Tuesday, November 30
No Story Today
It's been a really busy week for me, so no post tomorrow. Sorry. I wouldn't expect one Saturday either, but I'll be back in action next week. Hope you all (Americans) had a great Thanksgiving break.
Saturday, November 27
Road Trolls
Some of the most popular fairytales involve creatures called “trolls”. We were always told that they don’t exist, but some people argue otherwise.
Most sightings of “Road Trolls” are by truckers. This shouldn’t be surprising though, they are on the road more than anybody else. Road Trolls are typically described as 6 foot tall hairy men. This sounds like almost any homeless hitchhiker you might run into. But another consistency is the peg-leg. Almost every sighting claims that the troll/man has a peg leg, despite everyone seeing them in different places completely. A fellow blogger made a post about these things and I think you should read it: http://phantomsandbeasts.blogspot.com/2007/07/road-trolls.html.
Maybe it’s all the same guy. One of those adventurous types who like to hitchhike everywhere. But I’m not convinced it’s a troll.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Wednesday, November 24
DB Cooper
On the day before Thanksgiving, 1971, 39 years ago today, a man identifying himself only as “Dan Cooper” threatened to blow up an airliner if he was not given $200,000 in cash and four parachutes upon its landing. The money was given at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. After letting off the passengers and two crew members, he ordered the remaining crew and pilot to fly to Mexico. Then, at 10,000 feet in the air, the man from seat 18C, known only as Dan Cooper, jumped from the plane never to be seen again.
This was the beginning of what is possibly the largest manhunt ever to take place on American soil. One newspaper reporter falsely identified Dan as “D.B. Cooper”. This is the name that stuck. Where did Cooper go? Nobody knows. Some say he died, some say he’s still alive, and others say he was an alien (surprise).
In 1980, a boy digging a fire pit found $5,800 of cash by the Columbia River. In 2008 a run of these serial numbers showed them to be same of the ransomed money. That same year, a parachute was found buried by children in southwest Washington.
Some people say he never survived the crash. If the parachute is indeed actually Coopers then he was not an experienced jumper as many have thought. The chute was only for training and the reserve shoot had been sewn shut. An experienced jumper would have noticed that. Also, if the chute is his, there is no way for the money to wind up on the bank where it did by natural means.
In April of 1972 a man named Richard McCoy, Jr, calling himself “James Johnson” hijacked a Boeing 727. He demanded $500,000 and four parachutes. He escaped after ordering the pilot to land and refuel. He left his fingerprints on a magazine unfortunately, and this led to his capture. While in prison he fashioned a fake handgun out of dentist’s molding materials and escaped with a crew of other prisoners in 1974. Four months later he was shot and killed by the FBI. McCoy does bear some resemblance to the sketch of DB Cooper. He also never admitted or denied that he was Cooper. When asked about it, he is quoted as saying “I don’t want to talk about it”. McCoy was a Vietnam Veteran and an experienced skydiver.
In 2004, a man named Lyle Christiansen wrote to the FBI claiming he knew the identity of DB Cooper. “Yes, I knew the culprit personally,” he said, “He was my brother.” The brother in question was Kenneth Christiansen, a former paratrooper. After the war he became a flight attendant for Northwest airlines, the same airlines who owned the plane Cooper would later hijack. Kenneth died of cancer in 1994, but not before pulling his brother close and telling him “There is something you should know, but I cannot tell you!” According to records, Kenneth was able to purchase a house, land, and small ranch by 1972. This was a lot for a flight attendant’s salary.
Duane Weber died in 1995 of polycystic kidney disease. Before he died he told his wife “I have a secret to tell you, I’m Dan Cooper” (Note that, according to his wife at least, he used the correct name). When his wife never responded, not knowing who Dan Cooper was, he shouted “Oh, let it die!” Moments later he was sedated and soon died. His wife, Jo, sold his van two weeks after his death. The new owner discovered a wallet containing a “bad conduct discharge” in Duane’s name, as well as a prison-release form in the name of John Collins. Jo says that Duane spoke of his past very little, but did tell her that he received an old knee injury from “jumping out of a plane”. A friend told her a month later to look into the story of D.B. Cooper. Jo checked out a book at the local library and was shocked to find the description matched her husband almost perfectly. And to top it off, in the margins of the book was a handwritten note, in what appeared to be Duane’s handwriting, naming a town in Washington in which a placard from the backstairs of the flight Cooper hijacked had landed. The same year the hijacking had taken place, Duane had been diagnosed with kidney disease and was not expected to live past 50. Perhaps it was a final bang for a former criminal. The FBI declared him to no longer be a suspect as his DNA was not found on a tie left behind on the aircraft (Which the FBI were so kind as to NOT test for with other suspects, and are not even sure if the tie belonged to Cooper).
Other suspects have been made, but most were based on no evidence at all or very improbable. So what do you think? Alive, dead, or alien?
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Saturday, November 20
Bunnyman
There is a bridge in Fairfax County, Virginia that is said to be haunted by a rather peculiar ghost: the Bunnyman.
Over the years there have been around a hundred reported incidents of the Bunnyman, three of which involve murders. Like most urban legends, there are plenty of different versions, but they all have one major thing in common: an asylum escapee wearing a bunny costume and wielding an axe.
The most popular story says that a bus full of asylum inmates was being driving from Fairfax Insane Asylum to Lorton Prison when it overturned on the bridge. All the inmates were found, except for one. Soon rabbit carcasses began showing up in the area. In some versions the police shoot the inmate, in other versions he is never caught, and in still others the Bunnyman himself is found hanging from a bridge. In yet another version, two men escape the bus and are never found. Then later the body of one is found gutting and hanging from the bridge, sometimes wearing a bunny suit, sometimes not. There is a few problems with this story, most notably the fact that there has never been an Insane Asylum in Fairfax. Also, during transport of dangerous inmates handcuffs, ropes, muzzles, straight jackets, and whatever else was needed would most likely be employed.
Most modern sighting of Bunnyman involve him yelling things like “Get off my property!” and “I got your tag number!” and “Get me a carrot!”…well, maybe not the carrot… But for the most part the modern Bunnymen sound like copycats, though they do occasionally throw a hatchet through a car window.
My conclusion is that Bunny man is just an Urban Legend, which is rather disappointing as it is a unique and interesting one.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Wikipedia (For images, dates, names, and description of events only)
Google Images
Wednesday, November 17
2012
According to a popular belief, we are nearing the end of the world. On December 21, 2012 the Mayan Long calendar will come full cycle and reach the point it started at again. So do we really have anything to worry about?
The Long Count calendar was a calendar system unique to the Mayans. It covered a 5125 year cycle, starting on August 23, 3114 BC. The calendar was used to mark and record political events. Politics were mostly just for show in the Mayan culture. Everything was predetermined by the Gods. Every sacrifice represented a sacrifice the Gods had made, and in some cases the winners of battles between states was even predetermined. The day of August 23, 3114 BC seems to have no real significance, except perhaps as the day the Mayans believed the world began. The Long Count calendar has accurately predicted Eclipses, Equinoxes, and other such phenomenon even to this day. However, this should be a “no duh”. Things like this happen in a cycle. If you know the amount of time between two, then you know the amount of time between all of them.
The day of December 21, 2012 is not only the day the Mayan calendar ends, it is also a day in which the sun holds still for a second, as it is solstice day. The sun will form a perfect alignment with the center of the galaxy at this moment. Once again however, this should not really be a surprise. Of course the calendar will end on a day of major alignment! The calendar was based around such thing, so it can be expected that it will start and end with such.
Supposedly the Mayans also predicted catastrophic events such as 9/11 and large earthquakes. This is bunk. The Mayan calendar only predicted astrological events. People have made up these predictions to get people stirred up about the end of the world. These predictions are also not made anywhere else. That is, unless you want to interpret a scratchy drawing of a bird hitting a tree as an airplane smashing into a smoke-shrouded tower.
One argument skeptics make is that the Mayans probably just ran out of room on their circular rock and had to end it. This is a bad argument. In fact, it is a very bad argument. The Mayans did not carve their calendars on circular rocks. People are confusing the Mayans with the Aztecs. The Mayans marked their calendars on temples, with stairs marking days and other complex such things.
The final question now is, why did the Mayan’s disappear? Were they not aliens? No. They were not aliens. As a matter of fact they didn’t go anywhere. Mayans are still alive and well. They fled their last city, Tayasah, and left the Elite to deal with the Spaniards themselves.
So basically, the rundown is, 2012 is nothing special. More than likely nothing at all will happen, as nothing special is really going on.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Anthropology Class
Saturday, November 13
Slender Man
Here is the Wikipedia page before it was taken down on this Legend: http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/6/18/75599/wiki-38b.jpg . Why was it taken down? Well, there’s actually a perfectly logical reason: The Slender Man is not real. In fact, it’s not even debated to be real. Slender Man was made up on the internet, specifically the “something Awful” forums in 2009. It spread like a wildfire; people were posting images (most photoshopped) and videos of the alleged Slender Man all over the internet.
Slender Man varies in appearance, but for the most part he is described as a male figure between seven and nine feet tall. Sometimes he also has extra appendages. Some people will say adamantly that Slender Man is not a myth, that he is 100% real. There are two possible explanations: these people have been caught up in the legend, or the Slender Man story was so good it gave rise to a demon from hell…yeah…I’m gonna go with the former.
With every image of Slender Man there is a story to go with it. Most of these stories involve a large number of children disappearing soon afterwards, and in many cases the “photographer is presumed dead”. Some have even given the creature Ancient origins. People have pointed to alleged cave paintings, and historical texts that mention this tall, skinny man who lures people, mainly children, to their deaths.
It’s actually kind of sad this story is made up, it has great potential. In a few years though, if it continues at this rate, people will not even remember it was fake.
P.S. Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot to point out: He hates it when you hear too much about him. So watch your back.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Wednesday, November 10
Psychics
It amazes me what some people now will consider evidence of PSYCHIC POWERS!!! As far as I am aware, no psychic has ever been able to entirely prove themselves. In fact James Randi, a magician and author, offers $1 million to anyone who can prove themselves to be psychic. Nobody has yet won this money. Not James Van Praagh, not Sylvia Browne, not anyone. Why then do so many of us still throw our money at these people? I can’t rightly answer this question as I don’t have psychic abilities and therefore can’t get into these people’s brains. If I could, I would be a million dollars richer now. If I had to guess though, I’d say most people enjoy the comfort they get from these people giving vague readings of experiences almost anyone could be going through. Popular things for psychics to say include: “You are going through a difficult time right now”, “Things look bad but will soon get better”, and “The one you think you might love likes you back”. These things are so easy to predict and can apply to anyone.
One of my favorite examples of “Precognition Evidence” is the classic “I was thinking about my friend/sibling/parent and five minutes later I heard they had died!” This example was laid out by, of all people, my chemistry teacher. Let us break down a year into five minute blocks: 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year equals 8760 hours a year. 8760 hours a year and 60 minutes an hour equals 525,600. 525,600 divided by five is going to give you 105,120 five minute blocks of time a year. Let us say that you only knew or knew of one person that was going to die this year. And let us say you were so self centered you only thought about them one time in this same year. You would still have a 1 in 105,120 chance of thinking about them within five minutes of them dying. These odds are better than your chance of winning the lottery, and yet people win the lottery. But guess what else? There are nearly 7 billion people in the world (7,000,000,000). That means there are 7,000,000,000 chances of somebody making that 1 in 105,120. And this is still assuming every person in the world only knows one person who will die this year and only thinks about them once. With these odds, theoretically, 66,590 people will think about that one person in a five minute block of time that they died (7,000,000,000/105,120 = 66,950.563). Are these 66,950 people psychic? No. Are they lucky? Not even that. This scenario was being generous in assuming everyone only knew or knew of one person who would die this year, when actually most people know many more. Also, they normally think about them more than once a year. So the odds are that THIS PHENOMENON WILL OCCUR. As a matter of fact, it would only be abnormal if it didn’t occur!
Of course, there are other things tied in with being "psychic". There are those that can supposedly move things with their mind (telekinesis). If somebody can do that and prove it, then all the power to them and I will personally kiss their toes for proving me wrong, but I have not seen anyone do it yet. I’ve only seen people claim they “entered a state of meditation and told themselves they could move*object* and *object* moved ____ inches”. This just…annoys me. Saying that kind of thing without even trying to prove it makes me unhappy. Giving a report of a sighting is a different story, maybe you didn’t have your camera with you or whatever, but if you can make something move at your command at least TRY to film it. Even if people shoot it down at least you tried and I give you credit for that.
I still can’t believe how many people believe the woman known as Sylvia Browne predict anything correctly. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKX5yB-H2tI&feature=related). If she was truly psychic shouldn’t she be right more than 50% of the time? In fact, I haven’t even heard of her being right that often. This woman needs to be sued or something. There’s no telling how many lives she’s ruined with her “predictions”.
Of course, some people do have amazing mind powers. Take for example the “Human Calculator”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsD2V6ijyQ. But Psychic powers are unproved and never involve anything hard to guess, and when they do they are usually wrong.
So I think that if anyone were truly psychic then they would have already won a million dollars. If any of you think you are psychic, tell me your story, I’ll listen, unless it sounds like you pulled it out of your foot. But please everybody: stop throwing your money to these people who have yet to even prove they really exist.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Saturday, November 6
Star Whackers
Actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi were arrested in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago for causing more than $5,000 worth of damage at a residence in Santa Barbara, California. But the story doesn’t end there. The couple is asking for protection from a shadowy group of people Randy Quaid says has killed eight of his close friends. This sounds pretty crazy, but is there any fact to it?
Among this list of “celebrities killed by the Star Whackers” are Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Chris Penn, David Carradine, and Natasha Richardson. Now, I will admit that there has been some talk of foul play for all of these stars, most notably Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson. And in the case of Michael Jackson, there have been rumors of a conspiracy too; Dr. Conrad Murray is said to have had among his patients “several unidentified officials in Vegas government”. Other than foul play rumors and being Quaid’s costars I can really find no connection between any of them.
So is this true? Well, rumors of Hollywood killing off their own stars (as some reports claim Quaid says about the identities of the Star Whackers) date pretty far back: Albert Dekker, Nick Adams, Elizabeth Short, even Bob Crane. So this is no new claim. If you ask me, the Quaids just want attention. What better way to jump-start a dead acting career than to ransack a house, flee to Canada, then claim you are being pursued by Star killers?
P.S. And is Jackson even considered a Hollywood star?
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Google Images
Wednesday, November 3
The Beast of Bray Road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7MRdeHdjz8. That video right there will give you a nice basic idea of what this creature is. This is quite possibly my favorite cryptozoological creature ever. The sighting that gave the beast its name was on Halloween night of 1999 (I wouldn’t ignore the fact that it takes place on Halloween. Quite the indication that it could possibly be a prank.). A young woman was driving on Bray Road in Michigan when she thought she felt her front tire go up on a bump. Thinking she’d hit something she got out of her car to look. She found nothing on the roadway. Then, peering into the darkness next to the road, she saw a huge form running towards her. She quickly got into her car. The thing jumped onto the trunk of her car, but could not hold on and fell onto the pavement as she drove off. Later that same night she saw the beast again on the side of the road as she was taking a young girl trick-or-treating. She quickly sped off after commanding the girl to lock her door. Of course, after these sightings, many more people came forward claiming to have seen the same thing, some dating back ten years. After further analysis people have found reports dating all the way back to 1936. This story bears uncanny resemblance to the Michigan Dogman, whom I will discuss in a future post. Maybe the same beast? Michigan and Wisconsin are close enough together.
The Beast of Bray Road has been seen in Walworth, Jefferson, and Racine counties. Nobody has ever observed it doing anything “paranormal” or “unworldly”, ruling out Alien or ghost. In fact, the beast seems to be governed by the normal laws of natural. There is no hovering capabilities, no teleportation, no immense jumps. Is this creature just a type of animal that people have never encountered before? Is it actually a werewolf as people have described it? Or can it be written off as just a bear or wolf?
Earlier the same year of the previously described sighting, a 24 year old bar manager (Is it just me or do people who see creatures always seem to be either bar tenders or bar managers?) claims to have seen a creature kneeling on the side of the road, eating roadkill with its palms upward. She stated in an interview that the creature “appeared to be so human-like it was scary”. She had no idea what it could have been until she saw an illustration of a werewolf in a book in a public library (talk about back-woodsy. Who hasn’t heard of a werewolf?). She said it was so similar that her “eyes popped out of her head.”…Really? This lady sounds like she’s dying for attention.
Just the summer before, a large number of animal carcasses were found dumped in a ditch by nearby Willow Road. A humane officer claims they appeared to have been used in cult rituals, though the local police dismissed the idea. According to the humane officer, some of the animals had ropes tied around their back legs and their throat slit. Many of the animals matched descriptions of pets that had gone missing in the area. Rumors spread about imposter humane officers coaxing stray dogs, including one report in which a ten year old boy was supposedly intimidated by a man in a black uniform in an attempt to obtain his black Labrador. Around the same time there were reports of cult graffiti being found in an abandoned house. This house was only a quarter-mile off of Bray Road. Perhaps tying the cult along with the beast?
A sighting in 1989 from Elkhorn had a dairy farmer seeing an “odd-looking dog” in his field. Another man reported a similar sighting, though his report also involved the creature standing for a second on all fours.
The reports have mostly died down, though there is still a small trickle of sightings coming through. What is/was this creature? Some have said that is could just be a Bigfoot. I’m not so sure about that, but whatever floats your boat I guess.
The most recent report I can find is from March 9, 2006 in Rock County (nearby). A 22 year old history major claims to have seen a six-foot tall shaggy brown creature with “meaty legs” walking upright across Hwy 59. She said it may have been Bigfoot, or the Bray Road Beast. Glad to see a witness who was well-educated in matters of cryptozoology.
There are so many sightings it’s crazy. And if you tie in the Michigan Dogman (who, again, we will discuss later, but for this purpose you just need to know that it is a remarkably similar creature) I would confidently say that sightings go up past the couple-hundred mark.
My only conclusion is that either people in the area are all remarkably stupid/blind and there is a rogue bear on the loose (which I HIGHLY doubt is the case), or there really is something weird out there.
***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***
References:
Wikipedia (For images, dates, names, and description of events only)
Google Images
Coming next week: Psychics
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