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Dunkinsville, Ohio's Angel

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  Ohio is regarded by many students of Forteana as ground zero for strange and spooky occurrences. But one county in Ohio might just be the weirdest. Nestled between the Ohio River to the south and the rolling farmland of central Ohio to the north, and on the edge of Ohio’s Appalachian foothills, Adams County is probably best known for the Serpent Mound. This massive effigy mound, in the shape of the eponymous serpent, with curled tail and open mouth – according to some interpretations – swallowing an egg, is among the best preserved examples of these ancient earthworks, believed to have been built by the prehistoric Adena culture. The county is also chock-full of geological anomalies, with three different physiographic regions (the Dissected Illinoian Till Plain, the unglaciated Outer Bluegrass Region, and the Shawnee-Mississippian Plateau) represented and numerous exposed rock outcroppings displaying a variety of marine fossils. These include abundant examples of horn coral and cri

Could Djinn Be Behind Most Paranormal Phenomena?

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By Jeremy D. Wells Among most folks in the western world, ghosts, UFOs, and cryptids are each a separate type of phenomenon. Hauntings are caused by the spirits of dead people. UFOs are craft from another world. Cryptids, like Bigfoot and sea serpents, represent undocumented wild animals. However in the Islamic world, and places influenced by their cultures, all of these various encounters could be attributed to a single entity – the djinn. In her classic treatise on the subject, Demons, Devils, and Djinn , Olga Hoyt states that the very name, djinn, “means ‘covert’ or ‘darkness.’” The djinn – plural of djinnee, where we get the idea of the genie in a magic lamp – are not angels or demons. They are a separate creation, made by God from smokeless fire, according to various resources. Though usually invisible to human eyes, the djinn are capable of taking on any form they choose, but are especially fond, according to Hoyt, of “those of snakes, lizards, and scorpions.”  Read more here.

Arizona Shadow Entities

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  Recently the mother of a pair of Arizona teens shared with me this video of a shadow entity they believe they captured on video.  You can read more about their experience in my Coast to Coast AM article, here .  Watch the entire video here .  Or jump to the 1:25 mark, a couple of seconds before the entity appears, here . 

Haunted Lake House in Carter County, KY

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  Is Bit o’ Time Vintage Lake Retreat Haunted? Paranormal group says yes, but others caution vigilance and respect By Jeremy D. Wells Carter County Times Photo by Jeremy D. Wells, Carter County Times Is the Bit O’ Time Vintage Lake Retreat, near the Clifty Creek area of Grayson Lake, a haunted house? The owner of the property, who lived there for years before renting the space out as a vacation and retreat rental, says she never had any definitive experiences during her time living there. But several guests have reported hearing strange sounds – and even seeing apparitions – while staying at the property. One of those apparitions is a lady in white, sometimes accompanied by a smell of mold, who has appeared not only at the Retreat, but at a neighboring property. I’d heard some of this already before coming to the property to meet with the folks from Blue Collar Paranormal. The ghost hunting group had set up a booth at Memory Days where they met the owner of the property. From there the

Big John and the Yahoos

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Exploring Kentucky Bigfoot reports We’ve previously discussed some possible local mystery primate sightings and the Ohio Grassman, but our neighbors across the river have had their fair share of Bigfoot sightings too. These tales stretch all the way back to the early exploration and founding of the state, when Daniel Boone reported shooting one of the large, hair covered man-like critters in 1782, along the modern Montgomery and Powell County borders. Boone called the creature he encountered a “Yahoo”, after the uncivilized man-like creatures featured in “Gulliver’s Travels”, one of the explorer’s favorite books. Sightings have continued since, including several reports from the Daniel Boone National Forest, a modern hotspot for Bigfoot sightings in the state. Parts of the forest are, in fact, located within Powell County, near where Boone’s historic sighting took place. Moving closer to home, Carter County has been the location of several reported sightings. Although the Bigfoot Field

One more silver dollar

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Looking for Mr. Sprinkle's silver If the world of numismatists – coin collectors – has a white whale, the Sprinkle dollar could rightfully lay claim to the title. Carter County has a rich history of outlaws and counterfeiters, but Jacob Sprinkle's silver dollars hold a unique spot in that history. Sprinkle's dollars weren't counterfeit in the traditional sense. Most counterfeit coins used base metals in place of precious metals, and they were made to look like legal U.S. tender. Not Sprinkle's coins though. His dollars were not replicas of the silver dollars coming out of the U.S. Mints, but featured their own design. An owl was inscribed on one side of the coin, and a six pointed star on the other. A one drachma coin with an owl. They weren't made from base metals either. They were minted from precious metal. In fact, during the court case against Sprinkle for counterfeiting, which took place in Grayson around 1840, it was found that the purity of the si

Zooming into middle age

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  Sonic the Hedgehog turns 30 this year. If he were human, the eponymous speedster – “born” today, June 23, 1991, when his first game released for Sega Genesis – would be a Millennial. Like his much maligned generation, while you may love him or hate him, there is no denying the speedy blue hedgehog’s cultural significance.  That original Sonic the Hedgehog game has spawned a number of sequel games, in addition to a comic book series published by Archie Comics, at least two animated shows (the original, poorly drawn cartoon featuring the voice of Steve Urkel, Jaleel White, and a later series with higher production value and an anime inspired style), and a live action/CGI movie.  The story told over the course of those games, shows, comics, and film is convoluted, inconsistent, and sometimes downright confusing. The basic premise is that Doctor Robotnik, née Eggman, is an evil genius who wants to take over the world (or the multiverse) and Sonic and friends have to stop him. The