alkemical
05-08-2007, 02:38 PM
Supernatural Mysteries (http://www.thothweb.com/article5045.html)
The supernatural world is one that seems to have existed alongside our own world since the dawn of time, yet despite our awareness of the phenomena associated with it, there is still much to be understood.
The natural world offers us examples of multitude of unexplained occurrences, encompassing subjects such as ghost activity, sightings of bizarre creatures and the development of abilities that defy rational explanation, that warrant serious investigation.
As such, this wealth of unexplained phenomena has encouraged many researchers to consider the possibility that forces beyond our current understanding can and do affect and interact with our world.
Interestingly, the influence of this strange and uncharted realm of existence is not confined to mediums, mystics and clairvoyants; people with well developed psychic abilities. Occasionally, ordinary, even sceptical people are confronted with situations that make us question the nature and reality of our own world.
Doppelgangers and Bilocation
Tales of Doppelgangers are far from new; in fact they have bewildered and often frightened people across many cultures for thousands of years. These tales date back at least as far as ancient Egypt, where it was believed that on occasion a person’s etheric double could leave a sleeping person and roam free.
The classic doppelganger manifestation seems to be a darker instance of bilocation. Whereas bilocation tends to be the result of a deliberate projection of the self; an art practiced by Tibetan Lama and Indian Yogi, doppelganger manifestations seem to be different in that the person is often sleeping or unconscious and thus not consciously in control of the splitting of their etheric twin from their physical self. Doppelgangers also tend to be more associated with ill omens and death. It was said, for example, that England’s Queen Elizabeth saw her own doppelganger laid out on her bed shortly before her own death.
Interestingly some of the best documented examples of doppelgangers involve creative people, such as the English poet Shelly, French author Guy de Maupassant and John Donne, the 16th century English poet who encountered his wife’s doppelganger as she gave birth to his stillborn child. Deeply religious people such as St. Anthony and St. Alphonsus also seem to be more prone to involvement with these events. Perhaps the most famous example is that of Padre Pio. Born in Italy in 1887, Padre Pio was a peasant priest who has become famous as a worker of miracles, a clairvoyant and stigmatic and a master of the art of being in two places at the same time, particularly when a dying person needed reassurance.
In 1917, General Luigi Cadorna was contemplating suicide after Italy’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the Germans. As he held his service revolver to his head and prepared to pull the trigger, a Capuchin monk appeared from nowhere and admonished him for being so stupid. It was years later that Cadorna met Padre Pio and recognised him as the monk that had saved his life that night; yet Padre Pio had remained in his monastery in Foggia throughout World War I.
In 1942, Padre Pio repeated this amazing feat by summoning the Archbishop of Montevideo to the bedside of Monsignor Damiani, a priest who had met Padre Pio in the 1920’s and who had been so impressed by him that he had vowed that when his time came to die, he would do so in Padre Pio’s presence. When the archbishop got to his bedside, Damiani had already died, but he had left a handwritten note that simply said ‘Padre Pio came’. It was not until two years later that the Archbishop met Padre Pio himself and recognised him as the monk that had summoned him that night.
A slightly less well known example of bilocation was that of Emilie Sagée, a 32-year-old French school teacher whose double would appear and disappear in full view of her students. Emilie’s double was actually able to appear next to her in the classroom as well as appearing in other parts of the school. Emilie seemed to be aware of her strange ability and admitted that it was good for ensuring her students’ undivided attention - although she doesn't seem to have had conscious control over the situation.
Perhaps the most astonishing example of Emilie’s unusual ability took place in full view of over forty students on a summer day in 1846. As the girls sat in the school hall for a needlework class, Emilie could be seen gardening in the schools grounds. When the class teacher left the room Emilie’s motionless doppelganger appeared in her chair - while the real Emilie could still be seen in the garden. Two of the girls became curious and approached the doppelganger and tried to touch it, but felt an odd resistance in the air surrounding it. The apparition faded away after one girl succeeded in passing through it, causing it to slowly fade into nothing.
Sadly Emilie’s strange ability unnerved many of her employers and resulted in her dismissal from several jobs.
Supernatural creatures
There is a large body of evidence that suggests that creatures that are most definitely not of our world sometimes seem to get trapped here. There is much debate as to whether this may be the result of inter-dimensional travel, parallel universes, time slips or are a manifestation of the collective consciousness. Whether these beings have arrived in our world intentionally or by accident remains a mystery but the fact that creatures that are not of this world can sometimes end up trapped in it could explain some of the strange sightings from London’s Highgate Vampire to the Mothman and Spring Heeled Jack.
The Mothman
The Mothman phenomenon is of course one of the best modern examples of a supernatural creature that has been sighted over a lengthy period of time. During a thirteen month period, there were multiple sightings of a heavily built 'winged humanoid', described as being between six and seven feet tall with brown or grey coloured torso and red glowing eyes, around the small town of Point Pleasant on the banks of the Ohio River. Although it was known to chase cars on occasion, the creature tended not to attack people directly, but its unearthly appearance, sheer size and loud screech meant that those who saw it were naturally concerned for their safety.
Many witnesses also reported being filled with in an inexplicable foreboding and the creature seemed to be able to mesmerise people with its hypnotic stare. Sightings of the Mothman ended suddenly in 1967 but only with the catastrophic collapse of the Silver Bridge into the Ohio River, a tragedy that many believe was triggered by the creature. The mothman wasn’t the first supernatural creature to cause fear and widespread disruption, nor was his stay the longest; that honour goes to England's ‘Spring-healed Jack’.
Spring-heeled Jack
Spring-heeled Jack was a ‘devil eyed’ flame breathing humanoid type creature, said to be able to fly through the air in massive leaps. Over a 67 year period from 1838 to 1904, Jack terrorised the people of England by carrying out random attacks on both men and women alike. He was described by one of his first victims as wearing a kind of helmet and a tight fitting white oilskin costume and having long claws and breathing blue and white flames.
Despite having been spotted all over England, this description remained remarkably consistent. As Jack’s rampage continued, women had their clothes torn from their bodies and were scratched and terrorised, while men were taunted, slapped, scratched and thrown to the ground. Jack successfully evaded several traps set by the army and simply laughed and disappeared when the townsfolk of Lincoln shot at him. The last sighting of spring-heeled Jack was in Liverpool in 1904 where he started a panic by leaping from the cobbled streets to the rooftops repeatedly, as if playing a disruptive game. When a group of men tried to corner him, he simply vanished into the darkness and was never seen again.
The superhuman qualities that Jack was said to exhibit have led many observers to speculate that whatever Jack was, he had to have been something that came from beyond our dimension, certainly there is little by way of earthly suspects that would explain his 67 years of mayhem.
The supernatural world is one that seems to have existed alongside our own world since the dawn of time, yet despite our awareness of the phenomena associated with it, there is still much to be understood.
The natural world offers us examples of multitude of unexplained occurrences, encompassing subjects such as ghost activity, sightings of bizarre creatures and the development of abilities that defy rational explanation, that warrant serious investigation.
As such, this wealth of unexplained phenomena has encouraged many researchers to consider the possibility that forces beyond our current understanding can and do affect and interact with our world.
Interestingly, the influence of this strange and uncharted realm of existence is not confined to mediums, mystics and clairvoyants; people with well developed psychic abilities. Occasionally, ordinary, even sceptical people are confronted with situations that make us question the nature and reality of our own world.
Doppelgangers and Bilocation
Tales of Doppelgangers are far from new; in fact they have bewildered and often frightened people across many cultures for thousands of years. These tales date back at least as far as ancient Egypt, where it was believed that on occasion a person’s etheric double could leave a sleeping person and roam free.
The classic doppelganger manifestation seems to be a darker instance of bilocation. Whereas bilocation tends to be the result of a deliberate projection of the self; an art practiced by Tibetan Lama and Indian Yogi, doppelganger manifestations seem to be different in that the person is often sleeping or unconscious and thus not consciously in control of the splitting of their etheric twin from their physical self. Doppelgangers also tend to be more associated with ill omens and death. It was said, for example, that England’s Queen Elizabeth saw her own doppelganger laid out on her bed shortly before her own death.
Interestingly some of the best documented examples of doppelgangers involve creative people, such as the English poet Shelly, French author Guy de Maupassant and John Donne, the 16th century English poet who encountered his wife’s doppelganger as she gave birth to his stillborn child. Deeply religious people such as St. Anthony and St. Alphonsus also seem to be more prone to involvement with these events. Perhaps the most famous example is that of Padre Pio. Born in Italy in 1887, Padre Pio was a peasant priest who has become famous as a worker of miracles, a clairvoyant and stigmatic and a master of the art of being in two places at the same time, particularly when a dying person needed reassurance.
In 1917, General Luigi Cadorna was contemplating suicide after Italy’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the Germans. As he held his service revolver to his head and prepared to pull the trigger, a Capuchin monk appeared from nowhere and admonished him for being so stupid. It was years later that Cadorna met Padre Pio and recognised him as the monk that had saved his life that night; yet Padre Pio had remained in his monastery in Foggia throughout World War I.
In 1942, Padre Pio repeated this amazing feat by summoning the Archbishop of Montevideo to the bedside of Monsignor Damiani, a priest who had met Padre Pio in the 1920’s and who had been so impressed by him that he had vowed that when his time came to die, he would do so in Padre Pio’s presence. When the archbishop got to his bedside, Damiani had already died, but he had left a handwritten note that simply said ‘Padre Pio came’. It was not until two years later that the Archbishop met Padre Pio himself and recognised him as the monk that had summoned him that night.
A slightly less well known example of bilocation was that of Emilie Sagée, a 32-year-old French school teacher whose double would appear and disappear in full view of her students. Emilie’s double was actually able to appear next to her in the classroom as well as appearing in other parts of the school. Emilie seemed to be aware of her strange ability and admitted that it was good for ensuring her students’ undivided attention - although she doesn't seem to have had conscious control over the situation.
Perhaps the most astonishing example of Emilie’s unusual ability took place in full view of over forty students on a summer day in 1846. As the girls sat in the school hall for a needlework class, Emilie could be seen gardening in the schools grounds. When the class teacher left the room Emilie’s motionless doppelganger appeared in her chair - while the real Emilie could still be seen in the garden. Two of the girls became curious and approached the doppelganger and tried to touch it, but felt an odd resistance in the air surrounding it. The apparition faded away after one girl succeeded in passing through it, causing it to slowly fade into nothing.
Sadly Emilie’s strange ability unnerved many of her employers and resulted in her dismissal from several jobs.
Supernatural creatures
There is a large body of evidence that suggests that creatures that are most definitely not of our world sometimes seem to get trapped here. There is much debate as to whether this may be the result of inter-dimensional travel, parallel universes, time slips or are a manifestation of the collective consciousness. Whether these beings have arrived in our world intentionally or by accident remains a mystery but the fact that creatures that are not of this world can sometimes end up trapped in it could explain some of the strange sightings from London’s Highgate Vampire to the Mothman and Spring Heeled Jack.
The Mothman
The Mothman phenomenon is of course one of the best modern examples of a supernatural creature that has been sighted over a lengthy period of time. During a thirteen month period, there were multiple sightings of a heavily built 'winged humanoid', described as being between six and seven feet tall with brown or grey coloured torso and red glowing eyes, around the small town of Point Pleasant on the banks of the Ohio River. Although it was known to chase cars on occasion, the creature tended not to attack people directly, but its unearthly appearance, sheer size and loud screech meant that those who saw it were naturally concerned for their safety.
Many witnesses also reported being filled with in an inexplicable foreboding and the creature seemed to be able to mesmerise people with its hypnotic stare. Sightings of the Mothman ended suddenly in 1967 but only with the catastrophic collapse of the Silver Bridge into the Ohio River, a tragedy that many believe was triggered by the creature. The mothman wasn’t the first supernatural creature to cause fear and widespread disruption, nor was his stay the longest; that honour goes to England's ‘Spring-healed Jack’.
Spring-heeled Jack
Spring-heeled Jack was a ‘devil eyed’ flame breathing humanoid type creature, said to be able to fly through the air in massive leaps. Over a 67 year period from 1838 to 1904, Jack terrorised the people of England by carrying out random attacks on both men and women alike. He was described by one of his first victims as wearing a kind of helmet and a tight fitting white oilskin costume and having long claws and breathing blue and white flames.
Despite having been spotted all over England, this description remained remarkably consistent. As Jack’s rampage continued, women had their clothes torn from their bodies and were scratched and terrorised, while men were taunted, slapped, scratched and thrown to the ground. Jack successfully evaded several traps set by the army and simply laughed and disappeared when the townsfolk of Lincoln shot at him. The last sighting of spring-heeled Jack was in Liverpool in 1904 where he started a panic by leaping from the cobbled streets to the rooftops repeatedly, as if playing a disruptive game. When a group of men tried to corner him, he simply vanished into the darkness and was never seen again.
The superhuman qualities that Jack was said to exhibit have led many observers to speculate that whatever Jack was, he had to have been something that came from beyond our dimension, certainly there is little by way of earthly suspects that would explain his 67 years of mayhem.