Andrew Nicholson's Blog, page 2

Intriguing tales of coincidence: Significant meaning or just a bunch of stuff that happens

We’ve all experienced it at some point during our lives. Coincidence: “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection”. Some may view coincidences as momentarily intriguing but ultimately insignificant in our daily lives. Others, however, will see a higher meaning and call it synchronicity. But for others, supposed coincidences are (as put so…

Ghost Writers: Waxing poetic on restless spirits of the dead

Inspired by this week’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, weirdaustralia takes a literary left to explore the world of the supernatural from a more poetic perspective. Ghost Kingdom was penned by Elinor Jean,  aged 9 from Braidwood in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. It was published in The Canberra Times on 26 April 1992. Ghost Kingdom Ghost house creepy, eerie lonely and desolate far…

UFO reports from before the era of flying saucers: Celestial apparitions & phenomenal lights

While Australia’s first UFO flap may have occurred in the winter of 1909, the skies above Australia have long been filled with unknown aerial objects that have left witnesses scratching their heads and clambering to adequately describe what they had seen. Way back in 1868, Parramatta surveyor, Fred Birmingham, had an apparent encounter with “a…

ANZAC Day special: Premonitions, visions and happy coincidences of war

25 April each year, the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915, Australia pays tribute to Australian soldiers past and present, and in particular, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. ANZAC Day ceremonies are held at dawn in cities and towns across the country, followed by a march down…

Wailing at Wilga waterhole: Blood-curdling screams in the dark of night

“Suddenly there came a soft, distant walling that grew rapidly nearer and louder … the cries appeared to be in different keys – devilish, unearthly shrieking, such as no human voices ever uttered… The screaming, now ringing in their ears at deafening pitch, was coming from the waterhole. “The shearers thought their eardrums would burst,…

Killing cryptids: Have bodies of evidence slipped through our fingers?

Today, the bane of cryptozoologists and monster hunters the world over is the frustrating inability to produce a body as evidence for the existence of unknown or out-of-place creatures. Creatures such as alien big cats, sea serpents, and of course, the poster monsters of the cryptozoological world, hairy hominids such as North America’s Bigfoot and…

In search of Australia’s monster reptiles

Australia certainly has its share of large and deadly reptiles. The saltwater crocodile grows as large as 7 metres, or 23 feet, and is definitely a seriously deadly predator with a diet that includes the occasional luckless human. The ‘satly’ as they are affectionately known in the Top End are in fact, the world’s largest…

Communicating with spirits on the supernatural superhighway

Today we are all connected to the information superhighway. Information we stumble upon in this electronic ether may be accurate, of great benefit and, yes, sometimes even enlightening. Other information … well, not so much. So it seems too, information gleaned from that other ether, the world of spirits of the dead, may prove to…

He’ll soon join us on the other side: Apparition’s warning of impending death

A woman prepares for bed, on her mind is an upcoming train journey. Then, as she joins her husband beneath the bedclothes, she notices something. A faint light glows by the bedroom door. The perplexed woman watches this strange light for several minutes, wondering to herself whatever could it mean. Her husband, lying beside her,…

Summons from a Guardian Angel, telepathic plea or out-of-body beckoning?

On a cold, wet night during the harsh Tasmanian winter, a young mother lay dying soon after giving birth. A devout Catholic, she had been calling out for a priest since midnight, but being the only Catholics in the small town, it appeared her dying wish for a priest to hear her final confession would…