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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Unknown object seen on ground in Madera County as strange lights circle overhead

Browsing through the MUFON site a few days ago I noticed that they have an interactive map displaying UFO sightings based on their location. Curious as to if there was anything of interest in the Fresno area besides the typical out of focus man made aircraft that are prolific on YouTube. So you can imagine my school girl-esque excitement (shut up) when I came across a sighting that occurred in October of 2011 near the intersection of Highway 41 and Avenue 12 in Madera County. The sighting not only included multiple strange craft in the air, but some sort of craft was also seen on the ground.

The report states that a mother and her two teenage sons were driving north on Highway 41 in Madera County just north of Fresno on the night of October 5, 2011 at around 10:30 pm. As they neared the intersection of Hwy. 41 and Ave. 12 one of her sons noticed multiple (he estimated around 10) "fuzzy white orbs" flying erratically in the night sky just east of the intersection, zooming in and around the clouds. All three watched the lights for until they stopped at the intersection and made a left turn onto Ave. 12 headed west toward the Madera Ranchos. It seems the boys convinced their mother to turn back around to the intersection to see if they could get a better view of the objects in question.

Upon stopping at the intersection, the mother then made a left turn back onto Hwy. 41 and headed north again. They were still watching the lights in the clouds (I'm assuming the mother was driving half slow and craning her neck to see cause that's how I always do it when I see something strange in the sky) when, just past Ave. 12, they passed a barn on the eastern side of Hwy. 41 and noticed a large triangle shaped object in the fields surrounding the barn. The object was described as being rather large and with its "tip" pointed up. Also there were white blinking lights on each of its vertices.

I'm assuming at this point the three witnesses were spooked by whatever they saw on the ground as the report then states the mother turned the vehicle around and drove home (wherever that may be). I know that stretch of road and there aren't that many spots near Ave. 12 to make a safe u-turn, so whatever they saw scared them enough to make a quick u-turn on a busy highway.

That was it for the report. Nothing was said if there was a follow up interview done, if soil samples were taken near the barn, etc.

To be honest this one is just plain weird. I know that stretch of road, having driven it hundreds of times, and that barn is quite familiar given its high visibility from the highway. The lights in the sky could be debunked as spotlights circling around and reflecting off the clouds, but I'm not sure on that. The report states that the witnesses describe the objects as having a "star like center". If you've ever seen a spotlight you know it looks nothing like that. And what of the strange triangular object that was seen on the ground? I've read dozens if not hundreds of UFO cases over the years and never heard anything similar to that being described. It just seems "odd". That and with the addition of the strange lights seen in the sky it's just hard to say.


To sum it up I'm a bit lost on this one as to whether what the witnesses really saw was something strange or just something regular that was mistaken for something else. I'm hoping that someone else saw something, sees this article, and can elaborate on what was seen. Otherwise we may never know what was seen on that October night.

Link to the original report can be found here. Images courtesy of Google Earth.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

When legend comes to life. My encounter with the ghosts of Adelaida Cemetery.

I've been searching for ghosts, UFOs, monsters, you name it, for over a decade now and everyone always asks me when I was the most scared. Normally I tell them the story of Fidget the Necromancer hitting on my friend Scott (a story I need to put on here one day), but that's just for laughs. The one time I was truly scared shitless was on one of my very first investigations.

A family of tombstones dating from the late 1800's

It was the summer of 2000 and I had formed my first paranormal investigation group with several friends of mine who also shared the same interest in the paranormal as I did. After doing a few local investigations we felt we were ready to do something bigger. I had recently purchased Haunted Places: The National Directory by Dennis Hauck which lists haunted locations by state. After checking out what was near us, I came across a story of a haunted cemetery outside of Paso Robles. It was a small cemetery by the name of Adelaida and it went back to at least the mid 1800's. The story behind the haunting was that sometime during the late 1800's a woman was distraught over the death of her two children after they had succumbed to diphtheria during an outbreak. Finally she couldn't handle the loss anymore and out of desperation (and probably madness) took her own life. But it seems that even in the afterlife she continued to mourn for her children. According to the book she would appear on Friday nights between the hours of 10:00 pm and midnight and leave flowers on her children's grave. Perfect. We had a story and a time and place for us to be. We decided to this would be our next investigation.

A sign hanging from a tree located in the cemetery.


Our researcher called up the cemetery district to dig up more information on the story and to make sure it was ok for us to investigate at night. The cemetery district was more than open to the idea of us investigating (something rare these days) and even gave us the name of the ghost we were looking for, Charlotte Sitton. As Friday approached I was anxious; we had investigated local cemeteries but this was different. This cemetery was in a nationally published book and to me that meant something big (mind you this was before the advent of social networking and Google wasn't the search engine giant it is now). Finally Friday 5:00 hit and I met up with the other three of the group and we headed off to Paso Robles expecting to arrive at the cemetery around 9:30 or so.

The front gate to Adelaida Cemetery.

We arrived at the cemetery's front gate almost exactly at 9:30. I marveled at the location, it was heavily wooded and rather hilly, which is different than the cemeteries here in Fresno. We parked on the road and walked through the pedestrian gate. Our game plan was to find Charlotte's two children's graves (since it was said that she left flowers on their graves) and investigate around that area. As we started to walk around we noticed that most of the graves were from the 1940's to the present. This didn't sync with the story taking place in the late 1800's, but upon further investigation we found the older part of the cemetery up on a hill. As 10:00 approached it was decided the four of us should split up into two groups of two in order to cover ground faster. Myself and my friend Scott would take the portion of the cemetery near the front gate and my other two friend's Tom and Fred would explore the portion up on the hill. If either found the graves we were looking for we would notify the other.

A portion of the cemetery I explored. Note the dense covering of dead leaves on the ground.


As 10:00 approached Scott and I started exploring our section of the cemetery. Most graves were from the 20th Century, but I felt it was best to check every grave just to make sure. I didn't want to skip a portion and then find out later it was what we were looking for. As we started walking around we began to hear crunching noises about twenty feet from us. The ground was heavily littered with dried oak leaves (the trees there nearly formed a canopy over the cemetery) and every time you walked you would make a crunching sound as you crushed the foliage underfoot. What we were hearing sounded exactly like this. Problem was, Scott and I were the only ones there. I looked up at the hill where Tom and Fred were at and I could see their flashlights so I knew it wasn't them. As we walked around the footsteps would follow us, only stopping when I called out to see if anyone was there and then starting back up again when we would continue to walk. If I didn't know any better I'd say we were being followed. And while all of this was going on I happened to look up at the hill and notice both Tom and Fred's flashlights waving around wildly and even heard Tom yell out something (he was too far away for me to be able to make out what he said). Soon after this the foot steps stopped. And then I hear from Tom as he's coming down the hill.

"We found Charlotte's grave."

Excited, both Scott and I run up to meet him and Fred. He shows us the grave and inscribed on the tombstone it read "Charlotte Sitton". I was excited that we had found the grave and noticed that her two children's graves were next to it. As I started taking pictures I asked Tom if he had been down in our area at all to which he replied he hadn't. When asking me why and I mentioned hearing the footsteps, his face went blank for a second. He said that both he and Fred heard the same thing and assumed it was us playing a joke on them at first.

I described to him what happened while we were searching for Charlotte's grave. What's interesting is that he and Fred heard their set of footsteps around the same time as we did. He continued to say that their footsteps were more active and at one point sounded like several persons running around them. Not sure who it was he shined his flashlight around trying to see where they were coming from (this is what I saw when I was down on the lower portion of the cemetery) and started calling out for anyone who was there to show themselves (once again this was what I heard). Here's where the story gets even more interesting. Tom went on to say as he was shining his flashlight around, it passed over Fred and landed on a shadowy figure. That figure, once noticed, began to move and disappeared behind a tombstone. Tom ran over there to see where it went and noticed the name on the marker. Charlotte Sitton.

Charlotte's grave with the four of us standing around it looking like we were bad asses. Oh to be 23 again.

He said after that the activity stopped. And indeed the rest of the night was quiet. We stayed until about 12:30 taking pictures and hoping Charlotte would show back up. But we knew that she had already made herself known and wanted us to find her grave. As we left we thanked her and I said a small prayer as I closed the gate.

I've done over a hundred investigations since that hot summer night back in August of 2000, but it's still fresh in my mind as if it had happened just last night. I was truly terrified by what I was experiencing at the time. Now it might have been due to my lack of any experience, but I've had encounters before. Once at my mom's old house where I saw my first ghost and a cemetery in Madera County where both Tom and I heard what sounded like little girls laughing, despite the fact that we were alone. So why was this different? Was it the footsteps, the shadowy figure? Or maybe it was both those and the story. Here was a story, and a sad one at that, that seemed to have some credence to it as we witnessed what the story is said to occur. I'm convinced it was Charlotte and her children we heard, and she that Tom saw that night. Yes I have no evidence, but that doesn't matter. Turns out that we are now part of the legend.

An abandoned building located on the cemetery grounds.

Our group lasted a few more months and then disbanded, real life having taking a priority. But I kept up on the paranormal, especially as the internet became more and more prevalent. So imagine my surprise one day when I was on a site called Shadowlands.net, which lists haunted locals by state, when I saw one on Adelaida Cemetery. I started reading it and it was the same story as I had read in my book years ago (which I still have btw, though there have been two newer publications since). The listing mentioned the story as I had heard it but with a bit extra added on. It mentioned how a group went there on a Friday night in the summer of 2000, heard mysterious footsteps and encountered Charlotte. Could this be us? I checked a couple of other sites and they said the same thing. Somehow our story got out there and was added to the legend of Charlotte. To me that's better than getting the best piece of evidence.

Sadly the cemetery doesn't allow investigations anymore. When I was with CCPI we had inquired about investigating but was turned down due to the heavy vandalism that occurred there. Seems a lot of thrill seekers wanted to see Charlotte for themselves and ruined it for everybody else. CCPI and I did go there one weekend to help clean up the cemetery and offered to clean the area around Charlotte's grave. The place looked the same as it did almost ten years before, but it broke my heart when I saw Charlotte's grave was broken at the base. To say this was disrespectful is putting it lightly to say the least. Still we cleaned up as best we could, cutting weeds around a good area of the cemetery. I did say hi to Charlotte, though I didn't receive a response. Though I know it wasn't my fault, I did apologize for the vandalism that had occurred. But I did thank her for that night and the story that I get to tell people about the one time I was truly terrified. I like to think she appreciates the fact she isn't really forgotten.

Note: I want to apologize for the poor image quality. The originals were lost years ago and the scans were lost when a hard drive crashed (this was way before the cloud) and all I was able to find were these photos. I did have one of Charlotte's grave, but it was so small that you couldn't make out any detail. 

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Halloween attractions for 2013

I was recently asked what local Halloween events were going on in the Fresno area and I realized that it was time to update my list and figured this was a good time to do it. Some are new since the last time I did this and some are no longer around for whatever reason.

The Grove
Formerly known as Hobbs Grove, this popular haunted spot offers three different trips through the strange and weird. The forest, haunted house, and hayride are great for a good scare. The Grove is open Thursdays through Sundays up till November 2. The Grove is at 14265 E. Goodfellow Ave., Sanger, CA and can be reached at (559) 356-3958 You can find more information at www.hobbsgrove.com

No Surrender Laser Tag is doing a zombie apocalypse. There aren't many details, but you can contact them through their site at nosurrendertag.com

Haunted Fresno, which is located in downtown Fresno at 665 Fulton St, is open from 7 - midnight on Friday and Saturdays and Sundays it's open from 7 - 11. They can be reached at (559) 498-0960 or at hauntedfresno.com

Raisin Hell Ranch, located near Ave. 7 and Hwy 99 is open nightly at 7:00 all the way to Halloween. For ticket prices and directions you can check them out at raisinhellranch.com.

For those with children (and not a fan of getting the shit scared out of you) there's the cornfield maze and pumpkin patch out in Madera off of Hwy. 41. They are open until Halloween and you can either call them at (559) 530-0035 or go to their site at fresnocornmaze.com

Simonian Farms is doing a pumpkin patch and haunted caboose and it's every day from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm up to Halloween. They are also doing hayrides on the weekend from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information call (559) 237-2294 or visit simonianfarms.com

Fresno Chaffee Zoo is doing their annual Zoo Boo this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 26-27). For non-members it's $10-$12, members $8-$10, and children younger than 1 are free. The zoo can be reached at (559) 498-5910 or go to www.fresnochaffeezoo.org.

For more of an adult themed party, The Naughty Angels are doing their 5th annual Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 25 and the theme this year is Wizard of Oz. There will be three bands playing as well as a fashion show by the Angels. It's at Audie's Olympic and doors open at 9:00 pm and tickets are $5.

This is only a small sample of what's going on over Halloween weekend. Schools and churches will be doing their thing (I wonder if the churches would appreciate me linking to them? :D). If I missed anyting please comment and I will add it to the list. And for the love of God people, stop saying there is nothing to do in Fresno. Because there is.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Summer 2013 UFO reports for the San Joaquin Valley

Summer is always a slow time for Weird Fresno (I don't know who hates the heat more, me or the ghosts) and I've been working on a few things but thought I'd post some recent UFO reports from the National UFO Reporting Center as it has been a while. One thing I want to note is that the two sightings from Merced, which read similar, sound like they were reports of the Google Project Loon, where they were testing high altitude balloons to deliver high speed internet to areas that do not have it. I know for a fact that they were testing in the valley recently and one UFO sighting that made the news turned out to be Project Loon. Still that being said, that can't be the reason for all these sightings. Please note that these reports are posted as they were reported on the NUFORC site, I haven't edited them in any way.



Occurred : 8/23/2013 20:30
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:2 minutes

Two lights of differnt size and brightness traveled in differnt directions and faded out.

Low in the eastern sky I observed a bright light as bright as Jupiter would be.

Suddenly out of this light came a very small light traveling at a high rate of speed toward the north.

As the small light went away it slowly dimmed out.

At that time I noticed something strange about the big bright light. It looked like it was falling straight down, then suddenly it began to dim and after about 10 seconds it was gone.

Link.



Occurred : 8/12/2013 22:00
Location: Hanford, CA
Shape: Sphere
Duration:3 minutes

About four days earlier my husband was working on the flight line at NAS Lemoore, CA, and he and two of his coworkers saw three brights stars moving in a triangle formation when one changed direction and moved off quickly.

Then, I and two neighbors saw the one brights star make a few strange movements then take off quickly.

I am retired military and know this was not an aircraft.

Sincerely, ((name and e-address deleted))

P.S. Keep strong. Your work is important.

Link.



Occurred : 8/9/2013 12:15
Location: Merced, CA
Shape: Circle
Duration:1 hour

Two bright dots, moving west to east, viewed in a telescope

At 11:45, on August 09, 2014, a police officer at Merced College asked me (I am an astronomy Professor), what the object in the sky is. He pointed to a bright dot of light that was approximately at zenith and a magnitude brightness of about (-2). The officer said that he was reported about the object about 15 minutes earlier. The skies were clear blue, and the sun was bright, almost at zenith.

I set up the colleges 5 inch Celestron telescope with a 20mm objective.

Under magnification, the object was indeed a disc with what appeared to be a set of “lights” in the 0-90 degree quadrant of the circle. Another astronomy instructor, 2 more police officers and several students observed the object as it moved from zenith to the west. It covered about 25 angular degrees in the span of about 15 minutes. We took photographs of the object with cell phone cameras through the telescope.

While watching the object, an officer saw another, similar object coming in from the east, at about the same magnitude brightness. The object moved westward, until it was at zenith overhead and then continued west. The time it took to travel from an altitude of about 80 degrees to zenith was about 10 minutes. We observed this object under same magnification, and saw a silvery disc, with the same “lights” along the same quadrant.

Both objects left our view, passing westward. The entire viewing time was about 1.5 hours.

Our working hypothesis is that we saw Mylar balloons, or weather balloons, with the sunlight reflecting off the “dimples” along the edge of the balloon.

End of report

Link.



Occurred : 8/9/2013 11:00
Location: Merced, CA
Shape: Circle
Duration:3.5 hours

Circular, shiny, reflective object clearly observed in sky on August 9, 2013 at 11:00 am by several witnesses

This circular shiny object that appeared to be static in the sky did not make noise that we could hear. I first observed this object at 11 AM when I looked up into the trees. The object that was visible to the naked eye seemed unnatural to me. I called the attention to my adult daughter who agreed that we were not looking at something that was man-made.

I called 3 other people over to see this thing and they also had no explanation as to what this object was.

I also phoned my husband who, with several co-workers who work at the local college, went outside to see this "UFO". They had no explanation of its origins. They even observed it through a high powered telescope and it still appeared to be shiny, circular, and reflective.

I went home and was unable to see it at 2:30 as there was now a cloud-cover in the area. I will look again after the cloud-cover dissipates to see if it is still there.

Link.



Occurred : 8/4/2013 22:00
Location: Clovis, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:30 seconds

Bright light that weaves from left to right and was a fast mover.

At the approximate time indicated my family and I had just come home from a vacation from in Santa Cruz. I was in the process of unloading our vehicle when a very bright light caught my attention from the west (West being Fresno area) I decided that it was nothingbe but a plane and continued unloading the vehicle. At this point I noticed it was moving way faster than any plane I have ever seen...and that's saying something since there is a NGAFB with NORAD connections in Fresno. I then decided to stop unloading temporarily to watch it's path and try to confirm to myself it was a plane.

As I continued to watch it my mother had come out to help unload the vehicle. When I told her I jokingly said " hey mom look a UFO, haha". It was at that point I realized it was something I had never seen before. As I looked up again my mother chimed in "it's moving in a left to right movement". I watched and to my amazement it indeed was moving from left t! o right very very fast! Almost as like a radio wave on a monitor going up and down on a sort of curve. If you can picture that but of a bright object in the sky that's exactly what it looked like. To make it even more weird there was absolutely no sound to this object. It continued in a NE direction until fading from view.

Link.



Sighting Report
Occurred : 8/3/2013 23:00
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:7 minutes

I was asleep while my step dad proceeded to go outside to have a cigarette around 11:00 pm. When out of no where he started to wake me up saying come see this, come see this! I hesitated and told him unless it was an emergency not to wake me up, but he proceeded to tell me that I had to come see what was in the Sky.

So I finally got up just to get him to stop bothering me, when I stepped out side i was instantly enamored It was a big blue light that moved effortlessly high in the sky almost like a bird, it flew for a little bit in a direction but would effortlessly turn back around to were it started. It was beautiful and mysterious. Too big and too bright to be a toy or something controlled by someone below, It moved like an aircraft but much more elegantly and effortlessly. Best way to explain it. I don't really believe in Aliens but whatever it was, I have never seen anything quite like it.

After awhile it seemed like it was falling downwards like an air! plane out of control and then it dissipated. Below were it has a choice of picking there were lights on the object, the object was a light.


((NUFORC Note: Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD))

Link.



Occurred : 7/27/2013 22:09
Location: Lemoore, CA
Shape: Cross
Duration:1 minute

Silent Flying Cross with 3 round white lights 41 N Lemoore sighting July 27, 2013

Driving on Highway 41 N just entering Lemoore about a mile away from the 198 overpass at a little after 10 pm , looked to my right and saw what I thought might be a low flying crop duster. I closed my sunroof vent thinking I don't want any residue/pesticide getting in my car. But as the aircraft approached my vehicle I started to realize it wasn't making ANY noise. I looked closer and realized it was flying weird, so I looked closer and noticed it was the shape of a cross flying AT me straight up and down like nothing man made that I know can fly. It had three round white lights at the top of the cross and each side of the cross. As I was driving (very tired) and processing all that I saw, I waited for the flying object to make a sound or a gush of wind to push against my car and never felt or heard anything. I quickly looked to my left and did not see a thing!! What could disappear like that? As I craned my neck around I saw what I thought looked like a Air traffic control tower (a small one ) in a field behind me dark, and lit up only by tons of tiny blue lights in the form of a circle at the top. So weird...my husband woke up a few minutes later and I told him that I thought I saw a crop duster fly really close to our car but it didn't make any noise...he said " crop duster's don't fly at night" so I told him what I saw and he said he would look on the internet to see if anyone else saw the same thing at the same time since there were tons of other cars on the road. And sure enough, there are....Kinda freaking out now. Looks like these sightings have been going on for some time now...Weird.


Link.

Note from Weird Fresno here. This sounds similar the infamous Interstate 5 Mystery Lights which turned out to be misidentified crop dusters. Crop dusters do indeed fly at night as I was witness to one evening.



Occurred : 7/17/2013 21:14
Location: Selma, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:1 minute

Yellowish/orange light seen moving with the horizon, then made a sharp S patern, changed colors and went straight down rapidly

At 9:14 PM on Saturday July, 27 2013 I was sitting in my back yard in Selma CA with a friend and we both saw what we thought was a helicopter moving South across the night sky to our North-West. It had a very odd orange color light. We continued watching it when it made a vary sharp series of turns in an S shape. Before it disappeared behind the trees it changed to a blueish color then went straight down very rapidly then disappeared.

2 days later, on Monday, July 29 2013 at approx 8:30 PM I was once again in my back yard when I started watching another bright orange light, this time to my immediate East. It moved very rapidly toward the North. At first I assumed it was a F-16(as there is a Airport and Base in the area) but it vanished. It wasn't quite dark yet, so if it merely turned off its lights I would have still seen the plane, but the craft wasn't there anymore and a sound never accompanied the light. Another friend was with me and witnessed this as well.

Link.



Occurred : 6/14/2013 21:20
Location: Firebaugh, CA
Shape: Unknown
Duration:1-2 minutes

Appeared to be the size of a large UFO with 3 perfectly round bright white lights, flying 100' off of ground, very slow & silent.

While driving home from San Luis Obispo, CA at approximately 2120 at night, on interstate 5 going North between the Little Panoche Road and Firebaugh CA Exits we saw an unidentified aircraft flying at approximately 100' off the ground. The aircraft was only visible by the 3 large, round, bright white lights that were evenly spaced in a row horizontally. The lights seemed to be about 4 times larger than a car headlight with no other visible lights and we could not make out the shape of the body. Just by looking at the lights and how they were spread out horizontally I would guess that the span of the aircraft would be that of the wing span of a 737 aircraft. We saw the aircraft fly very slowly directly ahead of and in front of us. As the aircraft was on the passenger side of the car, I remarked to my wife to "watch that aircraft, it looks like it is going to land, make an emergency landing", I kept on saying, "watch it, keep an eye on it....! keep on watching it". Then as it came around to the east side of our car and crossed the highway going from the east to the west it quietly flew past and flew around on the west side of the freeway. We thought it was an aircraft that was coming in for an emergency landing, as it was flying at an incredibly slow speed and very low to the ground. The aircraft was silent or at least very quiet because we heard no noise as it passed overhead in front of us. The car windows were up and the radio was on, but something flying that low and slow would have made some noise and turbulence as it passed over, we noticed no noise or abnormal movement of our car from the passing craft. The craft then flew around on the west side of the freeway, disappeared from view and then I saw it in my side and rear view mirrors, my wife also saw the craft as she turned around to look out the back windows. It maneuvered slowly and smoothly unlike any airliner, small aircraft or helicopter w! ould appear to fly. We saw it for what seemed to be approxima! tely 1-2 minutes until we were somewhat farther down the highway and could no longer see the aircrafts lights. I am an Aircraft Rescue Firefighter that has worked at an airport and around aircrafts for over 21 years and I have never seen that configuration of 3 round, large, equally space bright white lights on any aircraft and It seemed to maneuver like no other aircraft that I have seen flying.

Link.



Occurred : 6/2/2013 21:45
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:10 minutes

6 glowing white orbs and two military jets sighted, two orbs nearly collided

saw 6 ufos they were glowing white orbs two flew straight at each other nearly colliding 2 military jets also flew into few at an unknown elevation the larger of the white orbs continued on in a north west direction while the smaller one went out of view going south west the larger one was then intersected by 4 different glowing white orbs while trans versing the sky they seemed very high up and made no noise the military jets didn't seem to be chasing them but it was very interesting timing that they would show up to see the near collision

Link.



Occurred : 5/31/2013 21:45
Location: Fresno, CA
Shape: Light
Duration:15 minutes

formation of 6 orange orbs flying over fresno ca may 31st 2013

at 8 30 my son and i observed 2 brightly glowing orange orbs traveling from the northwest to the southeast over the fresno metropolitan area, they did not blink or have any anti collision or landing lights and made no discernible sound, about half way across the horizon nearly over head they faded and blinked out then a few minutes later two more came in the same direction and blinked out nearly exactly where the first two disappeared this was followed by a 5th object by itself and did the exact same thing by this time my son and i had got to a place where there wasn't as much light pollution just in time to see a sixth object, when this one blinked out it was nearly directly overhead and there was enough daylight left to observe a structured craft of some sort that was round on the bottom these were not satellites since they don't travel in packs they were not conventional aircraft, since they made no sound or had any anti collision lights, i am wondering if maybe they were drones? i am not sure but this is the second time i have observed this same phenomenon, my son and i observed three traveling in the same direction about 6 months ago

Link.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

My review of the film The Conjuring


I had the privilege to see an advance screening of the paranormal themed movie "The Conjuring". To be honest I was a bit trepadicious about this as paranormal movies of late haven't impressed me (I'm still bitter about how much The Last Exorcism sucked and did we really need a sequel?) but given the fact that this movie was based upon a well known case by famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren gave me a bit of hope. Still ever the skeptic I went in not knowing what to expect.

I won't give away many plot details, but it involves a family moving into a new house in the country (always seems to be the case right?) and the ensuing paranormal activity they encounter. Finally they enlist the help from Ed and Lorraine Warren to try to determine what's going on and to try to help the family. 


 I really enjoyed the movie and it follows the story pretty closely (it's dramatic in some parts but hey it's a movie, it's supposed to be like that). Both Patrick Wilson (loved him in Watchmen) and Vera Farmiga were great casting decisions as Ed and Lorraine. The director and cinematographer did a great job setting the mood for the story. Honestly the way it was shot reminded me a bit of The Exorcist, it had that grainy realistic feel to it. Pacing was good and I just have to say to the studio a big thank you for not putting all the scary parts in the trailer and actually leaving most of them out and this lead to the audience jumping several times at unexpected moments. 

 What I really liked was that it showed how intense a demonic possession can be. It seems like most TV shows throw around the term demon like its common place or something and that anyone with a bible and a vial of holy water can cast out. This is far from the truth. For anyone who does go see this, try to keep that in mind. I know I'm preaching, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves in the paranormal community of people labeling themselves "demonologists" because it sounds cool. Trust me it's not.

 Overall I really enjoyed the film and will definitely go see it again when it comes out. It's hard to say what my favorite part is, but I loved how they discussed briefly the Annabelle case (a demonic possession involving a haunted doll) and they even hinted at Amityville at the end. Remember this is a movie based on a true story so they took some liberties with it. But it's a good movie and I would definitely recommend it.


Monday, April 8, 2013

Murdered prostitute said to haunt old Sanger bar where she was killed


On May 16, 1993 one of the worst massacres in the history of Fresno County occurred on the outskirts of the town of Sanger at a little bar called Carrillo's Club. It was after 2:00 am and the bar had just closed when two men armed with semi-automatic weapons entered the bar and opened fire on. When it was over a total of seven people were dead including the owner, his mother, his half-brother, a friend, and three employees. For years the murders remained unsolved until an inmate that was already serving time for another murder in Fresno County, a Johnnie Malarkey, admitted the being one of the two gunmen (the other, a Allen Helfin, committed suicide in 1998). Upon his admission the case was closed and he is currently serving several life imprisonments for the crimes he committed.

The murders aren't the only sordid history that Carrillo's Club was a part of. For years the place was rumored to be a hub for drug trafficking and prostitution and was well known for being a scene of rapes, stabbings, and numerous shootings. Given the fact that it was on the outskirts of Sanger it fell into a grey area of jurisdiction between the city and Fresno County as to who had authority over it. The murders were the finally grisly act in a place steeped in a history or illicit activity.

Even though the bar is no longer around, it seems one of its former patrons ghostly form has been seen near the old location. Many witnesses have seen the ghost of a young woman walking down the road in the direction of Fresno. She's usually only seen for an instant before she disappears. Interesting enough it's thought she isn't one of the victims from the 1993 shootings, but was a prostitute that was murdered there years ago. For whatever reason she continues to walk down the road, perhaps still trying to get home.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Triangle shaped UFO seen north of Fresno along Hwy. 41



It seems this video of a UFO filmed north of Fresno was making the rounds all last week. First a Canadian website was reporting on it and then one in India and multiple UFO websites out there. Watching the video several times had me perplexed. It wasn't a typical blurred out airplane on approach. So what was it? I decided to leave a comment on the person who posted the video to YouTube and see if they would get back to me.

As luck would have it, they did. A husband and wife were driving north on Hwy 41 when the husband saw a strange light near Valley Children's Hospital. They quickly exited 41 at Children's Blvd. and looped around Mesa Blvd. until it turned into Cobb Ranch Rd. It was here they got a good view of the object and proceeded to film it.

From what I was told the object wasn't moving very fast and at first it seemed to move slowly towards them before reversing its course and heading back the way it had come before disappearing out of sight.

I has asked if anyone else besides the couple had seen it and was told no. I had also mentioned the possibility of it being a medvac helicopter coming in for a landing but was told by the wife that they live near Fresno Yosemite and is familiar with what a helicopter looks like as it's nearing touchdown.

So here's the proverbial question: what was this thing? Could the witnesses be wrong and it was a helicopter approaching the hospital? I asked the witness what day and time they had filmed this and was told it was on February 14 at around 10:00 pm (maybe the aliens were going for a romantic drive?) and several phone calls have been made to Valley Children's to see if any medvacs landed around that time. I'm also going to see if I can find a number through either Fresno Yosemite or the FAA and see if I can find anything out this way. Even if I'm told nothing was in the area at that time that rules out the possibility of a helicopter. This leads it to either being some government type aircraft or aliens taking a joy ride through the San Joaquin River. If it was some government secret project, why have lights on the damn thing and fly it near a hospital? Though given the current state of affairs in DC and the lack of any common sense this wouldn't surprise me really. As for aliens, I guess it's possible. I mean Valley Children's has some advanced tech in it, maybe they were curious as to how we treat our young. Nah, I still say they were joy riding. It's what I would do if dad left me the keys to his flying saucer.



Interesting enough the witness also included this map of where they were located when the filmed the object as well as an estimate of where the object was at given some known locations and distances. I wonder if anyone else at the hospital saw this. I think it’s time to do a bit of digging.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

PG&E camp built on supposed native grounds said to be haunted


Balch Camp below with the Kings River in the background.
Photo courtesy of tandre.net


Some time ago I had received an e-mail from a Pacific Gas & Electric worker asking if I had heard of one of the company's power stations being haunted. The station in question is located at Balch Camp, which is in the Sierra Nevadas near where the North Fork of the Kings River and Dinky Creek meet.

From what I was told the site is situated on an old Native American burial ground and scattered throughout the area are drawings on rocks left by the area's original inhabitants

The main area that appears to have the most paranormal activity seems to be where the guest quarters are located. Workers claimed to have heard footsteps outside their quarters late at night and some would even see the door to their room swinging open and closed before being slammed shut by some invisible force.

The strangest incident seemed to have occurred at Guest House #3, which is located further away from the other guest houses. One night a contractor was getting ready for bed when he heard footsteps outside his room. Whoever it was walked up the front porch and stopped in front of his door and proceeded to knock. Thinking it was a co-worker who needed something, he opened the door to find that no one was there.

So one has to ask, what is the validity to this story? Is the camp built on ancient native burial grounds? Perhaps, but one could say that whole area belonged to the Natives at one time so it's feasible that there are burial grounds in the area. And the Paiute tribe did live in the area and were known for their rock drawings, so this is a possibility. But why does every story seem to start with "Well the location is said to be on native burial grounds" as if that itself means it is true.

Perhaps it was a former worker(s) that for whatever reason didn't move on and haunt the location. Perhaps someone died here and doesn't know they are dead or doesn't want to move on. Maybe they were happy here and continue to stay even after death. It's hard to say without investigating the area further. And with it being PG&E property I highly doubt (that and when I called about it they redirected my phone call so many times it wasn't funny) they would allow it. What I do know for certain is that according to several witness claims, something invisible walks these grounds late at night and for what reason may never be known.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Does a secret vampire underground society exist in Fresno?


Cleaning up my inbox this evening I came across an email I received back in June 2011 from a local paranormal investigator. In it they asked me if I had every heard of an underground society in the Fresno area that possibly had vampiric practices. The person also mentioned something about a door on Belmont Ave under the overpass that's east of Roeding Park and it being a possible entrance to an underground area where the society supposedly meets.

From the description they gave me the door is sometimes locked, but is usually left ajar. The investigator asked around and was told it was nothing more than a maintenance room but decided to investigate for themselves. They parked their car a bit away and walked to the door. Unfortunately the door was padlocked but the way the lock is set up you can somewhat squeeze in to have a look (if you look at the photo I posted you can see what the person meant). They were able to shine a light inside and saw a set of stairs going down and nothing that would portray the room as being something for storing maintenance supplies there.

The door to a secret undergound society? Or to a broom closet?

Now I wrote the person back but never received a response. Could the person be trying to pull a fast one on me? Perhaps. Or the conspiracy theorist would say the person who contacted me was "taken care of" by the underground society (I like to think they have their own version of Luca Brasi). But if that was the case, why not me as well? Most likely this was just some rumor the person heard and knowing that I like to keep track of all things strange in Fresno, contacted me to see if I knew of anything. And when I said I didn't, they probably lost interest in the subject.

But that doesn't mean there aren't secret societies in Fresno. There's a Freemason Lodge on Shields Avenue, and I believe there is also a Odd Fellow's Lodge in the area too. I know these aren't that secret anymore; but they still are clouded in mystery, especially the Freemasons. As for any vampiric secret societies in the Fresno area, I doubt they exist. But if they do, please feel free to have a member contact me. But just don't drink my blood. I imagine with the amount of nachos I eat it would be like drinking Tapatio.

Monday, January 21, 2013

UFO seen over Clovis in October 2012


I thought I would delve back into UFO sightings for a bit, mostly because the ghostly aspect of Fresno has been quiet as of late. I decided to check out the Mutual UFO Network's (MUFON) website as they list sightings by county and see if they had anything interesting. And as luck would have it something strange was reported in Clovis on October 21, 2012. Here's the report as it was filed with MUFON:

I received a phone call tonight from my Mother around 9:30 PM telling me about the UFO that her and my Father just saw. My parents were driving in their car, making my Dad the driver and my Mother the passenger. As they were heading WEST on the streets of Eighth and Pollasky my Mother told me she noticed a bright orange snowflake/star shaped UFO hovering around above a Catholic church(Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church). She told me this occurred around 9:10pm or so. These streets are located in a neighborhood so when they came to a stop sign my Mom pointed the UFO out to my Father who then looked and saw the same bright orange UFO who he also described as being bright orange especially being against the night sky. My Mom said the object was just hovering over the church for a little bit. But my Father became scared and drove a little down the street aways from the object. My Mother was not scared but intrigued by the sighting and told my Father to stop on the side of the street. She told me they were both looking at the object from inside the car pulled over on the side of the street. When they were parked looking at the object my Mother said the UFO started slowly hover towards their car and then became dim in color but was still slightly visible with a more transparent shade of orange. My Mom kept her eyes on the object as she said it started moving away in the opposite direction of the moon (East). At the time they were the only ones driving on the road but then another vehicle turned on the street from Minnewawa onto eighth and when this happened my Mother said the UFO disappeared. When the UFO was visible my Mother also tried to tell my Father to take a photo with his cell phone but my Mom said he was so shocked he couldnt sum up the courage. Both my parents are devoted Christians and to get this phone call from my Mom really took me by surprise thats why I felt I had to report this myself since my parents arent technologically inclined as me with using computers. I was bummed though that they didnt get a picture.

My first inclination was to think that this was another Chinese lantern mistaken for some sort of aerial craft. But the description of the UFO is different than the characteristics that a Chinese lantern portrays; the lanterns usually drift up slowly as they are carried aloft by the wind currents. This hovered over a church and then moved towards the witnesses' car before disappearing. Lanterns don't hover, trust me, seeing that I've seen one myself (and misidentified it as a UFO). So what was seen over Clovis that October night? Perhaps Fresno is the UFO hotspot that some claim it to be.