Paranormal Magazine

The payout, approved by the City Council on Friday, settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest “mindless” consumerism.

When arrested at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and 6th Street N., most of them had thick white powder and fake blood on their faces and dark makeup around their eyes. They were walking in a stiff, lurching fashion and carrying four bags of sound equipment to amplify music from an iPod when they were arrested by police who said they were carrying equipment that simulated “weapons of mass destruction.”

However, they were never charged with any crime.

Although U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen had dismissed the zombies’ lawsuit, it was resurrected in February by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded that police lacked probable cause to arrest the seven, a decision setting the stage for a federal trial this fall. The settlement means there will be no trial.

“I feel great that the city is being held accountable for the actions of their police,” said Raphi Rechitsky, 27, of Minneapolis, one of the seven zombies, who said he and his friends were performing street theater when they were arrested. He is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Minneapolis City Attorney Susan L. Segal said it was in the best interests of the city to settle. “We believe the police acted reasonably, but you never know what a jury is going to do with a case,” she said.

If a jury had concluded that the seven plaintiffs’ constitutional rights had been violated and awarded $50,000 to each, plus defense attorney’s fees, “it could have been quite substantial,” Segal said.

[via: startribune.com]

Ron Halliday has spent the last 30 years of his life trying to explain the unexplained. The author, whose books include UFO Scotland and Edinburgh After Dark, believes Scotland is now a haven of UFO activity.

In an exclusive interview with STV, Ron – a 60-year-old retired assistant registrar at Stirling University – said: “I think Scotland is like a world hot spot. All the UFO sightings. All the ghost sightings. All the monster sightings. Poltergeists.

“There is just so much that goes on in Scotland, it is absolutely incredible. It is very hard to explain why Scotland has all these reported incidents.”

Ron became interested in UFOs from a young age and started to research it seriously when he was 30. But what is it about the unexplained which interests him and millions of others around the world?

“The whole mystery of it. People claim all these strange experiences which are at odds with our everyday reality. You don’t walk down the street and expect to see an alien. The whole thing just seems completely bizarre.

“Things like Independence Day and The X-Files have stimulated people’s interest in the whole subject. It the media show interest in UFOs then it definitely generates more UFO reports because people come forward and say they have seen things.

“There are so many people taking photos these days, but there is also greater scepticism. It is very easy to fabricate a UFO picture. The thing that people interested in UFOs find hard to accept is why aliens don’t just land in George Square in Glasgow so TV crews can come and film them?

“I am sceptical too. But when you speak to people who have had these experiences, get their perspective on the thing – there is no particular reason why they would make this up.”

Read on at news.stv.tv for a run down of Halliday’s top ten paranormal happenings in Scotland.

Genealogists have traced the heritage of ‘Twilight’ star to supposed Dracula inspiration, Vlad the Impaler…

Robert Pattinson isn’t the only famous vampire in his family.

Genealogists said the 24-year-old “Twilight” star is related to Vlad the Impaler, widely cited as the inspiration for the main character in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Researchers at Ancestry.com discovered that Pattinson and the Transylvanian leader (real name: Vlad III Dracula) are connected through their relationship to the British royal family. Prince William and Prince Harry are Pattinson’s distant cousins; Vlad the Impaler was their distant uncle.

“Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the Twilight Saga,” said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com. “Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson’s life — making his story just as supernatural as the one he’s playing on screen.”

Also connected to the prince’s lineage and therefore to Dracula? Stephenie Meyer, the author of the “Twilight” series.

The latest big-screen installment in the popular vampire saga, “Eclipse,” opens July 8.

[via: fox5vegas.com]

He was 10 feet tall, with a long beard and yellowish-blond hair, Tim Peeler says.

And in the early-morning hours of June 5, Peeler told authorities, the creature – a Cleveland County version of Bigfoot – wandered onto Peeler’s property in the rural northwest part of the county.

The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office has filed the case as a “suspicious person report” but says it is keeping an open mind.

Peeler lives on Vanada Drive, northwest of the town of Casar. There is little or no civilization between his property and South Mountain State Park, one of North Carolina’s least-developed recreational sites. He told deputies he heard screeching and grunting sounds, came outside his cabin, and saw the creature near his mountain home. Peeler told authorities he thought the creature might be menacing his dogs.

“I rough-talked him and said, ‘You get away from here,’ ” he told NewsChannel 36, the Observer’s news partner.

Peeler, who said the creature had six fingers on each hand, told WCNC the Bigfoot left his property but came back a short time later.

“And I said, ‘Get! Get!’ And he went back down the path again,” Peeler told the TV station.

These reports aren’t new to Cleveland County, although it has been three decades since Knobby – the county’s other well-publicized Bigfoot – was in the news.

In the winter of 1978 and ’79, a number of people in the area near Carpenter’s Knob, north of Kings Mountain, reported seeing a large creature with long back hair, walking on two legs. Authorities surmised residents were seeing a large black bear, but the reports persisted.

One property owner reported one of his goats died of a broken neck, and newspaper stories from the time report of manhunts – or Bigfoot hunts – by some of the area’s braver residents. Those stories tell of large footprints being found, and of theories that the creature might have been a panther.

Reports of the sightings died out in the spring of 1979, however.

The sheriff’s office says it patrols the area near Peeler’s property regularly.

“If we see something, we’ll try to capture it and take it into custody,” Sgt. Mark Self told NewsChannel 36.

The sheriff’s office says residents should use caution around any creatures – in case they find themselves dealing with a not-so-friendly bear.

[via: charlotteobserver.com]

Reports of big cat sightings in the Norwich area have flooded in since the Evening News revealed that a large black cat-like animal had been spotted by a motorist off the A47.

Phil Grimes was driving eastbound on the single carriageway A47 from Norwich when he saw an animal in a field about 200 yards away off the road near North Burlingham, on Friday, May 28.

He said the animal had a heavy, thick tail, looked like a black leopard, and was about the size of a German Shepherd in height, but had a longer, distinctly cat-like body.

Since then eagle-eyed readers have told us their own stories of seeing big cats and providing more evidence that Norfolk is a hot spot for sightings.

Ten-year-old Ella Jennings said she was walking with her family along the A47 at Cringleford on Easter Sunday when they spotted a big cat.

She said: “It was between 6pm and 7pm when we could see a black figure in the grass.

“It stood still as if frozen and then ran behind a tree. We then moved back and spotted it again.

“Dad was going through all the animals it could be. The creature appeared to be too big to be a normal cat or dog although it did move like a cat. We all wondered if it was some kind of big cat.”

Alan Cunningham was driving from Norwich on the A47 about three weeks ago and had just crossed the Brundall roundabout.

He said: “Laying on the freshly cut grass verge to my left, just before the slip road for Shack Lane, was a larger than domestic size black cat.

“What first grabbed my attention was the size of its front legs and paws as it was laying on its right side facing the oncoming traffic. I’m fairly certain it was a Monday morning about 7am and the cat laid there for at least three days.”

Meanwhile, Ted Mobbs, from Taverham, spotted a big cat near Reepham Fisheries last September.

He said: “I was fishing and I was startled by a medium sized speckled, Lynx-type wild cat.

“I kept very still as it passed by at about 12 to 15 ft. Its ears were long and very pointy.

“I estimate it to be between 30 and 40 inches long, with a thick ringed-type tail. It was not a domesticated animal and looked like a well-fed killing machine.

“A few weeks later the owner of Reepham Fisheries said a nuisance otter they had, had been killed recently. I wonder?”

[via: eveningnews24.co.uk]

A 15-year-old schoolgirl has told of her terror after being chased by a big cat she claims was a ‘black panther’ in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Kim Howells was enjoying a walk through the woodland on her 15th birthday with her cousin Sophie Gwynne, eight, when they came across the animal lying beneath a tree.

Ms Howells, who described the ‘panther’ as about the size of a Great Dane dog, with big eyes, paws and a long tail, said the creature began following them after they spotted it at around 8.30pm on Monday night.

She said: ‘I saw something out of the corner of my eye and at first I thought it was a log or something.

‘We carried on walking but then I looked back and it was sitting up looking at me.

‘It was definitely a big cat. I’ve seen wild boar and deer in the Forest before and it definitely wasn’t one of them.

‘What makes me sure is that it was still light so I could see it really clearly.’

Read on at dailymail.co.uk.

Locals in a small Canadian town have been stumped by the appearance of a bizarre creature, which was dragged from a lake.

The animal, which has a long hairy body with bald skin on its head, feet and face, has prompted wild internet speculation that it is a more evolved version of the famous ‘Montauk monster’.

The creature was discovered by two nurses in the town of Kitchenuhmaykoosib in Ontario, Canada, while out on a walk with their dog.

When the dog began sniffing in the lake, the two women started investigating, before the dog pulled the dead animal out.

After taking some photographs of the odd animal, the nurses left it alone. When locals decided to go back and retrieve the body, it has disappeared.

The photographs have now been posted on a local website, with an explanation which reads: ‘This creature was first discovered by Sam the Dog, a local dog.

‘It was discovered first week of May in the creek section of town, hikers noticed Sam sniffing something in the water and they approached to see in what the Sam had detected and they noticed the creature in the water face down.

The dog jumped in the lake and pulled the creature to the rocks and dragged it out for the hikers to see and these are the photos they took.

‘The creature’s tail is like a rat’s tail and it is a foot long.’

Read on at dailymail.co.uk

Measuring longer than a school bus and sporting tentacles covered in razor-sharp hooks, the colossal squid is the stuff of nightmares. However, new research suggests the enormous sea creature may not be the fierce hunter of legend.

This finding not only upends science’s understanding of the squid itself, but forces a reevaluation of its role in the entire ecosystem where it lives some 3,000 to 6,000 feet (914 to 1,830 meters) beneath the Antarctic sea.

This new view of the colossal squid comes from data analysis made by marine biologists Rui Rosa, of the University of Lisboa, Portugal, and Brad Seibel, of the University of Rhode Island. Rosa and Seibel looked at the relationship between metabolism (how the body’s cells turn food into energy) and body size for smaller squids in the same family and used the information to predict the metabolism of the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni).

They found, the squid would’ve had a slower metabolism and so moved slower than expected, waiting for prey, rather than running it down. “Everyone thought it was an aggressive predator, but the data suggests otherwise,” Rosa told LiveScience. “It’s a squid that weights half a ton with hooks in its tentacles, but our findings show it’s more like just a big blob.”

Contrary to the image of Kraken-like shellfish attacking ships and dragging sailors to their deaths, this new data paints a picture of a mostly sedentary creature, Rosa said. Rather than swimming after prey, the colossal squid would wait to ambush passing fish.

And if the colossal squid consumed and expended less energy than previous thought, as this data indicates, then biologists will also need to reevaluate the squid’s role as whale food, Rosa said.

“Because the squid is more cold-blooded than we thought, they are not really that nutritious,” Rosa said. “The whale is not getting much by eating it. They’d have to consume a lot of squid to maintain their lifestyle.”

Rosa also noted that since so little is known about the colossal squid, almost any new discoveries are likely to overturn existing theories. The fact that the squid lives in such deep and frigid waters makes it almost impossible for scientists to acquire new specimens.

“We didn’t really have live measurements, because it’s almost impossible to go to the ocean and catch one,” Rosa said. “We know more about the moon than the deep sea. It’s a cliché, but it’s true, especially in the Antarctic.”

The study was detailed online on April 20 in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[via: livescience.com]

A New Zealand man claimed he was bitten by three people who allegedly drank his blood during a vampire-style attack in the dark.

Details of the bizarre late night incident on Mount Victoria, an unlit beauty spot that overlooks the capital, Wellington, emerged after two people appeared in court jointly charged with wounding with intent to render a man unconscious.

James Phillip Brooks, 22, and Xenia Gregoriana Borichevsky, 19, were both remanded on bail without entering a plea.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of a third accused, James Eric Orr, 19, who failed to appear at Wellington District Court.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.

It is believed the victim, whose name has been suppressed by the court, passed out after being bitten on the night of February 20.

Outside the court, Mr Brooks said he understood there was blood drinking during the incident but added: “That wasn’t me.

“Do I look like a vampire? I’m out during the daytime,” he told the city’s Dominion-Post newspaper.

Mr Brooks, who has a number of facial piercings and a mohawk haircut, said: “I may look like a punk but I’m not a punk. I’m just different.

“Yeah, I bit a guy. He hit on my missus. My girlfriend and my mate were biting him.

“If I’d hit him, I’d have really hurt him, so I thought I’ll bite him seeing as they’re already biting him.”

He said drinking blood “wasn’t my agenda”.

Police refused to discuss the case because it is before the courts.

Ms Borichevsky’s bail conditions were relaxed by the court after her lawyer asked the judge to lift a night-time curfew on her.

Dr Marc Wilson, a senior lecturer in psychology at Wellington’s Victoria University, who specialises in studying paranormal beliefs, said drinking human blood was “incredibly unusual”.

He said human teeth were not designed for breaking skin and sucking blood.

“You could do it but you would have to really want to.”

[via: telegraph.co.uk]

A mystery beast that resembles a chupacabra (”goat-sucker”), a legendary, fearsome and possibly mythical beast said to inhabit parts of the Americas and Puerto Rico, is seen shortly after its capture in a village in Suining, Sichuan Province on March 24.

In this case, the gray colored animal wasn’t attacking goats, but chickens and it was the fowls’ cries that alerted village Ke Suying to find the mystery predator tearing into his birds. He tried to drive it away with a stick but failed, though later with the help of neighbors caught it in a steel net.

It resembles a large rat or a mutant mix of kangaroo and dog, with large claws. It is about 60 centimeters long, with a 30-centimeter tail. Villagers describe it as “quite fierce” and said it ravenously consumes both meat and vegetables fed to it.

Most of its brown fur has fallen out, with only a little left on its back and a front foot.

The creature has been given to the Sichuan Province forestry department for further examination.

[via: life.globaltimes.cn]

Subscribe to newsfeed:

• Browse features

  • Aliens (3)
  • Black Magic (9)
  • Creatures (10)
  • Ghosts (11)
  • Poltergeists (3)
  • Psychic Powers (1)
  • UFOs (5)

• Browse news items

  • Aliens (48)
  • Black Magic (18)
  • Conspiracy (62)
  • Creatures (57)
  • Entertainment (81)
  • Ghosts & Hauntings (51)
  • Mythology (24)
  • Natural Phenomenon (78)
  • Science & Technology (70)
  • UFOs (68)

• Browse archives

• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008