Jim Nolan's Blog

Ghosts of Halloween Past

Deputy Dog, Cinderella and a pirate, 1967. To hear my take on Halloweens past and present, click below.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

Buffalo Paranormal Investigator Joe Nickell on CBS Sunday Morning

 

Buffalo, NY Paranormal Investigator

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning today. A story came on about ghosts, and whether or not they exist. The expert the reporter called upon was Joe Nickell, of Buffalo's Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is the world's only full-time, salaried professional paranormal investigator. His take: not a "scintilla" of evidence that ghosts exist has ever been proven scientifically. His web site, joenickell.com, is terrific, check it out. Here's the cover from one of the dozens of books he's written.

Vampire Cartoon by Isabella Bannerman

Check out The Six Chix blog here. Click to enlarge. Don't miss a Bannerman cartoon. Get free email updates by entering your address in the box to the left. You can also re-post this cartoon on your Facebook page or tweet it by clicking the buttons below.

4,000 Audio Downloads for Smokey the Talking Dog Audio Episodes

You can download them for yourself at Podiobooks.com, PodcastPickle.com or iTunes. They're free.

Buffalo Forge Grill Photo #3

Click photo to see detail. The grill was originally created as a promotion. According to expert Matt Georger: "Buffalo Forge actually had produced the blowers for years and years before they applied it in their charcoal grills. Those blowers were used in high-rise construction for cooking rivets. Then they took it, this blower, and said, well, if we can use this for making small fires on the top of 30- and 40-story buildings, we can certainly use this for starting fires for charcoal grills. They didn’t make ‘em with the idea that they were going to be a successful product for retail. They actually started making these grills so that they could take them out as sales incentives to some of their industrial accounts. And they would send the salesman out with a Buffalo Forge grill tucked under his arm, let the buyer take that home, and that usually was a deal-clincher." To see the grill in action, click here.

Buffalo Forge Grill Photo #2

Another close-up shot of my grill, taken by my neighbor Ellen. Click to enlarge. Check out Ellen's gardening blog here, and see more of her terrific photos.

Buffalo Forge Grill Photo

A tight shot of my grill, taken by my neighbor Ellen with a macro lens. Click to enlarge. To see the grill in action, click here.

German Family Photos, 1907, 1937. Boston, NY Family Photo, 1968

Top photo with my grandmother, Hildegard Koenig Paul, third from left. Middle photo: Hildegard's children Christa, Birgit, Heye, and Hildegard. Bottom photo: Hildegard's grandchildren Tom, Chris, Lisa and Jim Nolan, and Tim Urban, Jim Nolan, King, and Larry Urban. Click any image to enlarge.

German Photo, 1905

My grandfather Bengt Paul, with his sisters Hedda and Tali, "the twins." They would both grow up to be painters. Bengt was a journalist. I believe the woman behind them was their mother, Natalie.