The Avalon Foundation :|: Research - Necro-Anomalies and Ghost Particles

N. A. Reiter

23 December 2003

Introduction:

During the years of The Avalon Foundation's ghost and paranormal investigation (1996 to present), we encountered on many occasions anecdotes and testimony concerning haunted cemeteries and grave sites. While few places in the human drama would be more fitting for a ghost story, this propensity for graveyard tales made little sense to us, when we tried to consider ghosts in the traditional paradigm of spirits or personalities surviving physical death. If ghosts were either spirits of the departed, or perhaps embedded patterns of some subtle field capable of "playing back" into modern reality, then it seemed like they should primarily be associated with locations of life, not post mortem decay.

Cemetery "ghosts" often times appeared to be of a sort suggestive of pure folklore - dramatic tales, echoing similar themes across the country and beyond. The forgotten lover wandering among the stones in black. The child ghost searching for his mother. The tragic mother, eternally lamenting her slain child. Such dark beauty and humanity dwells within these tales. However, these traditional tales generally contrast with the actual graveyard anecdotes of living paranormal experiencers. Because of this, there exists evidence for something perhaps far more interesting in a broad sense. Cemeteries, burial places, and churchyards - from all cultures and faiths in all eras - never fail to induce deep experiences within the living. Of course the psychological and religious impact of the resting places of the dead play an enormous role. Yet on many occasions, the phenomena reported within "the cemetery gates" so to speak, are of a sort that defies the rational in a mind-blowing way. Bizarre creatures, elemental beings, monsters, weird lights and fires, moving stones, all join the more folklore-ish restless dead.

In late 2002, I spoke by phone with author John Keel about directions in paranormal investigation. John asked me whether or not I had ever made any headway in investigating the purely strange phenomena associated with cemeteries. His query echoed in me, and in truth it seemed like something we had given short shift. In casual discussions with ghost author Chris Woodyard, John's puzzlement was echoed. Chris felt that haunted cemeteries were generally within the realm of folklore and our primal urge to build a good haunt, when our psyches needed one! Since a child, Chris had been blessed / cursed with an uncanny ability to "see" (with a visual sense somewhat overlapping her everyday vision) spirits, or the apparent dead. Whether true shades of the dead in a spiritual sense, or hyper-refined visually acute psychometric impressions, Chris rarely encountered entities in cemeteries, unless said cemeteries had themselves been the sites of deaths or powerful human dramas. Another voice of speculation added. If it wasn't the spirits of the departed haunting cemeteries, what then was or is the core reason for the burial places of our dead to be so... damnably active? Let's walk in the graveyard for a bit. Consider the following anecdotes from our files, so representative of countless centuries of the anomalous.

Grave Matters:

George K. is a robust and ebullient fellow born and raised in Lebanon. He has a no-nonsense view of life, no doubt a result of his childhood in a land where bullets are often dodged like horseflies. At the same time, a talk with George can take one away for hours, into a dreamy space of Old World stories and whispered village folklore.

George recounted how his uncle from Beirut years ago had been walking along a stretch of ancient highway and happened to pass a very old Maronite Christian cemetery. It was near dusk, and the fellow was no doubt hastening homeward. George's uncle suddenly heard faint music and queer singing out of nowhere. Peering over a wall into the Maronite cemetery, he was terrified and stunned to see a circle of tiny human looking beings - like animated Barbie dolls in ancient dress - dancing on top of a crypt. The fairy like beings saw him, and one yelled at him that if he didn't leave now, he would die! George's uncle, near sanity's edge, ran like the wind from the place, and refused to travel that stretch of road again for many years.

Bert Z. is a grandmother from central Ohio, known by me since 1992 as a wonderful friend and correspondent on UFO matters. Bert tells a story about a hideous graveyard encounter she experienced in the very early 1970s. One night, Bert and several of her friends at the time were following that beautiful old 70s pastime of cruising and partying late at night on country roads, in an era before it became quite as unfashionable to do so. The jovial gang pulled into an old country cemetery near Dayton, Ohio in the wee hours of the morning. The cemetery was back a long lane in a secluded wooded lot. The group parked, but left their headlights on. The beams of the headlights shone across part of the cemetery to where a large tree had recently fallen, and had not yet been cleared out by the cemetery people. Bert had foolishly taken one of the front seats in the car. She looked out across the grass toward the log. Suddenly, in the headlights of the car, she saw a creature rise slowly into the air above the fallen tree trunk.

The blasphemous looking entity resembled something from a painting by Bosch - a large oblong furry caterpillar, perhaps three feet long and a foot wide. Its body had a matted yellow appearance, with no appendages seen. Bert remembers that the creature's face was featureless except for a pair of huge blank saucer like eyes. She screamed in unison with the driver and one of the backseat partiers who had also witnessed the beast. The kids tore out of the cemetery at full speed, slinging gravel and trailing bottles of Little Kings.

Kathy G. is a middle-aged housewife in northeast Ohio. In the late 1960s, she and her family lived in Venango County, Pennsylvania. Late one night, Kathy and her boyfriend at the time decided to go for a jaunt to find a small local cemetery that had been prominent in local ghostly lore. The tales of the community claimed that at this particular graveyard, one could witness mysterious blue lights that would hover over the gravestones. Kathy and her beau followed directions, and found the little burial ground. There, hanging in the midnight air over many of the graves, were small gray-blue flame-like lights! Kathy recounted to me that when she or her boyfriend would approach a light, within a few feet, it would flicker and go out. When one would walk away, perhaps a minute or so would go by before the light would re-ignite. The intensity of the experience overwhelmed the couple, and they left promptly with their hair rising. However, the horror was only beginning. At every turn, the road seemed to lead them back to the cemetery. No turn would take them back to the highway! After perhaps four returns to the cemetery, some dark spell broke, and the couple found the highway, and tore off into the night.

Tom T. is a Greek native, now a Canadian citizen living in Toronto. When he was a young lad in his small hometown in Greece, he often had to walk home from a part time job at night past an old cemetery. One night, as Tom passed the cemetery he was startled by a flash of white. Suddenly, a pale gray donkey appeared in front of him, blocking his path on the street. The aura of the donkey was terrifying and cold. Tom bolted down another street, but at the first intersection, the donkey was waiting. He repeated this action twice more, growing mortally panicked at each blocked street. Finally, Tom closed his eyes, yelled a yell, and ran straight toward the ghost beast. After as many paces as he could bear, he turned to see if he had made it past the creature. The donkey was gone.

Tracy S. and her family live in an unassuming house in Massillon, Ohio. Within a short time after moving in five years ago, Tracy began to encounter and experience poltergeist activity and numerous shadowy flitting apparitions in the home. She and her husband came to find out from local sources and official records that their home - and several others on the block - had actually been built over a forgotten cholera "plague pit" mass grave cemetery from the 1850s! Thus it seems that scant feet below their basement lay tangled piles of bones, the mortal remains of the tragically and hastily disposed of dead...

And so the tales go onward without end. English ghost hunting pioneer Eliott O'Donnell archived and reported on literally volumes of cemetery paranormal anecdotes. As one reads these eternally fascinating accounts, one is struck by a subtle difference between cemetery haunts and the genteel and historically disposed ghosts of manor houses and cottages. Cemetery haunts seem wild - inhuman in many cases. Strange lights, creatures, robed beings. Horribly distorted humanoids and elementals. Or just feelings of presence; shadows incarnate.

What could this possibly be about? What makes burial grounds of the human dead home to things that don't seem to be terribly human? We will now have to dig deeply... at least until our spades hit something noisome and unpleasant.

The Element of Earth - a Hypothesis:

One of Avalon co-founder Lori Schillig's acquaintances told her a few years ago how a burst of terrifying dreams, ghostly images, and psychokinetic happenings had occurred in their home shortly after the woman and her husband had begun excavating in their yard for a pool. I had a hard time releasing this anecdote. It seemed to correlate too well to a frequently repeated motif for in-home haunts. Ghostly activity in homes often would begin or accelerate whenever the house or property was disturbed physically! Tearing out walls or floors, digging a basement, landscaping, ripping up old carpet or wallpaper. The ghostly comes forth with a vengeance when earth or structure are dramatically imposed upon, it appears.

As long ago as 1999, we had casually entertained the speculation that some forms of paranormal activity in homes were the result of unknown molecular pheromones that had been emitted in times past from former residents during times of stress or emotional upheaval. These molecules would lie trapped in wood flooring, plaster, and textiles for decades. When released by physical dislocation, they would be sensed or "sniffed" by the vomeronasal pheromone receptors of the modern residents and experiencers. Anomalous feelings, sensations, and possibly even hallucinatory images would result. Could such an organic chemistry encode such specific data though? It seemed a large bite to swallow.

Nevertheless, the accounts of LS' friend and others would provide an additional dimension to the notion. It would seem that even the deep earth itself - outside of the shelter of a house - can trigger anomalous experiences in some humans when it is disturbed or dug. Could the mystery molecules of haunted houses exist in the earth itself? Why should this be?

Consider, however, that the regions of earth containing the remains of the dead - the primary focus of this paper - seem to be hotbeds of anomalous sensory experiences. Visual, auditory, tactile and imaginal. Even without having to do much digging.

Let our hypothesis, then, be tendered as a question. Could an unknown form of matter - a particle or molecule - be the carrier of a broad spectrum of paranormal experiences? Such a particle would normally exist in or be accumulated by human beings, and indeed perhaps all living systems. Under some conditions, it could be emitted during life, and become trapped in material structures either organic or inorganic. However, in death... it would be carried in a bulk form to the grave. Where physical decay and chemical release would return these particles (along with the known chemical products of organic decay) back to the earth itself. We then would suggest that it seems reasonable to presume that any region of earth containing human burials - particularly old fashioned ones before the era of vaults, liners, and metal coffins - would become saturated or enriched to a high degree with these particles.

Thus, when our unknown cemetery lurking particles are breathed in or absorbed by living passers-by, a variety of sensations or experiences might result. Depending on what data is transmitted by the particles, old emotions, feelings, and even memories could be received. It could also be possible that the particles - if of a strange matter form - could link to consciousness itself and be unwittingly manipulated by experiencers themselves. Or most speculatively, could our hypothetical particles assemble into aggregates or ephemeral pseudo-life forms? Free roaming low intelligence entities of the cemetery, made up of the released particles of life and consciousness from the eternal sleepers below!

When we are confronted with a puzzling situation, it always helps to go ask someone older and wiser than we are. But it is such a strange topic! Best to ask those folks whom among all the cultures of our planet had the ultimate expertise in two valuable areas for our search - death and biochemistry. Let us look to the Kingdoms of Khem... the ancient Egyptians.

Haunt like an Egyptian:

Nobody appreciated the ephemeral nature of this life and the intricate affairs that begin afterward like the old Egyptians. In essence, all of physical life was preparatory for a perfect death and proper position in eternity beyond.

Funeral and burial protocol was supremely important because the ancient Egyptians believed that there were portions of a human's essence that lived on in ways that needed an "anchor" or home in the formerly alive physical body. The Egyptian concept of survival reads like a stereo manual. Technically speaking, there were eight distinct entities or facets of a human being, in addition to the flesh:

The Khat or physical body
The Ka
The Ba
The Akh, or spirit
The Ab, or heart force
The Khaibat, something like a shadow persona
The Sekhem, a power or form, possibly a life energy
The Ren, the inner "name"
The Sahu, the spirit body used in the afterlife

In particular, the ka and the ba were held to be powerful essences that dwelled or stayed near the physical body after death. Thus was the post mortem body treated with utter reverence and care, including mummification to prevent physical decay. Burial places were not treated lightly, and tombs of the dead were feared and respected, because they were hotbeds of on-going metaphysical processes and essences.

Could this intricate and reverent belief system have been based in part on knowledge of subtle essences of some chemical or particle nature? Could those properties that the Egyptians referred to as ka and ba consist of the mystery particles that we hypothesize could be the mechanism for graveyard anomalies? Or even some home bound haunts...

If we attempt to describe the particles we are hypothesizing, what do we have? Let's review.

The particles would be present in living beings, for our purposes, human beings.
The particles may play some role in our consciousness.
The particles appear to be able to carry specific data, either chemically or by some form of quantum communication.
The particles may be on occasion released into the environment by the living, possibly physically by exhalation, chemically by sweat or bodily fluids, or by other unknown methods.
Extreme states of emotional stress or violence may trigger particularly large releases.
Once released, the particles may either be absorbed by other living systems or trapped in materials of the right physical or chemical composition.
If these material structures are disturbed, the particles may be re-released into the atmosphere to be breathed by living creatures.
The particles would have the property of transmitting their data - feelings, emotions, sensory stimulation - to the recipients.
If the particles have properties of quantum communication, they could potentially self organize into transient physically experienced forms.
The particles would also be released slowly upon the physical decomposition of the dead body of the original organism, into whatever medium is present (earth, water, possibly even air in the case of cremation).
Depending on the physical and chemical composition of the medium, the particles could stay trapped indefinitely unless disturbed, or could slowly be released by diffusion into the nearby atmosphere.
Burial places for human dead would be incredibly rich in these particles.
It should be possible to collect, isolate, and analyze the particles in question.

Those readers of a more spiritual persuasion should note that we are not necessarily suggesting a chemical nature for the soul. The Egyptians believed that the true spiritual component of human beings did indeed depart at death and did not linger in the physical world.

Other thinkers and scientists - some quite famous - have hypothesized a similar scenario. Thomas Edison believed that upon death, humans released their essence in the form of little invisible "bubbles" that would scatter and diffuse into the world. Each bubble contained a thought, feeling, memory, or facet of our personality. Could past life recollections be explained by our breathing in memory bubbles of those long gone?

Wilhelm Reich's concept of Orgone Energy was strongly particulate in nature. Reich observed luminous particles that expanded and contracted, and felt these were basic units of life energy. He also observed the evolution of microscopic pseudo-living particles from heated and quenched inorganic media - the "bions."

Defining the Unseen:

To be valid in theory, we must be able to predict and confirm experimental results. To do this, we must define first the qualities of our particles, and determine what physically known structures of matter, if any, they would resemble.

What can we say about our particles physically, to add to our declarations in the previous section?

Organic molecules known as pheromones have been recently shown in humans to be able to transmit very simple "data" such as feelings of attraction, fear, and revulsion. To be an effective pheromone, the molecule in question needs to match up to a suitable receptor in our vomeronasal organs (deep up inside our noses). It also needs to have a complexity suitable enough for specific chemical encoding. While basic impulses may require molecules of a certain complexity, an organic transmitter of very specific data, such as images, memories, thoughts would likely require far more, perhaps orders of magnitude more. Yet such a molecule would still need to be small enough to be airborne, and not have been detected by classical microscopy. The precision of paranormal phenomena seems to be far beyond the gut urges and feelings that human pheromones elicit. Our pheromone receptors have not yet been shown to be that effective or precise. Nevertheless, we must keep organic pheromones or pheromone-like in mind as one viable possibility.

The size of our particles cannot be much beyond the micron range. If they were, they would have been seen readily by classical optical microscopy long ago. In all likelihood, they are on a nano-scale, below 1000 angstroms diameter. However, much can lurk in this size domain! We find molecules, viruses, nano-particle clusters, and even the only recently accepted universally present life forms known as nano-bacteria. In a previous Avalon "white paper", we discussed the speculation that nano-bacterial life could form collective constructs that would be prone to self-organization and possibly a collective intelligence. Could our particles be in truth nano-bacteria, encoded with very specific data from their now deceased hosts? Or perhaps in light of the Archaeus hypothesis of nano-bacterial collective intelligence, post mortem particles would possess the ability to re-form constructs that even could resemble to some degree their former hosts. Are some apparitions not composed of an esoteric "energy" field, but rather a bio-chemical field?

Before considering one other option for our model, let's examine some peripheral knowledge and evidence.

Since about 1999, occasional anecdotes came our way linking ghosts and paranormal activity with conditions of air and respiration. It was discovered that some haunt prone parties had increases in the frequency and intensity of their experiences during times when they also had upper respiratory problems or extended colds. Of course some might be prone to chalk up such encounters to medication, but this is not fair. One woman in Indianapolis claimed that the feelings of ghostly presence in her home, as well as disturbing apparitions of an elderly female seemed to go away or not be present when she would use a vaporizer with medication in it for her breathing problems. Even turning ceiling fans on seems to make a difference, we were told. At first glance, this might seem like an inverse relationship, however it may be possible that when we breathe freely and properly, we exhale the mystery particles before they can be absorbed. Impaired respiration may work either way for this mechanism. The notion of vaporizers or fans decreasing paranormal impressions may hint at a mechanism of dispersal or entrainment of our particles.

Several independent accounts were provided from people who felt that running an ionizing air cleaner (negative ion type) in their home produced relief from ghostly activity.

It has been noted by English ghost researchers (Underwood, et al), that ghostly activity is most likely in areas and at times of still air. Ghosts, it seems, do not like wind. Another hint at an airborne transport mechanism? Humidity in the air as well as nearby large sources of water or moisture are both said to aid ghostly manifestation.

There exists testimony from a personal acquaintance suggesting that ghostly apparitions are actually fluorescent in long wave UV or near UV light! The acquaintance in question and his brother had witnessed a female apparition in 19th century garb on numerous occasions in their boyhood home in Michigan. The female figure, generally barely visible at night as a shadow or visual distortion, would momentarily light up to a greater degree of whitish visibility on at least two occasions when it passed nearby the bluish light of a 1970's era stereo in the boys' bedroom. Displays used on such stereos in that era were argon filled plasma modules... rich in violet or near UV spectral lines. Do ghosts fluoresce? Possibly. If this is so, it suggests again that ghostly manifestations actually have a material / chemical nature.

Independent testimony from an anonymous American ghost researcher purports that ghosts light up whitish-yellow when exposed to blue light. This, however, is only the most vague of anecdotes.

We have considered two candidates so far for our mystery particles: organic pheromones and nano-bacteria. A third possibility must be considered. This is the possibility that the particles of cemetery anomalies and house haunts alike are of a hitherto unknown or unsuspected family. Reich's bions would have fallen into this category. Another fascinating possibility may exist as well, although it is one with no serious scientific validation yet presented; only non-peer reviewed claims.

Since the early 1980s, a set of claims has existed in speculative or "fringe" science that an unusual atomic form exists for otherwise well known elements. Most claims seem to stem from one core individual, a maverick but talented inventor from Arizona, David Hudson. A small and vehement group of researchers has grown up in the following two decades who claim that Hudson's discoveries are replicable and valid. Advocates of this concept state that there exists clear evidence for matter particles that act in radically different and even strange ways; quantum tunneling, teleportation, superconductivity, and interaction with human consciousness. See the following web page by researcher Barry Carter: http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/ormus/ormus.htm

The term coined by Hudson for these particles was "ormes" - an acronym for Orbitally Re-arranged Monoatomic Element. Similar research in Russia has tended to use the term "m-state matter."

Hudson claimed that the elements that seemed to have these altered "strange" states were primarily eleven transition metals, including the platinum metal group. Most of his work focused on gold, which was claimed to be the easiest element to convert into the alternate atomic state. Further claims were made that the strange super-conducting orme atoms could be found in soils, organic materials, and living systems. Orme forms of iridium and rhodium were claimed to have been found in animal brain tissue to the degree of almost 2% by volume. A very spectacular claim, and one in need of thorough verification. However, it does seem to have an elegant and consistent model, and one that fits as well with the hypotheses of famed mathematician Roger Penrose that human consciousness is a result of super-conductive states and structures in the brain that are capable of quantum communication.

If indeed our brains and bodily tissues are home to ormes - strange mono-atoms or nano-clusters - these particles could qualify as our paranormal activity source. If such atomic forms are also capable of exotic quantum communication, we would have available a viable explanation for the amount and precision of information that paranormal experiences can embody.

A Road to Proof:

Soil samples from the vicinity of a grave containing the remains of a deceased person of life history and personality known to the experimenter would be removed and placed in the vicinity of a test subject. The test subject would use free association to describe their feelings and stream of thought as they relax in the presence of the gravesite soil sample (probably hidden from view). Results of a series of "soil sensing" runs would be compared to runs where either an empty control box or a neutral soil sample would be used. Grading of the subject would be by means of accurate verbalizing or writing of topics or key words that bear a relevance to the life of the deceased.
A high volume air pump with suitable molecular sieve trapping, such as zeolites, would be left running for a period of time in a cemetery where paranormal activity has been reported. An identical run would be made with a clean trap in a neutral geographical area, such as a field or paved region. SEM analysis of the resulting captured particulates would follow. Electron microscopy at magnifications of 50,000 to 100,000X should be sufficient to see evidence of nano-bacterial geometries.
Claims exist from those who have experimented with ormes that simple techniques exist for extracting orme / m-state material out of soil and organic samples, using pH balancing and precipitation. We have conducted experiments in this area ourselves since October of 2003. In November, we procured soil samples from the home location discussed earlier in this presentation - the cholera pit house. One sample was taken at a depth of three inches, another at eighteen inches. Following a variant of Hudson's patent examples, we performed an extraction of whitish precipitate from the samples. The soil sample at eighteen inches had about two to three times the precipitate that the three inch sample had, volumetrically. The three inch deep sample, in turn, produced about twice as much precipitate as a sample of control soil from a field. Further experiments could be done with this precipitate, to see if it produces even stronger psychological or biophysical reactions when placed near test subjects.

One of the primary rules of learning in the human experience is "thou shalt not fear to discard your cherished opinions and ideas." The truth behind graveyard anomalies and haunts in general may lie in purely psychological and archetypal realms. So much from our Avalon files over the years has hinted this. On the other hand, archetypes and psychological factors generally are not detoured by a breeze, or enhanced by somebody excavating their side yard for a septic tank. The answers to this timeless human tradition and mystery do exist somewhere. All that is needed is our diligence and self-honesty, as well as our ability to think beyond what comforts us.

Flame lights over graves, hovering giant larvae. Particles of high strangeness. All a product, it seems, of our very existence and mortality. Or perhaps it is the other way around...

We would like to thank the following contributors to this research over the weeks, months and years: Lori Schillig, John Keel, Dr. S.P. Faile, Chris Woodyard, Tracy Thomas-Smith, Barry Carter, Lori Lothian, and Art Ziegler; as well as all those folks along the way who contributed their tales and sincerity to The Avalon Foundation's efforts.