Forteana
www.theguardian.com
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18915016 > > In 1964, two young academics clambered into a red Mini and, armed with a mountain of printed slips, set out to conduct what would become the definitive survey of English folklore and traditions for the next 60 years. > > > >John Widdowson and Paul Smith went to town centres, community halls, Women’s Institute meetings. They handed the simple forms out to anyone who visited Sheffield University, where they were based. And they wanted to know the answer to one simple question: what do you know to be true? > > > > Now held in the university’s archives, the thousands of replies make for illuminating reading, creating a patchwork of observances, superstitions and local legends, passed down through families and communities. > > > >“Don’t bring hawthorn blossom into the house. It’s bad luck,” wrote David Smith of London, who had learned this from his mother, Molly, then living in Scarborough. > > > >The story related by Florence Swaby of Hertfordshire was perhaps a little more dramatic: “Just outside the village, part of the road is called the white highway, and at that point there are two large open fields and the devil haunts there. This is the story handed down from my great grandmother and really happened …” > > > > Exactly six decades on, the Survey of Language and Folklore is finally being updated, with a more scientific method than two men in a Mini handing out questionnaires almost at random. The Centre for Contemporary Legend, based at Sheffield Hallam University, is to conduct the National Folklore Survey, financed with £271,000 of government money from the UK Research and Innovation body. > > > >The project will be led by David Clarke along with Diane Rodgers, also of Sheffield Hallam, and Ceri Houlbrook and Owen Davies who founded the MA Folklore Studies course at Hertfordshire University. It will be conducted by Ipsos-UK, polling almost 3,000 people in the first phase to create a clearer picture of what folklore means today. > > > >The new survey aims to address “the lack of robust research evidence into the cultural value of folklore in post-Brexit, post-pandemic, multicultural England. It aims to create new data to answer two research questions: ‘How have folkloric beliefs and practices shaped England’s social, cultural and spiritual identity?’ and ‘To what extent are ideas of nationalism and colonial attitudes informed by contemporary notions of English folklore?’” > > > > ... > > > > “You might think that in an increasingly technological world we have no place for folklore, but it seems to be the opposite. Technology and mobile phones create a kind of disenchantment in people’s lives, and I think they’ve started to realise that. The revival of interest in folklore is a wonderful thing, and long may it continue.”
www.splinter.com
>We live in times where Mark Robinson and the Nude Africa porn forums are threatening to become one of the most consequential stories in American history, so you’ll excuse me if I roll my eyes at the folks who believe our reality is not absurd enough to accommodate the potential notion of visitors from another realm. If you want to know why I feel this way, I wrote 6,500 words across two articles explaining why both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and I think there’s something to UFOs (Here is part 1 and part 2). >UFOs are news worth covering simply because so many credible government actors have lent their own credibility to it, and if a fraction of any of this is true, it is world-changing. If it’s all a lie, then why this lie was perpetrated on the entire globe is a question that demands an answer. There’s no route out of this mess that isn’t newsworthy and worth exploring, and there is enough physical evidence of unexplained things in the sky at this point that dismissing it all as mankind’s overactive imagination requires a bigger conspiracy theory than the legend that Lockheed Martin is housing UFOs. >Last summer’s UFO hearing starred David Grusch telling explosive tales of UFO crash retrievals, and while most were quick to dismiss this as the rantings of a lunatic or a huckster, I refuse to go that far. I, like most others, am unqualified to assess Grusch’s credibility and lack the appropriate security clearances. All I can say is that he is not a James Clapper-type who is at the top of an agency and can just lie to Congress all willy nilly and go to fancy D.C. cocktail parties like nothing happened. Grusch is blowing the whistle from the great middle of the Defense Department organizational chart, where the rules still do theoretically apply to normal people. >I don’t know if David Grusch’s testimony was true (The Intelligence Community Inspector General found his complaint “credible and urgent” in July 2022, which should be noted is not an assessment of whether it is true), but I do know that if he did lie, he is in extremely deep shit because he accused some immensely powerful entities of some very serious crimes under oath. That guillotine hovering over his neck is convincing enough to me to at least hear him and any others out who are willing to put themselves on the line to take a leap of faith in our democratic institutions. You can listen to people tell their stories with an open mind without having to make an instantaneous judgement about their veracity, and if they are lying, time will bear that out. If someone wants to go in front of Congress and tell us something they think is important, we owe it to them to listen...
www.spectator.co.uk
> In October 1964, a young man was driving to a dance in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, when his radio began to pick up a strange frequency. At first he thought it was just tuning in to a local channel, but then voices came through discussing some kind of nuclear war – and issuing bomb reports. > >Recalling the incident decades later, the driver described the simultaneous appearance of a star overhead followed by the sudden realisation that he could see through the floor of his car. > >‘I hadn’t done any dope, I wasn’t doing any beer,’ he adds so casually that you feel inclined to believe him. And yet his body felt like jelly. The episode only lasted what seemed like five or ten minutes, but on arriving at the dance, the man realised that the half-hour journey had actually taken nearly two hours. He never found a logical explanation for what had happened. > > Between 1980 and 1992, a Cornell graduate from Ohio named John P. Timmerman travelled across America with a recorder and case of cassette tapes. Diversifying from his day job as the owner of an air-conditioning business, he spent his weekends conducting interviews in shopping malls as a volunteer for the Center for UFO Studies. In each mall he visited, he asked shoppers whether they had ever experienced anything inexplicable. The jellified driver was just one of nearly 1,200 people he spoke to across the course of his peculiar career. > >We Are Not Alone, which airs on BBC Radio 4 this Sunday evening, replays a selection of these interviews in one continuous stream. There is no introduction – and no explanation – and the only interruptions during the programme are the clicks of a tape ending, the ‘this is side two, cassette one’, type markers made by Timmerman himself and, in the final three minutes, some appreciative reflections from Timmerman’s son. I became quickly hooked. > >What struck me, in particular, was how many of the close encounters described took place when people were travelling. Aliens, it would seem, are fascinated by human transport. One woman spoke of a saucer-like object with multi-coloured lights zooming towards her car and disappearing only when another car came into sight. A man with 40 years’ experience in the aviation industry assessed that the sophisticated flying object he saw had no jet engine and was manifestly ‘not from this Earth’. > >Many reports released in recent years offer more comprehensive descriptions of sightings than those gathered by Timmerman. But the raw beauty of some of the latter nevertheless astounds. > >The captain of a commercial jet summoned the most striking image of the glow he observed while flying north of the Grand Canyon. It was ‘something like the light of the Aurora Borealis’, he recalled, ‘only it was encompassing most of the western sky’. Within it appeared a sphere ‘about the size of a moon when it comes over the horizon’. The moon itself was half-full and directly overhead. > >On his journey, Timmerman inevitably encountered some cranks. Top marks go to the woman who informed him that UFOs live inside mountains and only come out at night. ‘How did you know this?’ Timmerman asked her. ‘A lady told me on the bus,’ she replied. > >But for the most part, the people recorded were characterised by their wonder and yearning for something beyond what the eye usually sees. The fascination you hear in their voices is as captivating as the stories themselves. The programme will leave you gazing skywards. You can listen [on Radio 4](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023x45).
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
>An aristocrat 'fainted' after being visited by the ghost of his dead mother, according to an unearthed 239-year-old manuscript. >The ‘haunting’, which was said to have taken place in a stately home in 1785, has been discovered by auctioneers going through an old box of legal deeds and papers. The official papers described how aristocrat Francis Eld was visited by the spirit of his dead mother Catherine around the time she died - unbeknownst to him - 150 miles away. >The manuscript told how Mr Eld was in his infant daughter’s bedroom in the early hours of March 29, 1785, when the apparition appeared. He experienced a “puff of air” across his face and saw “a sort of cloud or vapour”, which took on the appearance and voice of his mother. >The ghost said: “My child, be not grieved, I am dead, but happy.” The spooky visitation is said to have taken place at Seighford Hall, near Stafford, Staffordshire. >Jim Spencer, Director at Rare Book Auctions, in Lichfield, came across the papers while carrying out a valuation. >He said: “It was quite eerie discovering these papers during the run-up to Halloween. I found it in a box full of old indentures relating to the Whitby family of Shugborough and Haywood. >“It’s the sort of thing I see all the time but the word 'visitation' just caught my eye. As soon as I realised they were talking about a ghost, I genuinely couldn't read quickly enough, my eyes were racing ahead of my brain”...
metro.co.uk
>We don’t want to put you off taking the Tube, but according to legend London’s historic network and its stations are home to a whole variety of ghosts. >Among them is the mysterious ‘Girl on the Train’, as she’s now known. >Several people, both underground employees and passengers, have reported seeing her on Bakerloo Line trains at Elephant and Castle. >The young woman boards the train, walks through the carriages, then disappears without a trace, they say. >Unexplained foot steps, possibly running, plus rapping noises have also been heard at the station while it’s been closed. >The BBC has previously shared one employee’s account of seeing the apparition...
phys.org
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20893597 > With its gray, scaley skin, protruding dorsal spines, menacing fangs and proclivity for small livestock, the mythical chupacabra has stoked both curiosity and fear across portions of the Americas for decades. > > If you consider the most common descriptions of the chupacabra, from its physical appearance to its behavior, you're likely dealing with a coyote that is in the late stages of mange. > > Mange is a debilitating disease that can infect a wide range of fur-bearing mammals,depending on the animal's ability to overcome the symptoms of mange, the condition can become chronic, leading to behavioral changes and even death. > > On canids, the last place they lose fur is right between the shoulder blades in an area that we call the ruff, this fits descriptions of chupacabras having spikes or a ridge along their backs. > > The vampire-like punctures often reported on victims of the chupacabra also correspond with the coyote's standard predation method of strangulation through multiple bites to their prey's neck. > > Reports of chupacabras fully draining an animal of blood may also be explained by how rapidly blood will settle and coagulate within the dead animal, making it appear as though it has been drained.
metro.co.uk
>The US government is keeping tabs on any and all claims of UFO sightings as part of an ‘above top-secret’ programme, a whistleblower has alleged. >‘Immaculate Constellation’ is an alleged database of high-quality photographs, videos, firsthand accounts and electronic sensor evidence of UFOs. >Officials use the off-the-books programme to ‘detect’ and ‘quarantine’ UFO materials without congressional knowledge or oversight, according to a leaked report shared with the Substack newsletter Public. >American military and intelligence officials have a ‘high level of confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the data gathered’, which includes mentions of not only UFOs but ‘Alien Reproduction Vehicles’, or reverse-engineered crafts. >If confirmed, the very existence of ‘Immaculate Constellation’ would be a ‘game-changing development’, the UK’s top UFO expert told Metro...
>'Big cats' were spotted near a farm but the animals ran off before the witness could take a photo to prove once and for all the legends of 'leopards on the loose'. > > The latest sightings both took place on Saturday night many miles apart at Woodmancote, near Defford, and at Eastham between Great Witley and Tenbury Wells. > >The sighting at Eastham was so sudden and surprising, the driver said it caused him to swerve the car slightly in shock. > > ... > > A witness said: "I saw two big cats in Woodmancote near Defford crossing the road last night opposite Copeland Court Farm. > >"They were definitely big type cats. I stopped my van but they ran off into fields before I could get photos. I probably couldn't have got a decent shot because it was dark. > > ... > > "I'd say they was about the size of a big dog." > >Meanwhile, a further sighting has been described in Eastham which is out towards Tenbury Wells, also on Saturday night, at 7.48pm. > >Writing on the Evesham and Villages Big Cat Group, the witness said: "A large black cat was spotted by myself entering a field in Eastham (WR15) on Saturday night. I saw the rear end of an animal approximately 18 to 24 inches tall. It was way too big to be a domesticated cat and it wasn't a dog or any other normally seen animal. The animal caused me to swerve slightly when I saw it due to its size." > > ... > > The shocking sightings of large leopard-like cats have been reported as recently as this year in Harvington, near Evesham and others date back 20 years. > >Possible sightings have now been noted in Harvington (this year), Gorse Hill and Elbury Mount Local Nature Reserve, Aldington (between Offenham and Badsey), near Kidderminster, near The Walshes in Stourport, Upton Snodsbury, Powick, Madresfield, the Lenchford Inn at Shrawley, Bewdley, Bentley (near Bromsgrove) and Stoke Prior. > >Many of these encounters are in Worcestershire's wildest tracts of country. However, not all are in remote areas with one dog walker describing how she fled a Worcester nature reserve with her two powerful dogs, one of which was bred to fight wolves.
www.theglobeandmail.com
>The people of Newfoundland post all kinds of photos online of the captivating things they find washed up along the island’s 17,000 kilometres of coastline. Most of the time it’s run-of-the-mill flotsam from the Atlantic. Random boat parts. A giant fish head. Sea glass. Lots of sea glass. >Then the white blobs showed up – a mystery that has been baffling government scientists for weeks. >Philip Grace was the first to post a photograph of the lumpy gelatinous goop (sorry, Gwyneth) scattered over the pebbly beach in Ship Harbour, a community in southern Newfoundland. >“Anyone know what these blobs are?” he wrote on the Facebook page Beachcombers of Newfoundland and Labrador last month. “They are like touton dough and all over the beach.” (Toutons are fried biscuits, a traditional Newfoundland breakfast food.) >Soon, others chimed in. They’d seen them too: on Shoal Cove Beach, Barasway Beach, Gooseberry Cove Beach, Southern Harbour, Arnold’s Cove – mostly up and down the eastern shore of Placentia Bay. >The white globs floated in from the sea covered in seaweed, sand and pebbles. They were strangely combustible, with a pocked slimy surface and firm spongy flesh. Flies were indifferent. The gobs ranged in size from toonies to dinner plates. And amateur hypotheses ran the gamut, from the pithy to the improbable with some suggesting that they were cheese, alien poo or whale boogers...
www.latintimes.com
> Nearly two-thirds of American homeowners believe that their house is haunted, according to a new survey. > > The survey by Angi, a service to help people find home service providers, found that 60% of homeowners believe that they may be living with ghosts. > >Of the 1,000 homeowners surveyed, more than 65% claimed to have experienced unexplainable occurrences in their homes. About 31% reported hearing unexplained sounds in the walls, 30% reported creaking floorboards and 24% reported hearing unexplained footsteps. > > About 13% of respondents reported seeing or hearing the toilet flush on its own. However, Angi did note that there is a phenomenon called "ghost flushing" where toilets will flush on their own due to a leak somewhere in the home's toilet system. > >Almost 20% of homeowners surveyed said they were scared of one or more parts of their home, such as their basement or attic. Nearly 60% said they would not like to be left alone at home. > > However, 58% of respondents said they would consider living in a haunted house if it meant saving money.
www.mirror.co.uk
>A British academic believes he has stumbled on the most world-changing piece of news in recorded history. >Professor Simon Holland, who has produced documentaries for NASA-funded projects including a project pinpointing Earth-threatening asteroids, says that two rival groups of astronomers are in a race to publish the first confirmed evidence of an extraterrestrial civilisation. >He told The Mirror: “We have found a non-human extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy, and people don't know about it.” Simon explains that he has been given information by a contact within Mark Zuckerbeg's Breakthrough Listen, a privately-funded initiative aimed at finding evidence of civilisations beyond Earth. >And the news may come within the next month to coincide with the US election, he believes. He claims that astronomers within the Oxford-based project have identified clear evidence of transmissions from another world...
thedebrief.org
>Recently, independent journalist and author Michael Shellenberger published an article on his subscription news site, Public, alleging that a new, unnamed government whistleblower had come forward. >The whistleblower asserts that a highly classified program exists dedicated to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), including the potential recovery and reverse-engineering of UAP technologies. >This isn’t the first time a former or current government official has made similar claims. >In 2023, The Debrief was the first media outlet to report that David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence specialist with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), had filed an official complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) alleging a DoD cover-up of UAP information and the recovery of alien technologies. >According to Grusch, the U.S. government has recovered several vehicles “of exotic origin—attributed to non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown—based on their unique vehicle morphologies, material science analyses, and distinctive atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.” >Grusch later reiterated these claims under oath in testimony before the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. >However, in Shellenberger’s recent article, the purported whistleblower went a step further, revealing the name of a highly secretive Pentagon “Unacknowledged Special Access Program” (USAP) codenamed “IMMACULATE CONSTELLATION.” Reportedly, this program involves investigating, recovering, and attempting reverse engineering of alien technologies. >While interesting, in the grand scheme of things, this new whistleblower’s claims leave us in a familiar situation—a fascinating story that is nearly impossible to verify. However, this doesn’t mean the underlying theme of these whistleblower claims isn’t worth exploring.
tribune.com.pk
>A recent revelation by a Pentagon whistleblower has disclosed the existence of a highly classified government program called “Immaculate Constellation.” >Reported by journalist Michael Shellenberger on his Substack newsletter ‘Public,’ this secret Unacknowledged Special Access Program (USAP) allegedly deals with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), formerly referred to as UFOs, and has operated for decades without Congressional oversight, raising concerns about government transparency. >According to the whistleblower, elements within the military and intelligence community (IC) have withheld information about UAPs, violating constitutional obligations. Shellenberger notes, “There is a growing body of evidence that the government is not being transparent about what it knows about UAPs.” >The whistleblower’s report outlines seven categories of evidence, detailing various UAP sightings captured by U.S. military sensors and personnel. It claims that “the verifiable chain of custody for UAP IMINT [Imagery Intelligence] collected by U.S. military assets ensures a high level of confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the data gathered.” >The report also mentions “alien reproduction vehicles” (ARVs) being secured within this program. The whistleblower further warned that publishing the name “Immaculate Constellation” could lead to government surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)...
religionunplugged.com
>(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years. Lee, to his credit, raises some fascinating questions about how the church views the unknown. >The documentary argues that recent Vatican guidelines on apparitions, which have stirred much debate, may signal a deeper understanding of UFOs. According to Lee, these guidelines imply that the Church isn't merely considering UFOs as physical objects from another world, but also entertaining the possibility that they could involve paranormal or supernatural elements. >This idea isn’t as outrageous as it might seem. The Vatican has a history of grappling with cosmic questions. For centuries, the church has been involved in discussions about the nature of the universe and our place within it...
> This map shows the high volume of big cat sightings across Worcestershire for the first time and suggests the powerful predators may be nearer than you think. > > The scientific case for 'panthers' on the prowl in Worcestershire continues to gather momentum as DNA evidence confirms big cats, specifically leopards, are on the loose in Britain. > >Strands of hair belonging to a leopard species Panthera Pardus have already been found on a barbed wire fence at a farm in neighbouring Gloucestershire following an attack on a sheep in 2022. > > Meanwhile, more genetic traces of the muscular predators have been found in Cumbria, confirmed in tests by a university professor. > > The shocking sightings of large leopard-like cats have been reported as recently as this year in Harvington, near Evesham and others date back 20 years. > >Many of these encounters are in Worcestershire's wildest tracts of country. However, not all are in remote areas with one dog walker describing how she fled a Worcester nature reserve with her two powerful dogs, one of which was bred to fight wolves. > > Data on the sightings is sourced from the Evesham and Villages Big Cat Group and the information has been used to compile [this interactive map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1CArw3WckbXIxnBoOvBcf-0Cf-73PqFw).
www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk
> "We were on a camping holiday in Coleford for a week in August last year. It is the perfect location to watch deer and see the wild boar and the humbugs. One of the days we were there, we had been out for a good couple of hours and had seen deer and the wild boar and little humbugs, and it got to about 9pm and we decided to head back to the camp site. > > "We were driving passed the fenced area by the recycling centre in Coleford and we seen a lynx jump into the road. In one bound it jumped across the road. > > "There is no question about it, the animal was clearly a lynx. You could tell by the tufts on its ears, the green eye shine and it was dark tan and tall as a Labrador. > >"The definition of the muscles on the animal as well. It had muscular legs and had no problem leaping eight or ten feet across the road. > >"It was a lynx, you could see plain as day." > > Gareth understand people may be sceptical about seeing big cats in the British countryside. However he says it is not the first time he has seen a lynx while out exploring the countryside. > >He said: "In 1996 I was on my way, with my wife, to see friends in Colchester and seen a puma on a road near Colchester Zoo. I think the big cats which are living in the British countryside hear the big cats which are n the zoo and are attracted to the sounds and the noises of the other big cats. > >"Another time when I was working as a delivery driver, and I was taking groceries to a house in the middle of nowhere and I seen a puma in the middle of a field. There are more big cats living in the wild in the countryside in England than people realise. > >"I am not too sure about leopards or jaguars being out there, however there are plenty of lynx and it is very interesting in how they came to be there. If you're someone who disbelieves big cats are out there, it is unfortunate, however one day you may be able to see one for yourself." > > ... > > "To top up the population of feral lynx in the UK, some 'Black Ops' release programmes have taken place which have been carried out by private re-wilding enthusiasts. Previously: * ['Wolf' seen in Forest of Dean chasing herd of deer into bracken](https://feddit.uk/post/13732024) * [Big cat spotted running into field of sheep who just don't care](https://feddit.uk/post/8053520) - Lynx sighting on Dartmoor
www.theguardian.com
> Now conspiracy theories are the mainstream’s forte, there’s only one way a magazine on the paranormal can go: rational > > I picked up the October issue of the Fortean Times the other day. For half a century, the magazine has been the go-to place for reports of the wildest conspiracy theories, of UFO sightings and poltergeists and frogs falling from the sky. Created by Bob Rickard, a British disciple of Charles Fort, the American investigator of the paranormal, the magazine has always been perfectly pitched somewhere between The X-Files and a parish council newsletter. I enjoyed a subscription for a while, but haven’t read the magazine for a few years. > >Returning to it is a curious experience. In the intervening time, the “rational” news world has invaded traditional Fortean territory. Far from being a niche interest, unhinged conspiracy has become something like the political mainstream. Alongside “I was a teenage alien”, the October magazine contains a report into the theories circulating around the two failed assassination attempts against Donald Trump. It is – notably – about as circumspect as any New York Times editorial, warning against the infectious beliefs of the “lone nut fraternity”. Even the far-fetched, it seems, has gone way too far.
>Call the Midwife is known for its honest portrayal of the struggles of childbirth in the 1950s. >The BBC sitcom follows the lives of the midwives and nuns at Nonnatus House in London’s East End which is based on the book written by Heidi Thomas. >The beloved show has drummed up a loyal fanbase over its 12-year reign, which is set to return for series 14 next year. >But what fans may be surprised to know is that many of the cast and crew believe the famous house to be “haunted” in real-life...
www.dailystar.co.uk
>A house once called Britain’s most haunted is up for sale just four years after going off the market. >Once the site of a medieval prison for witches, former owner Vanessa Mitchell claimed she was physically attacked by spirits, plagued by ghostly figures, pushed over while pregnant and witnessed mysterious blood splatters appearing. >Now the house is on the market for £250,000. Known as ‘The Cage’, a plaque on the side of the house states that local witch Ursula Kemp was housed there before her execution in 1582...
www.dailymail.co.uk
>An upcoming documentary is set to shed light on the mysterious tale of a Manhattan housewife and mom-of-two who claimed she was abducted by a UFO in the late 80s. >The docuseries, titled The Manhattan Alien Abduction, tells the story of Linda Napolitano, who is convinced she was abducted from her bedroom in New York on November 30, 1989. >The series attempts to uncover the true story behind the UFO communities biggest mysteries - with Napolitano, who used the pseudonym Linda Cortile initially - directly involved with the documentary's creation. >The trailer, which was recently released online, contains interviews with Napolitano recalling what happened on the night that she said changed her life, as well as archival footage from the years following the alleged extra-terrestrial experience...
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
>The late Queen dispatched her chief scientific advisor in the dead of night to investigate the latest crop circle formation, claims a new documentary. >Her Majesty is said to have sent a scientist to find out more about a new crop circle, widely said to be linked to UFOs, according to a new Prime Video film. >The King of UFOs, by UFO expert Mark Christopher Lee claims senior royals, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip and King Charles are passionately interested in the phenomenon. >And Lee recounts how, in the late 1980s, crop circle researcher Colin Andrews was with a Japanese film crew in Wiltshire when he got word that the Queen was interested in what was happening. >Just a couple of hours later Andrews saw a Rolls Royce turn up. Lee said Andrews half expected her Majesty to get out of the car, only to find out it was actually her chief scientific advisor...
nation.cymru
> Online searches for big cats in Wales have surged following an increase in alleged sightings. > >Research by AussieBoots has revealed that Cardiff and Wrexham saw a 100% increase in searches for ‘Big Cats UK’ from 2021 to 2023 – with Swansea seeing a 50% rise. > >It comes after multiple big cat sightings have been reported in the press across the country in recent months and years. > >The term ‘big cat’ is usually used to describe large wild felines such as tigers, lions, panthers, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs and cougars. > >Big cats such as pumas are solitary and their hunting range is dozens of miles. > >When big cats were banned as pets in the 1970s, it was legal to release them into the countryside to avoid expensive rehoming costs. > >Experts believe that owners from across the UK travelled to Wales to release their cats in to the remote environment. > > ... > > A BBC study collated more than 100 big cat sightings in 18 months across north and mid Wales. > >Another study recorded 123 Welsh sightings over two years with frequent reports of big cats in Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy and Gwynedd. > > ... > > Wales overall has seen a 50% increase in internet searches for big cats whilst Northern Ireland was the country that saw the highest rise in searches (133%). > >Scotland came second (127%), and England came third (84%). > >The UK saw an 84% increase overall. > >Pete Bryden from AussieBoots said: “The increase in big cat sightings across the UK has certainly captured the public’s imagination. > >“It’s fascinating to see how interest has grown, particularly in Wales where searches have surged. > >“Whether these sightings are fact or folklore, it’s clear that the British countryside still holds plenty of mysteries for us to discover.”
>Libraries are usually quiet, secluded spots. But not all are as peaceful as they may seem. These six supposedly haunted libraries are said to see more than just readers and scholars perusing their stacks of books... - The New York Public Library // New York, New York, United States - Senate House Library, University of London // London, England - Marsh’s Library // Dublin, Ireland - State Library Victoria // Melbourne, Australia - Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University // New Haven, Connecticut, United States - The Los Angeles Public Library // Los Angeles, California, United States
>Skeletons are believed to dance beneath an old haunted Sussex oak tree once a year. >The Midsummer tree stands firm on a patch of green next to Grove Lodge roundabout in Worthing and is said to have been there for more than 300 years. >Nestled in the surrounding grass is a small plaque which signals the tree’s prominent position in local folklore. >Legend says that every year on Midsummer’s Eve, June 23, skeletons would rise from the roots of the tree and dance underneath it. >The plaque states: "This tree, believed to be over 300 years old, was once celebrated in local folklore. Every year, at Midnight on Midsummer's Eve, it was believed that skeletons would rise up from its roots and dance to the rattling of their own bones until daybreak"...
www.youtube.com
> This four-part documentary series examines the most astonishing and baffling UFO stories from around the UK. * Berwyn Mountain Mystery * The Welsh Triangle * UFO Alley * Alderney Lights [tvdb](https://thetvdb.com/series/britains-closest-encounters) [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256041/)
www.theguardian.com
> ‘We have a demonic doll called Esther’: Kymmi Jeffrey & the Occult Family, ghost hunters > >I was always a sceptic when it came to anything paranormal, especially with ghosts. But my husband, JP, who has long been a believer, decided to take me to a haunted sleepover for my birthday in 2022. I captured an image of pink energy that, after enhancing it back at home, revealed a little girl. I was absolutely wowed. > > It was really moreish; so much so that after going to a few more events, we set up our own company. I never thought I’d be on this journey. I’m a psychotherapist and am putting my name as a professional to this, but only because it’s real. > >At first, it was just JP and me. But, after a while, we visited the Four Crosses in Cannock, a haunted inn, as a family, with my daughters, Snow and Pebble. On the way home, Snow asked how many people were in the building with us. I told her it was just us, but she described a man with ragged clothes, a soldier staring at her and a lady holding a little girl’s hand. We never Google the buildings before a hunt to avoid the power of suggestion, but we searched it afterwards and her sightings matched up. > >I was absolutely ecstatic. I also apologised to her as I realised the imaginary friends she saw as a child, that I had long dismissed, were actually real. That’s when we started to come together as a family and travel across the country. > > ... > > ‘People want reassurance that they’re not mad’: Deborah Hatswell, Bigfoot tracker > > It was May 1982, I was 15 and bunking off school with a friend. We were playing in Buile Hill Park in Salford and I saw this movement in the corner of my eye. This thing leant out from the bushes. It was like an ape and a man had been pushed together. It had thick brows, looked Neanderthal and it was awful. I ran. > >I began to collect clippings and put ads in papers across the UK to try to find other witnesses. I uncovered old articles reporting on Bigfoot in Britain; since the second century people have reported a hairy man in the woods. I started to look for evidence myself. For years, I worked in the shadows. Then, in 2006, I had an accident that left me disabled. I set up Being Believed Research to hear other people’s stories, but also to help with investigations. > > When a report comes in, we liaise with local researchers across the UK, who meet witnesses and gather information. Sometimes, we look for footprints and hair samples. My work is word of mouth. Often, people think: “Right, I’m going to phone Deb. She’ll know something.”
> Fortean TV was a British paranormal documentary television series produced by Rapido TV, originally broadcast from 29 January 1997 to 6 March 1998 on Channel 4. The series was about anomalous phenomena and the paranormal, based upon the Fortean Times magazine; it was presented by Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe. Fortean TV ran for 3 series (the third was an adult version renamed Fortean TV Uncut with unseen material from the previous two series as well as new items). The three seasons comprised 22 half-hour episodes (the last of the first season was a compilation "Best Of"), plus a final hour-long family Christmas special. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortean_TV) [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1238823/) It was released on DVD in late 2022 but is hard to find now.
> Charlie Cooper is best known for creating the sitcom This Country with his sister, Daisy May. > >But his latest solo project - Charlie Cooper's Myth Country - will see him campervanning around Britain to investigate some "gloriously bonkers rural myths". > > The first episode - airing on BBC Three at 9pm on Friday - will show him in East Anglia learning about the story of Black Shuck the "devil dog". > > It lurks around the coast and in rural roads and churchyards after dusk. > > Anyone who meets it is allegedly condemned to die within 12 months. > >Cooper explained: “I’m really excited about this new series as I’ve always been fascinated by local legends, myth and folklore. > >"As I see it, my mission is to explore our ancient world, seek out mythical creatures and boldly go where no TV presenter has gone before.” > >The series will be split into three 30-minute episodes which will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly after airing.
www.scientificamerican.com
> An office in the Pentagon investigated UFOs—and the paranormal—over a decade ago, segueing into a long saga leading to Congressional hearings and breathless news stories today. But the real story looks more like former defense officials pushing their personal mythology, rather than any cover-up of aliens. > > After a long hiatus of systematic U.S. government–affiliated investigations into UFOs, a Pentagon office quietly resumed such efforts in 2008. Called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), it was funded to the tune of $22 million in total. The life—and cancellation four years later—of this Defense Intelligence Agency program has featured in congressional hearings, UFO “whistleblower” claims and renewed public uproar about aliens. But the real story is [more sordid than sensational](https://www.academia.edu/121609473/On_the_AAWSAP_AATIP_Confusion). > > ... > > This entire saga shows how pseudoscientific thinking can metastasize in a positive feedback loop, ensnaring not only scientists with paranormal inclinations but also government officials. This was bemoaned by the former head of AARO, Sean Kirkpatrick, who remarked that these officials are tasked with matters of national urgency—a responsibility necessitating a mindset committed to objective investigation and analysis. Some of these officials are on the record casting AARO as part of the “cover-up.” Indeed, the UFO belief system has long ago morphed into a type of faith requiring no evidence. > > The fact that officials harboring evidence-deficient beliefs regarding extraterrestrials and “high strangeness” (a term first popularized in the early 1970s by ufologists to describe certain bizarre and seemingly absurd elements of some UFO and “alien” encounters) are entrusted with national security matters should give one pause. America’s adversaries, to the extent that they are paying attention to the UFO mess, might well regard it as yet another avenue to undermine American institutions—somewhat reflecting a CIA panel’s 1953 warning about potential Soviet exploitation of the genre. > >On a more positive note, ufology is now in vogue among historians keen to understand the mythical nature of the problem and how it relates to historical waves of aerial phenomena reports. Because of how modern media, and especially now digital media, magnify the voices of breathless advocates, sundry frauds and scientists with a penchant for the paranormal, the UFO phenomenon from 1947 onward has acquired much greater gravitas than prior scares and waves, some of which predate it by centuries. > >Many serious people dismiss UFOs as a fringe interest or a pop culture distraction. Yes, they are. Yet we maintain, along with an increasing number of scholars, that there is much to be learned from studying UFO sightings, flaps and waves. While our own view is that UFOs, or UAP, emphatically do not represent any truly anomalous physical phenomena such as an extraterrestrial presence, this nevertheless does not consign ufology to insignificance. We should explore its meaning rather than ceding it to sensationalistic advocates employing shoddy methodologies and pushing quasi-religious, otherworldly stories. AARO and academia are thus tasked with an important responsibility that could yield original and fascinating developments into how and why people interpret and react to things they see in the sky. [Archive](http://web.archive.org/web/20240927000518/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-really-happened-at-the-pentagons-once-hidden-ufo-office/)
news.sky.com
>An unassuming field next to a housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent is taking centre stage in the latest alien blockbuster - and it's inspired by true events. >The new stage production, Bright Lights Over Bentilee, focuses on the event in which dozens of people on an estate in the town claimed to have witnessed bright lights in the sky and a UFO landing in the field next to their homes. >Sky News went to meet playwright and former Coronation Street star Deborah McAndrew, to discuss what happened on the 2nd of September 1967 and why she felt compelled to bring the story to life...
www.marinecorpstimes.com
>Remember February 2023? It was a wild time. There were cocaine-addled bears, mushroom zombies and Air Force fighters shooting sketchy, inflatable objects out of the sky left and right. >That month began with a Chinese balloon — the U.S. said it was loaded with spy equipment; Beijing claimed it was just a weather balloon blown off course — drifting across much of the contiguous United States and igniting a furor. That was before it was blowed up real good — the technical terminology — by an F-22 off the coast of South Carolina. >But February’s bizarre occurrences didn’t stop there. U.S. pilots soon shot down three more mystery objects over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon territory and Lake Huron in as many days. >None of those subsequent objects were ever recovered, with the official line indicating they were probably hobbyist or research balloons. >But one grainy image — it’s always a grainy image, isn’t it? — of the object shot down over the Yukon has now emerged, and it’s giving significant “I want to believe” vibes...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
>As the conversation around UFOs/UAPs continues to heat up on Capitol Hill, documentarian James Fox has set his next feature on the subject. >Fox directs The Program, which is described as exploring “the unprecedented bipartisan Congressional effort to uncover what intelligence agencies really know about UFOs, now referred to as UAP.” In July 2023, three former Pentagon officials testified about their experience with or sightings of UFOs/ UAPs, and the U.S. Senate introduced the bipartisan UAP Disclosure Act. Earlier this month it was reported that the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to hold a UFO hearing after the elections in November. >The doc, narrated by Peter Coyote, will include extensive interviews with insiders, experts, and politicians. Christopher Mellon, the former deputy asst. sec. of defense for intelligence, and Stanford University’s Dr. Gary Nolan, will be among those who appear in the doc. Also set are Jason Sands, a master sergeant in the United States Air Force, Craig Lindsay, formerly of Scotland’s Royal Air Force Office, and Nick Pope, formerly of the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense. Among others, Andre Carson, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Tim Burchett are interviewed, along with Kirk McConnell, who previously held a position in Senate Armed Services Committee...
www.popularmechanics.com
>A CONTROVERSIAL ACADEMIC PAPER recently shook up the study of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), previously known as UFOs, by looking beyond the most common explanations for flying saucers in the skies: aliens, robots, or drones. In their new work, three researchers from Harvard University and the University of Montana expand the possibilities of what UAPs could be—and whom or what they might contain. >Published in June 2024 in the journal Philosophy and Cosmology, the article generated plenty of attention with a title as lengthy as it was shocking: The Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis: A Case for Scientific Openness to a Concealed Earthly Explanation for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The theories within the document’s 42 pages reject common pop culture explanations for UAPs in favor of new ideas ranging from the existential to the spiritual. >In their work, the team ponders if the strange objects and craft spotted in our skies could contain a form of ancient, highly advanced human civilization, predating ours, that has stuck around to observe us. They wonder if we’re seeing vessels containing an intelligent species that evolved on Earth apart from humans—such as possible intelligent dinosaurs who hide away from direct contact. Such ancient or non-human Earthly beings could reside somewhere inside the Earth or under the oceans, they say...
www.theguardian.com
>A mysterious cosmic emblem hangs over the entrance to a building in Bloomsbury, at the heart of London’s university quarter. Depicting concentric circles bound by intertwined arcs, it represents the four elements, seasons and temperaments, as mapped out by Isidore of Seville, a sixth-century bishop and scholar of the ancient world, as well as patron saint of the internet. What lies within is not a masonic lodge, though, or the HQ of the Magic Circle, but the home of one of most important and unusual collections of visual, scientific and occult material in the world. Long off-limits to passersby, the Warburg Institute has now been reborn, after a £14.5m transformation, with a mission to be more public than ever. > >“We are essentially devoted to the study of what you would now call memes,” says Bill Sherman, director of the Warburg. To clarify, the institute is not a repository of Lolcats and Doges, but of global cultural history and the role of images in society, with a dazzling collection ranging from 15th-century books on Islamic astronomy, to tomes on comets and divination, not to mention original paintings used for tarot cards (about which a show opens here in January). At least half of the books can’t be found in any other library in the country. > > ... > > The expansion has also enabled the full reinstatement of Warburg’s unique cataloguing system, with four floors each dedicated to Image, Word, Orientation and Action – “uniting the various branches of the history of human civilisation,” as his close collaborator, Fritz Saxl, put it, breaking culture free from the confines of its usual disciplinary silos. There are few other libraries in the world where you might open a drawer of photographs marked Gestures, to find thematic folders labelled Fleeing, Flying, Falling, along with Denudation of breast, Grasping the victim’s head, and Garment raised to eyes (Grief). Warburg’s unusual system might not have caught on elsewhere, but it still provides a powerful way for artists, writers and researchers to make unexpected connections and pursue fertile tangents – preceding our world of swiping through hashtags, links and recommended feeds by a century. > >“It’s a building filled with literal magic,” says novelist Naomi Alderman, who has spent much time writing here. “A place to sit amid books that are almost definitely emanating auras of sorcery … One brief stroll through the shelves and I always find some new wyrd inspiration.” The reading rooms themselves are still limited to card-carrying researchers, but through the new exhibition and event programme, the public can finally get a taste of Warburg’s weird and wonderful world for themselves.
metro.co.uk
"The famous geoglyphs are found in the soil of the Nazca desert in southern Peru, and have baffled scientists for nearly a century. However, thanks to AI, scientists have uncovered more than 300 patterns, and some of them are rather peculiar. The new discoveries have been likened to aliens, killer whales brandishing knives, cats, camels and a figure that looks just like Wall-E. To see the glyphs, scientists used the new technology to add lines on to the original lines, which have faded due to erosion. The mysterious glyphs were uncovered by researchers at Yamagata University in Japan and IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘It took nearly a century to discover a total of 430 figurative Nazca geoglyphs, which offer significant insights into the ancient cultures at the Nazca Pampa,’ say the team in their paper. ‘Here, we report the deployment of an AI system to the entire Nazca region, a UNESCO World Heritage site, leading to the discovery of 303 new figurative geoglyphs within only six months of field survey.’ The team used AI to identify markings in the landscape that would have been missed by just the human eye, with 178 suggested by the technology. ‘AI may be at the brink of ushering in a revolution in archaeological discoveries like the revolution aerial imaging has had on the field,’ the researchers said. Peru’s famous Nazca lines were first ‘discovered’ by archeologists almost a century ago, in 1927."
www.theguardian.com
> For residents of the Bentilee housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent, once one of the largest in Europe and made up almost entirely of social housing, life had undoubtedly been tough. > >But for a brief few moments, during one night more than 50 years ago, local people on the sprawling complex of semi-detached houses and cottage flats were “sprinkled with stardust” when dozens witnessed bright lights in the sky and what they believed to be a UFO landing in a nearby field. > >The encounter on 2 September 1967, considered to be one of the UK’s greatest urban mysteries, is now being turned into a stage play by the dramatist and former Coronation Street actor Deborah McAndrew. > > “When I first saw the archive news footage about the landing of a spaceship on the far fringe of this vast estate, I thought it was a spoof, but it’s not,” McAndrew said. > >The playwright, who runs the company Claybody Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent with her husband, Conrad Nelson, has spoken to several eyewitnesses and former residents. > > ... > > Those she spoke to included an amateur astronomer called Tony Pace, who, with a colleague, self-published a report at the time entitled “Flying Saucer Report: UFOs, unidentified, undeniable”. > >“In it they had details of 70 sightings, with photographs, maps, illustrations, and the reaction of the public, the police and the Ministry of Defence. Tony Pace is now well in his 80s. I’ve created a character that was inspired by him.” > > She also spoke to three eyewitnesses, including Dave, a boy at the time of the encounter. “He was sure what he saw wasn’t human or man-made,” McAndrew said. “These are not fanciful or sensational people; he’s not made anything of it. I tracked him down to Peterborough. He just knows what he saw and described it to me.” > > So what did he describe? “He said the object was about the size of a car, and that it was red and coloured, like everyone says, and that there was no sound. Then it disappeared. > >“By this point there was a lot of excitement. People had run out of their houses because they’d seen this very bright thing from their windows or from the street. Someone fetched the police, and they walked the fields for ages but couldn’t find the object. > >“And then all of a sudden, it lifted out of the field, this time white – Dave said it was the brightest thing he’s ever seen. And then it went out like a lightbulb, and everyone was in darkness.” > > ... > > Bright Lights Over Bentilee runs at the Dipping House, Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent from 27 September to 12 October [Period news report](https://youtu.be/HSdEbmivz_A)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20001239 > This encounter left the man marked by the burns, including his melted gloves. > > No matter what you believe about the nature of "flying saucers," there is one sighting labeled the "most convincing" UFO encounter in history. According to CBC, the Falcon Lake incident in Canada is being called the "best-documented UFO case" 50 years after the actual event. > > According to the account, Stefan Michalak was in the woods when he encountered a pair of "cigar-shaped objects" nearby, changing hues while floating before taking a disc shape. Michalak started drawing what he saw, which made their way online years later, before trying to get closer to the object. > > "He couldn't make out any words, or anything, but he heard at least two beings communicating inside. He called out, offering mechanical help if they needed it," the It Gets Weird podcast recently detailed. "As soon as he touches the craft, the fingertips just start to melt, so it's so hot that it literally melts the gloves he's wearing...He's hit by this blast of air, that pushes him backward and sets his shirt and hat on fire. He's stumbling backward, getting pushed by this wave of air and gas, and trying to take this burning shirt and hat off." > > The account goes on to say he showed symptoms of radiation sickness and had "severe burns" on his torso that look like a grate or Bingo card. Once released from the hospital, he returned to the locale to recover his "charred shirt, a melted glove and tools he'd left behind." He maintained his story until dying in 1999, never saying he encountered little green men either.
futurism.com
>In a new interview, retired NASA astronaut and current Arizona senator Mark Kelly insisted that the US government could be doing much more to investigate credible claims about unidentified flying objects. >Speaking to GZero founder Ian Bremmer, the former twin astronaut didn't scoff at the idea that the truth may be out there. >"I've seen some compelling testimony from navy fighter pilots who... in a position of leadership in a squadron, have seen something very compelling," Kelly said. >As video from the GZero interview suggests, the senator and prior commander of the Space Shuttle was likely referencing ex-Naval pilot Ryan Graves' Congressional testimony last summer in which he described seeing a craft so strange while flying off the coast of Virginia a decade ago that his flight commander "immediately" called the mission off. >As Bremmer noted, that pilot was convinced that the unexplained object he saw flying over the water near Virginia Beach was "technologically not possible" by any known American or adversarial craft. >"In one case," Kelly said, "that is true"...
www.dailymail.co.uk
"Several residents of Mexico shared shocking video footage of a UFO seemingly hovering to the ground, drawing a mixed response. Videos on social media captured what appeared to be an oval-sized object hovering over the western city of Zitácuaro on September 8. The footage shows the UFO-like figure hovering near a tree while a second recording captured it slowly moving in front of the overcast skies. The alleged flying saucer sightings were reported in the neighborhoods of El Naranjo and Manzanillos..."
"The Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to hold a UFO hearing after the November elections, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) office confirmed to The Hill. The hearing announcement follows an increase in sightings of what’s officially known as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, including one purportedly near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. It would also come more than a year after an explosive House hearing in July 2023, when three former Pentagon officials testified about their experience with or sightings of UAP, warning that a lack of information on the phenomena could pose national security risks. Now Gillibrand, who in 2022 helped start the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — created to assess reports of UAP — wants a progress update on the office’s work. “It’s a priority for me. I think it’s very important that we continue to make things publicly available,” Gillibrand earlier this month told Matt Laslo’s D.C. “Ask a Pol” podcast. She wants “a progress report on how many unidentified aerial phenomena we’ve assessed and analyzed” and for the office to “give examples of what we have identified and give examples of what we haven’t identified.” Gillibrand, who chairs the subcommittee under the Senate Armed Services Committee on emerging threats and capabilities, added that she wants AARO “to continue to build credibility.” Her office confirmed Tuesday to The Hill that there will be a hearing, likely in November..."