Tag Archives: Kirsten A. Thorne

Existential Despair and the Wheel of Existence

The mediums that the Society for Psychical Research studied so extensively from 1881 forward paid a price for their gifts. Even a cursory reading of the SPR’s work with mediums reveals health issues and early death as almost an inevitable result of contacting the dead on a daily basis. Mediums tend to have histories ofContinue reading “Existential Despair and the Wheel of Existence”

Connected by Loneliness: Traumatic Bonding in Haunted Locations

One of the most terrifying punishments for human beings is isolation from the group, or from a significant other who instills in us a sense of safety and security only to abruptly remove themselves from our lives without explanation. I think of regressive societies casting out women for adultery or “witchcraft”, relegating them to theContinue reading “Connected by Loneliness: Traumatic Bonding in Haunted Locations”

The Messiness of Death: When Mediumship Fails (Or Only Appears To)

Yesterday, after receiving the news that a dear relative was on their deathbed, I was able to communicate to them during meditation. I received clear and detailed messages, one of which concerned the appearance of a dove: that would be the sign that my loved one had passed over and was fine. I went toContinue reading “The Messiness of Death: When Mediumship Fails (Or Only Appears To)”

Zombie Boy: Giving Ghost Hunters What They Want?

In Season 5, Episode 2 of “Kindred Spirits”, investigators Amy Bruni and Adam Berry suspect that “zombie boy”–a supposed ghost that was ramping up activity and scaring investigators at a Massachusetts estate–is a creation of the very people who so fervently believe in him. Much like “Phillip”, the invented ghost from a series of seancesContinue reading “Zombie Boy: Giving Ghost Hunters What They Want?”

Time and the Paranormal

I have long thought that if we understood time, or how consciousness creates the concept of temporal flow, we would understand religion and all things we currently call paranormal. I was attending my first, post-Covid church service outdoors at Saint Hugh’s Episcopal Church when I realized that the liturgical calendar (we are currently in theContinue reading “Time and the Paranormal”

Creating Your Ghosts . . . and Your Hell

There is this nagging question that I have asked myself for years. Do we create–at least in part–the paranormal phenomena that we later claim plagues us? Or that intrigues us? What, exactly, is the relationship of what is “out there” as objective, disembodied intelligence and “in here”, a product of our own consciousness? Is there,Continue reading “Creating Your Ghosts . . . and Your Hell”