Another Loch Ness Sighting of a Creature With a “Head and Neck”

  June 15, 2019

“We have been to Loch Ness many times, but never seen the monster before. But I always like to look at the loch – I can’t imagine how many pairs of eyes are on that loch at any one time. But I have spent periods looking at the water, because you never know.”

You never know … especially when you’re driving by the Loch Ness. In what is fast becoming a record-breaking year for sightings, a couple on vacation and enjoying the view got the holiday picture and video of a lifetime … and put themselves in the running for the annual Loch Ness Monster photo contest and cash prize offered by the Inverness Courier.

“But at around 1.30pm just after we had lunch, my husband was driving and I was in the passenger seat gazing out at the loch. Then I suddenly saw something and I said to Ian ‘there’s something down there.”

Ian Davison, being the good husband that his is, had just finished a nice vacation lunch with his wife, Gloria, and was driving to their next vacation stop when he obediently pulled over to the side of the road to observe what his wife saw (rather than telling her it was just her imagination and hitting the gas so he could make good time). What she saw she also captured on video for their friends, the world and especially Gary Campbell of the Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register to see. (You can see it for yourself here.)

No, this isn’t it.

“He turned around and we got out of the car and there it was. We were very excited. It was about 300 metres away and definitely black. It seemed to have a neck and head. I could definitely see its back and it was a fair size. It disappeared after a minute beneath the water. I had hoped there was something (Nessie) in the loch – you always want to believe in something. All I can say is that we saw something we cannot explain. But it was animate and it was definitely not a seal.”

The Davisons were driving by Urquhart Bay, which is a prime Nessie spotting area as attested by the presence of the 24/7 Nessie closed-circuit TV camera – where a man in Ireland with plenty of time on his hands and a comfortable chair to sit in has already seen something in the waters twice this year. Let’s hope contest officials give actual on-site spotters preference.

“This is our seventh sighting of the year and these are all very credible sightings. It is clearly Loch Ness and clearly unexplained. In terms of Nessie videos it’s also very clear and we still don’t know what it is. It all adds to the mystery. But do these latest sightings explain the Loch Ness mystery – No? Do they add to the weight of evidence that there is something happening that is unexplained – yes.”

No, this isn’t it either.

Gary Campbell knows on which side of the Loch Ness Monster he needs to be to stay in business, so the photo of what looks like either a small long-necked creature or a big odd-shaped log has been added to the Register and entered in the contest. He logged 13 official sightings in 2018, so this year is on a record-breaking pace. Anyone hoping to see the monster should get to Loch Ness before September when the team that’s searching the waters for unusual DNA promises to release its results, which it recently announced contain a “surprising” discovery.
Local business owners may want to send a thank-you note to the Davisons and a bag of unmarked pounds to the DNA researchers.

Canada’s Legendary ‘Lake Demon’ Ogopogo Reportedly Caught on Video

June 15, 2019

A British Columbia man believes he caught Canada’s legendary Ogopogo on video. Ogopogo is sometimes referred to as Nessie’s “Canadian cousin” due to the similarities between the two mythical creatures: they’re both aquatic animals that stay mostly out of sight but seemingly pop up to the surface from time to time to keep mortals believing in them. Ogopogo sightings have been reported for centuries, and the folklore of the First Nations people of British Columbia contains tales of lake spirits or water demons in the waters of Okanagan Lake. Could the legendary Lake Demon of British Columbia have finally been caught on camera?

Ogopogo is a celebrated part of local folklore throughout the region.

Maybe. The footage certainly shows something strange in the water. As kayakers sit motionless in the foreground, several strange ‘humps’ or objects in the waters can be seen in the background moving quite quickly seemingly just below the surface of the water. Judging from the footage, if this was a creature, it would be almost 120 feet (36 meters) long. Watch the video for yourself and see what you think.
Like most videos of alleged cryptids and curious creatures, the footage is certainly compelling if you go into it thinking you’re about to witness a strange beast just out of sight under the water. Of course, there could be plenty of other explanations for what we’re seeing in the video – a boat wake, for one. Robert Young, an environmental scientist at the University of British Columbia, told Canada’s Global News that he believes the ripples in the video are likely caused by a natural process known as lake turnover. “I think it’s a product of overturn that happens seasonally where lake layers of different temperatures and depths will pass each other,” Young said. “Where the layers pass each other, they form a wake, these waves only form when there is no other waves to mix it.”

Grant Island on Lake Ogopogo

According to National Geographic, lake turnover occurs during season changes when water on the surface cools, thereby becoming more dense and sinking to the bottom. In large bodies of water, this can create churning or swirling ripples on the surface as different ‘layers’ of water rise and fall due to seasonal temperature inversions. Is that what we’re seeing in this footage?
As with all videos of this kind, people generally see what they want to see. What do you see?

Lost Nazi Bunker Holding Amber Room Treasures May Have Been Found in Poland

June 13, 2019

While real Nazis search for other things (perhaps they know something others don’t?), treasure hunters have spend decades looking for the precious metals, jewels and rare art looted by the Nazis as they rampaged across Europe in World War II. One such collection was the Amber Room or Amber Chamber – a royal chamber decorated with panels of over six tons of real amber that was created by German craftsmen during the 18th century and presented as a gift to Peter the Great from Prussia’s King Frederick William I in 1716. It was placed in the Catherine Palace south of St. Petersburg until World War II when German troops found the Amber Room, dismantled it and took it to the Royal Koenigsberg Castle, where it stayed until 1945 when it disappeared, never to be seen again.
The list of possible locations of the Amber Room include in a tunnel under a castle in the Polish city of Paslek, in caves near Dresden and at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Despite being one of the most sought-after Nazi treasures, fans have only been able to gaze at a replica. That may have changed this week when researchers from a Polish museum found the entrance to a bunker in northwest Poland … a bunker believed to be large enough to hold the Amber Room.

A replica of the Amber Room

“We can safely talk about a breakthrough in the search. Using professional georadar, we were able to establish the location of the underground tunnel. After excavation at the site, we actually found the hatch, which almost certainly did not open since the war.”

Bartlomiej Plebanczyk told the Polish radio station RMF FM of the discovery in Mamerki, a settlement in northern Poland near the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia that was part of Germany before 1945. (Photos of the location and old photos of the Amber Room can be seen here.) During the war, Mamerki was the headquarters of the Wehrmacht Army Command and 30 reinforced concrete bunkers were built there, leading experts to long believe they were used to store looted treasures … a belief reinforced by a few people who claim to have witnessed soldiers driving vehicles into them.

Should we believe Bartlomiej Plebanczyk? This is the same museum researcher who claimed in 2016 that he had found the Amber Room in a bunker in Mamerki, only to come up empty. What makes this bunker different? For one thing, its door is buried behind a 100-kg (220-pound) concrete slab with a large tree growing over it, indicating it probably hasn’t been touched since 1945. For another thing … well, that’s the only thing so far. Before you head for Mamerki with a load of dynamite, Plebanczyk warns that it’s under the protection of the Polish government. He himself is working through the red tape and paperwork and hopes to have permission to carefully remove the slab and open the door by the end of June 2019.
And then? About £250 million ($318 million US) in amber and treasures may be found and the fight over ownership will begin.
Or perhaps they’ll find an old knight guarding a cup. Indy, is that you?

Bedroom Encounters: Ghostly Black Dogs & Supernatural Wolves

June 12, 2019

Now and again I’ll find myself on the receiving end of a report in which the witness encounters a large, red-eyed black dog or a giant wolf staring at them while in bed or on the bed. And usually in the dead of night; sometimes, however, during the day. Typically, the witnesses – awakened by the animals – are unable to move at the time of the encounters. A deep sense of dread suddenly envelopes them. Then, suddenly, after a few moments or even minutes, the creatures are gone. From a woman who as a young girl had a traumatic encounter with an infernal, supernatural hound at the height of the Second World War, we have the following: “At the time, because of the war, my mother and I usually stayed with an elderly gentleman, who had kindly taken us in as ‘refugees’ from London. We only went back to the capital when the bombing ceased. The cottage where we lived is still in existence, in Bredon, Worcestershire. My encounter took place one late afternoon in summer, when I had been sent to bed, but was far from sleepy.”
She continued: “I was sitting at the end of the big brass bedstead, playing with the ornamental knobs, and looking out of the window, when I was aware of a scratching noise, and an enormous black dog had walked from the direction of the fireplace to my left. It passed round the end of the bed, towards the door. As the dog passed between me and the window, it swung its head round to stare at me – it had very large eyes, which glowed from inside as if lit up, and as it looked at me I was quite terrified, and very much aware of the creature’s breath, which was warm and as strong as a gust of wind.

“The animal must have been very tall, as I was sitting on the old-fashioned bedstead, which was quite high, and our eyes were level. Funnily enough, by the time it reached the door, it had vanished. I assure you that I was wide awake at the time, and sat on for quite some long while wondering about what I had seen, and to be truthful, too scared to get into our bed, under the clothes and go to sleep. I clearly remember my mother and our host, sitting in the garden in the late sun, talking and hearing the ringing of the bell on the weekly fried-fish van from Birmingham, as it went through the village! I am sure I was not dreaming, and have never forgotten the experience, remembering to the last detail how I felt, what the dog looked like.” Moving on…
Dion Fortune was an occultist, mystic, and the author of a number of acclaimed works, and whose real name was Violet Mary Firth. Fortune, who died in 1946 at the age of fifty-five, was someone who was skilled at creating monsters in the mind and who then unleashed them into the world around her. Fortune made it very clear, however, that creating a mind-monster rarely has a positive outcome. It is something that each and every one of us should take careful heed of. Her story is as fascinating as it is disturbing:
“The artificial elemental is constructed by forming a clear-cut image in the imagination of the creature it is intended to create, ensouling it with something of the corresponding aspect of one’s own being, and then invoking into it the appropriate natural force. This method can be used for good as well as evil, and ‘guardian angels’ are formed in this way. It is said that dying women, anxious concerning the welfare of their children, frequently form them unconsciously. I myself once had an exceedingly nasty experience in which I formulated a were-wolf accidentally. Unpleasant as the incident was, I think it may be just as well to give it publicity, for it shows what may happen when an insufficiently disciplined and purified nature is handling occult forces.
“I had received serious injury from someone who, at considerable cost to myself, I had disinterestedly helped, and I was sorely tempted to retaliate. Lying on my bed resting one afternoon, I was brooding over my resentment, and while so brooding, drifted towards the borders of sleep. There came to my mind the thought of casting off all restraints and going berserk. The ancient Nordic myths rose before me, and I thought of Fenris [also known as Fenrir], the Wolf-horror of the North. Immediately I felt a curious drawing-out sensation from my solar plexus, and there materialized beside me on the bed a large wolf. It was a well-materialized ectoplasmic form. It was grey and colorless, and had weight. I  could  distinctly  feel  its  back  pressing  against  me  as  it  lay  beside  me  on  the  bed  as  a  large  dog  might.

“I knew nothing about the art of making elementals at that time, but had accidentally stumbled upon the right method – the brooding highly charged with emotion, the invocation of the appropriate natural force, and the condition between sleeping and waking in which the etheric double readily extrudes.”
Altogether, I have eleven cases in my files of sightings by the bed of large black dogs (with blazing red eyes) and supernatural wolves. Of course, the skeptic would very likely say that because the encounters occurred in bedrooms and so often well into the early hours of the morning, the witnesses were just having particularly vivid dreams. And as for the inability of the witnesses to move, it may be suggested that sleep paralysis is the culprit. Perhaps so. But, in all of the cases? And why so many deeply similar incidents, in terms of the specific appearances of the creatures that are encountered time and again?
Nightmares or nightmarish creatures? It’s a question I ponder on.

Only Child Ever Born in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Gets a Glowing Health Report

  June 12, 2019

“If people think she is a mutant, or has two heads, they are quite wrong. She is a lovely child who is absolutely healthy as far as we can see.”

That’s not the kind of comment one would expect about the only child ever conceived, born and raised within the Chernobyl nuclear accident exclusion zone … a child who swam in a river in the zone, ate the fish her father caught from it and drank the milk of cows grazing in the shadows of the buildings that were supposed to have been abandoned after the worst nuclear reactor meltdown in history. If she truly has survived, lived a normal life and is now a health 19-year-old woman, is there hope for the rest of us surviving the almost-certain-to-come next atomic catastrophe or nuclear winter?

“People here believe that Mariyka is a symbol of Chernobyl’s renaissance, a sign from God which they interpret as a blessing to live here, and that life is coming back to this blighted place.”

These comments are from Mariyaka’s mother Lydia Sovenko, whose husband Mikhail was employed by the plant, lived near reactor 4 and on the night of April 26, 1986, was called in as a firefighter to battle the fires caused by the explosion. Once the initial disaster had abated, the Sovenkos chose to ignore the mandatory evacuation of the 19 mile (30 km) radius of the exclusion zone because they were amazingly not offered shelter by what was then the soon-to-fall government of the Soviet Union. At that time, about 91,000 people left while about 1,200 remained. Most of them were older citizens, so the possibility of anyone being conceived or born in the exclusion zone was quite low. but not impossible.

In 1999, Lydia Sovenko, then in her mid-40s, did not know she was pregnant when she shockingly gave birth at home with the aid of Mikhail, who washed the newborn and tied her umbilical cord. The government and their few neighbors tried to shame and humiliate them into moving out instead of raising a child in such an irradiated and heavily polluted area, but they kept her there until age seven, when Mariyaka was forced to leave – not for health reasons but because there were only ruins of schools in the exclusion zone. However, she returned home when school was out, despite the fact that she was the only child living there.

“I am doing well, I am working. I’m providing for myself. This is it.”

The Soviet and later the Ukrainian government tried to keep her existence a secret, but the recent HBO television special on Chernobyl, which showed the destruction and death caused by the explosion and radiation, drove the Sunday Express to find Mariyaka and check on her health. While she no longer lives in the exclusion zone, she says she still visits her mother and both are in good health, at least in their own views. Ironically, despite the fact that she is the only child ever born in the exclusion zone, Mariyaka must obtain a special permit to enter it.

“She really doesn’t care about being unique through being born in Chernobyl. In fact, knowing that she is the only child who was born here after the explosion, and who grew up in Chernobyl, is rather painful for her. She sees it as a stigma.”

A friend who knows Mariyaka’s past told the Express that the only pain she feels is psychological, not physical. While the interview does not include a checkup by a medical doctor, perhaps there’s no need for one, as Mariyaka’s natural glow (see photos here) and the growing reports of plants and animals thriving in the exclusion zone may be proof enough that the aftereffects of radiation exposure are not the death sentence experts once believed them to be.

Then again, given the choice … would you live in the ground zero known as the Chernobyl exclusion zone? Would you conceive, give birth and raise a child there? Are Mariyaka’s parents heroes, villains or a creepy experiment?
Do you believe your own eyes, a documentary or a Godzilla movie?

Giant Loch Ness Monster-like Sea Monster Fossils Found in Antarctica

The top country-archeology song this week is “Looking For Nessie in All The Wrong Places” by Kris Kryptologist. At least it would be if there were such a musical genre (note to self: it may be time to get the old CW band back together). A group of dedicated researchers who have spent the last 15 years freezing in Antarctica can finally head someplace warm after completely excavating the fossil remains of a 15-ton dinosaur that looks an awful lot like what many people think the Loch Ness monster looks like – really long neck, 40-foot-long thin body and tail, four massive flippers and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Is it time for a Nessie song? Would a skiffle tune be more appropriate? With bagpipes?

“The presence of this specimen, located less than 2.5 meters below the K/Pg boundary, indicates the persistence of aristonectines at high latitudes short time before the mass extinction.”

That’s paleontology-speak for “We found a huge cousin of the plesiosaurs near the South Pole latitudes that survived to the end of the Cretaceous era before being wiped out by the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (a massive comet or asteroid impact a long way off in the Gulf of Mexico).”

According to their paper in Crestaceous Research, archeologists discovered the fossils in 1989 on Marambio Island off the coast of Antarctica, but the sheer size and significance of the skeleton and the freezing conditions on the island forced the team to carefully remove it over an 18-year period culminating in 2017. Paleontologist and study co-author José O’Gorman of the Museum of La Plata summarized its importance:

“It is the largest elasmosaurid in the world.”

The elasmosaurids have the longest necks of the reptiles in the family of plesiosaurs and this discovery indicates that they survived right up until the big extinction rock hit Earth 66 million years ago, meaning Antarctica was a pretty nice place to live at the time, with plenty of warm water and food for 15 ton creatures. The question is, could one of more of these elasmosaurids have somehow survived the K–Pg extinction event or perhaps reappeared shortly after it and moved north to Scotland?

“Even in Antarctica, there were lots of happy elasmosaurs. It’s definitely an indication that toward the end of the Cretaceous, [plesiosaurs] managed to expand their feeding repertoire.”

Anne Schulp, a vertebrate paleontologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, was not involved in the research but told the National Geographic that the southern elasmosaurs known as the Aristonectes (meaning “best swimmers”) were bigger than their northern cousins and size of the one discovered on Marambio Island may indicate it’s a separate and new genus. The mouth full of teeth may have helped it grow to record size … the researchers believe the southern elasmosaurs fed more like whales – opening their mouths wide to envelop fish-filled waters and then close their mouths and expel the water, catching the fish in their teeth. Unfortunately, that same feeding method is probably why they couldn’t have survived until today – the K–Pg extinction event killed off almost all of their food sources.
We probably won’t find Nessie in Antarctica and it’s unlikely the Loch Ness Monster is a lost southern elasmosaur. However, that kind of stuff never stopped country-western songwriters before. Grab a geetar and a pen and come up with some new “monster” lyrics for this classic from Urban Cowboy

Dracula’s Cannonballs Have Been Discovered In Bulgaria

June 11, 2019

Researchers discovered medieval cannonballs from culverins (an ancient type of cannon) that were presumably used by Wallacian Voivode Vlad III Dracula – or Vlad the Impaler – from the 15^th century. According to a report in Archaeology in Bulgaria, they believe that the cannonballs were used during the 1461 battle against the Ottoman Turks.
The cannonballs were discovered in Svishtov, which is a small town in northern Bulgaria. They were found by Professor Nikolay Ovcharov from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia, as well as his team. They also discovered bigger cannonballs that were used in later times.

Vlad the Impaler

In an interview with Nova TV, Ovcharov talked about the discovery, “What’s really interesting is that from the [early] Ottoman period we have found cannonballs. We rejoice at those small cannonballs because they are from culverins,” adding, “These were the earliest cannons which were from the 15^th century, up until the 16^th century, they weren’t in use after that. These were still very imperfect cannons. That was precisely the time of Vlad Dracula, there is no doubt that they are connected with the siege by Vlad Dracula [for control of the Zishtova Fortress] in 1461.”
Ovcharov said that he believes Dracula himself could have quite possibly stayed at the fortress, “The truth is that Vlad Dracula besieged this place, conquered it, and most probably also resided here.”
Excavations will continue at the site until June 15^th, with another one-to-two-year exploration following that date, and the fortress will be restored after the researchers are finished with their work.

Painting of Vlad the Impaler

While Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was inspired by the real Vlad the Impaler, the history connected to the real person is much more frightening. Vlad the Impaler wrote a letter to the King of Hungary, bragging that during the battle he killed 410 Turks. “Some of them were probably impaled, in his style,” Ovcharov suggested. “He was one of the most meticulous fighters against the Ottoman invasion. He was cruel but, at the end of the day, that was the Middle Ages, and he was allowed those things,” he explained.
From 1463 to 1475, Vlad was held captive in Visegrád, but then died in battle in 1476. His cruel methods of punishing his enemies made him well-known throughout the world, even to this day. And the newly discovered cannonballs that were used by him in the 15^th century are a reminder of just how ruthless he was.
You can see pictures of the recently discovered cannonballs of Dracula here.

Mysterious Hyena Monsters in North America

  June 10, 2019

There are all manner of creatures skirting out past the fringes of what we know, inhabiting a realm that we cannot at this time fully understand. One of these types of mystery animals are strange beasts akin to hyenas that stalk the landscape of North America, very unusual since these creatures are in no way native to these lands. Although quite rare as these things go, there have been occasional sightings of something in the wilds of North America that seems to be keeping along the lines of something very hyena-like in nature. Indeed, such a creature plays a role in the lore and legends of the Ioway Indians of the Great Plains of the American West, a creature they call the Shunka Warakin, which means in their language “carries off dogs,” and which is known by various other local names. It is a brutish, dark-furred beast with a sloping back, massive jaws, long front legs compared to the rear, and looking very much like what we today would know as a hyena. The creatures were said to be extremely vicious and to be avoided at all costs, and the tribes of the region gave them a large berth.
The Shunka Warakin was apparently often sighted by both Native tribes and early white settlers of the area, who typically described it as being very large and heavy-set, with a build somewhat reminiscent of a cross between a wolf and a hyena, and with black to dark red fur. Some settlers claimed to have even shot and mounted specimens of these beasts, and there is at least one mysterious mounted specimen that was allegedly shot in Montana in 1886 by an Israel Ammon Hutchins. The specimen was acquired by a local taxidermist named Joseph Sherwood and stuffed and displayed at a general store in Idaho, where it was labelled as “Ringdocus.”

Although this mount has never been formally examined in any great depth, and even went missing for awhile, some cryptozoologists, notably the renowned Loren Coleman, have suggested that it is indeed physical evidence of the legendary Shunka Warakin. As recently as 2006 there was a strange looking, reddish-yellow wolf that was shot in Garfield County, Montana after apparently going on a killing spree slaughtering around 120 sheep. While there was some speculation in cryptozoological circles that it could be an actual specimen of Shunka Warakin, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department eventually came to the conclusion that it was merely an aberrant individual of wolf. Sightings of such large, hyena-like beasts in North America have been made far and wide. An early report dug up by cryptozoologist Jerome Clark comes from an August 3, 1910 article in the Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The sighting apparently happened at Delphos, Kansas, and the report says:

Considerable excitement was created here yesterday when Isaac Good, who lives on the Noah Miller farm in Marion township, about a mile east of Delphos, came into town and reported that he had seen in the Pohlman woods, near the W. C. Baxter farm, between 8 and 9 a.m., a strange looking wild animal that had all the appearance of being a hyena. Mr. Good first saw the animal in the woods. It was sitting back on its haunches and licking its front paws much in the same manner as a cat or dog would. Mr. Good was quite near the animal before he saw it, or before it saw him. After starting at him for a few moments, Mr. Good says[,] the animal ran rapidly toward a cornfield and disappeared. His description of the strange beast left no doubt that it was a wild animal, that it was a hyena. Mr. Good remained about the vicinity for some time, hoping to get another glimpse of the animal, but was unable to do so. He was on his way to Delphos to work, but after seeing the strange intruder in the woods, he gave up the idea of work for the day, and came to Delphos and endeavored to organize a number of armed men and procure dogs to chase the animal down. No reports had previously been heard concerning such an animal being seen in this part of the country, but Mr. Good’s word is not doubted. The animal may have escaped from a circus.

Another sighting of a possible Shunka Warakin was reported to CO Parks and Wildlife in 2019, in which a witness claims to have seen a large hyena pass in front of him at Garden of the Gods trading post in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In this case it was found that there were no missing hyenas at the nearby Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and authorities just sort of shrugged it off as a misidentification of a coyote, bobcat, or other locally known animal. Other notable sightings of the beast abound. In 1991 several witnesses claimed to have seen a hyena roving about the Alberta Wildlife Park near Legal, Alberta, Canada, and in 1995 others were spotted in Idaho and Montana. More sightings have occurred in these areas in later years as well, such as a hyena spotted roaming about killing livestock in Montana in 2005, and at least four sightings of a hyena-like creature in 2015 and 2017.

Spotted hyena

Such sightings seem to range quite wildly. There was a fairly recent spate of sightings in 2004, in which a large, hyena-like animal was reported as prowling about killing dogs in rural Maine. The creature was sighted by dozens of witnesses including policemen, all of whom said it looked just like a hyena. Also quite recent is a sighting reported to Phantoms and Monsters, of a witness who claims to have seen a hyena-like creature in 2010 in the vicinity of the Adirondack Park, in the southern Adirondacks of NY. The witness says:

My wife and I saw what can only be described as a hyena chasing several deer across the road. The animal literally stopped dead in front of the car staring back at us for 10 seconds before it moved off. I have been in the woods my whole life, raised with a gun since childhood, and spent my summers on Lake Champlain. I have hunted, fished, instructed archery and rifle range, hiked, coon hunted at night, owned horses and ridden horseback through the wilderness, and presently live with all kinds of wildlife on my lakefront-creekside property… well, I thought I’d seen it all. BUT… I have no idea what this was, other than to say it was a hyena.

It was very large; 150-175lbs, long bushy tail, brindle, wirey, spotted, brown, black and gray coat, with a powerful predator build, thick lower jaw, rounded, diamond shaped, triangular head with rounded ears sitting high on the head, and what appeared to be a mane running down the back originating on the neck. Its hind legs were noticeably shorter than the front and much thicker and more powerfully muscled than the front – so that the animal sloped down in the powerful rear. I have seen countless Hyenas on Discovery, in National Geographic and Wild Kingdom as a kid, and there is no other option then this strongly resembled a Spotted Hyena.

Then a few days later, we saw it again doing the same thing. There is no doubt, this was not a Coyote, a Wolf hybrid or a Coydog… this WAS a Hyena. My property has a creek, creekmouth and lakefront, with 4 fish spawns, plenty of deer, coyote, Red and Gray Fox, Fisher, Eagles, Turkeys, ducks, Blue Heron, owls, Osprey, geese, ducks, Turkey Vultures, and even the occasional Black Bear and this fall a yearling Moose, I’ve seen it all; especially riding horseback. You name it, I’ve seen it and can identify it… but have never seen anything like this. As close as I can come is the Spotted Hyena.

Similar to this mysterious cryptid is another that seems to share some traits and could even be the same thing, or something at least related to it. This enigmatic beast hails from the remote, cold regions of the north, where Native tribes in the Nahanni Valley of the Northwest Territories of Canada have long spoken of an enormous wolf-like beast that stalks the frozen wastelands and is called the Waheela. The Waheela is usually said to look very similar to a wolf, but much larger, more muscular and heavily built, and with shorter, stockier legs that are longer in the front than in the back. Indeed the Waheela’s body is said to be almost bear-like in its shape and massive in quality, and it is also often described as having disproportionately large feet that are almost like snowshoes, with widely spaced toes, a broader, more formidable head than a normal wolf with smaller ears, and it sometimes is mentioned as having long white fur. At least one eyewitness sighting has described the beast as being like “a wolf on steroids,” and standing around 3 and a half feet at the shoulder, which is far larger than a typical wolf.

The legends surrounding this creature say that it is a solitary hunter rather than a pack animal like wolves and most other canids, and that it has various supernatural powers. Interestingly, the Waheela’s main territory of the Nahanni Valley is also known for its large amount of disappearances and deaths, with corpses found here having a habit of being minus a head, leading to the rather ominous nickname “The Headless Valley.” Some have even blamed these mysterious deaths on the presence of the Waheela, and indeed the valley is wreathed in dark legends of the numerous evil spirits said to inhabit it. The Waheela has also been reported from Alaska and northern Michigan, and Ontario, Canada, also has its own version of the Waheela called the Ontario White Wolf.
A sighting of what sounds very much like the Waheela or Shunka Warakin was reported on The National Cryptid Society, and concerns what seems to be some sort of massive, hyena-like creature spotted in a rural area of Illinois along Route 37 between Johnston City Illinois and West Frankfort in 2008. The witness says that he was driving along at about 11;30 at night when he had his encounter, of which he says:

Ahead of me in the distance I saw a deer cross the road in front of me. Just a short bit after a very large creature crossed the road as if it was stalking it. Illinois Route 37 is a two lane highway and this creature took up a lane and a half starting at the edge of the road. It was hunkered down like a cat would stalk something, but this wasn’t a cat. The front haunches were like a hyena’s. I couldn’t tell if it had a tail. It looked more dog-like… If I had to say something it looked like I would have to say it reminded me of a werewolf like on American Werewolf of London, but that’s what it reminded me of. After passing the point where they crossed the road I turned around to see if I could see it again. No luck. I did see the deer trying to hide in a yard behind a few trees, laying there shaking as if it was terrified of something.

What are we dealing with here? Theories on what such creatures could be vary, with one of the most popular ideas in cryptozoology being that it is not any sort of wolf at all, but rather a relic population of a prehistoric beast known as the bear-dog. These imposing creatures were from the family Amphicyonidae, a group of animals that resembled a hybrid between a wolf and a bear, hence their common name, and are thought to have died out in the New World around 2 million years ago and in the Old World around 10,000 years ago. It could also be that they are relic populations of the Borophaginae, which were large, hyena-like canids often called the “bone-crushing dogs,” or that they represent some form of American hyena. Other theories point to a relic population of dire wolves (Canis dirus), which were large, heavily built wolves that became extinct near the end of the Pleistocene epoch, around 125,000 years ago. Yet other theories speculate that these cryptids could be indicative of some sort of North American relative of the hyena or a new species of large canid all together. More skeptical evaluations point to this all being merely exaggerated reports of known animals, sightings of aberrant or unusually colored specimens of coyote or wolf, or simply escaped exotic pets or zoo specimens. Whatever they are, they just add to the menagerie of mystery monsters that prowl the wilderness beyond our understanding.

Strange Yet Vaguely Familiar Eflin Creature Caught on Video

  June 10, 2019

Look out, Momo … here’s comes Dobby! The Internet has exploded with comments, explanations and the usual derogatory diatribes about a video posted to Facebook by a woman who claims it’s footage from her home security camera showing what appears to be an elfin creature that looks somewhat like Dobby, the house-elf from the Harry Potter movies.

“I woke up Sunday morning and saw this on my camera and am trying to figure out…what the heck. First I saw the shadow walking from my front door when I saw this thing….has anyone else seen this on their cameras? The other two cameras didn’t pick it up for some reason.”

The video (watch it here) was posted on June 6 on Facebook by Vivian Gomez, so her reference to “Sunday morning” means she wants us to believe (sorry, skeptic meter is buzzing loudly in the background) this happened on the night of June 1 or early June 2. Gomez has no other posts on the video but made some interesting explanatory comments in defense of its reality:

• Right?! It doesn’t disappear on my cameras and only did when I posted it in case anyone thinks I photoshopped
• I showed my parents and they were freaked out too…
• I don’t hear any door opening and the shadow is the thing
• The video stopped when it was in the driveway
• no I didn’t but if anyone tested it or whatever they do, it would confirm it’s not altered. (in reference to the video)

Based on those comments, it’s obviously … not obvious. As expected on a slow news weekend, the video was picked up by national media outlets and spread worldwide via shares and reposts on other social media platforms. Harry Potter fans were quick to point out the resemblance to Dobby and those still mourning the character’s death in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” were hoping this means the fictional character is still fictionally alive. Those up on their folklore know that “dobby” is another name for a hobgoblin (think Puck in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) that is usually a small hairy male humanoid with huge pointy ears. While one skeptical commenter says the ears on the creature in the video could have been made by putting shorts on the head of a child, the skinny body and odd gait would be tough for a kid to pull off. On the other hand, there’s plenty of CGI experts and hobbyists with videos of elves and extraterrestrials that could possibly create this kind of CCTV footage … although no one has come forward to show exactly how it was done or could be done.

There’s been no comment from JK Rowling, who seems to find time in her busy schedule to comment on US politics, so that probably rules out this “Dobby” being a presidential candidate. Vivian Gomez is sticking to her story, even in this age of hate and death threats against even fun and frivolous video posters.
We finally found the real Momo. Will someone find the real Dobby or whatever is in this video?

A Strange Creature That Didn’t Hang Around

  June 9, 2019

Some strange creatures, like Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, the Yeti, and Ogopogo, are seen time and again and across decades – sometimes even centuries. There are, however, a few bizarre beasts that put in very brief appearances for startled eyewitnesses, and soon vanish, never to be seen again. Perhaps there is no better example of the latter than what has become known as the Dover Demon. It was around 10:30 p.m. on the night of April 21, 1977 when all hell broke loose. William Bartlett, then seventeen, was driving along Farm Street, in Dover, Massachusetts, when he spotted something both amazing and terrifying sitting on a wall. It was nothing less than a small, almost goblin-like, beast of about three and a half feet in height that had huge, glowing eyes and “tendrils” for fingers. Very curiously, it lacked ears, a nose, and a mouth. As for its head, it was described as being “melon”-like and extremely pale.

Given that Bartlett later said, “It scared me to death,” it’s hardly surprising that he didn’t hang around to get a good look at it. Fortunately for Bartlett, however, his testimony didn’t stand alone. What was almost certainly the same creature was also seen on the same night by a local boy, John Baxter. It was after midnight when Baxter left his girlfriend’s house and made his way home, on foot. As he did so, Baxter caught sight in the darkness of a small, humanoid figure heading in his direction. Evidently, the creature hadn’t notice Baxter – at least, until the last moment, when it suddenly bounded off into the nearby woods. He said:

“As I was looking really close there I could see the eyes it was looking at me I just stared at it for another few minutes and then I just got all these thoughts that maybe it was something really strange. ‘Cause, you know, nothing ever happened to me like this before, so I didn’t know what to think. So I finally got the thought that maybe it wasn’t as safe as it looked, ’cause the way it was staring at me it just seemed like it was – I don’t know. I got all these feelings that it was thinking to itself, or waiting to spring, or whatever, you know? And so I backed up the bank kind of fast, and my heart started beating really fast!”

The next evening, the Dover Demon scared the life out of Abby Brabham and Will Taintor, who saw it near a bridge on Springdale Avenue. Brabham recalled: “As I looked at it, it kind of looked for a minute like an ape. And then I looked at the head and the head was very big and it was a very weird head. It had bright green eyes and the eyes just glowed like, they were just looking exactly at me.”
And, then, it was gone. The town of Dover, only about fifteen miles from the city of Boston, had been visited by a monster – but one that didn’t hang around and never returned. Given that all three witnesses were teenagers, skeptical folk suggested the whole thing was nothing stranger than a prank perpetrated by, or on, the trio. To his credit, however, Police Chief Carl Sheridan came to the defense of Bartlett, calling him an “outstanding artist and a reliable witness.” So, what was the now-legendary Dover Demon? If not the result of a prank, what could it have been?
Loren Coleman, one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, has taken a deep interest in the case of the Dover Demon. He says: “The short story (no pun intended) is that over a two day period in April 1977, four people saw a small, 4 foot tall orange sharkskin creature (somewhat like Golem in Lord of the Rings) in three separate sightings, in Dover, Massachusetts, a rural location near Boston. The case goes down as unexplainable. I don’t know the answer to ‘what really happened’ as all the eyewitnesses checked out, and were found to be credible by law enforcement and other people in Dover.” For more information on Coleman’s investigations of the Dover Demon affair, see his book, Mysterious America.

There are, however, down to earth explanations, even if they sound unlikely. The “Iron Skeptic” says: “Some theorized that the creature was, in fact, a fox that had contracted a disease of some sort that caused severe swelling and bloating. Others have theorized that the creature was in fact a baby moose. Martin Kottmeyer went to great lengths explaining why he thought this, and Loren Coleman went to equally great lengths explaining why this wasn’t true. My main problem with this theory was that it was reported to be standing on two legs by Baxter; however, it’s not unreasonable to theorize that if it were indeed a moose, it was feeding from the upper parts of the tree, and that it was just leaning on it with its two front legs.”
In all likelihood, we will never know the true nature of the Dover Demon. All we can say for sure is that whatever it was, it left a deep impression on the people of that little town – and decades later, still does.

A Mysterious Island Paradise of Cursed and Haunted Ruins

June 8, 2019

The ancients left behind many scattered mysteries on this ball of rock we call home. Every corner of our planet seems to play host to some conundrum from another time, some anomaly that these people left for us to try and figure out on our own, trying to peer through the mists of time to no avail. These are places shrouded with mystery and often permeated with myth and legends, wellsprings of the haunted past of a long forgotten age. One of these places lies out in the Pacific Ocean far from civilization as most of us may know it. Here upon the vast expanse of the sea lies a place held in reverence by the locals, which has remained unexplained and is a breeding ground for strange theories, archeological mysteries, and odd legends.

Out among the many islands of the Federated States of Micronesia, in the western Pacific Ocean, is a rather curious place imbued with its own colorful past and myriad mysteries spread out under the tropical sun and ringed by white sand beaches. Here, connected to the eastern coast of the Micronesian island of Pohnpei and lying within a lagoon is an impressive array of 92 artificial islets intersected by canals and built up with walls, columns, and other megalithic structures composed of coral and volcanic basalt, and the ruins of an ancient city mired in mystery. Indeed, this place, called Nan Madol, has managed to defy most attempts to explain its structures, and the so-called “eighth wonder of the world,” or the “Venice of the Pacific” has managed to remain a perplexing mystery to this day.

Pohnpei island

Among the many mysteries of these islets is that no one is really sure why they are here or how their enigmatic structures were built, and very little is even really known about the history of this place. It is known that Nan Madol once served as the capital of the local Saudeleur Dynasty all the way until 1628 before mysteriously abandoning it, that different islets seem to have served different purposes, and that this place was inhabited by high ranking priests and chiefs, but considering the total lack of any written record that is really all we know for sure. As for the megalithic architecture, this has created a profound conundrum among archeologists, as no one can figure out how just they did it.
It is thought that Nan Madol’s megalithic architecture was constructed beginning in around 1180–1200 AD, and the proportions of these walls and structures is vast is scale. Many of the gigantic basalt logs used to build much of it weigh anywhere from 5 to 50 tons each, and there are hundreds of them meticulously formed into immense walls measuring up to 50 feet high and 17 feet thick. There is no archeological evidence of any sort of technology here that could account for such massive blocks being moved here from distant sources over the ocean and hoisted into place, and no evidence anywhere else in the region of anything even approaching this sort of marvel of engineering. Making it all the more befuddling still is that rather than just build these structures on land, the people who created them chose instead to make them upon these elaborate artificial islets at great extra expense and effort. Explorer Ivan Mackerle has said of this oddity:

The peculiar location of the city raises another baffling question. Why was it raised in the ocean waters and not on land? Each structure had to be built on a specially constructed artificial rectangle in the water, edged by long basalt boulders and filled with coral granules. 92 such artificial islets cover the area of 2.5 square kilometers. Why did the early builders come up with this insane idea, demanding the grueling labor of building artificial sea islands when there were so many natural coral reef islands here, or when they could simply clear the shore of a few palm trees?

Considering the utter lack of any written records on their construction and the void of anything even resembling it anywhere else in the history of Micronesia, all of this has left questions and speculation surrounding their construction, and how they were made depends largely on who you ask. The islanders themselves have a rich lore concerning the ruins of Nan Madol. According to them the structures have been there since before their ancestors even arrived, and they believe the massive stones were magically levitated there by two powerful ancient sorcerers called Olisihpa and Olosohpa, who would go on to create the city and prospering civilization of the Saudeleur kings. The locals claim that beneath the city lie vast networks of tunnels and tombs, and that this was once the land of actual giants and the stomping grounds of various spirits.
Officially, scientists have been unable to really explain how the rocks that make up these structures were transported or put into place, to the point that there isn’t really any theory on how it was all done. The closest they have come is that the blocks were somehow transported upon enormous bamboo or wooden rafts, yet not only is there no archeological evidence of such grand rafts, but modern experiments to replicate this by moving stone columns with rafts have failed with boulders of just 1 or 2 tons, let alone 25 or 50. Making it harder to study is that Nan Madol is largely considered a deeply sacred place by the locals, which they believe should remain undisturbed, and as such archeological digs have long been actively discouraged here, providing further obstacles to learning any more about it.
Indeed, the locals say the place is prowled by guardian spirits who will attack those who dare enter, and that the ancient kings placed potent mystical wards against outsiders on this place. One of the only real extensive archeological investigations into the mysterious islets was made in 1874 by Polish anthropologist Jan Kubary, after which his ship promptly sank to take its valuable artifacts with it. Another story concerning the supposed curse of Nan Madol is the tale of English archeologist F. W. Christian, who supposedly entered a secret tomb within the complex and found the skeletons of actual giants measuring 10 or more feet in height. We will never know if this claim was true or not, because a massive storm is said to have lashed the area at the time, causing him to abandon the investigation, after which he would die of a mysterious illness the following day to take the secret of this mysterious tomb to his grave with him. In later years in the 1900s a German governor on the main island of Pohnpei by the name of Victor Berg supposedly also found a tomb of giants and died not long after from mysterious causes.

Whether there is a curse or not, there has been very little scientific investigation into these ruins at all. However these ancient people did it, we are unable to do it even now with our modern technology, the ruins remain almost a complete enigma, and this general shoulder shrugging within the scientific community with regards to Nan Madol has left the door open for all sorts of more fringe theories. One is that the structures were really built by the giants of island lore, and there have been stories to support this. Besides the tale of Kubary finding a tomb of giants and that of the German governor, there were supposedly enormous coffins made of platinum removed by the Japanese just before World War II, but these disappeared into the mists of history. There have also been scattered reports of coming across human bones far larger than normal, but these remain unsubstantiated.
Other theories are that Nan Madol is actually the remnants of some lost civilization or that it is the actual location of such ancient lost lands as Atlantis, Lemuria, or Mu. There is of course the idea that aliens made it, as well as the ideas that it was built by Greek sailors in 300 BC, and even that it is some sort of ancient weather manipulation device that works by channeling seismic activity up through the structures to spew into the atmosphere and create storms. For now, it all remains unknown. We still do not know who built this strange place, why, or how, and it remains a place where legends, myth, and historical oddities merge into an almost mystical realm of the unexplained.

The Scariest Paranormal Games That You Probably Should Never Play

  June 8, 2019

In the world of the paranormal there have always been games and rituals meant to scare us and which provide good entertainment on a dark and stormy night or at Halloween. We’ve all heard of the notorious Ouija board or games like Bloody Mary, but there are actually many other such “games” out there that claim to touch with the supernatural and paranormal. While for many these may seem like good spooky fun, there is surprising number of people that seem to take them very serious indeed, claiming that they are truly dangerous. Here we will look at some of the more frightening of these paranormal ritual games, and how to play them, but just remember, whether you believe there is anything to them at all or not it is probably better to not play them. What’s that you say? Oh you do want to play them? Well, alright but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

One of the most well-known of these scary games involves elevators and opening some sort of portal to some kind of spiritual realm or alternate dimension, for better or worse. The simply titled Elevator Game has very few real requirements in the way of actual equipment needed to play. You need only a building with at least 10 floors, an elevator, and to be completely alone on said elevator. The first thing you the intrepid, and quite possibly foolish, player needs to do is make sure you are completely alone, and that no one else rides the elevator with you at any point during the entire process, lest it shatter the whole affair and put you back to square one. This is the reason why it is typically played very late at night, which just adds to the whole spooky ambiance of it all. So, take a good look around, are you alone? Are you sure? Good, then let’s get started. There are slightly different versions of the game, so let’s just go with the most commonly stated rules, shall we?

You need to get in on the first floor and then press the button for the 4th floor, but do not get out once the 4th floor is reached. Pretty easy so far, right? Now, once you reach the 4th floor you should push the button for the 2nd floor. This is where things will allegedly start to get a bit weird, as it is claimed that you will start to hear disembodied voices calling out to you at the 2nd floor, even imploring you to get off the elevator, but do not do this. Simply wait for the doors to close and push the button for the 6th floor, and again do not get out once the elevator reaches it, but rather go back to the 2nd floor and its ghostly voices. Now that you are back at the 2nd floor, go all the way up to the 10th floor and then come down to the 5th floor. According to the lore, this is where things will get pretty bizarre if you’ve done it right.

When the elevator stops at the 5th floor, there will probably be a woman who enters to stand there looming behind you. You may think that the game is ruined, as you are supposed to be totally alone, but rest assured this is part of the whole weird process. This stranger will try to start up a conversation with you, and may even claim that there has been a terrible accident on the 5th floor and that she needs your help, but under no circumstances are you to reply. You are to absolutely ignore her, don’t even look at her no matter how insistent she gets, not even her reflection in any reflective surfaces. If you are lucky she will just leave you alone, but if you are to acknowledge her presence in anyway, you’ve got major troubles. Players have claimed to have been attacked by the spectral woman, cursed, spat, and ranted at, and even followed home to be harassed night after night by her banging on their doors and windows or stalked by her for weeks after the ordeal. Some victims have said that she will visit them in their dreams or haunt their homes to the point of insanity. Judging by player accounts of this mysterious woman she will steadily get very insistent and hostile as you ride that elevator, but trust me, ignore her no matter what she says.
Are you alright so far? Just let her rant away. Don’t look at her, and push the button for the 1st floor. Now, if you’ve done everything right up to now then the elevator should not move down to the 1st floor as instructed, but rather up, where it will stop at the 10th floor and open its doors to disgorge you into another dimension, although by all accounts it is not a pleasant place to be. The air is thick and heavy, oppressive even, and the windows are said to have a red frosting from a fiery glow beyond them. If you are brave enough to actually get off it is said that that woman from the 5th floor refuses to come with you, as if she knows this is a bad place, and that you will immediately become dizzy and disoriented. If you can bring yourself to look out the windows you will see a dead and apparently abandoned city sprawled out before you and an enormous flaming red cross in the distance, sometimes described as having corpses draped over it, as well as possibly inhuman shadowy shapes stalking through the desolate city streets below, and the whole time you can feel that strange woman will just watching you.
You will probably want to get back to the elevator at this point, but it will be harder than you think, with it seeming to pull farther away from you as you find the air becoming increasingly viscous and oppressive, like moving through water, but never fear, you should be able to make it back as long as you keep in a straight line. Once back into the elevator the woman will be gone, and you are to press the buttons in the exact order as before. On the last step with pushing the button for the 1st floor floor, the elevator will supposedly try to take you back up to the 10th and that forsaken red tinted place with its roving demons, but you can avert this by repeatedly hitting any lower floor button, after which it will take you back to the 1st floor and the real world. It is then important for you to go directly home and to not look back, and be mindful of anything that seems off or something like “glitches in the Matrix,” because this would mean you have not returned home at all and have to do it again. Congratulations, you have successfully played the Elevator Game.

Oh, there are a few rules that you must follow during all of this, and I suppose I should have told you this before you started. If at any time during the game you feel faint or like you are about to pass out you are to stop playing immediately, because if you are to lose consciousness in that elevator you will be claimed by this alternate dimension and never return home, stuck there forever. Also, on the last step of the game, if the elevator goes to the 1st floor rather than heading up to the 10th, you are to stop playing and abort the whole thing, leave the building, and do not look back. There is also the very important rule that once in that strange dimension on the 10th floor, you are under no circumstances to leave that room or try to venture into the city, because you will become disoriented and never find your way back, trapped there for the rest of your days with whatever those twisted black, prowling shapes are. Where is it supposed to be? Hell? Who knows? Of course this is all probably just an urban legend, but only one way to find out, right?
Somewhat similar to the Elevator Game is a lesser known game simply known as the “Hooded Man Ritual,” which has supposedly popped up on the Internet in recent years on sites like Reddit and The Ghost In My Machine. The ingredients for this ritual are fairly basic as these things go. Go get yourself two black ropes or cords of about five feet in length, a watch, a lighter or matches, some salt, sage, and a phone, preferably an old fashioned rotary phone but any will suffice as long as it is a corded landline phone and not a cellular phone or smartphone, as those will not work. Got everything ready? Is it night time? It will only work at night. Ready? OK, let’s begin.
The first thing you have to do is purify the area, preferably a darkened room, with the salt and sage, and then make sure all of the doors, windows, and curtains are closed. Now set the two black ropes near the phone and place the lighter or matches next to it. Make sure that your pockets are completely empty and sit next to the phone. Count to the number 13 and then, without picking up the receiver, dial “20496888.” Now is the tricky part. Tie one of the black cords around the phone receiver, lift it without touching it yourself, and dial “25515823,” after which you should count to 13 again and say into the receiver “Hello? I need a cab.” The you should untie the cord, remove it, burn it with the lighter or matches, and replace it with the second cord.

If you have done all of this correctly, you should look outside and find a black taxi cab parked outside. Do you want to continue? Really? Are you insane? Ok then, your call. Leave the house, lock the door behind you and get into that eerie cab, lie down on the back seat, and fall asleep. You will supposedly wake up at 3:30 AM, but you should go back to sleep atbthis time. When you wake up again you will find yourself on a strange, unfamiliar highway and there will be a hooded figure hunched over the wheel. Just stay calm, do not panic. Outside will seem as if it is another world and a place outside of time, passing increasingly alien landscapes, and when you have finally seen enough of this bizarreness you are to lean over and whisper into the driver’s ear “I have reached my destination.” You will then promptly fall sleep again, but when you awaken you will be exactly back where you started. You are not done yet though.
Now you need to go inside, lift the phone receiver with the cord, and dial “200082,” after which you say into it “Thanks for the ride.” Now untie and burn the second cord, bury the ashes of both cords outside, and sprinkle salt and burn sage over them. You are done! Now, there are some very important rules to remember during all of this. You are never to take the cab to the end of its route or to ride it for too long. At no point should you panic or exit the vehicle without following the steps of the ritual. It you feel a sense of overwhelming threat or danger at any time during the process, or you should wake up at any other time other than 3:30 AM that first time, you should end the ritual immediately by telling the driver those magic words. It is another very spooky game that is most likely an urban legend, but are you willing to try it?
Is none of this scary enough for you yet? Do you feel you need a little more excitement in your paranormal game? Well, if there is not enough of a sense of immediate danger and not enough creepy dolls in any of these so far, then this next one is for you. Called Hitori Kakurenbo, or “One-man Hide and Go Seek,” the ritual started its life in Japan and supposedly uses dolls possessed with conjured ghosts or evil spirits to play the game. The very specific instructions for the game involve starting with a doll that has had all of its stuffing removed and replaced with uncooked rice, a fingernail clipping, and sewn back up with red thread, after which it is given a name. A television is then set up in the room and a bathtub filled with water, and the room is purified with incense. You are also supposed to keep a knife handy to protect yourself if things get rough, which says a lot.

When this is all done, the doll is supposed to be submerged in water at exactly 3 AM, and all of the lights to the house are to be turned off. Then you are to go to your hiding place, turn on the television, and then go back to the doll in the bathtub to tell it “I have found you, [Doll’s Name]. You are the next it, [Doll’s Name],” after which you stab the doll and snip the red threads to release the spirits within, put the doll back into the water, and go hide. At this point the instructions are for you to take a mouthful of salt water and hold it in your mouth without swallowing it and then hold the cup in your hand as you go out to look for the doll, which is now said to be gone from the bathroom and hiding somewhere else. When the doll is found, you say “I WIN” 3 times and the rest of the water is to be poured over it and the doll destroyed with fire. The TV is, eerily enough, meant to warn of any unwanted entities being invited in through the game, and one English language description of the rules rather ominously says of the process:

It is not generally advisable to emerge from your hiding place without both holding the salt water in your mouth and carrying the cup with the remaining salt water in your hand; should anything have found its way into your home during the course of the game, they will act as safeguards and protect you from any harm your visitor or visitors may attempt to inflict upon you. The purpose of the television is to alert you to the presence of these potential visitors. Should it begin to display abnormal behavior, do NOT, under ANY circumstance, leave your hiding place without the salt water.   Do not allow the game to go on for longer than two hours. Once it has been started, the game MUST be played through to completion. Do NOT attempt to abandon it partway through. To do so would result in disaster.

This may all sound like a pure urban legend, but there are scores of reports that say that it is real and that these dolls really do become possessed to walk about and hide. They are also decidedly malevolent in that they are said to cause nausea, panic, dizziness, and even death if the ritual is not performed correctly. One such account said:

I waited for approximately 1 minute but couldn’t feel any signs which would signify that the ritual worked.   After the 1 minute I started to feel the signs. I suddenly had to take deep breaths to breathe. I realized the temperature had drastically made its way down. The spare room in which I was hiding happened to be just beside the living room where the television was. Remember I left the television on a static noise channel? I swear I heard the static noise grow louder. I waited patiently despite the extreme conditions.   I started to feel nauseous at this point and I immediately knew it was time to end the game. I picked up the cup of salt water beside me took half of the salt water in my mouth but didn’t swallow it. Remembering the instructions I read on the internet, I got out of my hiding place with the half cup of salt water and started looking for the doll. Even though my jaws and cheeks started to hurt a bit I didn’t swallow the salt water.   I entered the bathroom to check out the tub but the doll was not there. I already knew this would happen but I just decided to check it out. The thought that a possessed doll was after my life gave me shivers. I was bare-handed so I decided to go to the kitchen to take another knife. By chance, if something went wrong I could use this knife for my protection.

I searched all the places on my way to the kitchen but there was no sign of the doll. I was happy because I finally reached the kitchen at this point. But when I entered the kitchen I got the shock of my life. The doll was lying on the kitchen floor. The knife which I gave it lay right beside it with an ADDITIONAL knife (which I didn’t give it). The doll had found another knife in the kitchen in the meanwhile. I quickly poured the salt water in the cup on top of it before spitting the salt water in my mouth on top of it as well. Then I said, “I win!” 3 times before leaning down and cutting the crimson thread with my teeth. I picked up the doll and took a lighter before heading to the lawn.   I was successful in burning the doll with a little help from the lighter. The fire stopped by itself when the doll was badly burned and was not recognizable anymore. I picked up the heated doll and headed towards the nearby dumpster. I dumped the doll in the dumpster and headed back home. Nothing happened to me because I did the ritual correctly BUT please don’t try this. I am too scared even now. It was a really, trust me, really scary experience!

Another account was posted on a Reddit thread by a commenter calling herself “sarahinjapan,” and she says that she and a friend named Akane went through the ritual and went to the bathtub where the doll, named “Erina” was. They then continued with the game, and the witness would say:

Then we ran out of the bathroom, turning out all the lights and switching on the tv in our hiding room to a static channel. Akane grabbed a knife and left the salt water on the table. We went back into the bathroom, and sure enough, the doll was there, in the bathtub, smiling serenely up at us from the bottom. “Erina, Akane and Sarah found you!” we yelled. We yanked it out, Akane stabbed the heart and made sure to sever a lot of the red thread before dumping it back in the tub.   “Erina is the second it! Erina is the second it! Erina is the second it!”, we chanted, then ran back to the family room with the tv going. We each took a gulp of salt water, making sure not to swallow it, then held our cups firmly before settling in the closet. Akane left open a crack of the door because she wanted to watch what would happen to the tv. It was a terrible, terrible idea. To this day, I wish we’d left the door closed. For the first five minutes, we were just waiting. Nothing was happening, and I felt relieved. Then, I heard the static of the TV begin to change. Without any of us touching the remote, the tv began to switch channels, fast enough that sentences began to form from the words of different channels.

Urban legend or not, the thought of playing hide and seek with a possessed doll is certainly rather unsettling indeed. Go ahead and play the game if you want, but I will pass on this one, thank you very much. So far, all of these games we have looked at have been one-player affairs. So what if you want a game you can enjoy with some buddies? Well, why don’t you try out the game “Charlotte’s Web”? A two player game, first you need to get some flashlights, a mirror, some kind of child’s toy, 2 chairs, and a table. Now, let’s set up the room. Put the two chairs right in front of the mirror and put the table behind the chairs in such a position so that you can see the table’s reflection in the mirror when sitting in the chairs. The toy should be put on the table in such a way as it appears to be between the two chairs in the mirror reflection. You and your friend need to make sure you are in a room where there is no light, so turn out the lights, draw all of the curtains and make sure this is done at night. This is where you will need your flashlights from here on out in order to see.
OK, now, it’s showtime. You and your friend now have to repeat “We want Charlotte’s Web” in perfect unison. That’s it, Now you just wait. If you have done all of this right, a spectral child will supposedly appear after some time in the mirror reflection to approach and pick up the toy. This is “Charlotte,” and whether she is really the ghost of a child or not, she appears this way, although some have said she is a demon or something even darker still. Watch her reaction, because it is very important to the rest of the ritual. If she is not pleased with your offering she will discard it and disappear, sometimes even throwing a tantrum before she does. In that case, game over. However, if she looks happy and likes your toy she will communicate with you, answering any questions you may have for her. When you are done all you need to do is say “Goodbye Charlotte,” in unison and she will disappear.

Of course, like any game of this nature there are some strict rules to abide by. For instance, you are only to watch Charlotte through the reflection in the mirror and at no point should you try to look at her directly or shine your flashlights directly on her. It is unclear what happens if you do this, but it is considered to be very dangerous. Also, it is important to use only flashlights and not candles, as she is said to be very afraid of fire, and they will not work at best and make her angry at worst, and it seems from the lore that you wouldn’t like Charlotte when she is angry. Another caveat in some versions of this tale is that, although you can ask her questions, you should never answer any questions she may ask you. I’m not sure why, but just don’t do it. So yeah, conjuring up childlike entities that are possibly demons, good times!
Another multi-player game can have 3 or more players, indeed it is thought that the more players the better. For this one you need a good length of rope, a glass, an alcoholic beverage, a knife or scissors, a mirror for each person, and one camera with a flash. In a quiet, dark room, make a large circle with the rope, fill the glass with the alcohol, and place the glass in the middle of the circle. The players now sit around the circle at midnight and hold their mirrors on their laps, and at no point from here on out is anyone to step within that circle. Now you should all hold hands and close your eyes, after which you should one by one say aloud “We trust you.” When everyone has said it, you all then say in unison, “The door is open, please come in” three times and open your eyes to see, well, nothing at all yet, that’s what you need the camera for.
One of the players should pick up the camera and exclaim “I caught you,” before aiming at the middle of the circle a snapping a picture. That player then passes the camera to the next player in the circle and the process is repeated until all members have taken exactly three photographs. It is crucial to remember that if anyone feels dizzy, nauseous, or acts out of character at any time you should stop the ritual immediately and destroy the camera, and if you are using a digital camera it is forbidden to preview any of the photos you have all just taken until after the ritual is complete. When this picture taking is done, you all sit down and repeat three times in unison “It is time to go home,” before putting your mirrors face down on the floor and cutting the rope circle with the knife or scissors. The glass should be emptied outside, and you’re done. Don’t drink it, you weirdo! If you have been successful you can now look at the pictures and apparently find everything from orbs, to strange blurs, to faces and apparitions in them. You just never know what you are going to capture with this game, it seems.

Maybe summoning ghosts and demons is not your thing and you and your friends just want to play a game where you can divine some good old fashioned forbidden knowledge.  If so, head on down to the library with some pals and get ready to play “The Library Ritual.” The rules and steps for this particular ritual are very precise and strict, so you have to be quite vigilant that everything is being carried out just so. You will need a fairly eclectic mix of items, which include not only simple items like 13 candles, a quill, matches, and a small desk or table, but also odder things. You will also need a book about an ideology that has caused the death of many people, some drops of your blood, and a handgun. This should be interesting.
The ritual must be carried out from between the hours of midnight and 4 AM, and it must be at a library, the more spacious the better. Place the candles in a circle around the desk with the book upon it and light them, with exactly a 6-second delay between each one. Take that quill, dip it in your blood, and draw a circle on the first page of the book, then scrawl the names of the participants in the middle of the blood circle. You are now to call out “What is the most powerful weapon?” after which a disembodied voice should answer “Knowledge.” Pretty spooky, right? You haven’t seen anything yet.
You now take that knife you brought with you and stab it right into the book as hard as you are able to, and you will supposedly immediately feel a cold presence in the room with you, which is said to be a mysterious entity called “The Librarian,” who you have just summoned with a blood contract. This is where you put out all of the candles, burn the book, chair, and table, and really hope that The Librarian is not angry at you and deems you worthy. If the spirit does, then you will now find your self empowered with enhanced intelligence and sharpness of mind, with greater mental prowess than most people.

It sounds great, right? Well, there is some fine print to all of this, as there usually is with such things. If you are not worthy you will not be gifted this power, and if you do any of the steps wrong you run the risk of enraging the spirit, which can be dangerous to lethal. This is what the handgun is supposedly for, as this great and powerful spirit is said to actually be afraid of guns, or at least the noise they make, and will retreat if it is fired. You also cannot ever talk to the people your were with during the ritual for as long as you live, so you lose your friends. There’s also the small detail that the Librarian will supposedly stalk and haunt you for the rest of your days, never attacking but certainly watching you and definitely freaking you out, with some people supposedly driven insane by this. But hey, you’re smarter now, so you win. I guess?
These have been only a few of some of the more frightening and supposedly dangerous ritual “games” floating around out there. It is almost impossible to trace the history of any of these, and since many of them spring up on the Internet on places like Reddit they can probably be taken with a huge grain of salt, urban legends in the making. Yet there are so many reports of people trying these games and having strange things happen that they, like the Ouija board before them, have legends that have taken on a life of their own. Whether any of it is real or not, it is all entertaining at the very least, and I’d say even the most skeptical person might be a little wary of trying any of them out. Just in case.