This bottle, discovered on a German, may contain the world record for a recovered message.
April 17th, retired postal worker, Marianne Winkler, was walking along the shore of the German island of Amrum on the North Sea coast when she found something very curious on the beach. It was a well-sealed bottle with a message inside. The Winklers tried to get the bottle opened, but were finally forced to follow the directions to extract the paper: BREAK THE BOTTLE.
It turned out to be a post-paid postcard from The Marine Biological Assocation of the UK with instructions to send the postcard back for a 1-shilling reward.
Front of postcard found in the bottle. Photo by Marine Biological Association of the UK
Back of postcard found in the bottle. Photo by Marine Biological Association of the UK
It’s likely that the price of postage has gone up since this bottle was dropped into the water sometime between 1904 and 1906. It was one of nearly 1,000 bottles released as part of an study on currents.
“We were very excited,” Guy Baker, a spokesman for the group, told AP, London. “We certainly weren’t expecting to receive any more of the postcards.”
Example of a 1906 Shilling Coin
To reward the Winklers for their find, the Association sent them a shilling from the period which they found on E-Bay.
Information about this find is currently being reviewed by Guinness for a possible world record.
Today’s story combines two powerful ideas: Nazis and treasure.
Nazi villainy is legendary. They were a powerful, invasive force. They were responsible for unspeakable horrors that can never be forgotten. Their leaders were genuinely interested in tapping into supernatural forces to achieve victory.
Gold, jewels, the promise of treasure have excited countless generations. Some tales of treasure hunting are inspiring. Others are more horrific. People are capable of amazing things when they believe it will lead to riches.
So, here is the scene. There is a legend of a Nazi train filled with guns and gold that disappeared in Poland about 1945. If stories are to be believed this ghost train contains 30 tons of gold along with jewels and other valuables. Did such a train actually exist? Is it still findable?
See this video about a startling ground radar discovery:
https://youtu.be/nw99jY071EQ
If this is the real thing, Polish law entitles treasure hunters to receive 10% of anything found. I imagine a mere 3 tons of gold could make one pretty comfortable.
Of course, there is an ethical question. If these valuables were taken from Polish Jews by the Nazis, then is it right to take a “finder’s fee?” This question is at the heart of the controversey as people explore the best way to excavate the possible train. It’s currently buried in rock that will require careful blasting to reach.
If this is a Nazi train, even one carrying only military cargo, this is quite a find. The artifacts are likely well preserved and would be valuable in their own right.
If this ends up being a treasure train then it’s even more incredible. We will have to see how this all progresses. We’ll share more as news becomes available.
Photo by Ana Maria Catalina (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia CommonsThe building, standing alone in Transylvania, looks unassuming. It’s a little artsy building which could be a museum or a gallery. Indeed, there is art inside. Then, you step into the elevator and descend into an amazing site, an underground amusement park.
This is Salina Turda, a medieval salt mine that was in operation as early as 1075. It ceased mining operations in 1932.
In 1992, people began using the mine as halotherapy center, attracting tourists. The salt atmosphere is considered healthful and the air in the mine may be some of the purest on the planet due to the many layers of natural filtration.
Beginning in 2008, the Romanians undertook a massive renovation project, transforming Salina Turda into a wonderland. The park features table games, boats to paddle around an underground lake, a Ferris wheel, an amphitheater, and more, engulfed in the surreal, subterranean atmosphere of the gigantic caverns. It’s not exactly Six Flags. It’s not built for thrills, but I can’t imagine anyone coming down here without getting goosebumps.
This video shows the architecture and many of the sites. There is a wonderful gallery of photos on their web site and any image search will turn up beautiful, haunting pictures.
Here are additional photos:
Entrance tunnel Photo by Cristian Bortes from Cluj-Napoca, Romania (Salina – Turda) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The main hall with salt stalactites on the left side By Strainu [CC BY-SA 3.0 ro], via Wikimedia Commons
Rudolf hall is 80 m (260 ft) long, 50 m (160 ft) wide and 40 m (130 ft) high. Photo by Cosmin Danila [CC BY-SA 3.0 ro], via Wikimedia Commons
The Crivac hoisted salt to the surface. Photo by Cosmin Danila [CC BY-SA 3.0 ro], via Wikimedia Commons
View of the underground lake and UFO-shaped constructions Photo by Adymark [CC BY-SA 3.0 ro], via Wikimedia Commons
Alvin, a bearded dragon, was our official lucky lizard. He was 8 years old.
This has been a sad week for us at the Museum of the Weird. Our official lucky lizard, Alvin, succumbed to old age and went to wherever it is that good lizards go. You might not think that you would grow affectionate for a lizard, or that you would miss feeding him cockroaches, but you would be mistaken. I will miss everything about him terribly.
So, in tribute to Alvin, we’re going to talk about dragons today.
You might been told that dragons are all made-up stories, but there are some that suggest that it’s not as simple as that. We may not have the exciting, fire-breathing dragons of Harry Potter, but it’s possible, perhaps even probable, that ancients had contact with large lizard creatures that have been distorted by time. This article, on the Forbidden History site, references accounts by such names as Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, and Marco Polo. While it’s easy enough to pass off early writings as possible fiction or exageration, the city of Troy, once believed to be fiction, was discovered thanks, in part, to information provided in the Iliad by Homer. We often think of historical people as being gullible or not observant. It’s true that they did not have some of the references or tools that we have to capture and describe things today. It’s also true that they helped us to develop what we use today. They weren’t fools. So, it’s possible that there is more to these stories than we imagine.
This image from livepterosaur.com shows a sketch of what might be a living dinosaur.
Of course, if it’s living dragons that you are interested in, there are stories of giant flying lizard reported around the world. The Ropen, a flying creature said to resemble a pterosaur, has been reported around Papua, New Guinea. Other reports come from around the United States, including Texas. Other investigators believe that these are not creatures that resemble pterosaurs, but actually dinosaurs that have survived to the modern day.
While this is a fantastic idea, it would not be the first time that a creature has emerged from the clouds of myth. We’ve done plenty of stories lately about newly discovered species. Is it impossible that these creatures might still exist in some capacity? Time will tell.
Finally, we’ll share one example of a living, flying dragon. He doesn’t breath fire, but this amazing lizard, Draco volans—actually commonly called the “flying dragon”—has folds of skin that open up into wings that carry it away from predators. It’s able to glide the length of a football field and come to a graceful landing at the end. Watch this National Geographic Video.
Regardless of which type of dragon captures your imagination, fantastic, historical, cryptid, or natural, we hope that you will help us all raise a toast to the sweetest dragon we ever knew and wish him wings—and maybe even a little fire-breathing—as he travels beyond our reach.
So, what is this Blood Moon anyway? Let’s see what NASA has to say about it.
Basically, it’s a lunar eclipse, but the corona of the sun around Earth casts a reddish light. I like the phrase they use in the video. From the moon’s perspective, you are simultaneously seeing every sunrise and sunset happening on Earth at that time.
What makes this unusual is that this is the 4th eclipse like this within a year. (A group of 4 is called a tetrad.) Humans have always gotten excited about things that connect with the numbers 2, 3 and 4. It is special that we are getting such a grouping of this event. It’s unclear how such a thing will affect you directly.
Should you prepare for this final eclipse in the tetrad, coming in September? You most certainly should consider setting your alarm clock so that you have a chance to view it. Outside of that it really depends on your traditions.
I’m not a big believer in global apocalypse scenarios, but if enough people are tensed for something to happen it won’t take much to push things over the edge. I predict that some people will have a pretty bad day on September 28. Some will have a day of growth and prosperity. Which one of those people do you want to be?
I think that we all make have free will and we get to choose a lot of things in our life. Also, my numerology calculations tell me that for me this will be a day of exploration and curiosity, so I will probably try to plan some sort of excursion or dig into something new and interesting.
I hope that you will spend that day enjoying the marvels of being alive, regardless of your own traditions.
A newly discovered bat is the stuff of nightmares! This article by Mongabay introduces the Long -toothed Pipistrelle or Hypsugo dolichodon that was recently classified in Vietnam. Basically, that’s a mouthful describing a bat with a mouthful! It has enormous teeth, like something from a horror film!
The picture on the right shows an artist rendering of this amazing bat, but you can see the photos in the original article. Why such large teeth? Scientists speculate that these bats feed on beetles and other insects that are a little tougher to get into.
The new classification is the result of 17 years of research. We can imagine that in that time there were plenty of people who told stories of monster-toothed bats who were just not believed. Let us know how this fellow turns out in your nightmares tonight.
By now you may have heard the grisley tale of a 68-year old Russian Woman who may have killed 11 people. If it’s new to you, here is the video report from CNN.
The story developed easily enough. It appeared that the 68-year-old Tamara Samsonova killed a woman in her care, dismembered the body and disposed of the pieces. As this Sun (UK) article reports, it was more complicated than that. A diary that she kept in a mixture of Russian, German, and English tell a tale of as many as 21 victims and may have involved eating part of their remains. In other reports she claims that she has been haunted by someone who forced her to kill.
Clearly she is unsafe. Many reports are jumping on the idea that she had occult books—or more sensationally “books on black magic.” It is unlikely that most reporters, or police for that matter, would know the difference between black magic and kitchen witchery, though your author would not be surprised if she were into some pretty dark stuff.
There have been some bizarre killings of late. The Slender Man killings in which a pair of 13-year old girls stabbed a friend to death in order to attract the Slender Man, a bizarre modern monster who rewards those who kill. Recently released video of police questioning shows some real disconnects by these young girls. A judge has decided that these girls will be tried as adults and we will, no doubt, hear much more about this in the coming months.
Can we expect more, even stranger crimes to come? Maybe we’ll talk more about that soon as we explore some of the ideas floating around the Blood Moon phenomenon that has some people speculating.
We’ve shown you islands of cats and bunnies. We shared the island of lost dolls. Now it’s time to stir up the nightmares with a trip to Snake Island. Ilha da Queimada Grande, in Brazil, is home to thousands of Golden Lancehead Viper, one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Thousands of these snakes inhabit the island, climbing trees to hunt birds that are migrating through the area. The local birds are too savvy to the snakes’ technique, which consist of gently wiggling the end of their tail, like a grub, as they lie otherwise still and ready to strike.
The venom is very strong and can melt human flesh! Even with treatment, someone bitten by a Golden Lancehead Viper has a 3% chance of dying!
Travel to the island is illegal without permission from the government, which is obtained by some researchers and other special visitors. A military team also goes to the island periodically to service the automated lighthouse which sits on the island. This island was once manned and there is a tale of a keeper and his family who were killed when they left a window opened and let in a dozen of the vipers while they slept.
This video shows a visit to the island by an ABC news reporter.
Did you see that snake strike the camera at about 1:52? We like lizards and snakes, but we’re perfectly happy to leave Ilha da Queimada Grande to be ruled by the serpents.
A grieving family was cast into further despair when someone apparently stole the body of their daughter from a funeral home. Details are shown in this shocking news story.
We are long past the days of the Resurrection Men, body snatchers who would creep into graveyards to steal specimens for medical dissection in the days before people made their bodies available for science. (In the case of Burke and Hare they went beyond grave robbing and generated their own corpses.)
Surprisingly, body snatching is not unheard of today. This 2008 report by the Daily Guardian that a group of criminals harvested more than 1,000 bodies including a famous broadcaster. The stolen body parts—including bones skin, arterial valves, ligaments and tendons—were sold to more than 20,000 transplant recipients throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Many recipients were unaware that they were receiving parts from unwilling donors. In four years, this body-snatching ring illegally harvested more than 1,400 corpses from funeral homes in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Is this San Antonio incident part of such an organization?
Our heart goes out to the Mott family. Losing a loved one is a painful experience. We cannot imagine the added horror of being victim to such an unspeakable crime.
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.
