Ten Creepy Unsolved Mysteries

[Miranda_]

In the spirit of Halloween, here are ten creepy mysteries for you to read. In no particular order; here they are:

1. Jack The Ripper.

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer that gained attention for killing Mary Jane Kelly, Catherine Eddowes, Elizabeth Stride, Annie Chapman and Mary Ann Nichols. In 1888, London, England, the five women were murdered in a surgical method. The bodies were mutilated and the throats were cut. All of the women had one thing in common with each other they were prostitutes. There was a lack of blood at the crime scenes and three of the women had their internal organs removed. Were the murders that happened into the year 1891 connected to Jack the Ripper? Although there was never any connection between the other murders and the five prostitutes, one officer received a kidney in the mail. Although there are eleven murders that were similar, only five are believed to be done by Jack the Ripper.

There were many suspects interviewed in connection with the murders, but no one was ever charged. Some had alibis and others did not fit the criteria fro the murders. The first two woman were not mutilated, but the last three had organs removed. Two of the victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, were murdered the same night. The killer was thought to have been interrupted in his first killing, and therefore had to kill another to satisfy his bloodlust. Despite the best efforts of the police at the time, the killer was never found. Jack the Ripper's true identity remains a mystery to this very day.

2. The Phantom Hitchhiker.

One recurring ghost story throughout history is of the “phantom hitchhiker” or “road ghost”. These stories even go back centuries when wagon drivers claimed to have given rides to strange entities. No two stories are exactly the same, although they all do have recurring themes. Some people view road ghosts just to be urban legends and myths, while others believe that at least some stories have a bit of truth behind them. Perhaps the most well known version of the story is that a driver, upon coming across a strange lady or girl standing next to the road, will offer her a ride. The girl usually seems quiet and polite, and gives the driver directions to her home. The driver will drop her off, and then sometime later will find out that the girl living at the home had died months or even years ago. Sometimes, the driver will look behind him to the backseat, and discover that the girl he's picked up has completely vanished.

There are other types of ghost encounters that reportedly occur on roads. These are referred to as “spectral jaywalkers”. In this type of scenario, motorists come across a human figure running or walking right out in front of the vehicle! The driver will usually try to slam the brakes on, only to find that the figure disappeared. Paranormalists believe that such cases are possible. Many, many people have died on or near roads over the centuries, whether from highwaymen, auto accidents, or other reasons. Perhaps some of the individuals who lost their lives are still hanging around the roads. One sadder theory is that perhaps some of the phantom hitchhikers were killed on their way to someplace special, to perhaps meet someone. And now, they spend eternity trying to get there, but never will.

3. Black Shuck.

Black Shuck, also known as Old Shuck, is the what the ghostly black dog which allegedly wanders the areas of Norfolk, Essex and Suffolk in England. These legends of Black Shuck go as far back as the age of the Vikings; and many of these legends seem to be based on the huge dog of war, Shukir, which belonged to Odin and Thor. The name, Black Shuck, may possibly be derive from the Anglo-Saxon word scucca, which means"demon", and/or from the local dialect word shucky, which means "shaggy" or "hairy". The most commonly reported attribute of this mysterious beast are its fiery, red eyes, or in some cases, eyes that are a bright glowing green. They are described as being 'as big as saucers'. Some people have reported Black Shuck looking like a large black dog while other reports give it being as big as a horse. Sometimes the Black Shuck has been reported to appear headless, and even standing and floating on a cloud of mist. Even now, the reports of Black Shuck continue. The most recent known report was in the early 1990s by a woman in Norfolk who said she had seen Shuck while she and her son were walking along the beach.

The appearance of Old Shuck is said to bode ill to the person who sees him. Sometimes considered to be a bad omen, or a harbinger of death, Black Shuck is also called the Doom dog. According to all of the local folklore, Old Shuck often haunts graveyards, side roads, crossroads, and dark forests. One of the most reknown reports of Black Shuck is his appearance at the churches of Blythburgh and Bung'ay in Suffolk. On Sunday, August 4th of 1577, the Reverend Abraham Fleming chronicled the incident and called it "A Straunge and Terrible Wunder". It began with an extremely, and unusually, strong thunderstorm. Then came the appearance of Black Shuck, running down the church aisle, cutting down the people who knelt in prayer. Then as suddenly as the doom dog had appeared, it left. The scorch marks that were made on the north door all those centuries ago can still be seen at the church to this day.

4. The Mary Celeste.

One of the most famous ghost ships of all time is the Mary Celeste. This ship always seemed to have experienced bad luck, no matter where she went or who her passengers were. Even when the ship was known as the Amazon, after she was launched in 1860, she was involved in many accidents and went through a dozen different owners. No owner kept the ship for very long, since they always experienced bad luck with her. Around 1870, after the first ten years of misfortune, the ship was sent to New York, underwent extensive repairs, and was finally renamed Mary Celeste. The captain of newly renamed Mary Celeste was Benjamin Briggs, who, along with his wife, daughter, and seven or eight crew members, departed New York on Nov. 7, 1872. They were bound for Genoa, Italy, and had a cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol. All seemed well upon departure, but the captain, crew, and passengers were never seen or heard from again. They literally disappeared off the face of the earth, and to this day, the mystery has never been completely solved.

Even though all persons aboard the ship disappeared, the ship itself did not. Nor did the cargo. However, just nine of the barrels were found opened once the shipment was finally inspected. On December 5, 1872, nearly a month after the Mary Celeste departed from New York, she was found on the sea, derelict, by the Dei Gratia ship. Some suggest that perhaps pirates took over the ship, but why was nothing missing? Nine barrels were open, but none were missing. There probably wasn’t a mutiny against the captain, since the crew was mainly honorable soldiers who respected him. So, if no foul play was involved, and there was no sign of bad weather, why did the crew of the Mary Celeste leave the ship, and where did they end up? Were they eaten by sharks? Did a UFO have anything to do with their disappearance? In all probability, they all probably either drowned or died of thirst and exposure. Perhaps we’ll never know for sure what happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste, or why she seemed to bring bad luck with her everywhere she went.

5. The Chase Vault.

The Chase Vault is a burial vault in the cemetery of the Christ Church in Oistins, Barbados. It is best known for a series of unexplained incidents in the early 19th century involving the coffins within the vault. Each time when the vault was opened to bury a family member, all coffins but one had changed position. Some were in disarray on the floor, others stood upright as if they had been flung accross the chamber. When this had happened several times without explanation over a number of years, the vault was eventually abandoned. The first coffin placed inside the vault was of Mrs. Thomasina Goddard, in a simple wooden coffin built in July 1807. Two year old Mary Ann Chase was placed in the vault the very next year. The older sister of Mary Ann, Dorcas Chase, was put into the vault on July 6, 1812. Some claim that Dorcas starved herself after she was forced into depression by her father. A few weeks later her father, Thomas Chase, died and was to be placed into the vault. Legend says that Thomas was one of the most hated men in Barbados.

When the Chase Vault was open for the burial of Thomas Chase, the eight pallbearers who carried Chase's coffin down into the vault were the first to notice that the two lead coffins already in the tomb were not where they had been left a month earlier. Mary Ann's coffin was lying upside-down in the opposite corner from where it had been placed. The workers returned the coffins to their side-by-side positions and left that of Thomas Chase next to them. The smaller coffin of Mary Ann was placed on top of one of the larger ones and the door resealed. The next time the vault was opened, the coffins were once again misplaced and had been thrown about. The coffin of Thomas Chase stood upright against the far wall. No normal human could have thrown it. Several times, the coffins were once again put in order and the vault closed. When the vault was reopened, every time the coffins were in disarray, and there were no footprints. Eventually, the family could stand no more, and abandoned the vault, burying their dead in a mass funeral. The vault still exists today at Christ Church Parish Church, and is still vacant.

[Miranda_]

6. The Green Children Of Woolpit.

In Suffolk, at St Mary's of the Wolf Pits (Woolpit), a boy and his sister with green tinged skin were said to have been found at the mouth of the old wolf pits. When first discovered they were both extremely frightened, and no one could understand their speech. They were eventually taken to the home of Sir Richard de Caine at Wilkes. They would not eat normal food, although it seemed that they were both starving. When some beanstalks were brought into the house, they made gestures to have them brought to them and proceeded to try and open the stalks to get at the beans. They were shown how to open the pods and ate beans and nothing else for a long time. The boy remained depressed all the while, and soon succumbed to illness and died. The girl remained in good health, and eventually began to eat other food and lost her green colouring. She was baptised and lived in the service of the knight.

When she had learnt how to speak English, she related the story of how they had come to be at the entrance to the pits. She said they had come from a land where there is no sun, but light such as at our twilight all the time. She and her brother were following their flocks, when they chanced upon a cavern. They entered this cavern and heard the sound of bells and were so enchanted by the sweet music, that they stayed exploring until they came to the cavern's entrance. They passed through and into the bright sunlight of our world. They were blinded for a while and rooted to the spot by the sudden change in atmosphere and temperature. Eventually they were caught by the villagers and brought to the hall. Many people tried for a time to find the mysterious country from where the children had come, but none were successful.

7. The Black Dahlia.

The investigation of the murder of Elizabeth Short, dubbed the Black Dahlia has plagued people for years. Short's body was found on a vacant lot cut in half, washed and positioned for someone to find. The Black Dahlia's body was badly mutilated and brutalized. The last time anyone seen Ms Short alive was at the L.A. Biltmore Hotel on the night of January 15, 1947. She had traveled to Hollywood to become a star. Elizabeth was only twenty two years old at the time of her death. Some of Ms Short's possessions were sent to the police via an anonymous letter writer, who was never found. The killer taunted investigators. The killer would send little notes that said, "Catch me if you can." There were other woman killed and those murders were never solved as well. Could it be that the other murders were related? Was it possible there was a copycat murder looking for attention? None of the murders were ever solved, even those investigators received numerous confessions that turned out to be false. Is it possible that one of those supposedly false confessions could have been the killer taunting the police another way?

One former detective, who later became a private investigator, had said that his father George Hodel had committed the murders of Jeanne French and Elizabeth Short. He said that he had the proof, but police ignored the evidence as a way to cover up medical records of some powerful people and police. If George would have been arrested, except police felt he would open up medical records of these people. George left the country never to be heard from again. He died in 1991. His son had asked for the investigation to be reopened. Did this man kill Elizabeth Short? The only people that could know for sure are dead.

8. The Mothman.

Mothman is the name given to a strange creature reported in the Charleston and Point Pleasant areas of West Virginia between November 1966 and December 1967. The creature was sporadically reported to be seen before and after those dates, with some sightings as recent as 2007. Most observers describe the Mothman as a winged man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes. It often appeared to have no head, with its eyes set into its chest. A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories. The Mothman was first spotted in 1926 by a young boy. At the same time, three men were digging a grave in a nearby graveyard when they saw a brown human shape with wings soaring out from behind trees. Both incidents were reported independently of each other. There have been numerous sightings of Mothman though no photographic evidence exists at all.

A plaque on the Mothman statue provides a version of the original legend: "On a chilly, fall night in November 1966, two young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when they realized they were not alone." Driving down the exit road, they saw the supposed creature standing on a nearby ridge. It spread its wings and flew alongside the vehicle up to the city limits. They drove to the Mason County courthouse to alert Deputy Millard Halstead, who later said, "I've known these kids all their lives. They'd never been in any trouble and they were really scared that night. I took them seriously." He then followed Roger Scarberry's car back to the old Ordnance Works and found no trace of the strange creature. There are rumors that the Mothman appears before upcoming disasters and seems to try to warn people of them.

9. The Devil's Footprints.

On the night of 8–9 February, 1855, and one or two later nights, after a light snowfall, a series of hoof-like marks appeared in the snow. These footprints, measuring 1.5 to 2.5 inches wide and eight inches apart, continued throughout the countryside for a total of over 100 miles, and, although veering at various points, for the greater part of their course followed straight lines. Houses, rivers, haystacks and other obstacles were traveled straight over, and footprints appeared on the tops of snow-covered roofs and high walls which lay in the footprints’ path, as well as leading up to and exiting various drain pipes of as small as a four inch diameter. There were also attendant rumors about sightings of a “devil-like figure” in the Devon area during the scare. Many townspeople armed themselves and attempted to track down the beast responsible, without success. Others barricaded themselves behind their doors, convinced that the Devil himself had walked thru their town.

Recently, on the night of March 12, 2009, more strange marks, corresponding to those left in 1855, were found again in Devon. Comparative analysis shows similar markings. Reports of similar anomalous, obstacle-unheeded footprints exist from other parts of the world, although none is of such a scale as that of the case of the Devil's Footprints. There have been many incidents of strange footprints with cloven hoofs appearing without an obvious cause. Most occur during or after a fierce electrical storm. Some of these are linked to the legend of Kui found in the Shanhaijing, a mythical monster with one leg like a cloven hoof that looks similar to that of a cow, except with one foot. Fierce electrical storms heralded its presence.

10. Spontaneous Human Combustion.

Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) is the proposed phenomenon whereby human beings spontaneously combust without any external source of ignition, often burning away most of the body, yet leaving surrounding materials unburned. The earliest case of SHC that we know of today comes from a Danish anatomist named Thomas Bartholin who in 1663 described an occurrence in Paris where a woman was burnt completely to ashes in her sleep while the straw mattress upon which she was laying remained unmarred by the flames that had consumed her. Since the reporting of this case of spontaneous human combustion to the whole of the European community, many others have been recorded in history. Yet, they tend to have a similar pattern in the resulting accounts. The victim is generally found almost completely consumed by a then died out fire in his or her home or place of residence.

The flames begin within the victim's own body and are horribly complete in their work, reducing their human fuel to a pile of ashes in minutes -- sometimes seconds. The whole event is so quick and selective that objects near the victim show only minor heat damage, if any at all; sometimes, even the victim's clothes are left untouched. One victim, Mrs. Reeser, was found in her apartment on the morning of July 2, 1951, reduced to a pile of ashes, a skull, and a completely undamaged left foot. Dr. John also died of spontaneous combustion. His death was in Pennsylvania in 1966. The spot where the body lay was burnt, but the rest of the room, including the toilet, was not even scorched. This shows a quick, hot flame that devoured the body in seconds. Only the bottom of one leg remained to identify this as a person. There are theories on this occurance but no one is sure how or why it happens. It does happen even without scientific explanation. One theory is ball lightning which would produce similar results, but many of these instances seem to rule out this possibility just by the location of the death. A majority of these deaths have the opposite characteristics that one would see if a person was burned to death, such as the shrinking of the skull. Does the body have chemical reactions that science has yet to discover ? It seems that an internal reaction of some kind is the most likely explanation for these deaths, but what triggers it? Can it be detected ? Avoided ? As of yet, no-one knows.

[Miranda_]

By the way, you CAN reply to these topics if you want; whether to suggest more, or comment on the entries. In no particular order:

1. The Doppelganger.

A doppelganger is the ghostly or in some cases, a physical double of a living person. The word is of German origin and the term has, in the vernacular, come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person, most commonly in reference to a so-called evil twin, or to bilocation. Alternatively, the word is used to describe a phenomenon where you catch your own image out of the corner of your eye. In some traditions, seeing one's own doppelganger is an omen of death. A doppelganger seen by friends or relatives of a person may sometimes bring bad luck, or indicate an approaching illness or health problem. The doppelgangers of folklore cast no shadow, and have no reflection in a mirror or in water. They are supposed to provide advice to the person they shadow, but this advice can be misleading or malicious. They can also, in rare instances, plant ideas in their victim's mind or appear before friends and relatives, causing confusion. In many cases once someone has viewed his own doppelganger he is doomed to be haunted by images of his ghostly counter-part. Other folklore says that when a person's doppleganger is seen, the person him/herself will die shortly. It is considered unlucky to try to communicate with such a doppelganger.

Famous reports of the phenomenon include Abraham Lincoln, who told his wife that he saw two faces of himself in a mirror soon after being elected president, one deathly pale. His wife believed this to mean he would be elected to a second term but would not survive. Lincoln was of course later assassinated, seemingly proving his wife correct. Richard Rossi, the maverick minister and Hollywood filmmaker, allegedly told police a man who resembled him attacked his wife. According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, he allegedly speculated the mysterious incident was a Satanic counterattack because of his work as an exorcist. Rossi stood trial for the assault, resulting in a hung jury, partially because both Rossi's wife and an eyewitness named John Fair confirmed the story. Even Adolf Hitler had a doppelganger, a man named Gustav Weler who held an uncanny resemblance to the dictator.

2. The Ourang Medan.

In February 1948, distress calls were picked up by numerous ships near Indonesia. The SOS calls came from the Dutch freighter SS Ourang Medan. The signals claimed, "All officers including captain are dead lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead." This message was followed by indecipherable Morse code then, "I also am near death." Within hours of the first distress signals, the first rescue ship arrived on the scene. Upon arrival, the rescue vessel tried to hail the Ourang Medan but there was no response to their hand and whistle signals. A boarding party was sent to the ship and what they found was astonishing. All the crew and officers of the Ourang Medan were dead, their eyes open, faces looking towards the sun, arms outstretched and a look of terror on their faces. Even the ship's dog was dead, found snarling at some unseen enemy. When nearing the bodies in the boiler room, the rescue crew felt a chill though the temperature was near 110°F. The entire ship was surrounded by sharks, come to revel in a diabolical feast.

The decision was made to tow the ship back to port. As the ship was prepared to be towed, smoke began rolling up from the hull. The rescue crew left the ship and barely had time to cut the tow lines before the Ourang Medan exploded and sank. The explosion killed some of the waiting sharks. The rescue crew went back to their own ship, questions in their minds. What happened the the crew of the Ourang Medan? Was it a UFO? Flying vampire bats? Some paranormal event that scared everyone to death? There is some speculation that the Ourang Medan was carrying illegal chemical weapons (this was post WWII). Could something they were secretly transporting leaked, killing everyone aboard? The only ones who know for sure rest at the dark bottom of the mysterious and unforgiving sea.

3. Bible John.

The tall, well-dressed handsome stranger didn't say much - but what he did say earned him the most chilling sobriquet in Scottish criminal history. More than 35 years after his killing spree, mere mention of the name Bible John is still enough to send a shiver up the spine. In late 1960s Glasgow, when his identikit image stared from every newspaper and wanted poster in the land, he provoked fear to the point of hysteria. "I don't drink at Hogmanay, I pray", he was heard telling his third known victim, Helen Puttock. The quote was frighteningly eerie, like a line from a horror film. Whether he meant "pray" or "prey" was a matter of conjecture but other references to Moses, his strict religious upbringing and his father's belief that dance halls were "dens of iniquity" led the media to dub him Bible John. He did call himself John, that little is known about him. Beyond that, his identity was - and remains to this day - a mystery. Police in Glasgow, faced with genuine terror among citizens, launched a massive manhunt - but after three murders the killer never re-surfaced.

His reign of terror centred on Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom, a hugely popular East End dance venue in the 1960s. On the night of 22 February 1968, Patricia Docker went to the hall for a night out, leaving her parents to babysit her son. She had been at another ballroom, the Majestic, but friends remember a man escorting her from the Barrowland. The following day the naked body of the 25-year-old woman was found in a lane near her home. She had been strangled with her own tights. Jemima McDonald, 32, felt perfectly safe as she left her three children in the care of her sister and set off for a night at the Barrowland. Friends remember her dancing most of the evening with a tall, well-dressed man with light hair and wearing a blue suit. McDonald was found dead the following day in an abandoned building near her home, strangled with her tights. The final victim, the 29-year-old Helen Puttock, was found in exactly the same circumstances. She had been at the same ballroom, left with what sounded like the same man and was found strangled in the same fashion. Hundreds of men were questioned, but after the death of Helen Puttock there was nothing. The killer seemed to vanish into thin air, never to be seen again.

4. Vampires.

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings that subsist on human and/or animal life force. In most cases, they are reanimated corpses who feed by draining and consuming the blood of living beings. In folklore, the term usually refers to the blood-drinking humans of Eastern European legends, but the term is often applied to similar legendary creatures from other regions and cultures. The characteristics of vampires vary widely among these different traditions. Some cultures also have stories of non-human vampires, including real animals such as bats, dogs, spiders, and mythical creatures such as the chupacabra. Tales of the dead craving blood are found in nearly every culture around the world, including some of the most ancient ones. Vampire-like spirits called the Lilu are mentioned in early Babylonian demonology, and the even more ancient bloodsucking Akhkhar in Sumerian mythology. These female demons were said to roam during the hours of darkness, hunting and killing newborn babies and pregnant women. One of the demons, named Lilitu, was later adapted to Jewish demonology as Lilith.

In India, tales of vetalas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses, are found in old Sanskrit folklore. A prominent story tells of King Vikramaditya and his nightly quests to capture an elusive vetala. The vetala legends have been compiled in the book Baital Pachisi. The vetala is an undead creature, who like the bat associated with modern day vampirism, hangs upside down on trees found in cremation grounds and cemeteries. The Ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in one myth became full of bloodlust after slaughtering humans and was only sated after drinking alcohol colored as blood. Evidence that a vampire was active in a given locality included death of cattle, sheep, relatives or neighbors; an exhumed body being in a lifelike state with new growth of the fingernails or hair; a body swelled up like a drum; or blood on the mouth coupled with a ruddy complexion. Vampire legends exist almost everywhere; even the UK has its own vampire story in The Creature Of Croglin. Vampires could only be killed by a stake thru the heart, beheading with a gravedigger's spade, and burning.

[Miranda_]

5. Spring Heeled Jack.

Londoners first heard of the terrifying Spring-Heeled Jack in the late fall of 1837. This bogey-man who was rumored to be be able to leap huge hedgerows and breathe flames from his mouth was reguarded by many to be a tall tale. Few believed accounts of the attacks which had this devil carrying off young women into the night. However, the rumors persisted as the number of attacks grew. Spring-Heeled Jack seemed to prefer to leap out on unsuspecting travelers. Usually he would rip their clothes with the claws on his hands, and breathe flames into the victims' faces. Then, with shock still immobilizing his prey, he would bound away in huge, leaping strides which covered great distances at each step. The thing about the devil-man which most stuck out in the minds of the victims were his terrible, protruding, hellish eyes, and his peculiar ringing laughter. Concerned citizens formed mobs to try and track down the creature, but his ability to jump over walls made Jack impossible to catch. The attacks reached a climax when, in the winter of 1838, he moved his activities into London itself.

The first of these London attacks took place on a dark February night. Lucy Scales was walking home with her sister from their brother's house when a tall cloaked figure bounded out of the shadows at them. He spat blue flames into Lucy's face, blinding her. As she lay writhing on the ground, Spring-Heeled Jack calmly turned around and melted back into the shadows. He struck again several times over the following weeks, and as before, was never caught. Throughout the 19th century, Spring-Heeled Jack was sighted all over England. After a brief period of inactivity in the late 1830's he was seen time and time again in the 1840's and 50's. Spring-Heeled Jack was last seen in 1904 in Liverpool. There, he terrified people by bounding up and down the streets and onto their rooftops. When attempts were made to corner him, but simply vanished into the darkness. Some believe that Spring-Heeled Jack was a demon. Others think he was a disfigured human, or an escaped mental patient. The mystery of Spring-Heeled Jack may never be solved. Nor will the question of when or if he will return.

6. Lake Monsters.

Apart from the famous Loch Ness Monster, there are many more reports of mysterious creatures within the lakes and lochs of Britain, dating as far back as recorded history, and probably further. Some are mingled with old folklore about dragons and mermaids, while the more modern sightings have often become attributed to unidentified real creatures, including extinct dinosaurs. There is little doubt that strange forms are seen in various bodies of water, what is more difficult to ascertain is whether the creatures are actually physical, misinterpreted natural phenomena or something else. Loch Morar seems as likely a candidate as any for the home of a large creature, over 1000 feet in places, it is deeper than Loch Ness, although not as large a body of water. Its alleged resident monster has been dubbed Morag, and the story is perhaps one of the most frightening and physical encounters, of any British lake monster. In August 1969, Duncan McDonnell, and Bill Simpson, were fishing on the loch in a motor cruiser. They became aware of a loud splashing in the water behind them and turned to see a large object in the water, which rammed the boat side-on in a deliberate manner.

Simpson grabbed his shotgun from the boat and fired at the creature, which was described as '25 to 30 feet long, with dirty brown rough skin, 3 large black humps and a snake like head'. The creature slowly slipped back under the water after it had been shot, much to the relief of the two men. Morag has been seen on several other occasions, and the loch's remoteness (there is no road around the Loch) compared to Loch Ness, suggests that there could be many more sightings if the Loch was more accessible. Like Loch Ness the sightings go back into history, and may have been part of common folklore before the sightings became publicised. Many other Scottish lochs are said to harbour monsters. Among these are Loch Lochy, Loch Arkaig, Loch Oich, Loch Linnhe, Loch Quoich, and Loch Shiel, (three of these along with Loch Ness are situated on the Great Glen Fault) many others were believed to have enchanted qualities.

7. Strange Vanishings.

Some unexplained disappearances in history make one think if there is indeed another dimension that people are swept into and are never to be seen from again. There are people disappearing every day and they are never found or heard from again. They do not fall prey to foul play. They just disappear off the radar. What happens to these people? Is there a strange porthole that people enter into and cannot find their way back? One such happening is the strange disappearance of the Vermont man who was on a bus with fourteen other people when he vanished. All the witnesses saw the man sleeping on the bus and when they arrived at their destination, the man was gone. His belongings were still there including his bus schedule on the seat next to where he was sitting. Then there were more disappearances of people from the same area as the man. An eighteen-year-old student disappeared while on the trail in Glastonbury Mountain and then an eight-year-old boy disappeared from his parent's farm. Neither was ever seen again. There were many disappearances in this area and the Indians believed that evil spirits lived in the wilderness of Glastonbury. However, there have not been any more disappearances since 1950.

The strangest of disappearances is that of David Lang who disappeared in front of his children, wife, brother-in0law and a local attorney. He was walking through the field by his home in Summer County, Tennessee when he vanished into thin air. A circle of brown still marks the place where he disappeared and no animals or insects go near the area. Nothing will grow in that are as well. What causes these disappearances and where do the people go? Is there some supernatural gravity pull that can make a person vanish without a trace without anyone knowing what happened? Is there a porthole of some type that pulls people in when they least expect it. What other explanation could there be for these strange disappearances? Some people will ignore these disappearances and call them legends, myths or even fictitious stories, but one has to wonder if they are not true then where do all the people go that disappear and are never seen or heard from again. Are you willing to believe that there is no such thing as another dimension? One can only wait to see what happens next in the world.

8. Zombies.

Haitan voodoo, part of their religious practices, has long been considered to be evil. And the base of this suspicion is that the voodoo is used to create zombies. Not zombies as in Hollywood zombies. Not animated brain sucking zombies. Zombies like sub-conscious humans who do everything they are told. Haitians so greatly fear the bodies of dead loved ones being stolen and turned into zombies they will often dismember a dead relative before burial. Others will stand guard over fresh family graves until decomposition makes the body worthless. The bokor is the voodoo sorcerer of Haiti, and instils terror into the hearts of the living. He can create paralysis or death by spreading a powder on the ground where someone walks. He will often create misery by ritually damaging a voodoo doll representing an intended victim. But his greatest power is his ability to make zombies. Voodoo lore suggests that the bokor traps his victim’s soul by sucking it out of the body and sealing it in a bottle. Death and burial soon follow. The bokor goes to the grave at night, opens it and calls the victim’s name. The bottle containing the victim’s soul is passed briefly under the nose to revive the body, and the zombie is led away. Rituals, drugs, and shocking beatings are issued to the zombie in copious quantities to ensure absolute compliance.

An American scientist revealed in 1982 that the bokor used a slow acting poison to paralyse his victims. The zombie-like state is created by a substance that contains tetrodotoxin, a chemical which lowers a person’s metabolic rate to the point where he appears to be dead. Once buried, the victim often does die from the poison or from suffocation. If he is still alive when the bokor reaches him, he will be forced to eat a mysterious paste containing a powerful psychoactive substance such as datura stramonium; known as the zombie cucumber. This causes memory loss and disorientation. The new zombie will soon become a submissive slave to his master the bokor. Felicia Felix-Mentor was a Haitian woman believed to have been made into a zombie in the early part of the 20th century. Felicia Felix-Mentor reportedly died in 1907, after a sudden illness. In 1936 a woman in ragged clothing was found wandering the streets, and made her way to a farm which she claimed belonged to her father. The owners identified the woman as Felicia Felix-Mentor, long thought dead, and Felix-Mentor's husband also confirmed this. Due to her poor health, she was sent to a government hospital.

[Miranda_]

9. The Bemuda Triangle.

Here is another intriguing wonder to the world. The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's triangle, is a triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean (305,000 km2) where theBermuda Triangle disappearances of ships, airplanes, and boats has led to the belief that "supernatural" forces inhabit this area of the sea. Many planes, ships, and boats are believed to have disappeared in this triangle without a trace. This includes the disappearance of over 1,000 seamen and airmen. In most of these disappearances, it is the fact that no distress signal was ever received from the disappearing ships or planes that enhances the cloud of mystery that surrounds them. Although violent storms and downward air currents frequently occur in the area, scientists have not revealed anything extremely peculiar. Boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle are formed by drawing an imaginary line from Melbourne, Florida, to Bermuda, to Puerto Rico, and back to Florida. Could there truly be an unnatural force at work in this geographical triangle or are these disappearances merely coincidence? Either way, numerous people remain unwilling to step over the boundary line into the Devil's Triangle.

Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight path was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base, but they never returned. The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." Adding to the mystery, a search and rescue Mariner aircraft with a 13-man crew was dispatched to aid the missing squadron, but the Mariner itself was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion at about the time the Mariner would have been on patrol.

10. The Wolf Girls.

In 1920 Reverend Joseph Singh, a missionary in charge of an orphanage in Northern India, heard of two ghostly spirit figures seen accompanying a band of wolves near Midnapore in the Bengal jungle. The local villagers were fearful of these apparitions but local custom forbid them to do any harm to the wolves. Intrigued, Singh built a hide in a tree top over-looking the lair of the wolf pack, an old ten-foot high termite mound that had become hollowed out with time. As the moon rose, Singh saw the wolves come out one by one. Then sticking their heads out briefly to sniff the night air before bounding forwards into the clearing came two hunched and horrible figures. As Singh described the "ghosts" in his diary, they were: "Hideous looking...hand, foot and body like a human being; but the head was a big ball of something covering the shoulders and the upper portion of the bust…Their eyes were bright and piercing, unlike human eyes…Both of them ran on all fours." Singh returned with a hunting party to dig out the wolves. The she-wolf had to be shot dead as she attacked the party, protecting her foster children. The children turned out to be two girls, aged about three and five. Their ghastly appearance came from the mass of matted hair on their heads and their hunched four legged gait. Otherwise, they were healthy. Singh named the girls Amala and Kamala; the two were not sisters, but were two girls taken at different times by the she-wolf.

The girls seemed to have no trace of humanness in the way they acted and thought. It was as if they had the minds of wolves. They tore off any clothes put on them and would only eat raw meat. They slept curled up together in a tight ball and growled and twitched in their sleep. They only came awake after the moon rose and howled to be let free again. They had spent so long on all fours that their tendons and joints had shortened to the point where it was impossible for them to straighten their legs and even attempt to walk upright. They never smiled or showed any interest in human company. The only emotion that crossed their faces was fear. Even their senses had become wolf-like. A poor but relatively well educated man, Singh did his best to rehabilitate his charges. Influenced by the horticultural model of child development, he theorised that the wolf habits acquired by Kamala and Amala had somehow blocked the free expression of their innate human characteristics. Amala fell sick and died, but Kamala survived for a time. She was eventually rehabilitated to a certain extent; learning to speak and wearing clothing, but never was like other children. She eventually died of typhoid at the age of sixteen.