We give the paranormal community and ghost hunters in general a lot of ribbing here, usually good-natured, and more often than not, well-deserved, but I’m a bit perplexed by this story. Just because Bobby Mackey’s is supposed to be haunted, the two guys who recently robbed the club of thousands of dollars worth of liquor are now suspected of also being ghost hunters?

We’re not saying they’re ghost hunters, but…they’re totally ghost hunters.

WILDER — Wanted: Possible ghost-hunting liquor thieves.

Police are looking for two young white men in their late teens or early 20s who broke into Bobby Mackey’s Music World about midnight Friday, and made off with $3,000 to $5,000 worth of booze.

“From what we can see on the surveillance video, they walked around a little bit, then hopped over the back side of the bar,” said R. J. Seifert, who does marketing for Bobby Mackey’s.

The thieves made off with Crystal Head vodka, Captain Morgan rum, Makers Mark bourbon, Jagermeister hard liquor, Schnapps flavored liquor and several different vodka flavors, Seifert said.

From what the owners could see on the surveillance video, the perpetrators poured some of the liquor into containers, which they stuffed into four backpacks. The thieves also stuffed several 12-ounce bottles of wine in their backpacks.

“We found about 30 to 40 empty bottles on the bar,” Seifert said.

“We checked our sound equipment, our instruments and our merchandise, and nothing else was missing,” said Denise Mackey, the bar’s general manager.

The suspects also pried open the front panel of an automatic teller machine in the Texas-style roadhouse, but there was no money in the machine, Mackey said.

Seifert said the culprits may have been ghost hunters, largely because of the honky tonk nightspot’s reputation “as a ghost place.” For years, people have claimed the Texas-style roadhouse is haunted.

In the 1800s, the building was used as a slaughterhouse. Legend has it that the head of Pearl Bryan, a 22-year-old pregnant woman who was murdered in 1896, was disposed of in a well used to drain blood from the slaughterhouse.

More recently, the nationally televised “Ghost Adventures” and “Ghost Hunters” have hunted spirits at Bobby Mackey’s.

Anyone with information about the break-in should call Campbell County dispatch at 859-292-3622.

“We always tell people, ‘Come for the ghosts, but stay for the music,”’ Seifert said. “We’ll offer a free ghost tour for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the thieves.”

We know, ghost hunters do a lot of bad things in the name of paranormal research. They trespass, they get hurt, and as we’ve seen recently, sometimes they even (allegedly) steal from their fans. But calling these thieves ghost hunters just because Bobby Mackey’s is allegedly haunted? That’s really stretching things a bit, and I think Bobby Mackey’s is trying to get some free publicity from this (Free ghost tours being offered? Check!).

Technorati Tags: Bobby Mackey's Music World, captain morgan, Cincinnati, crystal head, ghost, ghost adventures, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, humor, makers mark, media, News, ohio, paranormal, people, schnapps, supernatural, thoughts, tv show, wilder

Sometimes, when looking for stories to blog about, we come across some funny articles. Most of the time, actually. But every now and then I come across something that convinces me that we as a species are doomed. With that being said, I present to you the testimony of Michael Jackson’s ghost that was allowed as evidence at the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray!

Even he would say this judge was being ignorant…

Michael Jackson’s court battle has taken a bizarre turn after the judge presiding over the dispute between the late singer’s family and concert firm AEG has accepted evidence from a ghost.

The new twist in the trial allegedly came as Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, claimed the legendary star had insisted from beyond the grave that his death was an accident, thus clearing Dr Conrad Murray, who has been jailed for delivering a fatal overdose of a sedative in 2009.

Speaking to members of the jury at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Mr Phillips is said to have claimed the supernatural encounter was delivered via his friend Brenda Richie, the ex-wife of musician Lionel Richie.

The Sun quotes him as saying in court: ‘Brenda called me to tell me that she was in communications with Michael, either through a medium or directly. She said Michael told her it wasn’t Dr Murray’s fault – that he had accidentally killed himself.’

Judge Yvette Palazuelos is said to have ‘let the testimony stand’, as Mr Phillips responded to questioning about an email he sent back in August 2009.

It said: ‘I think I know what MJ died of and this would exonerate Conrad.’

A lawyer representing the Jackson family reportedly objected to the evidence, claiming it was ‘triple hearsay’, as the conversation was relayed to Branda Richie through the assistance of a medium. But the judge let the evidence stand nonetheless.

Jackson was close to both Lionel and Brenda throughout his life, and was godfather to their adopted daughter, Nicole Richie, 31.

Earlier this week, it was claimed the late singer was ‘desperately broke’ before his ill-fated This Is It comeback tour.

Phillips made the claims as he testified for a sixth day at the singer’s wrongful death trial in a Los Angeles on Wednesday.

He told of an emotional Halloween meeting with the Prince of Pop at a hotel where the singer claimed ‘they were living like vagabonds.’

He added: ‘He actually broke down and I broke down. We both broke down. He got emotional. He teared up about his family and having a good life with them and a place to live and a residence they could call their own.

‘I felt incredibly bad that this incredible star was at the point where he just couldn’t buy a house with all this money he made It just didn’t make sense.’

He also told AEG attorney Marvin Putnam, it was the ‘first time Michael really told me why he wanted to go back to work.’

The Thriller favourite’s mother Katherine and three children are suing the concert promoter, alleging it negligently hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the singer’s 2009 death.

Meanwhile he also told jurors he knew the star as a sophisticated, forceful businessman and not the drugged-up performer who’s been described throughout an ongoing civil trial filed over the singer’s untimely death.

Phillips said based on meetings he had with Jackson in 2008 and early 2009, he found Jackson to be a ‘sophisticated man who had control of his life.’

The portrait of Jackson that’s been presented to the jury during the seven-week trial has been inaccurate, Phillips said. Jackson was described by both sides in opening statements as struggling with prescription drug addiction throughout his life.

Phillips said he disagreed with the descriptions of Jackson ‘because he’s been presented as drug-addled 5-year-old. That was not the man I dealt with. The man I dealt with was forceful. Kind, but determined. He was a force.’

Jurors have been presented with conflicting accounts of Jackson, even from Philips. They will have to weigh the different portrayals when they decide who is liable for the singer’s June 2009 death.

Katherine Jackson’s lawyers contend AEG failed to properly investigate the doctor convicted of causing her son’s death, pushing her son too hard to perform and missed warning signs of his health.

AEG, however, contends Michael Jackson hid his addiction to the powerful anesthetic propofol and that the company could not have foreseen that the singer’s doctor was giving him the drug as a sleep aid.

Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake in the negligent hiring trial.

Phillips said he didn’t see signs that Jackson was struggling with prescription drugs when he met with the entertainer to discuss options for his This Is It comeback concerts scheduled for London’s O2 Arena in 2009. Phillips has also told jurors that Michael Jackson never told him he was having trouble sleeping.

The executive has described the superstar as difficult to work with, often changing managers and ideas about what he wanted creatively.

In testimony later on Wednesday, he described having to coax Jackson to a London press conference in March 2009 to announce his concerts.

The singer was a couple of hours late, appeared hung over and was concerned no one would want to see him perform.

‘He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time,’ Phillips wrote to his boss that day.

He testified that he just wanted to get through the event and forget it ever happened.

The six-man, six-woman jury has been shown numerous emails throughout the trial in which high-level tour workers expressed concerns about the singer’s health, his weight, and whether he was ready for the shows.

Many of the concerns were voiced by tour director Kenny Ortega, who Phillips at one point told not to attempt to serve as an amateur doctor or psychiatrist.

Phillips acknowledged earlier this week that statements he wrote to Ortega about Michael Jackson’s physician, Conrad Murray, were untrue.

Among those statements were Phillips’ assertions that AEG Live had checked out Murray, and that the deeply indebted physician didn’t need the job.

Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for giving Michael Jackson a lethal dose of propofol. Murray is not a defendant in the civil case, although AEG Live lawyers said early they intend to call the former cardiologist as a witness.

So a man’s life hangs in the balance, and this numbskull  judge allows triple hearsay (involving a psychic, no less) into the trial? God bless America.

Technorati Tags: california, celebrity, conrad murray, conspiracy theory, cover-up, debunking, ghost, ghosts, haunted, media, michael jackson, News, paranormal, people, supernatural, thoughts

In the city the other day for Museum Mile, we came across lots of curious attractions and strange people (it’s New York City, so that’s pretty standard) but we came across Arthur the Sasquatch, out promoting the new musical “Sasquatched! The Musical.” So, I mean, how could we not blog about it?

“I’m not sure and … and … and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I see a zipper.”

SASQUATCHED! THE MUSICAL – the quirky new pop-rock musical that will get your Bigfoot tappin’ – will receive its world premiere in the 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Bigfoot exists – but he’s a lot different than you think. Arthur the Sasquatch is an intelligent, gentle and dignified creature. When he becomes lost in Columbia National Park, he is befriended by young Sam. Together, they encounter quirky locals and elude a ruthless TV crew investigating “Bigfoot.” Exciting twists and turns, hilarious social commentary on human-Sasquatch relations and a fun, freewheeling rockin’ score make SASQUATCHED! THE MUSICAL no ordinary romp in the woods!

SASQUATCHED! THE MUSICAL features book, music and lyrics by Phil Darg. The production will be directed and staged by Donald Brenner(NYMF’s The Most Ridiculous Thing You Ever Hoid; Off-Broadway’s Critical Mass) and produced by Jules Darg.

The cast of SASQUATCHED! THE MUSICAL will feature Leasen Beth Almquist (Broadway’s Annie Get Your Gun, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), Cole Canzano (PBS’s Sesame Street), Laura Daniel (NYMF’s The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun), Ryan Dietz (A Wonderful Life, Chess), Chris Gleim (Jesus Christ Superstar, Junk: A Rock Opera), Leslie Henstock (A Christmas Story: The Musical, The Light in the Piazza), T. J. Mannix (Radio City Christmas Spectacular, NYMF’s Howe and Hummel), Don Meehan (Off-Broadway’s Play Dead,Vieux Carre), Patrick John Moran (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Laura Oldham (Moby Dick: The Musical!), Jonathan Silver(NYMF’s The Most Ridiculous Thing You Ever Hoid) and Billy Clark Taylor (Next to Normal, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change).

Scenic, lighting and prop design is by Andrew Lu (Lost on the Natchez Trace, Crave). Costume design is by Kima Baffour (The Importance of Being Earnest). Joshua Zecher-Ross (Broken Bride: A Rock Opera at Ars Nova) is the music director. Dramaturgy is by Mark Dundas Wood(NYMF’s Living With Henry, The Great Unknown). David Cohen (Broadway’s The Normal Heart and The Mystery of Edwin Drood) is the stage manager. Gordon Green is the assistant music director.

The performance schedule for SASQUATCHED! THE MUSICAL is as follows: Tuesday, July 9 at 8pm; Wednesday, July 10 at 1pm; Saturday, July 13 at 4:30pm; Saturday, July 13 at 8pm; and Sunday, July 14 at 11am. Performance will be held at the PTC Performance Space located at 555 West 42nd Street in New York City. For tickets, visit NYMF.org. For more information, visit www.Sasquatched.com.

In my opinion, there are far too few musicals and Broadway shows based on cryptozoological animals, so I hope this is a sign of things to come. Can someone please tell Andrew Lloyd Webber about Mothman?

Technorati Tags: andrew lloyd webber, bigfoot, cryptozoology, media, mothman, museum mile, new york, News, paranormal, people, sasquatch, sasquatch! the musical, sasquatched! the musical, thoughts, yeti

We’re not big fans of Ghost Hunters here at The Occult Section, and normally I wouldn’t give this knucklehead the time of day. But I think this story needs to be brought to light, and I think it’s interesting to see what is starting to happen to former TV “para-celebrities.” Back in December, Brian Harnois of the Syfy Channel series Ghost Hunters (as well as Ghost Hunters International) wrote a very public suicide note (the “suicide attempt,” as it turned out, appeared to be staged in order to get attention or revenge on his ex, or some such nonsense), which garnered lots of attention and sympathy for him. Now it appears that he’s using that to scam his fans even further. This story is from the Examiner, so I apologize in advance for the typos and mistakes you might encounter (I mean, two words in and they call the show “Ghost Hunter”).

These para-events keep getting better and better!

Former “Ghost Hunter” star Brian Harnois is under attack from fans today. The paranormal investigator is being accused of stealing money from some of his supporters. Last year the ghost hunter allegedly faked a suicide attempt to get back into the infrared spotlight. Currently he is on tour and featured at various ghost hunting events.

Harnois is no stranger to modern drama. During his three-season stint on “Ghost Hunters” he was the show’s drama king and a fan-favorite. Nearly every one of the 36 episodes Harnois was in, it seemed he was at the center of some sort of chaos.

Sunday, December 9, 2012, Harnois wrote and posted a cryptic message on his Facebook page that some people believed was a suicide note. His wife, Michelle Harnois filed a missing person report the same day with the Warwick Police Department after not seeing him for a few days. Harnois was found safe the following day.

“I do not know the details but Brian has been found safe and is currently on his way to get mental treatment.” Michelle Harnois said in a post about the incident on her Twitter page.

A lot of people in the paranormal community believe that Harnois staged the incident to get attention and build buzz for a comeback. He even lashed out at some fans regarding his December disappearance.

Earlier this year, Harnois announced his “Dude, Run! Tour” and some fans that have supported him in this venture are allegedly getting ripped off. A few of them have tried to reach out to him on his various Facebook accounts but he either ignores them, censors their comments, or insults them.

Fans that have paid Harnois for items still have yet to receive them. One fan, Cheryl Bericko even accused him of stealing her payment and claimed that he refused issuing a refund for an upcoming event.

“Man up and stop removing posts that show the truth. My husband posted where you posted anyone can get a refund if they cancel with in seven days before the event,” Bericko posted on Harnois’ Facebook page.

“Everyone I owe T-shirts, DVD’s, or 8 x 10s to will be getting them this week or the following week. I’ve had a very big problem with getting everyone’s information together because of lack of a computer and misinformation.” Harnois attempted to do some damage control by posting an excuse on his Facebook fan page.

“So if anyone thinks he is a nice guy, he is a thief. Check RI court records. He has a world of court trouble coming this week for ripping people off and most likely will be arrested again.” According to Bericko, this isn’t the first time Harnois has stolen from fans.

On April 3, 2013, the Warwick Police Department issued a bench warrant for Harnois regarding an alleged theft in 2012. Some folks think that Harnois is using the money from fans to pay the rest of his overdue court costs.

Harnois’ paranormal comeback might be short-lived if he keeps continuing to treat his fans bad. Jenn Mitchell, one of Harnois’ public relations representatives recently jumped ship because she was allegedly being mistreated. Soon his fans might just do the same.

If allegations are true, people need to beware of Brian Harnois and his company B Ware Productions. Dude and dudettes, run! Definitely.

The internet is a creepy place full of cowards who muster all of their courage in the privacy of their home office, so I’m not sure how true any of these allegations are. But it seems as if there are a number of people who are complaining, and the fact that he posted a disclaimer of sorts says a lot. I do feel bad for the guy in a sense, as he was thrust into the national spotlight, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson called him “family,” and then he was unceremoniously discarded along with most of the original TAPS team in favor of younger, more attractive actors paranormal investigators. But on the other hand, this reminds me a lot of child stars, kids who are propelled into fame and fortune way too soon and don’t know how to deal with it once the spotlight isn’t on them anymore. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more stories like this in the years to come, unfortunately.

Technorati Tags: brian harnois, celebrity, debunking, ghi, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunters international, ghost hunting, ghosts, grant wilson, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, hoax, humor, jason hawes, media, michelle harnois, News, paranormal, people, supernatural, syfy, taps, the atlantic paranormal society, thoughts, tv show

It’s Monday once again, and who doesn’t hate Mondays? Well, people who don’t work Mondays, I guess. But everyone loves zombies, don’t they? I mean, if you haven’t seen The Walking Dead, go watch it. Now. Well, after you read this story, anyways. We found this humorous little story about zombies and one man’s fight against them and the lack of cigarettes. Enjoy!

I wish I had time to run his photo through my “Dead Me” app…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Arrested for throwing a deadly missile into a building around 1:30 in the morning Wednesday, a homeless man told police he was simply trying to get away from zombies.

St. Petersburg Police say David Allen Jensen, 41, used a donut-shaped piece of concrete to break glass outside the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront hotel on First Street S.

He was trying to get inside, he told police, because zombies were chasing him.

Security officers say they saw Jensen pulling on the handles of car doors, too, but not to avoid the undead.  He told police he was trying to steal tobacco from the cars.

A homeless man breaking into a hotel? At least he tried to come up with a creative explanation as far as why he was trying to get in. We really need to stop the homeless population from watching Zombie TV shows…

Technorati Tags: dead me app, florida, hoax, humor, media, News, paranormal, people, picture, st. petersburg, supernatural, the walking dead, thoughts, tv show, zombie, zombies

If you really want to sue someone…

A popular yet controversial Philadelphia-area Halloween attraction that takes place on the grounds of an infamous hospital for the mentally ill is at the center of a personal injury claim filed this week by a New Jersey man.

Steven Chrzanowski, who lives in Gloucester City, N.J., filed a federal complaint at the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on May 21 against the operators of a haunted house that is open each fall at the site of the former Pennhurst mental institution.

Chrzanowski claims in his civil action against Pennhurst Asylum, Pennhurst Haunt LLC and Bates Motel Productions LLC that while attending the haunted house attraction on Oct. 9, 2011, he sustained serious leg injuries after two employees working for the defendants “jumped onto or otherwise abruptly caused a hospital bed to strike the plaintiff in his left knee.”

The negligent act caused Chrzanowski to suffer a posterior horn medial meniscus tear, patellofemoral chondrosis, and infrapateller neuroma, which caused the plaintiff to have to undergo surgery, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint accuses the defendants’ employees of acting in a negligent, careless and reckless manner.

As a result of the incident, the suit states, Chrzanowski experienced pain and suffering, discomfort, incapacitation, and he incurred expenses related to his medical treatment.

The complaint says the alleged incident occurred while the plaintiff was standing in line for one of the indoor attractions of the haunted house at about 9:30 at night.

Pennhurst Asylum and Pennhurst Haunt LLC are Pennsylvania corporations based in Chester County, while Bates Motel Productions LLC is a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in Gradyville, Delaware County.

The Pennhurst haunted attraction, which first opened in 2010, has had its share of controversy, namely due to people opposing the use of the historic site as a Halloween gimmick.

The reason – the facility was shut down amid claims of patient abuse and mistreatment.

According to online records, the facility first opened in the early 1900s and was originally called Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic.

The building, which straddles the Chester County and Montgomery County lines, was designed to house mentally ill and physically disabled patients from southeastern Pennsylvania.

The institution, however, ended up being shuttered in the mid 1980s following news reports of unsanitary conditions and inappropriate treatment on the part of staff against patients, something that led to one of the first class action abuse lawsuits of its kind in U.S. history.

That case, according to news reports, was Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & Hospital, which concluded that developmentally disabled patients under state care have a constitutional right to appropriate treatment and education.

The federal case was filed by former Pennhurst patient Terry Lee Halderman, who claimed that the conditions at Pennhurst were not just unsanitary, but both inhumane and hazardous, violations of patients’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Halderman had argued that cruel and unusual punishment was the norm at Pennhurst.

Records show, however, that the United States Supreme Court ended up vacating the trial court’s ruling due to the Eleventh Amendment, which prevents federal courts from forcing state officials to enforce state laws.

Nevertheless, Pennsylvania officials did finally agree to close down Pennhurst in the summer of 1986, and move its residents to other institutions, according to an archived New York Times article.

From start to finish, the litigation lasted about a decade, records show.

In addition to being the location for the haunted house attraction, Pennhurst is also a popular site among paranormal investigators.

Chrzanowski, the plaintiff in the current lawsuit, seeks compensatory damages in excess of $75,000, plus interest, attorney’s fees, litigation costs and other court relief.

He is being represented by attorney Frank D. Allen of the firm Archer & Greiner.

Technorati Tags: ghost, ghost hunting, ghosts, halloween, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, media, News, paranormal, pennhurst, pennhurst asylum, pennsylvania, people, philadelphia, Steven Chrzanowski, supernatural, thoughts

We’ve done a fair number of stories here at The Occult Section about professional athletes scaring themselves silly at allegedly haunted hotels when they are on the road (see: the Florida Marlins, the Phoenix Suns, the L.A. Lakers, and the New York Knicks). Now Milwaukee is jumping on the paranormal bandwagon, with MLB players claiming that they see spooks when staying at The Pfister Hotel.

Yeah, I would have my “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door to my room at all times…

Miller Park in Milwaukee has never been known as a scary place to play. It’s a beautiful ballpark, true, but it doesn’t have the imposing aura as some other major league stadiums.

So why do so many players dread their visits to Wisconsin?

Because when big league clubs travel to Milwaukee, they tend to stay at one of the city’s fanciest hotels, The Pfister. And apparently, the 120-year-old Pfister is haunted.

Now it would be one thing if a lone player, or just a handful of players, had complained about ghosts in the hotel. But over the years, tons of players from different teams have mentioned that they noticed paranormal activity. Adrian Beltre famously slept with his bat to protect himself. Several members of the Marlins even bunked up during a trip because they didn’t want to battle the ghosts alone.

For a recent ESPN the Magazine story, Stacey Pressman spoke with no fewer than seven A-list MLB stars, each of whom had his own scary story. Here’s Michael Young’s hilarious tale from the Pfister:

“Oh, f— that place. Listen, I’m not someone who spreads ghost stories, so if I’m telling you this, it happened. A couple of years ago, I was lying in bed after a night game, and I was out. My room was locked, but I heard these footsteps inside my room, stomping around. I’d heard all these stories about this hotel, so I was wide awake at that point. And then I heard it again, these footsteps on the floor, so I yelled out, “Hey! Make yourself at home. Hang out, have a seat, but do not wake me up, okay?” After that, I didn’t hear a thing for the rest of the night. I just let him know he was welcome, that we could be pals, that he could marinate in there for as long as he needed to, just as long as he didn’t wake me up.”

Boston Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino has heard the haunted tales of the Pfister from his teammates, but he told Pressman that he didn’t believe it.

“There’s nothing wrong with that hotel,” Victorino claimed.

Not surprisingly, The Pfister’s official Twitter account backed up Victorino’s comment.

Just as an aside, every time I hear Shane Victorino’s name, I think of Rob Schneider’s Copy Machine Guy from Saturday Night Live. “Victorino!! Makin’ copies! Playing the outfield! Victorino!”

Technorati Tags: adrian beltre, boston, brewers, celebrity, espn, florida marlins, ghost, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, humor, knicks, los angeles lakers, major league baseball, media, michael young, milwaukee, MLB, new york knicks, News, paranormal, people, pfister hotel, Phoenix Suns, red soc, rob schneider, saturday night live, shane victorino, snl, supernatural, the lakers, the pfister, thoughts, twitter, wisconsin

So far, this week has been ripe with stories of incredulous speculations about normal, everyday things. From a man calling 911 over Bigfoot “proof” to ufologists claiming to have seen a rat on Mars, a lot of conclusions have been jumped to. Improper grammar aside, here is the latest story of people thinking that a famous cryptid may have been found, and the truth being far less interesting.

Yep, still not a seafood person.

A mysterious sea creature with a set of sharp teeth washed up on a U.K. beach last week, prompting wide speculation as to what it could be—the wildest being a dinosaur or the Loch Ness Monster.

David Mackland was walking with his family on Easthaven beach north of St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland when he came across the carcass of the menacing creature. He had no idea what he had stumbled upon.

“We were just walking on the beach to see what we could find and we came across this,” Mackland told the U.K. Evening Telegraph. “I would say it was 4 to 5 feet long and about a foot wide. It was pretty big.

“You could see the teeth straight away.

“I don’t know what it is. To be honest, I looks a bit like an eel … You don’t usually see stuff like that. You very rarely see fish on the beach. You sometimes see dead birds, but it is unusual to see that.”

Mackland said a big chunk had been taken out of it and that it must have been killed at sea before washing up on the beach. He took photos and set out to determine its identity.

Online speculation ran the gamut from the humorous—a relative of Nessie?—to the more logical. Pike, shark, eel, and ling were among the guesses. Stephen McKelvie of the St. Andrews Aquarium also weighed in on the matter.

 “It may be an oarfish,”McKelvie told the Evening Telegraph. “There was a specimen found near Carnoustie a few weeks back. It could be that this oarfish was left on the beach and the mystery creature is the desiccated corpse. It’s hard to tell because we are unsure of the size and dimensions of the oarfish they found a few weeks ago.

“The alternate idea is that it is a Conger eel that has been caught and left on the beach, or has died naturally and has washed up. The shape of the jaw and the pattern of the teeth are the only things to go on, because of the level of mortification.”

Mackland returned to the beach on Saturday for a beach cleanup.

“I had the lovely task of bagging the carcass,” he wrote GrindTV Outdoor in an email. “I’m just shy of 6 foot tall, so you can see from the picture that it’s almost 6 foot long rather than the 4 to 5 feet that I’d estimated.”

Mackland told GrindTV Outdoor that his initial reaction upon finding the creature was, “What the heck’s that?”

“When you get a look at the head and the teeth you think, ‘Now that’s one mean-looking fish,’” he added.

In the end, the St. Andrews Sea Life Center identified the frightening creature as a Conger eel, though we kind of like the theory it’s related to the Loch Ness Monster.

The creature is definitely weird looking, but I still don’t know why after all of the previous “monsters” that have washed up on beaches that were ultimately explained to be known animals people still insist on jumping right for the cryptozoological explanation.

Technorati Tags: bigfoot, conger eel, cryptozoology, David Mackland, easthaven, great britain, lake monster, loch ness monster, mars rat, media, nessie, News, oarfish, paranormal, scotland, sea monster, Stephen McKelvie, thoughts, UK

In many ways, Bigfoot hunters are just like ghost hunters and UFO hunters. Sure, they all look for different paranormal phenomena and use different methods and equipment, but I love how so many of them just jump to the most ridiculous of conclusions, even when rational explanations are just staring them in the face. To wit, I present to you the case of a half-wit (pardon my terrible humor) calling 911 claiming to have “proof” of Sasquatch, and then the Bigfoot hunting community going ape (again, sorry) and claiming there’s a government cover-up, a dead body, and of course, black helicopters.

“Next time…on…Rescue…911!”

THIS is the audio of a 911 call by John Winesickle claiming he had evidence of the existence of the mythical creature ‘Bigfoot’.

Winesickle, a resident in rural Pennsylvania, says: “He talked in his language, you know. He is so deep when he makes his sound it puts a bear to shame.”

As rumours circulated that the sasquatch had been shot and killed the only ‘proof’ of a sighting were pictures showing a huge footprint near Winesickle’s home.

Conspiracy theorists gathered and started accusing the authorities of a cover-up, after reports that military choppers where seen in the area ‘removing the body’.

A message sent to Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society read: “Officers confirmed there was an unidentified animal shot and killed. Details are a bit fuzzy at this time.”

Officer Christopher Swartz inspected the footprints found by John Winesickle and concluded they belonged to a bear.

Swartz wrote, “I advised John this. He was not happy with the answer. He said he could definitely tell the ¬difference between a bear footprint and a Bigfoot footprint.”

Thomas Rogers a keen admirer of Bigfoot reports said, “Sadly for us though, until a body is found, the question of whether Bigfoot exists or not is still a mystery.”

Washington has been named the No. 1 “Best State for Bigfoot to Live in.” The state has more than 500 reported Bigfoot sightings.

However the existence of the legendary Bigfoot still remains to be seen, even with the number of reported sightings – there is no solid proof and he remains a mythical creature.

I find it interesting that Winesickle (I have some friends that will probably start making frozen winesickles after reading this…sorry, too many parentheses) was so disappointed and reluctant to accept the officer’s explanation. We see a lot of the same thing in the paranormal community. I get lots of e-mails from people asking me to explain what is in a photo or video, because they don’t know what it is, and when I explain that it is just dust or water vapor, they get angry and refuse to believe me. All paranormal communities need to calm the fuck down, is the main bulletpoint of this article here…

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So the big news this week seems to be the so-called “Mars rat.” Yes, UFO enthusiasts are claiming that a rat has been spotted in a photo taken by NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity. Or it may be a lizard. But some silly people, who are doing some of that fancy “rational thinking” that them city folks do, are saying it’s probably just a rock that looks like a rat. Or a lizard.

You can put a red circle in a photo of anything, and people will see something that isn’t there. Don’t believe me? Try it.

Is that a rat… on Mars?!

Yes, according to a theory from one determined man in Japan who recently scoured dozens of NASA photos taken by the space agency’s Mars Curiosity rover. A post on UFO Sightings Daily shows the “Mars rat,” which appears to be a creature with legs and a tail among rocks on the planet.

As the blog notes, the figure “seems to resemble a rodent but also may be a lizard.”

The alleged Mars rat should not be confused with a similar sighting first pointed out in December: An image taken by the Curiosity rover at the “Rocknest” site in September shows a rodent-like figure that most closely resembles a squirrel. However, as UFO Sightings Daily notes, that observation may have been staged by NASA as part of an experiment.

While this most recent rodent sighting may be yet another NASA test (or the result of a few perfectly placed rocks), it’s most likely not a living creature. After all, this is something NASA would make an announcement about, right?

Earlier this year, the agency revealed that the Curiosity rover uncovered signs that life may have once existed on Mars. NASA scientists cited a rock sample the rover analyzed in February that contained elements necessary for supporting life.

“We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new ‘gray Mars’ where conditions once were favorable for life,” John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement at the time. “Curiosity is on a mission of discovery and exploration, and as a team we feel there are many more exciting discoveries ahead of us in the months and years to come.”

If life did exist on Mars, or on any other planet, how sucky would it be if it was just rats?

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