Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 28
- Fortean / Oddball News: UFOs Are Ball Lightning? Secret Spaceplane and Brits Believe in Aliens
- The Woman Behind the Monster
| Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 28 Posted: 01 Dec 2010 12:17 PM PST  THE WATCH Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - December 1, 2000 - 10:00 am Several days after witnessing two low flying objects over the area, on two separate night (One of the objects was described as huge, making a rumbling like noise; it had a V-shaped tail with two rows of round and oblong windows and was black, gray, and silver in color.) and after receiving a suspicious phone call from someone claiming to be a General from the Canadian armed forces, two strange men appeared at the door of the witness' residence. They produced wallets, one black, one brown, containing photo ID that stated they were from the Canadian Air Defense. They asked to come inside. The witness extended his hand, but was ignored. Moving into the house took them through the kitchen area, but they stopped upon seeing the microwave. After some questioning, the witness lowered a portion of a counter and they carefully slid through the extra space. Sitting down they produced a small silver colored tape recorder and inserted a small disc, between a nickel and a quarter in size. On entering the house one of the men had noticed an unusual walking stick in the hallway, to which he remarked that the head of the stick's carving, painted red, reminded him of primates back home. The two men were olive skinned and appeared to have slanted eyes. Each wore glasses with thick rims. They wore gray suits with black shirts, one had a white tie, and the other was buttoned up to the neck. The one with the tie had a clip that contained a red "stone" that flickered. The other had a ruby ring surrounded with diamonds. His watch was square but without apparent hands, instead being encircled with buttons that periodically illuminated from white to green to mauve. The strap appeared to be molded into the skin and was a solid steel band. The belt on his pants was of metallic strips with a square buckle. Both had very large feet, estimated to be 14". Each carried a brief case that was heavy and cold. When sitting down they never relaxed into their chairs but retained a stiff back the whole time. Not once during their stay in the house did they speak to each other. The witness' two cats were extremely agitated the whole time during the visitors stay. Also the owner's dog that lived upstairs barked during the whole episode. The men noticed that the witness was wearing a very unusual watch and one of them touched his arm. The touch felt very cold and clammy. They questioned the witness about his sightings, and one of them appeared to be taken short hand notes. When they questioned him they looked into his eyes and seemed to "pierce his brain". As they were leaving they again carefully avoided the microwave. Outside in the yard they spent about 30 minutes scouring the ground with a Geiger counter. As they rounded the corner of the house the witness went from the kitchen to the bedroom, which gave him a clearer view of the driveway and the road. Despite the very short period of time it took him to achieve this, the two men were not in sight, nor was a car leaving, or no car door could be heard slamming, they had vanished. Later they witness discovered that on the windowsill, only six inches behind where one of the men had been sitting, was a Windex bottle and was partially melted as if heat had been applied to it. Alongside was a cassette warped in a similar manner. The witness suffered from a severe migraine type headache after the two men left, his eyes also felt gritty and teary, and his face now appeared sunburned. He also suffered from strange dreams, one that was of lying prone on a table in a round room with a bright light above him then sensing being touched. Two days later, while going outside his house the witness saw the same two men he had seen before in the driveway. Both were dressed in white coveralls. One was carrying a Geiger counter, the other a 12 to 16 inch parabolic dish in his hand, pointing to the sky, plus earphones and a microphone that was attached. He appeared to be searching the sky. The wires all led into a black box at his waist. At one point he had what looked like a camera, although not video, aimed at a tree over which the UFO had been originally seen. During the time they were together neither was seen speaking to each other. Nor was any car seen which they might have arrived in. In December, a few days after Christmas, A man appeared at the door of the witness. He stated that he had come to see his unusual watch. He stated that his name was Mr. Smith and showed some ID. He wore a dark charcoal suit, white shirt, and black tie. He also wore a black fedora. His feet were very large, "size 13, or 14", like the witness previous visitors. His shoes were black and shiny, with no signs of dirt on them at all. He was about 4-feet 8 inches to 5-feet tall, very thin, and very pale skinned with very long fingers. He also wore black wrap around glasses with silver frames. The witness extended his hand but was ignored (again). Upon entering the house the visitor commented upon the carved walking stick in the hallway. He also asked the witness to turn the microwave off before he walked in front of it. Sitting down at the kitchen table he produced a small silver tape recorder, claiming it could record up to 80 hours or more. Using a pick like tool from his breast pocket he examined the witness watch. He opened a black briefcase, removed some paper, a silver pencil with a red top, and a pen like flash light that emitted a mauve, pencil thin beam, which scanned the interior of the watch with. He took a small digital type camera and with it he took several pictures of the watch. During the whole of his visit he spoke very little, and his speech seemed slurred. Again the cats were agitated during the stranger's visit. He again expressed interest in the watch and the witness asked 500$ for it, but he replied that he had to check with his colleagues. The stranger also expressed interest in a computer saying that it had very minimal power. The stranger departed without saying good-bye. The witness went immediately to the window but could not see any sign of the visitor or any car in the vicinity, he had simply vanished. A plastic hair blower nozzle was found melted and a ruler in a drawer close to where the visitor had been sitting was bent into a slight 'S' curve. Again the witness suffered from a severe headache and an eruptive nosebleed. In early January 2001, two peculiar strangers again visited the witness to a previous UFO encounter. These two were different from the others. They were at least six-feet tall, very bony, with head, hands and feet out of proportion to the rest of the body. They wore gray suits that seemed to be "oily", had black ties and hats plus wrap around sunglasses that they never took off. When questioned about the glasses they remarked that they could see perfectly well. Their ears stood out from their heads and their skin was pale white, whereas their fingernails were gray in color. They never removed the hats during their visit. And throughout the whole time only one of them spoke. When asked for ID's they displayed "silver" cases that contained a photo an unusual symbol, plus their names in small print. Upon entering the kitchen they asked the witness to please unplug the microwave, they also told him to turn the computer off. The two Persian cats were going crazy dashing around the room, and trying to get out of the window, which was closed. Each man carried a briefcase with an inverted 'L' shaped handle. The man that did all the talking asked to see the witness unusual watch, he then removed from his briefcase four small containers, each had a different colored top. Opening two he proceeded to pour the contents over the watch. He told the concerned witness that no harm would come to the watch. He was given $250 for the watch and told that they would give him the rest later. He told them that he was moving soon, to this they replied "We know, don't worry, we can find you if we want to." They soon departed without the common courtesies, staring blankly at the witness as he extended his hand. Once again the witness hurried to the bedroom window only to find, as before, no sign of either man departing, nor cold any vehicle be heard leaving. After the visit the witness felt drained, had a severe headache that lasted for two days and a rash on his arms, face and chest. Source: Graham Conway, UFO BC NOTE: a very detailed MIB scenario. MIB and other related incidents increased dramatically before the beginning of the new millennium. I unsuccessfully attempted to find out more on this witness and if other incidents had occurred...Lon ********** WHITE SALAMANDERS Near New Cambria, Kansas - Spring 1975 - 7:00 pm A young teenage couple was driving to the country and right after crossing a cement bridge that spanned a river. They pulled into a farmer's access road and parked at the edge of a field alongside a bend in the river with the car pointing east. Soon the pair noticed a strange light that suddenly approached their location in a kind of "blur" or "warp speed" mode. Suddenly hovering a treetop level was a dark object, rectangular in shape with one red and one green running light positioned together on the lower part of the craft at its center. They stared in amazement and after about 5 minutes they noticed the craft's position had moved to the right. It seemed to move in a very slow motion to the other side of the river. After about 5 minutes the witnesses decided to drive away from the area. As they turned onto the county road and subsequently onto the cement bridge they saw that the craft had returned to its original position, above them and slightly back from the bridge. They stopped their vehicle and got out to look at the craft. The craft was about 20-25 ft wide and this time they saw a large rectangular glass window, or what appeared to be glass, running across the middle third of its front. Standing inside to the left side looking down at the witnesses were two beings, which the witnesses could see only from the waist up but could tell that they were about 4 ft tall, with abnormally large upper heads and large black eyes. The eyes seemed devoid of emotion and their skin was pure white, like the moon, the texture resembling that of an albino salamander, their eyes ran almost north/south with their heads. The craft hovered silently the whole time. After about a minute of eye contact with the humanoids the witnesses re-entered their vehicles and rapidly drove away from the area. They could still see the craft hovering where they had left it. Source: NUFORC NOTE: There was a 'flap' of humanoid encounters throughout the USA from 1975 through 1976 including some of the most bizarre animal mutilation reports. As well, the infamous Travis Walton abduction was reported in November 1975 near Snowflake, Arizona...Lon ********** COLLECTING SAMPLES Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin - September 1975 - 11:00 pm The witness was watching the sky to the south of his mobile home when he saw a large saucer shaped craft slowly proceed down and just above the trees from east to west. He followed it with his eyes as it passed just before him about 100 ft away. It then settled silently in the corner of the next field about 1500 ft away. The witness walked over to where he saw it land...it was a clear, cool, moonlit night. He took no flashlight or camera and felt no fear. He easily found the craft as a very bright light shone from beneath it at the far southeast corner of the field. As he approached about 20 ft from the craft he noticed an individual in the light from the bottom of the craft directly before him. The human-like figure appeared to have on a form fitting white suit. The eyes were covered in what appeared to be goggles or protective bubbles of tinted glass or plastic, he then noticed a second similar figure to his right only about 6 ft away. The witness was a bit startled, as he did not notice the approach of the figure. However his attention returned to the figure standing near the object by the light. This figure was busily attempting to catch a grasshopper; he held what appeared to be a glass sample container in his right hand and a stopper type lid in the other. He emitted a strange type of giggle as he finally caught the grasshopper. The figure in the trees rejoined this one carrying a sample jar as well. In it the witness could clearly see in the light that it contained a sprig from an oak tree with leaves and acorns attached. They were both about 5 ft tall and lean. The witness then heard a sound of someone walking through the field of drying corn just to the south and behind him. It was a slow, steady type of walking sound, which someone would make walking on a field of dry grass. As it approached it stopped and then sped up as it walked around the witness. Into the light of the craft then appeared another figure in the same type of suit. He also carried a sample jar. The jars were about 4 inches around and about 15 inches tall with wide mouths and black stopper caps. In this jar he had an ear of the corn. The third arrival hastily pointed out the witness to the other two as they all looked directly at him. He could only smile and wave, and then turn slowly and walk back to his home. The craft hovered silently about 4 ft off the ground. Nothing protruded from it except the bright light from an opening in the bottom. The opening was about 4 ft in width. He could see no stairs leading up to the opening. The witness did not see the object depart. Source: UFO Wisconsin ********** HOODED STRANGERS Lake Como, Pennsylvania - February 6, 1976 - 11:30 pm Mrs. M.J. and her cousin C.W. were returning home by the lake road when they stopped to watch "shooting stars." When they reached home, they were missing about 3 hours of time. The next morning M.J. had a sore stomach and a very inflamed navel, and C.W. had a small puncture mark on her spine with 4 little marks around it. Under hypnosis M.J. remembered that 4 short strangers in black "snowmobile suits" with helmets over their heads had approached the car, while hovering over a field was a helmet shaped object 30-40 ft in diameter, with a big white light in the middle and little lights recessed around it. She found herself outside the car, and the beings came up and pulled at her arm; then she remembered sitting on a cot inside a room with a rounded door, where there was a chrome cylinder. A "nurse" wearing a face mask, with big black eyes, accompanied by a "doctor", brought up a needle; M.J jumped off the cot, but was caught and fastened to it, and the needle was inserted into her stomach. Then a number of people with chalk white, cat like faces, wearing cream-colored robes, appeared; they had scaly skin and long fingernails, small noses and no visible mouths. She noticed also "a whole mess" of controls and gauges, up to the ceiling. The craft was in flight at this time. She could see a man (of normal type) bending over C.W. She also observed a "pedestal" chair, and a box with lines going across it, on which, as on a TV, she saw "a baby crying, a war, people in the jungle with knives" and other scenes, for about 10 minutes. Then she remembered leaving the craft and returning, with C.W., to the car. Source: Douglas Dains CUFOS / Dr. Gary Truce          | ||||
| Fortean / Oddball News: UFOs Are Ball Lightning? Secret Spaceplane and Brits Believe in Aliens Posted: 01 Dec 2010 10:36 AM PST  Astrophysicist: Ball Lightning 'May Explain UFOs' BBC - Some UFO sightings could be explained by ball lightning and other atmospheric phenomena, claims Australian astrophysicist Stephen Hughes. The scientist has made a detailed study of an unusual event in 2006 when large meteors were observed over Brisbane. Their appearance occurred at the same time as a brilliant green object was seen to roll over nearby mountains. Dr Hughes has put forward a theory linking the object - presumed to be ball lighting - to the fireballs. His idea is that one of the fireballs may have momentarily triggered an electrical connection between the upper atmosphere and the ground, providing energy for the ball lightning to appear above the hills. He has written up his explanation in a journal of the Royal Society. Dr Hughes says the extraordinary episode, which occurred during a night of fine weather, is just the sort of happening that might lead some to think they had witnessed UFO activity. "If you put together inexplicable atmospheric phenomena, maybe of an electrical nature, with human psychology and the desire to see something - that could explain a lot of these UFO sightings," he told BBC News. The scientist, who is a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, initiated the study after being called in by the local TV station to look over and explain photos of the fireballs captured by members of the public on camera phones. Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors and are produced by fragments of space rock larger than the sand-grain-sized particles responsible for shooting stars; but like shooting stars they cross the sky at great speed. A subsequent survey organised by the university brought forward many more eyewitnesses, including a farmer who recalled seeing a luminous green ball rolling down a slope of the Great Divide, a mountainous ridge about 120km west of Brisbane. This object described as being about 30cm in diameter appeared to jump over some rocks and follow the path of a metal fence for "some minutes". The farmer said he saw the green object come into view just after a fireball had passed overhead. He thought at first he was witnessing a plane crash and called the police, but a search the following day found no wreckage. Ball lightning seems an obvious explanation, says Dr Hughes. These bright, hovering spheres of light are not fully understood. They are known to be associated with thunderstorms, but not always, and there was certainly no electrical storm activity in the vicinity of the Great Divide. Dr Hughes does not offer a new explanation for the causes of ball lightning, merely how enough energy might have been put into the ground to trigger it. He proposes that the natural flow of current that exists between the upper-most reaches of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the ground was increased by the passage of the meteor that streamed charged particles and other conductive materials in its wake. "Could it be that the meteor descending through the atmosphere, having passed through the ionosphere, actually created a transient conductive connection between the ionosphere and the ground, even if it was only for a few seconds? Was that enough to put charge into the ground, and then with the discharge form some kind of plasma ball above? "Think of the ionosphere and the ground as the terminals on the battery and you put a wire between those two terminals and current flows, and literally you get a spark." Other scientists have suggested that charges dissipating through the ground can create balls of glowing ionised gas above it. Dr John Abrahamson from the University of Canterbury, NZ, championed the idea 10 years ago that ball lightning consisted of vaporised mineral grains kicked out of the soil by a conventional lightning strike, an idea later tested with some success by Brazilian researchers. He described Dr Hughes' work as "relatively feasible" and something which made "interesting connections". "There's a long way to go before everyone will be happy and satisfied that we have a full solution," he told BBC News. Dr Hughes said his publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences was intended to start a debate. "It's not a vigorous theory; it's more a suggestion that may be worth exploring," he said. ********** Secret spaceplane set to land next weekend tgdaily - The US Air Force's top-secret X-37B spacecraft is set to land sometime in the next few days at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. It will be the US' first ever autonomous re-entry and runway landing. "Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit and landing of the Air Force's first X-37B, called the Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1)," says the Air Force in a statement. "While the exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations, it is expected to occur between Friday, December 3, and Monday, December 6, 2010." Amateur astronomers have had a high old time tracking the movements of the elusive craft. At one point it seemed to disappear, until a South African skywatcher spotted it in a new orbit five days later. The landing date was to be expected, given that the craft has been aloft since April and one of the few known facts about it is that it has a 270-day maximum flight time. The 4.9 ton spacecraft looks rather like a miniature space shuttle. It measures a little under nine meters long and has a wingspan of 4.3 meters. It's currently in orbit at around 180 miles high. Its true purpose has been the cause of much debate. The military says the mission was intended to test guidance, navigation and control systems for autonomous orbital flight. Inevitably, though, there has been speculation that it could be used for other, more aggressive purposes. Another x-37B is currently under construction and is expected to launch next spring. ********** Pakistani woman's nose cut-off by in-laws timesofindia - A Pakistani woman's nose was cut off and her head tonsured by her in-laws who then locked her up for three days because they suspected her of having an affair with a neighbour, police said. The incident took place in Gujranwala in Punjab province. Aasiya Bibi's brother-in-law Anwar, his wife Kalsoom and sons Waqas and Awais caught hold of her and cut off her nose and shaved off her head, alleging that she had an illicit relationship with a local man. "Aasiya has been living with her in-laws for over seven years and her husband works in Multan, so he rarely manages to visit," Express Tribune quoted Aasiya's neighbour Nida as saying. Nida said that Aasiya's in-laws were often cruel to her. Police said that the family locked up Aasiya in a room where she lay for three days after the incident, till a police team released her after being tipped-off. Aasiya told the police: "I had been beaten and they didn't give me proper food. They locked me up and I was still bleeding." Police officials said that when they found Aasiya she was in a terrible state and was promptly taken to a hospital where her wounds were stitched up. Doctors said that she narrowly managed to avoid an infection. "We were surprised that her open wounds hadn't got infected even thought they weren't treated for three days," medical superintendent Azam Skeikh was quoted as saying. "She is currently receiving treatment but we expect her to make a full recovery," he added. Aasiya's in-laws were unrepentant. Her brother-in-law Anwar said: "She was having illicit relations with a neighbour. We caught her and this was her punishment. She deserved what happened to her...I should have killed her on the spot." ********** Almost half of all Britons believe in aliens telegraph - A poll of 2,000 adults concluded that 44 per cent were convinced of the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Men were more likely to believe with 46 per cent answering the survey saying humans are not alone. The survey was commissioned by the Royal Society, the country's most prestigious scientific body. Meanwhile a third of those questioned said we should try and make contact with other life forms co-existing in the universe. However, there was little agreement when it came to decided what form alien life would take. Prof Simon Conway Morris, an evolution expert from Cambridge University, said people should "throw away all our preconceptions" about what alien life could be like. Meanwhile only 28 per cent of people answering the YouGov poll would rule out the existence of alien life altogether.      | ||||
| Posted: 01 Dec 2010 09:59 AM PST
 The exhibition also includes a never before seen portrait of the author alongside belongings and literary work from her family - one of Britain's most renowned literary dynasties. The showcase, brought together for the first time from the Bodleian Libraries and the New York Public Library, includes work by Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. On display is previously unseen memorabilia, manuscripts, rare books and personal relics from the family archive, now based at the Bodleian in Oxford. Richard Ovenden, associate director and keeper of the special collections said: 'This is a unique opportunity to bring together treasures from the great Shelley collections in the Bodleian Libraries and The New York Public Library.  The most famous Frankenstein: Boris Karloff in the 1931 film of Mary Shelley's book 'We are excited that the exhibition will travel to New York after closing in Oxford and enable even more people to learn about this extraordinary literary family.' Mary Shelley was just 21 and living with the already married Percy Bysshe Shelley when she wrote Frankenstein, which began as a short story but turned into a classic novel that has spawned countless Hollywood films. Among other personal belongings are Percy Bysshe Shelley's spy-glass - thought to have been onboard the Don Juan on Shelley s final voyage which resulted in his drowning - and his baby rattle. The exhibition, called Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family, was due to run from December 3 until March 27 2011. **********
English Romantic novelist, biographer and editor, best known as the writer of FRANKENSTEIN, OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818). Mary Shelley was 21 when the book was published; she started to write it when she was 18. The story deals with an ambitious young scientist. He creates life but then rejects his creation, a monster. "But success shall crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracking a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" (from Frankenstein) Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died of puerperal fever 10 days after giving birth to her daughter. Mary's labor lasted 18 hours and then it took four hours to remove the rest of the placenta. She was one of the first feminists, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and the novel The Wrongs of Woman, in which she wrote: "We cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us." In the intellectual circles of London, her acquaintances included the painter Henry Fuseli, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, and William Blake, who illustrated an edition of her book, Original Stories from Real Life. Mary Shelley's father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin, who became famous with his work An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). Godwin had revolutionary attitudes to most social institutions, including marriage. In feminism he found an "amazonian" element. Among his other books is Things as They Are, or The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794). In her childhood Mary Shelley was left to educate herself amongst her father's intellectual circle, the critic Hazlitt, the essayist Lamb, the poet Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who came into Godwin's circle in 1812. Godwin took a second in 1801, but Mary never learned to like her. In 1812 Godwin sent her to live in Dundee. Mary published her first poem at the age of ten. At the age of 16 she ran away to France and Switzerland with Shelley; they had met at the end of 1812. Percy and Mary married in 1816 - Shelley's wife Harriet had committed suicide by drowning. Their first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later. In HISTORY OF SIX WEEKS TOUR (1817) the Shelleys jointly recorded their life. Thereafter they returned to England and Mary gave birth to a son, William. The story of Frankenstein started on summer in 1816, when Mary joined with Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont near Geneva Lord Byron. She took a challenge, set by Lord Byron, to write a ghost story. With her husband's encouragement, she completed the novel within a year. At the Villa Diodati she had been a "silent listener" of her husband and Byron, who discussed about galvanism. At Eton College Shelley had become interested in Luigi Calvani's experiments with electric shocks to make dead frogs' muscles twitch. It is possible that his teacher, James Lind, had demonstrated the technique to Shelley. Byron and Shelley talked Dr Darwin's experiments with a piece of vermicelli. In her 'Introduction' to the 1831 edition Mary revealed that she got the story from a dream, in which she saw "the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with a uneasy, half vital motion." FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818) The novel start with series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister. Walton is an English Arctic explorer who spots a strange creature on a dog-sled. The exhausted Victor Frankenstein arrives, in pursuit of the creature,and while recuperating tells his story. He has been born into a wealthy Geneva family. After his mother dies of scarlet fever and becomes a student of natural philosophy and medicine. Inspired by occult philosophy and the teaching of his mentor, Waldman, he builds a creature in the semblance of a man and gives it life. It body is assembled from parts which Frankenstein has stolen from butcher shops, dissecting rooms, and charnel-houses. The creature is repeatedly rejected by those who see it, but the monster proves intelligent, and later highly articulate. Receiving no love, it becomes embittered. Frankenstein deserts his creation, who disappears. "I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I have deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." (from Frankenstein) Frankenstein hears that his younger brother has been strangled, but Justine, his family's servant confesses the murder. However, later the monster tells that he murdered William and framed Justine. Frankenstein then agrees to make a mate for the monster so that it will not bother anyone again. A wave of remorse makes him destroy the female. The lone creature swears revenge. He kills Frankenstein's bride, Elizabeth, on their wedding night. The scientist becomes mad, but recovers and chases the creature across the world. The two confront in the Arctic wastes. Frankenstein dies. The creature describes eloquently to Walton his efforts to seek out beauty and how crime has degraded it beneath the meanest animal. "He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or stars, or feel the wind play on my cheeks. Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness." The monster leaps from the ship on a ice-raft, disappearing again in the darkness. - The novel contains no supernatural elements; the creation of the monster is described in the third edition on a rational scientific basis. Frankenstein is a scientist who challenges the Creator of the world with the possibilities of modern science, but is destroyed because he cannot anticipate the outcomes of his own acts. The story has also been interpreted as an exploration of the artist's - creator's - relation to society. The first edition of book had an unsigned preface by Percy Shelley. Many thought that it is also his novel, disbelieving that only 19-year-old woman could write such horror story. However, when the book was published in 1818, it became a huge success, although it received mixed reviews. John Wilson Croker wrote in Quaterly Review (January 1818) that "the dreams of insanity are embodied in the strong and striking language of the insane, and the author, notwithstanding the rationality of his preface, often leaves us in doubt whether he is not as mad as his hero." Walter Scott, on the other hand, noted that the work was "written in plain and forcible English, without exhibiting the mixture of hyperbolical Germanisms with which tales of wonder are usually told" (Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, March 1818). In 1818 the Shelleys left England for Italy, where they remained until Percy Shelley's death - he drowned during a heavy squall on July 28, 1822, in the Bay of Spezia near Livorno. In 1819 Mary suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of William - he died of malaria at the age of 3. Mary had also lost a daughter the previous year. In 1822 she had a dangerous miscarriage and she believed that she would die. Mary Shelley wrote to her friend Maria Gisborne about this loss and her husband's death, concluding the letter: "Well here is my story - the last story I shall have to tell - all that might have been bright in my life is now despoiled - I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child, & render myself worthy to join him. soon my weary pilgrimage will begin - I rest now - but soon I must leave Italy -". Of their children only one, Percy Florence, survived infancy. In 1823 Mary returned with her son to England, determined not to-re-marry. She devoted herself to his welfare and education and continued her career as a professional writer. Sir Timothy Shelley, her father-in-law, was not eager to help her and her son Percy financially. Mary Shelley never married, but she flirted with the young French writer Prosper Merimee, and hoped to marry Maj. Aubrey Beauclerk. None of Shelley's novels from this period matched the power of her first legendary achievement. Her later works include LODORE (1835) and FAULKNER (1937), both romantic pot-boilers, and unfinished MATHILDE (1819, published 1959), which draws on her relations with Godwin and Shelley. VALPERGA (1823) is a romance set in the 14th-century, and THE LAST MAN (1826), set in the 21st century republican England, depicts the end of human civilization. Its second part describes the gradual destruction of the human race by plague. The narrator is Lionel Verney, the last man of the title, living amidst the ruins of Rome. Feminist critics have paid attention to its fantasy of the total corrosion of patriarchal order. Shelley gave up writing long fiction when realism started to gain popularity, exemplified in the works of Charles Dickens. She wrote a numerous short stories for popular periodicals, particularly The Keepsaker, produced several volumes of Lives for Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, and the first authoritative edition of Shelley's poems (1839, 4 vols.). Shelley's well-received travelogue RAMBLES IN GERMANY AND ITALY appeared in 1844. She also attempted a biography on Shelley but abandoned the work. The story of Frankenstein's monster has inspired over 50 films. James Whale's version from 1931, starring Boris Karloff, is considered a classic, and became the major source for a number of other adaptations. The monster kills little Maria on the lake and is hunted down and killed. All reviews of the film were not positive: "I regret to report that it is just another movie, so thoroughly mixed with water as to have a horror content of about .0001 percent... The film differs greatly from the book and soon turns into a sort of comic opera with a range of cardboard mountains over which extras in French Revolution costumes dash about with flaming torches." (Creighton Peet in Outlook & Independent, December 9, 1931) Mel Brook's parody Young Frankenstein (1974), starring Gene Wilder in the role of the famous doctor, was beautifully photographed - Brooks used many archaic optical devices, including the old 1:85 aspect ratio for height and width of the frame. The film received an Academy Award nomination for its script. Among its highlights is the scene in which Peter Boyle as the monster visits a well-meaning, lonely blind man, Gene Hackman, who nearly manages to destroy his guest. Kenneth's Branagh's film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was faithful to the book. 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