Ghost stories have been filtering out of South East Asia's Myanmar, devastated by Cyclone Nargis two weeks ago. Family members with lost loved ones say the ghostly images of their relatives have been appearing to confirm their deaths. Some of the alleged ghosts have carried messages of warning while others have merely appeared quickly and then disappeared. Even military soldiers are reporting encounters with ghosts.

In Laputta town in the Irrawady Delta, villagers claim to hear desperate voices coming from the rice fields. They call out, "Help us... help us!" However, searchers carrying flashlights have been unable to find anyone there. The voices continue to call out to villagers at night.

It's a staple of horror films: the black mass, an obscene parody of the Catholic holy mass at which the Devil is worshiped. The scene is usually a dark cavernous space lit with smoky torches and candles. Frenzied participants gyrate around an altar draped with a naked woman. They indulge in wild feasting and drinking, and a demonic-looking defrocked priest tramples on the cross.

There is little evidence that such black masses ever were performed with frequency or consistent organization as a ritual for devil-worship. Over the course of time, however, fiction has evolved into fact.

Stories of perverted masses have been told since the beginning of Christianity. Most of the "perversions" dealt with magical uses of the mass, such as for weather control, fertility, protection, love divination and even cursing. Magical masses were officially condemned in 694 by the Church's Council of Toledo.

I talked with Ryan about certain aspects of the "Paranormal State" that are being hotly debated by viewers.

Emily: There is a religious aspect to the way in which the PRS does things — would you say that's accurate?

Ryan: I think that's accurate. There's always a spiritual or religious element to, I think, all of our cases.

Emily: What are the benefits of also having a pagan on board?

Ryan: Well... we also have many different religions... what all of that boils down to is diversity. Not diverse in the sense that "oh yeah, we're meeting a quota." For example, there have been times when Eilfie has had knowledge of things that I would never have known or have any thought to look for. With her being there and having her insight, it's really valuable. The thing about our show, concerning our investigative style, is that we try to resolve the case somehow and some way — we try to bring closure to the phenomenon or the client, mainly because our clients are really kind of frightened and they want a resolution. Obviously, EMF detectors and thermal cams and things can't really resolve a case. They can't really bring closure to a client unless they're just looking for validation. But our clients are looking to go back to a normal life. So what do we do? We pick up the spiritual aspect unless we feel that it's very psychological or something else and then we go that route... Having different spiritual belief systems allows us to cater to our clients. We really try to work within our clients' beliefs. If we were all Catholic, it would be kind of hard for us to do that.

Does the British Ministry of Defense believe in aliens? They're not saying — but yesterday they released the first eight of a promised 160 formerly top secret files on UFO sightings over the United Kingdom between 1978 and 2002.

Officially, the Ministry of Defense tracked sightings in order to check whether the UFOs were actually spy craft from other countries. The files include reports ranging from the crackpot to the very credible, such as a 1985 sighting by three police officers observing a white light descending to Earth just after midnight on Christmas Day. Included are files relating to a series of events at Lakenheath-Bentwaters Royal Air Force base.

The files are available on the National Archives website — download them and judge for yourself. More files will be released in the future.

Eilfie Music is the occult specialist for the Paranormal Research Society.

Emily: What is an occult specialist?

Eilfie: An occult specialist is someone who devotes their time to the study of the occult, basically seeking out that which is unknown or hidden as the word "occult" translates to. There are many branches in the occult from alchemy to tarot reading. The word occult in some ways has become a taboo word that springs to mind dark and sinister images. It is also because it's dealing with things we do not understand or afraid to look into the abyss; something might look back. I personally know I have only scratched the surface of my studies with the occult.

Emily: How often and in what ways does your expertise come in handy for PRS cases?

Eilfie: I have not yet come across a true occult case yet in PRS, I have come across cases that had the potential but I soon found that they were merely rumors. Coming across true cases dealing with the occult is a rarity.

Emily: What is the group dynamic like in the PRS?

Eilfie: I think the group dynamic is strong. Everyone works together because we all find our niche when it comes to investigations.