Phantoms and Monsters

Max: A Spirit's Best Friend
Fortean / Oddball News - 9/12/2010
California Central Valley / Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Encounters

Posted: 12 Sep 2010 03:12 PM PDT

This is an original anecdote I received from a reader a while back. I decided to post it again because, frankly, it has been a slow weekend and I was busy watching football most of the day:

It was late in the summer of 1989 and I was preparing for my annual sojourn to Ocean City, MD for a bit of rest and relaxation. Before I left, I called my friend George, who lives in St. Michaels, MD to let him know that I would be stopping by his house for a visit on my way back from the beach the following week. This was a bit of a tradition that we would get together during the summer and sit on his porch, eat crabs and drink a few beers. George was a longtime friend and we both looked forward to the visits. He and his wife, Lee, would visit us around the Christmas holidays when they came to Baltimore to visit their relatives. George stated he would be home and waiting for my visit.

"By the way, do you still conduct your investigations?" he asked. I acknowledged that I did on occasion and asked him what was going on. Frankly, he never seemed interested in this subject previously. "I'll wait 'til you get here…there's no particular reason." I told him I'd call before I left the beach to let him know I was enroute and said my goodbyes.

Several days later, I arrived at George's residence. He lives in a beautiful neighborhood. Most of the houses are restored to the original early 19th century design. It's a very quiet area with many trees and greenery. George's house is a two story colonial with wood plank siding and a rail fence that completely encompasses the property.

George was sitting on the front porch when I pulled up. He greeted me at my car, "how was the beach?" I told him it was less crowded than I expected which was a pleasure. I spent a few days deep sea fishing while I was there and had the bad sunburn to prove it. We walked to the porch and sat down. He seemed a bit withdrawn while we small talked about family, sports, etc. I knew something was bothering him so I came right out and asked him why he inquired about my paranormal investigations. He replied "I saw something recently."

"Do you remember the old guy next door, Frank Shipley?" I told him I vaguely remembered him, though I know I was introduced to him many years previously. "Well, ole' Frank died in May" George continued. "He talked to me a few days before he passed away. He was wondering if I could take care of his dog, Max, if anything ever happened to him. I told him 'sure'…Max was a good dog (male Boxer) and there would be no problem. Anyway, a week or so later Frank passed away. I knew something was wrong when I didn't noticed Frank walking Max that morning and again that evening, so I knocked on his door and there was no answer. I called the police and they found him sitting in an armchair. Max was laying beside him and didn't cause any commotion when the police arrived. In fact, Max simply walked out of the house and sat in the front yard."

George continued to tell me what had happened. The next evening, I was sitting on the porch watching the ballgame on TV. Max was laying on the porch swing…it seemed that he would adjust well. It was around 8:00 pm and it was starting to get to dark when Max suddenly jumped to his feet and ran to the fence by the sidewalk. He sat there for a few seconds, then he started to walk along the fence (left to right) to the other side of the yard. He walked back to the porch and sat down on the steps. About 15 minutes later, he once again jumped up and ran to the right edge of the fence, sat for a few seconds, then started to walk along the fence (right to left). When he got to the gate, I noticed a mist moving outside the fence. Max was moving with this mist until he reached the end of the fence. Max then walked back to the porch and sat by the door and whined. I opened the door and let him in then walked back to the chair on the porch and sat down contemplating as to what I just witnessed. Lee (George's wife) told me Max went into the kitchen, ate his food and went directly to his bed."

I left for home that evening. About a week later, I was talking to George on the phone. I mentioned the mist and Max' behavior. "What do you think it was?" George asked. I replied that it was probably some residual energy of Frank's nightly walks with Max. I explained that what I witnessed was not unusual and there's nothing to be concerned about. I asked if he had seen anything unusual since that evening and he replied that he had not. I continued to explain the possibility of certain spirit energies replaying and display like a looped film. He seemed to take everything I said in stride. "By the way" I inquired, "how's Max?" George answered, "oh, yeah, Max died that same night."

I suppose it's possible that Frank and Max have found another neighborhood on a different plane to take their daily walks.

Max: A Spirit's Best Friend

Fortean / Oddball News - 9/12/2010

Posted: 12 Sep 2010 12:55 PM PDT

'Magic Mushroom' Ingredient May Have Medical Benefits

latimes - The psychedelic drug psilocybin, the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms," can improve mood and reduce anxiety and depression in terminal cancer patients, Los Angeles researchers reported Monday.

A single modest dose of the hallucinogen, whose reputation was severely tarnished by widespread nonmedical use in the psychedelic '60s and ethical lapses by researchers such as Timothy Leary, can improve patients' functioning for as long as six months, allowing them to spend their last days with more peace, researchers said.

The research was a pilot study involving only 12 patients, but it is viewed as a first step in restoring the drug to respectability.

"This is a landmark study in many ways," said Dr. Stephen Ross, clinical director of the Center of Excellence on Addiction at New York University's Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. "This is the first time a paper like this has come out in a prestigious psychiatric journal in 40 years."

The research conducted on psychedelic drugs in the 1950s and '60s "was promising, but by no means did it reach the kinds of scientific standards that we would expect today," said behavioral biologist Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University, who was also not involved in the study.

The new research "is just a pilot study and really needs to be considered preliminary, but it demonstrates that such research can be conducted safely and that doses have palliative effects," Griffiths said.

Ross and Griffiths have ongoing studies examining the use of psilocybin in cancer patients, but Dr. Charles Grob, a psychiatrist at Harbor- UCLA Medical Center and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, is the first to report results.

Grob and his colleagues studied 12 patients, ages 36 to 58, with advanced-stage cancer and anxiety resulting from their diagnoses. Each patient went through two sessions, one in which he or she was given the drug and another with a placebo, the drug niacin, which provokes a physiological but not a psychological reaction. Although the doses were blinded, about 80% of the time both patients and physicians could tell which drug patients were getting.

Subjects were given the drugs in a hospital research unit and were then closely monitored for six hours. They were encouraged to lie in bed, wear eyeshades and listen to music during the sessions.

The patients were given a relatively low dose of psilocybin, 0.2 milligram per kilogram of body weight. Nonetheless, the team reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry, all patients reported a significant improvement in mood for at least two weeks after the psilocybin treatment and up to a six-month improvement on a scale that measures depression and anxiety. Most also reported a decreased need for narcotic pain relievers. No adverse reactions were observed.

These types of patients normally do not respond well to psychological therapy, Grob said, but his study showed that the drug has "great promise for alleviating anxiety and other psychiatric symptoms."

Ross and Griffiths are using psilocybin doses 50% higher than in Grob's study and are obtaining similar results, they said in interviews. All three researchers had to jump through many federal and local regulatory hoops to obtain approval for the experiments.

Now the problem is obtaining subjects, Griffiths said. Because the drug has "such a tarnished history … many oncologists are reluctant to refer volunteers," he said.

All three discouraged cancer patients from using the hallucinogen on their own. The drugs "are, in fact, dangerous and, under nonmedical conditions, people can have fearful reactions, panic reactions, engage in dangerous behavior and do great harm to themselves," Griffiths said. "But the studies underscore the fact that we can screen people and prepare them in a way that minimizes any harmful effects."

Psilocybin is illegal and listed in the same class of drugs as LSD and heroin, according to the Department of Justice.

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Nephew Kills Old Couple For Alleged Witchcraft

An old couple was killed by their own nephew in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, Philippines for allegedly practicing witchcraft, police said Saturday.

Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, chief of the San Carlos City police, identified the fatalities as Angelo Pascua, 68 and wife, Emilia, 66, residents of Sitio Matabang, Barangay Apunit.

The victims' grandchild, who witnessed the killing, said the couple's nephew, 39-year-old JOrge Arcangel, shot them with a .45 pistol at close range.

The witness said Arcangel, who was under the spell of alcohol, arrived at the couple's house around 6:30 p.m. Friday.

"Nagmano pa siya pero bigla niyang binaril si lolo," the victims' grandchild said.

The old woman died on the spot with 3 gunshot wounds in the head and body while her husband died in a hospital while being treated for a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

Tayaba said that according to the relatives of the victims, Arcangel has been accusing the couple of placing a curse on his sibling, who had just recently died.

The city police chief said Arcangel escaped after the killing.

"Pinaghahanap na namin siya ngayon," he said.

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Female Marine Snails Growing Male Genitalia...On Their Heads

perthnow - Female marine snails living off the Perth coast are growing male sex organs on their heads after exposure to the chemical TBT, according to local researchers.

Curtin University researchers have revealed the snails are suffering from imposex, a condition that involves the development of a second sex organ after being exposed to the chemical.

Unlike garden snails, which are hermaphrodites, this species of marine snail has distinct sexes.

Curtin's Environment and Agriculture associate professor Monique Gagnon said studies on the marine snail thais orbita over the past 10 years showed that although TBT contamination had declined at sites visited by recreational boats, a 100 per cent rate of imposex still existed at sites where commercial vessels were present.

``These high levels are believed to be related to the continuous input of TBT into the area over a period of years, resulting in the presence of significant quantities in the sediment on the sea floor,'' she said.

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Prof Gagnon said Fremantle port and the Garden Island naval facility were the main sites where TBT contamination was present in the Perth region.

She said studies had shown that imposex could stop the females from procreating, potentially reducing the number of snails in the shoreline environment.

The samples of thais orbita were collected along the Perth coast between March and June 2009.

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Sauerkraut Explosion Prompts Quarantine

CBC - Twenty-four students and four staff members at a central B.C. high school were briefly quarantined after a can of sauerkraut exploded Friday in a food science class.

The fire department, a hazardous materials unit and RCMP were called to Kelly Road Secondary School in Prince George at about 2 p.m. PT.

RCMP Const. Lesley Smith said school officials were concerned about a possible botulism outbreak after the contents of a years-old can of pickled cabbage splattered on students.

Officials later determined there was no cause for alarm.

The students briefly returned to their classes, then were dismissed early.

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Cold Eggs = 6 Deaths

BBC - A man has killed himself after shooting dead five people, including his wife and stepdaughter, in an argument about his breakfast.

Stanley Neace, 47, went on the killing spree in a trailer park in Jackson, rural Breathitt County, Kentucky.

He chased his wife into a neighbouring trailer where he shot her, her daughter and three witnesses, reports say.

State troopers found Mr Neace dead at the porch of his trailer, slumped over his own gun.

Mr Neace flew into a rage when his wife Sandra, 54, brought him some eggs for breakfast, a relative of the neighbours he killed said.

Mrs Neace's daughter Sandra Strong, 28, was also killed.

The other victims were named as neighbours Dennis Turner, 31, Teresa Fugate, 30, and Tammy Kilborn, 40.

Over eggs? I thought that was crazy. I mean just because his eggs weren't hot?"

Ms Fugate was shot in front of her seven-year-old daughter, who Mr Neace spared.

"Her daughter said, 'Please, please don't shoot me,' and he said, 'All right, you can leave,' and she ran out," Ms Fugate's sister Sherri Anne Robinson told the Associated Press.

Mrs Kiborn was another neighbour who stepped out onto her porch during the commotion, reports said.

Mr Neace apparently waited an hour for the police to arrive before turning the gun on himself, police heard the shot as they drove up to the trailer.

Other neighbours had fled in terror during the rampage.

Breathitt county is Kentucky's rural eastern region, where gun ownership numbers are high.

"Over eggs? I thought that was crazy. I mean just because his eggs weren't hot?" Ms Robinson said.

Fortean / Oddball News - 9/12/2010

California Central Valley / Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Encounters

Posted: 12 Sep 2010 09:52 AM PDT

KFSN - Whether you want to believe it or not, there are a lot of people in Central California who think they've had a brush with a Bigfoot, or Sasquatch.

Many won't talk about it for fear of being ridiculed. But others are convinced they are real, and think science is about to prove they really do exist.

Lurking in the forests of the high Sierra are people, like Bill Compton. A cell phone salesman during the week, he spends many weekends in search of the elusive Bigfoot. He says," I truly believe there is a bi-pedal primate roaming the terrain. I've seen too many footprints, seen beasts walk away from me on two legs that look like giant, hairy animals."

Bill and his partners regularly search an area in the Sequoia National Forest in Southeastern Fresno County. Bills tells us," In that area we've had a lot of activity, that's why we constantly go back to it." Local hunters and hikers have reported Bigfoot like sightings, along with what they think are the sounds and smells of the creature on the website of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization. 17 alleged Bigfoot encounters are listed in Fresno County. Web sites like this are full of pictures, videos and supposed eyewitness accounts.

Such stories are no surprise to the Native American tribes living in the Sierra. To them Bigfoot was just like the bear, mountain lions, wolves and coyotes. Ron Goode of the North Fork band of Mono Indians tells us, "We have an understanding that Bigfoot was here, is here. That he once he existed. The Mono's have two names for him. One that was in the mountains, Kooseekoosnow, and then one for the foothills is Kakownow, Kakownah." Goode says he hasn't seen a Bigfoot, but thinks he smelled one. "It had kind of followed me along and really scared the heck out of me because I was running for a little bit and I could smell this thing and it smelled terrible."

Another encounter near North Fork involved not smell, but sound. Susan Larson, an accountant believes she heard a Bigfoot outside her window one night. She says, "The scream was so scary, that you would no way in your right mind go out that door and go looking for it, and it's a shame I didn't have the guts."

Susan says she didn't know she'd heard a Bigfoot, until listening to a recording on a Bigfoot web site. Listening to the sound, "Ooooappp....ooooapp..." She tells us, "That's exactly what I heard."

She later took pictures of footprints she thinks could belong to Bigfoot, or maybe a bear. Casts of footprints, along with pictures, videos and other Bigfoot evidence is on display for all to see at the Bigfoot Discovery Museum near Santa Cruz. Museum owner and curator Michael Rugg says, "We are trying to come up with definitive proof that there are Bigfoot out there."

Rugg has wanted to prove Bigfoot lives ever since he saw one as a kid, while camping with his parents along a creek in Humboldt County. He recalled the incident. "Stepped out on a sandbar and there was a great big hairy man standing there looking at me and I looked at him and he looked down at me." The creature ran off when Rugg's parents called out to him. Rugg says he didn't realize he'd seen a Bigfoot until years later. After retiring as a graphic artist he opened the museum to help further Bigfoot research.

One of the few academically credentialed scientists who will acknowledge the possibility Bigfoot exists is Jeff Meldrum. A biology professor at Idaho State University in Pocatello. His book, "Sasquatch, Legend Meets Science," has been cited in some of the most recent documentaries on Bigfoot. He believes he has almost found a scientific basis for the legendary creature from a site in Ontario, Canada. Meldrum says,"We collected tissue, the remains of blood as well as muscle tissue as well as some hairs." Meldrum explains the creature stepped on a board with screws in it, leaving the flesh behind, giving researchers a sample from which to obtain DNA for testing. He says a preliminary test indicated a feature in a strand of DNA that appeared to put the creature somewhere between a human and chimpanzee.

Meldrum admits much more DNA testing is needed, but, says he thinks there's something out there. He says," Based on all the evidence I have seen it suggests this is an unrecognized species of great ape."

That however, is not a conclusion shared by most of the scientific community. Stephen Lewis is a professor of Earth Sciences at California State University Fresno. A Geologist he teaches a course on popular myths masquerading as science. He puts Bigfoot in the same category as UFO's and Power Crystals. He says, "This whole Bigfoot topic is what can be classified as pseudo science." He adds," There's really no credible evidence that's ever been turned up that a giant six hundred pound hairy, hominid creature, man-like except bigger, inhabits the Pacific Northwest, or Fresno County or anywhere else. There's just no evidence of that."

Many Bigfoot believers say "what more could you need?" They believe the evidence, from Indian legends to eyewitness accounts, along with film and videos is already overwhelming. But even those on Bigfoot's trail, like Bill Compton of Fresno, admit the absolute proof they need may be very hard to come by. He says, "We go to investigate and can't find anything. Very mysterious, it drives us nuts. " But he says, "I truly believe we have them in the Central Valley. Bigfoot's, and it will come out, someday."

The obvious question is, "Why can't anyone seem to find a real Bigfoot, dead or alive?"

The Native Americans believe the creatures live and die hidden underground, in tunnels and caves that run for hundreds of miles through the Sierra, and only come out to feed now and then. Others believe they're just too smart to be discovered. With the sensory skills of wild animals, and near human intelligence, they are presumably, incredibly elusive.

It will take actually finding one to convince skeptics they exist, but as long as there's no way to prove they don't exist, some people will keep looking for and believing in Bigfoot.

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Saturday, October 13, 2007

BFRO Investigator in Central CA - David Raygoza

chieftain - What's David Raygoza's idea of a good time? A full tank of gas in his Jeep, fresh batteries for his video camera and a bag of apples for bait.

Raygoza, 49, is an award-winning principal at Central Unified's Pershing Continuation High School west of Fresno, Calif. But for 14 years, he's also had a secret hobby: tracking Bigfoot in Sequoia National Forest in the southern Sierra Nevada.

Raygoza admits his belief in the legendary creature makes him sound crazy.

''It's one of those things that you don't talk to people about. I think mainstream America looks at it like UFOs or ghosts,'' Raygoza said.

Also known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot purportedly is covered in hair and stands 7 feet tall. The creature roams remote forests, with most sightings concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, from north of Eureka, Calif., to British Columbia, said David Byrne, a high-profile Bigfoot hunter.

Raygoza had kept a low profile on his Bigfoot convictions until July, when he led a symposium on the creature in Hanford, Calif. Raygoza has several photographs of large footprints he believes could be from Bigfoot, as well as video he says shows glimpses of the creature. He said he once found an old nest Bigfoot may have used.

Raygoza's interest in Bigfoot dates back to his senior year at Riverdale High School, when he read a newspaper article about a 17-year-old student in the Bay Area planning a Bigfoot hunting expedition.

''I thought, 'Wow. What a bold thing to do,' '' Raygoza said.

Then, 14 years ago, while camping with a friend in the Sierra east of Fresno, Raygoza came across 17-inch footprints he could not identify. A science teacher at the time, Raygoza was hooked on tracking Bigfoot.

But he found no further evidence for 10 years: ''I was really beginning to believe there was no such thing.''

A chance meeting with a man in Coarsegold, Calif., at a gold-panning exhibit four years ago piqued his interest again. The man, an American Indian, said Bigfoot roamed an area near an old sweat lodge in Sequoia National Forest. He told Raygoza: ''If you go there, you'll find what you are looking for.''

Raygoza and a friend made a trip to the location and found several sets of tracks Raygoza thinks were from Bigfoot. Over the past four years, he's videotaped what he believes may be Bigfoot in the forest, although he admits the images are inconclusive.

''Is it definitive? No, of course not,'' he said.

Raygoza said he once filmed Bigfoot eating an apple he had put out as bait.

Stephanie Martin, a counselor at Pershing High, said she ''didn't have words'' when she learned last summer that her boss believed in Bigfoot. She prefers not to discuss it with him; she said his stories sound credible, and she is scared by the idea that Bigfoot may exist.

''I know it sounds kooky and crazy, and (Raygoza's) obviously not,'' Martin said.

Terry Cox, president of the Central Unified School District board, had not heard of Raygoza's Bigfoot tracking but isn't bothered by it.

She said she and her sons, now grown, have always enjoyed the Bigfoot legend. Her children belonged to Indian Guides when they were young and participated in several Bigfoot hunts.

One of the Indian Guide mothers made a Bigfoot costume that an older guide wore, running through the woods, allowing the younger guides glimpses of ''Bigfoot.''

One year, they forgot to bring the Bigfoot shoe coverings, so the creature ran around the forest in silver basketball shoes, Cox said.

Raygoza declined to be specific about where he searches in the Sequoia National Forest, saying that he's worked hard tracking the creature and wants to be the one to come up with indisputable evidence that Bigfoot is real.

He has plenty of company hunting Bigfoot.

Byrne, the Bigfoot expert, has led three expeditions since the 1960s, outfitted with helicopters and infrared sensors. The work of Byrne and two other Bigfoot aficionados is part of a yearlong exhibit that opened last week at the State Capital Museum in Olympia, Wash., examining Sasquatch as a cultural phenomenon in the Northwest.

Several Web sites are devoted to the legend. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization lists hundreds of sightings, separating them into Class A or Class B reports. The organization says that Class B reports are not considered less credible or less important, but they have more potential to be something other than Bigfoot, such as bear sightings or practical jokes.

Byrne, though a believer, says that ''90 percent of what we think we know is pure speculation. There's no experts. We're all students.''

There are too many eyewitnesses to discount Bigfoot's existence, Byrne said: ''These are really good, down-to-earth people with no reason to fabricate a story.

''I think there could be something out there.''

But Denise Alonzo, a spokeswoman for Sequoia National Forest, is more skeptical. She's worked in the area for 20 years, and ''I've never heard or seen anything about a Bigfoot in the forest.''

Stephen Lewis, chairman of the earth and environmental sciences department at California State University-Fresno, said that if the creature existed, trackers would have found ''Bigfoot poop'' and other forensic evidence.

His department offers a critical thinking course, ''Facts, Fads and Fallacies in the Natural Sciences,'' which explores the pursuit of mythical creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.

''My speculation is that people have a need to believe in magic and mystery, unexplained phenomenon,'' Lewis said. ''People enjoy the idea that there's something out there that is mysterious and not yet discovered. They get captivated by all this stuff.''

Raygoza is not bothered by the skepticism.

He said he's enjoyed not only the pursuit of Bigfoot, but the beautiful wilderness he's explored.

''I'm going to continue looking until I get that shot that is definitive, where people won't say, 'That's a bear,' or until I can't walk those hills,'' Raygoza said.

California Central Valley / Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Encounters

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