museum of the weird – Page 8 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on December 11, 2012 by MOTW Admin

GIANT SQUID CAPTURED ON VIDEO IN IT’S NATURAL HABITAT

Photo of the Curiosity submurisble before being launched to incredible depths. Image credit Discovery Channel

This is great! For the first time ever, Discovery has sent a tiny submarine known as Curiosity to the deepest parts of the ocean and has captured the ever elusive GIANT SQUID in natural habitat! They’re holding on to the footage until January of next year and you can bet that’ll be one thing on tv I’ll be sure not to miss.

Laughing Squid writes:

For the first time ever, the elusive giant squid has been captured on video in its natural habitat. Discovery Channel will show the footage on January 27, 2013 in the season finale of Curiosity in the episode, Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real. NHK will air their special on the first-ever footage of the giant squid in early January 2013. According to Discovery Channel, Japanese channel NHK will air the footage in early January 2013.

“When Discovery does natural history it sets the bar high, and this ground breaking project features the very first-ever footage of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. Our crew came face-to-face with the giant squid, and it’s the ideal season finale for our Curiosity series that stirs the imagination of our audience, bravely asking questions and fearlessly seeking answers. This latest production, four years in the making, is a world-first achievement for television, and I’m excited to share it,” said Eileen O’Neill, Group President of Discovery and TLC Networks.”

Posted on December 8, 2012 by MOTW Admin

AUDIO TAPE CONFIRMING ROSWELL UFO CRASH RELEASED AFTER MANS DEATH

As the years go by, more and more people involved with, or privy to, any information relating to the infamous Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash of 1947 come forward to share what they know with the world.

Walter Haut, a Lieutenant Colonel and Press Officer at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) at the time of the crash, has left the public an audio tape of an interview conducted in secret that has him spilling the proverbial beans.

The Bragalia Files writes:

A Lieutenant Colonel and Press Officer at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) in 1947 left a testament to the reality of fallen ET in a rare audio recording that was meant to be heard after his death. A portion of it is revealed here publicly for the first time.

It is in this taped message that Walter Haut (a decorated bombardier and Purple Heart recipient) first openly acknowledged his personal witness to an alien-piloted craft found on the desert floor in New Mexico. And people who knew Walter well have now come forward about what he had said about the matter very early on- and why he did not release all of this information until the winter of his life.

Walter would of course go on to sign a notarized declaration in December, 2002 of his full knowledge of the Roswell incident as a piloted, extraterrestrial event. This was famously reported in mainstream media based on the publication of the bestseller Witness to Roswelland the work of the book’s authors Tom Carey and Don Schmitt.

But it was four years before this in 1999 that Walter Haut had admitted for the first time to someone outside of a small circle what he knew about the entirety of the Roswell event.And he allowed it to be recorded.

Like the notarized affidavit, Walter did not wish this 1999 recorded confession released until some point after his death, which occurred in 2005 at age 83. This enabled him to honor his oath during his life to the ultimate secret: the recovery and retrieval of beings not from earth.

Read more at bragalia.blogspot.co.uk/2012

Posted on December 7, 2012 by MOTW Admin

CAN’T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS BUT, IT CAN LEARN TO DRIVE!

New Zealand now has Driver's Ed... for dogs!

Well, looks like the SPCA New Zealand has a new trick to teach dogs that even some humans still can’t seem to figure out, driving.

Seriously, watch the video below for a preview of what the future may hold for our K-9 friends:

Ghost Theory writes:

Yes, it’s a topsy turvy world, filled with amazing and bizarre things. However, this is one that I don’t think anyone ever expected. The following story may not be paranormal, but on the freak you out scale, it ranks right up there, especially if you happen to be sitting in the vicinity.

This is the story of Monty, Porter and Ginny, three lovable K-9s in New Zealand. Of course they spend their days doing what dogs do, barking, playing, begging for affection and treats. However, there is more to this motley crew than you would expect. In fact, they are involved in intensive training and it ain’t to catch Frisbees.

The SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has decided that it would be quite an effective publicity tool if man’s best buddy could be taught how to drive a car. Yes, I said it! Drive a car!

What better way to show just what our four legged friends are capable of than to put them behind the wheel of a 3,000 Lb. battering ram. I mean, come on! They couldn’t do any worse than half the population of America, right?

Commentary from Sky News:

“Three rescue dogs in New Zealand have been taught how to drive a car.

Monty, Porter and Ginny have learned the skills to prove how intelligent dogs can be, in an attempt to encourage more potential owners to come forward.

The drive for publicity by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals saw the four-legged friends spend weeks getting to grips with four wheels.

The dogs, a giant schnauzer, a whippet cross and a beardie cross can change gear, steer and brake.

They sit in a driving position on their haunches responding to instructions called out from the dog behaviour experts.

Animal trainer Mark Vette and his team began training the animals using a mock vehicle before introducing them to a real car – a Mini especially adapted for paws.

He said: “We chain behaviours together … in this case we’ve got 10 behaviours we’re putting together. Then you put them into a sequence. It’s a lot to do, and for the dog to actually start to get an idea of what actually is happening takes quite a long time.

“So we’ll start the car, get into position, brake on, gear in place, back onto the steering wheel, accelerator, take off and hoon (drive fast) along the straight and then stop.”

However, the animal trainer says things did not always go smoothly when the dogs got into the real car.

“A couple of days ago the car was going too fast, the trainer nearly got run over,” he said.

Now the animals can start a car, accelerate and steer they are scheduled to show off their skills on live TV in New Zealand next week.

For the final test the dogs will also have to brake as they are driving along a narrow lane.

Trainers are hoping they won’t become too distracted driving past any lamp posts.”

I for one think this is a terrific way to show us just how valuable discarded dogs can be and I applaud the SPCA for their ingenuity.

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