Unnatural Understandings and the Disparate Minds

When you have a setting with ghosts, poltergeists, and other paranormal goings-on in that vein, the next logical addition to the setting is people who investigate and or deal with such manifestations of the supernatural. There are essentially two types of groups who undertake these endeavours, though there is always the potential for overlap. There are those that take a scientific approach and those that take the metapsychical approach. Beyond, or aside, from the overlap of these two methodologies, is the conflict between the two, which can be further complicated by the deniers and debunkers of both. This of course ends with a messy four-way conflict, but therein lays some fun of its own.

Since you are beginning with a reality base that includes the paranormal as witness-able fact there should be at least the beginning of a scientific basis for understanding it, even if the real hard science answers will not be found for many years to come. The science need not be clear, or widely accepted, or even very useful, but it should be there. Where there is a need for understanding, there will be people to pursue it. They will come up with answers that work for them, eventually. The same can actually be said of the metaphysical adherents too, they will find answers in the fashion that suits them. Since this is a fictional setting they can be just as correct and valid as the science-types, and often will be far ahead of the curve because they simply embrace the rules they see rather than trying to understand them at a level beyond utility. They also do not necessarily seek a rationale or explanation.

Most of the scientific types will have commonly held beliefs about how the paranormal works. There can be some dissension, even some where groups have wildly divergent theories, but I would guess it is minimal. That said it is minimal in comparison to the myriad of occult system beliefs. There is no feeling of consensus behind these groups because they do not believe so firmly that there is only one reality. As soon as they witness the success of a group with a different belief they must admit there is more than one approach, which is unless they fall into the same category as the debunkers. Even though the metaphysic groups can see more than one method they too can believe their way is superior, or more morally true, or what have you that causes from polite disagreements up to vicious rivalries amongst them.

Mood: expressive.
Music: Satellite 15...The Final Frontier by Iron Maiden and Not A Dry Eye In The House by Meat Loaf.

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Witnesses or Lack Thereof For Hauntings

Most people when they have to deal with a haunting can simply spend a day or night away from the haunted location. They can even move out and leave it behind forever. What happens when you are the one haunted and the disturbances occur wherever you go? That was the situation I hinted at last week. Since then I see two different scenarios. In one the haunting manifests itself physically and anyone may witness it. In the second only the person who is haunted sees the ghost. The physical scenario may have an apparition or not and the ghost seer's ghost may affect physical objects or not. There are a lot of options these open up for a character and its growth. With either scenario the haunted person is in for a terrible time and the haunting will take its toll. Each scenario has its advantages though.

A haunting involving moving objects that can be witnessed by anyone is likely the more desirable of the two scenarios, if there is anything to be desired about the situation at all. It has the benefit of being verifiable by some at least. There may still be the ridicule of the uninitiated until they are affected by it directly. The degree of directness is variable and can be, in all cases, either finding objects moved when there was no one around to move them, or out of reach and no evidence of trickery to be found, up to actually seeing the object in transit. The disadvantage of course is that objects become misplaced, the phenomena seriously freaks people out, and it can be a case where people are injured by the haunting. The frequency and insistence can really wear on the subject of the haunting, and no amount of frustration, anger, or curses will dissuade a persistent poltergeist.

People who are the only ones to see an apparition can hold themselves together and keep it a secret with a little practice. That in and of itself is a benefit to these kinds of occurrences, if they can pull it off. That is as long as there is no physical component to the haunting otherwise it is much as above except for the addition of the visual manifestation. There are the usual cliché responses to seeing a ghost that others do not see such as seeming crazy for reacting or worse interacting with nothing there. The ghost may be friendly or it may be wicked either in line with or at odds with its appearance. It's sudden appearance and activities may be just as dangerous as objects flying around. Consider the ghost appearing with a menacing shout at the top of the stairs or appearing in the middle of the road while driving. At least additional witnesses to a physical assault can step in and lend a hand.

Mood: driven.
Music: Timelessness by Fear Factory and Basket Case by Green Day.

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Your Own Personal Residual Haunting

I finally got my hands on Paranormal Activity 2 and watched it the night before last. Fear not, no spoilers, but for those on the fence, it is a prequel, not a sequel. That means it happens before the first movie. One last thing about the movie itself. I like the way that it works to lead into the events in the first movie. That's part of a topic for another day. The following has nothing to do with the movie in particular.

Last time the discussion involved in part two different types of haunting, one of which was unintelligent and repetitious. Apparitions that are an echo of the past or simply repeating events in their life after their death are generally limited to a single location. It is an interesting question to ask, what if they could be attached to an object, or in a real twist, a person. I'm sure there is likely real life lore somewhere about haunted objects with only a residual haunting rather than an intelligent force. As to the other...

One of the theories of repeat hauntings or echoes is that the nature and or structure of a location allows it to retain events and play them back when certain conditions are met. If a residual haunting was due to an anomalous energy source instead that energy might be attracted, like magnetism of a sort, to a living being of a compatible "polarity" such as any human. Such a person would then be haunted. This might not necessarily be enough for a haunting disturbance, whether poltergeist-like or with a looping apparition. It might be that only someone sensitive to the world beyond might witness the ghost or be plagued by moving objects. In a sense psychic energy from the human might be needed to fuel the haunting. It could make the difference between wispy half seen figures and ones indistinguishable from the living, or objects moved slowly in time versus hurtling through the air.

Whether the residual haunting "works" when no one is around is another matter regardless off its attachment to a place or object. The old question of "if a tree falls in a wood, does it make a sound" comes to mind. As far as physics go, the answer is yes that the tree makes a sound. These witness only hauntings may be different at your discretion, especially when speaking of visual apparitions. A ghost might not appear without someone to witness it. It might be something that happens entirely in the mind of the viewer, in which case the ghost will not appear in pictures or on video. Likewise with no human presence objects will not move around. This would separate poltergeist phenomena into being the product of an intelligent haunting or as the RSPK/psychic phenomena. Of course there is always leeway on these ideas and multiple mix and match options are open to the writer.

Mood: amused.
Music: The Game Never Ends by Stratovarius and by Let Me Hear You Scream by Ozzy Osbourne.

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Haunting Master Class

Last time, we discussed imaginary friends that turn out to be not so imaginary. Yesterday at WraithStop™ while discussing an article titled "Cold Spots: Fort Delaware" I mentioned the "schism in ghost lore where there are photos of half seen figures not seen by the eye, but at the same time accounts of ghostly figures indistinguishable from the living until they disappear or do the impossible like passing into a wall." What I did not mention, because this is the more appropriate venue, is that there is a rules framework that brings together both of these elements and many others that don't necessarily seem to fit together. This does beg the question if it can just be that there are disparate haunting phenomena going on that do not interrelate. The answer is of course, yes, if you want it to be that way.

First let's look at the theories that make for a cohesive set of rules for ghostly manifestations. It starts with the idea that much of it comes down to energy, and some of it to the will of the spirits in question. It starts with a ghost hanging around unseen, watching things happen. At this base state it may or may not show up in a photograph, depending on how much energy it has. When it has enough energy it becomes visible to the naked eye with the translucency depending on how much energy. Other acts such as telekinesis require energy and may or may not impact on visibility. A ghost with enough energy can chose to remain unseen or reveal itself to someone even if it has no control over its current photogenic quality. Overarching, this all may be dependent upon whether it is an active, intelligent, spectre or a residual haunting played on a loop, or not dependent on that criteria at all.

It is certainly an option to have different kinds of ghosts and hauntings that each work off of their own rule sets with as much distance or overlap as desired. Poltergeists can be noisy mischievous spirits or they can be purely psychic effects of the living. Unintelligent hauntings can be echoes of the past or entities caught up in the energy of previous events. Intelligent ghosts can be earthbound spirits or conversely non-human spirits such as devils and non-corporeal species beyond our current understanding. There are other events that can be described as a haunting such as Shadow figures and people, doppelgangers, humans travelling astrally, black eyed kids and people, and watchers and thought forms, which are ghosts created by human belief. As with everything else your setting can incorporate whatever manners and meanings work for you.

Mood: educational.
Music: Thrills In The Night by Kiss and Wake The Dead by Alice Cooper.

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Of Friends Not There

I was watching a video series of ghost stories told partly by a narrator and partly by witness interviews. One of those fine shows complete with creepy recreations and lots of mood inducing music. I think I had known about a couple of the cases. As often happens some of the cases involve families with children. In some of these tales, before the phenomena becomes too frightening and out of hand one parent, or both, will hear one of their young children talking to their new imaginary friend. Imaginary friends are a somewhat common experience in the grand scheme of parenting. At least we are led to believe this is true. I cannot say for certain if it is a reality. All children anthropomorphise their toys. They pretend that they have all sorts of adventures with those physical if inanimate friends. What then of those children that go the step further to a completely unreal playmate?

I never had an imaginary friend of the non-corporeal type. I wouldn't want to say it was due to any lack of imagination. Real was real and imaginary was imaginary, but still better with something you could hang onto. Not to mention a friend that would not steer you into doing wrong and getting in trouble, because with that foreknowledge that pretend was only pretend you knew you were responsible for what if anything you imagined any particular toy saying. Now, you know this isn't a parenting blog, and not even really a nostalgia blog. The first line today also tells you where this is going. The child will have given their imaginary friend a name, and they tell bits of this friend's history to anyone who will listen. What comes as a surprise to the parents is that often the imaginary friend is significantly older than the child. This is the first warning bell.

The ghostly phenomena will become more and more apparent. The parents fear will get worse and worse. It takes a lot though to push a family out of it's home because it is a massive financial burden otherwise and it effectively always has been. That means people will put up with a lot because the other option is to live on the street or have two mortgages until you can offload the haunted house on some other unsuspecting person. Remember, don't get publicity for having a haunted home then turn around and try to sell the house without disclosing the haunting or the law will get you. Invariably, in researching the house's history it will be discovered that a former occupant that died in the house has the exact name and details as the child's imaginary friend. Cue very natural and expected freak out...

Mood: relaxed
Music: Slick Black Cadillac by Quiet Riot and When The Wild Wind Blows by Iron Maiden.

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A Mass of Awesome

Today I am going to talk a number of spoilers for a number of movies. If you don't want to know nitty-gritty details about "The Blair Witch Project", "The Mangler", "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)", "Paranormal Activity", "The St. Francisville Experiment", "Dead & Buried", "The Devil's Rejects" "Hatchet", "The Amityville Horror (2005)", "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" or "Silent Night, Deadly Night", then you had better stop reading and join me again next week for the final Horror on Hump Day of 2010. You're safe until the end of this paragraph while I outline what I want to cover about these movies. I make it no secret that I like a number of things and movies that others do not care for or outright deride. I thought in keeping with the upbeat trend I've been on that I would tell you about some of these today. I'm sorry for excluding some people from the fun, but now and then it's fun to talk about these spoilers.

Let's start with my favourite little story about "The Blair Witch Project" in the theatre. I went with a friend. Afterward we both agreed the following happened. As the film progressed we got colder and colder. The instant the credits rolled the cold was gone. There was no way it was anything other than psychological. I'm in a very tiny minority as a huge fan of "The Mangler". I just love it to bits, except for the incessant screaming of the girl at the end. Speaking of screaming, the first time I saw "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)" was on a really bad VHS. It was a poor experience when a large bit of the movie was a pair of white shorts running through pitch darkness--with nothing else visible--screaming, to the sound of a chain saw. I still think there is a bit too much screaming, though I'm sure there are some people who scream incessantly until they can scream no longer.

I thought "Paranormal Activity" was pretty good despite that it was in some ways a pretty tame haunting. It's all a matter of pacing, and successfully directing the kind of expectation the audience should have. The guy hurtling toward the camera made me jump, and I even like the demon-face morph. "The St. Francisville Experiment" gets a bad rep as a Blair Witch rip-off sight unseen, when really it's like an investigation of "Ghost Hunters" or "Sightings" in movie format--yes the ending's a bit Blair Witch. The ghost throwing the chair was really cool and the weird doll scene was a great bit of suspense. One of the freak-nastiest things I've seen is the burned man hanging upside down in the car in "Dead & Buried". There are a lot shots of him in the extras on the DVD box I have too. I call him Ham-head to mitigate some of the ick-factor, but really it makes it worse.

Stay with me, I'm going extra long today. Now for those moments where I hoped the movie would do something and did. That was awesome in "The Devil's Rejects" when he made her wear her boyfriend's face and then she chases after the maid and turns into a massive road smear. Or how about in "Hatchet" when he sticks the shovel in the ground and then uses it to spear his next victim? The best part of "The Amityville Horror (2005)" was when the ghost girl made the babysitter stick her finger in the bullet wound in her forehead. Then there is the movie where you wonder will it get to the horror goods and then--BAM--"Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" turns from documentary making into horror movie when the real survivor girl is revealed. Finally, since it's the season, I must talk about the "Carrie" of slasher films, "Silent Night, Deadly Night" and the world's creepiest grandfather. I love that movie, and dislike none of it. The creepy Christmas carols and songs rock too. That's it. See you next week.

Mood: rebellious.
Music: Callin' The Shots by Quiet Riot and Where Eagles Dare by Iron Maiden.

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13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #12 The Shining (1980)

The night before Hallowe'en, Devil's Night. Can you feel the excitement? Are you ready? Well if not then you should be aftertonight's movie. In a list of movies with infamously haunted places there is one name that towers over the others. It is called The Overlook Hotel, and it is not real, but most people will know the name nonetheless, even if they don't recall from where. The Overlook is based for the most part on a real hotel called The Stanley Hotel and is the creation of Stephen King in his novel The Shining. This is the first movie adaptation of that novel. The mastermind behind it is none other than Stanley Kubrick. Mind you some people aren't so sure on the mastermind part. This movie deviates from the novel on several levels. To me this makes for the more interesting of the two kind of novel to movie adaptations.

Kubrick had his own vision for the story. It is both familiar and divergent. Starting off we have the cast. The movie stars Jack Nicholson,Shelley Duvall, and young Danny Lloyd as a family maintaining The Overlook Hotel during the long and harsh winter. This is the same as King's story. It's not a spoiler, but the only thing I'll say here about the differences is that in Kubrick's movie the hotel has a hedge maze, and the novel--and remake mini-series--has hedge animals that come to life. As one might expect from a Kubrick movie there is a great attention to detail from sets to locations to the acting, and of course the direction. As for the haunting, the Shining has it in spades. Also, if you don't know, the shining is actually psychic ability, exemplified by Danny Lloyd's character and the cook played by Scatman Crothers.

Mood: stoked.

Music: Halloween by Helloween. MP3s

13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #11 Poltergeist II: The Other Side

If you are new to my array of blogs or just have forgotten, my favourite movie of all time, any genre, is the originalPoltergeist. I already told you all about it for last year's Hallowe'en movie. I decided not to repeat myself although there were more than a couple haunting movies previously covered that I could have tackled again. Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a great sequel. It didn't have to be as brilliant, or as beautiful as the original, it just had to keep you involved with the family. It helped immensely that Craig T. Nelson, Jobeth Williams, and of course little Heather O'Rourke returned--and the boy too. With them came Zelda Rubinstein as the absolutely iconic Tangina Barrons. This time the Freelings have moved in with the children's grandmother but the ghosts still want Carol Anne, especially their leader the Reverend Kane played by Julian Beck.

Let's start there, with Julian Beck as Kane. That is one seriously creepy old man. Beck is just absolutely amazing whether it is pretending to be a sweet innocent old codger or the seething, wrathful, fire and brimstone, cult leader unsatisfied even in death to let his followers go. That in itself is also the coolest thing about this movie--the back-story that dovetails so well into the goings on of the previous film. That is likely because Poltergeist II has the same writing team that brought us the original movie: Michael Grais and Mark Victor. Kane has another problem beside Tangina this time out in the form of a Native American shaman played by Will Sampson. Both Sampson and Beck were supposed to have died after working on this movie because of the Poltergeist curse--also Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke--one of the creepiest (false) movie legends.

Mood: inspired.

Music: Halloween by Aqua. MP3s

13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #10 The Amityville Horror (2005)

As Hallowe'en draws near and the movies become about bigger, more spectacular, and more infamous hauntings on film. The AmityvilleHorror is probably the most talked about haunting on this continent popularised by the novel, original movie with several sequels, and now this recent remake. Scott Kosar wrote this Amityville Horror screenplay--also The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Crazies remakes. Amityville is one of the Platinum Dunes remakes. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and Melissa George who you may remember from Turistas and 30 Days of Night. They buy a house that is priced within their means because the previous family was murdered in it. Notable playing the role of one of Melissa's boys is Jesse James who definitely stood out in The Butterfly Effect. The priest in this remake is played by Philip Baker Hall from Lost Souls.

There is one scene in this movie that I want nothing more than to tell you about, but it would be such a spoiler. I almost hate tomention that it involves the character played by Rachel Nichols from the short-lived TV show The Inside, also from 2005, and a year later the movie The Woods. As a remake this movie draws comparison to the original, and a certain amount of ire. I'm a fan of this and the original. This one does it's own thing in some cases. It involves some aspects that are hinted at in the novel that weren't an issue in the original movie. It drops some aspects and scenes from both progenitors. Some of the changes could be interesting to see pursued in a sequel, though I have not heard anything about a sequel to this movie. You can save it for another night, but I thought the commentary track did a good job of explaining some parts that seemed a bit random.

Mood: excitable.

Music: This House is Haunted by Alice Cooper. MP3s