April 25, 2010 By Stephen Ellis
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about phony pictures of ghosts and UFOs. The response was so significant that I believe a second column is in order.
I’ve just finished reviewing two books published by David & Charles Publications entitled “Ghosts Caught on Film” and “Ghosts Caught on Film 2”. Although extremely similar in content, the first was written by Dr. Melvyn Willin and the second by Jim Easton. Both were recognized members of the Society for Psychical Research located in Cambridge, England.
The reason their books were set-apart from so many other ghost photo books is that both authors took the time to point-out what makes a ghost photo authentic, and what makes it a “fake”. I’m going to add my own rules for detecting the fake ones:
The first question any viewer should ask is “Why was the photo taken?” Most ghosts and UFOs do not stop to pose for the camera. When I see a photo of an empty corridor with the image of someone or something at the end of the corridor and the photographer swears there was nothing there when the photo was taken, a red light flashes in my head: Why would someone take a picture of an empty corridor…or an empty staircase? If it is not immediately obvious as to why the photo was taken, it is likely a phony! Why would someone go into a cemetery and take a photo of some headstones of people they don’t know…and when the picture is printed, a small girl appears to be peeking out from behind one of the grave markers…or a white mist appears in the print
It simply doesn’t make sense! I’m a very strong believer in ghosts and the paranormal, but it has to make sense or I don’t believe it. When I look at a ghost photo, and I see the ghost wearing robes…or even any form of clothing, I immediately suspect that it’s a fake. When the body dies, and the energy that was its mind/aura leaves that body…it is not dressed! It is pure energy. Energy does not wear clothes.
It may seem strange, but genuine ghost pictures can frequently distinguish a face. Especially when the subject of the photo is someone who often thinks about that dead person and how they looked. “The face in that photo seems to be the face of my dead father…”
There have been innumerable photos claiming to be genuine where dead soldiers, sailors and marines appear wearing their uniforms or combat fatigues. Maybe that’s to help identify them, but the energy that was their mind has no need for clothing because it’s not a physical body.
Then I look for light anomalies: Is the orb or light section near the edge of the photo? If so, it’s probably light that seeped into the camera or droplets of water on the lens, creating the affect of a ghostly image. Is the spot of light created by artificial light or a flashlight? Look for the positions of shadows. Wispy effects are usually created with smoke. And then there are the pranksters who think they are smarter than everyone else who will use steam or silly-string to create mysterious effects.
Although I have read reports that some UFOs seem to be standing still in the sky, I have very serious doubts about them. Other than the TV show “V”, more than 98% of all reports concerning UFOs say that they are moving…and moving rapidly. I do not believe that UFOs stop and pose for the photographer. So, any time I see an absolutely clear, detailed photo of a UFO, I instantly presume it to be a fake.
Almost all genuine UFO photos are pictures that were taken of something else, and a speck (or something larger) appears in the background that the photographer did not see when the photo was snapped. When blown-up, that speck is clearly an aircraft of some sort. It’s a moving object, so the image may be unclear…but it is definitely not an aircraft of the type with which we are familiar.
The Wright Brothers made their first, historic flight in 1903. There is one UFO photo taken at Mt. Washington in 1870 that clearly depicts a flying object. Other UFO photos were taken in 1910 and 1927. I do not believe, back then, that there was any significant amount of photo shopping.
If you have any ghost or UFO photos, please send them to me via e-mail. Stebrel@aol.com
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
STRANGE LANGUAGE
April 17, 2010 By Stephen Ellis
A very interesting phenomenon with paranormal implications is an increasing number of patients, awakening from a coma, with the ability to speak a different language…fluently. This not only happens to people awakening from a coma, but sometimes when awakening from a normal deep sleep.
The website, Phantoms and Monsters, recently reported the story of a Croatian girl who awakened from a coma, unable to speak Croatian, but speaking fluent German. This report is not nearly as strange as others I’ve read and experienced because this particular girl had been studying German in school and, while not even close to being fluent in it, she did have some background in German.
Actually, I’ve read about several cases that are far stranger. A man awoke from a 6-month long coma and found himself very conversant in Aramaic…a biblical language. It was so odd, that a professor of ancient languages had to visit with him for almost a week to confirm that the man was actually speaking ancient Aramaic and speaking it with fluency far greater than the Professor’s.
Personally, I had the experience of hypnotizing a young girl (about 16 or 17) at a party and regressing her back to what I thought would be a past life when she began speaking in an archaic form of French. There was someone at this party who was from France who partially translated what the girl was saying, but acknowledged that many of the words spoken were no longer in common French usage. When she was awakened, the girl told me that she was studying Spanish is high school; that neither she nor any member of her family were French, spoke French or had even visited France or a French speaking country.
The internet is absolutely replete with reports of people who claim they awakened from a sleep speaking a completely strange language…often one they did not understand themselves but because of the inflections, the consistency of words and word patterns, etc. knew they were trying to communicate in a language their brain could not comprehend.
To me, it is just another indication of past lives we have lived. It’s always possible that there can be a more rational explanation for this phenomenon, but the facts coordinate nicely with everything I’ve been writing about reincarnation, about our mind/aura, how we have lived before and will live again. If we don’t give some credibility to the “reincarnation” or “past life” theories, it is almost impossible to explain the speaking of a language you don’t know…especially in an archaic form.
It has often been said in my column and in my books that providing “scientific proof” of anything is a virtual impossibility (except something like a chemical reaction in a laboratory). Even scientists have little scientific proof to support basic theories such as gravity, our solar system, the effect certain medicines will have on an individual, etc.
However, in the absence of scientific proof, we have what is called empirical or circumstantial proof. Sometimes circumstantial or empirical proof can be so overwhelming that the probability of its truth is undeniable. Many people are in prison because juries were swayed by empirical or circumstantial proof. Many medical benefits are based on the empirical proof of statistics.
In viewing the paranormal, there is overwhelming circumstantial and empirical evidence that UFOs exist, that some people are genuinely psychic and that reincarnation is a fact of life. Yet, even today, millions of people live in denial.
If all the writing I have done can promulgate one single thought, it is this: Don’t close your mind! Within the next several years, many of the things I write about will possibly have been further documented with such overwhelming force that living in denial will be the exclusive right of fools.
Please share your opinion with me. Stebrel@aol.com
A very interesting phenomenon with paranormal implications is an increasing number of patients, awakening from a coma, with the ability to speak a different language…fluently. This not only happens to people awakening from a coma, but sometimes when awakening from a normal deep sleep.
The website, Phantoms and Monsters, recently reported the story of a Croatian girl who awakened from a coma, unable to speak Croatian, but speaking fluent German. This report is not nearly as strange as others I’ve read and experienced because this particular girl had been studying German in school and, while not even close to being fluent in it, she did have some background in German.
Actually, I’ve read about several cases that are far stranger. A man awoke from a 6-month long coma and found himself very conversant in Aramaic…a biblical language. It was so odd, that a professor of ancient languages had to visit with him for almost a week to confirm that the man was actually speaking ancient Aramaic and speaking it with fluency far greater than the Professor’s.
Personally, I had the experience of hypnotizing a young girl (about 16 or 17) at a party and regressing her back to what I thought would be a past life when she began speaking in an archaic form of French. There was someone at this party who was from France who partially translated what the girl was saying, but acknowledged that many of the words spoken were no longer in common French usage. When she was awakened, the girl told me that she was studying Spanish is high school; that neither she nor any member of her family were French, spoke French or had even visited France or a French speaking country.
The internet is absolutely replete with reports of people who claim they awakened from a sleep speaking a completely strange language…often one they did not understand themselves but because of the inflections, the consistency of words and word patterns, etc. knew they were trying to communicate in a language their brain could not comprehend.
To me, it is just another indication of past lives we have lived. It’s always possible that there can be a more rational explanation for this phenomenon, but the facts coordinate nicely with everything I’ve been writing about reincarnation, about our mind/aura, how we have lived before and will live again. If we don’t give some credibility to the “reincarnation” or “past life” theories, it is almost impossible to explain the speaking of a language you don’t know…especially in an archaic form.
It has often been said in my column and in my books that providing “scientific proof” of anything is a virtual impossibility (except something like a chemical reaction in a laboratory). Even scientists have little scientific proof to support basic theories such as gravity, our solar system, the effect certain medicines will have on an individual, etc.
However, in the absence of scientific proof, we have what is called empirical or circumstantial proof. Sometimes circumstantial or empirical proof can be so overwhelming that the probability of its truth is undeniable. Many people are in prison because juries were swayed by empirical or circumstantial proof. Many medical benefits are based on the empirical proof of statistics.
In viewing the paranormal, there is overwhelming circumstantial and empirical evidence that UFOs exist, that some people are genuinely psychic and that reincarnation is a fact of life. Yet, even today, millions of people live in denial.
If all the writing I have done can promulgate one single thought, it is this: Don’t close your mind! Within the next several years, many of the things I write about will possibly have been further documented with such overwhelming force that living in denial will be the exclusive right of fools.
Please share your opinion with me. Stebrel@aol.com
Thursday, April 15, 2010
BRAIN BUFFERS
April 11, 2010 By Stephen Ellis
My column is a couple of days late this week. Between the property taxes and in the income taxes, I haven’t been able to come up for air. I’ve been giving a lot of serious thought to a subject I haven’t really talked about in detail, but I’ve read quite a bit about:
Science tells us that we all have little buffers that surround our brains. The basic purpose of these buffers seems to be to help the brain handle stress. These buffers are composed of amino proteins. They are still unexplained, medically, but they do seem to be vital in limiting us to the perception of five senses: taste, touch, sight, sound and smell.
The brain is an extremely sensitive part of our body and these buffers also act as a kind of shock absorber or cushion so that when we bump our heads, we don’t damage our brains. Of course, a severe blow to the head can and does damage these buffers and the brain they are trying to protect…sometimes with predictable results…and other times with very strange results.
For example, when Peter Hurkos (the famous psychic), fell off a rooftop in Amsterdam (during WW II) and landed on his head, he should have been killed. In fact, the buffers around his brain were damaged beyond repair and even the slightest blow to his head could have been lethal. Instead, it made him psychic. His brain became sensitive to the thoughts of others…and, sometimes, to the thoughts of dead people.
Remember, the dead have no bodies. They have no vocal chords. They are pure energy. The only communication with them (if any) is via thought, and very few of us have brains sensitive enough to pick up on these energy-based thought patterns…except psychics. Psychic detectives use that sensitivity to locate the missing people’s bodies, to re-visit crime scenes, etc.
The problem, of course, is in knowing how to control that sensitivity. It’s one thing to have damaged buffers in your brain. It’s quite another to know just how that increased sensitivity will work…or even “when” it will work. My guess is that it works best when the brain is asleep and the buffers are not trying to fight-off things it doesn’t want the mind to perceive. When a person dreams!
That’s why most psychic detectives will get their visions when they sleep. They will sleep close to a photograph or an article of clothing of the dead person and get their visions in a kind of dream. But, because they have trained themselves to do so, they can remember enough of the dream to make notes when they awaken.
Maybe these thoughts are kind of far-out, but not so far out that they are not possible.
There are a lot of people who claim to be able to see ghosts. Of course a ghost is pure energy, but some people claim to be able to see a misty shape or a dark shadow that can be identified as someone. Very few people can make this claim (without being institutionalized), but what about photos?
There are lots of photos of and videos of ghosts. How is it that the camera often sees what we do not see? One logical answer is that cameras do not have buffers to limit their sense of perception. I’m quick to understand that photo shops and double exposures can explain many of the ghosts appearing in photos and videos…but there are an impressive number taken by people of position and prestige who would be extremely unlikely to photo-shop something.
There are other questions that we will discuss later, such as where do ghosts get the clothes they always seem to wear?
Got an opinion? Write me at Stebrel@aol.com
My column is a couple of days late this week. Between the property taxes and in the income taxes, I haven’t been able to come up for air. I’ve been giving a lot of serious thought to a subject I haven’t really talked about in detail, but I’ve read quite a bit about:
Science tells us that we all have little buffers that surround our brains. The basic purpose of these buffers seems to be to help the brain handle stress. These buffers are composed of amino proteins. They are still unexplained, medically, but they do seem to be vital in limiting us to the perception of five senses: taste, touch, sight, sound and smell.
The brain is an extremely sensitive part of our body and these buffers also act as a kind of shock absorber or cushion so that when we bump our heads, we don’t damage our brains. Of course, a severe blow to the head can and does damage these buffers and the brain they are trying to protect…sometimes with predictable results…and other times with very strange results.
For example, when Peter Hurkos (the famous psychic), fell off a rooftop in Amsterdam (during WW II) and landed on his head, he should have been killed. In fact, the buffers around his brain were damaged beyond repair and even the slightest blow to his head could have been lethal. Instead, it made him psychic. His brain became sensitive to the thoughts of others…and, sometimes, to the thoughts of dead people.
Remember, the dead have no bodies. They have no vocal chords. They are pure energy. The only communication with them (if any) is via thought, and very few of us have brains sensitive enough to pick up on these energy-based thought patterns…except psychics. Psychic detectives use that sensitivity to locate the missing people’s bodies, to re-visit crime scenes, etc.
The problem, of course, is in knowing how to control that sensitivity. It’s one thing to have damaged buffers in your brain. It’s quite another to know just how that increased sensitivity will work…or even “when” it will work. My guess is that it works best when the brain is asleep and the buffers are not trying to fight-off things it doesn’t want the mind to perceive. When a person dreams!
That’s why most psychic detectives will get their visions when they sleep. They will sleep close to a photograph or an article of clothing of the dead person and get their visions in a kind of dream. But, because they have trained themselves to do so, they can remember enough of the dream to make notes when they awaken.
Maybe these thoughts are kind of far-out, but not so far out that they are not possible.
There are a lot of people who claim to be able to see ghosts. Of course a ghost is pure energy, but some people claim to be able to see a misty shape or a dark shadow that can be identified as someone. Very few people can make this claim (without being institutionalized), but what about photos?
There are lots of photos of and videos of ghosts. How is it that the camera often sees what we do not see? One logical answer is that cameras do not have buffers to limit their sense of perception. I’m quick to understand that photo shops and double exposures can explain many of the ghosts appearing in photos and videos…but there are an impressive number taken by people of position and prestige who would be extremely unlikely to photo-shop something.
There are other questions that we will discuss later, such as where do ghosts get the clothes they always seem to wear?
Got an opinion? Write me at Stebrel@aol.com
Monday, April 5, 2010
EASTER
April 4, 2010 By Stephen Ellis
Today is Easter Sunday. To me, it’s interesting that most Christians do not know and do not appreciate the legendary significance of this, the most holy day in Christianity. Even more surprising is that very few Christians with whom I have spoken know the details of what we now call “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.
At the outset, I should explain that I am a Jew. I do not believe that the Jesus Christ we are all very familiar with was the Messiah; the son of God, the Holy Savior. In fact, if you read your history of the time Christianity burgeoned and became the chief religion of Rome (approximately 330 AD), there is very serious question as to whether the Jesus Christ we all know even existed. But that’s for another time.
Right now, I want to tell the story of Easter because it is a beautiful story and an important part of “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. Almost a third of the entire world is Christian, and most Christians do not even know the basis of their religion. I think they should.
The story begins when the mother of Mary, a Jew, is told that she will conceive a daughter, immaculately, so that her daughter can be pure enough to give birth to the son of God. Mary is immaculately conceived in her mother’s womb, and when Mary reaches puberty, God plants his seed in her womb. On the day we now call Christmas, a son is born to Mary who is now being cared for by Joseph (also a Jew), a carpenter who lives in the city of Nazareth.
Joseph was not a wealthy man, and so the baby first saw life in a manger, near Nazareth. The story goes that three wise men followed a bright star that led them to the manger and bestowed gifts upon the child. Mary and Joseph named Mary’s child “Joshua”.
The story continues that Joshua, as he grew older, began to realize that he was the son of God, and by the time he had reached his manhood he had developed the ability to perform miracles. The New Testament tells us that Joshua became a religious leader with a following larger than any other religious leader of his time.
According to this story, the Romans became wary of him because Joshua’s following had become so immense and there were leaders among the Jewish orthodoxy that did not like Joshua because he preached things that were not contained in the Jewish laws.
The followers of Joshua had started to call Joshua “Jesus Christ”, taken from two Greek words that mean “holy savior”.
To calm the growing fears of Joshua and his following, the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, put Joshua on trial for heresy; preaching a false God, and ordered that he be crucified until dead. This day is now memorialized as “Ash Wednesday”, the start of the “Lent” period where Christians are to repent for forty days. When Joshua was sentenced to death, the leaders of Joshua’s following (now known as the apostles) were all frightened and went into hiding.
While nailed to the cross, Joshua asked his father to forgive those who had ordered him crucified because they did not know what they were doing. Joshua died on what is now called “Good Friday”.
The following day, Saturday, Joshua’s body was removed from the cross and taken to a cave where his body was interned. Pontius Pilate, fearing that some of Joshua’s followers or enemies might steal or desecrate the body, placed guards outside the cave.
But on Sunday, the third day after having been crucified, now called Easter Sunday, when his followers went to claim the body, it was gone from the cave. The guards said that no one had come near the cave that night.
The very foundation of Christianity is that Joshua’s body had been resurrected from the cave. For the next forty days, Joshua allegedly appeared several times before his apostles.
Granted that this story of Easter has been capsulated and much of the detail has been skipped.
Still it is a story that all Christians should know…and it is a beautiful story. Not many of those who come from backgrounds of hating and persecuting Jews recognize that, according to the New Testament, Joshua or Jesus Christ…and all of his apostles…were Jews.
All religions should be respected and understood. Someone who believes differently than you do is still a human being. Those who kill others or desecrate their symbols of belief in the name of God remain the biggest blight in Earth’s history.
Stebrel@aol.com
Today is Easter Sunday. To me, it’s interesting that most Christians do not know and do not appreciate the legendary significance of this, the most holy day in Christianity. Even more surprising is that very few Christians with whom I have spoken know the details of what we now call “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.
At the outset, I should explain that I am a Jew. I do not believe that the Jesus Christ we are all very familiar with was the Messiah; the son of God, the Holy Savior. In fact, if you read your history of the time Christianity burgeoned and became the chief religion of Rome (approximately 330 AD), there is very serious question as to whether the Jesus Christ we all know even existed. But that’s for another time.
Right now, I want to tell the story of Easter because it is a beautiful story and an important part of “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. Almost a third of the entire world is Christian, and most Christians do not even know the basis of their religion. I think they should.
The story begins when the mother of Mary, a Jew, is told that she will conceive a daughter, immaculately, so that her daughter can be pure enough to give birth to the son of God. Mary is immaculately conceived in her mother’s womb, and when Mary reaches puberty, God plants his seed in her womb. On the day we now call Christmas, a son is born to Mary who is now being cared for by Joseph (also a Jew), a carpenter who lives in the city of Nazareth.
Joseph was not a wealthy man, and so the baby first saw life in a manger, near Nazareth. The story goes that three wise men followed a bright star that led them to the manger and bestowed gifts upon the child. Mary and Joseph named Mary’s child “Joshua”.
The story continues that Joshua, as he grew older, began to realize that he was the son of God, and by the time he had reached his manhood he had developed the ability to perform miracles. The New Testament tells us that Joshua became a religious leader with a following larger than any other religious leader of his time.
According to this story, the Romans became wary of him because Joshua’s following had become so immense and there were leaders among the Jewish orthodoxy that did not like Joshua because he preached things that were not contained in the Jewish laws.
The followers of Joshua had started to call Joshua “Jesus Christ”, taken from two Greek words that mean “holy savior”.
To calm the growing fears of Joshua and his following, the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, put Joshua on trial for heresy; preaching a false God, and ordered that he be crucified until dead. This day is now memorialized as “Ash Wednesday”, the start of the “Lent” period where Christians are to repent for forty days. When Joshua was sentenced to death, the leaders of Joshua’s following (now known as the apostles) were all frightened and went into hiding.
While nailed to the cross, Joshua asked his father to forgive those who had ordered him crucified because they did not know what they were doing. Joshua died on what is now called “Good Friday”.
The following day, Saturday, Joshua’s body was removed from the cross and taken to a cave where his body was interned. Pontius Pilate, fearing that some of Joshua’s followers or enemies might steal or desecrate the body, placed guards outside the cave.
But on Sunday, the third day after having been crucified, now called Easter Sunday, when his followers went to claim the body, it was gone from the cave. The guards said that no one had come near the cave that night.
The very foundation of Christianity is that Joshua’s body had been resurrected from the cave. For the next forty days, Joshua allegedly appeared several times before his apostles.
Granted that this story of Easter has been capsulated and much of the detail has been skipped.
Still it is a story that all Christians should know…and it is a beautiful story. Not many of those who come from backgrounds of hating and persecuting Jews recognize that, according to the New Testament, Joshua or Jesus Christ…and all of his apostles…were Jews.
All religions should be respected and understood. Someone who believes differently than you do is still a human being. Those who kill others or desecrate their symbols of belief in the name of God remain the biggest blight in Earth’s history.
Stebrel@aol.com
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