Up-to-the-minute reports of paranormal activity and news from around the world
GHOSTS, POLTERGEISTS, HAUNTINGS:
Home sweet home, haunted?
In Hong Kong, properties where the previous owner died unnatural deaths (for example suicide or murder) can be legally declared haunted. Due to local belief that such deaths lead to ghosts troubling new occupants, such properties usually see price discounts of up to 40 per cent...
Two convicted of trespassing at historic building to "see ghosts"
Two men who allegedly told officers they wanted to "see the ghosts'' pleaded guilty to trespassing into a locked building after allegedly breaking into the Swensson Farmstead, a historic property in Chippewa County...
Stunning midtown Manhattan hotel has a ghostly past
Hotel Wolcott relies on history, value - and the occasional haunting- to keep guests coming. Some guests say they've seen children playing; employees have heard a phantom radio...
CREATURES:
East River Monster sparks rumors, but is it just a bloated dog?
The East River monster that washed up on a sparse section of beach underneath the Brooklyn Bridge recently has many New Yorker's confused. Is it a pig? A dog? A mutant rodent? While the answer isn't clearly visible -- especially since the thing is missing its upper jaw -- it does appear really strange and creepy...
Have Vietnam's wildmen killed humans?
LIFE AFTER DEATH:
Russian research project offers 'immortality' to billionaires - by transplanting their brains into robot bodies
A Russian entrepreneur who heads a hi-tech research project called 'Avatar' has contacted billionaires to offer them immortality. Itskov claims he will personally oversee their immortality process, in exchange for an undisclosed fee. Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal - and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years...
EARTH MYSTERIES:
10 bizarre, unexplained substances from around the world
Science is getting pretty good at explaining the mysteries of the universe, but there are some things that are still outside of human comprehension. Whether they be industrial waste mutated into nefarious new forms or just Mother Nature getting a little revenge, these weird substances continue to baffle our attempts to analyze them...
TIME AND SPACE:
Did we meet Martians 36 years ago?
Viking 1 was shutdown in 1982, but its legacy is as alive as ever today. Viking 1, and its sister robot, Viking 2, were the only two spacecraft ever dispatched to Mars with miniature onboard biological laboratories that performed the first in-situ experiments to find extraterrestrial life. One out of three independent miniature experiment labs aboard the Vikings yielded positive results, as established by the rules of its builders...
MEDIA - BOOKS, MOVIES, TV:
Claude Lecouteux. The Secret History of Poltergeists and Haunted Houses: From Pagan Folklore to Modern Manifestations, translated by Jon A Graham. Inner Traditions, 2012
Claude Lecouteux, author of Return of the Dead and Phantom Armies of the Night, here turns his attention to poltergeists, tracing their manifestation and perception from antiquity to modern times. In some ways this follows the pattern established by P G Maxwell-Stuart. but what sets it apart is that its sources are mainly continental; especially from his native France. These make a fascinating addition to the literature and are not at all well known in the English speaking world...
