GHOSTVILLAGE.COM NEWSLETTER #93 - May 18, 2009

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Who Is Haunting the White House? by Jeff Belanger
Jeff Belanger's book, Who's Haunting the White House? The President's Mansion and the Ghosts Who Live There is now available! For ages 9 and up, take a ghostly tour through America's most haunted and historic haunt! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1402738226/ghostvillagecom


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View this newsletter online at: http://www.ghostvillage.com/newsletters/May18_09.htm
Dear Ghostvillagers,

Since our last newsletter, much has happened. First, it’s fitting that we acknowledge the passing of paranormal icon Dr. Hans Holzer. Holzer died on April 26, 2009, at the age of 89. Ghostvillage.com offers our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and many fans. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Holzer several years ago, and he was even kind enough to give me a blurb for one of my books. From our extensive conversations, I have no doubt the good doctor will be making trouble from the other side and enjoying every minute of it! God speed, Hans.

I’ve been traveling quite a bit this past month. I spoke at two events at the Mt. Washington Hotel in New Hampshire and made some new friends, and I just returned from Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky. All three conferences were a great success offering me the chance to talk to so many folks who are all searching for answers (and good deals on drinks). Waverly was especially interesting because I had a personal paranormal experience there (something very rare for me). I’ll be telling you all about it in an upcoming episode of my new television talk show, 30 Odd Minutes.

I’m excited about this project because I’ll be able to bring you even more great content, explore the unexplained through the eyes of witnesses, researchers, and experts, and make the show accessible to you via a live Internet stream and through archived shows online. You can watch our first episode on Ghostvillage.com right now. It’s a work in progress – try to spot where we had technical difficulties – and tune in next time and watch us try to fix them. Our next live show will be Thursday, June 4th at 8 PM (Eastern Time). If you're interested in helping out with this production, and you live a drivable distance from Franklin, Massachusetts, please email us. TV production experience is preferred, but not essential.

This month we’re going to explore the role religion plays in the paranormal. When a person encounters something they can’t make sense of, they often dig into their religious upbringing for answers. One person’s poltergeist is another person’s demon is another’s ghost. I invite you to discuss ghosts in your religious texts, or how your religion responds to paranormal accounts in our message board of the month.

In other event news, I’ll be attending the Book Expo America Conference in New York City on May 29. If anyone in the publishing industry would like to set up a time for a quick hello, please email here. Second, I just signed on to two new events this fall. First, the Darkness Radio Paranormal PSIence Fair on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California this September; and second, the Beyond Reality Events Stanley Hotel investigation and conference in Estes Park, Colorado. I expect to see all 28,349 of you email subscribers at each of those events!

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter below!

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:

Book Expo America Conference - New York, New York - May 29, 2009

Weird and Haunted Travels - Woonsocket, Rhode Island - 6:00 PM, July 18, 2009

Dining With the Dead: Windham Restaurant - Salem, New Hampshire - 7:00 PM, July 27, 2009

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

Beyond Reality Events - The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, Colorado - November 6-9, 2009



Monthly Contest
Congratulations to Jeffrey Lane of Los Angeles, California, 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) today (May 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.

What's the best birthday gift author Richard Kimmel has ever received?

At 5:00 PM, 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 latest book, Who's Haunting the White House?, a Ghostvillage.com window sticker, and a Ghostvillage.com t-shirt!


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



It Takes a Village - Charity of the Month
Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest, largest, and most effective youth mentoring organization in America. Their mission is to help kids reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors. BBBS has been a leader in one-on-one youth service for over a century, fostering positive relationships that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of children and adolescents, contributing to brighter futures, better schools, and stronger communities. Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors children, ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country - including yours. By participating in BBBS youth mentoring programs, Little Brothers and Sisters are:
  • More confident in their schoolwork performance
  • Able to get along better with their families
  • Less likely to begin using illegal drugs
  • Less likely to begin using alcohol Less likely to skip school.

To donate money online, click here

Other ways to help Big Brothers Big Sisters: 

1. Volunteer to be a Big Brother/Big Sister. Volunteering just four hours a month can change a young person’s life, and it might end up being one of the most rewarding and fun things you’ll ever do. Become a Big Brother or a Big Sister today! 

2. Enroll a child. If you know of a young person who would benefit from some one-on-one time with an adult mentor, give them the gift of a Big Brother or Big Sister to help them on the sometimes difficult path of growing up. Learn more here 

3. Volunteer at a BBBS event or sign up for an internship. Local agencies across the U.S. love to have volunteers to help out at events, or, if you pursuing a degree in social work, youth development, communications, marketing, or finance, you can gain valuable real-world experience helping to support the BBBS mission. Find your local BBBS agency here



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!

May 24: Alamo Conference (UFOs), Jeff Belanger on Shadows Of Doubt Paranormal Talk
May 29: Jeff Belanger at Book Expo America - New York City
May 30: Western Pennsylvania Paranormal Conference
May 31: Into the Unknown '09 UFO Conference
June 5: Through the Veil
June 13: Tales of the Paranormal
June 19: Jeff Belanger on White Noise Paranormal Radio
July 4: Paranormal & Psychic Faire



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

>>Kira<< - member since April 18, 2007

What is your name?
My legal name is Amy, but I prefer Kira and use it online and professionally on the Web.

How old are you?
Ummmm, 40 something.

Where do you live?
Granby, Connecticut

What do you do for a living?
I am a teacher and I read Tarot and Angel cards.

What got you interested in the paranormal?
I became interested at around the age of nine. I always believed in magic and wished I was like "Bewitched." I became interested in learning how to do spells and practiced into my mid-teenage years. I also saw my first apparition at age 9 in an old, spooky house in East Granby, Connecticut. From my maternal grandmother, all the way down to my daughter, all the women in the family have many and varied gifts." Every place I've lived has had spirit activity which doesn't scare me, I'm used to it.

Do you think the current popularity of the subject in the media is helping or hurting the field?
Both. The media brings paranormal activity into the living rooms of millions of households, which is good because it helps to open people's minds about the possibility of subjects that they were previously closed to for various reasons. However, it can also cause hysteria. I think many view these shows with preconceived ideas of evil who then become scared that if they should ever experience anything, it is automatically "the Devil." Then of course those who are unconscionable; trespass, disrespect the dead and sometimes vandalize properties. That hurts the field.

What’s your favorite spring flower?
Peonies.



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

Discussion: Legend of Onionhead
Discussion: Medical Myths and Urban Legends
Discussion: Procter & Gamble Win court battle over urban legend
Discussion: Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary



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:

Real Angels by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger
WWII Ghosts by Richard J. Kimmel [AUTHOR INTERVIEW]



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:

Premonition Dream and My Dead Pet - Avon, Indiana
Girl in Her Easter Dress - Milton, Florida [PIC]
Encounters on a Ghost Tour - New South Wales, Australia
Someone in the Attic - Temple, Texas
The Spirit In Black - Forest Park, Illinois - 1997
The Body in the Pool - Anaheim, California and Pleasant Grove, Utah
Bright Jack-O-Lanterns - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Strong Odor and Darting Shadows - Southfield, Massachusetts
The Black Mist in Our Home - Marysville, California
Ghost of a Runaway Slave in My Car - Interstate 10, Louisiana



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 Chris Balzano, New Editor:
People on the outside think that participation in the paranormal community is a way to escape the real world. Even if there is such a thing as ghosts, visiting Web sites and reading ghost books is something you do to forget about your job or mortgage or the price of gas. Nothing is further from the truth. Following the paranormal in the news is like following the real news, and trying to escape society’s problems by submerging yourself in the ghost world is much like turning on CNN because you like the anchor’s clothes.

I have been asked in recent weeks whether the paranormal is recession-proof. It is one of the few industries that pumps the opposite way of the flow of money. The harder things get, the more people look to supernatural things to help offer support or insight into the future. For many this means turning to their church, but for many others, like Solomon looking to the Witch of Endor, it means seeking the unknown from the unknown. There may be some comfort in it, but look too closely and you see all hauntings are a representation of the life and times during which they happen and not necessarily when the tragedies that sparked them occurred.

Look over the stories we’ve covered in the past few months. There have been crimes, such as the criminal exorcism cases and the murders and arsons blamed on ghosts and demons. There has been politics with Jindal. You can flip through the sports section and see how the Florida Marlins have been haunted by ghosts in a hotel in Milwaukee. With the passing of Hans Holzer, you even have the obituaries.

Then there is the real estate section. There was a time where the horror of a paranormal property was the ghost who roamed the halls. Now, like the rest of the country, the scariest thing about a haunted house is trying to make the rent. Over the past few months there have been several stories we’ve brought you about property all over the globe facing the same housing crunch the rest of us are being confronted with. From a mansion in Spain to haunted hotels in Florida and Pennsylvania, more and more the idea having a ghost is no longer scaring these tenants, but as a sign of the times, it can’t help save them either.

Enjoy the next month’s worth of paranormal news from Ghostvillage. There will be stories that will challenge your ideas on ghosts and reveal much about the people who experience them. The beauty of our news department is it is both informative and entertaining. Don’t dwell on the stories for too long or read too much into them. We’re also trying to help you escape.

This month’s headlines are below:

Fire in haunted hotel room The Telegraph Ramsey, United Kingdom- May 13, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Historic Fort Wayne & MPI Announce Ghost Tours The Times Herald Ft. Wayne, Indiana- May 9, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Haunted mansion up for auction The Euro Weekly News Campanillas, Spain- May 7, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Ghost hunters raise funds for preservation AP via WSBT Shelbyville, Illinois- May 5, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
The paranormal world mourns the loss of one of its icons, Dr. Hans Holzer
Haunted tunnels in Newtown removed piece by piece The News-Times Newtown, Connecticut-April 26, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Scary run-ins at Exeter site with ghostly reputation The Providence Journal Exeter, Rhode Island-April 23, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Sex offender hunting ghosts violates probation The Hernando Today Brooksville, Florida -April 20, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Darkness Radio returns to Waverly Hills



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.


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:

Your Worst Nightmare By 30 Odd Minutes - May 14, 2009 [VIDCAST]
A Demonologist the Title Doesn't Make by Adam Christian Blai - May 8, 2009
My Clientele By Tiffany Johnson - May 4, 2009 [COLUMN]
The Ghost Huntress, Marley Gibson - Ghost Chronicles
April 29, 2009
[PODCAST]
The Ghosts of Atlantis - Ghost Chronicles - April 22, 2009 [PODCAST]
Ghosts and Talking Rocks - Ghost Chronicles - April 15, 2009 [PODCAST]



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?

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:

Ghosts in the News
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=26165
Do angels exist?

Paranormal Books
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27193
Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.

Paranormal Movies
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27311
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Paranormal TV
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27370
New Shows on Paranormal TV 24/7.

Paranormal Web Sites and other Paranormal
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27337
East Alabama Paranormal Enthusiasts.

Cemeteries
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27208
More than ghosts.

Haunted Land
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=700
Marysville Pilchuck Road - Washington.

Haunted Water
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27405
Gettysburg - Sach's Bridge Ghost Story.

Haunted Dwellings
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27409
Mansfield Reformatory.

Regional Haunts
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=12713
Wisconsin Hauntings.

Personal Encounters
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27253
Does anyone else live in a haunted house?

Spiritography
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27302
Christmas Day orbs.

EVP
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=27437
A friend's mom makes contact.

Spirit Video
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=17534
A ghost car.


Board of the Month -- Religion and the Paranormal
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showforum=27
What does your belief system say about the paranormal? Are there ghosts in your religious books?


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:
289,739 Posts in the Town Square Message Boards
24,640 Members in the Town Square
878 "Personal Encounters" published on Ghostvillage.com
1,296 Paranormal Web sites in the Ghost Links directory
28,505 Subscribers to this newsletter
7,694,682 Total Web site "hits" for Ghostvillage.com in April


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.


All material is © 2009 Ghostvillage.com
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