In Sickness
Ohh man I don’t know what happened there, but last Thursday I was writing a blog and **wham** (Batman – TV series styleee) I was hit with a sudden bout of something, not sure if it was a cold or what, but I felt rough.
Still a little off now, but mainly only the cough left.
So if anyone is reading this and wondering where I’ve been, then don’t worry I’m not dead not at least yet………………………
On the plus side I got to spend some quality time with Jennifer Love Hewitt, I mean watching Ghost Whisperer thanks Virgin Media who have the whole of series one on the ‘On Demand’ service, so yes I watched 22 episodes of Ghost Whisperer. If you like me and you enjoyed watching the show when it was on TV, i.e. not back to back then I would avoid doing as I did it kinda ruined it a little for me in all honesty, watching them back to back made me realise just about every single story was the same but different, here’s the plot
- Ghost contacts Melinda or haunts a close friend or family member
- Only her Husband and close friend believe her
- The family of the ghost or the one whom the ghost is wishing to contact, denies the existing of ‘the afterlife’.
- A small amount of information is given and then they believe in life after death
- Ghost passes over and we all go skipping off happily ever after into the distance.
Maybe the endings don’t include the skipping but I’m sure you get the gist, it’s the same thing over and over and over and guess what….. yep you got it over and over and over again, when watching them you may also notice some errors in the story lines between one episode and another.
Despite all that though I still find myself compelled to watch one after another, like I was feeding a drug addiction or something, I couldn’t stop and I suppose others feel the same I know the show has a fairly big following maybe it gives inspiration to people I don’t know, I do know some people believe the show to be factual though, I wonder if they are also Derek Acorah loyalists too? 
Well Series two of Ghost Whisperer started recently on ‘Crap TV’ also known as ‘Living TV’, I try to avoid that channel as a rule to escape the cringing performances on some of the paranormal shows they air, but exceptions may have to be made for the ‘Ghost Whisperer’. lol
One ego or two?
When I think of the paranormal and a fair few of the people involved in it, I kind of think gang warfare, it’s rather territorial now, there is always someone ready to slip that knife in when they can and worst of all they don’t have to know you.
I’m a member of various on-line forums, under various pseudonyms and the amount of back stabbing, nasty vindictive remarks I’ve seen is absurd and ridiculous.
Well I suppose you get it in all walks of life, I may just notice it more because of my involvement in this field. Sometimes I just want to shout “get a grip people this is a hobby, a passion, it’s not a corporate nor commercial venture” oh hold that thought, lets scratch it out, I forgot it is a corporate venture now as with more commercial groups an increase in hostility has also been noted.
Could that be the cause of all this hostility?
I’d be naive to believe it’s the only cause but I certainly see it as one of the major ones.
Perhaps its all caused by those experts out there, or those ‘UK top psychic mediums’, or those with credentials coming out of their ears and believe they are leaders in their field. I come across so many web sites of groups and clubs proclaiming to be the most recognised and professional around with experts leading the way in this field of research.
OK so your reading this article, your a medium, one of those leading experts, put your hands up, go on if your the most recognised, if you are the UK’s top medium, go on don’t be shy, no one will laugh.
So what makes you, what you claim to be?
Ho do you become the top medium of the UK, does it go on popularity?
If so then ok I could understand a little better.
Does it go on ability?
if so then prove it………….
And how do you get real credentials which make you those experts?
I see no real official recognised qualification backed by a real educational institute, I see no GCSE’s, Diploma’s, Doctorates, or other recognised qualification.
So if you have some credentials then whom are your peers that recognise you as an expert?
The paranormal as it stands now is nothing more than a Pseudoscience, and the definition of expert being:
Quote:
An expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of knowledge, technique, or skill whose judgement is accorded authority and status by the public or their peers. Experts have prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert
Quote:
recognized expert by peer group or professional society certification.
www.state.wv.us/admin/personnel/clascomp/Docs/define.htm
Are you still an expert?
If all these so called experts and mediums are ever going to accomplish anything, then perhaps egos should take a side step and allow professionalism a chance to step up to the table.
As well as forums out there on Internet, we also run a series of websites ourselves, some are geared toward listing links to other groups which allows members of the public to review their website and leave constructive feedback, perhaps I should define constructive too as many people seem to miss the point.
I know I’m generalising a little much in this article as not everyone involved in the paranormal are the same, in fact there are some fantastic people out there and I’m meeting more all the time, it’s just the minority that ruin it and get a bad reputation for the majority.
I side tracked again as I usually do, back on track we we go, one of sites in particular that we run receives an enormous amount of feed back for other websites every day. Out of every 100 comments left as feed back about 5 make it live onto our website if that, simply because most of these comments are one word reviews, abusive, and downright nasty.
We can always tell which two or three groups have a dispute with each other and it’s rather amusing sometimes to read the comments, although I have to say you can see the lack in education of those whom wrote them.
So the question being, one ego or two?
Perhaps it’s time to get a grip people.
This article was written for Ghosts-UK
Are The Ghosts Back In The Closet?
Well it seems that most of the paranormal communities around the web have quietened down recently, and those that are active seem to be due to their own team members keep the ship afloat.
So what’s happening?
Perhaps the Most Haunted Fad is now over, and people are seeing the light again rather than orbs, or perhaps they’re just bored with it all, maybe there is only so much patience one person can have whilst waiting in those dark locations for something spectacular and hair-raising to happen.
I suppose the first sign of things slowing down where around the beginning of 2007, now it’s normal for on-line activity in the paranormal to have it’s up’s and downs in regards to popularity but certainly in the last 5 years or so since the first Most Haunted, this has to be an all time low.
Is this a bad thing?
I certainly don’t think so, perhaps now we’re starting to whiteness a new revolution or rebirth, something that many may have long forgotten, hmm what’s that word again? Ohhhh yeah ‘Normality’.
Quote:
a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving; “the industrial revolution was also a cultural revolution”
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
The old timers of the paranormal, I’m sure you’ll remember the days gone by where you used to get contacted by locations having alleged paranormal activity, and they’d ask ‘How much do you charge?’, more often than not your reply would be something like ‘oh charge, erm…. we don’t do that, but a nice cuppa and perhaps a donation to our travel costs would be good’. When you contacted a location and it was free, then more than likely you’d have made a donation to them, especially if they had staff there too for the night.
Now you don’t get contacted, you have to contact them and are often faced with ridiculous charges.
Will this be the end of commercial paranormal groups?
Personally I don’t think it will be, there are still people out there willing to pay large sums of money to spend a night in alleged paranormal locations, and I’m sure the commercial paranormal companies are still thriving. Although saying that have you actually seen how many of them are out there now.
I’m sure there are a lot of established groups out there that pre-date Most Haunted, are hoping for the collapse of such companies, many believe they are the main cause for locations either closing their doors or charging extortionate prices, well that and of course Most Haunted which some people refer to as Most Taunted, or Most Farted, thanks to http://www.popnoodles.com/mostfarted/ If you’ve not watched the Most Farted clips then I’d urge you to pop over there and do so, personally I find them hilarious.
Did you know some of the commercial paranormal groups out there, now have contracts with many locations that prevent all other groups including none profit groups from accessing the location.
Provoking thoughts
I know the thoughts and opinions of various groups and individuals out there with regards to the television programs such as Most Haunted, Ghost Towns, etc. They feel that this type of media does indeed get people interested in the paranormal and opens it up, but it doesn’t provoke thought, criticism or logical thinking (at least most of the time), when most people get involved with the paranormal they expect it be a thrill seeking night like what these shows portray it to be, however the reality is far from this, investigations tend to be monotonous, with most using their digital camera’s and catching the ‘DORBs’ or ‘ABPORBS’ (Dust Orbs and Airborne particle orbs), many believe there are no possible scientific explanations or non that are credible as shows like Most Haunted have in the past suggested, and because it’s on TV they often see this as fact.
The problem as I see it is that most people are either total believers wanting to prove everything or total sceptics wanting to disprove everything, which often leads to heated debates from both sides of the fence that often results in abuse being thrown about.
A belief gives people hope, it warms their hearts, and comforts them in believing their loved ones are still around, and that everything they do in life will mean something once they pass over themselves. I have no problem with belief of any kind albeit religious or spiritual, but it does dishearten me when people have blind faith, you know what I mean, having a belief or faith were they actually know nothing or very little about it.
Personally I’ve had experiences which could be deemed as paranormal, but only because there was no visible and logical explanation, however this doesn’t mean it’s actually something supernatural, it could just mean I either didn’t look hard enough or further research would be needed. This is of course based on the definition of paranormal being unexplainable by modern science.
Quote:
Phenomena which seem to defy the known laws of science.
library.thinkquest.org/C0120993/glossaryfull.htmlThe word paranormal comes from the words “para” meaning beyond, and normal. So the term paranormal really means something that is beyond the normal scope of science or being beyond a scientific explanation.
knorton13.tripod.com/id33.htmlBeyond normal experience.
www.thepeacefulplanet.com/glossary.html
I bet some maybe wondering why I’m writing about provoking thought when this article is about how quiet the paranormal is, well if people don’t question themselves, and try to improve what they are doing both with knowledge and experience, they will eventually bore of it all.
I could go on about why the paranormal is so quiet all day, but I won’t. So in summary the paranormal does seem to be getting rather quiet, there could be many causes for this, people getting on with their life’s, they could just be bored with it all, or perhaps they are just fed up with all the bickering that happens.
Are the ghosts back in the closet? I don’t know, maybe we’re waiting for a new birth of life, the next generation, or things may get back to normal, you know the way it used to be, before all the glamour and lights it’s attracted.
You never know if this continues the interest of ghosts and paranormal investigations may become a ghost itself. Hmm I wonder who would investigate that?
This article was wrote for the SJB Network – Click Here