GHOSTVILLAGE.COM NEWSLETTER #97 - September 17, 2009

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30 Odd Minutes Paranormal Television Talk Show
A new paranormal television talk show from the warped mind of Jeff Belanger. Live Thursday nights at 8 PM. View the live stream or watch previous episodes online for free. If the truth is out there… 30 Odd Minutes will only find it by sheer accident. http://www.30oddminutes.com/


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Dear Ghostvillagers,

Curses are a funny thing (unless you’re cursed). Believe that you’re cursed, and you are. You start to focus on little things that go wrong: your fall down the stairs, the fender-bender with your car, not winning a World Series for 86 years; these little things start to compound and make you look for a cause. Once you think you've found that cause, nothing seems to go right until you can find a way to break that curse. On the flip side, can we have such malicious intent that we can impose our will on an object or person to the point of causing them to suffer? This concept has been around for a long time and goes by many names: curse, evil eye, and bad juju to name a few. 

Curses are referenced in history books and in religious texts. In the Bible (Genesis 3:14), God curses the serpent for tempting Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” Tough break for the snake. This month we’re going to explore the subject of curses a little deeper. We’ll look at bad luck charms, famous (and infamous) curses, and your own experiences with events that are more than just bad luck.

This month I’m proud to announce the release of the Second Edition of my book, Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, the original directory of international haunts written by over 100 paranormal investigators from around the globe. We’ve updated and expanded the book with dozens of new entries. Be sure to check it out or ask for it at your favorite local bookstore.

September is here which means the busy season is upon us. Halloween is around the corner and our little Village is going to start getting crowded as new people discover us as they search the Web for a dose of ghosts. I’m ready! 

We also had a great month for 30 Odd Minutes. Thanks to everyone who has been watching and sending us feedback. We have big things and great guests in store for future episodes. You can watch us online live, download past episodes on iTunes, or check us out on MySpace video. 

Thank you to all the Ghostvillagers who said hello to me on the Queen Mary, and I’m looking forward to seeing even more of you at the Chicago Ghost Conference! It’s our time of year to shine. Let’s use this opportunity to speak intelligently about the subject and show people it’s not so weird (okay, sometimes it is…). 

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:

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 (September 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.

Why is Mike Brody going to have weird Men In Black following him around now?

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 new book, Encyclopedia of Haunted Places: Revised Edition, 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!

September 18: Mary Ann Winkowski: The REAL Ghost Whisperer
September 23: Meet The Medium - Georgia O'Connor
September 24: Haunted Con 2009
September 26: FGC PARACON 2009
October 2: 2009 Chicago Ghost Conference - Illinois
October 9: East Coast Paranormal Investigators Conference
October 10: S.O.U.L.S. FEST-PARANORMAL CONFERENCE/CONVENTION
October 16: 2009 Allegan Paranormal Conference, PhantomCon
October 17: Michigan Paranormal Conference
October 23: Fright at the Fort
October 25: October's Other Side at the Old Mill
October 30: Fright at the Fort
October 31: The October 31, 2009 T.Az.P.R.S. Paranormal Conference



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:

The Skinwalker Ranch and April Slaughter By Mike Brody, September 15, 2009 [COLUMN]
A Psychic Rant By Tiffany Johnson, September 8, 2009 [COLUMN]
Parapsychology with Loyd Auerbach, By 30 Odd Minutes September 3, 2009 [VIDCAST]
Doppelgänger By Lee Prosser, September 3, 2009 [COLUMN]
Fort Delaware - Ghost Chronicles, September 2, 2009 [PODCAST]
Derby Gaol with Richard Felix By 30 Odd Minutes, August 27, 2009 [VIDCAST]
When Live TV Goes Wrong By 30 Odd Minutes, August 20, 2009 [VIDCAST]



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: Das Fetch
Features: Doppelganger by Lee Prosser
Encounters: My Doppelganger
Encounters: A Voice In My Ear



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 Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts by Raymond Buckland



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:

Being Watched at a Sleepover - Manistique, Michigan
My First Demon Encounter - Weirton, West Virginia
A Ghost in Our Hotel Bathroom - Las Vegas, Nevada
The Baby's Cry - Barnesville, Ohio
Lights On Our Landing - Akron, Ohio
The Ghost of Mr. Elwin - Elkland, Missouri
Deformed Face Near the Cemetery - Kerala, India
Shadows and Weepy Voices - Grand Prairie, Texas
Three Hags Over My Bed - Neiderwald, Texas



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
Once when we were using the Ouija board in college, we got a spirit claiming to be the ghost of FDR. None of us were too impressed when it spelled out “fear itself,” and our blood didn’t turn cold when we learned later we had spoken to him on the 50th anniversary of his death. Old presidents communicating via talking boards is not headline news, but if someone has been a regular on television or the movies, they may just have a chance at life after death.

It was hours after Patrick Swayze had passed that people had already begun to see his ghost. The news hit the wires, and pretty soon people across the Internet were exchanging stories of the actor’s post-Ghost ghost. This came on the heels of dozens of reports of Michael Jackson’s spirit being seen before he was finally laid to rest. Since the day he had died, the pop star had been seen all over the place, including national television. These are just the reports in the past month. All you need to do is go back a little farther in the archives to see the ghost of Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, and Johnny Carson.

Back in the day it was easy. A celebrity died, you bought a map, and their actions became the source of Hollywood lore. It’s not so easy today. The famous dead seem to be rising from the grave at an alarming rate. It’s nothing new if you look on the paranormal bookshelves and see the number of titles dedicated to the subject. What seems to be the story these days is how they are leaving the places often associated with these types of hauntings (their mansions or hotels they played in) and being seen in everyday life by common people.

Is it wishful thinking by the witnesses or matrixing-gone-camera phone? Is there something about these stars who burned so bright in life that their energy exists beyond it? This month the Ghostvillage News will leave the numerous stories of arrests and ghost-related death for a moment to bring you an exploration into these questions. Keep checking out the site for the story later this month, and until then, be careful about wishing too hard to meet someone famous and get that autograph you want.

Ghost hunting woman falls to death at spooky university building The Canadian Press Toronto, Canada- September 10, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Haunted Indian station reopens BBC News Begunkodor, India- September 3, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Cop faces court over exorcism attempt ABC News Barossa Valley, Australia- September 2, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Carteret County Ghosts to Help with Library Fund Raiser
Ghostly goings-on captured on CCTV at Liverpool's Croxteth Park The Liverpool Echo Liverpool, England- August 25, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Frightened girl dies after ghost prank The Times of India Behrampore, India- August 27, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Paranormal in the Panhandle
Beban House's ghostly past continues to spook workers Canada.com Beban Park, Ontario- August 17, 2009 [EXTERNAL NEWS]
Yahya Jammeh's state witch-hunters kidnap villagers in western Gambia Times Online Banjul, Gambia- August 16, 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?

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:

7-Foot-Tall Skeletons Found in Pennsylvania
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28195
Historic find or hoax?

Haunted Land
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=733
The Bennington, Vermont, Triangle.

Haunted Water
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=23689
La Llorona - Mexican Legend.

Regional Haunts
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=16922
Poppet's Way.

Crossover Work
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=23155
Spirit release from a distance.

Paranormal Movies
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28403
Movie remakes -- let's talk about them.

Paranormal TV
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28625
Another Ghost Hunters spin-off.

Personal Encounters
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28446
Does this sound malicious; spirit attached to my niece.

Spiritography
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=28364
Shadow person caught on film.

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


Board of the Month -- Curses
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showforum=27
Have you ever felt like you were cursed?


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:
298,719 Posts in the Town Square Message Boards
25,968 Members in the Town Square
913 "Personal Encounters" published on Ghostvillage.com
1,322 Paranormal Web sites in the Ghost Links directory
29,699 Subscribers to this newsletter
5,862,544 Total Web site "hits" for Ghostvillage.com in August


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.

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