Phantoms and Monsters

Paranormal Activity Part of Flagstaff, AZ History
Alien Beings in Neighbor's Yard - Connecticut - 12/17/09
50 Sewing Needles Found in Young Boy, Black Magic Ritual Feared
Life As We Don't Know It

Paranormal Activity Part of Flagstaff, AZ History

Posted: 17 Dec 2009 11:31 AM PST

jackcentral - Since becoming a permanent settlement back in 1876, Flagstaff has evolved into a town rich with history and paranormal activity.

Originally a trading location, Flagstaff slowly grew into an urban center over time. Within thirty years of being established, the city was home to many hotels and schools, including NAU, which are still in existence. Over time, supernatural manifestations began contributing to the town's rich history.

Kristen Kuykendall, a desk clerk at the Hotel Monte Vista, said the majority of ghosts are just desperate for attention.

"Whatever is here is trapped and bored," Kuykendall said. "They just want to be acknowledged."

Established in 1927, the Monte Vista is famous not only for the many celebrities who have stayed there over the years, but for its ghost stories.

In room 306, for example, two prostitutes were murdered back when San Francisco St. was the red-light district of Flagstaff. Since then, men claim to wake up in the middle of the night frozen in place by spirits from the beyond.

Kuykendall herself has experienced weird happenings in the hotel.

"It was about 3:45 in the morning and I was making rounds upstairs when I was walking down the hall of the third floor and heard live piano music," Kuykendall said. "There are no pianos in this building. I stopped and listened, and then it stopped playing."

A few blocks west, another hotel is filled with the supernatural.

The Weatherford hotel, built in 1897, accommodated a honeymoon couple. The story goes that the husband, having left the hotel during a blizzard, died on the streets. Thinking her new spouse had abandoned her, the wife hung herself in the room.

Matt Bial, the general manager of the Weatherford, said the couple has scared patrons out of room 54.

"The guests came back and told me they did not get much sleep the night before," Bial said. "They said they woke up and there was a couple having a conversation at the end of their bed. They went and slept in their car that night."

Downtown Flagstaff is not the only area home to these spirits.

Surrounded by three graveyards, NAU provides many different cases of paranormal activity, primarily throughout the dormitories.

Jeanine Rashbaum, a junior microbiology major and orientation leader, said the most popular legend involves Morton Hall.

"During World War II, there was a girl staying in Morton named Kathy," Rashbaum said. "She fell in love with a sailor, but he died at war. When winter break started, everyone went home, but she stayed and hung herself."

Morton was closed temporarily following the incident. When it reopened, strange events began taking place. Girls found themselves locked in the bathroom, which continues to this day.

"Kathy likes to play tricks," Rashbaum said. "If you say, 'Kathy, can you please let me out?' she will let you out."

On the opposite end of campus is McConnell Hall, originally crafted by an insane architect. Supposedly built so each room receives approximately six minutes of sunlight throughout the day, McConnell is shaped like a biohazard sign from an aerial view.

"He just wanted a building with that much light," Rashbaum said. "There is a rumor that one room does not get the six minutes [the architect] wanted, so he went in there and killed himself."

Though he lives in a town harboring these horrifying stories, Bial said the majority of ghouls are merely seeking their place in history.

"It is like their little space in time," Bial said. "They have been able to seal that moment in the timeline of life."
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HOTEL MONTE VISTA HISTORY

When tourism was on the rise during mid 1920's local residents agreed that Flagstaff needed first-class accommodations. Existing hotels were old and outmoded. Fundraising began in April of 1926, and within one month investments of prominent citizens and funds donated by the novelist Zane Grey, totaled approximately $200,000. Ground was broken on June 8.

Construction plans tied the 1917-1927 Post Office and incorporated the existing structure that housed The Coconino Sun, which is now the Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, together with the hotel. The tallest building in Flagstaff, the 73 room hotel, originally named the Community Hotel opened on New Years Day, January 1, 1927. The hotel was then renamed by a contest winner, a 12 year old school-girl, who entered The Monte Vista Hotel. The Monte Vista continued on to be the longest publicly held commercial property in America until it was sold to a private individual in the early 1960's, and continues to be the longest lived operational hotel in Flagstaff. Listed on the U.S. Registrar of Historic Places.
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HOTEL WEATHERFORD HISTORY

The first mention of Texas-born John W. Weatherford in Flagstaff's newspaper of the time, The Coconino Sun, describes the young deputy riding into town. He was coming here to dispel rumors of killing among the posse that had been trying to settle the Tonto Basin Graham-Tewkesbury feud, which was later immortalized in Zane Grey's To the Last Man. Arizona is a territory in the Wild West. The Aztec Cattle Company, the Hashknife outfit, has just about finished moving 33,000 longhorn into the region, with cattle rustlers in their dust. Denis Mathew Riordan — Indian agent, lumberman, railroader, and philanthropist — has just purchased the Ayer Lumber Company. Timber, cattle, and the railroad rule the economic landscape. It is 1887 and Flagstaff is an island of commerce and culture in this changing land. The AT&SF railroad workers had already brought the rail to Flagstaff on on their way to California and San Diego.

In 1896 and 1897, fires plagued the city. Ordinances were enacted requiring any new construction to be of brick or stone. In 1898, Weatherford is granted permission to "construct a brick or stone business block on the southwest corner of Leroux Street and Aspen Avenue and … a sidewalk along the south side of Aspen Avenue from Leroux to Beaver Street." In the late 1890s, Flagstaff streets were unpaved. They were dusty in the summer and muddy in the spring. Constructing sidewalks — a community upgrade — helped grease the wheels of city paperwork.

By April, they dug out the basement. Construction for the main dining room of Charly's restaurant broke ground in February 1899. On January 1, 1900, the $10,000 Hotel Weatherford opened its doors to the public. It was the biggest and best; according to The Coconino Sun, "There is no finer hotel in the whole southwest." Of Weatherford they say, "He is careful of the interests of his guests and every comfort obtainable is afforded them."

Sources:
www.hotelmontevista.com/
www.weatherfordhotel.com/

Alien Beings in Neighbor's Yard - Connecticut - 12/17/09

Posted: 17 Dec 2009 01:36 PM PST

NOTE: the following report was submitted to MUFON on 12/17/09 from a 15 year old in Connecticut. It's a bit crude but I think you'll understand the intent...Lon

MUFON witness report (unedited): "First what happened is I woke up because i heard a boom from outside. I was scared out of sleep. i sit up, and I see a white figure in my neighbor's yard. I figure it must be a light, and i try to fall asleep again. It doesn't work. I think about what it could be, and I surmised an extra terrestrial. For 30 minutes i was scared like hell to even get up, so i checked my cell phone which was on the table next to me to check the time. it was exactly 6:02. the event has gone from about 5:30 to now, for i currently see the objects while writing the report. i sit up, and i see the figures closer now, so i can make out what they are. Bodies. Paper white bodies in the distance. i stare at the figures longer. I see the figures blink their "heads" on and off, with no particular pattern, as if speaking to one another. Then i see a third one come in. The order of the objects in the window is this from me: Orange figure far left, short figure middle, a slightly bigger figure to the far right. This orange figure is about twice the size of the other two, and is orange. I heard a great roam from the sky, like the cry of a low wailing engine. I figure it could be their vessel's engine, but i cannot see any crafts. I get up a little bit later to look out the window. I saw them oh so clearly. I saw bodies, two arms, two legs, heads, and on one of them i saw a separate light coming from the one on the far right. It is square. it seems like a map. they blink their "heads" once again as if in conversation, and i turn on my computer to write this report. I am but 15, so i am scared shitless, shaking more than i ever have in my entire life, pardon my french. I talk to my friend and she says she wishes to see the figures as well, while i do have a webcam, it is too late. I look out one last time, and they vanish. I heard another engine sound, loud and clear, and then nothing. Only the wind remains now."

50 Sewing Needles Found in Young Boy, Black Magic Ritual Feared

Posted: 17 Dec 2009 09:28 AM PST

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dailymail - A two-year-old is seriously ill after being admitted to hospital with 50 sewing needles inside him.

Doctors in Brazil believe the needles were deliberately pushed into his body through his skin - including 17 discovered in his digestive system.

Police have launched an investigation to discover who carried out the attack amid fears the boy may have been used as part of a sinister black magic ritual.

One of the needles perforated the youngster's left lung. Stunned medics admitted him to hospital in Barreiras in the state of Bahma, north east Brazil, after X-rays showed the 50 metal objects in his abdomen, neck, thorax and legs.

Today it emerged the macabre crime may be linked to a bizarre black magic ritual.

The boy, taken to hospital by a relative on Sunday with stomach pains, has not been named.

His mother, maid Marma Souza Santos, has told police she does not know who is responsible and said his gran used to look after her son while she was out at work.

But she has reportedly claimed in a statement the youngster's stepfather may have used the infant in a black magic ritual. He has denied the claims.

Police chief Helder Fernandes Santana said: 'We are certain someone introduced the needles because of the position of some of them in the child's body.

'At the moment we don't know who did it.

'It's such a strange situation. We could be looking at attempted murder, a serious assault or some type of revenge attack. We're not ruling anything out at the moment.'

Doctors at West Hospital in Barreiras where the boy is currently being treated, said they would considering trying to remove sewing needles just under the surface of the boy's skin.

But hospital director Luiz Cesar said none of the needles were endangering his life at the moment - and said he may have to live with them inside his body because of the risk involved in removing them.

He added: 'We're certain the boy didn't swallow the needles of his own accord.

'If he did, they would be in his gastrointestinal tract.

'I've never seen a case of its kind.

'Our priority at the moment is the boy's lung which was perforated by one of the needles.

'Fortunately his life is not in danger.' The boy's dad Gessivaldo Alves added: 'We have faith in God that he is going to get better.'

Life As We Don't Know It

Posted: 17 Dec 2009 08:59 AM PST

parascientifica - It is definitely worth considering that other options do exist besides water and carbon. Alternative biochemists speculate that there are several atoms and solvents that could potentially spawn life.

Carbon is the molecular glue of life, just add water and you've got life. Well, it's not that simple but it does give a good general idea. The carbon/water combo even worked so well that we have trouble imagining anything else. But it's definitely worth considering that other combinations exist besides carbon/water. There are many speculations about atoms and compounds that could potentially spawn life, in this article I will cover two of these compounds.

The first and most plausible carbon replacement is silicon.

Silicon was first mentioned as a base for life the by the British chemist James Emerson Reynolds in 1893, in his opening address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, He stated that because of the heat stability of silicon compounds might allow life to exist in very high temperatures. Comparable life would be the thermopiles, microbes that can live in temperatures from 40 to 113 degrees centigrade. So to our eye's these life forms would be extremophiles, living in places that would be too hostile for any carbon based life.

Silicon is a likely candidate because it is very common in the universe and lies directly under carbon in the periodic table of elements, meaning that it shares much of it's basic chemistry. For example carbon can form Methane(CH4) and Silicon can form Siliane(SIH4). Both elements can also form long chains, or polymers, which in fact are the building blocks of life. So theoretically silicone DNA could exist, since its stable enough.

There is tho, one possibly fatal characteristic to silicone based life, namely the way it reacts with oxygen. Where carbon reacts to the gas carbon-dioxide(CO2) silicone becomes Silicone-dioxide(SiO2) , a solid substance. So where CO2 is easily removed from the body SIO2 is not. Disposing of such a substance would pose a major respiratory challenge.

Silicone life is often depicted as a living rock or crystal, for example H. G. Wells wrote:
One is startled towards fantastic imaginings by such a suggestion: visions of silicon-aluminum organisms – why not silicon-aluminum men at once? – wandering through an atmosphere of gaseous sulphur, let us say, by the shores of a sea of liquid iron some thousand degrees or so above the temperature of a blast furnace.

As the silicone based life forms are nothing like us they still share one crucial factor, they are dependent of water for their biological processes. But the next possible life forms are not.

These life forms would go by the name of ammonia-based life.

This possibility was first suggested in 1954 by J. B. S. Haldane, speaking at the Symposium on the Origin of Life. He suggested that water could be replaced as a solvent by liquid ammonia(NH3).

Part of his observation was based on the behavior of ammonia, which behaves very similar to water only in lower temperatures, for example methanol( CH3OH) and it's ammonia counterpart, methylamine( CH3NH2).

In fact ammonia can replace water in nearly all compounds found in terrestrial life. Making it hardly inferior to water. In fact there are probably as many different possibilities in carbon-ammonia as in carbon-water systems.

This suggests that life on ammonia-rich worlds such as gas giants (e.g. Jupiter) would be very possible without even a drop of water on the whole planet.

Liquid ammonia does have some striking chemical similarities with water. It is intact even better in dissolving organic substances then water. The main objection is that the liquid range of ammonia is -44 degrees centigrade and that that is too low for any life to thrive. This true but the liquid range is specified by the pressure of the planet which on earth is 1atm but for example on Jupiter or Venus where the pressure is 60atm the boiling point is ammonia becomes 98 degrees centigrade instead of minus -33 giving it a liquid range of 175 degrees meaning that ammonia based life doesn't need to be low-temperature life at all!

A downside to ammonia based life is the way that its dissociates, or lets molecules fall apart into positive and negative ions. This process is crucial for acid-base reactions. In ammonia the positive ions would be the NH+ ion, being a very strong acid and deadly to life as we know it. But scientists do suggest that ammonia-based life forms may use other salts to regulate their functions than we do.

Also there is the problem of the density of ammonia, being almost identical to water it has still one flaw that pose a major restriction to the life, namely it's solid form does not float on the liquid form like in water. In fact water is the only substance known to man where the solid is less dense then the liquid. The reason that this is a major problem is because this would mean that any ammonia-ice that would form would sink to the bottom of the liquid, flattening all life. Ice is also a good insulator, so while floating it keeps the water beneath at a constant temperature making is virtually impossible to freeze all the water. But when the ice sinks then it loses all its isolative properties and allows the water to freeze leaving no place for the life to evolve.

This would restrict the life to a planet where the temperatures are well above the ammonia freezing point for it to be a potential candidate for a water replacement.

Regarding these facts ammonia-based life would have the largest chance of forming and surviving on a hot planet with high pressure. If we combine it with silicone-based life then the chances of its forming would grow because silicone works well at high temperatures. Also the biological properties of these two substances would allow for an even more efficient way of photosynthesis and dissimulation.

Instead of O2 these life forms would breath H2, this seems catastrophic because hydrogen is very flammable but this is only the case in an O2 rich environment, if the atmosphere is actually mainly H2 it is in fact very stable. These life forms would thrive on gas giants like Venus and Jupiter.

In this article we have only covered two of the large number of combinations and this leaves us with but one question; Are we looking in the right places? The SETI program specifically searches for earth like planets with water and oxygen and completely ignore all other possibilities . With the gigantic number of planets and a with different compounds, pressure and atmospheres it is very possible that other forms of life have evolved where carbon-based life would not stand a chance.

It's even not beyond the realm of possibility that our first encounter with alien life will not be a carbon-based life form.

This article and all its contents are copyright Parascientifica.com 2009-2010. All rights reserved. Thanks to Alex for allowing me to reprint here at Phantoms and Monsters...Lon

Life As We Don't Know It

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