Neil deGrasse Tyson does his part

The Mayan Calendar

Well, as we zero in on the year 2012, the usual suspects are up in arms, warning everyone gullible enough to listen that the magical Mayan calendar ‘ends’ on December 21, 2012.

From this starting point, they weave an amazing tale of how the world will somehow end on that date, and manage to rope in disparate (and very often erroneous) morsels of other information to support their claim.  Whether it is the arrival of the mysterious planet Niribu, or some kind of galactic alignment, they insist that cataclysms will consume the earth on that day.

This is all nonsense of course.  The Mayans didn’t have a magic calendar that could tell the future.  For starters, of they had such a calendar, they wouldn’t have been annihilated by a superior culture.  They also fail to consider that upon reaching the end of the the Mayan calendar, it might simply reset back to the beginning (much like December 31 is the end of each year on our calendar, but that fact doesn’t portend to the end of the world, we just start again with a new January 1).

The Planet Nibiru

If you listen to these gullible nuts, the planet Niribu will evidently have a close call with Earth, as our respective orbits will come too close for comfort.  Of course, if a killer giant planet was due to wreak havoc on our planet’s gravity in a few short years, chances are even modest telescopes would have been able to see and identify it years ago.

Some insist Nibiru is on the other side of the sun, making it impossible to see.  Well, if that’s true, we still would have seen it years ago as it zipped by Earth and moved toward the other side of the sun.  We would be able to measure its gravitational influence, in any case.  Of course, nobody has seen, measured, or recorded anything of the kind.

And then there are those who remark that somehow, the center of the galaxy will be perfectly aligned with the Sun and the Earth.  Don’t ask these people exactly what that means, though.  Of course, the sun is always aligned with the Center of the Galaxy (any 2 points will make a straight line, after all).  so anytime the Earth is perfectly aligned with the Sun, all three points will be aligned.

Which brings me to this great video by one of my favorite scientists on the scene, Neil deGrasse Tyson.  He discusses this celestial alignment, and its significance (or lack of significance) in this brief video.  Enjoy!

You have arrived at your Final Destination

Downright eerie! Fox News reports…

Woman Who Avoided Air France Tragedy Killed in Car Wreck Days Later

An Italian woman was killed in a car crash in Austria just days after she narrowly avoided becoming a victim of the Air France plane crash.

Johanna Ganthaler and her husband Kurt were on vacation in Brazil and were supposed to take Air France Flight 447 back to Paris. But they missed the doomed flight and took a different one home instead.

All 228 people onboard the Air France jet were killed when it crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Authorities are still examining what may have been the cause.

The Ganthalers’ vehicle crashed after veering across a road in Kufstein, Austria, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

The car swerved into an oncoming truck and Johanna Ganthaler was killed. Her husband was seriously injured.

Some spooky goings-on over in The United Kingdom.

The Times Online reports…

A friendly ghost steps into a vacation picture.

National Haunted Service: exorcist summoned after spook scares staff at Derby Royal Hospital
by Kaya Burgess

The NHS has long been haunted by the spectre of waiting-lists and tight funding, but is now facing omens of a rather more unsettling kind.

An exorcist has reportedly been summoned to a hospital in Derby after staff saw a ghost prowling the corridors near the morgue.

Managers at the Derby Royal Hospital have received numerous complaints from spooked workers that a figure cloaked in black has been stalking the wards and walking through walls at the site run by the NHS – perhaps to be renamed the National Haunted Service.

In an e-mail to staff, senior manager Debbie Butler reportedly wrote: “I’m not sure how many of you are aware that some members of staff have reported seeing a ghost. I’m taking it seriously as the last thing I want is staff feeling uneasy at work.”

The £334m hospital was erected on the site of the old Derby City General Hospital, which was itself built in the 1920s over the site of an ancient Roman road. That a ghost of a Roman centurion may be stealing quietly through the hospital has understandably unsettled staff.

Ms Butler added: “I don’t want to scare anyone more than necessary, but felt it was best I made you all aware of the situation and what we are doing about it.”

The hospital denied that an official exorcism would be taking place, but a spokeswoman for the Bishop of Derby confirmed that the hospital’s on-site chaplain had contacted the diocese Paranormal Advisor – essentially an exorcist – to assess the situation and reassure spooked staff.

She said: “The sightings will be investigated and appropriate action taken.”

One member of staff said: “Several have seen a male figure cloaked from head to toe in black darting between rooms and through walls – especially in departments near the morgue.”

Dr Rita Pal, who writes for online journal NHS Exposed, said: “The United Kingdom has many hospitals with ghostly stories. Hospitals are, after all, places of where one exits to the ‘other side’. Some ghosts of patients return to haunt their doctors, others simply haunt the wards.”

A spokeswoman for Derby Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We will be talking to staff in the department to listen to their concerns. We respect our staff and always listen to their views to help put minds at ease.”

By your command!

‘Flying saucer’ filmed in Turkey

THIS astonishing video footage is claimed to be the “most important images of a UFO ever filmed” – and is said to even depict ALIENS.

The shots were captured by night guard Yalcin Yalman in a compound in Turkey earlier this year.

The 42-year-old and a number of residents claim the UFOs were spotted over a four month period between May and September near the compound in Istanbul.

He said: “I don’t know what these things are. We filmed them several times and they are totally unknown to us. I was very excited when I saw them and I want the world to know that UFOs do exist”.

Almost two-and-a-half hours of footage was filmed featuring a variety of objects ranging from incredible flying saucer-type ‘craft’ to clustering orb-like lights hovering in the night sky.

Genuine

The clips were handed to the Sirius UFO Space Science Research Centre in Turkey who interviewed witnesses and painstakingly combed through the footage frame by frame.

International UFO researcher Haktan Akdogan said: “In this amazing video footage, physical forms of UFOs and their metallic structures are clearly noticeable.

“What is more important is that in the close-up of some footages of the objects, entities in them can be distinctly made out.”

He continues: “We have spoken with all of the witnesses and had detailed analysis conducted on all two-and-a-half hours of footage.

“After conducting all of the analysis we came to the conclusion that this video footage is 100 per cent genuine.

“The objects filmed are structured objects and are not the result of misidentification or natural phenomena, aircraft or astronomical objects.

“They are not the results either of any kind of computer animation. Now is it a time for world governments to acknowledge the reality of UFOs.”

He added: “The images captured on film are expected to have a tremendous impact throughout the world and they are the most important UFO images ever caught on camera.”

The footage will be revealed at the UFO Data Magazine annual conference in Pontefract, West Yorks, on October 25.

And it has earned the seal of approval from British experts.

UFO Data Magazine editor Russell Callaghan said: “This video footage from Turkey, if authentic, represents a serious challenge to science. I can honestly say that this footage is truly unique.”

Puts all the Loch Ness Monster videos to shame

I gotta say I am impressed with this video that comes our way from Sweden.  It’s certainly worth a look, but it comes from a group of ‘filmmakers’ which does make me a bit suspicious.  Still, it’s intriguing video of Sweden’s Great Lake Sea Monster, Storsjöodjuret.

Swedish sea monster ‘caught on film’

A group of filmmakers claim to have successfully captured Sweden’s legendary Great Lake Sea Monster (Storsjöodjuret), which is said to lurk in the waters of the Storsjön outside Östersund in northern Sweden.

A film crew which set up cameras on one of the lake’s islets last spring now say that they have an image of the seamonster, according to Svergies Television.

The film clip shows a blurry, long and narrow silhouette moving in the lake’s depths.

“It clearly shows that it’s warm and is made up of cells, otherwise our cameras wouldn’t indicate red, so it can be a sea snake or some other kind of sea animal,” said a female member of the film crew to Sveriges Television news in Jämtland.

The effort to find the monster has generated a great deal of interest, with the American television network NBC planning to document the hunt.

Next summer, the number of special cameras placed in the lake will increase to thirty.

This isn’t the first time that crews have hunted for the Great Lake Sea Monster.

Back in 1894, a Swedish sea captain named Dedering created a stock company with the express purpose of catching the renowned beast.

The hunt, which was also sponsored in part by King Oscar II, even featured whale harpooners.

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

I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts!

I’m a lifelong student of the unusual, so I was intrigued by this video from Asheville, North Carolina that appears to have caught the image of a wandering ghost in the early hours of August 1, 2008.

Interestingly, it appears this ghosts casts a shadow…

WSPA reports…

Haunted High? Some Say Camera Captured Ghost at Asheville High School

By Connie LeGrand

Is an area high school haunted?  Asheville is abuzz after video was captured by a motion-activated camera at Asheville High school at 2:51 a.m. Friday, August 1.  In the video, a dark image –some say looks like the silhouette of a child- appears by an elevator.  The image advances forward and is again captured in the hallway.

It’s something, so far, the Asheville School District says can’t be explained.  Charlie Glazener, Executive Director of Public Relations for the District says, “I’m a logical person, and I wanted to be able to explain to these folks, or anybody, this is what I think it is. It’s a bat flying around here, and it casts a shadow; but then why is the shadow down here from a different angle, and it’s not in the shape of a bat?“  It’s that shadow cast on the floor that has even the skeptics perplexed.

Sarah Harrison, of the Asheville Paranormal Society says, “Well, I have watched the video and I can’t debunk it.  The fact that it set off the motion detectors means something physical was there.  The shape morphed into something that was human shaped.  I have seen many video surveillance footage of alleged ghosts and this is the only one that I can’t debunk.  Many video’s of “ghosts” are hoaxes, but I think this would be impossible to hoax.”

Teacher Martha Geitner has her own theory!  “It’s a ghost.  Of course it’s a ghost.  It’s the ghost of some former student who is really angry with his teacher and has come back to get back with the teacher, and he’s just making himself known at this time.“

A school custodian told New Channel 7’s Connie LeGrand it’s not the first time he’s seen an image like this; but he says that’s what you can expect from a building built in 1929.

Gnome Terrorizes some boys in Argentina

Fox News is suspicious…

Little Person Dressed as Gnome Caught on Video ‘Stalking’ Streets of Argentina Town

A town in South America is living in fear after

several sightings of a ‘creepy gnome’ that locals claim stalks the streets at night, The Sun reports.

The little person ”who wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk” was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.

Teenager Jose Alvarez (who filmed the gnome) yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.

He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning. I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking. Suddenly we heard something “a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones.”

“We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid.”

Alvarez added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.

He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out just like everyone else in the neighborhood now.”

“One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital,” Alvarez said.

“Sculpted by Martian winds,” huh?

This neat news story caught my eye, and the natural skeptic in me just has a hard time beleiving in those Martian winds!

‘Alien’ sand dunes found on Mars

To look at it you’d think the landscape had been carved by aliens.

But these perfectly sculpted sand dunes, resembling crabs’ claws, were sculpted by the martian winds.

The images were photographed by a powerful camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They come from within the Hellspontus region of the planet, where powerful winds blow from west to east.

The MRO probe is equipped with the most powerful camera ever sent into space. It also took detailed pictures of Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons. Less than 14 miles wide, the asteroid is covered with craters and mysterious grooves.

Chief Nasa investigator Professor Alfred McEwen, of the University of Arizona, said: “Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and carbon-rich materials.”

Here’s to the inevitable photos of the Martian cities, which we will be told are tricks of light and shadow!

Sasquatch Near Sin City?

Art Bell’s Coast to Coast radio show is often filled with stories of the strange and unusual. But this weekend, he reported a story that broke on The Chattanoogan: seems like some folks caught video of ol’ Bigfoot right here in my backyard!

The story reports…

Lindsay Lemmon and Austin McGee said after returning from a trip out west, they found that video shot out the window along I-40 in New Mexico has a glimpse of what appears to be a hulking furry figure walking.

Mr. Lemmon, a local contractor who specializes in historic homes, said, “I’m still skeptical, but it does look like a figure to me. If it was a prank, then it was awfully hot and it was out in the middle of nowhere.”

Mr. McGee, who shot the footage, is much more positive. He said, “I believe it whole-heartedly. Every time I look at it on the VCR I see a figure with real long arms hanging below the knees. He is walking and swinging those arms.”

He said a close examination of the figure reveals “a tan round face.”

Can’t wait to see the full video! If it’s compelling enough, I will once again don my pith helmet & safari gear and lead an expedition to capture the cagey beast once and for all! If he is indeed close to Las Vegas, the game is afoot!