Phantoms and Monsters

Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 34
Fortean / Alternative News: Dreams/Predictions, Death By Gaming and Greater Manchester Mutilations
Big Cat Sightings, Hysteria Near New Orleans

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 10:17 AM PST

The following are previous humanoid / cryptid encounter reports received by various agencies worldwide:

AMISH COUNTRY CREATURE

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - August 1973 - various

An ungodly looking creature created havoc among the local god-fearing Amish community. Witnesses described the creature as following: The size of a good heifer, gray in color with a white mane. It had tiger like fangs and curved horns like a Billy goat. It ran upright on long legs, and had long grizzly claws. In one incident, the creature sent a team of horses and two brothers flying when it approached their hay wagon. The following day, a man was cutting weeds on his farm about five miles from the previous incident when he heard a fierce roar and turned to see a monster with three horns and a tail charging in his direction. He raised his scythe to defend himself, only to have the implement ripped from his hands. At that point, the man wisely decided to turn both cheeks to the monster and escaped as fast as he could run. A day later a woman was feeding poultry on a farm midway between the two earlier incidents when she heard a commotion and turned to see the creature in the act of snatching a goose in each of its hands. She bravely ran toward the thing, waving her apron. The woman managed to recover one of her geese when the creature threw it at her, knocking her to the ground in the process. The interloper then escaped with the remaining bird in hand.

Source: Phillip L Rife, America's Nightmare Monsters

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NEW YORK MOTHMAN?

Near New York City, NY - December 30, 2010 - 1:30 am

My dad was driving and my mom and I were asleep because it was so late. My dad pulled over and woke us up. He was royally flipping out. We didn't know what was wrong. He pointed to the overpass and all you could see were these intense glowing bright red eyes. At this point, we didn't know what it was so we just start driving again. When we reach the overpass the thing was still on it so my dad decided to stop. Then the thing swooped down and landed on the hood of our car. This thing landed with such a force it dented the hood! It then proceeded to stand up on the hood and it was 6-8 feet tall, black, and had wings!

We were all terrified at this point. My dad takes out the phone and calls the New York highway patrol and they laugh at him and hang up saying they didn't like prank calls. The thing was just sitting there. I took out my camera and photographed it (with the flash on). The thing then jumped off the car and took off, like it was afraid of the camera flash! When we got to my aunt's we told her and she said their were countless reports of this thing. Then I showed her the picture on my camera and she got REALLY freaked out. I have been doing research over the past couple of weeks and trying to find something that resembles it. At this point, I believe it was a Mothman

Source: Witness report...photo has yet to be released

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MY BIGFOOT?

Sykesville, Carroll County, Maryland - Spring 1982 - night

Williard McIntyre saw a tall hairy humanoid in a wooded area. He fired a shot at the creature, apparently without affect; the creature then turned around and hit McIntyre with a ball of light. No other information.

Source: Mark Opsasnick

NOTE: this incident occurred one year after my personal encounter...linked here: My Bigfoot Encounter - Spring 1981 - Report #231 (Class A) - The Sykesville Monster - The Enigma Project Report...Lon

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THE SUBWAY

Manhattan, New York - October 1, 1999 - 5:00 pm

The witness was ascending the escalator at Penn Station and had reached street level when she noticed standing about 20 feet away, what seemed to be a male figure about 6-feet, 7 inches tall. He stood near the mouth of the entranceway to the station. The tall being stared at the passerby's as though he was trying to choose one of them. The witness caught a glimpse of his face but she turned away immediately, and walked away down the sidewalk without turning back, feeling that if she would turn around for another look something would happen to her. For an unknown reason she felt tremendous fear. The figure's face was not human, his eyes looked right through you. His face was light gray almost white, thick brow, and menacing eyes. He stood in a peculiar way, standing with his back arched, broad shoulders, his elbows pointing towards his back, his head was tilted back just a bit looking down at the top of people's heads. The witness quickly left the area and did not return.

Source: NUFORC

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SHADOWS AND HOLOGRAMS

Chantilly, Virginia - June 10, 2002 - night

The witness was awakened during the night with a sense of some presence in the room. Looking toward the door, he saw, fading quickly, something, which almost had the appearance of a hologram. Next, shadows appeared outside the windows in an erratic shape. At first he thought the shadows to be from trees moving in a strong wind. The appearance was of a storm blowing the limbs to create these shadows outside the window. However, there was no storm. He looked at the adjacent window on the side of the house facing opposite and there was no wind at all. In fact there was no trees positioned in such a way to cast a shadow. He opened the blinds to see what might be causing the shadows. He then saw what seemed to be a hologram with the shape of two small eyes moving erratically outside the window. Frightened he closed the blinds. Two weeks later he was awakened by a humming sound and again saw the erratic shadows outside the window. He watched the shadows for 10-15 minutes and then called the police. The police found no signs of any intrusion in the yard. When the police left the witness walked toward the door facing the back porch and saw a large burst of bluish white light. It looked unnatural, almost like a laser. He has not seen the "shadows" again.

Source: NUFORC

Fortean / Alternative News: Dreams/Predictions, Death By Gaming and Greater Manchester Mutilations

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:05 AM PST

Can dreams predict the future?

Aberfan is a small village in south Wales. In the 1960s, many of those living there worked at a nearby colliery that had been built to exploit the large amount of high-quality coal in the area. Although some of the waste from the mining operation had been stored underground, much of it had been piled on the steep hillsides surrounding the village. Throughout October 1966 heavy rain lashed down on the area and seeped into the porous sandstone of the hills. Unfortunately, no one realised that the water was then flowing into several hidden springs and slowly transforming the pit waste into soft slurry.

Just after nine o'clock on the morning of 21 October, the side of the hill subsided and half a million tonnes of debris started to move rapidly towards the village. Although some of the material came to a halt on the lower parts of the hill, much of it slid into Aberfan and smashed into the village school. A handful of children were pulled out alive during the first hour or so of the rescue effort, but no other survivors emerged. One hundred and thirty-nine schoolchildren and five teachers lost their lives in the tragedy. Continue reading at Can dreams predict the future?

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MUFON CMS - Mendoza, Argentina - 5/3/2010 - unedited: I was driving the route 101 of Mendoza, Argentina, with 2 friends, near a town called Pareditas (8 miles away), the moon was rising so we stopped to take some pictures of it. I took 4 or 5 pictures and then we get back on the road. When we arrived home, we saw a green shape almost the size of the moon, near it, in the first photograph. It was very noticeable, and with good quality, a shadow slashing the green bulbs in halfs. In all the pictures the bulb appears in different positions. We couldnt find any explanation for that, not a flearing, a reflection or object created from the human being could show such colors and shape, over a huge field were no one lives.
I didnt contact anyone else about this, and don´t know exactly what to do as I believe my pictures are a valuable source of information to share with the world.
Looking forward for a response, so i can send you the photographs.
Photographer Fernando Demian Arcuri.
San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina.

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Chinese man dies after 3-day web gaming binge

A Chinese man in his 30s has died after a three-day gaming binge at an Internet cafe outside Beijing, during which he did not sleep and barely ate, state-run media reported Tuesday.

The incident highlighted the country's ongoing battle to stamp out Internet addiction, which affects tens of millions of Chinese, according to researchers.

The man, who was not identified, slipped into a coma this week in the cafe on the outskirts of the capital and was rushed to a nearby clinic, where he died shortly after, the Beijing Times said.

He had spent more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) over the past month on Internet gaming, and had barely moved from his computer for a three-day period, the report said.

Police confiscated several computers as part of their investigation but have ruled out murder and thus far have not detained the operators of the small cafe, which only had about a half-dozen terminals, it added.

The number of teenage Internet addicts in China has risen to 33 million, according to state media reports citing Chinese researchers.

Concerns over Internet addiction have spurred a new industry, with unlicensed web "boot camps" springing up around China.

The government has also taken a series of measures to cope with the problem. Authorities recently ordered online video game operators to allow parents to monitor their children's playing sessions or even put in place a total ban.

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Big Cat Fears in Greater Manchester

wigantoday - Police are investigating a series of animal mutilations, which could be the work of a panther.

The partially-eaten bodies of three adult swans and two dead lambs were found at Three Sisters Recreation Area on Golborne Road, Golborne, and at an adjoining farm.

The discovery comes a fortnight after at number of civil servants from the DWP's benefits call centre at nearby Griffin House, in Bryn, told of seeing a panther-like animal sunning itself in a tree, and on the roof of a building from their office windows.

Police today would not comment directly on the claims that a potentially dangerous wild animal is stalking the site.

However, officers from Bamfurlong Police Station are known to have interviewed Julie Fairclough, who first spotted the big cat, specifically about her shock sighting.

A spokesman for Wigan Police said: "On Friday, February 11, police were called to Golborne Road, Wigan, following reports two lambs had been found dead.

"At just after 10am on Sunday, February 13, police were called to the Three Sisters Recreation area following reports three swans had been found dead.

"Officers from the Ashton-in-Makerfield Neighbourhood Policing Team, the Hindley Neighbourhood Policing Team and the division's wildlife crime officer are supporting inquiries being made by the Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust Ranger Service."

A spokesman for Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, which manages the Three Sisters site, said: "We can confirm that three swans have been found dead since Sunday. We have been liaising with the police and are investigating the matter.

"We have contacted experts to help us identify the type of animal that may have carried out these attacks."

Mrs Fairclough, who has completed 30 years service for the DWP, said today that she was pleased that the police were taking the issue seriously.

But she made a plea that if a big cat is at large on the sprawling Three Sisters site, it must not be shot.

She wants experts to mount a humane operation to have it captured safely, and then released into a zoo park.

Mrs Fairclough, of Hindley, plus half a dozen of her colleagues at the DWP, spotted the mysterious black beast from their office windows.

The creature was observed for some time at about 150 yards away, at one point climbing a tree and settling in to survey its unlikely territory.

It then jumped on to a wall and a roof, before disappearing into the undergrowth.

Three Sisters, formerly a colliery site named after three now-flattened volcano-shaped pit rucks, connects with open land as far away as Bickershaw and Abram.

Mrs Fairclough said: "I've got a tom cat called Oliver who weighs in at a stone and four pounds, so I know the difference between a big pet and this amazing animal.''

But Wigan Leisure Trust's countryside manager Graham Workman, who was once called out by police after reports of a lion stalking through the undergrowth of Worthington Lakes, still believes the six benefits staff were mistaken.

Three Sisters wardens fear that the attacks could be the result of lurcher-owners illegally training their dogs to hunt – or a large dog fox.

Mr Workman warned: "Animals seen at that type of range with the naked eye can be very difficult to identify accurately.'

"Animals like this have to be registered with the local authority under the Dangerous Wild Animals legislation, but there are none registered here, so there are none that were living legally in captivity here in the borough or the surrounds.

"I believe that the staff have seen, literally, a big domestic black cat, and the perspectives have been playing tricks on them.

"I have been over there in the snow many times this winter.

"I have never seen any tracks that could suggest we have a creature anywhere near that size ranging around Three Sisters."

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"Why haven't we been back?"

MTV - Everybody knows that man last set foot on the moon in 1972. The brand-new trailer for "Apollo 18," which premiered Friday on Apple.com, asks the question: "Why haven't we been back?"

From director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and producer Timur Bekmambetov, the trailer for "Apollo 18" mixes what appears to be archival footage of early space shuttle launches with "Paranormal Activity" -style "found footage" of a secret 1973 mission to the lunar surface, supposedly kept hidden from the public because of what the astronauts discovered.

"In the years following [Apollo 17] there was unconfirmed intelligence of an 18th mission," the trailer reads. "No evidence has ever been found. Until now."

Although not made explicit, the "Cloverfield" -style flick showcases several alarming incidents in its trailer, including a number of shots where it's clear the astronauts are not alone on the seemingly barren and deserted satellite. One particularly jarring shot shows one of the astronauts infected to the point of possession; another shows several non-human footprints in the gray lunar dust.

Conspiracy theories aside, and depending on your perspective, there actually was an Apollo 18 mission. Launched in 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was a joint mission between US and Russian forces, officially and symbolically ending the great space race of the preceding decade.

The alternate history story is the English language debut of Spanish auteur Lopez-Gallego. Released by Dimension Films, "Apollo 18" will hit theaters April 22.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

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200 Years In 4 Minutes

Hans Rosling takes a massive amount of data on the correlation between income and lifespan over 200 years and manages to make it come to life in a way that is way more interesting than that description sounds.

Click for video

Big Cat Sightings, Hysteria Near New Orleans

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 07:46 AM PST

Folsom resident Randy Davis was sitting at home in his equipment room late Saturday night when on his surveillance monitor he noticed a large cat walk across his asphalt driveway. On closer inspection, Davis thinks the image is that of a black panther. Video at bottom of post.

nola - In the New Orleans area, panther hysteria is at fever pitch.

With residents reporting near daily sightings, you'd think we were under attack.

Truth is, the myth of the black panther in Louisiana - and throughout the United States - has a long phantom existence, according to physiologists and biologists.

Maria Davidson, the large carnivore program manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, calmly explained that the only black panthers in existence are black jaguars found in South America and black leopards that live in Asia and Africa.

The North American black panther generally falls under the term "cryptid," a creature whose existence has been suggested but is not recognized by the scientific community and has been deemed highly unlikely. Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster fall under that category.

They also have been called "phantom cats," "alien big cats" (ABCs), and in certain circles, the sightings have been dubbed "panther paranoia."

And while some people, including local law enforcement officials, discuss the possibility of a black cougar in our midst, Davidson assuredly said black cougars do not exist at all. They come only in tawny and fawn colors, ranging from light gray-brown to a brownish orange.

In fact, she said, Louisiana does not have a breeding population of cougars - in any color - and that the last cougar found in the state was in 2009 and that animal was genetically linked to a population in New Mexico.

Last weekend, two panther sightings were reported, one in St. Tammany Parish and one in Plaquemines Parish. A few days earlier, a man in St. Bernard Parish said he and his wife saw one sitting a block from their garage, staring at them calmly, before darting into nearby woods.

Several other reports of sightings have streamed into Davidson's office and to the news media.

The recent fervor began several weeks ago, when a woman purportedly spotted a panther in a tree behind her house. Plaquemines Parish sheriff's officials went out with Davidson to investigate.

Davidson said she later confirmed that the footprints belonged to a dog.

Recently a photo began circulating on Facebook, and soon made its rounds on local television news channels, that a Plaquemines woman said she took on Sunday. Davidson said the photo certainly is of a house cat, likely measuring about 3 feet from nose to back of tail.

Other supposed black panther photos have come to her attention in the past few weeks, and she said all were much too blurry to decipher.

Plaquemines sheriff's Sgt. Robert Cullum went to the original black panther sighting in Phoenix on Plaquemines' east bank and has searched each day with hunter dogs, trained to track deer. He said he saw a 6-foot-long black cat.

A week or so after the original sighting, residents reported that the cat had moved south to the riverside community of Davant, and now Cullum predicted it is in the Bohemian area, farther south along the parish's east bank.

A Plaquemines sheriff helicopter still regularly circles the area.

Also chiming in, Lake Borne Levee District Police and levee contractors in the Violet area have reported panthers in the area.

And last Thursday, a couple in Violet called the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office and reported a panther near their home. St. Bernard sheriff's officials, especially after news broke about it on Monday, searched the woods there for the past two days to no avail.

Meanwhile, a Folsom couple recently reported to television media that their home surveillance cameras caught a panther on film Saturday. They have not reported it to government officials, and Davidson said on Tuesday that she yet heard of it.

Donna Davis said she now won't let her eight grandchildren out of the house at night.

"There is no refuting from this video what he is. It is very obvious, very clear," she said. "From head to tip to tail it's almost 6 feet, 7 feet and he has a girth to him like you can't believe. It's a massive, massive cat."

She and her husband Randy Davis have horses on their 20-acre property but say none has been injured. She said they have now added better lighting and are using live chickens to bait the panther in hopes of getting a better shot on film.

Erin C. Dupuis, a clinical psychologist at Loyola University, said one explanation for the recent flood of panther reports is the "availability heuristic."

The recent barrage of media reports about panther sightings scare people, thus making a significant impression on their psyche. In turn, they begin thinking about panthers more and they begin to have the impression that more black panthers exist than actually do, she explained.

"Now, when I go to my backyard I am primed to think that what I see is a black panther, even though it might just be a big cat or dog that is blurry in the side of my vision," said Dupuis, who studies how people think about their social environment.

Another explanation Dupuis posed is the "confirmation bias," which states when people think something exists, they seek out information that confirms those beliefs.

Davidson said when a pet goes missing, people often will jump to the conclusion that it was a panther, or a cougar, instead of the neighborhood dog, a coyote or an even simpler explanation: that the cat simply ran away.

"It's a phenomenon that we talk about quite often actually, just among the professionals who deal with it," Davidson said.

And after the state Wildlife and Fisheries Department debunks stories about roaming black panthers, explaining that they do not exist in the area, Davidson said people often try to find another explanation, and resort to stories about how wild, exotic pets must have sprung loose from their owners.

According to urban myth, in St. Bernard's Poydras area before Hurricane Katrina, a man owned two panthers -- one brown and one black. When the deluge came, he let the beasts loose and for the past five years they've been out in the marshes.

St. Bernard officials say no records were kept from before the storm and most of the pre-storm staff in the local animal control department have since left town, making research into the story difficult.

But, any owners of the world's six big cats -- tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs and cougars -- must receive a permit from Wildlife and Fisheries, and Davidson said none has been issued.

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