so it in a New York minute, and there are undoubtedly others who would - for fame, for fortune, for sex, for power...the list goes on and on.

At any rate, the former Soldier of Satan is now being terrorized by the devil  (or was at the time of the taping of this episode).  Of course, now that he's a Christian again, after having had his fill of sex, drugs, and money, he wants viewers of Paranormal State to believe that he is now just a regular joe, eager to live out the rest of his life as a devout Jesus Freak.  

And maybe he is.  As far as I am concerned...Satan = Santa!

Vampires Are Not Real

Vampires are not real.  They do not exist.  If they did exist, they would be some of the most evil, blood-thirsty, gruesome, and smelly (non-living things tend to stink) creatures on the planet.  I'm glad there are no such monsters.

However, books and movies glamorize the vampire.  They are no longer looked upon as fanged, rotting, blood-sucking, red-eyed, claw-nailed animated corpses.  They are considered debonair, aristocratic, charming, handsome, beautiful, sexy, winsome, playful, intelligent, and very seductive entities.

There are people who actually consider themselves to be vampires!

I used to be a Goth, part-time.  I often wore black clothing, I dyed my already nearly black hair blue-jet, I wore dark lipstick (though never ebony, at least not out in public), and I listened to Goth music (still do at times).  I often fantasized about vampires but not to the extent that I thought of them as real, or wished that they were.  I considered vampires 'monstrous' if not wicked, and I knew they were not the types of beings that I should look up to, or idolize, or want to be or be like.

Just after the millennium, I became less interested in vampire novels or movies.  I still don't find them as intriguing as I once did.  And no, I have not watched one movie in the dreadful 'Twilight' series.  I will be 43 my next birthday!  My stars, what do you take me for, an absolute child?!?

I once was so into Anne Rice's vampire novels that I would read them over and over again.  I was almost in love with Louis - forget Lestat, I considered him an arrogant bastard, not to mention that I have never been too much attracted to men with blond hair - and I read every vampire short story I could get my hands on.  Now the only vampire novel I can tolerate is 'Salem's Lot.  And I cannot stand vampire movies anymore.

I once joined such Goth-oriented sites as Dark Side of The Net, Goth Space, Vampire Freaks, Gothic Match, etc.  I had pen pals back in the 90s who sucked their own blood, or the blood of friends, and listened to such bands as Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie & The Banshees, and the Sex Gang Children (of whom Boy George was once a member).  

I'm much too old for that stuff now.  But when I was in my 20s...

These days, I feel sorry for anyone over 30 who calls her/himself a 'vampire' and a 'Goth'.  It's as pathetic as someone my age going to see any of the 'Twilight' movies.  Sure, my brother is just a year my junior and he watches cartoons still - though I never would - but 'Twilight' is definitely for the 13 - 23 age group.  Hell, I'd never watch any of the Harry Potter films (though my brother has), nor would I ever read those books.  I don't even read romance novels anymore...

Just having my say, folks.  Vampires are not real.  And we should all be glad they don't.  Very damn glad.  

Werewolves

I watched a show called Monster Quest recently.  This episode was about the 'American Werewolf'.  As usual, there were attention-seekers claiming to have seen a 'werewolf'...many of them actually passed lie detector tests.  But since polygraphs aren't reliable (otherwise they would be used in court cases) and if one strongly believes something, they will pass a lie detector, I must dismiss the results.  Sociopaths, good actors, and hysterics may pass the polygraph.  These people saw something explainable - a wolf, coyote, even a bear or fox - that they mistakenly assumed was a 'werewolf'.  No wonder the test results were positive!

There are no actual creatures as lycanthropes.

There are, however, people suffering from hypertrichosis.  It is also known as the 'werewolf' disease.
Werewolf Gene

I wonder what is wrong with people.  What makes a person truly believe in skunk apes, ghosts, vampires, chupacabras, werewolves, unicorns, mermaids, etc, etc?  I would not want most of these creatures to exist, with the exception of the unicorn.  I mean, seriously!  If werewolves were factual beings, there would be evidence of them.  EVIDENCE.  Yet there is none.  Absolutely zero.  Same with those other creatures of myth that some (mentally unbalanced) people believe in.  I can understand a child believing in this stuff.  But an educated adult?  Give me a freaking break!

There have been people who considered themselves to be werewolves who attacked humans in much the same manner as a wild dog might.  Werewolf Killers.   A recent example is Wolfie Blackheart, who apparently believes that she is a werewolf.  Why would anyone want to be a werewolf?  I for damn sure don't - and I never truly wanted to be a vampire either, not even when I was a so-so Goth back in the 90s!

Werewolves are hairy, slobbering, blood-crazed critters with nothing about them that speaks of beauty, elegance, or intelligence (even though they are human till the full moon rises, in most horror films that is).  

German 'werewolf killer' Peter Stumpp murdered and cannabalized 16 victims, all women and children (the usual innocent victims); some of his victims were pregnant - ol' Peter ate the fetuses, not leaving anything to waste except perhaps the bones.  Back in those days, killers weren't mollycoddled the way they are today.  Peter was put to death, broken on the wheel where his flesh was torn from his bones, then his bones smashed to bits, before being burnt and buried.  His executioners, convinced he really was a werewolf, were leaving nothing to chance.

In closing, werewolves do not exist.  We already have weird, wild-eyed psychos enough to frighten the rest of us.  Why add to the lunatic fringe?

EVPS are not voices of spirits

Isn't it laughable to see grown men - and women - becoming overly excited when they get a supposed recording of a long-dead person's voice or even that of a demon?  There is even a very long recording of the 'most horrific EVP' ever recorded available for our listening pleasure (listen at your own risk, it's quite nightmarish but not very clear) - http://paranormal.about.com/b/2007/10/14/the-most-horrific-evp-ever-recorded-feature-article.htm.

According to experts, EVPs (electronic voice phenomena is what EVP stands for) are nothing more than transmissions from cell phones, walkie talkies, radio frequencies, satellites, telephone wires, etc. Visit http://www.skepdic.com/evp.html for more information on what EVPs possibly are.  What EVPs are not: the voices of your dead relatives, demons, murder victims, suicides, or any other 'ghostly' or 'spirit' being.  I have an excellent Olympus digital recorder and have tried picking up EVPs in old apartments, houses, parks, and graveyards and have yet to capture anything remotely like the 'voices' caught by ghost hunters on TV (which leads one to speculate on whether or not these 'voices' they so readily capture are faked).

Okay, some of the EVPs on these shows which are declared to be the voices of dead people are validated by some of those being haunted, such as relatives and friends.  I have seen more than a few of these people get quite emotional when they listen to these voices.  However, I still do not believe the EVPs to be the voices of the dead.  These people desperately want answers, and they will hear what they want to.  When my grandmother, with whom I was extremely close, passed away 24 years ago after a long illness, I so wanted to know that she was all right where she was, and had not suffered terribly before dying, that when the digital clock went off like an alarm (not set) and was stuck at 12:00 AM, we all said it was her coming back.  Also, the fire in the wood-burning stove in my great aunt's bedroom (which I shared with her for a time) flared back to life after dying out, and a pattern of what looked like a flying dove was projected on the ceiling.  My great aunt had argued with my grandmother (they were sisters) before my grandmother's death, so my great aunt did not want to hear of any paranormal happenings in her house.  My mother, aunt, and my brother all believed - as I did then - that my grandmother had briefly returned to let us know she was okay.

Back to EVPs...I have heard dozens on various paranormal shows.  Some I can recall: I am the devil.  Dance!  Thank you, Mommy.  I'll kill you!  (I may have heard several variations of the death threat.)  I don't like fish and I don't like birds.  Get out!  (Flashback to the Amityville Horror.)  I hate you!  Goddamn you!  Hello?  The EVPs could go on and on...every episode of Paranormal State, Ghost Adventures, Ghost Lab, My Ghost Story, Paranormal Witness, Haunted Collector, and The Haunted feature some type of EVP, and oftentimes more than 1.  The investigators are usually adamant that these recordings are those of spirits.

At least with Finding Bigfoot (yes, I understand Squatches are not really paranormal beings, but they might as well be), every recording of a 'Sasquatch' hollering in the woods isn't taken as such, especially by the boyish Ranae Holland, the group skeptic.  Every damn EVP the ghost hunters manage to record happens to be that of some poor departed spirit damned to wander earth until they are led the other side!

I just don't believe that the dead are able to communicate with the living.  I don't believe that demons try to 'speak' to us either.  If spirits, demons, angels, and the like can speak to us, why would they need to communicate via digital recorders?  Why is it these 'voices' can only be heard upon playback and usually via enhancements of the original recording?  Why would they even need to 'talk' to us using ghost boxes?  I would think they could simply speak to us without using such paraphernalia.  After all, some of them supposedly materialize without the use of gadgets.  Why not speak to us without employing gadgets?

Finding Big Foot

This is one hilarious show.  3 over-grown men and 1 (lesbian?) woman out there seeking 'Squatches', out in the boondocks howling, yodeling, and making other weird sounds in an effort to draw out the elusive, shy, hairy creature more fondly known as 'Big Foot'.  The YouTube comments are even funnier than the show itself.  So laughable, I sometimes forget to giggle.

According to Matt Moneymaker, James 'Bobo' Fay, Ranae Holland, and Cliff Barackman, 'Squatches' are drawn to human females, they are timid, they live in areas that are predominantly rural and heavily wooded, and they are bipedal.  Oh, yeah?  How do they know what Big Foot is really like, especially since no one has ever photographed, videotaped, caught, or otherwise socialized with such a being?

There is an extremely infamous video, which you may view at your leisure, known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, which purportedly shows a female (or so they claim) Big Foot strolling through a forested area.  She looks at them and keeps on walking...Roger Patterson-Bob Gimlin.  Roger passed away from cancer only a few years after the footage was shot, but Bob was still around as of 2011 and still standing by his story that this was a - gasp! - Sasquatch!  Matt, Bobo, and Cliff all believe the footage to actually be that of a female Sasquatch.  Ranae, the skeptic of the bunch, thinks it is more or less a human, undoubtedly in a costume.  I must state here that I agree with her.

It walks human-like.  Okay, so the 'experts' on various shows I have watched claim that it would be utterly impossible for a man to lope like that wearing an ape costume, but costumes don't have to weigh 20 pounds, folks.  And there are some very strong people out there...and when you toss fame & fortune into the mix, that makes it a wonderful incentive for a trio of guys to get together and perpetrate a hoax.  Hell, I'd do it in a heartbeat myself and who knows, I may buy a Fujifilm or other digital camera with video for Christmas and shoot some hoaxes to post to Vimeo and YouTube and who knows what other video sharing site...LOL.

Back to Finding Big Foot...

I have watched many episodes of both Season 1 as well as Season 2, and these guys are totally trippin'.  There is NO creature known as Big Foot, a Sasquatch, Squatch, Skunk Ape, or anything else of that ilk.  There are primates - us, gorillas, chimps, orangutans, baboons, spider monkeys, etc etc, but no large, hirsute, bipedal creature hiding out in the boonies.

What really gets me chuckling is when they go to the 'town hall' of these little pissant burgs and all the gun-toting, pickup driving rednecks listen attentively (you can tell by the appearance that they are largely uneducated, blue-collar, flag-waving hicks with nothing else to do with their time but attend these gatherings), then raise their hands when asked if any of them have encountered a 'Squatch'.  Anywhere from 25% to nearly 50% of the hands always go up...

These hayseeds live boring, predictable lives.  What other excitement do they get happening in those villages?  There is a great incentive for them to lie...maybe some of them are even confused.  Most just want the attention.  After all, they are getting a chance to tell their story in - drum roll - Animal Planet!

Pitiful.  Pathetic.  I truly feel sorry for Matt, Bobo, Cliff, and Ranae...out there seeking Big Foot when they have to know, in their heart of hearts, that such a creature doesn't exist.  It is only a myth, a legend, a fairy story...heck, I wish there were Squatches around.  Maybe they could be trained to attack Republicans.

Paranormal Reality & the Spirit World Part 2

Some people say that Ghost Hunters is a show of skeptics.  However, I really beg to differ.  Grant Wilson and Jason Hawes, plumbers by day, are apparently ghost hunters by night.  They have several books under their belt, probably millions in the bank by now (Ghost Hunters is one of the more successful paranormal shows on television, if not one of the more boring - in my opinion).  If these guys were such 'skeptics', would they behave the way they do on camera, or would they have written books with such titles as Seeking Spirits: The Lost Cases of The Atlantic Paranormal Society, Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena From The Atlantic Paranormal Society, and even a novel, Ghost Trackers?  These guys are a 2-man money making machine!

As for Paranormal State (one of my favorite shows and the most interesting other than Ghost Adventures, my other favorite), Ryan Buell - now fighting pancreatic cancer - the team sounds as if they are reading from a script most of the time (as with all the shows, I might add.  Except Ghost Adventures - they sound more authentic, sort of like those 'found footage' films that don't use a screenplay ala The Blair Witch Project).  In conversations, people generally use 'fillers' like uh, um, etc, or may nervously use such tag lines as 'you know' and pepper their speech with 'like' and 'whatever' and 'whatnot', among other words.  The people on these paranormal shows rarely do that!  They know exactly what they are going to say and they say it, no fumbling for words, hardly any pauses to come up with anything...just as if they are reading from a script or being cued.

Ghost Adventures sounds more authentic but...Zak, Nick and Aaron are definitely not into ghost seeking to 'help' people, as Ryan Buell's Paranormal Research Society claimed to be.  They are into for the long green and the notoriety, as is true of all these paranormal groups.  Ghost Lab - Everyday Paranormal - are so hyped on these EVPs they get that it's quite laughable.  "Dude, did you hear that?!?"  Gosh, I thought only college age boys and high schoolers talked like that!  Then there is My Ghost Story...does anyone really believe any of that stuff?  I certainly do not.  It is just a bunch of attention seeking White people.  (Have you noticed that there are almost never any Black, Asian, or Hispanic people being haunted or attacked by evil spirits or demons?)  Ditto the ghost seeking teams - with the exception of Everyday Paranormal, which in its first season or 2 featured a Latino man and the Black guy, who is yet with the team so far as I know.

It is my belief that these 'spirits' are just negative energy being given off by the current inhabitants of these supposedly haunted homes, inns, hotels, etc.  Dead people are just that - dead.  We don't come back, I don't care what desperate people want to believe.  There are no ghosts.  There are no spirits.  There are no specters.  There are no angels.  There are no demons.  There are no phantoms.  There are overactive imaginations, negative energy, positive energy, and just people being people - that is, seeking fame and fortune in whatever way they can.  When we die, that is the end, das Ende, la fin...we are gone forever.  We do not come back to watch over, haunt, or otherwise interact with the living.  Many of the people who appear on these shows actually want to believe that a deceased relative has returned - on one of the shows, I forget which one, there was a woman and her young daughter who apparently had snapped a photo of what the woman believed was her mother's ghost, who had passed away from cancer.  This woman so much wanted this 'specter' to be her mother so...she saw what she wanted to see, and got a photo of what she wanted.  The daughter seemed to be more hesitant to believe that the spirit was of her grandmother.

Fact or Faked: The Paranormal Files sets out to prove - or disprove - video (they don't really like to do photos, though they have) footage of so-called paranormal events.  They usually disprove them though there was one that they could not (The Nightcrawler Investigation) and there may have been more but that's the only one that comes to mind right now.  What I don't get about Fact or Faked is why they feel it is even necessary to investigate these videos, most of which are so obviously fake - especially the UFOs and Big Foots - that a child could see through that nonsense.  Did you happen to see the one about the 'ghost car'?  A cop was chasing this idiot in a car going more than 50 miles per hour, and the car evidently ended up on one side of a fence, leaving the cop to scratch his head and wonder how the hell this happened.  According to Fact or Faked, the driver merely drove through the fence, and the bottom part of the fence - which was not stuck deeply into the ground - merely flapped.  You'd have to view this episode to know exactly what I am trying to state here.  

At any rate, there are no paranormal activity, entities, or anything else of a paranormal nature.  However, I find these shows to be awesome entertainment, better than most horror films in fact, and so long as I can view them on YouTube, Hulu, or any other internet channel, I will continue to do so.  I will also critique various episodes, past or present, here.  Stay tuned.

Paranormal Reality & the Spirit World Part 1

Greetings, one and all.  I have created this blog to discount all those 'paranormal' reality shows that permeate  television.  There are no such things as ghosts, spirits, angels, or demons.  There is only energy that we humans either turn into negative energy, or positive.

If you are a person who is mostly negative, any energy that you send out will return back to you in a negative manner.  Likewise for a positive person.  I should know, as my teen years were spent in a shell of almost total negativity.  Ditto for my 20s and early 30s.  It was not until I reached my 40s that I became more positive.  Of course, I still have my negative moments.  However, they aren't as plentiful as they were in years gone by.

Why do certain people tend to get 'attacked' by what they, and those publicity-hungry paranormal groups, call 'evil spirits'?  It is because they live negative lives.  Nearly all the people are contacting what they consider to be the 'spirit realm' (when in reality there is no such place).  Why do people try to contact the spirits of the dead?  It is never for positive reasons.

After my grandmother and my aunt passed away in 1988, my mother and other aunt attempted to contact them via a seance.  They were involved in drugs at the time, and my mother was drinking heavily.  A great deal of negative emotions made the living situation at that time very unhealthy.  I participated in the seance because I wholly believed in the spirit realm then, being much younger and rather naive.  Nothing came of the seance but that did not stop me from delving into the spirit world.  I got into black magick, Voodoo, Wicca, and Satanism.  I became an atheist, then an agnostic, and then an atheist again.  I put spells on people that really worked - mainly due to my strong belief that they would.

Negativity is powerful.  It is just as potent, if not more so, than positive emotions.

I used to hear what I thought was a demon calling my name.  I have not heard this 'demon' since 1990, the last year I dabbled in Satanism.  I bought a Ouija board in 1995 and got into very deeply.  I was convinced that a being was responding to my queries.  My mother, baby sister, and I used the Ouija board to try to hex my sister-in-law, whom my mother did not like because she felt that the woman had tricked my brother into marrying her.  We used my sister's doll to represent my brother's wife, and after the ritual, my mother buried the doll in a weedy lot next to our apartment complex.  Afterward, she claimed strange things started to happen in our townhouse but in hindsight, it was nothing truly out of the ordinary.  A lot of was due to her imagination and probably alcohol-induced - not to mention the drugs she began abusing again.

If you delve more deeply into these so-called cases of hauntings and possession, you will find a shocking amount of mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, emotional and physical abuse, and other negative behavior.

Then there is the fact that these shows: Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters, The Haunted Collector, My Ghost Story, Ghost Lab, The Dead Files, etc, use special effects to trick people.  If you watch certain scenes very closely, you can even spot the fishing line they use to make objects 'move on their own', you can hear the fake EVPs as they record them, and if you watch the eyes/expressions of those that are supposedly under 'spiritual attack', you can tell when they are lying about something.  It is all for attention, fame and fortune.  If those ghost chasers were so serious about 'helping' those under attack, they would not try to get shows on TV.

I will get more into this later.  Check back with this blog often - bookmark it!  I plan to post a podcast soon. Anyone who would like to partner up with me, please feel free to contact me via email with the Subject: I'm a Paranormal Skeptic 2.  Thank you for reading.