Phantoms and Monsters

Searching For 'Texas Blue Dogs' Facts
Waves of Sphere Shaped UFOs Reported Over Albuquerque, NM
Photos: UFO Soars Over Sydney, Australia
Man's Rare Blood Has Saved Over 2 Million Babies

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 01:55 PM PDT

kdnews - Mystery and science fiction novels are a weekend hobby for some, but one local couple is turning their free time to attempting to solve strange mysteries in nature.

Richard and Naomi West just returned from a weeklong trip around Texas collecting pictures and video based on reports of strange blue-skinned, dog-like animals around the state that some have called the answer to the "chupacabre."

The Wests, along with the founder of a British nonprofit supporting cryptozoology, hope their reports from the expedition will help them gain support for a more in-depth mission to study and hopefully capture what they believe is not a being of folklore, but a new species of canine similar to a coyote.

"It is a very weird and very interesting member of the dog family; it has nothing to do with this weird folklore," said Jonathan Downes, a former zoological journalist and self-taught amateur "cryptozoologist" from West Devon, England.

Almost 20 years ago, Downes founded the Centre for Fortean Zoology, a nonprofit devoted to cryptology with more than 400 amateur and professional members interested in cryptozoology, the study of unknown species.

Naomi West, an English teacher at Copperas Cove High School, said she was always interested in reading about mysteries and strange phenomenon, but two years ago she joined the student book club and ran across an interesting book during "books with bite" week. While her students were reading about monsters and vampires, Naomi found a somewhat fictionalized account of Downes' cryptozoological expeditions to find new species, "Three Men Hunting Monsters."

She was hooked and contacted Downes about her interest. Eventually, Naomi and her husband began helping Downes by tracking down through the grapevine and media reports of the blue-skinned chupacabre creature.

The media have reported from Elmendorf to Blanco to Cuero about sightings of a mysterious blue-skinned creature as a possible chupacabre.

The chupacabre is a Spanish folklore creature that sucks the blood of livestock, and has been reported in various kinds of animals from small and reptilian to the blue-skinned canine all over the world from Russia to Puerto Rico to Texas.

John Young, the non-game mammologist with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, is the state agency's expert on the Texas chupacabre reports of strange blue-skinned animals. His responsibilities cover the state's cats, bats, rats and other smaller mammals.

Texas Parks and Wildlife's take on these reports has been simpler than a new animal or a mythological beast.

"None of them have been confirmed as anything other than a coyote or a fox," Young said.

Even though people may know what coyotes look like normally, Young said a severe case of mange can cause a coyote or fox to lose all of its hair, sometimes leaving just a strip along the back.

Without fur to protect its skin, the coyote is exposed to sun and elements that can give them a blue or blue-black appearance over time. The sickness can cause the animal to act strangely, and once it has died from the mange the animal's skin pulls back giving it the appearance of larger teeth than normal.

Of course, there are also some people who have attempted to create their own chupacabre creatures, Young said, but most people aren't doing that.

"The majority of people … they're honestly seeing an animal that baffles them," he said. "But we have yet to have found one that didn't tie back to a coyote or one of our other native canines."

Downes said that coyotes with mange are the solution to several of the reports, but there is also another unknown creature that deserves to be studied to identify a potential new species.

Downes and the CFZ believe there are physical differences, particularly visible in one blue-and-black skinned creature that was shot and stuffed in Cuero that show the creature nothing like a coyote.

The main point of Downes' trip to Texas with his wife, Corinna, and their expedition with the Wests has been to prove that there is a potential new species that deserves to be studied.

"What they are, why they are like that and where they fit into the ecosystem," he said. "I spend a lot of time trying to convince people this is a canine that is deserving of being studied."

Attempting to stir up interest

For now, the Wests and the Downes are just trying to stir up interest. And in their recent trip, Richard West said they found a lot of interest in cryptology and other weird phenomena that they want to encourage.

Naomi West wants to start a Web site aimed at children to help use their interest in new species and mystery creatures to get them interested in sciences and mysteries.

"It's something I'm interested in and it's something the kids are always interested in," she said. "There's a gap in the sciences and I have a sincere interest in helping the science aspect of it."

NOTE: there certainly have been many reports of these creatures to simply stated these are coyotes with mange. I heard that Mexican Wolf DNA turned up in one of these animals....but I can't confirm that. Is this a strange hybrid or possibly a new species. The fact that Jonathan Downes of the Centre for Fortean Zoology and Texas Blue Dogs, who I have considerable respect, is investigating these creatures adds credibility to this study...Lon

Searching For 'Texas Blue Dogs' Facts

Waves of Sphere Shaped UFOs Reported Over Albuquerque, NM

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 11:15 AM PDT

MUFON witness report - Albuquerque, NM - 3/21/2010 (unedited): Last night my girlfriend and I were in the hot tub at my apartment around 2100. We were in the tub for around a half hour when we first saw the unknown objects.

We were facing South and looking up at the sky enjoying the stars when four spheres evenly spaced and moving from south to north towards us and at a constant speed.

They were lighted but not to the extent that I would say they had light.(This is hard to discribe...but the spheres were an orangish color, not bright and I discribe them as possibly reflecting the lights of the city more than producing litte.) they did not get brighter as they got closer and stayed the same hue through out the whole event.

Now I am not the only one to see these and the objects traveled at a constant rate not very fast but fast enough to go from our line of site in the south to out of site in the north in around twenty seconds. I would guess to say the objects were no more than two thousand feet above us, but it being night I could not tell the height. I only guess the height do to other planes in the air with flashing lights being very tough to see and these were much more clear to see.

The objects held the same horizontal line pattern with no movement heigher or lowwer than the others. However, the objects moved left and right in unconventional methods. They moved fast making left to right shifting moves, yet they stayed even in their south to north motion. The objects made zero noise and were round and from what we could see were sphere in shape. All same size. So this blew my mind and my girlfriend and I both witnessed the fly over and were a little worried that we just saw something that might not have been from this world. The lack of sound, the movement and shape.

The event was not over yet.

So we set in the hot tub around another 15 minutes while I called my father in St. Louis and told him what we saw. We then got out and dried off and walked to the apartment. I went onto the balcony and then called my sister back in St. Louis to talk to her about what we saw.

While telling her the story, Right above my apartment appeared more spheres and many more. I would estimate the amount to be from twelve to twenty orangish spheres in a pattern this time and seeming to be at the same height as the other four and moving in the same direction from South to North.

The spheres were in a "V" pattern and all moving at the same rate of speed. I scream out the the F. is that and my girlfriend ran out on the balcony and saw the spheres again. The pattern was like a flock of geese and the "V" moved north and as it moved the front or point of the "V" moved back till the "V" became flat and evened out. The "V" was then a straight line and still moving at the same pace. The middle then started to move out ahead of the line line it was starting to become a "V" pattern again until we lost sight of the objects in the north sky.

The objects were all the same shape and size. I then called the Albuquerque police non-emergency number to see if there had been any other reports and to have the guys keep their eyes open in the north-west sky. I then called the Fox news station to see if anyone had called them about it. They said no one had yet. I then decided to sit on the balcony for a while with my camara to see if anymore events would happen but nothing to that extent.

I saw one more object take the same path from south to north and this one had no light but was a sphere and I had my neighbor see this one as well. I am not sure what I saw last night and I am not saying it was un-human but it was not anything that planes of today can do. No sound and the patterns. Now I know I was not the only one to see this last night and my brother told me about this sight.

I am writing this to hopefully find someone else that saw what I did last night. I do now feel that something is overhead in Albuquerque, NM and hope UFO buffs keep their eye peeled to the north west sky. These objects flew directly over my head so look up tonight. I know I will be looking.

NOTE: there have been a significant number of UFO sightings and other odd episodes in and around the Albuquerque, NM area recently. Some of you may remember a post a few weeks ago Reader: Incidents Around Albuquerque / Manzano Base, NM. I'm very interested in any other sightings / information you can provide...Lon

Waves of Sphere Shaped UFOs Reported Over Albuquerque, NM

Photos: UFO Soars Over Sydney, Australia

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 10:38 AM PDT

news.com.au - It emerged from a blazing light in the clouds, descending on a busy street before zipping off silently into the sunset.

Just what - or who - propelled the strange flying disc across Sydney's skyline may never be known.

But while the close encounter was over in seconds, it was enough to convince mother-of-two Fiona Hartigan that she'd just seen a UFO.

And she has the photos to prove it.

Ms Hartigan yesterday said she had just got out of her car on Sunday evening to snap a few sunset photos when the amazing events began.

"As I was about to take the picture this black object appeared and then it started to move," she said.

"It started off about 800m away but it came closer - to about 400m - and then two other little round things appeared from this bright orange light above.

"There was no noise. It was calm and peaceful but it was very weird."

Ms Hartigan said the main UFO then shot off above Governor Macquarie Drive at Chipping Norton, with the smaller UFOs zipping away in the opposite direction.

"I don't know how to explain it - I'm still totally bewildered," she said.

To the sceptic, Ms Hartigan's photo might show a speck of dust on the lens or something small floating in the air close to the camera.

But close encounters like Ms Hartigan's came as no surprise to UFO Research NSW spokesman Doug Moffett: "It could be some electrical anomaly that no one has ever seen, it could be an extra-terrestrial craft, it could be something else.

"There does appear to be a blur around the image, which could just be the way it's shaped, or - and this is pure speculation - it could be due to its propulsion system.

"Whatever the case, it's an opportunity to learn something new."

Mr Moffett said there were between 1000 and 1500 UFO sightings in Australia every year, "but that is just the tip of the iceberg".

"Why would anyone make these stories up? They are setting themselves up for ridicule," he said.

NOTE: radio-controlled device? I'm interested to hear from Australian readers in order to get their take on this supposed daytime sighting within Sidney's city limits...Lon

Photos: UFO Soars Over Sydney, Australia

Man's Rare Blood Has Saved Over 2 Million Babies

Posted: 23 Mar 2010 06:55 PM PDT

dailymail - An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.

James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia.

He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.

Mr Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations.

When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.

He was also nicknamed the 'man with the golden arm' or the 'man in two million'.

His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D.

He said: 'I've never thought about stopping. Never.' He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood.

'I was in hospital for three months,' he said. 'The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.'

Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood.

At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition.

The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.

After his blood type was discovered, Mr Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine.

'They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,' he said.

'I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.'

Mr Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood.

It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women.

It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.

It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far.

One of the mothers he has helped is Joy Barnes, who works at the Red Cross Blood Bank in Sydney.

She has known Mr Harrison for 23 years but has only just told him she is one of the countless mothers he has helped.

Ms Barnes, who miscarried at four and five months before having treatment, said: 'Without him I would never have been able to have a healthy baby.'

Speaking to Mr Harrison on an Australian TV show, she said: 'I don't know how to thank you enough.'

His own daughter, Tracey, also had to have the Anti-D injection after the birth of her first son.

She said she was 'proud' of her dad for continuing to give blood, even after the death of her mother after 56 years of marriage.

Mr Harrison said: 'I was back in hospital giving blood a week after Barbara passed away.

'It was sad but life marches on and we have to continue doing what we do. She's up there looking down, so I carry on.'

Mr Harrison is expected to reach the 1,000 donation milestone in September this year.

Man's Rare Blood Has Saved Over 2 Million Babies
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CHINESE GIRL FREAKING OUT PEOPLE ENTERING BUILDING

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