Telepathy is the ability of communicate directly from one mind to another, without the collaboration of spoken, written, or corporal language, no matter the distance between those minds. The word telepathy comes from the Greek "telepatheia". "Tele" means distant, and "patheia" is "feeling", "affection". The belief in telepathy is not accepted by the majority of the scientists. But there were done many researches to find proofs of telepathy in all the Universities all over the world. But a great part of the scientific community explain the results of these investigations as simple coincidences. The first scientific that studied telepathy was Frederick William Henry Myers, in 1882. WH Myers founded the Society For Psychical Research. He and his team worked with cases of people that stated that they were telepaths. Their investigations were published in numerous articles, that were strongly criticized by the scientifics of their times. In 1917, the psychologist John E. Cooner, from the University of Standford, did a series of telepathy test with statistical data. Positive results were too high, so chance had not been possible here. His experiment consisted in several patients trying to guess cards. Despite this, the scientific community also refused to accept the results. In 1927, Joseph Banks Rhine, from the University of Duke, did the same card experiment, adding the following difference: he did the test between "normal" people and compared the results against those that considered themselves as "telepaths". The results were demolishing: the ability of guessing was much bigger in telepaths than in normal people. The conclusions of this study were published in the book "Extra Sensory Perception". The so called telepathy can happen in several ways: dreams, mental images, or thoughts. The optimal receiver should be in state of sub-conscience, being the best possible the state of the beginning or the end of the sleep. There may be several kinds of telepathy. One could be the spontaneous telepathy or precognition, that is, when someone feels that something bad is gonna happen. There's a case commented by Joseph Banks Rhine, in which a man felt a strong pain in the chest when he was driving. He had to stop his car. When he arrived home, he knew that his son had died in a traffic accident, from a blow in the chest. The facts happened in the same moment in which this man felt that precognition. Telepathy experiments have not only been made with human beings. In 1969, Cleve Backster did an experiment with plants and a polygraph. He attached the wires of the machine to the plant's stem, and visualized in his mind this: burning the plant. In that moment, the polygraph needle began to move wildly. There were several experiments with plants, in which the plant's reaction to psychical stimuli was shown. But the scientifics accused Backster of fraud. In 1982, David Rohades, biologist from the University of Washington, proved that when a willow was attacked by a caterpillar, the willows of its same family secreted a substance that blocked these insects. Experiments with animals were also done. For example: some Russian scientifics brought some rabbits to a war submarine. The submarine went more than 1000 Kms away. In the moment that these rabbits were killed, the mothers of those rabbits registered a very high brain tension in their electroencephalograms. Another kind of telepathy may happen between very emotionally compatible people, and is usual between twins. Experiments with twins are very well-known, as in many occasions they share sensations of danger, sadness, or diverse emotions. One of the most influential books on this matter is "Mental Radio". It gained the Pulitzer Prize. It was written by Upton Sinclair, and the prologue is by Albert Einstein. In this book, the author related experiments and mental connections. Although there are many experiments around telepathy, no scientific community accepts its existence, and all the scientifics that study it are considered as pseudo-scientifics, and accused of lack or scientific rigor.

Loch Ness is in Scotland, near the city of Inverness. Loch Ness is a lake of fresh water, with warm waters in the surface and very cold in the depths. It has 56.4 square Km (21.8 square miles). There are some points where the depth reaches 200 meters , in addition to numerous underwater canals that flow to the sea. It's a lake surrounded by mountains, what makes it very shady. It is said that the Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, lives there. The characteristics of the lake make very hard to investigate about the existence of Nessie. Around the legend, it has been created a commerce that benefits the zone: hotels, merchandising, souvenirs, photomontages... But the belief in the existence of a huge creature that inhabits the Loch Ness is not modern. The first reference to the Loch Ness Monster is in 565 A.C. A missionary called Saint Columba encountered a strange creature. Since then, the sightings of these creatures, both inside or out from the water, have been counted in hundreds. Currently, the mysterious creature is "protected" by the law. Following the descriptions made by people who witnessed the monster, it may be some kind of Plesiosaur: a type of marine dinosaur of the Mesozoic Era. It is described as enormous, with long neck, small head and fins. Scientifics deny both the existence of Nessie as well as the possibility that it may be a Plesiosaur. The reason is that these creatures need to breathe air frequently. If it was that way, the sightings would have been much more usual. In addition, the lake is not large enough to ensure the survival of these creatures. An opposite theory would be that these Plesiosaurs would move through the underwater canals of the lake. Scientifics explain these sightings of Nessi like simple mirages, light distortions, confusion with a wood in the water, seals, water effects, or even bubbles produced by volcanic activity. In 1934 some photos of the Loch Ness Monster were taken. But the same people that took those photos confessed that it was a fraud. In 1936, 50 people said that they have seen Nessie during 15 minutes, near the castle of Urquhart. In 1960 T. Dinsale recorded a short video in which a strange shape emerges from the lake. In 1972 Robert H. Rine said that he had been able to photograph two creatures similar to Plesiosaurs. There are hundreds of photomontages. It seems that the myth of Loch Ness is profitable for some, and source of jokes for others. Real or not, who knows? The dark waters of Loch Ness will continue, for many years, being an inexhaustible source of mysterious stories.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born in 1869 in Pokrovskoye (Russia). Many kings, tsars and emperors have had the advice of a wise man, or a wizard, but it could be said that Rasputin is the last known sorcerer that a tsar had. Rasputin grew up in the beautiful fields of Siberia without any kind of studies or education, and survived stealing cattle. He had two brothers that died drowned. He named his children with the same names as his brothers. When he was eighteen, he was punished and sent to Verkhoturye Monastery. After three months in this monastery, he had a vision of the Virgin Mary, and this started his life as a mystic. Short time after this, he joined a sect called the Khlysts, that used to make many parties and orgies. Rasputin had to abandon this sect for being a conspirator. He met a holy man called Makariy, that influenced him very much. Some time after this, Rasputin married Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina, and had three children with her. As he was a very promiscuous man, it is known that he had many illegitimate children. He abandoned his family for mystical reasons, and went on a pilgrimage through Greece and Jerusalem. All this time, he lived among peasants, serving them to heal their diseases and predicting their future. He increased very much his esoteric knowledge and what he knew about natural medicine. In 1903, he went back to Russia. Everybody in Saint Petersburg talked about that famous clairvoyant called Rasputin, that had magical powers. His popularity reached the ears of the Royal Family. In 1908, the wife of the Tsar Alexandra Fyodorovna called him, hoping that Rasputin could save the heir Alexei Nikolaevich, who suffered from hemophilia. Through hypnosis, he managed to calm the illness of the heir, and that made Rasputin appear as the savior of the Royal Family. Thus, he became a central piece of the palace. Soon, Rasputin acquired a great power and the Russian government was in his hands. Some people called him "The Mad Witch". It was also said that a big part of the women of the Russian Court had laid in his bed. It was the World War I, and Russia entered in it. Rasputin was so powerful, and the Russian people felt betrayed by the Tsars, that some movements of opposition started to generate. The Romanov dynasty began to be very unpopular, and the Romanov found Rasputin was the cause of this. Worrying about all this, they prepared the assassination of Rasputin. The prince Felix Yusupov was the leader of the plot. It was said that he was gay and felt attraction for Rasputin, but he rejected him, and he felt very offended for this. They invited Rasputin to the Palace, for healing a niece of the Tsar that was ill. One of the weaknesses of Rasputin was eating, and they put cyanide in his dinner. Rasputin suspected because nobody seemed to want to start dinning, so he said that he won't had a bite until they give him a cup of wine from Krimea and Madeira. The cyanide seemed to make no effect on him, although he gave him enough to kill 5 men. So seeing that he didn't died, Yusupov felt anxious and shot him. When he approached to see if he was dead, Raputin tried to strangle him. So Yusupov's men shot Rasputin in the back 3 times. But Rasputin was still alive, so they threw him to the river waters. The postmortem examination revealed that he drowned. When they found the corpse, they took his heart out, and cut his virile member, that nowadays is exhibited in the erotic museum of Saint Petersburg (Russia). The last predictions of Rasputin were that the end of the Romanov Family will come. It was a true prediction, as short time after his death, the Russian Revolution started, and Lenin reached the power, and put an end to the Romanov dynasty. Rasputin was a man that has a passionate life, was born without the most essential, and ended having the power of his country in his hands. Even nowadays, he is still an enigmatic figure that everybody talks about.

Nostradamus was born in the December 14th, of 1503. His real name was Michel de Nostredame. His father was a wealthy notary and his two grandfathers were famous doctors. From his early youth he was interested in maths and astrology. He studied medicine, but had to interrupt his studies due to the Plague. He had to travel all along France to help the diseased of this illness. In this travel, he met alchemists and Cabbala studious that were clandestine. His skills for pharmacy made him possible to create what was named "the rose pill", that was very known as a remedy to stop the Plague. The famous pill was just a strong dose of Vitamin C. In 1529 he received his doctorate in medicine, and worked teaching medicine. Years later, he married and had two children. The three died due to the Plague. The lost of his family was very hard for Nostradamus. Due to a blaspheme comment he did to a cleric, he was asked for explanations by the Inquisition. After freeing from the Inquisition, he went to travel around France and Italy, in search of internal peace. In that moment, he started to investigate in mysticism. It is said that in this travel he started to develop his "prophetic powers". In 1547 he married with Anne Ponsarde, a somewhat wealthy woman. Nostradamus got away from medicine and entered in occultism. In this times, he was very well known for knowing the future. He started a cosmetic business, and to sell almanacs that had predictions written for each month. The Inquisition was watching him close. Nostradamus had quite fear for Inquisition. He had heard about the horrible tortures and people that had been sentenced to death. So to avoid having problem with the Inquisition, he wrote his prophecies with numerous plays on words. He even wrote his prophecies in several languages... Greek, Latin, Italian, Hebrew, Arabian... So that's the reason of why his prophecies are so arcane. His book "Les Propheties" is probably the most famous, translated, and spread book of prophecies in History. The first edition was published in 1555. "The Prophecies" is written in verse. It talks about the future of the world until the year 3797, year in which, following Nostradamus, it will be the Apocalypse. Nostradamus prophesied the death on Henri II of France. When that prophecy became true, the French Court covered Nostradamus with honor, and asked him for advice constantly. In 1558, he did another edition of "The Prophecies", adding more prophecies. The life of Nostradamus was surrounded with controversy. There were who called him a fraud, and who called him a prophet. One of his sons (that he had with Anne Posardes), Michel de Nostradamus, followed the steps of his father. Michel prophesied that a village called Pouzin will be devoured by the flames. Michel was caught setting the village on fire, so that way his prophecies would be true. For this crime, Michel Nostradamus was sentenced to death. Nowadays, the prophecies of Nostradamus are studied with care by people from all over the world. Their crypticism generates many interpretations. Nostradamus started a new way of predicting the future full of mysteries, metaphors and prophecies.

The origin of Tutankhamun is doubtful. There are two theories, one of them is that Tutankhamun could be son of Akhenaten (husband of Nefertiti). The other is that he could be son of Amenhotep III and his own daughter: Sitamun. When Tutankhamun was crowned pharaoh (at ten years old), the cult to Aton was abandoned. During his reign he ordered to repair many temples. Thus, many statues dedicated to God Amun have the face of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun died at 19 years old. There are many hypothesis about his death but none of them definitive. In 1922 Howard Carter and Lord Carnavan discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. They commanded an expedition that entered the tomb of the pharaoh. When the last man of that expedition returned to the surface, a big sand storm started, preceded by a hawk (symbol of the royal emblem of the ancient Egypt). The falcon flew to the west, that in the ancient Egyptians beliefs was the direction to the Other World. Here starts what was called the Curse of Tutankhamun. Many of who had a part in the facts died in strange circumstances. Up to 30 strange deaths were counted as related with Tutankhamun's tomb. Five months later from the discovery of the tomb, lord Carnavan was bitten by a insect in the face (in the left cheek). The bite become infected. Weakened by this infection, he suffered from pneumonia. This pneumonia affected both lungs. He had an horrible agony, with physical deformations. He even lost his teeth. The hour of his death was 1:55. In the moment of his death, there was a big outage in Cairo. In that same instant, his relatives, in Lord Carnavan's mansion in Hampshire (England) told that his dog howled and died. When Tutankhamun's mummy was examined, the doctors saw that, possibly, Tutankhamun had a scar in his face, in the left cheek. With all this, the belief in the Curse of Tutankhamun was increased. In that times, it was also told that there was an inscription in the tomb that said: "Death will come with fast wings over anyone who dares to desecrate this tomb". Although this inscription was never found, as it was in a wall that was demolished to enter the tomb. Some time later, the treasures of Tutankhamun were going to be sent to an exhibition in Paris. Mohammed Ibraham, director of antiquities, dreamed that the treasures mustn't go to Paris. But at last, he was convinced by the Egyptian authorities. The day he signed the permission, he was run over by a car and died two days later. Richard Bethell, who helped Carter to classify the treasure, commited suicide. His father also suicided throwing himself through his bedroom's window. In that bedroom, was found a vase from Tutankhamun's tomb. These are just some of the strange deaths around Tutankhamun's tomb. There were deaths not only between the expedition team, but also between people related with the tomb and its discovery. In 1962, doctor Ezze-Din Taha, from the University of Cairo, discovered some pathogenic fungus that were in Tutankhamun's tomb; this may have been the origin of many deaths. Many of the victims had suffered a weakening in their health, that could have caused them to contract more serious diseases. This discovery was expounded in a conference. When he went out, he had a road accident, and died. When the autopsy was done, they noticed that he had a heart attack just before the accident. Does the Curse of Tutankhamun exist? Maybe collective obsession, or a pathogenic element that weakened those involved with Tutankhamun. True or not, who knows?

As I commented in the previous article, the belief in vampires is more ancient that we could imagine. So we can find stories about vampires in the ancient Mesopotamia (Utuhu and Maskin, monstrous beings that brought diseases to the people). In the Egyptian culture there was the deity Sekhmet (appears in the "Book of the Dead" many times). In India, there is Kali-Ma, who fed on blood. There are stories about vampires in the ancient Greece and Rome. In the Aztec culture, Civataeo fed on blood and brought the disease. There's even a vampire story in the "One Thousand and One Night". So we can notice that the belief in vampires is really ancient and is present in all cultures. Although vampirism may be surrounded by supernatural details, it may be based in something as real as two serious diseases: porphyria and rabies. Rabies is transmitted by the bite of dogs, wolves, rats and bats. All those animals are associated with the vampires. It is said that vampires can shapeshift with bats and vice versa. Rabies also causes a phobia for water. In the stories about vampires, they have a strong horror for holy water. Rabies is contagious and is propagated by bites. In the myth of vampires, they turn normal people into vampires by biting them. Rabies increments the sexual activity. The figure of a vampire is a seductive one too. Rabies augments the aggressiveness, it may be the origin of the superhuman strength of vampires. Rabies also distorts the sleep, and makes the diseased to sleep at day. This way, vampires have nocturnal habits. Porphyria is another disease that can be related to vampirism. Porphyria makes skin to turn red, to be covered by blisters and ulcers, and bleed, when being under the sunlight. The myth of vampires says that the sunlight harms them. The ulcers in the face produce the loss of the lips, leaving the teeth visible. That way, the canine teeth seem more evident. Sometimes the eyes and teeth get turn red. The nasal cartilage is lost, and the upper zone of the ears, so they become pointed. This may give a person the appearance of a vampire like in the movie "Nosferatu". The lack of the red pigment of hemoglobin makes the skin pale. Garlic was used from the antiquity in the natural medicine. There are some components in garlic that can harm the hemoglobin. The person diseased of porphyria may notice a worsening in his health, thus feel repugnance for garlic the next time. In the stories of vampires, people used garlic in the windows and doors of their houses to protect themselves against vampires. To cure the porphyria, the ancients forced the diseased to drink blood of cows. As most of the hemoglobin was destroyed by the stomach, they had to drink a big amount of blood. Nowadays this diseased is treated with blood transfusions. Porphyria is not contagious. But it's hereditary. The stories of vampires were very present in literature. Stands out the french benedictine monk Agustin Camlet, Montague Summers, Lord Byron, Bram Stoker, Brian Lumney... Vampires are depicted in the paintings as creatures of the darkness, gothic and sophisticated. Nowadays, vampires are the main theme of many artist. Amongst them, Victoria Frances and Luis Royo. Although the conclusion is that vampirism was a real disease, and not a supernatural curse, it's even more terrifying. The myth goes out of the legend, and becomes part of our real life. The people who had these diseased had to live with the superstitions and be discriminated by others. They were not monsters, just ill people.

Bram Stoker is the author of "Dracula", the famous novel that inspired so many movies, comics and theatrical interpretations. It is thought that the character that inspired Bram Stoker was Vlad Tepes. There's another version that says that Stoker felt a big fascination for Erzsebet Bathory, that used to drink blood and take baths in it, seeing blood as a potion of Eternal Youth. But let us center in the figure of Vlad Tepes. Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 in Transylvania (Romania). He was son of Vlad Dracu, from whom comes the word Dracula (son of Dracu). The source of his power was his cruelty. It was so enormous that gave origin to many legends. His enemies were really terrified of him. When they saw him, many ran away horrified. In numerous times, he won battles that were impossible to win. In his last battle he commanded 200 men against 20,000. Vlad Tepes was also known as Vlad the Impaler. He used to lunch watching his victims, and used to take walks through the landscapes populated with impaled people. I prefer not to talk about his horrible tortures, created by a demonic and diseased mind. The Prince Vlad III the Impaler had all his people frightened, subdued to the most absurd whims. To go against his will could suppose to loose an arm, a leg, an eye... or their lives or the life of their most loved relatives or friends. He used to burn all that was in his way, poison the enemies' water, and throw people sick of tuberculosis as a kind of biological warfare. The origin of his castle: he invited some noblemen to a ceremonial dinner in the Easter. After the dinner, he impaled the old ones, and the young ones were condemned to rebuild a castle that was in ruins. That would be the castle of Dracula. Bram Stoker takes these elements of Vlad Yepes: the name Dracula, the image of his castle with everything devastated around it, and his superhuman strength. Vlad Tepes was the main figure of horrible stories of human cruelty. He was a much more terrifying being than the fiction character. Maybe one of the biggest sadists of all History. So he has not much to do with the sophisticated, polite and seductive fiction character of Count Dracula that movies showed us so many times. Marvel Comics published in the 70s "Tomb of Dracula", where Count Dracula is chased by Doctor Van Helsing. The origin of the so called vampirism is present in so ancient cultures like the Egyptian or Sumerian. I will write about it in the next part of "Vampirism and the real Dracula".

I begin with this amazing video a new section called Frontiers of Reality. With this section I would like to talk seriously and with rigour about events that could to be in the frontier of reality. Sometimes is difficult to give a good explanation to some things. Things like why twins have some degree of mental connection. Or why can't be some kind of life in other planets, when in ours there are bacteria in the sea which feed of methane. People sometimes say they have seen fabulous creatures that are only remains of prehistoric animals. A good example of this is the coelacanth (a fish extincted in prehistorical times that was discovered alive recently). Or the dodo bird, that was supposed to be extincted in 17th century. Those strange descriptions of two headed monsters can be just genetically deformed animals. It's not strange to see two headed cats, horses or cows in the news. In other times, people may give a fantastic explanation to this. Ancient cultures had people who were wise in the knowledge of stars, oracles in whom the kings put their confidence. They were sometimes named in History. They were philosophers or people with a higher scientific culture for their times. Nowadays all these issues are treated in a ridiculous way by people with little culture. Many of them just try to fool and get money. Others believe in their own nonsenses to be different and to have something special, that others haven't. Or to have something extravagant to tell. Every serious person may say in public that he/she doesn't believe in all this, for not being seen as a clown. From here, I will try to speak as seriously as is possible of these issues. And from an impartial viewpoint. Many things that you can see in this video are clearly a fraud, and other things can be in the frontier of reality.