Zombie Addiction

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"abcDeFRstuyZvWXghIjklMnopq....um...tasty!"

Last letter in the alphabet and if I am not mistaken there are a number of walking dead out there. Zombie addiction is on the rise and I confess to be rather fascinated in these "Fictional" characters or creatures. What ever you chose to call them, I have been infected by Zombie culture, and yes it can be addictive. 

There are Movies and Television shows:

Books:

Toys:

Games:

Events like Denvers Zombie Crawl:

Yes, that is me at the zombie crawl in Denver with my sons girlfriend.

Hope you have enjoyed traveling through the alphabet with Minnie and I. We have enjoyed your company. Minnie will be back on the last Friday of May for some gibberish fun, until then you will have to settle for just plain old me. I have some special plans for my blog, but for now you will have to wait and see.

On a last note, are you a Zombie addict---Infected, or just walking dead?

Yolanda Bard-Queen of Psychics

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet. 

 "Now I am a large, but soon.. I too will be a Medium!"

Semi cheating I resorted back to an older post, but mainly because Psychics and mediums fit so well with my A-Z challenge theme. I have however revised the post for this years challenge.

Yolana Bard, was  known as the Queen of Psychics. For over 25 years she worked with politicians, celebrities, and law enforcement officials. She was even at one time named "New York's Best Psychic." 

This must have been a fascinating woman with plenty of interesting  stories to tell. Yolana died at age 66, but her spirit in someway most surely live on.Yolana assisted countless numbers of people around the globe find the answers to their questions. Whether they were wondering how to find prosperity, joy in life, or merely wanted to contact a loved one who passed on, Yolana used her amazing gifts to offer guidance and hope. As one of the world’s most highly regarded psychic mediums, Yolana was regularly consulted on high-profile criminal cases, where she helped numerous police departments solve perplexing cold cases, particularly cases involving missing children. Her private client list included major executives, world leaders, and Hollywood top celebrities.

Do you think that psychics and mediums really do exist, or are these people just clever performers? Here is a little test for you. When you hear the word Psychic, what is the first word that comes to mind? Mine strangely enough is Houdini, whats yours?

X Files Are Real

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"As long as they keep me out of it, I could care a rats hoot!

The truth IS really out there. You can find it where special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully would never think to look--on the FBI's own Web site.

The agency has been quietly posting documents on the Net about reported unidentified flying objects, alleged alien abductions, and unexplained animal mutilations. More than 1,600 pages dating back to the 1940s are now public on the site, although most contain blacked-out passages and missing names. The Freedom of Information Act have opened up files that may not reveal all there is to know about the possibility of life on other planets, but they give true believers--and even skeptics--a peek at the government's investigations into decades of mysterious sitings.

There are a total of 16,000 FOIA files online, including details about the 1962 Alcatraz Prison escape, Amelia Earhart's disappearance, and the agency's goods on Marilyn Monroe, Pablo Picasso, Elvis Presley, and Bonnie and Clyde. The agency plans to put up to 1.3 million documents on the Net.  "The institutional bureaucracy of the FBI has always been to keep anything that embarrassed the county or FBI a secret," said Dawson Rambo, who runs an extensive X-Files fan site. Andrus of the Mutual UFO Network suggested that the FBI's Web site itself could be part of a bigger government conspiracy. "The U.S. government has lied for over 50 years about UFOs and now no one wants to be put in the position to admit that," Andrus said. "So they have elected to leak the information out gradually. This latest FBI release is just part of that tactic."

One thing that we still have not learned after the freedom of information act has opened up files for the public is, "What really did happen to John F. Kennedy?" It seems that information is so devastating that a whole Generation has to die out before the truth is unveiled. Do you believe we have been visited by an alien life form? What do you think happened to JFK?

Hope everyone has a great week-end!

Walking Catfish

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 "If I were a cat this would be the worst insult EVER!"

The walking catfish is a species of freshwater air-breathing catfish found primarily in Southeast Asia. It is named for its ability to "walk" across dry land, in order to find food or suitable living environments. Actually they slither more like snakes, but they sure do get around. The walking catfish was imported to Florida, reportedly from Thailand, in the early 1960s for the aquarium trade.  Apparently a huge amount of these fish escaped from time to time, either from a fish farm or from trucks transporting the fish. Some fish in Florida, were purposeful released, by fish farmers in the Tampa Bay area, after the state banned the importation and possession of walking catfish. In Florida, walking catfish are known to have invaded aquaculture farms, entering ponds where these predators prey on fish stocks. In response, fish farmers have had to erect fences to protect ponds. Authorities have also created laws that ban possession of walking catfish.

Like illegal immigrants they seem to have crossed over boarders and have even been spotted occasionally in the Midwest. Have you ever seen a walking catfish? Do you like to eat catfish? Not me! I am just praying that if I come across one of these fish it will not have learned how to run.

Viking Mice

 This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"I told her to go with Vampire!--Mice freak me out."

According to researchers Norwegian mice rampaged through Scotland, Ireland and Iceland impregnating locals and mixing their Viking mouse genes in the native rodent populations. Fair furred and blue-eyed, the spread of this particular Norwegian mouse gene in northern Europe remarkably mirrored the spread of human genes by Viking pillagers. The Vikings brought animals including horses and sheep on their long boats, and the sexually active house mice must have crept on-board too.

Have you ever encountered one of these furry creatures with viking blood? How do you feel about mice in general? Only four more letters to go in the challenge, how are you holding out?

Unusual Excercise

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Got myself  two pairs of balls, one for each hand."

How many of you have been exercising your brain using balls? The Chinese have been doing it for centuries. Health balls were first produced in the Ming Dynasty by a weaponry blacksmith who was guided by the gods to make iron balls that produced the sounds of a roaring dragon and a singing Phoenix.

Having received them as a tribute to his court, the Emperor of the time rejoiced at their beauty and installed them as one of the palace treasures. Although they were initially reserved for only the Imperial family and government officials they were soon manufactured and enjoyed all over the realm. They were used in Martial arts training and as a preventative cure in traditional Chinese medicine.

According to the Jingluo theory, the ten fingers are connected with the heart, the cranial nerves, the vital organs and the blood stream. The balls stimulate the various acupuncture points of the hands and aid the uninterrupted flow of the blood and vital energy to produce harmony throughout the organs and the nervous system. It makes the bones strong, the mind sober and prevents as well as cures hypertension and various chronic diseases. Exercising everyday for months and years keeps your brain healthy as well as strengthening the immune system. They also help with arthritis in fingers and wrists, they relax your thoughts and release stress. It is said that health balls prolong peoples lives and relieve fatigue in this modern hectic world.

Do they work? Well, I have two pairs and they are relaxing. As to other benefits, it is hard to say. Buy yourself a pair and judge yourself. A more pleasurable way to exercise I have yet to find.

Transhumanism

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog, and NOW he’s messing with my DNA?"

 “Transhumanism, abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.” Phew...In other words, a Transhumanist studies the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with greatly expanded abilities. Someone is bound to make a lot of money on these extreme makeovers! Shopping will never be the same.

Technology is changing the world we live in faster than I can keep track of. Sometimes that is a good thing but when we start messing with the human condition, have we gone to far?  Are we ready for a race of "Super-humans" most likely available to only the rich and powerful? I think not, what do you think?

Sorcerer or Shaman

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"We’re off to see the Shaman and follow the yellow brick road, just make sure you wear comfortable shoes."

Many years ago, while working for one of the buyers at B. Dalton Booksellers, I came across a series of books that changed my way of thinking. These were books on Nagual Sorcery and the sorcerer Don Juan Matus written by Carlos Castaneda. Matus is described as a Yaqui Indian to whom Castaneda was first introduced at a bus depot in Yuma, Arizona in the early 1960s. He turns out to be a 'Man of Knowledge' who imparts much of his wisdom and clarity through his 'connection' with Castaneda. The Knowledge is passed on to Castaneda by means of actual experiences, simple exercises and much patience on the part of both which ends in further transforming both characters' view of the world.

©2010-2012 *AlMaNeGrA

©2010-2012 *AlMaNeGrA

The existence of this man has caused some controversy. Regardless of whether don Juan is a fictional character, or an actual human subject of study in Castaneda's books, Juan tells Castaneda that he is a brujo (Spanish for sorcerer or medicine man); a sort of healer, sorcerer or shaman, who had inherited an ancient Mesoamerican practice for vastly enhancing one's awareness of, and interaction with, the energies of the Earth and its assorted beings.

Don Juan's philosophy might be summed up in a passage from Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge:

“For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly.”

Do Sorcerers really exist? I believe they do, but the definition might need further examination. If you have not read these books I recommend you do so. Most likely they will also open your eyes to another way of thinking.

Real-life Super Powers

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 "Don't tell anyone, but I am a secret Superhero"

The Avengers will soon be coming to a theater near you. Will you be going to see these superheroes team up to save the world? With so many superhero movies around, we are used to seeing people with special abilities in fiction. But people with real life superpowers actually do exist. Here are some of them that I found:

The Incredible Brain

Daniel Paul Tammet is a British high-functioning autistic savant gifted with a facility for mathematical calculations, sequence memory, and natural language learning.  He experiences numbers as colors or sensations which is a well-documented form of synesthesia, but the detail and specificity of Tammet's mental imagery of numbers is unique. In his mind, each number up to 10,000 has its own unique shape and feel, so that he can "see" results of calculations as landscapes, and that he can "sense" whether a number is prime or composite. Tammet also speaks a variety of languages including English, French, Finnish, German, Spanish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Estonian, Icelandic, Welsh and Esperanto. Tammet is capable of learning new languages very quickly. To prove this he was challenged to learn Icelandic in one week. Seven days later he appeared on Icelandic television conversing in Icelandic, with his Icelandic language instructor saying it was "not human."

The Boy with Sonar Vision

Ben Underwood is blind. Both of his eyes were removed because of cancer when he was 3. Yet, he plays basketball, rides on a bicycle, and lives a quite normal life. He taught himself to use echo location to navigate around the world. With no guide-dogs, he doesn't even need hands: he uses sound. Ben makes a short click sound that bounces back from objects. Amazingly, his ears pick up the echoes to let him know where the objects are. He's the only person in the world who sees using nothing but echo location, like sonar or a dolphin.

The Rubberboy

Five times Guinness record holder, Daniel Browning Smith is the most flexible man alive and the most famous contortionist. He has been in many professional basketball or baseball games and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ripley's Believe It or Not, The Discovery Channel, Men in Black 2, and many other television specials. Among many of his talents he can dislocate his arms to crawl through an unstrung tennis racquet. He performs contortion handstands and unique acrobatics.

Mister Eat-it-All

Michel Lotito, also known as Mr. eat it all, is a French entertainer that is famous for consuming anything. Lotito's performances include the consumption of metal, glass, rubber and go on to such items as  bicycles, televisions, a Cessna 150, and smaller items which are disassembled, cut-up and swallowed. An aircraft took roughly two years to be 'eaten' from 1978 to 1980. He began eating unusual material while a child and has been performing publicly since 1966. Lotito does not often suffer from ill-effects due to his diet, even after the consumption of materials usually considered poisonous. When performing he consumes around a kilogram of material daily, preceding it with mineral oil and drinking considerable quantities of water during the 'meal'. He apparently possesses a stomach and intestine with walls of twice the expected thickness, and his digestive acids are, allegedly, unusually powerful, allowing him to digest a certain portion of his metallic meals. 

King Tooth

On August 30, 2007, the eve of Malaysia's 50th Independence Day, Rathakrishnan Velu  broke his own world record by pulling a train with his teeth, this time with 6 coaches attached weighing 297.1 tons over a distance of 2.8 meters at the Old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. Raja Gigi, from Tampin in Malaysia learned a technique of concentrating his powers to any part of his body from an Indian guru at a young age of 14.

Das Uberboy

Uberboy's real name is being kept secret, much like the fictional “Superman”---Clark Kent. What we do know is that one day in 1999 a little baby boy was born in Germany, at first glance no different from any other. But, the nurses noticed that the baby's muscles were twitching and called the doctors to check him out. When doctors examined the baby they reached a unanimous conclusion: his muscles were developed beyond anything deemed normal. A genetic mutation from birth changes the way his body controls muscle growth. Cattle farmers have been intentionally using this mutation for years in order to breed huge, muscular cows. How he inherited this mutation is unclear. It is also unclear what will happen as Uberboy grows up. No one has ever encountered a child such as this or studied animals with defective myostatin genes into old age. His health and eventual strength remains unknown. What we do know is that at 4-years-old, Uberboy could lift six times more weight than an average kid.

Do you know of anyone with Super-human powers? If you could have a power what would it be?

Queen Mary Hauntings

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Even Ghosts deserve a vacation!"

The luxury liner and World War II transport ship Queen Mary is one of the most haunted places of modern time in America. Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and with the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and carried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. During the war she was named "The Grey Ghost" because of the color she was painted to make her stealthy in war-time waters. Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted once again for passenger service. The ships Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s the ship was aging and though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss and finally in 1967 she retired. The ship left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she remains permanently moored and now serves as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum, and hotel.

In her time, the Queen Mary carried sailors, soldiers, stowaways and wealthy vacationers. It is not surprising she saw her own share of deaths. In fact, there are so many hauntings that some parts of the ship are now barred from the public. But for the paranormally curious there are still haunted tours of the cabins and halls that housed death. During her over 70-year history, the Queen Mary has 49 reported deaths, so there are plenty of potential spirits to haunt her hallways. Reported hauntings include a young crewman in the engine room, swimmers in the first-class pool, a man in black, and a woman in blue. The in-house psychic, Peter James, claims that he has communicated with over 150 separate ghosts on the ship. James gives bi-monthly ghost tours of the ship and claims to have made contact with many different ghosts. 

Can't get to the Queen Mary to see the ghosts, here is a link to some images from the Queen Mary GhostCam. 

Are the ghosts real? I don’t know, but I sure do love a good ghost story. Have you ever been on a ghost tour, seen a ghost? Do tell!

Planet Kepler-20f

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

“Tupperware…Software, next it will be Spacewear instead of underwear”

The Kepler spacecraft is an American space observatory on a mission to discover planets like Earth. On December 20, 2011, just a few days before Christmas, NASA announced that its Kepler mission had discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. This rocky planet called Kepler-20f, is too close to its star to be habitable because although the planet could have a thick water-vapor atmosphere, its surface is believed to be too hot for life. 

It is the first time a planet of this size has been detected in another solar system. Scientists have hailed this technical achievement of detecting Earth sized ‘exoplanets’ (the technical term for planets outside the solar system) as it increases the chances of finding life-bearing worlds. Maybe this planet will one day be a popular vacation spot, depending of course on the proper “Sun Scream.”

Do you think we will ever have to or want to populate another planet?

Obsessions

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"Hello, my name is Minnie and I am an Opsomaniac. Chocolate nearly destroyed my life!"

The way our brain and our mind sometimes refuse to communicate is strange, unusual and often disturbing. Obsessions are the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc. There are many different kinds. Because today is dedicated to the letter O, here are some examples:

Onomatomania is an irresistible desire to repeat certain words and to be obsessed by words and their meanings. Ammon Shea, the sometime furniture removal man, busker and gondolier from New York read the entire 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary from cover to cover in a single year. His obsession with words eventually cut him off from having any kind of a social life at all. This condition could lead to Oenomania which is an abnormal obsession or craze for wine. There have been several cases where Oenomania has led to bankruptcy, divorce and social alienation. Obsession with a few thoughts or ideas is called Oligomania, which is something I could be exhibiting now, should I be worried? Do you have any kind of obsession?

Nazca Lines

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

The answer to everything unexplained is simple...ALIENS!"

In the Peruvian desert there lies a plain between the Inca and Nazca valleys. Across this plain in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1 mile wide is an assortment of perfectly straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting to form a grand geometric form. In and around the lines there are also trapezoidal zones, strange symbols and pictures of birds and beasts all etched on a giant scale that can only be seen from the air. The forms are so difficult to see from the ground that they were not discovered until the 1930s when a plane flew over the Nazca plateau and saw this gigantic art book. The figures include some 70 animals and plants include a spider, hummingbird, monkey, whale, some kind of being, and a 1000 foot long pelican.

Nazca Spider

The spider just happens to be one of the rarest spiders in the world, so rare that it has only been found in remote and inaccessible parts of the Amazon. How did these primitive people travel so far from their homeland, crossing the formidable barrier of the Andes to catch a specimen? They even duplicated details of the spider’s anatomy, normally visible only under a microscope. The whale and monkey are also out of place in this desert environment. There are 900 forms on the plain. These include straight enormous lines, spirals, triangles, and circles. The longest straight line goes nine miles across the plain. How were they made? Somewhere, someone most likely has a perfectly logical explanation, where abouts…uknown.

Mothman

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"Mothballs! I keep them handy at all times."

The beginnings of the Mothman legend center around Point Pleasant, West Virginia in November of 1966, when a group of terrified kids came running into the local police station telling about a terrifying encounter they’d had with a huge winged man creature earlier that evening. Thus an American legend was born… but was the creature in question really what so many others have described over the years: a winged man-thing with red eyes?

There were a number of reports about strange creatures that were seen in Point Pleasant around the time of the so-called “Mothman” The majority of the accounts seem to indicate the presence of a large, winged entity that was described as being close to six or seven feet tall, with large red eyes. While most of these reports stemmed from the years surrounding its presence in Point Pleasant, this mystery carried over into following decades as well. One popular myth of the Mothman story suggested that similar creatures were seen at the times of (or directly preceding) major disasters, including the terrible accident at the Chernobyl nuclear facility in 1986. 

The mystery of the Mothman continues to captivate us.  After the collapse of the Silver Bridge which killed 46 people, there were no more reports of the Mothman. This gave rise to the legends that the Mothman sightings and the bridge collapse were connected. Some claim that the Mothman is an alien that appears to warn us of impending doom, whatever it is or was, let’s hope we never hear about it again.  Truth or fiction, you be the judge.

Loveland Frog

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Kermit the frog for President!"

Look out everyone it is Friday the thirteenth. This should be a popular post for today so I thought I would do something a bit different. There is something about frogs that I find fascinating. Maybe it has to do with all those fairy tales that I read as a child. The frog is Prince charming in disguise. We all know that, right girls? The Loveland frog though is another type of frog and not quite so charming. It is a completely bizarre creature that was sighted several times in Loveland Ohio from 1952 onwards. This creature was often witnessed in groups and was described as a human sized bipedal frog.

 One of the first witnesses to this frog like creature was a businessman driving along a country road in Loveland Ohio when he noticed some odd looking animals at the side of the road. He pulled over to get a better look and couldn't believe what he was seeing. A number of strange amphibian-like creatures were moving along the side of the road. A search of the area later revealed no signs of the frog creatures.

Nothing was reported of the strange creatures until 20 years later when in 1972 a policeman who was driving along that exact same road spotted an odd beast crouched down at the side of the road. A few seconds later the frog-like creature stood up to reveal its true size and then disappeared down an embankment towards a nearby river. 2 weeks later a similar animal was witnessed by another policeman on the same road. The policeman took a shot at the animal but missed as it scurried away into the undergrowth.

If he is roaming around today and you happened to run into him, would you dare a kiss in hopes that he would turn into a prince?

Killer Squirrels

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Wonder if killer squirrel is just as tasty as regular squirrel."

Do killer squirrels really exist? Remember the movie “National Lapoons Christmas Vacation” and the scene with the crazy squirrel?  There have been many instances of squirrel attacks and although not really mystical, I find these stories to fall in the category of strange and unusual.

Take a look at this:

Logically speaking, the reason for most squirrel attacks can be attributed to threat or disease such as rabies. Here are some examples of killer squirrels:

In June 2005, a woman was attacked in her own living room by a crazed squirrel in Passau, Germany. The rodent jumped in through the window and sunk its teeth into the woman. Whilst fleeing the scene the squirrel bit a builder and a 72-year-old man, before he managed to kill it with his crutch.

A pine cone shortage in the Russian town of Lazo resulted in hungry squirrels biting a stray dog to death in November 2005. The unfortunate dog was barking at the squirrels when a swarm of them suddenly surrounded him and attacked.

In November a caring animal lover was assaulted by an injured squirrel he had rescued just days before in a local park. Nicknamed Elvis, the squirrel viciously bit both hands of nature writer Ernie Gordon. After a round of tetanus shots and antibiotics Mr Gordon parted ways with Elvis the squirrel. 

Two parents and an 11-year-old student were attacked in a San Francisco school as they were about to embark on a class field trip in May 2007. The animal managed to climb up one of the parents' trouser legs. The other parent was bitten in the process when he tried to get the rodent off. Before fleeing the scene the squirrel attacked a passing student in the corridor.

The world premiere of a Finnish opera was thrown into disarray by a suicidal squirrel in August, 2006. Finnish opera singer Esa Ruuttunen was on his way to rehearsals for the show when the kamikaze squirrel lunged straight into the spokes of his bicycle causing him to fall of his bike and break his nose. The squirrel was killed instantly.

A squirrel, nicknamed Bruce because of his Die Hard antics, attacked two unsuspecting women in a local park. Bruce then attacked two police officers who had come to the aid of the women. After being pepper-sprayed Bruce retreated into his tree. Moments later Bruce reappeared attacking an unsuspecting victim from the rear before again being scared away by police. The final straw for authorities came when the squirrel attacked a father and his young son.  Bruce was finally captured and later died in the custody of animal welfare authorities of unknown causes.

Have you ever been attacked by a squirrel or do they just drive you “Nuts”? Tell me your squirrel story.

Jesus Toast

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"The phrase --Give us our daily bread-- has taken on a new meaning."

 Six years after a Florida woman auctioned off a partially eaten grilled cheese sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on e-bay for 28,000 dollars, a Vermont man introduced a toaster that sears the image of Christ on each and every slice it toasts. After hearing about the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich he designed the Jesus toaster which uses patented radiated heat technology to toast the face of Christ on any variety of daily bread, from plain white to whole grain. Thanks to the new Jesus Toaster, you can have the body of Christ with your daily bread. This is not the only kind of wonder bread that seems to popping up all over.

In February 2006, Mike Thompson of Ohio claimed to have found the image of Jesus on his breakfast pancake and immediately listed it for sale on Ebay. His listing got nationwide media coverage and reached a high bid of just under $15,000. The pancake was subsequently proven to be a hoax produced by the use of the “Jesus pan” available at jesuspan.com. The face of Mother Teresa was claimed to have been identified in a cinnamon bun at Bongo Java in Nashville, Tennessee on 15 October 1996. Dubbed the "NunBun" by the press, it was turned into an enterprise by the company, selling T-shirts and mugs, which led to an exchange of letters between the company and Mother Teresa's representatives. On 25 December 2005 the bun was stolen during a break-in at the coffee house.

Maybe not so mystical, but it is definitely interesting how are “Minds-eye” works to create religious images out of everyday normal things. Have you seen Jesus today?

Click on the following picture for more examples from the Hubpages website:

Ice Woman

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.
 

"My plumbing froze once, couldn't pee for days, got me some good medicine for that!"

On a bitter cold morning in Minnesota on December 20, 1980, a man opened his back door to find his 19-year-old neighbor, Jean Hilliard, lying in the snow frozen solid.

The night before, Jean’s car had ran off the road and gotten stuck.  Trying desperately to reach her neighbor’s house in a temperature of twenty-five degrees below zero, she never made it to the door.

At the small local hospital, the nursing staff and doctors were stunned. They said she was so cold; it was like reaching into a freezer, like picking out a frozen stick of wood.  Her face wore a death mask, and the heart monitor she was hooked up to read nothing more than a death rhythm. Severely frostbitten, none of her limbs would bend or move.

The odds against Jean were enormous. But two hours later, Jean suddenly went into violent convulsions.  It was a good sign, but the danger was far from over.  Doctors worried that even if Jean regained consciousness she might have serious brain damage.  And the frostbite was so severe that amputating Jean’s legs seemed inevitable.  Then Jean regained consciousness, and later on in an interview she said:

“I woke up in the hospital about noon. Things were kind of hazy and people were asking me questions as to who I am and things like that.  And I couldn’t figure out why they were talking to me that way or why they were treating me that way. Of course, I knew these people. Of course I knew who I was. I mean, what’s the big deal?”

Jeans sister couldn’t believe her eyes.

“When Jeanie first came to and we knew that she was going to live, it was an extreme relief. But what was most miraculous to me was watching her legs recovering. Every time we lifted the sheet, we could see the white just moving down. The black was disappearing little by little, and to me, I still think that was just unbelievable.”

Jean spent 49 days in the hospital.  In defiance of everything her doctors knew about frostbite, she recovered completely.  

Highway of Death

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Ain't no speed limit on the highway of death"

Highway of Death or Highway to Hell is a term usually associated with war, but the Highway of Death that I am going to refer to is a stretch of road on which there have been so many accidents and fatalities that they end up being attributed to a curse or other paranormal activity. Sometimes, the truth is actually stranger than fiction and a good example of this concerns the construction of a highway section between Bremen and Bremerhaven, Germany in 1929. 

Highway by Harm van den Dorpel. Not the stretch referred to, just like the picture.

This section was a completely straight area of flat roadway, on the side of which was a small stone kilometer marker known as kilometer marker 239. During the first 12 months of the roadway's existence over 100 cars crashed near the jinxed marker. On one very clear dry day in September 1930 a total of 9 separate cars left the road right next to the accursed marker. The survivors told the police that when they reached the marker, they felt a "thrill" in their stomachs as if they had topped a hill at great speed. Then their cars were seized by some great force, which pulled them off the road. 

A local water dowser, Carl Wehrs, thought that the force might be a powerful magnetic current generated by an underground stream. To test his theory, he took a steel divining rod and slowly walked toward marker 239. When he was about opposite the marker and about 12 feet from it, the rod suddenly flew out of his hands to the other side of the road and Wehrs was spun halfway around in his tracks.

Satisfied that his theory was right, Wehrs buried a box full of small copper pieces at the base of the stone marker. While the box was buried there, no accidents occurred. The box was dug up and the first three cars that passed the marker were wrecked. The box was quickly reburied and since then, the accidents at marker 239 have stopped. True story or not, definitely interesting.

Groom Lake

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

"Hello...Is there anybody out there?"

Groom Lake is a salt flat in Nevada used for the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport, but it is better known as the name given to a famous “secret” military base also known as Area 51. Officially the existence of “Area 51” has been generally denied, in practice the area is part of an extensive training and testing range run by the United States Air Force.

Groom Lake, Nevada

It is believed that the base has been used as a facility for developing and testing new experimental aircraft and aviation technologies. It is also famously connected to the UFO phenomenon and conspiracy theories suggest that the United States is testing either captured alien spacecraft or new vehicles based on alien technology. The small town of Rachel is located near Groom Lake on the aptly named Extraterrestrial Highway and it is a popular tourist destination. Tours taking visitors to the famous “trespassers will be shot” signs at the very edge of the restricted area 51 are a popular attraction.

Area 51 has been featured in numerous films, books and television shows for many years including movies like Independence Day and shows such as the X-Files. It has become a symbol of government cover-ups and alien conspiracies in modern pop culture.

Have a wonderful Easter Week-end!

Faces of Belmez

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"Mirror, mirror in the floor, tell me who you so adore."

In August 1971, Maria Gomez Pereira discovered a strange image of a man's face that had appeared on her kitchen floor. A few days later she had the floor ripped out and replaced it only to find that the face reappeared in exactly the same place within a week.

Faces of Belmez

 Before she got the chance to rip out the floor a second time the slab was removed and preserved by local authorities. Investigations into the site on which the house was built revealed that the site had once been a graveyard and as such it was decided that the floor of the house should be excavated to see what lay beneath. After digging down some nine feet, human remains were found and promptly removed and the floor was once again replaced. After just two weeks a variety of new faces once again appeared on the floor.  Hoax or not, the faces of Belmez created quite a stir in this little Spanish town. 

Enfield Poltergeist

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"They're Here.....yesterdays TV people are todays PC people"

A scene from the 1982 film Poltergeist. Photograph: Allstar/MGM

One of the most spectacular Poltergeist cases ever recorded took place in Enfield, London from August 1977 to September 1978. During this time a woman and her four children who were living in a council house in Enfield experienced almost every single Poltergeist phenomenon ever identified.

Over 1500 separate phenomena were recorded. Among these were objects being thrown around and materializing out of thin air, as well as loud knocking sounds. Many items were found to catch fire on their own accord while metal items seemed to bend and twist out of shape. Researcher Maurice Gross spent a considerable amount of time researching the case and stayed with the family while these events happened. His testimonies have helped add considerable weight to the reports and experiences there.

On many occasions it appeared that the activity was focused on 12-year-old Janet. In a series of well-known photographs journalist Graham Morris photographed her being levitated out of bed by an unseen force while her sister looked on. In other occasions Janet would begin to speak in a very deep, manly voice that seemed impossible for a child. The occurrences became more and more chilling until finally it stopped as abruptly as it had started. The case of the Enfield Poltergeist remains mostly unsolved, the types of phenomena which appeared at the home and the period of time for which they continued helped make this one of the most chilling cases of its kind.

Doppelganger

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

“Make mine a double with a twist.”

Doppelganger by Perodog on Deviant Art...

Do you have an exact double somewhere in the world? Can a person be in two places at once? There are many intriguing accounts throughout history of people who claim to have either encountered apparitions of themselves - their doppelgangers - or have experienced the phenomenon of bilocation, being in two separate locations at the very same time.

"Doppelganger" is German for "double walker" - a shadow self that is thought to accompany every person. Traditionally, it is said that only the owner of the doppelganger can see this phantom self, and that it can be a harbinger of death. Occasionally, however, a doppelganger can be seen by a person's friends or family, resulting in quite a bit of confusion.

In instances of bi-location, a person can either spontaneously or willingly project his or her double, known as a "wraith," to a remote location. This double is indistinguishable from the real person and can interact with others just as the real person would.

So keeping in form I need to mention the Insecure Writers Support Group, which is the first Wednesday of every month. What does a Doppelganger have to do with that? Well I can only speak for myself but I do believe there are others out there like me. Sometimes a writer can get confused because there are so many voices out there. How do you know which one to listen to, how can you be true to yourself when you don't even know who that is? Which voice from yourself is the best one to listen to? My answer...the one that speaks the loudest.

Crop Circles

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

 

“Alien tattoo artists doing it on the ground, what else could it be?”

The media first wrote about Crop circles in 1980, when the first real Newspaper report was published on a grouping of Circles that appeared in Wiltshire, England. However, many Farmers have mentioned that circles have been on their land for generations. Most likely Crop Circles have been around a lot longer than the recent history we know of, but there is little evidence supporting that fact.

A popular modern mystery, Crop circles are the formation of intricate and often beautiful patterns of flattened grass and crops appearing in fields all over the world. In many cases crop circles appeared in a very short space of time and with a level of complexity that seemed to go beyond anything that could be produced so quickly by pranksters. Strange phenomena would sometimes be detected inside the circles themselves such as unusual magnetic readings and electrical devices failing for no apparent reason.

Messages by aliens, communication from another dimension, magnetic fields, or are the Crop Circles some way linked to Ancient Sites? Some believe the circles to be spiritual in nature and that they represent messages from a higher intelligence. Whatever the case, to this day crop circles continue to appear in fields around the world, sometimes created by man but for the most part they remain a mystery.