What's Really Behind Paranormal Experiences (Hint: It's Not Ghosts)

[PonderThis]

[PonderThis]

[PonderThis]

[Carl_Kolchak]

Reply to thread: What's Really Behind Paranormal Experiences (Hint: It's Not Ghosts)

When I read this the first thing I thought about was money. There seems to be quite a few TV shows about paranormal experiences.

I think it's obvious that a great many people WANT to believe in Paranormal Experiences, the healing power of crystals, astrology, bigfoot, the devils triangle, visits from extra terrestrials and last but not least a god of some kind that has many magical powers.

Believe it or not my pragmatic, analytic mind does not rule out everything I just mentioned. Like Carl_Kolchak said we don't know all the answers but I think that if you actually say you are a paranormal investigator IMO you actually do think you know something

I don't really care that so many people believe in so much crap. But what really bothers me is that so many people, NAIVE people are fleeced by those who prey on the naive.
Think TV evangelists or Sylvia Brown.

I liked this post.

Let me respond to a few things.

Money. The team that I belonged to -- and indeed, like many other teams that belong to the TAPS Family Network -- are non-profit groups.

We don't charge our clients anything. Now, some clients have given us cash donations . . . but that doesn't happen a lot. We're not in it for the money, we're more interested in helping people and attempting to learn more about paranormal activity. Gas. Food. Equipment. Travel expenses. All of that comes out of our own pockets. Some groups do charge membership dues and do hold events and charge for them -- that money goes back to the group and is used to buy equipment, batteries or help with travel expenses.

That being said, there are, unfortunately, a number of people out there who are in this for the money and media exposure. I find that offensive but there's not much one can do about it.

Yes, I do believe in paranormal activity . . . but I don't believe that everything is paranormal. Typical case . . . . 95 percent or so of paranormal claims can be easily debunked as something normal or rational.

But, it's that remaining five percent that shocks/amazes/intrigues me. Out of the 70-plus or so investigations I've worked, I've had five or so events that were paranormal. And, once you've experienced something like that, you never look at the world the same.

[cletus1]

I agree with all of TVguy's post.

People like John Edwards of the TV show Crossing Over with John Edwards need to be exposed for the frauds that they are. John Edwards is a charlatan. Paranormal investigators that claim they can comunicate with the deceased are bold faced liars. It is as simple as that. None of the claims of paranormal experiences can withstand scientific scrutiny.

Edit: An old article about Edwards. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/john_edwar...t_huckster

[Carl_Kolchak]

I agree with all of TVguy's post.

People like John Edwards of the TV show Crossing Over with John Edwards need to be exposed for the frauds that they are. John Edwards is a charlatan. Paranormal investigators that claim they can comunicate with the deceased are bold faced liars. It is as simple as that.

I'm not a fan of Edwards, Sylvia Brown and a number of others. I'm very suspicious of anyone who says they're "psychic." Psychics, like those who claim to be prophets, have glib tongues and overactive imaginations.

[cletus1]

I agree with all of TVguy's post.

People like John Edwards of the TV show Crossing Over with John Edwards need to be exposed for the frauds that they are. John Edwards is a charlatan. Paranormal investigators that claim they can comunicate with the deceased are bold faced liars. It is as simple as that.

I'm not a fan of Edwards, Sylvia Brown and a number of others. I'm very suspicious of anyone who says they're "psychic." Psychics, like those who claim to be prophets, have glib tongues and overactive imaginations.

I agree. I am beyond skeptical of paranormal experiences. Here is another very old article from the publication Skeptical Inquirer. It addresses eye witness accounts and "experiences."

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/eyewitness...paranormal"

[Scrapper]

I agree with all of TVguy's post.

People like John Edwards of the TV show Crossing Over with John Edwards need to be exposed for the frauds that they are. John Edwards is a charlatan. Paranormal investigators that claim they can comunicate with the deceased are bold faced liars. It is as simple as that.

I'm not a fan of Edwards, Sylvia Brown and a number of others. I'm very suspicious of anyone who says they're "psychic." Psychics, like those who claim to be prophets, have glib tongues and overactive imaginations.

I think those that claim to be prophets are just plain old whack-a-doodles! :wacko:

[Carl_Kolchak]

Science and the paranormal. The one thing that I have to say is that science, like religion, politics and other systems, can be blinded by dogma. CSICOP has a history of attacking scientists who are attempting legitimate research into the paranormal.

Even going as far as trying to kill funding for such research.

Reminds me of the Church and Galileo.

[chuck white]

I'm not a fan of Edwards, Sylvia Brown and a number of others. I'm very suspicious of anyone who says they're "psychic." Psychics, like those who claim to be prophets, have glib tongues and overactive imaginations.

It's the psychotic psychics that scare me.

[Carl_Kolchak]

Yes. Slyvia Brown. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[Yeshuah Hamashiach]

Science and the paranormal. The one thing that I have to say is that science, like religion, politics and other systems, can be blinded by dogma. CSICOP has a history of attacking scientists who are attempting legitimate research into the paranormal.

Even going as far as trying to kill funding for such research.

Reminds me of the Church and Galileo.

Interesting you bring this stuff up , so what about SRI and NIMH ? What about the Stanford connection as well a Duke ? It's the history of Paranormal research that opens up the whole affair . And you always end up with Stargate/MK Ultra ...... I used to hang out with some real cadets , they were talking the big talk and all .. then one Sunday night on 60 minutes and there one of the spaceir cadets was in a segment on Remote Viewing. This guy would go real far out and then go down to Herrick and check himself into the mental ward for the drugs to come down. Whatever reality is behind any phenom , whether the gub admits it or not they are doing the research. There are "Institutes" in nice campus like building all over the US doing things that are beyondish one way or another.

[Carl_Kolchak]

The Stargate remote viewing program did yield some interesting results, to the point that more psi research should be conducted. Legitimate research should be conducted.

It should be noted that there's no documented evidence of a "psychic" helping law enforcement officers solve a crime. That's only on TV. However, I know of police agencies using "sensitives" to gather information . . . but even then no sensitive has ever solved a crime.

[PonderThis]

I'm very suspicious of anyone who says they're "psychic." Psychics, like those who claim to be prophets, have glib tongues and overactive imaginations.

I've sometimes considered myself psychic, because I've often known things for fact that others around me were unaware of. However, in my old age I'm forced to say it's probably powers of observation that they don't have, plus the powers of a focused mind that in some other (more social) ways I'm totally clueless.

[Yeshuah Hamashiach]

The Stargate remote viewing program did yield some interesting results, to the point that more psi research should be conducted. Legitimate research should be conducted.

It should be noted that there's no documented evidence of a "psychic" helping law enforcement officers solve a crime. That's only on TV. However, I know of police agencies using "sensitives" to gather information . . . but even then no sensitive has ever solved a crime.

Well , see ? You acknowledged the can of worms in the first place . My point is the bigger picture with these programs as a collection . The experiments done on prisoners and Nam vets ..... They still comb the Bay area for people who are having issues with whats going on , now some will simply write them off using traditional labels for mental disorders but the truth especially when they are fishing in waters that have historically been used for psyops it's kinda blatant. They advertise on the radio for Guinea pigs for drug trial programs. Somehow over time the same organizations that crossed ethical lines have become legit. At the core of it all being the template for a societal psychology that is cyborg . They knew it was coming it was simply a matter of the base technology catching up with the visionary aspect of it all. The other component being the need for drugs within the transition to treat the various aspects of Industrial disease and then some . How all of this is dealt with today and the show the front office puts on versus the more sublime back offices and the communications that still maintain Data processing using language that reflects the true nature of the programs once the Navy DOD got a hold of them. Thing is now with the high tech available to the public just about any big business with the cash can start building a data library of mind control tools and do research.and call it marketing r and d .

[Carl_Kolchak]

The Stargate remote viewing program did yield some interesting results, to the point that more psi research should be conducted. Legitimate research should be conducted.

It should be noted that there's no documented evidence of a "psychic" helping law enforcement officers solve a crime. That's only on TV. However, I know of police agencies using "sensitives" to gather information . . . but even then no sensitive has ever solved a crime.

Well , see ? You acknowledged the can of worms in the first place . My point is the bigger picture with these programs as a collection . The experiments done on prisoners and Nam vets ..... They still comb the Bay area for people who are having issues with whats going on , now some will simply write them off using traditional labels for mental disorders but the truth especially when they are fishing in waters that have historically been used for psyops it's kinda blatant. They advertise on the radio for Guinea pigs for drug trial programs. Somehow over time the same organizations that crossed ethical lines have become legit. At the core of it all being the template for a societal psychology that is cyborg . They knew it was coming it was simply a matter of the base technology catching up with the visionary aspect of it all. The other component being the need for drugs within the transition to treat the various aspects of Industrial disease and then some . How all of this is dealt with today and the show the front office puts on versus the more sublime back offices and the communications that still maintain Data processing using language that reflects the true nature of the programs once the Navy DOD got a hold of them. Thing is now with the high tech available to the public just about any big business with the cash can start building a data library of mind control tools and do research.and call it marketing r and d .

Listen to Alex Jones much?

[Yeshuah Hamashiach]

You'd think but no , I will tell you this though , I did listen to a bit about the Bohemian grove. A couple weeks later a huge truck and horse trailer were parked up the street , a singular event , this guy from the area around the grove was passing through and taking a breather . I had asked in my prayers for someone to tell me if there was really that much action going on there . The guy confirmed it. It's when things out of the ordinary happen that I pay attention especially. Berkeley is a pretty wild place. I lived in a studio apt right next to the local Ayatolla recruiters back in the day off Telegraph. Like I said there isn't much room in Berkeley and things tend to overlap. LSD may have been made illegal in 66 but the experiments were continuing well into the 80's . I have had people , street people included who have addressed me concerning my thoughts as I was walking by.

I listen to what people have to say irregardless of their status for the most part. I read stuff online and compare it to my experiences in the bay area. I'm trying to remember the guys name who was working with the NIMH early on and then refused to do so any more on ethical grounds. I am pretty sure he was the guy if I recall it right who first turned on that Jewish beat poet in a clinical setting . I have the info stashed in a binder. I'm not into shock jocks , I like raw info as much as I can get it. Putting together the pieces to the programs surrounding Stanford's Paranormal research and the psychological research fields is worth the effort. These organizations were bouncing off of each other.

[Carl_Kolchak]

You'd think but no , I will tell you this though , I did listen to a bit about the Bohemian grove. A couple weeks later a huge truck and horse trailer were parked up the street , a singular event , this guy from the area around the grove was passing through and taking a breather . I had asked in my prayers for someone to tell me if there was really that much action going on there . The guy confirmed it. It's when things out of the ordinary happen that I pay attention especially. Berkeley is a pretty wild place. I lived in a studio apt right next to the local Ayatolla recruiters back in the day off Telegraph. Like I said there isn't much room in Berkeley and things tend to overlap. LSD may have been made illegal in 66 but the experiments were continuing well into the 80's . I have had people , street people included who have addressed me concerning my thoughts as I was walking by.

I listen to what people have to say irregardless of their status for the most part. I read stuff online and compare it to my experiences in the bay area. I'm trying to remember the guys name who was working with the NIMH early on and then refused to do so any more on ethical grounds. I am pretty sure he was the guy if I recall it right who first turned on that Jewish beat poet in a clinical setting . I have the info stashed in a binder. I'm not into shock jocks , I like raw info as much as I can get it. Putting together the pieces to the programs surrounding Stanford's Paranormal research and the psychological research fields is worth the effort. These organizations were bouncing off of each other.

[Yeshuah Hamashiach]

Its a joke amongs't many of the programmers of Unix back in the day the role LSD played in it all. Berkeley was synonymous for both. It seems it was for many programmers a drug of choice.Its not to far a stretch to see local authorities keep a loose chain of the counterculture as long as it was fueling critical areas of development . Kinda interesting the Dead , LSD and Silicon Valley are all interconnected. Stanford and Duke were the at the fore front for legitimizing paranormal research. You missed it I guess unless you were reading for awhile and not posting . But to add to this one needs to take in the ramifications of Operation Paperclip and the fact that most fo the International corporations funding Hitler were working also in american and that Princeton through the Rockefeller institute had prepped scientists form Germany sent them back for the war and slipped many of them back in that were involved in human experimentation after the war through operation Paper Clip. You will see PBS documentaries on the Nuclear and Rocket scientists brought in to the US but zip on the MDs. They weren't simply biological scientists there were many in the psychological fields of study . Mind #######rs

AS far as the basic weirdness going on hey come o down to Berkeley and spend a few weeks hanging out with folks form the Berkeley Psychic institute and the Spiritual rights foundation. You may not buy into what they are doing but not unlike an acid trip it takes awhile for the buzz to come on . You return home to find perhaps your place in the scheme of things has changed a bit.

BTW just because I talk about LSD in no way to I condone the kind of reckless distribution and uses of it in the past that have gone down. IT has it;s place within the scope of discussing the paranormal , that is all.

[illcommandante]

The old guy with the shopping cart said "I went to the garden to get well". I said, "I went to the orchard to get nuts". I had a feeling, he knew what my thoughts were.