Late to the Game(s) - Retro! Reissued! Remastered! Oh my!

  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...

Exploring Kentucky Bigfoot reports By Jeremy D. Wells 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. Althoug...

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...

  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...

From the opening moments of On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Journey , you get the feeling it’s going to be a little different than the other Small Town Monsters productions.  Over the last several years, Small Town Monsters (STM) have released a number of films, on a variety of subjects from Bigfoot to Mothman to Dogmen and the weirdest of the weird in classic UFO sightings. But it all started with a trilogy of Bigfoot documentaries. Director/Producer Seth Breedlove and his crew have stayed busy since then, pumping out several films a year with the production value and content steadily improving.  But Whitehall, New York, and its Bigfoot sightings, the subject of Breedlove’s second film, the 2016 release Beast of Whitehall , has never really let go of the filmmaker. In his newest release, On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Journey , Breedlove returns to those upstate New York woodlands to explore the history and depth of reports from this region. Along the way he examin...

  The Small Town Monsters (STM) films are among my favorite cryptid and folklore documentaries. Over the years director/producer Seth Breedlove and crew have looked at everything from the Bell Witch to UFOs, and Mothman to Bigfoot. But it’s that last one that got STM started. Breelove’s first three films, Minerva Monster , Beast of Whitehall , and Boggy Creek Monster , all focused on this particular cryptid.  While STM has branched out since then, they’ve come back to Bigfoot type creatures again, with MOMO: The Missouri Monster and their On the Trail Of…Bigfoot mini series.  It’s one they’ll be coming back to again with two new feature films in the On the Trail Of… series, On the Trail Of Bigfoot The Journey , and On the Trail Of Bigfoot The Discovery as the year progresses.  While we have to wait to see what those new films will bring us, those jonesing for some STM Bigfoot content prior to the full public release of The Journey this June (Kicksta...

  It’s free games time again!  Honestly, it’s free games time all the time if you do a little searching – and take advantage of services you might already be paying for like Amazon Prime that include gaming assets and full games. (Seriously, check out gaming.amazon.com if you have a Prime account and get your free games.) This week, though, we’re looking at the Epic Games Store again. Instead of the typical one or two free games, beginning Thursday, Epic will feature three free games to claim and download. There are no catches. No hidden costs. Just create an Epic Games account – you can even log in with your already existing PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, or social media accounts – and download the games. They are yours to keep forever. The first is the complete collection of the Deponia series. The adventure comedy, with plenty of puzzle elements, is rated M for Mature gamers age 17 and up. So, despite the cartoon like visuals, this isn’t a freebie you...