100

STRANGEST
MYSTERIES
MATT LAMY

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100 STRANGEST
MYSTERIES
matt lamy

MetroBooks
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MetroBooks
This edition published by MetroBooks
by arrangement with
Arcturus Publishing Limited

2004 Metrobooks

Copyright © 2003, Arcturus Publishing Limited

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Contents

BEASTS & MONSTERS 1

The Beast of Bodmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Bigfoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui . . . . . . . . . 6
The Loch Ness Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Lusca & St Augustine Phenomena . . . . 11
The Mongolian Deathworm . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Mothman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Ogopogo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Skunk Ape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Utah Lakes Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The White River Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Yeti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CONSPIRACIES & COMMUNICATIONS 23

Abductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Ancient Astronauts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Area 51 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Civilian Aircraft Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Government Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Life on Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Men in Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Nazca Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The Piri Reis Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Rendlesham Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Roswell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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Contents

The Tunguska Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

UFO Crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
UFOs & Military Interceptions . . . . . . . . . . . 48

EARTHLY ENERGIES & MYSTICAL PLACES 51

Earth Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Crop Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Crystals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Earth Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Ley Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Mystical Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Bermuda Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Dragon’s Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Easter Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The Pyramids of Giza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Stonehenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Stone Circles at Castlerigg . . . . . . . . . . . 73

HIDDEN CITIES & LOST CIVILISATIONS 75

Atlantis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
El Dorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Lyonesse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Mu & Lemuria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Teotihaucán . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

HORRORS & HAUNTINGS 85

Amityville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Borley Rectory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Hampton Court Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Longendale Ghostplanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
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Contents

The Mary Celeste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Waterworks Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

MARVELS & MIRACLES 97

Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
The Bible Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
The Big Bang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Children of Fatima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Dead Sea Scrolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Gef The Talking Mongoose . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The Great Flood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Hindu Statues Drinking Milk . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Lourdes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Modern Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Noah’s Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Saint-Médard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Stigmata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Turin Shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The Veil of Veronica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Weeping Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

PSYCHIC POWERS & PHENOMENA 129

Auras & Kirlian Photography . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Dowsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
ESP & Psychokinesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Levitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Near Death Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Ouija Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Poltergeists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Premonitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Reincarnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Remote Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
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Contents

Séances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Spontaneous Human Combustion . . . . . . . . 149

PUZZLING PEOPLE & ENIGMATIC ENTITIES 151

Anastasia / Anna Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
The Comte de Saint-Germain . . . . . . . . . . 155
Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Jack the Ripper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Kaspar Hauser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
King Arthur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Maitreya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
The Man in the Iron Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Nostradamus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
The Queen of Sheba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Uri Geller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

SECRET SOCIETIES & HIDDEN TREASURES 175

The Knights Templar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Rennes-le-Château . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The ark of the Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The Holy Grail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
The Rosicrucians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Oak Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
The curse of Tutenkhamun . . . . . . . . . . . 190

MISCELLANEOUS 193
Demonic Possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Perpetual Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Voodoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Zombies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
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BEASTS &
MONSTERS
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Beasts & Monsters

The Beast of
Bodmin
government report in 1995
concluded that there was no
evidence of big cats on the
moors.
However, since 1995
some quite startling,
tangible evidence has been
produced. A 20-second
video released in July 1998
clearly shows a large black
animal roaming the moor.
Experts believe the footage
is the best evidence yet to
support the idea that big
cats are living in the area.
Many also suggest the
beasts may be a native
species of cat which was
Tracks of the Beast? The ten pence coin shows the scale of this paw-print.
thought to have become

T
HE BEAST OF BODMIN: whether it is a
native cat, previously thought extinct,
or an escaped exotic pet, the Beast of
Bodmin is a creature that refuses to disappear.
Indeed, sightings of the panther-like creature
continue apace and, unlike other mysterious
beasts, modern technology is actually helping
to prove its existence. Bodmin Moor is an area
of National Park land in Cornwall, southwest
England. Since 1983 there have been over
sixty sightings of big cats in the area, and
some experts suggest there may be a whole
breeding population on the moors. In fact, one
recent sighting was of a mother cat and her
cub together. Despite wide-ranging testi-
monials from reliable witnesses, a British
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extinct over a hundred years ago. Around the
time of the video release, Maurice Jenkins, a
quarry weighbridge worker was driving near
Exmoor, near Bodmin, when he spotted an
odd beast at the side of the road. He trained
his car headlights on the creature. Jenkins
said afterwards:
‘It was a big black pussycat. His eyes
reflected in my headlights and I slowed
down so I could get a better look and it
sat watching me. It was the size of a
collie dog with jet-black head and tail.
He leapt away and made off into the
fields.’

2
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The Beast of Bodmin
Real biological evidence has also been found
in recent years. A large skull with huge fangs
was found near the River Fowey on Bodmin
Moor. The bones were sent to mammal
specialists at the British Natural History
Museum who, when they examined it,
quickly realised that the skull did not belong
to a creature normally found in the English
countryside. Because of the size and position
of the teeth, they also deduced that it was the
head of a large cat.
In November 1999 a spate of farm animal
mutilations on Bodmin Moor caused a high-
tech option to be introduced in finding the
beast. When a calf and two sheep were
attacked and torn apart by an unknown
creature, a motion-activated infrared video
camera was installed on the moor. Similarly,
in January 2001, reserve volunteers from a
nearby Royal Air Force base used state-of-
the-art night-vision military equipment to
hunt for the creature. Rather than practise
exercises against an imaginary foe, RAF
commanders thought that it would be more
interesting for the troops to look for the
fabled Beast of Bodmin. Whether the RAF
found any trace of the Beast is not known.
The Beast strikes
again; or is it in
fact a fox with a
rabbit?
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Certainly, the idea of strange big cats
roaming Britain is not totally bizarre. In May
2001, a peculiar, vicious-looking wild animal
was found in the garden of a house in Barnet,
north London. A huge team of armed police,
RSPCA inspectors and vets were needed to
capture what turned out to be a lynx. A
similar event happened in September 1998
when people living close by, in Potters Bar
and South Mimms, were told to stay indoors
whilst police looked for a large cat sighted
there. Generally, however, such animals pose
little threat to the human population.
Farmers in southwest England do not agree
that these creatures are so benign, and many
sceptics believe the Beast of Bodmin is, if
anything, an escaped foreign cat. A number
go missing from zoos and wildlife parks each
year, and Britain’s 1976 Dangerous Wild
Animals Act made ownership of exotic big
cats illegal. Some people believe that if such
a pet were to escape from a private
collection, its owner would be hesitant to
report it missing. Whatever the truth about
its origin, there is growing, indisputable
evidence that a large, black, feral cat is
stalking the land of Bodmin Moor.