The Many Faces of the Paranormal
April 25, 2008
On August 23, 1971 the first of many images appeared on the kitchen floor of Maria Gomez Pereira’s home in Belmez, Spain. This first image was of a man and was so disturbing in its grimacing appearance that it prompted Maria to have the cement floor torn out and replaced. A week later, the second of what would be many unique portraits made its ghostly impression on the floor, which the family also - understandably - wanted destroyed. Hearing about the faces, the Mayor of Belmez had part of the floor removed and saved to try to determine what was causing the ghostly faces.
Under the slab, human remains from a medieval cemetery were found and properly reburied off the site, however two weeks later yet another face appeared on the new floor. More and more faces in increasingly elaborate arrangements came and went on the floor until the family finally sealed the kitchen, however this simply resulted in more faces appearing elsewhere in the house. By now well publicized and attracting the attention of investigators, the phenomena was intensively studied, including the placement of microphones which reportedly picked up sounds inaudible to the human ear that seemed to be muttering strange languages and agonizing moans seemingly choreographed to the grimaces and painful contortions of the faces on the kitchen floor.
Maria died in 2004, however the faces have continued, calling into question theories that the old woman had been faking the whole affair. Further, chemical studies of the cement have been somewhat unsatisfying, with multiple potential explanations being advanced, from acids to paint but none of them really seem to cover all aspects of the phenomena.
The annals of the paranormal are replete with images of people on inanimate objects. From Christ himself to Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, we recognize faces in patterns and often attribute these images to a wide variety of people. Most of these can easily be explained by wishful thinking and recognizing patterns among the chaos, but sometimes a story can be attached to the phenomena that might suggest that the spirit of a disembodied human may be able to manifest a picture of themselves that the living can see.
Recently, the phenomena of ghostly images appearing on objects has had a resurgence in an unlikely place. Rosemont is a busy Chicago suburb, most famous for being home to O’Hare International Airport and a dizzying array of hotels. The city has also recently been the focus of an uncharacteristic burst of paranormal phenomena. Of course there was the infamous O’Hare UFO, which continues to gain interest worldwide. But there is another incident, one presumably of a very different nature.
Located outside the Willow Creek Club on Higgins Road is a sycamore tree that some claim bears the face of Donald E. Stephens, the Mayor of Rosemont for 51 years, who died last April of stomach cancer. Is it the image of the former mayor, or just a product of the human mind’s ability to recognize a face among random patterns in the bark of a sycamore? Perhaps Mark Stephens, son and acting Mayor of Rosemont after the death of Donald Stephens, said it best. “He told me, you screw things up, I’m gonna haunt you”. Let’s hope Donald Stephens is simply saying hello, rather than making a political statement from the grave.
Ghost Hunters - Mt. Washington Hotel
April 16, 2008
Tonights episode really brought mixed emotions. The first thing that really comes to mind that I want to talk about is the piece of glass that was “thrown” at Jay and Grant. It really strikes me strange that there wasn’t any other windows or glass that matched the kind that was seen. It also brings me to think of past episodes where everything paranormal revolves around when Grant is there. I am not making speculations, or maybe I am but wouldn’t it be pure logic that Grant might have picked up the glass at an earlier point then all of a sudden dropped in while they were walking up in the sleeping area? Just my thoughts.
No one else was able to have any experiences or catch anything on film which is the most convincing paranormal evidence, but they still go in week after week and get some pretty good evidence in my mind. I just wish more things would happen on video or when Grant isn’t around. I think that tango has come along way with his investigating skills as well as Kris Williams, She has been very good at her approach to investigating. Hopefully we can get some concrete evidence to make non-believers into believers. But I guess the paranormal don’t act when we ask it too, thats why it is called the paranormal.
Ghost Hunters - Prospect Place
April 2, 2008
Tonights episode of Ghost Hunters really wasn’t all that great. I did see a couple of interesting things and we did hear a few EVP’s. One thing that really got to me on tonights episode was the cubby hole. Jay goes into the little crawl cubby hole and thinks he sees a shadow. My question is, Why didn’t he take the camera from Grant? Was he worried he might actually catch paranormal activity and feel he would have to explain it? I once read that Grant seems to find alot of things happen when he is alone and tonight kind of verified that. He claims to hear what sounding like shuffling or sliding coming from the families laundry room. Now what made it seem legit is that it was caught on the video recorder. But still makes us think.
The investigation at Prospect Place in Ohio did come up with some very interesting evidence. The one that cannot be denied is the heat source from the barn window. I would have dismissed it as a stray animal but when they slowed it down it did go from tall to short, then fade out. To me that was a very interesting piece to have. The part where Steve and Dave tango up in the barn trying to provoke the man who was hung didnt quite turn out the way we would all like to have seen. But again does the paranormal ever come on command?
Tonights episode didn’t leave us with much to go on, A couple of noises and one very good heat source but that was it. When you think about the paranormal I don’t think we will ever come up with a scientific meaning but it will keep us believers believing and the non-believers still saying there is no such thing as the paranormal. Well again, I have seen and found more evidence to prove there is rather than to flat out say it doesn’t exist. Register and let us know if you have had any experiences that you would like to share. If you have some evidence that you would like for us to put on our site. We will more than happy share your story with all our readers and members.
