Showing posts with label paranormal investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paranormal investigation. Show all posts

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Neath, Wales Haunting Update - Spirit Rescue International


Update from Irene Allen-Block: This past Saturday 3rd September I returned to the location, on-site with myself were Brian and Jamie who had travelled down from London for this night's investigation.

On entering the shop floor immediately I noticed the difference this night to the previous investigation, the whole place felt calm, peaceful in fact. This often happens but I know better then to trust this as it can flare up at any time.

We linked up on Skype with the team in the USA then proceeded to do the investigation. The atmosphere in the shop and also the cellars remained the same and I began to think if there was a negative energy or any energy in fact around this night then it was more then likely keeping itself to the living quarters upstairs, unfortunately we could not get up there as the client was out.

Recorders and cameras were placed in different areas in the shop and the cellar... and beside the odd orb nothing at this point had seemed to of shown itself. Deciding to sit down at one of the tables Brian started to call out as he was doing this we all sat quietly at the same table and listened as soon as he asked for it to make a noise of some kind audible loud bangs about 6 of them could be heard coming from upstairs in the empty living quarters.

NOTE: here is the audio of the banging heard in the cellar...there are 2 voice EVPs preceding it that both sound like 'pissed': Neath, Wales - 9/3/2011 - cellar

Jamie at one time took one of the cameras to the top of the stone steps that led down to the cellar rooms, directly at the bottom of the steps was the entrance to the tunnel that leads out under the road. I was at this moment talking to one of my team out in the USA by Skype when he excitedly called out to me to come and look.

What Jamie could see on the camera screen was what he described as a man that looked as if he had a beard standing on the lower steps looking up in his direction as he watched it seemed to move up a step or two. Looking at the screen myself I could see the outline of something moving but unfortunately my eyes are not as young as Jamie. Hopefully Lon can detect it.

Several of the team on Skype heard noises and the odd EVP but all in all it was a quiet night and nothing else happened so we decided to pack up early and go back home.

Monday following I received a call from the client who told me that things seemed to have hotted up that day, while serving in the shop his girlfriend had her hair pulled and he himself had been attacked when he had gone into the cellars to get a screwdriver. The room down there that he had entered looked misty the next thing that happened he felt as if he was being choked like something was trying to strangle him. Running up in a panic from the cellar he went straight over to his partner to relate to him what had happened it was noticeable by all that my client was covered with what he described as red blotches on his face and chest.

When we reviewed the recordings etc we have caught a few EVPs, Lon is still trawling through everything for any more evidence.

NOTE: I was able to find a few more EVPs that are now posted on the forum. The video is still being looked at though there is some movement in it...in fact the movement appears on 2 different videos that were taken at approximately the same time in close proximity. Will have an update soon...Lon

Go to the Astral Perceptions forum for new evidence updates. Must be registered to access SRI case updates.


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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Esoterica: Kensington Palace Ghost Tours and Spirit Rescue International Case Update


Ghost Tours Launched at Royal Couple's Home

She's brought fresh spirit to the Royal Family - but Kate Middleton also has to shack up with some old ghosts.

Kensington Palace, where she lives in London with new husband Prince William, is rumoured to be haunted. And now bosses are opening up the historic home - first bought by King William III and wife Mary in 1689 - for a series of spooky ghost tours.

Stories collected in the warders' log book over the years include numerous reports of screams, bumps and ghostly sightings.

For four nights on the Halloween weekend, from October 28 to 31, tourists can hear all about the rumoured ghosts of Queen Mary, Peter the Wild Boy and the anonymous sinister figure who stands at the window (not to be confused with Prince Edward).

A source said: "For years now there have been rumours about Kensington Palace being haunted. In the evenings, the place has an atmosphere all of its own.

"There are lots of strange and unusual stories which the warders have logged over the years. There are bumps in the night and that kind of thing. It's fascinating stuff and not for the faint-hearted."

Wills and Kate, both 29, will spend most of this year at their main residence in Anglesey, where William works as a search and rescue pilot. But they are expected to be in London more next year.

William spent much of his childhood in the palace with his mum, Princess Diana.

Kate has filled their flat at the palace with scented candles and cushions to make it cosy.

Parts remain a building site as it undergoes a £12million refurbishment, expected to be completed by the Queen's Jubilee year in 2012. - mirror

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Spirit Rescue International: Initial On-Site Investigation Following Remote View Session - Business - Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Irene and SRI UK team on location

Lon, Kim, Sunny and Rae on Skype

OK...well, this was just a walk-through (a few hours) of the location but some of the evidence collected in the brief time the team was there gave us an indication of what we were up against.

The initial investigation included voice recordings and video of the main floor and basement of the building. The upper floors will be probed on the next visit.

There was substantial verification of much of the activity and objects perceived during the remote view, namely the constant 'touching' by an entity, many of the objects on the main floor, a hidden passageway, some of the history of the location (much more research needs to be done), paranormal hotspots not originally provided by the clients as well as descriptions of voices and apparitions experienced by the clients.

There were several disembodied voices heard during the session, but in particular:

Sunny stated she heard a very clear voice while monitoring through Skype. After going back through the EVP recordings there was a very distinctive voice recorded. In fact, it is probably the best EVP we have every collected. For various reasons, we have decided not to release it just yet.

Also...after the team started to pack up they were gathered together talking with the clients (4 people in all) when suddenly a loud gargled scream (described as a child's) was let out from the direction of the floor near a seating area. Everyone was instantly alarmed and acknowledged hearing it.

I am in the process of listening to all the evidence and will present it when we feel it is appropriate...Lon

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Irene Allen-Block's Statement:

Coffee Shop - first onsite investigation - Saturday, 27 August, 2011.

Onsite: Irene, Brian, Linda, Barry, and clients Paul and Simon off and on.

On meeting the client, Paul, at his front door, we did a walkabout of the living space upstairs. Paul first showed us all the areas where there had been paranormal occurrences. The hallway downstairs gave off the feel of how old the building was, but as we reached the rooms upstairs, the feeling changed. The living quarters had been very tastefully decorated throughout in modern style. While being shown around, most areas felt very comfortable, until we got to the master bedroom. (This floor was originally part of the attic. There were two bedrooms and a bathroom with a small hallway dividing them, the bedrooms had the sloping ceilings of the roof of the house.) Entering the master bedroom was like being hit with an energy so uncomfortable I immediately started to feel ill. My chest felt as if it was being crushed, my ears felt as if they were going to burst. I felt sick and my legs went like jelly....I had to get out.

Next, we went into the business part of the building an upscale coffee shop with cellars under. It was decided that this was the area that we would cover on this visit, leaving the living area for the next visit.

Walking through the main door into the coffee shop, again, the atmosphere felt wrong...there was heaviness about it. As the others started to set up the equipment and connect the team in the USA up to us by Skype, Paul took me down to the cellar. We walked down the stone steps, Paul going first, followed by me, who was followed by the sound of disembodied footsteps. Reaching the bottom of the steps, we then entered one of the three rooms that made up the cellar. As we went through the door, a hanging water pipe started to sway back and forth on its own accord. I attempted various tests to try and recreate this movement, even to the point of jumping up and down on the concrete floor, but nothing worked. There was no way I could make this rigid pipe move on its own.

Following this, we all met up again in the coffee shop, close to the counter, and were talking with the client, Paul. He was telling us about the many times he felt a sensation on his back, and as he was relating this, Brian suddenly moved out of the way whilst saying he had just been touched on the back, I moved into the same position that Brian had previously stood and felt a sensation of a finger being run down my spine, Everyone agreed this is what we had all felt.

The evening carried on with the usual Orbs moving around, and many of these could be ruled out as dust from the carpet but some were interesting. Linda had a sensation of someone blowing in her ear, which none of the team could debunk as being a draft. All through the investigation there was a strong feeling of being observed.

There was a point in the investigation when client Paul turned on his 2 infrared cameras in the shop, which were wired to a television on the wall. As we all stood around watching, a mist moved across the screen and orbs aplenty were crossing the room from the old fireplace to the direction of the cellar door and disappearing through it.

I decided to take my infrared hand camera and go through the door myself. As I proceeded down the stone steps I heard squeals of excitement from the team. Apparently, up until now, all the orbs had been traveling in one direction, as previously mentioned. But as soon as I went through the door, they all started to come back up and out into the shop, witnessed by the team watching the television. One of the team commented that it was as if they were trying to flee away from me.

Time went by and we decided to call it a night, we had got as much as we could in the way of filming, photos and recordings and all were feeling the strain of the investigation.

Everything put away, we were standing talking, none of us more than 4 foot away from each other, when all of a sudden a heart- wrenching scream came out of nowhere, It was as if it was there beside us, as if it was coming up out of the floor, so loud as if someone was in such pain or fear. All of us heard it at the same time and was so flabbergasted that beside me saying “what the #### was that” the rest of the team had their jaws dropping as we all looked blankly at one another. After a short skirt about the floor and shop trying to debunk this EVP, we gave up and left the building.

(When first talking on the telephone earlier during the week, the client did tell me about a time when he was in the cellar and the door would not open, trapping him in there. As he was trying to get out, he heard a scream coming from the shop floor above, although the shop was closed and locked up. As soon as the scream finished, the door released itself and he was able to exit.)

Arriving home, I decided to listen to the recordings we had made. The usual recordings where the recorder had been in a locked off empty cellar room showed signs of movement on the floor and a few sighs, that’s all. The last recording made during a discussion we were having on the shop floor with the team from the US gave us a very disturbing EVP, so much so that when I heard the recording the cup of tea I was drinking ended up on my wall opposite where I had been sitting. It came as a shock, as I was not expecting it.

My only regret of this night was that when the scream happened all the equipment had been packed away but next time I will make sure that at least one recorder gets left out and switched on until we have vacated the building.

Wednesday, 31st August, I received a concerned telephone call from Paul, the client. It was evening and Paul had decided to go down to the shop and relax and read the paper, leaving his girlfriend who had not been too well to her own space in the living accommodation above. Sitting there drinking a can of Coke and reading a paper in the same vicinity where we had been standing when we heard the screaming EVP, Paul was shocked to hear the scream himself exactly as we had experienced, it took him by surprise and like my tea his Coke went everywhere.

There were many unusual things heard by the team that were listening in to the investigation on Skype even down to the fact that the EVP caught was heard as well. although no one onsite heard it. I can only think this was because computers, like recorders, are electronic.

The EVP will be posted by Lon in due course.

NOTE: There was another location investigation on Saturday September 3rd. Details are forthcoming after the evidence is examined. More on-site sessions are planned...there are other active areas of the premises that need to be probed before a clearing can be initiated. As well, we are working actively on a possible UFO / unknown entity infestation in Grayson County, Texas. That information and past/current/future cases will be posted and updated at Astral Perceptions - Spirit Rescue International Case Logs. Registration is required in order to view case logs...Lon


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Psychologists Discover We've Been Underestimating the Unconscious Mind

What does consciousness do? Theories vary, but most neurologists and cognitive psychologists agree that we need awareness for integration. That is, unconscious processing can take in one object or word at a time. But when it comes to pulling together disparate stimuli into a coherent, complex scene, consciousness gets to work.

Now, new research by four Israeli psychologists—Liad Mudrik and Dominique Lamy of Tel Aviv University, and Assaf Breska and Leon Y. Deouell of Hebrew University of Jerusalem—suggests that scientists have been underestimating the abilities of the unconscious mind. “Integration can happen even when we’re unaware of the stimulus,” says Mudrik. “Unconscious processes are much more sophisticated and deeper than was previously believed.”

The findings will be published in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

To test this idea, the researchers put their subjects—18 men and women with normal vision—before a stereoscope, which allows stimuli to be introduced to each eye separately. In one eye, “Mondrians”—changing patterns of color blocks—continuously flashed, suppressing perception of other objects. In the other eye the subjects saw images of people interacting with objects. Some scenes were “congruent”: a woman putting food in an oven; a player handling a basketball. Others were “incongruent”: the woman putting a chessboard in the oven; the player holding a watermelon. The pictures were present during the entire viewing, but increased in contrast over several seconds, as the Mondrians grew fuzzier in the background.

The participants were instructed to press one of two buttons as soon as they detected the hemi field, or side of the one eye’s vision, in which the picture appeared. The experimenters compared the time participants took to respond to congruent versus incongruent scenes.

The incongruent scenes broke through the visual noise and came into awareness significantly faster than the congruent ones.

Why? “During unconscious processing, subjects are able to integrate object and background without the need for awareness,” Mudrik explains. “When the integration of the incongruent scene happens, though, it doesn’t make sense.” That’s not a cookie sheet. It’s a chessboard! “Then consciousness is recruited to make sense of an integration that does not come out properly.”

The research, says Mudrik, is rich with potential. In terms of theory, it “opens the gate” to a new understanding of the complex functioning of awareness.

But it also has implications for daily life. “These findings give us information about the resources we allocate to everyday actions. Say you are driving and talking on a cell phone. What we’ve shown is that you are doing some unconscious processing; we can perform many quite sophisticated actions at one time.

“But we have to bear in mind that this only works as long as things go according to plan. When things go wrong—say, a child runs into the road—our unconscious system cannot deal with it.” In other words, it’s wise to keep some perceptual resources in reserve for those novel situations, whether they are life threatening or simply weird. - medicalexpress


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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Esoterica: Movie Cast Creeped Out, Haunted Villa and Spooky Cellar


Thriller Cast Creeped Out While Filming At Haunted Hospital


The cast and crew of new thriller Insight were left spooked during night shoots while filming at an abandoned hospital, which has been listed as one of the most haunted sites in Los Angeles.

Linda Vista Community Hospital in Boyle Heights, where the pilot for E.R. was shot, has been shuttered for 20 years - following a string of lawsuits connected to the place's unexpectedly high death rates.

It has been the site of several televised paranormal investigations and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

And In/Sight director Richard Gabai admits it was a very spooky setting for him and his cast, including Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd and Sean Patrick Flanery.

The moviemaker says, "It was extremely creepy and scary, which really helped the feel of the movie - because it's a supernatural thriller. It was challenging at times.

"I can't say anyone saw any ghosts but you could feel death in that place. There was actually one time I lost my producer for two hours - he wandered off and got lost. We worried that something had happened to him.

"He was terrified because the electricity would go on and off and the lights would flicker."

But Gabai admits he had more than ghosts and ghouls to worry about while making the film - he was on such a tight budget he agreed to share the location with another production.

He tells WENN, "There was another film shooting simultaneously so we had to observe tight schedules, as did the other director, so our projects didn't interfere. Can you imagine shooting a tense scene and hearing 'Action' from another part of the hospital?"

But Gabai brought the film in under budget in just 15 days, despite the obstacles. - contactmusic

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Tenants have heard a man moaning in the bedroom (left) while the kitchen (top right) has often become exceedingly cold, or the bathroom (bottom right) flush has gone off mysteriously. One tenant has also been locked in the shower for two hours.

Haunted house of Jumeirah scares its occupants

"There's something that lives in our house, and it isn't human," says Karl, a resident of an old villa in Jumeirah, Dubai. Located deep in the heart of Jumeirah 1, this seven-bedroom hotspot of paranormal activity is home to a group of Filipinos who claim to have experienced visitations for over a year now.

Most unusual, perhaps, is Lora's encounters with a male "spirit".

Lora's spooky story began in November last year when she was awakened at 3am. "I felt an intense pressure all over my body, as though there was a person sleeping on top of me. I tried to sit up, but couldn't move anything besides my fingers and toes. On the curtains I could see a dark shadow atop me," she says.

"A few nights later, I could hear a man moaning from my roommate Mary's bed. At first I thought her husband was back from the Philippines, but a quick peak revealed Mary was fast asleep with that mysterious shadow on top of her reflecting on the wall."

Understandably, both Lora and Mary, having discussed the events of the night, were afraid to sleep alone in their beds, instead choosing to huddle together on the floor. On one of those nights, Mary had another visitation. "I was fast asleep when I felt something at my foot. I looked down to see my sock peeling itself off. I woke up the other girls and we all saw it happen: Not just once or twice, but eight times over the course of the night."

Her husband Karl has an equally eerie story to tell. "Three months ago I was home alone and my bed started shaking incessantly. I looked around thinking I was in the middle of an earthquake, except that nothing else was moving apart from my bed. Sometimes, I hear voices trying to whisper in my ear."

His flatmate Phillip, a 30-year-old secretary, says he has visitations from the "ghost at least once a week. Normally, it just draws open my curtains every time I close them, but one time I was in the shower and it locked me in for two hours. My flatmates had to eventually break the lock to get me out."

Louise, a Filipino teacher who lives in one of the ground floor bedrooms, says she's afraid to enter her own kitchen alone because she feels "a strong presence in the kitchen and the adjoining toilet. Often, the kitchen becomes exceedingly cold, or the bathroom door slams open and shuts, the flush goes off mysteriously… It's not a part of the house I like coming to."

Nora, the eldest occupant of the house, says she was once a medium and as such is trying to make contact with whatever it is that is in their house. So far, she hasn't had any luck. Her flatmate Karl says that while the days are usually quiet, most of the paranormal activity happens at night. "These aren't dangerous ghosts, but they like to play around," says Karl. "For example, no matter how often we change the light bulbs in our room, they don't last beyond two weeks. Whoever it is that's living in our room obviously likes the dark." - gulfnews

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Spirits and spooks and things that go bump in the cellar

A typical Saturday night in Hinckley might involve the odd ghoulish scene - but for around 30 people hidden away in the pitch-black cellar of Hinckley Museum, Midlands, the presence of the paranormal was far more palpable.

Latches mysteriously lifted on doors, candle flames flickered with no breeze and electricity sparked in the air as the Absolutely Haunted team got to grips with one of Hinckley’s oldest - and spookiest - buildings.

It is the first time any paranormal investigation company has been allowed access to the row of 17th century thatched cottages, on Lower Bond Street, and the team were determined to put the place through its paces with glass work, table tipping (both similar to communicating through a Ouija board) and lone vigils planned to draw the spirits out.

So what had I let myself in for?

“First things first, there are no such thing as ghosts,” explained Chris Seal, founder of the Leicestershire company.

“But there are spirits and we can feel and tune into their energy.

“Tonight is all about having fun, this is the first time any team has investigated this building so it could take a while to work it but I’ve got a really good feeling about this place.”

And he wasn’t disappointed.

While we were all getting to know each other and sharing paranormal experiences, of which I sadly have none, Chris was already receiving messages from the other side.

“A man’s just told me to lick his [Gredg Drodz, a local historian] head and cut his toenails - I think he’s a bit mischievous,” laughed Chris.

But as the first group carefully made their way down into the cramped cellar there was no hint of merriment left.

Clasping hands in the dark, we began to create a circle of energy to help the spirits communicate as Chris started digging - a mental tool which would unravel the layers of history - and memories - in the building.

People began to be prodded poked, pushed in the stomach - not me I have to say but I did get a very strange smell, along with a few others - as the team carried on calling for any spirits to come forward.

Chris then picked up information that there was another identical cellar beneath the one we were standing in - with no less than a Tin Hat inside, spookily before he even knew people from the town were known as Tin Hatters.

But it was later on in the evening that things really started picking up.

I witnessed loud creaks coming from an empty room, two k2 metres, which measure changes in electromagnetic fields, going mad at either end of the cellar as people picked up the spirits of children and Chris also said he had seen electricity sparking in the air - a first for him even with more than 20 years experience of communicating with the spirit world.

Whatever it may be defined as, there is definitely something strange going on in the museum; although nothing nasty at all.

In fact, despite the clock hitting 3.30am and signalling the end of the night, everyone was still in high spirits.

The only question is whether or not we all got to sleep later on?

I know I jumped every time I heard a creak!

* The historians at the museum are going to research all the information gathered on the night to see if it fits with historical events. - news-in-hinckley

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Ghostly encounters in Wisconsin restaurant

Sarah Schuerman said it would happen when she was alone in the kitchen.

“When you are all alone you get tapped on the shoulder, but no on is there,” she told me recently at Chances restaurant and bar in Rochester, Wis.

“One time I was working the meat slicer and almost cut my finger,” she continued, when the tap on her shoulder came as if in warning, she said.

Chances, built in 1843 is haunted, so say its past and present owners and family members.

Located about 45 minutes away in Racine County, it is tucked into a quaint community with a few small shops like Finder’s Keepers in the small downtown area.

I first read about the place earlier in the week in a book called “Haunted Wisconsin” Third Edition by Michael Norman.

And so, curious, I asked work colleague/cousin Jody if she’d like to venture over to Chances for lunch.

Always game for an interesting day trip, Jody agreed and we set out on our quest for some tales of the supernatural.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch and then proceeded into the bar area where several patrons were seated.

That’s when things got interesting.

The restaurant has been owned by the Schuerman family for about 25 years, said Sarah, who was about two years old when her parents bought it. She grew up in and around the place and worked in the kitchen during her high school years. She still helps out on the weekends, she said.

On this day, she was enjoying lunch at the bar and was among several people who had stories to tell of spiritual encounters or happenings at the historic site, built before the Civil War. There reportedly also is an underground railroad entrance for run-away slaves in the basement, but that has been closed off we were told.

Still, the spirit who haunts the kitchen is said to be a black woman, perhaps a runaway slave who also inhabited the basement area and came upstairs to cook, we were told.

According to the book and according to the people we talked to, there are seven ghosts in the place.

Jody and I did not see or feel anything unusual on our visit, but when we went upstairs to the supply room, where unexplained sounds or actions also have occurred, Jody’s cell phone did ping twice. No one was trying to text or call her and the battery was not low, nor was it in an out-of-area range.

Perhaps the steel reinforcement in the floor caused the pings, but then who knows for sure?

But back to Sarah and her family’s experiences.

One of the ghosts or spirits is a Civil War soldier.

“My sister saw him walk from the dining room to the bar and then disappear,” Sarah said.

There’s also children, a set of twins who play tricks on people, she said.

“They like to hide things,” among the items they apparently like to hide are Sarah’s dad’s keys.

“He’s a creature of habit, he always puts his keys in the same place when he walks in.”

But some nights the keys will be mysteriously missing and then her father ends up walking home. The next morning, however, the keys will be right where they should be, she said.

And yes, ghost hunters and psychics have visited Chances.

They have told the family the ghosts like them.

Once when Sarah was leaving the building with her daughter, who was about 5 at the time, her daughter told her: “Those ghosts at Chances don’t look anything like Casper, but they’re friendly.”

Previously, the Fischbach family owned the place.

Walter Fischbach lived on the site for years. Sometimes, he would hear someone walking around the dance floor and hear the door open and close, he said, yet no one would be there.

Bartender Judy Hegemann has worked at Chances for eight years.

Although she has never seen any spirits floating by, “I feel something — they like to play with me. They like to hide things on me,” she said.

Customers have told her they have felt being touched or tapped on the shoulder in the back dining room.

Jody and I found it all very interesting and unexplainable, which is why it intrigued us in the first place.

Whether it is truth or fiction or the results of overactive imaginations, it seems plausible only because so many people have reported so many occurrences, if nothing else.

Perhaps you’d like to test your own mettle on the subject; don’t take our word for it. (We only told you about some of the stories; there are more).

To get to Chances, take Interstate 43 for about 33 miles, then take exit No. 33 to Bowers Road for a very short distance. Then turn left and head east on Country Road D for 11.5 miles. You will drive right into Rochester. The restaurant is located at 205 W. Main St. - beloitdailynews

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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Esoterica: A Real-Life Wizard, Alcatraz Night Tours and Haunted Hollywood


The Real-Life Wizard Behind "Harry Potter"

The phenomenal success of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, and the film based on "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," is introducing a whole new generation of children (and their parents) to the world of magic, sorcery and alchemy.

What is not widely known, however, is that at least one of the characters - and his magical quest - referred to in "Harry Potter" is based on a real alchemist and his strange experiments.

According to the Harry Potter stories, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, earned his reputation as a great wizard due, in part, to his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. And although Dumbledore, Harry and all the other teachers and students at Hogwarts are fictional, Nicholas Flamel was a real-life alchemist who dabbled in some of the most mystical corners of the magical arts, including the quest for an Elixir of Life. Some wonder, in fact, if Flamel is still alive!

When "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was written, Flamel's age was pegged at 665 years. That would be just about right since the real Flamel was born in France around 1330. Through an astonishing series of events, he became one of the most famous alchemists of the 14th century. And his story is almost as fantastic and enchanting as Harry Potter's.

An Incredible Dream Comes True

As an adult, Nicholas Flamel worked as a bookseller in Paris. It was a humble trade, but one that provided him with the relatively rare abilities to read and write. He worked from a small stall near the Cathedral of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie where, with his assistants, he copied and "illuminated" (illustrated) books.

One night, Flamel had a strange and vivid dream in which an angel appeared to him. The radiant, winged creature presented to Flamel a beautiful book with pages that seemed to be of fine bark and a cover of worked copper. Flamel later wrote down what the angel spoke to him: "Look well at this book, Nicholas. At first you will understand nothing in it - neither you nor any other man. But one day you will see in it that which no other man will be able to see."

Just as Flamel was about to take the book from the angel's hands, he awoke from his dream. Soon after, however, the dream was to weave its way into reality. One day when Flamel was working alone in his shop, a stranger approached him who was desperate to sell an old book for some much-needed money. Flamel immediately recognized the strange, copper-bound book as the one offered by the angel in his dream. He eagerly bought it for the sum of two florins.

The copper cover was engraved with peculiar diagrams and words, only some of which Flamel recognized as Greek. The pages were like none he had ever encountered in his trade. Instead of parchment, they seemed to be made from the bark of sapling trees. Flamel was able to discern from the first pages of the book that it was written by someone who called himself Abraham the Jew - "a prince, priest, Levite, astrologer and philosopher."

The strong memory of his dream and his own intuition convinced Flamel that this was no ordinary book - that it contained arcane knowledge that he feared he might not be qualified to read and understand. It could contain, he felt, the very secrets of nature and life.

Flamel's trade had brought him familiarity with the writings of the alchemists of his day, and he knew something of transmutation (the changing of one thing into another, such as lead into gold) and knew well the many symbols that alchemists used. But the symbols and writing in this book were beyond Flamel's understanding, although he strove to solve its mysteries for over 21 years.

The Quest for Translation

Because the book had been written by a Jew and much of its text was in ancient Hebrew, he reasoned that a scholarly Jew might be able to help him translate the book. Unfortunately, religious persecution had recently driven all of the Jews out of France. After copying only a few pages of the book, Flamel packed them and embarked on a pilgrimage to Spain, where many of the exiled Jews had settled.

The journey was unsuccessful, however. Many of the Jews, understandably suspicious of Christians at this time, were reluctant to help Flamel, so he began his journey home. Flamel had all but given up his quest when he chanced upon an introduction to a very old, learned Jew by the name of Maestro Canches who lived in Leon. Canches, too, was not eager to help Flamel until he mentioned Abraham the Jew. Canches had certainly heard of this great sage who was wise in the teachings of the mysterious kabbalah.

Canches was able to translate the few pages that Flamel brought with him and wanted to return to Paris with him to examine the rest of the book. But Jews were still not allowed in Paris and Canches' extreme old age would have made the journey difficult anyway. As fate would have it, Canches died before he could help Flamel any further. - about.com

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Night Time Tours of Alcatraz Offers Eerie Experience

When night fell on The Rock in San Francisco Bay visitors moved shadow-like through the former prison's lantern-lit hospital rooms, a gloaming against dingy walls with peeling blue paint.

A hard wind whooshed and rattled a window in the hospital cell where Robert Stroud, "The Birdman of Alcatraz," spent 11 of his 17 years when this was the dankest, hardest federal prison in the U.S.

Yet, most of the more than one million tourists who visit the famous former prison never get to experience Alcatraz Island at night or see its spooky, decrepit hospital -- experiences unique to the night tour. At dusk the island prison that housed some of the nation's most notorious criminals -- including Al Capone and the recently rearrested James "Whitey" Bulger, who was on The Rock for bank robbery from 1959-1963 -- is often enshrouded by fog, and the lamps on the grounds emit a ghostly glow.

The difference from the daytime tour is apparent from the start. The ferry from San Francisco motors slowly around the west side of the isle, passing decrepit buildings surrounded by Alcatraz new residents: black Brandt's cormorants, Western gulls and the other birds that have made their home there since U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy shuttered the prison in 1963.

"This is a little eerie," said Gerard Lang, 28, who was visiting from Covington, Kentucky. "You kind of feel like you're heading to prison yourself."

After leaving the boat visitors begin a winding ascent past the prison's official sign, where a faded "Indians Welcome" written in red paint is still visible, remnants of the Native American occupation of the island in from 1969 to 1971. The island became a national park in 1972.

"You're following in the footsteps of every federal prisoner who ever came here," said Eric Knackmuhs, a Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy guide.

Passing the guano and rust covered buildings that once housed the families of prison guards, the park's employees tell of a failed Friday the 13th 1939 escape attempt -- one of many escape attempts recited in gripping detail that are not included on the daytime tour.

Once inside the prison the audio tour features stories from ex-inmates and former prison guards in their own voices.

The tour leads visitors through D Block, or solitary confinement, where you can stand inside a dark cell and listen to the voices of inmates who spent time there. Close your eyes and you can sense the isolation, the desperation.

If you're lucky and find a guide who isn't too busy, you can also ask to take a quick detour into "The Dungeon," another of the usually off-limits areas of the prison that can be accessed at night.

The dungeon is left over from when Alcatraz was a military prison, and has a series of small alcoves where Civil War and World War I-era prisoners were held, said Jim Bradon, a guide. Shining a flashlight on the wall of one dark alcove, the prison inmate numbers of former dungeon denizens can be seen carved into the bricks.

As the sun sets and the lights inside the penitentiary dim, the employees open up the hospital at 8 p.m. Visitors walk through the dark rooms past old metal operating tables, the former X-ray room with windows painted black and the psych ward.

The hospital visit is unique to the night tour, and for lovers of prison's history it is a significant addition to Alcatraz' story.

"You ever see ghosts here?" a tourist asked an employee in the hospital's hallway, shadows dancing on the walls as tourists passed before lanterns.

After a brief pause, she said no.

On the ride back to shore, San Francisco's skyline glowed through the evening fog and many remarked on the unique evening spent on Alcatraz.

"At night it was kind of eerie with the fog and the lights. That was really cool," said Steven Winslade, 26, from London, England. - Foxnews

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Deceased Celebrities Still Seen In Their Old Haunts

You’ve checked into the Beverly Hills Roosevelt hotel, donned your chicest outfit, and are ready to hit Tinseltown. On your way out, you stop to admire your fresh look in a lobby mirror when eerily, you see a ghostly figure next to your reflection — that of the world-famous blond, Marilyn Monroe.

Tales of haunted hotels abound, of course, especially in older establishments like the Roosevelt. Usually, the haunting spirit is that of a random person — someone who died there, perhaps, or someone who simply doesn’t want to check out. But some of these hotel spooks — like Sid Vicious, Anna Nicole Smith, and Marilyn (who’s specter has also been reported at Lake Tahoe’s Cal Neva Resort) — became famous before their deaths. And conveniently, some of them inhabit easily booked hotels.

So who are these A-listers who have come back from the great beyond to haunt hotels? Elvis Presley, for one. People all over the world have laid claim to seeing the still-living King, of course, but his spirit is popular, too. It’s been spotted in his old performance space at the Las Vegas Hilton — just waiting, perhaps, to do one more show.

Another singer, Janis Joplin, has a different kind of connection to the hotel she’s said to haunt. It was in the Landmark Hotel (now the Highland Gardens Hotel) in Los Angeles that she died of an overdose in 1970.

Naturally, some hotels don’t like to discuss the celebrities — either living or dead — who stay with them. The Roosevelt maintains that their hotel isn’t haunted by anyone, celebrity or otherwise. And the Algonquin Hotel — where writer Dorothy Parker is said to lurk — says it has no documented occurrences of a haunting.

As with any unexplained phenomena, there are more rumors than documented cases. So perhaps these celebrity spirits don’t exist, and the sightings have proliferated because diehard fans don’t want to accept that their beloved star is gone. But maybe there’s some truth to them. After all, why would so many guests insist that what they saw was real?

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Beyond the Veil Paranormal Research


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