Today we are becoming more acceptable to the paranormal as being 'normal.' Thanks to programs on cable television and ghost tours, the term that was once coined by my father as 'Ghost Hunting' has now taken on a whole new meaning. I think we somehow lost an appreciation of his life and times as well as a few others before him. However, should we consider this a good thing or a negative that may be leading us down another path that is delving into areas which perhaps we shouldn't? You be the judge, because it is your world for as long as you live in it and even after you depart from it, it is still your world.
All fields that deal with human movement have their pioneers in whose footsteps the next generations follow. I can only experience my generation of the thirty-something, but I can relate to a much younger generation since I am still a kid in many ways. By laying down the foundations of their particular disciplines and findings, they enable these future colleagues and researchers to build their contributions and discoveries to take with us into the future. But, what is in-store for our paranormal future exactly? I think I would need to call upon a medium to help with that one!
'Parapsychology' was defined by an American man named Joseph Banks Rhine (1885-1980), who was the 'Father of Modern Parapsychology,' whom experimented in telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition at Duke University in North Carolina in the 1930s.
Before Rhine, psychical research, which was the term used at that time, continued to be quite a mixed bag that the investigators tried to study and evaluate the following: séance room phenomena, spontaneous cases of hauntings, crisis apparitions, dream cases and more. During the early 20th century, exponents, on both sides of the Atlantic, continued the study of phenomena that was the staple fare of the Victorian scientists and academics. These people had founded institutions such as the 'Society for Psychical Research at Cambridge' and the 'American Society for Psychical Research' in Boston. Some of these notables acted as popular educators in bringing the subject of the scientific study of the paranormal before the general public.
In America, British born Hereward Carrington (1880-1958) was a prolific writer who carried out a lot of his work with spiritualist mediums before the First World War. He continued this on into the 1920s and 1930s. His most famous affiliation was with the great Italian medium Eusapia Palladino. Carrington was to be followed by Hans Holzer (born 1920) who began to produce a series of popular guides to the supernatural chronicling his investigations in the 1960s. Recognize thy name? Cool isn't it. He was the Father of Paranormal. Of course Hans went on to continue working in the field as the parapsychologist that he was, professor, lecturer, author, interviewer, television show co-host, lyrical composer for the 1950s era, radio show and television personality and worked with witches to people claiming to have witnessed a UFO. He knew Betty Hill and spoke in great lengths with her about the abduction. Hans passed the men before him and went on to push the paranormal envelop as he truly brought it out to the fore front of the media. Today we see a mish mash of characters running amuck our sets. I wish everyone success in researching this field as I am one of those individuals myself. But, at the end of the day one must truly recognize the worth, value and respect factor of the work they have done and will continue to do. And I am guilty as I like my characters but I don't have to agree with every one of them as we all should form our own opinions and know our history.
My gripe here is throughout our paranormal history, woman seemed to take on the role as mediums and the men were the scientists. Today, it is certainly better mixed up like a tossed salad but we are not there yet with the female gender. Aren't you glad I came along to help with that movement in the field?
In England, there were two notable Victorian scientists, Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) and Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) who continued massive work with the mediums of the day. A famously photographed Florence Cook showed the 'spirit' entity of a Katie King which for that time was evidence that life did indeed exist beyond the grave. That still holds true today as nothing beats a great photo of an apparition, face, moving energy etc.
There are also different types of unexplained events not always dealing with parapsychology but certainly with the field of science and instruments when something goes wrong. Unless perhaps an unseen force grabbed at the belly of the next person' story of meeting a fated flight one summer day. The Mystery of Aemelia Earhart captured the imagination of the young and old, amateur and professional, since she disappeared on July 2, 1937. Her flight over the Pacific would have completed her around-the-world flight being the longest (following the equatorial route) and the first by a woman. Of course something went wrong. When she had her first ride in an airplane as a child, Aemelia Earhart was hooked on flying. She had a wicked passion leading her to break flight records and become the public celebrity she was. In one of her letters, she had hoped that the around the world flight would finally rid her of her compulsion to fly and she could settle down. Somehow I don't think that would have occurred and to imagine what great things she could have pursued in aviation just places my mind on a cloud. She vanished into the Pacific Ocean 24 hours after leaving Lae, New Guinea.
Zecharia Sitchin was a man who started a revolution in thinking about our past over two decades ago. Now we can look back at our history and see the man who helped create a modern myth. Zecharia Sitchin says that he first realized aliens colonized earth when he discovered that the mythology of the Sumerian people spoke of real places and things. This is why I harp so much on revisiting our past for it is precisely our past that gives us clues and pieces to larger puzzles. For Zecharia, the moment of discovery arrived when he came to a conclusion about our familiar solar system. In a July 1993 interview, he told Connecting Link Magazine that the Sumerians knew there were not only nine planets:
"Once I realized that this was the answer, that there is one more planet, everything else fell into place. The meaning of the Mesopotamian Epic of Creation on which the first chapters of Genesis are based and all details traveled from their planet to Earth and how they splashed down in the Persian Gulf and about their first settlement, their leaders and so on and so on, everything became clear!"
Zecharia isn't the only one who lead the astronaut debate. When you understand the man like my father, and break it down into sub-human parts you begin to realize that their brains have been enlightened with incredible knowledge and the ability to foresee at a higher level. Zecharia looks like a kindly old man with thinning gray hair and thickening glasses poised above a mustached mouth. My father wishes he had the hair to grey! But just the same is kindly in his mannerisms. Zecharia is the author of eight works on the influence of ancient astronauts on the emerging human race, starting with the 1976 best-seller The Twelfth Planet. He grew up in Palestine where he says he learned Hebrew, Semitic and European languages before attending college at the University of London, where he graduated with a degree in economic history. He worked as a journalist in Israel for many years before moving to New York City. Hans had similar types of education and also ended up in the great big apple authoring dozens and dozens of titles. Zecharia skeptic Ian Lawton gives an overview of Sitchin's theories on his website:
"Not only does he suggest that a race of 'flesh and blood' gods who were capable of space flight visited Earth from their home planet, which the Ancients called 'Nibiru', nearly half a million years ago. He goes on to speculate that they came in order to mine precious minerals which were abundant on our planet; that they created modern Homo sapiens by genetic engineering..."
Hans believed in humanoids and that we were already cross breading with them for centuries. That would explain my family then! :-)
Whether one chooses to become educated and be a parapsychologist is neither here nor there. I just think the more educated one is, the more fact finds and documentation will be obtained. Then one can weed out all the negatives from their findings. It takes conscientious time and effort on one's part to indeed revisit history but in the long run, will make for a better partnership with the dead and the little green men.
As always, be well,
Alexandra Holzer
