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

Hmmm interesting point!
Perhaps its more a case though of some things that were once considred to be 'mysterious' are no bing proven! i think its great that theres been research into telekinesis ,telepathy stuff n its been proved in cases to genuinely exist. even things like the tarot can be linked to psychology and the subconcious..in the end a very small percentage of the mind is understood ..so who knows what else is in there!

What you mean? I don't understand science? Scientist can't explain the paranormal...people studie it and get energy fields from it...then you get the scientist that sits there and says...'it was the wind'...yeah give me evidence please

Do you believe in spontanious combustion? that how ya spell the bugga

Think thats a weird one that

and science certainly hasnt explained trumdiums etc! (like Colin Fry n Derek thingy (Jons mt him a few times btw..says hes amazing..n TOTALLY genuine))

Who Derek?

I think he's brill me.

meant to say true mediums there..keys went funny

Yep..spontanious human combustion exists.. n science has almost explaned it.. (we burn from the inside out cos of the fat distribution or something i think it was)..but they cant explain how th bones burn to ash! even when youre cremated the bones have to be crushed up after..

i think spontaneous combustion can be one day explained by electrical fields and an individuals minds capability to control them, or not as it were

and that Missy, is a stereotypical opinion on science. as serephina just said, research has been done into once mysterious things and answers have been found. i'd put my life on the fact that everything that you consider paranormal is actually under scientific investigation as we speak. in fact, i bet you think that too.

are you scared they might answer something you'd rather was left alone?

yes Derek..cant remembr his other name..the one who does most haunted on living.

Don't think im weird or nothing but don't you think it's funny how it leaves parts of the body behind

Yeah I know who you mean, he's amazing him..I watched one most haunted and they had to cut it coz the spirt he was in touch with was well evil...he was gonna do stuff to that bird who presents it...Was well freaky.

its the feet that get left Zoe.. n they managed to explain that with the candle theory.wish i could remember exactly what that was.

In the end its nice that science is finally catching up! just because you 'can' explain something doesnt make it any less real!

you don't believe video footage of a man walking on the moon but you will believe a low budget TV show that shows people 'apparently' communicating with the dead

I havent watched that prog in ages..but ill be interested to meet the bloke when i get the chance.

Well Creachy if they can explain it more power to em...I like knowing how things work...Makes things interesting

As i said there are genuine people..and there are cranks. whether its the dead these people comunicate with i dont know.. but they certainly communicate with something.

I don't believe man walked on the moon because of the radiation thing...As for the derek thingy...I've meet people similar to him...One girl i met...made her money other ways than getting it from what she called her 'gift'.

yeah, their alter personality

Yeah it is always the feet init...gona have to look into that one

Surely I could make some money then?

maybe

no need to look up SHC and the 'wick' effect. i have PC. read on:

'Forensic scientists . . .' they told viewers (they being a film production team for the BBC), '. . . are convinced that, like other fires, these fires are most commonly started by a careless match or cigarette and they believe there is a simple explanation of how this can reduce the body to ash.'

'The scientific explanation -- the 'wick effect' -- proposes that in certain rare circumstances the human being can burn like a candle.'

The explanation advanced by the film makers was that a clothed human body is like an inside-out candle where the fat, or fuel source, is inside and the wick is outside. Once burning begins, the melted fat seeps into the clothing and burns like a wick, slowly over a period of many hours.

Dr John DeHaan of the California Criminalistics Institute demonstrated this theory by burning the body of a pig wrapped in a blanket to simulate a clothed human being, using about a litre of petrol as an initial accelerant.

The film makers concluded emphatically, 'The scientists have clearly demonstrated how the classic features of spontaneous human combustion can occur through normal processes.'

Importantly, the 'wick effect' explanation proposed in the film necessarily entails three key features:-

* It is a slow, gradual process taking many hours, typically 5 to 10 hours or more. In the DeHaan experiment, the pig carcass was still not fully consumed after 7 hours.

* There is always a source of combustion -- matches, cigarette, candle, gas fire, coal fire etc, and some initial accelerant -- perfume, alcohol, or some other spirit.

* Because it is a long slow process involving the melting of body fat, the victim must necessarily be killed.