Sunday, 30 December 2012

Paranormal Investigators: Past & Present: Reverend Gaurav Tiwari

"India Haunted"

Reverend Gaurav Tiwari

Today we visit a very good personal friend of mine, Reverend Gaurav Tiwari, founder of the Indian Paranormal Society.

Gaurav grew up in a family of non-believers of the paranormal, something that it is not uncommon in India, nor the rest of the world.

In 2007 Gaurav was studying in Florida,(USA) to become a commercial pilot. It was during this time that he personally experienced paranormal phenomena that led him on a journey of exploration that has turned this humble Indian pilot into India's foremost paranormal investigator.

Whilst stationed in Deland Florida for pilot training, Gaurav shared an apartment with four other people. It wasn't long until one of the five, a young lady, saw an apparition of a young girl in the apartment. Gaurav himself experienced a disembodied voice whispering in his ear, he searched for an explanation but could find none.

Soon the group were hearing footsteps emanating from the attic and seeing a translucent apparition of a young girl. The group of friends tried to find rational and logical explanations for the phenomena going on, but could not find a reasonable explanation, they soon vacated the premises.

The event sparked Gaurav's curiosity and he began searching online for answers and eventually came across ParaNexus association which is America’s largest dedicated association for paranormal researchers and metaphysicians.

After completing a Certified Paranormal Investigator course and a Lead Investigator course, plus 80 or so investigations Gaurav returned to India, not to fly commercial airline planes, but to found Indian Paranormal Society, a group that aims to eliminate the fear associated with ghosts and haunting in India, and to educate Indian people on such matters, however the Society also endeavours to research and understand the human condition through the scientific study of aerial, anomalous, and psychical phenomena, its reality and its effect on humanity.

The Indian Paranormal Society has investigated in some amazing locations throughout India, I could spend hours writing about the amazing locations Gaurav tells me of, but,. Instead, I will let you follow this link to Gaurav's blog and read about his team's adventures for yourself: http://paranexus.org/index.phpaction=blog&bact=memberart&member=229&blogid=6&article=108&where=Member_Article

Gaurav is a man of wisdom beyond his years, a true professional in his conduct during investigations and whilst being interviewed. He is sought after by media outlets in his own country and other countries. Gaurav also appears on MTV India's “ Girls Night Out” a television show that puts a girl in a haunted location by herself for the night.

Rev Tiwari is always very busy, not only with Indian Paranormal Society but also India Haunted, and G.R.I.P., his Paranexus studies and now also ghost tours in India, a new venture that is proving to be very exciting.

As always, Karen, Jayde and I wish Gaurav and his team well, he has become a very great friend of us at Eidolon Paranormal and we look forward to one day having the honour of travelling to India to work with his team, and having them come to Australia to work with us! It would be a trulyeye-openingg experience to be amongst a different cultures beliefs and ways of doing things, and we can't wait for that day to come!

Keep up the good work Gaurav and Indian Paranormal Society, you are an Inspiration to us all

Links

https://www.facebook.com/gripindia?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://www.indianparanormalsociety.com

http://www.gripteam.org

To contact Gaurav direct

Reverend Gaurav Tiwari

Certified Leading Paranormal/UFO Investigator

Minister - Metaphysical Church of Humanistic Science

Member - International Metaphysical Practitioners Association

Founder/Director - Indian Paranormal Society

+91- 9311857156

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Paranormal Investigators: Past and Present: Christmas Special Edition: Bill Murray/ Peter Venkman

“We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!"Bill Murray

Peter Venkman

Bill Murray was born on September 21st, 1950 in Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A. His father Edward was a lumber salesman and his mother Lucille a mail room clerk. When Bill was just 17 years old his father died of complications from diabetes, leaving Lucille a widow with 9 children.

Bill Murray was raised in an Irish Catholic family, with one sister, Nancy, becoming an Adrian Dominican Nun.

During his youth, Bill worked as a golf caddy to help finance his education at a Jesuit High School. He was also the singer of a rock band named “Dutch Masters”, and a member of a community theatre group.

After Graduating Bill attended college in Denver, Colorado, studying a premedical course, but soon dropped out and returned to Illinois.

After an invitation from his older brother, Bill joined “The Second City” in Chicago, an improv comedy group, in 1974 he moved to New York City where he met John Belushi, who recruited Bill for The National Lampoon Radio Hour.

In 1976 Bill become a regular on hit TV show “Saturday Night Live”, which would, in turn, lead to various movie roles throughout the 1980s that would lead him to be a comedy mega-star, and sought after personality.

Today we are going to take a look at one of Bill Murray's most famous paranormal related characters, Dr Peter Venkman

Peter Venkman PhD is a parapsychologist and a member of the “Ghostbusters” team based in New York City.
Born in Brooklyn New York, Peter studied psychology and parapsychology. He set up a study group to test paranormal phenomena like ESP at Columbia University. Peter was accused of being a “lazy Scientist” by the College Dean after some sloppy work and experiments.
Venkman didn’t believe in ghosts until his first encounter with a real one, the librarian ghost.

Venkman, Egon and Stanz soon lost funding from the University and started building their own advanced ghost capturing systems.

It wasn't long until Ray mortgaged his house and bought the newly formed “Ghostbusters” an old fire station as their headquarters
Peter seems to regard his status as a doctor and scientist primarily as something to flaunt and impress people with. Some are fairly sceptical about it due to his decidedly unprofessional demeanour. Dana in particular said he was more like a game show host than a scientist. Peter himself regards other scientists as usually being pretty stiff.

One of Peter Venkmans most popular quotes is "Back off, man, I'm a scientist," other famous quotes are:

Venkman was originally intended to be played by Dan Aykroyd's friend, John Belushi, with whom Aykroyd worked on The Blues Brothers. However, Belushi died of a drug overdose before the film's pre-production. Slimer was described by Aykroyd as "The Ghost of John Belushi".

A Murray Christmas to you all

from the team at

Eidolon Paranormal

Researched & Written

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” site, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Some photos used here on this site are sourced from The State Library of South Australia, and The National Library of Australia - all photos are out of copyright and have no usage restrictions implied.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Mortsafe's - Protection Against Grave Robbers

Mortsafe

By now most people have seen the photo (left) that has been being shared via social media, that features a picture of a grave with a steel cage over it. On the photo, writing claims that the steel cage was to stop zombies or vampires from disturbing the body of the dead o already infected vampire/ zombie from being able to dig its way out of the grave, and into the night. This is simply not the case at all

The steel cage is called a “Mortsafe”, (Mort in old French meaning body). The safes were created to protect graves from being disturbed, but not from Vampires or Zombies, but from body snatchers.

During the 18th century in Scotland, there was a need for medical students to learn anatomy from dissecting cadavers, just like we still do today. However in the 18th-century people were not as keen to donate their bodies to science, so usually, the bodies of convicted criminals were used, donated by the Government.

Due to the demand for fresh bodies, trade in the newly deceased sprung up, grave robbers became prevalent, digging up fresh corpses and selling them to local Medical Universities. The Government turned a blind eye to what was going on, they also quashed any publicity that grave robbing brought, this was done because, the few people who were caught were often publicly lynched, in one case a riot ensued after a grave robber had been caught.

The body-snatching continued into the 19th century and grew exponentially as more Medical universities opened, admitting more students, who in turn needed more bodies.

Eventually what was hidden came to light and a great amount of public outrage surfaced, laws were changed and body snatching, grave robbing and other similar crimes were outlawed throughout the United Kingdom.

The Mortsafe itself was thought to have been first used in approximately 1816. Heavy iron and stone were most often used as it was the hardest to breakthrough. The norm was to place a very large iron or stone plate over the coffin which had rods with heads, which were kept in place with a second plate, which would then be locked. It would take two separate keys to remove the mortsafe.

The safe would be left over the body for about six weeks, then removed when the body had sufficiently decayed that it would be no use for the Medical school and therefore not dug up.

Mortsafes was not the only solution thought up to prevent body snatching, Vaults crypts and watch-houses were also built in an effort to curb the practice.

Today very few Mortsafes are left, most can be found in Scotland or portable, mortsafes in Museums.

To finish this blog, a small piece from the Columbia County Historical & Genealogical Society Newsletter:

"... the cages are mortsafes, structures intended to prevent the theft of a body for use by anatomy instructors, doctors or medical students who at the time had no legal source of cadavers for their work. This was a serious problem, now all but forgotten, throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries not just in this country but also in the British Isles. Other kinds of mortsafes were used as well and examples of some of them may be seen in [Columbia County, Pennsylvania.]

The iron cage mortsafe was prevalent in Scotland before 1830, but most were removed after passage of the Warburton Anatomy Act provided a legal source of anatomical material and ended the need for body snatching in Great Britain. The few remaining mortsafes in Scotland today are now billed as tourist attractions."

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mortsafe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortsafe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_snatching

Written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Paranormal Investigators: Past & Present: Professor William A Tiller

Professor Emeritus William A Tiller

Today we are profiling Professor Emeritus William A Tiller, a groundbreaking physicist and pioneer in research into psychoenergetics.[1] [2].

Professor Tiller is often maligned by the scientific community for being a scientist who thinks outside the conventional theories of the scientific community. His work involves proving that consciousness affects energy and matter, which conventional physics tells us is impossible.

A few quotes from an interview by Celeste Adams highlights Professor Tiller's view on his work (you can read the entire interview here: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/tiller1.htm )

Professor Tiller “People know the things I'm talking about deep within themselves. What I have done is to articulate those things in the language that has value today, that is, the language of science. The goal that I have taken is to try to build a reliable bridge of understanding that will join seamlessly with our conventional knowledge and our conventional paradigm. This bridge will pass all the way through the subtle domains, to the domains of emotion, mind, and spirit, so that scientists and others can cross that bridge with confidence.”

“ There is no place, in the formal structure of the existing paradigm, where any human qualities of consciousness, intention, emotion, mind, or spirit can enter. Yet there is abundant data showing that humans can have a significant effect on physical reality, no matter how much conventional science denies that. They either have to sweep all this data under the rug, which is really what they've done, or they have to realise that the beautiful paradigm they have isn't beautiful enough. It means that a new expansion is required.”

Professor Tiller studied at the University of Toronto and obtained his B.A.Sc.In 1952 with a degree in Engineering Physics. He also gained an M.A.Sc.And PhD from Toronto University.[3] [4] [5]

Prof Tiller spent 9 years in the Westinghouse Research Laboratories as an advisory physicist.

He spent 34 years in Academia. From 1964 to 1992 he was a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where he also held the position of department chairman from 1966 to 1971.

in 1970, Professor Tiller was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship grant in Natural Sciences – Engineering.

Professor Tiller is a “Physics Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science”

So as you can see from Professor Tiller's education and experience he is an incredibly intelligent gentleman, with a much standing in his field.

Dr. Tiller's fields of specialisation are crystal growth, surfaces and interfaces, physical metallurgy, semiconductor processing, thin film formation, and computer simulation.

Professor Tiller is also the author of the book “Science and Human Transformation”, a book on esoteric concepts such as subtle energies, beyond the four fundamental forces, which he believes act in concert with human consciousness.

In 1971, Professor Tiller was invited to visit Russia with Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment as a member of a seven-man investigative team. They were doing psychoenergetics experiments. He saw people moving objects with their minds and levitating things. This trip confirmed his beliefs and solidified his future path of research and investigation.

Some may question Professor Tiller's inclusion in this blog series, but by now you should have an understanding that the paranormal is not just ghosts, hauntings and aliens, but also includes many scientific principles and theories that fall outside the “normal” of human experience.

People like Professor William Tiller and Dr Barry Taff are pioneers in fields that are often maligned and misunderstood by conventional science, often considered “fringe” science or “pseudo-science” a term often aimed at paranormal investigators. These are terms that have previously been applied to Dr Tiller's work even though some of his experiments have passed double-blind testing.

For paranormal investigations to be taken seriously, we need people like Dr Tiller and Dr Taff to be taken seriously and to be given the money they need to advance their studies, to further advance our own paranormal fields, whatever your interest in paranormal investigations and research might be.

Professor Tiller appeared in the 2004 film “What The Bleep Do We Know?”

Professor Tiller has published several books, over 250 conventional scientific papers and further 100 topics on psychoenergetics

. Here is a list of just a few of Professor Tiller's writings

Books

The Science of Crystallization: Macroscopic Phenomena and Defect Generation, Cambridge University Press, 1991
The Science of Crystallization: Microscopic Interfacial Phenomena, Cambridge University Press, 1991 (reprinted 1995),
Psychoenergetic Science: A Second Copernican-Scale Revolution, Pavior Publishers, 2007,
Some Science Adventures with Real Magic, Pavior Publishers, 2005,
Conscious Acts of Creation: The Emergence of a New Physics, Pavior Publishers, 2001
Science and Human Transformation: Subtle Energies, Intentionality and Consciousness, Pavior Publishers, 1997,
Foreword to Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation, Atria Books, 2007, Richard Bartlett

Selected papers

The effects of emotions on short-term power spectrum analysis of heart rate variability. McCraty R, Atkinson M, Tiller WA, Rein G, Watkins AD. -American Journal of Cardiology, 1996 Feb.

Laplace-transform technique for deriving thermodynamic equations from the classical microcanonical ensemble. Eric M. Pearson, Timur Halicioglu, and William A. Tiller -Physical Review, 1985 Nov.

Corona discharge photography. DG Boyers, WA Tiller -Journal of Applied Physics, 1973.

What are subtle energies? WA Tiller -Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 7, No. 3, 1993.

Electronic device-mediated pH changes in water. WE Dibble Jr, WA Tiller -Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1999.

All Dr Tiller's Papers are available for download from

www.tiller.org

You can also find Dr Tiller on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/William-A-Tiller-Institute-for-Psychoenergetic-Science/309181832504413?sk=info

Further Reading and Links

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_psychoenergetics.htm

https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5701.0

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/tiller1.htm

[1] Emeritus is a post-positive adjective used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional.
[2] Psychoenergetic Science involves the expansion of traditional science to include human consciousness and human intention as capable of significantly affecting both the properties of materials (non-living and living) and what we call "physical reality."
[3] B.A.Sc – Bachelor of Applied Science degree
[4] M.A. Sc. - Master of Applied Science degree
[5] Ph.D -Doctor of Philosophy

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

The Georgia Guidestones

When the apocalypse comes, and the survivors surface to a new world, what will they do? Where will they go?
An unknown person or persons hired the Elberton Granite Finishing Company in 1979 to build a monument of stones in the State of Georgia USA, with inscriptions of guidelines that may help humanity restore civilisation upon the Earth after a cataclysmic event.
The five 16 feet tall stone tablets are arranged in a star like pattern that functions as a calendar, clock and compass. Each of the stones is covered in inscriptions in languages such as English, Spanish, Hindi, Hebrew and Arabic, with eight translations in total.
There are ten guidelines inscribe on the monument which read as follows:

Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion-faith-tradition-and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth - beauty- love- seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth- Leave room for nature-Leave room for nature.

There is much controversy about the Georgia Guidestones due to the pseudonym used by the creator one R.C. Christian, and due to the apparent links to the New World Order. The first guideline ” Maintain humanity under 5000,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature” has a ring of the New World Orders population decrease conspiracy that is often talked about by people such as Radio Host Alex Jones.

The Stone themselves have often been graffitied and damaged by vandals decrying the new world order and socialist elite.
One activist, Mr Mark Dice has called for the stones to be pulled down and destroyed claiming they are of deep Satanic origin and were built by a Satanic Sect.
A local Church Minster even weighed in saying he believed the monument was for “sun worshippers”, cult worship and for Devil Worship.

Vandalism

The aforementioned; Alex Jones, stated in his 2008 documentary “Endgame: Elite's Blueprint For Global Enslavement”, that "the message of the mysterious Georgia Guidestones, purportedly built by representatives of a secret society called the Rosicrucian Order or Rosicrucians, which call for a global religion, world courts, and for population levels to be maintained at around 500 million, over a 6.5 billion reduction from current levels. The stones imply that humans are a cancer upon the earth and should be culled in order to maintain balance with nature."

There are also some that say that the stones are a representation of the Biblical “Tower Of Babel”a story from the book of Genesis in the Bible that relates man being in competition with God.

Whatever the stone are or represent is uncertain, what is certain is that they are unusual and generate a lot of debate about who built them and why?
Please tell us your thoughts on their construction in the reply section of the blog below, and thank you again, constant reader, for reading our blog!

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal” site, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Paranormal Investigators:Past & Present: Cork Paranormal Investigators

"Éirinn go Brách"

Cork Paranormal Investigators

This week we visit the Emerald Isle to meet the team members of “Cork Paranormal Investigators”.

Jacqui Horgan - Founder / Investigator /Researcher

Kevin Healy - Tech Manager / Lead Investigator

Sinéad McDonnel - Web Manager / Investigator

Nicholas O'Sullivan - Investigator

Patti O'Leary - Investigator

The CPI team are a curious bunch, like many other teams, interested to find out for themselves if there is indeed a continuation of our existence after death. All of them have become investigators for various personal reasons, but share the same common interest of answering a simple question 'Is there life after death?'.

CPI lead investigator Kevin had a paranormal experience when he was younger. Kevin was in an old house, doing some work when he heard a door open downstairs. Kevin then heard footsteps crossing the floor onto the staircase. Kevin went to to the top of the stairs to see who was approaching on the staircase from the lower level only to find no-one on the staircase, but the footsteps continued towards him!

I asked the team “How has being a paranormal investigator changed your life?”

Sinead replied on behalf of the team: “Becoming an investigator has made us all more aware of the history and events that have occurred in our Country. We have investigated some locations where a lot of wrongdoings have occurred. By researching these locations we have become more aware of these atrocities. It has also made us all more open to the not so normal goings on in the world.”

Cork Paranormal Investigators lists “The Magdalene Laundries” as their favourite place to investigate

“ The Magdalene Laundries. Every time we go to this location we always get activity. There are times that we can debunk activity and then there are other times where we cannot explain what has happened. A couple of our members have also had personal experiences here.”

“ It is a location that never fails to provide great activity. We have experienced everything from visual sightings, stuff being thrown at us, being touched to disembodied voices and EVP's.”

Other investigations the team have been impressed with include a private location in Cork where the team recorded EVPS that they were later able to correlate with information from research about what had happened in the location 100 years earlier. This is why good research is imperative, you never know when you will get that one EVP reply that ties your investigation results with the locations past!

Another of CPI's favourite locations in “Colaiste Iosagain”, a location that has yielded visual sightings of apparitions and one investigator being hit in the back of the head!

With all the interesting EVPs the Cork Paranormal Investigation team have, stories of being touch and sightings of apparitions, I decided it was time to ask for an interesting story or two!

Allen: Does CPI have any interesting stories related to an investigation that you can share with our readers?

CPI: “We did have one investigation where all the signs were there for us not to go. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. It was one of those investigations where we really should have stayed at home but ended up getting some interesting evidence and also gave us the biggest laugh as a team we have had in a long time. It just showed that Paranormal Investigation can have a humorous side as well.”

As you've previously read, CPI has recorded a great deal of excellent EVP's, the team also lists EVPs as their best evidence to date, but, CPI also has an interesting piece of video footage they are currently having analysed that may prove to be their most interesting piece of evidence of the afterlife yet!

CPI also uses their favourite piece of equipment, the Trifield meter in conjunction with EVP sessions. They have had instances of the meter spiking at the same time voices are recorded, thus adding more weight to the evidence of genuine EVP recordings

To keep up to date with Cork Paranormal Investigators, and to hopefully see the video currently being analysed, please “like” them on facebook to get updates and watch their adventures!

https://www.facebook.com/Cork.Paranormal.Investigators.

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

All content on “The Haunts of Adelaide” site, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Paranormal Investigators:Past & Present: Dr. David Waldron

Snarls from the Tea TreeDr David Waldron

It's with great pleasure that I am able to present to you a brief interview with an Australian based Cryptozoologist and historian, Dr David Waldron

I asked Dr Waldron what sparked his interest in Cryptozoology and the paranormal?
Dr Waldron: “ I have always had a curiosity about that sort of thing since I was very young, both in history and fiction. Later I found that as these areas were culturally fringe, in terms of respectability, they were a gold mine of new research materials and data for folklore and historical studies which were incredibly culturally pervasive yet almost completely unstudied.”

Allen: “Dr Waldron, have you had any experiences, or sightings, involving animals that fall in the realm of cryptozoology?”
Dr Waldron: “About 10 years ago I was driving from Geelong through to Ballan via Anakie where I was sure I had a big black cat run out on the road in front of me. Now it was late at night, so prone to hypnogogic states, I was tired, and it was in the headlights for a few seconds but it convinced that irrespective of the empirical reality of the phenomena, people were legitimately having that experience. This is what led me to my current project on the folklore and history of Big Cats in Victoria and South Australia.
In my adolescence, I used to go camping out a lot at night and saw a few examples of odd phenomena in the sky. Once again, I can't speak to what they were, but definitely intrigued me to learn more about the factors which shape how people interpret these experiences.”

Allen: “Why did you become an investigator/ researcher?”
Dr Waldron: “Well it was a flow on from my academic studies. My undergraduate degree was in international relations and philosophy and my honour's thesis was on a history of Free market economic theory in South Korea, Ghana and Mexico. During that time I was interested in post-colonial theory and how it shapes representations of formerly colonised peoples and I saw parallels with how the Pagan movement, in which I had many friends, represented the pre-industrial past. This led to my PhD thesis and later book 'Sign of the Witch: Modernity and the Pagan Revival". After that, I was looking for new projects to research and my parents happened to live in the town of Bungay on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk. After hearing a lot about the Black Dog of Bungay I decided I couldn't let a story like that slide by unstudied and so co-wrote a book with the curator of the Bungay museum, Chris Reeve, on the history of that story and phenomena entitled 'Shock! the Black Dog of Bungay: A Case Study in Local Folklore".
When this was complete the people in charge of research at the University of Ballarat strongly recommended I look at an Australian local field of research and I decided to look at South Eastern Australia's big cat folklore.
I had grown up with the stories from my childhood in Gippsland and I had the previously mentioned experience which led me to my current project 'Snarls from the tea-tree: A History of Victoria's big Cat Folklore" co-written with Simon Townsend.”

Allen: “Do you work with a team or solo on projects?”
Dr Waldron: ”I find it helps to work in pairs as you have someone to soundboard ideas with, test read your materials and bring new data to the table.
I always am very happy to co-operate with other researchers and share raw data as a collegial atmosphere is always a central part of advancing research.
Indeed, one of the odder things I found in cryptozoology is the tendency for people to get jealously defensive of the claims or possessive of their raw data. this hamstrings research and makes it personal when only open and frank debate and sharing of data will develop solid evidence. The number of times I have come across potentially fascinating data which
has been made worthless through interpersonal conflicts and people being jealous of their raw data is quite extraordinary in cryptozoology. In response to this, I put all my Big Cat news clippings, Victorian Government documentation, print casts and so on available for public access at the University of Ballarat Library Geoffrey Blainey Collections.
I hope that by leading by example I can encourage a more co-operative and collegial atmosphere in sharing data and being open about claims and evidence. I have also donated all royalties to "Snarls from the tea-Tree" to a fund held by Big Cats Victoria to pay for DNA analysis of stock kills. Likewise, I donated all royalties from 'Shock! the lack Dog of Bungay" to the Bungay Museum.”

Allen: “What is your main interest of study?”
Dr Waldron: ”What really interests me is the development of folklore over time in relation to social, cultural, environmental and political factors over time.”

Allen: “Have you written any books pertaining to the paranormal or cryptozoology?”
Dr Waldron: "Sign of the Witch: Modernity and the Pagan revival.", "Shock! the Black Dog of Bungay: A Case Study in Local Folklore" and just recently "Snarls from the Tea-Tree: Victoria’s big Cat Folklore."

Allen: “Which cryptid animal/beast/monster is your favourite and why?”
Dr Waldron: ”I really like the ghostly Black Dog mythology. Deeply pervasive myths with origins going back to antiquity.”

Allen: ”What is your favourite location to investigate, and why?”
Dr Waldron: ”Rural England. people are a delight to talk to and work with and there is a, in my view, much healthier approach to folklore and history surrounding paranormal claims, mythic creatures and cryptids. Because the stories are linked to national identity and heritage linked to a pre-industrial past there is not the intense anxiety about empirical truth but rather an ambiguous engagement tied to people's identity where what the story means is more important than if you can prove something to be scientifically true.”
Allen: ”Do you have any interesting stories related to an investigation or research you care to share?”
Dr Waldron: ”What I love in historical research are the little cultural cul de sacs such as looking for big Cats myths and coming across a Yowie panic around Mt Cole in the 1930s.
The little side stories of local history in late medieval England pertaining to daily life and those little glimpses you get into daily life in another era.”

Allen: “Has anything unexplainable or paranormal ever happened on an investigation that you wish to share?”
Dr Waldron: “Not really, or at least not in which I found other explanations later on. I did come across a lot of fascinating stories from sincere people but given that one cannot speak to someone else's experience they are hard to validate. I have seen some very bizarre stock kills attributed to big cats in local folklore including a horse once but this is not unexplainable just a matter of forensic analysis by a qualified veterinary scientist and some DNA analysis. Given in Australia's history we even have human agency duplicating the look of big cat kills to cover stock theft there are a wide variety of explanations including multiple predation, human agency and, of course Big Cats, especially given there have been known individual animals on the loose for some time as well as unidentified behaviours by known animals. Everything is explainable though, really, just a matter of time and research.”

Allen: “What do you consider the best evidence captured, or the best resource collected?”
Dr Waldron: “The Theodora Brown Archive at the University of Essex. It is a vast archive of folklore, paranormal stories, legends and myths about almost every aspect of British folklore you can imagine dating back into the 19th century. It chronicles almost every aspect of life and is all primary source materials. Just magic. I was planning this year to do a study of her collection and a biography but recent changes to University funding policy has made this impossible now.”

Allen: “Have you done any media appearances in relation to your work?”
Dr Waldron: “A little bit in relation to the Black Dog of Bungay project on UK T.V and print media and I did a few interviews in the US on the Witch book.
However, the Big Cat project has had extraordinary media interest with dozens of interviews with the Weekly Times, Herald Sun, Ballarat Courier, Hamilton Spectator, Geelong Advertiser etc and on Channel 7 news and ABC radio both locally and on the Statewide Drive program.
I also had a footballer called Shane Crawford turn up to the University of Ballarat doing a reality TV show sort of thing with another actor, as if he was taking this actor out big cat hunting.
In fact, the level of emotional anxiety and vitriol over the topic from both believer and sceptical quarters has just astounded me over a topic which, at the base level, is not really any different to feral pigs, goats, dogs or any one of a vast array of introduced animals.”

Dr Waldron's & Simon Townsend's Latest Book

“Snarls from the Tea Tree: A History of Victoria's Big Cat Folklore”

is available for purchase here:

http://www.scholarly.info/book/9781921875830/

The collection at the Geoffrey Blainey Research Centre, that Dr Waldron speak of above is available for public perusal here under the title of Australian Animal Folklore

http://www.ballarat.edu.au/centres/art-and-historical-collection

I would like to thank Dr Waldron for his time in allowing me to interview him, and for his excellent and detailed answers.

Also many thanks to Jason of Apparition Technologies with his help in arranging this interview.

http://www.apparition-tech.com/

- Allen Tiller

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Hex House

On the back roads of southern York County Pennsylvania, there lies a lonely grave, marked with a pentagram. It is the final marker of a local “pow-wow” practitioner, healer and shaman Nelson Rehmeyer.
Rehmeyer lived in what is now known as “Hex House”, a two-storey house in the middle of nowhere that is said to be haunted. He was described as being over six feet tall, with deep-set eyes and a very powerful presence. A married man, whose wife lived in the local town, away from him because he was, as she stated “too damn particular”.

Photo of Rehmeyer at approx. 30 years of age

Rehmayer practised a religion known locally to Pennsylvanians as “pow-wow”. Pow-wow, not to be mistaken for the American Indian term, is a shamanistic based belief that interweaves Christian theology with folk magic, sorcery and witchcraft into a unique religion. Sometimes practitioners are also known as Braucher's, or if spoken of negatively, “Hexenmeisters” or “Hexers”

The term “pow-wow” used to describe this unique religion was first used in “The Long Lost Friend”, a book written by John George Hohman and first published in German as “Der Lange Verborgene Freund” in 1820.
The books speak of rituals, binding spells, healing spells, protective spells and icons as well as hexes and other mysterious practices used in the religion.

The religion came to America, and into Pennsylvania, through German immigrants seeking freedom from religious persecution, these religious immigrants would eventually be known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

At 12:01am, on the 28th of November, Nelson Rehmeyer was brutally beaten to death in his own home. His body was mutilated and then burnt.

The very spot Rehmeyer died and was burnt

His attackers were three young men, John Curry, aged 14, Wilbert Hess aged 18 and John H Blymyer aged 32, their motive... John Blymyer had been a sickly and very unlucky person in his life, dealing with a lot of mental health issues. He suffered from “bad thoughts” and “dark visions” and sought help for these maladies from a local with. Local pow-wow Doctor, Nellie Noll, convinced Blymyer that he had been placed under a hex by witch doctor Nelson D Rehmeyer, He was told by Noll that getting hold of Rehmeyers spellbook and burning it, or burying a lock of Reymeyer's hair would break the hex.

Blymire decided his course of action was to go to Rehmeyers house, break-in and find the hair and bury it, or find the book and destroy it. When the young men broke into the house they were startled to find Rehmeyer home, they demanded to have the hex lifted, and when Rehmeyer wouldn’t co-operate, they tried to overpower him, a struggle ensued, a rope was put around Rehmeyers neck and the intruders began beating him, eventually killing him. Blymire stated, that he felt the curse lift upon the death of Rehmeyer.

Two days later on Thanksgiving, Rehmeyers nearest neighbour found his dead, mutilated body in the house, and the hunt was on for the killers.

The three intruders were eventually caught and faced trial. Once proceedings began and the subject matter came out, the case became a worldwide sensation, even making the newspapers here in Adelaide, South Australia (The Advertiser, Tuesday 5 February 1929, page 15 ).

Quiet York County, Pennsylvania was now known across the world for being home to a 20th-century Witchcraft trial!
The three confessed to the horrible act they had perpetrated and awaited sentence from the Judge.
The trial had attracted vast amounts of attention, including that of Clarence G. Darrow, an eminent lawyer and scholar.
Darrow had his own opinions about the trial. His opinion was published in the newspaper, The Harrisburg "Patriot," Feb. 21, 1929

"Belief in witchcraft cannot, in itself, be thought a crime. If it is there would be but few of us really innocent. Not so many years ago our best people and devout Christians not only believed in witches but guaranteed their celestial happiness by murdering them.
"We placidly admit that there are sections of our country where people are isolated by their own customs and thought, or by geography, and live quaintly a century and a half behind our little more enlightened communities. But we forget that a mere century and a half takes us almost back to Cotton Mather and the stake. Then witches were hanged for the glory of God and for the peace of mind of those who thought they had been or might be bewitched. There are today groups of people who have advanced but little in mentality beyond the ignorant frenzy that glorified in hangings.

"Even today a literal interpretation of the Bible would force us to believe in witchcraft and sorcery. And those simple folk of which that Curry boy is a product hold strictly to the Word just as they find it. To them, the Witch of Endor is very real. The devil is real. Spells are real. In their world, furnished by traditions, myths and Old World lore, handed down unchanged from one generation to another, there are evil spirits as certain as a flying railroad train bearing down on a motorist stalled on the tracks.
"Is there any doubt that Curry and those others believed that Rehmeyer had an evil power which he could exercise at will? Is there any doubt that they thought a lock of his hair would break the spell? Nothing new in that belief, nothing unusual. Reach into your own pocket for your own personal protector against bad luck.
"Our belief in capital punishment as a deterrent is just another form of witchcraft. Apart from the mass desire for revenge, there is a subconscious desire to rid ourselves of what we believe to be an evil person. We look in vain for any proof that executions have had any effect on crime. When England punished by death everything from bread and sheep stealing to wholesale killing, crime was far more general than it is today. Education and the training of youth in trades and profession has diminished crime, never the death penalty.
"Isn't there every reason to believe that the crime of murder is a symptom. In the York case it was clearly a symptom of a prevailing ignorance, a condition which should never be allowed to exist in the State of Pennsylvania. . . ."

The trials began on January 9th, 1929. Judge Sherwood presided.
Judge Sherwood decreed that all mention of Hex and Witchcraft be struck from the record and that witchcraft and hexes were not to be used as a defence in the case.
With the Witchcraft aspect of the case removed, the trial focussed on the robbery and murder of Rehmeyer.
The Court case was one of the quickest ever conducted in Pennsylvania, all three defendants were found guilty. Blymyer and curry of Murder in the first degree and Hess, murder in the second degree

The sentences were handed down on January 14th. Blymire and Curry were given life in prison and Wilbert was given 10 to 20 years. In 1934, Hess and Curry were paroled and lived quiet lives in the York area. Curry became an artist and died in 1962. Blymire was finally paroled in 1953, returned to York and worked as a janitor.

In 2012 the “Hex House” as it is locally known has been slowly restored by a descendant of Rehmeyer and made into a museum.

There is a great deal of local haunting legends about the house, with a number of eyewitness accounts about a tall man seen in the yard, or in the house. A paranormal team has also captured EVP's that can be found online by searching for “Hex House” on youtube.

Video footage of Hex House

References

http://www.ydr.com/mike/ci_21845579/mike-argento-life-hex-murderer-family-tree

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/haunted_places/10.html

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/35324725?searchTerm=Rehmeyer.&searchLimits=

http://1134productions.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/11106406-hex-hex-hollow-ep

http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/?s=witch

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/haunted_places/10.html

http://naturalplane.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/hex-hollow-murder.html

written and researched by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

Eidolon Online

Sunday, 30 December 2012

"India Haunted"

Reverend Gaurav Tiwari

Sunday, 23 December 2012

“We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!"Bill Murray

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Mortsafe

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Professor Emeritus William A Tiller

Selected papers

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Sunday, 9 December 2012

"Éirinn go Brách"

Cork Paranormal Investigators

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Snarls from the Tea TreeDr David Waldron

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Hex House