Solstice eclipse

My druidic friend Andi has reminded me of the lunar eclipse tomorrow. He writes:

'Be sure to check out the total lunar eclipse on 21st Dec. It will be the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the Winter Solstice since 1638!

Unfortunately the timing won't be so good for Western Europe: mid-eclipse in the UK will be at 08:16 GMT, just as the moon is nearly set and the sky is brightening with the sun.'

Mind you, the sky was only just 'brightening with the sun' at 9am this morning, so it might be OK. Something to do while scraping the cie off the car, anyway!

Miracle workers

Mark Greener tipped me off about a story in regards to a new online catalogue which details more than 600 miracles that are said to have occurred in the Christian world - what happened, who to, where and when. The catalogue has been developed by the Centre for Inquiry-Based Learning at the University of Sheffield and has revealed some interesting insights: for example, miracles appear to become more complex over the years and that the lower calsses are treated more favourably by the saints.

To read the full story, just follow this link: http://www.shef.ac.uk/mediacentre/2010/1815.html

New posts on Uncanny UK

The two latest stories on www.uncannyuk.com include a delightful recollection of fairy belief in the Isle of Skye and a very weird account of a plague of spiders - possibly created through witchcraft - in Suffolk. More to come soon.

Naked ghost-hunter arrested

A psychical investigator who stripped naked in a cemetery because he believed it would improve the 'energy' to enoruage Orbs to appear found himself in hot water with the police after his antics were caught on security cameras. Needless to say, the chap was American. You wouldn't catch British ghost-hunters getting up to such shenanigans - too cold for one thing! Read the (short) tale at:  http://is.gd/iJeyG

'Hurricane' poltergeist

Woman claims the 'presence' of snooker star Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins haunts her Belfast flat in a rather sad and exploitative story in - what else? - The Sun, especially when you see the photo of the cancer-stricken Higgins shortly before his death. You can view the story at http://is.gd/iJda0  

The 'Australian wild cat'

I'm reading a crime adventure novel written in 1895 by the Australian writer Guy Boothby. A Bid For Fortune features an Australian hero and one of the earliest 'master criminals' in literature, Dr Nikola. As well as being possessed of hypnotic eyes, Dr Nikola also has a huge black cat for a companion, and he often sits stroking it while coming up with evil schemes - just like James Bond's nemesis, Blofeld.

This is how the hero of the book describes this menacing moggie: ‘I have seen cats without number, Chinese, Persian, Manx, the Australian wild cat and the English tabby, but never in the whole course of my existence such another as that owned by Dr Nikola.’

Australian wild cat?! There are of course no indigenous cats in Australasia but there are rumours of a marsupial 'cat' known as the Queensland tiger. Could Boothby have meant this classic cryptid? Might he even have seen one? Boothby spent time exploring the Australian outback before moving to England to pursue his literary career.

I emailed two of the UK's most respected cryptozoologists, Dr Karl Shuker and the director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, Jon Downes, for their opinions. Jon has posted my query on the CFZ's website (www.cfz.org) to see what members think. Karl responded: 'I think he was probably referring to a feral domestic cat, many of which exist throughout Australia and sometimes attain quite prodigious sizes, especially black ones. Feral domestics are often dubbed 'wild cats' both in Australia and elsewhere, not least because their temperament can sometimes be quite ferocious.'

That may well be the explanation. If any alternative views come in via the CFZ, I'll let you know.

Ghostly terror out in the dark

 

The latest article to be posted on Uncanny UK (www.uncannyuk.com) is by Mark Greener, a science jourmalist who contributed a lot to Paranormal Magazine. Here he points out how easy it is for us to let our imaginations run away with us, especially out in the dark countryside. He offers cautionary tales involving screeching owls, distressed hares and a damp badger. The article has been posted in the More Uncanny section, which is for members only. Registering is free and easy, though, and Mark's article is well worth a read.

Phantom feline

Mike Hallowell, Tyneside ghost-hunter extraordinaire has learnt of a new spooky encounter at his favourite haunted pub, the Marsden Grotto. Check out his post at the CFZ website here: http://networkedblogs.com/bGrCD

Holy Thorn hacked down

One of the Holy Thorn trees round Glastonbury Tor was cut down by vandals overnight in early December. This is/was the most famous of the Holy Thorns, on Wearyall Hill, the one believed by (fairly modern) folklore to be the descendant of an original hawthorn planted by Joseph of Arimathea during his putative wanderings around the West Country. For the full story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-11957440 

Lancashire 'Nessie'

An angler who has fished this unidentified lake south of Preston, Lancashire, for decades had never seen anything like this before, so videoed it for posterity. He said: "The old jetty behind the unidentified object is about 10 - 12 feet in length so that may present us with some comparative scale.” The YouTuber who confidently states that 'it's a snake' (meaning a grass snake, which do swim well), may have the answer, though.

The Witch of St Ives

Amusing sideline in Dr James Fox's recent programme on BBC4 on The Art of Cornwall. Apparently, the sculptor Barbara Hepworth was such a formidable character that the locals secretly referred to her as 'The Witch of St Ives'. A tongue-in-cheek morsel of folklore grew up that the abstract sculptures in her garden were actually the ossified remains of her victims, transformed by her Circe-like powers. 

James Stewart and the Yeti hand

BBC stalwart Sandi Toksvig mentioned an odd story that was new to me on last night's QI quizz series. She mentioned that actor James Stewart smuggled a 'yeti's hand' out of India - or rather his wife did, in her underwear. The man who'd stolen the so-called Pangboche Hand, a relic said to be the hand of a yeti, gave it to Stewart rightly trusting that his luggage wouldn't be searched. The relic had originally been stolen from a monastery in Nepal. The story was rediscovered by cryptozzologist Loren Coleman (whose site Cryptomundo.com I highly recommend). You can read the full story on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangboche_Hand 

Eerie crossroads

Two new articles on www.uncannyuk.com, each about the folklore attached to crossroads. These liminal places have long had an eerie aspect and there are many examples of haunted crossroads in Britain. Just click on the 'Ghosts' tab to read them.