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Posted: 06-10-2013 11:28 Post subject:

I always loved the one where two lads see a "Cut out man" type of being who "Lollops" towards them as they walk home - really creepy!

Posted: 06-10-2013 13:01 Post subject:

Or the woman with a goat on a lead who says:

Posted: 10-10-2013 03:16 Post subject:

I don't know if it's exactly what anyone is looking for, but I've always been intrigued by the historical account of a band of decidedly bizarre attackers that plagued Cape Ann, Massachusetts in 1692. (Apparently unconnected to the far more famous Salem Witch Trials which took place nearby in the same year.) The case has a lot of parallels to the much later Hopkinsville Goblins, and can be read about in some detail in one of local folklorist Joseph Citro's books.

The relevant chapter is up on Google Books (LINK), but briefly, a small community is harassed for a few weeks by a group of human figures wearing odd clothing (described in firsthand accounts as 'Frenchmen', which was a contemporary euphemism for any strange or foreign individual) who repeatedly came out of the woods in order to stare at locals, peered into the windows of houses, and were overheard to make threatening, cryptic remarks. These intruders exhibited other curious and disturbing behaviors, like seeming teleportation, moving at speeds much too fast for a human, and imperviousness to bullets. Naturally, this caused a considerable amount of panic in the community, until the locals barricaded themselves into a nearby fort and had a small pitched battle with the 'Frenchmen'. Who then vanished completely, and have never been seen or heard from - and certainly never explained satisfactorily - since.

What on earth really happened there, I doubt we'll ever know, but it's always felt pretty high strangeness to me.

Posted: 10-10-2013 04:04 Post subject:

Aha! I have that book and it's a fascinating account. Well worth the read.

Posted: 10-10-2013 04:14 Post subject:

Now that is some real weirdness! Thanks, AtomicBadger!

Posted: 10-10-2013 05:18 Post subject:

You can read the original account (in Cotton Mather's _Magnalia Christi Americana_) at Google Books. It can be found in Book VII, and describes events occurring circa mid-summer 1692. This text refers to Gloucester rather that Cape Ann. The account takes up only a few pages ...

A few points after having reviewed the original account...

- The original account only claims the mystery men carried 'bright' guns. I found no description of them as 'silver'.

- The mystery man's shot that barely missed Babson is claimed to have lodged in a hemlock tree. The account claims that when Babson returned to the spot with reinforcements, "... They took the bullet out, which is still to be seen." There's no mention of the bullet being of a strange form.

- Except for Mather's own suggestion of demonic involvement, I don't see anything in the account that hints at supernatural events. It reads more like a carnival of errors. It's hard to read the story without Monty Python coming to mind ...

- The account consistently indicates the townspeople took the strangers to be either Indians or Frenchmen (i.e., members of groups widely feared as imminent threats in that place and time). The most common feature attributed to the strangers was blue shirts or coats.

- Although the townsfolk seemed to have problems chasing down the strangers, I didn't see anything in the account that clearly indicated fortean capabilities. They 'disappeared' into the bushes, forest, and / or swamp; they didn't literally 'disappear' into thin air before the townsfolk's eyes.

- If the strangers were Indians or French, how is it Babson heard the first intruders (whom he's seen leaving his own house) utter something in English when he caught up with them? If their quoted words were translated, why does the account not mention their original language?

The story didn't strike me as all that fortean; it did seem moderately idiotic.

Posted: 11-10-2013 00:30 Post subject:

This one falls outside of the usual categories, i think.
I have a morning routine, like a lot of people, and one morning after having a bit of coffee, went to wash my hair. I'd had a haircut the day before and was still itchy from it. I need to mention I am terribly near sighted, and so, leaning over the edge of the bathtub to wash my hair my vision is fuzzy. I say this because as I started to rinse my hair something black, about 2 or 3 inches long fell from my head into the tub. My first thought was it was a clip of black hair from the stylist's scissors. Except that it started wiggling in the water. Like a tiny black snake. I startled, and tried to tell myself it was a bit of hair. Except it sat there in the water wiggling. I steeled myself and reached for it, determined to show myself its only a bit of hair. As I reached for it, it shot down the drain, gone!
I couldn't be sure of any details because of my near sightedness. But it wiggled, and for more than just a second or two. Damned weird.

Posted: 11-10-2013 09:15 Post subject:

Yesterday I visited an elderly relative who has a touch of dementia. At one point she got up and pointed to the floor, saying 'What's that walking across the carpet?'

Thinking she was looking at a slipper or something, and wishing to humour her, I looked, and found a lively caterpillar, standing upright and swaying around as if to say 'Where am I?' Shocked

I scooped it up and dropped it onto a bush outside the window.

Where had it come from? She'd had flowers delivered earlier but the caterpillar was nowhere near them. I'd opened and closed the window a few minutes before, but didn't notice it come in then.

So although it probably did get in through the window, I'm guessing that it was a relation of Professor Pretorius' hair-worm. Laughing

Posted: 11-10-2013 12:19 Post subject:

Posted: 11-10-2013 13:25 Post subject:

Talking of mystery caterpillars, last year when we returned from a 2 week summer holiday, I picked up a t-towel that had been left on the kitchen worktop before we left. My hand felt something strange as I picked it up, to find a sizeable caterpillar wriggling in my hand.

I have wondered how it could have survived for so long in a closed up house with no access to water or food.

Posted: 11-10-2013 20:24 Post subject:

Posted: 12-10-2013 17:05 Post subject:

Last night's Coast to Coast AM has a good number of non-typical stories, including some nifty ones like the teller and lady friend apparently being in a mural, five foot tall birds calling the person's name, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSSZLsemLvw&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLScM_dIIhIdDfodbeQ-mC1pdsVMuBXdaF