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25 May ' 05:39
May 25A Dinosaur Expedition Doomed From the Start Smithsonian.comA while ago we reported on Stephen McCullah's Kickstarter project to hunt mokele mbembe for a documentary. They've hit their goal and the expedition will start soon. Thing is that Brian Switek looks askance upon it, giving a case for the beast's non-existence in addition to the non-existence of a scholarly approach. Instead it looks like a cash grab to produce yet another cable documentary that will be unsatisfying for mainstreamers and mavericks. Speaking of cable documentaries, Mermaids: The Body Found has piqued Dr. Beachcombing's fancy. Consulting his collection for the origins of mermaids, Beach discovers The Problem With Sea Apes. He finds three hypotheses which need addressing on how they entered humanity's consciousness. More deserving of our hard earned cash, if only to cover his library late fees, is The Professor. His third installment of the fascinating "DRAGON": A Mass Of Confusion continues apace. From lindworms, lungs, and leviathans, The Professor looks at legends and lore for the source of inspiration for dragons. Cryptozoology isn't all about academic research, there's field work to be done. One encounter in Florida has delivered enough to make anyone exclaim "Wow!" Florida Retired Wildlife Officer Gives Enough Detail Of Bigfoot To Make You Doubt It Was A Bear. The witness proves his mettle after speaking with David Bakara from the BFRO, laying the ground for this convincing case.Goblins Attacks Family, Burn Down Homestead The Zim DiasporaThings have gone from bad to worse for the Sithole family in southern Zimbabwe. From dirt in cooking pots, thrown stones from invisible assailants, to lost huts. Even local Christian groups are helpless to stem this tide of bad fortune. Can their misfortune be chalked up curses from disgruntled healers, or is there something to sightings of MIBs with serpentine characteristics? Eyewitnesses didn't have any inforation about the number of ophidian agents harassing the Sitholes, for Loren Coleman knows they always come in threes. Today he helps us with Visualizing Synchromystic Men In Black, covering famous accounts, influence in popular culture, and how they persist in our consciousness. Included is a great clip from the late Unsolved Mysteries on MIBs. Don't forget to consult Nick Redfern about MIBs as his latest The Real Men in Black is shaping up to be the definitive reference. One Marjorie Braxton wrote him of her grandfather's fateful encounter in Washington D.C,. retelling A Strange Tale Of The MIB. The suggestion that the State Department had contact with otherworldly diplomats is odd enough, but Ms. Braxton's grandfather came away with a strange coin that no one could identify. Shifting gears, there are More Videos Of Unexplained "Apocalypse Sounds" Roaring Out Of Nowhere. Annalee Newitz has taken a break from watching Keyboard Cat to take them all in. Give them a listen, so you know what to listen for the next time you're out.When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience Smithsonian.comHistory forgets that most of what we hold as real science was once considered to be the domain of the deluded. Mavericks are the people who drive innovation, push the boundaries, and ask questions that the mainstream considered settled years before. Richard Conniff wants to acquaint you with Alfred Wegener. He's the man who pointed out the glaringly obvious, that Africa and South America fit together like puzzle pieces. What forces drove them apart? Wegener presented his hypothesis, only to be faced with nationalist ridicule, short-sighted academics who sought to protect their tenure rather than advance science. Wegener faced those slings and arrows like a hero, and lived up to the example of a hero in Greenland. Most astronomers are just as timid as Wegener's contemporaries. They will note the orbital perturbations of the outer planets, discounting theories on Nibiru, Nemesis, Yuggoth, and 'Planet X'. Odd Orbits In Solar System May Mean Unseen Object, Astronomer Conjectures. Natalie Wolchover is awed by the idea of a dark giant rolling at the rim of our solar system. For more than a century, mankind has wondered if our star was accompanied by a shadowy companion in this lonely void, and Rodney Gomes seems to be on the right track to prove its existence. Wrapping up our crash course in maverick science is Stephen Smith's meditation upon Zero Mass Particles. Recent observations of powerful gamma ray flares from the Crab Nebula throw the conventional cosmological model into question, while it seems that Hannes Alfvén, the man behind the idea of an electric universe, had it figured out all along with the compression of magnetic fields which generate these massless oddities. -
24 May ' 10:18
May 24An Interview with Ranae Holland of After Ellen"Finding Bigfoot" resident skeptic Ranae Holland answers some questions from After Ellen and discusses how difficult it is to be the only skeptic in the "family" of investigators on the show. She gives her theories on the Patterson-Gimilin film, the possible origins of Bigfoot and reveals the few times that she experienced something unexplained while on the hunt that made her question her skepticism. Loren Coleman discusses another very different sort of Bigfoot hunter with Swarzak¹s Squatching. Anthony Swarzak of the Minnestota Twins may be the most well known MLB Bigfoot hunter, and as a matter of fact may be MLB's only Bigfoot hunter and cites a lifelong fascination with the subject. Nick Redfern takes us on his Chupacabra Adventures in Puerto Rico while filming the show Proof Positive for SyFy channel. He reveals that the hunt for chupacabra turned into something far more stranger. Over on The Big Study, The Professor turns his attention to dragons once again, this time focusing on Chinese dragons and then moving on to Greek dragons of myth and lore, in "Dragon": A Mass of Confusion, part two. The depiction of dragons is oddly similar across the cultures and centuries.With the debut of Men in Black III just days away, real men in black have surfaced in the media once again. HuffPo gives a succinct roundup of MIB encounters over the past 40 years and across the board MIB appear to be hostile, threatening, and downright bizarre. No one is any closer to solving the mystery, even with Dan Akyroyd's help. Are they disinfo agents sent to convince UFO witnesses? Are they aliens in human form? Pranksters? The consensus is, no, we have no idea who or what they are and yes they are still damned creepy. Concerning another unsolved mystery of a different sort, io9 asks, Why is this the most popular UFO footage on YouTube? Our best guess is the vast percentage of people who viewed this obviously very well-done faked footage want it to be real. It's been another busy week for UFO investigators as UFOs fly under cop's radar in New Zealand and Toronto witness reports flying orbs resembling archontic entities.Chasing UFOs: The Truth is Out There National GeographicNatGeo debuts a new UFO hunting show and promises a scientific look at the UFO phenomenon and "stunning new evidence". We've heard this all before and we hope this show does deliver, but the hint of Hollywood-ing it up is evident in the promo photo with Lara Croft apparently leading the investigative team. Meanwhile, Encounters Presents Episode II: “Top Ten Strangest UFO/Military Cases” and UFO Iconoclasts wonders if we should take a more theological approach to some UFO sightings: Horus -- Flying Disk God? And finally, in the most disturbing UFO-related news we've heard all week, Greyhound killer believed man he beheaded was an alien, which is almost as disturbing as the fact that he has been approved for public outings from the mental hospital. -
23 May ' 13:12
May 23Oxford wants your DNA. More specifically, the DNA of a Bigfoot you've encountered, which eliminates 99.9% of us. Oxford is taking this study very seriously and hopes to answer the question once and for all of Bigfoot's existence. We are very impressed with their efforts and hope it doesn't devolve into the same morass of arguing and accusations and drama that most Bigfoot projects seem to end up in. Surely it will not but as we all know, Bigfoot research has more drama than Real Housewives...Nick Redfern delves into Bigfoot: The Implications of Discovery and asks what implications would arise from the discovery of Bigfoot. Would they be granted human rights? Will they even be considered human? Would shooting one equal murder? As Redfern shows, the implications are far wider than that and would shake our human beliefs to the core.Extrasensory Arts: Do Musical and Artistic Abilities Increase Psychic Potential? Mysterious UniverseMicah Hanks poses the question, "What came first, the psychic chicken or the cosmic egg?" and wonders if musicians and other artistic individuals might be more in tune with their psychic abilities. Musicians especially seem to be able to discern messages among the white noise slightly better than their non-musicial counterparts. Robert McLuhan wonders why The Politics of Psi have to be so complicated when skeptics refuse to acknowledge any sort of proof of Psi abilities and hold steadfastly to their skeptical views. He points out that almost all evidence is readily accepted by believers but skeptics simply dismiss that and chalk it up to made-believe. Skeptics and believers are locked into a battle that will probably endure until the end of time. At the other end of the scale, Chris Holly has been busy gathering her own evidence for a very different sort of informal experiment and tells us that it Seems like it is all about the Sun Lately. She warns of a strange trend she's noticed among 15 people, including herself concerning the relationship between the sun 'flares' and joint pain flare ups. There seems to be a definite connection and it is rather alarming.A Strange Story of Loch Ness Eels Loch Ness MysteryGlasgow Boy switches gears today and gives us a purely fictional and entertaining tale of giant carnivorous eels living in Loch Ness. Meanwhile, Micah Hanks presents Seals, Saurians, and Serpents: Odd Theories Behind The World’s Lake Monsters and gives us a list of theories, some of which are just as entertaining as the above giant eels story. We wonder how many pints it took for someone to come up with the explanation of "long-necked seals". -
23 May ' 01:36
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22 May ' 14:41
May 22Are these crop circles in a South Carolina crop field? Yes, but they have a very terrestrial explanation. Matt the Weather Guy says they are the result of microbursts, which are small but very powerful gusts of wind before or after a thunderstorm. This explanation is very through and thoughtful and it's a nice change to have an actual explainable reason behind a strange event. Another crop circle case from Argentina does not have such an easy explanation and Scott Corrales provides details of the intensive study done on the Crop Circles: Other Aspects of the Las Perdices Case You may recall reading about this case last week, involving a group of young photographers. Some of the evidence is in the form of strange metallic balls found at the site. Meanwhile, Christopher Knowles reports a sighting of another strange event, this one in the form of Eyes in the Sky, high strangeness that could have come straight out of a Stephen King novel. A picture is included and while the "eyes" certainly look natural in origin, there's no doubt it had to a spooky sight on a late-night walk.A team of scientists reveals that they have traced the source of the explosion to Lake Cheko and have found what they believe is a piece of meteorite. Tunguska has long been rumored to have been caused by a crashing UFO or even time-travel experimentation gone wrong. With such a long list of speculation from the past 100 years, the most mundane of explanations is meteorite. The UFO Iconoclasts give yet another interesting theory as to the true nature of "flying saucers" in the 1940s and the orb-like UFOs of present day with their look at Chiles-Whitted 1948 UFO sighting. Framing it in the viewpoint of Jung, the Iconoclasts provide a convincing argument that some UFOs are simply psychological manifestations. As with all UFO explanations, this could very well explain some but still not all UFO sightings.Saola: 20 Years Later CryptomundoLoren Coleman celebrates the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the saola, an animal that has only been spotted once in the wild in the past 20 years and may be in danger of extinction once again. The saola is goat-like creature that lives in the forests of Vietnam. Another cryptid creature often reported, but never captured may have some evidence to back up the claims of its existence--a body. Pumas may be on the loose in Scotland as cat corpse is discovered. The big cat corpse seems to be that of a juvenile black panther, a creature long rumored to roam the Scottish Highlands and other locations in the UK. Further testing will give more information as to the true identity of the mystery cat. -
22 May ' 03:08
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21 May ' 16:22
May 21You read the story earlier this month about a mystery object nearly causing a mid-air collision over Denver. Well, here's a report of a similar incident over Indiana recently in which a very bright light and F-18s were seen in a no-fly zone from which flights were being redirected. In other dangers from the sky news, we hear that NASA Survey Counts Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Just when we all thought we could relax and stop worrying that the world was going to end in 2012, comes this new study released by NASA that informs us that there are 4700 near-earth asteroids close enough to wreak havoc if they pass too closely to us.Paranormal Photos: Separate The Wheat From The Chaff Above Top SecretATS member elevenaugust presents an extensive look at different causes for "ghost" photographs. The collection of orbs and camera straps is nothing new but it always good to take another look and the collection is also notable for the paredolia photographs featured and also the additional unidentified paranormal photos posted by other ATS members. Speaking of ghosts, ‘Haunted’ L.A. hospital being converted into senior living home. Linda Vista Community Hospital will soon house senior citizens and after temporary roommates like True Blood and Rob Zombie, we'd think the resident ghosts would welcome their new, decidedly quieter occupants. Meanwhile, Michael Prescott has made a startling discovery while continuing his reading of The Country Beyond: The Doctrine of Re-Birth, by Jane Sherwood on the subject of Passing in Review. The "life in review" portion of a near-death experience was popularized after the publication of Raymond Moody's 1976 book, Life After Life but Sherwood's book was published in 1969, meaning there is no way she was influenced by Moody's book. This fact establishes Sherwood's accounts of life reviews as an entirely different source and lends the theory far more credence.Kewaunee claims to be in constant telepathic contact with both Bigfoot and ETs and says he was "shocked!!!" when Bigfoot first contacted him in 1979. We suspect that the local Bigfoot population would have been shocked to hear that also. Nick Redfern tells us that a lot of true believers hold on to the motto: I (Don't) Want to Believe, when it comes to subjects like Bigfoot and UFOs when their iconic cases are threatened with alternative and more mundane explanations, like Roswell being the work of humans rather than aliens or giant eels being mistaken for cryptoid beast Nessie.
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20 May ' 23:10
Our resident cryptozoologist Loren Coleman is pleased with a recent article in the Relict Hominoid Inquiry dealing with similarities between Bluff Creek and Shennongjia footprint casts. There's more to cryptozoology than shaky cameras and egregious contractions like 'squatch'. In light those erudite papers, Benjamin Radford complains that the . The gathering in question is the Ohio Bigfoot Conference, and Ben takes an unsurprising skeptical tack which is more constructive than scathing. Take the time to jump into the comment section and give your two cents. And trailing the pack has us reflecting, "Ah, spring. When a sasquatch's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love". Way down Florida way, the subspecies known as the skunk ape are in the mood 'neath the heavy green canopy. Local cryptozoologist Dave Shealy has details, demographics, and discusses the dangers to female hikers in the Floridian outback since . -
20 May ' 12:39
May 20Ah, spring. When a sasquatch's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. Way down Florida way, the subspecies known as the skunk ape are in the mood 'neath the heavy green canopy. Local cryptozoologist Dave Shealy has details, demographics, and discusses the dangers to female hikers in the Floridian outback. No word if he's submitted an abstract to the Relict Hominoid Inquiry considering his intimiate knowledge of the subject of skunk apes. Speaking of which, resident cryptozoologist Loren Coleman is pleased with a recent article in RHI: Footprint Evidence of the Chinese Yeren Compared to Californian Bigfoot with similarities between Bluff Creek and Shennongjia casts. There's more to cryptozoology than shaky cameras and egregious contractions like 'squatch'. In light those erudite papers, Benjamin Radford complains that the Annual Bigfoot Conference Once Again Lacks Proof. The gathering in question is the Ohio Bigfoot Conference, and Ben takes an unsurprising skeptical tack which is more constructive than scathing. Take the time to jump into the comment section and give your two cents.Texas is no stranger to flying saucers. From Marfa to Stephenville, the Lone Star State is second only to the Golden State in sightings. Tiffany Craig profiles Chuck Stansburge who is taking advantage of his home state being a hotbed of activity, investigating the ten percent which remain a thorn in the side of skeptics. From working with second-hand accounts to experiencing things first-hand, Elise Conner relates A New Physics -- Technology Observed. From levitation, moving through solid matter, and its manipulation with great facility by Beings. What kind of physics could explain these events, and what could they tell us about inventions yet to come? We continue further from the gifts of otherworldly visitors, to their philosophy which was conveyed to Daniel Fry in his Message: To Men Of Earth back in 1954. Join Mark Russell Bell as he takes us Beyond The White Sands Incident where Alan the Alien tackled tough questions with interstellar insight, preaching peace. Finally, the field of UFOlogy would be lost without researchers and investigators doing hard work and asking harder questions. A good place to start is with Haunted Skies: The Encyclopaedia of British UFOs which is up to volume four. Just like us, Peter Rogerson is tickled by the ability to put faces to half-forgotten names, colorful conferences, and the odd characters who inspired a generation to pick up where the contemporaries of Roswell left off. Despite the vagaries of including everything, this remains a welcome addition to anyone's bookshelf.An "Angel" In Indonesia? The Biggest StudyIn case you have amnesia, last Thursday we reported in Indonesia, an angel was caught on video. One of the first people we turned to was The Professor who gave us an earful on how the media is handling this video. HuffPo and UPI are gunning for membership with CSICOP, except they're not even doing it on the pretense of science but opinion! The Professor gives his analysis of this curious video, keeping a fortean frame of mind on its veracity. If you can stomach it, check out HuffPo's offending article "'Angel-Like Spirit' Caught On Security Cam Called A Hoax" which has a meaningless internet poll, but it links to the video so you can decide for yourself instead of being spoonfed by bloogers. Once your blood stops boiling and turns to a simmer, there's some lighter yet no less interesting fare from Esther Inglis-Arkell over at io9. Deep among the mountains of Cambodia, The Only Evidence Left Of A Mystery Tribe Is Bodies In Jars. Esther gives a brief overview of this eerie and anomalous graveyard, leaving one wondering if this is a sign of genocide or something stranger. -
20 May ' 01:29
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