Haunted Motel in Abilene

The Travel Lodge Motel in Abilene, Texas is said to be haunted. Aside from "off and on" flickering bathroom lights in one motel room, another room is said to have a spirit that loves to play poker under the bed, with visitor's belongings.

In a third room, it's said that between the hours of midnight and 2:30 a.m., a foul smell becomes present, supposedly it's the poker playing ghost.

It's been reported that a mysterious man in green, wearing a ball cap that covers all of his face except for his red beard, works the office of the motel, checking in customers in the early morning hours. Trouble is, no men were employed at the motel at the time this has occurred, yet he carries a set of keys. Later, he is no where to be found.

If you travel to Abilene, be sure to stay at the Travel Lodge Motel but a word of caution, watch out for the clerk in green and keep your credit cards, money and driver's licenses put away. Your belongings might end up lost in a game of poker... under the bed.

Bizarre Gelatinous Fish Found In Brazil

National Geographic- A bizarre gelatinous fish found off the coast of Brazil most likely belongs to a little-understood deep-sea group known as jellynose fish, which includes the young larva seen at the left, experts said in September 2009.

It's unclear whether the new Brazilian specimen is a previously unidentified species or if it's a species that's been found before.

For full story and video, click here.


Photograph by Dave Johnson

Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

Editor's Note: I lived near Mineral Wells for over 20 years. Anyone who comes to town, has to pass right by the Baker Hotel. It is still a beautiful building, one that is now sorely in disrepair and up for sale.

Every time I passed by the Baker, I would have the feeling that some unseen entity was peering down from one of the upper windows. A time or two, I could have sworn that someone, or something actually was staring down, as I passed. Maybe it was just a shadow, or trick of light but it had human form.

I once spoke with an elderly gentleman, who worked for many years as a bell hop at the Baker. He spoke fondly of the place and some of it's celebrity guests, such as Will Rogers, Clarke Gable, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Martin, Judy Garland, Jean Harlow, Helen Keller, Sammy Kaye, Jack Dempsey, General Pershing, L.B.J., Ronald Reagan, and many others.

The sulfered mineral waters that Mineral Wells was famous for was a big draw, as well as the spas and one of the first Olympic sized pools in the United States. 1929 saw the opening of the Baker Hotel, built and owned by T.B. Baker. The Hotel closed in 1963, reopened again, then closed for good in 1970.

There was talk of ghosts residing at the Baker long before it closed in 1970. In 1967, Earl Baker, nephew of T.B. Baker was visiting the Baker Hotel, when he was suddenly struck down by a massive heart attack. Maybe his spirit is among those residing there, along with memories of a star studded, more glamorous time.
- Phantom Universe


The Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

by Bob Hopkins - texasescapes.com

The Woman on the Seventh Floor

The stories of ghosts and hauntings began in the Baker long before it ever closed. A porter who worked there during the 1950's and 1960's was the first known to witness the ghost of the woman on the seventh floor. She was possibly the mistress of the hotel manager. Distraught from her affair she jumped to her death from the top of the building. The year of the incident has not been verified but the room she stayed in, apparently quite comfortably, was a suite on the southeast corner of the seventh floor. Many have reported smelling her perfume and her spirit is said to be quite flirtatious with men she may fancy.

Recently a woman, who worked as a maid in the hotel, reported that on several occasions she found glasses in the room with red lipstick stains on the rims. This took place at times when no one was staying in the room.

Jane Catrett who is assisted by Ronny Walker now manages the building. Ronny manages tours of the building on weekends when time allows and is quite knowledgeable on the history of the hotel as well as the reports of a few sightings of disembodied guests.

Ronny reported one night he was near the main lobby on the first floor when he heard the distinct sound of a woman in high heals walking across the lobby. Thinking the footsteps to be those of Jane Catrett he yelled out her name; however, the footsteps faded away and upon further inspection, Ronny found himself all alone. Later he discovered that Jane had not been in the building that day.

On another occasion, Ronny reported being on the 7th floor re-setting an electrical breaker to the Christmas lights, which continuously tripped every night during display. As he was inspecting the fuse box, attempting to locate the breaker switch, he heard the footsteps of an unseen person walking up to his left - quietly - as if not to bother him. A bit startled, he turned to look and saw no one. Ronny spoke to the possible ghosts and assured them he meant no harm. After that night the lights never tripped off again.


The "Brazos Room"

Another incident occured during a tour of the hotel by a group of W.W.II veterans and their spouses. As the group entered the "Brazos Room" on the first floor, which was the main dining room and dance area, a couple suddenly stopped. The woman looked at her husband and asked, "Do you hear that?" He replied, "Why, I certainly do". About that time several other people in the group began to hear sounds of dishes and silverware clanking as well as people talking with orchestra music in the background. Most of the people there reported this event. It has never happened before nor since - according to the source - but the witnessess were sure they were experiencing the ghostly echoes of a time long past.


Fresh Air Ghosts

A young woman who worked at a local drive-through bank in the early 1990's reported that she and other tellers had their workstations facing the huge hotel. During slow times they noticed hotel windows open on various floors. Later they would notice these windows closed and others would be open. After awhile they began to take note and count which were opened and closed. The pattern changed.

One of the girls told the others "it must be the man who lives in the building and takes care of it". After that, the interest ceased and they stopped noticing. The strange thing is, no one has ever stayed in the Baker at any time since its closure in 1970. There never was a caretaker. So just who was opening and closing the windows?


The Anonymous Psychic, Nostalgic Ghosts and a Shaggy Dog

In the spring of 2000, I spoke with a local Mineral Wells woman who claimed to be a psychic. She has wished to remain anonymous for fear of ridicule in such a small town and I, for one, certainly understand.

She told me, ever since she was a young girl, she has had the ability to see spirits. She said she had been in the Baker many times and had even managed a shop on the outside first floor back in the early 1980s. She said the stories are true. The Baker is very haunted - but not like we think. Most ghosts didn't necessarily die at the Baker, but returned after death because the hotel represented a wonderful time in their lives.

She went on to say that most of the spirits in the hotel do not want to be seen or heard with the exception of a small child. A little boy, about six to eight years old, was the only one to communicate with her. He told her he died in a hotel apartment in 1933 when his parents were seeking medicinal treatment for his leukemia.

She reported a large shaggy dog always accompanied the child. He also bounced a ball to get her attention and " he was watched by an unknown older woman who was always near him."

The psychic went on to tell me the spirits don't necessarily look the age they were when they died. Some were employees of the building. One she said, for reasons she doesn't understand, was a helicopter pilot who attended basic flight training at Ft. Wolters in the 1960's. He was killed in a helicopter crash while at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. He had returned to the Baker with his body in the same traumatic state that resulted from the crash.

For more of the story, photos and to read about the investigations, go here>>.

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In Search Of The Orang Pendek

Orangpendek.org- It walked straight across the valley in front of me, thirty meters away. So close! I didn't expect it. I certainly didn't expect to see it so clearly. It was walking between two trees, vegetation to about hip level. This gorgeous, graceful, very strongly built primate, a big ape, walking out of a legend and into broad daylight, lit up by the sun. If I'd seen it concealed in undergrowth, I could have said, "Well, I saw 'something'." But I didn't see "something". I saw an orang pendek...
-Debbie Martyr

What is it?

People in Indonesia, in and around Kerici-Seblat National Park in central Sumatra, for hundreds of years have been seeing the "Orang Pendek", literally meaning "short person".

Witenesses of the Orang Pendek describe an ape-like creature that is approximately 3 feet tall, pwerfully built, walks bipedally (two legs) and has short hair covering it's body. Could this be the "missing link"?


EXPEDITION PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release 29th September

EXPEDITION SPOTS MYSTERY APE IN SUMATRA

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) is the world’s largest mystery animal research group. Only a week after releasing footage of what appears to be anomalous animals in an Irish lake, a group of four British explorers and scientists from the CFZ have just returned from the jungles of Sumatra having spent two weeks in the rainforest on the track of the orang-pendek, an unknown species of upright walking ape. They have brought back some incredible news.

CFZ member Dave Archer and local guide Sahar saw the creature at a distance of around 100 feet as it squatted in a tree. Dave describes it as broad shouldered, with a large head, black skin and dark brown hair. A line of darker fur was visible on the spine. He likened the coat of the creature to that of a mountain gorilla. Sahar saw the creature jump down from the tree and walk away on its hind legs. It was the size of an adult male chimpanzee.

Next to the tree was some rattan vine that the animal was apparently chewing. Expedition leader Adam Davis has preserved part of the plant in ethanol in the hope that it contains cells from the animal’s mouth.

The team also found and photographed several sets of tracks made by creatures. Expedition zoologist Richard Freeman confirmed that they matched no known creature in the area. The prints were six to seven inches long with a narrow heel and wider front. The big toe is well separated.

Hair samples were taken from a tree close to the tracks. A number of the hairs contain medullas that the team hopes will contain orang-pendek DNA. The samples will shortly be sent off to experts around the world for analysis.

If the samples turn out to be from a new species Freeman suggests the scientific name of Pongo martyri in honour of the English researcher Debbie Martyr who has done more than anyone else to look into this zoological mystery.

Footage from the expedition and from the Irish lakes are being submitted for inclusion in a major BBC documentary about the CFZ, which is being made by Minnow Films, an award winning British film production company, over the next eight months.

Source

Nessie Captured on Google Earth?

In August, 2009, a British man revealed that he found the legendary Loch Ness monster, while searching Google Earth on his home computer. 25 year old Jason Cooke, a security guard from Nottingham, England, told the U.K.'s Sun that he spotted the monster while scanning the site's satellite imagery.

"I couldn't believe it. It's just like the descriptions of Nessie," Cooke said.

Nearly 1,500 years ago, the first recorded sighting of "Nessie" took place, when a giant beast is said to have leaped out of a lake near Inverness, Scotland and ate a local farmer. Since then, the myth of the Loch Ness monster has grown and claims of sightings have increased.


In 1934, a London doctor took a photograph of what appeared to be a dinosaur-looking creature with a long neck, emerging from the water. That photo has since been revealed a hoax.

A 1960 home movie showed a strange object moving in the water behind a family picnicking. However, British intelligence later analyzed the film, concluded the object was most likely "something inanimate."

Millions of people have flocked to Loch Ness, searching for a glimpse of Nessie, yet only 1,000 visitors have reported seeing anything unusual.

If you'd like to check out the Google image for yourself, enter these coordinates in Google Earth: 57°12'52.13"N,4°34'14.16"W.

Don't be too disappointed if it looks to you, like a "boat with wake", as it does to me. It's the thought that counts...

Are Utah Residents being abducted by Aliens?

Some Utah residents claim to have had 4th kind close encounters with extraterrestrials.

In 1968, Ron Johnson was 14 years old. He spent a month helping his aunt and uncle on their California horse ranch. One night, around midnight he recalls, “I remember seeing the clock on the wall. All of the blankets were on the floor at the foot of the bed. There was a very scary feeling, and I knew someone was there.”

Tilting his head back, Ron saw of a tall, thin alien bathed in a greenish glow. “He almost reminded me of an anorexic person with hollow cheeks, a pointed chin, and long bony arms and hands. He didn’t say anything—just stood there and looked at me. "

Terrified, Johnson, who is now 55, remembers closing his eyes and wishing the entity would leave. Though it was gone 10 minutes later, he kept his eyes closed and lay awake in fear until morning. Then he went to the living room and lay on the couch. Whenever he stayed at his relative’s house after that, he slept in the car.

Here is his story in his own words:




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June, 1984- It was 11 p.m. in Mapleton, Utah. Then 25-year-old Don Anderson had just turned off the TV in the bedroom of his mother’s basement where he was staying. His 4-year-old son sat on the edge of a mattress on the floor, playing with a truck.

Anderson suddenly noticed a gray alien floating in the middle of the room. “We looked at each other. He pointed to my son, as if he were asking to take him,” Anderson recalls. He look back into the alien’s stare and telepathically communicated, “OK, let me go with him. If I go with him, he won’t be afraid.”

Don says that as a ray of blue iridescent light shot through the room, he took his son by the hand and they both jumped into the light ray, followed the gray alien across the basement, through the wall and upward through the ground to the grass outside.

Hear in his own words, the events that unfolded:





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Editor's Note: Many people claim to have been abducted by aliens. It seems to be an on-going phenomena, one which may, or may not ever be explained.

DNA Mystery: Scientists Stumped By "Telepathic" Abilities

DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to. Explanation: None, at least not yet.

Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the “amazing” ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA.

The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible. More>>

Bigfoot In Texas?

By Craig Woolheater

Some people think that the bigfoot phenomenon is limited strictly to the Pacific Northwest; they would be sadly mistaken. There is a common misconception of Texas terrain as being nothing but prairies and deserts, with a lone tumbleweed rolling by. It is probably safe to assume that many people who have never been to Texas, formed their opinion from watching the television show Dallas in the 1980s. In East Texas, which is where the majority of the reported sightings of bigfoot occur in the state, there are approximately 12 million acres of forestland. That is equivalent to 12 million football fields.

There are four national forests and five state forests in Texas, all located in East Texas, the primary and most important forest area in Texas. The East Texas Pine Belt, or “Piney Woods” as it is commonly called, extends over forty-three counties and accounts for almost all the state’s commercial timber.

There has been a long history of sightings in the state of Texas. One of the first in the history books is the strange case of the The Wild Woman Of The Navidad. This is a story that was recounted in the Legends of Texas published by the Texas Folklore Society in 1924. The creature was described as covered in short brown hair and was very fast. She eluded capture because the horses were so afraid of the strange creature that they could not be urged within reach of the lasso. These events occurred in 1837 in the Texas settlements of the lower Navidad. Mysterious barefoot tracks were seen frequently in the area. There are Native American legends dating back hundreds of years that describe tribes of giants that were hair-covered and lived in the woods.

A report that I came across years ago was written up in a bigfoot newsletter in 1970. It was written by a man from California who shared a barracks in the Army with two soldiers from Longview. He wrote, “In or about the year 1965, there was a rash of reports of giant hairy creatures roaming the thickets and back country between Jefferson and Longview, Texas, but nearest to Longview. A man and his little daughter reported it as being a large, black and not a bear. Several head of cattle and a couple of people were supposedly killed by it. Private Jacobs was a member of a posse that hunted the creature when he was a teenager. He told me that he saw the body of one of the murdered persons and that the victim had been torn apart. At the time, he threw his gun back in the car and went home. I can’t blame him, he was only 14 or 15 at the time.”

We started investigating this case by digging through the newspaper and library archives in Marshall and Jefferson, finally finding an article dated September 1, 1965 that mentions the Marion County Monster Legend. The article was titled Boy Says For Real Sighting of Monster Renews Marion Legend. The story is about a 13 year old boy who was allegedly chased by an ape-like creature while walking home from a friend’s house one afternoon. Two men picked the boy up in a car and drove him home. The boy described it as “about 7 feet tall with thick long black hair all over its body except for the face…the face, stomach and palms of its hands.” Marion County Deputy Sheriff George Whatley investigated the scene, but found no evidence of a large animal having been there. A UPI clipping, dated September 20, 1965, from Jefferson, Texas, entitled Town Fed Up With Monster Hunters was also found concerning the incident. Sheriff Luke Walker is quoted as being upset by the bigfoot hunters from three states who had overrun his small northeast-Texas town since a thirteen-year-old boy came running out of the woods three weeks earlier telling of seeing a big, black hairy thing.

Charles DeVore of Karnack, one of our investigators, started doing some follow up investigation, using the names found in the articles. Sheriff Luke Walker and Deputy George Whatley had both passed away. He went to current Jefferson law officers who were very helpful and directed him to one who worked for Sheriff Luke Walker back in the early 1970s. This officer related that he had spent many hours with Sheriff Walker back then talking over events of his career and their was no possibility that any bigfoot killed anyone around Marion County during the 1960s or any other time in Jefferson history. This officer even called several people that he knew that were around back then and none of them knew of any bigfoot killing.

Next on the list was Dwain Dennis who owned the Jefferson Jimplecute at that time. Charles found him to be in good health and with a very sharp memory. He corroborated the Marshall News Messenger story about the 13-year-old kid who claimed to have been chased by a bigfoot. He had interviewed the kid himself that day. He related that something had scared him very bad but to this day is not sure what it was. He felt that the tracks that he found were not faked evidence.

He and his wife spent all their spare time for about 6 weeks researching into that story and a few related stories that sprang up from the original. His newspaper articles generated calls from throughout the country and from several foreign countries. Many other stories sprang up in other media and tabloids and got embellished from there. While many people did come to Jefferson to learn more or chase down embellished rumors, or hunt down the imaginary killer bigfoot, there was no posse organized to hunt it down. All the wild stories were generated by other outlets and totally false. He stated that there were no killings in or around Marion County or Jefferson that could even remotely be blamed on a bigfoot. More>>

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