DIVORCED FROM REALITY

Over the shoulder

2006-11-17T10:27:00.000+08:00

During the course of my work, i get to listen to all sorts of interesting stories. Most of these border on smirk-worthy but there's the occasional gem that makes you go "Oooooh..." I've recently had the pleasure of hearing one first hand.

A friend of mine recently lost her father to a heart attack (May he gain a better rebirth) and the funeral had just been concluded. She was taking the lift up to her office floor from the ground level when she noticed that throughout the journey upwards, no one would come into the lift despite the lift being empty except for her. The doors would open, people would look inside and then nervously wave her to continue onwards. Puzzled, she would close the lift doors and continue onwards where the next stop would prove to be an identical experience. She started feeling funny after the third time and that's when she realised that the people were actually seeing something IN the lift with her and were refusing to have anything to do with it.

Now i don't know what i might have actually done in a situation like this but girlish screaming and flapping arms come to mind. Anyone ever dreaded looking over your shoulder in a lift? That's why Aaron's advice is : Press your back to the rear wall at all times.It also ensure human naer-do-wells can't get the jump on you either.

3 Men And A Baby...And A Ghost

2006-03-29T20:35:00.000+08:00

3 MEN AND A BABY...AND A GHOST

This isn't anything obscure.In fact, this is one of the more popular urban legends around about paranormal occurences being caught on film. This particular legend has been debunked numerous times in the past by fans, photography experts, and even the actors and the director himself. However, people will believe what they want to believe regardless of what you tell them but a little background on this case...

The lurker in the window

Direct your attention to the photo above. As you can see in the screencap, there's Ted Danson and his onscreen mom holding an adorable little critter. Also clearly visible is the other little critter lurking amongst the drapes. Judging from the height of the figure, it's rather short and seem to resemble a young boy, possibly around 13-14 years of age. There are several variants to the legend but the most common one (search online and you'll see) is of a 9-year old boy commiting suicide ala shotgun. The variants go on to detail how the parents of the boy moved out of the apartment where the movie was eventually shot and the footage captured. It goes on to detail how the mother sued the studio for refusing to remove the image from the film. There's even a version where the mother goes insane upon seeing the image of her son in his burial clothes and had to be confined to a mental institution, where she remains to this day....OOooOoO...

The Cardboard truth

The truth however, is a lot less exciting. The figure was actually a cardboard cut-out that Ted Danson's character kept in his apartment (apparently, he was a narcissist). The cut-out is even seen again later in the movie as shown above. In addition, the interior shots were taken in a soundstage in Toronto so there was no 'apartment' for a ghost to haunt. You would think that this would be the end of this particular legend but some people just won't let a good story lie.

Now almost 20 years on, we have paranormal 'experts' stepping forward to resurrect this ghost of movie's past. A short bio of these experts :

"Dr. Dave Oester co-founded the International Ghost Hunters Society in 1996, which is widely accepted as the largest organization of the genre on the Internet. Along with his companion Sharon Gill, he travels across US in his RV to visit and investigate sites of alleged haunting. Author of around 20 books and lecturing all over the country, they even put together self-taught Ghost Hunting programs"

Considered an authority on these matters, he revealed in an interview that he felt that the boy in the movie was genuine. He mentioned that Hollywood producers in those days didn't know how ghosts appear and what forms they manifest in. Lacking this knowledge, the producers would, quite naturally, write the whole thing off as a case of mistaken identity. Talk about being lost in your own world! It saddens me that this so-called authority would weaken the stance of paranormality in the eyes of the world like this. By being so firm and resolute about something that was proven to be wrong, he has given skeptics greater ammunition to shoot paranormality down. It's similar to crapckpot preachers and televangelists zealously defending 'miracles' that were staged to defame them except in this case, it's self-inflicted. Sigh...yes, my face is in my hands now.

"In 1994, Christopher Wilson confessed on his deathbed that the fabled picture taken by his grandfather Robert Wilson, in 1934, of a creature sticking its head out of Loch Ness was a hoax. The confession was subsequently itself called a hoax, and the story calling the confession a hoax was hinted to be one itself. Which means the Loch Ness monster legend is needed alive and well, and remains just as fascinating. The question towards the "Three Men and a Baby" ghost boy isn't whether it is true, nor if you believe in it. The question is what do you WANT to believe in, and WHY"

This excerpt illustrates my point quite clearly. People will believe whatever they want to believe, regardless of whatever evidence you present to them. You may shake them for a while but eventually, they will pump themselves up internally to either develop a spanking new, equally absurd belief or rationalise things such that they were never wrong in the first place. As for me,i'm just here for a meaty story. While this has been debunked, there are others out there that might defy all explanations. I'm still here and i'm still looking...

A CREEPY EXPERIENCE

2006-03-16T16:34:00.000+08:00

ONCE UPON A TIME

oh gawd! It's been almost 6 months since i last posted anything. If anyone is still reading this, bless your little hearts for even bothering to check on me. Unfortunately for you, this is a pretty much a no-substance post but i just couldn't hold it in.I gotta let it out!

At the moment, there's this Mandarin show featuring in the local cineplexes called "The Heirloom". It's a creepy flick about a house with a haunted 4th floor where an entire family committed suicide. I think you can see the creepy potential in that theme...but anyway, so my bro goes to watch this show and later that night, he comes into my room at about 2am and casually mentions to me that he went to watch the movie with a bunch of friends. Naturally, i asked him how was it. He ranted a little about how crap the show was and that it was a big letdown but then, he told me what proved to be the biggest hair-raiser i've heard in quite a while...

While watching the show, certain events on the screen triggered a memory in him of a time when we were still staying in our house in Taman Megah. Now this house was really haunted (i'll tell you the tale at a later date if you haven't heard it) and both my bro and i were staying in the same room. We were about 7-10 yrs old at the time so memories tend to be a little fuzzy. However, he began to recount this time where we were both sleeping late one night and for one reason or another, he woke up and sat up in bed. He then looked over to where i was sleeping and for some strange reason, he couldn't recognise me. At this point of the story, i asked him "you mean you couldn't recognise me?" and he replied "It was not that i couldn't recognise you...it didn't look like you". I looked at him for a few moments and he looked both puzzled and perturbed. You can imagine the mental discord when you recall something and it's both eerie and disturbing. We talked a little more about it before he went off to bed and left me alone with my thoughts. What exactly happened there? It could be any one of these possibilities:

1) He was groggy and with his brain so sleepy, he could have seen a pink hippo for all we know
2) His new 'memory' is actually a mental construct prompted by a hyperactive imagination inspired by on-screen images
3) It wasn't me that he saw but the 'little kid' that lurked in that house and was snuggling up to me (brrr)

Now, i know my brother and he's not prone to making stuff up. He's a practical guy and not one to sensationalise anything nor quickly believe in the paranormal without sufficient evidence. For him to voice this out didn't mean that he believed it was a ghost or a demonic manifestation.It just meant that he saw something he couldn't explain. I can't explain it but i have my suspicions...let's just say that somethings are better left unexplored and this avenue is another one i would like to relegate to "campfire stories".

Life in Inner Space?

2005-10-05T14:40:00.000+08:00

ALIEN LIFE IN INNER SPACE?

It's a fact that we have have explored and understand more of Outer Space than we do of our own terrestial oceans. This is due to a number of factors, among which is the problem of the tremendous pressure at the deepest depths, and the slow and ponderous descent that will tax the supply of breathing air for any manned submersible. Pressure rises by 650 pounds for every 100 feet of depth and the Abyssal Plains (the true ocean floor) lie at depths between 9,000 - 10,000 feet. A quick calculation will turn up a figure of about 61,750 pounds of pressure. In addition, the Marianas Trench (the deepest trench in the world and therefore, the lowest elevation on Earth) is 35,810 feet below sea level. With almost 7 miles of water above, an object at that depth would experience a pressure of 16,000 pounds per square inch.

In 1960, when the Trieste bathyscape undertook the 5-hour dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, they only spent 20 minutes on the ocean floor observing the various lifeforms and floor features before beginning their 3 hour 15 minute ascent. The submersible only seated 2 and to withstand the staggering pressure, it had walls 5 inches thick and weighed 13 tons. However, an exploratory submersible need not be manned to be effective since it can be equipped with camera and lighting equipment. Without the concern of passenger safety, additional remote sensing equipment, propulsion devices and power supply can be fitted onto the vehicle therefore adding to its effectiveness.

My point here is that with our inability to properly explore 71% of our earth's surface, there must be hundreds upon thousands of species yet undiscovered. Some species have been discovered to be so bizarre as to defy our conventional definition of life. A case in hand is the Giant Tube Worm first discovered in 1977...

These huge creatures grow around deep sea hydrothermal vents in the ocean floor which releases hydrogen sulfide gas powered by volcanic heat. The bizarre creatures grow up to eight feet and live in hard, tube-shaped chitin that attach to the rocks. In the photo on the left, you can see the reddish worms protruding out of the pale tubes. These worms derive nourishment from a symbiotic relationship with a certain species of bacteria called chemoautotrophs (chemo = source of energy from chemicals; auto = synthesize their own food; trophs = type of feeding). When scientists first stumbled upon these worms, they were at a loss as to how these creatures were not only surviving, but flourishing without apparent means of sustenance. The worms have no mouth, anus, stomach or intestines! It's basically a bag of bacteria with an aorta and gonads. Closer inspection revealed that the insides of the worms were lined with bacteria that oxidize the hydrogen sulfide gas and convert them into carbohydrates for the worms. In turn, the worms deliver blood which contain hemoglobin that helps the bacteria break down the sulfides. How do the bacteria get in the worms? Well, when the worms are very tiny, they have a primitive mouth and gut through which the bacteria enter. As the worm ages, the mouth and gut disappear, trapping the bacteria inside the worm.

A little less bizarre is the reigning champion for heat endurance on the face of the planet...the Alvinella pompejana or the Pompeii worm. Where the tubeworms stay a safe distance from the 400 degrees centigrade vent water,the Pompeii worm live in dense communities right at the edge of the vents where water can hit or exceed 100 degrees centrigade. These worms have vast colonies of primitive bacteria living on their backs that impregnate and reinforce a compound that the worm secretes, creating a fleecy mane that scientists assume play some part in protecting the worm from the extreme temperature. As a matter of interest, here's a link that allows you have a better 360 degree view of the little critter : http://www.ocean.udel.edu/extreme2002/creatures/pompeiiworm/

Because the worm and the bacteria can survive in such temperatures, they must have enzymes that can handle the temperatures without being cooked as well.These enzymes are generating a great amount of interest for their heat resistant properties and their uses can extend from paper milling, sewagereclamation to food processing and laundry detergents. Ah the great things such little fellas can inspire...

Each year, the ocean turns up a wealth of discoveries that fascinate and excite us with their diversity and potential. As the Giant Tube Worms have demonstrated, we need to expand our minds and accept that life isn't restricted by the need for such mundane elements as oxygen and sunlight and isn't defined by our narrow view of terrestial biology. If conditions dictate that a lifeform should evolve to be a semi-gelatinous mass, a wisp of sentient gas, a crystalline creature that absorbs radiation, or a something equally fantastic, then life will deliver. Scientists frequently look for evidence of water as a determining factor for the possibility of life but why should it be so? What makes us believe that other forms of life would need water at all? If life evolved on a planet with seas of liquid methane, then methane would be a sign of possible life on other planets,wouldn't it? Maybe the sulphuric acid clouds harbor floating worms much like the Pompeii Worms or better yet, these clouds ARE the life forms that have developed consciousness somehow, much like the sentient god-like ocean in the novel, Solaris. What we define as being alive is only life as we know it. That's a pretty good disclaimer for scientific discoveries in the future that might otherwise embarass the scientific geniuses out there but then, that's life isn't it...life as we know it.

2005-09-27T11:45:00.000+08:00

A EARTHY PARADOX

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?

The mystery of David Lang

2005-09-23T14:49:00.000+08:00

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.

Macabre evolution

2005-09-13T18:33:00.000+08:00

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*

The Legend of the Cursed Island

2005-09-09T16:35:00.000+08:00

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.

Racing Rocks at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley

2005-09-07T11:01:00.000+08:00

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...

The Magic of Glastonbury Pt 1

2005-09-02T16:31:00.000+08:00

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.

Giant creatures in the Mekong River

2005-08-28T02:04:00.000+08:00

GIANT CREATURES IN THE MEKONG RIVER

Giant Catfish Indeed!

Take a gander at this monster! It was said in an article in the New York Times (Aug 26th 2005) that this catfish , weighing in at 646 pounds and measuring in at 9 feet, may be the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded. It took 5 men an hour to lift it into the boat and 10 men to lift it when they got to shore. While the catch is impressive to say the least, there is nothing to say that there isn't anything larger lurking the murky depths of the Mekong. Up till the late 1970s, stingrays the size of small cars were found sitting near the bottom of the river. The fact that they managed to avoid detection for so long made it plausible that other oversized specimens of known and and unknown species may be living in the deeper parts of the river. If it is possible that some creatures may have been able to avoid detection thus far, then isn't it possible that a large snake-like creature could have eluded notice all these years?

The Mekong river is host to a large number of legends, each one fascinating in its history and cultural relevance. One that truly captured my imagination is the Mekong River Fireballs. This is a phenomenon that occurs for two nights during the full moon of October every year along a 300km stretch in Nong Khai,the north-east province of Thailand, bordering Laos. During this time, smokeless, scentless, soundless fireballs begin to rise from the depths of the Mekong. As many as 19 ruby globes at a time ascend to heights of 30 to 300 metres for three to eight seconds each, then simply vanish. In some years there are only a few; in 1999, nearly 3,500 fireballs were counted. They can be seen from ponds and a dozen riverbank villages but are most numerous near Phon Phisai

Fireballs emerging from the surface

The Thais believe that the fireballs come from nagas living in the river, released in celebration of the end of the Buddhist Lent. This phenomenon is eagerly witnessed by the hundreds of thousands of devout Buddhists and curious bystanders who line the banks each year.

An abbot at the Pak-Ngeum temple described the history of the phenomenon...

"A long time ago there was a couple living in Pak-Ngeum village. They earned their living by fishing in the Mekong River all day and night, during Buddhist Lent, and even on Buddha days. This disturbed the Naga King who meditated under the Mekong River. He told this couple not to catch fish and kill other animals on Buddha days, defined as the eighth and 15th days of the Lao Lunar Calendar because it was a sin, but the Naga asked them to meditate instead."

"In response to and out of respect for the Naga, all villagers in Pak-Ngeum and nearby villages along the Mekong River did not kill any animals for food on Buddha days. In addition, the Naga King asked this couple to hold boat processions on the Mekong River to mark the end of Buddhist Lent; at the same time the Naga in Mekong River shot fireballs into the air so they could celebrate together. From then on, the phenomenon of the Naga's fireball existed in the Mekong River at the end of Buddhist Lent."

I have read another version of the origin of the legend elsewhere that goes like this...

During his final incarnation, Lord Buddha returned to earth after teaching his mother in Thavatimsa heaven at the end of Buddhist Lent. Phaya Nak and his followers welcomed him back by blowing fireballs into the sky. Since then, on the October full moon night, fireballs—regarded as the fiery breath of the nak, mirroring medieval European beliefs of fire-breathing dragons—have risen from the Mekong River, a miracle that people call "Bang Fai Phaya Nak," in recognition of the serpent king’s devotion.

Scientists and sceptics have came up with various theories to debunk this phenomenon but general opinion (as well as my own) consider these theories to be insubstantial. Theories of natural gas created by decaying organic matter and people on the far side of the bank releasing fireworks sound solid at the onset but upon closer examination, doesn't explain several interesting aspects to the mystery. How does decaying matter form in the swift running water of the Mekong? And isn't it pretty obvious how fireworks look and if they are actually rising up from the waters? Also, sightings of the spectacle have been recorded for decades. A 93 year old resident of the village recalls witnessing the event when he was a child. Convenient and nimble sidestepping of these issues seems to be the order of the day...

In my humble opinion, the legend of the Naga serves an important function in maintaining the faith of the Buddhist population, firing the imagination of countless others, and defying the gradual demystification of natural phenomena. The fact that the fireballs occur every year regardless of scientific and sceptical scrutiny, only strengthens my opinion that there is something there that transcends our mundane explanations. May the legend of the Naga live on and continue to bring benefit to all beings and to propage the wonderment that inspires faith.

A personal experience

2005-05-16T00:11:00.000+08:00

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Back in 1999,right before i was to go off to UK for my studies, my parents brought me to a friend of theirs. This friend of theirs, a Mr. YK, supposedly had certain paranormal abilities that were bestowed upon him by a high-powered being (possible Deva) we will call No.1. Looking back, i cannot recall exactly what he looked like nor what ritual or ceremony i carried out but what i do recall is kneeling in front of an altar and having red paint smeared on my forehead and a jade amulet that i was to wear with me at all times. While this is pretty typical of any Chinese or Taoist blessing ceremony, the real experience didn't begin until the night of that very same day...

Having done my nightly cleanup and whatnot, i jumped into bed and began the gentle process of slumber. Now this is what i remember vividly...i was dreaming of dancing with a girl and twirling around on a dance floor when the dream image was literally sucked away. It was like someone grabbed an edge of the image and just dragged it to the side. What remained was an alert mind and complete wakefulness, but an inability to move, not even the smallest finger. Interestingly enough, i wasn't afraid nor was i panicked. I just laid there and thought "Hmm...now what?" I tried chanting the Ti-Sarana mentally but that didn't work so i just gave up and waited. About a minute later, i suddenly regained bodily control and sat up. Gathering what had happened in mind so that i could tell my dad tomorrow, i laid back down and drifted off to sleep without any further incident.

The next day, i reported the incident to my dad who promptly called YK and asked him about it. The answer came back in a mildly reprimanding tone "Don't worry about it,it was just to tell the boy not to take it lightly and to treat it with respect..." Well, i was guaranteed to respect the protection from then on, you can bet on that. It's been 6 years since that day and i still wear the amulet around my neck proudly despite finding a gold chain tacky. Mr YK has passed on from this world and the general opinion of my dad and I is that the protection has already worn off. Still, it is a good reminder for me that there are protective elements out there and the very presence of the jade against my chest heartens me slightly. May it add to my faith in the Triple Gem and guard me against ill influences, be they malign spirits, negative energies, or fatty acids and cholesterol.

Welcome to my un-reality

2005-03-28T11:46:00.000+08:00

First-post celebration! Woot!

Took me some time to figure out what i wanted to do with a blog.It's been such a part of me for so long that it never occured to me to use it as a focus for blogging. I've always been someone who believed that there's more to life than just what we see. That life is more than paying taxes and gravity and smartass people and finding a zit on your @$$. There's magic and the unseen and spirituality aaannnddd....the Paranormal!

Yes folks, i'm talking about the weird and wonderful. 2-headed aliens and Elvis walking into the local laundrette and the neighbor's son taking a bite out of the rabid werewolf...ok,so maybe it's not as weird as that but you get the picture. I'm talking about spirits, and dark matter, and sunken cities and unknown artifacts and crytozoology. Matters like these draw me into a fantasy world where man doesn't know everything and life is SO much more interesting than going through university and dying. It's humbles you with your own insignificance and yet draws you because you learn not to assume you know everything. Even if you don't believe in them, heck just stay for a laugh cause you've got nothing better to do other than go back to school or work.