Cowboys and Aliens:

American Paranormal: Haunted Prison

Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary is said to be the one of the most haunted places in America. Since its closing in 1971, many have reported hearing eerie voices, weeping and tormented screams, while others have seen shadows dart in and out of cells. Investigators use the latest technology to search for paranormal activity. Motion sensors are rigged, night-vision and infrared cameras positioned, acoustic triangulation systems set up, and 3-D laser scanners offer a rare view inside.

Bedeviled by the Devil's Bible

Eight centuries after its creation in a medieval Bohemian monastery, the Codex Gigas--also known as "The Devil's Bible"--still confounds scholars and fascinates occult aficionados and paranormal conspiracy theorists. It is the most massive illuminated manuscript of the medieval age, three feet long and weighing in at 165 pounds, and it contains a bizarre collection of content--the complete Bible, plus an encyclopedia, medical texts, histories of ancient Israel and the Czech people, and instructions on how to perform rituals, or conjurations, that would give a person power over supernatural beings and forces. It has passed through many hands, from a mad Holy Roman Emperor to Swedish soldiers who seized it as war booty, to scientists who've used modern analytical technology to try to unravel its secrets.

How and why was the Codex Gigas created? And what is its true significance? Those mysteries still remain unresolved.

Exorcist Plies His Lonely Trade

By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Pity the poor exorcist, caught between evil spirits eager to invade human bodies and a society skeptical that demons exist outside of Hollywood horror movies.

Even some church leaders look askance at exorcists as peddlers of a practice best left in the Middle Ages. Most American exorcists, particularly the handful of priests appointed by the Roman Catholic Church, keep a low profile, hesitating to open themselves -- or their
church -- to ridicule and quacks.

But exorcists may soon be moving out of the shadows.