related_results_labels({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2168219303449559049"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-08T16:45:17.487-07:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Buck's Ghosts and Hauntings"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":""},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2168219303449559049/posts/default/-/Gadget?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026max-results\u003d5"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/search/label/Gadget"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Buck"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03195661861205323477"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"2"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"5"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2168219303449559049.post-546571115522712353"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-24T19:33:00.001-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-24T19:33:18.663-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Gadget"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"books"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"ghost hunting"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Function of Ghosts"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://lh5.ggpht.com/_u48bOmgAyeY/SwyXaiJ-kqI/AAAAAAAAV7s/4-DbiBgaIcI/s1600-h/ectoplasm_mediums_unk2009a%5B6%5D.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px\" title\u003d\"ectoplasm_mediums_unk2009a\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"ectoplasm_mediums_unk2009a\" align\u003d\"left\" src\u003d\"http://lh6.ggpht.com/_u48bOmgAyeY/SwyXbT8kgwI/AAAAAAAAV7w/8KmBnj8ziDI/ectoplasm_mediums_unk2009a_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax\u003d800\" width\u003d\"300\" height\u003d\"212\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e I noticed earlier today one of the search terms someone used to find this site was: “Can one convince a non-believer in existence of paranormal?” It was the perfect entre to conclude the discussion of R.C. Finucane’s \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGhosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eI’ve now finished the last chapters of this excellent work that dealt with the 19th and 20th centuries. As we have seen, in each era ghosts undergo transformations that reflect the attitudes of the society at large as well as religious and philosophical belief. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eDuring the 19th Century the movement away from purposeful ghosts continued as it had begun in the 18th Century when the Enlightenment began to drive a wedge between traditional religious belief and naturalistic ideas of religion as well as science. Ghosts in the 19th Century began to become strangers to those who perceived them. Rather than asking intercession, delivering warnings or other messages, the ghosts became mute specters wandering around houses. With the exception of the 19th Century spiritualist movement that was predicated on communicating with ghosts through rapping, Ouija boards or mediums ghosts had stopped being concerned with the affairs of the living.\u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eOf course, the large majority of the Spiritualist ghosts would prove to be false and the result of fraud and trickery designed to separate people from their money. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe 20th Century saw ghosts continue in this vein. After the demise of Spiritualism after the First World War, it would be a long time before ghosts began “speaking” again. Finucane’s book was written in the mid 1980’s before the heyday of television shows and the resurgence of communication through electronic voice phenomenon and its attendant devices and gadgets (amazingly similar to early 20th Century Spiritualist attempts). \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eFinucane makes the case that ghosts throughout history have served a single real purpose: to assure fragile living humans that “we” continue after death. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eIt is a valid observation since it is almost impossible for us to conceive that we simply cease to exist when our life is done. This even applies to atheists and\u0026#160; those rejecting spirituality and religion out of hand. In our self-centered existence we have great difficulty in wrapping our minds around the idea that our personalities which define us as individuals don’t continue to exist when our bodies die. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThis leads me to the search term today that asks: “Can one convince a non-believer in the existence of the paranormal?” It is a question that harkens back to the most fundamental reason ghosts exist in our culture – to reassure us that we continue. To remind us that death is not the end of “us” as individuals but rather that we go on in some form forever. The exempla of the early Catholic church that listed ghost stories for use by clergy to reinforce both the belief in an afterlife and also the dogma of purgatory continues today in our search for ghosts and “proof” that we continue. The church used these stories to “prove” the error of heretics who rejected Purgatory or even the existence of the soul. Later, the Protestants would continue in the folklore vein to “prove” to deists and atheists that the human soul was eternal. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eToday, those who hunt ghosts and who believe in the existence of disembodied souls continue to use these stories and now their requisite EVP’s, EMF’s, photographs and other technological advancements to “prove” to non-believers that we are eternal. Today’s psychics bearing messages from departed loved ones or seeking justice continue this age old reaffirmation of religious belief in the personality as soul. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eWhen viewed in this light it goes a long way to understanding the almost religious mania attached to ghost hunting by those doing the hunting and those seeking “proof” that they are haunted. Indeed, the paranormal has always been closely tied to religious belief and ghosts and how they haunt us have shifted along with those beliefs. Is it any wonder that in the “Technology Age” we have eschewed mediums for tape recorders, IR cameras, FLIR and other devices to assure ourselves that we go on? Should we be surprised that the 19th Century séance has given way to “EVP Sessions” where ghosts are asked to perform the same feats? \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eCan a non-believer be convinced? It’s a question as old as ghosts themselves and at its heart is the entire function of ghosts in our society and culture. \u003c/p\u003e  \u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2168219303449559049-546571115522712353?l\u003dbucksghosts.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/feeds/546571115522712353/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2168219303449559049\u0026postID\u003d546571115522712353\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2168219303449559049/posts/default/546571115522712353"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2168219303449559049/posts/default/546571115522712353"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/2009/11/function-of-ghosts.html","title":"The Function of Ghosts"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Buck"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03195661861205323477"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"02653328012866227494"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2168219303449559049.post-8934245912308680230"},"published":{"$t":"2008-12-31T11:21:00.002-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2008-12-31T11:39:12.908-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Paranormal"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Gadget"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Videos"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ghost"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Is There Any Hope?"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Recently one of my colleagues inquired about my not being very active with SPI. The short answer is that I've been busy lately with other side projects so haven't had a lot of time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe more complicated answer is that I'm burning out on the paranormal \"community\" as a whole. That's not to say I've lost interest, what I mean is that the overall level of basic common sense seems, every day, to be trumped by \"experts\" who fake evidence, by money grubbing \"inventors\" of gadgets that perpetuate fakery and their cohorts with \"conferences\" that are nothing more than large scale amateur ghost hunts for a price.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCase in point this video, collected by a group during one of these so-called \"conferences\" on the Queen Mary. Supposedly it shows the spirits of two children \"playing tag\". Of great interest are those present who put forth this treasure, as listed on the video itself, including the creator of the \"Ovilus\" device so heavily criticized and so heavily defended by its proponents.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTake a look... is this a \"ghost playing tag\" or is it what every responsible investigator in the field would call it... a bug and IR light. You know my opinion, since I've seen identical stuff a hundred times on our own footage even watching once as a large moth that I thought was a pebble levitated and then streaked off by the lens. Then we move on to dust that they term an \"anomaly\". The only part of the whole thing that is mildly interesting is what appears to be a trigger object moving. Of course, the camera is not stationary and the object moves in the direction covered by someone standing nearby. The \"ghost\" in one section is an investigator walking by a window. Oh well, if you're easily impressed prepare to be astounded:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cobject width\u003d\"425\" height\u003d\"344\"\u003e\u003cparam name\u003d\"movie\" value\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/v/zUrRz1aVBi4\u0026amp;color1\u003d0xb1b1b1\u0026amp;color2\u003d0xcfcfcf\u0026amp;hl\u003den\u0026amp;feature\u003dplayer_embedded\u0026amp;fs\u003d1\"\u003e\u003cparam name\u003d\"allowFullScreen\" value\u003d\"true\"\u003e\u003cembed src\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/v/zUrRz1aVBi4\u0026amp;color1\u003d0xb1b1b1\u0026amp;color2\u003d0xcfcfcf\u0026amp;hl\u003den\u0026amp;feature\u003dplayer_embedded\u0026amp;fs\u003d1\" type\u003d\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" allowfullscreen\u003d\"true\" width\u003d\"425\" height\u003d\"344\"\u003e\u003c/embed\u003e\u003c/object\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cdiv style\u003d\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\" class\u003d\"zemanta-pixie\"\u003e\u003ca class\u003d\"zemanta-pixie-a\" href\u003d\"http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/5adaf29d-dfdb-4d2e-b4fd-2d1187c4cd89/\" title\u003d\"Zemified by Zemanta\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"border: medium none ; float: right;\" class\u003d\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src\u003d\"http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id\u003d5adaf29d-dfdb-4d2e-b4fd-2d1187c4cd89\" alt\u003d\"Reblog this post [with Zemanta]\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2168219303449559049-8934245912308680230?l\u003dbucksghosts.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/feeds/8934245912308680230/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d2168219303449559049\u0026postID\u003d8934245912308680230\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2168219303449559049/posts/default/8934245912308680230"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2168219303449559049/posts/default/8934245912308680230"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://bucksghosts.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-there-any-hope.html","title":"Is There Any Hope?"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Buck"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/03195661861205323477"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"02653328012866227494"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"3"}}]}});