Category: Cannon Shots

In the land of the rising sun, China for those of you who have no clue what I was talking about for a minute, there is a festival that has taken place for hundreds of years. In a society/culture/belief of China there stands to be quite a number of supernatural and spiritual festivals that take place. One such festival is called the Hungry Ghost Festival which is celebrated on the 15^th month of the 7^th lunar month…yeah I tried finding that one on the calendar too, if you find it let me know.

Actually on the the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month in Chineese tradition. This is the time when the ghosts of the deceased come out from the lower realm and walk amongst the living. The people would make altars filled with food or fake money in order to appease those who have past on and to appease the Gods of those past on who may not have been good people. Sometimes they make small boats filled with lanterns and then are floated on the river which helps to give the dead direction as where to go. There are many ways to celebrate this holiday so long as it appeases the deceased.

Can you imagnie a scheduled day when the gates of Heaven and Hell would both open and converse amongst the living. I don’t know about you, but the imagery of Ghostbusters after the containment grid was shut down comes to mind when the ghost are running all over the place. To hold a concert and the first five rows are empty becayuse they are reserved for the dead? This may seem pretty “backwoodsish” yet this is what they believe, this is mainly based within the Budhist Taoists religion of the far east.

Now this isnt just a Chinese celebration, this festival or ones like it are also celebrated in places such as Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan. The middle eastern culture tend to be more aware of the dead and while they mourn just as we do in the western world they however seem to hold onto their loved ones and pay much more respect for them not only in the living form but in the spiritual form as well.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is just one of many wasy the Asian culture embraces the after life and which leads me to wonder why there aren’t more Asian ghost hunting groups within the country. I guess one may never know.

Be safe and have an eggroll,

Jon Bolton

In time chivalrous times of long ago when kings and queens ruled the land and their court of lords and ladies where the epitome of elegance and class. They were times where knights would be the saviors and champions of the kingdoms as they led battle after battle and romantically swept the women away on their feet. An era when wizards, dragons and other monsters would attack or defend the castle as part of the struggles that were known as the dark ages. These romantic notions are conjured up based upon Hollywood and the legends and lore of so long ago. No matter the danger at hand or the battle to be fought one thing was clear; the medical practices at the time might have been their worst enemy.

We obviously know that out medical practices in this day an age of technology and scientific advances are much more reliable and successful than back then. The belief of how disease was spread and started could be considered laughable at best, because the last time I checked when I get a stomach pain it isn’t a small troll inside me trying to get out, I have been known to be wrong in the past however.

I, for some odd reason, started to thinking about these medical practices while I was at the hospital about to get surgery on my sinuses and figured what the heck; let’s see what I can find out. To my shock, horror and humor I have found the following.

Hemorrhoids: There was a 7^th century monk who was actually the patron saint for hemorrhoid pain, that saint definitely got the wrong end of the deal on that one. Now get this one, he apparently developed hemorrhoids in his garden and sat on a stone which gave him the magical cure. The stone apparently exists to this day and can me visited by any sufferer looking to sit upon its magical surface for relief and cure. Of course if that did not work then you could always take the other approach which would be to use a red hot poker to burn them away.

Zodiac signs: Another practice was that depending on what astrological sign you were born under the doctor needed to be aware of certain things. If you were a Taurus the doctor should not make incisions in the neck and throat and avoid cutting any veins in this area. Now if you were a Virgo the doctor should avoid cutting open a wound in the belly and internal parts, looks like virgos didn’t last to long in life. Now being a Pisces I had to see what I was forbade from doing, and it looks like my doctor should not cut my feet, look like I make out in this deal of dos and don’ts of this surgical guideline.

Dwale: Dwale is a crude anesthetic used the same way that anesthetic is used today in the operating rooms by relaxing the individual to sleep and pain relief so as not to feel discomfort during surgery. Now that’s great if it weren’t for that fact that Dwale could kill you very easily. It was made up of a combination of lettuce juice, opium, vinegar and gall from a castrated boar, which doesn’t sound all that bad until you add the last ingredient which was hemlock juice. All you wiccas and Shakespeare followers will know hemlock juice from many plays and potions. Hemlock juice is some very serious stuff and attacks the nervous system and is a very affective poison, once symptoms start its usually over as it moves rather fast through the body.

Bloodletting: Bloodletting is the one cure that everyone has pretty much heard about so I won’t spend too much time on this one. It was the practice of cutting veins and letting the toxins within the body to flow out via the blood stream. This in practicality sounds like a viable solution if it were not for the fact that usually you bled to death. They would slice a vein open and let the blood flow, not everyone died, but it was a barbaric treatment to say the least. Now if they were trying to release the toxins after watching the movie Twilight I could completely understand that.

Trepanation: Now some people who know about or heard about this procedure sometimes confuse it with lobotomy. Keep in mind that this is not about removing sections of the front lobe of the brain, this is about drilling holes into your head/skull. These procedures of drilling or cutting a small square into your skull is believed to treat cranial disease or for mystical purposes, depending on what you want to believe. They felt that the evil spirits or demon trapped in the cranial area would be able to escape through the hole that was created, because demons and evil spirits are stupid and couldn’t possibly leave through the ear, nose or mouth…that would be just plain silly. Oh and if you thought this practice had long since gone the way of the Do-Do then you would be wrong, there are some people who still believe in this and some quack un-insured doctors willing to do it too.

Toothache: Some people have had toothaches and some have not, I have been fortunate enough to not have one, but I do know some people who have and they say it’s very painful. So here is a remedy I think should work for everyone that I found in my research plus it will save on dental bills. If you take a candle and burn it close to the tooth that is hurting then the worms, yes I said worms, that are gnawing at the tooth will fall out into a cup of water held close to the mouth and candle. See dentists are such con artists, they tell us we need to floss and brush everyday; how does that keep worms away? No wonder my dentists never told me about the candle trick, he would lose all his business, such a con.

Pimples: I’m not going to spend all that long on this one that I found, mainly because its so bizarre and inhumane, but I’ll touch base on it. A cure for pimples was to take two white puppies, had to be white, and before they could see, you would chop off their heads and then let it drain out by hanging them from their back paws. Once the blood was all out your would mix it with some white wine and then apply it to your face to reduce you pimples. Now 2 things come to my mind about this, first off I guess PETA didn’t exists back then and secondly I am beginning to wonder what Clearasil uses in there formula now.

Now there are a vast amount of other weird medical therapies used such as leeches & maggots, which by the way are actually used in modern hospitals today to help heal cuts and wounds, but for the majority the ancient practices are long gone away. One thing I found interesting was the fact that even though it was the dark ages, they did rely heavily on sterilization by washing wounds and washing and burning medical tools. The diagnoses might have been off and some of the remedies not so well planned out, but at least they knew that dirt was bad.

Be safe and remember that candles are better than brushing,
Jon Bolton

When you look in the sky what do you see…airplanes, the sun, moon, stars, birds, superman or UFOs? Throughout history people have claimed to see things in the sky, which would explain our fascination with wanting to go where no man has gone before…space the final frontier. We don’t understand space or anything in it and our curiosity as people drive us to wanting answers of understanding. This may explain why people tend to be so nosy and rubberneck at accidents.

While there are many aspects to the whole UFOs and Ancient Aliens that we can take a look at and pick apart…and believe me in time I will…I will, I want to look at wars in the skies. The Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita, Native American texts, Chinese scrolls & in other forms of written text or art there are a number of events chronicling wars in the skies. Now whether these wars are considered that of divine intervention or natural phenomena, the newest approach to these occurrences are that of actual UFO wars…very star wars like. It seems that in all major religions & cultures around the world there is a story in their written text about a war in heaven, in the Bible it is the war that really starts good and evil and subsequently gives Satan power, but this isn’t a Sunday school lesson this is about UFOs. The point is that it seems there is a trend no matter the location in the world there seems to be some sort of “war in the sky” going on.

Now let’s take a look at this logically and with a clear head on our shoulders…the people back in the time of these ancient reports believed that if you were feeling ill in your stomach then there must be a little troll living in you causing you harm. So, all those times I felt ill because of the flu it was actually a small troll in my stomach? Damn, and all my mom did was had me suck on ice and snack on saltine crackers, maybe I should’ve had something a little bit stronger to take care of that problem. Do you see where I am going with this one? What people thought as being one thing back then is easily explained away by science because we now understand about viruses, diseases and immune system. I mean look at the Greeks & Romans they had a God for every little thing that happened. Now in this modern day we understand that there isn’t some maniac God throwing lightning bolts down at us because he is angry…or at least I think there isn’t, but I’ve been wrong before.

In 1561 over Nuremberg, Germany there was supposedly a war in the heavens that was seen by the entire town and was also painted in a semi-famous scene. It was reported that on the morning of April 14^th a scene of epic proportions erupted in the sky. The sky was filled with what seemed like different colored disks and crosses. The event was said to have lasted for over an hour and a half and while I research this more and more I find that the actual shapes that were reported vary in many ways and are not consistent, so that’s a red flag to me. They always say there are 3 sides to a story…yours, theirs and the truth.

Now first off when you read about these shapes in the sky couldn’t it be something as simple as sun glares? Do a Google image search and check our sun glares; there are a number of different types of sun glares because the human eye sees them so differently. Plus, you know how when you first wake up you have that sand like junk in your eye and your eyes are watery then you take a look at something bright? You see different shapes and things tend to look blurry, well this event happened early in the morning when the sun was rising so wouldn’t it make sense that waking up suddenly to go take a look at something wouldn’t make you see clearly as to what is going on? Ok now why where they woken up suddenly…who knows, maybe some natural explosion, which does happen or maybe it could have been something else. The point I am making is that you can’t always believe what you see, plus as the story gets told over and over again it turns into “whisper down the lane”. You know that kids game where you tell one person one thing and by the time it reaches the 10^th person the statement is completely changed. These UFO reports are just in fact that, they are stories passed down from generation to generation…I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who saw these things in the sky. How reliable of a source is that, it gives you a starting point to look at, but can you take it as an actual fact, I don’t think so. We have the best in picture capture technology in the world today from digital cameras to High definition video cameras and yet we still don’t believe what we see when faced with actual evidence, so why are we trusting a painting and a passed along story?

In closing I would like you to question what you see and hear. Don’t just look at something and go into some full blown wacked out idea in your mind and then claim it a truth without really looking into it. What you may be seeing may have a logical common sense explanation for it, and then once you have researched it and eliminated the junk you will then have what you really saw. Take some time to do the research and you will be rewarded well,  I am sure of that.

Be safe and remember…sun glares kill, actually they don’t,

Jon Bolton

I know I will probably get crap for this, but if you haven’t learned from this point that really doesn’t bother me too much in regards to ripping apart Ghost Hunting. This topic is apparently a sore spot  for some people. I am not planning on taking apart the people who use thermal cameras, but rather the use of thermal cameras in general and a viable tool for ghost hunting.

Now, most Ghost Hunting groups feel that the holy grail of all equipment would be to get their hands on a thermal camera. Almost every group out there feels that this piece of equipment without a shadow of a doubt proves the existence of spirits as well as the ability to capture their image and ghostly form. I ask why…why do people think this is a great piece of equipment, all a thermal image camera does is to form an image using infrared radiation. It can detect hot and cold spots as well as their point of entry. A lot of plumbers, electricians and builders use them to find where pipes or buildings would need insulation or to point out faulty wiring as well as where the greatest heat loss is in a subject. The thermal image is projected in colors that directly match the subject, hot being represented by bright colors and cold being signified by dark colors.

So, now that we have established what a thermal imaging camera does and what its true intentions are, let’s get to why I am confused about all of this as it relates to Ghost Hunting.  See now on an investigation people use a thermometer in order to find the infamous “cold spot” which for some reason is a sign that a “spirit” is trying to manifest itself. Ok, I guess I understand that if you are under the aspect that spirits feed off of the energy in the air and heat being an energy is an easy power source for them to get charged off of that the temperature would drop. Now that everyone is getting all excited that they found a cold spot they break out the thermal camera to take a look around the area only to find the silhouette of a person standing there. There it is in all its bright yellows, oranges and reds the form of a human/spirit; you have found the ultimate evidence that everyone looks for on an investigation. This is the greatest experience of your ghost hunting life/career to see…oh wait…did you not read what I wrote earlier? I said that heat was represented by bright colors and cold was represented by dark colors. So then what the heck are you looking at, if you found a cold spot then shouldn’t the thing be dark colors rather than bright ones?

That’s right thermal imaging is really fun toy to play with, but it doesn’t make sense. Did you ever think for a minute about the logic behind cold pots versus warm silhouettes on a thermal camera? People get so wrapped up in the great toys they see on TV that they don’t take the time to actually think about what the heck is going on with them. I have never heard of anyone going out to find “warm spots”, it’s always the “cold spots”.  So what could it be? Could it be an actual spirit? Could it be a reflection off of something (which is my vote)? Could it be something much different that people don’t want to talk about? Could it in fact be a demon?

In the years we have all watched the “famous” Ghost Hunting TV show we have all heard about human and in human spirits. Now if you look at this logically and you have a belief structure which allows you to thoroughly accept the fact that there is a heaven and a hell then take a listen to this. If in fact you have seen a warm silhouette of a human/spirit and not one that is dark colors then wouldn’t it be logical to think that something that lives in the pits of hell would be warm? Based upon all accounts of the bible hell is a place of fire and pain, and last time I checked fire was hot and since demons live in the fires of hell naturally they should be hot. I don’t know if this makes sense to you, but my feelings are to not accept everything you see at face value.

People tend to use “ghost hunting” equipment without really trying to figure out what its true purpose is for. I will admit that I have tons of equipment and have used it without really looking into it, but I am willing to admit it. And the more and more I think about thermal cameras I don’t think they are really worth their weight in what type of evidence it produces.

Again if you don’t like what I say then deal with it, I am here to make you think and take a step back for a minute. As always these are my opinions of logic based upon my experimentation and investigations into the weird and bizarre.

Be safe and thanks for reading,
Jon Bolton