April 27

Phantom Submarines

On this date in 1983 divers in Husnes Fjord spotted what they believed to be the conning tower of a submarine. It was reported, and since most nations are just a tad touchy about their territorial waters, a search team from the Norwegian military arrived shortly thereafter. Aside from a corvette and two submarines, it included an Orion aircraft equipped with anti-submarine weapons, with three  frigates joining the next day. From then until May 1 the military received reports of numerous civilian sightings of the mystery sub, generally from the same areas where the navy made sonar contact.

KNM Oslo obtained a sonar target near Leirvik (on Stord Island) at 4:55 pm. A rocket thrown depth charge (Terne) was fired at 5:21 as a warning to the intruder that they had been sighted and were being tracked. The next night a probable sonar contact was made, but with no weapons fired.

Up to April 29 two more contacts had been made at different locations, but then, on April 30 sufficient sonar contacts were made for Oslo to fire five Ternes, as well as dropping a mine, before contact was lost. Around 4:00 pm that day five more Ternes were fired at a different location, with one more, near Leirvik again, at midnight. At 4:20 pm the next day six more were fired, and a mine dropped from the Orion.

The last sonar contact, by the Orion, was made at 8:30 pm, then the mystery sub vanished. Six mines and 24 of the rocket propelled depth charges netted absolutely nothing.

No other country admitted to having a sub prowling various fjords, and it certainly wasn't one of Norway's own. Could the sonar contacts have been a whale, or some other large sea creature? Unlikely. Experienced sonar technicians can usually tell the difference in echoes produced by a sub or a whale.

These phantom subs have been seen in almost every country that has a coast. The thing that seems especially odd is that there are observations dating as far back as the mid 1800s.

April 26

All Over the Board

Exploding Toads

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the great exploding toad mystery. Health officials in Hamburg Germany were perplexed and in a bit of a panic after about one thousand toads each showered an area of around a square yard with toad innards. The mess was, as you can imagine, terrible, a potential health hazard and a rather unique mystery.

It was finally figured out that crows were to blame. The local birds had developed an insatiable hankering for toad's livers, which they were able to pluck out before the toad realized it was being attacked. As soon as it did, it puffed up as a natural defense, but since it doesn't have a diaphragm or ribs to hold everything else in, the toad popped like a balloon stuck with a pin.

Ptombstone Pterodactyls?

On the 26th of April, 1890, the Tombstone Epitaph ran this headline: Found on the Desert. Strange Winged Monster Discovered and Killed on the Huachuca Desert. 

The article told the story of two ranchers who ran across what, from the description, could only be described as a pterodactyl. Of course once they were over their amazement, their first thought was to kill it. Having accomplished their goal with a few well aimed shots, they measured it as about ninety-two feet long and, wing tip to wing tip, about 160 feet across. The article ends with pieces being sent to undisclosed experts back east. 

This was the only account to see print. Without meaning to brand the story a hoax, I nevertheless wish to point out that newspapers of the time would often make up incredible stories anytime circulation flagged.

The Ball in the Mall

On this date in 1991, security cameras filmed a glowing white orb the size of a tennis ball as it toured Birchwood Shopping Centre in England. After climbing walls and circling waste bins, it disappeared over a tree.

And that's about it for April 26.

April 24

The Socorro Incident

Zamora showing the site to two Air Force Investigators
via Alien Casebook 

April 24, 1964, 5:45 pm. Police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora is in pursuit of a speeder south of Socorro, New Mexico, when suddenly the placid sky to the southwest is disturbed by a roar and a pillar of flame. Zamora relinquishes the chase to investigate, suspecting a local dynamite shack may have exploded.

As the roar and flame diminished and disappeared, and Zamora neared the site, he spotted a shiny object 200 yards to the south, which he initially thought to be a white car, overturned in an accident. He headed his patrol car toward it, thinking to help.

He briefly saw two individuals in white coveralls next to the "car" one of whom seemed startled at Zamora's sudden arrival. Sergeant Zamora radioed his dispatcher that he would be out of his car checking a possible accident, pulled up, got out, and headed toward the object.

As he approached it he no longer saw the people in white coveralls, but heard "about two or three loud thumps, like someone…shutting a door or doors hard". At that point the loud roar and flame returned, though this time he was close enough to see that the flame issued from underneath the object. The roar was not like that of a jet engine, but started out low frequency, then increased in both pitch and volume. The flame was funnel shaped,  light blue with no smoke, but orangish at the bottom.  At this point the object began to slowly rise straight up.

The symbol on the object
via Ufology Society International

Zamora ran behind his car, none-the-less keeping his eyes on the object. He described it as oval in shape, smooth, with no windows or visible doors, and aluminum-white in color. There was a strange symbol, in red, on the thing, which he reproduced later. It rose to a height of 10 to 15 feet, moving rapidly away from him. It's speed increased and it diminished in the distance, now without the noise or flame.

Afterward, when other officers arrived, they inspected the site with Zamora, who they found in a state of near shock. They found the brush burning and four strange indentations in the soil like the marks of legs or supports where the thing had been sitting.

A number of witnesses  reported an egg shaped craft or a bluish column of flame at the same time in the same area, some within minutes of Zamora's experience, before any account of it became public knowledge. One witness reported not only the landing of the object, which he thought was a plane in trouble, but also saw Zamora's patrol car going up the hill toward it.

Some researchers have labeled the incident a hoax, which seems unlikely given the number and variety of witnesses, the (admittedly sparse) physical evidence, and the effect the close encounter had upon Zamora, who eventually left the police and took a job managing a gas station. In a report to the CIA, the program director of Project Bluebook stated that there was no doubt Zamora saw an object that had a profound effect on him. He also said of Zamora that there was no question of his reliability. "He is a serious police officer, a pillar of his church and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area."

Another theory held that it was a college prank by students who were hassled by Zamora. However, no one, even at this late date, has ever come forward with direct testimony. It always involves someone they knew, whose name they can't reveal, and who they didn't actually see doing anything. Nor do they know how their nameless acquaintances pulled it off.

There are, of course, always those who think of extraterrestrials, but there are also those who think it was some sort of experimental aircraft from one of the many government facilities or military bases in the area. Socorro is, after all, only some 700 miles from Area 51, and less than 200 from Roswell.

April 23

Breakfast Interrupted by… What?

Tim Dinsdale via Loch Ness Investigation

Imagine having a peaceful breakfast next to a serene lake. Now imagine your breakfast interrupted by a large creature disturbing the serenity by rolling and diving in the lake. That's what happened to Tim Dinsdale at Loch Ness on this date in 1960. As most of us would, he quickly forgot his food, grabbed his camera and took off for the shore.

By the time he got there, though, Nessie had lit out across the loch and all he could capture on film was one hump leaving a wake behind as it diminished in the distance. Dinsdale was sufficiently amazed by the encounter and what he felt was the proof on his film, that he spent the rest of his life, off and on, pursuing the critter.

Of course, we can all guess what happened next. Cue the controversy. Many agreed with Dinsdale that the film definitively showed something strange was living in the loch. Others were just as convinced that what he committed to film was simply a distant boat (even though it didn't leave a similar wake, didn't maneuver like one, and eventually dove beneath the surface). 

Dinsdale stopped filming before running out of film, in order to change locations, hoping to catch a closer shot of the creature when it resurfaced. Unfortunately, it didn't reappear that day. He decided to use the small amount of film left to show some points of reference, in order to gauge the size of the thing, it's speed in the water, etc. To this end he arranged for someone to take a boat along the path the animal took, in order to show the contrast between it and the creature. 

Below I have appended two videos. The first consists of the 40 seconds of Tim's 1960 film that shows the hump traveling across the loch. The second is an interesting short account of Tim Dinsdale and his film.

April 22

The Man Who Taught J. B. Rhine

Walter Franklin Pierce
via Songs of Patience Worth

Today is the birthdate, in 1863, of Walter Franklin Prince, the only American, other than William James to be elected president of the Society for Psychical Research in London. He was also a PhD (Yale), Episcopal minister and founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research. 

Prince started out as a minister, but through church social work was led to study abnormal psychology, eventually becoming director of psychotherapeutics at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in New York. At this point fate stepped in, in the form of James H. Hyslop, who recruited Prince to fill the post of research officer of the American Society for Psychical Research. It was in that capacity he became friends with noted investigator Hereward Carrington, and eventually, Harry Houdini. He was with ASPR for eighteen years, until the society was taken over by spiritualist supporters of the medium Mina Crandon, who, Prince was convinced, was a fake. At that point he resigned and formed the Boston Society for Psychical Research.

While Houdini, Carrington and Prince were all relentless in exposing fraudulent mediums, unlike Houdini, Carrington and Prince were convinced that some psychic phenomena were real. One case where Prince wasn't really sure either way became his best known investigation.

Pearl Curran in 1919
via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Beginning in 1912, a young housewife named Pearl Curran received a series of messages through the Ouija board from someone named Patience Worth. By 1919 the board became superfluous, Pearl receiving pictorial visions directly, accompanied by Patience Worth's voice. Although Pearl had an indifferent education and read little, she and Patience authored several books and much poetry, considered classics of her day. Prince wrote a thorough account of his investigation of this phenomenon in 1927. 

He also investigated one of the first recognized cases of multiple personality and contributed much to the establishment of parapsychological research as a scientific endeavor. Most importantly, he advocated using laboratory work, with controls, to garner results that could be interpreted statistically. J. B. Rhine referred to Prince as "my principal teacher in psychical research." Indeed, Rhine's initial interest in parapsychology had grown from his investigations of mediumship with Prince at Harvard in 1926.

Prince was the author of The Psychic in the House (1926), The Case of Patience Worth (1927, his best known work), Noted Witnesses for Psychic Occurrences (1928) and Enchanted Boundary (1930).

April 21

The Dover Demon

Bartlett's drawing via The Iron Skeptic

There were three teenagers on this date in 1977 that I have either admiration or sympathy for. If admiration, it's because they pulled off a clever and harmless hoax that still endures almost 40 years later. But if they really saw what they claimed they did, few would have believed them, especially since, as teenagers, their stories would automatically have drawn suspicion. In that case, they have my sympathy.

It began when 17 year old William Bartlett down Farm Street in Dover, Massachusetts, at 10:30 pm. He saw some movement along the top of a broken stone wall, but it wasn't until the headlights fully revealed the creature that he realized it was something he had never seen before. "It scared me to death," he was reported saying. "I couldn't go back and see it." It was the first glimpse of what would come to be known as the Dover Demon.

Later that same evening 15 year old John Baxter reported seeing the same or similar creature in the woods off Miller Hill Road. At first he thought it might have been a child, but when he obtained a closer look he fled the woods in a panic.

John Baxter with his drawing

The third sighting wasn't until the following even when Abby Brabham, also 15, saw the thing sitting upright on Springdale Avenue. When plotted on a map the sightings formed a line two miles long.

The police interviewed all three teenagers, who described the thing, as well as producing drawings. They described something three and a half feet tall with an egg-shaped head with no ears, about the same size and shape as it's body, long thin limbs with tendril like fingers, and glowing (or reflective) orange eyes. The accounts given by all three jibed, with the exception that Brabham stated the eyes were green.

Police searched the area, but found nothing, claiming initially that the whole thing was "probably nothing more than a school vacation hoax." Police chief Carl Sheridan wasn't so sure, however. 

"The only thing that worries me is the story of Bill Bartlett," he said, calling the teenager "an outstanding artist and a reliable witness."

Some people thought the kids might have seen and misidentified a newborn moose, and if you compare the pictures of a moose calf with the creature drawings, it becomes apparent that the general body shape is not too far off. But a moose wouldn't have long tendril like fingers, and moose have prominent ears.

Whatever the thing was, it was never seen again after that night. 

April 20

Mary Celeste Redux?

Kaz II via CanadianContent

On 20 April, 2007, Australian authorities boarded a 9.8 meter catamaran off the northern coast. The boat, soon to be dubbed "the ghost yacht" by the press, had been spotted drifting with no sign of the crew on April 18 by a helicopter whose pilot reported it. Those who boarded the catamaran found everything normal and in order, just with no sign of the crew or what may have happened to them.

The yacht was named Kaz II, and not unlike the Mary Celeste, created a sensational mystery. It's condition when found was like a snapshot of daily life aboard. Food was set out on the table. A laptop was open and turned on. Although there were large tears in the sail, the engine was on and running. All the boat's systems, radio, GPS, etc. were fully functional. There just wasn't a crew.

Authorities quickly discovered the Kaz II had been crewed by her owner Derek Batten and his neighbors, brothers James and Peter Tunstead. Batten was a sailor with long experience and very safety minded, as were the Tunstead brothers. Forensic investigators found no signs of foul play. So what could have happened?

The Kaz II had left port early on April 15. Late that afternoon the yacht's GPS system showed her to be adrift. A video tape of footage taken by the crew and found on board had a date/time stamp for 10:00 am on the 15th, so it's fairly obvious the three men disappeared on their first day out.

The crew of the Kaz II via brisbanetimes

The coroner in charge of the inquest proposes a series of accidents based on conditions as seen on the tape. The seas were choppy and none of the men were wearing a life vest. Tunstead is seen fishing from the stern. Since a fishing line was found tangled in the propeller, the coroner proposed that one of the crew went overboard while trying to free it. Another, trying to help, either purposely or accidentally went overboard after the first man. Batten, who, on the tape, was at the helm, started the engine to come about and pick the others up, but then realized he would first have to drop the sail. When trying to do this the boom shifted, knocking him overboard, and the three were unable to catch and reboard the catamaran, which drifted away. While this is entirely possible and even plausible, it does seem to rely on a string of coincidences that are not entirely likely.

Other explanations include the yacht being stuck on a sandbar and the three being lost while trying to free it. Or a freak wave taking one of the crew and the others being lost while trying to rescue him. Or the possibility of the crew being taken off by another vessel. But to what purpose? And why not take the boat as well? Police ruled out a staged disappearance.

What happened is unlikely ever to be known. But at some point some critical happenstance struck the Kaz II, and her crew, unfortunately have joined the ranks of those who vanished at sea.