Paranormal Review

Usually, my Blog confines itself to the paranormal, which offers a very broad spectrum of subjects for comment. Today, I’m making a departure from that rule to say a few words about the London Paralympics 2012.

London did a wonderful job of hosting the Olympic Games and soon, after a short respite, its venues will welcome disabled sportsmen and women from around the world. It promises to be an inspiring event, showcasing not only the individual and team skills of those whose bodies are not “fully abled”, but also the tremendous courage and determination they display in achieving their goals and overcoming their handicaps.

The Paralympics (29 August to 9 September) will, like the Olympics, be a sell-out and will attract able-bodied and disabled spectators alike, eager to cheer on their heroes and draw inspiration from their achievements.

So it came as a surprise – even a shock – to me to learn that Locog (the London Organising Committe of the Olympic Games) has a ticketing policy, as far as spectators in wheelchairs are concerned, for which the only word that adequately describes it is “discriminatory”.

Wheelchair users can only be accompanied by one person.

Imagine a family of four, one of whom is in a wheelchair, wanting to cheer on a basketball team. Two will be seated in one area, whilst the other two (one in a wheelchair) have to be seated elsewhere. Where’s the fun in that? Where’s the family spirit? And what message does that send to a wheelchair-bound child in a world that is supposed to be inclusive and non-discriminatory?

Beth Davis-Hofbauer (pictured) is a wheelchair user and mother of a four-year-old autistic son and a 19-month-old daughter who finds herself in that position. Rather than accept it, she decided to harness people power and has started a petition which has already received 34,000 signatures (including mine).

As a result, Locog is taking notice and has already relented to the extent of agreeing that people in wheelchairs can sit together with their families, but they will have to wait until the day of their chosen events to learn where they will be seated. In other words, unlike able-bodied spectators, they will not receive confirmed seats in advance.

Understandably, for most families with a disabled, wheelchair-bound member, that arrangement is not good enough. Most will have concerns, which may prove correct, that when they present themselves at a venue they will be informed, despite the promise, that there’s nowhere for them to sit together.

So, a few more signatures on the petition might produce the desired result. Beth is hoping to get 50,000 or more. 100,000 would be even better. It’s a pity that the organisers hadn’t anticipated and solved this problem well in advance.

To read Beth’s story and sign the petition, click here. And if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, why not share her request with others?

An English medium and healer, living in Denmark, has stabbed his four-year-old twin daughters multiple times and then stabbed himself, in a locked hospital room in Copenhagen. He then thrown himself from a window. Bishop was based in Swindon, Wiltshire, UK, before moving to Denmark in 2000.

Graham Bishop, 58, says he has provided spiritual guidance to thousands of people and claims to have been a tutor at the Arthur Findlay College in Essex. During healing sessions and seances to “clear” property of “spiritual disturbances”, he says the spirit of a German doctor, Dr Karl, controls him. According to the Copenhagen Post, Bishop – who has appeared on reality shows on Danish TV – is being held in Rigshospitalet, the same hospital where his daughters are being treated.

Police say he stabbed himself in the stomach with a kitchen knife after the attack on his daughters, on Sunday afternoon. The twin girls were in a critical condition in intensive care but are said to be improving. Bishop survived his self-inflicted wound and the fall from a window at Denmark’s largest hospital.

He and his daughters are all on respirators at Rigshospitalet. Because of his condition, Bishop was not present at a hearing on Monday when a court ordered him to be held for at least 24 days.

On his website, ironically called “Spirit of Life”, Bishop says he developed his spiritual powers in 1989 and resulted in him giving up his job in computing six years later to focus on mediumship and spiritual work. He adds:

“It has been many years now that I have been honoured with sharing a very deep personal connection with Spirit Dr Karl, and work in the state of ‘deep trance’ (from my viewpoint a totally unconscious state). This particular spiritual ability is rare and so I am one, of only a few, able to offer this unique service of providing such strong and direct access to those in the Spirit world. In simple terms, I give Spirit temporary use of my physical body.”

He says that Dr Karl was born in 1848 into a family of doctors in Prussia (now part of Germany) and showed an early interest in medical matters, performing his first unofficial “operation” at the age of 12.  But he does not provide further information about his “spirit guide” that would confirm his previous existence. In a filmed “house clearing” seance for Danish TV, showing Bishop going into trance in 2003, the spirit doctor is identified as “Dr Carl Stromberg”. One wonders why Dr Karl does not have a European accent. The TV show is largely in Danish, but because Bishop’s knowledge of the language is apparently limited – as is his spirit doctor’s – his extensive contribution to the programme is conducted in English, with Danish subtitles.

One of the injured twins, Natalie, was found to have a massive aneurism on her aorta on the day after her first birthday was celebrated in June 2009. Doctors in Denmark said it was too dangerous to treat and referred her to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, which agreed to treat her.

The aneurism was removed and successfully replaced with a plastic pipe but the operation required the removal of her right kidney and after a few days her left kidney stopped working. On his website, Bishop tells what happened next:

“It was soon discovered that she had suffered brain damage, totally losing her sight and being paralysed on her left side. After no improvement with these, I asked Spirit for help, even though it was a risk to my own life (I was in a very bad state of health myself), but what father would not do that for his child?  I went into trance and Spirit Dr Karl was able to restore her sight and correct the paralysis, unfortunately he was not able to repair the kidney.

“Initially she needed continuous dialysis. From October the frequency was reduced and ever since, she has had to have dialysis every other day. Then another shock: doctors tested in preparation for a kidney transplant and they found problems which excluded her from a normal transplant.”

The only hope of saving his daughter’s life was finding a suitable “living donor”. Neither he nor his wife were compatible but a suitably matching volunteer came forward and the last news on the website was that the family was waiting for a date to take Natalie to London for final checks before a kidney transplant could be given.

Bishop also reveals that he had to stop work in September 2008, three months after his twin daughters were born, due to overwork and exhaustion. “I loved my work so much and had such a deep desire to use my abilities in helping as many people as possible, that I forgot about my own body,” he explained a few months ago. This resulted in three years of “wasted possibilities” but he was now “able to begin the slow process of building my work back up” though it would be “more difficult this time, as I do not have help of those who used to assist me so competently”.

It is too early to say whether his daughter’s health problems or his work difficulties were in any way involved in the attacks. One Danish newspaper speculated that his wife, who is in her 20s, had told him she wanted to leave him and take the children with her. Mrs Bishop alerted the police after her husband locked himself in the hospital room with his daughters. They had to kick the door down to gain access.

Fifty years after her death, on 5th August, 1962, there are some people who still cannot get enough of Marilyn Monroe. Well, I have good news for them. She is alive and well … having reincarnated. Not once. Not twice. But at least three times, according to various claims that have been made in recent years, the most recent of which has just surfaced in Israel.

Born Norma Jean Morteson in 1926, the Hollywood bombshell who mesmerised presidents, novelists and millions of others, lives on in films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Niagara and Some Like It Hot. Many believe that her tragic death at the age of 36 was neither suicide nor an accidental overdose, but murder.

So, it would be enlightening if she has been reborn and can provide new evidence about the circumstances of her dying moment in that past life. But with more than one reborn Marilyn being claimed, disillusionment is the more likely outcome.

Scottish-born singer Sherrie Lea Laird, who now lives in Canada, made the same claim several years ago, based on her own apparent memories and a series of past-life hypnotic regressions conducted by Dr Adrian Finkelstein in the United States.

The story is told in Marilyn Monroe Returns: The Healing of a Soul. In this life, Sherrie – who was born nine months after Marilyn died – has had success as a recording star. Her recording of No Ordinary Love was a No. 1 hit in Canada and Europe. But she also felt suicidal at times and was convinced she had lived before. It was only under hypnosis that she claimed to be Marilyn (see excerpt from BBC documentary).

This is a story I am familiar with, and which I included in The Big Book of Reincarnation.

Another claim to be Marilyn reborn came from a Hungarian model named Zsuzsanna in 1999. A number of people remarked on how much she looked like the Hollywood actress and various publications featured her as Marilyn’s reincarnation. One headlined its story: “Marilyn is still alive”. It appears that she underwent hypnotic regression in 2005 during which she confirmed her past life as Marilyn Monroe. The story was told in her biography but Zsuzsanna’s website, on which an English translation appeared, is no longer accessible.

28-year-old Englishman, shop assistant Chris Vicens, is yet another reborn Marilyn.

“Yes, people have scoffed,” he told the Daily Mail in 2010, “but I know what I know. When I first awoke from my session and the therapist told me who I’d said I was, I thought: ‘No, that’s not possible — what are the odds of that happening?’”

Chris told what emerged during five sessions with regression therapist Fiona Childs: “She was murdered in her pool house, then dragged to the bedroom and stripped. Five people were involved in her death. Each time I regress, I learn a little more. I like to think I am a sane and rational person. I am definitely not making this up. Why would I open myself up to ridicule?”

Having realised that the “I-am-Marilyn-reborn” folder on my hard disk was beginning to be a little over-populated, I was surprised to discover this week that it needs to make room for one more claimant.

An Israeli named Dr Edith Daniel was featured in Times of Israel yesterday – the 50th anniversary of Marilyn’s death – because of her claim to be the reincarnation of the Hollywood star. The story was picked up from a Hebrew language interview she had done with the news site NRG.co.il, in which she spoke of her beliefs and shared some videos she had made which the Times described delicately as showing her “in an ecstatic state”.

So convinced is she that, when she received her doctorate (in alternative medicine and homeopathic remedies), she adopted the names Marilyn was given at birth, and is now known as “Dr Norma Jean”.

Her past life was revealed to her during Skype regression sessions with hypnotherapist Dr Bruce Goldberg, which Edith Daniel videoed and is now sharing with anyone interested on YouTube. (For those interested, a three-hour Skype session costs $400 and 90 minute follow-ups are charged at $200.)

According to the Israeli newspaper, during these over-the-internet sessions, Edith revealed that Marilyn had been poisoned by secret agents, had an affair with a Chicago mobster, and had an abortion after being raped.

Goldberg told NRG that the information wasn’t public knowledge and that they could confirm her claims only after many hours of research.

I started watching some of these videoed sessions but soon gave up. If you have the time to watch a rather sad looking woman taking a very long time to respond to questions, you can begin here.

In an effort to make sense of these claims, I emailed both Finkelstein and Goldberg, inviting them to comment. Finkelstein was quick to reply, having received similar requests from others. He sent me his comments which he has also posted on his website. Choosing his words carefully, he says: “In my long experience with past life regression, when done on Skype, it is grossly unreliable.” In his 15-point response, he goes on to conjecture that perhaps in a previous lifetime Edith Daniel was in Marilyn Monroe’s close entourage.

“And this is the most frequent occurrence in my experience with hundreds of beautiful women stepping forward and claiming in an absolute way that they are the reincarnation of the famous actress. It is called a landmark reincarnation. Because of living in the proximity of a famous person of a historical era, such as Cleopatra or Napoleon, one may identify with them subconsciously and claim that are that personality.”

Adrian Finkelstein concludes with the observation that “no serious scientific researcher can ever claim absolutely a reincarnation, as psychics and astrology may do. Even in the amply-documented case of Sherrie Lea Laird, I can only say that she appears to be the probable reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.”

If I receive a response from Bruce Goldberg, I will update this Blog.

My search also took me to the web pages of Brianstalin whose “past life research” seems to involve tapping into the Akashic Records (a bit like cloud computing but without computers!), a pendulum and the assistance of his spirit guides.

Brianstalin lives in Thailand and when he’s not exploring the past lives of famous people he gives Reiki healing and conducts courses. Using his unusual research methods he claims to be able to throw some light on the reborn Marilyns, which I will now share with you – but you’ll need to pay attention.

Apparently, in a previous life Marilyn was Maria Feodorovna who was married to Tsar Paul, who later reincarnated as Robert Kennedy. Among Maria’s daughters were the Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna, who in this life is Sherrie Lea Laird, and the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who is now Sherrie’s daughter, Kezia, and Maria Pavlovna, who is now Zsuzsanna.

So two of those who believe they were Marilyn Monroe do have past-life connections of some sort, but were not actually her, according to Brianstalin.

Maria’s father, Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Wüttemberg, he adds, reincarnated as playwright Arthur Miller who, of course, married Marilyn, his past-life daughter. And Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden, was betrothed to the Grand Duchess Alexandra in 1796 but the marriage was called off for religious reasons. Gustav was reborn as baseball star Joe diMaggio, Marilyn’s second husband.

What does the story of Marilyn Monroe tell us? That you can’t take most past-life regressions at face value. However plausible they may sound, they should be treated as highly suspect. And the conjecture of “experts” using pendulums and the Akashic Records is likely to add to our confusion.

Besides, for me, there will only ever be one Marilyn Monroe … regardless of who or where she is today.

CHECK OUT MY RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON REINCARNATION

Having summarised a number of commentators’ initial mixed reactions to the Immortality Project – see previous Blog – I felt their concerns could be summed up in the following question, to be put to Professor John Martin Fischer, project leader: “Since so much scientific effort has gone into the study of NDEs, after-death communications and reincarnation, over many decades, why do you expect the Immortality Project to make a difference?”

I emailed him with this query and I’m delighted to report that he kindly responded very quickly with two brief answers.

“I am grateful for your interest,” the professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, wrote. “Also, I have read with great interest your two blog posts on the grant.  Thanks for your thoughtful analysis and, again, for your interest.

“Frankly, I do not think it would be productive for me to get too involved in discussions about the prospects for the grant at this point.  I think we’ll want to be judged by our results, and that is what I ask.  

“Briefly, how do I expect the Immortality Project to make a difference?  

“Please remember that I will be seeking applications from anyone in the world who wishes to apply for grants in the empirical/scientific component, the philosophical component, and the theological component of the grant.  I will invite leading academics in all of these fields to be the judges of the grant competitions.  

“I cannot, in advance, speculate on what projects will emerge as worthy of support. But I remind you that the study of NDEs (and related phenomena) may, or may not, be funded.  This grant is broad in its scope, and we will avoid reinventing the wheel.”

Prof Fischer followed that up with a second email, shortly afterwards, saying:

“Please remember that the announcements of a grant such as this are for the general public and are intended to give a sense of what kind of things we will be interested in (potentially, at least).  But, again, the specific projects that will be funded will be the result of rigorous competitions judged by leading academics in the relevant fields.”

Clearly a man with a sense of humour, Prof Fischer lastly referred to a quote I had included about Chris Jensen Romer’s explosive reaction to reading a general statement about the Project (you’ll need to read my previous Blog to understand it):

“Please allow me also to express the hope that the cat of the  researcher/author you quote has fully recovered (as well as its owner).”

So, we will have to wait to see how the Immortality Project develops and how deeply it probes those areas which parapsychologists with an interest in survival research regard as essential for establishing the existence of an after-life. The good news is that Prof Fischer has already demonstrated his awareness of these concerns and, hopefully, will tackle them head-on.