The Ghost Vibe - 19Hz

Bell Labs

Research by engineer, Vic Tandy, concluded that the frequency of 19Hz causes visual hallucinations and psychological disturbances in humans and some animals.  Known as "infrasound," this range exists just below normal human perception.  Tandy and other researchers believe it may account for many alleged ghosts and hauntings.

19Hz vibrates the eyeball, resulting in blurry vision and "shimmering" hallucinations, as well as the sensation of lowered temperature, and a sense of unease or being observed -- all of which have been associated with hauntings and reported ghost sightings.  Tandy first made the discovery after experiencing a "haunting" in his own lab in the 1980s.  He determined the haunting was due to a recently replaced extractor fan, which was emitting a frequency of 18.9Hz -- just under the normal range of human hearing, which begins at 20Hz.

To test his ghostly theory, he investigated a 14^th-Century Coventry pub's cellar where a gray apparition and discomfitting feelings had been reported for years.  There, he discovered a standing wave field of 19Hz -- just as with the fan in his lab!  Even today, Vic Tandy is known as the man who discovered "the sound of fear."  Of course, this does nothing to account for EVP...

In the 1960s, NASA published several reports on sound frequencies and their effects on humans, which can be devastating.  In fact, infrasound has been shown to induce dizziness, fear, panic, and hyperventilation.  NASA researcher, G.H. Mohr, determined that other frequencies could have more destructive, even deadly, physical effects.

The US military regularly employs silent weaponry on US civilians and other "enemy combatants."  The technology is readily available to civilians, or can be created with little technical know-how, and is in use by streetgangs, corporations, police, "religious" organizations, Hollywood, and others throughout the US.

© The Weirding, 2018

Pursuit (SITU) - July, 1971

Pursuit (SITU) - July, 1971

Pursuit was the name of the journal published by the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (SITU), founded by Ivan T. Sanderson in 1965. Pursuit ran from 1967 to 1989, and was formerly the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained's Newsletter.

© The Weirding, 2017

Zetetic Scholar

Anomalistics and Zetetics - Marcello Tuzzi

Marcello Truzzi and Ron Westrum co-founded the Center for Scientific Anomalies Research (CSAR) in 1976, two years after Truzzi was forced-out of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).  Following Truzzi's departure, CSICOP changed its journal's name to the Skeptical Inquirer.

Zetetic Scholar was the journal for open-minded, but cautiously skeptical, proponents of the paranormal -- in response to what Truzzi felt were attempts by organizations like CSICOP to debunk such claims, despite the findings of research and investigations.  CSICOP is a known "CoIntelPro" operation which has received funding directly from the US government and private entities over the years in exchange for their "skepticism."  Known CoIntelPro (CIA) operative, and professional "skeptic," James Randi, was a frequent contributor.

Several issues of Zetetic Scholar are available for download online.  The last issue appeared in 1987, and Truzzi died in 2003.  CSAR mostly existed as a concept and not a practicing organization.  Marcello Truzzi's "zeteticism" translates to "pseudoskepticism."

© The Weirding, 2016

Antikythera Mechanism Solved?

Antikythera Mechanism - AP

Speaking from a conference at the Katerina Laskaridis Historical Foundation Library in Greece, researchers claim to have made great strides in determining what the 2100+ year-old Antikythera Mechanism was used for.

Discovered in a shipwreck off of Crete in 1900, the Antikythera Mechanism was long thought to have been used in some manner for Astronomical and Astrological means. Similar devices are mentioned in ancient texts. But researchers have been able to use modern technology to read the Greek text on the mechanism, some of which is merely ¹/₂₀^th an inch wide.

According to a team of scientists who have worked on this for decades, the Antikythera Mechanism was not only used to determine the position of the moon, sun, and stars, but to predict lunar and solar eclipses. Interestingly, one of its functions may have been to predict the color of these eclipses, although the reasoning behind this is unknown.

The team also said that it appears the Antikythera Mechanism was manufactured by at least two people, maybe more, and was not the work of a single individual.

© The Weirding, 2016

Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

Now anyone with a computer or mobile phone can see the Dead Sea Scrolls by visiting the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls website, which went online today. A special camera in California is photographing many of the most important scrolls and placing the photos online, where anyone can view them. Visitors can zoom in and out and even translate portions into English.

The Scrolls were originally discovered in clay jars by a shepherd and sold to the Israel Museum by antiques dealers. Many believe them to be the first written documents of the Holy Bible.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Time-Travel Proven Impossible

Researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology measured the speed of a single photon, the smallest unit of light, and claim that it cannot move faster than the speed of light (in a vacuum). Not only does this prove Einstein's assertion that nothing can move faster than the speed of light, it also eliminates the possibility of time-travel.

Published in the U.S. journal, Physical Review Letters, the study concluded that "an effect cannot occur before its cause" -- a rule we all learned in grade school (or should have).

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Russia Establishes Yeti Institute

Following no fewer than 15 reported encounters in recent months, Russian officials are establishing an institute dedicated to the research of this Siberian Yeti out of Kemerovo State University. Dr. Igor Burtsev, who will lead the department, said he believes up to 30 Yeti live in the area in which the reports were collected during an expedition last summer.

Dr. Burtsev says the Yeti are approximately 7' tall and resemble bears with red and black fur. The tribe lives near the remote Mount Shoria region in southern Siberia. He believes these Bigfoot may be Neanderthal who have managed to survive into the present age. But, though two-legged, these Yeti are known for their tree-climbing abilities.

Dr. Burtsev said there are about 30 Russian scientists working on projects regarding the Abominable Snowman in some fashion, and all will be integrated into the new institute. Leading Russian scientists continue to deny the existence of Bigfoot, though some anecdotal evidence was uncovered during an expedition into Asia.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Ball Lightning: The Death of a Researcher

According to Jerome Clark's well-researched Unexplained!, G.W. Richman was the first researcher to describe ball lightning in scientific literature.  He also became one of its few recorded victims. 

In 1754, Richman was attempting to measure the energy of a lightning strike.  Ball lightning formed from the electrodes of his equipment and floated toward his face, where it exploded with such a force that it killed him and knocked his assistant unconscious.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Researchers Find Evidence for Mental Time-Travel

Chronosthesia is the theoretical psychic ability to mentally travel forward and backward through time, but has remained laughably dismissed by the scientific community as a whole. Now though, an international team of researchers claims to have discovered proof that such a phenomena does exist.

Specifically, the team discovered that the areas of the brain which were stimulated when subjects were asked to think about the past or future were the same. In short, it appears that the team has found some scant and initially exciting evidence for chronosthesia, though they caution their findings need additional data and evaluation before any conclusive answers will become apparent.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Superstitious Thinking Works

According to researchers, superstition actually works. They did various tests in which they told one group an object was "lucky," then told the control group nothing of the sort, and those who believed they were working with "lucky" objects outperformed those in the control group! The objects in question (a golf ball in one test) were not actually blessed or considered "lucky" by anyone in any way.

In another test, researchers allowed superstitious people to keep their lucky objects (such a a rabbit's foot) with them while they took various tests, then had them leave them behind while they took others. In all cases, the testers performed better when they had their lucky objects.

Researchers think that those who adhere to these superstitions did better with "lucky" objects because they boost the "participants’ confidence in their own capabilities."

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Enfield Poltergeist Confirmed

Recordings made between 1977 and 1978 during investigations of the world famous Enfield Poltergeist case have proven "unlikely" to be normal in nature, according to a report published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. This is the first time the recordings have been examined in detail against "control" disturbances, in which living humans knocked on the walls and furniture of the home. The nature of the many recorded knocks and rappings have proven different from one another, suggesting some unseen force was, in fact, present at the home.

Journalists, local police officers, neighbors, and others witnessed all manner of phenomena in and around the area at the time of the disturbance. Experiences reported included levitation, unexplained sounds, moving furniture, and visible apparitions. Children's toys were said to be too hot to touch and to have been thrown forcibly across rooms. The phenomenon lasted approximately one year, from 1978 to 1979, but thee may have been a second burst of activity in the 1980s. All told, there were some 30+ witnesses, and several inexplicable encounters and incidents were caught on tape, both audio and visual.

Guy Lyon Playfair, an author who spent two years investigating the case before writing a book on it entitled This House Is Haunted, called the examination of the evidence "the biggest step forward in the last 30 years [for paranormal investigation, and the Enfield case]." Playfair's experiences included feeling cool breezes where there were no natural source, seeing pools of water appear on the floors, objects moving of their own accord, and more. At least one witness, a photographer, claimed to have been physically assaulted -- he claimed a Lego brick hit him in the head.

Possession of one of the young girls in the house was also said to have occurred.

But the Enfield Poltergeist case is also famous for one other things: The girls at the center of the case were caught playing "practical jokes" on the investigators, and admitted to faking some of the phenomena, casting doubt, for some, on the entire case. However, several of the more inexplicable events -- such as moving furniture and a dismantled fireplace -- could not have been achieved by the children.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Analysis Proves Poltergeist Knocks Different from 'Real' Knocks

Dr. Barrie Colvin B.Sc., Ph.D. writes, in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) that poltergeist "raps" (reports, or knocks), a phenomenon almost solely associated with poltergeist hauntings (poltergeist literally means "noisy ghost") are actually different from those made by humans. Dr. Colvin's research involved poltergeist knocks from as far back as 1960 and as recent as 2000, and appear to show significantly different acoustic patterns than those of normal knocks.

Dr. Colvin analyzed 10 different poltergeist knocks recorded on as many different devices, and found the same pattern in each. So far, attempts to replicate the pattern by normal means have failed. Dr. Colvin decided to research the phenomena after witnessing a poltergeist event in Andover, Hampshire, in which he said, "...it was absolutely clear that no normal explanation could account for the observed phenomena."

The research seems to show that the noise generated by poltergeist rapping does not begin as loudly as that of a normal knock; poltergeist knocks seem to grow in sound before reaching their maximum noise, then declining as normal. A normal knock is loudest at the very beginning of the strike.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Is Global Warming Real?

Amid reports that this is the coldest winter on recent record, and the handful of snowstorms America has experienced the past month or so, comes news that the raw data on which the whole climate change theory was based might be compromised! But The OddBlog wants to go on-record here with a little common sense - some points we have made here in the past, but want to revisit briefly just for clarity and, hopefully, an effect:

Though we have often questioned the veracity of the global warming theory, we know that conservation of our natural resources is an important subject. We have also been "hard" on many mainstream conservationist theories and ideas, largely because they go wa-ay overboard.

Any reasoning human being should be able to conclude that pollution is bad, mm'kay? Whether or not it has any greater change on the atmosphere, artificial "reefs" made of garbage, low-hanging clouds of smog over major metropolitan areas, and pictures of dead and dying animals, covered in oil and trash, are clear indications of a need for change. However, the truth is that such a change can be affected by everyone changing just a few, simple, almost imperceptible, habits! Furthermore, these very changes go hand-in-hand with practicing a better, cleaner, healthier lifestyle all the way around, so there is a built-in incentive for everyone to take-up these habits.

Remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room not only conserves energy for everyone, it lowers your utility bill. Trading-in your gas-guzzling SUV for a more sensible vehicle not only conserves fossil fuels and the atmosphere, but saves you money. Recycling is another habit which takes a few weeks to establish, can save you money, conserves resources, and is easy to incorporate into your lifestyle. Diminishing your reliance on your vehicle can not only save you money and conserve resources, but the exercise is also good for your health.

These are very simple, very convenient, and very powerful changes to your lifestyle which add an extremely minimal amount of time and effort to your daily routine and reward you, as well as the rest of the world, in their practice. Instead of donating money to questionable initiatives, making major life and lifestyle changes, and going completely overboard, why not start with some of these small practices and take it from there?

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Komodo Dragons Are Poisonous

Contrary to common belief, researchers have determined that Komodo dragons are, in fact, venomous.

For years, scientists and zoologists believed Komodo dragons' mouths were simply bilious, filled with virulent bacteria that was passed on through their bite. This bacteria was thought to be the source of infection victims incurred. However, new research shows the largest known land lizard has venom glands with ducts attached to their teeth.

Komodo dragons, like Pit Bulls, attach themselves to their prey and hold on. Research shows their skulls are built to withstand this. The venom they produce is only ¹/₆ the strength of that found in the Australian water crocodile, but is believed to have come from the same ancestor - most likely, the extinct Megalania.

One expert called the concept "radical" and questioned why such glands had not been discovered previously in dissected specimens. However, he also said "it does all seem to make sense."

The bacterium theory was posited in a 1981 book and has been widely-spread, but was never actually proven.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Monkeys Teach Offspring to Floss

Female long-tailed macaques have been observed flossing their teeth with human hair. While interesting, the most exciting part is that the monkeys spend twice as much time flossing when their infants are watching, suggesting they are deliberately teaching the offspring to floss.

Experts noted the research is only in the "hypothesis stage," but teaching tool-using techniques to others is a practice thought inherent only to humans.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Our Drunken Ancestors

A US team under the leadership of the Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, Patrick McGovern, used organic compounds and cutting-edge science to determine that liquid recovered from a vase some 5000 years old contained alcohol.  The container was excavated from Egyptian tombs dating back to around 3150BC.  They are the earliest jars, or amphora, discovered so far containing liquid.

Professor McGovern said the findings prove that our ancestors were using trial and error to develop medicinal concoctions, and that alcohol was a key ingredient in their treatments.  Other ingredients in the liquid are known medicinal components, including herbs and tree barks.  McGovern notes that alcoholic brews would have been particularly well-suited for dissolving these ingredients.

The professor is now collaborating with a team at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center in testing the oldest alcoholic beverage in existence -- liquid found in China which dates back to around 7000BC.  He is hoping to recreate some of the compounds.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Einstein, Newton: Autistic?

According to some new research, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein may have suffered from a form of autism. Researchers from both Cambridge and Oxford note both men had characteristics associated with Asperger's Syndrome. Sufferers of Asperger's Syndrome have trouble communicating with people, are often considered eccentric, and are usually obsessed (to varying degrees) with complex matters.

Einstein displayed these characteristics from a young age. He was always a loner and he often repeated sentences obsessively. Later in life, he became more social and even had several affairs, though he continued to be a bad lecturer. He was also known for his sense of humor. While some characteristics seem at-odds with the diagnosis, researchers insist Einstein had the characteristics associated with the condition.

Newton, on the other hand, displayed "classic" symptoms. He hardly spoke, he was engrossed with his work to the point that he forgot to eat, and was often lukewarm or ill-tempered with the few friends he did have. It is said that if no one turned up to his lectures, he gave them to an empty room! Newton had a nervous breakdown at age 50.

Regardless, many still believe the men's troubles were due to their high intelligence, not Asperger's. Jerry, the neurotic lawyer from Boston Legal, had Asperger's Syndrome. While played largely for laughs, and Jerry's many mental issues were varied and all over the place, experts note that victims of the disease can still excel professionally and in other aspects of life. In fact, passion for one's work and interest(s) is an indication of the condition. But highly intelligent people are often somewhat socially inept and just as passionate about their work and interests.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Vitamin D Beneficial to Mental Health in Elderly

New research bolsters claims that vitamin D can help downplay the effects of senility and mental decline in the elderly. While the idea has been forwarded in the past, doctors have cautioned more research is needed. Likewise, Alzheimer's charities agreed the findings were positive, but inconclusive.

Younger people generally get enough vitamin D through exposure to sunlight and diet, but as one grows older, vitamin D is not so easily absorbed. Diminished amounts of vitamin D can lead to poor health in general, as it is important to both bones and the immune system, but according to this study, also cognitive function. And those with impaired cognitive function are at the greatest risk for developing dementia. Older people need to change their diets to increase their vitamin D intake. While supplements are often suggested, they are actually far more difficult for the body to absorb.

This has been of great concern to Alzheimer's patients and researchers. The links between dementia and Alzheimer's are still unknown.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Lost World Discovered on Google Maps

Some years back, a team of scientists was looking for a new area to explore at least 5000 feet above sea level.  They were astonished when they discovered a patch of forest in Africa not on any map.  How?  Google Earth, of course!

The forest surrounding Mt. Mabu had been overlooked for years by wildlife experts and cartographers alike, largely due to decades-long war in the region.  While few Mozambiqueans are even aware of the 27 acres of lush forest growth (or Mount Mabu), those who are have kept it secret as they use it for refuge when the fighting becomes too intense.  Researchers note that, while it may be on some maps under another name, Mt. Mabu is basically unknown.

Once discovered, a team of researchers from several countries (including Mozambique, Switzerland, Britain, and more) made the trip to discover a lush Eden, filled with rare and exotic species of butterflies (including three new species), giant snakes (including a new adder), and colonies of rare birds.  They returned home with some 300 samples of flora, and more discoveries have yet to be made.

The Mail Online has more on the trip, including pictures.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Folklore: Fact from Fiction

One of the things that makes sifting through the tall tales to find the nuggets of truth which inspired them is folklorists, themselves. Like scientists, many folklorists approach their job as foregone conclusions. The best of them simply record the tales they are told; the worst of them can't help but point-out the inferiority of the tellers' education and acumen, offhandedly dismissing the story's relevance or any truth it might contain. In other words, many folklorists - like scientists - approach their work with their minds already made-up: these are mere stories, told to amuse, and nothing more. This attitude taints their work.

Many also seek to further their own field by fitting incomplete data into fully structured tales. For example, in his excellent book, A Treasury of American Folklore, editor B. A. Botkin's footnotes indicate he collected his tales orally, then rewrote them in a manner "true to the speech of our informants" (p. 697). However, in so doing, Botkin forces the tales into a regimented structure - introduction of obstacle, climax, and denouement - even where said structure did not exist (especially where this structure did not exist).

Most often, folktales are less actual stories than free-standing accounts. For example, we have all heard how a relative, friend, neighbor, or the neighbor of a relative's friend once saw a ghost. That is basically the entire account; the tale does not include whose ghost it was, why the person was in the area, and so forth. Folklorists often add these details when they record the tales, as they make for better reading and "complete" the legend.

These details are nearly always complete fabrications by the recorder. That the folklorist strives to maintain the integrity of the culture's locution, phrasing, speech, and so forth does not matter for our purposes - especially not when the folklorist deigns to do so. Again, the best simply obscure the information we researchers seeks; the worst condescend and corrupt the testimony.

As paranormal investigators, we are obviously concerned with unearthing that nugget of truth in these tall tales - that single, inspiring factor which led to the account and its continued popularity - and this embellishment obscures that. Folklore is an oral tradition, so certain accommodations must be made when translating it into the written form; we can't blame folklorists for doing their job, but it bears noting that it makes our jobs more difficult.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008