The truth is always out there.
For decades now, conspiracy theorists have been on the outside of respectable news organizations. During the golden age of radio drama, radio sleuths investigated ghost stories, and supernatural villains. Carl Kolchak took on the world of goblins, sasquatch, and vampyres only to have his hard investigative work ignored. Christ Carters' wildly popular X-Files television series began a television avalanche of supernatural and conspiracy theory investigators series which continues to this day.
‘Respectable' journalists do not entertain such wild theories about Unidentified Flying Objects, Sasquatch, ghosts, the Illuminati, weather modification theories, global currency resets, and the suppression of superior technology.
While some aspects are ‘way out there', behind every theory, every story, and every so-called crackpot, there is some truth to each theory.
For the sake of this column, few subjects will be verboten, or non-grata. There will be information on topics we see right in front of us that the truth behind the headlines is not what you might imagine, but what you really don't want it to be. It has often been said that truth is frightening, and absolute truth is absolutely frightening.
Information on forbidden topics such as I will write about can be found on the internet at a variety of websites and blogs. The internet is a wonderful resource, but sadly the power of the tool is such that its' misuse through outright lies and fiction masks its' true strength: the truth is always out there, you just have to find it.
Exactly how do you sift through the hundreds of websites and viewpoints when you look up a controversial topic like hauntings?
A recent search revealed 871,000 hits on ‘hauntings', including photographs and websites from Google alone. This is probably on the low side. ‘Ghost hauntings' gives 2,450,000 hits. ‘Haunted houses' reveals 25,200,000 sites.
A short answer is time, and effort.
Some sites can immediately be dismissed upon a quick examination as the evidence submitted for claims is poor, and on the other side of the scale, photo manipulation is rampant on the internet.
Some websites like Project Camelot (projectcamelotportal.com), Rense.com (www.rense.com), and Rumormillnews (www.rumormillnews.com) are article intense with thousands of links and banners.
One lesson quickly learned while researching ‘conspiracy' theories is that the more you read, the more you have to read to pick out the mis-information to create a coherent world view. The deeper the information goes, the more work it takes.
You have to keep an open mind while reading and researching. Part of the difficulty with conspiracy theories, or hidden truths, is that they often run counter to what we are told publicly. How many ‘weather balloons' are there really out there when even CTV reports a UFO sighting on television?
There is the possibility of ridicule.
The most valuable skill is that of critical thinking, one that is sadly missing in school systems today. Cut-and-dry explanations for mysterious phenomena often mask the truth.
So, having said all of this, we are set for a crazy ride.
The next time you hear a creak in the night, or see lights in the sky that should not be there, or a super-mileage vehicle disappears again, remember….the truth is out there.
