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[Sharon]

Found this in this mornings emails.  Let me know what you all think?

Close Personal Friends of Jeff Newsletter #2

Dear Close Personal Friends:

Just dropping you a note to let you know that it’s time to change everything we know about the paranormal. That’s all. Have a great day! Ha! I kid. But not really… I want to start a movement and I need your help. Yes, yours. Please read on.

Two years ago I was in this meeting in New York. We were discussing ghosts and the supernatural when the decision maker in the meeting shook his head and said, “I’m looking for what’s next in the paranormal.” I left soon after and couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was right. The field has been stagnant for a long time. Though the equipment may have gotten fancier and the groups more organized, the approach hasn’t changed in at least a century.

For weeks I thought about the elements I enjoyed most in pursuing the unexplained and the elements that I thought were leading us astray. I spoke to friends and colleagues, and I pored through new and old books.

So what’s next in the paranormal? Where is it going?

Legend tripping.

No, it’s not a new idea. In fact, it’s been around for thousands of years. Legend tripping is a folklore insider term that refers to a rite of passage for kids and teens to try something with an often paranormal implication. For example, remember sneaking out of the sleepover when you were a kid and going to the graveyard at midnight to knock three times on the alleged cursed headstone? That’s legend tripping. But I’m redefining the term here and now.

It’s so much more, and it’s not just for kids. Legend tripping is to pursue all avenues of the paranormal. It’s time to put it all on the table together: ghosts, aliens, monsters, urban legends, and even religious legends. In our quest we will put ourselves into the story. You don’t need fancy equipment (though you can go in that direction if you really want to), and you don’t need to belong to a group. You do need a sense of adventure and a thirst to stand where bigfoot was said to stand, to crawl through haunted buildings, and to look at a night sky near a UFO landing site.

Any paranormal television show you’ve ever seen is legend tripping. First, someone heard a compelling story, something that rang true with them and caused them to want to investigate. Bringing along thousands of dollars in equipment is okay, but my concern is that flashing lights on a meter becomes a surrogate for a real, human experience. My fear is that some people spend too much time watching their gear instead of the world around them. Some folks trust their senses less than their equipment and thus humanity is removed from the legend experience; which is the biggest tragedy of our time.

It always has been and always will be about the human experience. And it’s a wild ride.

Becoming a legend tripper is arduous and not for everyone, but if you think you have what it takes, here's how to do it.

1. Grab a mirror.
2. Look in the mirror.
3. Say, "I'm a legend tripper."

Okay, you're in.

So I come to you today asking for your support. Today I’m proud to announce my latest work: Picture Yourself Legend Tripping: Your Complete Guide to Finding UFOs, Monsters, Ghosts, and Urban Legends in Your Own Back Yard -- a new book and DVD that is now available! The cover price is $24.99 but you can get it on Amazon for $17.99 right now.

Here's the big favor: I'm asking you to buy the book by this Friday (July 16th) because if a bunch of us buy the book over the next few days, the Amazon sales rank will rocket up and catch the attention of many others because it will become a hot seller. I know times are tight for many people right now, and I'm asking you to part with your hard-earned money. All I can tell you is it's worth it.

Plus, I’ve launched a brand-new Web site for us legend trippers (and if you’re on this email list, not only are you already a close personal friend, but I’m guessing you’re already a legend tripper): www.legendtripping.com. I’d like your help with the Web site too! What’s there now is only the beginning. I want you to share your local legends, tales from your own legend trips, and read what others are doing.

The new book and DVD is a road map for what legend tripping is. This is the ground floor, and you have the opportunity to take this idea and run with it. To help shape where legend tripping goes. To become part of the story yourself.

I’m right there with you. After you read the book, I’d love your feedback, and I’d appreciate if you’d take the time to post a review on Amazon. All of that helps tremendously.

I promised the publisher this new book would outsell Harry Potter… please oh please don’t make me a liar!

Also, thanks to those of you who have been watching my talk show, 30 Odd Minutes (we have a great show tonight), and don't miss some of the great events I'm attending (listed below). The next event is the Haunted America Conference on Cape Cod, Massachusetts -- there's still tickets left! See you there!

Enjoy the trip, my friends.

Your close, personal friend,

-Jeff Belanger
www.jeffbelanger.com
Twitter: twitter.com/THEJeffBelanger
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Jeff-Belanger/283029759747
MySpace: www.myspace.com/ghostvillager

WHAT OTHERS SAID ABOUT PICTURE YOURSELF LEGEND TRIPPING:

“Nobody digs into the paranormal like Jeff Belanger. Picture Yourself Legend Tripping is a killer way to learn how to explore the unexplained and find the legends creeping in your area.”
-Zak Bagans, Host and Lead Investigator for the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures

"As you adventure out on those weird journeys of life, one could not ask for a better tour guide along the way than Jeff Belanger. Jeff's grasp of intriguing bits of bizarre information are delivered with a wonderful combination of knee-slapping humor and incredible factual knowledge. You can't go wrong when you take Jeff with you on your next trek, whether it is a casual vacation or an intensive investigation."
-Loren Coleman, author, cryptozoologist, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum

“Any serious paranormal investigator, really anyone who spends time looking into the unusual and unexplained, must eventually start to realize the close connection it has with legend. Too often the technology trending of modern investigation looks to strip away these connections to gain some truth, often at the risk of trampling real universal truth, In reality truth and legend are only different colors being used to paint the same picture, and the smart investigator must learn to view them together while celebrating each for what they are. Jeff Belanger is just the kind of guide to help people gain that focus.”
-Christopher Balzano, author of Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting

UPCOMING EVENTS AND LECTURES:

Private Lecture - Newburyport, Massachusetts - July 28, 2010

2010 Haunted America East Coast Conference - Cape Cod Community College - West Barnstable, Massachusetts - August 28, 2010

Ghost Adventures Crew and Darkness Events - Mansfield Reformatory - Mansfield, Ohio - September 9-12, 2010

A Paranormal Retreat: Virginia City - Virginia City, Nevada - October 1-4, 2010

A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Memorial Hall Library - Andover, Massachusetts - October 6, 2010, 7 PM

A "Weird" Massachusetts Evening - Bolton Public Library - Bolton, Massachusetts - October 7, 2010, 7 PM

A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Bancroft Memorial Library - Hopedale, Massachusetts - October 13, 2010, 7 PM

A "Weird" Massachusetts Evening - Dighton Public Library - Dighton, Massachusetts - October 14, 2010, 6:30 PM

A "Weird" Massachusetts Evening - Fiske Public Library - Wrentham, Massachusetts - October 19, 2010, 7 PM

A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Beaman Memorial Library - West Boylston, Massachusetts - October 26, 2010, 7 PM

Beyond Reality Events - The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, Colorado - November 5-8, 2010

Ghost Adventures Crew and Darkness Events - The Queen Mary - Long Beach, California - December 2-5, 2010

Phenomenology 103 - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - March 24-27, 2011

[PJay]

Anyone who tries to reproduce the circumstance reported with activity is a legend tripper.  Buy his book? 

[IPI Mary]

Why doesn`t it surprise me that this all leads to us parting with some of our hard earned cash   

[CaveRat]

The term is new, the plot, an author with a new book is as old as the hills.

But I will have to agree to a point, a new way of looking at things is a solid approach.  My only concern is that in developing the new method we throw out the old or disregard common sense.  It is not progress to go into a fantasy world where anything we can dream is what we call truth. 

The example cited is a good one.  Go into the graveyard and tempt fate.  get scared.  And I ask, how rational can one be when they are frightened?  The "new" concepts developed under those conditions are questionable at best.  True, that something good may come of it, but I believe the better approach to making progress is a rational, logical, scientific approach applied to that which we don't understand.

[tom_champaign county paranormal]

1. grab a mirror
2. look in the mirror
3. say if i spend 24.95 after reading that dribble, i need help.

[PJay]

  2 tru

[PGR-IN Chris]

@ tom - thats the more realistic attitude I like here at IPI.   

I agree with cave, that the idea is always nice, but the practice always becomes corrupt because too many times, ppl forget about what progress has been made and typically abandon current ways for the "new" ways and methods they develop.   

However, using the example above, it is a good way to look at what may happen if this was done in 2 parts.  For instance, if the person in the cemetary didnt know they were being observed in a manner of the current science minded methods, then the results could be examined by the current methods we use while the experience would be true and accurate to the original person's ideal of "legend tripping".  Comparing what was actually recorded against what the person experienced may lead to something.  

However, the type of "legend tripping" that is being referred to above is exactly how some ppl in this field start off.  As they become more interested and serious about the field, they usually form groups very similar to those here at IPI.  Its the groups who dont grow out this stage that one typically reads about or sees in the news that generally end up giving the field (as a whole) a black-eye.  Wonder and imagination are good stepping stones, but there's more to the actual study than just that.  I'd be leary about going on legend trips if there isnt any serious discussion about how to accurately study the results, other than the old, "Oh, you had to be there to really get it," line.   

[PJay]

Forced to kill time in a bookstore yesterday, I found this book and read almost the whole thing.  I was plesantly surprised that the book was very entertaining, with a focus on how to research the history behind local legends.  It had a section on children and their beliefs on the boogey man, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, etc, and a little history on the beginnings of some common legends and myths.  I didn't want to give $25 for it, but if it was in the library, I'd check it out.