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Post by Joanna on May 2, 2015 18:17:06 GMT -5
Medieval 'Witch Girl' Suffered from ScurvyA Medieval teenage girl found buried face-down last year in northern Italy suffered from scurvy and was rejected by her community, according to new study of her burial. Dubbed by Italian media as "the witch girl," the skeleton was unearthed in September 2014 at the complex of San Calocero in Albenga on the Ligurian Riviera, by a team of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology at the Vatican. The site, a burial ground on which a martyr church dedicated to San Calocero was built around the 5th and 6th centuries AD, was completely abandoned in 1593. "The girl lay in prone position in a tomb much deeper than the others. She was buried in an isolated area of the cemetery in front of the church," said archaeologist Stefano Roascio, the excavation director.
Like other deviant burials, in which the dead were buried with a brick in the mouth, nailed or staked to the ground, or even decapitated and dismembered, the prone burials aimed to humiliate the dead and impede the individual from rising from the grave.
Found with her hands placed on the pelvis and straight and parallel legs, the girl’s bones showed all signs of a severe anemia. Further analysis also determined she suffered from scurvy, a disorder caused by an insufficient intake of vitamin C. The disease was most common among sailors in the 16th to 18th centuries who embarked on long voyages without enough foods containing vitamin C and frequently died from the condition. "Scurvy was diagnosed on the basis of cranial lesions which were the result of porotic hyperostosis," anthropologist Elena Dellù said.
Found mostly in the bones of the cranial vault, porotic hyperostosis causes the bones to become spongy and the bone tissue porous. Examining the remains of the teenage girl, Dellù and colleagues found evident signs of the pathological condition on the external surface of the occipital bone, on the orbital roofs and on the greater wings of the sphenoid. "Areas of these osteo productive lesions were also present near the dental sockets and on the palate, where some teeth had fallen probably due to weak blood vessels, also damaged by mastication," Dellù said.
In the anthropologic literature, porotic hyperostosis is mostly seen as evidence of iron deficiency anemia, but in this case specific clues indicate the girl was a scurvy victim. "When it comes to anaemia, porotic hyperostosis normally concentrates on the internal surface of the skull and on the eye bony sockets. In cases of scurvy, we also find it on the palate and in the sphenoid," Dellù said.
Standing just under 5 feet tall, the young girl somehow scared the community. Her pallor, associated with other scurvy symptoms such as mouth, leg and eye bleeding, corkscrew hair, protruding eyes, frog leg posture and possibly fainting and epileptic seizures, must have played a key role in her social rejection. As she died, she was humiliated with the face-down treatment, so that her soul, considered impure, would not come out to threaten the living. "Any disease that people didn't understand may have caused them to bury someone in a deviant manner," Kristina Killgrove, biological anthropologist at the University of West Florida not involved in the research, told Discovery News.
Radio carbon dating revealed the girl died between the first half of 1400 and the beginning of 1500, a period of social and religious tensions which led to witch hunts and persecutions.
One of the most famous witch hunt manuals, the Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of the Witches") was published in 1484.
"In that climate, it is quite likely the young girl was considered a witch," Roascio and Dellù said.
Led by scientific director Philippe Pergola, professor of topography of the Orbis Christianus Antiquus at the Pontifical Institute of Archaeology, Roascio and Dellù will present their findings at an archaeological conference in Rome later this month.
The scurvy diagnosis makes the deviant burial finding even more interesting, according to Killgrove. "There's not a whole lot of large-scale analysis done on ancient kids with scurvy and the research we have tends to have been done on younger individuals between 3- and 7-years-old," Killgrove said. She noted that many of the scurvy cases are from places like England and parts of North America that didn't have access in the past to lots of vitamin-C-rich foods. "It's interesting that this case is from Italy; after all, by the Middle Ages, citrus was well-known and well-circulated throughout Europe," Killgrove said.
Dellù believes the girl likely suffered from scurvy because of vitamin C malabsorption. "Albenga is on the Ligurian coast and fresh foods rich in vitamin C were certainly available," she said.
The researchers will soon conduct biochemical or histological analyses – thin-sectioning bone or testing it – to see what the diet of that individual was like.
"We plan to excavate more skeletons, possibly of the same period of the girl, so that we can carry and compare DNA and biochemical analyses," Dellù said.Source: Rossella Lorenzi , Discovery Communications, May 2, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 28, 2015 0:28:13 GMT -5
Favorite Haunted Houses: Real and Fictional"... Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone." Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill HouseWho can read the prologue to The Haunting of Hill House and resist continuing? We certainly can't. From its confusing design to its creaking circular staircase, Hill House is a trap of the most elegant kind; a place of fear and wonder. Disneyland stole the breathing doors for its Haunted Mansion – that tells us just how iconic this haunted house is.
We love haunted houses. Real or fictional, we don't care. We just want to be there. We both love to check out haunted places so much that for our first in-person meeting, we went to a haunted cabin in California's Gold Country to conduct an investigation for an unnerved homeowner. We had thrills, chills, and a few very odd experiences that quickly ignited our imaginations.
With this in mind, here's a little about our all-time favorite haunted places, real and fictional, and how they've affected our stories. First, there are the Houses Hill and Hell.
Shirley Jackson's Hill House is the Hope Diamond of haunted houses. It is the book to which other writers aspire when writing their own haunted house novels. The tale of Hugh Crain and his beleaguered family remains a mutual favorite, even after many reads. The scariest part of Hill House is, easily, the phantom pounding and scrabbling and gibbering at the doors. It's terrific in the movie, even better in the book. But our very favorite part is when Eleanor finds out she isn't holding Theo's hand.
Hell House, by Richard Matheson, is a more physical version of Jackson's Hill House and billed at the "Mount Everest of Haunted Houses." As with Hill House, it's easy to get lost in Belasco House (aka Hell House). It's a gothic pile of stones with a deadly chapel inside and the spookiest pool ever encountered under any house. If you've seen the movie (The Legend of Hell House), you've had a good taste of Matheson's Belasco House, but until you read the book, you won't know what you're missing. By turns horrifying and erotic, the novel will curl your short hairs and your toes. The plot is similar to Jackson's – a group of people spend time in a house that no one in their right mind would enter. Each is led by an academic and includes team members of questionable mental status. Hell House's plot is more complex, involving a machine that removes pesky spirits (and that electromagnetic thread of story has a basis in reality that wasn't even known – supposedly – back when it was written). Each story involves a power-mad master – Hill House has Hugh Crain and Hell House has Emeric Belasco. Crain and Belasco would hate each other: Crain is a puritanical bastard while Belasco is a hedonistic psychopath.
How have Hill House and Hell House influenced our own work? Hill House is so iconic there is probably a whiff of it in everything we – and every other writer of ghostly tales – write if ghosts are involved. As for tips of the hat, in this summer's release, Grandma's Rack, Devanny Lennox moves into Crane House and there's an antique shop called Belasco's. In Tamara's Bad Things Bad Things, Robin Piper's middle name is Emeric and in Alistair's upcoming novel The Crimson Corset, there's an old vampire also named Emeric.
If Hell House is the Mount Everest of Haunted Houses, then the Overlook Hotel in The Shining is the Holiday Inn of Horror. The Overlook, loosely based on The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has enough ghosts and hauntings to serve an entire hotel chain. From the boiler room to the roof, from the ballroom to Room 217, and from the playground to the elevator, the Overlook is teeming with nasty things.
In a creepy coincidence, when we stayed at the haunted cabin in Gold Country, we found, packed away in a suitcase, a little girl's blue dress dating to the 1960s or 70s that reminded us of the dresses on the twins in Kubrick's movie. As for the Overlook's effects on our work, we thought of The Shining's hornet's nest while investigating the sounds in the cabin's walls and hoped they were caused by animals or poltergeists – anything but insects. That would've been too much horror. And, of course, The Cliffhouse Haunting is set in a mountain lodge. It doesn't look at all like the Overlook: we based it loosely on Yosemite's Ahwahnee Lodge (pictured above and also haunted). Coincidentally, Ahwahnee architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood also designed The Timberline Lodge (above), where Stanley Kubrick filmed The Shining. Also, Cliffhouse's bathtub-loving Maisy Hart is a nod to Room 217. And you'll find a few hidden jokes like the line, "I've always been the bartender" peppered throughout the story. In Tamara's Candle Bay, there's a groundskeeper named Jack Inglewood who claims he's "always been the caretaker," too. (In California, the cities of Torrance and Inglewood border each other.)
The Cabin in Gold Country (nonfiction): At first sight, this cabin reminded us of the cabin in the Evil Dead movies. Fortunately, it lacked a basement full of obnoxious ghouls and no chain saws were in sight. But it did have something ... extra. We stayed a total of five nights in this privately-owned property. There was no electricity and the only heat came from a massive fireplace. We quickly realized there was in fact some anomalous activity and by the end of the fifth day, we left in a bit of a hurry after having some increasingly disturbing experiences.
How the haunted cabin has influenced our work: We were in the middle of our first collaborative novel, Grandma's Rack, when we visited the cabin. It quickly inspired us to begin The Cliffhouse Haunting, which we pushed to the front of the line and released in April 2015. While we have both experienced anomalies in other places, the quiet isolation of the locale and lack of anything but candle and lantern light made every creak and groan an adventure and really wound us up to do Cliffhouse. We picked up a few elements from the real experience and plunked them into Cliffhouse. Sara's floating sandwich scene is one of them.
Another favorite fictional house of ours is the one in The Changeling starring George C. Scott. It's memorable for its high-ceilinged rooms, a bathroom even creepier than the one in The Shining, the attic room where the haunted wheelchair lurks, and the dark at the top of the stairs where the unseen entity plays ball. That's enough spookiness for any house, but this tale is allegedly based on anomalous activity in an old house in Denver where the screenwriter lived for a time.
The Brookdale Lodge (nonfiction) in the Santa Cruz Mountains of north-central California is currently closed, but is known for the natural stream that runs through its restaurant, the Brook Room. The original lodge was built in 1890. It has an odd rustic-Victorian look and closer inspection reveals a lot of interior work that will remind you of the style of Yosemite's Ahwahnee and Oregon's Timberline Lodge. In some areas, the carvings will make you wonder if Jack Torrance isn't lurking around the corner. The Brookdale's history oozes with movie stars, gangsters and Prohibition Era hijinks. The Mermaid Room was a bar that looked directly into an indoor pool where guests could watch the "mermaids" swim and choose which one they'd like to reel into their rooms for a bawdy evening. But the ghosts of the Brookdale are the true stars. The most famous is Sara Logan, a child who drowned in the Brook Room stream.
The Brookdale Lodge lends its atmosphere to both The Cliffhouse Haunting and Alistair's The Crimson Corset. Cliffhouse has a natural stream running through it and the Crimson Corset is a nightclub that bears a resemblance to the Brookdale. In particular they share underground passages that were once used for rum-running. The Crimson Corset is even set in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just minutes from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk where other vampires terrorized people in The Lost Boys.
Our final major influence can be found at Hearst Castle, an hour or two south of Santa Cruz. In our serial novel, The Ghosts of Ravencrest, we have a beautiful, but very eerie, indoor pool that resembles the dark blue one at the castle. We don't know if the non-fictional pool is supposed to be haunted or not, but if you've ever taken the tour, you may wonder how anyone has the nerve to dive into those deep blue depths.
There are many more places we could mention, from Winchester House to the Queen Mary, but we'll save those for another day.Source: Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross, Horror Talk, April 26, 2015.
Tamara Thorne is the bestselling author of more than a dozen novels published by Kensington Publishing Corporation and Alistair Cross was first published in 2012 by Damnation Books. They are also the authors of the serial novel, The Ghosts of Ravencrest, and hosts of the successful horror-themed radio show "Thorn & Cross Haunted Nights LIVE!" Their latest novel, The Cliffhouse Haunting, is available now.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 27, 2015 22:48:42 GMT -5
Modern Revival of Ancient Beltane FestivalLast year, with friends and family, in a sloping field just off the busy A3 from London to Portsmouth, I experienced my first Beltain (more widely known as Beltane) – the ancient festival which marks the end of winter and start of summer. Held at Butser Ancient Farm, an archaeological site, on paper it had looked like a charming low-key Celtic festival with a few folk bands and a hog roast.
It was so much more than that: dancing women in woad waving antlers to ancient gods of fertility. Children wearing self-woven blossom and wicker May coronets roaming among picnickers. And, of course, the high point of the night – the burning of a specially-built, 30-foot-high Wicker Man, stuffed with scraps of paper on which we had written our hopes for the coming year. A large crowd, some with children perched on shoulders, pressed closer to the insistent heat for a better view as leaping flames licked the man’s torso and consumed his legs. And then he shuddered, buckled and collapsed sideways down into the dark Hampshire earth. The Pagan onlookers reveled in the grisly ritual. The Wicker Man is dead; summer is a-coming in. Afterwards, we all trooped home through a wet field, oddly elated.
In our peripatetic, deeply temporal, modern society, why would anyone choose to spend a long night marking the passing of Winter and greeting Summer? You can sit at home with a boxed set of The Killing and a takeout meal. Who celebrates change – apart from the Coalition? Actually, it emerges, increasing numbers of Britons – old, young and of worldwide origin – still do. In Edinburgh, thousands will celebrate the 25th Beltane (the name is probably derived from a Gaelic word meaning bright fire) Fire Festival this year. In Yorkshire, Thornborough Henge will see its eighth annual event. Butser Ancient Farm has been building and burning its wicker man for more than a decade.
Events have sprung up from Devon to Peebles, Cardiff to Ireland (where the festival is connected to the legends of Tara). All have seen annual attendance and interest on the rise at a time when modern music festivals are seeing numbers slump.
So is Beltane just the latest groovy festival – albeit with a Time Team theme? Independent researcher and anthropologist Pauline Bambry, who has studied Beltane for five years and is writing a book on it, believes not. “Beltane is a rural pre-Christian prehistoric tradition which saw communities come together after long winters of isolation,” she says. “It marked their connection, not just to nature, but to each other. That need to belong to something or someone hasn’t changed. We can be just as isolated living in the city or in a town as the ancient Britons were in their round houses.”
Not all the traditions associated with Beltane are necessarily useful to the modern Brit, but many made sense at the time. Fires are lit as part of the celebration with farmers driving livestock between them and sometimes over the ashes. “After the animals had been kept in close confinement over winter, it was a chance to drive out the lice and parasites that had flourished, before they were taken to the higher pastures,” Bambry explains.
Many Beltane ceremonies also involved beating the bounds – literally marching around the boundaries of the village with flaming torches. It was a chance to reinstate the shape of the village and check fences were in order.
Other rites included extinguishing the home’s hearth fire (normally kept ever lit) on April 30 and then relighting it May 1st from the central village bonfire. Young couples might choose to become “handfast” on this day, “tying the knot” using a ribbon woven around their joint hands as they pledged themselves to each other for a year and a day. If the romance didn’t survive, they were free to love again once the 366 days had passed. Some young women would even jump the fires to encourage pregnancy or an easy birth.
The festivals have never completely disappeared. Unlike the other ancient so-called Quartering Days (which mark the changing four seasons) Beltane was not co-opted by Christianity into something else. The nearest Saint’s Day to Beltane is probably St. George’s Day on April 23. But the other three – Lughnasadh (August 1), Samhain (October 31/Nov 1), Imbolc (February 1) – have all been made over to feel more Christian: respectively Lammas, All Saints/All Souls Day, and Candlemas.
The Edinburgh revival is the largest Beltane festival in the UK, with thousands expected on April 30 at the Acropolis on Calton Hill. It was developed by Angus Farquhar, founder of Scottish arts group NVA. “His aim was to re-establish seasonal community celebrations,” says Matthew Richardson, Chair of Beltane Fire Society, the charity which runs the event, who first came to Belante 14 years ago when he was a student at the University of Edinburgh. “When it started in 1987, Beltane was very small – just four performers and an audience of 30 or 50. But its reputation has spread by word of mouth and this year there will be 300 performers and more than 12,500 audience members.”
Beltane on Calton Hill begins at sunset April 30, when the May Queen and the Winter King arrive at the Acropolis surrounded by handmaidens (guardians of the May Queen) and drummers to process them around and down the hill. As they travel, they are interrupted by the red men – spirits of chaos and disorder – who try to distract the May Queen. Halfway down the hill, the Winter King is killed and reborn as the Green Man and the May Queen lights the bonfire, symbolizing the light and heat of summer. Around the stage, roaming performers with torches entertain the public and fire sculptures light up the sky. “There is a sense the whole hill is alight,” says Matthew.
Smaller, but no less busy, is Beltane at the prehistoric site Thornborough Henge near Ripon in North Yorkshire. It was established in 2004 by Oliver Robinson, a web developer for 364 days of the year and a May Day Fool on Beltane, as an antidote to more commercial festivals. “I wanted to facilitate people using the Henge and gathering there for free,” he says. This Beltane celebration incorporates elements of druidry, historic folklore, a mystery play and the lighting of a fire. Uniquely, it honors Brigantia, a goddess of the old kingdom of northern England at the time of the Roman invasion. “We like celebrating our traditional indigenous local goddess,” explains Oliver.
At Thornborough Henge, enthusiasts often turn up on the preceding night to camp before the event, which takes place on the Sunday nearest to May 1. Lots of couples choose to handfast here. “They do their own way: jumping a broom, or a fire, or tying hands together. And we try to encourage everyone to dress up – at least a May Day headdress. Then it’s less like people standing together in a field,” says Oliver. He believes the event has more of a spiritual element than large commercial festivals where people don’t mingle and there are security checkpoints. “At Henge, everything we do is in a circle and people really come together and contribute to each other’s enjoyment,” he says.
Bamfrey agrees there is a spiritual dimension to celebrating Beltane which is hard to find elsewhere. “From taking in the Edinburgh celebrations, I know that I felt connected to what was going on around me. It made me feel more aware of nature and uplifted. It poured rain all night – we were absolutely drenched – but there was a tremendous buzz,” she says. It is a chance to celebrate surviving winter and prepare for the rest of the year. “It ends that sense of modern isolation,” she adds. “It proves we are all in it together.”
My own family will be back at Butser this year. After a long winter of turmoil, squabbling, it feels right to focus on simpler truths: the promise of sunshine and fertile earth, rainfall and harvest, community and harmony.
The Wicker Man. According to legend, fire was considered transformative, cleansing and revitalizing. Julius Caesar noted that Iron Age Britons practiced human sacrifice by building a huge wicker container (often shaped like a man) and filling it with people and animals before setting it alight. More recently, the 1973 cult film The Wicker Man, written by Anthony Shaffer and starring Edward Woodward, saw a remote Scottish community led by Christopher Lee, reenacting the old tradition with horrifying results. Director Robin Hardy released a follow-up, The Wicker Tree, in 2011 and is working on a third, The Wrath of the Gods, to complete The Wicker Man Trilogy. Source: Victoria Lambert, The Telegraph, April 27, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 22:51:06 GMT -5
Russian Men Confess to 'Satanic' Mass Murder over CellphoneTwo men have confessed to killing five people after a dispute over a stolen cellphone at a drunken party in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan that escalated into murder and rape. Sergei Bukayev, 25 (above left), and Konstantin Surkov, 22 (right), admitted killing five guests, aged between 16 and 22, at the party in a flat in the town of Kumertau in the Ural mountains Friday, April 17.
Bukayev told prosecutors he became involved in a dispute with a host at the party, Leonid Peresnuko, 22, over a cellphone, grabbed him and killed him by stabbing him in the neck. He said he then grabbed the man's girlfriend, Irina Starikov, 21, and stabbed her to death.
Afterwards, Bukayev and Surkov decided to kill the remaining witnesses and proceeded to murder a 16-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and raping a 17-year-old girl before killing her, before torching the one-bedroom apartment. Firefighters found the bodies. Some of the victims had their throats slit reports Komosmolskaya Pravda.
A picture, taken by a friend of Skype, was circulated on social media of the partygoers just hours before the slaughter took place.
Russian media has speculated the group's fascination with the occult may have played a role in the murders. Surkov allegedly used the pseudonym “Lucifer's Blood” on social networks. In photographs of the crime scene, occult symbols can be seen carved into the limbs of the victims, reports NTV.
Surkov and Bukayev were arrested after being spotted on the side of a road by a truck driver, who recognized them from pictures featured in local media. They had cellphones and tablet computers they stole from the victims and intended to sell, it was claimed. Under Russian law, the two face a minimum of 20 years in prison.Source: Tom Porter, IBTimes, April 20, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 22:23:10 GMT -5
To Hell I Must Go Recounts Gruesome Michigan MurderWILLIAMSTON, Mich. – A burning decapitated corpse, its severed head sitting atop a dinner plate at the kitchen table. An angry killer covered in blood and wandering aimlessly around the scene of the crime. The gruesome murder of Mariah Haney in Williamston almost 118 years ago has the makings of an engrossing true crime novel, but Rod Sadler didn't decide to write about it for shock value.
Family ties convinced the retired Eaton County sergeant to take a second look. Sadler's great-great grandfather, John Jacob Rehle, was the sheriff of Ingham County when it happened. He investigated the death and was a key player in the Haney murder case. To Hell I Must Go, Sadler's account of the bizarre, brutal slaying that took place in his hometown in 1897 got its start at the Mason Public Library almost 20 years ago.
A compelling tale. Sadler, 54, an Eaton County deputy sheriff, was researching his family history. He now lives in Olivet, but grew up in Williamston where Rehle was the county sheriff from 1897 to 1898. "I was essentially looking for some bits about my great-great grandfather and what he did as the sheriff," he said. "I came across this newspaper article that described this murder in Williamston. The headline was something like, 'Revolting crime.'" It detailed a century-old murder in a house on Elevator Street where Alfred Haney and his wife, Martha, lived with his mother Mariah. The account described how Martha killed her mother-in-law with an ax, chopped off her head and arranged it on a plate at the table before her husband arrived home for lunch. When Alfred arrived, he discovered Mariah's body burning on the floor and her severed head on the plate at his place on the table. A knife and fork were placed on either side. He ran from the house.
His wife was sitting in the bedroom when he bolted out the door. Police would arrive later and find Martha in the backyard, digging in the dirt with her bare hands. "As I started reading, it was just so gruesome and so grisly," he said. "I thought, 'This would make an interesting book.'"
Details and connections. It would be another 10 years before Sadler sought out historical documentation that revealed more details about the murder and the days that followed. After he retired from the sheriff's office in 2012, Sadler set out in earnest to write the story. It follows Martha's slaying of her husband's mother and details the five-day investigation and trial. Witnesses would attest to the killer's unstable background and she would be sentenced to the Michigan Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
The Detroit Free Press, Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph, Grand Rapids Democrat and Williamston Enterprise all wrote about the Haney murder. But it was the original circuit court records that Sadler was after. He found the file in Michigan's state archives. In it were Rehle's handwritten statement concerning the murder, a witness account of what was found in the house and the judge's sentence. "It was only 14 pages, but I felt like I was Indiana Jones and had discovered some great, secret treasure because I had dreamed about finding some sort of tangible piece of the murder and this was it," Sadler says. "The circuit court file was like the Holy Grail."
He pored over aging documents and visited the spot at 320 Elevator Street where the Haney house stood until 1990. It was burned down that year in part of a Williamston Fire Department training exercise. "Once I realized where it was I realized that early in my career, I had been in that house and never even realized it," Sadler relates. "A friend of mine, his grandparents lived in that house. We had stopped over there for a party one night." He also collected about 20 historical photos, including a rendering of Martha published in the Detroit Free Press three days after the murder.
And the book title? It alludes to a song that documents indicate Martha sang frequently from her jail cell in Mason. The lyrics are:
O, I can't go to heaven, to hell I must go. Murders don't go to heaven, and that is where I'm bound to go.
The book was published in February and can be purchased online at Amazon, Schuler and Barnes and Noble.
Sadler has made a few local appearances promoting the book and others are scheduled. He says the experience was partly a lesson in family history, but also just plain fun. He's already started working on a second true crime novel that explores a murder in Stockbridge. "I was able to put my hand over my great-great grandfather's signature," he says. "That was gold to me. It was."Source: Rachel Greco, The Lansing State Journal, April 3, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 21:43:00 GMT -5
America's Most StonedMarijuana use in America is high and getting higher. A 2009 survey revealed that 10.8 percent of Americans admit to at least an occasional toke – up from 10.2 percent just a year earlier. And some states go for the ganga more than others. Those states identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration with above-average levels of pot use are:
17. Delaware. Doobies are popular in Delaware, which kicks off the list of states whose residents really love pot. The “first state” admitted to the union has a pot smoking rate that’s just above the U.S. average. Percentage of Delawareans who smoke pot: 11.86.
16. Hawaii. Maybe it should just change its name to its state abbreviation, HI, given how many citizens of the Aloha State use marijuana. Percentage of Hawaiians who smoke pot: 12.1.
15. Michigan. Are the munchies big in Motown? One thing’s for certain – people in Michigan love their marijuana. And with a doctor’s note, Michiganders can have up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana to treat diseases and chronic pain. Percentage of Michiganders who smoke pot: 12.16.
14. Montana. Mary Jane is popular in Montana according to SAMHSA’s survey. Do residents ever take a trip to Yellowstone-d National Park? Percentage of Montanans who smoke pot: 12.21.
13. Connecticut. Cannabis is big in Connecticut – but the state doesn’t have any medical marijuana laws on the books. For ranking 13, it’s also the lowest-ranked New England state on the stoned states list. Percentage of those in Connecticut who smoke pot: 12.53.
12. New York. People in the Big Apple smoke bud, even though marijuana is illegal throughout the state – even for medicinal use. According to a recent report by the New York Civil Liberties Union, New York City police arrest and jail more people for marijuana-related offenses than anywhere else – in the world! Why can’t Gotham get enough of ganja? Percentage of New Yorkers who smoke pot: 12.83.
8. Washington. Washington doesn’t mess around when it comes to weed. While most states with medical marijuana laws allow one to three ounces of supply, Washington allows an eye-popping 24 ounces – or a 60 day supply. The 2003 Hempfest in Seattle was the largest rally and festival advocating marijuana drug war reforms in the world. Percentage of Washingtonians who smoke pot: 12.84.
10. California. Despite the national perception that Californians love their cannabis, the state ranked 10th on this list. Still, almost 13 percent of Californians smoke indo, possibly before heading out to In-N-Out burger for munchies. Percent of Californians who smoke pot: 12.88.
9. Maine. People from Maine flock to magic smoke like out-of-towners flock to visit the state nicknamed “Vacationland.” Percentage of Mainers who smoke pot: 13.56.
8. District of Columbia. D.C. isn’t technically a state, but its citizens still dig dope. Do the legislators and lobbyists that debate marijuana’s legalization realize how many smokers live close by? Percentage of Washingtonians who smoke pot: 14.29.
7. Rhode Island. Residents of America’s smallest state can’t get enough reefer according to the survey. Who would have thought such a tiny state would have such a high of a percentage of high people? Percentage of Rhode Islanders who smoke pot: 14.32.
6. Oregon. Is the state’s largest city Portland – or Potland? Like Washington, the state allows up to a 24-ounce supply of medical marijuana and for those hemp horticulturists, Oregonians can grow up to 24 pot plants. Percentage of Oregonians who smoke pot: 14.45.
5. Massachusetts. This “blue” state sure loves its green – and that doesn’t mean the Celtics. Though Massachusetts doesn’t legally allow medical marijuana, its citizens passed the Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative in 2008 which reduced penalties for people caught carrying an ounce or less of pot. Percentage of Bay Staters who smoke pot: 14.55.
4. New Hampshire. Why are there so many stoners in New Hampshire? According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, New Hampshire’s pot preference is nothing new. A 1997 DOJ survey found marijuana was the state’s drug of choice “even among elementary school age youth.” Perhaps should change its nickname from Granite State to Stoned State! Percentage of people in New Hampshire who smoke pot: 14.88.
3. Colorado. More than 15 percent of Colorado residents are “Rocky Mountain High” these days. Denver’s doobie lovers wear the “Mile High” nickname with pride. Percentage of Coloradans who smoke pot: 15.09.
2. Vermont. Almost 16 percent of Vermonters smoked marijuana during the past year, earning it a spot as the state with the second-most stoners. What else? The band with a big stoner-following, Phish, was formed at the University of Vermont in 1983. Coincidence? Makes you wonder what the founders were smoking when they named their state “Vermont,” which translates to “Mountain of Maggots!”* Percentage of Vermonters who smoke pot: 15.97.
1. Alaska. The “baked Alaska” dessert was actually created in New Orleans, but it makes you wonder. Alaskans smoke the most weed, with more than 16 percent of the population admitting to puffing pot in the past year. Though federal law doesn’t technically allow marijuana, Alaska is the only state in the US where it’s legal to have one ounce or less in one’s home – not even for medicinal purposes. Clank your bongs for a toast, Alaskans, you earned the top spot! Percentage of Alaskans who smoke pot: 16.29.Source: CBS News. *Actually, when the state of Vermont was named, the founders were drunk, not stoned. The intended name was "Verdmont," which, in French, means "Green Mountain," but the "d" was somehow omitted and, as stated, the translation of "Vermont" is "Mountain of Maggots."
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 3:40:13 GMT -5
God-Like Image in Smoke from Volcano EruptionThis incredible photo shows the eerie moment that a giant “human” cloud formed in the sky, following the Calbuco volcano eruption in Chile. In the photo, the cloud appears to resemble a mysterious human-like figure and locals believe it could be a sign from the gods – after the volcano blew its top for the first time in more than 40 years. On Wednesday, a state of emergency was declared after the volcano erupted, sending a huge plume of ash and smoke 12 miles into the sky.
The spooky figure was captured by Hariet Grunewald, 33, who lives in the nearby town of Puerto Montt. “When I heard the eruption I rushed to the window of my house and just started taking photos,” Hariet said. “And then I saw this man appear. At first I thought perhaps it was just me who could see him. But when I showed my friends and family they all agreed.”
Another local believed the unusual eruption was God’s way of displaying an apparent unhappiness. Juanma Ortiz Arrendondo, 60, said: “An erupting volcano is God’s way of showing he is unhappy. This smoke man is probably a message. That he is keeping a watch on us and our behavior.” Source: Nicholas Reilly, MetroNews, April 24, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 3:06:31 GMT -5
I have heard the groom has come forward and said he Photoshopped the image. Where did you hear that the husband Photoshopped the photo? The only thing I've seen is that someone else Photoshopped the photo to remove the image. I don't think it's a ghost. It looks like someone was standing behind them when the photo was taken.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 26, 2015 2:40:28 GMT -5
Eva Kay in her 20s and in 2008. Murder of the Millionaire ModelThe murder of 60-year-old Eva Kay Wenal in Gwinnett County, Georgia, is not a case without clues. It is not a case without leads. But still, after seven years, her murder remains a mystery. Investigators hope a new wave of social media attention can break the case.
The Millionaire’s Wife. Eva Kay was a model and Playboy cocktail waitress when she met millionaire businessman Hal Wenal. They married and spent two decades traveling the world and living a happy life of luxury. That ended in 2008 when someone got into the Wenal home when Eva was alone.
The Murder Scene. Hal and Eva had lunch together May 1, 2008. It was their last meal together. He left home for just six hours. When he returned that evening, Hal made his way through their Sugar Lake Court home, toward to kitchen. That’s where he found his 60-year-old wife lying in a pool of blood. He ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911.
Mrs. Wenal was murdered in the middle of the day in an upper-class suburban neighborhood. “He noted her face was swollen. He even implied she had been beaten. Punched in the face. And when you slit somebody’s throat, that’s personal. So we are looking at a crime of passion here as a good possibility,” forensic death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan told 11Alive’s Vinnie Politan. “They noted some blood spatter immediately adjacent to that, which you’d expect from her bleeding out. But the rest of the area is essentially clean. So it happened right there.”
“They [the detectives] felt the person was very angry. That he actually knew Kay and Hal. Kay more so than Harold,” Gwinnett County Police spokesman Jake Smith said in a previous interview.
Wenal was quickly cleared of any suspicion. “He came home at 6 p.m., but investigators believe the murder took place some time between 1 and 3 p.m. He was cleared within weeks.” He later offered a $100,000 reward for information concerning his wife’s murder.
The Sketch. Two months after the murder, with the case quickly growing cold, police released the sketch of an unidentified man considered a “person of interest.” He was spotted near the Wenal home the night before and the night after her death.
The Letter. In 2012, as an effort to warm up the cold case, police released new evidence that included a copy of a letter (above) sent to the Atlanta Journal Constitution just after the murder. The characters making up the note were cut from a magazine. The anger-filled, expletive-laced letter laid out the motive for Eva’s murder: a wronged lover. If the letter is from the actual killer, the note supports law enforcement’s assumption the killer knew both Eva Wenal and her husband.
“I loved her. She said we could be together. She told me she hated her house and that fat miserable lying motherfucking husband. She said she loved me, but that was a lie, too. I told her this would happen if she didn’t keep her goddamned promises to me. ... His money was more important than our love. We could have been so happy together.”
“Maybe she tried to break it off. Maybe it started out as an obsession, that led to an affair, and she tried to break it off and he said no,” former detective Mike Brooks suggested – an “If I can't have you, no one can” situation.
Pam Sleeper, Eva Kay’s sister, believes the man who wrote the letter is the man who killed her. “I realized for the first time I read that letter that I really think the man that murdered Kay is the one that wrote that letter,” she said. “There’s things in there that he wouldn’t know otherwise.” Sleeper spoke to her sister two to three times a week and Kay never mentioned anything about another man, which makes Pam wonder if the relationship was all in the killer’s imagination. “Kay was friendly. If somebody mistook her for maybe wanting to have an affair with him or something, I don’t know,” she said.
The Photos. After Hal Wenal’s death, family members were going through old photos and discovered some that looked familiar. It wasn’t someone they knew, it was that person of interest from the 2008 police sketch. Family members have passed the photos around, but no one knows the man’s identity. One of the pictures is time-stamped at 1987, more than two decades before Eva’s murder.
A group of private investigators sat down with Politan and looked at the photo and sketch (above). “Both of the Wenals knew this person in the photo and that’s really significant,” Criminal investigator Charles Mittelstadt said because some of the photos show the mystery man with Mr. and Mrs. Wenal. He said the similarities are there, but he also has some questions. He points to the photo, where the receding hairline is almost gone and the sketch (more than 20 years later) showing some hair. “There’s several things noticeable about the hairline: the hair loss. I would presume by now that person would be completely bald.”
“Look at the hair or toupee or could it possibly be hair plugs? When someone gets hair plus, what you notice is that it gets very thin. That’s also a possibility,” Brooks suggested.
Forensic death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan notes something else about the man: “He has got distinctive – what I believe to be – acne scarring, that ranges from his temple area all the way down the side of his face.” He points to another photo: “If you look closely here, it’s hard to tell if this is a wrinkle here from smiling or is this area scarring and it’s covered with a beard?”
A Sister’s Plea. Eva Kays murder has baffled investigators for seven years and these years have taken a poll on her sister, Pam Sleeper. Her nightmare began with a late night phone call. “About 20 ‘till 12 on a Thursday night, May 1st, 2008, we got a phone call from my brother-in-law. I answered the phone and he sounded really distraught and I asked if everything was okay and he said, ‘No, Pammy. Kay is dead.’” Sleeper shared details of what family members were told concerning the crime scene. “Evidently, what the guy did was he walked in – Kay answered the door and he walked into the house and hit her in the face and there were some cuts and definitely big bruises on her face,” she said. “And then it looked like she ran into the kitchen to grab the phone and then he slit her throat. There were no footprints, no fingerprints, and the blood was from the kitchen door, all the way across the kitchen.”
Despite the clues: a sketch of a suspicious man, a letter sent by the alleged killer and photos of a man that may match that sketch, the case remains cold. Pam believes someone knows what the clues mean. “There’s somebody that knows something and I’m just begging them to come out and let us know. It doesn’t really give you closure, but it’ll help,” she said.
It’s something investigators hope could change with a new wave of attention from social media. “Really the key to solving this case is social media,” Mittelstadt said, pointing to the photo of the mystery man. “The only viable lead we have is talking to this person right here.”
If you know something about Eva Kay’s murder, you can contact the investigator in charge of her case: Sgt. Richter at (770) 513-5387 or the Gwinnett County Police tip line: (770) 513-5480.Sources: Vinnie Politan and Julie Wolfe, 22Alive, April 24, 2015; and Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 24, 2015 1:47:37 GMT -5
The Strange Disappearance of Richey EdwardsThey were one of rock’s biggest acts and about to embark on their first US tour when one member disappeared and was never heard of again. On the morning of February 1, 1995, guitarist Richey Edwards, of the British rock band the Manic Street Preachers, was scheduled to fly to the United States for a promotional tour.
His band was already big at home, they had just released their third album, The Holy Bible, and they were now feeling optimistic about their chances of riding the American alternative-rock explosion of the time. “We could have been a really big cult band,” bassist Nicky Wire tells The New York Post.
But instead, Edwards (occasionally referred to as Richey James or Richey Manic) checked out of the London hotel where he was staying and reportedly drove toward his apartment in Wales. For the next two weeks, he made no contact with his band mates, friends or family and only a handful of unsubstantiated sightings were reported. On February 17, Edwards’ car was found abandoned at a rest stop 25 miles from the band’s hometown of Blackwood. The body (if there was one) was mever found, but Edwards was declared dead in 2008. “Closure is not something that we’ve looked for or need,” says Wire, who, along with singer-guitarist James Dean Bradfield and drummer Sean Moore, will finally play The Holy Bible on American soil Thursday, April 23, in a show at Webster Hall. “It’s a psychological cliche that’s never been part of our vocabulary. We know it may never, ever be resolved. We still keep a space on stage for him.”
This mystery has been elevated into mythology, in part because of Edwards’ magnetic persona and key role in the Manic Street Preachers’ success. From the very start, his intelligence, intensity and good looks made him a focal point of the group, especially after an infamous encounter with a journalist from British Music Weekly (NME) in 1991, which resulted in Edwards’ using a razor blade to carve the phrase “4 REAL” into his forearm.
Edwards’ tendency toward self-harm and alcoholism, increased following the death of the band’s manager in late 1993. A trip to Thailand in the spring of 1994 ended with Edwards cutting himself on stage, and by the summer, an attempted suicide led to a spell in rehab. “We told Richey he could do whatever he wanted; just write, or just come to the studio, just tour, whatever he needed to feel better. But he still wanted to be in the band 100 percent,” explains Wire.
The turmoil was reflected, horrifically at times, on The Holy Bible. Prior to the album, Edwards and Wire had split lyric-writing duty 50/50, but The Holy Bible was mostly Edwards’ work. “He was writing so brilliantly at the time, I didn’t feel I had much to add,” says Wire.
Songs such as “4st 7lb” detail his struggle with eating disorders (“I want to be so skinny that I rot from view”), while Mausoleum and The Intense Humming of Evil were inspired by the Holocaust and visits to concentration camps. Sonically, it captures the band at its visceral best. The Holy Bible turned out to be the band’s biggest hit, crashing into the Top 10 of the UK’s Album Chart after being released in August 1994.
With America beckoning in 1995, Edwards’ disappearance almost dealt a fatal blow to the band; the four had been close friends since childhood. “The time after Richey’s disappearance was the epitome of nothingness,” recalls Wire. “People forget that we were about 24, 25. It wasn’t really on our agenda to deal with something like that.”
Eventually, the remaining members decided to continue, and ended up having No. 1 hits in the UK and playing in stadiums. The band has released a total of 12 albums to date – the last being the trio’s Futurology in 2014.
But Edwards’ memory, work and image are never far away. Books (both fiction and nonfiction) have been written about him, while several documentaries have covered his life and disappearance. Even Kanye West found himself unwittingly adding to the folklore surrounding Edwards, when he was spotted in December wearing a Raf Simons camouflage jacket with the guitarist’s image on the breast. “Kanye’s a maverick in his own right, so seeing that made me smile,” Wire remarks.Source: NewsAustralia, April 21, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 24, 2015 1:10:38 GMT -5
Card Game Based on Salem Witch TrialsCards and board games are a big part of Utah culture – perhaps it comes with the Nerdiest State title – and Kickstarter is usually swimming with projects and ideas for new entertainment. At the moment, Kickstarter has 645 live projects involving games, with names and genres ranging from Dungeonmancer and Demon Lord to Assumptions and the recently completed and funded game Exploding Kittens (which received $8.7 million in pledges, making it the fourth highest funded project in Kickstarter history).
Needless to say, even though there are hundreds of games being thrown at consumers out there, there's still demand and a market. Creativity is exploding (and so are the cats). One recent project to launch on the crowdfunding site is Salem, a strategic card game of deception, based in Provo.
"The year is 1692, and it is a perilous time to live in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. One wrong step, or one misplaced accusation, and you could be the next witch to hang. 'Salem' takes players into this perilous world and lets them relive the tension, politics and religious extremism that still has people talking about it 300 years later," the Kickstarter page said.
Salem has also gotten a stamp of approval as a Kickstarter Staff Pick. At first glance, the game seems similar to Mafia or Werewolf with different characters, storylines and further game development. The creators aimed to combine the favorite aspects of other games like Bang, Ticket to Ride and Werewolf – entertainment staples for Utah Friday nights.
According to an explanation by project creator and BYU grad Travis Hancock on the site, inspiration for the game Salem came from major frustrations while playing Mafia-type games. "There wasn't an official structure to the game, the game always required a moderator, someone always had to die right at the beginning, rounds could drag on forever ... Salem aims to right these wrongs while still bringing forth a new game that captures the essence of the Mafia spirit."
This project received enough pledges to be funded within 15 hours of its launch. Now it moves forward to hit stretch goals of $15,000 or $25,000. Before its first week has finished, the project has accumulated more than $13,000 of its $6,000 goal. The backing rewards range from $10 for emailed pdfs of the cards to $25 or more for a copy of the game. The project hopes to deliver by November 2015.Source: Jordan Carroll, The Daily Herald, March 29, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 24, 2015 1:00:16 GMT -5
Awhile back, or maybe it was in the old yahoo group, someone said that this place was a hoax. I think that it was April, but it could have been someone else. I don't know much about it. I tried to read a book about it, but the book wasn't written very well and I didn't finish it. Does anyone know anything more about this place, or seen anything strange in that area? It wasn't in the old group, it was in this one at the link below:
whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/1019/paranormal-hotspots-sedona-skinwalker-ranch
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Post by Joanna on Apr 24, 2015 0:52:01 GMT -5
Evidence of Neolithic Child Sacrifice in BulgariaMURSALEVO, BULGARIA – Skeletons of three children believed to have been sacrificed by the Thracians in the sixth century BC have been discovered in one of 20 ritual pits at a site in southwest Bulgaria.
The pits were uncovered during rescue digs by archaeologists from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences along the planned route of a new highway. Stones thought to have been used in the sacrificial ritual were also removed from the pit. Other pits contained the remains of food and animal offerings, such as the complete skeleton of a calf that was found with a knife blade.
Archaeologists believe the Thracians honored the site because of the early Neolithic city that once stood there. The 8,000-year-old settlement had three parallel major streets divided by smaller, perpendicular streets. Each section formed by the streets held three or four homes built of plant stalks and clay. Artifacts from the homes include ceramic figurines of a mother goddess, tools, a golden earring, a button and a needle. The city appears to have been deliberately burned, according to Archaeology in Bulgaria. Source: Aracheology, April 21, 2015.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 23, 2015 3:26:12 GMT -5
The Infamous Skinwalker RanchAn infamous location called the Skinwalker Ranch lies in the heart of ancient Native American Lands in Utah. A number of Indian reservations surround the ranch, influencing residents in rich, traditional culture and the spirituality of their ancestors. Asazi, Fremont, Ute, Paiute, Shossone and Uintah Indian legends speak of “portals” to the spiritual world, often fraught with forms of witchcraft.
There were two types of spiritual tribal shaman members: Medicine Men and Skinwalkers. Skinwalkers evolved into black magic, deception and cursing, inflicting pain and suffering. They could not enter the dwellings of victims (unless invited in), but could lure them into the open where they could instill fear or harm. A Skinwalker was a shape-shifter, often a mortal man, but also a women or child, that could appear as an animal (a wolf, bear or eagle) extending those attributes and traveling by supernatural means.A typical story involved an Indian woman who delivered newspapers whose automobile was accosted by a “half man, half beast” with red eyes and a “misshapen” arm that opened her car door and tried to grab her baby. She managed to drive off, but the creature kept pace with her vehicle and continued its attempts to kidnap her child. When she pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store, patrons chased the creature away.
* * *
The Skinwalker Ranch (known for reports of hyper-mysterious happenings) consists of 480 acres located in northeastern Utah south of US Interstate 40, which enters Utah from northwestern Colorado, winds through miles of sparsely-populated territory – interrupted only by the city of Ver Nal – and passes through Ballard on its way west. The ranch property is located along the southern border of the Unintah-Quray Indian Reservation near the Bottle Hollow Reservoir, north of the ranch; Road 27505 leads from Hill Top Road east along the northern edge of the property. There is a North Gate, South Gate and an East Gate. The ranch house is located in the northeastern corner of the property.
BAASS and Bigelow. Many of the earliest mysterious events are recorded in Colm Kelleher and George Knapp’s 2005 book Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah (Paraview Pocket Books, December 6, 2005).
Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) bought the property in 1996 and established the National In statute for Discovery Science (NIDS) to investigate the incidents. Around 2009, Bigelow entered into a short-lived agreement with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
Indian legends in the area tell of a trans-mutative creature, half-animal and half-human and other creatures that take the form of “apparitions and whirlwinds.”
Early Cases. Records indicate a man by the name of Ken Meyers and his wife Edith lived on the property from 1930s until 1987. Not much was reported concerning paranormal activity, however, local Indians had a “wage pool” as to how long the Meyers would stay “before being driven off.” Mr. and Mrs. Meyers placed dead bolt locks on almost all the doors, even those inside the house and they had big, unfriendly dogs chained just outside the door leading into the house.
A neighbor reported that one of his cows disappeared somewhere around1996 and the man's nephew, Dean Derhak of Salt Lake City, said he was riding a horse on his uncle's property in 1980 when he saw a silver sphere on the ground of what later became the Sherman ranch. “It was fairly big, about 30- to 40-feet wide. It looked like a bowl upside down,'' said Derhak, who was 11-years-of-age at the time. “It scared me and I took off.'”
The farm was purchased by Terry and Gwen Sherman in 1994. One of the first strange things the Shermans noticed were geometric circles of varying diameter that appeared to be impressions left by something heavy.
Some of the Shermans’ cattle were discovered mutilated and drained of blood and one was cored through the anus and emitted odors chemical in nature. Four other cattle disappeared, one which appeared to have been pulled “up” scorching the branches of a tree. Roosevelt, Utah veterinarian Dan Dennis said that eventually ten mutilated cattle were reported on the Sherman ranch. Investigation revealed three of the families living nearby experienced unusual activity. The Uintah County Sheriff's Office confirmed that John Garcia, who lives east of the ranch, reported two of his cows were mutilated in 1996.
The Shermans also had their share of UFO encounters, consisting of strange lights and voices coming from overhead. Gwen Sherman saw a “manned” aircraft and from which a 7-foot-tall figure emerged.
Multiple UFOs. At other times, a 40-foot object and football-field-sized craft (both with multi-colored lights) were seen. Baseball-sized blue lights were reported to “both emerge from, and disappear into, orange-colored portals and behaved as if controlled ... hovering ... [then] high speeds.” In one instance, after sending three of their dogs chase a light, one of the dogs began whimpering loudly. Later, three “greasy blobs” were discovered in three “scorch spots.” Residents in the area reported seeing a “gigantic” craft with many lights. UFO historian Joseph Hicks investigated more than 400 similar sightings in the area.
One particular mutilation case involved a pregnant cow. Later, a large football field-sized UFO was sighted. “Pete Pickup,” a NIDS investigator, noted that “while blood and tissue samples were still fresh,” a mutilated cow was found. The left eye and part of the left ear were removed “with a sharp surgical instrument.” The UFO was spotted June 25, 2000, and had “intermittent flashing of a separate light source and making some rhythmic sound.”
Bigelow and NIDS had up to 15 scientists and Ph.Ds working at the site by 2001.
Strange Tracks. BAASS investigator Dr. Colm Kelleher, with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Holy Trinity in Dublin, interviewed two Ranch investigators who photographed and recorded strange tracks. The two investigators (designated Investigators 1 and 2) recorded a howl and “distinct, foul order” reported by the family. The smell was described as “very putrid sulfur, rotten flesh.”
Investigators next discovered and photographed strange tracks on the property. The tracks appeared to have had a strange “gait,” or step, in the snow. An Indian administrator, familiar with wildlife trails, could not identify the tracks. “And there was no snow kicked up in front of these tracks,” reported Investigator 1. “There was no snow kicked behind the tracks. Whatever left these tracks [that] we obtained video and photographs of, walked up not only with great dexterity but easily.”
Kelleher and the investigators discussed reports of a creature in the Fort Duchesne area, jumping “literally from roof to roof,” about four houses and then disappearing. The creature was described as a muscular, hairy creature with “big round eyes” and pointed ears.
“Whatever, it was proved elusive. The surveillance cameras that were installed atop telephone poles were attacked and dismantled, but whatever did it was invisible. Kelleher of NIDS said, “We checked the time stamps on this pole versus this pole. We looked at when the camera lost power and nothing was on the tape. There should have been something visible because the range of these things is pretty good.” As yet, the mystery of Skinwalker Ranch remains unsolved. “If anything, it has created more questions than I had when I came into this thing,” Keller added.
Burial Grounds and Balls of Light. BAASS investigators collected reports of hovering lights and orbs of light, as well as reports of a “two-legged creature, dog” – seen sometimes near Indian or tribal burial grounds along the mesa known as Skinwalker Ridge. “…I asked Bob (a witness) about the smell associated with this dog creature because everybody has talked about his smell,” said another investigator. “Horrible, horrible smell.”
Ryan Skinner told of balls of light that landed with “black, thick smoke” that materialized into a “wolf.” Skinner said sightings of the wolf “have been around the property for at least 30 years and there is a picture of it on the internet, and it hasn’t aged a day.”
A number of “Remote Viewers” received a varied and confusing picture: “The psychic images perceived both individually and collectively by the viewers are general and without much detail. The phenomena is mostly hallucinations,” said Skinner, “there may be some spirits from Indian grounds – not too sure; I also believe what you see/experience is purely on what mind set you have.”
Investigators: Tripod, Hobby Horse and Others. Logs of investigators “Tripod” and “Hobby Horse” run the gamut of mysterious events: a missing knife, a sighting of a blue UFO, orb phenomena, poltergeist activity, mystery sounds, camera malfunctions, shadow images and medium phenomena. “On the other hand,” says Skinner, “both the Ouija Board experiment and the experiences provided by Rocky suggest a yet strong presence of the spirituality associated with the original Native American inhabitants of the region, and which manifests itself in the form of paranormal entities such as Shadow People and the Skinwalker.”
Investigator “Ranch Hand” speculated the “presence” moves in and out of some “dimensional portal” and is “relative to the state of mind and level of the expectations of the individual.”
Another investigator named “Rich” offered suggestions as to what is taking place on the Ranch: (1) The phenomena seems to be a “nexus” of all kinds of alien activity, the traditional as well as the atypical. (2) Humans are the key to something that holds importance to them. They need “us” to survive. (3) Sometimes “abduction” should be viewed as a universal, spiritual experience, maybe even a karmic contract.
Other Strange Incidents. Other Skinwalker Ranch investigators spoke of additional paranormal happenings. “Jeremy K” said of his encounters: “My experience involves seeing strange lights, white, blue, red and faint cloudy lights. Also very weird noises in the river bottom near the line of cotton trees. I could actually hear something very large breathing, but with light feet. I would get within 20 to 30 feet of me and freeze.”
Ryan Skinner speaks of the reports of a mystery helicopter. The helicopter made no noise. Investigator “Jeremy K’ said on November 6, 2013: “We sat down and there was a completely blacked out helicopter flying above and around us. It was the weirdest thing. You couldn’t hear standard helicopter noises.”
Skinner presents stories and testimonies of neighbors and Indians associated with the Skinwalker Mesa. Most offer interesting insights as to what could be happening there. Using a typical UFO sighting as an example, he shares some of his personal feelings about witnesses who seem indifferent to their contact with the paranormal. “I never could fathom people’s reactions to seeing one of these things,” he said. “It was like a mental defensive block or something. People for the most part absolutely where frightened to death. So they ignored it totally.” He also mentions a UFO “disc” hovering over a baseball game, for almost 20 minutes; everyone looked once, and then ignored the UFO. “I can’t explain reactions like that, can you?” asks Skinner. “I wondered was it [the UFO] spraying those zombies with pixie dust or what?”
Other Hot Spots. The Utah ranch isn’t the only “hot spot” Skinner writes about. There are, apparently, other areas of concentrated paranormal activity around the globe, similar to the Skinwalker mesa. Skinner tells of a Texas hot spot at the end of an airfield runway north of the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation that once belonged to the Indians. It is now covered by extensive tracts of trees, brush and “some unidentified evil.” Like the Skinwalker Ranch, similar phenomena were reported at the site over the years. “I am not convinced 100 percent whether this was all alien, or a mixture of the paranormal sort of a portal being used by many, many entities,” Skinner observed. “It’s a dimensional thing, I guess. Makes one wonder whether or not some of the disc and other oddly-shaped craft are simply vehicles which carry these beings from one dimension into another, not intergalactic spacecraft.”
Skinner concludes that paranormal activity, indeed, was present, and seemed to be focused, on the property: “... most of it was categorized as aerial anomalies; the resident does acknowledge encounters consistent with Native American legend, specifically the manifestation of what appeared to be Indian spirits and the appearance of wolf-like entities.”
Trouble on the Ranch. BAASS had its share of criticism, especially in its NIDS phrase. One of its more unsettling conflicts revolved around locating several “rods” on the ranch which investigators for NIDS and MUFON said seemed to be the same Element 115 that Bob Lazar of Area 51 fame said he worked with as a technician in Area 51’s hidden retrieved UFO lairs. Aerospace scientist John Schuessler claimed the rods were carbon, not element 115: “As for the rods found on the Skinwalker Ranch, I was on the NIDS Scientific Advisory Board back in those days and can verify that rods were found. They were not heavy Element 115 rods. Instead, they were thin carbon rods that are used in arc lamps to make very bright lights in field operations. I have personally used this type of rods in arc lamp operations many years ago.” According to Schuessler, Element 115 would have been far too unstable to have existed in the wild, open ranch land.
James Carrion, MUFON, indicated this demonstrated a certain amount of carelessness that NIDS and BAASS investigators needed to avoid: “It appears that once again in Ufology, there are more questions than answers; common fare for a field where the waters are muddied but never cleared. If you consider yourself a truth seeker then perhaps it is time to take a stand against these forces of ambiguity that seek only to obscure the truth rather than bring it to light. It is time to promote truth and not mystery in a field that has too many mysteries already. It is time to reveal the truth by not compromising ethics or principles or by allowing truth to be censored. It is time to stop falling prey to fear and lies but instead to hunt the Skinwalker forces of deception in their own territory. Who is up for a hunting trip?”
Future Plans. Alfred Weber wrote in “Robert Bigelow’s and MUFON’s Hybrid UFO Investigation ...,” (April 7, 2010) that Bigelow, MUFON and the FAA created a special UFO reporting form they hope pilots will use to report aerial phenomena. A BAASS UFO hotline staff was on duty to receive UFO reports. Weber said BAASS was interested in “cases where physical effects of a UFO are reported or where ‘living beings’ are allegedly sighted or where ‘reality transformation’ is said to occur.”
The Star Team Impact Project (SIP) was to investigate reports into “cases where physical effects of a UFO are reported or where ‘living beings’ are allegedly sighted or where ‘reality transformation’ is said to occur.”
Weber also discovered: “On examination of confidential BAASS-MUFON documents that were anonymously leaked to this reporter, it is clear that a clash of corporate and non-profit cultures and lack of mutual communication framework between an accounting-oriented corporate contractor and a mission-driven volunteer organization – rather than any wrong action – triggered the temporary suspension and review of the hybrid arrangement that parties in both organizations seem to want to continue.”
Billy Cox, a writer for The Herald Tribune, likewise gave a revealing summary of Bigelow’s plans in the paranormal industry (Wednesday, June 9, 2010):
“Robert Bigelow, the zillionaire hotelier who wants to build the world’s first private space station, doesn’t do much media. ... In a nutshell: With NASA phasing out of the launch business, Bigelow’s aggressive development of inflatable habitation modules – and his willingness to invest up to half a billion of his own $$$ to make it happen – puts him at the forefront of the privatization of space. He and anyone else wanting to exploit the high frontier will need wheels to get there. And the Obama admin plans to spend $6 billion over the next five years to encourage the private sector to produce the next generation of launch vehicles.
“His space stations are not his only interest in space. 'I’ve been a researcher and student of UFO’s for many, many years,' Mr. Bigelow said. ‘Anybody that does research, if people bother to do quality research, comes away absolutely convinced. You don’t have to have personal encounters.’
“Other views that run counter to mainstream science include a belief in the power of prayer and a disbelief in the Big Bang theory.”
Source: Steve Erdmann, UFO Digest, April 13, 2015. Both Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah (mentioned above), and Skinwalker Ranch: No Trespassing by Ryan Skinner and D. L. Wallace (November 13, 2014) can be purchased from Amazon.
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Post by Joanna on Apr 23, 2015 1:02:54 GMT -5
There have been reports that John Hill persuaded Joan to collect her urine so that he could analyze it and, instead, injected her with the urine, which caused her illness.
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