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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Mrs. Barclay's Haunted Wardrobe


The London Morning Post on August 19, 1937 published a personal ad that read:

"FOR SALE--Haunted wardrobe.--Advertiser will be glad to deliver same to anybody interested, complete with ghost, which would also no doubt feel more at home if welcomed.--Write Mrs. B. Barclay, Carterton Manor, Oxon."

After receiving hundreds of telegrams, letters, and telephone calls from eager buyers who wished to acquire their own ghost, Mrs. Barclay shared the story behind her ad with local reporters:

It seems that three years earlier, she visited a sale of various items at a home in Berkshire. She noticed a 7' high Victorian wardrobe. Although there was nothing remarkable about the piece, it appealed to Mrs. Barclay, and she paid £10 for it. She placed it in the guest room of her house, and life went on its usual uneventful course.

A little over two years later, she and her servants began to hear odd knocking sounds throughout the house. They were unable to find the source. Several of her houseguests tentatively commented that there was something...well, odd about the wardrobe. Throughout the night, its doors would loudly open and shut. After her guests had left, Mrs. Barclay monitored the wardrobe and found that, sure enough, those doors had a mind of their own. When she tied string around the doors, they would break their bonds and continue unabated. She thought there must be some sort of hidden mechanism causing the strange activity. However, when she tried to examine the wardrobe, one of the doors flew off, smashing a mirror. After that, she decided the thing was best left alone.

Although Mrs. Barclay was leaving the wardrobe in peace, it wasn't returning the favor. The banging noises intensified in volume and frequency. Then, she began seeing the figure of an elderly man in old-fashioned clothing and a deerstalker hat emerging from the wardrobe and walking out of the house. Her secretary and her brother saw him too.

This uninvited visitor was really beginning to get on Mrs. Barclay's nerves. As she later complained, "I am not psychic, nor am I nervous, but this wretched ghost will make such a noise. He clatters across the landing, and shuffles down the stairs, and the noise is often exasperatingly loud."

Her friends, not wishing to share a guest bedroom with a noisy ghost, began to refuse her invitations. After the spirit kicked her butler in the shins, he gave his notice and left. Her surviving household staff muttered about quitting en masse. Mrs. Barclay herself had to resort to sleeping outdoors, just to get a little quiet.

After her cook walked out on her, Mrs. Barclay--rather late in the day, one might think--realized that this damned--in every sense of the word--wardrobe just had to go. Hence the soon-to-be famous "Morning Post" ad.

After her notice appeared, Mrs. Barclay soon realized that ghosts are not the only noisy pests. She was continually harassed by ghost-hunters, self-described psychics, aggressive looky-loos, and cranks of every variety. Visitors came from as far away as America. Morons kept themselves entertained by dressing in white sheets and prancing around her grounds. She received offers for the wardrobe from a college of astrology. From a quartet of spinsters who said they wanted the ghost to guard their house during the night. (A watchghost?) "Can you guarantee ghosts?" one message said. Another asked if the spook would be happy in a "small modern house."

Mrs. Barclay was showered with unsolicited advice from self-appointed Ghost Experts. One opined, "I should say it's doubtful if the ghost will go with the wardrobe. He shows himself to you as you are sympathetic, but he may not do so to others...Leave the door open at night so that he can come in and out, and put a nice comfortable chair beside it for him, as he clings so to the wardrobe...Never mind the cook, cooks are plentiful, but you can never get another wardrobe like this."

By now, Mrs. Barclay was desperate to just put the whole mess behind her. She sold the wardrobe--and, she sincerely hoped, the ghost as well--to a Mr. Rundle for £50. He owned an inn in nearby Clanfield, and no doubt shrewdly assumed the famed wardrobe would attract visitors. "My inn is being rebuilt," he told a reporter. "At the moment there is no room large enough for the haunted wardrobe, but I am having my own bedroom enlarged, and then I shall have it put in there. Anyone who wants to sleep in that room will be at liberty to do so. But personally, I do not believe in ghosts."

Rundle temporarily lodged his new acquisition in the rather undignified setting of an outhouse. Unfortunately, by buying the wardrobe, he also acquired the same crowd of pranksters who had so bedeviled Mrs. Barclay. Boys and young men came from miles around to hoot, catcall, throw brickbats at the outhouse, and generally raise hell.

Although Rundle maintained his skepticism about the supernatural, even he soon had to admit that this was one peculiar wardrobe. On the first night it was on his property, the doors of the wardrobe began shaking violently, from no discernible cause. His wife noticed that it sometimes emitted curious bangings and a "noise like an aeroplane."

As many of the letters sent to Mrs. Barclay had theorized that the ghost was searching for something hidden in the wardrobe, Mr. Rundle took it apart. He found nothing unusual.

Oddly enough, disassembling the wardrobe appears to have broken its curious spell. After it was put back together, the wardrobe became just another dull piece of Victorian furniture. The strange noises and shakings ceased, and the old man in the deerstalker hat was never seen by anyone ever again.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories

The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories

Caribbean Shadows & Victorian Ghosts


Daily 2 Cents: Unknown 'Hairy Faced' Man -- Her Terrifying Extraterrestrial Experience -- SpaceX to Send Ship to Mars by 2018


Unknown 'Hairy Faced' Man

Silvia in San Jose California called in to tell of a strange sighting she had back in 2005:

“Up in Oregon, my girlfriend and I were riding in a car. She was driving and all of a sudden a creature appeared in the bush. He looked like a cross between a large... I can't describe it... like a dark skinned man with black hair on his face. The creature was behind a bush, so we only saw the face and the upper torso. He looked human. And so we were so scared that my girlfriend almost flipped the car. We went around a drove back down the road where we came from. This happened like 10 years ago.”

Source: Coast To Coast AM - April 22, 2016

Transcribed by Jamie Brian


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Witchcraft threatens Malawi albinos with extinction

At least 65 cases of violence against albinos recorded there since late 2014.

UN expert Ikponwosa Ero said the persecution represents 'an emergency.'

One boy, Alfred, 17, was recently found in a pool of blood after an attack.

In nearby Tanzania, full set of albino body parts sells for more than £50,000.

Albinos in Malawi face 'systematic extinction' if they continue to be murdered so their limbs can be used in witchcraft, a UN expert has said.

At least 65 cases of violence against people with albinism, including killings and dismemberment, have been recorded by police in the country since late 2014.

There are an estimated 10,000 albinos in Malawi, out of a population of 16.5m. In nearby Tanzania, a full set of albino body parts can sell for more than £50,000. Read more at Witchcraft threatens Malawi albinos with extinction

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Her Terrifying Extraterrestrial Experience

An English woman who claimed she was once abducted by aliens recalled the terrifying extraterrestrial experience that took place more than 20 years ago. Her story of alien encounter will be detailed in a new book of renowned UFO expert and author Roy Dutton.

The Dawn She Was Abducted By Aliens

Valerie Walters told Torquay Herald Express that it was around 1:45 a.m. on July 16, 1981, when she was abducted by aliens. She was 26 years old at that time and was driving home with her two friends, Rosemary and Vivienn. The three ladies came from a night-out in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Walters recalled that she and her friends started to get terrified after noticing a bizarre light appearing from the sky. Moments later, they saw a huge craft hovering directly above their car.

The English woman said that she cannot exactly recall what happened next after spotting the strange object. She remembered hearing a beeping noise that made her feel sleepy.

How She Was Abducted By Aliens

Walters relayed that she noticed that her friends were gone, therefore, she went out of the car to look for them. The car suddenly disappeared and then, she heard an odd voice telling her not to be afraid.

After hearing the voice, Walters said that everything went red in her head as she felt like she was being vacuumed. The next thing she knew, she was already in front of some bizarre beings.

"I was in a white wedge-shaped room with two humanoid beings, a male and a female both with shoulder length dark hair and hypnotic blue eyes," Walters shared.

Walters disclosed that she and her friends reported the terrifying extraterrestrial experience to the police, however, their case was not addressed seriously. She also said that her friends could not completely recall what really happened.

More People Abducted by Aliens

Walters' story of being abducted by aliens is not the first case. According to the Inquisitr, the "UFO Case Book" has details of few people claiming that they were abducted by aliens in 1950s.

In 2005, a woman named Donna Lee claimed that she lost her baby after she and her husband were repeatedly abducted by aliens. In the same year, a man from Florida, also claimed that he was abducted by aliens for few hours after spotting a UFO in his backyard. - Abducted By Aliens? English Woman Recalls Terrifying Extraterrestrial Experience More Than 20 Years Ago

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX to Send Ship to Mars by 2018

Via Twitter on April 27, SpaceX has announced its plans to send its Dragon spacecraft to Mars as soon as 2018.

The spacecraft mentioned in the tweet, the Dragon, is a “free-flying” craft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations. Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2012.

It continues to fly cargo to and from the ISS.

On his own Twitter page, Elon Musk—SpaceX’s billionaire founder—made the impressive claim that the Dragon 2 is designed “to land anywhere in the solar system” and that its Mars mission will be its first test flight.

While a version capable of carrying crew is in the works, there is no mention on the Dragon’s page of the Red Dragon mission or the Dragon 2.

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My goal has been to present current alternative news, interesting paranormal events and descriptions of the anomalous world that surrounds us all. I also strive to provide astral and intuitive insight for those seeking help. I hope I've achieved this...and I would appreciate your kind consideration. Lon




...or go to Paypal and use my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com as the payee.
Donations by mail can be sent to:
Lon Strickler
26 Coachman Ct
Randallstown, MD 21133

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

**********

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Friday, April 29, 2016

Old Buff's Early Funeral


Here's a rather odd article published in the Muskogee Times Democrat on September 9, 1910:

Springfield, Ohio, Sept. 9--The funeral of Francis Marion Buffenbarger was attended by 500 people who went to the Grape Grove cemetery led by the "corpse" (on foot,) listened to a funeral oration delivered by the "corpse" in person, and feasted on pies and such that the aforesaid "corpse" passed around with his own hands. But they were not clammy either. Gnarled and horny perhaps, but not clammy.

Francis Marion Buffenbarger, retired farmer, had been looking forward to his funeral for years. Finally, that there might be no hitch or untoward incident to mar the event he concluded to hold it under his own immediate supervision before it was too late for him to manage properly.

So he sent out invitations to hundreds of friends and relatives, and on the appointed day led the funeral cortege to the cemetery, where he dug his own grave and erected his own tombstone all ready for the last sad rites.

"Old Buff" himself made the speech of the day, advising everybody to be good and ever ready for the summons, and counseling especially against running the risk of sudden death. "Beware of automobiles and every other invention of the devil," he warned his auditors.

Then the "rites" being over, "Old Buff" passed out a wagon-load of pies and other edibles, gave all the children candy, each of the little girls a handkerchief and each of the men a cigar. Finally he invited everybody to come to his real funeral, warning them, however, that all the doings but the actual burial were already over, and that it would be a simple affair "with no undertaker around to make folks feel bad."

It seems that the Buffenbargers have ever taken delight in preparation for ringing down the curtain of life. "Old Buff" says that his grandfather kept his coffin in the house for years before he died, and had his grave clothes handy all the time.

"Old Buff" himself had a coffin ordered from a South Charleston undertaker, but it will remain in the undertaker's warerooms till it is needed.

Several years ago Mrs. Buffenbarger left "Old Buff" and ran away with the hired man. That broke the old man's heart. He left his farm near South Charleston and came to live with friends near Grape Grove. The folks take good care of him and when the time comes for the final episode of the installment obsequies the funeral procession will not be one rig the less because all the speech-making and funeral baked meats and such are already consumed.

In a strange twist to this story, 'Old Buff' had previously warned 'beware of automobiles and every other invention of the devil.' Well, it seems that fate caught up with him...he was killed in a streetcar accident. And he was buried in his self-prepared grave after he finally passed away 2 years later. Lon

Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever

Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses

The Place of the Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious


Thursday, April 28, 2016

Dead Cow, Missing Time and a Weird Guy


Terry in Minneapolis, Minnesota called in to Darkness Radio to tell of a bizarre experience he had while returning from the Missouri River:

“So it was like, I guess '82 or '83 or '84. I don't know what year it was. I worked for a construction company and they sent me over to the Missouri River because they sunk a crane in the river. So they sent me with this big block and tackle in the back of the truck. No big deal...but it was kinda weird when I got there. It was kind of like an Indian Reservation. Nobody was there. It's hard for me to explain but it was like desolate. Anyway, people finally showed up and they unloaded the thing and on my way home, I seen this dead cow.

Now I've told this story before. This cow was laying on its back, feet sticking straight up. I thought that was pretty weird because I've never seen anything like that. So I'm driving down the road and this guy comes driving by me in this old truck and he just gave me this look. This was the look of death. And I thought, 'Wow, that was pretty weird.' Next thing I know, he drove past me with the cow in his truck. We were out in the middle of nowhere. And I'm like, 'how can that be?' I'm still driving down the road. And, I don't know what to tell you but that this guy passed me with that damn cow in the back of his truck.

That's all I can tell you. At the end, my time-card showed 14 hours missing. I just figured... the reason was, I had to time-out when I got there and when I timed out, it was 14 hours. I don't know where the 14 hours went. I don't know where this guy came from with the cow. He put it in his truck and he drove past me with this same weird look on his face. I mean he looked at me weird.”

Source: Darkness Radio – July 21, 2015

Transcribed by Jamie Brian


Stalking the Herd: Unraveling the Cattle Mutilation Mystery

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Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah

Daily 2 Cents: Large Craft w/ Fiery Beams of Light (Photo) -- Is it a Crocodile? Is it a Dolphin? -- Mysterious Photos


Large Craft w/ Fiery Beams of Light

Hello my name is Ralph and I reported this incident in 2014 and I submitted a photograph of which I took of this UFO in Connecticut. I never gotten a response back in regards to this photograph. Can somebody please get back to me to talk about this UFO!

To Ralph...if you happen to read this message, please contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com We have access to people & resources that will help you. Lon

Original report: This photo was taken at Walnut Hill Park New Britain Connecticut on August 11th 2014 at the approximate time of 8:57 p.m. and was witnessed by 5 others and I believe there may have been others because it happened about a gazebo at the park and also above Shell theater at Walnut Hill Park next to a large parking area located in the park just above New Britain General Hospital there was also a concert in progress as this event took place so yes I do believe there might have been other Witnesses I don't know if anybody other than me and the five others saw this I believe they did thank you this is my story. The object moves slowly and deliberately in one path at the light on the object seem to turn on and off deliberately as it passed over the area I described it was extremely visible very low enough for me to capture the picture I will submit to you. You could see the lights turning on and off rows of white and red lights which seemed to look like wings on an aircraft not of this earth. And straight fiery beams of lights on top of the craft. Here's a photo maybe you can tell me! - MUFON CMS

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Is it a crocodile? Is it a dolphin? Chinese fishermen stunned after netting mysterious monster fish

Fishermen spotted the odd creature in waters near Zhoushan, east China.

A Chinese nature magazine says the fish could be a Beaked Whale.

People on the country's social media have been debating what it could be.

Read more...w/ video

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Mysterious Photos

In the 1987 comedy film, '3 Men and a Baby.' What's with that creepy little kid peering through the curtains? Let's just say he wasn't exactly part of the script......

It was a regular day in the countryside for Jim Templeton and his wife and daughter as they lunched on Burgh Marsh, and many lovely photographs were taken. So days later, Jim decided to get the photos developed. But that's when the story starts getting freaky.

Mystified and stunned by the spaceman-like spectre in the background, he asked Kodak for answers. But even to this day, Kodak swear that the photo showed no sign of tampering while Jim and his wife were always adamant that no one else was present when the photo was captured.

Care homes are sad places and are perhaps only surpassed by hospitals and hospices in regards to their depressing realities. After all, many have loved and lost, while others look back at how it used to be. But according to one old lady, her daily dose of nostalgia came in the form of her husband's ghost. Even her family have sworn that no man was present when the photo was captured.

In this stunning photo, a woman can be seen standing on a piece of debris waving frantically for help after the tragic events of 9/11. Evidently, she miraculously survived the initial attack, but what happened after remains shrouded in mystery.

Though it may look like the beginnings of a Hollywood horror, this photo was instead taken in the comfort of the Cooper's family dining room. But ominously spotted in the background was a mysterious figure dangling from the ceiling.

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“Our bodies have five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing. But not to be overlooked are the senses of our souls: intuition, peace, foresight, trust, empathy. The differences between people lie in their use of these senses; most people don't know anything about the inner senses while a few people rely on them just as they rely on their physical senses, and in fact probably even more.”
C. JoyBell C.

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My goal has been to present current alternative news, interesting paranormal events and descriptions of the anomalous world that surrounds us all. I also strive to provide astral and intuitive insight for those seeking help. I hope I've achieved this...and I would appreciate your kind consideration. Lon




...or go to Paypal and use my email lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com as the payee.
Donations by mail can be sent to:
Lon Strickler
26 Coachman Ct
Randallstown, MD 21133

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

**********

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1st Wolverine Verified in North Dakota in 207 Years


I just received word from Robert Lindsay that a wolverine was recently killed in North Dakota...the 1st wolverine verified in that state in 207 years!

A wolverine was apparently killed in Western North Dakota on Monday, April 25. The wolverine was killed near Alexander, North Dakota, probably during the daylight hours but at an unknown time. It is not known how the animal was killed, but no doubt it was shot dead with some sort of longarm weapon. The animal was killed by a rancher when it was harassing pairs of calves in a field. The rancher thought it was going to kill one of his calves, so he shot it.

After the rancher killed the animal, he contacted the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Biologists from the department examined the animal and determined that it was indeed a wolverine. The kept the wolverine and took it away to an unknown location. Apparently there has not yet been any news reports of this incident. This report will be the first report of the incident and the photos associated with it to appear in the mainstream online media.

There have been a number of unverified sightings of wolverines in North Dakota in the past two decades. They are listed in my report, Wolverines in the Upper Midwest, available here. This is the most detailed report on wolverines in this region on the Internet or possibly anywhere for that matter. Be sure to check it out if you are interested in the subject. It has lots of great photos of the areas in which wolverines were spotted and the general terrain of the region. Read more at Wolverine Killed in North Dakota!

Peterson Field Guide to Mammals of North America: Fourth Edition (Peterson Field Guides)

North American Wildlife: An Illustrated Guide to 2,000 Plants and Animals

Scats and Tracks of North America: A Field Guide To The Signs Of Nearly 150 Wildlife Species (Scats and Tracks Series)

The Carnivore Way: Coexisting with and Conserving North America's Predators



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