My interest in writing the “Handbook for the Amateur Cryptozoologist” started around the same time I began to write my first book, “Handbook for the Amateur Paranormal Investigator or Ghost Hunter: How to Become a Successful Paranormal Group” in 2005 and which was published in 2008. I began putting the book together around the same time my third book, “Handbook for the...

The top ten paranormal news stories have been selected by myself on heavily guided scientific protocol for selection. Actually, I just put a bunch of stories in a list and graded them on basic criteria. How big was the story? Did the story have a large influence on the media or social networking? How long or how big did this story become in that regard? Did the story have anything to do with furthering any aspect of the paranormal? How wide is the impact on the field? With this basic criteria I weighed the biggest stories and slowly built them into the top ten. 2013 was a hard year to do this, in years past the biggest stories were Sky Noise (2012), UFO's Over Jerusalem (2011), National Press Club Gathering on UFO's (2010), Black Hole over Norway (2009), Montauk Monster (close tie with Georgia Bigfoot Hoax, 2008), and 2013 really had no front-running story that carried it away in social media or made a huge impact in the paranormal. At any rate, the Top Ten Paranormal...

Many people in the paranormal field may be shocked when I state that ghosts do not exist. They do not exist merely because science has yet to accept them as part of the scientific realm. While they are acknowledged as part of the human experience we have been unable to verify them as a “real” phenomenon. So what will it take to prove once and for all that they are real?

When one ponders the question of “what will the best evidence of ghosts be?” a few things quickly come to mind. We tend to think immediately of our experiences and everyday attempts to find the answer to “are ghosts real?” Would that evidence be an end-all be-all photograph of a familiar former living person? Might it be an EVP that sends a specific message from the other side? Or would...

I was invited along as a guest to the spring outing of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society lead by Eric Altman (ParaNexus consultant). The expedition would include around 30 extra participants (free event, but we paid our own expenses) who served as observers, researchers, trackers, and witnesses during the two day search for signs of Bigfoot and puma. The core of the PBS was there to facilitate the event and make sure that we all got what we came for.

I arrived at the Keystone State Park area on Friday, May 17 at around 2 P.M. in the warm spring sun. I pulled into site #73 at the hillside campground area that was about ¼ mile from the lake. I chose this site as it was only two sites away from the site of Eric Altman which served as the main base for the weekend. I quickly set up my small...

2011 ended on a sad note. The latest incarnation of the Ohio Paranormal Investigation Network was disbanded due to a number of decisions. One of these deciding factors was based on the direction of the group seemingly going backwards from what I had hoped around 16 years prior. I had come to the realization that much of the foundation I had put in place had been slowly and silently eroded and I was left standing in two places at the same time. One foot was firmly planted in my beliefs; paranormal investigators were doing most of their things wrong and that while science alone isn’t the only answer there needs to be many changes in this field in order for it to be taken seriously or is able to convert...

"…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". –Sherlock Holmes “The Sign of Four” (and variations in several other books)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes was definitely ahead of his time when it came to science. His methods predated those used in real forensic science and his way of solving crimes was based on simple logic and observation. Ironically, this quote is typically used to qualify a paranormal group as "scientific" as well as to “verify” a photo, video, or personal event as “paranormal” since no definitive explanation was immediately found, however this search may not include...

Audio recording technology has come a long way since I started out in 1996. My first recorder was a small radio sized recorder (sometimes called a shoebox recorder) that used regular cassette tapes. One tape could record 30 or 45 minutes per side with two sides, but the rule was to not record on both sides as “bleeding” of voices or noises could potentially occur. The tapes produced their own white noise in the form of a mild hiss along with any mechanical sounds of the recorder which were usually recorded unless a separate microphone was used and the recorder hidden.    One learned quickly how to lubricate the device to keep these noises to a minimum or buy an external microphone. Working a case would usually mean buying a handful of tapes, although I...

The Paranormal News Insider is a short paranormal news segment that is aired during the Grand Dark Conspiracy podcast on the Shark Radio Network every Monday night at 10 P.M. eastern. While the Paranormal News Insider has been on the air since 2008 this is just the second year of creating the list of top ten stories.  When looking at these stories I look at how big the story became; how was it carried in the media and social media beyond the paranormal circles? How long did it circulate? Did the story evolve over time? I’ll also look at the story and determine if it had a valuable impact on the paranormal or anomalous topics. Since there aren’t many breakthroughs when it comes to these stories it’s hard to judge which have had a larger impact positively, especially with a short amount of time to reflect on some of the stories. There are a few stories that...

On September 19, 1936, two photographers were finishing up a series of photos for a magazine when one of them suddenly saw a transparent figure coming down a set of stairs in front of them. Captain Provand, upon the request from his partner Mr. Indre Shira, hurriedly prepared the camera and took a photograph that would become the most recognizable ghost photograph in history and would legitimize the possibility of ghosts through this one still shot – or would it? While this famous photograph taken at Raynham Hall of the ghost of the “Brown Lady” is thought to be the best “real deal” photograph ever, there is a little history missing from its backstory that reveals...

On September 6, 1622, the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a 112 foot Spanish galleon, sank 35 miles west of Key West, Florida, near the Dry Tortugas islands during a hurricane. The ship was more heavily armed than the other 27 ships and was thus carrying the most important people and the most cargo of the ships in its convoy. The Atocha was the rear ship and when the hurricane hit was one of eight ships to sink. It sank very quickly in 55 feet of water, and 260 of the 265 people aboard perished. The survivors were found the next day clinging to the mizzenmast, 3 crew and 2 slaves were rescued. Plans to salvage the ship were hampered by the depth as divers of that time had to hold their breath and had no masks to help them see underwater. A few weeks later another hurricane spread the wreckage across the ocean floor and salvage attempts focused on other, more accessible ships. The Atocha was then lost in time.

Many paranormal groups claim that ghost activity is heightened during full or new moons. Many trauma nurses and police claim that craziness increases during these times. There have been many reports written that verify these claims, and thus we have the term lunacy derived from the Latin term for the moon -Luna.

Is this for real or is this just madness?

Many ghost groups use a moon information graphic in addition to the space and atmospheric “weather” data on their websites. The claim is that ghost activity is heightened during (or just before/after depending upon the theory) the full or new moon phase. Is there any credibility to these pieces of data? In order to answer this we must first look...

Cougars, mountain lions, pumas, panthers, catamounts, whatever you wish to call them, do not exist east of the Mississippi river. Well, except for south Florida and there's only 50 or so of those. Yes there may have been some sightings in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and yeah there's Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and even Maine and Delaware (yes, even in all three counties of Delaware), oh, and some reports in the tiny state of Rhode Island. But, rest assured, all of these accounts are false. They are either bobcats, house...

My original intent for part III for this series on science in the ghost field was to focus on the scientific process and how the tools we use play their part. In part I, I discussed the basics of the scientific process and how that affects the field we work in. Part II centered on the advancement of tools and technology in our field and how this is a double-edged sword.

I decided to derail the subject due to a friendly debate I have been having with a colleague over the usage of the First Law of Thermodynamics. You’ve seen this quote a hundred times if you’ve visited paranormal websites or message boards: