Damned in Danville: Happy Birthday, Mr Fort The quintessential fortean event is a rain of frogs or fish or some other damned precipitant. In 1926 Danville, Virginia was the site of the Great Frog Rain. It was recalled that similar falls occurred in 1884 and 1904, exciting the interest of one Charles Fort, of London, England.
A Curious County: Bracken County, Kentucky Forteana A “Devil’s Backbone,” a treasure cave with a giant skeleton, an imposter on a grand scale, mysterious faces in window glass, big snakes, fiery devils, and sin-induced levitation—who knew that one small and very rural Kentucky county could be so infested with fortean excitement?
The Mystery Stone of Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota A large stone slab carved with the coat of arms of Spain was unearthed two men digging a well near Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota. Was it a new Kensington runestone?
The White House Shadowgraphs: The Fortean White House Part 2 In 1901, Washington DC was excited by mysterious shadows on the columns of the east and west porticoes of the White House. Prophetic images or pareidolia?
Black Dogs and Dynamite: South Mountain’s Washington Monument A stone tower prone to fiery explosions, a ghastly Black Dog apparition, spook lights, ghosts, and mystic people–is the area of the South Mountain Maryland Washington Monument a “window” or “portal” area, full of high strangeness?
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Snake. I was born in a Snake Year, so I feel like starting the year off right with a post on some strange snake stories—or “snaix” as the papers jocularly referred to the monstrous snake stories that were printed in such profusion in the 19th century papers that some publishers joked that they needed a “snake editor.” Since I would be spoiled for choice in trying to select the crème of the giant snake stories, let us concentrate instead on stories of reptiles remarkable for something other than their size.
These mysterious luminaries of the paranormal world have a variety of names: Spook lights, corpse candles, will-o-the-wisps, jack-o-lanterns, ball lightning, ignis fatuus, swamp gas, ghost lights. Yet no matter what the designation, their nature is elusive. They always float just out of reach when scientists try to study them. This is a post about spook lights that harm.
Announcing the Face in the Window: Haunting Ohio Tales Kestrel Publications is terrified to announce publication of The Face in the Window: Haunting Ohio Tales, a new collection from Ohio ghostwriter Chris Woodyard.
