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.