Just the Facts?: Cabela’s Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar -- The Science of Ghosts...From Another Skeptic

Sasquatch at Cabela’s Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

Press contact:

Bud Forte 304-238-0120 - Ext 8046
Honor.Forte@cabelas.com

Sasquatch at Cabela’s Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar

People see things in the woods that do not have a clear explanation. Trail Cameras get photos of creatures and their behavior that defy conventional thought. There are thousands of reported sightings of animals, tracks and dens that have no explanation. Mainstream scientists have slowly taken on the research into this phenomenon and have generated new interest and new evidence and findings are surfacing every day.

There have been reported sightings of large bipedal ape like creatures all over the world for hundreds of years. A sixteen millimeter film shot in 1967 of a creature walking through the mountains of northern California is still being analyzed and there is consensus that it may be real.

Footprints, seventeen inches in length, are being discovered and studied by leading authorities. DNA samples have been studied and conclusions are forthcoming. Some people close to these investigations are reporting that the DNA samples from North America may resemble that of a Primate. No known Primates inhabit North America.

Is Sasquatch real or myth? That is the question that top scientific researchers will be exploring during the Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar at Cabela’s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, February 15th, 16th and 17th. This Seminar is now in its third year at Cabela’s and has been enjoyed by hundreds of inquiring people of all ages in the last two presentations.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum will be the featured presenter. Meldrum is an Associate Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University and recognized as one of the leading scientific authorities on the possibility of the existence of Sasquatch or Bigfoot. Dr. Meldrum is recognized as an authority as well on bipedal locomotion or how two legged creatures walk.

Dr. Meldrum’s book, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Scienceis credited by top scientists as being a real scientific analysis of the evidence and is the top selling book on the subject.

In his book, Dr. Meldrum develops a baseline of science on which further research can be based and with critical examination he forces no conclusions.

Joining Dr. Jeff Meldrum will be researchers Eric Altman and David Dragosin of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society, Independent Researcher Stan Gordon and Billy Willard, Founder of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia. These organizations have quietly and methodically investigated multiple reported sightings in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Eric Altman is a cryptozoologist, specializing in Bigfoot/Sasquatch research and is the Director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society. He is the host and producer of the alternative talk show program, Beyond the Edge Radio. Eric and Dave Dragosin, assistant director of the Pennsylvania group have investigated multiple sighting reports in the Uniontown and Chestnut Ridge areas of Western Pennsylvania. Billy Willard has been called in on the investigations of multiple reported sightings of Bigfoot in West Virginia.

Stan Gordon was the principal investigator of the Kecksburg, Pennsylvania UFO incident in 1965 when an unidentified object landed in the small community south of Pittsburgh that was surrounded with controversy and accusations of a cover up. Gordon now continues his investigations into unexplained events in many areas of the United States.

The Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar will include trail camera photos submitted by Cabela’s customers of unusual wildlife in our vicinity, including possible photos of a Cougar taken not far from Cabela’s store at the Highlands.

There will be a reception with Dr. Jeff Meldrum and the other scientists and researchers from 6 until 8PM on Friday evening, February 15th in Cabela’s Conference Center. The seminar will be presented both on Saturday, February 16th and Sunday, February 17th beginning at 10:00 AM. The program is expected to go until about 5PM.

Many of the participants have witnessed large footprints and have made plaster casts of the prints. These and other plaster casts will be on display for the event. The researchers will show photographs and video of what appears to be Sasquatch taken in multiple locations. There will be eyewitness reports presented at the seminar by people who have seen these creatures. Those attending may draw their own conclusions.

There is no charge for the event and reservations are not required plus those attending can register while there for several high quality trail cameras and other prizes to be given away both on Saturday and on Sunday.

Bud Forte

Retail Marketing Manager
Marketing & Brand Management
One Cabela Drive
Triadelphia, West Virginia 26059
Direct 41208046
304-238-0120 Ext. 8046
Fax: 304-547-9350
Honor.Forte@cabelas.com
Please note ALL requests for donations, sponsorships, or advertising must now be made at least 60 Days prior to an event through Cabela’s online request center at http://information.cabelas.com/support. Thank you.

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The Wolffish

The ferocious-looking wolffish gets its name from the sharp, protruding teeth.

The wolffish are a family, Anarhichadidae, of perciform fish. They are native to cold waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where they live on the continental shelf and slope, to depths of about 600 m (2,000 ft). They are bottom-feeders, eating hard-shelled invertebrates such as clams, echinoderms and crustaceans, which they crush with strong canine and molar teeth. The longest species, Anarrhichthys ocellatus, grows to more than 2 m (6.6 ft) in length.

There are four species in the Anarhichas family: the Northern wolffish, the Atlantic wolffish or sea wolf, the Spotted wolffish, and the Bering wolffish.

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Australian teenager survives nine weeks in wild

An Australian teenager who went missing from his home in Sydney more than two months ago was discovered emaciated, exhausted and covered in leeches, but alive in bushland north of the city.

Matthew Allen's family feared the worst after the 18-year-old disappeared in late November from Westleigh, near Cherrybrook in northwest Sydney and his mobile phone and bank accounts went untouched.

Extensive searches of the area by police failed to find a trace of Allen, who suffers from an undisclosed medical condition.

But two hikers spotted the teen lying in bushland less than two kilometres (just over a mile) from his home on Saturday, covered in leeches and insect bites and having lost almost half his body weight.

He was partially blind, exhausted and suffering gangrene to his lower legs and feet after an ordeal police said they were amazed he had survived.

"He was completely exhausted, completely dehydrated, suffered significant weight loss, somewhere up to 50 per cent. He was suffering from partial blindness and he had leeches all over him," said acting police inspector Glyn Baker.

"He was not living under any shelter and was exposed to the full conditions since reported being missing," he added.

Allen was believed to have deliberately hidden himself from view in the area which is heavily frequented by hikers.

He told rescuers he had survived by drinking from a local creek, which was almost dry when he was found. Allen endured soaring temperatures in recent weeks including a record-breaking 46 degree Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) day in Sydney.

Allen was airlifted to safety and was undergoing treatment in hospital for his injuries, which were described as not life-threatening.

Police have yet to speak to him about his ordeal.

"His family are ecstatic that he's alive and that he's well," said Baker. - Telegraph

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The Science of Ghosts...From Another Skeptic

An article by my friend and colleague Chris Halton of Haunted Earth's Ghost World:

Ghosts have been a popular subject for millennia, appearing in countless stories, from "Macbeth" to the Bible, and even spawning their own folklore genre: ghost stories. Ghosts are perhaps the most common paranormal belief in the world. Part of the reason is that belief in ghosts is part of a larger web of related paranormal beliefs, including near-death experience, life after death, and spirit communication.

The idea that the dead remain with us in spirit is an ancient one, and one that offers many people comfort; who doesn't want to believe that our beloved but deceased family members aren't looking out for us, or with us in our times of need? Most people believe in ghosts because of personal experience; they have seen or sensed some unexplained presence. Continue reading at Haunted Earth


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Builders Find Gold Coin Stash In Irish Pub

Builders working in an old pub in the Irish Republic have unearthed one of the most significant finds of gold coins ever recorded in the country.

Eighty-one coins, mostly guineas and half guineas dating back to the 17th century, were dug up from clay underneath floorboards in the fire-damaged premises of Cooney's pub in the town of Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary.

Marie McMahon, the curator at South Tipperary Museum in Clonmel where the coins were first stored said: "We were told that they were gold and you never really believe it, normally you would find silver, but they were in fantastic condition.

"There are one or two coins buckled and one tarnished, but overall fantastic condition. They'd be incredibly valuable but legally we would not be allowed to discuss that."

Experts at the National Museum of Ireland, which is putting the coins on show for the first time on Wednesday, described the find as the most important in decades.

"No comparable 17th century hoard of gold coins has been found in Ireland since the discovery in Portarlington, County Laois, around 1947, of a hoard that contained little over 100 gold coins as well as some silver coins," a spokeswoman said.

The collection depicts the reigns of Charles II, James II and William and Mary, who are featured in a joint portrait.

The National Museum said that it appeared that the coins had been hidden "in a line together".

It is believed they may have originally been wrapped and held together by material which has disintegrated over time.

Ms McMahon said she suspects the coins may have belonged to a merchant as the town was a trading centre in the 17th century - old maps are to be checked, to try to find out what was previously on the site.

The coins are mainly guineas, with a small number of half guineas, the name given to a British gold coin made by the Royal Mint between 1663 and 1814.

They were called guineas because the gold used in making some of them came from West Africa.

More research is being carried out into the coins and their historical background. - Sky

The Mystery of the Pine Barrens

On January 21, 2013, I appeared as a guest on Unknown Origins Radio with hosts Mark Johnson & Loren DePinto. The show concentrated on Bigfoot and cryptids...but there was a brief discussion on the Pine Barrens, NJ and the Jersey Devil. I was asked for my opinion of the creature and if I had received sighting reports related to the beast. Most of the reports I have received were confidential, though I have received reports of other phenomena in the Pine Barrens. There is a stigma attached to the Jersey Devil...people are wary of reporting sightings of this creature (though I think it may be more supernatural than flesh & blood). I'm not sure if the reluctance is because of the fear of ridicule or that the legend has some ominous bearing to it. Anyway, I'm going to offer a brief synopsis of the legend then add a few reports from the area.

According to the legend, Mrs. Jane Leeds came from a poor family who stretched out an existence in the Pine Barrens, a rugged place with vast forests, sandy soil and patches of swamp. In 1735, Mrs. Leeds discovered that she was pregnant with her 13th child. She complained to her friends and relatives that the “Devil can take the next one”, and he did. When the baby was born, he was simply described as a monster. He immediately took on a grotesque appearance and grew to more than 20 feet long, with a reptilian body, a horse’s head, bat wings and a long, forked tail. He thrashed about the Leeds home for a bit and then vanished up the chimney. The creature, or the 'Jersey Devil' as he was dubbed, began haunting the Pine Barrens.

As the legend spread, even grown men declined to venture out at night. It was said that the beast carried off large dogs, geese, cats, small livestock and even occasional children. The children were never seen again, but the animal remains were often found. The Devil was also said to dry up the milk of cows by breathing on them and to kill off the fish in the streams, threatening the livelihood of the entire region.

In 1740, the frightened residents begged a local minister to exorcize the creature and the stories stated that the exorcism would last 100 years, however the Devil returned to the Pine Barrens on at least two occasions before the century was over. It is said that naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens in 1800 to test the plant’s cannonballs. One day on the firing range, he noticed a strange creature winging overhead. Taking aim, he fired at the monster and while some say that his shot struck it, the Devil continued on its path.

The second sighting took place a few years later and this time the Devil was seen by another respected witness. Joseph Bonaparte, the former king of Spain and the brother of Napoleon, leased a country house near Bordertown from 1816 to 1839. He reported seeing the Jersey Devil while hunting game one day in the Pine Barrens.

In 1840, as the minister warned, the Devil returned and brought terror to the region once again. It snatched sheep from their pens and preyed on children who lingered outside after sunset. People all across South Jersey locked their doors and hung a lantern on the doorstep, hoping to keep the creature away.

The stories continued to be told and the lore of the Devil was recalled throughout the 1800’s, although actual sightings of the creature were few. Then, in 1909, the Jersey Devil returned again and literally thousands of people spotted the monster or saw his footprints. It became so bad that schools closed and people refused to go outside.

A police officer named James Sackville spotted the monster while walking his beat one night. He was passing along a dark alley when a winged creature hopped into the street and let out a horrific scream. Sackville fired his revolver at the beast but it spread its wings and vanished into the air.

In spite of the sightings, the beast was always considered a regional legend until the bizarre flap in 1909, which even the most skeptical researchers admit contains authentic elements of the unexplained. Many people saw the creature during the month of January, including E.W. Minster, the postmaster of Bristol, Pennsylvania, which is just over the New Jersey border. He stated that he awoke around 2:00 in the morning and heard an “eerie, almost supernatural” sound coming from the direction of the Delaware River. He looked out the window and saw what looked to be a “large crane” that was flying diagonally and emitting a curious glow. The creature had a long neck that was thrust forward in flight, thin wings, long back legs and shorter ones in the front. The creature let out a combination of a squawk and a whistle and then disappeared into the darkness.

On January 19, 1909, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evans were awakened in the early morning by the sound of a large animal on the roof of their shed. They described it as: “about three and a half feet high, with a face like a collie and a head like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long and its back legs were like those of a crane and it had horse’s hooves. It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs with paws on them.”

One afternoon of that same week, a Mrs. J.H, White was taking clothes off her line when she noticed a strange creature huddled in the corner of her yard. She screamed and fainted and her husband rushed out the back door to find his wife on the ground and the Devil close by, “spurting flames”. She chased the monster with a clothesline prop and it leapt over the fence and vanished.

A short time later, the creature struck again. This time, it attacked a dog belonging to Mrs. Mary Sorbinski in south Camden. When she heard the cry of her pet in the darkness, she dashed outside and drove the Devil away with a broom. The creature fled, but not before tearing a chunk of flesh from the dog. Mrs. Sorbinski carried her wounded pet inside and immediately called the police.

By the time that patrolmen arrived, a crowd of more than 100 people were gathered at the house. The crowd was witness to the piercing screams that suddenly erupted from nearby. The police officers emptied their revolvers at the shadow that loomed against the night sky, but the Devil escaped once again.

Eyewitness accounts of the Devil filled the newspapers, as well as photos and reports of cloven footprints that had been found in yards, woods and parking lots. The Philadelphia Zoo offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Devil, but there were no takers.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the Devil vanished again.

The creature did not return again until 1927. A cab driver was changing a tire one night while headed for Salem. He had just finished when his car began shaking violently. He looked up to see a gigantic, winged figure pounding on the roof of his car. The driver, leaving his jack and flat tire behind, jumped into the car and quickly drove away. He reported the encounter to the Salem police.

In August 1930, berry pickers at Leeds Point and Mays Landing reported seeing the Devil, crashing through the fields and devouring blueberries and cranberries. It was reported again two weeks later to the north and then it disappeared again.

In November 1951, a group of children were allegedly cornered by the Devil at the Duport Clubhouse in Gibbstown. The creature bounded away without hurting anyone but reports claimed that it was spotted by dozens of witnesses before finally vanishing again.

Sightings continued here and there for years and then peaked once more in 1960 when bloodcurdling cries terrorized a group of people near Mays Landing. State officials tried to calm the nervous residents but no explanation could be found for the weird sounds. Policemen nailed signs and posters everywhere stating that the Jersey Devil was a hoax, but curiosity-seekers flooded into the area anyway. Harry Hunt, who owned the Hunt Brothers Circus, offered $100,000 for the capture of the beast, hoping to add it to his sideshow attractions. Needless to say, the monster was never snared.

The most recent sighting of the creature was said to have been in 1993 when a forest ranger named John Irwin was driving along the Mullica River in southern New Jersey. He was startled to find the road ahead of him blocked by the Jersey Devil. He described it as being about six-feet tall with horns and matted black fur. Could this have been the reported Jersey Devil - or some other creature altogether? Irwin stated that he and the creature stared at one another for several minutes before the monster finally turned and ran into the forest.

The lack of proof of the monster’s existence in these modern times leads many to believe the Devil was nothing more than a creation of New Jersey folklore.

If it was merely a myth, then how do we explain the sightings of the creature and the witness accounts from reliable persons like businessmen, police officers and even public officials? They are not easy to dismiss as hearsay or the result of heavy drinking. Could the Jersey Devil have been real after all? And if so, is it still out there in the remote regions of the Pine Barrens - just waiting to be found? - Weird N.J.: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets / prairieghosts.com / americanfolklore.net

RECENT REPORTS

In Freehold, New Jersey, in 2007, a woman supposedly saw a huge creature with bat-like wings near her home. In August of the same year, a young man driving home near the border of Mount Laurel and Moorestown, New Jersey reported a similar sighting. He claimed that he spotted a "a creature resembling a gargoyle with enormous bat-like wings" perched in some trees near the road.

On January 23, 2008 the Jersey Devil was spotted again this time in Litchfield, Pennsylvania by a local resident that claims to have seen the creature come barreling out of the roof of his barn.

On January 19th, 2009, nearly 100 years after the frequent Jersey Devil sightings, a local New Jersey citizen from Swedesboro claimed to have seen the Jersey Devil. He was driving towards Woodstown at night and saw a large creature fly in front of his car. At first he thought it was a deer, so he slammed on the brakes, then he realized that the creature was flying and was much larger than a deer. The shape of the creature was unclear. The creature swiftly flew across the street and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

In September 2009, a young man driving home on Interstate 80 near Parsippany, NJ claims spotting what he saw as "a black long-necked creature with a long tail" run across the road, and disappear into the darkness on the other side of the road. - The Jersey Devil

JERSEY DEVIL?

Location/Date: Near Trenton, New Jersey - March 4, 2002 - near midnight

Several witnesses were camping outside of town and late at night one of them was attempting to put out the bonfire when he heard the most awful and horrifying scream. It resembled that of an injured dog crossed with a scream of a woman. The witness dropped the flashlight and was joined by another witness.

Suddenly out of the woods a hideous and gruesome creature appeared. It did not look human, somewhat satyr-like in appearance and walked on two legs. It had a long tail like a dragon and wings like those unicorns in fantasy books. The beast took several steps towards the witnesses. One of them picked up and yelled at it and then shone his flashlight at it. The creature then turned towards the bushes and ran away from the area.

Source: Mystical Universe

NOTE: this report is similar to other 'Jersey Devil' reports though, Trenton is quite a distance from the Pine Barrens area where most sightings have been reported.

UFO MYSTERY IN THE PINE BARRENS

I received the following report in December 2009:

"I kept quiet about the following described incident for about 4 years and have decided to come forward, mostly because I heard that someone had a similar experience recently and is looking for answers."

"My mother and I were driving in south New Jersey in the middle of nowhere as we were in the process of moving to where we live now. The location was in the area of Shamong, NJ. It's out in the Pine Barrens notoriously known for the Jersey Devil. We were on Jackson Road which is deep in the middle of a thick forest with very few lights, though there is a raceway nearby. I wish I remembered the exact time and the date because I'm sure others had to have seen it since there was car in front of us and the raceway was packed with people. It was July and had to have been late in the evening as the sun was starting to set."

"So we are driving down the road we noticed a huge dark object flying from a very high distance to simply disappearing into the trees. The driver in front of us slammed on the brakes since it appeared that the object was going to crash into the road in front of us. My mother almost collided with them because she was looking at the object, but it traveled above and across the road. It was about the height of a typical two story home and flew straight into the woods. We were expecting to hear a loud crash, see an explosion, something.... but nothing happened."

"We sat there staring until a car approached from behind, so we left. We were both confused and since my mother fears things like this she just refuses to talk about the encounter. Also, Fort Dix and McGuire AFB aren't too far from that location. Did the military cover this up? But it looked mechanical and too big to be a drone or anything similar to that. The raceway was near there and the bleachers were facing the same direction as this object. Could there be an explanation or rational reason why this was never reported? I'm seeking answers." David J.

NOTE: was this a case of 'lost time'? David does seem confused on the time and date. I sent David an email for some followup information. He states that his mother has a clear memory of the incident but refuses to talk about it. I asked him if it may have been anything natural, but he insists that the object was definitely manmade. There are military training flights in that area according to sources I have talked to. Again, David insists it was not a jet or military craft. This link from January 2012 is a video of a strange atmospheric sound eminating from the Pine Barrens...Lon

SUGGEST READING

Tales Of The Jersey Devil

Phantom of the Pines: More Tales of the Jersey Devil

The Pine Barrens

Ghost Towns And Other Quirky Places in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Voices in the Pines: True Stories from the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Just the Facts?: Disney's Mystery Movie...'Tomorrowland' -- Wisconsin's Giant Skeletons -- No Justice For JonBenet

Disney's mystery movie: 'Tomorrowland'...is it about aliens or not?

So, Brad Bird’s hotly-anticipated sci-fi project for Disney – tentatively titled 1952 – now has its official name: Tomorrowland.

Rumors have been swirling online for months that Bird’s film – which will star George Clooney – is to be a Close Encounters-style UFO epic. Bird himself has remained tight-lipped.

In October of last year, Vulture reported on the movie’s mysterious back-story, which goes like this:

last spring, Disney’s head of production, Sean Bailey, arranged for screenwriter Damon Lindelof (Cowboys and Aliens, Prometheus) to be given access to “one of the studio’s odder curiosities: a banker’s box of files and documents that had been left moldering in Walt Disney’s personal development lab, WED Enterprises, which later became the studio’s vaunted Imagineering department.”

According to Vulture’s “spies”, the box was originally labelled with the title of Disney’s 1965 comedy That Darn Cat!, which had been crossed out and in its place was written “1952.” Apparently, inside the box was a “collection of documents and primary source materials that, when looked at all together, indicated that someone had been working on a project (movie? Theme park ride?) about alien contact.”

The identity of this “someone” from Disney’s bygone era working on a project about alien contact was never specified, but I speculated that it might be Ward Kimball – who famously claimed to have worked on an aborted government-sponsored Disney UFO documentary that was supposed to have featured real UFO footage.

However, within hours of publishing his inside scoop on 1952, Vulture’s Claude Brodesser-Akner made a public apology, stating that he had “misunderstood” his source for his story and that Brad Bird’s movie “is not in fact about an alien encounter.”

Now, the movie’s screenwriter Damon Lindelof has chipped in with the following Tweet: “We won't tell you what it's about (yet), but we will tell you what it's NOT about. And that would be ALIENS.”

Teasing us even further, Brad Bird last week Tweeted a picture of the aforementioned “box of files and documents” which is serving as inspiration for this mysterious movie project...

This marks the beginning of what will surely be an elaborate marketing campaign for Tomorrowland, with the contents of the box clearly intended to spark further speculation about the film’s plot. So let the speculation continue...

Looking at the box, we are afforded a glimpse of a magazine cover – which is obviously an issue of Amazing Stories. To be precise, it’s the August 1928 issue, which famously laid the foundations for the adventures of Buck Rodgers in the story Armageddon 2419 A.D. However, the cover of the issue is not related to Buck Rodgers, but depicts a scene from the story The Skylark of Space, by E.E. Smith. You can read the full plot for The Skylark of Space here, but suffice to say it deals with the discovery and implications of free energy; interstellar travel; and, yes, aliens.

So, basically, what on Earth (or in space) Tomorrowland is about is still anyone’s guess. Care to guess, anyone? Who are the men pictured with Walt Disney in those photographs? What’s in those dusty files? What’s in that brown sleeve? Is that a music record? Is there film in that Technicolor box? If so, what’s on it?? Damn you Brad Bird and Disney!

Tomorrowland is scheduled for release December 19, 2014. Go to Silver Screen Saucers for further information.

The Dark Side of Disney

Walt Disney: An American Original

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The City of Lights - early 1900's

These are some of the most remarkable color images I have seen from this time period

Extremely Rare Color Photography of Early 1900s Paris

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The Chemtrail And Orb/UFO Connection

My friend and colleague Rick Phillips has forwarded the follwoing link - The Chemtrail And Orb/UFO Connection - "As anyone who has been following UDCC for any length of time - you are aware of how potentially Chemtrails seem to be a link to the anomalous. And, as you know, many many folks, are beyond fascinated with what is going on in our skies; - and, some of them are regularly filming the Chemtrail phenomena and `coming up with' what often appear to be `orbs' associated with the Chemtrail `plane' - and its dispersion's into our atmosphere of who knows what."

Check it out...Lon

The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla

Beyond The Great Beyond

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A Giant Mystery: 18 Strange Skeletons Found in Wisconsin - Sons of God; Men of Renown

Giants where found in Racine last year. I had a chance to update this blog posting. I have been getting many emails about this topic and find that across Wisconsin there are more stories like this popping up. So you are wondering what is a giant and if it is what you are thinking that I have to be kidding you! Well I am not. They are as real as apple pie and whiskey. For over a year I have been reading books and information on giant dig sites and finds. I would like to share some of the information with you that is right at your finger tips.

First, One must wonder how much can a giant lift if twice the size of a average human today? Could they be responsible for Stone Henge and the Pyramids? Are these the Giants the Bible & many other civilizations have in their history and painted on their walls. The Bible in Genisis 6:4 " There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old men of renown. " Now this is faulty logic to any scientist out there because I am using religous/cultural history to fill a hole in science.

Over 200 Giant digs have been found in recent years. Giant skeleton finds have not made the local/national news since the 1950's for the most part. It seems in most peoples opinion do to the fear that people would question evolution . If anything a de-evolution.

Their heights ranged between 7.6ft and 10 feet and their skulls "presumably those of men, are much larger than the heads of any race which inhabit America to-day." They tend to have a double row of teeth, 6 fingers, 6 toes and like humans came in differant races. The teeth in the front of the jaw are regular molars. Heads usually found are elongated believed due to longer than normal life span. Continue reading at South Milwaukee Now

Wisconsin Farm Lore: Kicking Cows, Giant Pumpkins & Other Tales from the Back Forty

Digging and Discovery, 2nd edition: Wisconsin Archaeology (New Badger History)

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Revelation: Grand Jury voted to indict JonBenet Ramsey's parents for her death

A grand jury voted to indict JonBenet Ramsey's parents in 1999 on charges of child abuse resulting in death but the prosecutor never signed the indictment, according to a new report by The Daily Camera.

Then-Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter told media back then that he did not believe his office had enough evidence to file any charges, though the Ramsey family remained prime suspects for years before being absolved in 2008.

Click over to The Daily Camera to read the full report.

Child abuse resulting in death charged with "knowingly and recklessly" is a Class II felony that could have resulted in up to 48 years in prison.

On Dec. 26, 1996, 6-year-old JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled to death in the basement of her family home. A ransom note from an anonymous group of individuals "that represent a foreign faction" asking for $118,000 in exchange for the safe return of JonBenet was found just hours before, but no call ever came from a kidnapper and it was never linked to a murderer.

The entire Ramsey family was cleared of any involvement in the murder of JonBenet back in 2008, thanks to then newly discovered DNA evidence, according to 9News. Patsy Ramsey, JonBenet's mother, died 2 years earlier in 2006 of ovarian cancer, tragically, she was still considered a possible suspect when she died.

Beginning in 2010, investigators reopened the case and launched a fresh round of interviews with witnesses that could provide more insight into the murder, according to ABC News, but nothing fruitful came of those interviews.

The DNA evidence still points to an "unexplained third party" that serves as a vague lead for authorities still pursuing the case, TIME magazine reported.

According to 7News, Boulder police have tested more than 150 DNA samples and investigated nearly the same amount of potential suspects in their ongoing investigation, but none have ever been linked to the crime.

After all these years, Boulder police have received thousands of tips about her murder and still receive several monthly. Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett said in 2010 that he personally gets five or more tips each month, according to Fox31. The ones that have potential are passed along to Boulder police's Major Case Unit. There have been plenty of false leads as well, including most famously John Mark Karr -- who bizarrely admitted to being with JonBenet the night of her death, but DNA evidence later cleared him of any wrongdoing in this case.

It remains one of the most notorious murders in U.S. history and a decade and a half later there is still no justice for JonBenet.

If she were alive today, JonBenet would be nearing her 23rd birthday on August 6. - THP

NOTE: this case still leaves me with a bad feeling...like someone was paid off to look the other way. The DNA evidence later recovered seems contrived IMO...Lon

The Cases That Haunt Us

Umbrella of Suspicion: Investigating the death of JonBenet Ramsey

In My Opinion: JonBenet Ramsey, the Travesty of Innocence Revisited

Mortal Evidence: The Forensics Behind Nine Shocking Cases

Update: Unknown Hominid Trail Cam Image

UPDATE: I received the following information on this unknown hominid image that was posted originally on Dec. 7th, 2012:

Hey Lon. I was browsing your site and came across and article and picture of a bigfoot or humanoid figure taken from a trail cam. It just so happens that I run a paranormal investigation group out of mid-Michigan called The Paranormal Research and Investigative Society of Michigan (P.R.I.S.O.M). Recently, we had a member have someone tell him about his friend who had these eerie photos off of a trail cam and wanted to see what they were. Upon learning this member was active in the paranormal community, he got a picture (the exact same one) and gave it to him. According to his story, this photo was taken in Alpena, Michigan which is in the upper part of the mitten. The owner of this pic apparently has a couple more which we are trying to get. I don’t know if this photo came from this area or if this is a hoax but I thought you might like a little more info on it. Thanks for your time...Tom Vlassis

NOTE: the area around Thunder Bay, Michigan has had a fair number of Bigfoot sightings and other strange phenomena. At least now, we have an idea of where the image was captured...Lon

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Original post:

This image was posted on the Chasing Trophy Whitetails Facebook page. The brief commentary attached to the image is posted below. What do you think it is?

What did Chasing Trophy Whitetails fan Michael Rogers catch on his gamecam?

This is one of several pics that my buddy got on his game camera back in November. It came by on November 11 and then again on November 18. Has anyone else seen anything like this before?

No location was provided, which is understandable. I'd like to say that this is it a Bigfoot-like hominid, though it is rather odd in appearance. Frankly...the legs and the body type remind me of the 'Goatman' descriptions from Prince Georges Co, Maryland back in the 1970s. Is this an image of a unknown humanoid? It could very well be. I'm currently investigating several sightings of strange humanoids (that resemble Bigfoot-type hominids) near unidentified flying craft that descended to the ground. There have been footprints similar to Bigfoot as well as another unknown being that has prints that resemble those of a turkey or chicken...but over 12" in length and width! That report is forthcoming...as soon as the timeline of the sightings and encounters have been established and recorded. Stay tuned...Lon

The Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us

The UFO Singularity: Why Are Past Unexplained Phenomena Changing Our Future? Where Will Transcending the Bounds of Current Thinking Lead? How Near is the Singularity?

The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft And Extraterrestial Pop Culture

Just the Facts?: Iran Launches Monkey Into Space -- 'Living Wire' Heals Itself -- Dead Serial Killer Secrets

Iran Launches Monkey Into Space

Iran has successfully sent a monkey into space and back as part of its preparations for a manned space flight. The primate was sent up in an Explorer rocket to a height of 120km, according to Al-Alam TV.

"Iran successfully launched a capsule, codenamed Pishgam (Pioneer), containing a monkey and recovered the shipment on the ground intact," the Defense Ministry's aerospace department said in a statement.

A previous attempt to send a monkey into space failed in 2011. Tehran did, however, successfully launch a rocket carrying a mouse, a turtle, and multiple worms in 2010.

Iran says Monday’s mission is in preparation of sending a man into space in the year 2020, but the US and its allies worry that technology from the space program could be used to develop long-range missiles which could potentially be armed with nuclear warheads.

Tehran has repeatedly denied allegations that it’s using its nuclear facilities to develop atomic weapons.

Iran also says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters, improve telecommunications and expand military surveillance in the region. The country has announced several successful launches of satellites in the past, dating back to 2005 in a joint project with Russia. - RT

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What does it mean?

Medina, Tennessee - 10/1/2008 - unedited: I woke up in the street. I gathered myself...and felt extremely disoriented. Very similar to how it feels to wake up from surgery. I began to walk back towards my house. I wasnt really thinking. I was scared. And didnt really try to figure out why I was in the street. I just wanted to get back into my house. I entered the front yard. There was a large tree to my right that stands about...three or four stories high. A pecan tree. Something jumped out of the tree. I should have just ran past it. But I was afraid. I ran the other direction...I turned down a couple roads. I had only lived here for a few months. I didnt know the layout of the town well. I had no idea where I was going...I knocked on someones door. Beat on it actually. I screamed but no one came out of their houses. I knocked on someone elses door. Nothing happened. What ever came out of that tree....there was more of them. Everywhere. I couldnt see them. But I heard them following me. I got on the roof of the garage of the second door I knocked on. I was able to do this because there was a truck in the driveway and the roof began at a low slant. Once I got on the roof I saw a bright light. Then woke up in my bed. I had a vague memory of seeing a bright light through my window. Im scare to investigate this. I thought it was a dream. Now I am unsure. Ive been doing a lot of research and a lot of sources say that they are often remembered as dreams. I...am not sure. Ive been seriously considering hypnotherapy for this event and the event of case number 45370. Im afraid of what Ill find. Ive sent MUFON an Email but they have not replied. A friend of mine has had a relationship with these entities. They approached him one night while he was asleep in a lawn chair in his backyard (he smoked outside and it was late at night). One of these things apparently gripped his shoulders and pushed him down into a chair. While two others walked out in front of him. They told him to pull out his phone and record. He showed us the bruises on his shoulders. The message he recorded was meant for me (thats what he said). I have attached it. I broke it into three parts. The third part is where he drops the phone. I just want to know what all of this means. - MUFON CMS

Right click and save these files:

File 1
File 2
File 3

The THREAT: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda

Divine Encounters: A Guide to Visions, Angels, and Other Emissaries

Summoned: Encounters With Alien Intelligence

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'Living Wire' Can Heal Itself When Cut

In the classic sci-fi film "2001: A Space Odyssey," the evil computer Hal 9000 is finally defeated when a courageous scientist disconnects Hal's internal processing units. But if researchers from North Carolina State University in Raleigh succeed in bringing their self-healing wire to market, Hal could live again.

Their electricity-conducting live wire contains a core of liquid metal — a fluid alloy of gallium and indium — according to Gizmag.com. The liquid is housed within a polymer sheath that's also stretchable, giving the wire some additional functionality.

If the wire is cut, the liquid alloy oxidizes, forming a hard crust. "Think of it in the same way the blood clots to create a scab so we don't bleed to death when we're cut," Treehugger.com reports.

But beneath its outer crust, the alloy is still liquid and retains its ability to conduct electricity. When the two severed ends of the wire are joined together, the alloy's electrical connection is restored.

The liquid alloy isn't the only amazing thing about this wire: The outer polymer sheath is also self-healing. When two severed ends are placed against one another, "the sheath re-forms its molecular bonds," according to an NCSU press release.

As the above video shows, about 10 minutes after rejoining, the severed wire cannot be pulled apart again at the cut point.

The NCSU researchers' report in the journal Advanced Materials describes how the self-healing wire isn't limited to your standard two-way connections. "By cutting the channels strategically, the pieces can be re-assembled in a different order to form complex microfluidic networks in 2D or 3D space."

Researchers hope the wire will be useful in extreme conditions where repairing standard wires is difficult, expensive or dangerous — such as, perhaps, the insides of an evil computer named Hal. - Live Science

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Loaded?

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Trying to unlock secrets of dead serial killer

The suspect, hands and feet shackled, fidgeted in his chair, chuckling at times as he confessed to a brutal killing.

Israel Keyes showed no remorse as he described in merciless detail how he'd abducted and strangled an 18-year-old woman, then demanded ransom, pretending she was alive. As the two prosecutors questioned him, they were struck by his demeanor: He seemed pumped up, as if he were reliving the crime. His body shook, they said, and he rubbed his muscular arms on the chair rests so vigorously his handcuffs scraped off the wood finish.

The prosecutors had acceded to Keyes' requests: a cup of Americano coffee, a peanut butter Snickers and a cigar (for later). Then they showed him surveillance photos, looked him in the eye and declared: We know you kidnapped Samantha Koenig. We're going to convict you.

They aimed to solve a disappearance, and they did. But they soon realized there was much more here: a kind of evil they'd never anticipated.

Confessing to Koenig's killing, Keyes used a Google map to point to a spot on a lake where he'd disposed of her dismembered body and gone ice fishing at the same time. He wasn't done talking, though. He declared he'd been "two different people" for 14 years. He had stories to tell, stories he said he'd never shared. He made seemingly plural references and chilling remarks such as, "It takes a long time to strangle someone."

As prosecutors Kevin Feldis and Frank Russo and investigators from the FBI and Anchorage police listened that day in early 2012, they came to a consensus:

Israel Keyes wasn't talking just about Samantha Koenig. He'd killed before.

In 40 hours of interviews over eight months, Keyes talked of many killings; authorities believe there were nearly a dozen. He traveled from Vermont to Alaska hunting for victims. He said he buried "murder kits" around the country so they would be readily accessible. These caches — containing guns, zip ties and other supplies used to dispose of bodies — were found in Alaska and New York.

At the same time, incredibly, Keyes was an under-the-radar everyday citizen — a father, a live-in boyfriend, a respected handyman who had no trouble finding jobs in the community.

Keyes claimed he killed four people in Washington state, dumped another body in New York and raped a teen in Oregon. He said he robbed banks to help finance his crimes; authorities corroborated two robberies in New York and Texas. He confessed to burning down a house in Texas, contentedly watching the flames from a distance.

Though sometimes specific, he was often frustratingly vague. Only once — other than Koenig — did he identify by name his victims: a married couple in Vermont.

Israel Keyes wanted to be in control. Of his crimes. Of how much he revealed. And, ultimately, of his fate.

In December, he slashed his left wrist and strangled himself with a sheet in his jail cell. He left two pages of bloodstained writings. And many questions.

Investigators are now left searching for answers, but they face a daunting task: They're convinced the 34-year-old Keyes was a serial killer; they've verified many details he provided. But they have a puzzle that spans the U.S. and dips into Mexico and Canada — and the one person who held the missing pieces is dead. FBI agents on opposite ends of the country, joined by others, are working the case, hoping a timeline will offer clues to his grisly odyssey. Continue reading at Big Story

Just the Facts?: 'I Witnessed Destruction of Alien World' --The Rise of Superbugs -- Apple Inc. Uses Child Labor

'I witnessed the Greys home world destruction'

I feel a little background is required before I tell this story. I have read over 3000 ufo books. The greys abducted me alot. They asked me ufo questions. On March 10, 2009 I was getting ready for bed. Tonight would be the last night I was ever abducted. A grey walked into my bedroom and thought to me follow me. I followed it, it was so strange because they had never revealed themselves while I was awake. It wanted to show me something. We went to its craft. We flew to its homeworld then out to a point in space. The grey initiated an OBE and told me I had one hour to learn all I could about a ship approaching its homeworld. There was two alien species aboard. I spend 55 minutes studying the species I was not familiar with. Afterwards, I watched helpless, as this ship destroyed the greys homeworld. After much debate, I was brought back. The entire thing happened in about 8 hours. I have not been abducted since. I was fully conscience during the entire time. - MUFON CMS

The Life of Super-Earths: How the Hunt for Alien Worlds and Artificial Cells Will Revolutionize Life on Our Planet

Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us

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'Cocaine for the Hair'

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Miniature Star Trek style 'tractor beam' built

Researchers from St Andrews demonstrated that the microscopic-scale apparatus could pull tiny particles suspended in water towards it via a beam of light, rather than push them away as would normally happen.

Although scientists have been able to manipulate light in various ways for decades, the experts claim they are the first to build a "tractor beam" which works of its own accord and does not require help from a computer to "trap" objects before shifting them.

Sadly for sci-fi enthusiasts the technique, detailed in the Nature Photonics journal, has only been proven to work on a particle five microns wide, and can not be scaled up to suck in spaceships because too powerful a laser would be required.

Dr Tomas Cizmar, who led the study, explained: "The problem is that this is based on the transfer of momentum between photons (light particles) and the object, and unavoidably there is also a transfer of energy.

"If you imagine you would like to attract a football, the amount of energy it would transfer would be huge and it would immediately burn up the football.

"We can probably go further but at some point the heating up would be a huge problem."

The method could, however, be used for intricate engineering such as in the building of robots, or used in medicinal testing, for example to analyse blood samples.

The technique, developed by Dr Cizmar with colleagues in the Czech Republic, involves aiming a laser through a lens and onto a mirror, so that it passes back across itself in an "X" shape.

Normally a beam of light, made up of photons moving in one direction, would push particles gently away from it due to a force first discovered by German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

But when the laser crossed itself, the photons in the reflected beam interfered with the oncoming beam, counteracting the "pushing" force.

Because the particles of matter were small enough to scatter the light around them most photons were pushed ahead of them, meaning the particles themselves were shunted slightly backward.

Prof Pavel Zemanek, another of the researchers, said: “The whole team have spent a number of years investigating various configurations of particles delivery by light.

"I am proud our results were recognised in this very competitive environment and I am looking forward to new experiments and applications. It is a very exciting time.” - Telegraph

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The Rise of Superbugs Called 'Apocalyptic Scenario'

A prominent British health official has declared the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs so grave a threat that the world is now facing an "apocalyptic scenario" in which people die of routine infections.

Dame Sally Davies, the U.K.'s chief medical officer (a role equivalent to the U.S. surgeon general), warned Parliament that contagious antibiotic-resistant disease is an imminent crisis and should be included on the government's official register of possible national emergencies, right next to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, according to the Guardian.

Superbugs are disease-causing bacteria that have evolved to have defenses against antibiotic drugs. Over the years, some strains of bacteria have become so robust they resist almost every weapon in our drug armamentarium.

"There are few public health issues of potentially greater importance for society than antibiotic resistance," Davies told the Guardian. And she pulled no punches when speaking to Parliament: "We need to get our act together in this country," the Guardian quoted her as saying.

Davies is hardly the first to sound the alarm on the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. "It certainly would — and has — resulted in a much greater risk of dying of infection," Dr. Brad Spellberg, assistant professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told LiveScience.

"We already are seeing infections that are untreatable," Spellberg said. Besides the rising threats of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and gonorrhea, he cited three bacterial infections of particular concern: Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia.

Each of these bacteria can cause a number of infectious diseases, including pneumonia, septicemia and urinary tract infections. In the case of Klebsiella, Spellberg noted, there's just one highly toxic drug left, and it's effective only about half the time it's used.

It's equally alarming that antibiotic drug development is at a virtual standstill, he said. "The pipeline is barren," partly because pharmaceutical companies have few incentives for developing antibiotics that people take for just a few days or weeks, Spellberg said.

Instead, drugmakers focus on research into drugs that are taken for years to treat chronic conditions like arthritis or heart disease. Davies told Parliament, "There is a broken market model for making new antibiotics."

While Spellberg is careful to add some perspective to the issue – "I don't think we should be alarmist" – he emphasizes that a "massive crisis" is looming if we leave unaddressed the continued rise in antibiotic-resistant superbugs, since it could result in a "catastrophic drop in quality of life." - Yahoo

Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA

Superbugs Strike Back: When Antibiotics Fail (Discovery!)

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Apple Inc. Internal Memo: Child Labor Used in China

Apple Inc. used child labor in the making of its products by employing 106 underage workers across 11 facilitates in 2012, an internal audit revealed. According to a report, the company also discovered wage problems and forced pregnancy tests.

Apple’s annual ‘Supplier Responsibility’ report, which includes nearly 400 audits, 72 per cent more than in 2011, reviewed sites where over 1.5 million workers make some of the world’s leading products, including iPhone and iPad.

In addition to 106 underage children that were employed, the report discovered 70 more that either left or passed the age of 16 by the time of the audit.

Seventy-four of 106 underage individuals were employed by a single Chinese manufacturer, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics, responsible for producing circuit-board components for Apple.

The California-based company terminated work with all of the underage individuals following the investigation into the matter.

Inquiry revealed that a labor agency, Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources, “knowingly” provided children with fake records after conspiring with families to forge identification documents, the report stated.

Upon discovery, Apple reported the labor agency to local authorities.

The children’s age was not disclosed, but according to Apple’s code of conduct, the company cannot employ workers under the age of 15, or under the legal working age in any given jurisdiction, which is 16 years old in China.

“Our approach to underage labor is clear: We don’t tolerate it, and we’re working to eradicate it from our industry,” report said.

Apple demanded that all the underage workers be returned to their families and the employer was "required to pay expenses to facilitate their successful return", including education fees.The company instructed the suppliers to reimburse excessive recruitment fees amounting to higher than one month’s wages.

Other offences noted in the report included 34 suppliers demanding mandatory pregnancy tests, eight factories implementing wage confiscation from bonded workers to pay off debts imposed by recruitment agencies, 90 workplaces docking wages as punishment, and one supplier dumping waste oil down toilets.

In the past, Apple has faced criticism of profiteering off severely underpaid workers and bad working conditions overseas.

Apple’s report was commissioned under Chief Executive Tim Cook shortly after a series of at least 18 employee suicides in China linked to working conditions at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that puts together iPads and iPhones, and a number of explosions at other plants. - RT

Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters - Thanks!

I truly want to thank those people who have purchased Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters

Honestly, I have been astounded by the reactions and reviews of the book. It just makes my effort of publishing the daily blog more satisfying. I'm grateful to those witnesses (and occasionally victims) of paranormal events and encounters for coming forward and sharing their experiences. I know that it is not easy to do...it took me almost 20 years to go public with my encounters.

I am currently assembling material for another book...a bit more ambitious, including subject matter that will represent various aspects of strange and unusual phenomena.

Thanks again for reading...Lon

Just the Facts?: Missing Time / Unknown Encounter -- 15,00 Crocodiles Escape Farm -- Buy Haunted House For 1 Euro

Missing Time / Unknown Encounter

Case Number 45187
Log Number US-01132013-0015
Date Submitted 01/13/2013 09:39 UTC
Date of the Event 01/13/2013 02:20 UTC
Source MUFON
Disposition Unresolved
Summary Missing 2 hours
Tags abduction lights ufo
Sighting Location
City Undisclosed
Region South Carolina
Country United States
Latitude 33.842751
Longitude -81.154744
The latitude and longitude presented here is an approximation to protect the reporters identity
Viewing Distance N/A
Sighting Duration 02:08:00
Object Features None, Unknown
Object Flight Path N/A
Object Shape Unknown
Weather Factors Unknown

Sighting Details

"This is not a UFO sighting, but so strange this was the only place I could think to put it," the witness stated. "Early this morning something so strange happened that I can't seem to shake this uneasy feeling.

"Last night I fell asleep on the couch. My wife asked me if I wanted to get up and go to the bed. I said how about just a blanket and leave me sleeping here. Sometime if I get up from where I am sleeping I cannot go back to sleep so it's better to stay where I am.

"I woke up on the couch. It was dark outside and I needed to get up and use the bathroom. My daughter's bathroom is not six feet from the couch down the hallway. I got up and on my way there glanced over to look at what time it was on the oven clock. It was 2:15.

"Usually when I get up at this time of night it's because something or every once in awhile my 6-year-old daughter wakes me up jumping into our bed because of a bad dream which always makes me get up and go to another room. So I go in and use the bathroom which takes only a couple minutes. I walk from there to the kitchen and grab a Mountain Dew from the fridge. I notice my neck is killing me which is like what I call a CRICK and it hurts like hell. So I go to the couch set the dew on the floor in front of the couch and rub my neck for a moment.

"I reach down and grab the Mountain Dew. I pick it up and take a drink and think, this is warm, what the heck. I figure something must be wrong with the fridge, but thinking it was cold walking over. I noticed I had to use the bathroom and was, like what the hell, I just went to the bathroom a minute ago. Then I notice that my neck is suddenly feeling alot better, still hurting but not nearly as bad as it was.

"I keep my laptop on the coffee table and reach over hit the mouse and the computer comes out of sleep mode. This is when I freak. The clock say 4:23 a.m.

"I look over at the oven clock and it says 4:24 a.m.

"All of this happening in less then six minutes at the most. I got a creepy feeling and started to get very upset and a little scared. I look out the doors which is next to the couch and out across the backyard. I look and see the motion lights down by the barn some 400 yards away are on.

"Rarely do we ever see these lights come on and have to be triggered by moment of something. Things get worse for me mentally when I glance down and the door is unlocked and not all the way closed.

"I cannot explain the way I felt at that moment but I ran to my daughter's bedroom and she was not there and turned and ran to ours and hit the light. Both my wife and daughter were in the bed asleep.

"I came back out to the family room where I was sitting and walked over and pushed the door shut and locked it. I looked out towards the barn and the light was still on. I couldn't see anything except the heavy fog. I had a weird feeling. I am not sure if I thought something was at the barn or more that I was so freaked out about what just happened. I sat back down on the couch and spent the next five hours thinking about how that could have possibly happened.

"I still don't know how. Maybe a case of Hypnagogia, but I don't think so. I never closed my eyes. Whatever happened to those approximate two hours I have no idea. It was totally seamless. I still am baffled how it could have happened. It was two something one second and four something the next second just like that. I have no history of sleep walking, or any other sleeping disorder. I was not asleep. I was very much awake. I am trying to figure out how to record from my webcam to my laptop as I will sleep on the couch again tonight to see if anything happens again or to see if I might sleep walk or something.

"If I do it will be the first time ever. Usually my body is in so much pain when I get up it's impossible for me to go back to sleep. I have severe back problems. I have to list this as something and abduction is the only thing I can really put there but I want to make it clear that in no way am I claiming to have been abducted by anyone.

"One point I forgot to point out is I had both my Schipperkes sleeping on the back of the couch with me. So if anyone was going to grab me the dogs would have had them for breakfast. Wife said in the morning that when she went to bed all doors were locked up tight." - MUFON CMS

Extra-Planetary Experiences: Alien-Human Contact and the Expansion of Consciousness

Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials

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Lightning may cause headaches

On days when lightning bolts appeared, cases of headaches and migraines increased by 24 per cent and 23 per cent respectively among healthy people who lived within a 25 mile (40km) radius, according to a new study.

The figures among chronic sufferers were even more severe, with incidences of headache increasing by 31 per cent and of migraine by 28 per cent.

Electromagnetic waves could be responsible for triggering headaches, they suggested, while lightning also increases air pollutants like ozone and can cause release of fungal spores which may result in migraines, researchers suggested.

Prof Vincent Martin of the University of Cincinnati and his son Geoffrey, a medical student, asked volunteers to keep a daily diary of headaches and migraines for three to six months, and compared the incidence rate against weather conditions for each day.

Various meteorological conditions involved in stormy weather, such as barometric pressure and humidity, have been shown to influence the likelihood of headaches.

But even after taking these into account the study found lightning itself had a significant effect.

Prof Martin explained: "We used mathematical models to determine if the lightning itself was the cause of the increased frequency of headaches or whether it could be attributed to other weather factors encountered with thunderstorms.

"Our results found a 19 per cent increased risk for headaches on lightning days, even after accounting for these weather factors. This suggests that lightning has its own unique effect on headache."

The results, published in the Cephalalgia journal, showed that negatively charged lightning currents in particular were linked to a higher number of headaches.

Prof Martin said: "The exact mechanisms through which lightning and/or its associated meteorologic factors trigger headache are unknown, although we do have speculations.

"Ultimately, the effect of weather on headache is complex, and future studies will be needed to define more precisely the role of lightning and thunderstorms on headache." - Telegraph

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South African crocodiles 'in mass escape' during floods

About 15,000 crocodiles have reportedly escaped from a farm in South Africa's far north amid heavy rains and flooding.

The owner was forced to open the crocodile farm's gates on Sunday to prevent a storm surge, the local Beeld newspaper says.

Many of the crocodiles have been recaptured, but more than half are still on the loose, it says.

The floods have killed at least 10 people in Limpopo province.

The crocodiles escaped from the Rakwena Crocodile Farm, a tourist site about 15km (nine miles) from the small town of Pontdrif, which borders Botswana.

Zane Langman, the son-in-law of the farm's owner, told the newspaper that many of the crocodiles had escaped into dense bush and the Limpopo River, the second biggest in South Africa.

"There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot. We go to catch them as soon as farmers call us to inform us about crocodiles," said Mr Langman.

"I heard there were crocodiles in Musina [about 120km away] on the school's rugby field."

Mr Langman said he went to rescue friends in a flooded house in the area by boat on Sunday.

"When we reached them, the crocodiles were swimming around them. Praise the Lord, they were all alive," he is quoted as saying.

The South African Air Force is being used to rescue people affected by the flooding in remote settlements, some of which are cut off from the outside world.

The floods have also affected neighbouring Mozambique, where tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. - BBC

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Man bites ostrich to death during suicide attempt

A man was rescued by police in a zoo in Shaoguan City on January 19 after a bizarre suicide attempt which followed even more bizarre behaviour, Shenzhen Satellite Television reports.

The man, Li, 27, from Yunnan Province, attacked an ostrich in the zoo and bit it to death in front of onlookers who included children and elderly people. He then slashed his wrists as police were called.

Xu Jianwen, deputy head of Datang Road police station told reporters that when he arrived at the scene, Li was highly excitable and simulated firing a gun at the policemen. He was already covered in blood when police arrived.

As he began to lose strength, Li lay on the ostrich’s corpse like a pillow before police approached him tentatively. He offered little resistance before police dragged him away.

He was rushed to hospital where his condition soon stabilized. However, that night, his condition worsened and he was returned to hospital. He appears to be out of the woods now. A suicide note was found on his person. The note urged his parents to have a good life, saying there was no need to worry about him anymore.

Li works as a security guard and has been described by colleagues as an introvert who is unusually quiet when at work. He was also described as being straight-forward.

Whether this was a genuine attempted suicide or a cry for help, I think we can all agree: the man needs help.

Li claims to have no recollection of the incident. The investigation is ongoing. - The Nanfang

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'Haunted house' on eBay for 1 euro

A HOUSE which has been described by its owner as being haunted, has been listed on eBay for just 1 euro.

On the French version of eBay, Maud69620 - who listed the house - has stated the house is haunted by spirits after a murder allegedly took place there during the 1950s.

While the murder was never officially confirmed, as their bodies were never found, the former owners' bodies were discovered to be buried in a nearby field.

Paranormal incidents have reportedly been witnessed in and around the house, including random knocks on windows, strange voices and murmurs, weird noises and moving objects.

The house is located in Arbresle, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France and is a 110sqm home on a 350sqm block of land.

While many have questioned the authenticity of the eBay auction, the owner has stated is it real and anyone who believes in the spirit world should contact her. - news.com.au

The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories

Haunted Houses: Guide to Spooky, Creepy and Strange Places Across the USA (Stackpole Haunted)

What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard (New Odyssey Series)