Interesting and Curiosities

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Hex Causes Girl to Mysteriously Cough Up Strange Large Objects

“Every time we went to the hospital, medical examinations revealed that she was healthy. It was not until she started vomiting assorted items like neckties, spoons and mobile phones that we realised it was witchcraft.”

After hearing the mysterious case of the young girl and the strange objects she continues to cough up, you’ll never complain about taking your child to the emergency room for a broken arm again. According to The Nairobi News, a 13-year-old girl in the village of Konoin in the western part of Kenya has mystified her family, teachers and doctors for seven months by heaving up things that had mysteriously (well, not anymore) disappeared. Large things … things it’s hard to imagine swallowing without choking, let alone vomiting back up without harm.

“It started with a mobile phone which disappeared at the dining table. We were so shocked when she later vomited it out. One time, we were shocked to see her vomit a battery cell, which didn’t belong to us.”

Josephine, the girl’s mother, says her teacher became concerned when the girl’s final exam papers disappeared … only to be vomited up later. While this sounds like a much creepier version of “the dog ate my homework,” it was enough of a concern that the family had to take her out of school

A quick search online will tell you that Pica is a disorder where people swallow anything from dirt to nails, knives and other sharp objects (the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia has an unbelievably large cabinet filled with objects removed without surgery from scores of patients by one doctor, Dr. Chevalier Jackson (1865-1958), who is considered the father of bronchoscopy and laryngoscopy) and the patients are generally checked for obsessive-compulsive disorders, dietary deficiencies, anxiety, depression and other common causes.

One thing emergency rooms doctors treating patients who swallow cell phones don’t usually check for is witchcraft, but after the physicians in Kenya ruled out everything else, they considered it as a possible cause for the girl’s problems. According to her mother, so did she.

“Some faceless people strangle her and warn her against revealing anything.”

The family had an idea of who put the swallowing hex on their daughter (schoolmates) and reported them to the police, who brought the suspects in for questioning. So far, the suspects have admitted to threatening the girl, but gave no reason why or any insights on how they were able to force her to swallow cell phones and other dangerous objects when they were not around. Despite their admission of guilt, Josephine appears to be fearful and just wants the hex removed – no questions asked or sentences given … although she’s willing to pay a bribe or ransom.

“I want them to set my daughter free so that she can resume her normal life and pursue her education. If they want money or any other thing, we are ready to pay up so that they set my daughter free.”

A girl swallowing cell phones under the belief that a witch put a spell on her proves once again that old customs and fears die hard, even when mixed with modern technology and medicine.

Paul Seaburn (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

Physicists Claim The Great Pyramid of Giza Focuses Electromagnetic Energy

The Great Pyramid of Giza remains one of the world’s most enduring sources of mystery. For thousands of years, the Great Pyramid has stood in the desert of what is now El Giza, Egypt to serve as a monument to the ingenuity and technical prowess of its builders. After its construction, the Great Pyramid bore the distinction of the world’s tallest man-made structure for close to 4,000 years. Not bad for an oversized mortuary.

One of the reasons the pyramids remain mysterious is the fact that there is still significant disagreement over how the pyramids could have been constructed with the materials and methods available at the time. Aside from the mystery over how the pyramids at Giza were built, there is the longstanding suspicion that the pyramids might have some unknown purpose or function which has been lost to history. Hidden structures and voids continue to be discovered within the pyramids, leading some to speculate that perhaps the pyramids still might contain more than meets the eye despite the countless research projects and excavations conducted on them over the years.

To build on that speculation, a new study conducted by an international team of physicists has concluded that the chambers inside the Great Pyramid might actually be capable of capturing and focusing electromagnetic energy. According to the authors, their research has “revealed that the Pyramid’s chambers can collect and concentrate electromagnetic energy for the both surrounding conditions” and “shown that basically the Pyramid scatters the electromagnetic waves and focuses them.” The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics.

While this study sounds like it might hint at further high strangeness surrounding the ancient Egyptians, researchers found that only electromagnetic radiation within a specific, narrow wavelength has the ability to resonate within the Pyramid. Furthermore, this discovery is purely theoretical, having been discovered through the use of advanced simulations. As scientific supervisor and coordinator of the research Dr. Andrey Evlyukhin points out in a press release, “due to the lack of information about the physical properties of the pyramid, we had to use some assumptions.” Still, he notes that “with these assumptions made, we obtained interesting results that can find important practical applications.”

It remains unknown if the ancient Egyptians who built the Great Pyramid were aware of this unique feature – or even if they knew what electromagnetic radiation was at all. While theories alleging the ancient Egyptians possessed technology or scientific knowledge far more advanced than what we know are often thrown around, we’ve yet to discover any concrete evidence supporting such claims. Could it be possible that ancient cultures possessed technology as advanced or even more advanced than our own? Who knows what we might find in the ground if we dig deep enough.

All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.

Brett Tingley (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

Are We Being Supernaturally “Fed” On?

The world around us is not as it appears to be. In fact, far from it. As we go about our daily business, working, and living our lives, behind the scenes something dark and dangerous is taking place. And it has been going on since the dawn of civilization. Most people remain oblivious to the truth and don’t even realize it. Now and again, however, someone will stumble upon the startling reality that, potentially, affects and dictates the lives of just about all of us. What am I talking about?

Nothing less than a monstrous collection of supernatural entities that terrify and torment us, and have done so for millennia. They do far more than that, however: they feed upon us. Like bloated, paranormal leeches, they suck us dry as they seek to fuel themselves with our psychic energy, high states of emotion, sexual energy, and the human life-force. They hate and despise us, but, paradoxically, they cannot live without us.

Have you ever woken up, drained and utterly exhausted, from a terrifying nightmare that didn’t seem like just another, regular dream? If the answer is “Yes,” then you may have been “fed” upon by these infernal things. When we sleep, we are at our most vulnerable. And that’s exactly how they want us. A dream is not always a dream, as strange as that might sound. Sometimes it’s an indication that, as you sleep, and as your guard is down, these voraciously hungry monsters are, in essence, eating you.

Among these creatures are the Shadow People: hostile things that typically manifest between 1:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M. and who have the ability paralyze us and drain our bodies of energy in much the same way that the vampires of folklore would drain people of blood. In fact, and as the book shows, such distorted tales of vampirism almost certainly had their origins in the worlds, and actions, of these multi-dimensional things.

In a paper prepared for me a few years ago, Jason Offutt wrote, in part: “Like the Men in Black, the Hat Man has floated in the periphery of our lives for decades, observing our movements, occasionally interacting with us, but always threatening. Charles was 13 years old in 1949 and lived with his mother, brother and grandmother in San Jose, California, when the Hat Man crept into his life. He lay in bed with his brother, talking before they drifted off to sleep, when the window sash moved. ‘A dark figure dressed in a black cloak and wearing a black hat with a wide brim appeared in the window,’ Charles said. ‘No facial features were discernible on this person, but I took it to be a man.’ This Hat Man opened the window and reached through with both hands. ‘I thought he was going to climb in,’ Charles said. ‘At that moment I started yelling my head off.’ As Charles’s young voice pierced the night, the Hat Man closed the window, turned and disappeared from sight. The next morning, Charles saw the window was locked from the inside. ‘I saw something,’ Charles said. ‘What in the hell was it?'”

Equally dangerous are what can accurately be termed supernatural seducers: dangerous entities that thrive on sexual energy are also part of the equation. A highly-charged, sexual dream may be deliberately initiated by such things, which, over the centuries, have been referred to as Incubus, Succubus, Lilith, and the Old Hag. Also relevant to this angle is the reason why so many supernatural encounters occur at so-called “Lovers Lane” locations. In these cases, voyeurism and sexual emotion lead to feeding. Indeed, at such Lovers Lane’s we can find numerous encounters with the likes off Bigfoot, Mothman, Goat-Men, and aliens.

Poltergeists – violent entities that can cause chaos in the home and who delight in tormenting us as much as they are energized by us – are also part of the equation, as are thought-forms and Tulpas; creatures created within the human mind and the depths of our imaginations, but which can be externalized and given a strange form of life in the real world. Key to the survival of Tulpas and thought-forms is that we believe in them. The stronger our belief, the greater the ability of the Tulpas to live. In other words, they feed on – and coldly and carefully nurture – our belief-systems.

Then, there is the Slenderman: a sinister figure which started out as an Internet experiment, but which has mutated drastically in the last few years, to the extent that numerous people report having seen the Slenderman in the real world. It’s a perfect example of a modern day Tulpa / thought-form running wild in our reality. Witnesses describe seeing the scrawny, black-suited figure looming over their beds in the dead of night, extracting energy and dining in a fashion that we don’t even want to think about.

The Men in Black fall into this category, too: those who have had UFO encounters and who have been visited by the pale-faced ghouls known as the MIB state that while being threatened and intimidated by the Men in Black they have felt cold, clammy, weak, and light-headed. As many of the unfortunate witnesses have stated, it’s as if the MIB are draining them in the same way that a flashlight drains a battery. And, using the same analogy, when the light finally goes out, we do, too. To slightly alter the words of Charles Fort: The stark and terrifying truth is that our planet may well be one big farm. And, for these energy-based entities, we are the cattle.

Nick Redfern (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

New Ouija Board Study Scientifically Explains How They Move

You may think you know how the planchette (yes, that’s what the little piece of wood is called) moves around a Ouija board after two people place their fingers on it and ask a question … and you’re probably wrong. Is it possible for science to solve a spirit board? Researchers in Denmark (why do foreign countries always get the most interesting research projects?) conducted a study and found what sounds like a plausible solution to the Ouija mystery. Spirits, Satan or psyche? Place your bets now.

Marc Anderson from the School of Culture and Society at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, led the study, which was published in the current edition of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. He and his team set up a test at a paranormal conference where Ouija board sessions were popular. This was not a secret test – the 40 participants wore devices to track their eye movements as “watched” the planchette movements. Each pair participated in two tests – one traditional session when they asked the Ouija board their own question and another where they were asked to deliberately move the planchette to ‘YES’, deliberately move the planchette to ‘NO’, and deliberately use the planchette to spell ‘BALTIMORE’. (Baltimore? Ask your own Ouija to explain that one.)

The bookmaker is now closed. What do you think Anderson’s team saw when they read the eye-tracking data?

The researchers were watching for what they call the Sense of Agency (SoA) – a feeling of control over one’s surroundings. That SoA was obvious in the second test – the participants knew the word and consistently looked ahead to the next letter, indicting their brain was predicting the next move. That wasn’t the case with the traditional Ouija use … for a while. When the participants didn’t know where the planchette was going on its way to answering the question, they had much less SoA and much less eye movement. However, as a word or answer began to form, the eye movements increased, indicating that their brains were calculating and predicting potential answers and sending their eyes to potential next letters, thus subconsciously guiding their hands to glide the planchettes to them. The pair on the planchette subconciously take turns taking control as their brains feel more condfident tin their choices.

Does this mean there’s no spirit behind the Ouija board? In questionnaires filled out after the tests, participants who believed in the spiritual power of a Ouija board were more likely to say they felt the planchette moved on its own, even though their eye movements said otherwise. The study concludes:

“While early letters in a meaningful Ouija board response appear to occur at random, meaningful word options available to the participants decrease as the response from the Ouija board unfolds. This, in turn, makes it easier for a pair of participants to collectively predict (and unconsciously construct) the responses from the Ouija board.”

Has science disproved the power of the Ouija board? This was just one test. Perhaps a blindfolded experiment would be more conclusive. Or would it anger the spirit and unleash the power that believers fear and warn against?

Do Magic 8-Balls have these kinds of problems?

Paul Seaburn (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

18.05 – MU Plus+ Podcast

Could the true nature of Bigfoot be more sinister than we realise?

If such an entity does exist, then perhaps we have been looking in all the wrong places for answers. On this episode we take a look at claims Bigfoot is a demonic projection linked with dark forces.

This leads us into new revelations on Percy Fawcett, the Lost City of Z and the Colonel’s secret links to the occult.

This episode is EXCLUSIVE to Plus+ members. To join, click HERE.

Links

Aaron Wright (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

Monsters of the Very Weird Kind

For Loch Ness Monster chaser Ted Holiday, the plesiosaur, giant eel, and massive salamander theories were flawed and lacking in substance. He came to the somewhat unusual, and certainly unique, scenario that the Nessies were gigantic versions of everyday slugs. The biggest problem with Holiday’s theory was that it was beset by issues that made it most unlikely to have merit. For example, the specific kind of invertebrate that Holiday had in mind – Tullimonstrum – only grew to lengths of around lengths of fourteen inches. On top of that, it lived solely in the muddy landscapes of Pennsylvania, USA. None of these seemingly important points appeared to bother Holiday in the slightest, who continued to pursue his theory with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Artist depiction of Tullimonstrum

Such was the level of gusto that Holiday mustered, by 1968 he had written an entire book on the subject of his pet-theory. Its title: The Great Orm of Loch Ness (“orm” being a centuries-old term meaning “worm”). There’s no doubt that Holiday made a brave case for the theory that the Nessies were gigantic invertebrates. The problem was that his book was entirely based on supposition and speculation. Nevertheless, he did make the valid point that whatever the Nessies might be, they were almost certainly responsible for the many and varied legends of dragons seen roaming the United Kingdom hundreds of years earlier. In that sense, Holiday believed the orms of Loch Ness were merely one colony of a creature that was far more widespread in times long gone. On that issue, he was almost certainly correct. Indeed, Loch Ness is far from being alone when it comes to the matter of monsters in the United Kingdom. The age-old sagas of the Linton Worm and the Wyvern of North Wales’ Llyn Cynwch Lake being famous, classic examples.

Holiday’s book became a big talking point among the Nessie-seeking community. Specifically because he was positing such an unconventional scenario and, essentially, giving the middle-finger to the champions of the plesiosaur, giant eel, and salamander scenarios. It was right around the time that his book was published, however, that Ted Holiday found his world turned upside down and filled to the brim with weirdness. Which was rather ironic, given just how much time and effort had gone into the writing and production of his book. And that weirdness only increased exponentially, and to where filled to the brim was replaced by absolutely overflowing.

Tullimonstrum gregarium fossil

Even though Ted Holiday sincerely believed that the Tullimonstrum gregarium theory had merit, he wasn’t able to shake off that deep, foreboding feeling that there was something more to the Loch Ness Monsters, something which – rather paradoxically – implied they were flesh and blood animals, but ones with supernatural qualities. It was a feeling that would, ultimately, become a full-blown, unhealthy obsession, and one that pretty much dictated the rest of his short life and research.

By the time The Great Orm of Loch Ness was published, Holiday had not only been to the lair of the Nessies on numerous occasions, he had also had the opportunity to speak to many witnesses to the beast. In doing so, he noticed a most curious, and even unsettling, pattern. There were far more than a random number of reports on record where eyewitnesses to the creatures had tried to photograph them, only to fail miserably. As time progressed, it became abundantly obvious to Holiday that this was not down to chance. When an excited soul on the shore went to grab their camera, the beast would sink beneath the waves. When someone even just thought about taking a picture, the monster would vanish below. On other occasions, cameras would malfunction. Pictures would come out blank or fogged. It was as if the Nessies were dictating, and manipulating, the situations in which the witnesses found themselves. That is exactly what Holiday came to believe was going on.

By 1969, his life was dominated by weird synchronicities – meaningful coincidences, in simple terms – something which led Holiday to question both his sanity and even the very nature of reality itself. What had begun as an exciting hunt for an unknown animal was now rapidly mutating into something very different. Something dangerous and supernatural. Ted Holiday died young in 1979.

Nick Redfern (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

20 counties report virus

20 counties report virus Marietta Times
West Nile virus remains a threat to Berks County residents Reading Eagle
West Nile virus found in Bay County crow Laredo Morning TimesFull coverage

(CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)

Haunted Wild Places in Japan

There can be no doubt that Japan possesses more than its fair share of haunted places and ghost stories, not surprising in this land of long and often violent history. I have written often on the paranormal of Japan, and certainly some of the creepier places are off the beaten path, through the brush and trees of rural, isolated, feral areas surrounded by wilderness and a sense of creepiness that seems to pervade the very air itself. Here are some of the more notoriously haunted places of Japan that lie off the trail, and surrounded by both woods and sinister tales.

Some of the most infamous haunted rural places in Japan are tunnels, already eerie enough places as it is without talk of specters and spooks. One such tunnel is located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu. Here along a mountainous dark road called the Inukane Pass is the very creepy, almost legendary Chusetsu Tunnel, now abandoned and not in service, but brimming with activity of a ghostly kind nevertheless. The Chusetsu Tunnel is supposedly intensely haunted, with anyone brave enough to walk through it experiencing numerous paranormal phenomena such as disembodied footsteps, tapping, scratching, wailing, screaming, or a voice that calls out to say “Stop.” Sometimes the voices warn against going any further, or spew forth a string of unintelligible gibberish startling in its animosity. More ominous are reports of hands pushing, stroking, or poking at those who would walk through, and photos routinely turn up myriad orbs and other anomalous lights.

Chusetsu Tunnel

The most popular legend as to why the tunnel is so haunted revolves around the tale of a young woman who was brutally murdered here, but details of this killing are scarce. The haunting is so intense that it is said to be nearly impossible to make it from one end of the tunnel to the other, although as many Japanese YouTube videos assert it is definitely possible, if not a little creepy. The old Chusetsu Tunnel is a popular place to dare friends to go through, and it has become so well-known in Japan that is frequently makes appearances on paranormal TV programs.

Another haunted tunnel in Fukuoka is called the Inunaki Toge Tunnel, which is purportedly prowled by the spirit of a man who died here in 1988 after a group of thugs tried to burn him alive. The victim is said to have escaped into the tunnel even as the flames consumed him, eventually dying right in the middle of the tunnel after committing suicide to end the excruciating pain of his ordeal. Ever since then, motorists have reported an apparition appearing besides their car, and unexplained brake failure is also frequently reported from here.

Inunaki Toge Tunnel

There are other supposedly haunted wilderness tunnels in Japan as well. In the area of Arashiyama, in Kyoto, is the Kiyotaki Tunnel. Originally part of the Atagoyama Railway, finished in 1928, it is a short, nearly 500 meter tunnel meant to connect Arashiyama to the neighboring town of Sagakiyotaki. The construction of the tunnel has a dark history, with many fatalities during its building due to poor safety regulations and harsh working conditions, and beyond this there were reportedly executions carried out here during World War II. Adding to this all is that the tunnel is said to be precisely 444 meters in length, an unlucky number in Japan as “4” is read as “shi,” which can also mean “death.”

It is perhaps because of this that the tunnel has gained a reputation as being one of the most haunted and cursed places in Japan, with various strange phenomena reported from here. Motorists have reported having ghostly apparitions appear in their car to ride along for a time before blinking out of existence. Other entities are seen wandering about in the tunnel itself, and are often blamed for accidents here, including a rather aggressive woman in white with a penchant for jumping onto the hoods of cars without warning or chasing vehicles. There are also voices heard here with no source, and the traffic light leading into the tunnel is said to suddenly and inexplicably change in order to cause accidents as well. One very strange phenomenon reported from the tunnel is that the length of the tunnel sometimes seems to change, getting shorter or conversely longer, like in a dream where you can’t seem to reach the end of a hallway no matter how fast you run.

The Kiyotaki Tunnel

Topping it all off is that the area around the tunnel has become a popular suicide spot, further cementing it as a dark and sinister place. Indeed, these suicide victims are said to haunt the surrounding wilds of the tunnel, with forlorn screams commonly reported from the darkened trees at night or shadow figures falling from the top of the tunnel. Even for people who do not see or hear anything strange, cold spots, a feeling of thick dread, nausea,sudden headaches, and dizziness all seem to pop up here for no reason, and the tunnel has become well-entrenched in places of Japan you should stay away from, with many refusing to drive through it at all.

Equally as creepy as any tunnel is a surreal looking suspension bridge in the wooded hills just outside of Yamanashi. The dark history here involves 55 prostitutes being killed at the bridge long ago, and the name of the bridge Oiran Buchi, reflects this, with “oiran” being a name for a type of high-class prostitute. The locale, with its thick woods, rather precarious bridge, and steep cliffs, is already very scary, but the spirits of those prostitutes are said to roam this place, appearing on the bridge or howling or shrieking in the night, and joining them is the apparition of a beastly, faceless woman who is said to rather aggressively terrorize those who dare to come here in the evening hours. Is this place haunted, cursed, or both?

Oiran Buchi

Moving down south we come to the southern islands of Okinawa, which in addition to being the home of pristine beaches and gorgeous ocean vistas is also home to many heavily haunted locations. In a rural, forest carpeted hilly area known as Kitanakagusuku, a stone’s throw away from the historic Nakagusuku Castle, there are the decrepit ruins of a crumbling resort that forlornly overlooks the sea and is uninhabited except for the ghosts. In the 1970s a wealthy business man came here to build the hotel, and the proposed Nakagusuku Shiroato Kogen Hotel Leisure Land, also simply called The Royal Hotel, was envisioned as a luxury getaway complete with waterpark, night clubs, and all of the trappings of a world class resort.

Even before construction began there were ominous signs, as the local monks warned the business man that the resort was to be built over the site of ancient tombs and sacred graves, and that to continue the project as panned was to risk incurring their wrath. Of course, when have such things ever stopped a hungry land developer? The project of course went ahead exactly as planned, but not long after this was plagued by a series of freak accidents and deaths of construction workers, to the point that some of them refused to return to work. The project quickly gained a reputation as being cursed, and with nonstop delays and setbacks it was stalled in 1975, after which it was mysteriously abandoned altogether, leaving the half-finished structure to rot away and be reclaimed by nature.

The abandoned haunted hotel

Considering there was never any official reason why the construction was scrapped, added to all the talk of ancient curses, there are not surprisingly some spooky stories about why the hotel was abandoned. The most popular is that the greedy land developer, frustrated with all of the talk of curses, supposedly offered to spend the night alone in the unfinished hotel to prove that there was nothing paranormal going on. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot apparently, as he was then purportedly found the next day stark raving mad, and later moved to an insane asylum. To top it all off he then apparently vanished off the face of the earth.

Whether this is true or not is unknown, but whatever the case may be the ruins of the hotel have become well known for being just as haunted as one might expect. Adventure seekers often report encountering ghosts in these corridors, and spook lights wandering about are fairly common. Anomalous noises, EVP phenomena, moving objects, cold spots, you name it and this abandoned hotel has it, earning it a prominent place on lists of most haunted locations in Japan and making it a favorite destination for paranormal researchers.

Also in Okinawa is the notorious haunted trail simply called the SSS Curve. Winding through darkened trees it is already like something out of a horror movie, but there are the rumors of soldiers who died here during World War II, which could have something to do with all of the strange phenomena reported from here. Those who walk along the trail have reported being accosted by a formidable presence that incites deep dread, nausea, dizziness, and hallucinations. In more frightening reports there are claims of unseen hands pulling, pushing, or striking out. The walk is a popular one for Japanese paranormal investigators, and whether or not it is haunted it certainly looks the part.

The SSS Curve

Here we have looked at just a few of the darker, more rural haunted areas of Japan. From spooky, lonely tunnels to murky trails and abandoned, crumbling structures, even if none of these places really have any ghosts or not they certainly look the part at the very least. In a country already bustling with haunted sites, these are perhaps amongst the creepiest, and if you ever make a visit be sure to keep you eye on the surroundings. You never know what might pop out from the gloom.

Brent Swancer (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)