Conspiracies

Suttons, Flatwoods & Oompah-Loompahs

One reason [the Flatwoods Monster case] might remind you of the Kelly goblins is the name “Sutton.” It’s the town next to Flatwoods and the name of the family that was besieged one night by goblins, aliens, eagle owls or Oompah-Loompahs.Robert Schneck, November 6, 2007. Don Getty, River Otters, Grand Tetons. Used with full permission of Mr. Getty. Images and laughter sometimes are worth a thousand words.

The Flatwoods Monster Decoded

The date was September 12, 1952. The place, Flatwoods, West Virginia. On that crisp fall day, Kathleen May (pictured), Eugene Lemon, 17, Neal Nunley, 14, Eddie May, 13, Teddie May, 14, Ronald Shaver, 10, Teddie Neal, 10, Tommy Hyer, 10, and Lemon’s big old dog, climbed to the top of a hill and saw a “monster.” They immediately felt they had to run, as fast as they could, someplace. The huge dark figure with glowing eyes and a head “like the ace of spades” blocked their path. About 12 feet high (4 meters), the figure had a reddish face and [...]

Maneless Maneaters May Leave USA

During the fall, coming in and out of the news, has been the demand from Kenya that Chicago’s Field Museum return the remains of two lions that reportedly killed about 135 Indian railworkers (but probably actually only about 25) in the 1890s, before being shot by a famed British railway engineer. These lions are the infamous maneaters of Tsavo. Railway engineer Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson – whose adventures formed the basis of the Oscar-winning 1996 movie The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, shot the strange cats in December 1898. Twenty-six years later Patterson sold the [...]

Dangerous Names

In Mysterious America, I have written about the sinister nature of the “name game.” There can be a bloody side to the name game, as well. I’ve published some thoughts about this – as evidenced by the Ohio school shooting this week – in new blog over at the Copycat Effect site, here: “Cleveland’s Coon: A Columbine Copycat”. I am not shy about confronting the racial underpinnings in issues, so for those faint of heart about that topic, you won’t want to read that blog. As many of you know, as a consultant and volunteer, I am involved in preventing [...]