Marilyn A. Hudson To Attend Chisholm Trail Book Festival

Author Marilyn A. Hudson will be attending the  Chisholm Trail Book Festival, Sept. 17, 2011 in Duncan, Oklahoma to promote her recent true history books, Tales of Hell's Half Acre and When Death Rode the Rails.  In addition, she will have copies of her chilling short fiction, The Bones of Summer and the novel she has co-written with Cullan Hudson, The Mound.   

Be sure to stop by and say hello, buy a book, and enjoy the event in the lovely convention center in Duncan, Oklahoma.

A ROAR IN THE NIGHT

Often on videos dealing with investigations on the elusive, and yet to be completely proved, Bigfoot, there is a scream in the night.  Knowing from walks through the Ozark woods with my father, other animals can often sound strange and exotic in the dark.  With the increase in sightings of alligators along interior rivers from Florida to Oklahoma, that becomes a possibility. Are the bellows heard in the night in these areas simply misidentified alligator cries?    Panthers, mountain lions, and cougars  are also sometimes suggested as a source. Take a listen...

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Restless sleep and the paranormal seem to go hand-in-hand. 

Dreams- Sleep can be disturbed by dreams repetitive, vivid, and nightmarish. Dreams are theoretically the minds 'flush' of excess activities, thoughts, experiences, fears, and  memories.  They are the diagnostic the subconscious runs to allow analysis of choices, decisions, and motivations to come to light.  They are the psychic messages to the conscious mind addressing unresolved fears or desires.  They are connections to the other worlds and realms of this or another universe.  They are pure 'junk' with no meaning whatsoever instigated by, as Lewis Carroll observed in "A Christmas Carol" a bit of undigested beef.  As both mental and physical reality, the dream world can be felt in both mind and body.  A manifestation of this is the condition known as 'sleep paralysis' - which through the centuries has been interpreted as the work of a demon, a witch, a succubus or incubus, a vampire, or a ghost.  One feels as if something is sitting on top of them holding them down or sucking the life force from them.   

Responses to bad dreams over the eons of time have ranged from exotic concoctions, rituals, simple meditations, prayers, and icons.   

Responses:

Several actions which do play a role in resolving dream problems involve a) being checked over by your doctor for medical conditions which might cause the sleeping problems and getting medical suggestions for improving sleep (more activity, cutting out stimulants, improving diet, etc.).  The increase in sleep apnea (which untreated can be life threatening) make it imperative that sleeplessness be first addressed medically;  

b) Becoming more self-aware by identifying and recording the dreams over time to detect any patterns in symbols, actions, or messages so you can understand what your inner self is trying to tell you, and; 

c) Protecting your sleep space, and yourself, through a ritual or icon you believe will guard you in  your sleep from negative influences or forces.  This might involve nightly prayers (such as a psalm or The Prayer of St. Michael), readings from a sacred text, lighting of candles or the use of cleansing incense, the use of holy icons (statues, rosaries, crosses, etc.), a blessing over the sleep space, a 'command' for a peaceful night spoken by the one afflicted by sleep problems, and  the use of a "Dream Catcher" to capture negative dreams.

GENERATING BUZZ: HIGH POWER & PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Recently a trip to the eastern part of Oklahoma allowed visiting a couple of sites previously investigated and to some location alleged to  have been the site of paranormal activity.   One of the benefits of going during the day was that certain things became apparent and would have been obscured arriving at night.

The car radio first alerted to the potential of their being environmental influences needing to be noted, i.e., in the form of huge electrical towers.    The towers went on for miles and criss-crossed areas where alleged events of paranormal activity have been reported (hauntings, negative spirits, etc.).  Could they have influenced these events? It was possible as other research over the years has indicated these can produce manifestations or create anxiety matching that reported in various accounts. The electromagnetic readings, in this instance, were higher under the towers and in conjunction with the radio static.  

More research is definitely needed. Such things as locating a map with greater detail of where these lines are, so a grid  could be created to see if activity and the high wires demonstrate or suggest the environmental activity can be triggered by such environmental influences ( such as high power lines, running water through granite substructure, and other theoretical influences). 

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL...

Since ancient times when shiny natural surfaces of water and stone were used, the reflective surface has been used as a focus for occult and/or paranormal activity. 

It serves as an important symbol in such literary classics as Dracula, Through the Looking Glass, The Picture of Dorian Gray (with the painting substituting for the mirror), and the fairy tale, 'Sleeping Beauty'.

Mirrors reflect an alternate reality because we do not see 'us' but the reverse of 'us' and this heightens the sense of unreality.  Infants think they are seeing another baby in early tests. Mirrors also allow for easy transit into a trance state and have been used to focus physic viewing.

As anyone who has ever gone the, "Bloody Mary" route in the dark in the middle of the night - well they can be down right scary too!   The mind is capable of creating anything it can imagine.    A child one time said he could roar like a dinosaur and preceded to illustrate the might of his roar, only to have his eyes grow wide,  his breathing start to pant, and his skin to pale; he literally frightened himself through the power of his own imagination!

Imagine someone who was intensely 'evil' (what happened to Nero's or Hitler's shaving mirrors as an example?), in great pain, under the influences of some drug, mentally ill or totally insane.  Couple this with the ability of the mirrored surface to allow for ease of transit into and through a trance state.  The result could be an object infused with an intense amount of energy.

Mirrors can be collectors of energy and doorways to other dimensions in some cultures. Breaking them shatters luck for seven years. Covering them after a death an act of respect but also a protection for the departed soul least it be sucked into another time and place and trapped or become lost.

Since the purpose of the mirror is basically narcissistic, it is easy to see how imbued with personal energy such an object might become.  A person would fill the mirror with the energy of their own super-ego and id.  Their vanity at their own looks, their fears of loosing it, their self-loathing, or their anxieties at approaching age all there in that surface....

Read more here.