Is this footage of the real-life exorcism of a woman possessed by the devil?
The alleged ousting of a bad spirit was carried out in the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the Czech town of Vranov nad Dyji.
And church officials have now 'confirmed' the footage is genuine.
Daniel Trochta, 26, sneaked up to the door after hearing the screaming of an unknown woman.
He then filmed the secret process through a keyhole of the church.
He
captured people standing close to the church’s altar and the very loud
screaming and crying woman - including vulgar words shouted in Czech.
The video, posted on YouTube by Trochta in February, was largely ignored until the church confirmed it was genuine last week.
The author wrote: "I filmed it through a keyhole. I suggest that you use headphones while watching it."
Catholic Church priest Marek Dunda confirmed that the exorcism was genuine but declined to comment further.
"If something is filmed through a keyhole, there is nothing more to say about it.
"We were asking God to protect and to liberate the person. We used a Latin prayer asking for a help."
Disembodied voices. Strange lights. A file drawer opening on its own.
So, is the Morton Theatre in downtown Athens haunted, as numerous stories told over the years would attest?
Well, maybe, according to a report from Ghosts of Georgia Paranormal
Investigations, which uses an array of electronic equipment to
investigate unexplained events.
After spending the evening of Oct. 11 and the early morning of Oct.
12 in the century-old building at the corner of Washington and Hull
streets, and hearing and seeing some anomalous occurrences, the GOGPI
team reported: “With the claims of activity, personal experiences by the
investigators, the EVP’s (electronic voice phenomena) that were
recorded we feel like there is paranormal activity in the Morton
Theater. We cannot say it is haunted without a follow up investigation
to see if we can reproduce the claims of activity, personal experiences,
and to gather more evidence of paranormal activity.”
It’s not clear whether Athens-Clarke County officials will ask the paranormal team to return to the theatre.
“I can’t say we won’t, and can’t say we will,” said Jeff Montgomery, the county’s public information officer.
Staff from the county’s public information office were on hand in the theater for the October investigation.
If the team is invited back to the theater, their work won’t cost the
county, Montgomery said, as was the case with GOGPI’s October visit.
According to Montgomery, the team likes to document repeated instances
of unexplained phenomena before declaring whether a venue is haunted or
not.
The team’s work in the Morton Theatre can be seen in a 29-minute
documentary now airing on ACTV, the government-access cable TV channel,
which is Channel 180 for Charter cable subscribers. The documentary airs
daily at 1 a.m., 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., and at 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Also, the full GOGPI report on the Morton investigation, including
photographs and audio recordings of some of the phenomena observed, is
available on the county’s website at Athens Clarke County.com Athens-Ghost-Hunt-The-Morton-Theatre
Equipped with a number of still cameras and video cameras, including
some infrared equipment, along with audio recorders, thermometers and
electromotive force meters, the GOGPI team actively investigated the
Morton Theatre from shortly before 10 p.m. on Oct. 11 to shortly after 4
a.m. on Oct. 12.
In addition to noting the group’s general findings — a “blue orb” and
a “dark mass” captured photographically, and numerous voice phenomena
(“most of them ... in response to our questions”) — the report included
personal experiences of the investigators.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WYTV) - Last Monday, WYTV 33 News anchor Stan Boney toured Powers Auditorium in downtown Youngstown. During the visit, he was told that a ghost can often be felt
throughout the building. His name is Roy and his spirit can be traced
back to a Saturday in 1969. Terry Fetchet has felt him.
Fetchet has spent
most of his life working in theaters, including 20 years at Powers
Auditorium, with the last eight years spent as operations manager. Set
off to the side of the stage is what is called a ghost light. It is to
make sure no one falls off the stage, but it also has a secondary
purpose.
“We always say that the ghosts don’t like to be in the dark as well, so every theater, wherever you go, has one,” Fetchet said.
So if there is a ghost light at Powers Auditorium, does that mean the theater has a ghost?
“Yeah actually, Roy, who died I think in 1966 on stage. And he floats around,” Fetchet said.
Fetchet had two of the three facts right. There was a man named Roy
who died on stage, but it was on Sept. 6, 1969. Newspaper reports at the
time said his name was Roy E. Dennis, 36, of Belmont, W. Va.
In February 1968, what was then the Warner Theater was closed. A
$250,000 donation by Edward Powers saved the theater from demolition,
but before it could reopen an extensive renovation was undertaken. Two
weeks before opening night was when Roy Dennis was killed.
“He fell from the grid, which is 75 feet in the air, and plummeted on stage,” Fetchet said.
Two companies were working on the renovation and neither would claim
Roy Dennis as an employee. Someone one the scene said “I don’t know what
he was doing there,” according to a newspaper article. But Fetchet said Roy has never left.Read Full Story: WYTV 33 OHIO
Exploring the unknown is great for a
number of reasons. Not only do we allow our minds and imaginations to
explore beyond the thoughts of every day life, but we are openly
challenged to critically think and keep an open mind to possibility. I
believe that exercising our minds in this manner can help us stay open
and excited about the mysteries of our world and encourage us to
continue to explore.
What It Means To Be Skeptical
It almost seems to be common place today
to consider skepticism as being scientific. Science as a means of
exploration is a beautiful thing as it is, but the culture that has
developed around science and skepticism, I believe, is doing us a great
disservice. That statement alone is controversial and will likely raise
feathers and this I feel is part of the issue. Don’t get me wrong,
skepticism is OK, and important, but it must not get to the point of
closing doors.
We have an amazing world here, and to
explore it scientifically is a necessary part of us figuring out where
we are and where we can go. But the biggest thing we need to watch out
for is cutting down our potential by means of plopping “logical”
explanations on things we think we understand but don’t. Likewise, we
also must carefully navigate scientific bias and recognize how common it
truly is.
Recently one of the world’s biggest skeptics, Michael Shermer,
had what he called a supernatural or paranormal experience that “shook
his skepticism.” Perhaps it was an experience that can almost send a
wake up call to remind us to be humble in what we think we know,
especially when we hear the stories of others. For years, Michael had
laughed at and considered crazy those who claimed so deeply to have had
paranormal experiences or something they couldn’t explain. Finally he
had his own experience and he could now relate.
Paranormal researcher Thomas D'Agostino has spent three decades hunting
the dead. He shares with ABC6 News why an old clothing factory site in
Foster, is the most active place he's ever been.
The Ramtail
Factory site was officially listed as haunted in 1885 by the Rhode
Island Census. This following the death of one of the clothing mills
owners, Peleg Walker, and the subsequent noises and eerie sitings that
came after.
Thomas D'Agostino believes Walker's spirit
still surrounds the site because of the mystery of how he died.
D'Agostino has investigated over a thousand haunted areas in New
England, but there's something about Foster's old Ramtail Factory that
draws him in.
"This area is very active. There's a lot of energy here and it doesn't seem to be going away," D'Agostino said.
It's
about a five minute walk into the woods off Ramtail Road, before you
reach the site of where the wool factory used to stand. In the early
1800's, this area was home to a village. Today, it's desolate.
D'Agostino
described one experience, "I was out here with a friend and we saw a
glowing form that was moving about the trees where the factory would
have been."
D'Agostino says Peleg Walker married into the Potter
family and became a partner in the clothing factory business. When
negotiations soured in 1822, Walker is said to have hung himself from
the bell rope he rang to signal a shift change. After his death, many
villagers claimed the bell kept ringing.
