Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- Haunted Locations and Legends - Part Three
- Fortean / Alternative News: Fukushima Equals Ten Chernobyls, Argentina UFO Commission and Snakes on a Train
- Seems The 'Men In Black' Have Been Busy
| Haunted Locations and Legends - Part Three Posted: 31 May 2011 01:30 PM PDT  I will occasionally offer a collection of ghostly and strange tales from previous posts...enjoy: ********** Ghost Walker Of Natuashish, Labrador  Click for video Not much information with this video other than it is from Natuashish, Labrador (I've actually been there....but that's another story). ********** Macabre Book 'Bears Image Of Hanged Priest's Face'  A 17th century book believed to be bound in the skin of a priest executed for treason appears to bear a "spooky" image of his face on the cover, according to the auctioneers who sold the book in 2007. The account of the death of Gunpowder Plot conspirator Father Henry Garnet is described by experts as "rare and macabre". He said: "It's a little bit spooky because the front of the book looks like it has the face of a man on it, which is presumed to be the victim's face." A True And Perfect Relation Of The Whole Proceedings Against The Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet A Jesuit And His Confederates was printed by Robert Barker, printer to the king, and published in 1606, only months after Garnet's execution. Garnet's involvement in the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament was controversial. He claimed he knew about the conspiracy but was not involved. Some scholars now believe that he was most likely trying to prevent the action against James I rather than conspiring against him. But Garnet was found guilty of treason and executed in May 1606. The king ordered his hanging but he was spared the cruelty of being drawn and quartered. According to legend, a piece of bloodstained straw found at the scene of his execution started to develop an exact image of the priest's face, which auctioneers now believe has happened to the centuries-old book. Mr Wilkinson, who will sell the book in its wooden box, said: "There's nothing I can do about the poor victim now." ********** Spirits at World Famous Brookdale Lodge Protesting Changes  santacruzsentinel - If somebody started looting your house, you'd be upset too, right? That's how paranormal investigator Erich Breger says the spirits at Brookdale Lodge, now renamed Brookdale Inn & Spa, have been feeling lately. Breger, the lead investigator with California Paranormal Investigations, took his team to the famed Santa Cruz Mountains resort late Thursday night to see if they could draw the local haunt's haunters out from the shadows and find out why all the ruckus. Brookdale employees, particularly the cooks, have said they've seen increased paranormal activity since the previous owners sold the business and began taking with them old furniture, clippings and memorabilia. "I think why it's happening is there is definitely a defiling that's going on here," said Breger, a Boulder Creek man with an intense stare, raspy voice, suit and black trench coat.  Brookdale Inn & Spa has long been thought to be haunted by the spirit of a little girl -- among others -- who drowned in the creek that runs through the dining area. During the 1940s and '50s gangsters made the lodge their home, and some legends say they buried bodies under the floor. Opened in 1870, the lodge has been featured on "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and has hosted notables such as Marilyn Monroe and President Herbert Hoover. In recent weeks, there have been reports of shadowy figures. Employees in the kitchen have reported hearing bangs. Chef Juan Diaz said he and a cook saw a pot do a full rotation while sitting on the burner about two months ago. "It was all full of water so it was heavy," said Diaz in Spanish. "And we saw it spin around like somebody was moving it." Then there was the incident this summer with the swinging doors to the kitchen, said Diaz. "They opened like somebody was coming in but there was nobody there," he said. "Then they opened again like somebody was leaving." Bartender Jonelle Badger, who has worked at Brookdale Inn & Spa for a year, says she's only heard stories of strange occurrences from her co-workers. "I've never had an experience here that would lead me to believe there was a ghost," she said.  But Breger, the fleet manager at Ocean Honda when he's not tracking spirits, said his team thinks something was definitely going on Thursday night. His fellow investigators include Ed Hayes, Ronaldo Williams and Shelly Crowley, all of Brookdale and Boulder Creek. The four walked the different levels of the lodge Thursday night with equipment such as an EVP [Electronic Voice Phenomenon] monitor, EMF [Electro Magnetic Field] monitor, infrared cameras and a Ouija board. Breger said he and his team will review their evidence in more detail tonight."Based on what we've gathered so far there is definitely something going on there," he said. Breger said he's never been scared of anything he's experienced in 15 years of pursuit. He also takes his team out to wrecking yards to look for spirits involved in fatal vehicle accidents. "It's a totally untapped resource," he said. As for skeptics of paranormal activity and investigation, Breger said he doesn't blame them. "Until you experience something," he said, "it's one of those things where you have to show me the proof." ********** Documented Case of Real-Life Demonic Possession  An American woman who levitated, demonstrated paranormal psychic powers and spoke foreign languages unknown to her was clearly demon possessed, according to a board-certified psychiatrist and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College.The unnamed woman, with a long history of involvement with Satanic groups, was observed by a team of priests, deacons, several lay assistants, psychiatrists, nuns, some of whom also had medical and psychiatric training, levitating six inches off the ground while objects flew off shelves in the same room, according to Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, who documented the case in the February issue of the New Oxford Review. "Periodically, in our presence, Julia would go into a trance state of a recurring nature," writes Gallagher. "Mentally troubled individuals often 'dissociate,' but Julia's trances were accompanied by an unusual phenomenon: Out of her mouth would come various threats, taunts and scatological language, phrases like 'Leave her alone, you idiot,' 'She's ours,' 'Leave, you imbecile priest,' or just 'Leave.' The tone of this voice differed markedly from Julia's own, and it varied, sometimes sounding guttural and vaguely masculine, at other points high pitched. Most of her comments during these 'trances,' or at the subsequent exorcisms, displayed a marked contempt for anything religious or sacred." The subject would have no recollection of speaking these phrases upon recovering from the trance-like state, according to Gallagher. "Sometimes objects around her would fly off the shelves, the rare phenomenon of psychokinesis known to parapsychologists," reports Gallagher. "Julia was also in possession of knowledge of facts and occurrences beyond any possibility of their natural acquisition.  "She commonly reported information about the relatives, household composition, family deaths and illnesses, etc., of members of our team, without ever having observed or been informed about them," he said. "As an example, she knew the personality and precise manner of death (i.e., the exact type of cancer) of a relative of a team member that no one could conceivably have guessed. She once spoke about the strange behavior of some inexplicably frenzied animals beyond her direct observation: Though residing in another city, she commented, 'So those cats really went berserk last night, didn't they?' the morning after two cats in a team member's house uncharacteristically had violently attacked each other at about 2 a.m."Julia requested a Roman Catholic exorcism ritual, convinced from the beginning of her consultations that she was under demonic attack. "The exorcism began on a warm day in June," Gallagher recollects. "Despite the weather, the room where the rite was being conducted grew distinctly cold. Later, however, as the entity in Julia began to spout vitriol and make strange noises, members of the team felt themselves profusely sweating due to a stifling emanation of heat. The participants all said they found the heat unbearable. "Julia at first had gone into a quiet trance-like state. After the prayers and invocations of the Roman Ritual had been going on for a while, however, multiple voices and sounds came out of her. One set consisted of loud growls and animal-like noises, which seemed to the group impossible for any human to mimic. At one point, the voices spoke in foreign languages, including recognizable Latin and Spanish. (Julia herself only speaks English, as she later verified to us.) "The voices were noticeably attacking in nature, and often insolent, blasphemous and highly scatological. They cursed and insulted the participants in the crudest way. They were frequently threatening – trying, it appeared, to fight back – 'Leave her alone,' 'Stop, you whores' (to the nuns), 'You'll be sorry,' and the like. "Julia also exhibited enormous strength. Despite the religious sisters and three others holding her down with all their might, they struggled to restrain her. Remarkably, for about 30 minutes, she actually levitated about half a foot in the air." The purpose of Gallagher's paper, he says, is to "document a contemporary and clear-cut case of demonic possession." He explains that even those who doubt such a phenomenon exists may find this case "rather persuasive." "Possession is only one and not the most common type of demonic attack. Possession is very rare, though not as exceedingly so as many imagine," he concludes. "So-called 'oppression,' or 'infestation,' is less rare, though hardly frequent either, and sometimes more difficult to discern accurately." ********** The Mysterious Whipporwill Valley Road  What's a New Jersey town without at least one creepy legend? Any sprawling town with acres of woods and nearly 350 years of local history must have at least one, right?In Middletown, that legend is called Whipporwill Valley Road — a dusty, unpaved roadway that snakes through the Chapel Hill section of town and where it's rare to see another person. Through the years, a handful of tragic events has given this road an air of legend and mystery. It's not surprising, then, that this winding dirt strip has taken on a sort of cult status for local teens who consider driving down the road in the middle of the night with friends an adolescent rite of passage. Legends told over the years (and cited by Weird N.J. magazine) include: Seeing and hearing witches. A tall, looming tree that takes on human shape after dark. A mysterious, rogue truck driver who wildly races up and down Whipporwill Valley Road. Several Middletown teens who have driven on the road said that, while they have yet to actually encounter any of these purported presences, the road does possess an indefinably creepy feel. One Middletown High School North senior, Joe Clements, 18, has gone as far as making a video of himself and friends driving down the notorious road in the dead of night. Titled "Driving on Whipporwill," the video starts off with a narrator ominously explaining: "Six friends set out on what they thought was a harmless trip to Whipporwill Valley Road." The video ends suddenly when the car full of screaming teens spots something, in affectionate homage to "The Blair Witch Project." Clement's video can be viewed at YouTube.com. Another popular legend attached to Whipporwill Valley Road tells of witches burned at the stake when Europeans first populated Middletown in the 1700s, according to Weird N.J. According to the legend, before the witches were burned, they placed hexes on all the local farmers who had accused them. All the farmers reportedly died 10 months later of a mysterious, undiagnosed illness. Ironically, the farmers are said to have been buried just 10 feet away from the witches, who were buried 10 feet outside of the town cemetery. Some visitors who have driven down the road, according to Weird N.J., say they have felt bumps in the road that could have been the original graves. In time, the witch legend was forgotten, but revived years later in the early 1960s, when remnants of an abandoned mansion that stood in the Whipporwill woods burned to the ground. While the appearance of the supernatural has never been verified scientifically, Whipporwill Valley Road has a well-documented history of tragic and bizarre incidents. The most recent incident happened in December 2006 when the body of Nello Caizza, the 76-year-old caretaker of a private residence at 160 Whipporwill Valley Road, was found submerged in near-freezing pool water. Police said Caizza had, apparently unknowingly, driven a John Deere tractor over the pool's plastic cover, which ripped, sending him and the tractor into the water. Caizza, who had managed the 44-acre property for roughly 20 years, was pronounced dead at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank. The death ultimately was ruled an accidental drowning. When Fred Lazzati, 58, a worker for the Middletown Public Works Department, wasn't spotted by his co-workers on Sept. 1, 1989, they assumed he had come in early, as was often the case, and already was at work in another area. About 8 a.m., workers found Lazzati's body near a road grader on Whipporwill Valley Road near Chapel Hill Road. His death upset coworkers in the department, where he had worked for six years. Public Works Director John McGowan at the time described Lazzati, of Viola Avenue in the Leonardo section, as "your basic construction guy; a hard worker." Lazzati, who had a heart condition, died from a massive heart attack, the coroner ruled. On March 6, 1982, Nancy Clark of Fair Haven was stabbed to death by Thomas W. Baliff, who had picked up Clark while she was hitchhiking. Her fully clothed body was found in an area off Whipporwill Valley Road. Baliff, who was AWOL from the Marines at the time of Clark's murder, pleaded guilty, admitting he stabbed her several times with a 6-inch double-bladed bayonet. He was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. Baliff, now 48, made an appeal for parole in 2004 that was denied by the New Jersey State Parole Board. There also have been a few near-fatal accidents along the dirt road. On Dec. 17, 2006, two boys — Alex Nazath, 17, and Andrew Aulicino, 16 — rescued three teenage girls whose vehicle had swerved off the road and landed partially submerged in a creek adjacent to Whipporwill Valley Road. Aulicino used his pocket knife to cut the seat belt that one of the girls still was wearing. Roughly two years earlier, two Monmouth County men stole a Jeep from a Highlands driveway and crashed it on Whipporwill Valley Road. Police found the stolen vehicle unoccupied, but arrested the two men based on their fingerprints found on the vehicle and from a telephone call made on a mobile phone that was left accidentally in the Jeep. Middletown police arrested Ronald Remp, 23, of Keyport and Christopher Martin, 19, of Highlands. The two young men were eventually convicted of auto theft and given two- to four-year sentences.       |
| Posted: 31 May 2011 05:31 AM PDT  Fukushima Now Ten Chernobyls into the Sea? Workers Sacrificing Themselves New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl. … The health impacts on workers at Fukushima are certain to be devastating. After Chernobyl, the Soviet government sent more than 800,000 draftees through the seething wreckage. Many stayed a matter of 90 seconds or less, running in to perform a menial task and then running out as quickly as possible. Despite their brief exposure, these "liquidators" have suffered an epidemic of health effects, with an escalating death toll. Angry and embittered, they played a significant role in bringing down the Soviet Union that doomed them. At Fukushima, a core of several hundred workers essentially sacrificed themselves in the early stages of the disaster. They courageously entered highly contaminated areas to perform tasks that almost certainly prevented an even worse catastrophe. David Brenner, the director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center, said of the workers: "Those are pretty brave people. There are going to be some martyrs among them'." "I don't know of any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war," said University of Tokyo radiology professor Keiichi Nakaga. Since the disaster struck in Japan, about 800 workers have been evacuated from the damaged nuclear complex in Fukushima. The radiation danger is that great. However, CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that a handful have stayed on the job, risking their lives, to try to save the lives of countless people they don't even know. The exact number of workers is unclear and has been reported to be anywhere from 50 to 180. Although communication with the workers inside the nuclear plant is nearly impossible, a CBS News consultant spoke to a Japanese official who made contact with one of the workers inside the control center. The official said that his friend told him that he was not afraid to die, that that was his job. Cham Dallas, who led teams responding to the Chernobyl disaster, said that kind of response is not out of the normal for some workers in the nuclear energy sector. "(In) my experience of people in the action area of nuclear power is much like that," Dallas said. - xenophilia ********** Argentina: Official Commission To Study UFOs is Presented Source: Clarin.com.arDate: 05.27.2011 Scott Corrales - Inexplicata - Consisting of experts in various fields, it came about due to the number of sightings in the country. As Clarín informed readers a few weeks ago, the official Comisión de Investigación de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales (Aerospatial Phenomena Research Commission) was presented yesterday at noon, consisting of both civilian experts and Argentinean Air Force (FAA) personnel. Operating out of the Condor Building, the FAA's current headquarters, it will start to receive reports in coming days – through the www.fuerzaaerea.mil.ar website – on sightings, and begin work on the most representative cases of recent times. It is a dependency of the General Major Secretariat of the Argentinean Armed Forces and will consist of technicians attached to the National Meteorological Service, engineers, pilots from the National Administration of Civil Aviation, radar and satellite positioning technicians, computer experts and geologists. The inaugural ceremony was presided by Capt. Mariano Mohaupt, the FAA's spokesman. Also present was Brig. Gen. Ernesto Omar París, Secretary General, who remarked: "This commission will conduct a scientific study of aerospatial phenomena. With this we have achieved an important goal for our institution." From its origins, the FAA was strengthened by the collaboration of civil aeronautics experts. "Today it seeks to attract members of society who may provide their experience in the study of these events, which require a higher degree of certainty," stated Mohaupt. Mostly, these will be experts who have been working for several years in the field of ufology. Among them are Alberto Brunetti of the Grupo Investigador de Fenomenos Aeroespaciales Desconocidos (GIFAD); Carlos Alberto Iurchuk, systems analyst and independent researcher of sidereal phenomena, and Carlos Fergusson, coordinator of the Red Argentina de Ovnilogia (Argentinean UFO Nework – RAO). There will also be collaboration from Andrea Simondini of the CEFORA group, which also studies these cases. One of the reasons that led to the creation of this new agency is "the increase in sightings by people. However, the goal is not to prove the existence of life on other planets, but rather, to approach unknown phenomena from a scientific perspective and reach the truth. Because these are ultimately the goal of our study," according to Mohaupt. The team also includes Marcelo Módica of Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), specializing in satellite information. It will be in charge of "examining the terrain and analyzing images received." Among the benefits to be gained from the amalgamation of civilians and military men, Fergusson notes that "there will be great progress in means and methodology. It is crucial to reach the scene of the events and have scientific assistance. There will also be a system of witness interviews that will prove very useful." And while technology assists these anomalies hunters, something more is always needed. "It is true that the Internet made us independent, because if you approach any observatory and ask for a sky chart, they'll turn you away. Astronomy, except back in the 1950s, is very reluctant to approach this subject," adds Brunetti. The reason for this mistrust is that "they look at the skies all the time, but do it through a telescope, which looks beyond the atmosphere. In other words, a UFO could fly in front of them and it's likely they won't see it." Among the procedures to be undertaken, the first thing is to dismiss the possibility of movements in the sky. "There is no need to create false expectations among the people. For this reason we have a decision-making body that will evaluate items and dismiss those that are speculation," explains Simondini. Astrologers often pick up objects that they cannot explain. "The first thing is to eliminate the passing of a satellite, space junk, balloons or weather capsules, rockets, meteorites ...even the International Space Station (ISS) can lead one to confusion," says Iurchuk. Great stuff! Thanks Scott ********** Spain: The Astún Yeti (2007) By Javier ResinesInexplicata - The story we remember today in our blog prompts us to take a small step back in time. Small, in that we are going back to late May 2007, which isn't so far away from us... Taking advantage of the good weather, Carlos S. Ollés - the event's protagonist - decided to make a visit to the Pyrenees with his two daughters. In the afternoon, as they walked back toward their car, having visited the ski slopes of Astún, the eldest daughter pointed out a footprint that caught her attention beside the trail. The small group approached and attested that the mark on the ground indeed resembled that of a bare foot - albeit an enormous one - and with a disproportionately large big toe. This was not the first time that Carlos came across mystery in the form of a footprint: in 1992, on the opposite slope of the same mountain, he was with a group of friends in the valley of Canal Roya, heading toward the summit of Pico La Raca along a trial when he discovered some strange prints in the snow. According to his own account, "they were larger and deeper than normal, and the big toe was most prominent of all." He was likewise startled by "the distance between strides, which were somewhat impossible to follow given the sloping terrain." What creature could have left those unusual marks in at least two separate occasions, separated by a distance of some 10 kilometers? An unknown hominid that dwells in the Pyrenaic Region, or a tourist bent on playing a joke? ********** Snakes On A Train Hundreds of rail passengers fled in terror when dozens of deadly snakes were found on a train travelling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in Vietnam. A guard and conductor were checking tickets as passengers got on in the central city of Quang Ngai on Thursday evening and spotted the live king cobras and cobras under a seat. People fled the carriage as panic broke out, and the smuggler was able to escape in the chaos. The reptiles, which are extremely venomous and can kill a human within just 30 minutes, were being carried in four see-through cloth bags. One passenger, Pham Van An, 20, said: "Some of the snakes were very big, and looked terrifying. Most people ran away. But some people went to look at them and the cobras rose up. Then police took the snakes off the train." Officers handed the snakes over to Quang Ngai province's wildlife protection officers for release into the wild. Nguyen Van Han, chief of the Quang Ngai Forest Protection Department, was unable to say how many snakes were in the bags, but said they weighed a total of 45kg (99lb). Authorities believe the endangered creatures, which are protected under Vietnamese law, were to be sold to restaurants in Hanoi. - sky     |
| Seems The 'Men In Black' Have Been Busy Posted: 31 May 2011 06:00 PM PDT  Later I was in my car smoking a cigarette a few blocks from where I noticed the object. I saw a man in a black suit, black fedora hat, glasses and ear peace walk past. I also noticed he happened to be carrying what looked unmistakeably like a holster to a pistol under his coat. I noticed this man pass me three times in the course of twenty minutes as if he was patrolling the area. I also saw a black car with no license plates driven by a similarly dressed man and a yet similarly dressed passenger. *********** Received this on 5/29/2011: Hello - I forwarded a report to MUFON a few months ago about my UFO sighting in central Missouri. I have not heard back from them though I have noticed several strange people in the neighborhood the past week. There were at least 2 men dressed in black suits with black sunglasses who seemed to have communication equipment on them as well as earpieces. Both walk aimlessly around for a few days, left for 3 days, then came back yesterday (Saturday) but one was a woman. I noticed the looking into my backyard then writing something down on electronic tablet. I walked out the back door and asked what he wanted but he just smiled, turned around and walked away. I noticed the car that they were driving (a black Chrysler 300) had yellow plates. Any idea who these people were? NOTE: actually, I received another email last Thursday of a similar scenario in Oklahoma but I could not verify it...my reply email was undeliverable and returned twice. Lon  Spirit Rescue International™ Providing no-cost professional spiritual help, personal support and guidance Take the first step towards genuine peace of mind  The Spirit Rescue International™ Haunted Help Forum *Join Our Group On Facebook*  ANOMALIST BOOKS Works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog  The 'C' Influence Actualizing Esoteric Discussion   "The latest news from beyond the mainstream" Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast! Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format!  Astral Perceptions - Discussing ultraterrestrial and multidimensional phenomena and the proficiency of remote viewing   Join Eric Altman, Lon Strickler and the crew LIVE each Sunday at 10 PM ET as we go Beyond the Edge!  Click here to check out Stan's most recent book!  Click here to check out John Ventre's most recent book! The Social - Paranormal Network  A NETWORK OF INVESTIGATORS, ENTHUSIASTS AND THOSE SEEKING THE TRUTH THROUGH PARANORMAL EDUCATION AND DISCUSSION  (410) 241-5974  Phantoms and Monsters Now Available on Kindle  *********  Hi...I just want to thank the faithful readers of 'Phantoms and Monsters' and acknowledge the encouragement and loyalty of those who have followed me on 'Beyond the Edge' Radio, Spirit Rescue International, The Social-Paranormal Network, etc. I'd be thankful for any donations to help offset costs associated with producing the daily newsletter. If you are so inclined, you can use any donation button located on the 'Phantoms and Monsters' blog site. Again, my gratitude to you for being there...Lon *********     |
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