Blank Eyed Girls

For several years, Cartoon Network has aired an animated series called "Adventure Time."

It's a popular show that's received numerous awards.  It has also inspired a wide range of related merchandise including video games, comic books and even clothing.

The show follows two main characters, Finn, a human, and Jake, a dog with magical powers, who travel around the Land of Ooo.

I'd never seen the show before, but a recent episode was called to my attention so I checked it out online.

The episode is titled "The Blank Eyed Girls."  It features the two main characters having an encounter with a group of black, er, excuse me, "blank" eyed kids who first show up at the front door and then mysteriously appear inside the house.  Finn and Jake panic and out of desperation, call late night radio host "Starchy" for advice.

Starchy, has a thick mustache and runs a popular nighttime talk show discussing conspiracies, ghosts, aliens and a wide variety of strange phenomena.  Hmmm sounds vaguely familiar.  He suggests several possibilities to explain what the girls are and how to deal with them.  Nothing quite works out however. 

The episode is just over eleven minutes long and somehow manages to throw in a whole range of things related to the black eyed kids along with theories ranging from fairies to tulpas.  It's an interesting example of how much the awareness of this weird phenomena has moved into pop culture.

Check out the show at the link below.


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mczac

Phantom Passenger in Korea

Phantom passengers are some of the most common ghostly manifestations found around the world.  Commonly known as the "vanishing hitchhiker," there are numerous variations of this tale.

In most cases, the accounts involve a young girl spotted on the side of the road.  Frequently, the drivers are lone males who believe the girl is in distress or lost and they offer her a ride home.  In many accounts, the woman vanishes once she is inside the car.
In some versions, they arrive at the destination before the girl disappears.

The most famous version in the United States is no doubt Chicago's "Resurrection Mary."
Tales of this famous Chicago ghost can be traced back to the 1930s when encounters were first reported.  It's commonly believed that a young girl was killed in the area after being at a party.  Since she never made it home, her ghost is still wandering the roads, trying to find her way back.

Other vanishing passenger tales can be traced back to the late 1800s and come from a wide variety of countries and cultures.
Recently, I came across an account of a female phantom who took a cab back home.  This particular tale took place in Korea in 1941.  The story was related by one, Haruo Aoki and was told by a woman referred to as Miss Oeda.
The location of the incident was the city of Kunsan, Chon-ra-puk-to, Korea.

"About midnight a taxi driver of Guntaku Cab Company in Kunsan received a telephone call from the municipal crematory asking for a cab.  He picked up a young lady of twenty or so in front of the crematory and was told to drive to the hardware store of a Mr. Shimo.  When the cab arrived at Mr. Shimo's place on Meiji Street, the girl told the driver she did not have the fare and asked him to wait until she could go into the house to get it.  Because Mr. Shimo had kept a store at the same location for years and was a respected citizen, the driver waited outside without any misgivings.  The girl, however, did not reappear.  Finally, the driver became impatient and knocked at the closed door.  After repeated attempts to arouse somebody in the house, sleepy-looking Mrs. Shimo showed up and asked the driver what he wanted.  She seemed to know nothing about the girl's ride.  However, after the driver had described the young lady, Mrs. Shimo showed him a picture of her daughter on the wall.  The daughter had died a few days before and her body had been sent to the same crematory.  The driver recognized her immediately and became fatally ill."

Goatman Tragedy

A tragedy this week in Louisville, KY as the death of an amateur paranormal investigator highlights the dangers of investigating the strange.

Roquel Bain, 26, of Dayton, Ohio died while looking into the legend of the Goatman.  According to reports, Bain and her boyfriend were in town to take a haunted tour of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.  Since they had time before the scheduled tour, they decided to make their way to train tracks reported to be the location of goatman sightings.

The creature, also known as the Pope Lick Monster, is reported to be half man-half goat and purportedly tries to lure people to their deaths on the trestle over the Pope Lick Creek.
Legend states that when one crosses the trestle from one side to the other, the Goatman will appear.  Many people believe the tracks are no longer in use, but this is far from the case as trains regularly cross the creek at this point.

Bain and her boyfriend walked out on the trestle, not realizing the tracks are still active.  While on the tracks, they spotted a Norfolk Southern train heading their way.  Realizing they didn't have time to make it off the trestle to safety, they elected to hang off the side until the train passed.  In their attempts, Bain was struck by the train and fell an estimated 80 to 100 feet.  Her boyfriend survived with no injuries.

Deputy Coroner Jack Arnold reported that the woman died of multiple blunt force injuries suffered in the collision and subsequent fall from the railroad trestle. 

Area residents are disturbed at the number of problems that have arisen from stories of the goatman and people trying to access the trestle to investigate.
A chained fence and warning signs are in place to deter people from entering the area.

Area resident Michelle Burns stated:

"I see a train pass every thirty minutes or so.  It's shocking, people hear about so many deaths and they still take the risk.  It's sad, I pray for the family, my thoughts are with them, but I wish that people would think about what they're doing before they do it--it's definitely dangerous."

Many locations connected to paranormal and supernatural reports are filled with hazards and dangers.  While reality television portrays investigating such things as exciting and easy, Bain's tragic death should serve as a warning to those interested that such field work can be filled with danger and should not be taken lightly.

While some recent reports are claiming that the Goatman has taken another victim, this is more likely a tragic accident resulting from interested explorers being uninformed about area conditions.

If you chose to work in this field, please taken proper precautions and safety measures.

Russian Mothman II

I've received a lot of messages regarding my recent post on the possibility of the Mothman's 1999
appearance in Russia.

To me, it's always interesting to get reports out of countries like Russia.  Many people in the United States have devoted a lot time and energy to the study of strange phenomena over the years.  In Russia, the number of researchers is fairly small by comparison but they've been hard at work uncovering old reports and documenting new ones.  Thankfully, it's getting easier all the time for English speaking researchers to translate and find old news reports.

While the 1999 incident was fascinating, it's not the only Russian encounter with a weird flying creature.  In fact, flying humanoids were making themselves known in the region just after the famous encounters in Point Pleasant, WV.

The following incident is reported to have occurred one night in 1968 in the Russian Far East.  To be precise, the encounter was on the river Amur in the Primorskiy Kray region.

Thanks to researcher Albert S. Rosales for bringing this one to my attention:

"Because of the tense relations between the USSR and China at the time, Soviet KGB frontier troops intensified their patrols in the territories of the Russian Far East which bordered the People’s Republic of China. One night the crew of a Soviet patrol boat on the River Amur spotted a suspicious object flying in from the Chinese bank of the Amur. When the strange object came closer the men on the boat realized that the object resembled a winged human figure. The wings were visibly flapping in the air as the entity flew overhead. At the moment that the winged figure crossed the frontier into Russia the frontier guards opened fire with their automatic weapons. The flying entity stopped moving its wings and glided down sharply to the nearby taiga and dense pine forest. The crew of the patrol boat radioed headquarters about the incident and the order was given to find the object or creature whatever it was. The KGB frontier guards suspected that the figure was probably a Chinese spy, wearing some kind of flying apparatus or equipment. However a thorough search which included dogs conducted by the frontier guards proved fruitless. The mysterious flying man had disappeared."

Source: Polina Belova in: “Mir Uvlecheniy” newspaper
Kiev Ukraine # 1 December 6 2005

For my earlier post on a Russian Mothman see:

http://twocrowsparanormal.blogspot.com/2016/04/mothman-in-russia.html

SOS on SC&L

The Society of the Supernatural sat down with our friends Jay & Teresa Lynch for their ZTalk Radio show, Sit, Chat & Laugh with the Lynch's.

It was two short hours of great discussion.
You can catch the show in ZTalk's archives, and while you're at it, be sure to listen in on other great episode from this pair.  They're laid back but well informed on paranormal matters.  It was a pleasure to be on.

http://ztalkradio.com/

Mysteries of Antarctica on Paranormal Zone TV

Recently, Dave Spinks and I joined show host Norene Balovoich on her program, Paranormal Zone TV--Do You Believe, for a discussion on some of the strange mysteries of Antarctica.  Cryptids, weird disappearances and Nazi activity in this frozen land are some of the topics we covered.

The show is available at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Rg2M8Ywdg&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

SOS Fox Hollow Farm

Recently, the Society of the Supernatural was given the opportunity to investigate at the notorious Fox Hollow Farm.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most disturbing locations that we have investigated, partially because of the haunting, but even more so because of the violent crimes that took place on the site.

Fox Hollow Farms was once the property of serial killer Herb Baumeister, who, between the years of 1980 and 1996, preyed on gay male victims in the Indianapolis area. Baumeister buried the remains of his victims on the property around his farm. All of this was conducted while he was married with three children.

In 1996, with the authorities on his trail, Baumeister fled to Canada and committed suicide in a hotel room before he could be arrested for his crimes.

The farm, in Marion County, Indiana, has been the site of a wide range of phenomena over the years, including physical attacks, ghost lights and apparitions. The house is currently occupied by a family with no connection to the killer or his relatives. Ghost Adventures is one of the only television shows that has been allowed to investigate the location.

During our time at the site, we had a wide range of manifestations occur. We investigated the pool area, where many of the murders took place, as well as the upstairs apartment and outside portions of the property where apparitions are spotted.

A portion of the investigation was livestreamed, and additional footage will be available in the future via DVD.

Stigmata Reported in Samoa

A woman in Samoa claims she developed Stigmata while performing in a church play on Good Friday.

Stigmata is primarily linked to the Catholic faith.  It's a phenomenon wherein a person develops bleeding wounds similar to those suffered by Christ during the crucifixion.  The faithful see such a condition as a miracle and a sign of holy influence.

In the latest Samoan case, twenty three year old Toaipuapuaga Opapo says started bleeding from wounds on her palms, feet, forehead, and side.  She says the wounds appeared while she was performing as Jesus in a play re-enacting the crucifixion. 

Footage of her at the church was broadcast on television and shows what appears to be blood running down her arms, and later, emerging from her side.

In an interview with TV1 Samoa, Opapo told reporters that she spontaneously started bleeding while news cameras were rolling.  The station did not confirm the claim.  Opapo told reporters:

"I'm just another human being...but my body has been used as a reminder because God knows that the faith of his servants are dying."

Samoa is a largely Christian country and even the Prime Minister weighed in on the stigmata case.  PM Tuilaepa Sailelel Malielagaoi told the Samoa Observer newspaper:

"We should be happy about these events that it has happened to a daughter of a pastor in Samoa.  If it happens to someone, it means they are holy."

Some controversial aspects have developed around the case.  Opapo it seems, is not Catholic, but a member of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS).  A spokesman for the church, general secretary Afereti Uili stated:

"Stigmata is not part of the Reformed tradition of which CCCS is a part.  If it really is stigmata, it would be a unique occurrence.  We are therefore undertaking our own investigations into the matter."

Uili added that the Church would release an official statement once their investigation was complete.

TV1 Samoa's news editor, Merita Huch, said that the case has created a divide across faiths in the country.

"The Catholic Church has since been taking care of her, they have held a Mass for her.  There have been villages who have invited her as they want to meet her and touch her. 

But there are other churches who are warning people not to believe it, saying it is the work of the devil...Some people say she was possessed by an old boyfriend's spirit."

As is always the case with reports of stigmata, the doubting cry hoax and the faithful proclaim miracle, but the debate continues.

I Would Still Be Drowned In Tears Reviewed

Historians often ignore the evidence for a connection between President Abraham Lincoln and Spiritualism, opting to claim that the only spiritualist ideas observed by the first family sat firmly in the mind of the President's wife Mary Todd.  A woman that many historians claim was mentally deranged.  In the skeptic's narrow belief system, only a mentally unstable person could believe in the tenants of the spiritualist tradition.
Sadly, such views are one sided and fail to account for the popularity of Spiritualism during the period of Lincoln's rise to the nation's highest office.

When the Civil War went into full swing, the idea of communicating with the deceased became even more appealing to those who had lost loved ones to the conflict.  Séances were all the rage and were being conducted around the country.  Washington D.C. was a hotbed of Spiritualism and members included those in high society.  Is it any wonder that the first family wouldn't have been well aware of this trend?  Furthermore, could there be any doubt that a man with a constantly inquisitive mind such has Lincoln, wouldn't at least investigate the popular craze that so many people were embracing?

While a lot has been written about Spiritualism of the period, a more in-depth study of Lincoln and his relationship to such beliefs is long overdue.
Author Michelle L. Hamilton has tried to fill some of the void with her recent work, "I Would Still Be Drowned In Tears."  Subtitled, "Spiritualism in Abraham Lincoln's White House," the book digs into historical documents to give us examples and evidence pointing to President Lincoln's interest in the Spiritualism of the day.

There's a great mention of Lincoln's encounter with a levitating piano at a séance conducted by medium Nettie Colburn.  According to accounts:

"The President, with a quaint smile, said, 'I think we can hold down that instrument.' Whereupon he climbed upon it, sitting with his legs dangling over the side, as also did Mr. Somes, S.P. Kase, and a soldier in the uniform of a major...from the Army of the Potomac.  The piano, notwithstanding the enormous added weight, continued to wabble about until the sitters were glad 'to vacate the premises'"

The book comes in at about 150 pages, so it just breaks the surface of a very deep subject.  It's a quick read, and there's a great bibliography of source material for those who wish to dig further into a fascinating aspect of history.

Check it out for a glimpse into an untapped and strange aspect of civil war history.

Men In Black Reviewed

I've been meaning to get around to this review for some time, but let's face it, keeping up with the prolific writings of Nick Redfern is a job in and of itself.

That being said, I always enjoy getting a new title by him in hand and with this particular offering, I had the pleasure of contributing a chapter. 

Nick is certainly the go to guy when it comes to the infamous Men in Black.  These creepy figures have floated around the fringes of the UFO field for a very long time, and despite how much they're written about, there always seem to be more lingering and unsettling questions about them.

Nick's latest offering on the topic is "Men In Black: Personal Stories and Eerie Adventures."

Like the title implies, the book is a collection of various accounts that relate to the creepy MIBs.

Nick called me way back about his idea for the book and he asked if I could write something about the possible connections between the MIB and the BEK or, black eyed kids.  I had just the thing.  An untold aspect of the possible connection between the two entities that also included electronic interference and Point Pleasant, WV, both key things related to the history of the MIB.

I was happy to get to share this weird experience that shows how strange things can get for those of us who spend our lives investigating the strange.

But there's much, much more in this book of course.  Brad Steiger weighs in with his own story, pulled from his long career studying UFOs and the paranormal. 
Jason Offutt writes about connection between MIB and the equally creepy Hat Man.  Micah Hanks tells us about the Night Walkers, and author Christopher Loring Knowles, who's written a lot about pop culture, comes in with a piece titled MIB-UFO: Virtual Reality and Reality Tunnels.  It offers a fascinating perspective.

The book also has a good selection of articles by people you may not have heard of, some directly involved in the UFO field, others not so much, but the common theme revolves around their encounters with the mysterious MIB.

All in all, this is yet another fine work by Redfern, and has with all his other titles, I strongly advise you to pick it up and give it a read.

Mothman in Russia

Mothman!

Author and investigator John Keel immortalized the winged entity in his bestseller "The Mothman Prophecies," and anyone familiar with this strange creature, automatically thinks of Point Pleasant, WV and the series of encounters that led to the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967.

But in the years since the Point Pleasant tragedy, this strange, winged creature has been reported in other locations around the world, often it seems, just prior to a disaster. 

These include rumors of Mothman sightings prior to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the 911 terrorist attacks and the Chernobyl power plant meltdown.

Many of these reports come in after the fact, but one terrorist incident in Russia was predicted by Mothman sightings before it occurred.

According to reports in Russia's news source, Pravda, one of the country's UFO centers, "Russian House," sent a registered letter to the government in Moscow in the summer of 1999.  The letter predicted the explosion of an apartment building in Moscow.  No one at the government level treated the letter with any degree of seriousness due to its odd nature and statements.

One hundred and nine people died in the terrorist bombing of the building.

The supervisor of Russian House, Alexander Galtsev, stated to Pravda:

"We were afraid of Federal Security Bureau agents to come here and claim that we were involved in the act of terrorism.  That is why we cannot prevent catastrophes, we are afraid.  We managed to find two pensioners, who said that they saw some strange birds, who had human outlines with legs, arms and head."

Galtsev indicates that the winged creatures were appearing over the apartment building, much the way West Virginia's Mothman was seen near the Silver Bridge.

Galtsev further stated that he believes the Mothman is able to chose who it manifest to, stating that the cryptid can make itself visible to the eyes of one person, two, even a dozen or more at once.  In interviews, the ufologist said that he had discussed the matter with a Moscow priest:

"I talked about this phenomenon to a priest from the Holy Trinity Church in Moscow.  He said that mothmen could actually be guardian angels that try to warn people of some horrific danger."

Galtsev also revealed that there were Mothman reports from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia:

"Our colleagues from the ufologist organization in Tbilisi sent us interesting materials at the end of April.  They wrote that some strange man was coming to the church of St. David, saying that there was a risk of very serious danger for the church.  The man says that he got that information from a phantom with wings.  The earthquake took place in Georgia on April 25, damaging 130 objects of architectural value, and St. David's church was among them. 

Is the mysterious Mothman indeed an omen of coming disaster?  Some Russian researchers certainly seem to believe this is the case.  Has more sharing of information between east and west continues, it will be interesting to see if more is uncovered.

Until then, watch the skies.

Angels in the Storm

Schoolchildren saved by mysterious, nonexistent "officials," a man standing calmly on a blanket in the face of an F5 tornado, and a young boy carried to a treetop safety by a winged man.

While the world is full of dark manifestations, there are also reports of other forces at work, saving people from death and destruction.  Are they spirits, angels, or something else?

More in my latest article, Angels in the Storm, in this month's PP&S news, available at:

 

http://lamarzulli.net/news_magazine.htm

 

Flying Red Humanoid

Here's another gem from researcher Scott Corrales's Institute of Hispanic Ufology.  This one involves an encounter with a strange, small humanoid in a Chilean mine. 

August 31, 2004

Francisco Vega was working at the El Pelambre mines when he saw what appeared to be a small "monkey" walking toward him.  Upon looking closer, Francesco said it was a human-like creature, but red in color.

"It had a bulky head; was no taller than 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) and looked like a gas bag, because it was so fat."

Three other workers also witnessed the strange creature and all four were amazed when the being lifted off the ground.  They all watched as the creature flew away toward the ocean.  About the same time, five youths reported seeing humanoid-type creatures flying through the air that were surrounded by an aura of light.  The group said the strange beings emerged from the ocean.

Cryptid Culture 2

Check out the second issue of Cryptid Culture magazine, now in print and available for order.

This issue has a fantastic cover by artist Sam Shearon, a piece by Robert Robinson on the Legend of the Gowrow, articles on Carolina mermaids, Champ, Sasquatch and much more.

I'm also honored to be featured in this issue, with an article that gives a glimpse into how I became interested in the pursuit of cryptids.

Congrats to the editors, the magazine continues to hit the right notes with a good blend of art and articles.  If you're into any aspect of cryptozoology and cryptids, check this out.

Available at:

 

http://www.cryptidculture.com/