Plesiosaur in the Loch?

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By Silver Milleson

I’m sure most have wondered whether or not the Loch Ness monster, or Nessie, actually exists. Nessie is usually described as a large long neck plesiosaur like creature that resides in the depths of the Loch Ness.

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There have been many efforts to find the Loch Ness Monster, including various scientists visiting the lake in order to spot it or give substantial evidence that could prove it exists or wipe out the long-standing myth. There have also been mini-submarines used for observation while running experiments in the Loch. These subs capture photos of what appeared to be a flipper while running an ongoing experiment. This managed to capture the public eye for a while. In the 1930’s, some people had thought that the sightings could have been because of the circus elephants that had come around that year; however, sightings are still occurring today (88 years after the elephants had visited the Loch).

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For example, there were a total of eight official sightings last year. One of which was taken by a mother who’d taken her child to visit the Loch Ness in order to spot the beast of the deep. They spotted and took a picture of a fishy creature at the surface of the water. Although this was an official sighting, the scientists recording the sightings every year are a bit iffy about this one as it could also be perceived as a sort of fish.

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The possibility of a creature lurking somewhere below the Lochs surface is very minimal. It could have gotten in when the Loch was connected to the ocean by streams allowing a large beast in; however, there aren’t enough fish to support such a large animals appetite. People have also wondered why there are so little sightings due to the creatures need for oxygen because it would need to break the surface of the water often in order to refill its lungs with air. At these regular intervals, it wouldn’t be hard for the people standing by to see the large creature protruding from the water.

The Collapse of the Silver Bridge

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By Silver Milleson

On December 15th, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed. The accident killed 46 people with two of the 46 missing. However, this disaster isn’t as simple as it may appear. During the previous year, media had blown up in this small area about the strange things happening, and whether or not it had any connection to the bridges collapse.

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This creature tied to the disaster was first spotted on November 12, 1966. In Clendenin, West Virginia, five gravediggers spotted a large man like creature flying over the trees.

And then again on November 15, 1966, two couples spotted the creature at an abandoned TNT plant. They’d stopped to see what it was, and when it turned around, they reported seeing two large red eyes on the large six to seven-foot-tall creature. On its back, they said that they also saw two large folded wings.

Terrified, the couple sped away, but the creature was quick to chase after them. When reporting this to the police, they recounted going well over 100 mph as the creature chased them; however, this didn’t detour the large man like beast.

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On that same night, another sighting occurred. A Salem contractor was watching his television when it had shut off, and instead was replaced by a bizarre image. He also began to hear a loud whining sound from outside. He grabbed a flashlight to investigate the strange sound coming from his barn, and when he pointed his light towards the barn, it hit two large, red, reflective eyes. Bandit, his dog, took off after the creature and would not turn around to come back when the man called him.

Frightened, the man retreated back into his house to retrieve his gun, and once it was time to return, gun in hand, he found himself too scared of the creature to go back. Instead, he went to bed. He slept with his rifle by his bedside that night.

Along with these frightening encounters, came other strange phenomena. Many people recounted seeing strange glowing lights in the sky, as well as UFOs and strange, unidentifiable people.

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Many people tie the disastrous events which came a year after to the mothman and other strange occurrences. Some say the large winged man had come to warn them, and some say that his appearance is what caused the collapse of the bridge.

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Robert the Doll

By Silver Milleson

Robert is supposedly a haunted doll. His story starts when a young artists grandfather bought it for him at the age of four.

Robert the Doll

The doll was bought from Germany for Robert Eugene Otto, and the boy quickly became unhealthily attached to the doll even going as far as to name it after himself. Robert, as the doll is known, has always caused mischief. For example, while still living with his good friend Gene Otto, strange behavior started to happen around the house.

Robert Eugene Otto

In the Otto home, after the introduction of Robert, Gene’s parents had started to hear that Gene would talk to someone while alone in his room. The voice they would often hear their son talking to was deep and appeared to belong to a male figure. Other occurrences had also begun, such as Gene’s dolls disappearing then reappearing mutilated, along with furniture being overturned, and giggling whenever Robert was alone.

Eventually, Gene went away to study in college and his doll, Robert, was locked in the attic. While Robert was in the attic people said the had seen a small figure scamper from window to window. Passersby would report hearing the doll giggle.

Nothing creepy here.

When Gene had come back from his study at college, he inherited his parents’ house due to their deaths. Along with himself, Gene brought his new wife which he’d married in Paris. Genes wife did not like or get along with Robert the doll.

Gene and his wife lived out the rest of their lives in the Artist House with Robert. Gene died two years before his wife and many say that his wife died of insanity as she’d locked Robert away in the attic to live the rest of her life.

After their death, a new owner came into possession of the house as well as Robert the doll. Myrtle Reuter lived a decent 20 years with Robert before she finally donated him to a museum. She simply remarked that Robert would sometimes move around rooms.

 

Even dolls need to put their feet up.

Currently, Robert resides at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. At the museum, people are asked to ask Robert permission before taking his picture and are warned of being cursed if they don’t. People who don’t ask before taking his picture, or show him any disrespect, often send him an apology letter asking for his forgiveness. He often receives one or two letters a day.

The Origin of Slender Man

By Silver Milleson

I’m sure that nearly every American has at least heard of the Slender Man, considering its widespread coverage and the incident from 2014. Not to mention, there’s a movie that’s supposed to be coming out this May.

Despite all the coverage, you might know his real backstory.  If you believe that he is real, this article will only lead to disappointment.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/06/oregon-residents-on-edge-after-slender-man-character-is-witnessed.html

The way that the Slender Man started out was actually on Something Awful internet forum. Originally, Slender Man was made from a few different pictures that were photoshopped into two images of a group of small children with a tall man in the background. Along with this also came photoshopped images of articles detailing events of missing children and a strange tall creature or man, referred to as Slender Man.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/11/23/slender-man-explained-the-history-of-the-urban-legend

Slender Man was made for a photoshop competition by Eric Knudsen. His entry quickly began to gain fame, and the many new fans of this creature began to make various backstories for the creature being referred to as Slender Man. Eventually, the lore of Slender Man began to come together. His current story is actually a compilation of fan fiction.

 

 

Would You Eat A Maggot?

By Silver Milleson

Most people find maggots utterly disgusting. In fact, they try to avoid them! But in Sardinia, Italy, there’s a delicacy that’s is filled with the nasty little creepy crawlies.

Yum… (Photo: Zoomin)

Casu Marzu is a traditional food in Sardinia. The food is actually a type of cheese that is simply left to decay and fill with maggots that are later consumed. These maggots, much like anyone else, don’t like it when their homes are disturbed, and as a result tend to become very feisty, rocketing out of the cheese and landing as far as six inches away. Considering that you’re attempting to eat these little guys, not only will they land in your mouth, but all over you as well.

Not for the weak of heart. (photo: Huffingtonpost)

The process of making this cheese is no less disturbing. Originally, the cheese is a heated sheep milk called pecorino. The pecorino cheese is left out for three months, which allows it to rot and fill with fly larvae. Then not only are you eating maggot-infested rotten cheese, but also what the maggots leave behind after their every meal.

 

This dish was banned by the European Union due to the hazardous effects it could have on one’s health, for obvious reason. Of course, I wouldn’t have eaten it whether it was legal or not.

Reincarnation?

By Silver Milleson

Often, I see reincarnation written off by other people even though there are quite a few cases that would support the concept of reincarnation, and strangely, the subjects that most often report remembering past lives tend to be children. These children would usually start giving extensive and detailed descriptions of past events to their parents starting at around a year and a half. The memories would persist until around seven when the children would start school and begin to forget early memories. Jim Tucker, a psychiatry professor at the University of Virginia, is one of the many authors to document children remembering past lives.

In one of the cases, a boy named Ryan began remembering a past life at the age of four. Ryan was diagnosed with night terrors, in which he’d wake up screaming and said that he had had a dream of his heart exploding. Eventually, he told his mother that he use to be another person and went on to describe the life of Martin Martyn, an uncredited stage extra from the 1940’s. His mother was shocked at how detailed his descriptions were. At the time, they hadn’t known the name of Ryan’s previous self. They only found that out when Ryans mother had brought home a book that contained a black and white photo of two men. Ryan had claimed to be one of the men. His mother went through extensive research to find that the man was Martin Martyn, and eventually, she took Ryan to see one of Martin’s daughter. Ryan told the daughter of his memories, She confirmed dozens of facts.According to Psychology Today, there are many incidents like this. Most children who remember themselves died in traumatic events and have terrible nightmares of them. And most of the children have immense emotional reactions as they recall their past lives.

Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

By Silver Milleson

Though it may sound pretty and enticing, This extremely rare disorder is anything but. Sleeping Beauty syndrome, or Kleine-Levin syndrome, is an extremely rare disorder that is most commonly experienced by teens.

The symptoms aren’t extreme at first, with the patient only experiencing the inability to focus. But later, the symptoms worsen and the patient will start to sleep uncontrollably for up to 23 hours a day. During these spells, the patient also experiences extreme hunger and may act childlike.

This may have severe consequences on their social and professional lives because the patient sleeps for days at a time and can lose touch with their friends or have a hard time making new ones. They also have a hard time holding down a job because they’re asleep so much and finding a career path to compensate for that can be hard. As a student, the patient can often fall behind in class and have a lot work to make up. Overall, this syndrome would prevent the patient from living a regular life or achieving as much as they could.

I know sleeping all day may sound like a paradise, but these people suffer dearly for this disease and often don’t remember what they’d done during that state. I’m sure that for them, the grass must look much greener on the other side.

 

Okiku

By Silver Milleson

I’m sure we’ve all seen some interesting things in our lives no matter how short. Strange things happen often and they don’t go unnoticed. Often these things can be passed off as someone seeking their fame through trickery, but is it all trick? Surely there’s a rare instance where well be treated to something truly creepy.

The Okiku doll is a Japanese doll that was purchased in 1918. She was bought by a boy named Eikichi Suzuki for his two-year-old sister named Okiku while they were visiting Saporro on the island of Hokkaido for a marine exhibition. The girl became inseparable from the doll almost immediately. Okiku played with the doll every day and even named it after herself. Okiku and Okiku went everywhere together.

However, tragedy struck a year later when Okiku fell gravely ill. Okiku died from severe influenza and an extremely high fever. Okiku’s family placed miniature Okiku in the altar out of respect and in memory of their lost daughter.

Soon after placing miniature Okiku in the altar, the family began to notice that the dolls hair had begun to grow. The once short shoulder length hair had gotten longer and the neatly trimmed ends were now uneven. Eventually, the doll’s hair grew all the way to her knees. Alarmed, the young girl’s family concluded that her spirit had somehow inhabited the doll, and that was the reason for the mysterious phenomena.

When the family moved in 1938, they were wary of the doll and didn’t know what to do with it, but because they believed their daughter’s spirit resided in it, leaving it behind was not an option. When the family arrived at their new home, they took Okiku the doll to a priest and told him of the strange predicament. The priest accepted Okiku anyway and soon the trimming of the dolls hair became a regular event that occurred at the temple. Pictures of Okiku sorting assorted lengths of hair began to appear after she was accepted into the temple.

Okiku still resides in the Mannenji Temple, housed by a modest looking wooden box. Her hair continues to grow no matter how often it’s trimmed, and the doll has attracted a lot of attention. Scientists have sampled the hair and determined that it is indeed human, but have yet to come up with their own explanation for the phenomenon.

Strangest Animals on Earth

By Silver Milleson

Sea Angel

Sea angels are a small group of swimming sea slugs. They aren’t jellyfish. The sea angel is actually more closely related to plankton than jellyfish, and their Greek name, gymnos, means “naked body”. They are transparent, gelatinous, and only reach five centimeters long.

 

Source: Sea Angel

 

 

Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo octopi are known as the deepest living of all octopus species, thriving in depths of 3000 to 4000 m. There are 14 species of dumbo octopus that belong to a group called “umbrella octopus”.

Source: Dumbo Octopus

Metallic Beetle

Metallic beetles, or jewel beetles, are known for their glossy, iridescent shells. This family is among the largest of beetle species and have more than 100 fossil species found.

Source: Metallic Beetle

Bilby

The bilby is a desert-dwelling marsupial. The bilby is also omnivorous, which means it eats both meat and plants. Originally, there were two species of the bilby, but the lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950’s. Now the greater bilby is the only one that remains.

Source: Bilby

Honeypot Ant

The honeypot ant is a species of worker ant, which is fed to the point in which its abdomen bursts and gains its honey like appearance. At this point, other ants gain nourishment from it.

Source: Honeypot Ant

Tufted Deer

The tufted deer can range in color from black to brown depending on the year. It has fang-like canines that can grow up to an inch long. The females don’t have these fangs.

Source: Tufted Deer

Maned Wolf

The maned wolf is the tallest of its species and may range from a redish color to brown. Scientists believe its long legs are an adaption to help it hunt in its natural habitat which is mostly in tall grassy areas.

Source: Maned Wolf

Cthulhu Larva

Also known as the sea pig, this creature can be found most anywhere except the Atlantic ocean. This larvae travels in groups of around 300 to 600 other cthulhu larvae, and are almost always seen facing the same direction.

Source: Larva

Cyclops Shark

The shark fetus was found when a couple fisherman caught a pregnant dusky shark and cut it open to reveal the one eyed offspring. The unborn shark has a rare condition called cyclopia, which can also occur in humans. Cyclopia is a condition where the being is only born with one eye.

Source: Cyclops Shark

Lamprey

The lamprey is a jawless fish that can be identified by its sharp toothed, funnel like sucking mouth. The adults may resemble eels, as they are scaleless and have elongated bodies that con be 5 to 40 inches long.

Source: Lamprey