Mirrors

MIRRORS by David W.

It was reading a book called HOW TO HUNT GHOSTS [Warren; 2003] that I came across an entry about mirrors which told of how if two mirrors are placed facing each other, then there is a chance of increasing paranormal activity. There are many reasons why this could occur. Could it be that the reflective energy of the mirrors cause a portal or reflect electromagnetic energy, this is due to both light (which is reflected) and ghosts being primarily made up of electromagnetic energy. Many people also believe that the ‘infinity’ effect of opposing mirrors has a lot to do with why paranormal activity could occur when mirrors are facing each other.

The idea of ‘mirrors as portals’, could come from the original use of water for its reflective properties and its divinatory properties. In my research, I read a number of articles which told of how mirrors are a relatively new invention and therefore couldn’t have these paranormal properties. Water has always been used for paranormal purposes, whether this be divination – trying to get information or tell the future – or whether it be water’s link to Wicca and natural forces. Therefore reflections have always been seen as paranormal and some people believe that looking at your reflection, is looking at your soul.

Growing up I always remember when I would stand in front of the mirror and my Nan would tell me, ‘don’t stare in there too long, you’ll see the devil on your shoulder’. I was scared to death and never really understood why she had said that. When I got older I just thought it was a colloquial saying that she had picked up. It would, however, appear that this ‘idea’ was more than that. There are many sayings and superstitions that looking in the mirror for too long can be a bad thing. One of the main superstitions is that by looking at your reflection by candlelight is bad luck. As with usual superstitions there is no reasoning behind this, it has just somehow become what people think.

Could it be that by staring into a mirror you are partaking in the sin of vanity? Has this superstition been brought about by Christian beliefs that to be vain is a mortal sin? It is believed that vanity (a.k.a. pride) is one of the seven deadly sins and this particular sin interferes with a person’s ability to recognise the grace of God.

Here I am, reminded of the Greek myth of Narcissus. This legend tells of a man who was cursed into falling in love with his own reflection. He stayed looking at himself until he finally died. Once again a tale giving a clear message that vanity is something to be afraid of.

Bloody Mary is another such tale which tells of what could happen if one is caught staring into a mirror or playing around with the mirrors ‘power’. The difference with this story is that a chant is needed. A number of legends tell of how if one is to stand in front of a mirror and chant the words ‘Bloody Mary’ – whether this is three to a hundred times dependent on the legend – then the spirit of Bloody Mary will appear. The legend also varies as to whether Mary would kill you, appear to you, scratch your face off etc.

There are many superstitions about mirrors, for example some cultures believe that if a baby looks into a mirror before its first birthday it will die. Another such superstition is that if someone dies in a household the mirrors should all be covered as it is believed the mirrors could capture the soul of the departed. These all relate to mirrors being something of an evil origin.

However, there are a number of stories which tell of mirrors being powers of good. The Chinese have a belief that mirrors placed on the outside of one’s residence can keep away evil spirits, as the spirits will see their own reflection and will be scared away. Other stories tell of how if a couple’s first sight of each other is their reflection, they will have a happy marriage.

Whichever side of the story you look at, mirrors are seen as great powers and used for many reasons in the paranormal. The most interesting for me, is the idea of placing two mirrors facing each other, to create a portal in which to increase paranormal activity. Could this work to increase activity in paranormal investigations and could mediums and psychics use such a technique to improve the strength of communication that they gain? Also, could we use facing mirrors with a device to increase electromagnetic energy in order to create a stronger portal?

Bibliography
- HOW TO HUNT GHOSTS; Joshua P. Warren; A Fireside Book, Published by Simon & Schuster; 2003

What Is Life If Not A Journey?

Life As A Journey

What is life if not a journey, a lesson to be learned by each and everyone? If we thought about life as everything, as something which begins and ends, what would be the point? Why would we go through life caring, working and trying to learn and make ourselves better people – whether this be earning money, climbing to the top of the business or intellectual ladder or simply trying to be ‘good’ people. This leads me to two thoughts; there is a life either before or after death or that religion and the idea of spirituality.

My mum jokes about what we now call her ‘turnip’ theory. Her theory goes as such:
‘Religion was created in order to give people something better to think about. If a person believed that they lived in a hovel, ate turnips and that was the only thing for them, then why would they bother? If you, however, tell these people that by living this lowly life, there is a better place of eternal happiness waiting for them, suddenly they have something to live and work for.’

It’s an odd way to describe the idea but sociological theory has some of the same ideas as this. There is a Marxist theory which calls religion, ‘the opiate of the people’. What this theory refers to is the idea that religion is used as a drug to dull down the pain of oppression by what the theory names the ‘ruling classes’. In other words, religion is used to keep the working class down and working in their menial jobs, and keep the higher – or ‘ruling classes’ – higher up the hierarchy.

Another sociological perspective is that of the functionalists. They too see religion as keeping a hierarchy; however, they see this as a good thing. Society needs a hierarchy in order to ‘function’ and this relates quite well to the ‘turnip’ theory. If the working classes didn’t have something to believe in, then they would not work and nothing would get done in the world. Does this prove that religion was made by humans?

Looking on the other side of the story, we must look at the idea that there is a life before and/or after death. Here, we must also acknowledge that there is a lot of evidence for this: for example, religion, past life studies, paranormal studies, ghosts, mediumship, near-death-experiences – the list goes on.

The paranormal – or the study of the ‘unexplained’ as I prefer to name it – is always a subject which appears to answer a lot of questions but also bring rise even more. I would like to also bring up the idea, that religion is a sector of the ‘unexplained’ or paranormal; in many cases, prophecies and seeing the future, abnormally long life spans, people being raised and coming back from the dead, miracles, illness being cured etc. With the same thoughts in mind, these bring up questions such as ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ At the time of writing however, religion was used to give answers – in a world with low scientific knowledge, answers needed to be given, and religion was used – and possibly created – to give these long needed resolutions to questions.
Returning back to the original idea of life as a journey and life before and after death, religion provides us with this answer. In Christian terms, Jesus – the Son of God – rose to heaven in order to create a place for everyone after they had finished their pilgrimage (or journey) here on earth. In other religions, the idea of reincarnation provides many answers. This is the idea that life on earth is a journey however, in these cases people have many lessons to learn, and therefore it may take one or more lives and so a soul can return to the earthly plane. This is also where the idea of rebirth and past lives and past life regression fits into the argument. Some people believe not only have they been reborn, but they still retain the memories of the past lives they have lived. Some case studies have even shown the memories hat these people have, to be accurate. Surely, this could prove that there is something else before, after and even in-between life.

Near death experiences, or N.D.E.’s, also appear to show such things. In most case studies, people claim to see a beautiful place, a bright light or a loved one, however, they either do not feel comfortable in their new found abode or are told it is not their time – in other words, their spiritual journey through their life on earth is not yet over, their lessons have not been fully taught yet.

Ghosts, spirits, mediums and the so-called after-life seem to offer proof in a similar manner. In the case of ghosts, souls retain their place on earth, some believe due to unfinished business. Some ghosts even appear to relive and carry out the duties they had in life. In the case of mediumship, these ‘spirits’ can be contacted either in the place where their spirit now resides or visits or by communicating – so they believe – through a guide whilst the spirit is on a higher plane or in an ‘after-life’.

Without any ‘hard proof’ we can never answer the question of the meaning of life or even answer the question of which came first the spirit and after/before life or whether humans simply created the spirit and the idea of religion. However, there are a few thoughts I would life to conclude with:
1) there is much proof that something more does exist – unexplainable proof,
2) the idea that life is ‘it’ and we simply ‘go through the motions’ is quite a saddening though and
3) my favourite quote: ‘For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible’ [Stuart Chase, an American engineer and economist – cited at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5039618].

Surely the knowledge, the knowing of what happens after we finish our many journeys here on earth, is less exciting than the idea of living each day like its your last, in awe of what could be awaiting you and the idea of being reunited with those people you have loved and lost.

David W.

Staying Unbiased In An Investigation

Being Unbiased In An Investigation
To research or not to research, that is the question!

In an investigation, there is always a certain amount of research needed; you need to find out whether the location is haunted or not. However, it is important to stay unbiased in the investigation. For example, if there is an alleged haunting that causes laughing or noises then you would always be listening for that noise or as another example, if you consider yourself to be ‘sensitive’ to the spirit world, and you have picked up on a spirit in the same location as a recorded haunting, it is very easy for ones mind to play tricks and therefore you could convince yourself that the spirit you are sensing, is the same spirit you have read about however, it could be someone completely different.

So, back to my original point, it is important to stay unbiased. A possibility for this, is having a specific person who researchers investigation locations and then doesn’t pass on the information found to other people. As a paranormal investigator, I never research the history of locations until after I have been there. This way, anything I pick up on or experience is more likely to be due to paranormal activity, and not due to my expectations.

The argument of whether to research or not becomes one of a circular nature. By researching, people can accuse that the information you are giving is simply that which has been read previously therefore the evidence becomes questionable. By not researching, it is nearly impossible to validate what is found. It could even be impossible to investigate full stop, as you would not know what buildings or what specific areas where considered to be haunted and had reported activity. Therefore, some amount of information is needed before the investigation.

However, I have always wondered would it be possible to find activity without knowing anything about a building, even without knowing whether the building had reported activity or not. No research, no interviews, just an investigation. Interviews and reading could be carried out later and information could then be validated afterwards. I have yet to try this method.

When thinking about this it is very difficult to reach an answer and a conclusion. Even if one person is in charge of research, there is still a chance that participants in the investigation could have found out what the ‘researcher’ found, as the information must be readily available. So, the only way around this is to investigate somewhere where the information is not readily available. In this case, nothing can be validated except through interviews which are always questionable in people’s eyes as it is possible to get researcher bias through leading questions or even through the presence of the researcher causing people to lie. Therefore, are the findings credible?
Will people ever be able to prove the existence of spirits? Next, I find myself wondering whether or not it would be possible for a group of investigators to put together a questionnaire which wouldn’t cause bias and as I think about it, I still find it impossible. As I’ve mentioned, the presence of the researcher causes bias as people could give an answer they expect the investigator to want, or could be scared/embarrassed to admit they have experienced paranormal activity therefore the researcher could not be present for the interview. So, a questionnaire would have to be designed and posted out to participants and back to the researcher anonymously. This then poses a new set of problems. The ‘participant’ – for the want of a better word – would not be able to give any information (name, address etc.) therefore, a researcher would not know what ‘residence’ the information given was related to. This shows that interviews are useless even if leading questions were eliminated.

This then leads back to the argument of ‘no research, no interviews, just an investigation’. The only way then, that this could work, is to catch on camera, a full apparition of a spirit. Is this ever going to happen? Even if it does, would people believe that it wasn’t a hoax? Therefore, what is needed is a full apparition and a large group of unbiased witnesses who could validate the experience. Would an apparition appear in such conditions?

Writing this I find myself thinking about Stuart Chase’s words: ‘For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.’ (Stuart Chase quotes (writer and economist, b1888 (Tragedy of Waste)). I believe this to be true, as even with scientific evidence, people will still question the existence of the paranormal. If a person doesn’t believe, no evidence will be enough for them.

David W. NAPAR Investigator & Writer