Phantoms and Monsters

Story of Haunted Ohio Village Set For Filming
Photos: Bright Light Cluster UFO - Desert Near Las Vegas, NV
Mono Lake Video / MonsterQuest 'Sierra Sasquatch'
Contact: AlienPhotog Interviews David Eckhart

Story of Haunted Ohio Village Set For Filming

Posted: 18 Mar 2010 01:15 PM PDT

cantonrep - "Tales of the German Separatists have been handed down from one generation to the next. Some say they can still feel the presence of these early pioneers who maybe decided to make Zoar their home in the hereafter."

The suggestion of a haunting of the historic village is taken from the introduction to "The Ghosts of Zoar, Ohio," by Ann Swain and Betty O'Neill-Roderick. The authors operate Lantern Tours of the Ghosts of Zoar, taking visitors through the streets of the former communal community at dusk from April through October.

Now those ghosts — at least the stories of them — may be going Hollywood.

Gregory James Gaugel, a photographer and independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles, Calif., is working to put "The Ghosts of Zoar, Ohio" on screen. The feature film — not a documentary — would be shot in the Tuscarawas County village, he said.

"I recognize a Hollywood set when I see one," he said. "I can't believe nobody's ever done anything here on a feature film level."

Gaugel, the son of the artist Heinz Gaugel who created the historical cyclorama "Behalt" in Berlin, grew up in Holmes County and recalls visiting Zoar years ago. He visited it again more recently, after reading the book recounting of strange happenings in the Zoar Hotel and other village buildings.

"On quiet summer nights the sound of a great party sometimes emanates from the empty rooms. Lights flicker, and then grow dim, laughter, music and the sound of glasses tinkling echoes through the empty rooms." From "The Ghosts of Zoar, Ohio"

The hotel is closed now, and "pretty well gutted," Gaugel said. So, although the filmmaker plans to center the movie around the hotel, he'll use the Number One House for interior hotel scenes. Scenes also will be shot in several other structures in Zoar, which is managed as a historical site by Ohio Historical Society.

Gaugel said the film will be set in modern times. But, exposing the movie's characters to the ghostly legends will necessitate retelling a large portion of the history of the communal community.

"I think that's really good for the Separatists we leave behind," said Gaugel. "It means we're not just using their beautiful town as a backdrop."

Gaugel, who has made several short films and three feature movies, billed this project as a low-budget mystery-suspense film. He declined to get much deeper into the plot than saying it will revolve around "teenagers who come down for a summer work program." He and a partner are still working on a script. "It's still early. We have a lot of work to do," said Gaugel, who has revisited Zoar several times since the inception of the film concept.

"Every time I come down here I get ideas," he said, while walking through Zoar recently with O'Neill-Roderick. "I'll be spending a lot if time here."

As filming and casting director, Gaugel will hand-pick actors — mostly from Ohio — whom he has become acquainted with while working as a photographer, model, actor and director.

"There are a lot of talented actors in Ohio," he said. "I already know who's playing the main parts."

Gaugel said casting will be completed in the summer. He plans to shoot the film during four weeks in the fall.

"Today the strange lights still can be seen on fall evenings. The mysterious lights could be a reflection or they could be the work of the ghosts of Zoar, just having a little fun." From "The Ghosts of Zoar, Ohio"

Gaugel has consulted with the authors about the nature of the ghostly happenings in the village.

"When you hear about ghosts you expect to see Casper coming down the street in a white sheet, but it's not like that," said O'Neill-Roderick. "When you look up that street (in Zoar) you see buildings that were built more than 100 years ago. Sometimes, there are strange things happening in those buildings. Some things can be explained. Other things cannot be explained."

It isn't Gaugel's intention to try to explain the ghost stories that he chooses to be in his film. Instead, "I'll just pick and choose the best stories to reconstruct and recreate in an entertaining way," he said.

Place the emphasis on entertaining. It's going to be a fun film, Gaugel promised.

"It's not going to be a flash-in-the-pan movie. I've got some great things in mind," he said. "I want it to be the kind of movie that people are so fascinated by, so intrigued by, that they're actually going to want to take a trip to Zoar to see where it all happened."

Or didn't happen. And that qualification doesn't just refer to the fictional nature of the plot of the film.

"I don't believe in ghosts," Gaugel said candidly. "I'm one of those see-it-to-believe-it kind of guys. But I don't think I really have to believe to tell a good story."
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THE HISTORY OF ZOAR, OHIO

Zoar was founded by German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1817. It was a communal society, with many German-style structures that have been restored and are part of the Zoar Village State Memorial. There are presently ten restored buildings.

The Separatists, or Zoarites, emigrated from the kingdom of Württemberg in southwestern Germany due to religious oppression from the Lutheran church. Leading among their group were some natives of Rottenacker on the Danube. Having separated from the established church, their theology was based in part on the writings of Jakob Böhme. They did not practice baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except for the Sabbath. A central flower garden in Zoar is based on the Book of Revelation with a towering tree in the middle representing Christ and other elements surrounding it representing other allegorical elements.

The leader of the society was named Joseph Bimeler (also known as Joseph Bäumler or Bäumeler, born 1778), a pipemaker from Ulm. His charismatic leadership carried the village through a number of crises.

An early event critical to the success of the colony was the digging of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The Zoarites had purchased 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land sight unseen and used loans to pay for it. The loans were to be paid off by 1830. The Society struggled for many years to determine what products and services they could produce in their village to pay off the loans. The state of Ohio required some of the Zoarite land to be used as a right of way and offered the Zoarites an opportunity to assist in digging the canals for money. The state gave them a choice of digging it themselves for pay or having the state pay others to dig the canal. The Zoarites then spent several years in the 1820s digging the canal and thus were able to pay off their loans on time with much money to spare.

Bimeler's death on August 31, 1853 led to a slow decline in the cohesion of the village. By 1898, the village voted to disband the communal society and the property was divided among the remaining residents.
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GHOSTLY EXPERIENCES IN ZOAR, OHIO

When I was about 13 or 14 I spent the night at my friends house. He lives in the old boys house, in Zoar. I went to sleep that night in the living room down stairs. My friend, his mother and father, and sister were sleeping upstairs. All I had downstairs with me was their dog. At some point in the night I was woke up by someone coming down the stairs. The dog, that was sleeping at my side, woke up and ran out of the room wimpering when the dog saw something coming down the stairs. I had goosebumps all over my body. I didn't know what to do so I threw the blanket over my head, closed my eyes, and tried to pretended I was invisible. Whatever was out there at this point was standing right over top of me. I could hear it breathing. Well I didn't know what else to do. So I pulled down the covers and no one was there. G. Allen

* * * * * * * *

My wife and myself had two occassions to encounter the ghost called ''George'' at The Inn on the River outside of Zoar. Once when we were dating, c. 1990, my wife (girls friend at that time), my best friend, his date, and myself were at the inn having a few drinks in the bar area. We were discussing George all night and having a few laughs. It was getting time to leave and I said out loud, ''Come on George, we want to see something!'' At that exact moment the lights in the entire restaurant went off and then back on. The second time my wife now, and I were having dinner at the inn. We were seated in the room adjacent to the bar. She was seated across from me. She was facing the door I was facing the wall with my back to the door. On the wall were many pictures of the inn in days gone by. As we were eating I got a strange feeling that someone was behind me. I looked up but didn't turn around. I looked towards the pictures and could see a dark ''figure'', no shape, pass from left to right, from my perspective, in the pictures on the wall. I immediately turned around and no one was in the room except my wife and myself. Greg
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THE HAUNTED HOUSES OF ZOAR, OHIO

Zoar was a village built by German separatists who were looking to establish a place to live and practice their Christian religion as they saw fit. Established on October 16, 1817, Zoar was named after the biblical town where Lot fled to after leaving Sodom. The community was established as "The Society of Separatists of Zoar" in 1819. There are a number of haunted houses in Zoar that constantly produce haunting accounts from visitors. A local group of paranormal investigators report experiencing objects thrown at them multiple times, and a closed piano playing on its own, at Number One House.

Clues to some of the hauntings in Zoar are portrayed in The Ghosts of Zoar, Ohio by Ann Sawin and Betty O'Neill-Roderick. This book details many of the tragedies that took place in this town, including that of Lorenz Fritz. Near Christmas of 1888, Lorenz took the train to Massillon to buy Christmas candy for his three children. He never returned home from the trip. His wife assumed he had decided to remain in town to drink with friends, since it wasn't the first time this had happened. However, she was awakened in the middle of the night by her son, Eugene, who insisted that daddy was standing in the corner of the bedroom, dripping wet, but would not speak to him. By the spring of 1889, once the snows melted, authorities discovered Lorenz's body in the river by the train tracks.

NOTE: OhioPERVS have the results of an investigation from June 2008 posted at Zoat Analysis Report...Lon

Story of Haunted Ohio Village Set For Filming

Sources:
www.ghostsofamerica.com
www.cantonrep.com
www.ohiopervs.com
www.news-spider.com
www.wkyc.com
en.wikipedia.org

Photos: Bright Light Cluster UFO - Desert Near Las Vegas, NV

Posted: 18 Mar 2010 10:30 AM PDT

MUFON witness report - near Las Vegas, NV - 3/15/10 (unedited): On March 15, my wife and I had just visited the Little A Le Inn on Highway 375 in Rachel Nevada. We left and drove back down 375 and pulled off the road just about a mile past Mailbox Rd. I believe the time may have been approximately 9:00-10:00 p.m. (PST). In one of the videos my wife mentions 12:00 Central time; this was the end of the sighting. I parked the vehicle at more or less a forty-five degree angle to the road with the headlights pointed towards the glow of Las Vegas in the sky. This glow also illuminated the mountains and landscape (silhouette etc.).
We had pulled off the road to see the stars in the remote sky; we were not there to catch a sighting (13 years married with no break from the kids-type trip). We were in a hurry to get back to Vegas but decided to stop along 375. We initially left the car running and lights on with my wife sitting in the passenger seat. I left the car and came around to her side and proceeded to watch the horizon. Once we both saw how many stars there was I told her to turn off the car and step out with me. We had both been standing there for just a few minutes trying to get both the digital cameras and the video camera to pick up what we saw. Just then I noticed a bright object (not a shooting star) high up in the sky headed towards Vegas.
This object was very small or very high but did not exhibit normal characteristics of a plane. There were no flashing strobes or sound from engines etc. This object being small, and disappearing quickly, did not really grab my attention. However, moments later from the same direction the object disappeared from came two lights flashing. They seemed motionless and as if they were affixed to each other. In other words it seemed that they were attached by a bar or direct line etc. They flashed for a while before I even considered pointing the camera at them. There are many cattle crossing lights of similar color along 375. It finally dawned on me that those lights had to be miles away and could not possibly be the same type of lights; these lights were much brighter and intense.
I pointed the video camera at the objects and could not pick them up until I turned on night shot. The two larger lights were very visible; in addition to this were two other smaller lights that could not be seen with the naked eye. We watched these objects move from left to right going in the direction of Rachel. As the two primary objects (PO) moved in this direction you could see other smaller lights moving around them. They would zip from one point to another. As they shot away their illumination would dim. In all probability, there were probably more objects out there than we captured or even saw. I based this on the fact that after watching the video, you can see objects you could not see with the naked eye.
The PO traveled from the direction of Vegas until they were almost perpendicular with 375 before we lost sight of them. We waited for a few more minutes and then decided to leave. We had only gone about a mile or two when my wife screamed "there they are again". This time the PO were only a few miles from us (I am guessing about this, their contrast in the night sky made this hard to tell but they were definitely very close to us). In the video I try to use the ground as both a reference and to help make the camera focus as it should. As you will see in the video, based on the ground etc. it seems that they were right on top of us but I could not figure out why we were not being dowsed by the light. Also, I did not see any report of this light on the ground. It was as if the light did not travel or radiate like normal lights. This was very strange for something so bright and intense.
The PO made very slow movements. The additional smaller objects seemed to jet around the larger ones and were more agile. In one of the videos I think I see something like electricity or sparks coming from the PO. Now the strangest thing was that the PO seemed to merge with each other right before they "blinked" off or out. Also, strange is that I heard my wife say they are gone but she says this at least a second or two before they "blink" out again on the camera (not sure why there was a delay between her eyes and the camera). In the stills there seems to be a structure present.
As far as feelings went, I think we were just in amazement of the objects. When they reappeared closer to us the second time I think we were both a little frightened. It seemed to be checking us out. We got a little more worried about the remote location and the fact that there were other objects moving around the PO. I do believe that if we stayed there, the objects would have come closer. I had no feeling whatsoever that the event was over with when we left. These objects were clearly doing something related to that general locale. We decided to leave based on the fact that each time the lights went off, they came back on closer.

NOTE: very descriptive witness report...I truly hope MUFON follows up on this one. I've heard similar reports from desert locations but not as detailed as this one. Is there a natural explanation for this sighting? It seems that there was some intelligence behind this anomaly...Lon

Photos: Bright Light Cluster UFO - Desert Near Las Vegas, NV

Mono Lake Video / MonsterQuest 'Sierra Sasquatch'

Posted: 18 Mar 2010 09:35 AM PDT

Click for video

Description with video: I used software called Syntheyes that has a function built in for stabilization. There is some tweaking required when you are doing it to keep the video footage somewhat centred, but once it is stabilized, it helps to keep your eyes focused on the action.

I had to review the footage over and over again in order to start bringing out the small details and differences in shades of colour. I had noticed that one arm that wasn't moving, but upon closer inspection, it was clearly darker and what I believe is an object being held starting from the hand and it goes over the right shoulder.

I guess I should mention that the subject in the video is moving from right to left and is facing the camera.

Also, the question came up about a longer left arm and when I separated out each frame, it was easy to see that there was a dark black object being held in the left hand. You can even make out the arch that the hand makes around this object (like a hand wrapped around flashlight or pipe).

At this point I started to suspect that it was human and in fact, when I looked at the motion, it really looked like someone walking with heavy clothing and big boots (even though I couldn't see the boots). The motion seems to fit the description.

I then started to look at the frames in Photoshop and measured the RGB values for each pixel (very easily done). I noticed that the color variations were somewhat consistant through certain portions of the body. Sure enough when I looked and looked...there was what appeared to be a vest over a jacket.

I never intended it to go this way. I really would have preferred to see the real thing. But, it is what it is to me.

NOTE: MonsterQuest's presentation 'Sierra Sasquatch' was OK but, offered more questions than answers IMO. Basically, the show concentrated on the sightings and research of Jaime Avalos (interviewed by Autumn Williams at Interviewing Jaime Avalos). Avalos states that he has tracked a family of Sasquatch east and west of a section of the Sierra/Nevada Mountain range. He also presented castings as evidence. Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum of ISU also provided his expertise. Wildlife consultant and biologist John Mionczynski and a Portuguese tracker (who impressed me) made up the remainder of the group.

The Mono Lake video was used as evidence in the production. This footage was shot in 1991, but a dark bulking cryptid was discovered on the video in 2008 by a family member of the original videographer. I had seen this video previously and was a bit surprised that is was used in the MonsterQuest presentation simply because it appears to be something other than a Sasquatch. As well, Avalos' footprint casts all appear to be human, especially after Dr. Meldrum made comparisons with a few from his collection. There was another anecdotal witness who claimed to have seen a family of Sasquatch in the same general area while hunting. He seemed sincere enough but, again, it's the word of one more witness. This was supposedly the last show in the MonsterQuest series. Honestly, I would like to see the series continued. Theory and conjecture are always going to be part of any production that pertains to paranormal and cryptid subjects...but using evidence that is a deviation of the original theme tends to look like filler for the show.

BTW, go to The Blogsquatcher - Weird Pennsylvania where the Fayette County, PA sightings are referenced as well as the writer's personal experiences in the same area(use the links). Very interesting! Lon

Mono Lake Video / MonsterQuest 'Sierra Sasquatch'

Contact: AlienPhotog Interviews David Eckhart

Posted: 18 Mar 2010 08:15 AM PDT

Contact: AlienPhotog Interviews David Eckhart

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