How To Raise A Ghost

This is a scary game that young people play--trying to conjure up a ghost in their bathroom mirror. Many don't really believe that a ghost is going to appear. But they try to raise one anyway, for the fun and the excitement.

Some are willing to settle for any ghost, but others have a particular ghost in mind.

One of these is a ghost named Mary Worth, who is also known as Mary Jane and Bloody Mary. She is the heroine of an old comic strip, but some say she actually was a witch who was hanged at the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692.

Another of these ghosts is "La Llorona," the weeping woman who wanders the streets of cities and towns from Texas to California and throughout Mexico, looking for her lost child.

Still another is Mary Whales, a young woman who is supposed to have been killed in a car accident in Indianapolis, Indiana, about 1965. Her ghost is one of the "vanishing hitchhikers." It is said that again and again she thumbs a ride home in a passing car, then vanishes before she gets there.

Here is how ghost hunters try to raise a ghost:

1. They find a quiet bathroom, close the door, and turn off the lights.

2. While they stare at their face in the mirror, they repeat the ghost's name, usually a hundred times. If any ghost will do, say "any ghost" in place of a name. If they do manage to raise one, its face wil slowly replace their face in the mirror.

Some say a ghost is likely to be angry at being disturbed. If they get angry enough, they say, it will try to shatter the mirror and come right into the room. But a player can always turn on the lights and send the ghost back to where it came from. And when that happens, the game is over.

Make Your Own Ghost Hunter's Kit

The following items are handy to find a ghost:

1.Notebook: To jot down observations and feelings. Try to make an entry every fifteen minutes, whether anything paranormal is happening or not.

2. Tape measure: To make accurate measurements of distances.

3. Weather thermometer: To measure changing temperature (paranormal events are sometimes accompanied by temperature changes).

4. Camera: Use a camera that can shoot "fast" film, witha speed of 400 or 1,000 ASA, so you can take pictures without a flash.

5. Magnifying glass: To study small objects or ghostly smudges that may appear.

6. Small containers: To collect any samples an apparition may leave behind.

7. Stopwatch: To time the duration of the manifestations.

8. Portable tape recorder: To record any sounds the apparition makes.

9. Baby powder: Sprinkle powder on the floor. Most real apparitions don't leave footprints. If footprints appear, someone is probably trying to trick you.

10. Masking tape: Seal tape around windows and doors. Apparitions can pass through closed doors. If the tape is undisturbed, it's a sign you may be dealing with a genuine paranormal event.

11. Spool of thread: Attach threads acroos hallways, stairs, and doorways. Apparitions should be able to pass through the threads without disturbing them.

Curses

Bone Pointing: This is a murder technique used by the aborigines of Australia. The killer takes a kangaroo bone, carves a point at one end, and drills a hole at the other. He passes a single strand of hair through the hole and ties it in place. He then points the bone at his victim, who wil soon become sick and die. This may be the perfect crime, because Australian law doesn't consider it murder.

Orange Rot: In Italy and parts of England, an orange is used to represent the heart of a victim. The victim's name is written on a scrap of parchment and pinned to the orange. Then the fruit is placed in a chimney. As the orange rots, the victim dies a particularly gruesome death as his flesh rots away from his bones.

Sending The Dead: In Haitian voodoo, evil sorcerers go to a cemetery with an offering of food and take away a handful of graveyard dirt for each person they want dead. The sorcerer spreads the dirt where he knows his victim will walk. After the victim walks on the dirt, he begins wasting away. He soon spits up blood and finally dies--unless he realizes what is happening to him and goes to a more powerful priest, who will chase the dead away.

The Names Of The Devil

Abaddon

Adramelech           

Ahpuch

Ahriman

Amon

Apollyn

Asmodeus

Astaroth

Azazel

Baalberith

Balaam

Baphomet

Bast

Beelzebub

Behemoth

Beherit

Bile'

Chemosh

Cimeries

Coyote

Dagon

Damballa

Demogorgon

Diabolus

Dracula

Emma-O

Euronymous

Fenriz

Gorgo

Haborym

Hecate

Ishtar

Kali

Lilith

Loki

Mammon

Mania

Mantus

Marduk

Mastema

Melek Taus

Mephistopheles

Metztli

Mictian

Midgard

Milcom

Moloch

Mormo

Naamah

Nergal

Nihasa

Nija

O-Yama

Pan

Pluto

Proserpine

Pwcca

Rimmon

Sabazios

Sammael

Samnu

Sedit

Sekhmet

Set

Shaitan

Shamad

Shiva

Supay

T'an-mo

Tchort

Tezcatlipoca

Thamuz

Thoth

Tunrida

Typhon

Yaotzin

Yen-lo-Wang

Nightmares

Dreams of death and destruction, monsters and ghouls. Everyone has the occasional nightmare, but about one in twelve people suffer from them regularly. Where do nightmares come from? What causes them? And how can you make them go away?

Sleep researchers generally agree that people who have many nightmares are revealing in their dreams things they are afraid of while awake, but these fears are usually cloaked in symbolic form. Nightmares may occur after a traumatic incident and be a way of playing out stress caused by the trauma. If nightmares happen again and again, they may be a sign of deeper emotional conflicts.

Luckily there is help for people who suffer from recurrent nightmares or night terrors. Sleep therapists have devised many strategies to reduce or eliminate nightmares.

Are You Prone To Nightmares?

Although anyone may experience the occasional nightmare, sleep researchers have come up with a nightmare "type"--people who are more prone than others to have regular nightmares. Do any of the following characteristics apply to you?

Do You:

Feel like an outsider? a rebel?

Feel like you're different from other people?

Drift easily into daydreams?

Are You:

Sensitive?

Creative?

Emotional?

Vulnerable?

Empathetic?

Artistic?

If you answered yes to many of these questions, you are more likely than others to have nightmares.

How To Make Your Nightmares Go Away

The following seven techniques may help banish nightmares:

1. Establish a nighttime routine and follow it every night as you get ready to go to bed. If you can unwind and relax before going to sleep, you won't be as likely to have a nightmare.

2. If you wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, take a deep breath, try to calm down, and then go back to sleep and try to change the dream's ending.

3. Be aware that dreams are a normal part of sleep, and nightmares are a normal part of dreaming. Remind yourself that they can't really hurt you.

4. If you can't remember the details of your dream the next morning, don't force yourself to; this will only increase the stress. But if you do remember your dream, feel free to talk about it and get the feelings out.

5. Try to determine what your nightmare is trying to tell you. Usually it is your mind's own way of revealing problems or worries you have during the day. If you can use your nightmare to get clues to your waking state, and then resolve or discuss those real problems, your nightmares about them will go away.

6. Replay the dream in your mind while you are awake and feel safe. Replay it again and again in as much vivid detail as you can remember. This is called "desensitization." If you face the scary image enough times, it will become less scary and eventually go away.

7. Practice the technique of "lucid dreaming." This is a state of being aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream, and of being able to control what occurs in the dream. There are many books available on the subject. It takes a lot of practice, however, and not everyone can learn how to do it, but it may be worth a try.