Phantoms and Monsters

UK: Wallaby, Wild Beaver and a Large Humped-Back Cat
The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away
Video: Circular UFO Over Yokohama, Japan
The Curse of Lady Anne Speirs
Searching for the King Elephant

UK: Wallaby, Wild Beaver and a Large Humped-Back Cat

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 01:22 PM PDT

thisisplymouth - A motorist was stunned when he came face-to-face with this wallaby – on a Cornish country lane.

Peter Glaser, 59, was driving home from work when he spotted the kangaroo-like creature near his house.

The wallaby – normally found in the Australian outback – was hopping around a lane in St Breward.

It is thought to be one of a family of three living wild in the area.

Peter said: "I couldn't believe it – a wallaby is the last animal you expect to see bounding around the fields down here.

"I was nearly home when I saw it right in front of me. I got quite close – he's not too shy that's for sure. I could look right into its eyes."

The animal is thought to be a male which escaped from a farm three years ago and is now living wild. He managed to find another escaped female who was later caught on camera with a baby in her pouch.

**********

Large Humped-Back Cat Seen On Road

thecourier - A Perthshire woman has been left stunned by a close encounter with a large cat-like creature.

Helen Graham, of Lower Auchtenny, is hoping for a rational explanation for the sighting, which was corroborated by a companion.

She said, "My friend and I were driving along the Edinburgh Road, towards Bridge of Earn, at about 11.30pm on Friday night, when a very strange animal crossed the road in front of us.

"It was definitely cat-like in shape but much bigger than any domestic cat.

"It had very long, thin legs and a long thin tail and a cat-type face."

She added, "It had a strange, humped-back look about it and a very convex underside.

"It was about the size, but not the build, of a spaniel, and it loped slowly across the road and disappeared into the wood below Craigclowan School."

Helen said, "We looked at each other in disbelief, and spent the rest of the journey wondering what on earth we had seen."

Helen appealed to readers to come forward if they knew the answer to the mystery or had experienced similar sightings.

She said, "I have never seen an animal resembling this creature—and we are country ladies and not prone to fancies.

"I hope someone can shed some light on the sighting."

**********

Wild Beaver Spotted in Scottish Village

Residents of a busy Scottish village have been amazed at the sudden arrival of a wild beaver, which has taken up residence in a leafy burn running through a new housing development.

The animal has delighted local children walking to the nearby primary school with its graceful dives and splashes of its paddle-like tail.

Twelve-year-old Catriona Taylor first spotted the wild beaver in the burn and excitedly ran home to tell her parents. While sceptical, her father and brother went along with her "story" and visited the burn to see for themselves.

Within minutes, they too were amazed at the sight of the lean mammal foraging in the riverbank in their village of Invergowrie, on the outskirts of Dundee.

Dad Cameron Taylor, 43, and son Euan, nine, took a video and some photographs of the large rodent and have delighted in spotting it ever since.

Mr Taylor said: "My daughter Cat first saw it a few days ago. She came running into the house all excited, so we went down to have a look for it and sure enough there it was.

"The beaver was swimming around for ages and when it went to swim away, it dived under the water and it's big flat paddle-tail waved at us. We got a great view of it. It was quite large û I would say between 18-inches and two-feet.

"We were all very excited, especially to have something as exotic as a beaver right on our doorstep. The kids walk past the burn every day on their way to school, so they are watching it like hawks now to see if they can get another sighting. I took about a minute of video footage and Euan took a photograph of it on a mobile phone."

Another Invergowrie resident, David Leckie, 45, also saw the beaver while he was carrying out paper deliveries early in the morning. The former Camperdown Wildlife Centre volunteer contacted the Dundee centre, but was informed their collection of beavers had been given away years ago.

He said: "I usually spot a lot of wildlife around that time such as deer, foxes and mallard so I am always on the lookout. I was coming down by Alastair Soutar Crescent and Greystane Terrace when I saw the beaver beside the water munching on some vegetation.

"It was like a huge rat with a large flattened tail. I couldn't believe it. I know my wildlife and I sat and watched it for ages so I always knew exactly what it was. I stood there for a couple of minutes and then went to get my camera but it wasn't there when I got back."

NOTE: the wildlife of the United Kingdom is ever changing, usually surprising and always fascinating...Lon

UK: Wallaby, Wild Beaver and a Large Humped-Back Cat

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 11:24 PM PDT

Click for video

cleveland.com - A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

The "King of Kings" statue, one of southwest Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati. The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.

The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised, as though reaching out to catch a football. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early today.

The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, he said.

Travelers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.

The 4,000-member, nondenominational church was founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife. Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.

NOTE: Here's the link to Lawrence Bishop's website - Lawrence Bishop - His Music. He is married to Darlene Bishop. I don't know much about these people but I have been told that the Solid Rock Church is definitely not your ordinary run-of-the-mill prayer hall in terms of architecture and decor. "Thou shalt not make graven images out of styrofoam and fiberglass"...Lon

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

Video: Circular UFO Over Yokohama, Japan

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 01:25 PM PDT

Click for video

NOTE: OK, here's one for you to ponder. I've been thinking about this video for the past 24 hours and decided to post for comment. Personally, I think it is a balloon type object...but who knows. A comment with graphs (below) on ATS probably explains the object best. What's your opinion? Lon

From ATS forum: I would feel inclined to say that it's likely a balloon, because of the way it moves, except that when I took a closer look at the video it seems impossible for any non-changing shape to "rotate" in such a way.

Try this yourself. Watch the video again and pause it whenever it looks like it could be a 3-dimensional shape (like a donut or whatever else). Try to think of all possible shapes that could produce that silhouette you're seeing. The closest thing I could think of is an hourglass shape with a wide hole going through it, and two thin arms going down the outside of it (click graph to enlarge):

If you keep that shape in your head while you watch it, it seems possible. But then there are times when this shape seems to rotate from one side to the other without ever showing the hole in the middle, which would be physically impossible.

The only other thing I could think of, and of course this is entirely hypothetical, would be some kind of craft meant to be completely invisible to viewers below, but which is either malfunctioning or is still in the prototype stage. The basic principle for artificial invisibility would be to gather light from behind the craft and re-project that light in front of the craft, so that a viewer below sees the sky behind the craft instead of the craft itself. Here's what I mean (click graph to enlarge):

I could also see this being CG. Honestly there isn't much you can't do with computer graphics these days. The only way to come close to disproving this theory would be to analyze the original footage.

Video: Circular UFO Over Yokohama, Japan

The Curse of Lady Anne Speirs

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 11:19 AM PDT

Two photographs of Lady Anne Speirs' crypt

scotsman - She was a member of one of the biggest landowning families in Scotland – but more than a century after her death her name is said with fear, not reverence.

Talk of Lady Anne Speirs still sends shivers down the spines of the people of Linwood, who blame her "curse" for 30 years of economic misfortune.

And now superstitious locals are warning that soon-to-be-approved plans to move the remains of five people from a mausoleum and reunite them with their descendents in North Berwick will bring tragedy to the Renfrewshire town.

Linwood legend maintains that Lady Anne Speirs pledged a curse on anyone who disturbs the crypt.

That is unlikely to stop supermarket giant Tesco however, which is planning to move the remains to the East Lothian town to make way for a new supermarket and community facilities which it believes could regenerate the area.

The origin of the curse is shrouded in mystery, but the "wrath" of Lady Anne was first said to have been incurred in the early 1980s with the closure of the nearby Rootes Car Plant, Linwood's main employer. The plant ceased operations in 1981.

The crypt was recently rediscovered by contractors working for Tesco.

It immediately moved to have the bodies disinterred, but a court order stalled the development after a judge ruled that the supermarket chain must wait 42 days for representations to be received from the local community.

Some locals said it is further evidence the remains should not be removed.

Iain Wilson, secretary of Linwood Community Council, said of the curse:
"It's a bit of a joke for most people but there are those that do believe it, and are keen to ascribe all sorts of misfortune to it."

However, historians have now debunked the "curse" as the product of mistaken identity.

Renfrewshire historian Derek Parker said: "The remains are definitely not of Lady Anne Speirs, who is buried in Houston Cemetery.

"Either way, the Speirs family were God-fearing people, devout Presbyterians who also gave a lot of support to the Houston and Killellan Church of Scotland, and probably wouldn't have been inclined to put a curse on anyone."

The genealogist discovered that the mausoleum contains the remains of the Speir family of Burnbrae House, no apparent relation to Lady Anne Speirs, whose stately home was situated in the grounds.

The Speir family later moved out of Linwood and their descendents are now scattered around the world.

However, the family now regard North Berwick as their main ancestral home. Eight members of the family are buried in Whitekirk churchyard.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We are concluding a lengthy and sensitive legal process and have no further comment at this stage."

************

paisley.org - Workmen found 4 lead lined coffins underneath the shopping centre dating back to 1850 and Tesco had hired a geneologist to trace the surviving family, to which they have. A church once stood where Linwood shopping centre stands now and the family vault has lain untouched all this time the living relations stated "our family moved away from Linwood generations ago so this was certianly unexpected".

Tesco shall now apply to the courts for permission to remove the coffins to a more suitable place and they are working with the surviving family treating this with the uttermost of respect and with the wishes of the family.

Linwood Parish Church 1880

Updated...now there is news that the vault belongs to Lady Anne Speirs who lay in the family vault below where a church once stood, however there was a curse placed on the village saying a great disaster would befall it if she of the church were ever to be disturbed. The first part of Lady Anne Speirs curse came true less that five years after the church was demolished as the car factory closed with the loss of thousands of jobs.

**********

Grim Discovery Halts Town's Regeneration

gazette - There is fury after the grim discovery of four coffins at the site of a new Tesco store halted work.

The supermarket giant has angered residents by its delay in regenerating the former Linwood Shopping Centre and has now announced a further delay as a result of the 'long forgotten' vault being uncovered.

Chair of Linwood Community Council, Iain Wilson, said: "I thought everyone in Linwood knew about the crypt.

"There was a chapel of rest knocked down in the 70s to make way for Linwood Parish Church manse and hall.

The crypt is part of Linwood folklore. The remains are meant to be of Lady Speirs."

Legend has it that Lady Speirs placed a curse on the village, saying that if the church or the vault was ever disturbed, a great curse would fall on the village.

One blogger said: "When the church was demolished in the late 70s, the local car plant closed with the loss of thousands of jobs, so the first curse came - just wonder what the second shall be."

Local resident Tom Burke added: "The crypt of the Speirs family will be of no surprise to any locals. It was common knowledge even when I was 11 years old.

"In an ideal world the original church would not have been demolished, the remaining church hall and Speirs family crypt would remain as they are. The close association of the Speirs family shows that Linwood was once a thriving community.

"Perhaps the announcement of the family crypt will result in a fresh and positive look at the state of Linwood rather than the unleashing of some curse."

Local MSP Wendy Alexander blasted: "All the community have been saying for ages that there are graves on this site.

"Lady Speirs would be turning in her grave.

"Tesco should not be using an anonymous family to explain away why the town centre regeneration project has not had the green light.

"It is more than three years since Tesco promised to rebuild Linwood town centre. We are still waiting. Tesco are trying to gloss over the fact that this project has never had sign off by the Tesco board. The foot-dragging must stop.

"I have written to Tesco's chief executive in the strongest possible terms about the damage his company's delay, inaction, and broken promises are causing to my Linwood constituents."

Tesco Corporate Affairs manager, Jennifer Duncan, said: "I can only re-iterate that Tesco is fully committed to progressing with the regeneration of Linwood town centre once the issue of the remains buried there has been respectfully resolved.

"Given this situation it would be extremely insensitive for us to carry out any kind of demolition or building work."

Local Councillor Audrey Doig said: "We are looking forward to the development at Linwood, but would expect the recent crypt find to be handled with care and dignity.

"Now is not the time to indulge in attacks and blame, but find the way forward for Linwood. I am confident we can do that together."

The Curse of Lady Anne Speirs

Searching for the King Elephant

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 09:57 AM PDT

ses-explore - The giant elephants of West Nepal were a legend until in 1992 a Scientific Exploration Society expedition discovered two of these enormous beasts living in the Bardia Park in a remote corner of this Himalayan kingdom. The largest tusker, estimated at 11 feet 3 inches at his shoulder and probably weighing up to 8 tons, was named Raja Gaj or King Elephant.

With his great domed head and massive body it led the local villagers to believe that they had a mammoth in their midst. However research by eminent zoologist Prof Adrian Lister, who extracted DNA from his dung, showed that he was a type of Asian elephant. His unusual shape may have been due to isolation or perhaps a connection with a prehistoric elephant named a Stegodon. A fossil skull of one of these ancient creatures had been discovered by a German palaeontologist in East Nepal. For ten years Colonel John Blashford-Snell (JBS) and SES teams studied Raja Gaj and found a herd of up to 50 including cows and calves.

Shown to be the largest known Asian elephant Raja Gaj was a prize to be protected and thus the Nepalese Wildlife Department and the Army guarded Bardia. This in turn led to the conservation of both the Bengal Tiger and the One Horned Indian Rhino in the Park. Tourists poured in and the area prospered, but then came the Maoist revolution and from 2002 the poachers began to attack the wildlife. However the Wildlife Department and the Nepalese Army managed to protect some of the creatures and today there are over 600 troops guarding Bardia. But Raja Gaj has not been seen since 2008 and villagers have reported that a large elephant was swept down the Karnali river by a sudden flood. Nevertheless some believe he is still alive.

In January JBS and a team of enthusiasts from the SES returned to Bardia to seek evidence that the King Elephant, who would now be about 64, is there. On 1st March they set up camp beside the Karnali and using six trained female domestic elephants and expert Nepalese trackers from the Tiger Mountain Company, they searched the jungle and high grass areas of the valley. With their mounts forcing their way like living tanks through the dense foliage the expedition saw many animals and birds. They had exciting encounters with the impressive Bengal tiger and prehistoric looking rhinoceros. After several days searching they spotted a large wild bull elephant feeding near the river and cautiously approached him. When they were a hundred yards away the tusker threw up dust and dashed into the bush. The team followed and suddenly their quarry reappeared. His huge domed head and gleaming tusks broke through the cover and hurling up clouds of dust he came after them. Emerging from the jungle he pressed forward scenting the tame female elephants. Then suddenly he seemed to loose interest and tramped back into the trees. "I believe this behaviour may be due to his short sight" said JBS. "He has to come close to see who we are and once this is determined he may decide we are no threat and continue with his lunch, but one needs a steady nerve to stand and let the tusker approach". The new bull looks very like Raja Gaj and behaves similarly. He has been named Rajim – son of Raja Gaj.

Later a second large bull elephant was discovered who behaved in a similar way and once gave a demonstration of his strength by charging a tree and knocking it down. "Like all men, just showing off" said Dr Tessa Donovan-Beermann who was helping JBS to control the search with a Motorola walkie-talkie radio.

Phyllis Angliss organised some aid for the villagers in the area around the Bardia Park, giving out material to schools, medical items and glasses. This was much appreciated. To encourage the local children to like elephants in a village often raided by wild ones, an elephant football match was played at a local school. The children rode the domestic elephants, but the Jumbos preferred to pick the ball up in their trunks and run with it. The game ended when one stood on the ball and burst it!

Footprints of around 18 wild elephants and their calves were also discovered in a nearby valley. Susan Hilliard, a finger print officer with the Merseyside Police who has been on many of the Bardia expeditions, spotted a set of footprints 21 inches in diameter indicating that a bull of about 10 feet 6 inches height at the shoulder is moving with the herd. Larger prints were also found indicating even taller elephants but sadly none as high as Raja Gaj. Nevertheless the expedition's discoveries show that the elephants of Bardia have survived the poaching during the recent conflict and the protection by the Army may well allow the wildlife to multiply. However the guardians cannot relax and as the expedition left the area the Army shot dead three local people and captured one whom they say fired on them. It is claimed these people were poaching, but as may be imagined there is uproar in the area as villagers state the victims were simply collecting traditional medicine.

Even if Raja Gaj has died his fame lives on along the Himalayas. He is featured on a 10 Rupee Nepalese stamp! Video film of the 2010 expedition has been shot by Sir Charles Blois and Elodie Sandford and is now being edited. JBS hopes to do further research on these elephants in the years ahead.

Searching for the King Elephant

Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual?
Send us an email

Become a fan of 'Phantoms and Monsters' at Facebook

Listen to our segment
'Strickly Paranormal: For Those Seeking the Truth!'

New 'SPECIAL OFFER' Category
BUY 2 and get the 3rd FREE!

Anomalist Books - works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog