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Into thin air – Do humans just disappear?

Admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:05:33 +0000

I remember reading as a kid about Benjamin Bathurst, David Lang and Oliver Larch. All three have strange stories of inexplicable disappearance. There are no accounts of UFO’s carrying them off, no portals to other dimensions, and no murderous intrigues. They simply were there one moment, and gone another. I recently revisited these stories with a skeptical eye to see what I could come up with.

It was the night of November 25, 1809. The world was at war with Napoleon Bonaparte and uncertain frantic alliances were being formed across Europe to counter him. Vienna had fallen, and Britain’s diplomat in the area, Benjamin Bathurst, was on his way north to Hamburg to return to Britain.

Not far from Berlin in the town of Perleberg, Bathurst stopped in the evening under an assumed name with an assistant to take on fresh horses and to have dinner. It was nearly 9 pm when the horses were prepared. Bathurst, wanting to get to Berlin as soon as possible, left his assistant and went outside to wait in the carriage. That would be the last time anyone would ever see Benjamin Bathurst.

Moments later his assistant left the Inn only to find the carriage empty. No sign of Bathurst was to be found, and one of the strangest stories in history of a disappearance was born.

Word reached England some weeks later when the assistant arrived in London. Bathurst’s wife herself went to Germany and coordinated with the police investigation into the matter. The river Stepnitz was scoured to no avail. The village was searched exhaustively several times with only a coat reported to belong to Bathurst found in an outhouse, and a pair of pantaloons thought to belong to him found some distance away in the woods. Even after an exhaustive search with dogs of the entire area, no other trace was found.

Thinking French agents were involved, Mrs Bathurst took her search to Napoleon himself. She somehow gained access to the Emperor, and asked him what happened to her husband. Surprised, Napoleon said he had no idea, and offered his help to the search. Bathurst’s remains, never the less, were never conclusively found. While there is no proof, its highly probably that Bathurst was simply murdered, no dimensional shifts or aliens needed because no suggestion of them was ever involved in the story.

Another famous tale is that of David Lang of Tennesse, a farmer who in full view of his family vanished in thin air. One second he was visible, the next he was not as he walked across a field. We need not recount this very famous story in detail here, but it remains one of the greatest examples of inexplicable human disappearance in the annals of the paranormal. Problem is, it appears to be entirely concocted, first appearing in an article in Fate magazine . No evidence of Lang or his family ever having existed has been presented, and the records of the time say nothing. Further, a similar story of one
Oliver Larch is likely a rehash of the David Lang legend.

So lies the problem with disappearances into thin air, more is often made of them than is really there and more mundane explanations are often ignored. The more notorious cases seem to have never happened, and the historical ones seem to have rational explanations. This is not to say that people do not disappear without a trace, but that those cases put forth as flagship examples seem shoddy on second glance. It would appear that people do not disappear into thin air. There is always a reason. When one gets into those reasons, that is where valid paranormal questions arise.

What did Vela see?

Admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:59:04 +0000

On September 22, 1979 an aging satellite named Vela 6911 detected two very distinct flashes in the vicinity of the Indian or South Atlantic oceans that supposedly could be only one thing: a nuclear detonation. The Carter administration held an emergency meeting, other satellites were enlisted to see if they saw the detonation, which they did not, and utter pandemonium ensued for a short time as the US government scrambled to see who or what had set off a nuclear weapon that day.

It was a small explosion, estimated at only three kilotons, and while the Soviets, Chinese, French and British are unlikely as the originators, the finger was tentatively pointed at Israel or South Africa for testing a weapon. Problem is, the whole thing made no sense.

The first problem was that no other satellites had detected the detonation, even though at least three were capable of it, if not more. It might have ended there, a very scary and potentially dangerous malfunction caused a false alarm. But it didn’t. Astronomers working at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico detected an atmospheric shockwave that could have been linked to a nuclear explosion. The US government’s hydrophone network detected a very clear echo of a large explosion. But the one piece of foolproof evidence was never found: radiation. Dozens of flights were conducted to try to detect fallout, and none was ever found, though extremely low levels of a certain radioactive element might have been detected in Australia, some time later.

The blast remains a secret to this day, despite South Africa having given up all nuclear weaponry and testing decades ago. If they did it, they still aren’t saying, even though they have no motivation to keep quiet after all this time. Only if it involved Israel would it be worth keeping secret still.

It couldn’t have been a natural phenomena, meteorites do not make double flashes of light characteristic of a nuclear explosion. But given that all parties that may or may not have been involved state it wasn’t theirs, and the fact that radiation fallout was never confirmed, tends to point to something else.

Exploding UFO’s have been brought up as a cause of anomalous atmospheric detonations for some time. Tunguska, most famously, was suspected by some in the UFO community as just such a thing. While no detonation was seen before the Roswell crash, its easily possible that nothing was around capable of detecting it at the time. Could an alien spacecraft have exploded over the Indian Ocean in 1979?

Its not likely we’ll ever know. The facts surrounding the event to this day do not add up, and any potential players in the nuclear arena remain tight-lipped. Most likely, Israel tested a nuclear weapon, but how it managed to not produce detected fallout is a mystery. Could it have been a UFO? Someone in government knows, but they aren’t going to say. Random detonations that look like nuclear weapons, cause international incidents, and could have been misconstrued by jittery cold war powers are something you tend to keep secret.

Would You Live in a House Where an Exorcism Was Performed?

Admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:49:57 +0000

We’ve all seen “The Exorcist”, the infamous film based on William Peter Blatty’s equally infamous book. We also know that Blatty based his story on something that really happened, the exorcism of a boy in 1949 that took place at no less than four different places during the months-long exorcism. For years it was thought that a house in Mt. Rainier, Maryland was where it all started. Problem is, it wasn’t the place. For years the Mt. Rainier house sat vacant, presumably in part because of its “history”, where it was frequently broke into by teenagers who were undoubtedly scared out of their wits and the place became the brunt of god knows how many ghost stories. Ultimately, the local fire department burned the home in an exercise and that should have been the end of the story.

It wasn’t. In 1998 writer Mark Opsasnick determined in an article for Strange Magazine that this home wasn’t just the wrong house, it was in the wrong city. The actual case began in a home located in Cottage City, Maryland. I am uncertain as to whether or not this house is still standing, but the other places associated with the exorcism are not. After moving the boy from Maryland to St. Louis, three places have gained notoriety for their involvement with the story.

Two of them are gone. A rectory on the campus of St. Louis University that is no longer standing, and a demolished wing of the Alexian Brothers Hospital. Of particular interest is the room at the hospital. This was demolished in the 1990′s, and at the time, stories around St. Louis ranged from demolition workers opening the locked room and seeing a black figure escape, to inverted crosses being found painted on the walls of the room in dried blood even though supposedly no one had entered the room since 1949.

The validity of any of these stories, like anything else, are seriously questionable. But the last place associated with the exorcism still stands. Its a non-descript house in the North St. Louis County suburb of Bel-nor. Stories abound about this home, everything from the victim’s bedroom always being strangely cold, to talk of an otherworldly vortex that can be felt by sensitives on the upper floor of the home. This Halloween, a local radio program known for an annual show broadcast from a haunted location spent the evening there seemingly to much paranormal success.

Hogwash and sensationalism? Who knows. But we do know that within its walls, priests arrived at the home to see the boy’s bed shaking violently, scrapes and welts in the form of a devil’s head were seen on the boy’s body and for two weeks the exorcism raged in the home before the priests moved the boy.

A few years ago you could have bought this home for a mere $169,000. It seems the house has sold,and is seemingly available for radio programs to spend the night in this arch-paranormal place.

My question for you is simple. Would you live in a place like that?

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Paranormala’s Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena – Part 2

Admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:41:03 +0000

Welcome back to Paranormala’s Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena. We hope that you enjoyed the last installment of our favorite unexplained, mysterious and just plain weird happenings. In the final 5, things get weirder as we highlight some of the darker unexplained phenomena that has intrigued us. As noted in the comments of Part 1, we will be developing each topic into it’s own in-depth article in the near future.

The comments last time around were great! If you have something to say about any of these, please, leave a response and let’s discuss these as a community!

5. The Taos Hum

The Taos Hum is a mysterious low-frequency humming noise of unknown origin that reportedly exists in Taos, New Mexico. Other occurrences of this phenomena have been reported all over the world and most have been attributed to industrial sounds. What makes the Taos Hum interesting is that the hum is often intensified inside of buildings and is only heard by around 2% of the local population.

Generally, the Taos Hum is thought to be one of the following:

Man-made noises (subwoofers, industrial machinery, etc)

Infrasound from different possible sources, possibly geologic or plate tectonic in nature.

Pulsed microwaves

Electromagnetic waves caused by meteors

Extremely low frequency communications systems (submarine communication, etc)

Ionospheric heating systems (HAARP)

It should be noted however, that the source of the hum has not been identified, even after exhaustive research by local universities and hobbyists.

You can listen to a recording of the Taos Hum here.

4. Near Death Experiences

Ascent of the Blessed by Hieronymus Bosch

Is there an afterlife? Many individuals who have had a near death experience (NDE) believe so. Their experiences often leave them with newfound spirituality and religious belief, changing their lives forever.

Interestingly enough, a near death experience isn’t the same for everyone. Far from it actually, in most cases, a NDE any particular person experiences will reflect whatever religious beliefs that the person held.

From Wikipedia:

“Children, who typically do not have enough time to develop strongly towards one faith, had very limited NDEs. Examples of this include a boy simply having talked to his brother in his NDE and a daughter having a conversation with her mother. The phenomenology of an NDE usually includes physiological, psychological and alleged transcendental aspects. Typically, the experience follows a distinct progression:

A very unpleasant sound/noise is the first sensory impression to be noticed (R. Moody: Life after Life);

A sense of being dead;

Pleasant emotions; calmness and serenity;

An out-of-body experience; a sensation of floating above one’s own body and seeing the surrounding area;

Floating up a blue tunnel with a strong, bright light or garden at the end;

Meeting deceased relatives or spiritual figures;

Encountering a being of light, or a light (often interpreted as being the deity or deities they personally believe in);

Being given a life review;

Reaching a border or boundary;

A feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by a reluctance.

Feeling of warmth even though naked.

The sometimes fantastic claims of those who have reported NDEs have not gone unchallenged. Most of the scientific community regards such experiences as hallucinatory and even sometimes completely fabricated.

While the paranormal community is somewhat more accepting of the NDE phenomenon, there is constant objective research into the field.

In September 2008, it was announced that 25 UK and US hospitals will examine near-death studies in 1,500 heart attack patients-survivors. The study will attempt to determine if people without heartbeat or brain activity can have an out-of-body experience with visual perceptions.

3. Doppelgangers

While often the work of fiction, Doppelgangers (and evil twins) do have some pretty interesting tales.

Here are a few famous historical accounts of Doppelgangers, evil twins and harbingers:

Queen Elizabeth I reportedly saw herself lying pale and still on her bed, soon before she died.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is said to have seen his double wearing a gray suit, trimmed in gold, riding towards him in the opposite direction while on his way to Drusenheim. Eight years later, while riding from Drusenheim on the very same road, he realized he was wearing the exact outfit that he had seen on his double eight years earlier.

Catherine the Great of Russia saw her own image coming toward her and became so frightened that she ordered her soldiers to fire upon it, which they did, but to no avail.

Abe Lincoln

Abe Lincoln, of all people, claimed to have witnessed himself with two faces in his mirror. Abe was pretty superstitious and old mirrors can be kind of tricky, but here is Honest Abe’s recount of the incident:

“ It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day and there had been a great “hurrah, boys,” so that I was well tired out, and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau with a swinging glass upon it and looking in that glass I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second time, plainer, if possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler — say five shades — than the other. I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went off, and in the excitement of the hour forgot all about it — nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang as if something uncomfortable had happened. When I went home again that night I told my wife about it, and a few days afterward I made the experiment again, when (with a laugh), sure enough! The thing came back again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife, who was somewhat worried about it. She thought it was a “sign” that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term.”

Somewhat in tune with the Universal Tricker (sometimes Universal Prankster), Doppelgangers are believed to provide their “twins” with misleading or malicious advice and sometimes are even thought to implant ideas in their minds. Thus, it is considered gravely unwise to attempt to communicate with one’s doppelganger.

2. The Sudarium of Oviedo

The Sudarium of Oviedo is a bloodstained cloth purported to have covered the head of Jesus after his burial. The 34″ by 21″ Sudarium is currently housed in the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, Spain. The cloth is not mentioned in accounts of the actual burial of Christ, but is mentioned as having been present in the empty tomb. It is also described as a cloth physically separate from yet another popular relic, The Shroud of Turin (which consists of the same material as the Sudarium).

The Sudarium of Oviedo

In an attempt to verify the authenticity of the Sudarium, an investigation of the stains by Dr. Jose Villalain showed that the victim died in an upright position, and the stains are comprised mostly of fluid from the lungs. This finding is consistent with crucifixion, which tends to suffocate the victim instead of causing death by blood loss, as commonly believed. Pollen samples taken from the cloth by Dr. Max Frei are consistent with Jerusalem, North Africa and Spain, all of which the Sudarium has been kept.

1. Black Triangle UFOs

One of the most regularly sighted UFOs is the Black Triangle UFO. The black triangle ufo is characterized as being totally silent in its flight despite being a very large, triangular craft hovering or slowly cruising at very low altitudes over cities and highways. They are often described as having bright lights on the underneath at each corner of the triangle. Sometimes a red pulsating light in the center is reported as well.

Triangle shaped UFOs have been reported regularly since the early 1940s. They are one of the most “social” UFO types, often being seen at night time over major population centers, thus explaining their frequent sightings. Due to the enormous amount of sightings in the US, many believe the craft to be a secret aircraft of the US military.

Artist's Concept of a typical black triangle object.

Here is a quick summary of The Rendlesham Forest Incident, one of the most famous black triangle incidents and my personal favorite:

A pyramid-shaped craft was reported to have landed near an American air base at Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, on December 27, 1980. Military personnel reported having approached at least one landed craft in the forest and observed it in great detail before it once again took flight. Another craft was observed landing in an open field near the base and then taking off at incredible speed. Between 2002 and 2005, reporter Bryant Gumbel hosted a series of exclusive SciFi Channel documentaries, one of which, entitled UFO Invasion at Rendlesham, focused on this incident. Gumbel interviewed some of the men involved with the sighting, and the documentary toured some of the scenes, attempting to gather evidence that something landed in the forest. The History Channel also aired an episode of UFO Files on the incident, calling it “Britain’s Roswell”. Via: Wikipedia.

That concludes our Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena! We hope you enjoyed our list and remember, if you have anything to say, feel free to leave a comment below!

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Paranormala’s Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena – Part 1

Admin — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:12:31 +0000

Skeptics and believers alike, nothing gets people talking and debating like a good old urban legend or ghost story. What’s even better, is when there is no definitive answer as to whether the event happened or not, and why. Here at Paranormala, this is our modus operandi.. to bring to you, our beloved reader the most interesting and sometimes ridiculous unexplained phenomena.

So without further ado, here is the first half of our favorite unexplained, mysterious and just plain weird happenings:

10. The Klerksdorp Spheres

Much debate has arisen over the origin of these small, spherical or disc shaped objects found near Ottosdal, South Africa. Alternative researchers and reporters claim these are “anomalous, out of place artifacts” and had to have been developed by intelligent beings, either human, or of alien origin.

A Grooved Klerksdorp Sphere

Geologists rebut that these little nuggets of weirdness are a result of natural processes, coming from 3.0 billion year old pyrophyllite deposits.

Whatever the case may be, these grooved spheres are monumentally interesting artifacts.

9. Angel Hair

There are a number of accounts of this fiberous substance observed to have fallen from the sky, often believed to be a result of UFO phenomenon. An interesting account reported by USA Today and the AP details twenty UFOs seen over Quirindi, New South Wales, Australia, dropping down Angel Hair on the ground as they passed. It is said that any attempt at collecting it results in the material completely subliming and disappearing.

An Illustration Of Angel Hair From UFOs

It should be noted that Angel Hair has also, appropriately been associated with sightings of angels.

8. The Dropa Stones

The Dropa, according to legend, are a race of dwarf-like extraterrestrials that purportedly inhabited the Baian-Kara-Ula mountains of China. A 1938 archeological expedition led by Dr. Chi Pu Tei into this region led to the discovery of a series of artificially carved caves containing the Dropa Stones.

Each stone, or disc rather, is said to be around 12,000 years old, roughly 9 inches in diameter, has a small whole cut in the center and is etched with a spiral pattern of hieroglyphics. It gets weirder. The hieroglyphics apparently tell a tale of the Dropa coming from outer space and crash landing in the mountains. Allegedly, Dr. Chi Pu Tei’s team also found several neat rows of tombs with 4 ft 4 inch skeletons, big classic alien heads and all, buried inside them.

Photo of the Alleged Dropa Stone Discs

Historical evidence or hoax, the Dropa stones are of great interest to researchers and skeptics alike.

7. The Miracle of the Sun

The Miracle of the Sun is an alleged miraculous event witnessed by 30,000 to 100,000 people in 1917 near Fatima, Portugal. Many sources attempt to explain the event using known phenomena such as clouds, stratospheric dust, or a “sundog“, but it is most often associated with biblical “endtime” prophecies and UFO lore.

A Newspaper Scan Showing Fatima Viewers

Here is a summary of events from Wikipedia:

“According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky. It was said to be significantly less bright than normal, and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world. Some witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became “suddenly and completely dry.”

Estimates of the number of witnesses range from 30,000-40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século, to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, both of whom were present that day.

The miracle was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted by the three children on 13 July, 19 August, and 13 September 1917. The children reported that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle “so that all may believe.”

According to these reports, the miracle of the sun lasted approximately ten minutes. The three children also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.”

6. Morgellons Disease

Morgellons Disease is an infectious condition where reported symptoms include crawling, biting, and stinging sensations; finding multi-colored fibers on or under the skin and persistent skin rashes or open sores.

The scientific community has all but shunned Morgellons sufferers, stating that Morgellons isn’t a new disorder, but instead a combination of known medical conditions, including delusional parasitosis.

Members of the Morgellons Research Foundation and several Morgellons patients have successfully gotten the U.S. government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) to investigate their condition.

Morgellons Sufferer Showing Hand Lesions

According to Wikipedia:

The CDC states that while it is not known at present whether the condition represents a new disease entity, or whether persons who identify themselves as having Morgellons have a common cause for their symptoms, share common risk factors, or are contagious, it has begun an epidemiological investigation of the “Unexplained Dermopathy”.

The CDC’s Morgellons website can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/

We hope that you’ve enjoyed the first half of our list, “Paranormala’s Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena” and make sure to check back next week for the final 5!

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New Near Death Experience Study

Admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:51:15 +0000

British and American doctors will be performing a joint study of 1,500 heart attack patients to determine the existence (or lack thereof) of near-death “out of body” experiences.

Interestingly enough, the study is being performed by placing images high up on the top of shelves where they aren’t visible to anyone simply standing in the room.

Does consciousness in the brain continue after death?

I think this is a somewhat ridiculous study. Take a look at what Dr. Sam Parnia, an intensive care unit doctor who is heading the study, said:

“If you can demonstrate that consciousness continues after the brain switches off, it allows for the possibility that the consciousness is a separate entity.

“It is unlikely that we will find many cases where this happens, but we have to be open-minded.

“And if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories.

Is this a valid conclusion? I’m not really an expert of OBE, but doesn’t it seem possible that the “experiencer” is observing from a different place, perhaps an alternate dimension, or a remote viewing scenario, from beyond the grave?

Before you say I’ve gone too far, remember.. we’re talking about a soul (is that what it is?) popping out of your body shortly after death and rising up into the room and catching a glimpse of some pictures laid on top of the cabinets, then being forced back into your body by a team of non-believing doctors..

Anyway, you can read the rest of the story at: Telegraph.