The Occult Section

Move over skeletons in the closet, the demon behind the couch has taken over! If you’ve been anywhere on the internet lately, you’ll surely recognize this image, which has gone completely viral. And yes, I’m guilty; I shared it – more than once! So what is it about this photo that has everyone buzzing? Sights seem to point back to the scare factor, but more stories are beginning to circulate. Is there something more sinister brewing here? We are just as anxious to find out.

Everyone seems to be asking, could there really be a demon behind the couch? Did someone accidentally capture pure evil? “PhotoShop” seems to be the most common explanation to be found but no one has come up with a logical explanation, yet. With the origins of the photo still up in the air, there are tales being spun across the internet world on where it came from. From stories of a murderous ghost, to “a friend of a friend captured this in their living room”, most viewers agree on one fact: this photo is very disturbing. Personally, it left me totally creeped out, and I had to scoop my stomach up off of the the floor after I finally saw the face. Although the idea behind it was exciting, I am still doubtful that there is any paranormal presence. Only time will tell… and I’m certain there is an investigations team out there, somewhere, waiting to debunk this one. I patiently await their discovery… I hope the creator is as startling as the photo; I’ll be waiting to scare, I mean “share” it with the world!

Technorati Tags: debunking, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, humor, media, News, paranormal, picture

Whether you are new here or a regular reader of The Occult Section, you’ve no doubt noticed our horrifically brightly colored “Writers Wanted” sign in the sidebar over there to your right. We have some very talented writers here at The Occult Section, including our newest writer Corey Bartlett, but we’re looking to add a few more regular writers to our staff.

We cover such topics as ghosts, paranormal investigations, UFOs, cryptozoology, myths & legends, and any other unexplained phenomena. We have a good sense of humor and are not afraid to be sarcastic when it’s called for. We are looking for talented writers with a passion for the paranormal to contribute to the blog. These are NON-PAYING positions for now. Once we grow we hope to have revenue from advertising and affiliate programs where there might be potential to earn money. We are looking for all kinds of writing, including:

• Theme columns (weekly, biweekly, monthly)
• Field investigations
• Articles
• TV Show & Documentary reviews (Ghost Hunters, Haunted Collector, Finding Bigfoot, UFO Hunters, MonsterQuest, etc.)
• Book reviews
• Personal experiences

If you have another idea, we are always open to suggestions as well. We currently average over 15,000 hits per month, so this is a great way to get your work seen and read as well as get involved in something that you’re passionate about. Want to talk about why you love Finding Bigfoot? Share your thoughts on Grant Wilson leaving TAPS and Ghost Hunters? This is the place to do it.

To apply, send an e-mail introducing yourself and describing what kind of column you’d like to write, and attach a sample of your writing in MS Word or PDF format to Jason@theoccultsection.com. You must be able to submit your columns on a regular basis! We will contact you if you are chosen to be a regular contributor to the site. Good luck!

Technorati Tags: alien, aliens, bigfoot, Book Review, book reviews, books, california, canada, celebrity, conspiracy theory, cover-up, cryptozoology, debunking, extraterrestrial, flying saucer, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, grant wilson, great britain, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, humor, loch ness monster, loren coleman, media, mothman, new york, News, nick redfern, paranormal, pennsylvania, people, picture, roswell, sasquatch, supernatural, syfy, thoughts, tv show, ufo, ufos, UK, video, yeti

Earlier this week, we reported on the supposed video footage of a woolly mammoth. But that wasn’t the only alleged footage of a monster to hit the internet this week. Now comes news that Lagarfljót’s Worm, the Icelandic version of the Loch Ness Monster, has been filmed in a glacial river by an amateur cameraman. Check out the video and story.

And the article.

My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun...

Icelanders are known for their belief in elves and trolls – but could there be a giant worm monster swimming around in the company of the water fairies?

Footage filmed by an amateur cameraman at a glacial river in the east of the country seems to show a huge snakelike creature slinking through the icy water.

Legend has it that a 25 mile-long lake is home to Lagarfljót’s Worm, the Icelandic version of the Loch Ness Monster, with tales being told of the beast going back to 1345.

As the story goes, the monster grew from being a tiny worm after a girl placed a gold ring on it to increase the size of the piece of jewellery.

On her return however, it wasn’t the ring that had grown but the wriggling creature – into a giant serpent.

And the worm didn’t stop getting bigger. Flung into Lake Lagarfljot by the terrified child, the beast eventually turned into a ferocious, humped and poision-spitting dragon nearly 100 metres long that continued to live in the lake.

Some fanciful reports suggest that the monster has been spotted slithering into the trees and that it is as long as the lake itself.

Unsurprisingly, sightings of Lagarfljót’s Worm are considered a bad omen.

One sceptical explanation might be that the worm monster is actually an abandoned fishing net that was frozen in the river and, once partially-thawed, was wound through the waters by the current.

Gases rising from the lakebed, creating openings in the ice and sweeping along tangled debris that has fallen from the mountainside has also been offered as an account of some sightings.

But cryptozoology expert Loren Coleman suspects a greater degree of human hoaxery.

“What concerns me the most is the robotic look of this creature,” he is reported to have said.

“If you look at that head, it appears like somebody’s put a constructed anaconda head there, and behind it, the natural movement of a snake should give a much more flowing curve to the sections.”

Coleman added: “What concerned me immediately was when I saw the tail section moving in unison with the next section; there’s no movement in that one section as it goes side-to-side.

“A snake moves in a sort of  ’s’ curve. But in this video, you get a blocking of the movement of the creature, which tells us it’s probably very artificial.”

I have to agree with Loren Coleman here. This looks very artificial, and some other things I noticed are that 1) the “worm” is always at the exact same depth in the water, and 2) the wake of this creature seems to be a little bit ahead of the actual head, indicating some sort of mechanism beneath the water, perhaps towing the mechanism. I also always wonder why the cameramen who shoot these videos never seem more shocked to be filming the alleged Bigfoot, UFO, ghost, lake monster, chupacabra, or whatever it is they claim to be filming. We can hear the wind clearly in this clip, so why no exclamations of excitement? And what’s with the two very different camera angles? To me, this all screams hoax. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: bigfoot, cryptozoology, debunking, ghost, ghosts, hoax, humor, iceland, Lagarfljót's Worm, loch ness monster, loren coleman, media, News, paranormal, people, thoughts, video

I came across this article today, and the accompanying video, and I have to say, I’m not impressed at all. Supposedly, a woolly mammoth was captured on video, crossing a river in Siberia. Now, while I do believe that the possibility exists that small populations of these creatures could still be surviving in the farthest reaches of Siberia, this video does not prove that they still exist. Take a look for yourself, and then read my thoughts and analysis.

And the article.

Big Bird saw a woolly mammoth too, Mr. Cohen.

A BEAST lurches through icy waters in a sighting a paranormal investigator thinks could prove woolly mammoths are not extinct after all.

The animal – thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago – was apparently filmed wading through a river in the freezing wilds of Siberia.

The jaw-dropping footage was caught by a government-employed engineer last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, it is claimed.

He filmed the elephant-sized creature as it struggled against the racing water.

Its hair matches samples recovered from mammoth remains regularly dug up from the permafrost in frozen Russia.

The official was reportedly in the area surveying for a planned road.

Paranormal writer Michael Cohen said: “Rumours of a handful of mammoths still kicking around in the vast wilderness of Siberia have been circulating for decades and occasionally sightings by locals have occurred.

“Siberia is an enormous territory and much of it remains completely unexplored and untouched by humans. “

Woolly mammoths roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

A small pocket remained on and around Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, and these did not die out until 3,500 years ago.

Mr Cohen, 41, added: “It is highly possible that a number of species, extinct elsewhere, survive in the area.

“If surviving woolly mammoths were found in Siberia, it could run against Russia’s plans to further develop and exploit the area’s considerable resources.

“It would be potentially one of the greatest discoveries ever.”

But viewers are divided on the nature of the animal seen in the video. Some have dismissed it as a hoax while others reckon it is an elephant lost in the Siberian wilderness. The third theory is the sighting shows a bear eating a huge fish. What do you think?

I only had to watch the video once to notice something very odd about it. If you look closely, you can see the white foam of the river waves hitting the “mammoth” moves along with it perfectly, almost as if it was superimposed, or digitized. The subject also never takes its trunk out of the water. And why didn’t the cameraman try to get any closer? To me, all of these things scream hoax. It’s also interesting to note that they quote Michael Cohen, the same paranormal researcher that thought the ghost of Princess Diana was captured on film at a Scottish Church. This mammoth video has his copyright on it, and the actual cameraman is never named. Similar to the case of Princess Diana’s ghost (which is a horribly obvious fake), the actual cameraman is not named, but Michael Cohen has the “exclusive scoop.” I’d say Mr. Cohen is someone to be extremely wary of. Shenanigans, I say.

Technorati Tags: cryptozoology, debunking, hoax, media, michael cohen, News, paranormal, people, picture, russia, siberia, supernatural, thoughts, video, woolly mammoth

“The Ghost Way” by Lance Smith tells the story of the Ramanakajja family – father Jak, mother Eot and their four daughters – and how the family lived for a brief time on “The Ghost Way,” or land that is supposedly forever doomed to be roamed by demons. Set in Thailand, and written as a 100% true story, the book has a lot to offer.

There were quite a few things I enjoyed about the book. As someone who is admittedly not familiar with Thai culture at all, the descriptions of holidays, beliefs, and ceremonies was very interesting. I found myself googling Thai phrases, food, and drinks that were mentioned in the narrative, in order to learn more about them. I’m the type of person that needs to be able to fully imagine the scene as it’s being set, so I also inadvertently learned a lot about the Thai landscape.

The story itself is fascinating. Taken at face value, it’s honestly terrifying.

However, with that said, I cannot fully buy into the story as being completely true for several reasons. And I feel as though it is important to mention this as Smith is careful with his words. It is not “based on a true story” but instead written simply as “a true story,” not only a few times in the book, but also on the front cover.

At the end of the book you find out the story was told to Smith 30 years later, with remarkable clarity and attention to detail.  It seems as if even Smith knows how unreal it sounds and tries to convince the reader otherwise. (“Hair stood up on Eot’s arms when she started to speak and her eyes never blinked once or looked away. I realized at that moment that no detective or polygraph could ever doubt her word.”)

While I of course believe in the paranormal, the way the story is presented is over the top. Presented as fact are multiple sightings and interactions with demons, including one scene where a woman has sex with a demon. In another scene, a large fish escapes through a fishing net by “melting” through it and reforming itself outside the net.

In addition to the family’s experiences, which are recounted 30 years later as being complete truth, Smith also includes stories of non-family members. One story in particular that stands out is that of a character who encounters a demon while driving and plunges over a cliff. With no mention of witnesses to this event, how can this be claimed as truth?

Finally, several of the experiences the family had in the beginning of the book seemed based entirely on the phenomenon known as sleep paralysis.

The book is a translated narrative, so the writing style is not quite what you’d expect. It moves quickly, and at times appears disjointed, though I feel this does not take away from the story, and may even enhance the frantic feeling the author wishes to convey.

All in all, I did enjoy reading the book, though from the very beginning I took everything stated as fact with a large grain of salt.

Technorati Tags: Book Review, book reviews, books, debunking, Eot Ramanakajja, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, jak Ramanakajja, Lance Smith, paranormal, people, Ramanakajja, supernatural, Thailand, The Ghost Way, thoughts