The Occult Section

With all the recent stories of weird things happening in Russia (alien bodies, Yeti being captured, etc.), you’ll pardon me if I’m a bit skeptical of this story. Ultimately, it’s just another anecdote, an interesting story but with nothing to support the claims.

Is it just me or does this look like one of those cheesy UFO toys from the 1950s?

A metal object the size of a Volkswagen Beetle has been discovered near a remote village in Siberia. Local residents presumed it recently fell to Earth from space, but officials from Russia’s space agency examined the object and said it “is not related to space technology.”

Locals discovered the roughly 200-kilogram (440 pounds) object, which is cylindrical and capped on one end by a ridged dome, March 18 in the forest near the village of Otradnesnky. They attached the “UFO fragment” (as media outlets have called it) to a trailer and dragged it through the snow to their village. They then alerted Moscow authorities, according to a report in Britain’s The Telegraph, and the object was confiscated for inspection.

Following the initial examination, an official for Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, reportedly said: “The object found is not related to space technology. A final conclusion can be made after a detailed study of the object by experts.”

Part of the fragment is made of titanium, according to district officials. Additional tests showed it was not radioactive.

Nick Johnson, head of NASA’s orbital debris office, said there isn’t sufficient information about the object for him to make a full assessment, but it doesn’t appear to be part of a spacecraft.

“The object almost certainly is not related to a spacecraft,” Johnson told Life’s Little Mysteries. “It also does not look like part of a launch vehicle which has fallen from orbit.  However, we cannot be definitive in our judgment without better photos and other data. For example, the date the object fell is vitally important, but I did not see reference to it.”

It is also unclear whether the object really did fall from space or got lost in the woods by some other route.

This could be anything, from a hoax to a piece of space debris to some sort of secret, experimental military aircraft. It will be interesting to see if the results of the examination are ever released.

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Another British paranormal news piece that I’m blogging about 90% because of the picture they article included (and 10% for the name of the pub). No shame. I also like the generic team name that is mentioned: the Paranormal Society. From The Halifax Courier:

The actual picture in the article. I hope this was as satisfying for all of you as it was for me.

GHOSTLY images have been included in a painting of a haunted town centre pub.

Dean Majors, landlord of Dirty Dick’s, commissioned the work which shows how the pub (formerly the Royal Oak) used to look.

An old image, which dates back to the 18th century, was used as the basis for the painting by Joy Edwards.

She lives in Sowerby Bridge and captured the old character of the pub and painted ghostly spirits looking out of windows.

The original building was pulled down in 1929 and rebuilt in mock-Tudor style using materials, including beams and panelling, from the wooden frigate HMS Newcastle which was built in 1860.

Three ghosts are connected to the pub.

Dean said by research and talking to old regulars he had been told the last landlord before the pub was demolished had a son who was killed after his party clothes were set alight by sparking embers from a pub fire.

And, around 40 years ago a woman reported seeing a Amish-style character walking about.

“She said what she saw was as clear as day,” said Dean.

The third ghost is linked to the ship and said to be that of someone killed on board while moving gunpowder.

Dean, who has run the pub since it reopened last year, said he had witnessed poltergeist activity.

That has included a glass jumping up off a shelf and smashing on the floor; a barrel jumping off the ground and cellar switches being mysteriously flicked.

“I have an open mind – but I think if things keep happening we will get the Paranormal Society in,” he said.

Dean said the painting had rekindled interest in the pub’s history.

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I love these kind of stories. Imagine owning a supposedly haunted location (this particular one is in Ohio)? Coolness x a billion. Unless, of course, some reality TV show cast members from a paranormally-themed show snatch it up before anyone else can (since they have plenty of disposable income) and then make it into a huge money making venture for themselves. Again. Aherm.

Granville’s venerable Buxton Inn is for sale for a cool $3.9 million. Ghosts included.

Built in 1812, the Buxton is the state’s oldest continually operating inn doing business in the original building. The sale includes the inn, which is comprised of five buildings located at 313 E. Broadway, and five other historic buildings on nearby East Elm and South Pearl streets, according to the listing by Street Sotheby’s International Realty.

Owners Audrey and Orville Orr are retiring after owning the Licking County inn since 1972.

A well-known central Ohio attraction, the inn is believed to be haunted by the apparitions of former innkeepers, and guests have reported strange phenomena such as the sounds of ghostly footsteps and doors mysteriously opening and closing on their own.

Ghost hunters and potential buyers can learn more at the inn’s website: www.buxtoninn.com.

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Move over skeletons in the closet, the demon behind the couch has taken over! If you’ve been anywhere on the internet lately, you’ll surely recognize this image, which has gone completely viral. And yes, I’m guilty; I shared it – more than once! So what is it about this photo that has everyone buzzing? Sights seem to point back to the scare factor, but more stories are beginning to circulate. Is there something more sinister brewing here? We are just as anxious to find out.

Everyone seems to be asking, could there really be a demon behind the couch? Did someone accidentally capture pure evil? “PhotoShop” seems to be the most common explanation to be found but no one has come up with a logical explanation, yet. With the origins of the photo still up in the air, there are tales being spun across the internet world on where it came from. From stories of a murderous ghost, to “a friend of a friend captured this in their living room”, most viewers agree on one fact: this photo is very disturbing. Personally, it left me totally creeped out, and I had to scoop my stomach up off of the the floor after I finally saw the face. Although the idea behind it was exciting, I am still doubtful that there is any paranormal presence. Only time will tell… and I’m certain there is an investigations team out there, somewhere, waiting to debunk this one. I patiently await their discovery… I hope the creator is as startling as the photo; I’ll be waiting to scare, I mean “share” it with the world!

Technorati Tags: debunking, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, humor, media, News, paranormal, picture

Earlier this week, we reported on the supposed video footage of a woolly mammoth. But that wasn’t the only alleged footage of a monster to hit the internet this week. Now comes news that Lagarfljót’s Worm, the Icelandic version of the Loch Ness Monster, has been filmed in a glacial river by an amateur cameraman. Check out the video and story.

And the article.

My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun...

Icelanders are known for their belief in elves and trolls – but could there be a giant worm monster swimming around in the company of the water fairies?

Footage filmed by an amateur cameraman at a glacial river in the east of the country seems to show a huge snakelike creature slinking through the icy water.

Legend has it that a 25 mile-long lake is home to Lagarfljót’s Worm, the Icelandic version of the Loch Ness Monster, with tales being told of the beast going back to 1345.

As the story goes, the monster grew from being a tiny worm after a girl placed a gold ring on it to increase the size of the piece of jewellery.

On her return however, it wasn’t the ring that had grown but the wriggling creature – into a giant serpent.

And the worm didn’t stop getting bigger. Flung into Lake Lagarfljot by the terrified child, the beast eventually turned into a ferocious, humped and poision-spitting dragon nearly 100 metres long that continued to live in the lake.

Some fanciful reports suggest that the monster has been spotted slithering into the trees and that it is as long as the lake itself.

Unsurprisingly, sightings of Lagarfljót’s Worm are considered a bad omen.

One sceptical explanation might be that the worm monster is actually an abandoned fishing net that was frozen in the river and, once partially-thawed, was wound through the waters by the current.

Gases rising from the lakebed, creating openings in the ice and sweeping along tangled debris that has fallen from the mountainside has also been offered as an account of some sightings.

But cryptozoology expert Loren Coleman suspects a greater degree of human hoaxery.

“What concerns me the most is the robotic look of this creature,” he is reported to have said.

“If you look at that head, it appears like somebody’s put a constructed anaconda head there, and behind it, the natural movement of a snake should give a much more flowing curve to the sections.”

Coleman added: “What concerned me immediately was when I saw the tail section moving in unison with the next section; there’s no movement in that one section as it goes side-to-side.

“A snake moves in a sort of  ’s’ curve. But in this video, you get a blocking of the movement of the creature, which tells us it’s probably very artificial.”

I have to agree with Loren Coleman here. This looks very artificial, and some other things I noticed are that 1) the “worm” is always at the exact same depth in the water, and 2) the wake of this creature seems to be a little bit ahead of the actual head, indicating some sort of mechanism beneath the water, perhaps towing the mechanism. I also always wonder why the cameramen who shoot these videos never seem more shocked to be filming the alleged Bigfoot, UFO, ghost, lake monster, chupacabra, or whatever it is they claim to be filming. We can hear the wind clearly in this clip, so why no exclamations of excitement? And what’s with the two very different camera angles? To me, this all screams hoax. What do you think?

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