There’s a new paranormal relevant show on Discovery, ‘The Unexplained Files’, and so far it seems a bit more objective than a lot of the shows out there, by which I mean the narration isn’t necessarily on anyone’s side. The first episode featured some so called Blue-Eyed Dogs found in Texas, which reportedly mutilate livestock. Some believe them to be dogs with mange, and others believe they’re chupacabra or similar creatures.
For more on Blue-Eyed Dogs you can visit this site:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/mysterious-blue-dog-in-texas-claimed-to-be-chupacabra-130829.htm
Comes right after my speculation on cultural relevance how supposedly mutilated livestock is interpreted. Personally I’m skeptical, the model of the dog shown on the show appeared to be a mangy greyhound with blocked scent glands.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Chupacabra vs. Satanic Sacrifices
So, since I regularly browse the news to find paranormal articles (because I like to read them and I post them for our club), they rise to the top when I look at news. Websites are designed to spy on your interests and supply what they think you’ll like best. Anyways, because of this, one of the first new stories I saw today was about a dead pony in the UK that had been assumed to be the victim of a Satanic Sacrifice.
Article:
http://www.livescience.com/39121-real-cause-of-satanic-sacrifice-pony-found.html
Why? Because it was missing it’s ears, nose, and internal organs. Well, to me, that sounds more like Chupacabra! Apparently the interpretation of what was actually a perfectly natural death by predator, is effected by local legend and lore. In England that was Satanists performing dark rituals, and in the US flesh eating Demon-Beasts.
Of course, in reality, it was predators and corpse eating bugs.
Article:
http://www.livescience.com/39121-real-cause-of-satanic-sacrifice-pony-found.html
Why? Because it was missing it’s ears, nose, and internal organs. Well, to me, that sounds more like Chupacabra! Apparently the interpretation of what was actually a perfectly natural death by predator, is effected by local legend and lore. In England that was Satanists performing dark rituals, and in the US flesh eating Demon-Beasts.
Of course, in reality, it was predators and corpse eating bugs.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Evil…?
There’s been some disturbing new stories lately. Sometimes I wonder if some people are just evil.
It’s a question that has plagued man for centuries. Is it possible that man is inherently good, or evil? Are some people just born evil? Recent statistics suggest that one 1 in every 25 people is a sociopath. It’s a subtler form of evil than being an outright psychopath, but is it any less evil? Is it evil at all?
It’s a question of the very nature of evil. Evil, as defined by the dictionary, is an act which causes deliberate harm or pain. This is not the same as sin which is a deliberate disobedience of whatever deity you believe in. So, you could in fact be evil without sinning, and be sinning without being evil. If you’re having trouble with that concept, don’t worry, a lot of people do.
There have been several studies into whether or not people are inherently good or evil. In one such experiment participants were asked to shock a subject (actually an actor) when they answered questions wrong. The subject would scream and complain of sharp pains and a history of heart problems, yet the participants would continue to shock them simply because the doctor (also an actor) told them the test must go on.
Some ‘scientific’ or ‘medical’ studies seem to have been deliberate evil in themselves, such as the activities of Nazi doctors and Unit 731. Such study’s activities included testing to see in if twins would react to the other being killed, or if body parts amputated and then sewn onto another part of the body would survive.
Even unrelated studies have revealed disturbing facts about human nature. Nathan Weaver, a student trying to find a way to help turtles cross the road in a safer manner, placed a realistic rubber turtle on the road. He watched for an hour and found something disturbing, several drivers were deliberately swerving to hit the faux animal.
It’s a question that has plagued man for centuries. Is it possible that man is inherently good, or evil? Are some people just born evil? Recent statistics suggest that one 1 in every 25 people is a sociopath. It’s a subtler form of evil than being an outright psychopath, but is it any less evil? Is it evil at all?
It’s a question of the very nature of evil. Evil, as defined by the dictionary, is an act which causes deliberate harm or pain. This is not the same as sin which is a deliberate disobedience of whatever deity you believe in. So, you could in fact be evil without sinning, and be sinning without being evil. If you’re having trouble with that concept, don’t worry, a lot of people do.
There have been several studies into whether or not people are inherently good or evil. In one such experiment participants were asked to shock a subject (actually an actor) when they answered questions wrong. The subject would scream and complain of sharp pains and a history of heart problems, yet the participants would continue to shock them simply because the doctor (also an actor) told them the test must go on.
Some ‘scientific’ or ‘medical’ studies seem to have been deliberate evil in themselves, such as the activities of Nazi doctors and Unit 731. Such study’s activities included testing to see in if twins would react to the other being killed, or if body parts amputated and then sewn onto another part of the body would survive.
Even unrelated studies have revealed disturbing facts about human nature. Nathan Weaver, a student trying to find a way to help turtles cross the road in a safer manner, placed a realistic rubber turtle on the road. He watched for an hour and found something disturbing, several drivers were deliberately swerving to hit the faux animal.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
In Awl My Dreams
I had a strange dream the other night, in which a middle-aged vampire threatened me with woodworking tools she called ‘nails fashioned after those from the cross’. There’s a hell of a lot of psychology going on here, including being a destructive vampire myself, within the dream. The vampire is a sign of one’s violent/destructive side according my dream book. I’ve basically been told the book is evil though, and that I should get rid of it. I’m pretty sure that means to burn or trash it, both of which go against my cursed item policy as you may know, and against my love/respect of books.
But the tools are what stands out now, as I’ve been making some journals by hand lately, and decided last night (the second night after the dream) to look online and see if there was a better way of pre-making the holes for the thread than using a thumbtack. A couple of tutorials suggested using an awl. So I did an image search on awls… it was EXACTLY the tools I’d been threatened with in my dream. Now, I’m sure I’ve seen woodworking awls before in toolboxes, hobby shops, craft stores, and hardware stores, but I didn’t know they came in a slender bookbinding size!
Now I know I need a bookbinder’s awl. And apparently my silent self already knew.
It’s not the first strangely coincidental or seemingly prophetic dream I’ve had, I used to have a lot of them in High School. Once, I dreamed I was buying a Game Boy color (in specific colors) and a game, then the next day found that my friend had bought that and the same game. Another time I awoke knowing only that I dreamed something about the meat being bad, and that afternoon several girls had to go home because they’d eaten bologna that had sat out, and got food poisoning. Yep, the meat (and I use that term loosely) was bad.
I’ve read lots of accounts of prophetic and symbolic dreams too, including one from a study where they’d wake people up during REM and ask them what they were dreaming about. One guy they woke up twice, and each time he only gave them a single word, CAP, and TEN. A few years later he became a Captain. Prophesy, coincidence, or artificial connections?
In Freudian terms, we get the explanation that we’re either making artificial connections after the fact, or that we actually had the dream later and our brains edited things so that we feel like we had a prophetic dream. Yeah, the first one is possible for this dream, but the second one I can rule out because I occasionally journal, and I wrote down my dream in my journal because it was so full of symbolism.
Speaking of symbolism, I often see a crooked apple tree at the beginning of such dreams, though I didn’t in this last dream, I have no idea what it means. Should I check my dream reference book?
But the tools are what stands out now, as I’ve been making some journals by hand lately, and decided last night (the second night after the dream) to look online and see if there was a better way of pre-making the holes for the thread than using a thumbtack. A couple of tutorials suggested using an awl. So I did an image search on awls… it was EXACTLY the tools I’d been threatened with in my dream. Now, I’m sure I’ve seen woodworking awls before in toolboxes, hobby shops, craft stores, and hardware stores, but I didn’t know they came in a slender bookbinding size!
Now I know I need a bookbinder’s awl. And apparently my silent self already knew.
It’s not the first strangely coincidental or seemingly prophetic dream I’ve had, I used to have a lot of them in High School. Once, I dreamed I was buying a Game Boy color (in specific colors) and a game, then the next day found that my friend had bought that and the same game. Another time I awoke knowing only that I dreamed something about the meat being bad, and that afternoon several girls had to go home because they’d eaten bologna that had sat out, and got food poisoning. Yep, the meat (and I use that term loosely) was bad.
I’ve read lots of accounts of prophetic and symbolic dreams too, including one from a study where they’d wake people up during REM and ask them what they were dreaming about. One guy they woke up twice, and each time he only gave them a single word, CAP, and TEN. A few years later he became a Captain. Prophesy, coincidence, or artificial connections?
In Freudian terms, we get the explanation that we’re either making artificial connections after the fact, or that we actually had the dream later and our brains edited things so that we feel like we had a prophetic dream. Yeah, the first one is possible for this dream, but the second one I can rule out because I occasionally journal, and I wrote down my dream in my journal because it was so full of symbolism.
Speaking of symbolism, I often see a crooked apple tree at the beginning of such dreams, though I didn’t in this last dream, I have no idea what it means. Should I check my dream reference book?
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Journals and Spellbooks
I watched a couple of episodes of ‘Gravity Falls’ the other day, I’m an animator and illustrator, so watching cartoons might not be quite as immature as it sounds, but honestly I really like this show. Aside from having a silly paranormal twist in every episode, there’s hidden messages everywhere, codes for watchers to break (though the codes can be really hard because they’re usually really short. That is, provided you don’t already know which three common ciphers are being used), and some pretty cool books.
(This image is a scaled-down screenshot from ‘Gravity Falls’ a series owned and produced by Disney, it is used as an example of the books in the series only, and does not represent any agreement or arrangement with Disney.)
These books, and the scrapbook like spellbook from ‘Practical Magic’ look far more like what I’d expect a spellbook or home-made version of a witch’s hammer to look like (The Witch’s Hammer is an archaic book once used to identify and persecute witches and creatures such as werewolves. The books in ‘Gravity Falls’ are basically used the same way… most of the time).
They’ve got wear and tear, personal notes, inserts from other sources, and most of all, mystery. The big leather tomes you see in most movies and series usually look more like pre-Gutenberg bibles or mass produced text books. Don’t get me wrong, the Hogwarts library is a wondrous place, and the one-of-a-kind spellbook made for ‘Sabrina’ was pretty cool, and I know a lot of work went into making it, but neither look like generations of knowledge passed down through a witching family.
The books I’m talking about are very scrapbook/smashbook/journal like, which looks cool, and means anyone can make their own version filled with what interests them for fairly cheap. My travel journals and pocket notebooks often end up looking kind of like this, as I take notes at whatever angle is convenient (sometimes in whatever language or code I like) and paste in mementos.
You can view some pictures of the original Practical Magic spellbook on the current owner’s blog (as well as some spell book and scrapbook making tips):
http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/otiginal-practical-magic-spellbook.html
You can even venture into the realm of making your own notebooks if you feel adventurous (you should be able to find binding instructions online), though the less crafty may wish to purchase one from a local artist in order to avoid the difficulty and still have a unique tome.
Another reason I like ‘Gravity Falls’ is that Dipper kind of reminds me of my childhood. Not that I lived in some crazy place, but when the other kids got scared, they sent me in to investigate. Because I was the brave one.
These books, and the scrapbook like spellbook from ‘Practical Magic’ look far more like what I’d expect a spellbook or home-made version of a witch’s hammer to look like (The Witch’s Hammer is an archaic book once used to identify and persecute witches and creatures such as werewolves. The books in ‘Gravity Falls’ are basically used the same way… most of the time).
They’ve got wear and tear, personal notes, inserts from other sources, and most of all, mystery. The big leather tomes you see in most movies and series usually look more like pre-Gutenberg bibles or mass produced text books. Don’t get me wrong, the Hogwarts library is a wondrous place, and the one-of-a-kind spellbook made for ‘Sabrina’ was pretty cool, and I know a lot of work went into making it, but neither look like generations of knowledge passed down through a witching family.
The books I’m talking about are very scrapbook/smashbook/journal like, which looks cool, and means anyone can make their own version filled with what interests them for fairly cheap. My travel journals and pocket notebooks often end up looking kind of like this, as I take notes at whatever angle is convenient (sometimes in whatever language or code I like) and paste in mementos.
You can view some pictures of the original Practical Magic spellbook on the current owner’s blog (as well as some spell book and scrapbook making tips):
http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/otiginal-practical-magic-spellbook.html
You can even venture into the realm of making your own notebooks if you feel adventurous (you should be able to find binding instructions online), though the less crafty may wish to purchase one from a local artist in order to avoid the difficulty and still have a unique tome.
Another reason I like ‘Gravity Falls’ is that Dipper kind of reminds me of my childhood. Not that I lived in some crazy place, but when the other kids got scared, they sent me in to investigate. Because I was the brave one.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Water Demons
Got myself really thinking about lake monsters yesterday. Possible plesiosaurs like Nessie and Champ aren’t the only kind of lake monster.
There’s also demons like Japan’s kappa, a humanoid turtle-like creatures that can only survive on land by storing water in a hollow on top their heads. Kappa behavior towards humans generally includes pranks, drowning, and molestation, but a few tales of friendly kappa exist.
Similar European monsters to kappa, include the grindylow, small green humanoids that will drown children, and water hags like Jenny Greenteeth and Peg Powler who also drown children, as well as the elderly.
Salvic mythology tells of the vodyanoy, a race of frog-men that breaks dams, and (you guessed it) drowns swimmers.
Do you feel like there’s a theme here yet?
Mexican tales describe a ghostly woman called La Llorona who drowns (or spirits away) children that go out at night, especially if they’re near the river. And Aboriginal tales describe a chimerical monster that eats people who venture to close to the water in which it lives, the bunyip.
Such tales are probably warnings to be careful near the water, though some experts suggest that some of these tales may also be throwbacks to a time when there was human sacrifice in those areas.
There’s also demons like Japan’s kappa, a humanoid turtle-like creatures that can only survive on land by storing water in a hollow on top their heads. Kappa behavior towards humans generally includes pranks, drowning, and molestation, but a few tales of friendly kappa exist.
Similar European monsters to kappa, include the grindylow, small green humanoids that will drown children, and water hags like Jenny Greenteeth and Peg Powler who also drown children, as well as the elderly.
Salvic mythology tells of the vodyanoy, a race of frog-men that breaks dams, and (you guessed it) drowns swimmers.
Do you feel like there’s a theme here yet?
Mexican tales describe a ghostly woman called La Llorona who drowns (or spirits away) children that go out at night, especially if they’re near the river. And Aboriginal tales describe a chimerical monster that eats people who venture to close to the water in which it lives, the bunyip.
Such tales are probably warnings to be careful near the water, though some experts suggest that some of these tales may also be throwbacks to a time when there was human sacrifice in those areas.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Mokèlé-mbèmbé
We had to take a detour today, and ended up passing where someone had cut away their grass and dug down about six inches, to create rounded three-toed dinosaur footprints (it’s also possible that this was a misguided attempt at Bigfoot, or a an attempt to emulate the Dunwich Horror, but I like to believe they were supposed to be dinosaurs).
Why am I telling you this? How is this paranormal? Well... it’s not paranormal itself, but have you ever heard of a creature called Mokèlé-mbèmbé?
Congo River folklore tells of "one who stops the flow of rivers" a large creature that in many accounts greatly resembles a sauropod dinosaur. Rhinoceros and elephant have been suggested (and occasionally identified by villagers) as the Mokèlé-mbèmbé, but neither has the long neck described in many accounts.
Several expeditions have venture into the Congo looking for evidence of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé, but while they have reported encounters and even attributed deaths to the creature, no hard evidence has yet been presented. There’s a few blurry pictures, and one expedition claims to have returned with a cast of it’s footprint, though I can’t seem to locate a picture of that, which makes me doubtful of it’s existence (if anyone can point me to a legit picture of the cast, or it’s physical location, that’s be awesome... and maybe I’ll draw you something).
There are several other lesser known reports of dinosaurs surviving into modern times as well; Emela-ntouka which has been suggested to be a ceratopsian, Mbielu Mbielu Mbielu which are claimed to be stegosaurs, and Ngoubou a possible stryracosuarus.
These creatures aren’t alone either. Likely you’ve heard of Loch Ness Monster, Nahuelito the Lake Monster, Ogopogo the demon of Okanagan Lake, or Champ of Lake Champlain. These creatures are also believed to be ancient holdovers from the time of the dinosaurs; plesiosuars. While dinosaurs ruled the land, plesiosuars ruled the seas. Common theories about how they came to be isolated in lakes include falling sea levels, underwater caves, and glacial dams.
There’s even a Global Lake Monster Database:
http://lakedragons.livingdinos.com/
Why am I telling you this? How is this paranormal? Well... it’s not paranormal itself, but have you ever heard of a creature called Mokèlé-mbèmbé?
Congo River folklore tells of "one who stops the flow of rivers" a large creature that in many accounts greatly resembles a sauropod dinosaur. Rhinoceros and elephant have been suggested (and occasionally identified by villagers) as the Mokèlé-mbèmbé, but neither has the long neck described in many accounts.
Several expeditions have venture into the Congo looking for evidence of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé, but while they have reported encounters and even attributed deaths to the creature, no hard evidence has yet been presented. There’s a few blurry pictures, and one expedition claims to have returned with a cast of it’s footprint, though I can’t seem to locate a picture of that, which makes me doubtful of it’s existence (if anyone can point me to a legit picture of the cast, or it’s physical location, that’s be awesome... and maybe I’ll draw you something).
There are several other lesser known reports of dinosaurs surviving into modern times as well; Emela-ntouka which has been suggested to be a ceratopsian, Mbielu Mbielu Mbielu which are claimed to be stegosaurs, and Ngoubou a possible stryracosuarus.
These creatures aren’t alone either. Likely you’ve heard of Loch Ness Monster, Nahuelito the Lake Monster, Ogopogo the demon of Okanagan Lake, or Champ of Lake Champlain. These creatures are also believed to be ancient holdovers from the time of the dinosaurs; plesiosuars. While dinosaurs ruled the land, plesiosuars ruled the seas. Common theories about how they came to be isolated in lakes include falling sea levels, underwater caves, and glacial dams.
There’s even a Global Lake Monster Database:
http://lakedragons.livingdinos.com/
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