Invasive Plant That Causes Blindness Spotted In Michigan
It’s not quite the Day of the Triffids, but it seems that Calhoun County, Mich., is in the midst of a nasty plant infestation that can potentially inflict severe burns and even blindness upon its hapless citizens.
As reported by Michigan affiliate WMMT, there have been reported sightings of Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) around the area, a beautiful-looking but thoroughly unpleasant plant.
“It’s not deadly, but it can certainly cause you an awful lot of discomfort,” Paul Makoski, Calhoun County’s Environmental Health Director, told WMMT. “If it were to get on your skin, it's photo reactive meaning that in sunlight it starts to burn. You can have fluid little filled vesicles on your skin. Sometimes that can take 24 to 48 hours to develop. But what happens is there's almost that possibility that they can develop into permanent purple of black scars on your skin.”
And if that’s not bad enough, should the toxic sap actually get into your eyes, it could very well cause blindness.
Giant Hogweed, named so because it can grow up to 20 feet tall, is a native citizen of Central Asia, though nowadays it’s especially prominent in the United Kingdom, where more than 1000 sightings of Hogweed colonies have been recorded since 2010. This summer alone, as reported by the Express, six cases of Hogweed contact in the UK have led to severe injuries and hospitalizations.
In the United States, it’s mostly spotted along the northern part of the country, though many states, including Michigan, lack the funding needed to actively track or preemptively remove the invasive plant. In many cases, health departments are forced to rely on eyewitness reports, which often leads to misidentification since Giant Hogweed resembles other plants and is rarely found in isolation.
According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), only two percent of the sightings submitted to them turn out to actually be Giant Hogweed. The MDARD now provides a link to a video on properly identifying Hogweed created by Michigan State University.
Giant Hogweed is also the plant equivalent of a wanted fugitive, having been listed as a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to import, export, or transport it between states without a permit (to kill?).
Should you personally come across Giant Hogweed, after screaming in abject terror, public health experts recommend that you stay a safe distance away and call your local health department. - Invasive Plant That Causes Blindness Spotted In Michigan
**********
Asked Too Many Questions
Tooele, Utah - 6/1988: I was working at Subway and they were building these buildings, nothing like I have ever seen. The walls had to have been 20 feet thick. I snuck into one and saw that it was not a normal room. It was a clean room with tools I have never seen. I also noticed that there was like a triangle landing area in the middle. I looked up and could see where the roof opened up in sections like 8 different parts. I started asking questions and was fired within two days. - MUFON CMS
NOTE: The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is located in the Deseret Chemical Depot (DCD), a US Army installation. Lon
**********
Updated Original Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film
Video - ROLL ONE, COMPLETE: Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film and Preliminary Scenery of Bluff Creek
Steven Streufert, owner of Bigfoot Books and member of the Bluff Creek Project posted this previously unreleased stabilized and color balanced full 'roll one' of the Patterson-Gimlin film footage. This is a duplicate copy of the full roll that was in Roger Patterson's Cine K-100 camera the day of October 20th, 1967.
*********
Similar Experience
I received this account today...in reference to the 'house cat' UFO abduction:
Hi, Lon.
I saw this story in yesterday’s Phantoms and Monsters. I wrote to you several years ago, describing an experience I had that was just like you said –
“would snag a cat and carry it away like a junkyard electromagnet.”
That “seizure” I had maybe 20 years ago felt exactly like that. I was lying on my back in bed. Suddenly I felt like all the cells in my body had lined up the way iron filings line up for a magnet. Then I was lifted a couple inches off my bed. Then whatever it was let me go and I slammed back down onto the bed.
I only call it a seizure because I don’t know what else to call it. I was left with a sore neck that would not go away, and I eventually went to the doctor and was given some physical therapy for it.
I live alone so there aren’t any witnesses.
I just hope the poor cat was let down easier than I was, if indeed it was an abduction. If it was some kind of prank, shame on whoever did it.
Thanks again for Phantoms and Monsters!
Susan
**********
TODAY'S TOP LINKS
Kanzi The Bonobo Lighting A Fire And Cooking A Meal
Can we reverse the ageing process by putting young blood into older people?
The mythic child-eating Thunderbirds of Illinois
Five Cryptozoology Titles To Read
When Roger Met Patty
The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story
Sasquatch - The Search for a New Man
Saesq'ec: A Controversial Account of a Bigfoot Attack
