Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
Now that's something I haven't seen before. :o
Links Shadow,
When I opened the page I got the following: "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily..."
I'll check on it later. However, your posting brought back the following memory.
Many years ago, while driving with a female friend through the central flatland of Venezuela (Los Llanos), we stopped by a small town for something to drink. The place was like a general store, and on a corner there were folk religious paraphernalia. My friend and I had a common interest in this field, and she collected everything she could get her hands on related to folk beliefs. Among the images of patron saints and deities on the wall I noticed one that I had never seen before. The image was a faint black and white copy of a photograph of a man laying both hands on the head of a young girl, then a written text titled: 'Prayer to the Iluminated One of Sipororo' ('Oración al Iluminado de Sipororo'). I bought two, one for my friend, and another who I gave to a Chilean friend who was preparing a book on the diverse folk cults of Venezuela. I asked the store owner about the image, and he told me that the 'Iluminado' had suddenly appeared in a small town not far away, over ten years ago, and had performed miracles. Initially, he cured the relentless fever of a young girl, the daughter of the family who had given him lodging, then, everyone in the small village took their sick to him, and he cured them with laying of the hands. It seems the word got around, and busloads full of people would arrive daily, even from the provincial capital, to seek his healing help. The gratefulness of those he cured poured forth with contributions that made him inmensely rich, so he bought the low lying hills next to the village and build himself a large house. His charismatic figure attracted people, mostly the women and girls of the village, who followed him everywhere, and even camped outside his house. One day the 'Iluminado' became very outspoken, and started deriding the Catholic priest who came once every month to perform Holy Mass. It seems his confrontation with the Catholic Church provoked the local Bishop to plot his demise, and a formal accusation was made with the provincial police. The accusation was that he was taking sexual advantage of his followers. A truck load of National Guard troops visited the village, and took the 'Iluminado' to jail in the provincial capital. After one week in jail, the 'Iluminado' returned and told his followers that he had to leave. He gave away all his possessions. And on foot, he walked away from the village. Witnesses say scores followed him down the road, and into the jungle, but the crowd dwindled the farther away he got from the village. Some of the returning villagers said he had died, that there was no returning from the jungle he had entered.
Through my investigations, I managed to obtain several pictures taken of the 'Iluminado' in the village, which helped me years later to identify him, in another country, where he was performing magical tricks for a living, in front of a large open crowd. I learned he never returned to Venezuela, or to the village, that to this day considers him a saint. I didn't mention this to him, and I'm sure he is unaware that he left a cult of followers when he passed through Venezuela, running away from political persecution from his country of origin, Argentina.
Mirador
Its not hard to trick most people. They believe mostly what they want to believe, and that includes some MIT researchers.
I showed 2 friends my telekinesis ability. They both believed it completely when they first saw it, but months later 1 of them doubts I really did it (and I did). How could he change his mind? He has no new info about it. The memory faded and he filled it in with what he wanted.
Many people are like that when it comes to a public display of talent (ie, magic tricks). If you do the trick once, they'll be amazed. Do it again, they'll figure it out and say how stupid it really is.
Thus is the case with everybody. Leave things to their imagination to conceive, it is much better.
~Squeek
The site is up and running again atleast for now so why don't you check it out soon.
I've never believed a word that John Edward or Van Praagh said. Edward is especially creepy, and seems to posess the arrogance of Don Lapre, late night get-rich-quick infomerical king.
I read the article and it rings true with everything I believed about them.
I still believe in psychics, but I still believe there are frauds out there. People out there are way too quick to make a buck.
Thanks, that was a good read. A good reminder of what can happen when one is not rational and objective. But that black background and white letters ... ouch my eyes hurt. Copy and paste it into word if you plan on reading all that in one sitting.
I will check out the John Edwards thing later.
http://www.banachek.org
The above is a website of a man who is a mentalist, a magician that pretends to be psychic. I felt this is something that would make for an interesting discussion here. I saw him on a TV show last night and checked out his website and thought it was amusing that he convinced MIT researchers into believeing he was a genuine psychic. For those who like the shows "Crossing Over with John Edward" and "Beyond with Jon Van Praagh" there is a part of the site which explains how these people are fakes. I don't discount the fact that what he says might be true but I still believe, "know" psychic phenomena are still real. What do you think of what he says?
Links Shadow