More Mystery For The Mary Celeste.

Many of you know of my fascination with the "Ghost Ship" Mary Celeste from previous entries two years ago and the delight of hearing from a survivor of the unfortunate Captain who vanished with his wife, child, and crew. Recently read at Phantoms and Monsters an improbable further history of the ship many swear was "Cursed"..

The Mary Celeste Enigma

Posted: 08 Dec 2011 07:31 AM PST
It’s the stuff of maritime legend: a ship sighted in the distance, hailed without response, and boarded to reveal a vessel under full sail, its wheel creaking aimlessly, cabin doors slamming open and shut in the wind, and … not a soul onboard.

On Dec. 4, 1872, it actually happened. The Mary Celeste was discovered between the Azores and Portugal—her crew vanished without a trace of a struggle, the ship still fully provisioned. What calamity befell the ship remains a mystery. A final log entry, on Nov. 24, showed no hint of distress. The cabin of Capt. Benjamin Briggs was untouched, right down to the sewing machine and parlor melodeon belonging to his wife and infant daughter; the child’s ghostly indentation remained visible on a bed. The crew must have “left in a great hurry,” reported the boarding party, for their pipes and tobacco were still there—and no sailor, they noted, willingly abandons ship without his pipe.
...Theories on the cause of the disappearance have ranged from cargo fumes to mutiny to (inevitably) alien abduction. The Mary Celeste’s fate inspired fictional solutions in an Arthur Conan Doyle story (which blamed a race war), a 1935 Hammer horror film (a hook-armed Bela Lugosi), and a Dr. Who episode (Daleks, of course.)

What’s not as well-known is that the Mary Celeste was also at the center of a second mystery. The disconcerting disappearance of its crew notwithstanding, the Mary Celeste still had plenty of life left in her, and soon went back into service. Thirteen years and 17 hapless owners later, Mary was mostly infamous for being in poor shape and for losing money on runs from Boston to Africa and the West Indies. It was merely one final indignity when she wrecked off Haiti in January 1885, slamming squarely into Rochelois Reef, a known hazard. The ship didn’t sink, but its hopelessly splintered remains would never leave the reef. Capt. Gilman Parker declared the cursed ship a loss, and then went ashore to sell the salvage rights to a load of ale, cutlery, and shoes for $500. That’s where the story might have ended—except that police showed up at the captain’s door in Boston three months later. The Mary Celeste, they charged, was a 282-ton, fully-rigged insurance scam.


The July 1885 trial of Capt. Parker and the ship’s co-owners, now buried in the Boston Globe archives, offers a fascinating glimpse into a Gilded Age flimflam.
Laying out charts and totting up blackboard figures in a broiling Boston courtroom, prosecutors revealed a chain of scams that reached from Haiti back to the alleyways of their own city.

Capt. Parker might have pulled it off, too, except that he’d gotten greedy: Not content to rip off just his insurers, he also tried to con the local salvager in Haiti. The salvager hadn’t found anything near the 125 casks of Bass ale promised on the ship’s manifest, and the few he did locate weren’t exactly good drinking. Called to the stand, a Boston bottler revealed they were moldy blanks with Bass labels pasted to them, and filled with “ullage”—bottom-of-barrel runoff from smashed and leaking bottles. The bottler hadn’t even bothered filling many of them; some were “half full, some a third full, and some just enough to wet the bottle."

The rest of the cargo was similarly suspect. The 975 barrels of “New Fortune Herring”? That was actually 780 barrels of rotten fish that stank so badly that one fish merchant said it was good only “for fertilizers.” Wooden barrels of “Fine” butter proved to be rank “slush.” The Haiti-bound food cargo was so foul that one conspirator was overheard musing, “If these n— eat that fish and drink that beer, they will all be dead.”

A crate supposed to contain $1,000 in cutlery, when pried open, revealed $50 worth of dog collars. Boxes of “women’s high-button boots” were old galoshes. The ship and its cargo, covered by five insurers for a whopping $34,000, were hardly worth the kerosene necessary to burn the wreck. Capt. Parker, in short, was in deep trouble.

“The defense lawyers were wild,” one investigator later marveled of Parker’s shambolic team. Parker’s attorney cited famed Massachusetts eccentric “Lord” Timothy Dexter—a late-18th-century merchant who supposedly shipped mittens and warming pans to the West Indies—to assert that the Mary Celeste’s cargo belonged to a splendid tradition of crazy-like-a-fox speculations. If the vulpine side of the simile was left unexplained, the crazy part was easy to spot. Haitians did“They say the goods were overinsured. Suppose they were. It is a common thing to overinsure,” sputtered Parker’s attorney. And if the crew said the goods were worthless, well, everyone knew they liked to tell stories. “Spinning a yarn is a sailor’s phrase,” he insisted.

Perhaps yarn-spinning could also explain the crew members who saw Capt. Parker toss the ship’s papers overboard, proclaiming “They’re gone. No one will know what’s in them.” And maybe it accounted for the first mate’s claim that he’d dissuaded Parker from a plan to wreck by the more dangerous Turks Islands, pleading, “For God’s sake don’t pile her up there; we shall all be drownded.”

But it wasn’t so easy for the defense to explain a letter in the captain’s hand, dated two months after the wreck, which the first mate also produced:n’t typically buy new Bass ale or salted herring, let alone rotten beer and fish.

“They say the goods were overinsured. Suppose they were. It is a common thing to overinsure,” sputtered Parker’s attorney. And if the crew said the goods were worthless, well, everyone knew they liked to tell stories. “Spinning a yarn is a sailor’s phrase,” he insisted.

Perhaps yarn-spinning could also explain the crew members who saw Capt. Parker toss the ship’s papers overboard, proclaiming “They’re gone. No one will know what’s in them.” And maybe it accounted for the first mate’s claim that he’d dissuaded Parker from a plan to wreck by the more dangerous Turks Islands, pleading, “For God’s sake don’t pile her up there; we shall all be drownded.”

But it wasn’t so easy for the defense to explain a letter in the captain’s hand, dated two months after the wreck, which the first mate also produced:

I wood advise you not to know to much a bout cargo fer the shipers have put in their bill of Invoice to the adgestors and the protest and Log Book as that stand is all that I want. You will be cald over to the Insurance look out you do not get in the Roung track by knoing to much.
After days of testimony, now it was the jury who knew too much. They had to decide whether Parker’s plot deserved a conviction on the maritime charge of barratry—deliberate destruction of a vessel—a crime then punishable by death.

After counts and recounts, the jury returned with a shocker: They’d deadlocked, 7-5, with the majority in favor of conviction. The five holdouts, it seemed, just couldn’t bring themselves to send a man to the gallows over rotten fish and bad butter. Three years later, and perhaps with the abandoned prosecution of Capt. Parker in mind, a Massachusetts congressman worked to amend the barratry law so that it would no longer be a capital offense.

“The penalty of death would be simply shocking,” he admitted to a House committee. “In many cases juries refused to convict, even when guilt was proved, as the only way to prevent a greater evil.”

But the doomed ship seemed to carry its own sentence: Nearly everyone else indicted in the conspiracy went bust, and Capt. Parker died under obscure circumstances just three months after his trial. They might have taken heed of the fate of David Cartwright, a previous owner who had already lost a small fortune on the Mary Celeste. “Of all the unlucky vessels I ever heard of,” he would recall, “shewas the most unlucky.” - slate.com - Paul Collins

Ancient Mysteries & Parallel Dimensions:

Author and investigator Graham Hancock recently talked about his research into ancient mysteries, supernatural beings, and parallel realms. He discussed the archaeological discovery of the megalithic site at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, dating back almost 12,000 years On a scale like Stonehenge (though far older), "the site is constructed out of giant stones which have been carved very precisely often with reliefs of animals and strange supernatural figures," he noted. There is no context for a site like this in archaeological study; "it just seems to come out of nowhere...in a fully formed, incredibly impressive state," almost like a buried time capsule, he said.
Article http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html


Our world could be interpenetrated by other dimensions or realms that are most often undetectable, Hancock stated, adding that this could account for the UFO phenomenon which seems quite elusive. These other dimensions could also include the spirit world.

He cited how cave paintings dating back thousands of years depicted spirit or supernatural beings. During the medieval era people spoke about fairies, elves, and the realms they inhabited, while today alien abduction and UFO craft are reported. What we're seeing is actually one phenomena "viewed through different cultural spectacles" that originates in a parallel dimension or realm, he explained.

He also talked about his recent novel Entangled, which deals with time travel, NDEs, and the supernatural. Interestingly, in his book he featured neanderthal characters who were compassionate, and now well after he wrote the work, scientific reports have just emerged that suggest neanderthals were indeed nurturing and caring, and not the brutish thugs most people picture.
His site
http://www.grahamhancock.com/

Strange events In The UK

Storyteller & author Lionel Fanthorpe is a fascinating man and never have I heard anyone relate even the simplest of experiences with such flair.You will be surprised by his background if you visit his site..
Recently on Coast To Coast AM he talked about the fascination with mysteries "which he believes is motivated by people's innate curiosity. In his recent survey on spirits and demons in the U.K., he came across some interesting reports. These included strange purple claw-like fingers said to haunt a cathedral, a water demon believed to lurk under the foundation of a church that was built over water, and an evil entity that appears as a dark mist at a castle."

http://www.lionel-fanthorpe.com/

Picture from GPN

Mysteries And Monsters

The coauthors of a new book were guests on Coast To Coast with George Nooley this weekend.The fascinating research was discussed along with the idea that The Jersey Devil may be a relative of another monster lurking in another remote area.

"George Noory spoke with investigator and author Ed Craft about Mysteries & Monsters. Craft shared his research into an enormous pterosaur-like flying animal that lives in the Congo region of Africa. The Congomatu, a name given by locals that means "destroyer of boats," reportedly comes out at dusk to attack villagers, carry off young children, and overturn boats. Craft suggested that pterosaur cryptids, like Congomatu, may have survived through the epochs (unlike other dinosaurs) because they could fly away from danger. He thinks the Jersey Devil may be related to pterosaurs as well.

Craft provided details from an encounter he had with the Florida Swamp Ape while on a Boy Scout campout. According to Craft, he heard a "blood-curdling scream" then saw a hairy 6-ft tall creature walking through the sawgrass. He said the animal appeared "more ape than human" and did not seem interested in him. Craft entertained the idea that what he saw could have been an escaped primate from a zoo. He also briefly mentioned his work on UFOs and disclosure issues.

Craft was joined in the second half-hour by his co-author Lisa Carmody, "The Deaf Anomalist," who discussed her interest in anomalous investigation and research. Carmody said she had always wanted to be a ghost hunter, and especially hoped to find scientific explanations for paranormal phenomena. She has been to the Tower of London, where some have claimed to see the ghost of Anne Boleyn..."

Their website:
http://www.myspace.com/anomalistpublications

A Mysterious Snowflake

This is not the usual fare for a Paranormal Blog, perhaps.i thought it was interesting.From the Coast To Coast Email the following about today appeared as Today In Strangeness:

"According to the Guinness Book of World Records, on this date in 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana, the largest snowflake fell during a blizzard. It was said to be 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick."

Here is more than you may want to know about Snowflakes.If not a site to read more...
"Snowflakes and snow crystals are made of ice, and pretty much nothing more. A snow crystal, as the name implies, is a single crystal of ice. A snowflake is a more general term; it can mean an individual snow crystal, or a few snow crystals stuck together, or large agglomerations of snow crystals that form "puff-balls" that float down from the clouds.
The life of a snowflake
The story of a snowflake begins with water vapor in the air. Evaporation from oceans, lakes, and rivers puts water vapor into the air, as does transpiration from plants. Even you, every time you exhale, put water vapor into the air.
When you take a parcel of air and cool it down, at some point the water vapor it holds will begin to condense out. When this happens near the ground, the water may condense as dew on the grass. High above the ground, water vapor condenses onto dust particles in the air. It condenses into countless minute droplets, where each droplet contains at least one dust particle. A cloud is nothing more than a huge collection of these water droplets suspended in the air.
In the winter, snow-forming clouds are still mostly made of liquid water droplets, even when the temperature is below freezing. The water is said to be supercooled, meaning simply that it is cooled below the freezing point. As the clouds gets colder, however, the droplets do start to freeze. This begins happening around -10 C (14 F), but it's a gradual process and the droplets don't all freeze at once.
If a particular droplet freezes, it becomes a small particle of ice surrounded by the remaining liquid water droplets in the cloud. The ice grows as water vapor condenses onto its surface, forming a snowflake in the process. As the ice grows larger, the remaining water droplets slowly evaporate and put more water vapor into the air.
Note what happens to the water -- it evaporates from the water droplets and goes into the air, and it comes out of the air as it condenses on the growing snow crystals. As the snow falls there is a net flow of water from the liquid state (cloud droplets) to the solid state (snowflakes). This rather complicated chain of events is how a cloud freezes."

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer/primer.htm

Unexplained Phone Calls,,From The Dead?

It has been said that receiving phone calls from the dead is a fairly common occurrence.National news following the horrific train crash in California reported an instance of a family receiving 35 calls from the cell phone if one if the victims although he was killed before the calls came.One source indicated tracing the last call helped rescuers find his body.

Some of you are fans of the Coast To Coast AM Radio show.On their site
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

an interesting article appears called Dead Ringers from a blog by The Paranormal Pastor
http://theparanormalpastor.blogspot.com/2008/11/dead-ringers.html

He discusses two cases representing the two types he has found most common.One is from the deceased and the other is from a departed loved one to the dying person.

Sometimes voices may be heard directly but most commonly only static is heard.Answering machines however sometimes allow voices to be heard that were not detected by the human ear at the time.
Interesting,huh?

Could Toast Scare You?

OnesandZerosFashion is an interesting shop on Etsy.The owner Samantha introduces Harold and the Lunch Box Monsters.She has more on her own site but enough for checking out along with some other things with a vintage feel at Etsy.I liked the idea of using Jazz to show her work which is in the Animoto Video.Her shop may be found at
http://One sandZerosFashions.etsy.com

Samantha says "I have been hand-making unique and innovative fashions and accessories inspired by my love of robots, gadgets, and all things digital for about eight years and creating art since the time I could hold a crayon. Last fall, looking for an alternative to traditional paper or cloth lunch bags, I designed these popular and adorable Lunch Monster™ totes."

Here is her story in her own words:

" One day while I was in the apartment alone, I heard a loud *thwap!* as I came into the kitchen. A piece of toast had just fallen into the middle of the floor nowhere near the counters. I poked it, and it was still warm. The strangest part was that not only did I not have a toaster, but we didn't even have any bread at the time!"






Where do you think the piece of toast came from?
Thank you Samantha

The Mysterious Singing

You probably have heard several stories about a piano being mysteriously played as a family sleeps.This is a bit different but brings that to mind.

A Nurses Aide at a retirement center in Hawaii told an unusual story about his home.Kenny says that near his old family home in Hilo, there is a mysterious singing of two old Hawaiian chants in the early mornings when the moon is full.
. Family members say this has been
happening for three generations.Ir is their view that warriors from an ancient time sing their battle songs,

They are also said to march once a year on the date of their deadly battle, September 7.....

I never heard but have no reason to doubt his story.There are several such stories from The Big Island.

A Crop Circle On His Farm

Jesse R had a crop circle appear on his farm in the midwest last year.Unfortunately he also was in the recent flood which is of more concern to him at this time.I did not talk to him this month about the circles just about the flood.
This is how he described the occurrence of the circles last year about 6 weeks after it happened.

"Well it was a really strange thing, that just all of a sudden was there.We woke up one morning as usual and when I went out with my son to the fields about 7 there it was.All this grain was sort of mashed down all around but it was not dead or anything just bent around like in paths or something.We could not figure out what happened.
When the sheriff came out he had never seen anything like it either.He had the county helicopter fly over it and said it made some kind of design sort of like a big flower or circle with holes in it.The news helicopter flew over and took pictures for the TV station.All kinds of people came to look at it but nobody could figure how it got there.
First we thought it might be the Purcell boys since they are always doing dome kind of mischief but it wasn't them they were in jail over in Radon for Drunk and Disorderly.The sheriff said he did not think anyone could have done anything that big in such a short time anyhow .My son ha drove by there around 11 when he was coming back from taking his girl friend to the movie over in Radon and didn't see nothing or nobody around there.
Some of those investigator people that look at those things came.There were two of them and some professor from the University but no body ever figured out what happened.None of the other fields around had been bothered.I just wish it didn't happen to us.We got enough trouble with the farm anyhow."

Sorry,Jesse,that you have had more trouble there.

Mystery On The Mississippi

It's understandable how a ship could be lost in the vast, deep, and volatile oceans, but how could a ship completely disappear without a trace in a river?

In June, 1872, the S.S. Iron Mountain steamed out of Vicksburg, Mississippi with an on-deck cargo of bailed cotton and barrels of molasses. Heading up the Mississippi River toward its ultimate destination of Pittsburgh, the ship was also towing a line of barges.

Later that day, another steamship, the Iroquois Chief, found the barges floating freely downriver. The towline had been cut. The crew of the Iroquois Chief secured the barges and waited for the Iron Mountain to arrive and recover them.


But it never did. The Iron Mountain, nor any member of its crew, were ever seen again. Not one trace of a wreck or any piece of its cargo ever surfaced or floated to shore. It simply vanished.

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa011700a.htm