February 2012 – Page 2 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Guest Blogger

GHOST OF NUN CAPTURED IN PHOTO!

While creating a panoramic photo, Jonathan Curran got a shot of something extra that wasn't supposed to be there.

There seems to be a magic quality to photographs that allow them to capture moments in life in a way our brains never could.

Whether it’s a photo from a memorable party you had with friends at the end of the year, or just a snap shot of scenery you’d love to capture, there’s always a little something extra in there that makes you feel good when looking at them and recalling the memories and emotions of that moment in time.

Photographer Jonathan Curran, got a lot of something extra in this panoramic photo he created in the way of a mysterious figure, seemingly staring directly into the lens, that wasn’t shown in any of the other pictures that were taken just moments before and after.

Is this a person wrapped up and posing for a picture, or the ghost of a nun caught on camera?

Galway Independent writes:

A photo that appears to capture a ghostly image of a nun on The Long Walk has been causing a stir in the city this week.

Local photographer Jonathan Curran was taking a series of 13 photographs of the picturesque area in an attempt to create a panoramic view when he came across something very unusual in one of his shots.

One of the images, which were taken less than a minute apart, appears to show an isolated female figure with the appearance of a 19th century Claddagh nun. Mr Curran said he was “freaked” to discover the strange appearance on the camera and checked the other 12 images but the elderly woman did not appear in any of the other pictures.

“The image was not visible either before or after the photograph was taken and was not captured in any of the other photographs, either going or coming. She just seemed to appear for a moment and then disappear. There were other people on the Long Walk that day, but they seemed oblivious to her presence,” he explained.

MYSTERY OF BLUE FAMILY REVEALED!

The "Blue Family", parents Martin Fugate and Elizabeth Smith with all seven children, four of them blue!

What we see in this photo from the late 1800’s seems too weird to be true but, is in fact, reality!

Turns out that a little bit of recessive genes mixed with some inbreeding turns your skin blue! Who knew?!

The Daily Mail writes:

In the Appalachian Mountains rests a medical oddity so unusual that it at first seems a massive hoax.

Dating back to the early 1800s, an isolated family in eastern Kentucky – who can trace their roots back to a French orphan – started producing children who were blue.

As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes, intermarriage and inbreeding, members of the Fugate family were born with a rare condition that made them visibly discoloured.

The mystery behind the astonishing picture of the Fugates, which has been baffling people for years, appears to have finally been solved.

It began when Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky’s Troublesome Creek to claim a land grant in the early 19th century.

He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith – who had a very pale complexion – and their union formed a genetic mutation that resulted in their descendants being born with blue skin.

THIS ISN’T SLOW MOTION, IT’S A RACE!

Even though these guys look stopped, and they are, they're actually racing for a world title!

Some one has dug up some very interesting footage of a Sprint Match World Championship race from 1990 that is bizarrely slow for the first few laps, with the racers even coming to a complete stand-still at one point, before ending with an incredibly fast last lap.

Many things have changed over the years but here’s a sport that hasn’t changed much, few know exist and even fewer particpate in, yet still lives on in relative obscurity.

The 1990 World Chamionship race:

The 2006 World Chamionship race:

And sometimes, hitting those high-speeds doesn’t end up so well:

The Now I Know daily newsletter writes:

Webster’s Dictionary defines “sprint” as “to run or go at top speed especially over a short distance. As an example, the dictionary states “[t]he bicycle racers sprinted for the finish line.” When we think of sprints, we think of races like the 100 meter dash — where speed rules. But when it comes to bicycle sprints — sprint races, that is — that’s not quite the case.

Bicycle sprints — sometimes calls “match sprints” — are three lap races pitting two cyclists against each other. The races are typically 1,000 meters (1 kilometer) long although smaller arenas feature 600 meter races. Cyclists are able to bike the 1,000 meters in short order: the world record in completing the distance is a mere 58.875 seconds. But many match sprints can last much longer than that. The one seen below? It lasted nearly five and a half minutes.

WOOLLY MAMMOTH FILMED IN SIBERIA?

Is this a real Woolly Mammoth, thought to have gone extinct over 3,000 years ago?

This is a remarkable sighting if you can believe your eyes!

This fuzzy still frame from a video posted on Youtube seems to show a Woolly Mammoth in Siberia crossing an icy, flowing river in the heart of winter.

Although, on closer inspection, it seems a bit more likely to be a very large bear carrying a rather large fish. What would be the “trunk” of this beast doesn’t articulate like your average elephants would, doesn’t seem to be connected judging by the color seperation that happens where the link to the head would be and it seems to be dangling and moves only with the rushing of the water hitting it.

Here’s the footage shot by a government engineer while surveying for the new construction of roadways in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia. You be the judge of what you see and leave us some feedback!

The Sun writes:

A BEAST lurches through icy waters in a sighting a paranormal investigator thinks could prove woolly mammoths are not extinct after all.

The animal – thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago – was apparently filmed wading through a river in the freezing wilds of Siberia.

The jaw-dropping footage was caught by a government-employed engineer last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, it is claimed.

He filmed the elephant-sized creature as it struggled against the racing water.

Its hair matches samples recovered from mammoth remains regularly dug up from the permafrost in frozen Russia.

NEW CONTENDER FOR WOLRDS SHORTEST MAN!

The newest person to vie for the spot of world's shortest man, Chandra Bahadur Dangi.

Each and everyday brings something new and fascinating when part of your job is googling “weird news”, and today’s no different!

Here we see Chandra Bahadur Dangi, possibly, the newest addition to the Guinness World Record Book for the title of “World’s Shortest Man”.

Living in Nepal, he’s been out of sight and unable to communicate with the world at large, which is why this is the first we’re hearing of him. Good luck to the man and the guinness officials heading out to his village right now to take the actual measurements.

Here’s some video of Chandra walking about in his village with some average sized friends:

The Huffington Post writes:

A 72-year-old man may soon have a new title: The world’s shortest man.

The man in question is Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who lives in a remote valley in southwestern Nepal, and, according to some sources is just 22 inches tall.

Officials from Guinness World Records are currently on their way to Dangi’s village to verify the claim or see if it’s just a tall tale.

While it might seem strange that someone as short as Dangi could go unnoticed for so long,MyRepublica.com claims that was because he lived in such a remote village with no access to communication.

LAKE MONSTER FILMED IN ICELAND

Lake Lagarfljot, shot by Brian Rueb of brianruebphotography.com, where the "monster" is said to dwell.

Here’s some amazing footage straight out of one of the most beautiful places in the world, Iceland. Well, more specifically this footage was captured at the river of Jökulsá í Fljótsdal in eastern Iceland and is remarkably clear for a “monster” sighting of any kind, let alone this one in particular which seems to have never been caught on film before.

A still frame from the video of the Lagarfljotsormurinn, found on Youtube.

From the still frame above it would seem as though this “monster” has a very snake-like head and body, almost one of a python or a constrictor type that have been known and documented to grow into some of the largest snakes in the world.

Here is the Lagarfljotsormurinn caught on film in Iceland just days ago:

Iceland Review writes:

Footage was captured of an obscure phenomenon yesterday which appeared to be swimming in the glacial river Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, east Iceland

People speculate whether this may be the notorious snake-like monster Lagarfljótsormurinn, which is said to reside in the lake Lagarfljót.

The video was taken by Hjörtur Kjerúlf and posted on ruv.is.

Lagarfljótsormurinn is Iceland’s equivalent to Scotland’s Loch Ness monster. It was first mentioned in sources dating back to 1345. According to legend, it was at first a tiny worm which was placed on a ring of gold to make the gold grow.

When the owner of the ring returned she noticed to her great terror that the worm had grown immensely but not the gold. She tossed the ring and worm into Lagarfljót where the worm continued to grow.

JAW MADE WITH 3D PRINTER IMPLANTED IN HUMAN

Here's the first 3D printed jaw used to implant in humans.

The day of the Cyborgs is coming, for this is just the beginning!

Now, using metal or even robotic parts to replace and repair damaged human tissue isn’t even close to being something new in science, but creating those parts with a printer certainly is.

A 3D model used to create the jaw bone using the actual dimensions of this person's skull.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re in the future people!

Technology is ever accelerating and I look forward to the fascinating and fantastic future that awaits us.

BBC News writes:

A 3D printer-created lower jaw has been fitted to an 83-year-old woman’s face in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind.

The transplant was carried out in June in the Netherlands, but is only now being publicised.

The implant was made out of titanium powder – heated and fused together by a laser, one layer at a time.

Technicians say the operation’s success paves the way for the use of more 3D-printed patient-specific parts.

The surgery follows research carried out at the Biomedical Research Institute at Hasselt University in Belgium, and the implant was built by LayerWise – a specialised metal-parts manufacturer based in the same country.

NEWLY DISCOVERED ‘SUPERGIANT’ CRUSTACEAN

This big guy is usually only 2-3cm long but, not this time.

Look at this thing, it’s huge!

This is the size it’s supposed to be:

What this new crustacean looks like at normal sizes.

Apparently, they pulled this and 6 other ‘Supergiant” crustaceans out of water so deep that, before this, they thought nothing was able to live that far down into the dark depths of our oceans.

They were wrong, which seems to happen every now and then in the world of science but, you know, that’s why we keep studying!

Could you imagine if other things got “super-sized” like this randomly? They compared finding this gigantic crustacean with finding a foot-long cockroach. That’s one bug infestation I do NOT want to ever have.

BBC News writes:

A huge crustacean has been found lurking 7km down in the waters off the coast of New Zealand. The creature – called a supergiant – is a type of amphipod, which are normally around 2-3cm long.

But these beasts, discovered in the Kermadec Trench, were more than 10 times bigger: the largest found measured in at 34cm.

Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, said: “It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach.”

“I stopped and thought: ‘What on Earth was that?’ This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible. It just goes to show that the more you look, the more you find”

The strange animals were found using a large metal trap, which had been equipped with a camera, housed in sapphire glass to keep it safe from the high pressures of the deep sea.

Seven specimens were caught in the trap and nine were captured on film by the team from the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), in New Zealand.

MAN WRESTLES AND PLAYS WITH 17FT PET CROCODILE

Chito the human, and Pocho the crocodile, playing in the water.

This has got to be the craziest man on the planet! Chito, seen above with his best “friend” and “pet” 17ft, 1000 pound crocodile, Pocho.

Yes, that’s right, he jumps in the water and plays with this gigantic Costa Rican monster…daily.

Finding Pocho years ago, wounded from a shot to the head, on the verge of death and with the bullet still lodged in his head, Chito nursed the young croc back to health and hasn’t been able to shake him since. In fact, Pocho the crocodile follows him around.

Daily Mail writes:

This daredevil fisherman loves nothing better than dicing with death as he grapples with a 17ft crocodile. But Chito – known as Tarzan Tico – is not moments away from becoming a meal, he’s just having a playful tussle with his best mate, Pocho.

The 53-year-old Costa Rican crocodile wrestler wades chest deep into the murky waters as 500 spectators look on in nervous anticipation.

As Chito, wearing a leopard skin sash and a headband, taps the surface of the water and calls out to his friend, the 990lb reptile dramatically emerges from below to applause from the crowd. The performer then rolls Pocho on to his back, pushing his head under the water before tenderly kissing him on the nose.

The extraordinary display is more than just a tourist trap, but a demonstration of a remarkable friendship.

Chito rescued Pocho from the Parismina river after he discovered him with a bullet lodged in his head. The crocodile was close to death but he nursed the reptile back to health over six months at his home.

UNKNOWN BLUE SPHERES RAIN FROM SKY

Some say the spheres could be marine life eggs, but no confirmation just yet.

One resident in Bournemouth, UK got quite an interesting surprise the other day in the middle of a rain storm that was right over his home.

Instead of the usual rain or hail, he had about a dozen mysterious marble-size blue spheres fall into his garden.

Unable to figure out just what they were, Steve Hornsby collected the jelly like balls and put them in his refrigerator for further investigation.

Hopefully, there’s no other house-mates to wake up early one morning, stumble to the kitchen for breakfast and make some toast with the “awesome blue jelly Steve got for us!”

BBC News writes:

A man in Dorset has been left mystified after tiny blue spheres fell from the sky into his garden.

Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 3cm diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm. He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: “[They’re] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar.”

The Met Office said the jelly-like substance was “not meteorological”.Mr Hornsby, a former aircraft engineer, said: “The sky went a really dark yellow colour. “As I walked outside to go to the garage there was an instant hail storm for a few seconds and I thought, ‘what’s that in the grass’?”

Mr Hornsby said he was keeping the balls in his fridge while he tried to find out what they were. Walking around his garden he found many more blue spheres were scattered across the grass.

He said: “The have an exterior shell with a softer inner but have no smell, aren’t sticky and do not melt.”

Mr Hornsby said he was keeping the balls in his fridge while he tried to find out what they were.