Do I smell jaded to you?

See, here's the thing. I have a very strong interest in the paranormal, and I have since I was a child. We allegedly had a ghost in our house, but if that was actually true I have no memory of it. All I have is a story my mother told me, one which I have no reason to disbelieve. She believed herself to be "sensitive". Her mother believed the same about herself and was also a palm reader. I know a lot of it was put on for show, but I think there was some legitimacy there as well.

Then there's me.

Me.

I have a tendency to look unhappy even when I'm not, and the odd desire to tramp around awesome places in the most uncomfortable clothes possible. See above photo for reference. It was only about 100° anyway. I survived, though it's possible I suffered some slight brain damage due to heatstroke. No matter.

There was a point I was getting around to, and it's that I've been doing both UE and paranormal related stuff for a long, long time, and I've seen some really out there people when it comes to the paranormal(with UE, it's mostly just really fucking dumb people, but natural selection will take care of them). I'm a "believer"(I feel stupid even saying that... we need a new term or something) but I'm also a hardcore skeptic. I look for the logic or the simplest explanation for things before leaping across giant canyons to the most unrealistic conclusions possible.

That dust-- or better, asbestos-- you kicked up from walking around that abandoned house is what's causing "orbs" in your pictures, not a thousand spirits trying to communicate with you. That thing that fluttered by your lens was a moth, not a bizarrely misshapen ghost. And that cigarette smoke that you claim is not cigarette smoke is quite clearly cigarette smoke. I should know. I smoke.

And if you think Zak Bagans and Amy Allan are for real, you need to seek psychotherapy immediately. Stop for one second and ponder why it is they both appear on the Travel Channel. THE TRAVEL CHANNEL. Also stop and think about anyone who does actual paranormal investigations. NO ONE finds something(or multiple somethings) on EVERY SINGLE INVESTIGATION THEY DO. No one. And if they claim they do, they're lying to you. But that might be because the word gullible is not in the dictionary, so how were you to have possibly known?

It's because of people, both "average" and well-known, that I've become so very jaded when it comes to this stuff, because 99% of it is smoke-and-mirrors. I could easily produce all kinds of wild pictures that some folks would fall for without a second thought, simply because the pictures would look odd and I'd claim it was some spook trying to get my attention. Then people would be flipping their shit all over my blog, and we can't have that, now can we?

I've had experiences. Real ones. They are far more rare than the paid TV actors want to make you believe. I'll get around to some of those, but for now, this was really just to establish where I stand with a lot of this stuff. I don't disbelieve. I'm also not a sucker. Unless we're talking about lollipops, in which case... no wait, still not a sucker.

But hey, does this butterfly smell like chloroform to you?

Well, does it?