I will tell you what makes it hard for paranormal investigators to seek out the truth, is the fact that there are many hoaxers in the world. With this, there is a battle between the believers and the skeptics. This becomes Paranormal Politics.
Skeptics scoff at paranormal investigators and claim we are performing pseudoscience investigations. Everytime I hold up a temperature gauge looking for cold spots, I feel like Carl Sagan, one of the leading skeptics is frowning and shaking his head at me. Carl Sagan has every right to frown. The hoaxers of the world have ruined true scientific investigation of UFOs, ghosts and even the Loch Ness Monster. Cryptozoology almost went out the door, when they found out the most famous Loch Ness Monster photo was a fraud. There are tons of fake UFO photos, such as the infamous John T. Scopes UFO photo. Yeah, throw a Wok in the air, snap some photos and claim the ship came from Venus. We've all seen it all and hoaxers keep on hoaxing us.
Who were those two crazy old men in England stepping on sticks, walking around in circles creating their own crop circles? I just wonder how they create over a thousand elaborate mathematically in-tuned crop circles around the world? They're almost like Santa Claus, they can be anywhere at once, creating crop circles. But, of course the media ignores that. Just because these two old guys took the glory of creating crop circles, we now believe that all crop circles were made by them. I know, another great skeptic Barry L. Beyerstein is probably shoulder-to-shoulder with Carl Sagan in heaven, looking down at me and saying..."we told you that crop circles were fake!" I look back up at Carl and Barry and say..."I bet you are saying that heaven is fake too!" But, it's good we have our skeptics, because some believers believe too hard. That is why I salute The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, that takes a critical look at the paranormal and any fringe science and disseminates the factual information for release to the public.
How many people remember how attorney William Weber confessed to the Amityville Horror hoax? With Weber, the motivation was money. How many people went and saw the Blair Witch Project movie, believing that the story was true? Yeah, they got you good. You spent your hard earned dollars to watch a crummy home made video movie and you bought into it. You were gullible and you were taken. My dad always said, there was a fool born every day and there are a lot of fools out there.
Sure, many skeptics scoff at ghost hunters, but they must realize that there are many ghost hunting groups made up of skeptics. When all reasonable explanations are dispelled, you are left with one thing, the abnormal, the paranormal. I have been through many investigations and sure I heard the EVPs, I saw the videos/pictures of orbs, white mist and so on. But, I wanted more. I wanted to hear something with my own ears, I wanted to be touched, I wanted to see something with my own eyes. After so many investigations, it happened, I was touched, I have seen a full body apparition. Am I a believer? Yes, I am and I still seek out the truth. If humans on the Quantum level are made of atoms, then we are true energy beings. So why can't ghosts exist, aren't they pure energy entities too? If we can maintain knowledge in our matter bodies, why can't we retain that knowledge in a more spiritual form? An aura surrounds our body at all times. Could that aura be our soul? When we die, could that aura be seen by others? Would they think that aura is a ghost? Seems pretty logical enough to me.
Paranormal Politics is more than Skeptics vs. Believers. It's also Religion vs. Believers. Most Christians don't believe in 'ghosts', but yet they believe we will be resurrected and face Judgment Day. They believe in the holy ghost, they believe in God. Isn't God an entity of pure energy? When Jesus was resurrected, his eyes glowed red and you couldn't look upon him, because his light was so bright. Sounds like energy to me. Don't worry everyone...yes, I believe in God, so don't start sending me hate mail. I am just trying to make a point here.
Then finally we have Believers vs. Believers. Who is the better ghost hunting group? Before I joined H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California, I belonged to another group, that is now defunct. Thank goodness. The leaders were a husband and wife team, they fought like cats and dogs. If you missed a meeting, they would talk about you in a derogatory sarcastic way. They were jealous of H.P.I. At the meetings, they would talk negatively about H.P.I. and claim they were the #1 group. Hmmm...well, where are they now? H.P.I. is still investigating and has a slew of members. Instead of working together, they would rather alienate another group. For shame, no wonder they are extinct.
My observations of H.P.I. is that our group assists newer groups to get on their feet and give other groups helpful tips on how they can obtain their own investigations. H.P.I. throws the Paranormal Politics out the window, because they actually seek the truth. The philosophy is, that if there are many people seeking the truth, maybe the truth will be found.
Paul Dale Roberts,
Jazma Freelance Writer
H.P.I. Ghostwriter/Paranormal Investigator
www.jazmaonline.comJazmaPika@cs.com