Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Don't Ghost Hunt Without a Guide
Don't Ghost Hunt Without a Guide
by Bill Russo
I’m pretty sure that the huge interest today in the
paranormal is all the fault (or credit) of Orson Welles. On radio, on Halloween
Night in 1939 he staged a live re-enactment of ‘War of Worlds’ that was so
realistic it sent hundreds and perhaps thousands of screaming people streaming
from their homes into the streets.
Apparently a great number of listeners believed that Martians really were
attacking New Jersey and that they were hearing the war being broadcast live
over the CBS Radio Network.
There certainly were discussions of ghosts and such long
before Orson Welles figuratively put on a sheet and went ‘boo’ to the entire
United States. As early as the 1870s, Conan Doyle, the literary father of
Sherlock Holmes was writing about it and attending seances. He was not alone, many famous figures from
the period including the great illusionist Houdini dabbled in the
paranormal.
But after The War of the Worlds broadcast, and the
thousands of newspaper stories that followed it, ghost hunting, UFO watching,
and other paranormal activities went mainstream. Today there are thousands of shows, articles,
podcasts, and films about everything from Bigfoot to the ancient civilizations
we have yet find on distant planets.
How about you?
Have you ever heard an unexplained knocking in the dark of night while you
are resting quietly in your bed?
From an open window in your living room on a warm evening
do you ever hear clearly and distinctly the sound of someone breathing, and yet
there is no one there?
Do the fixed shadows cast by objects in your home sometime
move four or five feet quickly in your direction as though jumping at you,
before dashing back to their original places?
If so, you are not alone.
Many people see these things and much, much more. The majority of us shrug
these sightings off because they are infrequent and sometimes ambiguous. A number of others yearn for explanations.
Is the knocking in the night, an attempt by an ancestor
to get in touch with you? Did an uncle
you did not even know you had, bury a sack of gold somewhere and he wants to
tell you where it is?
Sometimes people attempt on their own, without training
to investigate the paranormal. This can
be a very dangerous thing. There are many documented cases of people being very
seriously injured and even killed, in their quest for ghosts and such.
Don’t fear! It’s
not the ghosts that hurt them. Most of
the injuries are caused by the amateur ghost hunters fleeing the spot where
they may have seen something! They often
run off in the dark and trip over both seen and unseen obstacles.
Here’s some advice for would-be ghost hunters. Seek out the aid of an expert. I have two people of the highest quality that
I can recommend to you.
Laurie Champion of Florida is a veteran in the ghost hunting and paranormal field. She is the Director of Hostile Haunts https://www.pinellaspascoparanormal.com/ On the website you will find an enormous amount of interesting materials as well as the contact number for Laurie and her people. They are fearless investigators and ghost hunters who will aid you in your quest. They are not entertainers! They are investigators. If you want a good ghost story, read one somewhere but don’t contact Hostile Haunts for one. Contact the group if you are experiencing paranormal situations. They can help. Laurie’s contact information is listed on the website. Her group handles dozens of investigations every year in a fairly large part of Florida. Laurie is also a published author and her books are widely available. Contact her for more information.
If you’re located in New England, contact Andrew Lake of Greenville Paranormal, http://www.greenvilleparanormal.com/ located in Rhode Island.
I met Andrew in 2013 when we were both involved in the filming of the award winning documentary (now on Amazon Prime) ‘The Bridgewater Triangle’.
Andrew is a no-nonsense, serious investigator of all things
paranormal. Very knowledgeable, he has
several books available. His contact
information is listed on the website.
If you are not in
Florida or New England, I don’t have any sources for you, but here are some
tips if you have a situation that does need investigating. If the area of your
interest is a location that may possibly be haunted. DO NOT GO THERE AT NIGHT….before you begin,
you should examine the scene in the daytime.
‘Case the joint’ as they might say in a horror or gangster film.
Learn the landmarks.
Learn the escape routes so well that you can locate them blindfolded,
for in effect if you have to flee in the dark of night, in a sense you will be
blindfolded. Having a mental map of the
area is your best defense if you begin to have feelings of fear and panic that
often occur on a ghost hunt, even when there are no ghosts present.
Remember, the only thing scarier than an empty cemetery
at midnight, is a cemetery at midnight that is full of ghosts! I don’t really know what that means but I was
trying to come up with a snappy ending.
I guess I failed. But you will
not fail in your ghost hunt if you contact Laurie or Andrew, or if you keep
your head while exploring your haunt.
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The Man Who Died Twice
The Man Who Died Twice
by Bill Russo
James Olbrich died for the second and presumably final
time in 2019. According to all reports,
it was a normal death and it is expected that Mr. Olbrich will not be returning
to the beaches of St. Augustine Florida that he so dearly loved in his first
two lives.
It was just after a visit to America’s oldest city
several years ago, that Mr Olbrich’s initial passing occurred. He drove back to
his home in Orlando after spending a day in the storied city of St. Augustine,
founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers.
Nothing unusual had happened. He
had not been in an accident. He didn’t
hit his head on anything and was not a victim of a falling coconut.
But something did happen.
He didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but he knew that he was off the
beam. After Jim had driven the two hours
back to his home in Orlando, he felt odd but chalked it up to being tired. He went to bed and found that he couldn’t
sleep, had trouble rolling over and just wasn’t able to get into position for
sleep.
During the night it seemed that invisible hands pulled
him out of bed. Making his way to the bathroom, he found himself
stumbling. His head hurt just behind his
right ear and the left side of his body was beginning to go numb. Banging into the walls, he struggled to get
to the bathroom, crawling the last few yards. He remembered lying face up on
the floor for a long time.
He did not remember that ultimately help came and he was
transported by helicopter to a hospital. A cracking noise inside his skull woke
him up. He was on a bed in the intensive care unit. “I have a headache”, he mumbled to a nurse
who replied, “I’ll get you a couple Tylenol.”
By the time she returned Jim had lapsed into a coma. In
the operating room the surgeons worked for hours to save the life of their
patient. As dawn came, they faced the fact that he was dead.
A while later his corpse was moved to the morgue. An
attendant was assigned the job of putting a tag on the big toe of the lifeless
body. With a body bag close by, the nurse was placing the tag on Jim’s toe, but
the elastic band became entwined with the hairs on his big toe. Quickly yanking on the rubber band to free
it, she was shocked to hear an “Ouch” come from the lips of the dead man.
Screaming in fear, she ran for the nearest exit, but
missed and crashed into a wall, knocking herself out. Jim Olbrich meanwhile was conscious, but was
partially paralyzed and had to wait for the nurse to regain consciousness
before he could get help.
Soon, he was wheeled to a hospital bed. Spending many weeks in recovery, Jim regained
partial use of his limbs. He was able to
walk, but his left side was still partly paralyzed so when he walked his gait
reminded people of Frankenstein shambling along as he did in the ancient film
from long ago.
Jim Olbrich did not complain though. He made the best of the situation and was
thankful for his second life. Over the
years his condition continued to improve by slight degrees and he had a number
of good years between his first and second deaths.
He passed away for the final time in late 2019 at the age
of 70 and right up to the end he said that he was very happy to have led two
lives.
My Notes:
I can’t verify all points of this story. I am able, however, to certify that Mr.
Olbrich’s second death did indeed occur on the first day of December in
2019. I have seen the obituary
notices. I can further stipulate from
the same sources that his birth date was January 28, 1949.
The details of his stroke and subsequent, death and
return from death, are to be found in a number of articles floating around the
internet, none of which cite any credible sources. The story may well be true and I have no reason
to think it is not. There have been a number of similar cases.
From my research into the tale, I could find no evidence
that Mr. Olbrich had any memory of the hours during which to the satisfaction
of competent medical personnel, he was dead. His conscious memory recalled the
Tylenol incident, just before his descent into the coma. His next memory was
the pain of hairs being forcibly yanked out by that elastic band the nurse put
on his big toe. He had no visions or thoughts from his dead time.
Since this story has been in circulation for some time
now, I am surprised there is not more information available in news archives
and on social media.
At any rate, it is a strange case, and I hope you enjoyed
reading about it.
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Monday, September 7, 2020
Secrets of the Bridgewater Triangle - The Deadly Nip
Secrets of the Bridgwater Triangle - The Deadly Nip
by Bill Russo
The quiet little nip, a pond in the Bridgewater Triangle, is more like
an enormous bathtub or a
back yard pool than a lake.
It is just three feet
deep on average and six feet at its deepest.
The bottom is sandy from the shoreline to the very center of the
350 acre pond.
Details of the most dangerous body of water in the 'Triangle' will follow after
we examine details of the triangle itself.
What is the Bridgewater Triangle?
It's a group of 17
towns in Southeastern, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the adjacent
48 states of the U.S.A. The area has been host to a massive amount of
paranormal activities, hauntings, UFO sightings, and various weird creatures
and events dating back to colonial days, some 400 years ago.
When the Europeans
first came to what is now called America, they killed off a great percentage of
the Native Americans with two things they carried with them - muskets and
diseases. The indigenous people had few defenses against either one.
With his dying breath,
one of the Wampanoag chiefs cast a curse both upon the people and the land of
the Bridgewater Triangle. Some researchers believe the curse may be the reason
for the spate of problems that have plagued the region for the past four
centuries.
Though the troubled
area does not really have fixed boundaries, it corresponds roughly to the
triangle shown in the following illustration.....
The Bridgewater
Triangle begins at the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts. It was
home to Rocky Marciano, the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion in the
extensive history of Boxing. Longtime Middleweight King, Marvelous Marvin
Hagler also is from Brockton. The success of its high school athletic
teams also contributed to the community's nick-name.
From Brockton,
the lines of the triangle extend towards Providence, Rhode Island to the left,
and Fall River, Massachusetts towards the right.
It was in Fall River,
you'll recall, where a young woman named Lizzie Borden is said to have taken an
axe and gave her Mother 40 whacks and when she was done, she gave her father
41.
Though she was found
innocent by a jury, most people think her long standing anger at her rich but
very stingy father, boiled over after his parsimony made the whole family sick
with rotten food they ate. Whether true or not, it is a fact that after
they recovered from severe food poisoning, Mr. and Mrs. Borden were brutally
murdered by a unknown person wielding an axe.
"I didn't do this
horrible crime," Miss Lizzie did chime, "I was busy in the attic eating
apples at the time!"
After she was arrested
and during the time of her trial, Lizzie Borden was held in the old Taunton
Jail on Hodges Street - but oddly, until the day she died she claimed that she
was detained in the Taunton State Hospital for the Insane. She refused to
admit that she was actually a prisoner in the jail.
An Ode to the 'Nip'
by Bill Russo
In
summer it was a great spot for a dip,
that scary lake the locals call the 'Nip'.
Though long, but scarcely six feet deep,
it sent a dozen souls into endless sleep.
The
selectmen, after a long legal wrangle
sealed off this eerie part of the Triangle.
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Lake Nippenicket,
known in Southeastern Massachusetts as the 'Nip' is a deceptively serene
looking 350 acre body of water that was for many years one of the most popular
swimming spots in all of New England. Lake
Nippenicket is a 354-acre natural pond with 4.8 miles of shoreline in
Bridgewater and Raynham. It borders the Hockomock Swamp, forms the headwaters
of the Town River, and is part of the Taunton River Watershed.
It also became known
as perhaps the most deadly place of recreation in New England, after each new
season produced a number of drowning victims. Eventually the Town
officials decided to forever close the lake to swimming, or even wading at the
shoreline. Violators can be fined or jailed, or both!
What is so strange about the situation is that
the Nip is a very shallow lake. Most of the pond is just three feet deep!
At its greatest depth, most of the basketball players in the NBA could walk
from the North Shore of the Nip to its South Side without getting their chin
wet, because at its greatest, it's only six feet deep!
The average sized adult can literally wade a quarter of a mile along the sandy
bottom towards the middle of the lake, before the waters reach his or her
shoulders.
Back around the turn of the century, my dog Sammy and I spent many hours
splashing around in the Nip. It was Sammy's pond of choice. We had a few
other swimming spots one town over in Raynham, but Sam preferred the Nip in
Bridgewater. We never encountered a problem or were witness to any drownings.
Each year during the
1990s one or more persons would somehow manage to drown in this strange little
pond that's not much deeper than a bathtub.
How then, could the shallow pond be guilty
of sending so many victims to a watery grave?
I have two possible answers.
One: There must be hidden, deep channels in the
lake. Perhaps the channels shift from time to time so that nobody knows
exactly where they are. A person could be wading in water scarcely equal
to a yard-stick, before making a fatal step into a swift-running channel that
might be 20 feet deep.
Two: The lake was cursed by the Native Americans
who were slaughtered by the invading Europeans from the Plymouth Colony. This
is a theory subscribed to by many people who have studied the lore of the Wampanoag
Tribe, which was responsible for saving the lives of the 1620 Europeans at what
is now called Plymouth. As a reward, a generation later, most of them were
killed or sold off as slaves. (See King Phillip's War for more information.)
Though I suspect that Number One is
the reason, it's possible that both answers are correct - because the 'Nip' is,
after all, right in the beating heart of The Bridgewater Triangle.
In the two decades or so, since the sandy beach at the Nip was covered with a
layer of jagged rocks - and swimming, and even wading; was banned, there have
been zero deaths.
The Nip was the only public swimming area in the entire town of Bridgewater.
That being the case, you might think that in the heat of July or August, people
would be tempted to test the warm waters of the mild looking pond.
But it is not so! Even bold young people on hot summer nights, parking at the
side of the lake, perhaps fortified with spirits - don't dare to challenge the
spirits that might be in the Nip.
It was once the Most Deadly Part of the Bridgewater Triangle - and if it's ever
re-opened, I suspect it will quickly reclaim its title.
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Sunday, September 6, 2020
Giant Hawk Kills Power on Cape Cod
Giant Hawk Kills Power on Cape Cod!
by Bill Russo
Power outages and Cape Cod are not strangers to each other. Usually it's a storm that causes the lights to go out. In 2018, a tornado did it...but in 2020, the summer of the Virus, on the tiny outer Cape Cod town of Wellfleet, the electricity fell victim to a Sea Hawk with a seven foot wing span.
It happened in Mid August and 8000 people in Wellfleet and a few in Provincetown were affected by the attack of the hawk, also known as an Osprey.
Actually what happened was that a pair of the enterprising hawks decided to build one of their enormous nests right on top of some critical equipment.
Good news...the power was restored and Mr. and Mrs. Sea Hawk were relocated unharmed. And no electrical workers were harmed in the move!
Note the difference in the size of the nest and the bird. Those hawks aren't happy unless they have a mansion for a home!
This is not the actual nest. This is a file photo we used from Wikipedia to show you how enormous the nest is compared to the size of the Sea Hawk. The bird is two feet long with a seven foot wingspan. They eat live fish, but cannot dive under water more than three feet....so if you ever see one diving at you, get to the bottom of the sea as quickly as you can!
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Saturday, September 5, 2020
Toothache? Afraid of the Dentist? Try This!
Toothache?
Afraid of the Dentist? Try This!
by Bill Russo
The
reason that I’m making a guide to help you get rid of a toothache is because
like me, you might be afraid to go to the dentist. I’m not usually reluctant to visit a dental
office, but as I write this, it’s the year of the virus, 2020, and for that
reason I really am afraid to go to the dentist.
In the middle of April, I developed a toothache which quickly
worsened. The torture from the aching
tooth was non-stop and the painful throbbing area surrounding the tooth was inflamed
and just as sore as the tooth itself. When the swelling in my mouth began to
distort my lips, I knew it was getting very serious and there was no doubt I
needed professional help before it became even more perilous.
Due
to fears of the Corona Virus I ruled out going to the dentist and thought
instead that I’d seek treatment at the Emergency Room. But while reading the latest statistics on
the number of people afflicted in my area, I decided that the hospital option
was no safer than the dentist.
I
remembered something from a few years back when I was suffering from fluid in
my ears that was so serious that it was not only painful, but it affected my
hearing.
I
went to two ear specialists and neither was able to properly diagnose or treat
my condition. Someone, and I can’t
remember who it was, told me to try Hydrogen Peroxide. The person said to put it on a Q-tip and swab
the ears a few times a day.
The
results were amazing. Within a week my
ears became unblocked and pain free. For
the first time in months I could hear television and radio without having to
turn it up so high that it prompted the neighbors to come banging on my door
demanding I turn my devices down!
So,
in the middle of all that toothache pain, as I thought of how effective
hydrogen peroxide was for my ears, I decided to try it on the tooth.
I
soaked a Q-tip with it and held it directly on the base of the infected
tooth. I didn’t see any hole in it or
any visible cavity, but it had been filled a few times and that old thing more
closely resembled a miniature grave-stone than a genuine tooth. I kept the
Q-tip on the sore area for about two minutes, putting a gentle pressure on it
to make sure that the liquid was getting into the source area of the infection.
Next,
I took about three tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and mixed it in a cup with
an equal amount of water. I gargled the
mixture for a few minutes and then spit it out in the sink. I repeated the procedure until I used the
contents of the cup.
The
night before employing the treatment, I was in constant pain and slept very
poorly. The very first night after using
the H-P, I was still in pain but it was less severe.
I
continued the gargle treatment the next day and made a fresh batch every few
hours. I probably used it five or six
times during the day.
By
the second night the pain had lessened to the point that I could easily sleep
through the night. In the morning, which
was the beginning of the third day of treatment, the swelling was gone and the
area around the tooth was not throbbing, though it was still sensitive to the
touch.
By
the fifth day of constant gargling every few hours, every trace of the pain and
swelling was gone. It was a remarkable
recovery.
Since
then, once or twice I’ve felt the tooth beginning to get a new infection. A few treatments with the H P quickly have quickly stopped the infection in its tracks while it is in the sensitive, but
not painful, stage.
There you have it, my direct, incredibly good experience with Hydrogen Peroxide.
So, where can you get this wonderful stuff
and how much does it cost?
It’s available in any pharmacy or supermarket for about three to five dollars for a large bottle. It’s also carried by stores like Walmart and Target.
I got
mine at the dollar store (Dollartree) for…..drum-roll…..One Dollar!
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Friday, September 4, 2020
Ringo Starr of the Beatles - Don't Call Him Ringo
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| Steve Matheson's photo of Ringo in 1987 performing at Wembley Stadium |
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| Ringo's childhood home in Liverpool. Photo credit: Lapinski |
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| Ringo with the Beatles in 1964 |
