Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- Australian Teen Claims Video Capture of Alien Creature
- Fortean / Oddball News: Massive Dark Object, Mysterious Withering Wheat and Faith Healing Trial
- Religious Apparitions: U.S. Shrine Declared Legitimate
| Australian Teen Claims Video Capture of Alien Creature Posted: 09 Dec 2010 09:32 AM PST    Click for video tweednews - Alex Player has captured footage of what appears to be a mysterious alien creature moving in his backyard. The 16-year-old Bilambil Heights resident has captured four different encounters with the alien creature on film and believes the creature has entered his home. "The first time I saw it was the clearest. It was not that tall – only as high as the grass – and a grey colour with a big head," Alex said. "It didn't make a single sound. I'm a believer but I have never seen anything like this before. I'm open to the idea. "Who would be out in that area late at night? I don't think it could be anything else." The images were captured on October 5, October 24, November 20 and November 28 on a video camera and mobile phone. Alex said the being entered his home on one occasion. "In early November it came into the house. I think it came from my mum's room and through the house," Alex said. "My mum and I sat in my room. It moved through the house in two minutes. "Then we heard a thud outside, like it was jumping off the veranda." Alex said he placed the footage on video sharing site Youtube and received many comments from users. The footage he shot of the first October encounter has been used in an independently-produced documentary entitled Gone with the UFO's, to be released on DVD in 2011. UFO Research Queensland sightings officer Martin Gottschall said movement could be a deciding factor when looking for alien activity. "There are certain types of movement that I recognise as belonging to a UFO," Mr Gottschall said. However, he said he did not see that kind of movement in Alex's video recording and he was not convinced the recording depicted an alien. "UFOs can hover and make no sound or shoot off at a high speed. In the footage you cannot see if the creature is hovering," Mr Gottschall said. UFO Research Queensland Incorporated is a voluntary, non-profit association established in 1956 to receive, record and research UFO sightings. It proposes there exists, and has for many years, a large body of well-attested sightings which are so unambiguous that the only reasonable inference is that extraterrestrial vehicles are flying through the atmosphere, landing on the ground and entering the oceans. NOTE: there is definitely something in the bush but it's very difficult to see what it is...unless there's a kangaroo hopping around with a flashlight. I really don't know what to make of it...but I am skeptical, though curious. This footage is supposed to be part of an upcoming documentary. I'd like to read some of the home invasion report as well (if available)...Lon          |
| Fortean / Oddball News: Massive Dark Object, Mysterious Withering Wheat and Faith Healing Trial Posted: 09 Dec 2010 08:49 AM PST  Massive Dark Object 'lurking on edge of solar system hurling comets at Earth' dailymail - A massive dark object may be lurking on the edge of our solar system, according to scientists. Most comets that fly into the inner solar system seem to come from the outer region of the Oort cloud - a region of icy dust and debris left over from the birth of the solar system. The cloud starts from a point about 93 billion miles from the Sun and stretches for around three light years and contains billions of comets, most of them small and hidden. Now new calculations suggest a large object that is up to four times as big as Jupiter could be responsible for sending them in our direction. The scientists have analysed the comets in the Oort cloud and deduced that 25 per-cent of them would need a nudge by a body of at least Jupiter size before they changed orbit. Astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire at the University of Louisiana came up with theory said that 'something smaller than a Jovian mass would not be strong enough to perform the task'. They believe that our solar system has a hidden 'companion' that has so far remained undetected. The scientists have been studying the cloud using WISE, Nasa's infra-red space telescope that is capable of detecting dark objects. Matese said: 'I think this whole issue will be resolved in the next five to 10 years, because there's surveys coming on line that will dwarf the comet sample we have today. 'Whether these types of asymmetries in the directions that comets are coming from actually do exist or not will definitely be hammered out by those surveys,' Matese added. 'We anticipate that WISE is going to falsify or verify our conjecture.' About 3,200 long-period comets are known, one of the most famous being Hale-Bopp which was visible to even the naked eye during 1996 and 1997. Halley's Comet, which reappears about every 75 years, is a 'short-period' comet from a different part of the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt. If it exists the new planet is so freezing cold it is difficult to spot, researchers said. It could be found up to 30,000 astronomical units from the sun. One AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles. Scientists have already proposed that a hidden star, which they call 'Nemesis,' might exist a light-year or so away from our sun. They suggest that during its orbit it would regularly enter the Oort cloud, jostling the orbits of many comets there and causing some to fall toward Earth. These occasional comet showers could be why the mass extinctions on Earth are so regular, some scientists believe. The research appeared in the online edition of the journal Icarus. 'Most planetary scientists would not be surprised if the largest undiscovered companion was Neptune-sized or smaller, but a Jupiter-mass object would be a surprise,' Matese told SPACE.com 'If the conjecture is indeed true, the important implications would relate to how it got there — touching on the early solar environment — and how it might have affected the subsequent distributions of comets and, to a lesser extent, the known planets.' ********** Mysterious Withering Wheat capitalpress - The Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University are investigating the yellowing of upward of 40,000 acres of wheat in Umatilla and Morrow counties. So far, the cause is a mystery, and researchers do not know if the problems in the two counties are related. In early November, Umatilla County growers noticed wheat fields turning yellow and dying, OSU Extension soil scientist Don Wysocki said. Sixteen fields from three to 10 miles northwest of Pendleton were affected, Wysocki said. They are "more or less but not completely contiguous," he said. Not every field in the area was affected. The area was predominately planted to soft white Clearfield variety ORCF-102, but other varieties were also affected, Wysocki said. "There's probably more than one thing going on in these particular fields, like in any field," he said. OSU Morrow County Extension associate professor Larry Lutcher said 30,000 to 40,000 acres of wheat in his county have plants with yellow or purple tips. The discoloration spreads inward and downward on the leaf. In some cases, plants are completely desiccated and will not recover. The symptoms have been observed in many fields in the county, Lutcher said, but do not appear tied to any particular location. "Most of the symptoms in Morrow County are unlike anything I have ever seen," Lutcher said. Lutcher said he doesn't believe the problem will spread to other fields, but he can't be certain. "This does appear to be a new problem -- a problem that no one seems to have experience with," he said. Neither Lutcher nor Wysocki were sure if the circumstances in the two counties were connected. "The big question on everyone's mind right now is, how will the crop look this spring and will replanting be necessary?" Lutcher said. Oregon Department of Agriculture Special Assistant to the Director Brent Searle said the department was contacted by farmers in early November. The department sampled and tested the fields, but final results are not yet in. Preliminary samples showed some root pathogen issues, but Searle said the investigation is still in the information-gathering stage. The department and university sent surveys to growers asking about field history, planting dates, chemical use and where seed was purchased. OSU also examined nearby fallow land to see if it was similarly impacted. The information may help identify common factors or patterns, Searle and Wysocki said. In Umatilla County, the patterns are oriented across the fields, with "shadow effects" suggesting protection in areas behind slopes or fence rows, Wysocki said. But the patterns of the die-off aren't typical of anything anyone has seen before, Searle said. "The weather's been really weird this year and there was a tight planting window, and then temperature swings and rains and the grain jumped real fast in growth," he said. "It could be a whole combination, perfect storm kind of thing. We're just trying to sort it all out right now." Most growers in Umatilla County were replanting their fields, Searle and Wysocki said. Replanted acres aren't expected to have a problem, Wysocki said, "but we can't rule that out." ********** Faith Healing on Trial in Philadelphia philly - A Philadelphia forensic pathologist told a Common Pleas Court jury Tuesday that a 2-year-old Rhawnhurst boy would almost certainly be alive had he received routine medical care before he died last year of pneumonia. "This type of pneumonia, this type of bacteria, is preventable through vaccination and treatable with antibiotics," testified Assistant Medical Examiner Edwin Lieberman, referring to the disease that killed Kent Schaible in January 2009. Lieberman defended his decision to classify the death as a homicide as a prosecutor began her involuntary manslaughter case against the boy's parents, Herbert and Catherine Schaible. There is no mandatory prison term for involuntary manslaughter, but the Schaibles each could face up to 24 years in prison if convicted. The Schaibles are members of a church that preaches forgoing medical care in favor of prayer and faith healing. Authorities allege that when their son became ill with fever, cough, diarrhea, and loss of appetite, the Schaibles cared for him at home for almost two weeks, praying for him to get well as he died. It's a case in which the jury must discern the boundaries of parental responsibility, religion, and the law. "A 2-year-old doesn't have the wherewithal to say, 'Mommy, Daddy, I'm sick. I need to go to a doctor,' " Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said in her opening statement. "A simple visit to the doctor, a prescription, and that little boy could have been with us today," Pescatore said. The Schaibles' attorneys, however, argued that it took an autopsy to determine what killed young Kent and that the symptoms his parents saw were not different from those of cold or flu. The Schaibles, their lawyers told the jury, are on trial because of their beliefs. "If we don't get through the emotion, we will never get to the reason that this child passed away," said Bobby Hoof, the attorney for Herbert Schaible, 42. "We are not here to discuss religion, we're here to discuss why this child passed away." Hoof said he would bring in his own expert forensic pathologist, the celebrated Pittsburgh medical examiner Cyril Wecht, who will testify that the bacterium that killed Kent - Haemophilus influenzae Type B - is resistant to antibiotics. "It would not have cured the child," Hoof added. "The child would have died." Mythri Jaraman, the lawyer for Catherine Schaible, 41, argued in her opening statement that Schaible's religion is irrelevant because the prosecution cannot prove a key element of involuntary manslaughter: that she knew or should have known Kent "faced a substantial risk of death." "Not this D.A., not Mr. Hoof, not the state and not any one of us loves Kent Schaible any more than his mother," Jaraman told the jury. No one has alleged that the couple are anything but loving parents. Both defense lawyers said visits to the Schaible house after Kent's death by a nurse and social workers showed no signs of neglect or abuse among the couple's six other children. Both Schaible lawyers argued that the couple - both quit school after ninth grade - cannot be expected to know when cold and flu symptoms are life-threatening pneumonia. Catherine Schaible's mother, Mary Wakefield, testified that her daughter told her Kent was "coming along, doing good." When she saw Kent on Jan. 24, 2009, Wakefield testified, he seemed grumpy but otherwise healthy. She said she was shocked when Pastor Ralph Myers, assistant pastor of the First Century Gospel Church, came to the house to pray with the parents and she was told the child had died. First Century Gospel Church, founded in 1925, is at 4557 G St. in Juniata Park. This is not the first time the church and its members have run afoul of the law over its belief in faith healing. In 1993, Philadelphia officials got a court order against another couple after they prayed over their 12-year-old son at home instead of taking him to an emergency room after he was hit by a car and seriously injured. And in 1991, the church and another congregation, Faith Tabernacle of Nicetown, came under scrutiny after eight children died in a measles epidemic after members resisted vaccinating their children. ********** Red Alert As Mystery Disease Hits Uganda nation - Kenya is on high alert after a yet-to-be identified disease killed 35 people in Uganda. Reports indicate that 86 people had contracted the disease. The Director for Public Health and Sanitation, Dr Shahnaaz Sharif, on Wednesday said his office was in constant communication with Ugandan officials to monitor the outbreak. The symptoms of the illness are headaches, fever and vomiting blood. However, Dr Sharif said that he had received word that the Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever, caused by the Ebola virus, had been ruled out. Kitkum, which is situated about 400 kilometres north of Kampala, and three districts surrounding it, have so far been affected. Dr Sharif was quick to add that Kenya is not at immediate risk as there are some districts between Kitkum and the Kenyan border acting as 'buffers'. Nonetheless, health officials are vigilant especially in Turkana District, which is at highest risk, given its proximity to the affected region. The director issued this alert as he announced the second round of the polio emergency campaign that will run from December 11-15. This comes after a confirmed polio case was reported in Bugiri District, Eastern Uganda, which borders the Ugandan Busia District that shares a border with Kenya's Busia District. The reports triggered the emergency vaccination programme, due to the high transmission rate of the virus. The first round, which has been rated as successful as 982,881 children were vaccinated, was carried out on December 20-24, 2009 and the final leg will be from January 15-19 next year. Its target is 1,001,785 children. ********** Another Alabama UDCC Reader Has `Hanging Jet' To Report UDCC - from Rick Phillips - As some of you are aware - I started this blog as an offshoot of my blog called The Heavy Stuff as at the time THS had become too UFO oriented for my tastes of what I wanted that blog to be. And, up until September of this year - I stayed within a 1-4 posts a month schedule pretty much. I found it quite easy to cover the issues of UFOs as I saw them with that posting frequency. And, really, once you say the same general opinion four times or more - it gets to be an effort to put the mind to the screen so to speak. I say all that because up until now(ish) this blog has not been part of any `I'll share this with you' type of info. However, with the increase to frequent postings - `information' has filtered the way of UDCC -- most recently exemplified by the comment on a year plus old `high strangeness' UFO report about a Hanging Jetliner Picture/Story - that I covered. And, I admit, it takes a bit of an open mind to even consider such reports as something beyond nonsense. And, no one of the observers of such phenomena - other than the writings of Colin Bennett - have put a face onto the phenomena. And, even with my last post I tried to put some semblance of `logic' to it - maintaining that it would certainly seem to be indicative of some kind of cloaking phenomena or mind projection phenomena. I would still take that positioning. However, on Monday Dec. 6th between Midnight and 1 AM I received an E-Mail concerning yet another `Hanging Jet' - here is the content of the contact: "Sir, Saw your blog post on the hanging jets in Huntsville, AL. Intrigues me, as I have seen one in Madison, AL. Madison is right next to H'ville. It would take a dive back through my journal, but I could give you the exact date and the approximate time of day. However, I work in the aerospace field, and I CANNOT have my name associated. If it was discovered I had said anything about this, my career would be over. I've heard of other high strangeness in the area. The jet in question was a large military jet, painted black. As you can see - I have honored this contact as far as withholding the `non working gmail.net' address used to contact me. Now, here's the even stranger part - this person did it thru my Squidoo account (in which I don't believe you can even enter a fake email - which is what I see on my end). Also, while I will not say anything in particular about the identification on the name associated with the above mailing - when I sent the returned E-mail to a gmail.com account of the same name it did NOT return. And, yes, I did look up the name via google and yes there is someone of the name that could very loosely be said to fit the self-description of the person above. So, as far as all that goes, I guess I am trustable now. LOL. That said, I have NOT gotten an answer to my inquiry at all in any manner and I feel my leg has more than probably been pulled by a low level trickster of some sort (and no, at least as of now I am not saying the trickster of high strangeness fame). But, a few more things - about THIS `Hanging Jet' Report - literally qualitative things I take away for the ENTIRE presentation of this information to me via a back channel of my contact on the internet (as simply leaving a comment works too as I approve each comment). Anyway, first thing, this person keeps a dated Journal and uses the term high strangeness and now brings yet ANOTHER DESCRIPTION - that does NOT match the prior ones about this Hanging JetLiner Phenomena. Does that lend more credence to thinking mind control/mental projections is the more likely? Or, is it just as likely some inner working of a cloaking to use such data of the mind? I certainly don't know, - but - what I do know is that this will probably be the last time a dead end contact will be the UDCC headline. That said, I will continue to prove `updates' simply within other posts should the contact seem sincere. However, this contact somehow gave a fake E - then didn't respond to what anyone would have done - change the .net to .com. I gave two days for a further contact - UDCC will keep you updated. Finally, as a postscript, I can't help but think of Blossom Goodchild's prediction of `UFOs Hanging Over Alabama' - as the sign from above. As indeed, if multiple people or all people in Huntsville Alabama were able to film such an event - the high strangeness factor would BE EQUAL to an UFO event IMO. And, perhaps without all the fanfare associated with a full blown UFO event - while providing the fortean `impossibilities' of all and any type of occurrence.      |
| Religious Apparitions: U.S. Shrine Declared Legitimate Posted: 09 Dec 2010 07:53 AM PST  The site in the town of Champion has long been a popular destination for the faithful since the apparition was reported by Sister Adele Brise. But only in the last two years did the Diocese of Green Bay undertake the official process to earn the distinction that puts it in company with sites including Lourdes, France; Guadalupe, Mexico; and Fatima, Portugal. Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay announced Wednesday he officially approved the sightings as legitimate apparitions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion. A diocesan spokesman said there are only 11 other such sites worldwide. WLUK-TV reported that Ricken opened his investigation in January 2009. He appointed a team of three Marian experts to study the history of Brise's claim. The bishop said Brise's character was a major factor in the decision to approve the Marian apparition. ********** Most Reverend David Laurin Ricken, D.D., J.C.L. By the Grace of God and the Authority of the Apostolic See Bishop of Green Bay Decree on the Authenticity of the Apparitions of 1859 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help Diocese of Green Bay GIVEN THAT For over one hundred fifty-one years, a continuous flow of the faithful has come to Champion, Wisconsin to pray, to seek solace and comfort in times of trouble and to petition Our Lord Jesus Christ through the powerful intercession to Our Lady of Good Help. Incessant prayer has gone up in this place based upon the word of a young Belgian immigrant woman, Adele Brise, who in October 1859 said that the Blessed Mother, a Lady clothed in dazzling white, had appeared to her on this site. The Lady was elevated slightly in a bright light and gave words of solace and comfort and a bold and challenging mission for the young immigrant woman. The Lady gave her a two-fold mission of prayer for the conversion of sinners and catechesis. "I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners… Gather the children in this wild Diocese of Green Bay country and teach them what they should know for salvation… Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you." Adele Brise began immediately to fulfill the mandate and mission entrusted to her by the Lady and oftentimes at great personal sacrifice went to the homes of the children to instruct them in the largely unsettled and forested area in Wisconsin. Adele was ever obedient to the authorities of the Church and steadfast in the mission entrusted to her by Our Lady, no matter what difficulty she encountered. The mission given her became such a commitment that she set up a Catholic school of instruction for children and even began a community of Third Order Franciscan women, who assisted her in her obedience to the mandate of Our Lady to pray for the conversion of sinners and to instruct the children. A long tradition of oral and some documented sources recounting answered prayers at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help include conversions and many physical healings attributed to the Blessed Mother's intercession. Many physical healings are memorialized by the multitude of crutches and other mementoes of thanksgiving for answered prayers left at the Shrine. Prayers for physical healing are answered even to this day through the intercession of Our Lady of Good Help. Though none of these favors have been officially declared a miracle by the Church, they are clear evidence of spiritual fruitfulness and the history of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Shrine. Graces have been poured out through the sacraments celebrated in this place especially through the celebration of the Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as well as through the recitation of public devotions and private prayers. Our Lady has lessened or relieved the burdens of the People of God, whether about financial, familial, relationship or employment matters or even through diminishing inclement and tempestuous weather. This holy place was preserved from the infamous Peshtigo fire of 1871, when many of the faithful gathered here with Sr. Adele and prayed through the intercession of Our Lady of Good Help, with the result that the fire that devastated everything in its wake in this entire area stopped when it reached the parameters of the Shrine. There is clear testimony to the upright character of Adele Brise, her devotion to Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and her unwavering commitment to the mission Mary entrusted to her. Moreover, the uninterrupted history of faith and devotion testifies to the spiritual fruits bestowed upon the pilgrims to the Shrine. GIVEN ALL OF THE ABOVE Three Marian experts have studied the history of this alleged apparition and all of the extant documents, letters, and written testimonies in order to determine whether or not there are inherent contradictions or objections to the veracity of the testimony given by Adele Brise with regard to the events of 1859 and to establish whether or not there is enough evidence to suggest that the events which happened to Adele Brise may be of a supernatural origin. The accounts of the apparitions and locutions are judged to be free from doctrinal error and consistent with the Catholic faith. There is nothing in the person and character of Adele Brise that would question the veracity of the substance of her account. In fact, her personal character is a major factor in favor of the recognition of the apparition. Objections concerning whether there was enough evidence to support a judgment in favor of the supernatural character of the events were thoroughly investigated and answered by the experts. The documents from the early history of the Shrine are not abundant, due primarily to the fact that Green Bay at the time of the apparition was frontier country. One of the experts affirmed that any lack of information does "not invalidate the overall impression of coherence between event and consequences, personality of the seer and commitment to the mission received, the comparability between this event and similar recognized apparitions, and challenges of the historical context and responses given." GIVEN THAT These simple apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise became such a compelling theological and religious mission for her. The effects of these endeavors by her and many others have lasted these many years with such major spiritual benefit to so many people. Many of the local clergy and clergy from other Dioceses and Religious Institutes have come here on pilgrimage with their people, also with spiritual benefit. All of my esteemed predecessor Bishops of the Diocese of Green Bay for the past one hundred and fifty-one years have been present for special Masses in Honor of Our Lady of Good Help, and some of them have even actively promoted the Shrine. THEREFORE, It remains to me now, the Twelfth Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay and the lowliest of the servants of Mary, to declare with moral certainty and in accord with the norms of the Church: that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful. I encourage the faithful to frequent this holy place as a place of solace and answered prayer. Given at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Champion, Wisconsin, the eighth day of December in the year of Our Lord two thousand and ten, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His Excellency, Most Reverend David L. Ricken, D.D., J.C.L. Twelfth Bishop of Green Bay ********** THE MIRACLES AT ROBINSONVILLE, WISCONSIN  She also walked several miles to church each Sunday, following an Indian trail that ran to Bay Settlement. On the morning of Sunday, April 15, 1858, Adele was passing through some woods in Robinsonville when she was over-powered by a vision that she later described to a nun, who related it this way: "… there appeared between two trees, one a maple and the other a hemlock, which stood for years after, a blinding white light which paralyzed the poor girl with fear. She cowered before it and prayed rapidly and breathlessly as the light took definite form, and between the trees stood a marvelously beautiful lady, clothed entirely in dazzling white garments, with no touch of color save a wide yellow sash or girdle. Her hair was auburn; her eyes deep and dark and she bore a radiant and kindly smile. Adele trembled with fear. The vision faded gradually away." (Green Bay Gazette, August 13, 1925) The next Sunday she traveled the same route with companions to show them the spot (location B on the map linked above). When they reached the two trees, Adele collapsed involuntarily to her knees as the vision re-appeared, though her friends saw nothing unusual. When they arrived at the church, a priest advised her that if it happened again, she should ask the beatific lady why she had appeared. For the next several weeks curious crowds followed Adele through the woods each Sunday but nothing unusual happened. Then, on October 9, 1858, her friends saw Adele once again fall to her knees between the maple and the hemlock and ask aloud, "In the name of God, who are you and what do you wish of me?" "'I am the queen of the heavens' she said in a soft and wonderful voice, 'who prays for the conversion of sinners. I want you to do the same.'" The visionary woman told Adele, an illiterate peasant, to start a religious school for the area's children, who lived many miles from any teacher and risked growing up in ignorance. Although she felt unqualified, and was initially rejected by church authorities, Adele succeeded in raising enough funds to start. A neighbor donated five acres around the school and chapel, and her father built a 10×12 foot wooden chapel at the site of the visions. Adele soon managed to open a free school, and was joined by a local nun named Sister Pauline who carried the church and school into the 20th century (and is the main source for their early history). When she was rejected by authorities and scoffed at by skeptics, Adele requested divine assistance, and miracle cures began to occur in the chapel. Tales of blind visitors regaining sight, of the desperately sick being cured, and of cripples restored to health began to spread. Behind the altar, a collection of discarded crutches and canes gradually built up. Another supposed sign of divine intervention occurred during the famous Peshtigo Fire. On October 9-10, 1871, (the anniversary of Adele's third vision), this massive fire spread through 400 square miles of northeastern Wisconsin, killing about 1,500 people. On the east side of Green Bay, it rapidly spread through the Belgian region. While others fled toward the lake for refuge, Adele and her community called on divine power for protection. They lifted the statue of the Blessed Virgin from the chapel and, carrying it above their heads, circled the buildings while praying for deliverance. The forest fire devastated the land all around them and spread right up to the fence surrounding their enclave — but did not leap over it. Their wooden school and church stood out like an island in the charred landscape. (Catholic Herald, May 23, 1935) Descriptions of cures and divine intervention turned the little church and school into one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the Midwest, and it earned the nickname "Wisconsin?s Lourdes." Adele Brisse died in 1896 but the chapel and school are still there, now known as Our Lady of Good Help in New Franken, Wis. Visitors still come each August 15th to celebrate the Catholic holiday known as the Feast of the Assumption, to see the location of the vision and miracles, and to re-enact the sparing of the chapel during the Peshtigo Fire. ********** Where the Fatima Apparitions Actually Extraterrestrial?  Interview with Professor Joaquim Fernandes, PhD in History at the University of Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal.Professor Fernandes has recently completed some seriously groundbreaking research on the Fatima Cult linking it to UFO phenomena or to put it simply suggesting that the key event relating to this saga was extraterrestrial. Professor Fernandez was a key contributor to a series of books on the topic: The Fatima trilogy. All News Web recently caught up with the Professor to gain further insight into his fascinating findings on this topic: 1. What led you to research the Fatima Apparitions? For a long time the Fatima Apparitions story was considered controversial and a lot of authors and thinkers thought that they were supported more by political than religious reasons and motivations. Then, we look to question what really had happen there by accessing the original archives and documents. 2. What kind of difficulties and obstacles did you find during the research? The main obstacle was to access the Fatima sanctuary documents, namely the so-called Formigao archive that were classified until the end of the 1970's when we proposed to study them. Following having the chance to read them, one of the authors (Fina d'Armada) was badly punished in her professional career. 3. Did you find any kind of surprises there? The main surprise was that the extraordinary events could not have been invented. In our opinion they occurred in fact. But as more of the original documents emerged the more the events were mimetic of the ufological phenomena. Another surprise was the certification that Canon Formigao had modified the first historical description of the Fatima "Lady": a little girl with a skirt to her knees he changed to an adult lady with a long and shining skirt. We also discovered that the image that the people can see today ay the Sanctuary was inspired by an old image of the previous cult of Senhora da Lapa Lady. But, more surprising was finding witnesses that described the so-called "Sun Miracle" as a "disk-like metal object" with equidistant lights in the periphery, like the classical hard daylight UFO cases. 4. How did Catholic believers and the religious authorities react? As a lot of us are grounded in "belief systems" and have a deep supernatural dependence many believers did not read our books. Others linked their supernatural needs directly and exclusively with Fatima and are happy with their simplistic faith while not knowing the details of the Fatima events. Others read the books with a critical mind or react with perplexity or deny all in the name of their faith. Then, a lot of members of the Catholic Church hierarchy avoid discussing our views since they also need Fatima to keep on as a major financial source. 5. Do you plan to continue looking for new clues to the Fatima events? We keep always in our minds the urgency to rethink religious personal experiences, like the "Marian apparitions" as a syndrome that calls for a deeper and deeper interest and research to find its origins and ways of expressions as a part of the Extraordinary Human Experiences in its totality. So, the different scientific disciplines and other cultural paranormal approaches must give attention to this aspect of popular religion. Also, we urge the experimental and theoretical experts to look at these rich documents that we think can be a good exercise to discover and understand how our brain and spirit can be stimulated to surpass the ordinary limits of human perception, "tuning" new extensions of the consciousness. NOTE: here are two links that tie into witnessing religious apparitions...in particular, those supposedly witnessed by Joan of Arc - Channeling Spirits: Religious Heresy or Saintly Practice? and Joan of Arc Mystery Revealed...Lon      |
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