The Artist House

The world famous Artist House is one of the most photographed houses in Key West and the former home of Robert Eugene.

The Key West Guest House is a restored, Victorian mansion, a true world famous masterpiece in the centre of Old Town, just steps from the famous nightlife, water activities and beaches. 

Virtually no other Inn on the island is as true to its original design, layout and character. 

Indulge yourself in spacious, rooms with 12′ ceilings, richly detailed original design wall coverings, splendid woodwork and en-suite bathrooms. 

Relax with a complimentary continental breakfast in our lush tropical garden or front porch whichever you prefer.

The Artist House has been operating as an island favorite since 1978. 

They are one of the oldest continually operating guest houses in Key West, and have developed a fully satisfied following. 

Sounds nice! Doesn't it?

What if we look back to 1970, and see who lived back then in the house.

Does the man Robert Eugene sound familiar?

Or what about Robert The Doll!

You can read the legend of Robert The Doll 'here'

A reader, Jack Travis, have send us pictures of the Artist House from 1980.

Very interesting to see, knowing what happened a couple years ago.

For more information and the official website of the Artist House;

http://www.artisthousekeywest.com/

The Pantry Ghost

I love to watch some scary "real" ghost films on YouTube.

People who claim to have capture a real ghost on camera!

But all films I saw where so fake!
I studied film and camera techniques and it was so easy to see how they faked it.
I was able to explain every fake ghost film.

Until one...

It all started with this video;

In the videos you can see a door, made of glass, of a pantry.
When suddenly a girls appears behind the door and disappears again.

I was amazed and freaked out. I was thinking, how did they faked this?
I looked further and found more videos they made.
And again, I could not see how they faked it!
I found three or four videos of them, made by the same.
And in the comments the woman who made the channel was defending herself that these videos are real.

I kept an eye on the videos and comments for months to see how it all evolves. But for months long the woman, named Jody, kept her story!
But it gets even more interesting.

On a day a video was posted on YouTube. It was a preview of an investigation about these ghost videos. The video showed that a man from the website 'metacafe' was send to investigate the videos, to see if they are real or not.

The man from 'metacafe' promised to make an entire documentary about this.

However...

Months pasts, and still no documentary.
Years pasts, and still nothing.

I was looking forward to this documentary but it didn`t happened, what made me think this was a hoax.
So I lost my eye and interest in the so called 'Pantry Ghost'.

Until a week ago, when I looked up for scary videos on YouTube again.
I found this site;

http://www.pantryghost.com/Pantry_Ghost_Documentary.html

They really made the documentary!
So it`s time to continue the investigation!

You can watch all the videos here;
http://www.youtube.com/user/PantryGhost/videos



What is the truth?

Like I said before, I can not explain how they faked it.
If it was fake, then these are amazing special effects!
But if you look at Hi Budget movies like the 'Paranormal activity' trilogy.
They are clearly fake.
So how is it possible that some amateurs make a scarier and more realistic video of a haunting?

Or is it real, that some demon showed himself?
People that are haunted is very common, all over the world.
But don`t mistake it with the fantasy of horror movies.

But why is this the only video where you can see a demon?
There are still too many things unclear to know the truth.



Continuing the investigation

I have been investigating this much further.
And I have found some things that could give an answer.

But I am not satifised with it at all.
Some things just doesn`t make any sense.

If this was a hoax, I may have found some errors of them, and evidence this was a hoax
But still, I could be wrong.

So I will post in the future `The Pantry Ghost Unveiled`.

And of course you can help us to find the truth!

Invisible Clowns

A 40 year-old Arizona man was visiting his mom in Wisconsin.
But I don’t think she will ever invite him back, not unless she wants another case of invisible clowns.

The man was on some sort of drug that was making him think that there was invisible clowns in his moms house, so he did the most logical thing, pulled out his shot gun and shot at them.

Police were called to the home of the man’s mother in Roberts, Wisconsin, a small town across the border from the Twin Cities.

When the police got to the house, the man came to the door, still yelling at clowns that weren’t there.
He went back inside and fired more shots in the house and came to the porch with the shotgun and a string of ammunition around his neck.





The police were waiting outside with guns drawn.

The man did not respond to officers’ commands, but when he slipped and fell, deputies were able to take him into custody...or maybe the clowns tripped him.





What is the truth?

On his way to the hospital, the man told medical crews he had taken a hallucinogenic drug and believed people dressed as clowns were attacking his mother’s home, that he had shot and killed several of them, and that his mother had been killed in the attack.

In reality, nobody was injured in the incident, though the man shot at his mother and her boyfriend as they were trying to flee the home in their vehicle.

The Haunted Ebay Painting

In February, 2000 the sudden appearance of a rather strange painting with the accompanying title of "Haunted Painting" made it's debut on Ebay.com.
Of course a title like this is going to attract attention and it's still discussed to this day whether the painting is genuinely haunted or not.
Even stranger is the reactions that the general public had when viewing the photos of the painting.


Artists, especially visual artists, are barometers for the currents which run through this collective.
Dreams are a common experience people may have with this. Anyway, my own experience is a sensitivity to place– physical, geographical place.
There are memories, echoes of all the life within a place. Maybe it's what's called channeling.
When Bill Stoneham painted the `Hands Resist Him` in 1972, he used an old photo of himself at age five in a Chicago apartment.
The hands are the 'other lives.'
The glass door, that thin veil between waking and dreaming.
The girl/doll is the imagined companion, or guide through this realm.

Both the owner of the Gallery where 'Hands' was displayed and the Los Angeles Times art critic who reviewed his show were dead within a year of the show.


"I'm sure it was coincidence, but some of what I paint resonates in other people, opening the inner door, or basement. By the way, I still have no idea what happened to the character actor ( John Marley, who died in 1984) who bought the painting at the show, or how it ended up abandoned in a building, though I could speculate." - Bill



The original ebay text that accompanied the painting

WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS PAINTING, WE THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD ART. A " PICKER " HAD FOUND IT ABANDONED BEHIND AN OLD BREWERY. AT THE TIME WE WONDERED A LITTLE WHY A SEEMINGLY PERFECTLY FINE PAINTING WOULD BE DISCARDED LIKE THAT. ( TODAY WE DON'T !!! ) ONE MORNING OUR 4 AND 1/2 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CLAIMED, THAT THE CHILDREN IN THE PICTURE WERE FIGHTING, AND COMING INTO THE ROOM DURING THE NIGHT. NOW, I DON'T BELIEVE IN UFOS OR ELVIS BEING ALIVE, BUT MY HUSBAND WAS ALARMED. TO MY AMUSEMENT HE SET UP A MOTION TRIGGERED CAMERA FOR THE NIGHTS. AFTER THREE NIGHTS THERE WERE PICTURES.THE LAST TWO PICTURES SHOWN ARE FROM THAT 'STAKEOUT'. AFTER SEEING THE BOY SEEMINGLY EXITING THE PAINTING UNDER THREAT, WE DECIDED, THE PAINTING HAS TO GO.PLEASE JUDGE FOR YOURSELF. --- BEFORE YOU DO, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. ----WARNING: DO NOT BID ON THIS PAINTING IF YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO STRESS RELATED DISEASE, FAINT OF HEART OR ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH SUPERNATURAL EVENTS. BY BIDDING ON THIS PAINTING, YOU AGREE TO RELEASE THE OWNERS OF ALL LIABILITY IN RELATION TO THE SALE OR ANY EVENTS HAPPENING AFTER THE SALE, THAT MIGHT BE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PAINTING. THIS PAINTING MAY OR MAY NOT POSESS SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THAT COULD IMPACT OR CHANGE YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER, BY BIDDING YOU AGREE TO EXCLUSIVELY BID ON THE VALUE OF THE ARTWORK, WITH DISREGARD TO THE LAST TWO PHOTOS FEATURED IN THIS AUCTION, AND HOLD THE OWNERS HARMLESS IN REGARD TO THEM AND THEIR IMPACT, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.------------ NOW THAT WE GOT THIS OUT OF THE WAY, ONE QUESTION TO YOU EBAYERS. WE WANT OUR HOUSE TO BE BLESSED AFTER THE PAINTING IS GONE, DOES ANYBODY KNOW, WHO IS QUALIFIED TO DO THAT? THE SIZE OF THE PAINTING IS 24 BY 36 INCHES, SO IT IS RATHER LARGE. AS I HAVE HAD SEVERAL QUESTIONS, HERE THE FOLLOWING ANSWERS. THERE WAS NO ODOR LEFT BEHIND IN THE ROOM. THERE WERE NO VOICES, OR THE SMELL OF GUNPOWDER, NO FOODPRINTS OR STRANGE FLUIDS ON THE WALL. TO DETER QUESTIONS IN THIS DIRECTION, THERE ARE NO GHOSTS IN THIS WORLD , NO SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THIS IS JUST A PAINTING, AND MOST THESE THINGS HAVE AN EXPLANATION, IN THIS CASE PROBABLY A FLUKE LIGHT EFFECT. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BID ON THE ARTWORK, AND CONSIDER THE LAST TWO PHOTOGRAPHS AS PURE ENTERTAINMENT, AND PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM INTO CONSIDERATION, WHEN BIDDING. AS WE THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BLESS ANY HOUSE, WE STILL WELCOME INPUT INTO THAT PROCEDURE.
This auction is nearing the end. I want to thank the more than 13000 people that took the time to look at this image on Ebay. I appreciate the more than 30 suggestions, that I received regarding blessing the house, exorcising and cleansing. 7 e-mails reported strange or irregular events taking place, when viewing this image. And I will relay two suggestions made by the senders. First not to use this image as the background on the screen, and second not to display this image around juveniles or children. Last not least, thanks for appreciating the art as well.

Reports began coming in of strange reactions upon viewing the pictures.
These included people being violently ill or fainting, children screaming upon seeing the painting and observers being gripped by an 'unseen entity'.

There is no firm evidence to substantiate these claims, but what is without doubt is that the bidding price of the painting shot up - from a first bid of $199 to a final price of $1050 in just 30 days.



What is the truth?

The buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, later gave an interview to paranormal website 'Surfing the Apocalypse' about their experience with the 'haunted' painting.

They said that whilst they had experienced nothing strange themselves, they had began receiving emails from people who had viewed the painting over the Internet.


The buyer said: "Experiences include an exorcist type of voice along with a blast of hot air like standing in front of an oven door.
"A new Epson printer that ate and mutilated page after page when the user tried to download images of the painting."
Revealingly, the buyer revealed plans to sell reproduction prints of the pictures over the Internet and eventually sell the painting on.


So it looks likely the painting is haunted more by hype than by the supernatural. But who knows?

Spontaneous Human Combustion

Imagine that you’re sitting quietly on a nice cozy afternoon.
You’re reading your favorite book and no worries crosses your mind.
Suddenly, you feel heat grow all through your body, and after a few moments you’re engulfed by flames, leaving nothing but a faint smell of burnt barbecue and your cremated remains behind.

To burn a body you only need two things: intensely high heat and a flammable substance.
For example; You poor gasoline in someone’s body and then light it up. Or your still lit cigarette falls from your lips when you fall asleep.

Spontaneous Human Combustion, as the name already says, is when a human being suddenly burst into flames without any clear sort of either of these two thing.
Although the reason why is not very clear, many reasons are being studied - not only by scientists, but by paranormal experts who say that there’s something else beyond chemicals behind this phenomena.

There has been about 200 filed cases on SHC - the latest of which happened in 2010 when an Irish man named Michael Faherty, 76 years old, died at his home in Galway on 22 December.
Policemen say that the fire “destroyed only the body, the ceiling above him and the floor underneath him.”

No other forms of ignition were found, thus leading the coroner to label his death as “Spontaneous Combustion”.
It is a bit disconcerting that something like this happened not so long ago.




Other real cases

Dr. John Irving Bentley (1966 - Coudersport, Pennsylvania)

When Mr. Gosnell, a meter reader, went to Dr. Irving’s house on a December morning, he couldn’t really expect to see the 92-year-old Doctor turned to dust, but well, it was what he did in fact find.

The only thing left of the Dr. was his lower left leg, with a shoe still on, and dark ashes.

The coroner would only state that the physician died of “death by asphyxiation and 90 percent burning of the body.” But what could’ve caused this? One of the theories was that he slept with his pipe still on - but his pipe was far away and seemingly unused; there were no other sources of fire.
It also seemed that Dr. Bentley’s fire started in his bedroom while he was asleep.
He then woke up, ran to the bathroom (probably to try and water down the fire), but met his demise there, where his remains found the next morning.





Mary Reeser (1951 - St. Petersburg, Florida)

Mary Reeser’s landlady was the one who found her - well, not literally found her, but as she went into Mrs. Reese's apartment to give her a telegram, she found that the doorknob to the apartment was incredibly hot. Fearing for her tenant safety, she called the police.
Mary was nothing but piles of ash and legs (with her shoes still on!), and a incredibly shrunken skull which people said it was “the size of a teacup” when they found her.

Even if such shrinking is not unheard of, since the heat could cause the skull to diminish, people still took it as a paranormal phenomenon in itself, bringing a lot of attention to the case on those good ol’ times.



Phyllis Newcombe (1938 - Chelmsford, England)

27 year old Phyllis was just going down the stairs at Shire Hall after a ball, when her dress suddenly caught on fire. She then ran back into the ballroom looking for help, but collapsed unconscious on the floor.
People aid her, but she unfortunately died a few days later in the hospital.
There was no fire nor source of heat around, and witness say that her dress literally just caught on fire.

These are only some of the many known victims.



What is the truth?

There are a lot of theories out there that try to explain what the hell goes on in such circumstances, but so far there isn’t a certain fact regarding SHC.
The most popular theory is that fire starts when methane (a flammable gas that has a wide distribution in nature) sparks and builds up in the intestines and gets ignited by enzymes (proteins in the body that act as catalysts to induce and speed up chemical reactions).
But since most SHC victims had more damage to the outside of their bodies rather than the insides, this theory seems unlikely.

One of the most possibles explanations is what scientists call “The Wick Effect”, that proposes that the body, when lit by a cigarette, smoldering ember or whatever other heat source, acts much like an inside out candle.

So, is there anything paranormal about this?
It is likely that a human body could go through such experience without the need of a supernatural source, and maybe the cause of the fire can’t be found because it got completely burned with its owner, like a cigarette or a match.
But it is something beyond our current comprehension.
And one of the many things science can not explain.

And with this, I say... keep cool.

Maggots In The Brain

This is the case of Mr. Shota Fujiwara, a japanese man from Gifu Prefecture.
He complains incessantly about a persistent headache.
Mr. Shota Fujiwara loves his sashimi and sushi very much to the extent of trying to get them as "alive and fresh" as can be.

He developes a severe headache for the past 3 years and has put it off as migraine and stress from work.



 It was only when he started losing his psycomotor skills that he seeks medical help.

A brain scan and x-ray reveals little however.
But upon closer inspection by a specialist on his scalp, the doctor noticed small movements beneath his skin.

It was then that the doctor did a local anaesthetic to his scalp and discovered the cause when tiny worms crawled out.

A major surgery was thus immediately called for and the extent of the infestation was horrific!

The worms on the head of Shota Fujiwara are actually the parasites that usually found on the body of raw fish.





Another case.

A man gets an ingrown hair on his head.
After some time, it gets infected and the man gets a boil.
Weeks are passing and the boil is still growing every day.

The hair and infection are eroding downwards to his skull.
People keep telling him to go to the hospital for checking his boil.
But he refuse to do so.

The infection reaches his skull.
Bone, once infected, presents little barrier to the spread of infection to contiguous bone and so it spreads within his skull.
The bone dies and begins to erode.

People are noticing a smell and keep telling him to see a doctor.
The smell is starting to attracts flies which begin to lay eggs in his festering wound and maggots take hold.

The infection breaches the inner layer of his skull and reaches the meninges.
Though their tensile strength is impressive the meninges are quite thin and the infection breaches them.

Your brain just isn't supposed to be on your outside and presents almost no barrier to anything when exposed. 
Now, infection and maggots set to work on his brain.

This makes him feel a little wobbly on his feet and he decides to see a doctor.
He walks in to the Stanford ER and doctors found several maggots in his brain.



What is the truth?

This is claimend to be true, but I can not say for shure it really happend.

On the medical matter, maggots can infest the human brain, evidently, and so can certain types of tapeworm larvae.
But these conditions are fairly rare, and the chance of resulting from ingrown hairs or sushi is close to impossible.

Tapeworms and roundworms and their eggs which abounds in all fishes fresh or saltwater can only be killed by thorough cooking and/or freezing the fish to between 4 degC - 0 degsC.
The eggs of these parasites can only be killed if it is cooked or frozen to the said temperatures for a week or more.

Think twice about that raw dish next time... or you might get a headache.

Halloween

Witches and ghosts, pumpkins and bonfires, trick or treat.
The outward trappings of Halloween are easy to identify.

The Horror Tree is ready to ruin your holiday, with the truth!

Halloween has also been called All Hallows’ Eve, the eve of All Saints’ Day.
This supposedly Christian name, however, hides origins that are far from hallowed.

In fact, scholars say that Halloween’s roots go back to a time long before Christianity, the era when the ancient Celts inhabited Britain and Ireland. Using a lunar calendar, the Celts divided the year into two seasons—the dark winter months and the light summer months.
On the full moon nearest November 1, the Celts celebrated the festival of Samhain, meaning “Summer’s End.”



The festival of Samhain

It was believed that on the festival of Samhain, the veil between the human and the supernatural worlds was parted and spirits, both good and evil, roamed the earth.
The souls of the dead were thought to return to their homes, and families would put out food and drink for their ghostly visitors in hopes of appeasing them and warding off misfortune.


Thus, today when children dressed as ghosts or witches go from house to house demanding a Halloween treat or threatening a mischievous trick, they unwittingly perpetuate the ancient rituals of Samhain. Jean Markale comments in his book Halloween, histoire et traditions (Halloween—History and Traditions): “In receiving something in their hands, they establish, on a symbolic level that they do not understand, a brotherly exchange between the visible and the invisible worlds. That is why the Halloween masquerades . . . are in fact sacred ceremonies.”

Since people believed that the barriers between the physical and supernatural realms were down, they thought that humans were able to cross over into the spirit world with ease. Samhain was therefore a particularly auspicious time to unlock the secrets of the future.

Apples or hazelnuts, both viewed as products of sacred trees, were used to divine information concerning marriage, sickness, and death. For example, apples with identifying marks were placed in a tub of water. By seizing an apple using only the mouth, a young man or woman was supposed to be able to identify his or her future spouse. This divination practice survives today in the Halloween game of bobbing for apples.

Samhain was also characterized by drunken revelry and a casting aside of inhibitions. “Traditional values, if not flouted, were reversed,” states Markale. “What was forbidden was allowed, and what was allowed was forbidden.” Halloween still reflects this spirit today, which no doubt accounts to a great extent for its increasing popularity. Commenting on this, The Encyclopedia of Religion describes Halloween nowadays as “a time when adults can also cross cultural boundaries and shed their identities by indulging in an uninhibited evening of frivolity. Thus, the basic Celtic quality of the festival as an evening of annual escape from normal realities and expectations has remained into the twentieth century.”



A "Christian" mask

Following the potato famine in the 19th century, Irish immigrants took Halloween and its customs to the United States. From there it has returned to Europe in the past few years.
The growing popularity of Halloween, though, is not viewed favorably by all.
As notes the newspaper Le Monde, “Halloween, which coincides with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1 and 2) and could even replace them, is making shopkeepers happy and panicking churchmen.”

Church representatives in France have expressed concern over the decline of these traditional Catholic holidays in favor of Halloween, seeing it as a sign of the “paganization of society.”
For Stanislas Lalanne, spokesman for France’s Conference of Catholic Bishops, Halloween ‘distorts the meaning of life and death.’
The bishop of Nice, Jean Bonfils, stated that “this festival and its rituals have nothing to do with our Mediterranean and Christian culture,” and he warned Catholics against “the most important festival of Satanists the world over.”

Carlo Maria Martini, cardinal of Milan, Italy, urged Italians not to abandon Catholic holidays, declaring that Halloween is “alien to our tradition, which has immense value and must be continued. All Souls’ Day is a celebration that belongs to our history. It is the moment in which hope for eternal life unfolds, a moment in which the Lord makes us understand that there is more to life than that on earth.”

Many sincere Catholics no doubt feel the same way.
Yet, is the distinction between Halloween and All Souls’ Day as clear-cut as these comments would lead us to believe?
What does a close examination of the roots of these Catholic holidays reveal?


The Catholic Encyclopedia defines All Saints’ Day as a feast to “honour all the saints, known and unknown.” At the end of the second century, so-called Christians began to honor those who had been martyred for their faith and, believing that they were already with Christ in heaven, prayed to them to intercede on their behalf.


A regular commemoration began when on May 13, 609 or 610 C.E., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon—the Roman temple of all the gods—to Mary and all the martyrs. Markale comments: “The Roman gods left their place to the saints of the triumphant religion.”

The change of date to November came under Pope Gregory III (731-741 C.E.), who dedicated a chapel in Rome to all the saints and ordered that they be honored on November 1.
Exactly why he did this is unknown.
But it may have been because such a holiday was already being celebrated on this date in England.
The Encyclopedia of Religion points out: “Samhain remained a popular festival among the Celtic people throughout the christianization of Great Britain.
The British church attempted to divert this interest in pagan customs by adding a Christian celebration to the calendar on the same date as Samhain. . . .
The medieval British commemoration of All Saints’ Day may have prompted the universal celebration of this feast throughout the Christian church.”

Markale points out the increasing influence of Irish monks throughout Europe at this time.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia also observes: “The Irish often assigned the first of the month to important feasts, and since November 1 was also the beginning of the Celtic winter, it would have been a likely date for a feast of all the saints.” Finally, in 835 C.E., Pope Gregory IV made this festival universal.

As for All Souls’ Day, on which prayers are recited in order to help souls in purgatory attain heavenly bliss, this holiday was fixed on November 2 during the 11th century by the monks of Cluny, France.
While All Souls’ Day is ostensibly a Catholic holiday, it is clear that confusion existed in the minds of ordinary folk.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia notes that “throughout the Middle Ages it was popular belief that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day as will-o’-the-wisps, witches, toads, etc.”

Unable to uproot pagan beliefs from the hearts of its flock, the church simply hid them behind a “Christian” mask.
Highlighting this fact, The Encyclopedia of Religion says: “The Christian festival, the Feast of All Saints, commemorates the known and unknown saints of the Christian religion just as Samhain had acknowledged and paid tribute to the Celtic deities.”



What is the truth?

Just how concerned should you be about the dark past of Halloween and similar celebrations?
After all, in most people’s minds, Halloween is little more than a time to dress up and have fun.
But would you not agree that it is important for parents to make sure that whatever recreation their children pursue is wholesome and not harmful?

A school inspector from France with more than 20 years of experience in teaching was asked about the influence of Halloween on young children.
He commented: “I am worried that going from house to house threatening adults in order to obtain sweets can have long-term negative consequences on children. It can foster a selfish and egocentric personality. They learn that by exerting pressure, by demanding with threats, by making others afraid, they can obtain what they want.” Parents must therefore ask themselves, ‘What “lessons” will my children learn from celebrating this holiday?’

Not surprisingly, many families find that giving in to childish demands for treats and costumes can be an expensive undertaking.
“Halloween . . . is not a holiday,” observes Robert Rochefort, general director of France’s Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions, “it is event marketing.” Halloween fills a shopping lull prior to Christmas. In other words, it is just one more thing pressuring people to spend money.

I have noticed it is a very popular holiday even for Christians!
The Bible thus condemns the whole idea of putting a Christian mask on a pagan practice!

While it is true that the vast majority of those who celebrate Halloween would claim to spurn Satanic practices, we should, nevertheless, be aware that historically this holiday has close connections with the occult.

I only showed you one aspect of the lies of halloween, the lies and mask of the catholics. But there are so many more things you should know.
So see you next year for more!

The Licked Hand

A woman is home alone with only her dog for company.

Listening to the radio she hears of a serial killer on the loose in her town.
She gets scared and locks all the doors and windows in the house. But the basement window is jammed so she just locks the basement door. After locking the house she goes to bed, taking her dog to her room with her and letting it sleep under her bed.
With the dog close to her, she feels much saver.

She wakes in the night and can hear a dripping sound in her room.

The bedside lamp won't work and she is too scared to get out of bed to turn on the main light.

She hides under the covers but to reassure herself that the dog is still under the bed she puts her hand down and feels a lick on her hand.
She lays awake for some time listening to the dripping sound and periodically puts her hand down to where she can hear heavy breathing and each time gentle licks on her fingers.

Eventually she can no longer stand the dripping and enters the bathroom.
She finds her dog hanging on the shower head, with its stomach ripped open and the blood dripping in the shower.

She looks at the mirror and finds "PEOPLE CAN LICK TOO" written in blood on the wall.

Other versions

A version with an extra ending also has her parents dead in her closet.
She then attempts to call the police but is unable to. She then looks downstairs and sees the killer. This leads to a chase around the house while the killer attempts to kill her.
The police later come and find her dead and her body mangled.

In another version of the story, there is a man and his dog who go hiking.
Soon it is nighttime and the man goes to sleep. He wakes up and the dog is agitated. The dog licks his hand. Then the man falls asleep. The dog licks his hand again, but the man's eyes are closed. He feels something warm next to him and thinks it is the body warmers, then he falls asleep.
The dog keeps licking the man's hand. When the man wakes up his dog is gone and in the snow, it says: "People can lick too".

Another version has the main character an older, blind woman.
On the radio she hears that an escaped animal is on the loose. As before she goes into the house and locks all the doors. When the tap is dripping, she goes around the house, checking all the taps. As she tries each tap to find them not the source of the dripping sound. The woman feels licks on her hand, so she thinks her dog is telling her everything is all right.
Eventually she goes into the living room to find her dog nailed to the ceiling and blood dripping onto the floor.
The ending line is "so what was licking her hand?"



What is the truth?

A classic urban legend!
It is a typical campfire story too scare your friends with.

But is is possible?
I read this story was already going around in the year 1960 as some kind of chain mail.
And that is a year where a loth of urban legends were born.

What happened next? Did the girl died? Did the cops found who did it?
No one will ever now.
But if this would happen again in these modern time, it would be all over the TV and Internets.

A Visit To Hell

Clifford Hoyt, age 31, suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident in 1999.

After he regained consciousness, he told a terrified nurse that he had died and visited Hell!

He expounded on the tortures and anguish he experienced in frightening detail. He refused psychological treatment and was released.

Several weeks later, Hoyt’s neighbors complained to their landlord that strange music was playing in his apartment at all hours of the night.
Upon investigating, the building’s owner found Clifford in this condition.

Mr. Hoyt was still quite lucid and protested when the landlord attempted to call the police.
Concerned for the damage done to his property, he took photographs of the apartment, of which the image above is an example.

He left and contacted Mr. Hoyt’s family, who contacted authorities.
Clifford claimed that demons from Hell were still trying to capture him.
He explained that his body would burn incessantly unless he played music to scare the demons away.
He would only leave the house for short periods of time to get minimal supplies, including large blocks of ice to soothe the burning he felt as he tried to sleep.
Doctors attribute Clifford’s actions to brain damage suffered in the accident.

He currently resides in a mental rehabilitation facility in Maryland.


What is the truth?

The picture is disturbing.
The man laying naked on the floor with a block of ice in is arm, a keyboard and mic to scare of the demons.

This story is going around the internet for a while. However nobody knows more then this. There are no other pictures, no other details. So it does look like an urban legend.

The possibility that he is insane is almost unquestionable.
But is there a hell? Is it possible that he visited the hell and returned?
Can you scare off demons with music?

Future posts will explain these questions!

The Clown Statue

A girl in her teens, is babysitting for a family in Newport Beach, California.

The family is wealthy and has a very large house, with a ridiculous amount of rooms.
The parents are going out for a late dinner/movie.
The father tells the babysitter that once the children are in bed she should go into a specific room (he doesn't really want her wandering around the house) and watch TV there.

The parents take off and soon she gets the kids into bed and goes to the room to watch some TV.
She tries watching TV, but she is disturbed by a clown statue in the corner of the room.
She tries to ignore it for as long as possible, but it starts freaking her out so much that she can't handle it.

She resorts to calling the father and asks, "Hey, the kids are in bed, but is it okay if I switch rooms? This clown statue is really creeping me out."

The father says seriously, "Get the kids, go next door and call 911."

She asks, "What's going on?"

He responds, "Just go next door and once you call the police, call me back."

She gets the kids, goes next door, and calls the police.
When the police are on the way, she calls the father back and asks, "So, really, what's going on?"

He responds, "We don't HAVE a clown statue."
He then further explains that the children have been complaining about a clown watching them as they sleep. He and his wife had just blown it off, assuming that they were having nightmares.

The police arrive and apprehend the "clown," who turns out to be a midget.

He was some homeless person dressed as a clown, who somehow got into the house and had been living there for several weeks.
He would come into the kids' rooms at nights and watch them while they slept.
As the house was so large, he was able to avoid detection, surviving off their food, etc.

He had been in the TV room right before the babysitter right came in there.
When she entered he didn't have enough time to hide, so he just froze in place and pretended to be a statue.

What is the truth?

Coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.
Who doesn`t fear clowns?
Clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them frightening and unknowable!

Though urban legends are sometimes inspired by real-life events, I've found no clear precedents for "The Clown Statue" in news reporting of the past 20 years, no stories in which a miscreant poses as a clown doll inside people's homes, at any rate.

In 1990, a West Palm Beach, Florida woman was shot and killed on her doorstep by a clown sporting a bright orange wig (a crime which remains unsolved, so far as I know).
Then there's John Wayne Gacy, of course, who, during the mid-1970s, murdered 33 young men and buried their bodies under his Chicago home.
The media christened him the "Killer Clown" because he was known for hosting neighborhood parties at which he dressed up as a clown.

For all the babysitters... beware... there are killer clowns on the loose!

Boiled brains

Milagros Esteves was a fine girl, but not too bright. One day she got asked a date by one guy she really liked, so on the day of the date she wanted to look pretty.

The day came but she never showed up and as days went by her boy decided to pay her a visit in order to know what happened. Telephone calls didn't work so he went to her home and after waiting for an answer he decided to take a look inside from the back part of the house which had a window to the kitchen only to find out his date laying on the kitchen's floor.

When police arrived they could reconstruct the girls last moments.

As time for the meeting came closer Milagros noticed her hair was still too wet to be combed so an idea struck her mind.

She would go to the kitchen, get a knife, head for the microwave oven, open its door, falsely lock the door in order to keep it open and dry her hair by placing her head inside the oven.

Doctors diagnosed death by boiled brain.

What is the truth

This cautionary tale dating from the 1970`s is essentially a variant of "The Microwaved Pet," in which an elderly woman unfamiliar with the properties of her brand-new microwave oven attempts to use it to dry her wet poodle. It has a similarly gory ending.

First invented in the 1940s, microwave ovens (or "radar ranges," as they were known early on) didn't become affordable enough for most Americans to own until the late 1960s, so they were still something of a novelty when these stories first began to circulate.
They illustrate how new and unfamiliar technologies beget cautionary tales, especially when their workings are obscure and the products are accompanied by bold-lettered safety warnings.



But that this story is true is unknown.
The story is from the 1970`s, so to find hard evidence wouldn`t be easy. Also I can`t find any information about the girl.
So it could be just a cautionary tale.

Brown Recluse Spider

After watching the SpiderMan movie as a kid, I really wanted to be bitten by a spider!
Having the super powers of SpiderMan must be amazing!


Climbing on walls, jumping of buildings, shooting web!
SpiderMan is Awesome!

But in real life things are a little bit different!


There are so many spider species, but there is a nice one in the south of America.


The brown recluse spider or violin spider.

Brown recluse spiders are usually between 6–20 mm, but may grow larger.
While typically light to medium brown, they range in color from cream-colored to dark brown or blackish gray.
These spiders usually have markings on the dorsal side of their cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider.

The brown recluse spider is rarely aggressive, and bites from the species are uncommon.
In 2001, more than 2,000 brown recluse spiders were removed from a heavily infested home in Kansas, yet the four residents who had lived there for years were never harmed by the spiders, despite many encounters with them.
The spider usually bites only when pressed against the skin, such as when tangled within clothes, towels, bedding, inside work gloves, etc.

Many human victims report having been bitten after putting on clothes that had not been worn recently, or had been left for many days undisturbed on the floor.


Deadly bites?


The bite frequently is not felt initially and may not be immediately painful, but it can be serious.

The brown recluse bears a potentially deadly hemotoxic venom.

Most bites are minor with no necrosis.
However, a small number of brown recluse bites do produce severe dermonecrotic lesions (i.e. necrosis); an even smaller number produce severe cutaneous (skin) or viscerocutaneous (systemic) symptoms. In one study of clinically-diagnosed brown recluse bites, skin necrosis occurred 37% of the time, while systemic illness occurred 14% of the time. In these cases, the bites produced a range of symptoms common to many members of the Loxosceles genus known as loxoscelism, which may be cutaneous and viscerocutaneous.
In very rare cases, bites can even cause hemolysis—the bursting of red blood cells.

Most brown recluse bites do not result in necrosis or systemic effects.
When both types of loxoscelism do result, systemic effects may occur before necrosis, as the venom spreads throughout the body in minutes.

Children, the elderly, and the debilitatingly ill may be more susceptible to systemic loxoscelism.
The systemic symptoms most commonly experienced include nausea, vomiting, fever, rashes, and muscle and joint pain.
Rarely, such bites can result in hemolysis, thrombocytopenia, disseminated intravascular coagulation, organ damage, and even death.


Most fatalities are in children under the age of seven or those with a weak immune system.


What is the truth?





While the majority of brown recluse spider bites do not result in any symptoms, cutaneous symptoms occur more frequently than systemic symptoms.
In such instances, the bite forms a necrotizing ulcer that destroys soft tissue and may take months to heal, leaving deep scars.
These bites usually become painful and itchy within 2 to 8 hours.
Pain and other local effects worsen 12 to 36 hours after the bite, and the necrosis develops over the next few days.
Over time, the wound may grow to as large as 25 cm.
The damaged tissue becomes gangrenous and eventually sloughs away.


Here we can see the progressive deterioration of a necrotic wound caused by the venomous bite of a brown recluse spider!

I love the nature!
But don`t panic to much.
Unlike the example in the preceding photos, the majority of brown recluse bites are "uneventful," doctors say, and rarely progress to such a serious stage.

Getting a spider bite? No thank you.

Montauk Monster

The "Montauk Monster" was an unidentified creature that washed ashore dead, on a beach near the business district of Montauk, New York in July 2008.


The identity of the creature, and the veracity of stories surrounding it, have been the subject of unresolved controversy and speculation.
It is unknown what happened to the carcass.



Although the creature's body was never reported as recovered or physically examined.



The story began on July 23, 2008 with an article in a local newspaper, The Independent. Jenna Hewitt, 26, of Montauk, and three friends said they found the creature on July 12 at the Ditch Plains beach, two miles east of the district.
The beach is a popular surfing spot at Rheinstein Estate Park owned by the town of East Hampton.

A color photograph of the creature ran in black and white under the headline "The Hound of Bonacville" (a take-off on the name Bonackers, which refers to the natives of East Hampton, and The Hound of the Baskervilles which is a book in the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

The light-hearted article speculated that the creature might be a turtle or some mutant experiment from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

There were rumors that the carcass had been taken away from the site.
A local newspaper quoted Aidan Christian, who claimed that the animal was only the size of a cat, and that it had decomposed to a skeleton by the time of the press coverage.
She would not identify its location for inspection.
Hewitt claimed that "a guy took it and put it in the woods in his backyard", but would not say who or where. Her father denied that his daughter was keeping the body's location a secret.


Hewitt and her friends were interviewed on Plum-TV, a local public-access television show.
Alanna Navitski, an employee of Evolutionary Media Group in Los Angeles, California, passed a photo of the creature to Anna Holmes at Jezebel, claiming that a friend's sister saw the monster in Montauk.
Holmes then passed it along to fellow Gawker Media website Gawker.com which gave it wide attention on July 29 under the headline "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk".

Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman at Cryptomundo first coined the name the "Montauk Monster" on July 29, 2008.
The moniker was disseminated globally on the Internet in the following days. Photographs were widely circulated via email and weblogs, and the national media picked up on it raising speculation about the creature.



Theories

Speculation in published reports included theories that the Montauk Monster might have been a turtle without its shell, even though a turtle's shell cannot be removed without damaging the spine nor do they have teeth as appear in the photograph a dog, a raccoon, or perhaps a science experiment from the nearby government animal testing facility, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
The creature's appearance was believed to have been altered through immersion in water for an extended period before coming to rest on the shore, making it difficult to identify.

William Wise, director of Stony Brook University's Living Marine Resources Institute, interpreted the photo along with a colleague; they deemed the creature a fake, most likely the result of "someone who got very creative with latex", although his "next-best guess" was that the creature could be a diseased dog or coyote which had "been in the sea for a while".
Wise discounted the following general possibilities:

Raccoon - the legs appear to be too long in proportion to the body.
Sea turtle - sea turtles do not have teeth, and the body cannot be removed from the shell without doing damage to muscle and skin tissue and the spine.
Rodent - rodents have two huge, curved incisor teeth in front of their mouths.
Dog or other canine such as a coyote - the prominent eye ridge does not match the creature's feet.
Sheep or other ovine - sheep have two-toed hooves, not multi-toed paws.

On August 1, Gawker published pictures and X-ray images of a water rat, an Australian rodent with several similarities to the Montauk Monster, such as the beak, tail, feet, and size.
On the same day, Jeff Corwin appeared on Fox News and claimed that upon close inspection of the photograph, he feels sure the monster is merely a raccoon or dog that has decomposed slightly.

On August 5, 2008, Fox News Channel's Morning Show repeated speculation that the beast is a decayed corpse of a capybara, even though capybaras do not have tails. The next day, the same program reported that an unnamed man claimed that the animal's carcass had been stolen from his front yard.

In a 2009 episode of Monster Quest, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman examined a latex replica of the Montauk Monster's remains and proposed that it was the remains of a raccoon, due to similar body structures and skull shape.

What is the truth?

What is this creature?
Is it an animal from the animal testing facility who escaped?

A beast deformed by cruel tests?

Is it even real?
Or just a well build latex monster, made by people who are against the testing facility and want to scare people with this creature?

A palaeozoologist named Darren Naish studied the photograph and concluded from visible dentition and the front paws that the creature was a raccoon, with its odd appearance merely a byproduct of decomposition and water action removing most of the animal's hair and some of its flesh.

He also showed an illustration of an intact raccoon corpse drawn over the corpse in the photograph. Furthermore he points out the strong resemblance of the skull profile to that of a raccoon, and the long fingers, which are typical of raccoons, and unlike those of other carnivores.

If you look at the skull it is very clear to be a raccoon! So there is nothing special or mysterious about this so called monster.

But the theory of a creature escaped from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center is amazing.
However the truth say otherwise.

The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil has haunted New Jersey and the surrounding areas for the past 260 years.
This entity has been seen by over 2,000 witnesses over this period.
It has terrorized towns and caused factories and schools to close down, yet many people believe that the Jersey Devil is a legend, a mythical beast, that originated from the folklore of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.


The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many different variations.

The most common description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail.

It has been reported to move quickly as to avoid human contact, and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream."

There are different versions of the birth of the Jersey Devil.

*One of the most popular legends says a Mrs. Shrouds of Leeds Point, NJ made a wish that if she ever had another child, she want it to be a devil.
Her next child was born misshapen and deformed. She sheltered it in the house, so the curious couldn't see him.
On stormy night, the child flapped it's arms, which turned into wings, and escaped out the chimney and was never seen by the family again.
A Mrs. Bowen of Leeds point said, "The Jersey Devil was born in the Shrouds house at Leeds Point."

*Another story that also placed the birth at Leeds Point said that a young girl fell in love with a British soldier during the Revolutionary War.
The people of Leeds Point cursed her. When she gave birth, she had a devil. Some people believe the birth of the devil was punishment for the mistreatment of a minister by the Leeds folk.

*Another story placed the birth in Estelville, NJ. Mrs. Leeds, of Estelville, finding out she was pregnant with her 13th child, shouted,"I hope it's a devil".
She got her wish. The child wad born with horns, a tail, wings, and a horse-like head.
The creature revisited Mrs. Leeds everyday.
She stood at her door and told it to leave. After awhile, the creature got the hint and never returned.

*Burlington, NJ, also claims to be the birthplace of the Jersey Devil. In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night. Gathered around her were her friends. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil himself. The child was born normal, but then changed form. It changed from a normal baby to a creature with hooves, a horses head, bat wings and a forked tail. It beat everyone present and flew up the chimney. It circled the villages and headed toward the pines. In 1740 a clergy exercised the devil for 100 years and it wasn't seen again until 1890.

There are many other versions of the legend.
The legends say it was the 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, or 13th child, It was born normal or deformed, and the mother confined it to the cellar or the attic.
Although there are many discrepancies in all of these stories, there are 3 pieces of "evidence" that tie all of the legends of the Jersey Devil's origin together.




The first thing that ties the legends together is the name "Leeds".
Whether the mothers name was Leeds or the birth place was Leeds Point, all of the stories include the name Leeds.
Alfred Heston, the Atlantic County Historian, believes that the devil could be a Leeds or a Shrouds baby.
He discovered that a Daniel Leeds opened land in Great Egg Harbor, NJ, in 1699.
His family lived in Leeds Point. He also discovered a Samuel Shrouds, Sr. came to Little Egg Harbor, NJ, in 1735 and lived right across the river from the house of Mother Leeds.
The 3rd fact ties in the Burlington story with the others stories.
Professor Fred MacFadden of Coppin State College, Baltimore, found that a "devil" was mentioned in writings from Burlington as early as 1735.
He also indicated that the word Burlington was used to was the word used to names the area from the city of Burlington to the Atlantic Ocean.
This means that the name that is now used for the birthplace such as Leeds point or Estelville, could be the same place referred to in the Burlington Legend.

The origins provide some validity to the existence of the Jersey Devil, but the sightings are the most substantial pieces of evidence.
The sightings have been divided up into 3 time periods, pre 1909, January 16-23, 1909, and post 1909.

From the pre 1909 era, few documented records of sightings still exist. The ones that do confirm the existence of the devil.



Early sightings

In the early 19th century, Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval hero, was testing cannon balls on the firing range when he saw a strange creature flying across the sky. He fired and hit the creature but it kept right on flying across the field.
Joseph Bonaparte, former king of Spain and brother of Napoleon, saw the Jersey Devil in Bordentown, NJ, between 1816 and 1839 while he was hunting.
In 1840-41 many sheep and chickens were killed by a creature with a piercing scream and strange tracks.
In 1859-94, the Jersey Devil was seen and numerous times and reportedly carried off anything that moved in Haddonfield, Bridgeton, Smithville, Long Branch, Brigantine, and Leeds Point. W.F. Mayer of New York noticed while visiting the Pine Barrens, most of the locals would not venture out after dark.
The devil was sighted by George Saarosy, A prominent business man, at the NJ/NY border. This was the last reported sighting before the turn of the century.



Longest appearance

In 1903, Charles Skinner, author of American Myths and Legends, claimed that the legend of the devil had run it's course and that in the new century, NJ would hear no more of the devil. New Jersey rested easy with that thought for 6 years, until the week of January 16-23. 1909. During this week, the devil would leave his tracks all over South Jersey and Philadelphia. He was seen by over 1,000 people. This was his largest appearance ever.

It all started early Sunday morning, January 16, 1909. Thack Cozzens of Woodbury, NJ, saw a flying creature with glowing eyes flying down the street. In Bristol, PA, John Mcowen heard and saw the strange creature on the banks of the canal. Patrol James Sackville fired at the creature as it flew away screaming. E.W. Minister, Postmaster of Bristol, PA, also saw a bird-like creature with a horses head that had a piercing scream. When daylight came, the residents of Bristol found hoof prints in the snow.
Two local trappers said they had never seen tracks like those before.

On Monday, the Lowdens of Burlington, NJ, found hoof prints in their yard and around their trash, which was half eaten. Almost every yard in Burlington had these strange hoof prints in them.
The prints went up trees, went from roof to roof, disappeared in the middle of the road, and stopped in the middle of open fields. The same tracks were also found in Columbus, Hedding, Kinhora and Rancocas.
A hunt was organized to follow the tracks but the dogs wouldn't follow the trail.

On the 19th the Jersey Devil made his longest appearance of the week.
At 2:30 am, Mr & Mrs. Nelson Evans of Gloucester were awakened by a strange noise.
They watched the devil from their window for 10 minutes.
Mr. Evans described the creature they saw: It was about three feet and half high, with a head like a collie dog and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves. It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs with paws on them. It didn't use the front legs at all while we were watching. My wife and I were scared, I tell you, but I managed to open the window and say, 'Shoo', and it turned around barked at me, and flew away.2

Tuesday afternoon 2 professional hunters tracked the devil for 20 miles in Gloucester. The trail jumped 5 foot fences and went under 8 inch spaces. The hoof prints were found in more parts of South Jersey. A group of observers in Camden, NJ, saw the devil. It barked at them and then took off into the air.

The next day, a Burlington police officer and the Reverend John Pursell of Pemberton saw the Jersey Devil. Rev. Pursell said, "Never saw anything like it before".
Posses in Haddonfield found tracks that ended abruptly.
In Collingswood, NJ, a posse watched the devil fly off toward Moorestown. Near Moorestown, John Smith of Maple Shade saw the devil at the Mount Carmel Cemetery. George Snyder saw the devil right after Mr. Smith and their descriptions were identical. In Riverside, NJ, hoof prints were found on roof tops and also around a dead puppy.


On Thursday, the Jersey Devil was seen by the Black Hawk Social Club.
He was also seen by a trolley full of people in Clementon as it circled above them. The witnesses descriptions matched others from the days before. In Trenton, Councilman E.P. Weeden heard the flapping of wings and then found hoof prints outside his door.
The prints were also found at the arsenal in Trenton. As the day wore on the Trolleys in Trenton and New Brunswick had armed drivers to ward off attacks.
The people in Pitman filled churches. Chickens had been missing all week throughout the Delaware Valley, but when the farmers checked their yards that day, they found their chickens dead, with no marks on them. The West Collingswood Fire Department fired their hose at the devil.
The devil retreated at first, but then charged and flew away at the last second.

Later that night, Mrs. Sorbinski of Camden heard a commotion in her yard. She opened the door to see the Jersey Devil standing there with her dog in it's grip. She hit the devil with a broom until it let go of her dog and flew away. She started screaming until her neighbors came over.
Two police officers arrived at her house where over 100 people had gathered. The crowd heard a scream coming from Kaigan Hill. The mob ran toward the creature on the hill. The Policed shot at it and the devil flew off into the night. The streets of Camden were empty after this.

On Friday, Camden police officer Louis Strehr saw the Jersey Devil saw the devil drinking from a horses trough. The school in Mt Ephraim was closed because no students came in. Mills and factories in Gloucester and Hainesport had to close because none of the employees came to work. Many New Jersey residents wouldn't leave their houses, even in daylight. Officer Merchant of Blackwood drew a sketch of the creature he saw. His sketch coincided with the descriptions from earlier in the week. Jacob Henderson saw the devil in Salem and described it as having "wings and a tail"4. The devil was only seen once more in 1909 in February.

Since 1909, the Jersey Devil has continued to be sighted by people all over New Jersey. The number of sightings that have been reported to the authorities has dwindled over the years. This could be attributed to the fact that people don't want to be branded as crazy. Even though the number of reported sightings has dropped, there's still a considerable amount of sightings in the post 1909 era.


Recent sightings

IN 1927, a cab driver on his way to Salem got a flat tire. He stopped to fix the tire. As he was doing this, creature that stood upright and was covered with hair, landed on the roof of his cab. The creature shook his car violently. He fled the scene, leaving the tire and jack behind.
Phillip Smith, who was known as a sober and honest man, saw the devil walking down the street in 1953. The characteristic screams of the Jersey Devil were heard in the woods near Woodstown, NJ, in 1936.



Around 1961, 2 couples were parked in a car in the Pine Barrens. They heard a loud screeching noise outside. Suddenly the roof of the car was smashed in. They fled the scene, but returned later. Again they heard the loud screech. They saw a creature flying along the trees, taking out huge chinks of bark as it went along.

There have been other sightings since 1909, such as the Invasion of Gibbsboro in 1951. The people there saw the devil over a 2 day period. In 1966, a farm was raided and 31 ducks, 3 geese, 4 cats, and 2 dogs were killed. One of the dogs was a large german Shepard which had it's throat ripped out. In 1981, a young couple spotted the devil at Atsion Lake in Atlantic County.


The sightings and prints are the most substantial evidence that exists.
Many of the theories on the Jersey Devil are based upon that evidence.
Some theories can be proven invalid, while others seem to provide support for the Jersey Devil's existence.



Theories

One theory is that the Jersey Devil is a bird.
Mrs. Cassidy of Clayton thought it was an invasion of scrowfoot ducks. The scrowfoot duck is much too small to be mistaken for the devil. Others believe the devil is really a sand hill crane.
The crane used to live in South Jersey until it was pushed out by man. The sand hill crane weighs about 12 lbs., is 4 foot high, and a wingspan of 80 inches. It avoids man but if confronted it will fight. It has a loud scream whooping voice that can be heard at a distance. This could account for the screams heard by witnesses. The crane also eats potatoes and corn. This could account for the raids on crops.
This theory doesn't explain , however, the killing of live stock. It also doesn't explain why people described the devil as having a horses head, bat wings and tail, all of which the crane doesn't have.



Jack E. Boucher, author of Absagami Yesteryear, has a theory in which he believes the devil was a deformed child. He thinks Mrs. Leeds had a disfigured child and kept it locked away in the house. She grew sick and couldn't feed the child anymore. It escaped out of hunger and raided local farms for food. This doesn't take into account the incredible life span of the devil. The child would have been 174 years old in 1909. It also doesn't account for the sightings of the devil flying.



Only a small amount of the sightings and footprints could be hoaxes. The Jersey Devil has been seen by reliable people such as police, government officials, postmasters, businessman, and other people whose "integrity is beyond question." As for the hoof prints, even if some were hoaxes, There is still no way to explain most of the tracks, especially the ones on roof tops and tracks that ended abruptly as if the creature took wing.


The Jersey Devil's habit of being a forerunner to wars could be because of his possible demonic origins. In 1730, Ben Franklin reported a story about a witchcraft trial near Mt Holly, NJ. One of the origin legends say that Mother Leeds was a witch. The devil's birth could have been a result of a witches curse.

The Jersey Devil died?

In 1909, a track walker on the electric railroad saw the devil fly into the wires above the tracks. There was a violent explosion which melted the track 20 feet in both directions. No body was found and the devil was seen later in perfect health. In 1957, the Department of Conservation found a strange corpse in a burned out area of the pines. It was a partial skeleton, feathers, and hind legs of an unidentifiable creature.
The devil was thought to be dead, but reappeared when the people of New Jersey thought that this time his death was real.
Each time he is reported dead, he returns. The Jersey Devil will be 260 years old.
It seems the devil is immortal, which a supernatural being would be.
Another thing that supports this theory is the incredible distances the devil could fly in a short period of time. No animal could travel as fast as the devil did in 1909 when he was sighted in South Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York through out the week.



What is the truth?

None of these theories can give a definitive answer to what the Jersey Devil was or is.
But the sightings prove there is something out there.

Whether the Jersey devil is a bird or a demon, is still left ot speculation.
The people of New Jersey have definitely seen something out there lurking in the Pine Barrens.


So let`s hope in these modern times, someone will gets it on tape or capture this mystique creature!