Can objects hold supernatural power or be the focus of paranormal activity?
I know of many Missionaries who are sure that they do, from fetishes to totems of aboriginal people. There are objects of power that seem to bleed paranormal phenomena.
You don't have to tell that to Pastor Barry Porter of Australia, he knows first hand.
They thought it was a simple artifact of the local aboriginal people, but the stone his father in law found in the ground on an old trail was much more than a simple stone. Here is the story in Barry's own words:
I have known my wife since we were six years old – she lived across the road from me at Bowen Mt, 50 miles from the heart of Sydney NSW Australia, the foothills of the famous Blue Mountains a hotspot for the occult and all things paranormal.
While the area is now famous for the ghosts of convicts who were driven to early graves under whips, chains and hard labour in the early 1800’s and black panther sightings, it also has a strong Daruk Aboriginal history.
In the early 1980’s there were additional trails and tree clearing cut through the dense bush for new housing and to allow fire trucks and crews to prevent bush fires. My future Father-in-law loved to bushwalk (hike) through the massive expanse of forest and national park. One morning as he walked through a newly cleared area he noticed a strange object poking out from the ground. It was made of hard stone yet looked like it had been cut by modern technology.
Mike dug it out with his bare hands. By the time he pulled it out he realised he was holding something of human origin but like nothing he had ever seen. It was just over a foot long, shaped like a teardrop, with perfectly bevelled edges. There was a sense of guilt…he knew this was likely to be an Aboriginal artefact and either belonged in the location it’s owners placed it in or a museum. But he decided to take it to his home on Maple St, making a wooden cradle for it, placing it above the mantelpiece of the fireplace.
It wasn’t long before strange things started to happen.
The youngest daughter started seeing Ancient aboriginal people walking through the house at night time. She would get up to go to the bathroom and have to wait for them to pass. Then there were illnesses – heart attacks and strokes – that struck previously healthy Mike in his early 30’s.
A Yowie (Bigfoot) was sighted by the homes occupants and a young neighbour watching the house from across the road. At night, huge thumps and knocks on the outside of the house would send Mike running outside with his rifle……to fine no visible culprit.
One night when the kids were watching TV, and they were at home alone waiting for their mother to return from the late shift at the local Chinese Restaurant the worst occurrences happened.
The television set started changing channels by itself. As the kids watched in horror the phone rang. They answered. There was no-one there. As soon as it was put on the receiver it rang again. Still no caller was at the other end. Over and over again it happened.
Then to the daughters relief, a large light engulfed the side of the house….her mother must be home. She ran outside, up the dark stone steps at the back of the house in the pitch black, following the light to the hill above the house. To her horror when she got there it remained pitch black. The light which had floated around the house suddenly had vanished leaving her standing in the freezing cold, alone with a feeling of impending dread.
People who would sleep in the room with the stone would have nightmares about Yowies and Aboriginal Kaditcha Men (Witchdoctors).
It wasn’t until 2008, that the origin of the stone was revealed. A Researcher Identified it as a Churinga stone. In our terminology, a spiritual ‘memory stick’ for the Aboriginals that must never be removed from the ground in which it is placed.
An exorcism was done on the stone by a Pastor and it’s whereabouts are presently unknown – the eldest son in the family took it upon himself to put the stone in a safe place.
So be careful about what artifacts you bring home – there may be unseen others who will manifest their presence until it is returned.
No matter where you are in the world, the native people of old have fashioned such artifacts of power. It does not take an archaeologist to find them, but it may take the intercession of a trained spiritual warrior to rid your life of the presence you invite when you take these things home.
So best to heed the words of Indian Jones, "It belongs in a Museum!"
It was the winter of 1813, after a brilliant naval victory in September that secured the strategic waters of Lake Erie for the American forces, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship the Niagara weathered out the harsh winter at Presque Isle’s Little Bay.
But fate would turn the safe harbor of Little Bay into what we would know today as MiseryBay.
Small Pox had begun to spread on board the Niagara. But being quarantined in the bottom of ship’s hold did little to stem the tide of the disease and the plague was quickly spreading ship wide. When those of his crew were struck down with the disease, the commanding officers ordered that their bodies be buried at sea in the lagoons of the pond near the bay. Now, as the plague’s ferocious force began to unleash itself upon all the crew the Niagara's commanders without Perry's guidance (Perry was home in Connecticut at the time) made a radical decision to bury all those infected with disease at the bottom of the adjacent pond.
There was little hope for them; Perry's flagship captain did what he had to do in a remote region of the then wilderness with little help coming for a long time. He buried the dying who yet had the breath of life into the little pond; tying stones around their bodies he surrendered them beneath the waves before death had the chance to naturally take their lives.
It was a harsh but relatively quick death.
Some saw it as a mercy killing.
Others saw it as an abominable act that had no vindication.
But it was done.
And the war was over within a year.
England and America were no longer at war, and both the Niagara and the Lawrence (Perry’s initial Flagship that was abandoned due to heavy damage during the Battle of Lake Erie), were sunk into the depth of MiseryBay after the conflicts ceased.
The Lawrence was raised in 1875 for the 1876 Centennial Exposition but would later be consumed in a fiery fate later that year.
The Niagara was raised in 1913 and the portions that were restorable were on display at the port of Erie until 1995 when a fully restored Niagara would once again sail the tempest lake where it gained its renown for securing early American sovereignty.
The forgotten dead who forged the fate of a newly born America on the other hand, wait to be raised since their untimely fate in the bottom of that small pond which is now called Graveyard Pond...
It was a privilege to do an interview with Tim Binnall, the audio is now posted at his site. We cover a broad range of topics from the stories on my blog and more. It was a great time with a great interviewer! The link is below!
On an empirical level it is of course very odd and striking when the unseen world breaks through our own and reminds us of the reality of the spiritual plane in which we all co-exist with spiritual creatures.
But it should be of no surprise to Theologians or anyone who has even an elementary knowledge of Scriptures from the Judeo-Christian perspective.
We are surrounded by spiritual beings, whether seen or unseen.
Scripture and Judeo-Christian tradition tell us that a third of the angels of God fell from grace and their heavenly abode. With tales from around the world of the presence of demonic or malicious entities that number of the fallen must have been a very high one. Of course there is also the EarlyChurch tradition of the Nephilim, the half breed race of fallen angels and man that was an abomination to God. According to tradition, having died in the flood, they wander the earth to harm or possess mankind. These disembodied Nephilim may also be mistaken for a demonic entity as well. Needless to say, the numbers of these evil creatures are not known, but they are a formidable army arrayed against humanity.
However, a lot of us who deal with these entities on a theoretical or practical level often fail to take into account that these are not the only invisible beings that share our plane of existence.
One a third of the angels fell. That means two thirds are still the loyal messengers of God, protectors of humanity. We are literally surrounded by hosts of light and darkness, fighting in an unseen world. They battle over the souls of men, on an individual and communal level.
Most of the times these heavenly battles take place in the unseen ethereal realm, not noticed by most mortals. But sometimes they are sensed by those who are sensitive or who possess spiritual gifts. Occasionally the battle comes to the home front of humanity when an oppression or possession takes place. And on the rarest of occasions these battles are manifest where they can be visible in our earthly realm to those who have eyes to see.
Syd and Gladys Marklin, missionaries to Columbia have had such an experience. They had served as missionaries to Bogota and the surrounding area for over 37 years when they retired in the late 80s. Syd was the scholar of the family and taught theology to indigenous ministers, but as relayed here on the blog before, Gladys had a special calling from the Lord.Not only was she a prayer warrior and empathetic counselor, she was a spiritual warrior like few have ever been. She combined a sensitive heart, a devout soul, and a caring spirit to be used in incredible ways. It was early in their ministry that she began to stand out as an effective deliverance minister to those oppressed and possessed by diabolical entities. One more than one occasion the spiritual battle she encountered when seeking deliverance for an oppressed soul was not only a palpable presence, but it actually became manifest. On a few occasions she claims to have actually seen the battle take place before her very eyes, as if they were open to the spiritual reality around her that would otherwise be ethereal.
Julianna was raised in a Catholic home, but as a teenager her heart strayed. Giving into peer pressure she became rebellious and since her father would have nothing to do with a rebellious child, she soon found herself on the street before her 16th birthday. She made by doing anything she could, from eating scraps out of the garbage of the well to do, to selling her body on the torrid streets of Bogotá. A beautiful girl, her services were eventually controlled by one of the wealthy drug cartels, and she began to serve an elite and ruthless clientele. By the time she was 18 she had been beaten close to death over half a dozen times because of her rebellious and stubborn nature. Even though she was so young, the toil of a hard life of abuse had made her grow older than her years. She knew that some night one of the beatings would take her life, and she would be cast aside as so much garbage like she had seen happen with so many others that crossed the path of the ruthless drug lords. So in desperation she sought out help to escape this dead end life.
By chance or the guidance of God, depending how you look at it, she ran into Gladys unexpectedly. Gladys was doing a counseling call to another girl who herself had been walking the streets just a year before. The young girl resided with her mother, and Julianna known her when she was still trapped in a life on the mean streets. She happened to come for aid just as Gladys was there. She offered Julianna sanctuary. It was a risky thing, the chance that someone who knew her reporting they had last seen Julianna leaving with Mrs. Marklin was a real threat. And many of the drug kingpins did not acknowledge the sacredness of the church. If associations were made the Marklins could be in serious trouble.
But they relied upon their faith, and God protected them. They did face a battle, though, one just as strong and threatening as any drug cartel.
During her stay in the mission compound Julianna was plagued by very disturbing and graphically violent dreams. She saw herself being beaten to death and dismembered. At the end of the dream she would look in a mirror and see her skinless face screaming back at her. Under her screams she would hear a diabolical laughter, and more than once after awakening from her dreams she heard the laughter in her room. Mrs. Marklin also noticed crosses and religious books in her room were destroyed overnight on more than one occasion. At first she thought it might be Julianna, but after questioning her and her sincere denial combined with the revelation about her dreams, Gladys knew there were things working behind the scenes that were plotting to destroy the young girl.
She suspected demonic oppression. Moreover, she suspected an active curse or spiritual attack from not only an entity or entities, but that there was a human hand at work behind the scenes. After talking to many sources it was revealed that although the cartel had hired a ‘Babalawo’ a practitioner of a variation of Santaria that knows how to communicate with and command spirits. As Gladys had suspected, Julianna was under a serious spiritual attack.
Gladys and her husband Syd, two other missionaries and a few indigenous ministered all gathered for prayer and fasting over Julianna. According to Gladys, it did not take long for strange phenomena to manifest itself in the room. First there was a low hum that grew in volume and then mutated somehow into the sound of a whining cat. Everyone that sat around the young girl began to feel an odd uneasiness permeate the room, according to one of the other missionaries it felt as if the room were alive with hate. Other mystery noises started sounding off from various areas in the building, as if stones were thrown on the roof to doors that were not there closing with violent power.
Gladys was the first one to see it, as a thin mist began form over Julianna’s head.Then two others noticed it as well as it coalesced into distinguishable solid shapes of darker haze.
It moved, back and forth, sometimes with large sweeping arks. The mist seemed to be coiling into itself and sometimes pushing against each other.
Then the figures of mist formed into two distinct beings of half visible shadow and light. One was a large being with great wings, a sword and odd shaped helmet. It was garbed in what looked like a tunic like garment, but the details were blurred as if watching the being through a hazy lens. The other creature was a bumpy and gnarled creature of mostly shadows. It had thin limbs that ended with long claws or hooks, which it used to strike out at the other being. The eyes were yellowish orange globes, and the only truly distinguishing part of the dark creature’s body.
Both beings seemed to be in a heated battle, the winged one that Gladys took to be an angel was swinging his sword tactfully, striking the dark creature in the body or arm as it tried to block the blows. The dark creature would counter attack by lashing out with its deadly claws as a cornered animal would do when faced by a greater foe.Not all saw the battle take place in the ethereal area above them and as the prayers of those present rose to a fevered pitch, the praise and intercession seemed to quickly swing the tide of the battle to the angelic being. With a mighty hack of the blade the dark creature was struck in the neck. A loud screech was heard echoing throughout the room by all present. It was high pitched and almost mechanical rather than that of an animal, but at that shriek of pain, the vision above them vanished.
As if on cue from the unnatural shriek, Julianna slumped off her chair and fell to the ground. She was very week, and Gladys and the others continued their prayers as she was brought to her bed and cared for by one of the other missionaries, who was also a nurse. The young girl woke up hours later and smiled, instead of the usual nightmare that had been plaguing her, she had experienced a wonderful dream. She was walking through a beautiful field with a handsome young man who looked like a body builder. She seemed to know him, but he did not look familiar. Suddenly from a forest edge a pack of rabid dogs ran toward them on an attack. With one swift move the man moved Julianna behind him, covering her from safety and produced a long knife from his side. She had never seen the knife before. He took three steps toward the attacking pack of rabid canines and the knife grew into an enormous sword, and with one swift strike he cut down the entire pack of dogs. The man turned to her and smiled a smile that filled her with peace, and with an enchanting voice he told her, “You are safe now.”
The terrible nightmares had left Julianna after this spiritual battle, and although she never again dreamed of the strong defender, she always had a sense that he was right there beside her. Julianna would eventually leave Columbia and go to school to become a nurse and the last time Gladys had heard of her she was assisting at a free clinic in Central America.
Many times during fasting and prayer, depending on the length and exclusivity of the fast, one can experience vivid visions or hallucinations. One time I had a friend of mine imagine a whole scenario that I knew never took place involving myself and other of our friends. When earnest prayer is mixed with a prolonged fast, the mind can either become delusional or particularly acute. I have also had associates who while in a secluded fasting and prayer session experience times of spiritual clarity and wisdom that were life changing.
Was Gladys and the other missionaries who saw this battle of heaven manifest itself in that prayer session hallucinating, or were they granted a rare vision into a reality that surrounds us, a reality that which very few can even perceive let alone experience?
Gladys, Syd and the missionaries and Julianna are all sure by faith and experience it was the latter.
We are surrounded by an unseen world. There are forces at battle around us and the prize they fight for are often the very souls of men and women. Sometimes they manifest themselves as hauntings, sometimes as oppressions, and more often than naught they are less than obvious.
We exist in a world of shadows and light, seen and unseen, understandable and paradoxical. In such a world certainty can be allusive and the unwary traveler may find themselves entrapped by the very things that they though would liberate them.
But for every darkness, there is a light. A light of hope, power and acceptance. The hope of freedom and completeness. When the shadows come, the light will always send them back to the abyss from whence they came.
In 1796 Seneca War Chief Cornplanter was granted 15,000 acres along the Alleghany river by Pennsylvania for his assistance to the State as a loyal and a steadfast protector of American families settling in the wilderness of the upper Ohio River basin. In what would become the oldest standing Indian treaty, George Washington granted the land to Chief Cornplanter and his ancestors forever.
Forever ended in 1965 when the completed Kinzua Dam flooded the Alleghany river and covered the ancestral lands of the Seneca leader. Their homes, their only viable farmland, and the graves of the ancestors were now under hundreds of feet of water. Despite petitions from Tribal leaders to JFK to stop the proposed Dam in 1960, the President and United States broke the longest standing treaty between the Government and the Native Tribes of North America.
The residents of Kinzua and the adjoining town of Corydon were relocated, the Indian burial grounds were dug up, including that of Chief Cornplanter himself and the remains were entombed on the nearby hillside with a memorial.
But to this day the Seneca claim that not only was the removal itself a vile act of desecration, but that there are still some missing tribal graves under the flooded waters of the Alleghany. And even the bones of Cornplanter himself were treated with irreverence and disrespect, leading some who witnessed the desecration to believe that perhaps not all the remains of the historic Chief were re-interned. (American Heritage Magazine, December 1968, Vol.20 Issue 1)
The flooded valley is called the Alleghany Reservoir by the Government but to the Seneca nation this man made lake is called Lake Perfidy. Perfidy because of the underhanded deception that was conducted by the Corps of Engineers throughout the planning and building of the Dam and the promises made to the relocation of the people of the Tribe.
With all of the trauma and desecration one is not surprised to find out that there have been paranormal happenings along the Kinzua Dam and Lake Perfidy. But one would be amazed at the cornucopia of high strangeness that has manifest itself along the shores and beneath the waves of this cursed lake. But finding out these nuggets of Fortean happenings is not an easy task. Most of the campers and fishermen who spend their days and nights along the site are not the kind to openly share their incredible stories of the unexplained. But once in a while you get some who are willing to share their stories, and sometimes they are in the strangest places.
Kinzua is an Indian name which means “fish on spear” and the area since the flooding has been a prime Pennsylvania fishing spot. Indeed there have been record catches made on the man made lake. My family has fished at the Dam for years and I had never heard of any paranormal activities. However, recently I took a trip to the Tom Ridge Center, a welcome center to tourists coming to Presque Isle Peninsula here in Erie and I came across some strange first hand information. The reason for my trip to the center was to check out their exhibit of the 1966 UFO landing on Presque Isle, which I have reported on here. The Exhibit was not very informative and actually very condescending, disappointing since the incident was listed as never solved by Project Blue Book and the amount of time the Air Force investigated the incident. In fact the Air Force is never mentioned at the display; all they reference is a Park Ranger who claims ‘nothing spectacular happened’. But what peaked my interest was an adjoining display of Bayside Bessie, Lake Erie’s resident lake monster. The display made it seem that the creature had been sighted locally, when it was only briefly seen in the 1890s and the modern sightings took place near Cleveland Ohio. So I talked to one of the executive staff of the center about the display to see if I was missing anything. And of course when you talk to some people about the unexplained, you usually get their own stories.
The staff person told me that there have been some very strange sightings of a lake creature at Kinzua. She had heard a report from a Park Ranger that the Dam divers had a harrowing encounter with a very large snake-like creature within the last year. There was video supposedly shown by the Army Corps of Engineers to some Government officials of the creatures in Lake Perfidy. The executive told me the neck of the creature they had on tape had a massive neck that was almost two feet thick. The tape was made as divers were doing maintenance on the Dam itself and it also showed some monstrous fish near the bottom of Lake Perfidy as well. I was told that the divers have since resorted to working in cages as they inspect the Dam for fear of both the unknown aquatic creature and the car sized Catfish that might mistake them for a possible snack. Intrigued, I did some research...
is an Author and has been a Christian Minister for more than 27 years in both Mainline and Evangelical Denominations. He holds a B.A. in Biblical Literature from Nyack College and an M.Div. In Pastoral Ministry with an emphasis on Pastoral Counseling from Alliance Theological Seminary. He has served as a short term Missionary to Burkina Faso, and has Ministered to the homeless in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. He is currently the Pastor of Bountiful Community Church in Bountiful, Utah
He is also a freelance journalist for Examiner.com, has a column in the Tri-State Senior News and has also written for Fate Magazine.
As a Seminary trained exorcist he has done consulting work with various paranormal investigators and television productions in the United States as well as investigators and writers across the globe
