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
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?
domingo, 9 de junho de 2019
A Strange Creature That Didn’t Hang Around
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.
sábado, 8 de junho de 2019
A Mysterious Island Paradise of Cursed and Haunted Ruins
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
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.
Video Captures Possible Ghost In The Mirror Of A Haunted Castle
Located in Coolderry, County Offaly, Leap Castle is
known as one of the most haunted locations in all of Ireland. And just
recently a member of a group of paranormal investigators captured a
video of what appears to be a ghost in one of the mirrors located inside
of the castle.
On June 1st, a team of paranormal investigators were
joined by 15 members of the public for a lockdown of the haunted castle.
One of the public guests was recording a video of a mirror when they
captured an eerie-looking figure. Lead investigator Siobhan McAuley told
the Irish Mirror, “If you watch the mirror you will see the man coming back and forth on demand, we have named it ‘The Man in the Mirror’.”
The video was pretty shaky, as the person who was recording it didn’t
have a steady hand. So was it really a ghostly man in the mirror or was
it just a reflection or lens flare from the constant movement of the
camera? You can see the video of the ghostly image here and decide for yourself.
Leap Castle
Leap Castle does have an extensive history of paranormal activity. There are conflicting reports as to when it was first built – some say the 12th century, while others believe it was the 15th
century. What is known, however, is that the castle was built on top of
a site that was previously used by druids who conducted initiation
ceremonies there.
The castle was originally called “Leim Ui Bhanain” which
translates to “Leap of the O’Bannons”. The O’Bannons were a wealthy
family, but they didn’t rule the castle for long, as the O’Carroll
family seized the property and legend has it that many massacres took
place there. After the chief of the O’Carroll clan passed away, his two
sons fought over who would become the new ruler. When Thaddeus, who was a
priest, was performing mass, he was killed by his brother Teighe at the
“Bloody Chapel”. Thaddeus’ ghost can often be seen roaming around the
chapel.
The McMahon family was at the castle for a celebration when the
O’Carrolls poisoned them. The spirits of the McMahon family have been
witnessed wandering around the grounds.
One of the most well-known spirits is the “red lady” who is a very
tall woman wearing a fluttering red gown and holding onto a sharp blade.
Legend has it that she was imprisoned by the O’Carrolls and was raped
on numerous occasions. After she gave birth, the family murdered the
baby and that’s when the distraught red lady took her own life.
Leap Castle
One of the more gruesome discoveries was an oubliette that was found
behind a wall inside of the chapel that had several human skeletons on
wooden spikes. There were so many skeletons, that it took three
cartloads to take away all of the remains. It is believed that the
O’Carrolls’ guests would drop down through an unsuspecting trap door
which had a spear at the bottom, ultimately killing them.
The daughter of the O’Carrolls later became the heiress of the castle
and her husband would hide treasures around the property. However,
after he was imprisoned, he returned to castle but forgot where he had
hidden his treasures. His ghost – called the “wild captain” – is often
seen searching the grounds, presumably for his lost treasure. One of the
captain’s ancestors performed séances at the castle and allegedly
awakened an evil elemental spirit.
In the 1970s, Peter Bartlett, who was an ancestor of the O’Bannons,
purchased the property and did a lot of restoration work on the castle.
He claimed to have experienced poltergeist activity and called on a
white witch to help remove the spirits.
After Bartlett’s death, musician Sean Ryan and his wife Anne bought
the castle in 1991. Unfortunately for them, they have been the victims
of several accidents while living there, which included a broken kneecap
and ankle. The Ryans still own the property to this day and people can
take tours of the extremely haunted location.
sexta-feira, 7 de junho de 2019
High Strangeness in a New York Library
Back in the early summer of 1967 – thanks to an introduction made by a woman named Jaye P. Paro,
a host on Babylon, New York’s WBAB station – John Keel met with a girl
who had a fascinating story to tell. It was a disturbing story too.
Given the controversial nature of the affair, Keel agreed to always, and
only, refer to her as Jane. As Keel noted: “She was a very sensitive
woman, more ethereal than sensual. There was almost something mystical
about her appearance and grace.” At the time in question, there was a
wealth of very unsettling activity going on in the Mount Misery area of
Huntington, New York, a place about which researcher Arthur Criscione says:
“Locals have called the area Mount Misery for centuries but you will
never find it written that way on any map. It got its name because of
its unfarmable land and the steep hills. Since the area was not
conducive to farming it became a crossroads between farming communities
and the difficult trek caused many a wagon wheel to snap.”
The foreboding area was, and still is, a veritable magnet for
paranormal activity: ghostly, glowing-eyed, and black-haired hounds
prowl around the landscape; mysterious, black cars cruise the roads; and
spectral children and adults – some of a classic “phantom hitchhiker”
variety – wander along the old pathways, always by night. And then there
are Mount Misery’s UFOs, sightings of which reached their peak in the
early months of 1967. Not surprisingly, the local kids immediately
caught wind of the reports. And, as a result, on dark, weekend nights,
girl- and boy-friends would drive around the area, looking for flying
saucers, and, under canopies of trees and darkness, doing what young
lovers do on Saturday nights all around the world. This included Jane
and her boyfriend, Richard.
It was one particularly chilly and dark Saturday evening in mid-May 1967 when Jane and Richard were driving around the roads of Mount Misery
and when Richard, quite out of the blue, fell ill. He managed to pull
the car to the side of the road, immediately after which he fainted at
the wheel. Panic-stricken Jane didn’t know what to do. As it transpired,
the decision of what to do next was suddenly, and violently, taken out
of her by-now-clammy hands. A near-blinding white light flooded the
vehicle, having originated somewhere in the deep, almost impenetrable,
woods that surrounded the car. Jane found herself completely immobilized
in her seat by some unseen, paranormal force. It’s clear there was a
degree of missing time involved, since the next thing the couple
remembered was driving along Mount Misery’s Old County Road, some
distance from where all of the terror exploded. That was barely the
start of the high-strangeness, however.
A couple of days later Jane experienced something that is a common
factor in UFO encounters: an odd and somewhat disturbing telephone call.
The mysterious woman at the other end of the line did not identify
herself to Jane, but – in a weird, “metallic”-sounding style –
instructed Jane to go to her local library, to ask the staff for a
specific book on Native American history, and to then turn to page
forty-two and read it. Very carefully. It was an extremely
curious request (one which bordered upon an order), but Jane felt oddly
drawn to follow the instructions of her anonymous Woman in Black. Jane
reached the library around mid-morning. Even her arrival was dominated
by profound oddities: aside from the librarian and Jane herself, the
building was completely empty of people and was vacuum-like in its
silence and stillness. As for that same librarian, well…
Her hair was black, her eyes were “very black,” her skin was olive,
and her black-colored outfit was curiously out of time. In Jane’s words,
the Woman in Black
was dressed in “an old-fashioned suit like something out of the 1940s,
with a long skirt, broad shoulders, and flat old-looking shoes.” Most
astonishing of all, before Jane could say anything, the woman handed her
– from under a desk – a copy of the very book Jane had been instructed
to seek out by her mysterious caller. Jane, unsettled, but determined to
find out what was going on, took a seat, opened the book and turned to
page forty-two. As she did so, the writing on the page changed from
large to small, and back again, several times. Rather amazingly, the
writing then did something else: it magically morphed into a message.
Jane was able to remember the entire, length message – word for word –
something which suggested it had been subliminally implanted in her
mind. She carefully wrote it down:
“Good morning, friend. You have been selected for many reasons. One
is that you are advanced in auto-suggestion. Through this science we
will make contact. I have messages concerning Earth and its people. The
time is set. Fear not. I am a friend. For reasons best known to
ourselves you must make your contacts known to one reliable person. To
break this code is to break contact. Proof shall be given. Notes must be
kept of the suggestion state. Be in peace.”
With that, Jane stood up from the chair and closed the book. The
mysterious woman was nowhere to be seen. Jane was all alone in a
deserted, silent library. To say she fled the place in terror would be
an understatement.
