Jodee Redmond's Blog
Posted by Jodee Redmond
A rescue search (by both air and sea) is underway to locate the missing crew of what is being referred to as a "ghost ship" off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The ship was spotted by a coastwatch plane. The vessel is a 12 meter (29 foot) catamaran. Rescue personnel found the yacht empty.
According to an Emergency Management spokesman, the vessel was found with the engine running. The sails were up; one was found to be badly torn. Computers on board the yacht were also running. The radio and GPS systems were both operational.
A laptop was found set up on a table. Like the other items on board, it was running. A table was set for a meal. All was in readiness - the food and utensils were on the table. The only thing missing were the people waiting to eat.
Police have advised that the yacht was purchased by three men. Apparently, the trio were sailing it back to West Australia. Emergency workers did find three lifejackets on board, along with an emergency beacon. No life rafts were found.
Rescuers are using the yacht's navigational systems to try to retrace her movements. It is hoped that this action will help to shed some light on this mystery. In what I would consider to be a great understatement, the spokesman described the situation as being "a bit strange."
This certainly is a puzzle. If the radio is working, why wouldn't the crew call for help? Why abandon ship without life jackets and the emergency beacon? If the yacht was set-upon by pirates, they would have taken the vessel. What are we left with then? Sea monsters? Alien abductions? What do you think?
Posted by Jodee Redmond
It's Friday the 13th. Will you be going about your business as usual? Staying in bed until tomorrow?
I am not especially superstitious about Friday the 13th. I tend to think of it first thing in the morning. Later on in the day, I take a moment to think about whether I am having a good day or whether something unfortunate has happened.
If everything is going well, then I don't put much stock in the idea of Friday the 13th as being an unlucky day. If I were to have many things go wrong on Friday the 13th, I might start to think of it as being an unlucky day. If we think of Friday the 13th (or any other day) as being bad or unlucky, to a certain extent it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I have often heard that bad things happen in threes. If I am having one of those days when things are not going the way I would have planned, I remind myself of the rule of threes, as it were. If I can find three things that have gone wrong, not matter how minor, then after that point my day starts to get better. Or it seems to.
I think that if I decide that my day will get better at a certain point, it will. I have stopped focusing on what has gone wrong or what could go wrong. Instead, I get on with what I need to do that day. The bottom line, to my mind, is that whether it is Friday the 13th or not, it's a question of mind over matter.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
The petition, with 500 signatures attached, was presented to Canada's House of Commons by Mike Law on March 28, 2007. Law has stated that he does not personally believe in the existence of Bigfoot, but that petitions are presented to the government as a service to constituents.
Todd Standing, the man behind the petition, claims to have a 12 second video tape showing footage of the elusive creature. Standing developed the video into a 30-minute documentary, entitled "Sylvanic." The film's title is derived from a term used in southern British Columbia to refer to the "shadow guardians of the mountains."
Standing considers the fact that the government would consider his petition to be a victory in itself. He has refused to state where his video tape was shot, citing concerns that Bigfoot hunters will descend on the area and attempt to shoot the animal.
Standing will be a guest on Art Bell's paranormal radio show, Coast to Coast, on April 8, 2007. He is expected to discuss Bigfoot in general, his own experience, and his work in trying to have Bigfoot designated as a protected species. Standing will make his documentary film available to the public at a number of stops on his tour of the Canadian West. All proceeds are being donated to local Humane Societies.
The Canadian government has 45 days to respond to Standing's petition.Visit the Sylvanic Project web site to learn more about Todd Standing and his work.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
David Schrader and Tim Dennis explore the supernatural with their weekly online radio broadcast, The Darkness on the Edge of Town. The show is broadcast on Sunday evenings from 10 p.m.-midnight CST.
The pair also offer trips to such locations as the Stanley Hotel (featured in the film, "The Shining"), the Queen Mary, and Eastern State Penitentiary. Fees for the weekend events are in the range of $180-$250.00, which does not include the cost of travel to the location or accommodation.
If you are looking for a frightfully good time on your next vacation, perhaps you should consider signing up for one of these offerings. To learn more, please visit the darkness radio web site
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Raines does see the dearly departed, but not in the way we would normally think; the images he sees come from his imagination. Raines has the ability to picture a murder victim as they were in life. This ability allows Goldblum's character to consider the evidence in front of him in a new way.
Rains' character has been pushed to the edge; his partner, Charlie, was killed in the line of duty. The fact that Raines works on his own now does not stop him from having conversations with Charlie.
The first two episodes of "Raines" will air on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. (NBC). The show will then move to the Friday night at 9 time slot.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Bob and Bonnie Hall purchased Derry's former fire house in 2005 for the purpose of turning it into a restaurant. The FireHall Pub and Grille has been open for a year. During that time, a number of unexplained events have taken place on the premises.
In addition to reports of seeing people "who aren't there" and feeling unseen presence brush by, a popcorn maker started up after being turned off for the night. Bonnie Hall's father, who does maintenance work in the building, has reported that tools he has put down in one place have disappeared, only to reappear in another location.
Rumor has it that the building is haunted by Frank, a firefighter who took his own life on the premises. Hall wanted answers and contacted Ghost Hunters United for help. The group brought video and still cameras, a thermometer, a barometer, audio recording equipment, a laptop, and other equipment to conduct the investigation.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
The story of how Michael was drawn to this line of work is a fascinating one. Michael’s brother was working in San Jose, California, in 1984. The security staff working in the building at night noticed that lights were being turned on and doors were unlocking by themselves. Michael’s brother suggested that Michael take some photos at the location.
Before Michael went to the building to take pictures of the “perpetrators”, he was browsing the photography section of a book store. A book fell off of the shelf in front of him. He picked it up and noticed that it was a book about photographing spirits.
Michael went to the front cash to pay for the book. The person at the register had never seen it before and wanted to know where he had found it. It turns out the book had been out of print for more than 10 years!
Michael did go to the company his brother worked for and was able to capture images of several spirits. He went back to that location later on that week and was able to cleanse the building.
My interview with Michael can be found here paranormal.suite101.com/article.cfm/paranormal_photography
You can visit Michael online at www.paranormalphotography.com
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Workers at the landfill site were cleaning the treads of a bulldozer used to spread garbage when the discovery was made. About 35 law enforcement officers were sent to the site to sift through more than 125 tons of trash in an effort to locate more of the body.
Experts who have examined photographs of the foot have been unable to agree on what species the foot belongs to. Some have said the foot is more human than ape-like, while one expert has stated the foot appears to be the skinned-out hind foot of a bear.
Not surprisingly, William Dranginis, who heads up the Virginia Bigfoot Research Organization has a different opinion: He feels that the foot could, in fact, be that of a Bigfoot.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Two miles northeast of Stonehenge at Durrington Walls, the remains of what appears to be an ancient religious complex has been discovered. The discovery has led to speculation that Stonehenge is, in fact, part of a larger religious complex - it is not an isolated site at all.
Excavations at Durrington Walls have uncovered evidence of another henge at the site. Measuring approximately 1,400 feet in diameter, it enclosed a series of rings made up of timber posts. These posts were set up in a similar fashion to the rocks at Stonehenge, with the exception of their orientation.
While Stonehenge was constructed so as to align with the sunrise at the summer solstice and the sunset at the winter solstice, the henge discovered at Durrington Walls is the opposite (aligned with sunrise at the winter solstice and sunset at the summer solstice).
Based on artifacts discovered at the houses on the site, the people who lived at Durrington Walls had large-scale midwinter celebrations to mark the winter solstice. Eight homes have been excavated and it is thought that at least two dozen more are nearby.
The small (14 feet by 14 feet) homes are square, with a central fireplace and an oval hearth set into the floor. Marks in the floor indicate where box-beds and a dresser stood long ago.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
The 256-page book will include more than 20 stories contributed by David Hartman, Martin Abel, Courtney Huddleston, Jason M. Burns, Wes Molebash and others.
Look for John Howard Presents: Sasquatch to arrive in stores in mid-April.
If you would like to see a preview of the interior artwork, visit:
www.vipercomics.com/uploads/Pitch/SASQUATCH_Retailer_Sample.pdf
Please note that due to some violent content, this material is not suitable for children.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
As we age, some hearing loss is quite common. The medical term for this condition is presbycusis. This hearing loss is usually greater for high-pitched sounds.
Children and teens, who have not yet started to experience the effects of presbycusis, would be more likely to hear sounds that are high-pitched, whether otherworldly in origin or not.
You can check out your capacity for hearing high-pitched sounds by visiting sony.com/themessengers. You can also read supernatural stories submitted from around the US and take some simple tests to determine whether you have the ability to hear, see, or perceive paranormal phenomena.
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on the Ellen show recently. During her conversation with the show's host, Ellen Degeneres, she revealed that during filming of a scene for her TV show, "Ghost Whisperer", there appeared to be another (unexpected) member to the cast.
While filming this particular scene, crew members noticed something moving in the shadows behind the actress. When the scene was played back, it showed an entity behind the actress. Whatever it was, it lasted only for a few seconds and was gone.
Perhaps someone or something was curious about either the cast and crew or the show's subject matter...
Posted by Jodee Redmond
On a recent trip from the Galopagos to the Marquesas, Shigeo Kitano found the journey difficult. The boat was hard to steer and the autopilot indicated "weather helm" (an imbalance of sail power).
When the hull of the sloop Akitsushima II was examined by divers, what were described as hundreds of round marks similar to those left by suction cups were discovered. These strange marks were discovered on the boat's hull, rudder, and keel. Paint was scraped off the hull where the marks were found. In addition, there were marks within the larger circular patterns, like circles within circles.
Is it possible that a giant squid hitched a ride to the Marquesas? Maybe. However, the giant squid has only recently been photographed alive , and that was at a depth of almost 3,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. They have been known to attack boats, but that is a rare occurrence. Attacks, when they occur, only last for a few minutes and the vessel is shaken violently by the squid. No such shaking was noticed by the Akitsushima II's occupants. Some of the suction marks were blurred, which would imply that whatever was attached to the bottom of the boat moved or adjusted its grip. It is estimated that whatever was causing the problem was attached to the hull for several weeks; a giant squid attack would be over in minutes.
The area that Kitano sailed through is home to sperm whales, which are a food source for the giant squid. Where you find sperm whales, you will find these predators.
If this wasn't a giant squid after all (even though the marks look like sucker marks), what was attached to the bottom of the boat all that time? Is it possible that some as-yet-unknown species of marine life is responsible?
Posted by Jodee Redmond
Several people have reported seeing the former Iraqi president since his recent execution. Apparently, he has been spotted in several public places, including markets and restaurants.
Having said that, none of these alleged sightings are considered to have come from "reliable" sources. In fact, Saddam Hussein has been buried Awja near the remains of his sons (Uday and Qusay).
By way of explanation, it is has been suggested that the people involved actually saw Saddam look-alikes. It is also possible that residents of Iraq are having trouble coming to terms with the fact that Saddam Hussein is really gone.
This week's article is going to look at the ghosts and legends associated with Scotland's Glamis Castle.