Ripley’s Believe It or Not!: The Top 10 Strange Stories of 2010

As 2010 comes to an end, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! releases its top ten strange stories of the year..

Ripley's Believe It or Not! : searches the globe for the ultimate in unusual oddities, strange stories and terrific true tales. After reading and reviewing hundreds of stories from headlines around the world in 2010, the experts and weird-ologists at Ripley's are releasing their Top 10 Strange Stories of 2010. They range from the bizarre to the unbelievable

- but all are true!.. Read more

Indiana Drivers Pull Over after Spotting Triangle UFO

A group of Indiana drivers pulled over after observing a silent, triangle UFO moving east at 2,000 feet. A wtness also reported two jets flying in the area.

A group of Indiana motorists pulled over on December 27, 2010, after observing a silent, triangle UFO moving east at 2,000 feet, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

No town name is mentioned in the public portion of the MUFON report, filed on December 27, 2010, but the reporting witness states that the object was seen while driving southbound along Cleveland Avenue.

The witness reports lights on the craft. Read more

Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories of 2010

Loren Coleman posts his list of the top ten cryptozoology stories of 2010.

The Year of 2010 may be remembered, in popular culture, cryptozoologically, for its series of stories of cryptids such as a blond Bigfoot named Knobby, on misidentifications of common animals, of announcements of a few remarkable discoveries, and about groundbreaking new concepts on tribal Sasquatch and extraordinary True Giants.

Let’s look at the top ten memorable news items. Read more

Angry Haitian Mobs Lynch 45 "Witches" over Cholera Outbreak

This is just sad - both the cholera epidemic and people's reaction to it. This sounds similar to the witch hunts during the Middle Ages when people blamed their neighbors for their problems and afflictions.

Angry Haitian mobs have lynched at least 45 people in recent weeks, accusing them of spreading a cholera outbreak that has killed over 2,500 people across the country, officials said Wednesday.

The number included at least 14 suspected sorcerers previously known to have been lynched in the far southwestern region of Grand'Anse as local people feared they were spreading cholera with a magical substance. The area has been largely spared by the outbreak. Read more

I get emails occasionally from readers who are convinced that witches are tormenting them. I always ask if they know any witches, and if they do, whether they have done something to them. So far I haven't gotten an answer.

Some witches and sorcerers do perform revenge magic against people who have wronged them. However, in my opinion, magic and witchcraft take too much time and effort to waste on random malevolence. Unless you have harmed or offended a witch, you should look elsewhere for the cause of your problems.

What Happens at Exorcism School?

At a recent exorcism conference in Baltimore, Maryland, bishops and priests discussed demons, devils, and the need for proper exorcism training.

The exorcism conference was closed-door. The October conference, in Baltimore, Maryland, preceding a conference of US Catholic bishops, was attended by 56 bishops and 66 priests. The bishops were the novelty. There is a small annual conference on exorcism, but only a few priests attend. The conference focused on the details of the rite of exorcism, and "the reality of demonic manifestations in our society", a participant said.

While all Catholic priests can theoretically perform exorcism, very few American priests are trained to do so. The conference, intended to remedy the shortfall, was organised by Bishop Thomas Paprocki, chair of the Bishops' committee on canonical affairs and church governance. "I thought it went well," he said. "We had lots of bishops, and lots of priests." Read more

Skinwalker Chronicles

The belief that malevolent witches are capable of transforming themselves into animals is ancient and widespread. In the American Southwest, they were called Skinwalkers.

In the American Southwest, the Navajo, Hopi, Utes, and other tribes each have their own version of the Skinwalker story, but basically they boil down to the same thing - a malevolent witch capable of transforming itself into a wolf, coyote, bear, bird, or any other animal. To the Navajo, yee naaldlooshii is "with it, he goes on all fours", a practitioner of Frenzy Way. The witch might wear the hide or skin of the animal identity it wants to assume, and when the transformation is complete, the human witch inherits the speed, strength, or cunning of the animal whose shape it has taken. Read more

Red-Eyed Men: Creepy Encounters around the World

As if black-eyed kids weren't scary enough, now red-eyed men are being reported around the world.

If you were walking down the street and encountered a man with ‘glowing red eyes’ what would you do? Start to dial 911 then imagine the response from the operator before you punch in the numbers. An operator who will ask if you’re under psychiatric care? Or, a man with glowing red eyes floating down a street? Luckily for the villagers in Chile who witnessed the man, parapsychologists were called in to investigate extremely unusual poltergeist activity occurring at one of the villager’s home. The woman in the U.K. who saw the man with glowing red eyes walking down the street was ‘so shocked she couldn’t talk’. She decided she couldn’t tell anyone for fear of being labeled ‘insane’. A third encounter, an ‘evil’ shadow man with bright blood red eyes who appeared in a 12-yr-old boy’s room. The boy, when he was 18, posted online what occurred.

There’s a website in South America, Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology, which has numerous fascinating posts including the latest in UFO reports and Reports of strange creatures including the ‘Hopping Phantom of Calchin’: Read more