Georgia Ghost Hunters

In demonology, a diabolical signature (from diabolus, the Latin for devil) is the signature of a devil, demon or similar spirit, usually in order to sign your soul away. The most famous of these is in the story of Dr Faustus.

Demons’ signatures are designed to disguise their actual names. They are usually signed in blood. If there is a mass of signatures, they are usually signed in a circle, a doctrine of signatures.

There are a number of alleged demon signatures in existence, some or all perhaps faked.

Some books on demonology, like Arbatel de Magia Verum and The Lesser Key of Solomon (or Lemegeton), assert that all demons have their own signature, collectively called seal of the demons, and sign the acts of diabolical pacts with them.

These ’seals’ (not seals in the usual sense, as they are handwritten) are imaginative lineal drawings, often complicated. It is notable that many of these signatures include the sign of the cross, which according to Christian tradition is opposed to demons and scares them. These signs appeared mostly during the Renaissance, in a time in which demonology was a subject of study for many theologians, priests, alchemists, cabalists and other scientists and pseudo-scientists. One of the accusations by which the Inquisition sentenced Urbain Grandier to death was based on several of these signatures.

According to The Lesser Key of Solomon and the acts of some witch trials, there are demons that have more than one seal or signature.

Cold Spots refer to areas of supposed psychic energy marked by a drastic drop in temperature, often said to indicate the presence of something supernatural, spirits, ghosts, or other unexplainable phenomena.

Paranormal beliefs
Cold spots are said to be unexplained paranormal temperature variances that are believed to signal that a ghost is present. It is thought that a ghost uses the energy in a particular spot to manifest itself, and by doing so, creates a cold mass. Ghost hunters often use hand held infrared temperature sensors to attempt to document evidence of hauntings.

“Cold Spots” is also the name of an article series written by Scott A. Johnson for Dread Central about allegedly haunted places in the United States of America. According to the series, only places with factual, verifiable histories that are thought to compliment the alleged hauntings are chosen. Among the places listed in the Cold Spots archive are:

Lake Jackson, Texas
Sloss Furnaces, Alabama
Hammock House, North Carolina
17 Hundred 90 Inn, Georgia
LaLaurie House, Louisiana
Robert, The Haunted Doll, Florida
Cheesman Park, Colorado
Pittsburgh Playhouse, Pennsylvania
Resurrection Cemetery, Illinois
Ladd School, Rhode Island
Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Kentucky

Skeptical analysis
Cold spots supposedly indicate areas where ghosts reside (a spooky place may give one “cold chills”). Modern ghost hunters employ heat sensors, such as digital thermal scanners which measure instant temperature changes — despite a lack of scientific evidence or theory to support equating the temperature with ghosts and the fact that temperatures can vary throughout a building due to normal causes.