Tag: unknown

ᴬ UFO ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀ: SCHOOLYARD SIGHTINGS

(Illustrated by abramsdesign)

In the year 1994, on the 16th of September, 12:12 PM, something deemed ‘unidentifiable’ was observed flying ‘very fast’ over Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa (Astronomers across the region soon reported that the “pyrotechnic display”, seen as far afield as Zambia and Botswana, had been a meteor shower—mg.co.za). This UFO sighting was observed by many people throughout these vast regions, with varying observations. Some claiming to have seen 2 large red/orange balls traveling silently across the sky. Others describing multicolored orbs. Or a single large orange glowing mass, as one woman stated to reporters at the time, “I just saw a glow over my chicken run. A very orange glow. It was just a big round ball.” The greatest commonality in all accounts, being the corroborating time and date, the 16th of September, 1994.

Most peculiar of all though, is that it’s said that something especially unworldly occurred on this same date, at approximately the same time, in the same region of the world. An unusual event, occurring at the Ariel private elementary school, in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. While 62 school children aged between 6 and 12 were out of the classroom, playing, eating, something strange was sighted in the clear blue morning sky by the students outside. According to many of the children who were most verbal about the event, there were 3 UFOs/UAPs observed flying above the school and surrounding areas (some claiming only 1 single silver craft). Of these dome-shaped ‘silver crafts’, one descended in a nearby field. Soon after, 2 humanoid figures exited the craft, appearing to be wearing tight-fitted black clothing, with pale faces, small or non-existent mouths and noses, with large black eyes. These figures then approached/engaged the children.

At this point the students accounts begin to diverge and vary greatly. Some students claiming that 1 being approached them (as the students grouped in astonishment/bewilderment/fear), others stating there were 2. Some saying that the figures walked, others claiming that they floated and their feet never touched the ground (one student recorded to have stated that the figures moved in a way to suggest mimicry/mockery, skipping/hopscotch movements replicating movements observed by students in such a fashion prior to their arrival). Many of the students claimed that the figures stared at them and that they were compelled to stare back.

During this time, the children believed they received warning ominous visions, regarding various environmental catastrophes. A desolate world, destroyed by pollution or nuclear holocaust. Students believed they were given information by the figures, that all regarded negative human impact on this planet. One student, ‘Emily’ claims to have seen images of environmental decline and was told telepathically that technology needs to be used more responsibly. Several students have put forward the notion (as adults) that they believe time was somehow being distorted throughout the duration of the encounter. One student remarking that she felt as though, despite wanting to, she was unable to break eye-contact with the figure staring at her. While many students agreed that the entire event felt as though it lasted about 15 minutes, fewer children witnessed the beings walk/float back to the craft and fly away. Most claiming that the being(s) along with the craft(s) vanished abruptly.

“When the spaceship had landed, all the insects and ants and stuff like that were all dead and there was a huge black mark there. My mum said there might have just been a fire there, but I don’t think there was, I think it was an alien ship. The ground was burnt and all the living things had died there.”

“It was at break time and then we saw something shiny. And we saw two people, wearing black, tight black suits, and they had big eyes. And a small, well, we didn’t actually see the nose, it was quite small. And their mouth was quite small, as well. One of them was running in slow motion, across the ship, and the other was standing beside the ship.”

“He had a long scrawny neck and huge eyes like rugby balls. He had a pale face with long black hair coming below his shoulders.”

“I could see the little man, about a meter tall, was dressed in a black, shiny suit, that he had long black hair and his eyes, which seemed lower on the cheek than our eyes, were large and elongated. The mouth was just a slit and the ears were hardly discernible.” [Adult reflecting on the childhood experience.]

“I had nightmares about it for about a year but then I stopped dreaming about it. I dreamt that, um, the same one I saw, with the dark hair, he came into my bedroom and he took me from my bed, I woke up and screamed.”

—Observations made by students/witnesses, during the many interviews that followed the event.

Students at Ariel Private school being interviewed about the UFO event, 1 year later.

The primary Ufologist and investigator involved with this occurrence was Cynthia Hind, who was the first to thoroughly investigate the site for any signs of evidence to really suggest if something out of the ordinary occurred. Hind found no scientific abnormalities, no readings of radiation or magnetism, no scorched earth, nothing to suggest any unusual event transpired there at all. Hind also spoke with 62 of the students (willing to discuss the event), documenting their claims and experiences. Dr John E. Mack, who was in Africa investigating the Abduction Phenomena throughout the continent also questioned many of the children, and examined the differences and commonalities of their claims.

Hind, drawn to the Ariel school UFO sighting, having been contacted with multiple odd events/sightings, the days prior, all following a recent meteor shower. The meteor shower, in more ways than one, acting as a potential catalyst to the events to come, legitimate or otherwise.

“Astronomers across the region soon reported that the “pyrotechnic display”, seen as far afield as Zambia and Botswana, had been a meteor shower. Hind, though, recorded receiving dozens of reports of a capsule-like fireball, trailing fire and flanked by two smaller capsules. She also received several reports of alien sightings around the same time: a young boy and his mother reported a daylight sighting; a trucker who had seen strange beings on the road at night. And then, on September 16, Hind received the report from Ariel School, which she records as Case 96, and describes as ‘one of the most exciting UFO stories of this or any year'”.

—Remembering Zimbabwe’s Great Alien Invasion, 4th of September, 2014

Cynthia Hind made this remark in her record of the event, “one little girl said to me, ‘I swear by every hair on my head and the whole Bible that I am telling the truth.’ I could see the pleasure on her face when I told her that I believed her.”

In a closing statement in the article, Remembering Zimbabwe’s Great Alien Invasion, one of the students (given the false name, Sarah), claiming to be one of the last remaining witnesses to this event, still living in Zimbabwe, 2014, gave this insight:

“You want to know the real message here? The real message is that this stuff can brand you for life. It undermined Mack’s credibility, became this huge unending thing for others, and it certainly fucked me up. I mean, try telling people that you live in permanent fear of these things returning one day. Try telling them that you can actually sense when they’re back in our atmosphere. They’ll think you’re a kook. All this lot do,” she said, casting mock-angry eyes down the bar at a fellow boozer, who raised his glass and said: “True, but we love you anyway, Sê.”

Despite her patently thick skin, a look of extreme sadness entered Sarah’s eyes for a moment, as she pretended to watch her fingers pulling the label from a beer bottle.

At the time of writing this sentence, the event occurred 27 years ago. It’s easy to think the story began and ended in Zimbabwe as individuals reflect over their strange experience in quiet bars over a drink. But the story didn’t actually begin in Zimbabwe at all, and the event hasn’t ended for a few reasons. Not only are the witnesses haunted to this day, but these events continue to be recorded around the world.

You might say these Schoolyard sightings began in the 60’s in Australia, (1) the Westall High School, UFO sighting at 11:00 AM, April 6th, 1966, Victoria, Australia. But that is likely not the case at all, despite impacting in some instances hundreds of lives, the events can pass by eerily unknown or unspoken of for generations.

(2) Crestview Elementary School, 11:00AM, April 6th, 7th and 8th, 1967, Florida, USA.

(3) Broad Haven Primary School, 12:00 AM, February 4th, 1977, Cheshire, England.

(4) Ariel Primary School, 12:12 PM, September 16th, 1994, Ruwa, Zimbabwe.

Could UFO phenomena be somehow drawn to Schools?

“No Men in Black came around to bother Mr. Elmore. I was the first reporter to talk to him. When he showed me the field I was perturbed to find it was right next to the Duncan Falls Elementary School. An unusual number of sightings and Fortean events seem to be concentrated around schools and the largest percentage of witnesses consists of children between the ages of seven and eighteen.”

—John A. Keel, The Mothman Prophecies, 1975

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is westallufoschool.png

“For the past 170 years, schools have been targeted by UFOs. There are more than 100 cases on record, coming from across the world. Half of the cases occur at elementary schools. Thirty percent of the cases involve landings or humanoids. They are coming for our children.”

—Preston Dennett, Schoolyard UFO Encounters, 2019

Preston Dennett (Author of Schoolyard UFO Encounters) claims to have researched approximately 120 cases of UFO sightings around school grounds. Estimating that one third of these sightings involve the UFO landing in close proximity to onlookers, many of those events also involving being exiting the crafts.

Is the commonality of schoolyard sightings simply a collective of over-imaginative individuals that want to derail the tedious order of things, force the adults into a game that the children want to play? Is it a fantasy that takes hold and spreads like wildfire, consuming truth in it’s wake. Are those that make these claims the victims of mass hysteria, delusion, or some form of deception? Strangest of all, are these people not only telling a truthful account of what they observed, but what was observed, occurred, exactly as they experienced it. The question then arises, why are ‘they’ so interested in the children of our world?

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ᴵᴺ LIEU ᴏғ RHYME ᴏʀ REASON: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ LOGIC ɢᴏᴇs ᴛᴏ DIE

(Animation by Dualvoidanima)

There is and always has been an ordinance of belief in effect upon this world. Anywhere and everywhere that mankind goes, his beliefs too, go with him, along with the repercussions associated with said belief. Some beliefs are more palatable than others, some can be proven with various practices, but a great many beliefs are enforced/controlled by popular opinion (or the manipulation/distortion of such). Some things, even if someone sees it with their own eyes, hears it with their own ears, they will doubt the event ever occurred at all. Believing rather, that they were deceived, that their memory is somehow erroneous, a spell of madness temporarily took hold of them, nullifying their senses. The ordinance, must not be questioned, this universe is governed by a set of rules and those rules cannot be broken. Until of course, “the universe,” chooses to behave quite altogether different, changing the rules of engagement entirely.

Our experiences with this world, this reality, go on to shape and mould us in a multitude of ways that we can barely imagine. Our imaginations, too, anchored to this very same existential experience. Somehow, somewhere, somewhen a singular event unfolds, that defies all logic and reason. A singular event that by all rights, by the laws of physics, the laws of nature as they are understood, should not be possible to have ever occurred at all. An event where the rules of logic and physics are effectively broken. What are the repercussions upon the individual(s) to witness one such event? Let alone, a lifetime of such events?

One thing is clear: strangeness, it seems, begets strangeness.

I noticed the screen of my phone illuminate before the sound of the call began, upon answering, an old familiar voice said, “surely we’re not the only ones who still remember what happened?” Flickers of memory cascaded through my mind’s eye, the dust rising over the road as the frill-neck lizard chased after me, hissing, all the way home from school. The mute little girl riding on the back of her German-shepherd, an uncannily gentle creature that would later be murdered by one of the many insidious characters of that time and place. The bizarre inkblot-like formation the spilled blood made as it pooled over the cement as they relentlessly tortured the albino boy. It all seemed like strange details in some obscure work of fiction now. “It was an unusual time, looking back, it’s sort of like trying to remember a dream,” I replied. “Or a nightmare, probably better off forgotten,” the voice said.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

—Friedrich Nietzsche

I shuffled the deck, without looking at the cards. Splitting the deck, I turned over one of the cards. “Four of hearts,” she said, I looked down and smiled. “I wonder what’s the record for guessing cards right, this many times in a row,” I wondered aloud. My grandmother’s voice spoke from across the room, “but she isn’t guessing.”

Three people were seated at a restaurant awaiting their meal. Of the three beverages delivered to the table, one was a can of coke cola, tiny beads of liquid perspiring down the chilled aluminum can. Throughout the exchange of general chit-chat one individual’s attention was drawn to the can as it began to slowly spin 360 degrees. Immediately all three individuals looked at the can and inspected underneath the table, laughing and dumbstruck by the seemingly odd behavior of physics unfolding before them. As they slid their chairs back from the table, their eyes fixated on the can, the can then slowly slid/moved (itself?) approximately 30 cm along the table, before coming to a halt. A young waitress approached the table and asked, “am I crazy or was that coke just moving?” Another patron added, “the table must be uneven, it looked like that from over here too.” There was shock, there was laughter, there was speculation, but then the nattering, the general chit-chat returned. Years later, a doubtful anecdote, at best, a mere question mark remains. There has to be a logical explanation, even if one cannot fathom what that explanation actually is.

A maintenance electrician arrives on site, parking where he always does, every morning. He exits his vehicle and prepares himself a coffee, as he does every day. He returns to his vehicle to sit in the driver seat to consume it. While drinking his beverage, sat in his vehicle he notices a familiar face in the distance, an old work mate he had not seen in years. Making his way toward this individual, he drops his coffee and falls to his knees with the concussive blast of a high pressure explosion. As the ringing in his ears subsides and he shakes the scolding hot coffee off of his hands, he looks back to his vehicle, specifically the front driver’s seat. The windscreen shattered, piping protruding through the metal frame of the vehicle, having burst through the driver’s head rest. The electrician observed visibly shaken upon the inspection of his vehicle, quickly coming to the conclusion that this old acquaintance he intended to catch up with, had inadvertently saved his life. So the tradesman began asking, where is this person, where is he. But he is reminded that he’s in shock, and not to worry about it. Later discovering that not only was the person he thought he had seen not on site that day, he had not been on any site for years, he had died in a workplace accident several years earlier. The question mark haunts this individual still.

Tragedy, she told me, echoes through time, sending shock-waves through memory, through generations, through worlds that cascade into oblivion. It would be another two decades before she would explain just how tragic certain events truly were, but the truth, it seems, found its way into my understanding long before it needed to be spoken. Wandering the abandoned asylum as a child, what I assumed were merely conjurations of my mind, the kind of stories that unfold in thought, were events that actually transpired in that abysmal place, to relatives that I never knew. Now, a memory of a memory, there is no meaning, there is no clarity or closure, merely a question mark, contributing to an ever estranged relationship with reality itself.

I was awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call, I didn’t recognize the number or even the area code. I could hear the familiar sounds heard within the carriage of a train, moving along the tracks. I could hear unintelligible voices in the background, it didn’t sound English. Then what sounded like a female voice saying, “Kappa… Kappa… Kappa.” I replied, “Hello, who is this?” I could hear the sounds of a train a moment longer, then they hung up. This went on for months, happening one night every few weeks, usually after midnight. It became apparent to me, that the word Kappa, 河童 in Japanese meant ‘river-child’, an amphibious yōkai, a creature of folklore. That didn’t give any sense to the purpose or nature of the continual prank call. Some years later, while traveling Japan during one of the many train trips taken, I had an eerily familiar feeling, as I listened to the sounds of the train clunking over the tracks, and just as I anticipated it, I heard a woman somewhere in the carriage say what I knew would be said, “Kappa… Kappa… Kappa.” I struggled to get out of my seat, by the luggage and other passengers, looking around for anyone holding a phone. But no one was, and the passengers looked concerned and uneasy as I investigated them with a glare. So I returned to my seat and the weight of the question mark grew heavier.

The ancients knew it best, there was good, there was evil, but most of all there was the in-between, the tricksters, the deceivers. These elusive beings that left all those who crossed-paths with them scratching their heads. Forgotten by the modern world. Their will was intangible, there was no rhyme or reason, it dumbfounded mortal men that gods, fay, beings of great power would toy with the lives of so many, to achieve, seemingly nothing. Yet in their mischief, in their tricks and games, theirs was the greatest gift of all. It was always a display of triviality, a literal example of nonsense, leading us both metaphorically and literally down the garden path. Exposing us to unbelievable spectacles that many might call paranormal or supernatural, in an effort to unveil what lay before us, that consumes our existence from the moment we are born to the second that we die. The ordinance of belief, alike our reality as we understand it is not rigid, indestructible or impervious to challenge.

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ᴛʜᴇ HALLUCINATORY VOICES ᴛʜᴀᴛ SAVED ᴀ LIFE

(Animated by Hunter Preston)

In recent years, the conversation regarding inner-monologue (or lack thereof) has garnered quite a lot of attention. Some people experiencing an inner narrative, a flow of words (in their respective native language) reflecting their thoughts back to themselves. Others, thinking in a more abstract way, metaphors, images, concepts, independent from a structured use of language. I’ve always experienced a mixture of the two, obviously thinking conceptually, bypassing the “middleman”, omitting the arduous application of language is far more efficient if you want to think on your feet. But that isn’t to say that there hasn’t been a nigh constant conversation going on in my mind for almost the entirety of my waking life. When I first entered the workforce, after being shouted at for hours at a time, my inner-monologue would often imitate the voice of the person barking orders at me. I had a knack for mimicry, and like a parrot, out of boredom and compulsion, I was often compelled to respond to someone in an impersonation of their own voice. Some found this more amusing than others. But ultimately, I’ve always had some level of control over my thoughts, actions and the words I’ve chosen to say.

But what if that wasn’t the case? If control was lost? Interestingly, for a great many people, the thoughts, the voices that speak in the quiet solitude of their mind, are seemingly foreign to them, a will independent from their own. It’s in these hijackings of the mind, these intrusions of that most sacred part of the human experience that cataclysmic repercussions can unfold. Herbert Mullin, in October of 1972 was told by voices that he had to kill, and offer a “blood sacrifice” to prevent a devastating earthquake in California. Murderer, Christopher Plaskon and serial killers, David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), Anthony Edward Sowell all claimed they heard voices that contributed to their crimes. Many individuals facing prosecution will claim to have heard voices as a means to claiming ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ to attain a lesser sentence, or escape the death penalty (depending on the laws of the state/country where the crime is on trial).

As of 2017, it’s estimated that there are approximately 20 million individuals worldwide classified as schizophrenic, 75% of which, hear voices at some time during their illness (according to mentalillnesspolicy.org). It’s often said that the voices many people afflicted with schizophrenia hear are angry, erratic and make demands of an urgent nature, compelling an individual to do certain things (but this isn’t always the case). It’s difficult for people who have never experienced an auditory hallucination (or any hallucination for that matter) to grasp, but these whispering, shouting, spoken voices are indistinguishable from actual, audible speech (Schizophrenia can cause hallucinations: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. Along with an array of different forms of delusion).

Outside of medically diagnosed conditions, there are certain groups who believe that hearing voices is a relatively natural part of the human condition and far more common than we’re lead to believe:

“If you hear voices, see visions or have similar sensory experiences – you’re not alone. The statistics vary, but somewhere between 3 and 10% of the population have experiences like these (increasing to about 75% if you include one off experiences like hearing someone call your name out loud). Despite being relatively common, many people who hear voices, see visions or have similar experiences feel alone. Fear of prejudice, discrimination, and being dismissed as ‘crazy’ can keep people silent. At a time when we are told that it is ‘time to talk’, it is important that anyone courageous enough to speak out is met with respect and empathy. People of all ages and backgrounds can hear voices at some point in their life, for many different reasons. Whilst some are distressed by their experiences, people can – and do – find ways of living with them.”

—Hearing-voices.org

ᵀᴴᴱ STORY ᴏғ ‘AB’

The year 1984 would be unlike any other year of her life, for a woman code named ‘AB’, by forensic psychiatrist, Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye. A woman in her late thirties, a mother and housewife that had never experienced any notable irregularities in general or mental health. But in the winter of 1984, London, England, while AB was reading, she heard a voice enter her mind that wasn’t her own:

“Please don’t be afraid. I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you. To help you see that we are sincere, we would like you to check out the following…”

According to Dr. Azuonye’s account, ‘A difficult case: Diagnosis made by hallucinatory voices‘ the voice gave AB three independent claims of information for her to verify that the voice was legitimate and not a conjuration of her own mind. Despite the three claims being accurate, AB immediately sought out psychiatric evaluation.

“I saw her at the psychiatric outpatients clinic, and diagnosed a functional hallucinatory psychosis. I offered general supportive counselling as well as medication with thioridazine. To her great relief, the voices inside her head disappeared after a couple of weeks of treatment, and she went off on holiday. While she was abroad, and still taking the thioridazine, the voices returned. They told her that they wanted her to return to England immediately as there was something wrong with her for which she should have immediate treatment. By this time, she was also having other beliefs of a delusional nature.”

—Dr. Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye, 1997

Upon returning to London, AB was instructed yet again by the voice(s) to go to an address, that turned out to be the computerized tomography department of a large London hospital. Once she arrived at the location, the voice(s) told her she needed a brain scan immediately. Warning AB that not only did she have a tumour in her brain, but her brain stem was inflamed. Through Dr. Azuonye an appointment for a scan was requested, to confront AB’s delusions and put her mind at ease. Initially the request for the scan was denied, but after some negotiations an appointment was made in April of 1984.

“The initial findings led to a repeat scan,with enhancement, in May, revealing a left posterior frontal parafalcine mass, which extended through the falx [cerebri] to the right side. It had all the appearances of ameningioma.”

—Dr. Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye, 1997

It was soon decided, by AB, her husband, and several medical professionals that an immediate operation was the best recourse of action, according to AB, the voice(s) agreed with this decision also.

“These were the notes of the operation, carried out in May 1984: “A large left frontal bone flap extending across the mid line was turned following a bifrontal skin flap incision. Meningioma about 2.5” by 1.5” in size arose from the falx and extended through to the right side. A small area of tumour appeared on the medial surface of the brain. The tumour was dissected out and removed completely along with its origins in the falx.”AB later told me that when she recovered consciousness after the operation the voices told her, “We are pleased to have helped you. Goodbye.” There were no postoperative complications. The dosage of dexamethasone was halved every four days, and then it was stopped. She was on prophylactic anticonvulsants for six months. Antipsychotic medication was discontinued immediately after the operation, and there was no return of the hallucinatory voices or the delusions which she had expressed.”

—Dr. Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye, 1997

It’s said that AB never heard the voice(s) ever again, they never intervened with further health complications. It was never learned why they decided to contact her, who or what ‘they’ were. Naturally, the case has been highly criticized as a hoax, a coincidence, psychosomatic. Some suggesting that AB may have mentally projected her own warnings to herself, somehow subconsciously aware that something was wrong in her brain, dull aches, etc.

For a moment, just considering that some foreign voice(s) by some unknown means infiltrated someone’s mind and potentially did save a life, why would they choose to do so? Were they spirits? Were they once living humans, existing in some strange state? Were they beings of a different origin altogether? Or is it possible that AB’s ‘guardian angels’ were not only human, but very much alive. Would the strangest turn events of all, be that there are certain individuals among us, though indistinguishable from you or I, who wander carelessly through our minds, sifting through our secrets? They see things that remain unknown to most. For the most part, someone with this ability might be unscrupulous, preying on those they can with cruelty and creating chaos, motivated by destruction and self gain. But some few, would rather help you if they could.

Like a voice calling out from a car wreckage, that leads emergency services to discovering a 1 year old girl that had been unnoticed for 14 hours. Jennifer Groesbeck, the driver of the vehicle believed to have died on impact when the car landed upside down into the river. But after over half a day, dangling above freezing cold water that sent emergency service workers to the hospital with hypothermia, a voice was heard by three police officers and two firemen. A voice that led to Lily Groesbeck’s rescue.

‘Help me, we’re in here.’

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ᵀᴴᴱ BALTIC SEA ANOMALY

Anomaly: a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form (dictionary.com). The one thing virtually all observers can agree on, in regards to the Baltic Sea Anomaly, is that it is just that, strikingly anomalous. In June of 2011, treasure hunters, Peter Lindberg, Dennis Åberg and the Swedish “Ocean X” diving team were performing sonar scans of the Baltic sea floor, within the Gulf of Bothnia. Eventually discovering the unusual shape of something that struck them as odd (or anomalous). The treasure hunters homed in their sonar equipment and still couldn’t identify exactly what it was they were looking at.

“Upon further inspection, divers and surface crew reported malfunctions in their electrical equipment whenever they came within 200m of the object.”

—Gaia.com, 2019

While many sources (like the one above) state there were technical difficulties associated with getting close to the object, the average depth of the Gulf of Bothnia is about 60 meters (197 feet), maximum depth is around 295 meters (967.848). The anomaly itself lies 100 meters beneath the surface of the water, so the exact circumstances of technical anomalies and interference leaves much to be desired. If entirely substantial and not embellished by reports to further sensationalize the nature of the oddity.

This unusual circular looking formation has a diameter of approximately 70 meters (230 feet). Divers retrieved samples of the formation, later revealed to be granite, gneiss and sandstone. The divers also discovered what later revealed to be a lone piece of basalt (volcanic rock), not commonly found on the seafloor in the Gulf of Bothnia, but not inexplicable. The consensus of the scientific community that commented on this discovery is that what we are observing, though highly unusual in appearance is an entirely natural geological formation.

“A natural, geological formation can’t be ruled out. I agree the finding looks weird since it’s completely circular. But nature has produced stranger things than that.”

—Göran Ekberg, Marine Archaeologist

The less covered discovery, often left unmentioned by most intrigued by the Baltic sea anomaly, is the Baltic sea anomaly 2, the second anomaly found 200 meters away from the first.

“I confirm that we have found two anomalies. We did find the other anomaly approximately 200 meters (about 219 yards) from the circular find at the same sonar run.” Lindberg explained why his team had not released the sonar image of the second object: “We decided not to expose that anomaly so much because there is a lot of disturbance on the sonar image when we passed it, so it’s very blurry. We can see it’s something but to an untrained eye it might just look like ‘pea soup.’”

—Snopes, January 9th, 2015

“Charles Paull, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California, said the anomaly is probably just a rock outcropping or the result of gas venting from the seafloor. Other experts argue it is merely a glacial depost [sic]. Even Peter Lindberg, the man behind the discovery, expressed skepticism about the object’s supposed otherworldly origins: “It’s not obviously an alien spacecraft. It’s not made of metal.” Team Ocean X’s discovery created a stir due to the fact that they could not identify the object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, not because any evidence supported the idea it was a UFO.”

—Snopes, January 9th, 2015

Interestingly, the Baltic Sea is considered a relatively ‘young’ sea:

“The Baltic Sea, one of the largest brackish water areas in the world, can be characterized as a young, cold sea containing an impoverished ecosystem due to salinity stress. The present Baltic Sea was formed as late as 2000 to 2500 years ago when the Danish sounds became more narrow and shallow. The inflow of freshwater from the surrounding land areas caused the Baltic to gradually attain its brackish character. Today the Baltic covers an area of some 366,000 km2 as a series of basins separated by shallower areas and filled with about 22,000 km3 of brackish water. These basins are, from north to south, the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gotland Sea and the Bornholm Sea.”

—T. Sörlin, The gulf of Bothnia: The northernmost part of the Baltic Sea, 1982

Before the Baltic Sea was a sea, in a time period dating back 8 to 9 thousand years ago, it was the Ancylus Lake. Even earlier still, some estimations ranging as far as 12,600 years ago, the area was the Baltic Ice Lake. To put things in perspective, the Pleistocene Epoch (Ice Age) is typically defined as the time period that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 11,700 years ago.

So if you’re looking at this Baltic Sea anomaly and a part of you is thinking maybe it didn’t form entirely by the natural will of the elements, the area has been beneath water and/or ice for a period stretching beyond 2 million years to the present.

If it wasn’t the natural world that created this anomaly, how then did it come to be?

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ᵀᴴᴱ HOLLOW ONES

(Animation by Dave Strick)

Rather than asking someone, “do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life?” You might instead ask, “is it possible, or even likely, that life beyond this planet does not exist at all?” Is it possible to truly possess an ardent rejection of the concept of extraterrestrial life? Well, of course it is, belief is quite often unimpeded by reality (whichever variation happens to be accurate). Interestingly, unlike Ghosts, Demons, Goblins, conceptual beings which have the potential (regardless of the legitimacy of their existence) to exist only as a byproduct of human imagination, extraterrestrial life has one attribute, that cannot be denied: the existence of our species.

The fact that we can ask “is anything else out there?” indicates that all the conditions CAN be met in this universe, for something else to be asking the same question. The universe (seemingly) has the potential to spawn/harbor life (theoretical abiogenesis), otherwise the question would/could not be asked in the first place. (Someone might say “religion could disprove that statement”, but if we’re here by the will of God(s), then by the same notion, that will ‘could’ have created life elsewhere also?)

So then, if extraterrestrial life exists, why hasn’t it been discovered? It must either be in its primordial stages of development, or very, very far away? Then of course, there is another possibility, rarely considered to the extent that it deserves. What if extraterrestrials, are so very advanced, so incredibly adept, that they interact with us almost constantly, walking among us, entirely undetected?

ᵀᴴᴱ DECOY, dictionary.com

  • a bird or mammal, or an imitation of one, used by hunters to attract other birds or mammals. “a decoy duck”.
  • a person or thing used to mislead or lure someone into a trap. “we need a decoy to distract their attention”

verb (used with object)

  • to lure by or as if by a decoy: They decoyed the ducks to an area right in front of the blind.

The genetic similarity between a human and most avian species is around 60%, yet our species possesses the ability to deceive all of them. Simulate their calls to further lure them to a position or manipulate their behavior. In fact a great many animal species which share even closer genetic similarities with us, can be deceived with an array of decoys. We use robotic decoys to infiltrate highly social mammal groups, to study and monitor their behavior. Often (during closer inspections) the decoys fail, but as a species we have the ability to completely deceive another species, into thinking an object/machine is an acceptable member of that species’ social group.

Many of the animal species on this planet lack the ability to perceive the cues that would suggest illegitimacy, it’s a prospect (almost) entirely inconceivable to the animal world. Even after rejecting a decoy, its highly unlikely an animal would understand the nature of why the foreign imposter existed in the first place. When it comes to perception and self-awareness, the bulk of animal species on our planet don’t have much of an understanding of self. This is further investigated in research surrounding the mirror test.

(The Mirror test, a method used to determine an animal’s ability (or lack there of) to visually identify itself. Researchers place a mirror in front of various animal species and observe their behavior. Despite the arguments surrounding how substantial the results of the mirror test are, very few species on this planet actually pass the test.)

ᴡʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ᵀᴴᴱ HOLLOW ONES?

A wolf in sheep’s clothing is no new concept. Even in bygone ages suspicions of demonic beings, otherworldly entities wearing the skin of men as a guise was always a prospect (of a paranoid mind). If you think its a stretch of the imagination to envisage a member of our species presuming another is ‘something else’ in disguise, you should familiarize yourself with the various witch trials that proceeded throughout Europe and the American colonies.

Even today, with various AI systems, we attempt to decoy one another. False emails, automated calls. Eventually our species may be able to create the perfect decoy, undetectable from an organic life-form. Could we achieve that feat within the next 100 years? Would our species be scrupulous with that kind of technology, or use it for unprecedented levels of exploitation and manipulation of one another?

If, however, highly advanced technology existed ‘today’, these beings, these hollow ones, could be existing among us, right now. The question would be, if you gave the concept any credence, what are ‘they’ working to achieve? What are they doing right now, this very moment? Are they monitoring us, testing us, planning our demise?

I’ve spoken to many of the belief that if such a theoretical situation were to take place (or if it is taking place) they would not do it if they weren’t gaining something from our species. I’ve heard adamant opinions, in regards to this topic, that the decoy is the tool of the hunter, that ultimately any being that shrouds their very existence in secrecy, does so because their purpose is purely nefarious.

But I couldn’t honestly agree with that sentiment. I’m (currently) incapable of abandoning the notion that with true advancement, with ultimate theoretical evolutionary development (ᵀᴴᴱ NOÖSPHERE), a being would display a certain level of benevolence. Ask any naturalist, or someone whose worked on a documentary filming the natural world, it takes a great deal of restraint to observe from afar as the lions close in on the baby gazelle, and do nothing. To possess the power to intervene, but the understanding to know you can’t.

Maybe a being from a time, and a place so far removed from here and now, living the human experience is all ᵀᴴᴱ HOLLOW ONES are interested in? An entirely unremarkable person wanders through a crowded city, but her eyes transmit what she beholds to a group of beings in another dimension. She bumps into you, and says “excuse me” and smiles, you part ways, never giving it a second thought.

Posted on by ᵀᴴᴱ ARGONAUT 0

ᵀᴴᴱ ENFIELD POLTERGEIST INCIDENT ᴏғ 1977

(Illustrated by Unknown Artist)

The recording above is part of the 1977 interview of 11 year old Janet Hodgson, by paranormal researcher Maurice Grosse. The odd gruff voice coming from the 11 year old girl, claimed to be that of deceased 72 year old man, Bill Wilkins.

August 1977, 284, Green Street, Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England. “It started in a back bedroom, the chest of drawers moved, and you could hear shuffling,” Janet Hodgson would recollect, some years after the incident in an interview. Upon hearing the sound of somewhat heavy furniture being moved about, Peggy (Margaret) Hodgson (mother of four) naturally assumed her children, were out of bed. The children insisted that the drawers were moving by themselves, Peggy Hodgson claimed she observed the chest of drawers moving along the floor, seemingly by its own accord. When Peggy attempted to push against the drawers, she discovered more resistance than the usual weight of the object, and was unable to move it from where it had traveled to.

Some of the children also claimed on the night of this primary incident, that they heard knocking coming from inside the walls of their shared bedroom. In a frantic and terrified state, Peggy Hodgson and four children, Margaret (13), Janet (11), Johnny (10) and Billy (7) fled from their home and went to their next-door neighbor’s home, that of Victor and Peggy (Margaret) Nottingham. Vic stated in numerous interviews afterward, he went over to the Hodgson’s home to investigate, “I went in there and I couldn’t make out these noises, there was a knocking on the wall, in the bedroom, on the ceiling, I was beginning to get a bit frightened.”

Following this first incident, the police were notified to investigate the Hodgson’s council home. It was during this home visit that Police Constable Carolyn Heeps witnessed a chair wobble and then slide, unable to determine the cause for its movement. Constable Heeps went on to signing an affidavit that she had assuredly witnessed an armchair levitate about one half of an inch off of the ground and move approximately four feet along the floor.

“I heard four distinct taps on the wall and then silence. Then about two minutes later I heard more tapping from a different wall, another PC checked the walls, the attic and the pipes but could find nothing to explain the knocking. Then the eldest son of the family pointed to a chair near the sofa. I then saw the chair slide across the floor. It moved approximately three to four feet and then came to rest. I checked the chair and I could find nothing to explain how it moved.”

—Police Constable Carolyn Heeps

Interest in the Enfield Poltergeist began to increase, the family made contact with the Society for Psychical Research. Led by paranormal investigator, Maurice Grosse, investigations were underway, attempting to assess and record the seemingly paranormal nature of the events.

In early November, 1977, Grosse confronted the presence in the living room: “As I asked the question, ‘Are you having a game with me?’ it threw the cardboard box and the pillow right in my face. I have actually seen, myself, marbles being thrown about. I have seen the door moving without any help. I have also experienced the reduction of temperature.”

—Maurice Grosse, Society for Psychical Research

Over 18 months following the night the Hodgson family first fled from their home, there were approximately 30 people who witnessed something perceived as a paranormal (or inexplicable) incident at the Enfield residence. Individuals consisting of police, journalists, researchers, even several claims made by people on the street passing by the home witnessed unusual sights through the windows. These experiences ranged from peculiar knocks, loud noises, tapping banging on the walls of the home. Toys, small objects being thrown around the house, particularly the living room. Furniture moving about the home by itself, usually relatively short distances. Disembodied voices, inaudible speech from different areas of the home. Unusual and often drastic changes in perceivable temperature. Lastly, the sighting (and experience) of Janet Hodgson levitating.

Eventually the strangeness of the Enfield Poltergeist Incident came to its crescendo with 11 year old Janet Hodgson, acting as a vessel for the being(s) responsible for the ‘unusual activity’. A distorted, gruff voice barked from the young girl’s mouth claiming to be the spirit of Bill Wilkins. Bill Wilkins, through Janet, claims to be 72 years old, from Durant Graveyard. It goes on to explain that Bill lost the use of his eyes and eventually died in the home of 284, Green Street, Brimsdown, Enfield. Even going as far as stating that he passed away in a chair that was in the home when the Hodgson’s moved in.

“I felt used by a force that nobody understands. I really don’t like to think about it too much. I’m not sure the poltergeist was truly ‘evil’. It was almost as if it wanted to be part of our family. It didn’t want to hurt us. It had died there and wanted to be at rest. The only way it could communicate was through me and my sister.”

—Janet Hodgson

It was eventually confirmed that there was in fact a man named William (Bill) Charles Louis Wilkins residing in the Enfield home, until he passed away in 1963. However, he was 61 years old when he died, not 72 as claimed in the recording. Also, Janet/the spirit claim that he came from ‘Durants Graveyard’ in the interview, when Bill Wilkins was actually buried in Lavender Hill Cemetery a little further away from the Enfield home, than the nearby cemetery.

It’s these inconsistencies, along with some researchers believing the children, primarily Janet, were willfully deceiving everyone. Some investigators reported seeing Janet knocking on walls herself, bending spoons and behaving in a way that suggested she were attempting to sway the beliefs of those researching the event (some of this was caught on film). Janet essentially admitted in various interviews in the years afterwards, that she would play games during the long periods of testing to see if Maurice Grosse could be deceived, stating that he always caught her in her attempts. Claiming that her deception would have accounted for less than 2% of the paranormal events in their entirety. But 2% of an admission to willful deception is grounds for many people to disregard the entire incident.

“There were many bystanders who thought the family invented it all, using basic conjuring tricks, in order to get a new and better council house. But although Mrs Hodgson was a single mother with four children, Roz Morris disputes this possible motivation: “She had a good house, as far as she was concerned, and in fact she stayed in it – that’s where she died in 2003.” The journalist admits that at the beginning she herself was extremely skeptical and looking out for any ways in which “trickery” could be involved, but she found Mrs Hodgson to be sincere and undoubtedly “very frightened”. Richard Crosse rules out a financial motive: “They never made any money out of it.” Graham Morris backs this up, maintaining that “cheque book journalism” simply didn’t exist in those days.”

—BBC RADIO

With the media circus dispersing, by 1978 a priest is said to have visited the home, after which, according to Janet Hodgson, the events settled down. But they didn’t end entirely, Peggy and Janet’s youngest brother Billy lived in the home until Peggy (Janet’s mother) passed away, allegedly in the same chair that Bill Wilkins passed away in. Billy and Peggy claimed that you always felt as though you were being watched inside that house.

So the last of the Hodgson’s left the home, Janet Hodgson claiming to this day that the events were not only legitimate, but all began after she and her sister Margaret had played with a Ouija board.

Strangely, after the home was momentarily uninhabited, the next inhabitants learned the story might not have been entirely over. One family in particular, Clare Bennett and her children, found they too felt as though they were constantly being watched inside the Enfield home. Voices and knocking would consistently awake the family during the night. When Clare’s son Shaka (15) began to awake to an apparition of a man entering his bedroom, and unusual experiences seemed to escalate once more. The Bennett’s left the home two months after moving in.

Whose to say if the current inhabitants have experienced anything unusual, when looking at the property on google maps, the words ‘JESUS HOUSE’ appear on one of the windows. Whether legitimately haunted, or an elaborate ruse, strange events have unfolded within the walls of 284, Green Street, Brimsdown, Enfield.

Posted on by ᵀᴴᴱ ARGONAUT 5

ᴬ PORTAL ᵀᴼ ᴬᴺᴼᵀᴴᴱᴿ DIMENSION

(Animation from GIPHY.com)

I was falling asleep on a train, drifting in and out of consciousness. The cascading droplets of rain against the glass would momentarily catch my eye. The realest, truest thing in the world to me, in that moment, was the cold of the glass against the side of my forehead, the ice-cold collision came with the words of my inner-monologue, reminding me “don’t fall asleep”.

With each thud of my skull against the train window, with each jolt to my slipping consciousness, I found myself remembering, reliving similar moments. Different trains, different destinations, different times, different understandings of self. The blur of the outside world and the cascading droplets, rushing and colliding down and across the glass. Like the water droplets that form as one when they collide, when memories are so similar, the mind (under certain circumstances) might momentarily lose its bearing on exactly where, when, or (in some extreme cases) even who it is. A cascade of consciousness, altering, questioning the perceivable reality.

It’s like waking up in the middle of the night, and not knowing where you are. You’ve changed houses, changed beds multiple times but the subconscious mind can be caught off guard. Driving for five hours, with almost no recollection of how you actually got to your destination. For one moment, it’s as though a former self, by some miraculous means has taken the helm of a future/current self, bewildered by the changes that have come to pass. Until better senses return and you are living in the moment, once more (some of these experiences can be caused by serious conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Amnesia).

In my experience of human cognition, the mind doesn’t always want to live in the moment. Sometimes it seeks to traverse memories past, conjure events yet to come, or entertain some things that may never unfold in this reality. At this juncture in my existence, I’ve forgotten a great many details from my own life, let countless memories slip through the cracks of time. Even some of the chaotic, (relatively) cataclysmic moments, carelessly discarded. Yet strangely, sometimes I truly wonder, am I still falling asleep on that train to god-knows-where, soon to come to my senses, when my head next collides against the glass?

The ghost of a former self perpetually drifting in and out of consciousness?

Are we all essentially amalgamations of our many former selves?

To illustrate my point, you might ask yourself the following question:

Where are you right now? At this very moment?

You might tell yourself a geographical location, along with a juncture in time. But the relative geographical location, is fixed upon a planet that is moving (Earth orbits the sun at approximately 67,000 mph/107,000 km/h. 365 days for a full orbit. The sun and the solar system appear to be moving at 200 kilometers per second, or at an average speed of 448,000 mph/720,000 km/h —Space.com). The time you refer to, is also quite relative to where you are in this entropic universe. In fact, the relative time it’s taken to read to this point, the answer originally proposed, has already drastically changed.

Then there is the philosophical element, when asked where and when you are, your future self perpetually shed to join the amassing former selves, as every moment passes. Are the former selves, which for all of us, inevitably outnumber the current self, merely doomed to be lost to oblivion for all eternity? Outside of memory, outside of the physical implications, the footprints left behind, does/can anything truly last forever? Or is everyone, everything we’ve ever known like the particles of chalk temporarily marked on a blackboard, inevitably wiped astray?

As previously suggested in ᴛʜᴇ ILLUSION ᴏғ TIME, ᵀᴴᴱ WORMHOLE ᴬᴺᴰ ᵀᴴᴱ TIME PARADOX, TIME TRAVEL ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ 2ɴᴅ ʟᴀᴡ ᴏғ THERMODYNAMICS, I’ve slowly found myself veering further and further away from such an absolute, ultimately universal declaration.

So putting philosophy aside, putting psychology aside, removing the concept of a former-self “theoretically” returning (purely in the mind), due to some memory impairment etc. Is the past, the physical elements comprising what we consider to be a “past reality”, including our former selves, truly lost to oblivion?

Theoretically, no.

“Approximately 13.8 billion years ago, our comprehensible universe in its entirety existed in a fraction of time and space many, many times smaller than a single atom. Some have theorized the existence of parallel universes, a direct ‘shadow universe’ (connected/veiling our own and connected by gravity since and attributing to the beginning of our universe) and an entire multiverse linking/spawning universes and or dimensions. One theorized means of connecting two isolated points in space and time, universes, or junctures throughout the multiverse are naturally occurring ‘wormholes’.”

—ᵀᴴᴱ WORMHOLE ᴬᴺᴰ ᵀᴴᴱ TIME PARADOX

Theoretically, it would only take one single accessible ‘wormhole’ (located anywhere in this universe), even if it was only stable for a fraction of a second, for a highly technologically advanced being/machine to potentially have access to every single second of this universe, not excluding every moment that ever passed comprising the history of this planet (and your entire lifetime). If you could successfully get back to a starting point, the natural linear progression of the passing of time could be replayed over and over to access a certain event in history.

Such a wormhole could be a connection of time and space within this universe from the distant future, to the distant past (formation of earth). Or it could be a wormhole/portal naturally forming or technologically created connecting this universe (prior the formation of earth) to another dimension, where time as we understand it, may not exist.

The existence of inter-dimensional “portals” that have a constant or fixed entry point connected to a momentary conjuration in our universes history that collapsed in seconds, would still be a theoretical fixed portal to a very specific juncture in time (though problems would arise, if multiple objects arrive/exit at the narrow window of time output).

A highly advanced being/machine (some speculating UFOs to be traveling through time and dimensions, not just our atmosphere or space) may at some stage (or currently) possess the capability of creating dimensional portals at will, to travel through both dimensions and what we perceive as time relative to this universe (and beyond).

Immediately, traversing both dimensions and time would cause all kinds of theoretical temporal paradoxes to arise. The grandfather paradox, does an action committed by a (future) time traveling entity in the past, change the future from whence the traveler came? Does the Multiverse theory, allow for the possibility of so many (infinite) variations of universes/dimensions indistinguishably close to our own, that every single conceivable variation, is playing out in unison?

It’s so far removed from our understanding of time and reality, we come up with all sorts of answers to the paradox. If you travel back in time and assassinate yourself as a child, some might suggest you would immediately “vanish” or cease to be. But the physical being that committed the murder had to exist for the murder to take place. Perhaps, if time is a linear structure, played out like a game of chess, going backwards, every single time, has consequences that ultimately change the version of reality the time traveler left. Ultimately changing the arrangement of the pieces on the (shared) board. Meaning, while the individual entity of matter, and instrument of time alteration is unscathed in the past (now relative present), the future/time-line from whence the traveler came, no longer exists (connected to the current linear trajectory of time).

Aside from theoretically disconnected dimensions of the multiverse, there is also suggestions of a theoretical shadow universe/mirror universe, intrinsically linked with our own:

“If mirror matter is present in the universe with sufficient abundance then its gravitational effects can be detected. Because mirror matter is analogous to ordinary matter, it is then to be expected that a fraction of the mirror matter exists in the form of mirror galaxies, mirror stars, mirror planets etc. These objects can be detected using gravitational microlensing. One would also expect that some fraction of stars have mirror objects as their companion. In such cases one should be able to detect periodic Doppler shifts in the spectrum of the star.There are some hints that such effects may already have been observed.”

—R. N. Mohapatra, Vigdor L. Teplitz “Mirror matter MACHOs”, 1999

Right now, this very second, whenever that second may be, when whoever you are might be reading this. Is there currently, within this universe, a portal (naturally formed, or synthetically created) that leads to another dimension?

There isn’t currently, an authority on this Earth that could in all honesty give you a definitive answer to that question. But perhaps you could search yourself for the answer, in the form of yet another question.

Is there a limitation fixed upon infinity?

Posted on by ᵀᴴᴱ ARGONAUT 0

HISTORICAL CLAIMS ᴏғ ‘VAMPIRIC’ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴠɪᴛʏ

(Illustrated by Maria Clemente)

The Vampire; a work of fiction, a metaphor for primal lust, an ancient fear of the dead, a figurative embodiment of evil, or perhaps something far more tangible. Something rooted in highly strange, albeit entirely ‘human’ behavior.

Across countless cultures throughout history, the vampire, or beings of a similar nature (comparisons further elaborated in ᴛʜᴇ DARK ORIGIN ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ VAMPIRE) appear in myth and legend, time and time again. But how long ago were such vampiric superstitions actually taken seriously? You might think of isolated communities across the Balkan Peninsula, maybe several hundred years ago, but in truth, such superstitions, much like the theoretical “vampire” itself, simply refuse to die.

With the use of TROVE, an initiative of research groups and the National Library of Australia, it isn’t a difficult endeavor to search how very often the term VAMPIRE, actually appears. Something that should be mentioned, however, is that the title of ‘Vampire’ was often applied to a variety of lascivious, lecherous, perverse or macabre individuals. For instance, the French ‘Vampire of Reuil’, was not actually believed to have been a literal creature of some sinister supernatural origin. But a man of abhorrently deplorable behavior, due to his penchant for sexually assaulting women in the dead of night (news article of the ‘Vampire of Reuil’, 15th of May, 1949 included below).

Yet aside from this use of the term as a means of condemnation, scattered throughout the pages of history, a far more conventional ‘vampire’ appears. I’ve gathered a small sample of historical reports that once made their way to Australian shores, telling tales of ‘vampiric’ activity. Stretching from 1906 to 1954, events pertaining to unusual torment and the consumption of blood. Keep in mind, news stories were just as likely to be falsified or misunderstood in the past as they are today. Also the concept of the vampire was popularized in the media, with the success of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, and the subject matter of many films (Nosferatu, 1922. Dracula, 1931. Vampyr, 1932. Horror of Dracula, 1958. etc).

Claims of ‘Vampiric’ Activity:

—

7th of July, 1906

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931)

HUMAN VAMPIRE

An extraordinary case has just been heard in the Viennese law courts. The daughter of a rich merchant accused her husband, an artist’s model, of hypnotizing her. She declared that he was in the habit of hanging her up naked by her feet for hours, in which position she was hypnotized. The husband never took his meals in the ordinary way, but consumed oranges and milk in the course of the day. When he returned late at night he used to satisfy his hunger by sucking her blood, which he obtained from a wound in her neck.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

4th of August, 1906

Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 – 1931)

CHILD VAMPIRE

An almost incredible story of a child bloodsucker comes from Sweden. A clergyman in Nassjo, a small village in that country, was in the habit of educating a number of boys, among whom was a clever, but morose and dreamy, lad, who shunned all company, and took long walks in the woods alone. One day the clergyman’s favorite dog, a small spaniel, disappeared. It was believed that he had been stolen by gypsies. Shortly afterwards a peasant in the village lost a valuable sheep dog, and several cats, chickens, and a lamb. Suspicion fell on the boy living with the clergy man. One day when the boy returned from a walk it was found that his white sailor jacket was covered with blood, for which he was unable to account. After that he was “shadowed.” He was seen to enter a hut in the wood, and after he had been there several minutes, an agonized scream, evidently from an animal in pain, was heard. The watchers burst in the door. On the floor of the hut sat the boy, holding in his hand a shrieking black cat, from the neck of which he was sucking the blood. In the hut were found the carcasses of a number of dead cats, dogs, a lamb, and a chicken. The peasants tried to lynch him, and he was only rescued with difficulty.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

15th of May, 1949

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 – 1954)

‘VAMPIRE’

PARIS, Sat. — Detectives who set out to catch the “Vampire of Reuil,” arrested police constable Eugene Henry. The vampire has been responsible for many attacks on women in the Paris suburbs. The detectives saw a man who was wheeling, a bicycle accost a woman. They arrested him and later confronted him with several of the women who have been attacked. Henry is said to have made a statement confessing to the attacks.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

3rd of July, 1951

Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 – 1954)

VAMPIRE ALARM

The terrorizing legends of bloodsucking vampires are just legends— right? Not to credulous burghers of Dusseldorf, it seems. A rumor that vampires were in the city kept the Chief of Police and his assistants answering frantic phone calls from thousands of citizens for three days and nights. Newspaper and radio denials of the rumor eventually helped still the alarm.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

29th of November, 1952

Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 – 1954)

VAMPIRE WOMAN

MANILA, Thursday,— A vampire woman was caught on Tuesday in the Central Philippines town of Ilono. A 35-year-old woman had just caught a small child, hit his head against the concrete pavement and bitten his face to suck his blood when townspeople rescued the boy.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

13th of May, 1953

The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 – 1861; 1863 – 1889; 1891 – 1954)

“VAMPIRE” MYSTERY

MANILA, May 12 (A.A.P.- Reuter). — A “Vampire” mystery is baffling Manila police. The most bizarre case in police memory began on Monday night when an 18-year-old girl was held in the women’s detention cell on a vagrancy charge. The girl began yelling that she was being bitten by a flying human being with big bulging eyes and wearing a black cape.” Other women in the jail made such a noise that police investigated, took the girl out, and held her for observation at police headquarters. About midnight as the police lieutenant held the girl’s left arm, she yelled, “here he comes again.” Police reporters saw nothing around them, but saw the girl begin squirming in the police officer’s grip. As horrified police and reporters looked on, eight human bite marks surrounded by what looked like saliva, appeared on the girl’s left arm. A police medical examiner said the bites, by now also showing on the girl’s right arm, were unmistakably human. As the girl cried in pain and terror, more bite marks appeared. The girl told police she had not encountered the “Dracula” apparition before she went to the jail. It did not resemble anybody she had met before. The chief medical examiner of the Manila police said the girl was an epileptic and the wounds were self-inflicted. But his assistant was still disputing his diagnosis. The girl was taken this afternoon to the Philippines Government Psychopathic Hospital for observation.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

23rd of May, 1953

The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954)

VAMPIRE CLAIMS

Australian Associated Press MANILA, Fri. — A former dancing girl, who claims that a Dracula-like invisible “thing” bites her, startled watching police here tonight when she went through the motion of fighting an invisible being in her detention cell. Police claimed that when they opened her clenched fists they found hair she claimed she had pulled off the “thing.” A laboratory analysis showed that the hair came from a dead man, police said. Earlier, local United States Methodist Church ministers exorcised the devil in the girl’s body, but were surprised when another girl, in an adjoining cell, began yelling, claiming that she was being attacked, police said. The new girl also exhibited bite marks on her arms and legs.

ORIGINAL SOURCE, TROVE.NLA.GOV.AU

—

“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.”

—Ariel, The Tempest, Act 1 Scene 2, William Shakespeare.

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ᴬ COLLECTION ᴏғ INK ᴀɴᴅ SHADOWS

(Animation by TraceLoops, GIPHY.com)

A mysterious flying object shoots across the Kentucky sky, strange creatures advance toward an isolated homestead, August, 1955. A shootout lasting several hours, to keep the beings at bay, witnessed by five adults and seven children (Kelly–Hopkinsville Encounter).

Several flying saucers hovering over a Melbourne, Australian school on the 6th of April, 1966, hundreds of witnesses look on in awe (The Westall UFO encounter).

Also, allegedly on the 6th of April, 1967 (some sources disagree on dates of event), in North Dade County, Florida, Crestview Elementary School, another large group of witnesses observe the hovering and landing of several flying saucers (The Crestview Elementary School UFO Incident).

The 13th of October 1917, large crowds (30,000 to 100,000 people) gather in Fátima, Portugal to witness the Miracle of Fátima. Many claiming the sun shined and spun with colours similar to those that would shine through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral. One of the largest gatherings of onlookers to witness a “miracle” in human history (declared “of supernatural character” by the Catholic Church in 1930).

Many people believe some or all of the (randomly chosen) events listed above, to be entirely true. Others see a collection of elaborate misunderstandings or fallacies. Then there are a great many who don’t quite know what to believe. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, in other words, even if you yourself witness these incredible events, how could you absolutely, unequivocally, unabashedly declare such unworldly events to be definitively true (or accurately interpreted)?

You might think “seeing is believing”, but maybe you just haven’t seen anything literally ‘unbelievable’ yet?

Once witnessing an event that by all means could be viewed as a defiance of what you know of the laws of this reality/universe, would you be able to believe yourself? Or would you immediately seek out psychiatric help?

What if you view this incredible event in the company of hundreds or even thousands of others. Can everyone be mad (or rather deceived)?

(The gathering at Cova da Iria, Portugal, 13th of October 1917.)

Unshakable (speculatory or potentially baseless) belief can be quite a heavy burden to bear. I’ve known conspiracy theorists that have let their minds contort with paranoid delusions, eventually locking themselves in a prison of the mind, built of cynicism and fear. The self-fulfilling prophecy of one’s own growing distrust in their government, in some cases accurately predicting their own arrest or demise (Milton William “Bill” Cooper, May 6, 1943 – November 5, 2001). The path we take to avoid our destiny, is often the path that leads us to it.

I once knew someone, who in their desperate search for “answers”, found themselves involved with what was later revealed to be a cult, but not before this person (and father of two) partook in a ritualistic group suicide. Every so often, to this day, I wonder if he ended up learning what it was that he wanted to know so badly. Legally blame is placed on a specific guilty party, the fanatical leader(s) and so on. But in the end, was it the physical means by which his life was taken, that truly sealed his fate, or was it his unyielding dogmatic belief? A yearning to know the answers to questions the average person might live a lifetime and not even conceive, was that ultimately his doom?

One of the last conversations I had with this individual, before he vanished into the fanatical world, he was emphatically declaring events he deemed to be indisputable evidence of supernatural activity. I remember remarking something to the effect of, “these experiences are rooted in emotion and the interpretation of otherwise mundane happenings might be disregarded, unless the individual wanted to believe there was a governing will orchestrating the activities. But the same events could unfold even if such a will did not exist.”

Immediately, I knew he would never engage in another conversation with me again. And he never did. Shortly after, a series of unrelated events led to his dismissal from the company we were working for and the rest is history.

As time continues to unfold, what we call “strange and unbelievable claims” will continue to be reported. Perhaps you yourself will witness something that by all rights (governed by the current standards of normality), should not occur. Perhaps, you’ll experience something that will further solidify a belief that began to grow, a long time ago. Maybe you’ll know in the end, what you told yourself in the beginning, that it was nonsense, all along.

True belief is singular, regardless of how much any force attempts to influence and persuade otherwise. But in the end, outside of belief, outside of doubt, when there is no tangible evidence that an event ever occurred, where there is no physical proof that something ever existed, what are we actually left with?

In the end, in regards to the bulk of the paranormal, we are left with attempts to record or capture a moment in time. Experiences that echo throughout the ages, preserved in a collection of ink and shadows. You might not believe the letters marked in ink, as you might not believe the shapes that form in the shadows. Just as the ones who were there (or claimed as such) during those fateful moments might not have believed what their own eyes were seeing either.

Blind gullibility does not ascertain truth.

But neither does absolute doubt.

Posted on by ᵀᴴᴱ ARGONAUT 1