The crystal ball glimmered with an iridescence of days of future past.  The nearby flickering candles threw shadows of  things yet to be upon the orbs crystalline matrix.  The prophet, withered and aged, breathed deeply of the smokey air and continued to gaze deeply into the heart of the crystal.   Deep within his brain, universal connections that bind us all in a web of  wholeness are stimulated by the hypnotic shapes that danced faintly in the ball. 

Time and space are one and all information contained within reality are available to those who can master their intellect and allow the stream of information to be downloaded directly into the brain -- bypassing the rational mind that would block anything received through such unconventional methods.  The prophet sighs in contentment -- because once again his crystal ball has brought him his subscription to Conspiracy Journal, the free weekly e-mail newsletter of everything weird and strange from the past present and future.

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The prehispanic inhabitants of these islands remain an enigma, for all the investigations of recent years. The animal skin-clad aboriginals arrived in the Canary Islands, most likely from north Africa, nobody knows how long ago and their mummified remains now constitute the most popular exhibits in local museums.

But for all their time in the islands before the Spanish arrived, there is relatively little to show for that presence apart from those grisly remains, some rather unsophisticated pottery, some (disputed) pyramids, a number of tumble-down shelters and some indecipherable symbols scratched on rocks and boulders.

Respectful of their natural surroundings, they left their islands pretty much as they found them, with no monuments and above all no written records. Sun worshippers or tree huggers, they remain as much of a mystery as their crude rock carvings.

But the story of their end is better known, thanks to the chronicles of their conquerors. The bloody battles were the beginning of the end for the Guanches. Many were slaughtered, others committed suicide, more were enslaved. Wiped out by the Spanish settlers, theirs is one of the earliest cases of ethnic cleansing of the modern era, pre-dating the extermination of the natives in the New World and has uncomfortable resonances even in the 21st century. The disappearance of the surviving islanders was a slow, painful and humiliating process made up of thousands of individual human tragedies.

Take, for instance, the sad story of a Guanche woman of the sixteenth century whose will has survived in official archives. An interpreter puts her last words into Spanish. She states her belief in the Blessed Trinity and her desire to leave her worldly possessions (which seem to consist of little more than a few items of clothing) to her daughters. She has three. They were taken to Castilla to be converted. But she has no notion of where they are, or whether they are alive or dead. She doesn’t even know what they will be called now, since they have been given Christian names.

That poor woman’s situation was far from being unique. It reflects the drama of the impact of the Spanish conquest on the islands and their subsequent colonisation. Aboriginals who survived by and large weren’t even regarded as third class citizens, never mind second-class ones. They were viewed by the settlers with open hostility but were nevertheless expected to integrate into the new order imposed on them by an alien race.

It has been calculated that by the beginning of the sixteenth century the indigenous people made up just over a quarter of the total population of Gran Canaria with a further quarter comprised of mixed blood inhabitants, the result, more often than not, of rape or extra marital relations on the part of the conquering heroes.

From the outset the Spanish imposed not just their lusts but their language and their religion on the islanders. They were made to adopt European dress and live in villages and towns rather than their preferred choice of caves.
As the years passed, the natives became ever more marginalised. The conquest opened the doors to mass immigration and within fifty years or so most of the islands – the best and most fertile areas, at least – had been colonised.

The aboriginals were relegated to a subservient lower order, at best scratching a living from what land was left to them, at worst surviving as servants or even slaves. Almost none of the Guanche nobility found a niche in Spanish society, though a shining exception was Fernando Guanarteme.

His real name was Thenesor Semidan. The last king (or guanarteme) of his native Galdár in Gran Canaria, he was captured and then apparently won over by the conquering forces to the extent of taking up arms for them and forming a fighting force of native soldiers. He was baptised by a cardinal in Toledo and presented to the Reyes Católicos Ferdinand and Isabela. He and his native troop took part in the conquest of Granada in 1492 and later that of Tenerife where he died.  He was buried with military honour in the church of San Cristóbal in La Laguna.

Over time the majority of natives inevitably entered into what might be called a process of racial fusion with the poorest of the European newcomers and with slaves, mostly Berbers, whom the Spanish brought over from Africa.
As might be expected, the Guanches who became “urbanised” by living at close quarters with their Spanish masters, gradually learnt and adopted their alien habits and customs, though whether out of willingness or a sense of self-preservation is an open question.

The more marginalised who took to the hills and a life of rural hardship, continued to practice the old ways, caring for their herds in the least accessible parts of the islands and defying the ban on speaking their own language.
The legacy of aboriginal society is limited to those elements that posed no challenge to that of their conquerors: their goats, their pottery, their gofio … Physical activities which had been essential to their early way of life such as the juego del palo and salto del pastor in time became local sports.

As with all peoples subject to an occupying force, in whatever period of history, the natives found that the best means of survival was to keep a low profile. Concealing their true origin became second nature to them and those origins subsequently became, no doubt, a matter of shame. An inquisitor as late as the 1670s admitted it was extremely difficult to carry out a census in the islands because “the natives and their descendants conceal their origins with the utmost care”.

A modern historian who trawled through contemporary records took a sample of 1,000 aboriginals in the sixteenth century and found that only 74 had retained any trace of their prehispanic name in their adopted Christian ones. About 170 maintained one relating to their tribal territories (such as Adeje or Agüimes). But the rest retained no vestige of their aboriginal name. These had taken on – or more likely had forced upon them – strictly Christian names and surnames, thus erasing at the stroke of a quill and a trickle of baptismal water, any nominal link with their ancestral past.

The suppression of a people’s cultural identity is a cruel process. In the case of the original Canary Islanders it was brutal, it was effective, and it was done as is so often the case in the name of God and empire. It was, moreover, a dress rehearsal for what was to happen, on a much larger scale, to millions more natives across the Atlantic in the New World not so many years later.

Source: Tenerife News
http://www.tenerifenews.com/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat
=70&idart=4207

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On a summer morning in 1908, one of the largest explosions in human history took place in Russia. The cause of the blast has remained a mystery of mythic proportions, even working its way into "The X-Files."

Now, newly published research seems to debunk part of the popular chronology of what happened that day, dismantling part of the real-world backstory for the iconic sci-fi series at the same time.

Fortunately, the so-called "Tunguska Event" hit one of the most remote regions on the planet and no humans were killed, but that also means few humans were around to figure out what the heck it was that flattened 770 square miles of Siberian forest that day.

While the world was largely occupied with a recent revolution on the other side of Russia and turmoil elsewhere at the time, "Tunguska" went on to be the subject of over 1,000 scholarly papers. One of the leading theories has been that it was caused by a meteorite impact.

The popular explanation is that a powerful burst of air caused by a large meteor colliding with the atmosphere flattened the forest and that nearby Lake Cheko was formed by the impact crater of the resulting meteorite.

But last year, Russian researchers took samples of the sediment from the bottom of the deepest part of the lake and found they were at least 280 years old, easily predating the Tunguska Event and casting doubt on the notion the lake could have been formed by a meteorite impact that day. The findings were reported recently by the Russian Geographical Society.

The elimination of Lake Cheko as the point of impact would deepen the Tunguska mystery. Is it possible a meteor large enough to create an air burst so powerful it could have flattened a major city would have fully disintegrated in the atmosphere?

A less powerful burst blew out windows in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 when a bolide collided with the atmosphere and the resulting meteorite came to rest at the bottom of a nearby lake. Yet the far more damaging Tunguska Event now seems to have left no obvious impact crater.

This means it may be worth giving further consideration to other theories - like the notion that natural gas leaking from the Earth's crust and then ignited by lightning may be to blame.

Although the Tunguska event has managed to vex researchers and scientists for over a century, the new study suggests that the site may still hold some clues as to what happened that fateful day in 1908.

Source: CNET
https://www.cnet.com/news/russia-lake-cheko-study-tunguska-event-meteorite-x-files/

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Report after report of flight attendants coming down with mysterious mid-air illnesses have been pouring in. Some of these sudden, unexplained illnesses caused flights to be grounded or even hazmat teams to be called to the scenes of the quarantined airliners.

At least two Alaska Airlines flight attendants became ill on January 12 while on board their flight, according to officials.

Alaska Airlines says Flight 322 landed in San Jose, California, just before 7 p.m. PT after the flight crew requested that emergency crews meet the Boeing 737 upon landing. Three flight attendants were evaluated by the San Jose Fire Department; one was transported to the hospital.

None of the flight's 181 passengers reported feeling ill.

Some initial investigations claimed that de-icing fluids or some other foreign material in the cabin might be the culprit, but according to San Jose Fire Department Captain Mitch Matlow, conflicting conclusions have been drawn:

    "At this point, we still don’t know exactly what the material is. We’re getting conflicting reports and because of that we’re not prepared to say it was one thing or another. But we are working to identify it."

While these cases are highly disturbing for flight attendants and other airline professionals, the show must go on, as they say. With millions of people depending on commercial airliners every day, it’s not like flights can stop until a cause is found.

However, a new report issued by Bloomberg News has identified a potential source of this mystery: flight attendants’ new uniforms.

From oozing blisters and wheezing to rashes, itchy eyes, and sore throats, numerous American Airlines Group flight attendants say their new work uniforms are making them sick.

But after a battery of tests and a tense back-and-forth among their union, the airline, and the uniform supplier, it's still not clear what exactly is behind the rise in health complaints.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents flight attendants, has asked for a recall on the new garments, which went to 70,000 flight attendants starting in September.

American Airline says it has spent more than $1 million for three rounds of toxicological tests that, so far, haven't turned up any obvious causes for the maladies.

The union says about 10 percent, or 2,300, of the flight attendants it represents have reported adverse reactions – among them skin rashes, sore throats, wheezing, fatigue and vertigo-since they started wearing the new uniform. "This continues to be a serious and growing problem, and is not going to go away without some further remedial action by the company," the union said on Thursday in a message to members.

Flight attendants believe that chemicals in the uniform-say, a dye or an adhesive-are probably causing the severe reactions the union says are affecting roughly one in 10 flight attendants.

"I'm very confident that there's something in that fabric that's causing this," said Bob Ross, the union's national president. "Some [people] react right away. Lots of other people are feeling the effects just by being around the uniforms."

Ross, a 33-year American veteran, said he himself wore the new uniform's cotton shirt, "and by the end of the day my entire chest, neck, and arms were red." It took two showers and disposal of the shirt and its packaging to resolve, he said.

A New York-based flight attendant, speaking via online chat on condition of anonymity, said her throat had begun burning on one flight and that she had grown hoarse and broken out in hives. She said she had been to 12 doctor appointments in 40 subsequent days for tests and consultations.

A similar case occurred in 2013, when a flight attendants’ union launched a lawsuit against Twin Hill, a uniform manufacturer that supplies many airlines and manufactured the new American Airlines uniforms in question. However, that case was rejected in California courts on the grounds that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that the uniforms were causing the illnesses.

Source: Mysterious Universe
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/01/scores-of-flight-attendants-contracting-
mystery-illnesses/

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Michigan is filled with urban legends and folklore. One of the most popular legends is that of the Melon Heads.

Melon Heads are generally described as small humanoids with bulbous heads, occasionally emerging from hiding to attack people.

Although the Melon Head legend extends to Ohio and Connecticut, the legend started in Michigan.

Who are Melon Heads?

According to legend, a hospital in the area of Saugatuck, Michigan, was treating hydrocephalic (or water head syndrome) children. The hospital was forced to close and the children had nowhere to go - so they were released.

Another story described physical and emotional abuse before the children were released into the forests.

The creatures are said to reside near the Felt Mansion, but witnesses have reported sightings in wooded areas around Ottawa County.

Another theory claims the children once lived in the mansion itself - but later retreated to a system of underground caverns.

The Felt Mansion in Holland, Michigan

Located in Holland, the Felt Mansion was built in 1928 by Dorr Felt as a summer home for his wife. The mansion was a school and a chapel until it was purchased by the state of Michigan in 1977.

The state used the mansion as a state police post and converted the building into a prison.

The state sold the estate to Laketown Township in 1995 for $1, as long as they preserved it. The property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Melon Heads legend claims that the Mansion was an insane asylum, which housed the creatures. The Allegan County Historical Society says no such asylum ever existed.

The legend lives on

Local teenagers still claim to encounter the Melon Heads near the Felt Mansion. Laketown Township Manager Al Meshkin told the Holland Sentinel that he had heard the tales as a teenager, calling them "wobbleheads".

Visitors and late-night explorers have reported seeing curtains moving in the windows of the vacant old building with strange noises, such as heavy breathing, footsteps, and shadows darting through the darkness.

The Felt Mansion became the St. Augustine Seminary for boys in 1949.

A former student told the Grand Haven Tribune that Melon Heads actually referred to something else:

“Rumors start because of the unknown. The 'Melon Heads' were actually seminarians at Saint Augustine Seminary in the Felt Mansion,” the former student explained. “The local kids called us that because it was a private school and we were brainy.” 

A 2011 horror film based on the urban legend had the tagline: "Every town has its own monster story. Allegan, Michigan's is the Melonhead."

Source: Click on Detroit
http://www.clickondetroit.com/features/the-legend-of-the-michigan-melon-heads

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