I received this report during the weekend. There are some spelling and other minor edits:

I am not good with typing but I will try my best to explain what I saw. This happened in Trinidad in my home village called La Brea in 2009 12:00am on New Years. I was at the beach with a friend who told me about the "sacred place." I reached there walking down the hill. As I looked behid me there were black "human-shaped figures" that are well known as "shadow people" dragging there feet. For some reason they was heading to the ocean, down the hill in the same direction. As I was continued on I came across a bright white "human-shaped figure" far away in the sea that looked like it was standing on the water. I thought at first it was a white bird but, of course, there are no birds flying around at 12:00 midnight! So I went closer to the bright white figure and I noticed, without a doubt, it was at least 6 to 7 feet tall with a human shape. As I tried to get a closer look, the "head" of the figure turned to my direction and followed my movement. The body did not move at all, only the head. When I started to move closer the figure suddenly extended huge white wings and jumped 3 feet in the air. The wings covered it's body and the figure stated to "deform." It only lasted for a second...then it completely disappeared.

Not long after that, now completely freaked out by what I witnessed, my friend told me to look in the sky. I knew that fireworks would be going off because it was exactly 12:00am New Years...but when I looked up I saw at least 4 flying "stingrays." Each looked the same...about 4 to 5 feet long, very dark color and what looked like a strange "heart mirage" coming from behind, near the tails. They was flying the same as a fish would swim in the ocean.

I was not on drugs or drinking that night. I had a video camera but I was to scared to even try to get anything on film. Not a lot of people know about the myths of La Brea or even believe it. The beach where these were seen, I believe is "a different realm." I am sure if one was to go there again that person can see these things for themself. I was planning on going back there someday and get what I saw on video, but I can't go back home right now. Right now I am in the U.S. but I see you guys are very interested in these type of supernatural stuff so I thought I should share my story. Hope I was able to be of use. Kerona

NOTE: This is the first non-American 'flying manta or sting ray' sighting I have received. The La Brea, Trinidad location has a very interesting feature:

La Brea is a town in southwestern Trinidad, located north of Point Fortin and south of Rousillac and San Fernando. La Brea (Spanish for "the tar") is best known as the site of the Pitch Lake, a natural asphalt lake. Here's another interesting link - Pitch Lake (Asphalt Lake), La Brea, Trinidad

The following article describes some of the local folklore:

Douens and Other Folklore

My grandmother Theresa tells a story of an incident that really happened over 70 years ago in a forest a couple hundred feet from where we live. A young couple ventured into the woods to pick mangoes from a large tree, which still stands. With them was their four-year-old son. The boy wandered off into the forest and was lost. His frantic parents searched until darkness fell and then hastened to the constabulary at Siparia two miles away and a report was laid. The police called in experienced hunters who knew the high woods thoroughly, and augmented by townspeople, dozens of searchers combed the forest high and low for a week. The search extended as far as the south coast on Quinam Beach, over seven miles away, since in those days the mighty forest stretched unbroken from Moruga to Erin.

The search was called off, and the grieving parents left with the inconsolable void of having lost a child that those in similar circumstances know too well. About three months later, some villagers were again in the vicinity of the mango tree when they heard voices coming from a nearby clump of balisier. In the thicket was the lost child. His clothes were in tatters, but he seemed healthy and well-cared for—not at all haggard and dehydrated as one would expect of a person wandering in the jungle. He was sitting in a cleared circle and playing with bits of wood and stone. The boy was reunited with his overjoyed parents, but on being plied with questions about his ordeal he would only reply cryptically that he had been cared for in his absence by “friends.” The boy lived to be an old man and is now deceased, but it has always been believed he was taken by douens.

The douen, like other characters of local folklore, is almost a direct transfer of the stories of West Africa, from whence hundreds of thousands of hapless captives from the Ibo, Dahomey and Yoruba nations were transported to the West Indies as slaves for the sugar barons. From the Ashanti coast they brought the tradition of the griot (storyteller) and around their fires outside their huts in bondage, the timtim grew and flourished. Brer Anansi, the tricky spiderman and his loveable antics found root in the Caribbean soil alongside other folk spirits of a decidedly more sinister nature. Lost somewhere in our mythical past, the European vampire—Nosferatu, like Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula—came to these islands with the French planters and copulated with the inyanga (witches) of West Africa, who came from the Rada strongholds deep in the Belmont valley, and thus the soucouyant was born.

In nearly every village of rural T&T there is a timtim of an aged crone who lived alone in a remote hut (very much like the witches of European origin) and when night fell, shed her skin, which was placed in a wooden mortar, while she burst into a ball of flame and flew off to suck the blood of the living. To banish the soucouyant would mean finding her mortar and rubbing salt and pepper in the skin so that she would not be able to put it on again, sending her into shrieks of “Skin, skin, you nah know me?” In our haste to pursue what we term development, we have lost our ancestral spirits and the art of the timtim. Nevertheless, if you journey deep into the countryside, you will find the belief in the supernatural alive and well. In the Irois Forest they tell of douens that have been seen. Many a hunter will weave a story of having been led astray by the kindly woodman, Papa Bois. I myself have wandered alone in these high woods and have never managed to shake the feeling of being closely watched at every step.

A friend jokingly said that electric lights have banished the douen, Papa Bois and la diablesse, but if you go into the primal woodland where silence closes in on one like prison walls, you will soon realise that the belief in the denizens of the forest cannot be easily forgotten. Folklore characters live deep in the indelible subconscious of our people. From the artistic expressions of LeRoy Clarke’s Douendom to yarns told around a dim kerosene lamp on a dark night, we explore the surreal realm of what lies just outside the pale of reality. These are the stories handed down through generations like cherished heirlooms wherein the echoes of Africa emerge with flitting, shadowy figures in the indigo blue of the Caribbean twilight. - Guardian

NOTE: Trinidad has quite a rich mythology...especially when it comes to the Soucouyant Trinidad Folklore. The Soucouyant is a vampire / succubus being that has been the main character in many tales from the island. Another link that lists the various myths and folklore associated with Trinidad - Superstitions and Folklore Characters in Trinidad & Tobago. Is it possible that the witness encountered any one of these entities during his time on the La Brea beach? Lon

Folklore & Legends of Trinidad and Tobago

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology

History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago

The Mogollon Monster

In central and eastern Arizona, Bigfoot is known as the Mogollon Monster.

According to Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets the reclusive creature is described as being at least seven feet tall, hairless in the face, but otherwise covered with a long, thick coat of either dark or reddish brown hair. He travels with a wide, inhuman stride, sometimes leaving footprints measuring 22 inches in length. Often, reports of the elusive beast involve a piercing, sometimes deafening scream or howl unlike that produced by any known wildlife.

Those who say they've crossed paths with the beast regularly describe an eerie silence prior to their encounter, an appreciable stillness in the woods that commonly surrounds predatory animals. Even more common are reports of a strong, very foul stench, which has been described as that of dead fish, a skunk with bad body odor, decaying peat moss and—by someone with an exceptionally keen sense of smell, apparently—the musk of a snapping turtle.

Most sightings of the Mogollon Monster, as suggested by the name, occur in and around the Rim country. The lumbering giant reportedly covers territory stretching from Prescott up to Williams, east over to Winslow and down to the Heber area, but most agree he generally sticks to the vicinity of Payson, near the Rim's edge.

It was near Payson where the creature was spotted by cryptozoologist Don Davis, whose run-in is generally accepted as the first known encounter with the Mogollon Monster. Davis said he witnessed the tall, hairy beast during a Boy Scout trip in the mid-1940s, when he was about 13 years old. As he and his fellow Scouts were camping near Tonto Creek, something in the night woke him while rummaging through the boys' belongings. When Davis called out to the noisemaker, who he thought to be a fellow Scout, the figure approached him and stood over his sleeping bag. Davis later described what he saw:

There, standing still less than four feet in front of me was a monster-like man. …The creature was huge. Its eyes were deep set and hard to see, but they seemed expressionless. …His chest, shoulders, and arms were massive, especially the upper arms—easily upwards of 6 inches in diameter, perhaps much, much more.

Davis also reported being overwhelmed by the Monster's incredible odor, although he believed at first he had simply messed his sleeping bag.

An even earlier report has surfaced from a 1903 edition of "The Arizona Republican." In it, a visitor to Arizona by the name of I.W. Stevens recounts his confrontation with what he referred to as the "wild man of the rocks." Though his encounter occurred further north, within the Grand Canyon, the story may be one of the earliest written records of such a sighting.

Stevens described the wild man as having "long white hair and matted beard that reached to his knees." When he approached for a closer look, Stevens saw that the creature "wore no clothing, and upon his talon-like fingers were claws at least two inches long." He also noted that "a coat of gray hair nearly covered his body, with here and there a spot of dirty skin showing." While this is not a traditional description of the beast we've come to know in recent years, we could perhaps infer that Stevens had run across an elderly Sasquatch, possibly suffering from a touch of the mange.

Stevens went on to tell how the canyon dweller threatened him with a large club and "screamed the wildest, most unearthly screech" he had ever heard, after Stevens discovered the beast drinking the blood of two young cougars that he had just beaten to death.

Another tale, regularly told secondhand at Boy Scout summer camp, involves an Arizona pioneer named Bill Spade. Spade supposedly built a log cabin on land adjacent to what is now Camp Geronimo, a Scout facility. Spade was attacked one night by the monster, who left no trace of his victim, save for Spade's face, which was torn off and left hanging from a tree. The cabin remained for decades afterward and the Mogollon Monster could often be spotted loitering nearby, waiting for a new inhabitant to deface.

Other stories making the rounds attempt to explain the origins of the Mogollon Monster. They vary in detail, but for the most part implicate a tormented Indian bent on revenge. One variant tells of a prehistoric tribe who, for untold reasons, exiled their own chief. The chief called upon the spirits and was transformed into a hirsute bogeyman, which enabled him to scare away his former clan. He lives on today, continuing to defend his territory.

In other versions, it was the tribe's medicine man who performed the transformation, enabling the chief to seek revenge on a rival who had stolen his wife. Further variations identify the Mogollon Monster as a pioneer who was the victim of an Indian attack; he escaped into the woods, but was cursed by the spirits and went insane. In a strange amalgamation of stories, the monster is the phantom of a white man who, as punishment for murdering an Indian woman, was hung from a tree by his hands, stretched to a height of eight feet, then skinned alive and left to die. Damned by the spirits, his ghost continues to roam the woods.

NOTE: Here is a link to an alleged encounter with the Mogollon Monster...Lon

The Mogollon Monster, Arizona's Bigfoot

More Mogollon Monster, Arizona's Bigfoot

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What Crystals Do You Prefer For Protection?

The metaphysical energies of crystals and stones have been used to protect people since ancient times. Amber was used extensively for protection by the ancient Romans...as well as for golden amulets of the ancient Egyptians and later for modern good luck charms. Many protection magic items have been made of crystals and stones of various kinds.

There are diversified protection needs....psychic, physical, curses, travel, etc. I'd like to know which crystals and stones you prefer to use for protection and why. Is there a specific vibration that connects to you? Do you get a sense of assurance? How do you benefit? Do you use a grid?

Please feel free to comment on the blog (comments are open again) or at Facebook. Lon

The Crystal Bible

Crystal Bible 2

Crystal Bible 3

Crystal Healing

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Sonny Haunts Cher

Cher believes she is being haunted by her late ex-husband's ghost.

The 67-year-old singer thinks that Sonny Bono, who died in 1998, still plays pranks on her from beyond the grave.

Asked if she is afraid of spirits, the 'Believe' hitmaker wrote during a no-holds barred online Q&A with fans on Reddit.com on Saturday night (28.09.13): ''Absolutely not!!! I love ghosts. I actually think that Sonny makes a light go on. I have a beautiful chandelier that he makes the light go on when it is impossible, there is no power on. I love ghosts, I prefer ghosts to some people.''

The pop diva, who would like to duet with Pink or Bruno Mars, also dismissed rumours she still hates her rival Madonna.\

She said: ''Madge, no. Actually I don't. I never hated her, I just thought she was a b***h. Actually I quite respect her.''

She added: ''Actually I think Madge might be one of the most amazing artists I've known. I don't like everything she does, for sure, but she is always riding the crest of the wave. She always saw trends WAY before anyone else, and had great videos. So, besides saying 'WTF if MDNA', I'm fine with it.'' - Contact Music

When Variety Was King: Memoir of a TV Pioneer: Featuring Jackie Gleason, Sonny and Cher, Hee Haw, and More

The Beat Goes On: The Best of Sonny & Cher

Cher and Sonny & Cher : Greatest Hits

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The 'Big Con'

An anonymous commenter who identifies her/himself as a funeral director has posted a magnificent rant to a Reddit thread, explaining all the ways that funeral directors con bereaved families into paying for things they don't need, like $5000 painted plywood boxes and "barbaric," environmentally degrading "mutilation" (embalming), which are often described as legal requirements (they aren't). The post is full of great intel and advice, including mention of the FTC funeral rule, which sets out your rights in clear, simple language. I didn't know that US law requires funeral directors to accept your own coffin, which you can get at your local big-box discount store or have delivered from a variety of sellers through Amazon.

I’ve seen funeral directors force-feed families absolute horseshit – saying anything – to get them to sign a contract. Here’s a hint: don’t sign any pre-printed “form” contracts. Most of the contracts we use are super vague, so we can charge you for just about anything and justify it by pointing to your signature on the dotted line. It is in your best interest to only agree to specific itemized charges – i.e., have the hearse but no limousines. Or have hair/makeup done without any embalming. The law is very specific and on your side, but we count on your ignorance and vulnerability.

Even better, find a trusted friend or family member who is more emotionally stable right now and appoint them as your lawyer/detective. You know that bitchy sister-in-law everyone has who makes major holidays a nightmare? I can spot her a mile away and will do everything I can to keep her out of financial discussions – because I know she will take that obnoxious nagging and throw it at me for every single penny I’m trying to get out of your family. See my co-workers standing around looking somber and respectful? They’re not there to just have a presence of authority, they are studying you. They are watching the family dynamic and will report back to me with any potential angles I can play to manipulate your emotions, which family members are taking it the hardest and will therefore be the easiest prey, and their estimation of your financial well-being. If, by the way, you appear to be less affluent, I’ll tell you to take your business elsewhere. This is not a hospital and I don’t provide a service – this is a business. If you aren’t paying me (in full and up front, generally), all you’re getting is my sympathy.

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TODAY'S TOP LINKS

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A reader forwarded a very interesting article written by Phil Luciano and published in the Peoria Journal Star on 9/25/2013. This is a follow-up to an article written by the same reporter that referenced recent sightings of a pterodactyl in a Peoria cemetery:

Some Woodsy Critters, But No Pterodactyl

Does the Springdale Pterodactyl have friends?

Either that, or it has many faces and fashions. Those are the only logical conclusions after a report here about a prehistoric bird with a 30-foot wingspan above Springdale Cemetery. Readers have bombarded me with similar stories, collectively implying that Peoria secretly serves as a nest for mammoth flying beasties.

Local authorities have received no such reports. So how do you reconcile claims of a 30-foot wingspan? There's nothing even close to that size, anywhere. The California condor is the largest bird in North America, with a wingspan of 9 feet. The Wandering Albatross can boast a wingspan of almost 12 feet, but lives in the Indian Ocean.

The obvious conclusion, then, about the 30-foot wingspan: Peoria has a new species of giant bird. Or, a flying dinosaur has slipped through a time warp. Duh.

That's why Peoria should embrace these legends with tours, museum exhibits, bird hunts, whatever works. Paint the image on water towers. Splash it across T-shirts. Put a pterodactyl mascot in a wrestling match with that Rod Stewart impersonator. Sell that pterodactyl, Peoria, sell it. It makes sense, because readers vouch for the existence of The Springdale Pterodactyl:

Stephanie G.: I've seen this bird! We lived in a house in Alta Lane. We had a huge koi pond, with a dock. I was in the kitchen and it landed on our dock and sat there for about 5 minutes. I screamed. It was perched on the dock, as tall as a man. When it finally took off it flew directly over the pond. Its wingspan was as wide as the pond, about 20 to 30 feet."

Stephanie H.: "It's real. A friend of mine saw the bird about a month ago by the lagoon in Glen Oak Park. It spooked her so bad. The bird did not seem to be afraid of people."

Suzanne: "I came out of Proctor Hospital, looked up into the sky and saw a huge bird. It was flying as high as airplanes. It was just a huge prehistoric bird. I didn't report it because who would believe it."

Another reader, Scott, says his wife and daughter spotted a slightly different bird: "They saw it near the train tracks behind the Journal Star. It was huge. I don't know about the 30-foot wingspan, but it was bigger than an eagle. It looked like a gargoyle."

Scary, eh? Mind you, that last location is exactly where Journal Star sports editor Kirk Wessler claims to have once seen a mountain lion. So, maybe 1 News Plaza is a breeding ground for all sorts of freaks of nature. Or just freaks.

Rick, another reader, says he saw a huge stork-ish bird while fishing near Banner Mash.

"It looked prehistoric," he says. "It was standing there in the water, looking for prey. It was playing with its big ol' talons."

Because he was fishing, he didn't bring his cell phone. So, no pics. After it flew off, Rick went home and did some research. The Banner bird resembled the big blue heron, which is indigenous to some Illinois waterways. But that species' wingspan tops out around 61/2 feet, while Rick says the Banner bird's wings were much longer.

"It look like it's wings spread over the entire lake," he says.

I contacted Scott Avery, a conservation police officer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He says he could see how someone could mistake a great blue heron.

"They're kind of like a prehistoric bird, and even make a sound like a prehistoric bird," he says.

But Avery says he has heard of no reports of any massive birds - heron or otherwise - flitting through Peoria. And he can't explain what people think they've seen.

"Unless they've been drinking," he says.

Another reader, Leanne, says she doesn't talk much about such things because people think she's "crazy."

"I frequently walk the woods that run through the cemetery," she said. "A month or so ago my friend and I were in the woods and a giant bird swooped down, and its massive wings hit the trees on its way. I threw a rock in its direction, and it made a noise similar to a dog barking, then flew back up to where it came from. I've heard that barking noise coming from the same area every time I'm out there.

"I'm almost positive I know where it lives."

Good enough for me. With her directions in hand, I ventured to a slice of near-Springdale woods that I'd never known existed. In fact, they're really hard to find, let along climb up and down trails and hills there. I really didn't know if I'd ventured onto Peoria Park District land, private property or a prehistoric creature's lair.

As I startled ambling and rambling deep into the woods, I heard a dog barking - or, should I say, a dog-like barking. Could it have been a pterodactyl? Maybe I also heard a cat-like mewing, which could've meant I'd heard a cougar, too - or just a pair of house pets.

A few woodsy critters scurried around, and I was hoping to spot a chupacabra. If so, The Peoria Chupacabra is indistinguishable from The Peoria Raccoon. Dang.

The woods got quiet - almost "Blair Witch Project"- like spooky - as I followed Leanne's map. I was looking for a certain place where, she said, "That's where I saw the creature." If I were to encounter the creature, I wasn't sure what I'd do. I had no weapon, or even Depends, so things could get difficult, fast.

But all I found were a few scattered Pepsi and Natural Light cans. I felt suddenly at ease. If The Springdale Pterodactyl lives there, we share the same dietary tastes. If I go back and find the bird, we'll have plenty to chat about. - PJ Star

Video - Pterodactyl in Peoria's Springdale Cemetery?

Live Pterosaurs in America: Not extinct, flying creatures of cryptozoology that some call pterodactyls or flying dinosaurs or prehistoric birds

Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy

BIG BIRD! - MODERN SIGHTINGS OF FLYING MONSTERS

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Scientists create light-matter like Darth Vader's lightsaber

A beam of light is supposed to shine off into infinity, but when Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker whip out their lightsabers for some spark-flying action, the light blades extrude like stick deodorant and then just stop.

It's like they're sticks of light-matter.

Hollywood may have made that stuff up, but now, scientists at MIT and Harvard have actually made that stuff -- not enough for a lightsaber, only a subatomic smidgeon. But even that much is a big deal.

Light-matter existed previously only in theory, but now, for the first time, it has been observed in reality, researchers from the Center for Ultracold Atoms say.

To oversimplify things, we'll say that photons are subatomic particles that make up light. They have no detectable mass the way most matter does, and usually, they don't stick together. You can shoot two lasers at each other, and the photons will pass right through one another.

But physicists Mikhail Lukin and Vladan Vuletic recently got them to stick together to form molecules.
They published the results of their work in the science journal Nature this week.

The newly created photon molecules don't behave like traditional light, but more like a lightsaber, Lukin said. "The physics of what's happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies."

But don't picture yourself swashbuckling with a lightsaber just yet. As in the creation of pretty much all unusual matter, scientists have to produce extreme conditions in laboratories that can't exist naturally anywhere on Earth.

They pumped atoms of rubidium, a kind of metal, into a vacuum chamber -- air would otherwise rapidly alter them. This created a metal cloud that they cooled down with lasers to about -450 degrees Fahrenheit, near what is called absolute zero. That makes atoms almost stand still.

Then they fired photons into the atom cloud.

The photons, elements of light, did not shoot through at the speed of light but acted a little like regular matter instead. They bumped into the atoms in a way similar to the way regular matter would.

In the process, the photons slowed down enough to bump into each other and bond into molecules.

It was a first.

Though that's fascinating, it doesn't make for a handy lightsaber.

But it could help in the future development of super computers known as quantum computers, Lukin said. And with some work, scientists could make whole crystals out of light.

So, if Darth Vader shows up with a lightsaber, your great-grandchildren may be able to throw photon rocks at him.

But don't count on it. - CNN

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Top 5 celebrity ghost encounters

Have you ever heard something go bump in the night, see a strange dark shadow out of the corner of your eye, or just come face to face with what you believe is some sort of ghostly spirit?

If you have ever endured some sort of paranormal encounter then take comfort in knowing that the spirit world also on occasion stops by to visit with some of the biggest names in Hollywood also.

Here is a list of the top five biggest celebrity ghost stories to enjoy.

5. Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson, the daughter of celebrity actress Goldie Hawn and known for her hit film “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days” reveals that while she was filming the horror thriller “Skeleton Key” she had a ghostly encounter of her own.

Hudson claims that she has seen a ghost with no face, which paranormal activity specialist call a “ghostly archetype.” Kate stated that she came in contact with this ghost several times, Kate believes she has also been visited by the spirit of her grandmother, who is watching out for her from beyond.

4. Nicholas Cage

Nic Cage claims that he also has several ghostly tales but the one that comes to his mind first involves the time he was vacationing at Francis Ford Coppola’s home in Napa.

Cage claims he was staying in the attic bedroom at the estate when he was visited by the ghost of a woman with a big teased up hair style. Cage claims his first thought was that he was being visited by his dead aunt, until she got to close to him and left the “Face Off” star frightened beyond belief.

3. Matthew McConaughey

McConaughey confessed he was was visited by a ghost, and that it really “freaked” him out back in 2003.the “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” star described the encounter saying that he kept hearing noises that sounded like someone was dropping a dime from the ceiling to the floor.

Matthew stated he jumped from his bed and began searching room to room for whatever was making the ghostly noises.Now he claims he is at ease with his ghost and even named her calling her Madame Blue, and he says reveals that they all get along very well together.

2. Keanu Reeves

Reeves claims that his ghost tale is fairly simple, but equally creepy. Keanu claims that when he was just a small child of five, he and his sister had a run in with a ghost that was haunting their home, describing it as a ghostly apparition who was wearing a double-breasted suit, the spirit however had no legs.

1. Anna Nicole Smith

We saved the oddest celebrity ghost encounter for last and it involves the late Anna Nicole Smith. Those of you who are familiar with the eccentricities of the deceased model know that Anna did not do anything in her life in a small nature.

So, not only was Ann Nicole Smith being haunted by a spirit she claims she was also having sex with her ghostly visitor, who she first thought was a deceased boyfriend from her past, she late reveals that it was not a familiar past spirit, but a spirit that she became intimately familiar with, who she also stated was a great lover!

There you have it the five top celebrity ghost encounters, which one was your favorite tale? - Hollywood News Daily

Celebrity Ghost Stories

I Believe in Ghosts: True Stories of Some Haunted Celebrities and Their Celebrated Haunts.

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Grand River Cryptid?

Strange creatures lurking in area bayous and waterways have made headlines in the Grand Haven Tribune since the latter half of the 1800s. In the 1890s, Tribune Publisher Horace Nichols wrote that having a sea serpent somewhere near a hotel or resort was actually good for business, as it drew in tourists.

The most famous of unidentified serpents or water creatures was the monster of Stearns Bayou, which made a few appearances out front of the old Gun Club near the bridge in August 1909. Several credible witnesses saw the large, glowing, turtle-like creature with a long neck and hippopotamus-like head. The Tribune published four articles concerning it.

What it was — if it ever was — remains a mystery. It never reappeared.

Most sightings of water creatures remain unidentified mysteries. However, one appearance 114 years ago caused quite a stir — until the mystery was solved, of course.

On July 12, 1899, just before noon, Pete Donnally looked out the window of the Grand Haven Tannery and was astonished to see what he described to the Grand Haven Tribune as “a large sea serpent,” swimming rapidly down the main channel of the Grand River, in the distance.

A number of other employees of the tannery gathered at the windows, witnessing the creature as well.

Donnally described the creature’s glimmering eyes, resembling “two big balls of fire,” while others could see great spurts of water shoot from its nostrils. The creature created a visible wake up on the high banks of Lievense Island, in the river.

Lievense Island was named for the property owner, William Lievense, who purchased land on the river islands to grow celery and other farm produce.

It was reported a man named Otto armed himself with a pitchfork, in hopes of harpooning the monster if it ventured near the dock, and employee Nyland went to retrieve a camera.

The Nimrod tannery gang went out to borrow a gun, while a man named Hicks grabbed a halter with thoughts of capturing the creature alive. Mr. VanDyk, chief of the Relief Hose Co., went to turn in an alarm, while Dick Bishop went to notify the police, who arrived at the scene in short order.

A gentleman named Bryon, who had spent some years in Florida, declared that the creature was a crocodile. Another man, Mr. Murray, thought it might be a submarine torpedo boat.

Harry Bishop, official correspondent of the Wheeling Glassblower’s Gazette, took notes as the story unfolded. By this time, word had spread and a crowd had gathered at the river banks.

Franz Cadee, an elderly saltwater sailor, shaded his eyes for a moment, viewing the creature, and determined it was “an exact counterpart” of a mermaid he saw near the Cape Verde Islands in 1859.

But it was Capt. Griffin, of the yacht Water Cross, who used his spyglass to reveal the creature’s true identity.

It was a horse owned by Peter Roossien, and it had entered the river from the island pasture opposite the community of Northville. It ended up at Bailey’s dock in Grand Haven, having swam a full mile.

The majority of other water creature tales in Ottawa County history point to being rather large fish or a dog paddling in a body of water. There were other swimming horses, as well.

It was not uncommon over a century ago for sailors residing in Ottawa County to claim they saw a mermaid while out on Lake Michigan. However, there is no record of one being captured and brought to town for public display.

Also of note are legends of bottomless underwater pits or caverns such as one said to exist more than 100 years ago in Stearns Bayou known as Clark's Bottomless Pond. It was said creatures from Lake Michigan and even oceans could navigate into local bodies of water using these hidden passageways.

And, of course, when the creatures vanished, they used the same passageway to get out of town. - Grand Haven Tribune

North American Lake Monsters: Stories

Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizensof the Deep

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Received this image...what do you think?

A friend of mine suggested that I contact you after she looked at my pictures.

This past summer my bf and I made a delivery in Corinth and late ventured to Tupelo to visit The BirthPlace of Elvis Presley Museum. It was late so we couldn't go inside but these pictures were way more than we bargained for!!

This picture was taken with my IPhone 4S. When zooming in you'll see in the trees to the right of the picture spirits hanging in the left edge side of tree!! There are quite a few! Some look to me like a wizard with a pointed hat, or a KKK outfit. A little boy wearing a hat appears clearly just floating to the far right. I'm sure you'll see them all!! Please contact me back if interested in more pictures and details.

Haunted Mississippi: The Most Haunted Locations

East Tupelo & Elvis, That's the Way It Was

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