Some Noisy Neighbors

It had only been a week since we had moved into our new farmhouse. We had been moving things in and out all day, from televisions to sofas to chairs. When we were finally done, my parents decided to go for a walk on the grounds, while I decided to stay inside and work, setting up the television.
The house was built in 1814 and I knew it had a lot of history to it. Despite its age and the very unknown number of how many people have lived inside its walls, it has always contained a very homey, comfy feel. When you walk in, you feel safe behind its large stonewalls. Fear never seems to cross your mind.
While I was setting up the television, I began hearing loud bangs on the floor below me. I just brushed them off, thinking it to only be loose pipes. But then the banging began to get louder and louder. The tempo began picking up pace and there was soon no way to brush off these noises.
I stood up and began to search around. Sure enough, my parents were outside on the lawn, leaving me to be the only one in the house. I didn’t want to travel all the way down into the basement, so for a reason still unknown to me, I stomped on the ground just as you would do if trying to quiet the apartment below you. Instantly, the noises stopped.
I always thought this was a little peculiar, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It’s an old house, and, every now and then, there will be noises of the home settling. What has made this instance stand apart, however, was not only the intensity of the sounds, but the facts that I learned afterward. Turns out, the home’s basement was actually used as part of the Underground Railroad. Whether these noises were just pipes creaking, or some unexpected visitors, I have no idea.

Copyright © 2008

  Note to the reader:  The chapter topics in this series have no discernible order due to the fact that so much is involved with the cover-up and basically because I want it that way.  Enjoy.

  Being a vegetarian appears to be pretty popular these days.  With orginizations like PETA running around showing videos of the deplorable treatment of animals it really should come as no wonder why hundreds of people are throwing away their steak knifes and reaching for the nearest container of tofu.  Me, I’m a hardcore meateater.  There is nothing like cracking  the bottle of my favorite frosty brew of choice and sinking my teeth into a lucious, thick, juicy medium rare steak slopped with all the A-1 sause I can handle(Damn, now I’m hungry)  But I digress.

  Way back in the far out sixties and the groovy seventies a strange phenomenon hit the American Southwest that not only scared the bejeezus out of the cattle ranchers but would have had PETA protesting a force that they could not possibly contend with.  Cattle mutilations is a phenomenon that stunned and shocked the nation at large and has become intricately entangled in what we know as the UFO cover-up and all the craziness that it entails.  To some the events of these two decades has come to be known as proof positive of this tissue of lies and deceit of the US government’s involvement in whatever the hell this is all about.

  In the late sixties while the conflict in Vietnam raged, Ranchers in the American Southwest began making reports of strange lights hovering in the skies over their ranches, and according to them these lights or craft appeared to have an intelligence all their own as they zipped and buzzed about.  The next morning after seeing these strange lights buzzing about reports began to flood into local cop shops that would make the citizens of these states cringe in fear.  Livestock, specifically cattle, were coming up dead in a most disturbing manner.  Some unknown agency or sick bastard, whatever your point of view, not only murdered the prized moo cows but in all reports it was discovered that the person or persons responsible mutilated the cows with surgical precision and removed various organs and apparently the blood as well.  When the police came to investigate these strange series of events various things were discovered that defied any hope for a rational explanation.  Whoever the people were who were involved in this crime was able to go about their Jack the Ripperesque business without leaving so much as a footprint but they appeared to have the talent to slip and slip out with anyone the wiser.  This truly stumped the local law enforcement officials and left them scratching their heads all the while wondering, “What the hell?”

  Who could be capable of slipping in and out without leaving a trace of their presence?  The answer seemed clear, it must be the minions of Beelzebub, satanists, yeah let’s blame them.  And that is exactly what the ranchers and the police did although this explanation would show a complete lack of common sense.  Even worshipper’s of the prince of darkness would leave footprints and other indications of their presence.  Nope the explanation would prove to be far stranger than cultists.  At this time someone suggested that little green men(Forgive me, gray. I have been corrected many times)  had to be involved and a media hellstorm of colosal proportions broke out and descended upon the effected towns.

  The media, as it oftentimes does when dealing with the unexplained, had fun with the story sometimes at the expense of the beleagured ranchers and their kin.  The media ran around the towns and the counties where the phenomenon was most prevalent and interviewed as many folks as possible to get the story they wanted.  All those interviewed stated that before the gore fest began strange lights and saucer shaped craft were seen flying over the skies of the ranches.  Some even went so far as saying that the martians were on the offensive and ripping livestock apart just to show how truly powerful they were.  The media now had it’s story and it would get as much gas mileage out of it as possible.

  As the groovy sixties turned into the disco fantastic seventies more stories of livestock mutilations poured into the newspapers and were plastered all ove the ten o’clock news.  Fifteen states in our nation were now effected by the strange phenomenon with cattle turning up dead practically every day.  Not a day would go by when some pissed off burly old rancher called the local sheriff and reported that he and his hands had discovered poor old Bessie laying dead in the back forty.  When the police arrived and investigated they discovered that the udders, eyeballs, heart and other major organs were gone and declared that the animal had fallen victim to the normal predations of coyotes and other predators.  Now unless Wile E. Coyote super genius went to medical school their was no why in hell that these animals had fallen prey to a predator.  As I mentioned earlier the incisions that were made on the animals were so precise that it showed that a person or persons took the time to kill these beasts.  And stranger yet whatever instrument had made these incisions had an interesting trait the wounds appeared to be cauterized by something of extreme heat.  Lasers perhaps?

  In the summer of 1975, Floyd Haskell a senator from Colorado heard the outcry of his scared and pissed off constituents, 130 heads of cattle were dead in his state alone, and called in the cavalry.  The Federal Bureau of Investigations was now on the case and if anybody could get to the bottom of this little freakshow, the G-men were it.  When the FBI arrived at the scene of the most recent mutilation they quickly went about the business of gathering tissue samples from the dead cow and whisked them away to their super cool crime lab for analyses.  Operation: Animal Mutilation, was underway.

  When the samples were analyzed by investigators they discovered unusually high levels of minerals and proteins in the soft tissue as well as strange chemicals not normally found in livestock.  Scientists believed that whoever or whatever had mutilated the animals went about the trouble of anesthetizing the animals.  Why on earth would someone go to the trouble of giving knock out gas to these animals when the wounds and organ removal would kill them anyway?  Weird.

  As the disco fantastic seventies turned into the totally rad eighties reports of livestock mutilation began to taper off it would appear that the terror was now over but not yet one more mutilation would take place that truly stunned all those involved.  In 1981, the New Mexico State Police requested that the FBI come out to the Gomez ranch to take a look at a truly strange mutilation.  When the FBI arrived and spoke with the rancher they discovered that the dead cow was not killed on the spot where it lay in fact whoever had murdered the cow had picked it up and dropped it from a great height.  Upon investigation they FBI determined that the trauma inflicted upon the cow was consistent with the theory that it had been dropped from a great height, perhaps 500 feet or more.  Every bone in it’s body was shattered.  The other factor in this strange affair was that the major organs in the cow’s body had been turned to a paste that had a peanut butter like consistency.  The FBI removed the carcass from the ranch and poor Mister Gomez never heard back the FBI about what had killed his cow.

  There are various theories that have been offered to explain the weirdness of cattle mutilations.  As I mentioned earlier satanists were the first culprits considered in this strange affair.  Although they worship his infernal majesty, satanists are still human and would leave evidence of their presence.  The second most prominent theory concerning the mutilations have been offered by the more earth bound conspiracy theorist.  They believe that the government of good old US of A was involved in the development and testing of a new agent for biological warfare and cattle seemed to be the most convenient test subject, seems plausible.  And of course the most prominent theory is that the US government was covering up the fact that an alien presence was collecting organs in another attempt to cover their asses from any sickness that could bring them down on the day they attack and the explantion of animal predation was offered as an attempt to cover up their activities.

  Satanists out for a good time, biological warfare or a Martian Death Ray no one has a solid explantion for what happened all those decades ago.  One thing is certain something weird happened and aliens may have been involved one way or the other.  The cover-up rages on.

                                                            Rick E. Hale

PS. for some reason my comments have been turned off so if you want to leave a word of encouragement or perhaps tell me to go get bent you can e-mail me at t_seeker@hotmail.com

  A great battle has raged in our nation for a number of years now and both sides are as passionate and unbending in their ideology as their opponent.  In this corner we have the theory of Evolution.  According to his book, “On The Origin of the Species”  Charles Darwin states that at one time mankind, us, swung from trees, ate bananas and picked lice from each other’s hair, in a word we were a bunch of monkeys.  And then approxiamately two and half million years ago man fell from those trees and learned to walk upright.  As time and the years progressed our ancestors learned to think critically, formed civilization and eventually became the dominant species on planet Earth Beating the odds of an unforgiving planet.  In other words we are nothing but a bunch of shaved apes walking around like soulless robots getting what we want while the getting is good.  When I consider the way people act now a days I can almost buy this.

  And in this corner the challeger, the theory of Creation by Intelligent design.  Supporters of this theory sight the Bible as their end all be all and last word of authority on the subject.  Creationism, from a biblibal point of view, states that an all knowing all seeing Supreme Being created the world and everything in it in a literal six day period and took a rest from his labors on the seventh day.  Yep, I would be pooped to.  Proponents claim that we, mankind, is God’s only expression of creation in the vastness of the universe and only we are deserving of His love.  In other words the denizens of planet are IT, the only creatures in the entire universe.  Does this seem egotistical to anyone else, or is it just me?

  However in recent decades a third theory of the origin of the species has been gaining ground and making many think about their place in the universe.  This theory may not have as many devoted followers as the most accepted Big Two, but it certainly has a multitude of detractors.  One of the gentlemen who is on the forefront of this new theory has laid out his hypothesis in a series of best selling novels, “The Earth Chronicles.”  Although he is not the first to come up with this theory, Zechariah Sitchin, is certainly one of it’s most educated and articulate heroes. 

  Sitchin, claims that in our planet’s distant past a powerful and technologically advanced race of aliens known as the Annunaki, descended upon our virginal world to search for a precious metal they needed desperately on their planet, gold.  While mining for gold the Annunaki hit upon a great idea, they would create a race of slave laborers from their own DNA and the DNA of one of the beasts that called this planet home.  So the Annunaki went into the forests and the jungles of the primitive world and gathered a subject that appeared to plentiful, monkeys.  Some of their best mad scientists got together in the lab, took their genes and the genes of the monkey, gave it a shake in a test tube and BLAMO mankind as we it was born.

  As time progressed and the slave race began to populate the world oftentimes outnumbering their alien masters, the human slave race became self aware and decided, hey man this just is not right.  Wars and battles broke out as humans took up arms against their alien taskmasters and demanded to be set free from the bondage of slavery.  Despite all their technology and higher intelligence, the Annunaki had grown fat and lazy and lacked the means to put down this rebellion and bring their test tube created slaves back under their thumbnail.  In a temper tantrum, the Annunaki decided it would be better to just leave than deal with this lower class of being so they gathered together all their super cool toys and took off for home.  Mankind was now free from the Annunaki and were in effect masters of their own destiny, never again would they be anyone’s slave.  According to Sitchin, those humans who worked closely with the aliens became kings and rulers over their fellow man.  A new day had dawned and man was in control.

    The second most prominent voice in the Ancient Astronaut or Paleo-Contact Theory is of course, Erich Von Daniken, author of the wildly popular book, “Chariot’s Of The God’s”.   Unlike his colleague Zechariah Sitchin, Von Daniken does not make the wild claim that mankind was created in some mad alien scientist’s lair, rather when the ancient “gods” came to our world mankind had already discovered itself but lacked the intellect to create religion, government and culture.   Von Daniken asserts that many thousands of years ago a powerful race of aliens came to our world and taught mankind wisdom, mathematics and religion.  Like Sitchin, who sites ancient Sumerian texts, Von Daniken claims that he has his evidence to prove that an ancient alien intelligence visited our world and his evidence is indisputable and rock solid.

  The Nazca lines in the South American country of Peru, as Von Daniken claims, were created by man and utilized as landing strips for the aliens and their bitchin’ rides.  Some of the shapes such as a monkey, a whale and a hummingbird were used as a beacon, more or less by the aliens, as an indicator that this was their colony.  Now, of course the skeptics come out of the woodwork and cry foul concerning this theory.  They claim the Nazca Lines were used as irrigation canals or perhaps for some kind of religious ceremonies.  My question is this, why can you only see the shapes from the air?  The lines and shapes which are miles long would be of no interest to those standing on the ground they couldn’t even see them let alone worship them.  Unless these ancient tribesman mastered flight, which of course is entirely possible, there really is no reason what so ever to build them.  And as for the theory of them being an irrigation canal why make it in the shape of a giant monkey or humminbird?  This just does not make sense. 

  Von Daniken sites another beautiful work of art from South America, the Palenque Sarcophagus lid.  The  shows a highly styalized representation, of what Von Daniken says, shows one of these ancient astronauts sitting in the cockpit of a rocket ship blasting off for the heavens.  To be honest when I look at this sarcophagus lid that is exactly what I see it does look like some kind rocket with a dude operating levers and pushing buttons.  Of course the skeptics cry, no way, again.  They claim that the carving on the lid is a representation of a ruler who recently died and is ascending to life after death.  Well played worthy adversary, but if this were the case why make it look like a vehicle rather than some ghostly image flying up to be with the gods?  Another question that goes unanswered.

  Not only has Von Daniken used these two works of art as prime examples he also claims that the great megalithic sites of the world, such as Stonehenge and the monuments of Easter Island, is prime evidence as well.  But as with all things, the shoe must drop.  These two men have been widely discredited by mainstream researchers and their theories are considered crack pot at best.  Skeptics claim that mankind was more than capable of creating such megalithic works of art.  Thor Heyrdahl a twentieth century adventurer proved this by building his own stonehenge and creating and erecting exact replicas of the Easter Island monuments.  I have always said that ancient does not mean stupid and I agree up to a point with mainstream researchers, but I pose this question, wasn’t mankind more concerned with survival and finding shelter from a harsh environment?  Although I am sure they were capable of building these things without help, why bother it would seem like a colassal waste of time.  No these ancient people saw something that made them act.

  Oh, woe is us who delve into the strange and unusual, is their no hardcore objective proof to prove the paleo-contact theory?  There may be hope yet and that hop appears to come from the wastelands of Mali a tiny country on the west Coast of Africa.  And if what was discovered is true this just might constitute the evidence we were looking for.  In his 1976 book, “The Sirius Mystery” author Robert Temple relates the interesting saga of the Dogon a small group of Tribesmen living in the wastelands of Mali. 

  In his book, Temple details the work of two French ethnographers, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen with this odd tribe of African Bushmen.  The Dogon claim that many years ago a race of creatures called the Nommos, descended from the skies in a great burning ark and made overtures of peace and brotherhood with the tribesmen.  The Dogon claimed the Nommos, although grotesgue to look at, taught them the art of writing and arithmetic and then left the Dogon a much more advanced people.  Now of course, Griaule and Dieterlen were skeptical of these outlandish claims, but soon became believers when the Dogon priests presented their evidence.

  The Dogon possessed knowledge that would otherwise not be possible for them to know.  For example, the Dogon knew our world was round, they knew there were nine planets in our solar system and they knew Saturn was a planet who had rings.  Big deal you may say, but the best evidence is yet to come.  The Dogon had advance knowledge that the Sirius star system, which was the home of the Nommos, was a binary and possibly trinary star system they even knew the orbit of these two stars.  When these facts were made public the skeptics and mainstream scientific community said that it was entirely possible that the Dogon had contact with astronomers who told them this stuff.  Can you imagine how something like that happened, a bunch of astronemers just discovered the Sirius Star System, threw a huge party and got blitzed out of their minds and before making this discovery known to their colleagues they decided instead to go out into the wastelands of Africa and share this discovery with a bunch of illiterate tribesmen.  I don’t know about you but to me that sounds highly unlikely.

  No, the ancestors of the Dogon had an amazing experience.  And when you consider that this mythology has filtered down through their people and the surrounding tribes for thousands of years and they have pottery and blankets that are centuries old with obvious representations of our solar system as well as the Sirius star system the only thing you are left with is, WOW.  Perhaps the legends of the Dogon are fact and the slick shiny conspiracy or cover-up has attempted to silence the evidence.  You be the judge.

  Perhaps in the dim past our history our world and ancestors were visited by an advanced alien intelligence who showered us with wisdom, culture and religion and all the other neat-o-keen things that make us who we are.  It certainly could possibly explain how in a matter of two million years and less we have gone from being a bunch of chimps chattering in the trees to the overworked stressed out humans we are today.  I don’t know.  The Cover-up rages on.

                                                          Rick E. Hale

                                                      t_seeker@hotmail.com

A Lonely Country Road

A couple of friends and myself decided to take a trip to a well-known road in the mountains. None of us have ever been there, but we had heard stories about just how much fun it was to drive. They said you would hit hundreds of curves in just a few miles while on this stretch, and, being gearheads with a knack for speed, we were extremely tempted to drive it.

We took three cars up and drove towards the area for a few hours. With walkie-talkies and excitement flowing through us, even the drive up was proving to be fun. We actually ended up finding the road around midnight and decided to do a quick run. The road was wet and the rear-end of our cars kept sliding out, so we all thought it would be best to just try again in the morning.

Problem was. We had nowhere to stay. A buddy of mine stated that he had seen a few signs for a motel a couple miles back. We headed in the direction of the signs and started our search. It took forever, but we finally found what was the final road to the tiny motel.

It was a long, thin pebble road, weaving through the woods and up a mountain slope. Our cars were pretty low to the ground, so it was slow going over the numerous tree limbs and roots under our tires. I was the second car in line, and I began to get worried as the road just kept getting thinner and thinner. The trees just seemed to swallow us up. Over our walkie-talkies, we began to nervously laugh, wondering where in the world we were going and when we were going to get there.

Just as one of my friends got down relying a message, static instantly started whirring on all of our walkies. It was so loud and obnoxious I turned mine off. Out of nowhere, a man came running out of the woods in the dead of night, and slammed into the hood of my friend’s car ahead of me. Instantly, my friend hit the gas, breaking traction and trying to hurry up the hill. I looked to where the man went into the woods, but he seemed to just vanish in the thick underbrush. I too, pressed the gas.

At the top of the hill for the motel, we clicked back on our radios and made the decision to travel back down the road. If that was what was happening on the road to the motel, we didn’t want to see what was actually inside the place. We all took deep sighs and headed back down the thin pass.

On our trip back down, everybody was very tense. I asked my friend if he had seen the man’s face. He said no. Now, the only explanation I have for this is someone was trying to play a trick on us. I have no other way of figuring it out. But. I still, for the life of me, have no idea why our walkies acted so strange just moments before.

Copyright © 2008

  Since time immemorial mankind has looked up at the stars and questioned, “Am I and others like me the only beings in this vast universe?”  Have been visited before?  Have we been visited in our ancient past by a culture that is not of the human persuasion?  These are questions that are on the minds of millions of our brother humans even today as we look up at the sea of stars that shine brightly at night.  Many would say a resounding hell yeah to these questions.  However, when it comes to the idea of our world being visited by an alien civilization far superior than ours there appears to be a tissue of lies, denial and a cover-up perpetrated by the governments of the world to keep up the appearance that we are it, the pinnacle of whatever divine being that sits in the sky.

  Millions, not just from our nation but other nations have claimed to be witness to incredible sights in the sky that seem to defy any logical explanation.  These witnesses are not just ignorant uneducated people who have claimed to see strange lights and even stranger craft.  Military personal, police officers even clergy have come forward over the years and claimed to see something they can not explain.  And if you can’t trust those who protect our borders, arrest bad guys and feed us the word of God, who can you trust? 

  Some folks, like you and I, go to the extremes of credulity and claim that as they slept or driving in their vehicles on a lonely country road they were witness to a strange saucer shaped craft descend from the skies and take them aboard to perform seemingly sinister medical exams.  Why would an ET go to the trouble of kidnapping innocent humans and play doctor?  This is a heavy question that no one seems to have an answer for for two reasons either the victim doesn’t want to come forward to speak of his or her experience for the fear of ridicule from friends or family or even the general population of planet earth.  Or perhaps even more frightening the victim receives a knock at their door in the middle of the night and when they answer it they stare into the face of some government agent who tells them to shut up or spend the rest of your days behind bars.

  If we are in fact being visited by beings from another world, why be silent about it?  Why don’t these aliens just descend upon the White House lawn in their super sweet intergalactic hotrods and declare to the world, “We are here, what up dawg?”  Many who have an intense interest in the subject claim that our government as well as the other governments of the world already know that these aliens are here and have been among us for not just decades but perhaps thousands of years.  My only question to such a far out theory is, Why.

  In the 1997 film, “Men In Black” Tommy Lee Jones’s character tells Will Smith’s character that humans are nervous and panicky and I would have to admit this is a true statement.  I don’t care who you are or where you are from all human beings have this in common, shoot first and ask questions later.  It does not matter if you are a card carrying NRA member from the good old US of A or a tribesman from the Congo when met with something we fear and do understand we act on instinct and kill or be killed.  It would be pretty sad if a seemingly benevolent alien culture came to our world offering peace and a share in their awe inspiring technology and some jerk took a pot shot at them because they don’t look like us.  A sign of such agression might just trigger our doom.  This could be reason number one.

  A second reason is a purely religious one.  The big three religions of the world Christianity, Judaism and Islam all say the same thing we are it we as humans are the pinnacle of God’s love and creative expression.  If the world, and the devout followers of these religions, were to find out that we were not alone in the universe and there were other beings in the universe paying us a visit on a day to day basis the big three religions would fall and they would fall hard.  If we knew that such beings existed the devout followers would feel jaded and the religious teachers would be proven to be liars and perhaps this all loving benevolent God does not exist after all.  Religious chaos would reign.

  The third possible reason is if it were to become exposed that we are not alone the governments of the world who have been telling us for years that such a thing could not be, would fall.  These governments, ours included would be seen as liars and their power base would be gone forever either because a pissed off citizenry would rebel and tear them down or we would flock these visitors because they can offer something better.

  And last but certainly not least, despite what New Agers and some contactees would have us believe, these alien races are not some benevolent fraternity of “Space Brothers” but something far more sinister.  Perhaps the governments of the world are in cahoots with these aliens and are getting us ready for some kind of invasion event.  Perhaps these aliens mean us harm, why else would they want to abduct us from our comfy beds in the middle of the night and run anal probes up our old chocolate whiz way.  Maybe to gain knowledge of our strenghts and weaknesses and find a way for their culture to survive our terrestrial virus’ and bacteria after they zoom down here and kick some ass.  These of course are my theories, and in no way is representative of what “Those in the know” know.

  The modern UFO age, as we know it, began in 1947 with two earth shattering events that made us question our place in God’s great big universe.  First, Kenneth Arnold made his report of seeing a squadron of bat shaped craft flying over Mount Rainier in Washington state as he piloted his own craft over the mountain range.  And of course a few months later the United States Air Force shocked the world when it released a news report that they were in possession of a flying disc that crashed landed on a rancher’s farm just outside Roswell, New Mexico.  Many around the world felt justified that their suspicions of alien cultures visiting the earth was true.  However, sadly just a few hours later a second report was made this time a retraction that basically read, Whoops sorry, our bad it was just a super secret weather balloon.

  In this series, “So, What’s Up With The Cover-up?”  I want us to explore the alleged history of alien visitation to our world and the cover-up that would threaten to keep this amazing thing hush hush.  When you consider the hundreds if not thousands of people each year who claim to see and experience something strange in the skies not all these folks could be nuts, right.  Some of the more skeptical researchers on the subject say that you can dismiss about 80-90% percent of reported UFOs cases worldwide.  With this I would have to agree it is enitrely possible that misidentifications are made of known aircraft or known atmospheric phenomenon.  I warn you do not leave your mind so open that your brain falls out.  However that still leaves us with 10-20% of phenomenon that is truly unexplained that is a huge margin.

  Something strange did in fact happen to the multitude of folks who claim to have seen or experienced something and although I hated the show I will quote the poster on Agent Mulder’s wall, “I want to believe.”  Please come back for more because the good times are just beginning.

                                                                         Rick E. Hale

The Yeti Discovered

Considered by many to be the world’s greatest living mountaineer, Reinhold Messner has seen a lot in his life. He’s the first man to have climbed Everest with no oxygen and the only man to have climbed all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. Furthermore, he also claims to have seen a yeti. That’s right. An abominable snowman.

But hold on. This elusive and legendary creature may not be exactly what you think it is. Messner, who has searched for the yeti for 12 years after his first encounter with one, claims the yeti to be nothing more than a Tibetan bear. Even so, to him all the myths surrounding this creature hold true. For example, the reason why there are sometimes only two footprints after a yeti sighting is because, in difficult snow, this bear will put the back foot in the footprint of the front foot.

He says that the reason these myths get started in the first place is because many of the originators live in areas without television or movies. Therefore, they have to create their own stories if they want entertainment. Over years, the more and more these stories get told, and the fact that some of these yetis can actually be hunted down since they truly exist (albeit in bear form), the faith in these myths hold very strong.

Although the lore of these beasts have attracted people from the world over, and even though the truth may be a bit hard to stomach, you have to hand it to a man who went against all the tribal lore, searching for the truth.

Copyright © 2008

My family owns a farmhouse that dates back to 1814. Plenty of stories get told about the place, and for good reason too. The place has a lot of history. There are holes carved into the stone of the summer kitchen in the front yard. Back when this country was just learning to stand on it’s own two feet, the owners of this home could crouch down, poke the barrels of their rifles through these holes, and fend off any one daring enough to try an attack.

Now, although this may sound like a violent area, it really wasn’t. Supposedly the first two owners lived long and happy lives here, raising many children. It’s a beautiful place. There’s a row of trees greeting you as you enter the driveway, grass green and lush. It’s no wonder I like to go there to relax and reenergize. Thing is. There’s these things that happen.

One fall, my Grandmother was sitting in the den, watching television. She knew that this time of year was a terrible one when it comes to the tending of the lawn. Even the slightest breeze could cause hundreds of leaves to fall from the surrounding trees. She also knew my Mother wanted to get some outside help to fix this problem. So, it came to no surprise that when she looked out the window of the den, she saw an old man in overalls, brushing about the leaves with an old, iron rake.

She thought it was odd that my Mom would allow such an old man to do grunt work about the lawn. She thought it stranger that a man would be using such old tools to do so. His rake had a normal wooden handle, but the end was crafted of heavy iron, spiked with blunt knobs about an inch or so spaced from each other.

She decided to mind her own, until she was ready to leave. It was then that she confronted my Mother about the man. My Mom told her that she hadn’t hired a lawncare man yet. The two went to the window and peered out. No one. My Grandma tried to explain, talking about his overalls and rake, but could tell my Mom was now paying no attention. She left, feeling slighted and confused.

About two months later, my Mother and Father decided to cut down a swath of overgrowth along the property line. Back breaking work that can take all day. By the end of it, in their exhaustion, they found something. A long, broomstick-like pole standing erect in the ground. Interested, they began digging at its base. When they finished, my Mother was shocked. It was an old, iron rake. Heavy and with blunt knobs, just as her Mother had explained. It was planted, right where my Grandmother had last scene the Caretaker.

Copyright © 2008

  Depending on what area of the country you are from most of us will never see a lizard outside of a pet store.  It wasn’t until I was sixteen and went on a family vacation to Florida that I saw a lizard for the first time.  As I was getting out of pool I saw this little green and yellow creature go scurrying across my path and came up with a great idea, I’m going to catch this little dude and bring him home as a pet.  I ran after the little beast and watched as he scurried up a tree well out of my reach, Undoubtably he knew my intentions and was not having any of that.

  It was not until recently, probably within the last two years, did I learn that this cute little lizard that I almost caught was up to no good.  Apparently some authors of conspiracy theories and their followers claim that these little creatures have big plans for mankind.  According to their claims and theories the warm blooded populace of the world is in very real danger of the lizards taking over and turning mankind either into slaves or a delicious tasty treat for their bellies.  It’s true they say, someday I may be the pet of that cute little lizard  I chased up a tree.

  There are no shortage of conspiracy theories floating around our world and believe me no shortage of those who believe them.  There was a second man on the grassy knoll, the Central Intelligence Agency has a powerful computer that can read your thoughts and Roosevelt knew the Japanese were coming to make Pearl Harbor it’s personal bitch.  All these conspiracy theories are enough to make my head spin or bang my head against the wall until my IQ plummets like the stock market.  Of course the conspiracy I speak of has garnered the attention of Cryptozoologists as well as the UFO community.  The conspiracy I speak of is the attack of the Reptoids.

  In 1999, former journalist and British soccer player, David Icke wrote a book that would capture the imagination of the world and make thousands believe that a whole new species was out to get them, “The Biggest Secret”.    In his book, Mr. Icke writes, in amazing detail, a theory that the governments of the world are being manipulated and operated by a secret society that goes by two names, “The Illuminati” and “The Babylonian Brotherhood.  Icke, claims that this shadowy orginization has been running the show for centuries if not thousands of years dipping their greedy little paws into everything from world commerce to religion to mass media.  Sounds Plausible, Right?

  This theory of a gigantic monolithic shadow government has grown with amazing leaps and bounds over the last thirty or forty years.  I suppose it could be possible that some power hungry megalomaniacs could be working night and day to amass as much power as possible and possibly turn us ignorant non-elitists into their unwilling slaves.  Everyone from the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians to the Jewish people have been blamed for having aspirations of world domination and this has proven to be patently ridiculous.  However, Mr. Icke takes things a bit further and adds a new spin to this old conspiracy theory.  Mr. Icke claims that this secret society is not run by our fellow human beings but by something far more terrifying, giant bipedal lizards or the Reptoids as he calls them.  And again he takes the theory even one step further and makes the wild claim that some of the leaders of our world are not only in cahoots with these man-lizards but are human Reptoid hybrids.

  Apparently, George W. Bush, the leader of the free world is not the shaved chimp in a man suit that I thought he always was.  No, the Prez is actually descended from a race of reptilians that came to our world from a distant star many many moons ago and was placed in power to discredit the United State’s status as the big dog on the block.  The author also claims that the British royal family is descended from this race of reptilians and will one day hand power over to their cold blooded brethern.  Perhaps the silliest person to be called a reptoid/human hybrid is actor and country music star, Kris Kristopherson(Perhaps that would explain the career).

  Just where did this race of reptilians come from and what exactly do they want?  Many followers of this conspiracy theory claims that millions of years ago the sisnister race of Reptoids came to our world from a planet in the Draco Constellation looking for some new digs to call home.  When they arrived they discovered our ancient ancestors still eating bananas and swinging from the trees chattering away at the strange visitors.  The Reptoids, by accident or design, discovered that they could mate with this tree swinging brutes and whiz bang the human/reptoid hybrid was born.

  The Reptoids decided it would be a good idea to stick around to keep an active eye on their hybrid progeny as well as the humans who evolved without the reptilian DNA.  The Reptoids, over time, found that due to certain climate changes on our planet they could not stay above ground and went about the task of building an intricate network of cities underground where the pure bloods still live keeping tabs on mankind and controlling their puppet governments of the world.  And as to the question of what do they want, the answer is quite simple, world domination of course, duh.

  Such an idea would be patently ridiculous if it it was not for the fact that many ancient cultures the world over have legends concerning mankind’s contact with reptilian like creatures.  In South America the ancient Toltecs had Gucumatz.  Gucumatz was worshipped as the “Serpent of Wisdom” and was said to manifest in the form of a giant serpent.  The Hopi of the American southwest has a legend of the, Sheti or Snake Brothers.  The Sheti was a race of man-like reptiles who lived in vast underground cities and were considered to the friend of the Hopi.  Cecrops, a king of Athens in ancient Greece, was supposedly a ruler who had the attributes of both humans as well as the serpent.  And of course it was widely believed in China that the Emporer was the divine offspring and descendent of the creator dragon.  And what about Cobra Commander and Serpentor those guys will stop at nothing to dominate the world (I’m joking of course).

  Not only can we trace reptilian legends back to the good ole’ days but giant bipedal reptile like creatures have been witnessed in our own enlightened times.  Between 1955 and 1972, there were numerous reports out of Loveland, Ohio of a giant frog-like creature swimming in the Little Miami river.  Those who claimed to see this creature said that the beast walked upright like a man and had the body and face of frog.  However the Loveland Frog, as he has been dubbed appears to be completely benign and has never attacked a soul in fact it would appear that this creature flees from human contact.  Unfortunately this can not be said about the reptilian humanoid who attacked a seventeen year old boy in the summer of 1988.

  On June 29, 1988 a seventeen year old boy was driving past the Scape Ore Swamp in Lee County, South Carolina when he was startled by the sound of his tire blowing out.  The young man pulled the car safely to the side of the street and inspected his blown tire.  When he went to change the tire his car violently shook as if something heavy had falled on top of it, when he looked up his eyes met something that would make his blood run cold.  Standing over him was a seven foot tall lizardman looking down at him with malevolent red glowing eyes and large claws for hands.  The creature hissed at the boy and jumped over the bridge into the swamp.  The boy got back into his car and drove away as fast as he could on the rim of his blown tire.  Later the young lad would tell police that he felt the creature would kill him if he stuck around and that he barely escaped with his life.

  Recently the Lizardman would make a comeback and be blamed for all kinds of nefarious dirty dealings.  Several families who live near the Scape Ore Swamp claimed that the Lizardman was reponsible for stealing their pets and causing property damage by digging it’s large claws into the sides of the cars and houses.  One resident even claimed to see the Lizardman run back into the swamp carrying a small dog in it’s mouth.  However the residents treat their mysterious cryptid with a lightheart making the horrible Lizardman the official spokesman for the South Carolina state lottery.  I wonder if the Lizardman could sue for image rights?

  Whether or not you believe that Reptoids are out to corral us like cattle when they take over the world is your business all I know is that thousands believe this and live in fear of this happening one day.  And this I am certain of, after I press publish and it is posted to this honorable website there will be a few who will accuse me of being in league with the Reptoids or being a Reptoid and will see this posting as being propaganda.  Perhaps I am a reptoid and tonight as you sleep I’m going to make you and your yappy little dog my snack.  Boo, Did I scare you.  HaHaHa.

                                                 Rick E. Hale

   What a long strange trip it’s been, to quote the immortal Jerry Garcia.  We have been to some interesting places, seen some interesting things and washed our uunderpants numerous times.  And yet we have made it back safely to the land I love the land of baseball, apple pie and Hooters restaurants, America the beautiful, but our trip is not yet over.  There is one place that we explore one more great scare to truly finish off such a hair raising journey, Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville Kentucky.

  I’m sure most of you are already familiar with the former Tuberculosis hospital and all the myriad of spooks, specters and ghosts that haunt it’s halls.  The SciFi show, “Ghosthunters”  Is mainly responsible for bringing this amazing location into the public arena, if it were not for that it probably would still be just a local curiosity for the teens of Louisville looking for a good scare.  But what do we really know about Waverly Hills and Tuberculosis (TB)  For that matter?  What has caused this hulking five story edifice to become known as the most haunted location in the United States or the world for that matter?

  The epidemic of Tuberculosis or “The white Plague” as it was known in many parts of our country was a very time for the good old US of A.  TB was oftentimes respoosible for whiping out whole families and sometimes small towns and villages virtually overnight, it was the most horrible plague our nation has ever known.  In my regular job as a mental health counselor for troubled youth we have to take a TB test every year in order to make sure this disease is kept out because TB is still to this day considered highly transferable and if it goes untreated you can die.

  According to the historical records from the late 19th and early twentieth centuries no area of a country was harder hit than Jefferson County in Kentucky.  Experts believe that the surrounding swampland, which made up a large part of the county, was the primary culprit for the cultivation and spread of the disease as well as the hot and humid summers of Kentucky.  When the body count from the disease began to rise an alarming rate the town fathers felt that a hospital was needed to combat the disease and of course house those who were already infected until they either got better and died, and that hospital would come in the form of Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

  Originally built in 1910 as a two story forty five bed capacity building, the doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly night and day to make life better for the sick and dying were alarmed when more cases of TB broke out and a new hospital had to be built.  In 1926 the hulking five story building was built and immediately began to take on hundreds who were infected with TB.  It is estimated that somewhere in the ballpark of 63,000 people who walked through the doors of Waverly Hills died and not just from the effects of the disease alone.  Reports of bizarre treatments and experiments to combat the disease began to filter out from the hospital, however no one really seemed to care as long as the sick and dying were kept safely away from the populations of the surrounding communities.

  One treatment doctors inflicted upon patients was to slice an opening in the chest and implant an inflatable balloon into the lungs of the patients in the hopes that this would expand the lungs to allow more fresh air to flow into the chest cavity. Many times this procedure failed and the patient died a very painful death.  It was greatly believed that fresh air was the proper treatment for the disease, the more fresh air that got in meant the disease would not be able to spread.  At the Hills you can see pictures of patients laying on their hoslital beds on open air platforms covered with snow.  Some froze to death from this treatment.

    In 1943 with the discovery of the antibiotic, Streptomycin, such hospital as Waverly Hills was no longer needed to combat the disease because the cure was now here and cases of TB became less and less.  In 1962 Waverly Hills reopened as the Woodhaven Geriatric center for the elderly and dying.  In 1981 Woodhaven was closed down by the state of Kentucky when reports of physical and sexual abuse committed by the staff were reported by former patients and their families.

  Today, Waverly Hills Sanatorium stands empty and it’s owners are not ashamed to of the ghostly tales that have been told about the hospital over the years.  Over the years Waverly Hills has been the subject of investigation for paranormal researchers and ghosthunters(I really hate that term) who are seeking to either prove the existense of life after death or are looking for a thrill.  Many have gone on record as saying that if you should happen to go you will not walk away empty handed.  Some have even said that Waverly Hills will cause even the hardest skeptic to think twice about his or her belief in the paranormal.

  So many stories concerning the haunting of Waverly Hills has been told over the years it is impossible to get a hold on what is true and what is not-so-true.  One of the most haunted areas in the former hospital is the sinister room 502.  In 1928, Mary Hillenburg a nurse at Waverly Hills discovered that she was pregnant out of wedlock, which still at that time was considered a major no-no and could potentially scandalize her entire family.  Mary, who was becoming more despondent over her unwanted pregnancy worked the overnight shift and unable to take her shame any longer she hung herself from the rafters in the room which was the nurses station where she spent her last desperate moments.  Many decent bits of evidence have been collected in this room over the years such as an EVP that was taken by an investigator that sounds like a woman sobbing and questioning, “Why?”  One investigator claims that he saw the apparition of Mary Hillenburg and was able to snap her picture.  If we are to believe these two claims they would constitute great evidence.

  Children who were infected with the disease were housed at the Hills although they were kept away from the general population for their own safety.  Many who visit Waverly claimed to have heard what sounds like children playing in the children’s ward and the occassional apparition of a child has been seen.  Perhaps the most active child spirit at Waverly Hills is a lad named, “Tim”.  It is said that if you leave a red rubber ball in the children’s ward little Tim will play with it.

  All agree however that the most haunted area at the Hills is the ominously named, “Death Tunnel”.  When deaths were becoming to numerous to contend with hospital workers they needed a way to keep the transport of the dead secret because it was believed that death was bad for morale.  Corpses were secreted down a long tunnel in the basement of the hospital that led to waiting trains that transport the bodies to mass burial grounds.  Visitors to the death tunnel have come away with some of the greatest scares of their lives.  Some have claimed to hear cries, Screams and a sinister sounding laugh.  Full bodied apparitions have been witnessed and many have gone home with wet pants.

  We have come to the end of the journey, for now.  This list of haunted places is by no means exhaustive and we will venture out again very soon to investigate more notoriously haunted locations of the world.  Ghosts and hauntings have been a part of the human experience for millenia and while I believe that 60-70% can be dismissed as being caused by nature, human error and just outright hoaxing that leaves open 40-30% that can not be explained so easily.  The hard headed closed minded skeptics would have you believe that every experience with the paranormal is a sham and a lie they are not just skeptical they are in outright denial.  We as humans, all of us, despite our sex, color, religion or sexual preference have a piece of that divine spark, a soul if you will that adds a spiritual dimension.  We are energy and according to Einstein energy can not be destoyed but transformed so if humans are made up of this energy and it is released when our body expires, where does it go?  It has to go somewhere.  So it is not a real stretch of the imagination that perhaps these locations, and others like them, that we have explored and will explore at a later time has held on to some of that energy which would explain their history of hauntings.  I know what I believe. What do you believe.  Well I am on my way to a party so have a good night and thanks for reading I hope you had just as much fun as I.

                                                             Rick E. Hale

It has oftentimes been said in the British Isles that if your house or castle isn’t haunted than you are doing something wrong and nothing could be more true than various locations in the Emerald Isle, Ireland. The numerous tales of ghosts and ghouls in Ireland are nothing short of legendary probably due to the fact that the history of Ireland and it’s ancient people, the Celts goes back millenia and is lost to the mists of time. Not to mention soacked in blood and intrigue. Our journey today takes us to County Offaly in Northern Ireland where we find perhaps the most haunted castle in all of Ireland, Leap Castle.

Leap Castle’s history is a long and illustrious one having been the desire of every major and minor chieftan who would not hestitate to go to war to obtain the spooky castle. It could almsot be said that blood is the mortar that holds the castle together and misery should be it’s namesake. The foundations for this sinister castle was laid by the O’Bannon family in 1250 AD, minor cheiftains in the Irish Caste system. The O’Bannon clan sat as lords over the land for a little over three centuries before the O’Carroll clan overran the castle slaughtering everything in their path in 1532 and this is where the fun begins.

It could be said that Clan O’Carroll was never truly happy with what they owned because they always desired more and did not give a damn about who they killed to get it. Warfare and intrigue was art form practiced by the O’Carroll clan who would not hesitate to even slit the throat of their clansmen to get what they wanted. They wanted to be the ultimate movers and shakers in Irish society having dreams and aspirations to rule over the land.

Perhaps the most haunted places of the castle would be the most unlikely place to find a terrifying spirit an area that has come to be known as The Bloody Chaple. According to the historical record sometime in the 1550s one O’Carroll brother, a priest, was saying a mass for his family and while distributing the holy sacrement his younger brother burst through the door of the chaple and ran his sword through the heart of the man of God. Historic records are unclear whether or not the offending brother ever faced any charges for the cowardly murder of his brother. However the family was shocked and horrified by this brazen attempt to gain control of Clan O’Carroll and the incident drove the clan further apart.

Shortly after the murder of the priest tales of a dark specter haunting the chaple were spread among the servants of the castle and many family members refused to take communion in the Bloody Chaple lest they witness the spirit of the priestly brother. Many folks who have paid the Bloody Chaple a visit claim that while in the church they can feel the presence of an extremely angry spirit. Some have claimed to be witness to a manifestation of the apparition. The ghost of the priest first manifests as a cold chill that seems to permeate the chaple giving the witness a sense that the chill is alive and then the ghost of the priest is said to make his appearance. All who have seen this apparition describe the ghost as being a tall man with piercing black eyes that seem to be able to pierce the very depths of your soul. The ghost says nothing but those who witness him say that they get the feeling that he dissaproves of your presence in his chaple, he then appears to melt back into the darkness from whence he came.

Like most idle royalty of the day the O’Carroll clan loved to torture their enemies, one of the unique features of the castle is a room called the Oubliette. When an enemy of the Clan was captured they would throw the poor soul down a long shaft that lead to the dungeon and the victim would land on a floor covered by long sharp spikes. Death was exceedingly long and painful for the victim of the Oubliette. Is it any wonder that visitors to the castle who have peeked into the inky blackness have heard screams of pain and pleads for mercy by the spirits who haunt this torture chamber of untold terrors.

The bloodshed of the castle is not reserved for the middle ages. In 1922, the Irish Civil war broke out turning Catholic Brother against his Protestant brother. The castle was used as a place for imprisonment and many tasted death at the hands of the hangman all because they differed in one minor idea of who offers proper worship to God Almighty. Near the end of the war the castle was set ablaze and many died leaving behind their spirits to haunt the infamous castle. One interesting story surrounding the Oubliette, when workers were clearing bones out the spiked dungeon in the 1950s among the remains was found a gold watch with a year inscribed on it, 1923. It would appear that even as late as the Irish Civil war the Oubliette was still claiming victims.

Much like Lucedio Abbey, Leap Castle lays claim to a horrible in-human demonic spirit that is said to be trapped within the walls of the castle the spirit is known as the Elemental. It is widely believed that the Elemental was invited into the castle sometime in the late 1890s by a former resident playing innocently with a oujia board. The former resident had a deep interest in the fashionable spiritualism movement of the time and inadvertantly summoned the inhuman spirit forth and was unable to send it back from where it came. The Elementel is said to appear as a large dog like creature that reeks of garbage and rotting flesh. The Elementel has never physically harmed a human but is said to fill the unfortunate witness with such dread and a feeling of intense evil that many suicides have been associated with a visitation by this demonic spirit.

Leap Castle in County Offaly, Ireland is definately on the wish list of many a paranormal researcher. However the owner of the castle rarely will allow outsiders into the ancient manor house and reluctantly gives tours due to the violent nature of the spirits that resides behind the walls of this imposing structure. Can you really blame the guy? He doesn’t want a bunch of geeks, like you and I, traipsing through his castle stirring up the spirits said to reside there and possibly falling headlong into the spiked dungeon of Doom. Yep, when it comes to Leap Castle there certainly is no Blarney going on there.

Rick E. Hale