Mysterious Universe

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Frozen cryptids return to life on this week’s episode as we look at the elusive Wooly Mammoth and Icelandic Lake Monsters.

We continue the theme (minus the ice) with tall tales of African music stars returning from the dead as Zombies before investigating new sightings of Mermaids in Zimbabwe.

Read on for show notes, music, and books.

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Joseph Smith, Jr., born on December 23, 1805, was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, more commonly known as Mormonism – which has been thrust into the limelight to a significant degree recently as a result of Mitt Romney, one of the Republican Party’s nominees for President of the United States of America, being a supporter of this particular faith.

As for Joseph Smith, he began to develop a not-insubstantial following after he proclaimed that, beginning in the early 1820s, he had a number of encounters with an angelic entity named Moroni. So the story went, Moroni visited Smith (on some occasions while he, Smith, slept) and directed him to a book – inscribed on a set of golden plates – that supposedly detailed a visit of Jesus Christ to the Americas.

The book, we are told, was buried on a hill near Smith’s home (in Manchester, New York), which was variously referred to as Cumorah Hill and Mormon Hill. The same book was eventually translated and published under the title of the Book of Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was duly born.

How curious that more than 120 years after Smith’s experience, a man named Truman Bethurum underwent a series of astonishingly similar encounters. His 1952 liaisons, however, were with alleged extraterrestrial entities – rather than an angelic one – and occurred atop the similarly-named Mormon Mesa, which is situated in Nevada. Just like Smith, Bethurum’s first encounter began when his sleep was disturbed by the sudden presence of a superior being – or beings, in Bethurum’s case.

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Human beings, like all members of the animal kingdom, are capable of awareness of their environment due to the presence of sensory organs, a nervous system, and of course, a brain. In the absence of these key attributes, it seems unlikely that a living organism would be aware of its environment on any level (or any at all) that would be comparable to humans and the animal kingdom.

This fundamental observation never kept polygraph expert Cleve Backster from delving into the secretive realm of plant consciousness, however. Beginning in 1966, the CIA Interrogation Specialist had been conducting experiments with plants hooked to polygraph equipment, when he first noticed that in some instances the plants would “react” to various stimuli in ways that suggested some level of awareness pertaining to their environment. Incredibly, Backster claimed to observe how some plants would cause polygraph readings similar to a person in distress when burned or harmed otherwise. On some occasions, the same effect could be registered as a result of Backster merely thinking about harming the plant in question.

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Last fall, a series of strange circumstances had befallen a number of students in the Le Roy Central School District in New York. Tests were being performed on soil and other for various molds and quality of air, in addition to the potential for side effects resulting from a number of drugs and vaccines, with hope of confirming some cause for various kinds of strange behavior erupting among a handful of students.

In total, twelve children had begun displaying odd “symptoms,” described primarily as “tics and impulsive verbal outbursts” similar to the popular neurological disorder Tourette’s syndrome. And yet, despite concerns (and even widespread belief among parents) that there may have been environmental agents acting on these students, no evidence was ever found as to what, precisely, had been causing the disruptive behavior.

The situation hadn’t drawn as much attention since news first broke during the latter portion of last year, that is, until Monday morning when Reuters news service carried a story describing that three more individuals have been added to the list of students affected by the “mystery illness.” District Superintendent Kim Cox addressed the strange circumstances publicly over the weekend, according to the Reuters report; for the time being, amidst continued concern over what may be causing the strange behavior among students, a familiar old explanation has sifted its way to the surface: we’re obviously dealing with mass hysteria here.

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Any mention of “animal mutilations” invariably, and quite understandably too, provokes imagery of the notorious “cattle-mutilation” events that reached their peak in the southwest regions of the United States in the mid to late 1970s. On the issue of whether or not the killing and mutilation of animals on a large scale was, and perhaps still is, the work of extraterrestrials, occult groups, government personnel engaged in biological warfare experimentation, scavengers, shadowy figures with concerns about exotic viruses entering the U.S. food-chain, or a combination of all the above, the jury is very much still out. But, less well known, is that such events are not limited to the United States…

One particular case stands out for truly memorable and macabre reasons, as will now become apparent. It all began on 1 October 1997, as a good friend of mine, Nigel Wright, then of the Exeter Strange Phenomena Research Group, and the co-author with Jon Downes of the book The Rising of the Moon, reveals:

“Approximately three weeks ago two young men were swimming in Otter Cove [Lyme Bay, Exmouth, England]. As darkness drew in, they decided to make for the shore and change to go home. As they got changed, one of them looked out to sea. He saw what he described as a ‘greenish’ light under the surface. He called to the other young man and they both watched as this light ‘rose’ to the surface of the water. The next thing they knew there was a very bright light shining into their faces. They turned the scene and fled.”

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This is a special guest post by Andrew Nicholson - www.weirdaustralia.com

A recent article by an Australian astronomer on UFOs and extraterrestrials illustrates the continuing ignorance of many within the scientific community in relation to the UFO phenomenon and other aspects of the paranormal, and exposes the double standards employed when it comes to making extraordinary claims.

In Encounters of the third kind? Not even close published on The Sydney Morning Herald website on 19 January 2012, Perry Vlahos, an astronomy educator, author, broadcaster and past president of the Astronomical Society of Victoria discusses the subject of UFOs and extraterrestrials.

Vlahos begins by taking a refreshingly objective point of view in relation to the possibility of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe.

“From my experience, astronomers disagree on the possibility of sophisticated civilisations among the stars – some think ‘yes’ and others think ’no’,” he states.

But he is far less flexible in his thinking when it comes to the possibility that we may have been visited by any such ‘sophisticated civilisations’. “But most agree on one point,” he continues. “There is no credible evidence to suggest we have ever been visited by extraterrestrials.”

“If they exist, they’ve not been here yet,” he confidently concludes.

Oh, really!

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On this episode of Mysterious Universe Plus+ we find out what happens when you let a demon in your home. We also take a deeper look at some terrifying humanoid encounters and discover the cyclic meaning of everything. 

On top of all that, we recount the experience of a man who actually remembers boarding a UFO.

Show notes and Music after the jump.

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