Vardo, Norway

This is the oldest city in northern Norway and the only city with Arctic climate. But that’s not all; this is also known for one of the biggest witch hunts, when in the seventeenth century, they burned over 90 people, among whom some of the burned ones were men. Nowadays, the Varanger museum speaks of this whole story with enthusiastic guides who will walk along with you to the place of the pyre.

Basque County/ Spain, always popular for the pre-Christian traditions and magic

With the Spanish Pyrenees in the early seventeenth century weird situations that at the time shocked the population had begun to take place. In fact, Isabel Garcia (13) told how she saw an elderly woman named Maria de LliaR who asked her to help her something for a fee. Girl agreed with the woman, and so she agreed to call her later back. Mary came in only at night, dragging a girl to the window and rubbing anointing oil under her armpit. She grabbed her tightly and the two of them flew to be slashed to Jaizquibel Hill.

There was a ritual played out around a large table, and at the cutting edge was the devil himself … He was sexually intercoursing with men and women, but it is not known whether he did it with Isabel. The next day one girl told a similar story and described events that took place in the course of the night.

Then the Inquisition involved and carried out a detailed research. Many women have suffered at the stake. An area where one was playing a witch-hunt was one of the most famous in Europe for witchcraft.

If you want to go to correct a historical place where the trial took place, and apparitions of burning, you’ll need to walk because the population in this area is still afraid of skilled women.

Salem, Massachusetts

Before the end of the seventeenth century in Salem may have happened one of the most tragic trials of alleged witches ever in history. Specifically, the doctor diagnosed that the girl by the name of Betty Paris is possessed by the Devil. Because of his diagnosis this was an arduous trial followed by brutal torture, and finally ended with putting 19 people  at the stake.

The first one that was burned was Bridget Bishop, followed by another 13 women and 5 men. Circumstances at that time were such that Salem was in, hostile relations with the towns nearby, so it was full of people in jails who attributed to the sin of witchcraft, because the girls were hysterically shouting names whenever the night falls.

After the dissolution of the Court in 1692, the new government dissolved the prisoners and apologized to the families of burned and expelled.

In Salem, there is a museum where the whole story is told and still looks exactly the same as then.

Burkittsville, Maryland

The Blair Witch. In this sleepy town during a year thousands of curious fans of horror movies rush to learn that there are no witches, nor ever did the children disappeared. It is true that there are dark forrests west of the city, but residents do not even know for a terrible story. By chance, the visitors could hear or see the Blair Witch, but it is thought that this is just a marketing gimmick. So, just for the information – it does not exist.

Bolivia, La Paz, Witch market (Lamp – Bruxas)

In the highest city in the world, despite the fact that you can become ill from altitude sickness, and at every corner even drink some cocaine tea, you can buy what is considered to belong to regular witch needs – dried bats, various limbs of various animals and insects, rare plants, snakes in ethanol, the leopard skin, fetal llama, a human skull, brooms, strange potions, amulets …etc

The street is full of houses with stalls and each focuses on more obscure activities – they chop live snakes in front of you or try drinks for you.

You do not have to believe in witches to make your destination full of horrific stories interesting. Recall the childhood and the fear of the dark (if you have overcome it at all) and again believe those nightmares as a reality, at least for a few minutes. There is no dilemma, when you better think about it, every other woman who passes by you can match the description of a modern witch.

In a rather strange, not only this proposal was considered, but U.S. President Frank Delano Roosevelt himself has given his consent.

Putting into practice an unusual ideas

The doctor, called Lytle S. Adams, received support and funding to implement their project. They worked around the idea that bats tended to shelter in dark and damp places.

Moreover, bats in flight could sustain more than its own weight, so they could carry tiny incendiary devices.

In 1943, after a one year study, bat has been found suitable species for this plan. He was brought in Frederick Fieser, creator of napalm, incendiary devices to complete. They also had a built-in timer which detonated the explosive charge after a certain period.

Hypothetical bombing of Japan with incendiary bats

The plan, largely, was next. Bats were placed in special containers, which fit in every 1,000 copies. A B24 bomber could carry about 100 such containers.

1

“Cluster bats”

After the bombers arrived over the target, throwing loads. A mile before reaching the ground, the containers are selling, letting go hundreds of thousands of bats explosives.

They were to find their shelter in the roofs of Japanese houses. With the activation of individual automatic timers, it was just a matter of time until the city was full of incendiii.

The first experiments of the winged bombs

Initial tests have failed miserably. Not only that bats refused to take refuge in copies of Japanese houses, flying aimlessly in the air and lit up, making a spectacular play of lights, but some due process of inducing artificial hibernation to make their manipulation easier not simply woke up and bumped the ground.

However, Americans have persevered. During a preparation for a new test to the army base in Carlsbad, New Mexico, some bats have escaped and were nesting in an oil reservoir. There was a huge explosion, but even to prove that going on the right track.

2

Explosion at U.S. base Carlsbad, New Mexico

At the end of 1943 there is still a challenge, but this time on a larger scale, using a replica of a Japanese village. At the end of the test, observers have established that bats, due to their dispersion and the large number, were more efficient in their creation and spread of fire than conventional incendiary bombs.

The project would be completed in 1945, Admiral Ernest J. King, considering that it takes far too much, he decided to quit, generating more interest in the team of engineers and physicists from Los Alamos.

In other words, the choices that Americans were so extensive that they had a choice between atomic bomb and bomb bats.

Do not forget the neighbors across the Pacific

The Japanese launched in November 1944 to April 1945, 9,000 balloons filled with explosives, hoping that at least some of them will reach over U.S. soil.

Of course, it was a pretty bad idea. Of the thousands of balloons launched, only 300 have arrived over Canada and the United States, and of these only one has managed to make victims: a pregnant woman and five children, who were at the picnic.

                                                                John Odom      

               John Odom was a very talented young pitcher, but was toss around alot. He was kicked off his high school baseball team in Roswell Georgia. Then he went on to play college ball with Tallahassee Community College. He pitched great! Putting up outstanding numbers, 6-1 with a 2.75 ERA. Then his dream came true, he got drafted by the San Fransico Giants. He played minor league ball with the Salem Keizer Volcanoes and Augusta Greenjackets. But due to injuries in 2005 and 2007, Giants decided to release the young man. But later on he signed with another team(the Calgary Vipers). But due to a criminal charge, the player could not be allowed in Canada. Due to that issue, the Vipers try to trade him to the Laredo Broncos. First they were discussing to trade Odom for another player. Although this seemed like a great idea the other player from the Broncos did not want to leave. Then they tried to trade for money, but the Vipers felt it made them look finacially unstable and needy. Then here comes the worst idea of all! They decided to trade him 10 mable bats YES!! Mable bats,I repeat for BATS! Your talking about a very young talented pitcher who had a 90 mph fastball, outsanding curveball and a great changeup.  He had all the things to make it to the majors. Since the trade, they called him ”bat man” or other ridicolous names. He said the trade didnt bother him, that it was funny to him. Then after a terrible pitching outing with his new team, he told his coach “‘Skip, I’m going home. I just can’t take it. I’ve got some things to take care of. I’ve got to get my life straightened out” and since then nobody ever heard of him again. But couple of months later John Odom was pronounced died due to overdose of heroin and other drugs. All he did since that day he left, was play guitar and drink coffee trying to forget about the trade. Even though he says it didnt affect him, coaches, friends, family, and everybody that knew him said it did. This is a quote from his former coach, “I guarantee this trade thing really bothered him. That really worried me,” said Dan Shwam, who managed Odom last year on the Laredo Broncos of the United League. “I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again.”There were some demons chasing him, they’d been after him for a long time. But there’s no way to really know whether the trade did it, is there?” We will always remember the stupid trade that the Vipers gave for BATS! Led a young man to his death bed.

            If only he could have relased him instead of trade him for the bats, What a difference it would have made…

R.I.P John Odom

      You will never be forgotten.

So it’s time for a makeover!

First let’s prepare the materials:

We’ll need art papers, colored papers, yarn, pillow fillings or cotton, egg shells, white paper, garbage bag, tape, watercolor, marker pen, scissors and cutters.

Since we’re into recycling, we will use used carbon paper and scratch paper for white paper, old pillow for pillow fillings, and leftover art and colored papers.

After some creative planning we have come up with the designs and here are the finished products:

In this, we use garbage bags for the tree, yarn for the spider web, pillow fillings for the web effect, carbon paper for the spider, and colored paper for the grass.

We use orange colored paper glued on carbon paper for the jack o lantern and black colored paper for the bats.

White paper for the big moon, nice effect on off lights.

We crumple some paper and colored it with watercolor for the 3D effect on the hand.  This is inspired from Plants and Zombies game.  

The coffin is made from plastic garbage bag and the bats are cutouts from the carbon paper.  Since we use carbon paper which is a light material, the shadow created the feel that the bats we’re perching.

Why are they looking at me?

It’s now time to give the kids and kids at heart their treat. Happy Halloween!

·        Real Vampires are an expert in controlling minds. They can change the mood and mind of people and can want them to feel the way they want. Vampires hypnotize people.

·        You may also notice a bit of a different unusual colour in the iris of the inner part of the eyes.

·        Most of the real vampires get attracted to a particular feature or characteristic of the prey animal or human and are really closed to that. Those vampires may get really attracted to a particular physical feature or a mental ability or anything that one possesses. The Vampire may then want to maintain a close friendship with that person and using his power to control minds and hypnotize, he may be successful to do that too.

·        The way real vampires’ breath is very shallow and slow. The breathing of the vampire only races up when they are excited.

·        All the electronic gadgets and machines, like mobile phones, cd player, fm radio, computers, etc will start to malfunction and act in a strange way when a vampire is near that electronic gadget.

·        The nails of vampires possess glass like appearance, very clear but very strong too.

·        For a real vampire, his/her heart beat will be the same as the person who is next to him, but the heart bit of a real vampire paces when he’s sad or angry or having sex.

·        You may notice that a real vampire looks for a shade or a shadow to stand. He may look for a shadow of a tree or a wall, to stand as they prefer dark.

·        Another important feature of a vampire is, they will come to know if you look at them, even if the vampire is not looking at you. They do not even have to turn their head or put the sight on you to know you at looking at the person who is a vampire.

·        The place where Vampires sleep, that is their bedroom, would be indeed one of the coldest and darkest place of their house.

·        If you try to stare at a vampire and maintain an eye to eye contact with him, even maybe an eye to eye contact with a photograph of a vampire in which the vampire is staring at the camera, you may not be able to then look else where. Once you maintain an eye to eye contact with a vampire, you will feel a strong energy that will let you continue staring at the vampire and not look else where.

·        Vampires hate sunlight or any sources of bright light. They always try to avoid bright light and it causes vampires discomfort. It may also result in a migraine.

You maybe interested to read these too:

The Black and White World – Colour Blindness in Animals

Top Ways of Earning Money in Social Networking Sites and Socializing

The 10 Worst Earthquakes

Top 10 Largest Giant Spiders

The Top 10 Deadliest Spiders

Top 10 Most Expensive Films and Movies

Will bats have a bright future?

Scientists have recently found that streetlights cause negative effects on the bat population. Could this drive bats to extinction?

With the widespread use of streetlights, it would be difficult to imagine them going away anytime soon. But, will this be a problem for the survival of bats?

An experiment involving artificial lights mimicking streetlights was performed by scientists from the University of Bristol with astonishing results. It was shown that light pollution causes negative effects on overall activity of R. hipposideros, a species of bat currently on the endangered species list.

The experiment took place from April to July in 2008. Eight sets of artificial streetlights were set up and the effects on the bat’s normal flight routes were noted. “The majority of bats selected an alternative route in response to disruption of their preferred commuting route” wrote Emma Stone, Gareth Jones and Stephen Harris of the School of Biological Sciences. “Our results imply that light pollution may fragment the network of R. hipposideros commuting routes“.

What does this mean for the bats? It means increasing distances to find food, less food overall and more stress. With these factors in play the already endangered R. hipposideros doesn’t seem to have much of a future.

“Yet light pollution is rarely considered in habitat management plans, and street lighting is excluded from English and Welsh light-pollution legislation”. These potential problems, pointed out by the researchers, are keeping the R. hipposideros population in jeopardy.

Light pollution could be controlled simply by better planning. If the sites with an at-risk population of bat had minimum exposure to light, the bat population would be able to live on uninterrupted.

If you have concerns about Light-Pollution, Contact YOUR local enviromental office and see what you can do to save the world!

What is the reality about these creatures we call vampires? Are they really only legends and illusions of gothic myths?

The Truth about Vampires

1. You can not be born as a Vampire – TRUE. You must go through “the Change” after your blood has been exchanged with the “vampire pathogen”.
2. Vampires are “Shape-Shifters” – TRUE. They can shift features, such as extend their ears, finger nails into claws and incisors can become fangs. It is said some older Vampires can actually shift into bat like creatures that can glide through the sky— they DO NOT FLY like a bat and the stature of their shape-shift is their actual height.
3. Vampires are only active at dark — FALSE. Yes, they are sensitive to ultraviolet light and usually prefer to sleep during the day and arise during the night to play and feed. They can function during the daylight hours if they wear protective sunglasses, clothing and sun block spf 50!
4. There are different types of Vampires — TRUE. Some researchers believe there are 4 distinct “families” (sub-species) of Vampires. These include: a) human blood drinkers – Sanguinarians……..b) Psychic Vampires – this group preys on the subconscious level and dreams of people draining them of their spiritual and emotional energy – they steal ones “Life Force”. People usually do not die from encounters with this type of Vampire….c) “Draco” Vampire, whom most people believe look like Dracula of the classic horror movies and are vicious evil creatures, these Vampires are the most common type and must have blood to survive, but this species has several other types: the “rat” Vampire…’bat’ Vampire…and “reptilian” Vampire….d) “viral” Vampire is the latest version of the modern day blood sucker, these type spread their affliction through a “virus” that infects humans turning them into Vampires gradually.
5. Vampires are immortal – FALSE. Vampires can live for centuries and in rare cases for a thousand years, but they are not part of the “immortals” here on earth. They do have a genetic structure that allows their lives to extend without aging and disease ravaging their bodies. The “vampire” gene ['which exists' in all people] controls the hormone called telomerase that in turn regulates cell deterioration and aging. Hmmmmmmm this might be the key to long life??!!
6. The first documented cases of Vampires, seems to come from the Sumerians centuries ago – TRUE. The Sumerians called them “ekimmu”, otherwise known as “the evil gust of wind”, who suck the life force (soul) from people.
7. Vampires only sleep in coffins – FALSE. They sleep where they are comfortable. The coffin “bedroom” came from classic horror movies of the 1930’s.
8. Garlic will always keep you safe from Vampires (or werewolves) —FALSE. It may work in some cases, but not always. Vampires seem to develop immunity to garlic over time, so many say.
9. Vampires can fly — FALSE. Yes, they have extraordinary strength and are 10 times stronger than humans. Some Vampires have been know to be able to leap 20 twenty feet into the air or jump out of a 10 story window with no problem…but they can not fly like a bat or bird!
10. The Christian Cross will repel a Vampire and make them powerless —FALSE. This is an old myth promoted again by the classic horror movies from Hollywood and by mythic Christian legends circulated throughout Europe during the 15th and 16th century. The Christian Cross has no power over the Vampire!

This is but a mere beginning concerning Vampires and their legacy —fact and/or fiction. Start doing some research and decide what you believe! Are Vampires real…..or are they a long standing human legend of a grandiose mythical delusion?