Robert Anton Wilson wore many academic hats, which included futurology, anarchy, and conspiracy theory research. He was also a prolific American writer, whose career spanned thirty-five years. His best-known work was the Illuminatus Trilogy (co-authored with Robert Shea), a satire about American conspiracy theories. Most of his work covered a wide berth of New Age topics, such as UFOs, crop circles, occult practices, etc.

Wilson didn’t believe in beliefs, but rather in probabilities. “Belief is the death of thought,” he once said.

In fact, he shunned dogmatic beliefs because he felt that they led to fascist behavior. In his book, Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death, he used the example of militant feminism to demonstrate how dogmatic adherence to any belief system can result in intolerant and even dangerous ideologies.

On October 2, 2006, Douglas Rushkoff appealed to the blogosphere for donations to Wilson, who was in severe financial trouble due to ailing health. Slashdot, Boing Boing, and the Church of the Subgenius wrote about Wilson’s plight. By October 10th, their efforts succeeded in raising enough money to support Wilson financially for at least 6 months.

Sadly, this generosity couldn’t help Wilson’s health which continued to deteriorate. Doctors gave him between two days and two months to live. Robert Anton Wilson died yesterday at age 74 from post-polio syndrome. Five days earlier, he closed his final message on his blog by saying, “Please pardon my levity, I don’t see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.”

Kip Shelton of DeadFish Productions is currently trying to negotiate a contract with Paramount Pictures for the distribution rights of his upcoming Sci-Fi thriller, “Paranormal.”

The story involves Avery Morris, who assembles a team of paranormal experts to seek answers to the afterlife.

Together, the team travels the country investigating hauntings, exposing hoaxes, and attempting to explain the unexplainable events that they experience. Reminiscent of the film classic “Poltergeist” with a taste of the “X Files,” along with actual reported hauntings, this series is guaranteed to scare everyone.

This sounds like the reality Ghost Buster series turned Hollywood. Since I enjoyed both Poltergeist and the X Files, I’m intrigued by Shelton’s show. “Paranormal” will be featured at the NAPTE Conference in Las Vegas, NV in January 2007.

Source: Associated Content

Almost everyone has heard about NDE’s (Near Death Experiences). How many people heard of pre-birth experiences (PBE’s)? I hadn’t until I came across an article on the subject at About.com. Many of the accounts summarized in this article were of parents who had had a visitation from their future children before they were born.

Now that I’m thinking about this subject, I remember watching a television show akin to “Rescue 911″ where a woman had suffered a serious accident. She didn’t know that she was pregnant at the time until her son came to her in an NDE and encouraged her spirit to fight. Both she and her son survived.

People have said that life begins at conception. It’s stories like these that make me wonder if life is a continuous thing.

Jim Jung has written a new book entitled, Weird Egypt: The Case for Supernatural Geology. Jung does not believe in ghosts or the afterlife, which he believes is caused by natural phenomenon such as earthquakes.

Jung believes most hauntings reported worldwide can be traced to one common factor: Tectonic Strain Theory which was developed by Dr. Michael Persinger, neurophysiologist of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, and John Derr of the U.S. Geological Survey who were studying the effects of tectonic strain on epileptics. Basically, the earth’s faults are constantly pushing together. Under intense strain, when there are small shifts or even earthquakes, electrons trapped within the granite layer escape and they beam up to space as an electromagnetic field when they do. They are not released often, but when released they often happen at the same location. The electromagnetic cloud might be visible to the naked eye as a glowing light, which he calls an earth light.

Also the electromagnetic field is of a frequency that affects the brain in the same area that is responsible for our dreams. What we experience is a sort of waking dream and may see strange shapes, hear unusual sounds, feel coldness or warmth or smell something that seems to have no explainable source. The electromagnetic energy dissipates in a matter of seconds or minutes leaving us with a strange, otherworldly feeling. Many of us experiencing this will say we have been visited by a ghost.

This is an interesting theory. Whether or not he or anyone else can prove it remains to be seen. I can see where it might be possible in earthquake prone areas. But there are many fault-free places in this world. How does one explain the hauntings in those locations?

Source: The Daily Register