I am a big fan of the paranormal and the unexplained. I like to read study every known case I can find about cryptids, ghosts, strange disappearances, ufos, timeslips/travel, strange sightings and phenomena, and other events of the unexplained. I believe that most cases have logical, scientific, earthly explanations though I also try to keep an open mind. In this thread I will examine different cases ( i.e. The Mothman, Spring Heeled Jack, The Flatwoods Monster, The Mad Gasser, etc) I invite you to share cases you find fascinating too. Even personal stories of the unexplained are welcome. ( I once woke to a dark, red eye figure crossing a friend's living room). I look forward to discussing the unexplained with all of you.
Bermuda Triangle....it's my understanding they've discovered water plumes that shoot way up into the sky and have a powerful undertow that can suck a plane or ship into the ocean's depths....
Case: Mothman A headless, winged humanoid creature seen around Point Pleasant West Virginia and around the Ohio River from 1966 to 1967, culminating in the collapse of the Silver Bridge. First seen on November 15th, 1966 by two couples in a car who were parked by an abandoned TNT plant at night. The creature suddenly landed some feet in front of them and could be seen in the glow of the headlights. It had large eyes placed around it's shoulder area with no head to be seen. It was winged and described as man like, 6 to 7 feet tall. The two couples, the Scarberry's and Mallette's were startled and agreed they needed to leave immediately. They drove away and the creature followed. It easily kept up with their car, even as they sped up to 100 miles an hour. It kept up with them without flapping its wings. They said it made squeaking sounds like a mouse. They drove straight to the police station and reported the event, even confessing speeding. The police convinced by the gravity of the fear, drove out to the plant, but found nothing. Another group also reported seeing it the same night. The same night, 90 miles to the North, a man named Newell Partridge was watching TV when it suddenly started behaving strangly. The screen began changing between different patterns and making whining noises before going dead. Partidges dog began howling and growling on the porch. He went out to see what was the matter. He found his dog was staring out towards the barn. He shined a light out towards the barn and saw to large red eyes. His dog suddenly ran out towards the barn barking and snarling. Spooked, he went back in his gun but then decided to stay inside. The next morning he found his dogs tracks out by the barn going in circles. He never saw his dog again. The next night a couple and a friend of theirs were leaving a friends house when a large Grey creature landed near their car. It was larger than a man and had red eyes about the shoulders and wings. It so frightened one of the women who was carrying an infant that she dropped the child. A friend grabbed the child and they all ran ba k up and into the house. The creature followed coming onto the porch. They could see its red eyes looking into the windows and it made strange sounds. They called police, but by the time police got there, it was gone. There were several other sitings of the Mothman through the next year. On December 15th, 1967 the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River between Ohio and West Virginia at Point Pleasant collapsed killing 46 people. There were sitings of the Mothman flying above the bridge just before it collapsed. The Mothman was not seen again after. Possibilities/Conclusions: On its face this seems to be an eery culmination of events. Experts have offered explanations that the mothman was one of several large birds such as the sand Hill crane or the barn owl. Mass hysteria has also been offered as a possibility. Perhaps a combination of both. Some believe the mothman was a dark creature of omen, warning of the coming bridge collapse. In all likelihood, the sightings of the creature and the collapse are separate unrelated events combined by happenstance. The bridge collapse was caused by a defect in a link in one of the eye bars. The bridge took on too much weight over time. Corrosion in unison with taking on more weight than it was designed for caused the bridge to give way. Perhaps, we will never know what exactly the mothman was. Did people mistake a large bird, contorted by the darkness and fear as the mothman? Was there really some creature unknown to man that showed up in West Virginia in 1966? If so, why did it disappear never to be seen again. Why is there no real evidence of it? Was it an omen? A creature of the paranormal?
Ah, the Skinwalkers Creatures of Najavo legend. Witches that can change their appearance to wolf or coyote like animals. They are said to abduct children in the night. Most encounters happen at night. It is said that Skinwalkers are unharmed by gunshots. The Skinwalker Ranch so named as it sits on the edge of Navajo land. There have been said to be many sightings and encounters with Skinwalkers on the Ranch among its many owners. There has also been other strange phenomena such as lights, cattle mutilations, magnetic anomalies, etc.
I have never seen or experienced anything paranormal and it bums me out. I would love to see a ghost or UFO or something.
The Bermuda Triangle (The Devils Triangle) The Bermuda Triangle, a large area in the Atlantic Ocean between the three triangular points of Southern Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. Also known as the Devils Triangle. Known over the years for the disappearance of many ships and planes. One of the most known cases being that of Flight 19. Flight 19 was a group of 5 US Torpedo Bombers that went on a practice run out in the Atlantic over the Triangle. They got lost on their attempt to return to base. Their last words over the radio were, "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." All 14 members of the group and all 5 planes were lost, never to be seen again. As we're the 13 members of a seaplane sent out to look for them which also disappeared never to be seen again. Magnetic anomalies have been discussed as a possibility. The malfunction of onboard compasses due to a switch or a variation in the relation to the magnetic poles in the region. The U.S.S. Cyclops a navy ship carrying a load of ore disappeared in the Triangle March 4th, 1918 never to be seen again. Two boats, a Schooner, the Carroll A Deering and a yacht, the Connemara IV were found abandoned aground or adrift in the triangle. The crew of the former were all lost while the latter was said to have been at Port and pulled out to sea by a hurricane, no one being aboard. Two British South American Airliners Star Tiger and Star Ariel disappeared over the triangle never to be seen again as did a Douglas DC - 3 Passenger plane on flight between Puerto Rico and Miami in 1948. Other anomalies such as water plumes, water cyclones, sneaker waves, pockets of methane have been offered to explain the disappearance of planes and ships in the area. The number of disappearances of ships and planes in the area have not been found to be proportionately larger than any other area in the ocean. Most cases can probably be explained by pilot error, the gulf stream, or tropical storms common in the area such as hurricanes.
I thought I saw a ghost when I was a kid. I was playing video games and thought I saw my sister go into the bathroom but I never heard the switch flick on. I turned off the game to see no one was in the house. I ran outside to ask my dad where my mom and sister were and he said they were still at the mall. Not sure if it was video games playing a trick on my eyes but it felt like an impossibility at the time. Never have my eyes deceived me like that.
Boats being lost or found abandoned adrift a sea reminded me of the Mary Celeste, a brigantine merchant ship that was sailing from New York to Genoa with a cargo of denatured alcohol in 1872. The boat was found adrift near the Azores. A lifeboat was missing along with the crew and passengers (including the captain, his daughter, and wife). The boat was still seaworthy though the rigging and some sails were damaged or missing. The captain and crews belongings were still there untouched. The captain Benjamin Briggs was experienced, having sailed many times and made numerous similar succesful trips with cargo. On board, there was 3.5 of water in the hold. The glass covering of the ships compass was broken. The Captains Lig was found with its last entry drying 9 days before the ship was found, putting the ship off the coast of Santa Maria Island to the north. There was a sword under the captains bed that has served as an ominous extra in re-tellings of the event in which is found with blood on it and pointed to the captain killing everyone aboard. But, in truth the sword was sheathed and rusty with no blood on it. There was trades of what was thought to be blood on the deck of the shop as well as marks cut into several places along the ship. The captain killing everyone and taking the lifeboat was never a sound theory. There was no blood on the sword. Not enough blood on the ship to account for such an event. Not to mention the captain would have had to single handedly taken on his crew. Not to mention then clean and sheath his sword and put it back under the bed? An attack by a whale, giant squid, or other sea monster has also been put forth. The shop though would have taken far more damage. If there was an initial attack that left the crew scares, especially with potentially explosive alcohol below deck, it could have led them to abandon ship. But, would they have been any safer against such a creature in a smaller boat. Mutiny is another explanation given. Though wouldn't the mutineers have stayed on the ship and kept the bounty? The same with piracy. The most logical explanation owing to the broken rigging, missing sales, broken compass, and 3.5 feet of water in the hold, is that the Mary Celeste encountered a rough storm which caused some of the sails to be blown off and the rigging to break. The boat began to take on water and thrashed violently causing the compass to break. The captain either thinking the ship was in danger of sinking, the alcohol cargo below was in danger of exploding due to the violent turbulence of the ocean, or both decided to order his crew and family to abandon ship. Some of the ships papers and navigational instruments were missing. A rod for measuring water depth was found on the deck. All signs point to the captain and crew abanding ship on the lifeboat. Sadly, the lifeboat was never found. It was probably swallowed by the sea. Ironically, they would have been safer staying on the Mary Celeste. Whatever happened, happened quickly. There was no time for the Captain to write down what happened or why they were abandoning ship in the log. The ship was towed to Gilbitrar where it's finders found themselves in a hearing suspected at one point of killing the crew and taking the ship. Without evidence of such, the ship was allowed to be brought to Genoa where the finders recieved a pittance 1/5 of its value in salvage. Before it was the Mary Celeste, the boat was called the Amazon. It was found wrecked and abandoned and rebuilt and renamed the Mary Celeste.
Are you sure there wasn’t a typo and that they were actually parked by an abandoned LSD factory……? Sounds like @jlprk needs to weigh in………
The Flatwoods Monster On September 12th, 1952 as they played in their neighborhood two brothers Eddie and Fred May along with their friend Tommy Hyer witnessed a light stream across the sky and crash over a hill beyond. The boys went to the brothers house and told their mother Kathleen May who afraid, asked next door neighbor national guardsmen Eguene Lemon to accompany them to the crash site. They were joined by two other neighborhood kids. Lemon's dog also came along. Upon reaching the top of the hill where the boys saw the light crash, the dog whimpered, and they smelled something pungent and gaseous that made them nauseous. Lemon heard a movement and pointed his flashlight into the darkness in the direction of the noise. What he saw made him and the others gasp. They all described it as a tall figure with a spade shaped pointed covering around it's face which was two large eyes that emitted a green and orange light. It suddenly made a hissing noise and glided toward them causing Lemon to drop his flashlight. They all ran. Police who were investigating what was reported as a crashed aircraft, searched the area, but didn't see or smell anything strange. A writer for the local newspaper claimed to have discovered skid marks and a gummy like substance on the ground at the crash site. The most logical explanation is that the boys saw a meteor which disintegrated on contact. The figure was likely an owl (which have spade shaped faces and large eyes that reflect light) on a branch. Fear, in combination with the shadows surrounding the flashlights area of illumination created the illusion of a scary creature or being. The witnesses saw the figure only momentarily. It hissed and glided at them (common behavior of an owl). But, who knows maybe it was an alien or robot and it fixed its ship and left before the police could investigate. As for the claims by the news reporter, we know how writers like to make up details to sell a story.
I look at these things as an easy way of explaining things that some kind grapple with. We all like to have explanations when the explanations are above us in difficulty, hence the paranormal, ghosts and the like.
I saw a perfect explanation of what happened to the 15 torpedo planes in a televised documentary that explained things rationally and logically. I don't really want to go into it because it is a bit lengthy and would tax my memory of about 15 or 20 years ago.
When my friend was an infant, his mom woke up in the night to him crying. She walked into the nursery to find him being held and comforted by her grandmother, who died when she was a teenager, she says.
Spring Heeled Jack Spring Heeled Jack terrified England from 1837 to 1904. Though, from 1807 to 1837 other "entities" including the Hammersmith Ghost ran amok in England, and were thought to be possibly related to Spring Heeled Jack. In 1837 the first sighting of Spring Heeled Jack came when he jumped out at Mary Stevens, a servant girl was walking to work when he jumped out of an alleyway and grabbed her and began to kiss her face. He had clawed hands and use them to tear her dress and skin. She screamed and he ran away. People nearby came and found her and she told them of her assailant. They put together a search party but never found him. The next day Spring Heeled Jack jumped in front of a carriage which caused the carriage to crash. The coachman was badly injured. Jack got away by jumping easily over a 9 foot tall wall while cackling with a high pitched voice. In 1838 the Lord Mayor of London had recieved piles of letters about encounters with Jack asking him to do something about it. The same year a figure in a Bear skin chased people around including a Gardner who saw it run along the top of a garden wall, it jumped down chased the gardener around the yard, before scaling the fence once more and vanishing. Two of the most known Spring Heeled Jack cases happened later in 1838. First Jane Alsop was accosted by the entity when she answered the door at her father's house. A man in the shadows claiming to be the police stated they had caught Spring Heeled Jack but needed a lantern. Upon bringing the lantern she was terrified when his face and body were lit up. His eyes were like orange balls of fire. He spit blue and white fire from his mouth. He wore tight white oilskin and a helmet. He grabbed her with metallic claws and scratched her neck and arms before she screamed and was saved by her sister. The assailant fled. Nine days later Lucy Hales and her sister were leaving their brothers house. They had just walked down the lane when Jack jumped out from an alley and spit blue flames at Lucy's face. She fell to the ground screaming. Her brother heard and ran to her quickly. They brought her inside and she later recovered. Her sister described Jack as tall, thin, and gentlemanly in appearance with a large cloak and a lantern. A man named Thomas Millbank admitted to the attack on Hales and was tried but found not guilty after Hales testified Jack had spit fire at her and Millbanks said he couldn't breathe fire. In 1877, some 39 years later Spring Heel Jack appeared at Aldershot Garrison. A soldier on duty saw a figure coming towards him in the darkness. The Soilder gave warning before firing his gun at Jack which had no affect. Jack slapped the soldier several times before jumping away into the distance high in the air as though he had springs for feet. In 1888 he appeared on the roof of a church before bouncing away. He was last seen around 1904 on a nearby street. Some believed Spring Heeled Jack to be an evil entity. Perhaps the devil himself. Though most believe he was an individual with later copycats. A trickster who knew fire breathing techniques, wore some apparatus that made his eyes appear to glow, metal claws that fit over his actual hands and some kind of Spring loaded shoes that allowed him to jump high. He is believed to possibly be a marquise or someone of high standing because of his gentlemanly appearance. All in all he seems to be some disturbed individual(s) who jollied at frightening and scratching young women.
Mad Gasser of Mattoon In the 1940s there were several gas attacks in Mattoon Illinois. Victims seemingly smelled strange odors in their homes and were besieged by paralysis, Nadeau, coughing, and vomiting. No one was killed. The first case occurred on August 31st, 1944 when a man named Urban Raef awoke to the smell of a strange odors in his bedroom. He became naseaus and weak before vomiting. His wife thought to go check to see if there was a gas leak and thought maybe there was a problem with the pilot light. But, she found she could not get out of bed because she was paralyzed by the odor. The same night nearby a woman was awakened by the sound of her daughter coughing but she couldn't get out of bed to investigate because she too was paralyzed. A day later on September 1st, Mrs Kearney of Marshall Ave suddenly smelled a strange sweet odor around 11pm. She ignored it at first thinking it was flowers outside. But, the smell became stronger and she became weak in the legs and unable to stand. She called to her sister who was there and she also smelled the odor and determined it was coming from the open bedroom window. Police were called but they found nothing. An hour and a half later Mr Kearney was returning home from work driving his cab when he saw a man hiding outside his bedroom window. The man was tall and dressed in dark clothes with a righting fitting hat. Mrs Kearney suffered burning of her lips and throat. That month there were 13 other attacks including Beulah Cordes who had arrived home with her husband on Seotember 5th to find a white cloth by her front door. She picked it up and smelled it. She became violently ill. Her face smelled up, she felt burning on her lips and in her throat. She began vomiting. She had partial paralysis of the legs. The police tested the cloth but found no chemicals that could have caused her symptoms. There was also a skeleton Key and a large empty lipstick tube nearby. It was thought maybe someone was trying to knockout the Cordes dog so they could gain access to the house. The same night nearby a Mrs Burrell reported a stranger broke into her house through her window and tried to gas her. In the succeeding cases, footprints were found outside of windows. Window screens were found to be torn. One woman claimed she saw a Gasser who was a woman dressed as a man. Womans footprints were found near the window of that house. One witness saw blue vapor and heard mechanical whizzing noises thought be from some machine used for gassing. The Gasser has been described as carrying a flit gun...a canister used to spray pesticides on plants. While some of the cases seem to point to an actual assailant (with robbery being a motive), others seem to be cases of mass hysteria. Odors in some of the cases have been explained by nearby open bottled of nail polish, animal flatulence, or smells from nearby factories. Of course others believe it to be some non human or extraterrestrial being.
The Alencon Spaceman In 1790 a large group of people in Alencon France were witness to am extraordinary sight when a metallic sphere descended from the sky and landed on a nearby hilltop. With most of the town surrounding it, the sphere suddenly opened and out stepped a man wearing a strange outfit. He spoke a language they could not understand and ran into the nearby woods before the sphere exploded, vaporizing it. A search for the man was conducted, but he was never found.
