Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author or coauthor of nine books, including Bad Clowns.
Q: I was talking with a friend who lives in another state with her husband and fourteen-yearold daughter, M. She said M has had some strange paranormal things happening to her, and others have witnessed it. Strange blue marks appear on the walls throughout the house. It’s not paint, marker, pen, or chalk, but magic eraser takes them off the walls. And no, it’s not their daughter, as some of the places where the marks appear are up way too high. They had a clergyperson bless the house, who also suggested that this “presence” is following the daughter since it’s happened in more than one house. I’m pretty much at a loss of what even to suggest to my friend. Do you have any suggestions?
A: I got the above question from an acquaintance whom I’ll call “K.” At the time, I was on my way to Los Angeles for a TV show and couldn’t address it right then, but after examining a half dozen photos of the mysterious blue marks she sent (see Figure 1), I asked her to forward the following questions to her friend: “Is the daughter right-handed? Does anyone actually see the blue marks being made, or do they appear when no one is around? Are there any objects in the home that are the same color blue that could have been used to mark the walls?”