Fortean Links

History and folklore are abound with stories of fabled "Ghost Ships". Vessels that have been discovered adrift but bereft of their crew, Ships that appear to mariners, only to disappear, and ships that have simply disappeared completely.

Notable examples of this phenomena include the Flying Dutchman, said to be doomed to eternally sail the seas since 1795, and the Lady Lovibond, a ship wrecked in 1748 that is said to appear along the coast of Kent, UK every fifty years.

But most of these tales are just that - ancient stories passed down through generations, elaborated and exaggerated with each telling, apocryphal stories that have become sensationalised over the years.

However, there is a much more modern spin on the "Ghost Ship" tale. This tale took place within the last century, and although still shrouded in mystery, still has several living witnesses.

Indiana, Ohio River, 14th August, 1955

It began on a warm August day near the town of Dogtown, Indiana. Mrs Darwin Johnson and a group of friends were enjoying a relaxing picnic and a swim in the Ohio River.

Talk amongst the group was of the recent happenings in nearby Dogtown; a number of brightly lit objects had been sighted hovering over the area which had been documented by a number of witnesses. But despite all this talk of mysterious visitors, nothing could spoil this day of sunshine and swimming.

Or so they thought.

Mrs Darwin Johnson took to the water, only to be suddenly grasped by what she would later describe as "furry clawed hands on the end of very strong, very thin, very long, discoloured arms." The creature attempted to drag Mrs Johnson under the surface and succeeded on two occasions, leaving Mrs Johnson with deep wounds. Only when the rest of the party entered the water to attempt a rescue did the creature abate.

The severely shaken party hurriedly left the scene and later told of seeing the very same "shiny objects" in the sky as they fled.

Ted Serios was a humble bell-hop from Chicago, a hard drinking, hard smoking working man. For years, he lived a fairly ordinary life, but Ted was nothing but ordinary.

What set Ted apart was his incredible claims that he could 'think' images onto ordinary photographic film. A process that Ted dubbed 'Thoughtography'.

So called 'psychic photographers' were far from uncommon, and a great many of them who claimed to have this ability were exposed as fakes or charlatans. Because of this, Ted's claims were widely rubbished.

One man however, a Dr Jule Eisenbud was sufficiently intrigued by Ted to fly to Chicago to conduct a series of experiments.

Dr Eisenbud came to the Windy City as a sceptic, and was convinced he was to witness 'some kind of shoddy hoax'.

It was a cold wet August in 1989 and Chris Gibson was working hard on the Galveston Key oil rig in the North Sea just off the UK coast.

This wasn't Chris' only job. He was a 12 year veteran of the Royal Observer Corps - a quasi-military establishment made up of civilian volunteers trained in the recognition and identification of both allied and enemy aircraft. Chris' 12 year tenure in the ROC afforded him a reputation as one of the best.

Chris was used to being asked about aircraft, so when his colleague called him outside and pointed upwards he was expecting to see yet another British Tornado, or Swedish Saab Viggen. What he saw was far more amazing.

When 51 year old Beatrice Oczki waved her son Frank off on a skiing trip for the Thanksgiving weekend she wished him well and told him to be safe. Little did she know that it was her that was in peril.

Beatrice was diabetic, and wore a leg brace which caused her to be housebound; she had a few pleasures however, she enjoyed a drink and a cigarette. When Frank left, Beatrice settled down into her armchair. This would be the last known activity before her death.

The morning after, Shelley, Beatrice's ex-daughter-in-law called at the house to pick up some items. After getting no answer and smelling smoke, Shelley called the fire department.

Time - one of the constants that governs our universe, an immutable stream of events that defines our lives.

Or is it?

For years, it was accepted the time was linear, starting at one point and continuing onwards, a stream that can only be experienced in the present.

But more recently, scientists have hypothesised that time could be helical, looping over and over, sometimes on top of itself.

Such a definition of time offers the possibility of something once thought impossible: time travel.

On the surface, Green Street in London's Enfield looked just like any other leafy suburban street. People walked their dogs, went to work - everything seemed normal.

But behind the door of the house shared by Peggy Hodgson and her four children, all hell was breaking loose.

It was August 1977 when a once peaceful family existence was shattered by a series of terrifying and inexplicable incidents, and the apparent return of 'Bill', a previous tenant who had died years earlier.

Has the British government been keeping it's knowledge of alien craft and creatures from its citizens? Have constant denials from the corridors of Whitehall been an elaborate smokescreen designed to keep the British public in the dark?

Successive British administrations have long denied any interest in the UFO phenomena, military or otherwise. However, this documentary reveals that since the second world war, the British Government have actively investigated the UFO phenomenon.

The government also kept many cases on file for further investigation by a dedicated 'UFO Desk' based deep in the bowels of the Ministry of Defence.

Captain Robert Snow, homicide detective in the Indianopolis Police Department was a no nonsense man. His job was dealing with facts and tangible evidence, bringing these things together to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that an event had occurred.

When it came to the paranormal, Captain Snow was a confirmed skeptic. He didn't believe in reincarnation, past lives and the paranormal.

That is until a more open minded friend of Captain Snow dared him to be hypnotised and regressed to a past life. Captain Snow was skeptical, but he wasn't about to loose a bet.

He accepted, after all it was never going to work was it?

I first encountered the author and researcher Mark Macy when I bought his book Miracles In The Storm - a personal historical account of the development of Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC).

ITC utilised simple everyday electronic devices such as radios and TV's to generate feedback loops that served to communicate with the spirit world.

Using this technique, Mark was able to contact and converse with a deceased colleague Dr. Konstantīns Raudive. The book is excellently written and the subject fascinating.

Lots more information, photos and recordings about ITC can be found on Mark's website.

In 1974 Dr Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor were approached by a woman in her 30's who had overheard them talking about parapsychology in a book store.

The woman claimed that her house was haunted and that she was slowly being driven insane by the evil presence that stalked her.

The woman's name was Doris Bither, and her story would become known as a watershed in paranormal investigation.

When Taff and Gaynor agreed to look into Ms Bither's case, they had no idea that they would be encountering the most real and frightening example of paranormal activity they had ever witnessed.

This is a curious one.

The original poster of this video seems convinced that this strange phenomena is down to HAARP, but I'm not convinced.

At first glance this appears to be nothing more than a water spout, but if the reports of discoloured water and 'burned' fish and dolphins are connected it raises a lot of questions.

This is an interesting treatise of the ghost phenomena, using science to try and explain what we see and experience.

Are ghosts trying to contact us, or are we merely manufacturing the 'ghost' experience based on external and internal stimuli?

For me, there's always been something very menacing about the London Underground. It's seen wars, untimely deaths, suicides and accidents. Many people have died in the tunnels under London.

So it comes as no surprise to find that people have had some VERY strange experiences down in the tunnels.

This documentary interviews witnesses and workers from the Underground, and uncovers some scary truths...

This brilliant documentary presents some of the most incontrovertible evidence of UFO encounters - actual black box voice recordings from military and commercial pilots.

The documentary uses the recordings to put you right at the scene of the sightings - the aircraft's cockpit.

 Alongside the spoken testimonials of pilots, the experiences are often backed up by radar evidence and the testimony of air traffic controllers.

Testimonies include a UFO reported to the air traffic controller by two separate pilots at the same time, and a Japan Airlines pilot that was trailed by a gigantic glowing UFO.

This is a must see!

This is a great documentary showing some of the most exceptional and astonishing paranormal activity I've seen.

Compelling evidence of physical attacks on paranormal investigators, poltergeist activity, ghostly faces revealed in a haunted mansion and ghostly apparitions are all caught on film in one of the most chilling documentaries you'll ever see.

Watch this in the dark to increase the enjoyment!