Steven Rumbelow Saturdays: Steven’s Introduction

In April I wrote that Haunt Jaunts would be welcoming “Beyond” series director Steven Rumbelow and a series of posts he was going to share about his experiences with the paranormal…and Beyond. I am very excited to present the launch of that series on this first Saturday in May.

Speaking of Saturdays, you may have noticed the title. For the duration of Mr. Rumbelow’s series it will be posted on Saturdays, which I’ve dubbed “Steven Rumbelow Saturdays.”

Okay, so without futher ado, please enjoy the first article in his series…

Journeys Through the Borderlands

An introduction to a series of articles by Steven Rumbelow

I was raised in a large 200-year-old regency house in central Bristol (UK) that had previously been built on an old hanging site. Being brought up in an extremely haunted environment established my interest in paranormal events. My mother was Catholic but told me at age nine that I should make my own spiritual choice by the age of 12. I chose to become a Buddhist and stayed with the Buddhist

philosophy until I could not logically reconcile the notion of reincarnation with an always increasing global population. I moved on to Zen, Taoism and eventually a general Ecumenical belief in the common ground between all religions.

When I left home and joined the theatre in my mid teens, I found a mentor in the owner of an occult bookshop where I was working in Worthing at the Connaught Theatre. She was the head of the Theosophical Society and encouraged me away from sensationalist aspects of the paranormal to investigate more of the natural sciences and philosophies involved in supernatural phenomena. Under her guidance, I moved on from the more dramatic stuff to which my youth was initially attracted.

Apart from being head of the Theosophical Society, she had also mentored a number of significant writers in the field and she had written a forward to Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine, which had been abridged and republished by the Society.

She showed me Gurdjief, Ouspenski, Blavatsky and pointed the way to the roots of ancient myths, Shamanism and Physics. Concurrent with this, my Taoist mentor was showing me through science how mysteries have a practical and provable basis through simple examples such as the interaction between oil and soap in water.

These people combined with my mother’s task of choosing my own religion are what really started me on a life journey of investigation of what I call the “borderlands,” which are areas of investigation that can be seen to fall between the scientific paradigms, academically sound or medically proven anomalies. I have a deep respect for thinkers who increased the world’s knowledge banks through courage and intelligent observation who also seem to inhabit the “borderlands.” People like Dr. Llyal Watson, Karl Jung, Prof. Joseph Campbell, Tenzin Giatsu, Deepak Chopra, Prof. John Bell, Dr. Norm Shealy, Dr. Barry Taff, Prof. Buddy Wynn, Dr. Ivoil Koutsarov and Dr. Colin Ross. Some of these people I have since worked with or maintained ongoing dialogues with.

My journey has taken me into jungles, deserts and remote areas working with five remarkable Shamans, one voodoo priest and performing experiments with people from over 20 different cultures on a mountain in Poland. I have also worked with Christians, Jews, Free Masons, Chi Dancers, Buddhists, Taoists, real mediums, medical doctors, physicists, psychologists, parapsychologists and academics. I am a drum and pipe carrier, an Anishnawbeblood brother with two native names and I have earned 21 eagle feathers from five tribes. I have investigated scores of different phenomena and processed findings with 11 Universities and Colleges in UK, USA and Canada. I also acted as an advisor for the planning of the Shaman exhibit for the building of the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa (then called the Museum of Man).

In the nineties, I decided to bring both my career as a filmmaker and my journey into the borderlands together in a 90-minute documentary called, Ghosts – Proof of life beyond clinical death. The documentary showed the up-to-date science of death and remarkable new science that shows life beyond death as well as proposing a thesis that explains many of the anomalies surrounding death. The Space Channel then invited me to produce a series based upon the documentary.

In 2004, I wrote, directed and produced the first of four seasons of the paranormal documentary series, Beyond. The 52 Episode series, which I refer to as my video encyclopedia, aired on the Space Channel in Canada and then Comcast in the USA. Now the series is available on DVD and in Digital Markets such as Hulu and Amazon, which has given the series new life with binge viewers.

I now intend, in between my feature film work with Renegade Motion Pictures, to update information on the series with one-hour specials and a book with reference information.

I believe the journey is as important as the discoveries. Answers always lead to more questions and the more we learn the more we understand how little we know. For me, it’s the journey and the quality of questions we decide to ask that shape us, that defines our futures and I mean “future” in its deepest most far-reaching sense. These journeys have led me to certain key conclusions that are inspired by good science; conclusions that support and prove life beyond death and offer some viable theories as to the environments that provide a perfect medium for paranormal events.

To read more about Steven’s work with the paranormal please visit www.beyondtheseries.com.

Next from Steven Rumbelow: Beginnings – Growing up on the 200-year-old hanging site of an historic British City.

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.