Sunday, July 3, 2011

Phantoms and Monsters

Phantoms and Monsters

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1st Alien Humanoid Retrieval: 1941 - Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Posted: 02 Jul 2011 01:55 PM PDT

One of the most mysterious stories of a crashed UFO with alien bodies preceded the well know Roswell events by some six years. This case was first brought to investigators by Leo Stringfield in his book "UFO Crash / Retrievals: The Inner Sanctum." He opened a tantalizing account of a military controlled UFO crash retrieval which is still being researched today. The details of the case were sent to him in a letter from one Charlette Mann, who related her minister-grandfather's deathbed confession of being summoned to pray over alien crash victims outside of Cape Girardeau, Missouri in the spring of 1941. Reverend William Huffman had been an evangelist for many years, but had taken the resident minister reigns of the Red Star Baptist Church in early 1941. Church records corroborate his employment there during the period in question.

After receiving this call to duty, he was immediately driven the 10-15 mile journey to some woods outside of town. Upon arriving at the scene of the crash, he saw policemen, fire department personnel, FBI agents, and photographers already mulling through the wreckage. He was soon asked to pray over three dead bodies. As he began to take in the activity around the area, his curiosity was first struck by the sight of the craft itself.

Expecting a small plane of some type, he was shocked to see that the craft was disc-shaped, and upon looking inside he saw hieroglyphic-like symbols, indecipherable to him. He then was shown the three victims, not human as expected, but small alien bodies with large eyes, hardly a mouth or ears, and hairless. Immediately after performing his duties, he was sworn to secrecy by military personnel who had taken charge of the crash area. He witnessed these warnings being given to others at the scene also.

As he arrived back at his home at 1530 Main Street, he was still in a state of mild shock, and could not keep his story from his wife Floy, and his sons. This late night family discussion would spawn the story that Charlette Mann would hear from her grandmother in 1984, as she lay dying of cancer at Charlette's home while undergoing radiation therapy. Charlette was told the story over the span of several days, and although Charlette had heard bits and pieces of this story before, she now demanded the full details.

As her grandmother tolerated her last few days on this Earth, Charlette knew it was now or never to find out everything she could before this intriguing story was lost with the death of her grandmother. She also learned that one of the members of her grandfather's congregation, thought to be Garland D. Fronabarger, had given him a photograph taken on the night of the crash. This picture was of one of the dead aliens being help up by two men. - www.ufocasebook.com

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1999 Drawings by Charlette Mann Based on Her Memory of the 1941 Photograph

Local UFO probe Researcher seeks answers to report of crash in 1941

A Virginia man is investigating the possibility that a UFO crashed near Cape Girardeau in 1941. "That would be six years before Roswell," said James Westwood of Centreville, Va., referring to the 1947 incident in which the government allegedly recovered and then covered up a UFO crash in New Mexico. "That would put Cape Girardeau County on the UFO map." he said.

Southeast Missouri already is known for UFO activity. Dr. Harley Rutledge, a former chairman of the physics department at Southeast Missouri State University who is now retired, has investigated reports of strange sights seen flying through the skies near Piedmont and other UFO reports.

"Project Identification: The First Scientific Field Study of UFO Phenomena" outlines Rutledge's research.

Westwood said Rutledge told him he has not heard of the 1941 incident. Westwood, a retired Navy man and engineer; is looking for people who may remember an incident from 1941 when some type of aircraft reportedly crashed approximately ~3 to 15 miles outside Cape Girardeau.

Westwood bases his investigation on an account by Charlotte Mann, a Texas woman whose grandfather, the Rev. William Huffman, was the pastor of Red Star Baptist Church from 1941 to 1944.

Leonard H. Stringifield, a renowned UFO investigator, recounted Mann's story in the July 1991 issue of his "Status Report," a monthly publication on UFO activities and investigations. Mann told Stringfield her grandfather got a call one spring night from police asking him to accompany them to the site of an airplane crash outside town in case the victims needed a clergyman.

"A car was sent to get him, but grandmother said it wasn't a police car," Mann said in Stingfield's recounting of the story. When Huffman got to the crash scene, Mann said, he noticed one piece of the wreckage that appeared to have a rounded shape with no edges or seams," and a "very shiny metallic finish."

"Police officers, "plainclothes men" and "military officers were already at the scene sifting through the wreckage, Mann said. Laid to one side of the scene were "three bodies, not human," she recounted. "It was hard for him to tell if they had on suits or if it was their skin, but they were covered head to foot in what looked like wrinkled aluminum foil," Mann said. "He could see no hair on their bodies and they had no ears. They were small framed like a child, about 4 feet tall, but had larger heads and longer arms." Their faces had "large, oval-shaped eyes, no noses, just holes and no lips, just small slits for mouths," Mann said. Huffman was told by one of the military officers at the scene not to tell anyone what he had witnessed for security reasons, Mann told Stringfield. Huffman told his wife, Floy, and their two Sons what he had seen when he returned home from the crash site but never spoke of it again, said Mann.

Huffman died in 1959. His wife, who died in 1984, told Mann the story. A few weeks after the crash, Huffman was apparently given a photo of two men holding one of the corpses found at the scene. Mann's father loaned the photo to a friend but never saw it again.

Now Westwood, who read Mann's account in Stringfield's publication, is looking for other who may remember hearing about the crash. "What you need here is another source, at least one other person who says, I sort of remember this," Westwood said. "Even if it's second-hand account, you've at least got another source.

"Mann's account says the crash happened in the spring. Westwood speculates it may actually have happened in the fall because of the mention of a field fire caused by the crash. In the spring, he reasons, vegetation would have been too wet to burn easily. "But in the fall, it's very dry," he said.

He also speculates the military officers on the scene may have been called in from an Army Air Corps base in Sikeston at the time. If the crash happened, the military and police wouldn't have known what they were looking at, Westwood said, because Roswell and the other early UFO sightings hadn't happened. And the incident may have been covered up for military security reasons since the U.S. was gearing up for World War II, he said. "It wouldn't be implausible" for the incident to have been reported as an airplane crash, Westwood said.

Westwood began researching Mann's story at the beginning of the year. He has been in Cape Girardeau for the last week reviewing local records and looking for potential sources. He hasn't had much luck. So far; no one he has talked to has admitted to knowing anything.

"There isn't anything that I would consider even close," Westwood said. He found a report of a student pilot's airplane crash near Morley in Scott County in May 1941, and a local pilot told him about another crash near Oak Ridge that happened in spring 1941.

The other problem is the Huffmans left the area not long after the alleged crash. The Cape Girardeau city directory lists the Huffmans from 1942 to 1944, but they aren't listed in the 1945 directory. Records from the Southeast Missourian say Huffman became the pastor of the church in September 1941.

And Stringfield, who investigated hundreds of reports of UFO crashes and retrievals, died in 1994. His family has refused to release his files to other researchers.

Westwood says he has never seen a UFO or been in contact with extraterrestrials. "There's no doubt in my mind that UFOs are real flying objects from outer space," he said. He points to similarities in thousands of sightings and reports from people who have reported having contact with extraterrestrials as evidence that something is out there. But what he calls the "cultism" surrounding the study of UFOs and false reports by attention-seeking hysterics detracts from evidence given by witnesses or people who claim contact, Westwood says, "aren't any crazier than anybody else."

Tracing UFO reports is "an interesting kind of detective story," Westwood said. "It's a Sherlock Holmes kind of thing in which you have to sort through a lot of BS looking for those nuggets. In the end, some of the things fit, and some Things don't"

The Roswell crash and recovery isn't the only UFO crash in the annals of the study of UFOs, Westwood said. "It's just the best known," he said. - Peggy O'Farrel, Southeast Missourian (CSETI)

NOTE: Here is the Evidence For A Crash Retrieval In Cape Girardeau Missouri In 1941 (PDF format)...Lon

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Summary: Interview with Charlette Mann, granddaughter of Reverand William Huffman who was called in 1941 to pray over the bodies of alien crash victims. Charlette recounts the experience as told by her grandmother before her grandmother's death in 1984.

INTERVIEW WITH CHARLETTE MANN

Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Non-Human
Craft and Bodies Retrieval in 1941

Charlette Mann, Spiritual Counselor, Tyler, Texas, and Granddaughter of Southern Baptist Minister William Huffman who began his ministry in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1941. "My father had this picture which I had seen ­ I don't know when I saw it the first time. I've seen it many, many times. And it was a picture of a little alien being that was held up under the arm pits. There was a man on either side and they had one hand under the arm pit and then further out on the arm because the little guy had much larger, longer arms than we have. And I grew up seeing that occasionally at home. I didn't think much about it as younger. But as I grew older, I began to ask questions about it because I was always very fascinated with the eyes. I wasn't afraid of them exactly, but they haunted me.

My grandmother became ill with cancer and so she spent a great deal of time in my home taking chemotherapy and staying with us until she was a little bit stronger. That was shortly before her death that I began to ask her questions. And I tried to make them very open ended. I didn't want to lead her into anything and I asker her if she recalled that evening when grandfather had received a call. And it took me quite a few days to even convince her after all these years and grandfather having passed away quite some time ago to break that bond or confidence that they had made. Grandfather ­ and this is how it was related by my grandmother and then I knew ­ if it came out of my grandmother's mouth, I knew it was correct.

WHEN WAS SHE ILL AND DYING, WHAT YEAR?

It was in 1983 to 1984 and passed away ­ I'm not good with dates ­ it was in the year of 1984, I believe. She was here at my home. She lived in Missouri at the time, but I brought her here and she stayed in my home.

IN TEXAS.

Yes.

AND DURING THAT TIME IN 1984 BEFORE SHE PASSED, THAT'S WHEN YOU WERE ABLE TO HAVE SOME KIND OF CONVERSATION WITH HER ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI IN 1941.

Right.

DID SHE EVER SUGGEST A MONTH OR A DATE?

We talked about it and she thought, and I still strongly believe, that it was the latter part of April. The reason being is that my mother and father were there visiting grandmother and grandpa and she was expecting my sister. My sister was born on May 3, 1941. And so, they had been there 3 or 4 weeks before Mother delivered.

OK, APRIL 1941. WHAT DID SHE TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT SHE REMEMBERED?

Well, they were sitting around visiting and it was 8 or 9 o clock of the evening. The phone rang and grandfather went to the telephone. He talked for a little bit and hung up the phone. What was said at that time was that someone from, had called the police department, or we assumed it was the police department, and they had reported what they saw was a plane crash, that the person whose property it was on had seen it. It had landed into a field and there was some fire associated. So, they asked if grandfather would be willing to go out with them to the scene in case there were some people who might need prayer or assistance because they weren't quite sure what they were headed to.

So, he agreed to do that and a car was sent for him. They picked him up. I don't know how long he was gone. She didn't ever tell me that, but for awhile. It was later because they stayed up late to wait. When he came back, he was very shaken and it took a lot to shake my grandfather. She said that he set down and told her, 'I'm going to tell you what has happened. You can never repeat it and I will never speak of it again.'

And he said that when he got out there that it wasn't a crashed plane at all. There were some civilians. We assume probably people who lived near the farm where it had crashed, near the people who had placed the call. Neighbors. I believe there was a newspaper man from the newspaper. I believe there might have been fire people at the time. But some civilian people.

Grandfather described what he saw was a saucer-shape that had broken in half and you could walk up to see inside. He saw a lot of panel of things he didn't know. Gauges, different things and small little seats that looked children-sized. The thing that seemed to impress him the most and intrigued him the most was there was a band around it of a type of metal that he was not familiar with. It looked as if it had hieroglyphic, like Egyptian-type, writing that he assumed was writing.

Southern Baptist Reverend William Huffman, witness to the crash in Missouri, began his ministry in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1941. Photograph courtesy Reverend Huffman's granddaughter, Charlette Mann, and Majestic-12 documents researcher, Ryan Wood. (credit: Genealogical Research)

THE SYMBOLS WERE ON THE WALLS INSIDE THE CRAFT?

On the inside. And that there were three beings, thrown. They were on the outside and assumed they were thrown out (by the crash). One was still breathing, was not dead. Grandfather knelt down next to him and he expired, but he prayed over each and every one of them."

In 1999, Charlette Mann drew what she remembered seeing in the photograph that her father kept of the 1941 incident. Around her drawing, she wrote: "My Grandfather stated that the being was not alive at the time of this picture being taken. The picture was approximately 9 inches by 9 inches and had scalloped (white) edges. This is how the little Alien was being held in the picture I saw of my grandfather's (incident). There were some trees. The grass was ankle high and deeper in places. I was so fixed on his eyes I don't recall as much other details as I might have." She also noted that the man on the right in her drawing "had on dress slacks, wide brimmed hat. They both had white shirts on." The man on the right had "his sleeves rolled up. The other had a short waist coat jacket. There was no one else in the picture except these three."

It seemed to be a child-sized being, probably 4 feet tall, maybe. It was difficult to tell if it had on a metallic suit or if its skin ­ it kind of looked like crinkled aluminum foil, but soft. I stated in speaking about it since then, he looked as if he had no bone structure, but kind of like octopus tentacles would appear soft like that. Very large oval eyes. I have never ever seen anything like it until at one point several years ago, I saw Whitley Strieber's book cover on Communion, and that alien being, that face, was the first I had seen ­ not exactly the same, but fairly close. Larger head. The dark oval eyes. Large eyes. It didn't really have a nose. It looked like two little dots, like someone had taken a pencil. and marked two dots. I don't recall the mouth. It was more as if you took a knife and slit across. No lips, nothing like that.

I can't recall the feet because I never could hardly get past those eyes. I do recall it had a small framed body. The arms were much longer than our arms. Their hands ­ I don't know how many fingers it had exactly, but I do recall that it was not formed like our hand. But there were less fingers and much longer.

DO I UNDERSTAND THAT THE MEN ON EITHER SIDE OF THIS NON-HUMAN WERE NOT DRESSED IN MILITARY UNIFORMS?

Oh, absolutely not. They were there before the military got there.

WHO DO YOU THINK THEY WERE?

They were local people. The photograph itself was in a rural field-like country setting. In other words, it was grass that is grown up, or wheat or whatever happened to be in the field. I remember there being a large tree in one area of it. There were no other people who were visible. There were two men, one on each side, that were holding the alien up. Each one of them had one hand under the armpit and then had hold of the arm further out, not quite reaching the wrist, but fairly close.

AS IF DEMONSTRATING HOW LONG THE ARMS WERE, AS WELL?

I think so, because they went completely across their bodies and were still extended further out.

The alien, I don't know how to describe it exactly other than to say it actually did not look like it had on clothes, but there were no physical male or female features. And it looked crinkled, kind of shiny, if you will, as if it could have been aluminum foil and crinkled. So, I don't know if that was a suit or his skin, but it covered every part of him. You couldn't see seams or buttons or anything like that.

WHAT ABOUT THE NECK AND THE HEAD? WERE THEY COVERED AS WELL?

No, they were out just normal. As I said, the eyes were looked just huge oval with blackness. No expression.

NO EXPRESSION. WHEN YOU SAY AN OVAL, IT COULD BE VERTICAL IN THE FACE OR HORIZONTAL OR SLANTED. DO YOU REMEMBER IF THOSE EYES WERE SITTING HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL OR SLANTED?

Vertical, up and down.

I SEE, VERTICAL OVALS.

Yes. And two little dots for what I would have called a nose and a slit for the mouth.

AND NO EARS?

I don't remember ­ no, no ears like we have ears. I can't say he had ears, no. I couldn't see a side view of where the ear might have been, so I don't know if he would have had the same little dots like for the nose. I don't know. But no, not ears like ours at all.

IF THIS CRINKLY PART THAT SEEMED TO BE SORT OF METALLIC LIKE CRINKLED TINFOIL WENT UP TO THE NECK AND THE FACE, BUT DID NOT COVER THE NECK AND FACE?

It did not actually ­ that's why I say it's hard to know what you were looking at because there was no seam. It wasn't like if you have a suit and there is a collar with a seam. It just blended or moved into. I don't know how else to describe it.

DID THE NECK AND FACE COLOR IN THE B&W PHOTO SEEM TO BE SIMILAR TO THE COLOR YOU WERE SEEING AS CRINKLED TINFOIL OR WAS IT DARKER OR LIGHTER?

Being a B&W photograph, it's hard to distinguish. No, it was not darker. If anything, lighter.

WITH THE DARK OVAL EYES. AND IN TERMS OF THE FACE, HOW BIG DO YOU THINK THOSE OVALS WERE IN TERMS OF THE AREA THEY COVERED IN THE FACE?

Most of its face.

AT THE ENDS OF THOSE VERY LONG ARMS, WHAT CAN YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE HANDS?

I do remember as if he had ­ I don't remember seeing more than 3 fingers and they were very, very long, much longer than ours. I don't recall seeing any fingernails, but I can't swear to that because I was so taken with the face. But I do know he did not have 5 digits. That I can tell you. It seemed to be more like three and they were quite elongated and both hands were the same.

DOWN THE LEGS TO THE FEET?

I don't ­ it's odd. I don't recall seeing his feet. I just was too taken with the face. I noted that he was, I know he had legs. But I can't describe the feet for you at all. I'm sorry, but I just didn't focus on them.

OK. DID YOUR GRANDFATHER SAY THAT HE KNEW THAT THIS BEING WAS DEAD IN THIS PICTURE WITH THESE TWO CIVILIANS HOLDING IT? OR WAS THAT AN ASSUMPTION THAT WAS MADE?

No, because he ­ I think the picture was taken while he was ministering to the one who he said still seemed to be taking short breaths. And so, the other two were ­ several said dead on impact. So, he knew it was one of those that the picture was taken of. How he came about ­ he wasn't aware that that picture had been taken. But someone came to the house, this gentleman came to the house two weeks later and he seemed, Grandmother said, 'Very, very frightened.' And he wanted someone that he trusted to have a copy. Hew felt like someone should have a copy of the picture and he asked grandfather if he would take it and he did. So, that's how we came about to even having it."

Military Arrives and Orders Secrecy in the Interest of National Security

While this was taking place, all of a sudden, military just showed up, surrounded, and overran the place. Grandfather was taken aside as were several of them and they were told that they had not seen what had taken place, that it was high security as far as the government (was concerned) ­ national security. So, they weren't to speak of it.

Nowadays, we probably wouldn't (obey). But in that day and time, if you said to my grandfather, 'This is about our country and this is important and it will be detrimental.' He truly never did speak of it again to our knowledge.

So, I think they (military) scared some of them much more than it did my grandfather. My grandfather seemed to be more shaken with the fact that there were alien beings. But anyway, they (military) dispersed them. Grandfather came home. That would have been that, except one of the men, a photographers had taken I guess a personal camera ­ one of his own ­ in addition to his professional newspaper camera. He had taken some pictures. That was the one I later saw.

THIS WAS OF TWO CIVILIANS OR FIRE WORKERS ...

No, they were not fire workers. They were definitely two civilian people holding up one of the deceased aliens.

THE BEING WAS DEFINITELY DECEASED?

This one, yes.

AND YET IT HAD ITS EYES OPEN?

The eyes appeared just ­ yes, they did. I don't know if they have eyelids. I don't know. I can only tell you what I saw. I can't explain it. I don't try. I don't want to tamper with it. I just give the account that was given to me. The eyes were very visible.

DID YOU EVER HEAR ANY DETAILS ABOUT WHETHER YOUR GRANDFATHER COULD SMELL ODOR FROM THE BEING, COULD FEEL TEMPERATURE, COULD HEAR ANY SOUNDS OR HAD ANY MENTAL IMPRESSIONS AS HE BENT OVER THE LIVE BEING TO DO PRAYERS?

I don't think any of that in that kind of order was ever discussed. So, I don't know about smell. He did say about the breathing, that's why he believed him (alien) not deceased. There were a few short, shallow breaths. He did mention that. I can only say that grandmother said he was forever changed by it. He was a southern Baptist minister for 40 years of his life, but he became much less rigid, much more accepting of unexplained things after that. Now, that was relayed to me through my grandmother and my father. But none of the other that you speak of, I'm sorry to say.

WHERE DID THE MILITARY TAKE THE CRAFT AND THOSE BODIES?

We never heard anything else after grandfather came home and gave his account. There was never anything else mentioned.

BUT IF IT HAPPENED IN CAPE GIRARDEAU AND POLICE AND FIRE AND MILITARY WERE INVOLVED, YOU WOULD THINK THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY HAD HAPPENED.

Well, I would have thought that until the last few years in finding out what I have about our government and our news media. If you can keep the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima a secret with the number of people involved and the number of people who worked on that, then I'm convinced they can keep, they can really quell a story if they desire to. And I think it wasn't just their ability, but how it was presented to the people and how they accepted that responsibility at the time. I don't believe it was covered in the newspaper as what it actually was. I don't know if you went back and traced the papers if there would be a mention of ­ a plane crash or ­ I don't know because granddad knew it had happened. He didn't need proof for himself and he wasn't going to talk about it. And my dad just didn't go after the facts. I'm not sure ­ you have to be kind of a researcher to know how you do that and I just don't know that he knew. I guess it's just if you have seen the picture, and we had that, we didn't need any proof and we weren't, my intent has never been ­ I'm not out to prove anything to anybody. I can't answer all the questions correctly. I can only give the account of the picture I saw and what was related to me." - Genealogical Research

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Just the Facts? - Cougar Attacks in Ohio, July 4th Myths and Scorpion on a Plane

Posted: 02 Jul 2011 11:42 PM PDT

Cougar attacking livestock in Ohio?

A menace seems to be prowling the fields and forests a few miles west of the Guernsey County line.

Muskingum County neighbors, Sally Metzger and Sherry Pickens, believe that a mountain lion is at large and preying on the cattle on Pickens' ranch.

The women became aware of the lion several months ago.

Metzger had been visiting her friend when she stepped outside at about 6:30 in the evening to head home. She looked across the road at the field and spotted the animal about 300 yards away.

"I said, 'Sherry, what's that in your field?' She said, 'That's a lion."

That was "the Friday after Easter."

They found the sight unnerving, but they put it at the back of their minds.

Then, in the past 15 days, four calves have been killed.

And, just a week ago, a cow was attacked, receiving a vicious laceration on its nostril.

On Monday, a hunter familiar with mountain lions, also known as cougars, stopped at Pickens' farm to investigate.

"He took one look [at the cow's wound] and said, 'Yep, that's a cat attack,'" Metzger said.

Pickens' son, J. J. Black, said that some people may believe the calves were attacked by coyotes.

"But the hunter said coyotes don't take on a full-grown cow," J.J. said.

Last fall, another cow was attacked, its face so severely injured that one of its eyes had popped out.

Pickens described the cat as a buckskin color, about 3 to 4 feet long and about 2 1/2 feet tall.

The hunter, who requested anonymity, said he definitely believes that there is a big cat on the prowl in the area.

Portions of the 300-acre farm are very rugged, with outcroppings of large rocks ideal for a secretive mountain lion, he said.

The hunter suggested that Pickens buy a donkey or two to mix in with the herd. Once the donkey bonds with the herd, it will be protective of the cattle. He also advised Pickens to take precautions for personal safety.

"He said she shouldn't walk around out here without a firearm," Metzger said. - daily-jeff

NOTE: from June 2008 - Big Cat Fears In Lima, Ohio

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Fourth of July Myths Debunked

NatGeo - Many time-honored patriotic tales turn out to be more fiction than fact. In anticipation of the Fourth of July, here's a look at some memorable myths from the birth of the United States.

1. The Declaration of Independence Was Signed on July 4

Independence Day is celebrated two days too late. The Second Continental Congress voted for a Declaration of Independence on July 2, prompting John Adams to write his wife, "I am apt to believe that [July 2, 1776], will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival."

Adams correctly foresaw shows, games, sports, buns, bells, and bonfires—but he got the date wrong. The written document wasn't edited and approved until the Fourth of July, and that was the date printers affixed to "broadside" announcements sent out across the land. July 2 was soon forgotten.

In fact, no one actually signed the Declaration of Independence at any time during July 1776. Signing began on August 2, with John Hancock's famously bold scribble, and wasn't completed until late November.

2. Paul Revere Rode Solo

Patriot Paul Revere really did hit the road on the night of April 18, 1775, to alert the countryside that British troops were on the move. But the image of an inspired, lone rider isn't accurate. Revere was part of a low-tech—but highly effective—early-warning system.

The system did include lanterns at Boston's Old North Church, from whose steeple the church sexton, Robert Newman, held two lanterns as a signal that the British were coming. However Revere wasn't watching for them that night.

Revere and fellow rider William Dawes, who was sent by a different route, successfully reached Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that they'd likely be arrested. But Revere and Dawes were captured by the British with third rider Samuel Prescott soon afterward.

The liberties later taken with the Revere legend weren't mistakes but deliberate mythmaking by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who intended his famous 19th-century poem to stoke patriotism on the eve of the Civil War. The ride's real story is told at Paul Revere House, the Boston museum where Revere once lived and from which he left on that fateful night.

3. July 4, 1776, Party Cracked the Liberty Bell

U.S. independence surely prompted a party, but joyful patriots didn't ring the Liberty Bell until it cracked on July 4, 1776. In fact the State House Bell likely didn't ring at all that day. It probably did ring, along with the city's other bells, to herald the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, according to a history of the bell published by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

As for that crack, well, the bell had been poorly cast and cracked soon after its arrival in 1752. The bell was subsequently recast, and recracked, several times but was intact during the Revolutionary War.

Today's iconic crack actually appeared sometime during the 19th century, though the exact date is in dispute. It was also during this period that the bell became popularly known as the Liberty Bell—a term coined by abolitionists.

4. Patriots Flocked to Fight for Freedom

This enduring image is accurate—when describing the beginning of the Revolutionary War. But as it became clear that the struggle for independence would be long and difficult, the enthusiasm of many American men for fighting began to wane, while their concerns for the well-being of their farms and other livelihoods grew.

After initial enlistment rushes, many colonies resorted to cash incentives as early as 1776 and states were drafting men by the end of 1778, according to historian John Ferling in a 2004 Smithsonian magazine article.

5. The Declaration of Independence Holds Secret Messages

Some revolutionary myths are of modern origin. There's no invisible message or map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, as depicted in the film National Treasure. But the National Archives admits there is something written on the back of the priceless document.

A line on the bottom of the parchment reads "Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776." Why? The large document would have been rolled for travel and storage during the 18th century, so the reverse-side writing likely acted as a label to identify the document while it was rolled up.

6. John Adams Died Thinking of Thomas Jefferson

Incredibly both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson did die on the Fourth of July, but there's no real evidence to suggest that Adams's final thoughts were with Jefferson or that he uttered "Jefferson survives" on his deathbed.

Even if he had, he'd have been wrong, as Jefferson beat him in death by several hours. The day does seem inauspicious for presidents, however. The less celebrated James Monroe also died on July 4, in 1831.

7. America United Against the British

The Revolutionary War also pitted Americans against Americans in large numbers. Perhaps 15 to 20 percent of all Americans were loyalists who supported the crown, according to the U.K. National Army Museum. Many others tried to stay out of the fight altogether.

Records from the period are sketchy at best, but an estimated 50,000 Americans served as British soldiers or militia at one time or another during the conflict, a significant force pitted against a Continental Army that may have included a hundred thousand regular soldiers over the course of the war.

8. Betsy Ross Made the First American Flag

There is no proof that Betsy Ross played any part in designing or sewing the American flag that made its debut in 1777. In fact, the story of the famous seamstress didn't circulate until it was raised by her grandson nearly a century after the fact, and the only evidence is testimony to this family tradition.

To be fair, there's also no conclusive evidence that Ross didn't sew the flag, and there are several reasons why she just might have done so. The Betsy Ross House on Philadelphia's Arch Street (where Ross may or may not have actually lived) tells the whole tale and leaves visitors to draw their own conclusions.

9. Native Americans Sided With the British

"(He) has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions."

The Declaration of Independence made this claim against King George III, and many Native Americans did eventually fight with the British. But many others sided with people in the colonies or simply tried to stay out of the European conflict altogether, according to Dartmouth College historian Colin Galloway, author of The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities.

Most New England Indians supported the Continentals, and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy was split by the conflict. Native "redcoats" fought not for love of King George but in hopes of saving their own homelands—which they thought would to be the spoils of the War for Independence.

Those who allied themselves with the British saw their lands lost in the Peace of Paris treaty, but Native Americans who supported Americans fared little better in the long run.

**********

Oregon man stung by scorpion on commercial flight

All Jeff Ellis could do was wait as he sat terrified 30,000 feet in the air staring at the wriggling scorpion that stung him on a flight to Alaska.

He repeated to himself that a doctor said he'd be fine – probably.

Ellis, of Portland, Ore., first had to wait 30 minutes to see whether he succumbed to anaphylactic shock.

"In the movies, scorpions kill people," Ellis, 55, said Thursday. "I was just nervous, on edge, making sure that my heart was beating normal, that I wasn't sweating."

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the scorpion probably crawled on board the plane during a stop in Austin, Texas. The plane then landed in Seattle, where Ellis boarded for a flight to Anchorage.

About three hours into the flight, Ellis dozed off. Then, he felt something tickling his arm.

"I felt it on my shirt-sleeve and brushed it off, I thought it was a little spider or something," Ellis said. "Then I felt it back on my elbow."

Just after that, Eliis felt a sting. He grabbed it with his napkin and his girlfriend, Suzanne Foster, called a flight attendant, who tossed the scorpion into a clear plastic bag.

The writhing arachnid terrified children seated nearby.

"Their mother told the flight attendant, 'Get that thing out of my face,' " Ellis said.

As Ellis monitored himself for signs of a fatal allergic reaction, emergency responders in Anchorage were told to get ready; the flight would be landing soon.

But they had a problem, Ellis said: Scorpions aren't common in Alaska, and the EMTs didn't know what to do.

"They had to Google it," he said. …

Ellis thinks – based on photos he took of the eight-legged pest – that he was stung by a striped bark scorpion, which is common in Texas.

He said he is happy with the flight crew's response, and said the airline has offered him 4,000 frequent-flier miles and two round-trip tickets.

**********

Fortean / Alternative News Links

The following links are a few articles that you may finding interesting:

Spain: Searching for Bigfoot in the Aragonese Pyrenees - Part 1 and Part 2

UFO `Sky Symbol' Writing In New Jersey?

A UFO Landing Strip in Argentina?

What's motivating our southern neighbors?


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