The Pareidolia Effect

by Chris Chaos

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the
mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists. The imagined perception of a pattern
or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features (1)

**Note** There are visual and audio pareidolia effects but for the purpose of this article we will
focus just on the visual. E.V.P.'s (Electronic Voice Phenomemon) is a common form of audio
pareidolia.

There are many examples of pareidolia and the paranormal community is plagued by this phenomenon. Some amateur and new to the paranormal scene take random photographs on location in graveyards, abandoned buildings or even in their own homes and see either ghost faces or bodies in the photos that are not really there. The human mind (and brain) is always trying to make sense of what the eyes are seeing. Consciousnessly you are trying to look for something familiar in the photo and unconsciously your brain is also doing the same.

Below is an example of seeing a face in the background of a family photo. Behind the children in the photo it appears as if there is a face, some state it was the spirit of a dead relative or some sort of demon stalking the children. But in reality it was just a combination  of a reflection in the lake, leaves and other nature formations found in Nature.

THE REALITY SHOW OPPORTUNITY

by Chris Chaos

Many opportunities can present themselves and it can be quite difficult to sift through them all and determine what is worth devoting your time to. This situation occurred to us back in 2008 when we were approached by a well known cable television channel to produce a "ghost hunting" themed show based on the work that we were doing with our Jersey Devil documentary and our plans to film a documentary and write a book series that eventually became known as "CURSED: An Explanation of the Unknown". An actress that we used in one of our shorts connected us to the producers and we were highly appreciative.  Being approached by the producers of the channel was mighty interesting to us and this was also prior to the fad of all the current “ghost hunting” television programs. They wanted to follow us around as we conducted office and field investigations in the search for the Jersey Devil and also the various abandoned and supposed haunted locations that we were investigating at the time.

In initial meetings this project seemed promising until they starting dictating terms that would end up being misleading and false for the viewers. We wished to conduct legit investigations, research and provide the evidence backed by science that we collected, but they stated that if nothing was found that we would have to embellish it with "exciting“ insertions of E.V.P.s, orbs, sounds and other encounters that may have not occurred. using logic we countered back that there is no scientific based concerning orbs or E.V.P's and they have been disproven many times over. They countered with "It doesn't really matter, we wish to entertain the audience, not educate them." We rebelled and stated our points again on how we wished to conduct legit investigations and provide the results without embellishments. The producers restated their terms and said "Take it or leave it.“ They wanted me to sign a waiver that included following their script and give them permission to take creative liberties in the editing process to use as they see fit. I didn't want to go through all that we did and would just to have our findings distorted and manipulated.

The pay per episode with the addition of riders and perks were very enticing, but compromising and allowing the producers to manipulate the information would just defeat the whole purpose of the documentary that we have been working on for many years. For the most part each episode was almost as scripted out as a sitcom or a movie. There were certain points that we had to make and we had to find something "haunting" or "positive evidence" in each show, if not, it would be added in later.

We had one last meeting hoping that we could have our terms reconsidered and we could do a straight up investigative show without anything fake or misleading being inserted into the program. The producers wouldn't budge and stated that the clause would still be in effect that things might be added to spice the show up at their discretion. So we declined and moved onto the next project.

So here we are heading into 2015 with an awesome track record and much information for our Jersey Devil documentary called "THE SEARCH FOR THE JERSEY DEVIL" (along with 2 books on the subject) and the CURSED series which will contain 3 books.

Cursed: An Explanation of the Unknown:
http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Explanation-Mr-Chris-Chaos/dp/1497537436/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418922533&sr=8-2&keywords=cursed+an+explanation

Cursed: Revisited
http://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Revisited-Explanation-II-2/dp/1502830507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418922587&sr=8-1&keywords=cursed+an+explanation

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
https://www.facebook.com/Cursedbook
or
https://www.facebook.com/TheSearchForTheJerseyDevil

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey.  He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com) 

Cursed Revisited: An Explanation of the Unknown

Authored by Mr Chris Chaos
Edition: First

Available at:
https://www.createspace.com/5049759

Cursed Revisited is the 2nd in the series featuring various locations on the east coast in an attempt to preserve and investigate the paranormal, the unexplained, local lore and uphold the preservation of history, culture and architectural landmarks. This book is a result of years of research, documenting and exploring. Using a combination of the internet to find as much information that we could concerning the locations/topics, neighbors of the locations, eyewitness interviews, news reports, logic, skepticism and commonsense, we present to you, the legends, the lore, the facts and the science that is associated with all the locations that we have investigated and researched.

About the author:
Chris Chaos: The founder of Axis Video and Pine Barren Films.He is a filmmaker, writer, business owner, urban explorer, investigator of the odd and a connoisseur of hot wings. As the owner of Axis Video/Pine Barren Films he has produced and has been involved with some ground breaking projects in the world of music and documentaries on the east coast. Gradually he switched his focus from making films to authoring books on various hot button topics.

In the vein of paranormal and the preservation of history and lore he has created the series "Cursed: An Explanation of the Unknown" and the documentary "The Search for the Jersey Devil" along with its companion book of the same title.

For his contribution to music he produced countless music videos for many international, national and even local bands. Some can be viewed on his "Dynasty of Darkness" compilations.

Concerning his horror writings many wondered what inspired him to pen the stories that he did and here is an excerpt of what he had to say: "Horror is all around us, just turn on the news or look out your window. The demons and monsters are inside of your fellow man. From the meth mom that sells her infant to a film producer of stomping videos in exchange for drugs to the parent that kills her child so they can have more time to play Farmville. Inspiration comes from those around you, turn the bad, the horrible into something good." "When I was a child I would borrow my father's movies..he thought I was watching child friendly movies but I was taking his Faces of Death video tapes and going into my room to take it all in."

Publication Date: Oct 19 2014
ISBN/EAN13: 1502830507 / 9781502830500
Page Count: 158
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 6" x 9"
Language: English

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey.  He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

The Witches Well: Jersey Devil Mount Holly NJ

by Chris Chaos

Does the Witches Well hold the Jersey Devil? There was a legend that the Jersey Devil is sealed inside a stone altar on top of a mountain. This mountain is known as THE MOUNT in Mount Holly New Jersey.

Legend has it that the Jersey Devil was chained up here and if you put your ear up to the metal door you can hear him thrashing around. Another legend was that this site was the capstone that went all the way to Hell.

Yet another legend goes that one of the 1st (suspected) witches in the area was thrown down this well and she survived the drop and clawed and screamed for help and cursed all those that threw her into the well. Later on the shed was built over the Well to stop the haunting that was occurring. Recently the township put up a barbwire fence with stop motion cameras that actually yell at you when triggered. "Stop! You have been caught on camera and this will be used in your prosecution, turn around now!" it states when you venture too close. Why would they spend all this money for this security? What is really here? Without breaking the law and jumping the fence you currently cannot reach The Witches Well, but you can see it through the fence that was erected. If you go in the warm months be aware of the mosquitoes, they are plentiful and very hungry.

There is also a gravestone located in the cemetery right near this area and a woman is buried there. The grave reads: "Thus is the fate of all who turn from God, you are here because God hates you." This lady, who was a suspected witch, supposedly summoned the Jersey Devil and he killed her. Afterwards JD was caught and chained up and cast into the Well.

The Witches Well Video

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

The Search for the Jersey Devil: Footprints

by Chris Chaos

Trifid

Trifid (Split into 3 parts)...or Drake's feet, 3 toes. A popular carving technique for the legs of tables or chairs. Back in 1941 a strange footprint was found in Batsto, New Jersey and many suspected that is was from the Jersey Devil. A cast was promptly made and then a wooden imprint was made of it. Currently this wooden imprint resides at Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, New Jersey. Back in November of 2013 the Courier Post did a front page story with me concerning my Jersey Devil documentary they photographed me holding it in the photo shoot.

Chris Chaos holding the wooden print

Back in 1941 a strange footprint was found in Batsto, New Jersey and many suspected that is was from the Jersey Devil. A cast was promptly made and then a wooden imprint was produced from it. Currently this wooden imprint resides at Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, New Jersey. Back in November of 2013 the Courier Post did a front page story with me concerning my Jersey Devil documentary, they photographed me holding it in the photo shoot.




One thing that was inconsistent to me was that by popular accounts most witnesses stated that the Jersey Devil had cloven hooves..like a goat, or the Devil Himself. The wooden imprint is more that of a dragon, or some sort of three toed lizard. There are not all that many three toed animals that are that large: Capybara, rhinoceroses, crow, turkey and the Emu are a few. Many dinosaur era birds had 3 toes with a 4th toe backwards turned that assisted them with gripping tree branches.

Above: Heron footprints next to average sized human foot. 

 

Starting around 1948 there was a hoaxer running around the US (and world) leaving fake 3 toed impressions and he was dubbed “Old Three Toes”. He claimed that the prints were that of a large penguin and tormented Florida with these false prints. There were several pics available with this hoaxer wearing his self made boots that left the 3 toed impressions. They curiously resemble (although a bit larger) the ones supposedly left by the Jersey Devil in Batsto...for more information please check out the following link:

3 Toe Hoax

Old Three Toes

There are many explanations that could shed light on the origin of this wooden footprint cast: A real animal that was mentioned above, a hoax, an attempt for tourism and publicity...or the actual Jersey Devil. Be sure to let us know what you think.

To follow along with the progress of the film, go here:
The Search for the Jersey Devil

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv_1ZctVV30&feature=youtu.be

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)