Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- The Wolf of Allendale / The Hexham Heads
- Fortean / Oddball News - 9/5/2010
- Myths and Mystery of the 'London Stone'
| The Wolf of Allendale / The Hexham Heads Posted: 05 Sep 2010 01:33 PM PDT  On December 10, 1904, an unsettling article appeared in the English newspaper, the Hexham Courant....under the heading of Wolf at Large in Allendale:"Local farmers from the village of Allendale, very near to Hexham, had reported the loss of their livestock, so serious that many sheep were being stabled at night to protect them. A shepherd found two of his flock slaughtered, one with its entrails hanging out, and all that remained of the other was its head and horns. Many of the sheep had been bitten about the neck and the legs - common with an attack made by a wolf." "Hysteria soon set in. During the night, lanterns were kept burning to scare away the wolf, and women and children were ordered to keep to the busy roads and be home before dusk. The 'Hexham Wolf Committee' was soon set up to organize search parties and hunts to bring down the beast using specialized hunting dogs, the 'Haydon Hounds', but even they could not find the wolf. The Wolf Committee took the next step and hired Mr. W. Briddick, a trained tracker. But he was also unsuccessful, despite searching the woods." There was growing speculation that the most likely culprit was a grey wolf that had escaped from its owner, Captain Bain of Shotley Bridge, three months earlier. This wolf was on record in the Shotley Bridge police station as being four and a half months old and not much of a threat to either man or beast. The search for the Wolf of Allendale continued throughout December. On the 29th, it was faced down by two men, but escaped by jumping a high wall. The following day, it was seen attacking a black-faced ewe, running the sheep into a wire. One afternoon in late December, according to the newspaper, the wolf was encountered by some local boys and a group of women who frightened the animal by screaming in their excitement.  The panic, however, seemed to be brought to a halt early in 1905, when the body of a wolf was found on a railway line in Cumwinton, Cumbria, some 30 miles (48km) west of Hexhamshire. Captain Bain sped to the scene, only to profess the beast far too mature to be the cub he had lost. The Hexham Courant reported on 7 January, 1905 that the wolf found at Cumwinton was not the Wolf of Allendale.By the end of 1905, reports had diminished sharply and interest began to wane. Soon, the sightings and killings ceased altogether, and the Wolf of Allendale was relegated to local history. The events in Hexhamshire were not the only peculiar incidents at the time. Charles Fort commented that this period seemed to see an unprecedented level of weirdness that gripped Great Britain. These incidents included strange lights and supernatural forces at work in Wales, teleportation experiences, several hauntings and mysterious fires that killed residents. Overall, life in Hexhamshire went back to normal and it remain so for several generations...until the Winter of 1972. In February, 1972 the Robson boys were weeding their parent's garden not 10 minutes walk from where the 'Wolf of Allendale' stalked the woods. The pair soon unearthed two carved stone heads both about the size of tennis balls. A few nights after the discovery, neighbour Ellen Dodd was sitting up late with her daughter when both of them saw what they described as a 'half-man/half-beast' enter the bedroom. Although both mother and daughter screamed in terror, the creature seemed disinterested and walked off down the stairs. It was heard to be 'padding down the stairs as if on its hind legs', and the front door was later found open.  Dr. Anne Ross took an interest in the apparently Celtic carved stone heads and took possession of the Hexham pair. She had several others that were similar and wanted to compare them, believing these were at least 2000 years old. Dr. Ross lived and worked in Southampton at the time, and had heard nothing of the strange goings-on and apparent return of the 'Wolf of Allendale' associated with the carved heads. A few nights later at around 2.00am, she woke from sleep feeling cold and frightened. Looking up she saw a strange figure in the doorway of her bedroom. She later stated: It was about six feet high, slightly stooping, and it was black, against the white door, and it was half animal and half man. The upper part, I would have said, was a wolf, and the lower part was human and, I would have again said, that it was covered with a kind of black, very dark fur. It went out and I just saw it clearly, and then it disappeared, and something made me run after it, a thing I wouldn't normally have done, but I felt compelled to run after it. I got out of bed and I ran, and I could hear it going down the stairs, then it disappeared towards the back of the house. Dr. Ross simply dismiss the event as a nightmare, but when she later returned home with her husband, archaeologist Richard Feacham, they found their teenage daughter, Berenice, distraught and in tears. After some coaxing she managed to explain the reason for her state, and Anne suddenly realized that she had not been dreaming the night before. As Berenice later told, she had returned to the empty house at 4.00pm. As it opened the front door she saw a large shape rushing down the stairs toward her. Halfway down, the thing suddenly stopped and vaulted the banisters, landing with a soft thud like a heavy animal with thickly padded feet. Dr.Ross decided that the stone heads were the source of the problem, and promptly disposed of her whole collection. The Hexham finds were soon passed into the hands of other collectors, including the British Museum, where they were displayed to the public for a short time until reports of eerie occurrences forced them into storage. Reportedly, the stone heads were examined at Southampton and Newcastle Universities for proof of their age. Chemist Dr. Don Robins noticed that the stone heads contained a large amount of quartz, therefore hypothesizing that they were somehow storing energy. The heads were later buried in an undisclosed location however, this resulted in unusual goings on in the area of the burial. Now the heads seem to have disappeared without a trace. These artifacts have disappeared from public knowledge and their current whereabouts are unknown. Sources: www.bbc.co.uk www.mania.com www.forteantimes.com www.unexplained-mysteries.com www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk www.hexhamcourant.co.uk Fort, Charles - Lo! - 1931 The Wolf of Allendale / The Hexham Heads  |
| Fortean / Oddball News - 9/5/2010 Posted: 05 Sep 2010 12:01 PM PDT  Second Super-Fast Flip of Earth's Poles Foundnewscientist - Some 16 million years ago, north became south in a matter of years. Such fast flips are impossible, according to models of the Earth's core, but this is now the second time that evidence has been found. The magnetic poles swap every 300,000 years, a process that normally takes up to 5000 years. In 1995 an ancient lava flow with an unusual magnetic pattern was discovered in Oregon. It suggested that the field at the time was moving by 6 degrees a day - at least 10,000 times faster than usual. "Not many people believed it," says Scott Bogue of Occidental College in Los Angeles. Now Bogue and his colleague Jonathan Glen of the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, say they have found a second example in Nevada. The lava rock suggests that in one year, Earth's magnetic field shifted by 53 degrees (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2010GL044286). At that rate, a full flip would take less than four years, but there could be another interpretation. "It may have been a burst of rapid acceleration that punctuated the steady movement of the field," says Bogue. Peter Olson of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, remains sceptical and points out that the effects could have been local rather than global. Earth is overdue for a reversal, and rapid shifts would cause widespread chaos - for navigation and migratory birds for instance. ********** Full Inquest Into Death of David Kelly Comes Closer guardian - The attorney general's office is examining files relating to the death of David Kelly, a move which could herald a full inquest into the weapons inspector's death. Officials acting on behalf of Dominic Grieve, the government's senior law officer, had requested the Ministry of Justice to supply reports of Kelly's post mortem examination, and now have them. The move came after a group of prominent legal and medical experts called for a full inquest into the 2003 death of the scientist. A spokeswoman for the attorney general said the files had arrived in the office this week after being requested "quite a while ago". Officials will examine the documents this week before making recommendations to the attorney general, who has the power to order a full inquest. An inquest at the time was suspended by the then lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, ahead of the Hutton inquiry, which investigated the circumstances of Kelly's death. The inquiry concluded he had killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist. However, it applied a less stringent test than would have been used in an inquest, where a coroner has to be sure "beyond reasonable doubt" that a person intended to kill themselves. Last month, nine experts including Michael Powers, a QC and former coroner, and Julian Blon, a professor of intensive care medicine, said in a letter to the Times that they believed that the official cause of death, haemorrhage from the severed artery, was "extremely unlikely". "Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life," they said. "Absent a quantitative assessment of the blood lost and of the blood remaining in the great vessels, the conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe." ********** NASA Going to the Sun space - NASA is developing an ambitious new mission to plunge a car-sized probe directly into the sun's atmosphere, boldly going where no spacecraft has gone before. The spacecraft, called Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch no later than 2018, NASA announced Thursday. The space agency has picked the five science experiments to ride aboard the new sun-exploring spacecraft. The instruments include a solar wind particle detector, a 3-D camera, and a device to measure the sun's magnetic field, among other tools. "This project allows humanity's ingenuity to go where no spacecraft has ever gone before," said NASA's Solar Probe Plus program scientist Lika Guhathakurta in a statement. "For the very first time, we'll be able to touch, taste and smell our sun." [Amazing New Sun Photos] As Solar Probe Plus approaches the sun, it will face temperatures exceeding 2,550 degrees Fahrenheit (1,399 degrees Celsius) and powerful radiation blasts. The spacecraft is expected to take unprecedented, up-close view of our home star, enabling scientists to better understand, characterize and forecast the radiation environment for future space explorers, NASA officials said. Researchers submitted 13 proposals for the Solar Probe Plus Mission in 2009. The five NASA picked should cost a total of $180 million for preliminary analysis, design, development and tests. "The experiments selected for Solar Probe Plus are specifically designed to solve two key questions of solar physics: Why is the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun's visible surface, and what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system? " said Dick Fisher, director of NASA's heliophysics division, in a statement. "We've been struggling with these questions for decades, and this mission should finally provide those answers." The five experiments are: Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation: This experiment will count the most abundant particles in the solar wind -- electrons, protons and helium ions – and measure their properties. Wide-field Imager: This telescope will make 3-D images of the sun's corona, or atmosphere. The experiment will actually see the solar wind and provide 3-D images of clouds and shocks as they approach and pass the spacecraft. Fields Experiment: This study will make direct measurements of electric and magnetic fields, radio emissions and shock waves that course through the sun's atmospheric plasma. The experiment also serves as a giant dust detector, registering voltage signatures when specks of space dust hit the probe's antenna. Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun: This experiment will take an inventory of elements in the sun's atmosphere. It will use a mass spectrometer to weigh and sort ions near the spacecraft. Heliospheric Origins with Solar Probe Plus: This component will provide an independent assessment of scientific performance and act as a community advocate for the mission. The Solar Probe Plus mission is part of NASA's Living with a Star Program. The program is designed to understand aspects of the sun and Earth's space environment that affect life and society. ********** UFO Filmed Over Norway / 2nd Sighting of 'Green Strobe From Above' in Pennsylvania What is being called "astonishing" footage of a UFO was disclosed recently. The footage was taken in the northern region of Norway on August 13. Of interest is that the video was taken in the same area of last year's "spiral" event. A witness to the UFO made the following statement: "This was in the same area where the Spiral UFO of December 2009 was observed, however any connection with this or the HAARP/EISCAT facility is unknown." Click for video MUFON CMS - Duryea, PA, August 30, 2010: Hi, my name is Erica and I'm not sure exactly how to go about this, but here goes. Last week my girlfriend told me a story about how a few days before she was driving down Ransom RD. Duryea Pa. and she saw some green flash of light coming from the tree line. So she had me look it up because she believed it was some UFO or something because she said she could see the source of the light one second and then it was just gone. After I looked it up I came across a bunch of things about the "green flash" that comes from the sun at sun up/down. Until last night I thought that's what it had to be. Well last night we were driving through Ransom again(not in the same section) and in the complete darkness like right in front of us there was a green little bit of light, like a lazor pointer, and then we drove under it and it was like I don't even know how to explain it, it was almost like it expanded over the car or something and then it was gone. Like a quick strobe light, of green all through the car. It was like it came from straight above us. I figured i should let someone know about it, it's the 2nd time it's happened. thanks for your time and sorry if this is just me being dumb. ********** Iranian Authorities = Barbarians BBC - An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery now faces being whipped for indecency, her son says. Iranian authorities sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to 99 lashes after the Times newspaper published a picture purportedly of her without a headscarf. The Times later published a correction, saying the photograph was of a different Iranian woman. After an international outcry, Iranian officials temporarily halted Ms Ashtiani's stoning sentence in July. There are fears the death sentence could still be carried out by hanging. Ms Ashtiani's son has given several interviews saying he was told of the new sentence of 99 lashes by people who have recently been released from the prison in Tabriz where his mother is being held. On 28 August, the Times published a picture it said was of Ms Ashtiani that it had obtained from one of her lawyers. The lawyer, Mohammad Mostafei, who has fled Iran, said he received the picture from her son, Sajad Ghaderzadeh - a claim Mr Ghaderzadeh denies. Mr Ghaderzadeh said the new sentence was "an excuse to increase [the authorities'] harassment of our mother". In an open letter, he said his mother had been sentenced to receive 99 lashes "on false charges of spreading corruption and indecency by disseminating this picture of a woman presumed to be her without hijab". He said he did not believe the sentence had been carried out but that her family and lawyer had not been allowed to visit her for two weeks and she had not been allowed to use a telephone. Mr Ghaderzadeh said the family was appealing against the sentence. In May 2006, a criminal court in East Azerbaijan province found Ms Ashtiani guilty of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men following the death of her husband. She was given 99 lashes. But that September, during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband, another court reopened an adultery case based on events that allegedly took place before her husband died. Despite retracting a confession she said she had been forced to make under duress, Ms Ashtiani was convicted of "adultery while being married" and sentenced to death by stoning. In August, Iranian TV aired what it said was a confession from Ms Ashtiani of her involvement in her husband's 2005 murder. ********** Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Future Arthur C. Clarke predicting the future in 1964...he truly was a man of vision. Hopefully, there are more like him still with us. Fortean / Oddball News - 9/5/2010  |
| Myths and Mystery of the 'London Stone' Posted: 05 Sep 2010 09:15 AM PDT  latimes - It isn't much to look at: a gray lump of rock behind an ugly metal grill, attached to an even uglier building. You have to crouch down to see it, and its admittedly modest (or maybe nonexistent) charm can seem trifling compared with the glories of St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey. Unloved and neglected, lost in the shadows of gleaming bank towers and the bustle of a city hard at work, the London Stone gets short shrift from the tourist hordes and even Londoners themselves. But it's one of the city's most ancient and storied relics. Modern legend even says London's existence depends on it. This chunk of limestone has sat in or around the same spot on present-day Cannon Street, in London's financial district, for at least one millennium, possibly two, throwing up mysteries and inspiring myths as to its origins and purpose. Was it a mile marker? Did it represent the center of London? Was it a place of sacrifice, a symbol of authority, a source of mystical power, a guardian spirit? No one knows for sure. But Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and poet William Blake all wrote about the stone. One 15th century rebel declared himself ruler of London by striking it with his sword. Its fame put it among an elite group of rocks and boulders in the British Isles: Stonehenge in southern England, the Blarney Stone in Ireland and the Stone of Scone in Scotland, which is still used in the coronation of British kings and queens. Unlike the others, however, the London Stone has slipped out of the collective consciousness. "It's an iconic stone, but I don't think many people know about it," said Andy Round, who works at a nearby financial firm. "If you stop people on Cannon Street and ask, 'What is the London Stone?' they'd probably look at you blankly." Although it's not much bigger than a hatbox now, the block once crowned a larger slab set deep in the ground. Grooves along the top appear to attest to some sort of human use. According to John Clark, an expert in medieval history who worked for many years at the Museum of London, the stone may have been brought here by the Romans and erected as a monument in the forecourt of a grand palace close to the current site. Or perhaps the Saxons planted it there, smack in the center of a new grid of streets built under King Alfred, who resurrected London in 886 after it was sacked by the Vikings. ********** Click for video THE LONDON STONE heritage-key - The London Stone is one of the city's most mysterious and maligned ancient treasures. Not only is its provenance largely a mystery and entwined in myth and uncertainty, but its current predicament sees it visible only through a small grill on one of London's busiest commercial streets. What is known, however, is that it is of Roman origin - and was possibly used as a milestone to mark out distances between all the cities of newly-conquered Britannia. Yet rumours abound that it was brought to the city by Brutus the Trojan, the legendary founder of London. 'So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so London will flourish," says a centuries-old proverb. Thus the London Stone's removal, like the Tower of London's ravens, is said to forebode the city's destruction. Its supposed power was at its zenith during the middle ages, when it was believed that anyone who touched the stone would ritually take control of London. The fable was cemented in folklore when Jack Cade, the leader of a peasants' revolt against King Henry VI's monarchy in 1450, struck the Stone with his sword, claiming himself to be the Lord of London. The Stone enjoyed a renaissance during the Victorian age, when it was set into an ornate stone casing on the side of St. Swithin's Church in Cannon Street. Yet the church was badly damaged during the Second World War, and the stone had to be moved to a new building on the same site. There it has stayed, through many changes of ownership of the building - even having been swamped by advertising hordings until recently while its home became a sports shop - and today rests inside a metal grating at knee height, sometimes backlit at night. Myths and Mystery of the 'London Stone' Send us an email   New Items - Strickler's Celebrity Autographs Works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog  The 'C' Influence Actualizing Esoteric Discussion   "The latest news from beyond the mainstream" Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast! Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format!  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