Eastern State Penitentiary - New Ghost Adventures Investigation

The Ghost Adventures crew is going on a true "lockdown" this week as they investigate the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, one of the oldest standing prisons in the country. I wanted to provide you some location details and an extended video preview of this all new episode, premiering Friday at 9 PM E/P on the Travel Channel.

The Eastern State Penitentiary, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is considered to be one of the most haunted locations in the world. The prison first opened its doors in 1829 and was designed to hold 253 prisoners, each occupying a solitary confinement cell for their entire sentence. Although executions were not carried out at Eastern State, the prison was home to its fair share of murders. At least two guards were murdered over the years as were many inmates. Hundreds of others died from disease and old age. The inmates are long gone but there is strong evidence that their angry spirits continue to roam the cell blocks and corridors.

Video: World’s First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years

World’s First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years | Gadget Lab from Wired.com (via Tobin's Basement)

Samael Part I - Demonology Profile

From Wikipedia:

In Judaism and Christianity
In Jewish lore, Sammael is said to be the Angel of Death, the chief ruler of the Fifth Heaven and one of the seven regents of the world served by two million angels; he resides in the Seventh Heaven. Yalkut I, 110 of the Talmud speaks of Samael as Esau's guardian angel. In Sotah 10b, Samael is Esau's guardian angel, and in the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, he is charged with being the one who tempted Eve, then seduced and impregnated her with Cain. Though some sources identify Gadreel as the angel that seduced Eve, other Hebrew scholars say that it was Samael who tempted Eve in the guise of the Serpent. Samael is also sometimes identified as being the angelic antagonist who wrestled with Jacob, and also the angel who held back the arm of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son.

In The Holy Kabbalah (Arthur Edward Waite, 255), Samael is described as the "severity of God", and is listed as fifth of the archangels of the world of Briah. Samael is said to have taken Lilith as his bride after she left Adam. According to Zoharistic cabala, Samael was also mated with Eisheth Zenunim, Na'amah, and Agrat Bat Mahlat - all angels of prostitution.

Samael is sometimes confused in some books with Camael, an archangel of God, whose name means "He who sees God".

In Gnosticism
In the Apocryphon of John, found in the Nag Hammadi library, Samael is the third name of the demiurge, whose other names are Yaldabaoth and Saklas. In this context, Samael means "the blind god", the theme of blindness running throughout gnostic works. He is born out of the error of Sophia, who desires to create offspring of her own without the Spirit. His appearance is that of a lion-faced serpent. In On the Origin of the World in the Nag Hammadi library texts, he is also referred to as Ariael.

In Anthroposophism
To anthroposophists, Samael is known as one of the seven archangels: Saint Gregory gives the seven archangels as Anael, Gabriel , Michael, Oriphiel, Raphael, Samael and Zachariel. They are all imagined to have a special assignment to act as a global Zeitgeist ('time spirit'), each for periods of about 380 years. Since 1879, anthroposophists posit, Michael has been the leading time spirit. Four important archangels are also supposed to display periodic spiritual activity over the seasons: Raphael during the spring, Uriel during the summer, Michael during the autumn, and Gabriel during the winter. In anthroposophy, archangels may be good or evil; in particular, some of their rank are collaborators of Ahriman, whose purpose (anthroposophists believe) is to alienate humanity from the spiritual world and promote materialism and heartless technical control.
(Wikipedia)

Pazuzu Part I - Demonology Profile

From Wikipedia:

In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.

Pazuzu is often depicted as a combination of animal and human parts. He has the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, eagle-like taloned feet, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine penis. He is often depicted with his right hand pointing upward.

Pazuzu is the god of the southwest wind known for bringing famine during dry seasons, and locusts during rainy seasons. Recent research suggests Pazuzu may have been associated with a cold, northeasterly wind.[1] Pazuzu was said to be invoked in amulets which combat the powers of the malicious goddess, and hated rival, Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Although Pazuzu is, himself, an evil spirit, he drives away other evil spirits, thus protecting humans against plagues and misfortunes.
(Wikipedia)

The Ghost At Savannah Church

From The Paranormal Pastor:

This encounter with a dubious entity also was published on the front page of a leading Western Pennsylvania Newspaper over a century ago. Yet today it has been long lost in the mists of time, and all but this historian know of what happened in that ancient churchyard in Shenango Township in Lawrence County Pennsylvania so many years ago.
(theparanormalpastor.blogspot.com)

National Geographic: Birth of Voodoo

Voodoo was born in the West African nation of Benin. And here it is an official religion. (National Geographic @ YouTube)

The Book of the Damned (1919) by Charles Fort

From Wikipedia:

The Book of the Damned was the first published nonfiction work of the author Charles Fort (first edition 1919). Dealing with various types of anomalous phenomena including UFOs, strange falls of both organic and inorganic materials from the sky, odd weather patterns, the possible existence of creatures generally held to be mythological, disappearances of people under strange circumstances, and many other phenomena, the book is historically considered to be the first written in the specific field of anomalistics.

The title of the book referred to what he termed the "damned" data - data which had been damned, or excluded, by modern science because of its not conforming to accepted guidelines. The way Fort sees it, mainstream scientists are trend followers who believe in what is accepted and popular, and never really look for a truth that may be contrary to what they believe. He also compares the close-mindedness of many scientists to that of religious fundamentalists, implying that the supposed "battle" between science and religion is just a smokescreen for the fact that, in his view, science is, in essence, simply a de facto religion. This is a theme that Fort would develop more heavily in his later works, New Lands and Lo! particularly.

Fort was one of the first major writers to deal extensively with paranormal phenomena (see parapsychology), and in that aspect at least, The Book of the Damned should be considered an important work. It should be viewed as a formulative work, perhaps understandably, as it is his first major book. Though Fort's uniquely acerbic writing style is already in evidence, and there are plenty of interesting phenomena to read about, Fort's theories (as such) are only beginning to be developed, and Fort tends to ramble in this book more so than his later ones. Still, it's a very readable book for those interested in this subject, and a solid introduction to Fort and his works.

The first few chapters of the book deal largely with explaining Fort's thesis (as mentioned above). As a particular instance, he cites the strange glowing in the sky worldwide, which supposedly resulted due to the 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatoa. Fort shows that such phenomenon had in fact preceded the eruption by several months, and suggests that the scientists, who had been puzzled by the phenomenon initially, used Krakatoa as a convenient explanation to something that they could not previously explain.

While Fort has a particular interest in strange "falls" - focusing quite a bit of the book on the falls of fish, frogs, and various unidentifiable materials - he does not focus exclusively on this category. He also has chapters discussing the findings of "thunderstones", which supposedly fell from the sky during lightning storms; a discussion of evidence for the existence of giants (huge oversized axes too big for any person to use) and fairies (so-called "fairy crosses" and "coffins"); a brief chapter on poltergeist phenomena; the disappearances of many people (including the supposed disappearance of several hundred people in a shelter during the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake; the bodies of the "missing" were discovered in late 2006; he also briefly mentions the famous case of the Mary Celeste, which he would detail much more in his later Lo!); a rather long section on a number of purported UFO sightings (this book was written well before 1947, Kenneth Arnold, and the start of the modern UFO craze); and sums up with a mention of the famous "Devil's Footprints" mystery in England in 1855, also citing a number of similar cases.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Damned)

Rights group calls to ban Czech castration law

Rights group calls to ban Czech castration law

From CNN.com:

(CNN) -- The Czech Republic's practice of surgically castrating convicted sex offenders is "invasive, irreversible and mutilating" and should stop immediately, the Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee said in a report made public Thursday.

The central European country castrated at least 94 prisoners in the 10 years up to April 2008, when investigators from the Council of Europe, a human-rights forum, visited the Czech Republic.

The Council of Europe condemned the practice as "degrading."

The procedure is being performed even on first-time, non-violent offenders, such as exhibitionists, its investigation revealed.

Prisoners have to request castration under Czech law, but many fear they will be jailed for life if they do not, the investigation found.

"In practically all the cases, these patients indicated that their application was at least partially instigated by fear of long-term detention," the report said.

"Some patients claimed that the treating sexologist had explicitly told them that surgical castration was the only available option to them and that refusal would mean lifelong detention."

And it warned that some "significantly" mentally retarded people had been castrated.

"In at least five cases, legally incapacitated offenders were surgically castrated," the report said. "In all of these instances, the court-appointed guardian had signed the consent form; in two cases, the guardians were mayors."

The investigators found only two convicts who had spontaneously volunteered for castration, while others they interviewed said mental health staff specializing in sexuality had recommended it.

"The other patients interviewed indicated that the treating sexologist had suggested surgical castration, in several cases within a week of the patient's admission to hospital," the report said.

"Some of the sexologists interviewed by the delegation themselves affirmed that for certain patients there was no alternative treatment to surgical castration."

The Czech Republic defends the practice as voluntary, saying castration aims permanently to reduce testosterone levels in order to diminish the offender's sexual urges.

The process, officially called "therapeutic testicular pulpectomies ... are performed upon a written request of an adult man," the Czech government responded. It said the operation had to be approved by a committee of experts.

"Prior to the performance of such intervention, the patient must express his consent with its performance. Castration is considered with respect to men who cannot manage their sexual instincts and are sexually aggressive," the Czech government said, saying the Council of Europe had not proven its case sufficiently for the country to abandon castration.

It argues the procedure is effective in reducing repeat offenses.

But the Council of Europe questioned the statistics on repeat offenses and said even if they were correct, castration was not an appropriate way to reduce recidivism.

"The committee's delegation came across three cases in which sex offenders had committed serious sex-related crimes, including serial rape and attempted murder, after they had been surgically castrated," the human-rights group said.

"Surgical castration is no longer a generally accepted medical intervention in the treatment of sex-offenders," the report said.

It said candidates for castration often received information about the procedure which was too technical to understand -- or no information at all.

"Several patients who had undergone surgical castration told the delegation that they would never have applied for surgical castration had they been properly informed," the report warned.

It condemned the practice as "an irreversible intervention that always leads to infertility and, in the long run, a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis," also warning of possible depression and changes in appearance.

It said it was impossible to determine how many people had been castrated in keeping with a 1966 law.

The Council of Europe delegation visited the Czech Republic from March 25 to April 2, 2008. It issued its report and the Czech response on July 23, 2008. It made them public on Thursday at the request of the Czech government, it said.

(CNN.com)

Ghost Adventures - Old Idaho Penitentiary

Tune in Friday at 9 p.m. ET for an all new Ghost Adventures 12 hour paranormal lock down. This week the team is investigating the Old Idaho Penitentiary. Also Zak, Nick and Aaron will be chatting live at 10 pm ET after the show.

[Video] New pyramid discovered under sand

[Video] New pyramid discovered under sand
Egyptian archaeologists have started excavating a pyramid buried in the desert that no-one knew existed until recently. It's located near the famous 'step pyramid' south of Cairo. The pyramid probably housed the remains of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, who ruled from 2323 to 2291 BC and founded Egypt's Sixth Dynasty. The headless, five-metre (16-foot) high pyramid originally reached about 14 metres, and each of its sides was 22 metres long.