Weird Florida

http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.sun%2Dsentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl%2Dliweirdfloridaapr25%2C0%2C4046482.story%3Fcoll=sfla%2Dfeatures%2Dheadlines

This book sounds very interesting, especially seeing as how I have the other two, Weird NJ and Weird U.S. Those books were very cool in how they collected local folklore and paranormal info from the residents of the areas that they wrote about and put it all together in an easy to read format. I am curious to see what kind of stuff is put into this book, though they did already mention the Skunk Ape in the article, which is a given that it would be in there. I just hope that they put in more information than the usual stuff, i.e. two sightings from like the 1950's or something. It would be especially cool if they gave some information about new sightings from the last few years, or talked about the Myakka photos at all. I'm curious to see what other paranormal stuff is included in the book, I know of a few things that will probably be in it like the Gulf Breeze UFO hotspot and the St. Augustine Globster, but who knows what else Carlson will have put into his book. I can't wait ^_^.

No I haven't forgotten this

Although it may look like I have forgotten my blog and left it to die and decay, I have actually been caught up with school and Myspace and everything else that I have going on in my life right now, both good and bad. I think what I'm going to do is update weekly, and put up my thought on two or maybe even three articles a week, since don't forget I have to read them and then write down my thoughts, which actually takes more time than you would think. Time to get back onto the trail once again...

Mt.Misery

On Thursday, January 13th, I went to Huntington on Long Island with two friends to check out an area called Mt.Misery, which is supposed to stretch through Suffolk County and Nassau County and contains the highest point on the island. It is also supposed to be a local paranormal hot spot, with UFO sightings, hauntings, reports of strange entities, and other strange phenomeona (at least from what I've heard). My friends and I arrived in Huntington around noon and first traveled down Sweet Hollow Road, which itself is supposed to be haunted, and has many local legends surrounding it. We drove down the really narrow road (almost getting sideswiped by a few cars in the process) and finally wound up parking in an old cemetary that's on the road and walking around for a little bit. It was a small cemetary so there wasn't much exploring to do , and it was in the middle of the day so other than the fog it wasn't too spooky, but it was interesting to check out some of the really old tombstones from graves as old as the early nineteenth century. After we walked around for a little bit, my friends and I left and the three of us drove around for a little bit trying to find Mt.Misery Road, which we finally did after a little while. We drove down the length of the road and came across this dead end with two logs stacked on top of each other and an open entrance leading to a part of the woods right near Northern State Parkway (which apparently was part of the local park). The three of us got out and proceeded to walk around the trails for the next two or three hours and just explore as much as we could, which was pretty fun. There wasn't really anything eventful that happened, except we did find some remanants of a building that must have existed there at one point in time. It was interesting because there were pipes sticking up in the air that were about an inch or two over my head, if I remember correctly, so it might have been a fairly large structure. After doing quite a bit of walking (which was a little spooky with the fog and all), we were exhausted, so we decided to leave and come back another time. That was the end of my Mt.Misery exploration for now, but I fully intend to come back and explore another part of it very soon. For anyone wants to read about the Mount, here is a link: billknell.tripod.com/alien/mountmisery.html
I hope to put up pictures soon, once I get the roll of film developed.

The Bridgewater Triangle

http://members.aol.com/soccorro64/btriangle.htm

Now this is the type of stuff I really love when it comes to the paranormal, when there's alot of creepiness in one spot and no sufficent reason for why there is all kinds of different phenomena in one area (not that there is an explanation for any of the phenomena by themselves, but still....). The Bridgewater Triangle, a paranormal hot spot in Massachusetts, is full of all sorts of unexplained happenings, everything from Bigfoot and Thunderbirds to UFO's and "black helicopters". It is just amazing how many paranormal phenomena have been reported in the Triangle over the years, primarily in the Hockomock Swamp region, which has long thought by both the Native Americans and people living around the swamp to be cursed and inhabitated by some sort of evil force. While this belief falls more into the realm of folklore, it is interesting to note the high amount of phantom activity that is said to take place inside the Bridgewater Triangle, with ghosts, spooklights, and the strange, even demonic, black dogs that are associated primarily with England but have been reported, and found in legends, all over the world. Bigfoot-like creatures have been reported in the area for years, according to the article, and to me it is highly interesting how the creatures seem completely unafraid to venture into the residential areas and even lift up the rear of a police car before running away around the corner of a house. It is also baffling though because while I think it is highly probable that there is a breeding population of Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest, even I admit that it is almost impossible for such creatures to live in such a small area and yet escape detection for so long. Plus, not only are there Bigfoot reported in the Triangle, but Thunderbirds, giant anacondas, black panthers, and other cryptids (the term for as-of-yet unknown animals) are supposedly being seen by residents all the time. It is almost tempting to write off these accounts as being misidentifications, hallucinations, or hoaxes (which some of them almost certainly are), but to do so would be to ignore the credible reports and eyewitnesses that do exist, which is never the right approach to something like this. I do intend, however, to follow up the author's recommendation on making a trip to investigate the Bridgewater Triangle for myself, in fact its one of the stops on my proposed road trip (if I ever get a chance to do that, that is).

Mexico's Zone of Silence

http://www.strangemag.com/zoneofsilence.html

This is a very interesting article because of its connections to the UFO mystery and also because I think it could pose a possible solution to the Bermuda Triangle mystery (which has been blown way out of proportion over the years by sensationalistic writers in their "incredible true mysteries" books). The mention of the Zone's magnetic properties seems to me to indicate that the magnetic waves are almost definately the reason behind the radio and television interference in the Zone, and these same waves could be the reason for some of the accidents that occur in the Bermuda Triangle (although, according to what I've read, there are actually far less than people have been lead to believe over the years). The fact that the two areas ran parallel to each other is a strong indication to me that the kind of strong magnetic field that exists in the Zone of Silence could also exist in the Triangle as well, and it is this field that disrupts planes and ships and causes them to crash or "vanish" inside of the Triangle. This is probably a faulty theory with a million holes in it but I think it is a reasonable one and I think I have seen others express the same idea as well. The UFO angle, however, is what throws me off when considering the Zone, because why would supposed extra-terrestrials pick that spot to operate in, unless there is an underground base hidden somewhere in there. Right now though, I would prefer to avoid speculation of that nature because then it leads into the UFO conspiracy theories which I'm never comfortable thinking about, and which I'm skeptical of anyway because the theories sound more like tabloid fare than credible claims to me.

UFO's in Artwork

www.ufoartwork.com

Could UFO's have been flying around the skies all throughout history, subtly or maybe even blantantly influencing the course of human events? It sounds incredible, but artwork through the ages has decipted UFO's and what appears to be extra-terrestrials in all kinds of ways, sometimes having them be a very minor detail in the backround that isn't noticeable unless something is already looking for it, and sometimes the objects are so distinct that there is no way that they can be anything but what they depict. My personal favorite that I've seen is "The Madonna with Saint Giovannio", which shows the two of them in the foreground and in the background a man and his dog are clearly seen to be observing a glowing object in the sky. What really fascinates me about the painting is not only that the UFO actually looks like a UFO, but that it has been inserted into the picture to begin with, like it was as natural to the painter as an airplane would be to us today. This, to me, says that there must have been alot of UFO sightings during the time that the painter lived if they showed up, not only in his/her piece of art, but in others around the same time period, as well. For a good depiction of the UFO in "The Madonna....", go here: http://laufo.com/ufo-art.html. However, there is a better scan on the website mentioned above.

Kangaroo spotted in Wisconsin

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=23382&ntpid=1

While the article is obviously tongue in cheek, I think that this is a fascinating example of the "phantom kangaroo" phenomenon, which sprouts up every so often, usually in the Midwest. It admittedly sounds completely ridiculous at first, but for whatever reason as early as 1899 people have reported sightings of out-of-place kangaroos in places where they normally shouldn't be, such as a relatively famous case that took place in Chicago in October of 1974, where two policemen tried to catch a 'roo that was seen all over the place and wound up being beat up by it before it retreated down a road at about twenty miles per hour when more officers arrived. Now, before you call for the men in white to come and take me away, keep in mind that these weren't some homeless drunks or something, but trained police officers who had absolutely nothing to gain by concocting such a story. If anything, they had their reputation and maybe even their jobs to lose by reporting such a story, which took place in the middle of a "flap" of similar sightings all over Illinois and nearby states as well. One of the bizarre things about the kangaroo sightings is that the creatures will often be reported as being overly aggressive and even carnivorous, often attacking and killing geese, ducks, and even dogs, while regular kangaroos are the exact opposite, being vegetarian and nonagressive. Getting back to the article for a minute, I also thought it was interesting to note that the Iowa County police apparently had trouble with an emu last year that was seen in various parts of the county. Why is there this influx of foreign animals that are being seen inthe wild in places that they shouldn't be anywhere near by? Escaped zoo animals, or even pets? This is often cited as a reason for the reports of wild Midwestern kangaroos, but such escapes are virtually non-existent in areas where the animals are being seen. Teleportation, maybe? Whatever the reason, the phenomena apparently is happening in England as well, since a wallabee was sighted there recently, although I'm still unsure as to the truth of this report. Maybe the reason for the kangaroo phenomena can explain the epidemic of "phantom panther" reports as well....

UPDATE (1/09/05): http://www.nbc30.com/news/4060889/detail.html

The kangaroo has been caught and is now being held in a local zoo while authorities are now waiting to see if an owner comes forth to claim the animal. If it's like the other accounts, an owner will most likely never surface, but it should be interesting to see what happens next....

The Loch Ness Monster

"Many miles away, something crawls to the surface of a dark Scottish loch...." - The Police

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/4394847p-4172588c.html

It's interesting to read Mr. Taylor's reasons for why Nessie couldn't be a plesiosaur (which weren't dinosaurs, regardless of what the article claims), namely that the creature would have to come up every few hours in order to breath air. While one of the theories that I think may be the most likely for Nessie is that there is a surviving population of plesiosaurs in the loch (with possible underwater caves for them to live in when not swimming in the loch), there are admittedly alot of problems with the "surviving plesiosaur" hypothesis. The "giant eel" theory is the one I personally prefer the most after the plesiosaur theory, because it would explain how the creature can stay submerged without being seen and would explain the sightings from the 1930's to early '60's of Nessie actually being seen on land (since as I found out recently, eels can apparently walk on land). It's kinda cool though, how Taylor is going to be able to go back to Loch Ness after about 36 years since his last one. His ship, the Viperfish, better be pretty damn fast if he wants to run down whatever may be in the lake, since the unknown radar blips observed during Operation Deep Scan were able to outrun some pretty fast ships involved in the operation. I wish Mr.Taylor all the luck in the world, and hopefully he'll be able to provide a clue to help solve the mystery of the beast that first introduced me to the unexplained and who still fascinates me with the mystery of what exactly is lurking in Loch Ness.

The Journey Begins...

"If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day." - J. A. Wheeler

Hi, and welcome to my journal concerning the strange and unexplained, where I hope to provide an outlet to my ideas and opinions regarding paranormal news and subjects, and just the unknown in general. I have been fascinated by the unknown my entire life, although it is only within the past two or three years that it has become a serious interest. Besides the paranormal, I also research cryptozoology (the study of animals not yet recognized by mainstream science), parapsychology (psychic phenomena), and the occult, although cryptozoology and the paranormal are my main focuses. I seek out any information I can concerning these areas and read whatever I can find before I come to my own conclusions concerning the data. I believe that there are a lot of strange things out there and that most witnesses are essentially honest in reporting what they have seen, although I always try to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism as well. Well, I think that's a good enough introduction for now, its time to begin exploring the road less traveled by....