Phantoms and Monsters

Esoterica: Wi-Fi Refugees, Haunted NYC and Negative Ion Mystery

Posted: 18 Sep 2011 01:22 PM PDT

'Wi-fi refugees' shelter in West Virginia mountains

Dozens of Americans who claim to have been made ill by wi-fi and mobile phones have flocked to the town of Green Bank, West Virginia.

There are five billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide and advances in wireless technology make it increasingly difficult to escape the influence of mobile devices. But while most Americans seem to embrace continuous connectivity, some believe it's making them physically ill.

Diane Schou is unable to hold back the tears as she describes how she once lived in a shielded cage to protect her from the electromagnetic radiation caused by waves from wireless communication.

"It's a horrible thing to have to be a prisoner," she says. "You become a technological leper because you can't be around people.

"It's not that you would be contagious to them - it's what they're carrying that is harmful to you."

Ms Schou is one of an estimated 5% of Americans who believe they suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), which they say is caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields typically created by mobile phones, wi-fi and other electronic equipment.

Symptoms range from acute headaches, skin burning, muscle twitching and chronic pain.

"My face turns red, I get a headache, my vision changes, and it hurts to think. Last time [I was exposed] I started getting chest pains - and to me that's becoming life-threatening," Ms Schou says.

To alleviate the pain, her husband built an insulated living space known as a Faraday Cage.

He covered a wooden frame with two layers of wire mesh and a door that could be sealed shut to prevent radio waves from entering.

Diane spent much of her time inside it, sleeping on a twin mattress on a plywood base.

"At least I could see my husband on the outside, I could talk to him," she says.

Diane believes her illness was triggered by emissions from a mobile phone mast.

Her symptoms were so severe that she abandoned her family farm in the state of Iowa and moved to Green Bank, West Virginia - a tiny village of 143 residents in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains.

Green Bank is part of the US Radio Quiet Zone, where wireless is banned across 13,000 sq miles (33,000 sq km) to prevent transmissions interfering with a number of radio telescopes in the area.

The largest is owned by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and enables scientists to listen to low-level signals from different places in the universe.

Others are operated by the US military and are a critical part of the government's spy network.

As a result of the radio blackout, the Quiet Zone has become a haven for people like Diane, desperate to get away from wireless technology.

"Living here allows me to be more of a normal person. I can be outdoors. I don't have to stay hidden in a Faraday Cage," she says.

"I can see the sunrise, I can see the stars at night, and I can be in the rain.

"Here in Green Bank allows me to be with people. People here do not carry cell phones so I can socialise.

"I can go to church, I can attend some celebrations, I can be with people. I couldn't do that when I had to remain in the Faraday Cage."

But EHS is not medically recognised in the US.

The wireless association, CTIA, says that scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that wireless devices, with the limits established by government regulators, do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects.

And the World Health Organization, while acknowledging that the symptoms are genuine and can be severe, says: "EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link EHS symptoms to EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure. Further, EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem."

However, new research by scientists at Louisiana State University and published by the International Journal of Neuroscience, claims to show that EHS can be caused by low frequency electromagnetic fields found in the environment.

"The study provides direct evidence that linking human symptoms with environmental factors, in this case EMF," says Dr Andrew Marino, a neurology professor who led the study.

"It's a watershed in that regard. There have been no previous studies that scientifically assess whether electromagnetic fields in the environment could produce human symptoms.

"And the symptoms matter because they are the first steps that show how EMFs produce human disease."

Scientists conducted a number of tests on a 35-year-old physician who had diagnosed herself with EHS.

She was seated on a wooden chair while voltage was applied to metal plates for pulses of 90 seconds to create a series of magnetic fields. The woman was asked to describe her symptoms after each exposure and after random sham exposures when, unknown to her, there was no voltage.

She reported headaches, pain and muscle twitching during the genuine exposures and no symptoms for the majority of the sham exposures.

The scientists concluded that such consistency could not be attributed to chance.

But other experts still disagree that a link exists.
Technological 'ignorance'

Bob Park is a physics professor at the University of Maryland.

He says that the radiation emitted by wi-fi is simply too weak to cause the type of changes in the body's chemistry that could make people sick.

"The bigger problem that we face is that in our society, driven by technological change, people have very little education," he says.

"There are lots of things people need to learn and they're not learning it. The thing that's going to kill them is ignorance."

Seventy-year-old Nichols Fox says she understands such scepticism - it took several years before she became convinced that her debilitating pain and fatigue were caused by electromagnetic radiation emitted by her computer.

"Towards the end of my normal life when I still could watch television I could actually cut my pain off and on with the remote control device," she says. "It was such an enormously clear association there was just no denying it."

Her symptoms are so severe that she has isolated herself almost entirely, living in a remote house surrounded by fields and woods just outside the Quiet Zone. She says even the low-level electromagnetic fields generated there affect her health.

She uses hardly any electricity - her refrigerator operates on gas, light comes from kerosene lamps and a wood-burning stove provides most of her heat.

A thermostat is set to switch on electric heaters if the temperature drops to a level where she is in danger of hypothermia.

"It's so important that people understand that this is a very serious disability, it's a life-changing disability. It leads to an earlier death - I have absolutely no doubt about that and I think it's just unfortunate that this is not recognised," she says.

But even in this secluded part of America, the incursion of wireless technology is relentless. Planning permission has been granted for a cell tower a few miles from her home, and Nichols says she'll have to move.

"I'm getting older and I really don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do," she says. "It's really quite frightening." - BBC

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Must Visit Haunted Places in New York City

There are several buildings and important places in New York City famous for their haunted history. From Ghosts shaking hands to jumping off the building these Haunted places in New York City have plenty of paranormal activity to explore.

Algonquin Hotel - Algonquin Hotel is New York City is famous for the ghosts of the "Vicious Circle". During 1920s this hotel was the meeting spot of the "Vicious Circle" which was a group of writers, actors and playwrights. This group came daily to the hotel for 8 years. There were something in this hotel that they liked so much that despite being dead they still visit this hotel. Several guests have seen their spirit walking through the bar and bedroom. So if haunted places fascinates you then do stay in the Algonquin Hotel on your next visit to Big Apple.

Chelsea Hotel - The famous Chelsea hotel of New York also has a long history of paranormal activities. Janis Joplin once said that lots of funky things happens in Chelsea. Its indeed true. Several people have seen ghost of Thomas Wolfe at the 8th floor of the hotel. One can also come across Dylar Thomas at Chelsea as well. And if you think that gohsts are limited to hotel's rooms then think again or you will be forced to think again once you share the elevator with the ghost of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, the guy suspected to stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in Room 100.

Belasco Theatre - One of the oldest theatres in NYC has seen several paranormal activities. David Belasco, the buider of the building is often sighted at the theatre. Although his ghost has been very friendly with the actors. He has often interacted with actors by offering handshakes and kudos. Some people have also sighted Blue Lady in the theatre who is believed to be companion of David Belasco.

Empire State Building - One of the tallest buildings in New York is also among the most haunted. During the days of its construction there has been at least 14 suicides attempts from the observation deck. Spirits of the people who committed suicides are often seen jumping off the building.

Manhattan Bistro - Manhattan Bistro has been home to some very weird paranormal activity. People have seen ashtray knocked off tables, bottles flying off, plates being broken on the floors. It is believed that the ghost of Elma Sands is behind all this. In 1799, she was murdered in this very building. Her body has thrown in a well which is now the basement of Manhattan Bistro.

NOTE: my list for the most haunted places in NYC would definitely include the Chelsea Hotel and the Algonquin Hotel (stayed at the Algonquin Hotel twice and investigated once...the place has a ton of spiritual energy). I would also include two personal favorites - The White Horse Tavern (West Village) and the Dakota Hotel...Lon

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Zapping the brain with magnets makes it IMPOSSIBLE to lie, claim scientists

If truth be told, magnetic interference with the brain makes it impossible to lie. At least, that's what a group of Estonian researchers are claiming.

They found that when magnets were applied to either the right or left side of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, found directly behind your forehead, it made you lie or tell the truth, depending on which side was stimulated.

When magnetic interference was directed at another part of the brain, the parietal lobe, the subjects' decision-making remain unchanged.

'Spontaneous choice to lie more or less can be influenced by brain stimulation,' researchers Inga Karton and Talis Bachmann wrote in Behavioural Brain Research.

The experiment involved giving 16 volunteers disks that varied in colour.
Half were then given magnetic stimulation on the right side of their prefrontal cortex, half on the left.

They then had two options: to lie about what colour their disks were, or tell the truth.

Remarkably, those stimulated on the left side fibbed a great deal more, those on the right showed much more honesty.

Scientists last year found that magnets can also be used to disrupt the brain's 'moral compass'.

The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanours or good works.

In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.

The study highlights how our sense of right and wrong isn't just based on upbringing, religion or philosophy - but by the biology of our brains.

Dr Liane Young, who led the study, said: 'You think of morality as being a really high-level behaviour. To be able to apply a magnetic field to a specific brain region and change people's moral judgements is really astonishing.'

The moral compass lies in a part of the brain called the right temporo-parietal junction. It lies near the surface of the brain, just behind the right ear.

The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a non-invasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt the area of the brain.

The technique generates a magnetic field on a small part of the skull which creates weak electric currents in the brain. These currents interfere with nearby brain cells and prevent them from firing normally.

In the first experiment, 12 volunteers were exposed to the magnetic field for 25 minutes before they were given a series of 'moral maze' style scenarios.

For each of the 192 scenarios, they were asked to make a judgement about the character's actions on a scale of 1 for 'absolutely forbidden' to 7 for 'absolutely permissible'.

In the second experiment, the magnetic field was applied to their heads at the time they were asked to weigh up the behaviour of the characters in the scenario.

In both experiments, the magnetic field made the volunteers less moral.
One scenario described a man who let his girlfriend walk over a bridge he knew was unsafe. The girl survived unharmed.

Under normal conditions, most people rate the man's behaviour as unacceptable. But after getting the magnetic pulse, the volunteers tended to see nothing wrong with his actions - and judged his behaviour purely on whether his girlfriend survived. - dailymail

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A Reader's Negative Ion Mystery

Hello Lon,

I have e-mailed you before regarding my family's UFO encounters in the Philippines. I am e-mailing you again because I was hoping you could provide some insights on another strange phenomenon that occurred in our home about two or three nights ago. It was on the early morning hours of the 15th or 16th. I remember it was the night of the "meteor" flap in the U.S. because I logged on to the Internet to find out whether there was something going on and my search led me to the meteor incident.

Anyway, I am not sure what time it was there but it was around 3 AM here when it happened. I was tossing and turning in my bed and I couldn't sleep. I felt unusually cold and was in fact slightly shivering, even though my mother said later it wasn't really that cold. Some time before 3 AM, I started hearing a low humming sound that had a certain rhythm to it. It was very low but I could hear the beat or the oscillation of it and it made it more difficult for me to sleep. I also started having a bit of difficulty breathing (I have asthma). At some point (around 3 AM), I decided to wake up my mother and ask for help. I was sitting on her bed and she was rubbing my back in an effort to calm my breathing when we were both startled by a VERY LOUD beep. It lasted for maybe 10 to 15 seconds and seemed like it was coming from an electronic device right there between us. However, there were no electronic devices there at all (our cell phones were on the computer table some distance away) except for my mother's glucometer, which does not normally emit any type of sound at all (it doesn't have speakers).

We finally figured that the sound was coming from my mother's bag, which was there on her bed, and we both scrambled for it. The moment she touched her bag, the long beeping stopped. We checked her glucometer and it was turned off. We poured out all the contents of her bag and searched through it (even the tiny side pockets) and there was nothing in there that could have caused the beep. We have no smoke detectors or burglar alarms or toys or any type of equipment that could have caused such a sound. In fact, I think it was the first time we had ever heard an electronic beep that loud and that long. As far as we know, we do not have tinnitus and do not normally hear strange beeping sounds or any type of unusual sounds.

Anyway, despite the fact that it was strange, we probably would have dismissed that incident as some sort of sound anomaly, if not for the fact that a few minutes later, I noticed that my negative ion bangle had turned bright pink. My mother gave me this negative ion bangle that she had bought at a Japanese store. She also wears one -- hers is blue and mine is pink, although in truth when we bought them they weren't really pink and blue. They were very pale, almost white, with only a pinkish and bluish TINGE to them. After the beeping incident, however, both her bangle and mine had turned a bright pink and blue. This indicated to me that we were exposed to some type of energy anomaly, and it fascinated me that the bangles could actually function as a DETECTOR of whatever type of energy we were exposed to.

I tried looking it up online and couldn't come up with anything. I was hoping you could help me identify what exactly happened and what type of energy we could possibly have been exposed to. I would really just appreciate your views on this matter. I don't know much about negative ion bracelets and if truth be told, I was a bit skeptical about this whole negative ion thing until this happened. My bangle is still pink even as I write, although it has faded a bit and seems to be slowly becoming pale again. Again, any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

M.

NOTE: the writer is soliciting responses. I had a few ideas that I forwarded...what do you think? Lon

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