November 14th, 2010

Had a dream about the house in Marlette last night. I was there with Ryan W, it was night time and seemed like Halloween. The house was laid out just as it used to be, except for the front door had a heavy metal screen door instead of the flimsy one it normally has. I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to Ryan, before he headed out to the front porch. I think he was going outside to meet someone. I was walking into the living room heading towards the master bedroom when I heard this really loud screeching noise (sounded like a cat, but you could tell someone was making the noise) coming from outside. I opened up the main door and cracked open the screen door to ask Ryan what the noise was. He told me its coming from across the street. We then saw someone run out from behind a bush and I yelled there he was. At this moment i felt something touch my back, I turned around and a puppy came between my legs. I asked the puppy if he was jumping up on me and then I realized there should not be a dog there. I said out loud "where the hell did you come from", at this time something directed my attention to the kitchen. Crouched down next to the cabinet between it and the side door was someone wearing all black and a hood. It spooked me bad and I went for the front door to go outside with ryan. As I reached for the door I accidentally closed it and stumbled backwards into the door into the master bedroom. As I was falling the lights slowly went out and I yelled, not sure if I yelled outside of the dream.

The Buck Stops Here

Cough....cough......just cleaning out some of the spiderwebs and dustbunnies around this place so Mama can break this news hot off the press.....

Take a deep breath, my friends.

Ghost Adventurers, Paranormal Cops, my hot Ghost Hunter friends, and my even HOTTER friend Josh over at Destination Truth.....

They can all retire now.

Because now, FINALLY, comes the end-all be-all FINALword in paranormal activity - surely an expert for the ages.......

BILLY RAY CYRUS.

Oh yeah. You heard me.

BILLY RAY CYRUS.


From MsnTV:

Billy Ray Cyrus and son starring in paranormal reality show

Billy Ray Cyrus is returning to the small screen with another member of his family: He's teaming up with son Trace for a reality show about conspiracy theories involving paranormal phenomena.

Now he's signed a deal with the Syfy network to star on "UFO: Unbelievably Freakin' Obvious," which will see the singer and 21-year-old Trace traveling cross-country to investigate unexplained activity.


The Cyrus patriarch tells Variety, "The existence of paranormal phenomena is something I've always wanted to explore further. Getting the opportunity to take this adventure with my son, who has always had a keen interest in this area, is a dream come true.



"I hope this series can shine a light on some of the activities we have questioned, and the mysteries that have long inspired us."

Uhhhhhhh-HUH.
 
I almost feel like I can't make fun of this because it's too FREAKIN' easy.
 
Myself, I've always questioned the mystery of why Billy Ray became such a big star, why people liked that dumb-ass song of his so much, and why we JUST CAN'T GET THIS GUY TO GO THE HELL AWAY ALREADY.
 
Maybe someone will give me a TV show.......
 
Mother Firefly

Ghost Hunters Academy

Or, as I almost called this post, 'Someone Peed in Steve's Cheerios This Morning'.

Ghost Hunters Academy (aka what I have to watch in place of Destination Truth while it's on hiatus) premiered last night and I'm kind of torn about what I think of the show. While I thought it was kind of fun to watch newbies learn the ghosthunting ropes, something about it didn't sit right with me.

Remember this fun lovin' dude who liked to play jokes on Tango and sit around in Miami and try to come up with words in Spanish to call the ghosts?Well, forget it, because he's now been replaced by this sour faced guy:
Yep. Get used to that face. You're gonna see it a lot.

We start out with the new recruits at the TAPS Headquarters:
Yippee, G & J are here!
Boo, not for long though.......They tell the recruits good luck and to learn from Steve and Tango....and work really hard, because if they mess up, they'll be gone. Rule # 1: Only Grant and I do the plumbing on this show, and NOBODY gets to be sexier than me.

After a brief intro, we're on our way and the recruits learn we're going to Fort Mifflin, PA. Dave and Tango are going to take the group on a tour before the ghost hunt, but one of our new friends, Heathyr, decides she's going to skip the tour. She says she's a medium and prefers not to have too much information so it doesn't 'influence' her findings.yeah, I think I'll hang back and miss out on the WHOLE EXPLANATION OF WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO....yeah, I think that's a GREAT move for me at this point...
You so done just effed up................

Later, Dave is giving the recruits a run down of what they're going to do next and doesn't think they're listening. When he asks them to repeat the instructions, Susan bravely tries to recite it back while the rest of her friends just sit there with their mouths shut. And what does she get for being the only person to answer Dave's question?
You get to be my tape BEE-YATCH.

He's all ticked because he said she tried to B.S. her way out of it and didn't really know the answer. Which, fine, that's what she did.......but because she was the only one who even ATTEMPTED to answer his question, she gets punished by having to tape down all the wires? Ohhhhhhhhhkay, Mr. Twisted Logic.

So everyone breaks into teams and Chris and Carl head out to the casemate. They sit and do an EVP session and it seems like they're doing an okay job..... but nope, Dave and Tango decide that it's stupid for them to sit next to each other, and it would make more sense for them to sit across from each other. Of course, this is information of the utmost importance, so they head out to tell Ben and Carl so they can do it right. Chris (soon to be the group's resident KissAss) tells S & T that's it's genius tips like this that make them the Awesome Dudes that they are, which gets a HUGE reaction from Steve:ahahahaha...You have just figured out the way to my HEART is by kissing my ASS!

Next are Susan and Ben doing an EVP session and investigating the magazine. They wander around and then decide they're done and head off to change some tape. The next thing we see, they're sitting outside some building chatting. You know this ain't gonna go down good with S & T, and of course they head over to ask them what the hell they're doing:
They really don't have a good answer, and Susan can't even think of the name of the place they just investigate. This is pretty silly - if they really just stopped to hang out and chat, it's probably the one time that they deserve Steve to go off on them.

The second night, Heathyr and Chris are investigating when they suddenly smell cigarette smoke. They check back with base to make sure nobody is smoking (they aren't), and S&T head out to check out their finding. They admit to smelling it too, and then Steve says the smell is more like an old fashioned hand rolled cigarette than something modern out of a pack....Chris (he's the KissAss, remember?) is quick to agree, that Oh yeah, Steve is totally right, it sure DOES smell EXACTLY like a rolled cigarette!

When Steve admits that he just made it up -
So that he could demonstrate how easy it is to influence people through the power of suggestion.
Nice.
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

Later, it's discovered that Karl and Ben accidentally left a digital recorder in one of the rooms. They try to pass it off as being on purpose, but of course D & T bust them. Then Uncle Dave comes down with the big lecture on 'trusting each other', and being at 'face value 100% of the time'.
Ooookay. Hold that thought, please.

Next we have Susan and Heathyr in one of the rooms where the spirits of a little girl and woman have been seen. Susan starts to claim that she doesn't feel good and is starting to feel overwhelming sadness. Heathyr says that in her experience, spirits sometimes pass on emotions that they feel as a way of communicating. But Susan can't handle it, and has to leave so that she isn't 'paralyzed with agonizing sadness'.
Which as we all know, is very DANGEROUS INDEED.I think my hand is permanently attached to my face due to agonizing sadness!

Now Susan admits that she's actually an empath, or a medium, or something, and that she didn't want to tell anyone so that she would be taken seriously:And running out of an investigation, leaving your team member alone, and crying in the TAPS motorhome will go a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng way towards you being taken seriously.

Then, oh yeah, they analyze shit. They find some things that S & T debunk and some EVPs that S & T congratulate them on. Amazingly enough, Steve is pretty decent and gives them tips on how to tell an EVP from what are probably just other sounds in the room.
Tango is nice enough to interpret that this face 'means it's good'! Thanks, Tango!

They do get one creepy EVP that sounds like Ben's first and last name....brrrrrrrr!

Then it's time for a one on one shakedown, er "performance review" with Susan.
D & T confront her for leaving Heathyr and not being honest about being an empath or sensitive whatever the hell she's calling herself.

Steve AGAIN brings out the whole 'being honest and truthful 100% and up front and at face value at ALL TIMES'. But they all agree to start with a clean slate and blah blah blah it's all good.........

Until Steve wraps up the episode saying that right now he doesn't see anyone that has potential to join the team. I'm just guessing, maybe it's because they're not 100% honest and up front.....you know, all that truthfulness and being up front.....just like Steve demonstates by LYING about the cigarette smoke smelling like 'hand rolled' so that he could make the recruits look like idiots.

Mr. Twisted Logic, indeedy.



Sigh. Is it March yet?
-Mother Firefly

Ghost Lab -Are you Watching It?

I have to admit that when I first heard about this show, I thought - dang, ANOTHER ghost show? But I checked out the first episode and I've been hooked ever since.

Brad and Barry Klinge and their team do the usual ghosthunting stuff that we've come to expect, like collecting EVPs, trying to provoke activity, and using all the usual equipment.

But what they also do is explore the bigger theories behind why paranormal activity is happening in the first place. This week, for example, they examined the idea that moving water increases the likelihood of increased paranormal activity. They also talked to an engineer about how water conducts electricity - and learned that pure water is a poor conductor - it's actually the impurities in the water that increase conductivity.

They went to Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana, a place noted for its paranormal activity and also for being situated on the Mississippi River. (One of the brothers also saw an apparition in the house while on a group tour). The group did an analysis of the water in the Mississippi as compared to bottled water. The results - bottled water barely registered a blip for conductivity, while the Mississippi River water was off the charts. They also noticed that the only part of the house visible from the water was the third story - where an appartition has been seen several times from a window on that floor. So they decided to measure the levels of EMF from the water to the house - and were amazed to find that they could chart a direct line of EMF from the river - to the third story window. They also used this theory at another destination later in the show, the Metro rock club in Chicago - and found running water associated with that place as well.

Watch the video 'Evidence of Energy' on the list here.

In past shows, they've explored whether or not heightened levels of fear increase the likelihood of paranormal activity, or if places with a history of violent past affect the mood and temperament of the people who spend time there.

I don't think it's a better show than Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures (my two favorites), it's just a different focus and different equipment. If it were the same as the others, I might feel like it was overkill - after all, how many ghost shows can a girl watch a week?

You can also watch the first full episode here.

I also have to mention the last episode of Destination Truth and the hunt for the Yeti - how cool was the hair they found? That episode should be showing up on the website here soon. I guess we're done for the year and won't see new episodes till next March.

Plus I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of Mr. Yummy Pants, er, um, Josh Gates.

Sigh......March 2010 seems so far away......

Ghost Cat????

I think it's fair to say that as long as I've lived in this house with Papa Cash (almost 7 years) that I've never experienced any paranormal activity associated with it. Which is fine, I don't need to live with ghosts and I already lived in a house that had ALL kinds of spooky (thus the name of this blog and what ALL the bloggers linked to it have in common - whether by actual house or street).

But this house has been quiet since I've been here - except for a few occasional odd experiences which always seemed to come in pairs. Meaning I'd have an experience, and then Papa Cash would (or vice versa) and we wouldn't know of the other's experience until one of us mentioned it - and they always had occured within a day or two of the other.

Interestingly, all the experiences seemed attributed to something an animal might do -or more specifically, what a cat might do. And they all took place when we just had one cat - nothing has happened since we got Cat #2 and #3. For instance, I'd be in the living room and repeatedly think I saw Ash walk in the room - or walk out - only to find he was curled up sleeping behind me on the back of the couch. Then Papa Cash would tell me that he thought Ash came in the room and jumped up on the bed - when nothing was there.

Once when my friends from Michigan visited (one is clairvoyant) she remarked that a cat had just walked in the room - a short haired grey cat. I've had two cats that have passed on, but neither was grey, and both had long hair. Then I remembered P. C. telling me about a cat he had many years ago - a cat that taught itself to pee in the toliet (!) and also that he had to find a new home for the cat when he got busted by the landlord. (He also found out later that the cat continued to use the toliet in his new home and also cried till someone came and flushed the toliet. He was kind of relieved that the cat had a new home because he wasn't crazy about having to go flush the toliet for a cat). But according to him, the cat was very attached to him - would sleep on him at night and followed him everywhere and watched everything he did - thus the teaching itself to use the toliet- Mr. Kitty followed him in THERE too.

So I asked P.C. what that cat looked like - and Holy Shit, that cat was short haired - and grey. Now - I had heard the story about the cat many times but I'd never asked what the cat looked like. And my friend who saw ghost kitty did NOT know the story at all. And P.C. had the kitty before he was married or had a son, so it was at least over 20 years ago. Chances were good that kitty had went to heaven by now. So I felt like the ghostly cat visits were explained.

I had forgotten about these experiences - after all, they weren't really scary, just interesting. And after my friend saw him, and we put all that together, it pretty much stopped. Maybe kitty was just content to know we recognized him? Although in the weeks before my other kitties came to live with us, I did have quite a few instances of thinking I was seeing a cat out of the corner of my eye -when none were there.

Last weekend I was working at my desk - which is in the living room and faces a wall. Out of my peripheral vision I can see into my kitchen - off of which is P.C.'s office. His door was open and one of my cats loves to hang out in there on his desk. Repeatedly I thought I kept seeing Ash (my black cat) walk between the kitchen and the office. Repeatedly I looked and he wasn't there.

That didn't really phase me till yesterday - when I was sitting on the couch - Ash and Nissa sleeping on either side of me, Puff sleeping in the bedroom with P.C. - when I distinctly heard a cat use the scratching mats on the floor in the corner of the living room. It's a very distinct sound. I was awake, not drowsy, not dozing, and all three cats were accounted for - and none of them even close to the pad. It wasn't even a matter of- did I just hear that? I heard it, I recognized it, and it persisted for about five to ten seconds. There wasn't anything else in the room - and the noise was clearly in the room with me - that I could attribute it to.

Since P.C. was sleeping, I wasn't able to tell him and it slipped my mind until he went to go to bed today. He had no cats in the bedroom with him and the door was closed. He wasn't in bed five minutes until he came out and said, Okay....something just jumped up on the bed and walked a circle around me - like Puff does a lot of the time.
Of course then I shared my story - also realizing that this is how it used to happen before - in pairs, and both of us having seperate experiences without knowledge of the other's.

I tend to think that this visitor is probably his old friend again - since he's been seen here, and since it apparently likes to get in bed with him. I'm tempted to break out the EMF meter and try to get a measurement if it happens again. Or maybe a picture.

An interesting side note - I shared this story with a couple of friends at art class tonight and one of them also mentioned that she thought she was being visited (just recently, coincidentally enough) by one of her deceased animal friends as well. She attributed it to the time of year - the veils being thinner and all that.

What about the rest of you? Anyone else ever have a pet or animal visitation?

Destination Truth

Has everyone been watching this? The Chernobyl episode was really good, but the Island of Dolls was extremely creepy, dolls shouldn't do that, ever.

End of the world

In all my times of driving back and forth to saginaw, I have never seen this. Once on the way up and once on the way back I saw cars pulled over on the side of the road with people outside throwing up. We will see what the world holds when we get up.