Phantoms and Monsters

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• Waiting For Disclosure? Relax....Sit Back and Watch a Movie
• Astrobiologist Claims Life on Earth Seeded by Comets
• Haitian Homeless Haunted at Night by Evil Spirits, Loups-Garoux
• Survey: Most Students Convinced They Have An Extraterrestrial Teacher

Waiting For Disclosure? Relax....Sit Back and Watch a Movie Posted: 01 Feb 2010 04:46 PM PST I will preface my comments by first stating that I truly believe that it is rational to assume that extraterrestrial beings exist and that these beings, in some capacity, may currently inhabit this planet. There has been speculation that our species is a hybrid of human and alien DNA. This may very well be true but it has yet to be to be confirmed scientifically. Then again, our DNA strain may be so ancient that distinct human and alien genes may be impossible to isolate. Nevertheless, this is not what I want to write about, at least not at this time. Since the 1970's, I have had a keen interest in UFOs and life beyond our planet. I suppose I can blame Erich Von Daniken, the late Dr. Carl Sagan and Mr. Robinson, a British born and quite eccentric high school space science teacher who allowed me use the school planetarium after classes. For many years, I poured over every book that dealt in these subjects. Sooner or later, like most people, responsibilities tend to give you less time to enjoy the pleasures of life. I continued my involvement in more terrestrial paranormal subjects but occasionally I would come across UFO and/or alien tinged incidents. Since the 1950's, Hollywood has been producing movies that deal with UFOs and alien beings. Most of the early films were full of hokey costumed creatures, tinfoil covered spacecraft and ridiculous story lines. On the other hand, we were given the impression that these aliens were either malevolent or were here to make sure the human species did not destroy itself. Eventually, these B-movies science fiction thrillers evolved into high priced, computer enhanced mega productions that garnered millions of fans (ex. the 'Star Wars' trilogy, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind", etc.). Technology provided instant gratification with the ability for anyone to pop a tape, then later a DVD, into the player whenever convenient 24/7. We just sit back, relax and watch in high definition (and sometimes in 3D) wondrous interstellar craft and amazing alien beings interact with our species, either in the present time or long into the future. The plots and stories are a multiplicity of good vs. evil and everything in between. Yes, I fell into the same trap. My interest in the UFO and extraterrestrial phenomenon was exacerbated by Hollywood's magic and the ability to make me wonder if what they portrayed may actually be close to the truth. Whether we are just being entertained or witnessing a primer for what we can expect is the real question. In other words, are we being conditioned ...programmed, brainwashed ...however you want to phrase it ...made ready for the inevitable? Oh, hell...we all love a conspiracy theory! In the summer of 1996, Twentieth Century Fox released the film 'Independence Day'. It projected the tale of an alien mothership with a mass one-fourth of that of the Moon that entered Earth's orbit and deploys several dozen saucer-shaped destroyer spacecraft, each 15 miles in width, which are positioned over some of Earth's major cities. These destroyer craft coordinate and eventually deploy a WMD capable of leveling large cities as well as dispatching the inhabitants. The U.S. President and most of his Cabinet reach safety at Area 51 where they discover that the aliens had visited Earth previously. Three dead aliens, as well as a complete attack craft, had been recovered and were stored underground. At the end of the day, which happened to be July 4th, humanity figures out how to destroy the aliens worldwide and ultimately become independent again. 'Independence Day' was written/directed by Ronald Emmerich and written/produced Don Devlin, the same pair who had previously created the film 'Stargate'. Not only did 'Independence Day' rejuvenate the science fiction genre in films but visually introduced us to alien forces plotting a strategic and tangible invasion against earth. In today's ufology, it's my opinion that a majority of witness comments and theories, certainly the most well-known accounts, are usually based on film narratives produced in the 90's and beyond. There are popular notions that predate this period, namely famous UFO crashes and retrievals, but after some analysis it seems the bulk of the modern UFO lore can be traced to the last two decades, as well as to a handful of individuals. I'm not implying that the UFO and extraterrestrial phenomenon is somehow a myth. As I stated earlier, I believe there are beings of equal or higher intelligence that not only travel to this planet or dimension but may inhabit it as well. On the other hand, these beings and their appearance, mannerisms and mode of transportation are most likely not the same as our popular culture describes them. I'll admit that I am as guilty as others in using some of these popular descriptions when I post on my blog, though I try to avoid it as much as possible. We can debate the arguments for disclosure and if the world is ready for that reality, but at the end of the day, those arguments are still based on assumptions that still lack credible evidence. Even if there was some evidence that supported the theories that the government had intimate knowledge of alien beings, disclosing the existence or visitation to our planet of non-human entities would certainly qualify as a 'world after' event (ex. 'world after 9/11'). I think the government knows more about UFOs and alien beings than it publicly acknowledges, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are covering up secret agreements, underground bases, genetic hybridization or any knowledge of where extraterrestrials come from. Those people who are interested and involved in the study of UFOs and extraterrestrials need to look at the logical evidence that is provided and not compare it to the computer generated flash and stories used for entertainment. As well, an absolute need for disclosure serves only as security for our conscience. Real disclosure will not be on human terms. Disclosure will be on their terms, the extraterrestrials, whether we can accept that or not...Lon

Astrobiologist Claims Life on Earth Seeded by Comets Posted: 01 Feb 2010 10:35 AM PST bbc - New evidence from astrobiology "overwhelmingly" supports the view that life was seeded from outside Earth, a scientist has claimed. Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University says the first microbes were deposited on Earth 3,800m years ago. The astrobiologist has helped developed the panspermia theory which suggests an extra-terrestrial origin for life. He argues for a cycle of life as microbes find their way into comets and "multiply and seed other planets". In the article, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Monday, he argues humans and indeed all life on Earth is of alien origin, brought onto the planet by comets hitting the planet. Prof Wickramasinghe, of Cardiff University's centre for astrobiology, says there is a cyclical transfer process of life from planet to planet. He believes comets hit planets and push living organic matter out into space, some of which survives and in turn gets transferred to developing planetary systems over a timescale of millions and millions of years, seeding life on the newly formed planets. He accepts this model still does not explain how life actually began in the first place, but says there is no hard evidence to support the theory that life only began in a "primordial soup" on Earth, or other places. Over the past three decades research has shown that large swathes of the Milky Way are strewn with gigantic dust clouds full of organic molecules, which some people have argued shows life emerging independently from new in these clouds. In his paper, he says recent interpretation of spectra readings from the organic molecules found in interstellar clouds has indicated that they are in fact the remains of bacteria which has been broken down, rather than being built up. "Interstellar clouds appear to be the graveyard of life not its cradle," he said. "Each time a new planetary system forms a few surviving microbes find their way into comets. These then multiply and seed other planets," he said. He adds: "We are thus part of a connected chain of being that extends over a large volume of the cosmos. Evidence is pointing inexorably in this direction." The professor and his late colleague Sir Fred Hoyle championed the panspermia theory from the 1960s.

Haitian Homeless Haunted at Night by Evil Spirits, Loups-Garoux Posted: 01 Feb 2010 10:04 AM PST FT - The corpse of a young man, bloodied by bullet wounds, lay on Boulevard Truman in the center of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, a few hundred yards from a rag-tag camp for the homeless. Why this man was killed is unknown, but a deeply ingrained belief in the occult can explain some of the sporadic outbreaks of violence among the 690,000 people left on the streets by the earthquake of January 12. By night, mythical creatures are said to prowl the camps, snatching and murdering children. Many Haitians are convinced that people possessed by evil spirits turn into wolves after dark, a version of the werewolf legend. These loups-garoux, or wolf-men, are thought to be preying on defenseless people sleeping in the open. "Almost all Haitian families are afraid of this," said Vladimir Cadet, 29, who is among the homeless. "While they are sleeping in the street, they are living with this reality. There was a woman whose two children were taken by a werewolf. This kind of thing is spreading like wildfire." Mr Cadet, an English-speaking university graduate, is convinced of the existence of werewolves. "I have never seen one but I've been told by my mother that they exist. When I was a little boy, I was nearly taken." This widespread belief in the occult has worsened the ordeal of the homeless. As well as facing the daily burden of finding food and water, many also live with the fear that creatures of the night will abduct their children. Where Mr Cadet sleeps, people have formed brigades of watchmen who guard against the twin dangers of thieves and werewolves. Anyone suspected of falling into either category is liable to be killed. About half of Haiti's 9 million people are thought actively to practice voodoo. Many more share some of these beliefs. This has had one positive effect in the earthquake's aftermath. Voodoo holds that human beings never truly die – instead their spirits simply migrate to another dimension of existence. Consequently, the 150,000 people who were claimed by the natural disaster are thought to live on in a parallel universe, from where they might occasionally contact their relatives in this world. In a country bereft of comfort, this belief is a rare source of peace for the survivors of its tragedy.

Survey: Most Students Convinced They Have An Extraterrestrial Teacher Posted: 01 Feb 2010 09:23 AM PST yahoo - Three quarters of children believe in alien life and a third are convinced one of their teachers is an extra-terrestrial, according to a survey. More than nine out of 10 16-year-olds could not name all eight planets in the solar system, according to the survey of what youngsters know about space that has just been released. The poll of 1,000 five-to-16-year-olds also found little difference between the planetary knowledge of teenagers and younger children with 95% of five-year-olds failing to name them all compared with 94% of 16-year-olds. Other findings showed 72% believed aliens would be peaceful beings, 21% of 16-year-olds believed in aliens, compared with 7% who believed in Santa and a quarter said they were eager to visit other planets. Child psychologist and TV presenter Laverne Antrobus said: "Children have many fantasies and love to escape into a world of make-believe that they can imagine for themselves. This survey reveals that believing in aliens is far more exciting than actually thinking about where they may come from." The survey was commissioned by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to coincide with the release of the film Aliens in the Attic on DVD. ******************** Are you interested in the paranormal, cryptozoology, UFOs and conspiracies? Go to Phantoms and Monsters Wiki and become a member of this unique network. Start a page on a subject or add your input to an existing page or thread. ********************* Join me on Facebook ******************** Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual? Send us an email ******************** Anomalist Books - works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog *************** "The latest news from beyond the mainstream" Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast! Check out Mysterious Universe Plus+ all access format! Want to help support Phantoms and Monsters? Please visit our online shop. Thanks!

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Phantoms and Monsters

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• Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 5
• Beware of the 'Ex-Lax Fish'
• The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript
• Washington Man Claims Fossil Evidence Of Bigfoot

Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 5 Posted: 31 Jan 2010 03:31 PM PST The following are previous humanoid / cryptid encounter reports received by various agencies worldwide: THE WELSH DRAGON Location/Date: Powys, Wales - March 2001 - 7:30 PM A British biologist and a few colleagues were conducting some research in the area after being notified by a local of "something" strange that was witnessed a month earlier. As they stood at the edge of some woods by a quarry they suddenly looked upon an extraordinary entity. Measuring 3 ft. or so in length, it resembled a serpentine dragon with four short limbs, but its head was shaped very like that of a sea horse, and it was airborne...undulating and wriggling as it flew about 10 ft above the surface of the quarry in a wide circle. They were unable to recall seeing any wings, but it had a long tail that ended in a pair of horizontal, whale like flukes. The entity was green in color and shimmered somewhat, but appeared solid, not translucent or ethereal. They watched it for 3-4 minutes, at a distance of approximately 50 ft, before it finally vanished into one of the numerous caves and large crevices pitting the quarry. The biologist had the distinct impression while watching this creature that it was deliberately seeking to keep them at bay, warning them off from approaching further into its territory. Source: Reported by 'Strange' Magazine NOTE: the Powys, Wales region has had it's share of UFO reports over the years. __________________________ LITTLE GREEN MEN Location/Date: Yakima, Washington - Jan. 1977 - 6:00 AM A 9 year old boy was getting ready to eat his breakfast when he noticed a "little man" standing outside in his yard. He went outside and saw two light green colored creatures about 3 foot tall, who rotated on a base instead of having legs and feet. In a drawing, these creatures had only one eye, pug noses, and vestigial arms. Two metal craft were observed, one resting in the backyard and the other on the roof of the house, where there were two more identical creatures visible. While hiding, he saw the first two beings return to their craft, which were brightly lit inside and contained "two chairs with very tall bases." Ramps led up to "cross shaped" doors. After the humanoids had re-entered, the craft in the yard rose and disappeared in a cloud of steamy exhaust. Impressions in the gravel were found where the boy said the creatures had stood. In the long grass of the backyard was a circle of whirled grass about 10 feet in diameter. Local investigators found these traces still present during their on-site inspection on the same day the incident. Source: CUFOS _________________________ THE TALL BLOND MAN Location/Date: near Barstow California - July 1995 - midnight Five young men had gone into the Mojave Desert to shoot their rifles and camp for the night. Three of the group had gone to bed while the other two stayed up talking and working by portable light on a dirt bike. After awhile they heard a strange humming sound and their portable light went out. Looking up, in the light of the full moon, they spotted a large black circular object slowly moving over their camp. Startled and curious, they followed the craft hoping to make out more details. After about an hour, they lost sight of it over a hill. They headed back to camp but lost their way. After wandering about for nearly an hour, they came upon an old State Park dumpster in the middle of the area used for dirt bikes. Then from within the masonry wall surrounding the dumpsters, they heard loud crashing sounds like if someone was tossing garbage around. One of the men walked around to an opening in the wall, intent on asking directions from whoever was there. He noticed a tall blond man, clean shaven and wearing a golf shirt and dress slacks, both stained with motor oil and muck, wildly tossing garbage around as he searched for something in the dumpster. The camper asked the blond man if he knew how to get back to town, the man responded that he was not from around the area, that maybe the government knew. The campers asked the man what he was doing out in the middle of nowhere dressed as he was, but he ignored them, held up a bullet riddle radiator, and asked them what they thought of it. Concerned the two campers moved back from the stranger. They then looked around for a car but saw nothing. Just then a helicopter flew over the hillside and shot a blinding light down on the group. Though the two campers do not recall the man leaving the dumpster, they turned to talk to him and he was gone. An instant later the helicopter veered off in the direction of a glowing green light that was steadily rising in the sky. Neither camper remembered anything after that. They woke up leaning against the masonry wall sometime after 6:00 AM. Source: NUFORC NOTE: the Barstow, CA area has been a UFO / ET hot spot for many years..Lon

Beware of the 'Ex-Lax Fish' Posted: 31 Jan 2010 01:47 PM PST wane - State Representative James Tokioka did some research and drafted a bill that prohibits catching, selling or even possessing walu in Hawaii. "I talked [to] many people who sell fish, some of the hotel who [buys] fish, they are aware of it and they're not buying it anymore," said Rep. Tokioka. Tokioka said people have shared their nightmares of severe diarrhea after consuming a large portion of the fish. The oily walu or Escolar contains a high-level of wax esters in its tissue that are beneficial to its deep-sea survival, but can be unkind to humans. "I've never had it, but the people that I've talked to said you can't control it," said Rep. Tokioka. Native Hawaiians called the fish Maku'u or exploding intestines. It is banned in Japan and Italy. "I'm not one for banning anything but if it creates a public hazard a public safety hazard with many people than I think this definitely something that needs to have further discussion," said Rep. Tokioka. Doctors are embracing the legislation. "I think if restaurants can't police themselves or if they're the victims from suppliers it will just clean-up the process from A-to-Z and its really the consumer who will benefit," said Dr. James Ireland, Assistant Professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Ireland has treated several walu victims. "One lady had such bad diarrhea she had an accident in her pants, an adult, her husband had to go the emergency room I mean it's pretty serious," said Dr. Ireland. Rep. Tokioka said even if the bill is watered down to just requiring better labeling, he hopes more people are educated about the dangers of the fish. ___________________ ESCOLAR CONSUMPTION Escolar is consumed in several European and Asian countries, as well as in the USA, sometimes raw as sushi or sashimi. It may be sold as "white tuna" - a term also used for the albacore - or as "super white tuna" to distinguish it from the albacore. Escolar is also sold misleadingly as "butterfish", "oilfish" and "Hawaiian butter fish"; in Hawaii and Fiji, it is known as walu. Like oilfish, a related species with similar consumption consequences, escolar is also sometimes deceptively sold under the name of an entirely different species of fish, most commonly "codfish", "orange roughy" or "sea bass". In 2009, as part of a project to create a DNA database of every fish species, scientists from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History tested tuna samples from sushi restaurants in New York City and Denver, Colorado. They discovered that five out of nine restaurants serving fish labeled "white tuna," "white tuna (albacore)" or "super white tuna" were actually serving escolar. As a member of the Gempylidae family, Escolar or Snake Mackerel is not kosher. Like its relative the oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus), escolar cannot metabolize the wax esters (Gempylotoxin) naturally found in its diet. This gives the escolar an oil content of 14–25% in its flesh. These wax esters may cause gastrointestinal distress in humans called "keriorrhea", the onset of which may occur between 30 minutes and 36 hours following consumption. Symptoms may include stomach cramps, loose bowel movements, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. To minimize the risk of symptoms, control of portion size is recommended as well as preparation methods that remove some of the oil. Grilling will greatly reduce the heavy fat content in the fish, making it edible without ill side-effects. Portions should be no greater than 6 ounces (170 grams). NOTE: I've seen this fish sold as 'sea bass', 'Hawaiian butterfish' and 'white tuna'...this is why I buy only whole fish...Lon

The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript Posted: 31 Jan 2010 12:46 PM PST Click image for larger version A mysterious unintelligible manuscript that has puzzled researchers for decades has been dated to the 15th century and found to be genuine, according to US studies that were presented Thursday by Austrian broadcaster ORF. Many historians have so far believed that the so-called Woynich manuscript, which includes illustrations related to natural sciences, is a forgery, and mathematicians and other experts have not able to decode it. The book is named after Polish-American antiquarian Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired the text in 1912 in Italy. Researchers at the University of Arizona used the radiocarbon dating method on the 246 pages written in Europe by and found that the parchment was made between 1404 and 1438, said Walter Koehler, an ORF producer who oversaw the TV documentary on the manuscript. In addition, experts at the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago determined that the ink was not added in a later period. The text was likely written in Northern Italy. Before these findings, 'there was no serious expert who would have dated it to pre-Columbian times,' said Koehler, but rather to the 16th century, when coded texts were in fashion. Although the makers of the documentary were not able to unlock the mystery of the text itself, the dating now enables researchers to discount later encoding techniques and focus on new approaches, Koehler said. However, some experts like Germany-based Rene Zandbergen think that the mysterious letters could simply be ornaments that may have been derived from the Arabic. _____________________ THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT The Voynich Manuscript is considered to be 'The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World'. To this day this medieval artifact resists all efforts at translation. It is either an ingenious hoax or an unbreakable cipher. The manuscript is named after its discoverer, the American antique book dealer and collector, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who discovered it in 1912, amongst a collection of ancient manuscripts kept in villa Mondragone in Frascati, near Rome, which had been by then turned into a Jesuit College (closed in 1953). The Voynich Manuscript is a cipher manuscript, sometimes attributed to Roger Bacon. Scientific text in an unidentified language, in cipher, possibly written in central Europe in the 15th century. Based on the evidence of the calligraphy, the drawings, the vellum, and the pigments, Wilfrid Voynich estimated that the Manuscript was created in the late 13th century. The manuscript is small, seven by ten inches, but thick, nearly 235 pages. It is written in an unknown script of which there is no known other instance in the world. It is abundantly illustrated with awkward coloured drawings of: * unidentified plants; * what seems to be herbal recipes; * tiny naked women frolicking in bathtubs connected by intricate plumbing looking more like anatomical parts than hydraulic contraptions; * mysterious charts in which some have seem astronomical objects seen through a telescope, some live cells seen through a microscope; * charts into which you may see a strange calendar of zodiacal signs, populated by tiny naked people in rubbish bins. No one really knows the origins of the manuscript. The experts believe it is European They believe it was written between the 15th and 17th centuries. From a piece of paper which was once attached to the Voynich manuscript, and which is now stored in one of the boxes belonging with the Voynich manuscript holdings of the Beinecke library, it is known that the manuscript once formed part of the private library of Petrus Beckx S.J., 22nd general of the Society of Jesus. There is no other example of the language in which the manual is written. It is an alphabetic script, but of an alphabet variously reckoned to have from nineteen to twenty-eight letters, none of which bear any relationship to any English or European letter system. The text has no apparent corrections. There is evidence for two different "languages" (investigated by Currier and D'Imperio) and more than one scribe, probably indicating an ambiguous coding scheme. The VM is written in a language of which no other example is known to exist. It is an alphabetic script, but of an alphabet variously reckoned to have from nineteen to twenty-eight letters, none of which bear any relationship to any English or European letter system. Apparently, Voynich wanted to have the mysterious manuscript deciphered and provided photographic copies to a number of experts. However, despite the efforts of many well known cryptologists and scholars, the book remains unread. There are some claims of decipherment, but to date, none of these can be substantiated with a complete translation. The History of the Book The book was bought by H. P. Kraus (a New York book antiquarian) in 1961 for the sum of $24,500. He later valued it at $160,000 but was unable to find a buyer. Finally he donated it to Yale University in 1969, where it remains to date at the Beinecke Rare Book Library with catalogue number MS 408. It is known from a letter of Johannes Marcus Marci, rector of the University of Prague, to Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit scholar, dated 1666, that the manuscript was bought by Emperor Rudolph II of Bohemia (1552-1612). REVEREND AND DISTINGUISHED SIR, FATHER IN CHRIST: This book, bequeathed to me by an intimate friend, I destined for you, my very dear Athanasius, as soon as it came into my possession, for I was convinced it could be read by no one except yourself. The former owner of this book asked your opinion by letter, copying and sending you a portion of the book from which he believed you would be able to read the remainder, but he at that time refused to send the book itself. To its deciphering he devoted unflagging toil, as is apparent from attempts of his which I send you herewith, and he relinquished hope only with his life. But his toil was in vain, for such Sphinxes as these obey no one but their master, Kircher. Accept now this token, such as it is and long overdue though it be, of my affection for you, and burst through its bars, if there are any, with your wonted success. Dr. Raphael, tutor in the Bohemian language to Ferdinand Ill, then King of Bohemia, told me the said book had belonged to the Emperor Rudolph and that he presented to the bearer who brought him the book 600 ducats. He believed the author was Roger Bacon, the Englishman. On this point I suspend judgment; it is your place to define for us what view we should take thereon, to whose favor and kindness I unreservedly commit myself and remain, At the command of your Reverence, JOANNES MARCUS MARCI, of Cronland. PRAGUE, 19th August, 1665 (or I666) Historically, it first appears in 1586 at the court of Rudolph II of Bohemia, who was one of the most eccentric European monarchs of that or any other period. Rudolph collected dwarfs and had a regiment of giants in his army. He was surrounded by astrologers, and he was fascinated by games and codes and music. He was typical of the occult-oriented, Protestant noblemen of this period and epitomized the liberated northern European prince. He was a patron of alchemy and supported the printing of alchemical literature. The Rosicrucian conspiracy was being quietly fomented during this same period. To Rudolph's court came an unknown person who sold this manuscript to the king for three hundred gold ducats, which, translated into modern monetary units, is about fourteen thousand dollars. This is an astonishing amount of money to have paid for a manuscript at that time, which indicated that the Emperor must have been highly impressed by it. Accompanying the manuscript was a letter that stated that it was the work of the Englishman Roger Bacon, who flourished in the thirteenth century and who was a noted pre-Copernican astronomer. Only two years before the appearance of the Voynich Manuscript, John Dee, the great English navigator, astrologer, magician, intelligence agent, and occultist had lectured in Prague on Bacon. The manuscript somehow passed to Jacobus de Tepenecz, the director of Rudolph's botanical gardens (his signature is present in folio 1r) and it is speculated that this must have happened after 1608, when Jacobus Horcicki received his title 'de Tepenecz'. Thus 1608 is the earliest definite date for the Manuscript. Codes from the early sixteenth century onward in Europe were all derived from The Stenographica of Johannes Trethemius, Bishop of Sponheim, an alchemist who wrote on the encripherment of secret messages. He had a limited number of methods, and no military, alchemical, religious, or political code was composed by any other means throughout a period that lasted well into the seventeenth century. Yet the Voynich Manuscript does not appear to have any relationship to the codes derivative of Johannes Trethemius of Sponheim. In 1622 and the manuscript passed to the possession of an unidentified individual that left the book in his/her will to Marci. Marci must have known about this manuscript before 1644, as the information concerning the price that the Emperor paid came from Dr. Raphael Missowski (1580-1644) (as mentioned in his letter). Marci sent the manuscript immediately with the letter to Athanasius Kircher (a Jesuit priest and scholar in Rome) in 1666 who apparently also knew of it and had exchanged letters and transcribed portions with the previous unidentified owner. Between that time and 1912 (when Voynich discovered it) it is speculated that the manuscript may have been stored or forgotten in some library and finally moved to the Jesuit College at the Villa Mondragone. Marci's letter to Kircher was still attached to the manuscript when Voynich bought it. In that letter, Marci mentioned the name of Roger Bacon (1214-1292) as a possible author, although no conclusive evidence of authorship is available. A possible link between Rudolph and Bacon is John Dee (an English mathematician and astrologer, collector of Bacon's work) who visited Rudolph's court in 1582-86. Theories On Content and Purpose Click image for larger version The overall impression given by the surviving leaves of the manuscript suggests that it was meant to serve as a pharmacopoeia or to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. However, the puzzling details of illustrations have fueled many theories about the book's origins, the contents of its text, and the purpose for which it was intended. Here are only a few of them: Herbal - The first section of the book is almost certainly an herbal, but attempts to identify the plants, either with actual specimens or with the stylized drawings of contemporary herbals, have largely failed. Only a couple of plants (including a wild pansy and the maidenhair fern) can be identified with some certainty. Those "herbal" pictures that match "pharmacological" sketches appear to be "clean copies" of these, except that missing parts were completed with improbable-looking details. In fact, many of the plants seem to be composite: the roots of one species have been fastened to the leaves of another, with flowers from a third. Sunflowers - Brumbaugh believed that one illustration depicted a New World sunflower, which would help date the manuscript and open up intriguing possibilities for its origin. However, the resemblance is slight, especially when compared to the original wild species; and, since the scale of the drawing is not known, the plant could be many other members of the same family - which includes the common daisy, chamomile, and many other species from all over the world. Alchemy - The basins and tubes in the "biological" section may seem to indicate a connection to alchemy, which would also be relevant if the book contained instructions on the preparation of medical compounds. However, alchemical books of the period share a common pictorial language, where processes and materials are represented by specific images (eagle, toad, man in tomb, couple in bed, etc.) or standard textual symbols (circle with cross, etc.); and none of these could be convincingly identified in the Voynich manuscript. Astrological herbal - Astrological considerations frequently played a prominent role in herb gathering, blood-letting and other medical procedures common during the likeliest dates of the manuscript (see, for instance, Nicholas Culpeper's books). However, apart from the obvious Zodiac symbols, and one diagram possibly showing the classical planets, no one has been able to interpret the illustrations within known astrological traditions (European or otherwise). Microscopes and telescopes - A circular drawing in the "astronomical" section depicts an irregularly shaped object with four curved arms, which some have interpreted as a picture of a galaxy that could only be obtained with a telescope. Other drawings were interpreted as cells seen through a microscope. This would suggest an early modern, rather than a medieval, date for the manuscript's origin. However, the resemblance is rather questionable: on close inspection, the central part of the "galaxy" looks rather like a pool of water. Here is a link to the Yale University image collection - Voynich Manuscript|Cipher Manuscript. A very nice reference site - Voynich Manuscript Sources: www.world-mysteries.com www.monstersandcritics.com www.crystalinks.com www.voynich.nu apod.nasa.gov beinecke.library.yale.edu

Washington Man Claims Fossil Evidence Of Bigfoot Posted: 31 Jan 2010 11:14 AM PST thenewstribune - One night 54 years ago, Cliff Crook says, he stared into the face of a Northwest boogeyman. He called it a "woods giant." Today, it's better known as Bigfoot. "I had a real terrifying encounter," said Crook, now 69. "It's not something that goes away." He remembers the towering size, the ape-like face, the gurgling sound in the dark. He remembers the dog that charged into the bushes and then was tossed out and crashed onto the ground. He remembers running away with three younger camping buddies. They arrived home a mile away, their bare feet bleeding. His friends' parents weren't too happy with him. "They didn't want them around me anymore," Crook recalled last week. The encounter fueled a lifelong obsession by Crook with the hairy ape-like creature. He calls himself "America's first Bigfoot investigator." Others call him a hoaxer and an attention grabber. Crook appeared on the front page of The News Tribune in 1990 when some mushroom hunters found possible Bigfoot footprints near the Nisqually River. Crook found the prints credible. He called The News Tribune recently to announce more Bigfoot footprint news, what he called the biggest find in 30 years. STATUE MOVES DOWNTOWN The basement den in Crook's Bothell-area home used to be Bigfoot Central, where over the years he regaled visitors from around the world with stories of his encounter and the investigations into sightings, footprints and efforts to find the ape-like creature. Maps, drawings, newspaper clippings, footprint casts and Bigfoot memorabilia decorated the walls. An 8-foot-tall carved wooden Bigfoot sat on the front lawn to welcome visitors. The basement is now home to the Doo-Wop Den, a 1950s style café filled with 1950s kitsch and collectibles. The Bigfoot statue graces a market in downtown Bothell. Crook's son, Cary, in Polson, Mont., carries on the family research and keeps the Bigfoot Central Web site updated. Nevertheless, the elder Crook still wears a big metal pinky ring showing the head of sasquatch. (His wife, Carol, gave it to him.) And he's enthusiastic about new research he says shows Bigfoot's ancestors once roamed the Texas countryside side by side with dinosaurs. "There's never been fossil evidence of Bigfoot," Crook said. And now there is, he said, pointing at the casts of two large footprints he's placed on the den's black-and-white checked linoleum floor. One cast, Crook said, is of a footprint he made in 1999 from the rock bed of the Paluxy River, near Glen Rose, Texas. The fossil print, he said, is one of more than a dozen in a row in the river rock, a hot spot for dinosaur footprints from 140 million years ago. Some creationists say the prints are the tracks of giant humans. Many paleontologists say they belong to dinosaurs and other reptiles, not man or any kind of primate. The other cast is what Crook calls a credible Bigfoot footprint found in 1991 in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Darrington. "They're mirror images," he said of the two. Both footprints show four of seven tell-tale signatures he said he has developed over the years to enable him to tell which prints are real and which are fake. He declined to reveal the signatures, saying he did not want people to use them to fake footprints. Crook calls the tracks Bigfoot's Fossil Trail and another piece of evidence that the Bigfoot today is no mere legend. 'BLOWING SMOKE,' SAYS PROF Good luck with that idea, says Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at the University of Idaho in Moscow. Meldrum, a sasquatch investigator, is generally skeptical of Crook's footprint claims. Told of the fossil footprint, he was not impressed. "Since he is talking about Paluxy (River), I am quite certain he is blowing smoke," Meldrum said in an e-mail. "That area has a long history of footprint discovery, misinterpretation and outright fabrication. … "The notion that a species of giant bipedal primate existed alongside dinosaurs is baseless, totally without evidence, let alone a reasonable theoretical framework given our understanding of the fossil record. "If sasquatch exists, it was likely a relic of the trend among many mammal species toward gigantism during the Pleistocene: mammoths, short-faced bear, dire wolf, panda, etc." Meldrum focuses his research, writing and lectures on Bigfoot footprints and how they relate to locomotion. Though he has never had an encounter, he says the amount of evidence of Bigfoot, including footprints, convinces him it's worth investigating. The News Tribune sent Meldrum a photograph of the Texas fossil cast Crook made next to the cast from near Mount Baker and asked him to comment. "Nothing from there previously has resembled the (fossil) cast on the right," he said in reply. He also challenged the cast itself. "One can't simply pour plaster into a fossilized footprint, an imprint in stone, let it harden and then pull it out. The plaster or cement would adhere to the rock without a separator, so there wouldn't be any flecks of rock in the plaster as evident in the photo." Crook dismisses Meldrum's comments. "I know this discovery would rattle the bed frames of sleeping science a bit," he said. "I have rattled a few beds before, but real science is about uncovering the truth. When tracks match, they match." Crook defended his cast-making. Using a nonsticking cooking oil allowed him to make the fossil cast, he said. He also produced photographs of himself at the river standing next to the tracks. He said the purported Bigfoot fossil tracks are different from the so-called "giant man" tracks others say they have found. "The real facts are that dinos, big cats, other huge creatures and giant men left their tracks across the same strata, which means one thing," Crook said. "Human giants and giant creatures lived contemporaneously in days of old. Just as it was written in the Bible, so it was." ******************** Are you interested in the paranormal, cryptozoology, UFOs and conspiracies? Go to Phantoms and Monsters Wiki and become a member of this unique network. Start a page on a subject or add your input to an existing page or thread. ********************* Join me on Facebook ******************** Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual? Send us an email ******************** Anomalist Books - works on maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, strange talents, and unexpected discoveries. Please check out their excellent and diverse catalog *************** "The latest news from beyond the mainstream" Join Ben & Aaron for their weekly podcast! 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