The Top 5 Cryptids of North America

Cryptozoology is always interesting, and some people even find it hard to pick a favorite cryptid, however, based upon accounts of the creature and description, these are the top five cryptids of North America.

Halloween: A History

Today is Halloween, an observance that exemplifies the meaning of fear. On this day, millions of children will dress their scariest, hoping to get a taste of candy. But where exactly did Halloween come from?

An artist's depiction of Samhain

Perhaps the oldest record of a holiday similar to Halloween was practiced by the Celts in an event called Samhain. According to the Celtic calendar, the beginning of the year started on November 1. They believed that on October 31 and November 1, the door to the netherworld opened, allowing the spirits of the dead to return to Earth. The Celts celebrated with a large festival and feast. Also, Celtic priests, druids, built large bonfires, where they sacrificed animals and crops to their gods. After setting everything ablaze, they extinguished the fire, and then they would try to predict peoples' futures while wearing animal skins. They would then light the fire again, as they believed it would bring them safety during the new year.

Shortly after the death of Jesus, the Roman Empire expanded, and it conquered many Celtic lands. The Romans combined Samhain with two of their festivals: Feralia and the honoring of Pomona. Feralia was a festival in late October that honored the passing of the dead. The second observance honored Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. The apple is the symbol of Pomona and may explain how bobbing for apples became a popular Halloween activity.

After the fall of Rome, on May 13, 609 C.E., Pope Boniface IV (above left) dedicated the Greek and Roman pantheon to honor all dead martyrs. A holiday, All Martyrs Day, was practiced every year on that day. Pope Gregory III (above right) modified the holiday to dedicate all saints, as well as martyrs, and he moved the holiday to November 1. He renamed it All Saints Day. Some people called All Saints Day All-hallows, from the Middle English word for All Saints Day alholowmesse. The day before All Hallows Day was called All Hallows Eve, which was shortened to--you guessed it--Halloween.

Jack-o'-lanterns have evolved from faces on turnips,
potatoes and beats into scary expressions on pumpkins.

The idea of jack-o’-lanterns was first inspired from an old Irish legend. The legend tells of Stingy Jack, a greedy man who invited the devil over for a drink. Too cheap to pay for his own drink, he coaxes the devil into transforming into a coin. Instead of buying drinks, he put the coin into his pocket next to a silver cross, which disallowed the devil to shapeshift back into himself. He let the devil go, under the condition that he didn’t bother Jack for a full year. The following year, Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree to pick a fruit. While Satan was in the tree, Jack carved a cross into the bark so that he couldn’t come to the ground. Under the condition that the devil leave Jack alone for ten more years, he let him come down from the tree. The legend says that shortly afterwards this encounter, Stingy Jack died. God wouldn’t let him into heaven and Satan, due to his promise, wouldn’t let him into hell. Jack roamed the Earth, then, with only a lantern to guide him way. In Ireland and Scotland, people made interpretations of his lantern on turnips, beats or potatoes, each possessing scary expressions to scare away the soul of Stingy Jack. Today, jack-o’-lanterns have evolved considerably, as most prefer their scary face on a pumpkin.

In the eighteenth century, Halloween finally made it to America. Although the celebration of this holiday was out of accordance with the strict Protestant beliefs of the time, it was still observed in many southern colonies. People celebrated the growing of the harvest, predicted fortunes, told scary stories, danced and sung. By the nineteenth century, trick-or-treating was popularized, mostly due to Irish immigrants, and Americans began dressing up in costumes, going door-to-door asking for food or money.

The origins of this ghoulish holiday go back dozens of hundreds of years ago, and yet, we find that this holiday has only changed a little. The superstition surrounding Halloween still exists, and a good fright can always be found on October 31.

The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel

Anneliese Michel is the woman whom inspired the plots of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Requiem and Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes, and they are all based on a true story (somewhat). Anneliese was a Catholic supposedly possessed by demons. She consequently underwent an exorcism, a practice casting out demons from a person whom is believed to be possessed. But was she really possessed? Today, many think that Anneliese Michel was not possessed by demons, rather she "possessed" mental disorders. Furthermore, the exorcism was bathed in negligence, abuse and religious extremism.

Anneliese was born on September 21, 1952, sixty years ago today, in Leiblfing, Bavaria, Germany to a strict Catholic family. Sixteen years later, she had a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by convulsions. Soon after, she began hallucinating while praying. In June of 1970, she had experienced her third seizure and was prescribed anticonvulsants. This medication did not immediately relieve her symptoms. Michel came to the conclusion that her condition was not of a medical one, but of a spiritual one. She became adamant that she was possessed by demons and appealed to the Catholic Church to perform an exorcism on her. By the year 1973, Michel was suffering from auditory hallucinations telling her she was "damned" and would "rot in hell".

Michel went to a psychiatric hospital, where treatment did not improve her health. She began to fall into a deeper depression. During this time, Michel had been prescribed an antipsychotic, which she may not have taken.

Anneliese Michel went to San Giorgio Piacentino, Italy with her friend, Thea Hein. While there, Michel refused to drink the water of a holy spring or walk past a crucifix. Hein concluded that Anneliese was indeed possessed by demons. Thea, Anneliese and her family appealed to numerous priests, asking for an exorcism. The priests told them to continue medical treatment and that exorcisms require the bishop's permission. They finally came upon Rev. Ernst Alt whom declared that Anneliese didn't "look like an epileptic" and never saw her have a seizure. Alt thought she was possessed. He urged the bishop to permit an exorcism and, in September of 1975, Bishop of Wuerzburg Josef Stangl allowed Rev. Arnold Renz to perform an exorcism on Anneliese Michel. Shadily, Stangl ordered total secrecy of the exorcism. The first exorcism session started on September 24, 1975. As soon as the exorcism sessions had begun, Anneliese ceased medical treatment altogether.

She received one or two sessions per week for ten months in the years 1975 and 1976. In total, sixty-seven sessions had been performed. Michel started refusing to eat or drink. Finally, on July 1, 1976, Anneliese Michel died. An autopsy revealed that she had passed away because of dehydration and malnutrition. When dead, she weighed only sixty-eight pounds.

But this is only the beginning of the story.

After an investigation, the state prosecutor said that Michel's death could have been prevented a week before she had died. In 1976, Anneliese's parents, Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz were charged with neglectful homicide. The priests were found guilty of manslaughter and were sentenced to six months in jail (later suspended) and three years on probation.

REFERENCES

• Duffey, John M. Lessons Learned: The Anneliese Michel Exorcism. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011.
• Paris, André. "Unreiner Geist, weiche!" taz. 31 May 2003. Retrieved 25 Aug. 2012.
• Hansen, Eric T. "What in God's Name?!." The Washington Post [Washington, D.C.] 4 Sept. 2005. Retrieved 25 Aug. 2012.
• "Priests convinced woman was possessed." The Windsor Star [Windsor, Ontario] 4 Apr. 1978: 17. Retrieved 25 Aug. 2012.
• Getler, Michael. "Cries of a Woman Possessed; German Court Hears Tapes in Exorcism Death Trial." The Washington Post [Washington, D.C.] 21 Apr. 1978. Retrieved 25 Aug. 2012.

A deceased Anneliese Michel (from here)

Doppelgänger Danger: True Tales of Long Lost Twins?

Have you ever wished to have had a twin? If so, wish granted. Some people believe in paranormal doubles called doppelgängers, German for "double walker". These doubles possess a bad seed; however. And this seed can easily grow into a bad apple that spoils the bunch, a.k.a. you. Doppelgängers represent misfortune and evil, so when you see yours, run. There are multiple cases of doppelgängers, most bizarre, recorded throughout history, and some of them may just shock you.

An older doppelgänger combs the younger's hair (by Galiaoffri from Wikipedia)

One, for example, involves Mary Shelly and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary was writing a letter on August 15, 1822 to Maria Gisborne about one of Percy's nightmare. The night terror happened in the early morning hours of June 23, 1822, in which he dreamed about the house collapsing in a flood and:

[...] talking it over the next morning he told me that he had had many visions lately--he had seen the figure of himself which met him as he walked on the terrace and said to him--"How long do you mean to be content"--No very terrific words & certainly not prophetic of what has occurred. But Shelley had often seen these figures when ill; but the strangest thing is that M^rs Williams saw him. Now Jane, though a woman of sensibility, has not much imagination & is not in the slightest degree nervous--neither in dreams or otherwise. She was standing one day, the day before I was taken ill, [June 15] at a window that looked on the Terrace with Trelawny--it was day--she saw as she thought Shelley pass by the window, as he often was then, without a coat or jacket--he passed again--now as he passed both times the same way--and as from the side towards which he went each time there was no way to get back except past the window again (except over a wall twenty feet from the ground) she was struck at seeing him pass twice thus & looked out & seeing him no more she cried--"Good God can Shelley have leapt from the wall?.... Where can he be gone?" Shelley, said Trelawny--"No Shelley has past--What do you mean?" Trelawny says that she trembled exceedingly when she heard this & it proved indeed that Shelley had never been on the terrace & was far off at the time she saw him.

Yet another doppelgänger case involves writer and artist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In Book XI of his autobiography, he wrote:

Amid all this pressure and confusion I could not forego seeing Frederica once more. Those were painful days, the memory of which has not remained with me. When I reached her my hand from my horse, the tears stood in her eyes; and I felt very uneasy. I now rode along the foot-path toward Drusenheim, and here one of the most singular forebodings took possession of me. I saw, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the mind, my own figure coming toward me, on horseback, and on the same road, attired in a dress which I had never worn,--it was pike-gray, with somewhat of gold. As soon as I shook myself out of this dream, the figure had entirely disappeared. It is strange, however, that, eight years afterward, I found myself on the very road, to pay one more visit to Frederica, in the dress of which I had dreamed, and which I wore, not from choice, but by accident. However, it may be with matters of this kind generally, this strange illusion in some measure calmed me at the moment of parting. The pain of quitting for ever noble Alsace, with all I had gained in it, was softened; and, having at last escaped the excitement of a farewell, I, on a peaceful and quiet journey, pretty well regained my self-possession.

British admiral Sir George Tryon saw a strange apparition also, one that resembled himself. At a dinner party in 1893, hosted by his wife, his look-alike appeared in front of the guests. Strangely, he died at about the same time in a naval accident at sea.

Another interesting doppelgänger case was one of a teacher named Emilie Sagée. Sagée had a double that would appear and fade, but it was visible only to her students. Not even she could see it. One day, she was writing on the blackboard and her doppelgänger appeared beside her, imitating her every movement, except the double had no chalk in its hand. Similarly, while eating supper one evening, Sagée's doppelgänger appeared behind her and mimicked her actions, yet it possessed no silverware. Yet even more astonishing, students were in a sewing and embroidery class one day and could see Sagée in the garden picking flowers. Another teacher was supervising the class. When the teacher left the room, Sagée's doppelgänger appeared in her chair. A brave student went up to the apparition and tried to touch it, but she went right through it.

To add, the French novelist Guy de Maupassant was haunted by his doppelgänger near the end of his life. He once claimed that his twin entered the room he was in and dictated what he was writing down. The English poet John Donne saw his wife's doppelgänger holding a baby while he was in Paris. His wife was pregnant at the time and at the same moment he saw the ghostly figure, his wife gave birth to a stillborn child. Even Queen Elizabeth I saw her doppelgänger--lying on her bed--shortly before her death.

Even President Abraham Lincoln saw his doppelgänger:

A dream or illusion had haunted Lincoln at times through the winter. On the evening of his election he had thrown himself on one of the haircloth sofas at home, just after the first telegrams of November 7 had told him he was elected President, and looking into a bureau mirror across the room he saw himself full length, but with two faces. It bothered him; he got up; the illusion vanished; but when he lay down again there in the glass again were two faces, one paler than the other. He got up again, mixed in the election excitement, forgot about it; but it came back, and haunted him. He told his wife about it; she worried too. A few days later he tried it once more and the illusion of the two faces again registered to his eyes. But that was the last; the ghost since then wouldn't come back, he told his wife, who said it was a sign he would be elected to a second term, and the death pallor of one face meant he wouldn't live through his second term.

One must wonder, are doppelgängers apparitions or are they omens? Seeing a doppelgänger before something unfortunate happens is common, as the stories that were told to you say. So if you do see your double, prepare for the worst case scenario.

REFERENCES

• Bennett, B.T. (1980). The Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Volume 1, page 245.
• von Goeth, J.W. (1969). The Autobiography of Wolfgang von Goethe. Translated by John Oxenford. New York: Horizon Press.
• Seth, J. (2010, August 24). "9 Humanoid Figures of the Paranormal", "5. Doppelgangers". Asia Paranormal. Retrieved August 17, 2012, from http://www.asiaparanormalblog.com/2010/08/9-humanoid-figures-of-paranormal.html
• Wagner, S. "True Stories of Doppelgangers". About.com Paranormal Phenomena. Retrieved August 17, 2012, from http://paranormal.about.com/od/Doppelgangers/a/doppelgangers.htm
• Sandburg, C. (1926). Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. Volume 2, Chapter 165, pp. 423-4.

Four Children Beaten to Death by Witch Doctor

Four children all from the same family were beaten to death in Haiti by a witch doctor whom promised to cure them of an illness. According to Wilfrid Brisson, an official from Marbial, Haiti, "Three girls and a boy, the eldest of whom was seven years old and the youngest only 15 months, suffered abuse from the healer who was treating them." The witch doctor had told the mother that the children were possessed by demons and that he could rid them of these fiends. He beat them, claiming that this would help cast out the demons. Consequently, the blows killed all four of the children. This story just proves that some people still have primitive mind-sets allowing them to kill to expel nonexistent entities, even though modern medicine has proved that demons don't cause illness.