Tracking the 'Humber Monster'
The hunt is on to track down the "Humber Monster", a terrifying sea creature said to have a head the size of an elephant, six humps and flashing eyes.
Historian Mike Covell, from Humber Monster Watch, is heading the campaign which aims to track down the creature ahead of Hull being crowned UK City of Culture in 2017.
Speaking to The Express, he said: "Throughout the 1920s, trawlermen from Hull had reported strange sightings of a creature in the Humber and the North Sea.
"In 1923, a Hornsea school teacher was swimming off the coast when he was attacked by an unknown sea creature."
Throughout the 1920s, the Humber Monster terrorised the city's residents, with sightings of the beast filling the pages of the local press. It was said the beast, with its gargantuan head and oddly shaped body, could travel faster than 100mph.
According to the Hull Daily Mail, in 1934, Thomas Atkinson suffered a frightening encounter with the monster. He had been on the shores of the river with his wife and children when he spotted a black creature swimming in the water. It had turned towards the family and reportedly stared at them with "eyes the size of portholes" until they fled in horror.
However, the sightings of the monster were not the only inkling that something strange was brewing in the Humber. In 1925, a supposedly giant octopus was found by fishermen on Withernsea beach, near Hull. It was reportedly 6ft long with eight tentacles full of suckers. Read more at Hunt is on for terrifying monster lurking in the depths of the Humber River
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We Want Our Ghost Back!
A supernatural squabble has broken out between a British pub that dates back to medieval times and a Chinese artist.
The Ye Olde Man & Scythe, a 765-year-old pub in in Bolton, England, claims it was haunted by the ghost of James Stanley, the seventh earl of Derby, who was beheaded outside the pub in 1651. The establishment even posted footage on Youtube that allegedly features images of the ghost in action.
But the ghost has... well... given up the ghost. He’s missing, and the pub owners are blaming Chinese artist Lu Pingyuan for stealing it.
Lu wrote on his website that he caught the ghost at the pub in “a symbolic act in reaction to the UK’s colonialist past, which saw great losses of both tangible and intangible cultural assets by other nations.”
Now the pub wants its specter back. Read more at British Pub Claims Its Ghost Was Stolen, Demands Chinese Artist Return It
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Venezuelan Yoruba's Bizarre Practices
I received the following email from a friend who reads the blog. I thought it was important for others to read in order to get some aspect as to what is going on in Venezuela in regards to Yoruba and the black arts:
Hi Lon:
I didn't know you were sick, so I am happy your condition has improved.
I read with some concern the Daily News' article about Venezuela you included in your blog. That is something I am not so proud to see in an international news media. But I have to recognize that that issue is not far away from the truth. But it's not something new in this country. However this practice have been extended alarmingly in the last 15 years thanks to the Cuban influence, which was promoted heavily by former and late President Chávez.
So it is not strange to see in our cities streets people dressed completely in white, which is the (priest or witches) symbol of the "Santeros". But what is more alarming is what the article call the gangster rite. In Spanish is the "corte malandra", where the Malandro is a kind of thug or rough criminal.(Malandra Court: saints of sin in Caracas)
The Malandro is a figure which the Chávez government promoted to make the middle class scared to death. They have established their kingdoms in the Barrios, where the people live under their law because police is afraid to penetrate into this slums. This people are better armed than police officers and the military. They usually have AK-43 and R15 rifles.
This issue of the Yoruba religion is so extended that a Spaniard writer published a book named "Los Brujos de Chávez ", The Chávez Wizards, in which he describes the bloody ceremonies that people surrounding Chávez and himself practiced in the presidential palace in Caracas. (And I am afraid still do)
But as I said before this is nothing new in Venezuela because is a practice extended since the colony years, when the Spaniards brought the slaves. And once they were liberated in the XIX century, and some of them before, they mixed with the Indians and white people and they're customs were so extended throughout the country.
So the Yoruba religion absorb the Catholic's saints giving birth to new worships that include Negroes saints as well the Catholics (syncretism). We can mention between them Santa Barbara, La Virgin del Valle and Negro Primero (First Black) who was an independence war's hero, and who was killed in the Battle of Carabobo, the final battle against the Spaniards.
The point I want to remark is that this ritual form is part of our folklore, but that the Cubans and Chávez people have perverted to the point the article signaled as a valid way to survive in a leftist failed country.
Let me finish adding that in Venezuela people of all social classes, including politics and the miltary, always have recurred to this kind of assessment, including Tarot readings, cigar readings, prays and animal sacrifices, as a way to know the fortune, and specially to cure ailments and grave ailments.
Is a shame that after a period of 50/60 years of progress still our country might be identified with this dark witchery practices.
Hope you the best,
Henrique
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'Humanoid Encounters 1955-1959: The Others Amongst Us' Now Published
Humanoid Encounters Series - Albert S. Rosales
The world's most amazing humanoid encounter cases. The bizarre, real, global reports of; UFO occupants - ultraterrestrials, extraterrestrials, intraterrestrials, robots and more. Mysterious beings - Bigfoot, flying humanoids, lightbeings, mermaids and even stranger exotic humanoids.
Here's an example:
Location: Near Naples, Florida.
Date: Late 50’s.
Time: Daytime.
One day a group of farm workers saw something crash nearby. Thinking it was a plane, all the workers ran to the site to search for survivors. The aircraft was sticking out of the sea near the beach. When the group got there they realized that it wasn’t a plane, but some type of spacecraft. The “ship” had no doors or windows that could be seen. Beside the ship was one of the pilots. The pilot was still in its spacesuit. It was tall and very skinny. But had a very large helmet. The helmet didn’t have a shield but a robotic looking face plate. Two of the workers picked it up and said it had little weight. It appeared to be dead.
Others found a second suit. The suit was empty. It was lying in the nearby grass. Still others tried to get into the ship to look for anymore survivors. Then suddenly an Army helicopter appeared. The Army came in great numbers to secure the location. Troops surrounded the worker’s camp and forced them to stay. They were there for two days afterward. The military told the workers that no one would believe them if they told what transpired. “Who would believe hobos, drunks, and uneducated Mexicans?” The foreman told the workers to do what the military said and no one would get hurt.
While trapped there, one of the women (the reporter’s mother) met an unusual person. While sitting waiting for the occupation to be over, a person wearing a large blanket approached her from behind. In a bizarre mechanical voice, the strange individual asked her “Are they looking for me?” She turned to see a mechanical face under the blanket. There appeared to be lips moving but there was a delay of sound coming from them. She realized it was not human and told it, “Yes!” She told it to keep away from the military and look for a chance to escape. When the Army was still there cleaning up, the hobos found the surviving crew member.
They put a hooded coat on it and other clothes to totally cover it up. They poured booze over it to make it smell like a drunk and helped it since it had trouble walking. When the bus came to pick up a batch of workers, the workers carried it onto the bus. It suddenly spoke with its mechanical voice, “Are they still looking for me?” They told it to shut up and get on the bus. The main reporter’s family left the next day. Those who took the alien were never seen again.
HC addendum.
Source: Phantoms and Monsters, September 24, 2014. Type: X
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