Cullan Hudson's Blog, page 23

CURSE OF THE SLOW-MOVING TINY EGYPTIAN STATUE!

To the bafflement of many, a 10-inch tall Egyptian statue of someone known as Neb-senu has been captured on video seemingly moving of its accord. Over the course of 11 hours, the statue rotated on its pedestal at the Manchester Museum in Manchester, England.
Scientific explanations abound: some have noticed the statue only moves during the day when people are stomping through the building. But if some sort of vibration is moving it, why now? The statue has been on display at the museum for 80 years. So why has the museum staff only now noticed this peculiar phenomenon?

Read more here and watch a time lapse video.

Todd May of Ogden, UT found a big rock--I mean fossilized...

Todd May of Ogden, UT found a big rock--I mean fossilized Bigfoot head. Sigh. You can read more about it here CLICK

If You've Seen One Jersey Devil (You've Probably Seen A Squirrel)

An image of a bare nekkid squirrel sent the Interwebs abuzz when it was presented as the Jersey Devil, a gargoyle, and yet another Dupe-acabra.

The odd-looking image originally appeared on the Wild Care Oklahoma Facebook page on May 6, 2013. It was posted by a fellow named Ed Brookshire. He clearly understood it was a bald squirrel that lived in his shed and liked burying pecans in his garden.

Apparently from there it spread across the Internet by THOSE people (you know who you are) as all manner of cryptid beasties.

The Nephilim, The Sons of God, Hybrids, and Questions

Many who attempt to wrest greater truths from the arcane and obscure have often embraced the biblical mention of the Nephilim, transcribing the word as meaning "giants". Frequently, this to support theories that giants once walked the earth, giving credence to apocryphal finds of giant human-like bones. Some use it to bolster their premise in the existence of statuesque hirsute hominids unknown to science.

Then there are those who posit the Nephilim were hybrids, spawned by alien encounters with human women. This belief stems from what is written in Genesis 6:4

When men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them, the Sons of God saw the daughters of men were attractive. They took as their wives any they chose. The lord said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the Sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

But if you re-read that (paying careful attention to the parenthetical notes below), you will see what I do: that the Nephilim are separate from the offspring born from the Sons of God and the women of man. It is these offspring that are the men of old, the men of renown. Not the Nephilim. This section simply states, perhaps as a way to reference WHEN this occurred, that these events took place in the time of the Nephilim.

When men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them, the Sons of God (meaning not sons of man) saw the daughters of men were attractive  They took as their wives any they chose. The lord said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." The NEPHILIM were on the earth in those days (meaning the Nephilim were around when this was taking place), and also afterward, when the Sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

While some scholars do translate the word Nephilim as meaning "giant", many more believe it means either "the fallen" or "those who caused others to fall". They might have been great warriors of old. Ezekiel 32:27 mentions "the mighty fallen," which translates fallen as nophlim.

The reference to a giant is not explicit, but it is metaphorical in Numbers 13:33 when an analog establishes that as we view grasshoppers, so the Nephilim view us. This could be taken to mean that they literally look down on us because they are so tall, but would they really be of comparable to a human/grasshopper height relationship? That seems rather extreme. They would be the size of a 15 story building. It's hard to swallow. But then a lot is, I suppose. Inarguably, the description does come from men that Caleb had sent ahead to scout out the land. When they returned, they spread calumnies (false statements) about the area ahead, saying it was peopled by the Anakites (half-breed giants who some claim were the offspring of human woman and the Nephilim; others believe they were just a group of tall, powerful men) who were much stronger than the Israelites.  Since Caleb had been sent by Moses to find the promised land of Milk and Honey, it is curious as to what Caleb's men found that made them want to lie about the land ahead. Perhaps they saw a foe they couldn't defeat and so exaggerated the peril they faced in order to dissuade their fellow Israelites from forging ahead with God's commandment to take the land from them. Perhaps it only means that they saw the Israelites as inferior, insignificant, or pests. Either way, they didn't want to be there.

Going back to Genesis, 'the ones who have fallen' seems most apt if you consider the next section of that book deals with God deciding he didn't like his creation (man? the hybrids?) and was getting ready to flood them out. The Nephilim could be a term applied to them post-deluge when none could quite remember what they called themselves. So, they became the fallen. Those that didn't make  it.

Who were they then? It's hard to say. But the bigger question would be... Who were the Sons of God that interbred with human women. It would seem, by context, that it was THIS experiment that needed to be expunged as God then goes on to rinse that gray right outta the earth.

Some theological theorists believe they were the offspring of angels. Angels that come from the heavens, so you could see the intergalactic impregnation theory holding up through that one--even if the sire has shifted from the misconstrued Nephilim to the Sons of God. There is mention in the Bible of 'fallen angels'. Given that Nephilim is likely to mean fallen and Sons of God is a plausible metaphor for Angels, we could easily see this as being the case. And there is linguistic evidence in the bible that correlates the Hebrew phrase for "sons of god" with a section of the Book of Job that specifically talks about angels.

Interestingly, Jewish tradition translates this as "Sons of Nobles," meaning they were completely human, but of a higher social status.

Others believe it references the Sons of Seth, some the Sons of Cain. The list goes on. Aramaic culture, for instance, translates this as the "offspring of Orion," as in the constellation Orion.

So the enigma and controversy will likely continue and it is doubtful we will ever come to understand who exactly were the Nephilim and who these Sons of God must have been.

Will Willow Creek Be Worth The Goldthwait?

While those crypto-lovers lucky enough to have caught comedian-cum-director Bobcat Goldthwait's film The Bigfoot Witch Project [sorry...checking notes...oh, actually titled Willow Creek] have been having nonstop nerdgasms, the rest of us are left wondering about this film. It wouldn't be fair to give a critical analysis of the film without having seen it, but I can delve into some of the buzz to see if will fall on my must-see list.

Willow Creek is another entry into the bloated (and frquently contrived) genre of film known as Found Footage, which involves shooting in a cinema verite style to effect the look of a low-budget documentary, news report, or social media narcissism. It's a filmaking technique that was novel when it came to the forefront with the Blair Witch Project in the 1990s, but has quickly become a lazy way to make an inexpensive film (Paranormal Activity anyone?) that relies heavily on cheap scares.

But what made the Blair Witch Project so effective was that, for all intents and purposes, this style of film had never been done before. There was a large number of people who thought it was real. THAT was its one, highly-successful hat trick. But once your mind has been blown, it's hard to unblow it. Over time, the entries into the found footage category have mounted like fetid corpses of lazy filmmaking with only the rarest of gems rising out the muck.

Is this one of them? I can't say. Not until I have seen it.

But I'm pessimistic. The contrived nature of the genre requires the viewer to overcome one huge obstacle: Why the hell are they STILL filming? I mean, the killer or the monster or the aliens or the demonic entity is savaging them constantly, but even at the height of the terror, someone is still worried about filming? To say this stretches credulity is an understatement.

In the Blair Witch Project, we see that the documentary's auteur is a driven, almost manic woman. We can understand her will to keep getting everything on film. But when the shit hits the fan and they're running for their lives, we're given expected terrible shots of the cameras swinging wildly about while the filmmakers run for their lives. This would make sense. What doesn't make sense is film after film telling to believe Dave or Sue is going to keep pointing the camera in the face of terror while getting clean shots.

What may, however, work in Goldthwait's favor is that (from what I hear) there is nary a Bigfoot in the film. This not only saves the director from having to come up with some horrid costume or terrible CGI creature, but also allows the audience to feel the unknown terror through the characters and the filmmaking. Fear of the unknown is always better. Take Freddy Kreuger for example: in the first Nightmare on Elm Street, he's a shadow. Years down the road, Freddy's a joke because practically see him in broad daylight.

In my opinion, Willow Creek is meandering through a flood-prone region scarred by the numerous failures before it. It will have a hard time overcoming the Found Footage stigma, but I'll confess: I'm curious about seeing a Bigfoot film that doesn't have Bigfoot in it from a guy who isn't a horror director. While inarguably an offbeat comedian, I am willing to bet Goldthwait is concerned about story here and not scares. For that reason, I'd be willing to give Willow Creek a shot. Now, if it can just make it to a showing around these parts...

Instances of Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis is a term coined by horror master Stephen King for his novel Firestarter, a tale in which the central character possesses the uncanny and frightful ability to manifest flames from her subconscious. In this way, her manifestations are very much like the psychokinetics manifested by children at the nexus of poltergeist phenomena.

Although King created the term, his character is based on a litany of cases involving children and young adults curse with the horrific talent.

In 1982, a nine-year-old Italian boy was at the center of a pyrokinetic outburst. In one instance, he sat in a dentist's waiting room reading a comic when the rag's pages suddenly burst into flame. He awoke horrified once to discover his bedclothes were on fire. No one could solve the enigma, including learned men of science and medicine at Rome University.

The following year a famous case splashed across Italian headlines when 20 year-old Scottish governess Carole Compton was accused by two separate households of attempting to burn their children. Problem was there was no evidence of her having started the fires--especially when she wasn't even in the room. The superstitious mothers blamed it on Compton's use of the 'evil eye'.

A few years later, a Russian boy of 13 named Sascha was at the heart of several mysterious fires, setting ablaze furniture, clothes, carpets, and even causing lightbulbs to explode.

SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION: Theories and Hypotheses.

Spontaneous Human Combustion, the controversial phenomenon in which humans beings inexplicably erupt in flames that strangely affect little else around the body, has baffled man for centuries. In 1763, French writer Jonas Dupont described a particularly famous case at the time. The Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholin also wrote about the phenomenon in 1673.

Hypotheses abound as to what causes these inexplicable conflagrations. In the 19th century is was popularly believed that these victims were habitual abusers of alcohol whose bodies had become saturated with the flammable liquid, effectively turning them into Molotov cocktails should they pass out and an errant cigarette set them ablaze.

Famed anomalist Ivan T. Sanderson postulated that this might be a psychic phenomenon related to cases of severe depression or sedentary lifestyles. The hypothesis being that phosphagens, an compound in the body that stores energy, could build up in human tissues if not burned off. This build up could then erupt like gunpowder under the proper circumstances such as excessive ambient heat or a rare plasma phenomena like ball lightning.

Others have presented evidence that fatty tissues in the body could produce a candle-like effect on a burning victim; a small fire could decrease the oxygen content significantly in a short time then smolder for hours, thus affecting little else around it. In support of this theory are the cases wherein investigators have reported a strange condensate found at the scene. During experiments on the human candle hypothesis, the fire vaporized the water in the body and created condensation in the air.

Attack of the Shag Carpet?

 Shag, baby! Yeah! Snapped by Keith Thompson, one of the many baffled denizens of New York's Carrol Gardens, This fish smelling blob of what appears to be a rancid old shag rug appeared not long after a recent heavy rainfall. Another local swears he saw the thing move. What do we think? I'm betting on a nasty old rug tossed to the curb that got wet in the rain and might have moved because whatever is stinking inside was briefly alive.
More Here

I WANT TO...

Summer's Here And The Fishing Is Fine

To ring in summer, several sites are making a splash:
Cryptomundo looks at new evidence for Mermaids and Boing Boing informs us that Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid narrates its Haunted Mansion. Meanwhile Ghost Hunting Theories is celebrating with beer, ice cream, and seafood--of the Jaws variety.