Phantoms and Monsters

Bigfoot Search - Lake Anna, Spotsylvania County, Virginia
New Wiltshire Crop Circle May Represent Complex Mathematical Theorem
'Amityville Horror' House For Sale
'Handfish' Found to be New Species

Bigfoot Search - Lake Anna, Spotsylvania County, Virginia

Posted: 25 May 2010 10:06 AM PDT

fb.com - Hunting for the elusive Sasquatch is difficult enough, but rain makes it even harder.

Billy Willard, 41, the director of the Manassas-based Sasquatch Watch of Virginia, said the din of rain makes it impossible to hear anything else.

And the rain keeps animals--even Bigfoots--under shelter.

On Saturday, Willard and four other Sasquatch researchers were on 96 acres in the Lake Anna area, connected to 3,000 acres of mostly forests. Willard said there have been a lot of sightings in this region, especially in Culpeper County.

Ever since Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin released the famous film of a Sasquatch in Bluff Creek, Calif., on Oct. 20, 1962, people have argued its validity and that of thousands of other sightings across the country.

In Spotsylvania County, a man, a woman and a teenager reported spotting what appeared to be a Sasquatch in May 2009. They were about 300 yards away before it ran--fast.

"When I say running, well, all I can explain is it looked like it was on ice skates," said the woman. She asked that her name and exact location not be revealed because too often ridicule follows those who say they've seen Bigfoot; she also wants to protect adjoining property owners.

"If he lives here, and I think he does, it is smarter than a dog and dogs are smart animals," said the man who also reported seeing the creature that day.

Don't even try telling them that it was a bear.

"I've been in the woods since I was 5 years old; I know what a bear looks like," the woman said.

Her suspicions rose again in January when she heard a crazy noise in the woods that sounded like recordings she has heard on Bigfoot Internet sites.

"To me, the sound of hearing this thing was scarier than seeing it," she said. "It started with a low rumble and ended in a high-pitch scream."

The woman said she found Willard's website and invited him to the property. He's come back a half-dozen times.

Last month, he directed a weeklong Bigfoot expedition at the Spotsylvania site with five separate research groups.

The group heard strange Bigfoot-like sounds and filmed with a night-vision camera something very tall with red eyes. Two other researchers reported something shook their Jeep. A footprint impression behind the vehicle was cast.

"The eyes on the videotape, that was pretty impressive," Willard said.

But last weekend, the rain caused problems and it stopped the hunt early. The group got there at about 4 p.m. Saturday and stayed past midnight.

The only discovery that day was what appeared to be a large footprint near a pond.

Researchers like Willard often do their work with little fanfare. The full-time environmental engineer does not get paid for his Bigfoot research. He often gets tips and invitations through his website. He has been to at least nine states and has returned with plaster casts of a few different footprints.

His most frightening experience was in Paris, Texas, in 2007. The experience was so surreal that Willard thought it was a nightmare. He felt something grab him and he tussled with the creature for a few minutes while in his tent.

"I could feel nothing but thick hair on whatever this was," he said. "My hand didn't fit around the limb and I balled up my fist and hit it."

Not much high-tech equipment is necessary for expeditions. Researchers use night-vision game cameras and goggles and PA systems to broadcast Bigfoot calls and babies crying, which apparently creates a lot of action in the forest when played. There is also a lot of waiting, which leads to researchers sharing stories over a campfire about favorite trips, that often end up fruitless.

But not finding any evidence has little effect on their hope that someday one of them might get the evidence needed to prove Bigfoot does exist.

"There's no certification for this except a mental institution and an empty checkbook," Willard joked.

Sasquatch Watch of Virginia

Bigfoot Search - Lake Anna, Spotsylvania County, Virginia

New Wiltshire Crop Circle May Represent Complex Mathematical Theorem

Posted: 25 May 2010 09:40 AM PDT

dailymail - An extraordinary crop circle based on the 'world's most beautiful maths theorem' has appeared in a field next to a windmill in Wiltshire.

The complex disc, which measures 300ft across, appeared to the east of Wilton Windmill near Marlborough in a blazing yellow rape seed field.

It appeared on Saturday just 25miles from another circle that popped up a fortnight ago by the Iron Age hill fort of Old Sarum.

Lucy Pringle, a renowned crop circle researcher was puzzled by what appears to be a hidden code based on complex numbers within the shape.

She said: 'I believe it contains binary, a numeral system, or base-2 number system that represents numeric values using two symbols, 0 and 1.

'Working from the centre outwards, people are suggesting it has a connection to Leonhard Euler's theorem e^(i)pi+1=0 which is thought to be one of the most beautiful theorems in mathematics.'

She added that it could even contain a hidden tune.

'Historically over the years, crop circles have been associated with diatonic scales (white notes on the piano),' she said.

'These diatonic scale frequencies are encoded in each segment of the crop circle and can be played on the piano.

'This is a unique formation incorporating both music and mathematics and is similar in importance to the famous 2008 Barbury Castle Pi event.'

Another crop circle expert said everyone can draw their own conclusions from the circles, adding: 'The thing about maths and the circles is that you are dealing with something which isn't an exact science so one person may decode the circles as having diatonic ratios, the other may find meaning in binary numbers or astrological cycles.

There is speculation that the circle represents Leonhard Euler's complex theorem e^(i)pi+1=0

'The only possible explanation which covers all areas would be humans, however this can only be a problematic relationship shared by creaters and researchers since the [UFO] researchers hate the idea that a sense of wonder and optimism is quoshed by the admittance of human involvement.'

Carved out in a barley field, the Barbury Castle crop circle was a pictorial representation of the first ten digits of Pi, one of the most fundamental symbols in mathematics. The image was an example of what is known as a fractal, or geometric pattern.

It was solved by astrophysicist Mike Reed who saw a picture of the crop circle and made the mathematical link.

Crop circle designs have developed from simple circles in the 1970s to pictorial designs in the late 1980s and binary number designers from 2001.

New Wiltshire Crop Circle May Represent Complex Mathematical Theorem

'Amityville Horror' House For Sale

Posted: 25 May 2010 09:08 AM PDT

newsday - The real estate listing for the house that went on the market Monday at 108 Ocean Ave. refers to it as a "legendary home," but most people would know the sideways Dutch Colonial on the canal as the so-called Amityville Horror house.

Listed for $1.15 million, the picturesque and pristine home looks very different from the home where Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six family members as they slept in 1974. The 28 supposedly haunted days in the house experienced by subsequent owners George and Kathleen Lutz spawned the 1977 bestselling Jay Anson book "The Amityville Horror: A True Story" and a series of scary movies about alleged supernatural happenings at the house starting in 1979.

Even the address is different. Previous owners James and Barbara Cromarty, who own the Riverhead Raceway, said they had it changed from 112 Ocean Ave. to protect their privacy.

James Cromarty, 77, bought the house in 1977. By that point, a bank had foreclosed on the house from the Lutzes, who have since died. DeFeo is at the upstate Green Haven Correctional Facility, serving 25 years to life for the murders.

"Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie," said Cromarty, who lived a decade in the house.

He and his wife, Barbara, sold the house in 1987 to Peter and Jeanne O'Neill. Reached Monday, Jeanne O'Neill said, "I loved it. It was a beautiful home." They sold the house in 1997 for $310,000 to the current owner, which records identify as Brian Wilson.

"It's one of the more beautifully redone houses in the neighborhood," said listing agent Laura Zambratto of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty.

Jerry O'Neill of Coldwell Banker Harbor Light, who has been selling Amityville real estate for 38 years and whose brother, Peter, used to own the house, said he thinks the price is fair. "It's a gorgeous, big center hall Colonial with a finished basement," said O'Neill, with "nothing spooky about it." Neighbors said that there are occasional gawkers, mostly on Halloween.

It's not the only notorious Long Island house on the market. Recently, the East Meadow expanded ranch where serial killer Joel Rifkin used to live, sometimes bringing victims back to the house, was listed for $424,500.
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AMITYVILLE HORROR: THE REAL STORY

Ronald DeFeo, Jr. and his siblings

Thousands of sightseers flock to the small, quiet town of Amityville, Long Island each year in search of demons and ghosts. Its rich history and beauty are overshadowed by the story of George and Kathy Lutz, the previous residents of 112 Ocean Avenue, who claimed that shortly after moving into the house they "fled in terror," driven out by paranormal activity. The best selling novel and popular movie have marked the town as the site of the most famous haunted house in history, yet many are unaware that the true history of this house is much darker than "The Amityville Horror's" icy drafts and bleeding walls. Six members of the DeFeo family were murdered at 112 Ocean Avenue one year before the Lutz family moved in and their tragedy haunts the citizens of Amityville to this day.

In June of 1965, a man by the name of Ronald DeFeo Sr. purchased the 2 ½ story Dutch Colonial home at 112 Ocean Avenue, equipped with a boathouse on the Amityville River and plenty of rooms for his wife and four children. It seemed like the American dream: beautiful house, happy family, and money to spare. DeFeo even placed a sign in the front yard that read "High Hopes" as a symbol of the family's good fortune. But there is a much darker side to this fairy tale, for his oldest son Ronald DeFeo Jr. wasn't so content. His temper was as hot as his father's was, and when he reached adolescence they often succumbed to fist fighting matches. By the age of 17 Ronald, or "Butch" as he was called by his friends, was using serious drugs and dabbling in petty thievery. Even though he was well taken care of by his family - landing a "cush" job at his grandfather's car dealership where he received a weekly allowance whether he showed up to work or not - Butch was growing more angry and resentful with his father's supposedly stingy ways. He planned a fake robbery with a friend while he was on the way to the bank to deposit $20,000 from the dealership, splitting the "stolen" cash with his friend. When Ronald Sr. exposed his sham, Butch wanted revenge.

It has been reported that in the early morning hours of November 13, 1974, Butch left the second floor TV room and grabbed his .35 Marlin Rifle. While his parents and four younger brothers and sisters were sleeping he methodically shot and killed each one of them. He entered his parent's bedroom first, instantly killing his father Ronald DeFeo with two shots to the lower back. His mother Louise was awakened by the gunfire but before she had a chance to react Butch proceeded to fire two bullets into her chest. Since the bodies of his four younger brothers and sisters were all found in their beds, it appeared that they were not awakened by the shots. His two younger brothers, John and Mark, were his next victims. Standing between their beds in the room the two young boys shared, he fired one shot at close range into each of their bodies. Finally, he entered the room of his sisters Dawn and Allison. Dawn was the closest in age to Butch, and Allison was in grade school with John and Mark. Butch did not hesitate when he fired two shots into their heads, killing them instantly. The police reported that all six victims were found on their stomachs with their heads resting on their arms.

Butch tried to point the blame on a Mafia hit man whom he claimed had a vendetta against him, but the detectives grew suspicious when they found an empty gun box in his bedroom that matched the murder weapon. His story fell apart and after hours of interrogation. "It all started so fast. Once I started, I just couldn't stop. It went so fast," he confessed. When asked during his trial why he had done such a thing Butch replied, "As far as I'm concerned, if I didn't kill my family, they were going to kill me. And as far as I'm concerned, what I did was self-defense and there was nothing wrong with it. When I got a gun in my hand, there's no doubt in my mind who I am. I am God."

Even though Butch was found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder, many questions still remain about what really happened on that tragic night in November. Why didn't the children run after hearing the first shots? Why were the victims all found lying on their stomachs? Were they told to stay in bed by someone they knew? Why didn't the neighbors hear the shots? Speculations surfaced that the DeFeo family was drugged at dinner, yet autopsies discredited this theory. The police believed that the house muffled the sound of the shots, however, many people who have been in the house reported that street noise could be heard from inside. According to gun experts, the sound of a .35 Marlin Rifle can be heard from a mile away, yet neighbors claim that the only sound they heard was the barking of the DeFeo family dog. To this day Butch continues to change his story. Being a habitual liar, it is still unclear what role he played in the murders and whether he acted alone. For many, the truth remains to be told and investigations are in progress that may shed light on the validity of his story.

Butch DeFeo, 58, is currently serving six consecutive life sentences at Greenhaven Penitentiary in Stormville, New York. The parole board has rejected all of his requests for parole since 1999.

Families have lived happily in the Amityville house (its address now changed to deter the flocks of curious sightseers) since the Lutzes moved out without being bothered by a single demon or ghost. The citizens of Amityville often tell tourists that the house has been torn down, frustrated that a ghost story has overshadowed a tragedy – the brutal murders of six members of the DeFeo family, the true horror of Amityville.

Source:
www.newsday.com
www.essortment.com
www.dailymail.co.uk

'Amityville Horror' House For Sale

'Handfish' Found to be New Species

Posted: 25 May 2010 08:32 AM PDT

NatGeo - Newly described as its own species, the Ziebell's handfish typically has yellow fins, as seen above in a file photo, but the species can also appear with a mottled purplish coloration. Ziebell's handfish is found only in small, isolated populations off Tasmania and is listed as vulnerable in Australia.

Today all handfish are found only around southeastern Australia. But about 50 million years ago the animals likely inhabited regions around the world, the CSIRO scientists note. Fossils of the curious creatures have been discovered in the Mediterranean, for example.

'Handfish' Found to be New Species
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TEEN WEREWOLVES IN SAN ANTONIO

Teen Werewolves Are Real - watch more funny videos

Click for video

A news report out of San Antonio about teen werewolves who have fangs and see their leader as someone named, Wolfie Blackheart. It's not emo, it's not goth, it's more animal than that. (NOTE: my father was a 'Wolfman' and horror movie fan in the 50's and 60's. Thus, I was named after Lon Chaney, Jr....Lon)

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