22 July 2009

The paranormal world mourns the loss of one of its icons, Dr. Hans Holzer

The paranormal world mourns the loss of one of its icons, Dr. Hans Holzerby Christopher Balzano, News Editor In any field it is hard to remain relevant generationally. Influence is passed from age to age in stories, like a father telling his son about a man who once was great. Very rarely do they look at the same person and say he defined each of their times, and when it happens, the figure takes on a timeless quality. If it is hard to catch the spotlight, it is harder to remain there for decades, with each person learning a fresh lesson from a new lesson taught. Dr. Hans Holzer was beyond influential. He remained relevant. After sixty years at the forefront of the paranormal, Dr. Hans Holzer passed away this Sunday, April 26, 2009, at the age of 89. He was born in Austria in 1920, but moved to New York in 1938, shortly before the darkest days of World War II. While so much of his early life was influenced by his time in Europe, he became a New Yorker at heart and stayed there until his death, often using the city as a base of operations for his investigations. His education might have seemed like a mixed bag to someone looking in from the outside, but it helped him carve out the name he would carry with him into a profession many people with his degree of education frowned upon. Over the next half century he worked on some of the most recognizable cases in the paranormal world, including the case in Amityville. Authoring more than 130 books on the supernatural, he was prolific and also delved into plays, screenplays, and works of fiction. “He was so comfortable with the audience, speaking to them as if they were all old friends,” remembers fellow paranormal writer and research Brad Steiger, “He exuded a natural charm. He seemed genuinely happy in his work, and he maintained a high-level of enthusiasm for investigating the unknown throughout his life.” Holzer was the transition from the old giants of the paranormal community to the new, but in many ways his work never went out of style, even with the advent of technology he sometimes frowned upon. His work was about documentation and observation and getting your hands dirty, but he believed spirituality and the human’s ability to communicate were as essential a tool as a piece of equipment. With these ideas he laid the foundation many investigators build on today, and to know about ghosts usually means having read at least one of his books. Dr. Holzer had the unique ability to have one foot planted in the past, reaching back to the giants like Harry Price, and still be able to communicate with the newer generation. Over the past sixty years, there have been few who have managed the public face of the paranormal better. He was not only a mentor to those in the field, be became the funnel through which the general public learned about the work of paranormal investigators. Part of Holzer’s appeal lay in his approach to the paranormal. His career spans shifting ideas, often conflicting with one another, on ghost hunting. From parlor room chic to outside the lines to the scientific movement of today, his methods remained rooted in a genuine place and transcend trend. A mix of research, investigation, and psychic evaluation his techniques have proven to be almost a necessity for modern investigators. Even if his ideas were in conflict with a person’s belief, and those ideas were strong and specific enough to cause conflict, the ghost hunter still referenced his words. In an interview with Jeff Belanger of Ghostvillage, Dr. Holzer once said, “Fear is the absence of information. Fear is created by not understanding something. You bring on the fear.” His passing marks a transition for all who knew him and all who found comfort or influence in his words. We understand more having been touched by him and his work, and even in his passing he has taken a bit of the fear away.
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19 July 2009

Everything Old is...Well, Still Old.

I was indulging in my recent guilty pleasure - watching Ghost Adventures - and I had a very strong, very strange sense of dejavu...and then it dawned on me:

TAPS DID THE EXACT SAME INVESTIGATION IN 2005.

Yep, folks. Google it. They even both claimed to capture "dark shadow figures" in the basement by the pool table (both EXTREMELY dubious, but WHATEVER) and they both captured strange "mists" on camera, even both going so far as explaining that it's "not dust because mist floats UP and dust floats DOWN."

Oh yeah. I recall learning that in Earth Science class. That's the fundamental difference between mist and dust, isn't it? I mean, certainly the same gust of air couldn't POSSIBLY move DUST in an upwards fashion, as it does for mist, right?

Oh, and WHO was that Dennis Hopper impersonator who kept calling Zak "buddy" and "pal?" Seriously. Paranormal investigators are FREAKS, I tell ya. :)

16 July 2009

Fakery is Serious Business...

I found this article from January, but I think the info warrants repeating...

I totally heart Ghost Hunters...not!

14 July 2009

Haunted Estate Find!!!!

Haunted Doll For Sale!!!

Act fast, or you may miss out on the opportunity to be forever tormented by the tortured spirit of a dead nun, doing God's work by frightening children...

Just like when she was alive.

12 July 2009

Strange Giant Insects Found in Pennsylvania...

As opposed to the much more commonplace giant insects for which the state is rather well-known.

Strange Giant Insects!!!

I particularly like this excerpt:

The creature was described as about 7 inches in length from tip to tip, appeared to be segmented, and moved like a grub. It was primarily a very iridescent white color with a bluish tint, but the witness emphasized that it was not glowing.

I think I used to be married to that guy.

~Katie

How to tell if you are possessed by a demon

Does the style of your penmanship change constantly?

Do you like to exorcise?

Did you vote Republican?

Has an obscure word like "manumit," "dilettante" or "fabulous" suddenly and unintentionally popped into your vocabulary within the past five years?

Have you ever taken or had the urge to take a college class entitled "quantum physics?"

Is the toilet paper in your bathroom made of bible pages?

Does your dog have hooves?

When the electricity goes out, are you the only one carrying black emergency candles?

Country music (especially Garth Brooks) doesn't seem so bad.

That damn sunburn just won't seem to go away.

On Christmas you go around knocking on doors and asking for candy.

When you get drunk, the room doesn't spin, your head does.

Whenever someone uses the Lords name in vain you get all
'tingly'

The only channels you get on your TV is Telemundo and Fox News.

You can start the barbecue pit with your finger.

You have a poster of Ann Coulter on your wall.

If you answered "yes" to at least 2 of these, chances are you are possessed by a demon.

By Clint

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