http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=connieVeneracion_jan24_2008

 The Other Stargate 

If you’re one of those who say “Makikiraan po” when passing by an anthill (“punso”) or you consciously avoid driving through Balete Drive at night, you probably believe in ghosts and other supernatural beings. You’re not alone. A lot of people do.

When I posted photos of the haunted house in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, in my Web log a few months ago, a reader who goes by the nickname “Multivector” posted the following comment, a first hand encounter with what the reader thinks is a ghost:

“… people around the two towns san miguel and san ildefonso) believe that you have to blow your horn while passing through the house as a sign of respect because of the numerous vehicular accidents which happened in front of the house. people say that a white lady passes accross the highway as you run along in your car thus causing accidents. i don’t know if it’s true but based on my experience it is. one time on our way from manila, i was driving our owner type jeep with my wife and mother, we passed the house and i forgot to blow the horn, this white thing crossed the road and passed right beside me. i don’t know if that was it, i tought it was smoke but i don’t recall smelling any. shadow? no way, i was the only one on the road at that time and the was no light on the post. my headlights? it was right beside me remember?. whatever that thing was, i didn’t utter a single word from the red house until our house in san miguel………”

It might surprise you to know that supposedly no-nonsense men of the United States’ military and intelligence corps believe there is more to ghosts than stories to scare wayward kids with. At the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the base commander couldn’t explain strange things reported by credible people. From the Mansfield News Journal:

“Base spokeswoman Rachel Castle said the voice of a young boy playing has been reported in Building 219, a former base hospital and pediatric clinic currently being used as temporary quarters for workers whose offices are being renovated.

“Reports of children laughing and footsteps on stairs have come from the Arnold House, the oldest building on base, which currently serves as a heritage center, she said.

“Strange voices and shadows, banging and weird lights have been reported in Building 70, a warehouse/office structure…”

And those are just some of the strange events. Whom did the government call in? They called Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, lead investigators for The Atlantic Paranormal Society, and stars of the TV series Ghost Hunters. These people aren’t costumed crystal ball readers; they use sophisticated technology to record strange presence including thermal-imaging cameras. According to the Mansfield article, the visit of the Ghost Hunters to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was approved by the Pentagon and the pair was escorted around the base by security and public affairs officials.

I’m not kidding. And don’t think either seeking the assistance of paranormal believers and practitioners is a new policy in the US military. Hardly. “Remote viewing” programs have been ongoing since the ’70s, sponsored initially by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), picked up by the US Air Force and then by the CIA once more. Remote viewing is just another name for ESP or psychic clairvoyance. The project has had many names, including Stargate.

The United Kingdom was very much into remote viewing too—at least, for a while. From the UK paper, Telegraph:

“The Ministry of Defence spent £18,000 on experiments to discover if psychic powers existed and whether they could put to military use, it was revealed yesterday.

“Subjects were blindfolded and asked if they could “see” the contents of sealed brown envelopes containing pictures of random objects and public figures.

“… Commercial researchers were contracted at a cost of £18,000 to test if psychic ability existed, according to a classified report released under the Freedom of Information Act.”

And if all this talk about remote viewing is not enough, Wired magazine has an article about the Psychotechnology Research Institute in Moscow where “human subjects submit to experiments aimed at manipulating their subconscious minds.” The institute caught the attention of the US Department of Homeland Security in its never-ending search for ways to track down “terrorists.” It makes one wonder if Stephen King’s Firestarter is pure fiction at all.

Truth is stranger than fiction? Go figure.

References:

Mansfield News Journal http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880118017

Federation of American Scientists (FAS) http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/stargate.htm; http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/air1995.pdf

The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS
&grid=&xml=/global/2007/02/23/npsychics23.xml

Wired Magazine http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/09/
mind_reading?currentPage=all

The author blogs at http://houseonahill.net, http://pinoycook.net and http://www.sassylawyer.com