Tag Archives: Paranormal

TRULY SHOCKING photo

Sci-Fi, , , ,

I have recently been working toward my certification as a Paranormal Investigator and have been studying how to analyze suspected paranormal photographs. The study got me to remembering and thinking about probably the most incredible paranormal photo I have ever seen.

When I was around the age of 12-13…some 30 odd years ago…my interest in the paranormal was just beginning in earnest. Anything that was unusual began to interest and even fascinate me. The Bermuda Triangle, UFO’s, hauntings, anything along that line. My father had told me many “Ghost Stories” that had been passed down in his family and held as absolute fact, but he himself was somewhat of a skeptic of such things. Since I had developed such as strong interest in the subjects he tried to help me in my pursuit though.

A photo from a friend of his that he saw one day was to challenge his skepticism and leave an impression in my mind that would last to this day.

I remember my father coming home from work that day and telling me that he had something for me to see. He seemed very excited and perplexed at the same time. One of his longtime friends had taken a photo a few days prior and trusted in my father to look at it and tell him what he thought. As I remember my fathers friend was somewhat of a skeptic himself, but was very perplexed, to say the least, by the photo he had taken. My father asked his friend if he could bring the photo home to show it to me since I had a great interest in things like that. My father’s friend didn’t want to but reluctantly agreed. You must remember that this was 30 odd years ago and many of that time felt that to believe in the paranormal meant you were “crazy”. Even though the friend had taken the picture and seen it with his own eyes he didn’t want to be labeled “crazy” I imagine.

My father handed me the photo without telling me anything about it and asked me to tell him what I saw. My mother also looked at the photo with me. I remember we got a slightly uneasy feeling about the photo from the first we saw it for some reason. As I looked at the photo I could very clearly see 4 ghostly forms beside of a fence. Gaseous in some places and almost solid in others. One was a very tall and large standing form that judging by the fence post behind appeared to be 7 foot tall or taller, with a look, posture and hand position of an authority figure of some type. The three others were much smaller and were sitting on the ground in front of this figure. I remember that one of the smaller ones was sitting with outstretched legs crossed at the ankles. The faces of 2 of the sitting figures could not be seen as they were turned toward the standing figure, but the standing figures face and one of the sitting ones face( which appeared to be looking at the camera) could be made out fairly well. We all agreed that what it looked like to us was a scene of a teacher, preacher, or storyteller of some type talking to a group of 3 “children”. Past the point of the basic photo a chilling detail came to light. It seemed to my mother and I that the tall figure had horns of some type on its head and as I looked closer I noticed that one of the smaller forms did as well. When we told my father this he said that he and his friend had came to the same conclusion, but that he didn’t want to tell us and wanted to see if we came to the same conclusion. We had.

My father then truly shocked us both when he told us that the photo had been a photo of his friend’s new boat that he had recently bought. His friend had aimed the camera at his boat (which was sitting on a trailer next to the fence) and taken 2 self-developing photos. One of the photos showed the boat and the other had shown what we were looking at. The boat had disappeared completely to be replaced by the 4 figures.

The photo was taken back to the friend the next day and I haven’t seen it since. I have often wished that I would have gotten a copy of the photo, but since computers and scanners were most definitely not household items 30 years ago, I unfortunately didn’t get a copy. The friend wanted to forget that anything had taken place so my father did not ask him for a copy or press the matter any further.

I have seen 100’s or maybe even 1000’s of photos suspected of being paranormal in the time since that day, but of the ones I feel are real and not faked I have not seen any to top this one as to its graphicness and unusual content

When you add the facts together that my father had known this man for many years as honest and not someone who would try a hoax. The fact that self developing photos are hard…if not impossible…to alter. The fact that he didn’t even want people to know about the photo. And that he didn’t have access to computer photo altering programs like we have today. I feel it was completely real and chillingly genuine. What was depicted in the photo is completely up to theory but it is definitely one of if not the best examples of paranormal photography I will ever see.

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copyright 2008 Donald Ryles

To read more about Dr. Ryles and his life and to read about : Hidden Secrets of Many, But One… a very true and most unusual book of spirits, ghosts, haunting, and 9-11 being encoded 4 years before it happened, go to : www.drryles.com

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Quote from Book Two; Amber Shadows and the Crystal Locket

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Chapter One

(Illustration)

Alluring Danger

M

onday morning every cauldron alarm clock in the Shadows’ household flashed twelve o’clock. The storm brewing since midnight whipped branches viciously against rooftops and power lines, sending several garbage cans rolling around yards and down the streets.

Several feet away, on the border of Magian countryside and Downtown Magia, a rooted pinecone fir tree snapped in half and fell against the main power lines. Instantaneously power outage darkened every window and street lamp, as if a Dark Magic spell covered the Magians with a mysterious, velvety black cloak.

As the town slept, a svelte silhouette cloaked in blackish-red, dragon hide lurked just outside the youngest Shadows’ bedroom window. Fingernails of various dragon designs carved into the paint-chipped siding, leaving deep gashes in its weathered wood. As the silhouette moved closer to gaze in through a narrow slit in the curtain panels, the wind sifted through her long, black locks. She stood motionless, watching Amber toss and turn as she called out incoherent names in her sleep.

The woman’s lips curled in hatred as her fingers twiddled in a spherical motion, magically forcing the towel in the opening of Amber’s window to fall inward. Just as the woman was on the verge of vaporizing into a thin, serpent-shaped coil of vapors, the wind viciously shifted. She tilted her head backward to peruse the sky. The heavens stirred furiously, blanketing the entire neighborhood with threatening cloud formations. Thunder boomed magnificently throughout the inky-black sky as rain plopped here and there, and then suddenly, a crack of lighting struck the ground just inches away from where the woman stood, as if to warn her.

Startled by her near death experience the woman transformed into a black and red snake, with a spiked dragon tail and glittering birthmark on its head. Lightning struck again nearly setting her tail on fire as she slithered back into the Wood at full speed, down into a bubbling hole leading to what those living in the Bewitched Forest would call, the Dark Magic Realm.

Rain continuously poured in sheets as lightning struck the earth near Amber’s room three times, waking her from what felt like a heart pounding nightmare. Above the Shadows house lightning cracked as it formed an angel outline, etching it into the clouds. With eyes open wide, yet not totally aware of her surroundings, Amber covered her head and slid underneath her bed, her breathing erratic. She’d never truly been afraid of lightning before, but it was so close above her part of the house she feared it was going to strike the roof and set the house on fire.

Moments later all was silent and the rain stopped instantaneously. Amber peered out from under her bed and noticed a brilliant light beaming through the crack in the curtains. Curiosity overwhelmed her fears as she slowly crawled out from under her bed and stepped toward the window. Staring up into the seven heavens, her fears were replaced by peacefulness and her breathing suddenly shifted into normal, slow breaths. Amber couldn’t help but think that the angel resembled Jocelyn’s face (her late, great-great grandmother).

It must be a warning, thought Amber. Something just happened . . . something Jocelyn wanted me to know about . . . . She looked out into the backyard and saw nothing except wet grass and swaying woods. Plops of rain began hitting her window pane again. Amber glanced upward hoping the angel would remain long enough for her to commune with her inner intuition, but the angel vanished before her eyes, leaving stormy billows in its place.

If something hasn’t already happened it’s about to, thought Amber. She sat down befuddled by the angel and its meaning; then suddenly remembered how she’d witnessed something horrifying in her dreams . . . something that may be linked to the etched angel in the clouds.

Grasping at the covers, Amber struggled to see through the blackness engulfing her surroundings as she shivered from the unexplainable, cold draft invading the room. Being a bit preoccupied with the sign from heaven, she hadn’t thought to check and see if the towel was tucked in the hole of the window, and shivered for several moments before snapping out of her thoughts.

Amber leaned over and twisted the light switch to her lamp twice but it would not turn on. She then gazed down and noticed the alarm clock flashing 12:00. Another power failure, she thought. Sighing, she pulled out a box of matches. As she struck the match, Amber noticed rain spattering on her bedside table and on the edge of the pillar candle. She pulled the candle towards the edge closest to her and got to her feet. Rubbing her arms for warmth, she headed toward the window to see if the towel was not properly tucked in the hole.

That’s strange, thought Amber, where is the towel? She picked up the candle and looked on the floor to see if it had fallen out from the force of the wind. Nearly missing sight of it, Amber noticed something red sticking out from behind her bedside table. She pulled it out after some difficulty only to find it was an envelope with gold ribbon. Amber was about to open the envelope when the room temperature suddenly dropped. Although anxious to read its contents, she couldn’t handle the cold a moment longer. She set the candle down and searched for the towel.

Amber managed to reach further behind her bedside table after a bit of difficulty and grabbed hold of what she thought was the towel, but when she looked at it, it was nothing more than a small square of singed material. Someone was here . . . trying to get in, thought Amber, someone using Dark Magic by the looks of it. After all this time, someone had finally attempted to cause her and possibly her family harm. She pulled out an old pair of sweats and was about to stuff them into the window, when a creaking noise from the hallway drew her attention to the bedroom door left slightly ajar.

Amber swallowed hard. Perhaps it was her imagination working overtime, but the longer she stared at the door, the more her imagination tricked her into believing someone was slowly pushing their way into the room.

She blew out the candle and slipped back in bed, pulling the covers up over her head. Grasping her crystal locket, she prayed that whoever it was would change their mind and go away. Lying still, she inhaled and exhaled long breaths, lip synching, “It’s only my imagination . . . it’s only my imagination . . . the house is just settling . . . yeah . . . yeah that’s it . . . that has to be it . . . it’s just settling . . .“

After several moments had passed and it had become quite clear that no one had entered the room, Amber sat up and pulled the covers from her head. She wiped her forehead with her nightdress sleeve as she sat staring at the door thinking, I must have been hallucinating . . . the door hasn’t budged.

In fact, as Amber looked around she couldn’t help noticing that everything was as still as can be. The only sounds breaking the silence of the room was the expansion and retraction of the heating pipes, the rain pattering against the window, and the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway just a few feet away from her bedroom door.

Amber re-lit the candle and glanced around. The room appeared ominous, what with the antique dresser, rickety desk, and chair sitting idle in the flickering candlelight. The spindles at the foot of her bed cast silhouettes on the wall, stretching from halfway up the closet doors to the ceiling in an eerie fashion.

“My imagination should get an award for being overactive,” she muttered. As Amber sat staring into the surrounding darkness, it suddenly struck her why she was getting so freaked out. She remembered in vivid detail what woke her in the first place.

Amber got to her feet and lifted her top mattress. Hidden away with the Legends, Spells, and Enchantment Book was the Emerald Wand of Chrysalis. With a few White Magic words she removed the shield protecting it and tip toed about the house, placing seven protection charms on every window and the front and back doors. There, that out to hold whoever it was out for a while, she thought. Amber was about to tuck into bed when she remembered the red envelope.

She began ripping at the corners of the envelope, hoping to find a message from her late, great-great grandmother Jocelyn, but after several attempts of actually ripping it open and it resealing itself, she gave up. “Must be a protective spell . . .” Amber muttered in befuddlement.

As tired as she was, her curiosity propelled her into thumbing through the Legends, Spells and Enchantment Book twice, but none of spells she tried worked and neither did any of the spells she recited while using the Emerald Wand of Chrysalis.

“Must be some type of Dark Magic unknown to the book,” Amber said under her breath, thoroughly frustrated. She tucked the red envelope inside the book for safe keeping until she could figure out how to open it. Then she tucked the book back under her top mattress and placed the Emerald wand inside her pillow case, her grip firmly on its handle. She needed to salvage what few hours of sleep she had left. Soon, her family would be busying the hallway in their daily morning rush to ready themselves for a new day at school or work, without any knowledge of what happened during the night.

Less than an hour later, Amber was still awake and staring out the window from where she lay. She could not block out the flashes of a deformed, half-dead figure, and several serpent guards with scaly blackish-green skin and feelers on top their heads chasing her in her nightmare, nor could she forget about the angel etched in the clouds and how much she reminded her of Jocelyn. And it certainly did not help to know the attempt of someone breaking into the house justified her reasons of worrying all summer. Now that something finally happened, Amber found herself more concerned about what she was going to do about it, and who, pray tell was it?

It was at that precise moment something long lying at the foot of the bed in the shadows moved. Startled out of her thoughts, Amber huddled up in the upper corner of her bed; fearing it was a snake. Slowly she opened her eyes and outstretched her arm to pick up the candle and relight it. There at the foot of her bed in tousled blankets lay an undisturbed feline; stretched out, purring and pawing at the air, his wizards’ crest birthmark glistening in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the candle and placed it back on the bedside table relieved to find she was over reacting. “It was only Zappy stirring about . . . .”

Having had enough of a sleepless night, Amber slipped into her robe and tucked the Emerald wand in her pocket. With the wand at her side, she figured she would be perfectly safe to catch a breath of fresh air while she wrote in her diary. She gathered her writing tools and steadied the candle in a firm grip as she softly tip-toed through the house, out the back door, and gently closed the screen door behind her. Settling on the back porch swing, she noticed the rain was now softer and steady. Amber released the invisibility charm and thumbed through her diary, counting the number of entries she had written. The entry she was about to pen would make the seventh entry to date.

*****

You simply must buy the first book to find out what happened! I refuse to spoil it for those who are still reading the first book or who have yet to purchase it. Until then, I’m sorry to say, this is only a teaser excerpt from Book Two in the Amber Shadows series.

Have a bewitching read.

*****

Wendy Willett

Excerpt from Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands

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“Whosoever is in possession of thy book, read thy words carefully, take a second look…. Thou shall falter if thy heart is untrue….”Amber Shadows is your typical “Magia” White Magic teen until she discovers three books written by one of her extraordinary White Magic ancestors. Dangerous secrets of her family’s past are unlocked. Amber is driven by voices from antiquity to begin a dangerous quest along with her two best mates to rescue her missing family members, find two magical wands, and return home safe and sound. Can fourteen-year-old Amber and friends manage such a feat? You’ll have to read the book to find out! But prepare yourself . . . you will find yourself face to face with deadly Dark Magical beasts and dangerous obstacles as you journey along with Amber and friends.

P.S. Don’t say I didn’t warn you . . . .

Warning!
My dear children, in Magia there are two types of magic—Dark Magic and White Magic. I shall not preach as to which is which; it would be most insulting to your intelligence, and you would most likely put this book down out of boredom. That being said, I must point out the following about the story you are about to read. In Magia things are not always as they should be. Terrible things happen that are not of our choosing . . . things that sometimes befall us against our will, causing loss and suffering.
If you are expecting to read a story about a medieval princess, forced to marry a Dark wizard more than twice her age, or missionary knights setting off to fight and conquer a monstrous dragon guarding two stolen wands of power and glory, then you would be very much mistaken. Although these stories would be exciting to read, they must be left for another time.
It is a terrible thing to be at such a young age in ones’ life, when you find yourself utterly helpless, having your life placed in danger, and living through terrifying situations beyond anything you can possibly imagine. And it is a far worse thing to have to endure the wrath of Dark Magic entities, striving to take what doesn’t belong to them for the sole purpose of revenge, power, greed, and dare I say . . . immortality.
If you find you do not wish to read about the emotional trials and tribulations of a thirteen-year-old White Magic witch-in-training; one that is left in the care of her older sister and brother while her parents are off searching for her grandparents; one who, along with her two best friends, face numerous conjured up beasts and life threatening events managed by the Dark Magic hand of Lady Gondara, then might I suggest you properly place this book back upon the bookshelf, and leave its story for someone else.
As for those of you courageous enough to continue along with Amber and her friends on their magical journey, please keep the following in mind at all times: being born a White Magic witch or wizard is not all wishes granted, wand power, and magic spells to do our bidding as one might believe.