Do You Believe In The Devil?

MB: I didn’t know what to believe. I didn’t have this fascination with spirits, ghosts or demons at all. I think that really helped me out, because I went in with this real objective approach trying to look at it as a journalist would. Beyond just trying to put it into a Sunday school vernacular, I really wanted to understand, almost from a scientific journalistic standpoint, what are these things, what role do they play?

Read complete article here {via The Examiner}

Does the devil exist – or is the concept simply a way of making excuses for dark and sinister actions. {source: ParanormalTV}

Satan's Holy Water?

Now here’s something new to me. Satanists using holy water for satanic rituals. How the heck does that work?

Rome, 12 June (AKI) – An Italian church outside Rome has stopped offering ‘holy water’ to worshippers because the parish priest fears it is being stolen for satanic rituals. Walter Palombi, the parish priest at the Santa Maria Stella Maris church at Fiumicino, on the outskirts of the capital, said the water is no longer provided for people to bless themselves.

“We fear that the water is being stolen for satanic rites. So we decided to remove it,” said Walter Palombi, quoted by Italian daily Il Messaggero.

Instead the church is placing flowers in the basins where the water was held and many worshippers think the move is “extravagant”.

Read complete article here. {via adnkronos.com}

Portal to Hell?

This is a good little article on the history behind the haunted honky tonk, Bobby Mackey’s Music World.

I paid my second visit to Kentucky this year last week. Ten hours from Baltimore and a world away. The last time I was here was a visit to Louisville and the notorious Waverly Hill Sanatorium. This time I was visiting the site of murder, Satan worshiping and hauntings.

Bobby Mackey’s Music World (pictured left) is a haunted place I have been familiar with since before I been investigating the paranormal. It has been featured in innumerable television shows and articles. Many of these sources focus on the ghosts. Some focus on the murders.

Read Complete article here. {via The Examiner}

Rose Hall today.

All the wickedness would finally catch up with her when she took the life of a young man who was to be married to the daughter of a powerful voodoo practitioner. This man would battle Annie not only with his fists but with his voodoo magic, eventually killing her. Annie was buried in a specially designed tomb that would keep her sinister soul trapped. Unfortunately one of the slaves didn’t get it right, and Annie’s spirit roams Rose Hall to this day. Nice job buddy. So in 1971 a group of psychics came to Rose Hall to try and trap Annie’s spirit. But still, no success, she still roams.

Annie's tomb

Some of the phenomenon reported at Rose Hall are doors slamming on their own, men screaming, crying babies, the scent of dried blood, apparitions, visions in mirrors, footsteps in the main hall, and even sightings of Annie herself riding her prized black stallion. But be forewarned, legend has it that not only Annie still roams the plantation but all her many victims.

The ReaL Deal

It’s not a sequel or a prequel or a reboot or a remake, but a film based on Mark Opsasnick’s book The Real Story Behind The Exorcist is on the cards from Vertigo Entertainment (The Ring, Quarantine). 

The Exorcist story, The Haunted Boy, is a single chapter (serialised in full here) in Opsasnick’s tome of supernatural investigations, subtitled A Study of The Haunted Boy and Other True Life Horror Legends. In it, the author tracks down and speaks to the priests involved in the 1940s exorcism, local residents from the time, and the actual “Rob Doe” who became Regan in the novel and William Friedkin’s film. Hmm: sounds like a similar approach to Requiem, the German film that told a close-to-the-truth version of the story of the exorcism and death of Anneliese Michel, which also inspired the Hollywoodised The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Read the complete article here. {via empireonline.com}

The Devil's Toilet!

I was going to wait and write this tomorrow but if I can keep even one person from spending their hard earned dough on this fraud of a movie, well I’ve done my good deed for the week. The Devil’s Tomb is the story of an “elite” group of soldiers sent on a rescue mission in some unknown dessert. They soon find out that the mission isn’t really what it’s all cracked up to be, more like a search and destroy in an ancient tomb. But with the Nephilim, you know, the offspring of some hard up fallen angels and human ladies. This is where it gets good. Actually, wait a minute this is where I got duped into purchasing this DVD. Yes, I was a bit over ambitious and in need of some good demonic cinema. I mean come on, the title is “The Devil’s Tomb.” And it stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ron Perlman, and even Ray Winstone for cripe’s sake. Boy, did I whiff on this one.

So Cuba and his buddies head on down into the tomb where they encounter scientists and priests possessed by the Nephilim. The Nephilim are trying to get to the surface so the elite soldiers attempt to eliminate them. Doesn’t work out too good because these possessed things like to vomit black stuff in your mouth and give you boils and basically turn you to the dark side. And this is about all I could get out of the story, the plot was so convoluted I wonder how these actors were convinced to do the movie. Oh yeah, it was directed by Jason Connery. Maybe Bond, James Bond pulled some strings for junior on this one. I almost switched it off because the acting was horrendous as well. I’d need an extra set of thumbs to properly rate this disaster. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Watch the trailer here if you still feel the need.

For those of you interested in the demonic side of the paranormal, the new book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by journalist Matt Baglio, sounds like one heck of a read. Baglio heads to the Vatican where he follows a Catholic priest’s training as an exorcist. And part of the training is actual apprenticeship on actual exorcisms. You can’t get any closer to the source than that. Actually sounds a little too close.

“Truth is stranger than fiction … and far more terrifying. Forget what Hollywood tells you about demonic possession and exorcism; The Rite will open your eyes to the awesome truth about such things. I’ve been investigating paranormal events for some time,but this book taught me much that I didn’t know about the timeless battle for the human soul waged between the forces of good and evil. Fascinating, inspiring, and scary, a great read.”
—John Kachuba, author of Ghosthunters: On the Trail of Mediums, Dowsers, Spirit Seekers, and Other Investigators of America’s Paranormal World

Get the book here.

Full interview with ordained priest and exorcist, Father Andrew Calder about the realities and dangers he has seen firsthand involving ghost hunting and the paranormal. Father Calder is a paranormal investigator as well and discusses tricks, traps and dangers that the demonic and spirit world often use to trick newcomers as well as seasoned paranormal investigators. Over 9 minutes of Q&A advice for anyone who is interested in ghost hunting or becoming a paranormal investigator. For more information and more videos and interviews, go to MySpace.com/dangersoftheparanormal or DangersoftheParanormal.com

While driving through Upstate New York to a family gathering for Easter, I caught up on some of my favorite paranormal radio. One of the topics that kept coming up was the process of protecting ones ass during an investigation. And with all these new paranormal groups popping up by the second, I started thinking about what some of these folks might be exposing themselves to and not even know it. Now the consensus seems to be that the chances of running into satan the first time out are pretty slim. But why take the chance if you don’t have to, right?

One of the prayers that was recommended was the Catholic Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. It was originally to be used at the end of Low Mass which had been put into place by Pope Leo XIII. The prayer allegedly came about (and there are a couple of versions of this) when Pope Leo XIII saw something above the heads of the attendees during a Mass of thanksgiving. Must’ve of been something pretty disturbing for him to come up with stuff like “snares of the devil.” Who the hell wants to get caught in a devil’s snare? Not me. Anyway, the best part about this prayer is it’s short. If you have at least half a brain cell you can memorize it, but if you’re like us you might want to print it out and bring it with you. Oh, and you should say it out loud, spoken word is supposedly more powerful. Be safe.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. 

Amen.