By Tim Binnall
Energy vampires, shapeshifters, and Harry Houdini speaking from beyond the grave were among the riveting topics discussed this past week on Coast to Coast AM. And, here at the C2C website, we told you about Edward Snowden's attempt to find alien secrets, a 'ghost baby' that turned out to be more funny than frightening, and rats that were taught to drive cars. Check out our round-up of highlights from the past week ... In Coast You Missed It.
One of the more fascinating instances of the paranormal and pop culture crossing paths centers around famed magician Harry Houdini and his plan to try to communicate with the Earthly realm from the 'other side' after his death. On Wednesday night's program, Professor Slim King recounted this remarkable piece of history and talked about a legendary seance from January of 1929 in which the purported spirit of the iconic entertainer spoke to a medium and gave the answer to a secret code that Houdini and his wife had previously developed as a means of proving that he was making genuine contact.
The world of science provided a pair of stories this past week that were decidedly futuristic in nature. First, a biotech company unveiled an awesome 'invisibility cloak' which bends lights and renders anything it covers impossible to see. Later in the week, a team of researchers in Virginia showed how they had trained rats to drive cars in order to obtain a food reward. Amazingly, as the scientists made the rodents' goals increasingly difficult to reach, the clever creatures actually learned to adjust their driving so that they could get the snacks they sought.
Shapeshifters took center stage on Sunday night's program as author John Kachuba detailed the rich history and lore of these mysterious individuals believed to be able to transform into an animal, another person, or a supernatural being. Explaining that cultures around the world and throughout time have had tales of such seemingly magical people, he noted that accounts of shapeshifters have surfaced as recently as a highly publicized incident in 1987 in which one was said to have been killed in Kenya. Kachuba also discussed how both Jesus as well as Vlad the Impaler appeared to exhibit shapeshifting abilities.
With Halloween just around the corner, it should come as no surprise that the news cycle has become haunted by all manner of spirits and apparitions. Over in England, there was an unsettling WWII-era ventriloquist dummy that seemingly moved on its own. Meanwhile, a mother in Illinois thought that she spotted a ghost child on the baby monitor watching over her sleeping son, but later learned that the 'entity' was simply an uncovered label on the mattress. And a new poll asking about the paranormal beliefs of Americans found that a whopping 45% of the people surveyed said that they think both ghosts and demons are real.
A phenomenon which has received renewed attention in recent years is that of energy vampires and, on Monday night's program, psychic psychiatrist Dr. Judith Orloff talked about how there appears to be an increase in these people who unwittingly and sometimes intentionally drain the proverbial 'life force' from others. She observed that the most frequent victims of these individuals are sensitive people who can feel the pain and emotions of others. To that end, Orloff shared tactics which these 'empaths' can use to recognize and subsequently avoid falling prey to energy vampires.
Something of a modern mystery was solved this past week when Edward Snowden revealed that he did, in fact, attempt to find information on aliens back when he had access to highly-classified government files. The question of what the whistleblower may have uncovered regarding ETs had been the subject of considerable speculation in UFO circles since Snowden first burst onto the scene. Alas, it would appear that he did not stumble upon any alien secrets as the whistleblower said that there was apparently nothing there on the subject of ETs and, if such information exists in the government computer system, then it is incredibly well hidden.
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