COMING SOON!!!!!!!!!! A feedback section on the Paranormal cafe where you can leave comments and tell stories of your own encounters. This is just the beginning of lots of fun to come.

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL X

The line between life and death is as delicate as a whisper in the night. A thin veil, separating this world from the one that lies just beyond each of our last breaths, lingers patiently in the shadows. In an instant each and every one of us can be brought to our knees with the unwanted news of the death of someone we care about. Our own fragile existence can be extinguished as easily as the flame of a candle. What happens to us once we pass from this world into the next? Do we close our eyes, let the darkness of sleep overwhelm us and simply cease to be? Or, do we break free of our body and slowly ascend towards an irresistible light that beckons us? Is the afterlife no more then mans attempt to alleviate his own fear of dying? The belief in life after death has been with human kind since the first small utterances of language slipped between the lips of early humans. Throughout time humans have devised numerous devises to try and understand and deal with the inevitability of death. Stories of an afterlife have been told by any number of near death survivors. Some of these stories involve a place of utter peace and reunions with loved ones who have already passed. Other stories are not quite so pleasant. Some people return and tell tales of pain and terror and darkness. In most of these cases the experience is directly related to the kind of life that the individual has led. This raises the question, is there at the very least more than one destination on the road map leading into the afterlife? First hand experiences from these near death survivors would suggest that the answer is yes. Mans preoccupation with death has been his constant companion since the very beginning of conciseness. Each of us is born into this world bearing the same curse, a death sentence from which there is no escape. Even those of us who manage to live a long and healthy life still have the same ending to face as those who only live a few hours. Death is as much a part of us as is life itself. With this unbreakable relationship that we carry with us between life and death, each and everyone of us has searched for the comforting knowledge that the passing of our physical body is in fact not the end of life but merely the next step we as human beings must take in our evolutionary journey. The concept of organized religion is rooted in the argument of what happens to us, or more precisely our soul, once we die. The power of the Church has always relied on the fear that people have about dying as a tool for power and control. Ergo, you tow the line and do what church doctrine says or your soul will be doomed to eternal damnation. Quite an effective means of keeping the followers in line if you think about it. My distaste for organized religion does by no means indicate I don’t believe in things greater then myself in the Universe. I in fact do. I’ve enjoyed reading a book, several times in fact, called ‘The Celestine Prophesy’. This book is so in touch with the things I’ve thought about and questioned my whole life that I found myself quite pleased to learn that someone else has had thoughts similar to my own. This book is a work of fiction but it delves heavily into the spiritual movement that a lot of people are turning to as an alternative to traditional forms of organized religion. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who feels like having an uplifting and enlightening reading experience. Here’s a link for a little bit of information on The Celestine Prophesy. http://www.celestinevision.com I’ve often contemplated the idea that we travel throughout time in soul groups with those we love and care about. As we do in life on this world, I think that we gravitate towards those we wish to be with in the afterlife, or as I like to call it, the alternate or other life. We share experiences as well as learn lessons together that make us more of a complete entity as we move towards our ultimate destination of enlightenment and true self awareness. I think we take the experiences that we have while here in life with us when we pass on. Of course the argument could be made that what I have just proposed is nothing more then comforting conjecture. But, if there is one thing that I am certain of is that the spiritual conciseness continues on once the body ceases to live. As a ghost hunter for many years before the art of the hunt became a popular and in vogue TV ritual, I have had many experiences with various aspects of the paranormal. I have been touched in rooms when I am seemingly the only person there. I have watched shadows that look like they are being caste by human beings move along walls even though no one was there to create the shadow. I’ve seen items move before me in a reality defying manner. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear disembodied voices come out of the shadows and then later review a recorder and confirm that what I heard was indeed words and a voice. I’ve watched a shadow of a hangman’s noose move across a wall as well as an orb of pure light energy follow me in an old hotel. The later I was fortunate enough to get a picture of before it disappeared into thin air. I’ve heard whispers in my ear and walked into a temperature change of ice cold air in a building that was quite warm. Each of these experiences has been an exhilarating and mind opening event for me. They have bolstered in me the belief that the death of the body is not the end of the road for us, but instead it is more of a weigh station or getting off point that we all must experience. I believe that for most people the transition is a smooth one and they move on to the next place that they are meant to be without any problems. Some are not so lucky. Why various individuals do not make this seguay into the other life with ease is a question that I have considered with great interest for many years now. The common assumption for the presence of a spirit is that the individual feels as though they had died with unfinished business that needed to be dealt with. Until such a time they will never be able to move on or rest. Other theory’s involve the idea that the ghostly inhabitant was the victim of a untimely or violent ending and can’t transverse to the afterlife until justice is served or they are released through understanding of the situation that they are in. Only then can the spirit find the peace that they so desperately need. One of the theory’s I tend to give a little extra thought to is the idea that the individuals in question do not know that they are dead. To them the world that they new and lived in continues to appear before them as they go about their daily routines. My associates and I have discussed the possibility that maybe these entities view us as a ghostly presence intruding into their lives. I find this line of thinking absolutely fascinating. To imagine that we are fluxing between what is and what was or will be is enough to keep many a conversation going for many hours into the night. For myself, once again I want to reiterate, these experiences and the contemplation of what they mean to me and to humanity as a whole have left me with no doubt that we do not die when our bodies do, but instead we move on to something greater. The hardest part about facing death, at least for me, is the just not knowing where it is you are going. I’m a creature of habit and things like that drive me nuts. I imagine that death is much harder on those of us left behind by a friend or a loved one then it is on the individual who has passed . It’s the missing someone that is the hardest for me to deal with. If this months Café can give anyone who reads it just a little comfort about the prospects of death, then I feel it was well worth the effort of writing it. ******************************************************* The other subject I wanted to discuss this month is the Mayan calendar and the end of the 5125 year cycle of time that is rapidly approaching. On December 21, 2012 the Mayan calendar simply ends. To many a doomsday advocate and other nut job types out there, this has become an opportunity to latch on to their favorite subject…the end of the world. These fanatics believe, and want the rest of us to be scarred senseless right along with them, that on this date the world as we know it will cease to be. Suddenly these people latch on to an idea about the end of the world that revolves around the calendar of an ancient people that these end of the world prophesy preachers have never before gave a second thought to. Ask them when the Mayans lived as a civilization or anything else about them as a people and you will most likely get a blank stare in return for your question. The Mayans were a scientifically advanced people who understood the movements of the stars and the planets in the heavens. They were not fortune telling psychics that claimed to have an ability to see into the future and predict future events. A little background on the Mayan civilization is required at this time. The Mayans civilization began somewhere around 2600 BC in what is now known as the Yucatan region of Mexico and central America. They rose to prominence around 250 AD and as their influence in the region grew, so did their achievements. The Mayan people developed a written hieroglyphic script as well as an extremely detailed calendar system. They learned the ways of mathematics and astronomy and built elaborate observatories to study the sky’s and universe. All this at a time when Europeans were busy doing pretty much nothing but waging war on one another and believing that the Earth was flat and the center of everything that is or shall be. While other cultures around the world wasted their time and energy on violence and dominance, the Mayans built a civilization of truly wondrous accomplishments. The most relevant, as it pertains to this discussion, is the amazingly accurate calendar (a 365 day a year calendar) they were able to create. The Mayans broke time down in cycles that lasted 5125 years each. The infamous date of December 21st, 2012 correlates with the end of one of these cycles and basically nothing more. A cycle that lasted 5125 years + 133 days.(3114 BC~2012 CE, Christian era, in our calendars framework) This date is of course the winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere) when the earth is at a maximum angle at the equator causing the Sun to be at it’s furthest point south. This the shortest day of the year as well as the longest night. In the year 2012 the winter solstice falls at the same time as a celestial event known as the galactic alignment. The galactic alignment is where the Sun crosses the galactic equator (the exact center line of the galaxy) during the winter solstice. This occurs every 25800 years and will continue to do so in the future. This particular year will be a little bit special as the alignment of the Sun to the galactic equator will be exactly spot on.(remember this only happens ever 25800 years) However, the Sun has been crossing the galactic plane every year since 1984 and will continue to do so until 2019. It is most likely that the Mayan calendar cycle was designed to follow the seasons of nature and this why the end date coincides with the winter solstice. To make a long story short, the Mayans made no reference or suggestion that they believed that the world would come to an end at the close of what they referred to as ‘the long count’. The only thing that the Mayans expected to occur when day zero was reached was for a new ‘long count’ cycle to begin. Nothing more. Do not fear December 21, 2012. It’s just another day. ******************************************************* Well folks, that’s it for this installment of the Café. As always, if you saw something that you enjoyed or have ideas that you would like to share, feel free to send us an email. We would love to hear from you and hear about your experiences and ideas. Until next time remember…‘Look for what lies just beyond your perception’. See you all again soon. Peace. Kenny G

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL IX

Welcome to the Paranormal Café. Sit down and take a load off and try to relax for awhile and just enjoy yourself. Let me start off this issue by saying thank you to everyone who comes to the MAPS website and partakes of the Café. It takes a lot of effort to write this, but knowing that I can inform and educate as well as entertain my readers makes this all worth while. I would like to ask everyone who enjoys the Café to tell their friends about it and our web site in order to grow readership. I would eventually like to have enough hits so that I could put some sponsors on the page to help generate money for MAPS. Plus, it would be really cool to achieve a national or even an international readership of this Blog. On that note, hey to all my Canadian relatives who drop in and read up on the world of paranormal activities. The other hot topic that I want to address before I dive into this issue of the Café is Halloween. This year we at MAPS have been ask to run the Haunted House at Kranz Flowers. We have dived in and did a ton of work to change things up and hopefully make it scary as all HELL! I want to say a special thanks to Michelle, Anna and Jeff who have put countless hours of effort into preparing what I am calling “The Kranz House of Horrors”. ****************************************** This time in the Café, as promised last time, alien abduction. The questions needing to be asked here are…1) are we being visited by aliens from other worlds? (not Mexico, we know they are here…jokes) And 2) are they abducting humans on the sly? For roughly fifty years now detailed reports have been kept on alleged cases of alien abduction. This is not to say that alien abduction is something new to modern man only. Stories going back thousands of years have people telling tales of being taken away at night by other earthly creatures such as fairies or spirits. Humans tend to try and explain what they don’t understand by attributing them to the things of their stories and legends. Does this mean that alleged abduction reports are nothing more then modern mans attempt to explain what he doesn’t understand through a generalization of pop culture phenomenon? Are aliens merely our societies version of fairies and spirits? The answer, in my opinion, is no. I think that it is more likely what people thought were fairies and spirits were more likely aliens. The concept of aliens would have been beyond comprehension to humans of a couple of hundred years ago. It wasn’t until the 17th century that through visionaries like Galileo, did mankind start to view the universe as it really is. Up until this time it was not uncommon to find most people believing that the Earth was not only flat but the center of all creation as well. Galileo had studied the work of the Polish scientist Copernicus. Copernicus had deduced in the 16th century that the Sun was the center of the Universe, not the Earth, and that the Earth orbited around the Sun. To the Roman Catholic church this was heresy and unacceptable. Despite all of his scientific knowledge and willingness to think beyond what society thought to be the truth, Galileo was tried and convicted of heresy by the church for his advances in understanding the dynamics of our Solar System. He was forced to publicly recant his beliefs and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. How could such a closed minded and obviously subjugated (by the church) people even begin to image that there could be creatures from another planet visiting ours. In their minds other planets didn’t even exist. Only the enlightened few, like Galileo who observed them through early telescopes, knew that there were other planets beyond our own and that we did not live at the center of the Universe. In my opinion, this would make early man ripe for the picking as he went about his own oblivious way. There have been numerous cave drawings as well as depictions of UFO’s and aliens throughout history for thousands of years. From the American continent to Asia and Europe and South America there are pictures that can be found etched in stone walls, carved in the rock of pyramids, as well as paintings found in pages of the Christian Bible. Only in the last 65 to 70 years has our science and understanding of the universe truly began to paint an accurate picture of the way things really are. An understanding that allows us to begin to comprehend the vast wonders of the Universe and appreciate the possibility of the countless planets that could harbor untold varieties of life that most likely exist in the vast ocean of Outer Space. Only an egotistical fool would believe that Earth is the only planet, in a Universe of billions and billions of planets, that had found the means to create life. There are countless stars that have lived and died long before our Sun was even born. One must logically assume that alien civilizations lived and died along with them before the rocks and debris, that formed Earth, had themselves yet been formed. And even now there are as many stars in the Universe as there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth. Many that are far older than our own life giving star. Even if only a small percentage of those stars formed planets with life on them, and then an even smaller percentage of those planets developed life that evolved into an intelligent civilization, there would still be more planets then we could count. That is how vast and amazing the Universe is. I think the need to explore and spread out would be a trait that most intelligent life would share. That is why I believe that it is perfectly natural to believe that some of those advanced civilizations have and are visiting our planet. To any advanced species it would be pretty hard to miss us. Earth has been sending radio and television signals out into space in all direction for just over a hundred years now. Not that any observing alien race probably needed them to find us. As I suggested earlier, I believe they have been visiting for thousands of years now, long before we lit the planet up like a Christmas tree. A common argument that is postulated about is questioning the ability for an alien race to travel the vast distance that would need to be crossed in order to reach Earth. I get tired of hearing various ‘EXPERTS’ try and convince who ever will listen to them that it is ‘INPOSSIBLE’ to achieve. My problem with this is that they are applying our science and our understanding of physics to a hypothetical alien species that we know nothing about. I can only imagine with awe and wonder what a species that developed civilization before mankind even walked upright might be capable of. Things like wormhole travel or creating a warp field, which is beyond our science at this time, may be well within the grasp of a species thousands of years older than Humanity. If I were to go back in time and fly over Rome in a Black Hawk helicopter, imagine the reaction of the locals to such a sight. Many would claim such things are impossible, despite seeing it with their own eyes. It would even be a relatively simple matter for me to quietly fly in a night and send members of my crew to gather some subjects for study. This could all be done on the sly with no one but the abductees ever being the wiser. The government would dismiss it as mass hysteria or hallucination and proceed to tell everyone that they didn’t actually see or experience anything. The church would use it as leverage to try and strengthen their position and control by claiming it to be an act of God, or the Gods, whatever the case may be. All of this sounds pretty convincing to a people curious for answers, however, none of it would be true or accurate. The truth in this situation would simply be an incursion from a far superior and technologically advanced visitor. I think this pretty much illustrates the same situation that humans face with extraterrestrial visitors today.************************************** The first case of abduction by aliens that seemed to really garnish quite a bit of publicity took place on September 19th, 1965. On this night in New Hampshire two peoples lives would forever change. Barney and Betty Hill were returning from Canada at about 10:00 PM at night when they noticed what they thought was a star in the sky. What drew their attention to this particular star was it’s erratic behavior. The Hills continued to drive towards home but eventually Barneys curiosity got the best of him and he stopped the car and grabbed his binoculars in order to take a better look at the object that he and his wife had been observing throughout the evening. To Barneys surprise what he observed was not a star but what looked to be some sort of aircraft with multi colored lights and windows. Barney could actually make out what he thought to be people inside the windows. At this point the Hills became worried and decided to get back into the car and be on their way. After driving for only a few moments they looked for the object but could no longer see it anywhere in the sky. This was when they discovered that even though they had only been driving for a couple of minutes they were now thirty five miles from where they had just been. As it turns out the Hills had lost two hours of time that they could not account for and Betty soon began to have nightmares of her and her husband being forced by alien creatures into the craft and experimented on. An interesting piece of information involving this case is the fact that when Betty reported what she and her husband had seen to the Air Force, the Air Force acknowledged that they had in fact been tracking the object on radar. The Barney and Betty Hill case has become the benchmark case that all other abduction cases are measured against. Another famous alien abduction case involves the author of the novel Communion. Whitley Strieber describes his personal experiences as an alien abduction victim in a page by page account of what he claims happened to him. On December 26,1985, Strieber and his family were spending the holidays at a cabin in upstate New York when he experienced something that would change his life forever. Six hours after going to bed, Strieber awoke in a strange place other then where he had gone to bed. Initially he only remembered bits and pieces of the events that took place through foggy bits of memory. Soon however his behavior became more and more anxious and agitated. This is when he decided to start concentrating deeply on the events of that night. This effort began to pay dividends as the memories began to return with more and more detail and clarity. Strieber recalled being carried out of his bedroom by several small aliens (Greys as they have come to be known over many accounts from many varied abduction victims) and taken into their craft. He remembered them talking to him both telepathically and verbally as well being probed and examined as the subject of many scientific experiments. With these memories now rushing to the surface, Strieber realized he needed emotional help to cope with the memories and feelings he was now struggling to deal with. With help from his therapist, Strieber began to recall memories from well before that life altering night in December of 1985. He now realized that he had been singled out, as a child, for on going study by what he called the “Visitors”. Through exploring his life’s memories with his therapist, he discovered many unusual memories buried under false memories. Memories that were inconsistent and made little sense upon review. At this point Strieber felt that it would help him to write a book documenting his experience, an experience that turned him from a skeptic into a believer. The descriptions and accounts revealed in the novel Communion are considered to be of landmark significance to the UFO community. It provides an insiders experience of abduction for all to understand as well as a base line for the purpose of comparison to other abduction cases. ****************************************** Each year in the United States alone there are many reports of alien abduction that come from a variety of people. The interesting thing about the cases that are deemed credible is the consistency of experience and detailed description of the events and the aliens involved. Most abduction victims describe their abductors as small of build grey skinned creatures with large hairless heads with large black slanted eyes, a small slit mouth with no lips or teeth and virtually no ears or nose. The body is described as thin and like the head, hairless. The creatures arms are described as very long with three to four fingers and hang down to the knees. The legs are very skinny and short by comparison to the arms. The common abduction experience is described as paralysis at the point of abduction followed by numerous exams and experiments. The abductees’ memory is usually clouded over so that they will not remember the experience, or think it to be a dream if they do, when they wake up. Most abductees only begin to recall experiences once they seek out professional help and undergo hypnosis and regression therapy. Many of these victims of alien abduction suffer from various psychological disorders ranging from nightmares to depression to social anxiety and paranoia. Only through discovering the source of their problems and subsequently working through them are they able to push them aside and conduct normal lives. One of the greatest obstacles facing abductees is the ridicule placed on them by most of society and the stigma of being crazy. This in itself keeps many people from coming forth about their own abduction encounters. Not until we have physical proof and acknowledgement from the government that aliens not only exist but are in fact on Earth and among us, will people who have been, or believe they have been, the victim of alien abduction be taken seriously and not made fun of any longer. There are numerous accounts of alien abduction and UFO activity that can be found on the internet and in your local library. The more we as a society collectively educate ourselves on such topics as the paranormal and UFOs, the better our understanding and willingness to accept such possibilities will be. ****************************************** The next logical question to ask here is…why are aliens abducting humans? Its hard to say why without actual tangible proof that it is actually happening in the first place. Even as a believer that it is indeed taking place, I acknowledge that personal accounts and experiences are not enough to prove that the phenomenon is real. In a legal court of law, these accounts would be considered circumstantial evidence and most likely be dismissed. But I am writing this under the assumption that alien abduction is indeed real and taking place on Earth. My thoughts on the question as to why aliens are doing this is a combination of reasons. It is possible that we offer them a glimpse into there own history and evolutionary process. Perhaps in addition to satisfying their scientific curiosity about us, they have evolved and advanced to a point where they need genetic material from us in order to continue with their own survival. I have often contemplated the idea that perhaps the aliens that we refer to as Greys were at one time like we are now, but with the passage of time and the advancements of science and evolutions path towards eventuality, they have lost the ability to continue to survive without dipping into the genetic gene pool closest to their own past. Us. Perhaps humans are the key to their survival? Of course it could simply be nothing more than scientific curiosity. Maybe to them we are like the animals that that we tag with identification and tracking collars. Perhaps we are nothing more then creatures’ studied to satisfy the their interests in simpler life forms then themselves. Hopefully the day will eventually arrive when these aliens, these Visitors, will deem us worthy of open acknowledgement and start a dialog with the people of Earth. Until that day however, we will remain unwilling test subjects and Guinea pigs to a race of beings much more powerful and advanced then we ourselves are. ****************************************** A final thought before I close out this issue of the Paranormal Café. October 4th has come and gone with amazing quickness. One year ago on October 4th my Mom died from cancer. (which those of you who are regular readers know) I can’t even begin to believe that a whole year has passed since she did. At times it seems like I haven’t talked with her in what must be forever, but here it is, a year racing by on it’s way to being two years. I still miss my Mom so much, and the pain of her death still lingers like a sore that wont heal. Perhaps next year will be a little easier? I want to use this space to tell my beautiful wife Sabra how much I love her and how much I appreciate her love and compassion and her sharing of strength with me. With out you, I don’t know how I could have made it this far on my own. So in closing the Café this time, I am including a little poem I wrote for my Mom. ****************************************** We are but fragile creatures, you and I. Born to live, yet born to die. And just like winter, which shortens the day. With a touch of darkness, we’re carried away. Set loose from the tether, this Earthly grasp. Unchained unburdened, free at last. ****************************************** I love you and miss you Mom. Until next time remember. Look for what lies just beyond your perception. Thanks. Kenny.

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL VIII

Volume VIII The July/August Paranormal Café   On July 20th in the year 1969, men from earth achieved the greatest feat in human history.  On this day, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module, while Michael Collins piloted the return craft in orbit, and secured their place in the history books as the first human beings to walk on a foreign celestial body.  The dream of man walking on the Moon had been realized and the world forever changed.  I remember sitting on the floor of my parents house, a four year old child watching in silent awe as the Eagle Lander closed in on the surface of the Moon.   My eyes grew fatigued as I stared at the televisions screen and waited for the two sons of earth to emerge from the small confines of the Eagles life giving cockpit.  I  remember the silence in the room as nobody dare make a sound in fear of missing even a hint of the transmissions between Earth and the brave pioneers so far from home.  I still get goose bumps when I remember the hatch opening up to the cold unforgiving harshness of space.  Armstrong, the missions commander, then crawled out of the Lunar Lander and began to negotiate the ladder that would take him into the history books.  As Armstrong reached the end of the ladder and his feet made contact with the surface of the Moon  a small poof of dust sprang up over his boot heels and momentarily hung there.  At that moment I felt an excitement that lays just out of reach of description.  Soon followed that immortalized transmission, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  This was truly a magical moment in the history of mans tenure on this beautiful rock that forever travels around our Sun in its delicate elliptical orbit just three planets out.  Our lives would be forever changed.  Mankind was no longer harnessed to just this world.  I have what I believe to be a very distinct memory of this event that I don’t believe to many people out there share.  As I mentioned earlier, I had just turned four years old when the Moon landing occurred.  I remember it as if it were yesterday, but what makes my memory of the event so special to me is the fact that my recollection  is through the entranced eyes of a four year old boy who believed that anything was possible, and on that day it was.  I know that this has nothing to do with the world of the paranormal in any way, but in light of the fortieth anniversary of this amazing accomplishment I felt it fitting to share my thoughts and feelings.  As a child when this event occurred I really had no idea about patriotism or true love of country.  But on that day I remember feeling great joy.  Joy, that later in life, I would equate to patriotic pride that those men were from the same country that I lived in. I can’t help but wonder how far mankind may have made it out into the galaxy had the chase into space not been basically abandoned.  What is sad is that the Moon landing could not be accomplished today ( by known technology ) as I write this.  I realize that to venture into space takes very deep pockets of cash, and the economy has taken many hits over the last few decades.  But imagine the resources that sit waiting for us to mine in the asteroid belt that is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.  I can’t imagine that the cost to reach and then mine these asteroids would not be repaid ten fold in the bounty they could provide. ************************************************************************************ Well, it’s been a busy summer so far.  Last weekend the MAPS team headed to Bannack Mt for a little fun and a ghost hunt.  We met up with some new friends from Billings Mt.  The Montana Paranormal Research Society is a group of like minded individuals who also wish to learn all that they can about the world of paranormal research through the use of scientific equipment and practices.  I believe that this new friendship will yield a positive  and beneficial state of cooperation between our group in Great Falls and theirs in Billings.  We all really enjoyed getting to know these folks and look forward to some future joint investigations.   As far as the hunt in the historic town of Bannack, well that’s pending the review of our evidence.  What I can say is we did have a few very interesting personal experiences while we searched through this relic of the past.  I will discuss these once I know a little bit more about what our equipment saw in relation to what we saw.  Bannack is a Montana State Park and is free to visit for all Montana residents. If you get a chance to go check it out then by all means you should.  Even if you are not looking for spirits of ghosts, Bannack will offer you a enjoyable trip back into the old west and the life of those who lived and died there.  And who knows, you may even find someone who died there long ago but who is unwilling to leave. ************************************************************************************ I’ve been cruising around the internet lately watching videos of UFO sightings, and I have to say there are some really intriguing things to see.  There is a really interesting video of what appears to be a vehicle of  some type coming through a hyperspace wormhole.  One of these video’s can be seen at the following link…   http://www.4shared.com/file/75092330/8775e3ab/Spiral_UFO_coming_out_Wormhole_or_Hyperspace-Tomsk_Russia.html?err=no-sess This video is from Russia.  What I find really interesting about this phenomenon is that it repeats in several different locations all over the planet.  Here is another link to a similar video shot near Vandenberg AFB in the US.    http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAl11l5SwhAk   The official story on these is that it is a missile test.  Well, OK, maybe.  But I’ve never seen any missile test that looked like this.  In the ufology circles the talk is that this is in fact video footage of reverse engineered craft being flown and tested by human beings.  Once again who knows what the truth of the matter is.  I for one not only believe that our government has captured alien technology but has in fact used it to build vehicles that would astound the average person.  I can well imagine that the US has the capability to not only reach the Moon but go well beyond  it.  This of course is all speculation on my part as how could I  definitively  prove and back up such ideas?  I simply make my observations based on the rapid evolution of technology over the last hundred years.  If we go back in time to the year 1909, the world is a staggeringly different place.  Many homes have yet to even get electricity or indoor plumbing.  Motor vehicles are still relatively new to the world and aircraft are in their infancy and barely able to fly.  In fact, the first aircraft flight ever had only occurred a few years prior when the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in Dec. of 1903.  In a mere sixty six years man went from being stuck on the ground to landing on the Moon.  Now lets jump ahead to the year 1959.   Not only will you not find a Laptop or home computer in the average house, good luck finding any computer what so ever.  The earliest “computers” developed in the 1940’s and 1950’s were nothing more then giant calculators that crunched linear numbers and were of no use for anything other then sparking the imaginations of dreamers.  As we move into the 1960’s we find computers starting to become a little more prevalent. IBM had developed computers that had to be programmed with punch cards that did little more then take up the entire floor of a building.  As a matter of comparison, the computers on the Apollo Space Capsules had about the same computing power as that of a modern calculator.  This in its self shows how truly impressive the Moon landing really was.  It wasn’t until the 1970’s ( when people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started writing useable software) that the computer started to resemble the ones that we know today. Computers slowly got faster and more powerful throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s and continued to evolve and get faster and faster into the 2000’s.  Today, a computer savvy person can sit down in front of their laptop computer and perform functions that range from designing high tech electronic chips to drawing elaborate building designs to making a special effects filled feature length movie. These are things that were unheard of fifty years ago, even unimagined if you will.  We have accelerated technologically at a dizzying pace over the last hundred years, and the last fifty especially.  Compared to humanities advancements throughout the rest of recorded history, we are moving forward in our lifetimes at several times the speed of light.  I can’t help but believe that humans had a little help with this rapid advancement.  Help that came in the form of recovered alien technology.  We went from telegraphs and transistor tubes and building-sized computers, to microchips and palm sized computers in less then half a century.  This is amazing advancements in a very short time frame.  Now don’t misunderstand me on this.  I’m not being critical in anyway here.  In fact I am very supportive of getting technological advancements whenever or wherever they may present themselves.  I hope that I am right and our government is developing future tech that is decades ahead of what we know to be true in the civilian world.  We know what kind of horrible dangers we face from those who hate us for who we are here on our own world.  Who knows what dangers may lay out beyond our Solar System.  I for one would like to think that Mankind may just be ready to face those dangers if they were to show up wanting things other then friendship.  Well, I hope that I have given you a little something to think about this month.  Go Google up some UFO videos and watch them closely.  Maybe you will find something that makes you reevaluate your thoughts and opinions on UFO’s and the technological advancements that we have made.******************************************************************************** Well that’s it for now.  Coming up in the next issue of the Paranormal Café, Alien abduction…real or mass hallucination?  Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this new issue and remember to sign the guest book and check out the donations page.  And as per usual, Remember to look for what lies just beyond our perception.  Peace…Kenny G.

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL VII

Mysterious creatures~~~~June’s Paranormal Café ***************************************** Since mankind took that first breath of self awareness, he has been afraid of things that go bump in the night. Since the earliest times of consciousness, humans have made up stories of creatures beyond the realm of normalcy in order to explain that which they could not understand or comprehend. Many creatures of mythology have risen out of a need to establish a measure of control over others through fear and the risk of the consequences of not falling in line with the wishes of those in power. The fear of the unknown is embedded so deeply in the human psyche that even to this day, despite all of our scientific advancements and technological breakthroughs, we as humans still jump at that thing going bump in the night. We fear that which we don’t understand or can’t explain and continue to try and control others through fear and manipulation. In this month’s issue of the Paranormal Café, I will talk about some of the monsters and creatures that humans have created (?) in the stories made up and passed down throughout the ages. From various religions to the stories told around the campfire in the dark of the night, I will attempt to shed a little light on the idea of otherworldly creature’s living in the shadows amongst us. But, what if some of these monsters are not just stories and legends, but actual creatures based in reality? So, without further pause, let us embark on what I hope will be an enlightening journey into the world of mythological creatures and the things that tend to frighten and amaze us. **************************************************************************************************** Bigfoot! Sasquatch, the Abominable Snowman, Yeti, Skunk Ape. These are a few of the names attributed to a very large and hairy human like creature. These creatures have been reported all over the planet by many different cultures through out recorded history. In North America this creature is commonly called Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Bigfoot is described as a large, bipedal hairy humanoid creature living in remote wilderness areas of the United States and Canada, specifically those areas in southwestern Canada, the Great Lakes, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the forests of the U.S. Northeast, and the U.S. Southern states. For hundreds of years, Indian tribes all over the North American continent have told their own stories of Bigfoot. Of course each tribe had their own name for the creature, but the stories and description of the creature are all surprisingly similar, despite the fact that most of these tribes have never had any kind of contact with one another. Natives seem to have always held Bigfoot in high regard, referring to him as Big or Elder Brother. Many of these tribes view Bigfoot as a creature sent to deliver a message from the creator or as beings who combine the "natural knowledge" of animals with "intelligence" of humans, because of this, Bigfoot is regarded as a special type of being. Many people have reported seeing this hairy giant while passing through the isolated mountains of the US and Canada. The highest percentage of sightings has been reported in the Pacific Northwest in Washington and Oregon, as many of the mountain passes are named in reference to Sasquatch by the Native Americans that have lived there for centuries. Sightings of similar creatures have been reported from places like the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, (Tibet) where the beast is called Yeti and the Abominable Snowman. The descriptions of how the creature looks and moves and acts are amazingly similar. It seems that there is an account of similar creature in other countries all across the globe, accounts that go back multiple centuries. Could so many different and varied peoples, separated by countless miles and not even knowing of the others existence, come up with the same imaginary creature? It is possible I think, but, unlikely. This in itself inclines me to believe that there is more to the Sasquatch legend then just fiction. Is Bigfoot real? Does the creature rumored to prowl the forest of the North American continent exist? What about the Skunk Ape of the American south? I truly don’t know, but I like to believe that they do. The magic of the unknown and the desire to search for answers to the questions that curiosity brings is a fundamental part of being human. With out the burning desire to explore and learn and understand the mysteries that surround each and every one of us, how would we grow as a species? It’s this very fundamental nature of Humans that first enticed man to harness fire and make a better weapon that still compels us to this day. Again I ask, Is Bigfoot real? And again I say I don’t know? I don’t know if Bigfoot is a breathing physical creature that roams the planet hidden in the shadows, but, I do believe that he is made real in our dreams and imaginations. The very possibility that such an animal may exist right under our noses is the driving force of exploration of not only our physical world, but the realm of our imaginations as well. So, in my own opinion, Bigfoot is as real as we want him to be. Many of the scientific community dismiss outright the possibility of such a creature because of the lack of physical evidence. No remains of a Sasquatch have ever been discovered. Without such evidence the hardcore science community will never accept the possibility of such a creature. I think that they are missing the big picture here and forgetting what it is that drew them to a career in science in the first place, the curiosity to learn about the undiscovered and unknown. So once more, I don’t know if Bigfoot is a living, breathing creature, but, I sure like believing that he is. That he’s out there right now, stomping through the timber and the shadows and living in harmony with the land and just waiting for the time to be right for us to meet him. ******************************************* El Chupacabra. El Chupacabra is a creature that’s very name evokes fear in the residents of Puerto Rico and Central America. El Chupacabra Means "the goat sucker" in Spanish and was first ‘spotted in Puerto Rico in 1994. It received its name because of its tendency to suck all the blood from the goats it was attacking and killing. It is hard to say what the Chupacabra looks like as the reported sightings very greatly. Some have it being green or grey, three to six feet tall and lizard like, while others have it looking more like a panther that walks upright or can fly. The greatest mystery of El Chupacabra is where did it suddenly come from? Some people believe it came from an alien spacecraft while others think it came through a dimensional portal. Others believe that it is a new as yet undiscovered species. Nobody really has any solid clues as to what it is or where in fact really came from, but one thing seems to be consistent, its hunting grounds are expanding. El Chupacabra has been reported as far south as Brazil as well as north into the US. This creature may very well remain a bizarre and unusual mystery until one is either captured or killed. ******************************************* What are Angels and Demons? Religious myth, or soldiers of higher powers? Everyone knows about Angels and Demons. Most religions acknowledge the existence of these creatures, but are they religious myth, made up by the architects of doctrine, or actual entities carrying out the orders of God and Lucifer? The Bible says that God sat in his throne in Heaven and he ruled over the World. Around him were his Archangels, making up the second choir of God. Angels were created by God to serve him, to deliver messages, and to give instruction for his commands. Angels also fight for, and protect us, as well as carry out judgment. They also serve as Gods army. The Archangel Michael is essentially the right hand of God, and leads Angelic forces on behalf of God against Satan, (also known as Lucifer or the Devil) when Satan tries to overthrow God. Satan it is said was once the most beautiful and highest of Gods Angels, but he grew arrogant in his power and beauty and decided that he should sit on the throne of God. Satan led an army of his followers against God in an attempt to seize Heaven for himself, but he was met by the Archangel Michael and Angels loyal to God. Satan was defeated by the army of God, and as punishment for his actions he and his followers were cast out of Heaven. It is commonly believed that the Angels who chose to betray God and follow Satan on his misguided attempt to overthrow Heaven became the Demons that now carry out the bidding of the Devil here on Earth. So, in getting back to my original question…are Angels and Demons real beings or entities of myth and legend? Well, I don’t pretend to be a religious scholar, but I do have my opinions. Perhaps by the end of this article, you will have a definitive opinion as well. Obviously, no one can definitively say that either of these exists as it is ultimately a matter of faith. I believe without a doubt, that there are things in the world that not even the most brilliant minds that have ever lived can explain. There is evil that can be easily seen taking place every day in this world. Terrible things, done by terrible people happen all of the time. What kind of dark and sinister forces hide in the shadows behind these actions? Demons? Quite possibly. People are always quite eager to accept the things in the world that they find pleasing or appealing but quick to dismiss that which they find frightening or undesirable. Just because we don’t care for the idea that horrible evil and demons exist, doesn’t mean that they don’t. Now, what about Angels? Is it really so hard to imagine that there are Beings in the Universe that are the embodiment of good? I have always believed in a harmonic balance to the universe, Ying and Yang if you will. When evil raises its ugly head, a force of good must exist to meet it. Throughout history there have been reports and accounts of angels coming to people in times of sorrow or need. Did God send them as agents on his behalf to help people in crisis make it through a troubled time? This also seems plausible. In a world as troubled as ours, perhaps the mere belief in Angels, even if for a moment we assume they are only creations of mythology, is enough to raise ones spirits and elevate an individual to a better, greater height of being. When we as Human Beings resist the whispering temptations of evil, and surround ourselves with those that aspire to not only better themselves but to also spiritually enlighten those around them as well as attempt to make the world a kinder, gentler place, I feel that we take one step further away from the influence of those, such as Satan and his Demons and move one step closer to the place where evil can not reach us. ******************************************* And on that note, I’ll close this months Paranormal Café. Remember; try to accept things you may not understand. Keep an open mind to what may exist unseen in the world around you. Just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean that it is not there. Keep your eyes open as you go through life and maybe, just maybe, you might be lucky enough to actually see one of these creatures. Remember to check out our contest page and don’t forget to enter for a cool prize, also…SIGN THE GUEST BOOK! That’s it for this month. We’ll see everyone next month. Remember to “look for what lies just beyond your perception.” Peace. Kenny G.

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL VI

UFO. Unidentified flying object. The mere mention of this phrase strikes up vivid imagery of hovering disc or cigar shaped objects in most people’s minds. Stories of alien crafts, with unmanageable flight abilities moving through the shadows at night and maybe abducting innocent victims for bizarre science experiments, have been reported throughout history. Depictions of what appear to be UFO’s have been found in ancient cave wall drawings around the world. In the American southwest, in the area of Death Valley, a series pictures drawn on cave walls depict two saucer shaped objects colliding high in the sky and one then crashing to the ground. A second ship then lands at the first ships crash sight and men from the second ship repair the first ship and both fly off into the sky. Another account from North America dates back to 5500BC in what is now Utah. This cave painting shows what appears to be strange creatures standing below a flying disk shaped object with wind or fire coming out of its bottom section. Twenty-nine thousand year old rock wall paintings in Tanzania show objects that look surprisingly similar to modern day accounts and descriptions of UFO’s. In Egypt, archeologists unearthed a 2000 year old electric battery, believed to be used for electroplating of objects, imbedded in rock that was carbon dated at being 500,000 years old. How did a 2000 year old object find its way inside of a 500,000 year old rock? This is a very intriguing mystery indeed. ****************************************** Our history is woven with stories, sightings and pictures of UFO’s. The books of the bible are filled with what could very easily be UFO accounts. Ezekiel 1:16 is probably the most popular as everyone knows the song of how he saw a wheel in the sky. It is written that he said, “This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.” Was this a UFO that he was describing? It sure sounds like one to me. Accounts of UFO’s begin in Genesis with the story of A Glowing Object Passes Over. 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. These stories are abundant throughout the bible and really make you think. One of my favorite accounts is Chariots of fire 6:17 The King of Syria has surrounded the city of Dothan where Elisha is and Elisha asks Yhovah (God) to help him. Suddenly, the sky was filled with rapidly moving, bright, flying objects surrounding Elisha. One or more flying objects descend to the ground and Elisha asks Yhovah to cause blindness to befall the surrounding army, which he does. The army is captured and later Yhovah restores their sight. This again sounds very UFO like to me. On September 16, 1994, At the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, students at the local school reported that a UFO had landed near the school. The children all told a very similar story and many drew pictures of what they saw that day. These pictures are eerily similar to one another and show a saucer shaped craft and a small slender alien emerging from it. This is considered to be one of the best close encounter sightings to ever be reported. Probably one the most famous sighting ever was the alleged crash of a UFO in Roswell New Mexico on July 7th, 1947. To this day many people believe that an alien craft crashed outside of this small New Mexico town and has subsequently been covered up by the US Government since then. What makes this case so interesting is the way that it was handled from the start. On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Airfield (RAAF) issued a press release stating that personnel from the field's 509 Bomber Group had recovered a crashed "flying disc" from a ranch near Roswell, sparking intense media interest. Later the same day, the Commander of the 8th Air Force stated that, in fact, it was only a weather balloon that had been recovered by RAAF personnel, rather than a "flying saucer." Witness’s who had helped with the debris clean up gave reports of super strong, super light weight metal materials being recovered from the crash sight. Several witnesses’s also reported, despite threats and gag orders from government personnel, that the bodies of several small of frame, human like creatures had also been removed from the crash sight. These same witnesses’s also claimed that one of the creatures was still alive when it was removed. In the late 1990’s, the US Air Force, for some unknown reason, decided to try and put the whole Roswell incident to bed once and for all. They issued a report that stated that what had really crashed in Roswell was a top secret military balloon that was intended to watch for Soviet missiles that were launched at the US. The fact that this effort was made by the Air Force so many years after the crash left many in the UFO community scratching their heads. The biggest question that everyone seemed to have, was why bother now? Why would the Air Force suddenly try and dismiss the Roswell incident 50 years after the fact? This attempt at new “misdirection” served to only fan the flames of an extremely suspicious UFO community. It is commonly believed that the US government is not only withholding the truth about UFO’s from the public, but is using recovered alien devises to reverse engineer high tech aircraft and weapons systems for US use. It is commonly speculated that the items recovered from Roswell were first taken to Wright Patterson air Field and then eventually to the secret military installation at Groom Lake, more commonly known as Area 51, in the Nevada Desert. As long as our government feels the need to keep these kinds of secrets, we may never know the truth. Over the subsequent years since the Roswell incident, thousands and thousands of UFO sightings have been reported, many of these by very reliable sources such as police officers, military and airline pilots and respected members of various communities around the world. One such famous incident took place in Illinois when several police officers from several municipalities all reported the same unexplained object in the night skies. This famous UFO case involved the sighting of a huge unidentified triangular-shaped UFO by police officers and others in the early morning hours of January 5, 2000. The officers were able to track the unknown object and maintain radio contact with each other during the event. Their in-depth testimonies have been fully documented by investigators and their credibility substantiated as well. This is a fantastic UFO account with unparalleled documenting by trained observers. I suggest that you Google this story and read all of the interesting facts involved. UFO sightings are by no means limited to the United States. Russia (and the former Soviet Union) has had their fare share of UFO encounters as well. One of the more publicized accounts took place on June 30th, 1908 when an unknown object sizzled through the atmosphere at over 5000 deg. It moved across western China and into Russia with such great speed that it was preceded by a ballistic shock wave that leveled trees and buildings alike. At 7:17 AM, near the Stony Tunguska River, a cataclysmic explosion occurred. It was so powerful that the seismograph at Irkutsk, some 550 miles away, registered what looked like an earthquake. Even in Washington D.C., on the other side of the world, the shock was recorded by sensitive seismic devices. The ensuing shock wave could be felt 400 miles away from the blast center and heard as far as 500 miles away. The blast dwarfed the explosive force of the bombs dropped on Japan in World War 2, and leveled everything in a 40 mile oval around the crash site. Some theories are that this was an Asteroid or Comet that entered the atmosphere and exploded on that cold morning in the Russian wilderness. But, many others believe that this was an alien spacecraft that was in trouble and trying to make an emergency landing. The thought is that the craft was aimed at this extremely remote location in the event a crash occurred. Was this an alien spacecraft that caused such cataclysmic damage in 1908 Russia or nothing more then an asteroid or comet? I myself saw what I believe was a UFO several years ago. My two daughters and I were driving home on a cold winter’s night when I noticed a bright glowing object several miles ahead of us at what I would guess to be a mile high. As we drove along watching the light, the car suddenly died and the object shot strait up at unbelievable speed into the night sky until it disappeared from sight. My car then started right back up and we continued home. I wish that I could have seen what ever it was up close and personal. I have always been fascinated with UFO’s and the concept of life on other planets. I feel that it would be both arrogant and egotistical of us to assume that Earth is the only planet with the ability to support life. The age of the universe is approximately 14 billion years old. In this amount of time, a great number of civilization could have risen and fell. With so many stars in the Universe, Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone, and on top of that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies as well, it’s hard to dismiss the idea that some of these stars have planets circling them that can support life as we know it. Even if only a tiny percentage of these stars have life supporting planets around them, the number of life supporting planets would be a staggeringly big number. If mankind had reached a state of technological advancement that allowed us to travel between the stars, we certainly would be doing just that. And it’s easy to conceive that when we visited another planet that happened to be inhabited, we would try and keep our presence a secret from the natives who may happen to look up and see us. Why is it so hard for so many people to imagine that there are Alien civilizations out there who are capable of doing this very thing right now? I’ve tried to keep this Café as short and sweet as I could this month due to the fact that I could literally write hundreds of pages on this topic alone. There are hundreds and hundreds of accounts and stories like the ones I touched on hear today just waiting for you to read and think about them. So go out and learn what you can about the world of UFO’s and start looking into the night sky. Who knows what you might see if your lucky enough. I believe we are being visited and studied and it is just a matter of time before we learn the truth about alien visitation to our fair little planet. This month (May) we are having a design a MAPS logo contest. Go check out the contest page and read up on the rules. Once you’ve done that, well, get to work designing a logo. Not only will you have a good time doing it, but you may win a cool prize as well. Well that’s it for now. Coming in the next Paranormal Café, I will discuss famous creatures and their origins. Are they fact of merely fiction? I’ll do my best to help you decide for yourself. Until next time remember…”Look for lies just beyond our perception”. Thanks for reading and remember to sign the guest book before moving on. Kenny G. 05/02/09

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL. V

Hello everyone. Yep! It's that time again...A new Paranormal Café. Sorry that there has been such a gap this time. I have just been a little off task with the writing lately. So anyway, here it is. Because no one will write me with suggestions, I will once again indulge myself and my interests. This issue I thought that I would look into the debate of time and it's effect on the paranormal and spirit world. The question has often been asked and argued, how does time work? There has been a long running debate between people who believe that time is linear, or existing in a straight line, and then those who’s argument is based on the concept that time is spherical or circular. ********************************************** First lets talk about time existing in a linear straight line (lst). The concept of linear time essentially began with the Judeo-Christian calander but may go as far back as the ancient Sumerians. It is the Sumerians who basically laid the foundation for the Judeo-Christian calendar that we still use today. This calendar exhibit’s time as having a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The Judeo-Christian calendar basically shows time as having began with Genesis. Everything in between is basically the existence we enjoy until what the Bible calls “The End of Days”. This belief does not allow for the ability to travel through time. This essentially says that we exists at the point in time we are experiencing at each moment we pass through. Once a period passes, it is gone forever. And as for the future, it is yet to happen and in no way can it be accessed until it comes by natural progression. Time will continue as we know it until Armageddon passes and then it will cease as we know it to be. ********************************************** Spherical or Circular time (sct) is an idea that time exists in basically a bubble around us. This bubble moves and flows and funnels throughout itself. This idea incorporates the belief that all points in time exist all around us and thus are accessible from any given point. My biggest question about time travel and various times being accessible from different points in time is…if people from the future have discovered the means with which to travel through time, why then have we never noticed or felt the effects of such a trip? Perhaps, if the past is changed, our knowledge is subsequently changed as well and we would never be the wiser. I tend to question the rational of only spherical time being accessible for time travel events. I would think that if the technology were developed allowing mankind to move through time, the argument of linear vs. spherical would be more or less moot. Even if time is linear and operates within the principles of a beginning, a middle, and an ending, would not the ability to move through it remain the same? I imagine linear time to look like a road with several stops along the way. To reach these stops we merely need to drive one direction or another. To move through time we would drive backward against the flow of time, or forwards accelerating beyond the flow of time. This approach may require, coincidently, more time and effort then the movement through spherical time would. Now picture spherical time as a big three dimensional ball that you are standing in the center of. To access various points in time from this vantage point would be much simpler and quicker. A time traveler could simply turn towards the desired time destination and then move towards it, thus eliminating the need to travel great distances up and down the linier time road. ************************************ So, what does this have to do with ghost, spirits or the supernatural you may ask? Well, quite a bit I should think. It has often been discussed amongst my colleagues and myself, what effect does time have on the spirit world? There has been a specific question that I have been asked on several occasions. ‘What if some of the “spirits” we document are actually living people who are just existing in another time in history”? This is a fascinating question to think about. If we subscribe to the idea that time is spherical, then we can speculate that what we are seeing is quite possibly a temporary overlapping of dimensional time space. If this is the case, then do the people that we are seeing as spirits in turn view us as spirits? This raises the kind of questions that can make your head hurt. If this were the case, then we could conceivably be seeing people from any point in time, both past and future. What circumstances would be necessary to cause the phenomenon of time space overlap to occur? I have no idea, but, you can defiantly imagine how swirling, twisting time may occasionally overlap itself. Perhaps varying atmospheric or astronomical conditions such as sun spot activity or lunar cycles, could play a part. Einstein showed us through mathematical models that time is affected by both speed and gravity. As different phases of our own solar system take place, such as increased sun spot activity and proximity changes between the planets and moons, there could easily be a gravitational effect on time that could cause increased overlap conditions during these times. Thus causing a blurred window, if you will, to temporarily open and allow anyone looking to see a glimpse of another time and place in the future or the past. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I believe that all spirit activity is a result of this, I’m just speculating that a small portion of what we encounter in paranormal research could be caused by the above mentioned conditions. I do believe that the greater part of our encounters are the result of actual spirits that remain on this plain of reality for whatever reason. This current edition of the Café is not meant to be an all explaining piece on time and it’s effects on our world. That would take hundreds of pages that I feel may be a little out of my league and a lot of work well. It is just meant to give everyone who reads it a little something to think about. We are surrounded and governed by time from the moment of conception right up until the moment of death, and, I believe right on past that moment into the after life. Time is a constant that is always there. It always has been and always will be. What effect it plays on the beings that can perceive it’s existence is a mystery we will all have to wait for the answer to. Until then we need just ride the flow and keep our eyes open for rifts in that stream as time swirls all around us. I hope that maybe someday, with continuous and steadfast investigation practices, we at M.A.P.S can bring some answers to light on this subject. ************************************ Thanks for reading and most importantly, thinking about what I have written about in this issue. It is with forward thought and an open mind that the truth shall be discovered. Many of the greatest discoveries in human history were made by average people who were willing to look at the world around them with an open mind and a willingness to at least think about things that maybe weren’t necessarily acceptable. So, I encourage all of you to keep an open mind whenever or wherever you may be. ************************************ Well that’s it for now. I need you to all think about what you would like for me to discuss next issue and email me and let me know. This will only get better and better with reader interaction and participation. Until next time, remember, “Look for what lies just beyond our perception.” Peace. Kenny G MAPS ( The Montana Association of Paranormal Studies) Feb 2009

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL IV

It is time! Here it is…another installment of the Paranormal Café. First thing this month, I'd like say thank you to everyone who came down to the Lobby Bar and Davenport Hotel on Halloween night. We had a great time showing people what we do and how we do it. The all night investigation was a blast even though everyone was tired as all heck. The tours and investigation were not only a lot of fun, but we also were able to raise some money for the American Cancer Society and gather up a little bit of food for the Great Falls Food Bank. I hope that we will be able to have other events such as this in the future that will allow us to give back to the wonderful community that we live in. While I'm thanking people, I'd also like to thank Carl, the owner of the Lobby Bar. Your kindness and generosity has given us a location to practice our craft and continue to fine tune what we do. If anyone is looking to go out on the town one of these nights, I strongly suggest the Lobby Bar. This is a very nice, very clean, very classy place. You will enjoy yourself when you go here. Finally Rose, thank you so much for your friendship and your generosity. Kranz Flowers has been great to us in so many ways. On November 4th 2008, MAPS turned one year old. We were all surprised with a party at Kranz Flowers. What a great place with great people. All of us at MAPS look forward to many more years of cooperation and friendship with the crew at Kranz. Also...Paul and Crystal, welcome to the team. ****************************** *********** As MAPS moves forward into our second year of existence, we will be looking for more places to investigate and practice the techniques that we hope will someday unravel the mysteries of the paranormal. With each investigation, we learn a little bit more. We get better at debunking situations that are not paranormal in nature and we learn more about the world beyond this one. If you have any information on potentially haunted locations, then by all means please contact us and let us know so that we may be able to check them out. Remember, if you have a location that you believe is haunted but your afraid to go public because your afraid of ridicule, MAPS will keep your investigation private and all information gathered will be held in strict confidence between you and MAPS. Our goal is to learn as much about the paranormal world as we can, not to cause you embarrassment or social anxiety. One of our mission statements is to put the normal in paranormal. ****************************************** Well, this issue I wanted to touch on EMF, or Electro Magnetic Fields. EMF is measured in a rating of milliGauss, which is a measurement of magnetic field strength. EMF's are basically invisible lines of force created by the generation of electricity. We are all exposed to EMF's every single day. Sources are our computers, TV sets, appliances in our kitchens and laundry rooms, the wiring in our homes and even the power lines above our heads all give of EMF. The earth itself even gives off a very slight EMF. This is how compasses are able to point to north. Low levels of EMF are not harmful to living creatures. But as the intensity of an EMF increases, so does the danger involved in prolonged exposure to the field. It is not uncommon to have some EMF leakage in the average home. If you were to take a EMF meter into a well constructed home and hold it up to an outlet, you will most likely register a slight reading of maybe .5~1.0 milliGauss within an inch or two of the outlet. This kind of exposure is perfectly safe as it is confined to a very small area. When you start to see a problem that takes on a serious note is when the EMF encountered is reaching upwards of 8.0~10.0 milliGauss or higher. This can happen as a result of old, faulty, poorly insulated wiring or improperly shielded electrical devices. The danger comes in with prolonged exposure to these high levels of EMF. After just a short time of exposure to a high EMF field, the human mind can become disoriented and confused. With enough exposure, people have been known to hallucinate and see and hear things that were not really there. Another commonly seen reaction to high EMF is agitation and anxiety. People being exposed can become nervous and restless and filled with trepidation. There have been instances where exposure to EMF has caused headaches and rashes and other physical ailments such as fatigue and nausea. The question is why? Well, from what I've been able to ascertain from reading various articles, the effects of EMF are basically an overload of the brain. All activity in the brain is electrical impulses being fired from one point to another. When the brain is exposed to these high EMF's, the impulses begin to have difficulty carrying out their assigned tasks and an abnormal state ensues. In a nutshell, the electrical system of the brain is overloaded. I would imagine that the same effect happens to the human body as a whole. The human body is lined with a very complex network of nerves which continuously carry electrical signals to various parts of the anatomy. High EMF exposure could easily effect these signals as well, causing skin irritation, discomfort and restlessness. I would think that a good example of this would be when you are in an area with lightning activity. Have you ever felt your skin begin to crawl and the hairs on your body stand on end? Well, this would be a very short lived example (as long as you don't get struck)of the effects of electricity on ones body, but a good example none the less. Imagine being exposed to an electrical field that could have that effect on you for a prolonged period of time? It would undoubtedly create a condition that would temporarily alter what is normal behavior for you.*********** This is why we go into every investigation with EMF meters and check the environment for high or abnormal levels of Electro magnetic fields. It is important to eliminate this as a potential cause for reported activity at an investigation site. If we are able to rule out high EMF readings, then as we proceed with the next phase of an investigation, we can you use our EMF meters to look for sudden spikes in the field in an area where none existed previously. Quite a few paranormal investigators believe that spirits give EMF readings that can be detected when you come within proximity to them. The only way that this will work though is if you take the time to sweep the area beforehand so that a baseline can be established. Without a baseline, you are basically working with flawed data from the outset. It is also a good idea to know if we are putting ourselves in harms way by going into high EMF areas. If we determine that an area is not safe for long exposure, we will be able to limit each team members time in that area and then alert the proper people, such as the properties owners, to the threat. High EMF is best treated with respect.********** Well, that's it for this issue. I hope you learned a little something and enjoyed the read. I'm still waiting to hear back from some of you readers with ideas and questions. Please write so that this can grow into a fun and interactive page. Thanks for reading this issue of the Café and check back soon for another installment. Remember….Look for what lies just beyond our perception. Peace. Kenny G

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL III

Paranormal Café The 3rd addition. ************************************* Hello again everyone. All 5, or so, of you loyal readers. It's time for another edition of Paranormal Café. I was having kind of a hard time deciding on a topic for this months Café, so, what I have decided to do is share some thoughts and insights with you this month. *************************************** First off, I would like to say I love you to my Mom. She passed away on Oct 4th, 2008, as her body could no longer fight the cancer that was ravaging it over the last two years. Mom, your fight was courageous and you are my hero. It's unbelievably hard to say goodbye to the ones that you hold dearest. To watch their life slip away and not be able to do a thing about it is one of the hardest trials that I have ever faced. My Mom had suffered greatly over the last two years, as the cancer slowly and methodically crept through her body. Even as she slipped closer and closer towards the night, she never stopped worrying about those she cared about . Her children and grand children's well being was always of greater concern to her then was her own well being. She leaves behind a legacy of love and kindness. With my Mom's passing came great sadness, but, we also found comfort in the knowledge that she was no longer in pain and was finally able to rest. I don't know whether or not there is a God or a place called Heaven that awaits us once we die, but, I do believe that we are spiritual beings that are temporarily housed in a corporeal body of flesh and bone. Once the body reaches the limit of it's life, it releases our spirit, our soul if you will, back into the Universe. I believe that we all belong to a soul group that we are spiritually connected to throughout time, and that our life does not end when the body dies. On that note, Mom, enjoy all that the Universe has to offer. I'll see you again when my time comes and we'll catch up then. Until that day comes, I'll try to honor you through love and memories and stories. Goodbye Mom…I love you. **************************************** OK, winter is on it's way and that means we will most likely have some chilly ghost hunts coming up. Brrr. I remember back in January when we did an all night investigation at the Lobby Bar / Davenport Hotel. It was so cold that night. The temperature outside was -20 deg. The temperature inside was about 30 degrees warmer, but , still a quite invigorating +10 to +15 deg. Despite the brutal cold that night, we had an awesome investigation. We got some good EVP's and a few cool (no pun intended) pictures of odd lights and shadows. A few weeks later upon anther visit, I got a picture of a vaporous mist moving across the ceiling in the restaurant.( And before you ask, No, it was not breath. It was quite warm in this section of the building and I was the only one in this area at the time I snapped the picture. Also, there was no cigarette smoking taking place in the room, so it was not that either.) I believe that what I witnessed was a former, or maybe a current resident, of the establishment just moving from one place to another. This is very exciting stuff for us ghost hunters, Seeing an apparition with the naked eye just doesn't seem to happen a lot. Read about joining us at the Lobby/Davenport on Halloween below. It's going to be a lot of fun and you never know what you might see. **************************************** Now, moving along. This past summer has been a time of growth and learning for all of us in MAPS. We have done several investigations around Great Falls and a few around the state. With each investigation comes new knowledge and new experiences. We have been to some locations that we believe to be actively haunted. We have obtained some great evidence and had some awesome personal experiences. With the permission of the sites proprietors, I hope to write in detail, in some future editions of the Café, about these locations. We have also done a number of investigations where the most exciting thing that happened was the announcement that we were packing up and heading home to bed. The reality of being a ghost hunter is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. But, with each trip out you'll learn new things. Every time we go on a ghost hunt we gain more knowledge in the field and refine our methods. With each investigation we undertake, we become a little more in tune with the subtleties of what may or what may not be paranormal. This has been an enlightening and educational summer and I look forward to sharing details of it with you as soon as I am able to do so. **************************************** On another front, I've been watching a lot of Sun sets lately. As the Sun sets and the numerous shades of blue start to creep across the horizon, I find myself often lost in thought. This is the most magical time of the day. To sit and gaze longingly at the sky as it starts to shift from blue to black, and the thousands of suns blossom to life across the horizon, gives one a true sense of what an incredible world we live in. Take a few minutes today and watch the Sun set. Let yourself feel young again for a little while. You will be glad that you did. **************************************** Now, for my last thoughts for this month's Cafe. The following is not really of a paranormal nature, but, I just thought I would interject it anyway. With the recent passing of my Mom, I have been giving a lot of thought to life in general. If we are lucky, we may get eighty or ninety healthy trips around the Sun. You know, that's not really very much time. The things we do while we are alive, such as how we treat others, how we conduct our affairs and how we live our daily lives, is probably one of the most important things that we can do. Showing mutual respect and consideration to others is something that probably everyone could stand to do a little better. It seems silly to hold grudges and harbor anger towards others. What we should be doing is moving on with our own lives and learning to enjoy the here and now. Once it passes, it's over, and all the wishing in the world will not bring your youth back, or , the lost years that you allowed yourself to be consumed with anger. I had a wonderful relationship with my Mom, and I still have regrets. I spoke to her almost everyday since I left home. Sometimes on the phone, sometimes in person over dinner. (She was a great cook) I can't imagine the guilt or pain that I would be suffering now had we not gotten along so well. I'm sure it would be quite distressing. What I'm getting at is, it's important to take care of your own business and to enjoy your life. Don't let anger or hatred own and consume you. Don't be self destructive. Enjoy life and the people and things around you. If everyone were to do this, imagine what a glorious world we would have. **************************************** Well, that's a wrap on yet another Paranormal Café. I hope you have enjoyed it and that that you will keep reading it in the future. Remember, if you have any ideas or suggestions for a future edition of the Café, please email us at this web site, and we will take a good look at it and you may see your idea pop up right here. If you have any personal stories of paranormal activity, ghostly encounters or sightings of the strange and unusual, please drop us a line so that we can get together and do an interview. I'd love to write about some of your encounters in a future issue. Also, remember, we are going to be at the Lobby Bar and Davenport Hotel on Halloween. We will be conducting tours and doing a late night investigation. Come join us for what looks to be shaping up to be a great night. I look forward to seeing you there. Remember, life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the journey. And, as you go through your life, remember to "look for what lies just beyond your perception". **************************************** Thanks for reading. Kenny G. Oct 2008.

PARANORMAL CAFE VOL II

VOLUME II GHOST AND SPIRITS Hello again and welcome to the second installment of the Pulitzer Prize winning Paranormal Café. OK, so maybe it's not Pulitzer Prize winning, but it sure sounds nice. As promised, this months installment is all about ghosts and spirits. What are they and why are they here It is often thought that the reason a location is haunted is that a former resident or occupant is so attached to it that they will not leave, even in death. The question being is, I think, what could cause this sort of devotion and attachment? Perhaps love, despair, fear or commitment. But I digress. Lets get to the topic of what is a ghost or a spirit, and we will get back to why they are here later in the article. A ghost , by definition, is the spiritual remains of a person or animal that is deceased and no longer among the living. It is thought to be the soul, detached from the corporeal body, that continues on as energy just out of phase with our plane of existence. In essence, the soul, spirit and memories of someone who is no longer among the living. Basically, it is thought that ghosts are composed of some type of energy that we obviously do not understand. Ghosts have been reported to manifest as vaporous mists, shadows or balls of light. It is also not uncommon for a spirit to manifest as they appeared when they were alive. Nobody knows what factors are at work which contribute to how a ghost will appear to the living. We as paranormal investigators, through research and investigation, hope to someday answer that question. Ghosts do not exist by the same standards as we do. There doesn't appear to be time as we know it in the plane of spirits. An encounter with a ghost can happen at any time, day or night, light or dark. In my personal experience however, I have noticed a tendency for activity to increase in an area at a time when human activity is at a low point. Such as when the staff of a facility leaves for the day. Why this happens, or how often, I do not know. I make this statement purely from personal experience. I've often though about why this may occur. Perhaps living creatures moving through an environment where paranormal phenomenon is occurring is actually disruptive to any entities that may be present? We always conduct our investigations in small quiet teams as to not disturb the area of the investigation. We at MAPS have witnessed a quiet, calm room suddenly become quite active to our senses and instruments . An example being…while in a room at the fantastic and very historic Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton Montana, Myself and another investigator, Michelle, were conducting EVP's and taking digital and thermal images when suddenly, in what we were told was one of the very active rooms in the hotel, the environment dramatically changed. It was a very hot summer night and the air conditioning was not yet turned on in the building. The room we were checking out is on the third floor, which was averaging an ambient temperature of ninety degrees. It was very hot. We walked into the room to do our work, and found it quite cool in comparison to the hall that we had just stepped out of. A quick check of our equipment showed a temperature of several degrees cooler in this room . As we took up positions in the room, we noticed the smell of a sweet pipe tobacco. Mind you, this is a non smoking building, and no one had been skirting the rules and smoking. Next we smelled a lilac type perfume fragrance in the air, then as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. Once again, no one on our crew was wearing any type of fragrance as to not corrupt our investigation. As we continued on in this room we trained our thermal camera on the bathroom and watched what appeared to be a human form begin to manifest. The more substance it gained, the cooler the room became. It is our belief, and the opinion of many paranormal researchers, that spirits draw energy from the surrounding environment to gain strength in their effort to manifest. Upon evidence review, in addition to the very cool thermal pictures that we took, we found that we had gotten a couple of very spooky EVP's. You can look at the pictures and listen to the EVP's right here on our web site. Check it out. OK, now back to why. Why do ghosts or spirits haunt a particular location? Why don't they move on to the other side? I have to wonder if some stay on this side of deaths doorway because they are afraid of what fate awaits them when they move on. Perhaps in life they did something so bad that they fear that their final destination will be anything but Heaven and a meeting with God. Perhaps by staying behind they feel as though they can evade final retribution. Maybe they just don't feel worthy of being in Gods presence. We at MAPS have had countless discussions as to why a spirit may linger behind and haunt a location. One of the things we agree on is they might stay behind out of attachment to the place they were most comfortable in while alive. Some ghosts may not even realize that they are dead, so they go on about their business as if they were still alive. I have to wonder if they are even aware of our presence. Perhaps to an entity in this situation, our presence appears to them to be of a paranormal nature. In addition to an abrupt temperature change, another indication that a ghost may be attempting to manifest is a spike in the electromagnetic field. In order to determine this, you need to establish a base line reading of the EMF in the area that you are working in. By doing this, if there is a sudden change in the field that shouldn't be there, you will be able to log and track it. I mention this because it is a common belief among paranormal investigators that when an entity begins to attempt a manifestation it draws energy from the surrounding area. As mentioned earlier when I discussed temperature changes. In addition to the temperature changing, as energy is drawn towards a single point, electromagnetic energy begins to build in that spot as well. This will cause a sharp increase in the established readings. When this happens it is a good idea to start asking questions and taking pictures. You just might be in the presence of a ghost or spirit. I think that one of the most important things to remember when it comes to ghost and spirits is that they were once like us. They were once alive. They were walking, talking, breathing living beings. I believe that as in life, you have good people and bad people. Such it is with ghosts, you probably have good ghosts and bad ghost. If you decide to give ghost hunting and investigating a try, remember to treat each situation with respect and dignity. Be careful and keep yourself protected from the ones that may mean you harm. Just because someone is dead doesn't mean that they don't have feelings that could be hurt. If you approach your investigations this way, you may be surprised at the results that you get. A pissed off ghost may not interact with you at all, or worse, try and hurt you. Where as a curious ghost who has not been threatened or angered may decide to touch you or move objects for you while leaving messages on your digital recorder. Be responsible. You never know who or what you are dealing with until you get into an investigation and start working it. Well, this is it for this installment of the second edition of the Paranormal Café. Thanks for reading. I hope that I have helped you to understand a little bit more about ghosts and spirits and why they might be among us. Remember, if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for a future issue, please email us at http://M.A.P.S-2007@hotmail.com or at http://goshring@gmail.com We will be glad to give your questions or suggestions serious consideration. Remember to check out the MAPS website regularly at http://http://montanaparanormal.com/contact.html Don't forget to check back next month for another fun and informative edition of the Paranormal Café. Until then remember. 'Look for what lies just beyond your perception.' Kenny G. 09-2008

August 2008 First Edition

Paranormal Café Hello to all and welcome to the inaugural edition of Paranormal Café. In the coming months, both I , Kenny Gebhardt, and my daughter Shandi, will be using the Café to discuss various topics such as haunted locations, various types of hauntings and all sorts of interesting information relating to the paranormal. We hope to be able to find the time to make this a monthly article. In some editions we may even branch out into subjects such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. In other editions I may discuss one of my other fascinations...UFO's and the possibility of alien visitation to our planet. The universe is a marvelous and incredible place that holds secrets beyond any mere mortals ability to comprehend. Through scientific investigation, and open, thoughtful dialog, it my hope that we as inquisitive beings, can begin to learn, and subsequently understand, some of these mysteries and secrets that exist all around us. We will draw heavily on the research that is being conducted by the Montana Association of Paranormal Studies, or MAPS. We will also depend on our own experiences and knowledge gained from our journey into the realm of the unknown. We hope to provide you, the reader, with thought provoking ideas as well as the inspiration to ask questions that we will do our best to answer in future segments. We very much want this to be an enjoyable, educational and interactive experience for anyone wanting to journey along with us. So, without further delay, lets get the first edition rolling. In today's very first edition of Paranormal Café, We would like to discuss who MAPS is, and what it is we do, and, how we do it. MAPS is a group of individuals who share a common interest in the world of the paranormal. Our mission at MAPS is to ask and follow all leads presented to us concerning supernatural and paranormal occurrences. We conduct research through several methods. First, we meet with the proprietors of the property that we will be investigating. During this meeting, we will ask questions about the history of the location and examine the layout in order to create a strategy map that will be used when we return to conduct the onsite investigation. We will ask questions of those who frequent the location , gathering knowledge of their personal experiences. Finally, we will do research by accessing any historical documentation that is available to us. We will then have a strategy meeting, prior to the investigation, in order to determine the best way to maximize our efforts and obtain as much information as we possibly can. Once we show up on sight, for the investigation, the team springs into action. The first thing we do is set up the Infrared cameras that are connected to a computer black box DVR system. Currently we have four cameras that we use with the DVR. Second, we locate the points where we plan to set up our independent camcorders. We use these in areas that are hard to, or out of, reach of our DVR system. Next, we split into teams of two or three people and head out on our predetermined assignments. Each team carries a digital camera, a digital recorder and flashlights. Other equipment that you may find with a MAPS team is digital thermometers, electromagnetic field meters, or EMF, or a FLIR camera. FLIR stands for forward looking infrared. This incredible piece of equipment gives us real time thermal images of any environment that we are in. If we have a sudden change in temperature in an area that should be consistent, the FLIR camera will not only show us the temperature changes as they happen, but it will also show us any images that may appear in the area of temperature change. As we proceed with our investigation, we move into an area and begin to do EVP work. EVP stands for electronic voice phenomenon. EVP is a method of recording sounds that may not be audible to the normal human ear. You start by turning on your recorder and begin to ask questions, such as, is anyone hear with us? Can you tell us your name? Why are you here? Upon review at a later date, if an EVP was recorded in an active area, you may hear sounds such as disembodied voices, whistles, or the sound of unseen objects moving. This is very cool stuff. While doing EVP work, we commonly take pictures with digital cameras. You never know what kind of images your camera may pick up that your eyes can't see. We have taken numerous pictures of shadowy images, translucent ,self luminescent balls of light sixteen inches in diameter, misty clouds of vapor in various colors, and silhouette's of human figures in doors and windows. Once again, we go back at a later date and review all of the evidence we gather on sight. At the end of the night, once we are satisfied that we have covered everything we had wanted to, we meet at control central (control central is where a team monitors the DVR black box) and begin the break down. This involves unhooking our cameras and winding our cables, and boxing up the DVR black box computer. We also gather up any loose equipment that we have deposited around the sight. Once we have everything packed up securely, we head home and make plans to review the information we have gathered. After all evidence is reviewed and compiled, a team will go and visit the client that we have been doing the investigation for. We show them the evidence that we have gathered and explain to them why we believe that their location is haunted or, as the case may be, not haunted. If the client is uncomfortable with what we find, we work with them to find solutions that will help them deal with the situation. The members of MAPS pride ourselves on how we conduct our business. We enter every case with a scientific approach and a desire to find answers through logical, comprehensive study, research, and, investigation. Our goal is to look at every situation as if there is a perfectly normal explanation for it, then, we set out to find that explanation. Only when we are unable to explain the cause of an occurrence, do we start looking for supernatural or paranormal explanations. The Montana Association of Paranormal Studies is a non profit organization. Our members are not doing this to get rich or famous. We do it because we all share a fascination with the paranormal. We all have the same driving motivation to learn all we can about spirits, ghosts and haunted locations. We all share a desire to pass on the information that we gather back into the community, so that those of you who have interest in this may learn along with us. We all incur expenses out of our own pockets to do what we do. We do not charge for our services, or for the expenses that sometimes pile up on out of town investigations. All of our equipment is paid for by team members of MAPS, and this can also be crazy expensive. If you would like to contribute a donation to MAPS, please see the Pay Pal link on this website. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, and, as always, the money goes right back into the organization for expenses and equipment. Also, if you have any used video or audio equipment that you would like to donate, that also would be appreciated. For this, you can send an email to us to make arrangements for the transfer of the donation. Of course, you are not obligated to make a donation to enjoy our site, or to learn about the paranormal from us. This does it for the introductory edition of Paranormal Café. This will be the only time that I mention the donation issue. In future issues, now that you know a little bit about who we are, we will focus solely on the subject of the month. Next time, we will talk about ghosts and spirits. What are they, and why are they here? Remember, we want this to be a fun, educational, interactive experience for anyone wanting to take the journey. Email us with your questions or your ideas for future editions. We are very excited to be undertaking this new step in sharing our views and findings with the public, and we hope that you are as excited as us. Just remember as you go about your daily lives that the Universe is filled with mysteries, so keep your eyes open . You never know what you might find if you look hard enough. Until next time, "Look for what lies just beyond our perception". Thanks for reading the Paranormal Café. (Aug, 2008) Sincerely. Kenny Gebhardt Shandi Gebhardt