Tag Archives: Experimental

Spookatorium 026

Posted by scottsplatter on

Welcome to the 3rd annual Halloween episode, Episode 26. This time around we pay tribute to Harry Houdini who left this mortal coil on Halloween back in 1926. In addition to the stupefying feats of conjuring and illusion he was best known for, Houdini spent 30 years exhaustively researching spiritualism and the paranormal. Sitting with and studying the techniques of the best known mediums of the day, and ultimately being unconvinced that the were capable of their grandiose claims.

Next we take a look at electro-magnetic fields as they relate to investigating the paranormal. Looking at the reality of what the fields are, and the leap of faith required to draw some of the conclusions that investigators seem to draw from them. Aside from that there is just a whole lot of music.

Tunes this time out from the likes of…

1. PESSARY (1:05)
2. DECEASED (4:23)
3. GOTHICA (9:38)
4. THE PROTAGONIST (18:26)
5. MERCYFUL FATE (23:44)
6. NIGHTMARE LODGE (28:36)
7. BENESTROPHE (32:14)
8. THE ROHAN THEATRE BAND (46:44)
9. STEROID MAXIMUS (51:47)
10. DEATHSPELL OMEGA (55:30)
11. HOCICO (60:00)
12. THE ACCUSED (66:45)
13. THE BLEEDING LIGHT (67:54)
14. MEGAPTERA (76:45)
15. BAUHAUS (83:30)

Professor Gruntsplatter’s Spookatorium 026

Cheers,
Prof. Gruntsplatter

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Spookatorium 024

Posted by scottsplatter on

Welcome, after a long delay,  to Episode 24. Computer issues and chain stores downloaded their grief upon my doorstep in a flaming paper bag. Hopefully, I will get back to a proper schedule now and that some of you are still listening…

First up, we revisit the legend of “Oriuagor,” a tome purported to drive insane those who dare read it. First touched upon in Episode 19, an email submission cracks this one open again. I had largely written it off as a marketing gimmick for someone seeking to fabricate a new Necronomicon, but a submitter from Denmark suggests that the legends at least are known there, and the work of fiction we discussed previously was born of those legends.

Next up we look at reports of a lake monster in Minnesota’s Lake Pepin, quaintly, if not predictably, known as Pepie. A local paddle boat operator is offering $50,000 for evidence of Pepie’s existence. I’m sure he’d be happy to sell you a boat ride to go have a look. Next in Pennsylvania there have been at least four reports of a large bird or bat like creature stalking the back roads over the last year. The descriptions vary slightly, but the witness reports are pretty interesting.

Finally, we brush upon the subject of Demonology, and the its inherent bias and delusion when approaching the paranormal. There is an excellent article from noted Parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach on a similar tract that can be found here. Beyond that the balance of skepticism and belief is looked at as well as the definition of skepticism as it relates to the unknown. For me skepticism is an informed state of indecision, however much of the skeptical community seems just as zealous in the their disbelief as those who think every orb caught on film is the ghost of some thing or other. Intellectual curiosity gets pushed from the equation and genuine research suffers when your mind is already made up and it’s detrimental to the greater understanding that I hope most people involved in such things are seeking.

Music this time supplied by…

MASCHINENZIMMER 412 (1:05)
CLOCKDVA (5:50)
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (9:54)
LUDICRA (21:15)
DEAD WORLD (25:29)
HAUS ARAFNA (29:49)
TIGER LILLIES (33:23)
BLOOD AXIS (44:08)
CHRISTIAN DEATH (48:16)
DISGRACE (52:14)
HELTIR (60:47)
NOISE UNIT (64:29)
OLD MAN GLOOM (69:20)
GGFH (72:46)

With background accompaniment from
LAIBACH

Professor Gruntsplatter’s Spookatorium 024

Happy Friday the 13th,
Prof. Gruntsplatter

Spookatorium 023

Posted by scottsplatter on

Episode 23 has arrived… tin foil hats are optional but fashionable. This time we take a peek at the life of Thomas Dyott. Dyott amassed a sizable fortune selling patent medicines under such tantalizing names as Roberton’s Infallible Worm Destroying Lozenges & Vegetable Nervous Cordial. The fortune was sizable enough to enable him to build a “utopian” village, called Dyottville (what else?) that conveniently allowed him to skirt labor laws to perpetuate his business.

From there we peek behind the curtain of opportunist psychiatry and look at the phenomenon of Spirit Release, the process of psychiatric exorcism. In fairness to the recent stories I’ve done on the exorcism/possession upswing (here’s another one), I thought we’d look at some charlatans of a different color. As well as a brief overview we look at the case of Askinra, a spirit that reportedly tormented a man who was possessed by the spirit when he was murdered in a past life.

Finally we look at the Mormon theory that Bigfoot is actually the earthly incarnation of the biblical Cain. It is accepted among some within the church that Bigfoot is in fact the doomed Cain milling about the earth as penance for the murder of his brother forever wracked with misery and virtually immortal.

Music this time supplied by…

HARVESTMAN (1:05)
BAD SECTOR (4:38)
HOLLENFURT (8:24)
GARMONBOZIA (17:35)
BELBORN (20:48)
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY (23:44)
IMPETIGO (28:50)
LAMENT CONFIGURATION (40:19)
GOLIAH (44:16)
SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE (47:58)
BETHLEHEM (55:35)
DIE VERBANNTEN KINDER EVAS (60:36)
GAURITHOTH (63:23)
RUHR HUNTER (67:54)

With background accompaniment from
HYBRYDS

Professor Gruntsplatter’s Spookatorium 023

That’s it until next time…

Prof. Gruntsplatter