How to Custom Make a Ghost From Scratch

This is a terribly interesting development that we're thinking of trying to replicate in the Black Mansion as soon as we settle on just what sort of ghostie we'd like to have. A group of people got together and decided to make up a ghost and see if that ghost would subsequently arrive. They came up with a name, a back story and even did some drawings. Then they began visualizing their ghost, eventually holding seances. It wasn't long before they were getting responses from the ghost in the form of rapping on the table and answering questions by rapping once for 'yes' and twice for 'no.'

We're thinking we'd like a nice ghost rather than one that likes to show up looking like a screaming skeleton like the one pictured here. Maybe a nun.

Ghosts Calling Cell Phones?

GHOSTS are trying to make contact with living friends using mobile phones, a paranormal expert claims.
The number of mystery calls to mobiles attributed to spooks has rocketed by 43 per cent in the last four years, a study found.

Spectre investigator Phil Hayes from Paranormal Research UK believes a third of all hauntings are now through mobile phones.

The calls often feature heavy static and the voice sounds faint and distant, he revealed. Nine in ten show as "withheld number" or "000000000000" on caller ID.

Seems that ghosties are going mobile. We're thinking of starting a ghost hotline here in the Black Mansion, so that any of the departed who are feeling talkative can call up. Who knows what fascinating things they might say? I wonder if they prefer cells to landlines. The photo above is supposedly a ghost in a phone booth, which could help explain a few things, eh?

Occult Chemistry?

Occult Chemistry: Clairvoyant Observations on the Chemical Elements (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)
Between 1895 and 1933 a pair of clairvoyants, Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant, decided to apply their second sight to the science of chemistry. The result was the book, "Occult Chemistry: Investigations by Clairvoyant Magnification into the Structure of the Atoms of the Periodic Table and Some Compounds." Both were students of Madame Blavatsky and were big into her Theosophical Sociecty. In the course of their studies, Leadbeater and Besant discovered two new elements: "Occultum" and "Adyarium." It may come as some surprise that chemists using more conventional methods have not been able to confirm the existence of these elements, thus proving that clairvoyants have their place in the hard sciences. More here.

Florida Senate Candidate with Anti-Witchcraft/Sorcery Platform

Paiboon Sunthonchart Jr., who is apparently running for a Senate seat Florida, has posted an open letter to all 50 governors of the United States, and the UN, warning of sorcery attacks. He has some fairly specific ideas about just how sorcerers attack, too. Here's a small excerpt from his letter:

- Government arresting these terrorist working in America, must happen, for the three hundred million American’s they have attacked. There should be no thought of impeachment but arresting the terrorist in governments working in witchcraft, remember, witchcraft is a crime.

- What is the world to think, when they shout, they are going to take over the world, and attack people, people of America, who do not agree will think, that they are bringing threats of bombs to our country and people of America, for government officials, talking loud and stupid in the war of Holy. It is stupid business of high school bullies, of only a small hand-full of terrorism by sorcery, that American government must stop. To American people and governments watching The American Civil War of Sorcery, American government looks weak, and the American people will see the same about the government, when the American government is afraid and ran by people afraid of a few sorcerers, when the Americans in the working world, take the sorcerers they are afraid of, out of body.

Interestingly enough his website also features a page for his talent agency. He'll represent models, actors and more. Sorcerers probably needn't apply, though stage magicians might be acceptable. The poor fellow wouldn't hold up too well in West Texas, what with the Wicked Witch of West Texas running roughshod over the populace. He'd probably also better avoid Walla Walla.  He might better be careful, however, because sorcerers vote too, and you don't want to offend the evil constituency.

Weirdest Animals on Earth? Some Candidates

There are undoubtably some very strange critters out there-- the star-nosed mole, above, for instance. A couple of fun to browse lists are here and here. And while you're at it, check out this slide show of very strange animals, which includes Miracle Mike the Headless Chicken. Seriously, he even has his own website.

None of these, however, compare to the Naked Hot-Headed Ice Borer. This animal is a mole that lives in the ice in Antarctica and uses a heated appendage on its head to bore under the ice, upon which might be standing an unsuspecting penguin. These critters are horrific. Read about them here. They can devour the penguin in minutes after it becomes mired in slush.

There is one catch, though. They don't exist. That's right-- the Naked Hot-Headed Ice Borer is a prank. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read.