April 19 - Kimball & Stevens

[Paul Kimball]

My ghost investigating series co-host Holly Stevens and I just taped the program with Gene and David - as always, a pleasure to have an informed and reasoned discussion about the paranormal. They're the best.

On the subject of "ghost hunting", which was the primary topic of the interview, David brought up the very good question as to the type of gear that we use. I wasn't able to provide the tech details for him off the top of my head, but I'll check on that and get that information for you folks, in all likelihood before the episode airs.

Thanks again to David and Gene for providing a sane oasis in a desert of lunacy!

 

[Paul Kimball]

On the program, we discussed a haunted farm that we investigated two months ago here in Nova Scotia. Here are a couple of photos from that episode shoot, for reference when the program broadcasts on the 19th.

The first is Holly and some of the crew out in a field where some paranormal activity had supposedly taken place. The second is yours truly out behind the house. The third is the house.

 

[Paul Kimball]

We also discussed at some length a case in the old jail in St. Andrews, NB. Here are the exterior and interior shots.

 

[Bixyboo]

Cool pics, PK! B & W photos always give things (and people) a certain quality. (Better than color pics would do, I mean).

 

[ondafritz]

Neat-o! Can't wait.

 

[Gareth]

So I heard you on Radio Misteroso a few months ago and you still hadnt encountered anything that impressed you as far as ghost activity.

Has that changed?

 

[Schuyler]

Paul,
Can you give us an update on 'Beyond Blue'? Any progress. Thanks.

 

[Gareth]

Paul,
Can you give us an update on 'Beyond Blue'? Any progress. Thanks.

Thats James Fox. You mean 'Beyond the Blue'? If so yeah, Fox.

 

[Schuyler]

Thats James Fox. You mean 'Beyond the Blue'? If so yeah, Fox.

Oh, dear. Thanks, Gareth. I screwed up again. DIS-regard!

"I have Irish Alzheimers. That's when you forget everything but a grudge." -- Ronald Reagan when visiting the set of Star Trek.

 

[Paul Kimball]

So I heard you on Radio Misteroso a few months ago and you still hadnt encountered anything that impressed you as far as ghost activity.

Has that changed?

Indeed.

http://mullysculder.blogspot.com/2009/01/ghost-investigation-field-report-1.html

There are some other incidents that we discuss on the 19th episode as well.

Paul

 

[dhatz]

I plan to listen to this show, assuming it will focus on Paul's recent ghost investigations, rather than his ideas about UFOlogy, which I'm already familiar with.

I don't know anything at all about ghosts, never bothered to find out more about the phenomenon, other than spending a few minutes on the Wikipedia entry on the subject. Ah, and a few months ago I watched some of the "best of Ghosthunters" clips on Youtube - not impressed at all.

But frankly I'm very skeptical of the whole idea of ghosts being souls of the dead hanging around certain locations and spooking people.

 

[Paul Kimball]

I plan to listen to this show, assuming it will focus on Paul's recent ghost investigations, rather than his ideas about UFOlogy, which I'm already familiar with.

I don't know anything at all about ghosts, never bothered to find out more about the phenomenon, other than spending a few minutes on the Wikipedia entry on the subject. Ah, and a few months ago I watched some of the "best of Ghosthunters" clips on Youtube - not impressed at all.

But frankly I'm very skeptical of the whole idea of ghosts being souls of the dead hanging around certain locations and spooking people.

We talked a bit about UFOs, but most of the conversation was indeed focused on ghost / haunting investigations. Like you, I am skeptical of the idea that the spirits of the dead are hanging out spooking people, but that doesn't mean that something isn't happening. The best part of the discussion for me came when Holly, Gene, David and I started to talk about other possible explanations for "hauntings". For example, http://mullysculder.blogspot.com/2009/01/could-ghosts-be-time-travelers.html.

Incidentally, on the subject of ghosts, I would recommend the interview David and Gene did with Jeff Belanger a year or two ago - you can find it in the archives.

Paul

 

[Brian Now]

Gene, David and I started to talk about other possible explanations for "hauntings". For example, http://mullysculder.blogspot.com/2009/01/could-ghosts-be-time-travelers.html.

I read that and it's an interesting idea but what about ghosts that supposedly tell you how they died, deceased relatives that warn you about trouble up ahead or ghosts that say they are dead?
And also, as far as portals to the past go, what about the fact that not only does the portal need to span 2 points in time, but also 2 points in space? Earth is never in the same place twice, it revolves on its axis, revolves around the sun, and the whole solar system revolves around the galactic core, and the galaxy itself is moving. So even if a portal is opened in my livingroom to the 1970's for example, it must also stretch far out the point in space that Earth occupied in the 1970s.

If the portal just connected my livingroom with a date in the 1970s then it would just open up to a point in space which Earth had yet to cross. And opening up a cold, hard vacuum in my livingroom would certainly be the end of me!

 

[Gareth]

Indeed.

http://mullysculder.blogspot.com/2009/01/ghost-investigation-field-report-1.html

There are some other incidents that we discuss on the 19th episode as well.

Paul

Wow!

I judge any ghostly encounter story by the level of chills I get up my spine - and reading that account, I did indeed get chills.

Very interesting.

As far as explanations for ghost activity, I still really like the idea of 'time periods rubbing together', so rather than seeing ghosts, people actually see a scene from a different time (past or future) that slowly fades out.

But in a case like you related in that article its difficult to attribute that theory to what you experienced. But at the same time I dont feel comfortable concluding that the ghost of that man is residing in that jail for eternity (how boring). But I believe that time is probably not what we think it is, and maybe doesnt exist at all. I also like the idea that the phenomenon of 'time' is a human experience, so trying to understand how a ghost could haunt the one place for hundreds of years is probably not even possible with our human brains and understanding of 'time'.

 

[Paul Kimball]

Wow!

I judge any ghostly encounter story by the level of chills I get up my spine - and reading that account, I did indeed get chills.

Imagine how I felt!

As far as explanations for ghost activity, I still really like the idea of 'time periods rubbing together', so rather than seeing ghosts, people actually see a scene from a different time (past or future) that slowly fades out.

But in a case like you related in that article its difficult to attribute that theory to what you experienced. But at the same time I dont feel comfortable concluding that the ghost of that man is residing in that jail for eternity (how boring). But I believe that time is probably not what we think it is, and maybe doesnt exist at all. I also like the idea that the phenomenon of 'time' is a human experience, so trying to understand how a ghost could haunt the one place for hundreds of years is probably not even possible with our human brains and understanding of 'time'.

I think there could well be a "trickster" element to it, in that what we may be dealing with are not the spirits of the dead, but some other non-human intelligence that for whatever reason is pretending to be those spirits. Gene, David, Holly and I discuss this in the episode, which I have to say was a lot more fun than talking about UFOs!

Paul

 

[Gareth]

In case anyone was wandering, using 'But' to start a sentence is a sign of a brilliant writer.

just saying.

 

[Tommy Allison]

So who's Paul Kimball?

Hehehehehehe.

 

[hollystevens]

But frankly I'm very skeptical of the whole idea of ghosts being souls of the dead hanging around certain locations and spooking people.

Agreed! The thought of hanging around a particular area for hundreds of years for the sole purpose of popping out of dark corners to scare people doesn't seem like a very lucrative enterprise. Unless of course you're really just trying to get someone's attention; to get them to help you. Perhaps because you honestly have no idea of what is going on or what you're supposed to be doing.

It seems conceivable that if ghosts are the soul or spirit of a deceased person stuck in this realm, or between realms of existence, then they would have no better understanding of their purpose then most of the living. If the soul remains because it has some sort of unfinished business, or because the death was so abrupt and traumatic that it is not aware that the body has died, it is entirely likely that it either doesn't know anything is amiss. Or that if it does, it doesn't know how to fix it. So what does it do? It tries to communicate, to seek help, and of course it scares the frak out of us because it's strange and new, and we don't understand it. Seems like a potential possibility, but not the only one.

All in all, when it comes to the paranormal, I doubt anything is what it seems. Most ghost stories are potentially that. Stories. Legends, fairy tales, exaggerations, tricks of the mind and eye, delusions, hallucinations, and plain lies are among the more practical explanations. But to say that that is it; that the physical is the only reality, seems a little unrealistic.
Science changes all the time, and one day, it will evolve to a point where it is able to measure these unknowns. It's already well on it's way thanks to modern physics. When it does, I think we'll find that there isn't just one explanation for these phenomena. Time travel, aliens, lost spirits/souls, demonic entities, residual energy, imprinting, etc. will likely all share a piece of the ghostly phenomenon pie. :shy:

 

[Kevin Daly]

I think there's reasonable grounds for suspecting that the "ghost" label covers a range of different phenomena (it's worth repeating that the word originally meant "spirit" rather than necessarily "spirit of the dead, so it covered any non-corporeal entity or the non-physical aspect of a corporeal one - as in the phrase "give up the ghost").
I also think that some reports of interactions with ghosts do suggest that in those particular cases we are dealing with the spirits of the dead - but if that's the case then the point about time is well-taken: time is part of the physical universe. If there is intelligence that exists beyond the constraints of that universe (including an aspect of our own), we can't imagine how it would perceive what we identify as time (just as we can't get our heads around infinity, so we make do with symbols such as the serpent swallowing its own tail). It may be that such an entity can be "present" at any point in time to which it directs its attention. Or present at multiple points simultaneously (perhaps what we perceive as a haunting the dead perceive as the memory of a place...and others perceive as "sightseeing").
For the record, I'd add as I've mentioned elsewhere that in my own experience of a haunting as a child (it was also experienced and with more disturbing incidents by adults) I never believed that what I perceived had ever been human, and I wasn't alone in that conviction.

 

[Paul Kimball]

The thought of hanging around a particular area for hundreds of years for the sole purpose of popping out of dark corners to scare people doesn't seem like a very lucrative enterprise.

Maybe they were just waiting for you in particular, and now they're going to be with you... forever!