Phantoms and Monsters

Sheep Mutilation Mystery - Dine' Navajo Reservation, Near Hogback, NM
An Account of Close Encounters
Fortean / Alternative News: Humming Sound Over Texas, Husband Sacrifices Wife and Aliens Abduct Cat
Recent Worldwide UFO Reports / Sightings

Sheep Mutilation Mystery - Dine' Navajo Reservation, Near Hogback, NM

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 03:39 PM PST

According to my friend J.C. Johnson of Crypto Four Corners, in March 2010, 24 sheep were mutilated at a farm near Hogback, New Mexico, on the Dine' Navajo Reservation. The livestock owner explains that there were large talon marks but very little blood and no evisceration. Was this an attack by a large flying predator? Why were the carcasses left intact? Could this have been a Chupacabras? Was this another example of animal mutilation and experimentation by non-terrestrials, aliens or government entities?

J.C. mentioned that a large cryptid bird or pterosaur may have been responsible for this act. That theory is not as far-fetched as it may initially sound.

For many generations, people in New Mexico and parts of Texas say they've seen birds so big they seem prehistoric.

One man claims the rugged landscape near Las Cruces hides a mystery that's haunted him for several years.

Dave Zander has lived near the Doña Ana Mountains for more than 30 years spending almost all his spare time hiking, exploring and fossil hunting in the range between the Robledo and Organ mountains.

He saw something that he's unable to explain and many people find hard to believe.

He recalls the day eleven years ago when he spotted something extraordinary: two creatures perched on a mountain less than a mile away.

"These creatures were so huge they looked like the size of small planes," Dave Zander said. "All of the sudden one of them jumped off dropped off the top of the mountain, came down the front of the mountain and all the sudden these huge wings just spread out.

"I would say the wings were at least a 20-foot wingspan."

Definitely something out of the ordinary.

"Not a normal bird, definitely of a giant variety," Zander continued. "It makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to."

Zander witness a real-life scene out of the movie Jurassic Park?

One ancient bird in the vicinity is an Andean condor living at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. But it's wingspan of 12 feet pales to what Zander described: birds with an unprecedented twenty-foot wingspan, with pink bald heads and all-black bodies, and feathers on their enormous wings.

There is nothing on modern record like it.

"In comparison a 20 foot wingspan would truly be a monster and something undocumented by science," cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard said. "I believe what Dave Zander may have seen are surviving teratorns."

Gerhard has made a career studying prehistoric birds.

"What's interesting the reports of these giant raptor-like birds to continue into modern times," he said. "We seem to have a large concentration of them here in the Southwest particularly in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as well as New Mexico and parts of Arizona."

Gerhard documented many of these strange reports from all over the globe in the book "Big birds! Modern sightings of flying monsters."

The book includes sightings in different clusters over the past 30 years.

In 1972 in Maxwell in northeastern New Mexico, Ronald Monteleone of Trinidad, Colo., reported what he thought was a pterodactyl flying out of an arroyo.

In Lordsburg in the 1800s locals talked constantly about the sightings of pterosaurs.

And a picture circulated the country in 1890 out of Tombstone, Ariz., but it's never been considered totally legitimate.

"Other eyewitnesses are describing specifically giant feathered dark birds with an enormous wing span," Gerhard said.

Gerhard said his research falls into two different descriptions from witnesses. Some said the birds look like the prehistoric pterodactyl while others, like the creatures described by Zander, resemble the ancient thunderbird from Native American mythology.

You can find thunderbird images atop many totem poles and also carved into the lava rocks of the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. Similar images are found in petroglyphs all over North America.

According to legend, the thunderbird is said to have a wingspan the length of two canoes with the ability to deafen people with the sound of its flapping wings.

"It is definitely a real animal, according to the native peoples that lived here," Gerhard said. "It's not necessarily a legendary animal."

(Andean Condor)

However a word of caution comes from folks like Ben Radford, managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which applies scientific reason and evidence to extraordinary claims.

"There is a desire to link modern sightings with these Native American stories but the problem is they're not necessarily the same thing," Radford said.

Radford said believes the eyewitnesses saw something:

"Ultimately a lot of these sightings, whether it's these monsters, these creatures, Chupacabras, what have you, these come down to eyewitness testimony," Radford said. "They're stories, there's nothing wrong with stories, but they're just not good evidence."

Radford has debunked numerous stories about the Loch Ness monster, crop circles and Bigfoot.

He said he relies on evidence.

"You don't have bones, teeth," he continued. "You don't have any hard evidence, so you look to these stories, you look to these myths.

"We know from many scientific experiments people are notoriously unreliable about estimating things."

And in this case, Radford said he thinks Zander and the other witnesses in Texas overestimated the birds' size.

What makes the reports intriguing is that most experts agree scientists have yet to discover every species on the planet and really have no idea what is out there:

"I believe there's a good chance that a number of large prehistoric animals remain undiscovered by modern science." Gerhard said.

Radford readily concedes there are species yet to be discovered, but...

"Do I think there are giant animals and birds and creatures out there?" he said. "No."

For his part, Zander continues to keep his eyes on the skies but hasn't had a repeat visit from the creatures. The one experience has stayed with him.

"I feel honored to have seen the one sighting," he said. "I had if they're still up there still living up there and thriving, I say awesome, more power to them."

I received the following email from a man who lives west of San Antonio, Texas near Medina Lake. He states he witnessed a large flying creature on August 11, 2009:

Dear Sir. I witnessed a large flying creature this evening that I cannot identify. I found your site during a search. I'm apprehensive of mentioning it to any friends or family until I can get a grip on what this was.

I live west of San Antonio, TX near Medina Lake. Today, I was on a random outing to the area near the Diversion Lake dam. At about 7:30 pm, I was on my way back up the trail when I suddenly heard a loud awful scream coming from below the dam downstream. It sounded like an owl but lasted longer and was much louder. I stopped walking and watched downstream to see if I could catch a look at what caused the sound.

I then noticed a large flock of birds flush out of the trees near the riverbank. Then suddenly this giant flying creature swooped down into the river valley and just as quickly flew back up into the rocks. I continued to watch but did not hear or see it again. I call it a creature because it looked nothing like a bird. I was about 50 yards from it and would say conservatively that it's wing span was 15 ft. or so! It was dark colored and had a very long beak and a strange long thin tail. This sounds crazy, but it actually resembled one of those flying dinosaurs though the head was not as large and it looked like it had feathers.

I got back home and looked on the internet for examples of bird species but found nothing close. I'm not originally from this area and have never heard of anything like this. That is why I'm contacting you. Do you have an idea what it was? I see you have a website, maybe someone who reads your site could help identify it. JJ

On December 6, 2010, researcher Jonathan David Whitcomb issued the following press release:

For generations, the mystery lights of Marfa, Texas, have entertained residents with their strange dancing. On some warmer nights, a ball of light seems to split into two, which will separate and fly away from each other before turning around and flying back together. They have recently been linked to flying lights in the southwest Pacific, lights that natives of Papua New Guinea testify are from large flying creatures.

In southwest Texas, local residents have speculated about dancing devils or ghosts. Scientists have preferred something along the lines of ball lightning or earthlights, but all their scientific explanations have tripped over the resemblances to line dancing. If atmospheric energies or tectonic stresses cause the displays, why do two lights horizontally separate for a long distance before coming back together?

Now a cryptozoologist from California has explained the dancing lights of Marfa. Tales of spooks may hold a spark of truth, for recent research implies intelligence directs the lights: Bioluminescent flying predators may be hunting at night and catching a few unlucky Big Brown Bats: Eptesicus fuscus.

According to Jonathan Whitcomb, a cryptozoology author in Long Beach, California, when one of the bioluminescent predators has been glowing for awhile, not far above the ground, it will be joined by another of its kind, which will then turn on its own glow. After insects have been attracted to that area, the two creatures will separate, which appears to distant human observers to be one light splitting into two. The predators will fly away from each other for some distance, then turn back and fly together. During the separation, bats may begin feeding on the concentration of insects before being caught from two sides by the larger predators.

Whitcomb was a forensic videographer, in 2004, when he traveled to Papua New Guinea, hoping to videotape the glowing nocturnal "ropen," said to be a large flying predator and scavenger. Although he did not see the creature, he interviewed many natives, who impressed him with their credibility and amazed him with what they had seen. Whitcomb became convinced that the ropen is a pterosaur, commonly called by Americans "pterodactyl" or "flying dinosaur."

After returning to the United States, he wrote many web pages about the concept of modern living pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific. He was surprised at the response: emails and phone calls from eyewitnesses of apparent pterosaurs in the United States.

He analyzed the eyewitness accounts of those flying creatures and wrote a nonfiction book: "Live Pterosaurs in America." The second edition of that cryptozoology book has just been published (ISBN-13: 9781456341350).

Although Whitcomb admits that Marfa Lights may come from an unknown bioluminescent bird or bat, he says, "It is more likely than not from a creature similar to the ropen of Papua New Guinea, and my associates and I are sure about the ropen: It is a pterosaur." - Jonathan David Whitcomb

NOTE: I have been reporting on Whitcomb's research and expeditions since I started 'Phantoms and Monsters'...in fact, he has forwarded several reports directly. This theory involving the Marfa Lights is interesting since much of the phenomena associated with the ropen of New Guinea is similar...Lon

A quick history of the Marfa Lights: The Marfa Lights in Western Texas, nine miles east of Marfa, are arguably the most well-known spooklights in the US. Within driving distance of the McDonald Observatory, the Marfa lights have been viewed for over a century. According to a State of Texas brochure, the first recorded sighting was made by a rancher named Robert Ellison in 1883. Apache Indians thought them to be stars that had dropped down to earth. Today they can been seen at night by passersby who park in a pullover spot on Hwy. 90. They are described as changing in color and intensity, and usually move about. Most skeptics believe the Marfa Lights are nothing more than distant auto headlights on another highway, but that doesn't explain the pre-automobile sightings. The town of Marfa even hosts an annual Marfa Lights Festival every September. To read more, go to - Marfa's Legendary Lights

An Account of Close Encounters

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 01:42 PM PST

I received the following interesting email from a reader who describes many of his encounters over the years:

My Early Extraterrestrial Vehicle (ETV) Sightings

These are my sightings of "extraterrestrial vehicles"or "ETVs" (a term and abbreviation I've made which is more accurate than "UFO"), as of September 27, 2008. These are experiences I've also reported to the UFO Evidence website, years ago.

Darryl E Berry Jr (Cezyl)

-----

Date - 2000
Location - New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Summary: I saw flashes in the clouds. I went to check it out and a craft came out of the clouds, apparently the cause of the flashes.

Date Reported: 2/26/2005 5:09:13 PM

Day/Night: Nighttime

No. of Witnesses: Only me that I know of...

No. of Object(s): Single

Urban or Rural: Rural..

Size of Object(s):
One to two times the size of average two-story house I estimate...

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude:
About 5 blocks away...

Shape of Object(s):
Like a short barrell, or several coins stacked atop each other...

Color of Object(s):
It was nighttime, so the actual object not sure... Pink light from bottom...

Full Description & Details:
My UFO and ET Encounters Research Report Ready

My biggest encounter

By the time the year 2000 came I'd already seen scores of video clips of UFOs. I'd read article after article, and several books on first person accounts complete with pictures- including Fire In The Sky by a wood smith named Travis Walton. I'd seen hundreds of pictures and portrayals of aliens and UFOs by this time, and now I was ready and willing to see crafts of my own.

I figured that they, aliens and extraterrestrials, would heed my telepathic call to see them. I began to spend time each day in meditation calling to them telepathically: "I want to see you. Show yourselves to me." I'd seen enough evidence to be assured that they are here, and around. I'd seen enough evidence to be assured that the average ET mind is telepathic. I'd done enough research to know the signs and evidences of UFO presence, and my eyes were to the sky and into the clouds looking for them.

I'd just gotten off of work at 11 PM, and was driving home, making my way over the high rise some 15 miles from my home. Looking into the distance I could see some clouds flashing pink, and knew that something was there. After all, lightening is blue. I'd then determined that I would drive until I got to the disturbance and take a look. As I drove I realized that I was going as I would have I been going straight home. I got off at my usual exist, still expecting to take some bizarre route through the woods or something to get there, and ended up going straight into my subdivision. The clouds were still flashing pink off and on, and I continued to the disturbance.

I passed my street and went about 5 blocks down, and then parked my car where the disturbance was. It was over the woods, about 5 blocks away, and about the same distance into the air. I stopped on the side of the street, turned off the engine, and then looked and waited. The cloud would flash pink like a strobe light, and then go off. Then it would flash again, and then off. The cloud continued blinking in this fashion, each successive blink coming faster than the previous.

At this point I was getting scared. This subdivision was less developed then, so there were no streetlights where I was. The closest one was 2 blocks down one way, and half a mile down the other. There were only about 10 houses in the immediate vicinity, with much empty field around. With all the videos I'd seen, and all the pictures I'd seen, I was sure that when I saw one in person I would run up to it and say take me for a spin. But this was not the case. As I watched the cloud through my partially opened car window the cloud started blinking faster and faster, until the blinks were linked together. Then the cloud stopped blinking and radiated a solid pink glow. As I looked upon the cloud, my window still cracked and my eyes wide open, a craft slowly and silently hovered out of the cloud. A strong sense of fear came upon me, and I started winding up my window in a minor panic as though something might jump in to get me, or may already be in the car through the partially opened window! (Or by teleportation or something.) I was afraid to look into the back seat!

I locked the door, rolled the window up tight, fumbling as I did for I was sure not to take my eyes off of this craft. It was shaped like a regular birthday cake, like a very short barrel, or five coins stacked on top of each other. The bottom of the craft was slightly hollowed in, as if under the stack of coins there was a shallow, downward facing bowl carved in. Underneath the craft, in this shallow downward facing bowl, was a light that was like an electrically moving pink neon sign. It was like a long thick conglomerated strand of cable, but glowed pink and was erratically moving about like an ornery snake. In the background of this moving neon sign-like thread of moving light was a softer pink glow that filled the entire bottom crevice of the craft. I also remember seeing something of circular windows around the sides of the craft, like the little circle windows one would see around a tug boat.

I hardly believed my own eyes; even after all I'd researched and seen in film and on paper. I was actually seeing a UFO, and if not for the fact that I was seeing it I may not have believed and probably would not now believe my own seeing myself! In my own town, and only blocks away from my own home. I didn't have to take a trip to Gulf Breeze, nor camp outside of Area 51, as I'd previously thought (and was planning to do). The craft seemed to stay out of the cloud for only a matter of seconds, as if the beings piloting it endeavored to answer my call of letting me see, and then go about their business. Though I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, the craft went back up a noticeable distance away from where it came out. And there was not a smooth transition between descent and subsequent ascension. It was as if watching a movie and someone cut out everything that happened `in the middle,' leaving only the craft coming out of the cloud and pasting that to its eventual reentry. Only the abrupt reentry and its slight but noticeable change in position indicated that something was missing.

And something WAS missing. The entire episode could not have taken more than 2 minutes from the time I parked my car to when the craft was reentering the cloud. I started my car, drove back home, and it was 1:00 AM! I drove home from work daily, of course, and I know that it only takes 30 minutes to get home. I drove extra 5 blocks or so down past my street, so it would have been about 11:35, or 11:45 PM at the latest, by the time I got home. Yet when checking the time after I drove the half a mile back home, nearly an hour and a half had went by!

I was dazed and restless. I think I was experiencing minor shock. I remember stumbling as I walked through the hallway, and I have a faint memory of someone helping me walk. I may have had direct physical contact! Actually, now I am sure that I did have direct physical contact, though it's so hazy at the end. The newness of direct physical contact had no background information to fall on, and it disoriented me greatly. And my consciousness was not yet malleable enough. I plopped down and went to sleep...

I am still afraid of what could have happened to account for the hour and 20 or so minutes of missing time that is there. And I'm still a bit afraid to see another craft so closely again. Yet, I do look forward to the day of seeing one again, and this time remaining fully aware, retaining full memory of the entire episode.

3/21/04

After reading the great book Preparing for Contact by Lyssa Royal I not only know that I did have direct physical contact, but I know how to better myself so that next time I am more prepared and consciously functional...

Some of my other encounters

It seems that this general period of time was filled with UFO encounters. It appears that they certainly took my invitation to heart. One night I had the urge to walk to the gas station a mile away, to get snack- peanuts. It'd become almost a ritual that I happily performed several nights per week. This night was a bit unusual in feel, though the trip to the store had no major changes in script. Yet on my way back home I saw a massive cloud to the North Northeast, off in the distance- perhaps over the lake. It had an area to the bottom right of it that glowed in a kaleidoscope of color. Red, green, blue, orange- it was like a spherical rainbow. This particular area glowed in such a rainbow fashion, the colors constantly shifting, and a large circular area around this phenomenon had a steady color.

I turn my head around to see what the sound was that approached in the air, and a black, unmarked helicopter was flying low, heading straight for the disturbance. It was low enough to clearly see the windows and frame of the helicopter, though the windows were far too tinted to make out any specifics of what was inside. As I walked home I looked at this disturbance in the cloud, and this black unmarked helicopter making its way straight for the disturbance. I continued home, not waiting- not wanting to be the specific attention of either the disturbance in the cloud or the passengers of the helicopter.

...

Again driving home from work, I saw some flashes in the clouds in the distance. Again I decided to follow the disturbance until reaching it, not knowing how far I would actually have to drive, being unable to judge the distance by the position of clouds too well. This time I had to pass my subdivision, and as I did I approached a disturbance that was filling the clouds for miles around. I made it to the core of the disturbance. About a dozen areas of the canopy of clouds were glowing pink, just like the way the cloud glowed from which the craft came out of that night, a few blocks from my home. On either side of the interstate they were there, all making the clouds out to be a show of lights. They all had the pink light from the bottom, and it looked as if a giant spotlight was going upon the water from the clouds-, which would be the light from the entire bottom of the ship as per my experience of seeing the actual ship.

I wonder how it is that I didn't run off of the road, for my eyes were unflinching stuck to the disturbances, swaying to either side of the interstate to the disturbances at my sides, and straight ahead to the disturbance before me. I looked to the right to see one disturbance quite low compared to the others, looking to be only about 3 stories in the air, and the light coming out of the cloud shown like a massive spotlight upon a structure that mimics a small castle in a theme park like area off the interstate. It was right over the little building, right over it! I could see the cloud glowing. I could see the spotlight highlighted by the dew in the air, beaming down upon the ground and the structure. I could see the reflection of light off of the structure. It was definitely there. I continued driving and looking until I was making it over the lake, in awe and wonder. I crossed the lake and made my way back, and I don't remember seeing them on the return trip.

...

Another experience I had was a year or so before these, when driving home from Georgia. I used to frequently go back and forth to Georgia, and I would always be looking for UFOs. I would travel to Georgia during the day, and always come back at night, so that I was able to drive all night, looking into the sky for UFOs. I would sometimes park on the side of the interstate in areas of the drive where there were no lights and just look at the stars free from the ambient lights of the city. Usually fear that a bear would jump out of the forest kept me from staying too long though.

One night while driving home, far ahead of me at the horizon, I saw two large clouds in the air. I had to be between southern Georgia and Alabama at the time, or somewhere about. The entire sky was covered with a canopy of could, as if it was the ceiling of the earth, and these two large oval shaped clouds stood out as the only two formations of cloud separate from this flat carpet like canopy that covered the rest of the sky. I knew it was some UFO activity, so I looked unflinchingly.

These two large clouds obviously had something in them that was causing pink glows and flashes of light- both a steady stream of pink, and flashes of more pink at intervals. The interstate where I was had a straightaway for miles, and they were straight up the interstate, directly ahead of me.

After a while of this glow and flashing in these two very un-uniformed clouds compared to the entire rest of the sky, the activity picked up. The flashes intensified, and then a pink bolt of lightening came from one cloud to the next, as if it was a weapon. Not to say that it was, but that is what came to mind when I first saw it from my perspective at the time. Shortly after the pink bolt of energy went between clouds one of the lights took off, and the other quickly followed. If my eyes weren't fixed on the event I would have missed it. Wave your hand quickly past your eyes so that you see a streak behind your hands. That is what I saw. But instead of a hand it was two streaks of bright pink light that went straight overhead, on either side of my car- moving seemingly right above the canopy of cloud, or maybe even `sliding' upon the canopy of cloud itself. So this time I didn't see the actual craft, but the lights that shone through the cloud, and the speed at which this light moved, and what it did, was evidence enough for me. These were craft of a variety that is beyond anything I have seen contemporary human even CLOSE to making!

Apparently the crafts took off at a rapid pace, with no acceleration. It was from a full stop to many hundreds of miles per hour at least. They were at the horizon before me, and they moved so fast that they reached the horizon behind me before the steak of light even dissipated! To be sure I am making this clear, if you look straight ahead wave your entire arm across your visual field from your right to your left you will see a streak of your arm following for the entire distance. Perhaps before your arm reaches all the way to the left, the streak may have caught up to the middle of your body. In other words, the streak `wears off' so to speak, and is like a trail following your arm, rather than just hanging in the air. Imagine moving your arm so fast that you move it from one horizon, all of the hundreds of miles to the horizon on the entire other side, while the very start of the streak is still there! When the crafts reached the horizon behind me, the spot where they started was still glowing. That is how fast they were moving! It resulted in two lines of bright pink light about a hundred feet away from each other, stretching from horizon to horizon; with more light in the cloud where they started from as they sat there and lighted that cloud up. After a second or two the light streak disappeared, and the two craft were no longer visibly detectable as they disappeared around the curve of the planet, around the edge of the horizon. Amazing...

* * * * * * * * *

My experiences with ET/UFOs have so far been amazing. I must also say that the one where `something' happened, whether it is that I was taken aboard a craft, or I had some kind of telepathic or other type of meeting involving a shift of consciousness, I experienced an hour and a half or so of `missing time,' and the entire ordeal scared me. It has been three years now, and I am finally over the fear of meeting with these beings, and I am ready to again see and meet, and experience them and their craft.

Except for the experience with the big cloud that had a kaleidoscope of colors, I was able to see enough of the phenomenon to say that all of these experiences involved the same type of craft. They were made the same, having the same features and effects, which would imply that it was the same race or group of beings. From what planet are they? From what dimension are they? From what Galaxy are they?

. . .

(The first account happened in the summer of the year 2000, these accounts being originally written up in the summer of 2003, now adding details I'd neglected to add previously...)

Reported Sighting? Yes
Reported To: I told several people about it years later. I was afraid/shocked for years afterwards...
Name: Cezyl
Location: Kentucky, USA
Age: 25

Copyright (c) 2008 by Darryl E Berry Jr (Cezyl)

Darryl E Berry Jr

Fortean / Alternative News: Humming Sound Over Texas, Husband Sacrifices Wife and Aliens Abduct Cat

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 10:29 AM PST

Hutto, TX- Couple Hear Humming Sound Overhead

My friend SW at Lights in the Texas Sky writes the following: I received an email this morning, from a couple near Hutto, Texas, claiming that they each on two separate occasions heard a thumping sound, then a humming noise pass over their house. The husband heard the sound on February 28, 2011 and his wife had heard it less that two weeks earlier. Here is that report:

We didn't see them, but we heard something...

We just wanted to report something strange that occurred around the 28th of February, and about two weeks prior to that. My husband and I both had the same experience, separately, in different weeks, and each of us was alone during it, with the other one asleep. Continue reading at Hutto, TX- Couple Hear Humming Sound Overhead

**********

Woman Sacrificed By Husband in India

A woman was sacrificed by her husband in a village in Jharkhand as he claimed he wanted to achieve supernatural powers.

The incident took place in Hariyari village of Godda district, which is about 500km from Ranchi on Friday, according to reports in local media yesterday.

Funiram Soren asked his wife Fulin Hembrom to bow in front of images of deities. When she bowed down, he hit her head with an iron rod. She started bleeding profusely. Funiram later strangulated her to death.

The neighbours of Funiram informed police about the incident. After killing his wife, Funiram absconded.

According to villagers, Funiram was trying to gain supernatural powers. The black magic deity reportedly came in his dream and asked him to sacrifice a close relative so he killed his wife.

Human sacrifice is not new in Jharkhand. In last seven years, more than half a dozen case of human sacrifice have been reported in the state.

**********

India's Monster Eater Retires

Restaurant owners in the town of Trissur in the Indian state of Kerala can breathe a huge sigh of relief - the "monster eater" is retiring.

They can now think again about launching "eat as much as you like" lunches and buffets.

That is because Rappai - the man with the giant appetite - has been warned by medics to curb his food intake.

In his prime it would have been an under-statement to describe Rappai's appetite as voracious.

'Unlimited meals'

This was a man who quite easily could plough his way through two buckets of rice and accompanying chicken and vegetable dishes.

For breakfast it was said he could devour 75 idlies (rice cakes) and still have room for more.

On one famous occasion, the man who locally became known as Theeta (monster eater) took advantage of a local restaurant's "unlimited meals" coupon.

He reputedly scoffed three bucketfuls of rice, one bucket of fish curry and 10 kgs of cooked meat.

The restaurant in question ran out of food, and police had to be called in to restore order as a large crowd gathered to watch Rappai in action.

The BBC's Sridevi Pillai in Trivandrum says that such eating extravaganzas became more commonplace as Rappai's fame spread throughout the state.

A regular at Kerala's informal eating competitions, Rappai is also credited on one day with ploughing his way through 700 idlies on top of 10 kgs of halwa (an Indian dessert).

No wonder then that when hoteliers saw this cheerful man majestically walking around the town - adorned in khaki shirt and white dhoti - they would hastily put up the shutters of their premises and close down.

Turn violent

But now 64-year-old Rappai's huge appetite has had to be curtailed because he recently developed a severe stomach ache.

He was told in no uncertain terms to eat less or face the consequences.

"I am diabetic and my body weight was too heavy at around 115kg," he said.

"I have decided to listen to the doctors. I think I have lost the power to digest food. My friends, especially my police friends, have advised me to eat more carefully.

My heavy eating days are over, there will be no more competitions for me

Rappai refers to his "police friends" for good reason: there were times that hoteliers became so enraged at his capacity to eat huge amounts of food that situations sometimes threatened to turn violent.

Police rescued him several times, on occasion even taking him back to the station for a little more food.

Today Rappai is resting at his home at Kizhakkumpattukara in Trissur.

He says that other things to worry about apart from his stomach.

"I have my 90-year-old mother to look after," he says, "and now have to cope with tremendous change in my life.

"Gone are the days of unbridled consumption of idlies, halwa and buckets full of boiled rice.

"My heavy eating days are over," he says. "There will be no more competitions for me."

"Now I only take a bowl of Kanji (rice gruel) for breakfast and a little rice for lunch and dinner.

Rappai gives a toothless grin.

"Anyway I have lost all my teeth because of over-consumption of sweets."

**********

Fear That Aussie Cat Abducted by Aliens

ntnews - There is fear that the Northern Territory's talking cat, Mischief, had been abducted by aliens.

It came after Siberian air traffic controllers claim that a female-sounding alien spoke to them in a cat-like language.

They say that a mysterious object - which they believe was a high-speed UFO - appeared on flight monitors over the remote Russian city of Yakutsk, the Daily Mail reported.

It rapidly changed direction in the sky and reached speeds of nearly 1000km/h - surrounding planes were seen to be travelling significantly slower.

The aviation workers tried to make contact with the ship, as evident in a video posted to YouTube.

"I kept hearing some female voice, as if a woman was saying mioaw-mioaw all the time," one air traffic controller told the pilot of a passing Aeroflot flight.

Darwin locals last night expressed concern the air traffic controller may have mistaken the voice for that of Mischief, the Territory's talking cat, which featured in a front page story in the NT News in August 2009.

The NT has one of the highest rates of UFO sightings in the world, sparking fears the aliens may have swooped on Mischief's Palmerston home and snatched the fiesty feline.

Attempts to contact Mischief's owners last night were unsuccessful.

Recent Worldwide UFO Reports / Sightings

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 02:15 PM PST

MUFON CMS - Malaysia - 3/4/2011 - unedited: It all happened when we were arriving home around 9.30pm and my youngest son, Manuel was crying. So his daddy, Nolan diverted his attention to colourful lights in the sky, asking him to look at the aeroplane. When he stared longer he said it the lights do not look like aeroplane. As we watched, the object has flickering lights with blue, green, white, red and the object was seen hovering. At first we thought that it was a helicopter. Then we took out our binoculars and digital camera. Viewing with the binoculars, the lights were colourful, blue, red, green and white and the object was hovering. Nolan says it changes shape when he viewed through the binoculars. Then I took a few pictures with my digital camera. As I did not have my tripod and it was dark and my zoom lens was only 80-200mm, the image was not sharp. I wanted to take some video shots but was not in time as the object started to drift further and suddenly it disappeared. The incident of the object hovering with fantastic colourful lights happened for around 20 mins.

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MUFON CMS - Georgia - 3/3/2011 - unedited: As I've done for thousands of times, I was sitting in my reclining chair on my patio looking upward at the sky admiring the stars while waiting for my dog to finish her business. It was about 8:45PM on 3/3/2011 with a few clouds floating in the night sky. Suddenly, I noticed the strangest thing I've ever seen in my life. A boomerang shaped craft was literally streaking from North to South across the sky directly over my head. It seemed to be flying about the same height as a commercial airliner would fly, but was moving many, many times faster. It transited my field of view about ten times more quickly than the commercial jets that I watch fly by everyday at this location. It was obviously flying at many times the speed of sound, but there was no sonic boom at all.

The thing that made me really notice it was that it was semi-transparent with a green and red iridescent glow quality to the entire craft, and the incredible velocity it displayed. This glow illuminated and outlined the entire craft. There were no lights on the craft only the iridescent glow. Each wing of the boomerang had two rows of very thin darker colored slits. There were three slits in each row. The shock I felt was akin to the feeling one gets when one is about to get into an accident. It took about a half-second for my brain to realize that I was witnessing a UFO.

I immediately jumped from my chair so I could visually follow the craft as it rapidly made its way across my field of view. The craft was streaking directly over my head at a high altitude. It was also much larger than any commercial aircraft I've ever seen flying at altitude. There also seemed to be a "fuzzyish" quality to the outline of its form. In the end, it was obscured by some clouds that were due South of me and disappeared from my sight. The entire event lasted about 3 seconds.

As it appeared to me, the size of the craft from wing tip to wing tip was akin to the width of my thumb held out at arms length. The width of the boomerang wings was about one eight the wingspan. The craft did not leave vapor trails and was dead silent.

The next day using some pine trees as reference points, the cloud height data from the prior night, and some basic trigonometry I calculated a minimum possible speed of 2000 MPH. I was super conservative with my assumptions on the numbers and believe that the craft was actually flying in excess of 5000 MPH.

The experience left me feeling shaken. The entire event happened so quickly and was over so quickly it was kind of like having a bucket of ice water dumped over one's self. I do not believe that this craft originated from this planet.

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UFO Causes Stir in Indonesia

xinhuanet - Unidentified Flying Objects have been causing a stir in Indonesia. Crop circles previously unknown in the region have recently started to appear reviving theories about their mysterious extra terrestrial origins.

This geometric design of interlocking circles recently appeared in a rice field near the village of Sleman in Central Java.

It is Indonesia's first crop circle.

The appearance of the circle thrust the work of Indonesia's UFO hunters into the national spotlight.

BETA-UFO Indonesia was established in 1997 by a community of like-minded people fascinated by Unidentified Flying Objects .

Despite official denials UFO hunters like Andyono Muharso remain convinced that only alien creatures could have been responsible for the crop circles.

Andyono Muharso, UFO Researcher, siad, "Our conclusion at this time is that it is impossible for a person to make this. If it were made by a person with a very advanced technology, it might have been possible. We don't know for sure. But it is impossible that it was made by a person with a wood and rope."

Adiguno is a television cameraman in the capital Jakarta for over 10 years.

During one cloudy day last year, Adiguno accidentally documented something weird in the city skyline when taking photos with the camera of his cell phone.

Adiguno, UFO Eyewitness, said, "That day Jakarta was very cloudy and the sky was dark. I wanted to take a picture of it because a sky like that was quite rare to see. I took the picture using my cell phone and I only realized what I had shot when I viewed it on my computer."

UFO enthusiasts BETA-UFO believe that Adiguno is not alone.

They meet regularly to discuss UFO claims and plan field trips.

BETA-UFO sent its team to the site to gather physical evidence, take photos and talk with the locals.

Not man made is their conclusion. "Not so" is the verdict of the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space.

Sri Kaloka Prabotosari, Indonesian Aeronautics Scholar, said, "We think that the claims made by some people that crop circles in Sleman and Bantul were footprints of UFO are wrong. When we visited the area we found things indicating that they were man made. "

Undeterred,the UFO hunters of BETA-UFO continue to sift through the evidence, determined to recruit more of the faithful to the constantly curious pursuit of finding ET.

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UFO Buzzed By Helicopter Over Moscow

Click for video

The Alien Disclosure Group (ADG) United Kingdom has shared a recent video of a UFO sighting over Moscow, Russia. According to the ADG, the video shows a UFO being buzzed by a helicopter in the night sky on Thursday, March 3, 2011.

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