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Posted: 30-12-2012 20:57 Post subject:

1. UFO's/ USO's/ UAP's - a
2. Ghost/ Spirit - a
3. Possesion/ Poltergeist - a
4. Psychic abilities, Prognostication and Telekinesis - a
5. Cryptids - b
7. Cryptids with or accompanied by supernatural phenomena - b

All scores above reflect interest, not particular beliefs/theories.

8. Vampires/ Werewolves/ Revenants - e - disinterest/scepticism, not dislike.

Posted: 30-12-2012 23:47 Post subject:

I, too, have more an interest in Fortean phenomena than a belief in any. My standard line is that I believe that most people who report Fortean experiences have experienced something, but that it may not be what they claim it to be. (Obviously, there are some people who make the whole thing up for some reason, even then their motivations can be of interest.)

So you could say I have an interest of a or b for the types of phenomena listed, and a belief of d or e. (I'm quite demanding when it comes to evidence, I suppose.)

Posted: 31-01-2013 14:49 Post subject:

1-5 a/b.
Cryptids with accompanying supernatural phenomena are possibly possessed of non-supernatural faculties which have been interpreted as supernatural.

Vampire believers usually cite stories of similar monsters from cultures the world over, but on closer inspection they are not similar at all.

Werewolves are either folklore fiction or folkloric fictionalisation of memories of a past more widespread population of the Wisconsin Werewolf /Michigan Dogman cryptid e.g. the Quebec loup garou legend.
Revenants are just fiction.

Posted: 31-01-2013 15:27 Post subject:

Posted: 16-02-2013 14:52 Post subject:

My attitude is non judgemental, I celebrate human diversity, you may not learn anything about any of the subjects listed, but you can learn an awful lot about human beings.
My own belief is that the strangest place in the universe is between our ears, and so my position is one of benign scepticism,which always allows for the possibility of a paranormal event actually has happened,but is probably down to much more mundane,down to earth reasons.
I dislike those who never believe anything, it's best to keep an open mind, but not to believe everything you hear/read.
I believe a lot of paranormal events could be explained, if properly investigated.
I believe in Occams's Razor and that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Having said all that, I'm a sucker for high strangeness, those often unique events that force you to believe it or not, Mothman, The Grinning Man, The Aston Venusian, things like that.

Posted: 16-02-2013 17:55 Post subject:

I agree completely that the strangest place in the universe is between our ears Very Happy

Often, there are posts on here that make me think of TLE or even TIA. I've even pm'd people to suggest that they might pop along to the doctor.

(After thinking very carefully first, because here in the UK at least your driving licence can be suspended if there's a chance you have epilepsy or any other condition that might make driving dangerous.)

I personally love to read about ghosts and anything about The Afterlife but I still don't believe 99.9% of it.

That .1%, though, those things that happen that nobody can explain away, not even me… Very Happy

Posted: 16-02-2013 23:41 Post subject:

Absolutely, it's that .1% that cannot be explained that keeps me wondering.
Events that have been properly investigated keep getting recycled in books without mentioning that a possible explanation has been put forward.
For me high strangeness events are interesting because they don't tend to follow an established paranormal narrative, and are often uncontaminated so to speak by cultural influences.
They also run counter to normal human behaviour, ok, a couple of kids might decide for a bit of fun to make up a story about seeing a strange being, but why grinning? growling maybe, some sort of threatening behaviour, that's what I would expect, but out of left field comes a being with a huge grin on it's face.
Genuinely strange, and intriguing.....

Posted: 19-02-2013 08:56 Post subject:

I was waiting for an example of the kind of thing that keeps my interest , and one is topical at the moment - star jelly. Bizarre, unexplained, but with a long history of sightings and yet no-one seems able to obtain a properly accredited sample for testing. To paraphrase Esther Rantzen, 'That's Fortean!'

I'm not sure the one-off high strangeness stories are quite as good an example of 'dammed facts', but they fascinate me too - some of the things in IHTM you would have said are too peculiar to make up, and either they happened or there can be a much greater warping of human perception than we normally consider possible without drugs.

Posted: 19-02-2013 20:53 Post subject:

1. UFO's/ USO's/ UAP's a
2. Ghost/ Spirit c
3. Possesion/ Poltergeist c
4. Psychic abilities, Prognostication and Telekinesis d
5. Cryptids a
7. Cryptids with or accompanied by supernatural phenomena c
8. Vampires/ Werewolves/ Revenants e

Cryptids take the cake for me. The idea that there could be a physical animal of sorts which is hyper rare.... it reminds me so much of buried treasure. It's out there, somewhere, and you've got a chance of uncovering it - which would be extremely rewarding - just as rewarding as buried treasure. Proving to the world that THAT CREATURE, that fairy tale beast that everyone was laughing about, was in fact real. Fascinating stuff, especially when you've got credible, recent sightings. Because of this, nothing is more interesting than cryptids IMO. Aliens/UFOs take a close second place, but your chances are slim to none when it comes to putting something undeniable on the table. Clever bastards!

Posted: 19-02-2013 22:36 Post subject:

I like the idea that we think of a person just before they phone us but as to what really interests me...

Conspiracy/sleepwalking into a police state.
Out of this word/Extraterrestrial objects and planetary/lunar landscape anomalies.
Religion/The Jesus Myth
Cryptozoology/Really Colossal Squid or any giant animals like snakes and spiders.

Posted: 20-02-2013 10:15 Post subject:

Star Jelly had passed me by,so I had a quick look on wiki, the 1950 Pennsylvania case looks very interesting!
High strangeness indeed, various theories are put forward but nothing to explain a 6ft wide jelly Surprised

Posted: 20-02-2013 10:59 Post subject:

Posted: 20-02-2013 12:33 Post subject:

1. UFO's/ USO's/ UAP's - d
2. Ghost/ Spirit - b
3. Possesion/ Poltergeist - b
4. Psychic abilities, Prognostication and Telekinesis - b
5. Cryptids - a
7. Cryptids with or accompanied by supernatural phenomena - a/b
8. Vampires/ Werewolves/ Revenants - c

Posted: 21-02-2013 10:11 Post subject:

Posted: 21-02-2013 20:23 Post subject:

Every time I see a reference to falling globs of "stuff" I remember my introduction to the phenomena in Frank Herbert's Strange World.

The case in question was titled, "Police and the Purple Glob" and fascinated me for years.