Paranormal Divine

The past year has found me feeling my way through dark rooms, attics, cellars, and old barns in pursuit of alleged paranormal activity. Southern Ohio Paranormal Research has been fortunate to have captured evidence of numerous unexplained phenomena. EVP’s, disembodied voices and shadow figures have turned hardened skeptics into zealot believers. I have always been fascinated with the paranormal and the majority of my reading as a child was devoted to that subject. Many that know me just put the pieces together as to why I’m so bizarre. Once you’ve peeked behind the curtain there really isn’t a lot that surprises, you’re ready to accept mysteries where they are and you stop trying to fit them within preconceived notions.

My interests vary greatly and I have noticed a pattern over coffee chatter that amuses me. I can speak of astral projection and experienced remote reiki healing with reciprocated interest, but once I mention a biblical anomaly that exceeds paranormal parameters, all bets are off…conversation over. Why is this? Crystal power and guided meditations reaffirming past lives are completely viable but an angel stirring the waters at a pool called Bethesda is completely ridiculous. Reference to spittle and mud packed upon the eyes of a blind man which brought healing always elicits a sympathetic chuckle. A story of a shadow figure walking down a hallway to confront a research team is met with enthusiasm and excitement. Look no further than the success of ‘paratainmet’ on TV to reveal that society’s appetite for the unknown is insatiable.

The Christmas season especially should intrigue us not only because of a virgin birth but because of the wise men. These Magi from the East, who I would say exhibit a paranormal researcher’s curiosity, sought out truth behind a rumor among their Hebrew slaves that a messiah would come from the East. What captured their attention regarding that story was an astrological event in the East that didn’t continue its normal orbital cycle but remained stationary. This was unheard of and they began to couple the possibilities of both rumor and what they were witnessing. Isn’t that what we as paranormal investigators do? They traveled that long distance confident that something was happening and they were not disappointed. Never before had such an event took place in their viewing of the heavens.

Our Western story presents the Christmas Pageant as happening in one night. You have shepherds in a field experiencing their own paranormal happenings, and you have the three kings presenting gifts in a makeshift stable with Keith Moon on drums behind the water trough. Ask anyone on the street if the story of Jesus’ birth took place in one night and they will confirm this. In our mind we take for granted interstate travel so we assume this luxury belonged to everyone in history. Yes, the three kings car pulled, that’s why there wasn’t a caravan transport for supplies, it was all in the trunk of an eco-friendly hybrid. Why do we celebrate the birth of Christ in the dead of winter if the shepherds were tending flocks in the fields? Where does it say that there were only three wise men? Perhaps that’s all that could fit on the first manufactured nativity scene. My wife rolls her eyes as I come up with new and creative Christmas cards debunking these misconceptions. One more…why did Herod order the killing of male children in a certain region from infancy to two years of age? Now you’re thinking! No one wants to write a play with two years worth of character and wardrobe changes.

Not many I know are eager to pick up a bible let alone discuss its contents. If you’re into the paranormal scene you’ll have more than your fair share of sci-fi within its pages. A valley of dancing bones that took on flesh, fiery chariots abducting prophets, walking dead from tombs witnessed by hundreds, angels appearing and scaring the shellac out of all who witness them, dreams that foretold of the future, a remote healing of a Centurion’s servant, and demons that even many self proclaimed modern exorcists would soil themselves if encountered. Who among the sci-fi crowd doesn’t like a good story about demons? What I find interesting in the book of Mark is that the demons are the first to proclaim Jesus as the chosen one of God. They knew who he was and he silenced them commanding them to leave their host. A human that has authority over the dominion of darkness? Now there's a fascinating story plot equal to that of Keanu Reeves’ Constantine.

There are many more examples of tales that grip a reader and leave them wondering at the possibilities. Why this literature is ignored but the Star magazine article of Bigfoot’s Love Slave sells millions is truly a mystery? Perhaps one is true and the other fiction? Which is easier to believe?

Imagine a movie trailer where a young virgin is impregnated with a prophesied King by a Spirit compared to fire and wind. An epic battle rages in the heavens over the fate of mere mortals with the said King trampling down Death by death and bestowing life on those within tombs as he resurrects from a horrific death! Hollywood should eat that up! Sure would beat the Body Snatchers or The Day of the Dead. But our misconceived notions limit our perspectives. Think about the possibilities the next time you pass a Nativity Scene. There’s more to a story than what marketing has sold us.