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Wednesday 29 June 2016

Blog

Sorry, but I've tried to encourage readers of this blog to send in news or personal reports that could be featured and I am not publishing every chapter of my books here.

Only so much one person can do and if there is no interest....

Artwork (c)2016 Terry Hooper Scharf

Wednesday 22 June 2016

Please Give These Some Consideration

It's sort of come to crunch time for blogging.  Basically, I would like to finish off a couple of the books I'm planning or currently writing.  However, book sales are my only financial income and despite the range of subjects the books cover they just ain't selling.

There are books out there that do sell covering similar phenomena but they are not fully referenced, most have no maps or illustrations and tend to keep promoting false cases.  I guess wanting to give open-minded readers a good read isn't what it's about (but the amount of my work being stolen and used by others is odd in that case?).

So everything I am doing is on hold.  No point bringing out new books if no one wants them -that simple. And it means you will never know just what else remains in my previously private files. 

Now, if you want to support serious research -and a hungry writer!- please go over this because EVERY sale really does count.

THANKS!

********************************************************************

Yes, folks, just a few of the things I've investigated are included in these books -all fully referenced and including photographs and illustrations once thought lost.
Canids, in the form of foxes, I'm still studying -and learning!

The Red Paper: Canids -Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Coyotes in the UK

 One for those interested in Wildlife -or cryptozoology!

  
The Red Paper:CANINES vol.1
 Terry Hooper
The Red Paper: Canids
Paperback, 
A4 (21 x 30cms)
202 Pages 
Photographs, illustrations and maps
Price: £10.29
Ships in 3–5 business days


By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries.
The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some escaped. Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting and "country folk" were very far from "happy" -some even threatening local hunts -one intending to release a wolf for a hunt- with legal and other consequences.
The summation of over 40 years research by the noted naturalist and former UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant reveals the damnable lie of "pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows.
Private menageries, or single exotic "pets" as well as travelling shows helped provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events such as the 1905 "vampiric" sheep killer of Badminton, the mystery hounds of Cavan and Coyotes of Epping Forest.
The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is also dealt with in detail -was it a tiger? A Tasmania Thylacine? This book gives the exact facts and details for the first time.
Up-dated 2013 edition includes a section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.


http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/the-red-papercanines-vol1/paperback/product-20492038.html

Some Things Strange & Sinister (2013 -up-dated)


Some Things Strange & Sinister
A4 Format
B&W
Paperback
358 pages
Heavily illustrated
Price: £15.00
Ships in 3–5 business days



After more than 40 years as an investigator and more than fifty as a naturalist,the author has opened some of the many files he has accumulated dealing with such things as..
The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn, The Ghosts Of All Saints Church, Dead Aquatic Creatures of Canvey Island, captured bigfoot like creatures in India -all exclusively presented for the first time and with new added research previously unseen.
PLUS a vastly expanded section on Spring-heeled Jack!
Photographs, maps, line drawings and up-dated to make 358 pages looking at Things truly Strange and Sinister.
Cryptozoologist,Ghost Hunter,Ufologist or Fortean:this book has something for everyone -including the just plain inquisitive!
Contents
Foreword by Travis L. Whitehurst
Introduction
        de occultis non judicat ecclesia                                                                    
        The Bristol Rocking Horse
        The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn
        The Coonian Ghost
        The Ghosts Of All Saints Church
        His Luminous Chamber
        The Late Reverend Dr. Blomberg
        And More Ghost Stories
        The Thomas B. Cumpston Case
        The Chupacabra
        The Strange Case Of The Gotherington Gargoyle
        What’s Tall,Hairy And Vanishes?
        Mystery Beasts Of Ireland
        The Creature Of The Dump
        The Strange Creature Of Repton Woods
        The Bizarre Legends,Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack
        The Black Beast Of Darmstadt
        The Nameless Thing Of Berkley Square
        The Terrifying Case Of The U.S. Naval Transport
        The Case Of The Ghost Lear Jet
        Ghost Planes,Crashes And Dead Aquatic Creatures
        The Mitchison Loch Ness Monster Video
        From The Deep Below To The Air Above –USOs
        Aerial Encounters Over Austria
        A Crashed UFO In 1790?
        Angel Hair
        Quimper-Corentin:Where “Thunder Fell”
        Strange Aliens From Space
        The Llandrillo ‘Saucer’ And Other Crash Retrievals
        Transient Lunar Phenomena,Alien Structures And Moon Vegetation
        Whiddon Down-Saint-Jean-du-Guard:Impossible Correlations?
        The Venezuelan Horror
A Final Word.






Alleged piece of crashed UFO from Berwyn Mountains, Wales.


 Some More Things Strange & Sinister 



Some More Things Strange & Sinister

Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
A4
327 Pages 
Heavily illustrated
Price: £15.00
Ships in 3–5 business days


Follow-up to the hugely successful Some Things Strange & Sinister.
For those interested in Ufology, cryptozoology, hominology, unusual natural history, ghosts and mysteries in general.
The secret history of gorillas in the UK -before they were officially  'discovered'. The history of  the Wild men of Europe, the UK and US: something that in the 1800s become very "pop culture"  Very pop culture and totally forgotten today!
Hominology. Sasquatch and Bigfoot -is there evidence for their existence?  No sitting on the fence here -the Patterson-Gimlin film is looked at as well as other evidence.  The Author's conclusions? You might be surprised.
Giant snakes. Amazons. The Giant serpent of Carthage. The Girt Dog of Ennerdale -another big cult 'creature' amongst paranormal and cryptozoological circles. The Beast of Gevaudan -what was it and were there really descendents of the creature in the 19th century -one of which was actually brought to London?
 Believe it or not more than one incident of historical crocodiles cases in the UK.  In fact, far more than even the Author had thought .
And, after more than a century of claims by 'researchers' that it no longer exists: The Silent City of Alaska and the near legendary 'lost' photograph taken of it.
 This and much more. Updated with extra pages and photographs.




Pursuing The Strange And Weird -A Naturalist's Viewpoint (2014 up-date)



Pursuing The Strange & Weird:A Naturalists Viewpoint


Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback, 
A4
249 Pages
Price: £15.00
Ships in 3-5 business days.
 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/pursuing-the-strange-weirda-naturalists-viewpoint/paperback/product-21307125.html



UP DATE -From Dead Aquatic (Humanoid) Creatures, the giant squid and yet undiscovered sea creatures; submarine and ships crews encountering true leviathans.
There is a fully expanded section which also refers to the so-called ‘Ningen’ sightings and video footage.
Extinct animals at sea that have been re-discovered. The subject of Sasquatch and other mystery Hominids around the world is dealt with including a look at the “Sasquatch-killer”, Justin Smeja.
Dr. Bryan Sykes and his DNA test results for TVs The Bigfoot Files as well as the controversial Erickson Project and Dr. Melba Ketchum’s Even more controversial Sasquatch DNA test results.
Also included are two early French UFO entity cases that still baffle. Ghosts, strange creatures and the Star-Child hoax. All dealt with by the naturalist and pursuer of the strange and weird



  The Bizarre Legends, Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack (2014


The Truth About Spring-Heeled Jack  
Terry Hooper-Scharf

Paperback, 
53 Pages 
 Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall  (A4)
fully illustrated and referenced
Price: £7.00
Ships in 3–5 business days


The terror and mystery created by “Jack The Ripper” has been the subject of countless books, magazine articles as well as movies and TV documentaries. Ask anyone if they have ever heard of Jack The Ripper and it is doubtful anyone would respond with a “no idea.”
By that same token, ask people who “Spring-heeled Jack” was and you would be lucky to find anyone who had ever heard of him.
Spring-heeled Jack was the subject (loosely) of a film The Curse of the Wraydons (1946) and Dominic Keating also appeared as Spring Heeled Jack in the 2010 film Sherlock Holmes by The Asylum film company. The character has also featured in both American and British comic books and a number of books, for both children and adults.
But the fact that the Springald held the country –not just London– in a grip of terror much longer that the Ripper did is all but forgotten except for some half-truths and fanciful theories.
Now be prepared to read the full story of Spring Heeled Jack

Friday 17 June 2016

Celebrating Cephalopods

Britain's Atlantis

Britain's "Atlantis" is such journalistic tripe. But if the archaeologists themselves are using that term it's quite obvious why -the work is not getting much attention (it really isn't) and the need for funding means "Britain's Atlantis" sounds "sexy" to investors and the press.

This area was looked at in a Channel 4 Time Team special a few years back so it isn't really a new discovery -as the article points out itself!



What is interesting is what we can learn from the technology we know have and so far no sunken city!


‘Britain’s Atlantis’ found at bottom of North sea – a huge undersea world swallowed by the sea in 7000BC

Doggerland was an area of land, now lying beneath the southern North Sea, that connected Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age. It was then gradually flooded by rising sea levels around 6,500–6,200 BCE. Geological surveys have suggested that it stretched from Britain’s east coast to the Netherlands and the western coasts of Germany and the peninsula ofJutland. It was probably a rich habitat with human habitation in the Mesolithic period, although rising sea levels gradually reduced it to low-lying islands before its final destruction, perhaps following a tsunami caused by the Storegga Slide.


The archaeological potential of the area had first been discussed in the early 20th century, but interest intensified in 1931 when a commercial trawler operating between the sandbanks and shipping hazards of the Leman Bank and Ower Bank east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point that dated to a time when the area was tundra. Vessels have dragged up remains of mammoth, lion and other land animals, and small numbers of prehistoric tools and weapons

British scientists and researchers have recently started using 4D technology to explore the remains of an area inhabited before sea levels destroyed it over 7,000 years ago.  Historians believe that the area spanned over 100,000 square miles and was home to dozens of prehistoric Britons.  It was once known as Doggerland.  Using the 4D technology, researchers will show how Doggerland was colonized and inhabited before being washed away.  The researchers like to call this area “Britain’s Atlantis”.

Over the years, experts from Bradford and Nottingham have worked on the multi-million pound 4D project.  With the tool, they hope to find evidence of flint tools, animal DNA, and pollen from plants.  One of the researchers working on the project, Mr. Vince Gaffney, says that he hopes the 4D tool will  find something so other researchers can use the information.

Historians believe that Doggerland was submerged sometime between the years of 18,000 and 5,500 BC.  The area was just recently found by divers in the area; they were doing research three years ago to find more oil resources when they discovered the remains of the other world. Some historians believe that this area could have been home to thousands of people and was most likely once the heartland of Europe. After the divers’ discovery, climatologists, archaeologists, and geophysicists mapped the area and found out this Atlantis stretched from Denmark to Scotland.


Until the middle Pleistocene, Britain was a peninsula off Europe, connected by a massive chalk anticline, the Weald–Artois Anticline across the Straits of Dover. During the Anglian glaciation, approximately 450,000 years ago, an ice sheet filled much of the North Sea, with a large proglacial lake in the southern part fed by the Rhine, Scheldt and Thames river systems. The catastrophic overflow of this lake carved a channel through the anticline, leading to the formation of the Channel River, which carried the combined Scheldt and Thames rivers into the Atlantic. It probably created the potential for Britain to become isolated from the continent during periods of high sea level, although some scientists argue that the final break did not occur until a second ice-dammed lake overflowed during the MIS8 or MIS6 glaciations, around 340,000 or 240,000 years ago.
Map showing hypothetical extent of Doggerland (c. 8,000 BC), which provided a land bridge between Great Britain and continental Europe. source
Map showing hypothetical extent of Doggerland (c. 8,000 BC), which provided a land bridge between Great Britain and continental Europe. source

During the most recent glaciation, the Last Glacial Maximum that ended in this area around 18,000 years ago, the North Sea and almost all of the British Isles were covered with glacial ice and the sea level was about 120 m (390 ft) lower than it is today. After that the climate became warmer and during the Late Glacial Maximum much of the North Sea and English Channel was an expanse of low-lying tundra, around 12,000 BC extending to the modern northern point of Scotland

With the new technology there is now research on two more North Sea valleys being led by Mr. Gaffney.  The project is funded by a European grant. Mr. Gaffney and his team hope to use remote sensing data to reconstruct the ancient landscape.  Besides this research, the team hopes to get some core sediment samples from the landscape to eventually create a map showing rivers, lakes, hills, and coastlines.


8000 B.C.: After retreating inland from a storm, a group of hunter-gatherers in Doggerland return to find their camp flooded. Eventually there would be no dry land to come back to. source
8000 B.C.: After retreating inland from a storm, a group of hunter-gatherers in Doggerland return to find their camp flooded. Eventually there would be no dry land to come back to. source

After the area slowly started sinking into the water, a storm surged and the sea levels rose abruptly, creating an island around 6,500 BC.  One thousand years after the first storm, the whole island was then submerged and lost.

The team hopes to learn more about the lifestyles of the territories.  One researcher from Wales says that the project will let the team look into the ways of the people and also what it was like to live in the Mesolithic period.  The new 4D technology will open up new doors for researchers and historians to find out more about territories, colonies, and people from thousands of years in the past.

Thursday 16 June 2016

Alien Life -Alien Contact -UFOs and Alien Entities and the Evidence

The problem with these things is that they are full of equations and put forward in papers to justify big university fees and grants. And you also have to look at HOW they think we'll make contact.

A passing spacecraft is not governed by statistics dreamt up by some over-paid scientists. Also, 90% of scientists refuse flatly to look at data from, say, UFO sightings which is what science SHOULD be doing rather than leaving it up to con-men and other dubious types (95%).

"It's all ball lightning, grey bogey men and silly abduction stories!" is NOT scientific.

"Leave the whackoes to the psychologists!" is NOT scientific.

If a person -Professor, Doctor -whatever paid for degrees and qualifications- is supposedly involved in something like SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) or exobiology then they have to adopt the scientific approach.  Remember:


A lot of these 'scientists' even ignore information and material from other scientists -some further up the science ladder than them. That is NOT science.

Back in the 1970s I was told again and again that if I was going to look at the claims of UFO landings and Alien Entities, that I needed to look for rare, non-humanoid sightings because all the latest scientific fact and calculations showed that life on other planets would not involve humanoid beings.  But quite gradually, over the years, theories and calculations and theories change or get altered by new "impossible" discoveries busting the nose of science.  That is how it should work.

And now, after decades of searching for those non-humanoid cases, I hear saying change its mind.  Those high strangeness "UFO" cases involving humanoids that Scientists were laughing at should, it seems, not have been so quickly dismissed -but not by me.  I gather the data and try to draw conclusions because I use the Scientific Method.  I never dismiss. 

In 2015, Paul Gallaher of the Independent wrote this piece:

Forget little green men – aliens will look like humans, says Cambridge University evolution expert

The author said extra-terrestrials that resemble human beings should have evolved on some of the many Earth-like planets that have been discovered

Paul Gallagher http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/forget-little-green-men-aliens-will-look-like-humans-says-cambridge-university-evolution-expert-10358164.html

They are often portrayed on screen as little green men with elongated limbs and saucer-like eyes.
From E.T to the X-Files, aliens from outer space have captured our imagination for decades.

Yet a new book from a leading evolutionary biologist argues that if they exist and we ever encountered them, they would look very similar to us.

Professor Simon Conway Morris said extra-terrestrials that resemble human beings should have evolved on at least some of the many Earth-like planets that have been discovered by astronomers.

In his new book published on 2 July, The Runes of Evolution, the University of Cambridge academic builds on the principle of convergent evolution – that different species will independently evolve similar features, with the comparison of the camera eye of an octopus and a human eye a favourite example – and argues it will not just took place on Earth.

“An area of biology which is becoming popular, perhaps too popular, that the possibility evolution is becoming much more predictable than people thought,” he told The Independent. “The book is really trying to persuade the world that evolutionary convergence is completely ubiquitous. Wherever you look you see it.

“The theme is to try and drive the reader, gently of course, into the possibility that the things which we regard as most important, ie cognitive sophistication, large brains, intelligence, tool making, are also convergent. Therefore, in principle, other Earth-like planets should very much end up with the same sort of arrangement.”

Professor Conway Morris, a Fellow at St John’s College, said it follows that plant and animal life on other planets able to support life would also look similar to Earth’s.

He said: “Certainly it’s not the case that every Earth-like planet will have life let alone humanoids. But if you want a sophisticated plant it will look awfully like a flower. If you want a fly there’s only a few ways you can do that. If you want to swim, like a shark, there’s only a few ways you can do that. If you want to invent warm-bloodedness, like birds and mammals, there’s only a few ways to do that.


“The whole business of extra-terrestrial life, Kepler [the most Earth-like planet ever discovered], the search for extra solar planets, and of course the various missions to Mars. This is all going along at such a pace at the moment we can be reasonably sure [any current ideas] might be open to revision in a few years.”

His theory leads on to Enrico Fermi’s famous paradox – why, if aliens do exist, have they not made contact. He admits his book goes “off-piste for a bit of fun” in the last chapter when dealing with this problem.


Professor Conway Morris said: “Fermi’s paradox seems to be coming rather sharply into focus. If I’m on the right track then the likelihood of intelligence is evolving and actively engaging in some sort of transgalatic expeditions doesn’t seem to be completely beyond the realm of possibility.

“What Fermi didn’t know when he asked that famous question was that the number of Earth-like planets is absolutely gigantic now. More problematic is that many of these solar systems far, far pre-date our solar system. They would have, in principle, a major head start of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years.

“The problem is exceedingly acute: we shouldn’t be alone but, famous last words, all the evidence suggests we are. Maybe [aliens] are hiding, the Arthur C Clarke idea, or as Stephen Baxter mischievously suggested we live in a virtual world. I don’t honestly know. My suspicion is we have only begun to scratch at the surface of reality, for want of a better word.”

But here we have Fermi referenced again (I guess every movement needs a Poster Child! ).

You can also check these out:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/g1592/we-asked-7-experts-what-would-aliens-actually-look-like/
and
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/07/05/aliens-are-real-they-will-look-like-humans-claims-cambridge-university-scientist/

 And if you want a big name to add to the list -DR. MICHIO KAKU SAYS "UFOS AND ALIENS ARE REAL!"

This is the point: scientists are people.  They have prejudices and dislikes.  These should be left out of their work but are not.  Prof. J hates Michio Kaku and his "Media darling" status so they'll argue against anything he says.  Prof L hates Prof J so will push anything Kaku says to annoy Prof J.

There are others who, for religious reasons, argue that life beyond Earth is impossible (cus we 'know' a beardy bloke on a cloud created us).  Others refuse to accept life beyond Earth because that would not make Humanity unique.  Others are simply closed-minds who will not consider nor look at anything they do not want to because it is "rubbish".

And we have the scientists who deal with theory.  Fermi can be used to argue pro and con and it has to be remembered that this is all on-paper or on computer theorising because you simply cannot calculate when an extraterrestrial craft will circle or land on Earth let alone when "they" will contact us. These theorists are safe because none of us will be here in 1,500 years!


New Calculation Shows We’ll Make Contact With Aliens in About 1,500 Years

The disturbing Fermi Paradox suggests we should have made contact with an extraterrestrial civilization by now, yet we haven’t. By applying a 500-year-old philosophical principle, a Cornell University researcher has shown that the Great Silence is not unexpected—we just need to give it more time.

In a new study that will be presented at an American Astronomical Society meeting later this month, astronomers Even Solomonides and Yervant Terzian combine the Fermi Paradox with the Mediocrity Principle to show that we shouldn’t expect to hear from aliens for another 1,500 years. The reason has to do with the vastness of the Milky Way Galaxy, the time it takes radio signals to propagate through space as well as the apparent “averageness” of humanity in the larger scope of things.

 “It’s possible to hear any time at all, but it becomes likely we will have heard around 1,500 years from now,” noted Solomonides in a press statement. “Until then, it is possible that we appear to be alone—even if we are not. But if we stop listening or looking, we may miss the signals. So we should keep looking.”

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Black Holes Collide....AGAIN!

 Black Holes colliding.  Space-time ripples.  This is almost the stuff of science fiction but it is real. Recent years have been a bit of a golden age for Black Hole discoveries and research.

Seeker.com has a short video to go with this story that illustrates what they are talking about!
http://www.seeker.com/smashing-black-holes-make-gravitational-waves-again-1860727634.html
 

Smashing Black Holes Make Gravitational Waves, Again

The LIGO gravitational wave detector has witnessed two small black holes collide and merge as one, confirming that the original gravitational wave discovery was no fluke.

Only months after the historic discovery of gravitational waves, physicists have done it again! LIGO has detected ANOTHER black hole collision and confirmed the first gravitational wave detection wasn't a one-off.

On Dec. 26, the extremely faint spacetime ripples washed through our planet and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, was listening. The US-based detector recorded the distinctive gravitational wave "chirp", meaning that, once again, we were witness to a collision of cataclysmic proportions.

These ripples in spacetime were first theorized by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago when he formulated his theory of general relativity , but it's only now that humanity has the tools to actually prove they exist. And this most recent detection is a firm confirmation that, once again, Einstein was right.


In a galaxy, some 1.4 billion light-years away, two small black holes got stuck in an inescapable gravitational spiral. Their fate was sealed; they fell closer and closer until they rapidly span around one another, colliding and merging as one. Like the first historic detection of gravitational waves in September, this most recent signal originated from a black hole merger, an event that shines a previously unattainable light on one of the most violent collisions in the universe.


Interestingly, this most recent event, called GW151226, included black holes that were much smaller, the pair "weighed in" at only 14 and 8 times the mass of the sun -- the September event, called GW150914, consisted of two merging black holes of 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun. During both events, as the black holes pairs rapidly spiraled in, they warped spacetime, generating gravitational waves. During the collisions, "new", more massive black holes emerged from the collision and information of these mergers were encoded in their gravitational wave signals that LIGO could detect and decipher.

The December event spawned a new black hole of 21 solar masses, but during the collision, one whole solar mass was converted from matter into energy, blasting powerful gravitational waves across the intergalactic expanse.

"It is very significant that these black holes were much less massive than those observed in the first detection," said Gabriela Gonzalez, LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) spokesperson in a statement. "Because of their lighter masses compared to the first detection, they spent more time -- about one second -- in the sensitive band of the detectors. It is a promising start to mapping the populations of black holes in our universe."

LIGO consists of two "L"-shaped detectors located in Louisiana and Washington, a little under 2,000 miles apart. Each building consists of two perpendicular 2.5 mile-long tunnels that guide extremely sensitive laser interferometers. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation and conceived and managed by Clatech and MIT physicists, underwent a sensitivity upgrade last year, allowing "Advanced LIGO" to detect the very slight spacetime wiggle as the gravitational waves washed over us.
And "slight" is an understatement. Advanced LIGO can detect the slightest warping, to a precision of 10,000 times smaller than the width of a proton.

The second discovery "has truly put the 'O' for Observatory in LIGO," said Caltech's Albert Lazzarini, deputy director of the LIGO Laboratory. "With detections of two strong events in the four months of our first observing run, we can begin to make predictions about how often we might be hearing gravitational waves in the future. LIGO is bringing us a new way to observe some of the darkest yet most energetic events in our universe."

For the first time, humanity has been given a glimpse of the "dark" universe, a domain that has, until now, remained invisible to us. The collision of two black holes wouldn't necessarily generate any emissions in the electomagnetic spectrum (i.e. light), so traditional astronomy, for the most part, cannot witness these events. But LIGO is "feeling" the motion of spacetime, waiting for when these violent collisions do occur.

"With the advent of Advanced LIGO, we anticipated researchers would eventually succeed at detecting unexpected phenomena, but these two detections thus far have surpassed our expectations," said NSF Director France A. Córdova.

But we are scraping the surface of gravitational wave detections. Only this time last year, gravitational waves were a confounding phenomenon that existed in theory but had no direct observational evidence. Now Advanced LIGO has become sensitive enough to detect the most powerful gravitational events in the universe. As it becomes even more sensitive, and as even more gravitational wave detectors around the globe go online, it's hard to predict what else we'll find going "bump" in the gravitational night.

APOLOGIES

My apologies for the posting problems, however, Blogger was presenting advertising text across blog posts.

Hopefully that has now been rectified.

Terry

The Warrens And The Enfield Poltergeist





I thought this piece by Greg Newkirk at WeekInWeird was all rather interesting. I'll refrain from being..."out spoken" on the Warrens!



Conjuring the Truth: Enfield Poltergeist Investigator Says Ed and Lorraine Warren Never Investigated Case

Hot on the heels of the debut trailer for The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist comes a new revelation from Guy Lyon Playfair, one of the original investigators of the famous British ghost appearance, who says that controversial paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren were never involved in the case.

Billing itself as being ripped from the “true case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren”, the sequel to The Conjuring claims to follow the duo to Brimsdown, Enfield, England, where they proceed to investigate one of the most famous cases of poltergeist activity ever recorded. There’s only one problem: Guy Lyon Playfair, member of the Society for Psychical Research and one of the chief investigators of the Enfield Poltergeist case, says they showed up “uninvited”, stayed for only a day, and alleges that they manufactured their own paranormal evidence simply “to make money out of it.”

The claims come from a brand new interview with Darkness Radio host Dave Schrader that aired on Thursday evening. You can listen to the whole interview with Playfair here (which I highly recommend), but I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing the relevant revelation for your convenience:

 Above: Guy Lyon Playfair and Maurice Gross


   Dave Schrader: Mr. Playfair, I’m sure you’re familiar with Ed and Lorraine Warren and their research and work. Have they ever worked along with the Society for Psychical Research?

    Guy Lyon Playfair: No. I bumped into Ed Warren once or twice, and Lorraine… and I got the impression that Ed Warren was, well.. (laughs) fill in your own expletive. I wasn’t impressed at all. Lorraine is still living, so I’ll refrain from commenting on her, but she was very… quite pleasant when I met her.

    They did turn up once, I think, at Enfield, and all I can remember is Ed Warren telling me that he could make a lot of money for me out of it. So I thought, “well thats all I need to know from you” and I got myself out of his way as soon as I could. I said was not impressed. He didn’t spend… I don’t think he went there more than once. And I did read somewhere a transcript of a lengthy interview which he’s alleged to have with one of the girls – which they couldn’t remember giving him – and it was describing all sorts of marvelous wonders which I don’t think ever happened. I think he was a complete…um… well… (laughs)… fill in whatever word…

    Dave: (laughs) I understand. So you don’t feel that – and especially in the interactions you had with him – you don’t feel that maybe they had the best intentions when it came to the investigations of these cases?

    Guy: No, they just wanted to make money out of it.

    Dave: Okay. Did – have you heard, or in your research, have you come across any proof that Ed or Lorraine Warren had anything to do with consulting or being a part of this investigation?

    Guy: Certainly not. Nobody ever mentioned them. I mean, I don’t think anybody in the family had ever heard of him until he turned up. Uninvited. And uh..

    Dave: Oh, so just came out…

    Guy: …he said who he was and he didn’t come again and we just sort of forgot about him.

    Dave: So he came out to the site uninvited, and just showed up to try and insert himself into the story, is what you maintain?

    Guy: Thats what I remember, yes.

    Dave: Okay, fascinating.

    Guy: It was quite brief. He was just one.. we had so many people coming and going. I mean I remember one day he did turn up. I think Lorraine was there as well – I’d also met them in Brazil. They sort of pop up all over the place. And it was just no big deal at all. I mean, I had a brief conversation with Ed at Enfield, and as I say, he was telling me how much money he’d help me make, and I politely declined his help, and I strained that that’s not what we exist for in the SPR, and that was the last time I saw him.


 Above: Ed and Lorraine Warren


The claims shouldn’t come as any surprise to those who’ve taken even a cursory glance at the Enfield Poltergeist case themselves, in which there’s no real record of Ed and Lorraine’s involvement save for their own. Admittedly, as someone who grew up reading the Warrens’ books and was a big fan of the first Conjuring film, I was a little perplexed when the plot for the sequel was announced, already knowing that it was SPR who handled the entire Enfield case.
The question is: why would a studio take two paranormal investigators who worked on cases like The Amityville Horror, wrote six books, and were featured in seven others, and jam them into a story they barely earned a cameo in? Turns out, they probably don’t own the rights to their real cases.

 In the wake of the original film’s box office success, Warner Bros. was subject to a lawsuit that aimed to prevent them from making any sequels. The suit came from producer Tony DeRosa-Grund’s Evergreen Media Group, who owned the rights to the “real-life case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren” before licensing them Warner Bros.. Evergreen Media claims that ‘New Line was only granted rights on a “very limited, selection of the Case Files – i.e., less than one percent (1%) of the total number of Case Files – and the Warrens’ life stories, in exchange for a purchase price for each theatrical production or use of those select Case Files as well as a crediting and employing Mr. DeRosa-Grund as producer.” Fun fact: Evergreen also sold the rights to a Conjuring television series to Lionsgate, which opened a whole other can of worms.


According to Evergreen Media, the Warrens’ career resulted in some 8,000 “Case Files”, of which 25 were licensed as possible films. Evergreen also claims that in order to circumvent their licensing agreement, Warner Bros. simply optioned rights to The Demonologist, a 1980 book by written by Gerald Brittle about the Warrens, which included brief mentions of their “Case Files”, including one that led to the Annabelle spinoff and another in which Ed and Lorraine claim that they were present for the Enfield Poltergeist investigation. Sneaky stuff, if true.

Sneakier still, is the claim that The Conjuring 2 is from the “true case files” of the Warrens when not only can the original witnesses to the Enfield Poltergeist not recall speaking to Ed Warren, but one of the head investigators for the Society of Paranormal Research adamantly states they allegedly manufactured “marvelous wonders” to make money off their very brief, uninvited house call.

Monday 13 June 2016

Parallel Earths, Time Slips, Time Travellers and Ghosts -All The Same Thing?

1st December, 2019

This article from 2016 shows where some of my research was leading. My next book would have looked at alleged time slips as well as certain ghost reports. The major problem was that I had planned to fund the work with money from book sales -I think I expected far too much! :-)

Like most of my work (my laptop just closing down again being a problem) this is all on hold. You really cannot get by working on books and producing manuscripts without a computer these days. However, I would like to hear opinions of blog readers (it's never happened before but who knows?) but I hope it gets a few people thinking.
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To me, time travel is a science fiction device used by authors and TV/Movie and even comic creators.  You can get good stories out of it but there were always two big flaws that, however much I tried to work through, I never could.

If you look into accounts of ghosts you will hear all sorts of theories including the Stone Tape Theory which would take up too much time but, luckily, Wikipedia deals with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Tape

Now, the Stone Tape Theory might work if the same type of things is replayed over and over through decades but there are cases in which the accounts purport to be of percipients involved in Time Slips: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_slip  These are usually involving buildings or places where someone has stayed but turn out to have not been there for "many years" yet the person was in a physical location or even ghosts challenging people as "intruders".  These could all be just personal breakdowns in reality -something that may explain alien abduction scenarios -I'm looking into one case from the 1970s that involves UFOs, doubles of persons known to the witness and Sasquatch amongst other things.


But Time Slips have featured in many faked videos such as the 1920s old lady using a mobile phone or photographs of a car or other items in photographs taken "a hundred years before" the said items were invented.   The Saqqara Bird -did ancient Egyptians build an aircraft or did they carve an image of some future aircraft lost in time from, say, the Bermuda Triangle? http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/controversial-saqqara-bird-00386

 
How about this for a claim regarding the above? "These are jewelry pieces found in Inca ruins dating back to 1000 years ago. They seem to depict jet fighters from the 20th century, with an artisitic flair."

It is claimed that some Meso Americans saw these "aircraft" -that came from a time slip or from space.  The Tolima "fighter jets" have filled many chapters of many books and minutes of TV.


It tends to all blur in the mind. I have never stated that I do not believe the Earth could have been visited by entities from other planets in the past. I tend to disagree a lot with Carl Sagan but he got it right when he stated the same thing and added "there just is no evidence of such visits".

Bermuda Triangle (well, Bermuda "Lozenge" shape in reality) victims? No. So no time slip. Probably the best known Time Slip is the Moberly-Jourdain Incident:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moberly%E2%80%93Jourdain_incident

Again, I can't see this as a possibility. You see:

(1) The past is gone.  Over so it's not "there".

(2) The future has not happened yet so it isn't there.

Time Slips back and forth.  No.

However, since the 1970s I have thought that the Parallel Universe theory might explain some cases. Where you have what seems to be an intelligent "haunting" could we be dealing with some kind of breach in a multiversal reality?  To be honest I really do think a good solid case of this "intelligent haunting" needs to be proven since we know from Poltergeist phenomena that the human mind may be capable of a great deal -and deceptive if unknowingly so. And, yes, I have seen minor poltergeist-like events -after doubting some things my mother claimed to have seen (basically, "Here you go Mr Know-it-all!").

If we support the -unproven- theory of the multiverse and parallel Earths then is it likely that, say, 5, 10 or 20 are all currently in the year 2016?  Depending on many, many factors, it is possible that some are more advance in stages of civilisation and scientific development than we are.  It is also possible that some are less well developed scientifically or socially than our Earth.

The Black Death -one of many plagues that hit Europe in its history-  that arrived in Europe by sea in October, 1346/47 when some 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. There are various other theories of origin and even that more than one form of plague was responsible.  75-200 million deaths occurred during 1346-1353 some 30-60% of Europe's population -it is believed that, in total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century and the world population as a whole did not recover to pre-plague levels until the 17th century (1)

On another Earth the population may not have recovered so well and technology developed more slowly. You can talk and argue this sort of scenario out for hours.  But here is the point (I know you were hoping I'd get down to it soon!) . Someone says that they were walking at "this" location or staying at "that" house and encountered a seemingly solid -"as you or I!"- ghost. The "ghost" seemed taken aback by the percipient and a very brief conversation takes place and when the percipient asks "Are you aware that you are dead?" the "ghost" looks at them as though they were touched or state they are not dead. Some even give the year or other information then -pop! Gone.

Here is the possibility: the percipient could be both the "ghost" or the person seeing the "ghost".  In some journal of 1899 on a parallel Earth someone could write an entry on how they encountered a curious ghost who had no idea it was dead but thought he/she was!  And in 2016 someone goes on the internet or writes to some paranormal group about meeting and talking to a "spirit" of a person who 'died' in 1899 -it even gave the year!

Two percipients and two 'ghosts'.

Or two people on different Earths whose paths crossed at the same geographic point when barriers between those Earths somehow weakened -each making an incursion into the others world?

I have a list of questions in my mind to ask if I ever come across such a "ghost" -"Who on Earth is Abraham Lincoln?" as a response to one might be a good give away.

Brain hurt yet?






 Our Universe May Exist in a Multiverse, Cosmic Inflation Discovery Suggests


 This article from April by Elizabeth Howell on Space.com gives you something to think about and there are links on the page if you want to delve further into this.

Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence

By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor


Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence
Our universe may live in one bubble that is sitting in a network of bubble universes in space.

Is our universe unique? From science fiction to science fact, there is a proposal out there that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. So, instead of turning down that job offer that took you from the United States to China, the alternate universe would show the outcome if you decided to venture to Asia instead.

The idea is pervasive in comic books and movies. For example, in the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot, the premise is that the Kirk and Spock portrayed by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are in an alternate timeline apart from the William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy versions of the characters. 

The concept is known as a "parallel universe," and is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse. There actually is quite a bit of evidence out there for a multiverse. First, it is useful to understand how our universe is believed to have come to be.

Arguing for a multiverse

Around 13.7 billion years ago, simply speaking, everything we know of in the cosmos was an infinitesimal singularity. Then, according to theBig Bang theory, some unknown trigger caused it to expand and inflate in three-dimensional space. As the immense energy of this initial expansion cooled, light began to shine through. Eventually, the small particles began to form into the larger pieces of matter we know today, such as galaxies, stars and planets.

One big question with this theory is: are we the only universe out there. With our current technology, we are limited to observations within this universe because the universe is curved and we are inside the fishbowl, unable to see the outside of it (if there is an outside.)

There are at least five theories why a multiverse is possible, as a 2012 Space.com article explained

1. We don't know what the shape of space-time is exactly. One prominent theory is that it is flat and goes on forever. This would present the possibility of many universes being out there. But with that topic in mind, it's possible that universes can start repeating themselves. That's because particles can only be put together in so many ways. More about that in a moment.

2. Another theory for multiple universes comes from "eternal inflation." Based on research from Tufts University cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin, when looking at space-time as a whole, some areas of space stop inflating like the Big Bang inflated our own universe. Others, however, will keep getting larger. So if we picture our own universe as a bubble, it is sitting in a network of bubble universes of space. What's interesting about this theory is the other universes could have very different laws of physics than our own, since they are not linked.

3. Or perhaps multiple universes can follow the theory of quantum mechanics (how subatomic particles behave), as part of the "daughter universe" theory. If you follow the laws of probability, it suggests that for every outcome that could come from one of your decisions, there would be a range of universes — each of which saw one outcome come to be. So in one universe, you took that job to China. In another, perhaps you were on your way and your plane landed somewhere different, and you decided to stay. And so on.

4. Another possible avenue is exploring mathematical universes, which, simply put, explain that the structure of mathematics may change depending in which universe you reside. "A mathematical structure is something that you can describe in a way that's completely independent of human baggage," said theory-proposer Max Tegmark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as quoted in the 2012 article. "I really believe that there is this universe out there that can exist independently of me that would continue to exist even if there were no humans."

5. And last but not least as the idea of parallel universes. To go back to the idea that space-time is flat, the number of possible particle configurations in multiple universes would be limited to 10^10^122 distinct possibilities, to be exact. So, with an infinite number of cosmic patches, the particle arrangements within them must repeat — infinitely many times over. This means there are infinitely many "parallel universes": cosmic patches exactly the same as ours (containing someone exactly like you), as well as patches that differ by just one particle's position, patches that differ by two particles' positions, and so on down to patches that are totally different from ours.
Arguing against a parallel universe

Not everyone agrees with the parallel universe theory, however. A 2015 article on Medium by astrophysicist Ethan Siegal agreed that space-time could go on forever in theory, but said that there are some limitations with that idea.

The key problem is the universe is just under 14 billion years old. So our universe's age itself is obviously not infinite, but a finite amount. This would (simply put) limit the number of possibilities for particles to rearrange themselves, and sadly make it less possible that your alternate self did get on that plane after all to see China.

Also, the expansion at the beginning of the universe took place exponentially because there was so much "energy inherent to space itself," he said. But over time, that inflation obviously slowed — those particles of matter created at the Big Bang are not continuing to expand, he pointed out. Among his conclusions: that means that multiverses would have different rates of inflation and different times (longer or shorter) for inflation. This decreases the possibilities of universes similar to our own.

"Even setting aside issues that there may be an infinite number of possible values for fundamental constants, particles and interactions, and even setting aside interpretation issues such as whether the many-worlds-interpretation actually describes our physical reality," Siegal said, "the fact of the matter is that the number of possible outcomes rises so quickly — so much faster than merely exponentially — that unless inflation has been occurring for a truly infinite amount of time, there are no parallel universes identical to this one."

But rather than seeing this lack of other universes as a limitation, Siegal instead takes the philosophy that it shows how important it is to celebrate being unique. He advises to make the choices that work for you, which "leave you with no regrets." That's because there are no other realities where the choices of your dream self play out; you, therefore, are the only person that can make those choices happen.

-           

(1) Wheeler, Dr. L. Kip. "The Black Plague: The Least You Need to Know". Dr. Wheeler's website. Dr. L. Kip Wheeler. Retrieved 9 August 2015).

Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence

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Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence
Our universe may live in one bubble that is sitting in a network of bubble universes in space.
Credit: Sandy MacKenzie | Shutterstock
Is our universe unique? From science fiction to science fact, there is a proposal out there that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. So, instead of turning down that job offer that took you from the United States to China, the alternate universe would show the outcome if you decided to venture to Asia instead.
The idea is pervasive in comic books and movies. For example, in the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot, the premise is that the Kirk and Spock portrayed by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are in an alternate timeline apart from the William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy versions of the characters.
The concept is known as a "parallel universe," and is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse. There actually is quite a bit of evidence out there for a multiverse. First, it is useful to understand how our universe is believed to have come to be. 
- See more at: http://www.space.com/32728-parallel-universes.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=socialfbspc&cmpid=social_spc_514630#sthash.mz4yaJFI.dpuf

Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence

  • 13K
  • 1057
  • 106
  • 44
  • 2507
  • MORE


Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence
Our universe may live in one bubble that is sitting in a network of bubble universes in space.
Credit: Sandy MacKenzie | Shutterstock
Is our universe unique? From science fiction to science fact, there is a proposal out there that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. So, instead of turning down that job offer that took you from the United States to China, the alternate universe would show the outcome if you decided to venture to Asia instead.
The idea is pervasive in comic books and movies. For example, in the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot, the premise is that the Kirk and Spock portrayed by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are in an alternate timeline apart from the William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy versions of the characters.
The concept is known as a "parallel universe," and is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse. There actually is quite a bit of evidence out there for a multiverse. First, it is useful to understand how our universe is believed to have come to be. 
- See more at: http://www.space.com/32728-parallel-universes.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=socialfbspc&cmpid=social_spc_514630#sthash.mz4yaJFI.dpuf

Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence

  • 13K
  • 1057
  • 106
  • 44
  • 2507
  • MORE


Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence
Our universe may live in one bubble that is sitting in a network of bubble universes in space.
Credit: Sandy MacKenzie | Shutterstock
Is our universe unique? From science fiction to science fact, there is a proposal out there that suggests that there could be other universes besides our own, where all the choices you made in this life played out in alternate realities. So, instead of turning down that job offer that took you from the United States to China, the alternate universe would show the outcome if you decided to venture to Asia instead.
The idea is pervasive in comic books and movies. For example, in the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot, the premise is that the Kirk and Spock portrayed by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are in an alternate timeline apart from the William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy versions of the characters.
The concept is known as a "parallel universe," and is a facet of the astronomical theory of the multiverse. There actually is quite a bit of evidence out there for a multiverse. First, it is useful to understand how our universe is believed to have come to be. 
- See more at: http://www.space.com/32728-parallel-universes.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=socialfbspc&cmpid=social_spc_514630#sthash.mz4yaJFI.dpuf