A review of How To Survive A Bear Attack: A Memoir

 

Sometimes its worth it to get outside of one's comfort zone. In this case its my listening headspace through an audiobook I may not have given a chance to under normal circumstances. I have to confess that I am not normally drawn to books like Claire Cameron's How To Survive A Bear Attack: A Memoir. I was unfamiliar with the author or her previous works so a memoir was not overly appealing. And then when I learned it involved her cancer journey I debated on giving it a pass because I am a cancer survivor and an admitted coward who is easily triggered. 

But I do love Algonquin Park, nature and bears. And I have been feeling nostalgia for my birth home Toronto so I thought I will give this one a chance and I'm sure glad I did!

Claire Cameron is a bestselling author who comes from my home town Toronto. In her memoir she talks about her early life in our shared city and dealing with the death of her Dad from a very aggressive form of skin cancer. Algonquin Park another place I know very well plays a large role in her working through her loss and grief. But as beautiful and healing as Nature is it can also at times be dangerous. 

The author takes us through her examination of a rare predatory bear attack and the death of two campers at a remote campsite in the park back in 1991. This investigation dovetails with her finding out that she has an aggressive cancer and genetic mutation that may cut her life tragically short. The two intertwine into a poignant reminder of the fragility of life, our need as stewards of this planet to respect and care for the wildlife we share it with and the enduring power of love.

The audiobook is narrated by the author and it was well worth my listening to it. Highly recommend. 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada Audiobooks |Knopf Canada, via Netgalley, for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Link to the author's website and purchasing information here

My Journey with UFOs and UFOlogy

 

The giant red orb appeared in my life on November 4th 1990. I was an adult with another witness and we were mesmerized, shocked in disbelief and in awe. There are no adequate words when faced so abruptly and undeniably with the impossible. It changes you and my life was never the same again. In my book Cosmic Witch I describe it as an initiation into the uncanny.  

I had childhood encounters that I had chalked up to imagination or fever dreams, but experiencing a UFO as an adult forced me into rethinking everything I thought I knew about myself, our world and the very fabric of reality. But, what can an individual do with these new thoughts and feelings? I looked for community both in the UFO clubs like the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and later Skeptics Canada. And while I met some nice people in both belief camps neither of these groups worked for me. So I struck out on my own patterning my investigations after my late friend Robert Moore and Jenny Randles UFO investigative handbook.

My first website chronicled my investigation into spook lights and appealed to witnesses of the paranormal including UFOs to share their encounters with me. And in those early days I was honored to connect with so many others that like me just needed to share their experiences in a safe space free of any judgments. I am still privileged to meet with others, but my role now is focused on being a keeper and steward of their experiences by preserving these through my online initiatives and database and less on investigation.  

What I came to realize through my research and investigation is that the simplistic cases were often easy to find mundane explanations for, but those that involve high strangeness, perhaps the majority, defy any easy explanations. 

This is where UFOlogy has often struggled.  Cases involving high strangeness are often neglected or worse ridiculed by the investigators themselves because the details are too mind-boggling to be acceptable to a “nuts and bolts” mindset. This has left us with the dominate hypotheses of it must be extraterrestrial (UFOlogy) or it must all be mundane (skeptic groups) and neither of these are satisfying. 

Branches of UFOlogy have also leaned too far into the idea of disclosure from the American government who has a history of playing dirty pool so to speak with the subject of UFOs. The recent revelations in the US Congress have provided the public with little to no tangible evidence for their claims and until such time comes we should be treating this as more myth-making that may or may not have some kernels’ of truth to them. The obvious risk is the creation of a state sanctioned belief system or narrative as to the nature of these cosmic mysteries. And human history should teach us the inherent danger in this. 

Keel and Vallee both advocated for multidisciplinary academic approaches decades ago. The Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) and the Sol Foundation are currently fulfilling this role. I am cautiously optimistic about both initiatives, and hope at some stage they will include the arts.

While the academy is playing catch up on our subjects UFOlogy needs to evolve in order to remain relevant. It should be focusing more on the witnesses and the most unusual experiential reports in an ethical and supportive way. And less on debunking the easy cases which brings us no closer to understanding the nature of UFOs. 

North American UFOlogy also lacks in diversity. In order to more effectively explore the complexities of extraordinary experience it needs to reach out beyond its own colonial mindset and listen to the voices of Indigenous peoples and other cultures from around the world whose own experiences may not reflect the mainstream hypotheses, but are equally valid and important.  

I love the UFO. It has shaped my life in different ways sometimes painfully and unpredictably so, but always inspiring and keeping my sense of wonder alive.  The UFO has taught me that the Universe is a deeply rich and mysterious place where highly strange magical things can and do happen and for that I will always be grateful. 

Originally published to AP Magazine Dec. 2024 edition 

 Both Massimo and I are featured in the December 2024 issue of Alternate Perceptions Magazine! There is a wonderful review of Mike Fiorito's new book UFO symphonic Journey's Into Sound and an excerpt of Massimo's chapter. I write about my UFO journey including getting a bit spicy. Also features Bob Davis, Kathleen Marden, Nancy du Tertre, and Joey Madia. 

https://apmagazine.info/

Thanks so much to Brent Raynes editor of AP Magazine and good friend for the amazing work he does bringing us the high weirdness every month of the year go check it out!

A Review of the Short Story Best Ghost

 

I received a copy of this short story via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. The novelette follows two YouTube ghost hunting creators who run the "Best Ghost Hunters" paranormal channel and their encounter with an actual haunted house. The Old Mayor's Mansion is located in a town called Cemetery in the Hudson Valley. Hudson Valley really does have a reputation as a paranormal hotspot so it was a nice added touch to have the story unfold there. The story reminded me of the many ghost hunting shows that are on television and Youtube, which I am not really fan. But the story is well written and I'm happy I decided to give this one a read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes ghost hunters or the paranormal in general and would read the expanded collection of short stories especially during the spooky season.

Best Ghost By C.J. Daley  Published June 2024  My rating on GoodReads is 4 stars

#NetGalley #eBook #Paranormal 

Brockport New York Poltergeist

Artist conception of poltergeist activity as reported by Therese Selles, a 14-year-old domestic servant of the Todescini family at Cheragas, Algeria. From the French magazine La Vie Mysterieuse in 1911.

From the case files of Susan Demeter  

Brockport New York Poltergeist

 

Poltergeist phenomena are often very physically and psychologically destructive. It has been attributed to troubled ghosts of our dead or inhuman spirits and sometimes emotional turmoil and stress are suspected of creating PSI phenomenon as is suggested in the report that I investigated below. Or perhaps it is a combination of all of these factors? Is our beloved dead restless and responding to our emotional pain? Or is this an inhuman interaction? I’ll let you decide. 

The witness writes: 

"For nearly two years from 1991 to 1992 I went to live with my parents in Brockport New York. I was 24-25 at the time and was experiencing a great amount of emotional turmoil because of a recent arrest and lengthy court appearances. In addition I had a falling out with my wife at the time because of said arrest.

 

While at my parent's home I would on occasion hear loud explosions sometimes so violently loud that they would shake the house. My mother would hear them too, one time knocking on my bedroom door to inquire if I had been lighting off fireworks. My father had experienced these explosions too, but refused to discuss such (I think it unnerved him). I came out of my room one day to hear something like chains jingling in the small linen closet in front of me. Upon opening the closet the only thing I could find that could possibly make such a noise was a box of family silverware. However this was secured in a large wooden box which would have muffled the noise to the point that I doubt it could have been heard as clearly as I heard this.

 

The occurrences climaxed one day while I was home alone. I was upstairs in the loft when I heard something that sounded like a 300lb. safe being dropped below me in the kitchen. I proceeded to grab my father's 32  (rifle) from the adjoining bedroom as I thought someone may have kicked in the door downstairs. As I swept the house and began to descend the staircase I felt and heard pounding directly under my feet and then I felt something pass through me from my feet to my head, like a chill (it made me tingle). I checked the house inside and outside and from top to bottom, nothing was amiss.

 

I did not know what to do or who to turn to. I called a local psychic bookstore and talked to the person there. I explained the situation to them and told them that it was a brand new home that my parents had just built and that we had even had the builder come to inspect the home because of the occurrences, but he had no explanation. 

The woman I was talking to suggested that we could have built over an old grave site and to tell the presence to go to the light. So after getting off the phone with her I told this presence out loud several times to go to the light. Later that night while lying in my bed I heard directly over top of me, and only for a split second, a piercing scream so loud that it reverberated off of the walls. I lay in awe, and actually began to question if I had really heard what I had heard. The interesting thing was that we never had any further occurrences after this event.

 

I believe that I may have been unconsciously manifesting these happenings or that it could have been a manifestation of energy caused by disturbing the site the house was built on. From what I have studied over the years concerning poltergeists, the severe turmoil and uncertainty in my life may have very well been the catalyst that precipitated the happenings."

 

My thanks goes out to the witness for sharing these experiences with me.  It is interesting to note that when the witness took charge of the situation by speaking out loud and therefore empowering himself that the phenomena ceased. This is very much in keeping with my own findings and will often work to calm down a haunting.

A Book Review of Erosion By Lucya Starza

 ​Book Review: Erosion by Lucya Starza Moon Books May 2024

E​rosion is a gothic ​​novel set ​in an English seaside town in the Summer of 1987.  ​Alice is fresh out of University with big dreams of becoming a writer. Her desire for independence and some synchronicity leads her to meeting a new group of friends who become her roommates and a Summer job at a caravan (trailer) park. It is here that she hopes to find the inspiration to begin her first great novel.  But things never quite go as hoped for. The discovery of a mysterious grave and the bones within sets the stage for the magic and darkness that follows. ''It all began when we found the bones.''

​I was already an admirer of author Lucya Starza non-fiction titles and I was happy to hear she was writing a novel in one of my favourite genres. I bought a copy and waited until my own Summer vacation to give it a good read.  ​Erosion did not disappoint. It has a dark foreboding atmosphere with a group of intriguing and relatable characters.  I finished the book in two days as it's one of those stories that makes it nearly impossible to put down.

There are a few unanswered questions that I am left to ponder, which I dare hope may be revealed in a future novel? Hint, Lucya Starza ;)   

If you are a fan of  gothic mysteries, and​ especially if you feel a nostalgia for the 80s this novel is a fun read and I highly recommend it. ​ 5+

This review was originally published to Good Reads You can check out author Lucya Starza's A Bad Witch's blog here.

The Mister Entity Haunting

I am very excited to be a guest on Supernatural Circumstances this week with Morgan and Mike We discuss the terrifying true haunting of the Moffitt family and Mister Entity, soon to be adapted by Blumhouse films.  

I am happy to go on the record saying I believe this family. The case is one that is deeply weird and mind boggling, but so many elements ring true to me, not only as an investigator of the cosmic mysteries or an occultist, but from my personal experiences growing up in a haunted house with haunted people. 

Read Jessica Moffitt's account and view photos of the destruction here

Have a listen on Spotify or on all podcast platforms. And please do share your thoughts with me in the comments. 

#paranormal #haunting #podcasts #supernatural #ghosts #horror #EvelynPaglini #warrens #poltergeist