Paranormal and pop culture go hand-in-hand. A strong example of this is the “Supernatural” episode where the Winchester brothers battle a tulpa. Broken telephone factors into a ghost story that changes through online discourse. The changing story alters the haunting as the two brothers investigate. New tropes are added to […]
Columns
We need more diversity in our paranormal TV
Myling of Sweden. Banshee of Ireland. Manananggal of the Philippines. Mami Wata of Nigeria. Ifrit of the Middle East. Domovoy of Russia. La Llorona of Mexico. Chudail of Pakistan. Wendigo of the First Nations. And the Yurei of Japan. With the most commonly reported supernatural entity in the world being […]
Pandemic gives us a chance to reflect on the afterlife
Ever since I wrote the feature on past life regression in Canada, my mind has been thinking about what comes next. And maybe the pandemic is creating a minor existential crisis for all of us because a virus is threatening our very way of life and claiming a lot of […]
Ghosthunting in a time of coronavirus
Ghosthunters Lee and Linzi Steer are catching hell from social media after continuing their paranormal investigations during the stay-at-home order in the United Kingdom. The South Yorkshire-based duo have been live-streaming their investigations of a haunted mansion and nearby wooded area for their Facebook page, Ghosts of Britain. Other paranormal […]
The challenges of being a journalist who digs in the paranormal dirt
I could probably defend the reason why I started the Superstitious Times until my vocal cords seize up, but some people will still see the endeavour as a Fox Mulder-esque pursuit. I prefer Dr. John Montague of Shirley Jackson’s universe because much like him, my fascination with what people believe […]
The trials of filing an ATIP request in Canada
Before we get started, If you haven’t read my previous article, I recommend you read it first before moving on. Accessing information and publicly undisclosed files from the Canadian government requires patience, persistence and a bit of due process. It’s not like they’ll hand over any information without reason. Once […]
Etchings: Former ‘Most Haunted’ medium, Derek Acorah, dies at 69
Controversial medium, Derek Acorah, dies at 69 British TV personality and ‘Most Haunted’ medium Derek Acorah died Jan. 3 after a short battle with pneumonia and sepsis. He was 69. Not without controversy, Acorah allegedly made up the spirits he would channel while on ‘Most Haunted’. The show’s parapsychologist Ciaran […]
Being in the right headspace helps to process paranormal
A few years ago, I was having a conversation with an old university friend about the paranormal, and how as a neuroscientist he had induced ghostly sounds and associated symptoms of a haunting in a laboratory. I was hoping that he would share his thoughts in a column for the […]
The Canadian government still investigates UFOs
The MUFON case management system was not the only system I used to collect UFO data. It was appealing to be able to measure events all over Canada, however, the way the events were transcribed was a hot mess. The data was never completed, and for the most part, unusable. […]
Etchings: Ooh what a Ness
A scientific survey of the waters of Loch Ness begs the question: Was Nessie a victim of global warming, or a figment of our imaginations? Geneticist Neil Gemmell of Otago University led the New Zealand team of scientists along the shores of the Scottish lake and acquired samples to test. […]