The Paranormal Periodical

Horror Films, Feminism & The Occult👩🏻‍💻🌝🕯

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Wicker Man (2006): Why It Should’ve Been A Video Game // Detailed Plot Recap, In-depth Review And Film Facts You Didn’t Know

This week, I wanted to try something *new*. Inspired by Jaime French who does these hilarious recap/bitch-fest videos ‘bout classic 90s ‘n’ 00s films, I thought I could do my own hilarious reviews of films. You know how hilarious I am.

But, I don’t know, I kinda felt like I was nicking her idea and not being ori-gi-nal. Then I remembered that a blog like this could solve a problem I face a lot with the horror genre: I don’t always like to watch horror films.

They’re a commitment. They scawy. 

I don’t always want to force myself to watch a movie full of jump-scares and freak myself out, and other days I’m just not in the headspace to be immersed in some of the gory issues they cover. As you can imagine that makes being a horror blogger, uhhhh, well, impossible.

So here’s the plan, Stan - I’m gonna take one for the team. I’m going to write a fully-fledged recap, review and analysis of classic horror films so you don’t have to sit through the crap ones or hide behind the sofa for the traumatising ones, and we can just soak in our favourite genre together.

Now, when I first considered doing this blog series, I thought I’d review the last horror film I saw: The Wicker Man (1973). But I quickly realised it’s hard to really review something you last saw months ago - you need to connect with the vibe, pick up on mistakes and give a detailed view of it backed up by facts. So, obviously, I thought I’d catch it on Prime, right? While the ‘73 flick wasn’t available for free, the ‘06 one was.

Yes, one of the most infamous horror films ever produced featuring Nicolas Cage and a whole lotta bees, the poster child of so-bad-it’s-good movies.

In today’s review, I’m going to recap the plot, deep-dive the good and the bad of The Wicker Man (2006), and finish up with whether it’s worth a watch.

But first, let’s start with a spoiler-free review, so you can consider whether you want to watch it and then come back to this post.

While I don’t hate this film and think it had buckets of potential, I’m not sure it’s worth a film night with dimmed lights, surround sound and microwave popcorn. It’s a pretty un-engaging, gentle watch, even if you love Nicolas Cage and memes.

1.8/5 stars

Let’s start with a recap of the plot

Policeman Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) is taking time off duty after he witnesses a mother and her daughter die in a traumatic car accident. He receives a letter from his ex-fiancée which says her daughter has gone missing where they live, on the remote island of Summersisle. He goes to investigate and has to hitch a ride for the final leg of the journey with a bloke that pilots a seaplane and delivers goods to the island. 

Immediately Malus discovers this is a rural, Amish-like community full of locals not willing to help him find Rowan. No matter how much he flashes his badge or raises his voice to tell everyone he’s a police officer, they just tell him they’ve never-ever seen her before. Even the students at the school claim to not recognise her, but Malus finds her name crossed out on the school register. The teacher eventually lets slip that Rowan died and is buried in a churchyard. Or is she? She says “she’ll burn to death” before correcting the tense she used (“she burned to death”).

Malus stumbles across other clues outlining the causes and circumstances of Rowan’s disappearance, from a missing picture on the pub wall which shows a different local girl standing in front of the yearly harvest to a freshly dug grave. Convinced she’s been killed, he goes to the seaplane to radio the mainland for extra police support, but someone has murdered the pilot and sunk the plane. 

He then asks the local doctor/photographer about the missing photo. He finds it, and there’s Rowan standing in front of a failed harvest. But he also stumbles across a book titled “Rituals for the Ancients” which suggests they’re about to sacrifice Rowan to the Mother Goddess for the promise of a better harvest (they produce honey) next year. 

After accidentally getting stung by a shit-tonne of bees by the beehives which prompts an allergic reaction, he is saved by the local doctor and finally meets Sister Summersisle - the Earthly representative for the Mother Goddess. She denies him permission to exhume Rowan’s body and explains more about their beliefs and matriarchal society. 

Frustrated by the lack of answers, Malus digs up the grave to find a burnt doll and finds her jumper in the flooded crypt. He then conducts a house-to-house search of the entire island as it’s the day of the festival and, therefore, the sacrifice. 

After not finding Rowan, Malus sneaks into the festival disguised in the innkeeper’s bear costume where he rescues Rowan who is tied to a tree, ready to be burnt alive. Their attempt to escape to safety is cut short, however, when Rowan leads them back to the locals, revealing that all along this was a trap. 

His ex-fiancée sought him out to impregnate her so they’d have a sacrifice, a stranger connected to them by blood. After some torture, including lots of bees, Malus is carted off to the huge Wicker Man where he will be burnt alive inside. Rowan sets the Wicker Man alight. 

Six months later we see a new trap being set: in a bar in some US city, Malus’ ex-fiancee and another local start flirting with random men…

Some fun facts about the film

It’s a remake of the 1973 British film and was directly inspired by the 1967 novel Ritual (see gif below)

It just lost out on breaking even - it grossed $39m on a $40m budget

The original director of the 1973 film, Robin Hardy, made Warner Bros remove his name from all promotional material for the remake

It has just a 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Universal had been trying to remake The Wicker Man since the 90s, but it was finally announced in 2002

Now, let’s get to talkin’ bout it

Of course, I have to start with Nicolas Cage’s acting. Speaking honestly, I don’t want to sit here and criticise his craft - I’d be shite at acting, and it’s not like he’s an unsuccessful bloke. But the problem isn’t the over-acting. It’s the plain weird acting.

Throughout the film, Malus witnesses a seriously traumatic event - a car accident where the two passengers are burnt alive - and suffers from PTSD-symptoms as a result. Like in one dream he sees Rowan drowned just by the dock and then he’s holding the bloated corpse of a young girl. Waking with a start, he doesn’t, ya know, have a panic attack, or exhibit a normal amount of terror of anxiety.

He yells “God dammit!” like he just missed a bus.

And then, throughout he film, the way he speaks to people is plain odd. The rest of the cast are fine actors, and speak with those nuances and the tone of a cinematic film. He acts like a normal person would where everyone else is poetic and dramatic. It’s like me wandering into a Shakespeare play and asking Macbeth where the local pub is in modern British-English.

A great example of this is when he meets with Sister Summersisle for the first time after getting stung by the local bees. She speaks in that cinematic way, saying “you nearly got killed by the bees, what a pity”. There’s the suggestion that it’s either a pity the bees died or he nearly did. And then Cage straight up retorts with “what do you mean by that?” with no dramatic furrow of the brow or threatening tone in his voice. He might as well be asking her what the word “pity” means.

Cage is a sore thumb in the film, sticking out against the picture-perfect aesthetic, his complex ex-fiancee and powerful Sister Summersisle.

This is made worse by the fact that the beginning of the film feels cheap. Of course, with Summersisle being full of lush greenery, cute houses and fantastic costuming, it’s likely they just splurged on the majority of the film. But the opening, where we meet Malus, relies on that ASOS leather jacket, a does-this-look-like-Mexico orange filter you can get with iMovie and a flimsy set. When Malus shuts his front door behind his concerned colleague, for example, he has to like shut it again, probably because it’s made out of paper-mache.

It unfortunately sets the tone for the rest of the film, confirming it’s crappily written, crappily produced and crappily executed. Problem is, it’s not. This film is chockful of great stuff.

Take the ending:

Watching Malus be lead back to the locals by Rowan. Hearing Sister Summersisle reveal the extent of the trap. His ex telling him he’s “done so well” to fall into it. Him realising has no ammo in his gun and nowhere left to run (hey, that rhymes!). It’s so frustrating, and really conveys exactly what Malus must’ve been feeling the entire film and as he realises he is doomed to die - it’s perfect!

And when I saw the policewoman remove her mask and reveal she was a local all along I died. This fresh take of the original plot had so much potential.

Potential that was let down also by some very obvious plot lines. It’s revealed halfway through the film that Rowan is Malus’ daughter, but as this is what everyone assumes when he reads the letter it’s not exactly a shock. I know the entire plot is obvious considering the twist is so well known, so perhaps I should give them the benefit of the doubt. But then there’s the plot holes.

Remember the car accident that opens the film? Where he sees a girl and her mother die? On reflection, it’s probably just supposed to be some foreshadowing to get us thinking about him trying to save a mother and daughter from danger. But when the police recover the bodies, it’s revealed there’s no trace of them in the system, which suggests they’re somehow linked to the rest of the film, like they’re residents of Summersisle or something? I don’t know, it just opens up an area of interest you expect to be resolved in the film. I’d have preferred it there was no uncertainty, and they were just an average suburban family off on vacay to really show the distinction between the mainland US and Summersisle.

It becomes clear the locals of Summersisle are dangerous and are misandrists (hate men) when the seaplane pilot that delivers good to the island is killed. Supposedly the locals do this because they’re angry he brought Malus to the island to investigate Rowan’s disappearance. But wasn’t that the plan all along? Wasn’t the pilot integral to the trap? And then later, when it’s revealed the locals routinely seek out men to as future potential sacrifices if harvests go tits up (I assume that’s how it works), wouldn’t they need him to bring ‘em to the island?

There’s also the issue of the quality gap between the opening and close of the film. Okay, fine, most films have different phases and vibes as the plot progresses. But the three distinct sections of this film aren’t to do with the plot. The beginning is cheap. The middle is slow. The ending is mental.

Despite my lengthy criticism and positive reflections on the film, I drew one final conclusion: it should’ve been a video game.

It just had that vibe and structure of a story-driven video game, like a prettier version of Silent Hill with fewer jumpscares and a thicker plot.

There’s the unique locations to explore, like the school and doctor’s house. There’s missing items to find, like the photograph of Rowan and the failed harvest. There’s fresh clues to stumble upon like the jumper and the grave. There’s a whole roster of potential NPC dialogue, like the ex-fiancee perhaps telling you “you should go check the crypt” over and over until he does it. There’s even the subtle throwbacks to the original film, like the seaplane (which the policeman of the ‘73 film flew). All tied together with cut scenes where you meets your ex-fiancee and ask her about what you’ve discovered to further the story.

Will you make the right decisions and get the good ending, where you prevent the murder of the seaplane pilot, carry Rowan to the harbour and fly off to safety? Will you find all the easter eggs, including the joker costume and the dead rabbit from the ‘73 film?

The final verdict *drum roll pls*

I don’t hate it, but it’s just not worth the watch. Even for fans of so-bad-its-good movies, there’s not enough funny bad stuff for it to be enjoyable. Just a bit boring. Save 100 minutes and watch the best bits on YouTube, instead.

Enjoyed this blog? Go ahead and let me know by liking and reblogging this post.

Want to hear more reviews? Let me know which film you want to hear about next, and hit follow to be updated with my next one.

[theparanormalperiodical]

Let’s talk about Chernobyl

I decided to challenge myself this week: I’m going to write a blogpost for the second Saturday in a row (given I’m posting this on a Wednesday, I didn’t make it - but I was close!). A feat I was able to manage for literal years until about eight months ago, but that’s a story for another time. And when I’ve had a drink.

To motivate myself to get started, I wanted to find a really interesting topic. And since last week’s post was about Silent Hill, ghost towns were on the brain. For some reason, it wasn’t until after I posted it that I remembered about basically the most famous ghost town of all time:

Chernobyl, of course.

But when I began my research for the post one humble Wednesday evening, I stumbled across something else I’d forgotten somehow:

Chernobyl’s in Ukraine.

You see, I’m torn on this one. I don’t know, I feel like I’m propping up a macabre history of Ukraine that involves me wittering on about the ghost workers of reactor 4, completely ignoring the fact that its citizens are actually fighting a war over there? It’s a bit like writing an article about Candyman and not talking racism about in America.

So, I decided I’m going to try to write this blogpost - but I’m really going to try to do it right. The story of Chernobyl is integral to the history of the Soviet Union, and the invasion of Ukraine this year will unfortunately fall on the same timeline.

Fact is, Chernobyl isn’t a place crawling with ghosts and spooky stories. This is a man-made horror, and most would agree its far more terrifying - and tragic - than any tale of the supernatural.

Let’s start with the history of Chernobyl - before the accident

Like most eastern European cities, a lot of Chernobyl’s history is about how frequently it changes hands. In the 13th century, it was just a crown village of Lithuania’s Grand Ducy. By the 16th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Poland. In the 18th century, it was part of the Russian Empire. And it was in that century that it’s tragic history began.

For two hundred years the city had been a prominent Jewish community, and as soon as the 18th century it was a major centre of Hasidic Judaism. But it faced a wave of pogroms by extreme nationalists (riots that typically involved massacring specific ethnic groups) in the early 20th century. Throughout the first few decades, the city was taken back by the Polish Army, and then went back to the Red Army before finally being incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Only decades later, the Jewish community faced tragedy yet again during the Holocaust.

But it was in the second half of the century that Chernobyl became a household name. In 1977,  government commissioned the Vladimir Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, the first in Ukraine. The first reactor was built in 1977, with three others following shortly after. It generated about 10% of Ukraine’s electricity before the 1986 accident, but interestingly enough prior to that event it faced a whole host of crises.

In 1982, a partial core meltdown went unnoticed for several hours, releasing a signifcant amount of radiation. And in 1984, “serious incidents” occurred in two reactors (the KGB documents were only declassified in April ‘21, so I think that’s all we’re gonna get).

Now, I was going to give a description of the surrounding area of the plant before the accident in 1986, like whether there was a hospital, a couple of schools, how much housing and other amenities. And we know that there were these things - the intrigue surrounding Chernobyl is that there are all these abandoned building to visit at one’s own peril. There’s even a funfair, apparently. But no one’s actually given any account of what life was like before the accident. That being said, I’m pretty sure there was a relatively well-developed community that centred around the employment the plant provided.

26th April 1986

It started with a routine safety test. A routine safety test that caused an unexpected power surge and a lot of steam build up. Steam build up that caused explosions. Explosions that blew reactor 4 apart.

The 1000 ton roof of the reactor is shot off into the sky. Walls and equipment cave in. Fires begin. Within five minutes, firefighters have arrived, unaware of the impact of the radiation and wearing no protective clothing.

A day later, residents are finally told they are being evacuated from Pripyat (the nearest settlement) and surrounding towns and villages. They’re told it’s temporary. Another day passes, and the outside world becomes aware that something is wrong: radiation is detected in the atmosphere in Sweden that they trace back to the USSR - they confirm an accident has happened, but give no details. Only spy satellite photos show the extent of the mysterious accident and its damage.

The next month, a huge cleanup begins, involving nearly a million people, including bulldozing villages and culling animals contaminated by the radiation.

Throughout May workers continue to carry out measures to minimise the spread of the radiation, like installing the sarcophagus (a concrete and metal structure to encase what’s left of reactor 4). 14 years later, the final working reactor was shut down.

The impact of the accident

Chernobyl is astounding. The statistics are jaw-dropping, it’s like my brain can’t compute that this happened and this will stay like this for a very, very long time.

There was seven times more radiation released at Chernobyl than created by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Radioactivity spread as far afield at France. Today, it is largely considered the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation.

That being said, our estimates of the impact of the tragedy are probably a bit cloudy: some sources claim two people were killed in the first explosions, others state 50. In 2005, the UN predicted a further 4,000 will die (which is probably a different number now, unfortunately) as a result of radiation exposure. Official documents from different authorities all put forward clashing statistics, each as tragic as the next. And some say people as far away as Moscow were reporting signs of radiation poisoning.

We think about five million citizens of the former USSR were affected by the disaster, and today the Ukrainian government (well, at least prior to the invasion, not sure how these systems are running now) pays over 30,000 women widowed by the disaster benefits.

But most staggerlingly, Chernobyl will be unsafe to live in for the next 20,000 years, according to today’s scientists. Where will humans be in 20,000 years? Will they still exist? Will we still have record of what happened in this place? Will our descendants thousands of years in the future develop urban legends of this mysterious place where people go and get ill? Or will medical science have developed to a place where we can limit the impact of radiation or cure cancer?

In 2006, Gorbachev - the leader of the USSR at that time - claimed that Chernobyl was “perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union”.

So, what’s Chernobyl like today?

Your first thought is “abandoned”, right? Empty buildings, swathes of vegetation, crumbling roads with the debris and litter of four odd decades ago still being blown across it? In most cases that’s true.

But even in the exclusion zone, where it’s illegal to live, about 150 people have flouted risk to live their old lives. And they regularly have visitors from so-called ‘dark tourists’: people that visit locations where the most horrendous human events have happened, like genocide, war and natural disasters.

Although I wouldn’t necessarily encourage anyone to try this kind of vacationing, I do understand the desire to visit such a location.

The peculiar sights of the abandoned city

While civilisation decays, nature has taken over

It’s the trademark aesthetic of a ghost town: being overrun by forests, bushes and weeds. But according to studies with soy beans, plants can become stronger in radiation: they weigh more, they take up water faster and they show signs of “protecting” themselves against radiation. Within three years, vegetation had recovered and breathed life back into the region, like the spread of the Red Forest.

The Red Forest was dense woodland consisting of pine trees from which the needles, when poisoned by the radiation, turned red. What was once a wasteland soon regenerated and is now full of silver birch. And all this vegetation has helped the local wildlife flourish.

The mutant monsters of Chernobyl?

Of all the urban legends surrounding it, one-eyed birds and two-headed dogs are among the stereotypical images conjured of the region. According to one study, the genetic mutations of animals increased by a factor of 20. But there are few reported physical mutations, most of which only include partial albinism.

In fact, Chernobyl is actually known these days for its huge populations of wild animals - including lil’ puppies. Dark tourists are advised not to pet the wild animals, no matters now cute the dogs are, because of the radioactive particles in their fur.

Wolves are seven times as abundant there than non-radioactive zones (and are supposedly mating with local wild dogs), and moose and wild boar have taken over the area. Even an endangered breed of horse is making a comeback, due to the lack of human activity. And as recently as 2014, they had the first brown bear sighting there in over a century.

Dark tourists have created the horror movie aesthetic

As much as the tragic backstory to Chernobyl sounds like the perfect urban legend, the rumours surrounding it have largely been put in place by non-supernatural forces: that means us.

A classic example of this is the number of creepy dolls that have been left on abandoned children’s beds in attempt to create Insta-worthy photo shoots. Fact is, what happened in Chernobyl doesn’t need legends of ghosts and long-lost spirits, nor conspiracy theories, to rouse fear in all of us.

We can see what it would really be like if some apocalyptic incident, like nuclear war, took place. And how well the rest of the world apparently gets on without us.

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Real Story Behind Silent Hill And Six Other Ghost Towns You Can *Actually* Visit Today

What if you woke up one day and everyone had just disappeared?

No white noise from cars roaring down the motorway. No clatter of people putting out their bins. No yelling from that about-to-get-divorced-please-get-on-with-it couple down the road. Just silence. The population of your entire town vanished into thin air.

But by far the most terrifying thing about this scenario is that it’s happened. Ghost towns (and cities or villages) are a very real fact of life, often attributed to natural disasters or a slump in economic activity.

This inherent fear has gone on to inspire many urban legends, campfire stories and horror films. In fact, it’s the basis for one of the most infamous horror franchises that defined the survival horror genre.

Today, we’re talking about Silent Hill.

Silent Hill is a horror media franchise consisting of no less than thirteen video games, two films, at least four cancelled titles and a handful of comics. First released in 1999 in Japan, the franchise has taken over the world. Its heavy reliance on psychological horror, in particular, has earned it the reputation of one of the scariest franchises, with the second instalment being recognised as the most terrifying.

The video games, films and print media mostly centre around a mysterious town in New England called Silent Hill where an Asceticist cult (they abstain from any sexual activity) are doing culty things, like reviving deities. Mix in a couple infamous monsters, from over-sexualised zombie-like nurses, to leggy-crabby-things, to infamous Pyramid Head and you got yourself an icon.

Some instalments do take place in other locations, but for the most part the player sticks around in a small, foggy, empty town that typically is reminiscent of a Japanese-American hybrid town. And this trademark village has been traced back directly to several real towns like Cushing, Snoqualmie and Centralia in the States.

While Cushing is, by all means, a simple, small town, the latter two have far more spooky reputations.

Snoqualmie is dripping in history, and a dark one, of tensions between settlers and Native Americans. Even the name of this town in Washington means “ferocious people”, denoted to those that once owned the land. While it doesn’t have any obvious mysterious attributes, its aesthetic has also inspired other horror franchises with Twin Peaks filming in Snoqualmie and its neighbouring towns.

Centralia, on the other hand, is drenched in mystery. This ghost town - with a mere five people living there in 2017 - was claimed under eminent domain (basically, the state can take private property without consent) in 1992. Why? Well, in 1962, some firefighters were commissioned to set local landfill on fire and let it burn. But the fire was unextinguished and quickly found its way into the underground coal mines. Then, it spread.

Sinkholes appeared out of nowhere, dragging down locals into the ground below and replacing them with noxious gases like carbon monoxide. Levels of dangerous fumes and ground instability are still an issue today. This fire has been burning ever since - this year is its 60th anniversary.

In 1980, there were 1000 residents, but only a decade later 63 remained. In 1992, eminent domain was invoked on all properties across Centralia, and in 2002, the ZIP code was discontinued. A final formal eviction took place in 2009, leaving behind seven residents who are allowed to remain there until their death. And then, the property will be taken through eminent domain.

Today, Centralia is an odd place. Most homes have been demolished. Some overrun by local vegetation. And one of the most famous landmarks of Centralia, the abandoned section of Route 61 which has been splattered by graffiti over the years, has been covered with dirt. What’s left of the town is often described as a field in which random pavement appears here and there. Over the years, the nearby forest has slowly encroached on the area and will soon eat it alive. All that’s left, apart from the remaining residents, is the church and four cemeteries. All are maintained regularly with St. Mary’s still holding weekly services.

It’s obviously the perfect setting for a spooky story. And it’s not the only ghost town worthy of a horror franchise.

Oradour-sur-Glane, France

In about a week’s time, it’ll be the 78th anniversary of the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane. In 1944, the SS killed 642 civilians in this village in Nazi-occupied France and destroyed the homes in which they used to live.

I would go into the details of the massacre as the execution of the innocent men, women and children is absolutely horrendous. You can find out more about this village and the events surrounding it here.

After the war, Charles de Gaulle - who would eventually go on to be the French Prime Minister and President - decided the village should not be rebuilt. Instead, it remains should be a brutal but honest memorial of Nazi occupation.

Today you can find historic hardware like bikes and sewing machines among the ruins, and even tour other objects in a museum dedicated to the village, like watches and glasses that belonged to the villagers.

Varosha, Cyprus

Much like Oradour, Varosha’s current status is down to tragedy.

This once-thriving town has a long history dating back to the 16th century. But this same history has seen it change hands multiple times between the Brits, Turks and Cypriots. By the early 70s, it was one of the most popular tourist destinations on the planet, drawing in A-listers including Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot. In 1974, however, things changed.

When Cyprus was invaded by Türkiye (Turkey changed their name like 22 hours ago), Greek Cypriots fled Varosha. Today, the high-rises built in the 20th century for celebrity tourists have started to crumble, pavements and roads have been overrun with vegetation, and, for the most part, it’s a ghost town.

Only five years ago Varosha was re-opened to civilians. And more and more tourists troop back every year to explore what was a hotspot many decades ago.

Bodie, California

Now, this is a ghost town with over half a million visitors every year.

The story starts in 1859, when a line of gold was discovered there. A mining town was rapidly set up, and within twenty years it was officially booming with approx 10,000 citizens living there. It’s even been said that it was one of America’s biggest cities at the time. In the space of 90 years, Bodie’s mines produced a huge amount of gold and silver that today would be worth $85 million.

At it’s peak, Bodie was a picture-perfect stereotype of Wild West America. With 65 saloons littering the town, it was known for its shootouts, brawls and stagecoach holdups. It even had a Chinatown (which turns out was a thing back then?) with several hundred residents and a Taoist temple.

But as much as it represented ‘boom’, it had a timely ‘bust’, too. Miners would come to get rich quick and then head elsewhere for other booms. By 1880, the first signs of decline had set in, but only by the 1910s did local amenities, like the local newspaper and the railway, close down. In 1920, the population had shriveled to 120.

Today, only 170 buildings remain and it is a National Historic Landmark. You can still visit a fully operational goal mine and even check out saloons with their unchanged interiors still stocked with early 20th century goods.

Fordlandia, Brazil

This one deserves a horror franchise.

If you didn’t study America in the 1920s, then you probably haven’t heard of Henry Ford. He was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and pioneered mass production. His techniques of assembly line production quickly turned luxury cars into affordable goods.

So, in 1928, he decided to maximise his profits even further by securing a source of cultivated rubber for his cars. And that source was on the banks of the Rio Tapajós in Brazil. The 2.5 million acre land was turned into an American village complete with traditional American houses, a hospital, school, library and hotels. The water tower was even shifted over from the States.

If that wasn’t odd enough - you know, a random American town in the middle of Brazil - the town also had a strict set of rules employees had to follow, like no tobacco, alcohol or women. Inspectors would even visit houses at random to ensure they were being followed. As a result, a small settlement known as the “Island of Innocence” was set up, chockful of bars and brothels to circumvent the town’s rules.

Problems were apparent as soon as work began on the area. Many workers fell victim to yellow fever and malaria, and with so few roads connected to the area, they had to rely on the river to transport in essentials. And when it came to harvesting the rubber, they uncovered more issues, too. Managers had little knowledge of the local tropical plants, like how rubber trees normally grow far apart to project against plagues and diseases. But in Fordlandia they grown were in plantations close together and therefore weren’t able to produce sufficient amounts of rubber.

The workers were also unhappy with their treatment, like wearing nametags all day and living in an unfamiliar American settlement. So in 1930 - yep, four years after Fordlandia was established - native workers revolted. They cut telegraph wires and chased off the managers. Another four years passed and Ford Motor Company officially abandoned it.

Today, a majority of the old buildings still stand. You can even still find clothes, furniture and silverware in the houses of the American village left behind.

Have you ever visited a ghost town?

Let me know in a comment below.

And while you’re there, make sure you like and reblog this post!

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Tarot Cards: A Brief History, How To Read Them And Choosing A Spread feat. Cheat Sheets

Cast your mind back to 2020. Well, if you can. I’ve blocked most of it out.

The national lockdowns were a hellish period for us all, unless you were one of the few billionaires able to profit from the global peril. But aside from OCD, I did take away a few things from that time.

And that was my love for tarot cards.

I’ve had my deck since my first year of university, so for about five or six years now. At first, I struggled to shuffle them, I found it hard to understand them and I just never really knew what to do with them. They were an ornament, not a hobby.

But it was only about three years later, when we all had to stay inside for months on end, that tarot became a crucial part of my weekly routine. Every Sunday I’d light a candle (preferably sandalwood or sage), put on the Life is Strange soundtrack and have my iPad on standby to help me research the meanings of the cards.

Then, I’d pull out my Rider Waite deck, take a few deep breaths, and call on the spirits to communicate with me through the deck. I’d pick up the deck and just hold it in my hands, inhaling, exhaling, inhaling, exhaling. I’d envision my energy rising from my chest up into my shoulder down through my arms, pulsating through my fingertips and right into the deck. And the energy from the deck would be pumped back into me. I became one with the cards.

And then, to complete this holistic, peaceful ritual I’d chuck ‘em on my bed and mix them together before compiling them back into a deck. Then, I’d lay them out in front of me (only now, when writing this sentence, do I realise that I don’t know any card terms, like I kind of put them in a stack and then smush them in one line so they’re fanned out?).

I close my eyes, hold out my hand, and let my fingertips select the cards representing my past, present and future. I collect the other cards into a deck and lay my selected cards in front of me. One by one I turn them over, using the booklet to help me decode my subconscious and messages from the spirits. I’d then use my iPad and a very helpful tarot website to help understand them even more.

Despite having a personal process that I’ve practiced many times now, there’s still so much I don’t know. I want to be able to read them without the assistance of a personal device, and ask for more than my past-present-future.

Why not tag along and join me on my tarot journey?

In today’s blog post, we are going to find out what tarot cards are, where they came from, the best ways to use tarot and how to read them.

Let’s start with an easy one: what is tarot?

So, tarot is a pack of playing cards used since the mid-15th century. Today, they normally consist of 78 cards which are split into Major and Minor arcana. Originally, they were used in “trick-taking” games (to be honest, I don’t really get what this means, it’s a type of card game that’s hella complex, kk) in Europe, but in the 18th century, the occultists got involved. 

They started using it to read the future. That being said, they’ve always been surrounded by occult themes, from a Dominican preacher calling out their inherent evil in a sermon - which we think is related to their use in gambling - to the introduction of astrological symbols in Florence at the turn of the 16th century.

The word “tarot” is derived from “tarrochi”, an Italian word which basically means “foolishness”. This was probably due to its association with the drinking, gambling and debauchery that surrounded them.

However, according to some spooky weirdos, tarot really began all the way back in ancient times and has links to Egypt and the Kabbalah (a critical school of thought that informed occultism).

"The origin of this pack of cards is very obscure. Some authorities seek to put it back as far as the ancient Egyptian Mysteries; others try to bring it forward as late as the fifteenth or even the sixteenth century ... [but] The only theory of ultimate interest about the Tarot is that it is an admirable symbolic picture of the Universe, based on the data of the Holy Qabalah."

- Aleister Crowley, probably the most famous occultist ever

They even say the first tarot deck exclusively used was derived from the Book of Hoth, and it was chockful of references to ancient Egypt. It’s still one of the most common decks used by occultists, alongside the Tarot of Marseilles and the Rider Waite deck.

So, what’s tarot card reading?

Tarot card reading is a type of cartomancy where people try to gain insight into the past, present n’ future. Or is it? Some believe it’s really about getting in touch with ourselves; our subconscious and our intuition. Somehow this helps us understand where we are coming from and going better, thereby “predicting” our future.

How you use them is completely up to you.

Each card has its own images and story, with the major arcana representing spiritual lessons and the minor representing our daily trials and struggles.

Personally, I call upon the spirits and believe they communicate with them by selecting the cards, giving me insights not only into myself but also my future.  

The basic tarot card reading process

There are plenty of decks and ways to read the cards to pick from. But let’s start with a basic set of steps to get you started.

Set the scene: I like to create a calm, relatively tech-free environment and kick things off with lots of deep breathing. If I was cool enough to meditate, I would, but normally I grab a diet coke, put on some soothing music and just sit quietly for a mo.

Clear the deck: shuffling the cards is critical. Not only does it give you a fresh set of answers every time, it gives you a chance to connect with the cards. At the same time, think about what you want to ask the deck, or in my case, the spirits. I like to visualise this energy flowing between my arms and hands into the deck and back into me.

(If you’re doing a spread) Do your spread - aka how you lay out cards: pull out the cards for your spread one-by-one until you’ve completed it. For each card, look up in the little booklet that comes with your deck the basic meaning of the card and think about what it could mean for you. Look at the card and see how the symbols relate to you. You could even consider researching meanings online as they can offer more depth into other perspectives.

Complete the spread: When you’ve finished going through the cards one-by-one, take in the meanings of all the cards collectively, like how your life might progress from past to present to future.

Finish up with some questions: ask a question, pull a card from the deck and decode the answer.

Here’s a couple of different spreads to try

One of the most off-putting things about tarot is how much there is to take in. It’s not just this set of weird-looking, multiple-meaning cards in front of you, it’s what you’re supposed to do with them. Most occultists would tell you to start with asking some simple questions and pulling a card - the answer - from the deck. But what’s stopping you from getting your hands dirty and tryin’ out a spread?

I still only do one spread - the past, present and future. Now, I want to see how else I can up my tarot game. 

So, what are the best spreads for novice tarot readers to start with?

Celtic cross: this 10 card spread highlights not just the past, present and future but also external influences and outcomes.

Five card spread: here, you stick with the basic past-present-future spread but add a card above and below the three cards, one which represents what’s driving this situation, and the other which is a potential outcome.

Horseshoe: this spread takes into account advice you should follow, obstacles and gives you an optimal action to resolve the problem at hand. This is great for tough decision-making.

How to read individual cards: the meanings of key symbols, images and themes

I’m a basic w*tch, k? 

I still gotta use the booklet and use my trusty tarot site to properly uncover all the potential meanings of the cards. I’ve never taken the time to really learn how to read the cards myself, but it’s actually not that difficult. Tarot cards, particularly the Rider Waite deck, share themes, symbols and images that make reading the meaning of individual cards pretty straightforward. 

Let’s run through them, shall we?

Cups: this suit is all about your emotions, openness and imagination

Wands: these cards represents your energy and your creativity

Swords: this one’s about your mind, so how you think and solve problems, and even communicate

Pentacles: this suit represents the physical world and how we interact with our work, homes and money

The court cards (King, Queen, Page and Knight): if multiple ones come up in a reading, you can interpret a progression as you move up or down in terms of authority. The Page and Knight often represent youth or inexperience, whereas the Queen and King represent adulthood and mastery. But they can also have more specific meanings, too.

King: leadership; success; attainment

Queen: empathy; compassion

Knight: taking action; mature energy; moving forward

Page: youthful; service

Each number has a specific meaning, too:

New beginnings; unity

Relationships; balance or duality

Creativity

Stability; structure

Conflict and change; growth

Harmony

Spiritual growth; life lessons

Understanding; accomplishment

Success; coming up to the completion of a cycle

Completion; enlightenment

The colours used in each card have different meanings:

Black: protection; negativity; illness; darkness

Red: safety; passion; anger

Pink: love; forgiveness; femininity

Orange: creativity; optimism

Brown: stability; earthliness; lack of boundaries

Yellow: opportunity; spontaneity

Gold: mastery; divinity

Green: healing; harmony; envy

Blue: peace; sadness; judgment

Purple: intuition; spirituality; reason

White: higher self; newness; birth

Silver: emotion; sensitivity

There are also a few critical symbols to watch out for:

The moon: change; passage of time; reflection

Keys: knowledge; discovery; opportunity

The ocean: possibility; emotion

Ship: personal journey; transformation

Tree: shelter; regeneration

Flag: pay attention for a major change

Major arcana: they represent big events or figures, or major influences and revelations

Minor arcana: they represent everyday events and influences

I know, I know - it’s a lot to take in! 

While I recommend you review this regularly and use this list when doing tarot so you can “actively revise”, it might be easier to have a cheat sheet on-hand to begin with.

So, here’s some links to the best-rated tarot cheat sheets: Cheat sheet 1 Cheat sheet 2 Cheat sheet 3

Ready to get your tarot on?

You should now be ready to take your first steps into the world of cartomancy. Ya welcome.

But before you grab your deck and start shuffling, I want to leave you with one final tip: find the process that works for you. Tarot is all about self-reflection, as much as it is about being a spooky bi4tch. Take your time, try different things and make it your own!

If you liked this post, make sure you like and reblog to let me know. Want to hear something spooky uhhh okay not every weekend but like every fortnight, okay, I’m getting back into it? Hit follow.

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Ultimate UK Stone Circle Roadtrip: 8 Days, 15 Prehistoric Sites & I Even Estimated How Much It Would All Cost *ya welcome*

As spring finally settles in and makes way for a glorious British summer (*insert joke about rain, I guess?*), it’s time I commence my annual hobby of dreaming about adventurous things I never actually get around to doing.

But this time, I thought if I shared my plans - including a full list of where to go, the route to take *and* how much it’s gonna cost ya - someone would as least be able to be adventurous for me.

And hey - this time it’s on you!

I’m probably going to be spinning out a few of these this summer, including a haunted pub crawl and a haunted house road trip, so you best be staying tuned.

Buckle your seatbelts, kids. It’s gonna be a wiiiillllld ride.  

DAY 1

Boscawen-un stone circle, Cornwall

We start at the very edge of England: somewhere in Penzance. This late Neolithic, early Bronze Age stone circle (sometime around 2500 to 1500 BC) consists of 19 stones in the shape of an oval. In the centre is a leaning stone - and why it’s leaning is unknown. All are made of grey granite apart from one which is made of bright quartz. There is a gap in the circle that we think may have been an entrance. The circle is about 25m wide.

Boscawen-ûn is Cornish for “elder tree on the downs”, and was likely just a place for ceremonies and rituals, with the bright quartz probably chosen as a sacred stone. We think it was used not just for healing but also related to the moon as its 19 stones are either referencing the cycle of the moon (18.64 years long) or the Metonic cycle of the moon and sun.

If you manage to get there for the Midsummer solstice, you’ll see two axe-heads carved towards the base of a standing stone. If you miss it, try again for Halloween and you should see the setting sun slot itself between the centre and quartz stones.

Brisworthy stone circle, Dartmoor

You’ll need to take the A30 to get to your next destination. Following the two hour drive, you’ll arrive at yet another oval stone circle built in the Bronze Age. This cluster of 24 stones (which we actually think is only half of the original number) stretches out to about 25m in diameter.

This little known stone circle might not get many visitors, nor is there much history or folklore to delve into, but it will give you a much-needed break before our next - and possibly most exciting - stop.

I recommend sleeping over between here and the next stop.

DAY 2

Avebury henge, Marlborough

During the three hour drive along the M5, try and recap your knowledge of prehistoric Britain - you won’t want to waste your time at this stop. Built sometime between 2850 and 2200 BC, the henge actually encloses part of Avebury village in a circular bank and ditch. Within that henge sits Britain’s largest stone circle which in turn nestles two more stone circles.

We’re pretty sure it was used for rituals and ceremonies, which isn’t new or unique. Some historians think it may have specifically been built for rituals to appease the “powers of nature”, i.e. preventing disease and extreme weather. But what is unique is how it’s still considered a place of worship for modern pagans, who troop here nearly as much as Stone Henge.

Grey hill stone circle, Chepstow

It’s only a one hour drive along the M4 to the next stone circle. This set of 13 low-slung stones - which a couple tall outliers just outside the edge of the circle - is believed to have been the remains of a destroyed chamber tomb. You’ll also find plenty of other prehistoric monuments in this area including a handful of standing stones, a few burial cairns (mounds of stone) and some hut circles.

Mitchell’s fold stone circle, Shropshire

You’ll need to take the A49 for little over two hours to get to our next stop, it’s just over the Welsh border. Also known as Medgel’s Fold, this Bronze Age circle is just outside of a cute lil’ village called White Grit. This circle is rather controversial, however, and has repeatedly been vandalised, whether by a local farmer in 1995 or various pagans leaving firepits and broken booze bottles after celebrations.

This ellipse stone circle, just over 80 ft in diameter, has amassed quite a bit of folklore in its time, too. It’s claimed that a giant owned a cow which gave him unlimited amounts of milk used the circle (I don’t know what for, but hey, it was his circle) until a witch milked the cow and drained it dry. As punishment, she was turned into stone and then surrounded by other stones to stop her from escaping. If that tale doesn’t get your goat (or cow), some claim King Arthur took Excalibur from one of these stones.

If you’ve got some spare time after visiting this stone circle, why not take a 1 mile stroll over to the Hoarstones?

I recommend you sleep over somewhere near Warrington to split the next long drive up a bit.

DAY 3

Castlerigg, the Lake District

Follow the M6 for a couple hours for one of the UK’s most famous and oldest stone circles. The 38 stones that make up the nearly 100 ft wide stone circle have fallen under extensive research, with no certainty as to whether they were trading places or religious centres. Castlerigg has also gained a lot of its attention for its picturesque scenery. Don’t forget to take in the Thirlmere Valley, while you’re there.

Glenquicken, near Kirkcudbright

Also known as Billy Diamond’s Bridge, this oval stone circle comprised of 28 stones - and complete with central pillar standing at 6 ft tall - is a muted, rural spot. It’s the perfect place to take a breathe and start our Scottish leg of the roadtrip.

The Argyll stone and St Conval’s Chariot, Renfrew (by the Normandy Hotel)

You’re final trip of the day will take you about two and a half hours on the A77. And okay, fine, this isn’t a stone circle. But hey, these two kinda unrelated but close together stones are definitely worth a visit.

The first stone is called St Conval’s Chariot. Apparently, some bloke called St Conval was just resting on this stone back in the 6th century, and then all of the sudden it started floating out to sea. The saint came ashore at Renfrew, and that’s where he decided to found his new church. According to lore, it was the base that held the cross in his church, and travellers and the sick would come to the stone to drink rainwater that gathered there, believing it to have healing properties.

The Argyll stone has a similar legend but it’s set 300 years later. Supposedly, the 9th Earl of Argyll - when fleeting capture - was resting on this stone when he was caught by two militiamen. He was later beheaded after capture. Some say the stone was still stained for years after his death.

I recommend you sleep over near Glencoe to break up the drive between this stop and the next one.

DAY 4

Callanish standing stones, basically at the top of Scotland

This is your only stop for the day, and it’s a big one. You’ve got a 6 hour drive up ahead, including a ferry trip.

Predating Stone Henge, this stone circle was a critical spot for ritual activity for about 2000 years. We think these stones were erected for astronomical observation. But regardless of the little history we have about it, it’s an incredible spot to visit. The cruciform pattern (in the shape of a cross) is made up of 13 stones with an average height of three metres. Against the backdrop of the Scottish coast, tucked away on one of the most northern islands, it is well worth the long journey.

I recommend you sleep over near the Cairngorms national park to break up the next drive.

DAY 5

Threestone Burn stone circle, Northumberland

It’s a four hour trip to your next stop, and it takes us all the way back to England. Nestled in the north east you’ll find what remains of this Bronze Age stone circle. Made up of 16 pink granite stones, it’s about 30m wide and is sat near Threestone Burn.

I recommend you sleep over here - this is a long drive through Scotland, and you’ll be knackered.

DAY 6

Twelve Apostles stone circle, Leeds

It’s a three hour drive down the A1 to Leeds for the next stop. Here, you’ll find eleven stones (where once was twelve, obviously) set in a circle reaching about 89m in diameter. They all vary in height and length and there may have been twenty, once upon a time. We also think it may have been built to observe celestial bodies. They have always been associated with the twelve apostles of Jesus, and the removed stone is supposed to represent Judas.

The Rollright stones, Oxford

We now come down to the midlands to visit three monuments just outside the village of Long Compton. There’s the King’s Men, the Whispering Knights and the King Stone, all of which vary in location, design and purpose. But what unites them is folklore.

One of the most famous tales tells the story of a king riding with his army across the country. He was met by a local witch who gave him a challenge he failed to complete. She punished him by turning him into stone. After the middle ages, when this tale found infamy among locals, legend has it the king and his men occasionally return to life, whether on various saint’s days or when the clock strikes midnight.

If you personally wish to practice a local ritual here, why not rip off your clothes and run around naked? Local girls would do this on Midsummer’s Eve in the hope they’d see the men they were to marry. Or, rub your naked body on the King stone to improve your chances of conceiving. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend either of them - you’ll probably be arrested for public indecency.

But I would recommend sleeping over nearby.

DAY 7

Nine Stones Close, Derbyshire

It’s only about two hours on the M1 to the next stone circle. Also known as the Grey Ladies, this stone circle is sat in a local prehistoric landscape crammed full of Bronze Age barrows and settlement enclosures. It’s perfect if you’re interested in ancient history. Although we know little of why it was constructed, some believe the stones represent supernatural entities. Only four stones remain.

Addington long barrow, Maidstone

It’s a solid four hour drive to our next ruins - and features a nice section of M25, which is always fun.

Constructed sometime 6000 years ago, this monument was designed to house the remains of the dead. It might not be a stone circle, but it’s constructed of about 50 megaliths. The main burial chamber has long-since collapsed and no remains have been found so far. If you’ve got time after visiting this location, why not check out Kent’s other long barrows including Kit Coty’s House and the Medway Megaliths?

It’s time for your last recommended sleep over - it’s your last day tomorrow, so rest up.

DAY 8

Hascombe Hill, Guildford

For our final stop, it’s a simple one hour drive along the M25 to the site of an Iron Age hill fort in Surrey. Might not sound very stone circley, but rest assured one was constructed by modern druids in the 1990s.

So, how much is this roadtrip gonna cost you?

Disclaimer: fuel prices are f*cked, right now, so please do your own estimates and budget sudden increases.

I done did the maths for you and one bestie. Kind of. Like I took averages and estimates, and it’s a rough calculation of the total cost of petrol, overnight stops and any additional costs along the way.

This roadtrip is 15 stops in total and about 2110 miles.

Fuel and travel costs

The average car (like a VW Polo) can do about 400 miles on a full tank (45 litre) so you’ll be filling her up around 6 or 7 times.

At the time of posting, it costs 77 quid for a full tank of petrol (171ppl) in the UK. That’s about £500 on petrol alone. Sure, it sounds like a lot but imagine if you were getting 12 train tickets to take you across the entire country.

For the ferry to the Isle of Lewis for the Callanish Stones, *I think* it’ll cost you like £140 (it’s not too clear online, so this should be the maximum price).

Hotel costs

Average hotel prices in the UK are around 70 quid per night (you’re not staying in cities so less expensive, but I’m not well travelled so tell me if that’s a ridiculous estimate lol). With eight sleep overs that £560 on hotels.

Other costs

As you’ll be eating out and picking up sandwiches from petrol stations, it’ll be quite expensive in total compared to your weekly grocery shop where you make your own food. If you budget £30 a day - so you can skimp some days and then splurge on a pizza from Zizzis - you’ll be spending about £240.

Normally, stone circles are free to access. I mean, they’re normally in random fields on by motorways. Not exactly in the rose garden of a Tudor estate. But I recommend budgeting potential entry fees. Something like £50, just in case?

I personally can’t turn down a souvenir. A bag of fudge, a postcard, a crystal that’s really made of glass? Love it. I recommend a total budget of £30 for souvenirs as only a few are that famous enough to have souvenir shops.

So that comes to… £1380. For you and a bestie, that’s £690 each.

Looking to save some cash?

Don’t buy souvenirs, just take lots of pics.

Do go to grocery stores and pick up cheap, healthy bits to make up meals instead of going to restaurants. Basically, be in a constant state of picnicking.

Do try and shorten the trip so you have to sleep over less. WARNING: don’t push yourself and drive far beyond your limit. Driving when you’re tired or driving late into the night is obviously very dangerous and just not worth it. If your bestie can drive, too, you can safely extend the amount of miles you get under your belt in a day.

This is just a framework for a roadtrip. If you’re ready to hit the road, I’d recommend you set out a route and book specific hotels so you can be sure you’re staying in budget.

If you liked this post, let me know by liking and reblogging. And don’t forget to hit follow to hear more roadtrip ideas!

[theparanormalperiodical]

A few weeks back, Japan’s ‘killing stone’ split open. Let’s talk about that.

Japanese horror films are world renowned for their artistic prowess, intricate stories and folkloric-inspiration. But no one really talks about the latter. From my research for previous blogposts, I’ve fallen down many a rabbit hole and gotten lost in ancient stories that inspired our favourite scary movies, like The Ring and The Grudge.

So, when I saw that a paranormal Japanese legend had hit the press, last week, I knew what today’s blog would be about.

Turns out, the ‘killing stone’ - or Sessho-seki - has split in half, releasing the demon spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae after 1000 years.

dun dun duuh

Of course, what’s really happened here is that the volanic rock has been splitting over several years due to weathering. And its lethal name? Probably because of the poisonous gases it emits.  

And science, yeah, is cool, right. But today we’re talking about some spooky shizz.

Let’s get started.

*snaps latex glove*

The legend of Tamamo-no-Mae

I was about to say that our story starts sometime between the 14th or 16th century - with the Muromachi period, where Tamamo gets her first mention. But we actually need to go all the way back about 3400 years (*m3nt4l m4th5*) to the Shang dynasty in China. Well, right to the end of it: when the last king, King Zhou, shacked up with a woman named Daji. But according to legend, a fox spirit killed and impersonated her.

Fox spirits are entities from Chinese (and East Asian) mythology. These foxes are mischievous tricksters with magical powers. And most of the time, they can disguise themselves as beautiful women. Transforming into Daji, therefore, wasn’t too much of a challenge.

But this fox spirit caused hell of a lot of trouble when it brought on a ‘reign of terror’, resulting in a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. After this, it hot-footed it to ancient India to become another partner of a royal figure, influencing him to execute thousands of men. After its second defeat, it returned to China (8th century BC) to play out the same pattern of impersonate, marry and create chaos.

Now we’re in the 14th century AD. 2200 years later (?), the fox heads on over to Japan for the first time, appearing as Tamamo-no-Mae. She was clever, beautiful and Emperor Toba’s favourite partner. But after he became ill, an astrologer was brought in to diagnose the problem. The astrologer sniffed the fox out pretty easily. So, the emperor asked some warriors to kill the fox in the town of Nasu.

When the deed was done, the spirit embedded itself in a nearby rock, becoming Sessho-seki.

A Buddhist monk visited the rock a few hundred years later, exorcising the spirit and claiming it was now at peace.

So, what is it about magical foxes?

Turns out, foxes and humans used to live quite close together, back in ancient Japan. They used to believe that any fox - or kitsune - can shapeshift into human form, and that they possess paranormal abilities that increase as they age.

Kitsune liked to possess young women by entering them beneath their fingernails on through their breasts (yeah, no idea how, either). Much like spirit possession in other cultures, you could be exorcised by a priest.

Today, people can suffer from kitsunetsuki, where they believe they are possessed by a fox. They crave rice, sweet beans, aren’t interested in anything, are restless and can’t keep eye contact.

But its not just in Japan or East Asia that foxes are associated with supernatural powers.

According to Native American legends, foxes are born tricksters that were able to remove their fur and become women. The Celts thought they were cunning, sly creatures. In Scandinavian mythology it is even believed that foxes created the Northern Lights.  

If you liked this post, let me know by liking, reblogging or following this blog!

[theparanormalperiodical]

Pluckley might be the most haunted village in the UK, but the paranormal ain’t the problem

I remember the first time I went to Pluckley. 

I *think* it was the summer of 2017, so it was one of those long, university summers where I did feck all for 3 months. I had just started exploring the world of the paranormal, so, of course, Kent’s most haunted village was on my to-do list.

I came armed with a screenshot of a village map on my phone, some sunscreen and a best mate in-tow.

Pluckley is legendary amongst us paranormalists, with no less than 12 ghosts laying claim to the small village - which only has a living population of around 1000. But we didn’t bump into the Red Lady in the local churchyard, or the ghostly monk wandering the local roads. Instead, we spent about and hour and a half walking along 60mph roads in 27 degree heat, trying to find out where the haunted pub was and how far was it to Dering Woods and holy shit the next train home is in 23 minutes!

Frustrating as the experience was, it resonated with something I had uncovered in my earlier research of the area.

The residents of Pluckley hate people like me visiting their village. They hate randoms traipsing round the gravestones of their relatives looking to catch a glimpse of a ghost at St Nick’s. They hate people clogging up the local pub and inquiring about the spirits lingering there. And they hate the wave of tourists that crash onto their shores in the week preceding Halloween.

"It's a nice village and these stories ruin it and give us hassle we don't need." Source

Over the years, journalists have trooped to the village just outside of Ashford and asked locals what they think of the legends. They typically claim they joined in on the fun as kids, pulling pranks and sharing stories to keep the dead, well, alive, or had no idea their hometown was famous around the world for its legends.

Even the beating heart of the village - their local pub, The Black Horse - has been recently taken over by owners determined to distance themselves from its paranormal past. That being said, even as the renovated their latest purchase, they experienced a series of strange occurrences. Most notably, equipment mysteriously breaking.

Whether these legends are to be believed is of course up to you. And of course, you do have a right to park up, wander ‘round and harass locals about these ghost stories until they tell you to f*ck off. But Pluckley, like so many other supposedly haunted locations, is just a place. It’s sleepy, it’s small and it’s not that enjoyable to wander around its residential areas for an entire day.

(Don’t get me wrong, it does have some lovely footpaths, but most of the time I was stuck walking at the side of the road trying to find the spookiest places.)

So, here’s some of my top tips for being respectful when you visit paranormal places like Pluckley.

#1 - Study up first

If the locals aren’t too keen to talk about local legends, make sure you do your research before hand so you know what you’re looking for, where you can find it and the full story behind it.

You’ll want to draw as little attention as possible to the fact that you’re there to seek out the spirits of Dering Woods or learn more about the local ghost monk.

Even knowing where you can park without disturbing the local residents is just a small thing you can do to ensure you’re not getting in anyone’s way.

#2 - Come with a fully-fledged itinerary

Every time I’ve gone to Pluckley, I’ve drained my phone using Google Maps trying to work out where each spooky hotspot is. Even working out how to get into the local pub took waaay to long (it’s through the gate and at the side, if you’re wondering).

Next time, I’ll be doing my research to make sure I have a distinct route to follow, taking in each local legend without having to troop back and forth to different spots, and know how to find each one. No more dithering about how to enter the woods or find the right church.

For places as simple or residential as Pluckley - that is, they don’t have tourist signs pointing out each ghost sighting - this is crucial to having an enjoyable day out and not pestering locals that won’t be willing to point you in the direction of their urban legend.

#3 - Find out how open the locals are about the legends

Pluckley’s locals might be a bit hesitant to discuss their home’s reputation, but some towns and villages might be up for it. When you do your research into the legends, research how the locals feel about it, too.

Read reviews on Google for each location, see whether websites for local places have content dedicated to it on their websites or if there are tourist facilities dedicated to paranormal visitors there. If in doubt, assume they don’t want to talk about it - better safe than sorry!

And even if the locals aren’t willing to speak about hauntings, they’ll be happy to discuss their history with you.

#4 - Don’t forget to celebrate the living, too!

Even small villages like Pluckley are full of cute shops, boutique cafes and historic pubs. While you’re not trying to harass the locals, why not give something back to them?

Also, speaking honestly, wandering around residential areas isn’t that exciting. You don’t want to waste a day looking for paranormal activity that (probably) won’t happen.

If you liked this blog, make sure you leave a like and reblog it to let me know! And while you’re there, don’t forget to hit follow.

I’m trying to get into posting more regularly, again, but I’m just kinda doing what feels right.

[theparanormalperiodical]

Let’s Talk About Chick Flicks: The Past, The Present & The Problematic

Every woman keeps their first chick flick close to their heart.

No matter how tone-deaf, no matter how te-rr-ible, I will forever have a soft spot for Jennifer Garner doing the Thriller in 13 Going On 30.

One of the most notable scenes was magazine-editor-Madonna-megafan Jenna Rink exploring her walk-in wardrobe, stroking silks, satins and sequins in every colour.

And then there’s the shoes. The wall of shoes towering above our sample size protagonist.

You see, 13 Going On 30 is not only a darn good film, it’s also unique in the chick flick film industry: there’s no makeover scene. There’s no straightening of the *frizzy* hair, and there’s no ceremonial removal of the glasses. She simply wakes up in her swanky NYC apartment 17 years older and thousands of dollars richer, apparently.

But at the same time, the film’s all about transformation. We see a young teen wake up to the life she always dreamt of. She’s changed - she just can’t remember changing.

And that’s what all chick flicks inevitably come down to: change. It’s rooted in our perception of women, it’s engraved in the history of the genre. And it’s time we talked about it.

What Are Chick Flicks?

‘Chick flick’ is a term used to describe films that are aimed at young women. The term is synonymous with romantic-comedies, and often follows a woman struggling with personal drama and relationship woes, all the while trying to maintain a career.

The films typically follow a range of formulas, especially in their heyday - the 2000s. There’s the woman-living-in-the-big-city-gets-lured-back-to-her-hometown-at-Christmas, or there’s the unpopular-teenage-girl-gets-the-popular-guy. But for the more inventive plots, chick flicks tend to stick to the plight of several common characters:

The adorkable, clutzy and relatable girl

The manic pixie dream girl - the energetic, wacky chick to take the brooding guy outta his funk

The charming love interest - who turns out to be a complete a*rsehole

The complete a*rsehole - who changes his ways for the protagonist

The b*tchy, hot female rival

The career-driven, over-powerful and soulless biatch

So far, I’ve levelled quite a lot of criticism at chick flicks: that’s because that’s what dominates the conversation around them. They are picked apart, over-analysed and turned into trivial movies not worthy of more than two stars.

They’re all aimed at hysterical women looking to satisfy their period pain with hours of Hugh Grant so they must be trash! I disagree. A lot of people disagree. But while I think the dialogue around ‘chick flicks’ is laden with misogyny, I also whole-heartedly stand by their existence as cult classics.

And so, we come to a debate that has reared its head in recent years: should we still be using the term ‘chick flick’?

Is The Term ‘Chick Flick’ Problematic?

The term doesn’t discriminate. It’s been employed to mean just about any film that’s about, produced by, directed towards or marketed for women since the mid-90s, when the term first entered the English lexicon.

Although Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the first flag-in-the-ground for the niche, Sleepless in Seattle was the first film to nearly utter the words “chick flick”. Tom Hanks refers to An Affair To Remember as a “chick’s movie”, verifying that if it’s a film about love, it’s just for women.

It’s funny how these turns of phrase can mean so much more than you’d think. It’s a microaggression, saying something is “for women”, compacting the misogynistic attitudes we live and breathe. Compare that to the Yorkie (a British chocolate bar), a confectionary that relied on the slogan “it’s not for girls” to imply things for men are exclusive or elite.

On the topic of microaggressions, let’s talk about the term “chick”. Supposedly an alternative to the term “bird” (British slang for “woman”), it’s considered derogatory for its usage with objectifying adjectives. While my all-time-fave band have successfully adopted it ironically, the term implies a young, cute and innocent thing. A damn baby bird.

Netflix brought up the damn baby bird debate in a few years back in a Twitter thread, and brought a new point in the process: despite there being a similar term - i.e. “dick flicks” - there is no popular genre titled “films for men”. There’s chick flicks, and then there’s every other film ever made. Ya know, the good ones.

It detracts from the work put into these films, as if the women featuring in them, writing them and directing them can only produce trivial trash. We all know that simply isn’t true.

You have a right to watch what you wanna watch. As a woman, you’re capable of loving cheesy love stories and powerful plotlines, strong women and fragile people. You can watch a rom-com on a friday night after a week of hard work. You can be feminine and a fucking boss.

Yeah, I think that covered just about everything I wanted to say.

We Gotta Talk About Heteronormativity

If chick flicks are solely aimed at women, then why are all the films about heterosexual relationships? Some women want to have relationships with women. Some men want to have relationships with men.

So no, they’re not movies for chicks. They’re movies for *eeevvvverrrryonnnne*

A History Of The Chick Flick

I start this section with a sigh. A heavy sigh. A sigh weighed down by cringe.

Starting in the silent era and working its way through to the early Cold War, ‘woman’s films’ were a distinct genre that followed female narratives and were tuned into the female audience.

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis made their names in a genre associated with drama, love stories and comedy - sound familiar? Some film historians argue it took an oppositional approach to male-dominated genres of westerns and gangster films, and finally put women at the centre of the male universe.

Later criticisms of these films directly compare male and female films, and several core features have been drawn out of the latter including: they reaffirm that love is the only career a woman can take up, but they also provide a temporary liberation for them in rejecting the typical female role (whether in terms of sexuality or spending lotsa cash monay, for example).

Running alongside woman’s films was the film noir genre, peaking in the 1940s. It posed women as more of a sexual threat rather than putting them at the centre of a narrative. The stylish, expressionist crime dramas incorporated more women into films - but it introduced them mainly as femme fatales (mysterious women that ensnares lovers).

As we moved into the 1950s and five million women returned from work during the war, they had to balance more than just taking care of their families. Some husbands didn’t come back from the frontlines. Some women began to become more independent, stepping away from the expectation that they’d marry young and rear children.

A severe dichotomy between the mid-century housewife and the woman contending with new problems like romance, work, loneliness, divorce and widowhood paved the way for films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

They tackled darker, more serious issues. By the time the 80s ticks over, chick flicks found their feet as more defiant and upbeat, always riding the latest wave of feminism. New dramas aimed at teenagers like The Breakfast Club, Heathers and Sixteen Candles incorporated themes associated with youth like alienation, probably setting the scene for the clutzy, socially awkward woman we watch on Netflix today and opening the up to genre to all ages.

By the mid-90s, with films such as Sleepless in Seattle, rom-coms and chick flicks became synonymous with each other. But at the same time, Clueless challenged the entire notion of the female-narrative-love-story. Cher’s story featured both of these tropes, but was also about a strong, liberated woman. That little fling with her stepbrother was a subplot.

Cher, unfortunately, didn’t claim victory against the chick flick title. By the 2000s, any film that featured women - especially women and comedy - was designated a chick flick. And when you label a film in such a way, it’s immediately going to be classed as low-quality and not worthy of a watch.

Films like Bridesmaids get this treatment - and they really shouldn't.

We are presented with two options:

We celebrate chick flicks for all that they are - awesome and amazing and varied and brilliant, because women are all of those things.

We stop labeling all films about women ‘chick flicks’ and make sure women have their share of every genre.

What’s your favourite chick flick?

If you liked this post make sure you let me know by liking and reblogging it! And while you’re down there, make sure you hit follow to be updated with a new post every Saturday.

[theparanormalperiodical]

5 Spooky Books To Curl Up With This Winter - From Classic Ghost Stories To True-ish Tales Of The Unexplained

It’s the most wonderful tttiiiiii-

Oh, f*ck off.

It’s a shit one, yet again. I’m ill (not Omicron), I’m cold and the only thing cheering me up is various Spider-Man films on Netflix.

But back when “social distancing” wasn’t a thing, I’d spend my Christmases in front of a roaring fire with the TV blaring a random Harry Potter film. This year, I need something a ‘lil different.

I’ve mentioned it dozens of times on this blog: historically, Christmas has been celebrated by telling ghost stories. Why not go full turn-of-the-century by reading a ghost story? Yeah, reading. Remember that? With the pages, and the effort, and the thinking?

Here are 5 spooky-dooky books to get you set for a cosy Winter’s night in…

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

This gothic horror tells the tale of a parapsychologist seeking evidence of the supernatural. He takes a group of volunteers who have previously encountered the paranormal to Hill House, a supposedly haunted home. Soon, the characters unravel mentally as mysterious events take place.

The 1959 novel went onto span several film and TV adaptations, all trying to capture the chilling stories that lie within the walls of Hill House, with Netflix’s recent rendition becoming a cult classic.

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

(This book actually inspired this blogpost - I was given it by a friend, and never quite got round to reading it…)

The 1989 novella follows a governess who takes a job caring for two children at a remote, grand estate. In fact, the story actually starts on Christmas Eve, with the narrator sitting round a crackling fire.

Like many novels charting such events, it is unknown whether the supernatural events were real of figments of the governess’ imagination - you’ll have to read it to find out. Netflix snapped up the rights to the story after The Haunting of Hill House, giving their version events in The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill

Just like The Turn of the Screw, we hear the story told around a fireplace during mid-Winter. And, yet again, it's the story of someone forced to perform an essential function at a remote, allegedly haunted location.

The story goes that a young solicitor goes to a small market town to settle a recently deceased woman’s estate. But he soon discovered the woman who passed away hasn’t quite left the mortal realm, and has become something of an urban legend.

Hell House - Richard Matheson

Possibly known best for being parodied in the Scary Movie franchise, this novella is staked out like The Haunting of Hill House, with several researchers staying there to find proof of life after death.

And, just like in Hill House, we see the effects of an alleged haunting through the physical and mental corruption of all those that dare stay there.

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

Somehow this film - or, in this case, the novel its based on - always managed to find its way into a blogpost.

The inspiration behind the iconic film follows a similar plot: a priest unearths a mysterious artefact during an archaeological dig in Iraq that unleashes *quite literally hell* back home in the States.

The author has previously credited the story to the “real-life” possessions of Loudun and Louviers, as well as confirming he based the priest at the centre of all the drama on a British archaeologist he met in Beirut.

If you liked this post make sure you let me know by liking and reblogging it! And while you’re down there, make sure you hit follow to hear something spooky every Saturday.

PS: I know I haven’t been great at updating my blog with *stellar content* recently. Just got things happening. You know, things. I hope soon I’ll find my way back. 

[theparanormalperiodical]

6 Reasons Why The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Is A Cult Classic

I think my brain just, like, flipped inside out. I always start my blog posts with like a snazzy little, everyday story and then make some mind-blowing connection to a huge, famous horror film that you weren’t expecting. Basically, I blow ya minds and then you guys keep reading.

But no. Today I am the one with the mind that is blown.

So, Tim Curry.

I’ve heard his name before ‘cause he played IT in the original TV miniseries, right? Well, I was shoooooketh to read that he played Dr Frank-N-Furter and thought “wow, this Tim Curry guy is an actual legend of horror. What else has this bloke done?”

Turns out Tim Curry is this guy.

I nearly died. No, sorry, correction: I did actually die a death. He’s a British actor I’ve seen hundreds of times, like, he’s one of those famous people you see a lot and you don’t know their name but ya just know ‘em.

Turns out he’s done hell of a lot, including Barbie in the Nutcracker, Charlie’s Angels and Home Alone 2.

But before all that, he starred in the original London cast and Roxy (Chicago) cast of The Rocky Horror Show (1973), and reprised the role of the sweeeeeet transvestttiiite in the movie version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).  

And that’s what we’re talking about today.

It’s the longest-running theatre release in history with 45 years in the cinemas under its garter. There’s a reason it’s prevailed all these years, and hasn’t even let a pandemic stop it from doing the Time Warp. Well, there’s a few.

Today we’re talking about all the reasons Rocky Horror is a cult classic.

People started returning to theatres to watch it again

When it first hit the big screen in 1975, TRHPS was a flop. It was actually pulled from screens, to begin with. Lots of critics didn’t make unfair criticisms about the film - they often just said, “It belongs on a stage, with the performers and audience joining in a collective send-up.” Despite this, droves of people would fill up the cinema seats. And more often than not, it’d be people returning to see the film yet again.

The following year, at Waverly Theatre in NYC, midnight showings of the film began. It became one of the first ‘midnight movies’, a camp, crappy B movie often screened late at night. It amassed a raucous crowd mostly made up of the LGBTQA+ community, a group finding its voice shortly after the Stonewall riots of 1969. Soon, it found a fanbase among other “misfits” of the era.

These screenings became a safe space for the weirdos of the 1970s. A space they’d flock back to, often dressed up and armed with props to engage with the film in its entirety.

…and then they started interacting with the film

Returning to theatres was only one half of the Rocky Horror ritual - getting in the garb and acting out scenes alongside the big screen was key to making the film a cult classic. Performance groups even lip-synched to the tracks and acted out the dialogue of the film below the screen.

Another notable contribution was the audience calling out funny, alternative responses to the scripted lines. One of the first ‘audience participation’ lines was from a quiet teacher who, upon seeing Janet cover her hair with a newspaper in the rain, yelled: "Buy an umbrella, you cheap bitch!".

They’d throw toast, water and rice at the screen when the lines called for it - but soon, the cinemas banned this due to damage and clear up.

It’s meta and it’s magical

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally based on B horror movies. It even calls out the iconic films from the 1930s to the 70s in the opening song. The writer of the original play, Richard O’Brien, drew directly from the sci-fi and trashy films he grew up with, setting the genre against the backdrop of British Glam Rock.

He explicitly stated that "glam rock allowed me to be myself more", eluding to the theme of freedom and self-expression that made Rocky Horror what it is today. O’Brien actually went on to play Riff Raff in the film, the decrepit caretaker plotting to return to his home planet.

Christ, I’ve gone off topic.

Because the film was inherently based on these low-budget, badly-rated flicks, it didn’t take itself too seriously: it’s got in-jokes, it breaks the fourth wall, it parodies just about every horror cliche that preceded it.

It speaks directly to the audience, and, as we know, they liked to reply.

It was ahead of its time for the LGBTQA+ community - even if it’s still stuck in the 70s

In a post-Stonewall world, sexuality was finding its feet as a talking point. But Rock Horror wasn’t just gay - it was gender-neutral, too. The iconic red lips were voiced by a man and Frank N. Furter took pride in being a ‘transvestite’. Now, transvestite doesn’t mean trans. Normally, its’s when a person cross-dresses as a different gender even if they don’t necessarily identify as that gender.

These days, people who dress as another gender call themselves ‘cross-dressers’, but I’d still be wary of using this term.

It’s for the outcasts and the dreamers

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is certainly a messy film with a lot of genres, themes and ideas going on. But one of the most popular themes that survives the fishnets, the hit songs and the aliens from outer space is “don't dream it, be it”.

The fanbase that returned night after night were dreaming of a world like this - where it was okay to be different. In fact, different is good! Janet and Brad, our ordinary, straight couple destined to save themselves for marriage before moving into a 3-bed house outside of the city were the outcasts, here.

Dr Frank-N-Furter is technically a Disney princess

We end with an actual meme. As Disney+ (UK) now screens The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dr Frank-N-Furter now counts as a Disney princess. In my world, anyway.

What’s your favourite Rocky Horror fact?

Let me know in a comment. And while you’re down there, make sure you like ‘n reblog. Want to see somethin’ spooky every Saturday?

Make sure you hit follow!

[theparanormalperiodical]

56 minutes of horror movie bloopers because you deserve it.

Sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed or text back your mate or face the world.

You just want to hide under the covers and sulk. 

If that’s you right now, hey. I hope these videos of horror movie icons screwing up lines, breaking character and being complete buffoons will be a worthy distraction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPgTgGNafr4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JgEWgku2pQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irUd4SSif5A 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki2ztahMxeg 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPL172RjRGs 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Eno1GDpEc 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLDj1shS7yw 

[theparanormalperiodical]

Top 10 Cult Horror Movies You NEED To Watch This Weekend

I’m having a rough week. Or weeks. Or a year, I don’t know.

My blog posts have definitely been limited in size and content, but I hope when I readjust to my new schedule/life and get some things sorted out, I’ll be back on form.

(dear god, pls)

But have no fear! 

You will still get a weekly blog post from yours truly. It might be a little shorter, and it might be a little less exciting. But it should satisfy your creepy cravings.

This week, we’re talking about the top ten cult horror films ever made and where to watch them.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Maybe it’s because I’m watching America’s Next Top Model that I’m so fascinated by this film - but there’s no doubt it’s one of the most iconic stories of paranoia and the paranormal.

When a New York couple fall pregnant, the mother-to-be becomes convinced her unborn child is part of some satanic plot.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £2.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqMv_ci2jU

The Omen (1976)

Following on from the satanic theme, The Omen follows a man who has accidentally raised the Antichrist. It sparked a trilogy of films that sees the Antichrist grow up and slowly accumulate more and more power.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £3.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS-sXcx30O4

The Exorcist (1973)

It’s one of the most striking possession films ever. In fact, most possession films are still trying to capture the magic young Regan put on screen.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £3.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDGw1MTEe9k

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous thriller pre-dated the slasher genre and put horror on the map of modern cinema. There’s no gore, there’s no violence. Just the timeless, tense narrative that surrounds the character(s) of Mr Norman Bates.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £2.49.

https://youtu.be/DTJQfFQ40lI

The Shining (1980)

It’s Stephen King’s most famous tale. It’s also the on-screen adaptation he hates the most. In this story, we follow Jack Torrance and his family as the patriarch takes up the caretaker position in a cold, isolated hotel in the mountains.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £3.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cb3ik6zP2I

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

One of the first films claiming to be based on a true story, the plot captures the turmoil of a group of friends that fall victim to a family of cannibals. Inspired by the horrific crimes of Ed Gein, it’s also considered an allegory for the Vietnam War.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £2.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKn9QIaMgtQ

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The original zombie horror film, it terrified audiences in the 70s as they watched the prophesied effects of a zombie apocalypse unfold on the cinema screen.

You can watch the 2004 version on Netflix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_EviQj5tvA

Alien (1979)

The first installment in one of the longest horror franchises, this movie took sci-fi horror to a whole new level. And it did it well. We follow the crew of a commercial spaceship who encounter a mysterious extraterrestrial and try to survive the catastrophe that it causes.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £3.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjLamj-b0I8

The Evil Dead (1981)

This film took typical horror tropes and put them on acid. A group of college students take a minibreak in an isolated cabin. But when an audio tape gets played and unleashes an army of demons and evil spirits, they have to suffer the consequences.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £2.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL6mioAlpJk

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

It doesn’t get more cult than The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Challenging every notion of gender, sexuality and spookiness, it’s one of the first musical movies that had fans attending showing dressed up in costumes and acting out the scenes alongside the screen.

You can rent it on Amazon Prime for £3.49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4plqh6obZW4

[theparanormalperiodical]

Everything You Never Knew (And Probably Will Never Know) About The Freemasons

They’re the most not-so-secret secret society on the planet.

No one really knows what the Freemasons do, nor why do they do it. But we do know that they are very much a real thing. So real, in fact, there are an estimated six million of ‘em milling around the world.

With a history dating back to the medieval era and a gaggle of famous followers in-tow, Freemasonry supposedly lives up to everything conspiracy theorists think the Illuminati should be.

Only in recent years have we been given a peak behind the metaphorical curtain into the rites, rituals and reality of a group that’s pretty out there but still shrouded in mystery.

Today we’re going to be discussing who the Freemasons are, what they believe, where they come from and all the rumours that seem to follow them in their way.

Grab your robes, kids. Let’s convert.

Who Are The Freemasons?

Freemasonry (also known as masonry) is a group of fraternal organisations that can be traced back to the local guilds of stonemasons. These guilds would regulate the stonemasons qualifications and how they interacted with their clients.

Freemasons can be split into 2 groups:

Regular Freemasonry which claims scripture must be in every Lodge, requires every member to believe in a Supreme Being, forbids discussion of religion and politics, and forbids the admittance of women. Continental Freemasonry where none of these restrictions exist.

The Freemasons are most known for their rigid organisational structure.

First, there’s the Lodge - this is the local unit. They are often supervised by a regional or national Grand Lodge.  

Second, there are several degrees of Freemasonry. There’s apprentice, journeyman and master mason. Progressing through each stage requires one to know the symbols of Freemasonry and the rituals, signs and words required to confirm to other members that he has been initiated. The degrees match those of the medieval craft guilds and they teach morality play (Tudor plays about good and bad) and lectures.

The Freemasons are dedicated to fellowship, moral discipline and mutual assistance. Although they do not define themselves as a religious group, they do have specific religious beliefs:

First, they believe there is a supreme being (AKA God, most likely the Christian God), and second, the soul is immortal.

Most Freemasons, especially in the UK or western Europe are white protestants. This is actually where Freemasonry started - in the UK. Despite its British origins, Freemasonry has spread across the world due to the global domination of the British Empire. Most international variants have their own, separate take on their beliefs and rituals and different rules as to be who can be admitted.

At the heart of it all, Freemasons want to become better people, something they enable through the skills of self-teaching. They have a heavy focus on giving to charity, and they are the UK’s biggest non-state donator to charitable organisations. They do not condone criminality, and basically want to create a group of good, honest men who want to better themselves.

How Do They Practice Their Beliefs?

What makes a secret society, ‘secret’? It’s the hidden rituals and customs that are kept tucked away from the rest of the world. For that reason, it’s quite difficult for me to get my hands on what they really do.

But I do know that they love a good symbol.

They even define Freemasonry as a "beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". They are obsessed with the tools of stonmasons and attribute moral lessons to them.

As they pass through degrees, they are given ‘grips’ (handshakes) and tokens to signify they’ve gone up in the rankings and have accumulated different degrees.

Each ritual explores different symbols. The ceremonies associated with these rituals centres on both the construction of the Temple of Solomon (the first temple according to the Bible) and its architect Hiram Abiff.

Keeping these rituals, symbols and legends under wraps is a part of their lore, too. The Masonic brotherhood is a concept that came from the legal definition of a ‘brother’ in the 16th century as someone who swore an oath of support to another. Freemasons swear to each degree to keep its contents secret and to protect their brothers unless they break the law.

A Hella Brief History Of Freemasonry

It’s not easy to track the moments of a secret society. But most historians start with the Old Charges, masonic manuscripts that documented what each new Mason would have to swear on admission. It also contains the most famous origins story of the Freemasons: that the group descended from Euclid, an Ancient Greek mathematician. But most people agree it probably started sometime in the middle ages. The Old Charges have been dated back to 1425, where there’s also the first evidence of Masonic ceremonial objects, so it’s likely Masonic ideas and groups existed prior to this.

The earliest rituals and passwords for Lodges confirm they probably were created in the 17th century. The oldest Masonic Lodge is the Lodge of Edinburgh, where minutes confirmed it existed in 1598.

In the early 18th century, Freemasonry found its footing in England and began to spread with the first Grand Lodge appearing in 1717. A new regular body then emerged, which helped expand to include new members and Lodges.

But at the same time, splits occurred. Around 1730, the Grand Lodge introduced changes some Lodges didn’t endorse. So, a rival Grand Lodge was set in 1751 to set itself apart from the modern Lodges. The split between ancient and modern battled on for a century until 1813 when they united.

Alongside the UK’s expansion, the US’ first Lodges came onto the scene in Pennsylvania. These Lodges were authorised by the Grand Lodges in the UK, but they often developed independently before they paid to become official Freemason lodges.

After the American Revolution, Lodges emerged in each state. George Washington even nearly became the first Grand Master of a Grand US Lodge, but the idea failed to materialise.

Unfortunately, Freemasonry at this time was only open to white men in the States. Prince Hall, along with 14 other African-american men was initiated into a British military Lodge with a warrant from Ireland’s grand lodge having failed to gain admission to Lodges in Boston. However, when the British military left the US, the men were unable to initiate new masons. Eventually, they obtained a warrant from the grand lodge of England to form the ‘African Lodge, Number 459’. Only when the new UK’s Grand Lodges united and the US Lodges were struck off their roll did it become a Grand Lodge. Known as Prince Hall Freemasonry, it soon became its own branch.

The spread of the British Empire also played a part in helping Freemasonry take over the world. Jamaica was one of the most well-known colonies with Freemasonry present. And by 1908, it had 3 grand lodges. After slavery was abolished, the Lodges were no longer restricted to freeborn men and opened up to men of all races.

The presence of women in Freemasonry is a tense topic. Whether they existed in medieval Masons is still unknown, but during the 18th century’s expansion of Freemasonry women were excluded. As it spread, however, there were Lodges of Adoption - basically, the wives of Masons could do abridged versions of the three degrees. In the late 19th century in France, Maria Deraismes failed to achieve acceptance from Masonic governing bodies, so she set up a mixed Masonic lodge. Annie Besant then brought the new tradition over to the English-speaking world. Typically, however, female Freemasonry Lodges stand separate to the male ‘regular’ lodges.

Despite the mixed messaging regarding female and regular Freemasonry, only as recently as 2018 did Freemasonry adopt a new stance on transwomen: "A Freemason who after initiation ceases to be a man does not cease to be a Freemason".

A Round-Up Of The Rumours About Freemasons

Obviously, what we know about the past and the present of Freemasonry is a little, hmm, dry. That’s because we know so little about it, apart from the fact that they like symbols and want to become better people. This has created a vacuum. And vacuums suck things in - like myths and rumours and conspiracy theories.

That’s probably what’s kept Freemasonry so relevant this long.

It’s only right we talked about some of the most infamous theories.

These theories have been discussed since the 18th century and are involved with religious an, political and cultural events. They’ve been associated with the Knights Templar and the Devil, and more recently have been labelled the brains behind the “New World Order”.

The theories often circulate around Masonic belief in a supreme being and the suspicion of the Grand Lodges being under the jurisdiction of a centralised worldwide body.

From claims that they get given the ‘benefit of the doubt’ if they commit crimes in the UK, to their alleged role in anti-semitic conspiracy theories and their supposed association with communism, people have claimed they’re behind everything.

There’s also substantial suspicion from religious groups, especially conservative protestants. They think the Masons are actually occultists and are propagating their evil ideas through symbology in the media.

They’ve even been blamed for the murder of JFK, associated with 9/11 (some believe there was a hidden war between the Masons and Islam and the attack was astrological in nature), and that they faked the Apollo moon landings.

Are you a Freemason?

Let me know if I forgot to mention anything - or got anything wrong - in a comment below! While you’re there, like, reblog and follow!

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A Brief History Of Horror - From Ancient Texts To Like, Right Now

Most horror films certainly wouldn’t be labelled with the term “art”.

Forced plots, boring characters and CGI-monsters rarely make for enjoyable viewing. But the content spewed out by struggling production companies trying to make a quick buck is yet another chapter in horror’s long, winding history.

The filming techniques, the technology generating the monsters and the stories they tell have all evolved alongside society. After all, as history moves onwards, our fears do, as well. The genre is always finding new ways to freak us out, tapping into the events and concerns of each generation. From the humble ghost stories shared amongst common folk to the latest blockbuster films, how we frighten audiences has changed dramatically.

It’s time we talked about it.

Today, we’re taking a whistle-spot tour of the horror genre, from early AD to this year’s releases.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear”

Edgar Allen Poe

The history of the horror genre starts in the 15th century. But since humans were first able to talk and communicate, spooky stories would’ve been shared.

Our folklore is rooted in ancient traditions and beliefs. Even our most significant religious texts like the Bible and Quran contain reference to evil supernatural beings and mysterious spirits. This folklore didn’t just have a religious element to keep worshippers in check, but also had the aim of warding children from going near dangerous areas such as dark woods and deep lakes.

Scary stories were probably told as a part of the mythology that tried to make sense of the world.

But modern horror can directly be traced back to the works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

One of Pliny the Younger’s most iconic works tells the story of a haunted house in Athens (a man buys a suspicious cheap new house only to be greeted by a strange figure in chains - they then dig up the garden and find an unmarked grave), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was influenced by the story of Hippolytus (where a man is punished by being kept alive to ruminate on the fact he killed his son).

By the turn of the first millennium, the scene was set for the beginnings of horror literature.

Communities had developed their own unique affinity for certain supernatural beings and created their own custom backstories for them. For example, the French had a thing for werewolves which was set in stone by their literature around the 13th century.

15th century

In the 1400s, book production expanded and became cheaper. That meant it was not only the elites that were reading the latest literature. This is when the horror genre finally emerges from the shadows of shared folklore.

The most notable pieces of fiction included the Malleus Maleficarum (it explained that witches were causing a ruckus in society and therefore needed to be hunted down for their crimes) and a series of plays that weaved in disturbing and gruesome scenes.

For example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth both involved murder, death and existential crises.

Interestingly enough, however, during this same stretch of time, certain historical figures came to the fore and would go on to inspire the horror fiction of the future. Yes, even the earliest horror icons were based on all-too-true stories.

In the 15th century, Prince of Wallachia Vlad III - or Vlad the Impaler - was employing cruel tactics to scare off his enemies before impaling their corpses on stakes, and Elizabeth Bathory (considered the original inspiration for the Bloody Mary urban legend) was bathing in the blood of young women.

18th century

300 years later and cultural movements such as Romanticism swells. Drawing upon themes of the medieval era and the literature created during that period of time, the horror genre in its infancy took on a Gothic style (that is, it blended horror, death and romance).

One of the most notable themes was the role of women in writing and reading the horror fiction. Often the plots would follow a resourceful woman that was being menaced by all form of sombre beings in a dark, historic castle.

But before Buffy’s predecessors first hit the shelves, a large majority of literature was set in the medieval era. Often described as reactionary and anarchistic, it echoed criticisms not unlike those levelled today. Books like The Italian and The Monk were both set during the middle ages’ Inquisition, confirming that religious themes have been and will always be at the heart of horror.

Twisted religious figures and sinful actions inspire the plots and cast a spell over the audience. In a post-Inquisition Europe, horror focused on fear of irreligious actions and deviants to the status quo. If you fell into either of these categories, you would be ensnared and punished/put to death for your crimes.

19th century

This is when the Gothic tradition really took hold. Horror staples such as Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - to name just a few - entered the scene.

Classic horror introduced Gothic trends to modern literature and film, laying the foreground for both romance and terror to clash in later pieces of work.

Amongst these strong stirrings in the genre arose a new medium: cinema.

In the late 1890s, the supernatural took to the scene. French, American and Japanese film makers immediately came to the fore. With simple stories and even simpler special effects, it still had an immense effect on the audience.

For example, just years after x-rays were invented, one horror-comedy showed skeletons courting each other. This would have been rather frightful for the audiences who weren’t familiar seeing skeletons the way we do today.

The topics early cinema covered were not far from the topics covered today: paranormal investigations, haunted hotels and giant spiders all feature in the earliest cinematography of the era.

20th century

As we entered the 1900s, horror films began to serve an influence in the genre.

Let’s start with the literature:

Cheap periodicals playing upon horrifying themes spread the genre amongs the masses. This is even where The Phantom of the Opera earned his fame before the magazine was turned into a book. There were even magazines crammed full of different horror stories, such as the All-Story Magazine.

These magazines introduced a new concept in horror: madness.

Cosmic horror also took off with HP Lovecraft being credited with making the unknowable and the incomprehensible truly terrifying. Fear of science, religion and superstition converged in an era of innovation and took supernatural horror to a new level.

In the mid 20th century, the serial killer was also sensationalised, from Jack the Ripper to Ed Gein in a range of mediums. Books like the Silence of the Lambs went on to create the slasher sub-genre in cinema. Horror films in turn then went on to then inspire how horror literature would unfold. In a cyclical manner, the books The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby inspired other novels.

This paved the way for one of modern horror’s most essential authors in the 1970s: Stephen King.

The films really took off in the 1970s and assumed literature’s pole position.

In the early years of the 20th century, optical illusions and camera tricks entered the fore. At the same time, adaptations of literature, such as the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, broke tradition in the genre.

Georges Méliès can be credited with many innovations in this era. In one film, he attempted to take the viewer on a ‘tour of hell’, using pyrotechnics, splices, superimpositions and stage machinery to create a new viewing experience. This prompted a shift towards making films that were unsettling.

You’ll see that a lot of features of early horror films are still reflected in modern takes on the genre.

In the 1910s, more films based on literature adaptions emerged. And in 1916, the longest horror film was produced: Les Vampires was originally split into 10 parts but together is over 7 hours long.

Another theme was ‘trick films’ - films that used illusions and magic tricks to create innovative special effects without the help of today’s green screens or CGI. Many of these illusions were discovered by accident, such as when Méliès jammed his camera on a street in Paris and realised the scene he filmed suddenly cut to a later moment, creating the effect of people transforming into something else entirely.

The most profound innovation, however, has to be German Expressionism.

Distorted backdrops, misshapen walls and playful use of lights and shadow helped create an entirely different world for viewers. It even made The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the first cult film.

This artistic style created film noir and innovated the concept of a ‘twist ending’.

Nosferatu used this expressionist style to great effect, such as the iconic creeping, shadow scene. The idea was it distorted reality and the human psyche to create the immersive horror experience we know and love today.

Universal Pictures then came onto the stage, releasing monster movies thick and fast. Based on gothic horror literature, it took iconic monsters, such the Phantom of the Opera, to much higher levels of cinematic fame.

The 1930s generated horror classics - images of which will have already been seared into your mind, such as Frankenstein and the subsequent movie, the Bride of Frankenstein - in alignment with cinema’s Golden Age.

By the 1950s, 3D technology had been developed and made frightening the viewers that much easier. The House of Wax was given this opportunity to use this new technology and used it tactically to get viewers back into the theatres. In the 1950s, TVs became commonplace and going to the cinema lost its novelty. They needed to step it up for the competition.

Another way of bringing audiences back into cinemas was with theatre gimmicks. Remember the urban legend that during screenings of The Human Centipede paramedics has to be in the cinema? During the Lost Missile, you had to wear ‘shock tags’ to monitor their vitals. If you got shocked into a coma, you’d get a free ride home in a limo!

Macabre also employed a similar idea with fake nurses standing outside cinemas before screenings.

During the 1950s, the Cold War began to infiltrate horror. Monster flicks rocketed in popularity, with threat of foreign invasion by a terrifying beast extremely common. Often the abnormally large beast would be as a result of radiation or an experiment gone wrong, both of which featured before and during the CW.

Humanity was also called into question with films such as The Fly and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

At the same time, horror also moved away from the cinema and onto the TV screens. Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone were TV series that rivalled theatric spectacles.

The 1970s marked a transition from classic horror flicks to modern, psychological and artistic portrayals of dark themes. European filmmakers were usurped by Americans who introduced everyday settings to create more unsettling stories. Counterculture also played a role in creating films that recalled historic moments and challenged the establishment.

The Hills Have Eyes took on consumerism and nuclear weaponry. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a new take on the Vietnam War. And The Rocky Horror Picture Show was one of the many horror-comedy hits that stretched the genre’s narrow limits.

Most notably, the 70s ushered in the era of the slasher. Halloween sparked the shift and was cherished by cinema-goers through the 1980s. This later created a sub-genre of slasher b-movies, expanding the range of films to take ones fancy.

By the 1990s, TV was once again winning the war on cinema and horror movies were thrown out in favour of safer, less-traumatic content. The films were all still slashers, so a rather meta approach was taken by filmmakers: ‘twas the era of the parody. They were ironic and challenged horror, i.e. Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

21st century

As we move closer to our current era, horror has remained reflective. With a number of remakes constantly spat out by production companies, horror in itself has become a trusted, expansive genre with different sub-genres clustering within it.

The most notable themes include psychology, plot twists and films based on true stories. Other genres such as documentaries, thrillers and arthouse films have begun to bleed into horror.

As YouTube opens up new opportunities for filmmakers, low-budget B-movies and - by sharp contrast - artist short films have created a varied, wide landscape for the future of horror.

But the essence of the genre stays true: make ‘em scared.

If you liked this blogpost, make sure you like and reblog it. And while you’re down there, hit follow to read something spooky every weekend!

[theparanormalperiodical]

7 Unique Menstruation Rituals You Should - And Shouldn’t - Try Next Month

It doesn’t get more spooky than the vagina.

The sex organ is still surrounded by suspicion, causing raucous debate over what those who have them can do with them. Having sex, taking birth control, opting for an abortion and undergoing bottom surgery all fall under the jurisdiction of “controversial”.

They love to talk about what’s between our legs. Well, no. That’s not always true, is it?

No control of the female* body would be complete without sweeping the whole time-of-the-month part under the rug.

Fuck that.

Periods, man. They happen. A lot. Throughout history, communities around the world have tried to make sense of why blood comes out of between-me-down-there every few weeks and have created elaborate rituals we still practice today.

From the past to the present, we get weird with periods.

So, today we’re talking about some of the most unique menstrual traditions ‘n rituals you can still practice (safely) today. Ready to shake up your sanitary practices?

*Not all women have periods and not all those who have periods are women.

Menstrual rituals proliferated throughout history without the modern day science to explain why we bleed every month. The beliefs behind them varied massively, with some cultures taking polar opposite opinions on why people with vaginas bled and what it meant for them.

Periods were either a sign of uncleanliness where a women had to be stowed away from society or a symbol of sacred power.

Another element is the association of menstruation with the moon. In fact, that’s where the word comes from. The synchronicity with the moon was always believed to be associated with women being in harmony with cosmic rhythms. If women didn’t link up with the universe, it might just descend into chaos.

These alternating beliefs have caused rituals and practices to go in vastly different directions.

The Celts, 500BC Britain

Way back, in 1,000BC, the Celts stumbled across the British Isles. They ruled throughout the Iron Age, Roman Age and after Rome fell. Despite being a group of warring tribes marked as barbarians by the Romans, the Celts had loose cultural connections. But the specific traditions regarding their monthlies was probably pretty broadly established.

When you had your period, it meant that you had been chosen by the goddess - there’s not many clues on which goddess, but its associated with high ranking women of whom goddesses definitely are.

Even the Celtic word for ‘red’ also means ‘royal’.

So, when women stopped having periods and went through the menopause, the Celts believed the women retained this regal, goddess-exclusive fluid. The female elders would therefore grant all of the Celtic rites.

When you’re on the blob, why not emulate the Celtic tradition of being in charge?

The Ojibwe, Present-day USA

Most cultures pose periods are unclean and therefore requiring isolation. The Ojibwe people of the mid-western US and Canada self-isolate when they start their monthly bleed, but its a restorative rather than a reclusive practice.

They refrain from sex, ceremony, food preparation and any other duties they carry out, opting instead to stay in their very own moon lodges. Now and then, other women will stop by to drop off food and make sure the menstruating women are doing good.

The Ojibwe believe that when their women menstruate, they’re bleeding out the stress of being female. They use it as an opportunity to meditate and take a step back from the world for just a moment.

10/10 would recommend to anyone - whether they have a vagina that bleeds or not.

Kamakhya Worshippers, Present-day India

Now, if you can’t cause a local monsoon during your period, you’re gonna struggle with this one.

For a four-day window in monsoon season, all temples close and farm work is forbidden in Assam. This is because the goddess Kamakhya is apparently menstruating. Out of respect, the temples shut up shop whilst her devotees wait outside and put on a festival.

Visitors flock during this time in the hope of spiritual guidance. And when the temples reopen, the worshippers receive wet cloths meant to represent the goddess’ menstrual fluid that supposedly bring good fortune.

The rains are also supposed to represent fertility.

I wouldn’t recommend handing out clothes covered in menstrual blood. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’ll qualify as sexual assault or harassment. But celebrating the time of the month should be an adequate replacement.

Present-day Philippines

Apparently there’s a prank normally played upon young Filipino women by the elders. While washing blood-stained underwear, they’ll tell you you’ve got something on your face, like a fly. You’ll swat it away, only to accidentally get a smear of your own blood on your face.

Hilarious?

But this prank is emblematic of a bigger cultural practice that’s known to keep spots and blemishes at bay. Smearing blood on your face is actually good skincare, according to Instagrammable trends like the Vampire Facial. Even endometrial blood is known to have healing properties. It’s not harmful or dangerous, but can smell after it sits for a while.

That being said, I’d recommend you run this by a skincare professional first.

Tikuna Tribe, Present-day Brazil

It’s your first period. You’re busy trying to get the pad to sit centrally in your pants and wondering why your stomach hurts so bad, when suddenly someone pushes you out the house and sends you off to somewhere new to live.

Well, that’s what happens deep in the Amazon rainforest.

When you first get your period, you have to live in a house on your own. Your grandmother will drop in occasionally, but to teach you traditional skills so you’re ready to play your motherly role in society.

After a year, the tribe gathers and lead the young women back to where they hold their ceremonies. They cover them in a pigment before taking it off and revealing their ‘womanhood’. They celebrate with three days of extended rituals and dances, and men offer hunted animals to the girls’ families.

So, next time you’re on your period, why not learn something new from a relative or have a feast to celebrate that your vagina bleeds?

Hupa Tribe, Present-day USA

In northwestern California, this Native American tribe celebrate women coming of age with the Flower Dance.

The girls that take centre-stage where a face covering of blue jay feathers and the Hupa community sing and dance with them in an elaborate ritual. And then they bring out the feast and the gifts.

Like the cosmos rhythm theory, the Hupa believe menstruation restores balance in the world.

Hoodoo, Present-day USA & Folk Magic Practitioners, Sicily

This is another ‘not sure you should try this’ ritual. In some cultures like African-American Hoodoo, adding your menstrual blood to food and giving it to your crush should make them fall in love with you.

Emulated best in folk horror Midsommar (2019), this is the little-known concept of Pheromone magic. This is the release of scents to induce attraction between animals. They believe the odour of their blood will lock the person of their dreams into their consciousness and do the trick.

What are your monthly rituals?

If you liked this blogpost, make sure you like and reblog it. And while you’re down there, hit follow to read something spooky every weekend!

[theparanormalperiodical]

It’s Halloween which means I should be firing out ghost stories thick n fast. But instead, I’m going to leave you with a gif of the Captain from the TV show Ghosts.

[theparanormalperiodical]

What Actually Is Déjà Vu? 5 Times Science Explained The Spookiest Sensations

Somewhere, in the UK, lives a 28-year-old man with a rather peculiar affliction.

As a result of his chronic anxiety, he suffers through near constant déjà vu. The French phrase means ‘already seen’, and refers to that oh-so-common feeling where you’re convinced that you’ve lived the current moment before.

You’ve been here and you’ve done that already.

He’s reportedly made so uncomfortable by supposedly repeating the same things day-after-day that he avoids reading the newspaper and watching the TV. He describes it as living in a constant time loop.

It sounds like a horror film. And that’s not far off how most people feel when they experience déjà vu.

Of course, for them, it’s like they’ve predicted the future or seen this all before in a mystical dream. But sometimes our spookiest feelings have the simplest explanations.

So, in honour of it being Halloween, let’s decode some of the strangest sensations believed to be induced by the supernatural and see what’s really causing them.

What actually is déjà vu?

It’s an uncanny feeling, when you’re walking down a new street only to realise it doesn’t feel so new. Maybe the houses look familiar. Maybe you’ve heard the conversation of the couple passing you already.

Déjà vu is pretty unnerving, and always makes me think I’ve seen this moment in a dream. And if I am having a precognition, there must be a reason why! Is some tragic event about to happen in front of me? Is this a pre-destined moment that changes my fate?

Probably not.

There’s a few scientific explanations for this feeling.

There’s split perception, where you see the same sorta thing two different times. The first time you might see it out of the corner of your eye or be distracted when you're experiencing it. But your brain will take in more than you think and create a complete memory without you realising. The second time you experience a similar event, you’re not so distracted and your brain links it back to that memory.

Then there’s memory-based explanations. This is when our recognition memory is triggered by certain situations - even if they’ve never actually happened.

There’s also a dream-based explanation: you’ve probably experienced something like this in a dream, stowed it away as a memory and are reliving something just like it.

It’s difficult to research déjà vu as its occurrence is spontaneous. That being said, it has been associated with mental disorders, neurological problems and different medications.

Whilst we all experience it, it’s actually more common amongst sufferers of temporal lobe epilepsy and migraines with auras. Apparently, during seizures, it’s common to experience déjà vu or its sibling vibe, jamais vu.

Yes, you can also experience jamais vu (when something feels unfamiliar but is very familiar), déjà entendu (when you’re pretty sure you’ve heard something before) and déjà rêvé (when you think you’ve already dreamed of something that’s happening).

The Fear Frequency

This one’s pretty cool.

Sometime in the 1980s, some engineer called Vic Tandy was working in a lab designing medical equipment. But soon the studious work environment shifted to one of fear and anxiety: lab technicians began to report that it was haunted.

Tandy didn’t think much of it. As a scientist, he was used to brushing off such claims. But then, working late one night, he began to experience something he thought was paranormal activity. His hair stood on end. He began to sweat. He felt as if he was being watched and grew more and more uncomfortable.

And then, out of the shadows, it appeared.

A grey shape shifted into his line of sight before vanishing into thin air.

He scuttled home in terror. The next day, he returned with trepidation. But he soon discovered something else odd: a fail blade in a vice was vibrating. What was making it vibrate?

It was a sound wave coming from an extractor fan. It was pitched at 19hz which is just below the human range of hearing. So we can’t hear it, but our bodies still vibrate without us knowing.

Our vision blurs. We get dizzy. We hyperventilate and experience serious discomfort. The infrasound, as it’s also known, generates just enough confusion to cause a haunting.

Electromagnetic Fields And Hypersensitivity

Electromagnetic fields are fields created by electric charges. Fluctuations within the field can cause strange smells or the feeling of being dizzy - things associated with haunted locations.

Scientists have attempted to prove haunted locations are actually just the result of EMFs, but it has so far created mixed results.

That being said, some people believe firmly that EMFs cause strange and sickening problems for humans. Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is the alleged sensitivity to electromagnetic fields. It results in a range of symptoms like headaches, fatigue, burning sensations and other health problems. It is reportedly brought on by close contact to electric fields and magnetic fields, like WiFi and mobile phones.

Okay, fine. This isn’t scientifically proven as a real illness. There’s no way to diagnose it and certainly no basis in science. On notable occasion, some residents in South African claimed they had EHS symptoms as a result of a cell tower near their homes. It was then revealed that the tower had been switched off six weeks prior to the claims.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

This one’s important. If you think you’re experiencing paranormal activity, make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector on hand. If you don’t think you’re experiencing paranormal activity but you don’t have a detector, get one. Most investigators will make this a priority, as poisoning can be lethal and explain a lot of alleged hauntings.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous, tasteless and odourless gas. When you breathe it in, it can make you feel unwell. If you breathe in too much, you’ll die. Every year, there’s approx. 60 deaths in the UK due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

When you inhale it, it attaches itself to the hemoglobin in your cells. That’s what oxygen normally uses to get around the body. So, when it’s replaced with CO, you get less oxygen around the body. And eventually, your cells and tissues will die.

The symptoms of poisoning include dizziness, confusion, tiredness and difficulty breathing. This often translates to the feeling of pressure on the chest. Team that up with memory-loss, and you’ve got the perfect setup for an alleged haunting.

Maybe you’ll forget where you put something and be convinced *something* moved it? Perhaps you’ll feel an oppressive presence trying to strangle you?

In one famous Reddit post, a user expressed his concerns after he found post-it notes with an unknown person’s writing across his apartment. He was convinced someone was breaking in and didn’t know what to do.

It was when one user responded to the post and asked if he had a CO detector that the narrative changed. He had been writing himself post-its - and had just forgotten about them.

Sleep Paralysis

In most haunted house films - after the first hints of a poltergeist emerge - a character will wake up in the middle of the night with a start. Maybe they’ll hear a weird noise. Maybe they’ll feel the duvet pulled off the bed.

And then, they’ll see something emerge from the darkness. They’ll try to move. They’ll try to scream. But alas, they are pinned down by the beast!

Unfortunately, sleep paralysis is a common experience that conjures up a horror film scene. We think that a lot of the ghosts reportedly seen when someone is in bed are down to sleep paralysis as the hallucinations are very realistic.

Sleep paralysis occurs when the body alternates between REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. During the former stage, our muscles basically switch off. But when we wake up before the cycle is complete, we are paralysed.

So - how are you spending this Halloween?

If you liked this post, go ahead and leave me a like and reblog this post. While you’re there, why not hit follow, too?

I post about something spooky every weekend...