…. the wife and I have been quite busy with our new bundle of joy, Ms. Paige Carlin FitzPatrick. There will be an FCPS Team meeting tomorrow, Saturday January 31st to discuss new and old business and to get back on track. New additions to both sites will be posted shortly.:)

Researching a Property
by Derek-FCPS on Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:53 pm

“Roughly…here’s a few tips on getting started in this undertaking. Keep in mind these are just VERY, VERY basic ideas on where to get started. Historical research can be a long, drawn out, time consuming process, but its worth it in the end:

There’s really no right or wrong first steps in getting started with your research…and this can be achieved through many means…and a LOT of hard work. If possible, client interviews should be conducted first to see what THEY know of the history, which of course can point you in the right directions.

The internet is always a good first tool…if a house or location has historical significance, you’ll find info online, sometimes from your state archives, and sometimes from private organizations. Many older homes and businesses are listed on the National Register of Historical Places, so that’s always a good first step as well.

The courthouse is always a great tool also. You’ll need to stop there to get property maps, conduct title searches, and collect vital statisitics. These things sometimes ARE available online, but usually for a cost, and in many places, ARE NOT available. Get the maps and do the title search (chain of who owned the property throughout the years) first. The maps will be at the assessor’s office, and the deeds/titles will be available through the county clerk’s office. Most courthouses will have clerks on hand to assist you in getting started. Any names taken from the title search can then be taken to the statistics office where you can get marriage, death, birth, and property certificates. This will, of course, give you additional names to add into your search. If the house or property is an older one, also check for personal property census info. Many times, slaves were listed as personal property, and you can get info that way as well.

Take any of THAT info to your local historical society and/or library. Both will generally have extensive files of genealogy and newspaper clippings…not to mention just basic information about the town. You will shortly become a microfiche EXPERT lol. Search for any of the names you’ve come up with, as well as the address itself. Look for classic things such as deaths and murders, but also any specific instances that you have collected from the client.

Many newspaper archives are also available online, but that is also a subscription based service, and can get a bit pricey. If the newspaper that you’re looking for isn’t available at your local library/historical society, you can try that newspaper’s office if it still exists, or your state archives.

When at all possible, talk to older residents, law enforcement, and postal workers…they can be a wealth of information about private properties….And if there is a university nearby, they generally have a lot of resources available as well.

Take all THAT info BACK to the internet and refine your searches. With the popularity of genealogy and history sites, there are tons of great resources. If you DO live near your state capital, your state library and archives will also have extensive resources, including rare and older books and magazines, as well as government documents. It’s sort of like a treasure hunt, but very rewarding when you find the missing pieces to the puzzle.

Some preliminary sites to get you started:

Free Public Records Database:
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/WV_Cabell.htm

(This link is for Cabell County, WV…but there are ways to access other counties/states from the main page. Each county has things set up differently, so some counties have really great information, while others do not.)

Cemetery Information:
Find a Grave
http://www.findagrave.com

Cemetery Locator
http://www.daddezio.com/cemetery/junction/index.html

US State Historical Societies and State Archives Directory:
http://web.syr.edu/~jryan/infopro/hs.html

Libraries:
Internet Public Library:
http://www.ipl.org/

Nationwide Library Database:
http://www.publiclibraries.com/index.html

Nationwide Museum Directory
http://www.censusfinder.com/guide_to_hi … useums.htm

National Register of Historic Places
http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/index.htm “

Article Written by Theresa Racer - Huntington Paranormal - http://www.huntingtonparanormal.com

This article is cited from http://www.taps18forum.com/index.php?topic=71961.0
Derek FitzPatrick
Founder of the Fulton County Paranormal Society
http://www.freewebs.com/fultoncountyparanormalsociety

Blog Entry 6/14/07: Demonology: The 21st Century and You
Thursday, June 14, 2007

With a resurgence of cinematic demonic plot lines, not seen since the days of ‘The Exorcist’… the 21st Century seems renewed with a belief in demons. Demon (or Daemon) is commonly depicted as a supernatural being that has generally been described as a malevolent spirit, and in Christian terms it generally understood as an angel not following God.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon) The word daemon in Greek can also refer to a secondary divinity with God. Which brings me to this point, if belief in demonology is becoming a more and more common facet of the american sub-culture, is that only because theology has laid the groundwork? For to have belief in demons (on an ethereal level) would mean to hold belief in one or more Gods or Goddesses. Wherein does any factual or semi-factual information lie with this topic of discussion? I know that is a hard line to see, because for most people, we want to hold fast in our faith and believe this all has a purpose. If we take a look at it from a cultural view, I believe (do not quote me) that the first idioms of having a duality in life and the afterlife as a mainstreamed scripture came from the Zoroastrian Religion.

Basic beliefs
There is one universal and transcendental God, Ahura Mazda, the one uncreated Creator and to whom all worship is ultimately directed.
Ahura Mazda’s creation - evident as asha, truth and order - is the antithesis of chaos, evident as druj, falsehood and disorder. The resulting conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity, which has an active role to play in the conflict.
Active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep the chaos at bay. This active participation is a central element in Zoroaster’s concept of free will, and Zoroastrianism rejects all forms of monasticism.
Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail, at which point the universe will undergo a cosmic renovation and time will end (Zoroastrian eschatology). In the final renovation, all of creation - even the souls of the dead that were initially banished to “darkness” - will be (re)united in God.
In Zoroastrian tradition, the malevolent is represented by Angra Mainyu, the “Destructive Principle”, while the benevolent is represented through Ahura Mazda’s Spenta Mainyu, the instrument or “Bounteous Principle” of the act of creation. It is through Spenta Mainyu that Ahura Mazda is immanent in humankind, and through which the Creator interacts with the world. According to Zoroastrian cosmology, in articulating the Ahuna Vairya formula, Ahura Mazda made his ultimate triumph evident to Angra Mainyu.
As expressions and aspects of Creation, Ahura Mazda emanated six “sparks”, the Amesha Spentas, “Bounteous Immortals” that are each the hypostasis and representative of one aspect of that Creation. These Amesha Spenta are in turn assisted by a league of lesser principles, the Yazatas, each “Worthy of Worship” and each again a hypostasis of a moral or physical aspect of Creation.

VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE TOPIC OF THEOLOGY ARE THAT OF THE WRITER’S AND ARE BY NO MEANS MEANT TO OFFEND OR DISMISS ANY AND ALL RELIGIONS/SECTS.

Many other civilizations throughout history have versions of demonic folklore:

A
Aamon (Christian demonology)
Abaddon (Christian demonology)
Abalam (Christian demonology)
Adramelech (Assyrian mythology)
Af (Jewish mythology)
Agaliarept (Jewish mythology)
Agares (Christian demonology)
Agiel (Jewish mythology)
Ahriman (a.k.a. Angra Mainyu) (Zoroastrianism)
Aim (Christian demonology)
Akvan (Persian demonology)
Alal (Chaldean mythology)
Alastor (Christian demonology)
Alloces (Christian demonology)
Allu (Akkadian mythology)
Amaymon (Christian demonology)
Amdusias (Christian demonology)
Ammut (Egyptian mythology)
Anamalech (Assyrian mythology)
Anzu (Sumerian mythology)
Amon (Christian demonology)
Amy (Christian demonology)
Andhaka (Hindu mythology)
Andras (Christian demonology)
Andrealphus (Christian demonology)
Andromalius (Christian demonology)
Antichrist (Christian demonology)
Apep (a.k.a. Apophis) (Egyptian mythology)
Apollyon (Christian demonology)
Armaros (Christian demonology)
Asag (Sumerian mythology)
Asb’el (Jewish mythology)
Asmodeus (Persian mythology, Jewish folklore and Christian demonology)
Astaroth (Christian demonology)
Astarte (Semitic mythology)
Asura (Hindu mythology)
Azazel (Jewish demonology)
Azhi Dahaka (Zoroastrianism)

Z
Zagan (Christian demonology)
Zepar (Christian demonology)
Ziminar (Christian demonology)
Zmeu (Romanian folklore)
Zin (West African folklore)
Ziz (Jewish demonology)

(Cited from (Wikipedia.org)

I guess I will stop here for today.

(Be it stated that I am not a demonologist or expert on demons by any means, these are just my thoughts and a bit of cited information. Do Not Attempt To Handle ANY Demonic Activity Yourself.)

Additional Sources Cited:
Allusion to “The Exorcist” written by William Peter Blatty ISBN 0-06-010365-5 / 978-0-06-010365-1 (USA edition) and the movie, “The Exorcist” - Directed by William Friedkin; Produced by William Peter Blatty; Noel Marshall(executive producer).

Human evolution is ’speeding up’
By Anna-Marie Lever
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Is human evolution speeding up?
Humans have moved into the evolutionary fast lane and are becoming increasingly different, a genetic study suggests.

In the past 5,000 years, genetic change has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period, say scientists in the US.

This is in contrast with the widely-held belief that recent human evolution has halted.

The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Professor Henry Harpending, an author of the study from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US, said: “The dogma has been these [differences] are cultural fluctuations, but almost any temperament trait you look at is under strong genetic influences.

“Genes are evolving fast in Europe, Asia and Africa, but almost all of these are unique to their continent of origin,” he added. “We are getting less alike, not merging into a single, mixed humanity.”

This is happening, he said, because “there has not been much flow” between different regions since modern humans left Africa to colonise the rest of the world. And there is no evidence that it is slowing down, he added.

“The technology can’t detect anything beyond about 2,000 years ago, but we see no sign of [human evolution] slowing down. So I would suspect it is continuing,” he told BBC News.

New gene selection

Researchers found evidence of recent selection in 7% of all human genes, including lighter skin and blue eyes in northern Europe and partial resistance to diseases, such as malaria, among some African populations.

At the moment we are in an evolutionary interval. We are in between two storms

Professor Steve Jones, geneticist

“Five thousand years is such a small sliver of time,” said co-author Professor John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “It’s 100 or 200 generations ago. That’s how long since some of these genes originated, and today they are [in] 30% or 40% of people because they’ve had such an advantage.”

The researchers propose that there are two factors causing human evolution to speed up.

“One of them is there are a lot more people - the more people you have the more opportunities there are for an advantageous mutation to show up,” said Professor Harpending.

A large population has more genetic variation and allows for more positive selection than a small one.

“The second is environmental change - our diets have changed, we are in radically new environments,” he added. “With a large population size comes lots of new diseases.”

Happening now?

However, geneticist Professor Steve Jones of University College London said suggesting a large population size could increase the speed of evolution was “a contentious issue”.

Seven percent of human genes are undergoing rapid evolution

“Once a population gets above a very small size it is not very clear if its ability to respond to natural selection depends on size,” he told BBC News.

“The general picture that evolution has speeded up in the last 10,000 years as we change from, to put it bluntly, being animals to being humans is clearly true,” he explained. “To suggest it is happening at this instant, I would suggest, is probably wrong.”

He said natural selection needed difference - either in the ability to stay alive or in the number of offspring born.

“The fundamental observation is that this difference has gone,” said Professor Jones.

“At the moment we are in an evolutionary interval. We are in between two storms. One storm has more or less blown itself out, the storm of farming.

“The question is whether we are going to stay in the calms or whether another great storm will start. And if there is one, I would say it is most certainly to do with epidemic disease.”

How they did it

The study looked specifically at genetic variations called “single nucleotide polymorphisms,” or SNPs. These are single-point mutations, or changes, in the genetic sequence of DNA on chromosomes.

If the mutation is advantageous then it will spread rapidly in the population, along with DNA on either side of the mutation.

The authors argued that if the same chromosome from numerous people had a segment with an identical pattern of SNPs this would indicate that the segment of the chromosome had not been broken up (recombined) recently.

Therefore, a gene on that segment of chromosome must have evolved recently and fast, they believe. If it had evolved long ago, the chromosome would have broken up and recombined.

Permeability and Sitting Spirits
Friday, Nov 2, 2007

I had a thought that has been driving me mad the last few nights. Why is it that ’spirits’ can apparently floating through walls yet are able to sit solid in a chair? Not barring the residual haunts, can a ghost have that sort of permeability and yet keep it’s ethereal composition somewhat whole? It seems contradictory to me. The only comparison I can think of is that of a liquid(such as water). Water permeates through material by osmosis, but when frozen personifies solid form. I mean that could plausibly make sense, seeing as how as humans our bodies are composed of mainly water, you would think that this would carry over into the afterlife as well. If this is true, could it mean that if you were able to somehow freeze a ’spirit’ it would take on a solid state, like that of ice? A little far fetched I know…. but hey anything is possible in this area of study.