Phil has concentrated his research in the northeast United States, while Rosemary has conducted investigations in other states and foreign countries. When we compare notes and findings, many cases bear striking similarities. The experiences mentioned earlier seem to provide a foundation for understanding the relationship between humans and djinn.
We now consider the possibility of djinn in our paranormal investigations, and encourage other investigators to venture beyond their conventional explanations of ghosts, poltergeists, ETs, demons, and supernatural creatures. Djinn are everywhere, sometimes hiding in plain sight. The following are a few cases we believe involve djinn.
Skinwalker Ranch
A ranch in Utah has become famous in paranormal circles-the "Skinwalker Ranch," named after one of the dominant phenomena said to command the area. So much negative activity occurred there that owners left and sold it to the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS).3 The story of the NIDS investigations at the ranch is documented in Hunt for the Skinwalker (2004) by Colm A. Kelleher, former deputy administrator of NIDS, and George Knapp, a broadcast journalist. We stress that the interpretation of djinn is our own, and is not made in the book.
In Native American lore, skinwalkers are evil, shapeshifting sorcerers who travel about very rapidly, especially at night. They cause illnesses, incite people to violence, rob graves, and can even kill people. The ranch is situated on land in the Uinta Basin, an area renowned for supernatural lore and activity. The ranch is said to violate skinwalker pathways, making it a particularly unlucky place. Locals either avoid speaking of skinwalkers or talk about them in hushed tones so as not to attract unwanted attention. We believe skinwalkers may actually be djinn in disguise: their activities and powers fit the descriptions, and humans fear them in the same ways.
Activity witnessed at the ranch includes intense poltergeist activity; strange orbs of light that seem to possess intelligence; supernatural, bullet-proof wolves; dark entities; mutilated cattle and missing animals; large, black triangular objects in the sky; other UFO activity; crafts or objects that glide around and land on the property; and sightings of the Men in Black.
One of the most peculiar sightings was of an orange mass that repeatedly appeared in the western sky, seemingly a window into another reality. One night, the mass appeared in the nighttime sky, and Tom (the pseudonym of the ranch owner who sold the property to NIDS) looked at it through a telescope:
In the middle of the orange mass, Tom could see what looked to him like "another sky." Through the magnifying scope he distinctly saw a blue sky... like it was a window into somewhere else where it was still daylight. Tom felt like it could have been a tear or rent in the sky about a mile away, and through the rent he could see a different world or perhaps a different time. It was nighttime as he gazed through and it was daytime "on the other side." [He] began to think that the strange events on the ranch might be explained in terms of different dimensions, alternate realities, and such.4
Flying, fast-moving objects, including one described as black in color, were observed emerging from this hole in the sky. Tom became convinced that "his ranch was the site of some kind of dimensional doorway through which a flying object entered and maybe even exited this reality."5
On another occasion at night, one of the NIDS investigators witnessed a yellow light manifest on the property, which turned into a tunnel. A large black humanoid creature about six feet tall with no facial features crawled out of the tunnel and walked away. The tunnel shrank and disappeared, leaving behind a pungent smell of sulphur. The creature resembles descriptions of shadow people, and sulphur could indicate its origin as subterranean, a preferred djinn dwelling place. It seems the investigator, like Tom, observed an actual interdimensional opening, as though an unknown intelligence had thrown open a door in order to access our world.
The NIDS investigators witnessed other phenomena, but were never able to capture any of it on camera, due to mysterious malfunctions and destruction of equipment. It seemed as though whatever was causing the phenomena played a cat and mouse game with them-another hallmark of djinn. Some of the investigators experienced health issues while at the ranch, such as intense migraine headaches, which also is characteristic of djinn.
After several years of investigation, NIDS had "very little physical evidence of anomalous phenomena, at least no physical evidence that could be considered proof of anything. This was in spite of hundreds of days of human monitoring and several years of camera surveillance."6 The investigation was officially ended, but we do not doubt that phenomena there and in the area continue.
The ranch and surrounding environs sit on a negative magnetic anomaly, according to US Geological Survey maps. As mentioned previously, negative magnetic anomalies are often found in paranormal hot spots.
The San Luis Valley
Similar activity occurs in the San Luis Valley, another hot spot, the world's largest alpine valley stretching from approximately Villa Grove in southern Colorado to Taos in northern New Mexico. Since 1989, researcher Christopher O'Brien has investigated more than a thousand reports of unusual activity, including UFOs and mysterious lights, cattle and animal mutilations, ghosts and hauntings, mysterious creatures and hitchhikers, shapeshifters, and skinwalkers, evidence of alleged underground bases, and encounters with devilish or djinn-like entities.
O'Brien received a report of a djinn-like encounter from the police chief in Questa, New Mexico. In 1993, the police chief's uncle was driving home late one night north of Questa, heading south on Highway 522. He saw a woman dressed in fancy red evening clothes walking alongside the road, and so he stopped to offer her a ride. She got into the pickup truck and said nothing, only staring straight ahead. The uncle turned to ask her why she was walking along the road by herself so late at night, and got a shock-she had goat's legs and cloven hoofs! Before he could react, she vanished right before his eyes.'
The police chief's story is reminiscent of the tale of the halfdjinn Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, reputed to have donkey legs or extremely hairy legs and feet. The "phantom hitchhiker" is a common phenomenon found everywhere in the world. It is often tied to ghost lore concerning a tragic death. A female is spotted walking along a usually lonely road late at night. She accepts a ride, and sometimes communicates where her home is. She always vanishes from the vehicle. These mystery hitchhikers do not seem dangerous or harmful, so perhaps the shock they give those who try to help is the payoff!
Mothman or Djinn?
In an earlier chapter, we discussed the possibility of djinn involvement in the Mothman wave of sightings in the 1960s. West Virginia is an active state from a paranormal perspective, and the Appalachians are full of strange lore and stories about the supernatural. Some of the more remote mountains and hollows may provide ideal places for djinn to exist with little human interference. We have seen how fiercely territorial the djinn can be, and that when disturbed, they can react with great hostility. They can reside quietly in a dimensional intersection location for long periods of time-but if stepped on, they put on a display of power.
Every year, Rosemary attends the annual Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where she gives presentations, conducts investigations, and mingles with festival-goers. In 2009, she met a West Virginia resident who told her about a frightening paranormal experience he had in the field of his own farm, with an invisible but palpable entity.
Robert (not his real name) was inclined to interpret the entity as Mothman, but with due respect to Robert, we think a djinni may be a closer fit. As we noted previously, Mothman might have been a shapeshifted djinni. Interpreting paranormal experiences is often highly subjective, much like dream interpretation. People arrive at an explanation that makes sense to them.
Robert's terrifying encounter began with a series of lower-key, unusual phenomena in the early 1990s. He and his wife would be in states of deep meditation and absentee healing inside their farm home when the sounds of something heavy walking on the
roof would creak the ceiling. Robert had an intuitive feeling that he was being "warned off" from going outside to investigate when these episodes occurred.
One night, he and his wife had friends visiting. He stepped outside alone to enjoy the fine night air. It was quite dark outside. Suddenly, he became aware of an invisible presence standing on the ground about ten to fifteen feet away from him:
The thing had faintly glowing red eyes, maybe three times as large as mine, spaced three times as wide. They were elongatedmeaning perhaps twice as wide as they were high. They emitted a faint, almost infrared glow, which was in itself a bit frightening. The being must have been about seven-and-a-half feet tall. I could not determine its shape or size but it seemed massive.
Robert rushed back inside but did not say anything so as not to alarm his wife and friends. Although the presence was unsettling, he did not detect any "bad vibes" from it.
Two years later, he experienced what he later described as "the most frightening and stressful experience" of his life. He was in the habit of going way out into his rear field on summer nights and bedding down in a sleeping bag beneath the stars. He took along his dog, Tanya, and a .38 revolver with him in case he encountered any "rowdy dogs." The nights were usually peaceful, and sometimes he saw UFO activity. On this night, however, things took a much different turn.
Robert was almost asleep when he was woken up by a ringing thump sounding in the ground. He recognized it as a deer warning-when the deer are alarmed, they strike the ground with their hooves, and it creates a ringing sound that other deer pick up. Robert heard the sounds of deer very swiftly moving away from his vicinity. Immediately his senses went on high alert.
Suddenly a strange and intensely strong energy hit Robert's body unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was painful and penetrating, and terrified him:
It resembled a massive psychic attack but hundreds times more powerful. I tried to reduce the effects on me but my best efforts had no effect on the energy experience or the physical, psychic, or emotional damage effects. I tried in vain to counter the attack ... This was the most alien feeling in my life and it filled me with unreasoning terror beyond anything I had experienced or even imagined. I believe it might paralyze an average person.
Tanya went unconscious and the batteries in his flashlight went dead. Robert felt the source of the attack was about fifty to a hundred meters distant from him and about twenty degrees up from the horizon. He was unable to see any form or shape.
For four to five hours, Robert sat tensely, trying to ward off the attack, holding his revolver, knowing the gun was not enough for whatever was out there in the darkness. He forced himself to perform mental exercises that would ease his fright and stress. The malevolent energy maintained a constant, nearly intolerable level, and he felt a genuine physical attack could happen at any moment. Then, when the first streaks of dawn lit the sky, the energy vanished as abruptly as it had started, and he was relieved when Tanya came to. That night was the last Robert ever slept outdoors. He also reported suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for years.
What attacked him? Perhaps Robert's land is inhabited by a djinni who stays in the outer reaches where it is seldom disturbed. His excursions to sleep out in the field may have finally irritated the djinni, who regarded him as a squatter or home invader. It made a show of force as a way of scaring him away.
"The Farm"
We have been working on a case since early 2009 that involves a wide variety of phenomena much like Skinwalker Ranch, the San Luis Valley, and the Hudson River Valley. We are unable to disclose the location because the property is privately owned, but it is a typical farm in a rural area. The surrounding region has been known for UFO activity, sightings of mysterious creatures, and hauntings. There is a small house on the property. The land was farmed in the nineteenth century. In the late twentieth century it sat idle for about twenty years, and several years ago was purchased and turned into an active property again. We do not know if previous owners experienced anything unusual on the property. Since farming resumed there, paranormal activity has been experienced almost daily.
Phenomena include apparitions of people believed to be previous occupants during the farm's earlier days; mysterious creatures such as an "imp" with a leathery, cat-like face that looks into a window of the house, the "little gray scurrying things" we described in an earlier chapter, menacing shadow people, a mole-like creature that attempts to burrow into human bodies; poltergeist effects; malfunctions of household and farm equipment and the land line telephone; footsteps in parts of the house where no one is present; and a shapeshifting black blob that races about in the field. The employees who work on the property often feel an invisible but hostile presence inside the house and on the land that gives them the impression that they are not welcomed and should leave.
Rosemary put together a team of investigators that has conducted numerous investigations on the farm indoors and outdoors, including all-night surveillances. Team members collectively have experienced all of the above phenomena. Some of the staff and all of the investigators except for Rosemary have suffered adverse health problems; Rosemary has had an unusual degree of car problems. Phenomena have followed some of those involved to their homes. Rosemary has experienced apports of coins at her homepennies, nickels, and dimes-since commencing the investigations. The apports are the sort of Trickster phenomena one might expect from an entity that likes to switch from serious activity to pranks. People involved with the case, including Rosemary, have had night time entity visits in which an unpleasant and predatory presence enters the room.
The entity-we believe it is a single one and not multiplegoes through periods of high activity followed by periods of low activity or dormancy. It especially acts up in advance of a planned investigation, as though it is aware and tries to scare any investigators away.
We believe this land is occupied by a djinni who may have been on the land long before people ever arrived there. It was enjoying solitude until the farm was reactivated several years ago. It is clearly displeased with the disturbances, and reacts by creating the phenomena. Will it ever go away? Probably not. It obviously does not like to be investigated or examined; every investigation has been accompanied by a marked increase in (and severity of) activity. It seems to like to remind the people there that it is boss. A Native American tactic to appease spirits was performed: an offering of ceremonial tobacco, sprinkled around the house and property, and burned in a small cauldron. The tobacco offering was followed by a decrease in activity, but not a cessation. It is difficult to assess the long-term potential danger for humans in cases such as these. Where unpleasant paranormal activity is continuous, people either learn to tolerate it, or they become worn down and leave.
"I Was Here First!"
A medium we know who works in paranormal investigations was called to an odd case in the eastern part of the country. The site was a home in which a family was experiencing escalating unpleasant activity. The other investigators were convinced a demon was to blame, and they were ready to arrange for a religious exorcism.
Ann (not her real name) offered to try to communicate with the entity to assess the situation. When she mentally tuned in, she was surprised-the energy did not "feel" like a demon, or a ghost-or anything she was familiar with. The entity seemed ancient, almost primeval. It explained to her that the house was located on its turf. It had been present long before humans arrived. The Native Americans understood its territorial rights, and had honored it and left it alone. But the white settlers who came in built on its land and created irritating disturbances. The entity said it "owned" one square mile. For reasons that were not clear, it was acting up now. Perhaps it had acted up in the past as well with previous residents. Or, perhaps there was something in particular about the present occupants that the entity especially did not like. It communicated to Ann that it was providing a warning to the people in the house. It wanted them out.
The entity also said
that there was nothing the people could do to kill or destroy it. An exorcism would not work. However, it said, Ann herself might be able to send it away, but only to certain locations on the earth. Images sprang into her mind. One was somewhere in Africa. These locations seemed to have some sort of elevator in them, in that there was access up and down from the surface of the earth to below the surface.
Due to a number of circumstances, Ann wound up removing herself from the case. The fates of the entity and the people in the house are not known. This case also has characteristics of djinn: an ancient entity that preceded humans on the planet, is territorial, and is powerful enough to resist most attempts to send it away. The images of the certain places on earth seem like interdimensional portals with subterranean access-a favored place of the djinn.
Severely Haunted Homes
Nearly every paranormal investigation group has one or more cases that fit the following profile: A family moves into a house, usually priced at below-market value, and soon experiences unpleasant phenomena that escalate in intensity. Phenomena include mysterious sounds and footsteps, shadows and shadow figures, black dogs and cats, hideous shapes, poltergeist activity, electrical problems, nightmares, apparitions of people and hooded figures, unexplained illnesses, unexplained accidents that injure the occupants of the house, tension and arguments, bad luck, and more. Sometimes research reveals that the house has a documented history of paranormal activity, bad luck, accidents, and unusual number of deaths in the house, and so on.
The Vengeful Djinn: Unveiling the Hidden Agenda of Genies Page 18
