Phantoms and Monsters |  |
- Florida's Nile Monitor Lizard Invasion Expanding
- Fortean / Alternative News: 'Beyond the Edge' Radio, Shakespeare's Reefer Madness and Hawaii Light Burst
- Bright Lights / UFOs Reported Over the Mid-Atlantic - June 29th
| Florida's Nile Monitor Lizard Invasion Expanding Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:01 PM PDT  Nile Monitors, lizards that can grow up to 9 feet in length but are normally only found in Africa and Asia, are now invading parts of South Florida. Nine of the formidable looking creatures were recently spotted in Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a group that fears the monitors could undermine the natural ecosystem of the area if they continue to grow in number. "This is a high-priority species for us," Scott Hardin, who coordinates nonnative species programs at the commission, said in a statement earlier this week. People are being warned that the huge lizards — equipped with long tails that they can use like whips, powerful jaws and teeth, and sharp claws — get extremely nasty when threatened, and thus attempts to capture the creatures are discouraged. "Nile monitor lizards may exceed 7 feet in length and are known to be very defensive when cornered, so the FWC discourages attempts to capture the lizards. They are known to be more active during the hot summer months, explaining why reports have increased." What are the FWC's plans for handling the monitor outbreak? "We plan to go after them aggressively to either try to eradicate them or suppress their numbers if they are determined to be established." - palmbeachpost -----  They're not Godzilla size but large, nonnative lizards in two South Florida counties are being hunted down after alarming humans, including a homeowner who found one that slipped through a doggie door. Nine of the critters — formally known as Nile monitor lizards — were seen recently in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission warned. "This is a high-priority species for us," Scott Hardin, who coordinates nonnative species programs at the commission, said in a statement Tuesday. "We plan to go after them aggressively to either try to eradicate them or suppress their numbers if they are determined to be established." The commission urged residents to report sightings to 888-IVE-GOT1 instead of trying to deal with them personally. "Monitor lizards may exceed 7 feet in length and are known to be very defensive when cornered, so the FWC discourages attempts to capture the lizards," the statement said. "They are known to be more active during the hot summer months, explaining why reports have increased." Wildlife officials believe residents of South Florida who collect exotic animals as pets released the animals into the wild, either after the animals got too big or because they just didn't want the reptiles anymore, nbcmiami.com reported. The commission said it was worried the lizards would undermine the natural ecosystem of the area. "Nile monitors are large, predatory lizards native to Africa," it stated. "This species nests around water, and the FWC is concerned about potential predation in bird rookeries." A population of Nile monitors is already established in an area of Cape Coral, on the southwest coast of Florida, it added. Florida and the commission have their hands full dealing with wildlife issues. Nonnative pythons are spreading across the state and alligator/human incidents increase this time of year. - MSNBC -----  The biology professor from the University of Tampa bent down to the floor and pulled out of a black trash bag a fork-tongued, 5-foot-long, flesh-eating African lizard. It was big, dead and about to be cut open. The professor dropped the lizard on a long plastic tray in the environmental resources building here. The body hit the counter with a thud. "Welcome to Cape Coral," Todd Campbell said. These things live here, thousands of them, in this sprawling city in the southwest corner of the state. They're not supposed to live here, of course, which is why scientists like Campbell call them an invasive species. Invasion implies a war, which is appropriate. That's what this is. Us against them. This particular conflict has been going on for almost a decade now. The battleground is the city's more than 400 miles of man-made canals. The lizards' weapons include: sharp, snake-like teeth, long, muscular tails they use as whips, and claws that look like the sinister pendants of voodoo necklaces. They can run up to 18 miles per hour on land and swim under water for an hour at a time. What do we have? We've got traps. Metal traps rigged with rancid hunks of chicken backs. And we had vigilance. Here, though, is the latest development in this ongoing struggle: Cape Coral, so reliant on real estate, has gone in the past couple years from speculative fever to spectacular failure. This is a city in retreat. Water-logged phone books bake in the sun on the stoops of abandoned homes. The signs on the dying lawns say what's gone wrong: FORECLOSURE, SHORT SALE, BANK OWNED. This just in from the fighting at the front: "At this point in time," said Campbell, the Tampa professor, "the monitors are winning." • • • The story of how they got here starts with how we got here. Once upon a time this was saw palmettos and slash pines and mangrove swamps. Hardly anyone lived here. Then came air conditioning and two brothers from Baltimore who had made a fortune hawking hair products decided in the late 1950s to start selling subdivided Florida to pasty-skinned Northerners. Jack and Leonard Rosen turned swaths of acreage into all those canals and marketed their new city as a "Waterfront Wonderland." The population that was less than 300 in 1960 was more than 30,000 in 1980 and more than 100,000 in 2000. Around 1990 is when people started seeing … what was that? The Nile monitors, Varanus niloticus, are here for the same reason the Brazilian pepper trees are here, and the palms from Asia, and the pines from Australia, and the fish from Central America visible in the canals eating the torpedo grass, and also the pastel stucco 3/2 on Surfside Boulevard. We put them here. Local legend has it that a pet store went bankrupt sometime in the '80s and the proprietor let loose a gaggle of monitors in an area where, back then, almost nobody lived. Another theory is that wholesale distributors of exotic pets dumped monitors on purpose in the hope that they would procreate and provide a steady inventory to later be caught and sold. A third idea is that a series of owners over the years bought monitors when they were still small and then couldn't or didn't want them anymore when they began to grow into small dinosaurs. This much is certain: All the canals weren't good just for luring buyers of homes. They also created a Nile monitor paradise. • • • Enter professor Campbell. The biologist got $50,000 in grants from state and federal wildlife foundations to come to Cape Coral for two years in parts of '03, '04 and '05, to trap the monitors, study the monitors and maybe even eradicate the monitors. He learned they're not picky eaters. Bugs, frogs, smaller lizards, turtles, birds, rodents, baby alligators, endangered gopher tortoises, endangered burrowing owls, the eggs and offspring of any of these animals, feral cats, domestic cats, possibly even the family dog, road kill, whatever. They sometimes hunt in packs. Their disposition is disagreeable. They live an average of 12 years. Smaller females, say 3 feet long, once a year produce clutches of six or so eggs. Bigger females, close to twice that size, can lay up to 60. In their native Africa, where they live in burrows on the banks of rivers, they have a natural predator, but there aren't any crocodiles in Cape Coral — only the occasional gator or metal trap. But the main thing Campbell learned? Eradication was an overly optimistic aim. "Nile monitors," he wrote in his final report in '05, "continue to horrify the residents of Cape Coral by climbing on their houses, attacking their pets and scaring their children. … They have the potential to devastate native fish and wildlife populations." Monitor stories started to hit the local papers. One couple said they believed a monitor ate their elderly cat, leaving behind on the bank of the canal only his white paws and black tail. Another woman was sitting in her backyard and saw a monitor run by with a dying baby owl jammed in its jaws. She gave chase with a flower pot. Meetings were had. Citizens talked to state wildlife officials in the hope that state wildlife officials would talk to national wildlife officials in the hope that a chunk of federal money might lead to a more concerted extermination effort. It didn't happen. What did happen was the economy started to turn. Over these past couple lean years, the city has had one man in the environmental resources division who devotes approximately 30 hours a week to trying to trap monitors, and two more who help when they can. It's reactive, limited "bait and wait," better than nothing. But the program relies on calls from citizens. The eyes and ears of a city that's shrinking. • • • We're in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Florida is worse off than most of the rest of the country. Cape Coral is worse off than most of the rest of Florida. The value of property in Lee County dropped in the 2008-09 tax year by $30 billion. There are still an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 houses in some stage of foreclosure. The population of Cape Coral, according to the city, peaked a year and a half ago at more than 177,691. It's now almost 10,000 less. The people here say the dip feels steeper than that. Here's where the lizards come in. "The less people here," said Harry Phillips, a biologist for the city, "the less sightings we have." The city in the past couple years used to get about 40 calls a month. Now: more like 18 to 20. Monitors trapped: 69 in '07, 45 in '08, 17 so far in '09. "In this economy," Phillips said, "there isn't going to be a widespread trapping effort right now." "That's kind of been the most frustrating part of this," said Scott Hardin, the exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Tallahassee. "There's no pot of money." A widespread eradication effort, said Rick Engeman, a biologist at the National Wildlife Research Center in Colorado, might cost $70,000 per trapper, per year, for salary and equipment. And it would require multiple trappers for multiple years. By now, Phillips said, the city's monitor population could be 1,000. That's it? "Maybe 2,000." Really? "Could be 5,000." Or more? "We really don't know," he said. • • • Cape Coral in the summer. It's ghastly hot and sweat-stain wet. The snowbirds go home. It's no place to be. This is when we slow down and wait for relief. Not the Nile monitors. They like it like this, the hotter, the wetter, the better. They're only here because we were here first, but being in this city right now, looking at us, then looking at them, you start to wonder: Do the invasive Nile monitors like living here more than the people who are trying to trap them? They're down there, in the man-made canals, and you might not see them, but you sure see their burrows, deep holes dug into the dirt on the banks, and if you traipse around all that Brazilian pepper and cabbage palm they'll smell you before you see them. Splash. This, for them, is the part of the year when they're most active. They're moving, eating, looking for mates. They're making more babies. - tampabay.com       | ||
| Posted: 30 Jun 2011 01:02 PM PDT  This Week on 'Beyond the Edge' Radio: Demonologist and Paranormal Investigators Keith And Sandra Johnson  Keith and Sandra are regularly called upon to assist individuals in dealing with alleged malevolent paranormal phenomena or potential inhuman infestation in their homes and together have over 40 years of experience as paranormal investigators. Keith has had an interest in the paranormal since he was a teenager when he had phenomena occur in his own home. In the seventies, he was a member of the paranormal research group Parapsychology Investigation & Research Organization, out of RI College. Keith has been featured on the SciFi channel's Ghost Hunters, as a consulting demonologist, and both he and Sandra are former core members of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS).  The pair are co-founders of New England Anomalies Research and host a local TV talk show dealing with paranormal topics called Ghosts R N.E.A.R. which airs locally in Rhode Island and can also be seen online. Keith is the author of the 'Paranormal Realities' book series that chronicle his experiences as a paranormal investigator. Books I & II have been published and subsequent books are in the works and due for future release. You can learn more about them by visiting www.nearparanormal.com. **********  Mysterious bubble-like light burst seen over Hawaii Footage of this incredible bubble-like burst of light in the night sky was captured by cameras at an astronomical observatory in Hawaii. Sky watchers have been flooding internet forums with speculation about the burst, filmed by a webcam mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. Captured in time-lapse footage, the glowing sphere takes several minutes to expand until it virtually fills the frame - then it vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. Theories as the cause of the mysterious luminous sphere have ranged from the opening of an inter-dimensional portal to the future to a battle between two alien starships. But the most likely explanation is that is shows a U.S. Minuteman III inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), ejecting fuel as it enters the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. The time-lapse footage shows the night horizon filled with stars, when suddenly an ethereal arc pops into view. It rapidly expands, forming a circular shell which grows as it travels across the horizon, then fades as it fills the view. According to Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy blog, the soap bubble-like characteristics of the light burst indicate that it has been caused by a 'sudden impulse of energy and rapid expansion of material'. Citing online astronomy forums, Bad Astronomy reveals that a Minuteman III ICBM had been scheduled to launch from Vandenburg Air Force Base, California, three minutes before the burst was observed, at about 3:35am Hawaii time. The stars of the Cassiopeia constellation are visible in the horizon behind the burst, indicating that the webcam was pointed north-east - towards the base and the missile's probable flight path. Again citing internet forums, the blog speculates the burst could have caused by a charges in the missile's third stage detonating to kill its thrust as it arcs across the Earth. At a pre-determined moment, ports in the side of this section of the missile are blown open by explosive charges, allowing remaining fuel to be dumped fast. This rapid fuel dump cuts the missile's thrust at precisely the right time allowing the warhead to be targeted with devastating accuracy at the right spot back on the surface of the Earth. As the missile is above most of the Earth's atmosphere at this point, when the fuel gas is suddenly ejected it blows away from the missile in a perfect sphere - which could explain the bubble-like characteristics of the light. For this explanation, the timing seems to be right. However, it is only a theory and there has not yet been any official confirmation of the claims. - dailymail Click for video ********** Did Shakespeare have reefer madness? Did Shakespeare smoke weed? University of the Witwatersrand anthropologist Francis Thackeray thinks he did. He'd like a chance to prove that, and also learn more about the Bard's life and death, by digging up his body. (Maybe they'll also determine if Shakespeare was Shakespeare, but that's another story.) In 2001, Thackeray and his colleagues unearthed pipes in Shakespeare's garden that tested positive for marijuana, cocaine, and other substances. From RAW Story: Wikipedia Commons A A2 Shakespeare "We have incredible techniques," Thackeray told Fox News. "We don't intend to move the remains at all..." "The pipes we tested still had dirt in them which preserved the residues inside the stem and bowl," Van der Merwe said. "The readings we got were the same as if it had tested a modern-day crack pipe." Camphor, myristic acid, and quinoline were among other substances detected in the pipes. "Myristic acid, which is found in nutmeg, has hallucinogenic properties, and camphor, perhaps, was used to hide the smell of tobacco or other substances," Thackeray noted in 2001. ********** 'Whitebirk witches' given anti-social behaviour orders Two girls who were known as the "Whitebirk witches" have been given anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) for terrorising their neighbours. Amanda Holt, 16, and Tori Duxbury, 15, caused problems for people living in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn, magistrates were told. Police said they received a "catalogue of complaints" about the pair. They included intimidating people, throwing stones at cars, damaging property, shouting and swearing. Police said one resident felt like a prisoner in his own home and would keep his lights off after dark so the girls did not know he was home. He also checked they were not outside before leaving his home. The Asbos - which are in place for two years - prevent the girls from entering an area of Whitebirk, except when Duxbury is in the company of her mother. They are also banned from being outdoors in a public place in Blackburn between 2200 and 0500 BST until 31 December. 'Targeted the vulnerable' The pair cannot see each other or six other youths, nor can they act or incite others to act in an anti-social manner. Pc Tom Sanford, of Lancashire Police, said: "The behaviour of these two girls has been unbearable for the other people living in the area. "They targeted many properties and residents, many of whom were vulnerable. "We are committed to making sure Blackburn is not blighted by this type of behaviour and will continue to use tactics such as Asbos to rid local communities of such nuisance." Linda Clegg, Blackburn with Darwen Council's director of children's, safeguarding and protection services, said the local authority was working with the girls and their families to ensure they adhered to the orders. - BBC     | ||
| Bright Lights / UFOs Reported Over the Mid-Atlantic - June 29th Posted: 30 Jun 2011 12:31 PM PDT
The MUFON CMS received a number of similar reports from the Mid-Atlantic area and Ohio of very bright lights seen on June 29th between 10-10:30 PM EDT: Maryland: My girlfriend M. and I sat down to relax on my parents patio. We had just eaten dinner and decided to light a fire. We were facing southeast towards Haystack Mountain, seated next to each other talking, and I had just opened a beer (my first one of the night, alcohol played no factor in the sighting). I remembered looking up and noting how clear the sky was as the sun was setting, and glanced straight up above our heads and saw a light like a star, only much much brighter, like 10 or 20 stars worth of bright. I thought it was a plane with a reflection, but the sun had set long ago. It was moving, but kinda gliding along, it didnt seem propelled, and initially in a southeast direction. I nudged M. and pointed up at the light. She stopped mid-sentence and stared. so did I. I said something about it being totally silent. Thinking it was gone over the mountain and behind the trees, i said jokingly "I hope they come for us!" and took a drink from my bottle. If nothing happened after this point I would have still thought the light was out of place, it just seemed like it wasnt supposed to be there. i glanced up again to where i saw the object last, and it was just moving through the same space in the trees as it had just moved. I know that sounds insane, but the only way I can describe it is: Glitch in the Matrix. Like in the movie The Matrix when the cat walks in front of the door twice, like its on a loop. Only it seemed brighter and bigger than before. My girlfriend saw the same thing. I just cant make sense of what happened there. It was moving fast enough that it should have kept going over the mountain and out of sight, it was like magic. All of this happened in about 15 - 30 seconds. Hard to tell really my jaw was hanging open. I had to get a better look so I ran out to the alley behind the house for a better look, about 30 feet east of where we first saw it, and it wasn't in the part of the sky i expected it to be, it was further down the mountain towards Cumberland. It seemed to be moving faster as I was yelling for M. to come look. From the time she walked from one end of the driveway to the other it had changed from a solid bright white light, like a star much bigger than any in the sky maybe 10 or 20 times, down to the shape and size of a dim red star on a clear night, and vanished. It looked like light that just faded out smoothly to a single point, then gone. I cant give you a distance from us to the craft with any accuracy, but it was maybe 50 - 200 feet above Haystack Mountain when it faded out, so maybe 250 - 500 feet directly above us at first sight. I was excited, and M. was just saying "what was that? what was that?". And to make it creepier, there was not a sound to be heard, my parents live in a fairly quiet and secluded place. there was no sound. that was not an airplane, blimp, or helicopter. I am still trying to wrap my brain around this one. I wish i had a photo, but honestly it would look like a photo of stars, one being much brighter than the others. Feel free to ask any questions, i will give as much information as I can. Thanks for your time. Maryland: I was standing in a field behind my house at 10:10 admiring how clear the night was when a very bright white light appeared in the Northwest sky. The light reminded me of a halogen spotlight intensity. It was at least 5 times the size of Venus at full magnitude. It was a constant light with no blinking lights that are seen on conventional aircraft. It flew overhead toward the southeast horizon. The light stayed on a straight course but did seem to slow down as it reached the sky above me. No sound was emitted from the object. It appeared to be flying halfway between the ground and the cruising altitude of jets. As it reached the Southeast sky the light quickly faded out and abruptly disappeared. It was nowhere near the horizon and should have been visible for another minute or so before disappearing. I have spent countless hours looking at the night sky and have never seen anything like this. I had an obvious feeling that I was watching something that was not anything conventional. Virginia: It was around 10:20 (maybe a little after...could have been about 10:25) or so last night and I was watching tv in my room. I was staying up to see if I could view the rocket launch from VA beach that was going to happen at 11:10. For some reason, I had the feeling to look out of my bedroom window (which faces the NW - the rocket was to be seen SE). It was a very clear night and I noticed that up in the sky, there was a large bright (brighter than the stars) ball of light. It definitely was not a star, it was much larger than all the stars, it was not as high up in the sky as the stars. There wasn't a color, it was almost like a lightbulb compared to the stars. The light did not flicker, blink, or anything like that. It was just a ball of bright light. It moved very smoothly and very slowly across the sky in a straight line. I've never seen anything like that before and I was really thinking that it might turn out to be a plane or something, so I kept watching it get closer and closer. The object never changed or moved away from the straight line path it was on. There were no lights blinking or any other lights around just the one ball of light. It was starting to get out of my sight from my view in my room and I wanted my husband to see this, so I went down 2 flights of stairs to the basement, tried to wake him up (was unsuccessful), went back up to the 1st floor and out the back door so I could keep watching this light. I was still able to continue watching it pass over a large area across the sky for another 2 minutes or so. The light then all of a sudden just dimmed right out (took just a moment) and then it was gone. I would say that the entire viewing of this light lasted about 7 minutes. I was able to see the rocket launch at 11:10 and the rocket was actually seen at the exact spot that light dimmed out. I thought that was ironic. All in all, I have never seen anything that made me think I saw a UFO until last night and I am intrigued to keep my eye on the sky now! Pennsylvania: i just got out of shower,,abt 10;15pm,,had that feeling again,to go out and lookup at all the stars out,very clear tonight,as soon as i went out back,i looked up,towards se,i saw a big huge low star,im thinkin,hmm,cool,wonder what star that is,than,i noticed ,its moving real slow,cool,its another ufo,it was very,big and bright,very low,i watched it going se,in about another min,it dimmed,then disappeared into nowhere,as,alot of them do i see,some go all the way across the sky till out of view,some just vanish,/it was,not a aircraft,i was in the military,i now what planes look like,,it was not flashing,or a shooting star,but ,a typical ufo,/its about the 12th i've seen,this yr,i saw another low 1 just like this about a month ago,at abt 3am,low and slow going ne,i havent seen many this yr,i wonder why not,cause,last yr,i,and my friends saw about 45,ufo's,flying over nwpa,usa,,over warren,always at night,on clear nights,between,sunset,and before sunrise,i have seen a few in daylight,and they look like stars moving,the summer before,was real crazy,here,we,saw,like,75 ufo's,/up,til,a couple yrs ago,i never saw more than 15-20,in my life,somethin's goin on,and i saw,on history channel,last yr,that 2 yrs ago,,in summer,more ufo's were reported over pa,than ever before,i can attest to that,note,when i see them,they are always star like,moving,slow,than,increasing speed all off a sudden to like infinity,most real high,a few,very low and slow,than,they speed up real,quick,i have only seen a few,go in different zig-zag,directions,,well,thats it for my report,for now,i will keep lookin up at the stars at night,for more.//ps,in my opinion,the ufo's,are either,our's,or thier's,i've never seen any aliens yet,,or been abducted,that i know of,.. Pennsylvania: My wife was out on the back patio waiting for the dogs while they did thier business at about 10:05PM and then she called me outside at 10:10PM to look at this bright round white light in the sky slowly moving from the north-west to south-east direction with no sound. We watched it for about 5 minutes and then the went out and it was gone. There were no blinking maker lights that you would see on airplanes since we live close to the airport and see air traffic over our house very often. It appeared to be flying higher than the normal air traffic that was taking off from the airport but lower than another airplane that was higher up in the sky with red blinking marker lights flying in the north-west direction. The sky was very clear tonight with no clouds. Ohio: On June 29th around 10:10pm I was standing on the back deck of my house with my husband. A bright light in the sky caught my eye, when it was almost overhead as it came into view from the side of my house. It was coming from the North heading South. Both of us were amazed by how bright it was. Airplanes almost never fly that path over our house as well. It was a yellow/white light…. maybe three times the size of the biggest and brightest star or planet in the sky. It flew overhead at the speed of a regular airplane, but seemed low and was completely silent. I ran in the house and grabbed my binoculars. When I first pointed the binoculars at the moving bright light…it was almost blinding, and no other lights could be seen. No red, or blue lights like a regular plane. As the bright moving light flew out of sight I could see other airplanes in the area on both sides one flying to the East, and another flying to the West. This light was so bright it was the most oddest thing to see fly over…. especially in comparison to the other planes in the area.  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