Top 10 Paranormal Events of 2004

From Stephen Wagner,Your Guide to Paranormal Phenomena.

It’s a weird world we live in, and 2004 was not a disappointment when it comes to reports of paranormal phenomena. It’s difficult coming up with the “top ten�?events among the many ghost reports, monster sightings, psychic experiences and other mysteries of the unexplained, but here, in no particular order, are ten of the most interesting.

1. Ghostly Discoveries

The Psychic and the Ghost of a Murdered Girl �?The Wheatsheaf pub in West Boldon, England had a history of ghostly activity: chairs and utensils moving about of their own accord, and even an occasional shove of the pub’s staff by unseen hands. Psychic Suzanne Hadwin came to investigate as part of a psychic charity event and got more than she bargained for. She said she sensed as many as 37 spirits in the pub, but in particular tuned in to the ghost of a six-year-old girl named Jessica Ann Hargreaves. Hadwin said little Jessica told her she had been raped and strangled to death in 1908, and her body stuffed in the pub’s fireplace; she said her body was still in the pub. Now a psychic can tell any story and it can be difficult to verify it. However, in this case, a bit of digging was done in the wall where the pub’s old fireplace used to be. Sure enough, a lock of hair, a heel of a shoe and fragments of clothing from a little girl were found �?just where Jessica’s ghost said they would be. (Full story.)

2. Haunted Places

Ghosts at a Courthouse Set Off the Security System �?It’s one thing to sense a ghost or even claim to see a vaporous apparition. Those can easily be dismissed as works of the imagination. But high-tech security systems don’t have imaginations �?they react to whatever is in front of them. So when motion-detecting cameras at Mendocino County Courthouse in Ukiah, California clicked on for no earthly reason, they confirmed what the janitorial staff had long known: the place is haunted. The janitors had experience with a ghost they’ve named George, a female ghost in dress and heels, and a spirit that like to take control of an elevator. In late March, 2004, however, the courthouse’s new security system, designed to click on when they sense motion, caught an anomalous mist that moved back and forth across the lower hallway. The unknown entity even partially obscured a light. Pretty convincing evidence. (Full story.)

3. Bigfoot Encounters

Woman Surprises a Skunk Ape �?Large, hairy ape-like creatures have been reported in every state of the U.S. In the Pacific northwest it’s called Sasquatch. In places like Ohio it’s known as Bigfoot. But in Florida and a few other southern states, the tall, upright walking hominid is called the Skunk Ape. A highly credible sighting of the Skunk Ape was reported in August by Jennifer Ward as she was driving home with her children on a dark rural road. It was crouching in a ditch, but as she slowed her car to see it better, the creature stood to its full six- to eight-foot height. “When he saw me, he was as surprised as I was,�?Ward told the newspapers. She described it as being covered almost completely with dark hair about two inches long, white areas around the eyes, and full lips that had the color and texture of the pad on a dog’s paw. This kind of detail is most compelling and is good evidence that there really are unknown creatures out there. (Full story.)

4. Lake Monsters

Ogopogo Caught on Video - The Loch Ness Monster in Scotland gets most of the publicity, but the U.S. and Canada have their own versions of prehistoric-like lake monsters. There’s Champ in Lake Champlain, and in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia is a similar creature that has been sighted numerous times over many decades, and it’s known as the Ogopogo Monster. Sightings nowadays are rare, and rarer still are photographs and video. But on August 9, John Caruso and his family were vacationing on a rented houseboat on the picturesque lake when they spotted a long, writhing shape in the water. Caruso grabbed his video camera and taped about 15 minutes of footage, part of which shows a long dark hump rising above the lake’s surface. He estimated the creature to be about 45 feet long! (Full story.)

5. Weird Creatures

The Mutant Beastie - Strange, unidentified creatures seemed to pop up in various places in the summer of 2004. The one that grabbed most of the headlines, however, were weird dog-like creatures in Texas. But these weren’t just sightings. The authorities had actual bodies of the creatures, which for many weeks remained unidentified. The hairless, gray-skinned animals kind of looked like dogs, kind of like coyotes, but not really. They were so unusual that veterinarians and zoologists seeing the bodies of the animals first hand (they had been shot by ranchers) could not identify them. Speculation among some was that this was the mysterious Chupacabras. Finally, a DNA test was conducted, which determined that genetically they were coyotes, but probably were suffering from some extreme form of mange. Even those tests didn’t answer all of the questions, however. The animal’s lower jaw was abnormal �?so abnormal, in fact, that experts guessed that it would have been almost impossible for it to eat. (Full story.)

6. Living Dinosaurs

Dino Hunt �?What creature could be more spectacular than a living, breathing dinosaur? No, not the computer-generated dinos from Jurassic Park �?I’m talking about real dinosaurs... alive... today! Impossible, you say? There have been reported sightings of pterodactyls in the U.S. going back 100 years or more, and alleged stories of large sauropods in the African Congo. In May, residents of the volcanic island province of East New Britain in Papua New Guinea claimed to have sighted a grey-skinned, nine-foot-tall dinosaur-like creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile, and “as fat as a 900-litre water tank.�?They said it lived in a marsh near the the provincial capital, Kokopo. The local mayor sent out a police force armed with M-16s and shotguns. Unfortunately, no trace of the creature was found. (Full story.)

7. Earth Mysteries

Stones from the Heavens - Most of us can deal just fine with heavy rain, snow, sleet �?even hail. But what do you do when you’re pelted with stones falling from the sky? A family in Limpopo, South Africa fell victim to this strange phenomenon in May. Incredibly, this is not the first such case of stones falling on an area �?even on specific individuals �?for hours, even weeks at a time. This past May, Joyce Lambani finally had to summon the police after her house had been rained upon by stones virtually every night for a month. The skeptical police came to observe, and sure enough they saw it, too. "We've been watching the house every night since Monday and have also seen the stones falling from the sky above the house,�?one of the policeman said. Their investigation could find no culprit or any logical explanation for the phenomenon. (Full story.)

8. Human Mysteries

Stones from Her Eyes - If you think stones raining from the sky are unusual, how about when they drop out of a girl’s eyes? In October, a 15-year-old girl from Jharkhand, New Zealand was taken to a hospital because tiny stones were emerging from the corners of her eyes. The doctors admitted they had never seen anything like it and were at a loss to explain it. Before the stones dropped out, the girl reported terrible headaches (as you can imagine). Oh yes, the stones also appeared out of her ears and nose as well. “Stones from the eyes is a strange phenomenon as this has not even found mention in medical literature," one of the doctors said. (Full story.)

9. Religious Mysteries

Weeping Icons �?2004 saw its fair share of religious statues and paintings that weep and bleed. Every year, dozens of such incidents are reported around the world. Many are assumed to be faked and churches rarely assert that they might be genuine miracles. Without fail, however, hundreds or even thousands of the faithful (and curiosity seekers) flock to the icons to see for themselves. One such “miracle�?took place in St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church near Cleveland, Ohio. Church members reported that an icon of the Virgin Mary on the altar began weeping an oily substance on a Saturday afternoon. A priest who has been at the parish for more than 30 years called the phenomenon a sign from God. And it wasn’t that church’s first such miracle. Back in 1990, an icon of Jesus appeared to be weeping. (Full story.)

10. Lost Worlds

Atlantis Found �?Again �?Every year or so, an explorer claims to have finally, definitively discovered the ruins of the lost continent of Atlantis. Claims have been made for the Celtic shelf, Ireland, the Bahamas, off the coast of Cuba and even Antarctica. In November, when American researcher Robert Sarmast said he had really found it this time, on the Mediterranean Sea floor between Cyprus and Syria, his claim made headlines around the world. His team said their sonar equipment detected evidence of large, apparently manmade structures, including two straight walls on a hill stretching for more than a mile. The configuration, they said, matches accounts of the great city as described by Plato more than 2,000 years ago. Further expeditions to the site, the team hopes, will prove it once and for all. (Full story.)