European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 31, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                              By Mary Ann Reese ghost writer if you live in a big old House that groans and creaks Call in a Friend toehold your hand this halloween. Even if you live in a new House where things go bump in the night Call a Friend. The noise might be made by your Friendly local poltergeist. They usually Are heard but not seen and Loveto throw things around the House any thing from a bottle to a filled  the floorboard under your carpeted staircase creaks and you peer nervously Down and see a human form floating around Don t reach for a Golf  Don t Chase people promises new York ghost Hunter Hans Holzer. They Are spirits in trouble and won t harm the living. Ninety nine percent of All ghosts Aren t aware that you see them. They Only see their  Holzer a Par psychologist special izing in extrasensory perception psychic experiences ghosts and haunted houses has tracked after ghostly things in reportedly haunted houses in Europe and the United states for the past 20  he has requests for help from nearly 1,500 occupants of allegedly haunted houses in the United states. Most letters Are from the Middle West the South and new England which is understandable Holzer believes consid ering violent times experienced by Early settlers indians and later slaves. His theory one shared by other Para psychologists is that if a person Dies violently before his time a part of his mind or personality hangs on roaming about  he has Sleuther include 300 year old Marion Gernt who suffer from the Nightmare of an untimely death by fire and hungry Lucy believed to haunt a place on new York s West Side. That ghost is said to Date from the revolutionary War. A new or leans House is said to have a haunted roof during cold weather. The ghost Ofa Beautiful woman appears nude and shivering huddled As if trying to keep warm. Tradition says she was the mis Tress of a wealthy Man who for a joke asked her to prove her love by spending the coldest night of the year naked on the roof. She took it As a command and died. More bothersome Are the poltergeists who have driven modern families from their Homes. Their activities Range from mild knocking on the Woodwork to violent but Petty destructiveness an downright dangerous hurling of heavy objects knives or scalding water eve possible arson. A famous poltergeist that plagued Ahouse in Long Island n.y., in 1958a Case investigated by  Duke University caused among other things bottles to slide slowly tothe Edge of a table and fall in front of two most reliable witnesses. Sceptics and there Are Many have simple answer. Anyone who claims to have seen or heard a ghost is deluded dreaming drunk or deranged. Other More elaborate explanations Are that strange happenings attributed to poltergeists Are actually effects of tidal patterns subterranean Rivers or slight Earth tremors or that haunting ghosts Are the result of some form of mental telepathy and that the person violently killed Sheds a particle of his mind in the haunted House leaving enough potential Energy to re create a memory picture of the event thus the ghost. The poltergeists and haunting ghosts Are not to be confused with apparitions which can be of living As Well As dead persons and Are recognized by friends or relatives usually during a time of crisis for the subject of the apparition. Often the crisis is the moment of death but it also can be a serious but non fatal Accident. There Are numerous accounts of mothers who have seen their is photos Cole see a ghost Don t panic and lose your head he probably can t see you. Sons who Are in fact on a Distant Battle Field. The perceived May not see what the crisis is. For example a father Maysee his daughter looking perfectly nor Mal when in fact she has been Flung from a wrecked car Miles away. These apparitions Are often believed to be results of thought transference or extra sensory perception esp both subjects which have gained certain respectability for scientific and academic research in recent years. At least 68american colleges and universities have undertaken projects connected with thought transference or esp. Ghosts Are not the Only flirtation with the occult popular with the 20th Century s supposedly rational  columns Are As popular As lovelorn letters in major daily news papers and Are closely followed by peo ple in All walks of life. Fortune Teller report a thriving clientele of business men and other professional persons hoping for a glimpse into their futures. Covens of White witches As opposed Tob Lack witches who were believed to be direct emissaries from the Devil still meet in such places As London and new York performing secret rituals in Hopes of making Contact with a supernormal Power or Force. These witches unlike their satanic ancestors claim to seek Only Good ends. But by far the biggest modern follow ing of the occult involves spiritualism a modern form of belief in survival and communication after death. Re Vived As a movement in America Overa Century ago spiritualism now claims millions of followers presumably be cause it offers Hope and Comfort to the lonely and  believe information about life and persons in the spirit world i transmitted through a medium usually a woman who lets spirits take Over he body and use her to communicate with the living. Don t let a ghost worry you he probably just wants sympathy. The stars and stripes tuesday october a 1967 key tiie Florida witches have traded in their Broomsticks for water skis. The stars and stripes hese practices Are As old As the old testament s Witch of Endor who called Forth the spirit of the Prophet Samuel for King Saul and As modern a last september when controversial american episcopal Bishop James  claimed to have communicated with his dead son during a seance televised in Canada. Every sunday evening in Britain about 250,000 people attend spiritualist meet Ings. In London there Are three Large spiritualist organizations. In 1956 the american journal estimated spiritualists in the . At 150,000, and a prominent medium recently guessed that there were at least 500 practising mediums in new York. The number of French spiritualists is figured at 200,000,and in Brazil the estimate is 10 million. Similar practices also Are reported among shinto followers of Japan the Maori of new zealand and american Indian tribes. Many scientists and investigator feel seances Are pure hokum. And per haps it is significant that As yet an offer of $700 by the British society for psychical research apr to any medium willing to allow Infra red photography at a seance has gone unclaimed. The history of the seance is riddled with cases of proved fraud and on author sees it As a Boring and pathetic meeting which thrives on Sim ple , generally respected organizations which investigate such matters including apr organizations in England America France Sweden Germany and virtually every other major coun try find even after allowing for conscious and unconscious fraud that there remains a Small percentage of Phenomena that seem inexplicable in non spiritualist  researchers Hope to find answers somewhere in the untapped Depths of Man s mind. But explanations to Date Are summed up by the author who said what by All the Powers of Good and evil Are these sights an sounds no one can Tell. It is still and May Ever be a  Lack to matters at hand if you should hear strange noises in the Middle of the night and see a ghost this halloween it might be Well to follow the advice of the ghost Hunter s wife. Said mrs. Holzer if i saw one i d scream for the neighbors or the  Page 13