Now for those (few) out there who know me, you’ll know I’ve tried making one of these things work, but with much failure.

About a year ago, I acquired a “telekinetic enhancer” version of a psi wheel in the hopes of being able to figure out either how to fake it or how to make it work as advertized.  As a neuteral skeptic (though biased in that I *wanted* to make it spin using mind power) I would consider either result a success.

I placed my pinwheel under a clear plastic cover – in fact, the clear plastic cover from a package of blank CDs.

Try as I might… no success.  So I tested faking it.  First, I tried a subtle, but definite pushing of the table.  It bounced a bit, but no luck getting a spin to happen.  Next, I took a rather strong neodymium magnet and attempted to influence it that way.  As the only part of the setup that is made of ferrous metal is the center pin, I figured I might be able to wobble it and use that movement to induce a spin.  No luck there either.

Now, in the last couple weeks, I moved my office and decided to try the convection idea.  I removed the cover for this to help enhance the air flow and LO! a spin began!

Convection for the win! Right?  The wheel spun as if pushed by a force eminating from my finger tips – clockwise if I held my left hand near and counter clockwise if I used my right hand.

But in an effort to put off my success in proving Derren Brown’s explanation, I decided to “will” the wheel to reverse direction.  If it was convection, it should make no difference.

But it did.

The wheel slowed… stopped, and hesitantly began in the other direction.

One thing I distinctly noticed was that I had to really concentrate to get this to happen right.  A little thought of “go the other way” would stop it but if I really concentrated, I could make it go in reverse.  It was a VERY strong correlation, though with my limited experimentation, not statistically significant.  Three tries.  Correlation of a solid 1.0!

I realize that this *could* be my willing my hands to get cooler, but even if this is so, it is still significant in that this would be much more direct control over my body’s autonomic nervous system than I thought I had.

More experimentation is definitely called for.  Anyone else have any similar results out there?  Please leave a comment.

Many of the reported dreams have to do with apocalyptic themes.  Some have time frames involved – and they don’t point to 2012, but in the next few years following.  They don’t point to President Obama as the cause but rather his successor.  I’m hearing of dreams of religious prosecution from Christians and Pagans alike – about cities in lockdown and people starving in the countryside.

While apocalyptic dreams that feel prophetic are nothing new (I’ve been collecting reports since the mid 1990’s, but heard about them since they were easy to explain in the 1980’s as Cold War paranoia….), the frequency of which I’ve been getting reports has gotten my attention.  Most of those I know do not know each other and those who do rarely know of eachothers’ dreams.  From colleagues I’ve spoken to in the last year, this has been escalating for the last 10 years or so,  but I’m seeing more reports in the last few months than I should.

Have you had strange dreams picking up in frequency lately?  Do you have any theory on the causes?  Please comment.

So with that and the severe inactivity of the group I usually work with, I figured I’d mention that I am available to work as a guest investigator for any group in the southern NH area.  If you’d be interested in having me along, I can offer a “true skeptic” viewpoint as well as several methods of gathering data and analyzing it.  I’ve got two wireless security cameras (one remotely adjustable and another IR illuminated) which can capture video and detect motion.  I’m not famous and adding my name to your roster won’t get you screaming fans, but it will get you someone with serious experience and a level head.

If you might be interested, please email me at brian at arcanorum dot org and let me know what you’re looking for, when, and where.

Sure, buddy.  And your camera and lights operate on what?  Ether waves and pixie dust??

I have finished watching the first episode.  It was horrible.  The Scooby-doo antics, jumping at everything, misuse of equipment, unprofessional attitude, and yes, even incorrect occult references, were enough for me to decide this show jumped the shark in the first 10 minutes.  I forced myself to watch it through to the end and it was every bit as bad as the review in the previous post made it out to be and more.

They talked about “the four names of god” – huh?  I’ve heard of the 72 names but four?  The “Tree of Death” rune is a fabrication.  While there is a rune so shaped, which has been translated as “grave”, in 25+ years of occult study, I know of no relation to any “Tree of Death”.

What’s up with the thermal cam footage of the flames?  Of course it’s going to show up on thermal… DUH!  If you’re holding a conversation while listening to a parabolic mic, you’re either deaf or you’re doing something wrong.  I suspect the latter.  Even if it’s the kind that blocks loud sounds while amplifying fainter ones, you’d still be using it wrong.

These guys are lame, pathetic, and dangerous.  Their destruction of property in the prison alone should be a sign they don’t know what they’re doing.

They remind me of a bunch of prepubescent kids who have seen one too many movies and were handed a bunch of high tech equipment to play with.  Shame on A&E for even considering this as a show.  It is a disgrace to the paranormal community.

When I first heard of this show, I really wanted it to be good, but I knew it wouldn’t be.  I was amazed, though at just how bad it turned out.

For a full (and somewhat lengthy) explanation, please go read this.

I’ll have a review if I feel one is needed after I see more of the show myself.

http://www.paranormalscience.org

Second, it is about that time of year again, with ookie-spookie stories in every newspaper and web site.  The Arcanorum will try to stay away from the cheeziness of it all… but there are many traditions that count that time of year as one of extra paranormal activity, so we will be watching.

Third, we have a new banner if you’d like to link to us on your web site:

The Arcanorum

Here’s the code you can copy:

<a href=”http://www.arcanorum.org”><img src=”http://www.arcanorum.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/arcanorum_banner.png” /></a>

While not really giving any proof that the auras some people claim to see are such light, it does show some interesting pieces of the puzzle.  Note that the intensity of the light is over a thousand times below the normal human threshold of vision.

I’d still like to see how this light fades at death if at all, as well as the effects of various meditations and other mental states.

The research is published in the online journal, “PLoS ONE” here. A good summary news article about the findings is here and the Slashdot comments can be found here.

The video was released under Creative Commons License from http://www.michigan-dogman.com/

So, in the interest of adding fuel to the fire, I’ll post my opinions of it.

In short:  I say it’s a fake.  Here’s what I see:

The creature looks to me to be a large ape-like animal, possibly a gorilla or chimpanzee. I’m leaning towards silverback gorilla.

Our cryptid first clearly appears a little after 3 minutes and 8 seconds  into the Quicktime version and goes out of frame at about 3:17.

3:08.054 Cut scene to creature.
3:08.621 Camera jitters and creature leaves frame.
3:08.955 Creature re-enters frame for about 2 frames.  More camera shake.
3:09.689 “Money shot” begins

Here, people are saying that it looks like a man-like beast transforms into a cat- or dog-like beast.  What it looks like to me is a curious camera angle mixed with it being out of focus. Still looks like a great ape to me.  Some have suggested that the feet are digitigrade but in my opinion, this is an illusion of the sunlight reflecting off shiny black fur.  The same goes for the supposed tail which to me looks like the reflection angle allows the top of the buttox to continue to look black while the shine from the nearer part (to the camera) and lower back appear to fade into the background greys.  The bounding from the front for only one stride coupled with the shine on the fur makes this very difficult to make out and makes mistakes easy.

3:16.362 “Money shot” ends.
More shakes…
3:23.903 Cut to canine mouth shots.  Notable color change.
3:24.237 Light reflections suggest close-up light source.
3:24.370 Hard cut to black.
3:24.737 Camera image returns, shakes and ends on its side in the grass.
3:29.876 Film ends. (cut to black)
3:31.477 Quicktime movie ends.

So much for the wolf-man transformation.  I really would have liked to see such a thing.

And what brought it to my attention this time was the release of a second video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvFYnkyY5tU

First, the account was just set up on July 15.  Second, no further info.  Third, the shorrt circumstances of the film’s provenance.  Then there’s the unrealistic police officer and even less realistic half body.  Anyone ever seen a real dead body?  This was just too clean not to be staged.

http://www.michigan-dogman.com/