Hey guys, not sure how often you read articles from cracked.com, but I read them everyday. Todays article: "How To Make A Living Off People Who Still Believe In Ghosts". Oh my. Basically: the confessions of a fake "haunted doll seller". What I found particularly gross? This seller moved onto spirit keeping, at one point saying that "I sold three rocks for $20, and one of them was a queen fairy while the other two were her handmaidens. Booya!". A blatant fake/conman, and blatantly making fun of spirit keepers. In that, in a nutshell, is why I don't tell other people about spirit keeping and why I am super anal about who I buy from.

It really is disturbing, and what is more disturbing is how blatant scam artists have become in doing podcasts or articles like this.

It is so incredibly essential to make sure you do your research and homework on the sellers/sites you buy from. Back in the beginning it wasn't much of an issue. Hardly anyone knew what Spirit Keeping was, it was a small community, there wasn't "money to be made", etc. After 2006 and eBay did a feature on the Haunted category being the most popular suddenly there were THOUSANDS of listings within a month and HUNDREDS of new sellers. Even back then we posted religiously about doing your homework because it was a problem.

It's no different than doing your research for anything else. You wouldn't just blindly trust in any other area of your life whether you're buying a car, paying for professional services like a doctor or plumbing, or buying something precious like metals or gems... therefore you shouldn't blindly trust paranormal sites or sellers either. It's too easy for them to come to a website like this, or other established & reputable sites, and be able to put together a great-sounding site but when you push them for details there should be answers and there should be an established community of buyers they can give you references for.

When I read "RARE exotic Faery Queen from.... who will grant your every wish" and "Get ready to win the lottery with these treasury djinn" and "Make him come crawling back to you with this love spell" (like who would want it without freedom of choice), well,, my alarms really go off.

xXTsukiNoOokamiXx wrote:Yes, I feel it's a secret I keep between me and fellow solitaries. And others here, of course. It actually bothers me knowing that I can't be open about my practices without it having greatly detrimental consequences socially.. that is in the workplace and whatnot. It bothers me that people would no longer understand and would view me as one of "lower" intelligence or gullible. And it especially bothers me that people mock and make fun of it. But it is what it is. This is what we have become. So long as I have my companions and we are happy, I care not for what others would have to say. They don't need to know, nor do they matter to me. I learned my lesson years ago. People's minds can'5 be changed if they don't want to change it, and even then it seems many can't handle it. They revert. They betray.

I completely agree! Last year one of my professors mentioned arguing with someone who believed in the Greek Gods and basically boiled them down into "silly individuals". It honestly kinda hurt. That's true, being happy despite it all is certainly worth it

Madame Sosostris wrote:When I read "RARE exotic Faery Queen from.... who will grant your every wish" and "Get ready to win the lottery with these treasury djinn" and "Make him come crawling back to you with this love spell" (like who would want it without freedom of choice), well,, my alarms really go off.

Oh that's for certain!!! And it really seems to feed into people picking up keeping and then dropping it when they don't see those crazy results.

creepyhollows wrote:It really is disturbing, and what is more disturbing is how blatant scam artists have become in doing podcasts or articles like this.

It is so incredibly essential to make sure you do your research and homework on the sellers/sites you buy from. Back in the beginning it wasn't much of an issue. Hardly anyone knew what Spirit Keeping was, it was a small community, there wasn't "money to be made", etc. After 2006 and eBay did a feature on the Haunted category being the most popular suddenly there were THOUSANDS of listings within a month and HUNDREDS of new sellers. Even back then we posted religiously about doing your homework because it was a problem.

It's no different than doing your research for anything else. You wouldn't just blindly trust in any other area of your life whether you're buying a car, paying for professional services like a doctor or plumbing, or buying something precious like metals or gems... therefore you shouldn't blindly trust paranormal sites or sellers either. It's too easy for them to come to a website like this, or other established & reputable sites, and be able to put together a great-sounding site but when you push them for details there should be answers and there should be an established community of buyers they can give you references for.

Thank you for the reply! It certainly is disturbing, but I can't say I am surprised, they recently also ran an article discussing the confessions of a pickpocket! I 100% agree on researching, especially since keeping is so personal.

Rusty Hinge wrote:Hey guys, not sure how often you read articles from cracked.com, but I read them everyday. Todays article: "How To Make A Living Off People Who Still Believe In Ghosts". Oh my. Basically: the confessions of a fake "haunted doll seller". What I found particularly gross? This seller moved onto spirit keeping, at one point saying that "I sold three rocks for $20, and one of them was a queen fairy while the other two were her handmaidens. Booya!". A blatant fake/conman, and blatantly making fun of spirit keepers. In that, in a nutshell, is why I don't tell other people about spirit keeping and why I am super anal about who I buy from.

Only $20 for a Fairy Queen and two handmaidens? Seriously, those rocks should have been at least $100. Someone has to learn the fair market values. And then when the person who buys them doesn't feel anything, it is the buyer's fault. It doesn't get any better than this. A $20 investment isn't that bad, but a person who pays $100 is probably going to find that queen and her handmaidens to bond with.

And how is a person to do their research? Buy an aura camera? Infrared light? Something to measure magnetic fields? No. They have to go by what they feel. The problem is that people who run scams excel at manipulating the way people feel.

Rusty Hinge wrote: especially since keeping is so personal

It needs to stop being personal, and come out in the open. Consider how static electricity has been around since the beginning of time, and look at the progress with electronics in the last few decades. Or look at mindfulness training. Buddha may have started it, but things are really starting to get interesting now. When things are personal, people are alone and isolated and they have only their own resources to draw on. I can see why this would have its appeal, because when it is personal no one is accountable to anyone.

It needs to stop being personal, and come out in the open

You actually make an incredibly powerful point. When groups previously admonished come into the light together and say "I'm here, this is who I am, I deserve acceptance & respect" it usually causes society to provide that acceptance. The politics of being politically correct have opened that door for people who previously hid their feelings and who they are to be able to come out into the open. If those who practice the Arts, who are Spirit Keepers, who are collectors of the paranormal all came out into the open I think society would be surprised at the number.