DeathWatch: Class is in Session

    Before we go any farther into this little fright-fest I'm writing, I thought I'd be a nice person and explain beforehand a little bit about the various types of hauntings I'll be writing about (oh, and just so you know, Blogger just told me I spelled "hauntings" wrong, as I spelled it as you see it now. Great job, spellcheck) so you can understand what the heck I'm saying. I've divided the typical hauntings into classes (sorry, no Class 5A Repeating Phantasms here) and will give a summary of each; more will be described with each corresponding case I cover. If you already know these, feel free to skip over this post.   

• Residual--This is quite possibly the least dangerous of all possible hauntings, so if your house has to be haunted (for whatever reason), this is probably your best option. It's not a chain-rattling, throw-things-at-the-wall, possess-your-kids-and-kill-your-dog haunting. It's like a broken record, as it's more trapped energy than anything. This haunting goes on in a pattern or routine: Footsteps down the same hall the same time every night, for example, or the same door swinging open by itself every time. The energy is just doing what it did when it was alive, and nothing will cause it to deviate because it does not recognize its surroundings to the extent that an intelligent haunting does. You could stand in the middle of the hall right as it's walking down and it'll just go right on through. A lot of residuals are connected with a traumatic event, like a murder, rape, fire, etc., that released a lot of energy into the surroundings when it occured.    
• Intelligent--This is a dead guy, who either might or might not realize that he's dead, who makes attempts to communicate--or can, at least, try--by talking, moving or throwing things, or reacting to surroundings or changes in them (renovation--does it every time). It may do things on a pattern, but only if it wants to; these ghosts are usually unpredictable, and that can make a dangerous spirit even worse. They're not necessarily automatically dangerous; some just want to pass on a message or watch over their beloved pansy bush or can't cross over for some reason. Then again, some want to kill whoever rearranges their furniture. It all depends on the dead guy.  
• Poltergeist--Some people believe this is a mischievous spirit, while others believe that poltie (my term--I really don't feel like typing the word out five thousand million times) activity can be caused by built-up or heavily repressed energy and that's why so many poltie cases center around teenagers (especially us girls--you know how we get) or troubled people, and that's personally where I throw my chips in, because most of the research seems to point that way. That makes it hard to get rid of such a haunting, because often the activity wouldn't stop in a house until the person giving off the energy was removed from the setting. Of course, it would just start up wherever that person ended up, sometimes made even worse by the move. Many times, if the cause was a teen, once that person's hormones settled a majority of the activity would stop, or at least become less severe.    
• Inhuman/Demonic--BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD. Let me say it again: BAD. If one of these pops up in your place or residence, be it apartment, rancher, mansion, or RV, get the heck out while you still can. These spirits were never alive to begin with, and come up from Hell (many times summoned by accident or by means that seem innocent to start with) simply to wreak havoc with God-fearing souls. They may appear in other forms, like a child or other innocent shape, but soon reveal themselves--disembodied growls, random burns or scratches, violent events, and the smell of crap or "dirty diapers" are all hallmarks of a traditional inhuman haunting, as well as threatening EVPs and ones that mention demons, the Devil, or have many F-bombs dropped--you hear "F F F F F" and you either got an inhuman or your house is being haunted by Samuel L. Jackson.  
• Shadow People--They are not usually considered to be human hauntings. Their most obvious trait is that they do not have many distinct features and instead look like...well, I think you can figure that out yourself, dude. They're usually seen out of the corner of your eye, and act different from your typical "ghost." Usually they don't wear clothes (except for some who are seen in hats or sometimes long coats) and pass through walls and stuff like that. Sometimes they actually do hang out in closets and under beds, so the next time your child complains, don't just brush it off as a nightmare. It might just be all too real.  
• Doppelganger-- You know, the "twin" thing. This is where you're standing somewhere and see, out of the corner of your eye, yourself standing down the street. This is probably one of the rarest hauntings that you'll encounter. Some people actually claim to have the ability to control their twin and can call them up at will; there's plenty of stories of professors or workers calling up a double to go to work instead of them. This is also a favorite on The Twilight Zone. 

    More information, of course, will be forthcoming; this was just a SparkNotes of sorts to get you started. I hope it helped and, remember, if you have any encounters or questions, Linda's always listening: starbaby.skywatch@yahoo.com.     

DeathWatch: Nightmare on Elm Avenue

    A couple of days ago, my friend (who I'll call Lily to protect her privacy because she asked me to) and I were talking in the hallway before class when all of a sudden she exclaimed, "I saw a ghost this weekend!"
    Of course, that totally made a Monday morning better, so I immediately began asking her for details. She was a bit hyper and so at first she didn't exactly give me the straightest of answers, but I eventually weaseled them out of her, as well as permission to put them up on here for you to share.
    This happened on Saturday, October 20th, between ten and eleven o'clock at night (according to Lily, closer to eleven). Lily and her friend Tyler were walking down Elm Avenue, a local street, to meet Lily's curfew, and Lily was the first to notice it. In the front yard of one of the houses there, a decoration of some sort was hanging from a tree, and though there was no breeze or anything Lily noticed that it was swinging. 
    No. I know that in itself is not a sign of a ghost, so shut up and don't post angry comments, all right? 
    Lily looked closer, wondering what had caused the decoration to start swinging, and nudged Tyler, wondering if he knew. She looked next to the tree, and then she saw...whatever the heck it was. Lily says she saw it first peeking out from behind the tree and then, when she blinked and looked again, it was, well, out there. The way she described it to me, it was "definitely female," and put her in mind of Samara--you know, the freaky ghost-thing from The Ring. I can't vouch for it, of course, as I wasn't with her, but she said that it was, aside from being "definitely female," it had long hair hanging down over its face and ragged clothing. It was too dark, she said, for her to make out specific colors or features, but she knew what she saw and immediately freaked out, pointing it out to Tyler. Both of them looked at each other and turned and ran--well, Tyler had a skateboard, so he more rolled than ran. But you get the idea.
    I wanted to be careful about this; I didn't want to risk my reputation by putting something up here and saying it was a ghost she saw when it turns out it was really another Halloween decoration propped up in the front yard or something. So I asked Lily if it could have been a fake figure, like a scarecrow or prop witch or something, but she assured me it wasn't--after all, what kind of decoration peeks out from behind a tree and then decides to pop out? And she had looked at that spot before, when the hanging decoration was moving, so if it really had been there the whole time, she would have seen it.
    I wasn't there, like I said before, so I can't say without a doubt that it was a ghost that Lily and Tyler saw. But I trust Lily and know she wouldn't lie to me, especially about something I would love to build a (nonpaying) career around. And I plan to go down Elm Avenue one day soon myself and check out the front yard myself, just to see what I can see. So what did Lily see? I can't tell you, and unless you know Lily she can't really either. But I can say that I don't doubt her, and unless I can prove without a doubt that it was just some scarecrow she saw, I'll always be looking a bit more carefully when I see hanging decorations start to swing without a breeze...after all, you never know who you could run into out there.      

DeathWatch: When I Grow Up...

    I want to be a ghost hunter.
    Of course, I want to be other things as well (an author, a UFO chaser, maybe a member of TAPS...which I suppose is technically a ghost hunter...moving on), but I really do have a drive to go hunt ghosts, and as far as I know there is no "season" to hunting ghosts, which means I can hunt them spring, summer, fall, and winter, and I intend to.
    But whenever I tell people that, I get the same look and the same question: "Why?" That's usually followed by the blunt statement, "You know you don't get paid to do that, you know." Oftentimes, I get that statement from the same person, even after I've explained it to them a million times. So I've decided to explain to the Internet now; hopefully someone out there will get it. 
    For me, the "why" and the other statement go hand in hand. Often people ask me why I would want to be a ghost hunter when there's no money in it. My answer is just as blunt, and just as simple. I don't want to be a ghost hunter for the money. If I did, well, I'd be an idiot, because there's really no money in it anyway. 
    I want to be a ghost hunter because I want to help people. When I watch TV shows like My Ghost Story or Paranormal Witness and see terrified families with terrified kids and terrified dogs (because there are almost always dogs and cats on those shows), I get uncomfortable and, well, sad, because I plan on having a family some day and I don't want my kids growing up afraid to go to sleep because there's a shadow-man in their closet or an ols woman who comes out of the walls the second the lights go out. I want to help the people who think they're going crazy when things move on their own or they hear voices in their hallways or a face looks back from their mirror. I want to help everybody I can because I know that if it were me and my family suffering like that I would want someone to help and believe me.
    I also want to help the ghosts themselves, if that's not too hard to believe (then again, you're reading my blog, though, so that's a sliding scale). As much as I hate watching kids get scared, I also hate hearing about kid ghosts trapped on Earth wandering around looking for their mothers, or people who for one reason or another can't cross over. I want to help those ghosts communicate at the same time that I want to help the families they're trying to communicate with. Of course, like people, there will always be ghosts who don't want to be helped, and I suppose Ii can't help that. But I can do all I can, and that's what I want to do.
    Maybe there isn't any money in it. But it's not what you do, it's why you do it. I've heard that before, and you probably have, too. If I just go around trying to get ectoplasm samples for the money, for the fortune and glory, people aren't going to buy that--and my conscience isn't, either. But if I go around trying to help all the people and spirits that I can, people will buy that without really buying it, if you get what I'm saying. 
    No, I won't get rich off of it, so I guess it's good that's not what I'm doing it for, huh? I'm doing it to help. To make some sort of contact with spirits and some sort of difference for living people. I can still turn this into a career, even if it isn't a paying one. I just want to help. That's all. 
    And that's why I want to be a ghost hunter.

SkyWatch: I Love it When I Make Things Easy for Me

    And I bet you guys love it when I make things easy for you, too, huh? I mean, after my last few posts nobody needs a long, sprawling rant about why there's no doubt in my mind (and the minds of many others as well, though no doubt theirs are wrapped in tinfoil at this very moment) that some form of unknown alien life is responsible for at least some of these mysterious mutilations; that information is peppered all throughout the previous posts. 

Note: Not an actual photograph of events, as far as I know.

    Yes, obviously, in some cases there can be an alternate, earthly explanation, such as disease, predation, random lightning strikes, and the intervention of some seriously sick humans. But what about the truly strange cases that seem to preclude any of these causes? The carcass found in a fresh mud puddle with no tracks anywhere around it? The carcass found in a tree, bones broken as if it had been dropped from a great height, with no clue as to how it could have gotten there without anybody seeing the crane/truck/Satanists/etc. that would have been needed to haul it? These, along with aspects of many other cases, seem to suggest that there are other, stranger forces at work here. Just to recap what was mentioned throughout the other posts:

• Many ranchers saw strange lights in the sky either just before or after a mutilation took place, and UFO sightings often increase in an area where mutilations have taken place (or are, considering that they continue today)
• Strange burns, as well as occasional traces of radiation, have often been found around or near the mutilated carcasses, as well as burn/cauterization marks on the carcasses themselves at temperatures that known technology can't reach and without causing cellular damage, which even with modern technology is physically impossible
• Neat, straight cuts of surgical precision have been found on many of the carcasses (maybe "surgical precision" isn't the right term for it, considering that when the marks have been examined by vets and plastic surgeons, they've been unable to replicate some of the marks both in technique and quality)--although who knows, they may be the work of a coyote with a medical degree
•  The lack of physical evidence left at the scene, whether it's the absence of footprints or tire treads; no blood left in the body, found on the wounds, or around the carcass at the scene; no bone fragments, which should have been spraying like sawdust as the mutilators took a bonesaw to ol' Bessie; or any clues as to how the carcasses that appeared to have been moved from wherever they were killed had been moved without anyone noticing, especially considering that some seemed to have been dropped from a great height, and even dragging should have left a clear trail--and would no doubt have taken some time to accomplish, heightening the chance that the mutilator(s) might be caught in the middle of the crime, yet none ever were

    Of course, many argue that the fact that just because the technology being used is nowhere close to what the public is aware of, that doesn't mean that we don't (as in, the government doesn't) actually have it, that it's just being kept secret from us and so is the purpose of whatever the government might actually be doing with these cows, whether it's related to warfare, scientific experiment, or something else, and I would have to say that yes, there probably is an element of the government at work here. However, I'm more inclined to go with the theory that the government is aware of the extraterrestrial cause of these incidents and working to keep that quiet--maybe to avoid mass panic, maybe in exchange for advanced technology and other scientific knowledge: Lose a few cows, gain a few alien warheads. I wouldn't put that past them. 
    Or, of course, there's another explanation out there that I don't think anyone has considered yet, the theory of my friend's that I promised to mention in a later post and I know you've all been waiting breathlessly for: vampires with laser vision. I mean, in a weird way, it does fit the profile. Vampires would be able to drain a heifer's blood without leaving any trace except the puncture wounds that have been found, and the laser vision takes care of the "where are these cauterized laser cuts coming from?" question; vampire super-strength would allow them to drag/drop/carry the cow over great distances rather quickly, as well. As for what a vampire might want with internal and external organs, well, that presents a bit of a problem--unless the vampire knows a werewolf with a really great souffle recipe that for some reason calls for cow udders and eyeballs. 
    Of course, that's probably not what's going on here, but hey. Suddenly aliens seem a little less unlikely, don't they?  
     Just remember: Never accept the generic explanation, especially if it comes from a man in a suit flying a helicopter. And never poke an elemental spirit with a stick. I've recently learned they don't really like that.

By the Way...

    I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. I know most of you probably don't care and only come here for evidence for research for your psychology papers and stuff, but for those of you who do, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to disillusion you. I wasn't kidnapped and kept in some secret prison with other bloggers by a government angry at me for spilling even more covert secrets than they do; the president has bigger issues to worry about than a teenage alien/ghost hunter with a library computer and a blog. Like Big Bird. 
    And no, I wasn't abducted by aliens, and the experience did not traumatize me so that I couldn't write for a while. I wasn't attacked by a ghost, possessed by a minion of Satan, or hangin' with Bigfoot, either, as much as I would have liked to have been doing option three. 
    I've had a lot of schoolwork. Boring, but true. I've been swamped by AP History/English homework, and that's unfortunately kept me from riding Nessie like a Lapras or running around Eastern State Penitentiary shrieking my fool head off. 
    But I've just found out that my school's computer no longer blocks the "post" feature on Blogger, so the next time I find myself with some free time down in the computer lab....
    Heigh ho, Nessie!!! 

SkyWatch: The Government!

    Ah, yes, so now we've come to that lovely time where I begin accusing the government of things and you have to choose whether to sit and listen or storm off and mutter under your breath about conspiracy theorists (just so you know, I think Oswald was the only one gunning for Kennedy that day, all right?).
    Because the government is involved, to some extent, with cattle mutilations, according to the theory behind curtain number three. 

 

    
    What evidence exists of that, you ask? 
    There is some, although maybe not so much as there is for, say, aliens, but then again, we all know how good the government can be at times at hiding things (and, at times, how much they can absolutely suck...but I digress).  However, not to swing you one way or the other, though some may claim that the government officials themselves are the ones chopping up the cows, I don't think that's so. My personal opinion is (and most of the evidence involving possible government involvement seems to point this way) that the government knows about who or what is doing these things and is either trying to investigate for themselves or are actively involved, for some reason or another, in a cover-up (not as dangerous as the one they tired to do over the whole Libya thing, but here I go again digressing...).  
    Above many of the areas where the mutilations were going on, there were unmarked black helicopters seen flying over, sometimes at altitudes that were strange or even illegal. Most report them as flying away when they were spotted, but sometimes they apparently shot at or "buzzed" witnesses. Evidence for this, however, is scant. Some scared ranchers started shooting at these helicopter when they saw them fly overhead--or, well, really, they shot at any unfamiliar helicopters they saw whenever cows started getting mutilated, which caused local officials all over the place to start ordering their helicopters to start flying higher to avoid getting hit in case they were shot at.
    Some also claim that this theory is supported by the fact that in Lincoln County in 1975, a blue satchel was found by a rancher near his mailbox (no word on if it came by certified mail or not--and do you send cow parts by first class mail or just on a regular truck?) that had no prints but contained a bloody scalpel and plastic artificial insemination gloves, along with a cow's ear and part of a tongue. The satchel, which was unmarked, was assumed to be government issue, even though that was never proven. The missing parts, as well, didn't match up with any mutilation reports that the local authorities knew of. CBI chief (wait for it) Carl Whiteside said it was passed on to another jurisdiction without an investigation--because whenever you find a bag of bloody cow parts you don't wanna know where it came from, right? That alone stinks...although it might be the cow's ear, you never know.
    Some have also claimed to have seen unmarked vans--the hallmark of covert (well, somewhat) government involvement--near the scenes of the mutilations and helicopter sightings and have reasoned that one and one and one is three. Does the presence of several vans mean that the government is involved? No. But it makes me think they sure are curious about something they claim was just, like, blackleg or coyotes, huh? 

"For the last time, IT WASN'T ME. Why do you keep accusing me? Why? Just because I'm a damn coyote I'm automatically guilty???"

    There's not much to definitively say right now that the government is or was involved in this whole bloody mess, so for now they won't be the focus of this arc. Instead, we'll be moving on to what I know you kids have all been waiting for: a very different kind of E.T. than you guys are used to. And, corny as it may be I just have to say it: This alien doesn't want to phone home. He wants your cow's udder.    
    For whatever reason.