Debunk Paranormal

We all hear about people experiencing creaks, moans, groans, footsteps, doors and even cupboards opening or closing on their own. Well its time we look into this, what could cause them?

First we will look at homes settling, all homes settle some for many years. Now do all homes settle the same? No construction methods, materials used, location, weather all play a part in this. What can cause this? First we will look at the ground the home is built on, its constantly moving, this puts and releases pressure on the home. Weather as it changes also makes homes move and wood to swell or contract. Different woods may do this at different rates causing creaks, groans, loud popping noises. This can also cause a door or cupboard to open or close. This is why if you experience this at an investigation you can’t get it to repeat. The shock the house feels when this happens open jars items.  Try experiments in your own home hit the side of your cupboard see if your doors pop open. Set a clear bowl with water on the floor and walk, watch for excess ripples. This can show a floor moving and can explain items that fall of counters, tables. Does the home have children? If they do you know they run around causing even more home vibrations.  Bounce in the center of a room and watch for items shaking.

Construction has codes that are supposed to help this but some contractors and DIY may cheat, this can really cause movement in a home. It’s a good idea if your doing an investigation to look for cracks near doorways, cracks in corners, cracks between a wall and ceiling. Look at the floor to make sure its level, carry a laser level with you to check the home out. This can give you a clue about home movement.

What else do we need to look at? Look at floors, counter tops, for heavy material, (marble, granite, ect). Look in cupboards to see if they are loaded down. These can put strain on your home framing or flooring causing movement and noises. If the home has an upstairs look for water beds, workout rooms with excess weight, anything that can put an extra load on the homes construction.

Now how many of you do this? All of you should, remember you are looking for the truth not guesses when it comes to a client. Sound like work yet? It should you owe it to your clients to understand what can happen in a home.

This will be read in two ways one from people who really want the truth and two for those that do a half ass investigation who will just say its to much work.

Paranormal photography tips

Lets look at basic night time photography tips.  Remember this is just a basic guide as all cameras will vary slightly. You may still need to experiment to get the correct settings.

Flash:  some cameras allow you to adjust your flash strength, I suggest turning it up all the way to increase your depth of field.

Night scene or night shot, some cameras have this and if your using a tripod fine but without one you stand a great chance of blur or light trails because night scene gives your camera a longer exposure time.  Many mistakes are made here.

Exposure is the time your aperture is open.  What happens in many cases you take a picture, your flash goes off and you lower your camera. Well many times your camera aperture is still open so  the picture will show light trails or blurring of the brighter objects.  You should not use a long exposure UNLESS your shooting off a tripod.  Hearing is very important when taking pictures at night.  You need to listen for your camera to finish a picture before you move it.  I have seen many pictures claimed to be paranormal that were up to 8 seconds  exposure times. YOU WILL GET MOVEMENT unless shooting off a tripod. The longer your exposure the more movement in your picture becomes see thru.  See those claimed apparition on the internet where a person is see through? Its movement with long exposure. See light trails? These are long exposure.

Exposure is measured by f-stops  Remember the lower the F-stop the more light your camera lets in.

F1 being largest F 64 being a pin hole  Now your camera may be limited so select a low setting so more light enters your camera.

ISO:   ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure.  The higher the ISO the more pixilation you get.

Now using a flash at night you want an ISO that is appropriate. 400 to 640 are good all around settings. If you have a 12 mega pixel or higher camera you can even go up to an 800 ISO.  Do not go higher unless your shooting off a tripod without a flash. Also do not drop to a 200 or 100 ISO unless your shooting off a tripod WITH flash.

Foreign objects in your picture, when using a flash any foreign particle, from lint to pollen, even moisture appear as objects in your picture if they are near your lens, they often give the illusion of being further away from the lens. Remember your shooting in 2D. Many small point and shoot cameras catch a sleeve, a finger even camera straps or lens cap strings  in the flash. These appear as a bright objects often reported as ghosts or a vortex. But once again understand your equipment. 

Shadows:  Many times a dark shadow or spot is misperception. A finger blocking a portion of a flash will appear as a dark shape. When taking pictures an object off the side can appear as a larger shape when the flash creates a shadow. I have seen a vase as a cowboy.

Always try and pay attention to your surroundings. Take control shots with the lights on as a reference.  When taking pictures at night take a couple from each position so you have another picture to reference.

Most digital cameras have an exif file attached to your pictures. They explain what settings your camera had. You can look at these to see if a flash went off, your ISO, your exposure time, your f-stop along with many other settings. We are only looking at the basics as we aren’t professionals.  Windows 7 allows you to see photo properties. Photo shop paint shop, and many other software allow you to look at your Exif. Photome  is a great FREE program to to view your exif.

I hope this will help you understand and take better photographs at night.

Paranormal Mist?

Are you capturing mists in your pictures?

Are they spirits?

They must be paranormal as I don’t see it with my eyes.

Someone died in the home it must be them.

I was in a cemetery it was full of spirits.

These are just a few of the things I see daily in the paranormal field. Hopefully I can answer some of your questions and help you understand what causes these.

First we will look at mists captured inside a home. What can cause these? First we will look at exposures on your digital camera. A long exposure can create a mist like appearance. Why else do we see mists or are they really mists? Lets look around a home, we see lots of highly reflective surfaces from windows, mirrors, chromes, glass tables, vases. A flash off many of these can create what looks like a mist on your digital camera.

Now lets move outside what can cause these mists in my pictures? Once again there can be a few causes from atmospheric haze, yours or another’s breath, to temperature changes. When its cold out we can see our breath, but when its warmer we don’t see our breath does this mean it isn’t there? No we can still capture it with a flash.

What else can cause mists? These are perhaps the least understood by paranormal investigators but they are easily explainable and with critical thinking and COMMON SENSE we should all know it. Lets look at a cemetery, there are open areas the sun hits all day, there are trees and shrubbery that shades the ground, we have many tombstones that absorb heat all day.  In the daylight its warmer in the direct sunlight and cooler under the shade of a tree, this creates an atmospheric haze anytime your temperatures vary from 3-4 degrees you may catch a mist. Lets look at this same scenario at night just the opposite takes place its cooler in the open and warmer under the canopy of trees once again ideal situations to capture mists. Lets look at high humidity, what is it? Moisture in the air once more something your flash can reflect off.

Now don’t take my word for it get out your digital thermometer and take samples of the ground, of gravestones, under trees and shrubs, you might be surprised. Now break out your Hygrometer and check for the humidity in the air. Its only after you can rule out all of these causes then you can say I MAY have caught a paranormal mist.

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High EMF’s and Toxins Create Your Paranormal

The work of Michael Persinger and Anne Silk. The effects of being exposed to high levels of EMF on the human brain and physiology are known. They range from hallucinations, blackout, skin rash and burns, joint pain, to dizziness and altered state of consciousness. In essence, Budden’s argument is that EMF are the material cause of close encounters, but the repertoire of images and notions we have in our mind fills the actual content of the experience. In other words, for Budden UFO close encounters are essentially a form of dream caused by an external, but natural, force. There is no non-human entities involved. This also triggers people to experience paranormal, seeing ghosts and demons. Its found when the front temporal lobe is exposed to an electrical or chemical change people can be made to see anything from aliens to ghosts, to God. Psychics and sensitive’s exposed to emf’s can think they are experiencing paranormal when its actually the brain creating these feelings.

The Government

A US government publication on electricity use and safety states that :

“Electric and magnetic fields are found throughout nature and all living things. They hold matter together. They are necessary for the operation of the nervous system.”

We may look to the cloning experiments for some indication of the sensitivity of living systems to electrical or chemical stimulus. Cloning experiments, of necessity, require the application of electricity or a chemical in order to ‘kick start ‘ or initiate the life process of the reprogrammed single cell that will under suitable conditions, become a fully functioning living system.

ELECTRO HYPERSENSITIVITY (EHS)

The phenomenon of EHS is not as yet fully recognized by health professionals, though this attitude is slowly changing. This change must be accelerated to properly treat mental illnesses and a host of other neurological conditions.

MENTAL HEALTH AND EMR

Involuntary exposure to environmental contaminants such as EMR and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can trigger neuropsychiatric conditions. It may be speculated that they also provoke neurological reactions that mimic neuropsychiatric disorders.

Unfortunately there are disturbing reports that people are being misdiagnosed with mental illness when EMR or chemical contamination is implicated. Due to the nature of the symptoms, these people are often hospitalized against their will and treated with mind altering drugs that may have the effect of worsening their condition , where allergies and sensitivities are present, though undetected.

There is a whole range of neuropsychiatric disorders, known to be influenced by environmental factors. Changes in intensity of various environmental cues such as light, temperature and magnetic fields act as triggers for the expressions of these disorders. The following list of environmentally triggered disorders : mania, depression, panic attacks, bulimia, anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, suicide, cocaine addiction, Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, epilepsy. Paradoxically, bright light therapy has been found effective in treating depression and is being considered as a treatment for some of the other listed disorders.

Other dangers

Exposure to toxins and emf’s has lead to the increase in violent crimes and the explosion of road rage,  domestic abuse and a host of other crimes.

What you can do

Hallucinations, what are they and how are they caused?

First let me say anyone can have these, your not crazy, and you don’t have to have a mental disorder

A hallucination is the brain's electrical system shorting out an one area. This means that the person having a hallucination is experiencing an event through one of their senses that is not occurring in the real world. This is where voices are hear with an auditory hallucination, listening to lots of music before bed can cause this type of hallucination. A short circuit can have us hearing our own thoughts but will seem to come from the outside.  A mild form of hallucination is known as a disturbance, and can occur in any of the senses above. These may be things like seeing movement in peripheral  vision, or hearing faint noises and/or voices.

Who can have hallucinations? Anyone can have them if exposed to chemical or electrical or even auditory pollution. Though they are more prevalent in those with schizophrenia or bi-polar diagnosis’s. Hypnagogic hallucinations and hypnopompic hallucinations are considered normal . Hypnagogic hallucinations can occur as one is falling asleep and hypnopompic hallucinations occur when one is waking up. Now these can seem real and the person may believe they really happened. Anyone who has experienced sleep paralysis understands how real they can be.

Now lets look at visual hallucinations, who can have them? Anyone can experience these, once again its when our brain signals get crossed. These are when you see something that isn’t there, a ghost, a shadow man, once again our brains cause this by filling in missing information so a tiny misfire in the brain can cause us to see things that aren’t there. The people who experience these more may have a psychotic disorder to dementia to migraines, but they don’t have to have anything.

Tactile hallucinations are when we feel like we are touched, someone crawling on you, an animal jumping on you, even bugs crawling on you. Now this type of hallucination is usually associated with drug use but doesn’t have to be.

Peduncular hallucinosis usually happens in the evening and your fully awake. These are caused when we have a short circuit near the brain stem.

Now there are many other types of hallucinations I haven’t touched on as I am looking at it more for a paranormal perspective.

Now we have touched on one more possible cause of paranormal. This one is the most complex because its coming from within.

Does reported paranormal activity increase in the winter months? Most people claim it does, so lets look at why and some possible causes.

Ok winter comes we are indoors more, our homes closed up and we start to experience hearing and seeing  things, we get feelings of being watched.  So does this mean paranormal activity increases? Lets look at what has changed, the home is now closed up so its quieter. Ok lets look at that first the home is quieter so sounds we normally might not of heard we now hear.  We are in the house more so that would give you a greater opportunity to experience something. Now lets look at some other things we may take for granted. We are indoors more so we are exposed to things in the home more. 

Furnaces are up and running and some are producing carbon monoxide, now this has been linked to producing paranormal type feelings and hallucinations. So as an investigator your equipment should include a couple of carbon monoxide detectors.

Examples:

Carbon monoxide has been proven to cause paranormal and its been known since 1921. The American Journal of Ophthalmology published a case study involving a couple who moved into a house and promptly began to suffer headaches, listlessness and strange auditory and visual hallucinations (footsteps, mysterious figures, strange sensations, etc.). Their symptoms were finally traced to a faulty furnace. Could the fact paranormal activity rises in the winter months be tied to carbon monoxide poisoning?

A more recent case in 2005 involved a woman who was found delirious and hyperventilating after seeing a “ghost” while taking a shower; respondents discovered a new gas water heater had been improperly installed, flooding her house with carbon monoxide. Look at the home to see if they have an attached garage and if they warm their cars up, this can leak into the home as well.

So now we have to look at this as a possible cause of paranormal feelings. But does it explain it all?

Mold in your home can be dangerous as well but when the house isn’t closed up we get away from high doses. When we close the home up we are exposed to mold and breath it in more. Some mold has been linked to people experiencing paranormal.

Toxins in and around your home, can and have caused people to experience paranormal activity. So are you storing toxins in your home? Do you live by a factory or mine that has been cited for polluting air or water? If yes then you may have just discovered what causes your paranormal activity.

Prescription drugs and street drugs can and do have side effects where the person taking them thinks they are experiencing paranormal. Different people react differently to these drugs so side effects can vary. Some of these side effects, paranoia, abnormal dreams,  day dreams, and hallucinations. So make sure you ask when you do an investigation if anyone is on medication.

Magnetic fields can and do alter your thinking in the front temporal lobe making you think your experiencing paranormal . Now are these magnetic fields in the home? Yes lots of them are, from your wiring to a clock radio next to your bed. So make sure these are explored if you think your experiencing paranormal.

Now we have looked at possible cause of paranormal activity, once we rule out all the manmade causes then we can concentrate on finding  what is paranormal.

Paranormal  Study from 5-2007 to 7-2009

The following is from a 2 year study involving a 25 paranormal claim sample size. The age range was 15-65 years of age, the average age range was 30-35 years old.

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100% claimed some type of paranormal activity.

80% claimed high stress levels.

40% male 60% female  M/F Ratio.

80% Is the number treated for or diagnosed with a mental condition either current or at one point in their lives  consistent with attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia.

32% claimed to have either  been attacked or experienced some kind of Demon contact.

100% of those claiming to have experienced a Demon had been treated for a mental issue.

60% claim to have some type of sensitive ranging to psychic ability.

87.5 percent of those claiming to be sensitive to psychic experienced some type of demon activity.

60% percent of the sample size claimed to be religious

75% of the people to have had some type of trouble with a Demon were religious.

62.5% of those claiming to have had some type of trouble with a Demon were female.

4% of paranormal activity were known street drug users.

72% When shown cemetery pictures showed some type of pareidolia.

4% consumed large amounts of hard liquors.

52% of those claiming to be sensitive to psychic were religious.

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This is just a start as I would like to expand the sample size to 100. While I have been studying how claimed demon activity is related to mental illness I was surprised at the 100% result this study has shown. I was also surprised at the 75% of the people claiming demon contact being religious, I thought this number would be higher. I was also surprised at the number of people who claimed to be sensitive to psychic.  60% this was higher then I had expected. Collecting this data can involve multiple contacts for people to reveal some of the details.

This is a small sample of what we need to do in the paranormal field so we can pattern results. I plan on expanding the information to include much more in the future.

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