Wednesday 17 August 2016

“Let’s go Legend Trippin’!!”



“Let’s go Legend Trippin’!!”


“Let’s go legend tripping!” doesn’t have the same impact as “let’s go ghost hunting!”, but for some ghost hunters, it is exactly what they are doing!

“Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout Allen?" I hear you say.  What I am talking about is a thing called “ostension”, a term which is explained in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an act or process of showing, pointing out or exhibiting”. The word comes from the Latin word ‘ostendere’, which means ‘to show’.

 Ostension is the act of making an action to explain a word without saying the word, such as “flippin’ the bird" to say…well you know what it means...

  Way back last century, in 1983, an article was published titled “Does the word 'dog’ bite? Ostensive Action as a Means of Legend Telling” by folklorists, Linda Degh and Andrew Vazsonyi.
  Basically, this article laid out the foundations of what folklorists termed “legend tripping”, the act of engaging in “playacting” involving supernatural elements, of which ghost hunting is the most common, but also of which Bigfoot hunting, werewolf hunting and other aspects of the paranormal fall under.
  In a book published this century, “Aliens, Ghosts and Cult: Legends We Live” by Bill Ellis, Mr Ellis, a folklorist delves further into the world ostension, pointing out that many ghost hunters take themselves quite seriously, and the ‘work’ they do and would never consider that they are, in fact, playacting.

 There are numerous ghost hunting teams that venture out into the dark with their gadgets, try and confront supernatural beings or ghosts with an onslaught of questions, then return to the safety of their home, secure in the knowledge they have taken on the unknown, and won. There is no research into the history of the location, how their equipment actually works, what it is used for in the real world, and its actual capabilities. There is no investigation into natural explanations, weather patterns, psychology or anything else for that matter – it is in essence, exactly what the folklorists state it is “play acting”.

 Bill Ellis wrapped it up rather well in his previously mentioned book with this quote (ghost hunters) "venture out to challenge supernatural beings, confront them in consciously dramatized form, then return to safety. ... The stated purpose of such activities is not entertainment but a sincere effort to test and define boundaries of the 'real' world'." 

  Back to the article by Degh and Vazsonyi. Essentially what the writers are trying to convey is that if a “legend” is widely known and exposed to a wide audience, some members of that audience will engage themselves in actualising or ‘living’ the ‘legend’ or parts of the narrative associated with it. In the paranormal industry, this would be the aspect of ghost hunting that involves persons who want to copy their favourite ghost hunting TV star and live out what they see on TV, for the thrill and for the status.

 There is a distinct difference between the casual ghost hunter and the serious paranormal investigator, but at the end of the day, even the serious paranormal investigator can engage in “legend tripping”, and the casual ghost hunter can become a serious paranormal researcher and investigator, but at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves, are we getting involved in other people’s legends when we investigate the paranormal and living out their expectations of what will happen, or are we going in armed with research, knowledge and no expectations?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ostension
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EEQVGW2/?&tag=livescience01-20

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2016

Monday 11 July 2016

Haunted Buildings in Adelaide - Allen Tiller


 WORLD FIRST 

"Paranormal Historian in Residence"

project

"Haunted Buildings in Adelaide"

presented by

 Adelaide City Council Libraries

featuring 

Allen Tiller 



Allen Tiller, paranormal investigator and star of the international smash hit television show Haunting: Australia, founder of Eidolon Paranormal, South Australian Paranormal and the author of book and blog, “The Haunts of Adelaide” will be working in conjunction with the Adelaide City Council Libraries to present the world’s first Paranormal History Residency. Allen has over ten years’ experience researching and investigating the paranormal and has been recognised for his historical research by the National Library of Australia’s PANDORA Archives.


You can read Allen's research from this historic residency via this link:







 

Saturday 9 July 2016

Paranormal





Paranormal


Events or phenomena such as ‘telekinesis’, ‘hauntings’ or ‘clairvoyance’ that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding and knowledge.

Many things proven to be “paranormal” in the past have since become “normal” in our understanding – electricity is a good example of this, as is gravity.

“Paranormal” is a far wider reaching genre than just ghosts and haunting as movies will have you believe, it also includes UFO, Aliens, Near Death Experience, Psychic Abilities, ESP and Cryptozoology (among other subjects)

A “Paranormal Investigator” has an interest in researching, investigating and documenting all of the above phenomena, as opposed to a “Ghost Hunter” who is only interested in investigating, researching and documenting ghosts and haunting phenomena.


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Friday 8 July 2016

Supernatural





Supernatural

An event, manifestation or existence relating to a force or “being” beyond scientific understanding, or the laws of nature.
Usually related to a God, Angel or demon or other religious type phenomena (but can also include ghosts). 


Religious books are full of examples of the Supernatural, not just Angels, but other phenomena such as “the burning bush”.

 It does not usually relate to experiences of “ghosts & hauntings” as these (usually) fall into the realm of the ‘paranormal’, or more often than not, the realm of the ‘Xenonormal’ and a scientific explanation that involves current scientific knowledge, may be able to explain much of the phenomena.

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Thursday 7 July 2016

Xenonormal





Xenonormal

“Xeno”: meaning “foreign”

“Normal” meaning “common understanding”



Xenonormal means “the unfamiliar but natural”. 

Often paranormal phenomena experienced by a witness has a natural cause, but on occasion the witness (and sometimes paranormal investigators) don’t know there is a natural explanation for what they are experiencing.

 For example;  A resident hears some odd knocking from under their floorboards, and conclude it must be a ghost, a plumber on the other hand, hearing the same noise, would assume it’s a pipe knocking. 
The “paranormal experience” now becomes a “Xenonormal” experience, one that is naturally explainable, but the natural explanation is unknown by the resident.



For more on this interesting area of study, visit the link below


http://www.themortonreport.com/discoveries/paranormal/paranormal-versus-xenonormal/

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