Phantoms and Monsters

Offer Her a Ride or Pay the Consequences
In Search of Gustave, the Burundi Man-Eater
Hubble Captured Anomaly Baffles Experts
Father William Gill's Alien Encounter

Offer Her a Ride or Pay the Consequences

Posted: 03 Feb 2010 10:29 AM PST

wabi - Some of you who have driven the Black's Woods Road in Downeast Maine between Franklin and Cherryfield, may have heard about the legend of Catherine's Hill.

Meghan Hayward joins us in the studio with more on this haunted tale.

Prepare yourself for some terrorizing accounts from those who have had been frightened by seeing the figure

We're going back more than 20 years ago for a chilling close encounter with Catherine.

Dale Whitney, a musician who had finished playing in Bar Harbor one evening, was traveling alone to Machias.

"It was very foggy and I came up on the top of Catherine's Hill and I was kind of straddling the line a little bit because I couldn't see the road. And I got up to the top of the hill and all of a sudden I looked and there was a woman standing on the left side of the line."

Whitney says he pulled over and rolled down his window, only a few feet away from the figure.

"I looked at her and I could see her complete image, everything she had on, but I could look through her which was really kind of weird."

Whitney says his body was covered in goosebumps.

"She stepped up to the car and in a flirtatious way said, I want to go to Bar Harbor and I said I just came from there."

In fear, Whitney sped away.

But by the time he reached the bottom of the hill, he reconsidered his actions and doubted his senses.

"She may be real. She's probably had an accident. I turned around and drove back up on the hill and she was gone."

Even though she was nowhere to be found, he still remembers what the figure was wearing.

"She had on a light blue what we use to call an evening gown in the old days. It hung all the way to her ankles and you could actually almost see through it."

For skeptics, Whitney has this to say.

"If anyone told me the story, I'd say the guy's crazy, something is wrong with him. No nothing. But it happened to me and I'm absolutely sure of what I saw."

This next encounter is from a UMaine Machias student.

Lacie Pottle took part in the Catherine's Hill project for a class.

They made a makeshift ouija board.

"So we kind of had this feeling that because some of our energy was put into it, it was better than a store bought one. When we st down to use it, we made sure it was on flat ground and we put the jar on it and we all had our hand above it so you could tell if there was pressure on it."

What happened next was most alarming. She says the jar began to move.

"We didn't move that jar. That's all I can really say. We didn't move the jar, please believe me."

Pottle says she's returned to the site more than once since the project.

She says it was almost like the presence of Catherine took her over.

"It was just weird how attached we became and how she made us feel that way. And the heavy heavy weight that immediately got lifted when she came back around."

To this day, Lacie is puzzled by the events that unfolded.

"Something happened that I can't explain and that science can't explain. So I walk around on egg shells as far as beliefs go these days."

So if you dare, take a drive along the winding road of Black's Woods.

As the legend goes, if a figure appears, you must stop and offer it a ride or pay the consequences.
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The Legend of Catherine's Ghost

Travelers who claim to have seen Catherine's ghost on the hill most commonly describe a woman approaching the traveler asking for a ride, sometimes to Bar Harbor. Catherine is said to be dressed in a light blue evening or ball gown. Travelers who decline the ghost's request suffer various consequences. Purportedly Catherine was traveling on the road with her husband or boyfriend, after their wedding or prom night in Bar Harbor, when they were in some kind of accident (that it was a car accident is belied by the fact that the "Catherine's Hill" moniker predates the widespread use of cars in the area, at least back to the 1930s). It is said that Catherine lost her head in the accident, that her significant other was never found, and that Catherine wanders Catherine's Hill and the Blackwoods area searching for her head and her missing love.

The book Dark Woods, Chill Waters: Ghost Tales from Down East Maine contains several variations on the legend. It also includes testimony suggesting that the Catherine legend may have been based on an entirely uneventful evening in the life of one Catherine Downing, d. December 29, 1862.

Sources:
www.wabi.tv
en.wikipedia.org

In Search of Gustave, the Burundi Man-Eater

Posted: 03 Feb 2010 09:43 AM PST

For 20 years, near Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, locals have been terrorized by one of the largest freshwater crocodiles in the world. The 25 foot long crocodile, named Gustave, has an insatiable appetite... for people. He is known for having eaten over 200 people, though some believe that number to be as high as 300. In the past, all attempts to catch or kill Gustave were unsuccessful. Still, for one man who has made it his mission to hunt the crocodile, there may be a more humane solution to stopping this man-eater.

Patrice Faye is Frenchman, but he's been living in Burundi for the past two decades. He became something of a local hero 11 years ago when he made his first attempts to capture Gustave using a trap, but that didn't work out well. "He must have a very strong survival instinct , because he has survived while other crocodiles were massacred," Faye told the BBC Brasil.

Despite the fact that Gustave has eaten so many people, Faye still has respect for his elusive nemesis--and does not intend on killing him.

We live in an age where creatures like these are increasingly rare. He's a prehistoric animal, very fat. In the water, he's like a hippo. But he still has all his teeth, suggesting that he is about 68 years.

During one three month period that he followed the crocodile, 17 people were eaten. This had lead Faye to estimate that Gustave has probably eaten over 300 in the last 20 years. "I do not think it is a matter of taste, but a question of what he can hunt," he said.

Faye points out that Gustave's massive size likely makes acquiring more conventional meals difficult--plus a diet of fish probably wouldn't be enough to satisfy his appetite. Faye says the crocodile "has no choice but to hunt easier prey," and humans in or around the lake are good candidates.

So, what's the best way to humanely deal with a man-eating crocodile? Faye hopes that following Gustave's movements more closely might reduce the numbers of people being eaten.

I have informants. In Burundi, thousands of people who live along the lake, especially fishermen who spend most of their time in water. I gave them a dozen cell phones to tell me where he is.

Still, some gun-wielding locals have made attempts to stop Gustave themselves. "Many fishermen said they had hit him. He seems to have bullet proof leather."

It may take more than a bullet to stop an enormous, man-eating crocodile--or to discourage his devoted follower, Patrice Faye.

I will remain faithful to Gustave and expect him to do the same.

NOTE: Here is a link to a 2005 National Geographic report on this beast - Gustave, the Killer Crocodile

Hubble Captured Anomaly Baffles Experts

Posted: 03 Feb 2010 08:52 AM PST

thesun - This amazing UFO has left scientists baffled — after boffins claimed it was NOT a comet streaking through space.

It was first spotted early last month so astronomers turned the Hubble telescope on it last week to get these close up images.

The object — named P/2010 A2 — is of a type never before seen by stargazers and orbits in a satellite belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Despite its tail they have ruled out it being a comet, as there is no gas in its trail.

The 140-metre nucleus is also offset from the centre of the tail and its structure is very unusual.

The most likely theory is that it is debris from a collision between two asteroids which were likely to have smashed together at a speed of 15,000 kilometres an hour, five times the speed of a rifle bullet.

The resulting collision would have released more energy than a nuclear bomb.

It is believed that pressure from sunlight then spread the debris out into a trail.

Dr Robert J Nemiroff, astrophysicist at Michigan Technological University and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said: "Future study of P/2010 A2 may better indicate the nature of the original collision and may help humanity better understand the early years of our Solar System, when many similar collisions occurred."

He added: "What is this strange object? First discovered on ground based LINEAR images on January 6, the object appeared unusual enough to investigate further with the Hubble Space Telescope last week.

"What Hubble saw indicates that P/2010 A2 is unlike any object ever seen before. At first glance, the object appears to have the tail of a comet.

"Close inspection, however, shows a 140-metre nucleus offset from the tail centre, very unusual structure near the nucleus, and no discernable gas in the tail.

"Knowing that the object orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a preliminary hypothesis that appears to explain all of the known clues is that P/2010 A2 is the debris left over from a recent collision between two small asteroids.

"If true, the collision likely occurred at over 15,000 kilometres per hour, five times the speed of a rifle bullet, and liberated energy in excess of a nuclear bomb.

"Pressure from sunlight would then spread out the debris into a trailing tail."

NOTE: the collision of 2 asteroids is a very logical hypothesis. BTW, Michael Cohen of allnewsweb has come up with Researchers claim UFO spotted by Hubble telescope is extraterrestrial technology...read below (rolling eyes)...Lon

NASA has released images (above and below) of a mysterious x-shaped UFO traveling at super-fast speeds that was picked up by the Hubble space telescope.

The object is unlike any ever seen before, Scientists quick to discount any involvement of any extraterrestrial civilization have come up with the dubious and according to some, baseless theory that the UFO is the aftermath of a collision between two comets.

It should be noted that no previous hypothetical testing of this scenario has ever predicted an object shaped as such as the outcome of such an event.

Many ufologists are more inclined to believe that this is far more likely to be either alien space junk, a UFO that impacted with a comet or an alien probe hoping to make contact with another civilization.

Some UFO researchers have also linked this UFO with the 1908 Tunguska event whereby a large, mysterious object from space impacted earth in the region near the Tunguska River in Russia, flattening trees over an area exceeding 2000 square kilometers.

NOTE: OK...who the hell are these so-called UFO researchers making this claim, Mr. Cohen?

Father William Gill's Alien Encounter

Posted: 03 Feb 2010 04:44 PM PST

Click for video

theaustralian - It is now 50 years since a 31-year-old Australian Anglican missionary in Papua New Guinea, William Gill, and 37 parishioners and staff made the best attested and least explained sighting of unidentified flying objects in the long, otherwise kooky history of the genre.

The day before the celebrated encounter of a mystifying kind, Gill had written a letter to David Durie, acting principal of St Aidan's College, which trained teacher-evangelists at Dogura, then the headquarters of the church in PNG.

Gill, who was priest in charge at Boianai, a large village on the mountainous north coast of Milne Bay province, about 25km west of Dogura, told Durie of a UFO sighting by Stephen Moi, then an assistant teacher.

He wrote: "There have been quite a number of reports over the months from reliable witnesses.

"The peculiar thing about these most recent reports is that the UFOs seem to be stationary at Boanai or to travel from Boianai," a beautiful location brilliantly captured by pioneer Australian photographer Frank Hurley in 1921. "I myself saw a stationary white light twice on the same night on April 9 . . . the assistant district officer, Bob Smith, and Mr Glover have seen it. I do not doubt the existence of these things, but my simple mind still requires scientific evidence before I can accept the from-outer-space theory. I am inclined to believe that probably many UFOs are more likely some form of electric phenomena or perhaps something brought about by the atom bomb explosions etc.

"That Stephen should actually make out a saucer could be the work of the unconscious mind, as it is very likely that at some time he has seen illustrations of some kind in a magazine.

"It is all too difficult to understand for me; I prefer to wait for some bright boy to catch one to be exhibited in Martin Place.

"Yours, Doubting William."

The following day, he wrote again: "Dear David, life is strange, isn't it? Yesterday I wrote you a letter, expressing opinions re the UFOs. Now, less than 24 hours later I have changed my views somewhat.

"Last night we at Boianai experienced about four hours of UFO activity, and there is no doubt whatsoever that they are handled by beings of some kind. At times it was absolutely breathtaking. Here is the report.

"Cheers, Convinced Bill.

"P.S. Do you think P. Moresby should know about this? If people think it worthwhile, I will stand the cost of a radio conversation if you care to make out a comprehensive report from the material on my behalf!!"

What had Gill and his parishioners seen?

The notes he made following his encounter describe a bright white light appearing in the northwestern sky, approaching the mission station, then hovering about 100m in the air.

Gill, Moi, another teacher, Ananias Rarata, and 35 other people who all later signed a confirming document, watched what they described as a large, disc-shaped, solidly constructed object, with a wide base tapering up to a higher deck, and with what appeared to be four legs beneath, and four brightly lit panels in the side.

It occasionally emitted a shaft of blue light at a 45 degree angle.

Then what they described as men emerged on to a deck on the top, four at most, but in various configurations. Clouds, which were at about 600m, then eventually obscured the vessel as it drifted higher.

It had been stationary through most of the 25 minutes of this encounter.

Gill then wrote his letter to Durie. That evening, the visitation returned in an extraordinary manner. He first saw it at 6.02pm, as the sun was setting.

Gill's account states: "We watched figures appear on top - four of them - no doubt that they are human.

"Two smaller UFOs were seen at the same time, stationary. One above the hills west, another overhead.

"On the large one, two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the centre of the deck . . . were occasionally bending over and raising their arms as though adjusting or setting up something (not visible).

"One figure seemed to be standing looking down at us (a group of about a dozen). I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure did the same.

"Ananias waved both arms over his head then the two outside figures did the same.

"Ananias and self began waving our arms and all four now seemed to wave back. There seemed to be no doubt that our movements were answered. All mission boys made audible gasps (of either joy or surprise, perhaps both).

"As dark was beginning to close in, I sent Eric Kodawara for a torch and directed a series of long dashes towards the UFO. After a minute or two of this, the UFO apparently acknowledged by making several wavering motions back and forth.

"Waving by us was repeated and this followed by more flashes of torch, then the UFO began slowly to become bigger, apparently coming in our direction. It ceased after perhaps half a minute and came no further.

"After a further two or three minutes the figures apparently lost interest in us for they disappeared below deck. At 6.25pm two figures reappeared to carry on with whatever they were doing before the interruption. The blue spotlight came on for a few seconds twice in succession."

The situation remained unchanged, so Gill returned to his regular routine and went to have his dinner at 6.30.

By 7pm, the main object had moved slightly away and the observers went into the village church for evensong, as usual.

By the time they emerged, at 7.45pm, visibility had become very limited with the sky covered in cloud. At 10.40 pm, Gill wrote, an "earsplitting" explosion woke up the mission-station inhabitants. Gill said it did not feel like a thunderclap.

Later, Gill said, he was always asked why he had reverted to his usual routine when there was a flying saucer apparently hovering overhead. This was partly because, he said, "there was nothing eerie or other-worldly about any of this. It was all so ordinary, as ordinary as a Ford car.

"It looked a perfectly normal sort of object, an Earth-made object. I realised, of course, that some people might think of this as a flying saucer, but I took it to be some kind of hovercraft the Americans or even the Australians had built. The figures inside looked perfectly human."

Gill's report caused quite a sensation at the time, when PNG was an Australian colony. A Liberal federal MP from Western Australia, E. D. Cash, asked the then air minister questions in parliament, without receiving a substantive answer.

The Defence Ministry deployed two RAAF officers to investigate. Although they found Gill "a reliable observer", they attributed the sightings to "natural phenomena", the result of cloudy, thunder-prone weather and light refraction from Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Gill was educated at Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne, then studied theology at St Francis College, Brisbane, and education at the University of Queensland. He was ordained as a priest in 1950, then worked in PNG in parish work and as a teacher and education administrator. In Port Moresby, he also did some radio broadcasting.

After returning from PNG, he taught at Essendon Grammar, Camberwell Grammar and St Michael's Grammar, all in Melbourne, and undertook sociological research at La Trobe University. He died at age 79 in 2007.

Gill appears an exceptionally unlikely figure to have been readily caught up in the flying saucer craze, at its most intense in the 1950s. Few phenomena would have appeared more remote to high-church Anglican missionaries in PNG, many with considerable educational attainments.

Among those most intensely interested in the sightings was Englishman Norman Cruttwell, an outstanding exemplar of the long tradition of priest-botanists, who discovered and named - after his mother Christian - a rhododendron in PNG and had an orchid named after him in tribute.

Gill wrote to Cruttwell, who was also running a parish in northern Milne Bay: "Here is a lot of material the kind you have been waiting for, no doubt; but I am in some ways sorry that it has to be me who supplies it. Attitudes at Dogura in respect of my sanity vary greatly, and like all mad men, I myself think my grey cells are OK."

Among the hypotheses later considered to explain Gill's sightings was that he was pulling Cruttwell's leg. But, if so, when Cruttwell became excited, and helped inform the world about the events, Gill might then have been expected to stay quiet and wait for the embarrassment to pass. Instead, Gill accepted invitations to speak widely about what he had seen, with no apparent reluctance.

Australian author Randolph Stow, who worked at an Anglican mission station for Aborigines in northwestern Australia, then as assistant to the government anthropologist in PNG, where he was based in Milne Bay, framed an acclaimed novel in 1979, Visitants, around the Boianai sightings.

"Be not afeard," Stow cites from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "The isle is full of noises . . ."

The writer knew both Cruttwell and Moi - by then a priest - when he worked in PNG.

Cruttwell famously missed out on a sighting of bright lights over his own mission station because he was ensconced in the "smallhaus". The following day, he had the roof replaced with a clear glass panel, just in case . . .

NOTE: B.J. Booth's post at ufocasebook.com - The Papua, New Guinea Sightings 1 and The Papua, New Guinea Sightings 2 ...Lon
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Is 12-21-12 the Next Y2K? OR - Why I Am Not A 2012'er! - Another interesting post by Rick Philips:

Now, as you can see from the title of this post - the post is about the on-going fascination with 2012 - specifically, the big date of 12-21-12. And, I'll be the first to admit, that is a cool looking date alright - even has a symmetry to it and such. Additionally, as you know, it has a lot of believers too that think (hope) something is going to happen on THAT DAY - based on a lot of BS by believers in a Mayan calendar and various prophecies. Eventually, a lot of this gets tied into those folks who feel crystals, & incense and peppermints (sorry if the joke escapes you) are the way to the new life or reality that may break thru or break out on that day. Continue reading at Is 12-21-12 the Next Y2K? OR - Why I Am Not A 2012'er!

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