Why Don't They Just Leave??!!

Lately it seems there has been a marked increase in violent paranormal activity when it comes to hauntings.

I have encountered it as well as associates and colleagues. For many workers in the area the cases that need assistance in this have doubled, tripled or just plain gone out of control.

Why? There are as many answers as there are questions, but I think each situation is unique in its own right. But that there is a increase in the general knowledge of the populace that such incidents do happen no wonder we have a remarkable rise on the number of cases reported.

As I have said before, even though they may not be perceived, we are surrounded by a horry host of spirits, both benign and malevolent. Sometimes all it takes is the perception that an encounter or haunting can occur, and you will suddenly be faced with one. Was that noise the wind or an spectral creature? It may well have been the wind, but the perception and mindset of the witness can draw a malevolent being who will be more than willing to take the blame and claim the fear.

Whatever the cause, the need for intervention by trained workers has risen dramatically.

Doing a house blessing, consecration or even exorcism is never a sure thing. And many times the rituals of clergy and laity seem to have no effect.

It is the same with inanimate objects as it is with people; circumstances and influences change radically the effect of a ritual. A ritual may clear the house and the client no longer has issues; the phenomena may come back after a time; or the problems may multiply exponentially.

Why?

There can be a multitude of reasons, most of them fall innto one of the more following categories:

1) Ownership: Many spirits are territorial. Although the battle is in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 6:12 ), tradition and experience of those engaging the demonic have noticed that they tend to be either tied to a general area or are drawn to specific areas. Spirits that are considered the disembodied residue of the deceased also tend to lurk in specific areas.

Therefore whatever the nature of the spiritual being, it has a vested interest in the area where it dwells and claims it as its own.

Sometimes the mere fact that the area now belongs to someone else can not be counted on as the impetus for persuading the spirit to leave. Many times they need to be commanded out through the authority of a higher power. The spirit needs to be driven out against their will. Prayers, Scripture, and specific commands can be used to loosen the spirit's hold on the area and force it to leave.

Many times the subject of ownership is not one of a subjective metaphysical nature, but rather one of a concrete physical legal status.

A renter may consent to the ritual and claim the territory, but they are not the owner in reality. The spirit will know this and this fact gives it reason to not obey the pleading and commands of anyone who tries to make it move on. Therefore it is essential that the consent of the owner or landlord be given before one

2) Faith: In the book of Matthew 17, the writer relates how Jesus' Disciples were not able to heal an affliced boy, but all Jesus had to do was touch him and the boy was healed. the Disciples asked Jesus, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Doubt and fear are natural when coming face to face with supernatural entities. In fact some demonic presences thrive on it. But the power to do the rite and the power to protect you is not from within, it comes from the Creator and Lord of the Cosmos. Faith is a nebulous concept, but without the assurance you draw from faith in these confrontations, the spirits will have no right or desire to obey you. The concept of prayer and fasting advised by Jesus can give us clarity and dynamic spiritual power. It can increase faith and spiritual awareness.

3) Invitation: Simply put, one or more of the persons living in the dwelling directly or indirectly invites the spirit back.
There could be a spiritual dynamic between the spirit and one of the clients. It's presence could actually give one of the residents comfort while causing stress and fear to all the others abiding there. It could be a conscious relationship or a subconscious bonding. It is hard to discern when the bond is an indirect connection, but most times things add up. the hardest part of such an instance is the confrontation with the client who unwittingly invited the entity back.
With direct connections while it might be more easy to identify, it will be harder to reconcile. The individual clearly wants the relationship and derives some satisfaction from the spirits presence. the client who is bonded must be willing to give up all connections to desires or activities that invite the spirit back.

Another way to invite a spirit back is sin. While sin and wrong doing is part of human nature, certain activities open up the individual to addiction and spiritual invasion. Some sins seem to draw demonic entities more than others: incest, abuse, and sexual addiction can "give ground to the enemy" and open one up for oppression or even possession. While committing such sins do not inherently involve demonic forces, depending on the individual one can become heavily harassed. However, it does not have to be these 'big' sins. Sometimes it can even be the mundane but equally destructive negative behaviors such as gossip or slander. Like everything else, it depends upon the individual and the circumstances. Negative behavior usually destroys relationships or personal integrity. They produce very intense emotions, and some malevolent entities thrive on raw emotions.

4) Misidentification: I remember going in a house where the residents were having violent encounters. We first performed a blessing and when that did not work a exorcism. It did not work. The family had two adolescent girls. No matter what your opinion of psychic abilities or latent abilities in adolescents...or their causes...there has been enough documentation of paranormal phenomena associated with adolescent girls that it cannot be ignored. The conclusion I came to at this juncture was that the phenomena was the product of these two young girls and that once they pass puberty the instances will gradually stop. And they did.

What causes this phenomena? that is worthy of a long discussion in and of itself. However most of these girls display no psychic abilities once past the 'poltergeist' stage. Is it latent psychic power that manifests itself with the hormonal rush of puberty? Another line of though dwells upon the physical changes in the girl herself. The beginning of the menstrual cycle and the flowing of virgin blood, has been the focus of many rituals in indigenous tribes throughout history. The thought that certain spirits are drawn to young woman beginning their menstrual cycles is mostly associated with pagan and animistic religions, but the idea has also evolved into many benign rituals such as the Niddah of Judaism.

Conclusion: Sometimes you may never fully get rid of the spirit. Sometimes the third time truly is the charm. If a blessing, consecration or exorcism does not remove the entity, all avenues as to why must be explored. Something is awry. Be it the clients, the location or the officiant.

I cover more on this subject in my book, An Exorcist's Field Guide. It is relatively inexpensive and hopefully a good resource for the ritual's officiant.

Until Next Time,
Pastor Swope

Something in the Storm

This year we in the United States have had a more aggressive winter than usual.

Depending on your geographical location you may have experienced a few feet to a few inches when you otherwise would have not experienced little or no snowfall whatsoever.

Here in Erie PA, we usually get our fair share of white out conditions and blizzards. In fact snowfall is so commonplace that many of the local residents do not even shovel their driveways until at least 6 inches fall. You get used to living and driving in many feet of accumulated snow.

But you never get used to the blizzards.

For we have Lake Effect Snow here in Erie, it is common place to have a foot or more of accumulated snow overnight multiple times during the season. But every decade or so this area gets blasted with a massive storm that shuts down the entire community. Even though equipped with fleets of government snow removal vehicles and scores of private snow plow businesses, these operators cannot keep up with the overwhelming snowfall.

This year the storms were bad, but in the mix there was no storm of a lifetime. Though snowdrifts of 7 feet or more were scattered throughout the region, there have been times that a rough wintry blast has left drifts up to 12 feet or more in many places. However what this season's storms lacked in volume, they made up with sheer force. The violent winds and driving snow brought down trees, damaged buildings and prevented anyone but the foolhardy or daring and resolved emergency workers to venture forth into the tempest's grasp. I was one of those, delivering medicine to hospice patients during the heart of the storm, and I have to say that it was one of the worst conditions I have ever experienced. The driving wind blew the light snow that had already fallen and mixed it with the flakes that were still coming down to limit visibility to only a foot in front of my vehicle. I was surreal to suddenly see a jack knifed tractor trailer emerge from the blinding snow. It had tried to take a shortcut from the closed highway and landed in a 45 degree angle across three fourths of the road. The wind had blown it across the road and the ice prevented it's brakes from stopping it from ending in the ditch. My car shuddered throughout the whole trip, being hit by barrage after barrage of gusts from the mighty storm.

In the midst of it, knowing you were experiencing an unusual storm there were times you could feel like there was some willful force behind the gail. A destructive force of chaos that mercilessly cut a path across the country. Of course one would think this is a natural response, being faced with the raw poawer of nature is an awesome experience.

However within the last month I have received two e-mails that makes one suppose that perhaps there was something in the storm that was not wholly natural, at least as to what norms of nature that we are accustomed to. From "Jacob"

"...It was on this past December 19th, just less than a month ago. It was early morning and I always check on the chicken coop first thing. The wind was whipping hard and there was a huge pile of snow on the side of the shed. The wind had pushed almost all the snow from the field up to it. The wind was making a loud wild sound, and as I came up to the barn, I was sure that I was hearin something strange in the wind. I stopped there since I thought it could be a neighbor or some other stuck outside since it sounded like a human scream. It was not right though. It seemed really wrong, like wounded animal crying at the top of it's lungs but with a man's voice. All I could think of was someone stuck out in the storm, so I walked out to the field to see where the screaming was coming from. "

Jacob then recalls how he wandered into the field, and the location of the screaming voice seemed to always be out of reach. It seemed to always dwell just outside the edge of sight in the storm, and every time he turned away to give up in his search, the voice became more frantic. So he kept on his quest only to find himself caught up and lost in a blinding blizzard. It was then as his panic set in he believes he saw the source of the screams:
"It was like a big shadow in the blowing snow, I knew it was the person i was lookin for so I ran to it. then I saw how big it was. It was like a giant, almost twice the size of a man, but with a man's shape. It was either covered in fur or wore an animal fur coat because I could see the hair moving in the wind. As I got to it, the screamin became louder and louder, and from the sight of it and the sound of it I knew that this thing was just wrong. I had to get away from it as fast as possible. I ran as fast as I could and made sure the screaming thing was behind me. After a few minutes the snow was not coming down as hard and I found myself back in the field behind the shed. It was then that the screaming voice had stopped... I don't know what it was out there, but I knew I was in danger of my life, and that thing was not of this world. I think it was pure evil..."

Jacob was not sure what he had encountered last December during thst storm, but he is resolute ass to the reality of what he saw. He was sure he was not hallucinating or observing amirage due to the blinding snow.

Something evil was in the storm.

Something that tried to lure him to his doom.

So what was it? There are a lot of possibilities.

Immediately to me it brings to mind the mythological Sirens as portrayed in the greek classics of Homer and Ovid. However what Jacob saw was not a beautiful seductress, but a hideous monster like unto Typhon. Since this encounter happened in old Seneca Indian territory perhaps we should look into Native American mythology and the destructive wind spirit Dagwanoenyent of the Iroquois.

It's appearance is similar to a Sasquatch as well. Pennsylvania certainly has its fair share of Sasquatch sightings according to the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Societies reports.

Perhaps an exact nomenclatural designation for the creature is moot; as spirits do assume a different persona depending upon the circumstances. Be it Typhon, Dagwanoenyent, Set or Thor; the names may change but their mythological archetype speaks to us in the same basic way.

There is something in the storm.

Something powerful, dangerous and malevolent.

Until Next Time,

Pastor Swope

Defeat of the Cyber Pirates!

Although it feels like forever since I have published anything here, I am finally back after an attack by cyber pirates. I have had a suspicion for months that my computer had been assaulted and turned into a zombie for someones nefarious plans, then the old hard drive was boarded and pillaged!

Speaking of zombies, Brad Steiger is about to release a follow up to his wildly successful "Real Vampires" called "Real Zombies". It is packed full of true tales of encounters with the undead by various authors. Like "Real Vampires" I am humbly privileged to be one of the contributors. You can pre-order it here by clicking on the book cover!

I am putting the finishing touches on a new story that should be up today or tomorrow. Hopefully I will be back in full swing after this long lull and new updates will be coming regularly!

Until Next Time,
Pastor Swope

Hacked!

Sorry I have not updated, my computer recently bit the dust! I should have one new post before Christmas!

Interview weekend!

Back in the 70's I was called a turkey on many occasion. Yeah, I am dated. But perhaps this fowl reference harkens as to why I have been asked to do 2 blogtalk interviews this weekend before Thanksgiving!

First up is Saturday night 10-11PM with Spooky Southcast. Topics will include 2012 and general strangeness.

Next is Sunday night 10-12 with Beyond the Edge Radio. One of the hosts, Eric Altman and I were two of the special guests of the Erie Horrorfest this year. He is the Director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society and one of the nicest guys I have ever met.

2012 and the Coming Apocalypse

Montanus was a former priest of Cybele. A recent convert to Christianity, he began his ministry as a prophet and mouthpiece for God during the late 2nd Century in the small village of Ardabau in Phrygia (Asia Minor-Modern Day Turkey).
He claimed that God came to him and filled Him with His Spirit, causing ecstatic utterances and prophecies. He gathered to himself two others who proclaimed to have the same gift, Maxamillia and Priscilla, and the two of them went about Asia Minor proclaiming that God Himself was speaking through them and the end of the world was nigh. As his message of Apocalypse spread across the world, Montanus commanded his followers to gather together in the city of Pepuza, which (according to his prophecies) would become the New Jerusalem after the global conflagration. His followers obeyed and came to him in this new city of hope and awaited the appointed time. But the end of the world did not happen. Some were dissapointed, but some still 'girded their loins' in determination and continued to believe in the prophecies of Montanus. Later the prophet would be condemned as a heretic for various bizarre teachings, the foremost being that he proclaimed to be God the Father Himself when he made his prophecies, and not just a prophet indwelt with the Spirit of God.

For us today in the early 21st century the dire mystery of the 2012 Apocalypse prediction looms menacingly. I will not go into any of the theory, I am sure most of the readers have heard of it and the multitude of substatiating 'facts' that surround this view that the world will end on December 21st 2012. You do not even have to do any research, you just have to watch the History Channel regularly to get the full rundown. Myan Calander interpretation, planetary and galaxy alignments, solar storms, climate change, economic disaster and an upcoming volitile Presidential election all seem to point to a very rough time is to come near the end of 2012.

It seems as if someone flushed an M80 firecracker down the cosmic toilet and we are all waiting for the big explosion.

Of course when there is fear with potential death and mayhem Hollywood can't but be drawn to the fire and produce an epic movie where all our previous fears pale to the technicolor global holocaust that assaults our eyes in a darkened movie theater. So this weekend as the epic opens we are also bombarded by various news monkeys who have just discovered that the world will end soon. Of course almost all of them do not take the source material for the movie seriously. But with most reports you do see an ominous tension.

I think it is because socially we feel like we are all teetering on the edge of the abyss, and are waiting for something to push us over.

Many are overwhelmingly pessimistic because of the dire straits they find themselves in. Be it economic trouble, environmental worries or social and political disdain, many find themselves gripped by a fear that the worst is yet to come. We are communally holding our breath and waiting for what we feel is inevitable, hoping that we are wrong.

So the end of the world is a natural conclusion, not just because of the substantiating evidence of the 2012 theory, but because of the global angst we all perceive.

But such is the human condition. Since the dawn of civilization mankind has been waiting for the dusk to overwhelm them in darkness.

A clay tablet dated at 2800BC was found that has the inscription "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are common."Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts

Since then humanity has faced the coming apocalypse thousands of times, mostly fired by social or religious motivation. An incredible resource for those who wish to study the history of Doomsday is found on the website A Brief History of the Apocalypse, where you can view each failed prediction chronologically.

Armageddon for good or ill is hardwired into our human consciousness. Prognosticators and those who diligently follow are part of who we are as human beings. It is a means to find order out of the chaos that surrounds us. There will always be a coming apocalypse. And one day there will be an end of the world. How will we know which one is the real end? Christian Scripture can shed some light on that. In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 24 the Disciples ask Jesus how they will know when the end is near:

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them- “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.-the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:3b-4a;36;44b.

So safe to say from a Christian perspective is that whenever a 'prophet' or anyone else claims to know the exact date or time that the world is going to end, you can rest assured that that will not be the day or time. There might be incidents of trouble, disaster or tribulation. But such is life on the planet Earth. Looking at the dilemmas brewing worldwide, we may face unprecedented challenges for freedom, liberty and survival on a global scale in the years preceding and following 2012.

The Mayan calendar does stop in December 21 2012; but then it starts all over again.
It has a new beginning.

Like any situation we find ourselves in we can look at the end pessimistically, or in hope we can look at the new beginning with optimism and take advantage of a new opportunity.

Mankind grows and flourishes when faced with trouble, for it is a challenge to overcome which brings with it personal and communal character.
In the words of Captain James T. Kirk, "Man stagnates if he has no ambition...We were meant to fight our way through - struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way."

So whatever befalls us on Friday December 21, 2012- Saturday the 22nd will prove to be a most exciting day.

Until Next Time,
Pastor Swope

The Eye of the Watcher

Throughout the history of mankind the eye has provoked the most primal of responses.

It is not surprising, for having a disturbing feeling that you are being watched by unseen eyes is basic to most all living things. Through eons the unease at the presence of a fixated iris has been passed on from generation to generation until the actual sight of an eye upon you is naught but the confirmation of what the rest of your body is telling you.

You are being watched.

It is the feeling of being prey. It is a learned trait that has been passed on to future generations for survival in a cruel and violent world.

Sometimes this natural response to the predator/prey instinct seems preternatural.

You cannot explain it,but you know you are being watched.

I am sure most of you have experienced that hair raising feeling of being watched by unseen eyes. You don't know why, but you know there are eyes upon you.

Perhaps some of you are feeling that sensation now.

In our modern times with Internet communication, and the proliferation of hackers and government oversight, it is a fact that there are unseen eyes upon you, watching your every move.

You are being watched.

Sometimes though, you do not have that unsettling feeling of being watched while sitting in the glow of a monitor alone in some secluded room. No. It is while you are at work, or at play. It is while you were taking that leisurely walk in the woods that lie not far from your home.

You could swear you were being watched.

There is an eye upon you.

What is the intent of that elusive watcher out of nowhere?

Is it something that plans your destruction; are you the prey for a superior predator that is merely stalking you?

Or is it something else?

History is also abounding with references to an 'all seeing eye'. From the beginning of human culture, religious iconography has been imbued with an eye symbol. Be it Wedjat (the ancient Egyptian eye of Horus), The third or inner eye of Eastern Mysticism or the Western eye of providence; the symbol of the eye often connoted deeply spiritual truths for the follower. The believer was either protected from evil, the object of divine oversight or imbued with deep spiritual knowledge or wisdom.

The eye symbolizes an active presence.

There are also folklore traditions of the malevolent eye gazing upon you, wishing you ill will. The most popular of these instances is the curse of the evil eye. A person of magical power is said to have the ability to curse with but a look from their eyes. This belief spans many millenia and cultures; it often spawns the production of various amulets or counter hexes to ward off the evil power of the dark enchantment.

So historically there are many meanings to the symbol of a watching eye. However to many in our culture today the symbol of the disembodied eye conjures a creepy and loathsome feeling of menace. Perhaps it is the ancient fear of the watching predator or pop culture referencing such as the evil eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.

Of course it would be very disconcerting if one would encounter an actual disembodied eye in real life.

Moreso if you discover the eye is connected with a phenomena that you have been trying to explain, and something you have put off as a hallucination or signs of old age or disease.

And greater the perplexity of the situation if the phenomena occured in a church.

I have referenced the church that I attend here on this blog numerous times. After many investigations by various local paranormal groups St. Paul's United Church of Christ here in downtown Erie has officially been declared haunted by at least two groups. It has been featured on local news stations and was host to a paranormal tour this Halloween season. One of the videos caught at the church will also be featured in an upcoming episode of the new show Ghost Lab.

This past Halloween night Erie County Paranormal once again investigated the church. As a Church Council Memeber I sat with them while they did the investigation. Usually when I have my turn at hosting the church for an investigation I catch up on my reading (or sleeping!) in the Pastor's Study. However, this time I thought I would join in on the fun and stationed myself in the santuary with a camera and digital recorder. I sat in the back pew and sang hymns and prayed hoping to perhaps catch an occasional voice that might sing alone. Alas, there were no such phantom voices on my digital recorder after the night. However, it was a very strange night to say the least.

Throughout the night I was seeing tiny flashes of light all over the Santcuary. Like tiny pinpoints flares of a flashlight quickly turning on and off at various areas in the air. There were white ones and red ones. None of these seemed to have an outside source. It was if they appeared and dissapeared out of nowhere.

This was not the first time I had experienced this phenomena at the church. Last year while talking with the leader of the same team in the church's fellowship hall, we both experienced the blinking tiny lights floating in mid air. At that time we both chocked it up to being near a high electro magnetic field that was on the other side of the hall. We thought we were halucinating.

This previous Halloween though, I saw this phenomena while in the midst of others who did not notice it. I again counted it up to either hallucination or old age. Later in the night though as two of the groups members sat across the sanctuary in the chior loft, the lights began to occur more frequently. And one of the other members saw them as well. All night I had been taking photos wth my digital camera, and I tried to see if I could catch these lights on camera. Luckily, and to my astonishment, I did. Here is the photo:

The most obvious explanation for this photo is that it is an orb, and therefore a piece of dust reflected from the camera light. I did catch many orbs in the church that night, in fact there is an orb in this same photo-almost in the exact center. However all the orbs I caught were the common phantom half lit circle. This object is very bright, appears very high in the ceiling (50 ft) and oval in shape. And it is exactly what I had been witnessing all night. Bright tiny oval flashes. I was curious what I would find if I magnified the flash to see if I could make out the image more clearly. to my surprise I caught this:

Take a closer look at the enlargement:



At first I was a little disturbed. My mind raced back to Lovecraftian Literature and to the vivid images of August Derleth where the ancient evil ones constantly observes the Earth waiting for the eventual invasion of the ancient evil horde and he total destruction of mankind.


But a much better esoteric explanation can be found within Scripture itself.

Revelation 6:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

This verse describes the Angels of God before His throne.

Angels are not only God's messengers, they are also God's eyes over the Earth. Not limiting His omnipresence, they observe with a distinct free will and compassion that is their own. Perhaps the eyes of light were snapshots of a sort. Just as I was trying to capture the otherworldy within the church with my digital eye, perhaps the beings of the otherworld were capturing what was happening in our material realm with their supernatural eyes.

Until Next Time,
Pastor Swope