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Another Paranormal Probe of the American Theater

This Saturday, May 2, Mid-Iowa Paranormal will be back to investigate the American Theater in Cherokee.

Mid-Iowa Paranormal is a group of investigators from the Des Moines area founded by Robert Sinclair. The team previously visited the site a year ago, and is anxious to return. Mid-Iowa Paranormal was the first team to investigate paranormal activities in the theatre as well. Mid-Iowa Paranormal has recently been offered a chance to have a television show , and have chosen this location to film a pilot episode in hopes to receive a green light to begin broadcast in Cherokee.

The American Theater was built in 1920 by Barry Sisk and Walter James, but ran out of finances before the construction could be completed. Dale Goldie bought the property in 1923 at a Sheriff's sale and the theatre was opened in 1925. The theatre was one of the first major buildings in the town to be cooled with a large water and fan system. The basement was also used to store civil defense supplies, and the supplies are still there in entirety.

While investigating the theater last July, Mid-Iowa Paranormal was able to conclude that the building did have some paranormal activity, most centered around a woman. The team captured around five "EVP's" or electronic voice phenomena, which are voices caught on a recording device that are usually responses to questions or certain stimulation. A few of the "EVP's" captured were the voice of a woman, but there were no women with the team at this investigation except for the manager who was asleep upstairs in a booth and nowhere near the investigators.

The team's co-founder, Sky Ankrum, had taken a picture in front of one of the doors leading out to the front of the theater, and in this particular photo one can see the expressionless face of a female standing in front of one of the doors and it looks as though she were lost.

The current manager of the theater, Linda McClaren, has also witnessed some paranormal activity. She had stated that one evening, while working downstairs, she heard footsteps above her that sounded like someone walking with high-heels on a hardwood floor, but there is not a hardwood floor that was above her, and no one else was in the building with her.

The team found no evidence to determine that the building is haunted by former owner, Dale Goldie, although he had a wife named Hazel who sold tickets in the main lobby most of her life.

Mid-Iowa Paranormal could not yet declare the building to be haunted, but is hoping to gather more evidence this Saturday to either debunk or confirm that evidence collected from their previous visit.

To read the case report from the investigation of the theatre last July, or to get more information about the team, simply visit www.mid-iowaparanormal.com and you can hear some of the "EVP's" captured as well.

H1N1 Influenza: On-Site Reports From Mexico

Mexican researcher Marco Reynoso is tracking developments in the H1N1 virus’s spread throughout his country, and providing us with disturbing – if not outright alarming – information about what is going on in the streets of major cities south of the border. He quotes an e-mail from an anonymous resident of the state of Michoacan that reads thus: “I live in Michoacan. To date, 3 cases have been confirmed in this state. However, we have had people dying of similar symptoms and in fact, one of them was incinerated only a few hours after dying. Why isn’t the truth being told? I understand that caution must prevail in political and economic matters, yet it has also been said that this is the same virus that killed nearly 100 million people in 1918.”

Reynoso indicates that the state of Sinaloa (on the Gulf of Cortez) reported five suspicious cases that were promptly denied by officialdom. People are debating whether to believe the rumors or the official disclaimers, although some individuals are mistaking symptoms such as slight fevers as proof of contagion with H1N1. Things are altogether different in the city of Puebla, with confirmed cases of H1N1. People are going about their business, mouths uncovered; parents are taking their children to playgrounds and eateries. Puebla’s bus station handles twenty thousand users who commute into Mexico City, where the situation is slowly spiraling out of control. Reynoso notes that the news media is bombarding the population with so much information that people are beginning to panic. Covering one’s mouth is essential before entering commercial premises: the streets may be empty, but supermarkets are crammed with people purchasing supplies against what they see as the eventual collapse of society.

“Mexico City,” he writes, “is nearly desolate.”

The plague – or fear of the plague – keeps cars off the street, pedestrians away from their normal routine, and children away from schools. No one knows who’s infected and who isn’t. Mistrust of official sources of information has caused the citizenry to seek counsel from sources that feed off gossip and rumours. “The weaknesses and shortcomings of the Mexican health system have been laid bare along with its epidemiological alert system. Atypical pneumonia cases first began to emerge in the month of March, with deaths among the infected victims, but these were not analyzed until the USA and Canada became aware of that the virus had mutated.”

We would like to thank Mr. Reynoso for this information and will continue posting updates as they become available.

California Woman Claims Father Was Infamous Zodiac Killer

San Francisco police were looking into a woman's claim Wednesday that her late father was the infamous Zodiac killer who terrorized the Bay Area in the 1960s and 1970s.

Homicide investigators were checking information provided by 47-year-old Deborah Perez, who said that as a young girl she helped her father write and mail some of the letters that earned him the sensational nickname, SFPD Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said.

Perez of Corona, in Southern California, told reporters that she was seven years old and tagged along with her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, when he killed two of the known victims nearly 40 years ago — Darlene Ferrin in Vallejo and Paul Stine in San Francisco.

Hendrickson, a carpenter and father of six kids, died in 1983 from cancer, and Perez said she could not keep her father's secrets any longer.

During a frenzied news conference outside the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday, Perez said she had given police what she believed were the eyeglasses Stine wore and letters she wrote on her father's behalf about the crimes.

She said her father took the glasses off of Stine's face and she kept them all these years and only recently realized they belonged to a murder victim and not her father.

"He told me he was sick and all I wanted to do was help my dad," said Perez, who came to her conclusion that her father was the Zodiac killer about two years ago. "He kept telling me he was sick and he killed many, many people. I had no idea."

Perez said she saw a composite sketch of the Zodiac killer in August 2007 and recognized the man as her father, who died in 1983. She said she had never heard of the Zodiac killer prior to seeing the composite sketch.

The self-described Zodiac killer is blamed for at least five murders in 1968 and 1969, and possibly as many as 36. He sent letters to local newspapers including The Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner that were splashed across the front pages, taunting reporters, police and the public with codes and clues to find his identity.

Nevertheless, he was never caught and his true identity has never been confirmed by police — although many believe he was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester who died in 1992.

In September 1969, the killer struck in Napa County, stabbing Cecilia Shephard and Bryan Hartnell, two college students picnicking at Lake Berryessa. The couple was accosted, hog-tied and repeatedly stabbed by a man dressed all in black and wearing an executioner-style hood.

Shephard died and Hartnell survived.

Three killings took place in Vallejo. David Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen, teenagers on their first date, were shot to death in December, 1968. Darlene Ferrin, 22, was shot and killed seven months later at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club, while her companion, Michael Mageau, 19, survived.

Perez said her father knew Ferrin as "Dee," and they got into an argument on July 4, 1969 at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club in Vallejo.


They didn't find it, Perez said.

Perez said Wednesday she was also with her father later when he killed Stine, a cab driver, at a San Francisco intersection in October 1969.

Kevin McLean, also in attendance at the Perez news conference, said he worked with attorney Melvin Belli - who the Zodiac killer had contacted pleading for help. McLean said handwriting tests show Perez did write some of the letters, and they hoped DNA testing can be done on the glasses believed to belong to Stine.

Sgt. Tomioka said while SFPD detectives continued to follow leads and treat all claims equally, she emphasized that there was only one known murder that took place in San Francisco linked to the Zodiac.

"We get a significant number of calls a year. We will look into whatever evidence that is presented to us," Tomioka said about the case that also became a hit movie in 2007.

McLean said Perez decided to reveal her father's identity in response to a Sacramento man who had claimed in recent months that a relative of his was the Zodiac killer.

Have You Seen 'The Channel Creature'?

This footage sent by Pierce Clatworthy to the AMR shows a strange shadow speeding through the water, Pierce took this shot while on a cross Channel Ferry near the Normandie Bridge.

It is great to receive more footage and the AMR is eager to find out more about it and are hoping to receive similar footage.

NOTE: actually, the 'shadow' in the video looks faked to me...buts that's my opinion...Lon

Amityville Ghostbuster Hans Holzer Dies Aged 89

The Crossing of An Original Modern-Day Pioneering Ghost Hunter Who Broke The Haunted Barriers.

Professor, Parapsychologist, Writer, Humanitarian, Vegan, Spiritualist, Friend, Mentor, Son, Brother, Father, Grandfather and Spouse-Author, Dr. Hans Holzer.

Hans Holzer, known as the Father of the Paranormal, died Sunday at his Manhattan home after a long illness.

Dr. Hans Holzer, PhD, authored over 145 titles including Murder At Amityville, which was the basis for the 1982 film Amityville II: The Possession.

Having earned his PhD from the London College of Applied Science, he spent over five decades traveling the world to obtain first hand accounts of paranormal experiences, interviewing expert researchers, and developing parapsychological protocols and terminology such as 'sensitive' and 'beings of light'.

Holzer had hundreds of national and regional talk show appearances, co-hosting/hosting programs such as Ghost Hunter on Boston's Channel 2, NBC's In Search Of with Leonard Nemoy (an Alan Landsburg productions), Murder in Amityville, Beyond The Five Senses in Louisville, KY, Explorations with Brownville Productions in Ohio, Radio including a continuous segment with New York City's WOR with famed radio personality Joe Franklin who still is a family friend.


If anyone knew and could grasp the concept of what death really was, it was my father Professor (as he liked to be called) Dr. Hans Holzer.

What can I say that already has not been publicized throughout six-decades via the media, television, lectures, radio, film and literary libraries brimming to it's shelf edges on a grand field covering so many topics. He even wrote a book on poetry, plants that he felt actually 'felt' and so on. He's been around so long that many of his book publishers don't even exist anymore and the ghosts have run into him on several occasions! One could say he probably met the same ones a few too many times having quite the conversation. Yeah, he's been around the paranormal block a few times I'd say.

A lover of all things of the living and of the dead with layers in-between to the unknown, my father was the pinnacle of a foundation that later on caught attention yet again with new technologies at our disposal, furthermore propelling the future of the field via popular cable shows, continued interest for documentaries and internet radio surges.

Honestly, I can go on but that's why I wrote Growing up Haunted and why father wrote all that he did. It's very easy in this day and age to google him, pick up a book or two and familiarize yourselves if not already as to who he was to a growing field, still leaving us with many unanswered questions into the abyss of what is called the unknown. More importantly, he had a wit about him that could go unmatched as his uncanny ability to work over any room with any persona perhaps will not be experienced in my lifetime. Father came from a time and place (some say another planet) that today's generations cannot relate to or comprehend. It is this back-story that cemented his ideals and future visions to unlock some of life's mysteries without disrespecting or competing in-order to obtain results and anything else that came with the para-territory. He was the real deal and will be a hard act to follow.

Although not perfect as no human being is, he had his downfalls and 'issues' but that's what made him the real mckoy. He didn't really pay attention to the James Randi's of the world as he stuck to his faith and systems that never failed him. So much so I have in turn adapted many of his techniques not because he's my father but because they really are genuine to what being in this field is all about. He carried a plate full of persona's covering a gambit of ways to express and serve the paranormal and literary communities from around the globe, as he became a beacon of hope for many internationally. He was never one to have managers or agents as he'd say, "What's the point? I do it myself!" He just gang-busted his way through the years learning and discovering himself teaching others around him at all ages. Yes, he did prefer the 'younger' ladies and many of them ended up on his 'doctors' couch in his office lair to be taught mediumship. I often wondered about that technique.

Look, Elvis Presley was a fan of my father's owning several of his books and when I found out I was floored but yet at the same moment, understood why. If you get 'it' in your lifetime about what and why were here then someone like a Dr. Hans Holzer is a person you'd follow, respect and admire.

Holzer retired in 2008. He resided and passed peacefully in his Manhattan home of which he lived half of his remaining life. He loved Manhattan. It certainly was one of many 'apples' in his eye.

Services and a big to-do was not what he wanted and so having said that, what we are doing will be at a disclosed location for private family members only. If you want to contribute in some way to his life then please buy one of his books and have a good read.





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Fundo do Baú: Eminem

---- Hora de um "rapper" passar aqui pelo blog das EVR em uma das postagens especial desse mês de Abril. O Fundo do Baú de agora é com o Eminem, a polêmica figura do cara que fala mal de tudo e de todos, inclusive de sua mãe que não foi nada materna com ele quando este era criança. Suas "ex" também são alvos frequentes de críticas e ofensas, mas independentemente disso, o cara faz muitas músicas boas e clipes ótimos. Confere aí a lista que o blog fez de hits do Eminem!

---- E aí? O que acharam? Olha que faltou "Just lose it" que eu não consegui encontrar no You Tube que deixasse eu anexar por aqui, mas beleza. A seleção postada aqui é boa e com certeza agrada muitas pessoas. Falando nisso, por hora era isso. Quem sabe em algum mês para frente eu repita esse quadro. Falou!

Absurdos De Um Mundo Insano

---- São absurdos e mais absurdos que vemos por aí. Não acredito em muitas notícias que leio hoje em dia. As coisas são tão incríveis, tão surreais que parecem não ser verdades. Se o inferno é na Terra eu não sei, mas que existem pessoas que arderão nas chamas, ah, mas isso tem!
---- Para começar, nas últimas semanas tivemos não uma, nem duas, mas algumas notícias de mães que “venderam” seus filhos por R$ 10,00 ou R$ 15,00 para comprar drogas. Pode? Não pense você que isso ocorre apenas em uma determinada faixa social da população, mas sim ocorre em todas. Aqui no estado nós também tivemos uma dessas notícias. É difícil acreditar em fatos assim.
---- Ainda nessa praia, tivemos outra mãe de 20 anos que tentou matar seu bebê recém nascido cobrindo a cabeça com um saco plástico, sendo que ela teve ajuda do namorado de19 anos em tal barbárie. Segundo o relatório do caso, a mulher escondeu a gravidez dos pais (por 9 meses???). A história aconteceu aqui no estado também. Surpreendendo muito também, temos o caso da menina de 14 anos que é suspeita de forjar seu próprio sequestro para assim conseguir dinheiro dos seus pais. Isso lembra uma história vista aqui no país tempos atrás onde a adolescente e o namorado mataram seus pais para ficar com suas posses. Lembram desse caso?
---- Lendo tais notícias, eu comecei a recordar de vários casos de violências brutais e estúpidas entre famílias. Entre casos de “Lindenbergs” da vida, de “Nardonis” entre muitos outros onde pais matam filhos e filhos matam pais, isso me faz ter tamanha descrença nesse mundo que corre em velocidade rápida para um terrível fim. Onde as coisas vão parar desse jeito? Onde está a justiça nesse país que faz um alarde quando uma mãe pobre rouba um pão e esquece os escândalos de Brasília onde nosso dinheiro é usado para pagar passagens aéreas desordenadamente e desavergonhadamente. Onde vamos parar desse jeito? Essa é a dúvida de quem aqui escreve.

Beware of Room Four at the Black Swan Hotel

Room Four at the Black Swan Hotel in Devizes is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most haunted bedrooms in the country.

Before taking over the Black Swan Hotel last month new proprietors Mike and Yvonne Wright were skeptical about ghosts and hauntings. But they are not so sure now after a series of uncanny events at the pub, which has a reputation for being haunted.

Mrs Wright said: “I’m not a believer in this sort of thing but so many people have been phoning up about doing late night vigils, we agreed to continue them.

“Last week we had a group in from 11pm to 4.30am. Most of the time was spent in the cellar but then we visited room 4. One of the girls in the party said she felt a presence next to her. She reached out her hand and she said she felt it getting very hot.

“She was getting quite distressed so we turned the light on. Her hand was dripping with sweat. Michael Murphy, our daughter Charlotte’s partner, held a thermometer into the spot and it went up from 17 to 27.6 degrees Celsius as we watched.

“There was no heat source in the room. We just can’t explain it.”

A few days later a film crew making a documentary for Wadworth brewery booked in. When they were offered room 4, they turned it down.

Mrs Wright said: “They said they had been on the filming of the TV program Most Haunted when it visited the Black Swan a few years ago and they didn’t want to spend the night in room 4.”

But it has not discouraged others. Mr and Mrs Wright are now inundated with requests for bookings for it.

Mrs Wright had an uncanny experience at the Black Swan even before the family moved in. While staying at the hotel one night Mrs Wright woke up to find herself trying to get out of a non-existent door in the wall of room 12.

She did not think too much of it until she watched a YouTube clip of ghost show Most Haunted and saw medium Derek Acorah filming at the Black Swan and saying he could feel a door there had been sealed up.

Mrs Wright said: “There are just too many incidents for anyone to dismiss it out of hand.”

O Segredo do Abismo, do diretor James Cameron

Várzea Grande-MT, 27 de Abril de 2009. 06:41PM.

...Mais um post inútil...

No período vespertino, retirei mais um de minha “Lista da Vergonha”: O inovador O Segredo do Abismo (The Abyss, 1989), do visionário – e sumido – James Cameron. Reconheço que, apesar do visível avanço tecnológico em se tratando de efeitos visuais, tal longa prestes a completar 20 anos ainda consegue surpreender, muito devido ao enredo curiosíssimo (apesar do fracasso retumbante na época) é claro, toda a impecável parte técnica. Ed Harris interpreta aqui o líder de uma expedição cujo principal objetivo é descobrir o que ocorreu com um submarino abatido próximo a um abismo à 7000 metros de profundidade.

Se tem um ponto a menos? Vejamos: incomoda um tantinho a mega-metragem (assisti a versão com 174 minutos). Entretanto, alguns dizem que tais mudanças na montagem acabaram melhorando significativamente o resultado final (preciso ver a versão lançada nos cinemas!). Iria falar sobre outro fato, mas deixa pra lá (não gosto de textos com Spoilers). De qualquer forma, obrigatório aos fãs do gênero. Ou não!!!

Volto amanha para comentar um pouco sobre a formula ator > filme. Desculpem pelo atraso do post, um abraço e até mais.

Spectre Pays Second Visit to Spooked Malay Schoolgirls

It was certainly a case of spooky return when a ghostly apparition that scared the wits out of some 50 schoolgirls in Langgar, Malaysia on April 26, made a second appearance in the premises yesterday.

Another girls from Forms One to Four of SMK Langgar became frantic after they claimed they saw the apparition in the school canteen at 9.30am.

In an immediate reaction, State Education director Shahidan Abdul Rahman advised those affected by the incidents to stay home.

"We are still investigating the matter and I advise those still disturbed by the incidents to stay home," The New Strait Times Online quoted him as saying.

Nasroh Abdul Rahim, 14, one of the students, who claimed to have seen the ghost, said she fainted after seeing the apparition of a longhaired woman in a flowing white gown hovering in the canteen.

"I screamed and then blacked out after seeing the figure," she said when met at the school.

Nasroh was also one of the 50 girls who became hysterical when the "ghost" appeared the first time.

It was when she, along with other students and a few teachers, were reciting the yassin in the school surau when the "ghost" reappeared.

And her screams made even others to become hysterical.

A bomoh, who was called in by the school to help check the problem, claimed that he had caught a blurred image of the "ghost" on his handphone.

MUFON: Investigation of Pasadena, Maryland Triangle UFO

Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) Field Investigator Norm Gagnon followed up on an April 16, 2009, report filed with MUFON concerning a slow moving, triangular-shaped UFO with a 300-foot wingspan seen in the early morning hours over Pasadena, MD.

The following is Gagnon's report as lead investigator on this case.

Interview - sequence of events

April 16th, 2009, approximately 3:15 a.m., Witness 1 was awakened by loud humming and she then woke up Witness 2 to have him check out where this strange sound was coming from.

Witness 2 walked from bedroom to bedroom to look through the windows to see what was causing this humming, thinking to himself that it may be a street cleaner sweeping the area roads or some sort of utility truck working on something. He returned to the master bedroom to look through the window that was next to Witness 1 and he noticed a very large triangular craft hovering above.

The craft was totally black with no lights, and from his point of view, had a boomerang shape resembling a very large “stretched out” F117 Nighthawk with about 300 feet wingspan.

The UFO was hovering slowly heading towards SE and took about 17 minutes to pass over their house and to fade at a distance. Witness 2 said that the humming was very loud, constant and sounded like an electrical transformer.

That following Saturday, Witness 2 mentioned to one of his neighbors about the strange incident that occurred early Thursday morning. He said the neighbor did state that he heard the humming and was reluctant to continue the conversation.

More investigation

Gagnon called the County Department of Public Works, northern district, asking if the streets local to the sighting had been swept that night or early the next morning - specifically at 3 a.m. on April 16. The office responded, reporting, “We definitely would not sweep or clean during those hours.” Two nearby stores that operate 24 hours-a-day reported that nothing unusual was heard or observed.

Area military bases and airports from Pasadena include, Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), 8 miles NW; Fort Meade, 9 miles W/SW; Patuxent Naval Air Systems Command, 50 miles South; and Dover Air Force Base, DE, 95 miles East.

The temperature at that hour was 39 degrees, visibility was 9 miles, wind speed was 3.5 mph out of the WNW, and weather conditions were mostly cloudy.


The witness was perplexed and a bit shaken by this incident, and wondered if this was a US military aircraft, why would they built such a thing. He also stated that most of the home occupants who reside on his street are either with the military, law enforcement agencies or working as government contractors. I found the witness to be very credible, logical and he really isn’t into the whole sci-fi scene or the UFO phenomena.

A similar case involving a black triangular craft sans lights was witnessed five years ago in Owings Mills, Maryland, about 20 miles NNW from Pasadena, MD. February 9, 2005, a Frank Griffin, a Lockheed Martin software engineer, witnessed a low altitude triangle, about 500 to 800 feet above ground with no lights.

Original report

Following is the original, unedited report filed with MUFON.

I was dead asleep @ 3am ish on April 16th 2009 my finacee woke me up to hear what I thought at first was a street sweeper. I told her to go back to bed but she insisted I get up and look out side. I admit at first I was sure it was a street sweeper a couple streets over it was a very dull humming like a electrical transformer.

I looked out the window on my side of the bed...nothing I walked to the front room facing our street nothing. The sound kept a stationary volume. I told her it had to be a street sweeper. So I walked over to her side of the bed and looked out the window for sure I would see some sort of sweeper or utility truck a street or two over between the houses..nothing and the sound yet stayed staionary at what seemed to be just over our house to the wood line.

That area of the sky is pretty dark but kinda against the sky which was slightly cloudy I could make out this very seemingly large shadow or just black diamond boomarang shape looking thing drifting over the tree line and the humming..I can't get over the humming..no visiable lights nothing just blackness and a ever constant humming I didn't want to alarm my fiancee so I told her nothing was there it must have been a sweeper a couple of streets over. I dont know how to take this.

We live around a lot of military type bases in Maryland so that was my first though but I never have seen or in-countered a sound like that.I don't know...Im puzzled Im not sure if this has anything to do with this but I felt a little wierd after that and seen my Dr. the next day with pains in my back and chest. I wasn't feeling the best before but the next day I felt very strange never the less maybe it's nothing.




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Video: Is Swine Flu Virus Man Made?

Investigative journalist from Washington Wayne Madsen says the outbreak of the swine flu virus is raising suspicions. The sources quoted by him say it could be man made.

Vials of Lethal Pathogen Disappear From Fort Detrick

The U.S. Army is finishing an investigation into the disappearance of three vials of a potentially lethal pathogen from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., the Washington Post reported today.

The inquiry begun in 2008 by the service's Criminal Investigation Command is "in the final stages of its mandatory review process before being closed," according to command spokesman Christopher Grey. There is "no evidence to date of any criminality related to the unaccounted-for items," he said.

The Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus is considered a possible tool of bioterrorism, but poses a significantly smaller threat than anthrax and other disease agents handled at the institute.

The missing material is believed to have been destroyed when a freezer malfunctioned, said USAMRIID spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden. The absence was detected last year by a scientist conducting an inventory of samples that had been passed down by two other researchers upon their successive departures from the facility.

"We'll probably never know exactly what happened," said one Army official. "It could be the freezer malfunction. It could be they never existed."

Investigators spoke with "literally hundreds of people" in the course of their work, the official said.

"They caught me on my cell phone on the road, and I stopped and talked to them for quite a long time," said former laboratory scientist Alan Schmaljohn, who now teaches at the University of Maryland. "She was just going down this whole list of questions, including, 'Did you take it?'"

Schmaljohn answered in the negative. It would not be hard to lose three vials, particularly if they must be rearranged following a problem with a freezer, he said.

"The number of vials is utterly meaningless," Schmaljohn said. "Three vials missing is no indication of any evildoing. ... It's almost equivalent to saying you're missing 3 cents out of the national budget. ... From the scientist's point of view it is inconsequential, but from the regulator's point of view it is an indication of sloppiness, and they are finally going to take rugged action."

The institute's security practices are already under scrutiny, following the Justice Department's conclusion that USAMRIID scientist Bruce Ivins perpetrated the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people (see GSN, Jan. 6). Ivins killed himself in 2008 before any charges were filed.

The laboratory is also finishing a full inventory of its virus and bacterium holdings, which began in February after another accounting problem was found in storage of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, the Post reported (see GSN, Feb. 10). Research largely stopped amid the accounting, though some has since resumed, Vander Linden said.



Video: Three Bright UFOs Captured Over NW London - 4/15/09

Three UFOs captured on a cellphone over Northwest London on April 15, 2009

Ampliação do Shopping Iguatemi

---- Tópico que o blog não poderia passar em branco é a tão comentada e esperada ampliação do Shopping Iguatemi promete muito. Com uma mega expansão e com muitas novas lojas, dentre elas as Lojas Americanas, o Iguatemi vai ser algo único aqui na região. Os consumistas de plantão vão adorar as muitas novas chances de gastar dinheiro, mas os precavidos também vão ter onde comprar artigos que estejam necessitando.
---- As novas lojas que teremos, lojas essas de marcas renomadas, prometem atrair a população de Caxias e região enquanto as novas lanchonetes prometem deixar os visitantes com água na boca com tantas gostosuras que oferecerão. Algumas lojas foram ampliadas, outras conseguiram seu lugar ao sol. Dentre esse último grupo, temos novas opções de lojas de informática, livrarias, lojas de música e diversão. Será preciso passar por lá para conhecer as novidades que o mega investimento apresenta.
---- Na opinião do blog, as Lojas Americanas prometem muito. A rede nacional que possui uma série de produtos possui características únicas, tanto que suas vendas via internet são as mais confiáveis possíveis. Os preços dela também se destacam já que você poderá achar um item lá por R$ 100,00 enquanto em outras lojas você pode achar o mesmo item custando até mesmo 3 vezes mais. Fato é que eu serei um cliente das Americanas.

Scottish Mansion Provides an Evening of Ghost Hunting

It is close to midnight and I am standing and staring at an empty glass - waiting to see if it starts moving of its own accord.

I call upon any spirits in the historic library to make their presence known.

Stubbornly, they refuse to answer my invocation and the glass remains fixed in the same position.

It is safe to say that this is one of the most unusual ways I have ever spent a Friday night.

The whole thing is part of "Fright Night" proceedings organised to help raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

They could hardly have selected a better venue.

Raehills House - historic home of the earls of Annandale - is one of the most atmospheric buildings in southern Scotland.

As our car makes its way north of Dumfries in the fading spring light, I try to crack a few jokes with a journalistic colleague doing the driving.

"Are you nervous?" she asks.

I had been hoping it was not quite so obvious.

My reasons for attending the event were, to be perfectly honest, two-fold.

The first was pure and simple curiosity.

I had never attended an event of this kind before and was interested to find out what went on.

The second motive was a little less honourable.

I had a sneaking hope that my old Italian grandmother might make contact with me via medium Derek Acorah who was guest of honour at the event.

She died before I had time to ask her for a few recipes I would like to know.

Proceedings at Raehills got under way with an small "audience" with Mr Acorah in the drawing room.

He said he had sensed a number of spirits residing in the house.

He also had some direct messages for several of the guests attending the event.

I admit I am highly dubious about such things but many people seemed impressed by the accuracy of his words.

Members of the Borders Paranormal Group and their Dumfries and Galloway counterparts, Mostly Ghostly, appeared appreciative.

Once the audience had ended, we were given a little run down on the real purpose of the night - supporting the Anthony Nolan Trust.

There remains a need for more volunteers - particularly young men - to join the bone marrow register.

It was, to my mind anyway, the most powerful message of the night.

After that we were broken up into groups to go and hold "vigils" in rooms around the house where ghostly experiences had been reported.

This was where it all got really strange.

We were given a video camera to try to record any "orbs" of light in the room and a handheld monitor to check electro-magnetic levels.

Some glass "divination" material had been set up in the room I was allocated to try to get some straightforward "yes" or "no" answers from the spirits.

This was where I got my hands-on experience but the glass refused to budge.

It did, however, move when two other women in my group took part in the experiment.

That, I admit, was a little unnerving.

The people involved swore they had not pushed the glass and had felt a "tingling" as it made its movement.

They seemed convinced that something paranormal might have just happened.

My own feelings about the night remain mixed.

It was definitely more enjoyable than I expected and the people taking part were all good fun.

There was nothing harmful in any of the proceedings as far as I could see.

But, equally, there was nothing which convinced me that there were truly spirits in the house or that they wanted to communicate with us.

Overall, it was a worthwhile trip, if only to see what goes on at such occasions.

It did not change me, however, from how I was at the outset.

I am still sceptical, open-minded - and in pursuit of a good recipe for polenta and pork bones.

Photo: Apparition at Farnsworth House in Gettysburg

From Paranormal.about.com

"I just returned from a trip to the Farnsworth House in Gettysburg," says Beth. "I spent the night with a friend in one of the haunted rooms. I was showing my brother some pictures I took. He seemed especially interested in one, and told me to let him zoom in on one section. I didn't see anything at first, but after he pointed it out, it was quite clear. The picture was one I took from the top of the stairs looking down into the entry way of the Farnsworth House. I took this picture when we emerged from the room to search for the source of the 'mysterious' foot steps. In front of the door there appears to be an arm with a rolled up white shirt sleeve. I am not sure if you would be interested, but the picture certainly caught my attention and I am an open minded skeptic."

NOTE: I was born and raised near Gettysburg and have spent a few evenings at the Farnsworth House. In my opinion, it is by far one of the most haunted locations in Gettysburg. The kinetic and spirit energy is amazingly evident. Lon




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Horror in Tennessee: Father Forces Girl to Help Cut Up Murdered Mother!

A young girl who told police her father forced her to help as he cut up her mother's body with an electric saw said she could only look away when the head fell to the floor.

The girl is the chief witness against James Hawkins, 31, a prison parolee charged with first-degree murder in the death of Charlene Gaither, 28, a longtime companion with whom he had three children. His trial is scheduled for September and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Police say Gaither was killed in February 2008 at the apartment she shared with Hawkins, their then 12-year-old daughter, Keyuna Thomas, and two boys, ages 9 and 11.

Keyuna, now 13, told police she saw Hawkins stab her mother in the neck with a knife and then strangle her after she threatened to call police during an argument.

The girl told police her father forced her to help as he cut up the body a day after the killing.

Hawkins denies killing Gaither, but police say he acknowledged dumping her body along a rural highway after severing her head, hands and feet.

"We hope to establish that he, in fact, gave no statement," said defense lawyer Larry Nance. "That's his position, that he didn't say that."

But prosecutors say Hawkins, who had filed a missing person report on Gaither, blurted out to police that he had disposed of her body.

"It was a voluntary statement, a spontaneous statement," assistant state prosecutor Patience Branham said.

Branham spoke Monday after a scheduled court hearing was postponed until May 22 on a defense petition to dismiss the alleged statement.

Hawkins, who is being held on a $4 million bond, has denied speaking with detectives about the killing.

Authorities say Gaither died on Feb. 9, 2008, about five months after Hawkins was paroled on a 15-year prison sentence for a string of robberies. His parole was set to end in December.

His daughter was 4 when Hawkins was convicted of armed robbery in 1999.

Hawkins reported Gaither missing Feb. 12 and her torso was found two days later in rural Mississippi, just south of Memphis. The severed body parts were not found, and the body was identified through DNA analysis.

The girl, now in the custody of her mother's family, said her younger brothers did not witness the slaying nor see their mother's body. But, she said, she was forced to help clean up the bloody scene and drag the body to a freezer where it was stored temporarily.

"I told my dad I didn't want to do this anymore," she told police. "He says, 'You want to die, too?'"

A psychiatric exam found Hawkins competent to stand trial.

She's a Pig in Sheep's Clothing!


But it's not just her tail that's curly.









Paramedic Recalls His Experience at Haunted Connecticut House

'I wanted out as quickly as I could,' former paramedic says of 'Haunting in Connecticut' home

For the record, Joe Krupa is not the superstitious type. A Delaware County sheriff’s deputy, the former Star Press photographer has spent much of his life as a public-safety worker, including time as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic back in his home state of Connecticut.

Nor is he particularly religious.

So when you talk to him about the recent horror movie The Haunting in Connecticut, a film featuring demon-possession, but also one that’s billed as being based on “a true story,” you expect a doubtful reaction from a man who would never compromise his credibility.

Which you get, mostly. Still, there was something about that house…

“I just know that when I was in that house, I wanted out as quickly as I could,” recalled Krupa, whose ambulance, back in 1986, was dispatched to the Southington, Conn., dwelling upon which the 2009 movie and a 2002 television documentary were based.

What’s more, he and his partner were sent there to take a 15-year-old boy, the very kid whose possession is the basis of the film and the broadcast, to a psychiatric hospital.

Though that was years ago, Krupa’s memories of the day remain clear. After all, he had grown up near the house, which he had known as a funeral home, so he was surprised to find himself sent to what was now just a rental property, especially for that unusual assignment.

Stepping inside, the surprise continued. “It was just strange,” he recalled. “Things just seemed out of place.”

As you might guess, the experience as he lived it was not the same as that portrayed in the film, or even the television documentary. The ambulance run came in the middle of the day, for example, and not in the middle of your standard “dark and stormy night.”

What’s more, the teenager didn’t fit our common notions of demon possession, at least not as detailed in that classic horror flick, The Exorcist.

“He wasn’t violent or belligerent,” the deputy recalled. “He just didn’t want to go.”

Once the kid was in the ambulance, however, Krupa read the comments a doctor had noted on a medical chart. The youngster had heard noises in the house. Voices, too. And unseen forces had assaulted him.

While the boy was the main target of this activity, however, the rest of the family had reportedly experienced it, too. Krupa recalled wondering, was this kid really nuts? Or were the parents blaming the kid for what had happened?

“We weren’t getting a clear story,” he said.

About a year later, Krupa was surprised to read a National Enquirer story regarding the house, the family and the haunting. That paper’s reputation for lurid reporting notwithstanding, it was mostly a low-key, factual piece.

Furthermore, Krupa learned that two well-known ghost hunters - Edward and Lorraine Warren, who had earlier played a key role in examining the house featured in the book and movie The Amityville Horror - were also called to this one.

At one point, Krupa added, a priest performed an exorcism there and, during the process, a tree on the property toppled onto some electrical lines, cutting off power to downtown. He experienced the power failure, and was surprised when a buddy explained what had caused it.

“I said, ‘You’re kidding,’” he recalled, laughing.

Looking back on the experience now, what does he think?

“I dunno,” he said. “I think it’s interesting. Somebody’s making some good money here.”

He added that, while the television documentary played it loose with some facts, he figures the movie does so to a far greater degree. “I assume it’s way over the top,” he said.

Still, despite that, he knows how he felt when he was inside that house.

Not scared, exactly.

“I was on edge, I’d say,” Krupa noted. “It wasn’t a rational kind of thing. Maybe a sense of danger. “

Call it a sixth sense.

“There are things we can’t explain,” he said.

The Haunted Morgue - Old Royal Naval College, London

'I can clearly sense an anxious female presence, perhaps a nurse, who's quite territorial about this end of the room,' says David Wells. The notorious medium and qabalist ('that's qabalist with a q, not a k,' he insists) is leading us through a 17th century morgue pointing out its spectral inhabitants like so many oil paintings. We're beneath the Old Royal Naval College, Wren's Greenwich masterpiece, for the opening night of London Ghost Week. And if David and fellow medium Andrew are to be believed, we're not alone. 'Over there, in the corner, there's a character in a funny hat, with a sword. A bit like a pirate,' reckons Andrew. The whole time, we're watched over by the shade of a young man with 'special needs'.

The venue is super creepy, even to hardened skeptics like ourselves. We're in a crypt-like environment where dead pensioners were stored prior to burial. Marks are visible on the sills where coroners would sharpen knives. A Victorian bowling alley runs along one side of the room, drenched in stories of phantom bowlers and skittle pickers. Beside it sits the table upon which Nelson's body once rested. It is an auspicious place to hunt ghosts.

David had prepared our minds with a psychic pep talk. We've learned how to 'open our chakras' and make contact with 'astrals'. We've been tutored in the ways of dowsing, crystal pendulum reading and glass moving. And we've been guided round the haunted spots of Greenwich by a former naval chap who once lived in the College. Alas, when the time comes to hunt our own ghosts, nobody except the mediums actually sees anything, and the only noise is a vague tapping that could be anything.

Still, nobody was disappointed. Believers in such things got to hone their psychic skills with tips from a master practitioner. The skeptics in the crowd were hugely entertained by the unusual venue and activities, even if the underlying premise is built on mumbo jumbo. And the many spectres of the Naval College got some sympathetic company for an evening.

London Ghost Week (organised by Fright Nights) still has plenty of days to run, so if you want to meddle with the supernatural, check out their site. In particular, we'd recommend the London’s Best Medium face-off and ghost hunts at the Canal Museum and Ragged School.

Photos - Multi-Colored Lights Over North Carolina - 3/5/09

Report from witness: On March 5, 2009 at approx. 6:45 am est. on the way down the side walk going to the vehicle, a bright object captured our attention. The object was moving erratically in the sky and was slightly larger than the planet Venus just after dark or just before dawn. It was about 25 to 30 degrees in the morning sky about 6 to 10 miles away and we were facing south. The digital camera we used was hand held and not on a bipod as we were not expecting to capture anything that morning. The weather was clear, no cloud cover, no rain, perfect and cool.

The object, as stated earlier, moved erratically for a short time then stopped and hovered for about 5 minutes. The photo numbered 705 is the picture of the object just hovering. Once stopped we could tell that it was shaped circular like a doughnut with lights of every color around the outside of the craft with a solid center. After hovering for 5 minutes or so the object took off moving north relatively fast making no sound what so ever.

My son and I saw the object and even though we have been looking for it every morning since we have not seen the object again. I do realize that a lot of people try to hoax the public and are out for their 15 minutes of fame. This is not the case as we want no media what so ever. Just simply an answer for what we have seen in the sky over our home would suffice. We understand that may not be possible but just knowing somewhere someone has seen something similar would help.

We are not nut cases claiming abduction and honestly we have reservations about the people who do. My son is a 12 yr old 7th grader and i am a building sub-contractor.


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Bigfoot Lives Quietly in Decatur, Arkansas...Even Has a Daily Cup of Coffee at Diner

In October 2003, the small town of Decatur on the western side of Benton County found itself with a new resident. Normally, a new neighbor would not cause any kind of stir. After all, people pack up and move every day, but this time things were different.

Although a little shy, the new neighbor soon brought news crews and myth debunkers from all around into the tiny town as the local gossip began to circulate about just what the new guy looked like.

It did not take everyone long to realize that the new neighbor who had moved into the woods around Crystal Lake was, indeed, Bigfoot.

“We had some pretty interesting calls on it,” Decatur Chief of Police Terry Luker said. “I had one lady call me and I tried to explain to her that it was not a Bigfoot and that it was too small to be a Bigfoot.

“The lady stopped me and she said, ‘Well, you know, they have babies, too.’’’ Every day she hears someone in the restaurant telling their own Bigfoot story.

“He stays right out there,” Mickey Metz of Gentry said as he pointed into the woods across Crystal Lake. “Some people still say they can hear him way out over there, but we never see him and I do not stay out after dark.”

Paul Austin of Decatur says he remembers the excitement the town went through when Bigfoot was first seen in 2003, but after about a week he did not hear any more about the new neighbor.

“I am not a believer,” Austin added.

Kim Strobel of Gravette, however, is a believer and with good reason.

“I believe in him. I have heard him,” Strobel said.

While working on a wild-game reserve in Winston, Ore., Strobel and a group of his coworkers heard Bigfoot’s howl. When Bigfoot entered the reserve, all of the animals - the lions, the tigers, the monkeys - began howling and hissing and getting extremely nervous in their cages.

The official stance on Decatur’s Bigfoot sightings in 2003 is that the monkey-like creature people were getting fleeting glances of around town was actually a baboon that had escaped from the local wilderness safari in nearby Gentry.

The first spotting of Bigfoot was on Hill Street, and it was not long before the police department was getting calls from citizens who had seen Bigfoot on the west side of Decatur, Luker said.

“It was a lot of fun. I have not heard of any sightings lately,” Luker said.

“He is still around. He still comes in for coffee in the morning,” Denise Trammell, owner of the Gallery Café in downtown Decatur, said.

“He is a little shy, so sometimes he has to come in before we actually open,” Trammell said, noting the café has a deal with Bigfoot to not take photographs of the being that is surrounded with mystery.

“He has a family now. He is a pretty nice guy,” Trammell said, noting that he heard what he believes was Bigfoot letting out a sound that he is not likely to ever forget, he said.

“It was a quiet night. You could hear the grasshoppers chirping and then you could hear just a strange howl and all of the lions started roaring and the monkeys started going crazy,” Strobel said. “The next day we went out looking for him, and never could find anything. But being around animals all my life, I can tell you that sound was like nothing else.”

The mystery of whether or not Bigfoot really exists lives on in Strobel’s mind.

“I have been in quite a few places and you always hear about these stories, but none of us know what all God has created,” Strobel said. “I can not say it was Bigfoot. I can not say it was not. Two-thirds of the rumors out there are usually true, though.”



Evidence Suggests Chicxulub Crater Mass Extinction Theory Incorrect

The popular theory that dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid 65million years ago has been challenged.

It was believed the Chicxulub crater in Mexico was the 'smoking gun' of the mass extinction event.

Molten droplets from the ancient asteroid impact were found just below the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary - a geological layer of sediment linked with the extinction.

But soil samples from the 112-mile wide crater show the impact predates the disappearance of the dinosaurs by about 300,000 years.

The latest research has been published in the Journal of the Geological Society.

Study author Professor Gerta Keller from Princeton University suggested that the massive volcanic eruptions at the Deccan Traps in India may be responsible for the extinction, releasing huge amounts of dust and gases that could have blocked out sunlight and brought about a significant greenhouse effect.

Supporters of the Chicxulub impact theory suggest the impact crater and the mass extinction event only appear far apart in the sedimentary record because of earthquake or tsunami disturbance that resulted from the impact of the asteroid.

But Professor Keller said: 'The problem with the tsunami interpretation is that this sandstone complex was not deposited over hours or days by a tsunami.

'Deposition occurred over a very long time period.'

The scientists also found evidence that the Chicxulub impact didn't have the dramatic impact on species diversity that has been suggested.

At one site at El Penon, the researchers found 52 species present in sediments below the impact spherule layer, and counted all 52 still present in layers above the molten droplets or spherules.

'We found that not a single species went extinct as a result of the Chicxulub impact,' said Professor Keller.

This conclusion should not come as too great a surprise, she says.

None of the other great mass extinctions are associated with an impact, and no other large craters are known to have caused a significant extinction event.



Versões: Shania Twain ou Jonas Brothers

---- E aí? No mundo da música sempre existem as famosas versões, ou seja, um cantor(a), banda, grupo, etc., faz uma versão de uma música de um artista que gosta, uma espécie de homenagem. Que tal comparar essas versões? Esse é um dos novos quadros aqui do blog.
---- Para começar, a Shania Twain passou por aqui recentemente no quadro "Fundo do Baú", mas volta com a música "I'm gonna getcha good" que você pode ver e ouvir agora!

---- A banda Jonas Brothers fez uma versão da música da cantora Shania em um show que acabou virando um DVD. O resultado você pode conferir agora!

---- Independente do talento que ambos possuem, as duas versões são legais, mas o blog das EVR prefere a versão original com a Shania. A versão do Jonas Brothers também é bem legal já que a pegada pop/rock deles deu uma nova roupa para a música.
---- E você? Qual versão você prefere? Shania ou Jonas Brothers? Fato é que as duas versões estão no meu MP3. Assista novamente e escolha uma ou as duas. Hehehe! Cante junto ... I'm gonna getcha...


---- Onde você estava nesse exato momento 9 anos atrás? Você lembra ou é daquele tipo de pessoa que não lembra nem mesmo o que almoçou no dia anterior? É claro que eu também não lembro o local onde eu estava, mas lembro de algumas coisas que eu fazia no ano 2000. O que você fazia naquele ano? Lembra de algum fato? Você lembra de alguma coisa importante que aconteceu? Você ao menos lembra do seu nome?
---- Eu estava revendo alguns clipes hoje, quando vi “Stronger” da Britney Spears, o que me remeteu ao ano 2000, ano esse que eu era fiel espectador da MTV Brasil e do finado Disk MTV. Ao rever esse clipe que marcou naquele ano, não apenas isso voltou, mas sim muitos fatos que eu havia esquecido com o passar dos anos. Naquele ano em que estava na 8ª série do ensino fundamental, eu costumava não ter preocupações com o mundo. Minhas preocupações naquele ano era apenas tirar notas boas e nada mais. Erro meu esse já que foquei muitos anos da minha vida apenas estudando ao invés de investir meu tempo em outras coisas. Não estou dizendo que estudar é ruim, mas como um amigo de medicina disse uma vez, a pessoa precisa estudar sim, mas precisa também ter outros objetivos para que sua cabeça não saia de órbita.
---- É claro que eu também recordei de algumas coisas negativas, mas as coisas positivas que lembrei valem muito mais que isso. Lembro que foi naquele ano que uma das minhas melhores amizades nasceu. Infelizmente hoje cada um segue um rumo diferente, mas coincidentemente próximos já que a estrada da vida de ambos possui características comuns, porém muitas vezes as conquistas vez mais fácil para alguns não tanto como vem para outros. Isso faz parte da vida e precisamos saber lidar com isso.
---- Recordar do passado não é um crime, mas viver dele é. Precisamos saber à hora de seguir em frente deixando o passado para trás e as memórias em nossa mente. A fase da adolescência se foi e com ela muito de mim. Coisas boas ficaram para trás, mas depende de cada um de nós buscarmos o futuro e construí-lo com nossas mãos. Essa é a moral dessa história postada pelo blog das EVR.
(EVR pode ser lido como “ever”, ou seja, “sempre” ou “nunca” em inglês.
Exemplo: Forever and ever, and ever... ou Never do this, ever!)

Video: Unidentified Submerged Object (USO)

NOTE: New video that shows some type of USO. No location was given, but the fauna from the video suggests it may have been filmed in the South Pacific. I have examined several ocean wildlife references and have yet to find anything that looks similar to this object.

NIST Proposing Alien Detection System

Visiting aliens may be the stuff of legend, but if a scientific team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is right, we may be able to find extraterrestrial life even before it leaves its home planet—by looking for left- (or right-) handed light.



Many molecules not associated with life exhibit handedness as well. But when organisms reproduce, their offspring possess chiral molecules that have the same handedness as those in their parents’ bodies. As life spreads, the team theorizes, the landscape will eventually have a large amount of molecules that favor one handedness.

“If the surface had just a collection of random chiral molecules, half would go left, half right,” Germer says. “But life’s self-assembly means they all would go one way. It’s hard to imagine a planet’s surface exhibiting handedness without the presence of self assembly, which is an essential component of life.”

Because chiral molecules reflect light in a way that indicates their handedness, the research team built a device to shine light on plant leaves and bacteria, and then detect the polarized reflections from the organisms’ chlorophyll from a short distance away. The device detected chirality from both sources.

The team intends to improve its detector so it can look at pond surfaces and then landscape-sized regions on Earth. Provided the team continues to get good results, Germer says, they will propose that it be built into a large telescope or mounted on a space probe.

“We need to be sure we get a signal from our own planet before we can look at others,” he says. “But what’s neat about the concept is that it is sensitive to something that comes from the process behind organic self-assembly, but not necessarily life as we know it.”

Funding for this research was provided by the Space Telescope Science Institute and the European Space Agency.

New Zealand: Seeking the Truth to Mystery Creature Claims

It was a dark and stormy night.

OK, says Vicki Hyde, president of the New Zealand Skeptics, so it wasn't stormy. But it was dark.

And there was something out there. Big, black, bulky. Just sitting there, watching.

"We stared. It stared back."

She threw a shoe. It didn't move. "Too big for an ordinary cat. Too still for a dog. Too quiet for a possum."

A quick dash inside and the outside lights went on to reveal: an upended bucket.

"Did we feel silly? You bet."

It can happen to anyone, says Hyde. Mistaken identification leads to incorrect assumptions and misperceptions, she writes in her new book Oddzone.

"It doesn't mean you're foolish or stupid or insane. Just human."

And humans love a good mystery. Is there a yeti in the Himalayas? A Nessie in the Loch? A moose in Fiordland?

The hunt for a remnant population of moose liberated in New Zealand bush in the early 1900s is more than three decades old. So is the search for the South Island kokako, last reliably sighted in the 1950s and 60s. Student filmmakers recently went on the trail of a mysterious black cat in Canterbury. And now moa are back in the headlines, with news that next month, an Australian researcher will cross the ditch to find a colony of the giant birds in Te Urewera.

Who are these people who devote lifetimes to the hunt for the unknown?

Ken Tustin, 62, has amassed around 600 nights in the Fiordland bush trying to prove the existence of moose. The closest he has come is the collection of stray hairs, DNA-tested by scientists in Canada, who say his theory is almost certainly correct.

"I read articles saying I'm obsessed," says Tustin. "I think [my story] tells kids, hey, in 2008, there are some great adventures still to be had. There are unsolved things and wonderful mysteries out there."

He knows he'll need photographs to silence the critics some people say the hairs prove nothing more than that the hunter has been hoaxed. Tustin, and his wife Marg, have had remote cameras in the bush for years. "We've probably put about 10,000 camera nights into it." So far, no moose "and about 2000 red deer".

He says it's a lovely personal challenge.

"Man thinks he controls the planet but, in effect, we're being outfoxed by a very large, charismatic animal."

For researchers like Tustin, and 60-year-old Rhys Buckingham, who is convinced the South Island kokako still exists, the common thread is begrudging admiration for their prey.

"How come you can't find a thing the size of a horse?" Buckingham asks Tustin.

"How is it you can't find a stupid squawking crow?" retorts Tustin.

What keeps the pair going?

"You've got to have some mystery in your life," says Buckingham who is fitting in a phone interview around two three-day dance parties.

He says the South Island kokako is an incredible songbird and he believes he has collected numerous tape recordings of the bird that's been dubbed "the grey ghost". Naysayers reckon he's simply recorded tui.

"I used to be more obsessed when I thought there was a chance to save it from extinction," says Buckingham. "I'm getting more disillusioned now, with what appears to be a calamity facing much more common birds, with stoat and rat plagues. I think I'm too late, I haven't been successful... it would be so magnificent to save it from extinction."

The moose and the kokako did, at least, once exist. But are there other, more mysterious creatures roaming New Zealand?

In 1966, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand included a section headed "Animals, Mythical". "Numerous tales of monsters, ogres, goblins and fairies, and weird `hairy men' who devoured unwary travellers and waylaid hunting parties have long been part of Maori lore," it said. "In all probability, such tales of water-dwelling monsters and other huge reptiles known as kumi were nothing more than distorted folk memories of the crocodile of the western Pacific or Asia."

The entry gives slight credence to the waitoreke an aquatic, otter-like creature. Julius von Haast was believed to have acquired a portion of skin from the supposed animal. Charles Darwin wrote a letter, now held by the Alexander Turnbull Library, querying its existence: "If I have not utterly exhausted your patience, I should be particularly obliged if you would inform me whether you think the evidence is really good that there formerly existed some animal (with hair?) like an otter or Beaver: I am much surprised at this. Could it not have been any water bird or reptile?"

Lemuel Lyes, archival researcher with Natural History New Zealand, says the existence (or otherwise) of the waitoreke is important even if it is now extinct. "If it could be proven to have existed once, then perhaps that would shatter some conceptions about New Zealand's natural history."

Here's a theory: New Zealand is rumoured to have been visited by Tamil explorers. Te Papa Museum records the 1836 discovery of a ship's bell, inscribed with ancient (at least 500 years old) Tamil script, being used by Whangarei Maori as a cooking pot. As it happens, says Lyes, Tamil sailors were known to use tame otters to catch fish. "Maybe, pre-Tasman days, some Tamil lost their otter?"

Lyes says it's feasible a small number of the animals could exist undetected. "We're supposed to have this huge population of stoats and weasels and things, yet how many New Zealanders have actually seen them? What's to stop small pockets of otters living in some sanctuary down south?"

Cryptozoologists the name given to people who study creatures whose existence has not been substantiated say there is a very good chance of discovering unknown animals in New Zealand.

According to Hawke's Bay-based researcher Tony Lucas, "We still have many areas in the South Island which remain relatively unexplored. These remote regions hold the best hope of harbouring a new, or previously thought extinct, species."

This is the country, after all, that gave up the takahe half a century after it was thought to be extinct. The Chatham Islands taiko had not been seen for 111 years until it was dramatically rediscovered on New Year's Day in 1978. And as recently as 2003, the New Zealand storm petrel, gone for 150 years, was sighted off the coast of Whitianga.

But how about those reports of a giant black cat in Canterbury? Last year, Mark Orton, a former film student who now works for Natural History New Zealand, trekked the region collecting eyewitness sightings for a documentary called Prints of Darkness. "I can only tell you what I saw," Toni May tells the camera. "I can't tell you what it is."

If it was a feral cat, says another interviewee, "it was an Arnold Schwarzenegger of a cat".

The rogue panther is an international cryptozoology mystery similar stories frequently circulate in United Kingdom and Australian media.

"The characters we featured in our film were not nutters," says Orton. "They firmly believe in what they saw."

His personal theory? "I think there's possibly a rather large breed of feral cats. They've probably thrown up the black gene through years of interbreeding. Through their stealth and willingness to survive, the black cats have had the biggest success and they're the ones thrown up more often than not."

The filmmakers based themselves at Panther's Rock Tavern, Mayfield. The pub got its name in retrospect and now hangs a mock big-cat road sign in the bar. Orton says locals laugh at the story of giant felines. "They've made fun of people in the community who have been open enough to admit the story. Some of the people we ended up putting in the film didn't go to the mainstream media because they didn't want the exposure."

REX GILROY knows how they feel. The 64-year-old bills himself as the "father of Australian cryptozoology". Next month, he and his wife Heather will travel to New Zealand to search for moa in Te Urewera where they claim to have previously found moa tracks and a nesting site.

"A lot of people are frightened to go to the media," says Gilroy. "They [the media] play it up as a joke but it may affect the life's work of some serious researcher. I just say we've got to be prepared to keep an open mind and investigate the evidence.

"You've got to be born for this sort of work," Gilroy tells the Star-Times. "As an open-minded field researcher, I prefer to look for the evidence rather than dismiss something out of hand because a textbook says it's extinct."

He will go back to a site he says is home to "maybe half a dozen" small, scrub moa. And that's not all. Gilroy says years ago, he found "tracks of bare human footprints, not too large ... but I've often wondered who was getting around in the middle of nowhere, in the forest."

Could it be the mysterious Moehau New Zealand's version of the Big Foot mystery? Gilroy is keeping an open mind.

"It's difficult for me, because I've got to differentiate between hoax sightings and believable ones ... like some road workers, in the pouring rain, about 10 years ago, in the Eglinton Valley before the Milford Tunnel. They were in a shed, waiting for the rain to stop, and on the edge of the jungle were two birds emerging from the bush, about eight feet [2.4m] in height. And they were chewing leaves off trees ... I get to know when someone's telling the truth. You can tell embellishments."

Gilroy says "you've got to be a bit eccentric in this business. If people think you're a little bit crazy, they leave you alone so you can do your work.

"I want people to question, to draw their own conclusions. I think you can do no more greater service to man than make him think."


Alien Big Cat (ABCs) are alive and well in New Zealand and the sightings of them are becoming many and frequent.

Now, before you really think I'm crazy (more than usual anyway), let me educate you as to what Alien Big Cats are.

Alien Big Cats (ABCs, Phantom Cats, Mystery Cats) don't have anything to do with UFOs (usually anyway). The word 'alien' in this context simply means 'out of place'. ABCs are not creatures unknown to science but are well-known cats which are sighted in unexpected places. Their location creates the mystery, rather than their existence.

My 'need-to-know-bordering-on-obsession' tendency was aroused yesterday when I read an article about an ABC sighting in our local newspaper...

18-year-old student Carl Swanson is adamant he saw a large lion recently near a quarry in Kaiwaka (Northland, NZ). He is keen to revisit the site but will not do so unless he has a gun. The reporter who wrote the story happens to be my neighbour (no kidding). I spoke with him last night, and he believes Swanson's story is absolutely genuine.

The documented eye-witness reports of ABCs in New Zealand are too numerous to be ignored. All evidence points to the fact that there really are mysterious big-cat specimens roaming the bush and countryside.

"How did they get here?", any sane person will ask. The most probable answer is the accidental release/escape into the wild from zoos, wild-life parks etc.

Interestingly enough, Zion Wildlife Gardens is situated just 60km north of where the lion was seen.

So, if you ever happen to see a mysterious cat-like creature roaming the New Zealand countryside, think twice before you choose not to believe your eyes, keep a camera ready, and maybe, as Carl Swanson suggests, a gun.

Some documented ABC sightings in New Zealand (For extensive information on ABC's in NZ please visit: Mysterious New Zealand

2008: Lion, Kaiwaka Quarry, South of Whangarei, Northland
04/08/06: Big Black Cat, Haketere (north side of the Ashburton River Mouth)
03/05/05: Big Black Cat, Mid Canterbury
11/10/03: Black Panther, PPCS meatworks in Fairton, 8 km north of Ashburton
03/10/03: Black Panther Mayfield, 35 kilometres west of Ashburton
2002: Big Black Puma-like Cat sighted at night in Omaui, south of Invercargill
2001: Black Panther, Farm at Winterslow, Alford Forest
1999: Black Panther, Banks Peninsula
13/12/99: Mountain Lion, Moeraki (or Lake Moeraki)
16/07/99: Black Panther, Lindis Pass
08/98: Mountain Lion, Dunstan Ranges, near Cromwell
* 1996: Black Panther, Twizel
* 1996: Big Black Puma-like Cat sighted at night in Omaui, south of Invercargill

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