Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- On the Other Side: A True Story
- Fortean / Oddball News: Unicorn Sighting, Indian Witchcraft and Creature Night Attacks
- The Bomah Business is Booming
| On the Other Side: A True Story Posted: 11 Oct 2010 01:51 PM PDT  It was November 23rd, 1993, the day before Thanksgiving. I was spending the night at my best friend Lexy's. I was enjoying the simple luxury of being allowed this time with her, because until a few months before, I had lived with my mother and had grown up in a Steven King novel of physical and physiological torture. But now I was living with my grandmother who, while seeming to resent having me in her house, was completely dismissive of who and where I spent my time allowing me freedom for the first time in my life. Lexy and I were laughing over something silly when her older sister Ann walked in with the cordless phone. She was simpering over the person she was talking to. "Oh that's so amazing" she squealed, "I can't believe you could see that!" This went on for some time until she handed the phone to Lexy. After a few seconds, to my great irritation, Lexy was making the same gushing sounds. Lexy handed me the phone, "You have to try this! He's physic, he'll tell you things that'll blow you away!" "Yea, no thanks" I pushed the phone back at her. I wasn't going to let some fraud turn me into a giddy idiot. "Come on" she begged, with her sister chiming in. Finally grumbling, I took the phone and said through clenched teeth "Go ahead, tell me all about myself!" I was going to carve him up like a turkey and pass back the phone. There was a pause, and a bemused young man said "I don't know, I know you're scary!' Very satisfied with his answer I handed back the phone. It really set me on edge that anyone who had psychic abilities could treat them so casually. I had a degree of them myself, and had ruthlessly turned them as off as much I could. I couldn't fathom being at ease. It was a war I had been fighting with myself for a great deal of my life. My mother had almost convinced me anything along those lines was the work of the devil, as she herself had been indoctrinated. I wavered between the fear of the things I could see and complete denial. The phone made it's way back to Ann while Lexy laughed at how rude I had been." Eric's a really nice guy" she was saying, "you'd like him if you gave him a chance." I shrugged it off. "Not into his little parlor tricks." Much to my surprise, Ann kept trying to pass back the phone. "He wants to talk to you" she persisted. Finally I took it and made nice for a few minutes rather then be rude to Lexy and her sister. I was relieved when Ann took it back as soon as she could and left. "Apparently he likes you" Lexy teased. "He's nice, you were right, but I think he just gets a kick out of me. I was the only one who wasn't blown away by him." Privately I was wondering how Eric would have felt if I had turned the tables on him and started digging around in HIS head. Surface reads are the easiest things to do. But, since he had respected my space and didn't try to dig, I would extend the same courtesy. I was kind of surprised and amused with myself, that over the next half hour my mind kept drifting back to him. Ann returned with the phone, "he wants to talk to you" she said flatly, handing it to me. She turned on her heel and walked back upstairs to her room. I looked at the phone, and Lexy "She into him? I don't want to step on any toes." Lexy shook her head, "I don't think so, I think she's into his friend Kenny." "Oh, well do you mind if I talk to him for a little bit? I don't want to be rude to you." She waved it off, "don't worry, enjoy yourself." she grinned, "I'll be here all night." So I took the phone, and to my utter amazement 5 hours passed in the blink of an eye. After a couple of hours Lexy had gone to bed, and I spent the night getting to know one of the most vital and electric people I would ever meet. I feel I should stop here and explain a little bit about Eric. His energy is intense, he's like chaos. When he decides he wants something, it's happened before you even knew it was on the table. Suffice it to say I was his girlfriend by the end of the night and a month later we were engaged. At 16 I can only say I was dazzled by his attention and fell for him very quickly. With his encouragement I soon started seeing my abilities in a different light. Within weeks I could describe events that took place in area's we would drive or walk through, see spirits, hazy images of the future, people's true natures with hidden thoughts and images and found my true gift of seeing into the past. Often key events that took place in someones life that molded them into who they are. Eric's strength was looking into the future, channeling, seeing the same aspects of peoples hidden selves as I (hence his little session that night with Lexy and Ann) and receiving visions. It was a whole new world for me, once the door was cracked, it banged open. With my new sight I became more afraid of my grandmother's house which was almost 200 years old and had mirrors from the civil war era that would show me frightening almost fun house versions of myself when they weren't hazy with orbs. There was a clock from the same period that would chime at weird times or start and stop when I came home. There was also shadow people who would follow me from room to room. Many was the time I would call Eric scared to death, demanding he tell me how to turn it off. "There's no going back" he would tell me, "you can't walk through life with your eyes closed." He had confidence I would get my bearings eventually and learn how to deal with it. In the meantime, Eric's best friend Kenny and Ann who I had grown much closer to due to Kenny's obsession with her, had formed a tightly knit group. That's when things really started to happen. Ann would see shadow people walking through the walls of her house, moving up the stairs and gathering at the chandelier in the dining room. She would also feel people touching her and sometimes calling her name. Kenny would see the same shadowy people, and feel the air around him move as though there was a strong breeze in a tightly closed room. Crosses would appear in the wooden grains of his bedroom door. Things would be moved around his house, his cats would hiss and snarl at things unseen, and he had horrible nightmares of seeing his face in a mirror with blood running down the glass. For all of us, electric clocks and lights and appliances would short out or have surges. To this day I have problems with electricity. I blow out watches, lights, streetlights, etc. Lexy and I drifted during this point, I was so busy with Eric and this unworldly experience that Ann and Kenny were also going through with us, that I turned more towards them. I was also struggling to go through the process of becoming fully emancipated as I coped with my mother's increasing viciousness, so I didn't have much to give Lexy at that point. As far as my mother was concerned, Eric noticed as I suffered through her visits and phone call rants, that she paralleled the activity going on around us. When the supernatural activity was really strong, she would get even more ugly, even threatening my life. When things were calmer, she was also. One day during the thick of it I was sitting on the steps leading down to the basement where I watched Eric pacing. He was showing me where this all started for him. "I was in high school, and my one friend Becky asked me to talk to her friend Heather. She was scared for her. Heather had recently lost her aunt Susan, who had been like a mother to her. She had started dabbling with some pretty dark shit. She had been messing with an Ouija board trying to talk to her aunt and she got in over her head. She started talking to this spirit named David, he seemed OK, he was a little boy who had drowned. He was nice enough to her, but soon another entity started coming through. He used to terrorize her." "Why did Becky ask you to help?" "Because everyone knew I was very religious." "Doesn't being very religious, studying the Bible, and having an open mind to things like the occult, contradict each other?" To me it was all confusing. I had had it drilled into me that God was little different then this evil tyrant who sat brooding up in the clouds, eagerly watching his creations for the tiniest infraction so he could gleefully cast them into a fiery hell. "You can't study the Bible and not figure out there's so much more out there then we can even begin to figure out. There's no way to scratch the surface in one lifetime. That's why I don't rule out anything. These things are real, to ignore them because you cherry pick which passages to study would be ignorant and blind." "Maybe even in our case, dangerous" I observed. He nodded, "So she would sit here, and we would be talking, and she would go into this trance and this being would come through. He would talk about things, in riddles sometimes. He would give predictions, like their being one world currency, politics, things that would happen in my life. He even told me that someday I would meet the Parish." I looked at him stunned, "do you think he meant me?" my last name was Parrish. He again nodded, "Oh yea, he said, you think you're something? Just wait until you meet the Parish! I had thought he meant a church, but now I know better." I sat there in stunned silence for awhile, with this eerie feeling that I had been watched my entire life by something evil. "There was many things in riddles, things I've never figured out. Couldn't even remember them all now, he just enjoyed playing games with us. As time went on he got more cryptic and taunting. He told us through Heather that in life his name had been Henry Bisby Kane. That he had been a preacher in the 1800's in Arizona. He had taken his congregation out to a cave and sealed them in by making everyone believe it was the end of the world. He never let them go. Even now he preys on lost souls and draws them in. He's full of rage, very cunning and extremely dangerous. Heather had made a deal with him to let her see her aunt one last time. She was down here-" Suddenly I could feel my blood run cold. "Shannon? Shannon what is it?" I heard him from a great distance. I was almost in a faint. I saw a figure walk from the wall a few feet away from Eric had been standing. It was slender, in a stained white dress, brittle hair and the flesh melting from the bones. As I looked on in horror, it ascended the steps in an odd jerky gait and passed through me to disappear through the door at my back. The feeling of it moving through me was like nothing I can even begin to explain. The horror of it, the understanding that death itself had just scraped through me, I couldn't breath. I was shaking so hard I felt my teeth rattling and gasping. My heart raced so hard I though I might just die on the spot. I couldn't even speak. Eric was frantic. Finally I managed to draw in a full breath and burst into tears. "He showed her" I sobbed, "He showed her what her aunt looked like, NOW, DEAD, A CORPSE!!! The f**king thing walked right up these stairs, right through me!" The next hour is a haze in my memory, I know it took him a long time to calm me down, and for me to stop shuddering. When I was able to hear the rest of it, he explained to me that I had just described what she had seen, right down to the dress. "Are we safe from this? Every day now Ann or Kenny are freaking out about something they've seen, we're seeing things all the time, can this hurt us? And what happened to Heather?" "She's OK now" he said reassuringly. "The last time she channeled him I went toe to toe with him, begged God to save her, quoted scripture and banished him from her in Jesus' name. I'm not trying to say we did an exorcism, but we made it uncomfortable enough he seemed to have moved on. She straightened out after that, grades went back up, she stopped wearing all black, stopped having nightmares and channeling. The really interesting thing is she doesn't remember much of it all. She remembers hanging out down here, but not the channeling or seeing her poor aunt, or the nightmares or anything. No idea of why unless it's her way of subconsciously protecting herself by blocking it out." "Have you tried to talk to her about it since" I wondered out loud. "She just shuts down, she wants nothing to do with it, it's like talking to a wall." "Defense mechanism" I agreed. "Yea, most likely." Later that night after I fielded a frantic call from Ann who thought something tried to grab her arm when she was walking down the stairs of her parents house, I was walking down the hall by Eric's room. I thought I heard something drop. Forcing myself to be brave, I walked into the dark room, and as I was reaching for the light I saw a hand come towards me. All bravado fled and I screamed the house down until Eric came running in. "This has got to stop" I said grimly, "We need to do something, we can't just sit around waiting for it to screw with us!" "I could try to channel" he offered quietly. He had on a few occasions channeled this one spirit, who was kind and very dear to me. It had explained to me it had been with Eric always and was one of his guardians. "How do you know that if you trance out, Kane won't come in?" "We don't" he replied uneasily. I looked at his broad shoulders and took careful note of the way he out massed me by over 50 pounds and towered over me by almost a foot, and asked him what would happen then. "Would he kill me? Go after your parents? Burn this place down?" He shook his head, "he can only use my voice, my body is protected. He would never be able to cross that threshold." "How do you know?' "Heather would have tried to kill me wouldn't she?" "Alright" I firmed up my failing courage and managed to sound much calmer then I felt, "let's just do this, either way, I need some answers." We closed and locked his bedroom door after leaving word with his mom we were going to be watching a movie. I turned the ringer off his phone and pager, and perched on the side of his bed. I held his hand and watched for any sign of fluttering of his eyelashes. He always closed his eyes when he went into a trance, and the only thing that changed was his eyes would slowly open when he had made the connection. He squeezed my hand reassuringly and I sensed him leave. I can't explain it more then that, I just felt him leave. I gently laid his hand back down by his side and waited for his eyes to open. It took much longer then usual. First I noticed the side of his mouth draw up in a smirk. His cheek twitched. The head turned ever so slightly towards me, then his eyes slowly opened. I watched them slowly sweep the room before they settled on me. They were no longer green, they were muddy and dark. They're not his eyes I thought frantically. Even when he had channeled his dear guardian, his eyes had only become slightly more clear and emerald, these were not the same eyes. "You" he whispered. The smirk remained. I knew precisely who I was dealing with. "So we finally meet" I said calmly. "I had wondered if you would come." The smirk grew. "You called me." "How did we do that?" "You keep visiting me." I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for him to tell me what he had come for. Eric's body twitched, his hand spasmed. I laid my hand soothingly on his. The being didn't even notice. "Yes" he said after a moment. "You're wondering who I am. I am the keeper of souls." ""So what do you want with Eric and I? Our souls don't belong to you." "They will" he sighed. "Never" I assured him. "You don't love him" he turned Eric's brilliant gaze on me. "You never did, and he knows it." "I wouldn't expect you to understand love." "I know all about you" he continued raspily. "I know everything your mother did to you, I was there when she broke the chair over you." I gasped, I had never even told Eric about that. He knew I had been physically abused, but he didn't know how bad it was. "She has split personalities, are you trying to tell me you were one of them?" "So weak" he smirked. "You're calling me weak now?" "No, her. But you were always meant of be one of mine." The eyes drifted closed and Eric's hand started spasming again, and a moment later he moaned and started thrashing. "Eric? Baby! Wake up, come back! Eric, honey please!" I pulled him up in my arms and rocked him. He dropped his head on my shoulder, "It was him." "Oh yea, got to say I'm not fond of all of your friends." He raised his head and smiled tiredly. I was happy to see his eyes were once again a dark green. "What does he want?" "I think he really wants us both." "What else did he say?" I repeated it, right down to him affecting my mother. "That would make sense" he nodded, "if she has a fractured personality, and her depression keeps her down, she's very easy prey for something like him." "But why would he bother with me? Did he know I was going to grow up and be with you someday?" "I think he targets anyone like us, who are strong and spiritual, maybe having strong physic abilities make us more vulnerable, because we're linked to the other world and more open to them. I think he must target us young because it might be easier to break us then." It wasn't long after Eric went to bed, channeling sessions always exhausted him. Since I had been staying with his family for the past few months, I went into his mom's room and watched TV with her until she turned in for the night. I however lay awake all night trying not to jump at every shadow that danced on the walls or every little sound. After that things became worse for the four of us, Ann was convinced things were after her whenever she was in the house, Kenny was seeing things and my mother was making my life a living hell. Even going so far as to taunt Eric that if she ever managed to get me back in her house, I would never make it out. To say it escalated is somewhat of an understatement. I was exhausted, as was Eric. Dreading what I knew had to be done, I held off as long as I could. Finally after a few more weeks, we decided to try to channel one last time. I was going to try to find out how to get rid of Kane in our lives once and for all. I was nervous, I didn't know the scripture like Eric, I had no idea of what I could actually do, but I knew my own strength. I wish I could relate the conversation that took place between Kane and I when Eric reluctantly managed to push himself under, but to be perfectly honest, much of it is gone from my memory. I remember him telling me he has always been there, and wasn't the only one. We were of special interest to him, because of our strength and ability's, and I remember passionately arguing, but I couldn't tell you about what. I have a sense at one time he started challenging me and revealing things I wasn't allowed to keep the knowledge of, but they're far gone. I think this session took place for almost an hour. It went on and on until finally those squinting muddy brown eyes rolled up and Eric seemed to pass out. I was so exhausted, feeling as though all of my energy, even some of my life force had been drained away, I just stretched out and put my head on his shoulder. I knew sooner or later Eric would swim back up. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I woke with a start to see Eric's brilliant green eyes. "Hey you, I think we did it." He passed a hand tiredly over his face and sat up. I got up and began to slowly pace. I couldn't stay still. "He left, I think he he might be banished or at least gone for good. I don't feel him anymore." I know we talked at length about what had been said between Kane and I, but as I said before, I don't remember too much of it. I can say things did calm down, Ann stopped seeing things, as did Kenny. Eric and I hadn't told them about his channeling, so they didn't know we believed the source of this nightmare was gone. The fact that they stopped experiencing things as soon as this took place, was proof enough for Eric and I. Now at this point I would like to wind this all up with a quick happily ever after spin, but in fact Eric and I didn't stay together much longer. We started fighting too much, and he became obsessively controlling and I became defiant and withdrew completely. At 16 and 19 I don't think we had the life skills to balance two A type personalities. But the interesting thing about the aftermath of this all, (and I'm the only one of the group who believes this) is what happened to each of us. Eric's control issues went to an even darker place, and he started having issues with drinking. Ann who had been this "good Girl" became very loose, and most of her friends lost all respect for her. Kenny who was the most social person I had ever known, who lived for his friends, became dark and bitter and pushed most of us out of his life. I didn't go back to my mother's, but was able to get my own place and go out on my own. I spent the next 5 years in an abusive relationship, where as a stripper, the drinking and drugs almost finished me off. It really seems like we each became the manifestation of our dark side. The impulses that we might have been able to balance and resist before, destroyed everything in each of our lives that had meant the most to us. I find this to be an eerie coincidence. I'm happy to report Eric and I found our way back to being friends, each married and doing much better. Our lives have returned to being back under control, Kenny has recently followed suit. Ann is still caught up in it from all accounts. Still playing fast and loose. It's also interesting to me that the two stronger ones (Eric and I) pulled back from this first. I think when you open the door to this kind of thing, the consequences can last a lifetime. Another modern example that quickly springs to mind is Mel Gibson, and the downward spiral his life took after he made "The Passion." Now if you're thinking this all sounds just like the Poltergeist film series, you couldn't be more accurate. It really seems like the writers of the films had first hand experience with this entity. Almost everything about the Kane we came to know from personal experience is relayed in this series. In the opinions of Eric and I, it's completely based on the real entity and his story. You can find references to Kane the stealer of souls in popular fiction, such as Nora Robert's Key Trilogy series. You can find little towns in Arizona named Bisbey, or places where there's references to that fateful expedition. I believe we're not the only ones who have had experiences with him. Frankly, it never feels over, when Eric, Kenny and I get together weird things start happening. It feels like a live wire that still hums with power. So, anyway, that's my weird story. Not a ghost story exactly, but every bit of it is the truth, and had a huge impact on the lives of 4 kids who opened Pandora's Box. Many thanks to Shannon! On the Other Side: A True Story  |
| Fortean / Oddball News: Unicorn Sighting, Indian Witchcraft and Creature Night Attacks Posted: 11 Oct 2010 12:41 PM PDT Canadian Man Claims to Have Captured Unicorn on Video  smr.newswire - Amateur video depicting what could be one of the most elusive legendary creatures, the unicorn, has been captured on film by a Toronto resident. The video in question, shot by a local birdwatcher, Peter Hickey-Jones, shows what appears to be a white horse with a single horn on its head emerging from the trees in the Don Valley wetland. Hickey-Jones brought the footage to the Ontario Science Centre to be analyzed by experts. The Science Centre is reviewing the footage frame-by-frame to determine whether Hickey-Jones' claim is legitimate. With closer examination, Science Centre staff is hoping to establish whether or not a genuine unicorn sighting has occurred. In the meantime, the Science Centre is asking the public to use caution if they think they see a unicorn. Do not make any sudden movements or attempt to use flash photography. Although legends of unicorns state that they are peaceful creatures, scientists worry that they may harm themselves or others if they end up on a road or highway. The Ontario Science Centre has set up an emergency unicorn hotline for the public for further information on unicorns or to report any unusual or questionable sightings. Unicorn Facts * Unicorns tend to avoid eye contact with humans and prefer to remain unseen * Unicorns are known in European cultures as being fiercely beautiful creatures whose horns have curative properties * The Asian unicorn, described as being scaly coated with the body of a deer and a flesh covered horn, was last seen by the Chinese philosopher Confucius * The 1620 edition of Historiae Animalium, a book describing all the animals living on Earth, included a description of unicorns Quotes "I was trying to film a pileated woodpecker when I saw what looked like a bright white horse in the distance. When I got a little closer, I noticed the horn on its head. I'm not one to jump to conclusions but I'm certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that what I saw was a unicorn. I'm just glad I got it on film." Hickey-Jones, eyewitness ********** Being Called a Witch in India is Not a Good Thing telegraphindia - For Prabhat Ray, a grade-IV employee of the agriculture department in Kokrajhar, it is a nightmare he will never forget. Ray and his family members were forced to flee their village in Balagaon Bashpara, 7km from BTC headquarters town of Kokrajhar, after he was branded a daina (wizard) by other villagers, under the patronage of some village youths. Three women, including Prabhat's wife, Batasi Bala, were assaulted, their hair chopped off and house vandalised. The entire family, including Prabhat, his wife, their four sons, his sister, his brother and sister-in-law and their two children, are now on the run. A case has been registered and the police today arrested one person in this connection. According to the victims, some youths in the village accused Prabhat of practising black magic, releasing "spirits" in the form of two women and making them throw stones at villagers' houses. The villagers held a meeting last Friday and ratified the allegations made by the youths. Prabhat was in his office and came to know about the allegations when he went home later that evening. "I was in the office that day and came to know about the incident when I reached home in the evening. How can I be a daina?" he asked, still at a loss in trying to pin a reason behind such absurd allegations. The villagers again called a meeting on Sunday and asked Prabhat to attend it. Sensing something was wrong, his family and well-wishers advised him to stay away from the meeting and leave the village. Not finding Prabhat in the meeting, the youths beat up his family members. They also forced his wife to sign on a blank sheet of paper. The All Koch Rajbongsi Students Union remained silent on the matter. The All India Democratic Women's Association, however, is helping the family. ********** Nashville Teacher Freaks Out In Classroom newschannel5 - A teacher was removed from McGavock High School after a bizarre incident in a classroom that forced the principal to call parents and explain what happened. The incident happened in Donald Wood's 11th grade algebra class Friday. Video shot by a student in class showed Wood throwing two tables, a garbage can and a chair. The video starts with Wood telling a group of laughing students to "shut up." Watch the video posted on YouTube. (Warning: some graphic language) After standing quietly for about 20 seconds while students laughed, Wood waved his arms and said, "If you can be absolutely quiet… if you can shut your mouth… you can shut your mouth and you can listen in absolute silence… do you know why? Cause I have the absolute…" "Power!" shouted one of the students. "I've got it, and I know it," said Wood. "And guess who else knows it?" Wood shouted something else that could not be understood before knocking a table to the ground. He then walked to the other side of the classroom and knocked over another table. He shouted, "Do you know who started the fire? Do you know who started the fire in this school?" A student said something inaudible, and Wood continued, "No… me!" Wood picked up a metal trash can and slammed it to the ground. Students then began to leave the classroom. Witnesses said Wood then picked up a chair and threw it at the window - breaking the glass. "He picked a chair and threw it on the ground – not at a student, but towards a student, but it was close – and that's when I got up and started walking away," said junior Joshua Jenkins. "Once everybody started running out he picked up a chair and threw it out the window and it shattered." Several students could be heard laughing at the beginning of the 2 minute video, but then they realized it was escalating into a serious situation. The disturbance was so loud students in nearby classrooms could hear the commotion. When the school resource officers got to the room, they handcuffed Wood and removed him from the school. Witnesses said Wood shouted profanities and resource officers and students in the hall as he was escorted out. School officials said Wood suffered from an apparent nervous breakdown. "[He was] very agitated, very scattered and he didn't make any sense," said Principal Robbin Wall. Officials said Wood was removed from the school on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Wall said he had never experienced anything like it in his 32 years in education. "A chair had been thrown through the window, broke the glass and everything – and being honest, we are very fortunate that none of our students were injured or hurt," said Wall. Wall sent out an automated message to parents to inform that about the bizarre situation that unfolded at the school. Part of the phone call said, "We had an incident in the school this morning, a teacher had a nervous breakdown in class." Some parents took their students out of class for the day. Shannon Jenkins said her son was too shook up to go back to school. "The reason I wanted to pick him up one just being anxious he is not going to learn anything else for the rest of the day," she said. Joshua Jenkins said it would be tough to return to his algebra class on Monday. "I expect to learn and get my education, [but] it was scary. It was definitely scary," he said. Metro Schools officials said Wood was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation. Wood has taught in Nashville schools for 17 years. Click for video *********** Creatures Continue Nocturnal Attacks in Namibia allafrica - Stories of unidentified creatures that attack animals at night continue to do the rounds in the north. On the early morning hours of last Friday, a puppy that belonged to Lukas Fotolela, a resident of Ongwediva, died after it was savagely mauled by an unknown creature. The creature allegedly entered the house through a small gate that was not properly closed. "I was sleeping with an open window, when I saw a big white animal, with a black or brownish head forcing its way underneath the corrugated iron sheets where the puppies were sleeping. I tried to scare it away by hitting on the window but instead, it jumped towards me, wanting to attack me, but I quickly closed the door," explained Monica Simon. According to Simon, the creature looked like a dog, but was bigger than a dog. She explained that the animal exuded a strong bad odour. "After I closed the window, the creature went back to the puppies and killed my favourite puppy. I heard it making sounds as if it was chewing something. I thought it was eating up the puppy but when we woke up, the dead dog only had a bit of blood coming from its mouth. I guess it sucked its blood," said Simon. The owner of the house, Lukas Fotolela, who worked until late that night came home to find his dog dead. "When I came home, the incident had just happened. The small gate was open and the dog was already dead. The other puppy survived as it hid on the far corner of the corrugated iron sheets," said Fotolela. Fotolela said he searched his yard but could not find the animal or its footprints. For years now stories of unknown creatures that kill animals in the north, especially Oshana Region have been reported. Livestock especially goats and chickens have reportedly fallen prey to these creatures. Accusing fingers are pointed at individuals who are accused of being the owners of these animals in what is believed to be witchcraft cases. They only suck their victims' blood and eat the foetus from expecting goats. Early this year, two dogs were killed by police officials and environment and tourism officers at Ehafo Village after the community there informed the officials that these dogs were responsible of the deaths of their animals. The two dogs that belonged to an Oshakati businessman were killed after "mistaken" identity. **********   Artist uses kids to re-enact World Trade Centre attacks, Abu Ghraib torture, murder of Jon-Benet Ramsay, etc. leaderpost - A photographer's image shows a boy with olive skin pretending to crash a toy plane into twin towers of blocks while another plays fireman in a rendering that has fuelled debate on parenting in an age of media saturation. This and other provocative images in Jonathan Hobin's photography exhibit In the Playroom depict as child's play the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, child beauty queen Jon-Benet Ramsey's murder and other real life horrors ripped from the headlines. Alternately decried as irresponsibly risking children's innocence to make a political statement and praised for inspiring new ways to speak to kids about life's ghastly moments, the 12 photographs - three years in the making - are on display at Ottawa's Dale Smith Gallery until Sunday. "Kids have always taken what they see in life and incorporated it into their play. Play is a tool that kids use to process and understand the world around them," Hobin told AFP. "All I've done is exaggerate those reflections of our world that kids see." Critics accused the Ottawa artist of being a pervert, a racist, of being insensitive toward 9/11 victims' families and even a hater of twins for his staged photograph of the razing of New York's Twin Towers, "The Twins." Most remarks, however, were directed at parents of the models - some of them professional child models, others children of Hobin's cousins and friends - for allowing them to participate in, for example, a torture scene in "A Boo Grave." In it, a boy in his underwear and handcuffs is being attacked by a stuffed dog while a girl in green khakis points to a hooded child standing on a box with electrodes wired to his fingers. "If you have teenage children who want to 'express themselves' in art, that is one thing. But volunteering your young (some in diapers) child to be photographed in a scene depicting blood or graves or people jumping out of the Twin Towers is wrong," said the popular Bad Moms Club blog. "They don't know what political statement they are making (on someone else's behalf) and it's just wrong," said the parenting website. "Maybe this is art, but creating art while risking your kids' innocence is irresponsible." Amanda Etherington told local media she agreed to let her 5- and 7-year-old sons appear in a photo depicting the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway from Aruba because she felt it had artistic merit. Another parent told the Toronto Star her son "had a good time and got to eat a few lollipops." The most severe criticisms involved a Jon-Benet Ramsey photo with the model's panties around her ankles. "Nobody likes to acknowledge sexuality in childhood, especially sexual exploitation," Hobin said. Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography assistant curator Andrea Kunard notes that photographs of children often provoke "a great deal of anxiety." "But by putting issues out there perhaps we can develop an awareness of what is at stake in certain subjects, and find ways of speaking about what we are seeing," she said. A 2007 portrait by Montreal's Carlos and Jason Sanchez of John Mark Karr, who falsely confessed to the murder of 6-year-old Ramsey, provoked equal outrage. "I agree that kids shouldn't see this stuff, but they are, and I'm trying to start a dialogue about that fact," Hobin said. People often view childhood as "innocent and carefree," ignoring that many kids are dealing with death, illness, depression and other grim realities, he explained. "There are lots of children out there who experience things that wake them up to the darker sides of life and they become very aware that not everything is going to be all right." By presenting how a child might interpret Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Princess Diana's death and the Jonestown massacre, he said he hopes to debunk the myth that kids can be shielded from what is in the news. "For a child who does not (yet) have problem-solving skills or life experiences" to deal with these issues, he said, "it must be incredibly terrifying, or maybe it's not, I don't know. All I know is that kids do see the images that we see and it has cultural implications." "For someone who is young and growing in a post-9/11 world, their lives are shaped by those experiences."  |
| Posted: 11 Oct 2010 11:52 AM PDT  NST - It looked like a scene from the 1982 horror movie Poltergeist when two bomoh allegedly captured nine djinns at the home of a woman yesterday. The girl became the talk of her village when she allegedly vanished on several occasions, only to be found in odd places like inside a cement mixer and a cemetery. The parents of Siti Balqis Mohd Nor, 22, were relieved with the success of the two bomoh and hoped their life would return to normal as the djinns were said to be behind the woman's mysterious disappearances. Hundreds of residents flocked to the home of Siti Balqis when they heard that the "culprits" had been captured and imprisoned in special containers. Curious onlookers jostled to take photos and video footage of the containers and the djinns said to be inside. The two bomoh, who refused to be identified, offered their services for free on Friday after reading about Siti Balqis' plight in newspapers. At 7.30pm, one of them started praying inside the family home while the other recited verses outside the front door. About 15 minutes later, the bomoh outside the house saw a figure dashing away. He gave chase and captured it. Subsequently, eight more djinns were captured one by one as they tried to flee. The bomoh said the sealed containers would be thrown into the sea so that the djinns would not bother anyone again. Siti Balqis' mother, Norizan Said, 47, said 17 bomoh had offered their services since her daughter's story appeared in the newspapers recently. She said the family had forked out thousands of ringgit to pay for the services of about 100 bomoh since Siti Balqis started vanishing at odd hours two months ago. "However, after my daughter's plight was highlighted in the media, many bomoh came to offer their services for free. "The whole family is relieved by the latest development," she said. Siti Balqis said she stopped vanishing two days ago and just wanted to carry on with life now that the "culprits" responsible for spiriting her away had been captured. "I cannot say how grateful I am for all the help that has been given to us. "I am relieved to be able to live without the fear of suddenly finding myself alone in strange places," she said. **********  Malaysian Bomohs Catch 12 More Spirits asiaone - Three healers from Terengganu Islamic Foundation (YIT) claim they captured 12 more djinns from the house of Siti Balqis Mohd Nor after she disappeared again on Saturday night. Her family thought her ordeal was over when two bomoh captured nine djinns on Friday and put them in sealed containers. Yesterday, however, the 22-year-old, who is the eldest of four children, claimed she was whisked away to a cave about 15km from her home in Kampung Gong Nangka here. She mysteriously disappeared at 7.30pm, minutes before state religious and information committee chairman Khazan Che Mat, YIT director Kamarul Al Amin Ismail and YIT officials arrived at her home with the healers. Hundreds of residents searched around the house and at locations that she had been found in previous disappearances but this proved futile. At 11.30pm, her mother Norizan Said, 47, received an SMS from Siti Balqis, saying that she had been taken to a cave in Bukit Keluang. Jabi assemblyman Ramlan Ali headed a rescue team to Bukit Keluang but they only found seven men and two women who were meditating (bertapa) inside the cave. Two hours later, Siti Balqis sent another SMS, saying she had been whisked home but had landed on a rambutan tree. Siti Balqis was pale and unconscious when rescuers brought her down from the rambutan tree. The three Islamic medical practitioners said they captured 12 djinns after treating her. Siti Balqis only regained consciousness at 5am and told her mother she saw Ramlan and other rescuers at Bukit Keluang cave but none of them could hear her calls. "I even tried to touch Ramlan's wife as she passed by me but she did not see me," she said. Meanwhile, Khazan said the medical practitioners were sent by the state government to help the family. NOTE: here are two more related links: Siti Balqis' vanishing acts have tongues wagging and Bomoh shivers when facing woman...Lon 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!  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