Hidden Auditorium

Reel Horror – Ryan Sprague Writes

October 26, 2016 By Jim Harold

Ryan Sprague

THE TERRIFYING TRUTH BEHIND HORROR MOVIES

Every Halloween season brings forth the cozy sweaters, the pumpkin-spiced drinks, and the undeniable beauty of autumn colors. But for me, it brings out something else. It’s the only time of the year that I sit down every single night and watch a horror movie.

This has in more recent years been dubbed, “Shocktober” when many consume horror movies on a daily basis. Maybe it’s the young boy in me wanting to challenge my level of fear and masculinity, or perhaps it could even be the curiosity deep down of what I would do if thrust into the horrified shoes of those being victimized. Either way, I would crawl into the corner of the couch, turn off the lights, and watch from a safe distance as the terror unfolded on the screen. But the more I watched, the more I became interested in just exactly what inspired the dark and deranged minds of those who’d created these movies. I was surprised to find that more than a fair share had been inspired by true events. And that, more than anything, became all the more terrifying. Here is just a small glimpse of some of those films based on true stories.

The Exorcist (1973)

Perhaps the most classic supernatural horror film in modern history, The Exorcist, swept the nation and made the world fear the Devil unlike ever before. Directed by William Friedkin and written by William Peter Blatty, this demon-possession film was based on Blatty’s original novel of the same name. The novel wasn’t entirely dreamt up, however, and was steeped in much reality.

In 1948, a young boy known by the alias of “Robbie Mannheim,” began to act very odd in his hometown of Cottage City, Maryland. He’d spit, shout profanities, and would suffer deep scratches all over his body. His family soon called in a group of priests of different faiths and the activity intensified. Edward Hughes, a Roman Catholic priest, claimed that when he placed a Bible to the boy’s forehead, Robbie began to levitate and the bed below him started to vibrate. When the priest asked who seemed to be in control of the boy, a harsh voice spewed from his mouth, proclaiming “I am legion.” As the activity progressed, the family thought that moving to a new home would help calm the demon within the boy. But it didn’t. Now in St. Louis, Missouri, the priests were called in once again. Confined to a psychiatric ward of a hospital, six weeks of exorcisms were performed on the boy. During this time, scratches appeared all over his body from out of nowhere, guttural voices erupting from the boy spouting expletives and hate. The priests had only one defense left to try to rid young Robbie of the demon. They baptized him, forcing a communion wafer into his mouth. While the effects weren’t immediate, within days, he seemed to be devoid of any further possession.

While the film, The Exorcist, portrayed a young girl with much more horrifying experiences, there is no doubt that this story was just as scary, if true. The testimony of the priests involved holds much weight, one even claiming that he was thrown across the room at one point during the baptism/exorcism. And while the movie version went on to become one of the most successful films in history, for young Robbie, the memories of his experience presumably live on. And one can only hope that the demons within him will stay at bay for many years to come.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

This film came to us from the director, Charles B. Pierce, who is best known for his 1972 cult-classic docudrama, The Legend of Boggy Creek. In this 1976 slasher movie, a small town Texas Ranger is investigating a slew of gruesome murders by a hooded serial killer known only as the Phantom. This predecessor to 1978’s Halloween, was raw and gritty, following the predator on his murderous rampage of young lovers in the town. While this plot may seem simple, it became much more complex when I learned that it was based on an actual unsolved string of murders in Texarkana, Arkansas.

To learn more about the actual case, I interviewed documentary filmmaker, Joshua Zeman, who investigated this case heavily in a one hour special on Chiller TV, titled, Killer Legends. Zeman learned that the murders in Texarkana were dubbed, “The Moonlight Murders.” Four brutal crimes occurred in less than three months. The first of the crimes took place with young couples who were parked at several “Lover’s Lanes” in the area. The fourth crime was the shooting of a couple in their farmhouse on the outskirts of town. By the end of the supposed rampage, several were severely wounded, and five people had been shot dead.

But the story of the Moonlight Murders didn’t end there. Zeman also discovered that once the film that was made, the town didn’t turn away from it. They embraced it. They would hold an annual screening during the Halloween season on the grounds where some the murders had taken place. It had become somewhat of a sense of pride to the town. So much so, that another version of the film with the same title was released in 2014 in which a copycat killer who saw the 1976 version began to terrorize the town in the same fashion almost sixty-five years later. The meta nature of this entire string of events was almost too hard to believe, but it soon became clear that anything to draw publicity to a small town struggling to survive would be welcomed. Even at the dismay of the original victims and their families. To hear the entire interview about the Moonlight Murders with Joshua Zeman, CLICK HERE

The Entity (1982)

Carla wakes up from a peaceful sleep to the worst nightmare she could imagine. She is being brutally assaulted by an unknown and unseen presence. Completely traumatized, she reaches out to friends and family who believe she has gone crazy. This is when she enlists the assistance of two parapsychologists to investigate. They discover that there is a dark and evil spirit attached to Carla, and it isn’t through with her. The true story behind this film was inspired by the strikingly similar experience of Doris Bither in 1974.

While at a California bookstore, Blither approached two men who she’d overheard were talking about investigating a haunted home nearby. She explained to them that she believed her home also to have some sort of entity haunting it, and she wanted them to investigate. One of these men was Kerry Gaynor, an associate of the now-famous Dr. Barry Taff. Soon, they were learning all about Doris’ current living situation. She was in her mid-thirties, a single Mom of four children, an alcoholic, and suffered serious emotional distress. Gaynor and Dr. Taff were hesitant to take on the case, worried that her claim of hauntings was just a mask for her personal life. But they agreed to at least assess the situation in the home.

Dr. Taff arrived to see a home in complete disarray. The house was unlivable, and her children seemed to have to fend for themselves to eat. It was clear that this was not something Dr. Taff could work with, and he decided to leave, claiming that Doris was very uncooperative, to begin with, even though she had been the one to ask for help. This all changed one evening when she called Dr. Taff pleading for his help. Apparently, the violent activity in the home had intensified and that it was now hurting her children as well. Dr. Taff and a team of investigators documented what they believed were four different manifestations haunting the home. One was a harmless old man that never caused trouble. But the others weren’t as innocent. Things in the home would begin to levitate and be thrown across the room, and the family was being attacked on a daily basis. But Doris seemed to be the centerpiece of the supposed evil spirits. Witnesses claimed to see her attacked by an invisible force that threw her against a wall, punched, and slapped. Immediately, Dr. Taff assembled a team of photographers to accompany Doris in her bedroom one night. He asked Doris to provoke the entities, and soon, a green mist appeared, morphing into a male figure. Sadly, little could be seen on the photos taken, but one curious photo of Doris, sitting on her bed, showed a strange arc of light over her head.

Eventually, she moved her family to Texas, hoping this would end the traumatic attacks of the entities, but she did report that it had followed her and the rampage continued. Very little is known of what happened to her and her family after that. But according to one of her children, she had died in 1995. Was this the final confrontation between the entity and Doris? We’ll never truly know. But we now have this 1982 horror film to cast a dark shadow on the tragic happenings of Doris Blither.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Perhaps the most unique slasher film in horror history, this killer not only hunted down his victims in real-life, but he did so in their dreams. Freddy Kruger, dawning his now iconic sweater, hat, and claws, has become an international cultural icon, spawning one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. But no good idea comes without some sort of inspiration. And as I soon learned, the brilliantly gruesome idea for the film, according to the creator, Wes Craven, originated from a very unlikely source.

In various interviews about how he came up with the idea of “a nightmare that could kill.” He admitted that it came from a newspaper article he’d come across in which the deaths of several South East Asian refugees were unsolved. The refugees, seventeen men, and one woman had fled to the United States in 1975, fearing the horrible genocide taking place in their communist province of Hmong during the Vietnam War. Most of them took refuge in Minnesota and California, adjusting to a modern American world. This caused a great deal of anxiety and a sense of isolation, especially since they spoke very little English. The transition was so intense that many of the eighteen refugees immediately sought out doctor’s to treat outbreaks of imaginary venereal diseases and parasites that they truly believed were thriving under their skin.

The paranoia only intensified, and tragically, all eighteen refugees were found dead in their beds, the cause of death being attributed to “Probable Cardiac Arrhythmia.” However, other doctors attributed their deaths to something known as “Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome.” This is a condition that seemed only to affect young Hmong males, as well as Filipinos. Victims seem to die of fright and a core belief that what happened in their dream was in fact reality.

In Hmong culture, a spirit called “dab tsuam,” often takes the form of a woman, snatching men while they sleep and taking them to the spirit world. There the dab tsuam will torture and kill them. Hmong men would go so far as to dress like a woman before falling asleep, hoping to fool the spirit from taking them. In many instances, this legend has become fodder for many claims of sleep paralysis, but going one step further, it had indeed been connected to Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome as well.

These horrific deaths of the refugees were a great tragedy to those seeking a better life in America. But without a chance glance at an article one day, the world may never have been introduced to the burnt and scarred monster we love to hate in the form of Freddy Kruger. And as he continues to haunt our nightmares on the silver screen, we can only hope that the impetus of “Freddy” remains a tragedy that never repeats itself again.

The Conjuring (2013)

Considered a modern-day classic, this strikingly authentic film came to us from the brilliant direction of James Wan, best known for his work on the original Saw movie, and 2010’s Insidious. In the film, we follow a duo of paranormal investigators who are also husband and wife. They are summoned to the home of Carolyn and Roger Perron. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a farmhouse where a supernatural force seems to be present. The events in the home take a drastic and horrifying turn as the investigators uncover the troubling history of the farmhouse. While this uniquely stylized film garnered much praise for its original content, it was based heavily on real events and real people.

Ed and Lorraine Warren were indeed a married couple who were also paranormal investigators. In 1952, they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research. They are most notably recognized for their work on the Amityville incident, and to a much lesser and controversial extent, The Enfield Poltergeist case that became the basis of the sequel to The Conjuring. But this case out of Harrisville, Road Island with the Perron family would be one of the Warren’s greatest challenges.

The Perrons claimed that they were experiencing both haunting and spiritual possessions amongst the family of five daughters. The claims consisted of both harmless and angry spirits moving things around the home, causing unbearable stenches, slamming doors shut, and in dramatic fashion, levitating the beds of the children at 5:15 in the morning. As the activity increased, and progressively became more dangerous, the Warrens dug deep to find out the history behind the farmhouse and the property, hoping this would help find some answers and a possible resolution. What they found was horrific in nature. Over eight generations of families had lived and died on the property, including 93-year-old Mrs. John Arnold, who’d hung herself from the rafters in a nearby barn. Several other suicides had taken place there as well, including more hangings and poisonings. Even more tragic was the unsolved rape and murder of eleven-year-old Prudence Arnold. It was also reported that there were two drownings in the creek near the home and four men had mysteriously frozen to death on the property. With so many gruesome acts having been committed in this area, it was no wonder that so much paranormal activity seemed to be plaguing the Perron family.

While the film portrayed the Warrens in a very altruistic and heroic light, performing a successful exorcism of the home towards the end of the film, the Perron daughters claimed that this was anything but the truth. Apparently, the Warrens were not successful in their cleansing endeavors. And while their intentions were good, the activity seemed only to get worse with the Warrens present. Fearing for his family’s safety and lives, the father, Roger Perron demanded that the Warrens leave and never return. This contention between the actual events and the film would only continue in the sequel, The Conjuring 2, where the Warrens were once again portrayed as heroes and being much more involved in these cases than they were. More about this contention can be heard directly from the eldest daughter, Andrea Perron, in an extensive interview with Jim Harold by CLICKING HERE.

Conclusions

Whether we like it or not, horror movies have become a cultural staple in our lives, inducing some of the most primal reactions and emotions we can muster. They make us fear the unknown, prepare for the worst, and most importantly, play out our worst nightmares from a safe distance of imagination. But when we discover that some of these terrifying and disturbing movies are directly connected to actual events, it blurs the lines between reality and fantasy with haunting results. And it proves, that when we sit down to watch our greatest fears be played out before our wide or covered eyes, sometimes the truth is far scarier than anything we could create in the darkest corner of our minds.

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Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon, published by Richard Dolan Press. He is the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast, Into the Fray, available on iTunes & Stitcher. His other work can be found at somewhereintheskies.com

Beyond The Bermuda Triangle: Visiting Other Mysterious Triangles Around The Globe – Ryan Sprague’s Hidden Auditorium

April 9, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

On December 5th, 1945, five US Navy bomber planes were making their way over the waters of the Atlantic during a training mission. Lieutenant Charles Taylor was in constant communication with the base, updating them on the progress of the mission. Without warning, the line went dead over the radio. The base tried to make contact to no avail. A rescue plane was dispatched to find the bombers, but failed to do so. In fact, the rescue plane, along with the bombers, were never seen nor heard from again.

This is one of many tales surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, an extremely enigmatic area of the Atlantic Ocean, that when viewed from above, creates the shape of a triangle. The first point begins at Miami, Florida. The second traces down to San Juan, Puerto Rico and the remaining point to complete the triangle is none other than the island of Bermuda. The triangle, however, isn’t officially recognized by the United States Board on Geographic Names, nor acknowledged on any maps. The term was coined by author, Vincent Gaddis, in an article he penned in 1964 for the pulp-magazine, Argosy. In the article titled, The Deadly Bermuda Triangle, Gaddis compiles many anomalous events that occurred in the boundaries of this area where many planes and ships in the water seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Since then, the Bermuda Triangle has been the subject of countless books, television shows, and movies. Theories on what is actually occurring in these waters range from magnetic vortices, space-time warp, electronic fog, UFOs, ancient technology from the lost city of Atlantis, methane gas hydrates, and even more unusual; the souls of slaves.

While these theories all harbor serious debate and controversy, the mystery remains as to why this certain area seems so active with unexplainable disappearances. But what if it wasn’t this particular area that held the answers? What if the mystery actually lay in the shape these areas seem to create. Let’s take a look at several places throughout the world that also boast these three-pointed tales of mystery.

Lake Michigan Triangle

Stretching from Ludington, MI to Benton Harbor, MI, and then all the way to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, this triangular portion of Lake Michigan has inspired many anomalous events. Dating all the way back to 1891, a schooner by the name of Thomas Hume, and seven other men, were making their way across the lake to retrieve a shipment of lumber. As they crossed the waters, they came up against an unusually high wind storm. When locals didn’t hear from the men for a few days, a search and rescue team were sent out for the crew. They found nothing.

The second major incident occurred in 1921. Eleven members of the Benton Harbor House of David were making their way across the lake in the Rosa Belle ship. When they were reported missing some time later, a rescue team was sent out. They found the ship floating in the lake, overturned, yet no bodies were recovered. It appeared as though the ship had been badly damaged by a collision. Even if this were so, not a single shred of evidence turned up any other ship, nor any reports of an accident of any kind. There simply was no conventional explanation for the brutal damage to the ship, and missing bodies.

The legend behind this mysterious triangle began to spread, and more and more stories began to be told of tragic accidents and unexplained phenomena surrounding the waters. Some even claimed that the triangle was some sort of inter-dimensional portal where ships were hopping in and out of time. And while no clear explanation can solve the puzzle, it has become a cautionary tale to steer clear of the Lake Michigan Triangle at all costs.

The Burle Triangle

The Burle Triangle is comprised of Mount Pilat, Mount Mézenc, and the small town of Le Puy, in France. The area was named after the extremely high winds and snow storms in the area, and it holds the French record for unexplained aircraft accidents; surely a record nobody wants to hold. Supposedly, more than sixty people have died in miscellaneous plane crashes throughout the years.

One of the more peculiar aspects of many of these plane crashed were that of UFO sightings in the areas making up the triangle. One in particular occurred in 1943 when a fighter plane plummeted to the ground, leaving a sole survivor. This man went on to claim that he’d witnessed a multitude of small, multi-colored lights surrounding the aircraft before it made its tragic descent. Another similar event occurred in 1965 over Mount Mézenc, where two F-104 planes went down. Witnesses in the area claimed to have seen six spheres, pink in color, surrounding the impact site.

Whatever was happening over the skies of the Burle Triangle, it seemed that some sort of aerial phenomena didn’t want the planes there. Could this area somehow be a portal for UFOs to hop in and out of? Could something more mysterious even be hiding the mountains, making this planes lose control and spiral to a fiery end? Whatever was happening at the Burle Triangle remained a mystery, and continues it’s enigmatic lore even up until today.

The Dragon’s Triangle

Similar to the Bermuda Triangle, this area of water is located in the Philippine Sea off China’s eastern coast. It can be marked off on a map by connecting Japan, Taiwan, and Yap Island. The name, Dragon’s Triangle, comes from a Chinese myth from many centuries ago. According to the myth, dragons live deep beneath the surface and their movement can suddenly churn up waves, whirlpools, thick fog, and sudden storms. These myths became startlingly true between the years, 1952 and 1954, when a total of five Japanese military vessels were lost in the waters of the triangle, racking up over seven-hundred people missing.

These disappearances led the Japanese government to acknowledge the area as a danger zone and to send a team of scientists to study the triangle. Their vessel, the Kaiyo Maru No, also went missing, prompting the Japanese government to abort the study. While may unusual explanations could attribute to the disappearances, seismic events seem to be the main culprit. The Dragon’s Triangle is a very volcanically active area, and were said to be the fault for the disappearance of the vessel of scientists. But could the volcanic activity also have been responsible for the other disappearances?

Many other phenomena have been linked to the Dragon’s Triangle. They include USOs (unidentified submerged objects), time warps, and electromagnetic anomalies. One of the most extensive studies on the area was done by author, Charles Berlitz, who ambitiously connected the Dragon’s Triangle to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. No matter the case, the myth of the Dragon’s Triangle continues, with more answers laying somewhere in the depths of the sea.

The Bridgewater Triangle

Situated in southeastern Massachusetts, the town of Bridgewater sits smack dab in the center of an area whose points stretch from the neighboring towns of Abington, Freetown, and Rehoboth. Unlike the other triangles that encompass mountain ranges or bodies of water, this triangle mostly stretches across land, and is littered with countless claims of paranormal activity.

One particular area is known as the Hockomock Swamp. This is a five-thousand acre area that includes an eight-thousand year-old Native American burial ground. When archaeologists stumbled upon a site of tombs, they noticed that the red ochre around the graves began to bubble, and then mysteriously disappeared. This, and many other unexplainable activity has plagued the swamps for decades. The Wampanoag Tribe, of the Algonquian nation, avoid the area because of many supernatural occurrences, warning others to steer clear because it’s what they consider “the place where spirits dwell”. Another area of Hockomock Swamp is known as Anawan Rock, located along Route 44 in Rehoboth. It is named after named after Chief Anawan, and is the site where he and his tribe had surrendered to the colonists during the First Indian War. The angry spirits of Anawan’s men are said to haunt the area, dancing and starting fires. Many have reported hearing the sounds of the spirits echoing through the swamp, the flicker or fire being witnessed from the roads nearby.

Other areas of the Bridgewater Triangle have boasted high amounts of UFO activity throughout the years, including one in 1760 that could possibly be considered one of the first recorded UFO reports in history. A multi-witnessed event occurred in 1968 when five people claimed to have seen a strange all of light hovering through the trees of Rehoboth. Another major event occurred in 1994 when an law enforcement officer reported seeing a triangular craft with red and white lights ominously floating through the night sky. As the years passed, more UFO reports flooded in, continuing up until today.

Strange sightings of creatures have also been reported within the triangle. In 1970, there were various accounts of a seven foot tall hairy beast wandering through the area. Both Bridgewater and Massachusetts State Police conducted an extensive search for the creature, assuming it was a bear. The search turned up nothing. Similar reports also came in of a hairy creature slowly walking through Hockomock Swamp. But it was reports of an alleged creature in flight that caught the attention of many others. Since the early 70’s, many reports have come in about unusually large black birds, with wingspans stretching well past eight feet.

Perhaps one of the more terrifying aspects of the Bridgewater Triangle were reports of cattle mutilations in the forested areas. They were attributed to Satanic cult members, who were making animal sacrifices. But legend also has it that grisly murders of the human-kind have also taken place in the forest, attributing this to cult members as well.

While some of the activity in the Bridgewater Triangle has been documented, not all of it can be substantiated. But one thing is clear; whatever is going on within the confines of this area is beyond unusual, and many paranormal investigators continue to travel its supposed points of origin, trying to narrow in on one of the most active paranormal hotspots on the planet.

Shaping the Mysteries

While no singular answer can explain the plethora of mysteries in each and every one of these areas, it is interesting to note that they all seem to run the sharp three lined path of a triangle. One can speculate endlessly as to why this may be, but perhaps the symbology of the triangle itself could bring us a bit closer to an answer. Some occultists use the triangle as a summoning symbol. At the culmination of a ritual, the summoning of some sort of spirit or entity is expected to appear within a triangle inscribed upon the floor. The occultist often performs his ritual from the protection of a circle. Could this practice hold some meaning in terms of the Bridgewater Triangle, and the Native American spirits said to haunt the area? And what about the supposed cultist activity? Perhaps the form of the triangle itself has prompted the unusual frenzy of the bizarre and strangeness that occurs there.

According to western culture, the orientation of a triangle can have powerful meaning as well. The elements of earth and water form from triangles that point upward. Could this possibly have something to do with why these triangles seem to form over bodies of water? Even more interesting is that triangles that point downward symbolize the formation of air and fire. This could perhaps have something to do with the fiery plane crashes in the air that brought many pilot’s lives to a tragic end.

One could speculate endlessly as to why such mysterious and terrifying things have happened at each and every one of these locations. But one thing is for certain; we have, throughout many decades, shaped the narrative of these incidents around that of a triangle, almost fearing the word when tragedy strikes. It seems to be a classic “which came first, the chicken or egg?” scenario. In this case however, we are left wondering; what came first, the mystery or the triangle? We may never truly know. And perhaps the best action we can take is to steer, swim, fly, or walk as far away from these areas as we can, knowing that some mysteries are best left unanswered.

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Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He co-hosts both the Into the Fray and UFOmodPod podcasts, both available on iTunes & Stitcher. His other work can be found at: www.somewhereintheskies.com

The Most Haunted Theater On Broadway: The Reprise of Mr Belasco – Ryan Sprague

March 8, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

“She hasn’t worked here since.”

These were the words of an usher concerning a fellow co-worker of hers. It was my first night working in this particular theater, and I’d heard many stories concerning strange noises, smells, sights, and feelings. But nothing quite like this. The usher would go on to tell me that every night, this usher would be the “closer”. She’d make sure the entire theater was empty of patrons and employees, she’d shut off all the lights, and she’d lock up all the doors. Upon leaving, she would always say goodnight to the original owner of the theater, Mr. David Belasco. Though one night would prove unusual as she completely forgot to do so. She locked the last remaining door and turned to leave. Suddenly, every single door of the front lobby forcefully swung open. The usher stared in disbelief as she knew full-well she’d locked them all. This was long before automatic doors, and not a single gust of wind was felt on that calm night. There simply was no apparent reasoning for the doors to have done what they did. Completely in shock, the usher reported what had happened to the police, and asked for a theater transfer the following morning, never to return.

Through my various jobs working on Broadway, I’d heard many stories of this particular theater being a haven for paranormal activity. The Belasco Theatre; a thousand-seat venue tucked snuggly on 44th Street in New York City, was originally built in 1906, under the direction of its owner, David Belasco. Belasco was a play and musical producer known for choosing unknown actors and elevating them to stardom. He also preferred playwrights whose success depended upon his collaboration. He soon gained a reputation in the theater community for productions that included lavish sets, special effects, and experimental lighting. But perhaps the most interesting thing about Mr. Belasco was that he even took up residence in the attic of the theater, converting it into a ten-room duplex penthouse where he could make work his home. Rumors spread that he’d even had floorboards carved out so that he could see into the theater when rehearsals and performances were going on. His reputation came to an unfortunate halt when he took his final bow of mortality on May 14th, 1931. But it seemed that both his work and presence in the building were far from facing its final curtain.

Immediately following his death, actors and crew members in the theater claimed to see a full-body apparition of Belasco. He would dawn his frequent outfit which included a clerical collar and cassock. These clothes caused many to nickname him the “Bishop of Broadway”. Actors onstage reported that they could often see a figure dressed as such, watching rehearsals from the balcony. Some actors even went so far as to claim that he would shake the hands of the males and would pinch the rear-ends of female performers. It was rumored, that in life, Belasco was very fond of beautiful actresses and may have even had peep-holes in his apartment that led directly into the female dressing rooms. This is, of course, only speculative, as the apartment has suffered much damage throughout time and a lot of the original floors have been renovated. But while this prolific (possibly “Peeping-Tom”) theater owner congratulated performers from the grave, he may have also shown his disapproval. After particularly bad performances, performers would often hear drawn-out moans echoing from the theater wings, and they’d even find their dressing rooms in disarray upon entering them after the show. It was also well known that Mr. Belasco loved smoking cigars, and even today, the staunch smell of cigar smoke sporadically wafts through the balcony seats and beyond.

The story of the usher and the swinging doors was very dramatic in fashion. And as I would soon learn, many of Mr. Belasco’s ghostly activity often came in the form of small pranks. This led me to a rather entertaining story from author, Adam Carpenter, who has written a detective series set in the Broadway community. Aside from his writing, Carpenter is also the head-ticket taker at the Belasco Theater, He would relate the following incident to me:

“The date was July 15th, 2015, and the front of the house staff had gathered to celebrate the 162nd birthday of Mr. Belasco. Having worked there on and off since 1991, I had seen no proof of ghost-like activity. Until that fateful day. Prior to the opening of the doors for ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’, I changed into my black suit, and I happened to be wearing a black shirt and tie as well. Deciding to play a trick on the staff, I waited until everyone was gathered in the house manager’s office—what would have been Belasco’s office back in the day. Before joining them, I took a white napkin and made it into a clerical collar, and attached it to my shirt. I then proceeded up the stairs, from the lobby to the office, where I then flicked the lights, and announced in a spooky voice that “I am the ghost of David Belasco…” I freaked out some staff, but most thought it was funny. Except Belasco. That night, when it came time to activate my scanners to scan tickets, they didn’t work. I had to tear tickets the old fashioned way, which is not the way to get 1,000 people through the door in 30 minutes. When I went to return the scanners to their chargers, I noticed a curious thing. The plug was not in the socket, a phenomenon which had never happened in all my years of working. Belasco, after all these years of ignoring me, had finally announced his presence. And he wasn’t happy.”

David Belasco, "The Bishop of Broadway" — David Belasco, “The Bishop of Broadway”

Adam’s story led to several others who may have had a brush with Mr. Belasco’s playful nature. I would speak to Andrew Sanford, the manager at the interior bar at the Belasco theater. He recounted a rather creepy experience he had one night in his office. Here it is in his own words:

“One night I was alone, in the office, counting the money for the night. And the office is room temperature, tops. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, a wave of cold air came through the office. It lasted about fifteen seconds and was gone. But it wasn’t just a wave. The room changed and then went right back to room temp. What was weird, is that to my recollection, there are no vents in that office and my door was completely shut tight. There was no where for this cold snap to come from. Needless to say, I put my money in the safe and waited out the rest of the show in the coatroom. Didn’t go back in the office till the next day.”

This experience was intriguing because of its correlation to many who’ve experienced some sort of paranormal activity. In the realm of ghost investigations, this phenomenon is known as a “cold spot”, in which a supposed area of localized coldness or a sudden decrease in ambient temperature that can not readily be explained by other natural or mechanical causes. But as I would soon learn, this wasn’t the only story coming from the bar staff at the Belasco Theater. Vinnie Costa, a bartender, recalled an unusual incident that occurred the week of Mr. Belasco’s birthday:

“That night, there was an odd feeling permeating the theater. Something electric was certainly in the air. I was working the coat room (bartenders often doubled as coatroom attendants), so it was my job to stay until the end and return checked coats. During the actual performance, we’re allowed to leave during the actual performance, so I decided to grab a bite to eat. I unlocked the door, closed it, checked to make sure it remained unlocked, and left for about fifteen minutes. When I got back, the manager had left and the coat room door was locked. Assuming he’d accidentally locked it, forgetting I was coming back, I texted him and he said he never touched the door that night. I asked another bartender, and they too confirmed they hadn’t touched the door. This bartender proceeded to tell me that he thought I’d been locking his cabinets after he unlocked them that night. Not one, not twice, but three times! I later found out that even the House Manager of the theater suffered the same issue, having gotten locked out of her office twice that night! Now, every time I enter the Belasco Theater through the stage door, I greet the spirit of Mr. Belasco, respectively, and with reverence. I’ve yet to be locked out of anything there again.”

Every evening after a Broadway theater is closed and all the lights are shut off, a single light is left on the bare stage to prevent hazardous falls or injuries the next day. But this instrument, aptly named a “ghost light”, is also a tradition that is supposed to ward off any negative spirits haunting the theater. But in the case of Mr. Belasco, it would seem that the “ghost light” in his theater illuminates his presence more than warding it off. So next time you find yourself sipping a cocktail at the Belasco Theater, or sitting in the balcony to watch a play, remember to either say hello or goodbye to Mr. Belasco. And behave yourself. Who knows who may be watching you from the apartment above?

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Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He co-hosts both the Into the Fray and UFOmodPod podcasts, both available on iTunes & Stitcher. His other work can be found at: www.somewhereintheskies.com

Moonwalker: Remembering Edgar Mitchell by Ryan Sprague

February 22, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

He’d taken his first ride in a plane when he was four years old in his hometown of Pecos Valley, New Mexico. It was a happy accident by a barnstormer pilot who’d ran out of fuel. That emergency landing on the farm of Edgar Mitchell’s father led he and the four year old to drive the pilot to get fuel. In appreciation, the pilot gave them a ride in his small plane. But the impact on a young Mitchell was anything but small, and inspired him to eventually become a pilot himself at the age of sixteen.

In 1952, he’d graduated from Carnegie Tech. From there, he enlisted in the Navy, and soon found himself in the seat of a fighter plane during the Korean War. All the meanwhile, he’d been studying Aeronautics in Navy Post-Graduate School, eventually receiving his Doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. In 1966, Mitchell made the biggest decision of his life, and at the age of 36, began working at NASA, hoping one day to leave the Earth behind for higher altitudes.

His work at NASA was rigorous and time consuming, working tirelessly on the ground for the Apollo 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 13 missions. His dedication clearly shined through, and he eventually worked his way up to a possible flight in space. After several years of intensive training, he was officially accepted into the Apollo 14 mission as a Lunar Module Pilot, heading for the moon. Along with his commander, Alan Shepard, and Command Module pilot, Stuart Ross, Mitchell prepared for take-off on January 31st, 1971.

Despite a few setbacks, Shepard and Mitchell stepped foot on the moon on February 5th. Mitchell helped collect 94 pounds of lunar rock and soil samples that were distributed across 187 scientific teams in the United States and 14 other countries for analysis. The mission also broke records, having succeeded in being the lengthiest distance traversed on the moon, the largest lunar payload returned from the moon, and also the longest stay on the moon, which lasted about 34 hours.

While these accomplishments were certainly reasons to be proud, they paled in comparison to the profound nature that the entire experience personally had on Mitchell. The nature of walking on the moon would obviously change any individual. But seeing the earth rise just over the horizon completely changed Mitchell’s outlook on humanity itself. He was once quoted as saying: “You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’”

These new ways of thinking led him to search deeper within, testing the limits of how space exploration can truly alter the human condition. He would further study these implications through the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which he founded in 1973. The institute currently conducts research on such topics as meditation, consciousness, spirituality, psychic abilities, and even psychokinesis. The institute currently offers thousands of articles pertaining to the possible benefits meditation may have on both physical and mental health.

His search for deeper answers to what many consider fringe topics didn’t end there. Mitchell soon became an advocate for demanding world governments to disclose what they knew about UFOs and the existence of extraterrestrial intelligences visiting our planet. In at interview on Kerang Radio in 2008, Mitchell stated: … “it is a real phenomenon and there are a few of us who know. It’s been covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so. But slowly it’s leaked out and some of us are privileged to have been briefed on some of it… I’ve also been in military circles and intelligence circles that know below the surface of what has been public knowledge that, yes, we have been visited.”

His knowledge on the topic, and passion to search for answers on what really lay beyond our planet only grew, and he soon became a board member for the Foundation of Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters (F.R.E.E), which facilitates scientific investigations into UFO reports and possible contact with extraterrestrial intelligences. Mitchell’s recent death prompted the other members of the organization to directly name the foundation after him. Their work continues today, comprised of members in many different scientific, psychological, and legal fields.

The life of Edgar Mitchell was clearly what many would consider well-lived. His passion for exploration inspired so many to literally reach for the stars, the diversity of those training to become astronauts growing every day. His footprint on the moon spoke volumes for those back on Earth, and with his passing, he leaves a legacy far beyond any mission he could have completed in life. He stared the unknown in the face, and used those revelations to expand the knowledge of each and every person back on Earth in the most ambitious ways he believed he could.

Commenting on his Apollo 14 mission, Mitchell once said, “To me, that spaceflight was the culmination of my being, and what can I learn from this? What is it we are learning? That’s important, because I think what we’re trying to do is discover ourselves and our place in the cosmos, and we don’t know. We’re still looking for that.” As we continue to explore the vastness of space and the possibility of travelling to other planets, we remember Dr. Edgar Mitchell for the true hero he was. Perhaps the answers he sought lay somewhere in the skies of possibility. And as we stare outward, we can take comfort in knowing, that with his accomplishments and contributions to humanity, something will undoubtedly begin to stare back.

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Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He co-hosts the podcasts, Into the Fray and UFOmodPod, both available on iTunes. His other work can be found at: somewhereintheskies.com

Are We ET? – Ryan Sprague’s Hidden Auditorium

February 4, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

Who are they and where do they come from?

Two of the most profound questions we find ourselves pondering when dealing with the UFO phenomenon. The often elusive nature of these mysterious objects, the almost mystical interactions with supposed extraterrestrials, and even the reports of abductions by non-human entities leave us wondering how in the world anything like this could ever be the work of humans. We then find ourselves searching the skies for many of the answers to these deeply complex inquires. But could the answers we seek actually be closer than we think? When we begin to move away from the magical and mystical, we see that maybe science, in all its methodical and unforgiving glory, could bring about proof that aliens do not only exist, but that we may be the aliens we seek.

A Feeling of Alienation

In his recent book, Humans are not from Earth: A Scientific Evaluation of the Evidence, noted ecologist, Dr. Ellis Silver, makes a rather controversial argument that human physiology could perhaps show signs that it isn’t suited properly for this blue planet we call home. Comparing us as human beings to that of most animals on the planet, Silver also says, in an interview with Yahoo! News, that “Lizards can sunbathe for as long as they like, and many of them do. We can just about get away with it for a week or two. But day after day in the sun? Forget it. You might as well just lie down on the freeway and wait for a bus to hit you.”

Going into greater detail, Silver also says that human beings have vastly more chronic illness than that of other mammals. “Indeed, if you can find a single person who is 100% fit and healthy and not suffering from some condition or disorder, I would be extremely surprised.” He also theorizes that because most adults seem to have bad backs or signs of onset scoliosis, this could be an indicator that humans may have evolved on a planet with much lower gravity.

Perhaps his most intriguing theory is that we innately feel almost prisoners to our own world. “There’s a prevailing feeling among many people that they don’t belong here or that something just isn’t right,” Silver continues. “One reason for this, is that the Earth might be a prison planet, since we seem to be a naturally violent species, and we’re here until we learn to behave ourselves.” This is a very interesting theory, and one I personally glean with a skeptical lens. Could there perhaps be a similar race of human-like beings, watching us from afar, shaking their heads at us as we kill, rape, and torture one another? Is this a penal colony of cosmic proportions? Maybe we should begin to entertain the possibility that we are being watched not by big brother in the form of three letter agencies here on Earth, but a perhaps by a galactic federation somewhere beyond the stars.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Ryan Sprague asks, Are We ET?” quote=”Ryan Sprague asks, ‘Are We ET?'”]So the real question is, does Silver have any proof to back up the sweeping claims above? “Recent scientific reports suggest that life itself might not be from Earth,” he explains. “…but might have arrived here on meteors or comets. This primitive form of life then evolved over billions of years into what we find on the earth today. My thesis proposes that mankind did not evolve from that particular strain of life, but evolved elsewhere and was transported to Earth (as fully evolved Homo sapiens) between 60,000 and 200,000 years ago.” Here we have one person’s opinion that we may in fact be alien to our own planet. But is there actual scientific evidence, as Silver suggests, that we stem from somewhere else? It’s actually much more possible than we may think.

Planting the Seeds

“Seeds everywhere.” This is the literal translation of the Greek word panspermia. It states that the seeds of life on Earth exist all over the universe and can be propagated through space. These seeds are mechanisms that include the deflection of interstellar dust by solar radiation pressure and extremophile micro-organisms traveling through space within asteroids, meteorites, and comets. There are several forms of panspermia such as Lithopanspermia (from one solar system to another) or Ballistic Panspermia (from one planet to another). This idea does not set out to explain evolution or the origin of life in the Universe, but it attempts solely to solve the mystery of the origins of life on Earth and the potential transfer of life throughout the Universe.

We see the first variations of this concept through the writings of the Greek philosopher, Anaxagoras, somewhere around 500 BC. Although it differs from what we consider panspermia today, it still remains relevant in terms of this ambitious way of thinking. Anaxagoras states that “All things have existed from the beginning. But originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined. All things existed in this mass, but in a confused and indistinguishable form. There were the seeds (spermata) or miniatures of wheat and flesh and gold in the primitive mixture; but these parts, of like nature with their wholes, had to be eliminated from the complex mass before they could receive a definite name and character.”

The theory of panspermia was then touched on in the writings of French diplomat and natural historian, Benoit de Maillet. In 1743, de Maillet wrote that he believed life on Earth was seeded by germs in space that had descended to the oceans rather than ascending from abiogenesis (living cells emerging from chemical evolution on Earth.) Panspermia continued to theoretically evolve throughout the nineteenth century by many scientists such as Jons Jacob Berzelius and Hermann von Helmholtz. Then, in 1973, Nobel Prize winning molecular biologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, Francis Crick (along with British chemist, Leslie Orgel), brought forth the even more ambitious theory of directed panspermia, which consists of possible deliberate transport of microorganisms in space to planets that have no life whatsoever. Perhaps most ambitious in their theories is that an extraterrestrial civilization may have been responsible for our seeding on Earth.

NASA Gets Involved

As the theories on panspermia continued to evolve throughout the scientific community, it soon became clear that the official space program had to weigh in on the topic. This is when NASA eventually got involved. Dr. Michael Callahan, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, once stated that: “People have been discovering components of DNA in meteorites since the 1960’s, but researchers were unsure whether they were really created in space or if instead they came from contamination by terrestrial life.”

But as time progressed, Callahan, along with other astronomers were able to deduce that the building blocks of life were most likely created in space. This discovery came on the tail end of evidence that suggests that the chemistry inside meteorites is capable of producing biological molecules. Therefore, it is also likely that the molecular structure of life on Earth could have been chemically created outside of the planet, and then were seeded when certain asteroids or meteorites crash landed on the planet itself.

Martian in the Mirror

So while many theorize that earth-based life could have potentially started in space, what about the possibility that it perhaps started on another planet? This is one theory brought to the table by chemist, Steven Benner, one of the leading experts on the origins of life. Benner postulates that because meteorites stemming from the planet Mars contain boron and molybdenum, these could be precursors to the formation of RNA, which is in essence, a molecule that takes on many biological roles, including expression, regulation, coding, and decoding of human genes.

Benner’s theories are strengthened by the work of Elizabeth Hausrath and Christopher Adcock, researchers from the University of Nevada. They discovered that Martian meteorites also contained phosphates, which is another vital chemical in the formation of RNA and DNA. They also discovered that proteins in these meteorites are vastly more water-soluble than proteins seen on Earth. They have deduced that since life supposedly began in the presence of water, Mars could have perhaps formed life much more efficiently than on Earth.

Conclusions

While the ambitious claims of Dr. Silver, Dr. Callahan, Elizabeth Hausrath, and Christopher Adcock are enticing, there simply isn’t irrefutable evidence to back up their claims to a point of certainty. But their theories remain in a hopeful state of evolution, resting on the shoulders of the many panspermia theorists before them. Only time will truly tell as we move forward in our exploration of both Mars and the many other planets within our reach.

The explosive budget increase in NASA missions to explore these planets could give us further insight into the possibility that we may have stemmed from somewhere other than this blue, rocky planet we call home. As we draw closer to manned missions to these potential planets, this could unlock many mysteries not only to the universe itself, but where we may lay in the cosmic agenda we call life. The potential to travel from planet to planet was once thought fantasy and science fiction. But as we’ve seen throughout the panspermia timetable, everything we once thought science fiction could slowly, but surely be turning to science fact.

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Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He co-hosts the podcasts, Into the Fray and UFOmodPod, both available on iTunes. His other work can be found at: somewhereintheskies.com

Dying To Impress – Ryan Sprague’s Hidden Auditorium

January 13, 2016 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

Illusions that Permanently Disappeared their Creators

When I was twelve years old, my father brought me to my first magic show. I’d never really paid attention to the act of magic, save a few amateur shows at birthday parties growing up. Suffice to say, I was not entirely impressed. But as I entered the Landmark Theater in my hometown of Syracuse, NY that night, my impression of magic took on a whole new light. I watched as famed magician, David Copperfield, performed feats of the impossible that stunned and astounded. His final illusion of the night included not only levitation, but flying across the proscenium stage and out into the audience. While even a young version of myself was more than skeptical of this seemingly “no stings attached” illusion, it didn’t stop my mouth from gaping wide and my eyes remaining fixated on the flying man above me. And as he seamlessly seemed to soar hundreds and hundreds of feet above, I wondered what would happen, if by some horrible accident, he suddenly fell to the ground. Not only would it most likely be the end of his career, but perhaps even the end of his life. And as my fascination for magicians grew, their death-defying illusions continued to both excite and terrify me, even up until today. This eventually led me to finally face the horrifying aspect that sometimes these illusions didn’t go according to plan. And the illusionists below unfortunately didn’t live to tell the tale.

Karr vs. Car

Charles Rowen was a South African magician known for extremely dangerous stunts. Most notably were his escapes from straight jackets and diving in to piles of broken glass. But it was one single escape that would leave Rowen, better known as Karr the Mysterious, bracing for impact with the last escape of his life.

It was in 1930 when Rowen performed for a large crowd in Springfontein, Orange Free State, in South Africa. In front of stunned spectators, including many young children, Rowen explained to the audience that a car would be traveling towards him from about two hundred yards away at forty miles per hour. Rowen, strapped tightly into a straight jacket, then explained that he would escape from the jacket in time to dodge the oncoming car. Given the distance and speed of the car, he would have as little as fifteen seconds to complete the escape.

The audience looked on as Rowen desperately tried to escape the jacket. The car picked up speed, barreling towards him. And it soon became clear that Rowen was too slow to get the jacket off. He wasn’t able to dodge the car, and it hit him at full impact, completely severing his leg. The head-on collision led to his death. But before he seemingly met his maker, Rowen made it clear that this was his own wrongdoing, and completely exonerated the driver of the car from any responsibility. Karr the Mysterious was now gone. But his legacy, for those who witnessed his demise that day, lived on in grisly detail.

Buried Alive, Exhumed Dead

“I consider myself a master of illusion and escape artist. I believe I’m the next Houdini and greater.” These were the words of Joseph Burrus, or better known by his stage name, Amazing Joe. And as he pronounced these ambitious words to the crowd that night, Burrus had no idea how eerily right he actually was. But it was the last comparison to Houdini that he could possibly have wanted.

It was Halloween night of 1992 in Fresno, California. Burrus was performing at a local amusement park where hundreds of witnesses, including news cameras, watched as he explained his grandiose escape. He was to be buried in a plastic and glass coffin about seven feet down, and then several tons of cement and dirt were to be poured on top of him. Handcuffed, he would have to escape both his restraints, the coffin, and then make way to the surface. Many believed this feet to be impossible. One reporter even mentioned that the cement on the bottom would dry fast, leaving no way for him to break through. With no illusion to be had, Burrus legitimately believed he could survive this great escape unscathed. But logic, physics, and carelessness got the best of him.

After the dirt and cement were poured on, a loud crack and the shattering echoes of glass were heard. It was soon clear that the coffin had caved in, literally burying Burrus alive. By the time rescuers could dig up the dirt and cement, it was already too late. The weight of the cement and dirt had crushed him, leaving no chance of revival. It was on that fateful Halloween night that Burrus had perished, dying on the same night as Harry Houdini almost seventy years prior.

Six Feet Under(water)

It was on July 7th, 1984. Jeff Rayburn Hooper was practicing an escape stunt outside Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the deep waters of Lake Winona. The stunt involved Hooper being handcuffed and submerged into the water. He would then have to escape the restraints and swim to safety. The stunt was to be officially performed at the Winona Lake Bible Conference later that day. But Hooper wanted to attempt a rehearsal by himself to get it right. Unfortunately, the rehearsal would prove deadly, and Hooper would’t make it to the actual performance.

Anxious earlier in the day to get the escape right, Hooper handcuffed himself, jumped into the water, and swam about a hundred yards out, soon sinking to the bottom. Completely submerged, he struggled to get his wrists free of the restraints. Soon, he was able to successfully do so and swim to the surface. He began to yell to his assistant back on land, but the harsh winds muffled his shouts for help. The wind also made it impossible for Hooper to swim to shore. Rescuers weren’t able to make it to Hooper in time, and he drowned about six feet underwater, proving yet again, that sometimes, practice doesn’t always make perfect.

One More Bullet for the Road

The “Bullet Catch” has always been a favorite amongst magicians and audiences alike. The danger and split second anticipation of a human being stopping a bullet after being fired comes with great risk, no matter how prepared the shooter and receiver may be. And for one magician, that risk backfired in the most tragic of ways.

William Elmsworth Robinson, a Brooklyn-based magician, had assumed the identity of an ancient Chinese illusionist, never speaking English during his performances. Known as Chung Ling Soo, he’d cover his face in yellow paint and would speak completely in false Mandarin. He’d have an interpreter “translate” everything to is adoring fans, never once speaking English in front of a crowd. At the peak of his career, being one the most famous magicians in the world at the time, Robinson would perform one of his most enticing illusions on March 23rd, 1918. At Woodgreen Empire, in London, England, he began his version of the bullet catch, in which a blank shot would be fired, and he would “catch the bullet.” However, the gun, having not been properly cleaned from the last performance of the illusion, caused a build-up of gunpowder in the chamber, and the spark of the blank actually ignited the live bullet, and the bullet was actually fired. It hit Robinson straight in the chest, piercing his lung.

In the heat of the moment, and knowing something had gone wrong, Robinson broke character for the very first time, yelling to his assistant, “Oh my God, bring down the curtain. Something has happened.” Robinson was rushed to the hospital, but was unable to be saved. He died early the next day. Many believe that Robinson had this coming, as many who knew he was American found his racist act deplorable. Others believe he was lazy and cheap by leaving one live bullet in the chamber of the gun because he never wanted to replace it with a new one. Either way, Robinson had caught the bullet indeed, but it cost him his life.

A Hard Trick to Swallow

If anyone should know not to stick things in their mouth that isn’t food, it should be a practitioner of dentistry. But this clearly wasn’t the case for Dr. Vivian Hensley, an oral surgeon out of Brisbane, Australia. Little did he know that as he tried to impress his young son one evening, he would be leaving that very son fatherless in doing so.

It was July 6th, 1938. Hensley, an amateur magician, wanted to perform a rather disturbing slight-of-hand trick for his young son. He called it, “Swallowing the Rusty Razor Blade”. The plan was to slyly slip the razor blade into the sleeve of his coat while miming that it went into his mouth. But perhaps moving too quickly, Hensley actually dropped it into his mouth and indeed swallowed the razor blade.

Hensley’s wife, terrified, forced Hensley to swallow cotton balls as they rushed to the hospital. One can only assume she was hoping the cotton would cover the blade, protecting him from any internal lacerations. Despite her quick-thinking, many x-rays, and two surgeries, the doctors were unable to locate the razor blade. And four days later, Hensley died of internal injuries. While scarred from the inside, it was clear that Hensley’s family would also be scarred in the most emotional of ways.

Conclusions

It has been said by many escape artists, magicians, and illusionists throughout time that to “die” on stage is the fullest expression of failure; but to “kill” during a performance is the highest achievement. As we have seen through the lens of these tragic figures, sometimes the ends don’t always justify the means, and when it comes to the art of magic, the figurative death becomes startlingly literal. And although we may be filled with wonder and awe as a spectator, the fear of death also lingers dark in the corner of our minds. And with the cautionary tales above, I’m sure it lingers just as bleak for the magician on stage as well.

– – –

Ryan Sprague is a professional playwright & screenwriter in New York City. He is also an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He co-hosts the podcasts, Into the Fray and UFOmodPod, both available on iTunes. His other work can be found at: www.somewhereintheskies.com

Dead Mountain – The Dyatlov Pass Incident – Ryan Sprague’s Hidden Auditorium

November 24, 2015 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

Imagine being trapped on top of a mountain in below-freezing temperatures, no food to eat, no help on the way, and the cold hard truth that death was right around the frigid corner.

It is truly the stuff of nightmares when you are nestled in your warm bed with the covers drawn snuggly over your body and the room filled with a comfortable heat pumping from the furnace. But imagine, even worse, the thought that while trapped in this nightmare scenario, your eventual death would never truly be solved. Your legacy would be frozen in a block of both tragedy and complete mystery. A mystery that was all to real for a group of Russian mountaineers who hiked the Ural mountains in 1959, prompting one of the most gruesome and tragic discoveries in the last half century.

It was January 25th when twenty-three year old Igor Dyatlov assembled the crew that consisted of three engineers and seven students. The students, highly athletic skiers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, set off on a training expedition, preparing themselves for an even more ambitious trip to the Arctic regions in the coming months. As days passed, the group made modest headway. But it soon became clear that they’d deviated west in the wrong direction for quite some time due to worsening weather conditions and decreasing visibility. It was on February 1st that one of the team members, Yuri Yudin, decided to stay behind in the nearby settlement of Vizhai, due to illness. Little did Yudin know, this decision would ultimately spare his life.

The rest of the team set up camp on a nearby mountain called Kholat Syakhl, or better known to the indigenous Mansi tribe; Mountain of the Dead. The decision to set up camp here has remained questionable for some time now, many questioning why they hadn’t hiked about a mile more to a slightly warmer and less dangerous open space at the face of the mountain. In 2008, in an interview with The St. Petersburg Times, Yudin himself would defend the decision by Dyatlov and the team, postulating that he “probably did not want to lose the distance they had covered, or he decided to practice camping on the mountain slope.”

Either way, the decision to set up in the forested area would prove disastrous as the days trickled by and no one, including Yudin, had heard anything from the team. As more and more time passed, the families of the members became progressively concerned. A few days off course was typical for such expeditions, but when more than a week slipped by with not a single telegram or distress call, family members demanded a search and rescue operation by the Ural Polytechnic Institute be put into action. When they failed to produce any results on the ground, local military helicopters were sent out to search for the team. It wasn’t until February 26th that the first helicopter pilot would spot something on the ground near the campsite in the forest.

What the first set of investigators found was puzzling. The campsite boasted a large tent that the entire team presumably shared, that appeared to have been cut apart from within. One of the members of the Polytechnic Institute, Mikhail Sharavin, accompanied the investigators. He would later explain what he first witnessed when they approached the campsite. “We discovered that the tent was half torn down and covered with snow. It was empty, and all the group’s belongings and shoes had been left behind.” This observation continued with investigators noting at least eight sets of footprints leading from the tent, all the way to the treeline. Two other pairs of footprints, completely barefoot, were followed to a large pine tree some 1,500 feet away from the tent. Under the tree, Sharavin saw the remains of a fire. But what he saw next sealed the fate of at least two of the members. There, in the snow, were the bodies of Georgyi Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko, both naked save their underwear. Investigators would also note later on that the pine tree had fragments of both men’s skin about fifteen feet or so up in the branches and bark, postulating that they’d tried to climb the tree to no avail. What exactly were they attempting to escape from? With no trace of animal prints anywhere, their lack of clothes, and the fact that they’d had time to start a fire under the tree made the investigators even more puzzled. These were only the beginning of never-ending questions as the investigators uncovered more and more gruesome evidence of the remaining team members.

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About 1,000 feet from this scene lay another gruesome sight. In the wintry terrain lay the body of Dyatlov himself. One hand clung firmly to a nearby tree, while the other hand, frozen with ice and rigor mortis, was wrapped around his head in a protective manner. Could he have been trying to stop whatever it was that Krivonischenko and Doroshenko were possibly trying to take refuge from? Not far from Dyatlov was the body of Rustem Slobodin, face down, with a large gash in the side of his head. Furthest from the others was the body of Zinaida Kolmogoro. Traces of blood were found around her body, yet no signs of struggle were apparent. The five deaths were all eventually attributed to hypothermia, but it wouldn’t be until two months later, when the terrain thawed out, that the remaining members would be found.

It was now May 4th. About 250 feet away from the camp site, in a half frozen ravine, the bodies of Alexander Zolotaryov, Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel, Alexander Kolevatov, and Ludmila Dubinina were discovered. All four had suffered severe internal injuries, though no outward trauma, bruises, or even tissue damage seemed to be apparent. Local doctors were quoted as saying that the internal damage was “equal to the effect of a car crash.” Perhaps the most disturbing was that of Dubinina, who was found with her head tilted severely back and her mouth gaping wide, her tongue ripped completely out and missing. Things only spiraled further into obscurity. All four seemed to have swapped various items of clothing with one another, including items from the two men found mostly naked under the tree where the fire had been set up.

As if things weren’t strange enough, further investigation would conclude that most of the deceased were found with heavy amounts of trace radiation on their clothes. Several family members, at the funerals of the deceased, would eventually claim that the bodies of the dead bore a rather odd orange color. The hair of the dead has also lost its pigmentation, turning a dull grey. Too many questions circled the mountain in the aftermath of the almost unimaginable discovery of the dead. It was quite clear that something truly tragic had occurred to the team, and as the families began to grieve, the investigators tried desperately to string a timeline together in terms of just what may have happened on the mountain that fateful day. Some hope of doing so came in the form of several rolls of film and diaries that were found in the damaged tent.

The photos developed from the rolls of film revealed that the expedition members had indeed set up their campsite on February 2nd, at approximately 5:00 pm. The first photo showed the members looking very happy and healthy. Taking into consideration the digestion of food in several team member’s bodies, investigators were able to conclude that they’d eaten a meal sometime around 7pm that night and most likely went to sleep some hours later. Because of this apparent meal, forensic pathologists were able to estimate that whatever had led to their deaths happened between 9pm and midnight leading into February 3rd, based on the undigested food found in their stomachs.

Because of the knowledge that the experienced team possessed, whatever happened that night must have sent them into a complete frenzy, fearing their lives were in great danger. While they all fled in several directions, it was also presumed that they all met under the tree where Krivonischenko and Doroshenko had been found. Perhaps they’d all started the fire together, and the two attempted to climb the tree to look for help, eventually failing. This would lead the others to eventually seek other paths for possible rescue from whatever seemed to be the catalyst of the tragic events. With Dyatlov missing at this point, the others had possibly began a trek back towards the tent. This is when they fell into the ravine and were unable to get out

The events of February 2nd would lead officials to close off this pass from any other outdoorsmen, fearing that whatever occurred that night could possibly happen again. It remained closed for almost three years afterwards. The case was suspiciously closed by investigators, and any documents pertaining to the events were shipped off to a Soviet agency that has yet to be uncovered. To this day, no declassified files have ever been released on what happened on the mountain. But that didn’t stop civilians from coming up with their own theories as to what may have sent the team into a panic and caused their untimely deaths.

One theory was that while wandering this certain area the day prior, the skiers had unintentionally run into the indigenous Mansi tribesmen, who in their Siberian native ways, didn’t react too kindly to visitors trespassing on their territory. They took matter into their own hands and attacked the skiers, a brutal game of hunter and prey occurring. But investigators were quick to dispel these rumors, stating that no trauma from humans caused the deaths of the skiers and their leader. This would lead to theories that, if not human, something other-worldly could have had a rather alien hand in the fate of the team.

Lev Ivanov, the lead Soviet investigator on the case, interviewed a group of nearby hikers who were in the area when the incident supposedly occurred. A respectable thirty-two miles away, the hikers reported a cluster of “strange orange spheres” in the sky that night. This was also reported by other witnesses in the area for the next few months after the event. Ivanov, in his later years, admitted that he himself believed that the orange spheres in the sky may have been the cause of the Dyatlov team’s demise, or at least had something to do with it, speculating that one of the skiers may have witnessed the UFOs, panicked, and sent the others into a similar frenzy. Many also theorize that a possibly UFO could have caused the orange color to the skin found on the bodies, the grey hair, and even the trace radiation found on their clothes. And while the alien theory seems to be the most unlikely, some look a bit more in the cryptid realm for a possible answer.

While many areas boast their own version of a hominid-like creature, Siberia reigns as one of the most popular with its own Siberian Yeti knows as an “Alma”. Perhaps the creature had infiltrated their tent and sent them running for their lives. This theory hold very little weight, however, as no clear footprints, other than those of the deceased, had been found anywhere near the scene of the deaths. But one interesting piece of evidence couldn’t keep this theory completely out of possibility. Supposedly, a piece of paper near the campsite was found that simply read: “From now on we know there are snowmen.”

Other various theories have been brought forth, involving top secret government projects being tested in the area, and even the possibility that the skiers had mistaken harsh winds and unattributed noises to an avalanche. This would presumably prompt them to frantically escape the tent and seek refuge. However, one would suspect that, once again, these knowledgable skiers and their leader would have been fully aware, as they looked behind them, that no avalanche activity was in sight. As for the government experiments? This can’t be completely ruled out, as many investigators have alluded that teams were sent in to investigate long before the camp was said to have originally been discovered with the grisly scenes of death. An extra pair of skies, and even fabrics from a military-like uniform had been found near the campsite. But just like the other theories before these, none of this can irrefutably be proven, once again leaving us to spin our imaginations into overdrive in terms of a possible answer to this tragedy.

Perhaps the word: tragedy, should be the focus of this entire event, more than the mystery that lay behind it. Besides the memories of friends and family, a rusted plaque and memorial stone remain the only physical remembrance of those who lost their lives that day. It is truly a horrific set of events that caused the deaths of those on the Dyatlov Pass. Perhaps it could best summed up by the late Yuri Yudin, the only member who dodged the terrible fate that night. In the same 2008 interview he took part in about the incident, he stated: “If I had a chance to ask God just one question, it would be, ‘What really happened to my friends that night?’”

Photo Credit: The Dyatlov Foundation

– – –
Ryan Sprague is an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, “Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon”, published by Richard Dolan Press. He is also the co-host of the podcasts, Into the Fray and UFOmodPod, both available on iTunes. His other work can be found at: www.somewhereintheskies.com

Can We Come In? – The Lore Of The Black Eyed Children – Ryan Sprague’s Hidden Auditorium

October 27, 2015 By Jim Harold

Ryan Sprague

It’s that time of the year again. The time when we drool over pumpkin spiced lattes, wiggle our way into the ‘ol autumn sweaters, and glue our eyes to our televisions to watch countless horror movies under a full moon. But for those of us who find ourselves researching the paranormal, this is just another typical day for our curious minds. And while my previous article for The Hidden Auditorium focussed on the possible crypto cousins of the grays, I thought this time it would be interesting to cover another topic that involves black eyed beings of the human persuasion… or so it would seem.

Imagine sitting in your living room one night, reading a book. You begin to doze off, the strain of the day slowly fading away as your eyes close. Suddenly, a harsh knock on the front door springs you to full attention. It’s so late, you think to yourself. Who could it possibly be? You make way to the door and peer out the peephole. There’s a dark silhouette of a small figure in your distorted view. You open the door, assuming this is a child. You are right. But what you notice next makes this anything but a normal encounter with an adolescent.

Staring back at you are two eyes. But they aren’t the average iris, pupil, or sclera you are used to seeing. They are pure black, from lid to lid. Nothing but the moon bounces light off of these deep pools of nothingness. You shudder, trying to take in this unusual sight before you. That’s when you realize, that standing behind this child are two more figures. They slowly move forward, their eyes identical to the leader. They wear simple clothes. Perhaps a solid black hooded sweatshirt. It falls baggy over their unusually pale skin. The leader finally speaks.

“Can we come in?”

You stare at them dumbfounded. Why would you let a child into your home this late at night? Where are their parents? They unintentionally (perhaps) answer your queries with blunt assertion.

“We’re lost. We don’t have anywhere to go. Please let us come in.”

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You are sweating. You tremble. Adrenaline courses through your veins as you take stock of the situation. They continue staring at you with their soulless eyes. The debate wages in your head of whether or not to slam the door on them, or let them inside. They’re just kids, you assure yourself. Aren’t they? As the debate wages on, you can feel your heart pounding harder than ever before. Something about this situation is not only unusual. It’s downright terrifying.

“Please. Let us in.”

No matter what you do next, it feels like it is the wrong answer. You are left in your doorway, having just encountered what has been coined as an experience with The Black Eyed Children. This phenomenon spans continents. And with each passing encounter, these strange children seem to become more and more aggressive. But what exactly is it that they want? And what happens if you let them in?

While once thought to stem from online urban legend, the BEK’s (Black Eyed Kids) became a dark and disturbing sensation, stories cropping up all over the world recounting terrifying tales of the children and their devious pleads for car rides or invites into homes. It was now harder than ever to separate fact from fiction, the BEK’s soon falling into the same skeptical box as Slenderman and other legends thought to be created online. And it all seemed to have begun with a singular encounter that sparked a phenomenon.

Encounter at the Movie Theater

Brian Bethel was a journalist out of Abilene, Texas. It was believed that the BEK phenomenon had stemmed from a story Bethel recounted to colleagues in a personal email almost two years after the incident had occurred. It was 1996 when he was on his way to pay an internet bill at a local provider’s offices. He pulled over near a movie theater, using the marquee’s light to write a check. It was in this moment when a knock frightened him, a pair of pale knuckles tapping his driver’s side window. Bethel looked up to see two young boys with hooded sweatshirts covering their faces. An immense rush of fear suddenly rushed over him. The fear, as Bethel remembered, was incomprehensible at the time. The boy who seemed to be the leader of the two had curly hair and an olive complexion. The other boy stood in the back ground, red hair a freckles. Their appearance, though average at first glance, soon sent even more fear through his bones. The boy’s both had eyes that lacked any substance. They were just large swathes of pitch black. No life to them whatsoever.

Frozen in his car, Bethel listened as the leader asked if they could have a ride to their mother’s house. They wanted to get money to see a movie at the nearby theater. “ It won’t take long,” the boy assured Bethel. “We’re just kids,” the boy would continue. Though these words were perhaps meant to ease Bethel’s obvious terror, it only made him panic even more. He rolled the window up and put the car in reverse, ready to drive off. The boy yelled to him through the window of the car. “We can’t come in unless you tell us it’s okay. Let us in!” He drove away, quickly glancing one more time for the boys. But he saw nothing. Within seconds, they had completely disappeared out of sight.

I caught up with Bethel recently, hoping that he could shed some more light on his terrifying incident that night, and just exactly what he thought of his story sparking countless tales of the black eyed children. My first inquiry was if the incident had instilled any type of paranoia or follow-up events of high strangeness, as had often been reported in other cases of BEKs. He would tell me: “My sleep was greatly disturbed. I didn’t want to sleep at all, actually. I felt unsafe doing so. I kept having this fantasy of them appearing at the foot of my bed, or waiting outside my door for me when I went outside. It was a rough few weeks, I’ll say, and the effects linger to this day. The use of black eyes to symbolize evil has become a common trope in horror films and other media, and I will tell you that every time I see such an image, especially if I’m not expecting it, I flash back briefly to those terrible, agonizing moments in my car. I legitimately did not know if I was going to die or not. I have never been so terrified.”

So as for Bethel’s leaked email becoming a template for similar stories, both fabricated and real, I wanted to see what his thoughts were on this controversy and just exactly how he felt about possibly creating an accidental urban legend. “It’s easy now to write something quasi-convincing based on the model of kids knocking on a car window, asking to come in, door opener detects something is wrong, terrible revelation, rinse and repeat. I judge each story shared with me on its own merits, but I apply greater skepticism to anything that adheres too slavishly to the basic formula. I look and listen for little variations and details that add more verisimilitude. If it’s just a carbon copy of what I’ve heard or seen, I tend to dismiss it or at least give it less credence. That said, I have heard many, many stories that I’m convinced are true.”

So if true, what exactly are these children? Whether it be aliens disguised as children, hoping to abduct innocent humans, or if they are some sort of soul-sucking demons trying to take over a vulnerable host, the possibilities remain endless. I found Bethel’s answer to this very question most intriguing. “I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that they are predators, and we are the food. I don’t think they eat us in any literal sense, but they do want something from us. Maybe they do just want to kill, but I tend think the design is far more complex than that. Until you’ve been on the receiving end of those terrible, dark eyes, filled with hate and torn from the very depths of night and time, I’m not sure you can understand. The people I’ve spoken with who have truly seen them understand completely.”

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In trying to better understand these accounts, assuming there are genuine encounters with these children, my research would soon lead me to perhaps one of the most comprehensive studies on the “BEK” phenomenon to this day. Author, David Weatherly, compiled an extensive list of experiences with these enigmatic youngsters that he aptly titled in a full length book, Black Eyed Children. I spoke to Weatherly about these accounts and his approach to disseminating actual testimony from urban legend. “One of my goals when I wrote the book was to find out if the encounters pre-dated the internet and television,” Weatherly explained. “The trick was, while researching, to eliminate the catch phrases: ‘BEK’ and ‘black eyed children.’ Those terms are very modern. But I was able to find cases that certainly go back through history.”

The Black Eyed Beings of Aisne

One of the more stunning accounts Weatherly came across dated all the way back to 1974 in the Picardi region of Aisne, France. According to an early witness report from the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (N.I.C.A.P), two men known only as Alain and Patrick were making a leisurely drive through a small village, enjoying the autumn weather. It was around 3pm when they decided to turn around and take a different route. Upon turning, Patrick noticed something near the last house in the village that made him hit the breaks. There, in the courtyard of the house, were five small figures. Three of them stood in the background, huddled together. Another was tracing its hands along the home. The last figure stood facing Patrick and Alain. Alain rolled down his passenger side window to get a better look. “He reports that his blood ran cold when faced with the being,” Weatherly would tell me. “The appearance of the five characters was as strange as their behavior. They were all just over four feet tall. They were dressed alike with long garments that almost reached the ground. These garments were decorated with multicolored spots. The beings themselves had earthy yellow skin and long hair that fell down their backs and to their waist. Their noses were compressed inwards, and their eyes were described as enormous, solid black hemispheres, the size of billiard balls.”

Soon, the being closest the car began to wave to Patrick and Alain, gesturing to come closer. The motion of the being scared Alain so much that he screamed in terror for Patrick to drive away. Patrick hit the gas pedal and they sped out of the area to a nearby town. They told several locals of what they had witnessed. They returned hours later to find no sign of the small beings anywhere. “Eight months later, an investigator finally made it to the scene and spoke with nearby residents,” Weatherly recounted. “Interestingly, he found a neighbor who had noticed the beings on the road in front of the home. He reported that he thought the beings he saw were ‘children dressed in yellow oilcloth’.”

While this pre-internet account of black eyed beings was intriguing, it didn’t fit the mold of the stories that littered online forums and fringe websites. What about the children who begged to be let inside a home? Weatherly would come across a case slingshotting us back to the 1950s when a young man named Harold would have a startling encounter with a boy with black eyes.

The Screaming Boy at the Fence

Harold was sixteen years old when it happened. He was making the long walk home from a friend’s house. As he made way down the dirt road leading to the entrance, he noticed a small figure leaning against the fence in front of the house. As he approached, he noticed that it was a boy. Being a small town, everyone knew everyone. Harold was puzzled, having never seen this child before. He immediately started talking to the boy, but received no response. He asked if the boy was alright, and after a moment, the boy finally replied. “I wanna go to your house. Take me to your house.”

A chill rushed through Harold. He didn’t know how to respond. It was in that moment that the boy looked up at him, a pair of solid black eyes staring at Harold with a desperate assertiveness. Harold felt glued to the ground, terrified. He looked up the road, planning to run when the boy immediately shot back. “Now don’t you run away from me. You’re gonna walk me to your house.” Harold was now feeling threatened. He made a run for it, sprinting up the road. Too scared to look back, all he heard was a screeching wail, like that of a bobcat. Was it the child? Was this a wail of anger for not listening to his threatening words? He wasn’t about to stick around to find out.

The front door to the home flung open as Harold barreled through the entrance. Startled, his parents asked him what was wrong. Struggling to speak, he finally explained what he had seen to his protective father. Soon, the father grabbed a shotgun and headed down the road, desperately searching for this boy. There was absolutely no sign of him anywhere. The family was left wondering just exactly what it was that Harold had experienced that night. His mother, fearing that it had literally been the devil in disguise, brought Harold to a local clergy and had him blessed. And with that, the encounter with the screaming boy at the fence came and went with more questions than answers.

Conclusions

In the cases of Brian Bethel, Patrick and Alain, and that of Harold, each encounter with these beings brought one singular sensation of pure terror. While strange in scope, these small children, unthreatening in size, more than made up for it with their sinister eyes and unexplainable persuasiveness. In Weatherly’s examinations into countless cases involving these black eyed beings, he was able to find many connections. It was almost as if, feeding off the fear of their victims, these beings were able to read the emotions and minds of those they approached. In turn, they seemed to either try to calm them down, or take the extreme route of threatening them. Either way, their goal of getting closer to the witness, whether in proximity or by literally entering a home or vehicle was clear and threateningly concise. They wanted in. They wanted in to a home. Or perhaps even more terrifying, they wanted in to the soul of those they came into contact with.

There is no arguing that many accounts of these black eyed children are completely fabricated, a digital game of telephone tricking through each online forum, website, and message board. But the research done by David Weatherly proves that black eyed beings can be traced back to even that of ancient China, where accounts of a ghostly black eyed girl were often reported. Angered by her wrongful death, she would haunt local villages, terrorizing vulnerable passersby, also being a supernatural cause for many natural disasters in the area. Other examples of folklore in Asian culture were also brought to the attention of Weatherly and his research. One can look at Japanese horror films that were directly inspired by ancient tales of demons and evil spirits, showing us modern day versions of these apparitions and beings in the form of children with identical black eyes. Weatherly states: “There’s a lot to indicate that these kids may be omens of ill fortune, or, perhaps warnings of coming difficulties. Those who have reported intense and fearful encounters often say that prayer and spiritual protection are what they believed saved them from worse consequences. The tradition doesn’t seem to matter since reports have come from every religion and every walk of life imaginable.”

Weatherly would also tell me of one of the first accounts of a black eyed being. This time, it was in the form of a statue. “I’m very intrigued by the Urfa man found at Gobekli Tepe, a strange humanoid figure carved 13,500 years ago. Whoever made this statue took the time to carve solid black eyes out of obsidian. Countless people who have stood in front of this statue report a creepy, unsettling feeling they get from being in its presence. I think this builds on the evidence that these black eyed beings have been visiting the planet for a long time.” Could this lend more credence that perhaps we are in fact dealing with an alien presence rather than ancient evil or ghostly apparitions? Perhaps it’s a mixture of both. Perhaps it’s neither.

No matter the case, while these beings seem pure in their dark intensions, Brian Bethel would calm my own nerves with these words of warning: “They are dangerous entities, to be sure, but we have something they don’t. Something they desperately want. I believe it is the light within us, the human soul, that they crave. Whether they wish to corrupt it or consume it, I don’t know. But it is that very thing they desire that gives us the edge over them. It is something they apparently can’t just take. Permission has to be given, and in that is our strength. It’s good advice in general, but beware who you allow into your life and don’t open doors for just anyone. Be discerning. Be aware. And most important, be safe.”

[clickToTweet tweet=”Your life as you know it is now in the cold, pale hands of the black eyed children.” quote=”Your life as you know it is now in the cold, pale hands of the black eyed children.”]

We now return to the hypothetical situation we found ourselves in the beginning of this article. A child stares up at you, no emotion whatsoever. Their lifeless eyes pierce so sharply into you that you are left paralyzed. You try to speak, but can’t. The children inch forward, their persistent presence altering the entire world around you. With no knowledge of the phenomenon before hand, you have no conscious warning signs that you may have just sealed your own fate by a simple break of the paralyzation. You open the door a bit wider, stepping to the side. You let the children in. What happens next can only be speculated. But whatever it is, as you close the door behind you, you know that this isn’t right. But for some incomprehensible reason, you are left with a dismal sense that you had no choice in the matter. Your life as you know it is now in the cold, pale hands of the black eyed children.

—

Ryan Sprague is an investigative journalist, focusing on the topic of UFOs. He is the author of the upcoming book, Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to an Alien Phenomenon, published by Richard Dolan Press. He is also the co-host of Into the Fray Radio with Shannon LeGro and a frequent contributor to the geek website: RoguePlanet.tv. His work can be seen at: somewhereintheskies.com

Cousins of the Grays – Ryan Sprague’s “Hidden Auditorium”

September 23, 2015 By The Paranormal Braintrust

Ryan Sprague

While most of us have swiftly moved past the question of whether or not UFOs exist, the troublesome relative of this phenomenon has arguably been that of the existence of said UFOs occupants. According to former Canadian defense minister, Paul Hellyer, in a 2014 interview with RT News, there are over eighty different species of aliens plaguing our planet. While there is no irrefutable evidence proving this ambitious claim, one type of alien species seems to hold the reins as the most frequently reported: the grays.

These spindly entities often include extremely slender bodies, disproportionately large heads, and deep, black eyes. They have been reported in many alien abduction cases, having almost robotic like tendencies, lacking any empathy for the abductee before them. While these beings have been both praised as peaceful visitors and revered as intrusive pests, they remain an iconic figure in the human eyes and minds of those familiar with UFO and abduction literature.

But what many may not be aware of is that both small and tall gray beings have also been reported in the world of cryptids, monsters, and mythical beasts, enigmatically breaking the myth that we may be dealing strictly with extraterrestrials. I began a search for stories of gray creatures that seemed to bare striking resemblances to the grays, yet held their own lore in the most mysterious of ways.

The Dover Demon

COG 2 — Original sketch by Bill Bartlett

It was in April of 1977 when the small town of Dover, Massachusetts suffered a string of strange sightings involving a small creature roaming the streets. First reported by a group of teenage boys, Bill Bartlett, 17, noticed a small figure huddled next to a stone wall as they passed by it in their vehicle. The figure soon came into sight from the car’s headlights, turning and staring straight at Bartlett. It’s eyes were, according to Bartlett, “glowing brightly like orange marbles. It was about four feet tall and stood upright. It had a pale, gray tone to its hairless body. It had no nose or mouth. It’s head was very large like a watermelon,” he would go on to describe. While the other friends in the car didn’t see anything, they all admitted that Bartlett was extremely distraught after telling them what he had seen. Bartlett would return home that night, visibly shaken, according to his father, and sketched the creature.

Hidden Auditorium

THE TERRIFYING TRUTH BEHIND HORROR MOVIES

Every Halloween season brings forth the cozy sweaters, the pumpkin-spiced drinks, and the undeniable beauty of autumn colors. But for me, it brings out something else. It’s the only time of the year that I sit down every single night and watch a horror movie.

“She hasn’t worked here since.”

Who are they and where do they come from?

Illusions that Permanently Disappeared their Creators

Imagine being trapped on top of a mountain in below-freezing temperatures, no food to eat, no help on the way, and the cold hard truth that death was right around the frigid corner.

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