The Story

In August of 1971, a woman named María Gómez Cámara noticed a stain appearing on her kitchen floor. It was taking on the form of a face. Given that the kitchen floor was made of concrete, it became even more interesting when it seemed like the face was moving. Poor María did her best to scrub out the stain to no avail. Her son and husband even went at the concrete floor with a pickaxe and cemented the floor. But it came back. More faces started to appear on the floor. When the mayor heard about this, he forbade further destruction of the floor. The face was cut out from the floor and taken for further study. I want to know what those results yielded.

Rumor has it that when the floor was excavated, skeletons were found 10 feet below the surface. Some of the skeletons didn’t even have skulls. The 700-year old remains were re interred at the Catholic cemetery. Apparently these faces were also able to communicate. Atlas Obscura claimed they were psychophonies, meaning they were communicated through a medium. Were the people who were buried underneath the concrete still there?

Even when the floor was completely replaced, a new face appeared two weeks later. So, it wasn’t over. It didn’t take long for the rumor to spread around the village and eventually cross oceans. The house became known as “La Casa de las Caras”, also known as “The House of the Faces.”

Thoughtography Theory

Many paranormal investigators believe that these faces were created through thoughtographic phenomenon, meaning that these images were “burned” onto the floor through psychic means. I suppose you could say that this is what causes spirits to appear in photos. If ghosts don’t have mass to reflect light, then they might burn their image onto a photograph. But what is interesting is that in this case, the faces weren’t created by the people who were buried below the concrete, but instead, Maria herself.

I’ve done some research on this phenomenon in the past, and I just can’t get on board with it. Yes, I believe that supernatural occurrences are possible, but I honestly have to see it to believe it. It’s one thing for the mind to have the ability to move things, but it’s a whole other level when the mind can “burn” images onto photos, concrete, wood, etc.

A Hoax?

Most skeptics agree that this phenomenon is a hoax. It is believed that Maria and her husband used a special chemical agent or paint to make the faces appear. Maria died in 2004, and apparently the faces remained long after she passed. Given that the faces created such a widespread buzz that resulted in numerous tourists visiting the house, the family benefited from financial gain in this situation. Just by Easter 1972, there were hundreds of tourists, and this continued for about 30 years.

In 1971, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior took an interest in the case. They appointed specialists to analyze the concrete and found that there were questionable substances like vinegar, a brown pigmentation, and an aggressive chemical compound. Apparently, the compound could be found at drugstores. The July 1993 edition of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research”  featured an article by Luis Ruiz-Noguez, who noted the presence of zinc, lead and chromium on the floor, which are common ingredients in paint. In the seventies, lead was a popular ingredient in paint. Others did infrared photography and found brush bristles. It’s believed that Maria’s son was the artist. Between paint and the possibility of an oxidizing chemical agent being used, we can pretty much consider this case closed.

Conclusion

Even when it is blatant that this was a hoax, there are still people who believe in the authenticity of these faces. Believe it or not, there are much more complex studies on this phenomenon that will break down the chemical compounds of the faces to really make the case for forgery. Any yet, it seems that people are ignoring the data and continue to believe in this. Videos about the Bélmez faces continue to go viral with people freaking out and checking their own concrete floors for signs of ghostly activity.

To me, people who believe in the faces NEED to believe in them. They provide some sort of hope that there is something out there much bigger than us. Some call it God, some may call it proof of the afterlife, something. It’s what you many call “faith.” Even when there has been scientific proof that maybe not all the events in the Bible happened as written, people still have faith that there is truth in the good book. Finding meaning in the simplest of things can make a difference between life and death for some people.

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I love any and all things paranormal. Whether it be related to cryptozoology, hauntings, religion or ufology, if it’s anything mysterious or spooky, down the rabbit hole I will go. One thing I love most about the paranormal community is that people love to share their stories, opinions and ideas. That’s why I always jump at the chance to go to con’s, conventions, meetings and other such events. I enjoy seeing people so passionate about what they believe in that they want to stand up and tell the world.

I recently attended The Excavation of Victorian Ghosts at Bedford Springs in Pennsylvania. There were many wonderful people and presenters and I bought a couple of books that caught my attention. Among them was the book “The Ghost Studies – New Perspectives on the Origins of Paranormal Experiences” written by Brandon Massullo. Of course I immediately turn the book over to get a quick idea of the topic and it states that “this book is far more than a compilation of ghost stories. This book provides scientific explanation for paranormal occurrences that include theories to explain apparitions, hauntings and spirit communications.” It is indicated that the role of energy, electricity, emotions, bioenergetics and the environment are also covered. As someone who has always erred on the side of psychology and science in relation to the paranormal, these topics really jumped out at me.

My first thought on this book is one of gratitude. Thank you Brandon for approaching these topics in straightforward, clear-cut ways. This book could be read by a novice or seasoned investigator, the slightly curious, skeptic or believer and it will still have an impact on the reader. The first chapter touches on popular ghost theories,spiritual and pop culture views and the paranormal investigator him/herself. It provides a solid starting point for the later chapters. Electricity, EMF’s and apparitions are then discussed and even though I feel like i have a rather decent grasp on this, I was still intrigued by Massullo’s discussion of the God Helmet. There are many investigators out there that have a basic understanding of EMF but don’t understand how it affects us personally and these chapters explain this relationship in such a way that it can be understood by even the layman.

Topics like telekinesis, esp, quantum mechanics and near death experiences are just some of the topics approached in this book.

Author Brandon Massullo

While it’s easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole with any one of those topics individually, the author provides enough explanation on each to enlighten the reader but he does a great job at not weighing down the book with too much information. While this book isn’t ‘just a compilation of ghost stories’  there are plenty tales of first hand experiences presented for discussion.

What I enjoyed the most about this book, however, is the attention that Massullo spends discussing the psychology of experiences. It has always been my belief that our minds and emotions don’t get near the attention that they should in regards to evaluating paranormal experiences. I agree strongly with the author and I’m encouraged that this book is really opening the floor for that conversation. For so long paranormal experiences have been discussed as events that have happened TO you and there hasn’t been much discussion about the fact that these events may have happened BECAUSE of you.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of the paranormal. You may or may not agree with all the theories discussed but they will definitely make you think. This book is well written and opens the doors for countless areas of study and discussion and it is one that you will find yourself going back to again and again.

Order Brandon’s book on Amazon

Listen to Alex and Maeve interview Brandon Massullo on “The Wicked Domain”

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For those of you who missed today’s presentation or are curious about my notes, you can find the slide show below:

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A simple Google search of the name Carl G. Jung will pull hundreds of articles referencing Jung’s relationship with the occult. Before expounding further on Jung’s activities within occultism, let’s first look at what occultism is. Miriam Webster defines Occultism as “belief in, or study, of the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers” (Miriam Webster, 2013). The Oxford Dictionaries define it as both a noun, “supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices or phenomena: a secret society to study alchemy and the occult and as an adjective “of, involving or relating to supernatural, mystical, or magical powers or phenomena: a follower of occult practices similar to voodoo; beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or experience and communicated only to the initiated (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013).

The work that best links Jung with occultism is one of his first works titled “On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena.” He begins his paper correlating the relationship between hysteria and epilepsy and it’s interesting to note, as well, that during the early periods of psychology professionals believed “that in essence hysteria and epilepsy are not fundamentally different, but that the cause of the disease is the same but is manifest in a diverse form, in different intensity and permanence” (Jung, 1916. pp. 1).  This correlation belief shows just how far current psychology has come with the diagnosis of neurological disorders and the effect that technology had and continues to have on the study of psychology and, by extension, parapsychology.

Two of Carl Jung’s prominent case studies include the case of Miss Elise K., and of a young girl whom Jung refers to as S.W. in order to protect the identity of the family. Miss K was 40-year-old single, book-keeper who was described as kind-hearted, gentle, well-educated and joyous in nature that, throughout the course of an episode of mental exhaustion, began seeing dead people and was subsequently hospitalized and observed. Jung concluded that Miss Elise K was suffering from a “psychopathic defective with a tendency to hysteria” (Jung, 1916. pp. 15)

The second case study of 15 ½ year old S.W. covers a series of séances and experiments with a young girl who claims to communicate and travel with the spirits. At this point it is necessary to point out that it was well-known at the time that Jung had spent a good amount of time with his first cousin, Helene Preiswerk observing séances. Therefore, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to identify S.W. as Helene. Jung goes on in the paper to describe the communications that Helene has with her “guide” which was identified as her grandfather which she never knew and he documents her physical status in relation to her mental status. In a step that could correlate Jung’s concept of the inner self as the primary force of individuation he includes Helene’s drawing that explains her mystic system which indicates that “in the centre stands the primary force, which is the original cause of creation and is a spiritual force (Jung, 1916 pp. 41-42). His account of the study of Helene is quite lengthy and sheds a bright light on Jung’s direction into the occult. He references the “table-turning” that she (Helene) had first come across as a game and the possibilities of auto-suggestion and partial hypnosis then continues on and touches on the topics of automatic writing, hallucinations, and the corresponding change in the subjects character with the relation to the ‘hysterical attack’ and the relationship to the unconscious personality. He concludes by saying that “these experiments are, so to speak, the prototype of those rarer and incomparably more astonishing cases of intuitive knowledge displayed at times by somnambulists” (Jung, 1916. pp. 92).

It is easy to see that in the early 1900’s, many of the things that were once considered occultist or paranormal can now be explained through modern medicine. Carl Jung’s work added a layer to the study of psychology which, given the era, was quite mysterious. The impact that his interest in the occult had, however, took him on a journey that is still taught and applied in the field of psychology and parapsychology today.

Bibliography

Jung, C.G., Long, Constance E. (1916). On the psychology and pathology of so-called occult phenomena. Analytical Psychology. pp. 1-93 doi: 10.1037/10663.001

Jung, C.G. (2009). Carl Gustav Jung-The Origin of Evil [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNKvbT_3b0s&list=PLsz9pGdWKczO7BYNssw4C0LlxJ6J8Zbxu

Miriam Webster (2013). An Encyclopedia Britannica Company. Retrieved from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Oxford Dictionaries (2013). The world’s most trusted dictionaries. Retrieved from: http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/occult

Tower, M (2002). Psyography: Carl Jung. PSYography: Internet Sources for Biographies on Psychologists. Retrieved from: http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/carljung.html

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