2005
In 2001, China acquired advanced Raduga Kh-55 cruise missiles from the Ukraine. The missiles, which were delivered to Beijing without nuclear warheads, have a range of more than 1,500 miles and can be armed with an advanced 200-kiloton nuclear payload. In a recent NewsMax column, Charles R. Smith speculates that Chinese weapons engineers could "easily manufacture a small diameter atomic weapon to arm the tiny force of Kh-55 missiles." Read more here.
In the first-half hour, UFO hunter Jeff Willes (UfosOverPhoenix.com), discussed his latest "Phoenix Lights" video, which he caught on tape while investigating reports of sightings near northwest Phoenix. According to Willes, at 7:30PM on May 12, seven lights came out of nowhere, traveling in a north to south direction. Willes later contacted Luke Air Force Base about the lights, but they claimed to have no knowledge of the event and expressed no interest in his video.Watch the video:Win | Real View screen captures from the video.
The Indonesian government has discovered a strain of bird flu virus in pigs on the island of Java, elevating concerns that the virus could more easily spread to humans. Pigs, which share genetic and anatomical similarities with people, are known carriers of the human flu virus. Researchers worry that pigs infected with both human and bird flu viruses could act as a "mixing bowl," producing a much more virulent virus. According to experts, the new strain might jump from pigs to humans and then from person to person, fueling a devastating flu outbreak. Read more at FoxNews.com.Photo: Eve Andersson
A big thanks to all who sent in dark-themed artwork for our newest Friday the 13th Gallery. View the creepy images here.
The Cassini spacecraft has confirmed earlier predictions of an unseen moon hidden in the Keeler gap of Saturn's rings. A new image and time-lapse movie show the tiny moon and the waves it churns up in the surrounding ring material. Read more at nasa.gov.
A mail survey of 373 Ouija Board users has yielded some interesting though perhaps not unexpected results. Dr. John Palmer of the Rhine Research Center found that most users "claimed involuntary movements of the planchette and successful spirit communication." A full two-thirds of the respondents reported having a negative experience with the board, and around 50% said "they felt a compulsion to use it."
Digital artist Dana Augustine has created an image (view larger) titled The Magdalene Legacy for tonight's program with William Henry and Laurence Gardner. We also received three images from William to accompany his presentation.
Area 51 is turning 50 years old this month, and to mark the occasion, KLAS-TV reporter George Knapp revisits the topic. Since he broke the story of the secretive military base in 1989, Nevada and Hollywood have cashed in on the notoriety, he details. View Knapp's video report and additional info on this page.
Was the famed haunting case that became know as The Amityville Horror in a series of books and films (including a new remake) actually a hoax? We turned to Rosemary Ellen Guiley's Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits for the lowdown. She writes that the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) visited the house but declined to conduct an investigation, "believing that the incidents were not paranormal." Further, the lawyer of Ronnie DeFeo (the killer who'd previously lived in the house) told a New York radio station in 1979 that he and the Lutzes' cooked up the whole haunting story over several bottles of wine while sitting around the kitchen table. He sued for a share of the book and movie profits, and the Lutzes countersued. Interestingly, Mrs. Lutz's story was analyzed on a Psychological Stress Evaluator and the results showed that she believed the haunting events to have happened as they described them. After the Lutzes moved out of the home, subsequent owners report
Watch the Bigfoot video shot in Manitoba, Canada on April 16, 2005 by Bobby Clarke of the Cree Indian Nation, and recently aired on A Current Affair.
The phenomenon known as global dimming has apparently reversed itself due to international efforts to cut back on smog pollution. Yet, this seeming bit of good news has a significant downside. The increased amount of sunshine now getting through to the Earth is going to hasten global warming, researchers have warned in the latest issue of Science. Read more here.
Archaeologists digging near the Saqqara pyramids, south of Cairo, have uncovered what Zahi Hawass is calling "the most beautiful mummy ever found in Egypt." Encased in a brightly painted wooden coffin, the find is thought to date back 2,300 years. For more info and photos, click here.
The Globe & Mail writes that the eagerly awaited Canadian video footage of a Bigfoot will make its debut on the syndicated program, A Current Affair on its Wed. (May 4th) show. Reportedly, A Current Affair will then post the footage on their website on Thursday. "For those of us who have been studying authentic footage and debunking bogus footage for a long time, the full circumstances of this incident point to a credible encounter," said Sasquatch hunter Matt Moneymaker, who has already seen the video.
Among the items in the audio/visual section of Peter Cochrane's website, is a short video clip of a jet achieving a sonic boom. This documented incident of the jet passing the sound barrier took place in 1999. More details here.
More than 1,000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in Hamburg and over the border in Denmark after swelling up to 3½ times their normal size and bursting. A Berlin veterinarian studying the exploded amphibian remains has a theory: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers. "The crows are clever. They learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the livers," he said. View photos and read more at local6.com.