RIP Harold Ramis, aka Dr. Egon Spengler, Ghostbuster

Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters

Harold Ramis has died at age 69 due to complications related to auto-immune inflammatory vasculitis, which he had been battling for years. Although he has a list of impressive credits a mile long, I am writing an obit for him on The OddBlog because he will best be remembered as Dr. Egon Spengler from the classic comedy, Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters is an American pop-cultural touchstone, but it's of special interest to those of us who enjoy discussing ghosts and the Supernatural. A comedy classic centered on the paranormal, one of the many reasons it is so notable is that it set the Hollywood standard for theme songs. 

While countless movie theme songs have become hits both before and after Ghostbusters, the incredible popularity of both the movie and song swept the world, making "ghostbusters" a household word. Ray Parker, Jr.'s classic pop song also introduced the phrase, "Who ya gonna call?" into the American vernacular. The movie inspired a sequel, as well as a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

Co-star, Dan Aykroyd's, father was a paranormal investigator in real life, known then as a Ghostbreaker. Peter Aykroyd's book, A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters, was the basis for the film. Many of the movie's themes are based on actual theories from the field of parapsychology, though obviously not meant to be taken seriously given that it's a comedy. Still, the popularity of the film made paranormal investigation somewhat more acceptable to the mainstream, and sparked a general interest in matters of the Supernatural outside of a religious context.

Ramis not only appeared in the film, he co-wrote it with co-stars Aykroyd and Rick Moranis. Aykroyd claims to have experienced the Supernatural and has even written about it.

Our condolences to Harold Ramis' friends and family.

© The Weirding, 2014

Navel-Gazing, Religion, and World Politics (2013)

I have been thinking quite a bit about the supernatural, the way of the world, and what it all means, and I've come to no real conclusions.  This is no sermon; I have just been doing a lot of introspection -- not so much soul-searching as navel-gazing without a roadmap. 

So, I read some spiritual texts and found them to be of little help, largely because so many twist their true meaning into something it is not -- or, more specifically, what they want you to hear.  The fact is that many religious texts read as flat-out insanity on the surface and their inscrutability is used to stoke fear, anger, and outrage amongst its listeners.  This conflagration of emotions is then manipulated by those in power to control the listener, reader, or viewer.

The Christian religion, in particular, is one that has been abused and twisted by self-serving churches and demagogues, numerous times throughout history.  I was so pleased to hear the new Pope announce that the true way of Jesus Christ is to be kind, loving, tolerant, and accepting of everyone, regardless of race, creed, sexuality or sexual orientation, and so on -- to help those in need, those who cannot help themselves, and all others great and small.

Unfortunately, there are many who use Scripture to advance their own agenda -- usually one of financial and political gain.  In fact, Jesus was even betrayed by one of his own flock simply for money.  Judas Iscariot later regretted his decision deeply but Jesus stood his ground and even prophesied such betrayal.  Many have asked why Jesus did not simply leave His place, knowing that He had been sold-out and forces were on their way to destroy Him.  My question has always been: Why did those who knew Jesus and His message not stand with, protect, and fight for Him?

Jesus worked amongst the sick, hung out with prostitutes and the disenfranchised, and brought them hope and caring, along with the message that love and understanding conquer all.  Those who claim to be Christians today are far too concerned with judging and controlling others, especially those with whom they disagree.
 
Islam is another religion that is too often exploited by those who wish to cause only harm to others.  More than most religions, it preaches hatred toward, and intolerance of, others.  However, all of the Triumverate have done the same.  Both Christianity and Islam -- the leading religions in the world according to some (probably wrong) sources -- are based on Judaism, the first modern religion in which the singular God appears; almost every other religion suggests there are many gods and goddesses -- a pantheon of deities, many of whom represent one or more closely related ideals.

Many other religions teach not about gods and goddesses but spirits and similar forces we would consider supernatural.  Many of these religions suggest that these forces are not only to be found within but without, and that these spirits can be called upon to help one's own forces or hinder one's opposition.  Like the pantheistic religions above, different spirits are used for different reasons, and called upon by believers to exercise powers according to their spheres of influence.  If this sounds vaguely like Dungeons & Dragons, it's because these gaming conventions are based on real religions and beliefs found around the world throughout history, just as the game itself is based on fantasy literature also found around the world throughout history.

Even these beliefs can be twisted by Evil people and used to nefarious ends.  Which brings one to ask: What use is religion?

Religion today is most often used to manipulate and control large groups of people without the need for a centralized leader or faction -- basically a form of slavery that uses fear of the Unknown to limit and control the individual.  Most especially the individual who speaks out against these institutions.

America, in particular, has allowed too many special interest groups, religions, and corporations to purchase the laws and "freedoms" they then use to enslave and manipulate the free-thinking individual.  They have perverted the true beauty of these wonderful things by manipulating believers into doing their bidding, holding them hostage with religious and political beliefs that have been twisted from their true meaning. 

The Holy Bible itself is no longer the word of God (if ever it was) but a deeply twisted mockery, changed many times throughout the ages.  It was, in fact, based on works that have been lost to antiquity and much of it is actually the history of the world, which missionaries subsumed in order to indoctrinate others into the fold.  Christmas, Easter, even marriage, are holidays and institutions originating from pagan cultures that have been incorporated into Christian religion in order to convert the populace.

The Church is just another corporation -- an international business machine, to quote Clutch -- and these corporations and special interest groups have been given free reign to control the individual.  Technology and the media have also been used, often illegally, to further these goals.  Gone are the concepts of integrity and honor, replaced instead by less virtuous ideals such as fame, power, and money.

The Greek government has taken to extracting money from its own citizens' banks to pay the debts their government elite have incurred through lavish spending.  America threatens its population with a non-existent debt ceiling, raising taxes on the middle-class and cutting billions from welfare, social security, education, and other national programs meant to uplift the individual and create a stronger nation.  Instead, we have kept the right to bear arms while hundreds die in gangland shootings, as well as the right to religious freedoms that seek to silence those who oppose the religious structures that are afforded the same rights as corporations, which are also afforded the same rights as individuals.

Iceland jailed the bankers who subverted their laws and rewrote their own constitution -- which was not covered by the mainstream news here in America (and actually wasn't even covered by online outlets).  The Wall Street bankers who masterminded the housing collapse here in America have not been held accountable.  And those of us who speak out against these injustices have been railroaded and turned into scapegoats.

My mind fluctuates between revolution and peaceful negotiations, yet we individuals have no voice in this process and, when we raise them, our words are used against us.  Artistic and religious freedoms are held on the same ground -- given the same weight -- and money is considered free speech.  Artists and creators are jailed and silenced, our own works used against us by those in power, and everyone suffers.

Our nation is perverted by The Church and Big Business.  Is there any hope for freedom from those who oppress us?  Is war with ourselves the only answer?  Should we just submit and allow ourselves to be controlled by those who hold greater power or should we continue to fight until the bitter end, never knowing for certain just what those ends may be?  Should we be conditioned for peace or prepared for war, and why are our own minds, words, and works used against us?  Are love, peace, and harmony simply forever out of reach? 

And, why are the kindest and most caring always the victims?  And only the blood of the innocent shed?

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

Ghost Adventures: La Palazza - Las Vegas

The latest Ghost Adventures episode finds the guys investigating in their home town of Las Vegas, where fortunes are won and lost. Known as a place to have fun, Las Vegas also has a dark side. In an historical neighborhood which has been home to the mafia, there are countless stories about dark events.

There is an excessively aggressive entity within La Palazza, one of the stately mansions in the neighborhood. The spirit is said to physically attack visitors, and is even blamed for a fire at the estate. Former owners of house were constantly frightened by voices, growls, and attacks.

A former owner of the house tells Zak about one incredible incident that happened when, while entertaining some guests, a glass was knocked from his wine rack. The owner taunted the spirit until he was choked by an unseen force. Guests at the house recall seeing two deep imprints on his neck. The ghosts here don't like to be taunted, which makes it the exact type of location the GA guys get excited to investigate.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

The Peculiar Case of the Bruner Boys - Dæmonic Possession

In the annals of dæmonic possession, or "diabolepsy" (a term abandoned due to its similarity to epilepsy, which many skeptics think explains away many so-called cases of dæmonic possession), the peculiar case of the Bruner boys, Theobald and Joseph, is pretty tough to beat.

Though the events which plagued the children occurred from 1865 to 1869, it remains one of the most well-known and accepted cases of "modern" dæmonic possession due to the breadth of symptoms the boys showed, and the documentation of their affliction. From levitation to contortions to glossalia (a specific type of "speaking in tongues," whereby the possessed demonstrates a worldly knowledge of languages s/he could not possibly know, often demonstrated by answering questions posed in one foreign language in another) to the vomiting of foul-smelling articles the boys had never eaten -- if the accounts are to be believed, little else explains the Bruner boys' impossible behavior.

The diabolic events began in 1865 when the Bruner boys started drawing "horrible Devil faces" on their bedroom walls and talking playfully to them for hours. Their bedroom was said to be unnaturally hot despite not being heated. The boys would run and hide from clergymen who visited the house and were said to hide under their covers whenever Rosary beads were placed on their bed. True to form, they would begin cursing and writhing in the presence of Holy items, and soon took to their bed.

Joseph, the younger of the two, displayed fewer, and less fervent, signs of possession than his older brother, who began speaking in foreign tongues and dialects unknown to him, including English. Theobald Bruner also showed knowledge of outside events (clairvoyance, clairaudience) and correctly predicted the deaths of others several times (precognition, or maybe prophecy), which he often did by kneeling beside his bed to mimic the ringing of a mourning bell.

In one such event which included all of the above, a local man's daughter was visiting the house when Theobald predicted her father's demise. Shocked and angered, the girl spat, "You liar! My father is not even ill," to which Theobald responded, "That may be, but he just had a fall." No one in the entire village knew this had happened, but Theobald was correct; Gregor Kunegel had fallen from a scaffold at the precise moment Theobald had made the ringing motion.

Things only got worse from there:

The boys would simultaneously bend backward on their heads and legs, their backs arched high, and nothing could right them "until the Devil saw fit to give these objects of his torture some temporary peace." Every few hours, the boys would entangle their legs so impossibly and intricately that no one could untangle them but the children themselves, who would do so "suddenly... with lightning speed." Their little bellies would bloat and distend to the point of bursting before they would vomit "yellow foam, evil-smelling feathers, and seaweed" which inexplicably covered their clothes, no matter how often they were changed and cleaned. The stench was so foul that their clothes had to be burned.

The children's bed levitated, even with their mother on it; furniture flew around their room; doors flew open of their own accord; the entire house shook.

Finally, Theobald was sent to an Orphanage in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg. Upon arriving, he was forced to remain in front of the altar. It took three men to hold him there. He remained silent for three days, drooling yellow foam, but on the fourth, he said, "I have come and I am in a rage." When one of the nuns asked, "And who are you?" He responded, "I AM THE LORD OF DARKNESS!"

Joseph was eventually sent to join his brother and a prolonged Exorcism of the two boys began. One of the more curious manifestations of the possession was when the brothers' heads were so infested with bright red lice that a team of four people with brushes and combs could not keep pace with them. These were dispelled by sprinkling Holy water on their heads. Theobald had to be restrained by straitjacket, as he ripped at himself and his clothing and tried to break everything in reach. His Exorcism took a full three days, after which he fell into a deep slumber, or possibly coma. Joseph's Exorcism took only three hours, after which he too fell into a deep sleep. When the boys awoke, neither remembered what had happened to them.

Theobald Bruner died two years later at age 16. Joseph lived to the age of 25. The events which plagued the Bruner boys for those four years have never been fully explained by conventional means.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Suspect Targeted Authorities with Voodoo Dolls

Ruben Hernandez, a used car-dealer from Pasadena, California, was accused of fraud in 2008. In 2009, Hernandez was taken into custody following a high-speed car chase. When authorities searched his home, they found "a shrine with a cross and all kinds of skeletons and stuff," as a Los Angeles district attorney described it. At the center of the altar (which is what the "shrine" was) were three effigies, labeled with the DA's name, as well as the names of two investigators. The dolls were also labeled with criminal case numbers, had pins through their eyes, and were dunked upside-down in a container of brown liquid. "Even the U.S. marshals were spooked," the DA said.

Authorities believe Hernandez was a practitioner of Palo Mayombe, a Caribbean religion popular in the days of slavery. The religion is known for its animal sacrifices and curses. The effigies are thought to have been part of a Palo Mayombe ritual. The religion has become popular amongst drug dealers, and experts believe as many as 40,000 Americans follow it.

Hernandez was charged with numerous counts stemming from a house-buying scam in which fake social security numbers were used. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Ghost Sightings Highest in 25 Years

Lionel Fanthorpe, widely considered an expert on the Unexplained in Britain, has concluded that not only are ghost sightings in the UK at their highest in the last quarter-century, encounters with evil spirits, dæmons, and Elementals are "as widespread today as in medieval times."

Fanthorpe conducted his research online, as well as in various archives and his own reports. He sought to identify all decidedly Supernatural sightings with evil aspects, and decided upon 968 reports of "dæmonic activity" over the last 25 years.

Fanthorpe further identified Yorkshire as the heart of the sightings, with 74 reports of sightings - including "hell hounds," ghouls, and werewolves - dæmonic possession, water dæmons, and more. The sightings of a "water dæmon" in Filey Bay, with a serpentine body and glowing eyes, may be sightings of a cryptozoological specimen, though.

Devon rated second on the list, most well-known (here, especially) as the home of the Devil's Footprints. But a dæmonic form dubbed "Stephens" merited special note: A hideous, skeletal apparition clothed in dingy, gray robes, it i s thought to be the specter of a man who committed suicide in Dartmoor. Fanthorpe noted 57 reports from the area.

Somerset landed in third, with 51 sightings, but had the highest number of "monster" sightings. Wiltshire is close behind, with 46 reports, most of which were of "hell hounds." Not surprisingly, a "big, black dog with eyes like hot, red coals" has been frequently spotted at Black Dog Hill near Black Dog Woods.

Also unsurprisingly, Inverness - which lay at the mouth of the infamous Loch Ness - leads the list in "water dæmons," with 13 sightings over the last 25 years. Most of these are of "kelpie," a type of water spirit which attempts to lure victims to their death by drowning.

Dorset, Norfolk and Lancashire¹, Sussex and Derbyshire¹, Essex and Suffolk¹, and Lincolnshire rounded-out the top ten list.

---
¹: Tied.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Ghost Adventures - Execution Rocks

This week's Ghost Adventures finds the crew at Execution Rocks.  Execution Rocks was given its name because British soldiers used the rocks around the island to carry out executions.  They would chain prisoners at low tide and wait for the water to slowly rise until it drowned them.  The prisoners were in the water for up to 12 hours before the water rose high enough for them to drown!

It is standard for a lighthouse keeper to commit to living in a lighthouse for a year.  However, lighthouse keepers at Execution Rocks were allowed to cancel their contracts and leave at any point.  Many keepers were frightened by strange phenomena and chose to leave early.

One of America's most notorious serial killers, Carl Panzram, was a big fan of the lighthouse.  Carl Panzram once stated, "I have murdered 21 human beings.  I have committed sodomy on at least 1000 male human beings.  For all of these things, I am not in the least bit sorry."  The lighthouse was his chosen place to dump the dead bodies of his victims.

With all of the dark history surrounding the island, is it a wonder that few paranormal investigators have paid visit to the lighthouse?  Execution Rocks has been home to murder, accidental death, and of course, executions.  In order to tackle an island with this much history, the guys are pulling out all the stops, and using all sorts of equipment!

Check out this sneak peek of tomorrow's episode and check back here next week for more! 

The OddBlog is an official Ghost Adventures blog.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Halloween Updates

Obviously, we're all over the map here - the paranormal, Cyberculture, comic books - but the primary thrust of The Weirding remains the RPG content. And this Halloween, we've got a doozy for you: the long-awaited Chill @ The Weirding has been unleashed!

Technically, I got sick a week before Halloween and ran out of time - in many cases, the pages are not only incomplete, but the design elements are all effed-up. I apologize, but what can I do? I'll continue tweaking, updating, and uploading what I didn't get posted on Halloween. Still, this is the biggest release yet, and (as always) it's just a drop in the bucket; there's much, much, much more to come but you'll just have to make-do with what I managed to get published for now.

Chill is a horror RPG centering on envoys from a highly-secret, Supernatural investigation agency called the Society of the White Way. A classic horror RPG, Chill remains an underground staple amongst the cognoscenti. A third-edition was recently set to be released (from OtherWorld Creations), but unfortunately, has so far fallen-through. Fans of The OddBlog would enjoy it, so be sure to check it out!

The Weirding is an official Chill site.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Sleeps With the Fishes

Connecticut police are looking to question anyone who might be able to tell them who slaughtered chickens on a man's bed, and left dead fish under it. And why.

A New Haven renter's roommate woke to a stench Monday morning and the building's superintendent found the scene. Blood spattered the floor.

In some American mob movies, decapitated horses' heads and fish wrapped in newspaper are messages to the receiver, meaning he was to be killed. Chicken, fish, and other small game are sometimes killed during rituals often associated with black magic.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Supernatural Powers Through Sodomy

Government troops from Rwanda sodomized a pygmy tribe leader in front of his wife and children, then raped the family in front of him. When questioned about the incident, the troops said they sodomized the pygmy in hopes of gaining supernatural powers.

The leader was stripped and sodomized in front of his wife, their children, and his daughter-in-law. The children were then stripped and raped in front of the family. The raping of children and the elderly in the region occurs on a regular basis. The armed forces in the region are solely responsible and some say they are the same ones responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Pygmies have been targeted for abuse by these soldiers in the past, as well.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Haunting in Connecticut Family Haunted by Trespassers

The family living in the house portrayed in the upcoming movie, A Haunting in Connecticut, claims there is nothing unusual about the house, much less Supernatural, and wish trespassers would leave them alone. While the name of the family and the town in which the events depicted in the film were changed, they are given on the movie's website (why, I have no idea - that makes no sense to me, whatsoever). This has led to curious onlookers descending on the house, and the family which now lives there.

"Most people are respectful. They stay on the road," the woman who currently resides there told a newspaper, but they have been so stressed-out over the events of late that they have removed the address number and placed "No Trespassing" signs all over the property. She says they do not want to place a fence around the property. The police have stepped-up patrols in the neighborhood.

The family who claims the house was haunted invited well-known parapsychologists, the Warrens, to the house to "clear" it of Evil and spirits. The Warrens found the house haunted at the time, though Lorraine Warren says the house was cleared in 1988. The events were later turned into a book and chronicled in a TV show, both entitled A Haunting in Connecticut.

The house was once a funeral home.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Ghost Footage

A 12-year old boy from Birmingham has captured something on mobile phone video which he claims is an image of a ghost. At least one member of the paranormal research film calls it "potentially the best image of a ghost in years."

After his sister complained that someone was finishing her jigsaw puzzles at night, the boy began wondering if the house was haunted. Just prior to filming the image, he said he heard a whistling.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Malaysian Imprisoned by Supernatural Force

A Malaysian man claims a "supernatural figure" held him captive for three days without food or water in a haunted house he was trying to rob.

A police spokesperson told reporters homeowners found the man in their house when they returned from vacation. He was dehydrated and emotionally exhausted. They called an ambulance, which took the would-be robber away. He told them every time he tried to leave a "supernatural figure" shoved him to the ground.

Police declined further comment.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Crude, Crass, and Historically Accurate: The Saga of the Bell Witch

Where I live is the armpit of the nation. That is assuming that you agree that Los Angeles is the asshole.

Decatur County, TN is run by corrupt, prejudiced, and thoroughly ignorant people. Pretty much everyone in or around it has been to jail and many of those have been somehow graduated to felons, even if their original crime was a simple matter of "jaywalking." It is mere miles from Johnson County, TN - the site of the happenings involved in what we might call The Strange Case of the Bell Witch (largely because I love HP Lovecraft and am drunk).

But this is not a case to be taken lightly. There are few, documented cases of True Elemental activity and, of them, the Bell Witch remains first and foremost. It is the most well-documented, the most acclaimed, and brings with it the most eyewitnesses.

I am going to personally testify on the case of the Bell Witch in a manner unprecedented to now:

Having lived in this region for the past three years, I have personally experienced things and collected stories that are certain to stun you as a reader. None are related to the paranormal, though all will certainly shed some light on what I am individually certain is a bonafide case of Elemental activity.

Did you know that God told The Black Man certain things which made him run, screaming madly, from The Garden of Eden into the Great Beyond, thus hitting branches and so forth along the way which flattened his nose, beat down his brow, and flattened his feet? Nor did I.

Did you know that a woman can mix her menstrual fluid in a jar of brown whiskey to create a love potion which will ensorcel a man forever? Me neither.

Somewhere between what I am going to tell you and what actually happened, you will (I hope) discover that the Saga of the Bell Witch is very, all too, real. But let us not mistake that I am no psychologist, I am no modern parapsychologist; I am simply a folklorist in search of what I have believed, since childhood, to be the truth behind a series of inexplicable events which gripped a young state in its infancy.

As attested to by dozens, if not hundreds, of eyewitnesses - many of whom have been personally verified, as to their existence, by myself at the time of the events reported.

The things I am going to tell you are, well? Basically racist. Largely jaw-dropping. And completely true.

Lest we forget, I am risking my freedom, safety, and sanity to bring these things to you. So, donations are accepted.

And discussion is warranted.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Grigory Gabovoy Convicted

Self-proclaimed Russian psychic, Grigory Gabovoy, was convicted of fraud last week and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Gabovoy claimed a number of things, including the ability to teleport, levitate, change the length of his limbs, cure AIDS and other diseases, and raise the dead. He offered to raise the children who died in the Beslan school tragedy -- if paid a large sum of money. This became his MO in later years, as he preyed on surviving relatives of the dead, according to prosecutors.

He was found guilty on 11 separate counts of fraud, including one in which he told a woman he could resurrect her dead children. In all cases, Gabovoy accepted money from the despondent relatives in exchange for his "services" -- services that were never rendered. While Gabovoy did meet with mothers of the children killed in the Beslan terrorist siege and supposedly requested money, none of the cases were tied to that.

Dozens of supporters clamored on the courthouse steps and professed their belief in the self-proclaimed prophet who has said he is the second advent of Christ. At the height of his popularity, Gabovoy drew hundreds.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Iowa County Board Okays Ghost Hunt

Ghost hunting investigations continue to gain momentum and mainstream acceptance, as an Iowa state board has agreed to let a local paranormal investigative agency hunt in an historical building that once housed the criminally insane.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors acted on a request from the Johnson County Historical Society to allow an investigative team into the building with thermal imaging equipment and other trappings of the trade. The interesting thing is that there have never been any reports of paranormal activity in the 153 year-old building.

The museum operations assistant said this was a "preemptive approach." A date has yet to be set for the investigation.

The building, now called Chatham Oaks, was built in 1855 and housed the mentally-ill on a plantation of sorts. It now houses people with both physical and mental disabilities.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Brooklyn Ghost Investigations

A coupla Brooklyn cats decided they'd seen enough Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State episodes to hop on the bandwagon.

Sal Cicconi and two of his Brooklyn-based friends decided to set-up their own paranormal investigative service - Brooklyn Ghost Investigations. For a mere $20/hour, they will set-up video recorders and use a homemade Ouija board to try and rid your haunted area of spirits, or at least catch them on tape.

So far, they have had one client. The trio set-up their equipment and tried to coax the spirit out of the place through the use of the homemade Ouija board, but the spirit was apparently not swayed. "Sometimes spirits are afraid to talk or show to themselves to us," Cicconi explained. Obviously, at the bargain-basement price of $20/hour, further investigations will be necessary.

However, they did catch something on tape: according to Cicconi, "It looked like two lights moving around..."

That's Brooklyn Ghost Investigations. You wanna make somethin' of it?

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Supernatural

While there is a slew of paranormal and Supernatural -based reality shows these days, one of the best scripted, fictional shows on the tube is none other than that which bears the very name, Supernatural.

Sam and Dean Winchester were raised to be Demon-hunters by their father, after their mother was murdered by one. Now, they scour the countryside, fighting The Good Fight.

While the show owes more to Chill than to the actual Occult, Supernatural is the most entertaining show on TV - hands down! It is funny, dramatic, action-packed, thought-provoking, and - like almost no other "horror" show on TV now (or ever, for that matter) - actually scary! And it does not back-down from any of these things; when it is funny, it is funny and when it is scary, it is scary. Unlike a lot of horror entertainment, Supernatural doesn't throw on the cheese just to divert your attention from the mind-numbingly banal.

And while it may seem this post better fits The Rundown, I really wanted to turn The OddBlog readers onto it because I know you will enjoy it.

Regardless of your preferences in entertainment, please check out Supernatural - you will not be disappointed.

©C Harris Lynn, 2008

Last Night's Ghost Hunters International, MonsterQuest

Last night was the second episode of Sci-Fi's new Ghost Hunters International that I have caught. I am pretty sure I missed a show or two, but I don't really mind. Personally, I just don't care for the spin-off as much as the original.

Maybe it's a misplaced sense of loyalty, maybe I just got used to them, but I feel the International team is a bit on the pompous side. I love that T.A.P.S. takes what they do seriously, but these International cats take themselves very seriously -- and it's a total turn-off. But, I can tell they all really enjoy what they do, and they're very good at it, so maybe it will just take some time for them to grow on me.

After GHI, I flipped over to MonsterQuest over to the History Channel. I absolutely love this show!

While Destination Truth is fantastic and always has a place on my must-see list, MonsterQuest really goes Destination Truth one better because they focus solely on a single "monster" each episode and they really get some definitive conclusions!

Well, that's probably overstating it...

Let's just say that MonsterQuest always comes to some definitive conclusions. They may not solve the mystery, but they definitely get further down that road than their counterparts.

If you are interested in Cryptozoology, then you simply have to check out this show! It never fails to give me something to think about and reawaken my passion for the Unknown -- nor does it fail to enlighten me on whatever subject it tackles. A perfect winner of a show!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Last Night's Ghost Hunters

Well, I was wrong about last night's regular Ghost Hunters being the premiere for their half-season; it was a special of some sort where they re-investigated the St. Augustine Lighthouse. And they found more evidence to reinforce their original findings, which suggested the lighthouse is actually haunted -- quite a bit of evidence, in fact. Aside from that, a lot of the episode was highlights from the previous investigation. If you missed it, rest assured it will be rerun between now and the new season and will definitely pop-up in one of the numerous marathons. Like a lot of them, it's worth watching, but you didn't miss much.

After that came the premiere of the new spin-off, Ghost Hunters International. I was also wrong in thinking that Brian Harnois was the leader of this TAPS branch; that honor belongs to some guy I do not know and never saw on any of the other series' episodes whose name I do not recall. I have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with him because he seemed overly-dismissive of the evidence and had what seemed to me to be a very pompous attitude with the whole, "My goal is to lead this team from a scientific perspective," routine. The original series takes a very scientific-based approach to their investigations -- that is part of what has made the show so popular, in fact.

Actually, as far as that goes, this team tried to exorcise one haunting by burning some of the offerings the ghost -- or memory of whom the local populace believes the ghost to be. The original team has never done anything like this -- they usually just record evidence. They have invited clergymen and religious believers to perform certain rites on occasion, but that's as far as they've gone in that direction.

Still, Ghost Hunters International was a good show and I'm definitely interested in learning more about hauntings around the world, so I'll be watching.

Altogether, not a bad night of reality TV viewing. And I guess all the rumors about Harnois and company's dismissal and/or leaving TAPS was more bark than bite, so that's cool.