From Stephen Wagner,
Your Guide to Paranormal Phenomena.
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THE UNEXPLAINED IS everywhere, all around us, all the time. And every once in a while, it nudges its way into our reality. It's been another year of high strangeness. Reports of ghosts, monsters, cattle mutilations, earth anomalies and more have come in from virtually every part of the planet. Here are some of the paranormal highlights of 2003.

January

• Amazing Bigfoot Encounter. A camper named Julie Davis reported a remarkable encounter that she had with Bigfoot in the San Juan National Forest. "It must have been 8 feet tall. Its face was almost completely covered in fur but human-like." Davis said the giant uttered a low rumble, and immediately a second animal - slightly smaller and lighter in color - peered at her from behind the big one. Then they turned, ran back into the forest, and disappeared. (more; more encounters; prints found at Buffalo Mountain, Colorado)

• Ghost Directs Family to Letter. A family in Napierville, South Africa, following instructions from the ghost of a woman, found a letter in their house written more than 40 years ago by an unhappy former resident. (more)

• Ghost Ship. An Indonesian fishing boat, the High Aim 6, was found adrift off the coast of Australia. There were tons of rotting fish aboard, but absolutely no crew members. No explanation has yet been found. (more; follow-up; another "ghost ship," a sail boat, was found off the coast of San Diego)

• Ghost Voice Recorded. While making an audio recording in an underground vault in Edinburgh, Scotland, Debbie McPhail picked up a disembodied voice hissing the words: "Get out" or "Go away" in Gaelic. (more; more ghosts in Edinburgh)

• Cattle Mutilations. The "phantom surgeons" struck northeast Alabama. (more)

• Weirdest Story of the Month. A dead deer was found atop a power pole. (more, with photo; more story)

February

• Columbia Tragedy. Some blamed the crash of the Columbia on UFOs and other "odd objects"

• Flashing Skunk Ape. Two women were fishing on a river in the Florida Everglades when they sighted the smelly Skunk Ape. It "started growling while sniffing the air strangely." But researcher David Shealy said they were more concerned about being sexually assaulted because the Skunk Ape had an erection measuring more than 12 inches long. more

• Ghosts of Edinburgh Castle. Considered one of the most haunted spots in the UK, Edinburgh has long been the site of numerous ghost encounters. Building renovators believed they captured evidence on film. more

• Spooks Scare Couple from Home. A South Africa couple was scared out of their new home by haunting activity in the form of ghostly kisses, mysterious bells, moving furniture and more. (more)

• Weirdest Story of the Month. A Matamanga, Tanzania, resident said 26-year-old Mohamed Mkwanda has allegedly been mysteriously "transformed" into a goat after killing a goat of fellow villager.

March

• Weeping Jesus Painting. Hundreds of the faithful and curious flocked to a church in India to witness a painting of Jesus "weeping tears of blood." (more)

• Big Cats in UK. Mysterious big cats continued to slink around the UK. (more; police patrols)

• Talking Fish. Fish mongers in a New York fish market claimed that a carp, just as in was about to be slaughtered, suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew. (more)

• War = Onset of Apocalypse. Several "prophets" saw the war in Iraq as the beginnings of the end of the world, saying it would eventually lead to World War III. (more)

• Dog Returns After 7 Months. A retired school teacher couldn't believe her eyes when her dog, Taffy, a taffy-colored Labrador mix, returned home after having been gone for seven months. (more)

• Weirdest Story of the Month. In Norway, what was a first thought to be a sighting of a UFO may have only been an electrocuted cat. (more)

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