Unexplained Mysteries Volumes 1, 2 and 3 ... Now Available In Print And eBook Formats

Unexplained Mysteries

There are so many mysteries in the world that cannot be explained. Many have become legends just by their absence. Take for example the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. She was on her way to setting records for women in flight. In the course of one day, she became one of the greatest mysteries in the last 100 years. Today we can speculate her fate but very little else can be said of her and co-pilot Fred Nunan. Just like the many boats, planes and people who have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, Earhart joins the men of Flight 19, who just faded from radar and entered into history. The mysteries of the unexplained don't just surround disappearances; they sometimes surround things we have found. Take for instance the cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion and the Crystal Skulls. Neither is explainable but both have made people search for some way to explain their mere existence. Some mysteries come from legends such as the Yeti, Bigfoot/Sasquatch, Aliens, the Loch Ness Monster, Werewolves and Vampires. Are they legends based in reality, or just creative fiction? One of the most popular mysteries is that of Paranormal Psychology or the research into Ghosts. Why do they exist and why are they still here? Some believe and swear they have seen them; others reject them without even consideration. Like with so many things like Ghosts and Aliens, it simply is a matter of do you believe? Contained in this book are several opportunities for you to look into many mysteries from many different areas and fields. Keep an open mind and see how much you believe might be true and formulate your own ideas of the Unexplained.

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Unexplained Mysteries Vol. 2

Paranormal Writer Gregory Branson-Trent returns with his sequel to the Amazon Best Selling title Unexplained Mysteries. In Unexplained Mysteries Volume Two, Branson-Trent explores deeper into the world of the unexplained and comes up with a large collection of unusual and often times unheard of mysteries.

Included in volume two is: Pogo The Clown, Dead Ringers, Odd Cemetery Facts, The Ship of the Dead, 1952 UFOs over Washington DC, Werewolves, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery, Reincarnation , JFK and President Lincoln's Reincarnation, Uruguay Imp, The Grey Man Of Ben Macdhui, Oldest Known North American Mummy, Near Death Experiences, Ghosts Of Dragsholm Castle, Cato The Witch, Blackbeard's Ghost, Abominable Snowman, The Yeti, Oak Island, Doomed Alley, The Devil’s Garden, The Dark Side Of Chicago, Crystallomancy And Spirit Communication, The Grave of Mercy Brown, The Mary Celeste , Marie Laveau's Tomb, The Winchester House, Waverly Hills Sanatorium, and many more.

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Unexplained Mysteries Vol. 3

Paranormal Writer Gregory Branson-Trent returns with his sequel to the Amazon Best Selling titles Unexplained Mysteries and Unexplained Mysteries Vol. 2.

In Unexplained Mysteries Volume 3, Branson-Trent explores deeper into the world of the unexplained and comes up with a large collection of unusual and often times unheard of mysteries.

Included in volume three is: Reincarnation, Black Dog Omen, The Legend of Wokun, The Bear Lake Monster, The Boggy Creek Monster, Rasnov Citadel, The Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, Mystery Of The Nevada Triangle, Nazca Lines, Ark of the Covenant, Hindenburg Crash Mail, Hope Diamond, Devil's Bible, Legend of The Flying Dutchman, Nazi History Of Alien Contact, Crop Circles, Mercy Brown: The Rhode Island Vampire, Faces Of Belmez, Hatshepsut, Lancaster Castle Pendle Witches, The Truth About The Sleeping Beauty, Roanoke Island The Lost Colony, Haunted Alton Towers, The Dead Of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Beechworth Lunatic Asylum Hauntings, The Haunting In Connecticut, Haunted Ohio Reformatory, Muncaster Castle, Gwrych Castle Ghosts, Charleville Castle, and many more.

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The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls

Crystal skulls are some of the most baffling archaeological oddities ever found. Crystal skulls have been found around the ancient Mayan and Aztec ruins in Mexico and Central America. Considering that these skulls are believed AT LEAST 5,000 years old, they are truly ancient mysteries. Who had the technology to create such profound crystal skulls, in specific detail, during the ancient times? And why were they created?

One guess is that they were made by the ancient Aztecs, since skulls were often featured in their art. But what type of technology would they have had to use in order to build them? When examined, no scratch marks or flaws have ever been found on them.

The most famous crystal skull is known as the Mitchell Hedges Skull. It contains a removable jaw that can move—almost as if it is speaking! The researchers of the Mitchell Hedges Skull believe it was made with diamonds that were roughly hewn out. The magnificent, flawless details could have been done by adding water and a soft solution of silicon sand. Assuming this is true, it would have required enough labor to add up to 300 years! That begs another question about the mystery surrounding the crystal skulls; how could something small like a skull require extensive hard work and years of labor just as the much larger pyramids did?

And some of them are quite small. Some of the crystal skulls are only a few inches tall, while others are even larger than a normal human skull. Some are made from clear quartz while others are made from a variety of different colored crystals.

The only plausible explanation as to why they were made is that they were used for occult and religious purposes. Whoever made them probably intended to use them for divination, healing, working with energy, etc. Some new age manufacturers even make replica crystal skulls now, as they are quickly becoming collector’s items. Obviously, modern technology makes it possible to create crystal skulls in no time at all, although the Mitchell Hedges Skull still strangely cannot be copied.

And Now ... A Moment Of Zen

The Mystery Of The Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform. Others were part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis. Nymphs were the frequent target of satyrs. They live in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, also in trees and in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities: the huntress Artemis; the prophetic Apollo; the reveller and god of wine, Dionysus; and rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes.

The symbolic marriage of a nymph and a patriarch, often the eponym of a people, is repeated endlessly in Greek origin myths; their union lent authority to the archaic king and his line.

Etymology

Greek deities series

Primordial deities

Titans and Olympians

Aquatic deities

Chthonic deities

Personified concepts

Other deities
• Asclepius, god of medicine
• Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis
• Pan, shepherd god

Nymphs
• Alseid
• Auloniad
• Crinaeae
• Dryads
• Hamadryads
• Hesperides
• Limnades
• Meliae
• Naiads
• Napaeae
• Nereids
• Oceanids
• Oreads
• Pegaeae

"The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs," Walter Burkert remarks (Burkert III.3.3) "is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs. The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence a marriagable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud").

Adaptations

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin genius loci, and the difficulty of transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought Arethusa to Sicily. In the works of the Greek-educated Latin poets, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna, Egeria, Carmentis, Fontus), while the Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by country people in the springs and clefts of Latium. Among the Roman literate class their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.
Nymphs In Modern Greek Folklore

The ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as "nereids". At that time John Cuthbert Lawson wrote: "...there is probably no nook or hamlet in all Greece where the womenfolk at least do not scrupulously take precautions against the thefts and malice of the nereids, while many a man may still be found to recount in all good faith stories of their beauty, passion and caprice. Nor is it a matter of faith only; more than once I have been in villages where certain Nereids were known by sight to several persons (so at least they averred); and there was a wonderful agreement among the witnesses in the description of their appearance and dress."

Usually female, they were dressed in white, decked with garlands of flowers, but they frequently had unnatural legs, like those of a goat, donkey or cow. They were so beautiful that the highest compliment was to compare some feature of a woman (eyes, hair, etc.) with that of nereid. They could move swiftly and invisibly, ride through the air and slip through small holes. Although not immortal, their lives exceeded a human's tenfold, and they retained their beauty until death.

They tended to frequent areas distant from humans, but could be encountered by lone travellers outside the village, where their music might be heard, and the traveller could spy on their dancing or bathing in a stream or pool, either during the noon heat or in the middle of the night. They might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, madness or stroke to the unfortunate human. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck they would pray to Saint Artemidos, the Christian manifestation of Artemis.

Modern Sexual Connotations

Due to the depiction of the mythological nymphs as females who mate with men or women at their own volition and are completely outside male control, the term is often used for women who are perceived as behaving similarly. (For example, the title of the Perry Mason detective novel "The Case of the Negligent Nymph" (1956), by Erle Stanley Gardner, is derived from this meaning of the word).

The term "Nymphomania" was created by modern psychology as referring to a "desire to engage in human sexual behavior at a level high enough to be considered clinically significant", "Nymphomaniac" being the person suffering from such a disorder. Due to widespread use of the term among lay persons (often shortened to "nympho") and stereotypes attached, professionals nowadays prefer the term "Hypersexuality" which can refer to males and females alike.

The word "nymphet" is used to identify a sexually precocious girl. The term was made famous in the novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabakov. The main character, Humbert Humbert, uses the term countless times and usually in reference to the title character.

Classification

As H.J. Rose states, "all these names are simply feminine adjectives, agreeing with the substantive nympha, and there was no orthodox and exhaustive classification of these shadowy beings." He mentions dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically.

Gregory Branson-Trent's Ghost Hunter's Journal 5th Entry ... Things that go bump in the night

Gregory Branson-Trent's Ghost Hunter's Journal

For more than 17 years I have written about ghosts and been a paranormal investigator. I believe in the paranormal and the unexplained. I have heard the stories of people who bought houses and remodeled them and stirred up the spirits. I was shocked when recently I bought a 100 hundred year old house and started remodeling. Something woke up.

History:
I bought a house a while back and started remodeling in the last six months. The day I moved in, I had a knock at the door from the former gardener that once worked on the property. He told me how the former owner died. He was the one who found Barbara after she had been dead for several days in the house. Since that point I realised we were not alone in the new house.

Journal Entry 5 ... Things that go bump in the night

You know most of my life I have had weird sleeping problems. I mostly do not sleep enough and often wake at weird hours of the night. After moving into this house, I hardly sleep at all. At first it was because of the feeling of being in an unfamiliar place. Then it was the train that comes by at midnight every night. Here lately it is because of the 3A.M. wake-up calls.

I have pretty much explored all the places you can go in this house. Mostly because I have worked on or made a repair in every corner. But there does seem to be one place I have avoided.... the attic. Not sure if it is fear of the unknown, the stigmata attached to dreaded place or just that it is hard to get into being there are no stairs to it in this house.

In the last week, there seems to be a new pattern going on. I had said before that all the things happening in the house are centrally located. Starting from the basement up, well now they have moved to the highest level... in the attic. At precisely 3 A.M. every morning there seems to be a large amount of noise starting in the attic for just a couple of minutes in length. It almost sounds like a person moving furniture or running back and forth. Needless to say this is enough to scare the hell out of you, especially if you have actually managed to get into a dead sleep.

I am working up the nerve to climb into the attic. Not sure if I want to see what is there or not. I think the idea of seeing what is up there could be cool. Maybe there are a bunch of old things left from others. You never know. With the history of this house it could be anything.

Side note: ....History Update.... It turns out that all the activity in the house is based in the oldest section of the house. I obtained a history of the house from the local court house. It seems this house was built in three parts over the years. The main house where all the activity is, is over 100 years old. The new parts, being the back, was built about 80 years ago, and the front add on is only about 50 years old. Whatever is in the house might be attached to someone from over 100 years ago, but who knows maybe it is Barbara who just lived there in the last 12 years.

Next Week: E.V.P. Let's hear what they have to say.

Thought Of The Day

Humor

Mystery of the Sphinx

The Great Sphinx of Giza belongs to the Giza necropolis west of Cairo.

The site is a plateau containing the three great pyramids of Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, together with the Sphinx and a number of smaller pyramids, temples, and tombs.

The Giza structures were built by 4th Dynasty kings at the height of the Old Kingdom. (Scholars divide ancient Egyptian civilization into:

the Predynastic (the ten centuries before 3050 BCE),

the Archaic or Early Dynastic (3050-2575 BCE),

the Old Kingdom (2575-2150 BCE),

the Middle Kingdom (2040-1783 BCE),

the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE),

and the Late Dynastic (1070-332 BCE).

So-called intermediate periods followed the Old and Middle Kingdoms.)

The Sphinx is the oldest and longest stone sculpture from the Old Kingdom.
During the eighteenth dynasty, it was called "Horus of the Horizon" and "Horus of the Necropolis", the sun god that stands above the horizon.

In later times, many sphinx images were carved in smaller sizes or in cameos with the faces of the reigning monarchs. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be that of Chephren, the fourth-dynasty pharaoh who built the second-largest pyramid in the Giza triad. In the image of the Sphinx, the pharaoh was seen as a powerful god.

Gregg's Soap Box ... My Gripe Of The Week ... Why don't people take "Global Warming" more seriously?

This is a new weekly posting every Monday for no better reason than sometimes I like to vent,lol. My dear friend Autumnforest told me I needed to get more personal on my blogs. I don't think she meant to go this far but .... what the hell.

(Gregg approaches the soap box.)

This weeks gripe ... Why don't people take "Global Warming" more seriously?

In case many of you do not know it, I am an environmentalist. Yes, I embrace nature and everything to do with it. So here I am faced with the concept of global warming. It seems to be a big topic these days and yes ... politically driven. Everywhere I look it is blamed on this person, group, or whatever. Thing is ... wait for it ... Global Warming is being abused by everyone. I personally do not discount that some of the facts may be true but I think a lot of it is being exaggerated. The Earth is ever changing and has been since the beginning of time. Somewhere I read, "Our climate is a dynamic process, and as such, is always in a state of change, either getting hotter or colder, wetter or drier, with or without humans, global warming is just one aspect of this process. The one thing that it never is, is static." So are why are we being bombarded by the people who want to play it up.

The question is why would scientists fake data to make us believe or disbelieve. And is it these same scientists who make us not want to give Global Warming any respect and take it more seriously?

I read this explanation about faking facts on Yahoo and thought it was worth including: "from bill j

Here is the one fact you need to know to make your decision. In order to "prove" that global warming exists scientist had to manipulate the data to get the answer they wanted. First they decided what the answer should be, then they altered the evidence to get that answer.

This is like me claiming my car is red and I can prove it. I go out and take a picture of my car and you have no idea what color it is. I take the photo, scan it into my computer and change any non-red pixels to red pixels. I print out a picture of my car, which is now red, and show it to you as "proof" of my claims. You aren't allowed to see my car, the original photo, or the software I used to produce the new picture. All you have is an altered photo and my word to prove my car is red.

You then find out I altered the original photo. So you ask yourself: If the car is really red why did he have to alter the original photo to prove it? The obvious answer is the car is not really red.

Or take a look at the movie An Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore shows us a graph that "proves" rises in CO2 cause rises in the temperature. And his graph shows that when CO2 levels rise the temperature rises with it. This "proves" that increased CO2 levels cause higher temperatures and this "proves" global warming. But notice something strange about his graph. It has only one time line. Take the same graph but with separate time lines. One for temperature and another for CO2 levels. Then line up the time lines so the dates match. You get a much different conclusion. The new graph with ALL the information shows that the reverse is true. As temperatures rise CO2 levels follow them. This means that in reality rising temperatures cause an increase in CO2 levels. Al Gore purposely alter the data to get the answer he wanted."

So is this all real? Did scientists make up Global Warming? If it is real, one thing is for sure, it did not start yesterday or the day before. It has been growing for decades. And no I do not believe it is due to hairspray, methane from animals, or just one variable. But be real and face the issues, we abuse the Earth. So before it is too late, we need to get off our collective asses and make changes. Feel free to tell us your views in the comments section.

Next week ... What happened to good manners and decency?

The Jar At Brinkley College

Back in the late 1800s there was a school that went by the name of Brinkley Female College, which was located in Memphis, Tennessee. The school no longer stands today but there is still talk of what has become Memphis’ most famous ghost story.

The day was February 21, 1871, and it was a day that Clara Robertson would never forget. Clara was a 13-year-old girl that attended the school and on this particular night, she was in her room practicing her dreaded scales on the piano. Feeling as though someone was walking towards her, Clara looked up and was shocked to see a little girl coming towards her.

The little girl wore a moldy pink dress and her skin looked as though it was disintegrating. Clara became extremely scared and ran out of the room screaming. She told others of her story but few believed her, thinking that she had either fallen asleep and dreamed it or that Clara had a very vivid imagination. There was talk that the school grounds were haunted but it was believed to be so by Mr. Brinkley, who obviously did not match the description of a little girl.

Clara was so mortified that she did not return to school for another week. Her father assured her that the children had forgotten by that point, he managed to persuade her to return to school. One week after Clara’s return to school, the little girl appeared to her again, wearing the same moldy pink dress. This time, the little girl spoke to Clara and instructed her to go to a nearby stump and to dig under it. The little girl told Clara that buried under the stump, she would find a jar. Clara went back home and told her father of this.
Not wanting to involve the girl more than necessary, her father told her that he would have some men dig it up. And he did just that. The team of men, along with Clara’s father, did in fact discover a jar after they did some digging but Clara’s dad didn’t want her to open it right away.

The little girl returned to Clara shortly after her father dug up the jar. She instructed Clara that because Clara had not dug up the jar herself as the little girl had asked that she would have to wait 60 days before the jar was ever opened. Clara in turn told the group of men and they too agreed that they would not open the jar until sixty days had passed.

During that time, word had spread around town about Clara, the little girl in the pink dress, and the mysterious jar. Many of the townspeople came forward talking about Lizzie Davis, a little girl who had died 10 years earlier, when Clara was only 3 years old. Lizzie Davis had been buried in her favorite pink dress. It was determined to be impossible that Clara could know what Lizzie looked like in such great detail when she had never even met the little girl.

As interest grew, Clara’s father, J.R. Robertson decided that he would settle the town’s curiosity and make some money in the meanwhile by opening the jar publicly for all to see what was inside, and to charge $1 per person while doing so. He set the place of the ‘grand opening’ to be at the Greenlaw Opera House and hid the jar in a secret place so no one could find the contents before it was publicly opened.
Unfortunately, before this event could take place, J.R. Robertson was at home one evening when he heard noises outside. Going outside to see what was causing the noise; J.R. was attacked and beaten very badly. After he had been gone for some time, a few of his servants became concerned about him and went to go see what had happened. When they found him barely conscious and lying in a pool of his own blood, he told them that some men had attacked him and forced him to tell them where the jar was hidden. After stealing the jar and its curious contents, the men left.

Neither the jar nor the men who had beaten J.R. Robertson so badly were ever found. Clara also never had another encounter with Lizzie Davis, although she did try to contact her many years later during a séance. During this séance, Clara asked Lizzie what was in the jar and Lizzie told her two thousand dollars, a diamond necklace along with some other jewelry and some valuable papers.

The Witch's Cookbook A Collection Of Recipes, Spells, And Potions Now Available in Print and eBook

Now Available in Print and eBook.

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Best Selling Wiccan Author Gregory Branson-Trent returns with The Witch's Cook Book A Collection Of Recipes, Spells, And Potions. In The Witch’s Cook book is a collection of recipes specially for Wiccan Sabbats and traditional inspired foods. Featured sections celebrate Samhain, and Yule. Also included are hundreds of pages of spells, soaps recipes, oils, potions and special incense recipes. As well as, a collection of tea recipes and herbal uses. In short there is a little something for every Pagan, Wiccan, or Witch to use in daily or celebrations in life.

The Northern Lights

The Northern Lights are a beautiful spectacle that takes place in the northern part of Alaska. The natural light show, that is considered one of the natural Seven Wonders of the World, is so brilliant that it can be seen from many different parts of the world. Although it may seem as though these lights are magical, there are actually scientific reasons for why this beauty transforms the night sky into something truly special.

These lights, also called Aurora Borealis, are caused by the locations of the sun that are hotter than other parts of the sun. These ‘hot spots’ as they are known, produce solar wind and that wind travels through the Earth’s atmosphere. The molecules in the wind gain speed and get hotter and they start to glow. Depending on how hot the hot spots are, they produce more wind and the lights become more active.



The Northern Lights are comprised of many different colors including green, red, blue, and yellow. The different colors are created when different types of gases hit different heights in the atmosphere. Along with the many different colors, they can also have many different brightness levels. On Earth, brightness is measured on a scale where the Milky Way is the brightest and the full moon is the dimmest. The Northern Lights range all over this scale.

There are also different types of light within the Northern Lights. The first is called Quity Arces. This type of light gives the appearance of curtains or bands of light. The light can also appear as shafts or bundles of light and that type is called Raide Arces. The third type is appropriately called Diffuse Patches due to their thin and scattered appearance. The lights also range greatly in thickness, with some of them being over 100 meters thick. Some are also hundreds of kilometers tall and over one thousand kilometers in length.

Although the scientific reason is known today as the cause for the lights, there used to be many myths about them as they continued to be one of the last mysteries of the natural world. It was once believed in Norway that dead warriors were fighting and this caused the lights in the sky. The Vikings believed them to be messengers from the female god Odin and that she would mark those that were to be killed in battle. Those in Lapps and Finland believed that the lights were messengers sent by God.

Of course the Northern Lights can still be seen today. Because they are only visible in some parts of the world, Alaska gets many visitors every year, each one hoping to catch a glimpse of the mystical lights.

And Now ... A Moment Of Zen

The Mystery Of Who Built Stonehenge And The Rings Of Rock

Stonehenge maybe, in many peoples' minds, the most mysterious place in the world. This set of concentric rings and horseshoe shapes on the empty Salisbury Plain, is, at the age of 4,000 years, one of the oldest, and certainly best preserved, megalithic (that means large, often ancient, stone) structures on Earth. It is a fantastic construction with many of the larger stones involved weighing 25 tons and quarried from a location 18 miles away. The rings and horseshoes of Sarsen (a type of sandstone) also carry massive lintels connecting them so that when they were all in place there was a ring of stone in the sky as well as on the ground.

Who Built It?

We know almost nothing about who built Stonehenge and why. A popular theory advanced in the 19th century was that the Druids, a people that existed in Britain before the Roman conquest, had built it as a temple. Modern archaeological techniques, though, have dated Stonehenge and we now know that it was completed at least a 1,000 years before the Druids came to power. If Druids used Stonehenge for their ceremonies they got the site secondhand. Despite this, modern Druids have laid claim to Stonehenge and an annual ceremony takes place at Stonehenge during Summer solstice, one of the ring's astronomical alignments.

There is evidence there was activity on the Stonehenge site as far back as 11,000 years ago. It wasn't until about 3100 BC, though, that a circular bank, following the current Stonehenge layout, appeared. At the same time pine posts were put into place. Around 2100 BC stones started being erected. First bluestones from Wales, then the larger Sarsens stones. During this period some stones were erected, then later dismantled.


Why did the builders create, dismantle and rebuild this isolated site? It's hard to say. They apparently didn't have a written language and left no records. We can say one thing about Stonehenge based on archaeological digs at the location. There is almost no "trash." A number of pieces of flint, antler picks or axes have been found, but very few items that one would expect to see discarded at a human habitation (Trash pits turn out to be some of the best sources of material for archaeologists to examine). This leads some archaeologists to conclude that Stonehenge was "sacred ground," like a church. As one scientist put it Stonehenge was a "clearly special place where you didn't drop litter."

Stonehenge at about 1500 BC consisted of a circular ditch, with a raised bank on the inside. Within the bank was a circle of 30 Sarsen stones with lintels creating a raised circle. Today only 17 of those stones still stand and few of the lintels are still in position. Within the ring were five "trilithons" (two massive upright stones supporting a lintel) arranged in a horseshoe. On the open side of the horseshoe, outside the ditch, was the heel stone, some 120 feet from the ring. Once a year, on summer solstice (the longest day of the year), the sun will rise in alignment with the heel stone as seen from the center of the ring.

In addition to the Sarsen stones, there was a less elaborate set of blue stones. Some set in a ring outside the trilithons, and the others in a horseshoe within the thrilithon horseshoe. There are also four "station stones" set in a rectangle outside the ring. The station stones may have been used to predict the movement of the moon.

Rings of Rock

Perhaps what is strangest about the Stonehenge ring of stones is that it is far from being unique. Though Stonehenge is the most intact and elaborate, there are known to be over a thousand remains of stone rings throughout the British Isles and Northern France. Some of them were small, like Keel Cross in County Cork which is just 9 feet in diameter. The largest, Avebury, covers over 28 acres and encircles what is now a whole village. Some of the stones at Avebury weighed 60 tons.

How did the makers move these massive rocks many miles? Probably by dragging them on wooden sledges. Before the first one could be moved, though, a road had to be cleared from, what was then, a thick forest. Not an easy job in itself. Especially for a people who probably spent most of their time and energy just fighting for survival. The construction of both Avebury and Stonehenge must have been the work of many generations.

The Corral Theory

Archaeologist Clive Waddington has suggested that the earliest henges, simple ditches with surrounding mounds, may have been stock enclosures for cattle. Remains of fence and gates found at the Coupland Henge, which is more than 800 years older than Stonehenge, support his idea. Waddington thinks when cattle were moved into the enclosure during certain seasons, rituals were performed. As time went on the circles functional aspect faded away and they became purely religious structures.

Most of the rings were smaller than Avebury and simpler than Stonehenge. While some of them had astronomical alignments built into their design, many did not. This suggests that their use as observatories may have been a secondary function.

A "Place of Healing?"

Another recent suggestion by Professor Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University and Professor Geoffrey Wainwright of the Society of Antiquaries of London, is that Stonehenge may have served as a "place of healing." Excavations of graves in the area show that the remains of people buried there display signs of serious disease or injury. Testing also indicates that about half of those people were from outside the Stonehenge area. "People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," said Darvill. Also puzzling is a large number of chips found that were flaked of the bluestone of the monument. "It could be that people were flaking off pieces of bluestone in order to create little bits to take away… as lucky amulets," said Professor Wainwright. The professors think that the place may have been similar to Lourdes, the French shrine known for its supposed ability to heal the sick. This evidence, however, does not rule out other uses for Stonehenge. "It could have been a temple, even as it was a healing center," Darvill said. "Just as Lourdes, for example, is still a religious center."

So was Stonehenge a corral, a religious center or a place of healing? Or was it all of the above? Scienitsts may never be able to say for sure. As Professor Richard Atkinson, of University College, Cardiff, a researcher at Stonehenge, once said, "You have to settle for the fact that there are large areas of the past we cannot find out about..."

Thought Of The Day

Gregory Branson-Trent's Ghost Hunter's Journal 4th Entry ... Did You Hear That?

Gregory Branson-Trent's Ghost Hunter's Journal

For more than 17 years I have written about ghosts and been a paranormal investigator. I believe in the paranormal and the unexplained. I have heard the stories of people who bought houses and remodeled them and stirred up the spirits. I was shocked when recently I bought a 100 hundred year old house and started remodeling. Something woke up.

History:
I bought a house a while back and started remodeling in the last six months. The day I moved in, I had a knock at the door from the former gardener that once worked on the property. He told me how the former owner died. He was the one who found Barbara after she had been dead for several days in the house. Since that point I realised we were not alone in the new house.

Journal Entry 4 ... Did you hear that?

With remodeling of the house going full blast, so are the paranormal occurrences. It has gotten to a point where we are ready to do a full paranormal investigation of the house.

The first steps will be a series of EVP sessions to see if someone is has some message they are trying to get across. There have been at least six sightings in the house of figures or lights moving from rooms which are all isolated in a particular area. Most all of the occurrences are based in the center of the house in an area that would be the basement, library (Directly above the basement) and the family room on the top floor (directly above the library).

A new phenomena is happening that is not only strange but aggravating. More than once we have left the house and upon our return, you can hear voices in the house. The sounds seem to be coming from the library. You can hear them but they sound muffled. As you head toward them, they get louder but just as you turn the corner of the dining room and head towards the library, they suddenly stop. Then, there is silence and you do not hear it again....unless you leave the house and later come back again. But it is so random, you cannot predict when it might happen.

More information has surfaced about the previous owner. It seems that not only did she die in the house but she was a severe recluse who never left the place. But in her life before that, she was very violent and had even attempted to murder an ex husband. She shot him in the chest but he survived the ordeal and very quickly divorced her. Turns out that she had been married 7 times and had a problem with men who did not bend to her will. It is believed that she hid something within the house, because after her death her daughter tried to tear the place apart looking for something. It's funny how much information is given out about people's private lives especially when they are dead.

On a side note, we had a quick but short weird happening in the last few days. I mentioned before that I had been touched on the shoulder while working on the house and no one was around. Well Buddy, had someone touch his leg while he was lying on the floor doing art. I think it scared him quite a lot. He jumped up and screamed, but no one was near him. I don't have fear of living with a ghost but when they touch you, it is quite un-nerving.

Next Week: Things that go bump in the night

Humor

Charleville Forest Castle Ghosts

Charleville Forest Castle in Ireland was built between 1798 and 1812 for the Charleville family. The designer, Francis Johnston and the first Earl of Charleville Charles William Bury worked together to build an excellent castle showing the extravagant taste of the Charleville family. It took longer than it should have to build this unique castle, because the Charleville family was not only extravagant in their taste but also in the fact that they lived beyond their means.

Construction on the castle would cease for awhile and then come back stronger and with even more flamboyant creations such as the fabulous ceiling work in the dining room that was created by William Morris, the ceiling today lives on. The castle had periods where the family would live on the premises, but most of the time the castle stood empty. By the 1960’s it was pretty much left abandoned.


Today, Charleville Forest Castle is owned by Bridget Vance who is in the process of refurbishing the castle to its once stately and magnificent stature. However, the work has not been easy, not because of the construction but because of the ghosts. While local craftsmen are bringing the castle back to life, so to speak, they are also awakening spirits that remain in there. Recently, Charleville Forest Castle was given the title of “Ireland’s spookiest castle”.

Some of the ghosts that have been awoken include the sounds of children playing in the nursery. Once this ghostly children locked Kate, Bridget’s daughter in the cupboard in the nursery.


Richard Hayes had decided to stay the night with the family after a party at the castle. He made himself a pallet on the floor with his bedroll and was ready for sleep. However, the next morning, Bridget’s children asked why their guest had slept with his door open and the lights on in the room. Bridget came to learn that Richard had overheard the drunken conversation of two older English men, which because of their speech had to be from another era.

Appearances of ghosts cannot be forgotten, Harriet’s ghost is still in the castle where she lost her life. She had gone upstairs to wash her hands, wearing a blue chiffon dress, on her back down the stairs, she was playing as any child would on the winding staircase, and however, as she was sliding down the banister she fell to her death. Many have seen her playing on the staircase as if she was still coming down the stairs as she did so many years ago.

Gregg's Soap Box ... My Gripe Of The Week ... Should people take an intelligence test before getting a Driver's License?

This is a new weekly posting every Monday for no better reason than sometimes I like to vent,lol. My dear friend Autumnforest told me I needed to get more personal on my blogs. I don't think she meant to go this far but .... what the hell.

(Gregg approaches the soap box.)

This weeks gripe ... Should people take an intelligence test before getting a Driver's License?

Before we begin this posting, please realize, I am not attempting to target any one group of people with this posting. I am just stating a fact ... there are a lot of idiots on the road that don't need to be there.


Driving tests and real-life driving

"How many times have you sat minutes or hours in a traffic jam, waiting to see the cop cars, tow trucks and ambulances which signal your wait may soon end, but eventually traffic just ends and there was no evidence of any incident? In these cases, bad driving is the likely culprit.

Driving in America's increasingly crowded cities and suburbs is frustrating and difficult. Driving examinations have not responded to the challenges of mega-urbanization. Specifically, American driving standards are not high enough; people who lack driving skills—and driving sense— can get licensed and re-licensed until something really bad happens.


The low-cost solution to hideous traffic is to: make the driving test more difficult.

Incompetent drivers cause traffic jams, whether they crash or not. Take the simple act of merging into heavy, fast-moving traffic; which occurs dozens of times in any urban routine. One frightened driver, stopping a few seconds in the wrong interchange at the wrong time, can snarl traffic for miles, trapping thousands of other drivers for minutes or hours.


Politically, it is unpopular to suggest somebody who is physically impaired, who is emotionally unbalanced, or who is just plain stupid, should not drive. But the fact is; bad driving causes lethal accidents and huge traffic jams every day, all across America. Bad driving wastes millions of gallons of fuel and adds tons of pollutants to our air. It contributes to road rage, wasted time and occasionally, needless injury and death. The full costs of traffic congestion are almost impossible to quantify."

Please share your thoughts on this subject.

Next week ... Why don't people take "Global Warming" more seriously?

Apparition of Virgin Mary Appears Over Africa

This video has caused quite a buzz on the internet as it appears to show the image of The Virgin Mary inside of the sun over Africa. The video was captured on April 20th 2011, in the Ivory Coast. Many claim the footage is 100% genuine, while others disagree. Some have blamed secret government projects such as “Bluebeam” for the phenomenon.

In an even wilder twist, some are claiming that it could be a sign of the coming rapture. But what could explain this appearance of the Virgin Mary in the African skies? Trick of light? Government testing? Or hoax? You decide.