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I KNOW WHAT I SAW DEPARTMENT -
‘We Believe We Saw Bigfoot’
‘We Believe We Saw Bigfoot’
Despite the bad press received recently by the "Bigfoot Body" hoax, people all over the planet are still reporting encounters with this mysterious creature. Two couples are convinced they saw a black sasquatch while travelling through Skiff Lake, Canada.
“I know exactly what I saw,” said Dale Tompkins.
The resident of Anfield in Victoria County was referring to a remarkable incident in York County last weekend which he describes as “quite chilling ... for a few minutes afterwards, especially.”
It was shortly after 7 p.m Sunday evening, Aug. 17 and Tompkins and his wife Valerie were travelling in the Skiff Lake area, heading home from a visit with friends at Second Eel River Lake. That’s when they spotted it – the creature they both firmly believe to be Bigfoot.
“When we got home we went on the Internet and found pictures exactly like what we saw,” Dale told the Bugle-Observer the following day. “There were pictures of brown ones and black ones.
What we saw was a black sasquatch.”
“We were a half to three-quarters of a mile from the Skiff Lake sign in a densely wooded area when we came around a turn and saw a huge figure on the edge of the road. It looked down towards us then it walked across the road ahead of us just about 250 meters away.”
Tompkins said that at first he and Valerie thought it was a bear standing on its hind legs. But as they came closer they realized they were seeing more than just a bear.
“We own hunting and fishing camps and in the last 22 years we have brought in and weighed over 150 bears and I have seen 15 or 16 live ones, five this spring, so I know a bear when I see one.
I know a bear can stand on its hind legs and move around, but a bear can’t walk on two legs the way this human-like form did. It crossed the road in three or four long steps, swinging its long arms like a human!” (Tompkins estimated the chipsealed road to measure 35 feet across.) At the time of the sighting, the couple noticed a vehicle following closely behind them. With hopes that thedriverhad seenwhat they described as a “pitch-black, sleek, hairy, approximately 8-and-a-half foot sasquatch,” they stopped him and his passenger along the road in Canterbury.
“We asked them if they saw what we saw and they said they did,” explained Valerie. “They told us they were on their way home to Saint John from their local area cottage. They were as excited as we were.”
The Bugle-Observer contacted the Saint John couple who confirmed the road-side conversation with Dale and Valerie Tompkins, who they met for the first time that evening.
Although they requested anonymity the woman said, “I know what we saw and I don’t care if people believe us or not. There are four of us who witnessed the same thing so why would we just make something like that up?” Although they stand behind the claims, her husband acknowledged most people will not believe them.
“We don’t want to be involved in what we feel people will only think of as a hoax.”
Valerie Tompkins considered someone may be playing a hoax on them and the couple from Saint John.
“If it was just someone dressed up, they sure did a good job,” she said.
Then she added in a firm tone.
“We believe we saw Bigfoot”.
Source: The Bugle Observer
http://bugleobserver.canadaeast.com/front/article/393032
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FEED ME DEPARTMENT -
Hungry Ghost Month
BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China - Three Chinese were critically injured Wednesday in an accident involving a bus from the athletes' village and a van on the way to the Olympic rowing park, the Australian Olympic Committee said. The accident happened near the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Could it be the curse of Hungry Ghosts?
According to tradition, the Hungry Ghost Month - which began August 1 in the western calendar - sees the gates of the underworld open, allowing real Spooks, specters and real ghosts to enter the world of mortals. At the end of the month, tradition holds the ghosts return to the underworld and the gates are slammed shut. One old tradition still observed in New Orleans today was to search for Secret Voodoo Cemetery Gates Of Guinee, They are said to be found more frequently in the month of August then any other.
For all of us in the know the seventh-lunar-month Hungry Ghost Festival is a real time to hunt and communicate with the dead openly. An array of foods being offered to the deceased this is done mostly in this calendar month. Except in New Orleans when it is also practiced on November 1st and 2nd.
If you want to take as many photos of ghosts this is the month to do it. Many paranormal People around the world claim the month of August as the most haunted Dangerous month of the year. More people die in August then any other or so it is believed. Why You might ask? Because it is Hungry ghost Month and if you break the rules and many Taboo's you are truly doomed!
ina Lanier Paranormal Investigator from Harvey, Louisiana states. " Ghost like people seem to get very active in the months of June - December." " But in my observations I think August is the best time to experience seeing and getting evidence that ghost are real." " I suggest if your a ghost hunter of any ilk try ghost hunting on Ghost Tours or even your own home in August."
Also on a perstenage Lanier believes that more Seances go on because more kids or off of school and bored and their minds turn to ghosts and paranormal conjuring up of the dead."
Real Hungry Ghost Month Taboos!
The Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month.
In Chinese tradition, the thirteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month , in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the deceased visit the living.
On the thirteenth day the three realms of Heaven, Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mache form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the former includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the latter only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.
The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of El Día de los Muertos. Due to theme of ghosts and spirits, the festival is sometimes also known as the Chinese Halloween, though many have debated the difference between the two.
Most interested in the beliefs and taboos that many awful bad things may and can happen to people who give birth, renovate their homes, take trips, go swimming, buy real estate or get a haircut during the most cursed month of the year.
Never look into a mirror this month of the year during the hours of 8:Pm to 8:am. Do not where borrowed clothes, or those items that belonged to the deceased in any way. They say they will come and claim you. Avoid looking into water that the moon reflects upon. if you see the moons reflection your first born child will be struck down.
To Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks. The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in various scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer. Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Maudgalyayana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.
The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a descriptive account of a Buddhist monk named Mahamaudgalyayana, originally a brahmin youth who later ordained, and later becoming one of the Buddha's chief disciples. Mahamaudgalyayana was also known for having clairvoyant powers, an uncommon trait amongst monks.
After he attained arhatship, he began to think deeply of his parents, and wondered what happened to them. He used his clairvoyance to see where they were reborn and found his father in the heavenly realms i.e the realm of the gods. However, his mother had been reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost--- so called because it could not eat due to its highly thin & fragile throat in which no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother had been greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.
Mahamaudgalyayana eased his mother's suffering by receiving the instructions of feeding pretas from the Buddha. The Buddha instructed Mahamaudgalyayana to place pieces of food on a clean plate, reciting a mantra seven times, snap his fingers then tip the food on clean ground. By doing so, the preta's hunger was relieved and through these merits, his mother was reborn as a dog under the care of a noble family.
Mahamaudgalyayana also sought the Buddha's advice to help his mother gain a human birth. The Buddha established a day after the traditional summer retreat (the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, usually mid-to-late August) on which Mahamaudgalyayana was to offer food and robes to 500 bhikkhus. Through the merits created, Mahamaudgalyayana's mother finally gained a human birth.
Due to Confucian influence, the offering became directed towards ancestors rather than the Sangha and ancestor worship has replaced the simple ritual of relieving the hunger of pretas. However, most Buddhist temples still continue the ancient practice of donating to the Sangha as well as to perform rituals for the hungry ghosts.
Chinese Buddhists often say that there is a difference between Ullambana and the traditional Chinese Zhongyuan Jie, usually saying people have mixed superstitions (such as burning joss paper items) and delusional thoughts, rather than think that Ullambana is actually a time of happiness.
O-bon, or simply Bon, is the Japanese version of the Ghost Festival. It has since been transformed over time into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.
Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years. It is held from 13th of July to the 16th ("Welcoming Obon" and "Farewell Obon" respectively) in the eastern part of Japan (Kanto), and in August in the western part (Kansai).
This festival is the chance for pardoning guilty ghosts which are homeless and not be taken care of. People worship ghosts and liberate animals, such as birds or fish.
Influenced by Buddhism, this holiday is also the Vu Lan festival, the Vietnamese transliteration for Ullambana. The festival is also considered Mother's Day. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls. Though also the city of New Orleans with it's population of Vietnamese has also incorporated this into it's Hoodoo Voodoo Traditions.
Ghost Festival in Malaysia is modernized by the 'concert-like' live performing, it has its own characteristic and is not similar to other Ghost Festivals in other countries. The live show is popularly known as 'Koh-tai' by the Hokkien-speaking peoples, it was performed by a group of singers, dancers and entertainers, on a temporary stage that setup within the residential district. The festival is funded by the residents of each individual residential districts. All this is performed in front of several empty red seats reserved just for the dead. And do not sit in the chair for you will be cursed for life and haunted.
Hungry Ghost Month Practices And World Taboo's
In New Orleans: Always set up a special table in your house to seat the dead. Feed them specially prepared dishes of Red Beans and Rice each Monday of the month. The Recipe for Ghost Month Red Beans and rice differs from the norm.
The quintessential New Orleans dish for the dead:
Ingredients
4 1/3 cups water, divided
1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans or pink beans, rinsed
6 ounces sliced Canadian bacon, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped celery leaves
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/4-1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (see Note) or cayenne pepper
1 cup of read wine
A real Catholic blessed rosary cross or crucifix:
Cooking Instructions,
1. Combine Cross, and 3 1/3 cups water, rice and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to low, cover and cook until all the water has been absorbed, about 45 minutes.
2. About 10 minutes before the rice is ready, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is lightly colored and tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Place 1 cup beans in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add the mashed and whole beans, the remaining 1 cup water, Canadian bacon, celery, celery leaves, bell pepper and ground chipotle (or cayenne) to the pan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened into a gravy and the vegetables are crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls, spooned over the rice.
Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeno peppers. They are often used to add heat and a smoky flavor to foods. Ground chipotle can be found in the specialty spice section of most supermarkets.
This is not recommended to be eaten by the living. This is only for the dead. They say if you eat it you too will leave for the other world when the ghost leave at the end of the month. This should then be brought in a new pot to the cemetery on September first and left at your families graves.
Other Hungry Ghost Month Taboos From around the World:
Never wash your clothes at night or your grand children will suffer there whole life's long.
Do not allow small pets into your bedroom at night to do so will make the ghosts that come to visit annoyed with you. (Some Pets warn of ghosts in homes) They the ghosts will often strike you with serious illness that will last one year to the day.
Do not under any circumstances comb or brush your hair with anything but your hands and fingers. To do this spells real trouble. The hungry ghosts are said to make men impotent and women sterile for 5 years if you do not follow this dire warning.
Only take a full bath on Wednesday of each week. Wipe your body down with a damp cold rag each night steeped in green tea and rose petals. If you do not heed this you will suffer from great headaches and loss of being able to speak for one year or more.
Do not bare your shoulder or bare arm except on Tuesdays of the month.
Do not get any tattoo's or piercing this month they will never heal and you may die from it.
Only wash your hair with clear water and vinegar the entire month. to not do this spells loss of control of your bowels for the rest of your life.
Do not wear perfume or deodorant.
Do not cry this month. Hold back your many tears. If a ghost see's you cry then it will take your soul or possess you. If a child cries though their s no effect if they are under the age of 10.
If anyone dies this month have them immediately cremated and do not morn them until December. Pretend it never happened or their soul will go to hell forever for your misdeed.
Do not put trash out of your house to be picked up the entire month . One should wait until the month is over to throw something out of your house. This spells disaster that your children will not find happy marriage or wealth.
If a young girl does not pray each night from 7:PM until 10:pm she will surly never conceive a child of her own.
Young Boys and all men up to the age of 50 should not masturbate the entire month. To do so means the hungry Ghost will curse you to never father a son.
Source: Haunted America Tours
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghosthunting/GhostMonthTaboos.php
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DANCE TILL YOU DROP DEPARTMENT -
'Dancing Plague' and Other Odd Afflictions Explained
'Dancing Plague' and Other Odd Afflictions Explained
In July of 1518, a woman referred to as Frau Troffea stepped into a narrow street in Strasbourg, France and began a fervent dancing vigil that lasted between four and six days. By the end of the week, 34 others had joined her and, within a month, the crowd of dancing, hopping and leaping individuals had swelled to 400.
Authorities prescribed "more dancing" to cure the tormented movers but, by summer's end, dozens in the Alsatian city had died of heart attacks, strokes and sheer exhaustion due to nonstop dancing.
For centuries this bizarre event, known variously as the dancing plague or epidemic of 1518, has stumped scientists attempting to find a cause for the mindless, intense and ultimately deadly dance. Historian John Waller, author of the forthcoming book, "A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518," studied the illness at length and has solved the mystery.
"That the event took place is undisputed," said Waller, a Michigan State University professor who has also authored a paper on the topic, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Endeavour.
Waller explained that historical records documenting the dancing deaths, such as physician notes, cathedral sermons, local and regional chronicles, and even notes issued by the Strasbourg city council during the height of the boogying rage, all "are unambiguous on the fact that (victims) danced."
"These people were not just trembling, shaking or convulsing; although they were entranced, their arms and legs were moving as if they were purposefully dancing," he said.
Eugene Backman, author of the 1952 book "Religious Dances in the Christian Church and in Popular Medicine," sought a biological or chemical origin for the dancing mania. Backman and other experts at the time believed the most likely explanation was ergot, a mold that grows on the stalks of damp rye. When consumed unknowingly in bread, the mold can trigger violent convulsion and delusions but not, Waller says, "coordinated movements that last for days."
While at Australia's James Cook University, sociologist Robert Bartholomew proposed a theory that the dancers were performing an ecstatic ritual of a heretical sect, but Waller counters, "there is no evidence that the dancers wanted to dance."
"On the contrary," he added, "they expressed fear and desperation," according to the written accounts.
A series of famines, resulting from bitter cold winters, scorching summers, sudden crop frosts and terrifying hailstorms, preceded the maniacal dancing, Waller said. Waves of deaths followed from malnutrition. People who survived were often forced to slaughter all of their farm animals, secure loans and finally, take to the streets begging.
Smallpox, syphilis, leprosy and even a new disease known as "the English sweat" swept through the area.
"Anxiety and false fears gripped the region," Waller said.
One of these fears, originating from a Christian church legend, was that if anyone provoked the wrath of Saint Vitus, a Sicilian martyred in 303 A.D., he would send down plagues of compulsive dancing.
Waller therefore believes a phenomenon known as "mass psychogenic illness," a form of mass hysteria usually preceded by intolerable levels of psychological distress, caused the dancing epidemic.
Ivan Crozier, a lecturer in the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh, says that he "agrees completely" with Waller's conclusion.
"His cultural explanation, combined with a contextualized view of the conditions in which people lived at the time on the Rhine and Mosel, is very convincing and is superior to the arguments about ergot, which is a compound like LSD," Crozier said.
"Ergot gave people visions, not energy to dance," he added.
Crozier is a world authority on yet another mass hysteria epidemic: koro.
Since at least 300 B.C., plagues of koro -- an irrational male fear that one's genitals have been stolen or are fatally shrinking into the body -- have swept through various parts of the world, particularly throughout Africa and Asia. Most recently, a 1967 outbreak, documented in the Singapore Medical Journal, caused over 1,000 men to use pegs and clamps in hopes of protecting themselves from the gripping fear.
"In both cases we see cultural issues impacting on collective behavior," Crozier said, explaining that preexisting superstitions, fears and beliefs surrounding both koro and the dancing epidemic led to group beliefs turning into "collective action."
Waller explained that victims often go into an involuntary trance state, fueled by psychological stress and the expectation of succumbing to an altered state.
"Thus, in groups subject to severe social and economic hardship, trance can be highly contagious," he said.
At least seven other outbreaks of the dancing epidemic occurred in medieval Europe, mostly in the areas surrounding Strasbourg. In more recent history, a major outbreak occurred in Madagascar in the 1840's, according to medical reports that described "people dancing wildly, in a state of trance, convinced that they were possessed by spirits."
Perhaps the most unusual documented case of mass psychogenic illness was the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962. A paper published the following year in the Central African Journal of Medicine described what happened.
Triggered by a joke among students at a Tanzania boarding school, young girls began to laugh uncontrollably. At first there were spurts of laughter, which extended to hours and then days.
The victims, virtually all female, suffered pain, fainting, respiratory problems, rashes and crying attacks, all related to the hysterical laughter. Proving the old adage that laughter can be contagious, the epidemic spread to the parents of the students as well as to other schools and surrounding villages.
Eighteen months passed before the laughter epidemic ended.
According to medical epidemiologist Timothy Jones, an assistant clinical professor of preventative medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who also reported an incident of hysteria in Belgium following soft-drink consumption, "Outbreaks of psychogenic illness are likely to be more common than is currently appreciated, and many go unrecognized."
Jones recommends that physicians treating such problems "attempt to separate persons with illness associated with the outbreak," conduct tests to rule out other causes, monitor and provide oxygen for hyperventilation, attempt to minimize the individual's anxiety, notify public health authorities and seek to assure patients that, while their symptoms "are real…rumors and reports of suspected causes are not equivalent to confirmed results."
Aside from their medical interest, Waller believes such epidemics, particularly those from past centuries, are "of immense historical value."
He said the dancing plague "tells us much about the extraordinary supernaturalism of late medieval people, but it also reveals the extremes to which fear and irrationality can lead us."
He added, "Few events in my view so clearly show the extraordinary potentials of the human mind."
Source: Discovery News
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/01/dancing-death-mystery.html
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STAY AWAY FROM MAGNETS DEPARTMENT -
Woman Claims Metal Wire Grows From Her Body
Woman Claims Metal Wire Grows From Her Body
It's a currently big news in Indonesia. Metal wires about 10-20 cm long grow from a woman's body! Skeptics initially thought that is must be "self-inflicted". Doctors however, have other theories but have given up on providing any scientific or medical explanations.
The woman had this problem for 17 years and currently being investigated by the Ministry of Health. Initial consultation with doctors and specialists found that the wires are also inside her body. At this stage, there were no current medical explanations or any case ever exist. Hence, there is but only one other possible consideration… Occult magic.
Her name is NOORSYAIDAH. A 40 years old kindergarten teacher from Sangatta, East Kutai. Her first symptoms started manifestating in 1991. The metal wires grew out of her chest and her belly. There was no explanation then (or even now). During the first week wires kept falling off from her body and were gone. A month later, the wires grew back again and from that time onward the wires did not fall. They kept growing!
One of her sisters said that she tried to help by trimming the wires. Alas, whenever she trimmed the wires, the wire retreated as if it were hiding and then popped up in another part of Noorsyaidah’s body.
There have been 4 Medical Specialists taking this matter seriously and have treated her in several ways. And as the result, doctors can’t figure out what exactly is happening to her. The doctors have taken an X-Ray image from her stomach and found that there are more than 40 metal wires inside her and some of them are bursting out of her skin. They looks like a living phenomenon. The wires are able mobile and therefore can change location at will, Thus the doctors are forced to use a magnet to scan the exact position of the wires. The wires bursted out without any symptoms of Tetanus, but she said that they’re hurting her like when needles sting.
Source: Phantoms and Monsters
http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2008/08/indonesian-woman-claims-metal-wire-has.html
