Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- MUFON International Director Responds to Petition Email
- The Chile Chupacabras Attacks - Spring 2000
- Fortean / Alternative News: Haiti Declares Zombies Illegal, Eating Grandma and Skin Gun is Real
- Update: Mothman Sighting - Middletown, Ohio
| MUFON International Director Responds to Petition Email Posted: 03 Feb 2011 02:08 PM PST  Hi All, Just a note to clear up comments being made by former MUFON members. First of all, I would like to apologize to SDs and their state membership. I did not want to cause anyone guilty feelings by not being able to send money, even though voluntarily, to MUFON. Some states were able to do this because they have developed an income source from their meetings or by personal donations. Other states were not able to donate since they didn't have any funds. In fact, some states don't even have enough money to pay for a meeting room. MUFON is able to assist states in efforts to raise money for their state. Even though some states couldn't afford to send funds to MUFON they have provided MUFON with time, energy and commitment to our mission. Money isn't the only thing that makes MUFON run. It is the untiring efforts FIs make in their investigations; it is the dedication SDs and ASDs provide in seeing UFO information gets out to the public; it is the energy it requires for states to hold meetings every month and it is your commitment to seeing MUFON's mission statement is fulfilled. Yes, in kind support of MUFON is as important as dollars. No one was intended to be made to feel guilty. Another concern that has been expressed to me is the resigning and removing of SDs within MUFON. I will explain. Over a year ago Ken Cherry made derogatory comments about MUFON members, witnesses, and UFOlogists. I and the BoD asked Ken to apologize publically. Ken elected not to apologize and was removed as SD for Texas. His choice. Steve Hudgeons took over as SD for Texas and is doing a great job. An aside and for your information. Ken Cherry has started his own UFO group and has written a book about the Stephenville, TX UFO event. I have not read the book but according to those who have reported to me, Ken is not very kind to MUFON even though he was one of MUFON's lead investigators at the event. Maybe he didn't like how he investigated the event? Christine Dickey, by her request, was removed as SD for Arizona. Chris had health and family problems and wanted to resign as SD. We agreed with her. Health and family are the most important part of our lives. Jim Mann volunteered as SD and is doing a great job in AZ. Chris has since had a change of heart and wants her SD job back. Marilyn Carlson had a problem with a FI. The FI reported to MUFON there were problems going on within the Oklahoma meetings. Others indicated their concerns about Marilyn. MUFON's ethics committee was asked to investigate what was going on. Marilyn was not the problem in this case. We asked Marilyn to step down as SD until the investigation was complete which might take up to six months. This was asked of her to protect her from the possibility of the investigation appearing to be one sided. Marilyn didn't like this and resigned. Chuck Pine took over as SD and OK is moving right along. Elaine Douglas was removed from her position as SD because she wasn't truthful about her ASD. Strange, now this same ASD is one if the originators of the petition going around. Leslie Varnicle was removed as SD of Colorado due to her management style not being beneficial to MUFON's success. In fact, not one person has resigned from the Colorado MUFON Board. Interesting. Barry Roth, Doug Wilson, Jude Talaba, and Cheryl Gantz have agreed to keep Colorado up and running while a new SD is put in place. James Clarkson has resigned as SD for the state of Washington due to his dislike of MUFON's bureaucracy and his desire to conduct UFO investigations on his own. James will be missed. We have two others qualified to take over Washington. I would also like to point out there is not a "hit" list on SDs for MUFON. That is silly. MUFON's SDs and their state members are the reason MUFON is considered the best UFO Investigative organizations in the world. The public and media look to MUFON for the facts and truth about UFOs. The reason they come to MUFON is because the commitment we all have for MUFON and fulfilling our Mission. MUFON investigates, others report. I wish you all the best. I, also, thank all of you for your untiring commitment, support, and efforts in seeing MUFON's Mission Statement is fulfilled. "The Scientific Study of UFOs for the Benefit of Humanity." Hang in there, this, too, shall pass. Please call me if you have any questions or concerns. All the Best, Clifford Clift, ID MUFON       | ||
| The Chile Chupacabras Attacks - Spring 2000 Posted: 03 Feb 2011 01:15 PM PST  In Chile, during the year 2000, there were a slew of cryptid sightings and encounters. El chupacabras and humanoid / mothman-like creatures were reported nationwide. In this post, I'm going to concentrate on the chupacabras rampage that occurred during the months of April-June: Calama, Chile - April 2000 - night A witness riding his bicycle was passing by the local Lion's Club building, when he heard a groan and stopped to see what had happened. On the side of the building, he saw a dead dog in the grass, and next to it, a pair of large shining eyes. The eyes were so shiny that the witness could not make out any detail of the creature's body. Suddenly the creature lifted the dead dog with its hands, and in the wink of an eye was only 10 meters away from the witness, after being 50 meters away a second before. Shocked the witness quickly pedaled away stunned as to the manner that the creature moved. Source: Calama UFO Center -----  Eight young locals looking for the reputed blood predator in the local hills saw a strange short creature apparently covered with hair make a prodigious leap then run into a nearby cave, near the River Loa. A few nights later, several locals living on the slopes of a hill saw a strange entity quickly climbing up the side of the hill at incredible speed. It moved up on practical vertical cliffs using reptilian like movements, it seemed to expand as if possessing dark wing-like membranes on its back that apparently propelled it up the cliffs. Once it reached the summit, the witnesses began hearing strange growling and screeching sounds coming from the area. Source: Paranigma Chile ----- Tucapel Chile - April 29, 2000 - 8:00pm Farm worker Jose Ismael Pino was looking for a loose wild bull when he came upon a four-foot tall creature, simian in appearance, with long clawed arms, enormous fangs protruding from its mouth, as well as a pair of wings. Scared he ran to fetch some dogs that attacked the creature. One of the dogs came back with a bloodstained neck. Source: UFO Roundup Vol. 5 ----- Maria Elena, Chile - May 6, 2000 - 5:00am Three men that had been driving a refrigerated truck had stopped at a local truck stop in order to obtain some rest. As the driver turned off the truck's engine and lights, they all noticed that the truck seem to tilt slightly to the right, and its lights began blinking on and off. Stunned they now saw behind the right side passenger window a strange figure, described as having abundant hair; an elongated oval shaped head, with several protruding fangs in his mouth, and with large yellowish slanted eyes. It also had large pointy ears and what appeared to be pig-like whiskers. The creature remained a few moments at the window, then left. The terrified witnesses quickly drove away from the area. Strange marks were found on the truck's cabin. Source: La Estrella de Loa ----- Santa Elena de Codao, Chile - May 7, 2000 - 11:00pm 33-year old, G Alejandro Canales was returning back to his home after guarding his rabbit pens. As he took a short cut through an unlit alley he felt something fall on his back. He struggled with the "thing" and managed to shine a flashlight on it. He was stunned to see a short simian looking creature, with large pointy fangs, black fingernails, large golden luminous eyes, and dark leathery wings on its back. He also felt a strong musty odor during the encounter. The creature quickly scurried away disappearing into the darkness. Others found the witness in a state of shock upon hearing his screams. Deep scratches were found on Canales body. Source: OVNIS Chile ----- Near Calama, Chile - May 8, 2000 - unknown According to various sources, Chilean military units in an area near the desert captured three strange creatures, reported to be blood predators or the unfortunately named "Chupacabra." On May 12 at 0627A a Boeing 767 arrived from Miami at Arturo Merino Benitez Airport. It was flight number 501, later a Boeing 767 from Air Lan also arrived at the airport. These supposedly brought special containers clearly marked NASA. Both aircraft then left enroute to Calama at 0800A. The captured creatures were then transferred to special flights that left towards an unknown destination. Source: Patricio Borlone Rojas, Paranigma Chile ----- Near Calama Chile - May 10, 2000 - night A soldier stationed near the city reported seeing a strange creature that was able to make incredible leaps and bounds at times seemingly suspended in mid-air. He described the entity as about 1.20m tall, kind of hairy, and sort of hunchbacked. A patrol was supposedly sent after it. Supposedly the patrol found some strange "eggs" that they brought back to the barracks. Later another patrol reportedly killed two of the creatures and captured a third. It is said that NASA personnel retrieved all three creatures. Source: Paranigma Chile ----- Sierra Gorda, Calama, Chile - May 14 2000 - 5:00am Several security guards posted at the entrance to La Minera El Tesoro spotted several moving figures in the nearby brush. Upon shining their flashlight at the creatures they could tell that they were simian in appearance and moved using incredible leaps and bounds at very high speed. One of the creatures stood up on two legs and it measured about 1.60m in height. It had large glowing yellow eyes and its body was covered with thick hair. The next day the men found a dead dog, which was missing all its organs. -----  Local residents heard strange howling and screeching noises in the area, at the same time that several domesticated rabbits were found dead and completely bloodless. Another resident in Magallanes street saw a strange humanoid, with large bright yellowish eyes, that seemed to have a kind of hypnotic affect on him. Another resident saw a similar being standing on top of some rocks. The next night, a young couple was parked in an isolated area making out, when suddenly a humanoid figure, covered with hair and with large luminous reddish yellowish eyes appeared in front of the vehicle. The young woman then received an apparently telepathic message from the creature, telling her to open the car door and step outside. She was about ready to open to door when she suddenly realized what she was doing. The panicked couple attempted to start the vehicle in order to leave, but could no move their legs. Finally they were able to move and drove away from the area. Source: Paranigma Chile ----- Tocopilla, Chile - May 30, 2000 - 2:00am Local residents living next to the Tocopilla hills were suddenly awaken by strange loud noises. At first they thought it was a person climbing the hill, but after observing it in greater detail, they realized that, whatever they were seeing, not only was not human; it was something they have never seen before. It was a creature that was climbing the hill very rapidly despite the seventy to eighty degrees steep. They described the being as very agile and fast, making reptilian like movements like a small lizard. The creature appeared to be much bigger than a condor, brown in color, with bright red eyes and what appeared to be feathers throughout its body. It emitted loud quack like noises that were heard every night for a couple of weeks, causing dogs to bark and howl at night. Source: Dr. Virgilio Sanchez Ocejo, Miami UFO Center ----- Baquedano, Chile - May 30, 2000 - 6:00am 37-year old Evelyn Esbry woke up early in the morning in order to use the toilet facilities located outside in the terrace. On her way there she heard sounds coming from the patio area. Suddenly an entity jumped on her back, paralyzed with fear she turned around to see a bizarre hairy creature, with a large nozzle, about 4-feet tall, and with large luminous orange, oval shaped eyes. Terrified, Evelyn fainted and did not see the creature depart. She suffered from shock and was treated at the local hospital for deep scratches. The victim told local paramedics that the creature seemed to communicate with her, using telepathy telling her not to scream. Source: Paranigma Chile ----- Quillota, Chile - May 31, 2000 - midnight A local villager heard a loud commotion on the roof of his house. Upon investigating he was confronted by a strange creature that was standing on the roof. He described it as looking like a centaur without a nose, about 90 cm in height. The creature then jumped to a nearby ravine and vanished. The next day the body of a completely bloodless dog was found. Source: Paranigma Chile ----------  by Joseph Trainor Editor - UFO ROUNDUP May 11, 2000 Last week saw another rash of Chupacabra attacks in Chile. Eyewitnesses also sighted two weird humanoid creatures, said to be Chupacabras, near the city of Concepcion,located 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Santiago de Chile, the national capital. The new round of Chupacabra incidents began Wednesday, April 12, 2000 in the small town of Tucapel, in Bio Bio province just east of Concepcion. Witnesses reported that "a large bunch of dried brambles were crushed by a strange luminous phenomenon." On Saturday, April 29, 2000, Jose Ismael Pino, 59, a farm worker employed at the Esperance Ranch two kilometers (one mile) east of Huepil, near Tucapel, had a face-to-face meeting with the Chupacabra. Leaving the barn at 8 p.m., Pino explained, "There was a large bull running wild. I was walking along when I saw something, and I thought that was it. 'Hey, damned bull!' I shouted, and then I saw that it wasn't. It hardly moved. It just stood there, looking at me. It stood about 1.5 meters (four feet) tall, like a big monkey, with long clawed arms, enormous fangs protruding from its mouth, as well as a pair of wings. I was so scared I turned and ran back for the hounds. I set them all loose and let them chase after 'The Bird.' Cachorro (one of the dogs--J.T.) came back with a bloodstained neck." "Pino's boss, Jorge Venegas, owner of the 75-acre farm, carries a loaded shotgun on his shoulder." "Venegas, on his part, lets his employees leave early, since they are fearful of walking around at night, and he himself since the night of the luminous phenomena in Tucapel, has slept with his shotgun beside him." "'We don't know what we're dealing with here. I'm not so concerned about the attacks on the animals, but I have two children, 12 years old and 15 years old, and I'm not going to let anything happen to them. In fact, right now I'm going to get a floodlight to see at night, in case something weird shows up,' explained the planter, hefting the shotgun to his right shoulder." Farms in the Huepil-Tucapel area "were affected by the alleged predator, which killed four sheep on one farm and a cow on another." However, not everybody believes that the the Chupacabra is the culprit. The manager of the Raul Perez farm told the newspaper Cronica, "Years ago, we had a (wild) dog problem. They managed to kill 70 sheep one single night, but we gave it no further importance at the time." On Tuesday night, May 2, 2000, Carabineros (Chile's national police--J.T.) from the cuartel (barracks) in Santa Fe reported that "eight sheep, all of them pregnant, had been attacked by an unknown animal, which had left them half-dead, making it necessary to put them down." The attacks were "blamed on wild dogs. Subofficer Alviro Valdebenito of the Santa Fe barracks further added that a characteristic of these dogs is that they are barkless." Lt. Walter Koch of the Huepil Carabineros stated, "No, there were no reports about it (Chupacabra--J.T.) whatever. We don't even have pumas in this sector, and only in the pre-Cordillera ranges will you find foxes. The only predator of the type we've had are Siberian dogs which have feasted on some chickens." "Carlos Villalobos, a schoolteacher in Huepil, said, 'I think it's linked to some unknown life-form, possibly alien in origin, but the authorities take the position of not acknowledging it, and they are probably very justified, since a collective panic situation could be unleashed.'" The Chupacabra attacks continued without letup. On Wednesday, May 3, 2000, "at 1:30 a.m., professor Liliana Romero Castillo slept soundly in her apartment located at Laguna Redonda in Concepcion, when she was awakened by the barking of the five stray puppies she had picked up some time earlier." The Puppies were living "in the building courtyard with Black, her large, fierce mastiff." "'I crouched and looked through the window. The puppies were whining, and Black had cowered against the wall and was motionless. I could see the back of what appeared to be an immense man, standing more than two meters (6 feet, 8 inches) tall. The shoulder blades were split, as if he had wings. Its attitude (posture--J.T.) recalled that of a person choking another. That was my impression,' said Sra. Romero." "Concerned that a crime was taking place in her garden, she woke her husband, who gave the matter little attention. 'I'm not getting up,' he said, half-asleep." Sra. Romero returned to the window to get another look at the creature, but by then it was gone. "The following day (Thursday, May 4, 2000) Liliana sent her children out to buy groceries at the local store. using a shortcut located behind their building. Upon their return, they told their mother that they had seen 'a dead dog'" in the alleyway. Liliana asked her husband to check, and he returned saying that a wooly, beige-colored dog was lying on the ground with two puncture marks in the throat." 'I don't know if I might be in a suggestive state,' he said, 'But it had two deep holes in its jugular (vein), about the size of a Bic pen, separated by five centimeters between them. What impressed me the most was the way the body was completely bloodless and was as light as a feather. The dog was incredibly wooly (furry--J.T.) and in fact I had to move the fur to see the puncture marks.'" Summoned by Liliana, a team of Carabineros arrived at the crime scene and took custody of the dog's body. They loaded the dog into a black plastic garbage bag and "ordered the family to remain silent, so as not to panic the local residents." "'But I'm scared,' Liliana said, 'Since I have very young children, and I'm afraid that whatever was there will come back.'" The Carabineros took the dead dog to the First Comissariat in Concepcion so it could be autopsied by pathologists. The same day, May 4, 2000, "35 dead birds were found on a ranch 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Pucon on the road leading to the village of Caburuga. The animal attacks, attributed to the mythical Chupacabras, presented the same characteristics as the earlier attacks. (See UFO Roundup, volume 5, number 17 for details) since the dead chickens had cuts and scratches on different parts of their bodies.." Capt. Roberto Saldivia, deputy chief of the Pucon Carabineros, "confirmed that the animals were found dead in a pen, without a single drop of blood in them." "Cesar Hidalgo, regional director of Servicio Agricola y Ganado (Chile's Agricultural and Livestock Service--J.T.). explained that SAG professionals were at the scene" in Caburuga and would investigate further. (See the Chilean newspapers Cronica of Concepcion for May 2, 2000; El Sur for May 5, 2000, "Mysterious Nocturnal Apparition in Building Courtyard--Dead Dog Found Later" by Carlso Saso Prieto; and Orbe for May 5, 2000, "Further Chupacabras Attacks." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, auto de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, Gloria Coluchi y Ricardo Concha para esas historias.) ---------- NASA Experiments Gone Wrong? Chilean Chupacabra watchers remain suspicious, and the case continues. In June of 2000, Chilean newspapers printed accusations from Chilean "UFOlogists" — people who study unidentified flying objects in the same northern deserts where Calama lies — of Chilean military officials finding three "Chupacabra eggs" and even catching the animal itself. The Chupacabra material was then turned over to NASA, according to Chilean press accounts. Radio programs in Chile have also accused the American space agency of creating the Chupacabra in a lab in the first place, while conducting genetic tests in the Chilean desert on mandrills, an animal similar to the baboon. NASA denies the charge with more annoyance than amusement. "Before this it was the face on Mars, and before that it was modifying the weather, before that we were beaming radiation from satellites to make people impotent," says a decidedly weary-sounding NASA spokesman, Brian Welch. "Before that they were saying we faked the moon landing." Welch suggests the Chupacabra is blamed on NASA because the space agency is the last place anyone in Chile would think to call and ask about it. "If you were persuaded to believe that sort of thing, you'd blame the last person you would go to for confirmation of it. I mean, people who believe this sort of thing certainly aren't beating down the door to ask us about it." - animal.discovery.com ----------  El Chupacabra has been crawling all over Chile in the last few months, raising many new questions about this mysterious creature, and resulting in astonishing claims about its origin. It stands three to four feet tall, has a flexible row of spines down its back, eyes that glow red and long, sharp fangs... some even say it has wings. This is how eyewitnesses have described the strange, unworldly creature known as El Chupacabra - Spanish for "the goat sucker." The creature, as elusive as Bigfoot and as terrifying as a demon, earned its name from the way it kills its victims (mostly farm animals, including goats) - by sucking the life blood from them. Chupacabra first made the headlines in 1995, when several attacks were reported in Puerto Rico. The small island still claims the most number of attacks to date, but slaughtered chickens, ducks, goats, cats, dogs and other small animals have been attributed to Chupacabra in Mexico, Central America, South America and even parts of the Southern United States. During April, May and June of 2000, however, there were reports of a spate of attacks coming out of Chile. The mysterious deaths of farm animals followed the same pattern as those in Puerto Rico and other countries, and descriptions from eyewitnesses who claim to have actually seen the creature in Chile match the hideous features detailed in previous accounts. The animal victims had incisions in their throats and their blood had been sucked out... blood-curdling sounds were heard in the dark. The stories that came out of Chile - many reported in Chilean newspapers - had an incredible twist. A few of the dreaded creatures, they said, were actually caught and killed... and then their bodies were taken away by representatives of U.S. government agencies. That was the claim, anyway. The Attack Begins The recent attacks began in April, and newspapers carried stories of the mysterious deaths of close to 200 goats, sheep, chickens and rabbits in northern Chile. At first the deaths were blamed on packs of wild dogs, but one trademark feature of the killings turned the suspicion on the legendary Chupacabra. The respected Reuters news agency reported that some of the animal victims "had incisions in their throats and their blood had been sucked out." The report also said that "detectives swept the zone with night vision equipment and that blood-curdling sounds were heard in the dark, causing residents not to venture outside." Victor Espinosa, an investigator for Chile's Ecology Department, was said to take hair samples and footprint castings for examination. "The paw prints do not match those of horses, cows, goats, pigs, felines or wild dogs," Espinosa said. And, according to Dr. Virgilia Sanches-Ocejo of the Miami UFO Center, Espinosa also said that evidence shows that the animal walks on two legs and only attacks hot-blooded animals and not snakes or lizards of the region. The Capture In late May / early June, rumors surfaced that three of the creatures had actually been captured. Reported chiefly by Marcial Campos Maza of the Chile's EFE news service and by Joseph Trainor of UFO Roundup in the U.S. among others, the stories claimed that three of the creatures had been caught in the desert near a mine just north of the town of Calama. In the struggle to capture the Chupacabras, they said, one Chilean soldier had been killed. The Chilean military allegedly would not discuss the matter. More bizarrely, after the little monsters had been held in an army barracks for several hours, a team of NASA representatives arrived by helicopter from the U.S. (closing the local airport, according to one story) and took them away. How it was assumed that these people were from NASA is unclear, as is where the notion came from that NASA - the U.S. space agency - would have jurisdiction over such a matter, if it were a fact. "Residents of Calama and nearby communities continued to blame NASA for the apparitions and attacks of the mysterious Chupacabras," Maza reported, "which has killed many farm animals in the region and other parts of Chile... their bodies completely exsanguinated and undevoured by the mysterious predator. It was said that the captured animal was kept all day at the regiment's barracks until NASA experts arrived to take it away." Why NASA? Some residents believe that the deadly Chupacabras are the result of some diabolical genetic experiments gone awry by NASA, or some other U.S. agency. "The gringos had at least three genetic experiments run away from them," one respected Chilean architect was quoted as saying, but it was not disclosed how he came upon such information. The Chupacabra Strikes Back It seemed El Chupacabra was not pleased with having a few of its kind carted away. A new rash of animal killings started to occur in early June. In the backyard of a home in the port city of Talcahuano, 14 chickens were mysteriously slaughtered on June 4 - and Chupacabra was blamed. A few days later, the newspaper Diario El Sur ran a story about another attack in the city of Concepcion: The strange case took place around 4 a.m. while Julio Reyes and his wife, Carmen Andrade, were still asleep. They suddenly heard a loud noise coming from their home's back yard, a kind of small farm in which they have a henhouse and a garden containing tomato, potato, chocla and pepper plants. "The light outside the henhouse was on. I saw the monster flapping his wings fiercely while the hens were crowing - something they never do at this time. That's when I saw the white one running toward the back. At this time, Bobby [the family's dog] came out to take a look, but when he saw the back gate, through which the hens had fled, he refused to follow and remained standing still. He then ran toward the street gate and began barking," explained Carmen, who did not witness the events herself out of fear that the intruder might be a burglar. "Bobby became sort of dopey and turned back. He didn't dare go forward," Julio said. Around 7 a.m., the couple discovered what had transpired. In the very rear of the backyard - which can only be reached by crossing two gates - their three hens and one rooster were found dead, completely torn to shreds, as if they had been ripped open at the chest cavity and scattered in a 10-meter (33-foot) radius. It is worth noting that the house's entrance is a gate covered with chicken wire." Chile's national police blamed the attack on wild dogs, but Reyes did not accept that explanation. "Based on several paw prints found on the site," the newspaper article continued, "twice the size of Bobby's, the owner was not satisfied with the explanation, given the difficulty a dog would have had in getting into the area." Also, Reyes said he had previous experiences with dogs attacking his chickens, and they took the chickens away one by one to eat them, they did not slaughter them in this manner. Two days later, another report was called in to a local radio station. The caller, from the city of Antofagasta, claimed to have actually seen the Chupacabra. He said he was awakened by strange noises his cat was making. When he got up to investigate, the creature saw him and "took off at high speed." He claimed that the Chupacabra had virtually destroyed his car by making deep scratches in it with its claws. And it killed the cat. Certainly, this is not the last we'll hear of Chupacabra. The attacks might die down in Chile, but the nasty little creature will surface again somewhere else. It might be a good idea to keep all your goats and chickens securely locked up. - paranormal.about.com      | ||
| Fortean / Alternative News: Haiti Declares Zombies Illegal, Eating Grandma and Skin Gun is Real Posted: 03 Feb 2011 10:19 AM PST  Haiti admits and criminalizes the creation of zombies Haitians are 50% Catholic and 100% Voodoo priests - says a military member of Brazilian peace forces, that are working in the capital Port-au-Prince since 2004. The mysticism of the inhabitants of the western part of the island of Hispaniola, the Caribbean, is considered taboo by most of the western world and has little relationship with rag dolls targeted needles. Haitian Voodoo has its root in Africa. The practices are widespread in the Caribbean nation, whose deep misery gives to gives the nation the worst Human Development Index (HDI) of the Americas. Brazilian soldiers who are part of MINUSTAH (United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti), they remember of to have found in the street, at the beginning of the mission, pieces of human bodies, with chest cutted and eyes gouged out. Believe they were victims of voodoo priests, the "bokors", who practice black magic The brazilian militaries still remember themselves having collected the testimony of an Italian priest who was kidnapped together a novice nun by practitioners of voodoo. The nun was raped repeatedly, including with sticks and wooden stacks, in a supposed religious ritual. The victims managed to escape when another bandits group attacked the firsts and was this episode that created the chance of escape Apart from the rituals of death and purification, the voodoo includes the mystical transformation of humans into "zombies". This is one of the biggest fears for the secular society. The haitians believe that a zombie is created from the sorcery of the wizard, who would make himself a controler of his victim, able to manipulate the will the person's soul. For scholars of practice Vodouisants are, however, the alleged lethargy of zombies may be resulted from the application of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin found in puffer fish species. Article 246 of the Haitian Penal Code makes clear reference to the poisoning made with the aim to produce a "lethargic" state in a person, the main characteristic of those Haitian zombies. "Are classified as envevenamento all attacks on a person's life, the effect of substances that can lead to death sooner or later, independent of the epoch when that these substances had been applied or administered, and whatever the consequences of this procedure. If most of the practitioners of the Haitian voodoo practiced mixed with other religions such as Catholicism, after 2010 earthquake, when at least 220 000 people lost their lives and, mainly, with the worsening of the cholera outbreak at the end of last year, sorcerers of voodoo passed to be hostilized by the population. At Port au Prince the reaction against voodoo practioners can be something violent. In houses whose roofs have a sort of scarecrow with red rags, at least 40 priests were murdered, says Brazil's ambassador to Haiti, Igor Kipman. Part of the population attributed to them the responsibility for the deaths of more than 3300 people that were victims from cholera. **********  Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early Spring (yeah...right) sfgate - Word is out today that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow in the annual tradition in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney Phil is supposed to tell whether we're going to see six more weeks of winter or not. Apparently, we will not, which is good news for much of the Midwest today. With the weather we've had around the country during the past couple of winters, Phil is encouraging many people that springtime is near. This morning, however, many families across the Midwest are getting crushed by snow. There is a massive storm in the midwest that is ravaging the Great Lakes right now and is set to affect some 30 states by tomorrow night, with as much as 20 inches of snow around certain parts of the country. For your reading today, the National Wildlife Federation provides some fun and little-known information about groundhogs. The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck or the mouse bear (because it looks like a miniature bear when sitting upright), first won its reputation as a weather prognosticator in 1886, when the editor of western Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper, one Clymer Freas, published a report that local groundhogs had not seen their shadows that day, signaling an early spring. This story begat Punxsutawney Phil, the legendary woodchuck weathercreature, which begat Ground Hog Day and the familiar idea that Phil (and his namesake successors down through the years) can predict the perpetuation of winter. It is likely that the story of Phil is based on European beliefs that badgers and hedgehogs can provide signals about the future; lacking those species in his area, old Clymer substituted the local animal that most resembles a badger or a hedgehog. But the groundhog is much more than a weather rodent. It's also a real animal with a real life. Here are 10 things from the National Wildlife Federation about this roly-poly rodent: 1.Groundhogs are among the few animals that are true hibernators, fattening up in the warm seasons and snoozing for most of three months during the chill times. 2.While hibernating, a woodchuck's body temperature can drop from about 99 degrees to as low as 37 (Humans go into mild hypothermia when their body temperature drops a mere 3 degrees, lose consciousness at 82 degrees and face death below 70 degrees). 3.The heart rate of a hibernating woodchuck slows from about 80 beats per minute to 5. 4.Breathing slows from around 16 breaths per minute to as few as 2. 5.During hibernation-150 days without eating-a woodchuck will lose no more than a fourth of its body weight thanks to all the energy saved by the lower metabolism. 6.During warm seasons, a groundhog may pack in more than a pound of vegetation at one sitting, which is much like a 150-pound man scarfing down a 15-pound steak. 7.To accommodate its bodacious appetite, woodchucks grow upper and lower incisors that can withstand wear and tear because they grow about a sixteenth of an inch each week. 8.If properly aligned, woodchuck upper and lower incisors grind away at each other with every bite, keeping suitably short; when not in good order, they may miss one another and just keep growing until they look like the tusks on a wild boar; if too long, a woodchuck's upper incisors can impale the lower jaw, with fatal results. 9.Woodchuck burrows, which the animals dig as much as 6 feet deep, can meander underground for 20 feet or more, usually with two entrances but in some cases with nearly a dozen. 10.Burrows provide groundhogs with their chief means of evading enemies, because the rotund little guys (just before hibernation, a hefty woodchuck may tip the scales at 14 pounds) are too slow to escape most predators in a dead heat: the rodents have a top speed of only 8 mph, while a hungry fox may hit 25 mph. Bonus Fact: Although groundhogs may not be the best weather predictors, they do in fact emerge from dens in early February. This is the practice of males as they rouse themselves to wander around their 2- to 3-acre territories in search of burrows belonging to females, which the males will enter and where they may spend the night. Research suggests that no mating takes place at this time; the visits probably just let the animals get to know one another so that they can get right down to the business of breeding when they emerge for good in March. Outside of the mating season, woodchucks are solitary, except for females with young, which usually are born in early April. NOTE: I can't believe I actually drove up to Punxsutawney, Pa. one year to witness this spectacle...Lon ********** Coffin abandoned in woods sparks mystery nola - About a month ago, Scott Owens set out to find a prime fishing spot near Slidell. The 37-year-old outdoors photographer from River Ridge thought he had found one off winding, tree-lined McManus Road. But before he crossed the woods and got to the water, he stumbled across an open and empty casket that might have been unearthed from a nearby graveyard that was flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Owens, struck by the mystery of whom it belonged to, called a local television news reporter. The reporter notified authorities and aired a story about the discovery during the weekend, launching an effort to find the deceased person's relatives and properly recover the coffin. But on Monday, coroner's office investigators determined that the woman who once rested in the casket is indeed properly buried. Though Hurricane Katrina's flooding unearthed the coffin years ago, authorities subsequently managed to recover the remains and bury them again; the funeral box, however, was apparently discarded nearby and forgotten. "It was bizarre," Owens said Monday. "I thought it might have been negligence as a result of Katrina." Owens, who enjoys fishing aboard his kayak, recently surveyed the New Orleans area on Google maps for enticing bodies of water. A swamp near rural McManus Road caught his eye, so he used Google's "Street View" feature to get a better look. "Street View" pulled up a panoramic of Brookter Cemetery, a private family graveyard. At its entrance, Owens saw a crumbled burial vault and an exposed casket, an image he struggled to erase from his mind. The vault Owens saw was damaged by the 12- to 14-foot Katrina surge that swamped the Slidell area in August 2005. The surge washed away dozens of crypts, vaults and caskets in southeastern St. Tammany Parish. Some of the caskets were broken, and the remains inside were exposed, including one at Brookter Cemetery, said Melanie Croft, executive director of the parish coroner's office. Recently, Owens drove to the area. The vault was no longer crumbled. Someone had installed a three-sided fence around the cemetery. Relieved, he marched toward the water he had spotted on the map, but several yards into the dense woods, he found something even more haunting: a silver coffin that resembled the one he saw on Google. "At first I thought it was junk, a refrigerator," Owens said. "But I walked up to it and there it was -- (the) casket." Owens headed back home and for weeks was unsure of whom to notify. Eventually, he called the TV news reporter who notified the Sheriff's Office and the coroner's office before publishing a story on the situation Sunday. Two deputies investigated the open casket but found no human remains in it, said Capt. George Bonnett, a sheriff's spokesman. Fallen tree branches, vegetation and debris blanketed it, but its interior was intact. On Monday, Croft said, her office's investigators determined through photographs that the casket Owens saw on the Web and the one he found in the woods were one and the same. The remains inside belonged to a woman who once was buried in a flooded-out Brookter funeral vault, but the coroner's office could not determine the precise burial spot and therefore could not identify her. Two people who believed that woman was their mother contacted the coroner after the storm. DNA analysis showed that was not the case in both instances. No one else claimed the woman was a relative, and the coroner's office reburied the remains elsewhere. Afterward, the keepers of Brookter Cemetery apparently dumped the abandoned casket at the rear of their property, said Denise Brookter, a relative. Authorities were not immediately sure whether the keepers needed to do anything else to dispose of the coffin because it sat deep in land posted as private. ********** Video link: Skin gun is real gizmodo - The skin gun is not science fiction—it's a prototype medical device that literally sprays skin cells onto burn victims to re-grow skin. Old methods like skin grafts took weeks to heal; the skin gun needs about an hour. We've heard about the spray-on skin gun back in 2008 but we didn't think it'd become this real, this useful, this fast. Though it is still technically in an experimental stage, the skin gun has already successfully treated over a dozen burn victims. The way it works is by using stem cells from the patient's healthy skin and mixing it with a solution to come up with the spray paint. And combined with that fancy gun, the rest is easy. Doctors say "skin cell spraying is like paint spraying". The video has some graphic burn images, so don't watch unless you have the stomach for it. This clip will also air on National Geographic's Explorer: How to Build a Beating Heart. Stem cells have long been a point of controversy but this is really wonderful science at work. CLICK FOR VIDEO ********** Charles Manson caught with another cell phone Cult killer Charles Manson has been caught with a smuggled cell phone for the second time. Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Wednesday that guards found the phone Jan. 6 at Corcoran State Prison. Manson previously was caught with a phone in March 2009. He had been calling and texting people in California, Florida, New Jersey and British Columbia. He had missed calls from Arkansas, Indiana and Massachusetts. Thornton couldn't immediately say who he'd been calling this time, nor how he got the phone. Manson is serving a life sentence for killings including the infamous murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles in 1969. He faces a disciplinary hearing and could lose early release credits. The Legislature plans to consider a bill making inmates' possession of phones illegal. ********** Ukrainian boy (named 'Vlad') eats grandmother mid-day - A 26-year-old Ukranian, named only as Vlad, has been arrested for slicing off and eating parts of his grandmother's body while she was still alive. He reportedly used a shard of broken mirror to slash the face of the woman who had raised him and then took out her eyeballs and ate them, police sources said. They said that he cut off parts of her body to chew before killing her in a sickening ritual, The Mirror reports. "All this time the old woman was conscious and tried to escape, screaming. He responded by slicing off her tongue and eating it," the paper quoted a source, as saying. The alleged killer, described by neighbours as a religious fanatic, was in his underpants, holding a cross and conducting a perverse funeral service, the paper said. Vlad's father broke into the flat soon afterwards and found his elderly mother lying dead in a pool of blood, her skull smashed, and her ears and lips also apparently devoured. The dad fled and called police who pumped gas into the flat in Simferopol, Ukraine, to subdue the man. He was arrested covered in blood and held for psychiatric tests. "I heard muffled cries. I thought it was people watching a horror movie," a neighbour said later.     | ||
| Update: Mothman Sighting - Middletown, Ohio Posted: 03 Feb 2011 08:40 AM PST
I received an update to this sighting including another related encounter. This creature (or creatures) may continue to visit in the area: Well, both my friend and I live closer to Middletown, OH. There was another encounter I had shortly after I had sent the email and I kept forgetting that I hadn't sent it. I had walked out of my room to wash my face, try and calm myself down, etc. and my brother's room is directly across the hall from mine. I looked straight ahead and it was looking right through the window of his room (that's the picture I had sent). I stared at it for awhile, feeling kind of cold and then feeling really scared and I finally pulled my eyes away and went about my business. When I came out of my bathroom, I didn't look in the direction of his room. My friend reported that what she saw had more oblique-shaped eyes and looked kind of 'angry' (I wasn't too sure about that hypothesis), while mine had large, round eyes and seemed kind of curious or something. Sorry I didn't include that in the original message; like I said, this happened after I sent the email and I keep assuming I had included it when I hadn't. Other than the weird sightings, there wasn't any strange activity I can recall. NOTE: I have found past reports from the general area including Sciotodale, OH, Portsmouth, OH and Byron, OH. Any updates will be posted here...if you live in the general area and have experienced strange activity or have seen something unusual, please feel free to contact me...Lon   The following is a excerpt of one of those previous reports: Coming back from the grocery store 12:40am 3/10, me and Veronica got out of the van and were walking to the house (Sciotodale, OH) I looked up in the sky and some movement caught my eye. I pointed to the object and Veronica acknowledge it, and tracked it's movement with me. We could not make out any details. What we could make out was a wide wing span. There was no movement, no sound. I estimate it was moving approx. 20+ mph. It appeared to be flying about approx 20 ft taller than the tallest treetops - so I'm guessing about 80 ft high. It appeared to me to have a tan color. We followed it over our house, across the road, and then it disappeared in the darkness going a NE direction. I would guess the bulk of the wing span was at least 12/15 ft wide, and possibly much wider given the rough estimate of the height. It appeared that we were only seeing the very bottom of the wing, and there may have been areas on the object that were not visible in the darkness. After it was gone, I was trying to pull all the information together and form some sort of idea of what it was. At first I thought of the possibility of a UFO/flying saucer etc... but after I thought about it a little bit, it gave me somewhat an impression of being "organic" - if this was a flying creature, it was completely gliding - no wing motion. So what was it? Never saw anything like that. In the last couple of years I have become a big fan of large birds in the area - Turkey Buzzards, Hawks, occasional Eagles, Owls, etc. It did not travel like an of these birds, and not like a bat either. ---------- Below is the original letter - Jan 29th, 2011: It was about 8:00 pm and I was driving home after dropping a friend off at her house. I came to an intersection, a red light, and stopped. Nothing out of the normal, just a regular night. The roads were fairly deserted. While waiting for the light to change I saw something that looked like the back end of a deer as it quickly crossed the street. I didn't think much of it except for the fact that when I drive through there I have to be careful because deer apparently like to jump in front of cars. That stretch of road is only a couple hundred feet posted at 40 mph. I slowed to about 30-35 mph to watch and look at the deer. When I looked to see if the deer was still there I witnessed something quite a bit different. This massive thing was standing back a ways but it was clearly visible. The yard it was standing in has a huge white shed with a light attached to the front though, this didn't help because it cast a big shadow. The figure stood on the ground but its height reached to about the top of the doors to the shed. It had two curved like masses coming from the sides. But the most obvious feature were the deep red, glowing eyes coming from the center of the black mass. It was something I couldn't stop looking at. I continued to drive but all the way home I felt I was being followed. - Liz ---------- I'd like to share an experience my friend and I have unfortunately been dragged into. At approximately 10:30 PM tonight, I received an instant message from my friend about a rather disturbing encounter she had. She had reported she saw the Mothman. I sent her several messages back, asking if she was alright, if she was there, etc. She eventually sent me a text message with a picture that she drew of the creature attached. By this point, I was literally getting sick and trembling due to anxiety and fright. We began talking about it and I noticed a tapping at my window; a very light kind of sound. My dogs both jerked their heads upward and stared at the window for a long time. Being in the state I was in, I refused to look. For awhile, the tapping stopped...she and I continued to discuss the matter at hand. Suddenly, the tapping began again, but this time the dogs ignored it and so did I. About four or five minutes later, I fought the urge to stare at my computer monitor and looked at my window. My blinds were closed, but I could faintly see something red and glowing, like taillights that had somehow made their way into the neighbor's backyard. I quickly looked away, not wanting to see it anymore. I looked again a couple minutes later, unnerved to see the red glow was still there. Again, I looked away and continued discussing this with my friend. Finally, I turned my head one final time and saw that the glow no longer remained. As I'm typing this email, I'm really worried, as the tapping has begun again and I'm really too afraid to move from this position. Above this, I've included my friend's side of the story, and, should you post this, we would certainly appreciate if you could put them both into one piece. We'd discussed calling the police, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it. Her parents brushed it off and I have yet to tell anyone in my house about this. I'm not sure what this was; a frightening delusion or a real situation, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to face the facts and find out. Thanks for your time. - Allie (This was sent to the MothmanMuseum.com as well) Send us an email Phantoms and Monsters Now Available on Kindle   Spirit Rescue International™ Providing no-cost professional spiritual help, personal support and guidance Take the first step towards genuine peace of mind
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