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Post by Oddities Bob on Aug 1, 2016 9:35:19 GMT
Has anyone else finished this?
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jul 18, 2016 12:11:18 GMT
When people get to the chapter that features The Arthur Findlay College of Psychic Science, I live near it, and have picked people up from there a few times. Nearly always Germans as it goes.
It is a lovely building.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jul 10, 2016 19:22:35 GMT
I would have looked at more case were confirmation bias was unlikely to be present, as you say. I've read of plenty of seemingly odd western cases.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jul 4, 2016 7:19:07 GMT
Two things so far. We haven't had Charity shops with the word spastic in their name for over 20 years. The charity, which was called The spastics society is now called Scope.
Also using pregnant women to remove ghosts from a house, hehehehe.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jun 20, 2016 7:41:54 GMT
This book isnt actually out in the UK yet!
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jun 18, 2016 12:43:42 GMT
Book is ordered!
CD arrived!
Boo
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jun 14, 2016 8:46:53 GMT
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jun 14, 2016 8:44:06 GMT
Bob is spot on with his analysis! I'm sure the author was disappointed with the outcome too. I don't understand what was so terrible that John would go through and destroy so much. I'm sure the Duchess never said in correspondence what killed Haddon. I'm sure John did something purposefully because he was nothing to his parents with Haddon around. Not sure he meant to kill his brother, but he was trying to hurt him I believe. As for the other stuff, it was nothing horrible. I can't imagine living in that era with arranged type marriages and such. And the John at war thing was weird too. Makes you think the privileged didn't have to fight - I mean imagine going off to play while your fellows die. I found the book both interesting and disappointing. And where the heck were all my ghosts?! They always did have to fight though, that for most of the middle ages was pretty much their purpose in life. They didnt train in martial arts from the moment they could hold a sword, just to look pretty!
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Post by Oddities Bob on Jun 5, 2016 16:43:35 GMT
Im with you, I was expecting some great revelation, and we ended up with a man falling in love, and no real explanation as to why the Duchess concealed the reasons for the boys death, nor how he actually died. In the case of Haddon, I suspect even with out the missing papers, that would remain a mystery.
As for the other mystery, something about it still didnt sit right for me. He went from being utterly determined to be with his regiment/company, and then at the drop of a hat, a pretty girl turns his head and he completely changes his way of thinking. I also wonder as to whether his desire to see action was as a result of his failure to get engaged previously, and he felt little value to life, though that doesn't sit well against his interest in history (though that was perhaps a little macabre, so the author seems to indicate), or the content of the letters to his uncle. or if he felt some guilt over the death of his brother, which he clearly had a bigger part in than the official story, and the evidence we have shows.
The author didnt start out to write this story, and I think she began writing it with out knowing where it would end. I think that she was hoping that the reason for the missing papers would turn out to be more than it did, but by the time she realised it, she didnt want to scrap many years work.
I enjoyed the earlier part of the book, where she was detailing her investigations, far more than the 2nd part which seemed to me to be her imagining the events as they may have happened, rather than simply, as previously done, providing transcripts of letters, or explanations as to what she found in the correspondence.
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 18, 2016 0:27:13 GMT
And finished.
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 16, 2016 20:29:01 GMT
Sounds like an idea
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 16, 2016 20:28:09 GMT
I'm on chapter 53 now, and it maybe just me, but the style of the book changes about 2/3rds in.
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 11, 2016 6:39:11 GMT
Ooh, tough one.
I might have to say Alien, or Scream.
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 10, 2016 14:52:26 GMT
How is everyone getting on with this? Im about 3/4 of the way through.
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Post by Oddities Bob on May 6, 2016 18:27:11 GMT
I shouldnt have looked at the photos!
Though what I suspect happened doesnt really explain why he would removed all the correspondence from that period, especially when they were hidden anyway. Also, to hide what i suspect he is hiding would need far more to be removed.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 26, 2016 13:23:31 GMT
I have my copy!
Ive never done this before either. Do we aim to read specific schedule?
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 26, 2016 12:39:30 GMT
What are the 5 albums that you would take to a desert island with you?
They dont have to be classics or greatest albums of all time, and may well not be, but they are the albums that you never get board of listening to, or those that perfectly soundtrack a specific period of your life. Its hard to get it down to just 5 I think, but for me they are probably
Ash - 1977 Suede - Dog Man Star The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday Radiohead - OK Computer Damien Rice - O
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 26, 2016 12:18:24 GMT
Ive only done one over night paranormal event, held at the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, and the events were around 10 years ago, so please excuse me for being somewhat vague on precise details. The night followed the usual, i assuming, routine that these things tend to, tour of the property, with some history given, then some time split in to small groups, and placed in areas of "activity" to see if anything happens. I dont recall the precise order of events, and there was a lot of prompting from those running the night to get people to admit to strange experience happening to them. One example of this is 3 or 4 of us were taken into a cell and asked if we felt anything. I began to experience a sharp pain in my abdomen, (which only started when I entered the cell, and stopped immediately upon leaving) and when I mentioned this, was told "oh yes, a man was stabbed in here, so thats what your feeling", at no point were we shown any evidence of this, so its hard to judge if it was true, or a lie to make it seem that something paranormal was happening. At one point during the night we were in an area that had been the washroom/laundry for the building, and when standing in one specific spot in the middle of the room, I felt intense pain in my lower back, the kind that occurs when you have been hunched over in one position for too long. Again, as with the cell, when I moved from that spot it abated, and then returned when I moved back into it. Ill admit to suffering from occasional back pain, but this, to me, seemed out of the ordinary. However, because, I suspect, the guide couldn't fit it into any kind of exciting narrative, it was dismissed. The strangest thing that happened to me, and possibly the whole group took place in the caved under the Galleries. Nottingham is built on a large sandstone outcrop, and ground below the city is riddled with caves and tunnels dug from the rock. It was in one of these that my experience occurred. The whole party, some 20 people were asked to stand in a circle and hold hands, and then the lights were turned out. This left us in total darkness. The kind of dark that is so black your eyes and mind play tricks on you as they are desperately trying to find something to focus on. We were told, that should anything come into our minds, no matter how odd it was, that we were to tell the group. Now, given that ten years or more have passed, I dont recall much being said, other than a one lady describing what she was "seeing" and what I saw in my mind and the experienced. I could clearly see, in my mind the image of a woman in a green dress, of a period I couldnt pin point, but somewhere between late medieval and victorian, high neckline, small waist and large skirt, and the accompanying image of a small monkey. After 10 minutes or so of this, I began to shake. much as you do in the way you do when your cold, that intense all over body shiver that you cant control. The people holding my hands to either side of me were quite unnerved by it, with, as i recall, one of them mentioning it to the tour leader as it was so pronounced. The odd thing was, I didnt feel odd or cold, or unwell, I was just shaking uncontrollably for about, I think 5 minutes. I think, given the reaction of the group leader actually seemed quite concerned, as he said this wasn't something they had ever seen happen before, and quickly took us out of the cave. Its not something i've ever experienced before or since. As paranormal events in my life go, thats about it, and even then Im not sure if anything odd did really happen. The only other things I could report happened when I was a small child. My parents were looking to move quarters (my Dad was in the RAF), and we were being shown round a property that was completely vacant, no furniture, and I think bare floor boards. The only thing in the house, and oddly I recall this clearly, was a yellow babys knitted cardigan. As my parents tell in, after a few minutes of looking round the property, they realised I had gone. They looked for me, and found me sitting outside the house, upset. They recount me telling them that I didnt like the feeling of the house, and didnt want to be in there. A few days later they got talking to the person in charge of moves, and were told that the house was vacant as the previous occupants had moved out as their baby had died in the house. He also told them that when ever he tried to take a photo of the property the resulting image would come out with an odd discoloration over just that specific house. (this was in the early '80's) www.galleriesofjustice.com/galleries_history.htmlwww.galleriesofjustice.com/galleries_of_justice_hauntings.html
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 26, 2016 11:40:15 GMT
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 25, 2016 13:36:10 GMT
I've made the first selection for our Book Club. I've never been part of a Book Club before, especially a virtual one. I believe the way this will go is that we take the month of May to read this book and then we'll come back here in June to comment on our thoughts. The reviews are mixed on this book, but the description was intriguing enough that I bought it. The book is: The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess and a Family Secret by Catherine Bailey Here is the Amazon link: www.amazon.com/Secret-Rooms-Haunted-Plotting-Duchess/dp/0143124730/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8Ive ordered a 2nd hand copy, hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. Thank you Amazon Prime
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 21, 2016 12:27:32 GMT
I might struggle to join in with this one. Amazon UK has it down for a release date of 4th October!
I'll try some other sources
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 20, 2016 19:11:53 GMT
Thank you for posting the link. I'll be sure to have a read.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 20, 2016 9:45:05 GMT
Hi Jessica, welcome to the forum
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 17, 2016 14:25:03 GMT
I think it needs to be a mainstream book that we can all easily get hold of, to start with at least.
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Post by Oddities Bob on Apr 16, 2016 6:26:20 GMT
Welcome to the HGB book club!
If you have any suggestions as to what the first book should be, pop it in here and we can decide what to go for.
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