Research, research, research! That is what we have been up to lately. Well, and recovering from the plague that has bounced around the house.

We have a few investigations on tap in the next couple of months that we are very excited about.One of the locations is a place we have been trying to get into for years now.

We will update with results as soon as we get the ok from the clients.

I recently read an article on a major news outlet that discussed the upcoming series on The Discovery Channel. The Exorcist Files will use re-enactments to discuss cases of possession. We have all seen plenty of shows like this, but this one was actually granted access to the Vatican’s case file. They will also be interviewing  the church’s top exorcist.

The producers ultimate goal is to accompany religious officials on an actual exorcism. This is a huge change for the Catholic Church-not too long ago they denied the existence of the Exorcism Ritual and that there were priest trained to perform it.

I am very curious to see if they deal with all “hauntings” as demonic or do they make a distinction.

Discovery, Catholic Church behind exorcism series

Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting St. Bernard de Clairvaux Spanish Mission. It is an amazing place that offers a really unique look at history. The Monastery was built in Sacramenia, Segovia, Spain between 1133 and 1144. It was dedicated to the honor of the Blessed Mother and named “Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels,” then later renamed in honor of Bernard of Clairvaux, a famous Cistercian Monk. The Cistercian Monks occupied the monastery for nearly 700 years before the Cloister was seized, sold and converted into a stable and granary in the mid 1830s. That is where the story gets really interesting.

William Randolph Hearst, a famous American businessman, purchased the Cloisters and outer buildings in 1925. He had workers dismantle the structures, packing each stone in hay inside one of 11,00 wooden crates, intending to ship the entire Monastery home to the United States. The process would have been a smooth one, had the stones themselves been numbered in some way, but instead, the workers labeled the boxes. Enter the US Department of Agriculture, who realized that there was an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Segovia and, afraid that the crates would spread the illness in the US, they quarantined the shipment. During the quarantine, they broke open the crates and burned the hay, which was a possible carrier of the disease. Then they put the stones back- without ensuring they went into the correct crates.

Hearst suffered financial losses right at the time that the crates were released, forcing the entire Monastery to go up for auction in its disassembled form. The stones remained in a warehouse for 26 years before W. Edgemon and R. Moss purchased them. It was 1953, and they decided the Monatery would make a great tourist attraction. It took 19 months and 1.5 million dollars to put the pieces back together; the process was time consuming and there are still stones left over.

I highly recommend a side trip to the Monastery if you’re ever in the area. The story is fascinating and the scenery beautiful, so don’t miss it if you ever get the opportunity!

In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, the White Queen tells Alice that in her land, “memory works both ways.” Not only can the Queen remember things from the past, but she also remembers “things that happened the week after next.” Alice attempts to argue with the Queen, stating “I’m sure mine only works one way…I can’t remember things before they happen.” The Queen replies, “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”

This is the opening paragraph from a really interesting article published over at the Psychology Today blog The Social Thinker, written by Melissa Burkley, Ph.D.  The idea invokes an interesting discussion of what memory is, what precognition might be and how the two are related.  Imagine, just for a moment, being able to ‘remember’ the future.  Consider the idea of being able to improve your mid-term final grade, business dinner or even that conversation with your mother-in-law simply by thinking about them and perfecting them in your own mind after they happen.

The implications of this possible evidence within the paranormal community could be far reaching; it introduces almost as many questions as it provides answers for.  Here is a bit more information on the research:

Dr. Bem, a social psychologist at Cornell University, conducted a series of studies that will soon be published in one of the most prestigious psychology journals (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). Across nine experiments, Bem examined the idea that our brain has the ability to not only reflect on past experiences, but also anticipate future experiences. This ability for the brain to “see into the future” is often referred to as psi phenomena.

I would love to hear everyone else’s opinion on this study.  How do you think it will affect the paranormal field? Do you believe the findings (based on the original article) are valid proof that we are (or can be) psychic?

The History of the Human Skeleton – Body snatching, public dissection and bodies on display…

If you’re like us, you’ll love this upcoming event! Dr. Wentz is an amazing speaker who will keep you entertained and take the time to answer any questions you might have. We’ll be there- hope you will too!

Join Dr. Rachel Wentz as she explores the strange role the skeleton has played in human culture.

Tuesday, October 19 at 6:30 pm Ft. Pierce Library 101 Melody Lane Fort Pierce (772) 462-2878

UPDATE: The Halloween History Tour & Ghost Hunt is now full.  If you would like to be placed on the waiting list (which will be used to fill any spots that may open due to cancellations), please call or email us today.

Ready for a tantalizing touch of the spooky- mixed with a healthy dose of history? We’ve concocted the perfect combination for a fantastic Halloween event! After the tour is over, spend time walking around the park to do an investigation of your own! The first 50 participants will receive goody-bags! Children 12 and over only, please. Tours will begin at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m, and, due to limited parking, reservations are required. Reservations can be made by calling (772) 801-0177.

Hi everyone! I need your help again, but this time we’re not looking for battery drain reports (although we still want those, so don’t forget to send them in!).

I want to hear about the haunted trees in your area. I know that many communities have them, so if yours is one of them, I ask that you please stop by and fill out a haunted tree report for me.  The form is quick and easy, and should only take a couple minutes, but would help me immensly with my research.

 

Thanks in advance!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been party to quite a bit of discussion on research into the paranormal as a whole. Most of these conversations centered around the scientific aspect of paranormal research. Questions that came up frequently involved both personal experiences and the requirements of ‘proof’ or ‘evidence’. As I pondered the topic, I was reminded of something I’d learned about a long, long time ago (I’m showing my age…lol) and decided to post my own belief here, for everyone to read and discuss. I should probably warn you, this post will be quite long; I’ve never suffered from a loss of words!

The Scientific Method

According to what I learned in school, the scientific method contains steps. It’s a process, one that begins with observation and research. Back in the day, we were taught that the method was as follows:

• Observation/Research
• Hypothesis
• Prediction
• Experimentation
• Conclusion

Now, I don’t know if they’ve updated this process since I left school, but I still stand by the steps included here. I should also probably point out that I understand that not all scientific research can adhere to these steps, but I’d like to think that cases such as that are the exception, not the rule. So how does this process apply to paranormal research? Well, from my own experience, we’ve never left the observation and research phase. Skeptics clamor for proof of the beyond, irrefutable evidence that ghosts exist; this isn’t possible to provide, because there are no conclusions here- only theory. As we collect our observations and conduct our research, the theory we work with might change, but it is impossible to design an experiment without knowing what you are trying to accomplish or prove with that experimentation. All of this leads to the existence of skeptics and believers, those who are adamant that the paranormal exists in the context of ghosts, hauntings and other spiritually-linked events and those who are just as adamant that there is no proof, therefore it can’t possibly be real. For the purpose of this blog post, we’re going to define these two terms as follows:

skeptic: n. 1. One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.

believer: n. 1. a supporter who accepts something as true

If you’re ready for more, this article continues after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

After another investigation where we experienced the dreaded ‘battery drain’ phenomenon, we realized it was time to get a better understanding of what exactly was going on.

It was an especially troubling session- we went through 21 fresh batteries and had three separate cameras shut off, some of them doing so twice. When we left the investigation location, we used a volt meter on the ‘bad’ batteries and discovered that they all still carried a charge. Frustrated, we popped them into a camera and, after running a video camera for 30 minutes and taking an addition 50 still photographs, the batteries were still going strong.

Now, we’re not certain what might be causing this, but we were in a climate controlled location- which means that temperature fluctuations can be ruled out. So we decided to ask investigation teams from all over the world to share their battery drain experiences with us, to see if we can find a common thread to the events.

If you’d like to participate, you can do so by simply emailing us a record of your battery drain events as they happen.

We’ll be making the results public through a Google Docs spreadsheet once we have a sampling of events- we believe that the more people we have working on this, the better!

You can fill out the form online – all it takes is a bit of documentation at the time of the event.

The GRIM Society is putting together a collection of great stories of ghosts and other paranormal activity. If you have a ghost story that occured along the Treasure Coast, we’d love to hear it!

If you decided to send in a story, be sure to include as much information as possible- the location, date and number of people involved, etc.

You can email your story to thegrimsociety @ gmail.com (without spaces). We can’t wait to read them!