City of the Dead: Review 038

Not my typical review but just back from a break I thought I'd review some of what the city of Edinburgh has to offer!


I've done Black Hart's City of the Dead Tour a few times now and to be honest I'll do it everytime I head back to Edinburgh. Having read Jan's book The Ghost That Haunted Itself after my first trip I knew this walking tour had potentially alot more to offer than the usual Theatrics. You can find out all about their tours and the Mackenzie Poltergeist on City of the Dead as well as other tours by Black Hart.

The website itself is there purely to give info about the tours, the experiences of those you give the tours and those hundreds of lucky people who've gotten more than just a bump in the night.

With a gallery showing injuries & peoples own accounts you know there's more there than just people trying to make a living from the dead.

Design wise its functional and nice enough to look at but a bit of consistency with the quality of the graphic would be nice.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 7/10

ParaCom: The Reply

Its always great when someone takes time to reply to a review - at least then we know they are willing to listen.

Hi Earl

Many thanks for your review.
I do agree with you that we may appear to be a little elitist, this is not intential & we will review in a bid to correct that appearance.

We do appreciate the groups who are...rough around the edges & certainly do not wish to catagorize them in any way.

I will have a look into things to see if i can ease the site & its content a little.

Thanks Earl

Take care

Admin

ParaCom
Community Watchdog

http://paracom.kk5.org

Cheers for the reply guys & keep up the good work.

ParaCom: Review 037

ParaCom: Community Watchdog .... good idea. There's a feel to it I really like and other parts that might make me worry. Watching the prices of venues in a great idea and could really make a differnce. What does worry me is that ParaCom could come across as a bit elitist and push out the enthusiasim of some of the newer rough around the edges groups.

The site could do with some work and I'd even do up some proper banners for them myself but I suppose whats important is what these guys are aiming for. I can see their logo on alot of sites in the future if they play it right.

Apart from this review I can see myself dropping these guys a mail and lending myself to this worthy cause.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 6/10

Alien Hub - Still getting better!

I have to say its great to see ALIEN HUB taking steps to make their site even better!


I reviewed ALIEN HUB site back in March and it got the high marks it deserved. The thing is they continue to do what they can to make the site better for the people that use it. A step up to using vBulliten will go a long way as this site gets bigger.

These guy need some more attention if its gonna grow and start really challenging the likes of GhostVillage with regards to numbers. So lets all do what we can!

AllAboutGhosts.com: Review 036

Allaboutghosts.com pitches itself as a resource for on line accounts of ghostly experiences represented in pictures, EVP, video clips and stories etc.

The community aspect of the site centres around an on line community at http://spiritkeep.net, a newsletter and a “contact us” section.

The site lives and dies on its bank of pictures and videos. Many of the links are broken, so trying to review their EVP, Photos etc is fruitless. The site owners apologise for this on the front page, but the lack of content renders the web site useless to anyone trying to explore the paranormal.

It is a pity as the general idea is reasonably good, there is a good breakdown of topics and listing of possibly haunted locations but once again the links don’t work.

The site attempts to promote some level of up-to-date content to entice users to visit the site on a regular basis.

• Featured Photo
• Featured Story
• Featured Site

Are all good ideas but once again the links are broken and the site fails to deliver. There are a number of advertisements on the site and these links still work, I take it that if the promised content was maintained, the commercial aspect of the site would deliver some revenue.

Aesthetically the site appears dated, but the logo is original.

Overall if the owners return to work on the site and finish what they started, this could be good resource and focal point for both posting and reviewing paranormal content, but as it stands it is a poor quality site with a bit of “watch this space” thrown in.

THE PARANORMALITES REVIEW: 3/10

Jane Doherty: Review 035

Its not often I will choose a website for a psychic but statements like "Jane's stomach reacts to spirits" are going to get my attention!


I'm not going to review her or her site based on one claim of course, to be honest she's around a while and deserves a bit more respect.

Fact is the site is very well put together. It doesn't reply or either the old spooky feel or the usual psychic design of clouds/doves/angels etc. Its put together like a website for a tv show, and why not Jane has had her fair share of media attention.

It offers a bit more than the usual medium/psychic page and thats probably got something to do with the fact she does investigations (free of charge) on a fairly regular bases. It covers a bit on EVP, UFO, seances etc but the site needs some updating, not to mention the abandoned blog.

So where as the belly ghost detector might not sit well with me overall its a good site.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 7/10

Up the Game

At 34 reviews I'm a little behind where i would have liked to be but things are definately going well.

My plan now is that when I get to 100 reviews I am going to send out an email to all the sites I've reviewed. Those that reply will be put into a draw for a prize ... which is as of yet undecided.

I'll aim to have 3 of these draws a year which means me getting my finger out and doing at least 300 reviews a year!

Encounters With The Unexplained: Review 034

Encounters With The Unexplained, as this blog is like that quirky friend you had that everyone like and your parents wanted you to marry. Alot of blogs (this one included) don't get to many comments posted on them but thats not the case with Encounters With The Unexplained. There seems to be a fairly friendly little circle of blogs that pop in on each other and this one is part of that.

Being that its a blog theres nothing groundbreaking you can do with the layout or design so it comes down to content. Encounters With The Unexplained is an easy read with a nice mix of subjects from around the world. How the stories are posted and put across has a cheery feel to it, even if the subject matter is dark.

Pleasent, unoffensive and easy to read.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 7/10

G.P.P.S. : Review 033

The Greater Pittsburgh Paranormal Society™ kicks ass ..... simple as that.


Ok so for the actual review I will have to write a bit more but the above is a statement of fact. Apart from looking a million times better than most other site this one is so well written. In this case I am not just reviewing the site because the groups approach to the area of the paranormal and investigating is, and I dont say this often, second to none. Even other great groups could learn from these guys.

Sure the website is still under a year old but its got everything in place, content is something you build up over time. They have the team, the passion, the know-how and now they have the website.

Paranormalizer.com will be watching these guys for the 2008 Paranormal Awards.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 9/10

2007 Paranormal Awards

This years, at the Ghost World Conference, we will see the first ever Paranormal Awards. These are the first awards by the paranormal community for the paranormal community. There are 6 catagories and I've already cast my vote. You can vote online HERE.

There are some good names up there and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. Its great that something like this is finally happening and I hope it is an incentive for groups & individuals to push harder and go the extra mile.


I'm going to put a foot forward and voice my support for Cape and Islands Paranormal Research Society in the catagory of Best Ghost Hunting Organization of 2006. I reviewed their website a short while back and have looked closely and what they do and how they do it. CIPRS are well deserving of the award and in my opinion this is possibly the most important catagory.

Support Cape and Islands Paranormal Research Society in the 2007 Paranormal Awards.

NESPI.net: Review 032

The New England Society of Paranormal Investigators website has only been around for a few months but the group itself has been going since 2000. With 7 years under their belt their claims are pretty impressive:

No paranormal investigative organization has been more successful than N E S P I in the capturing of and communicating with the unseen through EVP.

Like I said its an impressive claim but I am not sure what its based on? Hopefully once I mail this review to the team someone will stop by with a comment and fill me in.

The website itself is neatly layed out and functional, though the banner is a mish-mash of styles a bit busy. As for content, I was pretty impressed with the main area of focus: EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon).

When compared with what else is out there New England Society of Paranormal Investigators currently isn't anything to scream about. I am sure with the amount of experience the group have they will be building this up over the coming months and I will definately be having a look in again.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 6/10

SUPERNATURAL NEWS.com: Review 031

Well with the void in life still left empty from ParanormalNews I went looking to fill the hole.

SupernaturalNews.com is a new one on me, in its 3 years I'm only coming across it now? Set up a very easy to follow blogish site it ticks all the boxes with regards to style and layout. As with Shrouded Reality they just need to move the title text down a tad.

Its not about big articles or ground breaking research, the hint is in the name, its about NEWS and they report it quickly and with a smile.

Add SupernaturalNews.com to your book mark, have a quick look regularily and you'll stay in touch with anything paranormal related which hits the headlines.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 9/10

NNYPRS.com: Review 030

This is site for the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society. They host the standard content for this type of site but with some added content. They maintain very good photo gallery section; the content here is well worth looking at.

The team seems to be active and the web site provides and interesting record of the team’s movements. The site has a direct simple look to it where people can request membership and request an investigation via e mail.

There is a chat where non members and members can enter to discuss paranormal topics, unlike some sterile chat environments the NNYPS have set aside 20:00 every Sunday (USA time) to have discussions. They also provide phone numbers of some team members if someone wants to discuss paranormal topics with them directly (I’m unsure of the wisdom of this).

The NNYPS also have an on line radio show. Anyone can log in and listen to their current show. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have the space to store an archive of their previous shows; however old shows can be requested via e-mail.

The community aspect of this site is its strongest feature; there is an active on line forum providing a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers and there are enough stimuli to keep regular users coming back.

The weakest feature of the site is the aesthetical appearance of the home page and the site in general. The introduction page is attractive but it leads to a home page that has a dated appearance regardless of how functional it is.

THE PARANORMALITES REVIEW: 8/10

Shrouded Reality: Review 029

ShroudedReality.com ... nice name, it can be hard to come up with a decent domain when alot of the good ones are taken and wasted.

Anyway it seems like these guys are doing the rounds of getting themselves noticed so I thought I may as well grab them now while they are fresh!


First off the look of the site is one that I could refere to as either common or popular, its beccoming the standard format for so many sites now. The important thing I suppose is what you do with it though right? Besides the banner is nice and "mysterious" and if the font was moved down just a touch it would be even better. Just to note also that Papyrus is quickly becoming "the" Paranormal font.

On to the content:

Its a newish site and still growing so content isn't quite knee-deep yet but they have all the bases covered with regards to sections and general bits-&-bobs. I do like that they are keeping upto date with grabbing News stories off google, its not difficult but so few sites bother to keep up with whats happening.

Being that ShroudedReality.com is a community & forum based website its success will be down to how popular it becomes. There's not much the owners of the site can do about this other than keeping it functioning, fresh and crossing their fingers. There are alot of sites like this popping up but ShroudedReality.com isn't going over the top with cheesey graphics to I'll keep checking in on my rotation of similar sites. It won't be the next Ghostvillage but with a guiding hand it could be up there with AlienHub.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 5/10

www.PARANORMALIZER.com - UPDATES

There's been a bit of a growth spurt since I last posted about the updates on PARANORMALIZER.com here:

I'm getting a fair few mails too which is great but it would be nice to see more comments left publically on the blog. As well as looking at sites I'm trying to get to as many blogs as possible. A huge amount of groups simply don't have the resources to build up sites so if I ignored blogs I would even begin to touch the Paranormal Community Online.

Here's to a great next few months!

Earl Pursuant

CAIPRS: Review 028

Cape And Islands Paranormal Research Society ... what a long name!

Anyway, this is a group who, despite having a website, aren't really web based. Thats a good thing for a group as its not all about getting content up online and exising purely in a virtual world. They are a local group with local concerns, appearing on local radio and investigating in the surrounding areas of Cape Cod. This means they dont over stretch themselves and can concentrate on doing a good job.

Apart from Investigation and radio these guys also hold Open Lectures Its obvious they are in it for the long haul, which is a real bonus seeing as so many groups pop up and disappear just as quickly now days. Even alot of those that do stick around tend to spend more time reading and writing about the paranormal than actually experiencing it - not the case with CAIPRS.

The actually website is also very good. Some of the banners for the sections (see below) are great quality, its just a pity the whole site hasn't been tied into a similar style. The sections themselves are (some coming soon) are well sections as not everything is thrown in together.


THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 8/10

PARAQUEST.org.uk: Review 027

With Paraquest.org.uk you get same type of thing you see on a million other websites, nothing
special. So why am I even reviewing it? Well when a name of a groups pops up in the news you think for a split second that they must have something going for them ... right? Nope!

Don't get me wrong, I respect that they are out there doing what they do but some things on their site just rub me the wrong way. Their news article which popped them into the spotlight was about some video footage with an orb in it ..... I hate orbs! But it seems I am not alone, Paraquest's own Rick Smith says on the site:

... I really believe that orbs have nothing to do with the paranormal. Orbs simply seem to happen when
taking a picture with a digital camera in the dark with the flash on.

Why is it then that a group who believe that there is nothig paranormal about Orbs have an image gallery of 162 photographs, 108 of which are Orb photos?

The extra credit these guys deserve isn't for their website, which I don't find appealing, but the fact that they organise really face-to-face events in the form of their PARAtalks.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 4/10

I Want to Believe: Review 026

The I WANT TO BELIEVE blog is right up my street. Its not just a regular blog with random wafflings, it actually manages to be both casual and informative. The entry on Spirit Photography had the corners of my mouth turning skyward. He's obviously someone with a interest in the paranormal but zero interest in bullshit (applause).

The look of it is "almost" good, the effort has been put in to make it a bit different to standard templates (which include my own!). The annoying things are the jaggy text images (seen here) and the fact that the main body of texts only seems to start a good scroll down the page - what is with that big blank white area?

Its witty and definately worth a read, though if the blogger wants to make an effort on the look of the site they should go all or nothing - the content will carry it as long as the graphics dont distract people too much.

Now it would just be nice to see the blogger return after a years absense!

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 6/10

MIDNIGHT TALES blog: Review 025

The Midnight Tales Blog (or rather Horror Fitness) is a great find. A collection of all things scarey, from stories to images, this blog will make you check the locks before you go to bed.

The tales are well presented and I can't help but enjoy how they are written. The bloggers english isn't perfect but this works to his advantage. His closeness to Transilvania almost adds a sense of romance to this blog.

Alot of the stories will have a familiar feel to them as there are variations on them in every corner of the world. That said if you are going to read them anywhere I would suggest the Midnight Tales Blog as your first port of call.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 7/10

Enter .... THE PARANORMALITE!

The internet is pretty big and the PARANORMALIZER is just one man, so stands to reason that to cover more ground this blog needs an extra pair of hands.


Thats just what we've gotten now that Spacey has come on board as the PARANORMALITE! I've no doubt his fair hand and a sharp tongue will be put to good use here ... so now its just a case of setting him loose.

Welcome to the team my good man, I look forward to reading your reviews!

ParanormalNews.com: Review 024

ParanormalNews.com is a site I used to look at once a month a couple of years back and just lost track of. To be honest despite the fact that its ticks most of the boxes it just lets us down by not updating often enough. Since the start of 2007 its just not been up to much.

If you haven't seen it before its worth a visit and reading back over their content from the last few years is something that will keep you there ... until you run out of updates.

Its not a case of there not being any news they just dont seem to be keeping up with it. Like I said, it ticks the boxes. Great design, well laid out, well written and easy to read.

Come back Jeff, don't let it all be for nothing!

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 7/10

LochNess.co.uk: Review 023

Looking around for a half decent location which had a webcam I discovered that there aren't really any that fit that discription. I don't know just how many people out there have webcams pointed at their utility rooms and washing machines but it definately makes the search disheartening!


One website which actually made me look at the cam for more than 3 refreashes was LochNess.co.uk I mean at least when nothing is happening I am looking at a nice lake as opposed to some guy sitting in his makeshift office.

Its an awful website thats impossible to read but it was webcams I was after not content so I can try not to focus on the extremely poor layout and myriad of advertisements.

You can't help but get into it, the slightest shadow gets you excited but chances are you will never see Nessie from either of their 2 cams but the 2 sheep I watched in the field for 5 minutes may well end up in the belly of the beast.


THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 4/10

TheWerewolfPage: Review 022

The Werewolf Page is just pure indulgance for me. Its an area of the Paranormal that many see as pure fantasy, being that few people claim to have had real life experiences with these amazing creatures. Personally I have never met a werewolf but there is no other monster in the world of horror that I have ever wanted to be. Other people can keep there vampires, with the sexual undertones, for me its hair, claws and howling at the moon.

The Werewolf Page doesn't make claims that Lycanthropy is a real phenomenon. They put together a website which has everything from fan art to full online movies. Apart from the hollywood side of things they have some fantastic articles on the myths and folklore surround werewolves - these include a ritual to become a werewolf!

You can snub the idea of men turning into wolves and running around howling at a full moon but there is absolutely no denying that The Werewolf Page is an extremely well put together website.


THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 10/10

UFO.whipnet.org: Review 021

When you type UFO in google you get 39,900,000 replies - thats alot of content to trawl through if you are just looking for the "facts". There are discussion forums like ALIEN HUB you can visit to meet like minded people and discuss ideas, theories and experiences. Its a fantasic resourse but when I resently wanted to find out more about a specific area I didnt have the time to go through pages of discussions nor did I have enough information to ask the question I wanted answered - so off I went in search of somewhere that laid it all out.

UFO whipnet.org just happened to be the place where I found my answer. After getting the info I wanted I clicked on another report ... then another and another. The site is one of the most stylish designs I've come across, its cool, uncluttered and easy to navigate.

Sure it has ads on it but when you put time and effort into a page sometimes the little you get back takes some of the hit.

I know some very nice, sane and easy going UFO enthusiasts and even they can't get to annoyied when I say that the area of study and research has some absolute nutcases and even scarier hardcore believers. Whoever it is that does UFO whipnet.org is not one of these people. The writing takes time to laugh the subject (and itself) while maintaining a high level of respect for the material. I'm not ashamed to say I got a giggle out of the Gilmore Girls reference in the article The Speed of Light.

With a nice collection of images, news articles, documents and articles UFO whipnet.org is a website that alot of those 39,900,000 Google results should look at for guidance and inspirantion.

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 9/10

PARANORMALMOVIES.com: Review 020

Some people sacrafice content for style, for some its all about the content. Then for others like ParanormalMovies.com, neither seem to matter at all. Here we have another case of a wasted domain name.

The one thing that ParanormalMovies.com does do well is highlight just why a site like Disclose.tv is needed.

I can't even bring myself to list this on www.PARANORMALIZER.com

THE PARANORMALIZERS REVIEW: 1/10