Thursday, December 31, 2009

Haunted TV

While watching Ghost Hunters, I saw them investigate two places I'd been. One was the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Then, on the following episode, the team checked out the Jim Hensen Studios in Hollywood. I'd heard rumors of the Crescent, but didn't experience anything. And the only thing I've ever seen at Hensen are Muppets and executives. (The team pronounced both locations rife with paranormal activity - or as paranormal as any TV show can be.)

Last year I had to take a First Aid class while coaching Team in Training. The Red Cross facility was in an old mansion in Pasadena. The class ran into the night. After finishing up, I talked with the instructor who advised me to leave quickly as the place was haunted. Nothing bad had happened, but things were seen and heard which the instructor found unexplainable and disturbing. And apparently beyond the powers of earthly First Aid.

I'm amazed by how many people I've met over the years who have ghost stories. Buncha nuts. (Photo: youthradio.wordpress.com)

5 comments:

takineko said...

I believe angels and demons exist, and that demons can perform miracles [seeing as how they're fallen angels]. So to an extent, I believe people when they say things like "grandma came back to visit me!" but I don't believe it was grandma. According to my bible, she's not coming back until judgment day. Funny how that got mixed up over the years. I once watch an interview where a woman said her husband was MIA and assumed dead, then his ghost came to visit her-- But then about a week or two later her husband was found and returned from the war. Then who the heck was that visiting her? She was very confused, poor lady.

JP Mac said...

The anecdotal evidence for an after-life seems strong.

As for reincarnation, I believe it exists for people who die owing me money.

Keeper said...

It's funny. While I don't believe in afterlife, ghost stories, et al, I have actually experienced a couple poltergeisty moments.

The location was my room in a house I lived in on Venice Dr in the Live Oak district of Santa Cruz.

These two incidents happened when I was about six or seven years old, but they've remained distinct memories, as any peculiar moment does.

In one, I was wakened in the middle of the night by my mattress being shaken up and down from one of the corners by my feet. The shaking stopped the moment I sat up.

At the time, I ascribed that to an earthquake, even though my brother in the top bunk and another brother on the other side of the room remained sound asleep. ...and of course the only time I've ever actually felt vertical motion in an earthquake was on October 17, 1989. So this bed thing couldn't have been an earthquake.

One could also argue that it was just a dream that affected my waking self for a few moments. I could buy that.

The other incident, however, didn't involve sleeping. I was reading a book (a book about magic tricks, ironically enough) in my room. It was tugged on toward the left. I tugged back. It was tugged harder. I yanked it out of the tugger's grip with both hands, causing myself to lean almost completely over when it was let go.

The room was well lighted (I was reading, after all), and everyone else was in the kitchen or living room, as dinner was just about ready (I'd actually been called once).

Was it some weird involuntary muscle spasm that only made it seem like the book was being tugged at? That's the only thing that bears the possibility of sense, but the act of tugging against the force suggests I was in full control on my muscles.

So... I dunno what it was.

JP Mac said...

For a sceptic, your evidence is more compelling in favor of spooks than against.

I would blame weather balloons.

Keeper said...

So much of ghost-hunter stuff you see or hear about is ridiculously hokey, like their obsession with "orbs", also known as dust particles and bugs floating through the air picked up on their super-aperture night-vision cameras. (This has been proven in tests.)

So, I try to maintain a healthy skeptic system.

Featured Post

John P. McCann Sizzle Page

'Twas suggested I post a few episodes of my work in a pleasant spot. I've chosen here. Sadly, not everything I've written has y...