NPI BlogCast
Official blog for the Network of Paranormal Investigators

New Contact Number for NPI : IMPORTANT

11-11-09
New Phone Number!


That's right.  NPI, Michigans' Network of Paranormal Investigators has a new, and OFFICIAL phone line.

248-660-0NPI
248-660-0674

If we are in touch with you and you have not received this update via email, please take note of the change.  If you have tried contacting us in the past two weeks, please take note of this new number.
We look forward to speaking to you soon!
Take care,
NPI

-NPI Michigan

October 28th Presentation Reminder!

10-21-09
Hamburg Township Library!


If you weren't able to make it to our last presentation, be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 28th!

Mike Pierce, founder of the Network of Paranormal Investigators, will be giving a presentation on the paranormal at the Hamburg Township Library.  There will be some great discussion, photos, as well as audio and video evidence.
We strive to provide information and education on the paranormal and this is top priority at all of our presentations.  Don't miss out on this!

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Start Time : 6:30 PM
Location :
Hamburg Township Library
10411 Merrill Road
Hamburg, MI 48139
Phone: 810-231-1771

NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com

A paranormal evening at the Historic Holly Hotel

10-21-09
Looking for an informative evening?


Friday, October 23rd!
At the Historic Holly Hotel,
Kat Tedsen and Bev Rydel, authors of “Haunted Travels of Michigan” along with Jenny Marcus and Lisa Mann, founder of Highland Ghost Hunters, will be on hand to share their interesting paranormal investigations. They will be sharing some great video and audio content as well.

Guests will be invited to participate in a ghost hunt at the hotel, considered one of Michigan’s most haunted locations.

Must be 18 or older to attend. Admission is $46.

For more information, call (586) 228-8780

Be sure to check this out!
Enjoy

NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com

Programs, Workshops and Lectures!

8-19-09
NPI announces two new upcoming Workshops/Lectures!


Keep your schedules clear in the month of October, folks, because NPI is going to be all around entertaining and sharing information with the public!  Our workshops consist of group discussions, teachings, stories, and evidence of the paranormal.  As of right now the following are scheduled events:

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Start Time : 6:30 PM
Location :
St.Clair County Library
310 S. Second St.,
St. Clair, MI 48079
Phone: 810-329-3951

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Start Time : 6:30 PM
Location :
Hamburg Township Library
10411 Merrill Road
Hamburg, MI 48139
Phone: 810-231-1771

Both of these programs are absolutely FREE, so please mark your calendars and spread the word!
See you there!

NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com

Site Updates!

8-19-09
What NPI has been up to!


It sure has been a busy summer!  With everything that has been happening, it has been difficult to keep this blog updated.  We are happy to announce some really neat things!  We have some public workshops coming soon!  We have our radio show still in the works!  We have an online NPI Video Blog coming with everything from tutorials to discussions!

So keep checking back!  We appreciate all the contact and interest!

NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com

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

5-3-09 : Picture 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!

3-30-09 : Day or Night!

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

3-26-09 : No mannequin here...

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)
See the picture here:

What do you think?
Share your thoughts!

NPI - Network of Paranormal Investigators
www.NPIMI.com

Interview about Vatican-sponsored courses on exorcism

3-17-09 : Modern Day Exorcist

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!

NOTEThis 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.

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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.
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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

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