Mysterious massive light flash over Russia

A Russian dash cam recorded a massive flash of light in the sky over Russia's Sverdlovsk region on November 14th, 2014.  The flash was so bright it went from darkness to almost daylight in seconds. The color didn't look right for a meteor and the the Russian military did not claim responsibility (at least not as of time the linked article below reported it).  It reportedly made no sound.




In this second video around the 20 second mark it looks as if the source of the light may be on the ground in the distance somewhere.



Read more about it here.

How long will it take the skeptical community to realize paranormal phenomena isn't just going to go away?

I was listening to the Paranormal Podcast today, and the episode featured Robert McLuhan, author of the blog Paranormalia.  The topic was whether or not skeptics are looking at paranormal claims fairly, or have they already reached their own conclusions without looking at the research.

I think it's probably safe to say your hardcore, cynical skeptics like Michael Shermer, Benjamin Radford, and Joe Nickel already have a conclusion in mind before they even begin their investigation of a paranormal claim.  I imagine they, and other skeptics like them, begin any research or investigation with the idea that whatever they are investigating is a fraud, delusion, or a mistaken identity.  They just have to figure out a way to explain it as such.

In some cases, the research and explanation of skeptics may be informative and accurate.  Other times though, their explanations can be laughable (see this example) and sometimes they seem to just be grasping at straws to find an explanation (see this example).  It's like they are so determined to explain something mysterious as being something completely normal, they don't even realize how silly their "rational" explanation can sound sometimes.

So my question now is, when will this community of cynical skeptics finally realize that there is still paranormal phenomena out there?  They assume it is all a matter of erroneous belief, so they think if they keep explaining paranormal phenomena away with generic answers and petty narratives, eventually people will stop believing and won't experience paranormal phenomena anymore.  But that's just it -- it's not always just a belief and people won't stop reporting paranormal experiences because paranormal experiences will continue to happen.  There will continue to be people who are born with an innate sixth sense of some sort, so they will still continue to experience the world with that sixth sense.  And there will still be people who see ghosts or other phenomena of that nature.

I know there are fraudulent psychics out there and there are people who are just imagining ghosts.  But there's also genuine psychics as well as haunting cases that cannot be easily explained away.  You've even got documented examples of serious research like the US Government's project Stargate which utilized remote viewers.  So instead of trying to explain everything paranormal away with generic answers, why won't these skeptics take a step back and say, "Ok, there is something unusual going on with this case," and then refocus their efforts on trying to figure out what the phenomena really is?  Isn't that how science progresses?  Instead of trying to force something to fit into your skeptical worldview with a petty explanation, why not try to learn something new?  At one point in time, the skeptics and debunkers did a great service to the advancement of science and reason by pointing out how parlor tricks and con artist deceptions worked.  But that is in the past, and now, ironically, I feel they are the ones who are slowing down the advancement of science and reason by failing to realize that genuine unexplained phenomena still exists.

There are academic researchers who recognize that there is still unexplained phenomena.  People like Dean Radin and Rupert Sheldrake who investigate psychic phenomena from a serious academic setting.  But many of their peers will turn a blind eye or frown upon the research they do.  Why won't more of their peers and skeptics take their research seriously?  If more people would get involved, then perhaps they could develop a scientific explanation for psychic phenomena and it would no longer be considered paranormal but normal.

So how long will people continue to experience paranormal phenomena before more researchers begin to take it seriously?

A UFO Battle over Nuremberg or an Atmospheric Phenomenon?

The city of Nuremberg was founded in Medieval times and was once a meeting place of the Imperial Diets (Reichstag) and courts during the time of the Holy Roman Empire.  It's more recently been known as the site where the Nazis held huge conventions known as the Nuremberg rallies.  After the Nazis lost World War II, the city was where Nazi war criminals were brought before an international tribunal to be judged for their crimes.

But Nuremberg is also a city that reportedly had a UFO battle over it on April 4, 1561.  The woodcut below is a report of the battle, complete with an illustration by Hans Glaser.

The "battle" was a mass sighting, reportedly lasting around an hour.  Residents reported seeing cylindrical objects from which red, black, orange, and blue-white disks and globes emerged.  Crosses and tubes were also seen.  Even today, people report seeing "cigar" shaped UFOs and flying saucers (or discs).  A cross shaped object could even be a description of what a modern airplane looks like.  The picture above also depicts a spear shaped object that could almost pass as a silhouette of a Star Destroyer from Star Wars.  So could there have really been a UFO battle over Nuremberg in 1561?

Some skeptics have suggested the event was a hoax, but that's unlikely since there were multiple witnesses.  Others have suggested it was a mass hallucination brought on by ergotism.  While that might not be impossible explanation, I think it's probably unlikely as well.  I find the mass hallucination explanation is typical of a skeptic who doesn't have a better explanation for something, so I don't put a lot of stock in it.

The website ancientaliensdebunked.com explains the "battle" away as nothing more than an atmospheric phenomena known as a "sundog" (also known as a parhelion).  Sundogs are commonly made by the refraction of light from plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds.

In the above image, you can actually see a resemblance between the phenomena and the artwork (but note that the artwork depicted is not from the illustration of the event depicted in the image near the top of the page, but of something else).

I looked over other images and videos in the debunking article linked above, and, if you accept that Glaser took some artistic licensing in depicting the event (I mean, he did draw a face on the sun, so he must have taken some artistic licensing), it could be a plausible explanation.  But what about the objects that crashed?  It was reported that the objects fell to the ground producing a lot of steam (or a big smoke).  Can atmospheric phenomena fall to the ground?  No, not really, but it might look like it's falling to the ground.  Despite the "objects" reportedly falling to the ground, there are not reports of anyone finding any crashed objects.  It's possible they observed another atmospheric phenomena known as "fall streaks."  Like sun dogs, fall streaks are also made with ice crystals.

Fall Streak

In the image above, you see a fall streak that appears to be black and somewhat triangular in shape...could it be an explanation for what the spear shaped object depicted in the top image is?

My guess is atmospheric or celestial phenomena is the most likely explanation for the event.  Although the description of the "objects" could match the description of some modern day UFO sightings, how often do people report space battles of UFOs that last for an hour?  I'm not aware of any, and if there were any today, you'd think someone would have video footage of it.  If people witnessed multiple UFOs crashing, you'd think someone would have probably found them and documented them.  So I think it's more likely the "objects" were not objects at all, but atmospheric phenomena.  The witnesses probably reported what they thought they were seeing because they weren't sure of what they were really seeing.  And Glaser, who illustrated the event, didn't actually witness the event himself; he was only going by what someone else reported to him.

If only we had video footage of the event.  Even if it wasn't a UFO battle, it sounds like it was a pretty awesome sight to see.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The Doppelganger of Emilie Sagée

A doppelganger is said to be the double or a ghostly apparition of a living person.  Sometimes a doppelganger may be seen in one location when it is known the person was actually in another location.  Other times, the doppelganger may be seen with the person, as was known to have happened in the case of a 19th century teacher named Emilie Sagée.

It is said that one day, while teaching a class, Sagée's double appeared right next to her and mimicked her every move as she wrote on the chalkboard in full view of 13 students.  Although others could see the double, Sagee never noticed the double nor did she notice that own movements slowed when the double appeared.

Sagée's double also appeared away from her though.  In another instance, the entire student body of 42 girls assembled in the school hall for their sewing and embroidery lessons.  The double appeared in Sagée's chair while Sagée could be seen outside in the garden.  Two of the girls attempted to touch the phantom Sagée but felt an odd resistance to her.  One of the girls stepped between the chair and table and passed right through the phantom, which remained motionless and then disappeared.

It was said that Sagée's double would appear when she was worried or immersed in her work.  It was said the double could also appear in a place Sagée was thinking about, like in the case above where she was in the garden; she looked inside at her chair and thought to herself that without supervision, the students may waste time and gossip.

So what was Emilie Sagée's double?  A piece of her spirit leaving her body and traveling on it's own?  Or just some kind of projection she gave off without even knowing it?  The bigger question may be did it really happen at all?  The sources I looked at said the tale was written by Robert Dale Owen who heard the story from Julie von Güldenstubbe, a student at the school Emilie Sagée taught at.  Although it was said that her double was witnessed by multiple witnesses on more than one occasion, the sources don't indicate the story was actually corroborated by multiple witnesses.  It would be nice if others had come forward with the same story.  Without multiple witness corroboration, you have to wonder if the story was true at all.

Source 1
Source 2

Egyptian statuette turns around by itself in museum display case

A Egyptian statuette has suddenly began turning itself around in its display case at a UK Museum, but no one is certain as to how or why.  It happens slowly throughout the day.  A time lapse video of the statuette turning around was uploaded to YouTube.

Here's an excerpt from  a news article on the Telegraph:

Even eminent television physicist Professor Brian Cox has weighed in on the mystery of Manchester Museum's moving statuette, which dates back to 1800 BC.

The 10-inch tall statue of Neb Sanu was discovered in a mummy’s tomb and has been with the Museum for eighty years, but has only recently been noticed moving.

Prof Cox, who teaches physics at the city's university, claims the movement is due to the "differential friction".

However, Manchester Museum's resident Egyptologist Campbell Price suggested something more sinister, an Egyptian curse.

"I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key," he explained in an interview with the Manchester Evening News.

Differential friction or curse?  My guess is the differential friction is the more likely answer of the two, but I suppose it could be something else entirely that no one has thought of yet.  Either way, it's bizarre.

H/T

Real Monsters...?

The popular educational YouTube channel Vsauce2 did an episode on mythological monsters.  Some you've heard of, like werewolves and vampires, and some you might not have heard of, such as the encantado or vinegaroon.

A quick thought about reincarnation

A thought about the reincarnation topic popped into my head this afternoon while I was listening to the latest Skeptiko podcast.  We've heard stories of people remembering past lives, either through spontaneous memories when they are small children or through hypnotic regression (also see this link and this earlier post of mine for more information about the topic).

For those that believe in reincarnation, these stories seem like evidence of that.  But maybe it isn't.  Another interpretation of what may seem like memories of a past life can be read about on Sharon Day's Ghost Hunting Theories blog.  She says she had dreams where she saw scenes from the life of a Jewish girl back in the 1930s and 40s somewhere in Europe.  She was viewing the scenes through the girl's eyes and it seemed as if she were seeing a past life.  Yet, she doesn't think that's what was actually happening.  She said it felt more like a psychic reading.  So could that be what past life memories are?  A type of psychic reading of someone else's life at an earlier time?

So anyways, the thought I had was this:  Of all the NDE and OBE stories I've read, I don't ever recall hearing one where someone who returned from the other side reported remembering any past lives while they were on the side.  We hear about what they saw and what they felt and many report having their life "flash before their eyes."  But I don't recall anyone reporting having multiple lives pass before their lives.  If there are stories reporting having multiple lives flash before their eyes, I am not aware of them.

So with that in mind, what should we make of this?  Should we assume people who have reported having NDEs or OBEs are all 'new' souls who've only lived one life?  Or should we assume it just takes longer for any past lives a person has lived to 'download' after crossing into the other side and no one has been on that side long enough and returned to tell about it?  Or should we assume that the traditional view of reincarnation isn't accurate and souls don't actually return to a new physical body after crossing over?  My guess is it is the latter, but who knows?  Maybe it is something more complex that any of that.

Some questions just seem to lead to more questions!

Strange unidentified sounds

I recently wrote about reports of strange sounds that had no clear source of origin in my post titled Hums, booms, and aircraft sounds.  Videos on the internet record some of the sounds, such as this one from Germany with a bizarre buzzing sound.




This next video has an interesting perspective on the strange unknown sound phenomena that discusses potentially scientific explanations as well as point out that these sounds may have been heard since ancient times...citing examples of "trumpets" being heard from the sky.


H/T

Read another report about an unidentified "boom" sound heard in Mississippi here.

What are these sounds?  Are they hoaxes?  Are they legit sounds that may seem to not have a clearly visible and logical origin but actually do somewhere off in the distance?  Or are they actually something mysterious or unknown?  Could the answer include any combination of those questions?  We already have UFOs...doing we need to coin a new term now, USWs (Unidentified Sound Waves)?

Hums, booms, and aircraft sounds

Are mysterious sounds, such as hums with no discernible origin, a new phenomena?  Or just being reported more often with more widespread coverage in the internet age?  Whatever the case may be, mysterious sounds with no discernible origins seem to be getting reported a lot lately.

One of the most common examples is just known as "the hum."  It's a low frequency humming sound reported in various geographic locations that is not audible everyone.  Here's a news article about a hum in Durham County in the UK.  In another example, Canadians complain about a low pitched rumbling sound coming from Zug island on the US side of the Detroit river.  But oddly enough, the people of the Detroit suburb don't hear it.  Another example from the UK comes from Primrose Hill, where an
"unidentified 'deep resonating humming' coming from all directions at once" was reported.

But what about mysterious booms?  A small Wisconsin town, for example, had reports of sounds described as rattling pipes, clanging metal, thunder, and firecrackers (but it was later decided that a 1.5 magnitude earthquake caused the sounds).

Another phenomena being reported are roaring sounds from the sky.  They sound like aircraft, but apparently people don't see any aircraft.  Also see another report here.

As odd (and random) as some of the sounds may be, there are probably simple explanations, such as the 1.5 magnitude earthquake in Wisconsin.  But it may not always be clear that that simple explanation is.

What is it with Phoenix and mysterious lights?

First, there was the mysterious Phoenix lights that lit up the night sky on the evening of March 13, 1997.



And now this flashing light too?
Link

Why are so many potentially paranormal videos still out of focus?

So I came across a purported video of a wooly mammoth today -- an animal that is supposedly extinct.  The report came from The Sun in the UK (not to be confused with the US supermarket tabloid simply called Sun).



Ok...so I guess it could kind of look like a wooly mammoth, but it is so out of focus, it could also simply be an elephant.  Another theory is that it is a bear with a fish hanging out of it's mouth...which is most likely what it really is (or CGI).

I just don't get why whenever something like this pops up, it's almost always out of focus. I can kind of understand some UFOs being out of focus because they tend be so far away, but video recording technology has progressed enough that I would think it should be easy enough for most people to take videos that are actually in focus. Even a lot of cell phone video cameras can take clear video..particularly the high end smart phone models. So why is the internet still getting out of focus paranormal videos?

But then again, if a video of a bear carrying a fish in its mouth was actually clear and in focus...I guess it wouldn't have been newsworthy, would it?  Maybe that's why paranormal videos are so often out of focus...out of focus videos are the only ones people misidentify as paranormal.

What if things had happened differently?

I'm very skeptical about the concept of time travel...at least in the traditional sense.  If someone in the future had actually developed a working time travel system, then where are they?  Should we not expect them to randomly show up at different points in time?   Some people think some UFO sightings may actually be time travelers from the future instead of aliens or classified modern technology.  But if so, why have they never revealed themselves?  Are we to assume that they are a part of some closely guarded organization of time travelers with some sort of prime directive that states they can never reveal their identities to people from the past?  And are we to further assume that none of them ever go rogue and take an unauthorized ride to the past and reveal themselves?

You know, maybe we could just set aside an international time travelers day in the not too distant future and publicly announce it and make sure the media covers it well so that it will be well recorded so that if at any future point in time someone figures out how to physically travel through time, they would have a record of a time and place to visit to announce their discovery.  Just pick a location and date.  If someone shows up and can confirm they are a time traveler, then we know it's possible to do so.  If no one shows, then maybe no one ever figures it out or it just isn't possible.

But anyways, what if it were possible and someone did figure it out?  And what if someone who had access to time travel then looked at the history of the world and thought that maybe they could make things better if they just went back and changed a few things?  Say, for instance (just to pick a random mythological event), Prometheus had not taught man how to build a fire.  What if Prometheus was not a 'god', but a man from the future who thought if he just went back in time and taught men how to build a fire earlier than we would have figured it out on our own, that maybe the progression of technology could get a jump start?  Or what if the assassination of Emperor Caligula had actually been instigated by a time traveler who knew what would happen if Caligula had lived longer?  What if things had once happened differently than history now records simply because future time travelers thought they could make things better by making a few changes?

And if so, could they still be actively changing events?  Could something be one way today, but another way tomorrow, and we would never know that it had ever happened the other way?  Or what if the future time travelers saw their manipulations weren't really helping or had made things worse and then banned time travel, simply leaving things the way they were at the time?  What if some ancient prophecies of the future were actually from time travelers who knew the future and left the stories of the future in the past so people would know what to expect?

Personally, I doubt that any of those scenarios is the case.  As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, I'm skeptical that physical time travel is even possible.  I think if we set aside a day for a future time traveler to officially come visit us, no one would show up (although some crackpots posing as time travelers might make an appearance).  And I think the history of the world is what it is and has always been what it is.  But sometimes you just can't help but wonder...what if?

Ancient Aliens and The Mysterious Origins of Man

I've had mixed feelings about the History channel show Ancient Aliens over the course of its run.  When the original special aired a couple of years ago, I thought it was interesting and presented the information well.  I'm not a believer of the ancient astronaut hypothesis it presented, but I'm open to the possibility (at least certain aspects of it).  So when they decided to turn it into a series, I figured I would give it a shot.  After watching a couple of episodes though, I lost interest.  I thought they were just getting silly about it, seemingly assuming aliens had something to do with almost any ancient mystery.  Although inspired by writers like Zecharia Sitchin and Erich von Daniken, ultimately, all they are doing is inserting science fiction concepts that have been developed primarily over the last 60-70 years into history.

But I did catch some second season episodes that sounded like they might be interesting when I didn't see anything better on.  My impression of the show didn't change much, but I did realize that the information they were presenting was interesting, even if their analysis of it could be a bit silly at times.  So I've decided to watch the third season just to see what they bring up.  I figure whatever they bring up will be interesting, even if I don't agree with their theories.

On the other hand, I was surfing around on Youtube today and came across a video called The Mysterious Origins of Man.  It was obviously pretty old since Charlton Heston was the presenter (from 1996, according to Wikpedia), so there isn't any new information in it, but I thought the information was presented well.  It covers topics such as out of place artifacts, Tiahuanaco, and ancient Egypt.  If you're interested check it out below.



Here is a shortened version of that video: http://youtu.be/nne_-j08yMo

Out of Body Experience; Hallucination or Reality?

This article refers to out-of-body experiences as 'hallucinations' caused by a 'glitch' in the temporal lobe, but is it really a hallucination? I suppose the mind could create a hallucination like that, but what if someone experienced their surroundings the way they really are, and not just as a figment of the mind's imagination (such as seeing something they wouldn't have been able to see with their eyes at the physical location they are at)? If our consciousness, or spirit, whichever term you prefer, exists independently of the material brain, isn't it possible that the only 'glitch' could be in the brain's ability to confine a person's consciousness to their body (or at least the sense of being in our body, looking out from our eyes)?

Something to think about.

Bigfoot sighted in NC...or not?

MSNBC has an article on a alleged Bigfoot sighting in NC.  I'm a little surprised they bothered to report it. The video quality is poor, especially considering how close up the video was shot, and the Bigfoot really doesn't look all that big.

A Telepathy Experiment

Dean Radin wrote a post on his blog about a telepathy experiment he conducted that had someone looking at a randomly chosen picture and attempting to 'send' that information telepathically to someone else in another room.  Dean transcribed what the 'receiver' described and posted the four pictures from which the randomly chosen picture was picked from.  If you're interested, read the post and see the pictures here.  See if you can guess which picture was the randomly chosen picture based on what the 'receiver' described.  The answer is revealed in the comments.

Qi and Prana on Nat Geo

I typically don't watch that much on the National Geographic channel because a lot of their programs are very predictable.  Nat Geo is very biased in favor of establishment materialism and atheistic thinking, so I know if the program is about something paranormal in nature or religious, the program is going to have a debunking stance.

I did watch an episode of Is it Real? the other night though, and I thought it was interesting.  They were investigating spiritual energies, including what the Chinese call qi (pronounced "chee") and what the Hindu's call it prana.  

One of the people they featured was martial artist George Dillman, who can not only knock people out using pressure points but also without even touching them by using his qi.  Dillman is no fraud or stage magician though, he is a legitimate black belt in Ryukyu Kempo Tomari-te and has even trained with Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali.  He was not only shown knocking people out without touching them, but he was also shown to be able to make a line of people move without even being able to see them (and them not being able to see him).  

Two scientists who were skeptical of his ability to knock people out with his qi were bought on the show, and they felt his ability had more to do with hypnotic suggestion than qi.  They thought the people being knocked out were expecting it to happen, so therefore, it happened.  One of the skeptical scientists even let one of Dillman's top students attempt to knock him out with his qi (I'm not sure why Dillman himself didn't try; they may have been filming the scientists in different location where Dillman wasn't present).  Dillman's student failed to knock the scientist out with his qi.  Afterwards, Dillman said if a person was holding their tongue a certain way, it wouldn't work, or if they press one big toe against the floor while raising the other big toe up, it wouldn't work.  Dillman did appear to have an impressive ability, but in the end, he sounded like he was just making excuses.

Another person featured in the episode was a clinical psychologist named Howard Hall who is also a hypnotist.  He went to Baghdad in 1998 to investigate whether or not a sect of Sufi Muslims who perform self mutilations without any apparent ill effects and then heal almost instantly were under some sort of hypnotic suggestion.  The Sufis shown had blades in their chest, head, and mouth.  According to their belief, a sheikh channels the energy and 'protects' them.  Dr. Hall did not think the faithful who were mutilating themselves were under any sort of hypnotic suggestion and was so impressed by what they were doing that he asked the sheikh if he could have 'protection' too.  The sheikh said he could, and Hall stabbed a pointed object through his cheek with no ill effect.  

After that experience, Hall began studying the Sufi religion and agreed to repeat the mutilation for National Geographic.  He and another doctor used some sort of machine that supposedly shows a person's aura (something similar to Kirlian photography, but more updated).  After Hall stabbed an ice pick through his cheek from inside his mouth, a gap was shown in what was alleged to be his aura where the ice pick had been in his cheek.  He bled very little and the wound closed up quickly.

The skeptics brought in to counter Hall's claims didn't think the machine that supposedly shows an aura could be trusted, and they had their own machine that they claimed was similar and showed why the machine Dr. Hall used couldn't necessarily be trusted (although their machine that they claimed was similar seemed to be quite different to me...I'm not sure if it was really an accurate comparison).  Another doctor said that the wound Hall inflicted on himself was small and he wasn't surprised that it didn't bleed much.  He also said putting pressure on it afterwards probably helped to close the wound up quickly.  So he wasn't impressed with how quickly the wound healed; he thought the healing seemed normal.  

The show also featured a Hindu version of a shady televangelist who was setup by a debunker with a group of people with problems that they made up.  The shady Hindu holy man, who I don't doubt was a fraud -- he was deceiving the poor and making himself wealthy (and he had a shady looking smirk on his face too) -- didn't catch on to the deception being played on him and he was considered debunked...and this case, I think the debunker was right on.

The show also featured a guy who could inflict self mutilation without ill effects who claimed it was just mind over matter.  I think the program basically just featured that guy because he didn't claim to use any spiritual energies -- in other words, they were just showing more evidence of their bias against the concept of spiritual energies.  

They also featured some yogic flyers who don't really fly, but just sit in the lotus position and then start hopping quickly across the floor.  Apparently they get really happy and just start hopping.  It looks hard to do, but I'm assuming Nat Geo took the stance that there wasn't really any spiritual energy involved and just included it as part of their bias against the belief in spiritual energies.  

But anyways, lets look and Dillman and Hall again, who were the two most intriguing people featured in the episode.  In the end, it looked like Dillman's ability may have had more to do with hypnotic suggestion than qi, and Dillman was left making excuses.  I've often wondered if hypnotic suggestion may be how televangelist Benny Hinn is able to knock people down with a light touch.  However, hypnotic suggestion still doesn't explain how Dillman was able to make a line of people move without them being able to see him.  In the end, it may have appeared that the skeptics won in Dillman's case, but I'm not thoroughly convinced.  I think it may still be possible that Dillman really does know how to use his qi to make people move (or knock them out).

In Hall's case, I don't even think the debunkers did a very good job of debunking it.  The doctor may have been correct in saying he thought the wound closed up and healed in a normal way, but it still doesn't explain how Hall was able to jab an ice pick through his cheek without feeling pain.  And even if you think the machine that supposedly can show a person's aura is hokey, it still doesn't explain how Hall could jab an ice pick through his cheek without feeling pain.

In the end, Nat Geo took the position that the abilities had less to do with spiritual energies and more to do with the power of the mind and the belief in an ability.  And although I agree that the mind and belief can be very powerful, I'm not convinced that spiritual energies don't exist.  I think there is ample evidence to suggest that spiritual energies do exist, even if little of that evidence was present in that particular Nat Geo program.

Selling a haunted house...disclosure required?

I was reading a post written by Jason Offutt on his blog From the Shadows, and he mentioned that when selling haunted property in Indiana, there are laws that require real estate agents to disclose the haunting.  I was a little shocked by that...but I'm not too surprised.  I'm not surprised that a haunting is considered a stigma when selling a house, but I am surprised that the state would require that a haunting be disclosed.  Who gets to decide whether or not a property is haunted?

I did a little more looking around, and an article I found in the Wall Street Journal says that in 44 states and Washington, DC, a haunting falls under a category of 'psychological stigmas' (although that doesn't necessarily mean that realtors are automatically required to disclose a haunting since it is considered a non-material factor, but they shouldn't lie about it if someone asks) . Another article I found mentioned a court case from New York named Stambovsky v. Ackley, where a home buyer (Stambovsky) sued to rescind the sales contract for the house he bought after he found out it was haunted.  The haunting had not been disclosed to Stambovsky, and he won the case!

I wasn't able to find a list of states that require that a haunting be disclosed, but I got the impression that the laws vary state to state (and may not always be totally clear), and that it's not necessarily required that real estate agents disclose whether or not a house is haunted up front, but they should respond truthfully if a potential buyer asks.

Interesting nonetheless.  In the Stambovsky v. Ackley case, there were publications (including Readers Digest) that reported the house as being haunted.  But what if there were no published accounts of the house being haunted?  What else could a court go by in making a decision?  Who would get to decide whether or not a house was haunted?  Stambovsky had the benefit of buying a house that had been previously reported as being haunted, but what if there was a case where there were no prior reports for a haunting?  My guess is, if there were not prior reports of a property being haunted, it would be difficult to win a court case to rescind a sales contract.

The man with no appetite

An Indian yogi named Prahlad Jani has been in the news recently due to his claim of not having any food or water for seven decades.  Here's an excerpt from an article on Fox News:

Indian doctors are studying an 83-year-old holy man who claims to have spent the last seven decades without food and water.

Military doctors hope the experiments on Prahlad Jani can help soldiers develop their survival strategies.

The long-haired and bearded yogi is under 24-hour observation by a team of 30 specialists during three weeks of tests at a hospital in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.

I thought I remembered hearing about this yogi before, so I looked up some more information on him and found a BBC article about him from 2003.  Jani is also mentioned in a Wikipedia entry about inedia, which is apparently what the alleged ability to live without food is called (although the entry states that the word "inedia" simply means "fasting" in Latin).

Some people think Jani is a fraud, but according to the news articles I've found, the physicians have not seen him eat, drink, or use a toilet.  If he is a fraud, he's a good one.  If he is legit, then he is a pretty unique guy.

I'm not sure if should be amazed or if I should feel sorry for him....he's missing out on some good stuff!

Destination Truth didn't ask enough questions in Petra

In last night's (4/14/10) episode of Destination Truth, the team went to the ruins of Petra in Jordan to search for djinns (a type of spirit, which is the word that our word "genie" is derived from).  At one point, Josh was doing an EVP session and asked out loud if anyone was there with them, and almost immediately afterward, the team heard what sounded like a voice saying "yes."  This wasn't something they heard on the recording after the fact, they actually heard the "yes" out loud.

For some reason, they seemed to be content with just getting that "yes."  You'd think that if someone asked if anyone was around and someone -- whether it's a person, djinn, or something else -- responds, they'd ask for more details.  Instead of settling for a single answer to a question, they should have also asked other questions such as who it was, why it was hanging around Petra, can it grant wishes, etc.  For all they knew at the time, it might have just been a lost tourist wandering near them!

I love Destination Truth, Josh's sarcasm as well as the adventures the team goes on seeking the truth about the unknown give it a real-life Indiana Jones feel that makes for a very entertaining show.  But I think they might have dropped the ball at Petra.  They should have asked more questions!