Phantoms and Monsters

Video: Sumatran 2-Year-Old Toddler Smokes 40 Cigarettes Per Day!
Millions of Frogs Shutdown Highway In Greece
Are Those Brothers Still Arguing?
This Week on 'Beyond the Edge' Radio - Sunday, May 30th - 9:00 PM ET

Video: Sumatran 2-Year-Old Toddler Smokes 40 Cigarettes Per Day!

Posted: 26 May 2010 06:19 PM PDT

Click for video

Ardi got his first taste for tobacco when his father Mohammed, a 30-year-old fishmonger, gave him a cigarette when he was a year and a half old - and now he throws tantrums if he can't doesn't get his 40 cigarettes a day.

Ardi, from Musi Banyuasin in Sumatra, Indonesia, will smoke only one brand and his habit costs his parents £3.78 a day - in a province where the minimum wage is around £69 a month.

The two-year-old now weighs 4 stone, and trundles round on a toy truck blowing smoke rings as he is too unfit to run with the other children.

His 26-year-old mother Diana, who has been trying to get him to quit but with little success, said: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'

Officials have offered to buy the family a car if he quits, but his father said: 'He looks pretty healthy to me. I don't see the problem.'

NOTE: Words cannot express my feeling on this one. I don't know what brand he smokes but that company should quickly attempt to get a handle on this...but, then again, it's Indonesia. This kid may very well be a marketer's wet dream over there...Lon

Video: Sumatran 2-Year-Old Toddler Smokes 40 Cigarettes Per Day!

Millions of Frogs Shutdown Highway In Greece

Posted: 26 May 2010 05:03 PM PDT

THESSALONIKI, Greece — Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.

Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.

"There was a carpet of frogs," he said.

Authorities closed the highway after three car drivers skidded off the road trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported.

Thanoglou said the amphibians probably left a nearby lake to look for food.

NOTE: Remember the frog migration previous to the major earthquake in Sichuan Province, China? Lon
_____________________

Frog Migration: Omen to China Earthquake Disaster

On May 5, 2008, many Chinese locals noticed thousands of frogs on the move. They were seen traveling without fear of traffic as they crossed streets in mass floods.

Many Chinese sensed the migration as a bad omen of a coming natural disaster, but the Chinese government told them that it was just a natural migration for the purpose of propagation. This calmed the people and no one took the omen very seriously.

On Monday, 12th of May, at about 2:45pm, central China region recorded a 7.8-magnitude quake which occured near Wenchuan County, Sichuan province, that killed nearly 10,000 people.

Many civilian houses and roads were collapsed and damaged. In one Dujiangyan city middle school, 900 students and teachers were buried in the collapsed building, at least 50 were killed.

The quake was the largest the region has seen for over a generation. It was so strong, even countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong felt the shake.

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers "useless", as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. When they finally announced the earthquake had occurred, it was 12 minutes after the disaster, and 2 minutes after the US had announced a large earthquake in China.

As for the frogs and their omen, Chinese scientists stated animals have much better sense than human on detecting the natural disasters like this.

Millions of Frogs Shutdown Highway In Greece

Are Those Brothers Still Arguing?

Posted: 26 May 2010 08:17 AM PDT

I received the following email from Heather this morning:

It's getting close to summer and we (living at our 1902 farmhouse) are expecting the brothers to start arguing again.

We moved into the house in July, 2007, but before we did, our new neighbors told us the place was haunted. The sellers did not disclose this information to us. I don't know if the "heavy" atmosphere in the house can be attributed to the warning or if it felt "funny" because of the big old empty spaces, but I went upstairs one day and said, in one of the bedrooms to no one in particular: "If there's anyone here, you are welcome to stay. Just no parlor tricks. You know, things levitating or apparitions popping up in the dead of night or behind you when you're looking at a mirror."

At first we heard voices, as if there was a family gathering. Then, the porch light going off, then coming back on. Then my husband reported a bag of homemade cookies fell off a shelf and into his lap, which would have taken some force since he was sitting a few feet away. A library book flying off the center island, which might have been knocked off from vibrations of us walking around it, though we haven't been able to reproduce it. There's been humming and more talking. And one night, while we were both trying to sleep, I was just about to say something about a woman talking when my husband asked, "Do you hear that? Sounds like a--"...."Female", I answered.

The next year my husband mentioned hearing two male voices outside, discussing business in an intense way. Our neighbors aren't close and they're not night owls, and my husband heard them mention doing something "after death." My daughter reported the same conversation.

It was last year when I heard the voices, apparently right outside the family room, where we keep our computer. I wasn't frightened, but was skeptical. A few nights later, I returned home after work. I work late into the evenings, so I returned about 2 am I heard two male voices yelling at each other. I couldn't make out what they were saying, and the first thing I thought was some kids were arguing. Outside. At 2 am in the morning. And none of my neighbors were disturbed by the sound of it as no lights popped on or police cars entered my drive.

With a cold chill I realized that these arguing men could be the same heard by my husband and daughter. I did not hesitate in getting into the house.

There could be a reasonable explanation. A sound arc. Two people arguing in the middle of the night, outside on a warm evening.

However, earlier this year, my husband went into the hardware store to get something to fix an old doorknob. In conversation with an elderly shopper, my husband mentioned the difficulty in finding the right items to fix something in an old house.

The man asked him some particulars, where he lived, how old the place is, etc. My husband told him....the man's reply gave me chills.

"I know the place," my husband reported to me. "Are those brothers still arguing?"

I'm hoping they will settle sometime soon.

Heather Denniss, Ohio

Are Those Brothers Still Arguing?

This Week on 'Beyond the Edge' Radio - Sunday, May 30th - 9:00 PM ET

Posted: 26 May 2010 05:05 PM PDT

This week on Beyond the Edge Radio - Sunday, May 30th at 9:00 pm ET
Hosts: Eric Altman & Sean Forker

* * * * * *
Special Guest: Tom White - Author and Historian

Thomas White is the University Archivist and Curator of Special Collections in the Gumberg Library at Duquesne University. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Duquesne's History Department and an Adjunct Professor of History at La Roche College. White received his Master's Degree in Public History from Duquesne University. His areas of interest include folklore, Pennsylvania history, public history and American cultural history. He is the author of Legends and Lore of Western Pennsylvania, Forgotten Tales of Pennsylvania, and the soon to be released Ghosts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, all published by the History Press.

* * * * * *

Weekly Segment Hosts:
Lon Strickler - Strickly Paranormal: For Those Seeking the Truth & James Baker - "The Bake Shop"

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