Paranormal investigator, Ross Hemsworth has placed a £100 bet with bookmakers William Hill that he will provide solid evidence that the afterlife exists before the year ends. “There is something out there trying to make contact,” Hemsworth said in an interview.

“With the evidence we have got we are not a million miles away from proving it. The whole point of the project is to prove that there is something there. More and more people are coming away from religion, there are more and more wars. If we can prove this we hope it will make some difference to peoples’ lives.”

I can’t help but feel skeptical about this man and his intentions. If he really wants to “make some difference to people’s lives”, why place a crackpot bet? This sounds like the latest of many schemes.

The Tunguska explosion was blamed on a meteorite or comet that, experts believe, exploded as low as 5 miles above the ground. Up until now, no one has found a crater or debris that supported this belief.

Marine geologist, Luca Gasperini, and his team may have located the crater about 5 miles north-northwest of the suspected epicenter. Lake Chesko has a strange funnel-shaped bottom that is consistent with craters. Future drilling may resolve a century-old mystery.

I disagree with David Germain’s “low rent” version of The Shining (see prior post). This movie stands alone on its own merits. While The Shining relied on gore and violence, 1408 is psychological horror at its best.

John Cusack performed beautifully as Mike Enslin, a troubled writer who writes books about haunted hotels despite the fact that he’s a skeptic of the paranormal. “Nothing would make me happier than to experience a paranormal event, to catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said to a meager group of fans.

He gets his wish, and then some, when he enters Room 1408 inside the Dolphin hotel. The special effects were very typical of a Stephen King movie. According to the hotel manager (played by Samuel L. Jackson), 56 people had died in that room. Yet, I saw only four of the ghosts.

The evil essence (or whatever you’d like to call it) picked Mike’s brain and tortured him with the memories of his deceased daughter and father. At first, he denies the ghosts as hallucinations, blaming the manager for poisoning the liquor he had taken up to his room. The hauntings escalate until he decides to check out. Only the room won’t let him.

His situation gets scarier and weirder as time goes on. In one scene, we think he’s escaped, only to watch him get plunged right back into that nightmarish room. The ending was a bit rushed and pat. That, I agreed with. Despite the weak ending, this was a good movie. I’m looking forward to adding the DVD to my Stephen King movie collection.

For those of you who haven’t heard about the movie yet, I’ll give you the gist. John Cusack plays a man who, after losing his daughter, becomes obsessed with debunking the paranormal. He receives a postcard from the Dolphin Hotel (which is notoriously haunted) with a message that reads, “Don’t enter 1408.”

Naturally, he does.

1408 was dubbed the “low rent of The Shining” by David Germain of Associated Press, but he said that the movie was saved by the stellar performances of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. I’ve been anxiously awaiting to see this movie since I first saw the movie trailers back in January.