Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Dead Man Driving 

A traffic camera snapped a picture of James Hamburg running a red light and the city mailed him a ticket. Trouble is, James has been dead for five years. So who was driving?

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:32 PM

Why are men less religious? It may be form of risk-taking, impulsivity just as criminal behavior is 

For decades researchers have pondered a mysterious gender disparity in religious commitment. It turns out they may have been asking the wrong question, according to a University of Washington religious scholar.

Instead of asking why women are more religious than men, they should have been asking why men are less religious than women, said Rodney Stark, a UW professor of sociology and comparative religion.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:14 PM

Stone 'jigsaw puzzles' yield clues about mysterious Saharan nomads 

A faint image of mysterious ancient Egyptian nomads living in the Sahara Desert has emerged from thousands of stone artifacts painstakingly collected and reassembled by a University of Washington archaeologist.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 PM

Montreal teacher makes prehistoric find 

The last time the rock face was seen was in a 1920 photograph, which was kept by a museum in New York State, but Scardera says the exact whereabouts of the rock were lost.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:57 PM

Congratulations to WeirdWriter 

The Professor would like to congratulate Brian over at WeirdWriter for completing the grueling writer's marathon known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). NaNoWriMo takes place every November and requires the completion of a 50,000 word novel in one month's time. Quite an accomplishment.

Brian has been blogging extensively about his experience and his November posts are chock full of authorly insight and great links for scribes. You can read all of his posts for November here.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:36 AM

Push envy of Iron Crotch aside as you contemplate phallic feat  

Bay Area grandmaster of Qigong pulls truck with penis

Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, best known for his "Iron Crotch," attached himself not once but twice to a rental moving truck and pulled it several yards across a parking lot in Fremont. In lace-up leather boots and a black tank top, the 50-year-old tied a strip of blue fabric around the base of his penis and testicles and tugged to make sure it was on tight. An assistant kicked him hard between the legs before he lashed himself to the vehicle.

He groaned, grunted and pressed against two men for resistance.

Then, slowly, the truck began to roll forward.

The article reveals that one of his students is named "Shawnee Wang."

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:22 AM

Creativity linked to sexual success 

Pablo Picasso, Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas had more in common than simple creativity. They also had active sex lives, which researchers said on Wednesday was no coincidence.

Psychologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Open University in Britain found that professional artists and poets have about twice as many partners as other people.

Their creativity seems to act like a sexual magnet.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:16 AM

Zambia bans suspected satanic church 

Zambia on Tuesday banned a controversial evangelical church facing allegations of practising satanism and human sacrifice and the target of violent attacks over the weekend.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:15 AM

A Tinfoil Hat on Every Head  

When seeking the source of a mysterious malaise, few people would think to blame ions trapped in their mattress coils or cyclotronic resonance from the electrical system.

But if they did, they'd find products already on the market to allay their symptoms.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:14 AM

The Mystery of Malta's Long-Headed Skulls 

Another cool site I stumbled into.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 AM

Glimpsing the Bushman 

I found this 2003 article in my files and thought it was still a good read.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 AM

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Mounds of Controversy at Ohio Club 

Moundbuilders Country Club has been experiencing an unwanted popularity over the past few years. Besides an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse, the private facility in Newark, Ohio, is the home of a 2,000-year-old lunar observatory fashioned by the ancient Hopewell Indians. Since 1933, the members have played golf on the one-time sacred land. Only recently was the artifact discovered. And that's where the trouble began for the club.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:22 PM

Name the Mystery Fish 

Hey kids! Can you name the mystery fish?

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:17 PM

The health benefits of olive oil 

I'm doing some research on olive oil as a topical skin application and I thought I'd share with you some of the interesting things I've found.

Olive oil 'wards off skin cancer'

The Skin Cancer Treatment Toolbox

The health benefits of olive oil

Virgin olive oil is the natural way to kill pain, scientists say

And a tremendous selection of links may be found here at Olive Trees - Information, History, Folklore.

"And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.".
- David, Psalm 93

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:06 PM

Nicotine vaccine has promise for helping smokers quit  

A University of Minnesota study indicates that the nicotine vaccine NicVax, which is now being tested in humans, appears safe, well-tolerated, and a potentially effective method for helping smokers kick the habit.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:31 AM

'Believe' it: Carrey in Burton pic 

Tim Burton and Jim Carrey are teaming up for "Believe It or Not!" an action-adventure loosely based on Robert Ripley.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:53 AM

Nowhere to run 

There is a remarkable article in the latest issue of the American Jewish weekly, Forward. It calls for President Bush to be impeached and put on trial "for misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 BC sent his legions into Germany and lost them".

To describe Iraq as the most foolish war of the last 2,014 years is a sweeping statement, but the writer is well qualified to know.

He is Martin van Creveld, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the world's foremost military historians. Several of his books have influenced modern military theory and he is the only non-American author on the US Army's list of required reading for officers.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:30 AM

An inside look at Opus Dei 

Former head of the FBI, Louis Freeh, was one, so was the convicted double agent Robert Hansen. And in Australia, there are members on both sides of politics. We are talking about membership in the conservative Catholic movement known as Opus Dei, a term which simply translates as God's work. Opus Dei admits to having some 500 members in Australia and only about 200,000 worldwide. Yet it's investments are reported to total more than $300 million. Opus Dei says its aim is merely to place Christ at the head of all human activities and to spread the universal call to holiness through professional work. Its detractors say it's an elitist organisation with questionable recruitment practices aimed at the powerful and the wealthy.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:12 AM

The man who his lost mind 

Electro-convulsive therapy wiped out 15 years of Jonathan Cott's memories. So he began piecing together his past and exploring what it means to remember.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:06 AM

Monday, November 28, 2005

The Cthulhu Circus 

Family Circus comics with captions from H.P. Lovecraft! Freakin' hysterical.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:31 PM

A hoax most cruel 

Simply unbelievable. A must read.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:20 PM

Setting sights on ocean floor 

Is he a mad scientist or an ocean pioneer uncovering the mysteries of the deep? New Scientist magazine says inventor-engineer Graham Hawkes is on the cutting edge of undersea exploration, and his radical new sub design might supersede all of the world's manned submersibles in a few years. Maybe.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:08 PM

Smoke fills Bush adviser's airplane 

Does Andy Card know too much?

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:05 PM

Rosicrucian Order opens doors of mystery to public 

Things don't look so hot from where Ian Niderost is sitting.

From atop telephone poles, the SBC lineman ponders the fate of the world - and his own.

"I think about worldly matters and politics and environmental degradation, all kinds of far-out things, trying to figure out the meaning of life all day long," Niderost, 28, said. "It feels like the human race has taken a wrong fork in the road and we need to start fixing things."

And not just phone lines. So Niderost and 50 other meaning-of-lifers found themselves drawn one recent night to a shadowy temple on a dark street in San Jose, Calif. It was an informational "salon" sponsored by the Rosicrucian Order, "an organization surrounded in mystery since ancient times," according to its literature, that was launching a unique membership campaign, "marking a rare foray into the public eye for an organization that has been shrouded in secrecy for over 6,000 years."

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:02 PM

King Kong's playmate 

What creatures might we be talking about by the end of December, thanks to the coming blockbuster, King Kong? Could one be a cryptid from the skies?

Is there a group of Jurassic pterosaurs (which includes the subgroup of animals called pterodactyls) alive and well in Africa? Sub-Saharan reports of giant flying monsters called kongamato ("overwhelmer of boats") by natives of today's Zambia (formerly Rhodesia) have been discussed in the West since 1923.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:49 AM

When the machines revolt, will you be prepared for it? 

The unnerving thing about "How to Survive a Robot Uprising," this self-defense handbook with its splashy red neo-retro graphics showing tiny people fleeing huge machines, is that, now and then, you can't tell whether or not it's a joke. You suspect that it is, because -- well, because you're laughing. And because of its deliberate deadpan prose style that echoes those pamphlets you find in government offices and hospital waiting rooms.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:36 AM

'Psychic witness' helped police solve murder 

TV show will spotlight Lebanon-area woman

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:28 AM

Eagles may be to blame for 'giant bird' rumor 

Q: When I was young, I believe it was in the mid-seventies or so (I was born in '62), there was a story circulating around the Peoria area about a "giant bird" that was spotted by several people around the area.

My co-workers all think that I have lost my mind as they don't recall anything like that.

Here is Loren Coleman's response over at Cryptomundo.

An excerpt:

"I congratulate Ms. Story for taking on the question, but she just looked in the wrong direction to discover an answer. Editors really need to become more aware of cryptozoology, and this inquiring reader was no doubt talking about the April 1977 flap of "big bird" encounters that centered on Lawndale, Illinois, but also included sightings near Peoria-Pekin, in such towns as Tremont, Delvan, and Minier."

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:26 AM

Melvin and Howard: A true story after all? 

It's Melvin Dummar's story, and he's glued to it.

The former Willard gas station operator - who forever will be tied to Howard Hughes through the so-called Mormon Will - still insists he picked up the billionaire recluse along a lonely Nevada road and saved his life on a frigid December night in 1967.

Now, nearly four decades later, new evidence suggests Dummar was telling the truth.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:17 AM

IRAQ DEATH UNDER INVESTIGATION 

The mysterious death this summer of a military ethicist in Iraq, though ruled a suicide, is attracting further investigation. A story in the Los Angeles Times posits that Col. Ted Westhusing, one of the Army's leading scholars of military ethics, may have been the victim of foul play, as he was getting close to uncovering corruption and human rights violations by U.S. contracting companies in Baghdad.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 AM

Stonehenge's purpose still a matter of debate 

For more than 1,500 years, countless Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples labored to build the mysterious stone structure known as Stonehenge. Why? What was its purpose? Legend once tied the structure to the Druids, but it was built far earlier than their era and there is no evidence they took any interest in it at all.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:11 AM

A Place in the Desert for New Mexico's Most Exclusive Circles 

Secret Flying Saucer Base Found in New Mexico?

Maybe. From the state that gave us Roswell, the epicenter of UFO lore since 1947, comes a report from an Albuquerque TV station about its discovery of strange landscape markings in the remote desert. They're etched in New Mexico's barren northern reaches, resemble crop circles and are recognizable only from a high altitude.

Also, they are directly connected to the Church of Scientology.

(Cue theremin music.)

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:09 AM

The hex files 

Officer uses religious expertise to crack unusual cases.

Great article about Officer Bob Engborg.

See also: Officer unravels unusual cases

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:05 AM

Teen occult interest told 

The Little Village resident accused of kidnapping a young girl for a Satanic ritual is the frequent target of neighborhood bullies, his grandfather said Sunday.

Julian Rodriguez, a 70-year-old retired meatpacker, said he believed his grandson had been reading books about Satanic practices in the last couple of months. But he dismissed the notion that David Rodriguez, 18, planned to carve a pentagram into the chest of the 6-year-old girl, as prosecutors have said.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:01 AM

Mafia informer asked to solve mystery of stolen Caravaggio 

Art lovers in Sicily are appealing to a mafia informer serving a life term in prison to reveal the hiding place of a stolen Caravaggio worth an estimated 20m pounds.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:59 AM

Nepal to probe mystery 'Buddha' boy 

At least 100,000 devotees from Nepal and neighbouring India have flocked in recent weeks to a dense forest in southeastern Nepal to see 15-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon, who, his associates say, has been meditating without food or water for six months.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:57 AM

A crime for all time  

He was known as a mild-mannered, sophomore zoology major who played the bassoon in the Kansas University band.

But in 1958, while he was home for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, 18-year-old Lowell Lee Andrews shot and killed his parents and his older sister.

He was one of the last to be executed in Kansas.

"Why, he was the nicest boy in Wolcott," a stunned neighbor told a newspaper reporter at the time.

A story for my fellow Jayhawks.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:56 AM

Friday, November 25, 2005

Baltimore Museum Of Oddities To Close 

Okay, this is just depressing. Any well-heeled readers feel like pitching in? I never even got to visit. . .

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:01 PM

6-yr-old girl killed in bloody ritual 

The gruesome murder of a six-year-old girl in a remote village in Gulbarga district has brought to fore the bizarre practice of Bhanamati, a form of black magic that involves rituals performed with bones and dismembered parts of the victim’s body.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:52 PM

That's why the lady is a vamp 

Vampires are all around us, in shops, supermarkets, the high street, everywhere - or so says a new book about the UK's modern day vampire scene. After tucking a large crucifix under my jumper and a discreet stake in my handbag, I went to find out more from the author of Vampire Nation.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:50 PM

Triangle's fabled allure shows no sign of vanishing 

Fans of sea legends and the supernatural are gearing up for the 60th anniversary next week of one of the great myth-making mysteries: the disappearance of Flight 19 and the birth of the Bermuda Triangle.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:41 PM

Project Paperclip: Dark side of the Moon 

Sixty years ago the US hired Nazi scientists to lead pioneering projects, such as the race to conquer space. These men provided the US with cutting-edge technology which still leads the way today, but at a cost.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:40 AM

Pop music videos made from recut Sherlock Holmes TV show 

A woman named Mary Van Deusen creates videos for old pop songs by recutting footage from the old Sherlock Holmes Granada TV series starring Jeremy Brett. This is practically the definition of "magnificent obsession" and some of the cuts are nothing short of genius.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:11 AM

Hand-built fortune-telling robot in Bangalore 

Every sunday there is a guy with fortune telling robot on the place opposite of the main entrance of russell market in Bangalore.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:10 AM

Satanic Cult Played Role In Man's Disappearance, Says Family 

A Central Florida family who believes a Satanic cult played a part in the disappearance of a loved one 16 years ago may finally get closure after new clues surface in the case, according to a Problem Solvers investigation.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:15 AM

Investigating the 'death metal' murders 

One man's relentless search for his missing son led him to uncover one of the most shocking crimes in post-war Italy - a tale of satanism and violence that has gripped the country for more than a year.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:13 AM

Mushroom hunter rediscovers boulder 

Bob Winegar went looking for mushrooms in the woods behind his house and he found "A. Einstein" and "H.E.B."

That is what is inscribed on a mysterious boulder that stopped the Rockford man in his tracks south of Krause Street between Northland Drive and the Rogue River.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:09 AM

Hughes 'Hoax,' a tall tale retold 

Lasse Hallstrom recently shot a film that retells a decades-old story some of the players would rather forget. In a phone interview, Hallstrom, the highly regarded Swedish director, was clear about one thing: to make a movie about Clifford Irving isn't necessarily to love him.

Irving is still remembered as the writer who nearly pulled off one of the most audacious scams in publishing: an "autobiography" of Howard Hughes, based on in-person interviews of the reclusive billionaire, which was in fact completely bogus.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:05 AM

Chinese fortune telling may be 4,500 years old  

New evidence suggests fortune telling has a history of at least 4,500 years in China, state media reported on Wednesday.

Archaeologists arrived at this conclusion after they unearthed a jade tortoise and an oblong jade article in an ancient tomb in Lingjiatan village, east China's Anhui province.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:01 AM

Wanted: Santa Claus 

There is no clear motive why a man was stabbed to death by an intruder dressed in Santa gear, detectives said.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:49 AM

Stunning photo previews the death of our Sun 

You've got 4-5 billion years to pack.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:46 AM

Mystery Mummy 

A mystery surrounding the death of one of the Hancock Museum's ancient residents is under investigation following a visit from world renowned Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher.

The mummy of Irt Irw, which dates back to 664-525BC, was found in a tomb near Thebes, Egypt.

More mummies.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:41 AM

What killed Chile's mystery mummies? 

Living in the harsh desert of northern Chile's Pacific coast more than 7,000 years ago, the Chinchorro fishing tribe mysteriously began mummifying dead babies - removing internal organs, cleaning bones, stuffing and sewing up the skin, putting wigs and clay masks on them.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:38 AM

Street magicians fest to begin Dec 10  

If you're passing through Thiruvananthapuram, check it out.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:34 AM

Lone gunman theory still on target 

Those who believe killer Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone are in the minority -- but that doesn't mean they're wrong.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:31 AM

Thursday, November 24, 2005

The Magician's Hidden Library 

I was researching the origin of the word abracadabra when I stumbled upon this web site. I think the book, Magic Words: A Dictionary, sounds particularly interesting.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:01 AM

'Blood-sucking creature' killing sheep in Fujairah 

Rumours of a blood-sucking vampire-like creature preying on sheep have turned the sleepy Fujairah suburb of Sakmakam into a favourite hunting ground for scoop-seeking journalists.

Chupacabra in the UAE?

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:47 AM

Seeing Sasquatch 

Bigfoot, the legendary man-ape from out West, might have some East Coast relatives hanging from the trees surrounding Lembo Lake.

Some shaky images on an 8-year-old videotape have sent Bigfoot watchers around the world into a tizzy. They think they've found a baby Bigfoot clambering up a tree at the 300-acre former orchard off Route 44/55.

The video clip appeared on the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization Web site last week. The BFRO calls itself "the only scientific research organization exploring the Bigfoot/Sasquatch mystery."

Here is the link to the BFRO page that will take you to a download of the video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:21 AM

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Second opinion: advice from antiquity 

Roman medicine and the Materia Medica.

And the Romans had, of course, olive oil to strengthen the nails, soften the skin and ease aching muscles and tired feet. Perhaps, speculates a classical scholar writing in The Lancet, its regular application after bathing might explain why athlete's foot seems to have been unknown in the ancient world, despite the enthusiasm for public baths that would certainly have spread the fungus around. Being a lifelong sufferer himself, he tested his theory by applying a couple of drops between the toes every day. The athlete's foot vanished, never to return. And that is very useful to know.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:50 AM

Top terrorist 'may be master hypnotist'  

Amid fears that Indonesia's most wanted terrorist will strike again, some police have a new theory: Noordin Top is using hypnotism to elude capture and recruit more suicide bombers.

Indonesia's top terrorist is named Noordin Top? Sounds like the Silver Surfer's brother or a small village in England.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:57 AM

A fairy story you can't tell to children 

More on the fairies in the form of a new book on their dark origins.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:54 AM

Thousands still missing in Hurricane Katrina's hardest-hit areas 

The whereabouts of 6,644 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina have not been determined, raising the prospect that the death toll could be higher than the 1,306 recorded so far in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to two groups working with the federal government to account for storm victims.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:50 AM

Don't anger the Fairies 

Sploid's got the latest on the legal rights of fairies, including an interesting link to the Staten Island Fairies of the 1930s.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:48 AM

Pimped Out Megaphone Helmet 

Man, I sure could be annoying with one of these babies. Okay, more annoying.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:33 AM

Weird tales from the Northern Seas: Norwegian Legends 

Book review.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:25 AM

Missing WWII submarine 'found' 

AN Australian filmmaker is confident he has solved the 63-year-old mystery of the location of the third Japanese midget submarine used in the attack on Sydney Harbour during World War II.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:20 AM

Playground of P.S. 261 Site of Dig for Buried Treasure 

Buried beneath the broken concrete, faded hopscotch squares, and steel slides of the playground at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn may lurk the kind of secret treasures children dream of finding.

19th century privy diving in Brooklyn.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:16 AM

Decoding da Vinci 

Renaissance genius meets 21st-century high-tech under a cloak of secrecy and high security.

This is the Da Vinci Code with a difference ... a real-life riddle with a possibly priceless answer. And it's being partially unravelled in Mississauga.

The Wax Rider is a finely detailed little statue, height and length about 20 centimetres, of a horse and rider, modelled in beeswax and powdered marble. If it turns out to be what some people believe, it is unique - the only authenticated sculpture by Leonardo da Vinci

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:13 AM

Monday, November 21, 2005

The Unnatural Natural 

It was supposed to be a simple story about a mysterious senior-softball phenom whose legend was growing in America's heartland. Of course, nothing is simple.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:27 PM

75-year-old jewel thief looks back 

The long larcenous life of Doris Payne. Fascinating stuff.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:09 PM

A brush with evil: Serial killer's painting brings bad luck, owner says 

Malden man's guilty pleasure of investing in murderabilia has come back to haunt him thanks to a "cursed" clown painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy, which the collector claims turned his life into a three-ring circus.

"I just want to get rid of it," said musician Nikki Stone about the late Gacy's signed self-portrait of his terrifying alter ego, "Pogo the Clown."

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:05 PM

Corroborating Evidence: The Black Dahlia Murder 

Was the Black Dahlia murder committed by the Cleveland Torso Killer? A new book hopes you'll want to find out.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:36 AM

Bowie brings magic to new film role 

Rock idol David Bowie has landed a new movie role, playing the inventor and electrical genius Nikola Tesla.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:30 AM

Guitarist Link Wray dies at 76 

Guitar master Link Wray, the father of the power chord in rock 'n' roll who inspired legends such as Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Pete Townsend, has died.

Awww, dammit.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:10 AM

Amityville Horror Truth: George Lutz has his lawsuit against MGM 'tossed' 

Controversial George Lutz is wearing half a smile today as a judge has ruled against the former haunted house owner, who claims he was defamed after being falsely portrayed in "The Amityville Horror" remake as an ax-wielding dog killer.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:42 AM

Does spontaneous human combustion exist? 

A character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House burns to death without any apparent reason. Human spontaneous combustion is a belief which has been around for centuries but does it really exist?

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:29 AM

A village of killer wives in Hungary 

The sleepy Hungarian village of Nagyrev near here does not at first glance seem to be the kind of place where wives could have poisoned husbands. Old women in 'otthonkas' - the flowery all-in-one uniform of elderly women across Hungary - water their plants, farmers tend their crops and time passes in a languorous, pastoral haze.

But these elderly villagers nurse dark memories of the time when the women of the village embarked on a killing spree that saw scores of abusive husbands poisoned to death under the supervision of the local midwife.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:53 AM

From the sea, shards of the past  

Washed ashore on local beaches, fragments of pottery, porcelain, and china offer a colorful connection to history, like messages from the deep.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:24 AM

A rollicking history of the devil's horn 

When the precocious master Adolphe Sax unveiled his "new brass horn" at a Brussels trade show in 1842, a jealous competitor broke it with a savage kick. Sax's reward for inventing the first new instrument Europe had seen in a hundred years was to have his workshop torched, tools stolen, house bombed, and businesses ruined for three and a half decades.

The storied history of the saxophone.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:21 AM

Black magic, murder and madness in Satanist South Africa  

A CHURCH custodian is murdered in the dead of night and his mutilated corpse, bearing vicious stab wounds to his head and side mimicking those of Jesus Christ on the cross, is left in front of the altar.

On the ground, in the victim's blood, is written the word "Satun" (sic).

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:14 AM

Mystery Saxon whip goes on display in London 

A small leather whip found in a 1,000-year-old rubbish dump may be evidence of the brutal treatment of slaves in Saxon London.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:03 AM

No Closer to Cracking the Kennedy Case 

The conference was optimistically titled "Cracking the JFK Case," but it was widely noted that many of the speakers and members of the audience had grown gray hair or lost much of it while looking for the answers.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:00 AM

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Mystery of lost colony intrigues visitors to Outer Banks 

Jamestown may get more attention as the first permanent English colony to survive. But if you're teaching American history chronologically, the start comes at Roanoke Island. That's where the earliest settlers sailing from England landed in 1585, decades before Jamestown was settled.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:41 PM

Haunted Places in Missouri 

Right in my backyard.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:39 PM

Friday, November 18, 2005

Real sea monkey? 

One smallish fur-bearing creature that Steller reported sighting at sea has never been seen since then. It was a playful animal with a head like a dog and a fat hairy body, and it cavorted around the ship for two hours. Steller called it a sea ape; he thought it must be an oceangoing primate. Today's cryptozoologists keep Steller's sea ape in their list of mysterious mammals, along with the Asian Yeti and American Bigfoot. Most people think it must have been a monk seal.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:24 PM

Green devil hunts kids 

Sploid's got it.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:59 PM

Kungfu Secret Agent 

Agent for Interpol comes clean on his career as an assassin.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:22 AM

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Richard Hamlin Vs. Satanic Ritual Abuse Conspiracy 

The Placerville, California trial of Richard Hamlin, a successful attorney in Sacramento, has all the hallmarks of a high-level Satanic Ritual Abuse criminal conspiracy, including allegations of MK-Ultra mind control, bio-warfare, child pornography, snuff films, and other "black" (covert military) projects.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:06 PM

The power within 

The winter season has left most of us faced with a narrowed scope of choices for outdoor activities. For people who are repelled by the idea of hitting treadmills or bending bodies for yoga, Chinese qigong could be worth a try.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:49 PM

Shaolin Temple to popularize Kungfu via modern media 

China's famous Shaolin Temple is planning to cull outstanding Kungfu players worldwide via television, internet and mobile phones in a bid to better promote its 1,500-year martial art heritage and fame.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:47 PM

The penny which is worth a mint 

A 1,000-year-old coin which once would have bought a meagre meal could go for a mint this weekend.

The medieval silver penny was made in Norwich while Edward the Confessor was king.

According to history experts the coin would have paid for no more than a few loaves of bread or some vegetables.

But the currency will go under the hammer on Sunday and is expected to fetch hundreds.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:43 PM

Democracy Breakin': Ohio's Electric Boogaloo 

More on Ohio's Staggeringly Impossible '05 Results.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:29 PM

Supernatural powers that be 

WITCH CRAFT or sorcery is an age-old practice from ancient times passed on through generations into the modern era.

In Papua New Guinea, sorcery haunts almost everyone, from the powerful elite in Waigani to the hamlets in the remote areas of the country.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:26 PM

Flight 19 crew honored by House 

Disappearance began notion of Bermuda Triangle.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:24 PM

R.U. scared? Duo chronicles campus lore 

Strange stories from Rutgers.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:21 PM

Free Sherlock Holmes 

No, really, free Sherlock Holmes stories delivered to your mailbox. Sign up now!

Over 12 weeks from January through April 2006, Stanford will be republishing, free of charge, two early Holmes stories, "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Speckled Band"; the nine-part novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles; and the famous "last" encounter between Holmes and Moriarty, "The Final Problem." If you would like to receive paper facsimiles of the original magazine releases, you may sign up on our website. If you would prefer to download the facsimile as a pdf from the website, each installment will be available on successive Fridays. If you will be using the pdf files, please provide us with your email address on the subscription page, and we will send you an email every Friday, alerting you that the week's issue is available to download.

Also from boing boing.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:18 PM

Cool Vintage Toy 

Super-cool dad makes super-cool toy!

From boing boing.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:03 PM

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Perpetrators of Ancient War Crime Sought 

Whoever they were, the invaders made short work of the enormous palace in the Mayan lowlands, ignoring half-built ramparts to corral nearly three dozen members of the royal household, systematically murder them with spears and axes, then dismember the corpses and dump the pieces into a ceremonial cistern.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:25 PM

Maine's Dog-Killing "Hyena" 

Whatever hates dogs in central Maine is back. It kills, it slices dogs' throats, and it terrorizes the citizenry. Creepiest of all, eyewitnesses say it looks like a hyena.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:24 PM

Unveil the Secrets of Ancient Civilizations 

When considering ancient history, there's lots of room for imaginations to run wild. One such speculative sprinter is acclaimed, internationally bestselling British author Graham Hancock, whose books Fingerprints of the Gods, Underworld, and Sign and the Seal explore such cryptic topics as lost civilizations and the origins of man, often using world megaliths (Stonehenge, Easter Island faces, etc.) and mysterious, man-made deep-sea structures as his dowsing rod.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:30 PM

Ellroy Confidential 

A conversation with the Demon Dog of American letters.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:26 PM

His 'Zion' eyes: Levin confronts 'Protocols' in 'gonzo' film 

Marc Levin is ready for a fight. He's a filmmaker so it probably won't be a fistfight. But he's so steamed, things could escalate.

"I am surprised that I didn't get punched in the nose," he says, describing the process of making his new documentary, "The Protocols of Zion," "or that I didn't punch someone in the nose."

That's the kind of reaction that the movie's subject - the old publication "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - provokes.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:24 PM

In an old Celtic revival, spelling is a test of wills  

No one knows for sure who the last native speaker of Cornish was, although some point to Dolly Pentreath, a resident of the village of Mousehole who died in 1777, apocryphally uttering the Cornish phrase for "I don't want to speak English."

Whatever the truth, sometime by the 19th century, the language fizzled out completely.

Since then, historians and linguists have tried to revive Cornish, one of a group of old Celtic languages whose cousins include Gaelic, Welsh and Breton. But the campaign is not going so well.

For one thing, only about 200 people currently speak it well enough to hold a conversation.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:16 PM

Lake Monsters unleashed 

They're the Vermont Lake Monsters.

Building off Champ, their loveable mythical mascot who lives in Lake Champlain, the Vermont Expos announced Tuesday the state's only professional baseball team have become the Vermont Lake Monsters.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 PM

Secret government UFO file unveiled 

National Security Agency affidavit sheds light on Cold War-era efforts.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:00 PM

Wife tells of beatings, lies, threats 

In a plot involving mind control and extortion, Susan Hamlin told an El Dorado Superior Court jury, her husband would beat her every day and stab her in the scalp to hide puncture wounds.

"He strangled me. He punched me. He held a barrel of a gun in my mouth and asked if I was ready to die," a sobbing Hamlin said as her husband sat a few feet away, charged with torture, domestic violence and child endangerment.

In six days of testimony that ended Tuesday, Hamlin said the domestic violence began during the last five years of their 20-year marriage and ended with Richard W. Hamlin's arrest Feb. 28, 2004.

After the beatings escalated in severity and number, Richard W. Hamlin, a defense attorney and former Sacramento prosecutor, began to brainwash his wife and the couple's four children into believing a twisted tale of incest, prostitution, child molestation and devil worship, she said.

Central to "the story," as the Hamlins called it, was a conspiracy to murder Richard Hamlin because his Christian beliefs would make him a "trophy" for a Satanist cult.

Rigorous Intuition has a long link about this case.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:55 PM

BushFellas: New Links in Boulis Murder 

As three men - Anthony 'Big Tony' Moscatiello, Anthony 'Little Tony' Ferrari, and James 'Pudgy' Fiorillo - pled not guilty in court this week, the MadCowMorningNews has discovered new details in the investigation into the 4-year old slaying of SunCruz casino ship owner Gus Boulis.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:44 PM

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Ambassador de Sade 

Bush rewarded one of his loyalists with the ambassadorship to Italy -- despite his past as the founder of an cult-like teen rehab clinic.

Torture, greed, brainwashing - Republican values in action!

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:49 PM

Unsolved cases in Nome attract FBI  

FBI serial homicide experts have been called in to investigate a chain of disappearances and suspicious deaths of Native villagers visiting Nome.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:58 PM

Meditation builds up the brain 

Meditating does more than just feel good and calm you down, it makes you perform better - and alters the structure of your brain, researchers have found.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:29 PM

Iraqi detainees claim they were put into cage of lions 

Two Iraqi businessmen, who were imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, claimed Monday that American soldiers threw them into a cage of lions in a Baghdad palace, as part of a terrifying interrogation in 2003.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:10 AM

Horse slasher leaves stables in fear 

Up and down the country animals have been stabbed and mutilated but the culprits are elusive.

With map that would indicate that this is an organized effort carried out by more than one person. The question is why. Feel free to email me with suggestions.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:59 AM

Mysteries of the Watton underground 

Victorian settlers seemingly lavished a great deal of time, effort and money on a warren of tunnels under a Norfolk town.

But no one is quite sure why they bothered.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:52 AM

Girl resurrects after 11 years 

Sixteen-year-old Josephine Chilamba, who died at the age of five in 1994, is believed to have resurrected last month after spending 11 years in the world of darkness.

Josephine surprised people who spotted her walking around a graveyard as mourners were returning home after burial ceremony of one village member in Mkungula Village on October 2, 2005.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:47 AM

Digging up Old Chinatown's roots 

On the oddly shaped corner of San Pablo Avenue and 20th Street stand two boarded-up old buildings with flat, wood-paneled facades, reminiscent of pioneer days before Victorian-style houses became all the rage in Oakland. A popular mom-and-pop barbecue joint, Chef Edward's, adjoins them.

But the two buildings, which date to 1883, are symbolic to some people and community groups, such as University of California, Berkeley archaeologist Anna Naruta and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

After digging up historical information, they discovered the corner is the site of the original Chinatown of Oakland, or the "Uptown Chinatown," one of the few visible remains of a bygone era.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:46 AM

Ancient Brewery Tended by Elite, Female Brewmasters 

If the ancient mountaintop city in southern Peru was the vanished Wari empire's unique imperial showplace, the brewery was its piece de resistance.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:44 AM

The science of sea serpents  

Findings debunk whale of whopping monster tales.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:36 AM

Monday, November 14, 2005

eBay: Original Kinsey Sign from Institute for Sex Research  

It's ebayrotic!

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:05 PM

Heart to Hart: The Will Hart Interview 

How could these under developed, mud hut dwelling dudes manage all this? Who taught them all this nonsense?

Why, our benevolent space brothers of course!

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:54 PM

Books Bound in Human Skin 

Anthropodermic bibliopegy, the technical term for books bound in human skin.

A faint inscription on the last page of the book reads: "The bynding of this booke is all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King btesa did give me the book, it being one of poore Jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. Requiescat in pace."

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:59 PM

'Mothman' expert to discuss newest research tonight in Athens 

This may sound odd, but it wasn't that long ago that the people of the region were gripped with fear over the hundreds of sightings of UFOs, the "Men in Black" and the Mothman.

It sounds like something out of a movie (and indeed a movie has been made based on the story), but it all happened close to Athens in the late 1960s.

Gallipolis resident Jeff Wamsley grew up in Pt. Pleasant W.Va., just a few doors down from one of the first couples who reported spotting the Mothman. Wamsley has researched the Mothman story extensively over the years, and has written two books on the subject.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:04 AM

Pa. May Let Hunters Use Prehistoric Weapon  

An ancient weapon that struck fear in the hearts of Spanish conquistadors, and that some think was used to slay wooly mammoths in Florida, may soon be added to the arsenal of Pennsylvania's hunters.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:09 AM

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Seeing UFOs but not much else 

I couldn't help noticing (in Sunday's MetroWest Daily News, "UFO sightings close to home but far out") there had been two reported sightings of unidentified flying objects in the MetroWest this year.

I also couldn't help noticing that one of those reported sightings occurred early in the morning "while driving back from a dance."

But you take these sightings when you can get them - especially these days - because these are trying times for ufologists.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:39 PM

Irritating UFO Flare-ups  

When trying to get a good night's sleep in the outdoors, there's nothing more irritating than the occasional flare up of UFOs.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:37 PM

Undisclosed Spying Objects 

There's a guy in Yuma who swears aliens put an implant in his wrist.

Tim Cullen, a 54-year-old former construction worker, says he had it surgically removed in 1998. He says it was metallic and coated with a biological membrane.

"Isotopes from these metals, some of them are not from this planet," Cullen told me. Others claiming to have been abducted by UFOs have told similar tales. Have they all been bugged with alien tracking devices?

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:34 PM

Friday, November 11, 2005

A big thanks to my readers 

As of today, Professor Hex has had over 25,000 visits. I'd like to take a moment to thank all the people from around the world who have dropped by. Just today I have had readers from Spain, Israel, Korea, the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Mexico, Greece, Switzerland, Australia, Mauritius, France, Hungary, Singapore, Malaysia, Peru, and the good old U.S.A. And that's just today. I hope you enjoy your time here. If you have any suggestions, or would like to see something on here that you are currently not seeing, please let me know by sending me an email.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank my friend T.J. Speckman. T.J. tragically passed away recently and he will be missed terribly by everyone who knew him. He was in many ways an older brother to me and it is no exaggeration to say that this website would not exist without him. He was a tireless supporter of my endeavors and tipped me off to many great stories. He was a wonderful soundboard for my most outlandish ideas and he always told me the truth, even if I didn't want to hear it. RIP, pal. I miss you very much.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:13 PM

Kalarippayattu  

I just watched a show on this ancient Indian martial art. Fascinating.

The program was Deadly Arts, hosted by Josette Normandeau.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:05 PM

Black Magic and Pit Bulls: Raid Uncovers More than Just Drugs 

Equipment for training pit bulls, weapons, illegal drugs and evidence of black magic. Just a few of the things Bexar County Sheriff's Deputies uncovered during a drug raid on the city's south side.

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:23 PM

Finding said to boost proof of Goliath 

Archaeologists digging at the purported biblical home of Goliath have unearthed a shard of pottery bearing an inscription of the Philistine's name, a find they claimed lends historical credence to the Bible's tale of David's battle with the giant.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:44 PM

BYU Forms New Theory About 9/11 Attacks 

BYU professor has developed a new theory about the terrorist attack in New York on September 11, 2001. He believes planes alone did not bring down the world trade center.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:43 PM

FBI and CIA identified as helping Plan Venezuelan Prosecutor's Murder 

A key witness in the Danilo Anderson murder trial, Giovani Jose Vasquez De Armas, has identified FBI and CIA agents as being involved in the preparations to assassinate the Venezuelan State Prosecutor. Speaking on behalf of Vasquez De Armas, the Attorney General's office said that those planning the killing, "all discussed the plan with the help of the FBI and CIA."

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:41 PM

Investigator Stalls in Iraq Antiquities Hunt  

More help is needed from Iraq's neighbors, particularly Iran and Turkey, to recover thousands of antiquities looted from Baghdad's National Museum during the battle for the city in 2003, says the U.S. investigator who led the initial search.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:32 PM

Researchers Say Meditation Benefits Chronic Stress  

When humans are in a stressful situation, their bodies react the same way every other animal's body reacts. There's an energy burst, faster blood flow and sharpened thinking.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:27 PM

Campaign Phone-Jamming Case to Go to Trial 

A former national Republican Party official will stand trial on charges he conspired to jam Democratic get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002, a federal judge said.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:23 PM

Could a large tsunami ever hit the United States? 

"Unfortunately, the answer is yes - big time."

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:15 PM

IWU Alum Presents Rare 19th Century Book to The Ames Library 

What can a dream of fish or flowers reveal about the future? What must a young woman do to attract a husband? The most recent addition to Illinois Wesleyan's Special Collections, which is located on the fourth floor of The Ames Library (1 Ames Plaza East, Bloomington), contains the nearly 200-year-old answers to these questions.

Eric Gardner, class of '89, presented the university with The Complete Fortune Teller and Dream Book, a rare early 19th century chapbook (a small, inexpensive paperback publication common in the 18th and 19th centuries) originally published in Boston in 1824.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:04 PM

Pirates using mystery ship 

Somali pirates attacked five ships in the past week in a sharp rise of banditry apparently directed from a mysterious "mother ship" prowling the busy Indian Ocean corridor, shipping experts said on Friday.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:57 PM

DNA Method Could Reveal Jack the Ripper 

Some of the greatest murder mysteries of all time, including the identity of Jack the Ripper, could be solved soon thanks to a major breakthrough in DNA technology, Australian researchers say.

Developed by Ian Findlay at Queensland's Griffith University, the method is able to extract and compile a DNA fingerprint from as little as one human cell up to 160 years old.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:52 PM

Floating Cities, Phantom Armies and Ghost Ships 

One of the strangest spectacles that man has documented is that of Phantom army. History records many instances of whole battalions of soldiers that simply appeared unexpectedly from nowhere to the amazement of witnesses, or floating cities that hover above water for hours at a time, cities that are so real you can see children and dogs playing in the street.

Witness reports suggest that these phenomena appear to have a reality of their own, so what are they?

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:48 PM

Mysterious Sengbeh animal killed in Sierra Leone 

The people of Sengbeh Chiefdom in the Koinadugu district past week breathe a sigh of relief following the killing of a certain mysterious animal that had for the past three months terrorized and killed people across the chiefdom.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:45 PM

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Daughter vanishes while on Alaskan cruise 

She boarded the Mercury but never got off. The cruise line called it a suicide. But her father's investigation has left him with as many questions as answers about her fate - and the cruise line itself.

Note to self: stay off of cruise ships, stay out of Aruba.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:41 PM

Giant gorilla was once a human neighbor 

King Kong, you have some competition.

A 10-foot-tall, 1,200-pound gorilla dwelled among early humans, says a new report by a Canadian researcher.

Jack Rink of Canada's McMaster University concludes that the largest primate that ever lived, Gigantopithecus blackii, lived in Asia for nearly 1 million years before dying out about 100,000 years ago.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:34 PM

Tale of flying blubber keeps bubbling up 

Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the funniest thing that ever happened in Oregon: the exploding whale.

Like you needed reminding, right?

Let's face it, into every true Oregonian's life a little blubber must fall - and, thus, do we, each year at this time, pay tribute to the State Highway Division (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) for bringing us the laugh heard 'round the world.

Who can we thank for helping keep the spirit alive? An otherwise unassuming Eugene man, Steve Hackstadt, mastermind of the ever-popular "TheExplodingWhale.com" Web site. It receives about 10,000 hits a day from around the world, triggering all sorts of reader controversy. ("You staged this video." "Do you have any life at all?" "Would you rather rot on a beach and have people smell you until you're fully decomposed?")

And the site, naturally, has been revamped for the big 35th, now including not only the infamous KATU film footage but an interactive exploding-whale locator map for similar incidents around the world.

When I lived in Portland, in the early days of the Internet, this story was considered an urban legend until some industrious reporter dug up the tape and aired it on local television. TheExplodingWhale.com is here, with video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:31 PM

King Kong vs. Godzilla 

First came a new report on Gigantopithecus, a huge prehistoric ape that inevitably invites comparisons to King Kong because of the imminent release of the film remake by the same name. And now comes the discovery of Dakosaurus andiniensis, a monstrous species of 135-million-year-old aquatic crocodile that has been nicknamed "Godzilla." The synchronicity of these reports can mean only one thing:

People of Tokyo, run for your lives.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:20 PM

Internet Killed the Alien Star 

If you're looking for one of those famous, big-eyed alien abductors, try looking on the sides of milk cartons. The UFO cultural moment in America is long since over, having gone out with the Clintons and grunge rock in the 90s. Ironically, the force that killed the UFO fad is the same force that catapulted it to super-stardom: the Internet. And therein hangs a tale about how the Internet can conceal and reveal the truth.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:17 PM

Advanced extraterrestrial UFO propagation based on Superstrings driven Supersymmetric Fluid Dynamics 

Mechanical Engineers and theoretical physicists have found an Integrateable, supersymmetric fluid model with additional, "dynamical" symmetry tracing back to its origin in the superstring. This according to some of the advanced next generation propagation engineers forms the basis of an advanced extraterrestrial UFO propagation.

Uh, yeah, sounds good.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:16 PM

The Passion of the Rad 

An enigmatic independent auteur may have made the world's next great midnight movie.

Even several days into its run, the only information about Dangerous Men to be found online was an equally mystified review by the Ultimate Dancing Machine, published on HollywoodBitchslap.com, and a handful of user comments ranging from "pitiful but riveting" to "makes my eyes bleed, in the good way" to "incomprehensibly, mind-numbingly and adorably weird" to the measured "I just saw this . . . and it made me retarded."

Must...see...this...movie...

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:12 PM

DID YOU HEAR? UFO Center welcomes television visitors 

It's hard to ignore a huge, wooden UFO in someone's back yard, but the UFO Welcome Center in Bowman hasn't received the attention it once got.

That changed last month when a piece of something crash-landed two blocks from the center. Although the piece was later identified as a military aircraft part used in the launching of missiles, it put the spotlight back on the center.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:55 PM

He sees Maya link in UFOs, natural disasters 

Katrina. Rita. Wilma. The earthquake in Pakistan. These devastating natural disasters are part of the change the world is undergoing, something the Maya foretold thousands of years ago.

That's according to Jaime Maussan, a popular investigator of UFO phenomena in Mexico.

What's more, he said, a Maya prophecy predicts radical changes for the year 2012 that will alter the history of the planet.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:53 PM

The world's biggest museum is falling down  

The Smithsonian in Washington may have a world-famous reputation, but its buildings are crumbling.

Cost of the the war in Iraq?

$218 billion. And counting.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:48 PM

Was it a Conspiracy? The Mystery of the Pittsburgh Ghost Bomber 

On January 31, 1956, a Mitchell B-25 bomber, on a flight from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to Olmstead Air Force Base in Harrisburg crashed in the Monongahela River (locally known as the "Mon"), just outside of Pittsburgh. The crew of 6 survived the crash, but two were later claimed by the icy waters of the Mon river.

What happened over the next two weeks fueled one of Pittsburgh's greatest unsolved mysteries… What became of the B-25 bomber?

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:42 PM

How the dead live 

For the first time in 1,300 years, the great Tibetan Book of the Dead has been translated into English.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:36 PM

Lake Superior wreck hunters explore watery grave 

During 13 years of scouring Lake Superior and finding nothing but bottom, Jerry Eliason took occasional ribbing from co-workers at the driver exam station in West Duluth.

The ribbing continued this summer, but now because of a sudden abundance of good fortune. During the past two years, Eliason and a team of shipwreck hunters found or helped to find six shipwrecks, including three this summer.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:25 PM

Are animals more in touch than us? 

Flamingos fled. Buffalo scrambled to higher ground. Dogs refused to take early-morning walks.

These reactions shortly before the Asian tsunami in December serve as intriguing hooks for "Can Animals Predict Disaster?" This documentary, airing Sunday on PBS' "Nature," explores the notion that the animal kingdom can pick up the Earth's signals in ways that surpass humanity.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:20 PM

Sights, shivers and signs  

Teens encounter the supernatural.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:15 PM

Government Conspiracies and Bigfoot or Do You Smell Something Burning? 

In Thom Powell's book, "The Locals", he tells of a report that he investigated for the BFRO, a group that he was involved with as an investigator for several years.

The report concerned a Bigfoot that was found during a firefighting mission on Battle Mountain, NV on August 6, 1999. A letter dated the next day was received by the BFRO from an anonymous federal agency worker who was at the scene with approximately 20 firefighters.

Lots of good stuff over at Cryyptomundo today.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:09 PM

Bili Ape Discoverer Shot 

Shelly Williams, 49, the world-renowned primatologist credited with gathering convincing evidence of a new species of great apes, a cryptid primate known to cryptozoologists as the Bili or Bondo ape, was shot in the back around 2:30 pm, on November 7, 2005. She apparently was the innocent victim of an unrelated drug shooting in Smyrna, Georgia.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:05 PM

Hair of the Yeti 

"Would you please tell me if genetic analysis has been used for 'identification' of the hair brought by Slick and Hillary? If yes, what the results are? If no, why still not?"

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:04 PM

Congressman: 9/11 is a 'cover-up' 

Sploid's got it.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:58 PM

Patent issued for anti-gravity device 

The U.S. patent office has reportedly granted a patent for an anti-gravity device -- breaking its rule to reject inventions that defy the laws of physics.

The journal Nature said patent 6,960,975 was granted Nov. 1 to Boris Volfson of Huntington, Ind., for a space vehicle propelled by a superconducting shield that alters the curvature of space-time outside the craft in a way that counteracts gravity.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:55 PM

"Godzilla" Fossils Reveal Real-Life Sea Monster 

Researchers have unearthed fossil evidence of a 135-million-year-old "sea monster" they're calling Godzilla.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:47 PM

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Is Angelina Jolie Working Voodoo on Brad Pitt?  

Doctor Snake, the author of cult best-seller "Voodoo Spellbook", thinks that Jolie is working voodoo on Brad.

I knew I'd get Brangelina on this blog someday.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:15 PM

Prayer, magic are not so different 

Most people believe God answers prayer - even nonchurch folk. Generally, in all religions prayer is the invoking of greater-than-human powers to manipulate matters beyond the believer's control to a favorable outcome. In teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus gave them a model (Matt 6:9-13). "Pray like this," he said. In the prayer disciples are taught first to invoke the name of deity and then ritually present their petitions.

Ancient magic worked in a strikingly similar way: Greater than human powers were invoked and a ritual of petition followed.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:12 PM

Pamela Vitale Murder: Scott Dyleski Arraigned, Pleads Not Guilty 

Seventeen-year-old Scott Dyleski was arraigned today for the murder of Pamela Vitale (and assault with a deadly weapon), entered a plea of not guilty, and waived his right for a preliminary hearing to be held within 10 days.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:05 PM

The narco saint of Bakersfield 

Jesus of the Bad Green protects the bandits.

Half Robin Hood, half Virgin of Guadalupe, Jesus Malverde (Jesus of the Bad Green) has been protecting bandits and drug dealers for almost a century, since his hanging at the hands of cops in Sinaloa, Mexico.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:24 PM

Des Moines man fired for seeing ghosts 

Can a worker be fired from his job because he believes in ghosts?

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:13 PM

A Is for Ancient, Describing an Alphabet Found Near Jerusalem  

In the 10th century B.C., in the hill country south of Jerusalem, a scribe carved his A B C's on a limestone boulder - actually, his aleph-beth-gimel's, for the string of letters appears to be an early rendering of the emergent Hebrew alphabet.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:10 PM

Watching over your widow 15 years after dying: Priceless 

Happily married, active and settled into an attractive new home near a golf course in Viera, Howard and Peggy Tune look like the poster couple for retirement bliss. There's just one thing: The guy she was married to for 39 years keeps watching them. And he's dead.

A great ghost story I found over at the Anomalist.

posted by Prof. Hex at 9:00 AM

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Ten Aphrodisiacs That Really Work  

For as long as humans have been having sex, they've been struggling to get in the mood.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:08 PM

Wicca today 

If you conjure up an image of a witch, you probably picture an evil looking lady with a pointy hat, pointed nose and a broomstick. But that's not how the modern-day witch appears and Julie-Anne Farmer is living proof of that.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:04 PM

Bolivians honor skull-toting tradition 

It's a tradition people outside Bolivia might find creepy: families perch human skulls on altars, revering them and asking them for protection and good luck. On Tuesday, the skulls were gussied up and taken to cemeteries, where the families crowned them with flowers and filled their jaws with lit cigarettes.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:02 PM

Mysterious Hawaiian Tiki Stir Debate 

More than 20 rare, carved wooden figures dating to the early 19th century recently were discovered in a cave at North Kona, Hawaii, according to several newspaper reports from the Big Island.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:41 PM

DANGER ON THE GREAT LAKES: Fitzgerald still haunts sailors 

On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee.

And, if you're interested, here are the lyrics to the Gordon Lightfoot classic.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:26 PM

Monday, November 07, 2005

Tracing the Holy Grail through France  

Those who have read The Da Vinci Code will know of the legend of the Holy Grail, as will anyone who has studied European religious history, or even read about the Crusades. Whether myth or mystery, nations and religious movements have at times believed in its existence.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:20 PM

The secrets of qigong 

Of all the benefits of qigong, perhaps the least talked about is the improvement in sexual health. Most people practise qigong to improve their general health while others seek qigong only after contracting serious diseases and cancer. Very few know that harnessing qi can have other benefits.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:00 PM

Beer's hops seen to inhibit tumor growth 

I'm fighting cancer right now!

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:14 PM

Miracle Mongers and Their Methods 

Houdini's book from 1920.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:35 PM

The spirit of Tombstone 

They say ghosts walk the streets of this dusty desert town. It's easy to understand why.

With a name like Tombstone and a frenzied history of bloodshed, this outpost near the southwestern edge of the United States has a reputation that's … well, haunted. And it doesn't help to see a dozen gunslingers die each day in the town's sandy red dirt.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:55 PM

Ghost hunters bedevil Ill. cemetery 

Police in a Chicago-area town are trying to keep ghost hunters out of a supposedly haunted cemetery.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:53 PM

UFO sightings 

The truth is out there.

See also Fireballs spark UFO speculation.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:52 PM

Taxidermists take gutsy approach 

As if playing Drs. Franken-furry, three Minneapolis artists create creatures, using spare parts from animals.

They use postmortem animals, real or stuffed, that have been found or donated. They call themselves the Minneapolis Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Members of the group present their "Iowa Invitational" starting this week at Pella's Central College.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:50 PM

Cause Opens for Religious Slain in Satanic Rite 

The cause of beatification has opened for Sister Maria Laura Mainetti, a 60-year-old religious murdered by three girls during a Satanic rite in 2000.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:48 PM

Kitty Killer Still at Large in Hollywood 

Residents in the neighborhood south of Santa Monica Boulevard and west of Crescent Heights Boulevard have been shocked to discover the mutilated remains of approximately 10 domestic cats on their properties.

posted by Prof. Hex at 4:46 PM

Opening the door to the real Rosslyn  

Rosslyn and the Holy Grail.

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:40 PM

For Sale: Island with Mysterious Money Pit 

Anybody want to loan me $7 million?

posted by Prof. Hex at 1:34 PM

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Ancient church found on jail site 

Israeli officials say they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian Church in the Holy Land - on the site of a maximum security prison.

posted by Prof. Hex at 12:16 AM

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Secrets of lough are to be probed 

Any Co Fermanagh underwater monster mysteries could soon be solved with the help of some of the latest technology.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:48 PM

Brian Jones: Who killed the Rolling Stones guitarist? 

Officially, he died by accident. But rumours about the Rolling Stones guitarist's death won't go away. Now, an explosive new theory may prove it was murder.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:32 PM

Bizarre sells - Ripley's expanding its empire 

The Orlando-based company of "Believe it or Not!" fame has announced rapid expansion plans over the next year and a half, including at least four new locations from Spain to New York City.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:18 PM

Scotland's Orkneys tell ancient stories 

The Orkney Islands are at once remote and mysterious, yet sophisticated -- transformed by the economic boom that followed the discovery of oil in the North Sea. Yet the islands also have archaeological wonders around every corner, along with spectacular scenery, wildlife and some incredible modern history.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:13 PM

MYSTERY OF A LOST ARTIST 

Great article about an artistic mystery.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:07 PM

Alan Moore: Could it be magic? 

"Magic and Art are the same," he affirms. "Which is why Magic is referred to as The Great Art. They are both technologies of Will, both about pulling rabbits out of hats and creating something where there was nothing."

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:56 PM

Man's corpse slaps wife to death 

Mystery played out itself at Ekorinim community in Calabar, Cross River State, penultimate week, when late Mr. Okon Ekpo's corpse allegedly dealt a deadly slap on the widow, killing her instantly.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:40 PM

Rabin assassin demands new trial 

Ten years after he raised a pistol and fired shots at the back of Israel's prime minister, the country's most notorious convict is to appeal against his sentence on the grounds that he may not have been Yitzhak Rabin's assassin after all.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:37 PM

Mystery person woos local woman 

A Southern Colorado woman is being shown the world by the Count of Monte Cristo. For nearly 30 years, A secret admirer who uses the name from the 1840's play has sent gifts to Frances Meese from around the world.

Awwwwwwwww, ain't that cute. With video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:35 PM

In China, hunt on for Loch Ness monster 

Man, that headline makes no sense. Good article, though.

"I said it was rubbish at first," says Yuan. "The next day, I saw them."

"It's fish. Giant fish, some about 15 meters (50 feet) long."

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:32 PM

Death renews iceman 'curse' claim 

The death of a molecular biologist has fuelled renewed speculation about a "curse" connected to an ancient corpse.

posted by Prof. Hex at 10:25 PM

Friday, November 04, 2005

Not Yeti 

Last weekend's "Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale" symposium at the Bates College Museum of Art was the forum for some of their leading practitioners to get to grips with one another, and begin building the dialogue that will culminate in next summer's exhibition (of the same title) which begins at Bates and travels to the Kansas City Art Institute.

posted by Prof. Hex at 7:46 PM

Thursday, November 03, 2005

The history of Dublin's Hell-Fire Club 

The Club, also referred to as the "Medmenham Club" was formed in 1741 by Sir Francis Dashwood (1708 - 1781) at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and became notorious for its rumoured sexual orgies and 'occult' activities.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:55 PM

Archaeologists identify Copernicus' skull 

Archaeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:50 PM

Conspiracy buffs buoyed by Rabin anniversary 

A stunt to win political favor that went wrong? A plot by high-level rivals on Israel's left? An assassination engineered to smear right-wingers?

Ten years after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot at a peace rally by an ultranationalist opposed to his talks with the Palestinians, the Jewish state is seeing a resurgent swirl of rumor and speculation about his death.

posted by Prof. Hex at 8:21 PM

Foul smell at City Hall 

It seems like there are a lot of strange odors floating around lately.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:05 PM

Aussie may unmask Jack the Ripper 

One of the greatest murder mysteries of all time - the identity of Jack the Ripper - may soon be revealed by DNA technology developed in Australia.

Scientist Ian Findlay was to use the new test on saliva the notorious serial killer could have left behind if he licked the stamps on the envelopes of letters he sent to London police.

posted by Prof. Hex at 3:01 PM

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Hubbard and the Occult 

This article is the first in a series of articles based upon research into the roots of the Hubbardian philosophy that gave birth to the "Sacred Scriptures" of the Church of Scientology.

The Office of Special Affairs, the elite Secret Intelligence unit of the Church of Scientology, was well aware that this report was reaching its final stage and in the recent months they have launched lawsuits and a massive propaganda campaign to discredit FACTNET Director, Lawrence Wollersheim and the researcher, Jon Atack.

Scientology is using many Hollywood celebrities to promote its agenda. But most Scientologists, celebrity and non-celebrity alike; as well as the general public, are ignorant of the Satanic/Black Magic background of its Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and how he used these materials to form the core of his secret "Sacred Scriptures".

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:59 AM

Ridley's Believe It or Not! 

Half-serious, half-humorous, but check out the head of the Creature of Sugar Flat Road!

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:49 AM

Ten Years After, Assassination Video Comes Out of Hiding  

November 4, 2005, marks ten years since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Over the years, despite continuous and intense media coverage of the assassination and its ramifications, the video of the assassination, known as the Kempler video, has virtually disappeared from public view.

Until now that is. With streaming video.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:41 AM

Razzle Dazzle  

During World War I, the British and Americans faced a serious threat from German U-boats, which were sinking allied shipping at a dangerous rate. All attempts to camouflage ships at sea had failed, as the appearance of the sea and sky are always changing. Any color scheme that was concealing in one situation was conspicuous in others. A British artist and naval officer, Norman Wilkinson, promoted a new camouflage scheme that was derived from the artistic fashions of the time, particularly cubism. Instead of trying to conceal the ship, it simply broke up its lines and made it more difficult for the U-boat captain to determine the ship's course. The British called this camouflage scheme "Dazzle Painting." The Americans called it "Razzle Dazzle."

Amazing illustrations. This and the post below from boing boing.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:29 AM

The Mystery of the Green Menace 

It's been celebrated as a muse and banned as a poison. Now an obsessed microbiologist has cracked the code for absinthe - and distilled his own.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:14 AM

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Bush - Nazi Dealings Continued Until 1951  

After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen "enemy national" relationships that continued until as late as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal.

posted by Prof. Hex at 6:05 PM

Scientists prove blind people can 'see' with sixth sense 

The uncanny ability of blind people to "sense" unseen objects has been demonstrated for the first time in sighted volunteers whose vision was blanked out by scientists.

The findings suggest "blindsight", which has been observed in blind people whose eyes function normally but who have suffered damage to the brain's visual centre, is a real and not imagined phenomenon.

posted by Prof. Hex at 5:16 PM

Chinese archaeologists report discovery of 4,100-year-old observatory 

Archaeologists have found a 4,100-year-old observatory in northern China, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

posted by Prof. Hex at 2:46 PM

America Goes Cryptozoology Crazy 

As a cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman rarely gets to play the straight man at meetings with his fellow scientists.

"I had to put up with people saying, 'Oh, you're the one who believes in little green men,'" said Coleman, a writer and academic who investigates Bigfoot and other folkloric monsters.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:59 AM

The Worst Jobs in Science 

Number 10? Orangutan-Pee Collector. Number 3? Kansas Biology Teacher.

Thanks to Sara for the tip.

posted by Prof. Hex at 11:37 AM