James Randi tests psychic
5-6-09 : Psychic goes for Million Dollar Challenge
Patricia Putts, a woman who thinks that she can find out personal details about people by simply being near them and listening to their voices will do a preliminary test which may lead to her winning the coveted 1 million dollar JREF prize.
The idea for the JREF prize comes from the brain of world-renowned magician and paranormal investigator James Randi, a Toronto native who lives in Florida. This prize is awarded: to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event.
The idea behind the prize is a simple one. A large number of people believe in paranormal powers. Scientists have tried to find these powers for decades now and they have all been disillusioned. Yet, many people continue to believe in them. By making the amount so high, these tests -which do usually not interest the general public- becoming more exciting, leading to more publicity and a larger audience. This ensures that more people will learn of the success or failure of these tests, leading to a better educated, wider public.
Today, 6 May 2009, Patricia Putt will take the preliminary test. As always, the JREF is not involved with the test itself. She will be tested at Goldsmiths University by Professor Christopher French, Professor Richard Wiseman, and psychology students Panka Juhasz, James Munroe, Suzanne Barbieri, and Fabio Tartarini.
"It's great that Patricia has agreed to be tested and accepted the protocol," said Professor Wiseman, "In my experience, the vast majority of psychics and mediums back down before this point, so this is going to be a relatively rare and exciting experiment. My hope is that all will go well with the procedure on the day and thus we will get a clear result one way or the other."
The reason that this is news, is that the demonstration of genuine paranormal powers would create a new science in a field that is now regarded by most scientists as a graveyard for dim-witted wishful thinkers. A successful test would bring even more wonder and mystery into the world than there already is, and could potentially have great applications.
Mrs Putt says that she can find out personal information about people by simply being close to them while listening to their voices.
During the test, she will meet a series of volunteers who will read a text from William Blake’s ‘The Auguries of Innocence’. They will be wearing heavy clothing, wrap-around sunglasses and they will not be permitted to look at Mrs. Putts during the reading, in order to avoid subconscious clues.
Mrs. Putts will then write a lengthy “reading” about each volunteer. This will take most of the day. Once this is done, the volunteers will be asked to choose the reading that they think is their’s. The readings will be numbered. In order to make sure that everything is properly documented, the whole procedure will be taped on video.
Mrs. Putts will have passed the test if five or more of the volunteers are able to identify their own reading. In that case, a protocol will be developed for a final test that could lead to her winning the JREF prize.
Source: Digital Journal
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Ghostly Photos Spark Debate
Are these some of New Zealand's spookiest pictures?
For the past few weeks, The Press has been calling for New Zealand's best spectral images in the wake of a British competition that judged ghost pictures from around the world.
The photograph chosen as the best by British judges was that of a ghostly figure, in Tudor dress, staring out of a ruined Scottish castle. The picture, taken in May last year, puzzled experts.
The Press has received dozens of ghost shots from readers throughout New Zealand.
Most were photos of "orbs" (largely explained by dust on the camera lens), strange patterns in smoke or odd reflections, but others were more difficult to fathom. Our judges picked four scenes.
The first comprised two photos taken during a Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade exercise in 2006. They appear to show ghostly heads in the burning house.
The second image is from a North Island pub and shows an indistinct feline-type face in the lower part of a window.
The third picture was taken at Linwood College in Christchurch. Who is that ghostly visage squeezed between the two students?
The final scene was in Halswell, Christchurch, and the photo appears to show a grinning head discarded in a washing basket.
New Zealand Paranormal Investigation Society director Brad Scott said most paranormal shots were easily explained.
"There are 90 per cent logical explanations for everything that occurs, but it's that 10 per cent that we look for,'' he said.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AND SEE ALL THE PICTURES HERE.
Share your thoughts!
Take care,
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
New Article Posted!
THIS JUST IN!
A new article has been posted here at NPIMI.com which places a rather unique perspective on investigating the paranormal.
NPI Founder, Mike Pierce, discusses the idea of throwing out general conceptions of "Dead Time" and "Witching Hours" by stating that quality investigations can be done any time of the day, day or night, light or dark.
Check it out in our Articles page, or simply click HERE.
Share your thoughts with our new commenting feature on each article!!
We're looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Take care,
NPI
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Ghost photo baffles experts
Here is a neat story I just stumbled onto.
A photographer stumbled over a year old picture he had taken to discover a strange apparition. Below is a small portion of the article as well as the picture in question.
An eerie image of a figure at a Scottish castle has got ghost experts spooked.
The scary shot was unearthed during the biggest ever investigation into photographic evidence of ghosts.
The picture, taken in May last year, shows a spectral figure in fifteenth century dress peering out of a barred window at Tantallon Castle in Fife.
No mannequins or costumed guides are used at the castle and photo experts have confirmed that no digital trickery was used.
Even ghost sceptic Professor Richard Wiseman admitted to being puzzled.
“It is certainly very curious,” he said. “We ran it by three photographic experts and they said it hadn’t been Photoshopped at all."
(Source: The Sun)
What do you think?
Share your thoughts!
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Interview about Vatican-sponsored courses on exorcism
Here is a very neat interview from 'TIME' with a journalist, Matt Baglio, who stumbled across an exorcism class sponsored by the church while living in Rome. The interview touches briefly on his upcoming book, but is mostly in regards to the course itself. This is a rare topic to find in the news, so I certainly found it worthwhile to post on our paranormal news feed!
NOTE: This is quite a unique topic. It's posted as information, and does not necessarily express the views and opinions of NPI. Here at NPI, we are open to all avenues of the paranormal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME: The thing that inspired this book was a class on exorcism. Tell me about it.
BAGLIO: I was a freelance journalist living in Rome and had heard about this course called Exorcism and the Prayer of Liberation. It was organized by the Legion of Christ and their school, the Regina Apostolorum, which is Vatican-affiliated. Not knowing anything about exorcism or if the Church even still believed in it, I was intrigued by the idea of a university-level course teaching priests about exorcism.
TIME: When you started the book, did you lean one way or another in terms of whether or not you believed in the possibility of exorcism?
BAGLIO: I came at this topic very journalistically, not having an opinion for or against it. I wanted to really understand what it is and why the church still believes in it. But even exorcists themselves admit that 90% of the people that come to see them don't need an exorcism. There still remains a small percentage of cases, however, involving levitation, mind-reading and other paranormal phenomena that can't be explained through science. Maybe one day.
TIME: You write about how most priests don't even like to talk about exorcism, that they find the idea distasteful. Why is that?
BAGLIO: There's a lot of taboo when it comes to the devil and evil itself. Parishoners don't want to hear about Satan and evil and sin. Father Gary, he's in his 50s, and he was ordained in the late '70s. During that period, you had a lot of turmoil in conjunction with Vatican II shaking up the church and getting rid of many very old traditions, the Latin mass and those sorts of things. But you have to look at priests themselves as being creatures of their environment. Coupled with that were all this these new psychoanalytical approaches that were uncovering a lot of things that in the past were considered to be in the realm of the spiritual. I think a lot of priests saw that and said, Let's just keep becoming more modern and more open and don't worry about all these "medieval things."
TIME: Most of the exorcisms that Father Gary witnesses are fairly low-key. What happens during the dramatic ones?
BAGLIO: If an exorcist sees 100 people, there are only going to be 2 or 3 that are dramatic. And I would characterize those as being when the person actually speaks to the exorcist. Quite often they'll be burping or belching or coughing or yawning. There's moaning and screaming too. But in the stronger cases, in almost every instance, you'll have the voice. The person will speak in a demonic voice, and they'll say things like, "This person belongs to us," "You have no power over us," "You can't defeat us." They are usually very dramatic in the sense that the person will be screaming at the top of their lungs. There can also be shaking. Picture a person sitting in a chair with their arms sticking straight out, their legs sticking straight out, convulsing. That's common.
But usually, the more dramatic cases deal with people who are screaming, using their voice, shoving and punching, getting up, smacking their head against the wall — just very violent. And that voice is beyond a simple mimic of a strange voice. It's very uncanny, very unnatural. And then, of course, there's vomiting, which is common. Father Carmine saw a case where a woman vomited up a small black toad that was still alive. He went to catch it, and it dissolved into saliva. I had another priest who I talked to who dealt with a woman who vomited up seven little black nails, six of which dissolved into this black liquid.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is honestly a very neat interview, and this is only a SMALL portion that I've posted here.
I really recommend taking a few minutes to give it a read. The article can be found HERE.
(Source: TIME)
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Another cell phone ghost picture
With the creation of the cell phone and cell phone accessories, it is common knowledge that the current standard cell phone camera is below 2 megapixels. This means that the cameras are rather poor quality with low resolution. While fun for an evening out and spur of the moment picture taking, I don't believe cell phone pictures are quality enough to claim as proof of the paranormal.
Today on AsianOneNews, a picture has been released by the press of a 'ghost' on a crowded bus :
Mr Chen, who works in advertising, said that when he boarded the bus on Sunday night, he was surprised to find a small boy "playing a fool in the bus".
The boy, whom Mr Chen said looked to be about 9 years old, was playing and talking to himself, but no one on the bus seemed to notice.
He was at the front of the bus and even turned to talk to the bus driver, but the driver showed no response, said Mr Chen.
At one point, the boy even came to the back of the bus where he was sitting to "count the number people on the bus".
Mr Chen said the boy had asked the driver: "Was there an accident?" but the driver did not respond and did not seem to notice his presence.
He then moved to the back of the bus, where he sat beside Mr Chen, and began counting the number of passengers slowly before stopping to exclaim, "wow, so many people!"
Apparently, the boy took an interest in Mr Chen once he realised he could see him.
"He was wearing a grey jacket and yellow shorts. After he realised I was looking at him, he seemed afraid. However later on, he came back and wanted to play with me. He passed his jacket to me, but I ignored him."
Mr Chen said he was on the bus for seven minutes. Throughout the ride, the boy did not stop playing and according to Mr Chen, "creating a scene".
During the journey, Mr Chen noticed two male passengers, one Chinese the other, Indian, looking over in the boy's general direction, but they did not do anything.
"Till I got down the bus, no one reacted or did anything to stop the boy. I cannot confirm if anyone saw him."
It's quite an interesting story, but is it really a "ghost", or even newsworthy?
You be the judge. Check out the tiny picture HERE.
(Source: AsianOneNews)
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Reviewing 'Ghost' Photos
I came across a wonderful interview with psychologist, Professor Richard Wiseman.
He is on an avid mission to collect as many "Ghost" photos as possible and find logical explanations to them.
"About once a month I get sent a fairly good ghost photo where it's not immediately obvious what's going on."
"Often you might see what looks like a face in semi-darkness but its just a trick of the light. The human brain is hard-wired to see faces, for instance in clouds. That's because faces are the most important thing we can see around us."
"I'm pretty sceptical, and usually there's a rational explanation, but it could be that someone out there is sitting on something really interesting."
Here at NPI, we receive many pictures from individuals personal photo albums. Just as Professor Wiseman says, many of them are explained rather simply and quickly, whereas on occasion, you do get one that leaves you scratching your head.
View Richards collection of photos HERE.
(Source: Channel4.com)
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
UK Ghost Video...and NPI's explanation!
I came across this video this morning.
The article features a short interview with those who took the video, as well as the actual video (which was taken with a cell phone).
Caught as pals tested out the video mode on a new mobile phone, the strange presence was NOT seen until the recording was played back.
"It has to be a ghost," Mr Bundy, 43, said. "There is no other explanation."
"We didn't see it while we were sitting there, only when we played the video...I couldn't believe it."
The video can be seen by clicking HERE.
I believe our readers will know better than to assume this is a 'ghost'.
It's quite clear the first time viewing it, but then the video is kind enough to play it again in slow motion which confirms the false 'ghost'. This anomaly is created due to the low resolution cell phone camera and a lens flare. Note how the "Apparition" only moves when the camera user pans away from the bright light source.
Were the "apparition" to move on its own while the camera was in a static position, that would be one thing, but this is clearly a lens flare.
Keep your eyes open and always remember to be skeptical! Jumping to conclusions produces videos like this.
Take care!
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Site Updates!
With all the great new updates that have been happening to the site, I'm happy to announce that our Photo Albums are up and fully functional! PLUS, we have even more photos coming soon!
Hope over to the 'Media Center' and check them out!
Don't forget the new commenting feature on ALL of our Articles! Please share your thoughts!
Thanks so much!
MORE TO COME!
Take care,
(NPI)
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
Paranormal Science Museum!
Wow. This needs to be added to the list of road trip destinations.
The Paraplex.
The PARAPLEX is a new paranormal complex in New Orleans. The PARAPLEX is the world's new Paranormal Epicenter, a first-of-a-kind attraction creating a signature blend of interactive entertainment and discovery, designed to excite all SIX SENSES!
The multi-million-dollar attraction is a hi-tech paranormal observatory and anomalous data collection & recording lab, featuring Psychic Testing Stations, supernatural Art Collections, the Ghost Experience Simulator, Haunted New Orleans Gallery, the FEAR Exhibit - A Social Experiment, Haunted Hollywood and Haunted Possessions Exhibits, Hollywood Vampires & Werewolf Exhibits, Ghost Photo & EVP Exhibits, Seance Room & Simulations, an on-site theater for screenings and special presentations, guided tours and more... all under the roof of an actively-haunted, 14,000 square foot, 3-story mansion, surrounded by Cities of the Dead and with nine ISPR-identified resident earthbound Entities (Ghosts) documented since July 2007.
Using its hi-tech observatory and recording lab, PARAPLEX will monitor all paranormal activity that takes place in the complex.
Find out more at their website : HERE
NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com
