There is a vault in a West Indies cemetery that prefers its coffins in disarray. An entire family was buried within - the Chase family. One by one, family members both young and old would die and be carefully placed in their eternal resting place - until the father (rumoured to be one of the most hated men on the island) was interred. When the ground keepers opened the door to store him within, all the coffins seemed to have scattered themselves about the floor.
The strange occurrence happened again and again. Some reports say people could actually hear the coffins moving themselves while locked inside the cement sealed vault.
The first published account of these moving coffins was by Sir J. E. Alexander's Transatlantic Sketches (1833):
"Each time that the vault was opened the coffins were replaced in their proper situations, that is, three on the ground side by side, and the others laid on them. The vault was then regularly closed; the door (a massive stone which required six or seven men to move) was cemented by masons; and though the floor was of sand there were no marks of footsteps or water.
The last time the vault was opened was in 1819. Lord Combermere (governor of the colony) was then present, and the coffins were found confusedly thrown about the vault, some with their heads down and others up. What could have occasioned this phenomenon? In no other vault in the island has this ever occurred".
The first to be housed in the edifice was Mrs. Thomasina Goddard in or around 1807. She was followed by two year old Mary Ann Chase in 1808 and then by another child - Dorcas Chase in 1812.
Those coffins were all very well behaved until the family head - Thomas Chase - was to be placed inside. Thomas, as we've already stated, is said to have been one of the more despised men on the island. When the crypt was opened to place him inside, the other coffins seemed to have moved themselves from their orderly places.
Those in the funeral party were angered at the finding, supposing heartless robbers to be responsible. This thought was soon abandoned as nothing was missing from the coffins, nothing of value had been placed inside in the first place, and (most significantly) the door to the burial site was a huge stone cemented in place. To open it, the cemetery workers quite literally had to do so with a hammer and chisel. The stone was also said to have been so big, a team of at least four men would be needed to move it. Confused, the townspeople placed the freshest body inside and resealed the vault.
The newest coffin was a 240 lb. lead coffin, an extremely difficult thing to toss about for anyone looking to drag it around until money fell out.
In 1816 another burial was to take place - this time for eleven year old Charles Brewster Ames. Again the coffins were everywhere but in their proper places. The 240 lb. lead coffin of Thomas Chase was also in the wrong location. The crypt had been completely sealed and, again, had no signs of tampering or forced entry.
52 days later, another burial was to take place in the crypt. A large crowd gathered for this one, and they weren't disappointed. This time the cement-sealed door was closely examined before opening, with no strange findings. Again the coffins had thrown themselves about. There was a difference this time in that the first coffin that had been placed inside - the only one made of wood - had been badly damaged by the tussle. A reverend was called in to check the scene, but left with no new insight. Once again the vault was sealed.
In 1819 another family burial was needed. The vault was opened with all the same results - except the wooden one found damaged the last time had not been moved one single inch. The governor of the island (Lord Combermere) had enough at this point and ordered his own investigation - nothing was found. This time sand was scattered on the ground to catch the footprints and movements of any pranksters. The governor's own seal was placed in the hardening cement, then the vault was ordered sealed until the next family tragedy.
But the governor couldn't wait that long.
Less than a year later the head-of-state ordered the crypt opened, this time only in front of himself and several friends. The seal was perfectly intact upon arrival, but the coffins were still scattered. Some of them had even flipped upside down, and one was lying halfway up the stairs leading to the door. The sand so carefully placed before gave away no footprints or signs of water. The governor then ordered the coffins removed to a new burial site, and the crypt was left open. It's standing open and empty to this very day.
Could zombies actually exist? What would it take for human corpses to rise up and hunt the living? We often think zombies are scientifically impossible — but actually, they're just very implausible. Here's one way The Walking Dead could happen in real life.
To start our zombie thought experiment, we need to make some basic assumptions. First, we're ignoring all supernatural zombie origins. We're also going to set aside space radiation, mysterious comets, or Russian satellites. Our focus will be narrowed to biological origins –- a zombie contagion. Of course, there are many different zombie scenarios in books and film, and no one theory is going to cover all of them perfectly.
The first aspect of human zombification we need to tackle is basic zombie physiology. In virtually every zombie scenario, zombies are able to function despite increasing levels of physical deterioration due to injury or decomposition. There has to be some mechanism for transmitting neural impulses from the brain to various body parts, and for providing energy to muscles so they can keep operating.
The most common science fictional explanation for zombie outbreaks is a virus — but viruses and bacterial infections are not known for building large new physical structures within the body. So let's count viruses out. Instead, the need for a mechanism to activate deteriorating body parts actually provides the cornerstone of what is, in my opinion, the strongest theory: fungal infection. Continue reading at Zombie Attack Reality
Another violent face-biting incident associated with the drug mephedrone has taken place, this time in Louisiana, according to Lafayette, Louisiana’s KATC. Forty-three-year-old Carl Jacquneaux is accused of biting the face of Todd Credeur in a bizarre attack that took place over the weekend and bears a startling resemblance to a case that took place last month in Miami, in which 31-year-old Rudy Eugene attacked another man and tore off most of his face with his teeth before being shot dead by police.
Credeur said that he was working in his yard when Jacquneaux, reportedly upset about a “domestic matter,” attacked him and, in the words of Scott, Louisiana Assistant Police Chief Kert Thomas, “bit a chunk of the victim’s face off.” Credeur defended himself by spraying “wasp spray” into Jacquneaux’s face, ending the attack.
Jacquneaux fled the scene, but soon after appeared at the house of another acquaintance in the town of Carencro, attacking him, holding him at knife point and demanding a gun. It was there that police deputies caught up with Jacquneaux and arrested him.
Police say that they believe that Jacquneaux was under the influence of drugs at the time of arrest, but failed to conduct blood tests before he was incarcerated. KATC reports that a woman familiar with Jacquneaux indicated that the suspect had been using so-called “bath salts.”
Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant that users say makes them feel energized and confident. It intensifies the pleasure associated with hearing music and is therefore popular in nightclubs, at concerts and at “raves.” At toxic levels, however, the drug reportedly causes intense confusion and sometimes violent rage, spikes in body temperature and hallucinations.
Wired magazine reports that regulators are engaged in an elaborate game of “Whac-a-mole” with the chemists producing the drugs. “Every time a compound is banned, overseas chemists synthesize a new version tweaked just enough to evade a law’s letter,” wrote Wired‘s Brandon Keim.
Producers of the mephedrone have sold it under the names “bath salts” and “plant food.” It exploded into widespread use in the U.K. in 2008, prompting lawmakers to ban it, first in the U.K. and Israel, then in all of the EU. Congress hurriedly made the chemical temporarily illegal in the U.S. in October 2011. - rawstory
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Plane Crash Ghosts Scare Residents
As the site of last Sunday plane crash in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State was fumigated yesterday, some residents of the area have appealed to the authorities to bury the victims far from the area.
Their apprehension was based on their belief in the existence of ghosts.
Idayatu Ali, a 24-year-old unemployed school leaver, said living around the scene of the crash, was a worrisome idea some of them have been battling with. As such, she said no one would want the victims buried at the scene of the accident, “for fear of their ghosts appearing to us”.
According to her, human beings are no goats and when they die prematurely, especially, violently, their ghosts tend to haunt the scene for a while.
“This is no superstition; I have witnessed where a young man died in an accident and his ghost continued to cry at the scene for days until a sacrifice was performed.
“Please, tell them not to bury the victims here or else, some of us will have to abandon our houses,” she pleaded.
However, Jude Agwu, a commercial motorcyclist, said he and some of his colleagues could easily offer sacrifices to Ogun (the Yoruba god of iron) in a bid to get rid of any ghost threat.
Mr. Iyiola Akande, the South-West Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said no decision had been taken on where to bury the victims.
He, however, believed that identifiable bodies should be released to their relations for burial, while badly burnt ones would be given mass burial, probably far from the scene. - leadership.ng
Vieques Island, Puerto Rico - 6/18/1996 - unedited: My brother worked as a civilian security patrol guard at the former NARF(naval ammunitions reserve facility) US NAVY base in Vieques, P.R. about 15-20 years ago. Although for some reason(maybe the language barrier) little has been informed to the public about it, this area has had a fairly large history of UFO and Alien activity. This activity was concentrated and has been recorded to had happened here more during the years that the US NAVY operated and had they're base facilities here. It is said that many people who were there at some time during those years observed and witnessed several unexplained UFO and Alien beings encounters. This eye witness reports were people that included civilian security personel, local police officers, US NAVY personell stationed at the base there, and civilians from the island. It is known that some of this unusual encounters and incidents were recorded and entered into official records by the US NAVY people. And also that this records became US Government "Classified Information". Vieques is a very small Carribean island and part of Puerto Rico a few miles south-east of the main island. The US military occupied 3/4 of the whole island for over 50 years until around the year 2004 when they ended operations there. They had two military bases there, this particular one on this story was the US NAVY on the West side of the island. And it was a location were NAVY stored naval ammunitions for the Atlantic fleet. You can see Vieques and both od this the military bases there that were feautured in Clint Easwood's movie Heartbreak Ridge (1986). My brother was working as a civilian patrol security guard there when he had this encounter. He recalls that on this occasion, him and a security guard partner were patrolling doing they're rounds around this very remote area on the hills on the base facilities area. And while they were at at one of the ammunitions storage magazine warehouse, they spotted in the distance a very unusual craft(UFO)hovering in the air over this remote beach area. My brother in total disbelieve became very inquisitive about what he was observing. And talked to his partner about wanting to drive down to that area to take a closer look to see what this thing was. But his partner seemed to be full of fear about it, and did not wanted to drive down there to get any closer to the object. My brother observed that this thing hovering in the air over that beach was emitting all this very unusual colored-lights and that is was something like he had never seen before. And he could not explain to himself what that thing was. But whatever it was, it did not appear to be like something out of this Earth. He did not wanted to go alone down there closer to that beach area to investigate what that thing was. Finally he was able to convinced his very frightful partner to join him and drive they're 4-wheel drive patrol vehicle down there and take a closer look at it. According to his description of the account, they drove down from this hill area down this remote beach 4-weels trail and stopped the vehicle a little distance away from where the craft was still hovering over the beach. And he got out of the vehicle mesmerized observing all this wierd display of colored lights comming out of this hovering craft. He went back into the vehicle and brought out this spot light with him. And then he began to flash like signals to this craft. At this, it sounds like the craft noticed they're precence nearby. And inmediatly turned and began hovering and approching them at a very fast speed until it came to a distance right above they're heads. And even with both being so frightened by this, they observed all this lights comming out of it and then like a light beam began comming out from the bottom of the craft at them. Inmediatly panicking and back inside the vehicle they managed to peel away and make a run down that trail away from that thing for dear life. And they kept going until they got back to the base buildings area. And this story is one of the several others UFO/allien encounters that had occured over the years on this area in Vieques, P.R. - MUFON CMS
This week, Eric and Lon welcome paranormal researcher, author and radio host Joshua P. Warren to the show. Joshua is widely known in the paranormal community and has investigated a wide variety of strange and unexplained events. Joshua makes his first appearance on BTE Radio as we talk with him about his work, his travels and his recent trip to Romania to search for the legendary Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Țepeș)...better known as Dracula.
About Joshua:
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Joshua P. Warren has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains his entire life, but traveled widely. At the age of 13, he wrote his first published book. Since then, he has had ten more books published, including the regional best-seller, Haunted Ashevilleand How to Hunt Ghosts : A Practical Guideand is the president of his multimedia productions company, Shadowbox Enterprises, LLC. His articles have been published internationally, and he has been covered by such mainstream media as CNN, Fox News, Southern Living, Delta Sky, FATE, New Woman, The New York Times, FHM and Something About the Author; and made the cover of the science journal, Electric Space Craft. A winner of the University of North Carolina Thomas Wolfe Award for Fiction, he wrote columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times from 1992 to 1995. His first novel, The Evil in Ashevillewas released in 2000.
An internationally-recognized expert on paranormal research, Warren was hired by the famous Grove Park Inn Resort to be the first person to officially investigate the Pink Lady apparition in 1995 (the same year he founded L.E.M.U.R. paranormal investigations, of which he is president). Warren also led the expedition that captured the first known footage of the elusive Brown Mountain Lights, eventually resulting in scientific breakthroughs, via experiments Warren led in the lab, that help explain most of the lights and many mysterious, natural plasmas (such as ball lightning) that occur around the world. His work has been praised by the Rhine Research Center, The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (or NCCAT, for which he gives annual presentations) and numerous scholars such as New York Times best-selling author Dr. William R. Forstchen, Dr. William Roll, Dr. Andrew Nichols, and legendary researchers such as NASA engineer Charles A. Yost, Oak Ridge National Laboratory engineer David Hackett, and authors/researchers Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe.
Warren has appeared on the National Geographic Channel, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Sci-Fi, Animal Planet, and numerous networks affiliates of NPR, ABC, NBC, and CBS. He is frequently asked to be a guest on radio shows around the world, especially Coast to Coast AM with George Noory/Art Bell. Warren is also an international award-winning filmmaker (including Hollywood.com's 'Top Underground Filmmaker of 1998'), having worked on many sets, such as Warner Brother's My Fellow Americans, Universal's Patch Adams, Paradise Falls, Inbred Rednecks, Songcatcher, and Sinkhole.
Warren works as a radio host for Clear Channel, the largest radio corporation in the world, hosting a weekly paranormal program, Speaking of Strange, airing Saturday nights on News Radio 570 WWNC. It's rated no. 1 in the region Saturday nights, reaching up to four states and streaming live worldwide on the internet.
Warren has a notoriously busy schedule, and a seemingly unprecedented variety of ambitious projects. For example, in one year alone, 2004, his book How to Hunt Ghosts was released in Portuguese in Brazil; his one-man documentary Alone in a Haunted Housewas released nationally and, within one month, became the all-time best-selling documentary for its distributor; his research/experiments made the cover of a science journal for the first time; he began work as a professional radio host; produced a national paranormal conference; traveled the country and the Bermuda Triangle/Bahamas on major research expeditions, such as studying "Death Touch" martial artists in Chicago; and wrote, produced, directed, shot, and edited a feature film on a $1000 budget. Each year, he usually leads a public expedition to amazing paranormal sites around the world. For more information visit www.ParanormalExpeditions.com or www.BermudaTriangleBase.com You can also check out Josh's website www.joshuapwarren.com
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Hi folks. Around this time last year I had made a plea for donations in order to get 'Phantoms and Monsters' back on track. Several people responded...I truly appreciate your help. Since that time I have increased advertising and initiated a few other projects in order to raise revenue. Some of the strategy panned out and some of it didn't.
It is amazing to look back and realize that I began this blog in February 2006 and soon after starting I made a commitment to post several times daily (unless something came up). This has resulted in 6580 posts and 7,600,000+ page views. As well, there are currently 17,000+ feed and free daily newsletter subscribers. That is an astounding number for a simple paranormal / alternative news blog. I have promised to keep this service free despite going through a few rough patches. I also launched a free social paranormal wiki / network several years ago that has expanded to 1470+ members and remains quite active.
I just ask that you consider what the blog is worth to you as a reader. I try to keep the subject matter fresh, interesting and thought-provoking. I also enjoy presenting other's personal viewpoints and experiences. I am always open to suggestion. Thanks again for your support...Lon
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How the HIV Virus Became the US Government’s Most Successful Bio-Weapon
In the rainforest of south-east Cameroon 80% of the meat eaten is “bushmeat”. The indigenous people consume a diet of gorilla, chimpanzee or monkey.
It is estimated that an excess of 30,000 gorillas are killed in Cameroon each year for their meat.
The habits of tribes like those in Cameroon are now being blamed for the transmission of viruses like the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which is purported by mainstream scientists to have originated in chimpanzees.
Babila Tafon of the Ape Action Africa (AAA) a primate sanctuary claims to have found a new virus in the apes arriving at the AAA. It is a simian “foamy” virus, closely related to HIV. Tafon explains: “A recent survey confirmed this is now in humans, especially in some of those who are hunters and cutting up the apes in the south-east of the country.”
Transfer of viruses from ape to human occur when the primate bites or scratches, however, some assert that eating primate meat (although cooked) is a transferable way for the new virus to reach humans.
Professor Dominique Baudon, the director of the Cameroon Centre, blames the practice of eating bushmeat for the transfer of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) which then trans-mutated into HIV in humans.
Following the storyline of “HIV came out of Africa” researchers at the Wilford Hall United States Air Force Medical Center and San Antonio Military Medical Center, have concluded that people of African descent are more likely to have a genetic trait that makes them “more susceptible” to contracting the HIV virus.
Matthew Dolan, co-author of the study suggests:
The benefit that the Africans got from a mutation that gave them some resistance to malaria has, statistically at least, rendered them some increased susceptibility to HIV.
The question researchers asked was: how do some people exposed to HIV contract the virus while others do not?
The study analyzed more than 1,200 US military service men and women infected with HIV to answer questions about the genetic aspects of the disease.
In 60% of African-Americans and 90% of Africans, a genetic trait was identified that made HIV 40% more prevalent than in Caucasians.
These researchers did not consult Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan ecologist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who says that HIV was created deliberately in a laboratory as a biological weapon.
Maathai stated at a press conference after receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize that:
Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys (since) time immemorial, others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that.
Maathai maintains that HIV was created by,
agents to wipe out other people . . . In fact [the HIV virus] was created by a scientist for biological warfare. Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me suspicious.
She asserts that HIV was created for the purposes of population control in Africa.
Dr. Alan Cantwell, MD agrees with Matthai’s summation of the origins of HIV.
Cantwell explains:
After the smallpox vaccine story hit the front-page of The London Times, the story was subsequently killed and never appeared again in any of the world major media. The smallpox eradication vaccine program sponsored by the World Health Organization was responsible for unleashing AIDS in Africa. About 100 million Africans living in central Africa were inoculated by the WHO. The vaccine was held responsible for awakening a ‘dormant’ AIDS virus on the continent. I am sure the ‘big business’ of vaccine makers had something to do with censoring the story. Also the Times story provided another explanation for the outbreak in Africa other than the widely-accepted ‘monkey in the African jungle’ theory of HIV/AIDS.
Cantwell believes that primates were injected with various cancer-causing and immunosuppressive viruses, as part of primate animal cancer research conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
In the 1970s, at Fort Detrick in Maryland, Richard Nixon joined the NCI with the military’s biological warfare unit.
Cantwell asserts:
There is NO PROOF that AIDS, which first appeared EXCLUSIVELY in young (primarily white) gay men in Manhattan, came from Africa. This is yet another myth about AIDS. How could a supposed black heterosexual African epidemic transform itself into an EXCLUSIVELY WHITE YOUNG GAY MENS’ DISEASE IN MANHATTAN? In my opinion this is biologically impossible. Furthermore, there was no ‘incubation period’ for HIV in America. As soon as the government-sponsored gay hepatitis B experiment (1978-1981) ended in Manhattan in 1981 the epidemic became official. The first cases of AIDS in gay men appeared in Manhattan in 1979, soon after the gay experiment began in Manhattan, New York City.
Dr. Robert Strecker has explained in his books that Africans were infected with HIV during the smallpox vaccine distribution; as laid out by WHO in a memorandum from 1972.
Prior to 1979, there were no reported cases of HIV/AIDS in Africa, according to Luc Montagnier, a French Pasteur scientist. By calculating Montagnier’s isolation of the first HIV case in Paris, France, the first cases of HIV must have begun in the fall of 1982.
While AIDS are first announced in 1981, there were yet no reported cases proving that there was an African epidemic.
Those populations in underdeveloped nations like Africa succumb to the disease much quicker. Because of the lack of access to medical care, up to 40% of the population is estimated to be killed off.
Experiments conducted by Myron Max Essex at Harvard explained that prior to the HIV outbreak in Africa scientists had foreknowledge that retroviruses cause immunosuppression, by studying feline leukemia viruses.
Robert Gallo, who participated in this research, later admitted that HIV was a government created bio-weapon.
According to an annual volume of the Special Cancer Virus Program, human experimentation with cancer-causing and immunosuppressive viruses was essential. With the “gay plague” and “gay cancer’, such experiments were no longer necessary. The deaths of thousands of gay men proved with these viruses caused cancer, immunosuppression, and were sexually-transmissible between people.
Just as the human radiation experiments administered radioactive elements to unsuspicious Americans, so the HIV virus was unleashed onto the unsuspecting African people receiving a smallpox vaccine.
Last month the first human study conducted for clinical trials commenced with the hopes from the pharmaceutical industry that Vacc-C5, the “HIV vaccine”, would prove successful.
Oslo University hospital hosted the study of Bionor Pharma ASA’s Vacc-C5 believed to slow down or stop induction of immune hyper-activation. This vaccine attacks the virus’s ability to produce, therefore making it the perfect candidate to be a preventive vaccine; administered to everyone eventually.
However, a vaccine trial conducted by rival drug corporation Merck, the HIV Vaccine Trial Network and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases claimed that 24 of 741 volunteers who got the vaccine in one segment of the experiment later became infected with HIV, which causes AIDS. In a comparison group of volunteers who got the placebo, 21 of 762 participants also became infected.
Propaganda articles in mainstream media are pro-HIV vaccine. They claim that “the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS combined existing research and evidence to develop a Strategic Investment Framework (SIF) for HIV/AIDS that showed that by increasing smart and focused investments now we can turn the tide against this disease and can realistically start talking about the end of AIDS.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In recent months Africa has been victim to:
The ravaging by AFRICOM under Obama’s orders to search out and capture Joseph Kony; a minimal threat who has been missing since 2007.
The securitization of their natural resources by corporate and government interests.
They are witnessing the UN’s forcible land grab operations under the guise of preserving the land. The UN has aligned with private corporations to make use of the land without Africa’s consent.
Researchers for the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the University of London sponsored by the British government have located underground aquifers of water in Africa that are 100 times the amount found on the surface of the continent. They intend to securitize these supplies.
Obama’s creation of the New Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security (NAFNS) that is a $3 billion plan to securitize Africa’s food supply by giving African land to private corporations (like Coca-Cola and Nestle) to make agricultural use and nationalize the food production and disbursement.
The resurgence of MSM coverage in HIV/AIDS is purely to promote the new HIV vaccines that are currently being researched by pharmaceutical corporations in conjunction with government bio-weapons agencies.
While the purpose of the vaccine to “cure” HIV will no doubt be preventative; meaning everyone will be expected to get the immunization, the threat of large amounts of the world’s populations becoming infected with HIV will become a reality in the near future. - infowars
WTF! Man on the run after impregnating his mother for the second time
A Domboshava man is on the run after his mother fell pregnant following an incestuous relationship over several years.
The local chief, Chief Chinamhora told state-run Herald newspaper that his aides were looking for Simon Matsvara and his mother Ethel Vhangare who is said to be five months pregnant.
“We are going to hunt for the two and we will punish them severely to send a clear message to would-be offenders that we do not tolerate such acts,” the chief said.
Neighbours in Pote village claimed that this was the second time Ethel had fallen pregnant by her son having suffered a miscarriage the first time back in 2008.
They said the pair started their relationship after Simon’s father, Agripah, suffered a stroke and relatives assigned him to help his mother look after his dad.
A few months later, while her husband was still alive, Ethel admitted to villagers that she was pregnant and that her son was responsible.
Family elders reportedly fined the pair an undisclosed number of cattle and Ethel suffered a miscarriage two months later just before her husband died.
But the pair continued with their relationship, resulting in another pregnancy this year which came to light when Ethel started absconding church services.
Fellow worshipers visited her at home where they found she was five months pregnant and reported the outrage to Chief Chinamhora.
The pair then fled the community after the chief sent his aides to arrest them.
Meanwhile, Chief Chinamhora also had to fine a 26-year-old man and his niece, 22, from Mutonda village who had lived together as husband and wife since 2007. They bore two children now aged four and one.
The man was ordered to pay two heads of cattle before relocating permanently to his paternal homestead in Rusape while the woman was fined one cow.
“Children are lacking guidance, especially in divorced families. Divorced parents need to set aside their difference for the benefit of their children,” Chief Chinamhora said.
“We are Africans and our culture is being eroded. Parents must unite and send children to holidays such that they are in touch with their relatives and respect each other’s totems.” - newzimbabwe
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'Vampire' skeletons found in Bulgaria near Black Sea
Archaeologists in Bulgaria have found two medieval skeletons pierced through the chest with iron rods to supposedly stop them from turning into vampires.
The discovery illustrates a pagan practice common in some villages up until a century ago, say historians.
People deemed bad had their hearts stabbed after death, for fear they would return to feast on humans' blood.
Similar archaeological sites have also been unearthed in other Balkan countries.
Bulgaria is home to around 100 known "vampire skeleton" burials.
Searchers stumbled across the latest two specimens, dating back to the Middle Ages, in the Black Sea town of Sozopol.
"These skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th Century," explained Bozhidar Dimitrov who heads the National History Museum in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
People believed the rod would pin the dead into their graves to prevent them from leaving at midnight and terrorising the living, the historian added.
Archaeologist Petar Balabanov, who in 2004 discovered six nailed-down skeletons at a site near the eastern Bulgarian town of Debelt, said the pagan rite had also been practised in neighbouring Serbia and other Balkan countries.
Vampire legends form an important part of the region's folklore.
The myths directly inspired Bram Stoker's legendary gothic horror novel, Dracula, which was first published in 1897 and has since been turned into numerous filmic versions. - BBC
Big-game fisherman and Daily Telegraph fishing columnist Al McGlashan got the highlight of his career Friday when he stumbled upon the carcass of a nearly 13-foot squid off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
"In all my time on the water -- and I've spent 200-plus days out there -- I've never seen anything like it," McGlashan told The Grind in a telephone interview.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Commission, McGlashan was unable to lift the squid to the boat due to its size, but believes the animal must have died recently, as its color was still a vibrant orange.
“They’re sort of one of those mythical things,” McGlashan told Sydney's ABC. “You hear those stories about ancient mariners getting attacked in their boat ... and you only hear about the very occasional one being washed up down in Tassie.”
Australian Museum squid specialist Mandy Reid told the Telegraph the squid was probably either killed by a sperm whale or died of natural causes, citing the species' typically short lifespan.
"Most squid only live for a year, they grow extremely quickly," Dr Reid told the paper.
And if the find wasn't interesting enough on its own, McGlashan's deep sea monster became feed for a large blue shark as he was filming the floating carcass.
"It hoed into the squid straight away and didn't care a bit that it was right next to us," McGlashan told the Telegraph. "It was taking great chunks out of the squid in one bite." - THP
'Dead' Brazilian boy 'sits up in coffin at his own funeral and asks for WATER before lying back down lifeless'
A two-year-old boy sat up in his coffin and asked for water before laying back down again lifeless, according to a Brazilian news website.
In a case that seems almost too incredible to be true, ORM claimed that Kelvin Santos stopped breathing during treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in Belem, northern Brazil.
He was declared dead at 7.40pm on Friday and his body was handed over to his family in a plastic bag.
The child's devastated family took him home where grieving relatives held a wake throughout the night, with the boy's body laid in an open coffin.
But an hour before his funeral was due to take place on Saturday the boy apparently sat up in his coffin and said: 'Daddy, can I have some water?'.
The boy's father, Antonio Santos, said: 'Everybody started to scream, we couldn't believe our eyes. Then we thought a miracle had taken place and our boy had come back to life.
'Then Kelvin just laid back down, the way he was. We couldn't wake him. He was dead again.
Mr Santos rushed his son back to the Aberlardo Santos hospital in Belem,where the doctors reexamined the boy and confirmed that he had no signs of life.
He said: 'They assured me that he really was dead and gave me no explanation for what we had just seen and heard.'
The boy's family decided to delay the funeral for an hour in the hope that he would wake up again, but ended up burying him at 5pm that day in a local cemetery.
He said: 'Fifteen minutes after rushing him away for resuscitation, they came and told me he was dead and handed me his body. Perhaps they didn't examine him properly. Dead people don't just wake up and talk. I'm determined to find out the truth.'
The local state department today confirmed the boy had been admitted to hospital in a critical condition and was declared dead after suffering cardiac-respiratory failure. - dailymail
In 2006, Chad Arment noted in his book, Cryptozoology and the Investigation of Lesser-Known Mystery Animals, the supposed sighting of a large bipedal reptile in Wyoming. The witness contacted him for help in soliciting information about a strange animal she and her mother had seen while driving on Route 80, west of Rawlins, Wyoming. What follows is the initial description in the witness' own words, followed by clarifications based on Arment's questions:
Initial report: "[Near] the end of April, 2003, while traveling in Wyoming, my mother and I had quite an experience. A creature of some sort, which looked prehistoric, came down in front of our car. It kept its head in the shadows but it was shaped like a head of a kangaroo. It had big feet and small, short arms. Its tail was like that of an alligator and the top of his tail was as wide as my car. There is no explanation why we didn't hit it. We swerved, slammed on brakes, but no matter what we did it stayed about two inches away from my car. After sloshing it's tail back and forth one time, in a single leap it was gone and out of sight. This happened on I-80 about 40 miles west of Sinclair, Wyoming. ... I did find a woman truck driver who had seen it and said it was a common sighting there, and people called it the big green dinosaur, even though it was more grayish in color.
"Thank you for any information. My mother and I have been trying to find out what this is for 5 years now."
Follow up: "Chad, I am no artist and I have no way to scan a picture, but I will try to describe what we saw as best as I can. At first it was in the median and we were in the far right hand lane. It was dark, but we saw the shadow of its head, shaped like the head of a kangaroo. Within two seconds it was landing in front of the car. We did not see it jump and it was just coming down in front of the carr. It never touched the ground that we saw, it was rather chaotic! First we saw its feet. They were like huge crocodile or alligator feet. Then we saw his lower body and all of its tail. The tail was scaly, ... about five feet long, best guess. ... When it was landing, it came down sideways. Its body was shaped like the pictures you see of dinosaurs. It was huge to us, but not like in movies where they are as tall as buildings. We estimate it was about 7 feet tall. Its head stayed well above the top of our car and judging by as much of it that was inches from us we guess it at 7 feet tall. ...
"Thank you for listening to our story. People don't believe us and it gets frustrating trying to learn what it is. Also, I would like to know how it survives, as it was totally barren land for miles and miles."
Follow up: "It was about 10:30 pm. I was driving a 1995 Chevy Lumina 4-door sedan with my headlights on. There was a semi the equivalent of two blocks ahead of us. I was heading east on I-80 and was approximately 40 miles west of Sinclair, Wyoming. When first noticing it at all, it was crouched down in the median and we had a perfect view of the outline of its head. The closest we can compare the shape of its head to is like a kangaroo. We were driving 80-85 mph. Upon seeing it in the median, I hit my brakes rather hard because I did not want to hit it if it jumped. As I was braking, it had apparently jumped. We didn't see it jump, we only saw it coming down in front of the car. At this point I was probably at 25-30 mph and still slowing. The only distance between it and us was the front end of the car, as it was right up against it. I veered left then right, but it stayed directly in front of us anyway. We could have counted what we call scales had we have had more time, as it was in plain sight. We did see its entire body up close with the exception of its head. The tail came straight off the body, and was covered with rough scales over the entire tail and had the points of scales coming off the edges. The scales were almost inverted triangular-shaped, not quite diamond-shaped. The legs were not scaly, they were 'rough' skin, like elephants have. I don't know another way to describe it. The feet were long, wide, and flat, also rough in appearance. It had toes, though there was not enough time to count them. I would guess from the short amount of time we had to see it all, that it was either four or five toes. On the toes were wide nails, but they weren't very long.
"The width of the top of the tail was wider than its upper body. The underside of its body did not have scales. His stomach area was rough, leathery skin, but smoother than it's legs. Its back was not covered with scales like the tail, but there were points sticking up on its back, which was also leathery.
"Its forelimbs were short and narrow, not like the legs which were thick and heavy. The forelimbs hung down at the 'elbow' joint. After it 'swiped' its tail back and forth one time, it ascended until it was out of sight. The feet never touched the ground. We estimate it to be around 7 feet tall. It does not have a long neck.
"Apparently this was all watched by the truck driver in front of us, as they almost jack-knifed while this was going on. We attempted to catch up with the driver to confer with them about what we saw, but even at high speeds, he couldn't be caught.
"While we were terrified, afraid of hitting it, we were so amazed we noticed every detail. It is gray in color, the scales being 2 shades of gray. That's the best way I know how to describe what we saw. Again I want to mention that a female truck driver online that travels that area frequently, when I asked her if she'd seen anything weird there, her comment was, 'You mean the big green dinosaur?... You should try stopping with a fully loaded trailer'... but, it isn't green. It is gray. At least what we saw and when we saw it, it was gray."
Follow up: "I know the lady truck driver I spoke to online said she had to stop for it before with a fully loaded semi. She also stated that every time an alternative route was available, she took it because everyone knew how that would jump in front of your vehicle. ????? She's the only person I've ever talked with that had seen it or heard about it. Keep in mind, I didn't tell her what we saw, I only asked if she had ever been on that stretch of I-80 and had she ever seen anything strange. Her reply was, 'you mean the big green dinosaur?' It's not green though. It is gray. So that was confirmation and corroboration."
Follow up: "The nails didn't extend out like long claws. We saw its right foot up close and personal. The closest in that movie Jurassic Park to compare it to is something they called raptors, but the feet were different. In the movie, their toes were more separated, spread apart, than what we saw. I am sure there is a logical explanation, but I don't know the first thing about 'dinosaurs.' We had only seen them in commercials or on billboards out west. Being from the south, it was new to us. Out west here, it is a tourist attraction. We didn't have any prior exposure to dinosaur phenomena or publicity. It did not look like an iguana or crocodile or anything familiar. It looks like what you see on the billboards here for the exhibits." - Cryptozoology and the Investigation of Lesser-Known Mystery Animals
Recently, reports have surfaced of several strange sightings of a bizarre "mystery lizard."
Witnesses in Colorado, near the Utah border, say believe it or not, it looks like a small dinosaur!
As we learned in the Washington, D.C. sniper investigation, eyewitness reports can be be problematic. Sometimes fraudulent. Often deeply mistaken. ALWAYS incomplete.
But, you simply have to hear what witnesses around Cortez, Colorado are saying about the mystery lizard.
Is something out there?
Is there something bizarre that shows itself only once in a while to a few astounded human beings?
"It was a Jurassic Park flashback. I mean I was -- I couldn't believe it," says Shannon Ystesund.
Ystesund and a girlfriend were driving down this road the night of July 5. She says a creature ran in front of the headlights, a very big lizard, nearly vertical, running on its hind legs.
"We were, you know, freaked out. Immediately we thought it was some kind of dinosaur or a huge lizard. So we came home," she says.
"They just walked in and they were real excited and they said, 'we just saw a little dinosaur run across the road,'" says Ystesund's husband, Keith.
"Looked like the little dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that surrounded everybody in the tall grass fields," says Shannon.
This lady gives only her first name, Bea, because she's been reluctant to go public with her story.
"Yes, I have, because people think you're nuts," Bea says. "Like a miniature dinosaur, you know. That would be as close as I can come to describing it. And I've never seen anything like it."
Independent researcher Nick Sucik says he's collected eight such stories in the Four Corners area. A mother and daughter told him they were driving down this road a couple of years ago and saw a creature run through their headlights.
"They were both stunned, and I asked 'how did you feel about it?' They said they just burst out laughing hysterically because it was the most absurd thing they'd ever seen," Sucik said.
It's tempting to give it a cutesy name, like the Rock Ness Monster, or the Lizard of Oz-some Proportions. But that's a little off-target. It doesn't seem to be all that big. Three to three-and-a-half feet high, witnesses say. Roughly five feet long measured nose to tail. Sucik avoids using the d-word: "Dinosaur".
"I'm sure there's got to be some sort of more plausible explanation for something like this, and yet at the same time we're stumped as to what it could be," he says. "Sightings like this almost always turn out to be something other than what folks think they are," says Scott Sampson with the Utah Museum of Natural History.
Dinosaur expert Sampson says there is something easily mistaken for a dinosaur. "Birds are dinosaurs in the truest sense of the word." Imagine a bigger version of this: perhaps an escaped Ostrich or Emu, seen suddenly and briefly under poor viewing conditions.
"It could well be a road-runner or some other kind of bird, and it could be a perception, a distance problem making them look a little bit bigger than they are," says Sampson.
Witnesses are emphatic they didn't see a bird. Or feathers.
Jeff Thulin runs a tourist stop called Reptile Reserve. He says he's heard the baby dinosaur stories for years. He's skeptical but not ruling it out.
"I'd like to be associated with a dinosaur. If someone could catch something, I'd pay good money for it," Thulin says. The description does fit foreign critters like the Monitor Lizard. And locally, the Collared Lizard, although that's only just over a foot high.
The sightings date back to the 1930s. But the new burst of interest makes at least one skeptic, extra-skeptical.
NOTE: Back in March 2012 I had reported on a large cryptid lizard in the Four Corners area. If anyone has further information on these creatures or other crytid sightings, I'd be very interested in reading it. Thanks...Lon
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and is the president of his multimedia productions company, Shadowbox Enterprises, LLC. His articles have been published internationally, and he has been covered by such mainstream media as CNN, Fox News, Southern Living, Delta Sky, FATE, New Woman, The New York Times, FHM and Something About the Author; and made the cover of the science journal, Electric Space Craft. A winner of the University of North Carolina Thomas Wolfe Award for Fiction, he wrote columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times from 1992 to 1995. His first novel, 
was released in 2000.
was released nationally and, within one month, became the all-time best-selling documentary for its distributor; his research/experiments made the cover of a science journal for the first time; he began work as a professional radio host; produced a national paranormal conference; traveled the country and the Bermuda Triangle/Bahamas on major research expeditions, such as studying "Death Touch" martial artists in Chicago; and wrote, produced, directed, shot, and edited a feature film on a $1000 budget. Each year, he usually leads a public expedition to amazing paranormal sites around the world. For more information visit 
, the supposed sighting of a large bipedal reptile in Wyoming. The witness contacted him for help in soliciting information about a strange animal she and her mother had seen while driving on Route 80, west of Rawlins, Wyoming. What follows is the initial description in the witness' own words, followed by clarifications based on Arment's questions:
