Lake Music of Yellowstone Park

No explanation for mysterious ‘lake music’ reported by many Yellowstone visitors

This is the first I've ever heard of this phenomenon but I find it pretty interesting. It would seem to fall into the category of Forteana labeled brontides. Given the recent media buzz concerning mysterious trumpet sounds coming out of nowhere I'm wondering if anyone else will see similarities with this "lake music." Mysterious and unexplained sounds seem to be coming to the forefront as of late and I can't wait to see if more will be reported.

A New Year of Weird Stuff

The New Year is upon us and it should be an interesting one. The culmination of this 2012 business along with the usual paranormal news should keep seekers of the strange busy. Stephen Wagner over at the Paranormal Phenomena section of About.com has compiled a recap of 2011's paranormal news stories and events, some of which I shared here over the course of the year.

Top Paranormal Events of 2011

Reading through the list made me realize how many strange things actually occur that see some kind of news exposure. Speaking of strange things and news exposure, there's already been a strange event similar to one that happened a year ago: another New Years bird die-off in Arkansas.

What a way to start off the year.

Falling Fruit and More Spontaneous Human Combustion

Apples fall from the sky over Coventry

Mysterious Man Bursts Into Flames At Swedish Train Station

Just a couple of weird news stories for you this week. As the Holiday Season ramps up I'll have less time to work on this blog so it may be 2012 before I can post an update. I wish you all good will into the new year and hopefully 2012 will bring good fortune for us all!

Halloween Linkdrop

I post a lot of links on my blog. I also save a lot of links with the intention of posting them and commenting on the stories in more depth. Sometimes I just don't get around to it though, life being what it is. So what I'm going to do is post a list of some of the links I've had stored away so that other seekers of the strange can enjoy them if they haven't seen them already.

What if E.T. thinks we're evil?
The aliens have landed: Amazing footage shows 'little green men walking about after UFO touchdown'... but why does it always happen in Siberia?
Fantastic Flying Folk!
"Creature" filmed in Brazilian rainforest
The real-life Blob: Is mysterious translucent jelly found in Cumbrian Fells from outer space?
Sally Morgan challenged to prove her psychic powers on Halloween

Hopefully you enjoy these stories I've been collecting for a few weeks. I'm really interested to see if anything comes from the Sally Morgan test. Happy Halloween!

Hang on to your feet.

Human foot washes up on beach near Vancouver for 11th time in four years

While not necessarily paranormal, I have a feeling Charles Fort would have found it amusing. I certainly do in a morbid kind of way. It brings to mind thoughts of portals to other universes through which a human foot occasionally slips through. Or maybe it's a reality glitch which causes a severed foot to spawn in that area every so often?

In all likelihood the explanation is probably much more mundane, but this whole thing is just odd enough for me to put it up here. Enjoy.

The Devil's Hole and the Story of Mel Waters

Mel Waters and the Devil’s Holes

The story of Mel Waters and his mystery holes is a modern legend. (Go on and get the snickers out now because there are lots of funny phrases in that link). This story has all kinds of bizarre elements that flow together in a way that makes you want to believe this story whether it's true or not. It also ties together everything from UFOs to government conspiracies to spiritual experience brought about by bizarre creatures. If this is a total fabrication then it's as engaging as any fiction I've read.

There's really not much to be said about the story that you can't get from just reading it. It's fascinating and really does make one wonder if holes like this exist in isolated places on the planet. Are they alien constructs from the distant past? Geographic features as old as the earth itself? Where do the holes go and why do they have such bizarre properties? It's very fun to think about.

So regardless of whether you believe Mel Waters' story or not I do think it is worth the read. It's as good as any science fiction you'll find and it does a good enough job of blending the fantastic with the mundane that there is still a part of you that wonders "Could this have really happened?" It's almost enough to make someone want to go looking for odd spots on Google Earth in an attempt to find the Devil's Hole(s).

Enjoy the tale and let me know what you think about it.

Orange goo in Alaska is fungal spores.

Orange Goo At Alaskan Village Found To Be Fungal Spores, Not Eggs

The orange goo in Alaska that I posted about here and here that was initially thought to be the eggs of an unknown species has now been determined to be rust fungus spores. It is not known if these spores are from a currently known species of rust fungus though.

It's a pretty anticlimactic conclusion from a paranormal standpoint but it is cool that this could still be a previously unknown species.

UPDATE: Orange Goo in Alaska

Mystery almost solved: Orange goo near remote Alaska village ID'd as eggs of unknown species

The mysterious orange substance that washed up in Alaska (story posted here) has been identified as the eggs of an unknown species. I find this interesting because normally these kinds of things have a pretty mundane explanation that quickly comes to light but this time is a little different. This is an example of the answering of one question giving rise to another question.

I'm curious as to whether we'll ever know what this unknown species is.

Some weird news articles to tide you over.

Until I have time to write something with more substance I thought I'd share with you some interesting news articles I've come across over the past week.

'Vampire' stalks Siberian livestock
The Army's Bold Plan to Turn Soldiers Into Telepaths
Orange Goo Washing Up In Alaska Village Of Kivalina

Enjoy.

Worms Falling from the Sky

It's raining worms: Schoolchildren's lesson interrupted by creepy crawlies falling from sky

It's not quite a rain of frogs or fishes but I have a feeling that Charles Fort would have found this fascinating.

Update on the dead birds and assorted other creatures.

As far as I know, there are still no definitive answers forthcoming for most of these peculiar animal deaths.  For a complete list of these widespread events please see this link.

Something that I find interesting are the attempts to downplay these deaths without really providing any explanations as to what caused them in the first place.  A more paranoid person might say that this is sleight of hand to keep us from the truth.  That may be the case, but I think it's probably just the usual dividing of the opinions on an issue into a dichotomy.  One group thinks there's more to it that needs to be investigated.  The other group thinks that there's nothing to see here and it's all being blown out of proportion.  Both viewpoints emerge from the exact same information.

For an example of what I'm talking about, see this article:  Conspiracies Don’t Kill Birds. People, However, Do.

I'm still not sure what's causing all of this.  The more information that comes to light, the more I think it could just be the extreme cold of the winter that's doing a lot of this but without any definitive answers the cause may as well be anyone's guess.

The dead bird situation keeps getting strange.

UFO strikes. A military death ray. Or the coming of Armageddon. Why ARE thousands of birds falling from the sky?

I think that this article gives a pretty good summary of the situation as it stands currently.  I really don't have anything more to say about it right now except that I hope we get some definitive answers soon.  The thought did occur to me that the shifting of the magnetic north pole might have something to do with all of this.  More on that here.

The dead birds are still a mystery and more have joined them.

Dead birds falling from sky still mystify experts

Scientists still don't know what caused the birds to fall from the sky in Arkansas.  On top of that, there were more birds to fall from the sky in Louisiana and reports of birds falling in Kentucky.  There was also a mass fish die-off about 100 miles from the first fall of birds in Arkansas.

None of these things are really that unique as both have happened before.  Perhaps what makes this trend so startling is the short span of time between events.  I've seen some speculation that the government may be experimenting with something but I'm not so sure.  Something occurred to me while I was reviewing the new information though.  What if all of this is somehow related to activity within the earth?

Looking at recent seismic activity in the region, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe earthquakes or other activity within the earth were affecting the birds (and potentially the fish).  Perhaps more profound is the thought that perhaps these anomalies with the animals may be giving us warning of something to come.  Maybe the New Madrid Fault is getting ready to let loose?  It is a scary thing to consider, but it may be worth looking into.

This map shows recent seismic activity in the region.  If you zoom in on the activity in Arkansas you can see that there have been a lot of small quakes very close together just in the past week.  There was a larger quake near Kokomo, Indiana and a small one in southern Missouri as well.  I am not a geologist and I don't know how common these events are, but combined with the strangeness happening with the birds it has me worried.

This is the Wikipedia article on the New Madrid Seismic Zone.  According to the article, the New Madrid Fault produced four of the largest North American quakes ever recorded, all within three months time.  I only hope that this recent series of quakes combined with the series of anomalous animal die-offs is not leading up to a repeat of the 1811-1812 quakes.

Seismic activity could be releasing gasses (such as methane) into the air and water and that could explain the mysterious bird and fish die-offs.  If that was the case though, wouldn't the scientists testing the air have detected it?  To my knowledge, there is no evidence that earth gasses killed the birds.  Perhaps it was some other unknown aspect of the seismic activity?

Then again, the conspiracy theorists could be right; there may be something more sinister going on.  If there is a covert experiment being done then maybe it is related to all of these anomalies, including the earthquakes.  Maybe it's related to HAARP. This could still portend something potentially a lot worse that's in store for us, but only time will tell.

MORE Dead Birds Fall From The Sky: In Louisiana This Time, Not Arkansas
Dead Birds and Fish in Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana

A Fortean start to the new year.

Thousands of blackbirds fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, reminiscent of the Fortean phenomena of creatures mysteriously falling from the sky.  The creatures are typically fish or frogs but falls of birds have happened before.  While there are lots of possible explanations for the mysterious fall, no one seems to know for sure what caused it.

Thousands of birds fall from the sky in Beebe

Mystery Boom in Georgia

Mystery boom still confounding officials

This sound would fall into the category of strange phenomena called brontides that Charles Fort had an interest in.  That this mystery boom was a brontide seems like a simple enough explanation but there is also the possibility that it was a top secret aircraft like the Aurora performing a test run.  If it is a secret aircraft then the owners will most likely never admit responsibility for the boom.

Personally, I have no idea what it could have been.  The more probable explanation is that it was a supersonic aircraft of some kind, but it would have to have been a secret craft as flying at high speed isn't permitted over that part of Georgia.  It could have been an extraterrestrial craft for all we know.  Until the experts can determine some mundane cause for the sound we're left to wonder.

The Super-Sargasso Sea and Teleportation

The Super-Sargasso Sea is where all the things that disappear go to.  Charles Fort postulated this place as an explanation of where things go when they mysteriously disappear and where things come from when they mysteriously appear.  It's questionable as to whether Fort really believed in the Super-Sargasso Sea, but he was very interested by the force of teleportation that he felt caused a great deal of the strange phenomena that he wrote about.

From what I've read of the strange phenomena that Charles Fort documented, this teleportation force seems to be a natural force taking place on this planet with the ability to cause something to disappear without a trace or spontaneously appear with no explanation.  Spontaneous showers of frogs and toads, hollows filled with water that never empty, stones and other missiles hurled from nowhere and similarly disappearing afterward, people that disappear without a trace only to be deposited in a far away place (or never seen again); all of these things seem to relate to a teleportation force.

Teleportation has been the fodder of fiction for decades and there have been great strides in making it a reality through applying some of the stranger aspects of quantum mechanics such as quantum entanglement.  Scientists are now able to take the characteristics of one particle and teleport them to another particle.  Obviously we are still a long way from being beamed from place to place in an instant.  Or are we?  All of our technology has resulted from us gaining the ability to manipulate naturally occurring phenomena.  But what if we don't need technology to do it?

About a year ago I became aware of a study on teleportation commissioned by the United States Air Force.  A lot of the study discussed various ways to manipulate quantum mechanics in order to move an object from one place to another instantly.  The very last section of the paper was what I found most intriguing.  The author waits until the last section to discuss "p-teleportation" or teleportation through psychic means.  He discusses cases of Chinese children that are capable of causing objects to disappear from one place and appear in another seemingly through the power of their minds alone, all under laboratory conditions.  This ability even seems to extend to living creatures.

In light of this, the idea of a Super-Sargasso Sea and a teleportation force that occasionally (and seemingly randomly) spirits people away and sometimes returns them doesn't seem so far-fetched.  Does this mean that there is more to the idea of the Super-Sargasso Sea than Fort perhaps realized when he suggested the idea?  Perhaps the Super-Sargasso Sea will be remembered as an archaic name for a fourth spatial dimension that objects can move through without the limitations we know as three-dimensional beings.  Maybe the Super-Sargasso is better thought of as another dimension allowing for miraculous events and circumstances to occur in our three-dimensional world.  I can only hope that future breakthroughs will provide better understanding.

That some of the stranger Fortean phenomena might be caused by human beings and not some impersonal force of nature is a profound idea.  Like the idea that poltergeist activity originates from the uncontrolled psychokinetic outbursts of a distressed person, maybe instances of stones being hurled from nowhere and frogs falling from the sky are the result of unrestrained teleportation abilities.  This is certainly something to consider when discussing these strange occurrences.

With that I'll leave you to consider what we really might be capable of when we focus our minds.  If you would like to view the USAF teleportation study I mentioned you can find the .pdf here.  I highly suggest taking a look if psychic abilities and teleportation interest you as much as they interest me.  I'll try not to disappear into the ether before next time.  If I do I'll bring back a souvenir.