Today in Strangeness: November 8th...
On this day in 1958, as Charles Wetzel was driving along the Santa Ana River, he had a sighting of a strange bipedal reptilian creature with scales.
Making gurgling and screeching sounds, it clawed at the windshield as Wetzel accelerated over it. Police tests indicated the car had run over something and there were definite claw marks on the windshield.
Charles Wetzel
Lizard Person
...also...
Young Man in Russia Claims to be a Reincarnated Martian: ( pppffftt...yeah right!)
A young man in Russia has become somewhat of a sensation thanks to his claims that he can recall living on Mars in a past life.
Boriska Kipriyanovich initially stunned doctors and experts when he was only two years old and purportedly possessed the ability to both read and write.
However, his story became even more fantastic as the boy began to grow older and started sharing stunning details about what he says was a past life on Mars as well as knowledge of the solar system that he had never been taught in school.
According to Kipriyanovich, his previous incarnation had been that of an interstellar pilot who lived on Mars during tumultuous times towards the end of civilization on the Red Planet. The remaining Martians, he says, were forced to retreat underground due to a nuclear war with the hopes of someday rebuilding their world.
Somewhere along the way, Kipriyanovich's Martian incarnation passed away and then reemerged by way of the Russian child who could somehow remember his previous experiences. Beyond life on Mars, the young man, now aged 20, alleges that there is some kind of hidden message contained within the Great Sphinx, but that it is locked away and unable to be seen at this time.
Should humanity be able to solve the riddle of the ancient monument, Kipriyanovich declares, it will be an Earth-shattering moment which will profoundly change our very existence on this planet.
Alas, however, Kipriyanovich in unable to articulate the precise mechanism by which the Sphinx can be opened, only that there is a 'switch' of sorts contained in the paw of the statue.
Whether we'll ever be able to access this secret part of the Sphinx remains to be seen as does the veracity of Kipriyanovich's tale as a whole, since skeptics insist that he has fabricated the reincarnation saga.
...extra...
Thai Village Grapples with Ghost:
A series of strange deaths over the last week have left a village in Thailand suspecting that a notorious ghost may be lurking in their community.
Since October 29th, four men, a handful of household pets, and even a buffalo have died under mysterious circumstances which some residents believe could be supernatural in nature.
Specifically, they worry that the spate of deaths were caused by an infamous Thai ghost known as a 'phi pob,' a particularly pernicious female spirit that feasts on the organs of its victims. In response to the odd incidents and ghostly concerns, the community banded together in an attempt to crowd source a solution to the problem.
A whopping 370 families each contributed a few dollars to a fund which eventually totaled around $1,400 dollars and was used to hire an alleged paranormal specialist to visit the village.
Alternatively described by one media outlet as a "famous ghostbuster,' while another simply called him a "hermit," this mysterious individual performed a ritual in the village which purportedly captured an astounding 30 phi pobs! The 'ghostbusting hermit' allegedly managed to ensnare the spirits in bamboo tubes which were subsequently burned during the two-hour ritual which was overseen by police and government officials.
Although the ceremony appeared to bring peace back to the village, the sense of comfort was sadly short-lived as another man seemingly fell victim to what must have been the 31st phi pob* that was presumably out of town during the ritual the previous day.
*
Phi pop (
Thai: ผีปอบ;
rtgs:
phi pop), a ghost which eats raw meat. Humans and animals can be possessed by phi pop which eat their internal organs, killing them.
In response to the hysteria which has now gripped the village, the Thai government has dispatched a number of health workers to visit the area in an attempt to find a genuine medical reason for the deaths and dispel the rumors that they were caused by vengeful ghosts.
It is uncertain as to whether or not the villagers will get their money back from the ghostbuster or if he'll simply be receiving some seriously critical Yelp reviews from the disgruntled customers.