Cutchinology: A Decade of the Paranormal with Joshua Cutchin

New Research Connects Paranormal Beliefs to Higher Stress Levels

 A study of 3,084 participants examined whether two types of paranormal belief—Traditional Paranormal Belief (TPB) and New Age Philosophy (NAP)—are associated with different levels of perceived stress.

The results, published in PLOS ONE in the article “Re-evaluation of the relationship between paranormal belief and perceived stress using statistical modelling,” revealed that TPB was significantly linked to higher distress and lower coping capacity, while NAP showed no predictive association with stress.

Paranormal beliefs, common in society, can influence behavior and attitudes, such as distrust of science and adherence to pseudoscientific ideas....<<<Read More>>>...

 

How 20th-Century Philosophers Explained Ghosts

Matyas Moravec: Most people imagine philosophers as rational thinkers who spend their time developing abstract logical theories and strongly reject superstitious beliefs. But several 20th-century philosophers actively investigated spooky topics such as clairvoyance, telepathy – even ghosts.

Many of these philosophers, including Henri Bergson and William James, were interested in what was called “psychical research”. This was the academic study of paranormal phenomena including telepathy, telekinesis and other-worldly spirits.

These thinkers attended seances and were attempting to develop theories about ghosts, life after death and the powers exhibited by mediums in trances. My recent archival research has been looking at how these topics shaped 20th-century philosophy....<<<Read More>>>...

Who’s Afraid of the Paranormal?

It usually goes something like this: average family live peaceful existence in house. Then one day, objects mysteriously relocate. The dog barks at unseen intruders. The tap that usually streams hot water now vomits a liquid the colour of blood. Strange noises are heard in the middle of the night; on the bed, the billowing duvet outlines the shape of a body that no one can see. The youngest child becomes fluent in a previously dead ancient language before scribbling cryptic words such as REDRUM all over the walls (hint: read in front of a mirror). The mother turns hysterical, the husband tries to rationalise the unusual hubbub only to succumb to paranoia followed by the sudden acquisition of otherworldly powers, such as freezing objects with his breath and fingernails that turn into meat cleavers whenever he loses his cool.

Modern paranormal movies have come a long way from the halcyon days of grainy black and white film noir when a good fright involved a poor choice of short cut through the cemetery at midnight. Latter-day blockbusters such as Paranormal Activity, The Sixth Sense and X-Men not only leverage the visual baggage we carry in our cultural psyche, they also rely on cutting-edge special effects to bring these myths to life and peel several more micro-layers of skin off our collective hides. Just like zombies, they come crawling into our homes, hell-bent on scaring the living daylights out of the living. And we can’t get enough of it.

Modern society seems obsessed with the paranormal, and yet our comfort level with it is 50-50: we are at the same time curious and repelled by that which we cannot see. This dichotomy is due in part to how we perceive the world around us. Or to be more precise, how we don’t....<<<Read More>>>...

The Night I Saw a Ghost

 I used to be very sceptical about ghost stories until ….

A few years ago I found myself staying in the Hilton Hotel in Barbados on my own, for work. Before anybody says this was a rum induced experience half way up Mount Gay, let me assure you (and myself) that for once it wasn’t. I was half way through a month off the booze – just to prove to myself I could. I had retired to my room early as my work companions weren’t as angelic and were at the talking scribble stage, so I left them to it. I’ve never had trouble sleeping – drinking or not – I put it down to a clean mind and a clear conscience! Naturally.

So off I go to sleep. In the middle of the night I came awake with a start. I’d better explain that my room was a ground floor one in a two story wing of the main hotel which extended a long way sideways. Room 110 I’m pretty sure. I remembered that number for next time. Although the curtains were blackout ones and were drawn, the hotel grounds outside were pretty well lit and the room wasn’t that dark when your eyes got used to it.

I opened said eyes and saw there was somebody in the room, silhouetted again the curtains. The room had a sliding glass door onto a small balcony, and previous colleagues staying in this part of the hotel had had problems with break-ins, so I was very wary about moving before I had assessed the situation. The other person hadn’t moved. Was just standing there as if he’d just come in through the sliding door. Because of the history of theft, I’d made damn sure it was locked and chained before I went to bed.

So what to do? I was wide awake by now. He still stood motionless. Then I noticed something I hadn’t before. He had a strange head. He was just a dark shadow and I couldn’t see details, but he seemed to be wearing a tricorn hat of the kind that 17th & 18th century sailors wore. Apparently they got wet a lot and the hat acted as a sort of gutter and kept the rain and sea out of their eyes as they were working. Pirate? In my room? God knows there were enough of those around Barbados, but not in the 20th century, as this was at the time.

Nothing happened, so I decided to make something happen. He was still the other side of the quite large room. I worked out where the bedside light was, and after several very deep breaths, I lunged at it, turned it on and leapt out of bed shouting anything that came into my head, but very loudly. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m going to have that phrase put on my gravestone, I think.

The light came on and I was halfway across the room, stark naked, but I’ve never been one to worry about that sort of thing unless there’s a knife involved! There might well have been, but there was absolutely nothing. No knife; no man in a tricorn hat either.

I thought he may have slipped out the same way he had presumably come in, so I armed myself with a fairly dangerous looking fruit bowl and appraised the curtains. Strangely they were still tightly drawn. After a bit of prodding I found no lumps behind the curtains so opened them to find the sliding door still locked and chained. I couldn’t believe it. I checked by unlocking and unchaining and went onto the balcony to look around. I’m not sure what I expected to find. There were a few people around who might have been slightly surprised to see a very shaken naked bloke leaning over the balcony and looking up and down the property. A passing security guard in a peaked hat sauntered by and wished me good night. With a grin on his face. It was that sort of hotel. Things were gotten up to. Especially with my colleagues. The hotel tended to put us as far away from the normal holidaying punters as they could.....<<<Read More>>>...

Researchers spend nights in Alcatraz, encounter paranormal activity

 A team of researchers mapping Alcatraz Island to study erosion and climate change impacts spent three weeks living in the prison’s notorious D Block, experiencing the haunting history firsthand.

The team, led by Pete Kelsey, used their stay to gain access to restricted areas, including the hospital wing and cells for mentally ill inmates. They faced spartan conditions, bringing their own food and using communal toilets.

Their stay wasn’t just about scientific exploration; it also included unnerving experiences that added to Alcatraz’s eerie reputation.

Kelsey recounted an incident involving a retired law enforcement officer on the team. Due to his loud snoring, the team asked him to sleep in the mugshot room, separate from the others in D Block. However, the next morning, Kelsey found him outside the room, refusing to sleep there again....<<<Read More>>>...

Pastor believes life after death is real in 1,000 near-death studies

 Former Christian pastor John Burke was faced with a situation where his research into near-death experiences (NDEs) led him to radically change his views on life after death.

Burke interviewed more than a thousand people who had experienced NDEs and found that many of them reported encounters with “demonic entities.” These stories were so convincing that they forced him to look at the biblical texts from a new angle, taking them more literally than ever before.

“Learning this has actually changed my theology—even as a Christian and even as a pastor,” Burke admitted in an interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan.

“I used to think that much of this was just fantasy or metaphor, but now I am convinced that heaven and hell are not just concepts, but a reality that exists beyond our physical world.”...<<<Read More>>>...

Gov’t confirms investigation into paranormal activity at Utah property

 In a remarkable revelation, documents from the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) have been declassified, shedding light on the agency’s investigative scope beyond unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

A recent news report highlights one such investigation into paranormal occurrences at a Utah property owned by a private sector figure.

The case drew AARO’s interest due to reports of shadowy apparitions and encounters with mysterious “creatures,” alongside disturbances described as “human consciousness anomalies.”

The intensity of these incidents led investigators to contemplate employing psychics for insights into the baffling events.

Despite the thorough investigation, concrete evidence remained elusive, mirroring the inconclusive outcomes often associated with government probes into the unexplained.

Nevertheless, the report hints at AARO’s involvement in numerous similar inquiries, with some still defying explanation....Read More>>>...

 

 

Paranormal Mysteries Caught On Camera #2

 

Some more of the intriguing and compelling images captured circa 2011 that have numerous 'entities' captured manifesting in ectomist during some of our paranormal investigations at the time.

Extra Sensorial Faculties and Intuition

 Traditionally, we have five senses, which give us ideas that define our reality. These senses, are in fact, only the starting point of many other senses, which are vaster and deeper, and we must deepen in their meaning, importance, and real value. There are opinions against paranormal, nevertheless, this does not mean that the subject is not true since it is very serious and true subject, that generally has been mistreated. Besides, the public has been confused and disoriented.

Paranormal perception is a reality, a level of reception of the consciousness, through the mind and different levels of consciousness. This perception that goes beyond the known senses, is related to the level of serenity, calm and depth of the consciousness, which gives place to the mind extending its fundamental energy towards the universe. In other words: When the mind is serene, for example, in the experience of meditation, the energy of the mind is able to move and travel even higher than the individual and beyond time and space. These senses, have also been called, visceral senses, precognitive senses and also intuitive senses, which means, that one is able to perceive -without having to use reasoning- the emotions or the objective consciousness. Nevertheless, when the perception comes, is like a mixture of information. In many occasions is like a puzzle and that is the reason that many persons doubt the veracity of the experience...read more>>>

A Captured 'Entity'

  

What is this entity that can clearly be seen in the ectomist on the right hand side of the main image. A zoom in of the entity can be seen on the left hand side, Clearly there is a pair of eyes, and a nose, as well as a forehead.

Personal 'Paranormal Phenomenon' Gallery

Note the 'apparition' indicated by the red arrow and the purple orb below also indicated by a red arrow.
When this photograph was taken there was nobody else in the vicinity.
Original image Matthew James

The Coming Age of Weird

Here’s a little known fact: the majority of people in the US and the UK believe in some form of paranormal reality or phenomena—quite independently of their educational backgrounds or whether they believe in God. What’s more, surveys show that many, many people claim to actually have experienced one or more of those phenomena.

This is consistent with at least a century worth of psi research that has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that some of the paranormal stuff is real, whatever the explanation or nature of these things turn out to be.

This begs the question: if most people across education levels think the paranormal is real, why has “official academia” always been so incredibly hostile towards it? Mind you, many (if not most) important individual scientists and academics were interested in these things and even thought they were real; it’s official science that has been at war with anybody looking into it for a long time....<<<Read More>>>...

The Unseen World

 Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, although this is a common way in which people deny the existence of spirit guides, angels, and other unseen helpers in our lives. However, anyone who has encountered such beings can attest to the fact that they do, indeed, exist, just as our breath exists, keeping us alive, even though we can’t see it. The wind exists, too, but we only know this because we feel it on our skin and hear it moving the leaves on the trees. All around us and within us are things we can’t see, and yet we know they are just as real as the grass beneath our feet.

What we see and don’t see may just be a matter of perspective, like the ladybug who sees the leaf on which she sits, but not the tree the leaf grows on, or the person sitting beneath it. And the person beneath the tree may or may not see the ladybug, depending on where he focuses his attention. Still, all of these things, whether seen or not seen by the person or the ladybug, exist in reality. Some people are more gifted at accessing that which we cannot see, but given an open and willing heart, anyone can tune into the invisible realm and begin to find their way.

Human beings have always done this, and it is only recently that we have fallen into distrusting the existence of what we can’t see. If you have lost touch with the unseen world, all you have to do is resolve to open your heart to its existence, and it will make itself known. Closing your eyes in meditation and visualization, or engaging the unseen through the written word, are just two ways to welcome the invisible back into your life. Whatever you choose to do, cultivating a relationship with that which you can’t see is a time-honored human practice that can greatly enhance your life...<<<Read More>>>...........

Dear Spiritual Diary - "Non-thinking moments"

Dear Spiritual Diary it is refreshing to have 'non-thinking' moments, when there are no thoughts, no images, no emotional responses affecting the conscious mind.

The mind is empty, and the eyes merely observe the surroundings thoughtlessly.

A moment of separation occurs, when the humanness disappears; is no longer in the front thinking part of the mind.

"The lights are on, but no-one is home" scenario kicks in, and then something else surfaces. There are no longer any human thinking, it becomes something else ... beyond human, becoming the true self ...

And then, that moment runs out of steam ... and the human returns. Human thoughts flow through the mind ...

The 'non-thinking' moment is very refreshing and helpful ... 

Note To Self: It's time to fire up the True Mentoring again.
 

Dear Spiritual Diary - "The Visitor At The Foot Of The Stairs"

 Dear spiritual diary, we had an interesting experience take place a couple of nights ago, and it was so much more than just coincidence.

Having been aware of a presence at the foot of the stairs for several weeks now, it came as no surprise what happened recently.

The family dog had been lying down at the foot of the stairs, and seemed to be aware of something, or someone, above him on the stairs.

I made a comment at that moment, "there is someone on the stairs again."

Almost immediately, which appeared to confirm the presence was indeed there, and had made an intelligent response, there was the sound of three clearly audible creaks from the stair treads of the stairs in approximately that location.

Our stair case does not creak. It cannot have been due to moisture movement etc .... the only explanation was the invisible visitor who often stands there.

I checked the stairs out, and could not make the stair treads creak, no matter how many times I walked and jumped on the treads. The only creaking noise I could create was actually from the balustrades which are loose.

However, I was not able to reproduce the three audible creaks in the way we had clearly heard them ....

Note to Self: how is the book getting on?

Dear Spiritual Diary - "Visitors"

 Dear Spiritual Diary there was an interesting 'event' to mention that occurred a couple of nights ago.

It was real. It was fleeting. It was not dream state, nor was it imagined.

Having attuned awareness for the last four decades, you become sensitive to paranormal occurrences.

It had been a long and arduous day, and I had been relaxing in front of the TV. I cannot recall the TV program, lets say "Emmerdale" and I had nodded off for a moment or two.

I opened my eyes and looked across at my wife who was sitting to the right of me. In that moment, there was a momentary visitor standing in front of my wife. It would only have been for a couple of seconds.

But long enough to notice the distinctive white dressing gown, with little blue spots/markings all over it, before the visitor disappeared. I could tell it was an elderly woman and she appeared to be standing close to my wife and pointing at her. 

I pointed it out to my wife, who did not pay much attention to the event. It's likely that a former occupant of the house, who was an elderly woman, had just been spotted momentarily by yours truly. Which is no problem.

We've often heard noises from the kitchen when there was nobody there as if someone was opening and closing cupboards. I've seen a shadow at the foot of the stairs on a number of occasions. Its fine by me.

I began nodding off again and was jolted awake when I witnessed a black shadow run past me. I have no idea who or what it was, but it had clearly been there.

Note To Self: That book needs to be written

Dear Spiritual Diary - "Inter-dimensional Entities"

Dear Spiritual Diary, it's been a long time, we have to go back to 2008, in order to recount a visit from this particular inter-dimensional entity.

Visits normally happen at night. I've witnessed greys and beings that are just a form of many lights. 

I witnessed five pygmy size entities appear early one morning. I merely said "HI guys" and went back to sleep.

Back in 2008, I recall, I was doing some work in the garage of the rental we lived in at the time. Having just recently arrived in Australia, I knew little about the Zowies. We had the Brindabella hills behind us which we had been told was were you could find physical Zowies.

However, I remember looking up towards the street and seeing a small being standing before me. It resembled an ape with very long arms that reached down to the floor. I learned later this wasa classic description of a Zowie. But I didn't know that at the time!

It spoke to me telepathically then disappeared. Though I was aware of it watching me for some time afterwards.

That was then. And this is now. We are in March 2023, 15 years later and the same Zowie made telepathic contact with me whilst I was outside in our garden here in the UK. It is tens of thousands of miles away from its habitat. I wonder because it had made a contact with me 15 years ago if it will always have that connection?

Note to Sale: It is time to write a book regarding all of my paranormal experiences!
 

Voice of the patient in the head of the nurse: “Dying is not scary”

 A TikTok user named Julie, who works as a hospice nurse, posted a video in which she talked about a mysterious incident that changed her attitude towards death. 

One day, while on duty, she heard the voice of a dying patient in her head.

Hospice patient was afraid of death

Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient’s pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by reducing pain and suffering.

In other words, hopeless patients who know that they are going to die soon end up in the hospice. Among Julie’s wards was a middle-aged man who was very afraid of dying.

For some reason, many people believe that death is associated with unbearable pain, or at least with very strong negative feelings. Although, in fact, the sensations before death are individual for everyone, many do not even “notice” the transition to the other side and easily die in their sleep.

“Our team had a lot of conversations with him about death, over time we became very close friends,” says Julie....<<<Read More>>>....

Dear Spiritual Diary "The Shoulder Tapping"

 Dear spiritual diary, it has been a fact of life (For me anyway) for decades, to have either the left or right shoulder tapped whilst undertaking earthly activities.

There was also a spate, for several years, of having my feet touched, and brushed against just as I was drifting off to sleep. I now avoid sticking my feet out of my duvet if I can to avoid the happenings.

Facts of life are easy to integrate into life, a life that is constantly immersed in paranormal and supernatural occurrences. The average would likely freak when they are tapped and touched. They would not like having apparitions regularly walking up and down the stairs. For me it's easy ... it is part of my life.

However, in saying that, two nights ago an unknown entity stepped over the line in the sand. 

I was busily writing the next entry into "The Chronicles Of The Storyteller" ... I became aware of movement to my left (I have a table and crystal display to the left of me) and it was very much like someone was standing to my left and was agitated. They seemed unaware standing right where the table was. I guess in their alternate reality the table wasn't there. Then there was movement behind me and to the right of me. I paid little attention except acknowledge the presence.

it was then the very strong and undeniable tap happened on my left shoulder. I could even tell it was a woman because there was the feel of a finger nail on my shoulder. It certainly got my attention. I looked around the room and let the woman know I wanted to finish my entry and then I would give her some attention.

I've had hundreds of shoulder taps over the years, but this one was the strongest yet. I suspected who the woman was, but I was unable then to get a communication going. She probably took the huff and went out of my frequency range. 

Until the next time then.

Notice To Self: When I want to annoy someone on the earth plane when I've passed from this plane of existence, all I need to do is tap them on their shoulder as hard as I was tapped the other night.