Once again I find myself harassing Jeeves for info for the article this week - I have found some interesting things from around the net, but some of the articles I have found have been merely quoted to a minimum and linked to, to comply with copyright laws.

Misconceptions about hypnosis abound. Many of these fallacies can be traced back to the unfortunate early use of not-always-ethical demonstrations of hypnosis as a form of entertainment on stage and television.

Leaving aside that rather specialised form of hypnosis, the best way to view hypnosis is as a state of intense relaxation and concentration, in which the mind becomes remote and detached from everyday cares and concerns. In this relaxed state the subconscious part of the mind is best able to respond creatively to suggestion and imagery. It can focus on the things you wish to change and on the ways you can best do so, free from analytical or anxious thoughts.

You are, however, not asleep nor are you unconscious. You are in an altered or alternative state of consciousness in which you 'let things happen' through your subconscious mind rather than trying to make them happen with your conscious mind. Because you are deeply relaxed, the suggestions given to you by the hypnotist will be acted upon more easily by the subconscious. Posthypnotic suggestions are those that will be carried out by you when you come out of the hypnotic state.

Hypnosis can assist people to kick a smoking addiction, get more sleep at nights, ease a worry from their mind and can be put to other extremely helpful uses. There are, however, some people on whom hypnosis should not be used, or at least, only with care, i.e. those suffering from epilepsy, psychosis, schizophrenia, etc...

After a long touring of séances, George Woods and Betty Greene dragged their heavy tape recorder from Croydon to London to hold another séance, with Voice-medium, Leslie Flint. He possesses a rare gift in which voices manifest at a point in space and are not spoken by himself.

After a while the jolly boyish voice of his guide Mickey is being heard - first in a whisper but later loud and clear-
'Good morning!'

After a while another hesitant voice is with a foreign accent manifests-

'I do not know if it is really afternoon or morning... er... Time is always a most complicated thing for us to be certain about. When we come to your Earth conditions, we are always inclined to be puzzled about certain things....'

Betty Greene:'May we know your name?'
Voice:'My name is Chopin, Frédérique Chopin.'

The voice claiming to be the great French composer speaks in English, with a French accent; It is well documented that Chopin, before his death in 1849 visited England and Scotland.

The late musical medium Rosemary Brown is also present. She asserts to be in close contact with Chopin. He dictates new compositions to her. They have been recorded on a Philips long-playing record in the early seventies. This recording has been played for Rosemary Brown, and she has said to recognize the Slavonic-French accent. Amongst the communicators, most composers, was Chopin, and he spoke to her in direct voice in the same manner as when she was in telepathic contact with him at home.

About his passing over, Chopin told George Woods and Betty Greene-
'I only remember that I was very ill, lying on my bed. Some of my friends were with me and gradually everything seemed still. It was as if I was drifting away from everything. And then I began to see an enormous light. At first it was a little tiny glimmer, then it became brighter and brighter... and I began to hear sounds. Music began to swell up and became louder and louder... it was as if there was a whole, whole orchestra. Magnificent!

I tried to hear, how you say, what this melody was. I could not recognise it. It was not music I was accustomed to. It was different; much more magnificent than anything I ever hear...'

Here are two excerpts from what Chopin has been recorded to have said-

1)'True music, real music, great music, is something that is beyond your world, and springs from the spiritual aspect of man- the realization of the greatness and the oneness with God. Great music is something that is really born in the spirit and is reproduced, perhaps very badly, in your world.'


2)'On the higher planes, on the very high evolved planes, we can create music without instruments, by the mere effort of thought. Thought being creative here, a great musicien can complete and achieve a whole work without an instrument at all! He can, as it were, create all the sounds from himself and, in consequence, those who are attuned in to his thoughts and himself - as it were - will hear the reproduction of that which the composer has created.

Man in your world - though he has advanced in many ways tremendously - is still very ignorant of the power of the spirit. The power that has been hidden within. It has been said to you: 'Knock, and it will be opened unto you.' But few people bother to knock. They are content with that which has been given to them. There are many in your world who are very sincere, very kind, very good people... but they are very childish!'

Again, due to copyright reasons, You will need to Click Here to read the interview.

'DO' do

• When you start, don't ask questions like 'How long do I have left to live', unless you want to be scared to a suicidal point, as I have heard happen.
• During the session, respect the spirit, and keep your focus on the spirit.
• When you have finished, you should be aware of the common myth passed around about the Ouija board of smashing the glass and scattering the remains - is just a common myth. The actual correct thing to do is to thank the spirit for its very valuable own time and turn the glass the right way up to release the spirit.

• When the glass is moving, do not grab hold of the glass to see if it is a strong force moving on it¹
• 
  Disrespect the spirit
• Don't touch the board while the spirit is 'talking' - Not that this will unleash a curse for definite, but its just not advised.
• Treat the spirit in a bad way - or humour it; If you are sceptical, don't behave in a stupid way because if the spirit decides to curse you, it may curse the unsuspecting willing other members of the séance, even if they're taking it seriously.

And now for some further information...

A list of links and information on the Use of the Ouija Board and help planning and doing it

How Ouija Works: A page dedicated to the Ouija Board

You've seen them depicted in movies, read stories of their unnerving activities and have seen television shows and documentaries sensationalizing them. You have probably seen rare photos of them and have likely heard of first-hand ghostly encounters from friends and relatives. Perhaps you have even seen a ghost yourself?

But what are ghosts? This article will give you the answer straight out; No one knows for certain.

But, all is not lost! As there are, however, many theories to explain the thousands upon thousands of documented experiences that people around the world have had since the beginning of recorded history. Ghosts and hauntings seem to be a relatively common part of the human experience. And there appear to be several types of ghosts or hauntings, and more than one theory may be needed to explain them all.

Dead People

The traditional view of ghosts is that they are the spirits of dead people that for some reason are 'stuck' between this plane of existence and the next, often as a result of some tragedy or trauma. Many ghost hunters and psychics believe that such earth-bound spirits don't know they are dead.


Veteran ghost hunter Hans Holzer believes,
'A ghost is a human being who has passed out of the physical body, usually in a traumatic state and is not aware usually of his true condition. We are all spirits encased in a physical body. At the time of passing, our spirit body continues into the next dimension. A ghost, on the other hand, due to trauma, is stuck in our physical world and needs to be released to go on.'

Ghosts exist in a kind of 'limbo' in which they haunt the scenes of their deaths or locations that were pleasant to them in life. Very often, these types of ghosts are able to interact with the living. They are, on some level, aware of the living and react to being seen on the occasions that they materialize. Some psychics claim to be able to communicate with them. And when they do, they often try to help these spirits to understand that they are dead and to move on to the next stage of their existence.

Residual Hauntings or Recordings

Some ghosts appear to be mere recordings on the environment in which they once existed. A civil war soldier is seen on repeated occasions staring out of a window at a house where he once stood guard. A dead child's laughter is heard echoing in a hallway where she often played. There are even cases of ghost cars and trains that can still be heard and sometimes seen, even though they are long gone. These types of ghosts do not interact with or seem to be aware of the living. Their appearance and actions are always the same. They are like spirit-level recordings - residual energies - that replay over and over again.

'A traumatic moment in time leaves an indelible impression on the building or area.'

says Strange Nation in 'What Is a Ghost?'

'A ghost is a 'spirit' which is 'doomed' to spend the rest of its 'life', shall we say, as a recording in time, replaying itself for eternity. This could be anything from a 'glimpse of the past' - a recreation of some traumatic or emotion-laden event - to footsteps up and down a hallway.'

What causes these recordings to be made and how and why they are played back is a mystery.
'How and why past events are recorded and replayed repetitiously is not understood.'

writes Lauren Forcella.

'Whatever the actual mechanism, it apparently possesses longevity as the encore performances of a haunting can continue for decades or longer. Generally, the haunting is a fragment or portion of an actual event.'

Messengers

These kinds of ghosts may be the most common. These spirits usually appear shortly after their deaths to people close to them. They are aware of their deaths and can interact with the living. They most often bring messages of comfort to their loved ones, to say that they are well and happy, and not to grieve for them. These ghosts appear briefly and usually only once. It is as if they intentionally return with their messages for the express purpose of helping the living cope with their loss.

'This category commonly involves one-time visits to someone with whom the apparition has close emotional ties.'

says Lauren Forcella at Paranormal Investigations, who calls these ghosts 'crisis apparitions'.
'Though the encounter usually seems to be a type of farewell,
sometimes important and useful information is relayed to the 'viewer.' Though dying is the most common crisis, other life-threatening situations can also trigger apparitional visits.'

Poltergeists

This type of haunting is the most feared by people because it has the greatest ability to affect our physical world. Poltergeists are blamed for unexplained noises, such as wall-banging, rapping, footsteps and even music. They take our possessions and hide them, only to return them later. They turn on taps, slam doors, turn lights on and off, and flush toilets. They throw things across rooms. They have been known to pull on people's clothing or hair. The malevolent ones even slap and scratch the living. It is because of these sometimes 'mean-spirited' manifestations that poltergeists
are considered by some investigators to be demonic in nature.

Other investigators, however, believe that poltergeist activity is not caused by ghosts at all, but by certain living people under stress.
'During a poltergeist experience...'

writes Lauren Forcella,
'... the agent, in an attempt to relieve emotional stress, unknowingly causes the physical disturbances using mental forces. The mental mechanism that allows the poltergeist agent to unconsciously cause these physical disturbances is called psychokinesis.'

Projections in the mind

The sceptics' point of view, and perhaps the least exciting - if they are willing to admit there is anything to haunting experiences at all - is that they are all in our minds, or are products of our own minds. Ghosts, they say, are psychological phenomena: we see them because we expect to or want to see them. A grieving widow sees her dead husband because she needs to; she needs the comfort of knowing that he is alright and happy in the next world. Her mind produces the experience to help itself cope with the stress of the loss. Since we know so little about the power and capacity of our own minds, it's possible that they can even produce physical manifestations, such as apparitions and noises - projections that even others may be able to see and hear. But they are not 'real' in any sense, say the sceptics, just the conjurings of powerful imaginations.

Are there such things as ghosts? The phenomena of ghosts and hauntings are very real experiences. It is their true cause and nature that is the ongoing mystery.

If you were to ask my own opinion, as I have never seen one, and were hoping for a sceptical point of view, I'm sorry - just because you haven't particularly experienced something doesn't mean to say that it won't exist... how many people haven't seen the HHGG series yet? I for one, hadn't until four months after joining h2g2! Just as an example, but, that exists, doesn't it? All I'm saying is, (using analogies) I have not, to date, experienced a haunting of a ghost prescence, although I would like to believe in their existence; What do you think? Let us know in the poll at the bottom of the page!

Remember when I asked you earlier how you would react to being asked for your typical idea of what a 'ghost' would look like if you saw one? I asked you for this for a reason- I'm going to ask for it again now - without switching back to the memory in your mind of the ghost smiley, what image pops into your mind of a 'ghost' now? The same type of image? A rounded shape in a white sheet? If so, then you have probably never been face to face with a ghost and, shall we say, are a sceptic, or are still stuck with the childish image, perhaps for the first reason, of not having experienced a ghost haunting yet.

This short story discusses the living apparition, or The Modern Looking Ghost...

In the mid '70's, a twenty year old woman called Nancy was about to start her first day of work at a warehouse, when she was approached by a middle-aged woman in a red dress. The woman chatted to Nancy and told her than if she encountered any problems, she had only to ask her for help.

The woman then smiled and left.

Nancy presumed the woman was the manageress of the warehouse and later, during her tea-break, she asked a workmate what type of person the boss was. Her workmate said the boss was an old grey haired man who rarely visited the warehouse. So Nancy asked about the middle-aged woman in the red dress she'd met earlier. Nancy's workmate went white and explained that no woman of that age or description worked on the premises.

Later that day, another worker in the warehouse, obviously a sceptic who wasn't aware of Nancy's encounter with the unidentifiable woman, jokingly told Nancy about two girls a couple of months back who had left their jobs after they 'encountered' some ghost of a middle-aged-woman in a red dress.


Nancy took off her overalls and decided that her first day at the warehouse would be her last.

The fact of this story is that the woman in the red dress seemed as real as the next person - just think about the person at the desk next to you at the office, the person who parks their car next to yours, the person who gets in the lift with you each morning, or even the person who you see taking a morning walk each and every morning - they are real people.       ...aren't they?

Your mind is the most wise part of you, especially when you consider the things it can do for you. What
your sub-conscious or unconscious mind can do when you're asleep is more imaginative and surreal, shall we say, than what the most surreal, vivid writer can come up with when fueled on the best thinking food and fully awake!

It is now, that I ask you, reader to give me a short summary of one of your dreams - don't be simple - the weirder the better. If you have a particularly weird dream you'd want to see analysed anyway, then I'd recommend submitting that one Here. I want to know what you dream about, and I will analyse your dream for you. I am planning to write an article on
dreaming, and the analysis of them. If you have, say, a Degree in Psychology for instance and would like to help or add your own piece of wisdom to the entry and my own knowledge - Go ahead, please, do!

All input greatly appreciated (and as a little incentive - your name will show up in the 'Written and Researched by' column at the right of the entry when and if it is edited. Also it will appear in the Edited entries section on your personal space!

I have introduced a new feature in World of the Paranormal, the Poll! From now on, you will be able to let us know

your opinion on any paranormal subject - The starter one is Do you believe in Ghosts?

As the heading might suggest, the starter for this brand new feature (which is on h2g2, I don't want any free off-site cgi hoster! ) is starting on the Question of the Belief in Ghosts. It will continue for a week, although if votes are low, it will probably carry on until a number of votes has been voted in all - If you think this isn't such a good idea, then please don't just 'not vote' on it, let me know, and I'll discontinue it

Any stories you may have, Clubs, Societies, interesting links, information or otherwise anything you feel fitting to 'World of the Paranormal' to be submitted to the box below please. Thanks.

Hi aka (",) !

Here's the thing...

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