GHOSTVILLAGE.COM NEWSLETTER #96 - August 17, 2009

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The Ghost Huntress: The Awakening by Marley Gibson
Meet Kendall Moorehead, a seemingly typical teen. When her family moves from Chicago to the small historical town of Radisson, Georgia, her psychic abilities awaken. After coming to terms with her gift, Kendall and her friends form a ghost hunting team to clean up Radisson of its less savory spirits. http://www.ghosthuntress.com/


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Dear Ghostvillagers,

We spend a lot of time talking about the ghosts and spirits of dead people around here, but what about ghosts of people who are still alive? The concept isn't new, there's even a word for it. The Germans call it a: doppelgänger. A double. Sometimes it's believed to be an evil version of a living person (kind of like you with a goatee), or a harbinger of something bad to come. For example, some believe if they see the double of a family member, it means that death may be close for that person.

I recall interviewing one woman in Australia who told me her son had seen her ghost one afternoon. This woman (who is still very much alive), was asked by her husband to go with him to the hardware store. All she wanted to do was sit at home and read her book, but she acquiesced, and went with her hubby. Just before she got home, her teenage son walked by their family room, saw his mother sitting on a chair reading a book, he said hello, and then looked outside to watch his mother and father pulling back into their driveway and getting out of the car. He ran outside and told his mother that he had just passed her in the family room. He didn't know she had left. She believes her double was simply carrying out what she really wanted to do that afternoon.

This month we're going to explore the idea of doubles, what they mean, and who is seeing them. If you've had some experience with a doppelgänger, we want to hear from you in our message board of the month.

This has been a busy month for the paranormal! Thanks to everyone who has been watching my new show, 30 Odd Minutes. I appreciate all the feedback. And I'm asking for a favor. We're trying something that's never been done. If you have a local Public Access television station, we'd like you to help get our show on your station. All you have to do is call them. In some cases, they just need a local sponsor (aka you), to come in, show your driver's license to prove you live in town, and sign a piece of paper. We'll take care of the rest. Just give us the contact name and address, and we'll mail DVDs of the show each month. Through this grassroots effort, we will bring this free, non-commercial content to a very big audience and further this very big paranormal discussion. You can find more information on this here.

As August winds down, the ghostly season for conferences and media blitzes is about to begin. I hope you'll all get to attend at least a couple of great paranormal events. In a few weeks I'll be back on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for the PSIence Fair 09. There are still a few tickets left if you'd like to attend. And in early October I'll be back in Chicago, Illinois for the Chicago Ghost Conference. Please attend both… all of you… it'll be a great time!

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter below!

Supernaturally yours,

Jeff Belanger
Mayor of Ghostvillage.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/ghostvillager



Jeff Belanger's Upcoming Events
This is the place to find out where author and Ghostvillage.com founder Jeff Belanger will be speaking on the subject of the supernatural. If you're interested in booking Jeff for a conference or other event, please email us for more information.

Events Scheduled:

DarknessRadio PSIence Fair 09 - The Queen Mary - Long Beach, California - September 10-13, 2009
2009 Chicago Ghost Conference - Chicago, Illinois - October 2-3, 2009
A Weird (Massachusetts) Event at the Sutton Historical Society - Sutton, Massachusetts - 7:00 PM, October 6, 2009
MASS Monster Mash - Watertown, Massachusetts - 6:00 PM, October 17, 2009
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Bellingham Library - Bellingham, Massachusetts - 7:00 PM, October 26, 2009
Ghost Adventures Live - Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia - The Travel Channel - October 30, 2009
Beyond Reality Events - The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, Colorado - November 6-9, 2009
The Queen City Paranormal Convention - Historic Music Hall - Cincinnati, Ohio - April 9, 2010
Beyond Reality Events - The Mt. Washington Hotel - Bretton Woods, New Hampshire - April 23-26, 2010


Monthly Contest
Congratulations to Sierra Houk of Ashland, Oregon, who was last month's winner of an autographed copy of Jeff Belanger's book, Who's Haunting the White House?, a Ghostvillage.com window sticker, and a Ghostvillage.com t-shirt!

How to win: Entries will be accepted up until 5:00 PM (eastern time) tomorrow (August 18, 2009). At 5:00 PM, we will draw a winner at random from the correct entries that have been received. You no longer have to be the first, but you only have until 5:00 PM to get your answer in. If you click on this link: http://www.ghostvillage.com/index.shtml#winner, you see today's date, and "We have a winner!" that means the contest has ended. Sorry, please try again next month. To submit your entry, simply reply to this email with the correct answer.

On to this month's question: This question can be answered by reading a page on Ghostvillage.com. Remember, reply by 5:00 PM today to be eligible to win.

In the Demons and Exorcism episode of 30 Odd Minutes, where does Lee Ann claim she picked up her lovely couch?

At 5:00 PM tomorrow, we will announce the winner on our home page. Good luck! (Only Ghostvillagers who have not won a prize from us in the last year are eligible.)

This month's prize: We're giving away an autographed copy of Jeff Belanger's first book, The World's Most Haunted Places: From the Secret Files of Ghostvillage.com, a Ghostvillage.com window sticker, and a Ghostvillage.com t-shirt!


Didn't win? Want to buy a copy? Click on the graphic.



Supernatural Calendar
The Supernatural Calendar is the place where thousands will learn about your events of interest to the supernatural world. The service is only available to registered members of the message boards, and it's free! Ghostvillage.com now syndicates our calendar of events so other Web sites can also display these supernatural happenings at no charge! To learn more about installing our calendar of events RSS feed, please visit our syndication page. Adding your own local events to our calendar is more important than ever!

August 20: UFO Sky Watch: Gilliland’s Eceti Ranch
August 23: Jeff Belanger on Tales From Beyond Paranormal
August 29: Weird 09, Eastern Panhandle Paranormal Conference
September 10: Darkness Radio PSIence Fair - Long Beach, CA
September 11: 2009 Paranormal Symposium at Angel Fire
September 24: Haunted Con 2009
September 26: FGC PARACON 2009
October 2: 2009 Chicago Ghost Conference - Illinois
October 9: East Coast Paranormal Investigators Conf
October 10: S.O.U.L.S. Fest



Who's Who in the Village?
Get to know some of your fellow Ghostvillagers.

>>Spookydog<< - member since February 10, 2009

What is your name?
Cody Smith

How old are you?
17.

Where do you live?
Santa Margarita, California

What do you do for a living?
High school student.

What got you interested in the paranormal?
I've had mild experiences since I can remember, but things really picked up my freshman year. Ever since then, I've been fascinated by the paranormal.

Do you have a favorite paranormal TV show?
That's a tough one, but I'd say Ghost Hunters International. It's very scientific and objective like Ghost Hunters, but they get to investigate the ancient, "paranormally rich" areas in Europe.

What's your dream job?
I'd like to be an aerospace engineer. I'd like to make things move faster and farther whilst using about the same amount of energy.



Features
Our "Features" section is a place for editorials, research articles, open letters to our readers, and other content of interest to Ghostvillagers. If you have a topic on your mind, agree or disagree with something you read recently, we want to hear from you! For guidelines, click here.

New features added since our last newsletter:

Demons and Exorcism By 30 Odd Minutes August 13, 2009 [VIDCAST]
The Pet Whisperer - Ghost Chronicles August 12, 2009 [PODCAST]
Interdimensional Beings By Lee Prosser August 12, 2009 [COLUMN]
UFOs and National Security By 30 Odd Minutes August 6, 2009 [VIDCAST]
Ghosts, War, and the Paranormal - Ghost Chronicles August 5, 2009 [PODCAST]
Eveleth's Haunted Recreation Building By Mike Brody August 4, 2009 [COLUMN]
2012 By Tiffany Johnson August 3, 2009 [COLUMN]
Childhood Nightmare or Past Life Memory? By Andrea Leininger July 30, 2009
Paranormal Comedy By 30 Odd Minutes July 23, 2009 [VIDCAST]
Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery - Ghost Chronicles July 22, 2009 [PODCAST]



Last Month's Theme - Featured Content
Our last month's theme was Paranormal and the Media. Here's what you missed if you haven't checked in since last month:

Discussion: TV Shows and Movies, Completely Paranormal or Unparanormal - Discussion
Links: Links to Paranormal Media Outlets - Directory



Shopping at Ghostvillage.com
Have you checked out our Ghost-Mart and Ghostvillage U.?

Ghostvillage U.: "Professor Paranormal" Loyd Auerbach and the HCH Institute's Distance Learning Certificate Course on Parapsychological Studies is now available through Ghostvillage.com. Ready to take paranormal investigation to the next level? Check out the online courses.

Ghost-Mart:
Digital Voice Recorders: Going for EVP? Think DVR.
Paranormal Books: Ghost-Mart has many of the leading paranormal titles.
EMF Meters: Check out our line of EMF meters from cell sensors to tri-field.
Closed Circuit TV: From inexpensive to the high end, we have them all.


Supernatural Library
Ghostvillage.com's book reviewer, Lee Prosser and the staff have brought you new book reviews and author interviews since our last newsletter.

This past month's Library additions:

The Happy Medium by Jodi Livon
Trance-Portation by Diana L. Paxson



Recent Encounters
We receive personal encounters from all over the world. Many are scary, some are touching, but they are always profound. If you would like to share your own experience, please click >>here<<. Since our last newsletter, we added the following new encounters:

Dad and His Friends - Tulsa, Oklahoma
A Hand in My Bed - Louisville, Kentucky
Spirit of the Wendigo - Fort Kent, Alberta, Canada
Chasing a Ghost - Houston, Texas
Colfax Cemetery Apparition - Colfax County, Minnesota [PIC]
The Cemetery Keeper Disappeared - Southern England
Haunting on East Eldon - Saint James, Missouri
Short, Black-Hooded Figures - Troy, New York
Strange Happenings at the Whaley House - San Diego, California My Shaking Room - Saint Catharines, Ontario, Canada
A Blast from Dad - Austin, Texas and Lake Bluff, Illinois



News
This is the place to find news items on paranormal happenings around the world. If you have a news item you'd like to submit, please see our guidelines.

From the Desk of Christopher Balzano, News Editor
This is the time of the year when the average person begins to put their little toe in the world of the paranormal. With Halloween costumes and candy bars beginning to replace school supplies in some stores, something awakens in people across the country. Add in new paranormal television shows which premiere in September and any number of ghostly conferences and events making news in local papers and you have a perfect storm of information leading to a renewed interest in all things scary.

These people hit the Internet looking for more information, but what are they getting? Most will not find sites like Ghostvillage because they scour search engines for something in their area. What they'll find are copy and pasted lists of local areas thought to be haunted and posted without follow-up or responsibility.

In the past two weeks, there have been four instances of paranormal investigators breaking into buildings thought to be haunted, leading to almost two dozen arrests. The responsibility should be firmly placed on the individuals doing the looking, and being educated on the right way to go about things is crucial, but are paranormal Web sites partly to blame? Where is there responsibility?

In the coming week, Ghostvillage News will be featuring an exclusive look at the state of obligation and how people are finding these areas. Please keep an eye open for the report. Until then, keep looking and make sure you get the right permission before you go out.

Most Haunted’s Former Historian Comes to Gettysburg
Rumor of ghosts invites trouble to Selleck KomoNews.com Selleck, Washington- July 31, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
4th Annual Paranormal Meet and Greet in Indiana
Ghostly cell phone image creates buzz WPRI.com East Providence, Rhode Island- July 31, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Security guard slapped by ghosts at housing area AsiaOne News Tamil, Malaysia- July 27, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Police arrest teen ghost hunters The Salem News Salem, Massachusetts- July 24, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Burglar Looking For Ghosts In Monterey Home Cookeville Times Cookeville, Tennessee- July 14, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]

WANT THESE HEADLINES ON YOUR SITE FOR FREE? Syndicate our news! If you have a Web site or blog, you can syndicate our news feeds to your site for free. Join the growing list of Web sites who carry our news by visiting our syndication page.



Hot Threads and the Ghostvillage.com Community
In the past month, hundreds of new people registered for free to join our supernatural discussion! Have you?

From the Desk of the Community Administrator:
As Ghostvillage.com continues to expand with the number of visitors and members, it needs to update and change to keep up. Recently, some changes have been made in the community in order to keep things harmonious while the community expands.

Starting on August 1st, when a new member signs up, they will have access to the message boards and will be able to read through the boards, start a thread, or reply to a thread. As new members get accustomed to the village and settle in, more features will open up to them. When a new member reaches 30 posts on the active boards (posts in the Village Suburbs do not add to a members post count) they will have access to the Private Message system and the ability to look at and comment on other member's profiles.

If you are a current active member of the community with 30 or more posts and you log in to find that you don't have access to the Private Message system, you need to simply update your account. It is simple to do. You need to post something in one of the active boards (posts made in the Town Square or Evidence Alley section will add to your post count). If you can't think of anything to contribute to a topic that is already going, you can check out the General Board where you will find a thread that you can post something in one time to increase your post count.

We're taking these steps to limit the number of trolls and unsolicited/commercial members who try and use our message boards for purposes that it's not intended for.

If you have any questions, please email me at mrsspookypants@ghostvillage.com.

If you have registered for our message boards but haven't validated your account yet, it's simple to do! Look for the email that was automatically sent to you when you registered and click on the account activation link in the email (note: some bulkmail filters may block this email, so you'll need to check your bulkmail folder if the validation email didn't immediately come through). There are always great discussions going on in our huge message board community. We hope you'll get involved. It's free to register if you're not already a member. Here are some of the hot topics this month:

Personal Encounters
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28049
The psychic/subconscious mind.

Paranormal Movies
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28289
Mutant Chronicles.

Paranormal TV
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27981
Warehouse 13.

Paranormal Web Sites and other Paranormal
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28258
The Connecticut Paranormal and Supernatural Tracking Society.

Haunted Land
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28234
Haunted Texas train tracks.

Haunted Water
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=9094
Emily's bridge, A ghost that is known to attack.

Haunted Dwellings
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=6630
Old Salem, Massachusetts Jail, interesting article from The Salem News.

Scrying
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28179
Methods of communicating with spirits via scrying.

Spiritography
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27984
Dust or orb?

EVP
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28200
EVP in Vinton, Virginia Cemetery.

Spirit Videos
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=26955
Gettysburg.

Good Luck Charms
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=22919
Do you believe in them?

Digital Voice Recorder
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28292
How can you use a Digital Voice Recorder to capture EVPs?



Board of the Month -- Doppelgängers
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showforum=27
Do you have a double? Can there be ghosts of living people? Discuss doppelgängers this month.


Ghostvillage.com Advertising Opportunities
Each month Ghostvillage.com reaches tens of thousands of people interested in the paranormal. We offer the most effective and best-valued advertising and sponsorship packages of any paranormal media outlet. Please visit: http://www.ghostvillage.com/advertising.htm for details.

If you're ready to put Ghostvillage.com to work for your company or organization, send us an email to get started.


Ghostvillage.com Quick Stats:
295,693 Posts in the Town Square Message Boards
25,584 Members in the Town Square
904 "Personal Encounters" published on Ghostvillage.com
1,321 Paranormal Web sites in the Ghost Links directory
29,307 Subscribers to this newsletter
6,526,977 Total Web site "hits" for Ghostvillage.com in July


Support Ghostvillage.com
Ghostvillage.com is the Web's largest supernatural community, the central place where people come to share their experiences, thoughts, and research. Please help us continue to grow by buying a copy of The World's Most Haunted Places, Communicating With the Dead, The Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, The Nightmare Encyclopedia, Our Haunted Lives, Ghosts of War, The Ghost Files, Weird Massachusetts, Who's Haunting the White House?, or shopping in Ghost-Mart. Every little bit helps run our servers and helps the site get bigger and better! Please also click on our banner ads and support our advertisers -- when you do business with someone who advertises with Ghostvillage.com, let them know you saw their ad with us and thank them for the support.

Please email us anytime at info@ghostvillage.com. Your comments, questions, and feedback are always welcomed.


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