Personal Experiences Prompt Paranormal Sleuths To Search For Truth

As a boy growing up in Arkansas, Rob Stone thought the old woman he saw at his grandparents' farmhouse was just an “imaginary friend” - until a photograph of his dead great-grandmother revealed a strikingly similar appearance between the two.

As a teenager in Fort Wayne, Paul Walter had a similarly weird experience: the vision of a woman wearing rimless glasses and a dress, who he at first thought was his grandmother - who was in another room at the time. Both got goose bumps when the dress Walters described turned out to resemble his great-grandmother's burial gown.

Youthful fantasies? Memories twisted by time? Bad dreams? Stone and Walter can't say for sure, which is why they and several other local “ghost hunters” have formed an organization designed to disprove or verify the existence of things that go bump in the night.

In the process, they hope to help save one of Fort Wayne's unique but endangered architectural treasures that may - or may not - have ghost stories of its own to tell.

“All of us are active in our community; one guy is an engineer, some of us are in manufacturing or own (a) business. We want people who want to get to the bottom of these experiences,” said Stone, 41. As spokesman for In Nomine Paranormal Research, he doesn't want his 7-month-old organization's serious, methodical search for answers to be hijacked by thrill-seekers whose knowledge of paranormal research is limited to movies like “Ghostbusters.”

“It's neat to try to document the unexplainable. It's a debunking process,” said Walter, 28, explaining that group members use technology to search for answers that often defy human senses and reason.

The group, which was created when like-minded people discovered each other on the Internet, uses devices to detect abnormal electro-magnetic levels and also uses audio and visual equipment in an attempt to record … well, something.

Stone, who administers the information technologies network at Lincoln Foodservice in Fort Wayne, said the quest has taken the 10-member group to an old house in Sturgis, Mich., an old hotel in Sandusky, Ohio, and, more recently, to Fort Wayne's Masonic Temple, which has been the scene of several unexplained events and will host the group's first paranormal conference in May.

The conference will feature sessions on demonology, exorcism and ghost-hunting; presentations of personal paranormal experiences; a four-hour ghost hunt in the Temple; and other lectures. Proceeds will go to the Temple's preservation fund.

As Masons, Stone and Walter are very familiar with the eight-story temple that has stood at 216 E. Washington Blvd. since 1923 but has fallen on hard times in recent years because of soaring maintenance and utility costs and declining membership.

They have also become familiar with several oddities they cannot yet explain, including shadowy forms moving through doorways and elevated electro-magnetic levels, especially near a fifth-floor conference room and trophy case.

As with the group's other investigations, the existence of paranormal activity has not been conclusively documented at the Temple. But Stone said many “rational” explanations for the odd energy readings have been refuted, such as the presence of electrical wires and circuit boxes - a potentially disappointing but necessary step toward proving the existence of paranormal activity.

Stone said his group's ghost-hunting, counseling and related services are free to anyone who has experienced the inexplicable and is seeking answers.

The group also plans to explore local ghostly legends such as the story of the so-called “Waynedale Witch,” a 27-year-old woman murdered in 1965, doing whatever is possible to separate fact from fancy.

What drives the 10 members of In Nomine (Latin for “In the name of”)?

“For me, it's mostly scientific,” Stone said. “But it's also religious. Most of our members are Christian, but we also have one pagan. They taught us in Sunday school that you die and go to heaven. Why are (spirits) still here?

“We feel like we're meeting a need. Not everybody takes this as seriously as we do.”

As Stone, Walter and I spoke in the Temple's partially darkened, cavernous social room, a series of loud clanks came out of nowhere.

Ghosts?

“The furnace,” Stone said.

Personal Experiences Prompt Paranormal Sleuths To Search For Truth
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Ex-Secret Service Agent States JFK Assassination 'Not a Conspiracy'

No grassy knolls. No mob conspiracies. Just one man, one rifle and three shots.

That was and is the conclusion of Dale Wunderlich, a retired Secret Service agent who helped investigate the death of President John F. Kennedy as part of the Warren Commission. Wunderlich spoke about the assassination Thursday at the Twin Peaks Rotary Club.

“There’s a lot of theories about what happened,” said Wunderlich, who lives in Parker. “At some point, you have to wonder — if it had been a conspiracy, do any of you really believe that anyone in Washington can keep a secret for 46 years?”

Wunderlich helped protect five presidents, from Kennedy through Jimmy Carter. On Nov. 22, 1963, he looked after Kennedy during a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, but was off duty when the president went on to Dallas.

Wunderlich was at the airport when he heard the motorcade had been shot at. An early report said a Secret Service agent had been hit, and Wunderlich hurried back.

As he arrived, he realized that all the agents were accounted for. “Who got killed?” he asked agent Roy Kellerman.

“The president,” Kellerman said.

The sight of Kennedy’s body, face down in the hospital, is still engraved on Wunderlich’s mind. So is the funeral ceremony, when even the agents themselves were in mourning.

“I had such tears in my eyes that I couldn’t see anything,” Wunderlich said. “If someone had wanted to kill President (Lyndon) Johnson, that would have been the best time to do it. Everyone had tears in their eyes. No one could see.”

Since then, he said, there have been a lot of stories and myths about the assassination. Among them:

The Secret Service was drunk. Not true, Wunderlich said. Several agents did go to a place called the Cellar Bar the night before, but despite the name, the Cellar didn’t sell liquor. “We had sandwiches and near-beer,” he said.

There was a fourth shot. Not likely, Wunderlich said. Researchers at California Polytechnic State University analyzed the Zapruder film — a home movie that captured the assassination — a few years back, he said, and concluded the sound of the “fourth shot” was actually a police Harley-Davidson backfiring.

Oswald couldn’t have shot so fast, so accurately. The range wasn’t very far, especially for the rifle used, Wunderlich said — 192 feet for the closest shot and 292 feet for the longest one. Moreover, he said, Lee Harvey Oswald had spent hours practicing rapid-fire shots.

Fast enough to fire three shots in 8.5 seconds? As a test, Wunderlich said, investigators sent a truck filled with hay bales down the street at the same speed while the FBI armorer and the Secret Service armorer took shots at it. In 8.5 seconds, each put five shots in the kill zone.

Oswald was trying to kill Texas Gov. John Connally. That may never be known, Wunderlich said. He said Oswald is believed to have had a grudge against Connally, who as secretary of the Navy wouldn’t change his “hardship” discharge to an “honorable” one. The field of fire would have allowed a good shot at Connally, who was wounded by a bullet that clipped Kennedy’s shoulder first. And Kennedy may not have even been in the sights when the second shot was fired — his head was in his wife’s lap after the first shot hit; the second hit his head as she pulled him up.

“Sam Donaldson is the biggest supporter of this theory,” Wunderlich said. “I love to watch people’s eyes when I describe it. It’s another thing that could be logical.”

Jack Ruby, who shot Oswald, was on the mob payroll. Actually, Wunderlich said, Ruby was a big admirer of Jacqueline Kennedy and closed himself in his club after the Kennedy assassination, drinking heavily. He knew several police officers and had a permit to carry a gun because he frequently carried bank deposits with him.

He was on his way with a deposit and had made up a slip to put $20 in an employee’s account when he saw the crowd of media around the police station. After finding out it was Oswald on his way to be arraigned, Wunderlich said, Ruby worked his way close and shot Oswald — a gun in one hand and a bank bag in the other.

“If you plan to kill someone, are you going to be prepared to also make a deposit?” Wunderlich asked. “I think it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

To this day, he said, America remains fascinated with the case, conspiracy or no.

“Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see something related to Kennedy,” Wunderlich said. “It’s a topic I don’t think will ever go away.”

Ex-Secret Service Agent States JFK Assassination 'Not a Conspiracy'
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Did You Ever Wonder Where the Catholic Church Dumped All Those Pedophile Priests?

Alaska Natives are accusing the Catholic Church of using their remote villages as a “dumping ground” for child-molesting priests—and blaming the president of Seattle University for letting it happen.

One spring afternoon in 1977, 15-year-old Rachel Mike tried to kill herself for the third time. An Alaska Native, Rachel was living in a tiny town called Stebbins on a remote island called St. Michael. She lived in a house with three bedrooms and nine siblings. Rachel was a drinker, depressed, and starving. "When my parents were drinking, we didn't eat right," she says. "I just wanted to get away from the drinking."

Rachel walked to the bathroom to fetch the family rifle, propped in the bathtub with the dirty laundry (the house didn't have running water). To make sure the gun worked, Rachel loaded a shell and blew a hole in her bedroom wall. Her father, passed out on his bed, didn't hear the shot. Rachel walked behind their small house. Her arms were too short to put the rifle to her head, so she shot herself in her right leg instead.

Rachel was found screaming in a pool of blood by her Auntie Emily and flown 229 miles to a hospital in Nome. The doctor asked if she wanted to see a priest. She said yes. In walked Father James Poole—a popular priest, radio personality on KNOM, and, according to allegations in at least five lawsuits, serial child rapist. Father Poole has never been convicted of a crime, but the Jesuits have settled numerous sex-abuse claims against him since 2005, in excess of $5 million, according to an attorney involved in four of those five lawsuits. Exact figures aren't available because some of the settlements involve confidentiality agreements. The Jesuits have never let a single case against Father Poole go to trial.

In a 2005 deposition, Rachel testified that she had been molested by Father Poole in 1975, while in Nome for her second suicide attempt, an attempted overdose of alcohol and pills. He'd come sit by her bed, put his hand under the hospital blanket, and fondle her, she said.

She traveled between Stebbins and Nome several times in the late 1970s, spending time in hospitals and receiving homes. By 1977, Rachel testified, Poole had given her gonorrhea, and by 1978 she was pregnant with his child. In an interview with The Stranger, she said Poole encouraged her to get an abortion and tell the doctors she had been raped by her father. She followed his advice. "He brainwashed me," she said. "He messed up my head, man."

Rachel Mike's father died in 2004. A year later, she heard Elsie Boudreau, another survivor of Poole's abuse, being interviewed on the radio. Listening to Boudreau, Rachel was moved to finally tell the truth.

"He's gone, and I'll never have a chance to tell him in person," she said, talking about her father between heaving sobs. "I was scared. In a way he knew, but—he never even touched me."

"This man," says Anchorage-based attorney Ken Roosa, referring to Poole, "has left a trail of carnage behind him."

The only reason Poole is not in jail, Roosa says, is the statute of limitations. And the reason he's still a priest, being cared for by the church?

"Jim Poole is elderly," answered Very Reverend Patrick J. Lee, head of the Northwest Jesuits, by e-mail. "He lives in a Jesuit community under an approved safety plan that includes 24-hour supervision."

Roosa has another theory—that Poole knows too much. "They can't put him on the street and take away his reason for keeping quiet," Roosa says. "He knows all the secrets." Continued here --> Did You Ever Wonder Where the Catholic Church Dumped All Those Pedophile Priests?

Did You Ever Wonder Where the Catholic Church Dumped All Those Pedophile Priests?

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Korean DMZ Becomes An Unique Animal Sanctuary

Just 30 miles north of this pulsating metropolis is one of Northeast Asia’s last bastions of biodiversity. This stretch of wilderness is home to migrating flocks of rare cranes and some of the last wild bears and leopards in the region.

But it’s not Shangri-La or a national park: It is the notorious Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas. Established after the 1953 Korean War cease-fire (the two nations are technically still at war), it is the most dangerous and heavily militarized border in the world.

The de facto wildlife preserve encompasses 390 square miles of diverse terrain virtually untouched by human development for 55 years. Now, as this accidental Eden faces major development pressures, a growing contingent is pushing for its establishment as a transboundary nature park – which could also be a step toward peace between the two Koreas.

“This strip of land contains almost every type of ecosystem you can imagine,” says Alan Weisman, author of “The World Without Us.” “It has inadvertently become one of the most important wildlife conservation sites in the world.”

Urban sprawl in the South is the biggest threat to DMZ wildlife. For decades, South Korea kept a 3- to 12-mile-wide buffer along the 155-mile length of the DMZ. The low-population Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) is an invasion precaution, but the easing of tensions in the last decade has led to major development there.

Paju, South Korea, is a hub of new job creation despite its being a mere three miles from the DMZ. Paju’s population has more than doubled, to 300,000-plus, since 2003. Major industrial development in North Korea, such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex, has also been on the rise within a few miles of the DMZ. Some 30,000 workers produce low-end goods at the complex.

Increased industrial activity, as well as extensive deforestation on both sides of the border (up to two-thirds of North Korea) have meant worse air and water pollution within the sensitive zone. What has so fortuitously been saved could be recklessly lost, says Hall Healy, president of the DMZ Forum, a US-based NGO working to preserve the area.

“As resilient as these habitats have proven to be, they can’t sustain this level of development on a broader scale,” says Mr. Healy. “We have already lost vast swaths of the CCZ, and the DMZ may not be as amazing without them.”

While covert military activity does oc­­cur inside the DMZ, it’s officially off-limits, and anyone entering from either side risks being shot. Barbed-wire fences also prevent land animals from moving in and out of the 2.5-mile-wide zone. Many studies have taken place along both sides of its perimeter and through distant observation, but none within the DMZ itself.

All doubt about the zone’s ecological value is gone, says Mr. Weisman, whose book explores how nature might recover in the absence of humans, “If you want to know what the world would look like if humans suddenly vanished, the DMZ would be a good first place to look.”

Wildlife unique to the DMZ

And what would we see? Perhaps one-third of all red-crowned cranes, the world’s rarest, depend on the DMZ’s wetlands and nearby agricultural fields while migrating. The spotted seal, Chinese water deer, and lynx are just a few of its resident mammals. Up to 67 percent of all plant and animal species found in Korea live in and around the DMZ. Several species are found only there.

Scientists see it as a gene bank from which a decimated wildlife population could be rebuilt, with an eye toward eventual reintroduction. Without it, several East Asian species might become extinct.

Policy experts, environmentalists, and representatives of various governments gathered in South Korea late last month for a DMZ symposium. It preceded the 10th Ramsar Convention on Wetland Conservation, also hosted here this year. What emerged from these two events was the most promising show of support yet for the zone’s official preservation, says Kim Ke-chung, a native South Korean and director of Penn State’s Center for BioDiversity Research in University Park.

Breaking with their former pro-development stance regarding their CCZ territories, the provinces neighboring the DMZ now show serious interest in conservation. South Korea’s Ministry of Environment, as well as NGOs by the dozen are also in support. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s opening speech at Ramsar about the need to work jointly with North Korea to address environmental issues and make green growth a policy focus gave the clearest signal that a paradigm shift is under way.

After five decades of South Korea’s hyperspeed development, when environmental sustainability was an afterthought at best, the government has begun to tap the brakes on its growth-at-all-costs policy.

“For the first time, the Korean government has taken on DMZ conservation as a national agenda,” says Dr. Kim, a cofounder of the DMZ Forum and former professor of etymology at Penn State.

Despite the newfound support, conservationists say that some development must occur within this valuable real estate to bring greater economic opportunity to CCZ residents.

“Simply conserving the DMZ is not politically feasible,” says Park Eun-jin, a research fellow at Gyeonggi Research Institute in Suwon, South Korea, which is developing conservation plans. “We have to create economic benefits for communities or support won’t exist.”

One popular scenario goes like this: South Korea officially protects the CCZ and establishes it and the DMZ as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. Educational and low-impact ecotourism sites spring up. Next, North Korea works with South Korea to take similar steps to protect its adjacent territory. Ultimately, the separate sites are connected as one contiguous nature park, with the DMZ at its center.

The Korea Tourism Development Insti­tute says some 1.2 million people visit the DMZ annually, including nearly 20 percent of all foreign visitors. While the area’s history draws much of the crowd, conservationists say interest, and tourist spending, will rise markedly if it were to also become a nature reserve.

Cooperation could hasten peace

There are myriad hurdles to creating any large nature park, but those facing the DMZ are unique. About 1 million land mines would need to be cleared, along with the remains of fallen soldiers and the detritus of war. Prewar land claims would need to be settled. These may raise complex legal and logistical issues.

The biggest obstacle, though, is North Korean strongman Kim Jung-il, whose erratic leadership can stall progress at a whim. Without North Korean cooperation, which has been less than exuberant, this ecological time capsule can only be partially protected. The North’s recent threat to cut off all overland crossings with South Korea next month shows the vulnerability of this bilateral diplomacy.

But there is hope, says Kim Hyun, senior program officer at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

“The North Koreans have been open to environmental conservation activities in the past, and are interested in getting more involved,” says Mr. Kim. He has worked with North Korean conservationists before and is now planning future IUCN environmental projects there.

Cooperation could foster peace. “The two Koreas coming together on this issue would incur tremendous goodwill and a surge of investment into both countries,” says author Weisman. “It could even help bring peace to the peninsula.”

Korean DMZ Becomes An Unique Animal Sanctuary

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Haunted Highway: 'A Tombstone Every Mile'

"It's a stretch of road, up north in Maine that's never ever, ever seen a smile…"

Those words from the song "A Tombstone Every Mile" refers to the isolated highway in Maine that most folks called the Haynesville Woods. Country singer Dick Curless recorded this song in 1965 and it proved to be his biggest hit.

For many years, this section of Route 2 has made its way through some lonely and remote parts of Maine. Truck drivers and motorists alike dreaded traveling through the Haynesville Woods, especially during the cold and snowy New England winters. The place naturally developed a sinister reputation.

A native of Maine, Curless was one of the few country stars to come out of the Northeast. He was also a former truck driver who knew all too well the dangers of traveling through the Haynesville Woods. The song talks about all the truck drivers and others who were killed in accidents along this stretch of road, hence the title "A Tombstone Every Mile."

Any place that could inspire a song like this one must be scary. And it is probably haunted by those who didn't make it out of there alive.

For many years, people living in that section of Maine talked about seeing a woman in white walking along the road at night. She would appear out of nowhere in front of a tractor-trailer and ask the startled truckdriver for a ride. She would tell the driver that she and her husband had just been in a terrible wreck and they needed help. Those drivers who encountered the mysterious woman said later they could feel a weird chill when she got into their trucks. As they exited the dark Haynesville Woods, the woman would then vanish without a trace, according to a Web site.

The story behind the ghostly hitchhiker was that a newly married couple traveled through the Haynesville Woods one dark night. The husband was drunk and driving and the car crashed into a telephone pole. He died instantly. It is believed that his young wife crawled out of the wrecked car and she froze to death in the snow.

Folks living in that part of Maine believe that the young bride still wanders Route 2, desperately looking for someone to help her.

In another version of the legend, the ghost of a little girl wanders the road between Houlton and Haynesville. Like the young bride, she would try to seek help from truckers and other motorists traveling through there. But in some instances, she would suddenly appear in the passenger or back seats of cars and then just as quickly vanish into thin air.

Some people have talked about driving through the Haynesville Woods at night and seeing a red flashing light off in a distance. It would come closer and closer to their vehicles. Then, a white cloud would float over their vehicle and the flashing light would disappear.

Records from the state of Maine show that two girls, both 10 years old, died on Aug. 22, 1967 in the town of Haynesville. One Web site suggests that the ghosts of these girls could be the ones now haunting that lonely stretch of road "that's never ever, ever seen a smile."

Haunted Highway: 'A Tombstone Every Mile'
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NASA: Rare Green Comet Heading Toward Earth

February 4, 2009: In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day.

And one day, he did.

Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory. Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first.

Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now," says Ye.

Amateur astronomer Jack Newton sends this photo from his backyard observatory in Arizona:

"My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet," says Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on Feb. 1st."

The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.

Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.

In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.

To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am. The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here are some dates when it is especially easy to find:

Feb. 6th: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity.

Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects.

Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will. [sky map]

Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says. "The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."

Somewhere this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where that might lead...?

"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself," says Ye.

NASA: Rare Green Comet Heading Toward Earth
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Video: Octopus Aculeatus - The Incredible 'Walking' Octopus

Octopus aculeatus - Bipedal or walking octopus that camouflages itself with algae and 'walks' across the ocean floor on 2 tenacles. Amazing creature!

Video: Octopus Aculeatus - The Incredible 'Walking' Octopus

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Reseachers: 'At Least 361 Intelligent Civilizations In Our Galaxy...'

Intelligent civilizations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilizations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.

While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.

"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.

In his new approach, Mr Forgan simulated a galaxy much like our own, allowing it to develop solar systems based on what is now known from the existence of so-called exoplanets in our galactic neighbourhood.

These simulated alien worlds were then subjected to a number of different scenarios.

The first assumed that it is difficult for life to be formed but easy for it to evolve, and suggested there were 361 intelligent civilisations in the galaxy.

A second scenario assumed life was easily formed but struggled to develop intelligence. Under these conditions, 31,513 other forms of life were estimated to exist.

The final scenario examined the possibility that life could be passed from one planet to another during asteroid collisions - a popular theory for how life arose here on Earth.

That approach gave a result of some 37,964 intelligent civilisations in existence.

Form and function

While far-flung planets may reduce uncertainty in how many Earth-like planets there are, some variables in the estimate will remain guesses.

For example, the time from a planet's formation to the first sparks of life, or from there to the first intelligent civilisations, are large variables in the overall estimate.

For those, Mr Forgan says, we will have to continue to assume Earth is an average case.

"It is important to realise that the picture we've built up is still incomplete," said Mr Forgan.

"Even if alien life forms do exist, we may not necessarily be able to make contact with them, and we have no idea what form they would take.

"Life on other planets may be as varied as life on Earth and we cannot predict what intelligent life on other planets would look like or how they might behave."

Reseachers: 'At Least 361 Intelligent Civilizations In Our Galaxy...'
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New Photo From Loch Ness

A couple enjoying a romantic weekend in the Highlands believe they may have had a close encounter with the Loch Ness Monster.

Experts are now investigating this latest photograph, which was taken by accident, to establish if it is in fact the Loch's most famous resident.

Ian Monckton, from Solihull, took his fiance Tracey Gordon to a cottage in Invermoriston on the shores of the loch to celebrate her 30th birthday.

On their way back to the village at about 11pm they pulled into a lay-by. The driver's window was wound down and before the couple stopped their car they heard a commotion in the water.

Using the car headlights and the flash from his camera to check their footing on the rocky shores of the loch, data analyst Ian unwittingly recorded this picture which he hopes could be the elusive monster.

"There is clearly a very large shape in the water that looks aquatic a few metres out from where I was standing and you just see the tips of the trees lower down the slope to the loch in the photo," said Ian who has passed the picture to naturalist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project to get his expert opinion.

"Myself and Tracey were always quite sceptical about Nessie but after having had this experience I would say we now have a very open mind on the matter.

"It was the highlight of our trip. We'll definitely be back and we are struggling to get an explanation for what we caught on camera."

Ian said the pictures were taken from a small cliff overlooking the loch. But it was only when they got back to their country retreat and checked the images they realised they significance of the what they had on their digital camera.

Ian said it was his first visit to Loch Ness and the weather was reasonably clear with only a light breeze.

"We decided to get away for a few days to celebrate Tracey's birthday and because it was off season we headed up to Drumnadrochit for a meal.

"On our way back to Invermoriston we stopped off at Urquhart Castle to take a few photos, but the lights that illuminate the castle were turned off, so there were no photo opportunities there.

"Then we pulled over at a parking point to let a car pass, as my fiancé doesn't drive as fast as the locals in the dark.

"I had the passenger window open as I was smoking at the time and as we pulled into the lay-by there was an rustling and a splash. It sounded as if a Mini had landed in the water. That's how loud it was.

"We both looked at each other and I said 'What the hell was that'? It wasn't a small splash like a piece of debris or a stone falling into the loch. It sounded like a car or a motorbike had rolled into the loch.

"I got out of the car and walked up to the edge using the light from the car headlights to see where the edge of the loch dropped away and taking snaps with the camera so the flash let me see we where to tread."

The couple called out to see if anyone was there, or in trouble in the loch but couldn't hear anything apart from the water splashing around in the loch.

"After a while we continued back to Homewood, both wondering what the hell we had heard and joking about Nessie," Ian added.

"However, when we looked back at the photos I had taken up to and looking over the cliff we now genuinely believe there is something in this, there is clearly a very large shape in the water that looks aquatic a few metres out from where I was standing and you just see the tips of the trees lower down the slope to the loch in the photo."

Mr Shine, who has spent years researching the natural history of the Loch and the Great Glen and is the leader of the Loch Ness Project, commented: "We have been sent material and will be doing some on site investigations. There's not enough information on the image to hazard a guess what it could be. However, the account sounds not inconsistent with an animal such as an otter going into the loch."

Mikko Takala, who runs a webcam network for Nessie watchers worldwide, receives thousands of "Nessie sightings" every year as photos and videos.

He too has analysed the photograph and concludes it may be a dead fish.

"Obviously this photo is taken in the dark and camera flashes can accentuate details that would otherwise be barely noticeable in daylight conditions.

"I think this is probably a dead fish – maybe a flatfish."

New Photo From Loch Ness
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Videos: Haunted Earth Paranormal - EVP Collection

Chris Halton and Haunted Earth Paranormal Video Investigations present a 2-part collection of some of their best EVP files with Chris narrating. The first video includes several locations throughout the United Kingdom that the group has visited the past few years. The second video details Chris' trip to the United States and the investigations he and his team made in and around Cuyahoga County / Cleveland, Ohio. Enjoy!



Videos: Haunted Earth Paranormal - EVP Collection
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'UFO Hunters' to Investigate the 1980's Gulf Breeze Sightings

Gulf Breeze is about to be "visited" again.

The History Channel's 'UFO Hunters' program plans to visit Gulf Breeze within the next month to film a show about the UFO phenomenon that swept the area and thrust the city into the national spotlight in the late 1980s.

Producer Johnathan Walton confirmed that development in a phone conversation with 'Gulf Breeze News' last Friday.

'UFO Hunters' follows the team of Bill Birnes, Dr. Ted Acworth and Pat Uskert as they investigate UFO cases around the world. The team's access to UFO evidence is unparalleled, and their expertise allows them to quickly identify bogus claims of UFOs.

Together, they use eyewitness accounts, scientific experimentation, documents recently released through the Freedom of Information Act and footage that has never been seen on television to piece together compelling - and sometimes chilling - evidence of UFO phenomena.

This season, the team will investigate some contemporary cases where video and audio evidence are in abundance, and dig into history for evidence of sightings going back centuries.

In addition to Gulf Breeze, the investigations will take them across North America and Europe including Tinley Park, Ill., Kokomo, Ind., Aurora, Ill., and a fresh look at Roswell, N.M., and others spanning the years from 1897 to 2008.

In the early 1990s, a book titled 'The Gulf Breeze Sightings' written by Gulf Breeze residents Ed and Frances Walters riveted the UFO establishment.

The book contained photos the couple supposedly took during a couple years of activity along the Fairpoint Peninsula, at Shoreline Park South and Pensacola Beach.

Debunkers proclaimed the book and sightings as hoaxes after a UFO model was discovered in the attic of the couple's former home on Silverthorn Drive, just behind Gulf Breeze High School.

The Walters' UFO photos also were published in the now defunct 'Gulf Breeze Sentinel.'

The History Channel is looking for Gulf Breeze-area residents and witnesses who would agree to be interviewed. Prospective interviewees can contact Walton at (310) 829- 9933, ext. 232, or send an email to Walton@motionpictureprod. com.

'UFO Hunters' to Investigate the 1980's Gulf Breeze Sightings
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Colorado Robber Wields a Klingon 'Bat'leth' Sword

A surveillance picture released by police Wednesday afternoon shows a man armed with what appears to be a small Klingon sword, holding up a 7-Eleven convenience store.

That same man robbed another 7-Eleven store store a half-hour later, and remains at large, Colorado Springs police Lt. David Whitlock said.

The first robbery was reported at 1:50 a.m., at 145 N Spruce St. The clerk told police a white man in his 20s, wearing a black mask, black jacket, and blue jeans, entered the store with a weapon the clerk recognized from the Star Trek TV series.

The robber demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount.

A half hour later, police received a call from a 7-Eleven at 2407 N. Union Blvd., where a man matching the previous description entered the store with a similar weapon. He also demanded money from the store clerk. The clerk refused and the robber "transported" himself out of the store on foot.

Both clerks described the weapon as a Star Trek Klingon-type sword, called a "bat'leth."

Neither clerk was injured in the robberies.

The Startrek.com Web site describes the Klingon weapon as crescent-shaped and about a yard long. However, the weapon that the man was wielding appears to be smaller than that. The bat'leth has points on both ends, two points in between and a handle on the outside.

Police said they don't know if the sword used by the robber was made of metal.

Klingons were warlike enemies of the good-guy United Federation of Planets in the original "Star Trek" series but were allies in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Colorado Robber Wields a Klingon 'Bat'leth' Sword

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'Fishy' Photo Has Strange Story

It-s a story likely to confirm whether you’re a true believer or a true sceptic.

Twins Phil and Mick Cahalane, 45, possess a family photo with an intriguing story.

According to the brothers, the photo was taken more than 100 years ago in Scotland and shows their great-grandfather with the image of a “saintly” figure.

The pair first saw the photo as children, when their mother produced it at a family gathering.

“What I heard was that he had gone on a boat trip out in the ocean somewhere and a really bad storm came through as he was fishing,” Phil, who lives in Quakers Hill, said.

“He started praying because he thought he was going to die. The storm passed and because he thought it was safe, he kept fishing, and that’s when he caught most of his fish.

“When he got to land he took a photo with all the fish he caught and this image showed up in the photo.”

The boys were told the figure was St Teresa of Avila .

Mick, who lives in Colyton, said his mother used to carry it around with her up until her death last year.

After that, his father carried it in his wallet until he died six months later.

At that point the family discovered it in their father’s possessions.

“I’m not a real big believer but this shows people that maybe something is out there, and that gives people hope,” Mick said.

The brothers’ inquiries into the photo’s origins proved futile.

“No one really talked about it (when we were younger). It was no big deal,” Phil said.

“Over 45 years I think I only saw it twice. Now no one really knows the story and everyone in the family who did has died.”

He said no one even knew his great-grandfather’s name because it changed when he migrated to Australia.

Phil said he would sell the photo if anyone wanted it.

“We’re not out to fool anyone,” he said.

“Mum was a very honest woman; it was a very personal thing for her,” Phil said.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks. I’m not out to waste anyone’s time and neither is Mick.

“I just think if someone wants to pay for it, why not? You only live once. Why not enjoy it?”

'Fishy' Photo Has Strange Story
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Discovered: Ancient Snake Measured 40+ Feet 2,500 Pounds

It was the all-time titan of snakes -- a monster as long as a Tyrannosaurus rex that stalked a steamy South American rain forest after the demise of the dinosaurs and ate crocodiles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

An international team of scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery in northern Colombia of fossil remains of the largest snake ever known to have lived. It is named Titanoboa cerrejonensis, meaning titanic boa from Cerrejon, the open-pit coal mine where its fossils were found.

Titanoboa was at least 43 feet long, weighed 2,500 pounds (1,140 kg) and its massive body was at least 3 feet (1 meter) wide, they wrote in the journal Nature.

It lived 58 million to 60 million years ago, when Earth's animal kingdom was still recovering from the mass extinction that doomed the dinosaurs and many other creatures 65 million years ago when an asteroid hit near the Yucatan coast of Mexico. It may have been the largest non-ocean vertebrate then on Earth.

"It is a mind-bogglingly big snake," paleontologist Jason Head of the University of Toronto Mississauga, one of the scientists, said in a telephone interview.

Paleontologist Jonathan Bloch of the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History said, "When people think of Tyrannosaurus rex and how huge that thing was, this really is in the order of magnitude of Tyrannosaurus rex, in terms of length and in terms of caliber of gigantic."

Titanoboa was the largest inhabitant of a hot, lush tropical rain forest and probably hunted forms of crocodiles, large fish and big fresh water turtles. It was not venomous and likely lived a lifestyle akin to the large river-dwelling anacondas of today, wrapping around its unfortunate prey.

"This thing is a crocodile eater, catching and eating them in the water," Head said. "It was a bad day for the crocs."

Its ecosystem was similar to today's Amazon rain forest but hotter. The researchers estimated a snake of its size would have needed an average annual temperature in equatorial South America of 86 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 34 degrees Celsius) to survive.

Of modern snakes, Titanoboa is most closely related to boa constrictors, except that it was the length of a school bus.

The scientists recovered fossil vertebrae and ribs, but no skull or teeth, from 28 different individuals. They think the largest Titanoboa may have been 49 feet or longer.

Snakes first appeared about 99 million years ago.

Previously, the largest known snake was Gigantophis, which lived about 39 million years ago in Egypt and was at least 33 feet long. The longest of today's snakes is the reticulated python, measuring perhaps 30 feet.

Discovered: Ancient Snake Measured 40+ Feet 2,500 Pounds

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Couple Details Ghostly Encounter on Cleenish Island

Have you ever seen a ghost on Cleenish Island?

If so then one Englishman is desperate to hear from you.

A few weeks ago, Tony Galbraith and his wife, Doreen were visiting Fermanagh when they came across something very unusual.

Mr Galbraith, who lives in Suffolk, recalls the moment: "My wife and I decided to take a walk. We went to an area known as Cleenish Island, a very rural setting with many deserted dwellings near the village of Belnaleck.

"We drove our car across the bridge onto the island and drove about a mile further down the twisty narrow road where we decided to stop and take a walk to where we were told there was an old graveyard. The area was so quiet and peaceful it made for a lovely walk, even though it was cold and getting dark.

"The closer we walked to the graveyard, the more old empty houses we passed, the more myself and my wife began to become spooked, It felt like we where not alone," he continued.

Then it happened: "As we passed the house, my wife claims someone walked past the window. Although she only caught a glimpse, she says that she saw a man wearing clothes like from the 19th century period. I walked into the house but could not see anyone," Mr Galbraith recalled.

Then came another experience: "As we approached the old graveyard, we both saw a lady standing amongst the gravestones ruins. As we approached closer, we noticed she to was wearing what looked to be clothes from the later 19th Century. She smiled at us and I said, "Are you alright" as I said, this she walked in amongst the trees and disappeared.

"My wife was at this stage understandably frightened as was I, however although we both saw and felt a ghostly presence, it seemed friendly all the same."

Mr and Mrs Galbraith then walked around the Graveyard but saw nothing. However, their spooky sightings intrigued them.

"As we walked back to our car, we both where asking ourselves: did that really happen and, yes we both came to the conclusion it did. However, what we saw and felt was going to do us no harm. All the same, we where glad to be leaving the island."

A keen fisherman, Mr Galbraith has visited Fermanagh many times in the past, but this is his first experience of such ghostly happenings. In fact, he admits to being something of a sceptic when it comes to the spiritual world.

"I have never experienced anything like this before. I didn't even believe in these types of paranormal happenings before, I always assumed people who saw ghosts were mad but, I can tell you now that what I saw scared the life out of me," he admits

In a further twist to his spooky tale, Mr Galbraith outlined a further discovery: "The ghost I saw was very spooky looking and was moving quite quickly, it was very scary even though she smiled at me. I felt a cold presence but, it was when I got home that things took a turn for the worst when I found my breast pocket on my shirt was ripped. It wasn't like that before I left. It's fair to say that Doreen and I didn't get much sleep that night."

Keen to explore his experience further, Mr Galbraith would like to hear from anyone who has witnessed the ghost of Cleenish Island.

"I don't know anyone in the area, but I have tried contacting the Fermanagh Paranormal Society. I would welcome any information from your readers."

Couple Details Ghostly Encounter on Cleenish Island
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Cameron Promises UFO Full Disclosure If Elected British Prime Minister

David Cameron has vowed to publish any secret files that may exist on UFOs if he becomes prime minister.

Speaking at one of his regular Cameron Direct public meetings, he pledged to be "open and frank" with any government knowledge about close encounters.

The Conservative leader was responding to a question about apparent government cover-ups of UFO activity.

Mr Cameron joked: "I'm convinced we've been visited by aliens - one of them is trade secretary Peter Mandelson."

Intelligent life

At the meeting in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, he was questioned about a spate of mysterious incidents.

A member of the audience asked: "In July last year the respected scientist and astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, spoke on a British radio station.

"He said the American government had had contact with extra terrestrials on multiple occasions and that these were ongoing.

"He spoke about the Roswell event in 1947 where wreckage of a downed UFO was recovered and found to contain alien bodies.

"He said this event was real but was covered up by the government for many years.

"Do you agree with me that the British people have a right to know if we have been visited, and if so, when you become prime minister will you seek to lift the veil of secrecy and give the public the truth that they deserve?

UFO guarantee

Mr Cameron replied: "I have no idea there is intelligent life out there and no idea whether any of the sightings which have taken place or whether any incidents which have taken place have any basis in truth.

"When people have looked at the Roswell incident, or when people have looked at pictures... a rational explanation tends to be produced to try and show what has happened is not what those who believe in UFOs suggest.

"But I think we should be a open as possible, so I would be quite happy to give you a guarantee that if I became prime minister I would always be entirely open and frank about these things.

"I don't think any of us have any clue whether there's intelligent life out there and it is certainly not something that any government should seek to hide from anyone."

Cameron Promises UFO Full Disclosure If Elected British Prime Minister
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Camera Ban Hinders Hunt For Sweden's Sea Monster

Sweden's legendary Great Lake Sea Monster (Storsjöodjuret) remains the focus of photographers hunting for its image despite a Jämtland county council order banning cameras on the shores of Storsjön in Östersund in northern Sweden.

Svenstavik local business association has continued its surveillance of the lake in the hope of the spotting the famed 'monster' without permission from the Jämtland County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen).

Pictures from cameras set up on the lake's shores have been published on the association's homepage and have raised the interest of the council who have issued fines.

"When we found out about the camera surveillance undertaken without a permit we immediately conducted a review. The association has since been encouraged to apply for a permit," said Åsa Johansson at Jämtland County Administrative Board.

After completing a review of the case the board has agreed to permit four cameras to watch for the legendary beast but they are to be located under the water surface of the lake.

Any camera surveillance above the water's surface has been ruled in breach of regulations.

The Local reported in August that a film crew had made claims to have captured an image of the monster.

Their film clip broadcast on Sveriges Television showed a blurry, long and narrow silhouette moving in the lake's nether regions.

The hunt for the monster dates back to 1635 when the first witnesses testimony emerged. In 1894 a Swedish sea captain named Dedering created a listed company with the express purpose of tracking the animal.

In 1986, Jämtland’s county administrative board banned anyone from “killing, injuring, or trapping a live animal such as the Great Lake Sea Monster” or from “removing or injuring the Great Lake Sea Monster’s eggs, roe, or dwelling”.

Most of the reported sightings of the monster have occurred in the southern areas of the lake

Camera Ban Hinders Hunt For Sweden's Sea Monster
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Video: EVPs - 19-Year-Old's Spirit Voice

Brandi Lynn Borgia at Acid Entertainment asks if you knew Virginia to please contact her at Acid Entertainment. She also states: "What can I say other than I never expected this to happen. I'd just begun evp recording and began noticing the same female voice."




Video: EVPs - 19-Year-Old's Spirit Voice
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Beeps! Entity, Alien...or Something Else?

I received this email from a Phantoms and Monsters reader. I'd be interested in some response...either suggestions or those who have had similar experiences. This will be posted on the wiki as well.

Hello,

I just read an article about aliens and beeps – two to be exact. A friend of mine and I are researching and trying to find information on the internet that would explain some beeps we have heard. A couple weeks ago while my husband was out of town I was sitting here in the living room watching TV and I heard to distinctive beeps off to my left. The closest I can describe it would be the sound of a digital watch and the two beeps it makes every hour. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a digital watch but I believe that’s when it beeps twice, every hour.

When I first heard it I looked around but there isn’t anything in that area that would beep like that. A few minutes or so later I heard it again, same spot, off to my left. I again looked around and didn’t see anything. We have two young boys that have toys that make sounds but nothing like this. I pretty much dismissed it.

After going to bed, however, I was about to turn out the light and I heard the same EXACT beeps off to my left again, this time I was sitting in bed on my side which if you’re sitting in the bed, is the far right side. The beeps came off to my left again. Two electronic beeps. Now I can assure you there is nothing in our bedroom that would make that noise and I could not dismiss it after that. The beeps were following me around.

Any ideas?

I asked my husband the other night about aliens and he said we would have to be pretty closed minded to think we are the only ones in the universe and he does believe there are “others” out there. But when I asked him about them being among us he asked, “Do I think they are here among us?” I nodded and he said “No.”

A girlfriend of mine from the same paranormal website group called me the other day, I had just left the doctor’s office for a checkup and we were talking and I brought up the beeping noises and she basically said she had heard two electronic beeps the NIGHT before and would have dismissed it as well until I brought it up! So now we are searching for answers. I live in Florida and she lives in New York.

I hope it’s okay for me to say this but there is an entity that stays in her closet and her black cat guards the door and whatever is in there will not come out. She has wrapping paper in there and she hears the paper rattling around a lot. A medium friend of hers whom she had told no details told her that there is an non-human entity that is in her closet and cannot come out because of the cat and as long as she has the cat it will not come out. At first I thought “demon” when I heard the in-human part but we both agreed a demon could and would come out cat or no cat so the only other alternative we could come up with is alien?

Are they really among us like that? Or is it stuff of people’s imaginations?

I hope you do not think I/we are crazy and I would appreciate any insight you can give me. Thank you! T

Beeps! Entity, Alien...or Something Else?
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Photos: MUFON Report - Indiana - Unusual Bright Erratic Light - 11/26/08

Witness statement: Undisclosed location in Indiana - Appeared to be an extremely bright star in southern sky. thought it was moving but wasn't sure. I put my head against a tree trunk in a position where star was just visible between numerous stationary branches. Object started moving around slowly. Got camera put on tripod took pictures. backyard stargazing. Went inside downloaded and saw this. Went back out shined extremely bright rechargable light at it. It was no longer moving. Then I thought to myself that perhaps I should go in my vehicle to a desolate area and the object started moving when I finished that thought. I drove to a uninhabited area about 5 minutes away. Got out of vehicle and it was still there and it was bouncing around. After about a while (7 minutes maybe) it stopped moving. I then said in my mind,"move around if I should stay"..no movement. I then said, "move around if I should go home and we'll resume this another time"..it jumped around. I went home and was rushing on a natural high for couple hours.

Photos: MUFON Report - Indiana - Unusual Bright Erratic Light - 11/26/08
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Paranormal Probe Planned For New Jersey Eatery

The only recent bumps in the night heard at the historic Publick House in Chester are the sounds of power tools but there may be more, otherworldly things going on, as well.

Writer and ghost investigator Gordon Ward of Bernardsville, said he hopes to bring his team of paranormal scientists to look into the former 19th century stagecoach inn, after renovations are completed.

Ward said he has been invited to check out stories that ghosts at the restaurant are the former owners who died at the time the stagecoach stopped for a break there.

The original Brick Hotel was built by Zephaniah and Jacob Drake Jr. in 1810 at the intersection of Main Street and Hillside Avenue. The hotel was a restaurant in recent years and it was renovated in 2006 by the current owners, the Labrano family.

Ward is a member of “Haunted New Jersey,” a group of paranormal investigators who investigate to dismiss and support claims of hauntings, especially in historic locations. His latest book is titled, “Ghosts of Central Jersey: Historic Haunts of the Somerset Hills,” published in September 2008 by The History Press.

Free Probes

Ward and his team of investigators work for the fun of it, not the money.

“We don’t charge for investigations,” Ward said. “It’s a hobby for us and it’s fascinating.”

Ward has lectured at area historical societies in Basking Ridge and Chester. He said his team will look for evidence of the three classes of supernatural presence, including apparitional hauntings which involve an actual return from the grave; poltergeists, psychic energy produced by the other world; and residual hauntings or supernatural energy trapped in a building.

Restaurant manager Spiro Hadjiyerou said the top, third floor is being converted into living quarters.

The third floor is where the original owners were reported to have lived. Hadjiyerou said he’s heard stories of glasses mysteriously breaking and mirrors cracking and that those who live in the afterworld are angry because the restaurant’s parking lot is built atop an old Indian burial ground.

But the only possible evidence of ghosts Hadjiyerou said he has seen involves a painting that is hung above a fireplace. He tells visitors that the painting is of the ghostly former owners and that as a warning, it fell off the wall and on Hadjiyerou’s head two years.

Ward has written about alleged ghosts in the Somerset Hills area and said he has heard of but never witnessed credible evidence of paranormal activities at the Publick House.

“We’ve heard a mixture of reports, from objects moving to sounds but I’m not aware of any visual apparitions,” Ward said. “The ghost stories have been going around for a long, long time. They change based on the owner.”

Ward and two associates, Al Rauber and Garrett Husveth, hope to bring special recording equipment to the third floor to test for EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena. Such technology can detect voices and sounds of people who aren’t present, in the flesh, anyway, Ward said.

He said Husveth is a court-approved forensic examiner dealing with digital media. His background is in forensics, software development and computer systems design and security.

The Haunted N.J. website says Rauber, a frequent lecturer and guest on shows about the paranaormal, has been investigating the subject for 31 years and is known as “New Jersey’s premier paranormal investigator.”

Ward said he has recorded EVPs on many occasions at other investigations. Often the investigators record for several hours and sometimes detect voices with names or random groups of words.

“We find if they are going to answer you, they will quickly,” Ward said.

EVP is classified in three levels including clear; partially imbedded in background noise; and too imbedded to decipher.

Special computer software is used to analyze and categorize the sounds.

“We can prove that voices we record are human but we can’t prove yet that they are voices of people who have passed on,” he said.

Born in Tacoma, Wash., Ward was raised in Bernardsville and received a degree in fine arts and psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison.

In addition to his writings, lectures and investigations, Ward is director of youth and family activities at the New Vernon Presbyterian Church.

Paranormal Probe Planned For New Jersey Eatery
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Photo: Mysterious Blue UFO - Lansdale, Montgomery County, PA

A 12-year-old in this Montgomery County community was lying in bed at 10:10 p.m. Jan. 25 when he noticed a blue light in the sky through his window. The young photography student got out of bed, opened his window, and shot images of the light using a Kodak Easy Share camera.

Nearby Bucks County has been a hot bed of UFO activity throughout summer and fall, 2008, and on Jan. 24 was the site of a UFO Conference sponsored by the PA chapter of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

The young man was looking in the northwest sky and said he believes the light could have been approximately 20 miles away, but no more than about 50 feet above local roof tops. He said the light was not moving while he took photos in less than one minute's time, and then it was gone. He said the light reappeared an hour later, but then was gone. From his perspective, he did not hear any noise associated with the light.


Lansdale is a borough in Montgomery County, PA, 28 miles northwest of Philadelphia, with a population of about 16,000.

Pennsylvania Mutual UFO Director John Ventre is having the photos analyzed. On first look, Sam Maranto, the Illinois MUFON director explained the process of ruling out stars, planets and other known bodies.

''Assuming it's not Venus,'' Maranto said Friday night, ''the photos are interesting and warrant further study.''

Maranto said he will request additional information about the case and will offer an opinion. ''The blue color to the light is very interesting,'' he said.

Photo: Mysterious Blue UFO - Lansdale, Montgomery County, PA
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Could Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) Account For Some Alien Encounters?

Following his wife's death six years ago, David Stannard has become accustomed to spending quiet evenings alone at his home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

So it came as a surprise to the 73-year-old when he looked up from his television one evening to discover he was sharing his living room with two RAF pilots and a schoolboy.

'The pilots were standing next to the TV, watching it as if they were in the wings of a theatre,' he says.

‘The little boy was in a grey, Fifties-style school uniform. He just stood there in the hearth looking puzzled. He was 18 inches high at most.’

Mr Stannard’s guests never said a word and vanished after 15 minutes. That night, he says, the walls of his house, which had always been white, looked as though they had been redecorated in patterned wallpaper with a brickwork effect.

The next morning he was caught off-guard again when he found a fair-haired girl standing on his sofa. She also appeared to be from the Fifties, but was life-size, wearing a short skirt and pink cardigan, with chubby knees, white ankle socks and ribbons in her hair.

‘I watched her for a while,’ he says. ‘She didn’t move much. Then she was gone.’

It would be easy to dismiss Mr Stannard’s story as the bizarre imaginings of an elderly mind. Fortunately, he knew he wasn’t losing his mind; neither was his house haunted.


A few weeks earlier he had been registered blind, though he was still able to watch television if he sat at a certain angle. He’d been warned that as his eyesight deteriorated, he might experience visual hallucinations in the form of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS).

‘I was lucky enough to know what it was,’ he says, ‘otherwise I would have thought I was going bonkers.’

An estimated 100,000 people in the UK have CBS, but many won’t realise it because the condition remains something of a mystery.

The real number is probably higher because sufferers are often too ashamed to talk about what they have seen for fear of being considered crazy.

Continue reading at Ghostly faces and visions of 'little people': The eye disorder that leaves thousands of Britons fearing they've lost their senses

Could Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) Account For Some Alien Encounters?
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Johns Hopkins Surgeons Remove Kidney Through Donor's Vagina

Baltimore surgeons removed a woman's kidney through her vagina so she could give it to her ailing niece, an unusual operation they hope will encourage others to donate because it reduces pain, scarring and recovery time. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said donor Kimberly Johnson, 48, and her niece, Jennifer Gilbert, 23, were both doing well following operations Thursday.

"It was easier than childbirth," said Johnson, who has three children.

Transvaginal kidney removals have been done before to remove cancerous or nonfunctioning kidneys, and other diseased organs have also been removed through mouths and other orifices. Many donated kidneys are removed laparoscopically, through small keyhole incisions.

But hospital officials think this may be the first time a donor kidney was removed through the vagina.

The operation left three pea-size scars on the Lexington Park woman's abdomen, one hidden in her navel. Surgeons hope the procedure will lead more women to become donors, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, chief of the transplant division at Johns Hopkins, who led the team that performed the surgery.

Johnson said the operation was less painful than gall bladder surgery and she is recovering more quickly than Gilbert's father, who gave his daughter a kidney 12 years ago.

Gilbert, of Baltimore, needed the first transplant because repeated infections had destroyed the kidneys she was born with. She needed the second after she began suffering chronic rejection.

Johnson, an assistant sales manager for a St. Mary's County newspaper, said she was able to get out of bed Thursday night, the same day the kidney was removed.

Quicker recovery and less pain are the key benefits of the new technique, said Montgomery and Dr. Anthony Kalloo, the director of the Division of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins and a pioneer of the method of using natural orifices for organ removal.

Kalloo said more than 300 such surgeries have been performed worldwide, mostly gall bladder and appendix removal through the mouth, anus and vagina. Kalloo said there has been some resistance in the medical community because of concerns, for example, that stomach acid could leak into the abdominal cavity in operations where organs were removed through the mouth.

Dr. Jihad Kaouk, a urologist and director of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery, is among those concerned about contamination. He was not involved in Johnson's surgery.

"There is the risk of infection having the kidney passing through a contaminated area and then going to another patient who is immunocompromised," Kaouk said. "That is the concern we have and we would like to monitor the outcome in that regard."

In Johnson's case, Montgomery said a plastic bag placed into her abdominal cavity through a tiny incision protected the donated kidney from contamination by bacteria and other organisms in her vagina. Johnson was chosen because she has had a hysterectomy, which made the operation easier, but the procedure could be used without affecting women's ability to give birth, he said.

More than 78,000 people are on the national waiting list to receive kidneys from deceased donors. The need is increasing as diabetes and obesity rise, threatening to further lengthen a wait that can last years. In 2007, more than a third of the 16,629 kidneys transplanted in the U.S. came from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Montgomery said the number of living donor transplants has tripled since laparoscopic removal debuted in 1995, providing an alternative to so-called "shark bite" abdominal incisions. He hopes advances such as the vaginal removal will continue the increase.

"We think she'll be probably back to her normal activities within a week or two," the transplant surgeon said. Recovery from laproscopic surgery typically takes several weeks. "So, that greatly reduces the inconvenience of donating and we're hoping that will encourage more people to donate."

Johns Hopkins Surgeons Remove Kidney Through Donor's Vagina

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Video: US Soldier's First Sky Dive OK, Instructor Dies of Heart Attack

A US soldier on his first skydive has landed safely despite the death of his instructor during the descent.

Daniel Pharr steered himself and the instructor clear of a house and trees, touching down about 0.3 miles (0.5km) from the intended landing point.

They had jumped from 13,500ft (4,100m) in Chester, South Carolina.

Initial indications showed the instructor had suffered a heart attack after releasing the parachute, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Mr Pharr, 25, said that once on the ground he had tried resuscitate the 49-year-old instructor, but to no avail.

He also described the moments after the pair had skydived for about a minute.

"He pulled the chute," Mr Pharr was quoted as saying by AP.

"It got super quiet. It's eerily quiet up there. I made the comment to him, 'It's surprising how quiet it is.' And he's like: 'Welcome to my world.'"

'Survival instinct'

After a few seconds Mr Pharr asked his instructor a question, but got no answer - even when he asked a second time.

"And then I just looked up at him and he looked like he was conscious, but just talking to him, I realised something was wrong," Mr Pharr said.

"So at that point I realised I was just going to have to do what I had to do to get down to the ground and try to help him."

Mr Pharr said he knew from TV that he had to pull the parachute's toggles in order to steer.

Instructors on the ground said that if he had pulled too hard the parachute may have spun out of control, and he too could have died.

"They told me afterward that it was amazing that I knew to do that. This is my survival instinct at that point."

US Soldier's First Sky Dive OK, Though Instructor Dies

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Paranormal Group Investigates Haunted Wisconsin Landmark

There will always be a fascination with trying to explain what seems unexplainable.

One Stoughton store owner is looking back at the history of her building to explain why she feels she's never alone.

Several years ago Vicky Elsing and her husband fell in love with a 118-year-old building in Stoughton and opened a business at the location. They say the business isn't all that moved in.

The Elsings say there is something else there that refuses to vacate.

"My first experience, I ran out of the building,” said Elsing.

Once skeptics of the paranormal, the Elsings' purchase of the former Grand Hotel in Stoughton changed their minds.

"We really didn't believe that stuff. After we came in and started painting and fixing up some stuff, things started happening,” said Vicky Elsing.

Whatever else resides in the building, Elsing is not quite sure. But she's trying to find out.

To do that, Elsing has enlisted the help of the Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee.

“You're just trying to piece together the puzzle, put your equipment in the areas of the shop where you know there is activity, and just hope you're in the right place at the right time,” said lead investigator Noah Leigh.

Saturday night, the group performed its tenth investigation at the store.

“There's definitely activity here,” said Leigh.

Using special cameras, sound recorders, and sensors, investigators said they have evidence, including an image passing in front of their camera and the sound of a voice in the empty building.

“You need to have an open mind, and look at this evidence that I caught, and these are the things that I did to control the situation. So I know it's not 'X,' I know it's not 'Y,' I know it's not 'Z.' Now what do you think?” said Leigh.

Elsing believes that among other paranormal activity, there's the spirit of a little girl.

“I also think that there is an entity in the back room, which is not 'friendly,' I guess we'll say,” said Leigh.

“This shelf used to be full of these little figurines, and my husband came in one morning and this little figurine lifted up right in front of him, came out about here, and then went down,” said Elsing.

The Elsings believe they're not alone, and say they've learned to live with their uninvited guests.

After all they say, the spirits were there first.

Whether or not you believe the Elsing's story, it sparks the curiosity of everyone who walks through the door.

“During the day, I work here by myself and I'm not afraid, but don't ask me to come into the building alone at night,” said Elsing.

The ghost story has been a big draw for customers who want to get a glimpse of something out of the ordinary.

As for the Elsings, they say the spirits that haunt the building can stay. They simply want to know what they are and what happened in their past.

The investigators – who don't charge for their services -- will continue to search for evidence of a “residual” or “intelligent” presence at the store.

Paranormal Group Investigates Haunted Wisconsin Landmark
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