Weekly Weird News – Page 36 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on December 6, 2012 by MOTW Admin

OLDEST EVER DINOSAUR FOSSIL FOUND IN TANZANIA

This is the humerus, or upper arm bone, of Nyasasaurus parringtoni next to a cross section of the bone. The many colors indicate that the bone fibers are disorganized, much like those of early dinosaurs.Credit: (c)Natural History Museum

The more we dig into our Earth’s history, the more realize we barely know anything about it at all. Paleontologists have discovered dinosaur fossils that date back 10-15 MILLION years further than all previous specimens we have, which is incredible!

EurekAlert! writes:

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period.

“If the newly named Nyasasaurus parringtoni is not the earliest dinosaur, then it is the closest relative found so far,” according to Sterling Nesbitt, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in biology and lead author of a paper published online Dec. 5 in Biology Letters, a journal of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society.

“For 150 years, people have been suggesting that there should be Middle Triassic dinosaurs, but all the evidence is ambiguous,” he said. “Some scientists used fossilized footprints, but we now know that other animals from that time have a very similar foot. Other scientists pointed to a single dinosaur-like characteristic in a single bone, but that can be misleading because some characteristics evolved in a number of reptile groups and are not a result of a shared ancestry.”

The researchers had one humerus – or upper arm bone – and six vertebrae to work with. They determined that the animal likely stood upright, measured 7 to 10 feet in length (2 to 3 meters), was as tall as 3 feet at the hip (1 meter) and may have weighed between 45 and 135 pounds (20 to 60 kilograms).

CSI BIGFOOT? CLIFF BARACKMAN BLOGS ABOUT FINDING BIGFOOT’S 3RD SEASON

Finding Bigfoot is now in it’s third season and is still searching for sasquatch but, Cliff Barackman follows his heart and does what none of the other Bigfoot believers seem to do, actually go look.

Here you can read a portion of his heartfelt review of their recent trip to Oklahoma City. Continue on to his website to read the rest of this blog and others that he has posted.

Cliff Barackman writes:

When I first heard that Finding Bigfoot would be heading to Oklahoma, I immediately assumed we would visit the southeast corner of the state where there are mountains and thick forests. I was a little surprised when I found I was incorrect, and that we would be going to Oklahoma City instead. Certainly there was more bigfoot activity around Honobia and the other small towns down in the southeast. However, the evidence that was bringing us to Oklahoma City was compelling enough to make me very excited about what we’d be doing.

We were to meet with a man named Roger Roberts who had been looking into bigfoot encounters on a nearby Indian reservation. This reservation had quite a bit of activity over the years, including rumors of a video taken on a surveillance camera from the parking lot. This video purportedly showed a bigfoot raiding the grease trap behind a casino. The video is reported to had been destroyed at the direction of the tribal elders, though a number of witnesses had seen the video before it disappeared. The elders were rightly concerned because after word leaked out that bigfoots were being seen on the reservation, several horses were shot dead. Apparently, people would drive onto the reservation at night spotlighting the woods, and when they saw eye shine at a good height above the ground, they would shoot to kill (This is just one of many, many reasons I strongly advocate NOT trying to kill a sasquatch.). Roger had some footprint evidence, as well as some hair samples that he collected from the same time period that he strongly suspected was of sasquatch origin.

The footprint evidence was interesting. While the photos and the cast were a bit blobby due to the substrate the creature walked in, there were some interesting details that were visible, including toe impressions and a nicely rounded heel. The impressions measured over 17 inches, but the cast indicated that the foot was somewhere between 15 and 16 inches in length (the impressions do not necessarily indicate the length of the foot, but rather the length of the damage done to the ground by the foot). The step length was up to 57 inches. Ranae tried to duplicate the step length, which she did successfully, but failed to replicate this step length in combination with the lack of straddle that is so commonly found in bigfoot footprint trackways.

Of most interest to us was the hair sample. The hair sample had been found by a tribal game officer on an animal trail leading from a location where a bigfoot had been recently seen. It was found on some broken branches more than eight feet above the ground, which would seem to rule out that it was buffalo (which are kept nearby), bear, deer, or human hair. Roger had in his possession enough hairs to spare some for us to have tested for DNA material. In hair, all of the viable DNA is found in the medulla, or hollow center shaft of the hair. This is a bit problematic because bigfoot hair tends to have fragmentary medullas, if any is present at all. However, a DNA lab in Oklahoma City called DNA Solutions offered to test the sample to see if any material could be extracted for testing. If nothing else, they could examine the hair and tell us what animals the could eliminate as a possible source for the hairs. Also of value is that they could get the results back to us in about a week.

HAS BIGFOOT BEEN PROVEN REAL?

Has recent DNA evidence proven the existence of the Bigfoot?

We recently posted a fantastic story about Dr. Ketchum in Texas, actually claiming to have gotten and examined DNA evidence of a human-primate hybrid, what we would call a Bigfoot, and has confirmed it as real as can be! More information is slowly coming out and as it does, we’ll keep you posted on anything new so, check back here often and let us know what you think!

The Huffington Post writes:

Bigfoot is real. At least that’s what veterinarian Melba S. Ketchum claims after a five-year study of more than 100 DNA samples that she believes comes from the elusive hairy beast.

Under Ketchum’s direction at DNA Diagnostics in Nacogdoches, Texas, a team of researchers has concluded that the creature may be a human relative that somehow developed around 15,000 years ago as a result of a hybrid cross between Homo sapiens with an unknown primate.

Ketchum’s research has yet to stand the scrutiny of independent researchers. While many people have claimed to have seen the creature, its existence has never been confirmed, despite a plethora of photos and footprints. The ongoing search is the subject of Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot” television series.

“Well, it came to me, I didn’t go after it, that’s for sure,” Ketchum said of the evidence of Bigfoot’s existence in an exclusive interview with The Huffington Post. “I did not believe in these creatures. But my lab did a lot of animal testing, and we did species identification. We didn’t have any hits on anything interesting until five years ago.”

Ketchum’s professional work includes nearly 30 years in genetics research and forensics. After her team attempted DNA sequencing of hair samples from an alleged Bigfoot encounter, they found some unusual things in the hair. But there wasn’t enough DNA to conclusively verify what they were seeing.

DNA Diagnostics received more samples to investigate — including hair, blood, saliva and urine, all reportedly from various Bigfoot sightings.

Ketchum’s team consists of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology. The researcher said she believes that over the past five years, the team has successfully found three Sasquatch nuclear genomes — an organism’s hereditary code — leading them to suggest that the animal is real and a human hybrid.

Ketchum’s study showed that part of the DNA her team sequenced revealed an unknown primate species, she said, which suggests that Bigfoot is a real creature that resulted from this primate “crossing with female Homo sapiens.”

“They’re not any of the large apes — they branch off as a separate lineage,” Ketchum said. “My personal theory is that it probably branched off and evolved in parallel with the rest of the primate lineage.”

The overall results of Ketchum’s study will soon be revealed, she said, after a peer-reviewed journal is published. But skeptic Benjamin Radford is dubious about the outcome of this latest attempt to give credibility to the existence of Bigfoot.

“If the data are good and the science is sound, any reputable science journal would jump at the chance to be the first to publish this groundbreaking information,” Radford, the deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, wrote in LiveScience.com.

Radford suggests that if the mitochondrial DNA is identical to Homo sapiens (modern humans), it could mean one of two things.

“The first, endorsed by Ketchum, is that Bigfoot ancestors had sex with women about 15,000 years ago and created a half-human hybrid species currently hiding across North America.

“There is, however, another, simpler interpretation of such results: The samples were contaminated. Whatever the sample originally was — Bigfoot, bear, human or something else — it’s possible that the people who collected and handled the specimens accidentally introduced their DNA into the sample, which can easily occur with something as innocent as a spit, sneeze or cough,” Radford wrote.

Not so, counters Ketchum.

“Early on, we started getting human results on the mitochondrial DNA — that’s maternally inherited and it can show where you’re from,” Ketchum said. “Different labs had already tested alleged Sasquatch samples, and all of these labs were getting human results, so they just threw it out.

“We split the samples with another forensic lab — one worked on it manually while the other did it robotically, extracting the DNA — and we ran several tests to confirm there was no contamination. And we ended up getting human sequences on many samples.”

Read a whole lot more and watch video over at huffingtonpost.com/2012

Posted on December 3, 2012 by MOTW Admin

‘ALIEN MUMMIES’ COMING TO A TV NEAR YOU

An ‘Alien Mummies’ tv show is set to begin airing on Nov. 30, on the Science Channel, and promises to use all of the best technology available to determine once and for all whether certain ‘Alien Mummies’ that have been claimed to be found, are real or not. Of course, you don’t get an entire series on tv by solving the problem in the first episode, so keep an eye out for the show and come back here to discuss any ideas and thoughts you may have.

The Huffington Post writes:

Metepec, Mexico, is a rural community in Central Mexico that is home to cows, chickens and other farm animals.

But one night in May, 2007, one resident discovered a bizarre creature about 19 inches tall that didn’t resemble any known animal in the world: A pink, mostly hairless creature with large luminous eyes.

Although a picture of the creature exists, many believe it’s all just an elaborate hoax, while others are sure this is proof of alien life.

A new Science Channel special, “Alien Mummies,” debuting Nov. 30 at 10 p.m. EST, purports to solve the mystery of this creature using cutting edge science, advanced scanning technology and DNA testing, finally seeks to resolve this five year old mystery, and other E.T. anomalies as well.

The advance clip shows off the Metepec monster, but, you’ve been warned, it’s cute and cuddly like E.T.

Read more and watch the commercial for the show at huffingtonpost.com

Posted on December 1, 2012 by MOTW Admin

TRAIL CAM PHOTO OF “BIGFOOT” ANALYZED

A still from the original video showing the trail cam photos of the alleged Bigfoot.

Here’s a fantastic review and analysis by Scott McMan at one of our favorite sites, ghosttheory.com, of a man in Vermont who has come forward with some of his own trail cam photos that he says, have captured Bigfoot on film!

Watch the original video of the Vermont man claiming to have the proof below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnP05Qj9YhE&feature=player_embedded

Scott McMan at Ghost Theory writes:

Many of you may remember a couple weeks back when I turned the latest and greatest Bigfoot photo into a deer and demonstrated the desperate measures many will go to in order to prove the existence of said beast.

Since doing that I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if I could find another alleged Sasquatch photo and prove a similar theory? Well, the truth is I didn’t do that at all…at least until I happened upon the now famous Vermont Trail Cam photo, again….today. It was then that the previous article popped into my head.

As I pondered the possibilities, my eyes affixed on the subject and bam, there it was! I immediately froze the video and to my amazement, I won the Powerball! Well, not the actual Powerball. I mean, come on! If I had won the Powerball, I wouldn’t be here trying to entertain the likes of you lose….Uhh, wonderful readers!

Getting back on track, Yes, you guessed right, I did see what appeared to be a different animal entirely. As I began to look for parts that made it all come together, they seemed to fall into place like so many dominos. Of course, we are rarely going to get enough visibility to see every aspect of these pictures, but there was enough to clearly prove the photo was and is not that of the elusive Bigfoot…

Many of you may know, the untrained eye is going to follow along with what it recognizes and that can be different from person to person. However, enough people were in favor of it being Sasquatch, that the picture soon went viralicity.

As I said, people see what the want to see, but I try to reconstruct these photos from body part to body part. This picture was no exception and it was actually quite easy to break it down.

Read the entire fantastic analysis with photo breakdowns at ghosttheory.com/2012

We’re looking forward to checking back and reading more soon!

Posted on November 30, 2012 by MOTW Admin

WORLDS SCARIEST PRANK USES A ‘GHOSTLY’ LITTLE GIRL!

I love a good prank just as much as the next guy but, I really hate when a good prank is pulled on me… as I’m sure we all do.

Unfortunately for these folks in Brazil, who think they’re headed to whatever appointment it was they made for the day and are just getting onto just any old elevator. Boy, were they wrong!

Watch the video below and see what one of our favorite sights has to say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7N5OhNplEd4

Ghost Theory reports:

Talk about a prank! This is likely one of the most extreme gags of all time.

This stunt was done for a Brazilian variety show, Programa Silvio Santos. The shtick involves unwitting elevator passengers who are riding along when the lights start to flicker. What happens next is something that these people will never forget and may have nightmares about for a long time.

pparently the shenanigans are based on the horror film ‘The Ring’. The little girl is enough to send someone over the edge and many are up in arms as this over the top escapade may be just a little too over the top. Complaints are coming in as some were concerned that exposing the right person could trigger a heart attack. I don’t know about that, but the people exposed to the prank were certainly terrified out of their minds.

I have to say, it is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen as I could feel the fear enveloping the unsuspecting passengers.

BRITISH WOMAN GROWS BEARD FOR CHARITY

A screen shot of Siobhain Fletcher, the British Woman with PCOS who is growing her beard for charity.

Well, now that Movember is coming to a close… wait, you don’t know what “Movember” is?! It’s a lot more then men not shaving their face in the month of November as some might have you believe.

Movember as defined by Wikipedia:

“Movember (a portmanteau word from moustache and “November“) is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other male cancer and associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com.^[1] The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health.”^[2]

By encouraging men (“Mo Bros“) to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides getting an annual check-up, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of any family history of cancer, and to adopt a more healthful lifestyle.^[3]

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States.^[4]^[5]

It has spread from Australia to South Africa, Europe and North America.^[6]^[7] As of 2011 Canadians were the largest contributors to the Movember charities of any nation.^[8]^[9] In 2010, Movember merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback.^[10]

In 2012 the Global Journal listed Movember as one of the top 100 NGOs (non government organization) in the world.”

Exciting, no?

Well, apparently, men aren’t the only ones who can participate, one woman has taken it upon her self to take her hormone imbalance and put it to good use!

The Huffington Post writes:

Each November, thousands of male grow mustaches to bring awareness to men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and testicular cancer, in a campaign known as “Movember.” This year, a British woman with a pre-diagnosed medical condition grew a beard in support of the cause.

Siobhain Fletcher, a 36-year-old from Leek, Staffordshire, was diagnosed withpolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) when she was just a teenager. PCOS is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of female sex hormones, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PCOS can cause women to develop male-like characteristics, including abnormal hair growth on the face, stomach or chest.

“When I started getting my periods, they never became regular – I thought that was a bonus!” Fletcher told ABC News. “I started getting a few hairs, around 15 or 16. Every woman gets facial hair. I thought that was just part of puberty. I cut with scissors, or shaved them off.” She identified the issue when she was in her 20s and attempted to remove the hair by shaving, waxing and using chemical creams.

Fletcher’s decision to grow her beard for Movember took courage. She had self-esteem difficulties growing up, has been mistaken for a man and was housebound for five years, she revealed during an interview with ITV2’s “This Morning” on Tuesday.

“My condition used to contribute to depression and anxiety but this is for a good cause and I want to highlight that people shouldn’t judge you on what you have on your face, it’s what is inside that matters,” Fletcher told the Mirror on Nov. 10.

In early November, Fletcher’s friend told her that he was growing a mustache in support of Movember, and she was inspired.

“I pointed out that he had a bit of face fuzz, and asked about it. He told me about ‘Movember,’ and in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to grow mine,” she told ABC News.

Some women who have joined the Movember or No-Shave November movementhave faced disapproval, but Fletcher is pushing back against that.

“Now it’s actually saying to the world, look, this isn’t a sideshow, I’m doing this to raise awareness for men’s cancer to stop families possibly losing a family member and also to help people with self-esteem issues to say, ‘It doesn’t matter,'” Fletcher said about growing a beard for Movember on “This Morning.” Adding, “People will still look as beautiful with facial hair as without it.”

Fletcher has raised £1,040 (about $1,663) on her Movember page as of Wednesday afternoon. On her page, she cites her motivation as: “To use my PCOS as a tool for raising awareness for Men’s cancers. If I get just one man to get checked out it will be worth it.”

Read more and watch a short interview at huffingtonpost.com/2012

Posted on November 28, 2012 by MOTW Admin

CLIFF BARACKMAN OF FINDING BIGFOOT WEIGHS IN ON RECENT DNA STUDY

Cliff Barackman of Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot"

Since the release of the DNA results by Dr. Ketchum and her team of their study of the Russian “Bigfoot” hair, we’ve been scouring websites for any type of update or new information. Not much else has happened just yet but the great guys at Cryptomundo.com have a bit to say and have found a recent interview of Finding Bigfoot’s lead researcher, Cliff Barackman, where he was asked about and weighs in on the research.

Cryptomundo writes:

Watching Finding Bigfoot co-host Cliff Barackman on G4’s Attack of the Showis like having Thanksgiving all over again. At least in the sense that you are reminded what you are thankful for. There are only a handful of people who make great ambassadors, represent serious Bigfoot research. We are thankful for that.

The Attack of the Show host, Matt Mira starts with the typical ribbing of the title “Finding Bigfoot,” since they have not found Bigfoot. Then he pivots and asks sincere questions about breeding populations, habitat, and then drops the bomb, “What do you think about the Bigfoot DNA study that came out last weekend?”

Watch the interview with Barackman on G4 here:

BIGFOOT FACE FILMED FROM INSIDE TENT

Well geez, this certianly does look like Bigfoot taking a peak into this guy's tent!

Well, here is some awesome footage that has only deepened the world’s curiosity for Bigfoot, especially on the heels of the fantastic and absolutley amazing information contained in our last post.

Take a look at this well done analysis video posted to YouTube by TeamYin of a camper that has claimed to have filmed an intruding Bigfoot through an opening in his tent for yourself, and read what one our favorite blogs has to say just below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nZ_lbVCVd48

Ghost Theory writes:

Okay, this is like offering Jello as desert after a seven course gourmet meal coming right on the heels of the Dr. Ketchum report, still some of us have to get on with things and keep the lantern burning, even in the face of the sun.

I found this video while looking into another account of a bigfoot caught in a police officers dashboard camera that turn out an admitted hoax by some local teens. Of course going from an admitted hoax to a video this clear sets off some natural mental blocks that say to me that this is probably fake too. Yet the video below possesses some merits discussed in the analysis.

Taken as real this video contains the best footage of a Bigfoot face I have ever seen, but listen to the analysis and then I will have a few comments on some key points.

Okay, you have watched the video now. You have, haven’t you?

I am going to address the main characteristics described in the analysis.

First is the described Large Nocturnal Eyes. I am sorry to say that what the analysis describes as large nocturnal eyes with no whites showing simply appears to me to be deep set eyes beneath a heavy brow where you cannot actually see the eye. Nor do I see an eye that is especially large in proportion to the face.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DNA STUDY CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF BIGFOOT!

This incredible news was released today by Dr. Melba Ketchum, the head of the Bigfoot DNA study:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘BIGFOOT’ DNA SEQUENCED IN UPCOMING GENETICS STUDY

Five-Year Genome Study Yields Evidence of Homo sapiens/Unknown Hominin Hybrid Species in North America

Contact: Robin Lynne, media@dnadiagnostics.com, 231.622.5362

DALLAS, Nov. 24–A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch,” living in North America. Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.

The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced 3 complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid:

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.

Hominins are members of the taxonomic grouping Hominini, which includes all members of the genus Homo. Genetic testing has already ruled out Homo neanderthalis and the Denisova hominin as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA. “The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual,” explains Ketchum.

“Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”

Ketchum is a veterinarian whose professional experience includes 27 years of research in genetics, including forensics. Early in her career she also practiced veterinary medicine, and she has previously been published as a participant in mapping the equine genome. She began testing the DNA of purported Sasquatch hair samples 5 years ago.

Ketchum calls on public officials and law enforcement to immediately recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous people:

“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”

Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes.