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***** World Of The Strange *****
Weekly Newsletter of the Paranormal
By: Louise A. Lowry


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Part 1 of 2
####################
CONTENTS
#1. Switched On and Shocking by: Bob Rickard Part 2 (Electric
People Series)
#2. My Near Death Experience By - Patti Jeane Spencer
<pattijeane a 1...>
#3. Two Ghostly Stories: Haunted Gettysburg and The Windigo Indian
Ghost Spirit By Patrick Cross scifi a g... http://www.
globalserve net/~scifi/latestnews.htm
#4. Dr. Richard Boylan's Close Encounters Account (Part 1 of 2)
drboylan a j... http://www.ufonetwork com/boylan/
#5. May's Award Of Excellence
####################

#1. Switched On and Shocking by: Bob Rickard Part 2 (Electric
People Series)

There are people who can deliver an electric shock with their touch,
make electrical appliances stop working, or attract objects to their
bodies. How? Bob Rickard sheds some light on the phenomenon of
'electric people.'

In 1938 Mrs Antoine Timmer went to New York with high high hopes of
winning a $10,000 prize offered for demonstrating a psychic
phenomenon not reproducible by trickery. The demonstration was
organised by the Universal Council for Psychic Research, headed by
the famous stage magician Joseph Dunninger. Mrs Timmer, seeking to
understand her singular ability herself, showed how spoons and other
small objects stuck to her hands and could only be removed by a
vigorous tug. Her claim was dismissed because Dunninger said that he
could do what she did with a concealed thread. Nonetheless, there
were no allegations of trickery against Antoine Timmer - and she no
doubt went away as puzzled by her magnetic hands as when she came. On
their part, the council missed a chance to explore a truly
unexplained phenomenon.

People with unusual magnetic or electrical abilities are not all that
rare. These 'human magnets' and 'human spark plugs' may attract
objects to their body, create disturbances in electrical machines,
shock other people with their touch. But whatever their behaviour,
'electric people' make the news in the 20th century as they did in
the 19th, when interest in all kinds of curiosities was particularly
high.

For example the Daily Mirror of 23 March 1967 told the story of Brain
Clements, known to his friends as 'Flash Gordon'. Clements was so
highly charged that he had to discharge his voltage into metal
furniture before he touched anyone. The previous week the Sunday
Express of 19 March 1967 reported the miserable life of Mrs.Grace
Charlesworth, who had been tormented by electric shocks in her house
for two years after having lived there uneventfully for 40 years. She
said: 'Sometimes they have swung me round bodily and in the night my
head has started to shake as though i was using a pneumatic drill.
One day sparks ran up the walls.' Curiously, it was only Mrs.
Charlesworth who was affected; her husband was aware only of an
occasional humming noise.

Not surprisingly, many instances of electric people have been noticed
or recorded by doctors. In January 1869, the doctor who delivered a
baby in St. Urbain, France, said the infant was charged up 'like a
Leyden jar' ( a type of electrostatic condenser). The baby shocked
all who touched him, and luminous rays emanated from his fingers.
This peculiarly endowed baby had a brief life,
dying in his ninth month. Douglas Hunt records two similar but non-
fatal cases in Prediction magazine (January 1953). In the first
instance, a doctor received a sharp shock while delivering a baby.
The baby's 'electrification' lasted 24 hours, during which time he
was actually used to charge a Leyden jar, and sparks issued from him.
The second infant gave off a 'feeble white light' and caused '
vibrations' in small metal objects brought near his hands or feet.

Other 19th century cases are even more spectacular. Vincent Gaddis
mentions three in his book Mysterious fires and Lights (1967). The
first occurred in 1889 and concerned Frank McKinstry, of Joplin,
Missouri, USA, a man with a reputation as a good drowser. He was
plagued in a peculiar way: his charge was so strong in the early
morning that he had to keep moving. If he stopped even for a second,
he became fixed to the ground and had to wait until a helpful passer-
by would pull one of his legs to free him. There would be a small
faint flash and the grip would be broken--until the next time he
stood still.

The second case cited by Gaddis concerned a 17 year old Caroline
Clare of London, Ontario, Canada, who suffered from a strange
undiagnosable debilitation in 1877. Her weight fell dramatically to
about 6 1/2 stone (40 kilograms), and she suffered spasms and trances.
These passed after a year and a half and then the electrical
phenomenon began. Metal objects would jump into her hand when she
reached for them and, if she held one for any length of time, it
would stick to her until someone pulled it off. She shocked those she
touched, in one experiment
passing the shock along 20 people holding hands in a line. The
electrical phenomenon lasted for several months and, once gone, never
returned.

Thirdly, Gaddis mentions a 16 year old Louis Hamburger, who, in 1890,
was a student in Maryland, USA. When the tips of his fingers were dry,
he could pick up heavy objects simply by touching them. Pins would
dangle from his open hand as though from a magnet, and a vigorous
shake to send them flying. His favorite demonstration was to place
his fingers against a glass beaker full of iron fillings and pull the
filings up the inside of the beaker by moving his fingers up the
outer surface.

Both humans and animals have nervous systems that generate
electricity, and some animals are able to store and use this
potential. For example, electric eels-- which are really fish - have
an organ in their tails that produces an electrical current. This
current passes from the tail to the front and enables the fish to
discharge a hefty shock of up to 500 volts, depending on the animal's
size and health. The biggest jolt is delivered when the fish's head
and tail touch well-
separated parts of the victim's body, so allowing the current to
travel some distance. The human body can accumulate about 10,000
volts when a person walks across a thick carpet but, unlike the
electric eel's shock, any jolt given is harmless. This is because the
body can develop only a small electrical charge, which means in turn
that the current discharged is small. In contrast to this, the
'electric people' seem to be able to utilise their electrical
potential, although they may not even want to. Their physiological
state appears to have something to do with it, just as the electric
eel's health influences its electrical power.

For example, disease may play a part, not in itself, but in its
alterations of the metabolism and other physiological functions. An
astonishing report was made in 1920 by Dr.Julius Ransom, chief
physician at a state prison in New York, after 34 inmates developed
botulinus poisoning. During convalescence, one of them screwed up a
piece of paper and tried to throw it away, but the paper stuck fast
to his hand. Investigation showed that the man was carrying a high
static charge, and so were all of his fellow sufferers. They could
deflect compass needles and make a suspended steel tape sway by
moving there hands towards and away from it.The phenomena ceased when
the men recovered.

There is also evidence that atmospheric and geomagnetic conditions
may play a part in the strange phenomena of electric people. Consider
the case of 'a lady of great respectability', reported in the
American Journal of Science (1838) by her physician Dr. Willard
Hosford. She was age 30, of a nervous temperament and sedentary
habits, and the wife of a prominent man in Orford, New Hampshire. For
two years she had suffered from acute rheumatism and an unknown
aliment called 'unseated neuralgia. The electrical phenomena began on
the evening of 25
January 1837 when she was feeling strange. She happened to pass her
hand over her brother's face and, as she did so, vivid sparks shot
from her fingers, to the astonishment of both. When she stood on a
thick carpet, the sparks could be seen and heard discharging into
objects near her hands- they were brilliant and shocking, felt by the
woman and anyone she touched. The conditions favourable to bringing
on the phenomena included hot weather with temperature
around 80 degrees F (27 degrees C). Then the sparks would be about 1
1/2 inches (4 centimeters) long, coming at the rate of 4 a minute.

Thinking the woman's silk clothes were generating the charges, Dr.
Hosford had her wear all cotton apparel. As a control, her sister
wore silk. The woman's electricity was not reduced, and her sister
remained normal. The electric charges, which caused her much
discomfort lasted about six weeks, after which she was 'relived of
most of her neuralgia and other corporeal infirmities, and was in
better health than she had been for many years'.

The atmosphere aspect was raised by Dr. Hosford when he observed that
'a crimson aurora of uncommon splendour' was lighting the heavens and
exciting scientific interest at the time of the Orford woman's
strange attack. Her charges began on the same evening as this
heavenly display of electricity, and Dr. Hosford felt it was no mere
coincidence. One is strongly reminded of the theory, put forward by
Livingston Gearhart, that relates instances of spontaneous human
combustion to moments of charge in the intensity of the Earth's
magnetic field.

Perhaps the most famous 19th-century 'electric girl' was Annie May
Abbott, who toured the world as 'The Little Georgia Magnet' in the
late 1880's and the early 1890s. On the stage in London in 1891, she
raised a chair with a heavy man seated in it merely by touching it
with the palm of her hand. Though she weighted only 7 stone (45
kilograms), groups of men could not lift her in a chair when she
resisted it. In Japan she overcame the attempts of the huge and
skillful Sumo
wrestlers to budge her from where she stood, just as she could
'neutralize their strenuous efforts to lift any small object upon
which she had lightly rested her fingers. Another 'immovable was Mary
Richardson, who gave performances in Liverpool in September 1921. She
was easily lifted one minute, and then six men would fail to move her
even slightly. Her touch could knock men across the stage. A.C. Holms,
the Scottish physical researcher, rut his hand on Mary's shoulder
while a line of 13 men pushed against her and his hand, and he felt
no pressure at all from their push. He was convinced somehow the
force exerted against her was neutralized or shunted, perhaps in
another dimension.

The classic 'electric girl' must be Angelique Cottin, a 14 year old
french girl from Normandy. Her ordeal began on 15 January 1846 and
lasted 10 weeks. The first manifestation was when the weaving frame
from which she and three other girls were making gloves twisted and
rocked. Within a short time the girl's parents exhibited her in Paris,
where she came to the attention of a Dr. Tanchou. Dr. Tanchou
reported to the Academy of Sciences that the girl could identify the
poles of a magnet, agitate a compass and alternately attract and
repel small objects like a magnet. He also said that he could feel a
sensation 'like a cold wind' in her vicinity during these activities -
such a wind being reminiscent of the breeze that blows away from a
highly charged object. Objects were violently propelled away from her
at her slightest touch; her bed rocked violently; chairs twisted away
from under her when she tried to sit down; and a 60 pound (25
kilogram) table rose into the air when her apron brushed against it.

An Empty Performance

The academy appointed a research team, led by the famous physicist
Francois Arago. Although Angelique performed as best she could, her
phenomena seemed to have deserted her, which also happens when modern
poltergeist children and 'spoon-benders' face a sceptical enquirer or
the starkness of a laboratory. The committee had ignored Dr.
Tanchou's observations that the
girl performed best when she was relaxed. Poor Angelique was
extremely frightened by the situation and the manifestations that did
occur, and frequently left the room. The committee reported that they
could not corroborate any claims made for Angelique, but drew back
from calling her a fraud.

Dr. Tanchou had found that Angelique's force was strongest in the
evening, especially after a meal, and that it radiated from her left
wrist, inner left elbow and spine. From his experiments Dr. Tanchou
believed the cause was an undiscovered form of electricity. But
Arago's team was not convinced. Besides, the academy was waging a
'holy war' against mesmerism at the time and
could not accept phenomena so similar to those claimed by the
detested practitioners and advocates of 'animal magnetism'. Arago
recommended that the academy treat the case of Angelique Cottin 'as
never having been sent in ' - and another chance for the scientific
world to discover what caused electrical phenomena in people slipped
away.

A Highly-Charged Subject

In many respects electricity behaves like, and is described in terms
of, a fluid. For example, we speak of an electric current. This is a
steam of electrons that carry negative electric charge and are
constituents of atoms. The rate of flow of current is measured in
amps. The 'pressure' that drives the current is electrical potential,
measured in volts and more often simply called voltage. The quantity
of electric charge is measured in coulombs, one coulomb being the
amount of electric charge that flows when one amp passes for one
second.

When electricity accumulates on the human body as a result of
friction-say of a nylon shirt rubbing on car upholstery-it may be at
a potential of thousands of volts. But the quantity of charge is tiny,
so that it can do little harm when discharged. This can be compared
to the jet of water from a water pistol, it is delivered at a highly
pressure, but in too small a quantity to do and damage. Dangerous
shocks, such as those from electric mains, are caused by large
currents flowing at a high voltage for a relatively long period.

Usually we are unaware of the electrical nature of matter because
negative and positive charges exist in equal quantities around us,
and their effects cancel out. Only when the two are separated are
their effects seen.

Such effects include fleeting and small-scale examples of the
phenomena exhibited by 'electric people'. Rub a plastic comb on a
sleeve and it will take up electrons, which are negatively charged
and can move about, from the cloth. It can then attract a small piece
of paper. This is because the comb's negative electrons repel the
paper's negative electrons in accordance with the fundamental
electrical law that 'likes repel, unlikes attract'. The paper's
negative electrons move away and leave the surface of the paper that
is closet to the comb with surplus of positive charge. The 'positive'
paper is the attracted to the 'negative' comb. The is a similar
effect when a balloon is rubbed on clothing: it will gain a charge
that causes it to stick to things.

NEXT WEEK as the series (Electric People) continues you will be
reading "Live Wires and Loose Connections:" by Bob Rickard
####################

#2. My Near Death Experience By - Patti Jeane Spencer
<pattijeane a 1...>

My second child was born in November, 1952, at Florence Nightengale
Maternity Center at Baylor, Hospital, Dallas, Texas. My name at
that time was Ms. George A. Proctor, Sr.

At the time of her birth I had been used in an experiment without my
permission, by the doctor who informed me it was being done while it
was in process. I was not a charity patient but had insurance
through my husband's policy from his work. These experiments are
done more often than people realize without their permission and
should be outlawed as illegal. This was a very serious mistake and
almost cost me my life, had it not been for the friendly Extra
Terrestrial powers that came to my rescue.

Due to her intervention, I had the baby at once and she had no way to
stop the bleeding it was so severe. I was seriously injured
otherwise and had my near death experience. I have asked for the
medical records in the past and was informed I'd have to have
another doctor or an attorney to get them. I would advise anyone to
be sure of their doctors and make sure they know you do not want to
be used in their experiments as this is done quite often and many
times without permission.

I had heard the doctor say she had lost me as I was loosing all my
blood and she could not stop it. She made the remark if anyone
knew how to pray they better do it quickly. I began in my mind to
say the Lord's Prayer. Before I finished, I found myself out of my
body and standing in the room, looking at what was happening in the
room. They had pushed the gurney over against the wall and only one
nurse stood by me. As far as the doctor was concerned, I had lost
all my blood, my vital signs were gone and I was dead. She was not
even trying to work with me at all and only one nurse stood by me.
The doctor went outside to my Grandmother, Aunt and husband and
asked what they wanted done with the body as she told them I was gone
and she could do nothing about it. It might be of interest to some
that this particular woman doctor had been a Colonel in the US Army
and had only recently retired. No doubt that's where she got her
ideas to experiment on people.

Immediately after leaving my body a shaft of very white light came
down in the room and a beautiful woman with long black hair in a
white robe trimmed in gold came down through the Light. She extended
her hands toward me and gave me the choice of either going up in the
Light with her or staying on earth in my body. At first, I wanted
to go with her in the Light as the experience was so beautiful and
peaceful. I was also totally out of pain as the Light surrounded me.

I have no actual memory at this time of what transpired as I went up
in the shaft of Light with her but I have received some information
that I was taken to a space ship above the hospital at that time
because of my condition. I hope to someday meet with a therapist and
investigate this experience more thoroughly and perhaps regain some
of the memory of what transpired during the out-of-body experience.

The next memory I have was standing again outside the light in the
delivery room and saying, 'I choose to live', which I presume was a
decision to come back on earth for my mission was unfinished. After
reading much about walk-ins I have wondered if perhaps this is what
occurred since my original choice was to go up in the Light with the
beautiful Lady.

When the experience was first published, back in the 70's, it was
written under my name at the time, Patsy Jean Politte I believed this
beautiful lady might have been the Goddess Isis as I had been reading
about her at the time and the experience was also published in the
Iris Rising Newsletter as well as Rainbow Magazine out of California
and some others.

At the same time I spoke these words there was an explosion of Light
in the room and I also spoke them simultaneously from my body. This
caused a great stir among the medics there and they rushed to my
side and began to beat me on my extremities and heart area to bring
back the circulation and start my heart to beating and my breathing.
This was in 1952 and I presume before they had much of the equipment
they now have to sustain life in emergencies, at least there was none
used on me, they simply considered me gone and pushed me aside. I
had bruise marks on my body from their attempts to start the
circulation again. It was four hours later I awoke in my room with
five doctors and nurses looking at me. My doctor said, "You've really
given us a scare".

During this time, my Grandmother told me they were standing on the
outside of the hospital and some thought they had seen a strange
silver object in the sky above. I don't know if this had anything to
do with my experience. Another thing strange was the actual time my
daughter was born due to the doctor's undue intervention. She was
born at 10:26 on November 10, 1952. The reason I think it quite
strange is that my mother died three days after my birth, and her
death was recorded at 10:26 on November 10, 1930. This particular
daughter has always been the motherly type to my other children and
they all took turns staying with her on occasion for a lengthy period
as I travelled quite often in my work. This would be interested info
to any that believe in incarnation and that we come back in the same
line and the same locale from which we left.

"The writer now has a mailing list for positive contactees as well as
other paranormal encounters to freely share and discuss their
experiences without harassment: To join: http://www.onelist.
com/subscribe.cgi/ProET

My Thanks to Patti for sharing her 'NDE' story with my readers...
####################

#3. Two Ghostly Stories: Haunted Gettysburg and The Windigo Indian
Ghost Spirit By Patrick Cross scifi a g... http://www.
globalserve net/~scifi/latestnews.htm

Haunted Gettysburg, from the IGHS Conference and have great ghost orb
pictures from it. See it on my site:http://www.globalserve.
net/~scifi/latestnews.htm there are also ghost pictures from
Gettysburg very paranormal activity.

Sachs Bridge..during the Civil War it was used as a hospital, where
there were a lot of soldiers were killed, in battle and two hanged at
the bridge!

I saw my first real full ghost image at the haunted Cashtown Inn. A
couple of miles out of Gettysburg and got some great (EVP)
recordings! The ghost soldier is of a young man who was killed and
had a full uniform on. Full facial features, beard and you could see
it as clear as day. He appeared as I was leaving from the Cashtown
Inn, in an upper window and stood there staring for about a minute
just staring and just disappeared. I was very excited! Gettysburg has
a lot of ghosts.

If you want a page of some cool incidents...please see my site:
http://www.globalserve.net/~scifi/latestnews.htm

(cont'd-Talking About Gettysburg!)
The most interesting of all, was I was staying just down the road
from the Cashtown Inn, the road itself was used by soldiers to
transport the wounded during the battle, to the Cashtown Inn, which
was used as a hospital.

There was a 17 mile long line of wounded travelling on this road, old
38. Many men were in pain, shot, had arms or hands blown off, bullet
wounds! You can imagine the agony and despair these wounded soldiers
faced. The fact that the immense despair and hardship of war left.

What I truly believe a magnetic imprint in time on the area and sure
enough, many ghosts do appear as marching soldiers, dying and
fighting for their families and country! Therefore, the soldiers are
spirits caught in time, fighting and still feel the pain and all the
emotions as it happens again and again.

I myself have felt and heard the despair of men at the Cashtown Inn,
I heard the dying cries, the nurses who were helping the men, the
amputations that went on with no medical aid other than rubbing
alcohol and gun powder and a strong bottle of whiskey to ease the
pain!

I heard the screams from the dying as clear as day on this road. So
to actually hear a whole row of calvary going by on this road at 5:30
am on the morning of March 26th,1999 just made me stop and ponder how
much we value while we are living! How much we can learn! I did not
see anything! I awoke to horses, wagons, walking, chains, military
rifles, marching and many sounds of the dying all slowly go by my
small Inn where I was staying.

As it passed slowly to go on ahead to Cashtown Inn, unfortunately, I
didn't record much of it other then abit of the end of the soldier
train with my tape recorder to play back fading sounds of the
Gettysburg regiment as they passed by!

No images at all just sounds! As clear as day, even the horses
panting, pulling wagons! I thought that this was glorious to
experience and I felt in my heart,a pounding that nothing could ever
explain this thin line between life and death!

Do we live on in time when we die? Are we all waiting for the war to
end and live in peace? Everyone should visit Gettysburg Pennsylvania!
To see for yourselves how we value so much in life, with our feelings,
emotions and love we have for our families and friends! The Civil
War was a great battle fought in America! It brought freedom and new
life.

The most haunted place in America! Where the now ghosts and spirits
dwell of the 170,000 who were killed still fight the war to this day!
The tragedy of thousands of men laying dead or close to death, is
everywhere!! I was just glad I could experience it and felt very
proud to be there! To go back in time! As a paranormal and ghost
researcher, this visit has touched my life! And I will definitely go
back again, to comfort the spirits, and enjoy all the fine
establishments that make Gettysburg a must see! To be a part of one
of America's Greatest History spots! Thanks for letting me share
this with all of you! If any one else has ghosts of Gettysburg
stories to share, please email me. I would love to hear from those
who also had experiences! In spirit and in the light...Patrick Cross-
email: scifi a g...

CONTINUED IN 2ND PART!

~~~~~Louise A. Lowry~~~~~
"World Of The Strange Weekly Newsletter"
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