Phantoms and Monsters

Haunting Experiences at the Lord Baltimore Hotel
Flashing Lights / UFO Battles: What's Going On Over Slough?
Banana Component Effective Against HIV Infection
Rare White Puffin Seen....World's Shortest Man Passes

Haunting Experiences at the Lord Baltimore Hotel

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 01:21 PM PDT

The first (and only) time I walked into the Lord Baltimore Hotel I sensed many raw emotions, good and bad. It was 1980 and I was there to meet a friend who was in town for a conference. We sat in the lobby over drinks and conversed about our past...but, in the meantime, I was being bombarded by distant sounds of yesteryear. It became so bad that I started to feel claustrophobic and had to make a 'polite as possible' excuse to leave. That was the one and only time I entered the building.

The hotel was named after George Calvert, Lord Baltimore and the founder of the Maryland colony. The hotel was built in the popular classic style of the 1920's. At the time the hotel was built it was hailed as the largest hotel built in the State of Maryland. The 23 story hotel was constructed in 1928. It was the last high rise built in Baltimore with the classic Art Deco ornamentation of the era.

There have been a few significant incidents at the hotel that tend to assure that spirit activity is present. The most famous happened just after the 1929 stock market crash when at least four people jumped to their deaths from the roof of the Lord Baltimore Hotel. Some time late, employees at the hotel began reporting strange sights, namely, people dressed in vintage clothing that disappeared at the end of the hall, two men and a woman at the back of a dark ballroom who would disappear when the lights were turned on and the Lord Baltimore's 'little darling', a small girl who appears in a long cream-colored dress and black patent leather shoes.

There is also the story of the woman who, in 1931, abandoned a 2-year-old child in one of the hotel's rooms. A judge gave the child the surname "Lord," before sending him to the Nursery and Children's Hospital. No further information on the woman's identity or child's fate was ever recovered.

BTW, parts of Renee Zellweger's film "My One and Only" were shot on site, as were scenes from "Guarding Tess" (1994) with Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine.

Now known as the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel, it is an historic landmark hotel and is a member of the Historic Hotels of America...Lon

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PERSONAL ACCOUNTS - THE LORD BALTIMORE HOTEL

One psychic to another: Staff told me and mom about the (presumed) suicide of a young woman on the 19th floor and the elevators' constant trips up there at night, with no one ringing the bell and no one emerging after the trip from 19 back to the lobby. I did not research the hotels being a hotspot, as I had no motive or reason or inkling beforehand to do so, simply put. I was there, for a wedding. After I felt the touch of spirits in the lobby and in the elevator, on the way up to our first "unsatisfactory" room, I asked about any ghosts in the hotel. We were told only about this woman's suicide on 19, and I stupidly insisted to mom that we go up there and explore the hallways.

After a time, she humored me.

It was a mistake to brazenly open myself when I have trouble with negative energies, which float in often enough, just sitting in the house! I asked the staff, repeatedly, in Mom's presence, about ghosts seen in the hotel.

I ran into a spirit in the front lobby, opposite the desk and a real pain in the ass, other(s), in my room, 1620. Not one staff member (Mom can testify) ever mentioned a long gowned screaming child. That image, before my eyes, fully awake, was persistent and strong, and she was both frantic and terrified. So sad.

In another 20 years I'll be better at this, in that I will learn how to avoid being sensitive enough to be up with bad dreams all night when any sinister spirits are around.

The clear fact that YOU were sensitive enough to get hit with a psychic attack (imposed imagery nightmare scenario of a serial killer) of a spirit's peculiar mental illness, suggests, to me, at least, that you're more capable than you suspect of assisting and sensing the unseen

In comparison, Mom and Ian were so untroubled.

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Employee's Experience: Francesle (Fran) Carter has worked at the Radisson Lord Baltimore for many years. She currently functions in the role of captain, supervising a team of people overseeing the food, beverage, and setup needs of the hotel.

In 1998 Fran was on the 19th floor of the building preparing a small meeting room for future use. She was working at a table facing the wall with an open door to her left. She bent over the table for a few moments, absorbed in her work. Then she looked up and to her left at the doorway. A little girl wearing a long cream colored dress and black shiny shoes ran by the open doorway, bouncing a red ball before her.

Fran immediately ran outside calling after her "Little girl, are you lost?"

The hallway was completely empty. Fran, quite shaken at this point, turned around to go back to the meeting room when she saw two people walking down the hallway toward her. The first was an older gentleman dressed in formal attire. He was accompanied by a woman in a long ballgown. Frank asked them if they were looking for their granddaughter because she had just run by. She turned to point in the direction that the child had passed. When she turned her head back toward the two people, they had just vanished right before her eyes.

Fran was then so frightened that she called a security guard. He stayed there with her until she finished her work, and no more ghostly visitors appeared on the 19th floor that evening.

A few years later a guest at the hotel told Fran that she believed that her room had a ghostly visitor. She was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a child crying. As she sat up in her bed, she saw a little girl crying and rocking herself back and forth while sitting in the window of her room. As the woman rose to go to the girl, she slowly faded away. The little girl was wearing a long cream colored dress with black shoes.

One evening a few years later, Fran was approached by a coworker who told her that three people were standing in the dark in the ballroom of the hotel. The hotel's ballroom is a very large room, which can accommodate 1,250 people seated at banquet tables. Three arched ceiling length windows dominate the far wall of the room- the side of the room opposite the entrance doorway. When Fran entered the ballroom, she walked across the room in the direction of the windows. She noticed that there indeed were three people standing there in the darkened, moonlit room. One man stood before the far left window, another stood before the far right window, and a woman stood a few feet behind the two men before the middle window. They were all looking upward through the windows. Fran noticed that they were standing in what she described as a triangular formation.

Fran passed within 5 feet of the man standing in front of the window on the left. She noticed that he was wearing a dark, possibly blue, sport blazer with metallic buttons that gleamed in the darkness. He had an ascot tied around his throat and appeared quite the dapper gentleman. She thought that his clothing was odd, but at this point didn't know that her visitors were out of the ordinary. She then asked them if they would like some light and walked by the man in the ascot to turn on the light switch, just a few feet from where he was standing.

Light immediately flooded the room- and the three visitors were gone! As earlier noted, the Lord Baltimore hotel has had its share of guests who were very reluctant to check out. It appears that some of them never did.

Sources:
www.travelparanormal.com
www.beachconnection.net
www.historichotels.org
travel.consummatecompendium.com
www.hotelinteractive.com
www.baltimoresun.com
www.alteryourview.com

Haunting Experiences at the Lord Baltimore Hotel

Flashing Lights / UFO Battles: What's Going On Over Slough?

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:38 AM PDT

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UFO ATTACKS OVER SLOUGH?

maidenhead-advertiser - A baffled father-of-three is trying to work out if he saw a series of UFO attacks above Slough.

Richard Gibbons, who lives in Sussex Place, photographed black dots darting around the afternoon sky followed by explosions at the end of last month.

The 44-year-old said it 'freaked him out a bit'.

"These black dots were darting around looking like they were attacking this star and then you'd see these explosions," he said.

"It looked like something out of Star Wars."
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UFO Report: Cippenham, Slough-4th January 2010

Location of Sighting: Cippenham, Slough
Date of Sighting: 04/01/2010
Time: 2205
Witness Name: Mike

Witness Statement: I'm not one to believe in UFO sightings mainly because I have never seen one. Until last night…..

I was driving down my road in an easterly direction just after 10PM. It was a very cold and clear night and the visability was excellent. I saw a bright orange ball rapidly shoot up into the night sky. The object looked like it was launched from the ground and seemed to hover at altitude. Obviously the ball got smaller the higher it went but eventually it hovered in the same position almost like a very bright star.

Less than a minute later another orange ball apeared, moving rapidly upwards and in a similar direction to the first. Several followed shortly after (around 7 in total) and they all hovered for a while before quickly disapearing one by one in quick sucession.

These were something I could not explain. They were definitely not lanterns, fireworks, planes or helicopters. They almost seemed to move initially in a rocket like fashion before standing still. I was quite a distance away but the orange orb like objects seemed to be quite large.

The objects looked like they were a few miles away so I am wondering if anyone closer could shed any light on what they were. They were quite spectacular and were seen by several people on the same road as me. Surley others saw the same thing. I live in Slough, Berkshire and they came from a north easterly direction.

Maybe there is a rational explanation for these particular UFOs but personally, I have never seen anything like it.
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January 16th 2008 : Slough, Buckinghamshire, England

Slough, Bucks, U.K. A Flash And Then A Circular UFO

Date: January 16, 2008
Time: 11.30 p.m.

Location of Sighting: Slough Bucks, U.K.
Number of witnesses: 1
Number of objects: 1
Shape of objects: Circular very bright light.

Full Description of event/sighting: I was outside in the garden putting out the rubbish. I looked up into the sky and while looking at the stars, all of a sudden there was a flash in the upper atmosphere followed by the appearance of a circular object. It was super white and a little reflective looking. It looked like either heat shimmer or I could describe it as liquid light? It had a crisp hard edge to it against the darkness of the sky and it stayed for about 2-3 seconds and as quick as it appeared, it vanished with a little blink. It only wobbled a tiny bit all the two seconds it was there and it didn't fly or move around the sky. In terms of size, I could see the moon in the sky at same time and it was about a quarter of the moons size. Did anyone else see it ?

Brian Vike, Director HBCC UFO Research
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7/8/09

WAS A UFO SEEN OVER SLOUGH?

Dozens of mysterious lights seen flashing over the night sky in Slough have left a woman convinced she saw a UFO.

Reports of the strange sighting have come from Carol Swan who was at home in Britwell on Saturday at 11.40pm when she saw about 20 lights coming from behind a row of houses off Travic Road, Slough.

Mrs Swan, of Goodwin Road, said: 'I have never seen anything as spectacular or moving in my life, and I must admit I felt quite emotional. Truthfully I think it was UFOs, it was absolutely breathtaking."

Mrs Swan was unable to get any photographs of the sighting but she is keen to see if anyone else spotted anything strange in the sky around the same time.

The sighting of the lights last for about five to seven minutes.
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1967: UFOS OVER SLOUGH

In 1967, in late October/early November, there was a spate of UFO sightings in the skies over Slough. Two of the sightings were made by Bob Percival, the chief reporter at the Slough Express newspaper. As well as being a journalist, he also had over 25 years' flying experience.

Both Mr Percival's sightings were on a Saturday. The first was in the early morning, when he saw a bright shining cross in the sky, which appeared to be hovering over London Airport. However, he was certain that this was actually the planet Venus.

His second sighting took place in the evening, and this one he was unable to explain away. He described it as looking like a blinking red ball with a cigar-shaped tail beneath it - like an upside-down exclamation mark. It was south-east of Cippenham, where he lived, and appeared to be north of London Airport. He observed it for 4 minutes during which time it remained perfectly still.

The previous Thursday there had been two other sightings. The first was in the morning, by housewife Christine Deuchart. From her balcony, she saw a light in the sky. It was a bright glowing ball, silver in the centre with a halo of white light around it. It was quite low in the sky, hanging over Suters tower, and moved in a circle as if inspecting the tower, before moving off northwards.

There was another sighting in the evening, by library assistant Patricia Gainer. She was travelling home on the bus from Maidenhead, and looking out of the window at the Huntercombe roundabout she saw a silver oval shape in the sky. It split into 6 smaller shapes, which moved off in the same direction as the bus. She kept track of them until she got off the bus at Slough Town Hall. They weren't reflections in the glass, as she still saw them after getting off the bus, and she was certain that it wasn't an aircraft.

After this flurry of activity it seemed to go quiet, and there were no further reports of UFO sightings in the local papers.

NOTE: there have been many UFO reports over the years from Slough (Buckinghamshire? Berkshire?) in the UK. The recent flap of sightings, including the recent 'UFO attacks' seems to suggest that the area is becoming a hotbed...Lon

Sources:
www.sloughobserver.co.uk
www.sloughhistoryonline.org.uk
www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk
www.uk-ufo.co.uk
www.hbccufo.org
www.windsorobserver.co.uk

Flashing Lights / UFO Battles: What's Going On Over Slough?

Banana Component Effective Against HIV Infection

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:57 AM PDT

independent - On March 19, a new study to be published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientific journal, concluded that banana lectins, a naturally occurring chemical, has the ability to stop the transmission and prevention of HIV.

This novel research from the University of Michigan Medical School found BanLec, "a jacalin-related lectin isolated from the fruit of bananas, a potential component for an anti-viral microbicide that could be used to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV-1. BanLec is an effective anti-HIV lectin and is similar in potency to T-20 and maraviroc, two anti-HIV drugs currently in clinical use."

Michael D. Swanson, a doctoral student in the graduate program in immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School and lead author of the study, said "the problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that's much harder to do in the presence of lectins. Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them."

According to University of Michigan Health System, the "authors say even modest success could save millions of lives. Other investigators have estimated that 20 percent coverage with a microbicide that is only 60 percent effective against HIV may prevent up to 2.5 million HIV infections in three years."

David Marvovitz, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, led the study and explained, "HIV is still rampant in the U.S. and the explosion in poorer countries continues to be a bad problem because of tremendous human suffering and the cost of treating it. That's particularly true in developing countries where women have little control over sexual encounters so development of a long-lasting, self-applied microbicide is very attractive."

Full study: A Lectin Isolated from Bananas Is a Potent Inhibitor of HIV Replication

Banana Component Effective Against HIV Infection
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ALSO

Gene Breakthrough Could Help Mammals Regenerate Lost Limbs

telegraph - Researchers found that the absence of the gene gave mice a healing power long thought to have been lost through evolution and only now present in creatures like flatworms and sponges.

The discovery suggests that healing in humans could be accelerated by "switching" off the p21 gene.

Academics from The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia found that mice lacking the p21 gene gain the ability to regenerate lost or damaged tissue.

Unlike typical mammals, which heal wounds by forming a scar, these mice begin by forming a blastema, a structure associated with rapid cell growth.

According to the Wistar researchers, the loss of p21 causes the cells of these mice to behave more like embryonic stem cells than adult mammalian cells.

Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide solid evidence to link tissue regeneration to the control of cell division.

The project's lead scientist Professor Ellen Heber-Katz, of Wistar's Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis program, said: "Much like a newt that has lost a limb, these mice will replace missing or damaged tissue with healthy tissue that lacks any sign of scarring.

"While we are just beginning to understand the repercussions of these findings, perhaps, one day we'll be able to accelerate healing in humans by temporarily inactivating the p21 gene.

"In normal cells, p21 acts like a brake to block cell cycle progression in the event of DNA damage, preventing the cells from dividing and potentially becoming cancerous.

"In these mice without p21, we do see the expected increase in DNA damage, but surprisingly no increase in cancer has been reported.

"The combined effects of an increase in highly regenerative cells and apoptosis may allow the cells of these organisms to divide rapidly without going out of control and becoming cancerous.

"In fact, it is similar to what is seen in mammalian embryos, where p21 also happens to be inactive after DNA damage. The down regulation of p21 promotes the induced pluripotent state in mammalian cells, highlighting a correlation between stem cells, tissue regeneration, and the cell cycle."

Rare White Puffin Seen....World's Shortest Man Passes

Posted: 16 Mar 2010 10:12 AM PDT

timesonline - This rare white Atlantic puffin was seen playing with its more common black friends off the Isles of Scilly.

Barbara Fryer, from Umberleigh, Devon, who took the picture, said: "I've seen many puffin colonies and have never seen a white one before." The bird — once considered mythical — is the result of leucism, in which colour pigments form but are diluted.

The bird expert Peter Robinson, who has worked on the BBC Springwatch programme and for the RSPB for 25 years, said the white puffin was extemely rare.

"I lived on the Isles of Scilly for 12 years and worked ringing puffins in Scotland for a season and have never even heard of a white puffin let alone seen one.

"It's a stunning photograph and wonderful bird. The contrast between the orange bill and white feathers is particularly amazing," he said.

Albinism is a genetic mutation that prevents the strong black pigment — melanin — from forming. With leucism, colour pigments form but are diluted.

Ms Fryer, who photographed the puffin from a boat, said: "We had been out every day that week taking photos of puffins and we saw the white one on the last day.

"It was lovely to see it swimming underwater and I am thrilled to have got the shots I wanted in quite difficult conditions.

"The white puffin was sitting on the water as we were floating near rocks, watching adults return to their nests to feed their young.

"It played around with the other puffins for about 15 minutes before flying away. They didn't seem to mind its unusual colour and treated it like a good friend."

Puffins are widely distributed across the North Atlantic for most of the year and only come ashore to breed.
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World's Shortest Man, He Pingping, Dies

bbc - The world's shortest man, He Pingping, who was just 74.6cm (2ft 5in) tall, has died in Rome.

He was born in 1988 in Wulanchabu, China, with a form of primordial dwarfism, and was officially recognised as the world's shortest man in 2008.

He was admitted to hospital two weeks ago after suffering a chest complaint and died on Saturday, but his death has only just been announced.

Guinness World Records said he had made a "huge impact around the world".

"From the moment I laid on eyes on him I knew he was someone special - he had such a cheeky smile and mischievous personality, you couldn't help but be charmed by him," said Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief.

"For such a small man, he made a huge impact around the world," he added.

Mr He was in the Italian capital to take part in the filming of a television programme called The Record Show.

According to the TV production company Europroduzione, he had already filmed two episodes of the programme when he complained of feeling unwell.

"He started to feel slightly ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He entered hospital two weeks ago and had all kinds of tests, being a very special person he had to go though all sorts of tests. He went into intensive care three days after he was admitted," said Marco Fernandez de Araoz, communications director for Europroduzione.

He said that Mr He died on Saturday afternoon and, at the request of his family, his body would be returned to China to be buried.

Rare White Puffin Seen....World's Shortest Man Passes

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