An interesting bit of peculiarity from the Fortean Times:
On this day in history, an odd geographical feature was reported in 1985. It was a strip of land in Huanre county, Liaoning province, northeast China, which ran down from a hill to a river. In winter when the temperature drops to round about minus 30 centigrade, the strip remains at 17 above zero. In summer, the reverse occurs, rain turns to ice as it hits the strip of ground and the earth freezes three feet below the surface. Local inhabitants, who have known about the anomaly for a century, use the strip as a vegetable patch in winter and natural refrigerator in summer.
Sounds pretty amazing, doesn't it? Why don't these paranormal researchers go and research stuff like this instead of Bigfoot and Nessie and unknown species of big cats? This is something that is solid and substantial. It's been in existence for ages and is completely accessible to testing and probing. The benefits of discovering the source of these unique properties could mean duplicating its benefits for other regions where living conditions are harsh. Could it be the soil? Could it be an unknown element in the rock below? Could it be the freak alignment of natural energies between the river and the hill? If there was such an anomaly in my neighbourhood, you can bet that on one quiet morning in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebrations when there's nooooobody around, i'll bury myself neck deep in the soil just to see what happens. Anyone wanna join me?
Aaron blogged at 11:45 AM
Friday, September 23, 2005
THE MYSTERY OF DAVID LANG
I love mysterious disappearances. Not that i would actually like to disappear nor wish that someone disappear, but i love stories of a disappearance so baffling, that the only remaining explanations are too fantastic to be taken seriously. There have been many strange accounts of people disappearing in the most unlikely of times and places, such as the case of David Lang. This has been in circulation for some time and has become so synonymous with the term 'mysterious disappearance' that it has become legend. The story goes like this :
On the afternoon of September 23, 1880, on a farm just a few miles outside of Gallatin, Tennessee, a remarkable event was witnessed by five people. The farm was occupied by farmer David Lang and his family -- his wife, Emma, his two children, eight-year-old George and eleven-year-old Sarah, and their household servants. On that afternoon, the children were playing in the front yard, when Mr. and Mrs. Lang came out of their house and Mr.Lang started across the pasture toward his quarter horses. As Lang was crossing the pasture, the horse and buggy of the family's friend, Judge August Peck, came into view on the lane in front of the house; the children stopped playing, as Peck always brought them presents when he visited. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lang saw the buggy, and Mr. Lang waved to the judge as he turned to walk back towards the house. A moment later David Lang completely disappeared in mid-step. Fully witnessed by his two children, his wife, Judge August Peck, and the Judge's traveling companion (the Judge's brother-in-law), David Lang had just suddenly ceased to exist; understandably, Mrs. Lang screamed. All five witnesses ran to the spot they had last seen David, but there was nothing to hide behind or under; the field contained just grass. The adults quickly searched the field to no effect. By this time, Mrs. Lang was becoming hysterical, and was taken back into the house as neighbors were called with an alarm bell. By nightfall, all the neighbors were involved in the search, and, by lantern, they checked every foot of the field, stamping their feet to try to detect any holes that David might have fallen into. Nothing was found.
In the following weeks, Mrs. Lang was bedridden with shock; all the family servants except the cook, Sukie, left; and curiosity seekers were chased away from the farm by the local authorities. The county surveyor confirmed that the field was on perfectly solid ground, with no caves or sink holes. Months after the occurrence, in 1881, Lang's children noticed that the grass at the site of their father's disappearance had grown strange and yellow, and formed a circle with about a fifteen foot diameter. Sarah called to her father, and, seemingly as a result, both the children heard him faintly calling for help, over and over, until his voice faded away. Mrs. Lang never fully recovered, and there was never a funeral or memorial service for Mr. Lang. Mrs. Lang eventually left the farm and allowed Judge Peck to rent it out, with the exception of the field in the front of the house. That pasture was left untouched as long as she lived...
The first time i read it, it sent a tingle of wonder running down my spine. If he really did vanish as reported, what could have possibly happened? A portal into another dimension? A momentary wormhole? Did he slip into a parallel dimension or was a victim to an alien abduction? Or could it be more fantastic than that...we often watch in the movies about how time travellers are snatched back into their own times by some enforcement agency or invisible amoeba-like lifeforms that float around us, mutually oblivous to each other but hungry for our substantiality and matter. Could David have walked into one in the wrong place at the wrong time? However, further research into the matter revealed that the source of the legend was unreliable and it was likely that the event never happened. I cannot begin to tell you how immensely disappointed i was at that point. There was still a glimmer of hope that the story might be true but the bulk of research into the origins of the legend weighed heavily against it. Just an interesting story i thought i would like to share with you guys, one that helped steer me into this journey into paranormal discovery.
Aaron blogged at 2:49 PM
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
MACABRE EVOLUTION How's this for making your flesh crawl? A resident in London was preparing a red snapper for lunch when he found...something...in the mouth of the fish. He contacted the Lewisham Council's Environmental Health Department who brought in the expertise of the Keeper of Natural History at Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. The expert managed to identify the creepy crawlie as Cymothoa Exigua, an isopod (crustacean) that's indigenous to the Gulf of California and preys only on the Lutjanus Guttatus or Spotted Red Snapper. He speculated that either it was imported together with the fish in it's mouth or it has started to appear in European seas. Now i have to tell you just what this little freak does in the mouth of the red snapper...
If you would kindly direct your attention to the left, you can see the little parasite occupying the space where the tongue should be. What it does is that it attaches itself to the base of the snapper's tongue with its claws and drinks from the artery which supplies the blood to the organ. As the parasite grows, it diverts more and more blood from the tongue to itself, therefore causing the tongue to atrophy and eventually wither away. Cymothoa then attaches itself to the remaining stub of a tongue and floor of the mouth by little hooks. What's amazing is that it then functions as a replacement tongue and manipulates the fish's food, which the parasite feeds on as well.
As far as we know, this is the only case of a parasite being able to eat and fully replace an organ of its host and is thus, unique. Still, imagine the situation faced by the fish....it's probably not even aware that there's a living parasite in its mouth. It goes on with life, doing whatever it is that Red Snappers do for years to come, completely unsuspecting. Now imagine ourselves with a similar situation...it could be our own tongues that have been displaced by an impostor lifeform in our sleep. Injecting an anaesthetic into our tongues, it quickly and painlessly draws all the lifegiving blood from it. Perhaps it attaches itself to the stub as well and thrusts its little appendages down to our little bundle of nerves deep within the red flesh it so cozily rests upon. Through some heightened sensitivity to nerve signals or muscular contractions, it reacts accordingly as a tongue would, drawing sustenance from that with sustains us. Farfetched as it may sound, sometimes truth is far stranger than anything fiction can concoct. If something like this is/has happenend, i pray that i will never find out and that my ignorance lasts till my dying day. The thing can detach and crawl away AFTER my body is cold and uncaring.
There are a number of 'body snatchers' though that not only infects the host, but is able to affect their behaviour and thus, end the life of its host. Now this one particular parasite (non-human host only, thank the High Heavens) i found disgusting. It's Leucochloridium varidae, a parasitic worm that could possibly be a snail's worst nightmare.
Once it passes into the body of a snail, it sprouts several tubes that it sends into the eye-tipped tentacles of the snail. These tubes swell and expand, changing colors and pulsating at the same time to attract predatory birds by fooling them into thinking the tentacles are big, fat wriggling caterpillars. The swollen protuberances also prevent the snail from retreating into its shell. Even more disturbingly, the behaviour of the snail is affected as well, causing it to crawl into the open instead of shelter. This makes it easier for birds to spot the colorful tentacles and rip them off, taking the entire thing into its body. The bird then contracts the parasite, which scatters its eggs into the bird's dropping to be eaten by more snails.
I cannot even begin to imagine the circumstances that could force something to evolve a manner of procreation as bizarre as this. It boggles the mind to imagine the hit-and-miss evolutionary path these tiny creatures have crawled. I feel a twinge of compassion for the hosts of these parasites (the pain these pitiful creatures must feel) and hope that through my continued accumulation of good merits, that i never fall into the Apaya realms of the animals. May my suffering be limited to deciding on which restaurants to eat in...*bow*
Aaron blogged at 6:33 PM
Friday, September 09, 2005
THE LEGEND OF THE CURSED ISLAND
I'm sure that most of us have watched at least an episode or two of the popular series, Lost. A planeful of assorted characters crashland on a deserted island and encounter experiences ranging from terrifying to the downright bizarre. No one knows where they are or if anyone is even looking for them but survival, which was paramount at first, slowly takes a backseat to the unravelling mystery that is the nature of the island itself, which seems to have a cunning intelligence and a sinister purpose in bringing this particular group of people together in the first place. While there isn't anything that farfetched in real-life (that i know of), there does exist an island that might interest you Lost fans...the island of Palmyra.
A haven for endangered flora and fauna, Palmyra is actually an atoll which is formed by the growth of coral around the rim of an ancient ocean volcano that has sunk below the surface of the sea over eons of geologic time, giving the classic atoll a circular or horseshoe shape. Palmyra is located at 5 degrees, 52 minutes North, 162 degrees, 6 minutes West, a virtual speck in the vastness that is the Pacific Ocean. It is also of interest that in proximity lie the legendary deep trenches of the Pacific : the Mariana Trench and the Tonga Abyss, the deepest points on the earth.
It is totally uninhabited and is the last intact marine wilderness in the U.S Tropics. An extract from the National Geographic:
It is something of a mystery that people never colonized Palmyra. For 20,000 years, since the peak of the last ice age, its coral base has gradually followed the rising sea level and slowly developed into the splendid, living atoll it is today. Many scholars believe that Polynesian navigators would have found this high coral nub, a peak on the Line Islands underwater mountain chain that runs on a northwest-southeast diagonal across the tropics of the central Pacific. But for whatever reason—its small size, its remote location—the Polynesians didn't stay.
At one time, it was proposed that Palmyra become a nuclear waste dump (???) but thankfully, better sense won out and the atoll was designated a National Wildlife Refuge in 2001. The reason for this becomes clear when you consider the facts:
Clockwise from top left : - Bristle-thighed curlew - Butterfly fish - Coconut crab - Palm trees
Palmyra is home to more than 130 species of stony coral, several times more than in the Florida keys and three times more coral species than ALL the Hawaiian islands combined - a fact that makes you thankful they decided to nuke (pun not intended) the nuclear waste dump proposition. The reason for such an abundance of coral species is because the island is almost smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and is in the area of convergence for the North and South Equatorial Current as well as the Equatorial Countercurrent.
This means that Palmyra is seeded by larvae carried from every direction. Also, Palmyra is home to endangered monk seals, pilot whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, hawksbill turtles, black-tip sharks, tiger sharks, manta rays and giant clams. Globally threatened green sea turtles nest on Palmyra’s white sand beaches. The atoll is also home to the world’s largest land based invertebrate, the coconut crab, so named because of its ability to crack open a coconut with its huge claws
The abundance of flora is also supported by light winds and lots of rain. Palmyra receives about 175 inches of rain a year and is covered with lush tropical vegetation, including one of last remaining stands of Pisonia Grandis, a rare tropical forest type found only on wet atolls. Able to reach a height of a hundred feet, these huge trees are a valuable habitat for vast colonies of seabirds. The massive growths use the coral rock as a foundation and on other islands, are in danger of disappearing altogether due to clearing efforts by the inhabitants.
But enough of the classroom stuff...on to the mystery behind this island paradise...
The first seemingly paranormal experience occured back in 1798 by an American sea captain, Edmond Fanning. What transpired was that the captain had retired to his berth at 9pm as usual but awoke about an hour later to find himself out on the upper steps of the companionway. This worried him as he had never walked in his sleep before but he returned to his berth and fell asleep again. He managed to sleep for less than an hour when he awoke to find himself at the same spot on the companionway again. This occured again for the third time and this time, it convinced Fanning that it was 'supernatural intervention' at work and decided to give orders for the ship to furl sails for the night. With the crew thinking their captain was finally unbalanced, he returned to a fitful sleep. In the morning as they came about and resumed their course, they hadn't sailed far when they discovered breakers one mile ahead and they could even hear the roaring of the breakers. Everyone on board realised that if they had continued along their course for another half hour, none of them would be alive come daybreak. The reef would have ripped the bottom out of their ship.
Though this was the first discovery of the island. the captain failed to make a timely report and the credit for the discovery went to another captain in 1802 by the name of Swale, whose ship Palmyra the island was named after.
Several other incidents add to the fantastic reputation of the island:
The spanish treasure ship, the Esperanza, wrecked on the reefs of the island in 1816. The crew allegedly buried their treasure beneath a palm grove on Palmyra. After being stranded for a year, they set out on three fabricated rafts. Two of the rafts were never seen again but the remaining vessel was rescued by an American whaling ship. The sole survivor of the raft died shortly after sharing the story of his ship. The treasure has never been found to this day.
In 1855, a whaling ship was reported to have wrecked on Palmyra's reef. The ship or its crew were never found.
The US Navy used the island as a naval air facility during World War II and served as a base for long-range air patrols during 1914-1916. Hal Horton, a former Navy officer was stationed on Palmyra from 1942 to 1944 and had this to say about the island:
"Once one of our patrol planes went down near the island. We searched and searched but didn’t find so much as a bolt or piece of metal. It was weird. Like they’d dropped off the edge of the earth. Another time, a plane took of from the runway, climbed to a couple hundred feet, and turned in the wrong direction. They were supposed to go north and they went south instead. It was broad daylight. We never could figure it out. There were two men aboard that plane. We never saw them again. We had some very bad luck on that island. Old salts in the Pacific called it the Palmyra Curse. (The island)...is very small. You (could) fly over it at ten thousand feet and not see it if there (were) a few clouds in the sky. Once we heard a plane over head trying to find us, but he crashed in the drink before he could find the runway. We didn’t get to the poor guy fast enough. Sharks found him first."
Yachting couple Malcolm "Mac" and Eleanor "Muff" Graham were killed on Palmyra in 1974. Subsequent trials revealed that they were most likely killed for their sailboat, the Sea Wind, and the food stores on board. Ex-convict and federal fugitive Buck Walker and girlfriend Stephanie Stearns, who were living on the island at the time, sailed into Ala Wai Harbor aboard the repainted Sea Wind and were promptly arrested for theft. In 1980, Sharon and Robert Jordan discovered a skull and bones (which seemed to have fallen out of World War II-era metal box) while beachcombing on Palmyra. The remains proved to be those of Muff Graham; Mac Graham's body was never found...
In 1977, yachtsman Richard Taylor commented after spending some time on Palmyra :
"I had a foreboding feeling about the island. It was more than just the fact that it was a ghost-type island...I can't put my finger on specifically why..."
In 1989, the sailboat Sea Dreamer, crewed by the Graham Hughes family was pushed off course and onto Palmyra Island. After a brief stay, they set sail again but vanished. An extensive search was mounted but not a trace was found.
Though the list isn't as extensive as those of other sites of suspected paranormality, the accounts collected from the people who have experienced 'something' on the island gives us a little insight into the nature of the island. In my opinion, it is possible that being so primal and wild, the island is never meant for human contact for prolonged periods. It could be the resting place of some of nature's wildest spirits, primordial forces that have no other place to go. In a different context, it could be said that the nature devas residing on Palmyra do not like to be disturbed and benevolence can turn in the blink of an eye. We must learn to respect nature in all its forms and recognise the power behind the natural forces that govern our environment. I fully support the US government's measures to protect Palmyra from human hands that seem to stain all it comes into contact with...and in the process, protect us from Palmyra as well. Whether the grisly incidents are merely coincidental, i appreciate the sense of wonderment it has evoked in me till this moment and pray that it will continue to do so till the end of my days.
Aaron blogged at 4:35 PM
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
RACING ROCKS AT RACETRACK PLAYA,DEATH VALLEY
Ahhh this is one that captured my imagination quite a while back. Now this particular phenomenon takes place in a basin called Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park in California. The basin is actually a dried up lake about 3 miles long and is surrounded by mountains that help channel the winds into the basin at high speeds. Now what is it about these rocks you may ask...well, i'll tell you....
Satellite image of the basin
The rocks are located in the southern end of the basin, with these chunks of dolomite weighing anywhere from a measly few pounds up to a hefty 700 pounds. They sit pretty in their dried up lakebed under the scorching California sun and do what rocks generally do, just sit there. However, the reason why they're called the Racing Rocks is because they move. Yes you read that right, they move...and on their own to boot. You see, the basin floor is basically dried mud and something moving along the ground would leave a trail in the baked mud. So as the rocks move, they leave long, clear furrows that can be followed. Their tracks vary in length, going every which way from zig-zags to loops; some double back on themselves. Some travel only a few feet; others go for hundreds of yards, yet they can be right next to each other, and right next to some that don't move at all. The choice of rocks and direction of movement seem totally random and most probably is. Even more spinetingling is the fact that no one has ever actually seen the rocks moving. The final location of the rocks and the trails they leave are all that viewers have to witness. However, as with most phenomena, there are a number of theories to explain these mysterious movements.
In a hurry to go nowhere
Theory 1 : That hoaxers drive out there in the scorching sun, drag some rocks around to create trails, somehow erase their own tracks, avoid the detection of the National Park rangers, and hustle outta there,chuckling all the while at their magnificent plot to...urm...i'm not sure what's the point...
Theory 2 : Under specific weather conditions (rain, fog, dew, etc), the dried mud becomes a thin layer of slippery soil that allows the stones to glide around, pushed by the wind. However, this doesn't take into account the fact that the furrows are pretty deep and you would need an incredible amount of wind force to get the rocks to move that way. In addition, if the wind DID blow at that kind of velocity, why is it that some rocks move and some don't? Size doesn't seem to be much of factor and rocks that do move don't move in the same pattern.
Theory 3 : During especially wet winters several inches of water collect on the playa surface, turning it briefly into a lake. On cold nights it's surmised that thin sheets of ice form, locking in rocks. When the strong winds blow through the valley and hit the ice sheets at an angle, the wind pushes with enough force to move the ice and the rocks embedded in it along the slippery surface. This one doesn't take into account the fact that the rocks move irrespective of season and still exbihits movement in the driest seasons of the year.
Theory 4 : Squirrels with super-rodent strength that push the rocks together for shelter in difficult winters...ok,moving on...
Paul Messina from the Department of Geology in San Jose University did what i would do and tracked the movements of 162 rocks using Differential Geographical Positioning System (DGPS) which is accurate up to 30 centimeters or so. What he found was that the trail patterns showed a general trend in rock movement consistent with the direction of the prevailing winds. However, there is a high degree of variation in trail character. A rock's distance travelled and the degree to which it follows a straight line is more significantly influenced by where it was before it moved rather than any physical attributes of the stone. This is taken to mean that the winds are channeled more strongly in certain 'corridors' hence pushing the rocks located there further. While the report sounds convincing and very confident, the thought occured to me that it doesn't explain how come some of the rocks double back. They make a nice smooth u-turn and head back home. What's more is that some rocks can be seen to be moving past each other in opposite directions and there may even be a third rock sitting there that hasn't moved at all.
Imagine the wind blowing a rock around like that
The explanation for this mystery could be a combination of many mundane factors but i'm hoping that the true explanation is so mind-boggling that we would have to sit down and totally reevaluate our belief systems. Maybe something like dormant alien energy sitting deep beneath the soil that infuses the dolomite chunks with semi-sentience, enabling them to struggle towards the horizon and as consciousness wanes with every inch away from the energy, they finally stop dead in their herculean effort to inch their rocky bodies across the baked landscape, leaving naught but a trail of dust to mark their passing...a fitting silent eulogy for a life that almost was...
Perhaps in another life...
Aaron blogged at 11:01 AM
Friday, September 02, 2005
THE MAGIC OF GLASTONBURY PART 1
During my 2nd year in uni, my course required me to take a field trip for 2 weeks to give our surveying skills a practical run. The place that was selected for that particular year was Somerset and at first, the significance of the site didn't hit me until several hours later when i was on the Tube on the way home..."Waitaminute...isn't that where Glastonbury town is?" Turns out that it was and you know what meant? It meant several things : 1. Stonehenge was on the way 2. Glastonbury town was home to many Arthurian legends 3. Glastonbury was a town out of time, with hippies and a countryside undisturbed by progress 4. I had a choice of dozens of new age shops, quaint antique dealers, medieval weapon shops, and other fascinating outlets.
I grew up on the legends of King Arthur, The Holy Grail, Camelot and the Isle Of Avalon and to be spending 2 weeks in the very heart of all these legends literally had me shaking with excitement. Looking back now, the preparations and packing was a blur to me all the way up till we stopped in the parking lot near Stonehenge. Oh my Devas! To touch those hallowed stones was a fantasy from my childhood days! But imagine my disappointment when i learned that we could no longer touch the stones nor get within 10m of them! Since 1978, visitors have been prohibited from touching the stones in the interest of protecting them. While i understand the reason behind this ruling and even support it, i couldn't help but feel crushed by being so near yet so far. Gazing at them and posing near them just wasn't going to cut it so i made a silent gesture of respect in my mind towards these ancient monoliths and made my way back to the van, leaving behind the throngs of earphone-wearing tourists being audio-guided around the site.
Mysterious Stonehenge
We drove along for 2 more hours before we finally hit Glastonbury town.It was surreal seeing woodstock-style vans and hippies who looked like they were smoking pot minutes ago. There were no skyscrapers or modern shopping complexes here to ruin the antiquated setting and i was looking forward to walking around town and exploring during my free time later but more on that later...
Now here's the kicker...i stayed at this rustic little farmhouse just at the edge of town. This was to be my home for the next 2 weeks and i was to share it with my classmates : A Brit who had was a tad too weird to be comfortable around, a chain-smoking HK girl, a huge brawny guy from a Carribean country (slipped my mind at the moment), a Dutch girl that's tops in the class, and a guy from Sabah that can barely speak English and needed me to translate for him when he wanted to borrow the HK girl's handphone. Yes, an interesting mix i know...but i digress...
The kicker is that the farmhouse was located almost at the foot of Glastonbury Tor! For those of you who are wondering what i'm blabbering about, here it is :
Glastonbury Tor from above
This hill rises 522 feet above sea level, dominates the Glastonbury landscape, and is visible for miles in the surrounding countryside. Before the marshes were drained, this hill gave the appearance of an island and perhaps gave birth to the myth of the Isle of Avalon. The hill is the oldest and most involved location on the site. Long before the construction of the chapel that sits atop, the mound of Earth, a natural feature, was once a fortress with a wooden wall surrounding the hill at the bottom. The mound has been carved with a trail that winds around and up to the top. The trail is very old and is believed to have been first carved by Druids for this ancient site of worship. Some investigators believe the trail was carved by the Knights Templar as a marker for this site to link it with the Holy Grail. In the oldest legends, Celtic, the hill is supposed to be hollow and walking the trail eventually ends at a gateway at the top which leads to the spirit world. At some of the oldest surrounding graveyards it was discovered that all the graves point directly to the hill. In Christian legends the messiah is slated to reappear at this site.
This is just a short summary of the Tor but there is a large body of literature on the rich history and legends surrounding Glastonbury Tor. For the Celtics, the Tor was believed to be the entrance to Annwfn, the Celtic Otherworld, and to the Palace of Gwynn ap Nudd, Afallach's brother and the main Otherworld Celtic god. Celtic legends claim the hill itself is/was hollow and that it was the entrance to the Celtic Underworld. Arthurian legends have both Merlin or King Arthur as possibly sleeping within the hollow hill. Later Christian legends have the second coming of Christ dwelling in the hollow as the 'sleeping lord' or even Joseph of Arimathea's resting place where he guards the Holy Grail. Other folk tales claim the top of the Tor is a place of fairy visions and magic. With my head filled with these legends, how could i *not* be awestruck by living at the foot of such a place? Needless to say, the moment i got my stuff stowed away under my bed and listening to the boring briefing by my lecturer, i left in the late afternoon to walk the path up to the Tor, the trail that led to the gateway to the Underworld itself!
The silent tower
The walk took about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace and didn't really manage to wind me (though my rather heavyset Brit friend was pretty red-faced at the end of it) At the summit, the view was spectacular since it afforded visitors with a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. I must add that the wind was blowing something fierce up here but i'm told that it's always like that so little ol' me had to be careful not to be swept off the edge and visiting the Underworld via a more direct route. The solitary tower is the remains of St Michael's Tower, the place of execution by hanging of the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey. The tower is all that remains of the church that was dedicated to St Michael, which fell during an earthquake in 1275. As you can see in the photo above, the tower is roofless as well but the tower had been restored in recent years so its condition is pretty respectable. In truth, there isn't much for the eye but there is much for the mind though. This is assuming you know of the folklore surrounding the Tor and just standing there gave me an experience that was far-surpassing. The intention of my posts are to give you lovely people some background on these wonderful sites so that if you ever have the privilege of visiting them, you can be better equipped to appreciate the experience. It might also be of interest for you to know that in 1981, several people climbing the Tor in the late evening saw a strange writhing light, which arced from the tower and earthed itself near to Chalice Well. The earth mysteries researcher Paul Devereux also witnessed strange lights in 1991. Since the Tor is located on ley lines, it is plausible that the Tor could be a focal point for earth energies that might manifest given certain circumstances. Sadly, i wasn't fortunate enough to be witness to any of these nor was i lucky enough to be roasted (a little) by energies. Still, i could hope...
In any case, i will return to this topic in future posts since the Tor is intricately linked to the entire Arthurian mythos...till later, fellow weirdos.
Once it passes into the body of a snail, it sprouts several tubes that it sends into the eye-tipped tentacles of the snail. These tubes swell and expand, changing colors and pulsating at the same time to attract predatory birds by fooling them into thinking the tentacles are big, fat wriggling caterpillars. The swollen protuberances also prevent the snail from retreating into its shell. Even more disturbingly, the behaviour of the snail is affected as well, causing it to crawl into the open instead of shelter. This makes it easier for birds to spot the colorful tentacles and rip them off, taking the entire thing into its body. The bird then contracts the parasite, which scatters its eggs into the bird's dropping to be eaten by more snails.
I'm sure that most of us have watched at least an episode or two of the popular series, Lost. A planeful of assorted characters crashland on a deserted island and encounter experiences ranging from terrifying to the downright bizarre. No one knows where they are or if anyone is even looking for them but survival, which was paramount at first, slowly takes a backseat to the unravelling mystery that is the nature of the island itself, which seems to have a cunning intelligence and a sinister purpose in bringing this particular group of people together in the first place. While there isn't anything that farfetched in real-life (that i know of), there does exist an island that might interest you Lost fans...the island of Palmyra. 
A haven for endangered flora and fauna, Palmyra is actually an atoll which is formed by the growth of coral around the rim of an ancient ocean volcano that has sunk below the surface of the sea over eons of geologic time, giving the classic atoll a circular or horseshoe shape. Palmyra is located at 5 degrees, 52 minutes North, 162 degrees, 6 minutes West, a virtual speck in the vastness that is the Pacific Ocean. It is also of interest that in proximity lie the legendary deep trenches of the Pacific : the Mariana Trench and the Tonga Abyss, the deepest points on the earth.
The abundance of flora is also supported by light winds and lots of rain. Palmyra receives about 175 inches of rain a year and is covered with lush tropical vegetation, including one of last remaining stands of Pisonia Grandis, a rare tropical forest type found only on wet atolls. Able to reach a height of a hundred feet, these huge trees are a valuable habitat for vast colonies of seabirds. The massive growths use the coral rock as a foundation and on other islands, are in danger of disappearing altogether due to clearing efforts by the inhabitants.
