What's so strange about these places!!!!

7 Colored Earth - Mauritius

2009-10-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

Mauritius is situated about 40 minutes by air to the northeast of Réunion and embodies what is to be expected to be the fate of latter island in geographically measured time. It is also of volcanic origin, but the volcanoes are long dead as the tectonic plate carrying the islands has moved on, shifting the so-called "hot spot" from beneath Mauritius to beneath Réunion a long time ago.

The volcanic past can easily be recognised in places where the coral reef is not present. The ocean's tides and currents wash away any beach. There are only a few such spots.

The hotspot, Chamarel has two prominent natural wonders to cater you. Out of these two wonders is the spectacular Chamarel Falls. People spend hours together by sitting beside the natural falls, which keep on flowing and gushing since ages.

Beside the Falls, the rocky beds are covered with colored landmass.

These unique landmasses were formed of the volcanic eruptions. After the eruption occurred, the temperature dropped with time leaving multiple shades on the surface of the rocks.

The Mystery of Mima Mounds

2009-09-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Scientists love a mystery. Biologists used to have the human genome, but now they have the structure of protein. Physics used to have cosmic rays, but now they have the God particle. Astronomers used to have black holes, but now they have dark matter. And then there’s the puzzle, the enigma, the joyous mystery that dots the world over: the riddle of what’s commonly called Mima Mounds.

What’s an extra added bonus about these cryptic ‘whatevertheyares’ is that they aren’t as miniscule as a protein sequence, aren’t as subatomic as the elusive God particle, and certainly not as shadowy as dark matter. Found in such exotic locales as Kenya, Mexico, Canada, Australia, China and in similarly off-the-beaten path locations as California, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and especially Washington state, the mounds first appear to be just that: mounds of earth.The first thing that’s odd about the mounds is the similarity, regardless of location. With few differences, the mounds in Kenya are like the mounds in Mexico which are like the mounds in Canada which are like the … well, you get the point. All the mounds are heaps of soil from three to six feet tall, often laid out in what appear to be evenly spaced rows. Not quite geometric but almost. What’s especially disturbing is that geologists, anthropologists, professors, and doctors of all kinds – plus a few well-intentioned self-appointed “experts” – can’t figure out what they are, where they came from, or what caused them.

One of the leading theories is that they are man-made, probably by indigenous people. Sounds reasonable, no? Folks in loincloths hauling dirt in woven baskets, meticulously making mound after mound after … but wait a minute. For one thing it would have been a huge amount of work, especially for a culture that was living hand-to-mouth. Then there’s the fact that, as far as can be determined, there’s nothing in the mounds themselves. Sure they aren’t exactly the same as the nearby ground, but they certainly don’t contain grain, pot shards, relics, mummies, arrowheads, or anything that really speaks of civilization. They are just dirt. And if they are man-made, how did the people in Kenya, Mexico, Canada, Australia, China, California, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and especially Washington state all coordinate their efforts so closely as to produce virtually identical mounds? That’s either one huge tribe or a lot of little ones who somehow could send smoke signals thousands of miles. Not very likely.

Next on the list of explanations is that somehow the mounds were created either by wind and rain or by geologic ups and downs – that there’s some kind of bizarre earthy effect that has caused them to pop up. Again, it sounds reasonable, right? After all, there are all kinds of weird natural things out there: rogue waves, singing sand, exploding lakes, rains of fish and frogs – so why shouldn’t mother nature create field after field of neat little mounds?

Google Earth Images of Mima Mounds

The “natural” theory of nature being responsible for the Majorly Mysterious Mima Mounds starts to crumble upon further investigation. Sure there’s plenty of things we don’t yet understand about how our native world behaves scientists do know enough to be able to say what it can’t do – and it’s looking pretty certain it can’t be as precise, orderly, or meticulous as the mounds.

But still more theories persist. For many who believe in ley lines, that crop circles are some form of manifestation of our collective unconscious, in ghosts being energy impressions left in stone and brick, the mounds are the same, or at least similar: the result of an interaction between forces we as yet do not understand, or never will, and our spaceship earth.

Others, those who prefer their granola slightly less crunchy or wear their tinfoil hats a little less tightly, have suggested what I – in my own ill-educated opinion – consider to be perhaps the best theory to date. Some, naturally, have dismissed this concept out-of-hand, suggesting that the whole idea is too ludicrous even to be the subject of a dinner party, let alone deserving the attention and respect of serious research.

But I think this attitude shows not only lack of respect but a lack of imagination. I simply ask that this theory be considered in all fairness and not dismissed without the same serious consideration these now well-respected theories have received.

After all, giant gophers could very well be responsible for the Majorly Mysterious Mima Mounds.

Houses in Weird Places

2009-08-09T07:32:00.001-07:00

While surfing for some of the strange places I found these weird places to built your house at.

For more you can check this out..

Houses in Weird Places

Glow in the Dark House

2009-07-03T15:27:00.001-07:00

We have talked about lot of places that are naturally strange and mystical but very rare e come acorss a place that is mystical because we made it to be like that.

One such place is a PC1 Residence by Pb Elemental Arhiteture.

Now you would ask me how can a house be strange or so different.

The strange thing about his house is that it ''Glows'' , literally.It is made up of 100% recyclable polycarbonate walls which illuminates it from dusk to dawn.According to co founder of Pb Elemntal Architecture,Chris Pardo , this concept is based on interacting with and utilizing nature.

Just think about it , spotting your house from Google Earth.isn't it cool...

The Great Blue Hole - Belize Lighthouse Reef

2009-06-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Great Blue Hole is a large underwater sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the mainland and Belize City.

The diameter of the circular reef area stretches for about 1,000 feet and provides an ideal habitat for corals to attach and flourish. The coral actually breaks the surface in many sections at low tide. Except for two narrow channels, the reef surrounds the hole. The hole itself is the opening to a system of caves and passageway that penetrate this undersea mountain. In various places, massive limestone stalactites hang down from what was once the ceiling of air-filled caves before the end of the last Ice Age. When the ice melted the sea level rose, flooding the caves.

For all the practical purposes the over 400-foot depth makes the Blue Hole a bottomless pit. The walls are sheer from the surface until a depth of approximately 110 feet where you will begin to encounter stalactite formtions which actually angle back, allowing you to dive underneath monstrous overhangs. Hovering amongst the stalactites, you can't help but feel humbled by the knowledge that the massive formation before you once stood high and dry above the surface of the sea eons ago. The feeling is enhanced by the dizzying effect of nitrogen breathed at depths. The water is motionless and the visibility often approaches 200 feet as you break a very noticeable thermocline.

The Blue Hole is a must when in Ambergris, some people liken it to a religous experience. For the less experienced, if you are concerned about the dive, talk with the dive masters or the people in the shops before going. The dive masters stay with you and look after you the entire dive, which is not that long to begin with, about 30 minutes. The rim of the hole starts about 30-35 feet, just a rock wall until you get down to the stalagtites. The snorkling around the perimeter is fabulous. Lots of color, crystal clear water, some of my best pictures are from there in about 6 ft. of water. The full day trip also has other dives at Lighthouse Reef usually about 70-80' -beautiful walls that start at 30' and go down forever.

Almost all the divers who visit Belize are keen to add this splendid dive site to their list of conquests. When they understand what the hole is and how it was formed, it makes the dive all the more exciting. The Blue Hole is a "karst- eroded sinkhole." It was once a cave at the center of an underground tunnel complex whose ceiling collapsed. Some of the tunnels are thought to be linked right through to the mainland, though this has never been conclusively proved. The mainland itself has many water-filled sinkholes that are connected to caves and tunnels.

At some time many millions of years ago, two distinct events occurred. First, there was a major earthquake and this probably caused the cave ceiling to collapse forming the sinkhole. The upheaval, however, had the effect of tilting Lighthouse Reef to an angle of around 12 degrees. All along the walls of this former cavern are overhangs and ledges, housing pleistocene stalactites, stalagmites and columns.

Some of the stalactites now hang at an angle, yet we know they cannot develop at any angle other than perfectly perpendicular. In addition, there are those stalactites which were formed after the earthquake and others which were formed both before and after that cataclysmic event-the top of the stalactite being at an angle and the bottom being perpendicular.

At that time the sea levels were much lower than today and the second major event was to change all this. At the end of the Great Ice Age the glaciers melted and sea levels throughout the world rose considerably. This process occurred in stages. Evidence for this are the shelves and ledges, carved into the limestone by the sea, which run the complete interior circumference of the Blue Hole at various depths.

Welcome to Sleeper's CaveLand

2009-04-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

The story of the Sleeper Cave begins in December of 2003, St. Louis Missouri. Curt found a cave while searching for commercial property in the Festus/Crystal City area on Ebay. That’s right, They found the cave on Ebay! A couple of weeks later, after visiting, fell in love with the place. It took nearly five months to complete the purchase, and just over four years to build their offices and dream home.

After the owner carried back financing on the property the Sleepers quickly went to work. Throughout most of this time, They lived in a giant dehumidified tent inside the cave. Deborah did laundry for the family in four buckets. Deborah lost both her Mother and Father over the last five years to cancer. She did not hesitate to put the majority of her inheritance to work into the home. During that time, the family did some of the work, and had help with it. It all came down to time and money—they used whichever one they had. On May 19th, 2008, the City of Festus approved occupancy inspection for the cave and with that OFFICIALLY, the project was complete.

This is now where the Sleepers... live, work, raise their family and celebrate life, not to mention Sleep!

Description of the Home: Historic, regionally famous cave: 15,000 square feet, divided into three main chambers.

The front chamber houses the main part of the 3-bedroom finished house.
The middle chamber holds the laundry room, storage, and a spare bath. The middle chambe made a great party room. 80 feet by 80 feet.
The back chamber still has the stage where Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Ike and Tina Turner, the MC5 and many other bands performed.

Amenities: Property: 2.8 scenic, partially wooded acres provide excellent privacy and the feel of the country right in the middle of town, just several blocks from shopping, dining, and other conveniences.
Energy efficiency: Geothermal and passive solar keep the home comfortable year-round without a furnace or air conditioning. In spite of the vast size of the home, their energy costs here run about the same as they did in their 800 square-foot starter home. The home naturally stays a little cooler than the average above-ground home.

Kitchen: The kitchen is the crowning jewel of the house, with nearly 400 square feet and a floor plan that lends itself well to cooking for one person, two, or parties of a hundred guests! Some of the features include a customizable Jenn-Air cook top, two convection ovens, Kitchen-Aid triple sink, large island with secondary sink and breakfast bar, and granite tile countertops. Occupancy: The house could still could use trim and finish in several key areas. Trim is not a safety feature and not required by code. The City of Festus granted them an occupancy permit in May of 2008.

Water features: The property has at least three groundwater springs, one accessible via a cistern in the middle chamber of the cave, one that yields an average of 100 gallons a day that drips into an indoor pond in the front chamber, and one near the woods that creates a shallow pond. During heavy rain, the property gets as many as fourteen beautiful waterfalls from the cliffs.

Kowloon Walled City - The City of darkness

2009-03-31T14:32:00.001-07:00

Sunlight comes only rarely, with a sliver slicing down between the ramshackle towers. The light here is fluorescent and the people packed sardine tight amongst twisting corridors. Some of the lower levels are widely considered uninhabitable due to trash. Up the street (if it can be called that) there’s a drug parlor with an unlicensed “doctor” open for business upstairs. They exist openly: there are no police because there is no law.

The above is not a description of a dystopian (or utopian) fantasia, but of the Kowloon Walled City which was very real. From 1945-1993, a political loophole created a zone of Hong Kong where there was no law. The resulting anarchic, hodge-podge monolith was the descendant of the pirate utopias of old: a testament to humanity’s ingenuity, greed, violence and tenacity. Here is a glimpse within the walls of one of the strangest human settlements ever.

The story goes like this: it’s 1898 and, at the height of their imperial power, the British have just forced the Chinese to sign away the Kowloon Peninsula for the next 99 years. There is one exception, however, as the British agree to let a small magistrate’s fort remain until they set up their colonial administration. The Chinese leave, but when the British attack the fort, they find it abandoned. So, like any good colonial bureaucrat, they scratch their heads before promptly turning it into a tourist attraction and ignore its murky legal status.

Along comes World War II, and the Japanese, after taking Hong Kong, tear down the walls to build an airport. After the war, squatters flock to the area and begin to build. Attempts to evict them end, twice, end in riots that threaten to cause a diplomatic incident. The British go back to ignoring the place. The population grows exponentially, and by 1971 there are 10,000 people living on seven acres. It attracts the usual types drawn to undiscovered countries: criminals, dreamers, dissidents, refugees and the plain desperate.

But even as the buildings practically merge into one monolithic labyrinth, people manage to build a life in the Walled City. The communities work out basic rules to prevent fires, sink over 70 wells or tap into city supplies to get water (Hong Kong ends up providing it), set height limits on the buildings to prevent trouble with the nearby airport and establish volunteer groups to keep some basic order.

But this is still a lawless place. Driven from mainland China, the Triads set up shop and start living like kings, while Hong Kong’s upper crust comes in for the sex, drugs and gambling. The gangsters end up lording it over the inhabitants until 3,000 raids by the Hong Kong police in the 1970s clear most of them out (though it leaves the city ungoverned as ever).

After the Triad recedes, the city thrives, the population multiplies to 35,000 (making it one of the most densely populated places on the planet), and by most accounts, the violent crime rate is lower than similar neighborhoods in the rest of the city. Doctors and entrepreneurs who can’t afford the licenses in Hong Kong set up shop and make a fortune.

But, thing change as the handover to China approaches. Neither country’s government particularly likes the filthy uncontrolled pocket that their nearly century long dispute has created. An agreement is made, the residents are moved out and, in 1993 the whole staggering structure is demolished. Today, it’s a park.

But the Walled City left its mark, vexing the Muscles from Brussels in Bloodsport, inspiring Christopher Nolan’s depiction of Gotham’s slums and is rebuilt in cyberspace in William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy.

Every observer seems to have taken a different lesson. Some extolled it as the “rarest of things, a working model of an anarchist society,” while U.S. News and World Report (never big on the whole nonconformity thing in the first place), sputtering in its disgust, dubbed it “a fetid conglomeration” of tenements, piling on words like “festering” for good measure.

I think any lessons the place offers defy easy categories. But because it’s closer in history, it should be a reminder, whenever any of us looks back on the aforementioned pirate utopias, or the romanticized depictions of Tortuga or the Wild West, that those no-rules fantasy lands were real places with all the attendant blood and stink.

Yes, the anarchistic types out there are correct when they say that the Walled City is evidence that humans can co-exist, and even thrive, without laws constantly piled on them. But it’s not that simple. After all, without massive police raids (government incarnate), the place would have probably become a mob-run tyranny. Its residents had a degree of freedom that anyone who comes home to piles of bills or endless forms can’t help but envy. They also had darkness, a lower life expectancy, filthy living conditions and huge numbers of drug addicts.

But if the Walled City is a reminder that lawlessness isn’t quite as cleanly romantic as some might think, it also reminds us that a staggering number of societies are possible — and that every one of them has a price.

Vacation Rentals for tropical locations - Anna Maria Island

2009-03-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

When you decide to visit a tropical location, your first impulse might be to choose a hotel. But hotels, particularly in popular island locations, are always busy and impersonal. In general, a hotel experience feels the same whether you're in Florida or Chicago - while a more private island rental allows you to experience the nuances of your unique travel destination.

More and more travelers today seeking a more authentic experience opt for an island house rental. In a rental property, they can relax and be as comfortable as they would be in their own home, enjoying the surroundings contentedly and absorbing the atmosphere of the islands without any stress. With the wide variety of island homes available for rental, there is an almost unlimited variety of residences to choose from. Stay length can be varied, and detailed information is available online.

A Tropical Vacation Paradise Close to Home?

When considering island homes, one of your first questions should be distance. How far do you want to travel to reach your island paradise? Although places like Hawaii and other Pacific islands may beckon, the cost to travel over seas is tough for many families today. But that doesn't mean that you need to forego your island vacation until the economy recovers. There are plenty of island retreats in the continental US that you can reach by driving!

The south coast of Florida boasts a string of incredible islands such as Anna Maria Island, Marco Island, Pine Island, and many more. The weather is delightfully temperate, particularly on some of the islands off of the coast. As you look amongst these islands, it is not hard to find an island house rental. Vacation rentals are quite common here, as many people choose to purchase a home down in Florida, but only use it part of the year, renting it out the rest of the time. As a vacationer, this system works to your benefit: the owner will maintain a beautiful home, and you will enjoy all the comforts of it during your stay.

What To Do Before You Go

You will have much more freedom with a house rental than if you simply lodged in a hotel. Your activities will not be pre-planned, and you will have complete control over what you do each day. Furthermore, you will be completely immersed in the island culture around you, interacting with the people who actually live in the area and know it intimately, rather than a concierge taught to send you to whatever local businesses have cut deals with the hotel. You are at complete liberty to plan your own vacation.

One of the best things to do before you leave is to do online research. Not only is this a lot of fun, but it helps you plan out your trip so that you get the most out of your vacation. Learn about the area surrounding the rental, and make note of any activities you want to do. If you're the type of person who doesn't care much for preplanned vacations, that's fine: just make note and then do it spur of the moment when you arrive at your island house rental.

Before you set off on your vacation, print out your information so that you don't forget your plan details and so that you have driving directions to all of the things you want to see. Once you know where you want to go, and you have yourself established in an excellent island house rental property, you are set to have an excellent vacation.

But according to me Anna Maria Vacation Rentals are the best of the lot.

It's real "Baconscape"

2009-02-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed lately, Bacon, that lowly yet crispy and delicious morning food that we all know and love , has worked its way up from sitting helplessly on the breakast plate to the latest fad in just about everything.I have seen bacon band aids, bacon soap, bacon air freshener, bacon soda, bacon socks and now the Master of foodscapes , Carl Warner has caught on and has created his own breathtaking "Baconscape".

At first glance, these images look like painted landscapes covered in snow. However, if you look a little more closely you will see that the landscape is made of bacon and other cold cuts. These aren’t paintings but true photos! Also everything you can see in the photograph is made of real food! Pictures were photographed by Carl Warner, a photographer who works in London, and who made specialty of these food landscapes or how I like to call them - ‘foodscapes’. In recent years he has been commissioned by many advertising agencies throughout Europe to produce his distinctive images for clients in the food industry. Each scene is photographed in layers from foreground to background.

A blanketed Gas Station

2009-01-11T01:42:00.000-08:00

Artist Jennifer Marsh covered this 50-year-old former Citgo station with a giant blanket. Jennifer was sick of paying high gas prices and bothered by the abandoned gas station that was an eyesore on the drive to her studio each day, so she decided to do something about it.

Jennifer Marsh

With the help of professional and amateur artists from 15 countries and more than 2,500 grade-
school students in 29 states, Marsh covered the 50-year-old former Citgo station — pumps, light stands, signs and all — with more than 3,000 fiber panels that are crocheted, knitted, quilted or stitched together.

The panels cover 5,000 square feet and come in every color, hue and texture. There are panels in burlap, leather, even silk. There are panels of solid color and others with patterns, prints or scenes.

The project cost about $29,000, much of it her own money. There were also grants and contributions from individuals and businesses.

Lymm Water Tower House

2008-12-21T03:16:00.000-08:00

Designed by Ellis Williams Architects, the award-winning ( won a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award.) Lymm Water Tower House is a project that converted a Water Tower Situated in the historic village of Lymm, into a contemporary family home.

The basis for this opulent design – a 130-year-old water tower – rises five stories above Cheshire, England’s countryside, and offers 360-degree views of the world beyond its multitude of floor-to-ceiling windows. The project was filmed as a 15 part series for Sky and has beDesigned by Ellis Williams Architects, the award-winning ( won a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award).

Lymm Water Tower House is a project that converted a Water Tower Situated in the historic village of Lymm, into a contemporary family home. The basis for this opulent design – a 130-year-old water tower – rises five stories above Cheshire, England’s countryside, and offers 360-degree views of the world beyond its multitude of floor-to-ceiling windows. The project was filmed as a 15 part series for Sky and has been used in numerous TV commerciales since completion.Designed by Ellis Williams Architects, the award-winning ( won a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award.)

Lymm Water Tower House is a project that converted a Water Tower Situated in the historic village of Lymm, into a contemporary family home. The basis for this opulent design – a 130-year-old water tower – rises five stories above Cheshire, England’s countryside, and offers 360-degree views of the world beyond its multitude of floor-to-ceiling windows. The project was filmed as a 15 part series for Sky and has been used in numerous TV commerciales since completion.en used in numerous TV commerciales since completion.

A Floating Swimming Pool

2008-10-22T11:15:00.001-07:00

A swimming pool on water, there’s something you don’t see every day.

Called the Badeschiff (that’s German for “bathing ship”) this floating swimming pool is really just an old barge transformed into a public pool last year in Berlin, on the Spree river. Unfortunately, the river itself is much too polluted for people to swim in, so this idea, as crazy as it looks, makes some sense.

It was first spotted in 2007, during a very hot Summer and during the off-season it’s covered and closed to the public. But the hot Summer is here again and the Germans in Berlin will once again be able to enjoy a swim in the cool water of the Badeschiff. Would’ve been cool if it had a glass bottom though, so you could see the river.

Mt. Weather

2008-10-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

The Mount Weather Special Facility is an unacknowledged Continuity of Government (COG) facility operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The 200,000 square foot facility also houses FEMA's National Emergency Coordinating Center. Located on a 434 acre mountain site on the borders of Loudon and Clarke counties, the above ground support facilities, with 240 employees, include about a dozen building providing communications links to the White House Situation Room.

An eye-witness described view of the west entrance into the mountain itself, complete with guard posts occupied by military soldiers

Completed in 1958, the underground bunker includes a hospital, crematorium, dining and recreation areas,sleeping quarters, reservoirs of drinking and cooling water, an emergency power plant, and a radio and television studio which is part of the Emergency Braodcasting System. A series of side-tunnels accomodate a total of 20 office buildings, some of which are three stories tall. The East Tunnel includes a computer complex for directing emergency simulations and operations through the Contingency Impact Analysis System (CIAS) and the Resource Interruption Monitoring System (RIMS).

An on-site 90,000 gallon/day sewage treatment plant and two 250,000 gallon above-ground storage tanks are intended to support a population of 200 for up to 30 days. Although the facility is designed to accomodate several thousand people (with sleeping cots for 2,000), only the President, the Cabinet, and Supreme Court are provided private sleeping quarters. For Continuity of Government purposes, senior officials are divided into Alpha, Bravo and Charlie teams -- one remains in Washington, another relocates to Mount Weather, and the third disperses to other relocation sites. The only full-scale activation of the facility came on 9 November 1965, at the time of the great Northeastern power blackout.

The Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center has transitioned from a single mission to one that supports the all-hazards mission of FEMA and, simultaneously, it became a self-supporting cost center that derives its income from the Working Capital Fund authorized by Congress. The Fiscal Year 1997 Appropriation Act authorized FEMA to establish a working capital fund for providing administrative services. A fund was established to support the centralized services provided by the Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center (MWEAC).

The facility, over a two year period in 1997 and 1998, transitioned to a fully operational mode for the Working Capital Fund. It provides office, conference, training, and billeting accommodations at Mount Weather for use by FEMA organizations and other Federal agencies. While operations are being funded based on current appropriations, collections, and usage, FEMA is aggressively marketing the facility to attract new users. All organizations at Mount Weather, including FEMA components, were subject to the provisions of the Working Capital Fund beginning in FY 1998.

Depiction of the doors that are believed to exist at the end of the entrance tunnels

Since the 1993 restructuring, population explosion occurred at Mount Weather, moving from a daily work force of about 400 employees, to one of more than 900. Approximately 250 new Cadre of Oncall Response and Recovery Employee (CORE) positions were added that did not exist in 1993. Conference and Training Center (CTC) activity also expanded dramatically, from fewer than 6,000 students/attendees in 1993, to more than 18,000 in FY 1996. More than 100,000 persons were guests at Mount Weather during 1996. The Conference and Training Center at Mount Weather handles some 10,000 students per year for one-week courses, a number comparable to the approximately 10,000 students trained each year in residence at the National Emergency Training Center in Emittsburg, Maryland.

Mount Weather is currently home to six major disaster operations facilities including the:

National Processing Service Center–Virginia
Satellite Teleregistration Center
Disaster Finance Office
Disaster Information Systems Clearinghouse
Disaster Personnel Operations Division
Agency Logistics Center

Clingstone Mansion - Newport,Rhode Island

2008-10-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Clingstone, an unusual, 103-year-old mansion in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. The house was abandoned in the 1940's until it was bought by Henry Wood in 1961 for $3,600.

Henry Wood, the owner, runs the house like a camp: all skilled workers welcome. The Jamestown Boatyard hauls the family’s boats and floating dock and stores them each winter in return for a week’s use of the house in the summer.Mr. Wood, a 79-year-old Boston architect, bought the house with his ex-wife Joan in 1961. It had been empty for two decades.

Clingstone had been built by a distant cousin, J.S. Lovering Wharton. Mr. Wharton worked with an artist, William Trost Richards, to create a house of picture windows with 23 rooms on three stories radiating off a vast central hall.

The house is maintained by an ingenious method: the Clingstone work weekend. Held every year around Memorial Day, it brings 70 or so friends and Clingstone lovers together to tackle jobs like washing all 65 of the windows. Anne Tait, who is married to Mr. Wood’s son Dan, refinished the kitchen floor on one of her first work weekends.

The total cost of the construction, which was completed in 1905, was $36,982.99.

Ferdinand Chavel's Ideal Palace

2008-09-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

Ferdinand Cheval (1836 – 19 August, 1924), was a French postman who spent 33 years of his life building Le Palais Idéal (the "Ideal Palace") which is regarded as an extraordinary example of naïve art architecture.

An insignificant event spawned the building of Cheval's castle in 1879, at the age of 43. He tripped on a bizarre and beautiful stone in the road along his mail route and bent to pick it up. Looking about, he was surprised to see that such marvelous stones were scattered all around him, and he pocketed them to find a use for them at home. "From that moment," he says in a letter from 1897, "I did not sleep day or night."

He continued his search on his daily 32 kilometer route (adding 10 km to search for more stones), first putting his treasures in his pockets, then in a wheelbarrow. He scoured the countryside for days and nights at a time on his mail route, sleeping in farmhouses and under the stars. He stock-piled the stones he brought back in his yard, which convinced his neighbors that he had gone mad, but he was determined to build the castle and grottoes that had populated his dreams 15 years earlier -- dreams he never told a soul about, fearing people would ridicule him. Cheval was a mailman by day and an architect by night, building his palace of stones and intricately carved concrete with little available light and no assistance from anyone.

It took him 34 years of continuous toil to finish the imposing castle, which teems with sculptures of gods and goddesses, churches and temples, animals and monsters, pilgrims and peasants, and fountains and towers. More than 1,000 miniature palaces and temples of several religions are nestled in the palace's facade (8 - 10 meters high with a perimeter of 78 meters). Cheval was as good an amateur poet as he was an amateur sculptor and architect -- the tunnel that runs through the bottom level of the palace, as well as several outer and upper walls, are filled with poems and inscriptions.

The Arabian mosque on the west side. The sign over the door says, "Entrance to an imaginary palace."

The wheelbarrow Cheval used to gather 100,000s of stones. Translation: my partner in pain.

Most have to do with the power of art and one man's ability to achieve a dream through hard work. Cheval hoped to be buried here with his wife, but the city forced him to build a separate tomb in the town's consecrated cemetary, minutes from the palace. At the age of 78, Cheval collected rocks and built a second tomb there, where he was buried upon his death in 1924. His wheelbarrow, however, is buried in the palace in its own tomb, surrounded by Cheval's poems and inscriptions. Pablo Picasso and Andre Breton (the founder of Surrealism) visited Cheval's masterpiece, which has influenced many artists and inspired many would-be creators. It is now a national monument (as of 1963) and the main source of income for a town that once condemned its strangest, most remarkable denizen.

The guardians overlooking the first floor tunnel that runs through the palace and is filled with poems, inscriptions, sculptures and wall reliefs.

Sam Kee Building - The narrowest commercial building in the world.

2008-08-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

The Sam Kee Building is located at 8 West Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia and is noteworthy for being the narrowest commercial building in the world.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Sam Kee Company was one of the wealthiest firms in Chinatown. It bought this land as a standard-sized lot in 1903, but the City widened Pender Street in 1912 and expropriated 24 feet (7.3 m) of the lot.

In 1913 the architects Brown and Gillam designed this narrow, steel-framed building, only 4'11" (1.5 m) at its ground-floor base and 6 feet (183 cm) at the second-story bay windows. The basement extends under the sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the top story for living quarters.

Rehabilitation of the building for Jack Chow was designed by Soren Rasmussen Architect and completed in 1986.

The building is considered the thinnest commercial building in the world by the Guinness Book of Records and Ripley's Believe it or Not!

The Sedlec Ossuary

2008-08-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

Kutna Hora is a town in the Czech Republic about 70 km (44 miles) east of the capital Prague. The town flourished during the 1300 due to the immense silver findings in the vicinity. The town provided most of the silver for the coins circulating in Europe at the time. As the town grew new churches were built and old ones repaired and expanded.
One of the most famous medieval cathedrals, the Church of Santa Barbara (Kostel sv. Barbora), was built at that time with money raised from the miners from the area in honour of their industry's patron saint and without involvment of any governmental funding.

Another less known church (but of major interest to us!) was sittuated in Sedlec - a kind of a suburb to Kutna Hora some 2 kilometres away from the Kutna Hora town centre itself and got heavily expanded with a new Chapel added to the old buildings.The Sedlec Cistercians weren't just joining the Kutna Hora construction boom when they started expanding. They did it because of practical reasons. That chapel with its belonging graveyard had become a well-known and attractive place to get ones relatives buried in a long time ago. Why you may ask?

The answer is to be found in the actions of a certain abbot Henry. In the year of thy lord 1278 the Cistercian abbot Henry embarked on a pilgrim voyage to the Holy Land (Palestine). This was more or less common practice for people of the church at the time. What he couldn't have imagined is the effect a little symbolic deed that he performed would have on the future of the little Sedlec church.

While in Palestine abbot Henry visited the Golgotha and from there he brought back to Sedlec a jar full of earth. He referred to this as 'Holy Soil'. When he got back he spread the earth over the Sedlec cemetery and thus the cemetery begun to be considered as a piece of sacred land. The burial ground rapidly became one of the most popular in central Europe and people from all over the country and Europe came to Sedlec to get buried when they felt the strength of life diminishing. Many brought their dead relatives or friends to be buried in the holy soil of the Sedlec cemetery believing that the holyness of the ground was a sure way to guarantee the buried a place in heaven.
Many corpses and bones were accumulated this way and especially during the times of the plague (the black death) many who were about to die from the disease came themselves to be buried in Sedlec. By 1318 over 30 000 bodies were buried there and this gave rise to the creation of the ossuary.

The ossuary is located in the All Saints' Chapel built around 1400. The chapel is still surrounded by a functioning graveyard and if you take a careful look at the top of its towers you will see that that a "jolly roger", or a skull and crossbones, replace the usual Christian cross. The ossuary itself dates from 1511 when a half-blind monk was given the task to gather the bones from the abolished graves and putting them in the crypt to make place for new "customers". The task may seem somewhat macabre and unenviable but it served a practical purpose. Anyhow - now the material was in store and waiting for an idea and someone to realize that idea.

A more questionable task than the one of the half-blind monk was the one of the local woodcarver who as late as 1870 was hired to decorate the inside of the Chapel with the human material (an approximate of 40 000 sets of human bones) at his disposal. The name of the artist was Frantisek Rindt and the employer was the Duke (Prince?) of
Shwartzenberg. The coats of arms of the family Shwartzenberg was one of the creations evolved from the artists mind. Another one is the chandelier which contains every human bone in the body, several times over, of course.
However questionable the Ossuary - it is real. The bones are real. The feeling of death is real. But also the feeling of peace. Most of the dead in the Ossuary died a "natural" i.e. non-violent death and the bones were removed from the ground to give more Christians the possibility to be buried on holy ground. I'd like to stress the fact that the church is not made of bones as so many seem to think! The interior is decorated with human bones but it's a "normal" church made of stone and bricks. I'd also like to point out that it's a normal Christian church with a Christ on the cross figure and all the rest.
It's not some weird cult or Satanist church or anything like that.

Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker

2008-07-21T02:26:00.001-07:00

Inside a rural bungalow nestling in the Essex countryside lies the twilight world of the Government Cold War. Behind the blast screens that protect this bungalow is the entrance to an amazing labyrinth of rooms built into a hillside, encased in 10 feet thick reinforced concrete 75 feet underground.

The Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch, in Essex, England, is a large underground bunker used during the cold war as a Regional Government Headquarters. Since being decommissioned in 1992, the bunker has been open to the public as a tourist attraction (known as the Secret Nuclear Bunker), with a museum focusing on its cold war history.
This is where devolved central government and military commanders would have run the region had the UK been attacked and nuclear war broken out. Built in great secrecy and under strict, military security the local villagers and contractors alike knew nothing of what was concealed in this hillside or how it would be used.

The bunker is built 125 feet (38 m) underground and the entrance is through an ordinary looking bungalow amongst some trees. Once into the bungalow, it leads to a 100 yards (91 m) tunnel, allowing an easy defence against intruders, before the bunker itself. Above are two more floors, the 'hill' which covers it, and a radio mast.

The bunker was able to accommodate up to 600 people and could sustain them for up to three months. The bunker has air conditioning and heating, its own water supply and generators, and was equipped with a radio studio and transmitter tower.By 1992 the bunker was no longer required, so was decommissioned and sold back to the original owners. It has now been renovated and made into a museum and tourist attraction; many locals appreciate the irony of the many brown tourist signs, clearly directing people to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" in the area.

Cardrona Bra Fence

2008-07-07T10:09:00.001-07:00

The Bra Fence started in 1999 between Christmas and New Year. Four Bras appeared on the Fence. Who put them on is unknown . It is a well kept secret but the common gossip is that it was a group of Wanaka Ladies. It is clear that others know who they are. Five years on and the rumours haven't died yet. The rumours are that it was done for fun and a laugh going into the new Century. The ladies were on their way home from an evening at the Cardrona Hotel and decided to usher in the new Century with a little humour, and so the Bra Fence was born.

Other Bras followed, and at about the end of February 2,000 it had reached about 60 Bras. At this time person(s) unknown cut all the bras off and took them. The local press reported this, resulting in an increased flow of the garments. The majority were put there in person but some were sent and put on the fence. The following October the number of Bras had reached 200 when again the Fence was attacked by an unknown person(s). The fence itself this time was damaged and rubbish thrown into the paddock with the Bras cut off and scattered around. It was reported that the Wanaka Police would prosecute the offenders if found.

The New Zealand Media gave wide coverage to this second attack of vandalism. This wide domestic response caught the attention of the international media.
Journalists came from far and wide:-

A Finnish journalist came out to the South Island to cover the Bra fence after reports of the Fence caught her eye and drew her to New Zealand.

The main German TV channel did a programme on the Bra fence as did several Newspapers and Magazines.

The only New Zealand picture on a New York photographic Journal is that of the Bra Fence.

The Bra Fence has taken on a slightly more serious role as well. A few husbands with deceased wives wanted to remember their wives in a way they had known them, as fun people. They asked if they could put their wives garments on the fence as a fun tribute to the women they loved. They wanted this as a fitting tribute and one that promoted memories with a smile and a laugh. A local woman has also put her late mothers Bra on the fence as she was a woman who always liked a good joke. Not everyone wants their loved ones memories confined to the past in the images that cemeteries can convey. These people are remembered with the laughter and fun that they were known for. The memories are able to be brought alive again whenever they are passing the Bra Fence on their way between Wanaka and Queenstown. The fence's appeal has widened, no longer is it just a Fence with Bras attached for a laugh but also a humorous memorial to loved ones. For the few that it offends it is a shame as it is a nothingness and when public interest dies down nature will no doubt take its course.

Although some locals welcomed the fence and regarded it as a tourist attraction, others viewed it as an eyesore and embarrassment and also as a potential hazard to drivers using the road. Frequent legal attempts were consequently made to see it removed. These attempts were increased in early 2006, accompanied by a further removal of some 200 of the bras. Some locals claimed that a lot of Japanese students who are being educated in nearby Wanaka could get offended by the fence, as well as many other Asian cultures or South Africans.

However local sheep farmer John Lee, who had become the unofficial guardian of the site, refused to remove the bras from the fence, claiming that 90% of letters received about the fence were positive and that the bras were the most photographed attraction in the area.

On April 28, 2006, after discovering the fence rested on public road reserve, the local Council determined the bra fence was a "traffic hazard" and an "eyesore" and ordered the bras on the fence to be removed. On September 7, 2006, the local Council announced it would remove the remaining bras from what it described as a "dilapidated eyesore." Two days later, the local Council made good on its pledge and removed over 1,500 bras.The fence's removal led to an attempt to make the world's longest bra chain, at an annual festival in nearby Wanaka, later that year. The attempt at the world record fell more than 100,000 bras short but raised over $10,000 for charity.

Forest Swastika

2008-06-22T02:09:00.000-07:00

The forest swastika was a patch of carefully arranged larch trees covering a 3,600 m² (4,300 sq yd) area of pine forest near Zernikow, Uckermark district, Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. The reason behind the planting of the trees is unclear, but it has been suggested that it was laid out in 1937 by locals to prove their loyalty after a businessman in the area was denounced and sent to a concentration camp by the Nazi Party for listening to the BBC, or that a zealous forester convinced local Hitler Youth members to plant the trees in commemoration of Adolf Hitler's birthday.

For a few weeks every year in the autumn and in the spring, the colour of the larch leaves would change, contrasting with the deep green of the pine forest. The short duration of the effect combined with the fact that the image could only be discerned from the air and the relative scarcity of privately owned aeroplanes in the area meant that the swastika went largely unnoticed after the fall of the Nazi Party and during the subsequent Communist rule. However, in 1992, the reunified German government ordered aerial surveys of the state-owned land. The photographs were examined by forestry students, who immediately noticed the design.

The Brandenburg state authorities, concerned about damage to the region's image and about the possibility that the area would become a pilgrimage site for Nazi supporters, attempted to destroy the design by removing 43 of the 100 larch trees in 1995. The figure remained discernible with the remaining 57 trees, though, and in 2000 German tabloids published further aerial photographs showing the prominence of the swastika. By this time, ownership of around half the land on which the trees sat had been sold into private hands, but permission was gained to fell a further 25 trees on the government-owned area on December 1, 2000, and the image was largely obscured.

"This is something of a wound, so we really want to do something," state agriculture ministry spokesman Jens-Uwe Schade said. "We want to finally bring this to a conclusion."

Schade said forest swastikas were planted at several places in Germany during the Nazi era, but others had been removed long ago. According to local reports, unsuspecting children the forest warden lay out string on the ground for the swastika pattern, Schade said.

"It seems to have been something of a fashion among Nazi loyalist forest wardens," he said.

Ironically, the trees survived not only the Nazi defeat in 1945 but also four decades of official anti-fascist ideology in former communist East Germany.

Some speculate that local villagers simply wanted no trouble under the communist dictatorship. Then again, the swastika is visible only from a certain height and private planes were unheard of under communism.

"In East German times, agricultural planes flew over all the time and no one noticed a thing," Chief Forest Warden Rolf Leib said Monday, as he supervised the operations.

In September 2006 the International Herald Tribune reported on another forest swastika in Eki Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, on the edge of the Himalayas. It is about 600 feet across, but does not resemble the swastika symbol as much as the Zernikow forest swastika.

Reishee Sowa's Spiral Island

2008-06-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

It looks like an island, it feels like an island, it has the beautiful vegetation of a tropical island but it just happens to be made of spiraling pop bottles. Who would have known and more importantly who would have thought it possible?

A man named Reishee Sowa that is who. This island is his inspiration, his baby, his dream. With the help of friends met along the way and a lot of hard work his dream has become a reality.

It is an amazing sight. You see a house on the island and you think wow, how lucky for someone to be able to live out there...
The islandYou can see it for yourself as it currently sits in Puerto Aventuras.

He has a passion for a better world; a desire to create a self sufficient paradise that it ends up is made with all recycled materials. Everything from plastic pop bottles to construction leftovers of wood and bags of leaves go into making up his island, house and yard. This island took approximately 250,000 pop bottles.

Reishee, originally from England, is a musician and an artist and as it turns out a visionary. He spent so much time talking of his dream his family finally pushed him to just go out and do it. You will find a way they encouraged him. He has been in Mexico for 8 years now. Seven of them spent in the Riviera Maya. He is very happy here and feels he was lead to this spot by the various people he has met along the way.

It took Reishee 6 ½ years to create this island that was built right in the channel it now sits in. For the first year he lived in it in a tent – then he built his first house and it fell apart in a storm so he tried again and once again it fell apart in a storm. Never a quitter as you might have guessed he built a 3rd time. Now his little house stands strong and it is complete with guest room and a deck on top where he still pursues his love of painting. Future plans include adding yet another level.

The plants once very small have grown and matured over time. As has his cat population. He now lives with 8 cats and 1 dog. They show up and don’t want to leave.

This is an idea that might just be catching on. Xel Ha is actually planning to build their own island and they have asked Reishee to be an advisor on it. He is looking forward to it.

On the island“Things all seem to come in threes for me”, Reishee says “this is actually my 3rd try at an island and my house fell twice before I got it right.”

He started his first trial for the island on the west coast of Mexico where he started an eternal cake that cooked in a solar cooker with the help of an old satellite dish. His wanted to build awareness for his project. It actually did not get the response he had hoped for, so he ended up building a smaller starter version of his island in a Mexican lake. This time as they really did not understand what he was up to he was stopped by the locals and asked to leave.

Were there challenges building here in Puerto Aventuras? “Oh yes,” replies Reishee “You see not even the president is allowed his own island in Mexico – but technically I don’t have an island I have an eco space creating ship – I can move after all. The locals have been very understanding and helpful.”

What happens in waves and storms? Reishee replies, “Most of the wave goes under the island only about 10% comes on top. The part of the wave going under actually makes it flip down again and stay level.”

insideReishee continues “The spiraling pop bottles that actually make the base for the island are very fitting because spirals are the shape of all creation – microcosms, macrocosms, DNA, galaxies; the oldest forms of life were spirals. It is the eternal circle.”

“We are being faced with a population explosion and maybe building islands is the answer. This island is an example of something that could be built worldwide. You could be totally self sufficient with it. All is as natural as possible. I catch rain water for showers, the toilet naturally composts, and you can grow your own produce,” adds Reishee.

His desire is a simple life and to share his environmentally friendly, planet saving, maybe even life saving ideas with others. The door is always open for you on Reishee’s little tropical paradise. Also, his eternal cake is still cooking with local fruits and their juices added periodically.

What does the future hold for Reishee and his island? “Wave powered flippers and sails and a journey through the Panama Canal,” says a very enthusiastic Reishee. Now that is a man with a vision!

An underwater island which emerges from time to time above it - Ferdinandea

2008-06-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

It began with the boiling of waters, 22 miles from the island of fire . In July 1861 there developed a smell of sulphur in the air, and jets of hot water and cinders were spat from the ocean. Dead fish floated on the surface. Where? Just 50 km south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Ocean. That was the return of a long silent submarine volcano.
Later in August the volcano had risen to above sea-level, although still only some of
rocks, but the British Navy thought it was very suitable as a base to control the traffic in the Mediterranean, as it was closer to the European continent than the island of Malta.
They claimed the new island, and gave it the name of Graham Island.

But the King of Sicily thought just the same, and immideatley sent his ships in 1870 to the rock and named it Ferdinandea, removed the Union Jack and placed his own flag there. France sent a geologist to the island and hoped they could find some use for it, and Spain could not sit still and wait to see what happened, so they also showed their interest.

For five months conflict raged in newspapers and elsewhere as the different nations fought over a 60 m high piece of basalt. Tourists travelled to the island to see its two small lakes.
Sailors watched it when passing by, and nobles of the House of Bourbon reportedly planned to set up a top-class holiday resort on its beaches. But it was no use.
Little by little, the island sank back beneath the waters, and by 17 December 1831,
officials reported no trace of it.

The seamount of Graham/Ferdinandea has lived on in charts, its summit – only eight metres below the surface – a constant hazard for shipping. From time to time it has sent up some gas and had the water boiling around the summit, and in 1987, an American pilot on the way to bomb Libya thought the rock a submarine, and dropped bombs on it.

After 1863 the volcano lay dormant for many decades, with its summit just 8 m below sea level.
In 2002, renewed seismic activity around Ferdinandea led volcanologists to speculate that a new eruptive episode could be imminent, and the seamount might once more become an island. To forestall a renewal of the sovereignty disputes, Italian divers planted a flag on the top of the volcano in advance of its expected resurfacing.However, the seismicity did not lead to volcanic eruptions and as of 2006 Ferdinandea's summit remains about six meters below sea level.

A Town on Fire since 1962 - Centralia, Pennsylvania

2008-06-03T07:12:00.001-07:00

There is a small town in Pennsylvania called Ashland where Route 61's northbound traffic is temporarily branched onto a short detour. Exactly what the detour is circumventing is not immediately clear to travelers, however few passers-by pay it any mind… a detour is nothing unusual. But anyone who ignores the detour and ventures along the original route 61 highway will soon encounter an abrupt and unexplained road closure. Beyond it lies a town filled with overgrown streets, smoldering earth, and ominous warning signs. It is the remains of the borough of Centralia.

Centralia, Pennsylvania was never a particularly large community, but it was once a lively and industrial place. At its peak the coal mining town was home to 2,761 souls, but today the population of its cemeteries far outnumbers that of its living residents. The series of events which led to the community's demise– slowly diminishing its numbers to less than a dozen– began about forty-four years ago.

Centralia 1962In 1962, workers set a heap of trash ablaze in an abandoned mine pit which was used as the borough's landfill. The burning of excess trash was a common practice, yet at that particular time and place there existed a dangerous condition: an exposed vein of anthracite coal. The highly flammable mineral was unexpectedly ignited by the trash fire, prompting a quick effort to put it out. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but unbeknownst to the fire fighters, the coal continued to burn underground. Over the following weeks it rapidly migrated into the surrounding coal mines and beneath the town, causing great concern.

Soon the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources began monitoring the fire by drilling holes into the earth to determine the extent and temperature of the fire. In retrospect, it was realized that the well-meaning workers may have unwittingly provided the fire with a natural draft by drilling these boreholes, feeding the coal's combustion. As a precaution, the Department also installed gas monitors in many homes within the affected area, but nonetheless many residents complained of symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure.

In 1969– seven years after the fire was started– a more involved effort was made to contain the fire using trenches and clay seals, but the attempt was met with failure. In the 1970s, concerns over the severity of the extensive subterranean fire were stirred when a gas station owner noticed that the contents of his underground fuel storage tank seemed hot, so he measured the gasoline's temperature, and found it to be a troubling 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Numerous attempts were made to extinguish or contain the underground fire over the next two decades. The mines were flushed with water and the burning coal was excavated, but despite the persistence of the workers, their efforts were unsuccessful. The work continued for years at a great expense, with no appreciable progress.

After burning beneath the surface for almost twenty years, the fire drew national media attention when the ground crumbled beneath the feet of twelve-year-old Todd Domboski in 1981. The sinkhole– about four feet wide and 150 feet deep– had sufficient heat and carbon monoxide concentration that it would have killed the boy had his cousin had not been there to help pull him to safety. It was not the first nor the last sinkhole caused by the fire, but it was the most sobering.

At that point, about seven million dollars had been spent in the firefighting effort. Experts determined that the only option remaining to effectively battle the fire would be a massive trenching operation, at the cost of about $660 million, with no guarantee of success. Left with such limited options, the state of Pennsylvania basically condemned the entire town, and spent $42 million in government funds relocating most of its residents.

The fire still burns today beneath about four hundred acres of surface land, and it's still growing. There is enough coal in the eight-mile vein to feed the fire for up to two hundred and fifty years, but it may burn itself out in as few as one hundred years. A few residents remained in the borough after the buyout, but their numbers have dwindled since then to about a dozen. Most of the unoccupied homes and buildings have been razed, and large portions of the town are being reclaimed by nature, leaving meadows crisscrossed with overgrown asphalt roads and the occasional steaming or smoking hillside.

In its prime, Centralia was a vibrant community with five hotels, seven churches, nineteen general stores, two jewelry stores, and about twenty-six saloons. Today it is a modern ghost town whose guts have been burned out, and whose main path of ingress has been closed and detoured. Residents are expected to return in 2016 to open a time capsule which was buried in the town in 1966, back when the town's future was still somewhat optimistic. Its future now is decidedly more grim… There are currently no further plans to extinguish the fire, and most modern maps no longer show a dot where Centralia once stood.

The Queen Mary

2008-05-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Take a cruise on a haunted ship? Does that sound enticing? The Queen Mary has many ghosts that have been reported throughout history by visitors and guests aboard ship.

If all the legends are true, The Queen Mary may be one of the most haunted hotels/museums around. You can now only visit her at dock and not go to sea but you may encounter one of the many ghosts that call her home. Her first voyage was in 1934 and her last was in 1967 with over 1001 crossings over the Atlantic. Many people embarked but several stayed behind because their spirits are left to haunt the last place they were when they died.
Among the many ghosts that you might meet, include:
John Pedder is the most famous ghost, who is seen around D Deck or door number 13 in Shaft Alley. He was crushed to death during a drill by a watertight door on July 10, 1966. Several people have seen him even though the door is no longer there. The door was changed into an escalator during a renovation.
Ball of light can be seen in the first class suite area along with a ghost of a man. The man is wearing a 1930’s suit. A black haired man with a long beard wearing blue overalls can be seen in the engine room nearby the access to the propeller shafts.

Several ghosts have been heard and seen around the first class swimming pool. The legend states that two women and a small died drowned in the pool. The tourist class swimming pool also has a ghost of its own, a woman who drowned in the pool. In the lounge, you might catch the glimpse of the woman wearing a white flowing gown. The Bosun’s locker is where you can hear the pounding, no one can explain.

Cabin B340 was closed because of unexplained occurrences. It is believed to be haunted by a person that was murdered.
The morgue of course has its own tales to tell, but only through the ghostly apparitions, whining, and moaning.
The kitchen is also believed to be haunted by a terrible chef that was thrown into the oven and baked alive because of his cooking.

Whether the legends are true or not you can visit The Queen Mary and maybe have a ghost introduce himself or herself. The Queen Mary can be seen at Pier J at the Long Beach Port in California.

Loch ness Monster,Nessie

2008-04-25T21:46:00.001-07:00

Loch Ness is a deep, elongated lake that is located very near Inverness, Scotland

It’ s mystical legend has drawn scientists and tourists from all over the world to have the possible chance to see the legendary Loch Ness monster , commonly known as Nessie.

Sightings of Nessie are known to have dated as far back as the Irish monk that visited and converted most of Scotland to Christianity sometime in the sixth century. This monks name was St. Columbia. Legend has it that St Columbia had also converted old Nessie as well. They say that until St Columbia went out onto the waters of Loch Ness and quieted her down, old Nessie was considered to be a murderess.
People have used many things to try and track and find this great legend that we all know as the great Loch Ness monster “Nessie”. This includes scanning sonar’s sex lures, fish baits, submarines, echo sounders, exploding light bulbs, underwater cameras with strobe flashes, telephoto cameras movie cameras, video and now, digital cameras also . You name it and it has probably been used.There is also a modern legend of Nessie. It began in the year nineteen thirty four when a man by the name of Dr. Kenneth Wilson, a doctor from London, supposedly took a picture of what was described as a plesiosaur type of creature that’s rather long neck was protruding from the murky waters of Lake Loch Ness. As you can imagine, with the locals knowing of the legend, this picture caused quite the uproar. Before this photo was presented, the Loch Ness monster, Nessie, was merely a mythical legend. After the photo was taken, scientists were called to research this legend. They first thought it could have been a tree trunk or an otter, there were so many possibilities. So later on these scientists launched explorations of Lake Loch Ness with submarines that had high tech sonar equipment.

Things have changed a lot since this legend began. Visitors used to visit Loch Ness to sit and relax perhaps read a book Today there is a very large tourist industry at lake Loch Ness. These tourists have been known to pay one hundred dollars an hour for a submarine ride through Lake Loch Ness. In the year 1994 this rather large tourist attraction made somewhere close to thirty seven million dollars! When you visit Loch Ness now, you will see a variety of attractions such as boat cruises, souvenir shops, and you can even stay at the Loch Ness hotel.