Death Theory: WHAT IS PAREIDOLIA?

Death Theory: John Mimms

Is it a psychological phenomenon that causes some people to actually see or hear a random image or voice of sound? Pareidolia is what this is. Paranormal investigations as the reader will learn as we delve into the investigations presented in this book are simply the investigation and study of events that most of us would call or define as paranormal. Research is the mainstay of most that are conducting these types of investigations and learning as much history about the place being investigated helps while also researching the names of people, important events and other facts about the locations presented as we will when we go along with the characters when they proceed in investigating many different locations and the odd occurrences that follow each one. In other words is the location HAUNTED?

Within the first pages of this novel we meet Jeffrey Granger who has just lost both of his parents and is trying to use his EVP or photograph of a ghost to see if he can see or hear his mother’s last words. Electronic Voice Phenomenon is what it’s called and it captures or he hopes it captures on their digital recorders the voices of the dead. Watching a show on television he becomes so engrossed that he decides to try the unthinkable. Pythian Castle is his destination and Swoosie is the person he meets and who feels he needs protection. “Spirits can pick up on those less experienced in the field and they ten to prey more on them.” Meet Mr. Leach a psychic and Jeff feel he is the real deal. Page 11 is quite revealing as questions are asked like “Is anyone with us? Are you angry? When did you die? The end result Jeff thinks he hears his name spoken!

In order to have a valid investigation the person doing the investigating needs some equipment and technology in order to record any voices and even doing as Jeff will instruct us baseline information dealing with the heat and temperature readings of each room within a house or place under investigation. Ghost hunting is different where research dealing with what someone might think is a haunted place or area is usually done before the ghost hunt. The primary focus of the ghost hunt is for those participation to have a scary experience while in a place they believe that is haunted. The use of technology is paramount in both paranormal investigations and ghost hunting to prove your findings. When a person is more dependent on listening for EVP’s or concentrating too much on analyzing a photograph there is the danger of seeing or finding something that is actually not there or what is known as pareidolia or finding a familiar visual or auditory pattern in some type of stimulus that is not there. It could be a shadow in a picture and you might think it’s a ghost. It could be a shadow or in some cases you never know as ghost hunting and paranormal investigations are at the heart of this novel as Jeff decides to create a team of his own to find out more. There are differences as you the reader will learn between paranormal investigation and ghost hunting. Within this novel a small group is formed and the members each have their own reasons for wanting to join this group but someone needs to be in charge of the investigation and the group but in a ghost hunt conducted by this same small group of people it should take place with a tour guide who would have allowed them to search the supposedly haunted area.

A ghost hunt conducted by a group of responsible friends or under the supervision of a tour guide will allow some people the opportunity to know what it is really like to search through a haunted area.

Jeff Granger is trying to understand the circumstances surrounding the death of his parents. There are many who want to research paranormal occurrences and he creates a group of paranormal researchers using the scientific method. Debbie Gillerson is an elementary school teacher and joins the group. Meeting her first we learn that she is suffering from some strange nightmares that revert back to something from her childhood causing her to have odd dreams and the end losing her urine each time. Analyzing her problem and not realizing the cause Debbie over time will come to learn about some startling events in her life that just might take more than a wicked toll on her mind, body and happiness. Jeff’s goal is for happiness and to learn more about this phenomenon as we meet the next member of the group Michael Pacheco a job hopper at this time working as a manager of a supermarket. Pac as he wants to be called is odd in many ways and yet smart in others that most won’t see at first. “Scientific research group dedicated to paranormal studies forming in the Springfield area… Questions contact Jeff.” Pac read this and decided to respond as he and Debbie were the first to arrive at the pizza place for their first meeting. Next comes Elvis and the meeting I is underway as all of those present listen and found the EVP recording impressive as Debbie wants to know how ghosts talk to us? The response by Pac states that they don’t need vocal cords they manipulate or control the energy. The following Friday they would to the first place to investigate and that would be Chilton House. Given instructions as to keeping windows and doors locked and making sure they clean up and lock the house up after they are done as author John Mimms sets the stage for the terrors to come when we learn about Pervis Chilton and the gruesome death’s of this family members at his own hand. The voice heard on the EVP they think is that of a child, one of his a girl who cries out: “No Daddy, no, Please don’t hurt us, Please don’t take my eyes, Daddy.” Fear within Debbie’s heart and she feels sick during the investigation and this should have been a warning for what has yet to come. The chemistry between Jeff and Debbie is strong and you can tell that a relationship might form but things and people in this group are not what they appear to be. As the group continues to meet one member, Elvis, who is a mortician, branches out on his own for different reasons and the research that the group does proves deadly and dangerous. Pac and Elvis develop animosity towards each other, Pac even resents Jeff’s feelings for Debbie. The story is one of hope but the end result is far from joyous and the investigations prove fatal. Faith in science and scientific discoveries is at the heart of this novel except questions such as what happens after death, what happens to our souls, do we even have a soul are brought to light. Jeff just wants to hear his mother’s voice and know that his parents moved on to another world. He is serious but Aaron Presley a mortician, Michael Pacheco a grocery store manager have other thoughts in mind. The first visit to the Chilton House was unsettling but the next we learn more about Debbie’s dreams as she is advised by one of her doctors to see someone to talk with about her problems as we meet a strange and dark character named Dr. Staples. Each character has his/her own motive to wanting to fill a void in his/her life but is this the way? Debbie started talking with Dr. Staples about her problem and he appeared to be trustworthy as she relates the image of a young girl in pink pajamas but just who was thins child and what caused her nightmares? Aaron was smart and understood as the author shares the definition of the Death theory is done by monitoring a person’s energy at the point of death. The group discounted the theory at first but the investigation gets dangerous and the members of the group each harbor their own secrets as Elvis/Aaron speaks to his dead wife Vicky’s photo hoping she’ll answer me and let him know she is safe and has moved on. Pac has issues with his mother and brother and at first he seems to have them resolved and claims to have visited his mother as she claims his brother is there and that he wants to see him but in the end she chastises him, berates him and calls him worthless letting readers believe there is an underlying sinister feeling that we get when he’s around. Like a coldness or chill all through your body but you have no idea why. Next, we meet the demonologist who is friends with Jeff and who claims that Jeff has a demon attached to him and if he is not free of it something horrific will happen but what? The group talked about death and Jeff stated that most people believe that ghosts or souls are a form of energy. The Law of Conservation of Energy is defined or known as the Law of Thermodynamics. Defined according to a textbook on page 35 as: an empirical law of physics. It states the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time or is conserved over time. A consequence of this law is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed: it can only be transformed from one state to another. The only thing that can happen to energy in a closed system is it can change form. The question remains: What happens to this energy when someone dies? Jeff replies it is not destroyed according to him the question is then what form does it take? Debbie was becoming too familiar with her dreams and there was something wrong this time, something different and falling on her tailbone she shook herself awake and how did she get on the kitchen floor?

Dr. Staples was visited by Debbie and for some reason she felt she could trust him but telling her to go and see her Granny Nettie about her mother and the past sent her Granny in a frenzy and things would change from now on. Dr. Staples for some reason wanted to join the group posing as Debbie’s uncle but why? The group was becoming more oriented to what they wanted to do and they began getting requests for investigations. But, odd things would happen each time they went out and they formed a name SMS Past for their group or science-based organizations and entities stating who their affiliates would be and even creating a modest website. Julia Schwender was their first case and going out to her house they tried to convince her the sounds they heard were from her telephone or were they? Something odd happens at this home and we remember that Debbie sees a child, Pac voices, Elvis his wife and Mrs. Schwender a man like a shadow who stands by her bed and wants to smother her. Is she seeing things? Before leaving her house Debbie gets sick and there is a shadow a black one that is over their investigation that has yet to be revealed. The next meeting was at the Bonanza restaurant and all four talked about something that Dr. Staples would allow them to use in his home the Enviromux FLIR thermal camera. Just what was his motive for joining and why all of the gadgets? Trying to contact Mrs. Schwender did not yield results and waiting a week to report her missing brought them to the attention of the police.

Elvis seemed centered, Pac possessed with other things and Debbie and Jeff not focused in the right direction at times and as a result they might get blindsided. Grammy Lee and Debbie and Jeff spent Thanksgiving together and Elvis was all for their relationship but something odd was happening and his mind shifts back to Mrs. Schwender and another person whose case they handled Mrs. Gage. Every case did not yield the right results and what happens to each on is sad as Mrs. Gage had an accident or did she? Mrs. Schwender what was her fate? Debbie is kidnapped and someone else is fatally injured and the hope that she might escape is dim. Who lives, who dies, who is the mastermind behind what happens this small group setting out to free the world of ghosts and evil finds itself the victim of the same.