The Demon Diet! A Newer, Lighter, Less Infernally Damned, You!

Want to shed unwanted pounds before bikini and bathing suit season! Before you tackle the tummy, why not rid yourself of the filthy denizen of hell that is gnawing  on your eternal soul! This page can help you just that! Don't take my word for it look at the conclusive before and after photos below!

Before: That's you now,                                         After: No more demon!
see the added demon weight?                                                                                                 

See! Pretty conclusive right? But what's that? You don't think you have a demon weight  problem, often known as possession. Luckily "Pigs in the Parlour"  by Frank and Ida May Hammond (1973)  helpfully included a guideline to identifying the tell-tale signs of possession.... the ones that are less obvious than head-spinning, levitation and pea-soup purging.


                               Tell-tales signs of possession, according to Frank and
                                                       Ida May Hammond
       

1. Emotional issues: These include feelings of anger, resentment, rejection, fear and       hatred.

2. Mental health issues: Ida May says schizophrenia is a DEFINITE sign of                   possession (she knows this because God explicitly told her so in a special                 revelation. "...I want you to know that it is demonic. It is a nest of demon
    spirits..."  Also, procrastination, indecision, compromise and doubt.

3. Speech problems: Lying, cursing, criticism, mockery and gossip.

4. Sexual problems: Sexual fantasy, masturbation, perversions, lust, homosexuality,       fornication, adultery, provocativeness and harlotry.

5. Physical infirmities.

6. Religious "error". Which I think means disagreeing with the Hammond's in any way, shape or form.

Now, I don't know you. But, I'm pretty sure that a good deal of those seven points apply to you, or have at some point. Why? Because that list pretty much encompasses the wealth of human experience.

So now we all know that pretty much all of us are possessed, how the heck did we end up that way? Luckily, exorcist Bob Larson is on hand to tell us what we did wrong! In his book "Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare" Bob tells us the causes of demonic possession: Listening to rock music, new-age practices, role-playing games, practising Wicca, voodoo and Eastern religions. Also, reading horoscopes, tattoos, piercings and, of particular concern to budding geologists, experimenting with crystals. (NB: This list is not exhaustive).

So now you know that you are categorically, most certainly, infested with demons, (and if you say you're not, well that's lying AND religious error! So you are definitely possessed!) what do you do about it? Well in a coming blog we'll discuss ridding your demon though exorcism, which isn't always lethal! The new you is almost here!

Learning to love constructive criticism!

Pet Peeve Time! I hate it when paranormal groups post "evidence" and then get offended when people come along and critique it. Take this group for example. The Supernatural Investigation Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/supernaturalinvestigationgroup/). Snappy name guys! They posted video footage to their page showing "something" interfering with one of their investigations in the bedroom of a client's house.*

As you can see, the camera shakes a little, strands of a light coloured fibrous material flash across the right-hand side of the screen, and the camera jerks upwards and then downwards. Now, it looked to me like someone accidentally nudging the camera, and then readjusting it. My first instinct said a curious child, told under no circumstance to touch the equipment, getting a bit bold then trying to cover their tracks. This seemed logical as the bedroom was clearly that of a young girl's. There were quite a few toys, dolls and what looked like a play kitchen and a fairytale castle.

When I asked the lead investigator if this was possible, they said no. Their clients had no children. Unfortunately, they had previously given the client's name and a link to her facebook page, a mere click revealed, the clients in question do indeed have children. Five of them, including two daughters, with... LONG... BLOND... HAIR. When I put this to the lead investigator, I was kicked from the group, the video was swiftly removed and the following rather libellous post was put up.

Here is something else interesting, how did the investigator set up this camera then leave the room, with toys stacked against the door? The lead investigator told me there were no other entrances or exits to this room. Implies to me there was someone in this room all along.

Look, if you are part of a paranormal group, and you have "evidence" that you are so emotionally invested in that you prepared to lie to preserve it.... DON'T PUT IT FORWARD FOR CONSIDERATION. This will save butt hurt feelings all around. You can't expect everyone to share your complete lack of objectivity.

*Video reproduced for purposes of critical review.

** Unfortunately after this was posted implications were made that I was somehow viewing private information regarding people involved with this case. I can categorically state I have, at no point viewed anything that was not shared in the public domain, specifically Facebook. In addition to this, I only followed links provide by Deborah head investigator of this group. This demonstrates clearly how low some, by no means all, of these investigators are prepared to stoop to protect their evidence. Disgraceful!

Short Reflections on the Coventry Guild Hall "Ghost".

Anyone else seen this in the News recently? A supposed green glowing phantom appearing behind Michael D Higgins, as the Irish president gave an address in the Coventry Guildhall. Original story here: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/look-ghost-spotted-during-irish-6969292

The first thing I noticed when checking the gallery of photos in the Coventry Telegraph is that the rest of the photos clearly show that whatever the effect is, that it is also reflected in the floor of the hall.

The Green "apparition" reflected in the polished floor.

                                   

A little research revealed that the tapestry behind the Irish President is protected by a special form of glass which protects the piece from certain wavelengths of light. I think the "phantom" is simply light from one of the attending TV crews studio lights. In the top photo, the outline of a chair in front of this glass clearly makes up the right-hand side of the "apparition".

Its due to this that I think this apparition is simply light from studio lights, reflecting off the protective glass and then on to the polished floor. Could be vice versa. It's something for us to REFLECT on! Sorry...

Bullshit Top Trumps. Sharing Science With Believers.

Part of the problem with the paranormal/supernatural believer community is that it is simply too easy to claim expertise in a field. How often on these pages and websites do you hear claims such as "I have psychic abilities...." or "I'm a medium...." or my personal favourite "I am a demonologist!" I absolutely love it when people claim to be "demonologists! Why? Because anyone, and I mean anyone, can claim to be an expert in something that almost categorically does not exist!  The reason these people do this is to gain an air of authority in discussions with other believers. I've seen countless discussions that run like this:

Believer A "Well I think x is a ghost!"
Believer B "You are wrong! It's a demon! I should know... I'm a demonologist!"
Believer A "Well I'm psychic so....I say ghost."

Its like Bullshit Top-Trumps. Demonologist trumps believer. Psychic trumps demologist.

Ed and Lorraine Warren: A demonologist and a psychic. Why? Because they say so! Also not a bad hand in bullshit top trumps!

A common result of this posturing is that the people making these claims have to shelter their "authority" from scrutiny. That means they become quite hostile towards people who have actually STUDIED an academic subject.  This threatens the fragile sense of achievement they have built for themselves, the level of aggression I have personally experienced from experts in their own lunchtimes has been truly shocking, especially if you ask them to display their expertise, or test their abilities. Frankly, they don't like being put on the spot because they fear their hollow boasts will be exposed. Their game of bullshit top trumps is ruined, when any actual academic disciplines are brought to the table.

This is actually quite a shame, when I talk about science, I don't do this to run anyone's nose in the dirt or threaten their self-made status... I do it because I am passionate about science and I want others to be passionate about it too.

Unfortunately, these debates often provoke the same response in casual observers "Well everyone has an opinion, and they all are equally valid!" Well this may be fine when arguing about "...was it a ghost.... or a demon... or a chupacabra?" Things that all in probability don't actually exist, but this limp post-modernism simply doesn't hold when discussing science. There is no democracy in science, not all opinions are equally valid. It isn't fair, and nor should it be! As Richard Feynman said:
"It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong!"The consequence of this is the science advocate can often come across as rather strident, unrelenting and uncompromising when discussing science with a paranormal believer. That means that if you chose to discuss science in these circles, you're not likely to win much support, you are likely to anger and offend the less secure participants in the circle, and your stay is likely to be short and not end well. It doesn't matter how civil you are, talk about science on these sites and dare to be confident in your assertions... and you will be gone, probably after you've been accused of bullying and harassment, all while being exposed to the sort of prejudice and discrimination that would never be tolerated if it were directed at someone based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

This is what has happened to me countless times, a recent encounter resulted in a complete idiot commenting on every single post I made despite her having nothing of any value to add, and attacking me for sharing a link to a science site so people could check what I was saying. To a lot of believers, the greatest offence is encouraging others to think for themselves. Ironically, one of this woman's frequent claims was that I, and others, were "juvenile, yet she happily goes by the name "Debbie Doo Doo's". Hardly the apex of maturity. The admins of these groups will almost always be biased towards the believer, they set these pages up to shelter their beliefs from scrutiny in many cases.

So, with all this said, why keep going back? Why submit to more abuse? Well, the answer is, the paranormal community DESPERATELY needs people who aren't afraid to talk about science and the scientific method, the skeptic is a vital voice when discussing these matters. Also, remember, when you talk to these people about science, you may well be banging your head against a brick, but there could well be a lot of fence sitters reading that conversation who you ARE getting through to. Maybe they haven't thought about science since leaving school, maybe  they haven't learnt how to examine paranormal claims scientifically. These people need your voice! That is why I do it. That's why some of them will. maybe. start doing it too.

A Demon Debunked!

Here's an image that has been circulating around the paranormally inclined on the net for a little while now. Variously described as either a "demon" or an extraterrestrial looming over the bed of a terminally ill patient (who died some after if you believe the story that is coming along with this in many cases), what this actually presents is an example of how our eyes can deceive us, and how our minds seek to organise random data based on our cultural bias.

So.... Quite creepy. The "shape" certainly resembles a hunched, deformed figure. But what are we actually seeing here? Here's an excellent breakdown of the "demon's" constituent parts from a metebunk user.

Now I don't know about you, but once I viewed that breakdown I could no longer "see" the demon or alien in the original image. That's the power of pareidolia and a great example of why we should never just believe our eyes when it comes to assessing indistinct images of alleged paranormal entities. 

Too Busy To Be Well-Informed?

A frequent allegation put to me when I pop up and debunk some nonsense story or image on one site or another is "you must have a lot of time on your hands." The implication being that some people are just too busy, too rushed off their feet, to fact-check information they are passing on to others. I say that if you are too busy to actually check that something you are sharing is actually true, DON'T SHARE IT. If you do you are guilty of spreading misinformation, can this have a dangerous side effect? In most cases, no, but consider the effect that a little fact checking would have had during the MMR scare back in 1998. There is little doubt that rates of incidence of these preventable illnesses have risen as a result of the propagation of inaccurate information. The worst thing about this is we now live in a time when sources of information have never been so easily accessible to the general public.

So how long does it take to "debunk" a false story? Seconds in many cases. Take this example a friend posted on Facebook.

Now, I'm no fan of Palin, and she certainly has the capability to say legitimately stupid things... But this seems too good to be true for her critics. In fact, it sounds remarkable like satire... which is exactly what it is. it took me no longer than 30 seconds on Google to find the original source... The Daily Currant, a satire site. http://dailycurrant.com/2014/03/20/palin-wonders-if-flight-370-flew-directly-to-heaven-2/

Here is a paranormal tale that took minutes to completely destroy using nothing more than a Google image search. Here're the story and image accompanying it. 

"Judith Tompkins was only eight years old when she disappeared in the late 1800's, Her father was rich and he dabbled in photography. This was the last image taken of Judith before she disappeared. Her father died in prison after being convicted in her disappearance. This image shows a hint that something else may have been at work."

Now my first thought was that this image was a case of photoshop with regards to the 

hand, and in the case of the "faces" under the bed. A search for the original
image seemed to confirm this.

As you can see, the original image comes from a 1902 Christmas card. And sure enough, a
closer look reveals no hand and no faces. 

This took literally no longer than three minutes and didn't require any special skills, just Google, and a curious mind. Being well informed shouldn't optional it should be mandatory. And when you have literally the largest source of information at your fingertips, you have no excuse being anything else.

A New Low. Why Over Enthusiastic Believers Are Damaging To The Paranormal Community.

Anyone who has recently visited a paranormal page or joined a paranormal group on Facebook probably knows that the standard of what is being presented as "evidence" there is incredibly low. I believe this low standard of evidence, more correctly described as data, and the refusal by some of these pages to countenance any contrary positions is seriously damaging to the credibility of paranormal research, which let's face it, isn't exactly in good standing anyway. The problem is that these pages are some people's only experience with actual proposed paranormal data, if the idea is promoted that well understood photographic anomalies and cases of pareidolia represent paranormal phenomena if  data that supports the paranormal is out there it will be buried under a mountain of easily dismissed rubbish.

Here're a couple of examples from a page I visited this morning. I find the fact that reasonable adults are passing this off as paranormal phenomena extremely troubling.

1. No trouble in Little China.

The poster (who is also the page admin) claimed this was "A ghost manifestation through steam." Sorry but all I see is steam coming off plates of hot food, to present this as paranormal in any way shape or form strikes me as utterly desperate. This doesn't even require a modicum of research to dismiss, anyone who has eaten a hot meal can dismiss this out of hand. I think this maybe the weakest example of "evidence" for the paranormal I've ever encountered, and that is really saying something. Example two is slightly trickier (and I stress "slightly" here).

2. Blurred Lines. 

The proposed ghost on the right side of the photo, this an effect caused by an individual moving while the camera shutter is open, the effect is more extreme the longer the shutter is open or more accurately the slower the shutter speed. Look at the example below and ask yourself how long until this is posted on a Facebook paranormal page as evidence that piano players have "ghost arms"?

3. A mist opportunity.

Perhaps the most ubiquitous form of paranormal photograph on these pages is the mysterious "mist" photograph. We are told by the poster that the below example was taken as he "...stepped onto my patio to take a picture of the snow on my neighbor's tree to send to my sisters in Miami...."

 Hmmm.... Let's unpack this. So he wanted to photograph the snow, so presumably, it was a cold evening. Meaning that it is likely that the photographers breath would be visible, The warm breath expelled is likely to be warmer than the cool air into which it is released, causing it to rise and obscure the camera's lens. Add to that the effect of the light from the flash highlighting the condensed breath... and voilà... there's your mist. 

These are just three examples from one page, there are hundreds of pages just the same or very similar, offering "evidence" that is just as weak and easily dismissed. Of course, people are posting contrary views and rational explanations, on these three photos, without exception, these explanations were immediately deleted and the posters blocked.

The individual/individuals doing this may think they are protecting their views and beliefs, but all they are really doing is creating an insular network of believers with a zero-level standard of evidence and critical thinking. All that serves to do is make the views of the whole community seem laughable and unworthy of legitimate investigation.

Until believers start to separate the wheat from the mountains of chaff, very few in mainstream  science will believe there was ever any wheat there to begin with....