I received an unusual email a few days ago that, quite frankly, I thought was a prank...that's until I started to check into the claim. From what I can gather there is a bit of local folklore with this story. Regardless, I'll post it so you can comment. If you're familiar with the cryptid, feel free to respond:
Mr. Strickler - I hope you can give me an idea of what I saw a few weeks ago while hiking with a friend in Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia. We had been on one of the trails for about an hour when we stopped for a brief rest and drink. This was my first visit to this park and I was pleased that the area we were in was secluded.
After a few minutes of rest we continued to walk along the trail when my friend suddenly stopped and pointed towards the right at large group of rocks. Something was moving around but it was about 50 yards away so we didn't get a very good look. We could see that it was light in color and was quite bulky. We stood frozen wanting to know what this creature was though I was getting more frightened by the second. As we started to walk the creature moved onto a rock where we got a good look at it. It looked like a medium sized bear but the fur was very light in color, almost a yellowish gray. The head was very strange also. There was a snout like that of a bear but the dark round eyes were set lower on the head. It was looking in our direction and we had no intention on sticking around to see what it was going to do.
We got back to the car and immediately left for home. I have read online that this area has a strange history, thus the name 'Fairy Stone'. The creature is unlike any I have seen or heard about before. I had made an inquiry to a local historian who laughed at me and said I saw a 'Sheep Squatch'. What is that? Thanks for you help - Teena
As I stated previously, I thought someone was pulling my leg. I had never heard of a 'Sheep Squatch'...that is, until I started to look for references.
Monstropedia has a brief history about a cryptid referred to as a 'Sheepsquach', which is also known as the 'white thing'. It is supposedly a white woolly-haired cryptid that has been reported throughout the southwestern region of Virginia. Fairy Stone State Park is located in the southwestern region of Virginia.
This creature is described as "being the size of a bear, with completely white wool-like fur. Its front limbs end in paw-like hands, similar to a raccoon’s but larger. The beast head is long and pointed, like a dog with long saber-like teeth and a single-pint horns like a young goat. SheepSquatch sports a long and hairless tail, similar to an opossum’s and is reputed to smell like sulfur."
There have been a few reported sightings over the years. The counties with the most sightings of Sheepsquatch are from Boone, Kanawha, Putnam, and Mason. A large surge in sightings took place in Boone County during the mid-1990s.
In 1994, a former Navy seaman witnessed the beast break through the forest. The white thing drank for a few minutes, then crossed the creek and continued on across toward the road. The navy seaman observed the animal for a while, and then it moved on into the surrounding brush.
Also in that same year, two children observed the beast while playing in the yard in Boone County. They saw what looked like a large white bear, and it stood up on its hind legs, which made it over six feet tall. Startled, the beast ran away through the forest, breaking medium-sized limbs off of trees as it went.
Another encounter a year later involved a car. A couple driving through Boone County noticed a large white beast sitting in the ditch along the road. They stopped their car to get a good look at it. It was described again as a large white animal with woolly fur about the size of a bear. In this instance, it was described as having “four eyes”. Then, it jumped out of the ditch and starts attacking the car. The couple drove off quickly, and when they got home noticed the large scratches on the side where the beast attacked.
Another incident occurred in 1999, this time a couple of campers were in the forest of Boone County at night around a campfire. They heard an animal snorting and scuffling around the camp, but it did not come into the light of the campfire. All of the sudden, the SheepSquatch appeared out of the darkness and charged at the campers. They jumped up and ran back to their house; all the while being pursued by the SheepSquatch. It stopped at the edge of the forest, however, and let out a terrible scream. Then it just turned around and headed back into the woods. The next morning, the campers examined their campsite and the trail home. It was torn up, they said, “like someone had tilled it up for gardening”.
I still don't know what to think of Teena's sighting but I doubt is was a 'Sheep Squatch'...possibly a light-colored bear. I'm really at a loss for any other explanation. Here is a link to another reference to this cryptid - West Virginia's Weird White Monsters: Sheep-Squatch...Lon
Three of us were on a sailboat in the Albemarle Sound (North Carolina) in route from Manteo (departed near 9:45 a.m.) to Coinjock (NNW). We were motoring at 7.5 nautical miles per hour & had passed Kitty Hawk to the East at 10:50 a.m. on July 1, 2011. I believe that we were southeast of the mouth of the Pasquotank River.
We were constantly scanning the water watching for crab pots, debris, sailing markers, etc and hoping to see dolphins. Around Noon I saw in the distance (NNW, 3-5 miles) a very large white shape, rectangular with rounded ends. It was so pale it blended with the skies & water but was distinct from the nearby trees. There was some smoke from the peat fires to the East so the view was not the best.
I studied the sight with binoculars & didn't have a clue about what I was seeing. I pointed it out to the other sailors who also looked and had a similar reaction. We could not determine if the object was hovering, floating, teetered or otherwise secured. It did not seem to move.
I took two pictures though it was very hard to see the object in the lens. I zoomed out (shutter speed 1/1250; focal length 60.0 mm) in the direction I was looking & clicked twice. Remember, we were on a boat so holding a camera steady is a challenge! The first picture shows the complete object that we estimated was over 200 feet tall and 1000 feet long. The second picture shows the object partially hidden by trees. (The object was NOT moving; our boat was taking us out of sight of it as we continued our trip.) Look closely in the trees to the right & see a house to get perspective of the size.
We wondered if it was a blimp since we had seen a blimp and blimp hangar on June 21 when we were leaving Elizabeth City. But, it was much larger and a different shape from any blimp we could recall. The bulges on either end of the object and the lack of "fins" plus the sheer size of it made us doubt that possibility. Also, there were dark squares that appeared to be windows near the mid-line along the right side of the object.
At the time we were wondering what it was, trying to figure it out, knowing we had never seen anything like it. We were curious but assumed there was a logical explanation. We chose not to investigate further as we were meeting friends and wanted to get to port before any afternoon showers might appear. - MUFON CMS
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Fireballs over Washington, D.C.
Witness One: On Friday evening, May 21, 2004, I was watching television in bed. At approximately 10:30 pm, an electrical storm began to develop.
I was beginning to get sleepy and was considering turning the television off and going to sleep. When there were two very rare bursts of static on the television about a minute apart (both at 10:42, according to my TiVo clock), my decision to go to sleep was made since I also feared that it might not be safe to leave the television on any longer. I pressed the "record" button on my TiVo so that I could finish watching the program at another time, very likely made a quick trip to the bathroom (though I'm not sure), took off my glasses (I'm very near sighted), and got back into bed.
I lay down on my left side facing the large panoramic windows in my bedroom. Even with my very impaired vision, I immediately became aware of some lights moving in the sky in a way I'd never seen before. I immediately sat up, retrieved my glasses from the night table, and put them on. Outside my window and over Rock Creek Park and a large residential building across the street, balls of light were moving rapidly and a bit jerkily in an oval-shaped counterclockwise pattern.
It's difficult to say exactly how many there were, but I believe that four individual lights would be a good estimate. After watching them for a stunned minute or two, I got out of bed, and went next door to get my sister. Together we stood at the window and watched this light show for approximately five minutes. Towards the end, the lights seemed to simply fade away through the heavy cloud cover until there was only one left. That light eventually faded as well. I did not look at the clock again until after my sister left. The time was 10:58.
Though I've called them "balls" of light, they weren't perfectly spherical. There was no hard edge to them, though I do believe there was a brighter intensity at the center of each. During the entire event, they kept moving in the same circular pattern – very, very rapidly and very, very erratically, Though pinpointing precisely where they were is tough, I recall that my sister and I both stooped a bit to get a full view of the "show". (I usually have the blinds in my bedroom about 1/3 of the way down.) I forgot until Saturday evening when I turned on my television and my TiVo that I had recorded during the exact time of the event. Because I'm very sure that it was the second burst of static that caused me to turn off the television, I can time the start of the event (using the TiVo clock) at precisely 10:42.
In retrospect, the static on the television is very interesting. Our cable service is very reliable here and is not affected by the weather at all. Neither my sister nor I can ever recall seeing bursts of static since we've had this service (more than four years) and they are dramatic. Both are preserved on my TiVo.
Witness Two: On the evening of Friday, 5/21/04 I was in my bedroom reading. A very powerful thunderstorm had been right over our building for approximately ten minutes when my sister came into my room and asked me to come look at something. I glanced at the clock and noted that it was 10:46PM. She asked me to look out the window in her bedroom at the sky over Rock Creek Park. I saw at different times 1, 2, 3, or 4 blurry, yet distinct white lights moving counterclockwise in an apparent oval shaped orbit. The cloud cover was heavy, but my perception was that the lights were within or circling one particular cloud. The lightning was intense and lit up the entire sky several times as we watched the lights. The lights moved constantly in an erratic, jerky fashion, seemingly unaffected by the lightning. Their movement appeared ghostly to me and I thought of Casper cartoons. Their shape is harder to describe. Narrow at the bottom and wider at the top is close – almost torch-like with indistinct edges. It was my impression that their blurry, undefined appearance was due to the cloud cover and extremely hazy skies. After about ten minutes the intensity of brightness dimmed and I realized that only one light was still visible as it gradually disappeared. The storm raged on for another few minutes. My sister and I talked for a minute or two and I went back to my room at approximately 11:00pm - MUFON CMS
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Dinosaurs and Aliens, oh my!
This article was posted in 2008 but that being 4 years ago, perhaps scientists have already succeeded and there are living dinosaurs among us!
Just because someone is exceptionally smart, does not mean they have any "common sense".
I've said for some time now, that I feel this http://www.blogger.com/has been done and is still going on today. As seen in the movie, Jurassic Park was a huge mistake and life could imitate art here.
Aside from all that, hypothetically speaking, what if extinct species were brought back, say the Wooly Mammoth and the Pleistocene Ice Age, steppe wisent (Bison priscus). No big deal, right?
Well what if the predators were brought back, those Carnivorous Monsters better left in nightmares and movies, the Sabre Toothed Tiger (Smilodon), the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Allosaurus and the exceptionally smart Utah Raptors.
Brought back in enough numbers, who do you think would become extinct? We would no longer be at the top of the food chain.
With people seeing flying Pterosaurs, water monsters like "Nessie" and "Champ", Mokèlé-mbèmbé and Bigfoot, just to name a few, is it just imagination, or is it a growing reality?
I may not have the answers in my lifetime but my grand daughter might. I hope it will be answers she can live with...
And if all this isn't enough, Men in Black II (also MB1 & MB3) director Barry Sonnenfeld, in collaboration with comic book writer Grant Morrison and Liquid Comics, is writing a novel and screenplay entitled Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens. Oh, I can't wait. - Sunny Williams - Lights in the Texas Sky
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Couple eaten alive by parasitic worms
A Victorian couple endured a health nightmare after tiny worms with teeth began eating through their bodies. It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia. It is believed the couple became ill after eating a fish they caught on a WA camping holiday.
Alfred hospital infectious disease physician Andrew Fuller said that when the couple ate the fish, believed to be a black bream, they also ingested the gnathostomiasis larvae. "The worms are 1-3mm long and have got these sharp little teeth and they can go anywhere they like in the body," Dr Fuller said.
"The worm works its way around the human body until it dies or is killed by the immune system. They move under the skin and cause itchy lumps that can make you feel sick - and it can be very hard to diagnose."
The infected couple suffered muscle pain, fevers, vomiting and their skin began to look like orange peel. They were given antibiotics and have recovered. The worms can stay in a human for 15 years, leaving people chronically ill. They can make their way into the brain, other organs and the spinal cord. "They eat your tissues," Dr Fuller said. - heraldsun
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Indonesian hospital has increasing paranormal events
If reports are to be believed, the gynaecology department in the JNIMS hospital is haunted. The exact spot where the strongest paranormal activity has been reported is the area from the toilet and the entire stretch of the corridor leading to it from the ward.
Affected people describe the experience of sensing the presence of someone close by, or tingling sensations, or changes in temperature, or heavy footsteps following them when there was clearly not a single person in that are, that is apart from the victims themselves.
These experiences have been related mostly by attendants of patients, but it seems the staff on night duty have had similar experiences.
What makes this story relevant is how such activities, which only be described as paranormal, affect the attendants of seriously ill people.
It is traumatic enough tending after near and dear ones and to top it all face paranormal activity could be nerve wracking. One step to clam frayed nerves could be establish the facts, that is, whether paranormal activity is going on or not in that ward.
Even if is established that such activities do take place it could comfort a lot of people. The human mind is such that once faced with the inevitable it adjusts to live with it.
The answer would lie in finding intrepid people who can operate electronic voice sensors, detect movement and record temperature fluctuations. One believes temperature changes which take place suddenly are indicative of paranormal activity.
These can be done at the dead of night, and anyway the scary happenings, it seems, take place only late in the night.
The ambience of a hospital should be such that it soothes frayed nerves. The very presence of doctors, nurses and other competent staff should provide succour to those who feel their life is at the end of the tether.
It should be a place of treatment and convalescence, a place where supportive kith, kin and good friends go to see people in distress.
Fear of the unknown, particularly the scary type could be pernicious to inmates and their attendants, and in this superstition laden society of ours, the next thing we could be witnessing is bizarre spiritual cleansing exercises or downright exorcisms.
On the other hand we also do not want a scenario where you have a seriously ill patient who needs constant attention, scared as hell at the idea of dying, only to find his or her attendant coming back from the toilet ashen faced, trembling like a leaf and needing more medical attention than he or she does.
Or worse still who literally dropped dead out of horror and shock. - e-pao
On Ida Lane in rural Lee County, they’re struggling to explain what took place Monday morning.
“I ran into the house and told my wife to call the police because something happened to the car,” explained Leon Marshall.
“The tooth marks went completely through the fender,” added his wife Ada.
Early that morning the Marshall’s woke up to find their car mauled by something.
“That’s metal! And it just bent it up. Like it was a piece of tissue paper,” said Ada.
The question is by what?
“We have no idea. No idea. No idea what-so-ever.”
To former Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale, this sounds all too familiar.
“This part here is how it all started in 1988,” explained Truesdale. “We got a call to come and look at something that had mauled a car. I went out there and looked at that damaged car, and I haven’t seen anything like that before.”
About that same time there were bizarre calls coming in.
“They had been seeing a large creature about 7 feet tall, with big red eyes, with three pointed fingers.”
So he started asking residents, “have you seen anything like a big tall creature round there? And the guys said, ‘what you mean that lizard man?’ That’s how it started and you got it from the horse’s mouth.”
Back then, there was a media frenzy.
“Everyone thought they were going to get a glimpse of the Lizard Man but he didn’t appear.”
The damage on the Marshall’s car is almost identical to the damage on the two cars from back then.
Was it the Lizard man?
“I’m skeptical about that. I’m not gonna go that far. I’ll believe it when I see it,” said the Marshalls.
“Everything it laid off on the poor lizard man,” jokes Truesdale. “But at this point, he must have grandchildren!”
Whether you believe in the Lizard Man or not, he certainly did generate a lot of buzz. In 1988 it’s estimated that about 50,000 visitors came to Lee County in hopes of spotting the creature. - WLTX
NOTE: Here is a website that describes the 1988 encounter - The Lizard man of Bishopville, SC. BTW...back in April 2008, the one and only Tom Biscardi got involved in the Lizard Man stating that he thought it was a Bigfoot. So he packed up the circus tent and headed to the location. Biscardi didn't find anything in South Carolina but he did hit pay dirt a few months later a little further south in Georgia. This time the Bigfoot was already in the freezer...Lon
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Cryptid Investigator Thinks 'Lizard Man' May Be 'Bigfoot'
It's a story that got a lot of people talking in the Midlands. Back in February, a Lee County family woke up to find their van torn and bloodied. Some people thought the legendary Lizard Man had struck again, and many of you sent us stories telling about your own run-ins with him.
Now, an investigator says those who believe the legend have it all wrong. Instead, he says a very different type of creature is to blame.
"Think about it. It's incredible," says Tom Biscardi. He wants answers, so he drove all the way from California to Bishopville. Biscardi is traveling with his team of researchers - trying to figure out what could've chewed up the front of the van, biting right through metal.
Biscardi heard all the rumors. The only freak of nature that could do it was supposedly the Lizard Man.
A giant creature of legend was first reportedly seen near Scape Ore swamp nearly 20 years ago. Biscardi doesn't think so. "There's no Lizard Man. I'm telling you, you've got something else."
Biscardi, says his investigation - will debunk all the rumors. He can't prove it yet, but Biscardi traces the damage to a creature like the one in Texas. "I'm going to tell you, it's not a Lizard Man. What you've got is a primate, a thing called a swamp ape."
The creature Biscardi speaks of is more commonly known as "Bigfoot."
The team found 18-inch prints in Texas. Biscardi's team of Bigfoot hunters says it's found similar prints near Scape Ore Swamp. The team set surveillance around the swamp, and near the damaged van.
Forensic evidence was also gathered. But after two days of searching, no creature was spotted. Biscardi says, "No problem."
He'll be back next month with a bigger crew. "If anything does travel out on this area, we'll get it. I have no doubt in my mind."
Whether the Lizard Man story ends there remains to be seen. What's clear for now, the mystery's plot - has only thickened.
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THROUGH PARANORMAL EDUCATION AND DISCUSSION
George Wheeler indicating the approximate position of UFO observed on Thursday evening, April 22, 1976. Picture taken May 27, 1976. (credit: APRO Bulletin)
This report has been exhaustively investigated by several individuals including Robert Pratt, who did exceptionally thorough interviews with all individuals important to the case, and Mr. Jack Bostrak, a Professor of Biology at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls.
The important elements of this case are:
(1) The primary witness reported a UFO in April 1975, thus making him a "repeater". (Some researchers, and Dr. J. Allen Hynek in particular, have reservations concerning the believability of witnesses where they claim more than one sighting. It is our contention that during heightened UFO activity in a particular area, an individual could easily have more than one sighting.) (2) The object, or the glow from it, was seen by at least two other witnesses. (3) There apparently were electro-mechanical effects on an automobile and possibly on television reception, and (4) possible animal reaction.
At about 11 p.m. on April 22, 1976, George Wheeler, a relief policeman at the town of Elmwood, population 737, located in west central Wisconsin about 60 miles east of the Mississippi River, spotted an orange glow at the top of Tuttle Hill. Mr. Wheeler is a veteran of 30 years police work in New York state and Wisconsin, and the former one-man police force in Eimwood where he now performs as reserve officer, filling in for the present chief when necessary. He was also a combat pilot in World War II.
Thinking that the glow was a large fire, he drove to the top of Tuttle Hill, but when he arrived there he found a strange glowing object which he estimated was about 500 feet distant and hovering about 100 feet off the ground. He said it was between a limestone quarry and a farmhouse in the area. Wheeler later said that there were six bluish-white lights, windows or portholes on the side and he could see shadows as if someone was moving inside of it. In the middle of the side facing him there appeared to be some kind of a panel that was open and Wheeler said that inside he could see something which was revolving slowly and had fin-like parts on it similar to a turbine.
What Wheeler interpreted to be legs on the craft were partially extended from the main body of the object and there was a long, black, hose-like appendage on the bottom. The main part of the craft was silver in color.
All the while he was observing, Mr. Wheeler remembered some advice given him by Bostrak the preceding April when he had his first experience: if he should have a similar experience in the future, he should attempt to observe as many details as possible.
When Wheeler first saw the object as he arrived at the top of the hill he radioed the sheriff's department headquarters in Ellsworth and described what he was observing. Suddenly the object started to rise straight up at extremely high speed and at this time there was a bluish flash, whereupon the squad car, the lights, and the radio went dead. Wheeler claims that he doesn't remember any more until somebody asked him if he needed any help. He thinks he recalls saying something of this nature when he radioed the sheriffs office: "My God, it's another one of these UFOs or spacecraft." He estimates that he observed the object for perhaps 45 seconds, and recalls that it made a "whooshing" sound when it left. Although the main body of the craft was silvery in color, the top of it glowed an orangish-white, and so brilliant that it was difficult for him to look at that part because it was "like looking into the sun." He could not discern whether the hose-like appendage was touching the ground because it extended down to where it was obscured by trees.
The limestone quarry where the object was hovering is an active quarry, that is, it is still being worked. In the neighborhood, the nearest farm is that of the O'Bryan family and when Bostrak interviewed Mr. O'Bryan he said that he hadn't seen anything because he was watching television, and casually noted that he recalled the time because he was watching the Perry Mason show which comes on at 11 p.m. and that several minutes after 11, his television set quit for a short time. When Bostrak visited another farm with Wheeler they learned nothing from the adults, but the 9-year-old boy said something about his sister coming home from "some doings" in town and when she came into the yard the dogs did not act normally. Always before, the dogs would run up to her and jump up for attention and petting but on that night they would not respond to her calls and merely barked for some time.
The first person to see George Wheeler after the accident was David Moots, 36, a dairy farmer at Elmwood. Moots had taken the babysitter home a few minutes before that and he had seen Wheeler's squad car parked elsewhere with lights on, etc., so when he saw the car parked on the top of the hill with the lights out and blocking that lane of the road, he decided to stop. Moots said that Wheeler was trying to get out of the car and there seemed to be something wrong with him. Knowing that Wheeler had once had a heart attack, he thought he might be having another so he stopped and asked what was wrong. Moots said that Wheeler said that he'd been hit. He responded with a question: "Hit by a car?7' Wheeler then said, "No, one of those UFOs."
Original sketch by witness George Wheeler
The object that George Wheeler saw. (credit: APRO Bulletin)
When interviewed, Moots said that he'd heard that a lot of people had seen UFOs in the area before so that was no particular surprise but the being "hit" by a UFO took him aback a bit. He said that Wheeler appeared to be dazed, and because although he did not know him well, he had had sufficient contact with him to know that he was not acting normally.
A second witness to the incident is Mrs. Miles Wergland, a housewife who lives just outside of Elmwood to the North. She claimed that at about 11 o'clock she heard the cuckoo clock strike and got up to go to the kitchen to take some medicine when she happened to glance out the kitchen window and spotted a "bright orange moon-shaped" object on the hill (Tuttle). She said she observed it for a "few minutes", then went back to bed and did not even bother to wake her husband because she said she had seen strange things in the area before and he had merely told her to go back to bed, she was seeing the moon, without ever checking for himself.
The third witness to the actual object is Paul Fredrickson, who is administrator of the Heritage of Elmwood Nursing Home in Elmwood. Mr. Fredrickson was at his home when the police chief's wife called him and asked him to go to his front porch and look out the window and see what he could see. Fredrickson did as he was asked, and saw what he later described as "an orange glow, like a half-moon, like a moon cut in half" on Tuttle Hill. He said he knew it was not a house on fire as there were no flames leaping up. He went back to the telephone and by that time his wife had gotten out of bed and the two of them went back to the window and the thing was gone. Fredrickson feels that the length of time that he spent on the telephone might have been from 3 to 5 minutes.
In the course of the investigation, Mr. Pratt found that Mr. Fredrickson had had another experience along with his son in October, 1975, at which time they were in the same general vicinity, and driving home from the Nursing Home where Mr. Fredrickson had worked overtime. His son suddenly pointed out "something" coming up over the horizon. At the time, they were on Tuttle Hill and looking eastward "right over the top of our house". Fredrickson said his first impression was that it was the full moon rising but then realized it couldn't be because the object was rising very rapidly. He stopped the car and they got out, the boy getting a better look because Mr. Fredrickson was busy with braking, turning off on to the side of the road, etc. Mr. Fredrickson described it at first as a big orange light coming toward them, but when it was overhead it looked like the bottom of a huge, gray plate which he estimated was about 100 feet across. He thinks perhaps it may have been between 500 and 1,000 feet in altitude and when it was directly overhead they could hear a roaring sound much like the roar of a waterfall. The Fredrickson boy said that the object gave off a blue and green beam from the side of it at one point, but this was while his father was engaged in stopping the car. The object faded into the distance rather quickly, they said; having originally come from the east, it disappeared into the west. Fredrickson did not make careful note of the date at the time, but feels it was around the 20th of October and that the experience took place between 10 and 10:30 p.m.
The next individual to become involved in the Wheeler incident was Police Chief Gene Helmer of Elmwood. He had been at home and monitoring the "police scanner" when he heard Wheeler say that he was watching a UFO. Helmer said Wheeler had started to describe the object but the radio went dead. The Sheriffs Department was trying to contact Wheeler by radio also, and Helmer tried to get Wheeler back, but to no avail. Helmer decided he had better go and see what was wrong when Wheeler came back on the radio momentarily and said, "Get somebody up here — I've been hit."
Helmer, who lives about a quarter of a mile from Tuttle Hill, left immediately and when he arrived at the scene, Moots was trying to soothe Mr. Wheeler. Helmer said that he had never seen a man as frightened as Wheeler was. He said further that he had worked with Wheeler under various trying conditions but had never seen him so upset. Another interesting aspect of Chief Helmer's interview was his description of the condition of the patrol car. Although they had had the car tuned up not long before the incident, it was necessary to replace all points and plugs in the car's engine. The starter is beginning to act up also, whereas they had had no problem with it prior to the incident.
Wheeler's wife arrived on the scene at about the time the Police Chief got there, as she had been listening to the police frequency on the Wheeler scanner. Wheeler was taken home and the family doctor, Frank Springer, was called. Mrs. Wheeler took her husband to Springer's home where he examined Wheeler and gave him a shot to calm him and help him sleep. After they got home, Chief Helmer arrived and questioned Wheeler for about an hour and a half. At about 1 a.m. Mrs. Wheeler called Dr. Springer and said that her husband was still quite upset and Dr. Springer instructed her to take her husband to the hospital.
Wheeler was in the hospital for three days where tests were taken but nothing could be found wrong with him. He stayed for three days, was released, but went back to the hospital for a second stay of 11 days because of headaches he was suffering, as well as nightmares.
Dr. Springer, who has been Wheeler's physician for 25 years, said that it was unusual for Wheeler to suffer headaches and the headaches he had which prompted him (the Dr.) to re-hospitalize him were continual and severe. Otherwise, however, Wheeler was rational and appeared normal.
One puzzling aspect of this case is the fact that although Wheeler recounted the entire experience to Helmer, who recorded it in writing, he could not recall any of the details of the experience later. - APRO Bulletin - April 1976
NOTE: As his health rapidly deteriorated for causes his doctors could not determine, Wheeler repeatedly told them, to their disbelief; that he was dying from the mysterious effects of internal injuries caused by alien beings. Within six months after his April encounter, Officer George Wheeler died of unknown causes. The following link describes more of the Wheeler case and other UFO sightings in Wisconsin during 1976-77 - http://wiki.razing.net/ufologie.net/htm/wheeler76.htm...Lon
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Hi...I just want to thank the faithful readers of 'Phantoms and Monsters' for your loyalty over the years. As many of you know, I do not charge for advertising and only post links / banners for people and businesses I personally deal with. I'd be thankful for any donations to help offset costs associated with producing the free daily newsletter as well as the other web sites and services I provide at no charge. If you are so inclined, you can use any donation button located on the 'Phantoms and Monsters' blog site. Again, my gratitude to you for being there...Lon
A haul of Anglo-Saxon gold discovered beneath a Staffordshire farmer's field could help rewrite history, experts say.
Historians believe the Staffordshire Hoard could hold vital clues to explain the conversion of Mercia - England's last great pagan kingdom - to Christianity in the 7th Century.
The hoard was found buried on a farm in Staffordshire in July 2009.
The 1,500 pieces of gold are thought to be the spoils of an Anglo-Saxon battle.
'Warring kingdoms'
TV historian Dan Snow believes the find has the potential to rewrite the history books.
Speaking on BBC1's The Staffordshire Hoard, he said the conversion of Mercia "marked the beginning of a new era in English history".
"The Staffordshire Hoard is helping shine a light on exactly how and when the transformation occurred," he explained.
Historian David Starkey said: "England, remember, isn't England at all; England has yet to be invented - the word barely exists.
"Instead, there were these rival warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that behaved like the worst kind of takeover bidders of the city.
"They decapitated each other - literally, not metaphorically.
"It's gang warfare, when you take over the territory of a rival gang, the lot get bumped off."
Mercia was one of Britain's largest and most aggressive kingdoms, stretching from Humber to London.
The pagan kings of Mercia resisted conversion to Christianity until it became surrounded by Christian states late in the 7th Century.
Historians believe the hoard could give the last glimpse of Paganism and the first of Christianity.
The largest-ever haul of Anglo-Saxon gold found in Britain, the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered buried beneath a farmer's field near Brownhills by amateur metal detector enthusiast Terry Herbert.
The hoard comprises more than 1,500 items, made of gold and silver, embedded with precious stones and jewels and was valued at nearly £3.3m.
After the Staffordshire Coroner ruled in September 2009 that the find was the "property of the Crown", arrangements were made for the valuation.
The money was split between Mr Herbert, and Fred Johnson, who owns the farm where it was discovered.
More than 40 items from the Staffordshire Hoard are on display in this summer's Tour 2011 across the West Midlands. - BBC
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Orange lobster looks cooked....but actually a rarity
When a Quebec grocery store opened a shipment of lobsters, one of the crustaceans looked like it had already been boiled and was ready to eat — until it started to move.
France Dauphin, who has worked in the fish department at the Trois-Rivières IGA for seven years, said she was taken aback when she opened the shipment.
“I found it, and ‘Hey, what’s that! Is it cooked? No, it’s alive!’ ” she laughed, and said that no one at the store had ever seen a lobster like that.
It wasn’t a zombie lobster, back from the boiling pot to terrorize bib-wearing diners, just a genetic rarity — only one in 10 million lobsters get that just-cooked look on their shell naturally.
The lobster was named Youppi, after the ginger-furred mascot of the old Montreal Expos who now cheers for the Montreal Canadiens. Ms. Dauphin said the store isn’t sure where the lobster came from, but most of their lobsters come from Nova Scotia, and all of them are from Canada.
Though many customers have tried, the IGA isn’t planning on selling the rare crustacean and are working on finding it a new home, most likely at the New Brunswick Aquarium and Marine Centre in Shippigan, about 10 hours away. For now, it is kept in a tank with the other normal green and brown lobsters, where it enjoys a diet of shrimp twice a day, which staff drop into the water right in front of it.
The New Brunswick aquarium plans to take the lobster and are working on a way to transport it, said Laurent Robichaud, the centre’s co-ordinator of development and promotion. The centre has blue, white and speckled lobsters, Mr. Robichaud said, but they haven’t had an orange one for a few years.
Early last month a P.E.I. fisherman brought in a vibrant blue lobster, the first one caught in the province since 2009 and one in four million. Another blue one was caught two weeks later in P.E.I. - nationalpost
The object looks like a meteorite dropping from the sky, with a bright pinkish orb at the bottom trailed by two long glowing orange tails.
Similar unidentified fiery objects have been sighted in other countries, for example Melbourne, Australia in March.
An obvious explanation is that they are meteorites that ignite into shooting stars when they impact with Earth's atmosphere.
Curving Fireball UFO in Germany on Feb. 11
But one such object filmed over Berlin, Germany on Feb. 11 exhibited an unusual behavior. This UFO is also seen falling through the sky, leaving a much longer flaming trace behind it.
Then, inexplicably, as it passes behind a dark cloud, the object changes its trajectory mid-flight, dispelling the idea that it could be a meteorite.
Another fireball UFO like this was spotted above Puert Montt, Chile on May 28 with video footage showing a drastic change in trajectory during its fall.
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Rare donkey-zebra mix born in Xiamen Haicang Safari Park
A rare hybrid cross of a donkey father and a zebra mother is attracting attention in the Xiamen Haicang Safari Park after he was born on Sunday, reports Xiamen Daily.
The "zedonk" has black and white stripes prominently displayed on his four legs, but his brown body haired looks more like a donkey, said one of his keepers at the park.
He is said to be in good health and has bonded well with his zebra mother, who raises her powerful hind legs to attack any animal or zoo keeper trying to reach the baby animal.
The Xiamen Haicang Safari Park keeps its only zebra and 3 male donkeys in the same enclosure. Zoo keepers didn’t know about the mate until the zebra got pregnant the last July, leaving it hard to identify the real father among the 3 donkeys.
It’s the fourth reported case around the world, and Prof. Wang Yiquan from Xiamen University said donkeys and zebras are different species having the same chromosome which makes a hybrid offspring biologically work, but the romance would not likely happen if the two animals were not kept in the closed breeding environment together. - whatsonxiamen
NOTE: is it a zonkey, donkzey or zedonk? Lon
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Pissed-off elves bombard Icelandic town with rocks
The good burghers of the Icelandic town of Bolungarvik have intervened to prevent further action by elves who are evidently unhappy they weren't consulted about the construction of an anti-avalanche barrier.
Bolungarvik recently suffered a bombardment of rocks during "routine dynamiting" on the barrier, with fist-sized missiles causing damage to several properties.
This led locals to suspect the huldufólk (hidden people) had finally got a bit miffed with civil engineering projects, including the construction last year of a road tunnel through a hill.
Icelandic folklore advises caution when venturing into possible huldufólk territory, and disturbing the rocks in which they're believed to live.
Bolungarvik's council rejected calls by "seers" to apologise to the Little People for the disruption, claiming there was a perfectly logical explanation for the dynamite mishap.
The townsfolk responded last week by organising an impromptu appeasement ceremony at the blasting site, offering song and prayers in the hope of restoring peace between humans and huldufólk.
Local musician Benedikt Sigurdsson explained: “I have now been asked by both elves and men to broker a compromise here, and I hope that this song will suffice." - theregister
"The above photo was taken after the creature had submerged. But the wake it left behind was pretty impressive"- William J. Gibbons
Cryptomundo.com is reporting on a recent sighting of the infamous Ogopogo at Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. Sighting reports of this cryptid are usually met with a fair amount of skepticism...this sighting is no different. The report was made by William J. Gibbons and forwarded to Cryptomundo.com. Gibbons and his companions state that they witnessed Ogopogo on July 2nd, 2011 while cruising Lake Okanagan. A future video of the encounter is promised.
Go to the post and read the full report...then read the update. Gibbons was a bit disturbed by the Cryptomundo.com readers' comments and offered the following:
bgibbons responds:
July 6th, 2011 at 12:23 am
@greg102- I am beginning to regret even sending this report in, because people like you obviously do not pay attention to what I actually wrote. Further, you were not there, so how can you pass judgement on this occurrence?
Let me explain again in simple language.
1. The water was flat calm.
2. There were no boats moving on the water in any direction that could have caused any kind of disturbance directly in front of us.
3. The disturbance occurred when a sudden upheaval of water happened immediately in front of our boat.
4. Being close to the object allowed me to observe the back of the animal protruding slightly above the waves that it caused, eliminating the cause as a mere boat wake or a line of energetic sturgeons, etc.
5. The head of the animal broke the surface only briefly.
6. We did not claim our observation as “evidence.” It was simply an observation, and of a large creature that briefly broke the surface and moved rapidly away from west to east before submerging about 10-12 seconds later.
7. To me, solid evidence constitutes physical remains or at least part of a specimen from which specific zoological data can be extracted. Only crystal clear film and photographic evidence of a cryptid is the next best thing but not conclusive.
Finally, do try to reserve your comments to subjects that you are actually knowledgeable in. Cryptozoology, however, does not appear to be one of them.
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The current generated waves on Lake Okanagan have be documented for decades though people still insist that Ogopogo exists. Here are a few links to videos that show these waves generating naturally.
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