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A comprehensive look at the state of serious paranormal study! Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death by Carl B. Becker Looking for a book on the paranormal? Well, you certainly have some choices, some good and some not so good, but if you really want an honest look at the state of paranormal research, there really is only one, Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death by Carl B. Becker. But don’t look for this title at Barnes & Noble’s, it is a product of the State University Press at Cornell University. Becker is not a field researcher, as most paranormal authors are; he is a academic fellow and Fulbright Scholar who has spent years researching this 257 page report, 50 odd pages of which are filled with references and endnotes. As stated before, there are a lot of books on the paranormal out on the bookshelves, but this one is comprehensive, possibly the best effort at explaining things that go bump in the night since the original ASPR papers over a hundred years ago. As academically fine tuned as this book it, it is also very readable. There is little in the way of academic speak, just clear references and stories and most important a look at the facts from every possible side. That being said, Becker is not afraid to say what he thinks and when the evidence is in favor of the existence of a phenomenon, he says so. The book is well organized and can offer the reader concrete “empiric” evidence for the survival of the human spirit after death. Some of the theoretical material in this book is outstanding, showing years of research that others could only hope to dedicate to such a project, the four corners of our world have been included and the real pressures from both science and organized religion is considered. Becker reviews many well substantiated accounts of demon-possession, of memories of past lives, of ghostly apparitions and Out of Body experiences with remarkable fluidity. Carl B. Becker is a Professor of Comparative Thought at Kyoto University, Japan and has written several other outstanding books on some of the topics covered in Paranormal Experience and Survival of Death, but none have been so all inclusive. He has given the devils their due, liberally quoting some of the most outstanding skeptics of our age and always comes away with a clearer view of the goals at hand. If you are going to read just one book this year on the Paranormal we strongly suggest taking a look at this one. It is well worth the time. Paranormal Experience and the Survival of Death By Carl B. Becker, Ph. D. State University of New York Press and Cornell University Press ISBN 0-7914-1476-0 A Review by Rick Moran, Founder, The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon, Inc.
The Texas Bookworm for November 20, 2008 For those who search for things that go bump in the night… The Para-Pedia, A Glossary for Paranormal Investigators and Ghost Hunters A Review by Rick Moran, Founder, The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon, Inc. With the growing interest in all things paranormal on TV these days and the explosion of new groups that seek to learn about ghosties, author Doris “Dusty” Smith has created a 50 page collection of the terminology of the trade. The Para-Pedia is a glossary for paranormal investigators and ghost hunters and does an admirable job of giving them a common lexicon. Smith has obviously done some serious research for this little tome; collecting every definition of the paranormal from Abuuaaya to Zoomorphism and almost everything in between. While not a full fledged encyclopedia on the subject, it does cover most of the noteworthy words in the paranormal field, a few of which I was not aware existed; and after almost 40 years as an active investigator, that is saying something. Smith has also included some terms more suited for a dictionary of the occult, but explains her intention was to be as all inclusive as possible in one collection that can easily fit into the die-hard ghost hunters’ bag of tricks. Among her sources is the Miriam Webster dictionary and a slew other publications, but again Smith explains that her intention was to give the reader as clear a real definition as possible. Of course, Smith’s intent is not a new one; several national organizations give prospective members a copy of their lexicon in an effort to get them on the same page, so to speak. There is nothing worse than having a serious investigator attempting to communicate his experiences when they simply do not have the right words at hand to convey their message. Conversely, a good grimoire can tell the researcher what the correct word or phrase should be in matters of the paranormal. Smith has created a good working collection in this chap book, after ten years of investigating the unexplained, some entries are familiar, but the real fun is to see the true definitions of commonly used words that folks continue to use incorrectly. One I found particularly interesting is Nanteos Cup, an artifact said to have been sent to Wales during the cleansing of the Roman Catholic Church in England by Henry VIII. I had never heard of this term for the Holy Grail before, but with some research did find one obscure reference to Nanteos Cup in a book on the history of the Jesuits. Nice work, Ms. Smith! Have you ever heard of the Undine? According to the Para-Pedia it is a ghostly, but beautiful female apparition who has been reported along the waterways in several European countries for hundreds of years. While she means no harm to living humans, this tragic figure is said to haunt those who have been unfaithful lovers. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Para-Pedia and truly hope that paranormal investigators, new to the field or old hands consider using it as a baseline for future “ghost-speak.” The Para-Pedia; A Glossary for Paranormal Investigators and Ghost Hunters Compiled and authored by Doris “Dusty” Smith © 2008 Raven’s Loch Publishing House, Daytona Beach, FL. http://ravenslochph.com This review is provided by THE TEXAS BOOKWORM, www.texas-bookworm.com © 2008 All rights reserved
Tags: Para-pedia Books Reviews
This morning (November 1st) I got a call from a restaurant owner whose property is regarded as one of the most haunted places in Texas. They were irate, to say the least. According to them, a group booked the restaurant for Halloween and were given permission to investigate. The owner now tells me that the group introduced themselves as TAPS Family Members, which was a total lie. This morning, the owners’ came into the restaurant to find a large hole in the ceiling over the main dining room, the first room you see when you enter the establishment. According to an employee, the group told him they had permission to go where they pleased and then proceeded to step off a plywood walkway, onto the unprotected ceiling, falling through. The group left without any suggestion of apology or offer to pay for the repairs, which according to the owner, will be a considerable sum, not to mention losses from not being able to use that room until it is repaired. This is an embarrassment to all of us in the paranormal community. People lie to get what they want and then run away when things go wrong… this is only slightly less offensive than groups that misrepresent themselves to the public, get involved in cases, then retreat, leaving the clean up for the rest of us. The restaurant owner called me because he knows me personally and had hopes that I could act to get this group to do the right thing, adding, “But they are a part of TAPS, just like you. Can’t you talk to them?” The fact that they are not a part of TAPS only adds to my disgust. While most TAPS family members were out walking the streets with their kids for Trick or Treat or hosting parties for Halloween, we are now getting a black eye from a group that I am not convinced, is less than professional and ethical. Let’s remember this one! We are responsible for the conduct of everyone called a paranormal investigator. I am only sorry that I did not know about this before hand. Rick Moran Coordinator, ASUP, Inc.
We are now one year into the Box studies and have been using the K-2 for a little bit longer, so maybe it is time to break the silence I have tried to maintain on the two during this testing phase. Believe it or not, these two devices have a greater than average number of similarities in operation and after a year of working with both I have some observations to share with you. First, the Boxes are still considered experimental with ASUP, we do not use them in field investigations yet, and in fact they have only been used in two active cases over the last year. Frankly speaking, there is just too much we do not know and I don’t believe we should be dabbling in new technology at a client’s expense. That being said, I am still fascinated by the findings of folks who are devoting a good portion of their lives working with the Boxes, one on one, such as the RTSC Group. Their input has been invaluable. I have also found that while many field research groups have cued up to borrow a box for testing, few take the time to fulfill our one mandate; to simply let us know, in depth, what their experiences have been with the device. That has been disappointing. As far as field studies, there is a correlation between the K-2’s use in the field and the Box study. First among many experiences and lessons learned is the need for a tad bit of discipline. I have witnessed too many sessions with both devices where there is an underlying “tethering” level equal to what one might imagine at Grand Central Station at 5 p.m. on a Friday night. A little more decorum is called for, please. There is an age old axiom, “Garbage in, garbage out.” And if the room is filled with talk, your experience will be thusly affected. I might suggest a new order of things for field investigators using these devices; limit the on-looking crowd and demand the concentration of the bystanders if they want to be there. No talking, whispering, giggling, etc. should be allowed; break the rule and you will be asked to leave the room. Another note on the K-2 of general interest, there is a debate over holding the unit, vs. sitting the unit down on its own to respond independently, using a modification that will keep the unit operational. I would say that both methods work, but holding the unit is far superior, especially when the operator is sensitive. A sensitive holding the device will speed up the answering process greatly and in time, they don’t even have to verbalize the question being asked, except for the edification of the viewers. Our finding with the K-2 have been astounding; the hit rate is well in excess of 95% without any prior knowledge of the case or questions and no matter how many times and different ways you may ask them. That is why the ASUP now routinely uses these devices in the field. The Box study is equally fascinating, but lacks the necessary number of tests needed at this time to qualify it for routine use; part of the problem is the quality of the operators involved and once again, the environment. Where the K-2 seems to be oblivious to the number of people witnessing a session, the Box seems to work best with limited audiences. Both devices are simply intermediate mechanisms bridging two elements; the two sides of the human experience, life and death. A sensitive will become a catalyst for best results in most cases, but is not necessary, in fact these devices remove the need for a psychic-medium, which they essentially replace. The ASUP will continue the study of the Mini-Box and its sister Boxes and hopefully will find some guidelines for the proper use of the device in routine case studies, but for the moment, the Box says it best. When recently asked a Mini-Box responded to the question, “What do you think of the Box?” Its response was extremely clear. “Complicated!” It would appear, the spirits agree it is better to keep things simple! Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Ghost Hunting: It’s a High Tech World The Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon (ASUP, Inc.) has been active paranormal investigators for over 35 years and as any of the original officers will tell you, a lot of technology has been added to their bag of tricks over that period. While the pencil and notebook is still number one on their essential tools list, so are EMF meters, GPS units and hand-held weather stations. At first glance, you would probably question what use a handheld weather station could have to Ghost Hunters, but as veteran paranormal investigators can tell you, this device is now an integral part of their tool kit. Ghost Hunting is not new, the scientific approach to understanding things that go bump in the night began in earnest with William James, the father of American psychology more than a century ago, but his studies were normally confined to a laboratory. Ghost Hunting as we know it from TV is a relatively new pursuit, beginning about fifty years ago. “The big problem in field work is the in the documentation. Over the last 38 years that I have been investigating paranormal occurrences, the big roadblock has always been the skeptic who wants empiric proof of what we report, which is a much larger order than just finding a ghost,” Rick Moran, Coordinator of the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon says. “The ASUP is directly involved in finding proof of the survival of human consciousness after death, in other words documenting the existence of spirits. Unfortunately, that is a pursuit that does not lend itself to empiric proof, that is to say, it is not something that can be easily reproduced on demand.” The ASUP has more than a thousand cases documented, including some very famous ones. They debunked the claims of the Amityville Horror, but supported the claims of another popular book and motion picture, The Mothman Prophecies. “Over these years we have seen a lot of changes. We started out with notebooks and 35mm cameras and evolved into a high tech and fairly complex set of investigation standards. Giving the devil his due, that all came from skeptics, who said that what we were reporting was easily explainable through tricks of light and atmospherics,” Moran adds. This of course has led to the revamping of most of what the field researchers do. Swamp gas, fog, and other observed phenomenon were easily ruled out, if you had the proper tools at hand. The breaking point came with the investigation of a Texas landmark, where repeated sightings of a orange colored cloud were reported. “The Blob,” as the ASUP members call it was first dismissed as fog but researchers responded that if it was fog, it travelled against the wind. Nevertheless, they necessary proof was not available, until the group found the Kestrel model 4500 pocket weather station. Armed with these state of the art meters, the ASUP was afforded the chance to monitor and record minute by minute changes in atmospherics and could now prove the state of the weather when viewing paranormal activities. Equipping team leaders with portable weather stations that automatically recorded data that can then be downloaded to a computer, added to the use of GPS pinpoint locating, took the guess work out of the team’s efforts. At their most famous modern paranormal sites, the Old Alton Bridge in north central Texas, the game plan put all of the team’s modern marvels into play. First a Kestrel is mounted on a tripod at a base camp to continuously monitor the atmospherics. Baseline reading are made, including the exact GPS location of the first device. The location is further marked with a “gutter nail” about 8 inches long at the base of the tripod’s location into the ground, so that in the future they can locate the exact spot. A video camera is also mounted next to the weather station, pointing at the bridge itself, and team leaders who are working around the bridge area, each carry a Kestrel 4500 as well. Back at their offices in Wills Point, TX, the team leaders review all the data collected and match it, minute by minute to other evidence, video, audio and digital still photography. “No longer can a skeptic attack the validity of evidence from field investigations,” notes Joy Maner, the groups Research Director. “When someone now says that what we have is photo of fog, we can show him the weather data which would support our claims to the contrary.”
Tom Biscardi & Snake Oil I read with interest the Fox News flash on Tom Biscardi and the rubber suit, formerly known as Bigfoot. I remember distinctly last year when Tom and friends were going to capture the illusive creature in Oklahoma because, as he put it, “I am the only person with the experience, expertise and equipment to do it right and I am coming home with Bigfoot.” He was also charging an obscene amount of money for the privilege of accompanying him on the quest. At that same moment, ASUP was down river of Biscardi’s site in search of the same creature. It struck me as amusing that people would actually pay money to get bitten to death by bugs, face off against feral pigs and trudge through the woods in high temperatures to see him become famous. More ironic is that my team got to do all of that for nothing but our sweat. A week after his grand expedition, I wrote to Mr. Biscardi, asking where was his Bigfoot. What happened on his grand hunt? Two months later I got a note to check out some amateur video by one of the high stakes guests that showed Tom’s “specialized equipment” along with a note that said all they came back with was sore feet and chiggers. Then, a few weeks ago came the enlightened news that Tom Biscardi finally found his Bigfoot, in Georgia. I sent an e-mail to long time colleague Loren Coleman, asking what he thought, he later notified me that on the day of the announcement someone hacked into his two web sites, presumably so he could not issue a mass response, namely that he had a catalogue number for a rubber mask identical to the face of the Biscardi’s creature. Imagine that! Now some folks are saying that it is Biscardi who was ripped off by the good ol’ boys in Georgia. Maybe Tom should take the time to look at the ASUP policy and procedure manual on these topics… or just use some common sense. But more likely Tom likes to see himself on TV and planned this entire episode, in hopes of later airtime! A message to Tom Biscardi: You are an embarrassment to the study of all unexplained phenomenon. You have taken on the persona of a snake oil salesman and the critics only think about people like you when they think at all about paranormal investigators. I am embarrassed for you, but more important; I think you owe all of us an abject apology. Better yet, Tom, why don’t you just take that final long walk into the sunset, maybe you will find Bigfoot there, but at least we won’t have to deal with your bravado again. Rick Moran ASUP, Inc. Rick-Moran@asup-inc.org
This morning, I had an enlightening conversation with a young ghost hunter on the east coast; it was not interesting in content, so much as it was a insight into perception. While my biography is plastered all over web sites across the wide world, the latest generation of paranormal investigators seem to see my as the old guy who debunked Amityville and then went into hybernation. This was pretty much the understanding of this young man, who after reading the ASUP website, came away with the image of a grand old man sitting in his rocking chair overseeing a small cadre of researchers.
Sorry folks, that is not the way it is in the real world. I retired several years ago as a newspaper editor after a nasty heart attack and complications, but I'm not standing lifeless in a cryogenics tube just yet. Today I began researching a white paper on the assimilation of the Chinese into the American social order, specifically focused on the work and words of Amy Tan. That requires more than a back porch and a rocking chair; its also not paranormal research. Yes, I move a lot slower than when I was 25, but some of you will learn that lesson the hard way. The purpose of this blog is simple. Don't judge a book by its cover.
Becasue I dedicated most of my life to a second career in paranormal research, I've also done and do a lot of other things. In my youth I was a police officer, I have taught both high school in Harlem and sociology/public safety at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and I did all of that while working full time as a journalist. That does not detract from my dedication or abilities in the paranormal field, it actually enhances them.
If you do not understand living humans and their environment, you can't hope to understand their behavior after death!
Lighten up kids. Stop crowding the old guys out here, in fact, if you are as smart as you claim, one might expect to see more of you clinging to what we have to say, rather than writing it off as the misguided ideas of an ancient generation. My friend and collegue Scott Rogo was the best of our generation with 22 books on the paranormal to his credit... how many of them have you read? Even in death, Scott is trying to teach you, as I have for many years. Are you paying attention? I hope so; those who do not learn from the past are damned to relive it.
Rick Moran
rick-moran@asup-inc.org
The H2 Handy Recorder from Zoom Technologies first came to the attention of the ASUP through their New York City affiliate director, who reported it was a fantastic tool for doing EVP work. Always looking for “A better mouse trap,” the equipment testing and evaluation group of ASUP procured one to put it through its paces. Normally, using terms like “fantastic” does not find its way into our reviews, but by the time we were finished, we had to agree with our New York brethren that this device really is a cut above.
Briefly, we assume that most investigators are using digital recorders, which unfortunately have a pin hole sized microphone. They are small, light and easy to use, perfect for doing an interview, but lack quality in the overall audio. The H2 is a totally different bird, utilizing four microphones, one set facing forward to capture a 90 degrees and a second, to the rear at 120 degrees. The circuitry allows the operator to sample one or both with the touch of a button, depending on conditions, thus giving true 2 channel stereo, or can be programmed to give four channels with distinctive left and right, front and rear surround sound inputs.
This is a true recording computer that looks like a commercial microphone, utilizing a 4 hour continuous record file to a 2 GB file, in its optimum mode. Theoretically (we have not actually run it this long) the device is capable of recording 68 hours in MP3 mode. The unit can be driven with 2 AA batteries or from a wall jack transformer and uses a USB 2.0 transfer line and a SD memory card (16MB to 2 GB) or an SHDC memory card of 16 GB. From the rear LCD screen you can name files, monitor the size of files, divide them, time/date stamp them and delete them as you choose. Output is either WAV or MP3 at the operator’s preference from the same panel. And all in a unit that is just 4/5 x 2.5 x 1 inch in size.
The unit also comes with a foam microphone hood to be used in windy situations, the 512 MB memory card and a convenient tripod base for better stability. In the field the sound reproduction is truly remarkable; using an inexpensive pair of stereo headphones, also included, you hear everything, with a good deal of directional attitude. Listening to one recent case recording, there was an EVP caught and we found ourselves turning our heads to look in the direction of the voice! Real surround sound from a device only slightly larger than the digital recorders we have been using for years.
Yes, the device is more expensive than the ones now being used, but given the fact that the unit was originally designed for use by professionals and performers, it really does an excellent job in paranormal investigating at a reasonable price. It is well worth the expense.
TO see more reviews go to www.asup-inc.org
Paranormal Systems has released the second version of their Mini-Box, called the Mini-Box Plus to the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon, Inc. (ASUP) after that groups six month study of the original design. The new box is completely digital, effectively eliminating all extraneous noise while automatically enhancing weak signals and equalizing stronger ones.
The new Mini-Box PLUS scans digitally, controlled by an internal microprocessor with five different scan modes possible to allow for the best individual preferences. The unit automatically eliminates dead spots in the scan, and can be set to optimize any location, city, and country, in valleys and on mountaintops. The unit also has programmable used memories, so once you find your perfect listening settings, you can save them to the internal memory. And the new power circuit allows operations while charging.
The ASUP will begin testing the latest version of the Mini-Box early next month and their findings will be updated to include this new technology. For more information, you can contact the manufacturer at www.paranormal systems.com.
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