The Toys ‘R’ Us Haunting

Most often when you think of a haunted building what comes to mind is an old structure, abandoned for years and sitting near a graveyard. This is often but not always the case as you will see in this installment of Weird World News.

Even if many people may not think of a modern superstore as being haunted, the Toys’R’Us haunting reminds us that every plot of ground has a history. Built in 1970, the toy store is a 60,000 square foot single story building. It is located thirty miles south of San Francisco, at 130 East El Camino, in Sunnyvale, CA. This was once an apple orchard, and part of a huge old cattle ranch which was owned by John Murphy and family during the late 1800s.
Paranormal activity occurs regularly at this site. Typically, employees unlock the store in the morning and find toys and books scattered about when they had been neatly shelved the night before. Sometimes, objects fly through the air or simply end up in a different place. People have reported being touched when no one is around. Also, some have heard a voice that theydidn’t recognize calling their name. Aisle 15C sometimes smells of fresh flowers. Many employees and customers have reported incidents that have occurred in the women’s bathroom. The water faucets start pouring when no one else is around. If turned off, they go on again. Women have reported being tapped on the shoulder. Those with long hair sometimes feel it being stroked by someone that they can’t see.
Though incidents had been occurring for some time, the store was not investigated until 1978, when local writer Antoinette May took an interest in the haunting. May invited psychic Sylvia Brown, a photographer, and severalothers to spend a night at the store.
The group expected the ghost to be that of John Murphy, the lands original owner. But the first impression that Brown picked up was of a tall, lanky man with his hands jammed in to his pockets. The ghost spoke with a Swedish accent and said that his name was Johnny Johnson. He warned Brown that if she didn’t want her feet wet she had better move. (Records show that a well once stood on that spot.) She reported that Johnson was waiting for someone named Beth. Research has shown that Johnny Johnson lived in Pennsylvania before moving west sometime in the mid-1800s. While in California he worked as a circuit preacher. Johnson became inflicted with encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), which left him with a mental handicap. Because of this he was often known as "Crazy Johnny". Johnson ended up hiring on as a ranch hand on the Murphy ranch.
The woman that Johnson is waiting for was Elizabeth Yuba Murphy Tafee,otherwise known as Beth. Johnny apparently had a crush on this lady, only tofind that she had left the ranch to marry a lawyer from the East Coast. Johnson died in 1884. He bled to death when he accidentally cut his legchopping wood. (Some versions of the story say it was his neck, but that seems unlikely.) What ever the case this incident occurred on the spot where the Toys ‘R’ Us stands today. Though Johnson was about eighty when he died, he has appeared to witnesses as a young man in his twenties or thirties.
As of this writing the store is still open and is still haunted and the management has no plans to get rid of the ghost. While some employees are afraid, others seem to enjoy Johnson’s residence. The manager claims that sales increase whenever the media reports on the ghost.
This haunting has been very well documented. Sylvia Brown has been back tothe store many times. Johnson’s activities have been written about in books and newspapers, and the store has been featured on several TV shows. Arthur Myers’ book The Ghostly Register includes some interesting infra-redphotographs taken during one of Sylvia Brown’s investigations.

The Toys ‘R’ Us Ghost! What is next? Still you must admit that the further and further we walk the more and more Weird our world seems to be! Have a Hapy New Year and join us next time!

I’m Average Joe
mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

The Restless Coffins of Chase Crypt

Chase Crypt is a burial vault in Barbados with an interesting paranormal history. Let’s take a closer look…

This infamous burial vault gained its notoriety more than 180 years ago when coffins placed within it would not stay where they were placed. Many investigators have looked into this case, but no one has successfully offered an explanation that fits all of the evidence. Maybe supernatural forces are responsible, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame contended in his book ‘The Edge of the Unknown’. Perhaps the investigators have just lacked some crucial facts.
Background of the Chase Case:
The outside world might never have heard of tiny Christ Church, on the remote West Indies island of Barbados, were it not for a remarkable series of events that occurred more than 150 years ago. Even today, the residents of Barbados still talk about the mysterious happenings that kept their ancestors in a state of turmoil for almost a decade. In July of 1807, a routine application was made to the rector of Christ Church to bury the remains of Mrs. Thomasina Goddard in an empty underground vault in the churchyard. The vault was built in 1724, but we do not know why it was empty or who Mrs. Goddard was. In any case, her wooden coffin was placed in the tomb, which measured twelve feet long by six and one-feet wide.
In the following year, Mrs. Goddard was joined by the remains of Mary Anna Maria Chase who had died an infant. The cause of Mary Anna's death is unrecorded, but we do know her small coffin was made of lead.
In 1812, just four years after little Mary Anna's death, Dorcas Chase, an older sister, died under strange circumstance. It was widely believed that, driven to despair by her tyrannical father, she killed herself by refusing all food. Whatever the truth of these rumors, the funeral of the elder Chase daughter was uneventful, and her lead coffin was added to the tomb, which had come to be known as the Chase Vault. Please not that both the infant and Dorcas were buried in lead coffins, for some reason this seems to be important. Nothing unusual inside the vault was reported during these last two internments. The vault was resealed with a heavy marble slab that was cemented in place, a practice performed on all subsequent internments.
The mystery begins when the vault was opened one month later in August 1812 to receive the remains of Thomas Chase, the family patriarch. Astonishingly, the two previously-interned lead coffins were found to be drastically moved from their original positions. The infant's coffin was found standing on it's head. The coffins were placed back in the original side-by-side positions and the vault was sealed. The vault was opened again in September and November 1816 to receive two more lead coffins. Both times all lead coffins were found displaced. Many of the lead coffins were found facing the opposite direction from their original placement, as well as upside-down. The vault was again opened in 1819 for an adult in a wood coffin, and yes, the lead coffins were again found to be wildly displaced. The most puzzling part of the mystery relates to the condition of the first (1808) wooden coffin. Some had said that the remains of this coffin were not moved.
This phenomenon soon gained notoriety and the attention of the authorities. Rumors began to circulate about other-worldly causes. Lord Combermere, Governor of Barbados, witnessed the coffin disarray at the 1819 vault opening. Determined to solve this mystery and perhaps catch the perpetrators of a hoax, he initiated a controlled investigation. The vault walls were thoroughly inspected for other sources of entry. Brick masons tapping on the floor with hammers failed to detect any secret passages. Combermere then placed fine sand on the floor to detect human intrusion and had the door cemented shut. As a last safeguard against tampering, he imprinted his seal in the cement.
At the reopening of the vault 8 months later, hundreds of people were gathered to witness the inspection. Lord Combermere's seal was still intact, showing no one had entered through the door. When the vault was opened, the lead coffins were again scattered. The heaviest lead coffin of Thomas Chase was reported to be actually leaning against the inside of the vault door. However, the remains of the first (1808) wood coffin was reported to be unmoved. Reports differ as to whether the 2nd wood coffin had moved. The sand on the floor appeared undisturbed. Exasperated, Lord Combermere had the coffins moved to another resting place and the vault was abandoned.
Proposed Explanations:
The supernatural theory of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and others proposed the movings were caused by the spirits of two individuals (Dorcas and Thomas) who had committed suicide and, therefore, were cursed and restless. After all, the coffins started moving only after Dorcas Chase was buried in 1812. Other explanations were human tampering, earthquake, explosion and flooding. Earthquakes and explosions seem unlikely since neither was reported and no other crypt's contents had been disturbed. Human tampering seems to have been ruled out in Lord Combermere's controlled investigation by the undisturbed condition of his seal on the door and the sand on the vault floor. Also, it would have been very difficult to hide the man-handling of the 800lb coffin of Thomas Chase that had originally taken 8 men to place in the vault. It was this coffin that was found leaning against the vault door from the inside, thus blocking any alleged perpetrator's exit.
Flooding seems to have been the most popular theory. Actually, a water-tight 800lb lead coffin would float because the volume of water it displaces is of greater weight than the weight of the coffin. Other occurrences had been documented of lead coffins being displaced by water. However, is it possible that even a very slow seepage of water in and out of the vault could leave the sand undisturbed?

Perhaps, and then again perhaps not, but in any case, unlike the other coffin moving instances, no indication of flooding such as remnants of water or wet wood had been reported. It also seems likely that flooding would have also been observed in the other nearby vaults.Whatever the cause, it is proof that we reside just this side of the weird!

Maybe, as the cartoon below suggest, the coffins are not led but ...

I’m Average Joe
mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

Remember Pearl Harbor!

Remember Pearl Harbor, a phrase that brings to mind the efforts of the greatest generation and their struggles to win through to victory in the Second World War. Let’s take a quick look at one ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ message that is a bit unusual…

A chill wind blew out of the north on the cold December 7th morning and the townsfolk of Owensville, Indiana woke to find an annoying bit of vandalism had occurred overnight. For on the sidewalk right in front of the grade school some one had painted the phrase, ‘Remember Pearl Harbor!’
Vandalism of this sort did not happen as much back then as it does today and all of the town had soon heard about what had happened and what strange message had been painted on the side walk. Even the local newspaper carried a story about it. Know one ever learned who had painted the message or why and it was soon cleaned off and nearly forgotten about. Nearly.
Why you may ask is this so weird or unusual? Well the answer to that question is a simple one. You see, the message ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ that was painted on the side walk in front of the Owensville, Indiana grade school that was nearly forgotten was nearly forgotten for a very good reason, it made no sense to the folks that December 7th of 1939, but just two short years later on December 7th of 1941 the Japanese attacked Peal Harbor Hawaii and suddenly the towns folk knew exactly what the cryptic message meant! The question is still asked, Who painted it? Who knew two full years ahead of time that we would be attacked at Pearl Harbor? Who?





Was it a time traveler or perhaps some on who could see into the future? If so why only leave the message painted on the sidewalk? All I know for sure is that it is yet another bit of proof that we really do live in a weird world!
I’m Average Joe

mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

Australia’s Mysterious Giant Egg

During the 1930 and Aussie farm boy unearthed a football sized egg that has baffled scientists for years. What’s more, another find of a giant fossilized egg about two hundred kilometers north of Perth, on the Western Australian coast, made news around the world. This second giant egg was found at Christmas 1992 by schoolchildren in sand dunes, about a kilometer inland. It was described as ‘Quite Queer” by the children. Let’s take a closer look…

Researcher’s confirm that the objects are in fact eggs, bird eggs to be more precise. But they say that the eggs are many times bigger than an egg laid by the giant emu, the largest egg the scientists of the Australian continent have ever found. Though the eggs remain a mystery to this day, theories abound. It is most likely that these are eggs from the extinct 'elephant bird', Aepyornis, known to have lived in Madagascar. It was assumed that the eggs had floated thousands of kilometers to their Australian locations. The second finding caused considerable interest because of the surprising suggestion of an egg having survived such a long sea journey.
Most papers at the time did not mention that another such egg had already been found in the 1930s.
This earlier egg was found by a ten–year–old farm boy, Victor Roberts, in sand dunes south of the Scott River (which is about two hundred kilometers south of Perth on the same coastline), about 100 meters from the sea.
At around 28 centimeters (11 inches) long and 22 centimeters (8 inches) wide, with a volume of around eight liters (about two gallons), it was 'much larger than the largest fossil Giant Moa's (an extinct New Zealand bird) egg known'. When he realized how heavy it was, the young finder knocked a hole in it and emptied out the contents, which were like sand. The egg has a very strong shell, about six millimeters (1/4 inch) thick.
The coastal location of this earlier egg, like its successor, is consistent with the idea that it arrived by sea, as is the fact that no elephant bird bones have been properly documented in Australia.
What is exceedingly curious, however, is the report in a 1968 Western Australian newspaper in which the finder of the egg (who had become a respected cattleman and councilor for the Augusta–Margaret River shire) describes how he clearly recalls something else in the sand dunes close to the egg. Victor said, 'There was at least part of a skeleton just a short distance away. I distinctly remember that there was a very large skull with a beak on it.'
By then 46 years old, Mr. Roberts said that he could still locate the approximate site, but that searching for the skeleton of what he said 'for sure' was a huge beaked skull and bones would be a massive task, as the dunes shifted continually under the influence of the wind. He had looked for it again from time to time after a storm, in the remote hope that it would be uncovered again.
Did elephant birds once live in Australia? We may never know for sure. In recounting this information, I am not necessarily disputing the alternative 'floating egg' interpretation (which might give a clue concerning some types of flightless bird migration post-Flood). However, there is further intriguing evidence that elephant birds may have once lived here.
In the article, Victor Roberts is quoted as saying, 'As a young lad growing up in the Scott River area ... I often heard the Aboriginal legends about when the birds were as high as the hills.' Early explorers to Madagascar also heard tales of giant birds, which they thought were myths until fossils of elephant birds were found, which showed not only that such creatures had existed, but that this was in recent human memory.
Fossilization needs special conditions. Creatures can live in an area for years without leaving fossils. For example, there are no known lion fossils in Palestine/Israel but there is well–documented evidence that they once lived there.

The hypothesis that elephant birds were living during the time of aboriginal occupation of the Western Australian coast explains three items of evidence: The regional stories themselves, the two eggs found (without having to postulate that they each made the same vast ocean journey), and the eyewitness report of a large–beaked skeleton next to one of these eggs. However, accepting all this would mean rejecting some popular, evolution–based ideas, such as the huge ages usually assigned to these eggs—up to a million years. Just more proof that we live in a weird but wonderful world.

I’m Average Joe

mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

The Final Voyage of John Paul Jones

We in the United States of America have a short history, at least by European standards, but it is a proud history, full of men and women who accomplished great deeds, and great leaders, and great minds, and great war heroes and traitors. One great war hero was John Paul Jones, a father of the United States Navy. Bringing him home to be laid to rest led to one of the strangest mining excavations ever undertaken. Let’s take a closer look…

John Paul was born in Scotland on the 6th of July 1747. Apprenticed to a merchant at age 13, he went to sea in the brig Friendship to learn the art of seamanship. At 21, he received his first command, a brig simply called John.
After several successful years as a merchant captain in the West Indies, John Paul encountered trouble, and fighting a mutinous crew, John Paul shot and killed a sailor. When the boat reached the port of Tobago, the British authorities arrested him. Knowing he faced almost certain death he picked the lock on his prison door and fled. He emigrated to the British colonies in North America. There he met a family who befriended him and he soon added their last name "Jones" to his name. His new name was destined to become so much beloved by his new countrymen that in the twentieth century the United States government would lunch one of the strangest mining expeditions ever conceived.
At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Jones was in Virginia. He cast his lot with the rebels, and on 7 December 1775, he was commissioned first lieutenant in the Continental Navy, serving aboard Esek Hopkins' flagship Alfred.
As First Lieutenant in Alfred, he was the first to hoist the Grand Union flag on a Continental warship. On the 1st of November 1777, he commanded the Ranger, sailing for France. Sailing into Quiberon Bay, France, on the 14th of February 1778, Jones and Admiral La Motte Piquet changed gun salutes — the first time that the Stars and Stripes, the flag of the new nation, was officially recognized by a foreign government.
Early in 1779, the French King gave Jones an ancient East Indiaman Duc de Duras, which Jones refitted, repaired, and renamed Bon Homme Richard as a compliment to his patron Benjamin Franklin. Commanding four other ships and two French privateers, he sailed on the 14th of August 1779 to raid English shipping.
In September of 1779, his ship engaged the HMS Serapis in the North Sea off Famborough Head, England. Richard was blasted in the initial broadside the two ships exchanged, losing much of her firepower and many of her gunners. Captain Richard Pearson, commanding Serapis, called out to Jones, asking if he surrendered. Jones' reply: "I have not yet begun to fight!"
It was a bloody battle with the two ships literally locked in combat. Sharpshooter Marines and seamen in Richard's tops raked Serapis with gunfire, clearing the weather decks. Jones and his crew tenaciously fought on, even though their ship was sinking beneath them. Finally, Capt. Pearson tore down his colors and the Serapis surrendered.
Bon Homme Richard sunk the next day and Jones was forced to transfer his flag and crew to the Serapis.
After the American Revolution, Jones served as a Rear Admiral in the service of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, but returned to Paris in 1790 as a representative of the United States. He died in Paris at the age of 45 on the 18th of July 1792. He was buried in St. Louis Cemetery, which belonged to the French royal family. Four years later, France's revolutionary government sold the property and the cemetery was soon forgotten.
In 1845, Col. John H. Sherburne began a campaign to return Jones' remains to the United States. He wrote Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft and requested the body be brought home aboard a ship of the Mediterranean Squadron. Six years later, preliminary arrangements were made, but the plans fell through when several of Jones' Scottish relatives objected. Had they not, another problem would have arisen. Jones was in an unmarked grave and no one knew exactly where that was. The question was how to first find the body and then how to get it back to the US.
American Ambassador Horace Porter began a systematic search for the missing American hero in 1899.
The burial place was located but another problem arose, fore you see, it seemed that the cemetery where Jones was buried had been abandoned and was now covered with factories, businesses and hospitals. Finally, a researcher discovered old archives that showed just where the body should be.
But how could it be reached?
As it turns out the only solution was to use miners to tunnel to the spot where the grave had been located! The miners dug their shaft to the spot where they though the Hero would be, they opened the end of their shaft into a small chamber and began their search. After a bit of additional digging they came across a lead casket inscribed with the letters J.P.J.
When the coffin lid was cut away, witnesses noted that the body had been so well preserved that it still resembled portraits of the war hero.
With Jones' body finally discovered, President Theodore Roosevelt in April of 1905, sent four cruisers to bring it back to the U.S., and John Paul Jones’ final voyage had begun. The four cruisers were escorted up the Chesapeake Bay by seven battleships, thus Jones was returned to the United States by the very same fleet he had helped to father over a hundred years earlier.
On the 26th of January 1913, the remains of John Paul Jones were laid to rest in the crypt of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Md. with full military honors. Today, a Marine honor guard stands duty whenever the crypt is open to the public. Public visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, there are always visitors paying their respect the this heroic father of the American Navy.

A terrific hero, one of the fathers of our nation and a really weird mining excavation! See you net time.

I’m Average Joe
mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

Edith Webster’s Final Curtain Call

People die everyday, some die in more dramatic ways than others, one of those is the subject of this instalment...

November 10th 1986, 60-year-old veteran stage actress Edith Webster gave her final performance in the off-Broadway play The Drunkard. She had played the same role for the entire eight year run of the show. Her role was that of an elderly grandmother, she received very good reviews for her performance. The script directions called for her to sing the song "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" and then to collapse to the floor.
In her final performance everything had gone very well and just as she finished perhaps her best rendition ever of "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" she collapsed to the floor just as she had countless other times. The audience came to its feet and applauded as the actress lie there motionless. As the raucous applauds continued Edith Webster ACTUALLY DIED! The audience thinking it was all just a part of the play continued to clap, at first even drowning out the cries for a doctor for other performers and production people. It took some time before they realized that the death was not an act but was in fact a real death. The applause stopped and most of those in attendance joined in prayer.

What a truly weird death. Edith was taken to a nearby hospital and was here pronounced dead. Just think about it, this actress collapsed on stage for her scripted death scene and suffered an unscripted fatal heart attack. What a weird world we inhabit.

I’m Average Joe

mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

Weird, Weird Rain Falls All Over The World

Heads up! There are all kinds of strange stuff falling from the sky: frogs, sardines, jellyfish, alligators and maybe - just maybe - cows! Here are some documented cases of really weird precipitation. Let’s take a closer look…

As I sit writing this week's feature and glance out my window, it's pouring rain outside. Many would say that it is raining cats and dogs. Not literally, of course. But that's not to say that at times in many areas around the world that it hasn't rained things just as strange as felines and canines. Sometimes, things even stranger have fallen from the sky.
Weird rain is one of the more bizarre - and still largely unexplained - phenomena that are periodically (yet continually) reported from all corners of the globe. There have been accounts of frog rain, fish rain, squid rain, worm rain, even alligator rain. The logical explanation for the odd occurrences is that a tornado or strong whirlwind picked up the animals from a shallow body of water and carried them - sometimes for hundreds of miles - before dropping them on a bewildered populace. This explanation has yet to be proved, and it can't quite account for all of the documented incidents, as you'll see below.
Here are some of the more unusual cases - a small sampling from thousands of reports over the years - that defy all rational explanation.

Frogs, Fish, Flesh, Blood & More

• In 1873, Scientific American reported that Kansas City, Missouri was blanketed with frogs that dropped from the sky during a storm.
• Minneapolis, Minnesota was pelted with frogs and toads in July, 1901. A news item stated: "When the storm was at its highest... there appeared as if descending directly from the sky a huge green mass. Then followed a peculiar patter, unlike that of rain or hail. When the storm abated the people found, three inches deep and covering an area of more than four blocks, a collection of a most striking variety of frogs... so thick in some places [that] travel was impossible."
• The citizens of Naphlion, a city in southern Greece, were surprised one morning in May, 1981, when they awoke to find small green frogs falling from the sky. Weighing just a few ounces each, the frogs landed in trees and plopped into the streets. The Greek Meteorological Institute surmised they were picked up by a strong wind. It must have been a very strong wind. The species of frog was native to North Africa!
• In 1995, reports Fortean Times Online, Nellie Straw of Sheffield, England, was driving through Scotland on holiday with her family when they encountered a severe storm. Along with the heavy rain, however, hundreds of frogs suddenly pelted her car.
• A powerful whirlwind might explain a rain of small fish, but it cannot account for the ones that fell on a village in India. As many as 10 people reported picking up fish that weighed as much as eight pounds that had come crashing down on them.
• In February, 1861, folks in many areas of Singapore reported a rain of fish following an earthquake. How could the two possibly correlate?
• Golfers dread gathering clouds and a rain that might ruin their game. But imagine the consternation of several duffers in Bournemouth, England, in 1948 who received a shower of herring.
• Priests often pray for blessings from above... but fish? In 1966, Father Leonard Bourne was dashing through a downpour across a courtyard in North Sydney, Australia, when a large fish fell from the sky and landed on his shoulder. The priest nearly caught it as it slid down his chest, but it squirmed away, fell to the flooded ground and swam away.
• These things don't always happen in a heavy rain. In 1989, in Ipswich, Australia, Harold and Degen's front lawn was covered with about 800 "sardines" that rained from above during a light shower.
• This report is most unusual: In an otherwise clear sky in Chilatchee, Alabama in 1956, a woman and her husband watched as a small dark cloud formed in the sky. When it was overhead, the cloud released its contents: rain, catfish, bass and bream - all of the fish alive. The dark cloud had turned to white, then dispersed.
• In 1890, Popular Science News reported that blood rained down on Messignadi, Calabria in Italy - bird's blood. It was speculated that the birds were somehow torn part by violent winds, although there were no such winds at the time. And no other parts of the bird came down - just blood.
• J. Hudson's farm in Los Nietos Township, California endured a rain of flesh and blood for three minutes in 1869. The grisly fall covered several acres.
• The American Journal of Science confirmed a shower of blood, fat and muscle tissue that fell on a tobacco farm near Lebanon, Tennessee in August, 1841. Field workers, who actually experienced this weird shower, said they heard a rattling noise and saw "drops of blood, as they supposed...fell from a red cloud which was flying over."
• In 1881, a thunderstorm in Worcester, England, brought down tons of periwinkles and hermit crabs.
• In November, 1996, a town in southern Tasmania was slimed! Several residents woke up on a Sunday morning after a night of violent thunderstorms to find a strange, white-clear jelly-like substance on their property. Apparently, it had rained jellyfish.
• A Korean fisherman, trolling off the coast of the Falkland Islands, was knocked unconscious by a single frozen squid that fell from the sky and smacked him on the head.
• In July, 2001, a red rain fell on Kerala, India. At first it was thought that a meteor was responsible for the strange-colored rain, but an analysis showed that the water was filled with fungal spores. Still, where did all of those red spores come from to be rained down in such concentration?
• From about 1982 to 1986, kernels of corn have rained down on several houses in Evans, Colorado - tons of it, according to Gary Bryan, one of the residents. Oddly, there were no cornfields in the area that might account for the phenomenon.
• In August, 2001, the Wichita, Kansas area experienced an unexplained rain of corn husks. The news report stated that "thousands of dried corn leaves fell over east Wichita - from about Central Avenue to 37th Street North, along Woodlawn Boulevard and on east - each about 20 to 30 inches long."
• In 1877, several one-foot-long alligators fell on J. L. Smith's farm in South Carolina. They landed, unharmed, and started crawling around, reported The New York Times.
• Raining animals and such were first described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century and ever since caused astonishment and perplexity. Before the advent of modern science, supernatural explanations, from God to extraterrestrial entities, were invoked to explain the phenomenon.

The scientific explanation involves a combination of geographic circumstance and meteorological chance. During a storm, wind may sweep the earth's surface at great speed, creating whirlwinds or even small tornadoes that can catch debris on the surface. The rain of water-born animals such as amphibians or fishes is explained with the passage of such whirlwinds over lakes or rivers; land animals are captured directly from the surface and birds can be taken while in flight. Once trapped in the winds, the animals can travel over long distances or can be transported to the higher parts of the stratosphere before being dropped in the form of rain, often hundreds of miles away.
And finally, perhaps the most bizarre report is one that, unfortunately, cannot be confirmed. It may be just the stuff of urban legend, but it is so weird and so amusing that I just had to include it.
Sometime around May of 1990, a Japanese fishing boat was sunk in the Sea of Okhotsk off the eastern coast of Siberia by a falling cow. When the crew of the wrecked ship were fished from the water, they told authorities that they had seen several cows falling from the sky, and that one of them crashed straight through the deck and the hull. At first, as the story goes, the fishermen were arrested for trying to perpetrate an insurance fraud, but were released when their story was verified. It seems that a Russian transport plane carrying stolen cattle was flying overhead. When the movement of the herd within the plane threw it off balance, the plane's crew, to avoid crashing, opened the loading bay at the tail of the aircraft and drove them out to fall into the water below. True story or hoax? One investigation traced the story back to a Russian television comedy series.

Personally, I think the story is the most preposterous.... Wait a minute... I think I just saw something large and black and white fall past my window. Is that mooing I hear?

I’m Average Joe
mailto:OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

The Mysterious Booms Heard the World Over.

Mysterious booms are a phenomena hat is reported world wide. Know one seems to know why it happens it just does. Lets take a closer look at some examples…

For our first example lets look at an event that took place just a few short years ago. It was a dark and cloudy night in July of 2001; four young missionaries camped along the Ganges River in India. Suddenly they were awakened by a loud Boom. It was followed in rapid succession by three more booms. They group thought that they were under fire and scurried off to look for help. They soon learned that they were being shot at but that the noises they had heard were that of the mysterious Barisal Guns of the Ganges, a phenomenon of unexplained booms believed to have been first reported from India in 1871 when G. Scott, an Englishman, wrote in the science journal Nature of noises he then called The Barisal Guns. These bangs and booms he reported were heard at the mouth of the Ganges. They were described as 'dull, muffled booms as if of distant cannon.' The Barisal Guns are still reported to be heard form about May until October, usually in connection with a heavy rainfall.
In Rajkot India, which has been troubled by earthquakes for years, residents have recently reported hearing and feeling an increasing number of unexplained booms. These evidently sound like “dynamite being set off” and are strong enough to rattle windows and doors and even demolish buildings. Mining, terrorism and aircraft have all been ruled out as possible causes.
In another instance a mysterious boom rocked the area of Humberside, England in May 1977. The first and loudest boom, which was heard as far off as Brough, Cottingham and Beverley, (some 50 miles away)occurred at around 11.33 PM on Thursday May, 18 and was reported to have rattled windows. Following this initial explosion, two or three lesser booms were heard. As result, local police stations were inundated with emergency calls from concerned residents. The explosions apparently sounded the loudest in the East Hull proximity.In an effort to try and deal with the mystery booms, Humberside police set up headquarters in Hull's Queen Gardens. From here they checked all possible sources of explosions such as nearby gas installations and explosive stores.Asked for his opinion on the mystery booms, an RAF spokesperson said that there was always plenty of aircraft activity over the area by such groups as NATO. It should be noted that this same RAF spokesperson stated that 'Supersonic flight lanes are over the sea, not inland, but research has proved that a sonic boom can travel horizontally for up to 100 miles. It is possible that this is what happened and that the bangs came in from seaward,' he said. Two Bransholme housewives seem to have thought differently, however. They reported seeing a strange object in the sky shortly after the explosions were heard. The two women said they witnessed an object like a classic spaceship and were scared by what they saw.
In yet another occurrence, two men heard explosions like rifle shots. It was December 10, 1899, in Staffordshire, England, near a cave thought to be haunted called Old Hannah's Cave.
"Realizing that no one was shooting, they looked up the cliff and witnessed an explosion which emitted a flash from a hole or fissure in the upper part of the cliff. This had a bluish column 'not of steam or fire or smoke, but apparently of aqueous vapor,' which traveled with immense force across the valley (approximately 12 m wide). Within minutes another discharge from higher up the cliff and then 'several ones with crackling sounds producing semi-transparent wavy streaks in the air.' Next followed a very loud explosion which 'we had the good fortune to see plainly.' Wardle describes this as 'like a gun but with crackling, a series of continuous reports, cleaving the air in a zigzag or river-like course in a narrow band about 15 cm to 20 cm broad, of bluish color."
Several other reliable descriptions exist of detonations and flame-like discharges around old Hannah's Cave. The supposition is that natural gases liberated by decaying organic material and, perhaps, geochemical reactions are ignited by static electricity. A recent landslip seems to have extinguished this curious phenomenon.

The truth is that noises often scare us and when we can not explain wher the noise comes from it becomes even more scary. As far as the Mystery Booms are concerned, even though many scientists have offered any number of reasons for the various Mystery Booms know one really knows why they occur, it is just more proof that we live in a truly weird would! See you next time for more fun.

I’m Average Joe

email: OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

Angels - What I think about these creatures of Heaven

Many people in the world believe in angels, others do not. Whether you believe or not, the truth is that angles are all around us. I know that Angles are real and are active in our lives from personal experience. So let’s take a closer look at these other creatures of God…

Angels fight for our souls. They war against the powers of darkness. In his book Angels written by Billy Graham, the author points out that there are three main points one needs to know about angles. First off, angels are real, secondly, angels are active in the gospel and thirdly, angels are active in our lives today.
On the first point in his Billy Graham states that angels are real. Angels are nearer to you, if you are a believer, than you may think. Very few would argue that Demonic activity is increasing in our world very rapidly. God’s angels are around us now more than ever in this time of need. Even god himself said in his word that he has given his angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. On their hands they will bear you lest you dash your foot against a stone.
On the second point in his book Billy Graham states that is angels were active in the gospel. In fact, Angels are found all through the bible. Whether they are delivering messages or fighting wars, they are there. After all it was an angel who told Mary she would conceive Jesus. It was also an angel who held a flaming sword across a path, and made a donkey talk. Angels are mentioned throughout the bible. So unless you think Gods word is a lie, Angels are real.
Angels are active in our lives today is the third point Billy Graham covers in his book Angels. There are many stories of angels appearing to people in our society. And there are many things that seem impossible that happen. Some people say it was angels some don't. Angels are relevant in our lives today even if you think they aren’t. God “put a hedge about me” this hedge is angels. God put them around us because they are Gods ‘secret agents’. Angels are real and God says it in his word. They are used as his messengers or as his warriors. Whatever they are used for they are sent by god. God said he would put his angels about us. He has been faithful with this promise, so angels are around us every day.

Finally I know that Angles are real because I was visited by an angelic visitor several years ago when I was suffering from a head injury. I had been having seizures and such for months and then one night I was visited and was told that God had answered my prayers and that I was healed. I have been seizure-free since that night. It is indeed a weird and wonderful world in which we walk!

I’m Average Joe

email: OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

One of our Air Crews has gone missing!

July 1924, the middle eastern desert. Hot as hell and both the temperature and the guns of war were rising. In the area then known as Mesopotamia the Arabs were fighting and the British having just finished the carnage that was WWI were trying to keep a handle on the situation and hold their empire together. On the 24^th of the month Flight Lieutenant W.T. Day and Pilot Officer D. R. Stewart took off in a single engine plane for a routine four hour long patrol and recon flight over the area. The men were never seen again, let's take a closer look...

The flilght departed normally enough but when the four hours past and the flight failed to return. After several more hours had passed without a word from the air crew a search party was organized and sent out after them. Early the next day their plane was found, in perfect condition, sitting on the desert floor. The plane had not been shot down as there were no signs of that, and it was even discovered that there was still gas in the tank! In fact the search party had a Pilot Officer brought to the craft and he was able to crank it over and fly it back to the base. But where was the air crew? Where were Stewart and Day? And why did they land in an area of nothing but barren desert?
While looking for clues the investigators found only an abandoned canteen (half full of water) and they also noted that they had found boot marks in the sand, footprints showing where the two missing men had dismounted the aircraft and had begun to walk away. The footprints headed off away from both the plane and the home base for about 250 feet – then they just vanished.

Half a dozen patrols of desert tribesmen, soldiers in armored trucks, and search plans could not turn up a trace of the pilots, who seemed to have just walked off the face of the planet. In War men are lost and their ware bouts are often never known but this particular disappearance is more proof that we live in a very weird world, enjoy it!

I’m Average Joe

email: OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com

The Cannibals of Rhode Island

Roger Williams came to the American colonies in 1630. Due to his strong belief in religious freedom, he soon got in trouble with the authorities of the Massachusetts Colony and was thrown out. Although this created some hardship for Williams it was just the first step on the road to his true destiny which was to become the beloved, outspoken leader of the colony of Rhode Island by founding town of Providence. While many history books tell the story of Williams and his life not many ever mention the most fascinating aspect of his life, which was what happened to him after he died! Last take a closer look…

It all started in 1683, when he died and was laid to rest, beside his wife Mary Salyes, on their farm. A simple headstone marked the graves, and several years afterwards, local townsfolk decided to erect a memorial worthy of the deeds Williams had accomplished.

A commission was appointed to unearth the bodies of Williams and his wife so that they could be moved to the site of the memorial and given a more proper burial. As commission members and townsfolk watched the disinterment they stood by eating apples from a tree on the farm. An apple tree, interestingly enough, that was very well known for producing the most delicious tasting apples in the area. The men hired by the commission began to dig up the area of the headstone and found to all of their surprise that there was just one problem; every trace of the Williams’ bodies had disappeared.

Although it took quite a while to figure out who had robbed the graves, the thief was finally caught, sort of. It was found that the culprit was in fact the very same Apple tree that was so well known for its ‘tasty’ fruit and from which everyone in the area would eat.

It seems that the tree’s roots had grown through the coffins that contained the Williams’ remains and penetrated the areas where the couple’s chest cavities once lay. Eventually it had completely absorbed both of the bodies. Curiously, the spreading and branching root system, which were preserved an moved to he Rhode Island Historical Society, had taken on the resemblance to the unique circulatory system of a human body!

So who are the Cannibals of Rhode Island? Well just think about it, it soon became obvious that all who had chomped down on the tree’s delicious red apples had inadvertently eaten one of America’s most famous colonial figures and his wife! What a truly weird would we do inhabit! Join me next time.

I’m Average Joe

Lost at the Top of the World - The First to Climb Mount Everest?

"The question remains, 'Has Mount Everest been climbed?' It must be left unanswered, for there is no direct evidence. But bearing in mind all the circumstances I have set out.... considering their position when last seen, I think myself there is a strong probability that Mallory and Irvine succeeded." ---> Noel Odell, in The Fight for Everest 1924

The question is often asked, “Were Mallory and Irvine the first to reach the summit of Everest? I do not have the answer to that question. But what I do know is that the mystery that surrounds their disappearance is something we really should take a much closer look at…

By the mid 1920s the farthest corners of the Earth had already been explored: the North and South Poles had been reached, the sources of the world's major rivers had been discovered. All that remained to be claimed was the "Third Pole," the summit of the highest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest. In 1924 a British expedition was poised to make that claim. At the time of their first Everest attempt, in 1921, no climber had ventured above 24,600 feet. It was unclear whether climbers could go higher and still survive, and whether supplemental oxygen would help. Each step higher on Everest was new territory, the physiological unknown, and in June of 1924, two climbers were in position at their high camp on the mountain, ready to make a bid for the summit.
Thirty-eight year old George Leigh Mallory had been on the two previous British expeditions to Everest in the 1920s. He was celebrated as one of Britain's ablest rock climbers, and he had proven himself as a strong high-altitude climber on the Everest expeditions of 1921 and 1922. Andrew "Sandy" Irvine, only 22 at the time, had no Himalayan or high-altitude climbing experience. But he was adept at repairing the controversial oxygen apparatus used by the British climbers at high elevations. The local Tibetans and Sherpas laughed at the strange bottles containing what they referred to as "English Air."

On earlier attempts, Mallory had felt instinctively that to use oxygen bottles to assist breathing in the thin air was somehow unsporting. On this third expedition, Mallory was coming around to the idea that without such artificial aid, Everest would never be climbed. And to Mallory, Irvine would be his ticket to success at the summit of Everest, for Irvine could take apart and rebuild the unreliable rigs that were used in their day. Irvine had fabricated an apparatus he called "Mark V." Even though he had succeeded in removing five pounds from the regularly issued version, his revised oxygen rig still weighed about 30 pounds. Moreover, the oxygen tanks were notoriously unreliable, and 38 of them that year were found to have leaks.

After two attempts without using supplemental oxygen had failed to take the expedition higher than around 28,125 feet, Mallory decided on one more all-out assault using the controversial gas. On the morning of June 6, having breakfasted on a fry of canned sardines, George Mallory and young Sandy Irvine set off from the top of the North Col at 23,100 feet, hoping to reach the summit three days later. They passed Howard Somervell, who loaned his camera to Mallory. Somervell was said not to be surprised that Mallory had forgotten to pack his own camera, as Mallory was notoriously forgetful.

Mallory and Irvine were last spotted, through mist, in the early afternoon of June 8 by geologist Noel Odell, who was following behind in support of their attempt to best the mountain. Odell saw two black figures - no more than dots in the far distance - approach and climb a rock step, called the Second Step, on the mountain's skyline, "nearing the base of the summit pyramid." To Odell, they seemed to be going strong and, although lower than he expected, he felt sure they should make it to the summit. Then clouds swirled in once more and Odell's tantalizing vision was lost forever.

Shortly afterwards a sudden snow squall plastered the upper slopes with a thin layer of new snow. Upon arriving at the high camp, Odell noticed hardware from the oxygen apparatus strewn inside Mallory and Irvine's tent. It seems Irvine was hard at work, making final adjustments to their oxygen canisters before their departure for the summit. Could this have resulted in their leaving too late for their summit bid? Odell retreated to the North Col but kept watch all night for signs of life above him. There were none, and when two days later Odell began the long climb back up to Mallory and Irvine's last camp, it was with no great hope of finding his comrades. No one had been back to the tent. The expedition had to accept that Mallory and Irvine were lost.

A few conflicting clues were found by later climbers:

1. In 1933, an ice axe was found on the route at 27,750 feet. It had three nick marks on it which was the characteristic mark Irvine was known to have put on some of his belongings.
2. Mallory's route was eventually completed by a Chinese expedition in 1960, but although hundreds of climbers have been to the North Face and Northeast Ridge of Everest in recent years, it is still not known whether Mallory and Irvine could have climbed the Second Step, a rock outcrop, that by today's standards would be a very difficult climb without the aid of fixed ropes, anchors, or a ladder which is used by climbers today. The Chinese climbers in 1960 reportedly had to stand on each other's shoulders with their boots off, resulting in frostbite and the loss of toes.
3. Finally, in 1975 a body was found 750 feet directly below the ice axe by a Chinese climber who reported in his broken English that the climber was an "English dead." When he touched the clothes of the dead climber, the fabric disintegrated in his fingers, indicating that the climber had been there many years. Could this be the body of Irvine, who fell from the spot where his ice axe was found? Lying at 27,000 feet, this last piece of evidence has brought many a team of mountaineers to Everest to climb to the site where the body was reportedly found.
   

To this day no one knows what happened to George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. Nor do we know if they trod the summit snows almost thirty years ahead of Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, but their names live on in Everest legend. For example, when remains of Mallory's camp were found in the thirties, a working torch was among the debris, which also included emergency flares. Had Mallory's forgetfulness left him without the means to signal to his comrades below that he and Irvine were struggling for their lives high on the mountain? Sommervell's camera, loaned to Mallory, still lies high on Everest's slopes. If found, the images inside may reveal whether they made it to the summit or died in their valiant attempt to be the first to stand on top of the world. This whole story is an intriguing mystery and yet another look at this weird world of ours.

I’m Average Joe

The Mysterious Lake Vostok

What lurks beneath the dark depths of the Antarctic ice? That almost sounds like the opening line in a bad SiFi story. The thing is it really is a question that scientists are asking about a strange fresh water lake found below the ice in the Antarctic. Let’s take a closer look…

In 1957 the Russians established a remote base in Antarctica - the Vostok station. It soon became a byword for hardship - dependent on an epic annual 625 mile tractor journey from the coast for its supplies. The coldest temperature ever found on Earth over 128°F below zero or -89°C was recorded here on the 21st July 1983. It’s an unlikely setting for a lake of liquid water. But in the 1970’s a British team used airborne radar to see beneath the ice, mapping the mountainous land buried by the Antarctic ice sheet. Flying near the Vostok base their radar trace suddenly went flat. They guessed that the flat trace could only be from water. It was the first evidence that the ice could be hiding a great secret.

But 20 years passed before their suspicions were confirmed, when satellites finally revealed that there was an enormous lake under the Vostok base. At just over 6213 square miles it is one of the largest lakes in the world and is about the size of Lake Ontario, but about twice as deep (about 550 yards in some places). The theory was that it could only exist because the ice acts like a giant insulating blanket, trapping enough of the earth’s heat to melt the very bottom of the ice sheet.

Biologists believe that because the lake has been cut off from the rest of the planet for 15 million years or more - well before the human race evolved - microbial life in the lake could have quietly been evolving into strange and unique forms. It’s a uniquely hostile environment for life - permanently low temperatures, hundreds of atmospheres of pressure, and no light for photosynthesis. In fact, as NASA has realized, the conditions directly replicate those found on Europa - the icy moon of Jupiter. So finding microbial life in Lake Vostok has a greater significance, but what are the odds of finding life in a cold, dark world?

Who knows but a few years ago, researchers found something that sent shivers through the scientific community: a diverse community of microbial life-forms that live without sunlight or a ready supply of nutrients.

The scientists were not searching deep space when they made their find. Rather, they were sampling the bottom of a 2.5-mile-thick Antarctic ice sheet.

The frozen mass covers Lake Vostok, a liquid freshwater lake that is underground and not at all frozen! Scientists demonstrated that the bottom layer of the ice sheet, the same one that contained the microbial life-forms, was composed of accreted, or frozen, lake water.

This, in turn, led scientists to suggest that a large, diverse community of microbes lived in the lake itself. If true, the theory would answer questions about the limits of life on Earth and expand the range of environments that might potentially host life-forms in space.

Two independent research teams announced the initial discovery of the Antarctic ice sheet microbes in the December 10, 1999, issue of the journal Science.

One study was led by John Priscu, an ecologist with the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University in Bozeman. The other by David Karl, a microbial biologist with the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Since then the research teams and others have further analyzed the microbes. They've sought to describe the microbes' diversity and to determine whether or not the microbes might actually be contaminants introduced to ice-core samples by the instruments used to gather and study them.

According to Priscu, new data gathered by his team shows that the microbes have diverse physiologies. The data also suggest that Lake Vostok hosts the life-forms in high abundance, he said.

"I believe there are about 10,000 [microbial] cells per milliliter [0.2 teaspoon] in Lake Vostok surface water, which is about a hundred times lower than that typical in the open ocean," Priscu said.

Karl's team has also conducted further analysis and found that a viable microbe population lives in the Antarctic lake buried under miles of ice. Although Karl noted that "the biomass may be very low."

Other scientists, however, have disputed the initial findings of both research teams, suggesting that it was the instruments used to retrieve and study the ice core samples that were contaminated with microbes—not the bottom layer of the ice sheet.

Punching the through 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of ice covering Lake Vostok to sample the lake water should resolve that scientific dispute.

The international scientific community is eager to do so, but nations disagree on how to proceed. U.S. and European scientists favor cautious approaches and are searching for funding.

Martin Siegert, a glaciologist in the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, heads a proposal to sample waters from Lake Ellsworth, a smaller subglacial lake in the western Antarctic, before venturing into Lake Vostok.

Siegert said that developing the appropriate Lake Vostok exploration program will cost several tens of millions of dollars (U.S.). By contrast, Lake Ellsworth, which is smaller and the ice above it warmer, can be sampled for about four million dollars (U.S.), she said.

"We can go into this lake, undertake an analysis of the water, and prove once and for all whether the water and sediments are truly the fascinating environment we think they are," Siegert said. "Once done, we can upscale the next mission, eventually going to Vostok."

U.S. scientists also have several plans to systematically explore the subglacial Antarctic lakes. Priscu noted, however, that securing funds for these programs has proved difficult.

Meanwhile, a team of Russian scientists recently announced plans to drill into Lake Vostok in the Antarctic 2006-2007 summer season.

"I applaud the Russian program for moving ahead with bold plans, but I would have rather seen it be an international effort with stronger environmental, education, and science programs, all of which are in the spirit of Antarctic research," Priscu said.

So what do I think? I think that Lake Vostok and all the mysteries it holds is just more proof that we truly do walk in a weird and wonderful world. Check back again next time as we take a look into more mysteries that lay below the icy depths.

I’m Average Joe

The Sea Monster of the Chesapeake

For nearly twenty years, newspapers of Maryland and Virginia have been documenting reports of a huge, snake-like animal allegedly seen in the Chesapeake. The mysterious beast, nicknamed "Chessie" by locals, has been described as serpentine, about twenty-five to forty feet in length, eight to ten inches in diameter, and possessing an elliptical or football-shaped head. Reportedly, the creature is a uniformly dark color, having no fins or bodily appendages.
Let's take a closer look...

So what is Chessie? Some believe it is a prehistoric creature, however, this is unlikely. If it were a prehistoric reptilian creature, the Bay would not be an ideal habitat. The Chesapeake is very shallow and cold, in fact, in winter it can freeze over in places. A cold blooded prehistoric animal would not be able to survive.

Others have leaned towards the idea that Chessie isn't an unknown animal at all. In 1994, a manatee was captured and tagged in the Chesapeake Bay. It was taken back to its native Florida home and released. The following year the manatee swam into the Bay again. In fact, it swam clear up to Rhode Island before turning and heading south again. Year after year this same manatee makes his journey. Could it be Chessie the monster and Chessie the manatee (as it has been named) are one in the same? I find that scenario as unlikely as the prehistoric animal theory.

For several years reported sightings of the alleged animal remained unsubstantiated until May 31, 1982. On that date around 7:30 PM, Maryland resident Robert Frew videotaped a long, dark, serpent-like creature swimming in the Chesapeake Bay, about 100 feet off the bulkhead of his Kent Island home.
Frew, and his wife, spotted the creature in shallow, clear water about 200 feet from their house. Frey videotaped the monster as it moved towards a group of swimmers. It dove beneath the swimmers and reappeared on the other side of them. The creature the Frew's saw was about 30-35 feet long, 1 foot in diameter, and dark brown with a humped back.

On August 20, 1982, the Frew videotape received an audience with Dr. George Zug and other scientists at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History. After thoroughly examining the tape the scientists, although intrigued by what it apparently depicted, were unable to reach many conclusions about the "animate" object shown. They believed the video tape t show a living animal but as to any other information the Smithsonian could draw no further conclusions. The videotape's quality was simply not good enough to allow such a determination.

As a result of the publicity concerning the Smithsonian's viewing, researchers at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University offered to perform computer image enhancement of the Frew Tape in an effort to extract from it more information about the mystery animal. The computer work initially conducted isolated an impressive, unmistakable, serpentine shape from the surrounding waters. Unfortunately, soon after the enhancement techniques began the internal funding that the Applied Physics Laboratory allowed for the Frew videotape work ran out. Further enhancements on the Frew tape have been suspended pending the availability of some outside source of funding. Since 1983 the videotape has remained in limbo.

Wild hun? No one knows what Chessie is. Nevertheless, compelling detailed reports from credible, reliable witnesses suggest the possibility of an unknown animal. Although the number of Chessie reports varies from year to year, they persist all the same. Chessie is still seen in the Bay. Most sightings occur in May through September most likely because that is when the Bay is overrun with boaters and swimmers. The areas where Chessie has been sighted most often are Love Point at Kent Island, the mouth of the Potomac, and the eastern Bay. You gotta love a real sea monster story! Just another indication that we live in a really weird world!

I’m Average Joe