Many people believe that we are surrounded by paranormal, supernatural, mysterious, and unexplained phenomena. The majority of Americans believes in ghosts, psychic powers, clairvoyance, and an immaterial afterlife. We often hear in the news, on television, or elsewhere that a group of church goers have witnessed an apparition of the blessed virgin Mary, that a local house is haunted, that someone was saved from a horrible accident by the providence of a guardian angel, or that someone possesses psychic abilities.
In Elk Grove in 2005, members of a local church found what appeared to be blood dripping from the eyes of a stature of the Virgin Mary. The tears reappeared for several days. Many enthusiastic and faithful believers flocked to the site, placing flowers and observing religious rituals in deference to the event. The prevalence, popularity, and frequency of these stories about paranormal events seem to lend some credibility to them; how or why would so many people be lying about such a thing? And when so many normal people believe with such conviction it is difficult to see how they could be mistaken or deceived.
What we often do not hear about in these paranormal cases is what is revealed in the follow up or additional investigation of the phenomena. Finding out that one of these spectacular stories is in fact a hoax does not capture the hearts or minds of viewers and readers, and the media have much less interest in reporting that there was actually nothing exciting, unusual, or inexplicable about a phenomena that was alleged to be extraordinary.
But in fact, a number of the most famous cases of alleged paranormal or supernatural events have been demonstrated to be hoaxes, and we can learn some valuable lessons from the follow up on those stories. As appealing as stories of the paranormal are, there is a natural explanation to be found for those with clear, careful minds.
First the Loch Ness Monster, the famous legend so many people claim to have seen was a hoax, it was done in anger towards a newspaper.
In 1993, two Loch Ness researchers, David Martin and Alastair Boyd tracked down a lead on the picture to Christian Spurling, who was now 90 years old and dying. Spurling admitted that he had collaborated with Duke Wetherall 60 years earlier to construct a plastic and wood head over the body of a toy submarine. Wetherall was pursuing a vendetta to embarrass the British newspaper, The Daily Mail. The neck on the toy monster was a mere 8 inches long, even though other Nessie investigators had insisted that it must be over three feet long. They also discovered that Wetherall was responsible for stamping fake Nessie foot prints in the mud on the bank of the Loch with a baby hippo foot that was probably part of an umbrella stand. One of the most celebrated and allegedly sound pieces of evidence for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster was also a hoax.
While I point this out, this also happens with other legends, and haunted sites. A story is made up and a legend is born, as the legend gets retold it grows. Now as it grows a seed is planted in other people and now they THINK they experience the legend and it continues to grow.
This is where Bigfoot was born through an elaborate hoax. Its documented, and people have came forward to admit it. Now the sad part is people want to believe in the unknown so much they don't believe the people that do the hoax.
Most of the famous haunted sites are examples of this. Someone makes up something or THINKs they saw something and a seed is planted. It now grows and other people expecting to see it now do. Once again people are influenced to see what people want them to see.
Originally published at TalkParanormal.com
References & Related Information:
Famous Paranormal Hoaxes: Crop Circles, Loch Ness, and Bigfoot
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/m/mccormickm/paranormalarticles.htm
In Elk Grove in 2005, members of a local church found what appeared to be blood dripping from the eyes of a stature of the Virgin Mary. The tears reappeared for several days. Many enthusiastic and faithful believers flocked to the site, placing flowers and observing religious rituals in deference to the event. The prevalence, popularity, and frequency of these stories about paranormal events seem to lend some credibility to them; how or why would so many people be lying about such a thing? And when so many normal people believe with such conviction it is difficult to see how they could be mistaken or deceived.
What we often do not hear about in these paranormal cases is what is revealed in the follow up or additional investigation of the phenomena. Finding out that one of these spectacular stories is in fact a hoax does not capture the hearts or minds of viewers and readers, and the media have much less interest in reporting that there was actually nothing exciting, unusual, or inexplicable about a phenomena that was alleged to be extraordinary.
But in fact, a number of the most famous cases of alleged paranormal or supernatural events have been demonstrated to be hoaxes, and we can learn some valuable lessons from the follow up on those stories. As appealing as stories of the paranormal are, there is a natural explanation to be found for those with clear, careful minds.
First the Loch Ness Monster, the famous legend so many people claim to have seen was a hoax, it was done in anger towards a newspaper.
While I point this out, this also happens with other legends, and haunted sites. A story is made up and a legend is born, as the legend gets retold it grows. Now as it grows a seed is planted in other people and now they THINK they experience the legend and it continues to grow.
Most of the famous haunted sites are examples of this. Someone makes up something or THINKs they saw something and a seed is planted. It now grows and other people expecting to see it now do. Once again people are influenced to see what people want them to see.
Originally published at TalkParanormal.com
National Geographic March 9, 2006 - Throwing a bit of cold water onto the legend of Loch Ness, paleontologist and painter Neil Clark says the monster was perhaps a paddling pachyderm.
Clark noticed similarities in the hump-and-trunk silhouettes of swimming Indian elephants and the serpentine shapes of 1930s Nessie descriptions and photographs, such as the famous 1934 image shown as an inset above.
Why would an elephant be swimming in a chilly Scottish lake? "The reason why we see elephants in Loch Ness is that circuses used to go along the road to Inverness and have a little rest at the side of the loch and allow the animals to go and have a little swim around," Clark told CBS News.
And there's one more wrinkle in this elephantine mystery. In 1933 a circus promoter in the area—acting perhaps on inside information that the monster was really a big top beast—offered a rich reward for Nessie's capture, says Clark, a curator at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0309_0603009_loch_ness.html
References & Related Information:
Famous Paranormal Hoaxes: Crop Circles, Loch Ness, and Bigfoot
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/m/mccormickm/paranormalarticles.htm
