Exploring The Paranormal World Every Month
ISSUE 6
WELCOME TO ISSUE 6 It’s getting closer, yes the paranormal extravaganza that is Paracon UK. November 22nd & 23rd at Derby Conference Centre. The event is looking amazing with paranormal celebs/experts from many fields attending, there is something for everyone with an interest in the paranormal. We are very proud to say that we will be at this event so come along and meet the team behind the magazine. We hope you enjoy reading Beyond and we will continue to bring you interesting articles and features, if there is something you would like to see in the magazine please feel free to get in touch with us.
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IN THIS ISSUE Fun or fear EVP PARANORMAL PAGES PARANORMAL WARS STRANGER THAN FICTION MUCH MORE
Clowns are supposed to be funny right? They make us laugh at the circus, they sell us burgers and have a big happy smile don’t they? How can anyone be scared of such a funny and happy character as the good old clown? For some people, clowns are the stuff of horrific nightmares. The fear these people feel can be so strong that a simple picture of a clown can induce a panic attack. The fear of clowns is known as Coulrophobia and more and more people are suffering from it, there seems to have been a huge increase over the last few decades. This is more than likely due in large part to how clowns are being portrayed in popular
culture, movies like Poltergeist and Steven King’s IT portray clowns as supernatural, scary or evil creatures. There was also the infamous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, who often dressed as a clown to entertain children at neighbourhood parties. Most researchers seem to agree that the main reasons for coulrophobia or
‘clownphobia’ are the make-up and exaggerated features of the clown. These large, extremely exaggerated facial features can often be extremely frightening to children due to unfamiliarity. When adults suffer from this fear, it’s the result of the fear they felt as a child being carried over into adulthood.
murderous rampage.
Researchers who have studied the phobia believe there is some correlation to the uncanny valley effect. Because the exaggerated features of the makeup that is part of the clown make it impossible to gauge a clown’s true emotions, people who suffer from this phobia cannot distinguish if the clown is as happy as he seems to be from the huge painted smile, or if he’s about to open his mouth to reveal sharp fangs and go on
It seems that the clowns masked or hidden facial features appear to be the most concerning aspect and may in part be responsible for true coulrophobia. Many films that feature antagonists with masks or disfigured faces usually come from the horror genre and are used specifically to invoke fear.
Furthering this uncertainty is the clown’s actions. A clown act can include the clown being hurt, or other clowns hurting each other. Since this type of slapstick comedy emphasizes physical pain, yet the clown has a large painted smile, it further suggests that one cannot trust the painted expressions of the clown.
Most notable are Jason from Friday the 13th (hockey mask),
Michael Myers from Halloween (plain white mask),
and Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (severely disfigured/burnt face).
The concept is also being used in more modern franchises like Scream (the killer)
and Saw (Jigsaw).
For many people the fear of what others see as funny is very real, there are many phobias out there that we all suffer from so just remember next time you laugh at somebody for being afraid of clowns, they may invite you to their house and show you their cute cuddly pet tarantula . Sleep well my friends.
While coulrophobia is a real phobia, there has yet to be any scientific studies done or statistical facts released about people suffering from coulrophobia. The good news is that the phobia is not generally a cause for concern because it is relatively easy for anyone who doesn’t like clowns to avoid coming in contact with them. For more severe or extreme cases, a person can see a good behavioural therapist to help them overcome the fear.
E V P Electronic Voice Phenomenon EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon, is an ever-growing area of paranormal research and investigation. But what exactly is it, and how should we go about analysing it? EVP has a long and interesting history. Thomas Edison, one of the world's most respected scientists, believed that one day it would be possible to build a machine to communicate with the dead. He said, "If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties, and knowledge that we acquire on this Earth. Therefore... if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such
an instrument, when made available, ought to record something." In 1949, Marcello Bacci began recording voices with an old tube radio.
A few years later, two Italian priests were trying to record a Gregorian chant on their magnetophone, but the machine kept breaking. One of the priests looked up and asked his father for help. To his surprise, his dead father's voice answered from the instrument, "Of course I shall help you. I am always with you." In 1959, the singer, painter and film producer Friedrick Jurgenson was recording the
sounds of birds in a forest. When he played the tape back, he heard the voice of his dead mother saying, "Friedrick, you are being watched. Friedel, my little Friedel, can you hear me?� Several years later, and Dr. Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist, heard of Jurgenson's experiments, tried the technique for himself, and recorded many voices. By the 1970's, EVP was established as a controversial new part of paranormal research. In more modern times, "EVP" has become an umbrella term to describe any noise that is potentially paranormal in nature. This includes sounds such as taps, bangs, and other responses as well as voices.
In the early days, due to the technology available, most recordings were done using bulky reel-to-reel recording equipment.
This equipment was magnetic in nature, and was the direct forerunner to the popular compact cassette tape from the 1980's. The tapes themselves were simple - basically consisting of a very thin plastic material as a base, coated with ferric-oxide powder, mixed with a bonding agent to keep it attached to the tape, and a dry lubricant to help prevent wear on the recording heads of equipment. Once exposed to a magnetic field, it is recorded permanently onto the tape.
The recording heads inside the equipment took the audio signal from an attached microphone and generated varying electromagnetic currents, which were "written" to the tape as it spools by. Thus, the information to recreate the sound was captured, and the process was reversed by the reading heads inside the equipment, which "read" the stored magnetic patterns on the tape and sent the information to the devices speakers. It was an incredibly simple but fairly effective method of recording data. However, it wasn't without
problems, and over time, various other metal-based powders were experimented with to provide varying levels of recording quality, depending on the intended use. This created a range of different cassette types, most of which have since become obsolete and nearly impossible to get hold of. This created a range of different cassette types, most of which have since become obsolete and nearly impossible to get hold of. The most common type of cassette, which can still be found at specialist suppliers today, is the original ferric-oxide based variant, which was cheapest to produce. Some researchers still prefer to use these tapes, since they claim that they provide the simplest method of capturing EVP, and is harder to tamper with than modern digital recordings. These days there is a massive range of audio recording
equipment available, almost all of it is digital in nature. Video cameras have digital microphones to capture audio, mobile phones and laptop computers have basic recording capabilities, and of course, dedicated compact digital audio/voice recorders are available. These devices all use microphones that generate digital audio signals, which are then stored directly into solid-state RAM, hard drives, or other forms of storage. Of course, it has to be said that any audio recording is only as good as the equipment that was used to capture it.
While cassette tapes are relatively simple, they are capable of storing a very clear recording if high-quality recording equipment and microphones are used. The built-in microphones on cassette recorders aren't really up to the task of high-quality recording - it’s often best to buy an external microphone intended for studio-quality recording. If you can, make sure you fit a windscreen to the microphone, as this will dramatically increase the pickup quality as it helps prevent unwanted loss of sound, and also protects the microphone from interference from air passing over the top, creating a noticeable background "hum".
Internal microphones will also often pick up the sound of mechanisms within the equipment, giving you unwanted noise and other audio artefacts. The same goes for internal microphones on mobile phones and audio recorders - their close proximity to electronic circuits within the device often leave the microphone susceptible to electronic interference and picking up stray radio signals from external sources. By using a high-quality external microphone, you can significantly improve the quality of your recordings and help prevent unwanted "earthbound" interference. Now we know about the different technology behind it, let's look at how it differs . The most obvious difference is in terms of storage capacity - A single cassette tape is generally capable of holding
up to 90 minutes of audio, while a digital recording device such as a laptop, mobile phone or audio recorder is limited only by the amount of RAM or disc space it has access to. Cassette tapes are analogue in nature. They are capable of storing information in a very precise way, which, once recorded, cannot change unless physical damage occurs to the tape, such as the tape breaking or bending, or being exposed to another magnetic field. Over time of course, the magnetic pattern stored on the tape becomes weaker and weaker, which deteriorates the quality of the recording.
Digital recordings, on the other hand, are easily corrupted and changed, since the information contained in the recording is translated into binary information. It only takes a single "bit" to change to render a recording useless or radically changed in some way. When editing analogue audio, what you are essentially doing is using filtering out the parts you don't want - the original recording underneath is left unchanged. When editing digital audio, you're applying filters directly to the data meaning that quite often, you're changing parts of the original recording without intending to.
In terms of recording quality, most people will be surprised to know that there is very little difference. As stated earlier, any recording is only as good as the equipment that was used to capture it. Playback on both types of device is enhanced greatly if a good pair of dedicated speakers or headphones are used - never rely on the built-in speaker on your cassette recorder, audio recorder or laptop as they are generally not good enough to reproduce good quality audio. Recordings from mobile phones are generally very poor quality, as the microphone was never intended for high-quality audio pickup - if you think of how a voice sounds when you talk on the phone, you'll realize how low quality (not to mention low power) that these microphones are. The largest difference in the two types of recording is compression.
Analogue recordings are uncompressed. They are recorded exactly as they were picked up at the time. Digital recordings vary greatly. If you're using a digital audio recorder or mobile phone to record audio, then the data is saved immediately to storage. This generally means that it is compressed to save space. Common formats for storing digital audio are the MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV. These formats are controlled by small pieces of software called codecs, which take the raw audio data coming into the device, perform a quick analysis, and compress it, all in real-time. You are sometimes able to change the format (and therefore, the compression ratio) in the device's settings menu, but these are often limited, or in some cases, not available at all. When using these
This way, you get to know the quality of the recordings it can make, what the best setting is, and perhaps even be able to vary the setting depending on the environment you find yourself in. Audio compression can sometimes alter the quality of a digital recording, as it attempts to strip off parts of the audio that the human ear cannot hear (humans in general can hear a range of audio between 20Hz and 20KHz). Some forms of compression also compare segments of data to previous segments, and if it’s the same, or sufficiently similar, it will remove those "duplicate" segments to save space, and replace it with an instruction to simply reproduce the previous segment multiple times.
This is known as "lossy" compression, as some data is lost. Where possible, select a lossless compression method, or turn it off completely. Raw audio is far more valuable when listening back later on. If you're using a laptop to record audio, then it varies on the software you're using. Some software will write the data to storage immediately in the same way an audio recorder does, while some will leave the raw audio in memory ready for you to save in a chosen format. Again, where possible, choose a lossless compression format, or preferably, a format without compression at all, such as WAV. Also bear in mind that certain audio
formats, MP3 in particular, automatically add silent gaps at the beginning and end of recordings. This is due to the format being designed for CD use, where a 2-second gap is left intentionally between tracks. For the purposes of standalone audio recording, however, this gap is unnecessary. Look for settings that control "Automatic Gain Control", or AGC, as this setting is very important and produces varying results depending on the environment. In short, AGC automatically adjusts the "gain", or sensitivity level, of the microphone based on that quick analysis the device performs when recording. If the device detects that it is in a noisy environment, where background noise and interference is quite high, then it will adjust accordingly. While this sounds great in principle, it can cause problems during recording, as a sudden change in environment can often "create"
sounds that simply don't exist. Imagine you're at a party, and everyone is talking. All of a sudden, you hear your name mentioned, and looking around, you realize that you heard your friend from the across the room referring to you in their own discussion. You only heard your name from out of the general noise because it was relevant to you. In human beings, your ears are just the microphone, it’s your brain that processes it all. In a digital recorder, it only picks up what it hears, and cannot discriminate against any sound in particular. Using the AGC setting on these devices is exactly like that - the device attempts to detect what's relevant and adjusts accordingly, but since it's just a machine, it has no concept of what you actually wish to record. For this reason, its best to leave the AGC setting turned OFF where
possible, or set it to a predefined value. AGC is most noticeable in recording sessions where questions are asked, with silent gaps for possible responses. Audio recorders also do not allow us the benefit of being able to see what caused the noise in the first place, as there may be scenarios where you were not present when it was recorded, or you heard the noise but knew exactly what it was that caused it, and dismissed it without thinking. If someone moves, shuffles, coughs, whispers... anything at all. It may seem insignificant at the time, but when you are sat listening to hours of audio later on, you will
This is called "habituation", where the human brain simply ignores things it deems irrelevant. Imagine living next to a very loud railway line. After a while, you stop noticing when trains go by, but every time you have friends over, they always wonder you can put up with the noise! Human hearing is very context-driven - it’s important to keep this context in your recordings by documenting these insignificant things, as when you listen back to your recordings, you have no context on which to base it on. This is also why sometimes one person can hear something when another person standing next to them cannot - it all depends on the context in which they were listening. Special care should be taken when recording outdoors, due to this "ambient"
noise. Never use a "directional" microphone outdoors, since even the smallest air current will bombard the microphone with audio from all directions, constantly changing the volume of the recording, artificially amplifying mundane noises into noticeable noises, and also diminishing noises you can hear with your ears but do not pick up with the microphone. Directional microphones should be used indoors where the microphone is left static in a specific known place. This way, you can easily identify where noises are coming from. Now onto the most important part - how to analyses your recordings! As already stated, use a good pair of headphones (not earphones!) or speakers for
playback. It goes without saying that the environment in which you listen to your recordings should be as peaceful and undisturbed as possible. Make sure the volume is set to a comfortable level - not too loud, not too quiet. Be aware that boosting the volume within your audio editing software can cause "clipping". Clipping occurs because the file was recorded as a set frequency and loudness, and when you boost the volume artificially, what you're actually doing is boosting the audio level within the same frequency range, and too
much boost causes certain sounds to exceed the recording range, which, if you look at the resulting waveform, ends up "clipping" the tops off the peaks, causing distortion. Quite often, boosting the volume ends up drowning out the very sounds you're hoping to hear! Noise reduction filters are great, but vary greatly between software. In most cases, noise reduction simply isn't needed at all. Only use noise reduction if your entire recording has a background hiss caused by electronic interference or poorquality recording equipment. Using it in any other situation can often take the polish off the quality of your recording. Some software allows you to select the range at which to perform the reduction - if you have this capability, experiment with it to get the best results never rely on the "automatic" feature.
Remember - your ears and brain play the final part in the listening process, and have a lifetime's experience in processing audio far better than any computer software can. There is a staggering array of functions available depending on your software - do not be tempted to apply everything just to see what it does. If you do make a change to your audio, save it as a separate copy rather than overwriting the original. This way, you will always have the original to compare it to. Take time to understand what the functions within your audio software actually do, and how they affect your recordings. Treat each recording as its own - never assume that just because certain functions did a good job of one recording, that those same settings will do
the same for ALL your recordings. If you stop and think about it, most of your recordings will have come from different environments, even during a single investigation. Different rooms of different sizes, materials reflect sound in different ways, different people may have been present... almost all the parameters of your recordings will be unique to that particular recording. It's foolish to assume that the same parameters should be applied to every single recording you make. Ideally you will only be making one or two minor changes to your original audio it's very easy to completely change what you recorded without realizing or intending to.
It's always a good idea to get a second or even a third or fourth opinion on anything you might have picked up. Remember that everyone hears things differently. What you may not be able to identify might be obvious to someone else. A different perspective is a good thing to have around, since it’s very easy to become "blinkered" to our "evidence" and start making assumptions based on our wishes rather than checking out what's really going on. Don't be afraid to ask someone else to listen to anything you find, and be prepared to accept that it may not be paranormal at
Ask them to listen to it without telling them what you think allow them to give them your opinion before offering your own. This prevents them from being led to hearing what you hear through auto-suggestion. People learn to recognize voices instinctively from childhood (it is unconscious, like walking). Unlike most voice recognition software, humans can pick up words despite different pronunciations and accents. Human language recognition accepts the possibility of "false-positives" as a price worth paying for not missing potentially important information.
It does mean, however, that sometimes we can become convinced of a word or message, even if we're wrong. If words are missed, we often fill in an appropriate substitute based on the context. So, if someone said to you, "That ball shred", you would almost certainly hear "That ball is red", because it makes sense from the context. Your brain would substitute "is" for sh" without you even being aware, and you would be convinced that you heard it correctly. You could devise a quick test for anyone to take before listening to a potential EVP recording by getting them to listen to a "control" sample of words spoken into a microphone, using a cloth to distort your voice. You may find it interesting in the resulting words they say they can hear. If you're making "cuts" to your audio to isolate sounds, then be sure to leave a few seconds
before and after so the listener can get some context of what was going on at the time never just cut the noise out on its own, since then you have nothing to compare it with. It takes the human ear and brain a fraction of a second to adjust to sound - leaving those few seconds either side allow the listener to tune themselves in better. Again, save these "cut" sounds out as separate files and keep the original. Do not be tempted to try and enhance these "cut" sounds any more than you already have! It's very easy to assume that
because you have powerful audio editing software at your disposal that you should be using more of its features. The truth is that you're not here to edit audio, you're here to potentially capture the paranormal. Your software is just a tool, and like all other tools, a good investigator should use them wisely. Jonathan Thorpe Twilight Paranormal www.twilightparanormal.co.uk
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PARANORMAL WARS. By tomo warrington
I wonder if anyone else feels the same as me, and possibly questions whether the paranormal world has indeed become a vast no man’s land. What I am referring to is large “ghost hunting” companies and paranormal teams waiting in the trenches for their holy grail of evidence to throw at the others in order to embed their status as paranormal gods? I have witnessed it first-hand; how some groups treat other groups- it’s like a war out in the field!
Why and how has it become like this? There a lot of groups out there that are continuously posting their supposedly Class A E.V.P’s for the paranormal world to comment, judge, and simply pull it apart for them to gracefully throw it back in their expecting faces. There are a small number of groups though that do help each other out, they will happily engage with one another and team up for investigations, discuss findings, and willingly demonstrate methods to one another.
But the vast majority seem to snipe and pull apart claims and evidence that have been put out for public viewing by other groups. Are these jealous actions? Or are they trying to climb the imaginary paranormal ladder of fame by tearing up the evidence gathered and putting their self-proclaimed, more important angle on it?
wars that are breaking out in the paranormal realm. I can see them being confused and also disgusted at the amount of hatred and amount of un-cooperative and closed minded groups we have. After all we do have the same passion and goal in sight don’t we?
I for one am extremely concerned by all this commotion created in the field. It feels like to me, that we are all losing sight of what most are trying to achieve and we have too many groups that simply want the paranormal stature of some well-known entertainment programmes. It does make me wonder what investigators like the late Harry Price and more modern investigators like Mike Hallowell, think to all these
Why is it we can’t all unite and progress the field so maybe the paranormal umbrella can be more noticed by scientists.
Is this why professors of science look on the paranormal as a sort of quick cop out to strange phenomena and not serious enough for them to do any sort of credible research on? Maybe it’s time to try and come together; this may bring new techniques, new thinking and probably a much more constructive understanding within in the paranormal. Yes the big profitable, entertainment based, ghost companies will still exist, but we all have to remember that they are not really making any sort of attempt of gathering any sort of evidence to be put forward.
They are only interested in the money factor. It would be a dream of mine if all groups got on and maybe we could all start to comprise some sort of database that could house all evidence gathered. Just an idea but think of the possibilities we could all achieve if we started to work as one‌.. The big venues will be overlooked for once and research in other areas that could give us all the answers to which most yearn, may be a big possibility if we all worked together. Will this dream
come true? I fear not and in reality of things the future is very bleak if we all don’t wake up to the fact that the fighting and overpowering of teams will carry on, which will be a domino effect on credible research, meaning that will ultimately will be crushed and I for one don’t want this to happen.
“For a hundred years a few scientists, rather half-heartedly, have been trying to find out these things – without success. Even the ‘spirit hypothesis’ does not cover the ‘appearance’ of a psychic coach-and-pair! These are things that we do not understand, and science, to its eternal shame, is making little attempt to understand them.”
Do you? Article written by Thomas Warrington.
I will now leave you with a quote from Harry Price from his book “The Most Haunted House in England”:-
Stranger Than Fiction A great big “Hello There” to all you paranormal loving peeps! I confess that I am still relatively new to this whole writing scene. I have only been seriously writing for a few years and yet here I am, adding a piece to this prestigious paranormal magazine. In all honesty, when I started dabbling with words as a child I never did see myself sitting at my laptop day after day doing what I love. That said, I never saw myself writing anything remotely supernatural based either. So, how did it come about that I found myself as the resident writer for Stoke Haunted? Take a pew and let me explain… Suffering with various illnesses, I was unable to hold down a conventional job. Not being the type of person who wanted to sit on the sofa watching one car crash TV program after another, I tried experimenting with wordplay.
I don’t claim to be particularly good at it - my spelling and grammar have a lot to be desired as you will probably ascertain through reading this piece. I have a long way to go before I will get anywhere close to the calibre of my literary idols that is for sure. Anyway, returning to my original train of thought. At no point did I consider writing; or following, anything of a spectral nature; seeking tarot and psychic readings has always been my mum and sisters’ thing. No. My involvement came about by pure accident!
A fistful of years ago I began to delve into some creative writing and scripting workshops. As my confidence grew I became increasingly braver about sending my work off to private press and anthologies. To say that I was gob-smacked to have my work accepted time after time is still the most humungous understatement.
In a whirlwind of bizarre twists and turns I was accepted into the wider role of assisting the production of the low budget film itself. Weeks later her project was all over. Surprisingly I was requested to support another low budget horror which was being recorded at the same location as the first.
One evening whilst I scrolled through Facebook I noted that someone was requesting assistance with her completion of a horror script. Admitting that I was the furthest thing from a professional I offered my opinion. This person gratefully accepted my points and requested that I meet her at her home so that we could go through her work in progress before she intended to begin the casting and filming for it. Nervous and feeling somewhat out of my depth I knocked upon this ladies door with my trusty pad and pen clutched in front of my chest. I must have looked like a right anorak.
In total this meant that I had spent three weeks overall living within the renown Leek location formally known as The Swan on Saint Edwards Street. Throughout both productions the majority of the cast and crew insisted that the venue was haunted.
A plethora of accounts outlining frightening supernatural accounts soon built. Of course I brushed all spooky notion aside believing that the heightened awareness through suggestion was more than likely to blame. Over the few months that I was behind the camera I found myself drifting away from where I wanted my own work to lead me. Something had to give and that something was the fickle film industry – a decision which I do not regret to this day. Sometime later I began helping a friend to arrange a charity event. Whilst hashing out ideas of how we could make the most money for the charity of choice I had a brainwave. Although we were planning to offer an auction, disco and face -painting, I thought that we could offer a paranormal investigation based on the notoriety of the venue – the same venue where I had assisted the production of the horror films.
Despite making the suggestion, I had to be honest. I was out of my depth. I had no clue how to go about arranging such an integral part of the charity fund-raiser. I toiled day and night to make all aspects of the charity evening run seamlessly…on paper at least. Just when I thought that I would have to strike the investigation off of the evening’s itinerary my uncle suggested that I should speak to a friend of his who ran a paranormal team. It took some doing but eventually I located Andrew Weatherall, the founder of Stoke Haunted. After a series of brief internet chats I rolled up to Andy’s home where I was warmly greeted by his mum Hazel (also a team member) and Sara Chawner; Stoke Haunted’s Co-founder. After an hour or so, Sara, Andy and Hazel agreed to lead the finale to my night of
I don’t think that I realised what a huge undertaking that would be. It was a challenge all the same. Our discussion was easy as each of us asked questions about each other. Of course, our personal beliefs regarding the paranormal came about too. I was surprised to learn that in spite of running a team which searches for supernatural truth Andy was like myself, a sceptic. I have to be clear about this…I am not a believer in ghosts; however, I am also not saying that there isn’t something out there either. My stance is that things have to be measured to be understood. Surely there has to be a logical reason for everything…right?
Three years on and things have gone from strength the strength. I have published a number of ebooks both paranormal and none paranormal based. I now source and book the majority of the teams investigations as well as act as one of the teams producers. It is like being part of a very weird and diverse family comprised of mediums, sceptics, sensitives and the curiously undecided. Incessantly I am heckled at for being part of a paranormal group, ignorance often being the main culprit. I am sure that everybody else within this industry has experienced this at regular intervals too. It is the nature of the beast.
Sadly, you have to grow a thick skin quickly if you want to let the comments wash over you.
“How can you be a sceptic yet still be a part of a ghost hunting team?” is the most frequent question posed to me. My answer is simply this… I believe that we are in a situation similar to the dawn of discovering electricity. Whereas I do not necessarily believe in spirits, I do think that all paranormal seekers; despite being labelled as laughable eccentrics, are on the cusp of understanding a new energy, its’ potential and its’ meaning. Will we understand it in our life time? Probably not; but, there has to be some truth in the global reports of ghoulish goings-on. I mean, not everyone can be wrong…can they? I consider myself very lucky to be part of the Stoke Haunted Team. Our broad thinking and appreciation of everybody’s varied beliefs allow us to document the many angles
angles which need further deliberation. We don’t declare that we are the best group out there; however, we do like to do things to the best of our ability. We are passionate about what we do and we love to share it with interested and wider audiences. If the world’s teams collaborated more what is to say that we couldn’t arrive at the truth in ten years instead of twenty? As previously mentioned, my first writing love was not for the paranormal; to be honest, it wasn’t even my second, third or fourth choice either; but, would I change my path of self-discovery given the opportunity? Heck no!
Without the Stoke Haunted Team supporting our collective venture I doubt that I would have had the confidence to put my work out into the ebook-e-sphere at all. I know that there are thousands of teams worldwide to choose from; however, if you could spare five minutes of your day to pop over to our website (www.stokehaunted.com) or Facebook to say hi we would be eternally grateful. I look forward to this new chapter of my writing life with positivity and humility. I hope that you will support and follow my articles of paranormal self-discovery in the future. I am just one woman in the grand scheme of things but collectively we could make a difference! Safe investigating to you all. Claire x
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Essential Equipment What do we really need on an investigation? A brief look at the EMF meter.
We all take copious amounts of equipment on any investigation, some of these we wouldn’t dream of leaving out of our arsenal of gadgets, they have almost become essential pieces of kit that any investigator shouldn’t be seen without, buzz words surround them in which an air of scientific credibility is created and validation for the investigator is almost assured. One such piece of equipment is the EMF Meter which we use to detect fluctuations in the earths electro-magnetic field. There are now hundreds of variations on the EMF meter
all ranging in price and function, this short article looks at three of the most popular EMF meters in use within the UK by Paranormal teams AND offers a cost effective alternative for one of the uses of the EMF meter.
Three of the most popular EMF Meters (from left to right) ‘The Ghost Meter’, K2 Meter (mk2) and the Mel Meter.
All three meters claim to do roughly the same thing and that is detect fluctuations within the earths electromagnetic field, two of the above are better at this than the other, these are: ‘The Ghost Meter’ and the Mel Meter. The K2 slips behind them for the simple fact that it doesn’t contain the actual sensor that detects the earths electromagnetic field.
As we are all aware the earth is essentially a large magnet, this produces an electromagnetic field which is measured in Gauss. The field fluctuates and is stronger at the poles than at the equator, this is measured by a Hall Effect Sensor which the
tK2 does not have but the other two do. The ‘Ghost Meter’ and the Mel are both calibrated to take the earths natural electromagnetic field into account and therefore detect any variations of this. The Ghost Meter offers a very good introduction to EMF Meters (even though it does have the cheesiest name ever!) it is the cheapest of the three meters and does everything you could possibly need, the Mel offers more variable functions and a higher scale (which you pay for) but essentially they do the same thing, the K2 does also have its place but personally I’ve found them to be more susceptible to interference from other pieces of equipment and are prone to give ‘false’ readings. Where the K2 and ‘Ghost Meter
come in useful are when guests are taken onto investigations, they can be given to them for use on the night, they then feel part of the team and that they are actually doing something tangible towards the investigation. I mentioned earlier that there is a cheap cost effective alternative to one of the uses of the EMF Meter, we have all on occasion set up a static camera with a meter in shot hoping to catch the moment it goes off, this is always a good idea however it takes a piece of kit that is best suited for roving around the site out of use. A cheap alternative is the humble navigational compass, after all these are made to detect the earths magnetic field, they don’t need batteries and many have illuminating tips that you see in the dark. You could set up 2 or 3 in a ‘bank’ to actually see the
direction of the EMF anomaly.
Three alternatives to a static EMF setup, ranging in price from free with a magazine to £20, they last a lifetime and you don’t need to spend vast amounts to get one that works and they have the added benefit of increasing the accuracy of any reports that are written after the investigation. Hopefully these will also become essential pieces of kit for you as they are for me. Happy hunting, be safe Nick.
STRANGE BUT TRUE
WHAT ARE SPIRIT GUIDES? By Kevin Cohen Spiritualist Medium Finding your spirit guide. They are souls who have chosen after a number of incarnations to remain in spirit in order to assist a person in the physical realm. This may be someone who they were devoted to in a previous life. They may stay with you through you entire lifetime or for a short period, each guide enters your life for a specific purpose. We usually enter an agreement with at least one main guide before we enter our physical bodies, you may have previously been the guide for you spirit guide when they were in the physical realm, you may have also shared a love link i.e.,
brother, sister, mother Spirit guides have not always had incarnations on earth they may come from other dimensions or planets. They are souls who are at a similar stage in their spiritual evolution. DOES EVERYONE HAVE A SPIRIT GUIDE? How to contact your spirit. Yes and we all have the ability to communicate with them, everyone will have at least one primary one who may stay for an entire life time, others may come and go when their specific purpose is complete. You can call on others as you feel you need them, you may have a deceased loved one acting as a guide. They
HOW DO SPIRIT GUIDES CONNECT WITH US? Contacting spirit guide.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A SPIRIT GUIDE? Who is my spirit guide. Finding your spirit guide can have many benefits as they are here for you and your development. Their purposes include: Their primary purpose is one of guiding and teaching, a spirit guide can often see a picture bigger than ourselves therefore their guidance is extremely valuable. They are here to assist us with the issues that we have set up for ourselves in this life time, they can help you heal and awaken to your full potential, they can help you find your sense of purpose.
Meeting Spirit guides can take many forms, Spirit guides come to us when we are most receptive or willing to receive their help, they are gentle and give only the information we are ready for. Spirit guides connect with us in many ways including: ~ Dreams ~ Through thoughts or telepathy also known as clairaudience ~ During meditation or altered states of consciousness ~ Synchronicities ~ Through feelings. You can also ask for your guide to initiate communication with you in a particular way so that you will recognise them for example 'give me a tingling sensation if you are there?' Contact can also be made through a medium using the form of psychic art.
SPIRIT GUIDE AND ESP INFORMATION, HOW CAN I RECOGNISE THE PRESENCE OF MY SPIRIT GUIDE? Meeting spirit guide. When meeting spirit guide it can present itself in the following ways: You may hear sounds that have no physical source, You may see flashes of light or shadows out of the corner of your eyes but when you turn to look nothing is there, You may get the shivers or goose pimples, You may experience synchronicities, You may say something and wonder where it came from as it did not sound like you, You may feel warm, calm, safe and supported. During the meditation to follow you may be given a symbol or certain sensation that will be the key to recognising your guide.
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR SPIRIT GUIDE? Meeting spirit guide. Meeting your spirit guide is a form of channeling. Are you asking "Who is my spirit guide?" In truth you already know your spirit guide so this will be more like a reunion or the first conscious connection made here on earth. A common way to contact your spirit guide is though mediation although it can be done through many other ways, this will be a good place to start contacting Spirit Guide. It would be handy to have paper and a pen perhaps even colored pencil incase you want to record your experience. Find a quite place to sit where you will not be disturbed, light a candle with the intention of being protected as you take this journey, close your eyes and turn inward. Spend a few
minutes quietening your mind by focusing on your breathing. Invite your spirit guide to communicate with you by saying mentally or aloud 'through this meditation I wish to connect to you please make your presence known to me', notice anything that happens, you may receive a warm sensation or tingling. Visualize a door in your mind, you approach the door and open it, a beautiful garden is revealed, you enter the garden walking along a path towards a pond. Enjoy the sensations as you are walking, you notice a glowing light next to the ponds edge, you know that your spirit guide has come to greet you as you asked. Approaching closer you may notice the appearance of your guide or not, your guide extends their arm out to give you something, a gift, a reminder of your encounter. The gift will be unique to you, perhaps you are shown a flower that you love, perhaps you smell the flower you love. There are
no rules to how you experience this, every sensation you have is valuable. Spend sometime getting to know your guide or just being in their presence and return through the garden gate when you are ready. Feel the ground beneath your feet as you return. To develop your relationship further as with all relationships you need to give it constant care and nurturing, learning to still your mind through meditation will further aid your ability to communicate. Make the time to ask for guidance this will give them the opportunity to assist you.
Crop Circles
"Suddenly, I heard a noise. It seemed as if something pushed down the
wheat. That night the air was completely still. I looked around. The moon had just appeared, shining brightly. In front of my eyes I could see a great imprint taking shape. The wheat was forced down in a clockwise direction." -Bryce Bond and Arthur Shuttlewood, first modern crop circles witnesses, Warminster, night of August 12, 1972 Crop circles- or agriglyphs- can now be found in 29 countries around the globe.
And by the appearance of a modest, elegant circle of pressed wheat, some 30 ft in diameter in southern England, so began the study of crop circles in the modern age. Many Years later and at least 10,000 formations, crop circles have grown into complex mathematical fractals, in lengths of up to three quarters of a mile, and covering areas as large as 200,000 square ft.
Thousands of simple, sporadic events have surfaced from around the world dating back to 1890; several cases even date to the time of Isaac Newton. Initially, the phenomenon was attributed to freak wind vortexes, although why these created such perfect shapes in crop fields remained unexplained, after all, wind vortices and tornadoes generally rip things out of the ground. One very crucial piece of evidence from the 1970 s posed an interesting dilemma for researchers and scientists trying to pin the blame on
pranksters armed with rope and pieces of wood.
perfect spiral, without damaging the plants and leaving no hole in the middle. And all this in the middle of the night!!
In those days the fields did not have the hallmark tractor ruts (tram lines) that today we can see crossing fields in parallel lines every 60 feet or so. This is very important in establishing the cause of crop circles, by virtue that a person trying to lay a perfect design upon the wheat would have had to do so by levitating. It could be argued that a balloon was used, although nobody has satisfactorily explained how a balloon could be kept perfectly still four feet off the ground, around a wooden peg which, presumably, would enable a person to lean out of the basket while he moved the wheat in a
The debate raged on and all kinds of things were given credit for these mysterious circles- wind vortexes, little green men, poor soil conditions, sex-mad hedgehogs and, most popular of all, the plasma vortex theory. But it was in 1980 that the phenomenon really caught everyone's interest. Suddenly there were two circles in a field, lying symmetrically side-by-side. Freak weather condition advocates were suddenly dealt a blow. The following year, signs of intelligence were manifested when a 52-foot circle was flanked by two smaller circles exactly half its size, aligned perfectly north-south.
Now even the army was devoting serious helicopter time to these occurrences, for here was something that was simply inexplicable.
This formation at Cheesefoot Head was also the first to attract serious media interest. By now, dozens of single, double and triple circular formations were being documented, all manifesting perfect spiral movement, with plants unharmed or broken, in circles etched with surgical precision from the standing crop. Then in 1983 the first quintuplet design appeared- a large central circle surrounded by four smaller circles within the standing crop, precisely aligned to the four cardinal points. Four of the circles were rotated clockwise, the fifth counter-clockwise.
Unusual anomalies seemed to accompany the formations- dogs in the vicinity would bark incessantly from 2am to 4 am, just hours before a crop circle was spotted nearby; animals that ventured into new formations vomited, orange balls of light were observed; strange noises- like the rustling of electricity- were heard and recorded; and UFO reports preceded the appearance of formations. More importantly, the phenomenon showed intelligent reaction to the thoughts and theories of the researchers, either to communicate or lead them in a pre-meditated direction: when they said formations were caused by freak winds on sides of hills, the crop circles moved to flat, open areas; when
men armed with planks of wood were suggested as the culprit, circles developed in oil seed rape (canola), one of the most brittle plants; if balloons were to blame, they appeared under high voltage wires. By 1988, hundreds of crop circles had been documented and researched. And every year they had grown exponentially, always developing and splitting in structure as if suggesting some sort of language, more complex as the years progressed and at the pace in which the research teams picked up on the subtle clues left on the fields. Circles developed a simple ring, then double rings. Then Celtic crosses, where the four 'satellite' circles were connected by a thin band, too narrow even for a small child to thread without disturbing the crop. In 1988, during a BBC interview inside a new formation, the cricket-like warble that had been
heard several times throughout the years was captured on tape. Eventually analysed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it was measured as 100 bpm, at a frequency of 5.2kHz, and mechanical in nature. A bird or insect was also out of the question. More formations began appearing in closer proximity to ancient monuments; Silbury Hill, Europe's own 'pyramid' received forty visits.
In one bizarre case at Corhampton, three single circles were placed mathematically correct within an equilateral area, making it the first crop formation to exhibit a musical diatonic ratio (above). Furthermore, its physical features were
extraordinary. Here was a series of circles that had been previously flattened but now the stems were lifting back to the light of the sun in a selective manner, in three separate groups. In the first group, plants were bending on the node nearest to the ground. In the second group plants were lifting up on the node half-way up the stem, and plants in the third group were bending at the node nearest the head. From the air, they'd grown into a pattern consisting of seven concentric rings and forty-eight spokes. Circle fever began to break out among the public. Even the Queen put the acclaimed Circular Evidence book on her reading list. 305 known formations had now appeared and they were becoming more and more complicated, some even developing tails. Then on August 12 1989, the final blow was dealt to the
favoured meteorological theory - the 'Swastika' at Winterbourne Stoke became a quantum leap in crop circle language.
Here was a formation whose crop was bent in four quadrature's, exactly aligned to the magnetic compass points; at the centre the crop rotated and counter-rotated in three movements. At the boundary edge, another thin band rotated clockwise with crop weaving over and under the central combed quadrature's. A hoax was out of the question, and an 'outside force' began to be accepted as the creator of crop circles.