I was on Facebook this morning and noticed several friends status that said to be very careful today. Why? Well today happens to be 11/11/11 and some people see great significance in these numbers. In the last few months I have been paying attention to the clock more and have noticed 1:11, 11:11 and 2:22. Those numbers pop up for me now all the time now even off the clock. I posted to my Facebook wall how weird that I was noticing these number combinations. I had several people message me with their theories on what it meant including that they were personal messages from angels.

Some people believe the number 11:11 is about ascension and the beginning of awareness of the code that it represents. Some believe we are in a time of a new beginning with the approaching date of December 21, 2012. I know several people getting married today perhaps because of the significance of the date marking their new beginning. I am going to use today as an opportunity for me to explain apophenia.

Apophenia is the human tendency to find meaning or patterns in randomly occurring data like the date 11/11/11. The condition feeds on itself because the more conscious you are of the pattern of something the more often you’ll notice it and believe that it means something. The patterns can be found in everything we see and hear. We are hard-wired to find meaningful patterns because it helps in our survival. As an example is that the rustle you hear in the grass which could be a dangerous predator where we need to run. There are times however, when the patterns are really meaningless. As an example we can find faces on a textured ceiling, the clouds and anything pixellated like photographs.

People can find great significance in the patterns they find. The thoughts it brings up can range from a mild suspicion to full on paranoia. Speaking of paranoia sometimes there is a thin line between sanity and insanity. Apophenia is a part of psychosis which is a loss of contact with reality. That reality includes delusions which are false beliefs about what is taking place or who one is and hallucinations. However, apophenia has been noted in mentally healthy individuals.

People can be so steadfast in their belief in the pattern they find that it is hard to try to give them a rational explanation. These patterns people believe in can even be a life changing event for them! People have sold their homes, given away most of their possessions and have even committed suicide believing that the world would end on a particular day. There was a cult known as Solar Temples where letters after a mass suicide were found stating that they believed they were moving on to Sirius because of the patterns they found. Heavens Gate cult died in a mass suicide and believed they were exiting their human vessels so that their souls could go on a journey aboard a spaceship they believed to be following comet Hale-Bopp. This is obviously not healthy behavior. These people did not know they were deluded.

Some will understand the photograph is just a series of dots while others see the face on Mars. This formation is most likely the result of erosion, winds and other natural forces. People who believe in UFO’s see it as proof of life in the universe and the explanation is a sign of a cover up by the government. I am not going to alter my life by putting tin foil all over the ceilings because of this photograph nor should you. There are people who belief that tin foil acts to shield the brain from emf fields, mind control and mind reading by alien life forms although there is no proof of this.

Conspiracy theorists believe in chemtrails where the government is deliberately spraying chemicals on us. These chemtrails are really contrails caused by airplanes exhaust systems. When the hot exhaust gases cool the surrounding air it causes a cloud of microscopic water droplets and ice crystals. The people who believe in the conspiracy will not listen to this rational explanation.

You find evidence of people genuinely believing they found religious figures in pieces of toast, the grain of cut wood or on a wall. Ebay has made some of these people famous through the sale of these objects. The Virgin Mary on toast sold for 28,000! Religious related psychosis is quite common but not treated. Who is to say what one is spiritually experiencing is real or not.

It becomes a problem when it crosses the line like it did with the Solar Temples or Heavens Gate cults. You should not blindly believe in someone who wants control of your thinking, personal assets and life like Marshall Applewhite.

Apophenia also is a huge problem in people who gamble which can be debilitating. A person who really believes in their pattern of numbers cannot stop betting and can lose everything. If you are stuck with a pattern and cannot stop unhealthy behavior it is time to seek help from a therapist.

In Minnesota an accident in August of 2011 sent two year old Jairden Loukota to the hospital. He was hit in the stomach by a golf club. When the hospital checked him out they found a cantaloupe size tumor growing in his liver that burst from the accident. Apparently he is seeing things now. This could be an indicator that he possibly had a near death experience. His Mother Megan stated “He kept asking me ‘Mom, who is that guy in the corner? There’s a guy in the corner. There’s light.” His mom thinks that it is angel but perhaps there is another explanation.

There is a range of experiences that happen with impending death. Some of these include detaching from the body, levitation, fear, peace and the presence of a light with loved ones inside the light. I had a case once where a mom took care of her adult child who had cancer for a few years before he passed away. He would ask his mom all the time who the man was sitting besides her. She would leave the room to cry because nobody was present but her. If I were in the same situation I would have been fascinated and would have asked many questions but not everyone has been exposed to the paranormal like I have. Not only was he seeing a man but his grandparents would visit him regularly. He had no idea they were no longer alive because he saw them as living. She also reported cold spots and saw shadows herself. After the passing of her son the activity continued on and off and was escalating when she finally decided to call me.

A number of the cases that I get have someone in the home that has had a near death experience. I believe that because of their brush with death it makes them more sensitive. Perhaps a doorway is open they are now a beacon for the other side to come to visit but we really do not know. Once I had a case where a woman had a near death experience and was from that point forward haunted by what seemed to be many different spirits. Those spirits were mostly negative causing her to alter her life in a way that was not healthy.

Since the beginning of time people have had near death experiences. In the earliest documented account Plato describes in The Republic a soldier’s near-death experiences which included the afterlife and even reincarnation. The scientific community has been actively doing research on near death experiences for years. They have found many people share common experiences.

Here is a list of common experiences
An awareness of being dead
A sense of peace
An out-of-body experience including hovering over your body
A tunnel
A sense of moving through a passage
Being in the light or a powerful light
Communication with the light
Beings of light and deceased loved ones
Life review and unconditional love
Knowledge about the universe and everything
A decision to return to the living body
15% or more have a hell type of experience which includes
Barren place
Darkness
Beings or shadows moving around them like blobs
The feeling that they are going to hell
Hopeless and helpless

The cause these experiences are thought by some to be hallucinations from a surge of electrical activity, neurons dying, lucid dreaming or other natural causes. Others believe that the experiences are real and the stories are confirmation of an afterlife. A study of terminally ill patients found identical surges in brain activity moments before death. Is this proof that energy surges out of the body? Is this the body’s one last ditch effort to revive the body? We do know that we are made up of energy which cannot be created or destroyed but can only be changed. Death is a transformation of that energy. The question that many people have is do retain any semblance of who we were when we were alive including memories. I happen to be a believer that our soul continues on and I have had many experiences to back it up.

As a nurse I have observed patients dying who have exclaimed things like “I was wondering when you would show up” or smile at an invisible someone who has come to apparently assist them. Even famous people exclaim interesting things as they are going through the process. A great recent example is that when Steve Jobs passed away he looked at his family then past them and his last words were then “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow”. Jobs was according to his biographer 50/50 on if he believed in the existence of God and hoped that there was some kind of afterlife. I would like to think he saw something miraculous and that he was delighted with it!

Watch a video about Steve’s experience

You can also read more about Jairden here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jairdenloukota

Now is your chance to go investigating for yourself with the Society of the Haunted! We are holding a public event! This was the place where we caught a disembodied voice singing a song. I posted an article about evps which include this song. Go check it out here
http://www.hauntedchef.com/2011/10/03/catching-evps/

From Wimgo website
Today’s Deal: $20 for Paranormal Investigation with Society of the Haunted ($40 Value)

Paranormal stories form an important part of a town’s history, explaining why locals shy away from a particular mansion and who is collecting people’s recycling on alternate Wednesdays. Investigate unexplained phenomena with today’s Wimgo Deal: for $20, get a ticket to a paranormal investigation and tour on November 4 with Society of the Haunted, a $40 value.

Society of the Haunted has over 25 years combined experience and have appeared on Animal Planet’s The Haunted television show. On November 4 from 8 p.m. to midnight, join the Society on an investigation and tour of Hennessey’s historic Ranch Room, originally built in 1893. Skeptics and believers alike will tour the saloon, investigating and learning techniques from real paranormal investigators. Together, you’ll use specialized equipment to try to track down any apparitions or unnatural occurrences during a fun and potentially hair-raising evening.

With only 20 available tickets, capture today’s Wimgo Deal before it disappears into thin air.

http://www.wimgodeals.com/deal/oklahoma-city/20-paranormal-investigation-society-haunted-40

This historic theater designed by architect George Kadane in Frederick Oklahoma was originally built in 1929. James Beard named the theater after his daughter Ramona Beard Ayers. James was also known as J.B. and was the local bank president.

When it was opened as the Ramona the Kasane family acquired the rights to cotton queen pageant. The Ramona then became the official home of this pageant from 1930 until world war II. At that time it moved to Nashville and was renamed the national “Cotton Maid” pageant. Back in the day the theater was also used for minstrel and vaudeville shows. Today the theater is still in operation with it being used approximately once a month or more for events.

According to historic paperwork, the Ramona was built on the site of an earlier theater named the A-Mus-U. I do not know if any part of the original structure from that building is still standing as a part of the Ramona. They did acquire funding for construction of the current theater through stock sales to investors. The building was built in the Spanish Colonial style that was popular in 1915-1940.

It is interesting that I was able to find a reference to numerous theaters being built in that time frame that would fit the earlier building being named the AMUSU. At the time of this writing I am not sure which version is correct the A-Mus-U or AMUSU. If this was the originally AMUSU then it could have begun its history from a man named Allan Tom. He had a dream where he took to the road with silent movies in a Traveling Picture Show. I cannot confirm this at the moment but will continue to explore what may have been originally located here.

The theater still contains the original fixtures and details except the second floor balcony which was changed to the current marquee in 1949. When it was opened in 1929 it was hailed as the “Showplace of the Southwest”. This jewel of the past has given some of the workers reason to pause and think they were not alone or think they may be going crazy. These stories prompted our group to be the first to investigate for paranormal activity.

We really enjoyed being in the Ramona with all of its rich history. You could almost feel what it was like to be back in 1929. Our investigation was productive in that most of our team had some sort of personal experience while there. It wasn’t until we went through our footage and audio several times that we realized we actually captured something. We were able to get evidence that there is something unexplainable going on inside the theater. We captured numerous evps on our investigation. Some of the evps seemed to be of an intelligent nature and not just residual. I will be uploading the evidence to the society of the haunted website soon.

Go check out the gallery for this investigation
http://www.hauntedchef.com/1960-2/the-ramona-theater/

The Lawton Constitution wrote an article about us coming our to investigate. You can read about that article here

http://www.hauntedchef.com/2011/10/04/who-you-gonna-call/

Have  you ever seen something out of the corner of your eye when you turned to look you couldn’t see anything? This makes most people question if they really saw something at all and you should. Was it the shadow of a passing car outside or just in your imagination because you haven’t gotten much sleep lately? Some people in this situation are too quick to jump to the conclusion that it is paranormal even if they haven’t had anything else happen in their home. You should be open to the possibility that there could be a logical explanation for the noises or shadows.

When you call a group be mindful that you will be asked questions to see what you may have going on. There have even been times when I try to explain that there may be a logical explanation where I have had potential clients get angry and defensive. Part of my job as case manager is to see if a case warrants our group to go out in the first place. There is no reason to be defensive because I am asking questions to try to figure out what may be going on. Just because I am asking questions does not mean I do not believe you or think that you are crazy. I really want to help you figure it all out. I may schedule our team to come out or refer another group that we know to check out your property.

If you do have something in your home where you feel the need to prove it you can call our group or any paranormal team in your area to investigate. My advice is that you should be careful with who you let come into your home. Are they a legitimate paranormal group? How long have they been investigating? Do they screen all the members of the team? Do they charge? Is the team just a group of kids who have decided to form a team because they thought it would be fun to scare each other on a Saturday night? What equipment do they have? How do they investigate?

After a team comes into your home you should be told what happened while they investigated that night. The group will then give you what evidence they collected after a period of time which varies from group to group. The evidence can be video, photos and audio clips with evps. You should be patient with waiting for the evidence. Groups have to go through everything with a fine tooth comb so to speak. They may want to go back through it a few times to ensure they caught everything. Most people reviewing the evidence have other jobs and families where they are not sitting down dedicated to evidence review all day. Make sure the group is even going to give you copies of the evidence. I have had a few cases where groups went into a home before us but the client was not given anything even though the group told them they caught a full bodied apparition on video.

Paranormal groups can show what they call evidence all day that is real and you may think it is not real, was faked or has some reasonable explanation other than the one the group is sharing with you. This is the problem with proving anything paranormal. You should question everything for yourself anyway! How would you know if a group was being honest with you? There are new teams that pop up every day with no experience. Many of the new groups think everything is paranormal. Some groups want fame and are willing to throw together things that are not real or questionable at best. Some things that are questionable are orbs, feelings and psychic impressions.

After you get the evidence look through it and question it for yourself. You should not blindly believe in whatever a group tells you. Have they given you orb photos? Some groups will take a picture of dust and say this is an orb which is a spirit. A photographer cannot tell the difference between dust and what some would call a spirit. How is it that anyone can say it is a spirit then? This is the reason our group does not show orb photos as proof of the afterlife. I know many people really believe in orbs even when you show them proof that dust can create the same effect.

An evp can really be another team member whispering. If the group has a high turn over rate for members they may not recognize each others voices. Was the evp collected at a public event or was the whole team in the location at the time the evp was collected? It is hard to rule out another member or person in this case. When running audio there should not be anyone whispering ever. How many people run audio in the group and do they synchronize their equipment? If only one person is collecting audio how can it really be ruled as an evp?

Has the group given you a psychic report? The world is filled with psychics who are out to get money or fame and who are fake. I am not saying all psychics are fake but there are enough in the world where you should question what is being said. It is sickening to think that while some are really gifted there are others who really are nothing better than con artists. How would you know the difference? Our group has had personal experience with both real and fake types. Our group uses every means we can to investigate and this can include psychics. When we give you information from a psychic it is just another piece of information in the puzzle that is your property and you should view it as such.

Some teams only come in to look and verify that you have paranormal activity. After they leave your house you should only expect to be given whatever evidence they found. These types of teams are not here to help you figure out what to do now that they have confirmed you have something in your home. You are then left on your own to figure it out for yourself. Some teams will not even call you back to give advice. Be careful with groups who charge you to investigate and then do cleansings. They are in the business of trying to make money by making you scared to give them money. Your priest or pastor can come in and do a cleansing/blessing and will not charge to help you out.

The bottom line is that if you do call a group out know what you are getting yourself into when you call them by asking them questions. Try to be open to the experience when they do come and please think for yourself!

There is really something chilling about capturing an evp (electronic voice phenomenon) when you know that there is no way anyone could have been recorded at the time. It is just amazing to me when I capture one that seems to be trying to communicate with us. One theory is that radio waves bounce back and somehow are able to be picked up by the recorder. How does this explain a disembodied voice responding to a conversation in an appropriate way?

Some evps are just random for no apparent reason. The other night the group went out to a location previously never investigated before and captured someone singing Hello my darling hello my honey hello my ragtime gal. How random is that? It was loud as if a radio had turned on but with just the voice and no music playing along with it.

Listen  singing Hello my darling hello my honey hello my ragtime gal

In July we were in Galveston at an old cemetery. Just a few of us were in the cemetery when we captured several evps. This was the second time we have been out to this cemetery. We were getting hits on the meter while investigating. Some felt cold spots and head whispers. We were able to catch 19 evp. Here are some of the audio clips

1. One of the best evps is in this particular audio clip. We had gone from one side of the cemetery to another and something decided to say “my side”

Listen  My side

2. I am handing Jordan one of our meters and do not want her to drop it so I say  “Don’t drop it”. We get an evp repeating “don’t drop it” right after I tell her

Listen Don’t drop it

3. In between the meter going off and Jordan asking what happened why is it red we capture an evp asking “What happened”

Listen What Happened

4. I think they were trying to get our attention by saying hi

Listen  Hi

5. All I can understand in this is “can’t help”

Listen  Can’t help

6. This was a strange evp to catch …. zip

Listen  Zip

7. I think we were being followed this night by a few spirits. They said ” hey lets go” perhaps because they saw us getting ready to leave

Listen  Hey lets go

8.  We were leaving when we captured this evp that says :Get out of the way”

Listen  Get out of the way

I believe life is a gift and I use this gift to love others through service. One of the ways I am able to be of service to the community is by being the case manager for the Society of the Haunted. In this role I take calls from people wanting to understand what may be happening in their home. Most of the time they are scared and hope they are not loosing their mind. Sometimes I take calls from people who think the activity is cool and they just want verification that it is spiritual and not the hot water tank. All the callers feel they have nobody they can really talk to so they find relief telling me their stories. I am happy to listen and help them.

Another way I help is by going onto the property where strange things are happening. I investigate along with other members of the team to try to find logical explanations. This itself is a huge help to our clients. We will point out the hot water tank which is making noises and then they are able to get it fixed. The problem for them in this type of situation is now solved. It is also a help when we catch the activity for ourselves. The homeowner is now not alone because they have a witness. Sometimes there is no explanation that can be found. In that type of situation it looks like they may perhaps have a visitor. Science has not yet been able to explain everything yet. Our whole team is there for others to help them through the discovery of what may be there. We are also a team that will continue to be there for them in the future.

If you know someone who may be experiencing a problem feel free to refer our group. Even if they do not want us to come out I am available to help by listening to their stories.

Earlier in 2011 our team was featured on the season premier of Animal Planet’s “The Haunted” show in the episode called The Monster in the Closet. This house was a place we had investigated numerous times trying to help the family.  Animal Planet was originally going to call this episode the “wrath of the wraith”. The term wraith is defined as a vengeful spirit with red eyes which is fitting for the description of what we knew to be there. The thing that was called red eyes has been gone since we performed the house cleansing that was aired on the haunted episode.

We have investigated their house since the episode aired because there was still some activity going on. The last time we were at the house Tal wanted to give me a gift she had made herself. She offered me one of her paintings and allowed me to choose which one. She would only give it to me if it were going to hang in my house. Everyone that has been in my home knows I am an art lover. I also love to paint myself when I have the time. It is a shame but I haven’t had time to paint in a long while now.

I decided on which painting I wanted and picked the one in her bedroom. This was the main area for activity in the home when red eyes was there. She told me the name of the painting is titled “Ode to the Oklahoma Winds” and wanted me to remember that. She didn’t just hand it to me because she wanted both of us to bless the painting. We said the “Our Father” and anointed the painting with holy water on all the corners. She also wrote a prayer of thanks and love on the back so I would always remember her and that the family loved us. I will never forget them. None of us will forget them!

The back of the painting says : “You have blessed this house, you have blessed me! I love you always & God is always with us both! “Deliver all of us from evil!” The painting now hangs on my wall in my home where I get to look at it and think about their family every day

That test is going to be a doosey! Yesterday I posted an article about life being a gift. This gift is wonderful, sad, scary and amazing. There are emotions and so many questions that come up  when you think about life. Two examples I can think of off the top of my head are why are we here and what am I going to accomplish while here?  I believe in the concept that life is but a moment so make the most out of it. This does not mean party til you drop. Life has a much deeper meaning, don’t you think? No matter what your religious background everyone has the believe or hope in life after death. If we are here for a brief period of time and life goes on after we die then maybe we should all be thinking that life could be a test.

Speaking of tests my dad used to say keep up we are going to have a test. I have memories of him saying that all the time. As a child I actually thought we were going to be taking a test on what I didn’t know.  He also used to say “did you hear the frog “when he would pass gas. In my childlike mind I believed him and would look for the frog while he was laughing. One day I remember riding in the back of the car watching my dad drive. He wanted to drive this day even though he was very sick. We were going to the hospital where he would have surgery for colon cancer. Trying to make the situation light I asked him when are we ever going to take “that test.” He just laughed at my little joke. I was thinking we have been taking that test the whole time. That was the last time I would ever sit behind my dad watching him drive.

If you were to be forced to sit and examine your life right now would you like what you see? Why wait for a traumatic experience to make you realize life is fleeting? Why not live every day as if it were the last day of your life. Be proud of what you have done. If you are not proud, change things. Grab the bull by the horns and take charge of your life. You are the master of your own fate and the captain of your own destiny. Make it happen!

Go read a fascinating account of examining your life called file cabinets

We should all take time out of our life to stop and smell the roses or notice that rainbow. Life really is a gift and I know it! I realize all the time there is more to life than the here and now. I am reminded of that every time I go to help one of our clients. Our time in this plane of existence is only temporary. With this in mind I believe in living life right, following the golden rule and loving your neighbor. This love is a part of living life right and is done through service to others. Through selfless service to others we can gain something better than all the money in the world could buy and that thing is called grace. When my body dies my soul will go on and I want the state of my soul to be in this state of grace. I don’t do this by acting on occasion with the intent of banking my good works. I do it every moment of every day and in every act that I perform. Acting all the time with good intent will keep my soul in a state of grace. My motto has always been “Carpe diem (which means seize the day)! Whatever you can do or dream you can! Begin it. Boldness has genius, power, magic in it.” I do believe that life is a gift so I am going to live to the fullest that I possibly can. I also am doing it while filled with love for my neighbor.