New England Oddities

Hag Attacks and Psychic Vampires

The sun has set, and after a long day you lay down for a good night’s sleep.  Some time later you wake up. There is an unseen source of pressure concentrated on your chest. With every breath, the weight gradually increases and your fear swells. Your eyes search, darting from left to right, as a shadow emerges from a dark corner of your room. The phantom’s shape resembles that of a human wearing a black cloak; your heart beats faster and faster as the dark mass comes closer. A purple hue emanates from around the creature and a noise that sounds like rushing air fills your ears. The sound becomes deafening. Instinctively the flight response hits and your body attempts to move away from danger, but you are paralyzed. You move just your eyes to see, and suddenly the menacing shadowy figure is next to the bed.

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Investigation at Hillside Cemetery

Recently we received an invitation to investigate Hillside cemetery in Cheshire, Connecticut; a ride along, if you will, with the Greater Hartford Paranormal Society. Now I know you’re probably thinking writing about cemeteries is Katie’s milieu, and you would be correct. But this investigation was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. Besides, I can’t let her have all of the fun, now can I?

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From the Mailbox: Orbs in Maryland

Let me start by saying that both Chris and I love reader emails.  Should any of you ever have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to pass them along.  Our email addresses can be found, of course, by navigating to the Who are we? tab at the top of any page.

Our latest bit of correspondence comes from Lee Ann in Maryland.  Though she writes to us from a location a bit outside of our usual focus area, her questions regarding a set of potentially paranormal photos are universal ones and certainly merit sharing here.

Her initial email is below:

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The Perils of Believing One’s Eyes

There is perhaps no photographic evidence of the paranormal more prevalent than that of so-called orbs. Orbs are delivered up as evidence of ghostly energy at every turn, often heralded as irrefutable proof of a haunting. But are they really?

What is an orb?

An orb is a globe or ball of light that seems to hover over or amongst the unsuspecting subjects of a photograph, or against a scenic backdrop. Though often unseen at the time the photo is taken, they appear in the finished frame, in varying degrees of intensity and brightness. They are usually round, but sometimes have tails or motion trails, indicating movement. Orbs are most often photographed at night, showing up as light masses against a dark background, but occasionally they appear in daylight photography as dark or colored globes or smudges.

Most paranormal photographers agree that orbs are the physical manifestation of energy. But what that energy is, exactly, is up for debate. Many argue that orbs are the spirits of the dead, materialized to mug for the camera, while others insist that they are non-human life forms or even nature spirits.

I want to believe

These days, when nearly everybody has access to photo editing tools, it’s harder than ever to trust any paranormal photography, much less anything as simple to execute as an orb. As an example, take a look at the photograph below.

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