When I first heard the story of Rom Houben, a Belgian man who had spent 23 years in a coma before doctors realised that he was conscious, it struck me that their efforts to prove he could communicate were very similar to those of researchers studying afterlife communications.

What the medical specialists appeared to be overlooking, when they announced to the world this remarkable breakthrough, was that Rom’s communications were being facilitated by his speech therapist. This can be clearly seen in one of the television interviews he gave in November last year. And that opens the door read more…

It's a funny old world (photo credit: Flickr/aussiegall)

I seem to be ending the year in a silly, frivolous frame of mind. It was triggered, I think, by the story of an Australian family whose home in Sydney is “weeping” oil.

The family believes the phenomenon is connected with the death of their 17-year-old son, Mike Tannous, in a car crash three years ago. A few days later, the walls in his bedroom began weeping a yellow liquid, which one British newspaper claims, without justification, is “a unique kind of oil”, read more…

I love exploring cities but during a business trip to Saudi Arabia, ten years ago, I had no hesitation in declining the opportunity to visit Deera Square and its gold market in the capital, Riyadh.

My guide, an Englishman living and working in the city, explained that it was also known as Justice Square but he and others knew it as “Chop Chop Square” because it was where offenders were publicly beheaded or had their hands cut off.

What’s more, if a Westerner happens to be in the square at the time of an execution, he or she is usually pushed to the front by the police to get a good look of Saudi justice in action.

I opted to stay in the car and be driven to somewhere less stomach-churning. It never crossed my mind that, a decade later, I would be writing about that experience because a person currently under sentence of death is due to be executed in Saudi … for being psychic!

Ali Sibat is a self-described psychic read more…

Anita makes notes as she studies six subjects.

I am impressed with Anita Ikonen, even though she failed the very strict conditions imposed for the testing of her alleged paranormal ability to “see” inside people’s bodies.

As I wrote on 21 November – the day she was to be tested in Hollywood by the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) – the experiment involved presenting her with three groups of six people, one of whom in each group had only one kidney.

Since Anita believes read more…