Phantoms and Monsters

Followup: 'Raystown Ray' Sightings - Raystown Lake, PA
Video: Halo Cloud Formation - Mexico
Author Convinced Nixon Haunts Him
Australia Launches Program to Identify Native Species

Followup: 'Raystown Ray' Sightings - Raystown Lake, PA

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 03:17 PM PST

Above, is a recently submitted photo to RaystownRay.com. A creature can be seen breaking the surface. The photograph was taken close to the dam. "We could see something in the distance that kept coming to the surface. As we got closer, it looked to be at least 20 ft. long. It surfaced about 6-7 times and we were able to get one good photo."

NOTE: I have been in recent contact with George LaVanish at RaystownRay.com in reference to the sighting from August 2009 (posted below). As well, a producer from SyFy contacted me for information on the sighting. Supposedly, there will be a new paranormal series starting on SyFy and the Raystown Ray sightings are going to be part of the production. If you have any information on this cryptid, please contact RaystownRay.com or send to me to forward...Lon
______________________
Originally posted 9/1/09

'Monster' Sighting - Raystown Lake, PA - 8/29/09

(Raystown Lake, PA)

I received the following email today (original...typos removed). Full name and other identification held back by request:

"I was referred to you by a friend. Can you advise or direct me to someone who can explain what I witnessed?

On August 29, 2009, I was fishing from a boat with my son on Raystown Lake, Pa. It was around 6:45 pm and we were making our way back to the landing. We were near the Snydertown portion of the lake where there is a point of land.

As we were heading south, I looked toward the west shore after my son started to point at something. I really have NO idea what this thing was but it looked like a large, thick black snake with a huge head that bobbed in and out of the water. I moved a little bit closer but my son was getting scared, so I cut the motor and looked through my binoculars. The body was moving in coils or humps up and down in the water. The creature had no fins like a fish and the head was diamond shaped. The weirdest feature was that the eyes (which were dark, somewhat small and slanted) were not set on the side of the head...but placed forward. I got an excellent look through the binoculars (I'd say it was about 50 yards from us) when it raised up, it's head moved side to side. It made no sound. I'd say it was at least 20 feet long.

I have lived in Altoona, Pa for only a few years and this is only the second time I have fished this lake. I'm from Wisconsin and have fished many large lakes and rivers but I have never seen anything this big.

We watched for about 2-3 minutes until it slipped under the surface. My son's description was very similar to mine but he said he noticed lighter colored 'whiskers' or rays on the chin and face while looking through the binoculars. I had tried to take a photo with my cell phone but it just blended in with the water and was not discernible.

My son found an image on the internet that closely resembled what we witnessed (attached). This is nuts! My friends think we saw a large fish or mammal, but there is no way it's either. Please give me some guidance or resources to help identify this. I am skeptical of monsters, ghosts, ufo's, etc. and don't buy into much of what people describe on TV. But, now that I have seen something that I can't explain....let's say I'm confused and frustrated." Thanks...Bill

NOTE: I used to fish this very lake years ago (excellent striped bass fishing!). I knew that there were some reports of a 'monster' sighted there a while back but have not heard anything lately. Anyway, Raystown Lake is a very deep water man-made lake located in Huntingdon County, Pa., east of Altoona, Pa. and south of State College, Pa. I emailed back to the witness 'Bill'...he seems to be very sincere about this sighting. He stated that he reported it to another paranormal site but didn't get a response...Lon

UPDATE: I had a few questions for 'Bill' so I sent him an email asking him to attach the photos he took with his cellphone. I wanted to see for myself what he meant by 'but it just blended in with the water and was not discernible'. He forwarded 2 photos which I examined. Since he and his son were on the same level as the creature there was a dark background of the trees as well as some glare coming off the water. I tried to enhance the photos, but there was just nothing with any definition though I could make out some disturbance on the surface of the water. There wasn't much more information that he could offer...but I certainly believe he and his son witnessed something unusual...Lon

Above - photo from the past showing a shadowy creature. What is believed to be Ray captured in older photos shows a dark figure just below the surface.

I found a video and a few images from 2006. This creature is referred to as 'Raystown Ray'. Honestly, I never gave these sightings much consideration but may look into this further now that a supposed witness has come forward to me.

Other sightings reported to RaystownRay.com:

SIGHTING
May 14, 2006 (John)
While night fishing on the lake May 14, 2006 at around 2:00 am,
I noticed something large and dark slowly appear in the water
approximately 40 yards away. It was very slowly moving through
the water. I asked my friend if he could determine what it was.
The visible portion was approximately 8 - 12 feet in length. After
shining a Surefire flashlight at it, it submerged. There were no
noticeable features such as a head or humps.

SIGHTING
June 20, 2006 (Walter G.) I Was enjoying a morning of fishing on
20 June 2006 right straight across from 7 points marina. The sun
was starting to make the morning come to life and the fish were
starting to jump. It was about 6am and I seen what I thought was a
fish, maybe a musky, come out of the water and grab a stick. The
stick was about 3 or 4 feet long, and the "fish" was out of the water
as far as the stick was long, not showing the tail end. When I came
home I told my wife what I had seen and said that it looked like a
large leg coming out of the water and garbing the stick. I joked and
said that I would have liked to seen the rest of it. Today is 8 July
2006 and my son told my about Ray and I look up the web site,
which I never heard of till today. Now I think that maybe I didn't
need to see the rest, but could it have been? Sighting June 16,
2006 (Lee, Lea & Family) On the last day of our vacation at
Raystown Lake, June 16th , we woke up early in the morning to see
what we believe is Raystown Ray. The figure was moving about 100
yards behind our boat while we were tied off at Panther Cove. It
slowly made it's way across the cove behind Marty's Island and
disappeared into a small inlet. What a great way to end a great vacation!

SIGHTING
When: July of 1994. John R. Pendel Pittsburgh, PA
Where: 20 minute cruise from the camp grounds area at Raystown
Lake. (only been to the lake once -not sure if there's more than 1
campground) Sighting It was approximately 9AM in the morning
and a friend of mine invited me and my wife as well as his in-laws
for a quick morning ride on the calm lake. It was a nice warm
morning cruising around 20 knots. Me and my wife were on the
stern of the boat, his wife and her parents were on the bow.
While my friend was navigating the boat, he turned around and
were having an idle chat drinking coffee and about 20-25 minutes
into our ride the three of us glanced off the port side of the boat
and all at the same time seen ripples in the water, a long dark
somewhat shiny black object that surfaced to the top of the water,
then it seemed to spin and turn over and then submersed and
disappeared. He immediately shut down the boat in amazement,
the 3 of us asked each other, "did you see that?" His wife and her
parents were asking what was a matter and we were speechless.
The size of the object was at least 10 to 12 feet long putting into
perspective we were riding on a 19 foot open bow boat.
The object was approximately 40 to 50 feet away. Never-the-less we
finished our cruise and reported our findings to the rest of the
group we were camping with and obviously no one believed us. To
this day we still talk about what we saw and we still get harassed
about the "fish story". A friend of mine sent me this link today thus
the reason for just reporting it now. Now we have proof to our
doubting Thomas friends that others have seen what we seen that
day. John R. Pendel Pittsburgh, PA

SIGHTING
August 3 2008 Mike Sieber
I heard about this Raystown Ray a few years ago and thought it
was just a hoax to get more people to the lake. But after Sunday
August 3rd I'm not so sure that he doesn't exist. It was 7:15 PM
and we just loaded the jet skis and started to dry them off. My
girlfriend jokingly said "Look, Its Raystown Ray"! I looked to see
what she was talking about and saw a neck and a head
sticking about 3 to 4 feet out of the water and it was striding toward
a boat that was coming into the no wake zone at the 7 Points.
We watched it for about 3 minutes. We saw a wake in the water
from its neck and about 15 to 20 feet behind that wake was
another wake, but we couldnt see what was causing that wake.
It disappeared the closer it got to the boat. My mom, dad,
girlfriend and I all saw this thing. If it wasn't Raystown Ray,
I would like to know what it was!

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Video: Halo Cloud Formation - Mexico

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 01:05 PM PST

Click for video

allnewsweb - An unusual cloud formation that some are suggesting might be a UFO wormhole was filmed in Mexico earlier this month and uploaded onto the Internet. Almost nothing is known about this remarkable footage (below) other than the approximate date and the fact that it was filmed in Mexico. The witness who filmed the footage has chosen to remain anonymous. The UFO researcher who discovered the footage noted that:

'Amazing footage shows what may have been a U.F.O. entering or leaving our earth. Location as stated on the original posting is that of Mexico. Stand by for further information. The footage was posted by another YouTube account holder who did not give specific location only the date as of February 2010'

One viewer noted that at 57 seconds into the clip one can see a UFO or a pair of UFOs in the bottom right hand corner of the video.

The footage resembles the notorious 'UFO halo' that appeared above Moscow last year in October and was also filmed and uploaded onto YouTube. That video received international attention and around 1 million views. Many regarded the 'UFO Halo' as some sort of UFO vortex or portal. Some even thought that it was a UFO mother-ship itself. The Moscow weather bureau was adamant however that the event was the result of an optical illusion caused by the sun's rays breaking through cloud cover.

Since the Moscow 'UFO halo' incident such formations have been filmed in Romania, Florida, Latin America and now Mexico.

NOTE: These cloud phenomena are certainly showing up at various locations but, I doubt that these are UFO wormholes or portals. I have heard speculation that this is a result of HAARP or other manipulation of the atmosphere. This particular 'halo' is interesting because of the funnel-like formation. I'd be interested in your comments.

Author Convinced Nixon Haunts Him

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 12:31 PM PST

ocweekly - Jeffrey Vallance, of the Fortean Times, wrote an account in 1994 that first exposed the world (nether and otherwise) of the haunting of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, which the National Archives has since renamed the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Vallance told of a "poltergeist-like phenomena" in the Nixon Birthplace house, at Dick's gravesite and within the controversial Watergate display. Those would be enough to spook any red-blooded member of the Silent Majority. But it's particularly spine-chilling to Vallance, who discovered through psychic medium and The Haunting of the Presidents author Dorothy Maksym that he was the original witness of a mysterious green mist hovering over the grave and that Nixon's spirit is working through--gulp!--him.

That, Vallance writes, "came as quite a disturbing surprise!"

You think?

Perhaps hoping to revive that Ol' Stubbly One magic, Vallance conducted a ghost tour of the central county tourist trap on a recent Sunday afternoon. The 14-member tour was sponsored by the League of Western Fortean Intermediatists, a loosely knit Southern California paranormal organization recently founded by Skylaire Alfvegren, and along for the ride was famed psychic medium Joseph Ross.

"As the group toured the massive facility, Ross continually channeled Nixon, who would comment on various aspects of the displays," writes Vallance. "Just beyond the museum entrance are cases of artifacts from Nixon's early life, prior to his entering politics--grade school essays, early photographs, love letters to Pat and Naval service documents. Here, the spirit of Nixon told the group that this was the only part of the library that he still enjoyed visiting."

At the Hall of World Leaders, which features life-size statues of Mao Zedong, Nikita Khrushchev, Winston Churchill and other heavy world hitters, two tour members reported strange buzzing sounds in their ears, as if caused by insects. Nauseating smells also followed the group, which never determined the origin of the racket nor odors. And many "immediately felt an unearthly chill" at the Watergate exhibit, although no air conditioning duct could be found.

Cue The Twilight Zone theme . . .

Someone is definitely haunting the birthplace house, the tourists agreed, but there is debate over whether it is the spirit of Nixon or a later inhabitant of the house. Ross is among those who believe Tricky Dicky visits the home that spawned him every night.

Before packing it in, the group gathered beside Nixon's grave, formed a circle and all joined hands as Ross did his final channeling.

"The sun was low in the sky, casting our shadows dramatically across Nixon's grave," Vallance writes. "Ross said that after many years of turmoil, Nixon's spirit was now considerably more at peace."

According to Vallance, "a warm, peaceful sensation" washed over tour members as they released hands. But he had to do one more thing before departing the sacred grounds: "I reached down and scooped up soil from Nixon's grave, which I have since preserved in several small glass vials, one of which I preserved in a reliquary which I keep close at all times."

'Cause you never know when you'll be called upon to whip some out.

Australia Launches Program to Identify Native Species

Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:24 AM PST

smh - Australia will conduct the world's first continent-wide environmental discovery survey, following Environment Minister Peter Garrett's launch of a $10 million scientific program near Coffs Harbour.

The program, which will take three years to complete, aims to identify hundreds of native species and will be used to help set national targets to halt the extinction of plants and animals.

It is part of Australia's response to the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, which was launched last month in an effort to draw attention to the rapid decline in global rates of biodiversity.

''Bush Blitz'' is co-sponsored by miner BHP, which is chipping in $4 million, and several international environment groups.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Mr Garrett was inhabiting a different moral universe and was out of touch with ordinary Australians, because he visited a national park instead of attending a meeting about the safety of households.

Mr Garrett said yesterday the Bush Blitz launch, which was planned two weeks ago, was an important announcement with important partners and it was his ministerial responsibility to attend.

Four days of initial research on the Darkwood site near Coffs Harbour, a new part of the New England National Park never surveyed before, has already discovered three new types of spiders.

NOTE: Cryptozoologists worldwide are hopeful for new information of many species, including the Yowie and big cats...Lon

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