Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- Origins of 13 Superstitions
- Witness Reports / Email: Sasquatch, Reptilians and Skinwalkers
- Fortean / Oddball News: Bizarre Surgeon Records, Exoplanet Discovered and JonBenet Ramsey
- Residents Petition To Save Haunted Texas Hospital
| Posted: 30 Sep 2010 11:09 AM PDT  1. Don't Walk Under a Ladder: After researching this superstition for a year at the British Library in London, Oliver says the belief's most-cited origin points to "a ladder forming a triangle with the wall and the ground, suggesting the Holy Trinity." Apparently, walking through that triangle would show disrespect to the Trinity and therefore bring bad luck. Another possible (and much simpler) origin: Where there's a ladder, there's usually someone working on top and walking underneath could lead to all sorts of cartoonish accidents, like a hammer falling on someone's head. 2. Black Cats Bring Bad Luck: Oliver says black cats are notoriously linked to witchcraft, which is why some people think they're unlucky. However, there are two sides to this one. Allegedly, if a cat crosses your path it's considered unlucky, but if a cat walks toward you, it's a good omen. Should the first scenario happen, though, Oliver says the "only way to avert the back luck is to spit." 3. Never Light Three Cigarettes With the Same Match: This superstition originated in military circles and dates back to those long nights in the trenches during World War I. "If three soldiers smoked at once, enemy snipers would easily detect them," says Oliver. "If they used the same match to light all three cigarettes, snipers would notice the match burning after the first one and would have enough time to load guns, aim and fire at the unlucky third smoker." 4. Carrots Are Good for Your Eyesight: Though some studies have shown that the vitamin A in carrots is good for the eyes, the vegetable alone isn't enough to spark 20/20 vision. Oliver says this old wives' tale -- or smart attempt by parents to get their children to eat their veggies -- originated as a myth during World War II. "That's when British pilots where rumored to be eating enormous amounts of carrots to see from high altitudes and in the dark. The rumor was widely spread to throw the public off from the fact that radar had been invented and was being used against the enemy," he says. 5. Cross Your Fingers: If you look hard enough, you can see this superstition has religious roots. Oliver says that crossing your fingers is a type of holy protection because the two overlapping fingers form a "slanted cross." This "good luck" ritual varies around the globe -- in Switzerland, people fold their thumbs in and wrap their other fingers around them instead of the standard index-and-middle-finger combination. 6. Don't Open an Umbrella in The House: The origins of this belief are simple -- what's designed for the outdoors should remain outside. While today's version of the old umbrella superstition is said to simply bring "bad luck," Oliver says there used to be a much darker cloud hanging over the belief in ancient times. "In earlier versions, opening an umbrella inside was an omen of death," he explains. 7. Always Have Something in the Oven: This old Jewish superstition could be considered "family friendly." Supposedly, leaving an oven empty will cause one's family to go hungry in the future. To avoid famine, it's enough to leave a baking sheet or a pan in the oven at all times as a precaution. "This belief is linked to ancient rituals in which food was left for household gods in order to ensure protection of the family," Oliver explains. 8. Wear Underwear Inside Out: When having a bad day, superstition suggests that turning your underwear inside out can make it all better. Oliver isn't quite sure where this odd belief came from, but we wouldn't be surprised if originated on a wild college campus somewhere, perhaps during a post-party "walk of shame." 9. Kiss a Mustachioed Man, End Up a Spinster: There are more superstitions revolving around marriage than we can count, and that includes "kissing a dark-skinned man at a wedding." If a woman does this, she'll supposedly get a marriage proposal shortly thereafter. But watch who you're smooching, ladies. If a woman kisses a man with a mustache and finds a stray hair on her lip after, she's destined to be a spinster. 10. Don't Praise Babies in China: If you're in China and you come across an adorable newborn baby, do not under any circumstances compliment the little one. In China, it's considered "unlucky" to praise babies because it "attracts the attention of ghosts and demons." Instead, Oliver says it's customary to "talk badly about babies" to keep evil entities away. Rather than getting upset, parents are told to convert those insults into praise quietly in their heads. 11. Don't Chew Gum at Night in Turkey: Even if your breath stinks, popping in a stick of gum after dinner in Turkey is a bad idea. "It's thought that if you're chewing gum at night in Turkey, you're actually chewing the flesh of the dead," says Oliver. Gross. 12. Lucky Four-Leaf Clovers: Because of how scarce four-leaf clovers really are, just finding one in a field is lucky in and of itself. Oliver says the rare leaf represents everything one could possibly desire in life: "wealth, fame, love and health." Unlucky 13: The number 13 -- and Friday the 13th -- are considered unfortunate in many places, and the reasons go back to the Bible. Remember, Jesus had 13 disciples until one of them -- Judas -- betrayed him. - AOLNews NOTE: I don't consider myself superstitious, per se....though I do carry a talisman and would never intentionally piss off a witch...Lon ********** Rick Phillips asks Would NOW Be A `Good Time' For The MSM To Ask Robert Bigelow About UFO's? - "To many folks even remotely interested in the UFO phenomena this week - the mainstream media (MSM) BLEW IT twice - in the same day..."  | ||
| Witness Reports / Email: Sasquatch, Reptilians and Skinwalkers Posted: 30 Sep 2010 10:25 AM PDT    I believe your theory is correct concerning Sasquatch being an inter-dimensional being. One year ago, my daughter and I had a series of terrifying encounters with aliens and something that I came to believe was Sasquatch. Its rather a long story and we are hoping to talk with someone about our experiences, but the last thing we want is publicity. Nothing says "nutcase" like saying you've seen a UFO, then toss in aliens and a bigfoot too. We recorded and photographed everything we could. We have a recording of a 'Bigfoot" calling out whoops to my daughter, then we heard a terrifying scratching sound like large claws on pavement as it ran out of a field towards us. The photo enclosed is the tracks in our yard the next morning. I don't want to write out the whole story, only to have no answer come back or to be treated like we are crazy. So if you want to hear the whole thing, let me know. We live right up against the Bitterroot Mountains on the Idaho/Washington border in a very small town with fields all around us. It started with Black Hawk helicopters chasing a huge UFO, multiple weird sightings, then a ship that came out of the sky at us, aliens in our yard and ended with the sounds of the Bigfoot and finally my daughter experiencing strange visions of a very frightening future time. I believe the aliens and the Bigfoot were connected and you can't just go out looking for them, they have to be "here" in our dimension in order to experience them. My daughter believes our world is meshing with another dimension and the strange sightings people are reporting are all part of something coming down the turnpike at us. We are both professional women and especially my daughter would suffer if our names were connected to anything so crazy sounding as what we experienced. Let me know if you want to hear the whole story, it's a long one. Sincerely, Christine NOTE: I responded to Christine but have yet to receive a followup...Lon ********** I was surprised to see the skinwalker article in your Phantoms and Monsters email. I try to read about skinwalkers and/or Navajo witches whenever I hear of any articles or books about them. When I was a little girl traveling with my family on vacation, we came across something strange that had to have been a skinwalker or Navajo witch. It was 1967 or 1968 and we were driving from Ca to Ark to visit family. On the way to Ark we were on Route 66 outside of Albuquerque, NM and we had stopped at a rest area so my Dad could sleep. It doesn't happen often now, but back then alot of people used to stop and sleep in the rest areas. It was the middle of the night and something startled my father awake. He woke up and was extremely scared and nervous. He was trying to figure out why he woke up and why he felt scared when he saw a man walking across the desert. He said that he almost couldn't take his eyes off the guy because even though the man was kind of far out there, something was wrong. The man was walking towards the rest area from out in the desert, as he got closer, my father saw what was different about him. The man had a fur skin thrown across his shoulders and as he walked his feet were not touching the ground. He passed right beside our car and looked my Dad in the eye. My Dad said that all of the hair on his body stood up and he turned on our car and drove away as fast as he could. It was later that we found out that some crazy guy came into the same rest area, the very same night that we were there, and shot a bunch of people. From what I was told, some of the people were killed. I was a little girl 3 or 4 years old, I was asleep when it all happened, but we never stopped in NM after that. Every year we went to Ark to visit family and we never stopped in NM again, we always drove straight through. **********
Witness Reports / Email: Sasquatch, Reptilians and Skinwalkers  | ||
| Fortean / Oddball News: Bizarre Surgeon Records, Exoplanet Discovered and JonBenet Ramsey Posted: 30 Sep 2010 09:40 AM PDT Catalogue of Bizarre Naval Doctors' Records Disclosed by the National Archives  There are courts martial, shipwrecks and even murder during the long ocean journeys undertaken by the doctors' ships between 1793 and 1880. The patients were the ratings, officers, emigrants and convicts being taken - often permanently - to other parts of the Empire and the records of their treatment provide a detailed glimpse into the past. More than 1,000 Royal Navy Medical Officer Journals have been made accessible to the public following a two-year cataloguing project at the National Archives in Kew. One passenger was 12-year-old Ellen McCarthy, who was on board the Elizabeth sailing from Cork, Ireland, to Quebec, Canada, in June 1825 when she fell ill and coughed up three intestinal worms which her mother took to the ship's surgeon. The doctor, identified only as one P Power, wrote: "Complained yesterday evening of pain in the bottom of the belly increased on pressure, abdomen hard and swollen, picks her nose, starts in her sleep, bowels constipated, pyrexia [fever], tongue foul, pulse quick, skin hot, great thirst. "Her mother brought me a lumbricus [worm] this morning 87 inches long which the patient vomited. The medicine operated well." The naval surgeon treated the girl with a range of syrups and injections including barley water, calomel [mercury chloride - a laxative now known to be toxic], jalap [a tuber with laxative effects] and brandy punch to ease the symptoms and restore her digestive system to normality." However, he said the most effective treatment was "oil of terebouth" - or turpentine. Cures were required for scorpion, tarantula and shark bites, scurvy and many different forms of sexually transmitted diseases, while some of the doctors collected poisonous sea snakes for further study. Other incidents recorded include offerings of disinterred skulls to Inuits, the 55-year-old sail maker who served in the Navy at Trafalgar and the Army at Waterloo, and the second mate who was lost overboard with the ship's keys in his hand. Another surgeon was asked to observe Samuel Tapper, an 18-year-old sailor in 1802, and noted: "Tapper's breasts so perfectly resemble those of a young woman of 18 or 19 that even the male genitals which are also perfect, do not fully remove the imporession that the spectateor is not lookin on a female." He was returned to active duty while in January 1802 one James Calloway, a seaman aged 40, fell overboard and was only revived when tobacco smoke was blown into his lungs. The remedies prescribed seem harsh to modern eyes but the doctors of the time were often pioneering treatments which would later be refined, according to Dan Gilfoyle, the National Archives' diplomatic and colonial records specialist. Bruno Pappalardo, the project manager, said: "The journals are the most significant source for the study of the history of health at sea for the 19th century." ********** Habitable Exoplanet Discovered wired - After years of saying habitable exoplanets are just around the corner, planet hunters have finally found one. Gliese 581g is the first planet found to lie squarely in its star's habitable zone, where the conditions are right for liquid water. "The threshold has now been crossed," said astronomer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, one of the planet's discoverers, in a press briefing Sept. 29. "The data says this planet is at the right distance for liquid water, and the right mass to hold on to a substantial atmosphere." The discovery is both "incremental and monumental," comments exoplanet expert Sara Seager of MIT, who was not involved in the new study. When a recent study predicted the first habitable world should show up by next May, Seager rightly said the real answer was more like "any day now." "We've found smaller and smaller planets that got closer and closer to the habitable zone," she said. "But this is the first that's in the habitable zone." The new planet is one of six orbiting the star Gliese 581, a red dwarf 20 light-years from Earth. Two of the planet's siblings, dubbed planets C and D, have also been hailed as potentially habitable worlds. The two planets straddle the region around the star where liquid water could exist — 581c is too hot, and 581d is too cold. But 581g is just right. The discovery will be published in the Astrophysical Journal and online at arxiv.org. The new planet is about three times the mass of Earth, which indicates it is probably rocky and has enough surface gravity to sustain a stable atmosphere. It orbits its star once every 36.6 Earth days at a distance of just 13 million miles. The surface of a planet that close to our sun would be scorching hot. But because the star Gliese 581 is only about 1 percent as bright as the sun, temperatures on the new planet should be much more comfortable. Taking into account the presence of an atmosphere and how much starlight the planet probably reflects, astronomers calculated the average temperature ranges from minus 24 degrees to 10 degrees above zero Fahrenheit. But the actual temperature range is even wider, says astronomer Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who designed some of the instruments that helped find the planet. Gravity dictates that such a close-in planet would keep the same side facing the star at all times, the same way the moon always shows the same face to Earth. That means the planet has a blazing-hot daytime side, a frigid nighttime side, and a band of eternal sunrise or sunset where water — and perhaps life — could subsist comfortably. Any life on this exotic world would be confined to this perpetual twilight zone, Vogt says, but there's room for a lot of diversity. "You can get any temperature you want on this planet, you just have to move around on its surface," Vogt said. "There's a great range of eco-longitudes that will create a lot of different niches for different kinds of life to evolve stably." Another advantage for potential life on Gliese 581g is that its star is "effectively immortal," Butler said. "Our sun will go 10 billion years before it goes nova, and life here ceases to exist. But M dwarfs live for tens, hundreds of billions of years, many times the current age of the universe. So life has a long time to get a toehold." The discovery is based on 11 years of observations using the HIRES spectrometer at the Keck Telescope in Hawaii, combined with data from the HARPS (High-Accuracy Radial-velocity Planet Searcher) instrument at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile. Both instruments looks for the small wobbles stars make as their planets' gravity tugs them back and forth. The HIRES project started looking for planets 25 years ago, back "when looking for planets made you look like a nut," Butler said. At first the instruments could detect changes in a star's velocity that were 300 meters per second or larger. That's why the first extrasolar planets discovered were almost exclusively hot Jupiters: These monstrous planets that sit roastingly close to their stars will exert a bigger gravitational pull. Since then, techniques have improved so that changes as small as 3 meters per second can be seen. That wouldn't be enough to see Earth from 20 light-years away, Butler says. Because red dwarfs are so small and their habitable zones so close, though, Earth-sized planets have enough gravitational oomph to make a difference. "The excitement here is that by looking at stars that are small it's much easier to find small planets," said exoplanet expert David Charbonneau of Harvard, who is hunting for small planets that cross in front of dwarf stars. "I think it's great news for those of us looking for this kind of thing around this kind of star." But finding them takes a long time. In all, 238 measurements of the star's wobbles, went into the discovery, and each measurement took a full night of observing. For Butler and Vogt, though, 11 years wasn't so long to wait. He's actually surprised that a potentially habitable planet showed up so quickly and so nearby. "The fact that we found one so close and so early on in the search suggests there's a lot of these things," Butler says. Only about 100 other stars are as close to Earth as Gliese 581, and only 9 of them have been closely examined for planets. Odds are good that 10 to 20 percent of stars in the Milky Way have habitable planets, Vogt says. Finding them won't take a huge advance in technology, he adds. It will just take more telescope time. "I have suggested that we build a dedicated automated planet finder to do this kind of work 365 nights a year," he said. "If we had something equivalent to Keck that we could use every night, these things would be pouring out of the sky." ********** Drug-Filled Mice Airdropped Over Guam to Kill Snakes NatGeo - Dead mice packed with drugs were recently airdropped into Guam's dense jungle canopy—part of a new effort to kill an invasive species of snake on the U.S. Pacific island territory. In the U.S. government-funded project, tablets of concentrated acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, are placed in dead thumb-size mice, which are then used as bait for brown tree snakes. In humans, acetaminophen helps soothe aches, pains, and fevers. But when ingested by brown tree snakes, the drug disrupts the oxygen-carrying ability of the snakes' hemoglobin blood proteins. "They go into a coma, and then death," said Peter Savarie, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services, which has been developing the technique since 1995 through grants from the U.S. Departments of Defense and Interior. Only about 80 milligrams of acetaminophen—equal to a child's dose of Tylenol—are needed to kill an adult brown tree snake. Once ingested via a dead mouse, it typically takes about 60 hours for the drug to kill a snake. "There are very few snakes that will consume something that they haven't killed themselves," added Dan Vice, assistant state director of USDA Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Islands. But brown tree snakes will scavenge as well as hunt, he said, and that's the "chink in the brown tree snake's armor." Snakes Pests Decimated "Naïve" Wildlife The brown tree snake is an arboreal species native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and several Pacific islands. The snake preys on birds, lizards, bats, and small mammals. Inadvertently introduced to Guam from the Solomon Islands after World War II, brown tree snakes are responsible for the extinction or severe reduction of several of the island's native species. The brown tree snake "is a nocturnal, arboreal predator. There's just nothing like it here. It arrived here and found an island full of very naïve native wildlife," Vice said. Over the years, scientists have developed several strategies to fight the reptile pest, including traps, snake-detecting dogs, and nighttime spotlight searches along airport and seaport fence lines. Most of these strategies have focused on keeping the snake species from leaving Guam and sneaking onto ships headed for other islands, such as Hawaii, where scientists fear the predators could wreak similar havoc. By contrast, this latest approach aims to take the fight into Guam's jungles, where most of the invasive snakes reside. A popular misconception about Guam, Vice said, is that the entire island is overrun by brown tree snakes. In reality, most of the snakes are concentrated in the island's jungles, where it is difficult for humans to reach. "You don't walk out the front door and bump into a snake every morning," Vice said. Before the laced mice are airdropped, they are attached to "flotation devices" that each consist of two pieces of cardboard joined by a 4-foot-long (1.2-meter-long) paper streamer. The flotation device was designed to get the bait stuck in upper tree branches, where the brown tree snakes reside, instead of falling to the jungle floor, where the drug-laden mice might inadvertently get eaten by nontarget species, such as monitor lizards. There are few other species on Guam that could be tempted by the mouse bait, USDA's Savarie said, because the brown tree snakes have eaten most of them. On September 1 USDA researchers performed a small-scale airdrop of about 200 baited mice onto 20 acres (8 hectares) of jungle around the U.S. Naval Base in Guam. USDA personnel flying low over Guam's jungles in helicopters dropped the baited devices one at a time, to ensure even coverage. The drop was only the second in the project's history, and was done to help refine the technique before a larger field test is conducted in late 2010 or early 2011. A small subset of mice in the latest drop was equipped with radio transmitters, which the team will use to determine the baits' efficiency. "If we go out tomorrow and the radio signal from the bait has moved, it's very likely that [it was eaten by] a snake," Savarie said. Wildlife Services collects the bodies of only the snakes that eat the mice that have radiocollars. "We would not find other snakes that would eat the bait," said Kathy Fagerstone, Technology Transfer Program Manager for USDA Wildlife Services. "However, the amount of acetaminophen in each mouse is small and would not present environmental hazards." The baited mice could prove to be an effective tool against Guam's brown tree snakes, especially medium- and large-size adults, said Haldre Rogers, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who researches the effects of bird loss on Guam's native forests. "The development of more tools like this is very important for restoring Guam's forests in the long run," said Rogers, who was not involved in the USDA project. But all the tools currently at scientists' disposal, including the drug-filled mice, will at best simply control the island's snake population, not eradicate it entirely, she said. "It's another arrow in our quiver," she said. "Unfortunately, we don't have the silver bullet for brown tree snakes yet." USDA's Vice agreed: "There are a lot of things out there to control brown tree snakes. They all work, but they don't work completely," he said. "The idea of this aerial delivery of oral toxicants is that we now have a control tool that we can apply across a larger landscape." Longer term, USDA researchers hope to create a nonbiological substitute for dead mice in the bait, something that the snakes will eat but that won't rot or attract flies, ants, and maggots in the jungle. ********** JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case Heating Up Again  Burke Ramsey, now 23, graduated from Purdue University in Indiana last year and lives in Atlanta, according to his Facebook page. Boulder, Colo., police refuse to confirm a report that they want to question the brother of JonBenet Ramsey, shown here at a pageant in July 1996, regarding her death. He was exonerated by DNA testing after JonBenet was strangled in the Ramsey family home in Boulder, Colo., but authorities are reportedly hoping that he may remember additional details. Lawrence Schiller, author of a book about the Ramsey case titled "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town," told CBS's "The Early Show" on Tuesday that his sources had told him police were hoping to question the young man. "They said the police had sent on their business cards and asked Burke, if his time permitted, if he could get in touch with them," Schiller said. Boulder police refused today to confirm the report. "We are not going to publicly reveal details about the investigation unless doing so would further the needs of the investigation," Police Chief Mark Beckner said in a statement. After a seven-year hiatus, Boulder police became involved in the case again last year, creating a task force to review details and make recommendations. Beckner said at that time that advances in DNA testing and linguistics technology might help solve the case. He said agencies participating in the task force were the FBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado attorney general's office, the Denver district attorney's office, and the Boulder County and Jefferson County sheriff's departments. FBI spokesman Dave Joly told AOL News today that he had not heard of any developments in the case. Ramsey could not be reached for comment. His phone number is unlisted. Last year, Beckner said authorities had investigated 140 people as potential suspects. He said in his statement today that based on recommendations from the task force, there has been additional contact with those who may have information pertaining to the case. Authorities refused to elaborate. JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her family's house on Dec. 26, 1996. A ransom note seeking $118,000 was also found in the 7,000-square-foot home. Boulder, an affluent community 35 miles northwest of Denver, was shaken by the crime, the only murder in 1996. Initially, prosecutors said JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy, were under "an umbrella of suspicion." A grand jury refused to indict them, but they weren't officially cleared until 2008. Patsy Ramsey died in June 2006 of ovarian cancer. Less than two months later, John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old teacher in Thailand obsessed with JonBenet's killing, was arrested after making bizarre, detailed confessions in her death. He was brought back to the United States, but he was released after authorities said his DNA did not match evidence in the case. No one has ever been tried for the crime. John Ramsey, who now lives in Michigan, ran unsuccessfully for the Michigan House of Representatives in 2004. ********** Sarah Palin Obtains Order Against 'Evil' Stalker Sarah Palin has obtained a protective order against an 18-year-old Pennsylvania man who began stalking the former Alaska Governor last year, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman in Wasilla, Alaska reported Wednesday. A 20-day protective order was issued in Anchorage District Court against Shawn R. Christy who Palin, 46, said sent her receipts from a gun purchase, along with a letter which read "he tried to follow the Bible but had evil and wickedness in him." Palin's friend Kristan Cole, 48, also received a protective order against Christy for stalking her and her family. Christy is prohibited from following, approaching, confronting, watching or otherwise staking or threatening to stalk or assault Palin or Cole and their families. Christy claimed he had a sexual relationship with Palin but the former Republican vice-presidential candidate has disputed the allegation. Attorney Thomas Van Flein provided evidence from the Secret Service that alleged Christy wanted to sexually assault Palin. Cole and Palin requested a long-term order which will be heard in court on October 13 at Anchorage District Court. NOTE: Nut vs. Nuttier Fortean / Oddball News: Bizarre Surgeon Records, Exoplanet Discovered and JonBenet Ramsey  | ||
| Residents Petition To Save Haunted Texas Hospital Posted: 30 Sep 2010 08:48 AM PDT  "It is our job to preserve the history of this historic building so that future generations can enjoy it the way we do now," said the 24-year-old native of nearby Weesatche who works in Victoria. Because of the significance of the building to his family, and his interest in the reported paranormal activity there, Eernisse has started a Save The Yorktown Hospital movement, including a page on Facebook. He started the page at about midnight Saturday night and as of Wednesday afternoon had more than 250 people who "liked" the page. "In my honest opinion, the building is in great condition for its age and also sitting vacant for more than 20 years without a caretaker," Eernisse said. "(They) have done a great job restoring this old building and decorating it to be a more safe and inviting place for the people that visit there." CODE VIOLATIONS The hospital, built in 1950 by Felician Sisters of the Roman Catholic Church, remained open until the late 1980s. The last couple of years the current owner, Phil Ross of San Antonio, has allowed public tours as well as ghost hunting excursions in the facility. He also uses the building for storage. The city of Yorktown recently cited the hospital for building code violations and the tours discontinued. The code violations that prevent its occupancy include roof and plumbing issues. The city also classified the building as being used for entertainment business and the code requires a public address system in such a facility. Ross has estimated it would cost $100,000 to bring the facility up to code. CURRENT OCCUPANTS? Eernisse is a member of Victoria Investigative Paranormal Research, and the Yorktown Hospital is reportedly a hotbed of paranormal activity. VIPR had an investigation at the hospital planned the day after the city posted notice on the hospital's doors that it was in violation of city codes. "I have only been one time and the last time I was there I really didn't catch any really good evidence - only a few strange noises," Eernisse said. "That's why I was so upset that they shut the hospital down the day before our investigation. I was going to try some new equipment and techniques." Angelka Rogers, an investigator for Scientific Paranormal Investigative Research Institute of Texas, works as a tour guide at the Black Swan Inn in San Antonio. Ghost hunting and paranormal tours have been conducted at the inn for more than 15 years, and Rogers believes the Yorktown Hospital has the same potential. She assisted with the cleanup of the Yorktown Hospital "one shovel load at a time" to get it ready for tours. She said the city is missing a great opportunity if the ghost hunting excursions are discontinued permanently. "I tried to convey the importance of the research being done in the hospital that has gained national and international attention," Rogers said. "I also pointed out that the location was being looked at for television shows on two major networks, as well as a film location, which would put Yorktown on the map and bring in much-needed revenue to the small town." MAKING THEIR PLEA Ross, local caretaker Mike Henson, and Rogers addressed the Yorktown City Council Monday night. Eernisse and film maker Michael Felts were also in attendance, but did not speak. "Yorktown Memorial Hospital is no longer a functioning hospital. It is not a special entertainment building. It has no present commercial use," Eernisse said. "The hospital property is private property that I own and use for storage of my personal property and for my own personal enjoyment." He said it is unreasonable to regulate the property as a commercial special entertainment building, since he does not use the property for any commercial purpose. Ross told council members that he has allowed people to conduct paranormal investigations of the old hospital building for the past two years without incident or complaints." Henson, who doubles as tour guide, collected $10 per person for tours, income that he used personally. "The City of Yorktown has no liability for protecting my guests or invitees, who may desire to visit my private property," said Ross. Marcus Puente, Yorktown city administrator, said about a dozen people came to discuss the topic including three Yorktown residents who supported the city's decision to cite the hospital, though they did not speak during the discussion. WHAT'S NEXT? "Mr. Ross is not disputing the fact there are code violations," said Puente. "To me it doesn't matter if you charge people or not, it's still the same thing. You're letting people in the building." Ross has requested permission from the city to allow a couple of different groups access to the facility, including Felts' film crew. Puente has forwarded the request to the city attorney. "There are no plans to do anything else with the hospital," Puente said. "As far as I am concerned, it's off the table." Click for video GSPI traveled to Yorktown Memorial Hospital to validate claims of haunted paranormal activity by other investigating paranormal teams and the staff of the hospital. There have been many claims of apparitions and moving shadows/black masses seen, people attacked, people feeling very strange things, people hearing voices and screams from women and children, strange, noises, and other paranormal activity. Our paranormal team conducted a very controlled all night paranormal investigation within the hospital and encountered very strange paranormal activity. Our team had objects thrown at us, captured many EVP's, established contact and communication with an entity within the hospital, and had many paranormal activity events happen to us that night. **********  THE YORKTOWN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL There are many haunted places in Texas that draw the interest of paranormal investigators and those that have an interest in the possibility that life goes on after death. The Yorktown Memorial Hospital, which is located approximately seventy five miles southeast of the popular town San Antonio, are one of those quiet locations that not too many people hear too much about. However, the residents of Yorktown, Texas and those that have been in and around this particular structure are starting to speak of the unexplained phenomenon and events that seem to be paranormal based. As with any old building, there are often many stories surrounding buildings that have stood in isolation for lengthy amounts of time. The same holds true for several haunted places in Texas. However, according to the caretaker that is directly responsible for overseeing the basic care and maintenance of the Yorktown Memorial Hospital, there are many unexplained occurrences that have taken place and continue to take place that indicate that spirits must roam the corridors and various rooms of the building. This hospital once stood as a rehabilitation center for individuals that abused various types of drugs and alcohol. It is known that the hospital was constructed in the year of 1950 and it closed in the 1980s. It consists of thirty thousand square feet of space. This space includes a chapel, a main floor, a basement, and living space on the second floor. The caretaker that has reported on the apparent hauntings of this hospital is named Mike Hanson. He quoted to reporters at one point, "I know for a fact there is a lot of ghosts here". When explaining the experiences that he has had in the structure, he mentioned the fact that he had seen a large number of black objects. When describing the size of these objects he compared them to an adult German shepherd. He also expressed the fact that he observed a full body apparition that was a male standing in front of the section of the hospital known as the chapel. In addition to observing these things, one of the most frightening recollections that he has is personally observing red, glowing eyes on more than one occasion. As the caretaker continued to speak of his experiences in the Yorktown Memorial he described the events that occur near the nurse's station. If the lights are on in this area, everything seems to be calm and he seems to be alone. However, if he turns the lights off, he has observed many individuals walking around. There are many that appear to be normal and could possibly be described as guests. However, there are many that look as if they are patients that belong in a hospital. Additionally, a staircase is kept closed off in the front of the building by a door with a pane of glass. Each evening, it is said that it sounds as if there is a tapping or rapping on this glass pane. Founded by the religious group known as the "Felician Sisters" that were part of the Roman Catholic Church, the Yorktown Memorial Hospital originally served as a rehabilitation center for those suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. The center eventually closed and the structure sat abandoned for nearly two decades. - Haunted Places To Go and GSPI Send us an email   New Items - Strickler's Celebrity Autographs  ANOMALIST BOOKS 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!  Spirit Rescue International Providing no cost professional spiritual help, personal support and guidance Take the first step towards genuine peace of mind SPIRIT RESCUE INTERNATIONAL - HAUNTED HELP Spiritual, paranormal and supernatural guidance and support using remote viewing and other complementary therapies - all are welcome Phantoms & Monsters Wiki A NETWORK OF INVESTIGATORS, ENTHUSIASTS AND THOSE SEEKING THE TRUTH THROUGH PARANORMAL EDUCATION AND DISCUSSION   |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Phantoms and Monsters To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment