Blog The Curse of the Luxor Hotel (Part 1) Back in the 1990s, there were grand plans to make Las Vegas into a Disney World-type destination, full of ornate themed resorts and activities for children. The Luxor Hotel and Casino, an ancient Egyptian-themed hotel shaped like a giant obsidian pyramid with a beam of light coming out of the
Blog Crunch time (Learning Things: May 29, 2023) Thank you to everyone who reached out last week about my digital garden blog post series! I've had some great conversations with folks about it, and I'm glad it's a topic that's resonating with other people, too. So what's up
Blog A plea to fellow paranormal researchers: break free of walled gardens and build your own digital gardens Earlier this year, one of my favorite thinkers, sci-fi author Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification." Enshittification is the process of a platform destroying itself. It often goes like this: the platform initially seems great, so users sign up, then it shafts its users in favor of attracting
Blog How to set up your own digital garden Yesterday, I wrote about why I set up a digital garden. Today, I wanted to share a bit more about exactly how I set it up, as well as my current workflow for sharing notes. I'm only a couple weeks into tending my digital garden, so I wouldn&
Blog Tending the garden: digital gardening goals I recently set up a digital garden to share some of my in-progress research notes. Yesterday, I wrote about what a digital garden is. Today, I want to delve into my goals for the garden. My notetaking methods As a paranormal researcher, I use the zettlekasten method of taking notes.
Blog Digital gardens, zettlekasten, and paranormal research How and why I'm sharing my in-progress research notes
Blog A meandering week (Learning Things: May 22, 2021) This past week has felt especially meandering to me. Time seems slightly twisty; I've found myself repeatedly writing the date as either March 2023 or May 2025, so I'm not sure what that's about. I suppose I should just be grateful that my brain
Episodes Instant photography, nostalgia, and the paranormal A wild ride through nostalgia about instant photography, the pitfalls of both analog and digital photography, the weirdly zeitgeisty history of the Polaroid Corporation, and the search for images we can "trust."
Blog The Philosopher's Stone in Philadelphia Yesterday, I wrote about Johannes Kelpius and his group of mystic monks who moved to Philadelphia in the 1690s to wait for the end of the world. Though the group had Christian inclinations, they also dabbled in esoteric practices like astral projection, astrology and astronomy, and alchemy. Here's
Blog An occult doomsday cult in 1690s Philly In the 1690s, a Transylvanian-born mystic, occultist, musician, and writer named Johannes Kelpius led a group of forty Rosicrucian monks to colonial Philadelphia await the end of the world. Though Kelpius and his group of highly-educated mystics were disappointed when the day of revelation didn’t come, they made the
Blog Digital gardens and fungi research (Learning Things: May 15, 2023) It's really feeling like spring here in NYC (or summer, really—it's been toasty). My wife and I went to Central Park this week, which is in bloom and full of birds (we saw a black-crowned night heron, which is always exciting). The cranesbill bloom pixel
Blog Window areas and how to find magnetic faults near you How to research a specific area's magnetic anomalies.
Blog Electromagnetism, UFOs, and psychic abilities Following up on last week's post about John Keel's Wednesday phenomenon, I want to look at electromagnetic weirdness that came up in both John Keel's book Operation Trojan Horse (1970) and Russel Targ's book Limitless Mind (2010). Also, a disclaimer: Physics was
Blog Vintage zines and research woes (Learning Things: May 8, 2023) Here's a rundown of what I've been up to this week: Paranormal research Over the weekend, I spent a while looking through old UFO newsletters and zines. I love the aesthetic of the typewritten, xeroxed 1950s-1980s publications (I definitely have a bit of anemoia when it
Blog What's the best time for remote viewing and seeing ultraterrestrials? More about John Keel's Wednesday phenomenon.
Blog Fluffy Ghosts: Allan Kardec's Orders of Spirits An 1850s spiritualist classification of various spirits.
Blog On mylar balloons and forgotten futures Some thoughts about mylar balloons, what they represent in the paranormal, and what else they might mean in terms of our world and our future.
Blog Following a vintage automatic writing planchette ad down a rabbit hole Digging into the backstory of an ad in Mystic magazine.
Blog The History of Automatic Writing Planchettes The story of the planchette, a predecessor of the Ouija board.
Blog Tree talkin' and train tracks (Learning Things: April 24, 2023) I wish I could say that I made a ton of progress on all of my goals this week, unlike last time. But that'd be a lie. I was a bit under the weather this week and moved very, very slowly, so it's kinda a wonder
