What you are watching is known as “Case 68838 – Oak Park, IL” by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). MUFON tracks and investigates sitings of UFOs and they have some pretty interesting cases in their logs.
This is the report submitted with the video:
I was shooting video of a storm cloud emitting heat lightning from our back porch. When I viewed the video I saw a streak of light that I cannot explain or rationalize. I slowed the speed and showed it to friends. It was recommended that I forward his to your organization. I am including the original video from my phone. (which is upside down) The orb appears 11 seconds in. I also included video that I inverted and cropped.
Anyone can submit a report of a UFO siting using their online tool. They receive thousands of reports which are handled by local volunteers.
One explanation offered is that this is the elusive “ball lightning” phenomenon, where electricity forms as a mass rather than a streak we we normally see it.
A photo of the ball lightning phenomenon by Joe Thomissen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia CommonsDoes that look right to you or is it merely a convenient explanation? There was no evidence of a crash or any damage to the ground from a lightning strike. The matter is being investigated.
Do you have any interesting UFO pictures or video? Share them with us! In the mean time, keep watching the skies.
Some people say that the image below, taken from this Google Sky link is the mysterious Planet X.
Is this strange shape recently revealed by Google Sky the mysterious Planet X?
There has been some controversy about this segment of sky in the Google tool as for a long time it was blacked out, showing a rectangular area of black. Google has been accused of hiding things on maps. (See 24 Places Google Maps Won’t Let You See for alleged examples.) Some of the so-called censorship seems to simply be a way of dealing with problem data. I imagine keeping accurate information on the entire planet up-to-date has some challenges and everyone who’s ever had something go wrong with a photo can probably relate.
So what about this Planet X? It’s worth reading Planet X for Dummies to catch up, but, in a nutshell, there is an old idea of a rogue planet that moves through our solar system rather than traveling in a nice orbit around the Sun. Planet X, or Nibiru as it is sometimes called, is associated with alien visitors, global disasters and any number of things that might alarm you.
Some claim that this strange, winged looking object in the picture is a revelation, that Google is finally releasing this to the people. If it is a planet bringing space gods and disasters, I’m not really sure what we do about it. There it is, though. You can see it yourself on Google Sky by tuning into these coordinates.
If you feel the need to prepare, we found a handy video on how to make a tinfoil hat.
And, because it’s just cool… here’s a bonus video on using your foil to make a fire. (batteries not included)
One American mystery that has lasted for more than three hundred years is the colony of Roanoke, Virginia. Led by John White, they were sent by Walter Raleigh in 1587. White returned to England that year for supplies and was delayed until 1590 because of the war with Spain. (Remember, there was no overseas communication in that time and travel was slow and difficult.) When he did return, the colonists were gone. The word Croatoan was carved on a post and the letters “CRO” were found on a nearby tree. There was an island nearby known as Croatoan—now called Hatteras—where there were friendly natives.
This video from the Travel Channel gives details to the story along with what might have been a solution, an artifact suggesting that the colonists were attacked and destroyed by natives.
This map, drawn by John White was the basis for the new analysis. (A British Museum photograph of the map. [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsThe “attacked by natives” theory might have been appealing at one time, but as we learn more about the cultures in that time it makes less sense. This article from Ancient Origins, describes how archaeologists have been discovering clues that suggest that at least a portion of the colonists did go to the island. Pieces of rapiers, nails and other obviously European artifacts have been found on the island.
Meanwhile, work happening in North Carolina have yielded results suggesting that some of the colonists ended up there. The First Colony Foundation has been digging for three years above the Albemarle Sound, based on hidden markings found on a map drawn by John White, himself.
So, it appears that the colonists did not move to a single location but may have split up. Why? Were some of them less comfortable with adopting a more native lifestyle? Are there Roanoke descendants amongst us now who don’t even know it?
Clearly the mystery is not fully solved, but we are getting closer. I think that after the delay in White’s return with supplies that those left had to make decisions for their survival. They disagreed on what was best and broke into groups to continue on. At least they did not seem to turn to cannibalism, like appears to have happened in Jamestown.
I like mysteries. It’s fun to wonder…but it’s also good to find answers and I hope that we are closing in on a happy ending to a troubling question in American history.
We really don’t mean to pick on our arachnophobes. Personally, we love spiders. Harry, our own tarantula, is a beloved part of the Museum and we respect the spider’s amazing place in the food chain (especially considering all the trouble they seem to have from wasps here and here). Creepy as some people find them, they do some amazing things.
We showed you amazing video of a spider migration a while back. This time it’s a mass web, created by a group of spiders in Rowlett, Texas. ABC affiliate, WFAA, reported Thousands of spiders have spun a massive communal web at Rowlett’s Lakeside Park South. As this video shows, the trees are literally draped in webs spun by spiders who have banded together to take advantage of all of the insect life in the region.
Spiders are normally pretty solitary creatures. But under certain conditions they will spin these amazing communal webs which blanket an area. Wired had a report in 2010 about an amazing 4-acre web that occurred in a Baltimore, Maryland water treatment plant. The original report was written by Albert Greene, Jonathan A. Coddington, Nancy L. Breisch, Dana M. De Roche, and Benedict B. Pagac Jr. for the Entomological Society of America. It contains amazing photographs and detailed data of the infestation.
This amazing mummy rests in peace at the Museum of the Weird
At the Museum of the Weird we feature a mummy that might date back 3000 years. The process of mummification is an ancient art practiced by the Egyptians to preserve and prepare the body for the afterlife. Elaborate tombs were built to house the preserved body along with belongings and largess that showed off the wealth of the deceased. The process was very detailed and took months to complete. Poor people could not afford mummification, but would emulate the process by wrapping their dead in linen. (Read details about mummification from the Ancient History Encyclopedia.)
While many details of mummification are known, it has not been regularly practiced for centuries. The modern practice of embalming is the way that we expect to be preserved. As you may recall in our article on postmortem photos, some bodies were viewed and photographed for years after they died.
However, interest in mummification has resurrected, so to speak. In 2012 a terminally ill man willed his body to scientists so they could try to replicate the ancient mummification process. The entire experiment was explicitly captured in the documentary show, Curiosity, Season 2, Episode 2: I Was Mummified. (It’s available to watch for purchase through many outlets. This clip will give you an idea if it’s for you.)
Of course, the art of mummification is not completely lost. The U.S. company, Summum, offers complete mummification services for humans and animals. Here is video from The Discovery Channel’s show One Step Beyond, where the founder of Summum tells a little bit about his inspiration and their process. He’s a little off the beaten track, but I guess you’d have to be.
The already have a number of people willing to pay for mummification. Does that mean we can expect to see more pyramids rising up around the U.S.? If you can afford it, maybe someday you’ll end up in a museum!
In the mean time, come visit ours on 6th Street in Austin, Texas.
Monolithic head statues of Easter island (Photo by Artemio Urbina and placed in the public domain)
If you have followed world mysteries you have undoubtedly come across the amazing head statues on Easter Island. These gigantic stone carvings depict proud heads, rising up out of the ground. If you’ve not followed them for a while you may have missed the activity over three last few years as archeologists have confirmed that these statues have full bodies and have been working to excavate them.
Called moai, these statues were created by the Rapa Nui people between 1250 and 1500 to depict worshiped ancestors. Many are near the quarry that bore the stone, but many others have been transported around the island.
For some time archeologists expected to find full bodies attached to the heads jutting out of the ground, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that serious excavation began to reveal these amazing monoliths. As you can see on their project web site there’s been a lot of progress. (This is really the site to dig into if you want to see all that has been done.)
This recent article from the Mirror in the UK highlights the discovery that the bodies are actually covered with intricate tattoos that have yet to be fully deciphered. For a quick view of what they’ve been digging up see this video.
https://youtu.be/zWj2keMob-c
It goes to show that even—or perhaps especially—with ancient mysteries there is more than meets the eye.
Several weeks ago we had a story about legendary monster, Godzilla, receiving official citizenship from Japan. That’s odd, since he spent a lot of time destroying Tokyo. That’s what monsters do, though. They attack, and not only in the movies. Here are a few real-world encounters with monsters from the news.
Giant Raccoon
Photo from World News Daily Report shows the horrific damage to the Bakers’ SUV caused by what they describe as a giant raccoon.
This article by the Weekly World News Report describes a bizarre incident in which a Montana couple is attacked by what they described as a giant raccoon about eight feet tall. Arthur and Helen Baker say they were driving on the highway when the creature appeared in front of them. It attacked their vehicle, smashing the windows and flipping the vehicle several times. It continued to attack until it injured itself on the broken windows.
Raccoons can get large, but none have been recorded to get that large, leading authorities to suggest that this encounter may have been with a bear. Even if that was the case, something that will attack and beat up a vehicle to that extent and go after the people inside is the stuff of which nightmares are made!
According to this article at rt.com, a mysterious creature has been killing hundreds of chickens in the Russian village of Davydovka in a methodical and, perhaps, intelligent fashion. Very little blood is found at the scene, putting it in line with Chupacabra legends. This is not the first time that attacks like this have been seen in Russia. A couple of years ago similar attacks happened in the Voronezh Region in April and two years prior.
Tracks discovered at the scene are similar to a canine, but the methodology is very unlike what would be expected from a dog, wolf, or other similar predator.
Is it possible that this creature has somehow hitched a ride from Latin America to find new prey in Russia?
Giant Squid Attacks Russian Vessel
What gods did the Russians anger? Not only are the chickens suffering, but here is footage of a fishing vessel attacked by a giant squid. This looks like something from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! Can you imagine that just a few years the idea of a giant squid was considered myth and now we have this! Attracted by their catch the monster squid forced the crew to fight hard to drive it away.
https://youtu.be/fIKgNqlLU6c
Hopefully, most of us will never encounter a real-life monster. They will remain the stuff of nightmares and scary stories. These tales are a reminder, though, that any of us, at any time, may cross the threshold where the nightmare becomes real. Pleasant dreams!
Poster for the 1956 film Mole People (See it MST3K style)
People have been fascinated with the idea of a hollow earth and who might inhabit it for many years. Jules Verne penned A Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 1864. It’s the story of a group of explorers who find that there is a world buried beneath the Earth’s crust, a mysterious world lost to time.
The story has been made into film time and time again. There have also been films like The Mole People that have looked at fantastic civilizations that have lived beneath the Earth.
This is just fiction, though. Right? When Admiral Richard Byrd explored the North Pole he allegedly wrote in his diary an account of discovering a huge area that was lush and a meeting with beings who claimed to live beneath the earth. Is this a real accounting or a fiction attributed to Byrd? Byrd makes no specific claims about this in a 1954 TV Interview (see IMDB record). So, the hollow Earth idea is probably a myth, right?
Not so fast! in this collective-evolution.com article the author covers many reputable scientists and explorers who have expressed ideas of a hollow earth with a sort of sun at its center. This BBC Article describes test results showing that the earth’s core might actually have sun-like temperatures. An article published in Nature discusses discoveries that there could be a huge repository of water (think ocean) deep under the earth. Perhaps the idea of an subterranean world is not completely ridiculous.
Of course, the biggest argument against a Hollow Earth is how could we not know? Some suggest that we do know, or at least some know, and that the news is being kept from us for the same reasons that are applied to UFOs. There’s even discussion that the UFOs people see come from inner space rather than outer space. This video even suggests a Nazi connection!
The truth is probably out there—or in there, as the case may be. If there is an inner-Earth, how many other mysteries are connected with it? It could explain UFOs, strange creatures and maybe even more shadowy puzzles of the paranormal. Imagine if our encounter with an alien world is just a matter of looking below!
While browsing strange news I came across this item from 2007: Google Maps forces Navy to redesign swastika building. It tells the bizarre tale about the U.S. Navy, somehow, inadvertently put up this Navy Seal training building in the shape of a Swastika in 1967. A snapshot of the building from Google Maps is shown here from 2006.
What a mess! How could this be? How could they accidentally put up a building in the shape of a swastika? In 2007 we find the Navy response in this L.A. Times article, Navy to mask barracks shaped like a swastika. Here, they outline the Navy’s plans to change the aeriel view of the building with some additional construction and landscaping. So, what must it look like today?
I took a look and here is what I found.
This snapshot from Google Maps on 8/9/2015 shows the building still in the shape of a swastika. See the map view here. (Note, the actual map view could change at any time.)
What?! It still looks like a swastika! Nothing has obviously changed! What does this mean?
Now it’s time for a little speculation. I backed the view up a little bit away from the swastika and I saw another picture, as one generally does when one steps back from something. There are another pair of very oddly shaped buildings in line with the swastika building. Do these tell a different story. Here’s the snapshot from the map.
Pulling back from the swastika building shows two other strangely shaped buildings.
Do you see it? Those two buildings could be airplanes, navy bombers flying toward the Nazi menace. Here, I’ve enhanced everything a little to tell the story that I see.
Enhanced view shows what could be bombers flying toward the swastika
Are these buildings actually a memorial for the air battle against the Nazis in World War II? They very well could be! The strange airplane tail shape in the buildings is obvious.
If this is the story, why is the Navy shy to share it? Did the architect do it as a personal statement and never told his secret?
We may never know the truth, but it’s a fascinating mystery.
A while back we told you about the tarantula hawk, the most painful wasp in the world, that hunts tarantulas. Apparently spiders and wasps have a rivalry as big as cats and dogs because here is another spider-hunting wasp, but this one is just weird!
Japanese scientists reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology have observed that the wasp known as the reclinervellus nielseni somehow manipulates a spider to build a special web for its young. In return for this kindness the spider is devoured by the young as they come of age. Here is disturbing video of what happens.
https://youtu.be/ggk2qwOwDRA
No one is sure how the wasp and its young manipulate the spider. Perhaps it injects a hormone that confuses the spider’s normal behavior. If you’d like to dig into the the scientific data is available.
In my experiments with people I do influence minds, but it’s nothing at all like this! Some of the things that happen in the animal kingdom, particularly with insects, is just plain unpleasant! I’m starting to actually feel sorry for spiders. The wasps are giving them a really hard time.
