; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Daily 2 Cents: Former NASA Employee Saw Humans on Mars -- 'Vampire' Burials Solved -- Did Wizards Exist?


Woman Claiming To Be Former NASA Employee Says She Saw Humans Walking On Mars In 1979

A woman named "Jackie," who claims to be a former NASA employee, called Coast to Coast AM in the U.S. She claimed she had seen evidence of two human figures walking towards the Viking lander on Mars in 1979.

A color mosaic taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover Mast Camera (mastcam) shows strata exposed along the margins of the valleys in the "Pahrump Hills" region on Mars in this undated handout photo courtesy of NASA. After 18 months of driving, scientists on September 11, 2014, announced that Curiosity had arrived at the base of Mount Sharp ahead of schedule, thanks to a somewhat serendipitous decision to take an alternative path that would be gentler on the rover's damaged wheels. Within two weeks, Curiosity will reach an outcrop of rock called Pahrump Hills, where the first drill samples of Mount Sharp real estate will be made

The "former NASA employee" asked the radio show presenter to solve a 27-year-old mystery for her. She claimed she had worked for NASA and that her job was to handle the downlink telemetry from the lander. The Viking lander was the first vehicle to send back pictures of the surface of the Red Planet.

She said that while she was working, she saw two people walking across the Martian surface. She continued that she and six colleagues were watching the footage of the Viking rover moving around on multiple screens when she noticed two men in spacesuits walking to the Viking Explorer from the horizon. She added the men's suits looked protective but unlike what astronauts wore.

The "former NASA employee" said she and her colleagues were maintaining the equipment when suddenly the video feed got cut off. She went on to say that when they ran upstairs, they found the door was locked and paper was taped over the door so nothing could be seen. She posed a question to the radio presenter asking whether or not the two men she saw were guys from NASA. The agency has yet to comment on the claim.

Blogs that report on UFO and conspiracy theories have backed the "former NASA employee." They claimed humans had been on Mars to polish off the lander's solar panels. Metro.co.uk wrote that this seemed off because if the humans were there, they could have filled petrol into the lander or take photos themselves. A few other conspiracy theorists claimed that in the sixties, there were secret landings on Mars. They further claimed that the Apollo landings were a cover-up for wider exploration of the solar system. - IBTimes

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Mystery of 'Vampire' Burials in Poland Is Solved

The mystery behind several "vampire" burials in Poland has been solved.

People who were buried with sickles (curved, sharp farming knives) around their necks, or rocks at their jaws, to prevent their corpses from reanimating were natives to the area in which they were buried, according to a new study.

The fact that all the people buried as vampires were local suggests they may have been felled by a cholera epidemic that swept through the region, said study co-author Lesley Gregoricka, a bioarchaeologist at the University of South Alabama.

The skull of the "Vampire of Venice" was found in a mass grave with a brick stuck in its jaw.

Tales of the dead coming back to life have truly ancient roots, going back to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Babylonians and beyond, said study co-author Tracy Betsinger, a bioarchaeologist at the State University of New York at Oneonta.

For all these stories of the dead coming back to life, "the word collectively used is a 'revenance,'" Betsinger told Live Science.

Gregoricka and her colleagues analyzed bone fragments from the Drawsko cemetery, a Polish site where vampire burials were found. The cemetery dates from the 17th to the 18th century, the researchers said. Some people at the site were buried with sickles under their necks or rocks under their jaws, to prevent them from reanimating. (The sickles were intended to decapitate the people if they tried to rise from the grave, while the rocks pinned their jaws shut so they weren't able to feed on the living, Gregoricka said.)

The researchers then took a closer look at 60 of the 333 burials from the site, six of which were "vampire" burials intended to prevent a corpse from reanimating. The team analyzed the ratio of strontium isotopes (versions of the atom with different numbers of neutrons) in the skeletons. Because each location has a unique ratio of these isotopes, and people's bodies naturally take the elements up from the environment, analyzing strontium isotope ratios can reveal where a person is from.

Contrary to the initial hypothesis that the "vampires" were immigrants, the team actually discovered that all of the vampires were locals. - NBCNews

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Lisa Rinna says her house is haunted

Referencing a discussion she had about “ghostly nosies” she heard in her Southern California home, the pouty-lipped wife of L.A. Law hunk Harry Hamlin wrote in her latest Bravo blog that she believes her home is inhabited by a friendly spirit who passed away there more than 30 years ago.

“Fact is, I can’t prove it, but I believe there is indeed a female ghost named ‘Karen’ … [who] died in the house back in 1980 … that lives with us,” the former Melrose Place star wrote.

Thankfully for Rinna, she considers the ghost in her home is more like Casper and less like Poltergeist, as she said Karen “absolutely loves” her teen daughters Delilah and Amelia, and “and loves to be around them.”

The newest addition to the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills provided a sad backstory filling the details of why she feels the supernatural presence.

“Karen had a 3-year-old daughter when she passed away, so I feel like she really presented herself to us when the girls were just babies,” Rinna wrote. “She’s a good ghost. A protective spirit that I’m grateful to share my home and family with.”

Rinna, admitting her intuition “sounds crazy,” said “it’s just a feeling” she has.

Elsewhere in the blog, Rinna says that she’s “loving [her] new role as a Housewife,” two weeks into the program’s new broadcasts.

“I have to admit, I am completely humbled and so incredibly grateful for all of the support and all-around amazingness you’ve shown me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and everywhere else,” she wrote. “I love reading everything you send my way and just know that I love each and every one of you right back!” - RadarOnline

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Wizards: Did They Exist?

Myths and folklore from all over the world inform us of people with supernatural abilities who walked among us. Whether their abilities are attributed to God, the Devil, nature, or some other source, the ancient world is full of records of people who could reportedly perform magic at will. History has not been kind to the word “wizard”; when we hear it, we are inclined to think of fairy tales and fiction–and yet, when a religion recognizes people with the same powers, many of us are willing to call them saints and prophets of God. We are willing to believe in saints but dismiss wizards out of hand. Why should this be so?

We will explore several historical cases of people who seemed to have had magical powers and are listed in the “wizard” category. This is a brief history as all the facts on any of them could constitute many books. There are many more in history that have also risen to the rank of wizard (or a similar designation), but we have picked out a few examples to raise the question of whether these figures truly existed and if they truly had powers. Read more at The Epoch Times

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TODAY'S TOP LINKS

New UFO investigation hopes to solve mystery of ‘Britain’s Roswell’

Prominent Surgeon: Evidence Soul May Leave Body in Near-Death Experience

Synchronicity or Coincidence? Parapsychologist Dean Radin Tells a Strange Personal Tale

Buried in Time: The Great Wall of Texas Could Change History

The Origin of the Ancient Astronaut Idea



Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine: The Definitive Home Reference Guide to 550 Key Herbs with all their Uses as Remedies for Common Ailments

Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories, and Ceremonies

Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection

Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World


'Dreamwork for Visionary Living' by Rosemary Ellen Guiley


During her most recent guest appearance on Arcane Radio, dream expert Rosemary Ellen Guiley detailed how to interpret dreams and some of the criteria in her workshops. She also recounted her early experiences with dreams and what it has meant to her personally and for her career.

She also announced the publication of Dreamwork for Visionary Living, a practical guide to pro-active dreaming....and using your dreams in targeted ways to improve day-to-day living. This guide defines the power to transform your life...emotionally, spiritually, and even physically.

Rosemary has gathered techniques and wisdom from ancient times to the present, giving special emphasis to dreams that transcend ordinary reality and address our biggest spiritual questions: who we are, why we are here, where we are going, and what life’s journey means.

The book features 37 innovative dream labs, easy and practical ways to apply pro-active dreaming to any aspect of daily and spiritual life. I found the concepts very easy to follow and comprehend...and intrigued by the narratives added with the dream labs.

Some of the more fascinating chapters, in my opinion, dealt with healing, psychic dreaming, using dreams in the spiritual realm and out-of-body dreaming. I soon developed a divergent perception of ordinary daily routines. This has improved my focus while conducting research and writing. There are other techniques in this guide that I plan to implement into my life, especially the intriguing use of dreams for healing.

I highly recommend Dreamwork for Visionary Living for those who are interested in developing alternate means of self-help and for understanding how you can expand your sense of reality.

Dreamwork for Visionary Living
By Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Visionary Living, Inc., 2014, paperback, 240 pgs.

You can order your book directly through Visionary Living, Inc.


More titles by Rosemary Ellen Guiley:

The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology

The Encyclopedia of Angels, Second Edition

Dream Messages from the Afterlife

Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Mountain State


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Friday, November 28, 2014

Daily 2 Cents: Ouija Boards Popular Holiday Gift Item -- Exorcism Used Against 'Mango Demons' -- The Irby Boggle


Ouija Boards Popular Holiday Gift Item

What better time to talk to dead people for fun than the festival to celebrate the birth of Jesus? Ouija boards are flying themselves off shelves and under trees this Christmas, according to trends data released by Google. The company has recorded a 300 per cent increase in searches for the spirit-bothering devices, fuelled by a terrible movie that was effectively a feature-length ad for a board game, an appearance on The Archers, and the Victorian belief that if the dead could speak, they would use a plank of a wood and the alphabet.

Ouija, released in October in time for Halloween, was, by all accounts, a cliché-ridden turkey about a group of teenage girls who experiment with a board and get scared. It has a disastrous 7 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregating site, but became an occult hit, to the delight of its backers. Hasbro, the toy company behind Monopoly, pushed for the revival of the film, which had stalled in development, and partnered with Universal to make it happen. Its Ouija Game, including a glow-in-the-dark version, is – sure enough – the biggest seller online.

All of which is appropriate, because the Ouija-board trend, circa 1890, was always about selling games. Spirit writing dates back much further. In 12th-century China, it was believed that spirits had the power to guide a "planchette" to write Chinese characters. In the late 19th century, when doubts about God inspired by Darwin's little birds led to a boom in spiritualism, planchettes became a novelty hit in the west. Elijah Bond, an American lawyer and inventor from Baltimore, devised and patented in 1891 "a toy or game by which two or more persons can amuse themselves by asking questions of any kind and having them answered by the device used and operated by the touch of the hand, so that the answers are designated by letters on a board".

Bond's talking board, with its planchette pointer (a small glass is now a popular alternative), was a minor hit in the séances of the time, but it was William Fuld, who had worked with Bond, who made it big. He marketed the board heavily, crushing competitors and copycats. Ouija was a portmanteau of "yes" in French and German, he said (as well as 26 letters, boards include the words "yes" and "no" so that spirits can answer simple questions more quickly). Fuld eventually passed the company to his children who in 1966 sold it to… Hasbro.

Cliché-ridden turkey: Douglas Smith, Olivia Cooke and Ana Coto in Ouija Cliché-ridden turkey: Douglas Smith, Olivia Cooke and Ana Coto in Ouija
If there were any doubt that dead people don't tend to communicate in this way or at all, scientists have been on the case for decades. In the 1850s, Michael Faraday, the electromagnetism guy, devised an experiment to expose a similar spiritual fad. Table tipping required a group of people to rest their hands on a small table, which would then seem to become possessed and move. He created a system of movable cards that would show whether the motion derived from the table or the participants (it was them, of course).

Faraday and other scientists identified the ideomotor effect, which also explains how Ouija boards work (or don't work). Ray Hyman, an American psychologist and early figure in the modern skeptical movement, neatly described it in 1999: "Honest, intelligent people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations."

In other words, if the questioner at a Ouija board expects a yes or a no, or a word, their brain guides the hand accordingly without their realising it. Other hands in the group follow. Similar experiments show that looking at an object can further compel the brain to guide a hand in its direction. Sure enough, when the letters on a board are only visible to a "spirit", and not the players, their hands produce nonsensical responses.

Yet the creepiness of the exercise and the imagery of films like Ouija can make them fun, especially during teenage sleepovers. In a Halloween episode of The Archers last month, Kenton hosted a séance a The Bull, with far from spooky results. But those falling for the marketing this Christmas should beware the risks of messing with spirits, or at least one's own mind. Two years ago, a 15-year-old boy from Texas told police he had stabbed his friend in the neck because a Ouija board had told him to.

Reports abound online of players freaking out or even committing suicide after sessions. In 1994, a British judge was forced to order a retrial of a man jailed for life for a double murder after it emerged that jurors had used a Ouija board during a drunken night to guide them towards a verdict. A fresh jury found the accused guilty. That time, board games were banned. - Independent

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Exorcism Used Against 'Mango Demons'

Residents of a mountain barangay in Cebu City, in the Philippines, claim that 35 students at their public school were possessed by evil spirits.

According to the report the mother of two of the possessed pupils believes that spirits hit the school after it cut down two mango trees to make way for a two-story building according to local paper Sun Star Cebu.

The 35 students apparently collapsed and started convulsing on Thursday, as around 3 pm.

The school's teachers sought the help of local officials, who called in priests from the Mary Help of Christians Parish in Barangay Buhisan.

Reverend Nicolas Ramos responded by conducting a Catholic rite of exorcism.

Some of the pupils appeared to respond to the priest's prayers, four more started convulsing and screaming just before the school celebrated mass.

While locals believe that this was demonic possession, Cebu's archdiocese cations it may have just been mass hysteria.

Mass hysteria generally occurs in a way that mirrors a given group's concerns. For example a lot of current outbreaks tend to be based around fears of strange smells, food poisoning or allergies.

According to a paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry, religious mass hysteria was quite common during the renaissance, "between the 15th and 19th centuries, exceedingly strict Christian religious orders appeared in some European convents.

"Coupled with a popular belief in witches and demons, this situation triggered dozens of epidemic motor hysteria outbreaks among nuns, who were widely believed to have been demonically possessed."

The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has debriefed the teachers, teaching them what to do in case of another mass hysteria outbreak. - Times Live

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The Irby Boggle

This story, which was originally printed in the Grimsby Telegraph in 1954, delves into the history of the village of Irby in the Lincolnshire Wolds.

On a clear day they can just see the grey waters of the Humber many miles away for Irby actually stands on the foothills of the Lincolnshire Wolds and they may wonder how it got its name.

There are two villages of that name in the county and to avoid confusion one was called Irby-upon-Humber and the other one, some five miles from Spilsby, was called Irby-on-the-Marsh.

In the distant past before the Humber marsh was drained, Irby was the last settlement between the high ground and the coast.

Within one mile the neighbouring village of Laceby is really a part of Grimsby's suburbia, but Irby is truly rural and is entirely devoted to farming.

The history of Irby goes back to the Normans and earlier to the invasions up the Humber of the Danes, Jutes and Saxons, to Roman Britain and before that to the settlement of Neolithic man living in stone caves on the hills.

There was once a colourful character as Lord of the Manor in those days – one Sir William Holles, who was described by his grandson Gervase as "happy in his bed, happy in his children and happy in his neighbours".

Relatives were worried that he might dissipate his fortune in riotous living.

He took a retinue of 50 stalwarts in "blue coats and badges" to the Coronation of Edward VI and made a habit of taking an escort of 30 to the assizes at Retford.

Sir William, who died in 1590 at the ripe old age of 83 despite his dissipation, also kept a jester for his amusement who frequently got into very hot water indeed.

One day the fool – John Oatesborne of Riby – overheard a man trying to sell his master a falcon for hunting.

It was described as "the sweetest, delicatest and best-conditioned bird" but the jester was next seen bursting into the dining room at lunchtime covered in blood and feathers and shouting that the hawk was "cursed for the worst meat he ever did eat in his life."

Another time the fool was bade by his master who was leaving for a visit to "have a care no one kissed his lady till he returned".

The first man of note to arrive was one George, Earl of Shrewsbury, who got hit on the head with a stave by the jester before he had time to enter the house.

Sir William planned to build a splendid manor house and divert the water from the Welbeck springs near Barton Street at Irby.

He had the foundations dug and intended using stone from the church of St Mary's in Grimsby, which was demolished during the Reformation.

He did not get much further before he died, and his family were pleased because the stones from the same church had been used at Healing and Hatcliffe and "had brought a curse on the owners".

Away from the moat up the winding farm lane past scattered farms is the village pump, the centre of life and gossip in the old days.

Its 108-ft deep well provided water for inhabitants and livestock. The oldest resident in Irby, Mr Herbert Taylor, who can still do a day's farm work at the age of 79, recalls a young girl who set up in business delivering buckets of water to the outskirts of the village at one penny a time.

From the pump and across the busy main road is a muddy lane through the fields which continues, so local legend has it, into haunted country.

Suddenly, the flat fields give way to a hidden valley of woods and stream called Irby Dale.

It is a delightful retreat in the daytime with its glades and its trees.

At night it is the haunt of the Irby Boggle, the ghost of a lovely young damsel who strolls through the glade by moonlight.

It is difficult to trace the story, but apparently she was murdered by her plough-boy sweetheart.

There is an old tree in the wood which is covered with initials carved into the bark and residents say that the swain and his lover put their initials there entwined in the time-honoured way.

Mention the "Boggle" to local people and the younger generation howls with laughter but the older ones say nothing. - Grimsby Telegraph

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Malevolent 'captain' said to haunt NC house

MAYSVILLE | The deteriorating house in the 100 block of Belgrade Extension Road is occupied, according to medium Natalie Kauftheil.

It's just not occupied by the living.

And the spirit of a malevolent, mean drunk will let you know it.

“Animals don't even like this place,” Kauftheil said, noticing the lack of birds or woodland creatures on the property, roughly a third of an acre.

Purported to be haunted, some former residents of the house admit to witnessing paranormal activity, a finding corroborated by a Jacksonville Daily News investigation in 2005.

Kauftheil, who accompanied The Free Press on a return to the property Thursday, said she sensed a Native American chief from a village that once was nearby, two children from the 1800s who played outside and six spirits inside the house.

The most active of these, and negative, is that of a man thought to have earned his living on the river sometime before World War I.

The house dates from 1901.

He was married with a daughter and two sons. Standing behind the residence, Kauftheil picked up first on his wife.

“There's a female, but she's got the longer dresses, like early 19(00s),” Kauftheil said. “She's real quiet. Husband is abusive, loud, drunk. Three kids. … None of them really grew up, because, the little girl looks like 8 (years old). To me, they had to have had some money because she's dressed really nice. Pretty shoes. Continue reading at Star News Online

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TODAY'S TOP LINKS

Scientists discover Earth's invisible FORCE FIELD that blocks 'killer energy' from space

Ten Of The Most Outrageous Things Benjamin Franklin Ever Did

Polish 'Vampires' May Have Actually Been Cholera's First Victims

The Green Children of Woolpit - Allegory for an Alien Visitation?

The Cowman of Copalis Beach



When Giants Were Upon the Earth: The Watchers, The Nephilim, and the Cosmic War of the Seed

The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America: The Missing Skeletons and the Great Smithsonian Cover-Up

Zenith 2016: Did Something Begin In The Year 2012 That Will Reach Its Apex In 2016?

Exo-Vaticana : Petrus Romanus, Project L.U.C.I.F.E.R. And the Vatican's Astonishing Plan for the Arrival of an Alien Savior


Alien Abductions: Why?


Why do aliens see the need to abduct earthlings?

Professor David M. Jacobs is an historian and retired Associate Professor of History at Temple University specializing in 20th century American history and culture. Jacobs is also well known in the field of ufology for his research and authoring of books on the subject of alleged alien abductions. He has lectured widely, been interviewed, and participated in numerous television and radio shows on the subject of alien abductions.

Jacobs believes alien abduction on humans have been happening to create alien-human hybrids who are walking all over Earth today and will take over Earth soon. At age 71, Jacobs has made investigations on extraterrestrial abductions as his mission.

Jacobs, who currently working on his 5th book, was a professor for 36 years, teaching American history at Temple University before retiring in 2011. His first 4 books were printed by leading and academic publishers as he ensures to apply a scholarly approach to his research.

According to Jacobs, he has talked with around 150 people who claim they were victims of alien abductions. In his own estimates, based on public polls, space aliens kidnapped over a million Americans.

While he admits that the evidence on extraterrestrial body-snatching and extraterrestrial life itself is weak, he insists evidence exists. He cites the following evidence:

- Abductees have been reporting similar experiences and recalling common details, such as the mission to breed of human-like or insect-like appearance extraterrestrials.

- People were absent physically during the time they were abducted and some loved ones or families claimed they saw them disappeared.

- Sometimes abductees were taken in groups composed of people who never met before on Earth and shared their abduction experiences together when they met on Earth after the abduction.

- People return with strange marks, scars or injuries in which Jacobs claimed he had seen himself.

Contrary to David Jacobs' assertions, I have an opposing opinion in reference to alien abductions based on testimony and research I have conducted over the years.

As many of you know, I have been involved with documenting the David Eckhart family encounters and abductions since 2008. Over that period of time, David has described many of the scenarios he witnessed while under the control of his captors...including human experimentation and disposal.

The Eckharts are not the only alien experiencers I have interviewed and researched. One other multiple abductee described similar events they witnessed while in the company of these alien beings.

The one claim, that I'm sure will be controversial and ridiculed, is that many of the abductees are related to an ancient line of hybrids. For thousands of years, I believe that these hybrids have been identified, hunted down and disposed of by various alien races. I also believe that world governments have been cooperating with this systematic genocide since the 1950's. The descriptions of abductees enduring heavily invasive experimentation (recounted as long deep incisions made in the back) and the ultimate disposal in huge, cylindrical-shaped incinerators bolsters my theory.

The reason why these exterminations are taking place is not an easy one to pin down...but much of what is metaphorically described in the Book of Enoch may offer some clues as to why this is occurring. The term Nephilim, the offspring of the 'sons of God' and the 'daughters of men,' may be a broader representation of extraterrestrials combining the DNA of different species. The Bible states that the Deluge was the means of destroying the Nephilim. Who is to argue that some of these Nephilim survived and continue to mix among the modern human population?

I may go into a deeper explanation at a later date, but I wanted to 'put it out there' for a reaction. I'd be interested in your thoughts?

The THREAT: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda

UFOs & Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge

Secret Life: Firsthand, Documented Accounts of Ufo Abductions

The Books of Enoch: The Angels, The Watchers and The Nephilim: (With Extensive Commentary on the Three Books of Enoch, the Fallen Angels, the Calendar of Enoch, and Daniel's Prophecy)


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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving Wishes To All

Hi folks...I'm taking the day off. Enjoy Thanksgiving Day and the weekend! Lon

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Pterosaur Sighting - Central Arkansas


I received the following information and artist rendering from Laura Dean, who resides in central Arkansas. She states that she had conducted an interview with pterosaur / ropen researcher Jonathan David Whitcomb, who had previously written Why Believe in Living Pterosaurs? for 'Phantoms & Monsters':

Artist rendering of flying cryptid witnessed by Laura Dean

I decided that I needed to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I was out in the country, driving slowly, all alone, going over a bridge at about 2 pm on a sunny springtime afternoon in April 2012 when all of the sudden I see something coming up from underneath the bridge.

From out of the passenger seat window and about 5 or 6 feet from me I can see something medium gray.....as it came up a little bit more I could see part of a wing, part of a beak, part of a head crest, and a big gold eye like a cats eye.

It looked as if it was struggling to get up over that bridge and up over my truck because of its heavy weight.

As I slowed down even more and looked at it closely the first thought to enter my mind was 'prehistoric' and my second thought was 'it looks like something that shouldn't still be living today'. My 3rd thought was 'prehistoric bird'.

I then watched out the windshield as it flew up over my truck, up into the sky, and off toward a wooded area, southward.

It seemed as if everything was in slow motion as I watched it fly up above my truck and fly away. I watched it's wings above me and how they looked and moved.

They moved like a muscular wave from one end of the wing to the tip.

The wings were thick like a steak,were shaped like an airplanes wings, and had three sections to them, with black creases or wrinkles running down them.

And on the middle outside of the wings were what looked like fringes (which I found out later were claws or fingers).

Next, I noticed the torso, how big in was and that it was shaped kind of like an egg, and then the head crest and how strange it looked up on top of the head. And how the head crest kind of bounced up and down as the creature flew.

I also noticed the length of the neck.

I noticed the legs and the tail. How the legs just floated in the air and kind of bounced on each side of the tail. And how the tail had a heart looking shape at the end of it.

I also noticed that it had no feathers and that it was probably as big as a small airplane, and bigger than my little Chevy S10 pickup.

I was in some kind of shock the rest of the day,just walking around and trying to function in some kind of a daze, going through the motions but only really half way there. My mind was trying to come to terms with what I had seen.

I contacted two of my friends who suggested that what I had really seen was a Heron, Albatross, Pelican or some local big bird, even though I told them that this creature was huge, not big and had no feathers at all.

Next, I contacted Cornell University Ornithology Lab and spoke to a lady named Laura. She said that there are no birds that match my description.

Next I did an internet search under 'prehistoric birds'....but kept coming up with posts about Pterosaurs. I didn't really know what Pterosaurs were but I knew that they weren't birds and that they didn't exist any longer (or so I thought).

So I became discouraged and gave up until early 2013.

In early 2013 I decided to do another internet search under 'prehistoric birds' and up popped Jonathan David Whitcomb's name and the word Pterosaur again. 
This time I decided to contact this man via email and he responded to me and wanted to do an interview.

During my interview with him I discovered that what I had seen was probably a Pterosaur. Now, all I had to do was come to terms with that.

Laura Dean later forwarded the following:

Subject: Guesstimates, measurements, estimates

I could come up with some measurements as to the size of the creature. But coming up with the measurements of the tail is the hardest. It was a short-tailed Pterosaur. Here are the measurements I have;

1) Wings from tip of one wing to tip of the other: no smaller than 14 foot (maybe longer).

2) Face, bill and eye to the end of (tip) the headcrest: 3 to 3 1/2 foot long (the headcrest was shaped like the prongs of a household hammerhead (kind of a horn with a curve in it).

3) The whole animal from the tip of its head to the tip of it's tail was probably 9 foot to 12 foot long.

4) It's eye was no smaller than 5 inches around.

5) It's torso was probably 4 foot to to 5 foot long and shaped kind of like a lemon.....only longer (an elongated lemon).

6) Even though the tip of the Pterosaurs left wing was 5 or 6 foot from me as it was coming up beside my truck I could not see the tail until it was up in the air and above my truck. I want to say that the tail was 2 or 3 foot long.

I remember the tail being just slightly longer than the feet as it was flying above me. It was the tail flange that was a little longer than the feet. The feet where like claws or talons floating in the air behind the creature.And the tail had a spade shaped flange at the end of it.

It looked to be about the size of small airplane....and bigger than my Chevy S10.

NOTE: You may want to look at the following links:

Pterosaurs: A Global Phenomenon

Sheep Mutilation Mystery - Dine' Navajo Reservation, Near Hogback, NM

Why Believe in Living Pterosaurs?

Pterosaur Sighting - Slidell, Louisiana

Jonathan Whitcomb's Ropen / Pterosaur Research

Encounter With a Shape Shifter



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

Searching for Ropens and Finding God: The quest for discovering modern pterosaurs ("flying dinosaurs")

Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy

Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters


Daily 2 Cents: Unknown 'Angel Hair' Substance Falls From Sky -- RODS Phenomenon -- Happy Thanksgiving!


Unknown 'Angel Hair' Substance Falls From Sky

A rain of mysterious strands of wispy, white ‘angel hair’ fell from the sky in Portugal – leaving locals baffled by the substance, which seems to ‘come alive’ under ultraviolet light.

Some have even questioned whether it was of terrestrial origin – or left drifting in the air by a passing UFO.

One local, who did not want to be named, said, ‘It fell during the afternoon. I tried to inquire if aeroplanes flew over before, but no straight answer. It happened 2 weekends in a row.

‘Me and a couple of friends sent it to be analysed – and the weirdest things happened. It reacts to UV light. It comes alive.’

Similar sightings of strands falling from the sky have been reported in countries such as Finland and Canada – but the samples often evaporate before they can be properly analysed.

Conspiracy theorists believe they could be related to UFO propulsion systems – or even to ‘chemtrails’, sinister biological agents supposedly distributed by aircraft around the world.

Nigel Watson, author the Haynes Manual for UFO Investigations, says, ‘Sightings of UFOs were commonly associated with angel hair up to the 1970s, and in the past it has been seen in association with religious visions in the sky, such as in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.’

‘These fine fibres falling from the sky were regarded as being the byproduct of UFO propulsion systems, all though sceptics tend to explain them as being created by migrating spiders or by dust particles polarised by atmospheric electricity and are a natural phenomenon.’

‘It is only in recent years that angel hair sightings have returned again. Samples quickly evaporate making it difficult to analyse their composition and nature.’ - Metro

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Manatee rescued from Texas waters

Authorities in Texas said they are working on a plan to assist an unusual visitor -- the first manatee to visit the Houston area in 19 years.

The Chambers County Sheriff's Office said a deputy spotted the male manatee swimming up a channel Sunday near Baytown and barriers were put in place once the sea mammal settled in a spot next to a warm water outlet.

Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said waters in the area are too cold for manatees this time of year.

"The cold water makes them stressed, it makes them really tired, just like if you or I were out in a snowstorm," he told the Houston Chronicle.

Experts said they were able to identify the manatee using the scar patterns on his back. They said the animal usually spends his time in Tampa, Fla., and they are not sure why he made the swim to the Houston area.

Heidi Whitehead, operations coordinator at the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, said her group is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Sea World San Antonio on a plan to relocate the sea cow before temperatures drop too much.

"He's already showing some signs of cold stress so that is a concern," Whitehead said. "Once the water temperature drops below 68 degrees it's too cold for them to survive. It is necessary for us to relocate it."

Whitehead said the manatee could be pulled from the water before the end of the day Tuesday and will be taken to Sea World if it is found to be in good health or a Marine Mammal facility in Galveston if it requires urgent care.

"We will decide how critical he is once we get him out," Whitehead said.

A manatee was previously rescued from waters near Corpus Christi in 2007. The animal was returned to Florida. - Big News nework

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NJ Police release photos of bear taken by victim of fatal attack

A photograph of the black bear which killed Darsh Patel on Sept. 21 in a wooded area of West Milford was recovered from the victim's phone, authorities say. The picture was taken from approximately 100 feet - but the bear kept approaching the group of hikers, who split up and fled just shortly before Patel was killed, authorities say. The cell phone was later found with a puncture mark from the animal's fangs, authorities added. (West Milford Police Department)

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'Reincarnation of Jesus' surgeon suspended

A Tennessee surgeon's license was suspended for bizarre behavior including calling himself the "Son of God" and an alleged attack at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

The Tennessee Board of Osteopathic Examination issued an emergency order Tuesday to suspend the license of Dr. Brett Bolton, a Brentwood hair transplant surgeon, due to concerns he could pose a threat to himself and to others.

The board heard Bolton has been displaying bizarre behavior recently, including operating a website proclaiming himself to be the "Son of God" and "the reincarnation of Jesus Christ."

"Dr. Bolton's staff had been noticing changes in his behavior -- him doing strange things like believing he was Jesus Christ, dressing all in white and asking everybody if God asked them to kill someone would they do that," Devin Wells, an attorney for the Tennessee Department of Health, told The Tennessean. Read more at UPI

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RODS Phenomenon

Cameras capture a variety of moments in time, but sometimes they capture something else, something unexplained. One man from New Mexico believes he's discovered a new life form, which has spurred a worldwide debate.

"There is a phenomenon that exist among us," said Jose Escamilla, founder and researcher of RODS. "They're like sky fish. They swim through the air like fish."

He first captured a strange image on his photographs back in 1994.

"At first I thought they were insects, birds you know floating close to the lens of the camera," he said.

However, at such a high shutter setting, he says he eliminated the possibility of it being an insect or a bird, but something else, something mysterious.

"We think it's a living entity of some kind. It does have behavior of being alive," said Escamilla. "They're very evasive, they're super fast."

Escamilla calls this entity a ROD, measuring one to six feet long with a cylinder body and multiple sets of wings.

"We don't know what they're doing here. We don't know how long they've been here," he said. "We have rock carvings that appears to show RODS on carve drawings from 50,000 years ago."

Skeptics, however, don't buy into the ROD theory. Skeptics like Mark Zimmerman, an assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

"I hate to call myself a skeptic, but I'm probably labelled as that because I just think there's some sort of scientific answer for things like this," said Zimmerman. "I think it's interesting and makes for a good topic of discussion."

In fact, he discussed the phenomenon in class recently after one of his students, Erick Perry, captured what appears to be a ROD in a photograph taken for a class assignment.

"It was actually somebody in class who pointed it out," said Perry.

As part of the assignment, Perry took the same photograph at a cemetery during different times of the day. In the night photograph, a white object appeared in the upper right-handed corner.

"People in class joked around about it, like UFOs, but most likely, it was probably like a bug or a plane or something," he said. "The fact that it was in a cemetery made it a little more creepy."

Zimmerman agrees the object is more than likely not out of this world.

"You can capture planes as they're going across the sky, satellites, things that you typically wouldn't see other than like a dot typically when you look up," he said. "Whereas with the longer shutter, when it's open, things will move and light will reflect off of it."

Wanting to prove his point, Zimmerman shot a series of photographs at different exposure times around a porch light, capturing what appears to be objects similar to Rods, but actually turned out to be moths. Like other camera experts, Zimmerman says cameras are capable of producing artifacts, something in the picture that wasn't actually there.

Escamilla viewed Perry's photograph from class and says the mysterious object is not a ROD, but perhaps an airplane. However, he says that doesn't disprove his ROD theory.

"Each object has its own certain footprint, it's certain pattern of flight, you can tell what an insect looks like, you can tell what a bird looks like, a dragonfly and a ROD is a ROD," he said.

Escamilla says RODS can be seen anywhere but their hotbeds are in Washington DC, New Orleans, Canada, Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California the U.S. He says they've also been captured in Scotland, Russia, Japan, China, Germany and the UK.

Escamilla has seen RODS in photographs and video of space and even underwater. He even spied a ROD in video taken from SkyNews9 during tornado coverage in 1999.

"Those RODS are huge. That one white ROD that comes out of the top of the cloud, that cloud front was 10 miles away from the helicopter and it comes out in three frames. That thing must have been a 100 feet in length," said Escamilla.

So what do you believe? Do rods exist among us, these strange living things that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, caught at just the right moment in time?

"I think everyone always has some sort of conspiracy on anything. I mean, it could be Bigfoot," said Zimmerman.

"This phenomenon is real and for those of you who don't believe in it, that's your prerogative. You can believe what you want, or disbelieve, but the fact is, these things are here," said Escamilla. "They are doing something here. We don't know what they do but they are doing it."

Escamilla says technology has improved the documentation of RODS, where he's now able to capture them using infrared filters and in high-speed footage. - News9

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Hi folks...I have removed the pop-under ads on the blog. Though it's a decent revenue maker, it seems to be bothering many of the readers with handheld devices. Happy Thanksgiving to all! Lon

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