Dog-Headed Pig Monster Sighted In Namibia

A "dog-headed pig monster" has been sighted by Namibian villagers.

Some say it's a witch doctor, a warlock, or a work of black magic. Others say it's a hybrid animal somewhere between a dog and a pig. But whatever it is, residents in Namibia are saying the strange creature they've seen wreaking havoc on their villages is nothing they've ever encountered before, according to the website Life's Little Mysteries. Read more

Has Spring-Heeled Jack Returned?

Spring-heeled Jack was thought to be a nineteenth century urban legend, but a recent sighting calls that into question.

Spring-heeled Jack, the legendary bogeyman familiar to students of British folklore, has been invoked by news of an extraordinary experience with a road ghost in Surrey.

Scott Martin and his family told the Surrey Comet they were confronted by a ‘dark figure with no features’ that vaulted over a dual carriageway and over a 15ft bank whilst on a taxi ride home late on Tuesday, 14 February.

The experience left Scott, his wife and four-year-old son Sonny shocked whilst the taxi-driver ‘admitted he didn’t want to drive back alone’ along the Ewell bypass near Epsom afterwards. Read more

Nicholas Cage Inspired by Alchemy and Shamanism

Although actor Nicholas Cage may not be a vampire, apparently he is interested in the occult.

Earth’s history is rich with alchemists—Albertus Magnus, Hermes Trismegistus, Nicolas Flamel, Isaac Newton, Aleister Crowley, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Paracelsus, John Dee, Terrence McKenna and even Carl Jung. Alchemy was a proto-science that paved the way for modern science (chemistry, modern medicine, physics) but also had a spiritual, shamanistic aspect.

This is not to say that alchemists and shamans were and are officially coterminous, only that they both aspire to a better understanding of existence through various means: mysticism, magic, study, and drugs (which we know shamans have done, though whether Alchemists ever did is uncertain). In fact, McKenna attempted to synthesize alchemy with shamanism in various lectures, and described alchemists as pursuing a “magical theory of nature” (like Shamans) in the film “The Alchemical Dream.”

What does any of this have to do with Nicolas Cage? Well, it seems that Cage dabbles in alchemical and shamanistic techniques. Read more

Did Otherworldly Music Inspire Stonehenge?

Did otherworldly music inspire Stonehenge? Researcher Steven Waller proposes another theory about the stone circle's purpose.

Five thousand years ago, so the legend goes, two pipers played in a field while a circle of merry maidens danced around them. Then they all turned to stone, leaving Stonehenge to mystify us for millennia. Other theories about the stone circle's purpose include an alien observatory, a burial site and an acoustic stadium.

Here at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver, Canada, archaeoacoustician Steven Waller - an independent researcher based in La Mesa, California - threw yet another idea into the mix. The stone circle, he says, may have been inspired by an auditory illusion that occurs when two identical instruments, such as pipes, play the same note at the same time. A person walking in a circle around the pipers hears the note's volume decrease at certain points where the two sound waves collide and cancel one another out. At these spots, it sounds as though a giant pillar is blocking the sound. Read more

Nessie Sonar Sighting Wins £1000 Prize

A sonar sighting of a large mystery object wins the £1000 prize for the Best Nessie Sighting of the Year.

A sonar image of a large mystery object deep below the surface of Loch Ness has netted boat skipper Marcus Atkinson the Best Nessie Sighting of The Year Award — the first time in several years it has been presented by bookmaker William Hill.

The photograph, claimed by at least one seasoned Nessie spotter to the conclusive evidence of a creature, was a late contender in the contest which has been dormant following several lean years of close encounters with the loch’s most famous resident.

However, 2011 proved to be a bumper year with three “good” sightings reported to the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club which first launched the competition in conjunction with the bookmaker in the 1990s. Read more

The Myth of Million Dollar Challenge

Paranormal "skeptics" like to claim that the fact the nobody has passed the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge proves that paranormal abilities do not exist. However, Greg at The Daily Grail reveals how the Million Dollar Challenge is rigged against the challengers.

For ten years, the modern skeptical movement has wielded a cudgel against claims of the paranormal: the James Randi Million Dollar Challenge. In many debates over the possibility of psi abilities, the Challenge provides a final word for one side... [Randi's Million] "has so-and-so applied for the Challenge?" The financial reward offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation is seen by many skeptics as providing an irresistible motivation for anybody with paranormal ability - after all, if someone could genuinely exhibit such powers, surely they would step forward to take the million?

However, after ten years, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) says nobody has even got past their preliminary testing. Furthermore, none of the 'big fish' - medium John Edward, spoon-bender Uri Geller, psychic Sylvia Browne - have applied (although Sylvia Browne did accept James Randi's direct challenge on Larry King Live, without going any further). And now, perhaps as a result of that fact, James Randi has announced that the Challenge will come to an end in two years, on March 6th, 2010.

But does the challenge really make a statement about the existence of the paranormal and/or psi abilities? According to paranormal investigator Loyd Auerbach (who, like Randi, is a member of the magic fraternity): Read more

How to Report Paranormal Activity

If you experience paranormal activity, here's a guide to reporting it to investigators.

Reporting paranormal activity is a touchy subject in an evolving society where some folks want the experiences to just go away and some seem to enjoy the intrusion and actually promote its continuation.

The paranormal is never black or white - but the two extremes might be a family who has encountered odd circumstances in a new residence and have actually become afraid of the events - to a more public venue like a restaurant or hotel which seems to draw patrons who choose to get up close to those seemingly otherworldly events. Read more