Phantoms and Monsters

Cougar Sighting in Cayuga County, NY
Lady in Blue, Tortured Souls Haunt Victorian Hotel
USO Still Mystery to Taiwan Navy
Poor Women in Nepal Subjected to Horrific Witch Hunts

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 01:14 PM PST

auburnpub - A close encounter with wildlife on a road in Mentz startled a driver last week, and she's sure it wasn't a deer that had dashed across the road.

Just south of Port Byron, at about 1:20 p.m., an animal that the driver believes was an Eastern cougar, an endangered species commonly referred to as a mountain lion, surprised the driver and her passenger as they were on their way to the village in the vicinity of the Mentz water spout on Route 38.

Cougar sightings are rare in New York, but Cheri Emmi-Stebbins said she just saw one.

Emmi-Stebbins, a real estate broker, was heading north on Route 38 with her agent, Amanda Rossbach, to meet with a client when something leapt across the road from the east side about 50 feet ahead of her car and disappeared into the swampy wooded area to the west.

"We both saw it and thought 'What was it?'" she said. "It was just as clear as could be."

She described it as very muscular and a grayish color with short hair and estimated its weight between 100 and 120 pounds by comparing it to her 90-pound Rottweiler.

"It was as if it had springs on its feet," she said, describing its motion as pouncing or leaping rather than running. The creature didn't look at the car but straight ahead.

"It was on a mission," Emmi-Stebbins said. "We had clear vision. It went straight across, and it was moving."

She slowed down the car and saw that it went into the gulley, but she continued on as there was traffic and she had an appointment in Port Byron.

She said if she had been alone she probably wouldn't have reported the incident because no one would have believed her.

Emmi-Stebbins called her father and reported it to Cayuga County Sheriff's Office Undersheriff James Stowell. She also called New York state police.

Stowell said he contacted state Department of Environmental Conservation officer Chris Nielsen.

Nielsen said that when big cats are spotted, it's usually because they escaped from captivity on private refuges.

Nielsen said people didn't necessarily have to take photos before the department would investigate a reported sighting of a wild animal.

"If it was immediate and fresh and we had somebody nearby, we would go and investigate," Nielsen said.

In the case last week, though, the agency wasn't able to get someone to the site in time to investigate, so the siting could not be confirmed. Cougar sitings have been a challenge for wildlife officials.

Kurt Armstrong, an environmental biologist at the DEC's Wildlife Office in Cortland, said, "We try and secure verification of any sightings. Documentation is woefully non-existant."

For people who believe they've seen a cougar, Armstrong suggested providing his department with photos of the animal or animal tracks to determine just what kind of animal it was. He said in his whole career since 1980, there have been only 3 or 4 cougars confirmed, none in this area. Among them one animal was an import from South America, he said, so it was probably kept on a private game preserve, while a couple were found in Region 5 in the Adirondacks.

One was shot by a hunter who thought it was a bobcat until he saw its tail. It was a young mountain lion of South American origin. That was determined by DNA analysis, Armstrong said.

The Eastern Cougar Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides public education on the animal, said its common for people to mistakenly believe they've seen a mountain lion when they had actually spotted the more common bobcat, which in the east can have faint spots or none at all.

One method for securing evidence of a siting would be to find the tracks and put something down to indicate the measurement. Cougars have big feet, and if it was springing, the distance between the tracks could possibly be six feet. Pictures should contain a ruler or something to indicate the scale. Footprints could be between 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.

Armstrong said if there really was a cougar spotted in Mentz, in all probability it escaped from captivity. If so, it will show up in the area again.

"Somebody probably turned it loose or it escaped. It wouldn't stay alive long," he said.

Lady in Blue, Tortured Souls Haunt Victorian Hotel

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 01:25 PM PST

peninsuladailynews - Sorrow lies buried in the basement of the Tibbals Building on Water Street, said the Port Angeles star of Mystic Radio.

Robin Alexis said that the halls of the former brothel -- now a popular hotel and restaurant -- echo with the cries of prostitutes who became pregnant and delivered their children into this world, only to see them dispatched to the next.

She and a team of investigators from PIHA, Paranormal Investigations of Historic America of Monroe -- spent Friday night at what is now the Palace Hotel at 1004 Water St., which is believed to be haunted by the Lady in Blue.

Tiny bodies in basement

Alexis, who has a radio talk show and a Web site on psychic phenomenon, said that the tiny bodies were buried in the earth-floor basement, where a priest walks, believing that the baptisms he performed for their souls were inadequate because he was a sinner.

Now, after Alexis chanted Friday night, there is one less tortured soul, she said.

Investigators discovered not just one lingering spirit, they said, but a whole host.

"There is so much life here, so much death here," Alexis said. "This place is rich with life."

The building known as the Palace Hotel was built in 1889 by a retired sea captain Capt. Henry Tibbals, and was restored between 1976 and 1988.

No bodies have been reported found in the building, but guests have reported seeing a woman in Victorian dress, the Lady in Blue, whose portrait hangs in the hotel.

Alexis, who lives in Port Angeles, volunteered to help the PIHA team with the investigation -- which asked to bring its equipment to the hotel -- as did a man whose avocation is scientific analysis of electronic voice phenomena and who gave his name only as Dave, saying that he does not provide his full name for professional reasons.

Kathy Gavin, president of the Lewis County Historical Museum, led the investigation for PIHA, assisted by the nonprofit's founder, Vaughn Hubbard.

Hubbard's grandson, Christian Wells, operated an infra-red camera, and Debbie Knapp, manager of the historical museum, used earphones and a parabolic dish to capture spirit voices.

Cheryl Heller, the hotel's head housekeeper, was invited to participate, as was the hotel manager, Gary Schweitzer.

Arriving in town in the PIHA Command Central vehicle, the PIHA team set up a Web cam in Room 3, considered one of the two most haunted rooms in the hotel.

Then they did a sweep of the building, including the basement.

In the basement

Going down to the basement on Friday evening, Alexis said she encountered a spirit who said he used to sleep in the basement, and knew about Katherine, the famed Lady in Blue.

Until last week, when Alexis made a preliminary visit to Port Townsend, she had never been inside the Palace Hotel, or seen the painting.

When she did, however, she said she recognized the figure in the painting as the woman she saw in the window when she was standing outside the hotel.

"I saw her image in front of a window," Alexis said. "She had her hands pressed against the window, and said 'Please help me.'"

On Friday, Alexis said she also encountered a priest in black robes wearing a large cross in the basement, and a Native American woman, who said her name was Grouse Women.

Mysterious chairs

Returning to the basement later that evening, Alexis and Gavin found two chairs placed in the passage near the front foundation wall, farthest from the basement entry in back of the building.

The chairs, next to an old dresser and broken mirror, had not been there before, they said.

Taking it as invitation, they sat down.

Once the rest of the team joined them and set up the equipment, the lights were turned out.

Dave, the electronic voice expert, asked questions, while Alexis relayed answers.

Asked if there were any infants who the priest was not able to baptize, Alexis said, "He said he felt his blessing wasn't adequate because he was seeing a woman living there, "and that one of the children that was born was his."

Alexis said the priest's name may have been Patrick, and began to chant to invoke healing and forgiveness, she said.

Afterward, she said she saw two priests coming to get him, a church glowing red with stained glass windows and a dazzling bright image of Christ on the cross-- and felt that he had accepted he had been forgiven, and was at peace.

Knapp, wearing the headphones, said that while Dave was asking for the ghost of Katherine to speak, she picked up a voice saying, "It's me."

When Dave asked "How many of you are here?" Knapp said she picked up a voice say "eleven."

Second floor lobby

Back on the second floor lobby, the team set up the monitoring equipment, including motion sensors, on the staircase between the second and third floor.

Alexis said that Capt. Tibbals, whose family originally lived in the building, was there, describing him as a stately gentleman.

She said she had also seen a boy between 6 and 8 years old at the top of the stairs looking through the railing. She knew he could see her. He asked where his mother was, she said.

Dave invited boy to come down the stairs, stooping down so the recorder could pick up his voice.

"He's here," Knapp said.

Knapp said she picked up a voice saying "nice," and sensed a curious spirit around her.

Dave said that, while Knapp can listen to what is said and respond, he has to wait until he gets home to see what his recorder picked up.

He downloads the sounds onto a computer using a program that charts the sound waves. Most are whispers, he said.

"There is a lot of breath, and very little volume," he said. "You don't get more than three or four words."

Heller said everyone who works in the hotel, along with many of the guests, have experiences that can't be explained. She has had many, she added.

She said her granddaughter has also seen and felt spirits, including those of children, and also seen a shadow on the third-floor wall. None are frightening.

Ghosts are friends

"I enjoy it," she said. "I consider them my friends."

Once the film and recordings have been edited, Hubbard will create a compact disc which he will present free to the hotel owners, who are free to make copies and sell them. The investigation also is free. Investigators pay their own expenses.

The idea is to encourage people to travel to historic sites in Washington state, creating revenue for the site and the community, Hubbard said.
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PALACE HOTEL HAUNTED - Witness Account

When I took the family up to Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival I had booked two nights at the Palace Hotel, a beautifully restored Victorian Hotel in the the Captain Tibbals Building. Well, as soon as we checked in everyone was starting to feel intensely uneasy about the place, despite the excellent service from the friendly innkeeper. My daughter became very anxious, and said that the place was "creepy" and that she didn't want to stay there (I guess it didn't help when I suggested that a little girl probably died from scarlet fever in the tiny bed she was going to sleep in, ha ha). Other than the decor which was a cross between junk store chic and Disney's Haunted Mansion the place didn't bother me a bit, but then again my wife says that I'm "about as psychic as a rock".

They had free WiFi at the hotel so we immediately got online and discovered that the place used to be a brothel. In fact, the rooms are named after some of the women who worked there! It's haunted too: people have reported seeing the ghost of woman dressed in a blue Victorian dress on the second floor, especially rooms 3 and 4. In fact, one of the guests reported to have a conversation with her, and thought that she was all just part of the Victorian hotel experience like she was some Disney castmember!

That night my daughter had a nightmare about people chasing and trying to kill us. I slept like a log, but apparently no one else got much sleep that night. Later on the next day they said that they absolutely refused to stay another night. After a lot of discussion (meaning me trying to convince them it was silly to leave when we already paid festival rates for this room, and saying "what bad things could possibly happen? Besides, we've stayed in plenty of old haunted hotels before so I don't know what was so different about this haunted hotel") we just checked out that evening and drove home.

Sources:
dashpointpirate.typepad.com
www.peninsuladailynews.com
www.komonews.com

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USO Still Mystery to Taiwan Navy

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 12:09 PM PST

etaiwannews - The Navy said Monday the unidentified object spotted under water near its top base last week was not a Chinese submarine or a sea mammal.

A newspaper reported Sunday that an anti-submarine helicopter found a submarine within Taiwanese territorial waters near the naval base of Tsoying during military maneuvers on January 27. As soon as the Navy called on the submarine to identify itself, it fled out of the area without responding, leading to suspicions it came from China, the reports said.

The Navy denied the report, saying sonar showed up an unidentified object which could not have been a submarine.

On Monday, 168th Fleet Commander Lee Tung-fang said the object did not dive rapidly to escape detection, but continued on its course at a speed of 2 nautical miles an hour. The data told the Navy that there were no submarines, whales or dolphins involved, Lee said.

The 168th fleet had originally been patrolling off Taiwan's east coast, but was called to the area off Kaohsiung's Tsoying base to participate in anti-submarine drills, he said.

The area in the Taiwan Straits was difficult terrain for finding submarines, the senior officer told reporters. His unit had previous experience with locating underwater objects inside Taiwanese territorial waters which later turned up not to be submarines, according to Lee.

Over the past few years, Chinese spy ships have often appeared around Taiwanese waters. Taipei has requested to buy diesel-electric submarines from the United States, but they were not included in a US$6.4 billion weapons package for Taiwan announced by the Obama Administration last Friday.

Poor Women in Nepal Subjected to Horrific Witch Hunts

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 02:26 PM PST

google - Kalli Biswokarma was tortured by neighbours in her village in Nepal for two days and forced to eat human waste before she finally gave in and confessed to practising witchcraft.

Those who beat, punched and kicked the 47-year-old mother of one accused her of casting evil spells on a schoolteacher who had fallen ill.

"I was victimised because I am a poor woman," said Biswokarma, who belongs to the Dalit community -- the "untouchables" on the lowest rung of Nepal's rigid Hindu caste hierarchy.

"Around 35 people came to my home and took me away. They trapped me in a cow shed and forced me to eat faeces and drink urine," she told AFP in the village of Pyutar, 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Kathmandu.

"The next day they cut my skin with blades. I could not bear the torture and I confessed to being a witch just to save my life."

Hundreds of Dalit women are thought to suffer a similar ordeal every year in Nepal, where superstition and caste-based discrimination remain rife and where most communities still operate on strict patriarchal lines.

Human rights campaigners say the perpetrators of such crimes are rarely brought to justice, with police viewing the persecution of Dalit women as a matter for the community to sort out itself.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has pronounced 2010 the year to end violence against women as Nepal makes the transformation from traditional Hindu monarchy to modern secular state.

But authorities in the impoverished South Asian nation admit they face an uphill struggle.

"Superstitions are deeply rooted in our society, and the belief in witchcraft is one of the worst forms of this," said Sarwa Dev Prasad Ojha, minister for women and social welfare.

"Such traditional practices cannot be wiped away overnight."

The Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), a local pressure group that campaigns for women's rights, says it has documented at least 82 cases in two years in which women who were tortured by neighbours on charges of witchcraft.

But coordinator Sarita Dahal believes this was only the tip of the iceberg.

"We believe many more women are going through the physical and mental pain that these superstitions cause," she told AFP.

"Many don't come to our attention because the women fear they will be abandoned by their families and ostracised from their communities if they come forward."

Nepalese law prohibits violence against women, but Dahal said it was rarely enforced, particularly when the victims were from marginalised groups.

Experts say superstitions about witchcraft are often merely a pretext for victimising women, and sociologist Suraj Kafle points out that it is almost always low-caste women who face such accusations.

"It is always socially and economically vulnerable women who suffer," said Kafle.

"This is simply an excuse to torture poor women who lack support from the rest of the community. Poverty and lack of education make them an easy target."

Nainakala Thapa, head of the government's National Women's Commission, called the practice a "national shame".

"Women who belong to low-caste groups are made scapegoats because they cannot defend themselves," said Thapa.

Thapa pointed out that when a person dies or falls sick it is often spiritual healers looking for someone to blame who are the first to make accusations of witchcraft.

"It is easy to identify a low-caste woman and brand her a witch," she said.

For Biswokarma and her family, now back in their home village after a stay in a women's refuge in Kathmandu, the stigma of being accused of witchcraft persists.

"I am still afraid because some of the people who tortured me are still in the village," she said.

"I have lost my dignity, but I have not given up hope. I will fight for justice."

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