Tag: Editorial

Chasing Shadows: The Hunt for Ghosts from Curiosity to Credibility (Part Two)

From Crookes’s laboratory séances to Harry Price’s haunted investigations, explore how the hunt for ghosts evolved from curiosity to credibility—and what it reveals about the living.

The Hunt for Ghosts is OnWhen people today venture into haunted houses with cameras, EMF meters, and recorders, they’re unknowingly continuing a tradition that began over a century ago. The hunt for ghosts may look modern, but its roots trace back to figures more grounded and genuine than many of today’s TV personalities—people like John Zaffis and Jason Hawes, who carry a lineage that reaches further back to scholars and spiritualists. There was no such thing as a paranormal pop star then; there were only those who genuinely wanted to understand and not trick a generation.

Yet the modern scene rarely mentions the foundations laid by Sir William Crookes and Harry Price. Today’s investigators might name-drop Edison or Tesla for their “ghost phone” and “spirit radio”—devices meant to pull voices from the aether—but communication is more than asking for a yes or no.

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The History Behind the Hunt for Ghosts: A Timeless Journey Through Belief (Part One)

A look at how humanity’s fascination with ghosts evolved from ancient myths to Victorian spiritualism. The hunt for ghosts isn’t for everyone, and we consider the contributions of people prior to Crookes and Price laid the groundwork for modern investigative techniques.

The Hunt for GhostsAs Halloween approaches, many folks enjoy a ghostly outing—whether for thrills or to glimpse evidence of something beyond. To go on the hunt for ghosts is a pastime few practice year-round, but when the season is right, more people go chasing after a belief. The old idea October 31 is when the veil is thinnest has roots in Neopagan lore, particularly Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the boundary between the living and the dead. Similar ideas echo in Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, celebrated soon after All Saints’ Day.

Whatever the tradition, humanity’s fascination with the afterlife is ancient. Even in Greek literature, ghosts appear not just as spectres but as participants in moral and mythic storytelling. In The Odyssey (Book 11), Odysseus travels to the underworld and summons shades of the dead to question them—a literal “ghost quest.” Centuries later, during the Victorian era—the golden age of spiritualism—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle developed his own fascination with the supernatural, even though his most famous character never took on such a case.

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2 Reasons on Why Disney’s Marvel Zombies Fails to Surprise and Deliver

When Marvel Zombies on Disney Plus feels very compressed and is not part of the comic book canon, this entry feelslike Halloween-season fan service instead of a bold new chapter.

Marvel Zombies PosterWhen Captain America sinks his teeth into his comrades, the Marvel Universe stops being heroic and starts being hungry. Not every zombie-head will appreciate what Marvel Zombies on Disney Plus is really about. When the story first appeared in 2009, I was mildly curious but hardly impressed. The premise seemed like a marketing stunt to boost sales—and to be fair, there’s some truth in that. The early 2000s saw zombie fiction claw its way back into the mainstream. With 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead reviving the genre, it wasn’t shocking that Marvel tapped Robert Kirkman to script a tale where the world’s greatest heroes became the world’s hungriest monsters.

The concept endures because it’s more than gore; it’s shock, novelty, and a grim fascination with corrupted heroism. Seeing Spider-Man or Iron Man as cannibals turns morality inside out. These aren’t mindless corpses but beings who keep shards of their conscience even as hunger consumes them. Those too far gone devolve into primal predators, while the surviving humans live in a shattered world that’s no longer theirs—a true Zombie Earth where no refuge lasts.

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Why Tobin’s Spirit Guide Won’t Stay Dead

In what makes Tobin’s Spirit Guide so spectral is that it’s a living guide to all things undead, on screen and off!

Tobin's Spirit Guide GENERICIn a follow-up to an article I wrote years ago, it seems Tobin’s Spirit Guide refuses to stay buried. First glimpsed in the Ghostbusters films, this fictional tome has resurfaced in updated editions and fan-made replicas, standing tall as a paranormal counterpart to The Necronomicon. The mere mention of either sparks dread and curiosity; the latter famously shifted from literary oddity to pop culture cornerstone.

Both thrive on mystique, but Tobin’s has gone further — evolving from a prop into a fully fledged artefact that fans can hold, study, and expand upon. Whether through video games or painstaking recreations, the Guide has become the shared-universe grimoire of supernatural cinema. Imagine one volume compiling every ghostly entity, from The Exorcist to The Conjuring — I, for one, welcome it.

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AI Actors Aren’t Truly 100% Human — Tilly Norwood Is No Rising Star

Ari Folman’s The Congress foresaw the rise of digital actors. Today, AI-generated “stars” like Tilly Norwood demand new guardrails. Without disclosure, consent, and compensation, real performers risk being replaced by code.

AI-generated digital actress Tilly Norwood inspired by The CongressAnyone who has seen The Congress knows it was ahead of its time. Now, AI-generated digital actress Tilly Norwood brings that vision to life, almost prophetically. In Ari Folman’s film, Al (easily read as AI) represents Robin Wright in a near-future scenario where she sells her likeness to a studio; a computer system carries on her career, and she is no longer allowed to act. Today, as more actors license their faces and voices for digital reproduction, Norwood’s rise signals a turning point—raising questions about authenticity, creativity, and the future of performing arts.

Actor Eline Van der Velden calls Norwood a “creation… an act of imagination and craftsmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance.” Yet in a different article, she adds, “We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman… economic issues are driving the movie and TV business toward AI production.” Which is it—a harmless experiment, or a cost-cutting replacement for human performers?

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The Promise and Pitfall of Augmented Reality Games: Why Jedi Challenges Sits on the Shelf

Jedi Challenges promised a galaxy far, far away in your living room. A month of lightsabers later, the thrill faded—and so did the headset. There are not a lot of augmented reality games still around. Without updates, community, or real-world hooks, it’s still a tech spectacle stuck on the shelf.

Augmented Reality GamesThe Allure of Immersion

Not everyone wants to play augmented reality games. You can’t interact with a digital environment without strapping on a headset or waving a device around to reveal what’s there. On paper, these experiences promise to blur our physical and digital lives into one seamless reality. In practice? They’ve delivered dazzling moments—Gorillaz’s virtual concerts and Hololive’s worldwide VTuber frenzy—but more often than not, they feel like flashy sideshows rather than daily habits.

At its core, AR overlays digital visuals onto the real world.

Pop culture has long imagined it in bigger, bolder ways. Back to the Future II had Marty McFly nearly leap out of his skin when a 3D Jaws lunged from a theatre marquee. Star Trek: The Next Generation gave us the holodeck, where you could wander inside the illusion and feel every detail. That’s the kind of immersion people crave—the kind that doesn’t remind you that you’re holding a phone like a glorified window.

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