Spiritual Protection for the Paranormal Investigator

In the realm of paranormal investigation - particularly in the investigation of ghostly phenomena - spirituality and superstition often run side-by-side with scientific skepticism and critical reasoning.  More often than not, the paranormal investigator is forced to walk a thin line between the modern and ancient paradigms of human reality.  Whereas the paranormal investigator may want to remain skeptical, it is also important to have an understanding of the traditional views of spiritual existence.  Conversely, the investigator who is driven by a particular faith should also look to science and reasoning to lend credibility to religious concepts.

Skepticism is supremely important in the study of paranormal phenomena.  It is the extreme critical thinking of the paranormal community that will lend any credibility to claims of the extraordinary.  The well trained paranormal investigator will always seek out the simplest, most logical explanation to any claim of paranormal activity.  Suggesting a paranormal scenario is done only after ruling out all other more conventional possibilities.  In this way, even ardent skeptics will be more likely to consider findings of paranormal evidence.

However skeptical one may wish to remain, apprehension about the spiritual unknown may linger.  Fear of being harmed by an invisible entity is a reasonable concern if one is willing to entertain the idea of the existence of extraordinary, spiritual or ghostly beings.  The question may then be: how does the investigator protect himself or herself from possible paranormal harm without losing the skepticism which is so essential to paranormal research?

Consider this analogy:  You are camping in an area not known to have bears.  One local man says he may have seen a bear, but isn't quite sure.  Park rangers assure you that there are no bears in the region.  You may not necessarily believe the local man - but you may still want to bring your bear mace.  The same is true with paranormal investigation.  One can remain scientifically skeptical while at the same time taking precautions to be protected spiritually.

There are a variety of alleged dangers to be met while seeking out paranormal forces.  These can range from intimidation by an invisible entity to physical harm and even spirit possession.  It is important to remember that none of these dangers are scientifically proven to exist and that it is imperative for the investigator to maintain an open, yet skeptical mind.  It can be all too easy to "psych our selves out" or imagine some spiritual harm if we are not actively practicing our critical skepticism.  Whether or not these dangers are a reality is yet to be determined.  However, in the world of the paranormal, is always better to be safe than sorry.

Many investigators will agree that those who are the most fearful are often the first ones allegedly harmed by a spirit.  This may not be unlike a predatory animal attacking the weakest member of a herd first.  It may therefore be important to reduce fear and anxiety while investigating and maintain a strong, focused mind.  Some investigators may use the protection rituals of a particular faith, such as calling on the Archangel Michael for assistance.  Many may not feel such a thing is necessary.  Some, however, may want to use a spiritual protection, but do not know how.

The following practice is a simple visualization exercise based on my own experience as an Ordained Minister, a practitioner of Eastern and Western Esotericism and a student of various forms of spirituality.  The practice is designed to be employed by people of all and any faiths and "The Divine" is to be interpreted in accordance with one's own spiritual beliefs.  For those less spiritual or more scientifically oriented, practices like this can be thought of as a kind of psychosomatic self-suggestion to reduce anxiety in potentially paranormal situations.  In summary, practices like these can help one be less fearful of the unknown regardless of faith or spiritual orientation.  The following practice should be done prior to an investigation in a quiet and calm area.

Basic Spiritual Protection Visualization

• Close your eyes and take a moment to focus on your breathing.  Clear your mind.
• Say a short prayer silently asking the Divine for protection from any possible physical or spiritual dangers.
• Imagine a sphere of pure, white light surrounding your body.
• Take a moment to clearly visualize yourself at the center of the pure light sphere.
• Imagine a protective symbol - such as a Cross, Vajra, Star of David, OM Symbol or Pentagram -  made of iron outside of the sphere in front of you.
• See the iron symbol multiplying many times - surrounding the sphere of light -  forming a solid spiritual armor of iron and light.
• Take a moment to feel the protective power of this divine, impenetrable shield surrounding you on all sides.
• Give a short prayer of thanks to the Divine and slowly open your eyes.
• Allow the feeling of Divine Protection to stay with you throughout the investigation.

This practice can be personalized to fit the needs of the individual.  One may additionally choose to wear a pendant of the chosen protective symbol.  The incorporation of other traditional protective elements such as holy water, sea salt, talismans, protective herbs and religious images may also be employed.  

Whether or not one feels a practice like this is necessary for the paranormal investigator, few will argue against the notion that preparedness is the key to safety.  Keeping a first aid kit and cell phone handy is just as important as protective visualizations.  Being prepared for all possible dangers, be they mundane or spiritual, will increase the chances of a rewarding, successful and safe investigation. 

The Mystery of the Longyou Caves

In the summer of 1992, in Quzhou, China, a man set out to dispel a myth.  A local legend of the small village of Shiyanbei told that the ponds in the rural area were no ordinary ponds.  They were thought to be bottomless, inexhaustible water sources and were called by the villagers "The Unfathomable Swags."  Many in the village had attempted to measure the depth of the ponds without success.  The man, Wu Anai, had long had been curious about the ponds.  Were they indeed bottomless or were they, as Wu suspected, the surface of naturally eroded cave entrances?

With the help of three other villagers and several water pumps, Wu began to drain the water from the pond.  After three days of pumping, there appeared to be no end in sight.  It took a full 17 days to pump all the water out of one of the ponds.  While successfully proving that the pond did indeed have a bottom, the draining of the pond revealed an even more staggering mystery.  These were not simple, natural caves.  The bottom of the pond had man-made steles and a carved-stone staircase leading downward.  

What was eventually discovered was a massive complex of 24 underground grottoes carved into solid sandstone.  Each cave descends nearly 100 feet into the earth and many contain intricately carved columns, bridges, pool-like depressions and detailed murals.  The 24 separate caves do not seem to connect to each other, although all have identically matching parallel chiseling marks carved at precise angles.

The mysteries of the caves are vast.  It is estimated that over 1 million cubic meters of rocks had to have been removed for their construction.  This would have taken 1,000 people working 24 hours a day an approximated six years to complete - and this doesn't even take into account the engineering and artistic planning that would have been necessary.  The method of excavation is also perplexing. The uniform, parallel markings indicate a unique and laborious method of quarrying.

There is also the question of who may have built these unusual caves.  There are no records of the caves in any ancient Chinese manuscripts.  This is especially curious since the empires of China are known for meticulous record keeping.  Could these caves be the remains of an ancient, unknown Chinese civilization or is it possible the records of the caves have been destroyed by an Emperor who wouldn't have wanted his own accomplishments overshadowed?

Experts are still unsure what the purpose of the caves may have been.  Some have suggested that the caves were giant tombs for an Emperor, yet no funerary artifacts have been found.  Others have suggested that they were ancient palaces, but the open arrangement of the interior of the caves seems to contradict this idea.  Still others have postulated that the caves were military stations, but the length of time and detailed construction makes it unlikely that they were carved in preparation for war.   

Adding to the mystery, the caves seems to show no signs of corrosion despite being submerged in water for such a long time.  There are no signs of water damage, no dislodged rock piles and no evidence of damage from seismic movement or natural disasters.  How is it that these caves have the seemingly miraculous ability to defy the ravages of time?

The Longyou Caves remain a timeless mystery.  Were they built by ancient aliens?  Were they the product of an unknown, advanced civilization now long forgotten?  Whatever the origins, their legacy lives on in the minds of those who revel in the mysteries of our strange universe. 

The Curious Case of Elisa Lam

The following is not an urban legend. It is not a modern myth of nameless and faceless characters with vague details. What happened was quite real and tragic.  It is a mystery that has fascinated both paranormal and conventional researchers alike: The Curious Case of Elise Lam.

The Facts
Elise Lam, whose Cantonese name was Lam Ho Yi, was born on April 30th, 1991.  She was the daughter of Chinese immigrants David and Yinna Lam and a student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.  In January of 2013 she traveled to Los Angeles alone, visited regular tourist attractions and checked in the Cecil Hotel on January 28th.  She was reported missing on January 31st after failing to contact her family in Canada.  Three days before, she was moved from a shared,  hostel-style room into a single, private room due to exhibiting what her roommate had described as "odd behavior."

On February 19th, nearly five weeks after her disappearance, the body of Elise Lam was found floating in one of the Cecil Hotel's 1000 gallon water tanks.  The tanks were used to distribute water to the hotel and, after guests started complaining about discolored and foul smelling and tasting water, hotel personnel made the grim discovery. Her clothing and belongings were floating beside her.

A Haunting History

The Cecil Hotel had already had its share of macabre occurrences.  It has been nicknamed "The Suicide" in reference to the dozens of individuals who have taken their own lives there.  The reputation of the hotel is so widespread that it has since been renamed and rebranded as the "Stay on Main."

The Cecil has been the setting of an array of violent and tragic happenings.  The first recorded suicide on the premises was in 1931 when a man named W.K. Norton was found dead in his room, having ingested poison.  Since it's opening in 1927, over a dozen deaths have occurred at the Cecil Hotel including a woman who - not knowing she was pregnant - gave birth to a baby boy and proceeded to toss the newborn out of the hotel room window.

Murders and suicides were not the only dark things that have happened at the hotel.  Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as "the Knight Stalker" is thought to have stayed at the Cecil Hotel while engaging in his killing spree in Los Angeles.  Another lesser known serial killer, Jack Unterweger - the Austrian man who was caught, imprisoned and then released in 1990 after having thought to be rehabilitated - stayed at the Cecil Hotel in 1991 where he strangled three prostitutes to death.  It is even said that Elizabeth Short, the subject of the still unsolved Black Dahlia murder, was drinking at the Cecil just days before she was killed. 

The Elevator Video

The last record of Lam alive is as disturbing as it is perplexing. A surveillance video shows Lam in an elevator at the Cecil Hotel.  In the video footage, Elise can be seen stepping in and out of an elevator, apparently speaking to someone and, in some instances, appears to be hiding.  She waves her arms, moves to and fro and side to side. She seems frantic, confused and afraid.  Even more strange, the elevator itself seems to be mysteriously malfunctioning as she pushes the buttons several times to no avail.

The Video footage was released by the police prior to the discovery of Lam's body after having no leads in her disappearance.  It has since been the subject of much paranormal speculation and a host of conspiracy theories.  Some even suggest the footage was doctored or created to cause misdirection in the case.

The Unexplained 
Much is still left unresolved regarding the death of Elise Lam.  It is still not known how she got to the roof of the hotel or entered the water tank.  The hotel staff would use large ladders to examine the inside of the tanks and it would have been near impossible for an individual to climb into the tank alone.  The lid of the tank would have been difficult for her to open , not to mention the fact that she would have had to pass through a locked and alarmed door to the roof.  She was naked when she was found, yet no other evidence of foul play was discovered.  The autopsy report suggested that her death was accidental, but it was later changed to say her cause of death was undetermined.

There is also the issue of what exactly is occurring in the elevator footage.  It seems probable that she could be hiding from an individual whom she suspects will do her harm.  However, her odd behavior seems to counter this idea along with the fact that she never telephoned the police for help.  Was she interacting with someone outside of the view of the camera?  Was she having a psychotic episode?

Another odd feature of this case is the eerie similarities to the 2005 horror movie Dark Water, a remake of a 2002 Japanese film.  The movie tells the story of a young girl, Natasha, who drowns in the water tank of an apartment building.  Her body is not immediately found and her death remains a mystery.  Her spirit then haunts new tenants of the apartment who eventually discover the young girls body.  The coincidences only become more disturbing.  The mother and daughter who move into the apartment after Natasha's death are named Dahlia and Cecilia.  Is this perhaps a prophetic reference to the Cecil Hotel and the murders which made it famous?  There is a scene in the movie of the child gaining access to a roof top door which was supposed to be locked and scenes of the ghosts of the dead specifically manifesting in the elevator of the apartment.  Both Natasha and Cecilia are in red, hooded coats, similar to the one Elise Lam can be seen wearing in the elevator footage.

Theories

Many alternative theories have been formed regarding the death of Elise Lam.  Some are plausible, such as the idea that Lam was pursued by an individual intent on harming her to whom she inevitably fell victim.  Some are much more extraordinary, such as the idea that Lam was haunted by a vengeful spirit of one the hotel's many victims, much like in the movie Dark Water.  Perhaps it was this wraith that Lam hid from in the elevator.

One theory involves a tuberculosis outbreak which was occurring near the Cecil Hotel at the time of Elise Lam's disappearance.  It is the name of the specific test for tuberculosis that raises questions: the LAM-ELISA Tuberculosis test kit.  According to this theory, Elise Lam was the victim of a controlled TB outbreak.  Supposedly, she was infected with the disease, killed and her body was deposited into the Cecil Hotel water tank as a means of distributing the disease to others.  But why would anyone want to spread TB?  The LAM-ELISA test was found to only be capable of detecting a little over 50% of tuberculosis cases and was only useful in detecting a specific form of TB.  It is thought that Elise was used to infect others with a form of TB that could be detected by the LAM-ELISA test in order to increase sales of the test, vaccines and medicines that could then be administered to prevent or cure it.  The LAM-ELISA test seems to have been developed prior to 2009.  Was this a long-con plot by the Illuminati?

Another, more otherworldly theory is that Elise Lam was playing the The Elevator Game. This "game," which seems to have originated in Korea, involves the systematic pressing of elevator buttons in a building of at least ten stories.  If the buttons are pressed in correct sequence, and all of the directions are followed, one finds themselves getting off at the tenth floor of the building and stepping foot into another dimension.  One aspect of the elevator game is a woman, presumably from the otherworld, who will board the elevator as well and has the potential to harm or even kill.  Was it this otherworldly woman that Elise was hiding from, frantically pressing elevator buttons in an attempt to reenter her own universe?

Conclusion
Elise Lam's odd behavior may have been caused by drugs prescribed to her for anxiety and depression.  Lam was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and had been prescribed Wellbutrin, Lamotrigine, Quetiapine and Effexor.  The contents of her social media accounts, while once cheerful, began to reflect her ever growing emotional struggle.

She could have been under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs or a sleeping aid, which could account for her bizarre behavior in the elevator.  Yet, no trace of drugs were found during her post mortem.

While researchers may never know what happened to Elise Lam that day, the case continues to inspire tellers of macabre stories and obsess paranormal investigators and internet would-be detectives.  One can only hope that those individuals remember that this was not a story of fantasy, but one that happened to a real young woman whose tragedy still looms in the heavy hearts of her friends and family.

Supernatural vs Paranormal: Which is correct?

Nomenclature is important in any area of research. Terms should be accurate descriptions of the phenomena they represent and, if the wording is inaccurate, it is essential to change it.

If the field of the study of unknown phenomena is to be taken seriously - if it is to be on par with other forms of scientific research - it needs to have accurate and appropriate terminology by which it is described.  Here, I wish to end a debate: is "supernatural" or "paranormal" a better term for the appearance of unexplained phenomena?

The answer is deceptively simple. One of these exists in reality, the other does not. One is a fantasy, one is a reality. One is an appropriate term, the other is not. The supernatural simple does not exist.

It is first important to break down these terms and understand exactly what they portray.  The term supernatural consists of two parts - super and natural.  The word super is from Latin meaning "over, above, in addition to or on top of."  Natural is defined as "existing as part of or determined by nature" with nature being "all existing phenomena in its entirety."  The term supernatural therefore refers to something that is above or outside of nature or something unnatural. This term is incorrect.

There is nothing that is truly unnatural.  Assuming for a moment - for the sake of this argument - that ghosts exist, their existence would not be "outside of nature" but would instead be a phenomena of nature which is not yet understood by human beings.  This would not be something unnatural, but instead would be something which redefines human understanding of what nature is.

The term "paranormal" is much more appropriate.  Para is from the Greek meaning "besides or next to." Normal is from norma, the Latin word for a craftsman's square and denotes "something that is usual, typical, or standard."  Something paranormal is therefore something that is outside of typical experience.  This is an accurate term for currently unexplained phenomena.

There is nothing that is supernatural as this term ignores exactly what is meant by the word nature, being the whole of existence. There are, however, those things which are paranormal, which are rarely observed and which are currently not understood by human intellect.  It is for this reason that it is suggested that those in the community of study of unknown phenomena should abandon entirely the word "supernatural" and adopt the term "paranormal" to accurately describe that which is studied by the community.

Our Solar System's Alien Visitor

In October of 2017 our solar system had an alien visitor.  What was first called a comet, and then an asteroid was finally determined to be the first interstellar body of it's kind that human beings have witnessed.  This was an object, floating through space, from another solar system.

The object was named "Oumuamua," a Hawaiian word which means "a messenger from the past."  The object was discovered by the PAN-STARRS1 survey which is the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System.  PAN-STARRS1 is a system for wide-field astronomical imaging which was developed by the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

Oumuamua is estimated to be 755ft - 3,281ft x 115ft - 548ft x 115ft - 548ft.  It is dark-red in color and is literally alien, having not originated in our solar system.  The oddest thing about the interstellar object is it's unusual acceleration and a Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics research paper has recently suggested that it may not only be alien, but could be an artificially designed, extraterrestrial probe.

The researchers speculate that, due to the unusual acceleration of Oumuamua, it may be a lightsail - a type of spacecraft propulsion system that uses radiation pressure from sunlight on large mirrors to create a "wind sail" type effect.  Although many in the scientific community are skeptical that the object known as the "messenger from the past" could be an alien spacecraft, the open-mindedness and acceptance of the alien intelligence hypothesis of the researchers is refreshing.  As I, myself, am a researcher who always tries to balance my extranormal thinking with logic and reason - and my reason and logic with extranormal thinking - I see this as a great milestone for science and paranormal researchers alike.