h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been reading quite a bit about the supernatural and whatnot. I'm not claiming belief, just interest. Nevertheless, I have questions. My personal library is small, and the local library ain't much bigger in reference to this area of knowledge. The internet has been useful, but I figured I'd post a few quick questions every now and then, possibly saving myself some time if someone already knows the answer.

The question at hand right now:
"What can you tell me about a book called the Compendium Maleficarum?"

The "Compendium Maleficarum", or "Witches Manual", is a seventeenth-century book by Francesco Maria Guazzo that goes into great and tiresome detail on pacts made with Satan. Wonderful reading for masochists.

Ah, I see that the "Muse of Forbidden Lore" has arrived.
Answer me this: Who the heck is Premanand? And what's he/she got to do with the supernatural?

Anyone?

Fame! Someone has recognized me. I am content.

As for the answer to your question:
"B. Premarand is a prominent leader of the Indian Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. He publishes the 'Indian Skeptic', a monthly journal of the committee. Premarand tours the Asian subcontinent and around the world demonstrating how the Indian fakirs and "god-men" do their conjuring tricks, and he constantly questions claims of kundalini and other powers said to be possessed by the many Indian performers."

The Muse of Forbidden Lore has spoken.

How about a simple definition of Physiognomy?

I suppose this forum isn't a burning topic in the minds of our researchers. Guess I'll have to field this question too. Hope the answer doesn't come too late.

"PHYSIOGNOMY: The art of reading character and fate from the features of the face. It was once widely believed that one's true qualities were mirrored in the configuration, size, and condition of the facial features. Criminologists of the nineteenth century seized upon this possibility and squandered a great amount of study and money on the shape of the criminal ear.
The Oscar Wilde story "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891) was based on the premise that a higly realistic painting of a young man, rather than the man himself, took on all the physiognomical changes associated with an evil life."


The "Muse of Forbidden Lore" has spoken.

Hey

The supernatural! I love that! But as the other one said, it´s more interest than belief. I just bought this book called Reader´s Digest to the Unexplained. It actually had a lot of phenomenas I have never heard of, even though I thought I knew most. Anyways, I just thought I would correct the stuff about physiognomy. When you say facial I personally think of nose and mouth and stuff. But it was actually the area around the brain they looked at. It was believe there were some areas in the brain that was used for different things. If an area was very developed you should be able to see a bump on the head there. You can buy busts where the brain areas have been written on.

That's not physiognomy, that's phrenology! Phrenologists not only examined bumps on people's heads, they also manipulated and stimulated these bumps so as to bring about health and psychological improvements.

This is not exactly the supernatural, just quackery. Unless there is actually something to phrenology after all.

But I do believe a person's external appearance gives away some important bits of information about themselves, their personalities and so on. After all, the things people do, when they do them very regularly, have an effect on their bodies, and a observant observer can notice this and draw conclusions.

You re of course right, it s phrenology. I apologize. I was just at an anti New Age lecture the other day and there they mentioned it. But even if it isn t supernatural, it is a claim of the supernatural. kind of. Or at least some fringe science.

That other thing you talked about, that s basically what Sherlock Holmes and his kind did.

I've read about Kirlian photgraphy, but the source was from the standpoint of belief. Can anyone tell me something more from an objective standpoint?

Well, I don't know how objective this'll be, but here it goes.

"Kirlian photography was discovered by the Russian Semyon Kirlian in 1937, in which an object is placed directly on a piece of photographic film or paper, one side of a high-voltage, high-frequency generator is connected to the object, and the other side is grounded to a metal plate beneath the photographic material. Often, glass plates separate the two electric terminals, though the high-frequency voltage can penetrate such a barrier.
The ensuing corona discharge, a halo effect resulting from the electrical charge being dissapated, is registered on the material and can be seen when the developing process is carried out. The corona is thought to indicate a sort of "life energy", and thus this technique's use in showing variations in that energy. It is also believed to register the aura.
Once highly regarded by the paranormalists, Kirlian photography has now been shown only to indicate variances in pressure, humidity, grounding, and conductivity. Corona discharges are well understood and explained in elementary physics.
The most famous effect of Kirlian photography occured when a plant leaf was "photographed", then a section was torn away and the leaf was rephotographed. A faint image of the torn-out section was still seen in the second photo. Snce the same glass plates had been used, it is probable that moisture from the missing portion was providing the ghostly image. Since the glass plates used as dielectric material would tend to break down along the edges of the object, allowing easier passage of the discharge, that also may account for the effect. The observed "phantom leaf" effect was not found again in better-cotrolled experiments, but has of course continued to serve as a point of arguement for the believers."

*pokes head into forum* sorry to interupt but I need a quick word with aliquis! I will drop a note on your home page.

Saw the word "Phyllorhodomancy" used in an old book but without any explanation. I know the "-mancy" suffix usually means some kind of divination, but I don't know the whole meaning.

Could you please write something/anything on your 'My Space' by using the 'Edit page' button?

That will create a 'Discuss' button, that will make it possible for people to contact you - and I know there are persons just waiting to welcome you to h2g2... !

Phyllorhodomancy is divination by rose-leaves. The Greeks clapped a rose-leaf on the hand, and judged from the resulting sound the success or otherwise of their desires.

Is it true that the National Gallery in London is haunted?

The National Gallery is allegedly haunted by a group of apparitions. Late at night, between one and three ghosts are said to appear in Gallery 16 in front of a 17th-century painting by Jan Vermeer, where they seem to be admiring the work. Guards have claimed to see the ghosts on security cameras and in person while on night patrol. Gallery officials admit that at least three guards working different shifts have reported witnessing the supernatural phenomena.

Is it TRUE? If ghosts exist, then perhaps.
The question that must naturally follow is "Do ghosts exist?"
And that is a debate that I choose not to get into.

Actually the whole question of "do ghosts really exist" has been the basis for many 'spirited' debates.

I saw reference to something called an "ultra-terrestrial". What is that supposed to be?

Ultra-terrestrials is a suggested name by journalist John Keel for the entities in UFO cases and in other, even weirder tales of the paranormal. He conceives them as not quite material and not quite real, but on a fringe between energy, dream, and mythos.