Phantoms and Monsters

Videos: UFOs / Possible Alien Witnessed In Puerto Rico
St. Nicholas: Born In Turkey, Buried in Ireland
Reports of Bengal Tiger Roaming Brazoria County, Texas

Videos: UFOs / Possible Alien Witnessed In Puerto Rico

Posted: 20 Dec 2009 12:05 PM PST

NOTE: Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - on the first video, a security guard and police officer witness two bright UFOs. In the second video, security cameras capture UFOs over an undisclosed beach (though it's stated to be in Puerto Rico). Something seems to trigger a security spotlight as well. It seems that whoever submitted the second video is suggesting that some type of beings are on the beach. At the 1:20 mark there is a small humanoid-like being standing / hovering on top of the wall or fence on the lower left. Take a look...Lon

St. Nicholas: Born In Turkey, Buried in Ireland

Posted: 20 Dec 2009 10:21 AM PST

Just about now, the Santa Claus loved by children everywhere is busy wrapping up presents at his home in the North Pole. But if some historians are correct, the figure who inspired everyone's favorite portly gift-giver lies buried in a moss-covered Irish graveyard.

At issue isn't the white-bearded reindeer fan, but St. Nicholas of Myra, the philanthropic fourth-century Bishop of Lycia, now part of modern-day Turkey. According to Philip Lynch, chairman of a historical society in the Irish town of Callan, the original St. Nick's remains are interred under the ruins of Jerpoint Abbey in County Kilkenny. "It is an amazing story and yet very few people know about [his] connection to this country," Lynch told the Daily Mirror newspaper. "Every year now we get visitors to the site, but still not that many."

Like his more famous successor, the true St. Nicholas was renowned for his generosity. Born into a wealthy merchant family in the Mediterranean city of Myra, he dedicated his life to serving God and following Jesus' instruction to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor." He left anonymous gifts for the sick and destitute – bags of gold were a favorite – and later earned a reputation as a miracle worker with the ability to resurrect murdered children. Following his death in A.D. 346, his tomb at Myra cathedral became a site of pilgrimage for early Christians, who believed it possessed mystical healing powers.

So how did a Turkish saint end up on the Emerald Isle? It's long been known that St. Nick didn't stay in his initial tomb for long. In the 11th century, the city of Myra – part of the Byzantine Empire – was besieged by Seljuk Turks. Worried that they might lose the saint to the invading Muslims, a crew of enterprising Italian sailors snatched his remains and spirited them across the Mediterranean to their home port of Bari. Today, Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians flock to that city on the Adriatic to pray at the grand Basilica di San Nicola, where his relics are rumored to be kept.

However, Irish historian Lynch tells a different tale. He claims that the rescue of old St. Nicholas was actually carried out by a family of French crusaders, who were known to be major collectors of relics. "The de Frainets, who are now known as the Freaneys, had land near Thomastown in Kilkenny," said Lynch, referring to a county in the south of Ireland. "They also had lands in France. They went on the Crusades to the Holy Land to take on the Saracens." Lynch said the crusaders grabbed the bones as they were retreating from a Saracen army and took them to Bari in southern Italy, which was then part of the French Norman empire.

As Lynch tells it, the odyssey of the holy remains wasn't over yet. After the Normans were forced out of Bari by the Genoese, the de Frainets shifted the relics to their home in Nice. But soon the balance of power turned against the Normans in France as well, so the family packed up St. Nick's bones and headed to Ireland. Lynch said his remains were finally buried at Kilkenny's Jerpoint Abbey in 1200. The abbey now lies in ruins, but Lynch said one impressive tomb still stands out: a slab of rock into which the image of a bishop and two other heads have been chiseled. The heads are believed to be the two Crusaders who brought Nicholas to Ireland. And the bishop, surrounded by three gold bags, is St. Nicholas.

Of course the story could all be blarney. But there is another bizarre connection between this region of Ireland and Mr. Claus. Coca-Cola, the company that popularized the red-suited, black-booted modern Santa, was founded by the American entrepreneur Asa Candler. His family originally hailed from Jerpoint in County Kilkenny.

Reports of Bengal Tiger Roaming Brazoria County, Texas

Posted: 20 Dec 2009 10:48 AM PST

Click for video

khou - Officials are on the lookout for a Bengal tiger in Brazoria County.

No joke.

Police say a man recently reported spotting a tiger near the Buc-ee's at FM 523 and Highway 332. That's close to the town of Oyster Creek.

Game wardens with Texas Parks and Wildlife have been searching the area, even using special goggles equipped with night vision in a bid to find the big cat.

Authorities said they haven't actually spotted the animal, nor have they found any tracks or other signs of it.

Still, the chief of police in Oyster Creek wants his officers to be aware of the situation and alert while they're out on their regular patrols, just in case it's really out there.
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chron - Law officers in Oyster Creek have been fielding reports for days from residents convinced they've seen a tiger roaming the Brazoria County town.

"I can't say people are making this up at this point but in this business you've got to take everything seriously," said Oyster Creek police officer Byron Rexses.

Rexses said the most recent sighting, bringing total reports to a handful, came Friday morning.

"I was sitting in my patrol car on the side of the road and a guy drove up beside me and told me he saw him," Rexses said.

The man told Rexses he was fishing with his buddies on the north end of Oyster Creek — about a mile from the first sighting reported Tuesday night — when they spotted a large animal on the banks.

"They thought it was a cougar," he said. "They shined the spotlight on it and it ran away."

ON THE LOOKOUT

Rexses emphasized while there is no physical evidence a tiger is milling about the banks of the creek — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens found nothing, even with night vision gear — there could be serious danger if there truly is a feline predator out there.

He said police know of no one who owns tigers in the area and that it is illegal to do so.

A man called police about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, reporting he saw a tiger walking near the south end of Oyster Creek in the 4200 block of Texas 332.

"We're basically on the lookout and will respond if something comes up," said Tom Harvey, spokesman for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

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JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Give your little girl the tools to open a portal to malevolent possession! Necromancer not included.

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