Northern California's gorgeous Yosemite National Park (which sprawls out over 747,956 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) hosts about 4.1 million visitors every year. However, there are some unaccounted-for visitors who have taken up permanent residence and others who have straight-up gone missing without a trace. Let's start with the fun stuff - the reports of paranormal phenomena within Yosemite's borders. One of the most important things you should know about Yosemite is that there is said to be a Native American curse on the land. The Ahwahneechee tribe lived on this land until they were wiped out by disease, although some chose to remain even after others migrated away. Once the sickness was gone, Chief Tenaya ended up bringing about 200 people back to Yosemite Valley. Of course, in the 1850's, the Ahwahneechee were coming into conflict with the settlers who wanted to oust them from the area for poaching their livestock. The settlers were determined to send the tribal members to a reservation in Fresno. Although Chief Tenaya and his people agreed to move to the reservation, they turned back and fled to their homeland in Yosemite. The Mariposa Brigade, charged with the relocation, re-entered Yosemite and killed Tenaya's youngest son as punishment for returning. Tenaya and his people agreed to return to the reservation, but Tenaya left them with a curse. While Tenaya did eventually return to the Valley, only to be struck in the head with a rock and killed in 1853. However, it seems like Tenaya's curse was never lifted. Since then, many freak accidents have occurred, and there is even a stretch of land in Tenaya Canyon known as the "Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite". In fact, this is where naturalist John Miur almost met his demise in 1873. The curse might be part of what makes Yosemite so mysterious and powerful. There are rumors of ghosts haunting the former Ahwahnee Hotel, which opened in 1927 near the Half Dome and inspired Stanley Kubrick's aesthetic take on the Overlook Hotel in his film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. The hotel's designer, Mary Curry Tressider, had an apartment on the sixth floor and resided there until her death in 1970. It is said that her ghost haunts that floor, playing pranks, calling out to guests of the hotel, and even tucking them into bed! Another "ghost" seen around the Ahwahnee Hotel is that of President John F. Kennedy's rocking chair. That's right, a spectral rocking chair has been seen in the rooms and halls on the third floor where he stayed in 1962. Due to severe back pain, JFK had requested this rocking chair be placed in his room. The Sierra Sky Ranch is another haunted hot spot in Yosemite. It has been said that ghost children have been heard and seen playing in the halls, main living room, and media room. Lights turn on and off by themselves, and faucets and appliances run on their own. Doors can be heard slamming shut, visitors receive tugs on their clothing, and there is a distinct passing scent of ladies' perfume in the main house and library. Visitors to the bar and the bartenders sometimes receive spectral kisses on their cheeks. The most malevolent spirit is that of an angry man who is said to knock over furniture around the veranda. Grouse Lake is also subject to some weird events. In 1857, the man who would become the park's first ranger a decade later, Galen Clark, was hiking to Grouse Lake when he heard a loud wailing sound coming from the water. Stunned, Clark asked the tribal people in the area what kind of animal could emit such a noise. Their reply? It was the spirit of a tribal boy who had drowned in the lake three years prior. Apparently, this boy's spirit did not like receiving visitors. Additionally, the stunning Bridalveil Fall (which drops 617 feet down) is said to host an evil spirit named Pohono. Pohono would lure his victims to their deaths (via a terrifying tumble over the cliff's edge) by hypnotizing them with a rainbow or physically manifesting as an apparition that beckons to them. There are a number of deaths on record of those who have slipped or been blown over, as winds up at the top are highly unpredictable. There have been reports of campers hearing voicing echoing from the falls at nighttime. Now, for the disappearances. There have been so many disappearances in Yosemite over the years that it will be impossible for me to list them all in one blog entry. I will tackle some of the most well-known and mind-boggling cases in this article, but I highly encourage you to research the others. In fact, do yourself a favour and Google "David Paulides Missing 411" or see the link in the References list below. I guarantee your mind will be blown, as mine was when I first learned about this project. The basics are:
One of the factors is missing or distorted time or perception of weather. For example, 6-year-old Lillian Carney was picking blueberries with her family at noon in Maine when she just disappeared. Miraculously, she was found alive tow days later, only a few miles from where she was last seen. While being interviewed, she said the sun shone the whole time she was in the woods. That is especially odd considering the weather was partly cloudy and that she had spent two nights outdoors. Plus, what 6-year-old would just say that? Anyway, without further adieu, here are some of the most puzzling missing persons cases from Yosemite. In 1981, 14-year-old Stacy Ann Arras was camping with her father and six others at the Sunrise Sierra Camp. An elderly group member accompanied Stacy when she went to take pictures near the lake but had to stop and rest while Stacy continued. He was the last person to see Stacy. A massive search was conducted, but the only thing ever found was the lens cap to Stacy's camera. In 2005, a 51-year-old expert hiker named Michael Allen Ficery made his way up the Pacific Crest Trail and never returned. His backpack was retrieved near Tilltill Mountain, which was not part of Michael's intended hiking path, as this terrain is extremely dangerous for even the most advanced hiker. Another bizarre case is that of George Penca, a 30-year-old man who went missing in June 2011. He was hiking Upper Yosemite Falls with his church group when he fell behind and vanished. While the weather was extremely mild, many believe that George accidentally strayed from the path and fell down a steep embankment. However, absolutely no trace of George has ever been found. On August 14, 2000, Ruthanne Ruppert, 49, had been treated for an infection at the Yosemite Medical Clinic around noon and seemed to plan on doing a day hike from Yosemite Falls to the Foresta area. She was never seen again. The only remains found were in 2008, when her backpack turned up in a drainage areas of Fireplace Creek. Of course, bodies of the missing are sometimes found. For example, in August of 2017, the body of Portsmouth sailor Alexander Joseph Sevier, age 24, were discovered after Sevier went missing in early May. Despite a massive search, Sevier's body wasn't found for months, and when it was, it required DNA testing to confirm his identity. Yosemite has also played host to some gruesome murder mysteries. The most disturbing is that of the psychotic handyman at Cedar Lodge. In early February of 1999, Carole Sund, her teenage daughter Juli, and Juli's friend Silvina Pelosso never checked out of the lodge. Carole's vehicle was found parked deep within the mountains, with Carole and Silvina inside - very much deceased. Shortly thereafter, the FBI received a map, leading them to discover Juli's body. She had died by having her throat slashed. Another woman - Yosemite Institute teacher Joie Ruth Armstrong - went missing that July. Her headless body was discovered in a drainage ditch; her head was located nearby. Police eventually learned that the suspect was the lodge's own handyman, Cary Stayner, who harbored a vicious hatred for women. He had even planned on murdering his girlfriend and daughter on Valentine's Day but ended up not following through with it. Yosemite National Park will always remain shrouded in mystery. As beautiful as this area is, it is equally deadly. A misplaced step can send you falling to your death. But perhaps it is what lurks beneath the surface that makes Yosemite one of the most dangerous places on earth.
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It seems like, more and more, law enforcement agencies throughout the US are abusing their power. Instead of serving and protecting citizens, they're serving and protecting themselves. This can't be said for all departments and all cops, but it seems to be the case with Fresno Law Enforcement. Ask John Lang. Oh wait, you can't. He's dead. And Fresno police are the top suspects in the case. On January 20, 2016, John Lang was found dead in his Fresno home, which was also on fire. Police on the scene originally reported that Lang, who was 51 at the time of his death, had been stabbed multiple times in his upper back and abdomen. A few days later, the sheriff's office and coroner came out with a statement that Lang had died as the result of "three superficial, self-inflicted stab wounds" to his chest and that his back had no wounds. Then, after stabbing himself, the sheriff's office asserted that Lang had set himself on fire. Their explanation? The responding lieutenant, Joe Gomez, had simply made a mistake and released incorrect information to the media. Sounds legit. Except, it doesn't. At all. Especially when you examine the events in the days leading up to Lang's demise. Lang had contacted a local ABC30 reported, Corin Hoggard, via Facebook five days prior to his death. What Lang had to say was chilling. As it turns out, Lang had been recording what he thought were undercover Fresno cops pulling up in vans outside of his house, monitoring him. In fact, Lang started publishing video surveillance footage on his YouTube account as early as March of 2015. On January 13, 2016, Lang spoke with Mac McCauley regarding why Fresno cops were stalking him. Mac McCauley · Granite Bay, California What occured in your life to bring you to the attention of the cops, both city and county, that you believe you are being stalked? Lang, it seems, was becoming increasingly worried that Fresno police would soon execute him. By January 16, it appears Lang knew his fate was sealed. By the way, Guarantee Carpet Care doesn't exist! It has a Yelp page that was created shortly after Lang's death. It even got its first - and only - five-star review just five days after Lang was killed. Before his death, Lang had begged gun-owning friends to stay with him at his home. That's how scared he was. Then, on January 17, Lang penned this message to the FBI and Department of Justice: Open Letter the the USDOJ and the FBI I am fairly certain that Fresno Law Enforcement is trying to set me up on some type a charge related to child pornography. I’ve been trying to figure out why they would send Child Molester George Adams Ramirez my way when I was renting the property next to me for Don Green. Also I was at a loss as to how Fresno LE was able to turn so many people against me so quickly. The only thing that makes sense coupled with George Ramirez situation is if Fresno LE told these folks I was a child porn suspect. Imagine a police officer dressed in his official uniform pulling up in a police cruiser. Imagine the same police officer or detective telling a group of coworkers of the accused or other folks that said person is a bad guy who is under investigation for the crimes of child pornography, and cops would like their help in putting a really bad guy away. This would be a no brainier for most reasonable people. There is no more heinous, hideous, and inhuman crime than that of a child porn person. This crime evokes more human emotion than any other. And it is to that effect that Fresno Law Enforcement uses to suit their purpose in my situation. It’s Fresno Law Enforcement’s “weapon of mass destruction”. This would also explain why the FBI shows little interest in my pleas for help. There has long been a believe in Law Enforcement circles that if someone is guilty of something, then helping that process along by fabricating evidence is completely acceptable. This rational can provide a loophole for truth and justice to be ignored when an innocent person is charged or suspected of crimes, as it is with my situation. Let this example serve as a warning to all my activist and blogger friends. We are by no means free. If and when the Government targets us, we are completely and utterly done, and there is really nothing we can do about it. Through my example the Government is trying to drive home the point that they want obidient, submisive, and loyal subjects. And they will settle for nothing less.. I’m also fairly certain I’ve figured out how Fresno Law Enforcement handled the actual access and internet distribution of the offensive material. Let’s just say that the FEDS should re-investigate all Child porn cases in Fresno where ATT Internet Services provided the Internet service. Especially cases where the accused had a conflict with the City Of Fresno or high ranking City of Fresno personnel. Other elements are simply handled by planting various elements of false evidence here and there once they enter a residence. That is why Fresno LE was so determined to get a search warrant for an official home entry in my case. As I’ve mentioned in the past Fresno LE had already illegally and secretly entered by home, copied my hard drives in order to get a good game plan for the eventual false arrest. There also appears to be a pattern here. Anyone who has ever talked publicly about, accused, or discussed Jerry Dyer’s suposed sex scandle with that 16 year old girl has found themselfs in some type of legal peril within a few short years.. And with this letter I have for certain signed my death warrant with Fresno LE. Kind Regards, John Lang Fresno Ca 93728 That final sentence chills me right to the bone. Normally, I would - as I think most of us rational-minded people would do - think, "Eh, this guy might just be a bit paranoid." But the evidence speaks for itself and goes as far back as 2009, when Lang was pulled over and ticketed. This prompted Lang to start researching Fresno LE's habit of scanning license plates in private retail parking lots. As Lang said, this was done in order to "optimize ticket revenue at a very minimal expense" to Fresno LE. License plate scanning is something we are all pretty familiar with these days. While scanners are meant to help police track down criminals on their "hot lists", only a small percentage of the plates they scan end up coming back to those with stolen or wanted vehicles. Most of the time, cops are scanning the plates of law-abiding citizens. The amount of information cops can accumulate from reading your plate multiple times is downright unnerving. They can essentially pinpoint where you live and work. Also, private companies are using these readers and sharing information with police with little in the way of regulation. Lang claimed to have suffered years of harassment after he started probing into Fresno LE's abuse of its scanner system, which hit a peak in 2013, and it continued from there. In 2014, Lang received a response to a Craigslist ad he had posted for his jet ski, and three people showed up. One, Lang said, seemed to be an undercover Fresno Sheriff employee, and another was Jody Murray from Fresno Bee. By this point, Lang knew he was being followed. Suspicious characters kept trailing him wherever he did his normal daily routine. He also received more and more suspicious phone calls. As you can read here, Lang thoroughly documented these instances and reported them to trusted sources. The official coroner's report, which you can read for yourself by going here, cited the cause of death as a mixture of fire and soot inhalation. The three stab wounds are secondary to that and were deemed nonfatal. How do stab wounds to the back (where it's really difficult to stab yourself and fruitless to even try, especially if you're attempting suicide) just disappear? How come Lang's face has been virtually obliterated from the Internet? (Believe me, guys, I'm not the only one who has extensively searched for photos of Lang.) Why wasn't this case put on nationwide media blast? The truth is, we will never get to know the entire truth because it is being kept from us. Perhaps George Orwell and Ron Paul were right: "Truth is treason in the empire of lies." Normally, I don't post about cases as they are happening, However, this one is so gruesome and horrifying that it has to be put out there. Even though it just happened this week, it is barely a blip on the news stations' radars. And, with the way this case is unfolding, I get the feeling that Brandy is not the killer's first - or maybe final - victim. Or that it is someone she knows. Either way, in my mind, it's too elaborate to not the work of a first-time murderer. So, here are the gory details. On Monday, 9 April, 2018, a woman named Patricia Smith was walking her dog in Canarise Park in Brooklyn, New York, when she spotted a plastic bag containing what was a woman's nude torso. Smith called the police, who soon discovered the woman's head and limbs also scattered throughout the park. On Wednesday, 11 April, a bloody saw was found in one of the park's trash bins. Police were unable to ID the woman but put out information on the local news. A grandmother watching the news saw the "chocolate" tattoo above the victim's left breast and quickly phoned her daughter, Nicole Odom. Nicole went to the 69th Precinct and made a positive ID. The victim was her daughter, 26-year-old Brandy Odom. Brandy had been working as a security guard and, as her mother said, was highly ambitious. She had hoped to work as a city school safety agent. The last time Nicole heard from her daughter was in March of this year. Brandy's cause of death has yet to be determined, but police believe that she was killed elsewhere and dismembered post mortem before being unceremoniously dumped in the park. A vigil was held for Brandy, at which Nicole spoke out, demanding justice for Brandy. Those with any information surrounding the murder of Brandy Odom are urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-8477. Believe me, I will be following this case as it unravels. In the meantime, I want to encourage everyone to share Brandy's story so that her killer can be stopped and her family and friends given some peace. UPDATEA few major events have unraveled in the wake of the discovery of Brandy's dismembered body. First, police now have a clearer time-frame for when Brandy Odom was missing. Brandy had failed to reply to a letter sent by the NYPD on April 1 asking if she was still interested in becoming a school safety agent. Police also believe that she was killed within 24 hours of the discovery of her body on April 9. Therefore, police are trying to account for her whereabouts from April 1-8 and are looking through video surveillance for clues. Also, another young woman, 22 year-old Olivia Elliott, reported being abducted about a block away from Canarsie Park. She was able to call her mother 10 hours after being abducted and reported that two men carrying guns had grabbed her. Police have not yet linked her case to Brandy's case, but the location of the alleged abduction has people on alert. References:
"Brooklyn woman found after she claimed she was abducted near park where dismembered body turned up" "Hunt continues for savage killer of woman found dismembered in Brooklyn park" "Brandy Odom Named as Woman Whose Limbs and Torso Were Found in Brooklyn Park" NYPD 69th Precinct Twitter Message "Brandy Odom's Mother Demands Justice For Slain Child At Vigil" "What happened to Brandy Odom?" "What Happened to Brandy Odom? Mystery Surrounds Nude Body Parts Found in N.Y.C. Park" A barely-literate high school drop-out turns up dead with two pages of encrypted notes stuffed into his pockets. Sounds like something right out of a crime thriller movie, doesn't it? For Ricky McCormick, this was no work of fiction. This was his life... and death. Dumped in a field in St. Charles County, Missouri, 41-year-old Ricky McCormick's body was already decomposing by the time he was found on June 30, 1999. A woman driving along a field road just off of Route 367 noticed the body lying face-down near a cornfield. He had last been seen on June 25 at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis (which is now abandoned). Ricky's body was so decomposed that he had to be identified via fingerprint analysis. Although Ricky was known to have health issues, the police believed foul play was involved. Besides, the scene looked staged. How did Ricky end up almost 20 miles from his work and home when he had no car and no means of public transportation to get him there? And why was he dumped in an area where multiple other bodies had been discovered both before and after his death? And just what the hell was scribbled onto those two pages of notes? By all accounts, Ricky McCormick was a low-risk victim. Poor and chronically ill with a seemingly low intelligence and criminal background. After they found his body, police ran the usual gauntlet of interviewing those who knew Ricky. There was no clear suspect or motive, and the cause of death remained undetermined (albeit suspicious). What the police apparently failed to tell Ricky's loved ones was that he was found with two bizarre, encrypted notes stuffed into his pockets. And nobody talked about this for 12 years. Finally, in 2011, the FBI began investigating Ricky's death as a homicide and placed a call for help to the public on their website, asking for anyone who could crack Ricky's code to come forward. The FBI's Cryptoanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU) and the American Cryptogram Association were both unsuccessful at cracking the code. When interviewed in 2012 by The Riverfront Times, Ricky's family claimed his history of encrypting his writings (something he was said to have done since childhood) was really just a bunch of "nonsense" and that they doubted he was capable of writing those notes. According to his mother, all that Ricky could write was his own name. Everything else was merely scribbles. In fact, Ricky's own mother claims that Ricky was "retarded" and was thought to suffer from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. He had been taken to see a psychiatrist, but it is unclear as to how much formal treatment Ricky ever received. He was known to have an incredibly vivid imagination and was a true storyteller - that is, when he wasn't off by himself, acting aloof. As a boy at recess, he would stand away from the other students and just be quiet, keeping to himself. Ricky somehow made it through to high school but eventually dropped out and began working random odd jobs. He typically worked graveyard shifts and tried to keep himself at a distance from the city's hardened criminals and drug dealers. However, Ricky himself became a criminal in 1992 when he was arrested by the St. Louis police for having fathered two children with a girl under the age of 14. He was 34 at the time of his arrest. Ricky was given a psychiatric evaluation while awaiting trial for the first-degree sexual abuse charge, and it was found that he probably had some type of mental health issue. However, he was deemed fit to stand trial. He was locked up for 13 months. Ricky ended up working at the Amoco gas station on Chouteau Avenue, and, just a few weeks before his death, took a trip to Orlando - the second and final trip he would make there in 1999. He stayed in Room 280 at the Econo Lodge. Why was Ricky in Orlando? It doesn't appear to have been a simple vacation, as phone records indicate that either he or his girlfriend at the time had made numerous calls to the Orlando area prior to his visit. While in Orlando, Ricky made one phone call to his employer at Amoco. After two days in Orlando, Ricky returned to St. Louis. When he returned from that final trip, his girlfriend noticed a definite change in Ricky, as she later confessed to police. To her, Ricky seemed afraid of something - or someone. But Ricky wasn't open to talking about his experiences in Orlando or what had taken him there in the first place. All that we know about Ricky's final few days alive is that he checked himself into Barnes-Jewish Hospital on June 22, at around 3 in the afternoon. He reported having chest pain and shortness of breath, neither symptom having been uncommon for Ricky, who was known to be something of a caffeine addict with heart problems. Ricky was kept under observation for two days, but the possibility of a heart attack was eliminated. Ricky was discharged and went to visit his beloved aunt, Gloria McCormick. She was someone special whom Ricky felt comfortable confiding in, but it doesn't seem that he told her anything about his trip to Orlando. On the 25th, Ricky checked himself into Forest Park Hospital, which is located just 2 miles away from Barnes-Jewish. Doctors thought he was simply having an asthma flare-up and chose not to admit him for treatment, releasing him just before 6 PM. The last anyone reportedly heard from Ricky was his girlfriend, who claimed he had called her on June 26 at 11:30 AM and was headed to Amoco for some food. He was last seen at Amoco on the 27th by a fellow employee, and that he had left. Since Ricky's time of death was likely on the 27th, Ricky only had a few hours left to live after leaving Amoco. So, who might have wanted to kill Ricky McCormick? The main suspect for detectives following the murder was a known drug dealer named Gregory Lamar Knox, who lived near Ricky and was already a suspected in several murder-for-hire cases. An anonymous source had tipped off police that Knox claimed responsibility for murdering a black man who worked at Amoco. However, no formal arrests have ever been made. Ricky's girlfriend, however, suspected Baha "Bob" Hamdallah, a former store owner and drug dealer with a long and bloody criminal history. Ricky had been associated with Hamdallah and might have been running errands for him down in Orlando. Had Ricky somehow screwed up in Orlando? Had a deal gone bad? Or was something else going on? Were these notes a clever rouse to distract the police? Was Ricky simply acting as a courier, the notes having been written by someone with a much higher IQ? If these notes were simply being carried by Ricky, acting as a courier, then who wrote them, and who were they being taken to? And why were they clearly never received? We might never know the truth. Numerous attempts at cracking Ricky's code have been made in the last few years without any real results. Only time will tell if the mystery surrounding Ricky's death will ever be solved. Think you can break the code? The FBI asks that you fill out this form if you think you've got it cracked.
In Season 2, Episode 1 of Twin Peaks, Major Briggs delivers a special message to Special Agent Dale Cooper, who is investigating the mysterious death of a teenage girl in the town of Twin Peaks. Although Twin Peaks is a work of fiction, there seem to be a lot of pulls from real-life encounters with... owls. And/or aliens. As it turns out, the owls might really not be what they seem. Of course, that depends on who you ask. For hundreds of years, owls have been regarded as pseudo-mystical symbols of vast wisdom. Native American tribes often reserved the owl for their shamans. In Ancient Greek mythology, the owl was the symbol for the goddess Athena. Ancient Christians, on the other hand, linked owls with Adam's first wife Lilith, who, through her disobedience, became associated with evil. If you ask a UFOlogist or someone who claims to be an abductee or witness, you might get some different associations. That's right, there are some people out there who claim that owls are linked to experiences with extra-terrestrials. In fact, you can visit Mike Clelland's blog and get an earful of interviews on the subject. Probably one of the most well-known experiences is the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter. On August 21, 1955, five adults (including Billy Ray Taylor and Elmer Sutton) and seven children walked into the Hopkinsville (a small town in Christian County, Kentucky) police station and claimed that they had just been in an hours-long stand-off with small, dark creatures at the Sutton farm. You read that correctly; they were in a shootout with what were assumed to be owl-like aliens. When police arrived at the farm, they found evidence of gunfire but nothing else. The next day, Taylor, his wife, and two of the Suttons (who were itinerant carnival workers) had packed up and left. Neighbors told the investigating officers the next morning that the residents had left after the creatures apparently returned at 3:30 AM. The creatures were described as having claw-like hands, massive pointed ears, and stood from about two to four feet in height. They would appear in doorways and windows and quickly vanish before the residents could shoot them. Skeptics believe that the story is rather fabricated and that the creatures could have simply been Great Horned Owls or Eagle Owls. However, some UFOlogists believe that there is no evidence to suggest that real owls were involved or that this could have been a hoax. This is far from being the only report of an encounter with aliens that somehow is linked to owls. In fact, there are cases where owls have been seen around the time of a reported alien encounter. One such report comes from Cornwall, England, which is as far southwest as you can get in England. In the village of Mawnan, there have been multiple sightings of what is known as the "Owlman" since the 1970's. On Easter in 1976, June and Vicky Melling, who were on holiday with their parents at the time, reported seeing a bird-like man hovering over Mawnan Smith Old Church. The story made the rounds, of course, as most stories do in small UK towns. Over the years, other accounts were added to the mix, including one from 1998. A woman was driving from Mawnan to Gweek (which is only about 7 miles from Mawnan) at about 11 PM when she saw a bright, glowing orange light about the size of a beach ball hovering in the air. She parked her car and watched it, losing track of time. She ended up losing two hours of time, though it felt much shorter. When she exited her groggy state, she saw what looked like an owl-human hybrid hovering about 15 feet in the air. The woman did know of the "Owlman" legend, which skeptics suggest could have influenced what she thought she saw. However, another sighting happened in 2003, as Liz Randall's daughter reported seeing lights over Old Church. It happened around 2 AM, as Liz's daughter sat in a car with her friend, listening to music. (They didn't want to be rude and awaken their neighbours with the music.) The women reported seeing a bluish-white block of light pulsating in the air above them. They, too, lost track of time and eventually went home feeling extremely fatigued. Owls have also been associated with death and the occult. Just ask these Reddit users about their experiences. While it is hard to give credence to stories told on the Internet, some of these stories are pretty compelling. (Scroll down that page and read the comments from user "lauriemama".) In fact, owls have long been a part of pagan lore. (Side note: I consider myself to be pagan.) In Scottish Gaelic, we call them cailleach-oidhche which, interestingly enough, translates both to "owl" and "spiritless fellow". Cailleach is the term used for the crone goddess of winter. She is revered as the ancient Earth itself, full of earthly wisdom and overseer of transformations and death. Owls act as guides to the dead going through the underworld. This is why we are taught to revere owls, and some of us pay particular homage to Cailleach and her owl companions around Samhain (a.k.a., Halloween) because this day represents the merging of the Old Year and the New. Whatever the case, owls seem to have this strange, inexplicable synchronicity with the supernatural and extra-terrestrial experiences. Or, at least, that's what many reports claim. If, in fact, any of these eyewitness reports are true, should we fear owls? Should we revere them? Are the owls not what they seem? References:
The Collectors: A Canadian UFO Experience by Corina Saebels hidden experience The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature's Most Elusive Birds by Leigh Calvez Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter Mysterious Universe Podcast 19.07 The Messengers: Owls, Synchronicity and the UFO Abductee by Mike Clelland "The Owl-UFO Connection Continues" "Owls - Symbology and Mythology" "Owls & UFOs" - David Weatherly |