; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Monday, October 14, 2013

Daily 2 Cents: UFOs Seen Over Smoking Ship -- Wrong Man Convicted in 1886 Murder -- Human 'Super Senses'...A Reality?


UFOs Seen Over Smoking Ship

A video has appeared online showing unusual lights in the sky above a boat off the California coast.

Little is known about the origins of the video save for some brief details claiming that the footage was filmed in September. The cameraman appears to be located on a beach looking across the ocean at a ship that seems to have run in to some trouble with smoke billowing from the hull.

"You can see a few UFOs flying over or behind this ship which appears to have a large amount of smoke coming from it," the video caption states. "Whether or not this UFO sighting is captured during a fire on the ship is unclear."

The most obvious explanation is that the strange lights are actually flares, a scenario that would seem to make sense given the circumstances. The uploader however has specifically downplayed this possibility by stating "when we first viewed this tape, we thought that the UFOs might be military flares released from a plane at sea, but military flares do not fly up, they float straight down."

FX Models owner and Huffington Post UFO analyst Marc Dantonio also seems to agree with this assessment. "Although the initial video event shows something that looks like flares, the subsequent behavior does not match the expected behavior," he said. "Parachute flares would not appear to hang in the sky like this unless they were quite far away, perhaps 30-plus miles away when seen." - THP

Invisible Residents: The Reality of Underwater UFOs

Flying Saucer to the Center of Your Mind: Selected Writings of John A. Keel

Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups


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Human 'Super Senses' May Become a Reality

Mankind no longer needs to rely on evolution to obtain new sensory perceptions and abilities.

Society has long dreamed of possessing superhuman powers like those wielded by the characters we see in comics and movies, abilities that would seem to be rooted firmly in the realms of science fiction. Some scientists however believe that a future in which it will be possible to posses such powers may be a lot nearer than most people think and that research being carried out today could be instrumental in making it happen.

To this end, researchers have been investigating the way in which the brain processes information from our existing senses and whether this could be used to handle new types of inputs. "The brain doesn't care what the peripheral devices are that you plug in, like eyes and ears and nose and mouth," said neuroscientist David Eagleman. "These are plug-and-play peripheral devices and the brain will figure out how to use it."

Theoretically it should be possible to integrate new types of senses in to the brain, providing humans with new perceptions such as the ability to sense magnetic fields, an improved sense of smell, the ability to see in ultra-violet and much more.

Researchers have already identified cases in which individuals robbed of their sight or hearing have been able to compensate for this using devices that can "see" sound or that can use a form of echolocation to see what's ahead even if the person is blind.

"We are no longer a natural species in the sense that we don't have to wait for Mother Nature's sensory gifts on her timescales," said Eagleman. "Nature has given us the tools we need to construct our own experiences." - Livescience

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Where Was Christopher Columbus Really Born?

The following, Christopher Columbus’s Origins, posts the various countries suggested to be the real birthplace of explorer Christopher Columbus, AKA Cristóbal Colón, Cristoforo Colombo, Christoffa Corombo or Cristofor Colom.

1) Genoa

2) Small towns just outside Genoa: e.g. Savona and nearby Albisola

3) Piacenza (in northern Italy)

4) A Catalan-speaking territory

5) Extremadura (today Spain)

6) A Greek Islander

7) A Byzantine noble

8 ) A Mediterranean Jew

9) A Portuguese/Galician Jew

10) Portugal

11) Galicia

12) English

13) Scottish or Irish

14) Polish

15) Swedish

For example:

Historian Claims Christopher Columbus Was Scottish

Alfonso Ensenat de Villalonga has disputed conventionally-accepted narratives on the explorer's origins - that he was the son of a weaver in Genoa, Italy, or that he was from Catalonia or Galicia in Spain.

In fact, he was from Genoa, but he was "the son of shopkeepers not weavers and he was baptised Pedro not Christopher," Mr Villalonga told Spain's ABC newspaper on Sunday.

And his family name was Scotto, and was not Italian but of Scottish origin.

"He had light-coloured eyes and freckles. He also had blond hair even though it quickly turned white. That's how his contemporaries described him. Nothing like the traditional images (of him), which are totally invented," the historian said.

Mr Villalonga cited a chronicle of Catholic kings written by Lucio Marineo Siculo, who referred in his writings to "Pedro Columbus", not Christopher.

The historian has also claimed that the navigator once worked for a pirate called Vincenzo Columbus, and adopted that family name in order not to "expose" his relations.

Mr Villalonga said his research involved combing the archives in the Genoa region along with those in the Spanish history academy and national library. Continue reading at Where Was Christopher Columbus Really Born?

A critical study of the various dates assigned to the birth of Christopher Columbus: The real date, 1451, with a bibliography of the question,

History: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day


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Psychic: Wrong man convicted in 1886 murder

A psychic who investigated the 127-year-old murder of Tillie Smith on the Centenary College campus is now pointing the finger at a different man from the one who spent 19 years in prison for the crime.

The psychic medium empath Tracy Ray said that despite James Titus, a janitor at the college, being found guilty of raping and murdering 18-year-old Smith on April 9, 1886, it actually was done by Smith’s ex-boyfriend Frank Weeder, who was barely even questioned by police at the time.

Ray, paranormal investigator David Rountree and local writer Maryann McFadden did an investigation earlier this year in which Ray, who is from Texas, experienced and retold the details of the murder while walking the steps Smith once took on the campus. These findings were presented to about 30 people Saturday afternoon at the Warren County Library’s Northeast Branch.

McFadden, who has been researching the murder for her next book, “Finding Tillie,” said that Smith, a potato peeler at the college, went to see a band in Hackettstown on the April night and was walked home by a man she hadjust met. However, after that man left her, she was met by another man.

Although Ray had to present Saturday via Skype rather than in person, those in attendance were able to watch video clips from Ray’s nighttime walk on the campus. In the video, Ray, who is visibly emotional and says she not only sees but feels what happened, described how Weeder wrapped Smith’s belt sash around her neck and gagged her with it. She said that this killed Smith, but Weeder, not knowing she was dead, began to rape her.

When he asked at the end if she liked it, Smith did not respond and Weeder realized she was dead, according to Ray.

“It made him sick after he murdered the woman he loved,” Ray said in the video, adding that he committed suicide two months later. It has not been confirmed at this point if a suicide during that time frame matches the description of Weeder.

Titus was arrested on April 28, 1886, for the crime despite all the evidence being circumstantial. The murder and ensuing trial became a highly publicized news story.

“This truly was the O.J. Simpson trial of its era,” McFadden said. “It captured the whole country.”

Titus was found guilty and sentenced to hanging. To avoid this, he signed a confession of guilt, which downgraded his sentence to 19 years in prison.

Titus was released from prison after serving his time and lived until 1952 in Hackettstown. A monument was erected in Hackettstown’s Union Cemetery in honor of Smith.

The case still draws great interest from Hackettstown residents and beyond, especially since there are allegedly sightings of her ghost at the college. McFadden, who moved to Hackettstown in 1964, said she always felt compelled as a writer to research and write about Smith.

“I hope with my book I can shed some new light on it,” she said. “My goal is to bring her back to life — she is a ghost, she is a legend, she is the marble monument in the cemetery, but she really lived and she really died a terrible, terrible death.”

Ray said that the encounter at the college has attached her to Smith, whom she described as independent and strong.

“She fought, and a woman being a fighter like that I give her thumbs up on,” Ray said. “She wants justice and she is going to get it. That is the thing that is the most important to her.” - NJ Herald

Lon's 2 Cents: you can listen to our most recent interview with our friends and colleagues Tracy Ray & David Rountree on BTE Radio...Lon

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TODAY'S TOP LINKS

Lyle Blackburn's 10 Top Cryptids

Alleged Wood Ape Encounter

Inns where host is a ghost

A Deer Hunter's Missing Time

The STS Mission Anomalies