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He's big, he's hairy, and he's starred in his own TV show.
Bigfoot is world-famous for spooking the bejesus out of hikers and hunters in North
America. Scientists consider Sasquatch to be the result of folklore, misidentification and
a whole lot of hoaxes.
However, many people still believe these humanoid creatures exist around the world,
just like the Yeti of the Himalayas.
One of the most famous unexplained mysteries in the world today, Bigfoot has been
described as an ape-like creature, some 6-10 feet tall, weighing more than 500 pounds,
and covered in dark brown or reddish hair. Witnesses give him large eyes, a heavy
brow ridge and a crested head, much like a male gorilla. Footprints allegedly belonging
to Bigfoot are 24 inches long.
Is Sasquatch really one of the great truly unexplained mysteries of the world?
Somewhat disappointingly, the most famous footage of Bigfoot at Bluff Creek,
California, was shot down by a man called Bob Heironimus. Years after the event, he
claimed he wore an ape costume for the filming.
It's also virtually impossible that a prehistoric, bipedal, apelike creature
could exist, simply because the breeding population of such an animal
would have to be so large that many more sightings would be reported.
What's more, with so many Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) running around, we would have found
much more physical evidence of them, such as fecal matter, hair, footprints, and even
numerous corpses and skeletons. We have myriad such evidence for dinosaurs, and
they preceded us by 65 million years.
Nevertheless, Bigfoot's cousin - the Yeti (aka the Abominable Snowman) - has a strong
alleged presence in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Teams of scientists
continue to seek out photo evidence which is also thin on the ground - yet many locals
accept the reality of a breeding Yeti population as read.
The first crop circle, recorded in 1966, was discovered by an Australian sugar cane
farmer who claimed to see a saucer-shaped spaceship rise up from a swamp before
flying away. This was around the time that flying saucers became really popular in sci-fi
literature, and ever since, our obsession with alien visitation has fuelled the frenzy.
As unexplained mysteries go, this one has been debunked numerous times. There is
ample evidence to show how crop circles are a man-made hoax.
In 1991, two men from Southampton, England, admitted they had been
creating hoax crop circles for 15 years. They could make intricate patterns
using planks, rope, hats and wire - and could create a 40-foot circle in 15
minutes. The only reason they came clean was because one of the men
was running up considerable mileage on his car and had to convince his
wife he wasn't having an affair. He still publicly demonstrates the art today.
Further studies have dismissed claims that alien saucers have been leaving excessive
nitrate deposits at crop circle locations. The trace deposits are explained by the nitrate-
based fertilizers used by farmers to grow their crops.
Other paranormal fans claim that there is a mysterious energy left behind within crop
circles and people go there to mentally make contact with an extra-terrestrial energy.
What could create such a widespread psychological effect?
Science refers to this as The Placebo Effect - where the mind can produce powerful
effects on the body simply because the person expects it to. Indeed, the mind is so
powerful (and science fully accepts this) that it can sometimesheal the body just as well
as medicine when that medicine is replaced by a sugar pill, even when the patient
knows it's a fake.
Another early sighting occurred in the UK in 1916, when a pilot reported seeing a row of
lights that rose and disappeared into the sky.
As with crop circles, after UFOs were popularized by science fiction in the 1950s, the
number of sightings went through the roof. Theories to explain the paranormal
phenomena range from the good old Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (aliens from another
planet) to the Interdimensional Hypothesis (aliens popping over from a parallel
universe).
Although I do heartily believe that there is other intelligent life out there (and tons of it -
the universe is so mind-bogglingly huge, perhaps even infinite) I don't believe aliens are
visiting us, let alone in 1950s-style flying saucers.
This is supported by the fact that in photos and videos, many UFOs are debunked as
being dust on the camera lens or simply all-out hoaxes (which is easy to do now with
PhotoShop). Meanwhile, night-time alien abductions are attributed to the hallucinogenic
effect of sleep paralysis.
Meanwhile, UFO conspiracy theories center around Area 51 in Nevada, about 90 miles
north of Las Vegas. The site houses a large airbase that was selected in the 1950s for
testing of a U-2 spy plane. It has since become America's testing ground for secret
"black budget" aircraft before they go public.
If so, she never benefited financially from all the attention. She lived a simple life in that
same house and eventually died in 2004.
Paranormal fans suggest that the faces were manifested on the floor by telekinesis.
This notion was based on the absurdly unscientific claim that the expressions on their
faces used to change with the mood of Maria Pereira.
Finally, modern technology has saved the day for this unexplained mystery.
Many now believe that the paintings were actually created by Maria's mischievous son,
Diego Pereira, who dedicated years to spooking his long suffering mother.
Not quite. As lucid dreamers know, we are entirely capable of creating a perfect replica
of the real world inside our dreaming minds. When we are dreaming consciously, this
can even look, sound and feel as vivid as waking life. This is the great appeal of lucid
dreaming.
An OBE, then, is a lucid dream which is initiated from an awareness of
lying in bed. Instead of throwing our awareness right into a fanciful
dreamworld, we become absorbed in the process of "falling asleep
consciously". We become aware of sleep paralysis (aka REM atonia) which
prevents the body from acting out its dreams. And we project our dream-
self into the bedroom by rolling or floating out, ghost-like.
The instinctive interpretation is that we have projected out-of-body but this fallacy is
overcome when you recreate the experience for yourself in the context of a lucid dream.
Indeed, many famous out of body explorers use identical techniques to go out-of-body
as we lucid dreamers use to enter the dreamworld.
Out of body explorers have long tried to prove the validity of their experience by trying to
obtain data from faraway locations. Unfortunately nothing truly definitive has been
recorded under verifiable conditions.
This is another way that stories become legends which, because they are
so famous, people believe there simplymust be something to it. But how
are people harnessing Pyramid Power today? Well, they aren't.
If Pyramid Power did create a real, observable effect, it would be certainly have been
commercialized (but never was).
I don't consider 2012 to be one of the true unexplained mysteries... far from it. Yet many
people are really into this one. So let's look at the idea more closely.
The theory is based on the idea that when the ancient Mayans plotted our position in
the Milky Way, they created a special astrological calendar. And on the Winter Solstice
(in the Northern hemisphere) in 2012, the Earth would pass into a new astrological
phase and something dramatic would happen. Many people have interpreted that as the
world ending.
Unfortunately for Mayan fans, there is no real-life evidence to support the idea that the
alignment of planets in relation to distant star constellations viewed from our Earthly
perspective has anything to do with day-to-day changes in your personal life. It's about
as scientifically reliable as reading your horoscope. (Don't get me started.)
While your life may come to an abrupt end any day without warning, there is very little
you can do about it. One thing is for sure: our society, like all civilizations before us, is
doomed to postulate over end-of-the-world mysteries with gusto.
When you visit Stonehenge, you'll find yourself driving for miles through rolling hills and
countryside until, suddenly, you catch sight of this bizarre structure. There's an eerie
feel to the area around Stonehenge, and for thousands of years it has soon silently,
giving away few clues as to the meaning of its existence.
1. First a series of holes were dug around 3,100 BC for religious ceremony.
2. Then, more than 1,000 years later, the most dramatic stage of building took place.
Huge bluestones from mountains in Wales were lugged more than 240 miles to
the Stonehenge site. Why would anyone do this in the age before the wheel? And
how would they accomplish such a feat? These are true unexplained mysteries -
because it really wouldn't have been hard to find rocks closer nearby. The stones
were then set up to form an incomplete double circle, aligned perfectly with the
midsummer sunrise.
3. The third stage in 2,000 BC saw the arrival of the more stones, transported by
land from the Marlborough Downs some 25 miles away.
4. Finally, after a further 500 years had passed, someone felt the need to rearrange
the massive Welsh bluestones into the familiar horseshoe and circle we see
today.
One of the great unexplained mysteries of ancient man, the meaning of
Stonehenge is still not clear today. Was it a temple, a burial ground, an
observatory, or an ancient calendar?
After that, more sightings were reported and this unexplained phenomena hit
international headlines. That same year, one motorcyclist claimed to nearly hit Nessie
late one night as it lumbered across the road and slid back into the loch. Soon, apparent
photos of the Loch Ness Monster were published.
In 1960, an aeronautical engineer filmed a hump crossing the water in Loch Ness in a
powerful wake unlike that of a boat.
Years later, digital enhancement of the footage revealed what seemed to be the rear
body, flippers, and two more humps of a plesiosaur-like body. The technician said:
"Before I saw the film, I thought the Loch Ness Monster was a load of rubbish. Having
done the enhancement, I'm not so sure."
There's no doubt that the story of Nessie has drawn huge tourist interest to the famed
Loch Ness. But should it be considered one of the genuine unexplained mysteries of the
world? While some people believe the monster is a living plesiosaur, New
Scientist points out that such a creature could not physically lift its head up out of the
water like the photos and anecdotes suggest.
The most compelling evidence of its non-existence is that the loch is a
mere 10,000 years old - and was frozen solid for about 20,000 years before
that. For a prehistoric monster claimed to be millions of years old, the
numbers just don't add up.
For instance, the first unexplained event occurred in the 1950s when the story of Flight
19 came to light, detailing a group of five US Navy bombers on a training mission. The
flight leader was reported to have said: "We are entering white water, nothing seems
right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed
that Navy officials said the planes "flew off to Mars".
So, do multiple airplane and boat disappearances over a patch of ocean count as
unexplained mysteries? Skeptics say no.
Instead, they point out that such incidents have been greatly embellished, and that
ships have sunk in many places.