Finding the weird and wonderful in Bermuda Cross one item off my bucket list for 2022: I visited Bermuda on a family holiday. Unsurprisingly, when I visit new places, I look for spooky things and natural wonders. So this post will mainly be about the unusual aspects of the tiny island country. Bermuda is definitely… Read More: I survived the Bermuda Triangle »
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: Mystery booms in 2022 »
Fun images showing rock and mineral specimens that resemble yummy food, good enough to eat. Check out this forbidden food smorgasbord!
It’s a common claim by paranormalists that there are special places on earth where “energy” whirls are responsible for strange phenomena reported at those locations. They are called paranormal or energy “vortex” areas. The crystallization of the “vortex” idea in this context began with a popular proponent of mysterious subjects who identified twelve equidistant areas around the globe with peculiar characteristics. Since then, the idea of a paranormal vortex has evolved.
Many sites have been given the creepy name of “Devils Hole”. The most famous Hole is in Death Valley, Nevada where a notch in the rock reveals an oasis of ancient groundwater in the otherwise brutally dry desert landscape. The cave opening is unusual, the water level responds to seismic events around the world, the underground passageways are complex and its depth is unknown. The opening in the desert sparked strange thoughts from one of the most disturbed criminal minds of our time, claimed lives, and hosts a rare species.
A series of giant earthquakes within the continental interior is strange in itself, but other notable phenomena associated with the New Madrid, Missouri quakes of 1811-2 made the events preternaturally awful. In this piece, I explore the scary and weird features that were said to accompany the New Madrid earthquakes.
The Bible contains several stories that people have attempted to connect to geological events such as earthquakes or floods. The Biblical context treats these events as supernatural works of God, which puts them in the realm of “spooky geology”. In this post, I’m exploring two geologically-related aspects of the parable of Sodom & Gomorrah.
The fish that fell in a December thunderstorm likely came from the nervous stomachs of birds that ejected their recent meal, investigators conclude.
This post is updated from its original publication in 2009.– SH In researching three areas of what I concluded were mostly “scientifical” fields of inquiry for my book – cryptozoology, ghost hunting, and creationism – I was amused to find one example used to the same end for all three – the discovery of the… Read More: The coelacanth as a red herring »
Weird hairless animals attract morbid attention. Is it a mutant? A monster? Well, it’s most likely an unfortunate local animal who fortunately left remains for us to photograph, gawk over, get grossed out about, and share around the world on social media.
The infamous Sessho-seki, a protected boulder in the volcanic area of Mount Nesu in Japan, has split. The break occurred around March 5, 2022. A legend says the stone was the prison of the evil nine-tailed fox demoness Tamamo-no-Mae and that anyone who touched it died. Some people fear that evil has been released into the world. In reality, the stone had been cracked for a while and held by a rope. The rock likely split from natural weathering processes. The area is known for sulfur hot springs and potentially poisonous gases which may have contributed to the “killing stone” myth.
I’ve written twice on Flat Eartherism. On Spooky Geology – Anti-globular convictions: Flat Earth belief explodes in popularity On this blog with thoughts on the 2018 Behind the Curve documentary – Flat-earthers as scientifical Americans. I’ve also been covering some news about them on occasion with my Weekly Weird newsletter but not so much recently,… Read More: Going “Off the Edge” is more popular than ever –… »
Some residents of Silver Spring Township in southcentral PA began to experience booming noises days after heavy rain deluged the area in September 2021. Township officials consulted geological experts who concluded that the sounds originated underground but were not related to earthquakes. Instead, the karst system was actively moving the water and debris in the subsurface.
The world is a noisy place. But some sounds shake you to your foundation. Mystery booms that come out of nowhere and have indiscernible sources scare people and leave them wondering, “What just happened?” Every week, we find a few reports of “mystery booms” in the news. People report a surprising, loud noise that shakes their house and rattles their windows. This is not a new phenomenon. Reports of such sounds can be traced back through news accounts from over a century ago.
Residents of Peabody have been experiencing booming sounds that rattle their houses and nerves. A public meeting was held to explain to residents that 3 earthquakes were recorded (below magnitude 2) in the area and this swarm of small quakes is causing the disturbance.
In the past and even today, some believe that you can get to Hell via a portal or entrance from earth. There are countless tales of trips to the underworld made by mythical persons. There continue to be legends about gates to hell around the world that we might access today. Join me for a tour of Hell mouths.
On July 4, news started circulating about a huge explosion in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan captured on video. The first information was relayed by the state oil company, SOCAR, to the Russian news agency saying the explosion was real and probably caused by a “mud volcano”.
Always keen to hear about the latest “weird news”, I noticed a trend in 2020 where young women (typically) were reporting that their cars were moderately vandalized in busy parking lots. On the video social media app TikTok, they interpreted these events as a signal that they were being targeted for abduction by sex traffickers… Read More: TikTok generates multiple scare lore stories about flagged cars »
The colorful and dramatic accounts of the Oracle of Delphi in Greece spanning many centuries appear to be strongly related to the geological setting and seismic activity of the locale. The cultural and geologic history is long and complex. Over time, people have speculated on the explanation as being supernatural, psychic, geological, or a hoax. It took a multidisciplinary effort to reach the most probable proposed explanation we have so far, but there are still many details we’ll never know.
A weird impression in a rock along the Appalachian Trail appears to look like a demon or a dinosaur footprint. What is it, really?