Tag Archives: paranormal

The Mothman Mythology, Does He Really Predict The Future?

This statue is in Mothman’s “hometown” of Point Pleasant, W.V. Check out those abs! Mothman is ripped!

In May of this year, I featured a lot of paranormal content to celebrate Paranormal Month, which I invented (copyright!). When you think about the paranormal you usually think of ghosts, demons, UFO’s and cryptids like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.

But have you heard about the Mothman? I had heard of Mothman occasionally when consuming paranormal content, but it wasn’t a big topic. The Mothman never gets paranormal headliner status, except in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. That’s sort of his home region. Despite stories of a winged entity in the Point Pleasant area since the 1920’s, Mothman is still like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster’s little brother, forever in their shadow.

Mothman is an interesting character though because, unlike cryptids, which are usually considered animals that are unusual and difficult to verify, the Mothman (or Mothwomen) are considered to be sentient beings. (Yes, I said Mothmen/women plural. There have been a lot more sightings than people realize.)

The Mothman is often described as being a tall, hairy, winged humanoid being with glowing eyes. Some people have theorized that the Mothman is an alien.

2016 picture of a Mothman flying over Point Pleasant

The Mothman sightings that really captivated the country began in Point Pleasant, West Virginia from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, 1966. Author John Keel popularized local folklore about the creature with his 1975 book “The Mothman Prophecies.”

Interestingly is that shortly after the Mothman started appearing, so did reports of UFO’s and “Men in Black” (not Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones). In the documentary The Mothman of Point Pleasant there are several eyewitness accounts of unwanted harassment by the Men In Black.

Some believe The Mothman is a bad omen , only appearing when catastrophe is about to strike. There have been many claims that the winged, red-eyed creature was seen right before the Point Pleasant Silver Bridge collapsed early in 1967. That event took the lives of 46 people.

A great book by author JW Ocker with a chapter on the impact the Mothman has had on Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Over the last 50 years there have been reports of Mothmen or Mothwomen being spotted in Vietnam during the war, in Chernobyl, Russia before the nuclear plant melted down, and even a mothman near the Twin Towers before they were hit. Another was reported in August 2007 when the the bridge collapsed in Minnesota.

More recently, starting in the summer of 2011, reports of Mothman-like flying humanoids have been popping up in the Chicago area. The picture below is a map of where those sightings have occurred around Chicago. That’s a lot of sightings, so it’s definitely is not one or two crackpots reporting their hallucinations.

I find the century long story of the Mothman fascinating. If you look back at history, in every country humans have always reported seeing flying beings. Some were thought to be angels, some aliens, some predators. It’s another of those murky paranormal stories that seems to have enough widespread validation that something different is going on but we just haven’t pinned it down.

If you’re more of a watcher than a reader, there is a documentary titled The Mothman of Point Pleasant on Amazon for free. It’s interesting with some very detailed eyewitness accounts. Also on Amazon is a fictional movie based on what happened in Point Pleasant titled The Mothman Prophecies.  It stars Debra Messing and Richard Gere, who in the 6 degrees of separation game is only one person away from me. I wonder if The Mothman predicted that?

As they say, keep your eyes on the skies! You never know what you might see. What do you think? Are cryptids like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster real? Is the Mothman a member of an alien species that visits Earth to warn us of danger? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!

Have a great Wednesday! ~Phil

Are Psychics Real? Uri Geller and I Think So!

Yes, I will continue to use this picture that I created in 2017. See? I knew what you were thinking, because I’m a psychic.

Are psychics real? That’s a big question isn’t it? Many people go to see psychics in a variety of venues for a variety of reasons and a lot of those people report their psychics as being knowledgeable and helpful.

Hmm… I wonder if Uri Geller psychically knows that I’m using his name to attract readers? Probably. Uri, if you’re reading this, I’d love to interview you.

Many “psychics” have made lucrative careers on stage and TV, as well as your local psychic who charges $100/hour for a tarot reading. The question is, do these psychics truly have the ability to read minds, see the past and future, and bend spoons? And, are these psychics qualified to give you advice on important life issues?

I do believe that some people do have legitimate psychic abilities, but that’s probably a much smaller number than the number of people who call themselves psychics.

Picture Courtesy Parade.com

The one group that most people are familiar with is tarot card readers. A person can give a great tarot card reading without being a psychic. Some tarot readers are actually very skilled therapists in how they work with a client through a reading. Some tarot readers are psychic and some are not, but either can be very helpful.

The pictures on the tarot cards are intended to project a general theme that either you or the tarot reader can interpret and expand upon, relating that theme to things in your life. As the tarot reader reveals each card it adds another layer of depth or nuance to the original theme that you or they attached to the first card. Tarot readers are one kind of psychic. There are many others.

Psychic Uri Geller

Another kind of psychic is the reality show/Las Vegas psychic. These type of psychics always make me a little uneasy. Not because I think they are all fakes, but because I think some of them are fakes. The guy in the picture above is psychic Uri Geller, who is best known for bending spoons with his mind. Yes, I believe that he really did that and I really believe that he is a psychic. Why do I believe that? I’m reading a book on his life and he has done so much more than just spoon bending. His life has been so unbelievably crazy that it deserves it’s own post, coming soon after this one. 

Btw Uri, if you’re reading this and know I want to interview you, just send me the answers. I’m sure you already know my questions

In addition to tarot card readings and putting on entertaining stage shows where they channel the spirit and voice of your late Aunt Audrey, psychics have a lot of different ways that their abilities are manifested.

Some can hold an object and tell the history of that particular object. Others have claimed to have the ability to leave their bodies and travel to and observe others. There is what’s called remote viewing, where psychics are able to mentally see what’s going on somewhere else far away. Telepathy, precognition, and telekinesis are some of the topics I’ll be exploring in my next few posts. If there are any other types of psychic phenomena that you’d like to hear more about, just give me a shout in the comments. 

Thanks for reading (my mind) Especially you Uri! ~Phil

My Favorite Paranormal Podcast

To be clear, the podcast is not paranormal. No one is sending it to me psychically. The podcast in question is Greg & Dana’s Haunted Objects Podcast. Over the last several months I have tried several paranormal podcasts. Some are of the “tin hat” type of crowd and others are very knowledgeable and experienced, but the paranormal investigators are not always great broadcasters. Greg, Dana, Connor, and Keelin are anything but boring.

The name of the podcast is misleading. It is about so much more than haunted objects. Greg and Dana are a couple. She’s a self-proclaimed witch and paranormal investigator. He is a paranormal investigator and multi-media producer. Together with their fun loving crew they are producers of some of the most interesting and entertaining paranormal content online, in podcasts, and on TV.

Greg and Dana are also the curators of The Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and Occult. They have an advisory board that includes many of the most experienced and erudite paranormal minds in the business.

On their podcast, they essentially do what I did over the past six weeks with my blog posts, introducing a wide variety of paranormal subjects and exploring the history and science of each different type of paranormal phenomena. They intersperse funny stories from their travels and investigations, and sometimes do experiments to prove or disprove certain phenomena.

The time they went Bigfoot hunting with Jeff Goldblum

Above is a picture from Season 2, episode 5 of Jeff Goldblum’s show The World According to Jeff. That’s the only litmus test that I need. If Jeff Goldblum likes them, then I’m all on board.

If you have a sense of humor, like podcasts and the paranormal, then you need to listen to Greg & Dana’s Haunted Objects podcast.

Also, I would highly recommend that you check out Hellier,  a docuseries on Amazon Prime,  that they produced a few years ago. It follows their several years long paranormal investigation that has some truly bizarre turns. It is so much more fun than those ghost shows.

Also keep your eyes open later this summer for The Unbinding, which chronicles their harrowing experience with a haunted/cursed relic that they discovered in the Catskill region of New York.

 

Hey Greg and Dana, if you ever see this blog post, I’d love to interview you for my blog! Email me Authorphiltaylor@gmail.com or on Twitter @ThePhilFactor

Have a great weekend! ~Phil

My Paranormal Investigation of Thompson Park, Watertown, NY

Alien abduction is fun!

So last night I investigated the “interdimensional vortex” in Watertown, NY’s Thompson Park.

Dear Watertown, NY: If you are going to name something after a supernatural phenomena, please get it right. You claim that there’s an “interdimensional vortex” in your park.  Vortex refers to a mass of whirling fluid or air. People disappearing from one spot and ending up in another sounds like stepping into a portal. 

Secondly, if you’re going to have a freaky park located on a road called Gotham Street, why not work in a Batman statue or two? Are you just going to ignore the marketing possibilities of marrying Batman and an interdimensional portal in your park? 

I spent 90 minutes walking around this Batman-less park hoping to accidentally step into a portal that would drop me on the other side of the universe or maybe even just the other side of the park.

At dinner prior to the park, I did have a large glass of water. When will I ever learn? A little while later I was wandering down a trail in the woods of this park and I felt the call of nature. I needed to pee and I was about a mile from the nearest restroom. So, I did what was necessary and I thought to myself, “How cool would it be if I peed into the vortex/portal and on the other side of the universe it landed on some aliens head?”  Sure it might cause an intergalactic war, but also it might be best practical joke ever, right? Then I saw these: Portal potties!

Yes, I was dying to write that joke into this post.

Also, Watertown, NY, if you’ve got one of these towers in your freaky park, why not paint the top of it like a UFO like the Flushing Towers in Men in Black I ? For cripes sake, if I can think of these things, why can’t you guys hire a marketing genius to figure this sh*t out?

So, people have claimed to lose time and/or be transported from one place in the park to another? I did lose 90 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back, but there was no teleportation involved. I decided that this is just the place that teenagers go to have sex and when they come home too late they tell their parents they got teleported to another universe for a couple hours.

One odd thing was that after 90 minutes of walking around and taking pictures on my phone, it was still at 98%, so maybe those elevated electro-magnetic fields kept my phone charged. No portals but a free phone charge, so I’ll call that a win.

Just because nothing weird happened to me in that park doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened to others. That’s one part of paranormal investigations that you never see on those ghost hunting shows. In paranormal investigations, there’s a lot of quiet waiting around that you can’t edit out when you’re the one investigating.

Come back in 24 hours for my investigation in a haunted library that might have some ancestral connections for me!

Thanks for reading and happy Hump Day! ~Phil

My First Solo Paranormal Investigation: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I have been on a paranormal investigation before. Communicated with some ghosts, and enjoyed the vibe. Over the month of May, I featured posts here focusing on the paranormal. Ghosts, psychics, witchcraft, UFOs, and demons. As I researched for my posts and interviewed some of the best paranormal people out there, I started to think to myself, “Maybe these are my people.”  Don’t worry, I’m not turning The Phil Factor into a completely paranormal blog, yet…

I enjoyed my month of learning how wide-ranging the paranormal specialties are and how often paranormal things intrude into our world. I decided that when I travel for work I’m going to look for opportunities to find the paranormal in the towns and cities I visit.

Watertown, NY‘s Thompson Park is located about a five-hour drive upstate from New York City. Watertown is a small military base city that is literally just a short drive from Canada.

The interesting paranormal phenomenon that allegedly occurs in Thompson Park is that people believe there is an interdimensional vortex. People have reported instances of losing time, getting disoriented, disappearing from one spot and turning up in another, or not turning up at all…

Science fiction has been rife with vortexes or portals since the genre originated. People have long fantasized about a doorway to another place. Teleportation if you will. Is there any chance something like this could be real?

Plasma physicist and NASA-funded researcher Jack Scudder from the University of Iowa has figured out how to find these portals. “We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions. They’re places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the Sun’s atmosphere 93 million miles away.”

 

Thompson Park has a long history of paranormal reports that real paranormal investigators like Greg Neukerk have checked out. Investigators have found very high electromagnetic fields, which are often typical in areas of high paranormal activity. If you look back at the comments from the NASA scientist, he mentioned the magnetic fields of two places connecting. What if some localized electromagnetic fields connected? Couldn’t that create a short portal or vortex phenomenon?

Do you know what is also often found in close proximity to paranormal events? Military bases, like the one in Watertown, New York. Even more odd is the fact that the government’s code name for the infamous Area 51 in Nevada is “Watertown.”  I don’t suppose that’s an accident. With New York state ranking 5th among the states for UFO/UAP sightings, maybe something interesting is going on at the Fort Drum military base that may be bleeding over into the park.

Picture from Lite87.com

So this evening, I’m going to walk around Thompson Park and see what happens. Then, when I get back to my hotel, I’ll sit down at the hotel bar and chat up the military contractors that are always there, and ask them if they’ve seen anything unusual when they’re at the base.

Also, I’ll come back here and add an addendum to let you know that I returned safely from the vortex. If I disappeared after writing this blog post, how weirdly creepy would that be?

Addendum: I made it back safely without teleportation. Look tomorrow morning for my write up of the “investigation”.

Thanks for reading and wish me luck! ~Phil

Interview with Demonologist Rich Valdes!

This,my friends, is one of the most interesting interviews that I’ve had the privilege of doing. Rich Valdes has been a demonologist for over thirty-five years. He is such a legendary presence in the demonology community that he’s featured in a new show, Eli Roth’s Legion of Exorcists, premiering Thursday, June 1st on The Travel Channel. It’s a little different also because most of my interviews are by email. Rich was kind enough to spend some time having a phone conversation with me!

TPF: Hi Rich and welcome to The Phil Factor. I really do appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I want to be considerate of your time, so let’s jump right into the questions! Was there a point in your life when you decided to become a demonologist, or was it something that happened circumstantially?

Rich: I didn’t know what it was called at the time, but I was thirteen years old when I started taking an interest in anything and everything that was like demonic, and the Pastor of the church that my mother attended took notice of it. I had an affinity for it.

When I was about to turn eighteen he reached out to me. He said “I’ve always felt that you had a calling for demonology.” I asked him what that was because at that time I had never heard of it. He explained that it was the study of demons and theology and all the cult practices and religions. I was immediately hooked and I started studying with him for two and a half years before he passed away. Then I had to take a break from my studies.

TPF: How long have you been a demonologist?

Rich: I’ve been a demonologist now for thirty-five years, after nine and a half years of training through three different churches.

TPF: I was wondering how after your pastor passed away, how you continued your studies, because I don’t think you can get that at a community college.

Rich: No. No, that’s usually only offered in churches.

TPF: So the more you became involved in demonology, what surprised you the most?

Rich: What surprised me the most was how demons interact with us. They know more of us, the humans, than we know of them. It’s psychological warfare. Imagine if you would, having to battle something that has pre-dated mankind. They know our weaknesses and strengths even before we discover that we are up against one. So that’s what makes it so difficult.

TPF: What was the most frightening experience you’ve ever had?

Rich: Do you have time for this?

TPF: I have time if you have time!

Rich: (Chuckles) Ok, the scariest experience, well I wouldn’t say scariest, but it rattled my cage a little bit and made me realize that what I was up against was something that knew me better than I knew it. This was a case about sixteen years back, I was asked to take on. As a demonologist, you have to test and see if there are signs of demonic infestation, oppression, and possession. I contacted the husband of the couple. His wife was the one that was actually being tormented by what he felt to be something demonic.

I drove to Ocala from Miami, but before I did,  I called him and I stated, “Do me a favor. Do not say my name out loud. You will refer to me as “Frank”. “Frank Black”, kind of like my favorite character from Millenium. It’s one of the many tricks of the trade, and he referred to me as Frank. When I got there, he answered the door and referred to me as Frank. He took me upstairs to where his wife was. There was a little table by the window with two chairs.

She was sitting on one side. I put my briefcase down and I introduced myself, “Hi. my name is Frank. Frank Block” and she said, “We both know, we all know that’s not true. Your name is really Rich or Richard.” I was like, “No.” Admittedly I had to fib a little bit but I had to keep my poker face up. I informed her, “No, I’m Frank” and she said, or they said, I should say “As you please.” Then I continued with my testing. Let’s just say that she did not pass. Everything that I tried kept proving that there was something or things with her.

Toward the end, as I started wrapping things up, I looked right at her, but never looking right into the eyes, that’s one thing that we’ve been trained never to do. I dismissed myself and said, “Thank you so much.”  She replied, “No, we thank you, Richard Valdes.” That threw me for a loop. Of course, you always have to keep a poker face.

I went downstairs and said goodbye to the husband. I said, “Thank you very much.” I got into the car and drove three blocks down and I literally went through a half-pack of cigarettes. Let’s just say that I couldn’t drive anymore and I stayed the night in a roach motel and I took advantage of the opportunity to call my pastor and told him that we needed to get a young and old priest over here ASAP.

TPF: Wow! That sounds impactful.

Rich: Yes, it is impactful when you know for a fact that individual didn’t know my name and all of a sudden you’re there being exposed and all those testings that I used, they were repelled by whatever testings I used. It wasn’t Captain Obvious things like crosses or anything like that.

TPF: Has anything funny ever happened during one of your investigations? (this is me asking the dumbest question a demonologist has ever heard. He’s probably at the demonologist meeting right now saying to his friends “And then he asked me if anything funny ever happened! I ought to send a demon to his house to see how funny he thinks that is! What a maroon! “)

But this was his polite reply to me…

Rich: Umm, no. Not that I can recall. I’m always vigilant for anything and everything and the phenomena no matter how small they may be, end up towards the end building up to be something more.

TPF: You are premiering in The Legion of Exorcists, on The Travel Channel on June 1st, Could you tell us a little bit about that show?

Rich: The only thing I can say is that it is by far the first time that people will witness a show that is presented by theologians, individuals that are well-studied within the church or have degrees and have been certified and trained predominantly by the church. It won’t be by paranormal investigators, although I myself am a paranormal investigator. To have the experience as well as a demonologist, they brought me in just to give a different perspective. it will be the first show presented on the Travel Channel that we have individuals that are not being addressed as paranormal investigators that are talking about demons and giving their first-hand experience with demonic activity through the eyes of a theologian.

TPF: That was my last question Rich. I appreciate you sharing your time and experiences with me and my readers.

Yes, I know this was significantly longer than my usual posts, but Rich and his knowledge and stories were well worth it and one of the highlights of my Paranormal Month. If you or a family member does get possessed, just let me know in the comments and I’ll get you Rich’s number!

Have a great Sunday and thanks for reading! ~Phil

 

Legendary Creatures & Cryptid Stuff with Author JW Ocker

You might be asking yourself, what is a cryptid?  You may not know the word, but you have definitely heard of specific cryptids. Does the name Bigfoot ring a bell? How about The Loch Ness Monster? Those are the big name headliners in a field called cryptozoology. To borrow from JW Ocker’s book, “a cryptid is a creature or species whose existence is scientifically unproven.”

Author JW Ocker does not take cryptids as seriously as cryptozoologists do, but he’s all in on the fun of the possibility of cryptids, and I’m with him on that! Wouldn’t it be a wonderful, fun world if all those legends like the Mothman, The Jersey Devil, and the Loch Ness Monster were all true?  Let’s get on with the interview!

Picture from CNBC

TPF: How did your interest in the paranormal begin?

JW: As a kid I liked monsters and I was also raised religious, so soul-deep in gods and demons, but it wasn’t until college or thereafter that I really started digging the strange in a real way. Probably at that moment when I got my first real job and a place all my own and was supposed to start getting serious about life. I looked out at that landscape and realized, “Ah. The regular world kind of sucks. Guess I’ll be spooky instead.”

TPF: Which of the creatures you wrote about is your favorite, and why?

JW: The Mothman. It’s got a great story arc (most cryptid stories peter out, but the Mothman story raises to a climax with the collapse of the Silver Bridge), but also because Point Pleasant supports its creature in a way that has become the template for all other cryptid towns. Plus, you can explore the TNT area where the creature was most often sighted and pretend it’s the late 1960s and it could pop up anytime with its glowing red eyes and freaky motionless flying.

The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp-Pic from Redbubble

TPF: Which creature would scare you the most if you came upon it in the wild?

JW: The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp or, if you can count them, Gray Aliens. The former is because a humanoid reptile just sounds like it could mess you up more than anything else in cryptid lore (minus the water monsters, which is a totally different fear). The latter is mostly because of the movie Communion.

TPF: What did you do before you figured out that you could make a living writing about interesting oddities?

JW: Oh, I can’t. Not and keep my family in Bigfoot t-shirts. I’m also a strategist at an agency in Boston. That basically means I tell stories for businesses, which is a lot like telling paranormal stories except that the monsters all wear suits and I’ve got to pitch them to rooms full of people with “Chief” in their titles.

TPF: Those monsters sound scarier than anything else we’ve discussed here!

 

TPF: When I look at your collection of books, it seems like you’ve covered almost everything. Do you have a work in progress right now, and if so what is it about?

JW: I’m currently working on a book about cults that will come out next year. There’s still a ton of weirdness out there I want to tackle, but after my last three nonfiction books–cursed objects, cryptids, and cults–I might just be out of c-words.

Thank you for your time JW. I’m completely enjoying Cryptids and I’m planning some trips in hopes of seeing a Jersey Devil or maybe a Snallygaster! To my readers, JW is a fun follow on social media and has a website: OddThingsIveSeen.com which is always a fun read. You can also find him on Facebook. In addition to his paranormal subjects, he also has quite a few fiction novels for both young readers and adults. You can find his entire collection on Amazon!

Have a great Saturday everyone, and come back tomorrow for my interview with a demonologist who will be appearing on The Travel Channel in the coming week! ~Phil

The Top Ten Psychic Pick-Up Lines

I first published this column back in April of 2017. Since then, a funny thing has happened. Every single day for the last six years, people from all over the world find this column and read it. Either a lot psychics are looking for help with their love life, or a lot of people are curious about what psychics do when the lights go out.

Psychics are people too though. When they’re not reading minds, predicting the future or communicating with the spirit of your Great Aunt Maude, they’re out there looking for love just like the rest of us. I imagine though that their special skills allow them to try a much different approach when meeting someone. Here are the Top Ten Psychic Pickup Lines:

10. I know your future and it’s me.

9. You’re fine. How am I?

8. Let me read your palm. No, not on the table.

7. I’ve been in touch with your great, great grandmother and she wants you to date me.

6. It’s not you, it’s me. Don’t worry, this will make sense in about 6 months.

5. I see a tremendous amount of pleasure in your future.

4. Don’t talk to that guy. The stars say that he will only lead to heartbreak. I on the other hand…

3. I already know what you like

2. Do you have a dog? You do? I’m a pet psychic. Take me to your apartment immediately.

1. Why yes, I do have crystal balls.

Have a great Tuesday! I know you will. ~Phil

Copyright ThePhilFactor.com 2023

Interview with a Pretty FN Spooky Psychic

Just in case you don’t understand the title, my blog guest today, Amanda Paulson, uses “PrettyFNSpooky” as her moniker on most social media.

Amanda Paulson has participated in multiple media projects with paranormal research in the Pacific Northwest, taught workshops on spirit communication and amassed hundreds of thousands of views making spiritual-related content for the company Tamed Wild. In 2022 Amanda created the first Dark History Tour Series for the Campbell House in association with the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and is in her second term as City-at-Large Representative Historic Preservationist for the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission. She has been featured in the YouTube series Ghost Files, profiled in popular publications Apartment Therapy and The Inlander, and her personal writing published in Haunted Magazine and The Feminine Macabre Vol.1. 

TPF: Hi Amanda and thanks for visiting The Phil Factor. You have a pretty long history of paranormal involvement. Why were you interested in the paranormal, and how did you get started?
Amanda: My experience began when I was 7 years old and living in a haunted duplex with my mom and grandma. I would watch my dolls and other bedroom knickknacks mysteriously move at night and have detailed nightmares about the house being “haunted”. When this activity followed me after we moved, I grew an interest in understanding the purpose of these experiences and finding irrefutable proof. I started investigating in 2008 when I joined the Billings Paranormal Investigative Society in Billings, Montana. They taught me everything I know now about equipment and how to conduct a private or residential cases. I eventually moved away and left the team but they are undoubtedly responsible for my growth and where I am today.
TPF: When I started following you and reading your social media, your Emotive Touchpoint theory immediately grabbed my attention. It rang true to me. Could you tell my readers about your Emotive Touchpoint theory?
Amanda: The Paranormal Emotive Touchpoint theorizes that there are soft spots throughout the world where the other side is closer or easier to contact. These soft spots, or touchpoint’s, present themselves to us by giving us what I call “odd emotions” like nostalgia, deja vu or liminality and do not require the location to be traditionally haunted. They are simply spots that are charged by emotion and still reverberate emotion, that give us a clearer means to communicate with any entity on the other side. Kind of like finding the right station on a walkie-talkie, or a better Wi-Fi  connection – I believe the key to it all is to pay attention to our living emotions.
TPF: For most people, when they hear paranormal, they think of seeing or communicating with ghosts. For you, what was your most definitive experience with “the other side”?
Amanda: I have some experiences that I’ve shared on my blog that felt rather definitive (like my time staying alone at the Lizzie Borden House) but today, I’d say my most definitive experiences with the other side are from the mediumship readings that I have been doing for others. I use a technique that allows me to enter a trance state and journey the living’s subconscious and in that space, I sometimes come across messages or visions from people who have passed away. Hearing stories from the strangers that I’m reading for afterward, that match exactly with the spirits I’d been communicating with for them, has provided me with better “proof” than I had ever gathered in my 15 years of ghost hunting.

TPF: You are starring in a documentary, Death Is With Me, that will be released later this year. What is that about?

Amanda: Death is With Me is a paranormal true crime documentary based out of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and tells the true story of the Lady of Lake Crescent. It follows my journey researching the Lady of the Lake and investigating her purported ghost. But when the investigations take a strange turn, mine and the crews understanding of the intersection of violence, history and the supernatural, change forever. We premiered in Seattle recently and will have another screening in Orange County, California soon but it will be publicly released on a streaming platform sometime later this year.

 

TPF: A lot of people fancy themselves to be paranormal investigators. Are there any dangers for amateurs who muck around in the paranormal?

Amanda: It’s my personal belief that there are no outside, spiritual dangers of exploring the paranormal though that can change for others with different spiritual or religious beliefs. I believe though that it’s important to ground yourself and check in with the state of your mental health as you search for the meaning and understanding of life after death. The topics explored in the paranormal field can be heavy and it’s important to know your North Star – your reason why. That inner knowing and strength will guide you and protect you along your search for the other side.

TPF: Amanda, thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge and experiences with my readers. Amanda is a great follow on social media, so here are her links:

Blog: www.prettyfnspooky.com

IG: Prettyfnspooky

Twitter: Prettyfnspooky

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prettyfnspooky/

TikTok: Prettyfnspooky

The ‘Death is With Me‘ movie: Follow here! 

Readers, as always, thanks for reading! If there are any other paranormal subjects that you’d like me to research and/or get a guest for Paranormal Month, just let me know in the comments!

I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost!

There are two things I’m not sure if I believe in, ghosts and death. Well, I’m sure I don’t believe in my own death, and if, by chance, it does happen, I plan to overcome it by becoming a ghost. I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself What a weirdo! Hey, relax on the judgment there. I’m contractually bound to come back after death if I have one, a death, that is.

Contractually bound? Yup. Nothing I can do about it now. It was many years ago in college. One night two friends and I were drinking some adult beverages. You know how when you’re young, like 20 or so; you think you’re really deep even though you’re really idiots who don’t know anything? We had imbibed a few and got to talking about death and the afterlife.

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We all were curious to know if there really was life after death, so right then and there, we Googled and then re-enacted a centuries-old Druid ceremony complete with a circle of salt, candles under a full moon, and signing a pact with our own blood, which was flowing easily because of the alcohol we had been drinking.

Ok, no, we didn’t, but I had you going there for a second, didn’t I? There was no blood-signed contract, and there was also no Google when I was in college, but we did make a promise to each other that whichever one of us died first would come back and haunt the other two so we would know that there was life after death.

I don’t know where those two college friends are now, and I don’t even remember one’s last name. Hopefully, because of our vow, some sort of afterlife mojo will help us find each other to keep our promise. As far as I know, none of us has ever shown up to haunt the others. With Paranormal Month in the air, I got to thinking of this and what else I might do if I were to be a ghost.

Stars DEMI MOORE and PATRICK SWAYZE. Licenced by Channel 5 Broacasting. Contact Five Stills: 0207 550 5583/5509/5544. Free for editorial press and listings use in connection with the current broadcast of Channel 5 programmes only. This. image may only be reproduced with the prior written consent of Channel 5. All rights reserved. Not for any form of advertising, internet use or in connection with the sale of any product.

I know this may be hard for you to believe, but in my life, I’ve been a bit of a practical joker at times. I’m pretty sure that if I ever return as a ghost, I won’t remove my shirt and help anyone with pottery. Jeez, what a waste of an afterlife.

I’ll probably be what we all know as a poltergeist. I’ll move a lot of people’s car keys just before they have to leave for work. I’ll show up invisibly during live televised events and give the President or Taylor Swift a wet willie. I’ll be on the field at all my favorite live sporting events, helping out a little to ensure my favorite teams win.

You know that feeling you get when you feel like someone’s behind you, but you turn around, and no one’s there? That’ll be me.  Who knows? Ghost Phil may even zip into the internet and follow the connection to your computer and cause embarrassing typos when you’re posting pictures.

So do you believe in life after death? Do you think there are real ghosts? What would you do if you were a ghost?

Have a great Tuesday!  ~Phil