On October 29th 2011, over one hundred students and practitioners of the Paranormal were treated to a sneak preview of Paul Davids’ new film “The Life After Death Project.” It happened at the annual symposium of ASPE, the Alliance Studying Paranormal Experiences held in Taos, New Mexico at the end of October.
The movie, which is still being edited and is described as “a work in progress,” is scheduled for release some time in 2012. For believers and practitioners in metaphysics and the paranormal it will be a welcome experience.
It demonstrates that science is advancing to the point where a phenomenon – such as a spirit communication -- can be scientifically repeated in a laboratory proving that life does exist after death. And a veteran Sci-Fi enthusiast is helping them do it… in Spirit!
The 100-minute production features a bevy of well-known people from the field: Richard Matheson, the American author of “What Dreams May Come” and “Bid Time Return”; Whitley Strieber, author of the 1986 best-seller “Communion” which is a personal encounter with “visitors”; Dannion Brinkley, best selling author and survivor of three near-death experiences; and Mark Macy who researches and teaches Spirit communication through Electronic Voice Phenomena and Instrumental Transcommunication. There’s also Professor Gary Schwartz, professor of psychology at the University of Arizona in Tucson and director of its Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. He is the author of several books, including “The Sacred Promise,” “The Afterlife Experiments” and “The G.O.D.Experiments.”
The film was two years in shooting, and it probably never would have been made if not for some strange events that happened to the director. One incident had to do with four words in a document – words which were neatly and precisely blacked out by some sort of “obliterating ink” while the papers were lying on a bed at a time director Paul Davids was alone in a house. The words “Spoke to Joe Amodie” matched a style of pun attributable to the late science-fiction authority Forrest J. Ackerman – he liked to find words that had people’s names or nicknames isolated in the middle syllable. In this case the message seemed to be “Spoke to Joe Moe” – and Ackerman’s very close friend Joe Moe, who took care of him in his final years and arranged a grand tribute for him, did experience a sort of apparition or “super-conscious dream” in which Ackerman came and spoke to him. Though Joe Moe tried to retain his inborn skepticism, director Davids wondered if the ink incident was a way of Ackerman confirming that the communication with Moe was not just a dream.
Most ink is traceable, but not this “obliterating ink.” The Chairman of the Chemistry Department of Indiana University and a chemistry professor at New Jersey University were stumped by the fact that they could find no way to duplicate the ink smear because its properties had so many complications. They also experienced some anomalies that disturbed them while researching the mystery, which kept them (and some graduate students) busy for hundreds of lab hours.
Although he was not a believer in an afterlife, it soon became clear to Paul Davids that something akin to a haunting was occurring, as it appeared that Ackerman apparently was trying to make his presence known from the beyond. Davids hoped to finish the production, which includes filming of the university chemistry tests, in about a year, but more and more anomalies kept occurring, so until Dr. Gary Schwartz began attempting documented and measurable communication with the deceased Ackerman using delicate radiation and light sensors, the movie refused to offer up an “end game.”
Sci-Fi fans will surely remember the unforgettable Forrest J Ackerman who crossed into Spirit less than three years ago – at precisely 2 minutes to midnight, December 4, 2008, the exact time having been ironically predicted in a painting of Ackerman made four years earlier by artist L.J. Dopp that showed Ackerman with a raven and a clock. For over seventy years he was one of science fiction’s greatest promoters. Editor of the original Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, author, literary agent, actor, memorabilia collector and curator with a house everyone wanted to visit (and thousands did), he was famous for his word play and neologisms. For instance in 1953 he coined the genre nick-name “Sci-Fi” and possessed a fantastic sense of humor and incurable love of puns which comes through clearly in the film.
Two separate cameras were filming electronic voice expert Mark Macy’s interview. So what happens? Interference appears, first on one camera filming Macy and then on the other for absolutely no rhyme nor reason – except a touch of electronic energy from Spirit?
Of course, Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic is given the opportunity to introduce his opposing view to everything in the movie and one wonders why. As one watches “The Life After Death Project” the evidence comes through loud and clear, particularly towards the end. But director Davids insists he has great respect for Shermer’s intellect and feels it is important to try to rule out every possible “logical” explanation for weird happenings, which is Shermer’s calling as shown by his books such as “The Believing Brain.”
The cameras go into Professor Gary Schwarz’s laboratory and it is here in the world of electronic and digital mediumship that repetition in spirit communication takes place. That is all I am going to say about the movie’s plot.
As a person who has long observed Spiritualism and Spirit communications, I found the events and the climax of the sneak preview of Paul David’s “work in progress” an exciting breath of fresh air. This documentary will be released in 2012 and spiritual folk – along with skeptics – should receive it with open arms, if not an open mind.
Paul Davids’ credits include “Roswell,” “Timothy Leary’s Dead,” “Starry Night,” “The Artist and the Shaman,” “The SCI-FI Boys,” “Jesus in India,” and “Before We Say Goodbye” (a tribute to Hispanic-American culture and the mystery of the miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe, appearing in Spanish December 2011 on Telemundo). Back in the 1980s he was Production Coordinator for television’s “The Transformers” on about eighty of the ninety-five episodes, some of which he also wrote. He also co-wrote (with his wife, Hollace) six STAR WARS sequel novels in the early 1990’s which reached millions of kids of ages eight to twelve. The books made their way into many school libraries.
For “The Life After Death Project” Davids is editor, writer, producer and director. He gives his word that absolutely nothing was invented or contrived for the movie – the weird stuff (unlike Hollywood fiction) happened to him and others exactly as it is shown. Executive producers are Hollace Davids and Anne Strieber, wife of the famous Whitley.
When the website for the new movie goes up next year it will be www.lifeafterdeathproject.com, but until then, you can hear Paul discussing the film on the Catherine Bradford Show at: The Catherine Bradford Show. And those wanting info on Paul Davids’ previous contributions to cinema, TV and books will find it all thoroughly covered at his website: Paul Davids.
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