Cullan Hudson's Blog, page 48
July 24, 2011
The Knights of Badassdom Approacheth!!
Harping on LARPing, The Knights of Badassdom stars Steve Zaan, Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Summer Glau (Serenity), Danny Pudi (Community) and a host of other character actors in a romp through a Dungeons and Dragons-esque live action role playing even that takes a turn for the worse (and seemingly funny) when Zaan summons an evil succubus to.... You know what, I don't think the plot points will even matter. It looks funny and that's enough for me.
Mass Disappearance Still Baffles
The unexplained disappearance of more than two dozen Inuit from a village in the icy north is examined over at Mysterious Universe. Read all about "Village of the Dead: The Anjikuni Mystery"This is a chilling read, if I do say so myself.
July 22, 2011
Mystery Bird Appears In Home Movie
In this video, which hasn't survived the passage of time well, a mystery bird is spotted that some liken to a crane (and with its trailing legs, I might agree). However, I note that it seems...stiff. My first thought was actually a kite flying by in the background. I don't know why really it is being presented as a cryptid mystery. I think there could be countless explanations.
A poster on another thread thought it might be an Alp, a mythical creature of Germanic legend.
July 21, 2011
Slenderman Is Coming For The Kiddies!!
"the haunting detail that the photographs were taken on a day on which fourteen children disappeared. He then further explains that the library where the photo was found burned down a week after the pictures were taken. This Slenderman entity was a shadow creature, overly tall and thin. It had long arms that stretch to inhuman lengths to ensnare its prey"The Paranormal Pastor exorcises the truth from a manufactured legend that took on a life of its own in cyberspace. Read here as he breaks down the anatomy of Slenderman, but be warned: our would-be skeptic soon starts to believe that somehow it could be true.
To me? I'm more likely to believe that every story traces back to its advent on the Internet and that anyone who claims he or she saw this entity back when is simply confusing new information with old memories--or full of it.
What starts as a fascinating article exposing an urban legend in the making becomes a gullible what-if scenario filled with mention of Tulpas and collective consciousness. Sometimes, people's stories--shared or not--are just crap. Not everything is the gospel truth. There are plenty of fantasy-prone individuals out there who have a hard time distinguishing reality from their imagination, especially when fed ready-made motifs from which to elaborate with eerie detail. To discount this, is to discount the very real need for better medical treatment in the country. Especially when faced with overwhelming evidence that the Slenderman legend is nothing more than a concoction for an online contest.
I'm reminded quite simply of The Bowmen and how it, too, took on a life of its own. Read about The Bowmen
July 20, 2011
Investigating Zombies In Haiti
From a 2009 article in Men's Journal, comes a first-hand account of traveling in the Caribbean's land of the undead. Although, in claiming to want to get to the bottom of this, I have to wonder if this writer hadn't already read the work of Harvard ethnopharmacologist, Wade Davis. His book, The Serpent and the Rainbow detailed his journey to the island and his claims that tetradotoxin, a poison from the puffer fish, was largely responsible for producing these not-so-dead, but highly-drugged "zombies". While Davis' work remains controversial, many are under the impression that it is still possible--even if the exact recipe eludes science. But as Davis points out , the drug needn't work all the time; you only need a couple of success stories to keep the controling power of the zombie legend alive.
A New Paranormal Facebook?
I signed up for the new site, Project PE http://www.projectpe.com/, which claims to be something of a Facebook for the paranormal community, but it's less of a social network in the Facebook sense than it is a business network a la LinkedIn and the like. It requires you to fill out your real name, birthday, gender, and current location--all of which can be lied about, if you so choose. Then, once they've sent you a confirmation e-mail, you have to wait at least 12 hours for their personnel to approve you. I'm not sure whether I will be approved or not, since the site seems heavily geared toward "groups"--you know, in the matching t-shirt, let's wave a magical device around way. We'll see. If I get activated, I'll post further reviews on what this site is like.
July 19, 2011
Teller Tells Of The Psychology Of Illusion
The usually aphonic Teller (of magic duo Penn and Teller) speaks! And he's talking about the psychology of illusion--an insight into the mind that would help paranormal investigators. Once you begin to understand the mechanics of the trick, Teller explains, "You aid and abed the trick; because you kinda like the idea, so you're going along with it." 
July 18, 2011
Voodoo Child
A dollmaker extraordinaire on flickr inspired me to tackle my own grunge-esque voodoo doll project. It's not half-bad for a first try. Still, needs work. I went for rough stitching, of course, but if I do another, the stitching will only APPEAR rough. Halfway through this project, I switched over to needlepoint thread, which gave it a thicker, funkier look.
Mysteries Surround Unexplained Maritime Disaster
Who Forted? examines a maritime mystery from just after WW2. A Dutch merchant ship sent out a distress call from their location off Indonesia. The nearest ship was an American vessel that arrived too late...
"The bodies of all officers and crew were found dead below the ships deck, their eyes open and faces upturned, looking towards the sky. Some men were discovered with their arms outstretched, a look of horror frozen on their faces, though there were no visible signs of injury on the bodies. Even the ship's dog was found dead, teeth bared, sneering at an unseen danger."
Why mystery befell these sailors? A toxic cargo unleashed? Mysterious, otherworldly forces?
Read More
"The bodies of all officers and crew were found dead below the ships deck, their eyes open and faces upturned, looking towards the sky. Some men were discovered with their arms outstretched, a look of horror frozen on their faces, though there were no visible signs of injury on the bodies. Even the ship's dog was found dead, teeth bared, sneering at an unseen danger."
Why mystery befell these sailors? A toxic cargo unleashed? Mysterious, otherworldly forces?
Read More
