The Problem of Paranormal Obsession

When I was a teenager back in the 80s, some really weird stuff started happening to me and my friends.  The more weird it got, the more scared we were - but the more curious we became.  So when everything was normal, we would talk about it, get worked up about ghosts or demons or urban myths - and then suddenly, something unexplained would happen:  a door would close on its own, or a knock on the wall would be heard, or the doorbell would ring by itself, or the lights would go out.  Were spirits stopping by to say hello?  Was this a sign of paranormal intelligence, did it "know" we were talking about it?  I know a lot of people think this is the case.  At the time, we took it as a sign to be proof the spirits are HERE.  Can I prove this was not so? Nope.  It was exciting and fun, especially because when we wanted something to happen, it did, almost 100% of the time.
After seeing case after case of unexplained phenomena in paranormal investigations, I've noticed there is a trend - the more you pay attention to it, the more experiences you'll have.  So going with this logic, it could, in theory, be attributed to a few possible reasons:
- you are making it happen, for real, with your mind
- paranormal intelligence is responding to your will
- you are noticing something that's always been there but you never noticed before
- you want it to be real so badly you are imagining it

The fascinating nature of paranormal phenomena is the more you pay attention to it, the more is seems to come ALIVE on its own.  Could it be that, like a weird twist in a movie, it is indeed YOU that is coming alive instead?  Many say that calling spirits, playing with Ouija boards, doing rituals, ect... shouldn't be done "because it opens a portal" - maybe this is actually true, but the portal is not OUT THERE, it is INSIDE YOU?  Well, if you take this theory and run with it, it would make the 4 points mentioned above, logical.
Now is this "portal" physical? I highly doubt it.  I think the most credible way to understand is to say that our minds are capable of using our 5 senses to understand a nature that was never taught to us, or is acknowledged, by traditional means (science, education, religion, governments, ect...).  In other words, when we become curious and open our minds to the idea that there is more out there than the conventional material universe, we develop the awareness of another form of existence that does not depend on the material universe for its existence.  This is "the portal", folks.  It is a natural, human ability so misunderstood that it led to such holocaust-like events such as the great witch burnings and Cathar slayings, and maintains the fear of Ouija boards and anything else that can open you up to the idea that spirits exist - for REAL.

The reality that was taught to us is incomplete, and like a second skin, the more we pick at it, the more skin we find underneath.  Science, educations systems, governments and religions have told us not to pick at it.  Through the ages, it was even so controversial to do so, to question our reality, that it was punishable by death.  Many groups of people disagreed with this and went into hiding, forming magickal orders and writing occult documents - they were not weird, deluded or satanic, they were being natural human beings and questioning who we are, where we come from, and WHY this is being hidden from the masses.

And now, more and more people are finding the skin underneath the top layer, the PROOF that there is WAY more than meets the eye.  For many, this is absolutely fascinating because they originally were skeptics, and/or surrounded by skeptics.  Like a child making a new discovery, they want to play with it all the time, and tell everyone about it.  When we pick off the top layer of the skin of the reality we know, we find more and more confirmation of the reality of paranormal phenomena.  This is an amazing new fact for a large number of people, from all cultures and religions and locations - as it well should be.  However, it leads to one big problem - like a child with his new discovery, it's all he wants to pay attention to.  He loves this new reality so much he wants to play with it all the time and wants to be in it 24/7.  The physical existence is boring now, it's old school - the esoteric reality is the new obsession.  Two major risks come into play, suddenly:  1)  he is gullible to anyone and everything that caters to SELLING him material things relating to the esoteric, and 2) it becomes of the utmost importance that the people around him BELIEVE HIM, and even better, that they experience the same shift in consciousness.

The ancient belief systems had clear instructions:  do no expose the uninitiated to the mystery school teachings.  I think this was a big reason - if a shift in consciousness and awareness happens suddenly, the rest of the mind is unprepared and can make the person react in such a way that he can be taken advantage of, hurt himself, or others.  The enlightened path can be destructive unless you exercise emotional and behavioral maturity.  Remember, if you found the truth inside yourself, you can't expect anything or anyone on the outside to help you walk further on that path.  And that also means that you can't take anyone with you, or join another on the path - it's yours alone to walk, with strength, love and knowledge.  It's important to not be afraid to do so, but it's equally important to remember to do so in a healthy emotional and mature way - if not, the second skin reality will mirror your ignorance and fears, and become what you are afraid of instead of what you dream it can be.

  

Loooong time no blog!! Alright, so I've been busy... bit of an understatement ;)

After several paranormal investigations with the Greater Moncton Paranormal Society (what's this?  check out www.gmps.ca and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonctonGhostSeekers/), my obsessions are slowly merging:  art and the paranormal.
Right now, I'm working on a series of paintings called "Of the Fallen", starting with the first part, "Legendes de mon Acadie" - visual interpretations of paranormal legends of Acadia with photography and painting.  You can see my art here:  www.aerebb.com

Today, I want to tell you what my obsession REALLY is.  I've been "plagued" with paranormal experiences since I was very young, and not just seeing ghosts and getting goosebumps...  way stranger than that.  So here are some theories on the subjective experience of paranormal phenomena.

IMO, the experience of the paranormal can be categorized in 3 parts:  belief, amazement/fascination, and analysis.  Let's break this down a bit.
Many, MANY people either believe or want to believe that there is something "else".  They each have their reasons, but that's as far as their interest lies - the belief.
Then we have the amazement factor.  Usually, people that have been exposed to some sort of paranormal phenomena (or heard of it) and become fascinated by the possibility that this could be real.  They try to find proof, or experience more of it, in the hopes it will somehow "prove" the reality of unexplained events.  Paranormal investigation caters to this, attempting to rid the possibility of there being a scientific reason for the activity, thereby leaving the client with proof that a true, UNEXPLAINED event is occurring and happening to them.
Lastly, we have the analytical experience.  This is where fine lines are drawn between physical reality, spiritual beliefs, and science.  This is my experience.  It's a questioning of what has been established by science as the human existence.  Lots of conspiracists fall under this category, doubting they have been told the truth by the government, educators, and scientists.  There is way more to our reality than what we know, and an evaluative overhaul of common belief systems would be very beneficial.  Changing how we think (as opposed to what we think) is what's needed for our health - both as animals and souls here on earth.
End rant... back to the paranormal ;)

Things we can't explain, i.e. the paranormal, are not explainable because of our philosophical perspective of the phenomena - our THINKING is the problem.  If a fish tries to understand humans that walk on soil and breathe air, if he bases his analysis on the absolute fact that to be alive, all creatures must breathe water, then we are an anomaly to him.  We are paranormal.  Guess what folks - that's what we are doing. We are evaluating and judging what's real and what's not from a subjective perspective, and not considering that reality is composed of an objective one.

So basically and in a nutshell, THIS is my obsession.  To philosophize, and as a paranormal investigator, to prove that there is another way to look at reality - paranormal phenomena is nothing but a CLUE that we are not looking at it in the correct manner... i.e., there is truly, within the real reality, no paranormality to be found.

Theatrically Paranormal

When I arrived at the Capitol Theatre at 1:30am to join the GMPS investigation, it was very cold and Moncton’s Main Street was all but deserted.  After texting and banging on the door for what seemed like an hour (lol it was probably 5 minutes), Dwayne greeted me and led me to the stage where my team was settled in with the echovox and recorder.  I didn’t know anything of what had transpired, nor did I want to – my first priority was to walk through the building, assisted by Charmian with a video camera, and relate my empathic impressions. 

We started in the basement.  Charmian offered to give me information on the history of the building, but I refused, wanting my impressions to be as unbiased as possible.  I knew a fireman had died there long ago, and there were rumours of a young girl also losing her life in the building – but this is unconfirmed.  Immediately, I was attracted to the far end of the basement to my left.  No surprise really, as this is the location of the Capitol Theatre’s furnace – an area with a lot of electrical power.  Often, especially when first trying to sense spiritual energies, I will be drawn to strong energies of ANY sort.  Before I’m “warmed up”, I just can’t tell the difference, lol.  After a good giggle over this, Charmian pointed out where the fireman had died – buried under the collapsed stage in the basement.  I was surprised to not feel or sense any type of energy or spirit communication there.

Next, we went to the women’s bathroom on the second floor.  I’d always felt something strange there, even when I was quite young, and that night was no different. After getting spooked (hilariously) by the paper towel sensor, I explain my feeling of a dark and remnant energy in the ladies’ washroom, as if a spirit was left there, or abandoned somehow. 

We then went to the balcony seating area in the theatre. 

 I felt there that a spirit CHOSE to reside there.  The highest point of seating area was most attractive to me – this is where I attempted EVPs.  During this session, I heard an odd moaning noise and some cracking noises from an area of the ceiling, but after the evidence review we learned that nothing was captured.  One oddity, however, is that what WAS captured from the investigation was in that exact area.  It coincided with my feeling of a spirit living/sleeping in that area of the Capitol Theatre.

We then went underneath the stage, where some strange things were heard using the Ovilus.  The energy felt somber there.  The only other energy I sensed was something akin to “imposed respect”, almost as if a religious or pagan group had blessed the area. 

I took pictures throughout, but none of these returned evidence.  During much of the review, we did not believe anything had been captured, but we were pleasantly surprised in the end…  

Find out the investigation results documented in our Lead Investigator Lindsay Isenor's blog 

Check out our pics of the investigation on the new GMPS Flickr album! 

 

Oak Island Mystery

Oak Island became a fascination for me years ago when I saw the mystery of it on an episode of Ancient Aliens.  I knew it reputedly held the secrets of a pirate treasure, but as interesting as that would be to some people, what made my eyes get big was when I heard the conspiracy theories.  My faves: 1)  the link to Shakespeare theory, and 2) the link to the Ark of the Covenant theory.  When the series came out on the History Channel, The Curse of Oak Island (http://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island ), I was very interested in what was recently uncovered.  I can’t explain it, but I have a gut feeling there is something historically important located in the Oak Island and/or New Ross area.  The interest of the Masons, imo, is a strong indicator – along with its rumoured ley line connections to other popular conspiracy theory locations (Rennes le Chateau, Rosslyn Chapel).

So this year I made the trip down to Oak Island twice:  the first time I stopped at the No Trespassing sign, disappointed… and the next time, this past weekend, I signed up for the full tour and actually got on the island J  (for tour info, see http://www.friendsofoakisland.com/main/?page_id=132 )

It was very interesting to meet the people I had seen on TV, but even more so to see them living their passion:  the hunt to find out the truth about Oak Island. 

My GMPS colleagues were unable to make the trip, so I decided to bring the “paranormal” experience to them:  I packed my video camera, digital cam and audio recorder and set out on the investigative mission ;)

To be honest I didn’t expect anything odd to happen.  The tour was FANTASTIC, very honest and real explanations of the cast’s (landowners’) experiences, findings and theories.  They described the show being filmed as simply a documentation of what’s actually happening.  Nothing is scripted or planned.  Everyone involved resonated authenticity and passion. 

I checked the video camera I had duct-taped to my backpack shoulder strap (yes, definitely looking like a fanboy lol) around 30 minutes into the tour, and all was good.  The audio recoder I stuck in my purse was on and working when we left for the 2.5hr tour, it seemed.  I focused on listening to the tour guide’s riveting story of each part of the island and snapping shots of the empty spaces around the group, hoping IF there was a spirit on this island, it would want to make a guest appearance on my documentation! 

At the 2:15 hour mark, we were at the end of the tour at Smith’s Cove, on the opposite side of the island.  Here, the tour guide told the sad story of the original four men that died when they “fell” in the hole that was dug.  The last picture I snapped was of the memorial stone erected for these men.  That’s when my camera battery died.

This was very odd as I had fully charged it before leaving, and knew for a fact I could easily take 650 pictures before a notch went down on the battery.  The count was a little over 350 pictures at this point.  Immediately I then checked the video camera… also dead, and for no good reason I could think of.  My heart sinking, I checked the audio:  it had not recorded a THING.  Many, many swear words went through my mind at this point (lol).

Once we got back and I was able to upload my data, I learned the video camera battery died after only 52 minutes.  When fully charged (and it was), it lasts 4.5 hours.  I just can’t explain it.  Even more odd than this, no audio was captured by my video camera.  I’ve had it for over a year and can say for sure this NEVER happened to me.

Sigh, ghosts.

I was reminded by a team member that the Chester Area Paranormal Society (http://capsteam.wordpress.com/ ) had similar battery drain issues when they also did an investigation on Oak Island.  If it was due to a magnetic anomaly in the earth or minerals or SOMETHING, the people I was with would have also had battery drain issues, and they did not.  Only I did.  It’s been said, during the tour and on the show, that strange and unexplained things happen all the time on Oak Island.  Equipment mysteriously fails or breaks, and coincidences abound.

Want to help me sort through the data I DID collect? Here’s an experiment for you members of the Greater Moncton Paranormal Society:  I’m going to post all my pictures, exactly as I shot them (no judging ;), and see if you can find anything abnormal in these.  Post your results on our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonctonGhostSeekers/ )  … and if you are not a member, ask to join!

Here is the link to the pictures for you to review.  Have fun :)  *Please note that permission is NOT granted to use these photos for your personal, professional, or commercial benefit and are copyrighted to myself, Rebecca Belliveau.  Thank you for respecting the artist’s rights*

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127148199@N07/

looking in to see outside

Today my paranormal thinking is a bit more along the lines of spiritual thinking.

Perhaps consciousness has many forms.  Men inherited the blind one, blinded by the subjective view.  Perhaps another consciousness entirely, maybe the parent of the global consciousness, is the decisionmaker.  Either way, it is either ennoneous, defective or our purpose is truly broken apart and trying to put itself back together.

The message of global spiritual consciousness is everywhere.  It comes to us in all forms, without prejudice, and is insistent.  Some claim to hear or see spirits, some search for meaning, others simply accept that our spiritual being is as alive and tangible as the physical and material world that permeates our senses.  The big question - once a person has accepted this - is what now? Yes, it's real... why is it present?  There is a strong sense of needing to do something that comes with awareness, but awareness itself doesn't come with an instruction manual.  For me, it's led to creativity.  I feel a devout's passion to share what I am taught.  I wonder if the intent is only to communicate and thereby spread the seed that will help one another reach an instinctive understanding of the existence of the true self.  If you listen inside of you, stop the noise and visual clutter that the material world brings, just listen...  you'll hear it.  Our connection to all life, from a spiritual standpoint, is as strong as our connection to our physical world.  This is really not news, it's been taught by mystics and religions for thousands of years - but there is a difference between believing it because someone says so and believing it because it came from inside you.  Religion says so, but spirituality guides you to see it for yourself.  No one can teach you who you are, and though our paths are all different, the twists and turns are personalized - but the final destination is the same.

My Latest Paranormal Experiences

My Latest Paranormal Experiences

My paranormal experiences started when I was quite young, and even though I know at that time I am not the one that went searching for it, today I have to wonder if we are now chasing each other.  I’ve been a member of the Greater Moncton Paranormal Society for approximately six months now, and have gotten my feet wet in the paranormal investigation world.  For those who don’t know, my fascination and obsession with the paranormal (my interest have a very broad range, but with a marked focus on the subjects of who humans really are and where we really come from) stems from trying to understand and explain a disturbing experience that happened shortly after I turned 11 years old.  It changed my life and made me discover that investigating the human experience of the paranormal is and always will be my quest.
I express myself and share my personal paranormal experiences through art.  It is my therapy.  It is the channel through which I speak.  My technique is very much like mediums who uses automatic writing to allow the spirits to speak through them – I create fine art in a meditative state, and whatever wants to come through is allowed to do so.  My artwork can be seen at www.aerebb.com.

 

Recently, since taking part in paranormal investigations with GMPS, I’ve noticed that I am slowly developing psychic sensitivities resembling those of a medium.  I’ve always known myself to be psychically aware, but not at this level.  Here are my personal opinions and accounts, experienced in the later half of this year.

During the GMPS investigation of The Albert County Museum Gaol , I was physically made aware of a sinister presence.  During our first walk around of the building, at the back near where a supposed murderer was buried after being hung, I had a sudden feeling as if someone had stuck me in the solar plexus area, and almost immediately threw up.  As soon as I felt this, the feeling of incredible fear gripped me, as if my life was threatened and I had to run.  Later, after a few hours of taking photographs of the Gaol and the grounds with the team, we found ourselves gathering data in the room where the jailor slept.  What I saw here scared me enough to leave the building.  I suddenly felt the nausea hit me, and sat down in a chair in between two of the team members who were standing.  I was facing the bedframe at eye level, approximately 2 feet away.  Suddenly, I saw the bed shake quickly and violently, from left to right (the way you would shake a steering wheel side to side), for approximately 1 second.  I closed my eyes, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me – and when I reopened them, a second or two later, it happened again.  I left the room and went outside for air.  I’d never seen anything like it – and no one else in the room witnessed it.   A few days later, I was awakened by a very loud and distinct knocking inside my bedroom.  It knocked 3 times.  It hasn’t happened since.  To read more about the whole investigation, please visit the GMPS lead investigator's blog:   http://lindsayisenor.blogspot.ca/

 

 

Even though it was not during an investigation, a strange experience also happened  this fall that made me realize I may be a magnet for spirits that wish to communicate…  I came into contact with a person who had long ago visited a native American grave, and had reason to believe the spirit of a chief was following them and they may have been cursed.  That week, I was ill – feverish and chilled intermittently, had no appetite, felt mentally very absent and spaced out as if I wasn’t there, just going through the motions.  I would have written it off as a simple cold, however I started getting very intense visions as I lay down in bed each night, 4 nights in a row… 

The first night, I was a man, tall, running as fast as I could through the woods in the middle of the night.  Being half awake and half asleep, I was still capable of conscious thought – and I immediate wondered how I could be alone, running in the woods in the dead of night, with no fear? I’ve lived in the woods, and know this would be terrifying to me.  I knew one thing for certain in this “dream” – I was a part of everything surrounding me and it was a part of me:  the trees, the flowers, the rocks – all of it.  I intensely felt and understood how this was our true nature as humans.  On the second night, again as I was starting to fall asleep, the face of a man came very close to mine, speaking loudly in a very directive voice in a language I did not understand.  He was making me afraid, so I woke myself up.  On the 3^rd night, I started to fall asleep and saw the stars.  I was lying on my back, in the woods, in a clearing with trees nearby.  Three or four figures were standing on one side of me, softly chanting. They seemed in mourning.  One had a cloak of some sort over his clothing.  I felt very tall, and male.  On the fourth night, I started seeing faces from far away… and as they got closer I could see they were made of wood.  I felt they had life, though, just not life like we experience – but a life imbued by their creator:  myself.

This is where the visions ended.  I suspect a very strong spirit shared its life, and death, with me, and made me understand a way of seeing the human spirit in a different light than I ever have.  I think this spirit was a very, very strong spiritualist and its presence was so intense that it probably made me ill. 

I’m currently researching how psychic mediums work with spirits, and psychic protection.  It’s a slow process of understanding, but I feel this is going to be very helpful for myself and possibly to assist others down the line.  If this interests you too, I would love to hear about it! Please feel free to post your story on the GMPS open group page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonctonGhostSeekers/  :)

 

Today the Greater Moncton Paranormal Society was fortunate to tour the Musée de Kent, in Bouctouche, NB.  Having lived much of my childhood in the area, I was very interested to hear the stories and paranormal experiences that visitors and guides had about the Musée.  Since I was quite young, I have heard story after story about experiences the locals told about the Bouctouche area, and legends they'd heard from their elders too. 

 

Personally, I can say my own paranormal experiences in and around Bouctouche are quite extensive.

 

 

 

 

The architecture at the Musée de Kent is beautiful, carefully kept up and you can strongly sense the history of Acadians with its look and feel.  My psychic sensitivity wasn't really triggered at first when the guide was showing us the main floor, but immediately when I climbed to the second floor, the dizziness started. We later found out this was where the infirmary was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

this small bedroom was reputed to have its "look" changed regularly - pillows moved, bed suddenly unmade, ect... no explanation for it, according to our guide, Stéphane.

 

 

apparently this book disappeared - mysteriously - for 2 weeks... then mysteriously reappeared out of nowhere.  The room it was in made me feel almost out of breath when I walked in.

I took a moment and stood near the window after leaving this room, feeling suddenly calm and "tuned in" with the energies in the building.  I immediately felt as if the Musée, once a convent and school for girls, had secrets.  My impression was that something or someone was kept safe and secretly in this building, awaiting transition from one place to another. The guide could not confirm this hunch.

 

 

the ethereal presence of a young boy was seen in this room by the guide, and strange photos were taken by previous visitors.

 

 

 

As we were walking toward the chapel, I heard the echo of someone sobbing... I knew I wasn't imaging this - apparently one of the visitors with GMPS was so emotionally overwhelmed when she entered the chapel area (for no explainable reason), she had to leave the Musée altogether, and did not come back. 

 

 

 

 

 

we then visited the 3rd floor, where the girl's dormitory had been.  It is now full with small and large historical Acadian items - asides from a heaviness in the room, I didn't feel anything odd.  The guide, however, shared that once he had felt pushed strongly down the top flight of stairs down to the first landing - since that day, he wears stones with reputed spiritual properties on a necklace for protection. 

 Incidentally, he was wearing hematite - one stone I also acquired after the strange and pretty spooky incidents at our previous investigation at the Albert County Museum Gaol.

 

After a very interesting discussion with one of our GMPS group members about his own experiences with a negative spirit, we were very fortunate to tour the location of strong energies in the building: the basement, where a nun committed suicide a very long time ago.  According to our guide, the rumours were that she was pregnant at the time.

 

 

 

Immediately, as I walked down the stairs, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of baking bread.  I asked the guide about this and he responded, "Of course, this is where the cafeteria was."

 

 

 

After a few unsuccessful attempts at trying to get a ghost to audibly grace us with its presence, I separated from the group and was taking pictures of the area when I heard someone react strongly to something behind me...  the GMPS researcher, who very rarely has had paranormal experiences, saw this rope - by itself - start to move wildly.  Asides from random sensations - heaviness in the chest, hairs on our arms standing on end, the sensation of being touched - this was the only phenomena we experienced at the Musée de Kent.  We have requested to do an official investigation of the building with our equipment, and hope to have a positive response soon.