Adios 2014

It doesn't feels like it's been that long since I wrote my last post of 2013. It's been another good year; lots of UFO/Alien related news this past year - here's the recap from Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/29/2014-ufos-many-shapes-sizes_n_6351286.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
It's not all inclusive of course, but a reasonable highlight article.

As far as my projects go: The water monster guide project got pretty big, and I still haven't posted any of it. I need to re-evaluate the goal(s) of that project, I think. I also think I might need to break down the alphabetical Paranormal Phenomenon list into smaller chunks this year (both in my computer files, and here on the blog), but I knew that would happen eventually when I started.

Looking back at my old articles, I think there's a few subjects I want to revisit, and see what the current status of the case/phenomenon is. I still have a few leads I need to follow up on. Maybe I'll go Bigfoot hunting as well. While it's no secret that I don't actually believe in Bigfoot, that doesn't need to stop me from wandering around in the woods with a camcorder on the off-chance I'm wrong.

Again, thanks for reading, and have a Happy New Year!

Pennyland - The Haunted Amusement Park that Never Was

I recently recorded three episodes of Hauntings and Horrors (apparently formerly known as Creepy Canada), and the last story of the last episode I recorded (which happen to really be the last story of the last episode) featured a haunted amusement park called Pennyland. I normally didn't pay much attention to the investigation sequences on these shows, because they used psychics, rather than looking for hard evidence. (I have nothing against psychics in general, but don't consider using psychics on TV to be credible evidence, as there are hoaxers out there who love to be on TV, even for a cheesy dramamentary.) However, in this instance the one of the team's psychics found a box of evidence.

Inside a collection of polaroid photos, a rope, a knife, and a bloody handkerchief. . . however both the box and the evidence looked too fresh. There was no dust, the rope looked unused, and blood was still red. Not to mention the police already supposedly scoured the place. But the show claimed this evidence was still being reviewed by local police. However, since this show was filmed in 2006, I figured any review was probably done now and started to scour the internet for what happen to the box, and if it indeed turned out to be a hoax.

Nothing. Hardly even a single relevant webpage. Well, I did learn the show had another name, Creepy Canada, which made sense as almost all the locations were in Canada. So armed with the new name, I searched again, and found Wikipedia's episode list. At the very end was the episode in question, bearing a note none of the other episodes had, a disclaimer:
'The buildings that are featured in the Pennyland Amusement Park episode look identical to the buildings located at the defunct Rocky Springs Amusement Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. There is no information on the internet to back up the story featured in the Pennyland Amusement Park episode.'

This is a generous statement, suggesting they didn't shoot their investigation at Pennyland. Because further research finds there's actually no evidence that Pennyland ever existed at all!

Check this out: http://cec.chebucto.org/ClosPark/Penny.html

Jackalopes and Mandrakes + Shop Update

Time for some shameless self promotion for my etsy shop, intermixed with some fascinating facts about cryptozoology and cryptobotany. So, it you like cuddly things, and/or cryptids, here's a couple of things that might interest you.

First up I've got a couple plush Jackalopes and an ali-bunnicorn:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/210581440/iggy-the-jackalope-plush-bunny-rabbit   https://www.etsy.com/listing/210592139/chakra-the-jackalope-plush-bunny-rabbit   https://www.etsy.com/listing/210591485/mae-the-ali-bunnicorn-plush-bunny-rabbit

These cuddly creatures were inspired by the myths of Jackalopes, Al-mi'raj (Bunnicorn), Wolpertinger, and others. Jackalopes are said to be the offspring or small deer and killer rabbits, often inhabiting desert areas, while Al-mi'raj are vicious island dwelling carnivores. Wolpertingers are an amalgamation of several animals, usually having the head of a rabbit, antlers of a small deer, and pheasant wings, which live in the forests of Europe.

Now, there is a reason so many cultures have myth of antlered/horned and sometimes winged rabbits. It's because in a way, they do exist. First, rabbits (and other animals) with matted fur can sometimes look like they have wings, horns, and other unusual appendages. And Secondly because of the Shope papilloma virus, which cause infected rabbits to grow keratin tumors. (Similarly there are a few 'horned' people cutaneous horns, usually benign keratin tumors.) However, attempts to care for such jackalopes tends to lead to spreading the virus, so it's best to leave them alone if you ever encounter one. Next best thing? Get a plush jackalope.

Next, I've got Sprout the Mandrake Plush made from super cuddly Teddy Bear felt:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/205582758/sprout-the-mandrake-85-inch-ooak-plush

Mandrakes for those of you that don't know are real plants with a mythical status. They have split roots that look vaguely human sometimes, leading to the myth that they dreamed of being human. While mandrakes have been used medicinally for centuries, harvesting the plant was often considered dangerous, as the plant is said to scream when dug up. Therefore a folk method of dealing with harvesting involves digging around the plant, then tying a dog to it, so that the dog will pull up the plant and die instead of their owner.

The truth of the matter is, real mandrake plants, except for the fruit, are poisonous and can cause hallucinations, gastrointestinal distress, asphyxiation, and other unpleasant symptoms. Sprout however, is assured to be nice to you.

Turns out both jackalopes and mythical mandrakes have some basis in reality. But sometimes fantasy is nicer then the truth. I'm already considering what the next batch of fantasy plushies should be; Baku, Cockatrices, Amphisbaena, Pheniox?

Influx of UFO News

Well, as you may (or may not) be aware, I browse the news in search of possible paranormal articles. And though I don't usually post them here, though I occasionally post them on Twitter (I should post more of them on twitter, @CleverKraken y'all, follow me so I have motivation to post paranormal news, okay?).

Anyways, the past couple months have seen a increase in the number of UFO related stories:
(Warning: some of these links are obnoxious with pop-ups, so make sure your blocker is on)

An Earth-sized UFO near the Sun?
http://www.examiner.com/article/earth-size-ufo-spotted-orbiting-the-sun-nasa-images-report

UFO on the Moon?
http://www.examiner.com/article/ufo-spotted-above-the-moon-s-surface-explorers-from-another-planet-video

UFO on Mars (this is probably a bolt-head)?
http://www.examiner.com/article/ufo-sighting-on-mars-nasa-image-shows-huge-flying-saucer-on-mars-video

UFOs visiting the International Space Station?
http://www.examiner.com/article/ufo-sighting-on-mars-nasa-image-shows-huge-flying-saucer-on-mars-video
And: http://www.examiner.com/article/is-a-ufo-monitoring-astronauts-during-iss-space-walk

And the Colorado Mountains?
http://www.examiner.com/article/ufos-sighted-over-colorado-mountains-formation-investigated-by-police-norad

Could this just be a successful result of my efforts to only look at news I'm interested in because the web keeps track of your activity. Well, yeah, but I've also gone weeks with no new paranormal, so I assume that means there were fewer UFO stories to find. So then, are UFOs a hot topic right now, or has there been an increase in activity? Time to head over to MUFON and such to see if there's any apparent spike, I guess.

Anyways, for your viewing pleasure, here's some more Supposed Stuff on Mars:

Elongated Skull:
http://www.examiner.com/article/is-that-an-elongated-human-skull-on-mars

Raygun:
http://www.examiner.com/article/gun-found-on-mars-by-nasa-rover-video

Ball:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0929/Mysterious-ball-on-Mars-Where-did-it-come-from

Book Reviews II: Haunted Alaska: Ghost Stories from the Far North

Today's book for review is Haunted Alaska: Ghost Stories from the Far North, by Ron Wendt (2002, Epicenter Press).

(Note: I am in no way affiliated with Ron Wendt, Epicenter Press, or Alaska Book Adventures. I am reviewing this book from my own personal first edition copy I bought in Alaska. I am not being commissioned or compensated in any way.)

For those of you that like numbers and stars, this book gets 4 stars out of 5. It's good, it's a good casual paranormal read.

The book is short, perfect take along with you size, and just under $10 if you get it new. It consists of 15 loosely themed chapters, named for the first story in each, and each containing two, or more commonly three, stories. Usually there's a little history, then a fairly recent account of activity. The third story is usually in italics, and appears to have been quoted in their entirety from some interview or communique. A note explaining that better would have been nice.

Speaking of notes, the beware notes on/in this book are a little unnecessary and cliché, but don't really detract from the experience. The artwork is okay, though only slightly relevant, but I didn't buy it for the artwork anyways. I would have preferred pictures of the public locations myself.

At the front of this book you'll find a map, giving rough locations for all the events within the book. This is really nice, especially if you want to look up or visit, the public locations mentioned, like the Alaskan Hotel. And in the back, you'll find the usual source list, this one containing more personal names than usual. In fact many stories appear to be hearsay with no other documentation to back them up, however this is a fairly common problem in paranormal research.

Some of the stories don't actually take place in Alaska, but rather British Columbia and the Yukon. But that's really nothing to complain about.

My only real grip relates to the situations where there was more official documentation, but it's not mentioned save in the sources section. It would have been nice to know when the author had (or hadn't) found evidence that such-and-such ever existed in the first place.

Well, I missed the Blood Moon part of the Blood Moon

A faint beeping sound emitted from my phone, a sort of pinging tone. It was dark out, way to early to get up normally, but this morning there was an eclipse. The porch light cast a faint glow on the mist, and the sliver of moon left was not as viable through the mist as I'd have liked (it was too misty to see stars even). In ancient times this would have been the remains of a communal campfire. It was already easy to see how an early society might find this whole scenario mystifying.

I had missed the first Blood Moon stage. This I had intended to watch, but clearly I'd mixed up the timing, but at least there was still the final stage of the full eclipse. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the sliver of moon that was left, disappeared into the misty darkness, quite and still. It would have been easy to believe the moon was being eaten by a wolf, by Quetzalcoatl, or by Kronos.

The frost colored spiderwebs stood out now, the texture of the porch wood, the dandelion seed stuck to the faux suede of my boot. Soon the animals started to state their disconcern. The owls were first and spoke out most often. Coyotes followed, then chickens, geese, and ducks, and a band of traveling raccoons, and some distant horses.

As I waited, I wondered how it must have felt, to wonder if the moon was ever coming back. After all if it had been eaten, there was no reason for it to return. And I waited. It was tempting to go get an electronic device, but of course that would have ruined my night vision. And I waited.

Eventually, I was too cold and tired to wait any longer, and went back to bed. Three possibilities stood out in my mind. First, it had clouded up, given the mist, this was likely, and indeed it was cloudy the next morning. Secondly, I was impatient and waiting longer would have been rewarded by the second Blood Moon phase, as well as punished by further sleep deprivation, as I had only really intended to watch part of it. Or thirdly, the moon was gone, not very realistic from a modern perspective, but I had just spent all that time thinking about it...

Rat Kings

Something strange has been going on in my garden as of late. When you grow your own fruits and vegetables, a lot of times you end up with surprises that would never have made it too the store, Martian shaped potatoes, eggplants curling around into donuts, butt shaped apples. I left some onions last year, and for the most part I just got a single onion in the same place again. Then there was this:

The Onion King

(One of those bizarre potatoes can be seen here too.)

 

Why did I call it that? Well, it reminds, morbidly I admit, of a bizarre and somewhat horrible natural occurrence, once connected to the paranormal; that of, the Rat King. A Rat King occurs when several rats become entangled the tail (usually while huddling for warmth). The situation can occur with or without some assisting substances (blood, mud, feces, ice, sap). X-rays of preserved Rat Kings have shown that in at least some cases they lived long enough for their tails to callus and heal (as they are often broken).

Similar specimens of other rodents, such as squirrels, have been found. This Squirrel King story had a happier ending than most:
http://metronews.ca/news/regina/702478/photos-regina-squirrels-stuck-in-a-sticky-situation/

This, and other recent king finds, suggest that the theory that Rat Kings were merely a hoax thought up by bored Rat Catchers (yes, that was a professional title), is probably incorrect.

Folklore has it that when rats were joined in such a manner they acted as one creature, sometimes with a single 'king' rat sitting on top and directing the others. Linguists however, tend to point out that they were called 'kings' due to their extraordinary weight compared to a single rat.

Another Reason I Love the Internet

Well, this happened:
http://hudsonvalleygeologist.blogspot.com/2010/09/holy-crap.html

I was looking for pictures of the Centipeetle from Steven Universe (for an art project, why is not really the point though, so I'll avoid rambling about that for now), but I didn't know how it was spelled. So, when I tried Centipetal, I found a link to what you see above.

Yeah, that happened. I really happened. In 2010 religious people were still trying to prove the sun revolves around the Earth. As much as I'm in favor of religion, I cannot fathom why something so long disproved and not actually in the Bible (unless you want to use 'the sun doesn't actually rise' argument, in which case, you're just as hopeless), was up for a revival.

Thank you, Yahoo Search and Steve Schimmrich

Will-o'-the-wisps

Not long ago, I was discussing with a chat friend, Spooky, about some lights he was seeing over a hill near his house (large orange orb lights), and what they might be, assuming they were something paranormal, as there were no cell towers or airport in the area. Now, the first order of business was to determine if they were flying or just floating. Why? Well, are they UFOs or something else? What else? Fairies, Witch lights, Ghost lights, and Hinkypunks.

Which of course, begs the question, what the heck is a Hinkypunk?

Well, we used to call them Boggarts locally (which is technically correct, but seeing as Rowling has popularized the household shape-shifter version of this creature, I just started referring to them as Hinkypunks as she does). Hinkypunks, or Bog Lights are lights that appear in marshy areas. And if a lost traveler follows them, they're lured into deep water, and drown.

So, do you know what happens when you look up Hinkypunk on Wikipedia? You arrive at this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkypunk
Which is actually a copy of this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will-o%27-the-wisp

(And if you're curious, this is what you get if you look up Boggart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggart )

Because Wikipedia includes Hinkypunks as Will-o'-the-wisps (Ghost Lights, particularly those seen over bogs and marshes, sometimes marking treasure). Okay, fair enough. But what else to they include?

Ignis Fatuus (Foolish Fire)
Jack-o'-Lantern (Jack's Lantern)
Friars's Lantern
Hobby Lantern
Spook-lights
Ghost-lights
Orbs
Ghost Candles
Fairy Lights (Either fairies or lights held by fairy creatures)
Pixy-lights (Leads travelers to danger)
Faeu Boulanger (lost souls)
Aleya (Marsh Ghost-lights)
Chir batti (Ghost-lights)
Hitodama (Soul Orb, human soul)
Hi no Tama (Ball of Flame)
Aburagae
Koemonbi
Ushionibi
Boi-tatá (Fiery Snake's Eye)
Luz Mala (Light [which is] Evil)
Brujas (Witches)
Luces del Dinero/Tesoro (Lights of the Money/Treasure)
Min Min light

Are these really all names for the same phenomenon, or did someone just get so carried away lumping similar phenomenon together that they threw Brujas, which tend to appear over houses and are said to be witches that can turn into owls, and Hinkypunks, that tend to appear in swamps and bogs and lead travelers to their doom?

Its hard to say, but the lights in question were easier to explain, they were just cars....

What to do if You See a UFO

People report seeing UFOs all the time, you need only look at the live MUFON map to be aware of that. But often they cannot recall very many details and/or fail to get a picture despite almost everyone having a camera on their phone nowadays. So how can you help?

If you ever see a UFO(s):

Step 1:
Take that phone out of your pocket and snap a picture. It may not show up or properly represent what you saw, but at least you tried.

Step 2:
Mentally note the color, shape, location, and apparent size of the UFO. To get the apparent size, fully extend your arm and 'pinch' the UFO with your fingers. You can then compare the size of your 'pinch' to everyday objects such as aspirin and pennies.

Step 3:
Got a better camera, camcorder, a tape recorder, or a digital recorder on you? Use it! You can get this device out while making note of the properties in Step 2.

Step 4:
Keep track of what the UFO does, and make mental notes on any other details; such as the UFO's surface texture, direction of flight, aerial maneuvers, emission, and sounds.

Step 5:
As soon as possible after your experience, write down or draw any details, and submit a report to UFO reporting agency such as MUFON or NUFORC. Include any photos or recordings.

Book Reviews I: The Mythical Creatures Bible

Today I'll be reviewing; Mythical Creatures Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beasts (by Brenda Rosen, Sterling, 2009).

(Note: I am in no way affiliated with Brenda Rosen, Sterling, or Octopus Publishing Group. I am reviewing this book from my own personal copy I bought, and was not commissioned or compensated in any way.)

For those of you that like stars, I’m giving this book a 4/5, it’s good, but definitely not without flaw.

The Mythical Creatures Bible is well written and laid out in a organized way that makes sense. A table of contents would have been helpful here, but the index in the back of the book makes it fairly easy to find the creature you want.

It’s also full of beautiful illustrations, public domain images, and photographs, which break-up the text and support many of the entries. While 400 pages, the book is still fairly small, making it easy to bring along with you; but the trade off for that is of course, the size 8 font.

The book’s content is reasonably good, and somewhat encyclopedic. It’s a good reference guide if you want a basic explanation on a wide range of creatures. However the entries are short, and there are several errors that make other references necessary if you’re studying a specific creature.

In the introduction is a image of two headed animal labeled as a Yale from the Aberdeen Bestiary. However there is no further explanation, and it doesn’t match the image and description given for Yale later on in the book, or the online images and description of Yale from the Aberdeen Bestiary. This is probably because it’s actually an Amphisien, a winged two-headed snake. - And since this is my own personal copy, I went ahead and wrote that in. We can discuss the fact that I think it's okay to write in books, but not to dog-ear the pages, later. . .

Among the biggest errors I noticed was one pertaining to the *Holy Bible. Under the section titled Dragons of the Near East, the author describes the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den (which can be found in the book of Daniel within the Holy Bible) as being the result of Daniel slaying the King’s Dragon. This is complete fiction (okay, well, maybe there’s some mention of this in another work, but it's certainly not the story presented in the Old Testament of the NKJ Holy Bible).

(*Bible means book, and the book I'm reviewing is also called a Bible, so using the proper title, Holy Bible makes a clear distinction here.)

Overall I think this is a good reference for people thirteen and up, who want a basic knowledge, or ideas for stories and RPGS, but for serious study of cryptozoology you'll need to consult some other works to be sure the info you've gotten is correct.

And How do You Name a Horror Movie?

I've noticed in recent years, some pretty poorly named horror movies. Not that the names are poor, but that they don't match the movie, and are probably just relics from the earliest drafts of the script.

For example I just watched Dark Skies for the first time. The name conjures up imagery of UFOs blacking out the sky, dark thunder storms, and/or and all out war from above. While the movie did involve aliens, and tons of conspiracies related to aliens, abductions, and UFOs, there was not a single UFO in the film. There wasn't even a single shot of the sky really. It also wasn't dark, being fairly well lit for like, 95% of the film.

Overall it wasn't a bad movie, not great, kind of a mish-mash of things that had been done, but well paced and just mysterious enough to keep the viewer’s interest. However, I also feel like it probably would have gotten another half a star if it had a more accurately named.

Another example of this is Silent Predators, a movie in which the main threat is anything but silent. The main threat, while a predator, is also to small to predate human. It, or rather they, are several aggressive hybrid rattlesnakes, that were, until recently hibernating. The main plot being that you hear the snake rattle, then it bites you, and you die.

Come on guys. Many classic horror movies were named by friends of the director who'd get drunk and watch the film from dusk to dawn, when hung-over they'd called the director and mumbled a name into the phone. Still, it was more accurate then the examples above.

Which isn't to say that there aren't some well named horror movies recently, Sharknado comes to mind. Very descriptive of the small part of the movie I saw, sharks flying through the air, riding a vortex!

Blessings, Cleansings, and Exorcisms

One of the most common methods of resolution in many modern haunting stories is that of a Blessing, Cleansing, or Exorcism. Often this is the end of the story, and the haunting either stops or the people involved feel they can live with what little of it remains. A couple years ago or so, there was a new story about how factory workers were refusing to return to work until the building was blessed, because the woman’s restroom was believed to be haunted.

Lately I find myself reading or watching these stories, and wondering if an exorcism was necessary. Sometimes the activity reported seems so benign, like kid’s toys going off, yet the home owners react with, ‘we were terrified, we needed an exorcism’.

And there’s a dark side to exorcisms too. Some stories don’t end with the exorcism, and after a calm period, there is a relapse haunting which is worse than the initial haunting. Furthermore exorcisms have been increasingly used as an excuse for murder, claiming actions that are in direct conflict with the view that the person themselves is not actually evil and should not be harmed, resulted in ‘accidental’ death.

So, some of you may be wondering by now, what’s the difference between a Blessing, Cleansing, and an Exorcism? How do you know if you need a Blessing or Cleansing, likewise how do you know if you need an Exorcism? And why would an Exorcism fail?

All these rituals are intended to protect, it’s the means of protection that varies. A Blessing is a ceremony in which a deity is asked to protect the location or person from evil (bless means ‘favored by god’), while a Cleansing aims to remove dark energy and encourage spirits to move on (which sometimes involves removing items with negative energy), and an Exorcism is a ritual intended to drive evil spirits out of a person or place, often invoking deities and their servants to do so. Exorcisms are seen as the more extreme, and sometime dangerous option, with religious groups often requiring special permission before priests will perform one. Deaths have even been occasionally attributed to exorcisms (and the occasional murder has been ‘explained’ as an exorcism as I mentioned above).

I do not believe there is any reason to discourage a blessing. If you want to bless, or can get the local priest to bless, your house weekly, I wouldn’t discourage it. A cleansing is much the same. But, exorcisms on the other hand, are harder to get permission to perform for a reason. Go through the proper channels in your church, and don’t assume you can let your guard down afterwards.

Exorcisms are cited to fail for several reasons; pride or other weakness in those performing it, a sinful relapse of those it was preformed for, or a misdiagnosis of a medical condition as a demon attack (feeling sick to your stomach may really be that you are sick in your stomach, and seeing things may just be mental stress or even sounds of certain frequency vibrating the fluid in your eye). There are more possibilities, beyond those, I’m sure, but this gives an idea of just how fragile a pursuit an exorcism is. 

* As a final note, I’d like to encourage you to seek advice from your priest and doctors rather than just taking mine or anyone else’s word for it.

Ominous Black Ring

According to a article on mirror.co.uk, Georgina Heap, while playing tennis with friends at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, saw an ominous black ring in the sky. Ten girls in total are reported to have seen the ring last Friday. And Met Office did not believed it to have been a weather phenomenon (like some sky rings are):

(Above are the images of black ring posted on: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/leamington-spa-schoolgirl-takes-picture-3414787 - and several other sites.)

Of course, you know I love this sort of thing. Is the picture real? If so, what is this thing? If not, what was the motivation for such a hoax?

So, on first look, the images show no obvious signs of tampering. In the first image we see a jet trail, either higher up, or much smaller than the ring. Then in the second photo we can see an insect, looking bigger than the jet from the trail would have been, so it’s reasonable to assume the ring was between the two, and the bug much closer to Georgina, indicating that the ring was probably somewhat smaller than a jet.

So, zooming in for a closer look, I became suspicious that the ring had tighter pixilation than the rest of the sky, however, this pixilation turned out to be consistent with the more detailed trees and buildings, indicating it’s how the details were saved by the phone.

Meanwhile, my web search turns up no indication that the story is a hoax or reproduction, and the same story on several news sources that are more familiar to me. Along with some stories on similar rings, and ones that turn into clouds.

Furthermore, the ring changes between the two images, indicating that it really is smoky, and not just something static (such as being painted on glass, for example).

Conclusion; I don’t know for sure what they saw, but I believe they definitely saw something (at least for the time being).

Chupacabra and Twitter

Chupacabra is making the news again, recently a couple claimed to have caught the creature and had it put to sleep (which PETA had a hand in, sending them a letter, telling them it probably had mange). Clearly though, the creature is a hairless Raccoon.

Now, raccoons are pretty smart (as I’ve already posted on SPCS and Twitter, oh yeah, I’m on Twitter now, I’ll be posting notes on paranormal news and my etsy shop, so if you’re on Twitter, check it out: VPM @CleverKraken ) and they sit up in a pose that chupacabra is often depicted in.

Apparently this isn’t the first time a hairless raccoon has been mistaken for chupacabra either, in 2011, on showed up in Florida, was mistaken for chupacabra, then properly identified as a mutant raccoon, and moved to a wildlife sanctuary (this makes me wonder if PETA got it right or not, so I feel bad for the raccoon, but I assume the vet looked it over first. - This post was not meant to be a smack against PETA).

#Chupacabra yah’ll

I’m still getting the hang of this Twitter thing, got to remember there are hashtags and a way low letter limit.

Mischief Managed

A lot of online entities are doing pranks today. And I’m cool with that, tempted even, but since this blog is about finding the truth… it kind of seems like poor taste. So instead, here’s me rambling about some things that are real, but may sound fake:

First off, there’s a species of bat that has fleshy little suction cups on it’s wings. No joke, they live in colonies inside folded-over slippery leaves, so the suction cups help them grip.

How about another weird animal fact, Koala babies eat their mother’s fecal matter. Yep, poop, it helps them get the bacteria in their gut that they’ll need to digest eucalyptus. Koala are also some of the few non-primates that have fingerprints.

Speaking of fingerprints, really you have a whole unique palm print, and toe/foot print, which is why the hospital takes baby’s footprints. Twins as you know, have different fingerprints, that’s an environmental development factor, but they’re more likely to have the same type or fingerprints (whorls, spirals, arches), which is a genetic developmental factor.

Speaking of twins, sometimes one twin (in identical twins) will develop with situs inversus, a condition in which your internal organs are on the opposite side of the body from normal. No wonder identical twins are also called mirror twins.

Okay, that’s all for now.

Case Files - Demon Photo (Sept 1987) Revisited

My interest has come back around to the most convincing photo anyone has sent me. Having realized the true nature of the ‘care bear’ being an elephant by my last post about it, I wonder if we are actually seeing a demon. Enough to download it and finally analysis it. Perhaps the entity details Darkmoon was seeing were as much an illusion as the doll’s face.

(This photograph was taken on September 1987, in Columbia Boro, Lancaster County, Pa., by Darkmoon, and later scanned.)

(This is the image auto color and contrast enhanced, notice how some of the creepiness instantly vanishes?)

The scan does not appear to be altered, and looking closely the artifact patterns that exist within the demon and the rest of the picture are consistent, so if it was altered, alteration happen prior to scanning, but I see no tattle-tale evidence of this either (such as; seams, cuts, extra blurry areas). The type of artifact patterns seen are typical of those that can result from the use of a cheap scanner.

The details seen in the entity, as I was told; face, arms, body, tail, may result from similar illusions to the care bear’s face. Make no mistake, I’m not saying there isn’t an entity, or that it isn’t a demon, just that the items under the entity are visible, making the entities details nearly impossible to distinguish from it. Of course, knowing nothing of the location, time, or lighting, I also can’t rule out it being a light artifact.

This case remains a mystery. I can’t rule it being real out, but I still have questions.

Are We Alone? - 2014

Next week (the first full week of March), is Science Channel’s (SCI) Are We Alone Week, featuring new episodes of shows like Close Encounters and NASA’s Unexplained Files (with breaks for some of their other shows late night to early morning).

It’s a good question, isn’t it? A lot of religious people will tell you the universe is nothing more than a glorious backdrop for us, devoid of life. However the sacred texts generally do not seem to indicate one way or another. If you want one that does, there’s always Scientology, but… well, here’s a quote from Wikipedia:

“In the OT levels, Hubbard explains how to reverse the effects of past-life trauma patterns that supposedly extend millions of years into the past.[132] Among these advanced teachings is the story of Xenu (sometimes Xemu), introduced as the tyrant ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy". According to this story, 75 million years ago Xenu brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and detonated hydrogen bombs in the volcanoes. The thetans then clustered together, stuck to the bodies of the living, and continue to do this today. Scientologists at advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating body thetans and neutralizing their ill effects.”

Personally, I find it egotistical to presume that a divine being wouldn’t feel free to create other worlds. Of course, I’ve created a lot of neighborhoods on the SIMs and come to the conclusion that I’d make sucky god. But basing a focused attention theory on that, would be treating god(s) like Schrödinger’s cat.

(If you didn’t get that last reference, the cat goes in a box, look it up.)

For a non-theological look at the question, might I suggest looking at the Drake Equation? Using the equation, you can change different variables to effect the resulting number of interstellar communication ready civilizations. There’s a few calculators for it online, which takes out most of the work, allowing you to focus on your speculative decisions (however it’s not a particularly had equation to solve yourself, there’s just several steps).

Perhaps even the sheer number of UFO reports should be convincing that there’s life somewhere else in the universe? Even if it is unevenly distributed?

(This is a screenshot of MUFON’s UFO Stalker interactive map, taken on 2014 January 17. Note the typical large cluster of UFO sightings over lower Florida. )

Well, what do you think? Is there other life out there, or are we alone?

Clever Kraken

Hey everybody, as you may know, I’m an artist. I make jewelry, paint, sew, and other things, so I’ve recently decided to open a shop on Etsy.

I promise not to constantly bombard you here with this, but rather I do plan to occasionally mention when I’ve added something of paranormal or mythical significance. Currently of interest are items such as the Mythical Unicorn pouch and Evil Eye Guard bracelet.

Anyways, if you’re interested in having a look, here’s the link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CleverKraken

Bigger in Texas - Batsquatch

You’ve probably heard it before, everything is bigger in Texas. Well, it appears to apply to cryptids as well. I’ve already commented on how Texas seems to have it’s own version of Chupacabra, but it also seems to have it’s own version of Sasquatch, the infamous Batsquatch! Batsquatch is basically a Sasquatch with bat-like wings and a bad attitude. At least he was, according to Monsters and Mysteries in America, it was only seen there for 2 months.

However further research, really even just a quick web search, will reveal that the name Batsquatch is more closely associated with Washington, where it is apparently associated with the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, the same way the Mothman is associated with the Silver Bridge collapse. There’s even a dubious picture that looks like a bat suit free-fall jumper photographed with an out of date cell phone, or possibly just an out of focus moth:
http://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Batsquatch

Furthermore, Texans can’t even agree that it was Batsquatch. Some describe it as having bird-like wings and talons, earning it the cute name Big Bird. Other witnesses describe it as a possible pterodactyl! Which would make it in essence a Thunder Bird, yes?

MUFON’s Jan 2014 Statistics

MUFON’s statistics for Jan 2014 were just released to it’s eMail subscribers. And well, they’re kind of suspicious. Out of 747 UFO reports; 639 took place in the USA, followed by 26 in Canada, and 19 in the United Kingdom. Now the USA is a big place, and this trend would look to represent the areas of the world where tech and the English language are commonly spoken, until you scroll down to Japan’s 1 sighting, and realize that Peru has 4. While speaking English may be slightly more prevalent in Peru, much Japan’s younger generation has been taught English and it’s ahead in the area of technology. I can’t say for sure what that means, but I suspect it’s partially cultural, as is the case with many paranormal subjects.

California was also the most popular state for extra terrestrial visitors, followed by Texas and Florida. Florida being in the top three does not surprise me in the slightest, seeing as every time I visit the MUFON map I see a cluster of UFOs over Miami. Texas is a big place, so the disproportion there is perfectly understandable, but California? I can’t say I’m surprised, but I can’t explain it properly at the same time. Surprisingly New Mexico, the location of the best known UFO related event, only had 7 sightings.

Oh, and 7 people out of 747, were apparently at sea, in space, or just didn’t bother to report their location.

You can visit MUFON’s site yourself at: http://mufon.com/

Orion

Yesterday, approximately 2/3 of the US was covered in snow. Here in the Northwest, it was due to winter storm Orion. If that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s the name of one of the most commonly recognized constellations in the night sky. It takes it’s name from Greek Mythology, in which the goddess Artemis places his and his hunting dog’s images in the sky after his death. There’s some discrepancy as to how he died however, as in some tales Artemis is tricked into killing him, and in others he’s killed by Scorpio, the giant scorpion.

Some theorize that the Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Giza are aligned to mirror Orion, with the Nile River filling in for the Milky Way. Some even believe it may have some relation to aliens having once visited Earth. Skepticism of course, abounds, in both the accuracy of the alignment, and the exclusion of the rest of the stars in the Orion constellation, particularly the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel.

Neither argument concerns me, as I feel both of these are easily explained. First, humans built the pyramids (and all the other monuments Ancient Aliens refuses to attribute to man), they’re not perfect, but they’re pretty damn good considering the limitations of technology at the time. And, furthermore, we know that the positioning of the stars in the constellation may have drifted over time.

Second, while these stars are seen and recognized all over the world, they are not always seen as the hunter Orion. For example; in Japan, Orion is seen as two overlapping constellations, a row of three new years cups (Orion’s belt), and two samurai preparing for battle (Betelgeuse and Rigel). Likewise, the Ancient Egyptians saw the belt stars alone as the god Osiris, representing them as a vertical line rather than a horizontal one. You can see a diagram on this site:
http://www.moses-egypt.net/star-map/senmut1-mapdate_en.asp

Therefore, is perfectly reasonable that three large monuments to the dead could be aligned to represent the god of the afterlife. Well, there we go. Nothing alien about it, but there may be a thread of truth in the theory after all.

Die Glocke

When I was kid, we used to play this stupid game, in which we’d all sit in a row with a mirror behind us, and the person in front would take a flashlight and shine it over everyone’s heads into the mirror. The concept was that if the photons bounced off the mirror in just the right way, we’d achieve time travel. Obviously, we only ever traveled through time the natural way, but it kept us busy for a few minutes.

So, what would you do if you had the ability to travel through time? Would you hunt dinosaurs in the Cretaceous? Would you go back and see some historic event? Would you try to confirm the existence of religious figures like Jesus or Buddha? Would you interfere with the past? Would you try to change the future?

Some believe Germany was trying to develop a time machine during WWII, an acorn or bell shaped device referred to as Die Glocke or The Bell, which they would have used to surprise their enemies and win the war.

Well, actually, it seems to be unclear as to what The Bell would do, some say it might levitate, or travel through time-space using extremely high amounts of power, or it might possibly even create free power. It contained a variant of mercury that was red, or maybe violet, in color.

Nobody even seems to know of the project’s existence until 2000, when Igor Witkowski wrote an article about Nazi miracle weapons, claiming he was allowed to transcribe project documents in 1997.

Perhaps we’ll never know the truth without a time machine of our own. 

And now, because I don’t want your brains to atrophy, here’s a puzzle!
2 clear, 1 blue, 2 clear.
5 blue.
1 blue, 3 black, 1 blue.
5 blue.
1 blue, 1 white, 1 blue, 1 white, 1 blue.
5 blue.
1 blue, 1 white, 1 blue, 1 dark blue, 1 blue.
5 blue.
1 blue, 1 dark blue, 1 blue, 1 dark blue, 1 blue.
5 blue.

Do Llama Instinctually Fear the Chupacabra?

At one time, we had neighbors who kept llamas. They also had a big white guard dog. Initially they suggested we bring our dog over to play with her, but said it wasn’t going to work when they realized our dog was black. They explained this extremely awkward moment, and apparently llamas are afraid of black dogs. As you know, recent descriptions from Texas describe Chupacabra as a grey or black dog.

Now of course, this may be a natural reaction to some predator native to their natural environment, right?

Since North American llamas were imported from South America, I looked up what relatives of dogs live in South America. Now, there’s lots of canids in South America, but they are considered a relatively recent addition to South America’s ecosystem, and come in a variety of colors. This of course means, that such a fear is less likely to be ingrained at an instinctual level, and that all dogs, regardless of color, should be feared equally. 

However, scientist believe llamas themselves originate in Central America. But the story here is similar, less species of dogs, but a variety of colors.

But, perhaps it is not dog specific, but simply the quadruped body shape combined with black skin/fur they fear. Both panthers and spectacled bears live in these areas. Could it be one of these predatory creatures they fear, or something even more sinister, like the chupacabra?

Paranormal Phenomenon List - Rejected Entry Archive

In what I guess is called pre-spring cleaning, I’ve decided to remove certain entries from my Paranormal Phenomenon List, that I feel are redundant (such as the numerous ghost haunting entries without a specific location; in this case the entry Ghost Hauntings with general info will be replacing 5 entries). Incase anyone wants access to them; I’m posting them here, but I will not be adding anymore items like these to my list.

Curse Haunting 001 - Moving objects, hidden religious artifacts, black shadows, chanting, cat dead and frozen. Blessed twice the house was still active. A friend had sent them a hoodoo Voodoo doll, and after the first blessing they burned it, the head did not fully burn. Entity growls in reply. Doll is bound in cloth with salt.
[Location: Washington, PA]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 39: Good vs.. Evil]

Cursed Haunting 002 - A family moves into a house, planning on restoration. Activity is childish at first. Then the teen living with them gets into witchcraft. The Ouija board they used won’t stay gone, despite the uncle’s desperate attempts to discard it, nor burn despite the grandmother’s attempts. She finally broke it up with an ax. The teen admits to killing a cat to perform a dark spell, and is admitted to an institution. The activity continues. Blessing seems to help, but activity returns. A paranormal investigation team is brought in, activity spikes.  And the board returns! Activity includes, funny sounds, giggling, possessed items, apparitions, apparitions in windows, and dark figures.
[Location: Zieglersville, Pennsylvania]
[TV: A Haunting - Episode 71: Black Magic]

Demonic Haunting 001 - A man and his family are tormented by demonic forces. He has the gate to hell tattooed on his back, which he has been told may be a real portal. Activity includes, voices, a evil presence, anger and rage, interesting Ovulus results which coincide with the claims, and possible possession.
[Location: York, PA]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 45: Hell’s Gate]

Demonic (and possible Ghost) Haunting 002 - Activity includes; apparitions of a little girls and an inhuman girl. The family’s daughter is blamed for her previous behavior, including buying a satanic bible, which her friend tried to burn, but could not.
[Location: Georgia]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 86: Night Terrors]

Demonic (and  Ghost) Haunting 003 - Family with 2 teen daughters and a young son purchase a house for cheaper than it should be. Oldest daughter feels like something is wrong with house. After weeks of the son crying out in the night, the grandma moves in to help put the kids at ease, she soon leaves out of fear. Warren comes and decided the activity is a demon. EVPs later suggest there’s three human ghost trapped by a demon. Both records of past home owners and Indian burial sites are found. Activity includes; strange noises including knocks, EVPs, doors open/closing, being attacked in bed, electronic malfunctions, apparitions, possession with automatic writing and painting and speech and backwards prayers, feeling like being watched, objects being thrown.
[Location: Seymour, Connecticut]
[TV: A Haunting - Episode 5: Hell House]

Energy Vampire Haunting 001 - They’re looking for a home, and suddenly get a call from a man looking to have them move into a house they can’t find any evidence they looked at, with a good offer price. After moving in, the mother has 2 miscarriages in a row. And the dog often seems upset about something. The kids tell their mom about activity, who tells her boyfriend, who doesn’t believe. Eventually he decides they need to move, and everyone feels better. Then the animals start acting odd again, and the dog has to be removed from the new home. Then the activity returns. The boyfriend finally sees it. They contact PRISM who come to investigate, they leave when a investigator is thrown down the stairs, but continue research. They found the boyfriend’s aunt had once lived in the first house, fell down the stairs causing a miscarriage. A demonologist comes in, and believes it’s a energy vampire created and feed by human tragedy within the family. A ceremony is preformed to draw out the vampire and banish it, and the mother is scratched by the entity, but activity disappears afterwards.  Activity includes, footsteps, odd noises, a disturbing presence, shadows/dark mists, sense of dread, family members are drained/over tired (and prescribed stress meds they claim didn’t work), and people attacked.
[Location: Edgewater & Annapolis, Maryland]
[TV: The Haunted - Episode 3: Stalked by a Vampire]

Ghost Haunting 001, Nannie Womack- A rebuilt home and it’s yard is believed to be on the location of a murdered little girl’s old home and the location of the murder (100 years ago in 2008). The murder is real, but controversy exists over the girl’s age, she may have been only 8 as her family says, or 13 as the papers claim. Activity includes, a little girl apparition that appeared to several people, eyes only apparition, a little girl’s voice calling mama, and odd sounds.
[Location: Russell Springs, Kentucky]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 57: The Anniversary (this is episode 39 by wikipedia’s count)]

Ghost Haunting 002 - Two drowning are known to have occurred nearby. Activity Includes; something in the bathroom that hides in the dark areas, disturbing presences, ghost kids from the backyard, disembodied heads, voices, thermal anomalies (debunked),
[Location: Maryland]
[Paranormal State - Episode 59: The Drowned]

Ghost Haunting 003 - Family moves into dad’s dream house. Keeps some of the old tools from the previous owner’s workshop, and begins renovations. Activity starts up, slow at first, until the father goes to talk to a priest who tells him ghosts aren’t real and that the family should pray together, so the father researches it alone. They then tell the kids and pray with them. The activity mellows down for a bit, but then after the father talks to a psychic at a party the activity starts up again. The mom thinks a child had been hurt in the basement, so on a friend’s suggestion they contact a spiritual healer. She’s immediately drawn to the basement, and the cupboard the father had dreamed about being attacked from, a dark mist emerges, and the healer and her husband force it from the house. The prior owner’s property is removed, his workbench destroyed, the property boundary magically reinforced, and a pagan prayer preformed. - The father now starts to see the ghost outside the house. Nightly they cleanse the house in catholic-ish rituals, until the family is miserable. The entity finally leaves when the father addresses the issue with forgiveness and kindness. - Activity included, feeling of being watched, wind in the house, apparitions, nightmares/daymares followed buy being touched and something punching/sitting on the pillows, clapping along with guitar being played, re-cognitions, and a dark mist.
[TV: A Haunting - Episode 58: Dark Dreams]

Ghost Haunting 004 - Dog barks constantly by the garage, until he is hit by a car despite the fence’s still being wired shut. Then the daughter starts to have conversation with someone that isn’t there, Nick, who she draws as a mutilated body.  She then claims there’s a bad skeleton in the garage. After the mother is nearly run over, the daughter claims Nick is a good skeleton who scared off the bad skeleton. Nicholas, a motorcycle enthusiast, used to live in the house, but ran into a tractor-trailer and died, right where the dog died, and where the mom had almost died. After a Vietnamese ceremony, Nick is gone.  Activity includes; nightmares, being touched, bad feelings, voices calling to be joined in the water and a compelling urge to walk across the highway in the dark to get there,
[Location: Yosemite?]
[TV: Paranormal Witness - Episode 17: The Good Skeleton; Hollywood Sign Haunting]

Ghost Haunting 005 - The Irving family excitedly move into a larger country home. Six week later, minor activity starts, like footsteps and clanking noises in the kitchen. The family’s two girls start playing with a Ouija Board. Their mom later throws it on the burn pile, and unusual colored flames shoot out. Activity worsens; nightmares about something begging to get in, hair pulled and being touched or shoved or scratched, apparitions, levitating furniture, candles go out on their own, mirrors smash. They then find an older woman died in their house. Later the grandma has a heart attack and the family moves, feeling the ghost killed her. The house is later torn, and the lot abandon.
[Location: Chesapeake, Virginia]
[TV: When Ghosts Attack - Episode 8: Voices of the Dead]

Historic Haunting 001 (Underground Railroad) - A white families’ black visitors (and live in boyfriend) see a woman in the daughter’s room. Under the house are tunnels that were used by the Underground Railroad. The team finds artifacts in the tunnel. The woman’s photo was found in the tunnel (given a line-up of copies of old photos, Larry picks it, as does the psychic). Psychic identifies her as a protective spirit, who does not approve of wedlock.
[Location: Pittsburg PENN]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 17: The woman in the window]

Judy Road Incubus - Four women experience an evil presence that tries to rape at least one of them.
[TV: Unexplained Mysteries - Episode 18: The Young & The Haunted]

Poltergeist Haunting 001 -  Matt, girlfriend Susan, and their daughters Jamie and Marie move into their dream house. Major messy poltergeist activity, recorded in photos and video - culminating in a attempted fire trap. After the family moved out, others on the block started to move out too. Did the activity jump houses?
[Location: Southern CA]
[TV: Paranormal Witness - Episode 4: The Poltergeist; Watched in the Wilderness]

Possession (possible yuurei [hungry/vengeful ghost] or demon) 001 - Two deaths occurred in the home, a sleeping pill suicide and drunken fall down the stairs. Activity is said to bet he worst in the basement, attic, and second floor, as well as at 3.00 am. Activity includes, apparitions (man and woman), odd sounds, whispering, suggestions of self harm coupled with nightmarish visions, dark figures, beds and doorknobs shake, feeling of a presence, hands in the attic, extremely high EMFs. PS brings in a psychic and a priest.
[Location: ? ]
[TV: Paranormal State - Episode 74: Suicide Possession]

Possession (possible demon Attachment) 002 - Band member and recent widower, and her daughter, start to experience activity as they plan to move. Activity includes, being touched, apparitions of late father/husband, objects moving, tall shadow figures, strange sounds of knocks and growls, and nightmares. She meets another man, that they both like, and he notices the activity too, and she shares her concerns that in might be her late husband, which get the couple talking about Ghost Hunting. When her daughter starts to have nightmares she doubles her efforts to find a new house, and finds an abandon house she wants to investigate on Halloween. There they see shadows, and one enters her and takes over. Her attitude changes, she sees dark figures attacking her, believes the entity to have killed her husband, hears it speaking, and gets scratches and burns. They invite Paranormal Investigators to the house, and she is attacked again, and a priest is contacted. The priest does a test with holy water and tap water, then initiates a exorcism, during which participants see a shadow figure. They learn the demon’s name and force it from the house, and blesses the house, but the priest warns it may return if she does not keep the faith.
- She had a second exorcism in 2012.
[Location: Social Circle, Georgia]
[TV: A Haunting: Back From the Dead - Episode 9: The Exorcism of Cindy Sauer]

UFO Sighting 001 - Carlos De Los Santos, pilot who encountered 3 UFOs over Mexico, 3 saucers with cockpit windows. They temporarily take control of his airplane and damage the landing gear. Some experts assume he suffered hypoxia. - Things get weirder when he’s threatened by people on the ground.
[TV: The Unexplained Files - Episode 4: Spontaneous Human Combustion and Mexican P…]

Werewolf Encounters:
- Palmyra Werewolves - Avid hunting family with an injured father moves to a nice farmhouse in a wooded area. When they see funny slowly flashing lights in trees, father and son go to investigate, but find no evidence. The son and his girlfriend find a huge den while walking their dogs. The family takes refuge in the house when wolf-like creatures interrupt their relaxing evening, and spend the rest of the night in a terrible fight for their lives. In the morning they find tracks that look like a cross between human an wolf prints.
[Location: Palmyra Maine]
[TV: Paranormal Witness - Episode 28: The Wolf Pack
* SEE Gevadan Killings
* SEE Beast of Bray Road
* SEE Dogtown

Rendlesham Forest Incident: Notes and Timeline

I’ve learned a good deal about the Rendlesham Forest Incident since my last post about it. At this point, over 30 years later I don’t expect to stumble upon anything previous researchers have missed, but rather I have a whole world of articles and resources at my disposal, to better understanding this event. (There is a list of resources at the end of this post, and I encourage you to check them out for yourself.) And like any UFO sighting, misidentification, or hoax, I believe understanding this event will help paint a cleared picture of the UFO phenomenon as a whole.

That said, while I still find this case fascinating, I must admit on a scientific level that there are several read flags, including:
* Local police, who better knew the environment, had reasonable explanations for all the ‘evidence’ of the UFO, and when they got to the ‘landing site’ they were able to see the local lighthouse.
* The first public reports of the UFO event appear in a tabloid, supplied by an officer who assumed a false name for the article.
* Witnesses’ stories contradict one another, and emotions clearly played a part in individual’s perceptions. Emotions alone may be reasonable enough explanation for any embellishments, you can hear this at work on the Halt Tape.

Below is a list of officers involved, followed by my preliminary timeline. It is color coded with the officers involved for your convenience (or your annoyance, depending on your temperament).

Identified Personnel Involved:

Colonel Charles Halt
- Wrote Halt Memo, Recorded Halt Tape
- It is suggested that his position makes the case credible, however Col. Conrad opposed his point of view rendering that argument invalid.

Sgt. Jim Penniston
- Supposedly interacted with craft, and made sketches of the symbols on it.
- Later, under hypnosis, attributed the incidents to human time travelers from the future.

Airman Larry Warren (alias: Art Wallace)
- Reports the incident to News of the World tabloid paper.
- Some sources debate his involvement at all. 

Colonel Ted Conrad
- Is mentioned in early interviews and reports, but denies the events are significant.

Airman First Class John Burroughs
- Part of the first investigation with Penniston, but tells a different story of the events. 

Officer Cabansag
- ?

Timeline:

Late Dec 1980
(Note: The Halt Memo, written 2 weeks later, suggests events started on the 26th, but Halt admitted that it may be flawed. Date discrepancies has been a research issue for some time now.)

Dec 26th (27th by Halt Memo, 26th on Police Reports):
- 3 am - East gate security patrol sees lights descend into forest.
- 3 to 4 am - Officers enter the forest to investigate, suspecting a crash. Sgt. Penniston claims to have sketched, touched, and interacted with the craft; however he does not initially report that there was a craft and the dates on his sketches are out of sync with other accounts (27th). Burroughs on the other hand, claims they’d just encountered the craft, when it took off. Officer Cabansag is also present.
- 4 am - local police are called in, but they can only see the lighthouse.
- Daybreak - indentations and burn marks are visible. Colonel Conrad is said to have lead this investigation.
- 10:30 am - local police are called again, but they believe the indentations to be made by rabbits, and burn marks are logging cuts. (Halt Tape later refers to them as abrasions, accurately enough.)

Dec 27:
- The officer’s dinner is interrupted by men saying the UFO is back, however the identities and first hand accounts of these witnesses are not know. (Alternate accounts suggest this happened on the 26th, regardless, it may be a key spark for further investigation efforts.)
- Witness accounts are taken, and an investigation team is selected and briefed.

Dec 28th (29th by Halt Memo):
- Early Morning - Colonel Charles Halt leads a second investigation to check for radiation, readings are debated. He has with him a tape recorder (Halt Tape), and the recording suggests the radiation levels to be background radiation, or not much higher.
- Animals in the woods (misidentified as farm animals), seem agitated, crying out. (Spooked by aliens, or just humans being there at night?)
- Halt and his men see a yellow/green light flashing. (It is debated if they are able to see the lighthouse at the same time. The light is described as going side to side and winking, much like a lighthouse, and the timing is correct to the lighthouse in question, but the color Halt describes is red, while others call it yellow/green. Perhaps Halt is colorblind. [1])
- It should also be noted that no residents of nearby towns are known to have reported anything.
- This is followed by flashes and circular objects, and possibly light beams over the base.
- Objects may or may not have been on radar.

Jan 13th
- Halt writes his memo, it is not labeled as classified.

1983:
- Airman Larry Warren reports sightings to tabloid, mentioning Colonel Ted Conrad‘s involvement.

1987:
- Great Storm of 1987 wipes out much of the forest, though some of the incident locations were still identifiable.

2008:
- In a interview, Burroughs claims to have heard screaming.
- Halt claims the nearby livestock went crazy (there actually was no livestock, but there were deer and other animals in the forest).

2010:
- September 27 - Halt is one of six to testify that the US covered up Alien threats.
- June - Halt signs an affidavit claiming that US and UK governments have covered up the incident. Some of the facts contradict the Memo and Tape.
- Colonel Conrad makes counterclaims, and insinuates that the story has been further embellished over the years.

[1] - I have not been able to locate any information on when the US started testing airmen for colorblindness, but even if tested, certain diseases can cause colorblindness to develop.

Resources and Further Reading:

Dr David Clark, Folklore and Journalism, New light on Rendlesham,
http://drdavidclarke.co.uk/secret-files/secret-files-4/
Last update unknown, prior to 17 January 2014

Ian Ridpath, The Rendlesham Forest UFO Case,
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham.htm
Last updated in August 2013

“Rendlesham Forest” Alien Mysteries (TV series)

“The Rendlesham Files” Paranormal Witness (TV series)

Wikipedia, Rendlesham Forest incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident
Last updated 1 January 2014

The Sensation of Sleep Paralysis

I’ve already posted on what Sleep Paralysis is, so today, while it’s fresh in my mind, let’s discuss what it feels like, for those lucky people that have not experienced it. Roughly 1/3 of people will have an isolated Sleep Paralysis experience, which probably makes it easier to attribute it to a haunting or other paranormal experience. While Sleep Paraylsis can be brought on by stress and panic disorders, depression, narcolepsy, or sleep apnea, it also occurs in people without any history of these, and is not harmful itself.

(The Nightmare, 1781, by JohnHenryFuseli)

After a night of restless sleep in which I woke from, and fell back into several dreams, and my REM cycle was clearly interrupted several times, I woke, or rather half-woke into the dim light that comes just before sunrise. In all probability my eyes may still have been closed, but this is how it appeared from my point of view. At this point I realized I couldn’t really move, and felt the sensation of some small entity, around the size of a large house cat crawling up my legs. Now clearly, this strange predicament is normally cause for abject terror, as reported by many Sleep Paralysis sufferers, and that is how I felt the first time I half-work up, unable to move even though there was no entity. However, at this point, having done this before, and knowing a lot more about it, highly unnerved is a better description for what I felt. But the sensation soon passed, I woke fully, and when back to sleep.

Now, as for the entity. As convincing as it was, it is clear to me it was not there. Our dreams often conjure up people and animals who are not there, or not even real. And on top of that, our brains have been scientifically proven to be capable of conjuring the sensation of outside entities under certain conditions while awake. Whether this is an evolutionary trait intended to help us deal with the concept of death and a finite universe, or a intentional construct to help the divine contact us, is up for debate, but this area of the brain exists and can be intentionally activated.

Proof..?

Well, yesterday I saw evidence that my suspicions about the recent crop circle were right, though apparently some experts were buying it. I don’t know anything about that, but as soon as I read that there were amazingly timed YouTube videos, that sent up a red flag:
http://www.livescience.com/42368-crop-circle-hoaxes.html

Also, and amazingly relevant to my last post in content and timing, a hunter claims to have a Bigfoot body that he’s going to take on tour. My studies in Art and Anatomy kind of lead me to believe the fuzzy picture is a gaff, but from one picture it’s hard to tell exactly what you’re looking at beyond that. He claims studies have been done on the body, but doesn’t seem to be presenting any of this supposed evidence that the body is real. Instead he plans to take it on tour across the US like some modern Fiji Mermaid:
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/01/06/bigfoot-hunter-claims-to-have-killed-beast-has-proof/

Then again, if I’m wrong… well, a world with proof of Bigfoot would be interesting.

Bigfoot..?

Clearly I’ve watched the series Finding Bigfoot multiple times, it’s all over as TV references in my Paranormal Phenomenon List. Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, is defiantly on the list of things I’m interested in, but… and this is no secret, I don’t really believe in Bigfoot. The evidence just doesn’t add up. Or rather, there is lack of evidence.

I admit, the sheer number of witnesses is tempting, but there is very little evidence that hasn’t yet been proven to be a mistake or a hoax. Pretty much everything submitted for genetic testing (hair, bones, flesh, and poop) has been a hoax or mistake.

And then, in some cases I feel like people are grasping at straws. In one episode, the guys are out in Montana and they have a supposed photograph of a Bigfoot footprint, which they claim to show Bigfoot’s long toes and mid-foot ridge. Have a look for yourself:

(This image is a screenshot from Animal Plant’s Finding Bigfoot Evidence Map, located at: http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/finding-bigfoot/finding-bigfoot-map.htm )

This is what they think is going on:

And this is what I think is going on:

Please go ahead and look at the original un-obscured photo again, and judge for yourself, you’re allowed to have your own opinions, but I’ve given you mine.

Moreover, sightings and population estimates don’t leave me feeling like there’s a viable population. If Bigfoot do exist, they’re obviously dying out. I also would have expected to see some sign of them by now. I pretty much live in the woods, and have seen the tracks and evidence of deer, elk, coyote, bears, cougars, raccoons, rabbits, and even feral goats. But, Bigfoot? Nope.