Haunted Earth`s Ghost World

HAUNTED EARTH PROMO - JUNE 2013

2013-06-16T15:56:00.001+01:00

Coming very soon is our visit to Pluckley in Kent.
This will be available in our June 2013 Haunted Earth Show, available through Youtube and Vimeo.

UFO CAPTURED OVER ANCIENT DUTCH CASTLE

2013-06-15T18:46:00.000+01:00

Literally faster than the eye could follow, an unusual object was accidentally photographed above the landmark Muiderslot Castle in the Netherlands.

On May 25, Corinne Federer and her mother visited the medieval castle, built in 1285 near Amsterdam. Federer, a supply chain manager for Adidas in Amsterdam, and an avid photographer, was shooting High Dynamic Range, or HDR, photos of the castle.

In this normal exposure image, suddenly an unknown object appears in the sky above the castle. The next slide shows the same picture, but with some adjustments made to show more details of the object.

"In order to create HDR images, you take three or more exposures -- this one happened to be five -- and you shoot them all at the same time, because you then overlap the images and it gives you the full spectrum of light, which your camera can't capture but your eyes can," Federer, 43, told The Huffington Post in an exclusive interview.

In this image, the contrast and grey scale settings of the original exposures have been adjusted to further clarify the unexplained object that was photographed by Corinne Federer over the Muiderslot Castle in the Netherlands on May 25, 2013.

When Federer reviewed some of the images she had taken, she was startled to see that in one five-image progression, something unusual appeared.

"It was a tubular-shaped object that had an S-shaped fin on it. If it had been any type of missile, it would've had multiple fins, but facing the same direction. We heard nothing, it was completely quiet out. The more I flipped through the frames, it was kind of creepy," Federer recalled. "I've been shooting for quite some time and I've seen other stuff in the news, but I've never seen anything [like this] with my own eye.

"I couldn't wait to get home where I could blow it up and see what was really there. I looked at the image information -- at the shutter speed -- and (the object) was blurred at 1/250th of a second, so it had to be going superfast. The object is not in the frame before or after, so it had to be going really, really fast. I was kind of blown away."

Federer made some adjustments in the gray scale settings of the raw images and boosted the blacks and shadows to produce secondary images that further clarified the mystery object. She then realized that, within the five-image sequence -- keeping in mind that these five pictures were taken within a one-second time frame -- in the image following the appearance of the UFO on the right side, suddenly she saw a portion of another object (or the same one), but on the left side of the exposure.

"The most interesting part of that, for me, is those fins are on the opposite side. At first, I thought the fin side must be a tail, but after looking at it from the second image, it almost looked like the fins were (at) the front and it was turning around and coming back into the frame."

Further intrigued, HuffPost reached out to Ben Hansen, a former FBI special agent, who has used his investigative skills to analyze thousands of videos and photographs of alleged paranormal events.

We asked Hansen, the lead host of Syfy Channel's "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files," to give us his opinion of the Muiderslot Castle UFO images.

"Having reviewed the raw files, there's no overt indication that the photos have been manipulated with post editing software," he told HuffPost in an email.

"The object's appearance is internally consistent with the rest of the photo. For instance, look at the darker area of the underside of the object compared with the clouds. The shadowing is similar on the underside as well as the lighting on the top of the object and the clouds where the sun is brightest. Having the sun in the frame is helpful because it indicates where shadows should appear. This further supports that the object was photographed 'in-camera' and not added later."

Hansen doesn't agree with Federer's suggestion that the object traveled from left to right and then back again.

"If we were to assume that the protrusions are stabilizing airfoils -- such as might be found on a rocket or jet -- then it would make sense that the larger fins would be placed on the rear of the object and, consequently, we would know its direction," Hansen wrote. "However, the available pixels which blur and separate the protrusions from the main body equally suggest maybe they are NOT airfoils, but some other part of the object that is in rapid motion."

So, what exactly does Hansen think Federer captured in the blink of an eye?

"If I had to place my money on it, I would say that we're looking at insects. We typically see many wing protrusions on insect rod cases, but they do come in the single pair variety, too. It all depends on the shutter speeds and motion of the insects."

Another thing makes this case a little more interesting. While Hansen was closely studying the images captured by Federer, he noticed something else (see above).

"I found another object. To the right of the sun, we see a slender, almost disk-shaped object that appears to have no protrusions. Hmmm."

Federer isn't sure what she photographed over the Muiderslot Castle that day, but offers a personal cosmic view of things.

"When I look at the amazing photography which captures the night sky in long exposures, and you can see how many stars are out there, I think there's absolutely no way that we're alone. So I don't find it unreasonable to believe that there's another habitable planet somewhere that has started exploring space.

"Maybe they're more advanced than we are and they've come by to see what's going on here."

Source: HuffingtonPost

GHOSTLY MONKS DISCOVERED ON OLD IMAGE OF IONA ABBEY

2013-06-14T11:13:00.002+01:00

IONA ABBEY, founded sometime prior to 1203 on the site where St Columba built his monastery in the sixth century, was built following Ranald Somerled’s invitation to the Benedictine order of monks to construct a new monastery - and the first Benedictine nunnery - on the site of the original church.

Comprising a church dedicated to St Mary, and a monastery in the name of St Columba, the abbey became the Cathedral of the Bishops of the Isles in 1499.

Reportedly ransacked and vandalised by a reforming mob in 1561, by the late 17th century, the abbey was largely ruined.

Work began to restore the abbey towards the end of the 1800s, with the Iona Community taking over the day-to-day running of the abbey in 1938.

Historic Scotland has been researching the archaeology of the abbey as part of their re-presentation of the site.

In this image from around 1900, kindly provided by the RCAHMS, several ghostly figures appear to be walking across the courtyard. The result of a simple double exposure? Or is it a case of the paranormal being captured in an old photo?

• RCAHMS is Scotland’s national collection for information, images and materials on the built environment (from prehistory to the present)

Story: Scotsman

SCEPTICS FLEE 16th CENTURY SCOTTISH HAUNTED TOWER IN TERROR OF VOICES

2013-06-12T17:48:00.003+01:00

A hardened ghost hunter fled from a haunted Fife tower in terror after hearing ghostly voices.

Gregor Stewart, who is a self-described “open-minded sceptic”, found a research trip to the Tolbooth Tower in Pittenweem too strange for comfort.

Investigating the tower along with his son Kyle, 17, the pair had lasted around three hours but were suddenly so spooked that they left the building as soon as they could.

The reputedly haunted tower
attatched to Pitenweem
Parish Church where witches
were kept before execution.

Gregor, an author of two books about haunted locations, had set up a digital recorder during their time in the tower and when it was played back there was a voice around the time the two began to feel unwell, which neither Gregor nor his son heard at the time.

The Tolbooth Tower, which housed witch trials in the 18th century, is well-known in paranormal circles for unexplained activity, including an ‘entity’ which has apparently affected many people on tours over the years.

Gregor, 43, said: “There were only two of us in the tower at about 10 o'clock at night.

“We had been feeling fine for about three hours when, all of a sudden, my son started feeling light-headed and I felt my knees go. We just grabbed our stuff and left. We did not want to be in there anymore.

“That is the first place I have investigated that I have been spooked and had to leave.

“I had been asking whether whoever is still in the tower objects to the tours and on the recording you can hear a response which seems to say: ‘Definitely... too much talking’.

“Our own voices on the recording are quite faint but the extra voice speaks over us and is much clearer. Although neither of us heard the voice at the time, within a few minutes we both felt so uncomfortable we left.”

The tower was at the centre of the little-known Pittenweem witch trials. At least 26 “witches” were tortured and 18 of them killed in the fishing village in the early 18th century.

Story source: TheCourier

Here below is recorded E.V.P picked up by them.

FORMER SATANIST HOME TERRIFIES FAMILY

2013-06-11T12:10:00.002+01:00

Haunted - The house in St. James, N.Y

After escaping media attention when her husband died in a tragic 2005 blaze, the widow of a Bronx firefighter said she moved into a haunted home in Long Island.
Jeanette Meyran, 53, moved her two daughters to a secluded bungalow in St. James, N.Y., the year after her husband, Lt. Curtis Meyran, leaped to his death instead of burning alive in the 'Black Sunday' fire. Though she hoped for a fresh start in the two-story house, Meyran said she and her kids were terrorized by a demon after they made renovations in the 'Paranormal Witness' season three premiere on SyFy.
'In your wildest dreams, did you ever think rebuilding a home would cause such devastation?' Meyran said in the 'Paranormal Witness' episode 'The Long Island Terror'.

Lt. Curtis Meyran, leaped to his death instead of
burning alive in the 'Black Sunday' fire.

Meyran and her family believe the haunting is linked to the house's first owners. During renovations, her husband's friends found an 86-year-old diary describing satanic rituals with animal sacrifices.
'The pages seemed to be written by the young girl that was the daughter of someone who lived in the house,' described Meyran. 'I saw the name Christina. I realized that she was only a few years older than my own daughters.'
Meyran said the diary was 'an incredibly dark story'.
'She would talk about her father. There were sacrifices. "He hurt me again" or "He hurts the animals. They're bleeding and I bleed like they bleed",' Meyran said. 'These people were sick. This is what went on in this house.'

But Meyran and her daughters came to the house to escape other demons.
After her husband died, Meyran said New York City media were relentless in trying to get interviews from her and her kids.
'I said maybe we should find some small place where we could maybe escape from this, away from the city, away from the cameras, and hopefully they'll find some peace,' said Meyran.'We just wanted to be left alone,' Danine Meyran, now 15, said on the show.
'I began to see this was a new way to give them a new life,' she said.

They moved from their home in Malverne, N.Y., to a small house in on an acre of Suffolk County forest that needed some work and her husband's firefighter friends were happy to help out. Afraid of looters during construction, they installed cameras.
Watching one of the camera feeds in 2006, Meyran saw a man in the woods surrounded her house.
'Right in the middle of the frame I saw what appeared to be a man,' Meyran said. 'It made no sense.'
The paranormal occurrences continued. Starting in 2007, her daughters heard thumps and knocking that appeared to be coming from the walls in the middle of the night.
'It's new to us, we have to learn the sounds of the house,' Meyran remembered thinking of her daughters' experience.

Jeanette Meyran and her two daughters,
Danine, left, and Angela, right

Danine and Angela Meyran, now 18, found a pentagram—as well as bones and teeth—in the woods. While fixing up the basement, Meyran's husband's friends also found a pentagram etched into the concrete floor.

When Angela was home alone one night, she became terrified when the kitchen was apparently ransacked by a ghost or spirit.
'My mom had left me alone in the house. She had given me instructions when she left that she wanted to clean up,' Angela explained on the show. 'And I just remember feeling like I wasn't alone. I looked back behind me a couple of times and there was nobody there.I couldn't shake this feeling of having somebody watching me and it was really starting to bother me.'
When Meyran came home, she said she saw every cabinet and every drawer out.
'The place looked like it had been ransacked,' Meyran said. 'Was someone trying to hurt us? Was someone physically here?'
The family heard whispers in the walls, some calling out their names. Meyran and her daughters also described how Danine was trapped by something in the house.
'It looked like she was having a seizure she was so frightened,' Meyran said, adding that she heard noises that 'sounded like someone was performing a ritual'.

Meyran and her daughters called out for their dead husband and father.
'This is the time more than anything that I needed my dad, that I needed him to be there,' Danine said. 'I knew that if he was there, everything would just be fine.'
'How do you protect you children? How can you fight what you can't see?' Meyran said.
'I felt something evil. I was so frightened,' Meyran said, describing another encounter.
In 2008, they hired a priest to get rid of any paranormal activity, but the holy water he gave the family didn't help.

While trying out her new phone's camera, Jeanette

captured what she believes to be the

silhouette of her dead husband

The next year Angela went outside to go on the swings. She and Meyran said something pushed her off the swing, causing her to break her ankle.
Angela also saw something in her bedroom mirror.
'I saw a black figure that kind of stepped out of my mirror. What could I do? I couldn't run,' said Angela, who added she hid under her bed. 'It smelled like death.'

Following this incident, Meyran took her daughters to her mother's house and called a paranormal investigator, Liz Milano, early in the morning.
'They had so much tragedy in their life with their dad and her husband and then this thing creeps in and takes over,' said Milano on the show.
Along with a psychic medium, Milano said she cleansed the house with kosher salt,sage and a blessing in 2011.
'It was like a battle. I heard chanting, I heard screaming,' Meyran said.
Meyran and her family said the blessing worked.
They still live in the house and cleanse it every three months, Meyran told The New York Post.
Sometimes they still see ghosts.
'I see my dad in this house walking through the hallways checking on us. It’s nice to know he’s watching,' Angela told the Post.

Source: DailyMail

DID A POLTERGEIST DESTROY A JAMAICAN HOME?

2013-06-07T16:48:00.000+01:00

The charred remains

Distraught householders said they lost "everything". The fire department estimated the total loss at around $15 million. Family members, who yesterday steadfastly insisted that their names be kept out of news reports, confirmed that the house was not insured.

The Junction police confirmed late yesterday that they were investigating the incident.

A 42-year-old daughter of the householders said any material assistance would be welcomed "because the house burn down and we lose everything".

Fire personnel said that on their arrival the house was already "engulfed". They were able to save an old building, almost adjoining, described by relatives and neighbours as an "old outside kitchen". Firemen described the cause of the fire as "unknown".

Destroyed by fire

But family members and neighbours were in no doubt that it was merely a continuation of the mysterious happenings occurring sporadically since April 20. They claim several people have been hit with stones and small fires had, on occasion, destroyed furniture, including mattresses and settee chairs. They insist that the cause is "not natural" and is "duppy business".

The daughter told the Jamaica Observer that in the latest incident, family members found themselves being hit by stones on occasions Monday night to early Tuesday morning.

It was as if the stones were "coming out of the ceiling", she said. She showed this reporter bruises on her neck and arms as evidence of being hit.

She claimed they left the house yesterday, with some family members hoping to go to the doctor only to hear that the house was on fire.

"Pure fire mi see a bun ... the whole of the top of the house pure fire," a neighbour, who claimed to have been early on the scene, said.

When the Observer team arrived in mid-afternoon, only the blackened walls of the burnt-out house remained with scores of people from surrounding communities visiting to see for themselves. Twisted metal in what was said to be the kitchen was identified by neighbours as the remains of appliances, including fridge and stove. Saddest of all, perhaps, were the remains of school books burnt to cinder.

The daughter who spoke to the Observer, angrily rejected allegations that family members had been involved in demonism and spiritualism of any form.
"We not in no de Laurence business, we don't deal inna obeah, we don't know anything bout dem thing deh... I have to work too hard to tek my money give obeah man," she said. "If we did owe de Laurence money, wi nuh woulda pay it back long time from the first stone dem start throw? But wi don't know who to go to because wi don't owe nobody and wi don't do nobody nuttin," she said.

Her constant puzzled refrain was "we want to know what cause this?" She asked this reporter: "In all your experience, you have any idea what could cause this?" She got no answers.

She confirmed that her 70-year-old mother had been taken to the doctor. "She suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, and all this is too much," she said.

The daughter said that after initially dismissing reports that "duppies" (ghosts) were involved, she changed her opinion weeks ago, when she saw a window on fire with no obvious source. "Mi see it fi myself," she said.

Source: JamaicaObserver

NEW LONDON UNDERGROUND `GHOST STATIONS` NETWORK MAP

2013-06-07T11:31:00.000+01:00

Ever been on the Tube and caught a glimpse of a mysterious dark tunnel and wondered where it went?

Chances are it has something to do with the numerous tube stations that have been closed over the years either to low passenger numbers or the building of newer stops nearby.

This fascinating insight into the world of mysterious "ghost stations" is courtesy of tube enthusiast Dylan Maryk who collected the data, and Us Versus Them who turned it into a visualisation.

Click image to enlarge map

Source: HuffPost

FOR SALE - SERIAL KILLER ED GEIN`S HEADSTONE

2013-06-03T12:03:00.001+01:00

Ed Gein

An area man has quite the collection. he runs a store just outside Janesville. He sells antiques, collectibles, and junk! But he's hoping one item will eventually bring him a big pay day.

“Well a lot of people think since I have so much stuff here they say is this guy a hoarder?”

Huey Long has a lot of stuff.

“This is actually a World War II bomb,”

Some of it is pretty cool.

“The first snow mobile,”

And some is downright creepy.

“My wife sold a cat, a dried up cat, a mummified cat, on eBay for $160.50,”

But this is Huey's weirdest possession.

“Odd ball stuff would be like the headstone of Ed Gein,”

This is the second headstone of Wisconsin killer Ed Gein.

“There's a lot of people who come in here that are grossed out by it but they have to touch it,” said Long laughing. “They have to touch the headstone but some people won't touch it whatsoever,”

Gein was a convicted murderer known for his grisly crimes in the 1950 and 60s

“When his mother died, Ed went crazy,” said Long “Like the movie Silence of the Lambs was based upon Ed Gein...Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based upon Ed Gein,”

House of Horror - Ed Gein`s home

He died in 1984 and was buried in a cemetery in his hometown of Plainfield.

“That little town gets thousands of visitors every year to visit Ed Gein's grave

The original headstone was vandalized, stolen,eventually found and placed in a museum in Waushara county.

Officials decided to leave his grave unmarked. But someone built a replacement.

“It's drawn blood on my at least three times before because of the nails on the backside,” said Long. “People always ask me why do they have nails on there? And I say to keep Ed down,”

A few years ago, someone brought the stone into Huey's store on Highway 14 just outside Janesville. After checking with authorities to make sure he could legally buy the stone, he went ahead and made the deal.

“I'm hoping someday to put it on it's own internet site and see what kind of money I can get for the headstone,” he said.
“I've been offered $3,000 from a person in Chicago but I turned it down because I believe it's worth more,”

The stone is relic from a dark time in Wisconsin's history but it's history that could be worth some money.

“The reason i'm in this business is treasure hunting, I enjoy going out there and finding that treasure,”

Long's business is located on Highway 14 just outside of Janesville in the unincorporated town of Emerald Grove.

Source: NBC15

RAT FOUND ON MARS?

2013-06-02T19:17:00.002+01:00

Is that a rat… on Mars?!

Yes, according to a theory from one determined man in Japan who recently scoured dozens of NASA photos taken by the space agency’s Mars Curiosity rover. A post on UFO Sightings Daily shows the “Mars rat,” which appears to be a creature with legs and a tail among rocks on the planet.

As the blog notes, the figure “seems to resemble a rodent but also may be a lizard.”

The alleged Mars rat should not be confused with a similar sighting first pointed out in December: An image taken by the Curiosity rover at the “Rocknest” site in September shows a rodent-like figure that most closely resembles a squirrel. However, as UFO Sightings Daily notes, that observation may have been staged by NASA as part of an experiment.

While this most recent rodent sighting may be yet another NASA test (or the result of a few perfectly placed rocks), it’s most likely not a living creature. After all, this is something NASA would make an announcement about, right?

Earlier this year, the agency revealed that the Curiosity rover uncovered signs that life may have once existed on Mars. NASA scientists cited a rock sample the rover analyzed in February that contained elements necessary for supporting life.

“We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new ‘gray Mars’ where conditions once were favorable for life,” John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement at the time. “Curiosity is on a mission of discovery and exploration, and as a team we feel there are many more exciting discoveries ahead of us in the months and years to come.”

Scientists state that this is merely a `rat shaped rock`

SOME GHOSTS OF OLDE ENGLAND

2013-06-02T16:15:00.000+01:00

Here is our visit to the very haunted village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire and featured in the Haunted Earth Show, May 2013.
Some great activity in a beautiful location.

THE HAUNTED EARTH SHOW - MAY 2013 - VIEWING PLATFORM

2013-05-31T12:16:00.000+01:00

Two great investigations at two historic locations

Tonight`s show for Friday, May 31st 2013. Time: 2200 GMT/2300/CEST/1700 EST

This show is viewable from this page (see below) or from Haunted Earth on Vimeo (click link) where you can comment and/or like the show video.

Vimeo is the new main showpage for Haunted Earth Tv.
Our old presence on Youtube will still remain, and although originally I decided to halt any further shares there, it is abundantly clear that many new people are joining the Youtube page unaware of the new move.
In order to respond to this, I will post anything shared on the Vimeo site with Youtube, but some days after the Vimeo show. Hopefully, the new viewers (and some old) on Youtube will follow the transition.

Welcome to our show for May 2013, and presented by Chris Halton.

In the May edition, just two (full) investigations.

1) Some Ghosts of Olde England

Ayot St Lawrence is a leafy, pleasant village set amid the Hertfordshire countryside. But unlike most English villages, Ayot has some impressive haunted buildings, and some famous past residents.
Join Chris Halton as he explores this unusual environment, and later with the team as they return after dark to conduct their own paranormal investigations.

2) On a Trail of a Poltergeist

Join us as we are called into an ancient Essex pub that has allegedly experienced poltergeist activity!
Although we never met with any poltergeist, some strange EVP was captured on cam..

THIS EMBEDDED LINK WILL BE LIVE AT 2200 (10pm) GMT (British Summer Time)

IS THIS A GUARDIAN SPIRIT OR THE VIRGIN MARY?

2013-05-30T19:43:00.000+01:00

From a screen capture - It looks quite remarkable

A ghostly figure has stunned one family, in Kirtland, Ohio, appearing in a family photograph behind their daughter, who had been battling leukemia at the time.

That the figure in question resembles the Virgin Mary, says Erin's mom, Jen Potter, is no coincidence. "My reaction immediately, it's Mary, they hear us, she's there," she told WOIO in an interview that aired Friday. "I didn't necessarily see it as a sign that Erin is fine and is going to walk out of this, but it's a sign that we're watching over her."

The photo shows Erin running through a field with a sprinkler in each hand at night. A somewhat blurred red figure appears behind Erin's right shoulder with eyes downcast and arms extended. Some have suggested the figure resembles the Virgin Mary.

Jen's daughter, Erin, was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2007, subsequently undergoing several bone marrow transplants and three recurrent bouts of cancer. At the time the picture was taken, reports WOIO, Erin was preparing for her second transplant. She's currently cancer free.

Writes Jeni of her daughter, on her blog, "She just continues to amaze me and she shows me what it is like to be strong, to take one day - one moment - at a time. To enjoy each day that she feels good. To love each second that she and her sisters are laughing. All of our girls are my source of strength. They remind me to keep looking up."

KPTV - FOX 12

SHROPSHIRE WOMAN CLAIMS CAPTURE OF GHOST ON PHOTOGRAPH

2013-05-30T19:12:00.001+01:00

Is that a ghost reaching out, or Kerry`s clothes??

Kerry Owen, 28, of Aqueduct in Telford said she did not believe in the paranormal until she took the puzzling picture at her parents’ house in Broseley.

She sent the photograph to the Shropshire Star after reading our story about a shadowy silhouette caught on camera at Wellington Indoor Market.

Employees were shocked when CCTV footage showed what appeared to be a figure pushing over a stack of heavy boxes.

Kerry captured her surreal scene in her parents’ living room in Wilkinson Avenue. “I took it on my new iPhone when I was just messing around getting to grips with the camera,” she said.

“I just took a random picture of my sister Stacey and thought nothing of it. Then two or three days later I was looking through my pictures when I noticed what looked like a man reaching for her shoulder.

“I was a little bit spooked to say the least.

“I showed my sister and she was freaked out by it.”

Kerry’s spooky snap was met with disbelief and wonder by friends and family who could not work out what it was. “Some people were amazed by it and others accused me of setting it up,” said Kerry. “But I wouldn’t know how to fake it if I wanted to.”

Intrigued, Kerry called in the experts to investigate further.

“I had it put through some computer software to see if it could be explained by a light or a reflection but it was inconclusive,” she said.

“I didn’t believe in ghosts before but I do now.”

Source: ShropshireStar

My View
If this photograph was convincing evidence of the paranormal, then my response would be, "What ghost?"

WORKINGMEN`S CLUB BAN CHARITY PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS

2013-05-30T09:19:00.001+01:00

OFFICIALS at a workingmen's club have decided the only spirits they want to disturb are those behind the bar after refusing permission for a charity ghost hunt - for health and safety reasons.

Fundraiser Julie Proudfoot had hoped she and fellow paranormal enthusiasts would discover what sort of ghostly goings-on were happening at the workingmen's club in Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Despite holding two similar events at the club, Mrs Proudfoot, 41, received a letter from the ruling committee stating that on this occasion, the event could not go ahead on health and safety grounds.

I was so angry, I just threw the letter on the fire.”

Mrs Proudfoot said she had planned to hold the event to coincide with other fundraising activities at the village's Queen's Head pub in memory of Michael Lee Taylor, who died in a road accident in Sunderland four years ago.

Money raised is being split between Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary and The Oaks Secondary School, in Spennymoor.

Julie Proudfoot (right) with daughter Joelene Dixon and grandchild Ayisha.

Mrs Proudfoot said the RVI was a cause close to her heart as two-year-old granddaughter Ayisha Dixon had been born 16-weeks prematurely and had received care at the hospital at the time and for a number of ongoing health problems.

“I am very disappointed. I could easily have raised £250 for each organisation,” she said.

“I had a medium coming along and a fully equipped paranormal group who were going to take a scientific approach to the ghost hunt.

“In 2009 and 2010, I did two ghost hunts to support the club when it was in trouble and there were no health and safety problems then.

“When we did those, we caught a lot of voices and there was tapping on mirrors – it is definitely haunted.

“When I put details on Facebook there were between 80 and 100 people who expressed an interest in coming along.”

Mrs Proudfoot said she had been on many ghost hunts to places such as Darlington's Civic Theatre, Bowes Castle and Egglestone Abbey.

Cockfield Workingmen's Club secretary Bob Metcalfe declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Mrs Proudfoot is hoping someone will come forward with the offer of an alternative venue for a ghost hunt.

Anyone who can help should search for Julie Proudfoot on Facebook and contact her through the site.

Source: TheNorthernEcho

My View

Unfortunately there are those among us whose own insecurities create situations where there need be none. Whether the ban was because of that, remains open to debate. But the cop-out excuse of `health and safety reasons` will never wash since they have previously held two paranormal investigations there. And of course, the club have so far declined to share the reasons behind the ban. I hope Julie Proudfoot will find an alternative venue.

LAUNCH OF NEW HAUNTED EARTH SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT

2013-05-29T18:22:00.000+01:00

It`s been a very hectic month for me and the Haunted Earth team.
But we have two great investigations to share in an hour long show, brought to you directly from this site on Friday, 31st May at 10pm GMT.

This show will be streamed from our new site at Vimeo, where the video should be of a much higher and of a more realistic quality than our previous hosting on Youtube.

Despite a lot of viewers moving across to the new platform, there are still many more joining my old Youtube site. So, for a few months I will host any new broadcast on Vimeo first, and followed a few days later on Youtube. Hopefully with advice notices being posted on Youtube, more new viewers will move to the Vimeo site.

This month`s show has a day and night visit and investigation at the beautiful village of Ayot St Lawrence, in Hertfordshire with visits to numerous locations around the village and some ghostly tales concerning some famous past residents and visitors.

It`s interesting to note that since I dress more in period to what I prefer, there has been a marked increase in spiritual activity captured in the daytime.

In this visit during the day, you will see a remarkable phenomena (previously shared below), and some amazing EVP while we were shooting in the entrance to a medieval cemetery.

The other half of the show is dedicated to a call I received concerning alleged poltergeist activity in a haunted Essex pub. The results of my endeavours there are shared, with some very strange EVP.

All in all, one of the best shows we have shot in a while. On behalf of Haunted Earth, we hope you can join us.

GHOST HUNTER CAPTURES UFO HOVERING OVER HAUNTED BARN

2013-05-28T19:45:00.000+01:00

Edgemoor Barn

Something floating up in the sky was captured by Ellen Henry’s camera, just before it stopped working.

Henry is a researcher for the Santee Historical Society. She was shooting photos of the Edgemoor Barn as part of her work. She says she did not see or hear any aircraft anywhere in area while taking her pictures.

When her camera ceased operating, she went home and loaded the pictures into her computer.It was then she noticed something above and to the left of the barn. Zooming in, she saw she had photographed something, well, unidentified, flying above the barn.

Built in 1913, the Edgemoor Barn is Santee’s oldest building. It has been used as a barn, fire truck garage, supply warehouse, and now a museum.

The Santee Historical Society website reports, “Santee’s Old Edgemoor Hospital, was a place of healing, home, and inevitably last rites. Many people died on this property, the exact number is not known. Even before the hospital and is buildings were demolished, accounts of the paranormal were reported.”

Sightings of ghosts are frequently reported to the society. So many, in fact, that paranormal investigators have often visited the sight. The UFO photos as well as ghostly sightings, which include video and sound records, can be seen at the Santee Historical Society’s website at: http://www.santeehistoricalsociety.com/collection/photos-other-media-collection .

While the ghost barn is located within the flight paths of both public airport Gillespie Field and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, no one at either facility offered any explanation for the object in the sky.

When asked, a spokesperson at Miramar stated that the photos were definitely not of either a Stealth Fighter Bomber, or a drone. The lack of wings, rudders, or propellers was cited as proof.

For now Ellen Henry believes whatever it was she captured, it may have more to do with the haunted aspects of the old barn, then extra-terrestrial craft.

Source: (story) SanDiegoEntertainer

ECTOPLASMIC ENERGY CAPTURED ON WOLVERHAMPTON PUB CCTV

2013-05-27T10:21:00.000+01:00

Stunned staff at a Black Country pub believe they have snared a spirit... on CCTV.

They say there can be no other explanation for the strange glowing, misty orb that dances in the darkened bar of Wolverhampton’s Talisman.

The ghostly shape could be linked to a 30-year-old tragedy at the watering hole.

And it is a tragedy close to 62 year-old landlord Peter Thacker.

He was drinking with a group of men in the same bar.

They tried to rouse a sleeping colleague, only to discover that he had died in his sleep.

Then there was a man killed outside the Wildtree Avenue pub 13 years ago.

The strange light, captured on security cameras last month, has certainly spooked staff. They were already jittery after hearing tapping sounds in the empty bar.

When barmaids went to investigate, the room was completely empty.

Peter, who has run the pub for 18 years, said the CCTV footage has baffled regulars.

“The girls had locked up and the place was in darkness,” he said.

“They were unaware of the strange light until they looked at the CCTV. They were shocked, I can tell you.

“It’s very, very strange – you can see it dancing on the table.

“When you think about it, it does make your hair stand on end.”

Peter lives at the Talisman, a pub which dates back to 1962.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he added. “But the bar staff have said strange things have taken place.

“At night, when the place is empty, they’ve heard someone tapping in the bar. When they go to investigate, there’s nobody there.”

A member of staff said: “At first we thought it was smoke on the film, but then we saw it glowing, and it doesn’t move like smoke.

“It seems to have a mind of its own.

“It’s baffled us. If anyone has a logical explanation we’d love to hear it.

“I think it would put all our minds at rest.”

Workers are now considering handing the film to ghostbusters in order to see if they can shed any light on the mystery.

The Talisman has some way to go to beat the paranormal reputation of the Giffard Arms, however, rumoured to be the most haunted hostelry in Wolverhampton.

It is said be home to the spirit of a prostitute who took her own life in the early 1900s, and is said to walk the upper floors.

There have also been sightings of a child-like spectre playing with wooden bricks in the main bar.

If that were not enough, a long dead landlord roams the bar at night and glasses mysteriously explode.

Source: BirminghamMail

HAUNTED HIGH SCHOOL GIVES LOCALS THE JITTERS

2013-05-26T20:48:00.001+01:00

Principal Steve Elwood enters the narrow passageway where nobody else at Lee Williams High School dares to go. He leans low to open a half-sized hallway door, leading the way into a musty windowless chamber the size of a small tomb.

Light pours into the cramped space, illuminating the dust that rises from the gravel floor like at an exotic archaeological dig. Even though it's mid-May, there's an odd chill to the air.

The room isn't used for anything, yet it was somehow included in the building plans for the new school. Nobody knows why, and most are afraid to ask.

"This place gives people the creeps," Elwood says. "We tell the kids this is where we're going to send them for detention."

Talk about school spirit.

Principal Steve Elwood

Some believe the campus is haunted by restless phantoms from a previous century, when Kingman was a frontier town and Arizona still a territory. The ghosts have reportedly appeared at graduation events on the football field — women in prairie gowns and men in fancy wear — specters said to be displeased that their final resting place was paved over in the name of progress.

In the school building, there's the quiet fellow in a bowler hat and long coat who lurks in the hallways. And the little girl who calls out at night that she just wants to go out and play. And don't forget the disembodied footsteps, the lights that flicker, or the alarms, hand dryers and motion detectors that go off seemingly at will.

Many in this Mohave County seat of 66,000, 95 miles southeast of Las Vegas, liken the alleged sightings to hair-raising tales kids tell around campfires.

But high school janitor James Miller believes.

"Some nights I hear footsteps. Last fall, I was [cleaning] in the girls' bathroom and I heard someone going into the boys' lavatory," he said. "I hear voices coming from some rooms, little kids mumbling. I can't really hear what they're saying. It's kind of freaky, but it really doesn't bother me. I just tell them all to go home."

In Kingman, a historic mainstay along old Route 66, there are other buildings with strange phenomena, such as weird knocks on the wall and glasses that spill by themselves, officials say.

"In any old town like ours, especially one that involved mining, railroad and cattle, things don't always go so well," said Diane Silverman, a supervisor at the Kingman tourism office. "People die for all kinds of reasons. And they don't all go away happy."

Indeed, America has plenty of so-called haunted places: old hotels, mansions, ships like the Queen Mary. But a modern high school teeming with teenagers?

Part of Lee Williams High sits atop the former site of the old Pioneer Cemetery, which spreads beneath a portion of the school's football field and a set of bleachers, near a memorial stone honoring the 350 deceased settlers once interred there — ranchers, miners, railroad men and Hualapai tribal members. Many call it the scariest place on campus.

Historians say Kingman was the scene of battles between Native tribes and settlers who arrived after the U.S. annexed the area from Mexico in 1848. A U.S. Army fort was built nearby to protect newcomers who included

gold-scouting miners, Mormons sent down from Utah and cattlemen drawn by the lush grasses. The city was founded in 1882, named after railroad surveyor Lewis Kingman.

"People needed the water at the springs where the tribes lived," said Peter Bungart, an archaeologist for the Hualapai. "It didn't take long for conflict. Bad feelings turned into violence."

Many town founders were buried at Pioneer Cemetery along with more than 70 Hualapai, some in unmarked graves, tribal historians say. In death, if not in life, the two sides were finally able to coexist.

In 1944, the burial ground was relocated. But there was a catch: A $45 charge — nearly $600 in today's dollars — was required to move a person's remains, a near-impossible sum for wartime Americans.

So an untold number of unclaimed bodies were left in the ground, covered over for the first of many schools that would eventually inhabit the site.

For decades, unexplained sightings caused many to look over their shoulders. "When I was a student there years ago, I had to walk by there a lot," said Kay Ellermann, a research librarian at the nearby Mohave Museum of History and Arts. "It was always so spooky to me."

Two years ago, during construction of the new high school, the strangeness rose to a new level.

Fifty workers digging a trench behind the bleachers unearthed 11 grave sites and seven coffins, along with such artifacts as cuff links, a brass nameplate, a medallion and jewelry.

Excavation came to a standstill. "The guys were uneasy digging in an old graveyard," said Oz Enderby, former director of construction for the Kingman Unified School District. "The idea of handling remains made many of them kind of queasy."

While archaeologists dealt with the remains, officials consulted with the nearby Hualapai Cultural Center. "We believe it's a taboo to move or disturb a body, because the spirits become unrestful," said Drake Havatone, 56, a tribal elder. "Many will be angry."

So Havatone performed a ceremony to pacify the spirits. Because it was impossible to tell which remains were Native American, he blessed them all, along with the workers who had disturbed the graves.

"He said spirits will sometimes go home with the person who disturbed them," Enderby said. "When he cleansed me, he said something about the spirits going back to the West, and I figured he was talking about California," he joked.

But Enderby and the others took the ceremony seriously. "We figured this was a good way to ensure these spirits, if there were any, didn't follow us home," he said. "A lot of guys felt better about working there after that. I know I did."

Principal Elwood says the history beneath his campus will help educate students about Kingman's past as the school continues to cope with its supposed spirits.

But staffers believe they have special protection from Kingman's ghosts. The school is named after Richard Lee Williams, a firefighter and principal who died in a 1973 propane tanker explosion.

"I'd like to think Mr. Williams is still here, keeping watch on the school," school nurse Dana Anderson said. "Anyway, when people talk about spirits, they always assume the things are malevolent. But those who walk among us aren't always here to hurt us.

"At least that's what I keep telling myself."

Source: LaTimes

JAPANESE LEADER REFUSES TO MOVE INTO HAUNTED MANSION

2013-05-24T13:30:00.001+01:00

`Sōri Kōtei` The Official Residence just after completion in 1929

The Japanese cabinet has formally denied months-long rumours that prime minister Shinzo Abe has not moved into his official residence over fears the mansion is haunted.

The conservative leader took office in December but has yet to move into the 11-room brick home in central Tokyo.

According to local media, it is the longest holdout among any of his predecessors.

Several former prime ministers have reported experiencing unusual phenomena at the mansion, which was centre-stage for two failed but bloody coups in the 1930s.

Former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi once told reporters he had never encountered any ghosts, despite wanting to see them.

Some first ladies have refused to live in the mansion over fears its was inhabited by spirits.

An opposition politician asked about the presence of ghosts in the prime minister's residence in a letter to Mr Abe's cabinet.

"There are rumours that the official residence is haunted by ghosts. Is it true?" the politician wrote.

"Does prime minister Abe refuse to move to the official residence because of the rumours?"

He said the decision could delay the prime minister's response time in emergencies because the residence is next door to his executive office.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Mr Abe's cabinet issued a terse written statement in response, saying: "We do not assent to what was asked."

In May 1932, a revolt by naval officers ended in the murder of then-prime minister Tsuyoshi Inukai and the plotters' surrender to military police.

Several years later in 1936, about 1,400 rebel troops killed several political leaders and seized the heart of Tokyo's government district including the official residence for four days.

Source: ABCNet

GHOST HUNTER SUES PENNHURST ASYLUM FOR INJURIES RECEIVED

2013-05-24T13:04:00.000+01:00

Pennhurst Asylum

A popular yet controversial Philadelphia-area Halloween attraction that takes place on
the grounds of an infamous hospital for the mentally ill is at the center of a personal injury claim filed this week by a New Jersey man.

Steven Chrzanowski, who lives in Gloucester City, N.J., filed a federal complaint at the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on May 21 against the operators of a haunted house that is open each fall at the site of the former Pennhurst mental institution.

Chrzanowski claims in his civil action against Pennhurst Asylum, Pennhurst Haunt LLC and Bates Motel Productions LLC that while attending the haunted house attraction on Oct. 9, 2011, he sustained serious leg injuries after two employees working for the defendants “jumped onto or otherwise abruptly caused a hospital bed to strike the plaintiff in his left knee.”

The negligent act caused Chrzanowski to suffer a posterior horn medial meniscus tear, patellofemoral chondrosis, and infrapateller neuroma, which caused the plaintiff to have to undergo surgery, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint accuses the defendants’ employees of acting in a negligent, careless and reckless manner.

As a result of the incident, the suit states, Chrzanowski experienced pain and suffering, discomfort, incapacitation, and he incurred expenses related to his medical treatment.

The complaint says the alleged incident occurred while the plaintiff was standing in line for one of the indoor attractions of the haunted house at about 9:30 at night.

Pennhurst Asylum and Pennhurst Haunt LLC are Pennsylvania corporations based in Chester County, while Bates Motel Productions LLC is a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in Gradyville, Delaware County.

The Pennhurst haunted attraction, which first opened in 2010, has had its share of controversy, namely due to people opposing the use of the historic site as a Halloween gimmick.

The reason – the facility was shut down amid claims of patient abuse and mistreatment.

According to online records, the facility first opened in the early 1900s and was originally called Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic.

The building, which straddles the Chester County and Montgomery County lines, was designed to house mentally ill and physically disabled patients from southeastern Pennsylvania.

The institution, however, ended up being shuttered in the mid 1980s following news reports of unsanitary conditions and inappropriate treatment on the part of staff against patients, something that led to one of the first class action abuse lawsuits of its kind in U.S. history.

That case, according to news reports, was Halderman v. Pennhurst State School & Hospital, which concluded that developmentally disabled patients under state care have a constitutional right to appropriate treatment and education.

The federal case was filed by former Pennhurst patient Terry Lee Halderman, who claimed that the conditions at Pennhurst were not just unsanitary, but both inhumane and hazardous, violations of patients’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Halderman had argued that cruel and unusual punishment was the norm at Pennhurst.

Records show, however, that the United States Supreme Court ended up vacating the trial court’s ruling due to the Eleventh Amendment, which prevents federal courts from forcing state officials to enforce state laws.

Nevertheless, Pennsylvania officials did finally agree to close down Pennhurst in the summer of 1986, and move its residents to other institutions, according to an archived New York Times article.

From start to finish, the litigation lasted about a decade, records show.

In addition to being the location for the haunted house attraction, Pennhurst is also a popular site among paranormal investigators.

Chrzanowski, the plaintiff in the current lawsuit, seeks compensatory damages in excess of $75,000, plus interest, attorney’s fees, litigation costs and other court relief.

He is being represented by attorney Frank D. Allen of the firm Archer & Greiner.

Source: PennRecord

Note: Pennhurst has been featured on the shows Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel, Ghost Hunters on SyFy, Celebrity Ghost Stories on BIO, The Haunting Of... 'Beverley Mitchell' on BIO, and the self-titled movie 'Pennhurst', featuring Beverley Mitchell and Haylie Duff.

A GHOST OF A WW1 PILOT AND A LOST LOVE

2013-05-23T16:20:00.001+01:00

Montrose Air Station in 1916

An untold love story behind one of Scotland’s most famous military ghosts has been uncovered.

On Monday, a wreath will be laid near Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre, 100 years to the day after Lieutenant Desmond Arthur was killed in a flying accident near the base.

Tales of supernatural sightings in the years following his death are well known but the identity of a young woman pictured in a locket found in his breast pocket have proved a mystery — until now.

Curator of the centre Dr Dan Paton said: “Until recently little was known about Lt Arthur but his great-nephew recently provided us with information which gives us a more complete picture of the dashing young pilot.

“One of the most interesting facts is that, following his death, a miniature of a beautiful young woman was found in Lt Arthur’s breast pocket.

Miss Winsome Ropner

“This photograph has now been donated to the heritage centre, along with Lt Arthur’s diary.”

Dr Paton discovered the lady in the photograph was Miss Winsome Ropner from West Hartlepool, who was aged just 14 at the time of the crash.

He said: “In these times such an attachment might cause concern but in 1913, when attitudes and behaviour had not changed from the strict moral standards of the Victorian age, it would have been seen in romantic terms and the prelude to
marriage.

“Miss Ropner went on to marry a man who was also a pilot but she never forgot Desmond Arthur. Thanks to information from Lt Arthur’s great-nephew Nick Arthur and Paul Willcox, the grandson of Winsome Ropner, we now know much more about him as a man.”

Display material will now portray the pilot as a pioneer of aviation and the miniature portrait of Miss Ropner will also be put on show.

An investigation into the crash began two years after Lt Arthur’s death, around the same time as sightings of ghostly figure at the air station were first reported.

Dr Paton said: “These sightings, which coincided with an official inquiry into whether the aircraft’s plunge to the ground was the result of Lt Arthur’s recklessness, caused considerable alarm.

“The Court of Inquiry eventually cleared Lt Arthur of blame and, once exonerated, the ghost made one last appearance on Christmas Eve 1916 and then disappeared.”

A small party from the centre will lay a wreath on Lt Arthur’s grave at the town’s Sleepyhillock Cemetery next week at the behest of his family.

Source: TheCourier

A CHINESE TELEPHONE HORROR STORY OR AN URBAN LEGEND?

2013-05-23T14:32:00.001+01:00

Beijing residents claim they have been terrorized by a spate of late night scary phone calls from a local number, in which they hear cries for help, a woman screaming, or a baby crying.

If they call back, they are told the number does not exist, which has led to online claims that people are being harassed by a "ghost call."

Web users who posted their experiences of answering the call on Sina Weibo say these calls all originate from the same number, which is 010-67679910. Many other residents said they had also received calls from that number late at night, but missed it, as it rang only for a short time while they were asleep.

China Unicom - Line Operator

The subject of "ghost calls" has become the top trending topic on Sina Weibo since last week. Many Web users posted pictures of missed call records from their phones, and celebrated that they did not pick up the call. Some are afraid that they merely received the call, even if they did not answer.

Web posts on receiving horror calls from the same number date from 2010.

Two customer service staff from China Unicom, a State-owned telecommunications operator, told the Global Times that the number is in the range of the company's phone numbers, but they cannot find the number in their database. They both suggested the possibility that the number was set through some software.

An insider in the communications industry in Shanghai told the Global Times that Internet telephony which includes software that can change the number shown on recipients' phones is likely to be involved.

Those who made the calls have breached the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments for repeatedly dispatching intimidating information to disturb others' normal life, while supervision on Internet telephony is a legal vacuum.

Beijing police said that if residents receive the calls, they can report this to their nearest police office. Officers will take down the information, and tackle the case if reports intensify, the Beijing News reported.

Source: GlobalTimesChina

DUBLIN MAYOR REPORTS THAT THE MAYOR'S MANSION IS HAUNTED

2013-05-23T14:17:00.000+01:00

The Mansion House, Dublin

The Lord Mayor of Dublin says there have been spooky occurrences at the Mansion House.

Naoise O Muiri says his daughter Briona (4) has witnessed a ghoul at the historic Dublin building.

The Fine Gael councillor says he didn’t believe in ghosts until an incident in February when his daughter saw a young girl watching TV in the living quarters of the building.

“In the middle of the night my six-year-old daughter Ailbhe walked from her room through the sitting room and into mine.

Naoise O Muiri - Sceptic

“Briona followed her in the next day she turned to me and said she saw a girl with dark curly hair sitting watching TV at 3am.”

O Muiri said he knew the Dawson Street building which dates back to 1705 had a reputation for strange happenings.

He told the Irish Sun: “I was sceptical coming in but there is definitely stuff happening”.

He believes his daughter’s youth and innocence is the reason why there is proof that there is a ghost.

“Briona has never heard or had never heard any talk of ghosts. She is very small and young, very sensitive.

“It happened 12 weeks ago and we haven’t brought it up again.”

In 2009 the then Mayor Eibhlin Byrne reported that her bulldog Sam had noticed something spooky at the Mansion House.

She said the dog refused to walk past a particular door.

Source: Independent.i.e

IS THE NEW POPE FRANCIS AN EXORCIST?

2013-05-21T12:53:00.000+01:00

Pope Francis 1 - The Exorcist?

The below footage was shot following Pentecostal mass on Sunday 19th May.
The clip shows a priest explaining something to Pope Francis about the man, who is in a wheelchair, before the Pope becomes serious and places his hands firmly on the man’s head.
While pushing the man down into his chair, the Pontiff recites a prayer and the man opens his mouth while making strange guttural sounds.
Although the process takes less than 15 seconds, the man in the wheelchair appears overwhelmed before the Pope moves on to the next person.
According to an exorcism expert quoted by La Repubblica, “It was a prayer of liberation from evil or even a real exorcism.”
However, the Vatican has denied that the footage shows Pope Francis performing an exorcism, claiming that he was merely saying a prayer for the man.
The Pontiff has repeatedly made it clear that he believes in Satan, whom he refers to as “the prince of this world,” as a real force who needs to be opposed on a constant basis.
Francis is already on record as having performed previous exorcisms. In 1999, the Catholic Church revised the Rite of Exorcism guidelines to clearly recognize, “both the existence of the Devil and the reality of diabolical possession.”
According to rules laid down by the Catholic Church, exorcisms should never be broadcast or performed in front of media of any kind.

Source and Video: Paul Joseph Watson

WAS AUSTRALIA VISITED BY TRAVELLERS OVER 1,000 YEARS AGO?

2013-05-20T11:48:00.000+01:00

Forever hopeful - Professor Ian McIntosh

Five copper coins and a nearly 70-year-old map with an ''X'' could rewrite Australia's history.

Ian McIntosh, an Australian scientist and professor of anthropology at Indiana University in the US, is planning an expedition in July to revisit the location where five 1000-year-old coins were found in the Northern Territory in 1944.

The coins could mean seafarers from distant countries landed in Australia much earlier than is believed.
In 1944, the Wessel Islands - an uninhabited group of islands off Australia's north coast - had become a strategic position to help protect the mainland.

Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg was stationed on one of the islands to man a radar station and spent his spare time fishing on the idyllic beaches. He discovered the handful of coins in the sand.
In 1979, he sent the coins to a museum to get them identified. They proved to be 1000 years old.
Still not fully realising their significance, he marked an old map with an ''X'' where he had found them. The discovery was apparently forgotten until a few months ago.

Professor McIntosh and his team of Australian and American historians, archaeologists, geomorphologists and Aboriginal rangers say the five coins date back to the 900s to 1300s.

They are African coins from the former Kilwa sultanate, now a World Heritage ruin on an island off Tanzania. Kilwa once was a flourishing trade port with links to India in the 13th century to 16th century.
The copper coins were the first coins produced in Sub-Saharan Africa and, according to Professor McIntosh, have only twice been found outside Africa: once in Oman and Mr Isenberg's find.

Archaeologists have long suspected that there may have been early maritime trading routes that linked East Africa, Arabia, India and the Spice Islands, even 1000 years ago. Or the coins could have washed ashore after a shipwreck.

When Mr Isenberg discovered the copper coins, he also found four coins that originated from the Dutch East India Company - with one dating back to 1690.
Professor McIntosh wants to answer some of these mysteries during his planned expedition to the Wessel Islands.

He will also be looking for a secret cave Aboriginal legends refer to. It is supposed to be close to the beach where Mr Isenberg found the coins and is said to be filled with doubloons and weaponry.

Source: SydneyMorningHerald

My View?

A bunch of coins allegedly found buried in sand, and an old map marked with an `X` do not in my mind prove the earlier visitations of foreign travellers. If their entire research is based on the story of a bored WW2 soldier, then the world of science is no longer scientific.
So far, there have been no other significant finds of early travellers, and no indications such as the remains of buildings or other structures that would have defined a presence.
It would be nice to believe in this story, but that is all that it is, a story with a few coins and a map ....