Starchild Project DNA Results: Skull Possibly From New Earthly Species

From the Starchild Project

SUMMARY: Early in 2011, a geneticist attempting to recover Starchild Skull DNA identified several fragments that matched with human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Comparing those fragments with matching fragments from human mtDNA produced an astonishing result. In every comparison, the Starchild presented many more nucleotide differences than are normally found among humans. In one comparison detailed in this report, the compared segments of human mtDNA came from one of its most highly conserved regions. Across 160 ± nucleotides in this segment, only 1 single variation is found among the 33 human haplogroups. In contrast, the same length of Starchild mtDNA has 17 differences! Of those 17, a significant number should be confirmed by multiple repetitions of the test. If several are confirmed (which is highly likely), would it be enough to consider establishing a new Earthly species? It would certainly throw open the door to serious consideration.

Please go to Starchild Project for all data

Conclusion & Call To Action: After 12 years of struggle, the Starchild Skull is truly poised to make history. When we have secured the funding needed to carry out the recovery and sequencing of its entire genome, it will provide uncontestable proof that at least once, 900 years ago, a being somewhat like us but definitely not human lived and died and was buried on our planet.

Unfortunately, achieving that historic moment requires far more than the Starchild Project team can deliver without substantial help. A wealthy investor—not merely a donor, an investor—must be found to provide the funding necessary to do what must be done.

In this extraordinarily special case, the investment needed is $7 million USD. Why that amount? Every step of the DNA recovery and sequencing process will have to be verified with multiple repetitions until no possible doubt remains about any specific result. Also, in order that those completed results can be confirmed by independent researchers, the entire process must be recorded on film for academic scrutiny and historic posterity.

The Starchild Project intends to incorporate some of that footage into creating two theater-quality documentary films during the 1.5 to 3 years required for the DNA’s recovery and analysis. These films will cover the Starchild Skull’s entire story, from its discovery to completion of the DNA analyses. They will be valuable both historically, as the record of this milestone event in human history, and financially, as market research indicates they will be enthusiastically welcomed in virtually every country on Earth.

It should be obvious to anyone that much more than $7 million can be made from two high quality films about such a pivotal shift in human awareness. If anyone reading this report personally knows anyone who might be interested in taking a front-and-center position as this historic event unfolds, please ask them to email: contact@StarchildProject.com.

A business proposal is available to any serious potential investor. The film project already has its producers, director, entertainment attorney, accountant, production team, and the enthusiastic cooperation of a state film council. Everything is in place except for the investment, the final hurdle that now requires only one astute decision to clear it.

Final Note: Explanations and terminology in this report are aimed at non-experts. Those with expert knowledge in genetics will naturally find its concepts and descriptions simplified.

The identity of certain research team members requires temporary anonymity. Their names will be revealed when they are ready to formally release reports for peer scrutiny.

Potential investors who want to know more, or to verify our geneticist’s work, can meet with him and tour his lab if they sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This will be on a case-by-case basis.

Please go to Starchild Project for all data

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Originally posted 6/18/2010

Interview: Lloyd Pye - 'Starchild' Caretaker



Click for video

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Originally 3/20/2010

New Update Issued on the 'Starchild Skull'

A reader, Kat, forwarded the following to me: 'Yesterday I received this newsletter update from Lloyd on DNA testing on the Starchild skull which is intended to determine whether it is actually part extraterrestrial.' I don't receive the newsletter but have written on Lloyd Pye's contentions. Please note, it was my impression that the geneticist on the 'MonsterQuest' episode of 'Lizard Monster' stated that the DNA of the 'Starchild Skull' was entirely human and the facial reconstruction determined that the skull was manipulated through binding...but I could be be wrong. Anyway, please read the following. Thanks to Kat! Lon

We finally have a recovery of nuclear DNA from the Starchild!

This past weekend I met with the geneticist working on the Starchild's DNA. He explained how he can now prove the Starchild is not entirely human, which has been our position for years. Now it is no longer a question of "if," but of "when" and "how" we spread this astounding new reality beyond the mailing list. First, though, let me bring the list's newcomers up to speed.

In 2003 we had a DNA analysis that used human-only primers to recover the Starchild's mitochondrial DNA, the DNA outside the nucleus, which comes from the mother and her genetic line. That meant its mother was human. But we could not recover its nuclear DNA, which comes from both mother and father, which meant its father was not a human. Unfortunately, with the recovery technology of 2003 we couldn't prove what he was, which left us in scientific limbo. The "no result" from the search for the nuclear DNA clearly meant Dad wasn't human, but we could not prove that fact beyond all possible doubt.

Now, in 2010, there have been many improvements in the recovery process, and those improvements have been applied to the Starchild skull with the stunning result you see below. This is a gel sheet that shows a clear recovery of its nuclear DNA, which could not be done in 2003.

The next two screen shots are taken from the national genetic database at the National Institute of Health, NIH. That public-access database is a centralized repository of all genetic information generated by geneticists all over the world, and now covers essentially all living organisms on Earth, from various kinds of viruses and bacteria, to various kinds of crustaceans and fish, to all kinds of animals and plants, including great apes and humans.

For many species, humans included, there are already nucleotide sequences covering entire genomes. Therefore, sequences from the Starchild's DNA can be directly compared against this vast database to look for any matches. In one such comparison below, you see the text below the blue line at the bottom (if you can read it, sorry it's so fuzzy) that 265 base pairs (a good length) of recovered Starchild nuclear DNA matches perfectly with a gene on human chromosome 1. This verifies beyond any degree of doubt that some of the nuclear DNA seen in the gel sheet is from a human being.

In the one below, and again at the bottom, you see the stunning report that in a string of 342 base pairs (another good length), "No significant similarity (is) found." To recover a stretch of base pairs as long as that with NO reference in the NIH database is astounding because it means there is no known earthly corollary for what has been analyzed! This incredible anomaly will put the Starchild in history books!!!

Please understand that this result has now been verified several times, and a few more different fragments have been identified that cannot be matched in this database to anything known. Despite that fact, mainstream skeptics will be obligated by their positions to try to say it's some kind of gibberish or some kind of mistake because in their world view it simply can't be true.

Luckily, their bleating protests can be easily overcome with continued repetition of the result, finding more and more similar fragments in the library that will be created from the Starchild's DNA, which is what the geneticist is confident will happen over the next weeks and months---nothing but verification that a significant part of the Starchild's genome is not found on Earth.

I should add that I still can't reveal the name of the geneticist or where he works until we are ready to formally present his results to the world. However, trust me, he is a well-established professional and his facility is large and very credible. They don't want to be bombarded by media until they are prepared for it, and neither do I for that matter. Just know that you are a part of the "inner circle" of those who have put your faith in a dream that is now coming true.

Two more issues of importance:

(1) I still don't know where the recent "MonsterQuest" episode "Lizard Monster" can be viewed on the internet by people outside the U.S. If anyone knows how that can be found, please let me know and I'll share with the list. Thanks!

(2) The expenses for materials doing our research has now outstripped the amount donated by the list. It is now coming out of my pocket and I could use some help to bridge that gap. However, look on the bright side. This should be the last time I ever have to ask for your help in this way. ;-)

Lloyd Pye
LloydPye.com

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Originally posted 4/2/2009

Videos: 'The Starchild Skull'



UFO Connection host Catherine Noble talks to researcher Loyd Pye on the finding of an alleged 'Aline Skull' that was found in a cave in Mexico and well known reporter and investigator Jamie Maussan about the sightings of UFOs by the Mexican Air Force.

Lloyd Pye, author of Everything You Know Is Wrong, has taken it upon himself to discover the identity of an unusual skull he has dubbed "The Starchild Skull." The skull, which was found in a mine shaft near Chihuahua, Mexico around 1930, is unusually wide at the back and exhibits larger than normal eye sockets. Although he says the origin of the skull is uncertain, Pye speculates on whether or not it could be of alien origin - or at least belonging to a human-alien hybrid. While some contend that the skull was merely that of a deformed human child, Pye wanted definitive proof and so, in late 1999, subjected the skull to DNA testing. The results of the test indicated that the skull was from a human being, but Pye points out that the lab could not extract sufficient strands of DNA to make a definitive conclusion, and therefore the question still remains open.

On the recent edition of 'UFO Hunters - The Grey Conspiracy', Pye indicated the fraternal DNA could not be found. His belief is that the 'Starchild' is probably an alien/human hybrid.

Fortean / Alternative News: Ukraine Yeti Video, Israel Moon Bound and Wonder Cure in Tanzania

Bigfoot / Yeti video from the Ukraine

This is a recently released video supposedly from the Ukraine. There have also been claims that it was from the Crimea area. The videos below are 'broke down', including a stabilized version.

Enhanced version

Click for video 1

Click for video 2

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Israel going to the Moon?

If all goes according to plan, by December 2012 a team of three young Israeli scientists will have landed a tiny spacecraft on the moon, explored the lunar surface, and transmitted live video back to earth, thereby scooping up a $20 million prize (the Google Lunar X Prize), revolutionizing space exploration, and making the Jewish State the third nation (after the U.S. and Russia) to land a probe on the moon. And they’re doing it in their spare time.

The three engineers – Yariv Bash (electronics and computers), Kfir Damari (communication systems), and Yonatan Winetraub (satellite systems) all have high-level day jobs in the Israeli science and technology world, and also both teach and study. They all had heard of the Google Lunar X Prize independently, before being introduced by mutual friends who, as Yonatan puts it “thought we were all crazy enough to do it, so we should meet each other.”

By the end of November 2010 they had sketched together a novel plan to win the prize and submitted it to organizers. Only on December 21 (10 days before the December 31 deadline) did they set about raising the $50,000 entry fee. “Like good Israelis we left it to the last minute,” Yonatan laughs.

Since then they’ve recruited around 50 volunteers from across the Israeli science and technology community and have gained support from academic institutions, including the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science (founded in 1933 by Chaim Weizmann, himself a successful chemist who went on to become Israel’s first president). They’re operating as a non-profit (“we’re looking for stakeholders,” says Project Coordinator Ronna Rubinstein), and any winnings will be invested in promoting science among Israeli youth.

The X Prize’s organizers say their competition is intended to attract “mavericks” who “take new approaches and think creatively about difficult problems, resulting in truly innovative breakthroughs.” They see the moon as a largely untapped resource, and believe that “inexpensive, regular access to the Moon is a critical stepping stone for further exploration.”

Maverick and creative thinkers the Israeli trio appear to be: According to the X Prize organizers, the 29 competing teams will spend between $15 million and $100 million on the project, with the earliest launch not scheduled until 2013. The Israelis aim to spend less than that (around $10 million) and to launch before 2013.

“One of reasons that we’re able to do this,” Kfir (who started programming aged six and wrote his first computer virus aged 11) explains, “is because of our different perspective. Most space missions aim to last many years and so have to be built in a certain way. Ours doesn’t have to last as long. This saves cost.”

Another way the team intends to keep costs down involves utilizing existing technology that just hasn’t previously been linked up for this purpose, rather than spending a new fortune. Naturally the team isn’t releasing specific details of the technology they’re using, but they’re confident that they’ve got what they need.

And once they’re on the moon? “The actual robot will be something the size of a coca-cola bottle,” says Yonatan. “Think about it – a cell phone has most of the capabilities necessary for communication and imaging, and to that we need to add a hopper” to move around the moon. “Simple” really. And the impact of this? “Once we do this it will break the glass ceiling,” Yonatan adds, “and show that space exploration doesn’t have to be expensive.”

As to why they got involved? “Three reasons,” say Yonatan, “Creating national pride, really putting Israel on the map as a start-up nation by doing something only the superpowers have done, and reigniting Israeli interest in science.” And it’s the third – rejuvenating interest among Israeli youth in science – that’s closest to these young scientists’ hearts.

In the 1960s and 1970s, they say, many young Israelis pursued careers in science, in part inspired by the American space program. Today that isn’t the case, and the number of high school seniors majoring in science is constantly declining. “We want to show that science isn’t just about sitting in a lab all day,” says Kfir.

In 1919 French hotelier Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 for the first non-stop flight between New York City and Paris. Eight years later Charles Lindbergh, considered an underdog, won the prize by making the crossing in his “Spirit of St. Louis.” That not only changed the way people saw flying, but how they saw the world.

The X Prize was inspired by the Orteig Prize, and if the “Spirit of Israel” is successful they can certainly count on changing how young Israelis see science and how others see Israel. They may also change how we all see the universe. - Forbes - Daniel Freedman

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Fukushima radioactive fallout nears Chernobyl levels

Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.

The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi, only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a significant health risk outside the plant.

The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts – and nuclear accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released.

The level of radionuclides leaking from Fukushima Daiichi has been unclear, but the CTBT air samplers can shed some light, says Gerhard Wotawa of Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna.

For the first two days after the accident, the wind blew east from Fukushima towards monitoring stations on the US west coast; on the third day it blew south-west over the Japanese monitoring station at Takasaki, then swung east again. Each day, readings for iodine-131 at Sacramento in California, or at Takasaki, both suggested the same amount of iodine was coming out of Fukushima, says Wotawa: 1.2 to 1.3 × 1017 becquerels per day.

The agreement between the two "makes us confident that this is accurate", he says. So do similar readings at CTBT stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada – readings at the latter, at least, show that the emissions have continued.

In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 1018 becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for Fukushima Daiichi. It is not yet clear how long emissions from the Japanese plant will continue.

Similarly, says Wotawa, caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 1015 becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 1016 in total – around 70 per cent more per day.

"This is not surprising," says Wotawa. "When the fuel is damaged there is no reason for the volatile elements not to escape," and the measured caesium and iodine are in the right ratios for the fuel used by the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Also, the Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site, and an unknown amount has been damaged. The Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.

The amounts being released, he says, are "entirely consistent" with the relatively low amounts of caesium and iodine being measured in soil, plants and water in Japan, because so much has blown out to sea. The amounts crossing the Pacific to places like Sacramento are vanishingly small – they were detected there because the CTBT network is designed to sniff out the tiniest traces.

The Chernobyl accident emitted much more radioactivity and a wider diversity of radioactive elements than Fukushima Daiichi has so far, but it was iodine and caesium that caused most of the health risk – especially outside the immediate area of the Chernobyl plant, says Malcolm Crick, secretary of a United Nations body that has just reviewed the health effects of Chernobyl. Unlike other elements, he says, they were carried far and wide by the wind.

Moreover the human body absorbs iodine and caesium readily. "Essentially all the iodine or caesium inhaled or swallowed crosses into the blood," says Keith Baverstock, former head of radiation protection for the World Health Organization's European office, who has studied Chernobyl's health effects.

Iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid, and leaves only as it decays radioactively, with a half-life of eight days. Caesium is absorbed by muscles, where its half-life of 30 years means that it remains until it is excreted by the body. It takes between 10 and 100 days to excrete half of what has been consumed.

While in the body the isotopes' radioactive emissions can do significant damage, mainly to DNA. Children who ingest iodine-131 can develop thyroid cancer 10 or more years later; adults seem relatively resistant. A study published in the US last week found that iodine-131 from Chernobyl is still causing new cases of thyroid cancer to appear at an undiminished rate in the most heavily affected regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Caesium-137 lingers in the environment because of its long half-life. Researchers are divided over how much damage environmental exposure to low doses has done since Chernobyl. Some researchers think it could still cause thousands of new cases of cancer across Europe. - New Scientist

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Wonder cure sparks rush to Tanzanian village

standardmedia - The multitudes crossing river Engaresero in northern Tanzania is akin to the annual wildebeest migration at River Mara. The only difference is that the people in their thousands have no time to hang around the banks, waiting for the courageous one to cross over first because each second is precious.

Not even the bursting bank of the river that has swept several vehicles is a cause to worry.

And the mad rush is about a potent brew that has baffled science and yet said to cure all ailments, being dispensed by Ambilikile Masapile, 76, who is a retired pastor Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

People used whatever means necessary to and even drove across a swelling river to get to Loliondo village for a ‘dose’ of medicine.

The news of the supposed power of his brew has spread like wild bush fire and captured the imagination of Tanzanian and the rest of East Africa.

When we arrived at Dar es Salaam, the talk was all about ‘Loliondo wonder’. Despite a power blackout the last two weeks, nobody talks of the energy crisis. It is all about Loliondo wonder.

"Ushasikia bwana, hakuna maradhi yasiyotibiwa. Loliondo twaenda," this is the message in the streets as people prepare to travel north to the remote village of Samunge where Masapile serves the concoction.

Though the sojourn to the north started in the last two months, the past two weeks has seen unprecedented pilgrimage to the home of Masapile.

The journey is torturous as one navigates the rocky terrain of Sonjo plains to Ngorongoro where there is neither a mobile telephone network nor radio signals.

But this has not deterred thousands of people from all over the country from flocking the humble homestead of the soft-spoken old man with grey hair and bald patches. Getting to his homestead is not an easy task.

When we get there, there are two long queues leading to Masapile’s homestead stretching up to 20km and keep growing as more sick people arrive. There are over 2,000 vehicles with sick people while the rich fly in using choppers. The vehicles are in two files –– those from Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dar-es-salaam and Nairobi and the other for the ones from the Lake Victoria regions –– Mwanza, Mara and Shinyanga.

Among the sick are people with terminal diseases, HIV/Aids and mental diseases while some go to partake the concoction to prevent illnesses.

Masapile’s treatment is puzzling given that the main ingredient of the wonder medicine is the highly poisonous arrow tree locally known as Mugariga.

The Sonjo tribe, which live in the Loliondo plains, use the sap from the tree to make poisoned arrows that kill in seconds.

The white liquid on the bark of the tree is said to be fatal when it comes into contact with blood and paralyses the respiratory system. Birds drop dead on sucking nectar from the flowers. Hunters in South America, Africa and Asia use the lethal weapons. It is the plant used to make arrow poison in traditional societies of Mara, Arusha and Singida.

So how did Masapile come up with the concoctions that have captured the imagination of the world? "In 1991, I had a dream which directed me to start using some herbal concoctions to treat my arthritis and cure other people’s chronic ailments," he says after taking a small break from serving the pale brownish liquid mixture in buckets in rusty cups that are distributed to the patients by his assistants.

"It was a directive from God Himself. In the dream, I saw a woman who looked very ill and a voice told me to treat her using the herbal mixture which by then had proven to be quite an effective remedy in treating my own ailments," he says.

He, however, says it was not until in 2009, yet another apparition of the sick woman in a recurrent dream prompted him to take action, rolling out a large cauldron and proceeding to brew what has now become a huge national phenomenon.

"It is God who has shown me how to do it and if anyone questions, they can see for themselves that it works. All those who have come here have been healed," he says.

But does the ‘magical’ brew work? One of the ‘patients’ John Mbavai says he and his wife were suffering from acute diabetic conditions but after taking the magical drink, their blood sugar normalised.

"This is our third week and our blood sugar is normal and we even went for medical check ups to prove it. We are healed," says Mbavai.

He adds that other ailments such as insomnia, fatigue and periodical fevers that used to torment him have also disappeared.

Joshua Thedeus from Kijenge claims his cousin has been healed of HIV infection after taking the brew.

"My cousin was diagnosed with HIV last year and he was among the first people to take Pastor Masapile’s magical mix last October. He then summoned up courage and went for HIV tests, guess what? He was found negative," he says.

He adds: "He used to look sick worn out and tired but now he has regained his health and he is not alone, I know lots of people who keep testifying that they have been healed by the Loliondo brew. I have not drank it, but there is no doubt that it can cure all deadly human ailments, that is a fact."

Among those who visited Masapile during our tour is former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, his predecessor, Frederick Sumaye and Opposition Party leader Augustine Mrema, who openly smiled at the TV camera as they gulped Masapile’s concoction.

Masapile’s concoction seems to be winning the approval of even the church. The head of the Northern and Central Diocese of the Lutheran Church, Bishop Thomas Laizer maintained that a number of church officials got healed from their ailments but did not mention what type of diseases.

The Arusha Regional Medical Officer Dr Salash Toure said though Masapile has been issuing his magical cure since August 2010, there has been no case of someone with HIV turning up at any of the region’s health centres wanting to test whether they have been cured.

"It is difficult to prove now if the brew is potent because no patient who has gone there returns for a test. However, there was one case of a diabetic patient whom we tested after visiting the healer and was cured, but that is just one case," he says.

A mug costs only TSh500, which is cheap by any standard and according to Masapile, it is meant to be affordable for all and to cure everyone irrespective of financial status.

"God wants everybody to get cured regardless of their financial status," he explains.

He says he will donate the proceeds to the church and use others to pay his assistants. And like the Biblical Prophet Elisha, he refuses all types of gifts and advises the modern day ‘Naamans’ to take their presents to needy persons once they get back to their homes.

"I know you have come with various forms of gifts. Thank you, please give them to needy persons when you get back to your homes," he tells the crowd milling around his mud-walled house.

The drink may be cheap but getting to the remote Sonjo plains can cost one an arm and leg. Motorists have also been enjoying the windfall, charging desperate ‘miracle seekers’ an average of about TSh150,000 (Sh9,000) to take them to Loliondo. The ‘healer’ continues to live in his mud hut at the back of which firewood stoves, boil the barks and roots of the ‘Mugariga’ tree from which a pale brownish liquid is derived. It is not the testimonies from the ‘healed’ people that puzzle us but the fact that they consume highly poisonous tree with no intoxicating effect whatsoever.

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Speculation that new-found books could impact Christianity

file22 - (excuse the translation - I searched for a better version without luck) - In a cave in Jordan found more than 70 ancient books that are about 2000 years, and is believed to make their contents could change the current way of understanding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, and the manner in which Christianity has developed at all.

Books are the BBC, found in a remote cave in the northern part of Jordan, somewhere between the 2005th and 2007 year. According to one theory, all the ‘wrong’ after the floods, which were discovered in a cave two niches of which was engraved on a candlestick, an ancient symbol of the Jews. The book has found a Bedouin, a Jordanian government claims that they were smuggled into the country second Bedouin. But the Bedouin, who is currently in their possession to deny them of smuggling and says that in his family for 100 years.

Director of the Department of Antiquities in Jordan, Ziad al-Saad thinks the book might be written by Christ’s followers for several decades after the crucifixion. This is a document that could establish that they are much more important than the roll with the Black Sea. Initial information on the contents are very encouraging and we are the great discoveries, perhaps the most important in the history of archeology, said al-Saad.

Most of the encrypted books were originally carved into the lead and site were associated with lead rings. Results are the size of a credit card, the text is written in ancient Hebrew, and most of the ciphertext. The importance of the discovery is even greater if it is indeed the origin of Christianity, not Judaism. One of the few who saw the live book is ancient archeology professor who leads the British team in an effort to situate the book in the safety of Jordan’s Museum, David Elkington.

This could be the biggest discovery in the history of Christianity and the breathtaking fact that you have a hand held object that was once upon a time held a saint, said Elkington, who believes that the book really talks about the early beginnings of Christianity due to the image on the cover and the contents of the first few page. In fact, figures show the person who is supposed to be Jesus in the presence of God.

On the cover of a book appears sedmerokraki candlestick menorah, a symbol of Judaism, which in those days was allowed to run because it only allowed to reside in the temples in the presence of God. Due to this fact Elkington believes that the book describes the return of the Messiah. That the book is indeed associated with the Bible speaks the translation of a piece of content where the display menoraha says ‘I’ll walk the sublime’, a sentence that appears in the book of Genesis. Anyway, time will tell what really works, but whatever the outcome, really it’s one great discovery from the time of early Christianity.

Fortean / Alternative News: Colorado Lights Under Investigation, New Jerusalem UFO and Los Angeles 'Perfect Triangle'

UFO Sightings Over Denver, Colorado Area Under Investigation

Closer view of the UFOs above Denver, Colorado. They moved very slowly in a triangular formation across the sky then disappeared one at a time. We were in Lafayette, CO in my cousin's backyard facing west. The lights appeared to be approximately 3000-6000 feet high, coming from the West-Southwest and moving to the southeast. When they disappeared, they seemed to be directly over Denver. I was only visiting on my vacation, so I am not positive about the exact location or direction we were facing, but I am sure we were looking towards the west. We viewed the lights for approximately 15-20 minutes before they disappeared.

The witness, Leroy Vandervegt, 50, of Lafayette, CO, shot the video. Vandervegt and his 17-year-old son watched the lights together on March 21. Four reports of the same object were filed with the MUFON.

Colorado MUFON State Director Douglas Wilson concurred that five reports have been made so far on the lights, and that they are working on a very similar case from Grand County.

"At present, I have four of Colorado's best field investigators working these cases, (two have backgrounds in law enforcement and one is a forensic meteorologist) and I am coordinating the effort," Wilson stated. "We are making good headway and hope to 'stay-on-top' of this and be able to have some good quality data to show for our efforts when we are done. So far we have contacted all of the witnesses, Air Force, NORAD, local law enforcement, the forestry department, local airports and even helicopter training schools. We are also working on getting the media on which the original footage is stored on for photo analysis."


Click for video

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California witness reports watching a "perfect black triangle"

Los Angeles, CA, March 28, 2011 - (unedited): At night , while looking up saw 3 white lights descend then curve towards Los Angeles,when passing above saw outlining of perfect black triangle going at very high speed., NO Sound emitting from it. 5 minutes later possible military jet flys by N to S DIR.

At 11:05PM Monday night March 28,2011 I stepped out to my backyard located on Palos Verdes Penninsula, Los Angeles County, Southern CA, to get some fresh air and was just stargazing looking upward in the sky in the southeast direction, when at the corner of my right eye, 10 minutes later at 11:15PM, I saw some movement at about 280 degrees.

It looks like it had just flown over the ocean and now going over the area I was at. It looked like it came in at a WNW direction from a higher altitude gradually descending to a more West direction as it looked as it was passing by around my street or maybe a couple of streets to the West, towards Los Angeles.

When first seeing this unknown object I thought they were 3 white Birds, but when I focused my eyes It was way to bright to be Birds but now realized they were 3 bright White lights almost flourescent. I also noticed the lights were at a fixed place while descending and turning the curve towards west-NW to Los Angeles, it did not act like any kinds of Birds!

While flying closet over my sighting I noticed the relection from the ground lights casted a shadow over the lights which I clearly saw a Perfect Black Triangle, outlining the lights. They were located only on the bottom of the craft. It was going really fast but not shaking, it was more like a very fast and smooth, curved down the way it flew, nothing like any jet or conventional aircraft would fly like.

I noticed ther was NO SOUND, emitting from it , and remember this is at night when things are down, in a very quiet neighborhood. I was almost in shock when I saw it and when it flew by, my sight time of the object was about 30-40 seconds, but it was enough to clearly see what it looked like and what it was doing when passing by.

In about 5 minutes later at the time of the sighting, at about 11:20PM, I noticed a Jet flying at about the same altitude when the object was flying over the area earlier, but it was coming at North To South direction, and when it flew by its jet engines roared, which I then realized it was probably a military aircraft flying that low and fast, that is when I realized that the dark triangle object with 3 white lights did not make any kind of sound, and the jet flying by right afterwards was probably looking for the object.

My feelings at the time was shock, and a little more frightening after I quickly processed in my mind of what I had just seen. It must have been close above where I was at because I lost sighting once it passed over the house, because of the verticle structure of house. I have wathced UFO documentaries mentioning ufo's that were triangles, and the scenario that played out afterwards with the jet, and that looks like what happened. After seeing this object it is amazing that I spotted it at that particular moment in time, when I was actively looking up at the stars trying to get some fresh air.

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New Company Promises to Give You a Pretend Facebook Girlfriend

aolnews - Relationship status: virtual.

That's what startup Cloud Girlfriend promises, although your friends on Facebook will never know it. The new Internet company helps guys who aren't ready to admit, at least online, that they don't have a significant other.

The new service allows users to create the perfect girlfriend who will write on your Facebook wall and otherwise make her ghostly presence known through social media.

Cloud Girlfriend has yet to officially launch, but the site is already generating overwhelming interest, advising visitors to "register early to get in line."

According to the site, signing up is easy as:

"Step 1: Define your perfect girlfriend. Step 2: We bring her into existence. Step 3: Connect and interact with her publicly on your favorite social network. Step 4: Enjoy a public long distance relationship with your perfect girl."

But not everyone is lining up. Facebook's Terms of Service agreement strictly prohibits computer controlled accounts, which would seemingly rule out cyber-based special lady friends.

"Some startups don't make it past the phase where they build a mailing list of users for their service, and if Cloud Girlfriend isn't one of them, I will gladly eat my hat," Technology Review's Christopher Mims wrote.

"That's too bad (from a business perspective) because it's very likely that a service like this could succeed," Mims adds, arguing that similar services have prospered in Japan, for example.

Still, it's difficult for some to look past the humor factor here.

"You know what gets the online ladies going? Well, when some other lady is writing all over your Facebook wall," Mashable's Brenna Ehrlich writes. "After all, 'I love you' means nada unless it's posted between a video of a big cat in a tiny box and a frantic plea from your friend Jonah to 'Gett totaly crunked on sat! dude.'"

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Man goes on 1,000 mile walk after his paralyzed leg is cured at Lourdes

A TV repair man with a paralyzed left leg went on a 1,000-mile-plus hike after being cured following a trip to Lourdes. The incredible recovery of Serge Francois, 40, is now set to become the 68th official miracle at the Roman Catholic shrine in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in south west France.

After regaining the use of his leg, Mr Francois walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the pilgrim’s route spanning France and Spain, and known in English as The Way of St James. Mr Francois, from La Salle-et-Chapelle-Aubry, western France, said he felt a warm glow spread down his herniated leg during a visit to Lourdes in 2002.

He had been praying at the grotto where local schoolgirl Bernadette Soubirous was said to have had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858, and all of his suffering suddenly disappeared. Mr Francois reported what happened to the International Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL) and 20 doctors have now concluded that it was indeed ‘remarkable’.

Archbishop Emmanuel Delmas, Bishop of Angers, said: ‘This healing can be considered a personal gift from God to man, as an event of grace, as a sign of Christ the Saviour.’ Archbishop Delmas said Mr Francois’s case would now be examined further before it officially goes down as the 68th miracle. He said that because of advances in medical science it was becoming increasingly difficult to officially class a remarkable healing as a miracle.

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New 'Dome of the Rock' UFO Video

Click for video

Jeff Gonzalez of the Sanger Paranormal Society forwarded this video last evening. Your thoughts?

Reader Mail: Lake Petenwell, Wisconsin Dogman, Flashing Shadow Person and Large Floating Object

LAKE PETENWELL, WISCONSIN DOGMAN?

I received the following in reference to the Dyer Lake, WI encounter:

Hi, just read your WI area story. I have a place in Adams County, Wisconsin by Lake Petenwell. It is a campsite of 5 acres. I was partying out there with 3 people around midnight two years ago. We had the stereo cranked up when something started to grunt/growl louder than the radio just out of sight behind a 35ft camper. It repeated the sounds 3 times. I was ready to run for my life! I got to the stereo and turned it off but did not hear a thing after that. I had my spotlight and could
not see or hear anything move away either. it sounded similar to an extremely loud bull snort mixed with a deep growl similar to the werewolf sound in the movies. It was so loud that even the people in the camper heard it! Just before this happened the whipperwills where going nuts.

We no longer walk alone on the trails at night, only riding golf carts or STVs on the trails after dark. Then last year we had another incident. We went out for a cart ride and heard a loud bark. I thought it was the neighbors dog...but no! It was a white wolf! It seemed aggressive with no fear and was circling the camper with 1 other dog. I have hunted at night and lived here my whole life and never heard anything like this first encounter. It has changed all of us for life! There is definitely something unexplained out there!

NOTE: I tend to agree...there is definitely something out there! Lon

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SHADOW PERSON WITH CAMERA?

Dear Lon: I read Phantoms and Monsters every day. I have something to share with you...I don’t know what this was, but perhaps someone else has had a similar experience.

It happened Friday night/early Saturday morning around 4:00am. I live in a townhouse apartment. I share a bedroom with my daughter on the second floor. Outside our room is a short hallway that leads to a bathroom. My son’s room is next to the bathroom. His room is cold, and he keeps a small space heater running during the night. If you turn on the bathroom light when the space heater is running, it blows a fuse. So during the several years we’ve been living here, I've learned go to the bathroom without turning the light on. There’s a security light outside not too far from our window, and it shines in a little light in the bathroom, enough that it’s not pitch black. That morning, I went into the bathroom and shut the door. Immediately, there was a bright flash of light, as if a camera flash went off. I was facing the mirror that hangs on almost the entire wall over the sink, and I swear, I am not making this up...when the flash went off, I saw what appeared to be a tall, thin black figure reflected in the mirror, as if it was standing behind me, and it looked as if it had something like a camera in its hand. The room went dark and I had spots in front of my eyes like you do when you get your picture taken with a camera flash. The incident only took a second or two, but I was so freaked out by seeing that shadowy figure behind me that I groped for the door handle and yanked the door open and jumped out into the hallway. My heart was pounding and my knees were shaking. I opened my son’s door and looked in; he had his heater off so I turned on the bathroom light. There was nothing in there. I used the bathroom and shut off the light, but I couldn’t go back to sleep for a long time.

The next morning, I took a tape measure in the bathroom. There is a medicine chest on the wall next to where this figure was standing. I measured, and whatever this was, it was 8 feet tall. I wasn’t dreaming...I was awake, and I definitely saw the flash and the figure standing there. Needless to say, I’ll be turning the light on at night in the bathroom from now on. Does anyone have any idea what this could have been? Do shadow people take “photos” of us? This has really creeped me out. I just keep wondering what it was, and why it was taking a photo of me. Sharon

NOTE: this is definitely a new one for me...an entity taking flash photos. Has anyone experience anything similar? Lon

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LARGE FLOATING BLACK OBJECT

I was wondering if anyone has approached you or if you have heard of a Large Floating Black Object? (looks like a person covered in black cloth but no body features just a head torso I guess).

This sounds so weird, but my co-worker saw it too. It was just floating over downtown London, Ontario by St. Joes Hospital about 2 to 2.5 years ago. I have been trying to find any information that someone else saw this but can not locate anything. Possibly I am not searching with the right criteria so it could be out there.

It was moving freely and was visible to me for over 2 hours - 6:30 am to 8:30 am -
it was a flowing form, seemed solid but it's "cloak" was like flowing fabric. It was solid black and hovered over the hospital and church in that area than floated around that area as well.

My co-worker first noticed it from his building, and I called him to ask when he was coming in as I had something to show him, but before I ended the call, he asked me if it was the floating mass over downtown. He was on the 20th floor of his building.

If you guys aren't the right people to contact or you know someone else I could email this to, I would appreciate some answers.

Thanks, Kristina

NOTE: OK folks...any clues? Lon

Fortean / Alternative News: Japan Groundwater Contaminated, 100s Dead Starfish and Blame Mothman / Aliens

U.S. experts: significant water contamination in Japan

reuters - Groundwater, reservoirs and sea water around Japan's earthquake damaged nuclear plant face "significant contamination" from the high levels of radiation leaking from the plant, a worrying development that heightens potential health risks in the region.

Nuclear and environmental scientists in the United States darkened their assessment of the risks markedly on Monday after operators at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant said that highly radioactive water has entered underground concrete tunnels extending beyond the reactor.

Sea water and fresh water used to cool the reactors, critically damaged by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and spent fuel pools at the plant have been put in storage tanks there. But reports indicate these tanks are full or over-flowing with tainted water, experts said.

"It's just hard to see how this won't result in significant contamination of, certainly, sea water," said Edwin Lyman, a physicist and expert on nuclear plant design at the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

"There will be dilution, some of that will be reconcentrated, but I don't think this can be sugar-coated at this point."

The experts said they need more information from Japanese authorities before accurately assessing the exact environmental and health impact. They did not say whether the latest developments can explain low levels of radiation in Tokyo's water supply.

But their remarks were gloomier than a few days earlier when scientists said the vast ocean would dilute radiation and it did not appear to pose a health risk.

Surface and sea water used to cool the damaged plant is tainted with radiation and could contaminate the adjacent ocean, surface reservoirs and groundwater, Lyman said. In addition, water is leaking inside various parts of different reactors and beyond, posing a threat.

"There's already been an enormous amount of radioactivity released from this plant into the air, and that will deposit on sea water and surface water supplies," said Lyman in a telephone briefing on Monday. "It's hard to imagine that there won't be some significant contamination that will have to be dealt with."

Reports that plant workers were exposed to radiation 100,000 times normal in water inside reactor No. 2 at the weekend could suggest a breach in some parts of the reactor buildings, where tainted water is pooling and getting into tunnels.

"Pathways for that (radioactive) material to get out are numerous," said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and director of the union's Nuclear Safety Project.

Lochbaum noted that the reactor buildings for units 1, 3 and 4 at the Fukushima plant are no longer intact and therefore not acting as barriers to nuclear contamination. This contaminated water "may leave as it evaporates from puddles on the floor," he said.

Contaminated water can also be discharged in liquid form, Lochbaum said.

BIG OCEAN

Sea contamination is a concern for the Japanese, who consume about 9 million tons of seafood a year, second behind China. The Kuroshio Current lies along Japan's east coast, where the $2 billion annual catch includes various kinds of tuna, mackerel, other flat fishes, squid and crabs, according to the Sea Around Us project, a collaboration of the Pew Environment Group and the University of British Columbia.

Radioactive material can get into water from steam or smoke which is carried by wind, rain or other precipitation onto land, surface reservoirs or the ocean. It could also be discharged directly into the ocean or leak onto land and eventually seep into groundwater.

Two materials are of concern -- cesium 137 and iodine 131.

Iodine 131, which can cause thyroid cancer, decays quickly, with a half-life of eight days, meaning its potency falls by a half in that time. The amount of this radioactive isotope of iodine is a tiny fraction of the amount of normal iodine in ocean water, said Timothy Kenna, an expert on the ocean and radiation at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York.

Cesium 137, also a carcinogen, takes much longer. It has a half-life of 30 years. There are still traces of this radioactive isotope lingering from nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific in the 1950s and 1960s, Kenna said. So far, it has not been a threat to marine life, he said by telephone.

Both chemicals would likely stay in the upper 100 yards (meters) of the ocean if they were deposited on the surface by emissions from the Fukushima plant, he said. The ocean has an average depth of 4,000 yards, meaning it has a far large volume to allow for dilution compared with rivers or lakes.

Global nuclear weapons tests showed that marine wildlife tends to absorb less radioactive material than organisms in lakes or rivers, said F. Ward Whicker, an emeritus professor at Colorado State University and one of the founders of the field of radioecology, which addresses the affects of radioactivity on the environment.

Additionally, when there is plenty of potassium and calcium in the ocean, marine life will absorb those nutrients before taking in radioactive materials, lessening the danger of seafood contamination, experts said.

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Hundreds of dead starfish wash up on Talybont, Wales beach

BBC - Several hundred dead starfish have been found washed up on a north Wales beach.

It comes following the discovery at Talybont, between Harlech and Barmouth in Gwynedd.

Council maritime officer Barry Davies said it is common for starfish to be washed ashore during spring tides but it was not clear why they had migrated so far up the shoreline.

Barmouth harbour committee chairman said an inquiry is needed.

Councillor Trefor Roberts said: "What I would like is a full scientist report on what caused the deaths of these starfish."

Mr Davies said he did not think anything suspicious has led to the deaths of the starfish.

Seagulls

He said that the common starfish - found around the UK coast - feed on mussels and other crustaceans and while there is no clear reason why the starfish migrated so far along the coast he felt one reason could be a shortage of food.

"We are confident that the cause is not related to pollution or to a vessel having dredged the starfish and discarded the starfish overboard," he said.

Although a distressing sight to see, he said the starfish were not a hazard and would probably be consumed by seagulls.

Talybont resident David Haddon said: "I can understand one or two dying, but there have been occasions where loads of jellyfish have died in this area."

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Whistle-blowing witch grounded by TSA

Here's a situation for all you aspiring managers: If you were the boss at a U.S. government agency and one of your employees complained that she was afraid of a co-worker's religious practices, what would you do?

Would it change your decision if the religion were Wicca, and the employee feared her co-worker because she thought she might cast a spell on her?

Here's how the Transportation Security Administration handled it:

It fired the witch.

Each person's story is unique, but what happened to Carole A. Smith gives us a glimpse of the work life of the 400,000-plus Wiccans in the United States. And it sheds light on work life at the TSA, where the 40,000-plus public employees who keep bad people and bad things off of airplanes have started voting this month on whether to join a union.

At New York's Albany International Airport on March 12, 2009, transportation security officer Smith was called into the office of the No. 2 TSA boss there, the assistant federal safety director for law enforcement.

Smith, then 49, was a probationary employee, on the job for just seven months. Records show that she'd had several minor disciplinary actions — she'd forgotten her name tag one time, had been a few minutes late, had stayed too long on break — but the agency classified her performance as “satisfactory.” Continue reading at Whistle-blowing witch grounded by TSA

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Ivanka Trump's accused stalker blames aliens and Mothman for mental problems

gothamist - The man who is accused of stalking Ivanka Trump was in court yesterday, where he pleaded not guilty to continuing to stalk her while out on bail for those very charges. Justin Massler, aka Cloud Starchaser, faces four counts of criminal contempt in addition to the stalking and harassment charges, and a judge ordered he take a psychiatric fitness exam. "I should stop bothering her, but I like her," Massler, who gave his address as "a volcano on Hawaii," told authorities yesterday.

After missing several court dates over the past year due to a lack of funds, Massler was arrested in LA and extradited back to NY in February. He plead not guilty to the misdemeanor stalking charges last month, and was freed on $10,000 bail. At the time, he told the News that he wouldn't try to visit her again in person, but he wouldn't let go of the prospect of wooing her from afar: "Instead, I'll become like a big-time millionaire, real estate mogul so that she's the one who contacts me. It will be more indirect, like, let the girls come to me." But the judge yesterday said he had continued a campaign of harassment, and was ordered held without bail.

When we spoke to Massler last month, he told us that he viewed himself as a "fake stalker" and performance artist: "To me, honestly, this is all like a game of make believe, and I'm just tired of adults taking the world so seriously. I don't see the need to be so serious all the time." Massler's lawyer, George Vomvolakis, echoed that assessment of him, but added that his client needs profesional help: "He's a highly intelligent individual with various mental issues he's been addressing his entire life."

Many of the dallies have pointed to a YouTube video Massler made which blames aliens and Mothman for his current situation as proof of his mental instability

Fortean / Alternative News: Egyptian Cobra Escapes, Supermoon Blamed For Bombs and NDEs

Poisonous Egyptian cobra escapes in Bronx Zoo

aolnews - A poisonous cobra has vanished from an enclosure outside public view at the Bronx Zoo, and its Reptile House remained closed Sunday as a precaution while zoo workers searched for the missing reptile.

While the roughly 20-inch-long Egyptian cobra - a highly venomous species of snake - has been unaccounted for since Friday afternoon, zoo officials say they're confident it hasn't gone far and isn't in a public area. Its enclosure was in an isolation area not open to visitors.

"To understand the situation, you have to understand snakes," zoo Director Jim Breheny said in an email Sunday.

The animals seek out confined spaces, so this one has doubtless hidden in a place it feels safe, he said.

Once the snake gets hungry or thirsty enough to leave its hiding place, workers will have their best opportunity to recover it, Breheny said. In the meantime, the Reptile House remained closed indefinitely.

The missing cobra is an adolescent of its hooded species, which is believed to be the type of snake that was called an asp in antiquity. Cobra bites can be deadly if not treated properly, but the snakes aren't likely to attack people unless the reptiles feel threatened, according to a fact sheet on the San Diego Zoo's website.

Opened in 1899, the Bronx Zoo is run by the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Supermoon blamed for 100+ WWII bombs washing up on a Southampton beach

dailymail - For decades they lay beneath the sea, undisturbed by time or tide.

But after 70 years, almost 100 Second World War bombs finally fulfilled their explosive destiny yesterday, thanks to the power of the 'Supermoon'.

A Navy bomb disposal team detonated them after abnormal tides thought to be caused by the unusual proximity of the moon washed them up on a Southampton beach.

The experts, who warned that more of the still potentially deadly mortar bombs may yet be uncovered, were initially called in after the low tide revealed six near Calshot Activities Centre, which runs canoeing and dinghy-sailing lessons for adults and children.

The water had receded so far that it uncovered the 70-year-old mortar shells, which were then pushed onshore as the tide came in.

After imposing a 600 yard exclusion zone and detonating them, the Navy team was shocked to see another 87 appear over the next 24 hours.

They spent yesterday wiring up the bombs in groups of ten with explosives, waiting until the tide came back in to detonate them.

'We blow them up when they are covered with water because it absorbs a lot of the shock,' said explosives expert Lieutenant Commander Al Nekrews, who added that it was 'unprecedented' to find so many unexploded bombs.

His colleagues fear more of the Mark I high-explosive mortar bombs, which are 4in by 20in, could wash up on the shoreline.

Lt Commander Nekrews added: 'We would tell all members of the public to definitely not handle them and to call police. They are always a danger.

'They were in an unstable state because of the amount of corrosion they have suffered over the years.'

A Navy spokesman said the bombs were English but it was not known whether they had been fired from land or from a ship.

The Moon is the closest it has been to Earth since 1993, making it a so-called Supermoon and increasing its gravitational effect on the tides.

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Does she really know what happens during a near-death experience?

express - An expert in near death experiences, Dr Penny Sartori has spent 15 years interviewing patients who claim they came back from the dead.

We have all heard stories of patients lying apparently lifeless on a hospital bed while doctors work frantically to resuscitate them. When they come round they talk about seeing a white light at the end of a long tunnel. They may often report talking to loved ones.

While sceptics may dismiss these visions as little more than the effect of anaesthesia, these tales are accounts of classic near-death experiences (NDEs). After more than 21 years as a nurse, the last 17 of those in intensive care, I’ve heard countless similar stories.

I became so fascinated with NDEs I decided to undertake my own study at the Morriston Hospital in Swansea where I work. I began documenting NDEs and my research is the largest of its kind in the UK. I was awarded my PhD in NDEs five years ago from the University of Wales.

At first I thought this phenomenon was caused by hallucinations but one 59-year-old’s experience I documented clearly suggests this isn’t the case. The woman was admitted to A&E with severe asthma and revealed that she suddenly found herself feeling calm. In reality she’d blacked out.

Next she was looking down on her body in the hospital bed and she spotted a mousetrap on top of the cupboard. She then saw a bright light. She was drawn towards it and figures appeared as outlines.

She felt incredibly peaceful and travelled towards the light but the figures told her she had to go back. “I wasn’t sure who the beings were but I had a feeling I knew them,” she told me. “They felt like family members.”

When the woman woke up in A&E she told a nurse about her experience. The nurse then discovered the mousetrap on top of the cupboard.

Other people I’ve interviewed for my research reported travelling down a tunnel and meeting relatives, some have seen spiritual or religious beings standing in bright light, while others have even undergone a life review where everything they’ve done flashed before them. However all the cases I’ve spoken to have one thing in common: they are told it’s not their time or they make a voluntary effort to return to their body. The traditional medical view of NDEs is that they’re caused by drugs, a lack of oxygen to the brain or hallucinations. However my research found that in some cases oxygen levels were normal during an NDE and other patients were not receiving drug treatments yet both still had NDEs.

I have also talked to people who have been recorded as clinically dead for up to five minutes yet during this time they’ve undergone a powerful experience they can recall.

Following 15 years of research, I have come to the conclusion that NDEs are real, spiritual experiences that can have a profound effect.

Some people change their lifestyle and careers while others become less materialistic. The psychological impact can be overwhelming with people afterwards saying they now know the death of the physical body isn’t the end. I’ve even discovered people whose energy field appears to change. If they stand near household appliances, such as kettles, the equipment blows up or becomes faulty for no apparent reason.

I recently headed up new research called The Hereafter Report which shows that 66 per cent of people in the UK now believe in life after death, up from 47 per cent in 1955.

I’m not surprised by the high figure because I suspect many people have NDEs but are afraid to disclose the experience for fear of being ridiculed.

I also believe current scientific thinking is unable to understand NDEs and that the boundaries of science with respect to this phenomenon need to be revised.

But of course however we investigate NDEs, we will never be 100 per cent sure what happens after death until we die ourselves. Meanwhile we can simply try to make sense of the tantalising glimpses reported by others.

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Going into the light

irishtimes - A new study of deathbed experiences has found a surprising number of similarities, writes FIONOLA MEREDITH

GIVEN THAT many of us shy away from talking about death and dying, it is not surprising that we know so little about what happens in the last hours of a person’s life. But an unusual new study, funded by the Irish Hospice Foundation, aims to break through the taboo of the deathbed.

The study – Capturing the invisible: exploring Deathbed Experiences in Irish Palliative Care, by researchers Una MacConville and Regina McQuillan – examines the strange visions that often accompany the dying process, asking members of the Irish Association of Palliative Care to report their experiences. The results are startling.

In one frequently reported scenario, the dying person spoke of seeing deceased relatives or religious figures, or of experiencing a radiant white light in the room. Perhaps because they defy explanation, these deathbed phenomena are rarely discussed by healthcare professionals, despite being a familiar occurrence.

Yet rather than avoiding the topic, MacConville says education about such experiences could raise awareness of the phenomena and help palliative care professionals to normalise them for patients and families as a common and even comforting part of dying.

After all, as MacConville points out, there is nothing new in these visions: accounts of deathbed experiences (DBE) are common throughout history and across cultures. William Shakespeare makes reference to them, and the earliest medical encyclopaedias recognise such phenomena as indications that death is close. In most cases, they have a positive effect, bringing peace, comfort, calmness and joy to the patient.

One nurse who responded to the study said, “I have often heard patients refer to seeing someone in their room or at the end of their bed, often relatives, and also it is not a distressing event for them. Family are usually shocked by hearing it and want to know the significance of it.”

Another odd but quite frequently reported occurrence – 31 per cent of respondents mentioned it in this study – is when a dying person unexpectedly emerges from a coma, suddenly becoming sufficiently alert to communicate with family and friends.

A respondent reported that, “In one incident the patient, who had been in a coma, opened his eyes and smiled at his three daughters and wife. Profound calmness and peace filled the room. It was special to be part of that experience. In another incident the patient said he saw a light, a bright light; he died shortly afterwards.”

Less dramatically, the dying person may also experience vivid dreams that have particular significance for them, sometimes helping them resolve unfinished business in their lives. Others report a sudden and unexplained smell of roses, or claim to see angels appearing in their room.

However you explain them, most of these experiences sound benign, even reassuring. But MacConville says that deathbed phenomena sometimes can be frightening encounters for the dying person and their relatives: “Family members may become distressed because they realise that death is imminent, and the dying person may be disturbed by the visions because they don’t understand them.”

One respondent told MacConville and McQuillan that relatives often become “upset and emotional if patient talks to them as they realise time is very short”.

Neither is a deathbed experience any kind of guarantor of a peaceful death. In the study, only 24 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that patients experiencing DBE have a peaceful death as a result. Some 59 per cent were neutral and 17 per cent disagreed.

MacConville says deathbed experiences are rarely talked about precisely because it’s not clear what these visions are. One common sense explanation may be that the visions are drug- or fever-induced hallucinations. But 68 per cent of respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, that DBE have different qualities from such hallucinations.

MacConville says there appears to be a difference in the quality of the visions: they appear with greater clarity, and they are experienced as meaningful, with significant associations, rather than random, as they would be in drug-induced cases.

An earlier study also indicated that patients experiencing deathbed phenomena are usually calm and composed. In contrast, drug- or fever-induced hallucinations can be disturbing and frightening, with other symptoms of drug-induced toxicity and high temperature present as well.

Reflecting on the deathbed phenomena, one anonymous palliative care nurse admitted that such visions “do not often have a rational explanation”. Nonetheless, “I don’t believe people’s experiences can be discounted or disputed. It is individual, intense and real for many patients and families.”

Being able to put a name to these experiences, and to talk about them openly, is one important step towards overcoming the fear and confusion that surrounds the last hours before death.

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"Spare the rod, spoil the child?"

wisconsingazette - The pastor and seven members of a small fundamentalist Christian church near Mazomanie, Wis., have been arrested on charges of child abuse for beating infants as young as two months old with wooden rods, reported AOL News.

Philip Caminiti, 53, pastor of Aleitheia Bible Church in Black Earth, and his brother, John Caminiti, 45, pleaded innocent to a dozen counts of child abuse last week. The alleged victims range in age from infancy to 6 years old, according to the Dane County Sheriff’s office.

“During interviews with detectives, Phil expressed his belief that the Bible dictates the use of a rod over a hand to punish children. He stated that children only a few months old are ‘worthy’ of the rod and that by ‘one and a half months,’ a child is old enough to be spanked,” according to the sheriff's office release.

“Throughout the investigation, the church members were open with detectives about their ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ philosophy. They described using wooden dowels and wooden spoons on the bare skin of children, starting as young as 2 months old,” the sheriff's office said.

The pastor told deputies that the Bible prescribes the punishment for infants who are “being emotional, grumpy or crying.”

Six church members charged in the case also pleaded innocent.

According to the sheriff's office, the wooden dowels used to beat the infants were 12-18 inches long with a diameter about the size of a quarter. Former church members who brought the complaint to the attention of authorities told detectives that “redness and bruising” were the “common effects of the spankings.”

The children often were punished when they cried or failed to sit still during church services, a former church member told authorities. “Phil was very strict about children being quiet during church,” the complaint states.

John Caminiti told investigators in November that he does not allow his family to communicate with people outside his religious beliefs and has punished his wife and son by confining them to their rooms until they corrected their disobedience, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

None of the children of people charged in these cases has been removed from their parents' homes.

Chilling Cryptid Encounter - Near Dyer Lake, Wisconsin

I received this interesting correspondence from a 'Beyond the Edge' Radio listener recently:

Hello Lon,

I am writing about something that happened to me about 20 years ago.

I live in a small lake area called Bohners Lake, just outside of Burlington, Wisconsin. At the time of this tale I lived on the opposite side of the lake of where I live now about a half mile away from a boy scout camp called Camp Oh-Da-Ko-Ta. This camp encompasses 185 acres of beautiful rolling hills and woodlands on Dyer Lake.

It was a beautiful summer day and I decided to take a walk with my dogs, a Golden Retriever and English Setter. I went a different way than usual and happened upon the back trail to the camp. It was chained off, but I chanced it anyway and hopped over to check it out.

The area indicated by the witness (noise came from largest building in middle of inset)

The trail was very quiet and peaceful and we walked a while enjoying ourselves greatly. After a bit we came upon some buildings. One was a large pole barn type that had it's doors chained shut. Curiosity overtook me, as usual, and I went up and pushed on one of the large doors allowing a crack of about 6 inches. I tried peering inside and couldn't see much but a floor and empty space.

I was shocked when an earsplitting roar came out of the barn. It sounded like a scream but deep, guttural and bearlike.

Well, my dogs took off running, and I took off running after them terrified. We ran back to my house and, shaking like a leaf and out of breath, I told my (now ex) husband what had happened. He of course told me that what I had heard was a crane........ I just stared at him incredulously. I knew better, but I wasn't going to argue the point with him and just pondered on it for a bit by myself, attempting to calm down.

The day went on and nothing else was said about it until just after dark when we both heard the same scream coming from the back yard!

The house I lived in at the time had a huge back yard. At the very back we had a garden by a small wooded area, and it was from there that we heard the scream. Well, my ex grabbed his rifle, and the dogs and headed down to the garden finding nothing.

He came back to the house, eyes wide, and acknowledged that what I had heard was not a crane.

After that we went about our night talking about it, with the dogs nervously prancing about, and eventually went to bed.

Being summer, the bedroom windows were open and about 3 am, I was shocked awake when "it" was just outside the window and screamed into it. The dogs didn't even bark, they just cowered, whining.

My husband again jumped up and grabbed the rifle and went outside, without the dogs as they didn't want to have anything to do with it,to investigate...again nothing.

Well the story would end here as we didn't hear anything after that, and I was too scared to investigate the building again, but it just happened that about 3 weeks later my husband and I went away for the weekend on a camping trip and my mother, younger sister, and her two daughters spent the night at our house to watch the dogs while we were gone.

The following morning my sister was in the kitchen cooking breakfast when my niece Sandra came in. She looked at the kitchen window and noticed a long smear mark on the kitchen window.

She was about 9 at the time and looked up at my sister and said, " I know what did that." My sister looked at it and asked Sandra what she thought made it.

Sandra replied, " Ooooo, it was the Swamp Monster"... My sister chuckled and asked her why she thought that.

Now, I was always teasing the girls with stories about a swamp monster that lived out by me so they just knew that there was a creature out there. This of course was before my own experience and it wasn't cute and funny anymore.

Then she said, "I saw the Swamp Monster last night."

My sister said chuckling still, "Oooooo, what did you see?"

Sandra just looked at her and said, "I saw a huge white hairy arm and it ran it's claws across the bedroom screen." (my bedroom)

My sister said, "Wow, what did you do?"

Sandra said, "Aw, I just rolled over and went to sleep, I knew it was Aunt Tina trying to scare me."

Of course, we were camping.

So, what did she see? I haven't a clue to this day. But I wonder, were they keeping something out there, or was there something living in that barn unbeknownst to them at the camp and did it follow me home?

Last summer my brother, sister-in-law and I tried going back there, but we got stopped by the person living across the road before we could go across the chain that is still there.

One more thing about that camp. Before this situation, a group of us had gone in the front entrance to the camp by car to check out Dyer Lake that is at the center edge of the camp hoping to sneak in some late night swimming. This was of course after dark and we of course were not supposed to be there.

We arrived at the trail to the lake and got out of the car with our flashlights to walk. We tried following the trail but ended up going off somewhere along the line. We went over a hillside and there, at the bottom of the hill was a beautiful raw iron gate about 6' tall. There was a hole dug into the side of the hill, and this gate was covering the opening.

We opened the gate, and found ourselves in a 12'x12' cave of sorts. Inside were candles, a dead rooster, and a sythe. There was nothing else. No altar or other signs of occult practices, just the things we found haphazardly laying about the room. My sister's now ex-husband took the sythe (which I told him to leave there) and we left and never went back. That is until I went for my walk that summer day.

Tina Caskey

NOTE: there has been some interesting cryptid activity in the general area previously - The Bray Road Beast - Bigfoot Tracks Discovered in Farmington, Wisconsin? - Wisconsin Werewolf: Adaptation or Supernatural? - Strange Encounter in Cheboygan County, Michigan - Is The 'Dogman' Back?. Tina joined Eric and I on the 'Beyond the Edge' Radio show last evening (March 27th) and described her encounter...Lon

Fortean / Alternative News: Tokyo's Yellow Rain Concerns, UFO Frenzy in Colorado and 'Knobby' Nonsense

Yellow Rain Falls In Tokyo? Pollen Excuse Exact Same As Chernobyl Yellow Rain Lie

theintelhub - While the Japanese government continues to say that the yellow rain seen in Japan was simply “pollen,” many have been reminded of a very similar occurrence after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Almost on que, the Japan Meteorological Agency has confirmed the rain to be pollen after receiving hundreds of calls from concerned citizens.

The ‘‘yellow rain’’ seen Wednesday in the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo was caused by pollen, not radioactive materials as many residents had worried, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Thursday, reported the Japan Times.

That’s right, according to so called experts, enough pollen to cause hundreds to report their findings, rained down on Tokyo at the same time as a devastating nuclear disaster has released high levels of radiation at least 20km from the nuclear plant.

This explanation has reminded many of the yellow rain that hit after the Chernobyl disaster.

Similar to the explanation in Japan, government officials claimed that the yellow radioactive rain that fell in Gomel, Belarus was merely pollen and nothing to worry about. We now know that was a bold faced lie.

Women and children actually played in the puddles of yellow rain after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Remembering Chernobyl – Yellow Rain:

“We all jumped in the puddles with the yellow stuff. … You don’t see (it in) the air, it doesn’t materialize. But when you see the yellow dust, you see radiation,” Antonina Sergieff said.

The accident was originally caused by a small testing error that resulted in a chain reaction in which highly pressurized steam literally blew the top off of a nuclear reactor.

The result was the release of 100 more times radiation than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to the United Nations issue brief on Chernobyl.

Among the unstable elements released were iodine-131, caesium-137, strontium-90 and plutonium-239. Scientists say that exposure to such elements, especially in such high doses, impairs critical cellular functions and damages DNA.

When these elements first reached Sergieff 20 years ago, they came in the form of yellow rain.

It was not long after that residents in her hometown knew it wasn’t simply “pollen” – which is what government officials assured them, she said.


Click for video

Suspected Pollen Fall Stokes Radiation Jitters in Kanto

blogs.wsj - As far as weather experts were concerned it was an unremarkable grayish morning in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures located in the crook of Japan’s biggest island. But the calm weather belied the storm of phone calls made to Japan’s Meteorological Agency this morning, as citizens made anxious by the crisis at the wrecked reactors at Fukushima remain on high alert for the slightest sign of news–or anything else–from the plant.

The day after Tokyo authorities warned against giving tapwater to infants on account of small doses of radioactive iodine in the water supply, residents in the surrounding Kanto region anxious about a mysterious yellow substance seen on back porches and sidewalks barraged the JMA’s help line Thursday morning, fearful that the powdery material might be radioactive remnants of rain from the previous night. But it wasn’t the dregs of black rain.

The JMA believes the yellow patches are pollen, but has yet to confirm this.

“Pollen is something people see all the time and ignore, said a JMA official. “But people are extra vigilant now because they are scared of radiation exposure” due to the caustic Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

At time of publication, over 280 inquiries concerning the yellow powder had been phoned into the JMA after the help lined opened at 9:00 am JST Thursday. The JMA said it is the first time the service has received this kind of volume, underlining the anonymous but evident way radiation fears have manifested in Japan, similar to how shoppers hoarded water and instant noodles in the immediate aftermath of the disasters two weeks ago. A JMA official said the help line typically gets a lot of traffic when a typhoon is on the horizon. But even then the number of calls rarely reaches 200.

The JMA said the pollen — flying about in especially concentrated amounts this year because of last summer’s record heat wave – fell down with the rain Wednesday night. While the pollen would usually be drained down gutters during heavier rain falls, the droplets don’t pool into puddles when it’s weak. Instead, the water left on the ground evaporates quickly leaving the caught pollen naked on the pavement.

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Only in America: Get high, get mauled by a bear, get workers' comp

theweek - The story: The Montana Supreme Court this week decided that a nature park worker who was mauled by a grizzly bear in 2007 should get workers' compensation — even though he was high on marijuana at the time. The man, Brock Hopkins, admitted he smoked a joint before deciding to feed the animals at Great Bear Adventures, a privately run park where black bears and grizzlies roam outdoors. While Hopkins was in the bear enclosure, a grizzly named Red attacked and severely injured him. His initial workers' compensation claim was denied. The owner of the park, Russ Kilpatrick, said Hopkins doesn't even really work there, but was more of a helper he gave money to "out of his heart." The state Supreme Court disagreed, saying Hopkins was hurt while doing work for Kilpatrick, so he deserved to be compensated for his injuries. Hopkins' altered state, the court said, didn't matter, because grizzlies are "equal-opportunity maulers."

The reaction: "Smoke dope. Feed grizzlies. Get mauled. Collect worker's comp," says Gwen Florio at Cops and Courts. Is this a great country, or what? Well, the Montana Workers' Compensation Court did characterize Hopkins' actions as — in their words — "mind-bogglingly stupid," says Eric Schwartz at the Daily Inter Lake. The justices just decided that "marijuana use was not a major contributing cause of his injuries." Stoned or sober, when it's you vs. a grizzly, the grizzly wins. Every time.

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Genetically Modified Cows Produce "Human" Milk

good.is - Earlier this month, China held an exhibition to showcase major technical achievements during its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). Among the wonders on display were photos of a herd of 200 cows that have been genetically modified to produce "human" milk.

Precise details of the bioengineering employed to adjust the composition of the milk these 200 cows produce are not available, nor is it clear exactly how closely the GM cow milk will resemble its human analog. According to the announcement in the state-run news outlet, China Daily, Li Ning, director of the State Key Laboratories for AgroBiotechnology at China Agricultural University, confirmed that the genetically modified herd's milk "contains the characteristics of human milk."

Li added that the cow-human milk "tastes stronger than normal milk" and explained that:

In ancient China, only the emperor and the empress could drink human milk throughout their lives, which was believed to be the height of opulence. Why not make that kind of milk more available for ordinary people?

Interestingly, human milk has low protein density compared with cow's milk, and many of its health benefits are to be found in so-called "non-nutritional factors" such as anti-microbials, anti-inflammatory substances, hormones, and digestive enzymes. Li is vague on the specifics, but promises that China's genetically modified cows will allow scientists to mass-produce ingredients "that can help improve the immune systems and the central nervous systems of children." "Within 10 years," he added, "people will be able to pick up these human-milk-like products at the supermarket."

The ingenuity involved in shifting the nutrient profile of milk produced by mammals is pretty remarkable—it can now only be a matter of time before we bypass the Nestlé factory altogether and squeeze chocolate-yumberry flavor cow's milk with brain-boosting Omega 3 direct from our pet goat's udders.

However, this development should be understood in the light of China's recent scares over melamine-tainted baby milk. The national scandal that followed the sickening of nearly 300,000 infants fed the tainted milk powder prompted an ongoing discussion about the country's declining breast-feeding rates, which, in turn, has been blamed on everything from aggressive marketing by formula producers, migrant working patterns, and the rise of body image concerns.

Still, in a country where up to 90 percent of adults are lactose intolerant, genetically modifying cows to produce human breast milk seems like an unnecessarily complicated solution to a problem that could instead be tackled through greater support for and awareness of the benefits of breast-feeding itself, not to mention rigorous enforcement of China's new food safety laws.

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Knobby or his kin?

shelbystar - Tufts of bushy brown fur. Thick, powerful legs supporting a stocky frame. If it wasn't Knobby, Thomas Byers thinks the Cleveland County bigfoot has a close cousin.

The Shelby native says he saw an apelike creature dart across the road during a trip through the hills below South Mountains State Park Tuesday evening. Byers and friend Carolyn Wright had planned to watch for paranormal phenomena at an old church graveyard when the shrouded, shuffling figure crossed their path.

"She was hollering, 'What is it, what is it?' and I couldn't even speak," Byers said. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It looked like it was about 300 pounds and it was somewhere close to 7 feet tall. It came out of the field and came through the briars and bushes onto the road."

Byers snapped photographs and recorded a brief video of the sighting with a pocket digital camera. As is often the case with footage of the camera-shy sasquatch, Byers' film is blurry and indistinct. He said the darkening sky made clearer pictures impossible, but he's convinced the creature was genuine.

"I saw its private parts," he said. I don't think it was anybody in a suit or anything like that. It was definitely male."

Could it be Knobby?

Byers made his discovery on Golden Valley Church Road outside Bostic in northeastern Rutherford County, not far from the Cleveland County line. Cleveland has a history of bigfoot sightings dating back four decades.

In the late 1970s, residents reported more than a dozen sasquatch sightings near Carpenter's Knob north of Casar. A reporter dubbed the creature Knobby, and the legend lay dormant until June 2010, when Casar resident Timothy Peeler called 911 to report seeing an apelike creature.

There are several key discrepancies between the two recent sightings, however. Peeler said the sasquatch he saw was at least 10 feet tall with a white-gray beard. Byers' bigfoot stood 3 feet shorter and had darker hair.

"I've heard all the legends about Knobby," Byers said. "I've heard people talking about it. I don't know about a blond one, but I know there's a brown one. He was alive and well and in bad need of a bath."

Walks like a man

Byers believes the creature he saw scampering across the road was a new primate species. But an animal ecologist who analyzed his video said the blurry figure is likely more man than beast. Dr. James English, professor of zoology at Gardner-Webb University, said the "bigfoot" has the gait of a human.

"There's nothing about this that makes me believe that it's anything but a person," English said. "This isn't evidence that is in any way convincing. It's just a picture of something walking upright."

English said the figure in Byers' video has a limp that makes it appear as if its right leg is injured. Though the video is grainy and texture is difficult to determine, the professor said he didn't necessarily see hair.

"There's a shade of blue on his lower torso that looks like blue jeans," English said. "I'm not going to say it's obviously anything because it's such a poor picture."

Bigfoot sightings have persisted for generations, but most scientists say believers haven't met the burden of proof. Photos, videos and footprints can be faked, but a sasquatch corpse — or even bones — would provide credible evidence of existence.

"Just because you don't find one doesn't mean it doesn't exist," English said. "It would be pretty extraordinary. I couldn't say it's impossible; I would just say that it's extremely unlikely."

Up close and personal

While Byers' video may invite skepticism, the retired Navy petty officer first class said his face-to-face encounter with the creature left little room for doubt.

Smoke streamed from the mountaintops in the distance as a prescribed burn consumed dead brush. Byers said the fire was flushing wildlife out of the woods, and he and Wright had stopped along the roadside to see deer and rabbits running across the road when they saw the strange creature.

"It turned around, threw up its arms and snarled at me," Byers said. "It was real pissed off. I could see its teeth. I could see every detail of it."

Byers said he was 15 to 20 feet away from the bigfoot. Even from that distance, he noticed a pungent odor.

"There was a horrid smell like decay," he said. "It was a cross between roadkill and a skunk."

What the creature lacked in hygiene, however, it made up for in agility. Byers said the sasquatch scaled a hill on the other side of the road in mere seconds.

"It was a lot faster than any man," he said. "It was just as fast or faster than a deer."

He knows not everyone will believe his bigfoot encounter was genuine. But if the sighting was staged, Byers said he's not in on the joke.

"I have nothing to profit from for it to be a hoax," he said. "I'm open to the possibilities, but I think it was real."

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UFO frenzy goes into overdrive as three red lights hover over Colorado town

dailymail - It's the latest internet sensation - amateur footage of three red lights in a triangular formation hovering in the night sky above the town of Lafayette in Colorado.

The video, shot last Monday, shows that the sky was clear and witnesses said they could not see anything connecting the lights.

Leroy Vandervegt, a 50-year-old who has lived in Lafayette for 16 years, shot the video Sunday evening after his 17-year-old son saw the glowing orbs move from south west to south east along the horizon.

'I had no idea what it is,' he said. 'It wasn't a satellite, it wasn't an airplane and it wasn't a helicopter.'

By Friday, five days after posting, more than 39,000 people had watched the video on YouTube, dailycamera.com reports.

Mr Vandervegt said the lights made no noise and did not blink.

The lights remained in a triangular shape as they moved forward, though the shape of the triangle changed.

Denver International Airport officials would not talk about the sighting but, intriguingly, Allen Kenitzer, the Federal Aviation Administration's spokesman for the Rocky Mountain region, said his staff didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Mr Kenitzer said: 'To the best of our knowledge, radar returns showed no abnormal unidentified activity within our airspace in references to the three triangular formation red lights as being reported.'

Doug Wilson is the Colorado director for the Mutual UFO Network, an organization that strives to learn the origin of UFO phenomena through the collection and analysis of UFO data. He received four reports of the UFO sighting and is sending investigators to the scene.

'It's unusual for us to have a single event with multiple reports,' he said. 'It's not just somebody pulling our leg.'

He added that three red lights in a triangle is a common pattern for UFOs.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank, however, poured cold water on the reports, questioning why a planet-hopping spaceship would need headlights.

He said: 'Any civilization with technology capable of spanning light-years ought to be able to hide themselves well enough to avoid detection from hairy apes with jet-planes like us.

'Of course, the lights might be their engines but a species crossing trillions of kilometres of empty space is not going to be using rockets. Hopefully they have some other kind of "hyperdrive" or something cool.'