Fishy images of a glowing red sea
Glowing red areas of the sea spotted by pilots are posed as mysterious. But since 2022, we are pretty clear about the source.
Category Archives: Unexplained
Triangle Trope of Vermont: Bennington
The Bennington Triangle in Vermont has a foundational narrative of real life murders, disappearances, and an abandoned village. A corpus of exaggerated tales grew from it.
News blips: Prattle and hum
New research on “the hum”. Facebook fakes take a very weird turn. Scammers are everywhere online.
Up on a Pennsylvania housetop, a metal mystery
A large piece of metal of unknown origin appeared on the roof of a Philadelphia home. It did not come from a plane. And, Schuylkill notes update.
Mysterious Schuylkill notes saga continues
Called “Schuylkill Notes”, the mystery of weird notes appearing in random places and packaging in Pennsylvania continues to garner attention. Who is doing this and how?
History of mystery booms as recent news
Mystery booms and skyquakes are reported often in the news. Popular interest and fear in these strange sounds from the sky began in earnest in 2011 and continue to today.
Mysterious notes hidden in food boxes continue to be found in Pennsylvania
For nearly four years now, someone has been inserting nearly indecipherable, strange messages inside food or medicine boxes around Pennsylvania warning of evil conspiracies.
Ball lightning videos everywhere
Videos purporting to show the rare natural phenomenon of ball lightning are popping up on social media. Are they real or fake?
Mystery booms in 2022
Here we are in a new year! Let’s hope it’s a good one. Mystery booms and Skyquakes of 2022 In 2021, I began keeping track of mystery booms reported in the media. Mystery booms are unsettling because they signal some sort of danger from below ground, on the surface, or in the sky. Often, we… Read More »
Dead bulls generate media BS
News outlets have picked up and run with the story of five bulls (Hereford bovines) that have died under mysterious circumstances near Salem, Oregon last July. I’m not sure why this is getting attention again now except for the obvious – that ideas about aliens are back in the public consciousness thanks to a whole… Read More »
Stone-throwing wall-thumpers: Review of Australian Poltergeists
Paul Cropper sent me a copy of his new book with co-author Tony Healy, Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases. He must have known how much I love this topic and was eager to learn about various cases around the world. I learned about the concept of poltergeists before… Read More »
Unexplained terminology Explained: ‘Paranormal’ versus ‘Supernatural’
Paranormal investigators say they look for evidence of paranormal activity. That phrase always confounded me. I don’t quite get it. What does it mean when someone says they have evidence of “paranormal activity”? And, how do you know it’s not normal activity that you just couldn’t ferret out? There is a problem with how the… Read More »
Scientist states he has explanation(s) for sky noise but it only sounds sciencey
I’ve been closely following the story of strange noises from the sky that flared up in January. I wrote about them on Doubtful News (now defunct). The noises are widespread, varied in type, sometimes able to be explained and sometimes known to be hoaxed. But, because this spate of anomalies (a Fortean Flap, if you will)… Read More »
Your friendly neighborhood mon$ter
In a post on Skeptoid blog, I suggest that paranormal-based tourism, such as ghost tours and monster festivals, which are growing in popularity, border on fraud. “Even if there are long-standing legends of strange events occurring at some location, to suggest that a place is haunted just to freak people out is contemptible.” “Ghost tours… Read More »
Research groups’ useful social function is not “being scientific”
The LA Times reports on the MUFON conference with the headline “convention emphasizes scientific methods”. The reporter then skewers this idea by showing how at least some of the attendees have thoroughly embraced the idea of alien visitation and human-alien hybridization. Oh my. The reporter doesn’t have to go to the fringe to point out… Read More »
Paranormal-themed nonfiction TV: A list
I was writing an article when I realized I needed a clear idea about when this whole amateur investigation reality-television thing became popular. So, I started a list. (I’m a good Googler.) Here is a list of TV shows (series) that portray the paranormal as real or examine it as possibly real. Some are reality-type… Read More »
Monster Stories from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is the locale for oodles of strange stories, from the ghosts of Gettysburg to Thunderbirds of the northern forests, from the Jersey Devil sightings along the Delaware to UFOs in Kecksburg (and all across the state). A 135-page book by Patty A. Wilson chronicles, specifically, Monsters in Pennsylvania: Mysterious Creatures in the Keystone State.… Read More »
Everyone panic. Or not.
A few weeks ago, I moved my desk next to an upstairs window overlooking a Bradford pear tree. For the past 3 weeks, when I sat at the desk during the day, periodically, a flock of about 50 starlings would swoop in and land on the tree, devouring the shriveled fruits up like grapes. Then,… Read More »
Studying modern day amateur scientists and researchers or “What the hell was that?”
I’m off inside my own head these days… My main project is my Masters’ thesis in Science and the Public. I started gathering data this summer; fall will be consumed with crunching data, making sense of it and writing it up. I’ll graduate in February, barring any unforeseen disasters. The hardest part about a thesis… Read More »
Weird things road trip
Spent 10 hours driving through north central PA and upstate NY today. I saw an incredible sunrise over the Susquehanna River, the misty mountains and valleys north of Williamsport and the ridges of wind turbines in the rolling hills of New York. But, here are two puzzlers. First, crushed wheat in a field along Denton… Read More »