Science & Technology – Page 8 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Guest Blogger

BOY SAYS LAST WORDS AT HIS OWN FUNERAL

Funerals are terrible, this one was terrifying!

While usually a somber and quiet affair, funerals give us a chance to say one last goodbye… you just never expect the person the funeral is for to say something too!

Daily Mail writes:

A two-year-old boy sat up in his coffin and asked for water before laying back down again lifeless, according to a Brazilian news website.

In a case that seems almost too incredible to be true, ORM claimed that Kelvin Santos stopped breathing during treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in Belem, northern Brazil. He was declared dead at 7.40pm on Friday and his body was handed over to his family in a plastic bag.

The child’s devastated family took him home where grieving relatives held a wake throughout the night, with the boy’s body laid in an open coffin.

But an hour before his funeral was due to take place on Saturday the boy apparently sat up in his coffin and said: ‘Daddy, can I have some water?’ The boy’s father, Antonio Santos, said: ‘Everybody started to scream, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Then we thought a miracle had taken place and our boy had come back to life.

‘Then Kelvin just laid back down, the way he was. We couldn’t wake him. He was dead again. Mr Santos rushed his son back to the Aberlardo Santos hospital in Belem,where the doctors reexamined the boy and confirmed that he had no signs of life.

He said: ‘They assured me that he really was dead and gave me no explanation for what we had just seen and heard.’

ANCIENT VAMPIRES UNEARTHED IN BULGARIA

Could the legends and tales of old be true?

All the recent news stories of “zombie attacks” recently have gotten people wondering if the creatures from our darkest nightmares and classic horror movies are becoming a reality. Well, the signs don’t look so good when you throw in finding a couple of people that were buried 800 years ago with stakes in their hearts! Sounds like one classic horror movie monster I think we’re all familiar with, the vampire!

Bela Lugosi as Dracula, the original vampire!

Discovery News writes:

Two medieval “vampire” skeletons emerged near a monastery in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Sozopol, local archaeologists announced.

Dating back 800 years to the Middle Ages, the skeletons were unearthed with iron rods pierced through their chests — evidence of an exorcism against a vampire. The ritual was aimed at preventing potentially dangerous people, such as enemies, murderers or individuals who died suddenly from a strange illness, from turning into vampires after death.

“The practice was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th century,” Bozhidar Dimitrov, chief of the National History Museum in Sofia, told reporters.

The newly discovered skeletons are the latest in a series of finds across Europe. According to Dimitrov, over 100 skeletons, buried in the same manner, had been unearthed in Bulgaria only.

UFO CAUSES PANIC IN THE MIDDLE-EAST

Another UFO is stirring up some up some trouble over in the Middle-East.

A large unidentified falling object was seen high above a number of middle-eastern like Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries that left many of their people alarmed and confused.

RT.com writes:

A spaceship flying over Israel? A satellite or a Russian ballistic missile? An unidentified flying object observed in Middle East countries Thursday night has caused panic, with people calling the police to say they witnessed a UFO.

The mysterious shining object seen in the skies swirled around and looked like smoke, some observers said. The object gave off light and was followed by a smoke trail.

The strange flying phenomenon was also reported in Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries in the region.

The Israeli Defense Forces made a statement following the incident saying they were unaware of any operations in the area.

MAMMOTH BONES FOUND IN IOWA MANS’ BACKYARD

A man from Iowa discovered a set of bones belonging to the ancient mammoth, similar to the one pictured above.

Well, this just goes to show you that you never know what you might find if you look, even in your own backyard!

A man in Iowa discovered a set of ancient Mammoth bones while hunting for, of all things, blackberries.

Huffington Post writes:

When an Iowa family first stumbled across the strange object in their backyard, it looked like an old bowling ball. But imagine the surprise when the “ball” turned out to be part of a massivemammoth bone.

The bone was discovered two years ago, and now the family’s quiet home in Oskaloosa has turned into a bustling excavation site, where the bones are kept in the living room, according to ABC-affiliate ABC5-WOI in Des Moines. The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History reportedly has stepped in to oversee the research.

“The size of this discovery is quite uncommon,” Sarah Horgen, the museum’s education coordinator, told ABC News. “It’s pretty exciting-–partially because the mammoth is being discovered where it died. And we know that because we’re finding very large bones right alongside very small bones.”

The mammoth bones, reported to be at least 12,000 years old, were found about 10 feet underground. “The conditions of the bones were ideal,” archaeologist Marlin Ingalls of the Iowa State Archeologist’s office told The Huffington Post.

MAN BUILDS CAT-COPTER FROM HIS OWN CAT!

Bart Jansen at an art gallery with his flying cat, Orville.

The love between a man and his beast is a beautiful thing but, this artist on the other hand, took things just a little further.

Geekologie writes:

Because what better way to start a Monday than with some weird/depressing news, Dutch artist Bart Jansen had his cat Orville (after the Wright brother) taxidermied and turned into a flying quadrocopter after it was hit by a car. You know, because that’s how you show respect for a deceased pet. Also, Bart — why is there fur on your bumper?

Jansen says Orville received his propellers posthumously ‘after a period of mourning’ and says he will be getting more powerful engines and larger props for his birthdayGood lookin’ Bart, I bet if there’s one thing that cat was hoping for, it was more powerful engines and larger props. Just kidding, it was definitely for a driver to look both ways. Also, you had poor little Orville turned into a helicopter “after a period of mourning”? You couldn’t even wait a whole day, bro?! That’s tacky. “Mourning, not morning.” I’m…not hearing the difference.

DISTRESS CALLS FROM AMELIA EARHART WERE IGNORED

Amelia Earhart may have been alive for days after she disappeared.

New evidence has surfaced that details exactly how distress call transmissions, that were made by Amelia Earhart herself, were ignored and dismissed as bogus.

Discovery News writes:

Dozens of previously dismissed radio signals were actually credible transmissions from Amelia Earhart, according to a new study of the alleged post-loss signals from Earhart’s plane.

The transmissions started riding the air waves just hours after Earhart sent her last inflight message.

The study, presented on Friday at a three day conferenceby researchers of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), sheds new light on what may have happened to the legendary aviator 75 years ago. The researchers plan to start a high-tech underwater search for pieces of her aircraft next July.

“Amelia Earhart did not simply vanish on July 2, 1937. Radio distress calls believed to have been sent from the missing plane dominated the headlines and drove much of the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy search,” Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, told Discovery News.

“When the search failed, all of the reported post-loss radio signals were categorically dismissed as bogus and have been largely ignored ever since,” he added.

‘FINDING BIGFOOT’ FOUND A BIGFOOT …IN AUSTRALIA?

The cast of 'Finding Bigfoot" as they decide where to take the 'hunt' next.

Did the cast of ‘Finding Bigfoot” finally capture some real evidence of Bigfoot?

If the newest claims are true, they most certainly have except, it’s in Australia!

The Telegraph writes:

The four-member team from Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot series were on an expedition through remote forests spanning the Queensland and NSW border when they made the recordings.

Bigfoot Field Research Organisation member James “Bobo” Fay said that of the more than 20 expeditions conducted around the world by the TV team, this was “maybe the best one as far as audio recordings”.

While he was reluctant to give details ahead of presenting their evidence on the still-to-be-completed third season of the US show, Fay said that in two different locations they had activity that they had attributed to a yowie – the fabled ape-like creature of the Aussie bush.

“We got some really compelling audio,” he said.

“It is not a known species, I can tell you that. One of the details (convinces us) there is nothing else it could have been.”

‘FRAKENFISH’ CAUGHT IN CAMBRIDGE

Where did this mystery fish come from? ...besides this lake.

While fishing in Magpie Lake of Cambridge, editor of the Angling Times, Mark Sawyer caught something a little unusual.

The pro angler knew something was off when he pulled the golden fish from the water, he’d never seen anything like it!

Daily Mail writes:

Most anglers’ tales revolve around the improbable size of their catch – but this specimen really does look fishy.

Mark Sawyer, 53, hooked the bizarre creature while fishing for carp in a lake.

At first he thought it was a common brown goldfish but on closer inspection he realised it appeared to have the head of a roach, the body and tail of a brown goldfish and the rear fin of a bream.

Those who fear falling hook, line and sinker for a hoax should bear in mind Mr Sawyer is the tackle editor of the Angling Times with a reputation to protect.

And experts who have seen images of the ‘Frankenfish’ agree it is the offspring of more than one species.

The fish, which weighed a little under 2lb, was caught in Cambridge earlier this month.

‘It is a proper oddity,’ said Mr Sawyer, who returned the fish to the lake.

‘The head resembles more of a roach, its lips aren’t quite right.

‘It has the body of a normal goldfish, its anal fin resembles a bream and the tail is of a fan-tailed goldfish.’

A “BABY” BIGFOOT?

The hunt for Bigfoot shall never end, not as long as curious and adventurous humans are out there, slogging through the mud and rain, climbing up the biggest hills and traversing desert plains, all in the name of science!

A few of these adventurers have found crypto-gold in the form of a set of well preserved foot and hand prints, all of a juvenile Bigfoot and an older one, possibly a parent, that left behind a few tracks as well!

Who knows if anything more comes of this or even if they ever catch the elusive ‘squatch. Either way, I’m more than happy to follow along with the rest of the world, eyes wide open, waiting for the next sign of a mysterious creature lurking in our lands.

What do you think is out there?

David Claerr at Yahoo Voices writes:

The vast ecosystem formed by the Red River watershed on the borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana affords a habitat comprised of many micro-climates with an incredible diversity and richness of plant and animal life. In many of the deep ravines where the creeks and waterways have cut through the the limestone cap rock, the vegetation has a nearly tropical aspect. Towering, ancient cypress trees form a canopy above the underbrush and thick hanging vines. These ravines are like a primordial oasis, seldom traversed by humans. Often in remote wildernesses, surrounded by thousands of acres of temperate woodlands and meadows. The ravines are a favored living quarters for the Sasquatch or “Bigfoot”

From one of these ravines, a very significant group of footprints of a “Baby Bigfoot” were cast in plaster, along with a hand- and footprints from a more mature Sasquatch, most likely the juvenile’s older sibling or mother. The prints, pressed into the fine clay of the creek bed are rare specimens, since not only are they from a rarely documented young juvenile, but the casts also retain detailed anatomical features that are not generally preserved in other types of soil.

NEW FRUIT TO BE SOLD IN MARKETS SOON

A new, weird kind of fruit is set to hit the shelves of local markets in New Zealand after being developed by researchers that were combining the European and Asian pear varieties.

It looks like an apple but, tastes like a pear, how strange.

Oliver Thring over at The Guardian gave this new fruit a taste test, read below to see what he has to say.

The Guardian writes:

M&S are launching the so-called “papple” this week – a species of pear that looks a bit like an apple. Keen followers of fruit industry PR stunts might glimpse in it a memory of the “pineberry“, the polka-dotted German strawberry of a couple of years ago which supposedly tasted of pineapple.

The fruit was developed in New Zealand, where it has officially been known as PremP109 – a more clinical but rather less emetic name than “papple”, if you ask me. In fact, the papple has no immediate apple ancestry at all: it’s a hybrid of two European and Asian pear varieties. It is an almost fluorescent pinkish-red, and its skin is weirdly, plagueishly mottled. Eating it is thus a strange experience.

Since you expect the taste and texture of apple, you bite rather harder than is necessary. The flesh is much less tart than an apple; its sweetness is almost overpowering. It’s also far juicier, so you end up having to glamorously chomp and suck your way through it as though it were a particularly wet burrito. For all that, it’s a tasty, refreshing fruit.