Experiments to search for portal of hell and summoning ghost

[Anonymous]

Straits Times Aug 6, 2006, by Hong Xinyi

Hark, who goes there?

How true are the superstitions of the Hungry Ghost Festival? A group of myth-busters in Singapore ‘stalks’ elusive spirits to find out

IN THE words made famous by the TV show The X-Files, the truth is out there.

And members of Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI), a group launched six years ago, are determined to find it.

In a twist to the general supernatural themes explored in shows like The X- Files, their latest mission is to find out if there is any truth to the various cultural beliefs that lie behind the Hungry Ghost Festival.

This quest has seen intrepid members roam cemeteries searching for the portal of hell.

Experiments it has carried out include some in 2004 and last year to test out the superstition that food used as offerings to spirits diminishes in taste.

Twenty members were blindfolded and asked to taste food that had been used as offerings and food that had not.

The result? ‘There was no discernible difference,’ says founder Kenny Fong, 37. This year, SPI will use a device that enables testing of the food’s salt level, a more reliable gauge than the human tongue.

Two weeks ago, SPI tested out another superstition – that ghosts can be summoned if one strikes a pair of chopsticks continuously against an empty porcelain bowl at the intersection of a cemetery. About 40 people showed up for the experiment at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, but only one person said he saw a ‘white apparition emerging from a fresh grave’, Mr Fong reports.
The central belief behind the Hungry Ghost Festival is that the gates of hell open on the first day of the lunar seventh month, and all ghosts are allowed to wander the earth for one month before they have to return to the underworld again.

On July 24, the eve of the first day of the lunar seventh month this year, SPI members gathered at Bukit Brown cemetery (see inforgraphic on the right) to try to locate the gates of hell.

Their aim was to answer these questions, says Mr Fong: Where are these gates, and what form do they take? Is it just one portal or are there multiple ones?
In the interest of preventing cultural pre-conceptions from creating a biased experiment, the group invited a Malay bomoh to conduct a ritual for summoning spirits.

The paths of the cemetery were lined with flour (to track footprints), and night-vision cameras and wireless motion sensors were installed.

Near midnight, some members reported the presence of many spirits emerging from what seemed like doors in the air, and in the surroundings.

Unidentified howling was also heard, and a footprint found on the path of flour, says Mr Fong. Doubtless, the rationally inclined will say the results of these experiments are hardly conclusive.

But he argues that the allure of the unknown is motivation enough for the group, which has 20 core members, and about 14,000 people who access its online forum. The members hail from all walks of life, including Taoist priests, fengshui masters, professionals and NSmen.

Mr Fong, an Australian-born Singapore PR who teaches science and technology courses part-time at the University of Macau, adds: ‘There are so many mysteries that cannot be explained. No matter how ridiculous a superstition seems, we approach it with an open mind. We like to think of ourselves as myth-busters.’

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fengshui remarks: my short article to the straits times about the origin of the ghost festivals and the calendar correction for leap months (why there is double seven month) never got publish. Perhaps the explanation about the leap 7th month was too “dry”:

Leap 7th month

There is a leap 7th month this year. Some Taoist are saying that the gates of Hell will open for 2 months.

Actually leap months occur because the Chinese calendar is basically a lunar calendar. It consists of 12 months, each beginning with a new moon and reaching its midpoint with the full moon. The twelve lunar month total 354 days and each lunar month has either 29 or 30 days. However the astronomical year is 365.25 days. Without the leap month, this deviation would build up over time and the Spring festival, for example , would no longer fall in Spring. Thus the leap month serves a valuable purpose in ensuring that the year in Chinese calendar remains approx in line with the astronomical year. For every 3 years, a leap month is added, every 5 years, 2 leap months and every 19 years, 7 leap months

The leap month is inserted whenever the Chinese calendar moves too far from the stage of progression of the earth in its orbit. Thus, for example, if the beginning of a certain month in the Chinese calendar deviates by a certain number of days from its equivalent in a solar calendar, an leap month needs to be inserted.

Therefore the leap 7th month is entirely a calendar correction (The Chinese calendar has been reformed several times) and to say that the leap 7th month means the gates of hell open for 2 months is not correct.

The next time the leap 7th month occurs is 2044, this is determined by calculation, and not decreed by any Hell authority for any extra length of “break” for them to roam Earth

You can see more of the unpublished article http://www.api.sg/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1210

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[Anonymous]

Straits Times Aug 6, 2006, by Hong Xinyi

Hark, who goes there?

How true are the superstitions of the Hungry Ghost Festival? A group of myth-busters in Singapore ‘stalks’ elusive spirits to find out

IN THE words made famous by the TV show The X-Files, the truth is out there.

And members of Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI), a group launched six years ago, are determined to find it.

In a twist to the general supernatural themes explored in shows like The X- Files, their latest mission is to find out if there is any truth to the various cultural beliefs that lie behind the Hungry Ghost Festival.

This quest has seen intrepid members roam cemeteries searching for the portal of hell.

Experiments it has carried out include some in 2004 and last year to test out the superstition that food used as offerings to spirits diminishes in taste.

Twenty members were blindfolded and asked to taste food that had been used as offerings and food that had not.

The result? ‘There was no discernible difference,’ says founder Kenny Fong, 37. This year, SPI will use a device that enables testing of the food’s salt level, a more reliable gauge than the human tongue.

Two weeks ago, SPI tested out another superstition – that ghosts can be summoned if one strikes a pair of chopsticks continuously against an empty porcelain bowl at the intersection of a cemetery. About 40 people showed up for the experiment at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, but only one person said he saw a ‘white apparition emerging from a fresh grave’, Mr Fong reports.
The central belief behind the Hungry Ghost Festival is that the gates of hell open on the first day of the lunar seventh month, and all ghosts are allowed to wander the earth for one month before they have to return to the underworld again.

On July 24, the eve of the first day of the lunar seventh month this year, SPI members gathered at Bukit Brown cemetery (see inforgraphic on the right) to try to locate the gates of hell.

Their aim was to answer these questions, says Mr Fong: Where are these gates, and what form do they take? Is it just one portal or are there multiple ones?
In the interest of preventing cultural pre-conceptions from creating a biased experiment, the group invited a Malay bomoh to conduct a ritual for summoning spirits.

The paths of the cemetery were lined with flour (to track footprints), and night-vision cameras and wireless motion sensors were installed.

Near midnight, some members reported the presence of many spirits emerging from what seemed like doors in the air, and in the surroundings.

Unidentified howling was also heard, and a footprint found on the path of flour, says Mr Fong. Doubtless, the rationally inclined will say the results of these experiments are hardly conclusive.

But he argues that the allure of the unknown is motivation enough for the group, which has 20 core members, and about 14,000 people who access its online forum. The members hail from all walks of life, including Taoist priests, fengshui masters, professionals and NSmen.

Mr Fong, an Australian-born Singapore PR who teaches science and technology courses part-time at the University of Macau, adds: ‘There are so many mysteries that cannot be explained. No matter how ridiculous a superstition seems, we approach it with an open mind. We like to think of ourselves as myth-busters.’

---

fengshui remarks: my short article to the straits times about the origin of the ghost festivals and the calendar correction for leap months (why there is double seven month) never got publish. Perhaps the explanation about the leap 7th month was too “dry”:

Leap 7th month

There is a leap 7th month this year. Some Taoist are saying that the gates of Hell will open for 2 months.

Actually leap months occur because the Chinese calendar is basically a lunar calendar. It consists of 12 months, each beginning with a new moon and reaching its midpoint with the full moon. The twelve lunar month total 354 days and each lunar month has either 29 or 30 days. However the astronomical year is 365.25 days. Without the leap month, this deviation would build up over time and the Spring festival, for example , would no longer fall in Spring. Thus the leap month serves a valuable purpose in ensuring that the year in Chinese calendar remains approx in line with the astronomical year. For every 3 years, a leap month is added, every 5 years, 2 leap months and every 19 years, 7 leap months

The leap month is inserted whenever the Chinese calendar moves too far from the stage of progression of the earth in its orbit. Thus, for example, if the beginning of a certain month in the Chinese calendar deviates by a certain number of days from its equivalent in a solar calendar, an leap month needs to be inserted.

Therefore the leap 7th month is entirely a calendar correction (The Chinese calendar has been reformed several times) and to say that the leap 7th month means the gates of hell open for 2 months is not correct.

The next time the leap 7th month occurs is 2044, this is determined by calculation, and not decreed by any Hell authority for any extra length of “break” for them to roam Earth

You can see more of the unpublished article http://www.api.sg/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1210

[Author]

Posts