Sunday, July 11, 2010

Are mutant deer the cause of unicorn legends?

Maybe unicorns aren’t wholly mythological: a one-horned deer has been spotted in a nature reserve near Florence, Italy. And it’s not merely a case of having one weird antler off to one side; it’s a horn poking straight out of its forehead.  "This is fantasy becoming reality," said Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center for Natural Sciences in Prato, to the Associated Press.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/unicorns-are-re/Full article:  

Psychic parrot Meena (whose 'psychic' record isn't as accurate as Pauly's) makes same choice as Pauly the psychic octopus in choosing Spain to win World Cup!

Meena Kutti, an eight-year-old parakeet born in India, was advising punters which teams to back, according to its owner, fortune teller M.C. Mohan, who usually gives tips on business and life.  Mohan said he placed two small envelopes on the floor at his home in Kuala Lumpur and asked Meena to pick the winner of the World Cup final - the Netherlands or Spain - and without hesitation it chose the one marked "La Furia Roja." "Meena is one of a kind and is always accurate in her predictions," he was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times newspaper, which did not give any details of previous forecasts.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/7883865/World-Cup-2010-final-Meena-the-parakeet-backs-Paul-the-psychic-octopus-for-Spain-win.html


Dracula, Vlad Tepes,  got a bad rap from his European neighbors says museum curator

The show, which has just opened in Bucharest, attempts to rehabilitate Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, who ruled Wallachia in the 15th century.  "Vlad Dracula was doubtlessly cruel, but not more so than other princes of his time," said Margot Rauch, the Austrian curator of the exhibition, entitled "Dracula - Voivode and Vampire".

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/romania/7883928/Dracula-was-not-bloodthirsty-just-a-victim-of-bad-propaganda-new-exhibition-claims.html

Researchers believe they've discovered King Arthur's legendary Round Table and it was a Roman-style amphitheater!

Researchers exploring the legend of Britain’s most famous Knight believe his stronghold of Camelot was built on the site of a recently discovered Roman amphitheatre in Chester.  Legend has it that his Knights would gather before battle at a round table where they would receive instructions from their King. But rather than it being a piece of furniture, historians believe it would have been a vast wood and stone structure which would have allowed more than 1,000 of his followers to gather.  Historians believe regional noblemen would have sat in the front row of a circular meeting place, with lower ranked subjects on stone benches grouped around the outside.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7883874/Historians-locate-King-Arthurs-Round-Table.html

Does a full Moon really cause us to go crazy?

There's a bad moon on the rise? Werewolves, lunatics and criminals, we all know, famously respond to the light of the full moon.

But Creedence Clearwater Revival lyrics aside, an upcoming crime study reinforces findings that the full moon's malign influence is, well, moonshine.

"Western lore has long suggested a relationship between the phases of the moon and various forms of aberrant, antisocial, deviant, and criminal human conduct," begins the Journal of Criminal Justicestudy led by criminologist Joseph Schafer of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. "Policing, crime, and criminal justice have not been immune from speculation concerning the lunar-crime relationship."
Full article: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-07-11-moon-crime_N.htm

Friday, July 9, 2010

Multiple witnesses observe 'fireball' UFO over Vancouver, Washington

Brenda Ellis was getting ready for bed Thursday night when her brother called her outside and pointed to the sky. Before she could respond, Ellis said her daughter, Ashley Ellis, let out a shrill scream.  Darting back and forth in the night sky were what Ellis described as four unidentified flying objects. Yes, UFOs.  To be specific, they were four orange bulbs that dashed overhead until they ascended higher and higher, turned to white and disappeared, according to Ellis.  “They were super quiet, and so bright and so close,” said Ellis, who was in the backyard of her Cascade Park home when she saw them taking off into the southern sky.  The National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle (NUFORC) confirmed Ellis’ report and noted there were two other UFO accounts Thursday, one each in Vancouver and Seattle.
Full article: http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jul/09/fireball-reported-over-vancouver-skies/ 

Ghost of last woman to be hanged in Britain haunts churchyard of her victim

 She was the last woman ever hanged in Britain and she could still be haunting a churchyard in Penn.  Or so a paranormal researcher believes.  Author and photographer Eddie Brazil, 54, has been researching for his book about haunted churches around England.  His work has led to him to the idea that the ghost of Ruth Ellis – who was executed in 1955 – may be returning to the site where she murdered her lover David Blakely.

Full article: http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/8260162.Last_hanged_woman_s_ghost_haunts_Penn__author_says/ 


Legend of Sleepy Hollow author Washington Irving may be haunting his own New York cottage
 
On June 26, 14-year-old Rachel Lambert saw something a bit unusual in a photograph she took earlier during her trip to Washington Irving's Sunnyside.  After seeing Tim Burton's film, "Sleepy Hollow," Rachel pursued her interest in the paranormal and convinced her family to take a trip from Rotterdam, N.Y. to see what the town of the horseman is really like.
Full article: http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/a-glimpse-of-the-paranormal 

Singapore psychic parakeet 'Mani', predicts Netherlands to win World Cup

The bird, named Mani, has rapidly gained cult status among gambling-mad soccer fans who have been flocking to its owner's shop in Singapore's Little India district in the hope of winning big.  Local media reports said Mani used its beak to pick a card bearing the flag of the Netherlands over one with Spain's national colours.

Full article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100709/tod-psychic-parakeet-picks-netherlands-a-1066d3e.html

UFO flying Chinese skies diverts air traffic

An unidentified flying object (UFO) disrupted air traffic over Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou late on Wednesday, the municipal government said on Thursday.  Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected at around 9 pm, and some flights were rerouted to airports in the cities of Ningbo and Wuxi , said an airport spokesman, who declined to be named.  The airport had resumed operations, and more details will be released after an investigation, he said.

Full article: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7058628.html

Angry losers send death threats to Pauly the psychic octopus

Word on the street is that Paul, the psychic octopus, had better watch his back - wherever that is.Death threats have been pouring in for the clairvoyant critter since he, er, predicted that Spain would beat the Netherlands in the World Cup, CNN is reporting.  Paul made his prediction Friday from the aquarium tank that serves as his home in Oberhausen, Germany. His caretaker, Oliver Walenciak, claimed he is unfazed by the threats to grill him and the like.

Full article: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/07/death-threats-for-paul-the-psychic-octopus/1